Love to all,
Roxanne
Monday, December 21, 2009
Army day!
Well a quick note since i have to go. But today I am joining the army! the next two years of my life will belong to the Israel Defense force. I am both excited and nervous. But i know that this will be an amazing two years and in the end i will look back and remember it. I know that there will be tough times, there always is. But i also know that i have done tougher things and this is just one more hurdle to cross. Please keep me in your thoughts today as i join the IDF and start this amazing journey.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
And the journey continues
HI to all,
I hope that everyone is doing well! I can hardly believe that I have been in Israel for over two months now. Being here has been an amazing experience so far and I cannot believe how many people I have met and the wonderful experiences that I have had. I still miss home greatly, and I don't think that is going to go away no matter how long I am here. But the experiences here make missing home just a little easier.
I have now been participating in Sar-el for over two months and plan to continue participating for another 2-3 weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the program working with the Israeli soldiers side-by-side and meeting other volunteers from around the world. I have volunteered all over Israel from Tel Aviv to the Border of Lebanon and back. I have packed medical supplies for the soldiers, fixed outposts on the border with lebanon, and have fixed various communication devices as well. each job is crucial to the IDF and makes me feel like what I am doing is crucial. While here I have also been in the process of joining the IDF and actually volunteering as a soldier. I have gotten my resident visa and I am now a resident of Israel. I also got called for my first draft appointment. This means that I will go through all of the medical and psychological testing in preparation for joining the army in December. My first draft appointment is on Sunday and I have an enlistment date of December 21st. It is amazing to think that I will be in the army, I never imagined myself being a soldier, but I have come to realize that you cannot plan out your life and things will happen that you least expect. After going into the Army I will spend 3 months taking hebrew lessons and learning the language a little more. I will then get some options based on all of the testing as to what I want to do within the army. My hope is that I can work as a medic or work as a Sar-el counselor and give back to the program that I am in right now. We will see what happens when the time comes. I will have two years of Army service which is the same amount of time that every other Israeli woman has. I am looking forward to giving back to the state of Israel and participating in something that every other israeli has to go through.
Again, I hope that everyone is doing well. I miss each and everyone of you greatly and hope to hear form all of you soon. I will keep people posted on my journey here in Israel.
Love to all,
Roxanne
I hope that everyone is doing well! I can hardly believe that I have been in Israel for over two months now. Being here has been an amazing experience so far and I cannot believe how many people I have met and the wonderful experiences that I have had. I still miss home greatly, and I don't think that is going to go away no matter how long I am here. But the experiences here make missing home just a little easier.
I have now been participating in Sar-el for over two months and plan to continue participating for another 2-3 weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the program working with the Israeli soldiers side-by-side and meeting other volunteers from around the world. I have volunteered all over Israel from Tel Aviv to the Border of Lebanon and back. I have packed medical supplies for the soldiers, fixed outposts on the border with lebanon, and have fixed various communication devices as well. each job is crucial to the IDF and makes me feel like what I am doing is crucial. While here I have also been in the process of joining the IDF and actually volunteering as a soldier. I have gotten my resident visa and I am now a resident of Israel. I also got called for my first draft appointment. This means that I will go through all of the medical and psychological testing in preparation for joining the army in December. My first draft appointment is on Sunday and I have an enlistment date of December 21st. It is amazing to think that I will be in the army, I never imagined myself being a soldier, but I have come to realize that you cannot plan out your life and things will happen that you least expect. After going into the Army I will spend 3 months taking hebrew lessons and learning the language a little more. I will then get some options based on all of the testing as to what I want to do within the army. My hope is that I can work as a medic or work as a Sar-el counselor and give back to the program that I am in right now. We will see what happens when the time comes. I will have two years of Army service which is the same amount of time that every other Israeli woman has. I am looking forward to giving back to the state of Israel and participating in something that every other israeli has to go through.
Again, I hope that everyone is doing well. I miss each and everyone of you greatly and hope to hear form all of you soon. I will keep people posted on my journey here in Israel.
Love to all,
Roxanne
Friday, October 23, 2009
Hi from Israel (October 23rd 2009)
Hi to all,
I hope that everyone is doing well. In case you didn't know, I am in Israel right now doing some volunteer work. Since I have arrived, I have been volunteering with the Israeli Defense force(IDF) through a program called Sar-el. The first base that I was on, was a medical supply base that packaged and distributed all medications and supplies to the whole IDF as well as making sure that all packages were good and didn't expire. That was a very interesting experience, and a lot of fun. I met some great people on the base and learned even more about the israeli army and the people that are serving. During the weekends which is thursdaqy afternoon until sunday morning I have been traveling around israel. I have gone down to the desert to visit friends that made aliyah and spend Rosh Hashana with people that i knew. I spent Yom Kippur in Jerusalem and had an amazing experience, and have spent time in Tel Aviv exploring the city with friends from Sar-el.
During Sukkot, I got an opportunity to to meet other volunteers and go and meet the chief lieutenant of the IDF Gabi Ashkenazi. This was an amazing experience as well. I met other volunteers that have given many years of service to Sar-el, met a group that allows children with mental disabilities volunteer once a week in the IDF, and a group of women that lost a loved one in combat that volunteered to help the IDF. As a whole group we went to a sukkah gathering where there was music and many high officers talked about all that sar-el does for Israel and thanked us for our service and dedication. After all of the speeches we go to meet Ashkenazi and had pictures taken with him. Getting the honor to meet someone so high up in the IDF meant a great deal to me. I realized how important the work that i am doing here is to the Army and the country.
On the 11th of October I joined another Sar-el group that was heading up north. Right now we are staying on a combat engineering base and then during the day are going to different outposts right along the fence line of the border between Lebanon and Israel. We have been filling sandbags and making bunkers, we have been fixing barbed wire along the border, and have had time to meet some of the many soldiers that defend and protect this border. This has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The work has been hard, but the feeling that I am helping this country has been so rewarding. I have met Jews and non-jews alike that have traveled to Israel to volunteer with this program and help show their support to this country.
My next step on this journey is to go and volunteer on a kibbutz, another volunteer from Sar-el is going to be joining me and we are going together to a kibbutz. I am seriously considering making Aliyah(moving) to Israel and will start that process when I get to the kibbutz. My hope is to make Aliyah and join the IDF as a medic. Since I am still fairly young, I am required to give two years of service to the IDF like any other citizen of Israel. I feel like it is am honor to give these two years and contribute on some way to Israel. After volunteering with Sar-el where you are embedded with other units within the IDF, I am not scared to join and look forward to volunteering and working alongside Israeli citizens.
Being over here in Israel has so far been a great experience and will only get better. Yes it is hard not having any family here that I can stay with and having to find people to stay with or stay in Soldiers hostels, but I have made many friends and continue to make friends. People here have been so nice and are amazed that people want to come over here just to help out the country.
Please keep in contact with me, one of the hardest things is being away from home and out of contact with everyone. I hope that everyone is well and I hope to talk to you soon.
Love,
Roxanne
I hope that everyone is doing well. In case you didn't know, I am in Israel right now doing some volunteer work. Since I have arrived, I have been volunteering with the Israeli Defense force(IDF) through a program called Sar-el. The first base that I was on, was a medical supply base that packaged and distributed all medications and supplies to the whole IDF as well as making sure that all packages were good and didn't expire. That was a very interesting experience, and a lot of fun. I met some great people on the base and learned even more about the israeli army and the people that are serving. During the weekends which is thursdaqy afternoon until sunday morning I have been traveling around israel. I have gone down to the desert to visit friends that made aliyah and spend Rosh Hashana with people that i knew. I spent Yom Kippur in Jerusalem and had an amazing experience, and have spent time in Tel Aviv exploring the city with friends from Sar-el.
During Sukkot, I got an opportunity to to meet other volunteers and go and meet the chief lieutenant of the IDF Gabi Ashkenazi. This was an amazing experience as well. I met other volunteers that have given many years of service to Sar-el, met a group that allows children with mental disabilities volunteer once a week in the IDF, and a group of women that lost a loved one in combat that volunteered to help the IDF. As a whole group we went to a sukkah gathering where there was music and many high officers talked about all that sar-el does for Israel and thanked us for our service and dedication. After all of the speeches we go to meet Ashkenazi and had pictures taken with him. Getting the honor to meet someone so high up in the IDF meant a great deal to me. I realized how important the work that i am doing here is to the Army and the country.
On the 11th of October I joined another Sar-el group that was heading up north. Right now we are staying on a combat engineering base and then during the day are going to different outposts right along the fence line of the border between Lebanon and Israel. We have been filling sandbags and making bunkers, we have been fixing barbed wire along the border, and have had time to meet some of the many soldiers that defend and protect this border. This has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The work has been hard, but the feeling that I am helping this country has been so rewarding. I have met Jews and non-jews alike that have traveled to Israel to volunteer with this program and help show their support to this country.
My next step on this journey is to go and volunteer on a kibbutz, another volunteer from Sar-el is going to be joining me and we are going together to a kibbutz. I am seriously considering making Aliyah(moving) to Israel and will start that process when I get to the kibbutz. My hope is to make Aliyah and join the IDF as a medic. Since I am still fairly young, I am required to give two years of service to the IDF like any other citizen of Israel. I feel like it is am honor to give these two years and contribute on some way to Israel. After volunteering with Sar-el where you are embedded with other units within the IDF, I am not scared to join and look forward to volunteering and working alongside Israeli citizens.
Being over here in Israel has so far been a great experience and will only get better. Yes it is hard not having any family here that I can stay with and having to find people to stay with or stay in Soldiers hostels, but I have made many friends and continue to make friends. People here have been so nice and are amazed that people want to come over here just to help out the country.
Please keep in contact with me, one of the hardest things is being away from home and out of contact with everyone. I hope that everyone is well and I hope to talk to you soon.
Love,
Roxanne
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