Second week on the base. Three people left us last week, and even though I barely knew them I miss them. Especially given some of the people who have come on to replace them. We now have an additional 4 male volunteers, all of them in the 17-19 age range. Two of them are from Brooklyn but look like they're more at home on the Jersey Shore. They are however, good an energetic workers provided there are women around for them to flex in front of. It seems like after this week, the group will nearly be desintigrating.
The one new female volunteer, a 28 year old French woman who is considering Aliya will only be with us one week before moving to another base. It seems like our last week will be stag.
While we gel on our work assignments, in our personal time we seem to split up a lot. We're all on the same base, in the same barracks, same food, jobs, etc. but it seems like we're on different planets.
Today was a day off. We did a hike at the Ein Gedi National Park, and a swim/float in the Dead Sea. Both are more or less touristy things, but I enjoyed them. Especially taking a dip in the pools at Ein Gedi. The Dead Sea beach was also much better than the one my youth group went to many years ago. The beach was coarse sand as opposed to my previous experience with salt crusted rocks. I also did not have any blisters this time around so I was not in anywhere near the same level of pain.
Tonight a group of us walked over to the neighboring base to hang out, get snacks and perhaps use the computers. I took one look at the line for the computers and gave up on that. I can wait a couple days to get online. After about an hour of joking, talking, and people watching I headed back. As I approached the break in the fence between some dumpsters that led to our base I reflected on the first time I made that walk last week. “WOW. I am walking around on an army base like I really belong here. I don't think I'll ever get used to this.”
I have not only gotten used to it, I've gotten kind of comfortable with it. As i passed the fence line I unbuttoned my uniform shirt to the navel and loosened it a bit so the breeze went through. (On the other base we are required to wear our uniform shirt and pants with the shirt tucked in. On our base, things are looser except for meals.) I strolled back leisurely enjoying the full moon and lamenting the light pollution that blocked out most of the stars. There were scattered pops from the firing ranges. I'd long since stopped trying to identify weapons by sound. With the large open spaces and desert breezes it is hard to even determine directionality. There were a couple single barks, followed by a few lighter pops, a strange metallic clank or two, some strings of pops, all deadened by distance and the wind. Jets cut paths through the sky, some with their lights looking like meteors, others announced their presence only with a roar. I chuckled thinking of when I watched Area 88 with one of my friends back home. It's a Japanese cartoon about mercenary pilots from all over the world in the service of a desert country. It doesn't line up exactly, but there are one or two parallels. Mostly the heat and the international nature of our crew. Also, that everyone is here for different reasons, and not everyone will talk about them.
As I write this, sweat streams down my forehead and my arms are covered as well. As soon as I'm done here, I will take a quick shower before going to sleep. I know it won't do much to clean me. I''ll be covered in sweat and grime 5 minutes later. Even when I am with my friend over the weekend Ｉ ｗiｌｌ ｓｔｉｌｌ ｂｅ ｍｏｓｔｌｙ ｃｏｖｅｒｅｄ ｉｎ ｓｗｅａｔ ａｎｄ ｇｒｉｍｅ． Ｉｔ’ｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａ ｆａｃｔ ｏｆ ｌｉｆｅ ｈｅｒｅ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｗｅａｔｈｅｒ． Ｉ ｓｔｉｌｌ ｈａｖｅ ａｂｏｕｔ ３．５ ｗｅｅｋｓ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ Ｉ ｃａｎ ｔａｋｅ ａ ｌｏｎｇ ｈｏｔ ｓｈｏｗｅｒ． Ｅｖｅｎ ｏｆｆ ｔｈｅ ｂａｓｅ Ｉ ｌｉｍｉｔ ｍｙｓｅｌｆ ｔｏ ａ ｃｏｕｐｌｅ ｍｉｎｕｔｅｓ ｔｏ ｓａｖｅ ｗａｔｅｒ． Ｔｈｉｎｇｓ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ａｒｅ ｄｉｆｆｅｒｅｎｔ ｏｖｅｒ ｈｅｒｅ ａｎｄ ａｎｙ ｔｉｍｅ Ｉ ｓｅｅ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｆａｍｉｌｉａｒ Ｉ ａｍ ｑｕｉｃｋｌｙ ｒｅｍｉｎｄｅｄ ｏｆ ｈｏｗ ｆａｒ Ｉ ａｍ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ ｗｏｒｌｄ Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ． Ｂｕｔ ｔｈａｔ ｔｏｏ ｉｓ ｗｈａｔ Ｉ ｃａｍｅ ｆｏｒ． Ｔｈｅｒｅ’ｓ ｓｔｉｌｌ ｐｌｅｎｔｙ ｔｏ ｅｘｐｌｏｒｅ ｏｎ ｐｌａｎｅｔ Ｅａｒｔｈ． Ｄｏ ｉｔ ｉｆ ｙｏｕ ｇｅｔ ｔｈｅ ｃｈａｎｃｅ．
[I have no idea what happened tot he font and kerning here. I couldn't figure out how to fix it in my work processor, and there's no way to figure it out in Word 2010- Hebrew edition.]
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