Nativers 29 say

Sarah Ziskend
From Marietta, GA
Kehilah Group

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Catch Up

A lot has happened these last three weeks so I’m going to put this one in bullets…..
The Zoo, what could be better than seeing numerous really cute lovable animals behind glass? SEEING THEM IN ISRAEL!! I know marvelous!

I came to the conclusion that when I hopped the El-Al flight this time around for Israel, I couldn’t wait to get off the plane to begin a new chapter in my life as opposed to the anticipation of being in a mystical place that I had heard about all my life (my emotions the first time I came to Israel last summer).

David Helfand
From Leawood, KS
Khilah Group

Negev 69, Good Morning…. Travel Safe…
נגב 69, בוקר טוב .... נסיעה טובה ...

The sound of the Moked, the operator, wakes us up in the middle of the night. As I hop off the couch and get my shoes and jacket on, I am prepared for all scenarios. As I hit the button for the gate of the station to open, we are already out the door and on the ambulance receiving instructions from out on board hand held computer. 
It is 2:30 in the morning and we are headed to the home of a eight month pregnant woman who is ready to deliver. This first thing that I think, “this is so cool. I will be able to watch a delivery.” That didn’t happen to be the case. I did my usual job of vitals and tending to the patient while the driver and the other paramedic were doing the paper work and getting history. We arrived to the hospital and sent the woman on her way and later found out the next day that she delivered a healthy and beautiful baby boy.
This is just one of the many amazing experiences I have had while working for MADA. When I first decided that I was going to go on Nativ, I knew that I wanted to somehow volunteer for MADA. I am in no way interested in pursuing medicine as a profession, but their was something about working for MADA that just appealed to me. I would be able to learn valuable medical skills, speak Hebrew, and help people, all the things that I love to do.

Judah Kerbel
From Marietta, GA
Kehilah Group

Nope, Nothing's Broken!
בס"ד

Our second semester in Yeruham has kicked off quite eventfully, which, while maybe a little bit stressful, has been very exciting for everyone.  We arrived at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, after our booster shot adventure in Be'er Sheva, quite a few hours later than planned (also much darker than planned) . The bus dropped everybody at their respective residences, and the truck, which had been waiting for us for a few hours as well, came by, and we unloaded and brought everything upstairs.  Our apartment number is 11, and we're either three or four flights of stairs up – I can't remember which one but I think the former.  When we entered, things were chaos – we immediately identified a broken table, there was a table awkwardly positioned behind a couch, and things quickly ended up all over the place.  One of the first moves we made in my room (which is Seth, Jesse Lender, Ethan (MoMo) and me) was to move a bunk bed against a different wall to create a more open area in the room.