BootCamp (Or at least something like it)

So it's been a while since the last time I wrote and in that time a lot has happened. For starters, I've moved to my new home in Kibbutz Iftach in Northern Israel. I now have a home in Israel. I want to tell you all about life on the Kibbutz and my new home but that will have to wait. There are more important things to deal with...

First off, I'm a published journalist. Check out the following link: http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/opinions/?content_id=5468



Second of all...


Two weeks ago (Sunday Aug. 24 to Thursday Aug. 28) was spent at an Army base 20 minutes outside of Haifa called Jo'ara. The 5 different garin groups from this year were there for a week long army training simulation to give us a "taste" of the army. Together the 5 garin groups numbered 160 people. We were split up by sex and then by kibbutz and placed into units which each were assigned a commander. The simulation was supposed to be as real as possible and so all we knew about our commander was that she was an attractive young Israeli woman. Only as we were leaving the base did she tell us her name (Liraz) and her age (18).

Everything was supposed to be identical to what we are going to see in the army. This ranged from discipline, food, uniform, sleeping conditions, physical activities, lessons and your relationship with your commander.

This mock simulation boot camp is called Gadna. It is run by the Israeli Army and for the most part every 11th grader in Israel goes through this simulation 2 years before they experience the real thing. The army base knew that they were getting 160 Americans between the ages of 17 - 24 and uped things a little bit and decided to show these spoiled Americans what the Israeli army was all about...


So here is how the week broke down:


**Sunday - Arrive at the base, receive uniforms, get dressed, do exercise drills and have a welcome ceremony.


**Monday - Field Day. Head off the base into the forest and hilly terrains around the base for field training.


**Tuesday - Lessons and Classes revolving around the gun, gun ethics and a lecture from a paratrooper commander who fought in the last war with Lebanon.



**Wednesday - Physical Activity and Lessons revolving around army history, weapons, and Israeli Wars of the past.


**Thursday - Woken up in the middle of the night for a trek and then the shooting range.

----------------------------------------------------------
Highlights of the week:

* The uniforms we had to wear were sooo hot. Long sleeve green shirt and long pants in 90 degree Israel sun is brutal. In addition we had to wear a hat the whole time (unless told otherwise like in the dining hall) and had to have a full water bottle attached to our belts at all time (really great to have when you need to run everywhere).

* You always need to line up. Your commander gives you times and you have to meet those times or face consequences (running or push ups of course). Each time you line up it is either in 2 lines in front of the commander or in the shape of the Hebrew letter; "Chet". A Chet is in the shape of a horse-shoe except that it is not curved. So it is 3 straight lines connected. I is hard to explain but if you google the hebrew letter "chet" you will quickly find the shape I am sure.

* On the field day, we had lunch and dinner in the field. It consisted of a few cans of vegetables and this disgusting meat in the shape of who knows what and this small knife to open the cans. When you throw food like that in front of 19 guys it gets pretty ugly pretty quickly. It was not a great experience and everyone walks away hungry.

* The end of the field day was pretty fun. It was pitch black dark and we were in this hilly-field and one commander had a night glow stick lit up and she stood at the top of this hill. Some of the other commanders scattered along the hill and we had to climb, crawl and run up the hill and attempt to reach the commander with the glow stick without being spotted. We had learned all these techniques for camouflage, climbing and crawling throughout the day and used those in this drill. It was pretty fun. I had a strategy in mind for getting there first but it didn't work and I would up way to far to the left and didn't get over in time. On the bright side, I wasn't spotted.

*On Wednesday night we were supposed to go on a trek marking the end of the week. We were told that the trek was cancelled and to go to bed. At 4 AM the next day the commanders came running to our sleeping quarters yelling to get up and dressed and ready. The trek wasn't cancelled, it was going to happen then. At first it was super slow and annoying since we were half sleeping but by the time we got back to the base at 6:30 AM after the trek it was nice and the sun was rising and it was a nice end to the week.

* At the end of each day you have one hour before bed time in which you can wear civilian clothes, shower, brush teeth and do whatever you want before it's lights out. At the end of this time you need to line up and be sent off to bed. If you are late then your group runs and does push ups (really great after you just showered).

* The shooting range was interesting. It wasn't what I thought it would be. Really having that big M-16 on your shoulder and laying on the ground shooting with huge ear phones on (the sound is ridiculous) is very weird. It all happened so fast I don't even remember aiming the gun or anything. It just happened. I am sure there will be many more shooting ranges to come from what I understand...

----------------------------------------------------------
There are a few important themes which ran throughout the week. Each theme is below along with my thoughts about them:

Discipline:
Discipline is so important in the Israeli Army and maybe even more so than in the American Army. In Israel everyone has to go to the army. It is not an option but rather an obligation. It is a sort of tax that every youth must pay. No matter whether you are male or female, rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight or any other thing you can think of, you are going to serve your country. What this means is that the Israeli Army is a melting pot for Israeli society. People come in from such different backgrounds and are given the same goal; do what you can do to defend your nation. This doesn't always have to be combat. It can be as a teacher, advisor, spokesperson, cook, driver, doctor, nurse or any other millions of jobs the army has to offer.

My Take: It was hard having an 18 year old girl tell me what to do. There is no other way to say that. I am almost 24, I've been on my own for a long time now, I pride myself on independence and this girl who was in High School last year, who still goes home to mommy and daddy on the weekends was telling me when I could go to the bathroom, what time to go to bed and correcting my posture. As hard as it was though, it was manageable. In all honesty this was something I feared the most going into the week and the commander did a great job in showing that she knew what she was talking about, that she was in control and that she was in charge. I really have to give her props for that and props for the training she had received. From her point of view I am sure it wasn't easy to command a unit of 19 American guys some of which were as much as 6 years older than her.


Ceremonies:
Ceremonies were very strict. Each morning the flag would be raised and there was a little mini-ceremony for this. The whole platoon would have to line up in a "chet" and face the commander leading the ceremony. The chet would be made up of three rows in which you had to stand exactly behind the person in front of you as straight as possible. Various officers and commanders walk between the three lines and if you move, or are not standing right or spoke or your clothes were not tucked in or a pocket open that wasn't supposed to be open, you'd be pulled back behind the line and forced to do 20 push-ups. They would make this ceremony last as long as possible each day just to see how well we could hold up and to get as many of us to do as many push ups as possible. I kind of realized how this nonsense ceremony was going to be on day one and made careful sure to not give them a reason to call me out. I managed to squeeze by the ceremony part of the week with only doing 40 push ups.

My Take: I understand the importance of the flag raising each morning. Each morning they'd stress what a privilege it was to be able to wear the uniform in front of the flag and remind you what you are fighting to defend, but all in all it was a bunch of nonsense and just a chance to test our discipline. I wasn't the biggest fan especially since the sun in Israel gets very strong very early in the morning and these uniforms were very very hot!

Gun/Weaponry:

Although it's not the highlight of the week, a big part of Gadna is carrying a weapon and going to the shooting range the last day to fire live ammunition. The gun used in Gadna is the long M-16 which is an American made gun first used in the Vietnam War and introduced to Israel in 1973. During the week we learned all the parts of the gun and were constantly tested on them. In addition we also practiced shooting the gun and what the shooting range experience was going to be like.

My Take: Carrying around this big gun is no picnic and it's not fun. At first you think you're cool and that this is going to be your new facebook profile picture (note see facebook...just kidding!! that isn't an M16 I'm holding in that picture) but after a while you realize how annoying it really is. They also make you constantly keep all five fingers from your right hand on the gun handle at all times. If they find your hand off the handle, you are dropping for push ups. Running with this gun is not fun either. When I got home from the boot camp week on Thursday I quickly realized that my shoulder was really sore from running with the gun strap pressing into my muscle.

Ethics:
Ethics and the Israeli army go hand in hand. One of the lessons on the weapon was called the "purity of the gun". It was basically a conversation or discussion on what the terms mean and how the fit together if at all. The point is that the gun is not pure. The gun is this evil invention that we are forced to use but even if we are forced to use it sometimes we need to know the right situation and considerations that need to go into it. We need to understand that pressing that trigger comes with consequences and you most always be ethical and moral, even when others including the enemies you are going to face, are not.

My Take: A lot of bad things are always said about the Israeli Army on CNN or BBC about civilians being injured and things of that nature. Many of the scenarios you hear of whether hypothetical or from Israeli history show that there are situations where you can't defend yourself because doing so would cause harm to innocent civilians and it would be un-ethical. This is something we have to deal with. I like the fact that there is so much discussion around the gun and its use. It really isn't a toy and taking a life, even of a terrorist, is something that cannot be taken lightly. I hope I never have to face that dilemma or scenario. We are a product of our time, of our country and of our scenario, and although we may not want to be sitting there in a uniform or with a gun on our shoulder, the things we are asked to do by the army are moral and are being done with a purpose. If we ever hear an order that we feel is immoral or unethical then it is our duty to disobey that order. Even if our enemies do not show us respect, we will show them respect and if they do not obied by the rules, we will even if that puts us at a greater danger. In short, no one wants war and we all want peace but we have to be prepared for the opposite at all times.

I am going into an army that believes in ethics and morals. It is an army that is built to defend its nation and homeland. I promise you all that if there is ever an instance in which I feel that the latter is not true, I WILL break the order. You know me and how I am and my word is my word. I will not do anything wrong.

Physical Abilities:
From the daily morning exercises and sports to climbing around in the field and crawling on rocks and dirt, there was a fair amount of physical aspect involved in this experience. I came back from the week sore, tired, cut up and sick and tired of push ups. Even holding my hands behind my back in attention was painful by the end. The most painful part was the bottoms of my feet. Since we wore our own shoes and not army boots, the bottoms of my feet really hurt from all the activities and from standing around. Every morning I'd take 3 advils to start my day.

My Take: It wasn't the most grueling physical stuff you will ever do in your life but it is physical. It is no surprise to anyone (including myself) that I don't exactly enjoy all these physical things and working out and all that but for the week, I did it. I learned that before the official draft date in 6 weeks or so I really need to work on getting in better shape. The way things are now I can do all that is asked of me and keep up but it will come at a steep price and the more I can do before, the better off I will be in boot camp. I mean if I can force my self to train now, I won't have to do so under the awful conditions in the army. It seems like a great idea, I just need to implement it and well, saying and doing are 2 completely different things.

--Stay tuned for the next blog in which I'll finally tell you all about my new life in my new home here at Kibbutz Iftach. I'm gathering some photos and even made this map which highlights all the places I've talked about in this blog and previous blogs so you have a better idea of where I've been. Keep the comments and updates coming please! They are not only interesting but also helpful in times when I begin missing my old life. When I say my old life I mean America, Boston, Tufts, and everything associated with that (friends, acquaintances and places). I don't know what else to call it so I'll continue calling it my old life unless some has something better to call it (suggestions welcome!).

Most importantly, I will give you my address at the Kibbutz so you can all rush to send me care packages, letters, pictures and other goodies from the U.S. so I can think about you even more!

ilan hits up Southern Israel

First off, I am very angry (can you sense the anger in my tone) that I have not received any updates from any of you people. I also want to hear about your lives (clearly mine is more interesting but still!) Even if all you did was go to work and come home every day and you went out for a drink with work friends one day, I want to hear about it! Otherwise I have no idea what is going on back there. Are you happy? Sad? Having fun? Bored? on Vacation? Anything?!?!?! Are you watching the Olympics and find yourself cheering for Israel because of me?

FYI: Part of this blog is supposed to be picture updates and I'm realizing that I'm not doing such a great job with the pictures part of this blog. Someone needs to remind me to get on that (someone? anyone? hello? does anyone even read this?!?!).



Timeline Update: In less than 6 days (Thursday Aug. 14th at 06:00 AM EST but hey who is counting anyway right?!) I'll be leaving the comfort, humidity, and social scene that is Tel Aviv for Kibbutz Iftach in... Bumble Fu ...Northern Israel. Should be a good time!



News Update: Anywhooo so since last time, i received an e-mail from the Jewish Advocate (A Jewish Weekly Newspaper in Boston) asking me to write a weekly column for them about my life here. So I'm going to do that just so you know and if you happen to pick up a copy of the Jewish Advocate at some point I will impart more of my wisdom on you.



So before we went up North, it felt only right to go as far South as possible while still staying in Israel. Myself along with 13 other Garin Tzabar members of mine headed down to Eilat (Southern most city in Israel) for a week of fun and relaxing. This wikipedia link has some good stuff about Eilat but I'm going to give you my take on it anyway. Am I saying that I'm better than Wikipedia? Yes.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eilat



Eilat: So Eilat is really as far South as you can go in Israel and is located on the Red Sea on the borders where Israel, Jordan and Egypt meet. While in Eilat you can look out over the Red Sea and in the distance see the beginning of Saudi Arabia (they don't really like us yet, but we'll address that next blog). The bus ride from Tel Aviv to Eilat was about $45 USD round trip. It's no Fung-Wa but it will do. The ride down took about 5.5 hours with two worthless 15 minute stops in there somewhere. In Eilat there are tons of tourists from all over the world. I think the foreign language I heard the most was French. There are also alot of non-Jewish Africans down there working and such. Turns out that even though Sudan hates Israel, and no one else really agreed, Israel took in thousands of refugees from areas such as Darfur.




The Days: Okay before I tell you about my days in Eilat, let me describe the weather for you because it's really like nothing I've ever experienced before (well other than the other times I was in Eilat). So the bus arrived at around 2 PM in Eilat and we stepped out of the bus and it was 112 degrees F with a humidity of about 12%. What does this mean? Well clearly it means it was hot as hell but also that you don't really sweat. Well you do sweat technically but you don't feel it (I don't want to confuse my liberal arts friends). You walk down the street and all of a sudden your mouth feels really dry and your tongue as well and you are thirsty without even realizing it. The speed at which this happens is ridiculous. You basically always need to have water with you. I brought down my camel pack with me and at first everyone laughed that I walked around with it but by the end of the trip everyone was going to go buy one. If you are wondering what the low temperature is, it is around 88 degrees F and it happens at around 5 AM.

Right so back to the days. So the days are great, not a cloud in the sky and hot. By the time we woke up each day it was about 11 AM or noon so we'd head right down to the beach. Pretty much the same place everyone down there heads to when they wake up. The beach is loud! There are bars/restaurants along it that are blasting this trance music. It's actually pretty annoying. Then there is the chair guy. This bum lays out these crappy chairs all along the beach and naturally everyone sits down on them cause the sand is too hot and then he comes over and makes you pay 8 dollars US for each chair. It's such a sucker deal because the chairs pretty much take up the whole beach and if you don't use one you don't really have anywhere to sit. I guess I'm just ranting about this cause I'm annoyed I didn't come up with the idea first.

We'd go in the water and then on the shore till we were way too hot and then repeat a bunch of times until we'd finally be too hot. The water there is super salty. Not sure why really. When you dry up in the sun on shore you have these white salt marks on your skin. Everyone has them. It's quite sexy I must say (umm no it isn't). Usually after boiling on the beach we'd head to the mall (also on the beach) have some lunch and then back to the hotel for a dip in the pool (gotta get that salt off somehow right?) and then a little siesta before the night begins...

The Nights: The nights are pretty ridiculous and kind of start at sun down and end at sun-rise. What is interesting is that the people you see at night are pretty much the same you see in the daytime on the beaches (just a little more drunk). There are all these clubs about a block or so from the main beach strip. This one club is kind of a fenced off area in the middle of the sidewalk. We went there twice and the waitresses at this place dance on the tables (pretty interesting). It kind of felt like freshmen year of college with pre-gaming the hotel and then making our way over to frat row. There is every type of bar/club/scene you could ask for. There is the Irish bar, the trance music bar, the club that only plays black music, the club for 12 - 17 year olds, the strip clubs, etc. We tried them all out at some point (except for the 12-17 year old club since that would be sketchy). We were a large group so we split up at points but usually got back to the hotel at the same time (around 4 am or so). All in all the nights were really fun. I couldn't help feel that had I been a little younger like 18 or 19 years old, I would have enjoyed that scene much more but hey, whatever man. I'm doing a great job...

The In between:

So between the stops at the beach and clubs we actually did some cool things. On the second day there, we rented these ATV's (2 people per each) and went on a two hour ride through the red mountains of Eilat. It was alot of fun. We couldn't go as fast as we wanted since the guide was a bit anal but it was still fun. The first hour was geared at getting to this canyon in the middle of nowhere (as if this city wasn't in the middle of nowhere). We got there and for the first and only time all week we could hear quiet. Just our voices and it was awesome. Since there were two people in each, I drove on the way back. I'll be honest, about 2 minutes after I started to drive, we may or may not have driven into a small ditch and had the ATV flip over on top of us. If this did happen, it wasn't my fault and I have a nice black and blue (and yellow and purple) bruise to prove it. Must have been a faulty ATV...we flipped it back over and continued to drive the hour back and no one really noticed. One interesting thing on this little journey was that somewhere along the way we must have been close to the border because my cell phone switched on to the Jordanian Cell network and started talking to me in Arabic. Weird eh?

So the other cool adventure we had was the Snorkeling we did one day. It was about 35 shekels (10 USD) for 3 hours. You got the equipment and were free to wander. It was really cool there were some ridiculously awesome colored fish all around this area and some reefs too. The fish ranged from about the size of a can to the size of a large football. Speaking of footballs, me and two other guys were walking down the beach complaining about how we didn't bring a football with us to Israel and boom, all of a sudden we look down and there was a football. Yea so we stole it and now we have a football. If you were in Eilat last week and had a Nike Football that disappeared, sorry about that. It wasn't personal.

--------------------------------




Okay so next time (can't guarantee when that will be since I am moving on Thursday) I'm going to finally share with you my plans for taking over the world AKA my view of politics and the future of the Middle East...after all if I'm going to live here, there might as well be a future no? I'll also let you know how life on a farm (AKA kibbutz) is.

The 4 Questions (Not the Passover Version)

There are soo many questions that I've been asked by so many people and I don't think I've ever given the exact same answer to the same question. I want to try and change that here by answering here some of the most common questions in full. I hope this will help some of you out there (if there is anyone out there listening/reading) to understand a little bit better just what is going on in that complicated area we call ilan's mind...

Before we get into the questions, let me share a link to an article which was written about me in the Jewish Advocate which is a Jewish Community Newspaper in Boston:
http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/news/?content_id=5268

Question #1
Ilan What are you doing?
Well what I am doing is two-fold. The first thing I am doing (or for that matter have done already) is make Aliyah and move to Israel. I haven't denounced my American Citizenship or anything like that for that matter (don't plan on it either). So I have re-located myself, my fiances, my health insurance and civic duties from America where they have been for so many years already to Israel where they only existed in the mid 1980's when I was too young to remember. Israel is now my home and place of residence for the future.

In addition to making Aliyah I am fulfilling the Israeli civic duty of mandatory military service. If I were to move to Israel before the age of 25 I would have to do at least six months of military training and service. I've gone ahead and chosen to do the full three years even though at my age (23 which is old) I would only be required to do 6 months. Not everything in the military is combat based. Having a high education background such as mine would put me in a good spot to work professionally during my army service in the fields of engineering and public health within the army. I am purposefully chosen to decline that option and go with the standard combat service that stigmatizes the Israeli Defense Forces (Infantry, Tanks, Paratroopers, Uzis, and M16s)

In Summary: I am moving from America to Israel. In Israel I will perform my civic duty and serve in the IDF for three years. I did NOT move to Israel just to serve in the army.

Question #2
Ilan Why are you doing this?

Again on this questions let's make some order in how we are answering what.
Why am I moving to Israel? I am moving to Israel and making Aliyah to Israel because from a very early age, Israel has been a part of me and I a part of it (that is at least what I like to tell myself). I was born in Israel, my roots are in Israel and the region and I am one of those people that believes that the place and true home of all Jewish People is in Israel.
Everything I just said is meant to show and highlight the fact that leaving America and coming to Israel has almost all to do with Israel and very little to do with America.
America is an amazing country with so many amazing people, cultures, policies, freedoms and ideals. It is a country like no other in the world. I loved my time in America and America was soo good to me.

The time I spent in America was great and rewarding. I lived a privileged life surrounded by wonderful people. I get along very very well with my parents who I love very much and my younger brother as well. We are a tight-knit small 4 person family who saw many good times together. When I went to college at Tufts in Boston I truly found the most amazing people who I KNOW will go on to be the next shakers and movers of the world. I had a group of guy friends second to none and a group of the loveliest, classiest most understanding female friends as well. If I wasn't lucky enough, I went on to meet a girl that I would fall madly deeply in love with and form this amazing special connection with her which I truly feel that only the two of us can understand. A relationship which has undergone bumps and bruises but is strong enough to transcend them as well as any geographical barriers.

Read the latter and realize how great it was for me and how hard it is for me to leave this all behind. I was not lonely, or sad or poor. I wasn't lost or wandering. I was content. I wasn't running away from anything but rather running toward something; to Israel. And whether it was right or not or whether this is my Achilles' heal, Israel came before it all.

In Summary: Leaving was so hard but it was inevitable. It was/is who I am and I truly believe that as difficult as it may be, if you really understood me, if you really 'got' me, you understand it too.

Question #3
Ilan When did you decide to do all this?

When did I decide I wanted to move to Israel? I really believe that the answer to this was a long time ago when I first left Israel as a child. I don't think it ever clicked in my little stubborn head that America was home and Israel was no longer that home. There are countless stories my family tells of times when I would either pack a small suitcase as a 5 year old and ask when we were going home to Israel to others which I'd be glad to share if people want. The stories exist, the path and destiny were written and here I am today. Most recently though, I decided to move to Israel this summer once I would have finished my studies at Tufts and in which the next step would be the "real world". I decided that this time would be the most appropriate to pick up and move. But the army also had a role in this. If I left any later, let's say at age 30, then army service would become less meaningful at such an "old" age.

When did I decide that I wanted to go to the army? I get asked this question alot too. People want to know when I broke the news to my parents and how they reacted to it. I am not sure there ever was one such instance. What I do know is that during my bar-mitzva speech (which I heard was pretty damn good if I do say so myself...I mean I did write it...) at age 13, I wrote a line in there that said that when I become of age at 18, I too would serve to defend Israel just like countless biblical figures had done and countless family members had done (obviously I have a copy of this speech somewhere safe). Apparently from that point on, it was in my head that I would be serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. Going back to the original point of my parents, I truly feel that they knew from that point on (age 13) that their oldest son would be serving in the Israeli Army. That may have been the time when they had to "take and deal " with the news. It was just a matter of time after that...I guess they can always look back and be happy that they managed to get me to delay it for 5 years as I'll be entering the IDF at age 23 instead of 18.

Summary: I was born to return to Israel (just like the Jewish people in someways) and the army is very strongly correlated with that. This did not just drop out of nowhere.

Question #4
Okay so let's say your survive three years in the IDF, then what Ilan?

It would be foolish and untruthful of me (which defeats the purpose of this blog) to tell you that I know exactly what I want to do when my three years are up. How could I know? I will have been put through so much, seen so much and probably done so much that could influence the rest of my life during these three years. My official stance and answer to this question is that up until the day before my release from the army I will not know where my mind set will be and where it will put me out into the world. I will of course share my thoughts and mindsets with you throughout the journey but I can make no guarantees and I hope you can understand and respect that.

Upcoming Post: I'm going to Eilat this Sunday - Thursday (Southern most point in Israel - Resort on the Red Sea), and also my political commentaries!

The other "stuff"

So believe it or not jumping loop-holes through Israeli ministries and such is not the highlight of my day or of my time in Israel so far. There has been a good amount of socializing going on or what I like to call "the other stuff"...

- - The White City - -

For those that don't know, Tel Aviv is referred to as the "White City". What does this mean? Well it means that the city and people in the city don't go to sleep and stay awake all night. This brings me to my first story about the "White Night".

On Thursday July 3, there was a "White Night" in Tel Aviv. It was a night that was planned by the city and such that spanned from 9PM on 7/3 until 7 AM on 7/4. There were concerts going on all across the beaches, dances, art exhibitions, folk dancing, lessons, and other cultural things all over the city (not just the beach). There were a few really cool concerts scheduled for sunrise which sounded great as well. So I was out that night with a few Garin members and some other friends who met other friends and we became this group of 15 or so by the end of the night. We were at the beach for most of the night but we were talking to other friends who were in different parts of Tel Aviv and said it was awesomd and everyone was out.

For a country which gets much bad publicity in the news for the wrong reasons, it was really comforting and fun to see this awesome social, cultural night life going on where everyone was just happy to be there...

Side Note: The first time I heard this term "White Night" was when I was hearing about my cousin's basic training in the army. They had these "White Nights" in which they would go to sleep and be woken up 2 hours later in the middle of the night in order to do training drills all night long. Really sounds like something great that I am looking forward to in the army (please note the sarcasm).

- - My first Encounter with the Springs Obsession - -

It wasn't until this visit to Israel that I realized that there was this cultural obsession with water springs. I guess it makes sense that for a country in the middle of the middle east any encounter with water would be exciting but I was still surprised to learn about it.

I went to Jerusalem to meet up with my friend Shlomit who lives there and who was off from the army for the weekend (She's a paramedic in the army). I knew we were going hiking but wasn't too sure where. She told me we were going to a spring and I was like whatever sounds great.

So we drive and park and hike and walk and get to this little spring in the middle of this field and unload our stuff. Around us there are these make-shift benches and decorations and a bon-fire pit. It was weird to see all this considering we were in the middle of nowhere. But apparently as Shlomit explained to me, Israeli youths like to go to these springs all over the country and camp out (sometimes over night) and just chill and relax near them. When a new spring area is found the first people who go there bring decorations and garbage bags and clean up the area around it and make it nice so that others can enjoy it (pretty neat idea). The spring we were at was actually in memory of a soldier who died 2 years ago that his friends spruced up. There was a lock-box near the camp site with pictures of the solider and his friends. It was really cool. Shlomit came prepared with this little gas stove and coffee and tea and it was awesome.

After the spring we went back to her house and got showered and ate Shabbat dinner (Friday night) with her family who happens to be observant and keeps Shabbat. It's no secret that I'm pretty secular but even so, Shabbat in Jerusalem just really has this great feel to it. Hard to explain...

- - Garin Members - -

While I do have friends and family here, the people I've been hanging out with most are those that are in my Garin group. In total we are 32 and I'd say over half of us are here already. The first official day is August 14th at the Opening Ceremony but we have a solid group that likes each other already. From what I hear of other Garin groups of the past (and even this year) we really hit it off with each other and are more social pre-ceremony than othe groups. I guess it will only get better from here as the opening ceremony is only 20 days away now!

- - The Car - R.I.P - -

So for the past 17 years (Yes, 17!), my grandparents have had the same white Subaru Legacy which they barely used. The car only has 75, 000 KM on it which roughly translates to, 46,600 miles. That is about 2,741 miles a year. Clearly ridiculous right? So yea, the car was old but not used often, you get the point. Anyway, so every time I've been in Israel since I started driving (I'm 23 now and my birthday is 12/4/84 (I like checks and cash)), I've used this car to get around.

On Wednesday night (early Thursday) at 2:45 AM I was driving my friend back home after a night out in Tel Aviv. It was only about a 20 minute ride. We got off the highway at their exit and all of a sudden the car started smoking and just stalled in the middle of the exit. Now I'm not advocating speeding or anything but let's be honest, in the middle of the night when the road is empty people are speeding and zipping by us while we are just stalled in the middle of the exit. We get out to push the car to the side of the road (smoking from under the hood continues) and really have no idea what to do. These two police-0fficers came by to make sure we weren't sketchy and helped us. I guess the radiator was hot from some of the hills on the highway. Yada Yada Yada, we call a tow-truck who gives us a time estimate of "within 2 hours" (very helpful really) and we wait. The car gets towed but I can't go with it so I stay over my friends house and wait till the morning when I can catch a bus back home. Of course my friend has to live in the middle of nowhere so door to door it takes me 4 hours to get from their house to my grandparents house. I check in on the car, and the car is dead. Like really dead. That was the last kilometer he'd ever see. Poor Bastard... Even worse, now ilan has to take buses and taxis and such. My grandparents went to buy a new car today which is supposedly coming August 10th (stay tuned for updates on that).

- - A different kind of all-nighter - -

Back-tracking now to the night before the car died, we had a different kind of all-nighter. So throughout the summer this organization called Nefesh B' Nefesh is having these flights from America, Canada and England which are full of Olim (people moving to Israel). About 6 members of my garin (you should know what this means by now) were on a flight that left JFK in NY on July 21 (the flight I was originally on for those keeping track) and landed in Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning (7:30 AM Israel time, 12:30 AM EST AKA Boston time).

So anyway, about 4 of us from my garin decided it would be a really fun idea to go and surprise them at the airport and welcome them. Because this was a full flight of olim (220 people), there was going to be a welcome ceremony at the airport starting at 7 AM. We decided it was a great idea but the only way it was going to happen was if we stayed up all night and went straight to the airport at 6 AM. So we did that except we didn't really plan well. We ran out of money at around midnight and were stuck on the beach in Tel Aviv with no money (and therefore not much to do). We bought a bottle of something and that lasted us a bit but we still had too much time to kill. We talked to random people but that also didn't go far. We finally found this piece of cardboard and somehow got a hold of a pen and made the most ghetto sign possible to hold up when we saw our friends at the airport. The story is better if you were there or I guess if you were one of the people coming off a 10 hour flight and saw us, but the point of the story is that I need to live it up before the army and this was just one of those things I had to do.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And Next Time... A look at some of my political thoughts/ideas and how they tie in (if at all) with what I'm doing in Israel. Also, next time I'm going to answer the "7 questions" which are basically the 7 questions I get asked most often about what I am doing and why I am doing it. If you have a specific question just ask it in the comments section and I'll answer it in the next blog.

Welcome to the Holy-Land

A little over three weeks have passed since I left the comfort of the USA and headed to Israel to start a new part of my life. I'm not starting this new journey in life alone. I'm part of a group of 32 people who are returning from the States to Israel to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) just like me. We're ages 18 - 24 and about half male half female. The group is through the Israeli Scouts Movement and is called Garin Tzabar. My group is called a 'garin'. I figured that enough time has gone by that an update was in order so here it is, my first shot at writing a blog...

- - Officially Returning to Israel - -

In all honesty, I don't think it has quite hit me yet that this is for real. To some degree it still feels like a regular yearly vacation that I've been used to taking in Israel. Sometimes when I think about the people and places I've said goodbye to in the States it hits me that the next time I'd possibly be able to see them is probably sometime next May or June during one of the "special" vacations I get from the army as a "lonely soldier" (a soldier whose parents are not in Israel while they are serving in the army). Only then does it seem real.

- - Israeli Bureaucracy - -

As soon as I disembarked from the El Al airplane in Tel Aviv on June 25th, the lengthy process of dealing with Israeli bureaucracy began. Israeli government offices and institutions are notoriously known for being slow, drawn out, and known for their love of sending you in circles. My flight was filled with 50 other singles and families making Aliyah (moving to Israel). When we got off the airplane we were sent straight to the Ministry of Immigrant Affairs which has an office in the airport. Most of the 50 people got their first government subsidy and immigrant cards but since I was not technically a new immigrant I was given a phone number and instructions to call it. I called but the person on the other end of the phone didn't know why I was calling and gave me another phone number. After a few more rounds of this I had an appointment set with the Immigration Ministry in Tel Aviv. I was told that before I went for my appointment, I'd need a bank account. I went to the bank the next day and was told that before I could have a bank account I would need a national I.D. card. Before I got an I.D. card I would need a letter from the army. I figured the best bet would be to go to the army and ask for some sort of paper or note stating that I haven't been running away from my service since I was 18.

The army didn't necessarily agree with this assessment from the start and was wondering where I'd been for the past 5 years. I explained to them but they didn't really want anything to do with me. They said that my "file" was being overseen by the recruitment office in Tveria (in the North). I pretended like I didn't know where that was (since it was inconvenient for me and 2 hours away) and asked them to try and take care of this here in the Tel Aviv area. I was told to wait and as minutes turned into hours wasn't too sure what was going to happen. I called the Garin Tzabar office here in Israel and explained to them what was going on and they said they'd make a few calls and get back to me. They called back 10 minutes later and said that within the next 10 minutes I'd be all set. Surely enough 10 minutes later an army representative came out of the office and gave me the letter I had been seeking. Lesson from this: having connections in Israel doesn't hurt.

From there I was able to setup a bank account, get my national I.D. card and number and also my immigration papers setup including my subsidy of 1500 shekels a month for the first year. I also got a new cell phone (pretty sweet little Nokia device) and managed to setup health insurance (this was almost as frustrating as the army process and took over 2 weeks to setup). The last thing I'm waiting for now is to convert over my driver's license. In order to do this I need to take one driving lesson with a teacher, have an eye exam and physical, and pass a driving exam.

- - Timeline of What is to Come - -

Right now I am living with my grandparents in Givataym which is a suburb of Tel Aviv.

August 14th - Move to a Kibbutz in Northern Israel with my 'Garin' group (32 youths).

Mid-September - The process of becoming a soldier begins. This includes physical, psychological and intellectual tests which will determine much about my service in the IDF.

Early November - Draft date into the IDF. Basic Training begins and will last between 4 - 8 months (again depends on what I'll be doing in the end).

- - Prisoner Exchange with Lebanon - -
Probably the biggest piece of news to happen while I've been here has been the prisoner exchange with Lebanon which happened this past Wednesday 7/16. A good summary of the deal can be seen here: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gGxpzWERVNq09cHSTuA2GNHHsB3QD91V6IV00

Around the country, there have been a lot of mixed feelings about this deal and what it means and such. For myself it is also difficult to exactly determine what emotion I am feeling. Not having done the exchange would have left questions as to what happened to the soldiers and would have been difficult on their families. I think the best way to look at it is the way the President of Israel did. He said "...if the heavens asked me to which people I would rather belong, the people in mourning over the deaths of two of its soldiers or the people rejoicing gin the return of a craven murderer whose mark of Cain can never be erased, then the answer is clear."

I would most certainly agree with him on this.


Coming up in the next few days...my social life in Israel and what else I've been up to when not running around the bureaucracy circles.