"Lost in Translation" by MSIH first year blogger Rebecca Siegel

A few days ago, when I was walking home for class, a man asked me for directions in Russian. I know that he was asking for directions, not because my Russian was sufficient to decipher his intention but because he was pointing to a tattered map. From what I could tell, he was looking to get to the post office, which was pretty much a straight.

I tried to communicate that it was straight ahead in every way I could. I attempted in Hebrew. I attempted in English. I made a line with my finger on his map. I mimed a person walking forward and finding a post office.

Nothing worked and with each attempt he looked progressively more frustrated. I also felt frustrated because I knew what he was going through and I was powerless to help. I too was a stranger in a strange place. I knew exactly what it was like to say the simplest thing over and over again and not see a look of understanding on the face of the person that I was talking to.

            To me, this is one of the greatest assets of going to medical school in a foreign country. The very fact that we know what it is like to struggle with being able to communicate and understand basic things is what is going to make us good doctors. Not understanding is hard.

            So here’s to my classmates who have known the true horror of taking a bite of a would-be-delicious breakfast parfait, only to find they had purchased sour cream and not yogurt at the grocery store.

My very resilient classmates who have double, triple and quadruple checked the bus map, only to find they were now farther from their destination then they started.

Together, we have learned intimately what it means to need help and lack the words to ask for it.

My peers and I represent a class of physicians who will understand that it is not the responsibility of a patient to communicate in ways a physician can understand. It is on the doctor to hear a patient’s explanation and figure it out.

"I Ask Fish for Dinner, Learning Hebrew in Medical School," by MSIH first year blogger Jay Berkes

Hebrew ulpan teacher Michal. 

Hebrew teacher: How was your weekend? (Eykh hayah sof hashavua shelcha?)

Me: I ask fish. (Ani mevakesh dagim.)

Hebrew teacher: What? (Mah?)

Me: I ask fish. (Ani mevakesh dagim!)

Hebrew teacher: You ask what? (Mah ata mevakesh?)

Me: Fish (Dagim)

Hebrew teacher: What did you do? (Mah ata asita?)

Me: I ask fish, and I eat fish. (Ani mevakesh dagim, ve ani ochel dagim.)

Hebrew teacher: Ahhhh, you cook fish. (Ahhh, ata mevashel dagim.)

Me: What? (Mah?)

Hebrew teacher: You cook fish, not ask fish. (Ata mevasheldagim, lo mevakesh dagim.)

Me: I cook fish? (Ani mevashel dagim?)

So goes many of the interactions in my first year Hebrew class. Despite the daily reminder that I couldn’t hold a conversation with a four year old, though, learning Hebrew is an interesting little side project. From practicing the phlegmy throat sounds required for certain letters (think lechayim here) to understanding necessary phrases (where is the bathroom?) to reading and writing, I spend my Hebrew class periods bouncing back and forth between giddy joy that I know something and complete confusion at what’s going on.

Easily the hardest part of learning Hebrew while in medical school, of course, is the fact that medical school tends to get in the way of free time. And learning a foreign language, like training a dog, requires consistent daily practice in your free time. But with such a busy course load, it’s difficult to mentally switch gears into Hebrew learning mode. Luckily, two days a week we have a 2 hour class at the end of the day set aside for such training, and switching gears is just kind of forced on you.

While it’s a little tiring, and progress can be slow at times, learning Hebrew does help me feel slightly cooler when I order falafel or hummus. And as esoteric as that sounds, little victories are the bedrock of learning a new language. It’s easy to forget that when you hang out with anyone from a European country and hear them interact in 2-5 different languages, fluently. It’s also a little difficult to build up a cache of little victories of spoken Hebrew in Israel because so many Israelis are also fluent in English. If I had a shekel for every time I’ve tried to use Hebrew to buy groceries only to get a reply in English, I could probably go grocery shopping twice this week.

Polyglot jealousies aside, learning Hebrew adds a very interesting dimension to my medical school experience. To me, Hebrew represents another world of mystery here. Histology allows me to dive deep into the tissues of the body, and I get to see how nutrients squeeze their way to bone cells. Biochemistry allows me to draw out a map of how molecular interactions allow me to use energy. Immunology lets me see how the body defends against a bacterial infection the same way ancient armies fought battles. And Hebrew gets me further down the path of expressing myself and understanding others in a very novel way. Especially when ordering falafel.

With that said, my day of studying is over and I’m pretty hungry. I think I’ll ask some fish for dinner tonight. 

Taking time to enjoy the sights, and the cats, amidst the crunch of finals, by Blogger of the month Maia Reiley

That dazed feeling of being nearly done with 11 months of what you always wanted to do…

We have one more week of class before our final final, and I know that the collective sigh of relief our whole class breathes will be tempered, at least from my corner, by a tinge of sadness. I will be grateful not only that it will be over, but also that it will have happened.

Back to the present moment, though. It is springtime in Beer Sheva (well, high summer by any normal person's thermometer), and there are a thousand kittens to mark the season. Leaving the hospital, going to the SuperSal or the vegetable stand, I will infallibly be surprised by some tiny cats making tentative steps from under a ramp or behind a railing. This type of unsolicited cuteness exponentially increases the amount of time I spend running errands.

Here is an example:

In other news, we took a trip North and saw some very pretty sights, including the Baha'i gardens in Haifa and the ruins of Caesarea. Although I love living in Beer Sheva and the unique perspectives it offers, seeing a beautiful city on a hill overlooking the ocean reminds me that I eventually want to move back near the water.

As an illustration of why, here's a throwback picture from Passover. We took a few buses down to Dahab on the Sinai coast to learn to scuba dive. The Sinai is basically a barren wasteland, in which I wouldn't want to wander for 40 minutes, let alone 40 years, but the Red Sea is a miraculous paradise full of beautiful life forms. As this year wraps up, I am already looking forward to returning to the Sinai and planning new adventures in this amazing part of the world.

But for now, back to the coagulation cascade.

Second Semester musings, by Sam Nesemann, blogger of the month

Sam, Justine and Chase at the Physician's Oath ceremony

These first few weeks of the second semester have moved incredibly fast.  The classes keep us (or at least me) much busier.  This place is amazing though.  It’s already getting warmer.  The winter itself only lasted about 2 months and was extremely mild (nothing like what we would have back home in Wisconsin.)  

Because of the previous cold weather and the higher amount of classwork (just finished a global health module on nutrition that I highly recommend to any future students), there’s not too many extracurricular things to comment on right how.  However, this coming week a good amount of first-years are heading to Budapest, the second years are putting on a second annual talent show, and there will hopefully be some hiking or camping in the South.  

We did get to go to Umm Batin again today.  Umm Batin is a town about 20 minutes outside of Beer Sheva that has a mostly, if not completely, Bedouin population.  We go there once a week to teach English and it is an absolute blast.  The kids are great, some are very very smart, and, for the most part, very well behaved.  We teach for about an hour and a half and then play soccer, basketball, or whatever is happening that day.  The kids love it and it’s a really good opportunity for them, especially those who wish to go to college in Israel or the States.  

This is my first blog, so I’m still figuring out what to write about/how to write it.  I think this is mainly for the benefit of prospective students. So, I’d like to say a few things to you if you are reading this as someone looking into MSIH.  A lot of people asked me why I wanted to come here before I left, and they asked in a tone of concerned incredulity.  The question was often followed by something like, “you know there’s a medical school 2 hours away right?”or something about how dangerous this area of the world is.  There have been several occasions after arriving here that I have been taken aback by the sensation that there is no other place in the world I would rather be.  I’m sure it’s not for everyone, but I can’t think of any other school I would rather be at MSIH

- Sam Nesemann, blogger of the month

The Cat's Meow, by blogger of the month Aviva Friedman

I read a New York Times article recently that really resonated with me. It was about twenty-something young women re-claiming the term “crazy cat lady” and making it cool again (I mean when was it NOT cool?…but I digress.).



And so, I’ve been saving my best material for this last blog post. Because when people ask me why I choose to attend MSIH, generally, I lie. I say it’s because of the awesome people from varied educational backgrounds with an impossible array of life experiences. I also say it’s because of the global health curriculum and opportunities to travel abroad and practice medicine in unique climates. But really, truly, I came here for the cats.  My classmates will attest to this.

FUN FACT: Israel is home to at least 2 million feral cats (that’s equal to 25% of Israel’s fur-less population)!

Aviva with cat in bike basket

Here at MSIH, we have a kitten of our own that is growing before our very eyes on the grounds of Caroline House, the place where we do much of our studying. We have affectionately labelled her Buba, the Hebrew word for doll (or, if you prefer my Colombian roommate’s latin-tinged version, Bubita), and visits from her are often the best parts of our days.

I had planned to start a blog of my own when I first arrived in Israel; I would have called it Stray Cats of Israel. The idea came to me after I documented my first Israeli cat friend on instagram this summer, the first of so so many that I have met all since then. All of them are an important part of the landscape, diverse and curious, mysterious and intelligent, and not so different from my own classmates, I'd say!

Basically, what I’m getting at is that I made the right choice in coming to MSIH.

(By the way, if you’re interested in seeing MORE stray cats of Israel, follow me on instagram @avivapuff)