Slowly I ran....

Step by step, inch by inch.  Until I got to, no, not Niagara Falls, but the finish line of the 10K race at the Jerusalem Marathon!

Coolest moments:
--Running with Lori S. as (unofficial) "Team Malden"

--Laboring up Jabotinsky Street (which I decided is the Jerusalem version of the Boston Marathon's "Heartbreak Hill", except that it comes near the end of the race, rather than the middle), and remembering all the times I pushed a double stroller up that thing when we lived off of Jabotinsky when Batsheva and Chana were teeny tiny.....Had I ANY clue what my life would be like 20 years later?! 

--After the race, when I found out that the Marathon uses groovy technology that lets runners put in their bib number and up pops every photo with that number in it.  Pretty awesome use of technology considering there were 40,000 runners.

Funniest Purim Moment

When Shalom Shachne encountered our 5 or 6 year-old friend "The Imp" (this is what we really call him at our house.  I don't know his real name, but I do know his parents have their hands full).  Imp is dressed up for Purim wearing a police officer's uniform and running down the street with his plastic guns blasting.

Imp to SS: "ten kef (slap me five)"
He and SS high five and SS says, "You're a police officer?"
Imp: "YES!!!!"
(pause) and then in an earnest tone, he fesses up:
"but it's just a costume...."

Points for honesty, Imp!  We've been walking around saying "aval hu raq tachposet" all day and cracking up.

And Here Are the Answers to the Two Big Questions

After watching this video about the volunteer ambulance corps (similar to, but not the same one that I will hopefully belong to), the BIG question was:

"Ellen, will YOU be getting a motorcycle?!"

I'll answer that with a little story: throughout the course, I took my weekly handouts to get printed at a local store (discovered the hard way that the ink we need for our purchased-in-the-US printer is not available here).  When the woman behind the counter found out that I was taking a course to be a "choveshet" her eyes got big and she almost-giggled as she asked, "Will you have a MOTORCYCLE?!"  So you can see that it's the big question on just about everyone's mind when they hear that someone is joining a volunteer ambulance corps.  (I was extremely pleased with myself that I answered her [promptly.  And in Hebrew]: "No, just my feet".

The other big question was:

"Nu, did you pass the final exam?!"

And, baruch HaShem, I am extremely thankful to share that I did!!!  ("I would like to thank my husband and kids for being so patient and emotionally sustaining me, and the pretzel industry for physically sustaining me throughout the long months....").

Which leads to the last question:

"So when do you start?"

Answer: no time soon.  Before the all-women's unit can get off the ground, each of us has to do 6 days interning with a private ambulance company and two days in the Emergency Department of a "major Israeli teaching hospital" (that lots of people reading this have likely donated to), and probably some time with the all-men's crew of the organization we'll become part of, so our unit is not going out on calls until somewhere around the end of spring/beginning of summer.....

I'll keep you all posted :).

Meanwhile, here's a link to the documentary "93Queen" which has prompted a lot of discussion about all-women's ambulance groups:
https://www.pbs.org/video/93-queen-trailer-c8vcbn/
I am beyond-thankful that there was no fighting to join the men's group here--the organization (again, different one from the one in the documentary) approached the women to start the all-female corps.

Most of the women in my course went the opening night of the Jerusalem Film Festival to see the film and hear Judge Ruchie Frier and the documentary producer speak in person.  Here's a photo of me, my course-buddy and Judge Frier:

Note:  Although I greatly admire Ruchie Frier, I am not planning to become a judge after joining the Hatzalah unit.  :)