Should have an update soon!

Slight update.

 Apologies for the rushed post!


So on the 10th I began my volunteer process with מדר פרת. Since my parents are in Tel-aviv on holiday, I claimed squaters rights on the sofa in their flat.

It was by far the best trip to tel hashomer I have experienced yet! ... Woke up to a mom cooked breakfast! ... My dad decided to come with me in the morning. ( I did warn him that it would be a long day!)

Days activites at tel hashomer:

• Wait
• Hand my ID in
• Wait
• Receive a few pages of information... in hebrew ...
• Have no Idea whats going on, and the soldier that only speaks hebrew is unable to help.
• Wait
• Find out that I wasnt actually schdeuled in for a meeting, but I can have one.
• Wait for my meeting
• Go to the meeting, talk, sign, talk.
• Go to the doctor
• Wait
• Wait some more.
• Told to contuinue waiting.
• Doctor sees me and requests that I get some blood and pee tests done with my GP.
• Go home!
• (wait for bus!)

My meeting went ok, Gabriella (the soldier who will be handeling my volunteer process) asked me a few questions (some of which I had answered during my tsav rishon) Did I finish highschool? Yes. What did I study at highschool? (explained maths science and english are standard) plus History, Drama, Graphics Design and I.T. .... "oh computres? So you are good knowledge on computers? ... Um well I know more thank basic. Ok this is good." (guess they are trying to line a desk job up for me! ... good luck!)

After this she asked me to give her three job areas that would interest me. Hummer Driver, Armour Corp and Artillery Corp. Which type of base would I like to work on?  Closed base. (stay on base until weekends usually, but can be more)

When this was all over she asked me to sign a form, she explained that I was signing to say I will volunteer 1 and a half years service minimum, which can be extended to 3 years if the army wishes! ... *where do I sign!?*

As part of the process Gabriella sent me to see the doctors, after a quessing game of where I am from based on my accent, the doctor took a look at my medical records and said she will be happy to approve me I just need to go get a blood test and urnie test done by my doctor and fax the results in.

So In all it was an ok day, showed my dad the mess of the drafting process and made some progress forward!

On a lighter side.

My parents have been in Israel for a short time for a holiday and to visit. Its been good to see them, and show them a few places, and introduce them to a few people. Hope to see them Friday and Shabbat before they fly back.

Good times.

So since being here I have learnt that being bored doesn't always have to be boring!

The first time I noticed this was working in Matzrap, the work is boring but its not about the work its about who you work with.

Zack being planked.

 Working with Zack definitely made the time go faster.... nothing like the feeling of balancing on a big guys sweaty back.

Picking on people is always a good thing to prevent boredom. This girl Erin from my Sar-el group was a huge fan of "Shock" a chocolate milkshake. At times we would hide her bags of Shock and she would have to get more, then after returning the ones we took she would be left with more than a few ... to embarrassed to return them she would have to figure out a way to sneek them out of the mess hall.

My Shock!

Good thing she was in uniform, the pockets came in handy!

Its always a good thing to see your work mates working hard!

Thats Steffan, His from Germany. His a good guy and works hard, but when he rests a rests like a king!

My first time in Israel I met a guy called Gideon, He drafted into the IDF the weekend I left Israel.

After being on kibbutz for a couple weeks, Gideon messaged me at 2am saying I have my "tekus" tomorrow at the kotel, would be cool if you could come. I message him when I get up and say I wont be able to make it, as Tomorrow is Friday and there is no public transport on shabbat. Later that day I go on facebook and see that his tekus is actually that day not the next. So my friend Raffi and I decided to go to Jerusalem to the kotel, we get on a bus at 18:00 and the tekus was starting at 19:45, traffic at that time is horrible so after getting from Natanya to Tel-aviv and from Tel-aviv to Jerusalem we walked 30mins to the Kotel, the total trip took around 3 and a half hours to get there.

Israeli push ups

Gideon and I the kotel plaza, after the tekus.

So after a 3 and a half hour trip I saw Gideon for 15 minutes, It was worth the time and money getting there.

So getting bored, drunk and not having food can be bad ... especially for for the a fridge.

Enough said.


So, the next is a really bad picture, but the story goes like this. We were sitting around really bored, we saw this huge ant and I wanted to see if I could get it to bite me and hold on, so after chasing it around with my hand for around 5 minutes I give up. A few days later my friend Lahav says to me close your eyes and give me your hand, so I do it ... I feel a pinch open my eyes and see his put an ant on my thumb, I take the picture and try to shake it off my hand ... it wont let go ... so he gets some pliers and tries to pull it off... sadly the ants neck gave in before its jaws.

 Its holding on!

My first Yom Kippur in Israel.

I was told to have a look at the highway ... it was incredible. there were no cars and people were walking down the middle of the road.

So doing my homework I feel like drawing, I always draw this picture. Just never drawn it on any one before... Thanks for being the scribble pad Gitit.

My picture of peace.

Boredom + towel = fun

No I don't like pain, it was fun.

Last one for now, this happened today while writing this blog. Jonathan (on the right) found a log he wanted to take the bark of so I let him use my knife. Raffi (on the left) was helping Jonathan. I walked past and saw how they were using the knife and said that someone is going to get hurt.... around 20 minutes later I hear a shout and Raffi has cut himself, I cleaned his cut and fixed him up. Jonathan comes in later and gives me the knife but notices its dirty so says his going to go clean it, 5 minutes later I hear a shout ... he cut himself aswell.... I fixed him too.

Yeah, the knife is sharp.

That's it for now, off to lishgat gious tomorrow. Will update when I know what's happening.

The Begining.

I apologise in advance for incorrect spelling, grammar and punctuation. This post will be a bit about my first 91 days in Israel, its been a very busy 91days and I am sure I have left out some of the more interesting and fun times. 

So I should start with my first trip to Israel.

March 2011.

My father and I decided to go to Israel together after our conversion, both being great supporters of Israel and the IDF we also decided that for our trip we would participate on the Sar-el program.(Sar-el Website) A program where foreign volunteers can work on army bases for short periods of time.

"Scruff bag and I"

We arrived the afternoon before Purim and were driven to a base near Tel-aviv called מצרפ “Matzrap” located within תל השומר “Tel Hashomer” (the logistical HQ for the IDF) “Matzrap” is solely responsible for distribution of medical supplies, The base sends out medical supplies and equipment to bases all over the country including hospitals and storage facilities. While on base we were tasked with preparing equipment to be sent to Japan as part of Israel’s aid to Japan during the recent tsunami. It was tough work but I met some really amazing people during this time.

At fourteen I was diagnosed with Diabetes and had to give up on my dreams of serving in the military, well I tried too! During my time at Matzrap I noticed there was a soldier on base who had Down syndrome. For me it was a complete shock to see a person with down syndrome working in the army. After asking a few questions I found out that it is both a duty and a right to serve within the IDF, Which meant that if you’re exempt from service due to medical reasons you could still request to call upon your right to serve, and this is where my IDF adventure starts.

On returning to the UK I decided that I will return to Israel and take my right to serve. This was by no means an easy decision. At the time I was engaged and starting my own business. In order for me to go I would have to give up so much, some would feel too much and to be honest there have been times when I would agree. I began my Aliyah process with the Jewish Agency and had the chance to join a group on July 25^th. I took the chance, and in doing this hurt people I didn't want to hurt, it also meant having to leave my boy behind.

"My boy"

July 25^th I flew out to Tel-aviv with 30 עולים חדשים “olim chadashim” from the UK. After arriving we were taken to משרד לקליטת עלייה, Ministry of immigration and absorption where we were given a taste of what to expect, a lot of Hebrew paperwork which I'm sure says "Sign to say you have read and understood" (oops!) after this we traveled to Jerusalem and spent the night in the Ramada Hotel, I say night but in reality it was 5 hours. 

The Jewish Agency had set up a day for olim chadashim to set up all the services they would require. Mobiles, bank accounts and health insurance being the main objectives. What this means is 250 French, 30 English, 18 South Africans and 1 Australian (ha!) running around being asked to sign a ton of papers that make no sense!… I did meet some good people during the chaos though!  While blazing a path through my objectives I learnt a very important lesson, Jews rip Jews off, and not speaking Hebrew just makes it easier for them! (I spent the first four days in Israel attempting to fix the problems which started in the first 24 hours) Later during the day I received my תעודת זהות (Israeli I.D.) at הכותל (the Kotel)

The first step of my plan in drafting was to return to Sar-el and start the process while working with in Tel Hashomer. When I returned to Matzrap I met two Americans who were also joining, Mike and Zack. They're really good guys who decided like me to join the IDF, Although they were joining the IDF through the program מחייל "Machal". This is a program where foreign volunteers can join the military but are not required to take Israeli Citizenship. Machal goes back to the war of independence. For those from Southend District Reform Synagogue that know Sydney Graham, Sydney was apart of Machal during his service in Israel.

During my first four weeks in Israel I had completed my initial interview and my “Tzav Rishon” the interview consisted of questions to find out why I had come to Israel and why I thought I should join straight away and not wait a year as other olim chadashim do, and some basic working history for my self and my family. The Tzav Rishon is a soldier’s first call. This is where you are asked hundreds of questions during a second interview,  I remember having to explain my working and educational history by month all the way back to when I started school in South Africa aged 7! You're poked prodded and drained of bodily fluids, asked to wait for uncertain periods of time and then given a psychometric test on a computer.

After I completed this I realised that the drafting process would take much longer than expected and although I really enjoyed working for Sar-el I needed to work on my Hebrew. 

I made a few calls and found an Ulpan on Kibbutz Mishmar Ha-Sharon. The idea is simple, you work one day and learn the next. So for the time being I'm on Kibbutz until February, theres a range of different work but mainly I work in the fish ponds catching fish.

Although the Kibbutz wasn't part of my plan, I think its been the best part of my adventure so far. Apart from improving my Hebrew, I have met some really good people, and have had some really good times with them.

My next step in the adventure is to be given my medical exemption from service, originally this was going to be on the 5/12/2011 but one of the soldiers in the draft office who works with olim chadashim was able to change it to the 30/10/2011. I will go to Tel Hashomer and be told I am exempt from service and officially be given my "Profile 21" after this I start the volunteer process.

People have asked me to keep them updated on what I do in Israel, So I'm going to try update every now and then, but for now hopefully this suffices.

Much love,

Yallah!

PS: I have left out a lot of stories of crazy but good times with the people I have met, but I know for sure there will be more!

Here we go!

Watch this space.