All of England in one Weekend

Hello hello hello!!!
so I had a busy weekend. some of the Elective students and I rented a car, and drove to Stratford upon Avon, Bath, and Stonehenge. I know, crazy. and it was, especially me driving the car. We had two students that knew how to drive on the other side of the road, so I though I could do this as long as I had a trusty navigator. One of them stayed out all night and was completely dead for the drive, awesome. wish I had that good of a time... the other one was very critical of my driving, had a GPS that sometimes worked, and in general pointed out to me what was wrong after I had decided that myself. The only one that was really good to drive with was the European same side of the street and car driver as I am. If you have an opportunity to drive in England with a car full of foriegners not familiar with the area, I recommend the bus, or train.

Anyway that stressful time aside, Stratford Upon Avon was lovely!! We went to the Royal Shakespeare production of Arabian Nights. I bought the standing room seats just to say I did it. I was mesmerized they could have gone on all night and I would have stood the whole time. However a seat came open after intermission and I sat.

Bath was good to relax in. Beautiful city. I can see why it drew the Romans and the British aristicrats from 1700 on. I toured the Roman Baths, and the temple dedicated to S. Minerva. My Anthropology flag was raised and flying high!!!

We got to Stonehenge 30 minutes before it closed. I decided not to pay the entrance fee and just took pictures from the fence 15 m from the stonehenge, even if you paid you only got 3-4m away from it... lame!! Instead I spent several pounds buying some really cool overpriced stonehenge gear for souvenirs. i got a book for 5 pounds and thought that would be more memorable than the 6 pounds to get into the park. I liked it.

All said and done I am glad we did it all in one weekend because we only had that weekend but I am so tired!!!

Incidently I did make it over to the Eagle and the Child. it is a pub in Oxford that JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis used to hang out and talk about literature. If you dont know what they wrote please google it and really appreciate how excited I was to do this!!!!

Alright rolling into my last two weeks here. I am on waiting lists to go to Haiti might try to go in March. I am not leaving just yet. sorry if I gave everyone that impression.

peace and LOVE to you all

Martin Luther King Jr Day, Haiti, Liverpool, and general life

Hello!! I have happily worked all day today on this US American Holiday! I did spend a lot of time thinking about Slavery this weekend.

I stopped by Liverpool and visited a friend I met in Haiti. She lives in Liverpool with her family. I had not met her 4 year old daughter yet. We went to the Liverpool Slave Museum. It was really fascinating. The whole Middle Passage I remembered from grade school but Liverpool's role as a port town and a slave traders business partners was very new to me.

Audrey, my friend, and I talked about Haiti all weekend. I would also like thank everyone who has asked after everyone I know. I have to say as of today, I have accounted for all the friends that I have tried to keep in touch with that continue to live in Haiti. The last one I heard about was my most important. Ti Gary, my little orphan Haitian boy the house adopted while I was there. We have not spoken since I left but I have just gotten word that he got out of his school before it collapsed and many others did not. He has always been my main reason for going back there.

In addition to all the networking I was doing I also signed up on the Partners in Health Website to return to haiti as a medical student going into general surgery because I can speak the language and would like to help. I have no idea what this will do to my medical school career at this point but I cannot stand by and watch all this happen. MOM dont worry I will work it out!! but I might try to rearrange one of my electives to Haiti.

I am doing well overall and would like to wish you all a very happy MLK Jr. Day and continue to work out injustices in a nonviolent manner. I think that would be Martin Luther King's legacy, at least that is what I take away from that...

take care and blessing and peace to you all.

Oxford in January

I am not feeling great today I woke up with Jaw pain and took some tylenol/acetomenophen and layed down. I woke up in time to call work and tell them I am not coming in. I might try to go to lectures today since they are in the medical school and hospital that I live very close to.
The John Warin Ward is the Infectious Disease Ward. All Cellulitis, H1N1 flus, HIV, TB, and other infections come here to this ward. It is its own little building situated close to Churchill Hospital, I live close to John Radcliffe the ER, the medical school, the women's center, and the main hospital are all at the John Radcliffe. Churchill handles all elective surgeries in all areas: general, urology, transplant... It also has a lot of internal medicine patients, and the ITU which is the ICU. It works well because then we can consult patients better at Churchill than JR. Although all teaching is done at the JR.
We had more snow last night so I think my HIV clinic that I am missing is likely not that busy. I enjoy going to work. I like the group of doctors and I like the patients. They are as always to me, entertaining. The family situations, the personalities, their illnesses, are all unique and I feel very fortunate to be able to encounter them and learn from them.
Last night I went for a walk to Iffley Track and field. This may have made my trip. There in front of the Gate is a sign. Roger Bannister, the first person to run a sub 4 minute mile and then later go on in medicine professionally is an inspiration to me.
Did you know after he ran a sub 4 minute mile 12 more I think did it that year? The following year another 3000 people broke this barrier. Previously it had always been said it could not be done.

"It only takes 1 person to prove that the "impossible" is possible"

I believe that I find that is true in my faith, my career, my hobbies, and my life. I look for those people in my patients, my friends, my mentors, my spiritual guides, my counselors, my teachers, my family. I like proving the "impossible" will someday be possible. Maybe not on my timeline, or my lifetime, but I am working to make it possible someday for those that come after me. And they will need guidance as I seek for it now. It reminds me that what I do matters and I am apart of something bigger than I can ever fathom. That gives me a lot of peace and hope.

Weekend in Oxford

My weekend in oxford consisted of staying here b/c of the bad weather. Doing a "pub crawl", shopping of course, and museums. Incidently the other rooommates moving in were hospital workers. We share this flat with shift workers that live here for a few days while they are on, and then move out until the next time.
The Pub Crawl started out all right. We had dinner at the first pub. I had "bangers and mash" sausage and mashed potatoes. I wanted to say I tried it. Not my favorite in the world but I ate it all now I can say: I had some.
The next pub was fun, with young people, lots of atmosphere, but it ended abruptly when one of my roommates got sick all over the other one. It was so bad, and it might have been a bug from the hospital, food poisoning from dinner at previous pub, or just bad luck. Anyway, I had a weekend of nursing and mothering. It was her first time being sick away from home and mom. I hate being sick and away from what is familiar. So we tried to make sure she was okay.
Today, Sunday I went to the Museum of History of Science. it was flipping cool!! Best part was the exhibition "Steampunk" Show. I kept thinking of my little sister and her art work. It was like History buffs, meets art, and results in science fiction. Really cool. and words honestly cannot explain, but videos can:

http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/steampunk/video-steampunk-at-the-museum/

Tonight I am teaching my roommate how to make Pumpkin Pie, with sweet potatoes b/c the whole of Oxford does not have pumpkins this time of year... and Pecan pie because she loves it!! I will let you know how that turns out!

Another Postcard from a Chimpanzee

Greetings from over seas!! My roommates and I wish to send you warm wishes from snowed in Oxford!
So my first week on the job:
1.Infectious Diseases is the dept. where I am doing my elective. I am loving the learning. I have run into almost all the microbiology pathogens I studied as a second year in medical school. The list is long but includes: HIV, PCP pneumonia, camphylobactor enteritis, TB, tuberculoma, H1N1, cellulitis of the legs, head, and some tropical medicine diseases we had to consider because of some of the traveling my patients have done. Its awesome!! They are internal medicine doctors, so rounds can last from 9am until 3pm. we get pages and interruptions a lot, but really we spend a lot of time considering all the possibilities. that part is hard for me. I am like, done- treat them, next patient. this is good to teach me patience and consider all possibilities, I just dont want to think about them when there is still more work that needs to be done. otherwise I am having a Fantastic time!
2. My roommates, one is from Ireland, the other is from New Zealand. I bet you can guess the Irish red head? and the Korean islander? We are getting along great with one another. I think as I am typing another roommate has moved in, but have not met that person yet. First my roommates brought in a cute minature snow man. He lives in the freezer. Then we had a snowball fight last night, my two roommates were outside of a pub and when I stuck my head out they nailed me in the face with snowball. The group of us in the pub were asked not to bring the snow in, so we left and we were like, "game on..." and it was fun!!
3. Speaking of the snow, did you know it is blizzard like conditions here? we have gotten close to a foot of snow. This is impressive for a city that does not really own snow plows, cut the budget for sanding the streets- b/c it is not really a priority, and no one really owns shovels. I saw a lady clearing her front porch with a garden hoe... just her porch, she stopped right at the sidewalk. Apparently no sidewalk ordinances exist here, because my tennis shoes and I (not snow boots, b/c in England it rains, not snows) trudged the whole mile and half in it this morning to go go work.
4. I am getting a bike, so more adventures to come!! I have mapped out a few rides so I will be able to explore all of oxford and maybe oxfordshire while here. the snow should clear up by next week so I will let you know how that all goes!!
goodnight, blessings, and peace to you all!!!

Oxford 1st impressions

I am settled!! I made it to Oxford yesterday. Joe and Carole drove me here and we picked up groceries, and I settled in. I am liking this. My flat is 99 room 2 of 3. I share my kitchen with 6 total and my bathroom and shower room with 3. I have met one of my flat mates. we walked back to the grocery store for her. she is from New Zealand, she is 23 and graduating from medicine this year too... 30 vs. 23? where did I go wrong? anyway they spend another 2 years doing internship then specializing. I am off to explore Oxford on this cold January day. I begin at the hospital on monday, so I will have to update everyone in a few days. take care!!