9 days off!!!!

After 4 months of service every soldier gets a scheduled week off the army. So after 6 months I finally got mine!! Since it spans 2 weekends my break is 9 days! Most soldiers spend their time sleeping or doing nothing at home. For me, this week is one of the busiest weeks ever. When I get off for a regular weekend (get home Friday late morning and have to return to base first thing Sunday) I am pretty much restricted to doing only one thing because the buses stop running on Shabbat leaving me no way to get around. Now that I have 9 consecutive days off I have the opportunity to do what I couldn't do before - ride the buses! With my week all planned out utilizing my time maybe too efficiently I am traveling back and forth across the country meeting up with friends and family. A couple of my initial plans didn't work out but I was able to reschedule and it ended up working to my benefit as I managed to see a few other friends in the last minute because of the change. In order to succeed in my mission of seeing as many people as possible, aside from Shabbat I am not spending more than 13 consecutive hours in the same city. It is a very good thing that Israel is a small country and that soldiers ride the bus for free.

So here is what I did on my very exhaustive week:
After getting back to my kibbutz from base at 1130PM on Thursday I left Friday morning to Kfar Saba to visit family for Shabbat. After sleeping 13 hours I was forced to take an hour and a half nap just to get through the rest of the day. If you were thinking that it seems like I am a very busy person and I possibly over planned my week off and that I should take some time off for myself to sleep this is my response to you. Whats the point in sleeping if I am going to be just as tired when I wake up. All I end up doing is wasting all that time that I sleep. I still managed to sleep my 6 hours a night (without having to wake up inthe middle to do guard duty) catch some extra ZZZZs on the bus rides and I am still constantly exhausted. After Shabbat ended it was off to the neighbouring city of Ra'anana to party with my AEPi brothers.

Sunday was a double holiday, with the first being Purim. Having been in Israel for 9 months, this is the first holiday I am not on base for. I did get Yom Kippur off, but that doesn't count. I took a bus and train (2 hours) to Rehovot to have purim lunch with my family. In the evening I met up again with AEPi north of Tel Aviv to celebrate the second holiday - Canada beating the US in the gold medal hockey game of the olympics! What a game it was - I only wish I could have been back at home for the celebration. We were at a bar with a fair amount of both Canadians and Americans so that made it more exciting but nothing close to what it would have been like back home.

Monday it was off to Jerusalem to have lunch with a good friend. I also continued my unsuccessful search for a manetachen (haman ear) (a special cookie you eat on Purim) that comes anywhere close to my mom's. I stopped off at Marzipan - the bakery that has the best rugellah in the world in the hopes that this would also be true for the hamentashen. This was not the case. I headed back up north to my kibbutz (2.5 hours) for a place to sleep and managed to meet up with a friend that was with me in Mikve Alon for dinner in Afula, which is next to my kibbutz.

Tuesday I met up with 3 friends that I haven't seen in a total of 7.5 years - one of which was on my birthright trip 4 years ago and I haven't seen him since. First thing in the morning it was 2.5 hours back to Jerusalem to see 2 of those friends and then in the evening it was off to Tel Aviv for the night.

Wednesday it was 2 hours back to the kibbutz in order to pack my things for the army. I don't have a chance to get back to grab the stuff I need, so now I started carrying around 2 massive bags because the army made me take everything home. In the evening I went to Haifa to see another friends I haven't seen in 2 years.

Thursday I went to Mikve Alon for the day to visit with my old commanders. In the evening it was off to Herzliya again for AEPi chills which included one friends from the states.

Friday morning it was off to Jerusalem to have lunch with my commander. Now that basic training is over and he is no longer my commander we have 'broken distance' and I can speak to him like a real person. I found out he actaully speaks nearly fluent English as opposed to the next to nothing I though up until now. We ended up getting a 10% discount and a free shot of Arak when he found out we were both lone soldiers. After Jerusalem it was off ot my cousin's house for Shabbat where there wasn't much time to relax because of all the insane young kids.

After 9 long crazy days its back to the army for I think 2 weeks. I don't really know what we are doing, but you will find out when I get back off base!

Here is a video that I came across. I think its hilarious and that its applicable to where I live (my tank) with a few minor changes. In addition to a 7.62mm machine gun on the turret I also have a 12.7mm (1/2 inch) machine gun and the 120mm main cannon. On top of that my house isn't a glass house, but its a TANK!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK2Bw1tI_-k