"I'm gonna clear my head, I'm gonna drink that sun" - Get Out The Map, Indigo Girls

This blog has taken on so many weird forms over the years and honestly - I don't really know what I'm doing with it. Originally, I wanted to blog about being a nurse and provide insight for others who wanted to go into nursing. But then, I got busy with....being a nurse. I tried combining nursing and eating which in retrospect sounds like an oxymoron (your job gives you a one hour lunch? what is that?). Now...let's try to combine nursing, loving food and moving to Israel into one space!! Yaasss...it's finally happening...after 10 years of talking about "wanting to make a change" and "needing something different," I decided that during a Global Pandemic it seemed like the best time to make a major life change. Well, this should be interesting. 

Some people have asked how I came to make this decision. Honestly - it has been on my mind for the past 10 years (actually I mention it in an early blog post which made me laugh out loud when I re-read it just a few minute ago). Israel is controversial on so many levels and not one of the easiest countries to live in. However, I find myself at my happiest when I'm there (the abundance of hummuseria's helps) even when it frustrates me the most (loud taxi cab drivers who rip you off and political corruption...but this seems to be everywhere these days). Overall I love the culture - I'm not religious, but I love Jewish holidays and traditions and I just love the fact that on a Friday afternoon an entire country is getting ready to settle in for 24 hours and relax (dinner with family or friends on Friday night and then beach all day Saturday? Yes, please). You get those feelings in America where there are large Jewish communities, but nothing is ever as good as the O.G. Additionally, I have no desire right now to get another degree so...for me...this is a challenge. I haven't been in school for 8 years so to work towards getting my nursing license in another country and having two licenses and potentially being able to work in two countries...that's a life goal for me right there. I feel a little stuck and school is not where I want to get "unstuck" right now so for me, this seems like a logical next step. 

To sum up the past 8 months - I went to Scotland and Ireland on March 1 and flew home the day the world started to shut down (March 12). I wavered for maybe a few minutes about Aliyah, but when I heard Aliyah was still allowed to happen I remembered back to the summer of 2019, eating tacos with my friend and telling her that "it's really happening this time." I made a commitment and if I don't go now, I might regret it later. I've started and stopped this process multiple times so all I had to do was email Nefesh B'Nefesh (NBN) to open my file back up and voila! All my previous paperwork was there. I spent the beginning of quarantine gathering all my documents and uploading them/mailing them to the appropriate places. Pro tip #1 - customer service in Israel really means "no customer service." So, when you're told someone will get back to you or "we'll contact you"...translation - you better start nagging or they will never look at you. I also spent the whole summer chasing down everyone I needed to speak to or interview with or approve something for my Aliyah file. "Nagging - How Jews Have Gotten Things Done For 3000+ years."

All that's left to do right now is book my flight and pack. I usually pack the morning of or day of a flight, but I'm told when you're moving 6,000 miles away that doesn't usually work out so well. My dad knows this very well and still finds humor in asking me, "So, have you started packing?" The answer will always be no - until about two weeks before when that will be my sole focus. Throw a few mental breakdowns into those two weeks and and probably some hours of procrastination with Netflix and I'll be good to go. Hopefully I'll continue this blog and be able to provide some insight to others who may find themselves on a similar path. Who knows - maybe this whole thing will become interactive, I'll meet some famous people along the way and the next thing you know they're playing a movie about my life at Cannes. Isn't that what every blogger thinks when they start blogging? But, calling myself a "blogger" is flattering myself way too much, haha. I don't think "blogging" involves multiple gaps of years between posts. Anyways, thanks for making it this far and allowing me one more reason to procrastinate from packing :) 

"Country roads, take me home to the place I belong" - John Denver

This past weekend I got to relive a little of my childhood. When I decided to go to nursing school I made some goals of doing "nursing things" in addition to my day job (i.e. volunteering abroad). However, this goal also included helping out or working anywhere a nurse may be needed locally. This leads us to this past weekend when I went up to my old summer camp to fill-in for the full-time nurse so she could have a break. I've done this for a few years now and it's amazing. The camp literally runs the exact same way it did when I was a camper IT'S JUST DIFFERENT PEOPLE NOW. They've made minor changes to the schedule, but for the most part the lay-out of the day, issues discussed and overall ridiculousness is very much alive up in Street, MD. Amazing!!
However, the one thing that has changed....is the food!!! Oh man, growing up we had people from the local town who worked in our kitchen and made three excellent meals per day. They were your typical camp food expectations - fish sticks on the first day of camp with hot dog buns (because how else do you eat fish sticks), macaroni and croutons (nope, you read that right), and juice that was made in a trash can mixed with a canoe paddle (for our immune systems, obviously). It was classic! We loved it! Well, for the most part. But then, a change happened.
A few years back some counselors who had worked at camp decided they were going to take over the kitchen. Before this takeover we had a hodgepodge of some cooks in the kitchen. The food was decent, but nothing to write home about (literally! we didn't have cellphones back then). So, once the counselors decided to run the kitchen, wow! did the food change. They started actually using the herbs and vegetables grown in the garden that the campers planted and making some incredible dishes. Every Saturday night dinner at camp is pizza. Growing up this was a lot of people's least favorite meal of the week (I'm surprised it didn't ruin pizza for me. Seriously). Now - there is pizza on French bread, there is spinach mixed with cheese toppings, dried tomato, I could go on- it's the same, but so totally incredibly different! The counselors now who run the kitchen have higher expectations, care about the nutrition of the campers and realized that it's definitely possible to make elegant camp cuisine. Nutrition is so important and especially for growing kids who are running around all day talking about gender roles or playing Gaga in the MLC. As a former camper and now nurse I'm so proud of what the counselors have done to make such healthy changes. Of course the famous Bean Crap and Thursday night cook-outs still exist, but if you're looking for some impressive camp food - look no further than your favorite Labor Zionist Sleepaway Summer Camp.

Fancy Salad at lunch circa 2015

Changing Direction

Well, hello!! I last wrote when I was two months into my first nursing job and here I am now...about three plus years into my second job! Apparently I was too busy checking blood sugars and changing wounds to continue writing, sorry! Nevertheless, I decided to return to the world of blogging about nursing. However, this time, I also want to talk about food!! We don't often get to eat lunch during the day, but come the weekend or after work...my nurse friends and I love a good meal. Nurses gotta eat and I'd like to combine my two loves into one blog piece (awwww!).

With that being said I can't hold back anymore. My friends and I went to Philadelphia this weekend and I HAVE to share the highlight! We went for an Italian dinner at Ristorante Aroma and it was out. of. this. world. I know that seems like an exaggeration, but seriously, the food was delizioso! We started with octopus, stuffed eggplant and prosciutto with melon. These sound basic white girl, but damn, it was bangin'! I don't normally go for Italian when picking a restaurant because hey, I know how to boil noodles, but the pasta dishes were incredibile! Seriously, at one point we all put our forks down and just savored the flavors swirling around our palettes. Our dishes ranged from truffles on truffles, to giant lumps of crab meat and salmon, to pumpkin and a Marsala wine sauce to gnocchi so fluffy you could lay your food coma induced head on it like a pillow. That's only a fraction of our pasta compositions.....just stop reading and go there! We of course ordered dessert and it was also ridonk. Canolli, chocolate mousse and gellato. I barely had room left in my stomach, but I pulled through like the champ that I am and savored each bite. OH, and did I mention it's BYOB? But don't order the coffee. It takes too long.

Alright so this wasn't the only meal we had, but it could have been! We had started our weekend with some authentic Mexican at Tequila's Restaurant and before we left we had a perfect brunch at Talula's Garden. I was told Tequila's really felt like Mexico (I've never been, but I'd trust these friends to do CPR on me so...) and Talula's Bloody Mary with spicy green beans hit the spot. It was a much needed relaxing and food fulfilling weekend! Philly was pleasantly surprising in the food scene scene and I would totally go back to visit again. Can you believe we didn't even have one cheesesteak!? So, stop what you're doing and go visit. Walk around Rittenhouse Square when the Farmer's Market is open, spend time in a gourmet grocery store like you haven't eaten in days and sit by the pool and chat it up with a bachelorette party from Jersey. You won't be disappointed.

Just Another Day At Work

       Well, it's almost two months in and I feel as though I'm actually starting to understand my job! I say that lightly because some days are better than others and there are still those days when I ask myself, "and why did I choose to do this for a living?"  This was definitely a question going through my head when "Hurricane Sandy" made her way up the East coast. I was scheduled to work only until 3:30pm that Monday, but by that point, some high up person in the hospital (or the state, but whatever) declared a state of emergency and no one was allowed to leave. So, I worked four more hours and did a 12-hour day instead of an eight-hour day. We were still not allowed to leave after 12 hours and were told we had to sleep over. SLEEP OVER AT WORK?! After work I want to scrub the poo off myself and now I'm told I had to STAY? We were given meal tickets so the nurses, techs, CCSR's and SA's on my floor all went down with the 4394598 million other hospital employees who had to stay and ate dinner. We then showered and donned whatever sleep-wear we managed to throw in a bag the night before or morning of that shift. On the other hand, if you ARE going to get stuck at work, at least the hospital has wonderful resources! I went shopping and got a robe, some socks, toothpaste, toothbrush and soap! According to my co-workers I looked like an escaped psych patient. However, it was pretty convenient.  After our cleansing session we went to find rooms to sleep in.  Long story short the eight or so of us ended up in a room in the "historic" building on the most uncomfortable cots ever. I did not sleep well, spent probably a good half hour debating if going to the bathroom would be worth it and then before I knew it it was time to get up and return to work. Which I HADN'T LEFT. The most tiring part of this whole ordeal was that the day after that Monday I was already scheduled to work 12-hours. Aah! 

       I'm really not complaining. I hope it doesn't sound like it. It was a humbling experience to realize how necessary our jobs are, especially because people don't stop getting sick or needing help just because the weather gets bad. It was just tiring and somewhat unexpected. While everyone else was off and staying at home, I was still working and let's not forget...getting paid at least to sleep at the hospital!  We had some co-worker bonding time and it was nice to know that in a stressful situation that my co-workers pitched in to help out and supported one another to get through the long hours.  I know many people had it much worse, but I can only write about my experience and what happened. 

       Overall work has been great and every day I am learning something new.  I’ve hung blood, given an enema, drawn cultures and labs off a central line and have even removed a central line from a patient.  Besides the technical stuff I’ve also developed some nice relationships with patients and their families and almost cried at the bedside when a tube had to be stuck down one of my patient’s noses. OK, maybe crying is exaggerating, but I really did have tears in my eyes! Haha.  He took in like a champ though.  While I feel like I live at work sometimes, I love having a job that I am happy to go to every day and can’t imagine doing anything else.  Unless of course this job was in Israel, but that’s a topic for another discussion J

And The Journey Begins (dun dun dun...)

It’s been about three months since I had my ankle surgery and I’ve finally started working. YAY! Two years and five months after starting nursing school I’ve finally started to put my skills and knowledge to use.  But I have to be honest, I still feel like I go in everyday and have no idea what I’m doing (don’t tell my patients that!).  Apparently, that’s common in nursing and especially for new grads.  I mean, they can’t teach you everything you will need to know in two years of schooling, but Hopkins did try its best.  I’ve been on the floor for six days now.  I’m slowly getting into the routine of floor life, but let’s be honest, nothing ever goes as planned.  Every morning I start I have a nice sheet printed with times of the day and tasks needed to be done.  I fill in some gaps as I listen to the morning report and afterwards I move to a computer to check any other orders, meds, vitals, etc.  This sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Calm, organized and low-stress….yea right J It’s like as soon as patients know report is over and the new shift of nurses is ready, the call bells start ringing and everyone needs their medicine. At the same time.  Until nurses can clone themselves we just have to prioritize and do our tasks in order of importance.  Not that every patient isn’t important, but if one patient is having an allergic reaction to something and another patient is in pain, pain might have to wait because an allergic reaction can be fatal.  

I’ve learned this and many other helpful pieces of information from my wonderful preceptors! (Shout out to Double A and Big C).  These may sound like bra sizes to you, but to me they are fantastic, super helpful, calm and patient experienced nurses who help me navigate the crazy world of nursing.  For about the next eight weeks or so I’ll be working with my preceptors before I’m given patients to take care of on my own.  Maybe at the end of this week I’ll have some amusing stories to share, but for now, it’s just been shits and giggles (literally. I work on a poop floor).  Until next time! 

Let Freedom Ring

As stated below, this blog is supposed to be about my new career as nurse, but obviously, that has been sidelined due to my recent impediment.  So, until that happens (end of September) I will write about everything else in my life (well, almost everything).

Today I had a follow-up doctor's visit and I was told I could throw away the crutches! I wanted to literally throw them away, but my roommates would rather add it to our collection of growing medical supplies (I told them they should start renting out pieces, but they thought a "Medical Supply Garage Sale" was funnier.  Whatever floats your...wheelchair).  Anyways, in addition to doing without crutches, I was told that all activity is as tolerated and that I can slowly stop using the boot. Yay! Sans running. But who likes to run anyways?

I came home and immediately tore off the steri-strips so I could get a real good look at my suture line.  It's a pretty straight line if you ask me...I am quite impressed. I told my roommates if I am ever to get a tattoo it will look like this: X___________
                                            Sign Here

Get it? The line is my scar! Upon stating this though I got a look from one of my roommates that said, "Uh-uh, I don't think so. And if you do, I will not see the humor in this, at all. And I have a great sense of humor." Needless to say, I don't think I'll be inking myself anyways in the near future because let's be honest, eventually gravity will ensure that line won't stay straight.

For the past three weeks I've been doing my exercises (deep knee bends five times a day for 20 minutes each) to get ready for today!  Now that I'm here though, I don't know what to do.  I had a great schedule worked around daytime television (yes you read that right, no cable in this house) to get my DKB's in.  Now that I don't have exercises to do, I have regained 100 minutes in each day. What a wonderful problem to have.

For the next few weeks I have some social engagements to partake in and look forward to coming out of hibernation to enjoy the rest of what is left of summer.  Who knows what that will bring, but if it's interesting and "blog worthy," you might read it here!

Hellloooo everyone!! Welcome to my new blog.  Some of you know that I was writing for school (shout out to Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing), but since I've graduated, I've decided to continue blogging and on my own terms (read: no editing. yay!).  I liked writing about nursing school experiences, but now that I've been released into the real world who knows where this blog will take me.  I hope to share experiences as a new nurse and any other life adventures that may follow.

So..where did I leave off? I believe the last blog I wrote was about how I was so happy to have graduated school and move on and blah blah blah.  Fast forward two months after graduation and you find me in bed, in July, with a broken ankle and a torn ligament.  True story!! Haven't even started work yet and I'm already on disability (jk jk).  Long story short I was doing a water walk in Israel (staffing a Birthright trip, Hi Alufim!) and I slipped on a rock that had rushing water coming over it.  I really thought I could step on the rock, but then again, I also like to think I don't get scared in the dark by myself.  Anyways, after a trio of French doctors offered to exam me (a psychiatrist, hematologist and a guy debating on whether to go into Optometry or Neuro-Surgery), I got an x-ray. It was confirmed that I indeed broke my ankle/tore a ligament and was given an old-skool white plaster cast.  It looked like paper-mache that a five-year-old slapped on me.  After lugging my bum leg around Israel for two more days I finally was on a flight back to America where I had another doctor's appointment to confirm whether I needed surgery or not (the Israeli doctor very nicely offered to do surgery this week or next, but I politely declined saying that I think by then I'll be back in the States.  Israelis are so generous).  After lots of tears and fighting with the airlines, I also was not allowed on the flight from Germany to JFK (we had a stop-over) and I was forced to hop off the plane and go to a medical clinic in the airport.  My cast was split (in case of swelling during the flight), I was given a salad and then I slept until they got me on a new flight.  All in all I made it back to America Thursday evening where two great friends picked me up, threw me in the backseat, and drove down to Maryland.  All on one leg!

Friday was an early day and by 1pm I was in the operating room having 8 pins and a metal plate placed into my leg.  I awoke a few hours after the start of surgery and even made it home in time for Friday night dinner.  The main thing I remember from that evening is falling asleep at the table mid-chew and then waking back up to resume chomping. 

That brings me up to date.  I was supposed to start work a week from yesterday, but obviously I need two feet to walk on every day so I'm delaying my start date.  Hopefully, my recovery will be speedy and thorough and I'll be back to running around in no time. 

Until then, don't hike in Crocs.  And if you do, know that a bionic ankle might be waiting for you at the end.