Well, Sorry this is a delayed post, but our living accomodations in Jerusalem for the training course did not have the best internet service.  We stayed in the Beit Yehuda Guest house which is in Malcha, a suburb of Jerusalem.  

 

When I landed in TLV and picked up my laggage from the baggage claim, I had to make my way up to Jerusalem.  After reading some directions on the internet, I thought that a train would be the best and cheapest way of getting there.  There was only stop that I had to change trains at and then it was direct to Jerusalem.  When I got to that stop, I waited a while for the train to come.  After a while I asked someone and they informed me that it would be showing up on track 2 in about 15 minutes.  After about 12 minutes there was an announcement that I could not understand (My hebrew is quite rusty).  The train showed up on track 3 and I missed it.  It was the last train of the night.  I then had to catch a taxi from that train station to the guest house.  I negotiated from 480 shekels down to 300 shekels, which was still ridiculously expensive.  It was a fine ride and we pulled up to a block in central jerusalem.  He informed me that the guest house was right around the corner, but he had missed the turn, so I would be better off walking around the block.  No big deal.  I walked around the block to realize that he had completely lied to me and it had cost me another $20 american to reach the guest house.  

 

When I got to Beit Yehuda I met up with a couple of Canadian kids and we headed out to Ben Yehuda Street, a place called Zollies.  They have a special there for a beer, shot, hookah all for 20 shekels.  We spent some time there and headed back.  

 

The next morning was check in day for the program.  I believe there was about 70 kids on the trip from all over the world.  I would say at least 30 from Canada, 30 from the US, and 10 from other countries including Venezuala, Australia, Belgium, Great Britain and Holland.  We immediately began class—-our instructor’s name was Boaz.

 

The first day we went over CPR and the following days we studied both medical care and trauma care.  It was a lot of information given in a short amount of time.  I am thankful that I had a background as an EMT in the US which made the course a lot easier.  It was however a very good review even though many of the protocols are different here.  

 

Beit Yehuda was regarded to as a prison.  We were not allowed to go out during the week as we were supposed to be studying.  Instead we played a lot of basketball.  The courts were right behind our building.  The next couple of days were basically uneventful except for the large amount of sexual innuendos Boaz created relating to medical practices.  I actually received a shirt with many of them written on the back (Not exactly sure where I can wear it to).

 

When Friday rolled around we headed to the Shook (Jerusalem Market).  It was a nice day, especially because we were able to leave the guest house.  There was a lot of interesting foods and I made sure to try a lot of them.  It was packed at the Shook becuase everyone was preparing, last minute, to prepare for shabbat.  We came back to the guest house, went to Friday night services, ate dinner, and hung out.  On shabbat, we mainly played basketball and hung by the pool.  It was a much needed day of relaxation.

 

We went back to class on Sunday and finished the rest of the course until Tuesday, when we had both our written and practical examination.  After a long night of studying on Monday, I passed the course and became a certified first responder for Magen David Adom of Israel.

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