Thu 02.07.

Weekend is coming! Breakfast, flag raising, three hours of work, then cleaning the rooms, toilets, empty the fridge, pack our stuff, take shower, have luch, ready go go...

My roommates, Texas ladies were quite a laugh! =D
What to do with a kitten? Put it in your purse and be quiet.
Who's bra is this?
Guess if it hurts when that man above sits on your toe? She needs ice!
Some of us are leaving after two weeks. Get Sar-El diploma, pin and contact list. Keep in touch people!
Bus took us to Tel Aviv central bus station. Best way to get Jerusalem is take a sherut from east side of the bus station, Tzemach David street. It is fast, cost only 22 NIS per person and it takes us right there were we want to go. Jaffa street near Zion square is under construction so sherut stops at Harav Kook nearby. We are staying at Hotel Habira again, one small block away. Here is our room.

We get settled in and prepare to go out shopping. Then I notice my purse is missing! I cant find it! All my money, cards, credit cards, licences and everything - gone! I try to tell receptionist so he could call "sherut / taxi centre" or what ever to explain my purse has left to Tel Aviv - Jerusalem -sherut. He does not understand. He says he is not going to call, sheruts to Tel Aviv leave around the corner. I could punch him! Aaaarrgghh!

We run to Harav Kook. It is a miracle!!! Our sherut is right there, backing from the parking lot. We yell, shout and bang his windows. Finally he stops and opens the door, looking at us like we were mad. I tell him my purse is on the back seat, did not bother to wait his response but rush on the back. And there it is! I found my purse! It is truly a miracle! I feel very blessed and start to cry. I'm so happy and lucky!

It took about two and a half weeks to get stamps from the post office. Workdays we were at the base, on weekends post offices are closed. They close on friday at one o clock. It was not easy, I tell you that, ha ha. When the most important task in done we went to shop in old town, then back to hotel. Then more shopping on Ben Yehuda and having falafel.

Wed 01.07.

It is time for our day trip! We were ready to go few minutes before nine. Ok... We did drive one kilometre inside the base and then sit in the bus for 40 minutes before we move forward. On Sar-El trips we need one armoured guard for ten people, and we were a big crowd and needed a second guard. That is why we were waiting for so long. We had some more volunteers from other base nearby. Together we visited tank museum.

Tank museum is at Latrun, near Mini Israel.
Gee it was hot.
Merkava 4. What do I remember of it? Only small things. Surface is rough so dirt attach to it for camouflage. Thick explosive armor. You get in from the back. Joint is the weakest part, there is small balls hanging from the chains, if hit by a missile it will explode when hit the balls, before it hits the tank itself.
Oh lalaa.
Memorial with names.
One of the memorials inside. See faces of those statues, they are all the same, one fallen soldier.
Time to move on. We had lunch at Abu Ghosh. They say it is best humus in Israel.
Mount Herzl. National and military cemetary.
Again it was so hot we could barely stand up.
Rest in peace Michael Levin.
Our superb bus driver.
Jerusalem, near old town. Notice the fence far away.
Little pray at Western Wall.
Took our fellow volunteers back to their base. I was there last year and had to get out of bus and take a look how it is today. Nice covered paths you got there now! We got back to our home just before nine. I was tired and smelly.

Tue 30.06.

Today I was working inside with The Ladies. Israeli army is extraordinary. IDF gets help from volunteers who can be foreigners, retired senior citizens or disabled persons. It is amazing, we are not fit as real soldiers but we can do what we can to help Jewish state. Some armybases could not manage without volunteers, our work is important!

Here below is that poor kitten. Other cats reject it and one of our volunteers got quite touch with it. Dangerously too much! At army base it is not allowed to feed the cats! Imagine how it is to keep a kitten in a box with you. We found and did call some sort of animal shelter which would take this abandoned kitten when we get out of base on next thursday.

NOTICE: Israel is full of stray cats. They are skinny, have diseases and are always pregnant. You have to realize that before you come to Israel. You can not save them all. People dont care about cats in here. No one likes cats in here. I personally think all stray cats should exterminate without pity. You can not help them.

Our evening activity is a documentary movie called "Hero in Heaven". Very emotinal, again we are all crying. Michael Levin from US deciced to move to beloved Israel and join the front line combat unit in IDF.

YOU CAN'T FULFILL YOUR DREAM UNLESS YOU DARE TO RISK IT ALL -Michael Levin

Here he is:

Mon 29.06.

After breakfast we will raise the flag, and cause it is monday we will do it with soldiers. Only four of us volunteers were on time. We were standing in line with the soldiers and our fellow volunteers start to show - up one by one. Dragging their feet across the square, slowly. Everybody is waiting. No one is happy, except chatting and giggling volunteers who are late. Excuses, excuses. I never saw anything like this before. Live and learn.

We get blue Sar-El insignias to wear proudly on our shoulders - or to leave them to the laundry room like trash. *sigh*

"Cutting water".
It is fun and easy, you dont have to think anything.
Be careful or you will get wet!
At the evening meeting there is 27 (or so) of us. We are having quiz about Israel. Two teams, it is chaos! Questions are quite difficult atleast for me. But luckily others are more wise. They get so excited they can not keep their mouths shut, they yell answers right when it pop into their minds even if it is not their turn. It was fun, but our team did loose.

When we get back to our barracks it is really dark and we almost step on to tiny black kitten. I call one of the volunteers to take it back to trash bins where all the cats usually are.

Sun 28.06.

Oh, my sunburns did not feel so well this morning. Had cherry jogurth and chocolate bar for breakfast. It was short walk from Old Jaffa Hostel, Olei Zion, to Jerusalem Bulevard. We took bus number 46 to Central Bus Station and we arrived little bit too early. Madrich and all volunteers were suppose to meet there 08.45 at fourth floor, in front of McDonalds. And little did we know, last ones arrived 09.45. But hey we are in Israel, time is different here... After that we had to wait for our bus...

Madrich lead us through corridors and halls, we were going down, and down, and down. Then we arrived to a secured place where all the soldiers wait for their transportation. We were the only civilians. It was kinda cool be in there with all those soldiers. We were of of them. Almost.

We finally got into our base, our home, and first thing I did was take a nap. Then went to lunch and take a nap. After one o'clock it was time to work.

We have some new volunteers and roommates with us, and many of them speak only French. Our french speaking madricha was somewhere else. Evening meeting was really frustrating because we did not understand french and they did not understand english. We found someone in our group who could translate, but he was not very sharp or focused. He did not listen or understand what was he supposed to say, and he was too shy to go speak up in the front. Rather he was mumbling from the back.

I felt like screaming, I wanted to run outside. I never had these kind of feelings before! I could not take it people are late, dont do want they should do, are messy, unpolite, ignorant, talk behind others back, are disrespectful to others - or the army, are sloppy workers, dont care how their uniform look, loose their keys for their rooms and what ever. I try to calm down and keep in mind that in volunteer work you meet so many people from different cultures, we all have different traditions and style. Everyone is unique. Calm down, breathe.

Then we talked about kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit. This is allegedly his letter from about two years ago:

"I am the soldier Gilad, son of Noam Shalit who is captured by the Izadin El Qasam. Mother, father, my sister and brother, all of my friends serving in the I.D.F, I send my love. I miss you here from jail. It's been a whole year of imprisonment and my physical condition is becoming worse. I am in need of urgent treatment in the hospital. I am sorry by the lack of care by the Israeli government and the I.D.F. It is clear that they have to obey their demands so I will be released, especially as I was a soldier in a military operation and not a drug dealer. As I have parents, my mother and father, Palestinian prisoners have parents and families and should therefore be released. I have great hope in my country and government and hope they will be interested in mine. Gilad Shalit"

We discussed if this really is his writing or not, and why do we think that. We talked about Lebanon, Gaza, kidnappings, soldiers, criminals, terrorists, values of life. Palestinian prisoners can study a degree and meet their family while in jail. Gilad can not. While ago Israel released many criminals and murderers, and in change got back two dead bodies. Alive Israeli soldiers have never been released.