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.