Today marks the 14th anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin death. For those that don’t know, Rabin was leaving a parade, when Yigal Amir shot Rabin and killed him.
In honor to remember his death, the armed forces do a demonstration and invite schools from around the area (11th and 12th graders) to see them. This gives the kids a chance to see some units and ask them questions. (This is similar to what we did: http://cayalbodedstory.blogspot.com/2009/09/practice-makes-perfect.html)
The day started off hearing the story of a soldier, who fought in the Yom Kippur war. From there, we went to a mountain to over look the battle field and even see into Syria. It was a very beautiful site and if there weren’t burned out tanks and old guns, you wouldn’t believe that there had been a war.
From there we went to hear one of Israel’s deputies who also fought in the war. Again, the talk overlooked a mountain into Syria.
The day went pretty much the same with breaks here and there but most of the time it was a history lesson, looking out into the mountains and seeing the beautiful landscape. The conclusion to the day however, was the highlight. We went to an army base where tanks and infantry were doing a combined training excursive. The training started out with artillery fire and then out of nowhere, 3 huge tanks come up and start driving and shooting. (real shells with explosions and sound) then the machines guns went off and all of a sudden we see 8 soldiers coming out of the tanks and running into ditches set up to look like a Syrian battle field. During the whole excursive, we got to hear the orders given to the soldiers inside the tanks and hear what they said. At one point a tank says that they have been hit and a huge explosion happens. Of course this was then followed by more tanks shooting and the soldiers coming out. At the end of the excursive, the soldiers got out of the tanks and we got to talk to them. It was a lot of fun and makes me really looking forward to the army.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The last trip
The saying time flies when you’re having fun often popped into my head this last week. You see, this week we, as a Garin went to Eilat. Eilat is a beautiful city on the southernmost tip in Israel. This was to be the final trip for the group as a whole. Starting Monday, some of group (2 girls) starts the army. It is still surprising that already two months have gone by, and that now the time is upon us to enter.
As for our trip, it was non-stop fun from beginning to end. We started our trip Tuesday. There is nothing like have a bus for 32 kids and a 6 hour bus ride. One the way to Eilat, we stopped at the chocolate milk headquarters of Israel. There, there is a huge variety of different chocolate milks (regular, dark, vanilla, banana, etc.) There is also a wide verity of ice cream flavors. Of course when you walk in, you feel like a little kid and want to try them all, and we almost did that.
From the chocolate milk factory, we went straight to Eilat. The hostel we stayed at was very nice, but small. The whole place was for us and there is nothing better than 9 male guys squeezed into one room. The room was actually very big and there was enough space. The hostel was also a 15 min walk from the beach front and of course, once our bags were down we all raced off to go to the beach. The only other place where I have seen such clear and beautiful blue water was in curacao. The next day, we took a tour of Eilat by the water front on a boat ride. It was interesting to see Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt all around us.
The highlight of the trip for me was the scuba diving I did. Eilat has a great many areas to scuba dive and of course as a diver I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. It was such a beautiful underwater scene. I saw so many fish, that I have never seen anywhere else that I can’t wait to go back and go down again. If you are ever in Eilat, I strongly recommend going down under the sea to see such a unique and awesome sight.
As for our trip, it was non-stop fun from beginning to end. We started our trip Tuesday. There is nothing like have a bus for 32 kids and a 6 hour bus ride. One the way to Eilat, we stopped at the chocolate milk headquarters of Israel. There, there is a huge variety of different chocolate milks (regular, dark, vanilla, banana, etc.) There is also a wide verity of ice cream flavors. Of course when you walk in, you feel like a little kid and want to try them all, and we almost did that.
From the chocolate milk factory, we went straight to Eilat. The hostel we stayed at was very nice, but small. The whole place was for us and there is nothing better than 9 male guys squeezed into one room. The room was actually very big and there was enough space. The hostel was also a 15 min walk from the beach front and of course, once our bags were down we all raced off to go to the beach. The only other place where I have seen such clear and beautiful blue water was in curacao. The next day, we took a tour of Eilat by the water front on a boat ride. It was interesting to see Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt all around us.
The highlight of the trip for me was the scuba diving I did. Eilat has a great many areas to scuba dive and of course as a diver I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. It was such a beautiful underwater scene. I saw so many fish, that I have never seen anywhere else that I can’t wait to go back and go down again. If you are ever in Eilat, I strongly recommend going down under the sea to see such a unique and awesome sight.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Property of Tzahal
Today was the day when we would stop being citizens of Israel and finally become soldiers and property of Tzahal. This meant that we had to go to the bacum in order to become soldiers, get injections and other soldierly things.
The day started at 7:00, when we all went from the kibbutz to Tiberius for another meeting with the Tzav Reshon people. Luckily I was not called and only a few people were.
From there, we went to the Bacum located in Tel Hashomar, Tel Aviv. This is where every teenager in Israel about to become a soldier goes.
Tel Hashomar is just like another military base, with guards, soldiers and Mifacedet. There are many trailer style buildings and real structures with pictures of Soldiers. We were called off the bus and had to stand in two lines. There we handed in our Tiudat Ziut (or ID cards) and followed the Mifacedet to a dining hall, where we were served lunch. I am always impressed with the amount of power Garin Tzabar has because they were able to "reserve" the Bacum just for us and no one else.
After lunch, we were led to a video screen, where we saw a promotional video of some of the units in the army. From there we were led into a big hall, where we were told to wait our turns.
The Next part of the Bacum reminded me a lot of a police station. We were led to a room, where two soldiers sat behind a desk taking pictures of us. One picture was a regular picture of our face. The second picture was a full body shot, from the side. Then we were led to a room, where soldiers took pictures of our teeth. Then we were led to a fingerprint room, where our finger prints and palm prints were taken on a computer. We were then led to another room, where a MRI/dentist type of machine took an x-ray of our mouth. The whole reason why the army is so interested in our mouth and fingerprints is because if something (G-d forbid) goes wrong, at least the army can identify us with the pictures and x-rays.
After the police part of the Bacum was over, we were led to the questionnaire part of the Bacum.
Here we were given a chart with all our medical information. We then had a quick questionnaire part where we were questioned about our bank accounts and again (G-d Forbid) something should happen to us, who do we leave al our money too.
The final part of the Bacum was the medical part.
Here, doctors gave us two shot (one for tetanus and one for melengitus.) the next part was taking a blood sample for DNA reasons.
From the medical part, we were given our shlat. The shlat is a card that says now you are in the army and that if you want to take a bus anywhere in the country, it will only be 9 shekels (a big help because I pay 39, one way, to go to Jerusalem.) We were also given our dog tags. On the dog tags our written our name and our new name (a numerical number.)
The only thing we weren’t given at the bacum was our uniforms. The reason for this is because every branch of the army has their own uniforms. The infantry and tanks are given dark green and the navy and air force are given light green. The other difference is the boots. Some unit get red boots and some get black. For this reason, that we don’t know where we are going yet, we weren’t given our uniforms.
However, all in all, it was a great day and now I am part of the Israeli Army. Now there is no going back.
The day started at 7:00, when we all went from the kibbutz to Tiberius for another meeting with the Tzav Reshon people. Luckily I was not called and only a few people were.
From there, we went to the Bacum located in Tel Hashomar, Tel Aviv. This is where every teenager in Israel about to become a soldier goes.
Tel Hashomar is just like another military base, with guards, soldiers and Mifacedet. There are many trailer style buildings and real structures with pictures of Soldiers. We were called off the bus and had to stand in two lines. There we handed in our Tiudat Ziut (or ID cards) and followed the Mifacedet to a dining hall, where we were served lunch. I am always impressed with the amount of power Garin Tzabar has because they were able to "reserve" the Bacum just for us and no one else.
After lunch, we were led to a video screen, where we saw a promotional video of some of the units in the army. From there we were led into a big hall, where we were told to wait our turns.
The Next part of the Bacum reminded me a lot of a police station. We were led to a room, where two soldiers sat behind a desk taking pictures of us. One picture was a regular picture of our face. The second picture was a full body shot, from the side. Then we were led to a room, where soldiers took pictures of our teeth. Then we were led to a fingerprint room, where our finger prints and palm prints were taken on a computer. We were then led to another room, where a MRI/dentist type of machine took an x-ray of our mouth. The whole reason why the army is so interested in our mouth and fingerprints is because if something (G-d forbid) goes wrong, at least the army can identify us with the pictures and x-rays.
After the police part of the Bacum was over, we were led to the questionnaire part of the Bacum.
Here we were given a chart with all our medical information. We then had a quick questionnaire part where we were questioned about our bank accounts and again (G-d Forbid) something should happen to us, who do we leave al our money too.
The final part of the Bacum was the medical part.
Here, doctors gave us two shot (one for tetanus and one for melengitus.) the next part was taking a blood sample for DNA reasons.
From the medical part, we were given our shlat. The shlat is a card that says now you are in the army and that if you want to take a bus anywhere in the country, it will only be 9 shekels (a big help because I pay 39, one way, to go to Jerusalem.) We were also given our dog tags. On the dog tags our written our name and our new name (a numerical number.)
The only thing we weren’t given at the bacum was our uniforms. The reason for this is because every branch of the army has their own uniforms. The infantry and tanks are given dark green and the navy and air force are given light green. The other difference is the boots. Some unit get red boots and some get black. For this reason, that we don’t know where we are going yet, we weren’t given our uniforms.
However, all in all, it was a great day and now I am part of the Israeli Army. Now there is no going back.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
wow what a week
Sorry for not writing in a while. I’ve been under a lot of pressure. What a rollercoaster ride.
The week started off with Hazat Garin. That is when we introduce the Garin to the kibbutz members. We also tell the kibbutz what our new Garin name is. Our Garin is called Garin Gidon, based on the bible story.
For the Hazat Garin, the Garin is in charge of making dinner and entertainment. My job was to be in the play (yah one liners) and help make the movie. I was the editor in chief and basically once we were done filming, I locked myself into the editing studio (the madrichs house) and edited the movie for two days.
As the show reached its halfway mark, it started raining and we had to cancel the show. It was really upsetting because we had put so much work. Oh well.
The high point of the week however was Wednesday night, when I got to go to Jerusalem and see Matysiahu in concert. The show was amazing and so much fun. There is nothing like seeing him in Israel, right in front of the old city. From the concert, four friends and I rented 2 rooms in a hostel and had a night on the town.
Then Came the most relaxing weekend I have had in a while. I slept like a baby and only remember waking up for food and watching some movies.
The highlights in the week coming up are:
1) Going to the backum to get our uniforms
2 going to Wingate (an army base) to meet Barak's assistant (the 2nd head of the army)
Hope everyone back home had a great Chag and a great week and I promise to write more this week.
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