Turkey Day

Sunday, November 17

Today at clinical I was in the NICU at Makassed. I worked with an amazing nurse that taught me a lot and was so nice to me. She is so sweet! I loved talking to her. I was able to see a lot of how politics affects the families here. My nurse was such a sweetheart and gave me a ring because she said she has no guys in her life and isn’t married and asked if I was married and I told her no, so she gave me a ring and told me it was for our friendship and since we didn’t have any guys. After clinical I ran up to the Peds floor to see three of my favorite nurses from when we were at that hospital back in September. It was the best time ever!! They recognized me and jumped off the couch and gave me so many hugs and kisses. They kept telling me how much they had missed me and loved me. The housekeeper woman that I call my Palestinian grandma was so sweet. She speaks no English but she kept hugging and kissing me and telling me how much she loved me. It was fun to see them all again.

Then we got to go tour a Jewish hospital which was shockingly different than the Palestinian hospitals we’ve been doing clinical in. This hospital was so nice and huge! It was nicer than a lot of the hospitals I’ve seen in the USA. It was incredible but sad to see how different they were. We didn’t get back from clinical until 4 which was really a bummer because the sun sets at 4:30 ish and we have to be home at sunset. So I just stayed here in the Center and I ran into the Belnap children playing in the gym and since they were the only other people here besides all the nurses that I had spent all day with, I played with them. We played line tag and other various great games like that and only a few tears and fights broke out. But it was overall a great time. That night I read Catching Fire to prep for the movie and we watched a movie all together. I went to a concert here in the center and they let the audience choose which songs they played and it was a fun time.

Monday, November 18

Instead of an all-day field trip like we usually do on Mondays, we had classes today and then a blood drive. Once again…I’m too small to donate blood. I even ate a big lunch and tried weighing myself multiple times and it still didn’t work. It was the worst. So I played nurse and held peoples’ hands and talked to them while they got their blood drawn. I had a few almost pass out so I laid them down on the floor with their feet up. It was a great time. I loved it! Then I had competency for nursing which was quite the adventure. We had to use materials we have never seen before and had the Bachelor’s students act as our patients. It was really funny and there were a lot of curve balls since we were pretending for a lot of it and using supplies we had never seen before. It’s fun to see how creative you can get when you don’t have the normal equipment. It was honestly incredible! That afternoon I read some more and played games with people. That night we went to the Kotel Tunnel field trip. Problem was that I had spent the last week thinking we were going to the Hotel Tunnel field trip. For some reason, I had heard the pronunciation wrong and then I imagined us going to the rooftop of a hotel. As we waited in line to go down into the tunnel I asked everyone where the hotel was we were climbing to the top of. Boy was I wrong…The tunnel was actually all along the base of the Western Wall. We got to see some awesome sites and I loved it!

Karren and I at the Western Wall after the Hotel Kotel

Tuesday, November 19

We had a field trip this morning to the Jewish quarter. We walked around the Archaeological Park near the Western Wall. It was cool to see how huge the wall was, especially seeing the base of it under the ground last night and to think of Christ on the edge and being tempted to jump off.

We saw the gate and stood on some stones that were there when Christ was here. Neil Armstrong stood there and said he'd rather stand there than on the moon. It was a cool place.

We went to a few ruin sites around the Jewish quarter that were burned and destroyed in the second temple destruction. Then we had the rest of the day off which was HEAVEN!!! We walked all the way to the other side of Jerusalem, outside the Old City, to the German Colony.

We walked by Schindler’s grave and walked for MILES to the Waffle Factory. It was sooo delicious! I had an Oreo waffle and it was so delicious. I will never regret that! Then Jenny, Julie, Kristin, Caralee, James and I walked around the German Colony and eventually walked the forever long miles back to the Old City where we found the room where they think the Last Supper might have happened and the Dormition Abbey where Mary is buried. It was a gorgeous church.

Possible place of the Last Supper

Dormition Abbey

This place had a good view of the Wall

We walked so far though. My legs were burning. We came back through the Old City and talked with Shaban and a few others on our way home. We definitely got a cab on the way back from the Old City because we had just walked halfway across the country. We came home and I just did homework and read Catching Fire and had YW. For Young Women’s we had some of the other nursing students come in and teach CPR. It was so fun and everyone loved it. It was combined with the young men too. They all had a great time.

Wednesday, November 20

Wednesday morning we had another field trip but this time to the Christian quarter. We saw a tour of a convent here and the first Christian church in Jerusalem. The convent guy only spoke Spanish so it was fun to practice.We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher after that and saw the center of the Earth.

Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Navel of the Earth

We didn’t walk very far but they told us so much information that I was exhausted. After the field trip we could either go back in the vans or stay out in the city. I was with Jenny and Julie and we decided to go back, but we were waiting for the van forever so we decided to sprint to the Jewish Bakery and hopefully make it back in time to catch a ride with the vans. We made it to the Bakery and successfully got the delicious chocolate cookies and then sprinted back, but we missed the van. It was so sad! We had to walk back and we ended up having a fun time walking back because we ran into Raghad and got a sucker. When we got home I worked on a bunch of homework. After dinner we had a Forum by a big important security guy here in Israel but I couldn’t focus. I’m not sure what he said at all and I knew I was getting nothing out of it so I decided to write a thank you note for each person. It was really fun to reflect on what I’d learned from everyone. Then I grabbed my Holiday Buddy Nichel and we made little notes for everyone. We are celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday because we’ll be gone next Thursday when it’s really Thanksgiving. So we spent all night making those notes and then went to bed.

Thursday, November 21

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I woke up early to play the role of Thanksgiving fairy and taped the notes to everyone’s doors. It was the time of my life. One of my most favorite things. It was fun to hear everyone try and figure out who did it. Some gave me away really fast, but others had no idea. It was a great Thanksgiving! We had classes and I took a nursing test that covers everything I’ve ever learned in nursing. I didn't do very well on it at all and I was devastated!!! It was really a heart breaker and I had a rough time, but I ran into Nichel and Makena in the hallway and they brought me in to the kitchen to help them and the cooks get the food ready for Thanksgiving. We helped them chop a bunch of veggies and taught them to make cranberry sauce, which was really blueberry since that’s all we had, and we did pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. That was a HUGE delicacy and sooooo delicious! Definitely everyone’s favorite! They tasted like home and fall which couldn’t have been any better. It was very therapeutic and made me feel so much better after bombing that test. I was grateful for it and for the cooks for letting us come help. Alena and I had to warm up the butter and we figured putting it under our armpits and running around the kitchen was the best choice. It definitely was quite effective.  We had such a good time! Then to make my day even better, we did our own version of Jerusalem Turkey Bowl and we went to the really nice turf fields by the center and helped coach soccer to a ton of kids. It was the time of my life!!!! They were so excited to see us and loved playing with us. I was with Alex and we were helping coach the older team . It was only guys out there playing and they all flirted with me like crazy. The photographer made me stand there and take pictures with every single player, there were like 35 or so, and they wouldn’t leave me alone. We had fun playing with them and I even got a little kiss on the cheek! We had such a blast! We finished the practice with a scrimmage and they were all shocked I wanted to play with the guys. I can handle it! It was so fun! I loved it. Then we came back and got all dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner. The food was divine and I ate over my weight in those pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I had missed so much and reminded me of home. President Tad R. Callister of the Presidency of the Seventy and his wife came and sat by my table for dinner. Jamie and Jordan and a few others made a bunch of decorations so the place looked awesome. It was fun to sit with the Callister’s and talk with them. I ate Thanksgiving with President Callister. No big deal, just a daily occurrence here in Jerusalem! They are incredible people. Then they did a little devotional for us and it was wonderful. As soon as it finished I went out with a big group to the Old City for a few hours for the Renaissance festival they do. We saw some people sword fighting, guys on stilts, dancing and music. It was a blast and really fun to be out and see that. We just ran all over and saw as much as we could.

 We came back and I went to bed. Although that test was not the best thing ever, the rest of today was THE BEST DAY EVER!!! IT WAS SO FUN! I loved it!!!!

Friday, Sabbath and Sunday

We had class again this morning and then we had a service project. We made more of the humanitarian kits and I was folding/rolling towels again. It’s probably our fourth or so time doing this so we have it down to a science. We were going so fast! After that I did homework and read Hunger Games and watched Lord of the Rings, extended edition number one and two. That was really relaxing and I played some games or would go do something else every now and then just to get up and move. But it was really fun to not do much.

Sabbath was a rough day where I woke up in a ton of pain and didn’t leave my bed for most of the day. My roommate Heidi took good car eof me and smuggled me out some food and we had breakfast in bed since I didn’t feel good enough to go up. I laid in bed until I had to go up for a devotional President Callister was putting on for the youth. It was an awesome meeting and fun to see our 8 YM and YW there together with a handful of youth from surrounding areas. Then we had District Conference which was amazing, but I probably didn’t have the best experience I could have. I spent the first half trying to help a member next to me that spoke Arabic and little English to work her translator. She couldn’t hear the translator and after trying to solve this problem for several minutes I realized we didn’t have a translator helping. So I ran all over til we got the issue fixed. The second half of the conference I was in a lot of pain and not feeling well so I had a hard time focusing. But I know it was an incredible meeting. The Young Women’s President, Sister Baltz had made me pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for helping with YW and those things are a bit of heaven and home. I love them! She and her girls are so sweet. Her girls waved me down and gave me hugs and life savers. They are so precious and adorable. After church I laid in bed for another four or so hours til dinner and finished Catching Fire and some other reading. After dinner we had a Q&A with President Callister that was incredible. It was wonderful to learn from him. I played games and watched part of Star Trek after that.

Sunday I had my final day of clinical which consisted of me standing by the nurses station and the nurses joking about me and trying to marry me off to the one single male nurse there so that I could stay in Jerusalem . Guess I’m not coming back, sorry parents…Then we took Thank You notes around to the different hospitals we had been to and it was a good time to say goodbye to Azizah, Ateyat and my Palestinian Grandma. I will miss those women and will keep in touch on Facebook and some I won’t see til the next life, but they have touched my heart and changed me and I will love them forever. After clinical I walked to West Jerusalem with Ryan, Nick, Jordan, Kristin and Rachel. We ate lunch on Benyahana street. Jordan and I had hotdogs that tasted like America and had spicy mustard on top that sealed the deal. Then we went to the Jewish Bakery and I am proud to admit that I actually cried over how delicious my molten chocolate cake was. We went because Nick said it was worth it to see how happy the chocolate cookies made me. Upon arriving, I learned they didn’t have those cookies and was extremely disappointed. Then I decided to splurge and buy the cake. When they gave it to me all warm I shook with excitement and let out a few squeals. Then I dug my spoon in and before it got to my mouth I had tears, not just welled up in my eyes, but streaming down my cheeks from joy. I couldn’t keep my happiness in me. It was too much! I loved that cake. I cried so much. What a moment! Then we took a taxi to the opposite side of West Jerusalem and saw Catching Fire. Mind Blown. That movie is INCREDIBLE! It was so good. I just finished the book which was perfect timing. I hate reading too far ahead of the movie because then I get anxious and impatient. It was such a good movie! I wanted to go back and see it again once it ended. We ate some dinner out in the city and then came back to the Center where I played ping pong and did laundry to get ready for our ten day trip to Galilee tomorrow!

I love this place that I call home