*this is a VERY long blog, just warning you
We started our adventure with a trip to the Old City of Jerusalem learning about the 2nd temple period. Then we drove down to the dead sea and stayed a youth hostel at the base of Masada. We went to sleep very early because we woke up at 3:45 am to start climbing! We had our 3 liters of water and kovas (hats) and started to ascend up the huge mountain of Masada around 5 am while it was still pitch black. Even though this was my third time doing so, it was still very tiring and tough, since i'm not the most athletic person. We made it to the top just in time to sit peacefully and watch the sun come up from behind the mountains. It was so beautiful! Last time, I fell asleep so it was nice to be awake and see it! We then had services and proceeded to tour around Masada for a few hours, learning about how the Jews committed suicide on Masada because they knew that the Romans were coming up.
After walking back down the snake path of Masada, we went straight to the Dead Sea! The hotel where we stayed had the Dead Sea right there, so it was really nice. We dropped our stuff in our rooms and went straight to put mud all over our bodies. The Dead Sea was a lot of fun, it hurt where I had scrapes but it was worth it. It was so much fun to float! That night we got dresses up and had services and Shabbat dinner and then just hung out on the beach. The next day we took a mini trip and hiked to a waterfall where we got to swim in a lake! The rest of the day we chilled at the hotel and it was very relaxing.
The next day we embarked for possibly the worst five days of my life: GADNA
Gadna is something that 16 year old Israelis do in preparation for the Israeli army when they become 18. Everyone gets drafted; girls go into the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) for 2 years while boys stay in it for 3. It is a week of what it's like to be in the army. And let me tell you, it sucks.
We arrived at Sde Boker, the army base near Be'er Sheva and immediately had to run with our huge suitcases over and got into three long lines, with just girls. 4 girls in uniforms started speaking to us in Hebrew and my friend who is fluent translated for us. They randomly split us up into four groups, and then our groups were joined by the boys. They then told us to run to one of the big tents to throw our bags in and we went to get our mattresses, sleeping bags, and blankets. After we got situated with that, my group got into 2 lines next to each other while our mifakedet (commander) went to get our shirts, pants, coats and canteens. We saw other groups of kids not from EIE there too, running around the base. It looked so scary at first. After we got all of our stuff, our mifakedet told us (in Hebrew as always) to run to another place on the base and gave us 20 seconds. We ran as fast as we could, counting out loud in Hebrew backwards until we reached our destination. Once we got to echad (1), we had to yell "achshevet mifakedet!" (attention commander). This soon became something that we heard all the time, everytime we moved an inch, from 5 seconds to 60 sometimes we would have to countdown from. That night we had an opening ceremony and i don't remember anything except for really hating to have to stand in attention (our hands behind our backs, always) for a really long time. That night i got bundled up with a bunch of sweatshirts and sweatpants and had a pretty uncomfortable night. Now i don't usually complain about this kind of stuff because i'm used to it from like 9 years of overnight camp and lots of traveling and im not stuck up, but this was just horrible and i was so frustrated. and i usually will eat anything and everything, im not picky at all, but the food was just terrible. plus, the whole time my stomach hurt and i felt nauseous and everytime i tried to eat i got a horrible stomachache so i was always feeling sick. our "beds", if thats even what you want to call them, were lined up so close that there was no room in between them, and you had absolutely no room but your bed, so I slept with my head laying on my suitcase which took up about 1/3 of the bed. We were woken up at 6 am and had 20 minutes to put on our uniforms and get ready in the beyond crowded bathrooms with the Israeli girls putting on makeup and blow drying their hair. It was funny. at 6:20 my group of 17 people got into the shape of a chet (ח) and met the mifakedet standing in attention. That day we rode a bus to the "field" where we ran a lot and crawled on the ground using our elbows. The ground was hard a rocky and we got cuts and bruises all over. we also learned what to do if we hear them shout רימון (rimon) which means grenade (and also pomegrante!!). instead of taking the bus back, we had to walk back and even run at some of the times for 4 kilometers which is like 2 miles i think. It wasn't that bad but since I can't run fast, it was hard to keep up. overall the day was very rough and we woke up the next morning with our whole bodies aching and cuts all over. it felt good that we worked so hard but i literally could not walk! The 2nd full day we mostly were in classes, learning about the army and specifically about guns and all the parts and how to use one. The 3rd full day was the day we got to shoot the guns! When it finally came my turn, I was freaking out. I followed the instructions and did everything we learned, put the magazine in, cock it, turn the safety to semi. I shot it once and it was so scary!! We got to shoot 10 bullets, but after my second one it stopped working and i was freaking out but the mifakedet fixed it so it was all good. I even got to keep one of the bullet shells!! I also got the paper at which i shot at, and there was only one hole in it, not even on the target... i think i was shooting at the wrong paper. but it doesn't matter because i shot a gun and i have a picture of it!! The last day we had a closing ceremony and they handed out awards to the best person in each group and my friends and i joked about how it would be so funny if we got it because it was obvious that we werent. Then all of the sudden i hear my name and before I knew it everyone was pushing me up to get my award! It was the funniest thing ever because everyone knew I hated it so much.
Overall, I don't really know how I felt about Gadna. At the time I really hated it because my stomach hurt the whole time, I was nauseous, we had to run a lot, it was cold, i was hungry, there was no soap and we couldnt use much toilet paper, and the overall scenery was just so depressing! I know i sound like a whiner but that's really how I felt the whole time. There were some parts I did enjoy and I know it was an essential thing to see what it's really like to be an Israeli and it was a great experience and blah blah blah, but I really did not enjoy it. So we finally left and we drove to Eilat where we just relaxed for Shabbat and even went snorkeling and hung out at the beach for a little bit!
Purim in Israel is HUGE! It's just like halloween where everyone dresses up, but so much more. We went to a couple malls for lunch and all of the kids were dressed up and even most of the adults and people working there. We went to a really fun Purim festival in the afternoon which was really fun.
We finally got back to the kibbutz Sunday night and it was great. It was so good to be "home" after being away for so long in different hotels and such. Now we are back to the school schedule which is not fun but at the same time it is because it's school but I look outside the window and I hear the Muslim call of prayer and see Jerusalem.
love, paige
