Long and Extra Social

My week ended (or began, take your pick) with a very slow Saturday as I rested and prepared for the week. Honestly, I can’t remember exactly what I did last Saturday lol, it feels like ages ago. I have said it before, but I will say it again. Time here simultaneously seems to move at the speed of light while not actually moving at all. The week feels like a sprint to get everything done before places close Friday afternoon and Saturday. Weekends are weird because while you can rest, the other choices of activities are typically quite limited. So you really have to try and squeeze all your activities and errands into the weekdays and evenings. I did some studying and reading I’m sure. One of my classmates, Helen, came over at Lauren’s invitation and we enjoyed some lighthearted but also deep conversation about Christ and our beliefs. I am very thankful for moments like those where I can get to know my classmates on a more personal level. I tried to arrange to meet someone selling their bike over facebook and I was quite unsuccessful. Israelis are hard to get a hold of on Shabbat. I think I also did some meal prep, cooking potatoes, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, and chicken to eat during the week. I tried some of the shredded cheese I bought. In my humble opinion, it is disgusting haha (: Maybe I will try another type next time, or maybe I will just go mostly cheese-less, which is a little sad.

If I had to describe this week in a single word, I would either say long or social. So buckle up, here we go (:

School on a Sunday??

As you may remember, class was canceled last Sunday due to COVID, but the start of our first truly full week was waiting for us this Sunday. It feels very odd, like Sunday is a fake Monday. This of course makes it feel like days of the week are meaningless and I never really know what each day of the week is supposed to mean haha.

Let me briefly describe what Hebrew class feels like for me. When 8:15 rolls around, I am typically still sweating from my walk to class, the air conditioner hasn’t kicked in yet, and Hadass, our teacher, is normally a few minutes late. I use the time to review the vocab and other notes from the previous days or say hello to my fellow classmates. Then class starts. At first it feels like I can keep my head above water. I may even understand the majority of the warmup activity. It feels hard and requires a lot of focus, but it feels okay, or in Hebrew, בסדר pronounced, beh-seh-dare. But then as soon as I think, maybe I am getting the hang of this, everything speeds. It feels like I am sprinting as hard as I can to just try and keep up, but instead I hit the last 100 meters of a 400-meter sprint and am simply out of gas, not going anywhere. If you have run the 400m before, you know what I mean (: The only problem is, even though I am working on Hebrew almost every evening, it doesn’t get easier the next day. Which I suppose is good but sometimes it feels like I’m so far behind during class that I can’t keep going. (it’s kind of like that one time I literally fell down while running the last 100 meters of the 4x4 haha, if you were there, you know what I mean). But then I willingly try to get up and do it all over again the next day. I am making progress, but currently I’m fighting for each step forward. I’m thankful for a teacher who has grace and for classmates who are more knowledgeable and willing to lend a hand up. That is my summary of Hebrew (:

On Sunday, my Emergency Medicine class finally got to meet our TA. Her name is Roni, and she is truly the sweetest TA. She is very enthusiastic and loves answering my group’s almost endless questions. She even made cupcakes for us, so delicious. We reviewed all the CPR we have learned so far and choking intervention. After class, I already felt exhausted haha. Day one (: Some of the second- and third-year students had put out an invitation to join them for a hangout at a popular sandwich shop in the evening. Since I felt like I had been sitting out of most social events, I decided to go. First of all, the sandwiches were delicious. I got pastrami and they added all the rest of the fixings. I’m honestly not sure what all was on the sandwich, there were more sauces than I have ever had on one sandwich at once before. It may sound weird, but there was mango sauce, beet sauce, and others. I stayed and chatted for a while and met a few new people, before calling it a day and walking back.

Monday was pretty insignificant school-wise. We went to Hebrew, ate lunch, and learned how to take a patient’s history and vital signs. We walked home after class and studied Hebrew. Our evening activity was Bachata class. Lauren loves dancing and really wanted to go, so I agreed to tag along and try it out. When we arrived, several of our other classmates were there along with the 2nd year students who had told us of the class. It was a sweet and enjoyable time, a bit to my surprise (: We went with the beginners and learned the basics. It was funny to not understand anything the instructors said. There were very kind people in my group who would translate occasionally when it was of utmost importance and some of the guys I danced with also made an effort to translate into some English. Then after the class, all the levels joined for free for all dancing. I was also pleasantly surprised by the guys I danced with during this time. They were very patient and great at teaching new moves or explaining technique. Some of you know that I really enjoy meeting strangers, so it was honestly relaxing to be with humans I didn’t have to worry about forming long term relationships with. It cost 20 shekels, but I think it was worth it. The plan is to return next week and see what else we can learn (:

Tuesday was a very exciting day in Emergency Medicine. We got to skip the hour-long EM lecture and go straight to drills. Our main task was learning how to insert an IV line. Many of my classmates had been talking about it all week, most with nervousness and concern. I was very excited for this lesson, and I had been happily anticipating it for a while. Since I took a phlebotomy class last semester, I am very comfortable with being stabbed/stuck with needles and I was looking forward to learning about IVs. It met my expectations. I had a lot of fun, felt a little pain and discomfort, and learned something very practical. After this drill, it is safe to say I felt much closer to my fellow classmates haha, we are on a whole new level now. It was challenging but we all were successful in inserting an IV line and injecting a small amount of saline. Don’t take this the wrong way, but the saline felt very nice when it was inserted since it was only a couple milliliters, a nice cool sensation (:

Game night was the social event for Tuesday night. It was held at the most popular park in Beer Sheva. I was mostly just going to check it out and meet some new people, but I ended up having more fun than expected (: We played a game called Avalon, which is similar to Mafia but also very different. I wasn’t good at the lying part, as expected haha, but my team managed to win (:

We stayed a while longer and I watched the group play Cards Against Humanity for a while where many laughs were had before once again, leaving before the event concluded so that I would have time to work on Hebrew (:

Wednesday began with a delightful run shared with Caroline. She was kind enough to run my speed and do some walking with me. It really filled my heart to talk with her about how she was doing and share with her some of my struggles. I’m so thankful God gave me someone to run with and have fellowship with (: It was the perfect start to my day. The emergency lesson was the beginning of learning to respond to trauma. Our level right now is very basic because we know next to nothing about medicine. But I feel confident that I could at least assess a situation and do basic maneuvers to help keep a patient alive. We also learned how to apply tourniquets. Here they call them vein blockers and artery blockers, which are accurate names haha. Something I thought was super cool is the number one, best, and easiest tourniquet was made by Israelis. Our TA also admitted to us that Israel didn’t trust it enough to use it until after the U.S. began to use it regularly haha. But honestly the tourniquet itself was incredibly designed and very simple to use (:

Wednesday evening was reserved for Bible study. This was the first week we split up from the Ben Gurion International students to meet with a group that was only MSIH students. While I’m sad I didn’t get to see all the other believers who are becoming, it was nice to have a smaller group and feel like you could share more openly. It was on one of the believer’s roofs which was beautiful. Lauren made some delicious hummus to contribute to the meal and others brought additions as well. The hosts, Ben and Leann, made pasta, but the best part was that Leann made gluten free pasta which meant Lauren could partake!! What a blessing (: We read together from Mark, shared our hearts, and prayed. I don’t think I will ever stop feeling incredibly blessed by the way God has provided me with such a sweet community.

The rest of the week will be continued on the next post due to lengthiness ;)