Two Months that Changed My Life-Marva!

The past two months were amazing. I was on an army program called Marva. This program is for foreigners who want to experience the army without really joining. It is 8 weeks and each week you do something different. Just like the really army you only go home every two weeks. The first week was all about discipline. This week is when we settled in and got used to our new life. We also shot a M-16. At the end of the week we received our own guns. I named my first gun Fred. Fred broke so I received another one. I named it Roger. The second week was field week. This was one of my favorite weeks. This week was all about living in the field. We learned how to army craw, different positions you use when you are in an attack, and we even learned about night attacks. One night we played this game where we had to climb up a mountain and grab a green glow stick. We could not get caught though. We had to use everything that we learned. I got so close but the segal (commanders) caught me. This week we literally slept in the field and did not shower for a whole week. I loved it. The third week we were up North. This week was ok. It was raining the whole week and we were on buses a lot. We saw some really cool bases and learned about very interesting things but other than that nothing really exciting happened. The fourth week was South week. This was a cool week. We learned about navigation. After we learned about it we got to actually navigate in the desert. The fifth week was supposed to be sports week but it was cancelled. We did not really do anything that excited we just took a few day trips. It was also really rainy this week so we slept in classrooms and not in our tents. The sixth week was also one of my favorite weeks. This week we were on a Golani base. This week we learned karav maga, shot the Tavor and the M-4, saw a real practice attack, and learn how to camouflage. The seventh week we were in Jerusalem. This was a very interesting experience because we walked around in our uniforms and with our guns. People took pictures and thanked us for doing the army. We we able to experience how real soldiers feel. It really touched me. The last week was a wrap up week. This is the week all the segal broke distance. We were able to talk to them like normal people and really get to know them. I love them and I want to go back. Marva changed me. I was always grateful for what I had but after this experience you learn to even appreciate a orange or even a minute for yourself. I move to Jerusalem on Wednesday and I come home in 3 months. Time has flown by but I am looking forward to see what the future has in store for me. See y'll soon!