hello all so its been a while and a lot has happened. I've been to Eilat and Gadna - the fake army training, and later today I am leaving with my grandparents for spring break. I dont have much time so I will try to write as much as I can in as little amount of words and needed. First off, Eilat is really beautiful and really touristy. The beach is wonderful - and snorkeling was great - but the boardwalk is lined with souvenir shops. We even met a woman who works at a restaurant who said she doesnt like Eilat because there are no Israelis there. We didn't actually do much we just had a lot of free time.
Gadna was actually quite interesting. I'm not sure I would call it fun, but I'm definitely glad I did it. Basically starting Sunday afternoon and ending yesterday evening I was in "basic training" for the Israeli army. Its something they do for Israeli high school kids to get them ready and excited for the army. We were split into different groups, about 12 in each with a commander. We got uniforms - mine did not fit well and I looked pretty ridiculous - and slept in tents. Most of the time we were running around having 12 second to get into formation or line up for a meal (I now appreciate any amount of time over 15 seconds - you have no idea how much you can do with so little time). We also had to stand with our feet in a "v" and with our hands behind out backs in a diamond shape. If we were unprepared or late we had pushups. Other than that there was some physical stuff like crawling and running in the desert but overall it was not as hard as I thought it would be. We also had lessons about Israel and guns (I now know everything I will ever want to know about an M-16) and we also go to fire guns.
Overall I think what I learned most from Gadna was that the anticipation of an event (if you are not looking forward to something) is usually much worse than the actual event. I spent days dreading Gadna, and it was not as hard as my mind had built it up to be. Even the last night when we got word that we had a middle of the night run, I spent hours being upset trying to figure out how much they would make us run and how I would be able to keep up with the group. The "run" turned out to be at 5 am and was a brisk walk with about 10 seconds of sprinting every minute or so. I also learned that as much as I dont like guns and as important as gun control is, there is a scary feeling of power that comes when shooting a gun. It really hit me that the weapons they gave us (M-16s) are very powerful and have killed countless people. I was scared to use one.
I think the reason why I liked ganda is because along with the kibbutz, its probably the most Israeli part of the trip. During one of our breaks a girl commented that she wished we were back on campus so she should go shopping or go to the beach. As nice as the beach is, I appreciated doing something that is unique to Israel. Not only do the majority of Israelis join the army, but about a quarter also do Gadna as high schoolers as an introduction to the army. Even though it wasn't nearly as intense as actual basic training, it does give some insight into what Israelis go through. And I didn't really feel like a tourist.
Ok so I'm out of time, I think I'm going to hear some 6 day war stories but I'm not sure. I will try to write over break. I'm so glad to get away for 10 days and relax and not have to wake up at 6 am.
Happy Passover!
1 comment:
Oh man, our snorkeling trip was canceled due to lousy weather. We went to a little aquarium/park place instead. That's where I remember hearing about Tom DeLay resigning. Good times. I'm glad Gadna wasn't too bad, sounds like you liked it more than me. BUT - did you win one of the super special awards they gave out at the end? I got one for some reason. They seemed to give them to all the people who had worked hardest to make fun of the whole trip. And how accurate was your shooting?
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