Health & Fitness
Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving!!!
I know it was Thanksgiving but I wanted to wait for some photos that fell through :(
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!
I know it was a week ago but I was waiting for photos that I can't get. :/
I didn't get off unfortunately BUT I did spend the morning in Jerusalem at an education base with my friend Tzvi. (Tzvi's Blog. He's a fellow lone soldier.) We had to go to a mandatory meeting for a course called Course Nativ(pronounced Na-teev)קורס נתיב.
The course is for soldiers that are new to the country and have been in Israel for less then 10 years. It is also the first step to the conversion process for the soldiers that aren't jewish and want to become jewish. It isn't a mandatory course but from what I hear it's a lot of fun.
There is a closed course that is about seven weeks and an opened course that is about 3 months.
Each week there are one or two trips to different places in the country. Every day there are lessons on Israel.
The meeting finished surprisingly early. We thought it was going to be a few hours. It turned out that it was 15 minutes. Im honestly surprised that I even knew what was being said they were speaking so fast. Instead of the meeting being 830-1130 like we thought it was in and out. They were doing the meetings in waves. It was great. Tzvi and I decided that we didn't want to go back with a whole group of people and took a separate bus to Ben Yehuda. We walked around Ben Yehuda for a little before finally getting some breakfast and then took the new train system to the bus station where we went back to Tel Aviv.
Later on in the evening we met back up at a Thanksgiving Dinner for American Lone Soldiers held by The Michael Levine Lone Soldier Center. The Lone Soldier Center holds a Thanksgiving Dinner every year for American Lone soldiers. Pictures can be found in the "Thanksgiving Dinner" link. I was surprised as to how many Lone Soldiers that weren't American that came. I honestly was kind of disheartened that they were using it as an excuse to get off base.
On a plus side it was GREAT to see all the Americans and meet some new people.
They had so much food and drinks and it was just a great time. They also had a football game (Greenbay Packers vs Lions?) on the big screen. It was being broadcasted live. It was so much fun. It was a little slice of home.
American holidays aren't really celebrated in Israel. People know it's a holiday but they won't really do anything about it. Halloween is celebrated by mostly the Club Scene but it isn't like home. Just like America doesn't celebrate other countries holidays; Other countries don't celebrate ours. The only celebration going on is the groups of American's that get together and celebrate our holidays. We keep our family traditions alive and make new ones. It is a lot of fun and makes things easier. It's great to feel that small piece of home.
I really have been feeling the need to go home and spend the holidays with my family but I can't. I was home in the summer to try and see my sick Aunt one last time. I only get one month a year to be home. I can either use it to work or to go home. I've been using my one month to go home. As of January 1st, 2012 I will be allowed to come back home. I'm going to save this part for another blog update. :)
I have some things I need to do. Although I really would love to come home. There is nothing like December in New York. It is one of the things I miss the most about home. The holiday spirit, colors, and cheer. It really pains me to hear and read all the religious discrimination going on during this time of year. I really hope that they can be put a side. It doesn't matter what religion you are, just enjoy the smells of cinnamon and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and all the beautiful colors and warm drinks. You never know when you won't be able to experience it again.
