Fourth day at Gadna/Bedouin Tents Writer: Rosa Ilyayeva

For the final time our commanders stormed into our tents to yell: “Up now, twenty minutes to get ready!” The morning greeted us with a slight drizzle; our tasks for the day consisted of cleaning our tents and returning our sleeping bags and uniforms. Completing Gadna was a satisfying experience; after the official removal of our uniforms, our commanders finally revealed their true selves. We were shocked to learn that those commanders who had bossed us around for four days were only a year or two older than us! After we said our good-byes, we headed for a visit of Ben Gurion's house, where we discussed his dream of creating a flourishing Negev with many Jewish settlements. We then changed our method of transportation from bus to camel. Riding camels was awesome, and the view of the Negev was breath-taking. Finally, we enjoyed some tasty pitas at the Bedouin tents, where we fell asleep to the sounds of rain drops hydrating the barren desert.

Third day at Gadna Writer: Jason Schwarz

After a long wait, I finally felt like a true soldier (at least as true as one can get). I picked up the M16, which is the gun the Israeli army uses, aimed it at the stomach of my target, and fired ten shots, hoping one of them would hit the target. Turns out eight of them hit their mark--not a bad percentage for my first time shooting a gun. After our eventful morning of shooting, we all traveled to a wide open field and learned how combat soldiers prepare themselves for battle. We learned how to camouflage ourselves with mud and twigs, how to run low to the ground, and how to dive and cover our heads in response to a grenade. It was an action packed day that allowed each of us to feel the adrenaline of shooting a gun and the anxiety of running head first into battle. Of course, after getting back to the base our commanders didn't let us rest for long even though we were all exhausted (I guess that really is the life of a soldier). Our third day in Ghadna proved to be one of the most exciting days all trip.

Second day at Gadna Writer: Simon Italiannder

This morning began with a rather “rude” awakening at 5:40 A.M. from an angry commander with an M-16 around his shoulder. Today is the day we've all been aching for. The last 36 hours have been spent preparing ourselves to fire an M-16 gun. After going through the morning routine of making a “chet” (a formation that looks like the hebrew letter chet) and doing our chores, we packed up breakfast and got on the bus headed for the firing range. As usual, we spent another hour reviewing everything we'd learned and eating breakfast. Then, after what seemed like a few hours, it was my groups turn to shoot. Next thing I know I was firing away at a cardboard man, aiming for his legs. With each shot, the kickback of the gun jabbed me in the shoulder and the bullet shell flew into my face. My eleven bullets were all unloaded within a minute. I darted to fetch my target from the cardboard man in the distance, and I was fairly impressed to see that almost all of my bullets hit the target!

For the next activity, we made our way to a nearby park/desert field. We all broke into our

tzevets (groups) and we learned how to behave when training off of an army base; for instance, we cannot call our commander “commander” because if someone is spying, we don't want to reveal who is our leader. Our commander taught us some crawling techniques and we played a game to test our stealthiness. We then learned how to camouflage ourselves using dirt. By this time, we were all so tired, so we loaded onto the bus and got back to base just in time for lunch.

The rest of the day was spent doing discussion activities. I crawled into my sleeping bag that night, and fell asleep, completely satisfied.

First Day at Gadna Writer:David Jacobs

Today we arrived at Gadna which is supposed to give us an idea what the IDF is like. After ariving we lined up 11 columns of 3 and were in the Hacshav position, In the Hacshav position one stands straight up, make their feet form a “V” by making their heels touch, put their hands behind their back, and form a diamond with their hands by making their palms overlap and their thumbs touch. A Mi-fa-ked, commander, pointed us in the direction of which Mifakedet/Mifaked would be ours for the next three days. There were 10 other students who had to follow the commands from the same Mifakedet as me. From there we placed our bags on our bed, Afterwards we received a uniform which we changed into after receiving. Then we received our sleeping bags and mattresses and placed them on our beds. Later that night we met the Tzamelet, Base Commander, who is one of the most intimidating persons I have ever met. After scaring all of us, we were allowed to go to sleep and rest up for our first real day of Gadna.

Akko Prison/immigration simulation at beach, cable car Writer: Alex Meline

Today, went to the Haifa beach. At the beach, we simulated immigrants getting off the boat and struggling ashore in a foreign place. Then, we went to Akko prison, where many immigrant Jews were imprisoned and a few were even hung, Later, we took a cable car down to some were cool sea level caves. Finally, we ate dinner and shopped at the biggest mall in Israel, which is located in Haifa.

Day Twelve in Israel Writer: Tali Abraham

This weekend I had a fantastic time with an amazing girl who was host family for Melissa and me. At first, I was a little nervous about living with another stranger for Shabbat, but to my surprise, I ended up creating a lifelong friendship. Irit is a fun and energetic girl, who made Melissa and me laugh all day. The most interesting thing of all was comparing our American life to Irit's Israeli lifestyle. Though we live in the same modern world the differences between our everyday lives is tremendous. This was amazing just to see that even the transportation that we take to school is drastically different from kids in Israel. I am so glad that I was lucky enough to meet Irit. Now, I know that I will always have a friend to welcome me back to Israel the next time I come to visit my homeland.

Day Eleven in Israel Writer: Josh Kalish

Hello, Josh Kalish here. I would like to tell you a little about my day (Saturday Dec. 23rd). First my day started off with a hike with all the Yochneam kids. The hike was quite boring. It was pretty much a long walk on a rocky road, not much of a "hike." Thank goodness B-Grinz brought the football because that passed the time pretty quickly. Later that day, I had a delicious home-cooked Israeli dinner. Afterwards Grinz and I went to a dance that was alright. On a closing note, the planned activites were a little unexciting, but thankfully the Yochneam family I stayed with was great and I had a fun time.