My blog title today refers to a t-shirt we saw here in Vietnam. It was incredible. Some things just get lost in translation I guess? Since we spotted that shirt, I've been searching endlessly for one of my own. What a treasure!
So I had one of the most amazing experiences this week. Totally a top 10 moment of all time. On Friday, Julianne (a fellow nursing student) and I finished lunch early and decided to walk to the post office to make our first call home. It was a warm, blustery afternoon around 12:30pm. As we walked down the street the wind began to pick up a bit more and there were leaves and other various debris flying about. Suddenly, I found myself blinded by something. A piece of fabric was covering my face completely and I could not see. I quickly removed the object only to discover it was a pair of men's underwear! What are the chances? One in 10 billion perhaps? And why was men's underwear flying around the city and falling on my face? Only in Vietnam...underwear to the face. We laughed and laughed for a good 4 blocks.
This morning at breakfast I also had another delightful moment. Our fearless leader LaRelle (founder of Medrix) purchased some delicious local fruit for us to try. Quite the variety. I decided to try one called "Mother's Milk." What a name! Anyway, I began to enjoy this new fruit along with some other students. I was almost finished with mine when I glanced down and noticed a small, crawling larva of some sort. Just a little extra protein in my diet for the day. What a treat.
On a more serious note: This week has been amazing. I have learned so much more about nursing and medicine. I was paired up with Bac Si (doctor) Luong for 2 days and Bac Si Thuan for the next 2. Bac Si Luong was the hematologist and oncologist on the unit. Bac Si Thuan is the cardiologist. He was amazing! He taught me how to distinguish between the severities of heart mumurs with my stethoscope. A new skill! Love it. We saw many patients with heart defects that are unable to receive surgery because it is so expensive. It was pretty hard to see. The upside? I was able to sit down with Bac Si Thuan for a couple hours and just talk about his life and learn about his country. We are now friends and plan on staying in contact after I leave. He is an amazing and accomplished physician. All of the doctors here are so hard working and so humble. I've never met a finer group of gentlemen.
Today (Saturday) we took a boat ride up the Perfume River to a Buddist pagoda and then to the emperor's tomb site. 2 amazing sites! So much history. The river cruise was so beautiful. It's so surreal for me. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't on the jungle cruise at Disneyland. It sounds nuts, but I kept waiting for the mechanical hippos to pop up at some point. But no...it's real. There are people who live on the river in small boats. It's incredible. I don't think I can begin to describe how different, but great things are here. I'm in love with this country.
Tet begins tomorrow so today is crazy in Hue! It's like Christmas Eve. Everyone is out and about shopping for last minute items and the whole city is decorated with lights and flowers. It is gorgeous. Each family buys a mum plant for their home. It would would be like our xmas tree. If you want to see some pictures, you can view them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/medrix.robert/Report1?authkey=Gv1sRgCNb28OzN0_vuuQE#. Bob Catherman (the co-founder of Medrix) took these photos. So lovely. They have a huge fireworks display at midnight because it's the lunar New Year. We are going to watch from the top of our hotel. So excited!
So Happy New Year everyone and Happy Valentine's Day!
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