We're in the Army Now....

We woke up early and planned to leave by 7:30. Quickly showering and getting everything into our bags we said our goodbyes, until next weekend. Hannoch drove us to the airport and we listened to music composed and sung by his son Shaul. We got there on time and entered the arrivals hall. There was a large group of volunteers, maybe 70 or 80. A former volunteer, Pam was organizing and collecting our medical forms. Some folks were dressed in Purim costumes and the feeling was happiness with great anticipation. Another volunteer named Sharon came to visit and she and I modeled our very old VFI tee shirts. Mine is from 1984!

We are assigned to a base in the north between Haifa and Tiberias. There are 14 volunteers in our group and all in the same age range. We drive over an hour and finally reach the hilly base. We get off the bus, retrieve our luggage and schlep it into a three story dorm.

The men are assigned rooms on the second floor and the six women trudge to the third floor. We are four in my room which has two bunk beds and two cots. We each have a metal locker which stands about three feet tall. There is a large bathroom at the end of the hall with showers, toilets and eight sinks. Everything is pretty dingy and stained, but I will have to grin and bear it.

At this point we are collected by our madrichot, leaders, who take us to lunch. Mya and Anna are two interesting young women and we are very impressed by them.

We go up steps to another landing and then up again to the building where we will work and have lunch. Beginning to think we will be in much better physical shape when we leave. Lunch is the big meal of the day and meat with vegetarian choices. Today it is meatballs, a veggie kugel thingie, rice and vegetables in some kind of yellow sauce. On the tables is tahini sauce and chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. Also plates with cut up oranges and apples. Later we found out there was vegetable soup. Some kind of flavored water finished off the meal. We were all hungry, so we ate and felt better.

The workrooms and lunchroom are on the third floor of the building. We explore the working stations where soldiers are working on communication materials. Here they repair helmets with earphones, antenna systems and more. We walked around to each area and will be assigned tomorrow to a particular job. 

Last stop was another building where we were issued uniforms. Each of us went in and got a shirt, pants, belt, heavy jacket and sleeping bag.

All are army green and could use some ironing. Finally done we drag all our goodies back to the dorm and have some time to rest. Our six women congregated in my room and took lots of pictures. Four of us in my room and two across the hall. Our madrichot are on our floor also.

At 6:15 we met and walked to a larger dining hall down the hill for dinner. Breakfast and dinner are light, dairy meals and not very satisfying. Choices tonight were French toast, if you can call it that with no butter or syrup. Next were hard boiled eggs, pasta which looked baked with no sauce, and chopped salad. There was no salad dressing so I put a gob of cottage cheese on top. Dessert was flavored yogurt and I chose chocolate which was okay. I made a cup of tea and felt somewhat satisfied.

At night we have an activity or meeting so we trudged back up the hill. On the way we saw a tiny base synagogue which was just beautiful inside. All marble and wood it is very impressive.

Our meeting was lots of fun as we played a game to introduce ourselves. This is a great group of people and I will write about them as the program progresses.

Finally worn out and ready for bed. We are back in our room, showered and tucked in our beds.

Laila Tov!