Hello everyone, I missed you!
sorry I haven't blogged in a while I just got rescued from a juvenile detention center in Siberia.
It was hard, but educational, just like my time in Gadna. So if you aren't aware Gadna is a week long taste of the Israeli army, which many Israeli teens experience to prepare them for the army. While many people use Gadna to release enough tears to fill an entire ocean, I had an amazing experience.
I had so much fun messing with my commander, and tryimg to make her laugh when she tried to be super serious in front of us. However, I succeeded in making her laugh and smile on several occasions. Also, just a little tip if you plan on going to the IDF, they do not enjoy it when you march behind them or salute them.

Some of the highlights of my Gadna experience include, painting my face with mud, engineering the construction of my tent, cleaning the dinning room and kitchen for 5 hours (well kind of), braiding the Israeli girls hair, and trying to make friends with my commander (and failing :-( ) . I loved braiding the Israeli girls' hair, failing to make friends with my commander, cleaning the dinning room and kitchen for the first 15 minutes, then I proceeded to lead my group in many musical performances including (but not limited to) High School Musical, Camp Rock, and Annie. But above all I just enjoyed living the life of the IDF soldiers.

Just like in regular life, not everything in army life is perfect. Sometimes you need to put your big girl panties on and shoot the gun (literally). Shooting a gun was not fun, it made me sad. Also, sleeping in a tent while the big bad wolf is trying to blow your tent down, is not ideal, but thanks to my panties I got over it and had an overall fantastic time during Gadna.

This article is about the interactions between Goliath and Saul.  Both of these men are very easily defined.  Saul is certaintly worthy and capable of being a king, while Goliath relates more with a warrior.  Throughout the article, it is able to communicate a sense of the connection or lack of between apperances and reality.  Then, everyone is thrown off by the misconception of looks when David, who is only a shepard, turns out to be one of the most accomplished kings and warriors in the Israelite society.  A quote written in the artcle: "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him; for it is not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" is able to identify the main theme that is being communicated in the story of Goliath and Saul.  David, who ends up winning in the end, owes his success not to God, but to his faith in God. 

The last sentence of the article perfectly defines the whole things and relates it back to life today. "When thinking about world conditions today, and in particular about the real sources of Israel’s strength as a nation, careful readers of the David and Goliath story might do well to bear in mind its central message: things are not always as they are seen, or as others wish us to see them." This quote is saying that sight is a bias sense to rely on.  If you rely too much on it, you could morph the reality into what you wish was there.  This is important to realize and be aware of in life.  Everyday, people are judged based upon their looks, gender, and the color of their skin.  Based on this, people's oppurtinity's are either dimished or increased depending of the other person's judgement of them.  This is a problem because the person may not always be suitable for the position or whatever

David's Secret Weapon Article

As many people know, David and Goliath both competed in an epic battle.  Within this story, there is a theme of defining people based on their appearances.  David, who is a shepherd, was thought to not have the ability to become king.  However, he soon becomes one of the greatest kings the Israelites have ever seen.  The idea of not judging someone based on their appearances or your immediate judgement is very important.  They also related this idea to the modern day society. "When thinking about world conditions today, and in particular about the real sources of Israel’s strength as a nation, careful readers of the David and Goliath story might do well to bear in mind its central message: things are not always as they are seen, or as others wish us to see them."  This idea is very important considering Israel appears to be a very small, insignificant county.  However, they really are a center for technological developments and other advancements that are being used around the world.  In modern times and from the biblical period, the idea of not defining things based on their first appearance is still prevalent, and will always be no matter the time period.     

We have successfully completed our second week in Israel!!  Time is really flying by so quickly; its crazy.  I already feel like I've known these people for years.  I guess that's what happens when you spend all day everyday with  people..... okay anyway this was the first week when we started going on Tiyuls.  A tiyul is basically a trip, some are half days and some are full days.  On half day trips, we still have our general studies classes in the afternoon.

So, I'm sure everyone is curious about what I have done on these trips so far because you are all living vicariously through me so I will begin to describe them now.  So, last Sunday we went to a Tel.  A tel is a civilization on top of civilization on top of civilization and so on.  It was super cool see some of the advanced structures that have lasted so long (like older than my parents long) (love you mom and dad).  That was a half day tiyul so we still had all of our classes afterward.

On to the next trip, we went to Sataf.  This was so cool and beautiful.  First, we had to walk like three miles to get there.  Totally ridiculous that they made us walk there in the morning, right?  Actually, that's what I thought going into it, but turns out the hike was one of the highlights of the trip.  During this tiyul we explored some of the irrigation systems that were used way-back-when to water the crops.  Now, this isn't your typical flat group farm.  It's more set up as shelves upon shelves of crops in a line.  So, we got super deep into the water streams and we ended up exploring caves, and some of them were so small you were literally (not figuratively) crawling on your hands and knees through them.

Our next, and one of my favorite trips, was an archeological dig.  For anyone that has heard me say the world archeological, you know that my pronunciation is hilarious.  So, for now on every time I say archeological, picture it in my voice.  We explored excavated tunnels from the ancient times that people used to live and hid from their enemies in.  It was crazy how small the spaces were.  I asked our tour guide if I could move into one for a day, and she told me they didn't have WIFI down there so I immediately rescinded my request. Along with the tunnels we did some digging and found a few bones and pieces of pottery.  Also, we had the chance to explore some ancient burial caves.  This trip was very fun and I also have to say, I learned a lot.

Friday, I had a chance to go off the Kibbutz.  I went to northern Israel to a place called En Hashofet.  One of the friends I made here on EIE invited me to go with her to her grandparents house.  They live on a rather large kibbutz and it was super nice.  This opportunity was really great for me because I got to test out my sub par Hebrew skills.  But, this made me realize I know more than I think, and I can actually hold a short conversation.  I also made the effort to listen to others conversation (this is different than eavesdropping, it's for educational purposes) and try to figure out what they were saying.  My guessed turned out to not be too far off, and some were even completely correct. 

All and all everything is great (besides the food sometimes). I love my friends and everything we have done so far.  This week is looking to be hard and boring because we have full days of classes almost everyday :-(.  But, next week we are going on a 10 day trip!  Stay tuned for more.

Wednesday was National Israel Remembrance Day.  Some of the top world leaders spoke to commemorate this day.  Some of the most important people that spoke, and that were highlighted in the article was President Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli ambassador to the United States Dermer.  It is a well known fact that Obama and Netanyahu are not the best of friends; however, they are still able to get business taken care of.  Obama advocates for international tolerance for the world.  In turn, this would solve Israel's constant security problem.  However, some think that it would be more beneficial to just focus specifically on the Israeli security problem as this would be an "easier" task to accomplish for an immediate fix for the Israelis.  

Specifically, this article focuses on several Holocaust speeches that were given by various high-ranking public officials.  Obama gave a very supportive speech saying "That is why like many Jews, I take great comfort in the rebirth of a sovereign Jewish state in our ancestral homeland, in the Jewish people once again having a voice, a refuge, and most importantly, the power to defend ourselves." I find it comforting that Obama gave his direct support to Israel, and that the leader of the country I live in strongly supports the existence of a Jewish state.  Dermer, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, is specifically proposing that direct Jewish support is necessary.  It is important that we are able to recognize, as the article stated, that both Obama and Dermer's views can coexist.  I really appreciate that both of these views are pro Israel, and it should provide comfort to everyone that there is support for them.