With six days to go until my draft date, I figured I would take the time to take a trip down memory lane and see all of the things I have done since coming. From August 18th, my Aliyah arrival date, until January 4th, my draft date, I have had four months of adventure, learning, growing, and preparing for the army. Based upon my photo album, and all the pictures I have taken, below will be a chronological list of mostly everything I have done in Israel up until this moment.
August 17th: My Aliyah flight leaves from JFK airport in NY
August 18th: My Aliyah flight arrives at Ben Gurion airport in the middle of the day
August 18th - 26th: Quarantine in TLV
August 25th: Got out of quarantine and was able to walk around Tel Aviv for the first time, going to dinner on Rothschild and watching skaters at a skate park
August 26th: Arrival to Erez, met the entire Garin, and got a nice tour of the Kibbutz
August 30th - September 2nd: Gadna at Sde Boker, a few days of some army simulation
September 3rd: First workout with Barak, our trainer during the absorption period
September 5th: Tzav Rishon, maybe my least favorite day so far
September 6th - 8th: Rosh Hashanah in Kiryat Ono and Jerusalem
September 12th -13th: Trip to Ein Bokek, Masada, and Ein Gedi
September 15th - 16th: Yom Kippur in Kfar Saba with my sister
September 17th - 18th: First weekend I spent in TLV
September 19th: We built a Sukkah in preparation for Sukkot
September 24th: Tzevet Lohamim workout where I acted as a Schnitzel
September 25th: First time in Kfar Aza and first time on the Ashkelon marina
September 26th: Booster shot
September 26th: Event where we invited the Kibbutz community to our Sukkah
September 27th: First time we made a big meal together as a Garin
September 29th: Met my host family for the first time
September 30th: First day of Ulpan
October 2nd: Annual Beer Festival at Friendship Park on Kibbutz Erez
October 7th - 9th: Spent the weekend in Jerusalem and then Raanana with my sister, Yaki, and Tomer. Had a very fun time.
October 13th - 14th: Trip to the north stopping at an Ethiopian village, the Kinneret, an army job fair, and the Golan Heights
October 19th - 20th: Trip to Jerusalem with the Garin
October 26th: Seeing my parents for the first time after arriving in Israel
October 27th: Giving my Garin the hats that my Savta Syl made
October 28th -31st: Spending the weekend with my family, eating together at my host family, and seeing Youval and Tomer all together
November 1st: Visiting and getting a brief tour of the Erez Crossing
November 2nd: Visiting my friend Omer at his army ceremony, the first i've ever been to
November 5th - 6th: Kibbutz Erez's birthday, celebrating with lots of fun and dancing
November 8th: Visiting Baad Echad, an IDF officers base in the south
November 9th - 11th: Garin trip to the Arava and Eilat, a trip filled with hiking, swimming, yoga, cooking, jeeping, and boating
November 13th: Our introduction of Garin Rimonim Erez to the Kibbutz community
November 14th: Our last workout with Barak
November 18th - 19th: Spent the night in Jerusalem, hanging out with friends
November 21st: Birthday party for four members of our Garin, who's birthdays all fall around similar days
November 22nd: Attending the funeral of the ex lone soldier who was killed in Jerusalem
November 24th: Thanksgiving meal as a Garin
November 25th: Final day of Ulpan and of the absorption period
November 26th - 28th: Spent the weekend in Tel Aviv
November 30th: Superland amusement park in Rishon, one of two amusement parks in Israel
December 2nd: Cutting my hair to a length appropriate for the IDF
December 3rd - 4th: Shabbat in Rishon visiting my Israel fellow Noam from UD
December 5th - 6th: Trip to Jerusalem visiting the Old City for the last night of Chanukah, the Shuk, eating some Sufganiyot, seeing my sister, and visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for the first time
December 8th - 9th: Trip to Akko and Haifa in the north
December 12th Week: Going to TLV at least three times for various different reasons
December 16th: Last day with out Mashakiot, so we took a walk outside of Erez
December 17th - 19th: Weekend in TLV before the first people in our Garin draft
December 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 26th: Going to drop off four of our friends from the Garin who were the first four to draft, all on different dates
December 24th -26th: My sister visiting Erez for Shabbat and getting to explore the region
December 26th: Basketball game between Maccabi TLV and Hapoel TLV, my first professional sports game in Israel
December 29th: Today
January 4th: Draft day
As you can see, even though my army service has not begun, the past four months have been filled with adventure, learning, and millions of memories. It's a little crazy to think how fast this time as flown. I am sad that all of this is over, but I am beyond excited and ready for this next step in my journey. On January 4th I will be living a different kind of life, one I have been waiting to start for a long time.
*My first picture taken in Israel, on August 18th. As you can see I am just crossing the border, albeit many miles above land
Enjoy
A full and exciting four months