WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 8TH-DIFFERENT WORK BUT NOT MUCH OF IT

This week I've been going to meals with a plastic bag containing the last of the things I brought as gifts to the soldiers.  I've got some zip lock bags with herbal tea bags in them and I've given away about 5 of those, 35 pairs of the cut proof gloves primarily at the Old City of Jerusalem, and 35 cooling towels.  For work today we returned to Yaniv's office for instructions where to work.  We were directed to a clean warehouse with boxes of used combat boots.  They were already tied together in pairs with the size marked on the boots.  Our job was to brush the dust and dirt off of them with a shoe brush and then polish them.  This may sound like an important thing for the military but these boots were really old and we finished the job in a little over an hour.  Here's a photo of our shoe operation with Emily Silver doing some actual work while the rest of us slack off.  Emily is a most amazing person.  She is Cuban born and her family escaped to Miami.  She went to nursing school and was a surgical nurse before joining the United States Air Force in 1965.  She was sent to Viet Nam where she attained the rank of Captain and flew in helicopters many times into combat zones to help wounded soldiers.  Besides volunteering for Sar-El, Emily has

 projects she established to provide health care in several African countries.  Despite health issues that limit her walking, she travels to Africa frequently to do her charitable work.  The picture below shows Itsczak working while Sidney 

 smiles.  Below is a picture of Sidney polishing the boots of Ileana, one of our madrichot (leaders).  I have no explanation

 

why he's doing this.  After we finished the boots with a lot of time to spare, me and Emily walked to the nearby schekem (store) and bought juice and chips and after we realized Yaniv didn't have another morning assignment we learned that we could go visit the dogs before lunch.  We walked to the dog training area and asked about a pregnant dog we had seen last week.  Over the weekend she gave birth to 10 healthy puppies.  We were permitted to photograph the dogs in the cage with one of the dog handlers.

 At lunch I gave away what I thought was the last of my gifts to a young woman and a young man that Sidney and I had talked to a few times.  It is amazing how grateful they are to receive such things as a collapsible drinking cup, an inflatable pillow, the last of my cooling towels, and a six pack of kleenex pocket packs.  Once again, after they thank us, we say "you protect Israel and the Israeli people.  We do what we can for you."

At 1PM we went back to Yaniv's office and we were told there was no work for us.  We sat at a picnic table and talked with Yaniv and both of our Madrichot, Sarah and Ilieana for a while.  Sidney and I then walked back to our room to get started with packing for tomorrow's departure or to possibly take a nap.

I got a bunch of packing done and discovered more stuff to give away including some plastic vaccuum bags to pack your stuff in and make smaller for your luggage, a pair of safety glasses, another collapsible drinking cup and another pair of cushioned insoles for shoes.  I've only got three more meals   

to give this stuff away here on the Air Force base.  

I think a lot of people are in doubt that young women are drafted into the Israeli military just like young men.  Here's a common sight:  

Four female Air Force soldiers walking near our dorm building, the second woman from the left is carrying an M-16 rifle slung across her right shoulder.  The weapon is never to be more than about 10 feet from the soldier including when they are sleeping or showering.

Dinner today was kind of special.  Instead of the mess hall we met at a recreation room/lounge and we had pizza, which had been delivered to the main gate of the base by the local Pizza Hut.  Because the base keeps kosher, I couldn't have my beloved pepperoni pizza because that would mix meat  (the pepperoni) and dairy products (the cheese).  We all talked about what we got out of our service and what we liked or disliked about the base and the experience in general.  We were then each presented with our certificates of appreciation from Sar-El.  

That's Ileana on the left and Sarah on the right.  As we approach the end of the Sar-El part of my trip (we leave the base tomorrow) I thought I'd take a picture of me in uniform looking sort of neat as opposed to the wrinkled and dirty look that seems to come with the work here.

Tomorrow it's uniforms for breakfast and then a picture with the base commander.  After that we change into our own clothes and turn in our uniforms and after lunch we take a chartered bus to Tel Aviv.  I better sleep now....