foot clinic

a few minutes before midnight last night, we hurried to master wong's foot clinic in san gabriel valley. it took us about 20 minutes to get there from the hollywood roosevelt hotel where we picked up another friend. it is a not a clinic per se but a foot massage place. i was expecting the kind you normally get when you get a pedicure. but i was pleasantly surprised that for $15 you get a 1 hour full body reflexology massage. totally relaxing!

they asked us where we are from in their broken english. the three of us were the only customers. we actually just caught them as they were about to close. Philippines. Vietnam. Japan. International women of Mount Holyoke :).

we went to a dessert place afterwards and enjoyed a red beans with herb gelatin slush.
we didn't get home until half past 3 in the morning. i'm supposed to be studying for my clinical skills exam scheduled for next monday. don't worry, i'll study all day today :).

save the date

01.02.2010

teacher's class

i attended the teacher's class today. my friends were excited for me to meet the single male teachers. never mind that i am leaving tomorrow haha. these are the "cream of the crop", as they put it. the future ministers, the future leaders of the church. why do i feel that i am being pulled in a totally different direction?
the 'ideal guy' in my head never seemed to have found me. someone did find me. i don't know what it means.. i do want somebody to hold me.

the end of the suitcase saga

with a few more days left here in san francisco, my suitcase has finally arrived!
i guess, it didn't want to miss the trip to LA :).

today, i got to visit the outpatient imaging center at china basin. it's very close to the baseball park downtown. i took the opportunity to walk along the bay. the view was simply gorgeous. there were lots of people walking, enjoying the fine mid-70s sunny day.

satisfied customer

i finally got the call from motel 6 today. they have shipped my suitcase! because of the delay, they are only charging me $15. so i have volunteered to be a motel 6 endorser :). it's really hard to find a better price. they are everywhere. and of course, the staff is very nice.

for sure, on my drive back to indy, motel 6 can expect my business :).

off to church now...

ramadan

i was just speaking with a friend who is currently observing ramadan. she mentioned that this period reminds her among other things that she doesn't need much at all. i wonder how is it that the excesses in our lives are not as glaring as it should be..
why is it that it's easier to perceive what is not there?

meet for coffee?

who else is a non-coffee drinker?
i wonder what's the proportion of coffee drinkers vs. non-drinkers..

northern cali

i think that i may have found my place :). it's really nice to be around so many active brethren. last night, i had dinner with 2 sisters who are also CWS teachers here in daly city. i'm tagging along with one of them today. she will be preaching in the san pablo congregation. every week, the teachers here are assigned in various congregations. that will be so fun. i would love to be able to teach in different places.

so hopefully, in a few months time, i will get a spot here in northern cali. even just for a year. that will be so awesome!

first earthquake

i just felt my first california earthquake..
4.1 magnitude, no biggie :).

in the big city

i have forgotten what it is like to commute in a big city. i have been "midwestified". :) but i went in today with an open mind. i had to drive to the BART station. take the BART into San Francisco and then take the MUNI to the UCSF campus. total time was approximately 1.5 hours this morning! tomorrow, it should be half the time since I already know the system.

so far, so good. i feel that i am learning a lot. everyone seems nice.
i was kinda expecting that everyone will be intense. but there seems to be quite a nurturing environment. just exactly what i need!

first day in cali

after 4 days of driving, i finally arrived in cali last night!

the lovely santamaria family greeted me warmly. jigo, the youngest of the family, gave up his room for me.

since my travel commenced one day earlier as originally planned, i was able to attend the district's track and field meet earlier today. i took jerika (ate bel's daughter) and lyn-lyn (ate lou's youngest daughter) with me in livermore.

we walked around and i was pleasantly surprised to see a number of familiar faces. i immediately saw ka gaudy and family. gleng competed in the 100 m dash and long jump. gleng even won second place in the long jump event for her age group. there were only 2 contestants :). gemma invited me to the district Kadiwa gathering on the 20th. there will be a special worship service and luncheon for all single brethren in the district. maybe i should start praying to meet somebody haha.

i also saw brethren i originally knew from the boston and philadelphia congregations. i was very excited to finally see bro. bob and sis. sandy after so many years. bro. bob was our minister in boston ('94-'95). he is now the district minister here in northern california. i chatted with his wife for a little bit. i told her of my plans to go to jerusalem after graduation. they were previously assigned in israel and took care of the locales of jerusalem, haifa and tel aviv. she told me that when they first got there, they lived in joppa. remember that jonah went here to find a ship for tarshish instead of nineveh. wouldn't it be great to get to visit biblical lands? i am definitely planning on a taking a dip in the jordan river. she also mentioned that it used to be that the worship service in jerusalem took place in a cave-like structure. it sounded so very first century. but since the jerusalem congregation has grown they had to move to the more touristy area of the city. right now, they worship in a hall above a mcdonald's. it would have been nice to worship in a cave :).

and of course, i also saw PB. he made plans to have dinner with ate mayette and becky on thursday. i met ate mayette in '94 but has not seen her since then. i'm not sure how late i need to stay at the hospital that day but i will also try to meet with them.

so tomorrow, i will start my rotation in ucsf. it should be fun!

'lost' luggage

guess who left a piece of her luggage in Denver?
i thought somebody stole it at one of the rest stops. :)
but motel 6 to the rescue. they will be shipping it to me.

i'm here at boise at the hyatt place. it's a very cute affordable place.
i'll definitely stay here again if ever i'm back around these parts.

kansas city and denver

the church on the hill

it was love at first sight for me when i saw the new chapel of the kansas city congregation. we have about 120 brethren over here according to one of the sisters. this chapel was purchased in december and they are trying to sell their old one. i wish i can post the picture from my camera now but i'm too lazy to get my usb cable from the car :).

this is the first chapel i've seen that is perched on a small hill. the stairs leading up to the main entrance even has white railings. i thought that it looked very romantic.

the worship service was great. my favorite verse of the night, psalm 119:105 - "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." that always resonates with me...

the drive to kansas city from indy was very pleasant and quite uneventful. i just returned a number of phone calls while driving... listened to jimmy carter talk about obama's nomination... listened to the radio.. daydreamed. there was also an initial stretch of highway that i've passed through multiple times in my drives to st. louis. i was a bit bored so i actually started reading a book. sounds unsafe, huh? i'll try not to do that again tomorrow :).

praying for faith

my last patient tonight (also my last shift in emergency medicine) shared that in the midst of all the craziness in her life, she prays that her faith stays with her because that's all that she has. i echoed her prayer. i pray hard that my faith stays with me no matter what.

i found myself in bloomingdale, illinois last sunday. i got lost on the way to the chapel. it was my first time to attend worship service there so i was very unfamiliar with the area. i found myself standing outside of the chapel, the worship service was already in progress and all the doors were closed. i felt like crying. i can't remember missing any worship service since after college except for when i was hospitalized once. i started thinking whether it is a good idea to lock the doors. but i soon realized that in the grand scheme of things, it probably ensures that everyone comes in time for the worship service. i was torn between leaving or staying for the children's worship service. i had a shift from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m that day so i needed to get back to indy right away. i already traveled 3 1/2 hours to get there. i could not go home without even attending the children's worship service. so i stayed. and i am glad i did.

bloomingdale has a beautiful chapel. i was inspired by the children gathering together in worship. i can see the fruits of the discipline inside the church. it is a small price to pay. i always remind myself that everything needs to be done in a proper and orderly manner. if that means that i need to manage my time more wisely, so be it.

i will be heading to california later today after i get a few hours of zzzz. my first stop is the kansas city congregation. i hope that i get there on time. i'll post pictures here. :)

p.s. happy birthday, mommy ko! i'll call as soon as arrive in california..

Hooka

Friend: "Do you want to check out that hooka bar?"
Me: "Ummm... sure.. what is a hooka?"
Friend: "You smoke something fruity.."
Me: "Oh.. ok.. (sounds harmless).

Waitress brings the hooka pipe..

Me: "This does not contain nicotine, right?"
Friend: "Yes, it does."
Me: (Yikes! My lungs are toast!)

playing doctor

most days, i absolutely love playing doctor. i like being paged... "dr. cruz, please call blah blah blah." i love it when i have all the time in the world to take care of my patients. i love it when i know exactly what i need to do for them. i love it when i don't have to hurry and cut them off as they tell me their personal story. i love it when they ask me for a hug afterwards. i love the days when i feel that i have made a difference by simply expressing that i care a lot that they get well.

of course not all days are perfect. there are days that there are so many details to attend to that i have to ration my time. there are days that i resent the patient who is abusing the system. there are days when i can't wait to go home and maybe not come back.

but today was not that kind of day. today was great. and i just want to write this today so that i'll remember that most days are fun. most days make me smile and look forward to the next day.

riding the ambulance

today, i rode an ambulance for the very first time. i was assigned to "ride-along" with medic 5.

here's how i rolled today:



it was an interesting day! we transported patients with abdominal pain, seizures, bee sting allergy, chest pain, gunshot wounds and heat stroke amongst others. for the latter, the paramedic and emt I was working with even made it to the 6 o' clock news. here's the only video i can find in the news websites. i'm the one in the blue scrubs. you'll see me starting to walk down the steps at around 2:50. we went up the roof to "rescue" our patient.

the cincinnati story

i fell asleep before i finished writing this last night..

i have just attended the worship service in cincinnati tonight and it was announced that they will have a chapel of their own soon. the brethren there are in such high spirits. it is indeed a great blessing.

the cincinnati congregation was born in the fall of 2008. the original dayton congregation was split into two. those living north of dayton (~20 brethren) started attending in the newly formed piqua congregation. those from south of dayton (~50 brethren) started looking for a temporary place in cincinnati. by march of this year, they started worshipping in a rented hall closer to their homes.

when i lived in dayton 6 years ago, no other brethren actually lived in dayton. dayton just served as the midpoint for the brethren in the north and south. for the longest time, they tried to compromise on the place where they would buy the permanent house of worship. no appropriate chapel in the dayton area was found. chapels that were looked at turned out to be too far for one of the groups. A
decision was made to split.

and soon enough the cincinnati congregation will have their own place of worship. all glory to God! no more rented halls, no more sense of impermanence, no more searching for the right place. all of us here in indianapolis can only pray for the same.

geography lesson

this past weekend i met new filipino friends. on saturday i attended the first birthday party of the daughter of one of the family medicine residents from my school. she attended UST. i have previously met 2 other residents from UST, one also in family medicine, the other in OB/GYN. they mentioned me to her so she also invited me to the party. on sunday, i met for the first time the filipina co-worker of the guy who owns the house i stayed in last month. they both work for the accounting firm of the department of defense. i love meeting people so i always take advantage of opportunities to meet and make new friends.

i had free time today after my appointment at the dentist so i visited the accounting firm. (i finally had a root canal treatment today for the abscess i've had since february. i've been too busy to get an appointment. it didn't hurt but it's been really swollen! gross!) the place was huge! about 4,000 military and civilian employees work there. she introduced me to some of her co-workers. one ex-army dude asked me which island i'm from. i said that i'm not from an island, i'm from the bataan peninsula. i tried to explain what a peninsula is: one side water, one side land. somehow in my head, i don't have the correct map of bataan. i guess i've only traveled through one side so i've only seen one side land and one side water. the guy seemed offended that i had to explain what a peninsula is. he said that he knows the meaning of a peninsula and it actually means 3 sides water and 1 side land. hmmm, i said that i don't think that bataan is shaped like a square. so finally the marine dude googled the bataan peninsula. so i guess the ex-army dude is more right. i now have the corrected picture in my head. here's the map of my lovely province.