An ear infection and a burn

This weekend, the weather was much nicer, so we ventured to Haifa again. We were hoping this time that we would be able to leave the house! We did, we went to a lovely Shabbat dinner at Savta's house and acquired some purim costumes. The next day we went on a hike with Niva and Savta. I (Sarah) had been having some pain in my ears, and one of them was pretty much clogged. As we were hiking, my ears started to get worse, and I started to feel sick. We went home, and tried to figure out how to go to the doctor without an Israeli ID number, and israeli insurance. In Tel Aviv (and all around the country) they have these clinics that are open only at night and on Shabbat, when regular doctors are not open (and it isn't an emergency). So, we came back on the train from Haifa and went straight to the doctor's office.

I'm finding that there seem to be things in this country that are difficult just for the sake of being difficult. This seemed like an odd strategy in a doctor's office. Anyway, we were told to go to room number 1. So, we walked back to the area where the rooms were and we see, Nurses room, room 2, 3, 4. Now, we don't want to look like stupid Americans but, there was no room number 1! We go into the nurse, and she takes my temperature, and Yuval asks if we could speak in English. The nurse says of course, and goes to write down stuff. She looks up at Yuval and barks, "Why would you think I didn't speak english?" She was offended at the question. Now, my thinking is, well we asked to speak in English because that is not the language that most people speak in this country...but she was offended by the request. She did speak to us in English though.

We then waited about 15 minutes and we went in to see the doctor. Again, we asked if we could speak in English. This time, he said no, only Russian. So, we stuck with Hebrew. The doctor looked into my ears and stuck a Q-tip pretty much all the way into my brain. It hurt like crazy. He told us that I had a viral infection in my ears and it maybe had something to do with something in my throat (we didn't really understand that part). He gave me some antibiotic/anti-inflammatory drops to put into my ears. It really hurts when we put in the drops. I am feeling a little better 2 days later.

Now, we come home after the adventure at the doctors and I pour myself a cup of tea. As I pick up the mug, it explodes in my hand and scalding hot water pours onto my feet. I was wearing socks and the hot water burned my foot through my socks. Now, my ears didn't hurt so much!

Yuval cleaned up the mess, but cream on my burn and we went to sleep. It was an eventful day.

Now, we are back in Tel Aviv, looking forward to going to a Purim parade in Holon tomorrow.

We love and miss you!

Sarah