I need to sleep and I can't. For a number of reasons (including the several glasses of diet coke I have had since waking up in the middle of the night, oops) but really there is one that is sticking out. So I woke up because my phone was ringing like crazy and my Skype account was ringing through my computer. Before I realized what was going on, I stumbled into the bathroom and realized "why would I have so many missed calls? I hope everything is okay?" The calls were all from such a random assortment of people that it took me a minute to figure out that no one was calling me to tell me about some crisis that befell them. They were calling me to ask me if I was okay.
Apparently, while I was sleeping (which started around 9 tonight!) a rocket fell in Ofakim and another one fell in Netivot. Thankfully, no one was hurt, although a few people in Netivot were treated for shock. At first I didn't think much of it, but I wondered why I didn't wake up. Then I found out that the alert system failed and there was no warning before the rocket fell. Now, just so that anyone reading this understands, there are several zones in the alert system. The towns closest to Gaza have 15 seconds. We are in the 2nd ring which means we have 30 seconds... assuming the alarm goes off.
So to explain how close we are to Gaza I will use my house in Rockville as an example. I live about 21ish miles from Sugarloaf mountain. My Dad and I both enjoy going there and we used to go there all the time when I was a kid. My ex and I used to go there to look for reptiles. It's not a place that anyone from Rockville would consider far away. I am about 19 miles from the border to Gaza. I live closer to Gaza then I did one of my favorite spots in Maryland. Wrap your head around that one.
Okay, its several days later and hopefully I can continue my rambles in a more rational direction that I could have at that point. So, friends at home who are reading this (if any of you still are ;) just so you understand, the rocket is really nothing abnormal for this area. Living so close to Gaza and having rockets falling around you is the reality of the situation... Each day, people get up and go about their lives. So, we had an extra drill this week. Now I know what the siren sounds like and how loud it should be. יופי.
This is the reality of life here. I find myself constantly getting frustrated at the news and the world opinion of the situation in Israel. I am the first to say, that I do not agree with everything going on here. I do not know WHAT the solution is, but I think the situation with the occupied territories is bound to leave disgruntled people (I can't call them citizens, because many of them hold no citizenship anywhere). Everyone wants to point the finger and the situation is far more complex than people tend to realize. What you see on the world news is not the reality of the situation, on either front. Everyone has their agenda and they do everything in their power to try and further it.
We had a 5 day seminar a few weeks ago and we were presented with many different views of the situation at hand. It was really enlightening and even if you don't agree at times, you can see (or at least I can) where each person is coming from. However, my lack of time to go in depth regarding the seminar and my refusal to post out of order has really delayed my blogging. I give up. I am posting this and will post about the seminar in pieces as I have time! As it stands already, I started this post 20 days ago... Must. move. forward.
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