First talks with PA in two years beit shemesh and Hamas attacks

SONG OF THE WEEK( New part song that best represents my Army service of the week. song changes every week.)

IMOGEN HEAP SPEEDING CARS

Ok so where are we.

Ok so I have finished Michve allon and am now in the Nahal unit in 933 which is the headquaters of Nahal. With the job of mechanic. Which is good as we are direct compat support and we get to go home with a gun.

So my comanders are nice and treat me well and the base is ok. 

So today is 30 August 2010 and Kobi my friend who is a sgt has holiday for a month but is going to work with his dad as he wants more money. The Israeli army only pays jobnick Israeli soldiers 400 shekels a month which is $200nzd were as if you make Aliyah (opt for citzenship) you get a lot more money. And because I am what is known as a lone soldier ( a person with no family in Israel) the army gives me 1500 shekels a month which is $750 in my hand a month and on top of that I get another 150 shekel that goes to the kibbutz for havining me. And in my ID card is a magnetic strip like a visa card on this the army gives me every month 120 shekels to spend on food at a supermarket this excludes alcahol and cigeretes.

So I make about $875 nzd a month but dont forget here the simplest meal and burger king is like $25 nzd.

This week I was told I could do guard duty on a base in the south I cant say wich as it is very top secret base. So they issue me out my weapon and ammo etc then 10 minutes before I was due to leave the Israeli internal security service calls up my sgt nissan, and tells him they dont want lone soldiers from outside Israel gurading the base. So I was pissed. The service is called the shabak the shabbak is like the F.B.I of Israel.

There is the mossad which is like the C.I.A aswell and every body knows about them. And the army . The Army is the most orginised and respected institution in Israel. Here the army is not split into army airforce navy. Here every arm is knowen as the army and every body is called soldier there is no diffrence in rank structure to.

Also today is the day before the lone soldiers fun day bassicly the army throws these days for us to do things like paintball beach etc. so I am going but realy dont want to I hate going to the beach I am only looking forward to paintball if they have it and possibly jetskiing.

But my comander Segev who is a realy nice guy told me to go and enjoy but becaue I am not here and nither is kobi he has to work by himself tommorow.

Also yesterday I saw the Kaban again (the army physclogist) in michve thesaid I was having adjustment issues. I was like well na dumbasses you come to a forign nation were you dont know the language and have no family friends etc, and the first thing you do is join the army. So she put this thing on my profile stoping me from being a fighter or a officer. So I went yesterday to get it takein off. And he tells me it is to soon to take it off in another month ok maybe. And I get to meet him again but he gave me tash 3 wihich means bassicly I have to be given 3 days off a week if I ask my comander for it. But I am not going to use it it's shit so it doesnt matter.

Anyway will update as new things happen this week

yalla bye

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Hay so I promised to update you guys about this week. So it got better from the guard duty incident, so we had yom keif or fun day which was payed for thanks to our american friends the organisaztion friends of the IDF I caught up with people from sde eliyahu and from michve it seems like most of tvet 4 went to Nahal me Adam and demitri ended up in nahal with daniel in givati and sergay in the airforce ahron relised from duty and namike nifkadud (A.W.O.L). and considering our mifakedet was a proud wearer of the Nahal kumpta. It is fair to say tzvet 4 is the Nahal tzvet. 

So also this week I introduced my room mate daniel to the game dragon age we both love this and now you have two soldiers walking around the base speaking english andtalking about speels magic and battle strattiges and if dwarven armour is better than elf made armour. I also was told last night that today I had to go to a funeral I was like man I dont wana go.but it got me out of work early.

 So I get told my my smal turan (service sgt) I am to travel from the base to tel aviv central bus station and from there to god knows were. So I get told to be there at two oclock so at natanyah it was 1:30 I was freaking out thinking I would get in trouble etc. but I get there to tel aviv at 2:30 (thank god everything in Israel is close together I was thinking at this stage) and so I go to egged information desk excpecting to see my comanders, I see a girl from my base who was going to (we were to represent the heimush) she tells me we are going to beit shemesh and the comanders are not coming. 

So me and amiet got talking complaning for having to go to this thing etc. after a two and a half hour bus ride which was fucking horrible but thank god for good company. We get to the cemetery expecting officers and flags etc. turns out it was a remembernce ceramony for a soldier who was in the Nahal in the heimush and he tooka hitchhike and the people were pretending to be religious dressing like them. Turns out they were arabs and killed him. 

So me and amiet go there meet up with 3 other nahal soldiers one nahal officer and a navy rabbi and the guys family. Half of them turn out to be American and I became the star attraction to the 10 and 11 year old boys as I spoke english and the mother seemed realy intrested. They invited me back to a ceramony in telavivin the ministry of defence were they were meeting very very high ranking officers ( I should have gone actually as it would have been good to get a few officers on my side) oh and I left the base at 12 spent 3 hours travling to the grave one hour there and it is now 8pm and I am not home yet I am writing this on the train. (I so need a car) Amiet and me and another soldier are travling back. 

The stupid thing is effy mine and amiet's mifaked gadol choice the two soldiers who live the most north to go the most south so Fuck him basscily dumbass jerk (well he is a nice guy he treats me fine I am just pissed about all this traveling I just want to go home. I was working with yosi today and not segev as segev was away and is away most of the next week to. 

So yosi tells me he realy likes me and thinks I am a great soldier higly motivated and a great man in gneral and asked if I want to stay in the yammach with him and work there I said I would think about it. But my choice is all ready made Sgev is the one who took me first and has been realy good to me so with him is were my loyalty lies as he is just a great guy bith yosi and him are but as I said segev took me first and thats were my loyalty is. 

And segevs soldiers are wilderness mechanics which means in war we go to gaza lebanon etc and fix the stuff there we carry guns and are sometimes in the fight to which for me is great as I get a little Kravi (I get to take my gun home) and I get a trade that is great for my life in the future so it's win win I am not ashamed of what I do I am proud of my unit and were my uniform with pride which pisses some Israel soldiers off. Segev was telling me that the soldiers who have attatude problems dont were there uniform with pride and dont respect them selfs enough to look profical are losers and will get no were. He sincerely thinks I can get to a high position in the army if I keep up exactlly how I am going.

So I am very lucky and am meeting new people and my hebrew gets better every week and I am finding myself more comfortable in Israel now it is starting to feel like home now. I look forward to going home my kibbutz. I never thought it would become my home but it is and it is my own place.

So guys I am still not home yet still on the train but this was this week in the army and I hope you enjoyed the blog. Shabbat Shalom to all if you wanna know more email me skype me facebook etc. but for now HOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Zane/Airk