Home Searching :/

This cat got me in trouble by the way.  You aren't allowed to have animals on you or pet them when in uniform, Its really really hard for me. When ever I see them I just want to play with them. I love animals. Some General walking by saw that she jumped on me and started pointing and yelling at me. I had no idea what was going on untill I realized the cat was on me. hehe silly me.

So anyway this whole apartment searching thing is slightly difficult. Everything is so expensive and its obvious that the army wont help me since they put me in this position. I hope I can work everything out soon. I found out where a few soldier hostels are. I by myself found good ones. It just goes to show how much effort they put into their Lone Soldiers.
But anyway Im positive I will get through this and I will have a place to live. I will be okay.

Cute kitty. Right before I got yelled at by the General dude. :P

Shmira 2.

This says Neshkia. Neshkia is the place where we keep the guns at the base. Why someone would want ME to guard there is beyond me. Neshek is the word for gun in hebrew.
Guarding at Neshkia was one of the scariest things ever. Probably because it was 2am and hearing a pack of wolves or Tan as I was told. Also animal calls are scary.
I thought I saw someone dancing and I heard weird Arab music. It was just too fucked up. I said "Stop, who are you, etc.." Whatever it was stopped moving and then I started hearing weird bird calls on a timed pattern. First every 15 minutes, then every 5 minutes, then every 10 minutes. yikes. Also I heard the wolves. I think they found food or were under attack because they were howling like crazy. I think one or two started crying. I heard bottles being thrown in between the vehicles. It was so scary. I went to call it in but then a mefakedet came and I told her instead. Then maybe a half hour later it was time to switch, so I told the mefakedet that checked me out of duty.

 The only English written graffiti I could find. Go figure.

Some more random graffiti. It was everywhere. There was Hebrew, Russian, and Spanish. Probably more.

Okay so Shin Gimel. Shin Gimel is the front gate. The main entrance. That was 3 hours of my life that I can not get back. There was another soldier who was guarding with me. He was not from my tsevvet or my course. He was in an entirely other group. He was opening and closing the gate. He was disgusting. Not in the eat like a pig way. But manner wise he was a perverted pig. For 3 hours I had to listen to him ask me "Why wont you fuck me? Is it because Im black? Will you leave your boyfriend for me? Does he satisfy you? Why are you so shy? Why wont you open up a little? Can you dance for me a little?" Honestly it was so disgusting and perverted. He was insulted when I said "No." Then he asked if I hate black people. He told me about all the girls he liked to have sex with and how much he likes Latina girls. This is not things I want to know. When I sat down he took a broom and kept hitting the barrel( kaneh in hebrew) of my M16. He kept showing off his M16. Honestly it was just so disgusting and childish. He kept trying to hurt the cats walking around. That just pissed me off. If you know me, you know I absolutely love animals. I was so glad when his time was up and he left.

The best part about Shin Gimel is that some random soldier driving in and out went to McDonalds. He came back with McDonald toys. He threw us Yellow Jacket plushed toys. I think they are from a movie or something. I dont know. Mine was a yellow jacket pilot. He had the plane hat and goggles on. It was cute.

So those are my stories for Shmira. Till next time folks.

Shmira 1.

Shmira- Guarding.
Okay so I had 4 Shmira times.
The first was at the bunkers. I did the bunkers first and last. The second was the Neshkia. The third was the main entrance gate.
Nothing really happened. It was just in the middle of a 3 way dirt road on the base. The first time was 10-12 then the second time was 4-6. When I say 4-6, I mean AM not PM. I was lucky I got it when it was nice and cool and when there was absolutely nothing going on. The first time there was a jogger and that was absolutely it. A yellow jacket and flies kept buzzing around. They were annoying. The first time I guarded the bunkers it was a girl from my tsevvet named Margarita. She speaks only Russian. The second time was with a girl who's name is Alina. Speaks Russian and Hebrew. We didn't speak though.
Okay picture time!
The top picture was on the door of the bunker. I think it explains it perfectly. I broke the rules of Shmira by talking on the phone and eating snacks. Sorry. I was hungry and lonely(This is to any mefakedot who read this or anyone from the army for that matter)
Okay now more photos.

1.

2.

3.

The first picture is my favorite. It is a sweet turtle. It was cute.

The second picture is for my mom. She asked if there were any peace signs. I found one.

The last one is written in hebrew and it says "I dont understand the need to be here. Why am I here?" Its a rough translation because I dont really remember the exact words and I cant really read it because of the picture quality.

Okay now onto the next blog post. :)

Yom Sidurim

Yom Sidurim is a day where we get off to run errands that we havent had time to do. For example going to the bank, the phone company etc...
My Yom Sidurim was not fun. I had to go to the Ministry of Interior to try and become a citizen. Apparently its smarter if you are. You get helped more. I need the help. One of the Mefakedets went with me. She really had no idea what she was doing. It was obvious she had never been there before. I needed an address and I dont have one. So I called David and asked to use his address. Turns out because I didnt use a Tel Aviv address I cant go to the Ministry in Tel Aviv. Because I used an Or Akiva address I have to go to the Ministry in Hadera. So next Yom Sidurim I have, I go to Hadera.
I had to move out of the dorms so because of this I am now homeless. I am staying at Davids house for a little bit. During the week I stay at the base. Weekends will either be at the base, Davids house, or a Beit Chayal. A beit chayal is a soldier hostel. The literal translation is Soldier House.
The Mishakitash gave me a beit chayal last week. So I went to look for it. Funny doesnt exist. If it does it is no where to be found. She never even gave me an address just bus routes. So I went to the bus and went to the towns searched the towns and asked people but funny, no one has heard or seen of it. I also saw no soldiers what so ever. I called her for 2 hours straight. Got no answer. I went back to the dorms and looked up online the hostel. Its not a hostel its a hotel apparently. Turns out I was in the right place too. She finally TEXTED not called TEXTED me asking where I was around 11.
This week I was supposed to go there again. I was smart this time. I looked for an address. The website is shut down. Also I found website reccommendations of the place. If that place is open I have no idea how. That is just horrible. No human should ever let a human have conditions like that. It was just disgusting and horrible. Dead animals, no water, no food, the staff steals your things, cat urine everywhere, broken windows and furniture. Sorry, but no. They wanted me to live there for a month or two.  I understand its only on weekends but still. No. Absolutely not. Id rather sleep on the streets. I guess Ill be sleeping on base now to get my point across.
This weekend Im going to spend it looking for apartments. I have a search to do. Ill put the guarding post with pictures up in a little bit. If not today, then tomorrow. :)
I have alot of work to do next Yom Sidurim. I know its possible to get more then once a month so Im gonna try for that.
Till the next post peeps.
Lesson Learned this week: Crying makes you feel better for a little bit but worse after and wont help you at all.

Finished Basic...basically.

IM DONE WITH BASIC TRAINING!!!! In hebrew Tironut.
Well Im done with the physical part. I have 1 or 2 written tests and then Im officially done and I start with Ulpan. My ceremony is on Tuesday at 4 in some jail in Akko. Apparently the jail isnt used anymore. My ulpan starts on Wednesday and is for 2 months.
Im so glad its finished. It was a really short week. We went in on Sunday and left Wednesday afternoon.
We woke up early on Monday and went out to the fields where we learned the basics in Combat. We practiced those for a few hours then went to the shooting fields where we had more shooting practices. We also spent the night there. And we had Shmira in the middle of the night. Shmira is guard duty. It was only for a half hour/ hour. It wasn't too bad. They would wake us up in the middle of the night and pretend we were under attack. They wanted to see how long it would take for us to get into position.
In the morning we had our 5 kilometer walk. That is only like 2.75 miles. It really wasnt bad at all. I dont know why everyone was complaining. Its the same thing we do everyday just not in a field. But whatever. They can complain all they want.
Im proud I finished.
Tuesday Night we went to a special ceremony for the 65th year after the holocaust. We were invited by Gabi Ashkenazi who didnt even show, he wanted new olim soldiers to go. New Olim are new citizens. Im not a citizen but maybe in time I will be. It will benefit me greatly to be a citizen in the army. The president and prime minister of Israel were there. It was really cool. It was all pretty much in Russian though which in a way sucked. I dont know Russian and its all I hear every day all day. I want to learn hebrew not russian. And to be honest it sucks when they refuse to try and learn and just be with other russians. How can we function as a group if we cant communicate? Im trying, why cant you?
The next day was Wednesday. Yay!!! We got to sleep till 830 which was great. We went down to Chet, ate breakfast, then went to a raising the flag ceremony. Natan Sharansky was there. He talked to some people when walking through the base. Then finally around 230 we went home.

President of Israel: Shimon Peres.

Prime Minister of Israel: Benyamin Netanyahu

Natan Sharansky...I have no idea who he is or his importance but apparently hes important and was once in the Knesset.

Week 2.

Oh boy. What a week. It was crazy.
On monday we went to the fields for shooting. It was scary to be honest. I didnt want to break my nose from the force of shooting. You know when you fire a gun and then theres like that whiplash after? I forgot  what its called.  I surprisingly did really really good. I impressed myself. I have no sense of aim at all. Apparently I do...somewhat. We spent the ENTIRE day there. We had 2 or 3 rounds of shooting during the day and then one at night. The night was scary because the girl next to me couldnt keep her gun straight. I couldnt wait till she was done.
We got back at 930 at night. I was so tired. On tuesday the base left so it was just my course and those who had to stay for the weekend. It was our turn to do guard duty. That will be another update because I have pictures :P We didnt really do anything Tuesday or Wednesday. It was pretty much guard go to sleep wake up guard go to sleep. Then Thursday we went back to normal. I had kitchen duty the first half. It was fun. You dont do anything. You sit there and get people food when they want food. The kitchen ladies were so funny.
There was a sports test that I didn't do because I got a doctors note saying not to run. I really hurt myself monday when I fell. They already know how well I'd do because Im the only one in my group legitimately running and trying to do this. Its a joke to everyone else. You know what? Fuck 'em because I know the other groups and my Mefakedet sees how hard I am trying. They see how much this means to me. I know its not for nothing. Emotionally and mentally its frustrating and hard. But its really not bad at all besides that.
Supposedly next week I get out on Wednesday (YAY!) because Thursday we have our errand day. Next week is the last week of basic training and then its Ulpan the week after next week. Ulpan im expecting to be very very boring.

Okay so the next blog update will be about guarding and with pictures :P
I have to go see my friends for dinner.



I also want to take the time to say RIP Anthony Bertolini. You will be missed so much.
He was a friend of mine from high school who died. <3 June 6,1990 - May 15,2010. Love you. Keep it Q with Scottie up in Heaven. <3

 RIP Anthony. Love you <3 You will never be forgotten.

Week 1.

So Week 1 at Michve Alon is done. What a week. It was very hard needless to say. It wasn't hard physically. It was hard mentally and emotionally. You pretty much have to forget everything they tell you before going in because its wrong. If you don't demand help you wont get it. You have to literally make a huge scene in front of everyone to get help. You have to make them look bad. Thats not me. I dont like doing things that way. But I had to. They wouldnt let me see the Mishakitash until thursday. For 2 days I just cried and yelled and wouldnt do anything. It also didnt help that they refused to speak english. You MUST speak hebrew. If you dont know hebrew then you can speak english.
Getting there was unusual. I had to catch a 550am bus to Golani Junction. It was a 4 hour bus ride. Also a guy named Maxmillion from Argentina had to go there as well. He doesnt speak English or Hebrew. It was kind of hard to communicate with him because I forgot my spanish. But after getting to Michve Alon, I was proud of myself. I helped someone get somewhere without being able to talk to him or knowing where I was going. That and he brought too many things and didn't like following directions. :/ That was difficult.
Okay so we got to Michve Alon and waited for like 2 or 3 hours before being sent to eat lunch then we were separated. I went to my course and he went to his.
I got my uniform and my bag for while on base. I also got my bunk. I took a few tests then met up with the entire group. Its maybe 40 girls. Aaaaand about 30 of those girls are russian. The rest are english, french, and spanish. It was crazy. Im still learning all the rules. I have my friend Sharon who explains everything.
Basically the training is just running back and forth all day with your M16 with some classes in between. We have to be up, out of bed, dressed, beds made, and standing in Chet by 5am. If you are not in Chet in the morning it is an automatic stay for the weekend. I do my damndest to be there at 445am already to go.
We leave the base Friday mornings around 6am then its a 3 hour train ride back to tel aviv.
It was definitely a week.

The night before I was supposed to get my 550 am bus, I made a dry run to the bus station. It was good and bad. 1: I knew where I needed to go. 2: My wallet got stolen. Yay! FML.
So, yeah, that was no fun. I had to cancel my bank haopolim card which thankfully I never used. But the good thing is a very wonderful lady named Natalie found it. I got it Friday morning around 10. I was so thankful. Then I went to David's house for his birthday. I spent the first few hours with his mom. We went food shopping and cake shopping. I was so happy because I was able to have an actual conversation with her in hebrew. It made me feel so great. I was able to talk to her all weekend. I loved it. I talked to his dad as well about the author Dan Brown.
His friends came around 9 and I could speak to them a little. They loved hearing about my training. They thought it was funny. It was. But I was so tired that I was pretty much just falling asleep at the table.
Thankfully after they left around 12 I passed out. One of Davids friends Eiv said he was proud of me. It really made me feel great and respected. So thanks Eiv. :) Saturday I pretty much just spent sleeping and watching Billy Madison. Then I went back to bed and went to sleep and left the next day for week 2.

Nacham: Nachal Headquarters at Tel Hashomer

Today I had to go to the Nachal base... I found out after 6 or 7 hours that I wasnt even supposed to be there and that they messed up with my file. The day wasnt a total loss though. I learned how to get lunch. I also met some cool people.

I had to be there at 10 I got there around 940 at the main entrance of Tel Hashomer but I was lost. I was so far from where I needed to be. Im so grateful for my friend Atai. Such a great guy. I love him. Hes so funny. Im so glad hes stationed at Tel Hashomer. He came and got me and helped me find where I needed to be. Thank god he came with a car. It was far. 

I got inside the building to the floor I needed to be on and was then told I needed to be in another building. Sooo I went to the other building. Nope! Not where I needed to be. I got to the right room where I met some awesome people. Sarite Shiron and Idan and some other people. I think Idan was his name explained how boring it was to be there thats why everyone was so excited when I came. It was fun. It was probably the highlight of my day. They were so funny. One of the other guys brought me to wear I needed to be and talked with the people in charge this time so now they couldnt just have me going back and forth. 

So basically it was another waiting game for a few hours. I got in and sat down for 2 minutes before the new person I had to talk to told me wait outside...again. An hour or two later he told me to go get myself lunch. Thats where I learned how to get lunch from some random soldier.  Then when I came back from lunch it was 2 hours of waiting before they came out a paper telling me I had to go to Lishkat Gius tomorrow and that they messed up with my file. I met a nice soldier named Gilad and he called the whole mess up thing. He had a cool tattoo saying Carpe Diem. I was impressed that it was in english. He was super nice and fun to talk for the last hour of waiting. So now we are up to here. Tomorrow I supposedly go to Basic Training. I wont know till tomorrow. Im worried, nervous, and scared. I know I shouldnt be but I still am. I hate extreme exercise in hot hot heat. It always makes me feel sick. I hate it. 

So I guess we find out tomorrow. Right now its bed time just in case. I dont want to be falling asleep all day like I was today while waiting. Next time Im waiting and want to sleep I should use the chair/couches instead of the floor. Lesson learned from today. Chairs not floors. ;)

Okay good night everyone!!!

Happy Mothers Day Mommy!!!! <3

Happy Mothers Day Aunt Annette! <3

1st Day!!! Oh Shhhheeeeeeat

So today was my first day in the army. I got my ID, my uniform, and all the other things I need. No. No gun. I don't need a gun.
So everything I bought (told to bring with me) they gave me. Yay. So not only did I have the giant army bag, I had my own giant bag. Woot. Fun stuff man let me tell you.
They gave me Pepper Spray. I dont really know what Im gonna do with that...
The whole day was pretty much just waiting around like usual and walking back and forth in confusion.
I had my teeth photographed. My face x-rayed. Hand/ Finger prints scanned and my hand writing. My blood taken by the evil finger prick. I hate that thing. Always have, always will.
They took an absolutely horrible ID photo. It sucks. I hate it.  It gets me free bus and train rides though. So it has a use. Well it has many but I like the free bus/train rides. Which by the way I got 2 today. :) My first free bus rides. It was going back to the dorms. Which Im sure you are probably wondering why Im back at the dorms... Ill tell ya. I HAVE NO IDEA! They said go home. I asked why.
They said that Nachal has everything figured out so it will be easier for me to just come back on Sunday in the morning.
Would have been alot better to know this from the start. I dont know. Im just sayin.
When they called me to come in today, they said bring enough clothing and supplies to last 2 weeks. Okay I did that but they gave me everything I needed today annnnd I didnt even need it. But hey okay. Im not gonna complain because today Im officially an Israeli Soldier. Hopefully sunday I can finish everything in signing up as a Lone Soldier and finding out where Im going to live. I get free bus rides. woot.
I celebrated by getting Dominos for dinner. Now Im wiped. I NEED to sleep. Night leculam! I guess When I come back from the army that starts on Sunday I will have a great post.
Till then everybody. Night.

Phone Call

Okay so at 818am I got the phone call from Avishag to come down at 10am. So I guess this is when I start since I will be getting my uniform today. I dont know how long Im staying for. I find out when I get to the base. Okay, its 9am and I have to Ill write when I get back. :)

Still Waiting...

So Monday Night at the pot luck dinner my awesome friends got me a little brownie cake with candles. They are so amazing I love them.
Rebecca and Lauren:

Sam:

Nate:

 Nate has a blog by the way. I think it would be a good read. http://nateabroad.tumblr.com/ 

Its an awesome blog. It really is.

Okay so today was the day I was supposed to go into the army today. Nope didnt happen. I had to wait for my Halter Monitor results to be faxed over. Never got the call. So when 1230 came around I went and got my results, called Ofer, and asked the Medical Institute if they fixed everything over. They said they did but Tel Hashomer never got it. So I tried faxing everything over but their fax machine on different numbers wouldnt receive the fax. I know it wasn't the fax machine I used because it worked for other people before and after me (I stayed to make sure and to try multiple times). So now Im just waiting for the call. To pass time I just packed up all of my clothes instead. Then around 1110pm I went up to Sams to hang out again. We all made a little inside joke of "I have off from the army today" because I didn't leave yet. I met 2 more Israelis. They were nice... I never got their names though.

Okay I just wanted to do a quick update. So its just being on call right now. But now I'm going to sleep. Its 214am right now. I should NOT be up right now if I possibly have army tomorrow..well today. I am sooo nervous! Good Night everybody!! :)

Waiting...Waiting... Still Waiting...

Sooo tomorrow is supposedly the day I go in. It all depends on if the Halter Monitor results get faxed over. Soo just in case Im going to pick them up tomorrow then fax them over myself.
I finally got in touch with Orfer. He has been the one in charge of my case through Mahal. He told me to go onto the IDF website to see what I needed for recruitment... it sent me to the Mahal website.
Thankfully I had most of it so I went out to get out the rest. I went to Rikushet to get what I needed. It was one of the stores that the list said to go to. I didnt use the Mahal list by the way. I went onto the Nefesh B' Nefesh site and got the list. It was so much more helpful.  Also while at Rikushet they had the army list. Thankfully they spoke english and were able to help me. So they went through the list to tell me what I need and didn't need. I got 90% of everything and then Im all set. Right now I just need to pack everything then Im set.
The things I need are:
My army information
Army green or white undershirts, t-shirts, and long sleeved shirts.
Running shoes
Shorts and a shirts for sports/ exercise
Pajamas
Sweatshirt
Black and gray socks
Toiletries
A lock (so my things dont get stolen)
a 60-75 liter bag. I have a 60 liter. Its huge.
Phone & Charger
Snacks
A bed sheet and a blanket and if you want a small pillow.
A book (you dont want to bring anything to valuable just in case)
From what I can remember this is about it.
Orfer told me to be ready just in case. So that is what I will do.
My friends and I are having a Pot Luck Dinner for my last night.
Sam's birthday is on Sunday I think so this is her birthday weekend. I feel bad Ill miss it but Im sure Ill see her again before she leaves. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY 21st SAM!!!

Lishkat Gius Tel Hashomer Day 2

So I went back to Tel Hashomer for  a second time on the 29th. Thankfully it did not take as long as the first time.  I felt like I actually got things done even though there was still ALOT of waiting.
I had to be there before 8am since I had a blood appointment at that time. Needless to say I didnt get in till maybe 10 minutes after that. It was probably the most least painful time ever that I have ever gotten blood taken. Then it was more waiting where I talked with another doctor. Im so glad I brought all of my test results since they did not get my fax even though I know they got it. She sent me up to see the psychiatrist. It was a quick 5 minute meeting of "Why are you here?' "Do you like it here?" "How do you fell about leaving home?" "Blah blah blah." I got out of there by 1030am. BUT I got stuck in the waiting room for a few hours because apparently the computer broke. I fell asleep around 12 woke up around 1. Then a soldier who was nice enough to help me really got things going. He took my file brought me up to medical then down somewhere else then back up to medical then finally to Avishag. She reviewed my file to see what I had left to do, made a few phone calls, and then tried to get my Halter Monitor Test results faxed over. No such luck so she gave them a better fax number. Then around 120pm I was walking out of there. Now alls I have to do is wait.
While waiting for the psychiatrist there was a boy there who was scared out of his mind. I felt so so so bad. He was shaking really badly. He looked like he was going to cry. He tried running from the Army by going across border but they caught him and brought him in. He wasnt officially in but was only up to the stage Im in. But I still felt bad for him. I dont think they will give him a combat job now if thats what he was afraid of. Although, I do know he will be in trouble for trying to run.