...we gave up and pulled out a cake...

Storks mating.  When we first got to the nest,
it was empty which is odd for this time of
the season, but then to our relief, both storks
returned to the nest, mated, and stayed for a
 bit.  I took this from my injured post at the
cab of Ichyeh's truck.

This past Sunday in the Golan, I sprained my ankle.  It was a big pain in the butt because my lab partner and I had a lot to do.  We were putting up camera systems so we could remotely observe the storks.  I had built most of the system and done all of the wiring, so I was in charge for the day.  We started out early and after a three and a half hour drive, made it to the Golan.  The lift was there to meet us a bit before 9am and we got right to work.

Ichyeh, our lift driver, was a hero from the start.  He had a strong background in building and was able to provide us skills, suggestions, and tools to make our lives easier and our system more stable.  We all worked well together and got off to a pretty good start.  The residents of the village who I had been in touch with to get permissions for erecting the first of our systems were all impressed by how seriously we were taking the mission, and we had set out to do a really good job.  Somewhere between our electricity source and the point where we would be mounting the camera, though, I sprained my ankle.

I had been clearing chest-high bushes with my leg and making large outward steps in the process.  On one of the outward step/plant clearing maneuvers, I put my I stepped into a ditch that had been completely covered by plants.  The bottom was about a foot down, and when I landed, I was in a lot of pain,  My first thought was that I had just rolled my ankle, but after a few minutes, it was clear I would not be able to just "walk it off."  My lab partner sat me down on the spot, and Ichyeh helped me take off my shoe and take a look at my ankle.  After a brief massage, the assessment was that I hadn't broken a bone, but I also would not be able to work the rest of the day.  They helped me to the cab of Ichyeh's truck, set me up with music and air con and got to work.

My lab partner on his own.

I explained to my lab partner what the rest of the plan was, and he stepped up to the occasion   Ichyeh was also a huge help conveying messages and prevent a few major screw ups.  We came to a point where I had to do some programming work from the ground while my lab partner was in the air.  Ichyeh helped to the spot and brought over all of the supplies I needed.  Then he did a number of laps to the electricity source and back to where I was to make sure the power supply was on or off as necessary.  It was definitely beyond his job description but we wouldn't have been able to do it without him.  I was immobile on the ground and my partner was in the air on the lift working on the cameras.  Sometime during all of these laps, Ichyeh and I exchanged numbers so I could call him when he was by the power supply to let him know when to stop turning up the voltage.  We communicated successfully, I finished trouble-shooting the system, and everything was up and running.

My post for the afternoon and evening...

Success!!

We finished a few hours behind schedule because my lab partner was working alone for much of the day, but in the end we finished and we finished well.  We were off to the next site.  Time was short, and we realized that for a number of practical reasons aside from time, we wouldn't be able to succeed.  It was so Israeli when instead, I pulled out a cake I had brought and my lab partner, Ichyeh, and I stood around eating and chatting.  Ichyeh invited us to visit him in his Bedouin village saying we would always be welcome and to ask for him.  We also found out that he had been working for the lift company a few years back, after five years had left for another job, and had come back today as a trial day.  We were shocked and thrilled by how helpful and capable he was. (The next day, I called the company and compliment his work.)  We finished our cake and called it a day.  Ichyeh wished me well and left my lab partner and me to finish our work.

The system, up and running.

About an hour later, we had checked up on the camera, finalized the programming, and were heading home.  My ankle started to really hurt at that point, and once we got back to Jerusalem, I dropped off my lab partner at the bus station to Tel Aviv, a brought off the pick-up to the lab.  I was met there by another lab member who unloaded everything for us (THANK YOU!!) and took me to TEREM, the emergency clinic.  I don't think I would have survived without her.  At TEREM, I was given a wheel chair (at that point, I couldn't walk), but I was expected to maneuver it myself.  That obviously wasn't happening.

Not the best day, but at least one camera system work!!!

After a relatively short weight, I was brought into a nurse who took my pulse and asked me if I had any allergies.  Without looking at my ankle, she sent me to have x-rays, and then I was back in the waiting room.  My friend had to go ask for some sort of a pain killer because I had been given nothing.  She also had to keep pestering the administration to look at my x-ray.  After a miserable wait of an hour (or more, I have no idea), once I was thoroughly grossed out by snot and germs and sickness everywhere, a doctor "saw" me.  It was so Israeli when I was called back to a hallway where a doctor talked at me for all of a minute in a half.  Luckily he talked at me in a mix of English and Hebrew, but it really wasn't the most informative "doctor's visit."  After that, my friend wheeled me a little farther down the hallway while we waited for someone to come wrap my ankle.  When my name was called, a was wheeled into a nook with very sick babies, bleeding patients and a few other people getting joints bandaged.  It was an all purpose, germ-filled waiting corral and I couldn't be more excited to leave.

After a few questions to the whoever who wrapped my leg, a discharge paper only half filled out, and not even accurately (so Isareli), we went to pay (76₪ because no bones were broken; it would have been free if I had a break) and were on our way.  I left with a prescription for crutches and an air cast.  It was so Israeli that the crutches, though prescribed and subsidized, were not available at the clinic and couldn't be picked up until the next morning after 830am which was inconvenient, but luckily my friend offered to get them for me.

I spent the next day in bed and hobbling around, still not able to put much weight on my ankle.  An hour or so before seder, another friend from the lab came to pick me up and drive me to seder.  I slept at my friends that night a the two after as well, and in the end, I ended up taking a Passover break.  I couldn't hike or travel like I had considered and like my friends were, but I also didn't work.  I have spent most of my time relaxing, studying, and catching up on reading.  I got a nice surprise on Wednesday, though.  It was so Israeli when I got a call from Ichyeh.  He was calling to check up on me, make sure nothing was broken, and wish me a happy holiday.  While it has been annoying not being able to walk, my friends (and Ichyeh) have really come through.  My pharmacy, run by my insurance company, and meant to be extremely inclusive and convenient, however, has not.  My Israeli sprained ankle saga continues (but I think this blog post is a bit long so I'll save it for another day).