Adventures of the day

So let's talk about trying to go to the doctor in Israel. I love the insurance, because when they cover something, they cover 100% of it. No copays or deductibles (at least not that I've been able to figure out or has been explained to me thus far). Okay, so here's a bit of a long story I'm going to attempt to condense for purposes here: I had braces when I was in high school because my jaw is screwed up, and at night I grind my teeth and/or clench them throughout the night and wake up with persistent continuous headaches. After I got the braces off (my senior year of high school, I believe) I have worn my retainers every night to sleep because without them, I clench my teeth and wake up with persistent continuous headaches. I'm talking, headaches that last ALL the day long. Anyway, the retainers fell prey to the separation anxiety of a certain dog that we all know and love. It was while Mary was letting me stay at her house before I moved into my apartment, and the retainers in question were in a case shoved down in a bag, and that bag was in another bag. Not sure how they got them out...but oh yeah, the destruction was accomplished. So I've been without them for maybe two weeks or so (give or take a bit) and the headaches have returned. SO...I went to the doctor yesterday. The hours of nearly everything here are foreign to me - for example, my doctor's appointment yesterday was at 8:30 PM. Whatever. Anyway, the doctor diagnosed me as having TJM.



Catch that? TJM... NOT TMJ. I've yet to figure out if he just reversed the last two letters or if maybe they call it TJM here or what. I honestly don't want to think about it too much. Anyway, he told me I needed to go see a specialist, and wrote down the pronunciation of the type of specialist so I could tell the insurance company when I called them. I called them this morning, and they told me I needed to fax them the referral. Of course, I received no referral from the doctor. I called the doctor and told his secretary what I needed. She didn't know what the word "referral" meant, so I explained that it was like a prescription to see another doctor. She made me an appointment today to go see the doctor and get my referral. Five minutes after we hung up, she called me back to ask why I was coming back to this doctor when he wanted me to go see another one. I (patiently, to my credit) explained again that the insurance company required me to get a referral before I could see the other doctor. I waited around, and when I arrived for my appointment, she simply handed me a piece of paper (written in Hebrew of course) and told me that's all I'd need, and everything should be fine now. I've already faxed it to the insurance company, but I'd be very surprised if that was, in fact, the correct information needed for me to see this specialist. We shall see though.



In the meanwhile, I bought a bottle of Advil yesterday. No lie, I paid 90 shekels for it, which is 20 US dollars. I tried to get the pharmacist to give me the Israeli equivalent, but he didn't. No clue why. Did I mention that here ALL the over-the-counter medicine is, ironically, behind the counter. To get Advil, Cortisone 10 stuff (for the super-morphed-too-strong mosquito bites I've been getting here)...anything like that, you have to get it from the pharmacist. Even some acne medication is behind the counter. Another thing I don't think I've mentioned that is different about Israel...no free refills in restaurants. And usually (not always, but most of the time) the only places that have fountain diet coke (or any other type of soda) are fast food restaurants. So in restaurants, I usually get a glass bottle of Diet Coke - one of them. If I'm feeling particularly adventurous I'll get two...but each bottle is about 2 US dollars, so it gets a bit ridiculous.



University classes start Sunday. I'll have two classes on Sundays and two classes on Wednesdays. I've become pretty accustomed to only having responsibilities three or four days a week, so it's coming as a bit of a shock to my system - "What?? I'll only get to sleep in maybe two days a week instead of four??? What is this?!" I'm exaggerating slightly, but you understand. One of my classes is a statistics class, and I cannot even begin to put into words how NOT exicted I am about that class. No way, uh-uh...not looking forward to it. And incidentally, I'm not entirely sure I'm looking forward to the 15 of us first-year interns being in classes together as we will be. They're closed classes (as far as I understand, anyway) so in all likelihood, it's just going to be the 15 of us. Fun fun. I had dinner last night at one of the other first-year's apartment, and she made an entirely accurate observation as to the make-up of our "cohort" (as the program director is so fond of calling it)...she said, "With the exception or maybe four or five of us, the rest are all really genuinely strange." And it's true. And the sad thing is, that the four or five changes - sometimes from moment to moment. It depends on the day, the mood, and how much alcohol some interns have consumed in the last hour or so.



Ah yes, I thought I'd share more of my current reading material. The big book store here, it's a chain and has stores all over the city, has been having this sale - 30% off of all books in English. I was fortunate enough to purchase C.S. Lewis' complete chronicles of Narnia, with illustrations, for less than 40 US dollars. I've also invested in the individual Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. I had to read them when I was in 6th grade, and even then I knew they were insanely clever and hilarious. Re-reading them has been the highlight of my week. I'm currently on the third one, Life, the Universe, and Everything and should be starting So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish tonight or tomorrow sometime. Fun, fun.



Well I think I'll go now. I've got a few things to do this afternoon sometime, and need to head in the direction of my home. I pray that you are all well.