Sent May 16, 2006
Dear Friends and Family,
While a few of you have been a part of my adventure while I applied to medical school, many of you have only heard vaguely of my plans so…. here are a few details.
I am moving to Be’er Sheva, Israel on July 18, 2006 to attend Ben Gurion University - Medical School for International Health. I will live in Be’er Sheva for most of the next four years and will graduate with an MD in International Health in May of 2010.
I feel increasingly sure that this was God’s plan all along.
- In my junior year of college a good friend gave me a mug she had found at Goodwill - it features a conference at Ben Gurion University and is still in my cupboard.
- During my Peace Corps service in The Gambia, I was repeatedly drawn to information in the Peace Corps newsletter about Ben Gurion MSIH.
- Now I’ve discovered that Be’er Sheva is a sister city to Seattle!
Surely these things all add up to a sign? Or, at the very least, the planting of a very good idea.
As an answer to your questions:
1) Yes, I am very VERY excited to be moving to the Holy Land!!
2) Yes, I’ll need to learn Hebrew. There will be a four week intensive orientation including Hebrew study and then continued Hebrew lessons for the first two years of medical school. While classes will be in English, grocery shopping and clinical work will be in Hebrew (or Arabic or Russian…)
3) Average temperatures are as follows:
Month Avg. Avg. Avg.
High Low Precip.
January 53.0 F 39.0 F 5.60 in
February 56.0 F 40.0 F 4.50 in
March 61.0 F 43.0 F 3.90 in
April 70.0 F 49.0 F 1.20 in
May 77.0 F 54.0 F 0.10 in
June 82.0 F 59.0 F N/A
July 84.0 F 63.0 F N/A
August 84.0 F 63.0 F N/A
September 82.0 F 61.0 F 0.00 in
October 77.0 F 57.0 F 0.90 in
November 66.0 F 49.0 F 2.70 in
December 57.0 F 42.0 F 4.30 in
4) Yes, I will be coming home someday…I am currently planning to do my residency back here, in the Pacific Northwest, starting June/July 2010. In the mean time, I may be able to get home for holidays and will be home for at least part of Summer 2007.
5) Yes, there are many interesting things to do and see in Be’er Sheva. For example: There is a weekly camel market - every Thursday morning! There is also, apparently, at least one small opera company, a huge, old, British cemetery and the Dead Sea, while quickly disappearing, is still only an hour away.
6) Yes, it is safe. In fact, scarily, Israel is much safer than then United States when it comes to homicide statistics… and safer even than Canada when it comes to non-illness/age-related deaths (accidents, shootings, etc.). I will be worried about all of my friends and family in the U.S. and Canada and praying daily for your safety… ;)
7) Yes, I still love you and will miss you all desperately. I will answer all correspondence as best I can and send regular updates.
8) For more information please see: http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/bgcu-md/Gurion.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beersheba http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/places/beer.html http://www.jewishmag.com/61mag/beersheva/beersheva.html
If you know of someone who would also like to receive update emails from me, please send me their email address...
All My Love,
K
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