for the first time in almost 2 years (thanks covid), this summer the canadian border finally opened enough for me to visit my parents and sister in alberta.
southern alberta
Category: canada
cancun pit stop
this fall my sister had a baby up in alberta, canada where they live, so we obviously needed to go visit! turned out it was actually cheapest to fly to cancun for a day and then to alberta, so why not!
my flight was significantly delayed, so arrived at about 2 am. of course, i had neglected to arrange transport from the airport to the city in advance, which it turns out is not ideal in cancun if you arrive in the middle of the night, as they recently banned uber. after fighting back the rabid taxi drivers, i finally found a guy driving a resort van going in the other direction that could drop me off at his friend’s house, who could then drive me into the city. whew!
the first night i stayed in a really cheap hotel downtown, but the second night fully availed of the amenities at a brand-new sheraton four-points, also downtown, booked with (not too many) hotel points. it had a nice pool on the roof and a steamroom. between steam sessions, i walked around the hotel zone, which in cancun is along a long, thin peninsula jutting out into the caribbean. it was nice, but i was wearing a boot on my foot as i had recently broken my toe, so wasn’t able to get out into the water. it was a great place for a day, but if you are not at an all-inclusive on the beach, cancun is just a regular mexican city, only much more expensive. i had some fun exploring the downtown malls. glad i went!
toronto
don’t throw away your customs form in mexico!
at the end of june, my sister got married! ann and i went to my hometown of grande prairie, alberta for the wedding, which was excellent. we were also honored to be the co-emcees for the reception which was a lot of fun. in classic maria form, my sister had procured some indian-canadian guys who worked at the local tim hortons to cater curry and rice for the reception meal. it was nice to see a lot of people from our childhoods again!
ann then had to head back to the east coast for a summer language program, but i had a few more days off, so flew down to central america. i was supposed to have a short layover in mexico city before continuing to panama and then nicaragua. i went through customs as i was required to, and was given a customs card. after security i figured i was done with my customs card, and threw it away. i availed of some luxury lounge access i have through one of my amazing credit cards, and there filled up my backpack with some free canned beers for the rest of the trip. then i went to the gate to board the next flight. however, i wasn’t allowed to board without my customs card! an airline rep with a very flat affect continually reminded me despite my pleas that there were “no exceptions.” if i wanted to get on the flight, i would need to get a replacement customs card, outside of security. so i exited security and ran around the bowels of the massive terminal three of benito juarez international airport trying to find the applicable office. evidently, this happens to unsuspecting stupid foreigners with regularity, as there were a gaggle of others trying to do the same thing. they don’t make it easy though – you can’t just pay the $30 fee for a new customs card at that office, you need to pay it at a specific bank elsewhere in the airport. so i ran to that bank, but you need to have mexican pesos to pay. of course i had used all of mine, and the atm at the bank didn’t work, so had to try a few others to find some cash. back to the bank and back to the customs form office. new form in hand, i rushed through security, only to be pulled aside for having 20 cans of beer in my backpack. lol! the guys were pretty nice about it; hope they kept them. finally made it back to the gate as the airplane was pulling back. missed it.
procuring my checked bag after missing my connecting flight was another adventure, but it worked out. they let me into the underground baggage sorting area to wait while they located it, which was kinda cool. i was supposed to be in panama that night, and go to nicaragua two days later, but obviously needed to come up with another plan. new flights were prohibitively expensive, and missing mine was my fault. spent much of the rest of the day trying to figure out a plan. kind of exhilarating actually. flirted with all kinds of wacky ideas for getting to nicaragua before i finally found a multi-leg flight for the next day through panama and managua, nicaragua, with an overnight layover there before a final leg that i would skip, which saved a bunch of money. thankfully the next day they were amenable to checking my bag just to nicaragua, and it worked out! spent the night in mexico city, and ate some really great tacos multiple times. this was just two months after i had spent three days there earlier that spring. funny how it goes, but there could be worse places to be stuck!
6 month tour of ‘murca!
i came back to the glorious united states from the end of june until the beginning of january. on the schedule were four month-long fourth year medical school electives. first i did pediatric emergency medicine at morgan stanley children’s hospital, which is at columbia university’s new york presbyterian hospital in washington heights, at the northern tip of manhattan. i rented a room close to the hospital in the heavily dominican neighborhood, and frequently ran back and forth across the george washington bridge at night for awe-inspiring views of the manhattan skyline. this as well as the next elective were sub-internships, meaning that i was expected to assume the responsibility level of a first-year resident, which was a huge (but great) learning curve and kept me extremely busy. that first month i also took the clinical skills (cs) portion of step 2 of the united states medical licensing exam (usmle), which is a practical test in which you enter a series of exam rooms with actor patients who simulate a variety of medical scenarios.
my next elective was in baton rouge, louisiana, at our lady of the lake hospital, where i was on the pediatric wards basically 15 hours every day.
next i made a quick stop at home in alberta to pick up my car, as living in the south for a month without a car really reminded me of the value of wheels. then, to rady children’s hospital at the university of california – san diego for a month of pediatric endocrinology (and many long runs on the beach)! thanks to friends from the past kimberly and brian for being so welcoming! san diego was truly amazing, and i stuck around for a couple weeks after my elective to go to mexico and also to attend the american academy of pediatric’s (aap) annual conference, whose attendees included, among others, hillary clinton.
then i drove quickly back across the country to new york city, where i did an elective in dermatology at mount sinai – beth israel hospital in midtown manhattan, commuting daily from the cheapest place i could rent in caribbean brooklyn. then, i drove all around the country for a little over a month, attending residency interviews! they were quite fun. special thanks to all the people who helped me out by hosting me, like mrs breckenridge in san diego, will in phoenix, mayaan in western mass, isaac and camille in south bend indiana, ryan and jess in minneapolis, joel in chicago, mr and mrs burns in cincinnati, and a potpurri of motel 6s. even made the impromtu decision to go to kenya for a week for a family reunion! finally, it was home to canada for christmas, with about 30 000 more kilometers on my college-era honda civic.
summer is for studying…
this summer was devoted to studying for the usmle step one board exam. 14 hours/day, every day for a little over six weeks. for focus’ sake, i felt the need to go back to the temperate climate, easy conveniences and loving parents in canada. my parents had recently moved to a new town in southern alberta. i studied at the local community college, where for most of the time, i was the only person there other than the security guards. i almost went insane, but am quite proud of myself for sticking it out. even when i was driving home from the college and running i was listening to audio pathology lectures. it was very nice to be at home with my parents even though the only time i was able to spend with them was a few minutes for dinner each night. special thanks to my mother for cooking and even doing my laundry for me so i could maximize time for studying! enjoying the conveniences of canada was also spendid, things like $6 footlongs at subway. go ahead and laugh, but see if you’re still laughing after trying to find yourself a satisfying meal in israel for $6. its impossible. and driving a car again- that was amazing!
southern alberta experienced the worst flooding in its history this summer. one day i joined some folks from our local church to do some serious sandbagging to attempt to save portions of the town. it was nice teamwork. we were even working alongside the canadian military who were sent to help with the effort! attending the church my parents go to there was a highlight of the summer. its an exciting place with lots of little kids running around and a pastor who one couldn’t help but respect even after just a couple weeks. the one and only church here in beer sheva – well, my comments are probably best left off the world wide web. lets just say that i love going to church when its the right kind of church. my family also flew down to tennessee for one day to attend my cousin’s wedding. it was a great time.
i’m glad the summer of studying is over. it is a right of passage of sorts for medical students, but not really my style. on the way back to israel i had an all day long layover in athens, greece, where i chillaxed on an amazing beach! now we’re spending our time in the wards of the hospital instead of listening to lectures – a nice change!
the big circle has been closed!
i’m home now! what a great trip! this will probably be the last post for quite some time. i’ll be coming back and reading this blog when my life gets boring.
so in the immediate present my life is revolving around medical school applications, after which i will start hauling asphalt as a truck driver for a road contruction company here in northern alberta. then its back to college for one more semester.
thanks for reading this, if you have been!