In the Promised Land with the Chosen People

It's hard to believe I've been in Israel 3 weeks already. On the one hand it seems like I've been here ages and have already done some awesome stuff; on the other there's so much more to do and so little time in which to do it.

I suppose I should apologise for not having posted much so far - the simple reality is that there have been too many thing to write about and, being my mother's son, I've had difficulties deciding what to write about.

This is my fifth time to Israel but, really, is very different to all the others - the first was when I was 12 with the family of a friend, and the intermediate three were in the summers of 2002/3-2004/5 with AUJS Israel Programs. Really, this is the first time I've actually been able to properly interact with Israelis as an adult, and the first time I've really had to take care of myself here in any way.

I knew that this time would be different so, while I came with lots of questions, I didn't really have many expectations as to what I would find, other than what one is told of Israelis - that they are loud, aggressive, impatient, lying/cheating/theiving etc. In my assessment, three weeks in, these stereotypes are ... well, kinda true, to some degree. I guess that's why they're stereotypes! But really this aspect of the national persona is not what is predominantly felt (at least not in Jerusalem, where I've spent most of my time) but rather it has become clear to me that the word that should be used more than any of those above is simply "nice".
Ok, so they use their elbows to make sure they get on a bus, it's rare that one can delineate a queue and people honk each other on the roads all the time .... but they're actually incredibly friendly and generous, willing to help when they can and very warm. A lot like Aussies I guess but in my experience, around the world not everyone is like this.
And more than Australians, Israelis seem to care about each other in a fairly active (some would say intrusive) way - unsolicited advice given on the street and such, but also people on the buses actually talk to each other (God forbid!!), and even to the groups of people with Down's sydnrome one sees on occasion travelling the city, and invitations are freely made for meals with people one's just met with very few questions asked other than "do you have a place for dinner?"

It's strange, we have a society where everyone is rushing somewhere from somwhere else; where everything is of world-class standard but people don't get paid enough; where the people and the country are in a constant struggle for survival in the face of military and political threats from many directions ... and everyone, rather than fighting tooth and nail (other than in traffic and queues) , is out there looking after each other. It's incredible, really, and I think there's a lot that can be learnt from this nation. I hope that in Australia, as we drift towards a dog-eat-dog American-style mentality, we can take a page from Israel's book and learn to band together, rather than to drive ourselves apart. Perhaps the Chosen People in the Promised Land can still be that historical Light Unto the Nations...

miracles happen

I was going to post/email a piece begging people to send me their phone numbers after I lost mine a couple of days ago. I realised that I'd lost it as I was entering the bus station (taking it out so I wouldn't beep going through the metal detectors) and figured it was gone forever. Since using it last I had been in a bus, a taxi and numerous streets. It was never going to come back. Not in the Middle East.

However, as things turn out, I'm not sending that email (but if i don't have your number, please do send it!) as i now have my phone back.
The taxi driver, Isi, called a friend of mine (out of my phonebook i guess) who contacted me on MSN and i walked out in the (snow-covered!!!) streets of Jerusalem to collect it.

When I thanked Isi I told him I had expected that that the phone would never return. He smiled and said "We've just finished Channuka. Miracles happen"
Thank you Isi - quite a ben adam, a mensch.

I have many other things to write about (people, drinking, concerts, drinking, fighter pilot graduation ceremonies, drinking, snow in Jerusalem...) but this was something that was immediate. more posts coming soon at flyingdoctorblog.blogspot.com :-)

The Un-Promised Land

I meant to post on this for some time now but never got round to it, thanks to my placement in Port Maquarie - which could be a couple of posts in itself! Nonetheless, here it is now...

Since seeing a friend of mine, (now Dr) Dean, undertake his medical elective term in Israel 2 years ago it's been something I've been psyched to do myself.
I know that some Aussie unis have made problems for people wanting to study in Israel over the past few years but, given that someone from my uni (Sydney) did their elective in Israel last year, I thought shouldn't have any problems. Right?

If only it were so simple.

One of my colleagues who was planning on doing her elective in Israel applied early in the year but was given hassles on the basis that Israel is dangerous.
After some lobbying on our behalf by a Professor, she was approved. Unfortunately she has subsequently made other plans anyway and won't be joining us :-(
In any case, the groundwork was laid and we would be allowed to go, so when I formally presented my application it was smooth sailing... until recently.

5 weeks prior to my anticipated departure a bulletin was posted to students that someone in the university structures was head-kicking the faculty into disapproving electives that had already been approved, if the destination country was one to which DFAT had recommended reconsidering travel. So yes, that's me. 5 weeks from departure!
Obviously I'm not going to be too happy with that! So after spending a frantic day on the phone to pretty much anyone who may be of assistance, the weekend (in which I packed and drove up to Port Macquarie for my 4-week attachment) was spent in limbo, not knowing what was happening around me...

The next week was tense, fraught with dealings with anxious students whose plans had been ripped out from under their feet, with communal leaders going in to bat for us, and with faculty and university officials evasively dealing with enquiries, with nobody taking responsibility for the new dictum.
Nonetheless, with the help of some people who know people, we had a new ruling put in place. We would have to sign some more rubbish bits of paper (another tree bites the dust) and have a meeting with the Dean but we'd be allowed to go. Yes, despite the "latest and final" decision advertised in that bulletin, we were again allowed to go!!

So, just the other day, I had this meeting with the Dean. He admitted it was a formality, offering that the Faculty could provide me with an alternative elective experience and watching me sign something that just said i was going to be responisble for myself and that the uni doens't really want me to be there. And then we discussed the memorandum of understand he'd been organising with the Faculty of Medicine Technion in Haifa (Israel's MIT, as he put it) and that I should think about taking that up as well...
Obviously the Dean's very convinced of the merits of that "latest and final" decision posted as a bulletin...

So yes, less than a week prior to my departure I had the seal of (dis-)approval to go and learn with the world's experts in their field, at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem, in Jerusalem, Israel!
And now, here I am 2 days from departure writing a blog instead of packing.

2 DAYS!! awesome...
לשבוע הבה בירושלים! - next week in Jerusalem!