Starting Internal (and how to go to Gaza by accident)

      Not too long ago, I spent the weekend by the water. Despite living here for two years, it was my first time camping on the beach. And it was glorious- perfect weather, clear blue water, soft white sand, and lots of friends, both new and old. We spent our time perfecting our tans, splashing in the waves, and playing matkot (think ping-pong using a raquetball and no table). And thanks to Virginia, we even managed to get in a little yoga.

       While yoga on the beach at sunset can be a deep meditative experience, one can never forget the Israeli factor. So while this photo shows some focused yogis, just out of frame is a naked four year old laughing and trying to do cartwheels as incoming waves nip at his heels.

       This trip was my last hurrah before starting life on the wards, beginning in internal medicine. As I look back over the past week, I struggle to perfectly describe just how much my life has changed. I am no longer a student, sitting in a classroom surrounded by books. I am a part of a medical team- I see patients, I assist in their care. And while so far that has mainly involved giving directions to the closest bathroom or unsuccessful blood draw attempts, it is a leap forward in my medical journey.

       I think my life on the wards thus far is like swimming in the waves. I have dressed myself in the proper outfit (both figuratively and literally) and I have run with abandon into the unknown. As the waves crash around me, sometimes I jump at just the right moment and the wave carries me. Sometimes I hold my ground and feel the power of the wave crash around me. Of course, sometimes the wave sweeps my feet out from under me and I am lost, completely at the mercy of forces around me. Yet those waves are my favorite. I am caught by something so much bigger than I can imagine. Even when I feel lost, there is no place I would rather be. 

      And now, for those of you who have read this far, an explanation for the rest of the title. In order to go on our amazing beach trip, I rented a car. In order to keep costs low, I took small highways instead of the major tollway. On our way home, I didn't use GPS. Israel is a small country with good signage, you rarely need it. (I'm sure some of you know what happens next). Most of the girls in my car were asleep, and I was ready for a shower and a nap. So imagine my surprise when the road we had been on for almost an hour abruptly stopped. In it's place was a giant cement wall, complete with barbed wire and guard tower.And a small door. And a large sign announcing the Erez Crossing. Thankfully, I followed the news this summer, and remembered that the Erez Crossing is one of the main ways into Gaza.

      So, of course, I turned the car around and retraced our route, certain that I must have missed a turn a long time ago. There couldn't be a highway that went righto Gaza, could there? Turns out I missed the turn by only 2 kilometers. So yes, there was a road that went right to Gaza. And it's easy to get there, even by accident. What a vivid reminder of just how small this land truly is. 

     

after a long hiatus...third year begins!

I know it has been a really, really, REALLY long time since I updated this blog. Over a year, in fact. So let's catch up- I completed my second year of medical school and took the first part of my licensing exam, Step One. Hard to believe I can sum up the hardest year of my life in a single sentence, but I spent the whole time with my nose in a book. And not the fun kind, but the dry textbooks without any pictures. Let's move on.

Despite studying like crazy, I got to spend a few months at home with my family. They fed me and kept me sane, while continually dropping not-so-subtle hints about the wonders of living in Minnesota. It wasn't hard to convince me, especially after a week at the lake.

And, of course, it will always be easy to convince me to return when I have a nephew this cute.

However, time keeps moving, the way it always seems to when you stop paying attention. Too soon, it was time to return to Israel, to school, to real life. The start of third year means it was time to prepare for working on the wards, finally seeing real patients and finally learning what medicine is all about. We started with a two week emergency medicine class, where we learned how to act like t.v. doctors (and then how NOT to) while learning skills like defibrillation and intubation. The most exciting, and the most terrifying, was learning how to draw blood and place an I.V.

As you can see from my bruises, my classmates and I still have some work to do perfecting our skills! Yet we are out of time, and next week we need to review physical exams before starting on the wards. So for now, we count ourselves proficient in emergencies and look forward to the next challenge. Can't believe that medical school is halfway done already!

I finally ride a camel

This is way overdue, but a few weeks ago, some friends and I went to Jordan to see Petra (really cool lost city carved in stone) and Wadi Rum (desert nature preserve). If you're friends with me on Facebook, you've seen the pictures. Anyhow, the most important thing is that I rode a camel. Through the desert. And it was awesome. I've been hoping to ride a camel since I moved to Israel, and I finally got to do it.

this is me on a camel. just look at that grin.

these are my friends on camels.

We had an absolutely fabulous time, and it was a much needed break. As I hunker down now to start studying for finals, I wish I could go back. Petra was so beautiful that pictures couldn't do it justice, but here's a few...

the Monastery

the Urn Tomb

the Treasury

I also want to mention that I will be cheating on this blog with another blog. I'm the blogger of the month for our MSIH first year blog, which you can check out here http://firstyearmsih.blogspot.co.il/. I highly recommend reading some of the other entries, my fellow first years are incredible writers.

A Return to the North

     Recently, Israel celebrated the holiday of Purim. For those familiar with the Bible story of Esther, it's the celebration of a Jewish queen of a Persian king who saved her people. Well, maybe. In modern Israel, Purim is more like Halloween. There are costumes, parties, and of course lots of sweets. In particular, there's a date cookie called ozenaim haman (Haman's ear) based on the villain from the story. They're delicious. From a student perspective, the most important thing about Purim is that Purim is a day off from classes. So, what to do over a three day weekend? How about a four day hiking trip?

     There's a trail in Northern Israel called the Jesus Trail that wanders from Nazareth to Capernaum over 60 kilometers (that's 40 miles) of gorgeous Galilean countryside. It travels past important sites in Jesus' ministry, such as the town of Cana and the Mount of Beatitudes, as well as historical sites from the Crusader and Roman periods. Spring is a beautiful time for hiking in Israel (yes, spring has already sprung here, sorry to those still stuck in the snow!) The weather is warm, but not hot, and all the wildflowers are in bloom. And, if you want to hike 20 kilometers a day, you can see all the wildflowers and some of the sites in one long weekend. If you hurry.

    We began the hike in Nazareth. It's a predominately Arab town, which means that you see more signs and overhear more conversations in Arabic than Hebrew. It's a change that you notice right away, and despite the fact that all the signs also have Hebrew characters on them, you almost feel like you're in a different country. It was my first experience in an Arab city in Israel, and it's definitely something I'd like to do again.

     We started off through Nazareth from the Church of the Annunciation of Mary, where I was surprised to run into a tourist group from St. Cloud, MN, who had something to say about my Gopher hockey t-shirt, and a tour guide who insisted I couldn't enter the church with my backpack only after I mentioned I didn't want to go in. Go figure. With that bizarre start, we walked through the city shuk (market) just as it was opening for business, working our way up the side of the mountain and out of Nazareth.

there were a LOT of stairs...

but the view was pretty great!

From Nazareth, we hiked to Cana, where we saw some churches, but they were closed. Typically, this is the first day of the hike. We decided to keep going so we could see it all in three days.

my fellow hikers

    We hiked through beautiful countryside all afternoon. I especially enjoyed all the green, which we don't have much of in Beer Sheva, even in the rainy season. And, of course, the wildflowers.

it's so GREEN

new Hebrew word: flowers are praHeem (with a nice guttural CH!)

     By late afternoon, with tired feet, we began to daydream about our plans for the evening. We were staying in a geodesic dome on an organic goat farm. We couldn't wait to arrive, pet some goats, curl up in our dome and get some rest.

our home for the night

look how cozy it is!

Day 2 we ventured onward, seeing the remains of a Roman road, a hillside where the Crusaders made one of their final stands, and lots of wandering livestock. Yet as we passed grazing cows and open fields, I began to wonder if I had been transplanted back to the Midwest.

well, this certainly looks familiar...

    We ended Day 2 near the foot of Mount Arbel, and the landscape no longer reminded me of home. Day 3 we climbed down the cliff face of Arbel and got our first glimpse of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). It was easier this time around, since we weren't doing it in the rain (to see pictures of climbing Mt Arbel in the rain, check out my blog post from October). We finished the hike in Capernaum, checking out Peter's house and the eight churches that have been built over it. It's one of the few historical sites I've seen in Israel that hasn't been glamorized, fought over, or disputed. While a simple structure, that made the moment that much more powerful for me.

Peter's house

We made it! 40 miles in 3 days!

Do's and Don'ts of the Jesus Trail

DO pack lots of snacks and water bottles

DON'T accidentally urinate on ancient aqueducts

DO plan on eating falafel or schnitzel for every meal

DON'T sprain your ankle in the middle of Day 2

DO hike with a group of medical students who can wrap sprained ankles

DON'T get stuck in Capernaum when the Internet is wrong about buses

DO magically find a sherut (mini-bus/taxi) that goes to Haifa for the same price as the bus

not that any of these things did/did not happen to us...

Many thanks to the Dittys for the pictures in this blog post that you let me steal!

The Dittys on Mount Arbel

A lesson in living in Israel

      Moving to a new country involves a lot of adjustments. There's a new culture, a new language, a new...pretty much everything. At the start, it's exciting. Meeting new people, trying new foods, and exploring a new city is amazing. Those first few weeks are an adventure, an extended vacation, a brief respite from normal life. Then you realize you aren't going home soon, you are home. You realize that figuring out where to buy toilet paper is more important than heading to Jerusalem for a weekend. You learn that constantly discovering something new is exhausting. You decide that some nights after a full day of class all you want to do is curl up in bed with a movie or a good book.

     I think that's when it happens. That's when the adjustment is complete; when an exotic new place becomes home. It's been a long journey getting here, but Beer Sheva now feels like home. Coming back after a long visit in the States, I wasn't sure how it would feel to be back. Yet as I walked home from the train station, I realized that I missed being here. Beer Sheva has captured a little piece of my heart, and I know I'll leave it behind when it's time to move on.

     When asked to describe the difficulties in moving to Israel, I always think of buying a washing machine. Laundry is one of those things that seems unimportant until you don't have it. And my roommate and I went a whole semester without a washer. Instead, we went old school, hand washing our clothes in the bathtub.

I always wanted to feel like a pioneer woman. Not.

      This was not done intentionally. We first attempted to buy a washer in September. We did some research, checked out prices at several stores, and finally decided what we wanted. Our first attempt to buy a washer failed when the store clerk refused to accept our American credit cards (despite the fact that we've used them several times in stores all over Israel). We were told to come back with a check from an Israeli bank (which, thankfully, we have).

     Our second attempt at buying a washer failed when the clerk learned we weren't Israeli. The store computer needed to have an Israeli ID number entered in order to complete the purchase. Only Israeli citizens have ID numbers (I could go on and on about how stupid this rule is, but I won't).

      Our third attempt to buy a washer, we decided to do something different. Enter NATALIE's MOM, who deserves to be in all-caps due to her superheroine status. Even now, we say her name in hushed, reverent tones. We enlisted the help of Natalie (a fellow first year) and her mom (an Israeli citizen and fluent Hebrew speaker) to defeat the evil plans of the appliance store. We were somewhat successful. We bought the washer and made plans to have it delivered. It never showed up.

      Then the rockets came, and we left Beer Sheva, still washer-less.

      Upon returning to Israel after Christmas, we continued our quest to do laundry in our own home. Enter our next superhero, our neighbor DINA. Dina is a complete sweetheart who we often rely on to translate confusing Hebrew things, like bills. She talked to the store, the delivery man, and the technician, making sure to keep us in the loop. I'm proud to say that we are now the proud owners of a washing machine. And it only took us four months.  

isn't it beautiful?

      I share this example not as a complaint of how terrible it is to live in Israel, merely as an example that some things are hard to figure out in a foreign country. I'm so grateful to have people around me that turn brick walls into small hurdles. Living in Israel would not be possible without them.

back to the midwest...

A lot has happened since my last post. Some highlights:

1. I left Beer Sheva and went to Haifa, which is in the north, and free of rockets. It was glorious. I was spoiled by an Israeli family, hung out with fellow Beer Sheva refugees, and studied a lot. Here's some classmates sitting down for one of our nightly family-style dinners. It was so good to get away, even when it meant squishing eight people into a three bedroom apartment.

2. The administration cancelled the rest of my classes, and I decided to return home, since classes would not resume until after Christmas.

3. Right after booking my flight, a ceasefire was called. If you weren't keeping up with the news, Jon Stewart has a great summary of the conflict that had me rolling on the floor laughing. You can find it here: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-november-26-2012/conflict-in-the-gosling-stripped

4. I returned to Minnesota and promptly turned into an icicle. Who knew it only took four months to completely lose all tolerance for real winter.

While the temperature difference hit me first, I'm surprised by how many differences there are between Minnesota and Israel, especially in my reactions and behaviors. For instance, I've been told by several people since returning home to stop yelling. I have been speaking at that decibel the whole time I've been away, and I could go louder. Also, I have difficulty speaking English while buying something. My first assumption is that I need to speak Hebrew. The girl who sold me a pop at O'Hare did not appreciate this. 

Finally, I'm having a lot of difficulty in grocery stores. In Israel, people tend to go a little crazy in the grocery store. I've seen pushing, shoving, name calling, and cart bashing. The worst part is trying to get in line to pay. There's no such thing as 'I was here first'. It's all about 'I'm not letting anyone get in front of me.' So when I went to the local Cub to pick up a few things, let's just say my Israeli aggression was not appreciated by the other shoppers, who prefer a passive-aggressive approach (smothered in Minnesota nice, of course). I suppose I'll readjust over the next few weeks, just in time to go back to Beer Sheva and relearn how to act Israeli.

there's always a downside...

     For the most part, living in Israel is amazing. I have met some incredible people- loving, funny, smart individuals who have become family. I have seen amazing things- the Old City of Jerusalem, the streets of Tel Aviv, and the Sea of Galilee. I have taken the first steps toward becoming a doctor- starting medical school, learning to place IVs, and studying constantly. While life here is very different from life in the U.S., I found myself adjusting quickly. After all, the life of a student is similar everywhere.
     However, the last few days have shown just how different life in Israel can be. While there have been occasional rockets since I arrived, this Wednesday marked the beginning of something new. Over the last 48 hours, over 60 rockets have landed in Beer Sheva, with many more blown away by the Iron Dome (an anti-rocket defense system). Thankfully, no one in Beer Sheva has been hurt and there's been little property damage. The warning sirens go off, and you have 60 seconds to reach shelter. Given that the sirens have been going off several times a day, sometimes several times an hour, there's no escaping the fact that life has changed.
     After a sleepless night spent running to the hallway (our shelter), my roommate and I decided to try a more creative approach. Our living room is also a shelter, so we pulled our mattresses into the living room, built a blanket fort, and have been hanging out in it ever since. It adds an element of fun to an otherwise stressful situation. We also decided to sleep in, have a no-homework day, bake cookies, and listen to Christmas music (I know, I know, it's too early). The result- our day off school because of rockets felt more like a snow day.
     It's hard to describe how my life feels the same even though I live in such a different place. Maybe it's because I haven't ventured outside yet. Maybe it's because I know this is where I'm supposed to be. Maybe it's because I'm sleep deprived. I hope and pray that things might calm down soon, so that everyone can be safe and I can return to my life as a busy med student. But this is Israel, and in Israel, nothing ever goes as planned...