Getting to second base

Second base, day one.

Last night was Alex's birthday party. I was kind of disappointed really. I expected the party to go until dawn. It's probably for the best that it didn't. I think 1.5 liters of beer was plenty considering I had to get up to catch a train to meet my new group.

I woke up right about the time I was supposed to be leaving the house. Not good. Especially because no one else was awake. After a couple minutes of my rushed morning routine, I checked my Cellcom phone. It read an hour earlier. What? I slapped the battery into my Verizon phone and it read the same as the Israeli phone. What the? Oh, right. Daylight savings. I was mostly dressed so I just lay back and went back half asleep to match my half- dressed state.

I got the train in the middle of the Sunday morning soldier rush. All the soldiers on weekend leave going back to their bases, made even worse by the fact that this was the Beer Sheba train. The same one I'd used two weeks before, and just like then, it was packed.

Our group formed up at the airport. We are the definition of a diverse group. Ages range from an 18 year old girl from Liege Belgium to a 73 year old man from Greenville SC. So far my best friend is a 42 year old Spaniard. We spent the trip up to the base mapping our progress on his map. Pam, the Sar-El coordinator gave us a brief lowdown of our base, saying that it was “Very nice,” and located between Tiberias and Haifa.” There was just something in her facial expression and vocal tones that prompted me to whisper to myself, “You're not telling us everything...”

As my new friend and I were tracking our progress I mentioned my suspicion that we were in fact going further north. I figured all the way to the border. I knew from Mark Werner's book, Army Fatigues that they took groups up there. It was also keeping with my Sar-El tradition of being right on the thin line between “Us and them.” It turns out I was right. About 20 minutes out from where we were supposed to go the mini bus made some unexpected turns and out madricha made the announcement. “Called it!” I shouted.

It's amazing how much little things can matter when you're deprived of the comforts you're used to. For instance, at this base, I got a correctly fitting uniform on the first try. My trousers are actually long enough for me to blouse them- a Sar-El first for me. Our room has no air conditioning, but the windows get a decent cross breeze as we are on a mountain. So far, there have been no bugs to speak of in sharp contrast with the ants, beetles and scorpions of the last base. It also seems that work will be more abundant too. The soldiers here are all kravi- combat soldiers. They seem to be opening up to us much faster than I've seen previously. It's a good thing too, because we only have a week together. I'm not sure what work we'll be doing, but I feel like it will make a good impact.

One more word about the group- we are about 14 people and the majority of the group are gentiles. Granted, it's a narrow majority, but a majority none the less. Also, most are from Europe, which is developing quite a reputation as being anti- Israel. Score one for the good guys.