Snorkeling in Eilat and the Events Following

What a beautiful day!!!

Last Thursday we had the opportunity to go on a student organized activity to Eilat where we went snorkeling. Eilat is on the Red Sea, and from where we were sitting on the beach, we were in the State of Israel and could see Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. It was pretty rad. Although as many of you know, I had a little injury in the course of the day (which I will get to by the end of this post) we still had a wonderful time and overall the day was really excellent!

Jacque and Romeo goofing off on the bus ride there (it took about 4 hours to get there)

Myself and Kate getting our snorkel gear together :-)

I love how Romeo got himself in the picture when he took it :-)

Van Swag, Lindee, Lindsey, and Romeo

Rachel is really cool and has a go-pro that can take underwater pictures and video, so we got some really neat footage :-)

check it. I'm in the Red Sea :-)

Kari, Rachel, Me, and KC--the snorkeling was set up was such that you were not allowed to wade straight into the water (there was a small wading area for inexperienced swimmers, but the snorkeling was not accessible directly from the beach). Instead, there were two docks set up and you walk out onto the docks and swim from one to the other with the current. There were some buoys set up in the water as resting spots if you needed them--we used them to take pictures on :-)

Ironically, I wore a t-shirt and shorts so that I wouldn't get totally sun-burnt and was super cautious about re-applying sunscreen, because I ALWAYS get sunburned when I go snorkeling. I did not get burned, but I did break my leg, so that seems ironic...

and we snapped some cool under-water pictures

As far as I can tell, that is Kate, Sarah, Myself, ? and Hannah

check it. Red Sea. Moses walked on that reef... I don't know that for sure... ;-)

I like this one

and this one.

Myself and Rachel

Rachel and myself on the dock after we finished snorkeling (these are the steps that I later fell on and broke my leg)

Our group snorkeling

Taylor and Tawny on the buoy

Jen, Amber, and Bethany in the wading area--it was nice to chill in the water close to the beach.

I already pretty much ruined my toms by wearing them in the salt water (I accepted their fate before the day began...) and so I decided to try and get some artsy pictures with them in the sand...

more artsy photos...

So Rachel and I went back out onto the dock to take a few more pictures (which is when I snapped this one) I believe right after I got up from this picture, I was going to walk down the stairs to get a picture with some of the people coming out of the water right then. As I was walking down these steps, bad timing combined with slippery steps combined with a little wave resulted in me slipping and my left foot turned inward and cracked (loudly) as I fell on it. At first, I thought that although it was incredibly painful, it was no big deal (You probably all know that I am exceptionally clumsy and fall over often, I also have a pretty high pain-tolerance). However, I soon discovered that I could not put any weight on it and it started swelling immediately. Luckily, there were lots of people around and someone went and grabbed a few guys from the beach to help get me off the dock...

my friends are all champs--Nikki told me jokes the whole time, Rachel took these pictures (and video), and Ragan and Spencer (and probably others) helped get me back to the lifeguard on the beach...

We tried this HORRIBLE idea of Ragan giving me a piggy back ride. Notice the grimace of pain on my face... that idea sucked...

Ragan and Hunter ended up carrying me back--and actually, carrying me the rest of the day...

I don't have any pictures of the rest of the day, but just in summary:

I got back to the lifeguard station, and the lifeguard wrapped my foot and I had to fill out an incident report. I don't remember a whole lot of details--I was in a lot of pain and I was trying to distract myself. I remember Rachel buying me ice cream and Katie coming over and shaking her head at me (haha--I always get injured...apparently when everyone was running over to the dock to help me, Katie and Sarah Layton were playing cards and when they asked what the excitement was, someone said 'Erika's hurt' to which Katie responded 'my Erika?' and then sighed and continued playing cards... haha--she told me that she didn't want to be one more person ambushing me but she did come see me when the crowd had dispersed ;-})

Then I was carried to the bus (luckily this injury happened about 10 minutes before we were going to leave the beach). Since Eilat is 4 hours from Jerusalem and we were there on bus, I stuck out the rest of the day...We had time to shop and walk around in the town of Eilat, so I was carried off the bus and had perched in a shady spot and had some nice reading time :-) It was a beautiful day! I actually really enjoyed the quite time (and I had a few people who chose to stay with me, so that was fun)

Then we went to a Kibbutz for dinner (and delicious ice cream) and then I was carried back to the bus again. 

The four hour bus ride back was fine--I watched the movie The Help on my iphone...I've had worse travel experiences than riding on a bus for several hours with a broken leg... 

This is my leg when we were on the bus ride home

We got back to the center and I was carried down to my room (the center has 8 floors, you enter at the top and there are stairs all the way down, however, there are two elevators that reach down to the 5th floor. My room is on the 3rd floor). Dr. Bench, the center's volunteer doctor, was gone that night--his son was in town, so they were in Jordan visiting Petra--but luckily, Dr. Clayton (He and his wife arrived a few weeks ago and they are the new music service couple--many aspects of the JC are run by several different volunteer couples) was here, so he came in and re-wrapped my foot and helped me figure out crutches and gave me some Tylenol (a friend here offered me her prescription for some heavier pain meds, but I politely declined ;-})

So the next day (which was a Friday) when Dr. Bench came back in the afternoon, we went to the hospital and I got my foot X-rayed. Turns out I fractured my fibula, which is the small bone in the leg. So they put a partial-cast on my leg (the back was hard and it was wrapped around in bandages)--apparently only an orthopedic doctor can put a full cast on (who knew?) so the next few days, Dr. Bench was a champ and tracked down an orthopedic doctor that our travel insurance would cover (I am so thankful for travel insurance! It has covered everything so far!). In the meantime, Rachel and I moved to an empty 2 person apartment on the 5th floor, so I don't have to do any stairs, and I found the center's wheelchair, so I have been part time on crutches and often times in the wheelchair. 

This is me in the half cast (on Palm Sunday--more to follow on that)

This week, I went to the orthopedic doctor and got a full (plaster) cast put on. It could be worse. I don't have any pictures of me at the hospital to show you (bummer... oh well...) ... trust me, it happened. The hospitals we went to were very nice and clean and all, so that was good :-)

This is my plaster-casted leg (with a sock over my toes). It goes up to just below my knee...At some point, people will sign it.

Overall, I am looking at this as a learning and growing experience. It is a bummer for sure, but I am not dwelling on what I am missing out on. Instead, I am putting my faith in my Father in Heaven and I know that although this is not the most desirable circumstance, I will get through it and be stronger because of it. This just gives me another opportunity to lean on my Savior, Jesus Christ and know that His infinite atonement can make me whole, and my soul (body and spirit) are redeemed by Him. I am thankful that this isn't worse than it is, and I am still so thankful that I am able to stay in Jerusalem for the last month of the program and enjoy the things that I can participate in. I have had such an incredible trip so far, and I am not going to let a little leg injury ruin it for me. 

Overall, our trip to Eilat was so much fun! I loved it and although it had it's low parts, it was a beautiful day and a great experience. 

-E