En España

It was pretty sad for all of us to end our time in the army. We really enjoyed working there and meeting everyone. Never again will we hang out in a store room, discussing the tv show Big Brother in Hebrew as we fold shirts for reserve soldiers. It was definitely a fun experience for all of us there.

Winter in Israel came right on time- we believe winter is in fact the only thing that comes on time in Israel. December 22 it became cold. The day we left the base, there was a sandstorm. It looked like the entire base was just covered in a fog; the sand was so fine and flying in the air. it got into our teeth and our eyes and coated our sunglasses. We only saw the beginning of it. By the time we all got to Tel Aviv, a storm had come in there. The whole night there was rain, lightening and thunder.

Right now, I´m in Madrid. I came to Spain for a vacation with my roommate, Rena and her sister, Jessica. We cannot believe how beautiful everything is here. The architecture is amazing. A lot of doors and garages are covered with amazing graffiti, Madrid is actually known for its graffiti art. So far we´ve been walking around admiring everything. Yesterday, Christmas, the streets were completely empty in the morning, except for a few people walking dogs. At night, everyone came out to celebrate with friends. It almost felt like New Year´s. People were out, dressed up and having a good time. We couldn´t believe how crowded everything was.

Rena and I both can´t get over the fashion here. In Spain it seems to be in style to dress all young kids in the family alike. It´s hilarious to see everyone walking around looking like twins. We´ve also realized just how badly Israelis dress. We are shocked at how nice everyone looks here. In Israel, people seem to just throw on clothes without looking at what exactly they´re putting on. We forgot that people in the real world put some effort in.

We are also seeing how much Otzma has changed us. It´s amazing what living on a small stipend does to a person. Rena´s sister hasn´t seen her since before we left so she notices the change. Rena and I both brought peanut butter, tupperware, and silverware so we didn´t have to buy lunch. We refill our waterbottles at restaurants so we don´t have to buy new ones. We even save ziploc bags to reuse. Both of us are in shock about how nice our hostel is. We can´t believe how comfortable and big the beds are. Jessica tells us the room is okay, the beds actually aren´t comfortable and they´re just regular twin size beds. We often tell Jessica the stories about days when the water went off for seven hour and when our water heater would leak all over the living room. We told her about the time the sink regurgitated and sprayed old pasta, vegetables, coffee grains, etc over the floor of another Otzmanik´s apartment. Luckily, they´re floor had a whole in it, so everything went down into the hole and out to the street. We still have yet to determine why there was a hole in their floor. Seeing all these things through the eyes of someone who is not on Otzma really makes us see how far we´ve fallen. But the good news is, we´re all having an awesome time on the way down!