cultural differences

 we had a fun week with our unit.
The first day we went to Musuem of protection (museon haganah) which was really cool.  It really is interesting in which intentions this country was developed as well as the people who saw it through.  I learned a lot from it. Then we ate lunch and went back to base where we had a fancy dinner. and by fancy i mean it was the same normal food we would eat just on tableclothes. so yea...
The next morning we had a sports day which included a bunch of cometetive team games like basketball and soccer.  My favorite was the tug of war.  We (mostly female shooting instructors) competed against Lotar (which can only translate to freakishly huge guys in very small shorts ) clearly we were the winners... not. but we tried .
Then at night we had a stand up comedy act which was cute and came back to base to sleep.
The next day they took us on a hike in the Golan which is really beautiful but hiking with the other units from our base (who all felt they had something to prove) we had intense inclines that had me huffing and puffing.  Still it was really fun and we were rewarded with beautiful springs and waterfalls.
I feel like the israeli countryscape is beautiful and so different you can go from the north to the south and see such different scenery.
but let's be real mostly its hot and dry and hot and dry and then some hot and dry.
After we got on the bus and went to a waterpark. We slept awkwardly on a mattress (not like a real person mattress half the length and width of a real mattress more like a little yoga matish) on the lawn of the waterpark. good planning army.
it was a lot of fun and they put on tons of music and we had so many sandwiches.... overload.
this morning we went into the pool and the slides and came home where it took me 4 hours to get home from  a ride that should have been 45 mins tops. once again thank you bus system. you never fail to anger me.

some of the cultural differences ive noticed .
warning : generalizations don't take it to heart.
israel is the most homoerotic/homphobic country: before you start arguing- let's be real the israeli army is not very big on accepting gays and lesbians. even though there is a strict do your thing and be you thing, guys will call eachother "homo" and mean it as an insult.
still guys in the army wear very short short short shorts (smaller then gay pride shorts) and kiss eachother on the cheeks. and grab at eachother. and are all over one another. and when we are at a club they literarly only dance with one another in a big group of epically uncoordinated post pubescent awkwardness.  Last night when we were dancing to music the guys literarly forced us girls off the dance floor so they could huddle and dance on one another. They also pee together and admit when their friends are good looking. all very confusing stuff.

other cultural things . in israel if you are a child under 4 you will be naked at the beach. in america not socially acceptable.

in israel a 5 year old child will yell at you if you don't pass her the towel she asks for on time. no shame.


in israel a 64 year old religious woman will flirt with the felafel worker who is 20 and tell him all about her foot bunions. he will of course listen and give her her pita while empathizing and tell her to give her husband a good loving later. not ok.


in israel the Misrachi songs- which are the israeli version of id say coutnry music are all about "if you leave me i will be a 0 . stay here with me , you drive me crazy in your love. let me go jealous over you." in america what is big is "b****es and hoes and grass and getting bling" in rap songs .


both styles of music i love btw and can't handle for more then 24 hours at a time.

in israel you take 5 buses and the bus driver will never fail to talk to himself curse at little children crossing and give you a hard time about wanting to open up the down stairs compartment for your big bag.














oh israel....
love ,
michali

2-something post .?

I came back from the states last week. I was on a visit that lasted a month.  I wish that someone had written a manual about how to seperate from your friends and parents every  9 months.  It would be called something like 9 months of anxious israeli/american birth.  Or something not so weird.
In any case coming back is really really hard and I not only feel that I am emotionally not here but physically I have become sick. I came home on gimelim today ( the type of letter that allows you to leave your mission and come the hell home to not get everyone else sickly ).  I was throwing up and had shilsul.  Funny the American side of me didnt want to advertize that last part but oh well.  I think it was a mixture of being on my period, being jetlagged , and over heating.
    This job is physically and mentally taxing.  It is hard to move from base to base and be in the heat all day running from the firing line down to check the bullet markings and back. 
    It is almost like double as hard to come back to Israel this time around knowing what to expect.  The late night calls to your parents.  The playing skype phone calls with your friends, the missing everything while your friends go on with their lives and live in brooklyn or nyc or grad school.
     I guess my life is static for now.  not in a bad way just in a homesickness.
It is also weird because when I was in the states i felt like it was a visit.  i didnt feel like that was home. Here, Israel is home. 
I don't know what I would do without my Garin.  Having a deeper connections with many of my fellow lone sodliers that I live with than I have made over the years in America means something.  Also my amazing host family has been a constant source of support and lovingness.
Still I wish I could somehow merge the worlds in a way I could convince my best friends and parents to move here- if only for a little bit.  So that they can fall in love with this land and people as much as I did.  Every stupid rude Israeli, every cacti, every bad fashion statement, every bus that breaks down and never lets you get to where you want on time, every 1 pm Chummas lunch that you are sure would not have been approved by the nyc standards.  I love it all.  And now i've puked on most of that .

We are having someone from our Garin leave,
I am not going to state reasoning but just say that I willl miss him very much and it is also very hard to think of our family loosing someone.  I wish him the best and know he will amount to great things while he is in the states : )

It is time to go puke again and then go to bed,
Lots of hugs,
Michali