Dreaming of a White Christmas and Pitote

Hold on, I'm actually only day dreaming about Christmas. But at night I dream about pitote and the Urea Cycle and Mallory stained Collagen Type I and cytotoxic t cells.

This is break #5700 of today, my 15th day of finals study period, and the night before my Cell&Molec exam. I'll have Immunology this coming Wednesday then dash through the desert sand to the airport to (God-willing!) arrive home on the 23rd! My room is decked and our hall has homemade felt stockings I spent an evening making instead of studying. Christmas music has been floating through my head since the day of Thanksgiving and I've made every effort to convince myself tis the season - But dreaming of Christmas is becoming hazardous for my mental health as I try to push through these last few days. :)

In case you haven't taken a semester of Hebrew like me, "pitote" is the plural of pita (a feminine word - masculine would be "pete" and "petim"). Only in Israel would a professor refer to the Golgi bodies as pitote pockets. And did you know that eating along with caffeine has an opposing effect? Eating stimulates insulin release from the beta-cells of the Pancreas while caffeine simulates epinephrine or glucagon (released from alpha-cells of the Pancreas). Glucagon/Caffeine dephosphorylates and insulin phosphorylates an entire metabolic system. Glucagon wants to promote blood glucose thinking you're starving while insulin wants to make ATP and store fat and keep you gussied up for the next time you're chased by a bear or something. All of this to say - there is a reason you're 'zingyer' with black coffee sans food. Prime caffeine working conditions.

It's also amazing to me (as I study Molecular Biology to a degree that suggests I am not, in fact, an MD candidate, but a PhD Molecular Biologist student) that I hear the following phrase so often in class: "We don't know much about this yet, so just know the general idea". I've finally, truly reached the fronteir of my education - yet it will continue for the rest of my life. It's like the Cisternal Maturation Hypothesis - mark the information that needs to be sent back to the classroom with KDEL and keep pushing ahead for the output of some breakthrough research finding. Nerdspeak translation again: aside from the next year or two, my entire career as a physician will be filled with not knowing, but adapting, learning, and constantly staying up-to-date in case someone solves the latest educational gap of knowledge.

Last Friday I visited Jerusalem with Irene for Christmas shopping! It was the day after the end of Hanukkah and there were huge Menorrahs all over the city. This was my 4th visit and I was hoping to hop over to Bethlehem, but we unfortunately ran out of time. I'll journey to Bethlehem in the Spring. :)

Every time I go to Jerusalem it is physically and spiritually breathtaking. There always seems to be something missing though. I noticed this most upon my first visit when I was surprised to find my emotional response standing next to Golgotha and the site of Jesus' tomb so underwhelming. The voice of the angels proclaiming, "He has risen! He is not here" (Mk 16:6) stirred my heart as I watched hundreds fall down at the site, covering the dull rock in kisses and blessing trinkets & bundles of candles to carry back home from their pilgrimages. It is THE holy city, but He is RISEN. He has gone up to sit at the right hand of the Father in Heaven and has sent us His Counselor to be with us until He comes again - as He works out His gracious and glorious plan of redemption for all Creation. The site holds unparalleled meaning, but we are not bound by it because our hope is in Jesus' resurrection and absence from that site. With the Spirit's enlightenment and interpretation of my heart, living in Israel for this Christmas season - with the tangible hope in the coming Messiah - and the knowledge that He HAS come - well, living here has forever changed Advent and Christmas for me. It is more hopeful, more full of genuine preparation for Jesus' birth, more joyful, and more real than it has ever been. Goodness, I am so in love with our Lord!

Here are a few pictures from the past months - time is perpetually either moving too fast or too slow (an incredible concept from C.S. Lewis our small group in college shared is the notion that our need to hold onto time lends itself to Someone timeless). These past 5 months dragged on at moments, but now they're over and I have NO idea how!

Recent 3 day sandstorm termed "the worst in 40 years"

Irene next to the only Christmas store in Israel - please note those are Santa balloons (not shown: lifesize Santa statues)

Jerusalem - Next to the Jaffa Gate Menorrah (12/2010)

Thanksgiving (11/2010)

Jordan River in Galilee on our retreat with the MSIH Christian Group (10/28/10)