THE WORK WEEK MONDAY OCTOBER 23 TO THURSDAY OCTOBER 26

(I'm posting this on Monday the 30th from the Air Force base.  There's no wifi on the base but I set up my phone as a wifi hotspot and linked my tablet to it and it seems to work so I'll be able to get these posts on the blog closer to when they actually happen)

Breakfast was at 630am Monday (the 23rd) and all of us were still tired from our travels.  After breakfast we were given work assignments.  Mine was to organize and clean (meaning sweep) a very dusty warehouse area.   I along with two other volunteers were given the task of reorganizing duffle bags like those shown in this picture.  The purpose of these bags

 is so when reservists are called up in the event of an alert that they can be quickly equipped.  We were to empty out each bag (we probably did about 200 bags) and make sure that each one had a sleeping bag on the bottom followed by a heavy jacket followed by a uniform (the uniforms were small, medium, and large the "small" had a red tag, the "medium bags had a green tag and the "large" bags had a white tag) and then a utility vest which would later hold amunition, a canteen and other small gear, followed by a canteen and a helmet.  Some bags had two canteens so one had to be removed.  Some bags were missing one of the items and all bags were missing helmets.  We were organized and our supervisor, and officer named Yaniv treated us well and appreciated our efforts.  Here's a picture of two of my roommates, Ken Smithson of New York (83 years old and very fit) and Dov Pollak of New Jersey (68 years old and at lunch on Monday he beat a 20 year old soldier arm wrestling), Yaniv and me.  I forgot to wear a t-shirt so I had to keep my uniform shirt on.

Yaniv is 32 years old, married with two children and was a lot of fun to work with.  He made sure we took breaks and provided water for us and at the end of the work day he insisted on taking us to one of the small convenience stores on the base and buying us cold drinks.  We did other similar warehouse chores for Yaniv including the organizing and stacking of hundreds (maybe thousands) of those inexpensive white plastic chairs.  Exactly what the Israeli Air Force does with all those chairs wasn't revealed to us, but we suspect they aren't part of any secret warfare plans.  The sorting of the chairs was quite educational.  To facilitate stacking the chairs in stacks of 15 we quickly learned that there were several patterns of chairs that would not stack with other patterns so there was a lot of seperating piles of chairs to get to one odd chair.  Below is a picture of me relaxing in a plastic chair in front of about one-quarter of the chairs we stacked.  We dragged them outdoors so they could wash the floor.  I doubt that I'll ever used the expertise in plastic chairs that I gained here in Israel.  The good news is that some soldiers didn't have to do this and are available to do real soldier training for the defense of Israel. 

Here's Ken on a break from chair duty reading financial news.  Ken was a floor trader on the Chicago Board of Trade for years and still keeps up.                                                                

Each evening at 7PM we assemble for some activity like basic Hebrew lessons, which I thankfully didn't need because of the CDs I've listened to before coming here.  We had an Israeli Geography lesson and the best one was a night time visit to the dogs that are trained on this base.  

In the Israeli Air Force the most sought after job is piloting a fighter jet aircraft.  The second most sought after job is to be a dog trainer.  Dogs are trained on this base right next to the warehouses we organized.  The dogs are carefully selected for their intelligence and abilities to perform specialized tasks.  Some dogs are trained to sniff out explosives, others are trained for search and rescue and a few are trained as attack dogs to maintain base security or to serve in combat.  On Wednesday evening we visited with the dog trainers who are mostly young women and we also met the dogs.  I was surprised to learn and experience that except for the attack dogs, all of the other dogs are amazingly sweet and love being petted and scratched.  I forgot to take my phone for pictures but there will be a dog picture in an upcoming blog post with a story that will make you smile.

On Thursday we worked a half day, ate lunch and quickly got packed for the weekend (I packed Wednesday evening so I could eat leisurely) and we all boarded a chartered bus to Tel Aviv.  

Yaniv came on the bus to thank us for our work and to wish us a good weekend.  The bus took us to Tel Aviv where the bus station and the train station are next door to each other.  From there we could travel wherever in Israel we wanted as long as were were back at the train station by 9:15 Sunday morning to catch the charter bus back to the base.  Here are some pictures of Tel Aviv showing the tall buildings which seem to be increasing daily.

Unless there's a military alert most soldiers have the weekend off beginning Thursday afternoon and ending Sunday morning.  Sunday in Israel is a workday like Monday in the States.  So Thursday afternoon is like Friday in the States with everyone in a hurry to get where they're going.  I crossed the street to the bus station and stood in a long line for the bus to Jerusalem.  In the next post I'll tell you all about my weekend in Jerusalem.  (a private message:  to Michelle and Jason, if you're reading this please email me a picture of you two so I can include it in the blog.  I was tired and should have asked you when we said good night after an enjoyable meeting....my email address is:  gold.victor@gmail.com )

Meeting other volunteers and being assigned to a military base

At the airport on Sunday the 22nd the volunteers congregated around the coordinator for Volunteers for Israel.  We received stick on labels with the name of the base where we would be serving and we were instructed to follow a certain soldier who is assigned to supervise us.  Our leader (madricha in Hebrew) is a 19 year old French Israeli woman specially trained by the Israeli Defense Forces to deal with 13 people, mostly 65 years of age or older and strangers to each other, and have them all go in the same direction at the same time.  One of the group is Sidney Conn of Birmingham, Alabama.  Sidney and I volunteered together last year and had a great time so we requested to serve together this year.

The 13 of us and Sarah, our Madricha, boarded a bus and traveled for about an hour to an Israeli Air Force base.  We could see immediately, when we were assigned our rooms that the Israeli Air Force lives better than the Israeli Army.
We are in the same buildings, on the same floors as soldiers, four to a room.

While it may appear that the grass in front of our building is perfectly taken care of but its not.  Its Astroturf and theres no care necessary.  The picnic table are occupied in the evening by the young men and women of the Israeli Air Force who then consume soft drinks and Domino's Pizza.  

We dropped off our luggage and we walked to another building where we were given our "work clothes", uniforms with no insignia, available in small, medium, and large.  Nobody's fits perfectly but the process went smoothly.

From there we went to lunch in a large dining room with lots of soldiers who looked at us like we were from the moon.  We learned that this air force base has never had volunteers, where most of the army bases have had a regular flow of volunteers for many years.  I was approached at the first meal by a young woman who asked who we were.  I explained why we were there and pointed out that she spoke perfect English with no accent.  She told me she was from West Bloomfield, Michigan, the city where my Uncle and my Late Aunt called home for years.  We talked about our favorite deli (Pickles and Rye for you Detroiters reading this) and our favorite local soft drink (Faygo Rock and Rye, you non-Detroiters are really missing something).  Her name is Andrea and she trains dogs for the Israeli Air Force.  More about the dogs later.

All the travel was pretty exhausting and we had no work Sunday but we did have dinner together and a meeting after dinner where the base commander welcomed us and each of us introduced ourselves to the group.  I was fighting no to fall asleep in the meeting and conked out immediately after knowing that breakfast would be at 630AM and I'd probably still be tired.

I 

Greetings from somewhere South of Tel Aviv.  I'm writing this on Monday the 23rd after my first day of work on an Israeli Air Force base.  I'll try to recap the events of my trip so far.



I left home in Fort Myers at noon on Friday October 20th anddrove to Hollywood, Florida where I left my car with my good friend Rick Lucci.  Until my return on the 15th of November, my car is garaged next to Rick's beautifully restored 1969 Corvette convertable.  Rick drove me to the nearby Tri-rail station and I took the very comfortable train 

to the Miami airport which is just as crowded and crazy as I remembered it.  Long lines to check baggage and go through security.

My flights to Israel from Miami were okay except the first flight from Miami to Istanbul, Turkey left an hour and a half late so I had a bit of anxiety that I might miss my connecting flight to Israel.  In Istanbul they were boarding the flight to Israel when I got to the gate so I could relax a bit.  The following pictures are from the flight to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines.  

I have no explanation for the changing colors of the cabin lights but thankfully it only went on for a few minutes.  Turkish Airlines must think its cool.  I thought it was pretty strange at 33,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean.

I arrived in Israel on time just after 8PM and got through the visa line quickly and grabbed my checked luggage in time to catch the 9PM bus to Jerusalem.  The bus ride to Jerusalem included traffic jams which might be unusual on Saturday night in the States.  In Israel all buses and trains are not running from Friday sundown to Saturday and most stores and all entertainment places are closed as well.  When the sun sets on Saturday evening it seems like all of Israel is in the streets.  In Jerusalem I caught the light rail train and in ten minutes I was at my hotel.  I dropped my luggage and went on foot a few blocks to what I think is the best falafel stand in the world. 

After dining at a table on the street I went back to my room to get some sleep before the early train and bus back to the airport to assemble with all the other Volunteers for Israel and be assigned to a military base.

TWO DAYS UNTIL I LEAVE AND I'M ALL PACKED

Greetings:

It's only Wednesday morning and I'm ready to go.  My stuff is packed, actually quite overpacked, but that will be reduced as I distribute the gifts I brought for the soldiers and I consume the large quantity of vitamins that will hopefully keep me healthy.

That poorly lit photo shows an expandable carry-on size suitcase that will be checked and two backpacks, both to be carried onboard.  Last year I showed a test photo of my partially packed suitcase and received a comment about my underwear.  Suffice it to say I packed as efficiently as possible using the vaccuum bags from Dollar Tree which I highly recommend.

My preparation has not been without problems.  I had an issue with the rented SIM card for Israel and other telephone related madness but it should all work out and I can be reached either on my regular number 239-822-1627 which will be forwarded to my rented number 914-233-5754.  

I'll be leaving from the Miami airport, some 130 miles from home in Fort Myers.  My flight isn't until 9PM on Friday so I'll drive to Hollywood, Florida near Fort Lauderdale, where an old and good friend will provide storage for my car at his workplace.  From there I'll board the Trirail train at a nearby station and arrive at the Miami Airport 40 minutes later.  Then all I have to do is check in with Turkish Airlines and I'm on my way to Istanbul and then Tel Aviv.

I'll try to write again during my 2 hour layover in Istanbul, hopefully with some airport pictures of Turkey.

Be well and an early Happy Halloween to all,

Vic