Lago de Atitlan

Hello from the Mayan Highlands!

It's been an amazing 4 days so far! I arrived in Guatemala City last Sunday after a mere 6-hour plane ride. A shuttle driver transported me to Antigua, the former capital. I met 2 other students there at Meson Panza Verde (which literally means "green belly", the equivalent of "green thumb" here) where we awaited our shuttle that took us to Panajachel. The trip to the charming town of Panajachel was 2 hours worth of travel through winding mountain roads.

We were met at the dock by Dr. Sinkinson himself who founded the Mayan Medical Aid. After a 15-minute boat ride through the lake, we arrived at our destination Sta. Cruz La Laguna! Family-style dinner awaited us at the La Iguana Perdida where travelers from all over gather. It's the only local nightspot in town.

The walk up to the clinic is an arduous 15-min walk up a very steep hill. At the clinic we see patients and receive instruction in Medical Spanish on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I now know how to use 7 "magic" verbs: tener, tener que, poder, quiero, ir, esta, deber, haber :). On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we go to outreach clinics outside Sta. Cruz. Last Tuesday we went to San Pablo where we treated patients with UTI, bronchitis, conjunctivitis, ascariasis, gastritis, diarrhea, pharyngeal abscess, lymphadenitis, etc. It's interesting that we use empiric therapy here for most of the cases. No labs, no stool culture, no micro ID, no imaging, for the most part.

Tomorrow I will be going to Guatemala City to attend my first worship service here. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow so you can see my view of Guatemala including Lake Atitlan. It is a beautiful lake surrounded by volcanoes that caused its formation. I would have preferred a salty odor that I associate with bodies of water, but the lake is enticing nonetheless.

april

march may be my favorite month, but i just love the sound of april. it just sounds delicate and dainty...

i'm unbelievably in my last month of medical school! i started mailing and passing out my graduation announcements :). i must admit that after all the struggles, i'm pretty excited to be done soon.

i'm not a big miley cyrus fan, but my song of the moment is

the climb.

life is pretty good. we participated in the shamrock run/walk to at least attempt to stay fit :). but we pretty much spend our time being lazy and eating out in and around town. most recently, we enjoyed kopper kettle inn and wheatley's. he also wants me to mention that he's been teaching me how to install pre-hung doors :).

i'm also excited about my trip to guatemala. i have spoken with our minister there and he's excited for my visit. we apparently have 28 or so brethren there and they are all very active. they have services in both spanish and tagalog. i will be studying 5-6 hours away from the city so i'll just split my time in both places.

that's all the news for now. the real reason why i'm writing is that i'm procrastinating ;). i'm on a cardiology elective this month and i'm assigned to do a presentation tomorrow. i better get started on that! later...XOXOXO

my kids

Part of what makes being a Sunday school teacher so gratifying is being able to see children grow up to be steadfast and strong in their faith. I visited the Norwich, CT congregation today. I reconnected with some of the children I taught in my early years in Boston, 16 years or so ago. Of course, they are not children anymore :). One of them, who was only 7 or 8 at the time introduced me to everybody as "my Sunday school teacher who taught me everything". How sweet! :)

the show

here's my song of the moment. enjoy!
lenka

Happy New Year!

Happy new year to all!
I have a feeling that 2009 will be a whirlwind year. I spent most of the day today making travel arrangements: plane tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals. I am going to California this Thursday, then fly to New York on Sunday, back to CA on Tuesday, then finally back to Indy next Saturday. No complaints. I'm just glad that I have interviews :).

hives

i don't think that i've ever been allergic to anything.
yesterday, for the first time i noticed hives on my belly.
i think that my immune system has gone array :).
today, i woke up with hives on my outer thighs.
this afternoon, i got 'em on my neck. i took a shower and now I have hives on the back of my thighs,too! what is going on???
they are not that itchy so it's more puzzling than annoying.
i'm trying to list down some triggers: pressure, cold, hot shower..
drycleaning chemical?? maybe laundry detergent..dogs..pizza??
i don't know...

four christmases

reese witherspoon: 5'2"
vince vaughn: 6'5"

we're definitely watching this movie ;).

p.s. i just saw this article where they said that ramps needed to be built, boxes for reese to stand on needed to be present and vince even had to go barefoot :).
reese and vince

grief

my patient who we had to send to the icu earlier this week came back to the wards last night for comfort care. by some oversight, she didn't come back to our team. last saturday, the last time we were on-call, i admitted her for shortness of breath. she had metastatic stage IV lung cancer. i meant to stop by today to say hello. but i didn't really know what to say. we're on-call again tonight. as i wrote my admission orders and notes for my 2 new patients, i heard wailing in the hallways. i had the sinking feeling it was for her. may she rest in peace...

P.S. So to escape the wailing in the 4th floor, I went back to our team room. Both computers there were in use so I headed to the 5th floor. The door was locked. So I went up one more flight to the 6th floor. A few minutes later, I saw my intern and resident go in one of the patient rooms. I heard more wailing. Another patient has died... The intern was crying too, the team who was taking care of that patient did not mention that he is dying.. One more patient is not doing so well. Yeah, it's one of those nights..

how was your day??

i don't think that i'm the type who would come home and talk about how my day went.
i think that i would like to separate my home life from my work life..
does anybody really want to know that one of my patients is dying?? would i want to go through crying as i tell the story and remember how her face looked as i left for the day? i don't think so..

$160 mistake

Lockefield resident: "Are you lost?"
Me: "No.. I thought I parked my car here."

You see, I now live within walking distance from campus. I'm renting a studio apartment on top of a detached garage owned by a faculty member in our school. Yep, my 10th apartment in 10 months. In case, anyone is counting ;). This residential street is beautifully lined by trees. When I moved last week, the lovely leaves were fiery orange. This week they have a lovely shade of red. Indeed, their colors can rival New England foliage. I've been meaning to walk to school since last week but I've been too lazy. I've been parking in a commercial parking clot close to school. But this week, I thought that I should try to park at my old apartment complex. I was never towed there and I didn't even have a sticker for 2 months.
But today, the inevitable happened. I got towed..

I could really be pissed but I'm choosing not to be. Today has been too good of a day for me to spoil. You know how vocabulary can sometimes influence how people perceive you. Today my medical vocabulary was just flowing. I didn't know where the words were coming from, but I thought I sounded pretty well today haha.

So I peacefully walked home. It was a lovely walk. I really should walk everyday. Maybe the dividend of my $160 mistake would be the savings I will get from not ever having a cardiac cath :). There is really peace in solitude... I wonder though if the peace is partly coming from the knowledge that at the end of your brief solitary walks, you know that there would be someone to join you in the rest of your journeys..

the lovely daughter

right now, my mom is giggling for me. she's tongue-tied for me.
it's too cute :). thanks for all the prayers, mommy ko!

me upon meeting Boris the rottweiler: what happened to his tail??
answer: ummm, they don't have tails..

rolling home

so, i'm back in indy. y'all know what that means.. ;).
this is an exciting day. i see some dimsum, race cars, canal walk, etc..

what to wear? what to wear? i think i'll put on the pink suit.

one more day

one more day until the big test and i can't concentrate..
i hope i can pass it :).

it's 11 AM and i'm still in bed.. what can motivate me to get up today?? i think that i'll go get the triple combination roast pork, soy sauce chicken and BBQ duck for lunch from a local favorite. and i'll also get a tira misu cheesecake. there, that should be enough motivation :).

bless the broken road

so, i'm supposed to be studying for my boards: step 2 CK which is scheduled in 9 days!! i'm supposed to be freaking out since i still don't know much. but instead i find myself watching countless wedding videos haha.

this is the background music for one of the wedding pictures slideshows. this is the song currently playing in my head:


"Bless The Broken Road"

I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you

[Chorus:]
Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

I think about the years I spent just passing through
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you
But you just smile and take my hand
You've been there you understand
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true

[Chorus]

Now I'm just rolling home
Into my lover's arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you.

hot chocolate

I'm here at Starbucks enjoying a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top and a cheese Danish.

Last night, I saw Madame Butterfly at the LA Opera. The minute I stepped out in the courtyard, I was enchanted. There was a lovely fountain in the middle. Couples in love, dressed to the nines abounded. 'Twas a lovely night, perfect weather with dark sunset blue skies. A sense of romance was definitely in the air. And yeah, the production did not disappoint, as well :).

I'll leave you a quote from Puccini:

Chi ha vissuto per amore, per amore si mori.
(Who has lived for love, dies for love.)

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...