Yo estoy a casa.

Yesterday was one of those days that just doesn't go as planned, but Praise the Lord it still found me asleep in Gridley, IL at the end of it.

1) Flight took off and I didn't even mind as we left WARM GDL behind knowing I was headed for Illinois. But about 30 minutes into the flight I noticed that the sun had switched sides of the planes. hmmmmm... Sure enough, some minutes later the Pilot came on the intercom to let us know that we had turned around and were headed back to GDL. One of the computer screens was saying there was a malfunction. They didn't know what the malfunction was, but since we were closest to GDL we were headed back for maintenance. I had kind of stopped caring after hearing "regresamos a Guadalajara." (returning to Guadalajara). Noooooooooo. Back in GDL we unloaded the malfunctioning plane and directly loaded a different plane. Got to Chicago just about 2 hours late. Unfortunately,
arrival boards in Chicago hadn't been updated with the delay. Not cool. Not cool. Especially for my parents. :(

2) Finally reunited with Mom and Dad! Yay!! I took some great big deep breaths to finally be home. And just to celebrate we three went on an adventure!!! Taking the long way home! The never-before-seen-long way home!! :) Yay for accidental
spontaneity!! :)

Hasta!

Yo estoy dando prisa.

I'm all itchy, antsy and impatient to get to Illinois.
I've been listening to Christmas music as my background soundtrack while studying these past couple of weeks and thought I'd share a bit with you before I leave tomorrow.

I like the song "Indiana Christmas" by Straight No Chaser because it's about going home for Christmas but really wish it was Illinois instead. So I took the liberty and did a little switch-a-roo..

The moonlight shines on a sycamore
And now they are calling to me
In the city its snowing
The sidewalks blowing

But there's somewhere I'd rather be
Thousands of people all walking by
But Somehow I'm still alone
I'm gonna spend winter my way
Again on the highway
I'm ready to find a way home

Illinois, thats where I'm going
This time of year you know how I feel
Illinois, thats where I'm going
Where Christmas will always be real

We'll build up the fire tell a story or two
With good friends we always invite
The old and the young come together as one
and we sing into the night

Illinois, thats where I'm going
This time of year you know how I feel
Illinois, thats where I'm going
Where Christmas will always be real

And I remember those who are gone
looking down on my home from above
Deep in December its where I belong
Sharing the days with the ones who I love

I've kind of become a bit of a YouTube addict over the past couple of years so of course I've afew videos for ya too. I don't have this song among my Christmas music collection so sometimes I've gone to YouTube specifically to listen to this song.



"Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men"

or sometimes I go to YouTube to distract myself and instead find stuff like this.



Hasta!!

P.S. I just wanted to center all of the song lyrics, but it centered everything instead and I couldn't figure out how to do it differently so....I just left it :)

Yo estoy en los ultimos dias.

Thought I'd get a quick blog post in before I started for the day. Sorry if it's rushed, got a long ways to go before I can crawl under my covers again tonight.

To be honest, I was a little apprehensive last Friday when the French girls arrived back in GDL. I'd fallen into a study schedule, which I knew definitely wouldn't work with guests. But thanks to the grace of God I was able to be flexible and quickly adapt to a new schedule for those last days of their time in Mexico. It actually proved to be a benefit to me because having them stay here assured that I actually got out of the house at least once a day.

On their last morning we went out for breakfast and then I took a little time to show them a few last things in GDL. Took them to my favorite pastry shop and we had a comparison taste testing. Had the Mexican croissant tested against French taste buds. Mexican croissant versus French croissant. They throughly enjoyed it!!!!! I liked how Marlene summed up her opinion..."I'm French so I can't say that it's better than a French croissant, but...I give you permission to eat this." :)

We also stopped at the Galerias mall. In the years past they've had a ginormous Christmas Tree there. To our disappointment instead of a huge tree this year they had evil looking elves and sad looking jack-n-the-boxes.

I liked the huge jingle bells they had hanging though. If you can't see us, we're right.....


...there!!!


It was a little hard for me to listen to all of their stories from their week exploring the Yucatan. I could have gone with them. I could have dropped my studying and gone off exploring, seeing new sights and meeting new and interesting people. Sigh. It is so hard to sit and not be able to travel. I'll never see the world studying my life away. When Satan pokes at me with those envious and unfair feelings I just need to ask myself one question.
Q: Is this worth it? Even if I never never ever get to travel again, is He worth it?
A: Yes. Yes, it's worth it.

Hasta!

Yo estoy francesa.

L to R: Me, Morgane, Marlene

Hi I'm Morgane!
We are having such a good time here in Mexico! Christy makes us visit Guadalajara, and my favorite part is the restaurants... mexican food is sooo good (and a french "gourmet" is talking to you)! Unfortunately we only have 2 hours left in Mexico...
Muchas gracias Christy for this mexican experience!
Hope you can come visit us in France one day!
Bisous

Hi I'm Marlene. I am writing for the second time because I have just deleted everything! So let's write everything again!
So Christy and I met in Boston for the 4th of July thanks to Pablo that was my roomate in Boston and studying in the same university of Christy in Mexico. Then by a beautifull night sleeping in my garden in Boston with Morgane, we have decided to go to visit Christy in Mexico... and we did it!!!! So after spending all our money in the flight tickets and made the 22h trip we finally arrived to GDL. We spent almost one week in GDL with Christy. We had so much fun ! I had, thanks to her, my first Thanksgiving! She made me running in the morning! Sound normal to you but not to me! She introduced us to her friends that are really lovely too. I felt really welcomed(she kept a piece of the chocolate cake during the week I was in Merida!), and she made our trip really unforgettable.
I hope that she will come to France (skiing/climbing in the Alps) that I can welcome her as well as she has welcomed us. And I'm looking foward to go to visit her again!!! Hopefully in August in NY!
Merci beaucoup, a tres bientot.
bisous
Marlene

Yo estoy una ermitaña.

Yesterday I was so thankful that November only has 30 days in it. The last 4 had passed so slowly. I thought December would never come. That was yesterday. I woke up this morning and cannot believe it's December already. I was wrong....I take yesterday back....can November have 31 days this year, or even more. Ahh! I feel like a little kid who decided mid-slide that going down was a really bad idea and is now trying frantically to break/stop before he shoots off the end.

Up until last week it was still nice and warm in the house. I had my fingers crossed that it would last a few more weeks. Sunday it decided cool down. I'm not frozen yet, so I'm thankful for that. But then again since Sunday my hands have dried out and have their first few cracks so perhaps it's colder than I realize. I studied downstairs on the couches this morning to study. The sun comes in through the many windows. I'm thankful for the nice warm sun. Comparing myself to the last time I hermitized myself this is about the opposite. Last time by mid-afternoon I'd be sitting reading over my book and trying not to move or I'd start sweating. Can't really say which I prefer...

Hasta!

Yo estoy decepcionada.

The other day in endocrine consult I saw a patient, thin, low BMI in fact, who had worked her whole life to maintain a healthy diet and exercise daily. And looking at her you'd never guess she was a mother of 4, you'd have to say she was successful. We had to tell her tests were showing results that would classify her as "pre-diabetic." She tried so hard to remain positive that even when tears started rolling down her cheeks her bright red lipstick was still turned up in a big unbelieving smile. She commented 'estoy decepcionada' (I'm disappointed). Watching her struggle is so frustrating because it's one of those times when life is so obviously not fair. I'm sure we've all been able to relate to her feelings of disappointment, frustration and deception. I myself am feeling it rather acutely at the moment. That frustration when you get thrown a cold fry for hard work and those that sometimes worked....when they felt like it...Big Mac on a silver platter. You can put it in perspective and tell the lady that perhaps she's now pre-diabetic, but if she hadn't worked so hard for so long not only would she probably be full-blown diabetic on insulin at this point but even worse may not have even gotten to meet her fourth child or worse she'd already be dead. But even perspective is hard to believe when disappointment has had the last say.

Here's some pictures from Thanksgiving:
Marlene, Morgane and I went for a jog/walk through Colomos to start the day.


Afterwards we stopped to enjoy the Japanese Gardens for a reflective moment.


They were excited about their first Thanksgiving: L to R: Me, Marlene, Morgane


Food table #1:



Food table #2: Jenn and her Turkey.


Drinks and desserts had their own separate tables. We had a lot of people, but were blessed with a lot of food. Plenty of leftovers for everyone to take some. We put some away. And still some left that the cleaning ladies are packing it all up into to go boxes to take with them. With the amount of food that Americans prepare and consume on this one day of the year, we could probably feed all 7 billion for that day. Could we try that? Could we feed the world instead of ourselves for a day?

....talk about one of life's unfairities. I was born into my family so I get to eat. You weren't so you don't. :( :(

Hasta!

Yo estoy bendecida.

That's Turkey for HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

:)

HAPPY 30TH ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!

LOVE YOU BOTH MUY MUCHO,

FOREVER Y SIEMPRE! ;)

From me!

Yo estoy enterrada.

Marlene and Morgane arrived Saturday and have been enjoying Mexico. Picking them up at the airport on Saturday it didn't matter that I had reminded myself many many times that the French do a double greeting I completely forgot and the result was some sort of French/American mix with a Mexican twist. Awkward, but to be expected. A nice thing about Marlene and Morgane is that I know they have experience surviving in a foreign country. I wave goodbye to them in the morning as they go off to explore and enjoy Mexico and I return to my room not worried about them finding their way back in the evening. Well...not too worried. But like I said before they both have survival skills and they both know a basic Spanish. Just a bit jealous of the adventures they are going to be having these next two weeks.

Some of the battle to take the step is proving to be mental for me. In my efforts to be prepared for anything I've somehow now convinced myself that I am going to fail the step. A feeling of doom accompanied by a sense of purposelessness with making any effort to study. Why study for something I'm going to fail anyways? If God has taught me anything these past 3 1/2 years it's been that my life is not my own. God's plans and schedule for my life do not take into account any personal plans that I have made. And where I am today has not been of my own doing. I think in a round about way I'm asking for prayer. I'm scared to fail. But even moreso I think I'm scared that failing will be my fault. That I tried to take my schedule into my own hands and went forward with it leaving God out of the equation. I need help to remember that a test is not going to change the fact that God deserves praise every new morning the same as every evening. That He still loves me with all my mistakes, and that not only my future but my very next step is still safe in His hands.

Hasta!

Psalm 113:3 "From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised."

Yo estoy destructor.

I'm super glad this week is over. Thanks be to my Best Friend for helping me through. Studying even when it ceases to be fun. It was a bit much. Juggling three finals this week while still running around HAL getting presentation done here, seeing patients there. Today's final proves that the week is just about caught up to me. Going over the test afterwards this happened more times than I'd like to admit...The answer is B, and I know the answer is B....and I put A why? Some of my classmates had all 6 finals this week (at least they weren't juggling anything else, and now they're done!!), but still I don't envy them what they must have struggled with this week. Needless to say there's going to be some major partying going on tonight on their part. I think I'll get back to some step studying. The countdown on my wall beside my desk is getting dangerously low.

My name got rearrianged again. It was for the Neurology final. The doctora called me Destroyer. The only way I knew to respond was cause she finally tacked a Christy on it. #1 Say Stoller with a Spanish accent #2 add the r between the t and o that English speakers even sometimes add #3 I have nooooo idea why she decided to put the d on the front....I have come up with one explanation. She said it as a filler while trying to figure out how to pronouce Stoller. d...d...d, Estroyer? The name got lots of cheers and laughs. I probably got really red. And a few have tried out the name themselves since then, but you'd see a look on their face immediately afterwards. A look that tells me I don't have to worry about "destroyer" sticking as a nickname.

My Wednesday final (the Neuro one) started early, and you don't really want to be rushing before an exam so I left home early. I turned onto Americas pointing my car in the general direction of the hospital to realize that I was going nowhere fast. It was standstill traffic. A lot of thumb-twiddling and slow deep breaths later I got to the site of the accident. The three lanes of Americas were squeezed down to 1/2 a lane through which everyone, yes even the Mexican buses, were squeezing past. So the whole trying not to rush and to get there on time didn't really go as planned, but good thing it's Mexico and the exam didn't start on time anyways.

While I was in Boston this past summer I met a group of people (spent the 4th of July with them) who were internationals (France and Germany mainly). Two of the French girls are coming to visit. They arrive in GDL tomorrow, will spend a few days here then go off and see the rest of Mexico ending back here in GDL two weeks later when they'll fly back to France. I prewarned them I'll have to be studying, but who but God knows how this weekend will play out. And I'm not sure just how they'll take to me getting up early to study. I may have to take to the couch for a few days. Just got to be flexible right! Go with the flow!

Hasta!

Yo estoy estudiosa.

My classmates have a nutrition exam today which overlaps my endocrine consult time so I get to be home early today. Got my first of a string of exams tomorrow so this is a good thing. I ate my lunch when I got home. It was 10:30 so was just starting to get hungry and could have waited, but I figured that if I ate my lunch then, I could call it my Mexican breakfast, and now I can have a Mexican lunch later!

My clinical cases doctora for endocrine is starting to make a habit of using me as her personal pronounciator. Things like Hürthle or Waterhouse-Friderichsen. Things difficult to pronounce in Spanish. I don't mind it, but... calling me out in front of everyone, I inevitably get red. My cheeks burn and all I can do is breathe and stare at the floor until I feel that it's sufficiently passed. A classmate once expressed a jealousy she had for my cheeks. For having a natural coloring and never needing blush. I told her she had no idea what it was she was wishing for.

For sometime now this semester I've been wanting a pair of white jeans. Just to change it up a little bit. But with just a few months left of actually needing them, it doesn't really justify such a purchase. And then I found a pair of white jeans that I've had the whole time. Probably bought by Mom for $2 from Spare & Share before I ever packed my suitcase for the first time. I tried them on and realized why they were on the bottom of the hanger and never worn. They don't exactly fit nor are they my preferred cut/style. I've been wearing them anyways these past 2 weeks. I never really picked up the typical sense of fashion girls tend to grasp in jr. high, and then in high school I was too distracted to do so. And graduating high school without fashion sense it's really too late to ever pick some up, and so you have people like me, wearing odd looking pants that don't fit. But with no sense of fashion anyways, I can't really bring myself to feel guilty about such a wardrobe.

That yipping puppy that ran out the door last week is back and licking it's poor stepped on paw. In other words, I've had to succumb to my priorities and suspend exercise for the next couple of weeks. Actually passing exams trumps bodily exercise for the time being. I solidified this decision by walking down the street and getting a bag of bolis. (A frozen ice cream treat). :/

Hasta!

Yo estoy enemigo de las ratas.

A great big rat decided to join us for Bible study Wednesday night. I never thought of myself as scared of rats, but that was before. All I'd ever seen were cute little mice. This was a grandote of a rat with a tail a mile long. Bible study momentarily suspended and armed with broom, mop, and tennis racket a few of us had it cornered where it proceded to hide in a bag. Mop attempted to move the bag and rat shot out of that bag headed straight for our feet. Oh boy I screamed! Didn't help that everyone was screaming. Out of the broom, mop and tennis racket, the racket was the only one that actually made an attempt at hitting the rodent. But then following the rat into the kitchen we closed all the doors to keep it there and broom and mop continued the pursuit while racket stayed outside the doors looking in through the windows. A quick trip to the store for sticky traps was made, I loaded on the peanut butter, and we finally returned to the Bible study. (Rat was killed the following day.)

A bit of time is devoted daily to studying nutrition. Today reading about introducing babies to real food I had to chuckle. The subheading was "Introduction of the Family Diet" and the first food mentioned was beans. I must be in Mexico!! :)
A few days ago I had planned on going for a run, and then was starting to feel lazy wanting to stay and study instead, but then I realized which subject of Nutrition I was studying that day: Obesity. and I was out the door faster than a yipping puppy who'd just gotten stepped on.

I debated about putting an update about the death of the Latin student last Sunday night and finally have decided to say something because I was wrong in my initial thought that it was an accident. Unfortunately it was a suicide by hanging. A tragedy that Satan can pull people so low they completely lose hope. This world needs hope.
- They told the Latin program that she died from a brain aneurysm, which is why I debated about saying something. I suppose they are trying to cover it.

In Hope

Yo estoy soñando.

We ended Daylight Savings Time in Mexico this past weekend. I thoroughly loved the extra hour of sleep although I didn't exactly sleep through the whole night. I found myself in a dream that seemed to drag on forever and get no where. I was being chased by a bad guy (or at least I assume he was a bad guy) through a skyscraper that was being built. So it was empty floor after empty floor. Lots of stairs and lots of scrambling up, over, under, and around. I had finally lost him and made it outside and across the street. Met up with the other people that were also being chased, but instead of rushing into the building across the street to hide we stopped and looked back. Stupid! because the bad guy saw us. We turned to continue our escape but split up, them running in on the ground floor and I taking some stairs up. But I was tired of what seemed like hours of trying to run away and I suddenly realized that the building I was heading into was more of what I had just exited, so....I decided to wake up instead.
So, as you can see I didn't sleep the night through, but upon waking after my dream I laughed at myself turning over to go back to sleep. As if by going back to sleep I was somehow getting the better of myself. Telling this story just now I am realizing for the first time that I had laughed at myself as if myself was someone else. Oh dear, I need to refresh my memory of what age dissociative disorders typically appear. We've always joked that we're crazy to be here in GDL, but split-personality crazy?

Closing ceremony for the Panamerican Games 2011 Guadalajara was yesterday. I didn't go to a single game as I had hoped, but am too preoccuppied currently to actually lament that fact. They were over really fast, but I'm glad. Now I can drive in the "exclusive" lane for the panamericans and not worry that I'm doing something bad....not that I really worried about it before either. :)

There was a tragedy today. I don't know details but my 7th semester Latin companions lost a classmate today. My guess is that it was a car accident based on the timing. Something like that just sobers everyone up. Some were crying, no one was laughing.

Hasta!

Yo estoy intentando abrir mis ojos.

Even after making the extra visit to the Endocrinology office last Friday I still had to go back today. I'm always amazed anew with how such disorganization is functionable.

The schedule I was content to set for myself this rotation, I'm already begining to realize it's going to have to be reworked. The rotation itself is a tad lighter on the workload, but at the same time right in the middle of the rotation I have a week of exams covering all the subjects that I rotated on outside of HAL...going all the way back to July when I did Nutrition in Boston. Sooooooo, not really much lighter at all. These exams are in the middle of my rotation because that is when all my classmates who spent the semester doing co-op in Puerto Rico are going to be here, so we all take these exams together, or at least the ones we need to take. I'll just need to take 3 out of the 6.

I was happy to see that I rotate with a few friends I made last rotation. It's a funny and friendly clique of girls that refer to themselves as "Monicas". I joined their group to review clinical cases and when groups were asked to name themselves endocrine-accordingly it took us all of two seconds to call ourselves Las Pituitarias (The Pituitaries). No reason really except that it's a bit funny to say.

It's been awhile now since I've realized that the horrible bags marking lack of sleep have returned under my eyes. A fact which I just forced myself to forget about as there's nothing really I can do about it. But lately I roll out of bed (or off the bed if I didn't quite make it into the bed the night before) in the morning and feel as if my eyes are swollen shut, and a quick physical exam in the mirror tells me that I'm not just imagining it. They get better with a few rubs, a few blinks, and a bit of coffee. But it just makes me wonder....swollen eyes in the morning isn't exactly a typical physiological manifestation. I'll give it some more time, see if it stops happening on it's own, or if I should exchange wondering for worrying.

Hasta!

Yo estoy malhumorada.

It was going to be a beautiful day. Friday. Last test over. Going to Ixtlan tomorrow. What could go wrong?

Tuesday I had gone to the 'escolar' to get put on the list for my next rotation in Endocrinology. After the test today I went to the Endocrine department office to make sure everything was in order due to a hunch (from much experience)that things would not be in order. A hunch which of course proved to be true. Thankfully the secretary and one of the endocrine doctoras spent a few minutes and actually gave me a complete schedule for my rotation. Very thankful for them doing that for me, but why I'm so malhumorada right now is because to my chagrin I watched as they randomly stuck me in groups to rotate with instead of sticking me on the end like the last rotation had done. I just spent the last 5 weeks trying to get to know one group of classmates which in 5 weeks I've just barely achieved. And now, I've got to start allllllll over again. Noooooooooooooo!!! Just when I'm about to reach a level of comfortability, God rips it away. Nope! Got to keep this one on her toes, he says!
Really?! But why?! My toes are really starting to hurt!!!
Either way, when all's said and done, I am very sad to not be able to rotate with those I've been getting to know over the past 5 weeks, but at the same time I wonder what new characters Monday will bring.

And finally here's a few pics from last weekend/Monday.
I know it's cliche but I went to the mall on my birthday. Going to the mall to hang out! I never even did that back in the States! I went with Vero, her cousin Jesus (Chuyito), and his girlfriend Iliana.
Pool! The winning team.....maybe! A few rules may have been momentarily repealed throughout the game.


Basketball! I had high score of the entire night. WooHoo!


Air Hockey!


Then back to the house for DUTCH BLITZ!! L to R around the table: Me, Jennifer, Diego, Hector, Vero, Adriana


After Blitz. Everyone liked the cookies I made Carrie! They turned out nice and soft! L to R: Ninos, Jennifer, Veronica, Me, Josue, Hector


Monday night, a small group of friends took me to dinner. L to R: Veronica, Jennifer, Hector, Iveth, Me, Josue, Jason (Lety and Matt had already gone home when we took the picture.)


And then they had gotten me an ice cream cake from DQ! So exciting! But we cut into it to discover that the entire layer of crunchy chocolate with fudge had been left out! It was still delicious, but just not the same!


Hasta!

So I guess I'm not so malhumorada anymore.

Yo estoy desahogandome!!!

I'm in the middle of a string of exam days so should be hard at the studying, but I just got done with a Pepsi kick a little bit ago so am under the impression that I have extra energy and therefore time to do a quick blog post.

With exams on the brain I just wanted to vent my frustration about UAG testing. I have a perfect example to help explain. To date the best I've been able to explain is that I can study for UAG exams but then I would fail the USMLE. Or, I can study for the USMLE but then I would fall my UAG exams. If that doesn't make sense to you, then you understood perfectly. It doesn't make sense at all. A medical school education should in fact be preparing a student for their future liscencing exams, and not hindering progress towards that goal. The other day we were in a lecture about Typhoid Fever. The doctora flat out told us that the Salmonella level to inoculate is 10^3, but if you get a question about that on the exam you'll need to answer 10^5. GAAAHHHHHH!!! See what I mean?!?! You can't just study and pass these exams; you have to study specifically for the UAG exam and then with what time is left over switch gears and study completely differently for the USMLE.

I'm still struggling along with my Spanish. One friend from my class in particular speaks so fast I frequently get lost. He probably does it on purpose cause he thinks it's funny. He'll laugh at me and tell me, "You don't speak Spanish." But even though my Spanish isn't getting better, I think I'm calming down a little bit....a LITTLE bit, about it. I went back to completely presenting my articles in Spanish, titles and all! :)

Alllllllrighty! gotsta study!

Hasta!

Yo estoy creciendo con los pepinos.

My Birthday Weekend is over. Back to reality. Back to studying. But, wait a second...what's that? New boots?!?! New snow boots?!?! I debated about it and finally decided to buy myself a birthday present this year. Those boots went on a long journey to get to me, but actually arrived on the 16th. I'm kiiiiind of excited about them. Excited enough to do a photo shoot for the blog!!!! WooHoo! Now I've just got to find some snow!! ;)

I bought a cucumber!!
When I moved here I didn't like cucumbers. I don't know when it changed, but I like them now. I mentioned that to Jan, and she said it's probably because cucumbers are better in Mexico. She wasn't joking....you really can find superior fresh fruits and vegetables in Mexico. So I finally bought my first cucumber forever solidifying a connection in my brain between cucumbers and Mexico.

Hasta!

P.S. I'll do a more thorough post with pictures from this past weekend when I have more time next weekend.....hopefully.

Yo estoy esperando.

The sun came out again today after 2-3 days of hiding behind Hurricane Jova. The constant rain definitely cooled GDL down. Not only did I finally get to sleep under a cover but by Wednesday night I already needed a blanket in addition to the sheet! We'll see what happens now with the sun warming it up and drying everything off....almost as if it's welcoming the thousands of visitors arriving for the Panamerican games. My roommate, Josue, somehow had the right connections and got a free ticket for the opening ceremony tonight. I.Am.Jealous. but not so much that I can't be really excited for him.

Wednesday we had off. So I stayed in my room all day studying. We were in the middle of Jova then so it rained all day. Included in my soundtrack for the day was Placido Domingo. There is a partial memory that I have and it's the oddest partial memory because try as I might I can't complete it. Placido Domingo reminds me of Fall and the old red carpet in our house. I know my family is there, but can't see them. Listening to him sing I try to see who exactly is in that memory with me and what the significance of it is, but always end up with the same result. Fall....I think primarily because of the lighting and temperature of the memory, and the red carpet...it's the only obvious thing in the memory that I can actually see. I've tried imagining different scenarios that took place in that memory, but nothing fits. What I decided on Wednesday while listening (without any success in creating a picture) was that I can't complete the picture of this memory because it's not a visual memory. It's more a feeling. A warm feeling. Almost as if I had understood for the first the blessing of being a part of a family, having a home, and knowing there's love in that home. Now, I don't know why Placido Domingo singing Perhaps love brings this memory to mind.....but it does, red carpet and all. That's okay with me, he can keep singing.

Hasta!

Yo estoy cansada.

Back in Guadalajara. Sad I can't help the whole week in Michoacan. Thankful to be able to help a least a few of the days.
Here's the team: L to R: Don Katanic, Dr. Lee Klopfenstein, Jamie (?), Rita Knobloc, Me, Ada & Don Plattner


Hasta!

Yo estoy en control.

The medical/dental team is in Michoacan this October. (I joined them last October when they were in Guanajuato too.) So I packed up after the hospital today and headed over. I'll be staying in Ixtlan and helping with the team through Monday.

It's been three weeks now with the Latin Program. Today was a good day in a sense that I could see some progress made in my horribly meager efforts to integrate. And I call them horribly meager because I hardly actually talk with any of them. I realize this is a problem, and repeatedly make up my mind to do better in the area. I'll see an opportunity to start a conversation, and then stop in my tracks realizing I have no idea what to talk about with them. We have little to nothing in common. Plus, God left the "Miss Bubbly Socialite" gene out of my genome when he made me so I have a hard time talking about nothing. But like I said, today I saw an encouraging glimmer of progress. I was in the middle of a presentation, and blanked on a word. Those in the audience were eager to help me out to which I was then able to "eso" in a joking way which had everyone smiling/laughing. These students really are very nice individuals, and being honest I don't feel an ounce of judgement from any of them towards me. I do hope that the next 7 weeks will continue to increase these relationships.
Side note: I'll be honest with you guys. I didn't actually blank on that word. I knew what I wanted to say, but I also knew that if I attempted to say it my accent would have rendered it ground beef...a.k.a. butchered! So I just pretended to blank.

A lot of article reading is required for various reasons at HAL. One of my clinical cases doctors has us present one of the articles we used researching each case. These doctors recommend English articles which isn't always adhered to, but I have no problem abliging the request. I know that all of these Latin students have at least a basic understanding in English; a fact which I took advantage of when I last presented a article. I knew it was fine to say the study title in English, but asked a friend if I should translate it anyways, he affirmed that it wasn't necessary. Trouble was my article had a long title filled with 'big' words. I said that title in clear loud English, but I said it as fast as I possibly could, and I did it on purpose. I knew that even though they can understand a basic English, with a fast and wordy English they would still most likely end up lost. From their side-ways glances I'd assumed correctly. In a way, it felt good. Letting out my frustration built up from daily face-plants into a language barrier. A counselor explained it to me once that for a person that spends so much energy living up to outside standards they search for something that they alone can control and they hold onto that, sometimes to the extreme, as an outlet or as a way of reassuring themselves that they still actually have some control. That's what this felt like. In a world where I feel so lost so often I found a moment where I wasn't lost and I grabbed it. I basically shouted "I SPEAK ENGLISH!"

I had more stories to tell, but I'm actually going to bed. Last night was the first night in almost a week I'd gotten more than 3 hours sleep. It was by accident. sooooo, I'm tired.

Hasta!

Yo estoy estresada.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

If you looked up stress in the dictionary you'd find me as the definition. At the rate my adrenals are pumping out catecholamines I'm going to lose weight just sitting here in front of my computer. whimper whimper

Church wasn't turned on today for some reason (neither service), so I ended up reading in Acts instead. I felt foolish feeling so stressed being reminded of the situations Paul so often found himself in the midst of.
But....my heart rate is still elevated, it's still hard to concentrate, half of the time I'm worrying and the other half I'm trying not to worry, my nails are almost all gone...4 left. In other words my sympathetic nervous system is in command of my body....and I can't stop it!!

I ask God Why? Why can't it be easier...simpler? And I get the same answer that I'm sure Paul received.

TRUST ME

Hasta!

Yo estoy viva!

I'm still alive.......for now.

Yo estoy latina.

New Monday. New rotation. New location....well it's an old one, but new for this semester. I'm back at HAL for a rotation in Infectology, Forensic Medicine, and the dreaded Applied Clinic which has never succeeded in being anything more than a waste of time. And I'm in for an extra special treat because I've got the same doctora for Applied Clinic that I had back in 5th semester who did not like me, not the biscuit-burner one...the other one. Oh Joy!!! I guess being a part of the latin program wasn't going to be challenging enough; God decided to throw in a few more curveballs.

Today wasn't particularly fun. I made the effort last week to make sure I was enrolled in the latin program for the rotation. Got my list number and everything, #157. Of course, 157 was nowhere to be found on any of the lists this morning. So I had to hunt down doctors and get put in sessions, and then of course I have to explain why 157 is together with #61-66, but not on the list. Annoying, but I just kept reminding myself that T.I.M. (This. Is. Mexico.) and by the end of the day, I'd have a full schedule. And I do.

I realized when I got home today, that I must have done an overly good job of keeping to myself...I couldn't really recall the faces of any of the 156 latin students that are currently my classmates, save a few. I knew a grand total of 1 person from the latin program. He introduced me to one of his friends. 2. and then in infectology there is another international girl who'll be with us. 3. Day 1 = 3 friends. Maybe I can double that for Day 2, but my fingers aren't crossed.

The group that I mentioned earlier, where I'm with #61-66, we didn't have patients today, so the doctor made conversation. Unfortunately, he spent a good portion of that conversation discussing medical training in the United States and the USMLE, indirectly talking about me. I know that he ment his comments to be taken as compliments, but I really wish he had just skipped the conversation. I am aware that even though it is unintentional on my part and a wrong assumption on the part of others, my tendency towards serious affect is often interpreted as stuck-up. It's hard to explain, but the way this doctor phrased his comments would only further fuel this misinterpretation. Not cool!

Hasta!

Yo estoy calinosa.

I can empathize with yahtzee dice now. I feel as if I've been picked up, shaken, and then spit back out. Whew! My weekend back home was a whirlwind and then all of a sudden I found myself rolling to a stop back where I started from.

Got two days of chilly fall weather. Honestly I was freezing half the time, but it was delicious to be able to snuggle under covers to sleep at night once again. Within 5 minutes of being back in GDL I was sweating, picking up right where I left off on Thursday; all nice and warm once again!

This year would have been four years without getting to experience Fall. Very sad when it's your favorite season. I think it's safe to say that with the help of my family, we collectively summarized Fall into two days. Walks outside in perfect hoodie-and-jeans weather, pumpkins, harvest (just beginning, but it still counts), roasting marshmellows over a campfire, celebrating my birthday with my family, football... And then add to that mom's cookin', piano playin', trivial pursuitin'; stir it all together with lots of laughin' and you've got a Fall weekend well spent! :)

Hasta!

Yo estoy lista!! Papu en 12 horas y contando!!

Three and a half years and I'm finally making my first weekend trip home! My classmates have made such trips since first semester. I never could justify the plane ticket. But working on an application for my 5th year in New York I ran into a conundrum. I needed documents that I didn't have with me. I'm sure they're at home somewhere, but....I'm just not exactly sure where. This weekend is Mexico's Independence Day weekend (Friday, 16th). So after considering everything, I'm taking advantage of the extended weekend for a much needed break....and to find those documents. ;)

Praise God for spontaneous blessings!!

Hasta!

Yo estoy orando.

After losing my camera at the beginning of the month, I found it again....on my desk...under a couple of the randomly flung papers that helped make up the cluttered mess that was my desk at the time. (hmm, sheepish grin)
Plus I got a few pictures from Jennifer that had been taken on her camera.

Jennifer and I happy after getting home from the race.


Our roommate Iveth (Ivy) was photographer and thought we needed close-up proof that we had just run.


We had a birthday in our house. We had a dinner for Celina with a bunch of our friends. So we finally got a roommate picture. This is all 5 of us. L to R: Me, Jennifer, Celina (birthday girl), Ivy, Josue


Then on the actual day of her birthday we celebrated again...on a much smaller level. Just us roomates (minus Josue), and Celina's husband. And a close friend that couldn't make the first dinner. L to R: Celina, Jennifer, Ivy, Me


Last week Sis. Claudia Gonzalez from Ixtlan was in GDL for an international nursing conference. She stayed with me while attending. Then on Saturday, the last day of the conference, I went with her. We only stayed for the first couple of sessiones and then skipped out and headed back to Ixtlan.


Hasta!

Yo estoy segura.

This past weekend in Ixtlan was a faith-building lesson. I got to witness mighty men in action. Not the mighty as defined by power, fear, guns or even money. But mighty as defined by complete and absolute surrender without hesitation.

With threat of death knocking at the door, not a single one of our brothers or sisters in Ixtlan were afraid. Precaution was taken, but fear was never given into.

The only time I saw Bro. Marshall lose composure was this morning when he told Jan that the Washington congregation had called for a 9:25 am prayer meeting, and even then it was but for a moment. A mighty man indeed humbled by his Spiritual family's response to a call for prayer.

Regg brought up the fact that over the past month and a half the Ixtlan church has received more prayer than it has in a really really long time. The question that raises is, What does God know, that we have yet to find out?

God Bless each of you for your thought in prayer, and I ask for your continued prayerful thoughts for those of Ixtlan. I love you all!

Yo estoy lista para estudiar de nuevo.

Mom you forgot to pray about stitches!!

I had the opportunity to run another race this morning! It was a half marathon this time. After the high I got from the 10K a month ago I wanted to keep going. So I signed up, and it wasn't 2 days later and I already regretted it. I knew that with my new Neuro schedule I wouldn't have the time to run/prep for a half, but I let my pride blind me. Plus, common sense doesn't come naturally to me, and was obviously lacking when I signed up. But ni modos, I had committed to it, so I was going to run it.
I was regretting the race, because as I've continued through my Neuro rotation, I've quickly discovered that for some reason I am having a really hard time with Neurological Spanish. For the most part the English to Spanish translation comes fairly easy in all other areas of Medicine, but to my frustration, Neurology....not so much. The Neurologists I'm working with have picked up on this (kind of hard to miss) and not so sutely encourage me to study. So this past week, while tying my shoes and stretching to go for a run I'd have to fight a small panic I could sense telling me that I SHOULD BE STUDYING!!! It was the first time I was ever putting running as a higher priority than studying, and I'm one of those students that actually needs to study or I fail. I suppose I could have just waited and gone out and run this morning with out preparing for it, but I wanted to actually enjoy the race.
But it's Sunday now, and the race is over. Back to studying!

I cannot find my camera at the moment. :( But my roommate Jenn, got one of us after the race on her camera so hopefully I'll be able to get it from her.

There were about 4500 runners this morning. I've never run with so many before. I spent about the first 3.5K weaving through people and trying not to trip others or be tripped. I was also advised to take advantage of the water/gatorade stations along the race, so I did. I stopped with the gatorade after a bit, because I actually didn't really like the sweetness while running. After taking a sip of gatorade you just drop the cup, and there was once that I dropped the cup, it landed and splashed all over the lady who had been running to my right. I motioned my apologizes and she just laughed. It's all part of the race. I really liked the water breaks though. I never really drank more than a sip of it, but it was really refreshing to fill my mouth and then spit it out, and the rest squirt all over my face. A couple of times it'd end up being squirted up my nose or in my eyes. Whoops!

Most awkward thing that happened to me this race happened close to the beginning. I heard "Mi reina! mi reina! una foto! una foto?" I looked over to my side and a man had run up beside me. He restated his question, "No quieres una foto?" and motioned to his friend who had a camera. I smiled and quickly ran away. The photographer herself had been running, as well as we, so I just hope between the two movements there was enough to produce nothing more than blurriness.

At another point a man paused beside me and gave me some advice on my running style. I thought that was pretty cool of him. That also sort of shows the common attitude during these races. Everyone is excited and encouraging everyone else. Whistling, clapping, shouting "Animo!!!" Another example, at the end, Jenn's running friends, who had finished about 1/2 hour before me, were telling me congratulations! Like I had been the one to do a superb job instead of them!

I didn't make my time goal this race, but I also ran from about 15K to 20K with a horrible stich in my side. So maybe I'll just blame that. But at the end it had let up and I could sprint the finish of my own motivation this time. And honestly, when all's said and done...I ran a half marathon!

After the race, Jenn was already talking about the PanAmerican Games Marathon in October! But as much as I'd like to keep going I'm not going to fall for it this time. Back to studying for me!

Hasta!

P.S. Mexicans have more names than us Americans, and so signing up a maternal last name was required. I got to run as Christy Stoller Kuntz!

Yo estoy enjaulada.

It was a busy week. I didn't blog, nor did I put anything down in the journal. So a week of my life is lost to mere memory.
I started a new schedule this week with the start of a new rotation, Neurology. Day 1I was given a schedule, and to put it bluntly....it was a horrible schedule. A horrible schedule is nothing new with UAG, so I thought I'd deal with it and move on, but when I got home, stomped up the stairs to my room, and heard the ugly stomps eching back through the house at me, I made the decision right then that I was not going to adhere to the current schedule. There was no way I was going to adhere to a schedule if it were to only succeed in putting me in an unhappy/mad mood by the end of the day. I would just make my own schedule. But, Praise Jesus! God was a step ahead of me. Tuesday morning I ran into the doctora who had given me the schedule the day before, and without me saying anything, she asked/suggested a different schedule more fitted to what I'm actually supposed to be doing, Neurology.
I used to be the last one in the house to be up in the morning. I'm now gone before anyone else wakes up. A fact which they didn't realize until Friday. I take that as a compliment that I went a whole week quite as a mouse....or maybe a small rat at least. I don't mind the early start time, specifically because it means I miss the horrible traffic due to construction on the way to the hospital, plus I get a good parking spot. As walk through the main floor of the IMSS on my way to the staircase in the back, I find that I'm making my way through a makeshift shelter for the homeless. They've laid their pieces of cardboard out on the benches and set up 'home' for the night. They're still asleep or just waking up then, but by the next time I find myself down on that floor for whatever reason, the hospital has since come alive and they've disappeared with their cardboard.

Last weekend I took a few pictures in Ixtlan.
This is Brenda, little Rubi, Me, and Mari. Brenda and Mari have both come off and on over the years. They are both young, but the past couple of weeks I get the feeling that they are searching for a role model. More unconsciously than consciously, but they want to grow up. They see us as older than them and so have become mimics. It reminds me of being a counsellor at Jr. High Girl's Camp. Girls at that age notice everything from how you dress, to what you laugh at, etc. It reminds us of the importance of walking the talk, especially the loving part. And then little Rubi...this was the first time I had met her. At my first attempts at a photo with her, she wouldn't look at the camera. Bev suggested I show her the photo, so I did...she understood then, and became a cheeseball for the camera.


Bev, Regg and Mari were rolling up the net after volleyball. Rubi jumped in to help out.


In this picture, you'll have to excuse the expression on my face. I'm not sure which of the girls took the picture, but they accidentally cut off the top of Rubi's head, but honestly, I kind of like how it turned out (apart from my face). It looks as if Rubi is trying to duck under a doorway or something. She had been gripping onto my head so that I couldn't see, so I was in the midst of removing her little hands from my eyes. I also like this picture because it shows Rubi's boots. She looked so haphazardly put together with her oversized thread bare clothes, her pink boots, and her dirty face, hands and legs. So easy to love.


Hasta!

Yo estoy cultivando flores.

Vero and I had our once-a-semester meal-making party again. This semester pot stickers were added to the menu. (we had extra egg roll filling and extra won ton wrappers!)


This past Thursday was all Greek for me!
This is Angela. She's Greek. She hosted a Greek dinner for some of us! Main dish was Pasticio.

And after our Greek dinner...
This is Jason. He's from Greece too. We celebrated his birthday.

This was his birthday cake. It's Zeus!

Like I said...Thursday was very Greek for me! ;)

This is the solitary rose in our backyard.


The east wall of our backyard is covered with these yellow flowers....at least it was until the gardner happened yesterday! This was one that survived.


More flowers from our backyard. These are growing up the stairs that led to the second floor, hence why I'm looking up to take their picture.


My fourth roommate finally got back to GDL on Thursday. She likes having flowers in the house.


One last thing. I took this video a while ago, uploaded it to youtube, and then forgot about it. One night before the rain started I went up on our roof and took a video of the approaching storm. It was much more impressive in person!



Hasta!

Yo estoy al servicio de un Dios Awesome!

I just spent over an hour writing out a very very long blog post only to finally click 'publish post' and have the entire thing lost. Not even the title was saved. The whole post had been about recent events that I have to praise God for, and then with a click of the button my praise had turned to long groans of frustration! Sad at how easily I can be affected by my surroundings sometimes. :(

I am sorry, but I am not going to write out the entire post again. But in summary, I ran some errands today. Knowing that, due to the type of errands, a lot could go wrong (Paperwork usually goes wrong before it goes right in Mexico) I woke up nervous about my day and praying things would go smoothly. Skipping to the end...I felt as if it was Christmas and I had just been given the most amazing gift. It was almost to good to be true.....could I really have just experienced a bit of efficiancy? Here? In Mexico?

And then I moved on to something even more amazing and on a much bigger scale of praise. Yesterday I received an email, a group email to the Apostolic Christian Medical Fellowship. Even before I started on this road to MD back in high school, I first wanted to be a medical missionary. At the time I knew that to do long term medical missions I would have to do it on my own, which I do not want to do. But I also knew that it would be years in the future, and that My Future Is Not My Own. The email, that I will include below, does not make promises, but it is filled with possibilities. And once again I am reminded to never ever underestimate the power of prayer.

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Listen to what our Lord and master Jesus Christ was busy doing while here on earth, And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people (Mt 9:35)! Healing is mentioned > 50 times in the gospels!
Remember what Jesus instructed his disciples to do, And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick (Lk 9:2)! And what did the disciples do? ... And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where (Lk 9:6).
Now this is exciting ... we who are true disciples of Jesus Christ are called to likewise minister to a hurting world. This may be close to where we grew up or in a land where the language is difficult, or both.

Over the past several years, when our paths would cross on the mission field or in our local church, many of us have visited about the opportunities and challenges of medical missions. Our desire to further this work prompted the discussion during the Apostolic Christian Medical Fellowship meeting last year in Chicago to request the formation of a Medical Committee under the jurisdiction of World Relief. A presentation on the need for a medical committee and the potential contributions thereof was given to the World Relief Board this past Saturday.

The World Relief Board has, as requested, charged the ACMF with implementation of a Medical Committee for provision of a professional foundation and guidance for our medical works teams, for quality assurance of provided services, and for evaluation of opportunities as they arise.

This provides us with an opportunity to facilitate combining the interest and enthusiasm that we have seen on work teams with a sound professional science-based approach. It also provides accountability, deadlines, and organization. The next World Relief Board meeting is scheduled in December and it would behoove us to have a committee with goals and objectives setup by that time.

The initial challenge will be to bring together a motivated group of medical professionals who are committed to providing quality medical care through the opportunities, current and future, provided through our Apostolic Christian World Relief. Initial search for these individuals will be via the Apostolic Christian Medical Fellowship email list. However, we also will need to reach out to pharmacist and therapists.

A tentative list of what the committee may look like is:
3 physicians (MD, DO)
2 (NP, PA, nurse educator)
1 pharmacist
1 PT or OT
2 dentist(s)
1 elder
1 non-medical person

Bro. Kent Heimer will either be, or provide, the elder for the committee. I am also willing to serve on the committee and can initially serve as a clearing house for correspondence. As one can imagine, there is a lot of work to do to get organized and up-and –running. After that, we will be focused on the opportunities of medical interest and can continue to make a difference serving others. I would envision we will want both experienced and recently (or currently) trained professionals, representing a broad array of specialties, practice arrangements, and geographic locations with interests in Haiti, Mexico, USA, and anywhere we’re needed.

So please, each and everyone of you who could invest yourselves in shaping, improving, & expanding our medical mission outreach step up to the task at hand. Also, please pass along the opportunity to other pharmacists and therapist who are interested and have participated in missions.

As soon have we have a significant number of potential committee members, we will arrange a meeting for working our the myriad of details such as terms, responsibilities, and goals & objectives.

serving together to His glory,
Lee

P.S. Please forward a copy of this to any pharmacist and physical &/or occupational therapist within our brotherhood (and any any additional physician or APN). If you also cc me, I will add them to the database.


Hasta!!!!!!!!!

Yo estoy esperando la lluvia.

I love the anticipation when we call for a new patient, and then getting to see the story that they have for us. Some are quite characters; others hardly talk and the whole consult lasts about 4 minutes, but most are in between. Here's a few stories that make me smile.

A young boy came to our office with his mom, you could tell that he was of the ornery sort. At one point of the consult I was writing out a prescription for the boy while the doctora was taking time to explain some techniques and guidelines to help him. She listed off some foods that he should try to avoid, chocolate was one of them. At that point I looked up to see the normally fidgety boy sitting still with his eyes buggin out of his head. He slowly turned to his mom, and in an almost whisper said, "I can't have chocolate?" Poor kid! What a tragedy that would be...no chocolate!!??!

Another young boy we had visit our office came with his mom and his older brother. While the boy with a wart on his finger kept staring at us playing at the front of the doctora's desk, his brother preferred to hide behind their mom squeezing himself between his mom's chair and the wall. Due to the mom's conviction that liquid medications haven't helped the disappearance of the wart in question, but at the same time the doctora's dislike for surgically removing warts at such an age the conversation was going back and forth for awhile each explaining their reasoning. While the doctora explained the process of surgical removal we heard a sudden sob and noticed that while the patient was still as happy as before his older brother was obviously not with huge tears rolling down his cheeks. Poor kid was clearly scared. Without trying to, he had probably helped the doctora convince the mom to try a liquid medications one more time.

One last patient I want to comment on, is the bravest I've seen in our office so far, a small 9 year old girl. She did have some warts removed. She did not flinch, nor even blink an eye. Even if they aren't hurt by it, the sound of the cauterizer normally causes the patients to flinch at least, but she stayed even more still. I was very impressed!

Hasta!

Yo estoy asqueada.

Dogs bark.
Cows moo.
Cats meow.
and I live another day.

I'm still enjoying Dermatology. I really like the doctora that I'm working with. The ringtone of her personal cell phone is "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" by Shania Twain so everytime she gets a call 'Let's go girls!' rings out around the office. Makes me smile to myself everytime!

Dermatology has got to be the easiest area of medicine I've encountered so far. I don't mean easy as in anyone can do it, but easy as in the demand it places on your life. Not much other than regular office hours. In the past I've been sprayed with blood and splashed with baby. The worst I've had in Derm is spritzed with steroid. All in a day's work! :)

For the past week or so I've driven past a speed trap on my way home from the hospital without a problem. Guess I forgot about it today. So I took my spot in line behind all the other cars being routed to the side of the road to wait for their tickets. Had a lovely chat with the policeman, explained all my paperwork to him, then he went about filling out my ticket. The thing about writing me a ticket in Mexico is that I could get by without paying it (for various reasons), but I also know myself well enough that I know I'd pay it anyways just to avoid any possible complications that could arise. However, when this guy finishes he comes back to my window, and starts messing around. I told myself I would never pay off an officer and in my past few encounters I've been completely honest, and then played dumb and ditzy for the rest with 100% success rate. But today this guy was so blatently obvious in what he wanted. Such an abuse of power sickens me. Or perhaps it was just the smug look on his face as he repeated for the third time that I can't tell anyone about the exchange. Or even more likely, probably the combination of the two.

Hasta!

Yo estoy corriendo!

I woke up this morning excited and ready to go. It definitely helped that I had eaten pizza last night, because my body was sufficiently stocked with carbs. I had a race this morning. I came across it while on the website for the Panamerican Games last week. I had been sad at the time because I had just discovered that the Opening Ceremony for the Panamerican Games was already all sold out. (tickets in my price range at least!) So running a 10k rumbo a los panamericanos Guadalajara 2011, seemed like a good alternative. I got a few friends to run with me too! Based on my mood when I woke up I new that it was going to be a good run, but it was fantastic!

I kind of stumbled out of the starting gate. Friday night I had not been able to fall asleep and spent about 3 hours trying to before finally turning my mp3 player to some Jim Brickman which successfully lulled me to sleep in about 1.5 songs. Unfortunately, I had completely forgotten about it and so starting up my music expecting to hear "Forward Motion" by RelientK and instead getting a lullaby....red flashing lights went off in my mind going ABORT!!! ABORT!!! Easily remedied and I was on my way!

A while back I posted links to some videos I'd made while driving home from Ixtlan one night. In one such video, Navegating Guadalajara, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf05XB9OzUI you see a bridge lit up with blue lights. The race took us up and over that bridge. Honestly, that alone would have made the race worth it for me!

There was a runner that ran juggling three pins the whole way!

There was a runner that ran the entire 10k backwards!

The route would double back on itself periodically, and you get to see the front runners. A leisurely sprint, and not even winded. It's amazing!

I had set a goal for myself at the beginning of the race. I judge how I am doing time wise according to the songs on my running list. When I knew the route had made its last turn and I was headed back towards the finish line I also knew that I was running out of time if I was to make my goal. I was thankful that I was able to push myself harder, but I had misjudged the returning stretch. Another song ended, and I was realizing I still had a bit left, and then the route started uphill all the way to the finish. I started counting the lines on the street, which is what I do when I'm tired and trying to not think about being tired. Then suddenly, this young guy in green who was about to pass me, matched my pace. I could see that he kept looking at me. So I tested him. Increased me speed then backing off again. He matched whatever I did. I broke out in a huge smile and started sprinting for the finish. We crossed with over a minute to spare on my goal. We shared a huge grin and then parted ways! I have no idea who that guy was, but to whomever, Thanks! That was a fun finish!

Rumbo a los panamericanos basically means Bound for the Panamerican Games!


Sorry I went on so long about the race, but I was really excited and wanted to share with someone! Now I can officially say I've run a 10k! Plus I even got home before Gridley's morning services started!

A beautiful Sunday morning in Guadlajara!

Hasta!

Yo estoy tuyo y tuyo sere.

This is hard to explain, but towards the end of 6th semester, back in May/June of this year, I felt as if God was taking a huge paddle and stirring. I was confused about so much. I was getting dizzy. I didn't know what was going on, and of course I made some bad decisions that didn't help the matter. I was feeling like a failure, and I just wanted away from it. Which was granted by the end of the semester and me being on a plane the next day headed away. While in the States I was thankful to have a couple of conversations that covered this topic, but as I was still confused as to the exact nature of the problem itself the conversations all ended as discussions without solutions. And then by the end of Boston, I had all but completely forgotten about what was waiting for me upon my return. Within a few days of being back, the dizziness was returning and with it the dread that I couldn't figure out how to not be a failure to my classmates anymore. There were many quickly breathed prayers of "Lord, I just want to go to Ixtlan! I miss my friends there, I just want to be with them." And suddenly, after one such prayer, I was hit with conviction, and realized that prayer was my problem. God has me in GDL to serve here, and not only was I failing my classmates but I was failing Jesus by asking to be somewhere else.

I still went to Ixtlan this past weekend, of course!! ;) And while there I was able to enjoy not only my Ixtlan family but church family visiting from the States who had helped with VBS last week. Through conversation with one of the visiting sisters I found the first person ever in my three years of being in GDL who understood on a personal level the loneliness that Satan gnaws at me with. And I realized what I already knew. That I had gotten so tired of his gnawing that I wanted to give up. I was so tired of fighting for Jesus by myself that I had to a certain extent stopped fighting, hence the resulting bad decisions I had made.

If someone asked, "Would you die for Jesus?" What would you say? For me that's an easy question with a simple answer, Yes! But now suppose someone asked, "Would you live for Jesus?" Now that's a hard question. To continually deny self. To continually try to live out love to people who don't understand the meaning of the word that they themselves use excessively.

The purpose of this blog isn't to bore you with a personal confession, but rather to share a bit of background with you in order to ask for something. I covet your prayers for our Wednesday night Bible study as they continue this semester. Please pray for the individuals in attendance that they could listen past the mere mortal speaking to the actual message being delivered. Please pray that their own personal search for answers won't stop when they see someone just as capable of mistakes as they are. Please pray that they will see past me, to the Truth that they hold in their own hands. And lastly pray for me, that I could be a living example of Jesus' love for those I come in contact with. That I can continue to serve my Lord and Saviour, right here, and right now!
Thank you and God bless you all.
Hasta!


One last thing I'd like to share. Chelli sent a birthday CD down to me last year. It's currently in the player in my car so I get to listen to it everyday to and from the hospital. One of the songs, the artist sings as to a girl, but when he gets to the chorus I can't help but sing along as if I'm singing to Jesus.

I'm Yours by Jason Mraz
...
I won't hesitate no more,
No more, it cannot wait I’m yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and [x] you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing
We are just one big family
It’s your god forsaken right to be loved, loved, loved, loved

So, I won't hesitate no more,
No more, it cannot wait I’m sure
There’s no need to complicate our time is short
This is our fate, I’m yours

Yo estoy escuchando.

ello & appy Friday!

Dermatology is going well. In short, it's easy. Although by the end of these 4 weeks I wonder if I'll be able to say Head and Shoulder correctly, or if Ead and Choulder will have replaced it completely.

After my averted attempt at turning in my FM3 paperwork last Monday, it took just 3 more trips to the main campus for them to accept everything. I can't complain about 4 total trips, it's normal and expected. But there's always a small hope lingering that it'll just take one trip that inevitably gets smashed every year. Oh well, at least being in Derm, I had the time to make all the trips with no damage done.

I am thankful it's rainy season in GDL now. Things are much cooled down due to the daily downpours. Normally the rain happens late evening or during the night. But for some reason last night it decided to wait to rain until this morning. In anticipation of all the backed up traffic from the flooded streets I left early for the hospital, and still got there late. (Still beat the doctora there though, so no problems!) I was thankful there were parking spots available on the block of the hospital, and after my typical awkard attempt at a parallel park I opened my door, umbrella in hand, to find myself in the middle of a river. oooeeeeee! I jumped from my car with minimal splashing and then tried finding an ideal place to get from the middle of the street to the sidewalk with no success. But deciding the middle of the street not to be the best place for me I hiked up my white pant legs and braved the river. I walked into the hospital this morning going 'squish, thump, squish, thump, squish..." Que attractive, no?

Coming back from my weeks in the States I've noticed some new billboards that have gone up in my absence. They are advertising McDonald's. I have to admit, once in a great while I enjoy some McDonald's myself. About a year or two ago they started their McTrio del dia. (McTrio of the day). A Medium fry, drink, and sandwhich for a cheap price. Last semester they started offering the Grande option with their McTrios. Not good in my opinion, but inevitable considering it is afterall, McDonald's. But now these billboards are advertising the McTrio Plus. Everytime I see one such billboard I have a sudden desire to grab a shot-gun and obliterate the thing. Good Grief McDonald's!!!!! Mexico needs no help getting fatter, they're doing a fantastic job of that all on their own!

Last but not least for this blog. I miss my old apartment. I did not realize how spoiled I was by having so much space. But even more so, I miss my windows. I had windows that looked outside in my old apartment. The window in my room opens into the well that descends through our house from the roof to the bottom floor and is covered on top by yellow plastic. In my old place I'd have the windows open 24/7 and was able to enjoy the thunderstorms. Here having my windows open doesn't actually matter, as I still don't get air movement through them, and the rain falling on plastic is borderline obnoxious! I know I'll get used to it, and even if I don't I'll get over it. :)

Hasta!

Yo estoy reunida con mi equipaje.

My alarm woke me up this morning at the time I had set it for. Only problem was that I had first forgotten to switch the time from Boston to GDL. Didn't realize I was an hour early until I was in my car and saw the green digits laughing at me. It didn't take much for my housemates to convince me to take a nap.

Today was a typical first day in Mexico. Went to HAL first and got paperwork taken care of there. Then was off to a hospital in Tlaquepaque (probably was once a suburb of GDL, but has since gotten engulfed by the growing city). I was scheduled for 4 weeks of Neurology, however when I got there they told me that they don't have a Neurology service at that particular IMSS. So I'm doing Dermatology instead, and then will have to transfer to another hospital to do Neurology. Driving home today I was finally able to turn on the radio in my car and relax a little bit. I wasn't stressed before, but I had tried the radio and ended up snapping it right back off prefering to drive in the quiet.

I also made a trip to the main campus to get the process started on my FM3 renewal/address change. I walked in the building, turned the corner to head towards the International office, and froze. The office was packed with starting first semesters. It must be their orientation week. I paused a moment more, then turned on my heel and headed back the way I'd come. There was no way I was going to enter that room then. I'll have to try again tomorrow, hopefully at an earlier time.

My suitcase was delivered today. As no one was home this morning we arranged for our neighbor to receive it for me. Same neighbors that let me park me car in their parking spot all summer while I was gone. This means that I have all my cords back, a.k.a. here's some pictures!!!

Museum of Fine Arts. Chihuly blown glass exhibit.

Jamaica Pond: kind of like the jewel hanging from the Emerald Necklace (a 7 mile long path/park through Boston)



My last day at Children's Hospital Boston.



For our last day in Boston, Amy & I made plans to go downtown to the New England Aquarium. Delayed a bit by a sudden downpour, but we made it. Joining us are Luke (the son of the lady I stayed with), and Pablo.



Then Amy & I headed out to the ocean. Far past all of the small islands, the one below was my favorite, out until nothing but ocean is seen, and then....



....the water suddenly breaks and power rises out, and unless you were already looking in its direction, disappears before you know it leaving behind a splash any cannonball would be jealous of. The whales that we happened across were in the midst of a feeding frenzy so it was amazing as they were being very active. It the end the naturalist aboard the boat with us guessed that we had seen about 20 different whales on our trip.


I'll leave you with a video. CHB had the most fun musical stairs ever. It took a lot of self restraint to not play on them everyday. Thankfully Amy was willing to enjoy the novelty with me.


Hasta!