Israel 2026-06

Israel 4,

July 7, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

Today I did my 1st shift on an MDA ambulance. The day started off slowly and ended up even slower. I was with a very good team so the shift was fun anyway. One of the paramedics was doing his last year of training. He had already done his 3 years of military service and then spent 2 years travelling around the world. He is hoping to get into medical school the following year.

The 1st call was reported to us as a drowning. While racing along to the beach, the call was cancelled as the would be patient started swimming. The 2nd call was for a lady unconscious but breathing and lying on the street. On the way to the scene, the call was cancelled as the lady woke up and walked away.

The 3rd call was a terrible tragedy. We were called to one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Tel Aviv. The house was a beautiful white bungalow on a large property that was in the process of being renovated. We were told that a young 22 year old man was unconscious on the floor. The family had not seen him since the evening before. When we arrived it was obvious the man was dead and had been dead for several hours as rigor mortis had already set in. There was a computer with several screens on the desk and empty bottles of psychiatric medications near by. The young man was a Muslim and in service with the IDF. His father was away on business, apparently a CEO of well known bank. The police, 2 motorcycle ambulances, a white BLS ambulance and us in a yellow MICU ambulance were all present but there was nothing to be done except to pronounce him as deceased. I can say no more. We were all saddened by the apparent suicide.

The 4th call evolved an elderly woman living in a hospice. She had a severe history of cardiac disease and had had a stroke in the past. Her medical history, type written on 3 pages was given to us. We made the initial diagnosis of septic shock and did the appropriate management, IV fluids, epinephrine, history and physical exam, etc. She appeared to improve in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. On arrival, she was transferred to the hospital stretcher, placed in an ER room and had medical attention with physicians and nurses immediately. In Israel, I have always been impressed with the efficiency of the medical system when we bring a patient to the hospital.

The last call at 3:00 just as our shift was ending was a psychotic patient who had stabilized so the call was cancelled.

I returned to my hotel and went down to the beach. There were 1meter waves making swimming difficult. I swam ¾ of the way to the breakwater and back twice. Going out any farther would have been dangerous. The life guards were whistling people in if they swam out too far. I then ran 5k on the beach in less than 44 min.

I took a short nap and then went to La Mer restaurant to eat and watch the Egyptian – Argentina game. The place was packed with chairs and tables extending out onto the sandy beach. There were at least 1000-2000 fans present. Everyone was routing for Argentina especially after the incident which occurred after Egypt won their last game. The Egyptian coach ran onto the field after the win with a Palestinian flag saying that the team had won the game for Palestine. Politics are not supposed to be allowed at World Cup tournaments, but the incident was ignored by the refs. Egypt erected a huge high wall between Gaza and Egypt to keep the Palestinians out. I guess that he forgot about that wall. The restaurant was dead silent after Egypt took the lead with 2 goals. I was still hopeful that Mesi would prevail with goals. He did not disappoint us. In the closing minutes of the match, Argentina took the lead with 3 goals winning the match. The place went wild with everyone celebrating and congratulating each other. What a win!!

I struck up a conversation with a gentleman sitting beside me at the table. His name is Mikolaj Zalasinski and is a famous opera singer. He has been invited all over the world to be the lead singer in several operas. He will be singing in the opera, Tosca in the Tel Aviv opera house. He will try to get me invited as a guest. They have been practicing for several weeks. I love opera and will be very excited if he can get me a ticket. He was very impressed that I wrote a book about Israel. Apparently, his grandmother is Jewish.

Love,

Brian

Whistler 2026-03

Whistler 1

March 28, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

This is my second trip out west to ski and probably my 40th altogether. We flew on a direct flight from Montreal to Vancouver, the only incident being that my wife and I were not seated next to each other. The flight attendant offered us chocolate bars and drinks an hour into the flight. I chose tomato juice and wine which I realized was an error on my first sip at 10:00 a.m. They no longer serve food on domestic flights so we brought along our own empanadas. I was able to drink the wine with the empanadas for lunch.

We are staying in Vancouver for 2 nights at a downtown boutique hotel called the Victorian. It is located in a great area close to walking distance to the major attractions. We walked along Hastings Street to get to Gastown which is the older part of downtown Vancouver. When I first came here 40 years ago, there was 1 block on Hastings where all the druggies lived on the street. The area has expanded greatly since then as Vancouver attracts down and outs from all across Canada due to the climate here and the ability for one to sleep out on the street in the winter. For one reason or another we have left a large segment of the population behind in our country. I don’t know the solution.

We walked all over the downtown area. There are an over abundance of coffee shops, all quite cute and selling $8.00 croissants and $6.00 cappuccinos with 18%, 20% or 20% suggested tips. There is a beautiful view of the mountains in the distance and one can see the harbour as well. The beach is not far away. The flowers are in bloom everywhere. Vancouver rarely gets snow and had non this season. Later we met my son Antoine for dinner at a local Italian restaurant. I never take home a doggy bag but the bread was so good we took some home for breakfast.

Love,

Brian

2025-03 Israel

Israel 5,

Mar. 24, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

We found out that it was the Houthis that sent us a rocket on Sunday. I guess that we were lucky. We were in the van and had time to file out and get to a shelter. 2 more minutes and we would have been driving along in the van when the sirens went off. The standing orders are that if you are in a car when you hear the sirens, you stop the car, get out of the car, lie down on the ground, on your stomach and cover your head with your hands until all clear. Imagine 20 of us doing this on a major highway. This is an everyday occurrence in Israel that I have not yet had the occasion to try. I have an app that shows where the rockets go off, minute by minute. We have been under rocket fire since I have been here but I only went into the shelter once. We hear the boom-boom several times a day even where we are.

Today we were up bright and early for work. ‘Hi ho,hi ho, it’s off to work we go’. We arrived in the warehouse and worked on army bags. The bags are 3 ft long and 1 foot wide. We had emptied and sorted the equipment yesterday. Today, our task was to fill the bags. We divided ourselves up into several teams to make the work go faster:

1, make a plastic bag, 2, seal 1 end of the bag, 3, put a uniform or jacket in the bag according to size, 4, seal the bag, 5, bring the bag to another team, 6, place the jacket, the sleeping bag and the uniform in the large army bags that someone is holding open, 7, haul the bag to another place, 8, close the bag, 9, put the bag on the shelf, 10, erase the date on the label of the tagged bag, 11, put a new date on the label of the tagged bag

Did I miss any step? I hope not because they are very strict on precision. An improperly sealed or torn bag can mean a wet uniform for a soldier.

In the afternoon we filed into a room for Krav Maga instruction with a young, well built and well trained instructor. He gave us a history of Krav Maga which is an Israeli developed self defence system. We were going to be taught commie, which is a more advanced method of fighting, faster and more adapted to fighting an opponent of a different, usually bigger size. We lined up in 4 lines of 4 and paired off with an opponent of the same size. He then taught us different punches and kicks and how to parry them away and strike back. We took turns as the aggressor or defender saying in advance what the attack would be in order to avoid contact. It was hard work for 1.5 hours, a 10 minute brake and a second 1.5 hour session. I got through the day with all my teeth, no black eye, no bruises and no broken bones.

I did my residency with a fellow who had a black belt with several dans. I asked him what he would do if he were challenged to a fight on the street. He said: ‘I would run away’. I asked him why? He said: ‘I don’t know if he has a gun or a knife and I have nothing to prove.’ That seems to be rather wise position to take and I will keep it in mind.

After work at 4:00, I did a 6 km run for 45 minutes listening to 60s light rock music. After supper we had a 1 hour lecture by the madrihots on IDF slang. The lecture was great and rather humorous but I was exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open.

This morning we had flag raising and then the singing of Hatikvah. We then received our Sar-EL Volunteer Blue Shoulder Patches. Each regiment has a different shoulder patch. Every time you go up in grade in the IDF or receive a shoulder patch, you receive the traditional punch on the shoulder by your commanding officer. One of the fellows was a football player for Kansas City. The Madrihots really had to reach high to punch his shoulder. The last 2 pictures are the before and after pictures of the volunteers when we received out IDF uniforms.

Love,

Brian