Now that the holidays are over, we are really starting to get into gear! The first month was kind of difficult because the holidays were early this year and we couldn't really start at our volunteer placements until after the holidays. Unfortunately, I still have not heard from mine. I imagine I will hear about it sometime this week, probably about an hour before I am supposed to be there! ;)
Ulpan is kicking our tushes and our brains are going a little crazy in a whirlpool of Hebrew. I have been working really hard to get out there and use my Hebrew as much as possible. Sometimes, I am a bit shy about it, but its encouraging because most Israeli's are happy that we are trying and are more than happy to help. I think some people get discouraged because we do cover so much material in a day, but I keep reminding myself that if I was studying SAT words at this rate, it would be hard to remember them all as well. It keeps me going. Very much in the way of Erin, I have been having a hard time completing my homework. I've never been very good at that, but I am working on it!!
OH! So there is something coming up that I am SUPER excited about. We got an email last week from Sarah about the Desert Queen competition. Sounded kinda cool but we didn't really have time to think about it and its not that inexpensive to participate. Only 2 ladies from OTZMA can participate and we were discussing how we could determine which two ladies would get to do it. Rachel and I discussed and decided that to be fair... we need to host our own OTZMA Queen competition. Granted, it will not matter because its too late to participate. HOWEVER, the we can not miss this chance. We will be scheduling a number of awesome events to determine which OTZMA ladies are best suited to represent the group. We will be having a beauty contest, question and answer session, some kind of speed eating competition, possibly an obstacle course... and who knows what else. To be fair, we have also asked the guys to participate. I am really looking forward to this competition and the shenanigans surrounding it!! I will definitely be writing more about it at a later date.
Ok, now I am going to commence whining. Skip the next 2 paragraphs unless you miss hearing me complain.
So, a recent development is this ridiculous pain in my right arm. I don't know what happened to it but it is swollen, stiff and very painful. Its not helping in terms of getting my work done because I can't really write that much. I have been doing what I can on my computer but even typing is uncomfortable. However, typing is far better than writing. It's very frustrating having an issue like this and not knowing what is going on. I went to the doctor that our insurance company sends us to and it was a waste of time. So, the doctor that they send us to is located in the Russian neighborhood here in Ashkelon. None of the receptionists speak English so my friend (who we will call James) was nice enough to call and make an appointment for me. He was going to come with me but he couldn't go on Thursday when they had an available appointment and he thought it was better than I went Thursday instead of waiting until Friday. He made sure that the doctor that was working Thursday spoke English and I thought "this won't be so bad!" Wrong. First of all, the woman from the insurance company refused to spell the street name for me so I ended up walking about 30 minutes past where the clinic was and then I had to walk back because I misheard the street name (even though I repeated it to the woman on the phone about 40 times). After 2 hours of traveling around, I finally found it and realized I had literally walked right past. Grr. Then, I go in and wait my turn. The doctor was a little teeny Russian woman who did indeed speak English. I told her what was going on and showed her the swelling. She insisted that its muscular and sent me on my way with a prescription... for 200mg of ibuprofen three times a day. I told her I didn't need the rx, I have ibuprofen, but she reminded me that it would be free so I figured, why not?
The problem that I have with this.... is that I do not think its muscular. There are a lot of muscles in your arm and it would be strange that all of them were inflamed at once. It feels far more like my joints are swollen. I can't bend my fingers all the way or move my wrist very well and the pain goes all the way up to my shoulder. It's hard because other than my arm hurting, I feel okay. But not being able to use my arm makes so many things more difficult. Cooking, laundry, writing, lifting ANYTHING.... just can't do it. People are helping me out which is nice, but aside from whining about things I need from the kitchen when they are in there, I don't love asking for help. I think its also hard for people to help someone who feels and looks fine. After all, I should be able to do these things. *sigh* If its not better in a couple more days, I will go back to the doctor.
End whining.
Luckily, my arm should not affect my volunteering! I am so excited to start volunteering. We have done a few things so far, but to get into a routine and to go back to the same place on a regular basis and see the change in the students will be really exciting and rewarding. I know that it will be challenging as well but thats what I am here for. Its nice that Madeleine, Rebecca (my roomie) and I will all be going together to the same place to volunteer! Ok, not much point to this post other than my whining. Oh well!
No comments:
Post a Comment