this is a music video starring my class! i find it rather entertaining!
Category: israel
petra!
to celebrate the end of five straight weeks of second semester exams, five of my 33 favorite classmates and i took a three day trip to the ancient nabeatan city of petra, in jordan! it was a really enjoyable time. we hiked for an entire day around the expansive site, which includes much more than the infamous treasury (of indiana jones fame). the place is huge, and the rugged mountainous vistas from such locales as “the end of the world” unbelievable! we also went to little petra the next day before heading home through aqaba and eilat on the red sea.
on the way home we learned that in eilat israel you can discreetly sneak into the hilton’s glamorous pool area, which turned out to be quite relaxing!
semester 2 complete!
my first tear of medical school is complete, and it was a good one! thankfully i passed all my exams, and now we’re into the second year – systems! this means we will now study just one subject at a time and have an exam every three or so weeks. we recently finished hematology, and now we’re into endocrinology!
a few happenings of the last semester:
-holidays: purim (think jewish halloween), hag b’omer (collect scraps of wood all year so that they can be thrown into a huge bonfire that can be partied around), holocaust remembrance and israeli independence day (minutes of silence during which everything in israel stops, including all traffic on the freeways, followed by a huge party with epic fireworks right outside my apartment), ben-gurion university student day (live music all night; pool party all day)
-a disaster management module that was quite interesting
-ran the dead sea half marathon with a number of my classmates; the lowest race on earth!! 1:37; i was happy with that. afterward we got to swim in the extremely salty dead sea water, which felt great on some our freshly chaffed nipples – you can imagine the yelps!
-had the opportunity to go to two christian “student conferences” that involved jewish as well as arab believers. really good times and great to meet some people outside of beer sheva.
-msih prom: bringing the american high school experience to israel.
-some unplanned school-free rocket days (they come from gaza). after one, we made some young israeli friends hanging out in a bomb shelter. they took us to where one of the rockets had hit that day – it decimated a school. good reminder that it is important to hide when that siren goes off.
-perhaps the most profound three hour conversation of the semester was with an american college student who had just finished three months of nonviolently documenting abuses of the occupation with christian peacemaker teams in hebron, palestine. check out some of his documentation of what’s going down in hebron here: http://www.cpt.org/underattack. the occupation is so messed up, yet so intractable – so seemingly impossible to do anything about. but this guy found a way to really put himself out there in a politically poignant yet very Christ-like manner, and i found it nothing short of inspirational.
winter in the desert
four months later, i think its about time for a post!
what’s gone on since the last time:
– so very much studying. it is, after all, what medical school is all about!
courses this semester include: pathology, pharmacology, physiology, epidemiology, microbiology (continued), hebrew and a dash of anthropology and history taking.
– a couple amazing thanksgiving potlucks around that time
– the cinematic event of the year: the beer sheva premiere of “twilight: breaking dawn part one!”
– a retreat to the sea of galilee with some of the other christian students at msih! we did some hiking and went to capernum and the mount of beatitudes
– unexpectedly frequent homemade korean cuisine fests!
– some ups and downs in the ol’ personal life
– got to go back to the usa to visit my family for christmas! houston, texas and new orleans, lousiana! i wont elaborate because traditionally this blog is only about stuff that goes down in the eastern hemisphere, but i will say that it was really nice to see my family again and there were numerous trips to walmart!
– watched the superbowl live at the local shanti bar until it finished at 5am! then got some breakfast, and went to eight hours of class the next day. gotta get ready for those 36 hour days in residency!
– went to jaffa (which is the historical area / rapidly gentrifying part of tel aviv) one friday to visit a clinic run by physicians for human rights – israel (phr-i). they are an ngo run completely by volunteers that provides free medical care for the migrant worker/non-jewish immigrant/refugee population in israel. there have been tens of thousands of refugees coming to israel in recent years from places like sudan and eritrea, but these people are not covered but israel’s universal healthcare coverage, have no mechanism for becoming citizens as they’re not jewish, and typically can’t legally work. its a huge, intractable problem for the government, and really sad on a personal level. these people risk their lives journeying across north africa in the hopes of making it to the “free western world” – many of them end up in protracted slavery in the sinai or even having their organs harvested at the hands of the human smugglers on which they depend. then, even if they make it across the border into israel without getting shot, they can’t work, so many end up sleeping in a park in tel aviv indefinitely. phr-i also does mobile clinics in the west bank and gaza, where people are also definitely not privy to government funded universal healthcare. i think that phr-i is amazing, especially considering it is fueled entirely by volunteer health professionals!
– last week was special: all our classes were devoted to issues relating to cardiovascular health and atherosclerosis. we also, for the first time since my class has been here, did everything that week with our colleagues at the israeli medical school. it was great to meet some new friends, especially considering that sometimes our classes are in the same buildings! we made posters in groups and presented them outdoors in the february warmth that only beer sheva can provide. i can tell you all about statins now. we also had fun stuff like yoga and zumba classes! zumba is my new favorite sport! turns out my default dancing technique has always been zumba inspired – i just didn’t know what to call it until now!
– the biggest highlight of the year so far has definitely been once-a-week clinical days. in small groups we get to go to various wards in the hospital or clinics in surrounding towns and learn how to interview patients. the language barrier can definitely be a challenge but that’s just the way it is. this week i to went to a bedouin family’s house in the nearby settlement of tel sheva. they even made us a huge lunch, which we ate from communal plates while lounging on their floor!
the bedouin are an interesting people group. traditionally they were pastoral nomads who wandered around the deserts of the middle east. with the creation of secure borders between modern nation-states like israel, however, they found themselves hemmed in. at the creation of the state of israel 60 years ago there were 10 000 bedouin in the negev desert around beer sheva – today there are 100 000. that’s a steep growth curve! they also have a tendency for consanguinous marriage (ie. with their cousins) which inevitably leads to high prevalence of rare genetic defects. indeed, beer sheva’s own soroka hospital (where our classes are) is internationally famous in genetics circles. most of the children at soroka are bedouin and most of the elderly are russian. maybe that is a phenomenon for another blog entry. anyway, the bedouin live in towns and villages that spot the desert surrounding beer sheva. some were set up by the government, while others are “unrecognized.” the government likes to periodically bulldoze homes in unrecognized villages to remind everybody who is in charge. i went to a lecture (in an underground bomb shelter) the other night by a bedouin guy who is getting a law degree in part so he can work to protect his unrecognized village. he was a good guy. i’m sure the guys who operate the bulldozers are too, its just too bad they can’t be using them to do something productive.
bethlehem; yom kippur
a few weeks ago i headed up to jerusalem and got to have lunch with the director of the middle east studies program, the study abroad program i did in egypt during college! that semester really changed the way i think about the world, and this particular professor had a lot to do with that, so it was wonderful see him again. also, my friend lynn from gordon college cross country running days is now the intern at the program. it was nice to catch up with her as well and talk about some of the politics/faith issues that only former mespers would think to discuss. because they live right on the seam, we decided to go to bethlehem for a few hours. after passing through the gnarly checkpoint and looking at “the wall” from the other side, we went to the church of the nativity, which marks the spot where it is believed that Jesus was born. there was a three hour long line of tourists, but because lynn speaks arabic we went in the back way and didn’t have to wait at all! we then went to “the shepherds field,” where another church marks the spot.
on the way home, coming through jerusalem, i ran into some preparations for yom kippur, which was the next day. some jews prepare for this very holy day by killing a chicken after holding it above their head and saying a prayer, called kapparot. they were doing this by the thousands in downtown jerusalem. across the street was a raucous animal rights protest (specifically for the chickens). israel is a diverse place!
yom kippur, or the day of atonement, is the most sacred day in judaism. many here fast all day, and nothing is on the radio or television. no cars are allowed on the roads, so my classmates and i took the opportunity to saunter around all evening in the middle of the normally bustling boulevards and intersections of beer sheva. we were even able to spend some time in a large municipal fountain that only gets turned off once a year. good times!
the north!
one day during rosh hashana my classmates diana, becky, cherec and i went on a circa-israel roadtrip! we started by watching the sun rise from beer sheva’s favorite hilltop war of indepedence monument. then we drove up along the edge of the dead sea, and decided to make a random stop in the palestinian city of jericho. we bought some falafels and fruit, and chanced upon the mount of temptation, believed to be the location where Jesus was tempted by the devil. jericho is also famous as the city that the ancient israelites marched around… and around… and around… and then the walls fell down. today it goes by the tagline: “oldest city in the world. 10 000 years.” we also found a seemingly ownerless camel, who was gracious enough to patiently pose for many pictures with us! thanks camel! camels are my favorite animal, definitely!
then we continued north, right along the israeli-jordanian border and the jordan river (although these days its more like a trickle). at one point i was driving and decided to take a one way in the wrong direction. all of a sudden: flashing lights and siren: oh no. the cop asked where we were from. “america.” to that he said: “never mind then, enjoy the rest of your morning!” nice, eh! this gave me something of a feeling of invincibility, which translated into what i was quickly informed was an excessively aggressive driving style. sorry ladies! eventually we arrived at the sea of galilee, or kinneret in the vernacular. it is actually a lake, not a sea. famous for us christians! interestingly, it is also the lowest freshwater lake in the world. we went swimming amongst throngs of israelis. yofi tofi (hebrew for very nice)!
we then headed further north into the golan heights, which is territory that israel conquered from syria during the six day war of 1967. it is called the heights because it is at a much higher elevation that any of the surrounding area. we were going to go hiking, but the national park was just about to close. so we kept heading north, all the way to mount bental, where there are expansive views of syria (on the other side of a united nations-patrolled buffer zone). we could also see mount hermon, home of the levant’s only outdoor ski hills! there are also old army bunkers to explore on top of mount bental. the golan is full of fields of landmines, marked by “do not enter” signs. there are also old abandoned tanks along the sides of the road, one of which we played in for a while.
we continued north, through verdant vineyards and apple orchards, to two druze towns called mas’ada and majdal shams. the druze are a fascinating pseudo-islamic mystical sect/ethnicity, most of whom live in syria and lebanon, with some in israel. the israeli druze are actually famously unique for their valiant and committed service in the israeli defense forces, choosing to support the state of israel (in sharp contrast to the more typical arab perspective). the towns are amazing – they are built up the sides of mountains – you’d never guess you were in israel! we found the border fence with syria where the townsfolk apparently use megaphones to communicate news with their estranged family members on the other side of the buffer zone (because they can’t travel back and forth).
we then descended into the galilee valley, passing through pristine alpine towns and past nimrod’s castle, which is precipitously perched on the top of a mountain. deciding that the day wouldn’t be complete without a glimpse of at least one more country, we headed north to the border with lebanon at metula! this border is also sealed shut – israel and lebanon were at war as recently as 2006. but the road goes right up to the border; road signs still intact and everything! and wow, metula is a glitzy little town. probably the most affluent town i’ve ever seen in israel. coincidentally, it is also the home of the “canada centre,” a rec-plex that contains israel’s largest skating rink and is the home of the israeli national ice hockey team. yeah!
then we headed home, through tiberias, haifa and tel aviv. the rest of the galilee will have to wait for another time- we are medical students, not tourists, after all 🙂
visit to hebron
i took a day trip from beer sheva to hebron. hebron is the largest city in the west bank, was an important site in ancient history, and is currently right on the fault line that is the israeli-palestinian conflict. that is to say, tensions are always high, and there is perennial violence. it is about 2 hours north of beer sheva by bus. and when i say bus, i mean bullet-proof settler bus, that stops at every gated israeli settlement along the way, even the ones with 3 buildings (the 3rd being the bus stop) on the tops of mountains. hebron is where the tomb of abraham (yeah, that abraham!) is, making it a venerated holy site for both jews and muslims. the tomb is underground, topped by a huge edifice that contains both a synagogue and a mosque. separated of course. both were nice! hebron was actually also the capital of israel a few millenia ago during the tenure of king david, but for the last thousand years it has been almost entirely populated by arabs. in 1929 a group of 60-some jews were very unfortunately murdered by a mob of arabs. thus, small numbers of hard-core zionists (arguably the most extreme and religiously ideological on the spectrum) targeted hebron as a site for settlement after the west bank (or judea and samaria, as they like to say) was occupied (or liberated, as they like to say) by israel in 1967. also, because some of them view the area as the true heart of israel (and thus of central importance in the cosmic narrative) because of its importance during the time of david.
in 1994 an american-israeli settler (and a physician, no less :/) massacred dozens of muslims and injured over one hundred more in the mosque side of abraham’s tomb. to prevent retaliation against the 500 or so jewish settlers in the old city, the israeli military partitioned the city into 2 zones, h1 and h2. initially 30 000 palestinians lived in h2 (the jewish section), although they soon were forced out by harassment from the settlers and the military, countless checkpoints, and restrictions like curfews. so now what you obstensibly have is about a quarter of the land area of the city of 300 000 – 400 000 (including what used to be the main road through the city) that is a deserted urban wasteland of empty shops and crumbling homes, encircled by huge cement walls and barbed wire, populated only by a couple small enclaves with a total of 500 settlers, 2000 israeli soldiers to protect them, and probably 10 times that many israeli flags flying absolutely everywhere.
(not that the other side doesn’t have irrational biases either, but)… there are all kinds of “historical” placards in h2 (in english), describing the variety of ways that the arabs have insulted judaism in the city throughout history. one talks about how they disrespected a jewish cemetery by allowing a farm to built beside it. literally across the street, there is an overgrown arab cemetery with an israeli army bunker built in the middle of it, and huge spools of extra barbed wire stacked on top of the graves. not that graves are what’s really important in this situation, but its symbolic of the hypocrisy. seriously, the aura of the place was so depraved that i started feeling nauseous. the arabs can’t come near the settlers, and the settlers can’t leave h2 by decree of the israeli government. probably in everyone’s best interest. so i walked around there for a while, and then headed through the checkpoints into the main arab part of the town. i was vividly reminded of my days in egypt, what with all the higabs, twisty streets of the old city, getting a guy who sold me a 25 cent coffee to reteach me the numbers in arabic, enjoying some pleasantly priced (less than $1) falafel and custard stuff with honey, and trying to avoid being conned by all these people eager to show you their house that was recently destroyed by israeli water cannons. but you can only see it if you “donate” a chunk of cash – they probably make so much money like this. so palestinians can be hypocritical too, can’t we all. but the abuse is real – it got so bad that the israeli government and the palestinian authority jointly decided that there needed to be a special force of international observers, called the “temporary international presence in the city of hebron,” or tiph. these (mostly scandinavian) guys and gals can be seen wandering around in their special uniforms, taking complaints from palestinian shop owners about abuses and sampling dried fruit in the old city.
after a number of hours i went back to h2 to catch my bus. i got there early, and eventually was approached and started talking with one of the settlers, as he was finishing playing some kind of mesmerizing game on his iphone. just like me. he was a 27 year old guy from boston, named israel (original, eh?). another tourist bro walked past, engrossed in lonely planet’s “israel and the palestinian territories” guidebook. that was a catalyst for an intense conversation with israel. he noted the title of the book and started laughing. i asked him what he thought of that, and he said that the rest of the world doesn’t understand that god gave the land – all of the land – to the jews. when i asked what about the arabs, he said that that he actually doesn’t mind if they stay. “we shouldn’t give them civil rights in society, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have human rights here.” hmmm. he invited me into his house for coffee, and his mother was setting up for the big evening rosh hashanah meal (its jewish new years eve), so we helped her set the table. super nice family (to me).
this niceness contributes to but one of the many reasons these tensions have become so intractable – american tourists (unfortunately [in my opinion] many of them fundamentalist christian dispensationalists who are [again, in my opinion] far too obsessed with eschatology) come in on custom settlement tours led by american, english-speaking guys like israel (he’s a tour guide – there’s really not much else of an economy when you’re living in an isolated ideological settlement and can’t even interact with the locals). their luxury coaches are waved through the checkpoints, and they only drive on the israeli roads that the typical palestinian isn’t allowed to use. they become extremely well versed in one side of the story, but they never even set foot outside the separation barriers to hear the other side. and many don’t even know that there are actually christian palestinians on the other side of the barbed wire (not that someone’s religion should influence your ability to empathize with them). and then they go home to their churches, and as “experts” on the “holy land” due to their “two week tour” implore people to “stand with israel at all costs” because she is in a “cosmic battle” of “eternal significance” with “hostile enemies.” and they wonder what on earth would compel palestinian youth to periodically throw rocks. ahhhh no, i’m starting to rant. sorry. but if you consider yourself a proponent of this perspective, i would challenge you to go to hebron and, after visiting both sides of the barrier, ask yourself which side seems the most hostile right now.
to be fair, and to wrap up: hebron is an extreme case. not all settlers are driven purely by ideology. heck, some of the people living in the settlements of east jerusalem aren’t even necessarily pro-settlement: they’re just living there because the government subsidizes the housing. and a significant proportion of israelis are anti-settlement, many even fiercely so. so don’t get me wrong – i am not anti-israel. but this occupation is unequivocally terrible and must end.
fish pedi. physician’s oath.
it has been a week full of excitement! last weekend was our physician’s oath ceremony, during which my class recited a paraphrased version of the hippocratic oath, meant to get us thinking seriously about the journey we are embarking on. indeed, it was a poignant time! we all dressed executively in white and groomed ourselves well beforehand. for my friends cherec, julia, diana and me this involved getting a fish pedicure in beer sheva’s old city! special fish eat the dead skin off your feet! i cannot recommend this experience highly enough! so exhilarating!
back to the oath – ben-gurion university was actually the first medical school in the world (decades ago) to start doing the physician’s oath at the beginning of medical school. it had traditionally happened at graduation, but it was felt that doing it at the beginning would be totally way better. during the 90’s the trend spread, and today every medical student in america says a physician’s oath at the beginning of medical school. after the ceremony there was a delectable catered dinner, skits/movies created by each class, and music and dancing compliments of some musically talented physicians-to-be and the co-director of the program on guitar!
last weekend was also the 100th anniversary of the keilah/church that i go to here. there were over one hundred visitors there from all over the world in honor of the occasion. particularly encouraging to me was that they had a palestinian pastor from bethlehem come and lead some worship songs. i really believe that one of the main goals of the church here (and everywhere, but especially here) should be to encourage peace and reconciliation among populations that often don’t get along so well, as this is one way that we can tangibly show that the love of Christ transcends divisions of ethnicity, culture, politics, and indeed even theology. unfortunately it doesn’t really happen enough in this region, so that was a really encouraging time.
now, we’re on a four day weekend for rosh hashanah, the jewish new year! the first night some of my classmates made an amazing meal and we watched a movie outside in the couches that populate their yard. some of us were thinking about going to petra in jordan for the weekend, but that ended up not happening. so yesterday morning i got up at 5 am for a little day trip to hebron….
study, study, dead sea!, study, study
lots of studying; studying.
there was one epic day in there where we didn’t have class. i rented a car (it was soooo cathartic to drive that thing, i miss driving so much), enlisted some good friends, and we embarked at 4:30 am to watch the sunrise from the top of masada. it is a huge mountain with a plateau on top that has become a symbol of jewish pride and spirit of independence. it was where, not long after the time of Christ, the zealots made their last stand and ultimately opted to take their own lives before submitting to the romans, who had been spending years building a ramp out of rock to the top of the mountain. some remarkable history. also, before that, king herod built a summer palace there that is perched on the edge of a precipice with tremendous views of the dead sea. after exploring and taking a number of photos involving planking and, a preferred alternative, owling, we descended the mountain and drove further north along the edge of the dead sea, the lowest point on earth! we soon found ourselves in the west bank (retrospectively in violation of the rental car agreement, but whatever), and found a place to go swimming/floating! half the mass of dead sea water is salt! most everyone there was arab, so i got to practice the five arabic words i remember. also, there is therapeutic mud that one can rub all over oneself! in fact, all those annoying israeli salespeople at the kiosks in the malls in north america are selling beauty products derived from the contents of the dead sea. apparently all the bromine in the air is supposed to relax you by deadening nervous synapses; indeed it was relaxing!
after that, we decided to head to jerusalem! we stepped into the church of the holy sepulchre and went into the tomb where Christ is traditionally believed to have been buried. the complexities of belief and the politics of religion and their ramifications just relating to that church alone are mindblowing. you can read about it. we also went to the western wall and had dinner at the armenian tavern in the armenian quarter of the old city, called such despite the fact that there aren’t really armenians to speak of left in jerusalem any more. on the drive home, at about midnight, we decided “why don’t we go swimming in the mediterranean sea today too!” so we made a detour to ashkelon and did just that! when we got home it had pretty much been 24 hours since we left. a great day with wonderful people!
since then more studying. one of our classmates was hit by a car and broke her leg :(. various birthday parties. oh and last night there was an event called wine sheva, where wineries from all over israel came to offer samples and there was jazz music and cheese and fruit on skewers. it was really nice. never would have imagined such a glamorous event happening in this town! beer sheva is generally pretty worn down, and all about the dust and stray cats. but i still like it.
i better get back to studying now.
ani lomed evrit!
ani lomed evrit = “i learn hebrew!”
i’ve been here in beer sheva for a month already! i like it here. beer sheva is an ethnically diverse university town of about 200,000 in the middle of the desert. i’m so stoked to finally be starting medical school, and in the middle east no less! my 35 classmates at the medical school for international health are wonderful. they all have such passion and varied life experience: a good percentage of them already have advanced degrees. i am really honored to be a part of this remarkable group of future physicians. and importantly, we all get along really well! for the last month we’ve been immersed in an intensive, four-hours-a-day hebrew course called an ulpan. though i’m a lot closer to the bottom of the class than the middle when it comes to language learning skills, i feel like i’ve learned a lot and am finding that hebrew can be fun. my classmate natalie has been kind enough to tutor me, which has helped a lot. thanks natalie!
for the rest of the day we’ve been taking an emergency medicine class, where we learn the pre-hospital course of treatment for emergency situations such as trauma, choking, cardiac arrest, israeli snake bites and the like. we also practiced the art of i.v. line insertion on each other! there was a lot of blood. we just had the final exam for the course which involved a lot of practical scenarios – fun fun! tomorrow begins the “real” medical school courses – the first semester lineup includes biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, microbiology, biostatistics, immunology, histology, genetics, “global health and medicine” and more hebrew. i’ll be studying a lot.
during this orientation month we’ve had a lot of fun. various shabbat dinners/potlucks and great times on the weekends. one day the whole class went to jerusalem! we filed through such epic sites as the garden of gethsemane, the tomb of david, the western wall, the via dolorosa, and the church of the holy sepulchre. though i spent two weeks in jerusalem a few years ago, i can never get enough! really lucky to be living near such a historically (and otherwise) significant locale.
the class also took an evening trip further south from here into the desert to sde boker, where david ben-gurion (the namesake of our university and first prime minister of israel) had his kibbutz and is buried. we hiked in the full moonlight through a wadi (a dried up waterway carved into the rocks), ending with a campfire! also took the train to tel aviv with some friends from my class… a couple times already! amazing beach; frolicking in the waves; a mall with an h&m: could life get any better?! maybe if it were cheaper. but what are ya gonna do.
there have been huge protests in israel over the last month, precipitated by an increasing cost of living. there is a live-in tent city in the median of rothschild blvd (one of tel aviv’s most affluent streets) that goes for miles. beer sheva also saw the largest protest in its history, right outside soroka hospital where we have our classes.
i’m doing my best to keep my mouth shut when it comes to politics here. sometimes its really tough. but its probably a good thing. after all, i’m here to become a physician, not a political talk show host.
currently fighting the urge to turn this post into a politically charged rant. there’s always a lot of juicy cause for that in this part of the world.
i’ve procured some nice things recently! like a bike, which makes life so much easier! and an iphone! some super cool classmates and i got a family plan together! now i wonder how i ever survived without a smartphone before! and a quality hair cut! this metrosexual guy who washed my hair both before and after! we also found the cheapest source of food in town: the buffet-style hospital cafeteria! so glad that place exists! and a buzzing shuk (outdoor market) with best-priced fresh produce. and i found and moved into the apartment i’ll be living in for the year! my classmate flatmate’s name is seungjin. sometimes he cooks amazing korean cuisine! we live in a choice location on the 16th floor. with a great view of the hospital. anyone and everyone is welcome to come visit!
there is a nice little church here! except its not called that: its a keila, or congregation, or literally a herd of sheep. there are some really nice people. everything is translated into russian, english and spanish, audible through little headsets that most of the people there need to wear. it looks like i’ll be helping with setting up the audio equipment. afterward we’ve made a habit of patronizing the gleeda (ice cream) place! its about the only place open on shabbat.
there have been some missiles from gaza landing in be’er sheva over the last few weeks. it started with an attack on a tourist bus in southern israel near eilat. in fact, the casualties of that attack were evacuated by helicopter to our very own hospital, and we watched them being rushed into the emergency room from our classroom. the retaliations and counter retaliations spiraled into what became the most intense back and forth between israel and gaza in the last few years. when rockets are coming into town a loud warning siren goes off, giving us 60 seconds to find a bomb shelter, descend to a lower floor, or at minimum hide on the eastern side of just about anything. one day there were almost 100 missiles. israel has very recently unveiled an innovative laser guided interception system called the iron dome that is supposed to shoot em down before they get here, but despite that at least one person was killed in beer sheva and a lot of the rockets still land close enough to hear. our hebrew class moved to a bomb shelter, and my room is actually a shelter too, so sometimes the sirens give me an excuse to stay in bed a little longer. i’ve actually never once felt scared in any way here. though i hate violence with every fiber of my being, i get something of a rush out of finding myself in the midst of it. it helps remind you that life is meaningful. and though it often brings out the worst in people, it can also bring out their best.
i’ve found time for some nice long runs in the surrounding desert. my favorite is running to a war monument on the top of a hill on the outskirts of town, where there is an amazing view. there are a lot of war monuments in this town. hopefully i’ll find time to run in the midst of biochemistry and all that jazz. let me rephrase that. the more i run, the better i’ll do in biochemistry. you gotta do what you gotta do.
today i had lunch in an astro-turf yard with a third year from my school who made amazing coffee and serenaded us with his oud and psalms in arabic. it was nice!
i think that pretty much catches you up! not such a bad first month of medical school, eh!?
