We woke up at 7:20 in the morning to get on bus. We then traveled 3 hours to an Israeli military base, where we learned about the Army and their equipment. In Israel, every Jewish kid (except those with mental or physical injuries) has the obligation to serve in the Army when he or she turns 18.
The Army is divided into basically 3 parts: front-combat soldiers, auxiliary soldiers, and officers. Children could choose which role to serve based on their own abilities and majors in high school.
It was very interesting to see the military base for those young adults is similar to a school system. Different from how military service in the U.S. feels like, here people come from all backgrounds and gather to strive towards one common goal: to protect their country. When being asked if she would re-enlist in the Army after her two-service years, one of the girls told us that she’s very happy to continue working for this community. Impressively, many girls also want to travel for one year and see different cultures in the world after their military services. They truly learn to become so strong and independent in the military experience; the country doesn’t want them to be machinery soldiers, instead they are very talented and diverse individuals.
We also took a tour in the tanks!
After visiting the military base, we ate garlic pizza in a town called Yeruham and came to the Bedouin camps. We got settled into our tents and then rode camels that were lead by a nomad. It was such a bumpy ride but we had a great time and an amazing view. We ended the day with a traditional Bedouin meal. We had pita bread as always, chicken, rice, and many sides that just kept coming.
In the evening, we had a nice surprise because we had the opportunity to talk to Arab students from the city of Tapcha. All the students were 9th graders that were spending three days in the Bedouin tents and they were in a geography class. They were all welcoming from the minute we met them and even offered to eat their dinner with us, but we had already eaten. We still got to try their chicken and it tasted so good! They invited us to dance with them and it was definitely different from dancing in the US. The music was really loud, everyone was yelling and clapping, and we got to listen to Arabic music. To wrap up the night, we had a group discussion with a few of the Arab students. We learned about each other and discussed questions and comments about each other’s cultures. We are now getting ready for bed, since tomorrow we will be heading to the Dead Sea.
