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| The stray dog we found wandering around the restaurant we were eating at, whom I almost adopted... I called her Steve. But it turned out she was just some hussy who wagged her tail at anyone passing by, and she left us for a bunch of guys at a nearby ice cream shop. ( I'll never forget you Steve!! ) |
First of all, you have to understand, this is about the time that homesickness kicks in. Now, nobody wants to admit it, but we all definitely miss our family and friends and our stuff back home (like singing karaoke for example). It may seem like we’re all happy every morning, greeting each other with big smiles as if we’re having the time of our lives, but it’s clearly just a cover up. The other day, I confided in one of my new friends about how I was feeling. Initially, she said, “Wait, are you joking? Because if you are then… haha.” However, once she realized that I was being serious, she admitted, “Oh my God. I wasn’t going to say anything, but me too! Last night, I was totally crying in my apartment, alone.”
It’s funny because it was true… No wait that isn’t funny… Well it was funny at the time. We had a good laugh about it, I promise.
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| If you don’t know what this is a picture of, you should probably read – just in general, start reading. It’ll be good for you |
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| What I can only assume are super-awesome Jedi masters |
Luckily though, there are still so many amazing things to appreciate here at MSIH. For example, two Fridays ago, we had an organized “tiyul” (trip) to the Old City of Jerusalem. We spent about eight hours walking through the Jewish, Muslim, Armenian, and Christian, quarters of the ancient holy city, a very multi-ethnic experience. As the current blogging representative for my class, I have to say we all had a very inspiring and informative time. (Personally, I’ve been there so many times already, so it was no biggy: I was like “psht, whatever”… I’m only kidding of course. I had a fun time too – seeing where Judas Iscariot first sang Heaven On Their Minds was definitely a treat for me.) (Disclaimer: I apologize for my bad taste in humour… and the way I spell humour. Eh?)
Also, we really don’t have time to be homesick. We’re in class now from 815 in the morning until 1800, mandatory attendance (ya Israeli time-notation!). In the morning, we learn Hebrew, and in the afternoon, we practice our terrible, broken Hebrew on random Israelis who usually just respond, “I can speak English. What is it that you want?”
No, actually, in the afternoons, we study emergency medicine, courtesy of about five current Israeli medical students. From 1315-1415, we have a class lecture, and from 1430-1800, we have small, group tutorials with one of the course instructors. My Israeli TA, Aviv, is already well-know for his awesome catch phrases like “faint out” instead pass out, “Becky, you are my friend,” and “Avi, lizrom otti,” which means, “Avi, quit being such a pain-in-the-butt and just go with what I’m trying to say.” So far, we’ve learned how to properly administer CPR to adults and infants, in regular and in trauma scenarios. But we must always be on guard, because sometimes, I can be just walking down the street, minding my own business, when Aviv will pop out from behind a bush (almost giving me a heart attack myself) and point to a resuscitation Annie mannequin, and say, “Quick! This person is unconscious. Go!”
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| Practicing CPR. The person is not breathing, has no pulse, an obstructed airway, blood shooting out of his left leg… aannnnddd go! |
… ok, he hasn’t ever done that… yet.
So really, after our long and tiresome days, we don’t actually have any time to miss you. ;) And in case we still do, we can always go spend a relaxing day at the pool, which we often do, or take a bike ride around the city.
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| Shout-out to our classmate, Chris Brown. It was his birthday last week. We all got together in Seattle Park, because he’s from Seattle, and had ice cream cake. He just turned 21. Awwwwww |
Actually, one last funny story before I sign off for the week: So I wanted to buy a bike, but the used bike store didn’t have any bikes available to sell. Instead, I found a bike, brand new, at another store down the road. However, this bike was only 450 NIS (roughly $125)… When I talked to the storeowner, I said, “I don’t understand! How can this bike be only 450 NIS. It must be garbage!” He assured me that it was actually a very good bike, just that they made too many of them and now had to sell them off at a lower price to get rid of them all (or some other like that). After I finally paid for the bike – no cancelations or returns – he says to me, “Now if you want your bike to last… maybe don’t go over curbs so fast. Oh, and when you’re changing gears, just don’t pedal so hard. In fact, don’t change gears at all. Stay on the middle gear. That should be fine.” Oh Israelis… - August blogger of the month, Avi Kopstick