Live vicariously through me and my experiences as an oleh chadash (new immigrant) and my experiences from having served as a combat soldier in the IDF. What will happen next....????
Tuesday was by far the most awesome day in the army so far. The day started out by us travelling to a different base right on the Lebanese border to check out some of the cool they they have - tanks, APCs, and a massive D9 bulldozer. After that we got to go up to a guard post and see the border with Lebanon - which was a small dirt road off in the near distance. After the fastest tour ever we were back on the bus before we knew it and off to our next destination - Emek Ha'bacha (Valley of Tears). During the Yom Kippur War in 1973 a famous battle took place there where Israel was outnumbered over 10 to one. Without nightvision, Israel managed to hold off the Syrian troops for 3 days and nights. With the leadership and heroism of Avigdor Kahalani, Israel was able to succeed in the battle. I had heard his story of the battle before, but today we got to hear it in person! It was awesome to hear him speak, but a bit frustrating becuase I didn't understand all of what he was saying.
Avigdor Kahalani
We then headed to Mt. Bental which used to be a base, but now it is a lookout point into Syria. In the picture its easy to make out where Israel ends and Syria begins: In the forefront - all the organized greenery is Israel, beyond that where there are some scattered trees used to be a Syrian city which now is no man's land. Beyond that, all the desert looking area would be Syria. Our last destination was the career fair. This was infinately more exciting than any university or job fair that I have ever been to. There were tables set up for the kravi (combat) units where we got tocheck out some cool toys. The army also put on a live demo with tanks and explosions and gunfire. Before the demo, Ehud Barak - the minister of Defense gave a speech and after the demo there was a concert! The entire event was awesome and a ton of fun because I had never seen a live demo like that before. Despite the demo, the pest part of the day was hearing from Avigdor Kahalani. Soon enough I will be blowing stuff up on my own, but its not so often I get to hear from a real war hero.
One of the tanks that took part in the demoDefense Minister Ehud Barak meeting with the soldiers after the demo.
The next day our pluga put on a play in rememberance of Michael Levin. He was an American from Philadelphia who came to Israel to serve in the IDF at the age of 18. When he came his hebrew was not so good so he was sent to do the same course I am doing now. He then joined the paratroop unit #890. During the summer of 2006 while on leave in the US, Michael heard of the news of the war in Lebanon and immediately flew back to Israel and demanded that he join his tzevet in Lebanon even though he was told he would not go to the front lines. A few days later, Michael was killed at the age of 22 by a sniper in Lebanon.
Sorry for the vagueness, but the following is only meant for those who understand it. I had my first krav maga (Israeli self defense) lesson since my first and only lesson, and this one went MUCH better :-D
I have 3 more weeks left before I join my combat unit. My plan was to do nahal - general infantry, but now I have decided to do the gibbush (tryout) tzanchanim (paratroopers) - tryouts to become a paratrooper. The tryouts are next Sunday and consists mostly of running, running with sand bags, running with stretchers, and crawling. If I don't get accepted to paratroopers then I will still be going to nahal like originally planned. Wish me luck!
Finally - home sweet home. What do I mean by home? I don't really know because it seems that every weekend I end up somewhere else. The last time I was off base I had a 3.5 day weekend and I ended up in 4 different cities (or places - not everywhere I went you could consider it a city, or a town, or even a village). I have lots of friends and realtives all over the country so I try and make my rounds and visit as many people as possible whenever I get the chance. This gives me the chance to get acquainted with the bus and train system in the country. As a soldier I get free transportation as long as I am dressed in my uniform, so I take the buses and trains everywhere. So after 12 days on base (or in this instance bases) I get to go home - this time to the kibbutz. Lets just define home to be not equal to an army base. Yes, I realize the irony because I spend more time on the army base than anywhere else, but please let me have what is left of my sanity.
I finished my week of mind-numbing guard duty on a different base. For those of you who know me, I have had a number of mind-numbing jobs throughout my university career. I have watched luggage and washed glass, just to name a few. I'm sure that everyone can rest easy knowing that guard duty is just as applicable to mechanical engineering as is glass washing. Shout out to the fantastic University of Waterloo for giving me an education that provided me with such a wide array of totally applicable job opportunities to my degree. However, I'm sure that if the university found out that their education system was helping to defend Israel, someone might have something to say about it. The following is part of the transcript from one of the fantastic (aside: up until now I'm sure you can sense the sarcasm in this paragraph. Unfortunately, and its sad that I have to explicitly say this, but the rest of the paragraph is not sarcasm or fiction but 100% fact. No the 1 in the '100%' is not a typo, and I'm not trying to fool you all again, but the following is one hundred percent fact.) professors of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Waterloo - Dr. Mohammed Elmasry, who was (or still is, who knows) the spokesperson of the Candian Islamic Congress. In 2004 on a talk show in Canada he said the following in regards to the validity of suicide bombing that Palestinians use to inflict fear and terror amongst Israelis. ELMASRY: Anybody above 18 is a part of the Israeli army... COREN (host): So everyone in Israel and anyone and everyone in Israel, irrespective of gender, over the age of 18 is a valid target? ELMASRY: Yes, I would say. read more of the transcript here: http://www.montrealmuslimnews.net/transcript.htm
Well I'm not going to get into how retarded this guy is, but feel free to share your thoughts with the President of the University, David Johnston and Leo Rothenberg - the Dean of Engineering. And yes, Elmasry is still a professor at UW. I've already done most of the work for you by listing their contact information below, so just take 2 seconds to send them off a quick email.
Office of the President The University of Waterloo 200 University Avenue West Waterloo, ON Canada N2L 3G1
So despite my mind numbing work at obscene hours of the day (and night) I did actually learn something that is worth while sharing with the internet. First some basic facts. Yes, again FACTS. I think (and hope) most of my readers know this, but just for those who stumbled upon my blog and who might not be very educated on middle eastern politics:
#1. Israel is a DEMOCRACY.
#2. There is religious FREEDOM in Israel.
So to the answer... when your on an army base surrounded by Muslim villages doing guard duty from 2AM-6AM you learn that the first of five calls to prayer (adhan) of the day occurs at exactly 430AM. The adhan is a loud announcement over a loud speaker notifying everyone its time to pray. You can also hear the call to prayer in the old city of Jerusalem. Yes, there are Muslims that live in the old city. And yes, they are legally allowed to live there. So if you ever happen to be thinking negatively about Israel, ask yourself why you don't hear the adhan where you live. So practically, what did this mean to me? To lead into it, firstly I should point out that typically when you do mind numbing jobs its best not to look at your watch, so the time passes by quickly. However, I constantly look at my watch to see what time it is becuase at the 45 minute mark of every hour I get to sit down until the hour. This makes time pass by extremely slowly. So at the sounding of the adhan, I knew that I had 15 more minutes until I could sit down, and only an hour and a half left of my shift.
So what the hell do you do between the hours of 2-6AM when your not really allowed to do anything but stand and guard? I don't know anyone who may or may not have done any of the following things during such hours or others, but things not to do are:
write blog posts: In a completely unrelated note, I'm glad that everyone enjoyed my previous blog post, I got lots of positive responses. If you haven't read it, do so.
work out: pushups, situps, and lifting weights.
study hebrew words that one might not know.
I suppose theoretically that those things could help you stay awake and pass the time.
So up until now, everytime we have done something it has been with our tzevet. For example, the commander would give us 7 minutes to go make our beds and we would have to be back outside in a chet formation (3/4 rectangle) standing at attention. My tzevet is/was 14 people (more on the is/was part soon). Now we are doing everything with the machlakah - 62 people. Needless to say it takes quite a lot longer to make a symmetric chet with 62 people than it does with only 14. So now we are back to doing more pushups because of the morons. Most people don't like the fact that we are doing this becuase they have inherrited a hell of a lot of stupid people. I on the other hand think its fantastic. In the politest way possible, I am not in the ideal tzevet. 2 guys are in jail. One of them for threatening another person with a fork in the lunch room. A third guy is AWOL - haven't seen him in weeks. #4 is playing crazy. After bedtime, he spent an entire night slowly walking laps around the base petting a turtle. There were 2 commanders following him from a distance incase he tried to physically harm himself. He now works every day in the lunch room. This is just scratching the surface of what goes on in my tzevet. By having to do everything with the machlakah the ratio of normal people to crazies has improved a lot for me. Unfortunately, all the learning in the classroom is still done with the tzevet.
So yesterday I was very excited for a number of reasons. The most obvious one was that it was Thursday, which means that the next day is Friday and I get to go home. Secondly, I didn't have to do my 12-6PM guarding shift, so that was a plus. During lunch I got 4 servings of meat, so that was fantastic. I also got a full night sleep for the first time in a week - and by full night I mean I got 7.5 consecutive hours of sleep, however that still involved waking up at 4AM. From the half day of being back on base, I was able to catch up on all the drama that goes on. As I suspected, it was a good thing that I was able to get away from the base for a few days. People were tweaking out because they were on base for so long and going crazy. Also in the week that I was gone, 2 people were sent to jail and by the end of the 2 weeks about 40% of the machlakah had received some form of sanction (extra hours they had to stay on base, or the entire weekend).
I have one more month left of this ulpan course before I go back to basic training with my kravi (combat) unit. Two months have passed, and I'm about ready to get out of here. There is only so much I can take of some of these people and all the stupid things that go on here. Luckily before I feel like I'm about to go crazy, something good happens - either a weekend, a day off, sending me to another base for 5 days, etc. Even something as simple as melon slices at lunch is a fantastic thing. So even though this place sucks, without it I would not have the motivation to learn hebrew and work out. The 3 months I was in Israel prior to joining the army I barely learned a new word in Hebrew, and did not get into any better shape. So to keep me from going crazy from the boredom and the people, I learn hebrew and work out.
So long until next week. Thanks for reading and mentioning how you liked the last post. I will attempt to continue to end up in interesting situations purely for my readers' amusement. So to my loyal readers, keep reading and feel free to link your friends to the blog.
so there are 3 different parTs of my day: guarding for 10 hours, on call for 10 hours and 'free time' for 4 hours. if you are guarding and thre is an emergency (akpatzah) wHere the sirens sound you just throw on your helmet and sit tight. if you are on call you have 3 minutes to be fully dressed, vest done up helmet on your head and at the war room. this means that you can't get undressed fully even though the war room is only 20 seconds from my bed. durIng 'free time' you don't have to wear your uniform and you are allowed to shower - because of that they give you 420 seconds to be fully dreSsed at the war room if there is an emergency. i say 420 seconds because it gives the false reality that it is longer than 7 minutes.
so we had a real emergency - thats right, not a drill but a real akpatza. it happened juSt after 10pm during my on call period and i managed To be at the war roOm dressed in 15 seconds. if that isn't impressive enough read on about my acts of heroism. by the way, feel free to write to the army recommending me for an awaRd or a pay raise (pay raise is preferred). so how did i get there so quickly? trick question - i was already there. what took 15 seconds was to take the helmet out of mY vest and put it on. every day at 10pm i have what is called aliyat mishmar which is a procedural thing where they chcek all your equipment and go over the rules.
so what caused the akpatza? as i was waIting for the aliyat mishmar i heard what sounded like heavy rain or ahail. the noise was that of druze kids (aside: druze is a Sect of islam - druzim are loyal to the country they live in and therefore serve in the idf - unlike other muslim israeli citizens who don't have to serve in the idF) throwing handfuls of stones which were hitting the roof and sides of the barracks. all of a sudden i see all the kids rUnning towrads the noise and then everyone running away from it. in addition to that there were kids fighting. once the siren sounded we traded in our guns for riot gear: batons, pLexiglass shields and tear gas. abouta dozen of us got in a line and created a Long barrier with our shields and we started inching our way towards the few kids throwing the stonse. as the rocks were raining down on Our shilds one of the soldiers threw a canister of tear gas into the crowd. at that point, most of the kids dispersed but there were still a few throwing stones. at that point most of the kids dispersed but there were stilla few throwing stones. as the commotion was dying down i saw out of the corner of my eye one kid sprinting by me about 20 feet away. the next thing i notice is a second kid running through the smoke From the tear gas with a dull knife (one that we eat in the lunch room with). he was in persuit of the first kid and was following the same path. i started to run towards the kid But he didn't see me coming because i was outside his peripheral vision. i then laid a hUge bod check on this scrawny 140 pound kid leading in with my big riot shield. i timed it perfectLy because when i hit him we were perpendicuLar to each other. this kid flew about 10 feet and needless to Say he didn't get back up so quickly. sHortly after that the situation was under control and everthIng was back to normal with only a few minor injuries.
so whats up with the random upper case letters all over the place? if you haven't already figured it out, piece the letters togeTher: 'THIS STORY IS FULL OF BULLSHIT'. Feel free however to stop reading now and forget the previous sentance. Have I mentioned yet that guarding for 10 hours a day is boring as hell and there is nothing else to do? My creativity is drawn mostly from sheer boredom but some of the story is factual.
The story in short: Druzim were throwing stones and fighting and there was an akpatza. There was NO riot gear, batons or tear gas. What was my role in all of this? - 'sit over there'. What a downer, eh? Wasn't the first story way better?
So this week is going to be awesome, except for the downside. They sent a few of us off to a different base this week. First the plus side: As I mentioned we are in a heat wave and its hot as hell. The room I am sleeping in has AC which is key. Also I am treated like a human being. The base I am on is a Gadna base - where 16 and 17 year olds come for a week to see what the army is like. I have to do my work (which I will get to later) but other than that I can do whatever I want. The food is a lot better ere and we get served our food at the table so I feel more important. Since I walk around with my gun the kids mistake me for a mefaked which is pretty funny. And the best part - one word: internet. I was given about 10 minutes to pack my stuff for what I was told was a day of guard duty on another base. After I packed my stuff I was told I would be guarding for 5 days. I only have clean clothes for maximum 2 more days. Now the downside: What is my purpose on this base? Guard duty :-(. First the plus side - I only have 2 shifts a day and my first one I am allowed to sit the entire time and there is someone there to keep me company (or I am there to keep him company). And now the downside - the schedule: 12PM-6PM shift + 2AM-6AM shift = 10 hours of guarding per day
So you are probably thinking I can get about 7 hours of consecutive sleep between 6PM and 2AM if I try hard. However, dinner is at 615 and then I have to guard for someone else while he eats. I also need time to shower and do other things.I also need to be outside at 10PM for about 3 minutes fully dressed so they can check my gun and equipment - so that would interrupt any sleeping time I could get.
Hopefully the plusses outwiegh the minuses. And so much for only having one day of guard duty :-(
This week we were stuck on base again for shabbat - 12 days on base. Now that we are halfway done the 3 month course we are in the thick of things and in the classroom a lot learning hebrew. The classes are really boring because we go really slowly and I understand just about everything being taught. I am so bored that I have resorted to reading the Hebrew-English dictionary in class (I finished 50 pages and am now on the letter 'C'). I writedown new words and study them later. Because of my boredom they have finally started giving me private hewbrew lessons. I learn more in the 30 minute class than I do the rest of the day.
We had our second hike (masa) which was approximately 7km. The hike was a lot of fun - we did it in the evening so it was dark and the terrain was very hilly. The hike didn't start out so well - just as we started, the samelet shouted azar - which translates to grenade (dont worry - its not real) so we all had to jump on our stomachs and cover our heads. The next thing i feel is the weight of the largest guy in our machlakah jump on top of me. Later into the hike we had to jump on our stomachs in shooting position. We were in a thorny area and it felt like I had jumped into a thornbush crotch first. As everyone was swearing in pain our female commanders were telling us to be quiet and stop acting like girls. They obviously didn't understand the pain. They made us get up and do it again. I took a few steps backthis time but the end result was still the same - a lot of pain in the crotch region and everywhere else. The highlight of the masa was towards the end. The entire time we are walking our eyes are always on the ground in front of you so you can see what you are stepping on so you don't twist your ankles (which almost happened about 50 times). All of a sudden the ground got softer and it felt like we were walking through crap. It also smelled like crap. The nextthing we heard was 'moooooo'. Everyone looked up and some people were shouting while others were yelling 'shhhhhh!!!'. We werer walking right through a cow farm with cows only 20 feet away from us on both sides. We tried our best to walk quitely as not to disturb them during their sleep and mating. Yes, you read that correctly - we walking in on 2 cows having sex. We had guard duty again, bt this time luckily only for one day. I had 2 shifts: from 6-8PM during dinner and free time and then again from 2-4AM. We also had another emergency drill, where this time I slightly twisted my ankle. So during shabbat - instead of having fun playing soccer or football I was stick in my sauna-esque room (its a heat wave now) trying to keep my weight off my foot.
So this week was pretty sweet because it was only 3 days. I've been enjoying the last 2 weeks because I have spent more time off base than I have on base. However, obviously good things must come to an end as next weekend I am on base again doing guard duty - which means 12 days on base doing guard duty and not sleeping much. I originally thought that we would be let off base on Wednesday at 6AM - similar to when we get off for shabbat on Friday. However they didn't let us off until 1PM, so I had to alter my weekend plans. I had to eliminate the only thing on my to do list: go to the bank. It isn't urgent, but its something I should get around to doing. Looks like it will have to wait another month or so. Seeing friends is more enjoyable than arguing with people at the bank. Despite the long weekend, it was still jam packed. The best part of the weekend is the exact instant that the weekend starts. We stand in formation and the mem-mem (mefakedet machlakah - commander of the machlakah) is reading out the list of people who have punishments and have to stay later on base. When that is over she says to the rest of us 'shabbat shalom machlakah 2', and we respond 'shabat shalom ha-mem-mem' and that is the best part. Then the weekend goes downhill because its a 20 minute walk with my massive bag to the bus. Then I found out I just missed the bus and had to wait another 40 minutes. Three busses later I finally get off the bus at my kibbutz, and then its another 15 minute walk uphill to my room. So even though I got 'free' at 1PM, I didn't get back to my room until 430.
So back to my week... Did not start off well. Saturday night before bed I was getting my things together for the morning, and spent half an hour looking for my dog tag. I keep my keys that lock my bags attached to my dog tag so I don't lose it. I couldn't find it for the life of me. I thought that maybe I had left it in my pants that I put in the laundry. So after ripping apart my room, which still wasn't unpacked I gave up and went to bed figuring I would have to run to the laundry room in the morning and hoping they would have found it. When I woke up I thought, 'gee, maybe the dogtag is attached to the lock on my bag'. So obviously it was in the last place I left it, and the first place I should have looked. My day didn't get much better. I didn't have a baret for almost 2 weeks becuase I lost 2 of them already. I thought for sure I would be stopped by the fashion police (yes, there is such a thing). They give out fines and court dates for things like not shining your boots, not shaving properly, and having your hair too long. Needless to say they are hated. there are stories of the police having the nerve to stop combat soldiers who just came back from war for things like not shaving. They hang out at bus stations when there are lots of soldiers there. So just my luck, someone stops me because I don't have a baret. So I pretend to not speak hebrew at all, and get off with just a warning. Then someone else gave me an extra baret they had.
We had our second of 3 baror tests (fitness) - one at the beginning, middle and end of the course. A perfect (and benchmark) score is 86 consecutive stiups, 75 consecutive pushups and 2km run in 8 minutes. I improved a lot in only one month - I figure by the time we do the last test I will pass it. This time i did 81 situps (60% improvement since the first test), 51 pushups (25% improvement) and the run in 8:26 - 40 seconds faster. During our free hour and a half we get at the end of the day, there isn't really much to do at all, so I'm trying to go for runs regularly and work out.
hebrew classes are boring as hell. we spend about 7 or 8 hours a day in the class. People act like they are 6 years old, and I have no patience for it. After going to university, it definately feels like im back in grade 3. It's also easy as hell. They give us an hour at the end of the day to do work alone in the classroom - i finish on average 4 worksheet, while people are still working on one.
I was excited for lunch because there was shnitzel. Shnitzel day is a good day - its never a specific day during the week, but whenever it's served the day is a good one. So as I was sitting down I saw my friend's plate piled high with 4 or 5 pieces of shnitzel (you are only supposed to get one serving of meat). I said 'How did you get so much shnitzel'. He responded 'it's not shnitzel - its fish'. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! So much for the good day...
I finally screwed up. During our free hour and a half before bedtime I was bored and had nothing to do so I was lying down in my bed and fell asleep. I somehow woke up on my own exactly 2 minutes after I had to be outside in formation for the samelet to tell us to go to bed. I look at my watch and then ran outside. For my punishement she gave me 7 minutes to get dressed into my uniform and then made me run around and do pushups for about 10 minutes. It wasn't that bad except for the fact that once I was finished with my punishment and in bed I was still sweating for the next 15 minutes and couldn't fall asleep.
So now to the weekend. 2 friends are visiting in Israel, so I had to see them this weekend because I won't be free next weekend. Luckily they were both in Herzliya. Once I got back to my kibbutz I packed for the next 2 and a half weeks and rushed to meet Yuval in Herzliya. We went out for a beer and then then in the morning I met up with Kaplan for lunch and then met up with the AEPi guys in the IDC Herzliya colony and chilled with them for the day. Definitely missing the AEPi chills back home :-( In the evening Yuval and I went to Jerusalem to hang out with Matthews, for some AEPi waterloo chills. Friday I am off to visit relatives for shabbat and simchat torah. Sunday morning back to base for 2 straight weeks.
This week was super short because of Yom Kippur - so I didn't have to be back to the army until Tuesday morning. I had an easy fast for Yom Kippur. It's a lot easier to fast when you sleep for 15 hours of the day. The rest of the day was spent in shul. From the very limited time I spent in between sleeping and being in shul it was very interesting to see there wasn't a single car on the road - not just where I was in Kfar Saba, but in the entire country. Every kid that had a bicycle, roller blades, scooter, etc. was out in the middle of the road without anything to worry about.
Now that we are getting into the regular routine of the ulpan, we are starting to actually get some stuff done. In addition to learning boring grammar and verb structure we have classes on Israel and the IDF. One person we are learning about in detailis Ro'i Klein. In a few weeks we will be putting on a play/presentation about him. As a reserve soldier in Golani, during the 2nd Lebanon War of 2006, Ro'i instinctively jumped on a grenade, thus saving the lives of his fellow soldiers.
So your probably all thinking that now that I have been in the army for a month and a half, and Israel for four and a half months that I probably have a fantastic permanent place to live when I get off base. Well, as of Thursday I have a permanent place to live! I hope its fantastic - time will tell. I now live up north just outside of Afula on a kibbutz called Ein Harod. As a lone soldier, the army is supposed to help me find a place to live, which they finally got around to doing. They told me on Wednesday night that they found me a place and that I would go check it out the next day. I was thrilled that they finally found me a place, and even more thrilled that I got to leave base on thursday morning before we had to start cleaning the dorms! I woke up got dressed, ate and then left the base. For breakfast there was fruit yogurt which we had never gotten before. Yes, this is very random to be talking about, but you will see how this comes into play in a bit. FYI, the fruit yogurt was delicious and I made a mental note of it.
I don't know much about the kibbutz. Without much say in the matter of where I was going to live, I didn't really know if this was a good place or not. After speaking with the person on the kibbutz who takes care of settling in the soldiers onto the kibbutz, it seems like its a good kibbutz and will be a lot of fun. There are 10 soldiers that live in what used to be a hotel. We all get our own room, and there is a common room with TV, computer and kitchen. As we (5 soldiers) were in a car with the coordinator on the way to the kibbutz (yes - car. 6 people in a CAR. Oh, we all had huge backpacks. And the kicker is that there was barely any trunk space) the second thought I had as we pulled off the main road towards the kibbutz was 'phew, its a good thing my kibbutz is the next one cuz this kibbutz smells like cow shit.' My first thought was I still can't move or breathe - get me the hell out of the car. I looked closer at the smelly kibbutz and recognized the logo as being one that I had recently seen. I then put 2 and 2 together and came to the conclusion that the kibbutz is in the business of turning smelly cows into delicious tasting yogurt (and most likely other dairy products). Hopefully my kibbutz gets deals on the imported food whithout having to import the smell as well. If not, I will have to make friends with people on the other kibbutz to hook me up with food.
I left the kibbutz around 11AM and went back to Rehovot to prepare for the big move the next day. I had to go to the bank which always seems to cause me a lot of problems. I won't get into that, but for some reason banks don't like when foreign citizens open up accounts. The only reason I am able to open one is because I'm in the army. The guy at the bank was trying to convince me that I didn't have an account there and that maybe I had opened one up at a different branch. Surprisingly to him, after about 5 minutes of arguing he realized I was right.
Friday was the big move. I moved everything I own (except for one bag that I already had at the kibbutz). With a backpack on my back, one on my chest, a bag in each hand and a giant suitcase I took a train and a bus halfway across the country. I met some of my housemates - not everyone was here for the weekend. They don't speak english, which is good so it forces me to work on my hebrew. After dinner, the kibbutz put on a nice show for Sukkot where kids were singing and dancing. Later at night we went to the local pub on the kibbutz.
This upcoming week is going to be pretty awesome because I heard that we get off on Wednesday. I can't wait!
Born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. At the age of 24 I voluntarily served my country and my people as a lone soldier in the 188th brigade of the armored forces in IDF (Israel Defense Forces). On July 12, 2012 I made Aliyah and thus officially became an Israeli Citizen.
This blog is about my experiences as a combat soldier in the IDF and my experience as an Oleh Chadash (new immigrant)
Become a fan of my blog at http://facebook.com/kaldorskorner
Avigdor Kahalani
One of the tanks that took part in the demo
Defense Minister Ehud Barak meeting with the soldiers after the demo.
