It was the 25 of July, we made our ways to the Volunteer Center for IDF day. Upon arrival we were instructed to form a chet "ח," the standard formation for the Israeli army during instructions. After an introduction to the day we ran around the building and to a local soccer field where we had Army training. A fitness instructor greeted us as we arrived and ushered us into 4 lines, which would form 4 teams. The teams then competed in different competitions such as, steal the rugulah (the kosher version of steal the bacon), tug-of-war, running race, running around the track carrying a team member on a stretcher, and Bull Fight (a game where all the boys fight to the death, seeing as I won, I have to wright the blog(I'm just kidding, it wasn't to the death and I didn't win)). The activities at the field were tiring but after an two hours of intense competition we made our way back to the Volunteer center for lunch number 1.
We listened to 3 speakers after lunch, one who was going tinto the the army next year, one who is currently in the army and a third who is out of the army. It was interesting to hear the story of growing up in Israel knowing that military service was a definite in your future. We heard how even for the few who aren't required to join the IDF due to medical reasons, how they still chose to volunteer just because they couldn't imagine being Israeli and not serving in the IDF. We discussed the difference between the Israeli and American military's and the attitude towards them. We then ate lunch number 2 and went to a deserted forest in the middle of nowhere for an intense match of paintball. And just when you thought it was a jam packed day. We headed over to a location where they package food for low income families for Shabbat. We helped them load the bags with meat, rice, bread and everything else you need to have a lovely Friday night dinner.
Once the last bag was packed and tied shut, we reloaded the bus and headed to one if the Israelis house (Sapir's) for a schnitzel dinner, and it wouldn't be an Israeli meal if we didn't take all the food we wanted and stuffed it into a long roll. It was/is at this point that I am sitting here reflecting on the long day of training and volunteering and I look forward to tomorrow and our amazing race activity and Shabbat with our Ashkelon family.
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