Saturday, November 28, 2009

I'm going to the Army May 4th, 2010

Hag Samach Everyone! Happy Thanksgiving/Turkey Day.

First off, My Thanksgiving... Well because I'm with a bunch of American's we held our own dinner for the Ulpan. A few of the girls decorated and cooked all the food. Chicken, Sweet potato pie, stuffing, salad, and spiked apple cider. Not quiet like my families great cooking, but it worked. They did make Pumpkin Pie, but it was with Coconut milk...no kosher...not lactose free...and I hate coconuts. Oh Well. The best part of the day was that in class we made turkeys with our hands...it was just like 4th grade.

Second...
I got my second Yom Gius Letter from the IDF. Its my draft date. The first letter said, September 5th, 2010...a day before my 23rd Birthday. Well that night I got a call from the army, my friend, saying that she changed my draft date to the 4th of May. I also got the official letter this week.

When I go on May 4th, I will get all setup for Mikve Alon, Army Ulpan. Depending on how good my hebrew is, will determine how long I will be in the program. After a few weeks of training, I will start hebrew classes. Sometime durning Mikve Alon, I will get to figure out where I will be serving the rest of my two years.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I'm so glad Static Electricity doesn't Kill

To start off this post I want to recommend a book to all those that are interested in serving in the IDF. Brotherhood of Warriors by Aaron Cohen.
It is a great book about a kid that grew up in Califoria, got tired of his home, went to Military school in Canada and then make Aliyah, joined the IDF in a special forces unit.
***I read it in a day*** Its a really good read.


Army Update:
I haven't gotten my draft letter yet from the Army this week. I'm starting to get to know the Israeli way and decided that I might need to start making some calls to see where my file was. I called Nefesh B'Nefesh...they couldn't do anything, so I called a friend of mine that works in לשכת גיוס, she is the girlfriend of a guy in my Ulpan. This turned out to be a great idea. I called her up and she looked into my file. Turns out my file had not be finished yet, but there was no explanation she could give. She emailed the head of the board in Haifa. I also wanted to get into the Army Ulpan starting in December, but it is a bit close and everyone kept telling me that it was full and I would have to wait until May. She emailed the officer about both issues. So he gets back to her, that my file can't be closed, because I am in my first year in Israel and Olim don't get drafted their first year. I had sent in a letter forgiving that right a few months ago, but I guess it got lost. So I sent in another yesterday. Well so that pretty much pushed me right out of being drafted in December.

Problem... I now have to figure out what to do from Feb 2nd to May... I have no clue what to do now, but I do have a few options.
1. Stay at the same Kibbutz and do another ulpan for three months or stay on the kibbutz if there is room and work...
2. Find another Kibbutz Ulpan that will start in December and go until May.
3. Find something to do until August and then join Garin Sabar. This is a really good program which is another kibbutz ulpan, but it is a group of Olim all going to the army together. They provide ulpan and pre army training. A really good option, but far away.


Work Update:
So for the title of this post...  On Monday I got moved temporary inside the factory to work at the end of the assembly line. This was one of my hardest days of work in the factory. It wasn't hard physically really, but the stuff never stops and if you take too long of a break it all gets backed up and everyone is screwed. I was on my feet almost 7 hours in my shitty work boots, in a very loud factory...and it was raining outside. We made huge piles of PVC sheets and let me tell you... this builds up a lot of static electricity that came to a surprise to me. I should have seen it coming though, I would get two-four feet away from the pile and all my arm hair was on the rise. I had to straighten out the last sheet my partner just put on the pile and I leaned over the pile to do so. As soon as I touched the sheet, I jumped a foot up in the air and let out a scream...HOLY Shit, that hurt, but mostly surprised me. I have been electrocuted a few too many times in my life, even by a wall socket and this had to be one of the biggest shocks I've had...so I'm so glad Static Electricity doesn't KILL, or leave any damage.

Well, I've got a oral presentation on Thursday, so I've got to go practice now. Its 20 mins of me speaking in Hebrew about how I became so attached to Israel. Maybe I'll post it...for the Hebrew readers.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Rain Rain Rain Geshem

I am now finally better this week! I feels very different and I forgot how good it feels to fell good. Funny how that works right?

Well I went back to work last Friday and it had to be the coldest morning I have had in Israel. I worked for about an hour, decided that I would get sick again if I stayed outside, so I went back to bed... and then got ready to travel to Jerusalem for the weekend. I was going just to hang out and get off the kibbutz and to see my friend Lisa from College. My ulpan was doing a tour of Jerusalem on Sunday, so I would be able to spend all weekend in Jerusalem and meet up with them on Sunday.