Part II
I left off Part I at my 88-hour MADA course so I’ll pick it up from there. Right after my parents left, I headed down to Jerusalem for 4 days of more MADA courses. This time however we were learning new things such as opening a vein (putting in an IV), delivering babies, as well as how to assist an intubation and how to check blood-glucose levels. After watching videos of babies being delivered for 2 hours, we were sufficiently scarred so we moved on to opening veins. With a needle in my hands, a vein within my eyesight, and my extremely unstable, shaking hands, I went at it. Surprisingly enough, I got into the vein on my first try. As my crazy, Russian instructor told me: I’m a “testament that people with shaky hands can be good at opening veins.” After I opened a vein, it was my turn to get one opened on me. For those of you who don’t know, I’m not the biggest fan of needles being stuck into me. In the past I’ve fainted while getting a shot, fainted and threw up while getting blood drawn in Peru (In my defense on that one, I had Typhoid Fever), and almost fainted while I got an IV taken out of me the first MADA class. So I stupidly told my teacher I didn’t like needles and told him that history. Instead of feeling bad for me and letting me off easy, he took a different approach to getting me over my “fear” of needles. He decided that I needed not one, but 4 needles stuck in my arm. I think it’s fair to say my arms were extremely sore the next day. So with my arms immobilized, 3 needles were stuck in my arm and another one in the back of my hand. Surprisingly I took it well. I will admit I was complaining the whole time but other than that, I had no problems. As horrible as that experience was, I think it’s fair to say I got over my dislike of needles. While I never want to have that many needles stuck in me at the same time, I no longer think twice about getting an IV or giving blood.
After passing my Advanced MADA course, I returned to Bat Yam
for classes. After a couple of weeks of normalcy, I had what I would call one
of the greatest and most terrifying weekends of my life. It all started early
that week on one of the last days of January. My roommate Max and I decided
that we wanted to go on a hike over the weekend. We decided to go on a hike up
north near Mt. Carmel, close to Haifa. Unfortunately our hike was next to a
stream and it had been raining continuously for 3 days so we were advised to
delay our hike there and go another week. We agreed and decided to go on a hike
in the Negev, near the Dead Sea, where it never rains…at least that’s what we
thought. As we packed our bags to leave, I checked the weather of a nearby
city. The low was in the mid -40s and there was a 0% chance of rain. When we
got onto the bus for Arad the weather had changed a little bit. The low was
still in the mid-40s but there was instead a 10% chance of rain. Nothing to
freak out about. 10% is still a very small chance. After all, we’re going to a
desert where it almost never rains. So we continued on our journey. As we rode
on the bus, above us was nothing but ominous looking clouds. But once we get to
the Negev, those will go away…right? Wrong. As we get off in Arad, we are
dumped into the middle of a rainstorm. With nowhere to stay, Shabbat coming in,
and nothing but rain overhead, we were in panic mode. We quickly made our way
to a mall and right as it was about to close, we went into a sports shop and
found a tent. We were saved! At least that’s what we thought. As we walked out
of Arad to hike to our starting destination for the next day, the weather
seemed to clear up a little. While there was the occasional rain shower, the
weather was survivable.
After hiking for hours along the road, we began to approach our campground for the night. Those next 30 minutes, everything we could think of going wrong did. First, the weather dipped down into the 30s. Then it started pouring rain. But luckily for us, we had a tent so it wasn’t a problem. As we began pitching our tent, in the dark, with our frozen, bare hands, one of the poles suddenly snapped. We were stranded in the desert. We had no warm clothes, no place to stay, and we were not very happy. Luckily for us though, we found a nearby Bedouin village and stayed there for the night. While very expensive, it was worth it to have heat and a roof over our head. The next morning we woke up early and began hiking before the sun even came up. About an hour into our hike, we were faced with our first challenge. A flashflood had caused the river that is normally dry to fill with water, moving at a pace more suitable for white water rafting. We were faced with a choice. Do we risk it and cross the river or turn back? After much dilemma, we decided that we had not hiked all this way just to turn back so we went through the river. As I carefully walked through the knee-deep rapids, my heart was racing. I carefully stepped from one rock to the other, making sure I had my footing before I moved. I slowly moved to the other side and once I was on the other bank, I put my shoes and socks onto my frozen feet and continued the walk. About 15 minutes later, we had realized that without a doubt we had made the correct decision. As we approached the peak of the mountain we were climbing we saw what was beyond the mountain. Behind this mountain was a huge canyon. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Other than Machu Picchu, probably the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.
As we continued to hike, we realized why the internet said it was for “Advanced Hikers Only”. We had to scale down a cliff where one wrong step meant a 100+ foot drop into the canyon. We were also slowed by having to cross more rivers. One area where we were supposed to hike was instead a waterfall. After about 30 minutes of trying to figure something out, we realized our only option was to jump the 15 or so feet down and hope nothing bad happens. Luckily enough for us, we both landed our jumps with a perfect 10 and didn’t get injured at all. We ended up hiking almost non-stop from 6AM until 4PM where we found ourselves at the foot of Masada. We had hiked from Arad to Masada in less than 24 hours. This hike went from being the worst day on Year Course the first day to one of the best on the second day. The hike was worth every bit of pain we went through the first day. While on multiple occasions we were too close to death, we were able to get through the whole hike unscathed. For a day of crossing rapids, scaling down a cliff, bouldering 10 feet over a river, and jumping down from waterfalls, not getting injured was a real feat.
After hiking for hours along the road, we began to approach our campground for the night. Those next 30 minutes, everything we could think of going wrong did. First, the weather dipped down into the 30s. Then it started pouring rain. But luckily for us, we had a tent so it wasn’t a problem. As we began pitching our tent, in the dark, with our frozen, bare hands, one of the poles suddenly snapped. We were stranded in the desert. We had no warm clothes, no place to stay, and we were not very happy. Luckily for us though, we found a nearby Bedouin village and stayed there for the night. While very expensive, it was worth it to have heat and a roof over our head. The next morning we woke up early and began hiking before the sun even came up. About an hour into our hike, we were faced with our first challenge. A flashflood had caused the river that is normally dry to fill with water, moving at a pace more suitable for white water rafting. We were faced with a choice. Do we risk it and cross the river or turn back? After much dilemma, we decided that we had not hiked all this way just to turn back so we went through the river. As I carefully walked through the knee-deep rapids, my heart was racing. I carefully stepped from one rock to the other, making sure I had my footing before I moved. I slowly moved to the other side and once I was on the other bank, I put my shoes and socks onto my frozen feet and continued the walk. About 15 minutes later, we had realized that without a doubt we had made the correct decision. As we approached the peak of the mountain we were climbing we saw what was beyond the mountain. Behind this mountain was a huge canyon. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Other than Machu Picchu, probably the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.
As we continued to hike, we realized why the internet said it was for “Advanced Hikers Only”. We had to scale down a cliff where one wrong step meant a 100+ foot drop into the canyon. We were also slowed by having to cross more rivers. One area where we were supposed to hike was instead a waterfall. After about 30 minutes of trying to figure something out, we realized our only option was to jump the 15 or so feet down and hope nothing bad happens. Luckily enough for us, we both landed our jumps with a perfect 10 and didn’t get injured at all. We ended up hiking almost non-stop from 6AM until 4PM where we found ourselves at the foot of Masada. We had hiked from Arad to Masada in less than 24 hours. This hike went from being the worst day on Year Course the first day to one of the best on the second day. The hike was worth every bit of pain we went through the first day. While on multiple occasions we were too close to death, we were able to get through the whole hike unscathed. For a day of crossing rapids, scaling down a cliff, bouldering 10 feet over a river, and jumping down from waterfalls, not getting injured was a real feat.
The next month I returned to Bat Yam to continue taking
classes and volunteering with MADA. At the beginning of March, my semester
ended and I moved into a new apartment in Bat Yam. Tomorrow I head off to
Poland for a week, and after that I will be doing only MADA shifts 4-5 times a
week until the end of May. More updates to come soon! Sorry they’ve been so
sporadic recently.
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