Shalom,
Half of the time is over now. Some of you will say “What already 6 months?”, others will say “I thought he almost finished the year”, what I think is a little bit more difficult.
So, what happened the last 6 months? Well, I moved out from my home, took a plane to Israel, a state, which is politically not the most stable one, met hundreds of volunteers in one day, moved with six randomly chosen people in an apartment, which has no real cooking plate, learned Hebrew intensive for almost 4 weeks, started to work in the children department in a hospital, made a loooot of friends in different ages, ethnic groups and at different places, traveled to nearly every place in Israel several times, improved my French, improved my English, welcomed my father and his wife, welcomed my mother and her husband, welcomed two of my friend, welcomed my sister, discovered, that I have an relative In Tel Aviv, made some “not-so-nice” experience as a jew in the west-bank, learned a lot about medical staff, learned for a medical test in Germany, finally decided, that I definitely want and try to study medicine, learned a lot about my religion and fell even more connected to it and wrote as much blog entry’s, I possibly could write.
Was it good? Difficult. After these months I have to say, that I learned and experienced a lot. I learned a lot about myself, about medicine and about people, their different ways to behave and to think. I appreciated everything I learned so far and I will take it back home, but now I have the feeling, that I am kind of stuck here. Also, I experienced a lot. In good ways and in bad ways. I got verbal attacked, we had a big problem with a volunteer in our apartment and I had a few big desperate hours, in which I just missed home. But I also made a lot of friends, some of them, for sure, for a very long time, I saw different ways to live and to believe, saw a lot of operations, hiked in the desert, experienced and learned how to leave alone and how to take responsibility. As I said, a lot. So much, that I have the feeling, that there is nothing to experience and to see anymore. Of course, that is not true and also, a lot of ex-volunteers said, that after 6 month it starts going even better. That’s what I am hoping to come right now. Do not understand me wrong. I am feeling fine here. My work is great, the people I am working with are great, I have a lot of fun doing music in the hospital, my headnurse teaches me a lot, I get along with my apartment, I travel a lot, especially to Tel Aviv, made some good friends there too, I am healthy, prepared for the test in Mai, doing a lot of sport, in the end I am really fine, it is just the feeling that I cannot move forward. I have to do all this for the next 6 months. I do not want to finish this voluntary earlier, I just hope for something, that will break my weekly routine. But honestly, in the end I cannot complain in any way.
Maybe it is because I have to plan a lot of things for the time after my voluntary. Where will I go, what will I do, when, why etc. I have to organize a lot of things and it is a little bit difficult form down here. Also, all of my friends are going their way and it feels a bit like I am not going it with them. I think that’s also a kind of homesickness. Of course, it is normal, that everybody goes her/his way and that everything is not that comfortable from down here, then form back home and in the end, I am fine with all this, but maybe sometimes I think too often about “What if”. I think that is normal.
Finally, I have to say that, although my written blog here sounds a bit negative, I feel pretty good here and have nothing real to complain about. I learn, experience and eat a lot and I am looking forward to next good 6 months.
Because my sister and friends visited me in the last two weeks and I do not want to write a blog entry about that, because I am doing every time the same thing (tourist things), I just leave some photos for you behind!
Lehitraot,
SK
Comments