Yo estoy preparando.

Last Monday we drove to the coast and spent 5 days on South Padre Island, TX.


Not sure what exactly I was trying to achieve here. Honestly, Vero probably just caught me mid dance move or something! Just don't ask me 'What dance?' cause I couldn't tell you.


I changed my profile picture on Facebook to this picture, and then spent about 15 minutes trying to think of the perfect caption for it, but sometimes words aren't enough, so I let the picture speak for itself.


We were attacked by 'The Birds'. No, just kidding, we were feeding the seagulls.

Vero and I are leaving tomorrow morning to return to GDL. I'm not looking forward to it. Starting Monday morning I'm going to have to start answering the dreaded question of 'How was Peru?' I would give a lot to be able to avoid that question...to just avoid the topic all-together.

Hasta!

Yo estoy brincando.

I trust everyone had a blessed Easter.

I just have to share mine with you, for two reasons.

1) I woke up early and went to a sunrise service on a nearby golf course with Vero's parents. It was a collaborative service, so about 11 different pastors were there from a variety of denominations. One of them shared a short message about the women that had visited the tomb and found it empty. To us we don't have a question about that because we already know the end of the story. Jesus had risen and was alive. But these women, they were still confused and heartbroken over the happenings just three days earlier. The answer to their confusion was right in front of them but they couldn't understand it because they didn't know what they were looking at.

2) After I got back, I went with Vero to the Easter service at her grandparents church. Her grandparents attend the Spanish service at a Baptist church. I am in the US right now, but honestly whereever I go....I'm still the only white girl, good thing I'm used to it. I take that back....you sometimes see retirees here down from the North.

So how do they celebrate Easter here? Lots of eggs!!!


Here's a closer look!


The majority of these eggs are filled with confetti. Some you can find with candies or money, but the majority...confetti. So once everyone has scrambled and filled their bag full of eggs all the cracking begins. Hundreds of eggs get cracked releasing their confetti contents all over the heads of their victims. It's actually pretty funny; when one of the small children would run at an adult egg in hand gleefully laughing, the adult just bends over so the child can reach their head and hopes that they get hit by the side of the egg that smashes easiest. Everyone got egged...it was unavoidable. Here's Vero post-egging.


But it didn't stop there. We made some special eggs. Here I am after emptying some of the eggs of their confetti, and refilling them with flour.

Once the egg hunt had simmered down and attention had turned to the piñata the hidden flour-filled eggs emerged. And garuanteed you're probably already sweaty so any flour and you're colored white. But just in case, sometimes water balloons were used first...just to make sure the flour would stick! ;) Poor Vero got it good!


There were lots of games played, the pool was swam in, more water balloons tossed. In the end, I'll never forget my Easter this year. It was the opposite of ordinary. It was loud, and long, and messy, and wet, and flat out exhausting. But don't get me wrong, all of those adjectives are used in a positive sense. It was basically 8 hours of straight laughter!

Hasta!

How to Heal a Broken Heart

Within the few following hours upon arriving back in GDL (4am last Sunday morning, the 17th) both Jennifer and I had already found a way out and had fled GDL once again. We didn't have to say anything to each other, we both knew and understood that we were feeling the same. GDL was the last place on Earth either of us wanted to be right then. As for me, I'd had plans to visit Texas with my friend Veronica (Vero) and as she was a-okay with moving up those plans, we were soon both on board an overnight bus to the border. We walked across the border late Monday morning and here in South Texas is where I've undertaken the task of acceptance and moving on.

Through extensive research (shout-out to Google.com) and the help of friends I thought I'd share my progress with you all!

1) As happy thoughts don't come as readily as normal, a facilitator of happy thoughts was used as intervention. In my case, Chocolate


OK...Lots of Chocolate.


2) A pedicure was suggested and I figured it works for the rest of young adult America so why not.


3) Coffee: Not exactly sure why this one was recommended, but at least it helps me study in the mornings. I'd have taken a picture of myself with my coffee, but as I haven't been getting a whole lot of sleep lately I doubt my eyes would have been that open.


4) Shopping: It was easy to convince my friends to help me with this one! ;)


5) Relaxing: So easy to do when there's a pool in the back yard!


6) Read a book: Suggested to keep the mind occupied. Although the free reading book that I brought is about princesses and goblins, I typically find myself grabbing my study book when I've got some down time to read. USMLE trumps princesses and goblins.


7) Regular socializing and exercising! This suggestion I've got covered!! I don't have an accompanying photo because I figured if you really want to see people socializing you can google images. And as for the exercising...let's just say that the heat plus the humidity of the valley equals one very sweaty girl. For example, we played basketball until 1 am the other night and when we were done you couldn't have told the difference between that and if I had flat out jumped in the pool. So regular socializing (check) and exercising (check) but I'll spare you the pictures of said checks.

8) Smile & Laugh: In other words focus on what's good in life. It seems the littlest thing reminds me of Peru and with each reminder I have to work my way back to reality. Start with the smile and soon enough I'm laughing again. I am so thankful that the smiling and laughing are so easy to achieve here. The below picture was a random photo I found on my camera. Where we are at(Donna, TX) is right by McAllen, TX... in other words, about 15 minutes from the border. So we had taken a short trip across the border and Vero had been messing around with my camera on the way back. I figured that in this instance a random snapshot is better proof that I can still smile than something posed.


So far I'd have to conclude that the afore mentioned steps have succeeded in securing the pieces of my heart into a shape somewhat resembling .... a heart. Slightly overly dramatic?.... perhaps ;)
Hasta!

Yo estoy acongojada.

Before I left for my trip to Peru I sent an email to the Bible study challenging them to allow God to use them this Spring Break. Writing that at the time I did not know how much it could hurt. Jennifer and I are heartbroken. It was not our fault, and we tried everything we could, but we were not able to make it to Peru.

Last night on the bus ride back to GDL, the closer we got to GDL, the further we got from Peru, the more and more it hurt.

"Remember that time......that time we almost went to Peru?" - Jennifer Gonzalez

Yo estoy contando las horas.

tick tock bom bom bom

This week was one of those weeks. One of those weeks were you have to remember to schedule time to remind yourself to breathe. Gotta do this. Gotta go here. And of course Mexico doesn't help with any of this process. Get a request from this office. Pay a bill at this office. Take receipt to this office. etc... oh well...

Finished OB/GYN learned a lot and enjoyed my last week the most. Had the most hands on then. Delivered a total of three beautiful babies; it would have been four but we ended up taking the last one into emergency c-section. However, even after this last week I can't say that it changed how I feel about the specialty in general. Unfortunately, it's gonna have to go down as a no.

I just got back from completing and then sending off another elective application. The FedEx guy recognized me from the last time. I was like, yup...another for the United States! The particular FedEx office that was pointed out to me, and hence the one I use only has overnight shipping and therefore is expensive. But at the same time I like knowing my papers are getting there quick. And honestly, for this particular application, they need to get there quick.

One of the requirements for this particular application was a telephone interview to test my English proficiency. Easiest interview ever hands down. I called in and about 1.5 minutes into the conversation the lady exempted me from the entire interview. Said my English skills were satisfactory! Oh Yeah Baby! Hey, don't blame me... I take my ego boosters whereever I can get'em. However, there is one thing I just don't get. This occurred.
Lady: What school do you go to?
Me: Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara
...awkward silence...
Me: It's in Guadalajara, Mexico
Lady: Oh ok....(continues conversation)
She knew I was an international student. What did she expect?

Another thing about being a foreign student that isn't berries and cherries...translations. For example: order my transcript - 28 dollars; get my transcript translated - 50 dollars. sheesh!

A group my classmates and I were discussing and asking advice about 4th and 5th years from a current 8th semester a few nights ago. It was the first time I've actually spent some thought on my fifth year in New York. I've only always said it or thought about it in passing and moved on to the next topic. We went over some of the hospital options available to us in New York and Yonkers was mentioned. I already know I couldn't go to Yonkers. I can't even say the name without thinking of Cornelius and Barnaby. If I were actually living there I would probably be turning every corner hoping I'd see Vandergelder's Hay & Feed. I'd be in the loony bin quicker than you can say 'stuffed whale.' But as this will be after we're done here....I've still got some time. Heat's down low on this one for now, won't boil for awhile; got other pots to attend to first.

So I guess I'm on Spring Break now! Finally! Not really a fan of Easter being so late this year. But in other words, this means that the weeks and then the days that I've been counting down are now down to mere hours! Yep, HOURS FOLKS!

Off to see the world I am! Peace!

Hasta!

P.S. In 2007, was announced as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World!

Yo estoy guau!

My first day in 'toco' and I already got to attend for my first birth. It was Wow! I ended up completely covered in "baby" and did not even notice. It was an absolute miracle what transpired in the 5 seconds between the time that the baby was inside its mom to the point that it was in my arms. Only a Masterful Creator could design something so beautiful...correction, The Masterful Creator!

Yo estoy jugando con patitos.

This post has been on hold for a couple of weeks. I didn't want to post and then have my opinion change nullifying everything I'd just written. I still have one more week of OB/GYN and even though I'll finally be hands on with labor and delivery I feel confident enough that my opinion won't change and therefore am finally posting.

I was excited to start this OB/GYN rotation, but it didn't take long, in fact it was still the first week of the rotation, and I was feeling.....let's say disappointed. As if OB/GYN had let me down. I'd had my hopes up that this was going to be a great and exciting rotation and reality was falling short. I did realize that this disappointment could be from the initial friction I got from the OB/GYN doctors at HAL so decided to wait it out. Guardias would have to be the ultimate deciding factor. I'm halfway through guardias and that feeling of disappointment hasn't changed. I wanted to like OB/GYN. It's the only area that someone has requested that I enter. So I wanted to like it for them; plus, it made sense. I could combine OB with Family Practice or something like that. But ultimately, at the end of the day, I go home having loved my work, but never once being excited about it.

Hasta!

ONE WEEK!!!!

Ok, so I just got off the phone with my classmate who just finished her first shift in labor delivery and her first words were "Christy, you're going to love it!"
So in other words, perhaps I still spoke too early, but we'll see. I'm so ready to get there tomorrow and get my hands dirty!

Yo estoy cazando canguros.

Got my first mosquito bite of the year this weekend.

For some reason Jan has decided to teach me yeast breads, more specifically yeast rolls. I've helped her in the past and she had me write the recipe down. Upon arrival this weekend she thought it was time I made the rolls on my own. Hey! at least that means I get to eat them too!

Wasn't sure how Saturday night volleyball was going to turn out this weekend due to a smaller crowd but God had anticipated that and a handful of kids wandered into the area. So we got to teach some volleyball as well as play!

The babies among the Ixtlan congregation are all just over a year now. They are all starting to walk and discover the full extent of their vocal cords. One of them, the oldest, is even starting to do the motions to the kid's songs we sing every Sunday morning. Of course when pointing to his ears he missed and hit his temples instead, but that just made it so much more adorable.

Hasta!

Yo estoy preparando.

Rather exhausting week! But the first stone has been slung. I give myself all the pep talks, but can't bring myself to fully believe them yet. some day, some day perhaps. At times like this, my life needs to be a musical, and right about now ABBA would break out in "Take a Chance on Me!"

I randomly ran into Rosa yesterday. (Rosa is who I stayed with first semester.) She said she had some letters for me so I stopped by. She had a handful of letters for me that she'd saved over the past 2 1/2 years. Really cool of her to save them for me. So in other words, I finally received the David & Tara's wedding invitation. (I hope you guys had a wonderful 1 year anniversary!) The majority of the letters were from Betty K. They were a bit difficult to read especially since I read them in chronological order. Considering these new letters, I did not write her enough, and they made me really want to write her right then. :(

Today marked our end of our OB/GYN time at HAL. Starting Monday we split up. Some of my friends are even going to Puerta Vallarta to do their two weeks of OB/GYN guardias there. We had the guardia picking this past Monday. There were only 4 spots available at the IMSS (#89) that I wanted and I got one of them!!! Excited about that. Apparently quite a few people had 89 as their #1 choice so I jokingly got blamed for taking their spot from them.

Today Jennifer and I excitedly went on a shopping trip for Peru! Store after store we emerged empty handed. We racked our brains for any shopping site that could possibly carry the items we were looking for, tried them all, and came up with nothing. Thankfully while we were out we were able to take care of some errands for a friend's birthday we are celebrating tonight. If not for those errands, our 3 1/2 hours of effort would have been for nothing.

Hasta!
14 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!