BAKUM

Happy New Year!

As of now, I've been in the army for a week and a half. Its been such a strange experience, but I'll try to summarize quickly how my first few days went.
December 21: Draft!
I took the bus to Tiveria, to the Lishkat Gius, where all the draftees for that day were lining up outside the office. As we were filing in the the waiting area, we had to show our Tzav Gius papers and ID card (or passport) to the soldier in charge. Now, I had heard about Mahalistim having trouble drafting, or having their draft date postponed, but I thought I had avoided all that because I had a form in my hand where it said explicitly that I was to draft on December 21. Of course, there are always ways that things can go wrong. The soldier at the entrance said my name was not on "the list", meaning I should go home and report back in March for a later draft date.
Me: I actually really need to draft today.
Soldier: Ok, but your name isn't on the list...
Me: But I have a Tzav Gius...it says December 21 right here.
Soldier: I know...I think that's a mistake.
Me: Then why did they send it to me?
Soldier: I don't know.
Me: Is there any way I can draft today?
Soldier: I don't think so. You're not on the list...
Me: Look, I can't wait 3 months to go in.
Soldier: If you want I can print out another form that says March.
Me: No I don't want another form, I need to draft today.

After about 30 minutes of this, and another hour of waiting, another soldier came out to tell me that everything was worked out, and I could draft that day. I think he was a little shocked that I was excited to hear this.

A couple hours later, we all got on the bus to Bakum, a base near Tel Aviv where all soldiers go to be "processed". There we got ID pictures, shots, DNA samples taken, and uniforms. In the beginning, everyone gets stickers with our names and ID numbers. I was almost done...I only had to have an interview and get my uniform, when suddenly they decided that there was something wrong with my number (the one THEY had given me). They told me to wait. Half-hour later, I asked if anything had been resolved. They told me to wait. An hour later, other people who had "something wrong" with their numbers had their problems resolved, and were moving on. The soldiers told me to wait. Another half-hour later, and I was the only one left.
At this point, they decided to get their act together, and rushed me to the interview without my number. We rushed again to the uniform warehouse, where they handed me a big bag full of stuff (my Aleph bag), 3 pairs of pants, 2 long sleeve tops, 1 short sleeve top, shoes, sandals. I had to try everything on as fast as possible (luckily everything they gave me fit). I had no time to savor the moment I actually put on a real Israeli uniform for the first time, and before I knew it, I was on a dark bus (where it seemed like I was the only English-speaker) to Michveh Alon, the base in the north where I would be staying for the next 3 months.
When we got to the base, we split up into groups, and we were led to our rooms by our new mifakdot (commanders). Each room has about 10 bunk beds for ~20 people.

More later on the rest of the week!