Day 0 - The Struggle of the Pupa

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I would like to begin with an apology for the Hebrew speaking majority.

As there is an English speaking minority, this report will be written in English.

Finally, I'm out of the cocoon.

Today I have come through sweat and tears to a very important conclusion. A conclusion I would like to share with you for the betterment of your lives.

If you have any way to avoid it (and for most people this is probably so), never attempt to get discharged off the army and fly to China, all in a 24 hour window. Chances for survival are not in your favour. Chances of suffocating under an ever increasing pile of paperwork are, on the other hand, tremendous.

You might find Chinese immigration bureaucracy slightly inconvenient. A striking example is how no one is allowed to receive a visa to China for a duration of more than 30 days. No matter what you do, no matter who or what you are, you should know that under no circumstances you will never, ever get a visa for more than 30 days.

That is, unless you specifically ask for one. Can I have a visa for 60 days? Sure, no problem. Why didn't you say so before?

But, surpassing the feeble Chinese amateurish bureaucracy is the ever potent army one. Anywhere you go, every step you take, always seems like you're the first person who ever took it. The first one to sail these new waters, to claim this new land! A pioneer for the sake of all humankind to follow. It's kind of like being Indiana Jones. How come all the traps are still set wherever he goes? That's because he's the first one who ever made it that far.

And indeed,  it seemed I was the first person that ever braved the notion of getting out of the army. People were clueless, baffled, sometimes angry. Printers clunk, hummed and issued pages upon pages. And sometimes, like every decent maze, I reached a dead end and had to go back the way I came.

But I came, I saw, and somehow I conquered.

I have just now spent hours upon hours packing my backpack.

Finally, I'm out of the cocoon.

Exhausted, I collapse on the bed.