On Sunday morning Katelyn and I went for a hike/nature walk with Sister Sanders. Not gonna lie, I was kind of shocked by how beautiful Hong Kong was. I never pictured a big city to be so green, mountainous, and CLEAN! The Sanders live at Parkview on a mountain and are surrounded by mountains, AND have an incredible view of the city! And I loved that every structure in a public place has a sign taped to it saying "this surface is sanitized every X hours"...and I have never seen more than 4 hours. Needless to say...Hong Kong was incredibly clean. Anyways...our walk was beautiful! and mostly downhill :) We passed several reservoirs and saw lots of fish and turtles! After the conference we just relaxed with the Sanders and the Gaylees. I loved it. We had a fabulous dinner of homemade chicken enchiladas and fresh fruit. It was Sister Sanders birthday, so dinner was followed with some delicious homemade chocolate cake, compliments of Katelyn and I :)
Monday was a good day. We woke up to strawberry crepes (Mama Sanders is the best) and I just took it easy until we met up with the group for lunch. We went to Stanley Market which was a darling little place, not to mention great shopping! We spent the afternoon resting and watching 'House' at the Lais. Her helper made us dinner and it was amazing! Felt kinda weird though. It may seem crazy, but I would never choose to live like that. That night we took the Star Ferry across the bay to Kowloon to see the light show on the buildings in downtown HK. It was sweet! We kept to our nightly HK tradition of a McFlurFlur before heading home to catch some 'NCIS' with Ma and Pa Sanders.
We woke up early on Tuesday to head back to Taiwanwan. After a wild bus ride of trying to keep our 100 pieces of luggage under control, we arrived at our Taipei Backpackers Hostel. There are two bunk beds in our room that has to be smaller than 10' x 10', but it is pretty great. We made a friend here. Matt is from San Diego and is just on a 4 month adventure to 'find himself'. I think he has been here less than a week and is already getting bored. He was thrilled to be speaking English to someone. Last night he joined us for a night market and the snake market, where they had lots of live snakes just waiting to be eaten! We all shared a barbecued snake and I thought it was quite delicious- just not enough meat for all those little bones!
Today we visited the Taipei Temple, but we weren't able to call for reservations beforehand so we weren't able to do baptisms. I was thrilled to find out they got permission from the Temple President for us to come tomorrow! (they normally only allow baptisms for the dead on Saturday) Who would have figured..the Taiwanese people going out of their way for us...ha, note the sarcasm :) While on the temple grounds we met an amazing woman, Meng Wei. I got talking to her and found out she had been a member for 10 years, and her husband was baptized 7 months ago. Immediately the tears came and they would not be held back. I was so touched by her story and the witness that was born to me that our Heavenly Father does answer prayers. Her daughter has recently returned from a mission and she and her husband are preparing to be able to go to the temple. What an amazing testimony.
I am continually amazed at how much my testimony has grown over these 5 weeks halfway across the world in Taiwan. I am realizing more and more how much our Father in Heaven is involved in the details of our lives. He concerns Himself with a group of nine women cluelessly traveling in Taiwan. He has placed countless people in our path that have had a huge part in the outcome of this trip. Without His guidance and the people we have met, this trip would be nothing in comparison to what it has been. I am grateful for my Father in Heaven, my Savior Jesus Christ, and their loving care and concern for me. I hope that I might become a better steward as an instrument in the Lord's hands that I may have opportunities to be an answer to someone's prayers.
This afternoon Meng Wei joined us to pay a visit to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. I loved looking through the art museum at the traditional Chinese paintings. We also got to watch the changing of the guards. As we parted and thanked Meng Wei for taking us there she sweetly said, "I pray every morning that I might find someone to help that day". How grateful I am that today WE had the blessing of being helped by Meng Wei. May this be our prayer each day, that we might bless the lives of God's children.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
HK Conference
The conference on Sunday was absolutely incredible. Bear with me while I share a few of the thoughts that were spoken.
President Barrett, the new Hong Kong District President, spoke about the importance of temple marriage. He reminded us that everything we do in the church is a means to the end of being sealed as an eternal family. He further explained to the HK members, "there is nothing worth gaining in Hong Kong if it means being apart from your spouse". I appreciated his advice in efforts toward keeping a temple marriage worthy of the blessings and powers for which it is intended.
President Perkins of the HK Area Presidency directed his talk toward young single adults and centered it around the principle that we should never forgo spiritual blessings in exchange for physical blessings. He introduced some ideas about characteristics of Nephi's wife that he concluded from 1 Nephi 7...very cool.
Sister Perkins gave an incredible talk on being willing to submit to the Lord's will in whatever He requests of us. She is an amazing scriptorian and truly inspired me to aspire to a higher level of scriptural understanding.
We had the pleasure of hearing from sweet Sister Oaks. She talked about how she remained single until her 50s but explained, "it wasn't a lonely time, because Jesus Christ was my best friend". What a beautiful testimony. We are so blessed to have an understanding of the divinity of Jesus Christ, but furthermore we are blessed to have the ability to develop a relationship with Him; to come to know Him, who He is, and how to be like Him.
Lastly, Elder Oaks shared an amazing message. He reminded the congregation that he was there to speak general principles, but that it is an individual responsibility to learn and apply what is needed in our given circumstance. I am always grateful for this reminder and encouragement to rely on the Holy Ghost to gain spiritual experiences and understanding. Elder Oaks directed a strong message to the Filipina sisters of the ward. Many families in Hong Kong "employ" women from the Philippines as "helper" to care for their children, clean the house, provide transportation, cook their meals, pretty much to do everything for them and the living conditions provided them are usually less than ideal. Several of the women who fill these positions have left behind families in the Philippines, whether by their own choice or by the encouragement or force of their families, husbands, etc. They have an incredible sisterhood within the church, but are sort of living in a false reality away from their husbands and children. Elder Oaks gave a powerful message urging these sisters to flee from their positions of servitude. He counseled, "Set goals and take charge of your life; only you can decide where your life will go." It was heart wrenching to watch these dear sisters as they were admonished to change their life so drastically, entering into an unknown and uncomfortable furture, but I have faith that they will be blessed in following the direction of Elder Oaks. So often we are encouraged to take action that is out of our comfort zone, walk a few steps in the dark, before we understand the significance of what our Father in Heaven has in store for us. I believe it is through practicing our agency and experiencing the peace of obedience that we come to trust our Heavenly Father and our Savior; it is through learning of them that we understand their only wish for us is success and happiness. Elder Oaks went on to discuss two components necessary to enjoy the blessings of the gospel, holy habits and righteous routines. Holy habits are the same for every latter0day saint and help us to keep the companionship of the Holy Spirit, such as personal prayer, reading the scriptures, partaking of the sacrament, and avoiding anything that would drive away the spiritual of the Lord. Righteous Routines however, are individual protections from temptation. I appreciated his thoughts on discovering what our personal vulnerabilities are in order to construct routines that will help keep us on the path. What an incredible blessing and opportunity it was to hear the words of one of the Lord's servants.
President Barrett, the new Hong Kong District President, spoke about the importance of temple marriage. He reminded us that everything we do in the church is a means to the end of being sealed as an eternal family. He further explained to the HK members, "there is nothing worth gaining in Hong Kong if it means being apart from your spouse". I appreciated his advice in efforts toward keeping a temple marriage worthy of the blessings and powers for which it is intended.
President Perkins of the HK Area Presidency directed his talk toward young single adults and centered it around the principle that we should never forgo spiritual blessings in exchange for physical blessings. He introduced some ideas about characteristics of Nephi's wife that he concluded from 1 Nephi 7...very cool.
Sister Perkins gave an incredible talk on being willing to submit to the Lord's will in whatever He requests of us. She is an amazing scriptorian and truly inspired me to aspire to a higher level of scriptural understanding.
We had the pleasure of hearing from sweet Sister Oaks. She talked about how she remained single until her 50s but explained, "it wasn't a lonely time, because Jesus Christ was my best friend". What a beautiful testimony. We are so blessed to have an understanding of the divinity of Jesus Christ, but furthermore we are blessed to have the ability to develop a relationship with Him; to come to know Him, who He is, and how to be like Him.
Lastly, Elder Oaks shared an amazing message. He reminded the congregation that he was there to speak general principles, but that it is an individual responsibility to learn and apply what is needed in our given circumstance. I am always grateful for this reminder and encouragement to rely on the Holy Ghost to gain spiritual experiences and understanding. Elder Oaks directed a strong message to the Filipina sisters of the ward. Many families in Hong Kong "employ" women from the Philippines as "helper" to care for their children, clean the house, provide transportation, cook their meals, pretty much to do everything for them and the living conditions provided them are usually less than ideal. Several of the women who fill these positions have left behind families in the Philippines, whether by their own choice or by the encouragement or force of their families, husbands, etc. They have an incredible sisterhood within the church, but are sort of living in a false reality away from their husbands and children. Elder Oaks gave a powerful message urging these sisters to flee from their positions of servitude. He counseled, "Set goals and take charge of your life; only you can decide where your life will go." It was heart wrenching to watch these dear sisters as they were admonished to change their life so drastically, entering into an unknown and uncomfortable furture, but I have faith that they will be blessed in following the direction of Elder Oaks. So often we are encouraged to take action that is out of our comfort zone, walk a few steps in the dark, before we understand the significance of what our Father in Heaven has in store for us. I believe it is through practicing our agency and experiencing the peace of obedience that we come to trust our Heavenly Father and our Savior; it is through learning of them that we understand their only wish for us is success and happiness. Elder Oaks went on to discuss two components necessary to enjoy the blessings of the gospel, holy habits and righteous routines. Holy habits are the same for every latter0day saint and help us to keep the companionship of the Holy Spirit, such as personal prayer, reading the scriptures, partaking of the sacrament, and avoiding anything that would drive away the spiritual of the Lord. Righteous Routines however, are individual protections from temptation. I appreciated his thoughts on discovering what our personal vulnerabilities are in order to construct routines that will help keep us on the path. What an incredible blessing and opportunity it was to hear the words of one of the Lord's servants.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Another week...
Well another week has come and gone and I will be coming back to the U.S. of A. in exactly one more week. I had originally planned on blogging more regularly than I have been, but it just seems I can't find the time and why spend all my time half way across the world sitting on my computer, plus my sleep is much more valuable to me.
Monday morning was full of home visits with Fenny and Dr. Lee. In the afternoon we took a tour of the Labor and Delivery unit. You could just feel the excitement being on that floor; it may have been the pink walls with painted hearts, or the periodic cries of tiny Asian babies, but I absolutely loved it. It was interesting to learn that the practice and process of labor and delivery were strikingly similar to in the United States. The major difference was the fact that 90% of births were natural, only 10% of women got epidurals. Interestingly enough, the doctor informed us that the women cry and scream, no differently than in the U.S. Nonetheless, my hopes for a natural childbirth were renewed. It was fun to see a different area of the hospital and I was proud to make it out of there without snatching any of those precious babies, because I was definitely tempted! ;) Katelyn and I were in charge of family home evening on Monday, so we had a nice thought and followed it up with tsua bing! Always a delicious refreshment choice!
On Tuesday the hospital had a huge buffet luncheon for our going away party. The food was amazing and it was fun to visit with the ICU and community nurses as well as the doctors and head of the nursing department. Later that afternoon we took a tour of the hospice unit at the hospital and the department gave us darling doctor bears...definitely my favorite souvenir. I love it! The Taiwanese people never cease to amaze me! Tuesday night we planned a girls' night with two of our best friends in Tainan. We told Jane and Ya Ling the we were meeting at 7:30 for a girls' night and naturally they came all dressed up for a night out on the town. We failed to explain that our idea of a girls' night was to stay in...and do girly like things. We felt bad that the night we had planned probably seemed so lame, but in the end I think they really enjoyed it. We did face masks, makeup and of course...ate sweet potato chips, Oreos, and fruit. It ended up being a really fun night and a good way to say our goodbyes to these wonderful friends that helped us so much while we were in Tainan. Of course we couldn't get away with doing anything for Jane without a gift in return...she brought each of the girls in my room beautiful hair clips. What an amazing girl! She has been such a good example of generosity and love and truly has inspired all of us to be better.
Wednesday was our last day in Taiwan and was full of festivities. Fenny took Katelyn, Sophia and I to the Anping Treehouse. On the way we mentioned that we wanted to get some flowers for Jane, so of course she went out of her way to contact the family of one of her patient's who owned a flower shop. It worked out perfectly and Jane was thrilled :) The Anping Treehouse is adjacent to the old Tait & Co. Merchant House and served as a salt warehouse. It was amazing to see how the pagoda trees had grown in and around the building! The merchant house has been turned into a small wax museum that goes through some of the history of Taiwan, so that was fun...I do love me some good wax statues! We rushed back to the hospital to make it just in time for our press conference at 10am. The news stations and reporters were all there to talk to us about out experience in Taiwan and at Chi Mei Hospital. For some reason they wanted to interview the youngest member of the group, so of course I got interrogated by a few reporters and once they found out I was getting married at 20 yrs. old they thought I was crazy. I have gotten that a lot here though, so that was nothing new...I am over it ;) After the press conference the reporters wanted tons of pictures, so by the time we made it out it was time to eat! Oh wait..that seems to be all the time here! The nurses had football sized mangoes and I think by the time they were gone, I had probably eaten a whole one by myself...they were incredible. We had lunch with the community nurses and basically laughed with them for over an hour straight before we went home to pack. Those nurses are hilarious and I know I will miss them a lot, but I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to work with them, learn from them, and feel of their goodness.
We spent Wednesday night with Kyle and Davit, the guys who took us to Kenting. We had a late picnic in the courtyard outside of our apartment with Pizza Hut (Davit's favorite) and of course more mangoes! We played on the top floor of our building for the rest of the night. Kris and I dominated at a game of pool, we attempted to play around the world ping pong, and Katelyn and I practiced our dart throwing and Foosball skills. It was a fun night and we were happy we were able to see Davit and Kyle one last time.
Thursday we left for Hong Kong! Once we got to the Taipei airport we were told that we couldn't check any bags for our flight...there was quite the outbreak of panic as we all stood there with 2 suitcases each, plus our backpacks, and purses. I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to pack everything from the suitcase I was planning on taking into my backpack. I refused to believe this rumor, so a few of us went to investigate, luckily discovering that we could check as many bags as we wanted...not sure where that falsity came from! We ended up each leaving one suitcase locked up in the airport, so we wouldn't have to drag it all over Hong Kong, but it ended up working perfectly. We arrived in Hong Kong around 5pm where we met the mother of one of Kris' students Katie Hillum. We were originally going to stay with her, but she happens to have guests this week, so being the wonderful person she is...she found other ward members for all of us to stay with. Katelyn and I are on our own staying with Brother and Sister Sanders and their son Jared at Parkview. They are incredible people and we have loved spending time with them. We have the most amazing view out of our window!! We can see all of Hong Kong..it is spectacular! It has been so fun to just be traveling with Katelyn. We have to travel about 30min. to an hour to get to the houses that the other students and Kris are staying at, so it is always an adventure to get anywhere, but we are loving it! Hong Kong is like nothing I could have ever imagined. The city is clean and beautiful and there are mountainish hills everywhere! It is lush and green and wonderful!
On Friday morning we met all the other girls at the Hong Kong Temple to do baptisms for the dead. The temple was absolutely beautiful and it was wonderful to be in the temple and feel the spirit so strong. After the temple we headed to a shopping district, had lunch, and...did some shopping! We made our way to the Lyes' house where Kris and three student are staying. It just happens to be one of the largest homes in Hong Kong. It is five stories, a glass elevator (yes, I did feel like I was in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), probably 10 staff between the guards, cook, drivers, etc., a vanishing edge pool, pretty much everything you could imagine. Oh and it is right on the beach of Repulse Bay. I would never ever want to live there, but it is pretty crazy! The daughter Yvonne that lives there took us downtown for some Thai curry that was amazing! There is about every type of food here that you could ever imagine! A few people were going to go up Victoria's Peak afterward, but Katelyn and I figured we had a better view from our bedroom window, so we got some ice cream, called it a night, and went home to visit with the Sanders.
This morning Katelyn and I made the MTR trip to Lantau Island to see Big Buddha, the largest Buddha in the world! We met everyone else there and took the cable cars over the ocean and two mountains to the base of Buddha. We hiked up many many stairs and could eventually see big Buddha through the clouds. We spent some time walking around the Buddha before it started to rain. I was prepared with my poncho, so I busted it out and being the nice friend that I am, allowed Katelyn to get in it with me...ha ha, how curious. It was a really nice outing though!
From 3-7 this afternoon we attended the branch closing social with the Sanders at the Lyes' house. It was an incredible barbecue, complimented with amazing salads and fruit. I totally splurged and realized how much I miss homemade, American food....the chocolate chip cookies were particularly delectable! Tomorrow there is a special conference at the church from 3-5pm with Elder Oaks! We totally lucked out! I am so looking forward to it.
I am having an incredible trip, but am looking forward to coming home, working, and spending time with family...and of course Tyson. I am continually amazed by the love and hospitality extended to us by everyone we come in contact with. I am so grateful for the universality of the gospel, the goodness of God's children, and the freedoms and lifestyle we enjoy in America. We are so incredibly blessed.
Monday morning was full of home visits with Fenny and Dr. Lee. In the afternoon we took a tour of the Labor and Delivery unit. You could just feel the excitement being on that floor; it may have been the pink walls with painted hearts, or the periodic cries of tiny Asian babies, but I absolutely loved it. It was interesting to learn that the practice and process of labor and delivery were strikingly similar to in the United States. The major difference was the fact that 90% of births were natural, only 10% of women got epidurals. Interestingly enough, the doctor informed us that the women cry and scream, no differently than in the U.S. Nonetheless, my hopes for a natural childbirth were renewed. It was fun to see a different area of the hospital and I was proud to make it out of there without snatching any of those precious babies, because I was definitely tempted! ;) Katelyn and I were in charge of family home evening on Monday, so we had a nice thought and followed it up with tsua bing! Always a delicious refreshment choice!
On Tuesday the hospital had a huge buffet luncheon for our going away party. The food was amazing and it was fun to visit with the ICU and community nurses as well as the doctors and head of the nursing department. Later that afternoon we took a tour of the hospice unit at the hospital and the department gave us darling doctor bears...definitely my favorite souvenir. I love it! The Taiwanese people never cease to amaze me! Tuesday night we planned a girls' night with two of our best friends in Tainan. We told Jane and Ya Ling the we were meeting at 7:30 for a girls' night and naturally they came all dressed up for a night out on the town. We failed to explain that our idea of a girls' night was to stay in...and do girly like things. We felt bad that the night we had planned probably seemed so lame, but in the end I think they really enjoyed it. We did face masks, makeup and of course...ate sweet potato chips, Oreos, and fruit. It ended up being a really fun night and a good way to say our goodbyes to these wonderful friends that helped us so much while we were in Tainan. Of course we couldn't get away with doing anything for Jane without a gift in return...she brought each of the girls in my room beautiful hair clips. What an amazing girl! She has been such a good example of generosity and love and truly has inspired all of us to be better.
Wednesday was our last day in Taiwan and was full of festivities. Fenny took Katelyn, Sophia and I to the Anping Treehouse. On the way we mentioned that we wanted to get some flowers for Jane, so of course she went out of her way to contact the family of one of her patient's who owned a flower shop. It worked out perfectly and Jane was thrilled :) The Anping Treehouse is adjacent to the old Tait & Co. Merchant House and served as a salt warehouse. It was amazing to see how the pagoda trees had grown in and around the building! The merchant house has been turned into a small wax museum that goes through some of the history of Taiwan, so that was fun...I do love me some good wax statues! We rushed back to the hospital to make it just in time for our press conference at 10am. The news stations and reporters were all there to talk to us about out experience in Taiwan and at Chi Mei Hospital. For some reason they wanted to interview the youngest member of the group, so of course I got interrogated by a few reporters and once they found out I was getting married at 20 yrs. old they thought I was crazy. I have gotten that a lot here though, so that was nothing new...I am over it ;) After the press conference the reporters wanted tons of pictures, so by the time we made it out it was time to eat! Oh wait..that seems to be all the time here! The nurses had football sized mangoes and I think by the time they were gone, I had probably eaten a whole one by myself...they were incredible. We had lunch with the community nurses and basically laughed with them for over an hour straight before we went home to pack. Those nurses are hilarious and I know I will miss them a lot, but I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to work with them, learn from them, and feel of their goodness.
We spent Wednesday night with Kyle and Davit, the guys who took us to Kenting. We had a late picnic in the courtyard outside of our apartment with Pizza Hut (Davit's favorite) and of course more mangoes! We played on the top floor of our building for the rest of the night. Kris and I dominated at a game of pool, we attempted to play around the world ping pong, and Katelyn and I practiced our dart throwing and Foosball skills. It was a fun night and we were happy we were able to see Davit and Kyle one last time.
Thursday we left for Hong Kong! Once we got to the Taipei airport we were told that we couldn't check any bags for our flight...there was quite the outbreak of panic as we all stood there with 2 suitcases each, plus our backpacks, and purses. I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to pack everything from the suitcase I was planning on taking into my backpack. I refused to believe this rumor, so a few of us went to investigate, luckily discovering that we could check as many bags as we wanted...not sure where that falsity came from! We ended up each leaving one suitcase locked up in the airport, so we wouldn't have to drag it all over Hong Kong, but it ended up working perfectly. We arrived in Hong Kong around 5pm where we met the mother of one of Kris' students Katie Hillum. We were originally going to stay with her, but she happens to have guests this week, so being the wonderful person she is...she found other ward members for all of us to stay with. Katelyn and I are on our own staying with Brother and Sister Sanders and their son Jared at Parkview. They are incredible people and we have loved spending time with them. We have the most amazing view out of our window!! We can see all of Hong Kong..it is spectacular! It has been so fun to just be traveling with Katelyn. We have to travel about 30min. to an hour to get to the houses that the other students and Kris are staying at, so it is always an adventure to get anywhere, but we are loving it! Hong Kong is like nothing I could have ever imagined. The city is clean and beautiful and there are mountainish hills everywhere! It is lush and green and wonderful!
On Friday morning we met all the other girls at the Hong Kong Temple to do baptisms for the dead. The temple was absolutely beautiful and it was wonderful to be in the temple and feel the spirit so strong. After the temple we headed to a shopping district, had lunch, and...did some shopping! We made our way to the Lyes' house where Kris and three student are staying. It just happens to be one of the largest homes in Hong Kong. It is five stories, a glass elevator (yes, I did feel like I was in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), probably 10 staff between the guards, cook, drivers, etc., a vanishing edge pool, pretty much everything you could imagine. Oh and it is right on the beach of Repulse Bay. I would never ever want to live there, but it is pretty crazy! The daughter Yvonne that lives there took us downtown for some Thai curry that was amazing! There is about every type of food here that you could ever imagine! A few people were going to go up Victoria's Peak afterward, but Katelyn and I figured we had a better view from our bedroom window, so we got some ice cream, called it a night, and went home to visit with the Sanders.
This morning Katelyn and I made the MTR trip to Lantau Island to see Big Buddha, the largest Buddha in the world! We met everyone else there and took the cable cars over the ocean and two mountains to the base of Buddha. We hiked up many many stairs and could eventually see big Buddha through the clouds. We spent some time walking around the Buddha before it started to rain. I was prepared with my poncho, so I busted it out and being the nice friend that I am, allowed Katelyn to get in it with me...ha ha, how curious. It was a really nice outing though!
From 3-7 this afternoon we attended the branch closing social with the Sanders at the Lyes' house. It was an incredible barbecue, complimented with amazing salads and fruit. I totally splurged and realized how much I miss homemade, American food....the chocolate chip cookies were particularly delectable! Tomorrow there is a special conference at the church from 3-5pm with Elder Oaks! We totally lucked out! I am so looking forward to it.
I am having an incredible trip, but am looking forward to coming home, working, and spending time with family...and of course Tyson. I am continually amazed by the love and hospitality extended to us by everyone we come in contact with. I am so grateful for the universality of the gospel, the goodness of God's children, and the freedoms and lifestyle we enjoy in America. We are so incredibly blessed.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Hualien
Wednesday was Jim's last day in Taiwan, so we did our best to fill it will fun festivities for him! We finished up our clinical day with a tour of the mother-baby and labor and deliver unit. It was so fun to see the little Asian babies! I was forced to hold back my baby snatching tendencies ;) It was interesting to learn that 92% of babies are breastfed and that only 10% of patients have epidurals as compared to over 90% in Utah County. My hope for natural childbirth was reaffirmed to say the least. There were some minor differences in techniques and practices surrounding childbirth, but in general the process was more similar than difference and I was surprised that there were not more alternative labor and delivery practices used.
After clinical we went out to dinner for hot pots with the ICU nurses and other staff. It was delicious! After coming back the our dorm we worked on finishing up a short video we were making for Jim. When it was ready we called it down for the showing. We knew we had done good when he was trying to claim he had gotten dust in his eyes...psh. We followed up the movie with a night of beautification including eye brow plucking, real aloe face masks, and a little baguanfa. I am sure Jim loved it. It was hard to say our goodbyes, but we decided to let Jim go, considering he had already missed his first week of class to be with us. We are already missing him!
Thursday morning we were up early and off to Huanlien on the east coast of Taiwan. We arrived there around noon after a 5 hour train ride. We were planning on taking a train home the next day around 5pm, but the tickets were already sold out, so we had to get tickets for 11:45am the next day. We had 24 hours to live it up in Hualien, so we did just that! After trekking through the stifling heat we found our hostel and were informed that there was an American man sharing the room with us 9 girls...ha. We hadn't met him so we spent the rest of the day referring to him as the "man", taking bets on his age, and guessing his hobbies, including the possibility that he was a serial killer. We took a taxi up through Toroko National Park where we looked at the marble canyons, "hiked" to the Eternal Shrine, AND met a couple from SALT LAKE! Coincidence? I think not! Josh and Sara were a darling couple who have been married for just over a year. Josh served his mission in Taiwan and they were just finishing up their 2 week trip! That night we visited the stone market and looked at lots of Taiwanese jade, rose stone, and coral. We also watched some tribal dancing, which I always love. Toward the end of the program I looked back and saw our dear Josh and Sara!!! They took us to downtown Hualien and helped us find a place for dinner and later, a taxi back to the hostel...what a blessing!
We were planning on waking up early to head to the beach, but didn't quite make it in time. Instead we hailed taxis and tried to point to some park on a map as a last resort for something to do, but when the drivers got there one responded "no beautiful" and insisted we go somewhere else. Being in the taxi that had no idea where we were going or what was going on, we were convinced we were going to become the stars of "Taken 2". We drove for what seemed like forever until we came to a Liyu Lake and docks of countless paddle boats! And not just any paddle boats...but dragons and swans and geese! We took out two boats and had a blast! It was definitely the highlight of my Huanlien trip. We were so grateful for our great taxi drivers for taking us somewhere beautiful and for giving us a great deal!
We were lucky to have made it home safely after realizing we didn't pay the hostel before we left, and had to employ the help of two wonderful Taiwanese men to figure out what trains we needed to transfer to, but I was happy to sleep for a good 4 hours of the trip! That night, we spent time with our friend Davit from Kenting. It was great to see him and are looking forward to hanging out with he and Kyle on Wednesday, our last night in Tainan!
On Saturday we met the Community Nurses from the hospital with all of their families for a wild adventure about an hour south of Tainan. We visited a darling village market, watched a ceramic artist make some incredible pots, went to a paper umbrella shop and saw a woman make an umbrella, ate tsua bing, and stopped by a historical museum where we got to paint our own paper umbrellas! On our way back we stopped by a Hakka clothing shop. The tailor who owned worked the store was a Hakka gentleman who was 102 years old and still sewing! I was amazed to meet such an incredible individual!
Today was our last day in the Tainan ward. We sang the College of Nursing signature song "Lord, I Would Follow Thee" in sacrament. While we were riding the bus home, it started to pour. I must have jinxed it after telling my parents this morning that it hadn't rained once since we have been here and it is suppose to be Taiwan's rainy season! Just stepping into the torrential rains for 1 second, drenched me immediately, needless to say it was a wild walk home from the bus stop!
After clinical we went out to dinner for hot pots with the ICU nurses and other staff. It was delicious! After coming back the our dorm we worked on finishing up a short video we were making for Jim. When it was ready we called it down for the showing. We knew we had done good when he was trying to claim he had gotten dust in his eyes...psh. We followed up the movie with a night of beautification including eye brow plucking, real aloe face masks, and a little baguanfa. I am sure Jim loved it. It was hard to say our goodbyes, but we decided to let Jim go, considering he had already missed his first week of class to be with us. We are already missing him!
Thursday morning we were up early and off to Huanlien on the east coast of Taiwan. We arrived there around noon after a 5 hour train ride. We were planning on taking a train home the next day around 5pm, but the tickets were already sold out, so we had to get tickets for 11:45am the next day. We had 24 hours to live it up in Hualien, so we did just that! After trekking through the stifling heat we found our hostel and were informed that there was an American man sharing the room with us 9 girls...ha. We hadn't met him so we spent the rest of the day referring to him as the "man", taking bets on his age, and guessing his hobbies, including the possibility that he was a serial killer. We took a taxi up through Toroko National Park where we looked at the marble canyons, "hiked" to the Eternal Shrine, AND met a couple from SALT LAKE! Coincidence? I think not! Josh and Sara were a darling couple who have been married for just over a year. Josh served his mission in Taiwan and they were just finishing up their 2 week trip! That night we visited the stone market and looked at lots of Taiwanese jade, rose stone, and coral. We also watched some tribal dancing, which I always love. Toward the end of the program I looked back and saw our dear Josh and Sara!!! They took us to downtown Hualien and helped us find a place for dinner and later, a taxi back to the hostel...what a blessing!
We were planning on waking up early to head to the beach, but didn't quite make it in time. Instead we hailed taxis and tried to point to some park on a map as a last resort for something to do, but when the drivers got there one responded "no beautiful" and insisted we go somewhere else. Being in the taxi that had no idea where we were going or what was going on, we were convinced we were going to become the stars of "Taken 2". We drove for what seemed like forever until we came to a Liyu Lake and docks of countless paddle boats! And not just any paddle boats...but dragons and swans and geese! We took out two boats and had a blast! It was definitely the highlight of my Huanlien trip. We were so grateful for our great taxi drivers for taking us somewhere beautiful and for giving us a great deal!
We were lucky to have made it home safely after realizing we didn't pay the hostel before we left, and had to employ the help of two wonderful Taiwanese men to figure out what trains we needed to transfer to, but I was happy to sleep for a good 4 hours of the trip! That night, we spent time with our friend Davit from Kenting. It was great to see him and are looking forward to hanging out with he and Kyle on Wednesday, our last night in Tainan!
On Saturday we met the Community Nurses from the hospital with all of their families for a wild adventure about an hour south of Tainan. We visited a darling village market, watched a ceramic artist make some incredible pots, went to a paper umbrella shop and saw a woman make an umbrella, ate tsua bing, and stopped by a historical museum where we got to paint our own paper umbrellas! On our way back we stopped by a Hakka clothing shop. The tailor who owned worked the store was a Hakka gentleman who was 102 years old and still sewing! I was amazed to meet such an incredible individual!
Today was our last day in the Tainan ward. We sang the College of Nursing signature song "Lord, I Would Follow Thee" in sacrament. While we were riding the bus home, it started to pour. I must have jinxed it after telling my parents this morning that it hadn't rained once since we have been here and it is suppose to be Taiwan's rainy season! Just stepping into the torrential rains for 1 second, drenched me immediately, needless to say it was a wild walk home from the bus stop!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Karaoke to Kenting
So basically I have been awful at blogging. Life in Taiwan has been crazy busy and exhausting, but I am loving it nonetheless. Here goes trying to summarize the last nine days in one post.
5/10: We were forced by our professors to stay up until 11:30pm to give a spiritual thought at a College of Nursing meeting via Skype. The sound wouldn't work, so they could hear us, but we couldn't hear them...it made for some interesting communication and an exhausting day at clinical the next day!
5/11: Karaoke with the ICU nurses. Let's just say I haven't danced that hard in ages and I thought my voice would be gone the next day. The KTV place was really nice and had a buffet in it...love Asia and their karaoke obsession!
5/12: Last day of ICU clinical! We took a tour of the oncology unit at Chi Mei Hospital and learned a little bit about how the unit is run. It was interesting to learn that chemotherapy, and treatments for resulting complications are more similar, between Taiwan and the U.S., than different. Many patients do, however, implement traditional medicine practices as a supplement to western medical treatments and procedures.
5/13: We left for Kenting at 7am. Some of Jim's (one of our instructors) friends drove over an hour our of their way to pick us up from our apartments...again, the people here are incredible. Kevin is a scuba instructor in Kaoshiung and he brought two of his younger students Davit and another boy in his early 20s who we didn't have an English name, so we named him Kyle...so entrusting! On our way down Kevin overheard us saying we were hungry, so of course he stopped. He ordered all ten of us mango slush drinks and these delicious waffles with honey. We ate them on a cliff overlooking the ocean...no big deal. We arrived at the Resort Aloha Waterfront around 10am. It was absolutely incredible! We were the only people staying there, so the owners took us on a tour of the grounds and the rooms when we first got there. The property was covered in beautiful flowers, palm trees, a natural swimming pool, a hot tub, and a wet bar. All nine of us girls shared a room, so that was fun! Although we are together pretty much all day whenever we don't have clinical, I still feel like being in two separate apartments at our dorms is debilitating to our bonding time ;), so I loved the nightly slumber parties in Kenting!
After being awed by our resort we walked a whole 2 minutes down to the beach...it was so beautiful. We had lunch at the resort and then were off for scuba diving! We had a blast doing our first beach dive, but it was a ton of work! We spent about an hour sizing and loading up our gear. Once we got to the beach we assembled our equipment in the blazing sun, pulled our wetsuits over our sticky bodies, and hiked through the rocks to the water carrying our thousand pound air tanks. Our first dive was only about 40 feet, but we saw some awesome coral and fish!
That night we went to have American food at a restaurant further in the city. I have never enjoyed a chicken burrito as much as I did that night. A few of us went back to the resort and relaxed in the hot tub under the beautiful stars as Katelyn and I shared the best piece of oreo cheesecake.
5/14: Day 2 in Kenting was equally as fabulous! We did a beach dive in the morning and saw the most beautiful coral and fish! Aside from falling on the coral as I exited the water with my thousand pound equipment on, I loved it! After lunch at the resort we went out for our boat dive. We completed two dives, I think to about 70 feet. I really appreciated not having to hike to the water with all the equipment, so I enjoyed the boat dives quite a bit more than the shore dives, but they were all great! We deemed Kyle's car as the "party car" and a party it was. The darling boy hardly spoke a word of English, but would do his best to sing along to Hilary Duff and Beyonce...I loved it! That night we had a fabulous dinner in town with the resort owners and our friends, Kevin, Kyle, and Davit. We went to the night market in Kenting which was really fun! People in Kenting were much less surprised to see white faces, because they are used to tourists, but we were equally shocked when we ran into some people from Ireland. We declined their invite to the pub, but it was fun to talk to someone in English!
5/15: We were all sad to leave Kenting on Saturday. A few of us spent the morning on the beach sipping coconuts. We had lunch at the wet bar with all the fish and tadpoles nibbling our toes. It was great! We left our resort around 2pm for a trip to monkey mountain in Kaohsiung. I was setting myself up for disappointment after Kevin told us a lot of the monkeys have been removed, because they are very aggressive. We got there and what I pictured to be an uninhabitable mountain, was actually a lush, green, college campus! It was really beautiful and I was thrilled when we actually saw monkeys....many of them! I absolutely loved it!
We had delicious dumplings and beef noodles for dinner and naturally, the owners of the restaraunt gave it to us for free...there is no arguing with these people! Kyle talked three of us into eating a spoonful of this spicy pepper seasoning, and being the intelligent girls we are, we did it. Not a good idea, but hey, we stood our ground. We got back to our dorm around 11pm and said our goodbyes to Kevin, Kyle, and Davit. After growing so close, it was hard end such an amazing weekend with such incredible people, especially knowing that it is unlikely we will ever meet again...thank goodness for Facebook!
5/16: On Sunday evening we were invited to dinner at Dr. Wu's house, one of the ICU physicians. They had hot pots as well as Pizza Hut...delicious! We followed up dinner with a competitive night of Wii against his 11 year old son, who was incredibly skilled! It was fun to see how close the unit was as all of the nurses attended the dinner. Dr. Chen took us to his home afterwards where we visited, played with his four beautiful children and listened to them play the piano. He and his wife took us all our for mango tsua bing...delicious as always! It was so fun to spend time with Dr. Chen's family. I could just feel of their family's goodness, love, and unity.
5/17: First day of our community nursing rotation. The four of us, plus our two nurses were split into two cars, but we essentially spent the whole day together, which was way fun! On our way to take a tour of a nursing home, we stopped at a nursery to look at flowers. It was wonderful! There was a crate of Mimosa plants and I was infatuated by the leaves' folding abilities every time they were touched. I spent a good amount of time just touching the leaves...over and over again. The nurses were amused and tried to buy us a plant, but unfortunately we decided against it due to the jail cell nature of our windowless dorm room.
After the nursing home, we stopped by a Buddhist temple, had lunch, went to a patient's home and to another temple. It is common for families in Taiwan to hire a caregiver from another country, commonly Indonesia or the Philipines, to look after their homebound family member. It is amazing to see what good care these individuals take of the elderly and their close relationships with them; they truly become part of the family.
That afternoon we took a tour of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Unit at the hospital. I recieved baguanfa, a type of suction cup therapy, on my back and accupunture in my leg and foot. I still have a perfectly round grey bruise on my back, but luckily the accupunture didn't have any debilitating effects- I was concerned when the doctor inserted the 1 inch needle all the way to the hub!
We went bowling with a few ICU nurses, the pharmacist, dietitian, and physician. Naturally they brought us Pizza Hut...ha. I didn't do so well bowling...I am still convinced the earthquake tilted the lanes ;)
5/18: Second day of community. I visited five patient's homes with my darling nurse preceptor Fenny. Our first three visits were with Dr. Lee, but before that we had to make a quick stop at the beach...well of course! We had a fun day full of nasogastric tubes, mango tsua bing, Foley catheters, and wintermelon tea. I love working in the community. Maybe it is because I am fascinated by seeing how people live and what they value, I love getting to know different families or maybe it is for the selfish reasons of boosting my self-esteem, because the people here are so so nice! Everyone we have visiting tells me "piao liang" or "beautiful"; I think in reality they are just shocked by my height and my blonde hair. It took my ten minutes yesterday to understand that my nurse was trying to tell me I looked like "Barbie doll" and now she talks about it all the time (today is was my eyelashes)...so funny! When we were done visiting patients, Fenny took me to Chikanlou（The Chamber of Red Hill), which is a historical site of administration from the Dutch occupation. It was fun to see more of Tainan and great that Fenny wanted a picture of me in front of everything we saw! She is fantastic!
Last night we were invited to a Guao Baba's house, one of our dear ward members. We had the most fantastic curry, pineapple, watermelon, and chocolate BROWNIES (I swear they don't believe in chocolate here)!!! It was definitely my favorite meal since I have been in Taiwan. After we had finished the meal and were discussing the beattitudes, another ward member showed up with three boxes of Pizza Hut...and of course, we were expected to eat it! I was so so full! Apparently people think pizza is the only thing American's eat..ha! It is kind of a relief to know what to expect when you put something in your mouth, unless of course you pick the squid or kimchi pizza :)
It was wonderful to be with church members and feel of their strong spirits. Some of them shared their conversion stories, bringing to light the everlasting impact of missionary work. I was amazed to learn that three different church members were all first contacted by missionaries in the 711...always be prepared! I believe the majority of the ward members come from part member families. I was so impressed by their strength and faithfulness. It was one of those moments where you reflect on your life and realize you have had is so easy, but not without cost, "For unto whomsoever much is given, much shall be required" (Luke 12:48). I am grateful for my membership in the church and the blessings I have been afforded. I pray that I will be able to live up to what the Lord requires of me in serving others and extending to them the love of God.
5/10: We were forced by our professors to stay up until 11:30pm to give a spiritual thought at a College of Nursing meeting via Skype. The sound wouldn't work, so they could hear us, but we couldn't hear them...it made for some interesting communication and an exhausting day at clinical the next day!
5/11: Karaoke with the ICU nurses. Let's just say I haven't danced that hard in ages and I thought my voice would be gone the next day. The KTV place was really nice and had a buffet in it...love Asia and their karaoke obsession!
5/12: Last day of ICU clinical! We took a tour of the oncology unit at Chi Mei Hospital and learned a little bit about how the unit is run. It was interesting to learn that chemotherapy, and treatments for resulting complications are more similar, between Taiwan and the U.S., than different. Many patients do, however, implement traditional medicine practices as a supplement to western medical treatments and procedures.
5/13: We left for Kenting at 7am. Some of Jim's (one of our instructors) friends drove over an hour our of their way to pick us up from our apartments...again, the people here are incredible. Kevin is a scuba instructor in Kaoshiung and he brought two of his younger students Davit and another boy in his early 20s who we didn't have an English name, so we named him Kyle...so entrusting! On our way down Kevin overheard us saying we were hungry, so of course he stopped. He ordered all ten of us mango slush drinks and these delicious waffles with honey. We ate them on a cliff overlooking the ocean...no big deal. We arrived at the Resort Aloha Waterfront around 10am. It was absolutely incredible! We were the only people staying there, so the owners took us on a tour of the grounds and the rooms when we first got there. The property was covered in beautiful flowers, palm trees, a natural swimming pool, a hot tub, and a wet bar. All nine of us girls shared a room, so that was fun! Although we are together pretty much all day whenever we don't have clinical, I still feel like being in two separate apartments at our dorms is debilitating to our bonding time ;), so I loved the nightly slumber parties in Kenting!
After being awed by our resort we walked a whole 2 minutes down to the beach...it was so beautiful. We had lunch at the resort and then were off for scuba diving! We had a blast doing our first beach dive, but it was a ton of work! We spent about an hour sizing and loading up our gear. Once we got to the beach we assembled our equipment in the blazing sun, pulled our wetsuits over our sticky bodies, and hiked through the rocks to the water carrying our thousand pound air tanks. Our first dive was only about 40 feet, but we saw some awesome coral and fish!
That night we went to have American food at a restaurant further in the city. I have never enjoyed a chicken burrito as much as I did that night. A few of us went back to the resort and relaxed in the hot tub under the beautiful stars as Katelyn and I shared the best piece of oreo cheesecake.
5/14: Day 2 in Kenting was equally as fabulous! We did a beach dive in the morning and saw the most beautiful coral and fish! Aside from falling on the coral as I exited the water with my thousand pound equipment on, I loved it! After lunch at the resort we went out for our boat dive. We completed two dives, I think to about 70 feet. I really appreciated not having to hike to the water with all the equipment, so I enjoyed the boat dives quite a bit more than the shore dives, but they were all great! We deemed Kyle's car as the "party car" and a party it was. The darling boy hardly spoke a word of English, but would do his best to sing along to Hilary Duff and Beyonce...I loved it! That night we had a fabulous dinner in town with the resort owners and our friends, Kevin, Kyle, and Davit. We went to the night market in Kenting which was really fun! People in Kenting were much less surprised to see white faces, because they are used to tourists, but we were equally shocked when we ran into some people from Ireland. We declined their invite to the pub, but it was fun to talk to someone in English!
5/15: We were all sad to leave Kenting on Saturday. A few of us spent the morning on the beach sipping coconuts. We had lunch at the wet bar with all the fish and tadpoles nibbling our toes. It was great! We left our resort around 2pm for a trip to monkey mountain in Kaohsiung. I was setting myself up for disappointment after Kevin told us a lot of the monkeys have been removed, because they are very aggressive. We got there and what I pictured to be an uninhabitable mountain, was actually a lush, green, college campus! It was really beautiful and I was thrilled when we actually saw monkeys....many of them! I absolutely loved it!
We had delicious dumplings and beef noodles for dinner and naturally, the owners of the restaraunt gave it to us for free...there is no arguing with these people! Kyle talked three of us into eating a spoonful of this spicy pepper seasoning, and being the intelligent girls we are, we did it. Not a good idea, but hey, we stood our ground. We got back to our dorm around 11pm and said our goodbyes to Kevin, Kyle, and Davit. After growing so close, it was hard end such an amazing weekend with such incredible people, especially knowing that it is unlikely we will ever meet again...thank goodness for Facebook!
5/16: On Sunday evening we were invited to dinner at Dr. Wu's house, one of the ICU physicians. They had hot pots as well as Pizza Hut...delicious! We followed up dinner with a competitive night of Wii against his 11 year old son, who was incredibly skilled! It was fun to see how close the unit was as all of the nurses attended the dinner. Dr. Chen took us to his home afterwards where we visited, played with his four beautiful children and listened to them play the piano. He and his wife took us all our for mango tsua bing...delicious as always! It was so fun to spend time with Dr. Chen's family. I could just feel of their family's goodness, love, and unity.
5/17: First day of our community nursing rotation. The four of us, plus our two nurses were split into two cars, but we essentially spent the whole day together, which was way fun! On our way to take a tour of a nursing home, we stopped at a nursery to look at flowers. It was wonderful! There was a crate of Mimosa plants and I was infatuated by the leaves' folding abilities every time they were touched. I spent a good amount of time just touching the leaves...over and over again. The nurses were amused and tried to buy us a plant, but unfortunately we decided against it due to the jail cell nature of our windowless dorm room.
After the nursing home, we stopped by a Buddhist temple, had lunch, went to a patient's home and to another temple. It is common for families in Taiwan to hire a caregiver from another country, commonly Indonesia or the Philipines, to look after their homebound family member. It is amazing to see what good care these individuals take of the elderly and their close relationships with them; they truly become part of the family.
That afternoon we took a tour of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Unit at the hospital. I recieved baguanfa, a type of suction cup therapy, on my back and accupunture in my leg and foot. I still have a perfectly round grey bruise on my back, but luckily the accupunture didn't have any debilitating effects- I was concerned when the doctor inserted the 1 inch needle all the way to the hub!
We went bowling with a few ICU nurses, the pharmacist, dietitian, and physician. Naturally they brought us Pizza Hut...ha. I didn't do so well bowling...I am still convinced the earthquake tilted the lanes ;)
5/18: Second day of community. I visited five patient's homes with my darling nurse preceptor Fenny. Our first three visits were with Dr. Lee, but before that we had to make a quick stop at the beach...well of course! We had a fun day full of nasogastric tubes, mango tsua bing, Foley catheters, and wintermelon tea. I love working in the community. Maybe it is because I am fascinated by seeing how people live and what they value, I love getting to know different families or maybe it is for the selfish reasons of boosting my self-esteem, because the people here are so so nice! Everyone we have visiting tells me "piao liang" or "beautiful"; I think in reality they are just shocked by my height and my blonde hair. It took my ten minutes yesterday to understand that my nurse was trying to tell me I looked like "Barbie doll" and now she talks about it all the time (today is was my eyelashes)...so funny! When we were done visiting patients, Fenny took me to Chikanlou（The Chamber of Red Hill), which is a historical site of administration from the Dutch occupation. It was fun to see more of Tainan and great that Fenny wanted a picture of me in front of everything we saw! She is fantastic!
Last night we were invited to a Guao Baba's house, one of our dear ward members. We had the most fantastic curry, pineapple, watermelon, and chocolate BROWNIES (I swear they don't believe in chocolate here)!!! It was definitely my favorite meal since I have been in Taiwan. After we had finished the meal and were discussing the beattitudes, another ward member showed up with three boxes of Pizza Hut...and of course, we were expected to eat it! I was so so full! Apparently people think pizza is the only thing American's eat..ha! It is kind of a relief to know what to expect when you put something in your mouth, unless of course you pick the squid or kimchi pizza :)
It was wonderful to be with church members and feel of their strong spirits. Some of them shared their conversion stories, bringing to light the everlasting impact of missionary work. I was amazed to learn that three different church members were all first contacted by missionaries in the 711...always be prepared! I believe the majority of the ward members come from part member families. I was so impressed by their strength and faithfulness. It was one of those moments where you reflect on your life and realize you have had is so easy, but not without cost, "For unto whomsoever much is given, much shall be required" (Luke 12:48). I am grateful for my membership in the church and the blessings I have been afforded. I pray that I will be able to live up to what the Lord requires of me in serving others and extending to them the love of God.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Nurses Day and Alishan
Friday was Nurses Day and we were invited to the celebration at the hospital. We had heard reports, by students last year, of risque dancing by the nurses, so we weren't really sure what to expect. It wasn't quite as wild, but was funny to see that the sense of humor here isn't much different from the U.S., although I can't necessarily see people dressed up in wigs and goofy costumes to perform skits in from of the nursing staff at a hospital wide function going over well in America. The entire program was in Chinese, so I didn't understand a word of it, except for the occasional "BYU" that was uttered amidst a Chinese welcome to us. After the program we had a delicious lunch followed by tsua bing, which I can already tell I will miss most when I come home! When we got home we played pool until we went out for dinner and then just relaxed and went to bed! We are planning on becoming quite the pool sharks!
We woke up early early to be ready to go by 7am on Saturday. We were off on an adventure to see Alishan National Forest. We took about an hour train ride to the base of the mountain where we found a man willing to take us up it in a van! It seems you can trust anyone here in Taiwan :) It was a 2 or 3 hour drive, but it was absolutely beautiful! It was so wonderful to get out of the city, breath some fresh air, and for once, not be sweaty! It was actually quite cold! It was so lush and green and beautiful...I just loved it. We didn't spend a whole lot of time at the top of the mountain, but we had lunch and watched some Aboriginal tribal dancing, which I loved! I had taken a motion sickness pill on the way up, because it was the bumpiest, windiest road EVER, so I zonked out the whole way down the mountain and on the train back home...where we got more tsua bing for dinner (I actually feel like it is definitely one of the healthiest meal choices here- I have been surprised by how much of their food is greasy or fried).
Today was another wonderful church experience, even though I was too far away from the interpreter to hear. It is always wonderful to feel the spirit of these beautiful, humble Chinese saints. After the primary sang their Mother's Day songs...pink and red carnations were passed out to all of the women. I was happy to find out this seems to be a universal practice. Happy Mother's Day to everyone! You are all incredible women and I feel blessed to know you!
We woke up early early to be ready to go by 7am on Saturday. We were off on an adventure to see Alishan National Forest. We took about an hour train ride to the base of the mountain where we found a man willing to take us up it in a van! It seems you can trust anyone here in Taiwan :) It was a 2 or 3 hour drive, but it was absolutely beautiful! It was so wonderful to get out of the city, breath some fresh air, and for once, not be sweaty! It was actually quite cold! It was so lush and green and beautiful...I just loved it. We didn't spend a whole lot of time at the top of the mountain, but we had lunch and watched some Aboriginal tribal dancing, which I loved! I had taken a motion sickness pill on the way up, because it was the bumpiest, windiest road EVER, so I zonked out the whole way down the mountain and on the train back home...where we got more tsua bing for dinner (I actually feel like it is definitely one of the healthiest meal choices here- I have been surprised by how much of their food is greasy or fried).
Today was another wonderful church experience, even though I was too far away from the interpreter to hear. It is always wonderful to feel the spirit of these beautiful, humble Chinese saints. After the primary sang their Mother's Day songs...pink and red carnations were passed out to all of the women. I was happy to find out this seems to be a universal practice. Happy Mother's Day to everyone! You are all incredible women and I feel blessed to know you!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Wo ai ni!
Well I finished my first three day clinical week and I am thrilled about these four day weekends! It's fabulous! I am working in the Intensive Care Unit at Chi Mei Medical Center for these first two weeks and then I will be working with community nurses my last two weeks here. I have really enjoyed it so far! I learned a ton about Taiwanese culture from my nurse, Yao Ling, the nurse practitioner, and some of the doctors. The doctors here are so nice! They love for us to participate in rounds and even ask our opinions! That never happens in the US...ha. Yesterday there was a patient who had all four fingers cut off his left hand, and his right hand was severed completely at the palm, but was repaired. I can't imagine waking up in such a debilitating condition. One of my favorite things about the ICU is that they use squeaky dog toys as call lights to get the nurses attention...love it! I have gotten some good nursing practice with lots of feedings, med administration, and got to put in a nasopharyngeal airway for the first time yesterday!
By the time we get home after clinical we are all pretty exhausted, but still find energy to go out and do fun things. On Tuesday night we went to the movie theater and saw Iron Man. They had sweet and salty mixed popcorn...so delicious! The previews were all in Chinese and I was preparing myself to take a nap during the movie, but alas! The movie started and was in English with Chinese subtitles...so relieved. I also had a salad that night and it was probably the most healthy thing I have eaten since I got here. I have been shocked at how greasy some of the food is and how many things are fried! I am doing my best to eat healthy though and still keeping up with my workout goals.
Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity of eating coagulated pork blood. It was absolutely disgusting and I don't recommend it to anyone. I also bit of the head of a fish, which actually wasn't too bad...tasted fishy! All the staff in the ICU brings different foods for us to try each day, so it is always an excited time. Sesame egg rolls...fried yam balls...green mango...bamboo. There is a women on the street behind the hospital that makes sweet potato chips...they are incredible and I will definitely be stocking up on them to bring home. My other favorite thing to eat is pineapple and I can often be found eating it. I can already feel myself missing amazing fresh fruit everyday when I go home.
Last night we went to a baseball game...the Taiwanese Lions. I had such a blast. There weren't too many people there, but the crowd went wild the entire game. Not just after a good hit, but literally the whole game...drums, chanting, noisemakers. We probably got almost 20 minutes of jumbotron time. It is funny to see how fascinated people are by us crazy Americans...I love it! Tonight we are off to the night market again and I am preparing myself mentally to be force fed stinky tofu...wish me luck!
By the time we get home after clinical we are all pretty exhausted, but still find energy to go out and do fun things. On Tuesday night we went to the movie theater and saw Iron Man. They had sweet and salty mixed popcorn...so delicious! The previews were all in Chinese and I was preparing myself to take a nap during the movie, but alas! The movie started and was in English with Chinese subtitles...so relieved. I also had a salad that night and it was probably the most healthy thing I have eaten since I got here. I have been shocked at how greasy some of the food is and how many things are fried! I am doing my best to eat healthy though and still keeping up with my workout goals.
Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity of eating coagulated pork blood. It was absolutely disgusting and I don't recommend it to anyone. I also bit of the head of a fish, which actually wasn't too bad...tasted fishy! All the staff in the ICU brings different foods for us to try each day, so it is always an excited time. Sesame egg rolls...fried yam balls...green mango...bamboo. There is a women on the street behind the hospital that makes sweet potato chips...they are incredible and I will definitely be stocking up on them to bring home. My other favorite thing to eat is pineapple and I can often be found eating it. I can already feel myself missing amazing fresh fruit everyday when I go home.
Last night we went to a baseball game...the Taiwanese Lions. I had such a blast. There weren't too many people there, but the crowd went wild the entire game. Not just after a good hit, but literally the whole game...drums, chanting, noisemakers. We probably got almost 20 minutes of jumbotron time. It is funny to see how fascinated people are by us crazy Americans...I love it! Tonight we are off to the night market again and I am preparing myself mentally to be force fed stinky tofu...wish me luck!
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