Adjusting to Ashdod

I know it has been while since my last post- sorry! I'm sure anyone reading this knows I have a teensy little problem with procrastination. I will try to be better!

The past week hasn't been the best. I'm still living with my family in Ashdod right now, though I think I'm moving out at some unknown time. Obviously, I love my family and appreciate having them around. At the same time, it is pretty stressful. My aunt and uncle have a certain way of doing things, and its been tough trying to figure that out and keep up. I usually mess something up daily. I don't want to overstay my welcome. and I feel as though living here every day for the enxt two and a half weeks would do that. I've been trying to move into the Absorption center, buts it has been impossible to get through allthe red tape and actually reach the people in charge. Hopefully that will happen soon!

I will be honest- I don't really love the people I am here with. In fact, the only way I am staying sane is by occasionally tagging along with my cousin. I usually have no trouble making new friends. Somehow, though, I ended up in Ashdod with 8 other people, none of whom I have any interest in spending time with. Maybe its just bad luck, or maybe my standards for people are too high. All I know is that, socially, this is not working out how I wanted! I have an amazing group of friends back at school, and I love going out with them and spending time with the people around me. I've been doing almost everything here alone, which is making me pretty homesick. Its especially sad knowing that Israel has this great night life that I'm not taking advantage of at all! I can't go out in the US for another 10 months, and here I am with an 18+ drinking age and I spend my free time online.

I am determined, though, to make the best of my situation. Moving into the absorption center will force me to spend less time on my computer, which is good. Even if I'm not loving the people, I feel like I need to give them more of a chance and not just avoid them by using the computer.

The one great thing about life in Ashdod is the beach. I've been going on my own, which isn't as fun as with friends, but I love the water and just sitting back on the sand. I had a night shift last night (more about shifts in the next post!), and I napped by the waves this morning. It was heavenly.

Part of me wishes I had chosen to stay in Haifa. I had a really tough time choosing between the two cities. Ultimately, I decided it would be wise to stay near my family in Ashdod. The absorption centers in both cities weren't great, but Ashdod's was closer to the beach. I figured my Russian would be useful in Ashdod, which it is (almost all the patients are elderly russians). Still, the girl I would have roomed with in Haifa is this great girl named Sarah, who also goes to Penn. It would have been so much fun having someone to hang out with and go out with. She at first was worried about the people in Haifa, but now she says she is really enjoying them. I can't help but think how great it would be to live and work with this great and fun group of people.

Anyone who knows me well knows I am TERRIBLE at making any kinds of decisions. Choosing from different options is truly my biggest weakness. I spent so much time yo-yo-ing between Haifa and Ashdod, and it is completely within my personality to sit here and think of how I made the wrong decision. I guess I need to suck it up, focus on the positive, and hope it all works out for the best!

Almost Trained!

Every day here brings completely new experiences and emotions, and I keep meaning to write about them in the evening. Unfortunately, 12 hours of class a day leave me way too exhausted to type anything at all. I might post a second time tonight if I have a second wind, but I thought I would just put up some pictures for now!

Friday night after dinner the madrichim (counselors) taught us some unofficial MDA games. This one was quite complicated but hilarious. At first I was too timid to wrestle and kept losing, but eventually I got the hang of it and stood my own!


These are a few girls from the class. We've been studying every chance we get!

One of my patients/victims.

Ready to Serve?

I took my midterm yesterday morning and thankfully did well. They didn't hand them back, but the instructor read out loud the names of everyone who got over a 97 and I was on the list. I felt like I was a little kid again. I can't remember the last time grades were made public like that! Still, it is nice to know I am on the right track.

Yesterday morning was also funny because of the prank war in which my class is involved. The class next door took our Annie's (the dummies we use, including a baby) and hung them from the ceiling with a suicide note. In response, a group of people from the class snuck in and hung ribbon all over the room so you couldn't even walk through it. It was pretty awesome- if I find a picture I will put it up.

We had a special lecture after dinner last night about mass casualties, and it was chilling. We were told how mass casualties are handled and how to decide who would be treated and who wouldn't. The paramedic who lectured us had handled over 30 mass casualties here in Israel, and I could see on his face how affected he was. He told us that we can always decide not to go to a mass casualty should we be called, because the things you see there will change your mind forever. We saw a movie with real footage from a weekend of 3 terror attacks, and I can only imagine how much more gruesome these scenes are in person.

Now that we have finished the mass casualty lecture, we are all officially on call if something happens. I have no idea what I would do if I were called- I'd like to think I would follow through and help on the scene. One part that haunts me the most is the decision step of triage: everyone gets labeled emergency or not an emergency. If someone isn't breathing, they are tagged not an emergency (the chances of survival are slim and responders should focus on the other victims who maybe can be saved). I just can't imagine evaluating a human being who couldn't breathe, and sticking a "not an emergency" sign on him/her instead of performing cpr.

For now, I will just hope that there will be no mass casualty events so nobody has to make these kinds of decisions.

Life in Jerusalem

For the next week or so, I am staying in a Jerusalem hostel with all the other MDA volunteers. After we (hopefully) pass all our exams, we all disperse to our individual assignments. I am staying in a room with 4 other girls- two from canada, one from England, and one from Michigan.

I didn't realize until I arrived here that most people came in groups or pairs. There are definitely other "loners" out there, but there are also many previously established duos or groups of friends. The two Canadian girls I live with knew each other from home and are in my class, so I spend the most time with them. They are nice girls, though they remind me very much of the girls I went to Jewish summer camp with years ago. I haven't met anyone here yet who I would want to hang out with for the next month. Still, I am hopeful that I will make better friends over the course of the program.

At the same time, I won't be devastated if I don't make great friends here. I wanted to use this summer as a time to become more self-sufficient and take time to think about what I want to accomplish in the upcoming year. Perhaps I need to be forced to spend time on my own in order to become more independent. Of course, I've already made some new friends, and maybe I just need to give them a chance!

The only thing left that is bothering me is housing. I was originally placed in Ashdod, but something went wrong with the absorption center and we all had to relocate. 6 of us got together to decide who would go where, and I insisted that we decide in a systematic way. Two years of maneuvering housing at Penn have taught me how important it is to decide housing systematically. I didn't get my first choice and am currently supposed to go to Haifa, a port city in the north with the worst absorption center of them all. I'm hoping I can somehow manouver a change- we'll see.

Today was the third day/second full day of class, and I will be spending tonight studying for the midterm tomorrow. I think the hardest part will be the hebrew words, but hopefully all those years of Jewish day school will finally pay off!

Another student and I practicing CPR on Anne, the class dummy.

First Day: Welcome to EMT Bootcamp

It is 12:30 am on the second day of classes, and I am happy but exhausted. It's been pretty overwhelming being thrown into this whole new group of people. but class keeps me too busy to really mind. This is my daily schedule:

8am breakfast

8:30-12:00 pm- class. We have all been split up into groups, and the class stays together with its instructors all day every day. We really lucked out with all 3 of our instructors, who are all pretty funny. We have about 20 people in the class, I think, from the US, Canada, England, and Holland. One of the most important rules here is being on time, since it is unacceptable to be late for a real shift. Anyone who arrived past 8:30 on the dot had to stand outside, and the instructors (I think) keep a list of who is late and how often. One funny fact- one of my instructors is a Penn student my year. Its pretty funny to have her be in charge of me, though I think we both know she can't really boss me around.

12pm: lunch..... I'm pretty sure it is the same, half-eatable food every day.

1pm-6pm: more class

6pm: dinner- see above.

7-9: class.

That's right, we have 11.5 hours of class a day. We get little 15 minute breaks every once in a while, but it is a very long day. At the same time, I am definitely interested in what we have learned so far:

Infant, Child, Adult CPR, with and without equipment
Infant, Child, Adult choking, conscious and not
How to evaluate a scene
Patient Assessment
Vital Signs
Diabetes
Epilepsy/Seizures
Febrile Seizures
Stroke
Fainting
States of Unconsciousness
Electrocution
Poisoning
Hanging (no joke)
Respiratory system and related emergencies
Cardiovascular system and related emergencies

It's alot, and it has only been 2 days! I have a midterm day after tomorrow, but that seems like a million years from now.

All right, I am exhausted and will go to bed. Tomorrow I will post about the people, the environment etc. I miss you guys and thanks for the comments :)

Sarah

Tel Aviv

I spent most of the day with Gaby, getting ready for my training in Jerusalem. Lucky for me, Gaby decided to skip class and take me to Tel Aviv! We picked up his friend Grisha and set off to explore the city a bit (and fix my battery charger). Being in Tel Aviv was great- it felt so much more like the Israel I remembered from birthright. We walked around the shuk (market) and haggled with the various venders. It was loud and smelly..... and awesome. We of course had some falafel and shwarma, which I recommend to anyone who has never tried either. Hopefully I will spend more time in Tel Aviv and discover all sorts of cool neighborhoods and shops.

At the market. From left to right: Grisha, me, and Gaby.

First Day in Ashdod

In case anyone was curious, I thought I would post my one picture from first class. Classy, huh? I used my expert opinion to choose from the white wine options :)

Yesterday was my first day in Ashdod. I spent most of the day in the apartment with the family, being productive and watching a movie. I guess Israel gets very hot during the day and they usually prefer to stay indoors. I was pretty disappointed about that, since I love being outdoors and I love the summer. I was even more dissapointed to learn that I can't swim in the sea! The mediterannean may be beautiful, but it is full of jellyfish when the water is this warm. Seems like some people do tough it out, though, so maybe I will give it a try.




By the end of the day I was feeling pretty antsy. Russian families are overbearing, to say the least, and I really like being in charge of my own schedule (especially when it comes to what and when I eat). On birthright, we spent alot of time in Jerusalem in Tel Aviv, the two biggest cities. These cities are full of life and culture, and you can just step outside of your apartment and walk around and explore. Ashdod, though still a city, is much less colorful. There is the shore and lots of malls and stores, but I wouldn't just go out and walk for hours on end. I've gotten used to living in a city, and I'm not sure how I feel about not having so much to do around here.



Ashdod is also full of immigrants, especially Russian ones. I really want to feel immersed in Israeli culture and improve my Hebrew, but that is hard to do when everyone around me speaks Russian fluently (as well as English most of the time). I try to force myself to speak hebrew with my cousin, Gaby, but I tend to just switch over to English because it is so much easier to communicate. I have the option of living with my relatives or in the absorption center- maybe it is a good idea to live away from family, even if the environment won't be as nice. Hopefully I will meet people and find exciting things to do in my downtime.




I got to meet some exftended family over dinner, and it was pretty amusing. When I compare my family to most american families, it always seems weirdly intense. Turns out that we aren't weird- we are just russian. There was a huge shouting match over what I was going to eat, and I just sat in the middle and waited for them to settle on what exactly to put on my plate.




Finally, I got to go out last night to a pub with Gaby and his friends. I am not looking forward to coming back to a 21+ drinking age after a summer of sitting around in pubs without a care. Gabi and his friends are all 22 and 23, but they are they same year as I am in school because they all served in the army. It was really fun to meet some young people and hang out. I tried cherry beer (delicious!) and potatoes with bulgarian cheese (also great). I even practiced my Hebrew for a little bit! Everyone at the pub was Russian, and it was hilarious how surprised they would be that I, with my perfect American accent, could also speak Russian. It was a great night sitting around discussing life and politics, and it definitely improved my outlook on Ashdod.



Sarah

First Day!

I've never written a blog before, but I have recently been inspired by my amazing friends Liz and Simin, who have been writing away from Munich and Beijing. I'm not sure how often I will update this, but I will do my best to write often and put up pictures for anyone interested.

I'm finally in Israel! I got here yesterday afternoon, and it was a pretty crazy day. As usual, I was running around packing until the last minute and took too much clothing/not enough other stuff. I will be spending the next week making up for my irresponsible packing- hopefully I can get everything I need while I'm here (especially contacts!). My plane to JFK was delayed for two hours, and so I spent my time trying to use a payphone to call people. The experience definitely made me appreciate my cell phone. It is no fun sitting with a bag of change and putting in a quarter every time the operator interrupts the call. I finally got on the plane and spent the hour long flight sitting next to a guy who spoke only portugese. I had some fun communicating with him using a mixture of pointing and broken spanish.

When I got to JFK my connecting flight to Tel Aviv was already boarding- this is when the craziness started. I wisely chose to wear my non-broken in new sandalson my trip, and I already had a few painful blisters 2 hours into wearing them. Of course, my gate was all the way at the end of the terminal and I SPRINTED full speed for what felt like an hour to get there. I got to the gate as they were announcing final call, panting and needing to check in. I spent the next half hour standing there as various Delta employees argued about my ticket. I think my seat had been given away but done so incorrectly. Nobody would update me on what was going on so I just stood there in a panic hoping I could somehow get on the plane.

Eventually I was ushered through (sans boarding pass-this caused problems) and onto the plane, where I had the pleasure of meeting the disgruntled man who was being kicked off the plane because of me. I apologized to him but it didn't prevent the dirty glare in my direction. I definitely lucked out, however, because I was upgraded to FIRST CLASS!!

I don't know if anyone has experience with first class, but this was my first and it was pretty awesome. The seats are huge and adjust electronically so you can put your feet up and seat down to exactly meet your needs. The food was delicious and there were lots of options. I had a great glass of white wine with dinner and another during the movie. I could go on and on about the wonders of first class- I tried to take pictures but my camera died after one. Anyways, the amenities combined with the hilarious flight attendents made the 11 hour flight a breeze. I even bonded with the flight attendents- the Israeli one kept trying to set me up with his 29 year old brother (creepy!).

After arguing with the Israeli airport staff about my lost bag, which I am still waiting for, I finally left the airport with a huge smile on my face. There is something about this country that just makes me happy- I'm sure I will write about that later.

I'm going to go watch a movie with my Israeli cousin and his girlfriend, but I will post more later. I just realized how long this post was- no worries, I will be more concise!

Sarah