Hi again everyone. It's about time I updated this. Unfortunately, it's been so long (rather, it feels like it's been so long) and we've done so much, I can't promise that my memory is perfectly accurate on the minutiae and timings.
Where did I leave off? Right, in the middle of Michve Alon. Well, I don't have the energy for a full and proper update, so I'll just write about one of the more interesting and busy events of the last two months: the
gibush [try-out] for
Tzanchanim [the Paratroopers]. The timing isn't too far from where I left off - it was at the beginning of my second week. As usual, I hope to give a fuller update sometime in the future.
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Sunday morning several of us had to show up at the central army base near Tel Aviv for the
gibush, while everyone else got a day off. Not wanting to show up late and exhausted, I spent Saturday night at Zagny's (a friend from my first kibbutz) place in Tel Aviv. It was good seeing her and her boyfriend, David, again, although they were so busy with schoolwork and I only arrived around 10 or 10:30, so there wasn't much time for socializing.
The next morning I made it to Tel HaShomer (the base) just around 9:30, but it being Israel, we still had a while to wait for everything to start. I was definitely too confident going in - I had heard that 4 out of every 5 people trying out get in, and from Michve Alon, I had no doubts that I was in the top 80%. I'm not sure exactly how many of us there were in total, but they said it was something over 150.
We started very simply. Everyone was taken into the main area for the
gibush, which mainly consisted of a large asphalt patch and a field full of 8-person tents. We were separated into groups and tents, then put all our stuff down and set up cots.
Once that was finished, we were taken to lunch. As is typical for Tel HaShomer, it was quite good and we had enough time to eat all we wanted (For that matter, meal times have rarely been a cause for hunger so far). After eating we went back to more setting up and processing, mainly doctor's tests and filling out forms.
Finally just before evening, we started that actual
gibush. Normally it opens with a
Bar Or, the IDF's physical fitness test of pushups, situps, and a 2km run. But for some reason they decided to reduce it to just a one kilometer run. The challenge was that we had to run on a dirt path, and it had poured during the afternoon.
Unfortunately, I was used to running on roads and proper surfaces, so I paced myself poorly. Just as I felt like I was about to collapse, I passed the guy yelling, "200 more meters." I finished in 4:04 - I think I was around the middle, but I was too out of breath to be sure.
After a few minutes to rest and recover, we moved to the next event. This one was definitely my strong point: we had to empty our canteens and quickly as possible. Finally a chance to put my college education to use! At most there were one or two people who finished before me in each of the three canteens.
I'm sure they paid attention to how well everyone did, but they only wrote down that each person finished. I'm not too sure on why they had us drink, but it seems to be a common army practice, and each time they repeat how it's not a good way to be hydrated.
Once everyone finished going to the bathroom, we returning to the cafeteria for dinner. Again it was a good meal, but I didn't plan ahead and had several cups of water to drink. As I should have known, as soon as dinner ended we were back to the canteens. The first (fourth of the day) I was fine with, but I had to stop several times during the last one. Even after I got it all down, I had to run over to the side as it all came back up. On the other hand, I've heard they look for people who throw up after the water - it shows they're trying harder or something.
That was all for the first day. We headed off to the tents for the best sleep I'd had in weeks (I don't know what it is about the Tel HaShomer cots, but I seem to sleep better on them than anywhere else) and were given a simple wake up around 4:30 the next morning. By simple, I mean it was just someone coming by to wake us up and tell us we had seven minutes or so to dress and be outside - we were expecting someone to come screaming through in the middle of the night to throw us outside and have us run and work with no warning.
The second morning started with a while of getting everyone together and prepared, then another enjoyable breakfast, and finally off to the hard day of the
gibush. We filled up 20kg sandbags, got out the stretcher and jerrycans, and headed out to the field. The next several hours consisted of lining everyone in our group (30 or so of us) up, and having us run back and forth over and over. We would get a few seconds in between each so they could write down the numbers either of the first or last five. Then we loaded the stretcher with several sandbags and the game became the first four to finish would pick up the stretcher and everyone (including the four) would do another lap). Then it was the last four who get the stretcher.
With the straight running, I generally came in third or fourth each time, but for some reason once the stretcher was opened, I was always one or two people behind it. I figured they pay attention to everything, not just those whose numbers are written, so I just took off my hat when I ran - I figured that I'm recognizable enough, this way they'd see that I'm trying hard and doing well, just not the top four.
After two or three hours of this, we moved on from the physical exercises. We were told to use whatever we could find around the field to make a model of the state of Israel, then they'd ask each of us in turn to put a stone on various cities. The
gibush was primarily for foreigners, so there were a lot of wrong answers and it seemed like a great exercise in general to me.
Next we moved over to an area with three metal stands and another one further off with tired stacks on it. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the game where you try to move rings of different sizes from one peg to another, moving one at a time, and without having a larger ring on top of a smaller one. For those of you who aren't familiar, that's how it works. I think this was my other strong event - I was familiar with how the game works, so I basically took over, running back and forth and telling everyone what to do.
These mental and cooperative challenged finished, we went back to another couple hours of running back and forth, and just about finished by early afternoon. All that remained was the most significant part, the interviews. The interview was mainly us talking a bit about ourselves and why we wanted to be in
Tzanchanim. The only part I was concerned about was when they asked me to stop speaking Hebrew, because they couldn't understand me. But they were friendly and spoke English very well.
Once we had finished everything, we had a small lunch, mainly bread, chocolate milk, and pudding, got everyone together, and returned to Michve Alon. We made it back before all the regular people, who had been at a nearby
kibbutz doing some sort of educational day.
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Not to leave you all in suspense, I'll quickly skip ahead to the results. My assumption was way off, and only 28 of the 150+ of us who finished were accepted into
Tzanchanim. Numerically speaking, that makes this probably the toughest
gibush in all the army. I was surprised at a number of the choices - there were a bunch of people who did very well but didn't get in, and a few that I never would have expected to make it who did.
As for me, I was one of the successful ones, so the past month and a half that you haven't heard from me, I've been in Paratrooper basic training.
