Where the hell am I supposed to be?

Sunday it was back to base to really start our advanced training. I was excited to get back to start training and the only thing that was goingto stop me was traffic. It took me 9 hours to get back to base :-(

We got our tanks and there is one other tzevet that shares the tank with mine. The plus to this is that all the cleaning is split into half, but not to worry because there is more than enough sand in the desert to keep me cleaning the tank for eternity. Our 2 tzevets are responsible for hte upkeep on the tank. In basic training we were not seriously held responsible for the tank's upkeep nor were we assigned to a specific tank. Now for example, if something isn't done right with respect to closing up the tank atthe end of the day they wake you up in the middle of the night to go to the tanks to fix it.

So in the middle of my deep sleep I got woken up in a daze by the company commander. To put that in perspective, it's not really his job to be waking up soldiers - think of your principal coming into your class to wake you up. Without having time to fully wake up and figure out what was going on he asked me where I was supposed to be. Rightfully so, he wanted to know why I was sleeping when everyone else was awake. I asked him what time it was and he said 530. Still unsure of anything I asked "in the morning?" He then responded, "no in the evening." Well that was a stupid question, right? (It was - I should have known damn well it was the afternoon). What did I say next? I glanced around the room and saw nobody else in their beds, I looked outside (it was still light) and I looked at my watch (it wasn't 530, but it was 1730) and then said in a completely serious tone "really????" He obviously wasn't lying the first time so he responded yes. Okay, so now there was no doubt in my mind that it was 530 in the afternoon, but I still had absolutely no idea where I needed to be. All that came out of my mouth was "ummmmm. ummmmmmmmm. ummmmmmmmmmmm." holding the "ummmm" as long as I could before having to take another breath while trying to st all for time and figure out wher ethe hell I was supposed to be! Still not a clue, and there was nobody else to help me. Obviously seeing that this was going nowhere, the company comander said "weren't you working in the kitchen earlier?" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH. Finally that was the kick start my brain needed. I was back to life and could communicate like a normal human being not asking moronic questions. I told him that I was on break from the kitchen and he said okay and left me alone. So here is the story that accompanies the moronic ending and me looking like a complete idiot in front of the company commander.

We had a masa this week - it was more of a ceremonial masa as it was only 4km plus another 2 with the stretcher. At the end we received the tag of our batallion. Until now we have had the tag of the school of shiryon, but now we finally have the tag representing my batallion. All this happened in the middle of the night where they woke us up and we had to get dressed and outside as fast as we can. I managed to be one of the first ones dressed and I managed to grab the heaviest thing - the 25 pound radio. I have mentioned before that more we might makes it more fun, but with the radio it is even better because I actaully have a job as opposed to carrying only dead weight. In layman's terms I was a prtable receptionist. I had to listen to the radio chatter and give the phone to the commander when required. The masa occurred at midnight which was already after our room got woken up by the commander to arrange the things in our room and then again after I got woekn up to do my shift of guard duty. We went back to bed a 230 and I had to wake up earlier than everyone else in order to go work in the kitchen all day.

After the lunch rush I was put on the most difficult, annoying and worst job in the kitchen - scrubbing all the pots and pans from lunch that was required to serve the food for over 2000 people. Ther ewere 5 of us working and we were told that once we finished we could leave and have a break until 630. We all hauled ass for 3 hours and managed to get a 2.5 hour break! I went back to my room and passed out cold on my bed. My complete exhaustio from the hard work as well as horrible sleep othe night before added onto always being constantly exhausted led to me waking up to a complete daze and not knowing where I was.