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 :-(
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Masa Mem-Mem
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.
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.
Friday, October 9, 2009
3 Day Week
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.
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.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Home sweet home
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!
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!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Start of Ulpan
Tuesday started our ulpan. Now that we are done with basic training we start our hebrew classes for the next 2 months. But before we could start the classes I was voluntold to do something called toronute rasar, which I think loosely translates to bitchwork. Of the 6 hours of toronute rasar I did about 1 hour of sweeping the streets. The best part of the entire day (not just the 6 hours) was that while I was sweeping I found a pinecone and started playing hockey using the broom as a hockey stick. I'm not sure which is worse - the fact that my day was so crappy that the best part was playing hockey by myself with a broomstick and a pinecone or the fact that in all seriousness I actually had a lot of fun!
I survived 12 days on base without going completely nuts. Maybe the previous paragraph might change people's minds. We now get a long weekend and don't have to be back on base until Tuesday because of Yom Kippur, which makes next week very short!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Officially a soldier!
Monday was our last day of tironout - basic training. To start the day they semi-unexpectedly woke us up at 4AM and gave us 7 minutes to get dressed and downstairs. We then went on the masa - hike - to end basic training. It was only 6km, and it wasn't difficult except
for the fact that I did almost half the hike with a broken shoelace.
Me with my tag after the masa: now I am part of the education corps, and have slightly moved up from a nobody.
After the morning, they drove us to Akko - where we were to have our searing in ceremony. Our ceremony was at the Akko prison which was used by the British prior to
the establishment of the State of Israel to hold members of the Irgun, Lehi and Etzel - groups that supported the establisment of a Jewish State, protected the Jews
from the Arabs, and opposed the presence of the British in the land. Later in the afternoon we had the ceremony where we officially became soliders in the IDF. In a ceremonial fashion we were given our guns and swore on a bible to protect the State of Israel.
I`m third row on the left
Recieving my gun fom the Samelet
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Rosh Hashana shmirot (guard duty)
Thursday at 6AM I started my shift on kaf-kaf. Kaf-kaf is a 24 hour shift where 6 of us are on call for basically anything and everything. We are the first response for terrorists, fire, ambulance and everything in between. In addition to doing everything like a normal day with the tzevet, the 6 of us have to stay together the entire time and fully dressed including the appx. 25 pound vest the entire shift. We also took turns wearing the stretcher. We got to sleep at 930, but got woken up at 11PM by one of the guys yelling kaf kaf. I jumped from the bed and started the almost 3 minute sprint across the base to the war room. I did not mentally wake up until I got there and the samelet started talking to us and telling us to open the stretcher.Until then it was a full on adrenaline rush. As part of the test we had to put one of the guys on the stretcher and run him about 200 meters to where the ambulance is. After that ordeal I was not able to go back to bed and stayed up all night waiting for the next test call which never came.
5 of us on kaf-kaf: david, me, anton, edgar and anatoli
After the drill I had my first shift of guard duty. The shifts are 2 hours long - and you get shifts at ALL obscene hours of the day. Some blaces have 2 people guarding, while others only have one. In theory guarding is pretty easy - the things you are allowed to do are:
1. Guard
2. Stand
3. Drink water or hot tea
4. Sit for 10 minutes in the middle of your shift.
5. If something happens, call it in on the radio.
Things you aren't allowed to do is EVERYTHING else including but not limited to eating, listening to music, reading, praying, writing, using your phone, going to the bathroom, sleeping, etc.
My first shift was 4-6PM at the front gate of the base. There was a guy that works there and does all the work, so I just had to stand there. During the shift 3 cars almost pulled up to the gate, but turn around - I think I scared them away :-) Shift highlight: There was a shift switch of the guy that works at the gate for my last 10 minutes, and the new guy put on music (he can do whatever he wants).
For the holiday we had a nice sit down dinner minus food trays, timed meals, and self service. The tables were set, and the food was much much better than what we normally get. It was a full meal with salads, soup, chicken, brisket, potatoes, and desert. All the meals were like that.
The next shift was from 2-4AM. Luckily I had someone with me to talk to so it helped to pass the time. Shift highlight: someone at a differetn guard post saw a dog and felt it was necessary to tell everyone a number of times over the radio.
Shift 12-2PM on saturday: I had to run from shul to get there. The worst part was that I ran past the lunch room while everyone was lined up to go eat. This was the most boring 2 hours of my life - exhausted and hungry with nobody to talk to. Shift highlight: a bee chased me around for 5 minutes.
After about an hour nap I got woken up for a relatively unnecessary head count. To make sure everyone was still around and hadn't gone missing from the base. One would say that this is pretty stupid - who is going to walk off the base, but what do you know some moron walked off the base on Sunday to buy a pack of smokes. Just after the head count it started to rain! It was awesome to finally see some rain. I hadn't seen rain since the beginning of May in Toronto. It hung out in the rain for a bit as it was nice and refreshing - especially because Israel needs all the rain it can get. My next guard shift was from 12-2AM and boy did it pour. A transformer blew just as I started my shift so there wree no lights - luckily my guard partner hada flashlight. We also managed to find shelter and stay dry for the most part. Usually for Rosh Hashana what I do is go to shul, eat and sleep. However this time the sleep was swapped with guarding.
Friday, September 18, 2009
More Basic Training
Monday I thought that I almost got lit on fire. We were sitting in a class and the jerk behind me pokes me in the back a few times. I then turn around really pissed off and his response was 'fire, fire'. I smelled something burning slightly and lept from my chair and tried to brush off my back, but there was nothing there.The guy had just put a small piece of paper in the metal backing of my chair and lit that on fire. I looked like a spaz because I freaked out in the middle of a class of 60 people.
On basewe dont' get to use the internet and the only outside news that we get is what they tell us - which they dont usually unless something big happens. On Sunday, Asaf Ramon - the son of Ilan Ramon was killed in a training accident. Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut, who was aboard the Columbia in 2003, which had a malfunction resulting in the death of all those abourd. Similarly to his father, Asaf was killed in a drill when his plane suddently took a nose dive - nobody else was hurt. He was 21 yeras old and graduated at the top of the class from the air force flight school - possibly the most difficult job in all of the IDF. May he rest in peace.
Tuesday I got to be a VIP and spend most of the day in an air conditioned room. Four of the top soldiers in the mahlaka of 64 were selected to be interviewd about who we are, where we came from, why we decided to join the army, etc. We got to speak with a general and a bunch of other well decorated people in the army. Talking to people that high up is pretty much completely out of the question, and I think looking at them might even be frowned upon. We also spoke with the head of the base and the head of all new immigrants to the army.
This week we wrapped up basic training part one. I get to do it all over again in 2 months though when I join my combat unit. The only difference is that it will be much more intense and longer. Soon we start the ulpan, but first we have a weekend of guard duty.
On basewe dont' get to use the internet and the only outside news that we get is what they tell us - which they dont usually unless something big happens. On Sunday, Asaf Ramon - the son of Ilan Ramon was killed in a training accident. Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut, who was aboard the Columbia in 2003, which had a malfunction resulting in the death of all those abourd. Similarly to his father, Asaf was killed in a drill when his plane suddently took a nose dive - nobody else was hurt. He was 21 yeras old and graduated at the top of the class from the air force flight school - possibly the most difficult job in all of the IDF. May he rest in peace.
Tuesday I got to be a VIP and spend most of the day in an air conditioned room. Four of the top soldiers in the mahlaka of 64 were selected to be interviewd about who we are, where we came from, why we decided to join the army, etc. We got to speak with a general and a bunch of other well decorated people in the army. Talking to people that high up is pretty much completely out of the question, and I think looking at them might even be frowned upon. We also spoke with the head of the base and the head of all new immigrants to the army.
This week we wrapped up basic training part one. I get to do it all over again in 2 months though when I join my combat unit. The only difference is that it will be much more intense and longer. Soon we start the ulpan, but first we have a weekend of guard duty.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Week 3
Despite the fact that this week was one day shorter, it most certainly didn't feel that way. After Shabbat I went to Jerusalem to visit a friend. As a lone soldier I get one extra day off every 2 months in order to do things like go to the bank and run other errands. It's impossible to do any of these things because I get off base on Friday mornings (when most things are closed for the weekend already) and I have to be back on base Sunday morning, leaving no time to do anything. So I figured that after going to the bank on Sunday morning, I could take the day and relax. Little did I know that I actaully had to go to my specific bank in Rehovot to get what I needed. So there went the rest of my day - travelling.
When I got back to my friend's place I realized I might be going slightly crazy. Jon asked me if I wanted to go for a jog. Despite the fact I did not have shorts OR running shoes I decided to go running in my army pants and boots.
This week on the whole was pretty good. Unfortunately nothing 'interesting' happened this week. Monday was pretty relaxed as we didn't get to base until 1PM. Further we didn't do much of anything until after dinner, where we had to do out group punishments for things like being late, not being in formation properly, talking, not paying attention during classes, etc. The sanctions involve 12-15 second sprints at a time, where you never have enough time to get there and back in time. When we clearly need a break from sprints we get to do pushups. Then we go back to sprinting followed by situps. This continues for about 25 minutes to half an hour.
Throughout the week we had some lessons on first aid and radio communications mixed in with of course more running, pushups and situps.
Our base is an educational base, and the course I'm taking is mostly for new immigrants and volunteers to learn Hebrew. So they try and ease us into the whole army thing. Every week they start introducing more things to us; Last week was sanctions and evening group punishments. This week it was a daily morning flag raising ceremony. Also known as a huge waste of time. The ceremony is supposed to be at 9AM, and its supposed to mark the start of the day. My question is, if 9AM is the 'start of the day', what the heck was I doing for the previous 4 hours!?!?!? By the 'start of the day', we are already fully dressed to perfection, shaven and boots shined, beds made, room and dorms cleaned and inspected, eaten breakfast followed by our 20 minute break. Also throw in there some pushups and situps depending on how on the ball we are as a group. The entire pluga (Company) - about 150 people congregate for a speach by the head of the pluga. So far the speaches have involved how much we suck. One day for being disrespectful, and another for being an hour late.
On Thursday morning I was able to take my first power nap since I started the army. We aren't allowed to sleep during our brief breaks throughout the day. Only during our free hour can we sleep. When we went to the field we were allowed to sleep on the bus ONLY because it was a long busride. While we were waiting for the samelet (sergent) to inspect our rooms we were sitting on the beds. One of the guys in our room who was sick or 'sick' had just taken a shower and was sitting in a towel on his bed just as we got to the room. He sat there for for I guess about half an hour (I had lost track of time) because he was taking his time/unwilling to get dressed, and so the samelet (who is a female) would not be able to come into the room. This way we were all able to sit in the room without anyone barking orders at us. Lucky we all dozed off for a few minutes :-) This is how we were about an hour late for the flag raising ceremony.
Thursdays are by far the best day for several reasons. The most obvious is that the next day is Friday, which means we get to go home. The day is easier because some poeple get to leave a day early because they live in Eilat, and there isn't enough time for them to get home on Friday, so they leave Thursday afternoon. Because of that, the things we do are not the most critical things we do and learn during the week. We are given time to clean our guns before we give them back after lunch. Getting rid of the gun is great - its one less 8 pound thing we have to have strapped to ourselves for about 23 hours and 45 minutes of the day. I spend most of the day holding the gun in one hand and my canteen in the other - the 2 things you can't be without. The ONLY times I dont have the gun strapped around me is the combined 15 minutes or so during the day that I take a shower and am in the bathroom stall, so to be without the gun for half a day is great. Another good thing about Thursday is that we get meat for lunch and dinner. I don't know why, but we usually never get meat for dinner. There is never group punishments on Thursday, so that is a great thing as well, but unfortunately it doesn't mean we won't get punished :-( Lastly, we get to go to bed early!!!! Yesteday we were in bed at 9PM :-D This leads right into the worst part about Fridays - 430AM. In order to be off base by 630AM, we have to wake up at 430, therefore we have to be in bed by 930. The early bedtime is really there to fool us.
Next week its our Machlaka's (Platoon's) turn to do guard duty. This means that we have to stay for the weekend. Because this weekend is Rosh Hashana, we miss out on a long weekend, meaning we have to spend Rosh Hashana on base doing guard duty. From seeing the first group who got to do it last week, it did not look like a lot of fun, and they didn't get much sleep. The group that is doing it this week isn't guarding the base, but they got bussed down south to guard communities around Gaza for the week. Since we are on base for the weekend, it doesn't mean that get off after the weekend, it means we lose out weekend. So I will be on base for 12 days straight starting on Sunday. Hopefully I won't go too crazy.
Since I'm on base until next year and beyond, I hope everyone has a shana tova!
When I got back to my friend's place I realized I might be going slightly crazy. Jon asked me if I wanted to go for a jog. Despite the fact I did not have shorts OR running shoes I decided to go running in my army pants and boots.
This week on the whole was pretty good. Unfortunately nothing 'interesting' happened this week. Monday was pretty relaxed as we didn't get to base until 1PM. Further we didn't do much of anything until after dinner, where we had to do out group punishments for things like being late, not being in formation properly, talking, not paying attention during classes, etc. The sanctions involve 12-15 second sprints at a time, where you never have enough time to get there and back in time. When we clearly need a break from sprints we get to do pushups. Then we go back to sprinting followed by situps. This continues for about 25 minutes to half an hour.
Throughout the week we had some lessons on first aid and radio communications mixed in with of course more running, pushups and situps.
Our base is an educational base, and the course I'm taking is mostly for new immigrants and volunteers to learn Hebrew. So they try and ease us into the whole army thing. Every week they start introducing more things to us; Last week was sanctions and evening group punishments. This week it was a daily morning flag raising ceremony. Also known as a huge waste of time. The ceremony is supposed to be at 9AM, and its supposed to mark the start of the day. My question is, if 9AM is the 'start of the day', what the heck was I doing for the previous 4 hours!?!?!? By the 'start of the day', we are already fully dressed to perfection, shaven and boots shined, beds made, room and dorms cleaned and inspected, eaten breakfast followed by our 20 minute break. Also throw in there some pushups and situps depending on how on the ball we are as a group. The entire pluga (Company) - about 150 people congregate for a speach by the head of the pluga. So far the speaches have involved how much we suck. One day for being disrespectful, and another for being an hour late.
On Thursday morning I was able to take my first power nap since I started the army. We aren't allowed to sleep during our brief breaks throughout the day. Only during our free hour can we sleep. When we went to the field we were allowed to sleep on the bus ONLY because it was a long busride. While we were waiting for the samelet (sergent) to inspect our rooms we were sitting on the beds. One of the guys in our room who was sick or 'sick' had just taken a shower and was sitting in a towel on his bed just as we got to the room. He sat there for for I guess about half an hour (I had lost track of time) because he was taking his time/unwilling to get dressed, and so the samelet (who is a female) would not be able to come into the room. This way we were all able to sit in the room without anyone barking orders at us. Lucky we all dozed off for a few minutes :-) This is how we were about an hour late for the flag raising ceremony.
Thursdays are by far the best day for several reasons. The most obvious is that the next day is Friday, which means we get to go home. The day is easier because some poeple get to leave a day early because they live in Eilat, and there isn't enough time for them to get home on Friday, so they leave Thursday afternoon. Because of that, the things we do are not the most critical things we do and learn during the week. We are given time to clean our guns before we give them back after lunch. Getting rid of the gun is great - its one less 8 pound thing we have to have strapped to ourselves for about 23 hours and 45 minutes of the day. I spend most of the day holding the gun in one hand and my canteen in the other - the 2 things you can't be without. The ONLY times I dont have the gun strapped around me is the combined 15 minutes or so during the day that I take a shower and am in the bathroom stall, so to be without the gun for half a day is great. Another good thing about Thursday is that we get meat for lunch and dinner. I don't know why, but we usually never get meat for dinner. There is never group punishments on Thursday, so that is a great thing as well, but unfortunately it doesn't mean we won't get punished :-( Lastly, we get to go to bed early!!!! Yesteday we were in bed at 9PM :-D This leads right into the worst part about Fridays - 430AM. In order to be off base by 630AM, we have to wake up at 430, therefore we have to be in bed by 930. The early bedtime is really there to fool us.
Next week its our Machlaka's (Platoon's) turn to do guard duty. This means that we have to stay for the weekend. Because this weekend is Rosh Hashana, we miss out on a long weekend, meaning we have to spend Rosh Hashana on base doing guard duty. From seeing the first group who got to do it last week, it did not look like a lot of fun, and they didn't get much sleep. The group that is doing it this week isn't guarding the base, but they got bussed down south to guard communities around Gaza for the week. Since we are on base for the weekend, it doesn't mean that get off after the weekend, it means we lose out weekend. So I will be on base for 12 days straight starting on Sunday. Hopefully I won't go too crazy.
Since I'm on base until next year and beyond, I hope everyone has a shana tova!
Friday, September 4, 2009
basic training - shetach
Despite the fact that I didn't have to go directly to the base on Sunday for 945, I still had to wake up at 520AM to get to the doctor. I had to take 8 busses/trains to get from my place in Rehovot to the doctor in Tzfat and back ot the base. Miraculously I did not get lost. I had to go see a lung specialist in order to get my medical profile raised. After taking a few lung capacity tests, the doctor asked me what my profile was. I expected him to then say, okay I will raise your profile up to the next level, but instead he asked me what I wanted it to be. Naturally I said 97 - the highest profile. He said sure. So now I need to go to the doctor on the army base to get her to accept the doctor's recommendation.
When I got back to the base I was voluntold to help move boxes of battle rations halfway around the base. We were going to shetach (the field) for 2 days and amongst other things, we needed food. We stacked about 100 boxes of food onto a cart and had to wheel it halfway around the base - both uphill and downhill. It also didn't help that a few of the boxes on the bottom started to cave in and caused everything to topple over. Luckily we made it without everything falling off - despite the fact that 3 people were practically hugging the tower so it wouldn't fall over while one person was pulling the cart. It took us about 25 minutes - when the walk on its own only took a fifth of the time. Aside from the problems they were causing us just transporting the food, the battle rations suck. It contains 3 cans of tuna, 3 cans of peanuts, 2 cans of halva, 1 can of chocolate spread, 2 cans of loof (the kosher equivalent of spam - it tastes like bad salami and hot dog meat in a can), some teabags, juice mix, and a loaf of bread - for 5 people. Notice the generalization of the term battle ration - as opposed to breakfast battle ration or lunch battle ration or dinner battle ration. its the same crap for breakfast lunch and dinner. Something else i learnt about the battle rations is that if you get punched in the face with a can of peanuts it hurts. I'm okay, only a small cut on the inside of my upper lip. When we were eating our first meal of battle rations someone from my tzevet came up and wanted to take food from our box (we already had 5 people to our box, and there were other boxes). After explaining that to him, he got upset, and half an hour later came back and punched me in the face with a can of peanuts.
We had to wake up at 4AM on monday in order to get everything in order to go out to the shetach. We spent 2 days out in the sun practicing shooting and learning how to maneuver in different positions. It was a lot of fun, and I didn't do half bad. One of the rules when your in the shetach is that your not allowed to take your gun off your body. On base, your not allowed to be without your gun, but you are allowed to take it off your body (for example, if your doing pushups you put your gun down next to you, when you shower you hang it on a hood, when you go to the bathroom you can put it next to you). In the shetach you do pushups and situps with the gun around your neck, and there was no showers so that wasn't a problem. We had to pitch tents and sleep in our clothes and boots. Everyone also had to do half an hour of guard duty throughout the night (luckily I never got a turn). After waking up at 4AM and baking all day in the sun, we didn't get to bed until midnight. Shortly thereafter we had a terrorist drill - so everyone had to jump out of their tents and get into position. So, we didn't get to bed until 1AM. Day 2 was more of the same, battle rations, baking in the sun and shooting guns.
After we got back from the shetach they explained to us the specific sanctions for specific infractions. Surprisingly, there wasn't a standard punishment for punching someone in the face with a can of peanuts. Something tells me that doesn't happen too often. So I've been doing a lot of pushups and situps - not because of personal sanctions but because of group sanctions. At the end of the day the mefakedet read out a long list of sanctions and things we did wrong, and then made us do about 40 minutes of pushups, situps, and sprints.
Some of the classes we had this week as part of basic training were shooting from different positions, camouflage (unfortunately we only learned some theory behind it - no practical), and some first aid. It seems somewhat rediculous that the first 4 weeks of the course is basic training and then AFTERWARDS you learn hebrew. Here is one example of I'm sure many more to follow of why this is backwards. The mefakedet was explaining how to do CPR - one person was the guy lying on the ground, and a second was the one doing practicing doing the CPR. Through explanation in hebrew of how to do things and most likely a combination of poor instructions or complete lack of understanding of hebrew, the following was supposed to happen: to roll the person from his back onto his side you put your thumb through one of the belt loops on the pants to help roll him over. What happened was that the 'victim's' belt was unhooked. The buildup to this was quite hilarious because throughout the steps he didn't really know what to do and he was getting things mixed up, and the hesitation before he unhooked the belt reinforced that fact he knew he probably shouldn't unhook the belt but he had no idea what she was saying.
Thursday mid afternoon there was some ceremony on the base, so we had to change from our bet uniforms (the ones you get dirty on base) into our alefs (the ones you wear in public) and stand out in the sun for an hour, sweat and NOT move. Someone important was taking over some important job on the base. I don't know what was being said, but this one person had a lot of people to thank for who knows what. The only good thing about the ceremony was that it was ONLY an hour. After that we got an hour for sports. Ideally this would be good, but apparently the army has a different definition of sports. The hour of sports was us being taken on a run and then we did a bunch of pushups and situps - sounds a lot like punishments. The only difference was that I got to wear shorts a t-shirt and running shoes, as opposed to my uniform. This just reminded me of how much my army boots suck. After 'sports' we were given time to change - so I decided to hop into the shower and cool down - I figured there was no point in actually showering because I was changing back into dirty clothes and it was only 5PM, so still plenty of time left for pushups situps and running. After dinner we got hour free hour where we could do what we wanted (including actually showering because after that would be bedtime). After our free hour we have to be back outside in whatever clothing we want where they tell us what time we have to wake up in the morning and other important things. Only this time, we were told we have to be back outside in our running shoes. The bad thing about that was quite obvious, but the plus was that I saved an extra 10 minutes of free time beacuse there is no point of showering. After half an hour of what seemed a lot more like the sports that we had earlier in the afternoon it was bedtime - not showertime, but bedtime. Since Friday is the weekend, we had to be outside by 445AM in order to get off base by 630. No chance I was going to be able to move fast enough that early to get dressed AND shower. Also, I was changing into my alefs that were already dirty, and we still had an hour and a half of running around to do. When I finally did get to shower it was well earned and extremely necessary.
This weekend is a long weekend!!!! Every 2 months lone soldiers get one extra day off in order to do stuff they can't normally do. Luckily I ONLY have to go to the bank, so the rest of the day is free. I don't have to be back on the base until 11AM on Monday!!!!!
Every morning we have to make our beds perfectly. Besides arranging everything properly on the bed, the 2 time consuming steps to making the bed is one of the blankets -called scabies has to be put on the bed like a sheet, and the second one has to be folded properly as an 8 fold - its complicated to do, because you need 2 people and if you don't do it perfectly it looks like crap. And if it looks like crap you get in trouble. The trick is to never get the scabies in contact with any part of your body - just by looking at them you might get sick. So every night I put my own sheet ontop of the the scabies and in the morning rip off my sheet, so the bottom one is made perfectly. Secondly, you take the 8 folded scabies and fold it again in half and put it under the mattress behind my head so it acts like another pillow, then in the morning just place it neatly on the bed and fix it. It saves a lot of time this way. By the way mom, apparently I do an excellent job of making my bed.
When I got back to the base I was voluntold to help move boxes of battle rations halfway around the base. We were going to shetach (the field) for 2 days and amongst other things, we needed food. We stacked about 100 boxes of food onto a cart and had to wheel it halfway around the base - both uphill and downhill. It also didn't help that a few of the boxes on the bottom started to cave in and caused everything to topple over. Luckily we made it without everything falling off - despite the fact that 3 people were practically hugging the tower so it wouldn't fall over while one person was pulling the cart. It took us about 25 minutes - when the walk on its own only took a fifth of the time. Aside from the problems they were causing us just transporting the food, the battle rations suck. It contains 3 cans of tuna, 3 cans of peanuts, 2 cans of halva, 1 can of chocolate spread, 2 cans of loof (the kosher equivalent of spam - it tastes like bad salami and hot dog meat in a can), some teabags, juice mix, and a loaf of bread - for 5 people. Notice the generalization of the term battle ration - as opposed to breakfast battle ration or lunch battle ration or dinner battle ration. its the same crap for breakfast lunch and dinner. Something else i learnt about the battle rations is that if you get punched in the face with a can of peanuts it hurts. I'm okay, only a small cut on the inside of my upper lip. When we were eating our first meal of battle rations someone from my tzevet came up and wanted to take food from our box (we already had 5 people to our box, and there were other boxes). After explaining that to him, he got upset, and half an hour later came back and punched me in the face with a can of peanuts.
We had to wake up at 4AM on monday in order to get everything in order to go out to the shetach. We spent 2 days out in the sun practicing shooting and learning how to maneuver in different positions. It was a lot of fun, and I didn't do half bad. One of the rules when your in the shetach is that your not allowed to take your gun off your body. On base, your not allowed to be without your gun, but you are allowed to take it off your body (for example, if your doing pushups you put your gun down next to you, when you shower you hang it on a hood, when you go to the bathroom you can put it next to you). In the shetach you do pushups and situps with the gun around your neck, and there was no showers so that wasn't a problem. We had to pitch tents and sleep in our clothes and boots. Everyone also had to do half an hour of guard duty throughout the night (luckily I never got a turn). After waking up at 4AM and baking all day in the sun, we didn't get to bed until midnight. Shortly thereafter we had a terrorist drill - so everyone had to jump out of their tents and get into position. So, we didn't get to bed until 1AM. Day 2 was more of the same, battle rations, baking in the sun and shooting guns.
After we got back from the shetach they explained to us the specific sanctions for specific infractions. Surprisingly, there wasn't a standard punishment for punching someone in the face with a can of peanuts. Something tells me that doesn't happen too often. So I've been doing a lot of pushups and situps - not because of personal sanctions but because of group sanctions. At the end of the day the mefakedet read out a long list of sanctions and things we did wrong, and then made us do about 40 minutes of pushups, situps, and sprints.
Some of the classes we had this week as part of basic training were shooting from different positions, camouflage (unfortunately we only learned some theory behind it - no practical), and some first aid. It seems somewhat rediculous that the first 4 weeks of the course is basic training and then AFTERWARDS you learn hebrew. Here is one example of I'm sure many more to follow of why this is backwards. The mefakedet was explaining how to do CPR - one person was the guy lying on the ground, and a second was the one doing practicing doing the CPR. Through explanation in hebrew of how to do things and most likely a combination of poor instructions or complete lack of understanding of hebrew, the following was supposed to happen: to roll the person from his back onto his side you put your thumb through one of the belt loops on the pants to help roll him over. What happened was that the 'victim's' belt was unhooked. The buildup to this was quite hilarious because throughout the steps he didn't really know what to do and he was getting things mixed up, and the hesitation before he unhooked the belt reinforced that fact he knew he probably shouldn't unhook the belt but he had no idea what she was saying.
Thursday mid afternoon there was some ceremony on the base, so we had to change from our bet uniforms (the ones you get dirty on base) into our alefs (the ones you wear in public) and stand out in the sun for an hour, sweat and NOT move. Someone important was taking over some important job on the base. I don't know what was being said, but this one person had a lot of people to thank for who knows what. The only good thing about the ceremony was that it was ONLY an hour. After that we got an hour for sports. Ideally this would be good, but apparently the army has a different definition of sports. The hour of sports was us being taken on a run and then we did a bunch of pushups and situps - sounds a lot like punishments. The only difference was that I got to wear shorts a t-shirt and running shoes, as opposed to my uniform. This just reminded me of how much my army boots suck. After 'sports' we were given time to change - so I decided to hop into the shower and cool down - I figured there was no point in actually showering because I was changing back into dirty clothes and it was only 5PM, so still plenty of time left for pushups situps and running. After dinner we got hour free hour where we could do what we wanted (including actually showering because after that would be bedtime). After our free hour we have to be back outside in whatever clothing we want where they tell us what time we have to wake up in the morning and other important things. Only this time, we were told we have to be back outside in our running shoes. The bad thing about that was quite obvious, but the plus was that I saved an extra 10 minutes of free time beacuse there is no point of showering. After half an hour of what seemed a lot more like the sports that we had earlier in the afternoon it was bedtime - not showertime, but bedtime. Since Friday is the weekend, we had to be outside by 445AM in order to get off base by 630. No chance I was going to be able to move fast enough that early to get dressed AND shower. Also, I was changing into my alefs that were already dirty, and we still had an hour and a half of running around to do. When I finally did get to shower it was well earned and extremely necessary.
This weekend is a long weekend!!!! Every 2 months lone soldiers get one extra day off in order to do stuff they can't normally do. Luckily I ONLY have to go to the bank, so the rest of the day is free. I don't have to be back on the base until 11AM on Monday!!!!!
Every morning we have to make our beds perfectly. Besides arranging everything properly on the bed, the 2 time consuming steps to making the bed is one of the blankets -called scabies has to be put on the bed like a sheet, and the second one has to be folded properly as an 8 fold - its complicated to do, because you need 2 people and if you don't do it perfectly it looks like crap. And if it looks like crap you get in trouble. The trick is to never get the scabies in contact with any part of your body - just by looking at them you might get sick. So every night I put my own sheet ontop of the the scabies and in the morning rip off my sheet, so the bottom one is made perfectly. Secondly, you take the 8 folded scabies and fold it again in half and put it under the mattress behind my head so it acts like another pillow, then in the morning just place it neatly on the bed and fix it. It saves a lot of time this way. By the way mom, apparently I do an excellent job of making my bed.
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