Gaza, passover and life!

Wow has it been a long time! I am so sorry about that! things have been extremely busy and it feels like i am never home and when i am home it is barely in time to do laundry before shabbat and then return to base. As many of you heard about a month and a half ago there was a bombing in Jerusalem near the bus station. I was about ten minutes away from the bombing coming home from base at the time. as soon as I got off the bus, I ran over and helped out in whatever way that I could. It was scary knowing that another attack could happen at any minute, but the medic in me knew that i had to take care of the injured people that were there. Being able to know what to do and stay calm in a situation like that with all of the chaos was amazing and it felt great to be able to help those innocent people that had been injured.

We are now at a different base and close to Gaza. Wow has that been more exciting with the recent activity. I can't say much, but it means that i am spending more time on base because of threats of attacks or actual attacks. I don't leave base much and am spending a lot more time working and taking care of my soldiers. I am also on-call for the clinic more often so that can be very exhausting some times, but I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything.

this past monday and tuesday I spent pesach with my boyfriend and about 450 other lone soldiers at a resort. We had a huge seder together, got a chance to meet the head of the army and many other top officials, and got a chance to just relax and spend time as a lone soldier "family" for the holiday. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet personally the head of the army Benny Gantz, the minister of defense Ehud Barak, and many other top officials. I asked all of them for more time in the army and many of them said that they will help me with this endeavor. I also last week talked with the head of the army medical school about joining the next paramedics course and I will find out this week if I got accepted.

all in all, things are going very well. I am loving everything that i am doing and am very optimistic that i will be getting more time in the army. My parents and grandparents are coming out for two weeks in the beginning of june and I can't wait to see them! I hope that everyone is doing well and is having a good pesach!

love,
Roxanne

new joys and old struggles

So I have probable got all of you wondering what the heck! I am doing great. I have moved to an apartment in Jerusalem with one of my friends last week and the past week we spent our first shabbat in our new apartment. It was a really nice shabbat, quiet and relaxing. shabbat dinner was homemade and i was able to cook for one of the first times since i have joined the army. It felt reallt great to have a totally homecooked meal that I knew my roomate and i prepared. We are still looking for a third roomate so that the cost of the apartment will be cheap enough on my army budget.

In other news, I am still fighting with the army to spend more time in the army. I have been asking to sign more time in the army because i am enjoying my service and I want to continue defending my country. I am not ready to become a regular citizen of Israel yet. I have come to love the Israeli army and the way of life in the army and feel that this is where I need to continue working. unfortunately my commander does not agree so he does not want to help me reach my goal of getting a career in the army. I don't understand how they offer jobs and career positions to so many soldiers and many of them just want it for the money so don't acutally do anything but sit in their room of hang out for one year while they get paid a regular salary. here is someone asking to serve for more than that and is actually motivated to work.

As far as day to day news, I am still loving life and the challenges that come with it. Yes I have my ups and downs, but I am having a great time and happy. I miss everyone and think of everyone in ashland and back in the US a lot. If anyone has pictures that they can e-mail or mail me that would be awesome. I have pictures hanging up all over my room and in my locker on base and would love to add new ones.

Love,
Roxanne

P.S. The picture is from a photo shoot i did for the lone soldier center for Purim.

has it really been a month

I can't believe it has been a month since I have last posted. Things have been so busy here. I have been doing well and enjoying life like always. As far as army life is concerned we have moved bases again and are now guarding the border in the west bank again. Because we are on guard duty, that means that we are on constant watch and are going out often to make arrests of want or suspected arabs as well as guarding the jewish settlements in the area. It is a lot different than the past couple of months where we have been having practice drills and the atmosphere in the unit has been more relaxed and fun.

In other news I ended up getting e-coli and have been on sick leave for the past 3 weeks. during that time i have spent one week in the hospital here in Israel as well. After experiencing hospitals in the US, the hospital system here is totally different and I was surprised at how lacking it was compared to the US healthcare system. I was never told what was going on or what was happening until i read my discharge papers, if you needed a nurse you had to walk up to the nurses station and ask for one(there was no call bell) and I was in a bed in the hallway with no privacy. It was a lot worse than i thought. Of course I was sick enough that I actually needed to be there, but once i started getting better I couldn't wait to get out.

Now that i have also had some time off from the army to "recover" I have found an apartment to rent with a friend in Jerusalem. I signed the contract last night and will be moving in to the apartment next week or the week after. I am so excited to finally be living on my own and having some roomates. The apartment itself is amazing as well. It is fully furnished and it about half an hour from the center of jerusalem in the hills with an amazing view.

So this sunday I am finally returning to base. I can't wait to go back. Being on sick leave when you really don't feel sick sucks. I would rather be on base and have asked to go back early, but can't, so just trying to make the best of the time off.
hope that everyone is doing well!
Love,
Roxanne

Back in Israel and back to base!

Happy new year to everyone! May this be a great new year filled with many joys and happiness!

I know that some people have been asking if I have been okay since they have not heard from me. I am sorry, I have not been home much and have been on base a lot. Plus been on vacation. everything is fine! read on to find out what i have been up to!

wow it is Amazing that I have already been in the army for over a year! To think about where I was a year ago today, I was one week into basic training not understanding a word of what was going on and pretty much running around like a chicken with it's head cut off! I was pretty miserable because I was getting yelled at and did not understand what was going on and could not communicate what I needed to say. Today though, I am happy and proud to be serving as a soldier in the Israeli army. I am serving as a medic in an elite combat unit and proud that i can do that. I am fighting hard to go to officers course and make a career out of the army. I never would of thought a year ago that this is the path that i would have chosen. But this is what i want. I love what i am doing, and want to stay here in the army and work to make a difference.

Just last week I came home(Israel) from two weeks vacation with my family. I met up with my family in Florida, got a chance to see my grandparents as well and then my parents, brother and I went on a two week cruise through the panama canal! It was a great two weeks. No one was working so we had a lot of quality family time to just hang out, relax, and eat some really good food! We stopped in Aruba, went through the panama canal, and then stopped in costa rica, and three stops in mexico. We had some really great excursions along the way as well like snorkeling in aruba where we saw some great fish, taking a jungle cruise in costa rica and seeing crocodiles and birds, and then going ziplining and rockclimbing in cabo san lucas in Mexico. It was absolutely amazing. I miss you guys already!

the day after I arrived back from my trip, I went straight back to base. we ended up going up to the north for some practice drills and boy was it cold up there! It was nice to see everyone and be back on base. It was amazing how much I actually missed the army life. anyway, we were supposed to close on base this week, but we got a surprise thursday afternoon and got to go home for the weekend. so yesterday I spent the day with my boyfriend and then came home last night to spend the weekend at home! sunday it will be back to base like usual!

Hope everyone has a good weekend and a good new year!

Love,
Roxanne