The last 10 days were the best days of the semester so far.

It started at around 3 in the morning when we all set out to climb Masada. When I woke up I was ecstatic and more than ready to hike. In the beginning, all of Masik (my bus group which I am completely obsessed with) was singing and we were having a really fun time. The rest of the hike up was quiet, but beautiful. We got to the top just before sunrise and took a lot of pictures. Then we had services while the sun rose in front of us. The rest of was spent with my Jewish History teacher, David, who taught us all about Masada while we were there. Oh by the way David was getting married so we threw him a surprise bachelor party and he loved it!

After Masada we went to the Dead Sea. It was really pretty, and the water was warm! It was also really cool to float in the water and rub mud all over myself. It was mostly just a tiny vacation before GADNA!

We get to the base in the late afternoon. A mikfakedet (commander) came on the bus and started to talk in Hebrew. We didn’t really know what was going on, so we just went outside and then all of these really scary Israelis starting yelling at us in Hebrew and we couldn’t understand. Then we got split into groups, and got our uniforms (which I failed to steal), blankets and sleeping bags. At night was our opening ceremony. We had to stand in acshev (attention) for about 2 hours straight. It’s when you stand with your feet in a V and your hands making a diamond in the middle of your back. It is incredibly painful. If we twitched, sneezed, or (God forbid) scratched our nose, we were immediately sent to do 15 pushups. People of different rankings kept coming out and talking to us. Actually it was more like yelling. Afterwards, we went and did some exercises with our groups and went to bed early, because we were told the next day was going to be long and strenuous. I went to sleep wearing around 5 layers- the dessert at night is freezing, especially when you are in a tent.

The army is strongly based on respect. It was hard for my friends and I to understand why the commanders would be so mean and why there was such an obvious hierarchy. We learned that there needs to be respect between everyone in order to be successful. From an outsider’s perspective, the commanders seem like horrible, mean people. They are yelling at you for what seems like no reason and picking out every possible flaw. But when you see them sing the Hatikvah (Israel’s national anthem), you realize that all of their intensity comes from their love of Israel.

 

The next day was spent in the field. We did a lot of exercise and learned a lot about how soldiers operate in the field. Our commander taught us how to crawl, run, walk and camouflage ourselves. The other days at gadna were less physical, but we learned a lot about different positions and rankings in the army. On the second to last day, I shot an M16! We all got 11 bullets to shoot, and it was a lot less intense that I thought it would be. I am really happy that I can say I shot an M16.

On the last day, our commanders started actually smiling and being human. It was awesome! My commander was really pretty, and my whole group was pissed that she would never smile. But when she finally talked to us and showed her human side she was so sweet and funny! It was really interesting to seeing the change in all of us. Most people were complaining the entire week, but when we were leaving, we all started to miss it!

Despite all of the horrible things I am writing about, I actually enjoyed Gadna. Some kids did not, and it is because they had a bad attitude. Green Cove has taught me one of the most important and useful things-always try your best to stay positive. If you complain than everything will get worse. I also enjoyed Gadna because of the people. Before we got there, all of EIE was kind of in cliques based on bus groups. It’s hard not to be, because we are always with our bus groups and it’s hard to really meet other people. In gadna, our groups were mixed and a lot of my friends and I became really close with people from other groups. Now there is a better atmosphere here at Tzuba.

After Gadna, we went to Eilat and snorkeled in the Red Sea. We spent a lot of time shopping on the boardwalk, and it was another nice vacation after Gadna. We then went to stay in Bedouin tents, which were really nice. We had tea and meditated and all the girls slept in one tent so it was like one big sleepover! The next morning we were supposed to ride camels, but we couldn’t because of the rain. The ONE CHANCE I have to ride a camel, it rains in the freaking dessert! I could not be positive about that situation.

After all of this, we came back home to our beloved Tzuba, and we will start school tomorrow and be back to normal.

P.s.  I love my bus group, Masik