One Year, One Beret

I know it's been a while since I've posted here, but everything is happening at once!
Way back three weeks ago, we were in Jerusalem/Latrun for our education week. In Jerusalem, we hiked the path (approximately) Herzl took when he first visited and decided Israel needed to be the Jewish state, not Uganda. We finished the tour at the Kotel, but at the last minute there was not enough time and we didn't go in. A lot of us were very upset about that, but the commanders didn't budge and made us get on the bus. We traveled to Latrun, a battle site and Tank Corps museum and stayed there for the next few days. First, we learned about the general importance of Israel, the culture of Israel, then the IDF, and so on until we got back to base and had a class with just our commanders on our daily routine. It was nice to have classes with our palga and commanders and officer (even the samal taught a class), and we had some good discussions. One night, we took a tour of the museum, which was very hard. There is a memorial wall of all the tank soldiers that have died in combat, and they had added 17 names that morning from the operation this summer. We separated and sat down with our tzevets to talk about our own personal view of the army, and specifically what it means to us to be combat soldiers, lochemim. Even our mefaked spoke openly about his experience, telling us he was picked to play basketball overseas but decided to draft instead, without telling anyone until it had already happened.

We returned to base for Sukkot and guard duty (the chief officer volunteered us), and I got to sit in my first sukkah in Israel! It rained that day, which put me in shock because I didn't know that it rained in the desert during daytime. But that day was also October 8, one year since my Aliyah! My friend threw a (small) party for me and at dinner my table in the sukkah made a toast.






On Sunday, I had a birthday and the army gave me two presents: an ultrasound for my ankle after a month of waiting, and my tzevet went to spend a few days on a base at which we could end up. It was so much fun, we learned a lot hands on and got to meet and work with people already in the gdud. It was a lot of work, but it made all of us really excited to be a part of this technology.












Traveling on public trans with all our gear

When we left, we were on base for less than a day before going home for sukkot bet. When I got home, my kibbutz mom had a surprise for me from her (and my mom). She took me to lunch and since her brother in law is the manager, we had a spa day at this hotel in Haifa! It was nice to relax and spend some quality time with just her, and it was cool it also came from my mom. That was day one of four at home that holiday/weekend, but the most exciting. I went back to base on Sunday, but only packed a few things because Monday I went to the airport to pick up my brother!!! That's right, he finally made Aliyah, too! I only got a few days, but it was so much fun being with him and helping him out as far as Hebrew and culture goes. I came back to base and we had been volunteered for even more shmirot (for the fourth time!) but it wasn't so bad. That was the second to last Shabbat before the end of tironut, and today is the last (yes we are closing the dreaded 21).






First day dinner!

During the week we had our last classes and study sessions. I passed the half year mark of being in the army this week! Yesterday I was in the kitchen, but today we are getting together to study for our final test tomorrow. Part is written, and the other part is simulations, which I love because it's exactly what we'll be doing and in general is really cool if you do it right.


















Being in the kitchen makes us sleepy and weird, but there's milki so it's worth it.

An update on my ankle: it's not clear if there is a name for what is wrong with it, but if I rest it enough this week I can do a few kilometers of the masa kumta (beret march).
That's about it for now, just wanted to throw out an update before I finish tironut for (twice) and for all!! 5 days til that torqouise!!!

Why I Do What I Do

So we've officially started our specialty training! The technology I have been assigned is extremely confidential so these posts might seem vague or spotty, but it'll work out.

At the best (?) time possible, I have an injury in my ankle. It was a sprain that slowly and surely escalated so being in the classrooms helped a bit. Unfortunately, because of that, I missed a masa right before Rosh Hashanah. Everyone earned their dog tag covers, and I worked in the kitchen instead. It was my first Rosh Hashanah in Israel, and the first night I worked in the kitchen, which was actually a 100% Israeli experience (not only closing base first RH in the army but also kitchen duty). I was there with some friends and made friends with the kitchen workers so parts were really fun.

I'll be making up for this. 

We went back to the schedule, with classes and tests. What this meant for me was a bit more complicated. Getting the help I need is a bit frustrating and a long process, but I've pushed enough that we've got some sort of system. I take the class, remind them I have no idea what is going on, I take the class again privately (which can take as long as the regular class), and then I take the test with someone helping me read (and sometimes type). Or, I skip straight to the private lesson, and then take the test. Because we hadn't figured all this out at the beginning, there were some lessons I was never caught up on or missed completely. As a result, I had to take the tests regardless (and obviously failed). The second week I ended up learning all the material and acing the tests. Because I don't understand the power points, I take notes in my simplified Hebrew to study from later. What ends up happening, ironically, is that sometimes I help the other people in my tzevet study and learn the material.

Since our palga's tzevets are split up by technology, we are with our tzevet 24/7. As a result, we are getting closer every day, and not just us. We spent a lot of time with the samal (he actually personally taught me 1.5 hours' worth of material because everyone else was busy). He played a horrible trick on us. There is this "chocolate flavored" spread that we eat on breaks called choomy. He took an empty Nutella jar, filled it with choomy and simply brought it into the room and gave us a 7 minute break. We were so upset when we opened the jar because even though they look the same, choomy has a distinct smell...a disappointment, but it got eaten anyway.

Another way we have fun is keeping things light. Something called a "pakal" is something that is necessary (which is why push-ups are often referred to as "pakalim"), but the commanders sometimes like to give random stuff to us and tell us it is a pakal and we have to carry it around everywhere. During RH, someone had to carry a pomegranate and tell everyone it was actually an apple. Our tzevet has a mango that we wrote all our names on and the name of our tzevet. We had to tape string onto it and someone even took it home over the weekend to keep in the fridge. I guess these things teach us to take care of stuff, no matter how dumb or silly it seems. But it is still very weird carrying a green mango around base and taking guard shifts, even. Even so, it lets us be a little silly when all day we are inside learning about serious, complicated stuff.

Speaking of, it will be two weeks before we go back to classes! We are in Jerusalem this week, through sukkot, to learn about Israel and the army. We were already in Jerusalem on Thursday, when we did our tour of Har Herzl and Yad Vashem. It was most people's first time on uniform, but for me and Elisheva it was our first time as combat soldiers, which still gives a higher meaning. Har Herzl was very hard. There were so many fresh graves from the operation (including several lone soldiers with whom I had one or two degrees of separation), and my maflag actually had a friend buried there from a few years ago. We were the first visitors for one grave, a veteran of the operation, who had committed suicide a few days earlier. These are the things that come with being a combat soldier. The distance between us and those that died shrinks. That's what makes it so important. If we don't do our jobs, who will? It is a privilege to have the opportunity to just be considered a soldier of the IDF, not to even mention being a lochemet. And that's the feeling they are trying to teach us this week in Jerusalem. We are going to be learning how to be proud to serve in the IDF and then when we return to base for Shabbat we will learn about pride and importance of our technologies. I hope that after this week more people will feel the same way I do, and the other olim do, and the way my friend Tom feels, and the way one of my mefakdot feels. And it's not a feeling of wanting to be a combat soldier because you've always dreamed of being in Golani, it's a feeling of wanting to do the most and give all of yourself to help protect Israel and her citizens. It's a feeling of preserving our country for the Jews around the world for when they are in a tough spot, or muster up enough courage, or visit Jerusalem for the first time and get that rumble, that ache, that desire to make a life where we, as Jews, belong. And to maintain the land for the Jews who, for many valid reasons, will not make a life here, so they can see and visit and love Israel even without being residents. That's what I'm here for. That's why we do what we do, us "crazy" lone soldiers. Why, even though we come here having no family to protect, we say goodbye to our loved ones and join the army across the world. Because, sometimes at the speed of light, and sometimes slow but steady, we build our own families and make new loved ones.

And for real Nutella from said loved ones 

Hashba'ah (Delayed)

I tried posting this two weeks ago, but it didn't work, so here it comes!

This is how I came home last time:

And this is from the beginning of this weekend:

Yup, we got all dressed up in our aleph uniforms for the swearing in that you would never guess what we actually did the last two weeks. Early last week we did the masa samal and earned our gun straps. After, we thought we were headed back to base but they took our watches and we ended up being blindfolded and taken wayyy out in the desert for sada'ut, or field training. Any shetach that we have done before is nothing compared to what we did those three days. We were constantly on guard, only took (really) a few minutes for every meal, slept less than an hour each night, and even had practice operations. It was one of the hardest but one of the most fun things I've ever experienced, somehow. We had no underwear, toothbrushes, nothing for three days, but became closer as a tzevet because we learned to read hand signals and speak with just our eyes. We wore camouflage paint on our faces and within a couple of hours our brand new gun straps looked like we had them for about a year already. The last night they made us crawl about 50 meters. Now, I'm not very good at most things (slowly getting better), but my weakest area is crawling. And it wasn't just any crawling, we were still with all of our gear (vests, helmets) and anything we were carrying (shovels, canned food, etc.). So I got really frustrated and worried I was never going to make it because I was just not making any progress. But then a couple friends finished and came back to join me. And then some people from my tzevet. And then my mefaked. And then more friends and the rest of my tzevet. By the end, there were at least ten people all in a line crawling with me, and for each "step" I would scream "ECHAD!" and everyone would answer "SHTAYIM!" ("One!" "Two!") and when I finally reached the end I grabbed the glow stick marking the finish line and everyone was shouting and clapping for me. My mefaked pulled me aside and shook my helmet and just said, "Kol hakavod." Which loosely translates to "good job," but literally translates to "all the respect." Either way, I've never been as happy or proud of myself as I was in that moment.

When we finally got back to base, I had the unfortunate realization that it was 9/11. We talked briefly about it, but it was still weird speaking about it with non-Americans and especially not even in English.

Guard duty Shabbat morning, check out my cool gun strap!

Cards against humanity with some English speakers (not just olim)

During and after Shabbat, we practiced for what is called the bochen lochem, which is basically a test to see who is considered a lochem, or fighter. I was extremely worried about the written test because it was material my friends had learned in school or at least heard of before, and I was completely lost. The mefakdim and my friends really helped a lot in teaching me a bit of geography and history, but there were still parts I knew I wouldn't pass, like the bochen maslul, or obstacle course. We did a sort of practice that was a contest between the tzevets, a bochen tzevet early in the week, and even though my tzevet didn't win, we had the most fun and got mentioned for having some of the most rabak (basically enthusiasm, giving it your all). And for one of the shooting tests, my mefaked let me use his gun! He told me to switch with him, and I just said, "can I ask why?" thinking there might be a problem with mine that I didn't know about, but he said, straight-faced, "You deserve it," and then hinted at a smile as I put it on and walked back to the shooting range.

The next day, I worked around base pulling weeds and then worked in the kitchen opening cans of tuna, but Wednesday was the big day of the bochen lochem. I didn't pass, just as I thought, but I'll have more opportunities to try. In any case, it was a lot of fun. I missed the whole afternoon because they needed an extra set of hands in the kitchen, but one of my best friends from a different solelah (battery) was also working there. We're not allowed to talk to each other most of the time, so it was so much fun to hang out for an entire afternoon, even if we were cleaning dishes.

Then, Thursday was the tekes hashba'ah! It was amazing how many of my friends came, my kibbutz dad, my stepmom ended up still being in the country, my best friend from Michve surprised me at the last minute, and even my mom woke up at 3 AM to FaceTime in!! It was nice and quick, no speeches or anything, and then I grabbed my friend Jessie from the special forces to join us for lunch because she is also a lone soldier. It was just a great day, and Jessie and I showed off our bruises, tan lines, and hours of sleep (or lack thereof) to prove how much we are real fighters. 

On the way to the tekes, it was our first time off base with our guns (but we still didn't take them home)

Everyone was taking pictures of me while I was simultaneously on FaceTime with my mom

On Friday I went down to Jerusalem and saw my old rabbi from summer camp in Georgia. It was crazy because the last time I saw his daughter she was about 5 or 6 and now is in high school! It was nice to catch up and see his whole family again. I spent most of the weekend with the Muszkats and also visiting the Weissmans, both of whom I hadn't seen in a long time. Now, I am on my way back to base to start our specialty training! Have a good week :)

I made a schnitzel that looks like Israel!