Regilah: Round Two

A view of Mt. Hermon on the way to base.

After the hardest week of my life, we had a few busy and turbulent days on base, then were freed for a week!  As I mentioned in my previous post, and will elaborate on in my next one, my plugah (company) split up and different platoons moved to new companies.  We had to pack up all our personal belongings, equipment, weapons, everything and literally move to a new part of the base that houses our new plugot.  On Sunday, we woke up in our new rooms, had a eight kilometer run with the entire brigade, cleaned ourselves up, and left base...only to go to a celebratory meal for the older guys at a place near Haifa.  The meal took a few hours and then Shmuel and I headed to Jerusalem, getting to our apartment late in the evening.  We stopped to pick up a few beers (or maybe more than just a few).  Once in the apartment, I threw off my uniform, cracked open a cold one, and talked to my parents on iChat.

Combat soldiers are supposed to have three week-long breaks (regilah) every year.  As a lone soldier, I was fortunate to be able to go home for a month over New Years.  However, the Israelis in my unit have waited since July for their next vacation.  And it could not have come at a better time for them.  After experiencing the most difficult trial of our lives, we had a week of rest and recuperation.

I spent half my time in Jerusalem and the other half in Tel Aviv.  I spent hours just sitting on my ass, watching movies and tv shows, not changing out of my pjs, relishing in the freedom.  On Monday I went into town in Jerusalem and bounced around at different coffee shops, enjoying the sunshine, the people-watching, taking care of things on my computer.  On Tuesday, Shmaya, Shmuel and I decided to head to Mike's Place, an American bar, around two in the afternoon and enjoy some drinks at that hour (but hey, it's five o'clock somewhere, right?).  On Wednesday I headed to Tel Aviv and after bouncing around with Shmaya, Shmuel and Gidon, had a nice dinner with David, Amy and their nephew who was in on spring break.  Thursday evening there was a party for lone soldiers at a pub by the beach.  It was an absolute blast!  It seemed that everyone knew everyone there; we were all connected by virtue of being or knowing a lone soldier.  Friday was a calm day.  Saturday evening I went out with a girl to some bars and a club.  It was a really fun night.  Then Sunday I returned to my apartment in Jerusalem and prepared to go back to base the next day.  

And I just realized that I don't think I took any photos of the past week.  Oh well.  I'm sure you can imagine the kind of fun a young twenty-something-on-break-from-the-army had...