“There are giants out there in the canyons…”

So tomorrow officially marks the beginning of the end of this chapter of my life…I’m excited…we’re past the phase where excited means wanting to hug the toilet (…I hope).

However, first a bit of a rewind:

On Thursday I finished my second language course in the IDF (and my third language course in Israel). I passed the course successfully and moved up a level. I’m now officially at level ד (Dalet). Hebrew levels in Israel are measured on a scale:

1. (א) Aleph – Introductory
2. (ב) Bet – Basic
3. (ג) Gimmel – High
4. (ד) Dalet – Very High
5. (ה) Hey – University
6. (ו) Vav – University

One of the course commanders has offered to provide me with private lessons weekly, which I accepted. I’ll also be studying on my own as well. It’s my goal to increase my level to the highest level possible before heading stateside for what will remain an undetermined period of time.

Right now, outside of my responsibilities in the Foreign Relations Branch, the only things I’ll be doing until I land back in New York are studying Hebrew and working out (…and just a little bit of teaching).

Tomorrow (Sunday) I turn in my letter to the head of my branch (a Lt. Colonel), letting him know that I won’t be signing a contract and extending my time.

While he already knows (my direct commander informed him, and then I called him to let him know as well) he has been handling the news with both the grace and tact of a three year old, and the standard operating procedure of an ostrich – going back and forth between throwing a tantrum and pretending that everything is okay and that it’s business as usual.

This letter, which has already been given to my division’s administrative officer, my social welfare NCO and her commander (in order to outflank him) will be handed to my direct commander, the commander in charge of building manpower within the branch and Information Security (who has to find someone to replace me within the branch) and then will wind up on his desk as its final destination sometime in the afternoon…at which point since I’ve followed protocol, I’ll be able to post things like:

“WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ONLY 147 DAYS/105 WORK DAYS UNTIL I’M DONE WITH THE ARMY”

on facebook.

Tomorrow I finish the last part of my M.A. application. I’ve decided to apply to the Open University of Israel and work on my M.A. from New York (and later Israel, when I come back to do the seminar portion of the M.A.). While I would love to do an M.A. in Forensic Linguistics, I can’t afford Hofstra at the moment. Open University will only run me around 7,000.00USD and I’ll be receiving 15,000NIS from the IDF as part of my Honorable Discharge Package to use towards my education. Even if they – for whatever reason – canceled the package, I’d still be able to afford it. Cost is, sadly, a huge consideration for me at the moment. I’ll be doing my M.A. in Cultural Studies, focusing on the Middle East.

There’s a ton of problems in my apartment with my roommates at the moment (I’m a bystander…for now), but I’ll get into that tomorrow…I have to wakeup at 04:45 so I can be at base by 06:30 to teach a student that I’m looking forward to getting rid of (that will also be in another post).

Anyway, more later on tonight.

Peace, Love & Hummus,

– M