Coming home and getting back to buisness

As most of you know, i went home for my Regila or week off from the army. The trip was great and adventurous because not only did i got to see my family and friends, but i was also in the middle of a hurricane and without power for 6 days (the majority of my trip.)

When i got back, it was back to reality and back to the army.

My first week back was a week at Mikva Alon. Mikva Alon is the army Ulpan base. This is where new Oliem go to learn Hebrew, if the army feels that your Hebrew is not good enough. The program combines Ulpan and basic training for the soldiers there.

We, on the other hand, were there to learn more about our selves and why we are fighting. The week was broken down into:

Day 1: we went to Lochame Gitaon. This is a kibbutz that was founded at the start from country. The specialty of this kibbutz is that it was made up of ghetto upraises and so they created a museum that portrays the Warsaw uprising and the uprising of other ghettos. The museum is very interesting because instead of showing camps and death, the museum features more of the uprising side and the brave soldiers who lead them.

Day 2: problems in the country; new immigrants vs. Israeli born people, Jews. vs. Arabs and so on.

Day 3: We talked about problems with the army, the democratic system and the laws of the army. We also talked about Code of Conduct in the army. We were given different situations and asked if what the soldiers did was right or wrong. An example would be that we were in a city and we are suddenly hit with a rock. When we turn around to see who threw it and it turns out to be a child 7 years old. After we tell him to stop, we keep going and we feel another rock hit us. We turn around to see the same kid holding a bigger rock, that if it hits us, we will be hurt. What do we do? Do we shoot in the air, causing a scene and an international case, or run away and act like a coward and make it seem like we will do nothing.

Day 4: we talked about our enemies: Syria, Lebanon and Iran

Day 5: we went to the Acco Prison to see some of the history of the country.

The week was really fun and interesting because we got to learn a lot about our selves and how the army and country works. It was also nice to finally eat good food in the army and to sleep in a building on bunk beds.

Then we went back to base and relaxed before our next week, which was guard week.

Guard week was the same as usual, with guarding at weird hours and not really doing anything fun.

Then came Passover. Passover was a lot of fun and a great experience to be on base for it. There was a lot of food to eat (finally) and it was great spending the holidays with my "family." While we all wished that we were home, we all knew that we would be spending the next 24 hours with great people and great friends. The week went by fast and now are reaping the rewards of the holiday by resting for four days.