The Fish That Eat My Feet (also, white coats)

Well, hello.  I've kind of been wanting to blog all week, but my cantankerous laptop is being. . .well, cantankerous.

So it's finally working decently again.

This week was full of excitement, as always.  It included some Bedouins selling camels in Hebrew class. . .

Some super-scary mannequins in the Old City at the cheap(ish) clothing store. . .

This one is seriously super duper scary, like nightmare-worthy.  You know what? I may have had a nightmare last night.    I think she was in it. . .

Today I found at little, lush paradise in the middle of the desert (also known as a nursery). . .

Also, chickens, turkeys . . .

. . . and peacocks.

I also saw a little boy riding a bike much too large for him.  It made me smile.

Some pretty exciting things happened yesterday, especially.

We were informed earlier in the week that because we had the White Coat Ceremony Thursday (yesterday) evening, our afternoon classes were rescheduled for next week to give us extra time to "relax and groom."  Surprise, surprise, things were rescheduled.  Rescheduling happens so often here, and many people find it frustrating.  I knew it was going to be like this, and I don't really mind it much, especially when they tell me that I get the afternoon free.  Woohoo!

Anyway, the day started with Microbiology, which was taught by an astute doctor who is very enthusiastic about pneumococcus (and may or may not have been likened to Count Dracula - though he is much sweeter and less scary; I think the Romanian accent contributes).  After nearly two hours of learning about the fantastically interesting pneumococcal bacteria, we had Histology Lab with a quiz, on which I got one question wrong (even though I knew the answer, I wasn't thinking right - gah, so frustrating).  Histo was over early, so my friend Mayuri and I decided to embark on the adventure of figuring out where the elusive traveler's clinic is located.  We both needed to get more immunizations.  Surprisingly, it worked out after awhile and we were able to get back in time to participate in the last part of our class meeting with Dr. Lynne Quittell, admissions chair at for MSIH and a pediatric pulmonologist at Columbia University Medical Center.  She also interviewed me for med school :D  She was visiting Israel to attend our White Coat Ceremony, which happened last night.

And THEN. . .

Four of us rushed outside to a taxi to make it to our appointment at the Fish Spa in the Old City (the older part of Be'er Sheva - the part I live in is less than 50 years old).  This is how we decided to use the first part of our free afternoon.

I get Groupon (or "hgrofon," as Google translate says) emails for Be'er Sheva.  They're actually quite humorous with the translation (because all the emails are originally in Hebrew, of course).  I could read and crack up at them for hours.  Here's a nice little sampling from today's email:

(for Aldo ice cream): This ice cream is one big fun! The coolness comes in a million flavors, colors, happy and her luscious form .... But then, until this moment that falls a decision and choose the flavors it's a nightmare! How to choose a point or two, you know what - top three of all the reasons presented.

Yeah, hilarious, right?

Guess what this one is for: Remember the movie "The Summer of the father", her little girl waiting for all members and classmates will celebrate the birthday party and nobody came ... and our heart shrinks in the face. Your heart today will at full force, while surrounded by women will be trained to give together with you to design and cut of the body,

Well, you probably figured out in the last sentence that it's for exercise classes, but up to that point I know you were utterly confused.

So, I was mentioning Groupon because a few classmates and I bought fish pedicures for $10 through a Groupon.  What is a fish pedicure, you may ask.  Well, a fish pedicure occurs at the fish spa.  What is a fish spa?  Observe.

Those fish are eagerly awaiting some feet to nibble on.  You see, a fish pedicure is performed completely by fish.  You put your feet in the little pond thingy, and the fish come and eat all the dead skin off.  Well, not all of it, but a lot of it.

So that's what our feet look like as our keratinized cells are being eaten by fishes. It tickles and feels generally weird.  I thought I'd be fine, but um . . .well, this was my reaction, and everyone else's:



And then it got kind of normal . . .



Well, nevermind, it was still very weird.  Every time I looked down, I saw this:

So after that excitement, I went home and watched Sleepless in Seattle with my housemates (minus Dilia, who is on a 6-week journey abroad) while eating pad thai and mango (pretty much my two favorite foods).  Then I biked to our White Coat Ceremony!

At MSIH (and the BGU med school), instead of taking the Oath to become doctors at the end of the 4-year training, we take it at the beginning.  This was decided a number of years ago, mostly to give students a sense of responsibility as they are held under oath during all of their interactions with patients during that time.  Our class also came up with a Code of Ethics that encompasses what we believe and choose to hold ourselves to.  After a few speakers, swearing the oath, and reading our code of ethics, we had a delicious dinner.  To my surprise, the lady from our host family showed up!  She and her husband just returned from going abroad.  She gave Laurel and I gifts of chocolate (lovely, lovely gifts), and we sat down to a nice dinner.

After dinner, it was time for the skits.  Hilarious!  I laughed so hard.  Hopefully, they'll all be posted on YouTube soon, so I can share them with you.

Then, we went outside for the after party, which had dancing and live music by MSIH students and faculty!

Then afterwards, we went out to Munchilla, a chill shanti bar right next to where the event was held.  They have the tiny couches like any authentic hookah lounge would, so we were practically sitting on the floor.

So, that's my week!  Life in Be'er Sheva is great.  I still hate not knowing the language.  I also still love the fruit guy next door.  He gave me free green onions yesterday, and today he gave me free white onions. It's so nice to be cooking and think, "Oh!  I need some red peppers!" and just walk literally 50 feet to get some freshly picked ones. Mmmhmmm, I like it here.

Shabbat Shalom!

Early Morning Power Washers and Wine Festivals

As a kid, I always found it exciting when I was awoken in the middle of the night to some drama or other.  Whether it was dogs attacking wild animals, or some form of life being born (pets, siblings, whatever. . .)

Nowadays, I don't think it's so enjoyable.  

Thursday morning around 4am, I'm lying in bed (sleeping), and I'm jolted awake by something. You know when you wake up, but you have no idea what woke you but it must have been loud and scary because it woke you? Yeah, it was pretty much like that.  I lay there, trying to figure out what possibly could have set my heart racing and ears pricked when I hear it: a loud, searing/ripping noise that persists for about 10 seconds.  I thought someone was trying to rob us.  But what the hey are they doing?  It was such an odd sound at 4am.  Less than a minute later, there it was again, and just as terrifying as before.

As this sound returned over and over again, I'm frozen in bed, trying to figure what the heck is going on.  I'm debating getting up and seeing, but not wanting to agitate the culprit by showing that I am awake.

Then it hits me.

THE SPRINKLERS!

Our landlady didn't think we had been watering our yard enough, so she had sprinklers installed by her mother and brother? nephew? cousin? (we still haven't figured it out)

Granted, these were more like power washers, but they hadn't functioned thusfar, so I figured this must be it.

I cautiously shuffled over to my window and opened it to look out.  Sure enough, there were the "sprinklers" that were doing anything but sprinkle our grass.  They were shooting high-powered streams of water at the fence (thereby watering the street), our outdoor couches (which would never get wet otherwise, because it doesn't rain), our sidewalk and patio (which were thoroughly soaked at this point), and of course, the house, namely my room.  Mind you, these streams were shooting over all of the grass and not really watering it at all.  I promptly closed the window, because the water was about to get me.

The glass that surrounds my room.  The water was shooting at least 3 feet up from the bottom.

What a disaster, I thought.  Water is so precious in the desert.  Expensive, too.  Our water costs double if we use over a certain amount (which isn't very much).  That was a grand waste. . .of water and our money.  So, at 4 am, I was unhappy.  Unhappy about being awoken, and unhappy about the money that we were just forced to waste.

Oh well.

The culprit: a Super-Charged Power Washer/Sprinkler Duo 5000, capable of shooting range up to 20 feet!

I figured we'd deal with it the next day, and I went back to bed.  Well, that was kind of pointless.  At every pass of the "sprinkler," I was jolted awake again.  I looked at the clock, hoping they'd last only 15 minutes.  A couple minutes later, the electricity went off, along with my fan.  Oh joy, I thought, it's going to get really hot soon, and I tried to fall asleep before my room started to get stuffy.

At minute 25 or so, I hear Dilia's and Polina's voices, so I joined them outside as we observed the wreckage.  By this time, our "sprinklers" had created a mini-river in the street.  So much so, in fact, that some guy was asking Dilia what was happening.

After 30 minutes, the sprinklers finally stopped, but only after soaking everything in sight.  I went back to bed, thankful for the hour more of sleep I was about to get.

Or so I thought.

The problem with the electricity must have been right in front of our house (we have a tower that warns us, "Danger of Death" if we climb it).  Israeli men don't really talk to each other.  They shout.  I've observed many perceived arguments that I eventually realized were simply civil conversations at high decibels. Evidently, they also shout at 5am.  So, these men shouting, trucks beeping and backing up, and mini-explosions (no idea. . .) kept me awake until 6am.  That happened to be when I was planning to get up, so of course, I didn't.

So there's my story about not being excited at the drama happening in the middle of the night.  BUT they did fix the electricity.  I was still awake when it came back on.  At least all of the shouting served a purpose.  I was actually pleasantly surprised by the efficiency.  Where I'm from, I'm pretty sure no one would come out in the middle of the night and fix the electricity within an hour of it going out.  Also, I'm not from a city, and also, I'm not from Israel.

I think here's a good place to show you my yard.  I will introduce the interior of my house later (whenever I clean my room enough so that it's worthy to have pictures taken of it).

So, let's start with the patio and move around the yard clockwise . . . 

 

Meet our patio, where we sit for outside dinners with friends and hang our clothes to dry.

The outdoor couch area. Also hanging from the roof, you will see a hammock. Yes, a hammock. So dreamy.

Grassy area that the sprinklers were intending to water. It is a bit brown, but hey, we live in the desert.

Our trees!  From left to right: clementine, mango, fig, and lemon (I think)

That's all!  That's our yard, surrounded by a nice, white picket fence.  It's true, I pretty much love it here.

In other news, we had our first lab-coat-and-closed-toed-shoes lab yesterday.  In Israel, med students get long white coats and real doctors get short ones.  It's opposite in the states, so we feel super cool.  So cool, in fact, that I had to get a picture taken :D

Our first day wearing our white coats!

Aww, I think those guys are so cool :D

Also, last night was the Negev Museum of Art Wine Festival in Be'er Sheva (or as some liked to call it, "Wine Sheva").  Wineries from all over Israel (and even Europe) were represented, and there was live music by multiple local artists mostly covering US songs.  Among the musical selection were songs by Adele and Norah Jones, who I really like, so I appreciated it :D  A lot of MSIH-ers came out, and the 2nd and 3rd years said the event had happened in previous years, but they didn't really know about it.  Most of the people there were older and well-dressed.  I mean, it kind of reminded me the Warther's Christmas parties in Dover.  It was a super nice event.  All of the seating was white, and some of it even was cushioned.  Yeah, I know, super nice, right?

Living the high life in Wine Sheva!

So, I think that's all for now, I'm going to go meet my friend to study at Gecko cafe, which is the best American-style coffee shop in this city.  Also, it's mostly the Anglo population (especially MSIH) that patronizes them.

Yom tov! (Good day!)

Split Ends and Schoolchildren

The days are getting cooler now. I find myself not sweating so much. I've been told that it gets really cold here, but I'm having a hard time believing it. I actually just googled "average Be'er Sheva low temp wintertime," and Wikipedia says 46°F. See? Not cold. I can deal with that. That's not even as cold as Texas got. It's a full 14 degrees above freezing.

The kids are back in school now, which is making biking to class a little more complicated for me. I prefer to bike on the sidewalk, because drivers are crazy around here. However, there are usually little children forming a 3-deep barrier across the sidewalk on their way to school. So then, I ride on the street, which is filled with insane and/or stop-and-go traffic at 8am (when I bike to class), mostly consisting of those schoolchildren's parents. The school is in between the hospital and my house. I think from now on I may opt for the dirt/dust street-under-construction that is closed to traffic. I suppose 2-ton dirt-moving machinery could be less of a threat than those moms and dads carrying precious cargo.

In our courses, we're getting deeper into subject matter now, and I'm starting to realize how crazy this whole ride is going to be. I think I'll make it as long as my brain doesn't explode on me. I study every day, and I still don't feel like I'm studying nearly enough. We have 8 classes: Biochemistry, Immunology (my favorite!), Histology (I also really like this one), Biostatistics, Microbiology, Molecular and Cell Biology, Global Health, and Hebrew.

Yesterday, for reasons unknown to us, we had no classes in the afternoon, which for me meant that I had only one class that day - Immunology (my favorite!). We also had Biostatistics, but I am exempted from that class. I spent the afternoon studying, of course. It was a nice treat. The only down side is that I don't have air conditioning in my house, and my room gets really hot in the afternoon (the western sun beats right through the glass). Someday, you will see the glass that I'm talking about when I post pictures of my abode.  Not now, but soon. . .

I also was inspired to cut my hair. This inspiration came mostly from the two inches of fuzzy, split ends I had that always appeared to be teased. The best scissors I could get my hands on were fabric shears, so I chopped away. I think it looks okay. I can run my fingers through it again (which is obviously most important). So nice.

We're in the process of filming our Class of 2015 skit for the White Coat Ceremony at the end of the month. It's an MSIH tradition for the 1st year class to perform a skit (recorded or live). Here are some previous skits:

Class of 2014

Class of 2013

I will be sure to post ours on here after the ceremony :D  It's going to be awesome.


Lehitra'ot!

Edible Doves and Mud Monsters!

This morning I left my house to see the usual hazy morning.  Every day this week has been ridiculously humid in the AM.  Of course, by midday, the sun burns away all the moisture.  This morning, though, I lugged my bike out my front gate to see what looked like . . . water drops on the ground.  Rain? No way!  I felt little drops hitting me and looked around . . .

Nope. No rain. It was SO humid that the dew on the tree in front of my house was dripping onto the ground.  The whole ride to school I was getting covered in suspended water droplets. It's kind of nice, but it makes me sweat even more when I get to the hospital.  The elevator is usually really toasty, so each morning I make a beeline for the bathroom to soak the sweat off my face with a paper towel.  Gross, right?  Life in the desert.  I love it. (No, really, I do!)

It's not going to rain until December.  Weather here is actually reliable.  I would even bet on it.  No way I would ever do that in Ohio.

A week ago (I'm sorry, I haven't gotten around to posting it - been studying, studying, studying), some classmates and I had a fantastic day!  Last Thursday, we had the day off for "moving day," so of course we started scheming our adventure for the day (all of us had already moved).  What started as a plan to float in the Dead Sea turned into mountain-climbing, mud-slathering, Jerusalem-bartering, midnight Medi-swimming amazingness!

First, we rented a brand new Toyota Corolla for two days.  At the suggestion of my beautiful housemate Dilia, we planned to leave in the super-early morning (4am) to get to Masada (the history of Masada can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada) and hike to the top to see the sun rise over the Dead Sea.  It's arguably the most beautiful sunrise in the world.

So, we did.

Despite some broken flip-flops (not mine), we still made it to the top before the sunrise.  I think that can mostly be blamed on the huge cloud covering the horizon.

So we took a photograph, celebrating our successful ascent . . .

And a short while later, the sun started to peek through . . .

The body of water is the Dead Sea :D

And then I held the sun. . .

Then we ventured out to explore the ancient settlement of Masada.  Diana and I climbed a wall (it's just as high on the other side).

And my friend Seungjin took a J.J. Abrams-esque shot of me in the arch :D

And we enjoyed the view together!

The drop on the other side of that wall is pretty awesomely steep.  Actually, it's probably only like 300 feet down.  It still freaks my mom out to look at this picture:

We went on to explore more sites on the plateau.  This is a cistern that held King Herod's water for him (his winter palace was located on Masada).  Yes, this is the King Herod that killed all the babies.  You will hear some comments about this later.  We actually met Herod while we were there, and he shared a little about his life.

We are the shadow people! (Or most of us, anyway.)

This is the bath house.  Those little pillar things used to hold up the floor, and they would run hot water underneath to heat the bath house.  Neat, right?

The man in the video at the tourist center said that the architect who designed the bath house was likely a very small man.  I had to crouch down to walk through the archways.  I agree with the man in the video.

These are ruins from King Herod's palace 2,000 years ago, complete with original artwork!  Also, complete with Herod himself.  I recorded our interview with him, as he shares about his life at Masada :)

The doves comment refers to another site on Masada, where they say that doves were raised for fertilization and food.  It was pretty hilarious.

This is Masada from the ground.

After Masada, we went to the tourist center to have some glida for breakfast (frozen yogurt), which was our only option because nothing else was open.  We hiked back down to the cars shortly after to have a smorgasbord brunch, including pitas, hommus, amazing salsa made by Esther, tortilla chips, ice-cold water (by this time it's about 10am and the sun is already blazing hot), fruit, and other various snackables.

I have to pause here and say that if our day had ended at this point and we went home, I would have been satisfied.  I had so much fun that morning with some fantastic people from MSIH. (/end mushiness)

But our day continued!  We loaded back into the cars and drove along the Dead Sea for quite a distance, most of which was within the West Bank.  We were trying to find a specific resort, but I suppose we passed it, because the Dead Sea ended and we hadn't found it yet.  Instead, we found this place:

Which is a Dead Sea mud beach!  Woohoo, mud!  On the far side of the sea in the picture is the country of Jordan.  We were at the edge of Israel.

And then. . .we played in the mud!

 

Look at those mud monsters!  Yes, that is a chunk of mud on my head :)

So, we relaxed on the beach for a bit, read some, slept some, sunbathed some, then we decided to go to Jerusalem to the market and for dinner.  We cleaned up, piled in the cars, and continued our trek through the West Bank.  During that trek, we saw a couple settlements, like this one:

Settlements are explained in this article, if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement

In Jerusalem, we split up to do various things, and some of us went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to see the place where tradition says Jesus was buried.  The line was too long during our first trip to Jerusalem, so we took advantage of the time we had.  Then, we went to the Armenian Tavern, which is a restaurant highly recommended by Lonely Planet.  It reminded me of a ritzy antique store:

And the waiter took our picture!  We sat on art!

A pretty magical day, right?  We finally decided the time had come to go back to Be'er Sheva.  But wait . . . on the way, our car decides to stop in Ashkelon to swim in the Mediterranean Sea in the dark.  Unfortunately, it was about midnight, and I couldn't get any pictures.  We went to a beach with no breakers, so the waves were so vicious.  It was so much fun!  I could barely see the waves that were about to knock the wind out of me :)

So finally, we drove home, back to Be'er Sheva, after traversing all over the great State of Israel, from the far East to the North to the far West.  Everyone had a blast, and that day was definitely the highlight of my time here thusfar!

Back to studying, now!  Lehitra'ot!