Sometimes my co-workers and I play a kind of game. I won't listen to dispatch tell us about the call, and then when I get there I have to guess what the symptoms and reasons they called for were. This means I don't always know exactly where we're going either. So for all I know, we could be going next door, to the next town, or to my house...
When we leave the station: 'this is the main road to where I live'
When we get to the Kenyon: 'this is the part of town that I live in'
When we get to Kikar HaEvan: 'this is my neighborhood...'
When we get to Kikar Soreq: 'this is my street...'
When we turn onto Rehov Soreq (the small street I live on): 'Okay, who set who on fire?'
Luckily, we haven't been called to my flat yet. Yet.
Shnat Netzer
Sunday, January 29, 2012
30 01 12
Last night was one of those 'I can't stop smiling' nights. There was just so much that kept making me happy, and I had a great night. Our group tends to have a problem with being on our computers (walk into our living room at any given point and you'll see people lined up on the couch, all using their- most likely Mac- laptops) but last night we were all sitting around the table playing games and talking and laughing. When we went to bed, my two roommates and I stayed up talking and eating chocolate for a while. At one point, I walked into another room to throw a pillow at Alyson, kiss her on the forehead, and leave. No explanation was needed; we're that kind of people.
To be perfectly honest, sometimes I can't stand these people. But sometimes I love them all despite everything, and I want to spend as much time as possible with them. I know I'll be sad when we move in a week, because we have an amazing group here. There's something about living with people, going to classes with them, learning Hebrew with them, shopping with them, cooking dinner with them, traveling Israel with them, having debates about issues and politics and cultures and problems with them, and just spending all our time together that forms this incredible bond. If we can get through this last week without losing it and offing someone, we'll have had an amazing two and half months together in Karmiel. Despite the boys having made the entire apartment smell like pickles.
To be perfectly honest, sometimes I can't stand these people. But sometimes I love them all despite everything, and I want to spend as much time as possible with them. I know I'll be sad when we move in a week, because we have an amazing group here. There's something about living with people, going to classes with them, learning Hebrew with them, shopping with them, cooking dinner with them, traveling Israel with them, having debates about issues and politics and cultures and problems with them, and just spending all our time together that forms this incredible bond. If we can get through this last week without losing it and offing someone, we'll have had an amazing two and half months together in Karmiel. Despite the boys having made the entire apartment smell like pickles.
Friday, January 27, 2012
How about I come home and sit down and just type for a really long time and hope it's interesting enough for people to read?
Yes, I think that's a good idea.
First order of business: the pictures I posted yesterday only show up to me about every other time I open the page, is it just my internet or are other people having the same problem? Please let me know in the comment area so if they don't work, I can fix them.
Moving on: right now, I am sitting n the couch, still in my MDA uniform. I worked last night/this morning, and just got home a few minutes ago. The house- at least from the view I get from here on the couch- is a mess, so I'm debating whether it's worth it to clean or wait to see it the people who actually made the mess clean. However, I've been home from work for at least ten minutes, and I haven't seen anybody. Either they're still asleep after a crazy night last night (when I left they were talking about bringing out Monopoly), or they're all out. I know some left for the weekend, but others should still be here. My guess is that if I make myself food, the smell will bring them into the kitchen area if they're home. Except, and this is the great thing about my life, I don't need to make myself food because we got pastries and coffee at the station this morning. I woke up, walked out into the common room area, and was given coffee and food. How great is that? Yes, I'm sore because the beds are not exceptionally comfortable, but overall I got a lot of sleep before and after the one call we got.
While I sit here and wonder if I want another cup of coffee or not, I'm also thinking about a program we had yesterday. A Reform Rabbi from Chicago who made Aliyah quite a while ago came and gave us a seminar on minorities in the Galilee, specifically in Karmiel. We talked for a while about the history of who lived where and when, and then discussed the rights of minorities in a "Jewish state." We then talked to an Arab woman who grew up in a village, moved to a big city, and then moved to Karmiel. Karmiel is known to be a nice little Jewish town, but there is a plethora of Arab villages all around. We talked for a very long time about the complexity of the relationship between Jews and Arabs within Karmiel and the outlying areas, which is much different than the relationship between Jews and Arabs who live in different countries. Then we went to where a few Beduin families live in Karmiel and heard about their struggle and what's been happening there recently. It was interesting to hear their side, but we also heard about what the government and local municipality have been trying to do and it seems like they're both wrong and they're both right, and at this point, no one can be made happy. When we went back and talked more among our group and Mark, the rabbi. The Arab woman we had talked with earlier told us that you can't have co-existence until there is just existence. That is, until the Jewish population of Karmiel and the the Arabs in the villages who live together actually recognize each other and work together and stop discriminating, there won't be peace. When I asked her if she thought that started at a legislative level, to more or less force change (like making laws that would require a certain amount of Arabs to be hired at a factory, something like America's equal opportunity laws) or at a cultural level, where the people themselves change the way society itself works, and thus make the governmental changes after, she said it had to be a grassroots campaign. Her opinion is that if people like herself and the rabbi we meet with get together and play nice and become friends and start a book club together, and advocate for others to do the same, then it will grow and grow until everyone is tolerant and comfortable with each other, and then equal rights for minorities will start showing up more prominently in the legislature.
As nice as that seems, we also had a discussion about this after she left. What about those Jews who want to live in a Jewish state with Jews and Hebrew and Jewish culture? What about the Arabs who don't want Jews and Hebrew and Jewish culture in their villages? If they are given the right to live with whomever they want, then it conflicts with other's peoples right to live wherever they want. A purely secular, coexistent land is a nice thing to say and hope for, but in reality, it really isn't what a lot of people want. And the right to live where you want versus the right to live with who you want will always clash. So what do we do about it? Although our group came up with many humorous and creative answers, no one could think of a realistic and logical way to solve this problem. And I don't know about the others, but it's been in my head ever since.
On an extremely lighter note (you might argue that I'm trying to cleanse my confusion with an easier topic to think about now), we only have a few more days left in Karmiel. I know some people say that there's nothing to do here and they're bored sometimes, but when you really look at what they're saying, you realize that these are the few that sleep all day and work very few hours, if any at all, and just eat and play games all day everyday. I, on the other hand, work a lot (because I love my job more than anything), picked up an extra activity when I chose to help coach soccer, and I've made friends outside out our little Netzer group. I really like staying here, and although I am really excited for Etgar and Jerusalem, I know I'll miss it here. My hours can be horrid sometimes, but that's because I picked them that way. I left for work at 10:30pm and got home at 9:30am the next day, and I didn't even have to work today. So it's really my fault, but I have no regrets. I've been running on the least amount of sleep I've ever gotten over these past few months and it's worth it. I've been eating really really badly lately, interspersed with some very good meals. For example, last night I made pasta (I'm getting good at making pasta, but really nothing else) for everyone- and then did all the dishes, thankyouverymuch- which is mostly healthy, and then this morning I had two pastries and a cup of nescafe and a cup of turkish coffee. I've found out that I really like turkish coffee, oddly. You should be proud of me, because I chose the pastries without the chocolate. If that isn't maturity, I don't know what is.
As for the state our our flat, you'll be impressed with some aspects but disgusted with others. We have mold in a few of the rooms and and ant problem in the kitchen. We started out with a lot of cups that all had handles, and now I think we might still have one with a handle somewhere. Two outlets in the kitchen don't work, and we have to light the stove with a handheld lighter. Our table has stains in all colors and shapes and sizes, and I don't even want to mention that state our our floor. The bathroom is surprisingly clean because one of our roommates read something online about the diseases you can get from dirty toilets so she now obsessively cleans it. My room, however, is pretty neat. Well, my area of the room; I can't really say the same for my roommates. I know now that isn't my fault that my room was never clean at home, it's Samantha's fault.
More flat news: We had four Apple laptops, but only three chargers after mine was taken by the French in an intense Beit Yehuda rivalry. Last night we dropped down to two, when Ariel managed to melt a piece of Jake's that was on the stovetop. The weird part of this is that it is more acceptable to leave your charger on the stovetop for extended periods of time than it is to turn the stovetop on without checking to see if there's a charger there.
We all expect the two fish we have living here to die, and for it to happen before we leave (on the 7th). But nobody likes talking about it, and nobody knows what to do if they don't die. We can't kill them, because Netzer Olami has got to have a pillar somewhere about being nice to animals, and we can't take them with us. The rest of us are leaving it up to the two people who bought them to figure it out.
Yes, we still have Hanukkah decorations up. No, we don't plan on taking them don't until the day we move out.
Someone ate pasta last night after 10:30pm (when I left for work) and before 9:30am (when I came home). When I left, everyone had already eaten dinner or expressed their desire not to eat a large meal because of the large lunch they had consumed earlier in the day. I'm not really sure what happened, but whoever it was did not clean up, leaving themselves open to harassment from the group over our new rule of not eating unnecessarily due to our increasing lack of food. If they had just washed their dishes they would have never been found out...
That is the State of Karmiel. Anything else that has happened is either irrelevant, inappropriate, or sworn to complete secrecy.
P.S. If you want me to talk more about any one subject in particular, like the classes I'm taking or the religious aspect or my job or living with these eight other crazy people or how my toes are doing, or you have a specific question, please just ask! You can question, critic, and comment as much as you want here.
First order of business: the pictures I posted yesterday only show up to me about every other time I open the page, is it just my internet or are other people having the same problem? Please let me know in the comment area so if they don't work, I can fix them.
Moving on: right now, I am sitting n the couch, still in my MDA uniform. I worked last night/this morning, and just got home a few minutes ago. The house- at least from the view I get from here on the couch- is a mess, so I'm debating whether it's worth it to clean or wait to see it the people who actually made the mess clean. However, I've been home from work for at least ten minutes, and I haven't seen anybody. Either they're still asleep after a crazy night last night (when I left they were talking about bringing out Monopoly), or they're all out. I know some left for the weekend, but others should still be here. My guess is that if I make myself food, the smell will bring them into the kitchen area if they're home. Except, and this is the great thing about my life, I don't need to make myself food because we got pastries and coffee at the station this morning. I woke up, walked out into the common room area, and was given coffee and food. How great is that? Yes, I'm sore because the beds are not exceptionally comfortable, but overall I got a lot of sleep before and after the one call we got.
While I sit here and wonder if I want another cup of coffee or not, I'm also thinking about a program we had yesterday. A Reform Rabbi from Chicago who made Aliyah quite a while ago came and gave us a seminar on minorities in the Galilee, specifically in Karmiel. We talked for a while about the history of who lived where and when, and then discussed the rights of minorities in a "Jewish state." We then talked to an Arab woman who grew up in a village, moved to a big city, and then moved to Karmiel. Karmiel is known to be a nice little Jewish town, but there is a plethora of Arab villages all around. We talked for a very long time about the complexity of the relationship between Jews and Arabs within Karmiel and the outlying areas, which is much different than the relationship between Jews and Arabs who live in different countries. Then we went to where a few Beduin families live in Karmiel and heard about their struggle and what's been happening there recently. It was interesting to hear their side, but we also heard about what the government and local municipality have been trying to do and it seems like they're both wrong and they're both right, and at this point, no one can be made happy. When we went back and talked more among our group and Mark, the rabbi. The Arab woman we had talked with earlier told us that you can't have co-existence until there is just existence. That is, until the Jewish population of Karmiel and the the Arabs in the villages who live together actually recognize each other and work together and stop discriminating, there won't be peace. When I asked her if she thought that started at a legislative level, to more or less force change (like making laws that would require a certain amount of Arabs to be hired at a factory, something like America's equal opportunity laws) or at a cultural level, where the people themselves change the way society itself works, and thus make the governmental changes after, she said it had to be a grassroots campaign. Her opinion is that if people like herself and the rabbi we meet with get together and play nice and become friends and start a book club together, and advocate for others to do the same, then it will grow and grow until everyone is tolerant and comfortable with each other, and then equal rights for minorities will start showing up more prominently in the legislature.
As nice as that seems, we also had a discussion about this after she left. What about those Jews who want to live in a Jewish state with Jews and Hebrew and Jewish culture? What about the Arabs who don't want Jews and Hebrew and Jewish culture in their villages? If they are given the right to live with whomever they want, then it conflicts with other's peoples right to live wherever they want. A purely secular, coexistent land is a nice thing to say and hope for, but in reality, it really isn't what a lot of people want. And the right to live where you want versus the right to live with who you want will always clash. So what do we do about it? Although our group came up with many humorous and creative answers, no one could think of a realistic and logical way to solve this problem. And I don't know about the others, but it's been in my head ever since.
On an extremely lighter note (you might argue that I'm trying to cleanse my confusion with an easier topic to think about now), we only have a few more days left in Karmiel. I know some people say that there's nothing to do here and they're bored sometimes, but when you really look at what they're saying, you realize that these are the few that sleep all day and work very few hours, if any at all, and just eat and play games all day everyday. I, on the other hand, work a lot (because I love my job more than anything), picked up an extra activity when I chose to help coach soccer, and I've made friends outside out our little Netzer group. I really like staying here, and although I am really excited for Etgar and Jerusalem, I know I'll miss it here. My hours can be horrid sometimes, but that's because I picked them that way. I left for work at 10:30pm and got home at 9:30am the next day, and I didn't even have to work today. So it's really my fault, but I have no regrets. I've been running on the least amount of sleep I've ever gotten over these past few months and it's worth it. I've been eating really really badly lately, interspersed with some very good meals. For example, last night I made pasta (I'm getting good at making pasta, but really nothing else) for everyone- and then did all the dishes, thankyouverymuch- which is mostly healthy, and then this morning I had two pastries and a cup of nescafe and a cup of turkish coffee. I've found out that I really like turkish coffee, oddly. You should be proud of me, because I chose the pastries without the chocolate. If that isn't maturity, I don't know what is.
As for the state our our flat, you'll be impressed with some aspects but disgusted with others. We have mold in a few of the rooms and and ant problem in the kitchen. We started out with a lot of cups that all had handles, and now I think we might still have one with a handle somewhere. Two outlets in the kitchen don't work, and we have to light the stove with a handheld lighter. Our table has stains in all colors and shapes and sizes, and I don't even want to mention that state our our floor. The bathroom is surprisingly clean because one of our roommates read something online about the diseases you can get from dirty toilets so she now obsessively cleans it. My room, however, is pretty neat. Well, my area of the room; I can't really say the same for my roommates. I know now that isn't my fault that my room was never clean at home, it's Samantha's fault.
More flat news: We had four Apple laptops, but only three chargers after mine was taken by the French in an intense Beit Yehuda rivalry. Last night we dropped down to two, when Ariel managed to melt a piece of Jake's that was on the stovetop. The weird part of this is that it is more acceptable to leave your charger on the stovetop for extended periods of time than it is to turn the stovetop on without checking to see if there's a charger there.
We all expect the two fish we have living here to die, and for it to happen before we leave (on the 7th). But nobody likes talking about it, and nobody knows what to do if they don't die. We can't kill them, because Netzer Olami has got to have a pillar somewhere about being nice to animals, and we can't take them with us. The rest of us are leaving it up to the two people who bought them to figure it out.
Yes, we still have Hanukkah decorations up. No, we don't plan on taking them don't until the day we move out.
Someone ate pasta last night after 10:30pm (when I left for work) and before 9:30am (when I came home). When I left, everyone had already eaten dinner or expressed their desire not to eat a large meal because of the large lunch they had consumed earlier in the day. I'm not really sure what happened, but whoever it was did not clean up, leaving themselves open to harassment from the group over our new rule of not eating unnecessarily due to our increasing lack of food. If they had just washed their dishes they would have never been found out...
That is the State of Karmiel. Anything else that has happened is either irrelevant, inappropriate, or sworn to complete secrecy.
P.S. If you want me to talk more about any one subject in particular, like the classes I'm taking or the religious aspect or my job or living with these eight other crazy people or how my toes are doing, or you have a specific question, please just ask! You can question, critic, and comment as much as you want here.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Sometimes:
you spend way more money than you should,
you do something you shouldn't,
you don't do something you should,
you get yourself into a pickle,
you realize how great and amazing your friends are,
you recognize how much you want to punch your friends,
you get really hungry,
you get no sleep,
you can save a life, or three or four,
you get halfway through the day before you realize you've had four cups of coffee, a cup of tea, and an energy drink,
your roommate snores,
you have to run to make it on time,
you get the most amazing chocolate in all of Karmiel,
you have to cook for yourself,
you love life,
you learn a lot,
you fall asleep in class,
you don't understand,
you just need someone else to cook for you,
you get a friend to buy you ice cream,
you score the winning penalty kick,
you get too scared to watch Saw 6 so you make up excuses to get out of it,
your shoes smell,
your friend steals your pillow pet,
you really want a nap.
you want to stay up all night and have pillow fights and bi-lingual conversations,
you laugh so much it hurts,
your gloves, which are so small that they're advertised as 'for kids', are still too big and the fingers get caught in the zippers of the ambulance equipment,
you remember something really important,
you do something you know you'll never forget,
you do something stupid that you'd really like to forget but no one will let you,
you realize that no one has made you food yet and you're still hungry, so you stop typing and go get yourself dinner.
you do something you shouldn't,
you don't do something you should,
you get yourself into a pickle,
you realize how great and amazing your friends are,
you recognize how much you want to punch your friends,
you get really hungry,
you get no sleep,
you can save a life, or three or four,
you get halfway through the day before you realize you've had four cups of coffee, a cup of tea, and an energy drink,
your roommate snores,
you have to run to make it on time,
you get the most amazing chocolate in all of Karmiel,
you have to cook for yourself,
you love life,
you learn a lot,
you fall asleep in class,
you don't understand,
you just need someone else to cook for you,
you get a friend to buy you ice cream,
you score the winning penalty kick,
you get too scared to watch Saw 6 so you make up excuses to get out of it,
your shoes smell,
your friend steals your pillow pet,
you really want a nap.
you want to stay up all night and have pillow fights and bi-lingual conversations,
you laugh so much it hurts,
your gloves, which are so small that they're advertised as 'for kids', are still too big and the fingers get caught in the zippers of the ambulance equipment,
you remember something really important,
you do something you know you'll never forget,
you do something stupid that you'd really like to forget but no one will let you,
you realize that no one has made you food yet and you're still hungry, so you stop typing and go get yourself dinner.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
19 01 12
I woke up, hit the snooze the button, and woke up ten minutes later at 5:10. I got ready to go to work, finished packing for the weekend, made myself a cup of coffee, and left for work. I walked the forty minutes to work, stopping to buy an energy drink on the way. I got to the station and we were there for less than an hour, just talking and hanging out, before the phone rang. We all looked up to see who the call was for, and were surprised when he just said, 'everyone.' So everyone piled into the ambulances and we left. I was in the Atan (ALS) and I swear I had never seen any driver go as fast as we did today. We heard over the radio, 'car accident' and 'at least 7 injured.' From a distance, we could see smoke hanging over a section of the road. Closer, we could see the thick pillar of smoke coming from one distinct spot. When we turned the corner we saw chaos. The first specific thing I noticed was car - the twisted remains of a car - completely in flames. A fire crew was already hard at work trying to put out the fire. Three or more other cars, all totaled, scattered across the road. Other ambulances arriving, firefighters, policemen, and medics running. Smoke everywhere.
We got out of our ambulance and ran past the burning car to another one. There was a man trapped in the driver's seat, barely able to moan with pain. We brought a backboard and neck brace, but couldn't get him out because of the way the metal was trapping him in. There was also the threat that the front hood of the car would catch fire and explode, so the firefighters needed to take care of that before bringing in the Jaws of Life. With enough people there, I noticed two other people laying in a ditch, and called another medic with me to treat them. One was able to be helped walking to the ambulance, but the other was not. We didn't have a neck brace, so the medic left to get one from an ambulance while I held his neck in C spine. We got the neck brace on, but there were no backboards available, so he had to leave again to get one, and to get enough people to help with it. We got him on the backboard, and the backboard onto a bed, and then had to wheel him past the burning car to our ambulance, and then start treating what we could on the way to the hospital, which the driver did even faster than getting to the accident.
Being there was so different than any other call. There were tons of bystanders and witnesses just standing around, and even some people who trying to get close to take pictures. We actually had to tell someone to stop filming us, because he was blocking our way to the ambulance. We were always running, and could barely see at times because of the smoke from the car. People everywhere and cars in the road and sirens and lights flashing and equipment being run from one place to another, trying to find the people who need it most. There are two large dirt stains on my pants and mud on my jacket from kneeling in the mud against a bush to help someone. There's a puncture spot on the bottom of my shoe - and a corresponding bruise on my foot - from where I stepped on a piece of burning rubber when carrying someone to the ambulance. There's smoke in my hair, mud on my hand because at some point a glove ripped, and what I really hope isn't blood on my shoes.
I know that in two or three years, I'll remember the tiyulim with my friends, and those emotional Shnat moments, but I'll also remember running past a burning car carrying a backboard and neck brace, covering my face from the smoke, hearing the Jaws and people yelling and moans and orders shouted and sirens blaring, smelling the fire and feeling it's heat, seeing the firefighters and medics and cops and bystanders all running around also.
My friends volunteer in elementary schools and agriculture farms, nurseries and second hand clothing shops. But I volunteer in Magen David Adom, and I saved lives today.
We got out of our ambulance and ran past the burning car to another one. There was a man trapped in the driver's seat, barely able to moan with pain. We brought a backboard and neck brace, but couldn't get him out because of the way the metal was trapping him in. There was also the threat that the front hood of the car would catch fire and explode, so the firefighters needed to take care of that before bringing in the Jaws of Life. With enough people there, I noticed two other people laying in a ditch, and called another medic with me to treat them. One was able to be helped walking to the ambulance, but the other was not. We didn't have a neck brace, so the medic left to get one from an ambulance while I held his neck in C spine. We got the neck brace on, but there were no backboards available, so he had to leave again to get one, and to get enough people to help with it. We got him on the backboard, and the backboard onto a bed, and then had to wheel him past the burning car to our ambulance, and then start treating what we could on the way to the hospital, which the driver did even faster than getting to the accident.
Being there was so different than any other call. There were tons of bystanders and witnesses just standing around, and even some people who trying to get close to take pictures. We actually had to tell someone to stop filming us, because he was blocking our way to the ambulance. We were always running, and could barely see at times because of the smoke from the car. People everywhere and cars in the road and sirens and lights flashing and equipment being run from one place to another, trying to find the people who need it most. There are two large dirt stains on my pants and mud on my jacket from kneeling in the mud against a bush to help someone. There's a puncture spot on the bottom of my shoe - and a corresponding bruise on my foot - from where I stepped on a piece of burning rubber when carrying someone to the ambulance. There's smoke in my hair, mud on my hand because at some point a glove ripped, and what I really hope isn't blood on my shoes.
I know that in two or three years, I'll remember the tiyulim with my friends, and those emotional Shnat moments, but I'll also remember running past a burning car carrying a backboard and neck brace, covering my face from the smoke, hearing the Jaws and people yelling and moans and orders shouted and sirens blaring, smelling the fire and feeling it's heat, seeing the firefighters and medics and cops and bystanders all running around also.
My friends volunteer in elementary schools and agriculture farms, nurseries and second hand clothing shops. But I volunteer in Magen David Adom, and I saved lives today.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Things I've Seen From the Back of an Ambulance
1. The Kineret
2. Angry drivers
3. Crying families
4. Confused families
5. Relieved families
6. The Mediterranean Sea
7. Traffic
8. Zfat bridge
9. The Big Center
10. Our Tachanah
11. Other ambulances
12. Arab villages
13. The blanket we dropped
14. Hospitals
15. Hof HaSheket
16. Factories
17. Medical Clinics
18. Injured people
19. Sick people
20. Car accidents
21. Empty roads
22. That really great falafel place
23. The Haifa skyline
24. The hills of the Galilee
25. Mt. Hermon
On a completely unrelated note: my driver hit a speed-bump going really fast today, and a cabinet in the back broke open and it's contents fell all over me. I'm fine, don't worry, but I'm making him buy me an ice cream to make up for it.
(Picture courtesy of Gabi, from the Tel Aviv station. Oh, and Facebook.)
2. Angry drivers
3. Crying families
4. Confused families
5. Relieved families
6. The Mediterranean Sea
7. Traffic
8. Zfat bridge
9. The Big Center
10. Our Tachanah
11. Other ambulances
12. Arab villages
13. The blanket we dropped
14. Hospitals
15. Hof HaSheket
16. Factories
17. Medical Clinics
18. Injured people
19. Sick people
20. Car accidents
21. Empty roads
22. That really great falafel place
23. The Haifa skyline
24. The hills of the Galilee
25. Mt. Hermon
On a completely unrelated note: my driver hit a speed-bump going really fast today, and a cabinet in the back broke open and it's contents fell all over me. I'm fine, don't worry, but I'm making him buy me an ice cream to make up for it.
(Picture courtesy of Gabi, from the Tel Aviv station. Oh, and Facebook.)
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Some Recent Pictures
MDA 109 Classmates: Liora, Gabi, and me
Karmielniks before the Barca game: Noa, Jeff, Ariel, and me
Tiyul to Mount Arbel: Noa, me, Ariel, Jeff
Everybody!
Noa, Naomi, and me at Jethro's tomb
MDA 109 instructor Danel, classmate Gabi, and me
Me in my MDA uniform on my first day of work!
Friday, January 6, 2012
It's 2:30 am...
...On Shabbat. There's seven of us just sitting around around the living room and kitchen. We're cooking food, drawing pictures, knitting, skyping. We've played board games, had food fights (which we have yet to clean up), and played pranks. But now we're just sitting and talking and enjoying each others company. We're all comfortable and happy and smiling, and in this moment, no one has a care in the world. Tomorrow we have to clean up this balagon before our friends come, but no one is thinking about that. We have dishes to clean and crumbs to sweep, but for now we are just relaxing together in complete happiness. This is Shnat.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
End on 2011 & Beginning of 2012
Since I've been back, I've basically been volunteering all my time with MDA. I work at least 40 hours a week, and I love it! Everything, from checking the ambulance to drinking coffee with the drivers, to hanging out with the other volunteers, to getting food delivered to the station, to watching loads of MTV, to learning new Hebrew, to actually going on calls. I work on the ALS (Advanced Life Support) ambulance, called the Atan. We also have a BLS (Basic LS) called the Ragil or Lavan. The other type that Karmiel doesn't have is a Natan, which is an Atan with a doctor.
I usually hate mornings, but this is a reason to get me out of bed with a smile at 5 am, which a lot of people know is no easy feat.
Last weekend, I traveled down to Tel Aviv and spent a few days with my friends from the MDA Course. We went to the beach, went shopping, ate amazing food, and spent New Year's together, which was so much fun! I 'accidentally' left some things in my friend's room, so I guess I'll just have to go back soon!
Today we went on a tiyul to Tel Hai and to the Hulu Lake. Tel Hai is the site of a battle, and we took a tour of the area and learned a lot about the region's history. Hulu Lake is man-made, but so incredibly beautiful! We rented these 5 person bikes and rode around the area for nearly two hours and had a picnic there. Hopefully, the pictures will be up soon!
Now, however, we are celebrating a birthday by going out to eat a very nice chocolate restaurant, and then I work the night shift with MDA; my life is pretty much perfect!
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