Europe Days 1-4

Day 1 - We left Provo amidst a bit of anxiety. Sue was sick and her application for a passport matching her ticket name had been mixed up. Adam’s parents took us up to the airport and we had no problem getting through security. The flight left at 11:30PM and landed at JFK at 5:45 am (Eastern Time). Our nine hour layover gave us time to visit Kristy Kadish and meet her friend Antonio. The visit allowed us to get our first taste of trains (subways) that we’d be using the rest of our trip. It was so good to see Kristy and she provided a great lunch that we were able to eat it in Central Park! That was Sue’s first experience seeing the park, which was really pretty with its gardens in bloom. What a great way to start our trip.
Since these pictures were taken by Kristy's camera, we should share her favorite- (yep, we're skipping)
From here we headed back to the airport and left JFK at 3:40 PM and landed in Frankfurt, Germany at 5:15 the next morning.

Day 2-Adam’s Aunt Stef was kind enough to pick us up so early from the airport. We were impressed to see how she maneuvered her van through the small roadways of Germany. It’s a feat to find a spot big enough for such a vehicle there. It was funny to note all the BMW’s, Mercedes, and other European cars. In our two weeks there, we only saw four Fords.

After two nights of 3-4 hours of sleep on a plane, both of us ended up needing a nap that afternoon. This is especially shocking because Adam NEVER takes naps. (He doesn’t want to have trouble sleeping at night.)

We enjoyed watching Stef’s kids play soccer for all their practices that evening. Since they attend school on base, their practices are also there. It was funny because we went to two bases for the various practices and both times the security personnel decided they didn’t just need to see our passports, but to completely search the vehicle. Apparently we passed both searches (30min apart), because they let us back into the car. I still think it’s funny that foreign security employees are the guards for US bases abroad.

We also learned about some interesting cultural things there in Germany. First of all, there is a quiet hour for a few hours in the afternoon by law. In recent years, children have been exempted from this law, but that doesn’t prevent the older neighbors from yelling at Stef and her kids if they are outside making noise during this time. Recycling is also huge in Europe generally. Even in bus stations, there are the various deposits for plastics, papers and other trash. Apparently neighbors in Stef’s area are also willing to go through your recycling bags to make sure you’re being thorough enough with your sorting. Ha! Maybe that’s just a twist on the one man’s trash another man’s treasure.

I love that each household has its own cute patio in the back. It’s definitely not as great as a big back yard, but I really enjoyed seeing how well-kept they were overall. People really maintain their flowers and little patios just so. It was fun to see all the cobblestone and brick streets. I would sometimes wonder how long it took to lay down all those streets. One of the funniest things to me was the trees lining the streets by Stef’s house. I noticed they were numbered with individual metal tags nailed into the trees. It all fits in with the patios and precision of recycling, I guess. We laughed as we realized it would help with reporting a problem with a particular tree that might be out of line “Hello, tree 38 on my street seems a bit tired, could we get a replacement?”

Being sleep deprived that night helped us adjust right over to the time change because we still slept wonderfully, despite the nap.

Day 3 – After Stef got the kids off to school we headed to Wiesbaden, the area capital (maybe like a county seat). There we got introduced to gelato – probably the best we had our entire trip – and explored the city shops. Our conclusion is we could probably live on Gelato. They have dairy and if you select properly you could fulfill the other food groups too – fruit, protein, carbs – I don’t think Europeans eat vegetables (so hard to find!), so we’d survive just like that. The shops are set up for ideal window shopping, and we walked the cobblestone streets for a while just looking around. We got our first taste of ancient palaces here too. Just a step into the main corridor revealed incredible artwork and architecture.

After the exploration of Wiesbaden we headed to the train station (bahnhof) in Frankfurt. I wish there was a video showing us trying to figure out the trains that first day compared to the end of the trip – initially we were worried about figuring out things, stopped like five people asking questions, and finally got on the train and had all sorts of documents to show the conductor when he asked for our ticket, and carefully scanning for our next stop. By the end it was just smooth sailing – get to the station, find the train, jump on, show the one document to the conductor, and relax until we arrived at our destination.

One of our stations we made a train change in was Augsburg, which also gave us our first taste of the many kabob shops found throughout Europe. Sue got a falafel and I got a durum. They were delicious and gave us the impression that prices weren’t so bad in Europe – we quickly learned differently. After that quick layover we arrived in Fussen. We figured out where the LA House was (the hostel we stayed at) and navigated through the little town until we found the place. This was probably our favorite hostel we slept in during our trip – it was an old house with probably 8-10 rooms that they adapted to either be dorms or private rooms. After getting checked in we roamed the streets of Fussen, a gorgeous little tourist town and got Sue some tasty Hot Chocolate. By the tourist center there was a statue of an Elk that looked like it really wanted somebody to ride it, but even with Sue’s insisting I refused, citing that getting a ticket or thrown into jail our first day on our own in Europe might not be the best way to start our trip.

Day 4-Saturday we woke up and had a typical European breakfast at the hostel (for 2.50 euros each). It consisted of juice, the options for tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, rolls, and various spreads of fruits, butter and cheese. Oh, we each had a boiled egg, too. After that, we headed out on foot from the town on a great walking/biking trail (these are also all over Europe and are really great!) up to see the castles that we went there to see. We did see one in town the evening before-Hohe Schloss. That one was built up by the bishop. The Hohenschwangau castle was built as a Summer palace by Maximilian II of Bavaria.
The walls were covered with murals throughout, many depicting scenes from the tale of a Swan Knight, as well as historical scenes and battles of the area. It made us smile to learn he had stars made into his bedroom ceiling with crystals in the center that allowed lantern light from above to shine through. Too bad no one told him about the simpler option of plastic glow stars to smack up on the ceiling with sticky tack like we did. J Oh, and there was a bathroom attached to the kings’ bedroom, as well as a door that led down a special staircase to the queen’s bedroom. I thought it was sad to know the queen lived on her own floor, the king on his above, and the children in a different building. Sad! We really liked the tour here, because they told us a lot about the family. There were also more golden or jeweled centerpieces, interesting carved furniture, and gifts from the people of Bavaria in this castle. This castle was the first with an elevator system built into it.

The Neuschwanstein castle was built in the late 1800’s. It was the inspiration for the Disney castle. It was built by Ludwig II, the son of Maximilian. Set just across the way from the Hohenschwangau Castle, it is about a 15 minute hike up another mountain. Nearby is a beautiful waterfall with a quaint bridge. We really enjoyed the view of the castle from there.
After enjoying the view we started back for a our tour and found a man playing an instrument neither of us had ever seen before and we couldn't pronounce the name of it either. The music was pretty cool sounding - almost like a harpsicord. If you figure out the name of the instrument you win a prize!
The view out over the land from the castles was the best, though. This castle has similar amazing art all over the walls. Several woodworkers took years to make his huge bed with church tower atop, as well as other furniture. Ludwig even built in running water coming from a silver swan right to his room. This is the more impressive castle, but only a few areas were finished before Ludwig died strangely. He had been judged incapable of ruling as king just a week or so before and then was found dead by a lake. So that’s a mystery, and the castle was never completed, so you really don’t see too much of it in the tour. It was still really neat, though.

After seeing the castles, we walked the couple miles back to town, rechecked the train schedule, picked up our bags from the hostel, and grabbed some quick eats. We were hungry enough to think of grabbing a good Turkish pizza and kebab meal, but did not think to refill water bottles, so hydration status was not the best for the next 6 hours as we traveled on the trains to Salzburg. Lack of water probably didn’t help us feel any better as we wandered around Salzburg looking for our hotel. We had a map, but it didn’t go far enough NE to include the hotel area. So we were pretty much going on Adam’s amazing memory and sense of direction from looking briefly at the map by the train station.

This was a new hotel and was priced cheaper than the hostels in the area, but some things were similar to a hostel, like having a shared kitchen with fridge and cooking area. The décor in the room was kind of weird-the headboard design on the bed was red gingham and there were weird phrases like “muuh” on the lights and “find the cow” by the light switch. We never did figure out what that was about. The beds were comfortable, though.

Tens

While talking to some of my young women today, we were discussing what fun things we could do to celebrate the date of 10/10/10. Besides the ten big snickerdoodles I have ready as a surprise, I thought I would count some blessings. (in no particular order)

1. Family dinner. Hey, I'm impressed that this function can be called together at 2:30 and be so delicious by 5:30. It's amazing. And tasty. But the family is the best part. :)

2. Neighbors. I am happy I'm getting to know my neighbors, and not because they provide the occasional egg or cup of shortening, but for the sense of home I'm starting to feel as we chat and serve each other.

3. Work. It can be crazy, but I'm grateful we have what we need. I'm also grateful for it because it ties in perfectly with my next item...

4. Service. I don't remember the exact title of the lesson today in the marriage class, but the discussion led me to count the many small acts of service my husband does for me all the time that just make life better. (like when he does dishes with me...I feel like I sound really wifey, but Ad points out it's good I don't sound Husbandy)

5. Laughter. Especially that of children. I taught our neighbor boy who's about 2 the peel-peel Bananas cheer tonight. He demanded as many repeat performances as I'd provide.


This is Ad's
6. A wife who is excited when I come home (Sue: I usually jump on him)

7. Medical school interviews. They make me feel like I have a chance!

8. Callings. They provide great opportunity to not only serve, but get to know people.

9. Good friends. They still like to have me around, even though I'm married. They'll even come outside and play Frisbee with us lovebirds.

10. Conference. Definitely a good measuring stick.

We'll keep counting; Thanksgiving is coming up soon.

Warm Blankets, Warm Hearts

First of all, I need to apologize for not getting this up here sooner. This is our bed. We really love this comforter because of all it represents. The fabric came from my Aunt Betty, who loved to sew and create. Mom, on going through her fabrics when Betty passed away, thought of me immediately when she saw all this ORANGE fabric. (Mom knows me well; I do love orange.) Then, Caroline got everything ready so that family could quilt it together by hand up at our family reunion. It started as a project the women were doing at my bridal shower, then just became a family project. Personally, I loved that I even saw Dad and Ad take a turn sewing away. It sure was fun to spend some of those late hours sewing with my dear Mom, sisters, cousins, and aunts. Then, by the time we returned from our honeymoon up to Yellowstone, Caroline had it all bound up and ready. We really do love it and appreciate all the hard work that so many put into making it for us. It stands as a reminder of the love of family, unity, and hard work. Thank you!!

Another thing that has warmed us recently is General Conference. We thought it was interesting to hear some topics repeated. We felt like a lot touched on following the prophet, and recognizing that he is the mouthpiece of God. Scripture from D&C 1 and Amos were shared several times. This strikes me as interesting as we see more and more that people do want to determine truth by voting, like that story of the children who decided to vote if the kitty was a boy or a girl kitty. That idea really struck me this morning as I saw something on the news at work. With some people upset by Pres Packer's statements on the sanctity of marriage between man and woman and homosexuality, the news station asked viewers to contact them for a poll. Viewers were asked to vote on whether or not they agreed with Pres Packer's statements. I think some of his words express how I feel, "we will not change our moral standards. We quickly lose our way when we disobey the laws of God. If we do not protect and foster the family, civilization and our liberties must needs perish." Truth is not determined by ballot, and I'm grateful the Lord is so constant.
I also loved Elder Holland's remarks thanking us, testifying of the worth and need for each one of us. It reminded me of my mission president, whose favorite word (in any language) is "gratitude". I love how often I heard testimony of God's love for us, His children. While we're grateful for the heart-warming experience of conference, we also recognize that it is most important that we find how to apply these teachings in our lives.

Life and Dreams

Then I dropped off the face of the Earth, right? I know; I've been a slacker. I'm super-tired right now and ready to go to bed. Ad is still up helping his little brother with his chemistry homework that's due Monday morning. I love that husband. Anyway, after reviewing others' updated blogs, I feel a need to repent.
Life is good. I've been having some interesting dreams recently. I've had plenty of those unprepared dreams throughout the years...I'm in school still and can't find my locker or remember the combo, and I've just realized that I have a final in a class I haven't ever been to! Or, I have this huge homework assignment due. More recently, I've had ones where work people are mad at me and somehow dissatisfied with my performance. Last night I had a funky dream about Mom having a "family fungus", but it wasn't the normal Frogmorton fungus like on Michael's leg, but this multi-colored, super mildew/lichen combo. The colors were cool, I have to admit. And there were these little mountains of the fungus....I was worried about mom's skin integrity seriously.
Luckily, after these dreams I wake up. Then I quickly review my life-Adam, work, family fungus...and I'm so grateful that in my real life, everything is so much better than in my dreams.
Sure sometimes I only see Ad for the 30 mins I'm at lunch at work (with him at school all day and me at work all night), but at least he comes. And maybe the brand-new vacuum just didn't work, but I saved the receipt. So, really, life is good.

And I'm grateful for it.

My Shiny, for Boss

Here's some shots of the ring, since the request has been made by Boss. Adam and I went ring shopping in May and found things we liked at different stores. Then Adam oversaw the custom design of this one, so I didn't know exactly what it would look like. He was so cute after proposing, because he wanted to hurry and get back to the car so I could see the ring in the light. I'm glad we both like it. Adam's brother Seth has also started looking for rings and was appalled to find we all picked out the same one. He decided to design his own that's different from ours now. He figures the girl will just have to love whatever he designs, whenever he's at the point of proposing to someone. :)

We had engagement photos taken on Saturday. It was fun, especially once we just started being ourselves and not thinking about what to do for the camera. I'll post some up here once we get them.
B and Catherine also gave us the great advice for beautiful photos; don't shower for 3 days previous. We'll have to think about that one... :)

Official

WE'RE ENGAGED!!


We know; you're shocked and appalled all at once. Probably didn't guess that one was coming, either. Yes, we set a date. We'll be married in the Manti temple on July 27 at 10am. The reception will be that night in Spanish Fork from 7-9pm.

You probably want to know how Adam proposed...so here's my version (it tends to include all the juicy details):

On my birthday, Adam came and picked me up around 6 with a dozen roses in hand. We then went to Red Lobster (my favorite) for dinner. It was fun to just sit and enjoy each other's company as I took FOREVER to eat (like always, in comparison with Adam) my snow crab legs. During the course of the meal, he said he had something for me and pulled out a silky, white bag. He then put a beautiful pearl necklace around my neck. After dinner, we stopped by my place to drop off left-overs, supposedly, but really it was part of a much larger stratagem for the evening. (the plot thickens...)
Then Adam opened up the trunk of his car, saying he had something else for me. (I was really grateful at this point that he didn't just unromantically bust out the ring box. Phew!) He then brought out 5 gerber daisies, explaining that I'd be expected to work for these flowers. He then took me to 5 different places that have been important to us in the development of our relationship. First, the lounge at Cinnamon Tree Apartments where we first met while watching the BYU-Oklahoma football game (yes, of course we Cougars won). Apparently I caught his eye at that first meeting, and not only because I understood the game. (I started paying attention to him more when I heard him giving good answers in Sunday school about the spiritual quality measures of his future wife.) The next location was the balcony area in front of our apartments where we sat on the benches and asked a million questions as we got to know each other. Third, we took a little walk on the Provo River Trail, as we had so many times before. We stopped on the bridge where we first kissed. (sorry, I didn't warn you to cover your eyes for that sappiness.) Fourth, we returned to our study place in the HBLL library, down in the periodicals section by the windows (because there, Adam almost feels like he gets to be outside, even when he's stuck inside studying all day. We still need to roll down that hill...) For the last and final (orange!) daisy, we went up to the Provo temple, a place where we've both sought and received revelation many times in our lives, but a special place because that's where we also received answers, and peace, about getting married.
At that point, Adam said we had one more destination left. I astutely pointed out that he was out of daisies, so whatever it was had better be good.
We then drove down through Spanish Fork, talking the entire time about our time and relationship together. Recalling difficult and happy times, we retraced the course of our 8 months of dating. Finally, we arrived up the mountain at what I now know is Woodland Hills Park. There, he had me turn around and face the valley. At 10pm, we could see all the lights down in the valley. Adam mentioned that throughout the night, we'd been able to remember where we'd been and how far we had come together. He then turned me around and had me looking up at the stars as he told me he wanted me to also consider how much farther we wanted to go together and where we wanted to end up together. Then, pulling out the ring, he knelt down and asked if I would be his wife.
At this point, I bet you know I said yes. :) We're excited.

Drama...and resolution

Yay! I graduated!

....now what?

For those of you who don't know, I can't actually do anything with my BS until I take the national council licensure exam (NCLEX) to prove that I can practice safely. I love that a degree from an accredited university means so little.
So, the plan of action to accomplish that after graduation? Wait for BYU to post transcripts, then drive mine up to Salt Lake to the licensure office (it's faster than mailing it) so they will give me an approval to test number. There's the whole criminal background check and application, as well as paying the hundreds of dollars for the test, but I did that part months ago.

Last Thursday at about midnight I noticed with joy that transcripts were finally up. As I looked at my final semester scores, though, I was confused. I'm embarrassed to admit I texted a friend to ask what an 'E' meant, especially for a pass/fail class like skiing. (I knew pass would show up as P...but an E?) Well, as it turns out, BYU doesn't give F's, but E's for failing grades. I was wondering why my gpa looked so low.
I laughed to myself as I realized how bad that would be...since I did need that exercise credit....to not graduate from BYU because I'd failed a class like skiing.

Truthfully, I'm not that bad of a skiier, especially for a beginner. However, that class score is really just based upon attendance. So, starting early Friday, I was emailing and calling the secretary of that professor and talking with the Records office about getting my transcript. After communicating with the head of the exercise department, I learned that the change grade process involved the submission of the change grade sheet by the secretary, a signature from the department head, and then the actual change down in the Records office. The latter also let me know I should expect about a week for the change to appear.

With all the deadlines I met during my college degree, I wondered why it would require one week for a person to sign a paper and send it to another department. Don't we believe in fax machines!!?? I thought about hassling the department head more and offering to walk the paper over to the Records office myself, but refrained. I also found that, according to the person I talked to at Records, I was told 3 days or a week. That's how I decided who my favorite people were in that office.

Understandably, I was a little miffed that after waiting anxiously for the posting of my transcript, some little error (I understand they happen) would take so long to fix. But, realizing frustration wouldn't help, I just laughed about it. The next Wednesday when it was corrected, my sweet roomie Emily dropped it off in SLC for me, so I didn't have to worry about it as I went up to the cabin for the weekend.

Gratefully, the licensure office was slightly more efficient, and I found my approval to test in days. So I am now registered to take the NCLEX on June 3rd...just in time to get it over with before my birthday and before I start my RN job the next week.


Oh, did I forget to mention that?

I have a registered nursing job lined up!! It's true. I'm becoming a more legitimate adult everyday. I'll be working up on the same floor, in the medical and oncology unit. Unfortunately I'll start off working nights....probably for a while. I can sleep fine in the day; I just prefer the day shift for selfish social life reasons.
Oh well. I have a job!!

I'm very grateful for roommates and others as they prayed for me. It's interesting to see obstacles and such arise in life, and to see how things work out. They always do.

Now all I need to do is stay motivated in my studying and actually pass the NCLEX. :)

Ready to Run

In a month, I'll be a real grown-up. I know that sounds weird. There's enough people who still think of me as some little Cindy-Lou Who hopping around sitting on people's laps and fibbing about my age. Let's be honest, I still may not feel like any more of a "real" grown-up, but I'll be done with my undergrad education! (finally!) Earlier in the term, this was pretty intimidating. It means change. It means finding a job and starting a new chapter of my life. It means no more student perks.
Let's be honest-that's all fine with me! At this point, I think the senioritis has taken over. We're almost done!!! Yay!!! We'll be able to work, and not come home to doing more homework or studying. It's time to count down the days and look forward to change, to sniff out and find the new cheese. I bet it's super yummy, anyway. :)

Ingrid's Words

For a few years, Caroline and I have made Valentine CDs. It started as a great cheap idea for a boyfriend and something for us. Now, I feel like it's as much for the fun of putting our favorite romantic (and not too sappy) songs together, and having the sister time to compile it. This year, I even made a special edition with additions for my roommates, such as "All The Single Ladies" (Beyonce) and "Haven't Met You Yet" (Bluble). It's a fun chance to get our favorite songs together and to discover new music. In the process, and thanks to Kristy, I've discovered I enjoy Ingrid Michaelson. Tonight I just have the first verse of her song, "Be OK" in my head.

I just want to be ok, be ok, be ok
I just want to be ok today
I just want to be ok, be ok, be ok
I just want to be ok today

I feel like this is a good theme for my apartment tonight. We're all about to graduate and take on the world. It's exciting and scary at the same time. I realize everyone who actually reads this blog made this transition a while ago (or a long time ago), but it still is intimidating to face real adulthood and these changes. I keep thinking about the book Who Moved My Cheese? and the fact that I should anticipate and make the most of opportunities, rather than shrinking from decisions, change, etc. Some weeks, I feel like life is a roller-coaster between the changes and challenges that not only we, but other sisters and loved ones face in their lives. I think one of the most difficult things is knowing others are suffering, and realizing there is little we can do to alleviate it. Sometimes it's part of life or a consequence of sin, but it's still hard.
One of my patients this week went home. That's usually a happy thing. I've worked with her before, as she's come in for chemotherapy treatments. However, this time around it was different. Her family was gathering, and she was off to see her young daughter's first swim tournament. It may be the only one she sees in the few weeks she will likely live. That's when it's hard. That's when I hurt for them, though I know my suffering is so minuscule in comparison to theirs.

At the same time, I think of the people in Chile and realize how blessed we are. I consider the people of Haiti whose lives were flipped so upside-down and realize not even my roller-coaster days are too bad.

Indiana

I'm writing tonight from the great state of Indiana. This is just a place that I think will always make me want to bust out into song about Gary, Indiana, just like little Winthrop in The Music Man.

Why, you wonder, am I out here on a random weekend like this? Well, there's a conference going on this week for Sigma Theta Tau, an international nursing honor society. Though I thought I'd just pay the dues, get some recognition, and not think much about it (let's be honest), I've actually done a lot with the organization over the past 7 months. For example, at the beginning of October, we had a 5K Fun Run Purple Dash to raise funds for nursing education scholarships. Somehow, I went from signing up to help on the committee to being the sole person in charge of publicity for the event. That was a little stressful. The race did have its...difficulties, but it turned out to be fun. Since I received a small scholarship from STTI when I went down to Ecuador for study abroad this summer, I was also expected to present on our collective experiences at the BYU College of Nursing research conference. I did that at the very beginning of October. That was a little scary, but it was only 15-20 minutes. It was just intimidating to be a REAL person up there presenting like a professional or GROWN-UP (yes, I know I'm 24...coping comes slowly). Anyway, that went well and was a good experience.

So now, I've been out here in Indianapolis for a few days with a fellow student and STTI member, Katie, as well as two of our STTI mentors/teachers. Katie and I worked together on a presentation which we gave, sharing 15-20 minutes together, as we explained the aims, methods, and outcomes of our Human Health and Global Diversity study down in Ecuador. Of course, this audience was not the same as the previous conference, but nursing educators with years of experience and their graduate degrees and certification alphabet soup following their names. (There was actually a student reception to welcome us to the conference, and I think there were a total of 7 students there.) Anyway, they were surprised when Katie introduced us as undergraduate students, as we could see from their faces and hear in the slight gasp that passed through the room. They were also shocked that we were in Ecuador for an entire month. It was nerve-wracking for a bit, but I think we both presented calmly and professionally. Someone mentioned afterwards that we looked perfectly relaxed as we spoke, and I realized that we just stopped worrying once we started talking, because all we had to do was tell about something we loved doing. It was good to get the stressful aspect of the trip over with. For the rest of the conference, we can just listen to the presentations we want to, and enjoy VACATION!

Then, we celebrated Halloween by visiting the zillion vendor booths and collecting some candy, but mostly loot like pens, water bottles, highlighters, and little band-aid dispensers. Katie and I decided we rather liked the grown-up trick or treating we got to do. Afterwards, we went to an Irish Pub for dinner with our two professors. I really missed the clean-air act when we first walked in, but we survived the experience, but the food was really good.

Today was the BEST!! After going to a quick conference thing, we went to sacrament meeting at the local Spanish branch. Then I went down to Matthew's area in time to go to classes with their family. Sweet little I (almost 4) gave her first talk ever in Primary on King Benjamin's address on service. She prepared and projected well, and I pretty much think it was the cutest thing I've seen in a long time. The message was "God wants us to serve others!"
Then I got to go home and just spend time with that amazing portion of the Frogmorton Clan. It's crazy how fast they grow. I finally got to meet my namesake baby #9 today and snuggle him! Back at their house, we just had dinner, drew pigs, ate Halloween candy, danced in the kitchen, and just had a great time. :) I'm so grateful for my wonderful family!!

P.S. I just realized that Indiana reminds me of who's currently in Diana, and will be enticed (well, induced) to come out in the next 12 hours or so...!!!

Summer Fun

I may have been remiss in posting for a while, but I do have some redeeming photos to share now. It seems like I've just played this summer, considering my study abroad back to Ecuador, visiting with family, and not having a job until recently. I guess that's okay, though, since things seem to have worked out well.

My most recent playing was out in California. This was my first time out there, excepting my layover there to get my visa to go on my mission. It was also my first experience in the ocean off of a North American coast.
I went with a group of about 25 from my singles' ward. We stayed at someone's house, but most of us really slept in tents in the backyard. Let you think my summer has been too luxurious, I will also add the detail that there was one shower for 30 people at that house. Luckily, the local pool had a shower, too, albeit an outdoor shower.
Here we are in front of an old Catholic cathedral in the historic San Juan Capistrano area. There were all these quaint little old shops and buildings that we rather enjoyed visiting. We did spend a couple days at some beaches...I helped people share their artistic talents by being the body under the muscular sand body and ever attractive seaweed wear.

Jump pictures...how did they get to be so popular in the first place? (I rather like how all of us ladies were caught in this one!)
We also went to the Newport Beach Temple. We were able to go as a group and do baptisms for the dead. It was a great opportunity with this group of friends.

Since I've been back out in Provo, I've enjoyed playing with my good old BYU ward. As I didn't really get assigned to a specific family home evening group, I just started attending with whichever group had the most adventurous activity planned. Well, actually I just go with those who invite me first. Thus, I ended up rafting down the Provo River twice in three weeks. This is me with some of my "family" the second time around. By the end of the evening, though, most people were pretty wet, if not from falling in, they were wet from splashing wars. The water was freezing!!Earlier in the season we accomplished the great mulberry harvest of 2009. That involved setting up many tarps beneath the tree and sending James up a ladder to then shake the branches while we sat on a bench and watched/felt the raining berries. Then the real work started as James sorted through the collected berries with some cute helper kids while Caroline and I worked on the cooking and processing inside. It took the entire day, but the fruits of our labors sure are yummy. :p




Clark obviously stayed busy supervising. I think he learned it from Boss, or was it the bossy sister?

Good News! (and bad)

So the best news is that I was able to visit with all my sisters (and Em, who's PRACTICALLY a sister genetically) over the course of 2 weeks. That doesn't happen often, so I feel very blessed. From enjoying delightful foot soaks and sister talk I went on to helping with a new baby, playing 4-square and making faces at a camera. Then, back home I went on to water park fun, jewelry making, swing sitting, and story time on the top bunk. Just look at these great kids! Now I get to cuddle with Lioness and eat mulberries! Summer is great!

I also took the NCLEX-PN. It is the big national test to become a licensed practical nurse (LPN). Though I've been studying nursing for years, I did have some last-minute cramming hours the night before the test (okay, I'd been perusing another review book for a few weeks, while having the fun explained above, so I obviously wasn't too focused on studying.) However, the next morning during the test, I was not feeling completely positive on enough questions, or even very sure enough for my liking. Anyway, this test may take up to 5 hours, but is an adaptive computer test, so what questions I get are based upon how I've answered previous questions. I'm not sure what a typical time is, but I was cut off at 2 hours. The papers we were given specifically state that no conclusions about either passing or failing can be drawn from the test shutting off quickly. So I just hoped it was not a bad omen for real. Two days later, I grudgingly paid the $7.95 with a credit card to check my score online. (man the states and centers milk you for every cent! I'm surprised I wasn't required to rent the chair I sat in to take the test...oh, wait I probably was, just beforehand.)Thus, I discovered.....


I PASSED!!!!

I'm officially a nurse! (even if only a "Little Pretend Nurse", as I like to say)

The bad news is that I don't have a job, so that license isn't getting put to use just yet. I've applied to several places and checked in person at the closest place, a plasma donation center close by here. My plan for tomorrow is really get in to other locations in person, as I'm pretty sure the man who's present is more likely to be the man with a job. (depending, but it shouldn't hurt) Of places where I've applied, I'd really like to work with a company that makes home health visits to help with diabetes control.

I'm also trying to decide which singles' ward to attend. The bishop from my old ward (where I was all last year) has made it clear I'm still welcome, even though I don't live exactly within the borders. That's very tempting, as I already have friends there, it's really close still, and I'll just be moving into a new ward with my new apartment in 2 months anyway. However, I feel like meeting new people can be a great thing, as well as some obligation to attend the ward to which I should pertain geographically. Even if only one person asks me who I am each week, I'll at least meet 7 over the time I would spend in the ward....luckily I talk to people. So the other bad I guess is that I'm indecisive, but the great part is having options.

The New Arrival

As the new aunt (for the 27^th time), I believe I have the duty of posting the first blog about my favorite little neonate! On Monday, June 8^th, T. H. Strickland came into the world. He was born at 2:23 pm and weighed in at 8# 5oz (I won, Peanut) and measuring 20.5” in length.

I was lucky enough to get to come down with Mom to TN on Saturday. Not only the Stricklands, but Peanut was also at the airport to pick us up. Despite the readiness of the whole crew to throw a party, TH was waiting for his time. However, he lost his opportunity as Monday morning and the scheduled induction rolled around.

AM was pretty much wonderwoman (uh!), enduring the contractions and increasing pain with the help of a lot of counterpressure, encouragement, and massages from her doula. It was a really amazing experience to be there to help and see AM accomplish something she had planned and hoped for so much. This won’t mean much to those with little birthing experience, but literally only 11 minutes passed between the nurse checking to find she was 6.5cm dilated and TH’s birth. That is so fast! So apparently he was fine with taking his time, but AM maintains her rocket-speed birthing record. I hope she teaches me her uterus exercises sometime… It was pretty funny that the doctor barely ran into the room just in time to catch the baby. I think that’s fitting, as AM was born before the doctor made it in to help Mom years ago. It was also great to see what a great team AM and Tober make, because he was helping in every way, large or small, possible. Thanks so much for letting us be there for such a special miracle! Congratulations!

To see the photos, check out this album: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=sueyhoney&target=ALBUM&id=5345912216653034097&authkey=Gv1sRgCN_VyICOjIu_iAE&authkey=Gv1sRgCN_VyICOjIu_iAE&feat=email. I love the photos with Grandma and siblings!!

P.S.

My last couple days in Ecuador were awesome! My favorite part was visiting people I love that I know from my mission. Here I am at a family home evening with some families from a ward in which I served. I was ecstatic to learn that one of the families that had been inactive and with which we'd worked a lot had actually become active and been sealed in the temple in Guayaquil. (This is part of the family!)
That may have been the most wonderful moment of the trip for me. Of course, it really was a pleasure for me to stay an extra 24 hours, too, because that gave me more opportunity to make visits as well as prepare myself emotionally to leave a land and people I love so much.

Volunteers?

Our flight left last night around 11. I´m still in Ecuador! Apparently they overbooked the flight, so they asked for about 10 volunteers to wait and go 24 hours later. Six of us girls from the BYU nursing group decided to stay. It´s not so bad, considering we´re at a 5 star hotel and all...

Here, there, all around the country

Thursday was my last day in the maternity hospital. I just walked around and did whatever I wanted to as if I owned the place. We discovered that if you just do your thing with confidence, people don’t question. Actually, when people would question some of the girls, they wouldn’t get far anyway, with their minimal understanding and speaking of Spanish. Don’t worry; we were doing good things.
With things that I wanted to accomplish that day in mind, I started off doing a few more interviews. I only planned to do two, as there were only that many thank you gifts left, but then someone else begged me to give her something, too, so I did an interview with her for another 45 minutes. It was good, because she actually opened up a lot and provided a better interview than the other two that morning. I’m grateful I could have that one on one interaction with the moms. I like getting to know them and learning their stories. It’s sad to see them suffer, though, or to hear about some of their concerns. For some, the major concern during pregnancy is the typical concern for the health of the child. However, others were very troubled about what the reaction of their mothers or significant others would be. The one who was 16 when she got pregnant was obviously worried about the first. Another worried her live-in boyfriend (the most common living situation I encounted with my interviewees) would leave her when he found out, because that’s what the father of her first child had done. Another woman was concerned about diseases her baby might get because of the father’s infidelity and STDs that were then brought home. It was a reminder to me of how grateful I am for a different concept of family and other goals for myself, such that those won’t be concerns as I have children. I hope those women are doing well now.
After those interviews, I dropped into the transition nursery where babies are kept if their moms have infection or just haven’t been moved out to the later post-partum room yet. It was not too exciting, so I went ahead up to the labor room for a while. There, I talked with ladies and provided some labor support until I followed a C-section. It was fine. After that, I followed that mother, Maria, to the post-partum room and then spent time with her baby in the newbie nursery. She was a cute little one. I took some pictures to show to mom and saw how some of the other babies were doing. I felt so honored when Maria asked about my name again and said that since I’d been with her through it all, she would use Susanna as one of the names for her baby. That was pretty special for me. I couldn’t find her husband to tell him about his wife and baby before I left, but he knows by now.
Friday was a wrap-up day with the different organizations we’d been working with. We reported on what we did and what we’d found with the growth and health evaluations of the children and discussed what improvements could be made for the future. The best part of the day was when Hna Dolores Ramos, one of my first mission companions came to visit me. We hadn’t been able to communicate much, as our schedules were very opposite (she is in class in the tarde and night, and that’s the only time I was free), but she decided she could come on over to the hotel. She, Paul Sotomayor, and some nursing friends all went out for ice cream and just strolled around the city. It was just so exciting to see one of my latin compañeras again! J
Saturday we took off for Quito by plane and then to Otavalo in bus. Sadly, with the big “tourism” bus waiting outside the airport, I think we attracted some unwanted attention. In the chaos of loading up the bus and allowing people to help us with our bags, a scamming group came by, with people asking distracting questions from outside and others “helping” to put bags up in the overead walking off with one of my peers’ bags from the inside. They came close to getting others, but other people had been more adamant about keeping their bags close. We all mourned that we had not been more aware, whether from the outside or inside. Our tour lady then said we should never talk to strangers, which made me laugh, since there were three new people to us who were working for her that were also loading our bags. Anyway, I felt really bad for Tricia, whose passport,computer, and other important things were in her bag.
We then went up to Otavalo to the famous poncho’s market that’s there every Saturday.
Sunday I’d hoped to go down to Quito to go to church, but my friends were too traveled out to want another 4ish hours in a car so I could go to “my” wards in Quito. It was really disappointing, but I wasn’t surprised people just wanted to rest. We were at this really beautiful hotel in Otavalo called Puerto Lago, right on a lake there in the mountains. It was a great place to relax and enjoy nature, but also to go boating, play tennis, and see the llamas!
Monday we had te great opportunity to work with the Benson Institute. It’s an organization that works on the development aspect of humanitarian aid. With that, I mean to say it helps people become more self-sufficient, providing aid in a sustainable manner. Families that lack the necessary resources to obtain sufficient nutrition are recommended by either the bishop or the community president to obtain help. Then, the institute does an evaluation and may begin working with the family. They not only provide starter kits, such as alfalfa seed or materials to build guinea pig houses and 10 guinea pigs, but they train the people on crop maintenance and rotation, how to build the shelters, and how to maintain the animals. The institute also helps the families get started with their own garden, which is actually the first step to saving them a lot of money and improving the family’s nutrition. (That makes me so happy to think about all of my gardening family!) Then, follow-up is provided to help the family continue to improve. The goal is that the families will first be self-sufficient, that they’ll be able to start a food storage, that they’ll then give to a communit storehouse for those in need, and that they might be able to make an income through sales. It was really great visiting with the families.
We also met this 89 year-old midwife. She was teaching us some things she does to help women in birth and even to help people who haven’t been able to get pregnant or don’t want to anymore. I thought the natural methods were pretty interesting. Of course, she didn’t tell us some of her special herb combinations, because those are the secrets of her trade. She was so cute.
Now we’re in Quito! I really felt like I was coming home in some ways as we flew into the city the other day. Our hotel is just blocks from my mission office, too. My goal is to see as many people as posible, and to do better at keeping in contact with converts and loved ones down here.

Making a Difference

It's so easy to get behind when there's something I feel like I should write everyday on a study abroad program. Last Friday was my first day in the Maternity hospital, also known as "the Sotomayor". Cassidy and I went mostly to do some interviews for a study one of our instructors is doing to explore the meaning of the childbirth experience for Ecuadorian women. That's what I've been doing this week in the mornings, too. It's really interesting talking to the women and learning about their experiences and perspectives. In the afternoon when their family members can visit (12-2), I go upstairs to help in the birthing room or one of the nurseries.


Friday night we went to an institute dance after a health fair. I'm not sure if I've explained how we do those. We teach 4 classes-Nutrition, Hypertension/Diabetes, Adult CPR, and First Aid/baby CPR-check everyone's blood pressure and blood sugar levels, and have another class for the kids. The plan is that each class lasts 20 minutes and they rotate through them all. (However, some people come really late, and since Tuesday night's started at 8:45 instead of 8pm, we cut the class times down to 15 minutes....so we could get home before midnight...) It's pretty fun. The trick is, if you speak the language, you need to be ready to take the bulk of the teaching and clarify. We also switch up assignments every time so we get experience teaching everything. It's fun, but that variability can also make it a little more difficult to feel super comfortable and confident. It's okay, though. We have fun with it and just try to involve people as much as possible so it's a great experience for all.



Anyway, so on Friday we had the health fair at 7 and went to the dance afterward. It was pretty great, since I saw at least ten guys from my mission there. It was fun to see them again and to crash the party. Most of the married people of our group opted not to come (we went straight there from doing a 2 hour health fair), which wasn't surprising. Some people were convinced to come after the health fair, but didn't get a chance to bring other clothes, so a good number just stayed in scrubs so people would not feel bad about not having "cute" attire. It was really funny to see this pack of 12 gringas bust into a latin dance and start dancing like crazy Americans.


I learned that at their dances here, people tend to line up in two parallel lines as couples. Then, the songs just meld one into another, so if you want to dance with someone else, you need to say you want a drink or need to go to the bathroom to escape. (Even the Latin guys told me that's what they do...and that such an attempt to get away can be foiled if the girl offers to accompany them to go get a drink...hahaha) There are very set dances that people know, like merengue, salsa, etc., so when they ask how we dance, they're a little confused that we just....do, without such order. Their most similar dancing to our craziness is what they do as they rock out to reggaton (reggae). So we were good at that. It was great fun. I loved that some of my old mission leaders patiently tried to teach me their ways, too.


Saturday was a fun day at the beach...check the class blog for more details, because I was in charge of writing for that day.

Sunday is generally the best day of rest (I'm so glad to be here with a BYU group, so the Sabbath is observed!) A while before sunset, a group of us went out and walked up to the lighthouse up on a hill. We also went with some guys from the ward here/mission friends. We were able to accomplish just what I'd envisioned; we arrived there in the cool time of the evening when we'd be able to feel the fresh breeze from the ocean and in time to watch the sunset. I never knew the sun set so quickly here! I don't know what exactly about being on the equator makes it so you can really see a difference in sunset time (I understand it's a different angle and perspective toward the sun, though); it just zips down and slips away as you watch, rather than being so gradual and almost unperceptable like at home. It was interesting and beautiful.

Monday and Tuesday I was in the maternity hospital. Monday was really hard. In the couple hours I was actually up in the labor area, I saw a stillbirth and a spontaneous abortion (aka miscarriage). That was sad in itself, but I was also saddened to find that there is no emotional support for those women. I understand that they don't have a psychologist on staff and that the staff member/patient ratios are not the same as at home, too. As I talked to a doctor about it, she said it was a sad truth. She herself had had a term stillbirth and knew the emotional pain it brings from personal experience. However, as she stated, people just see the women crying and don't ask why or assume it's due to physical pain. She said she tried to talk with them and teach such mothers when she had time.

I should explain what it's like a little bit here, at least if you're in the normal (poor) part of the hospital. All the patients are out in one big public room so the few nurses, doctors and staff members can make rounds more quickly. If you have more money, you can get a private or semiprivate room, but that's rare. Sometimes there's a sheet or something that covers you and provides some privacy, but mostly patients just know to avert their eyes from one another, because sheets and robes are pulled away and private parts are out there in view of all the other 30 people in the room. If you scream or react to pain, you are told that will hurt your baby or slow your healing process. A patient I helped who returned to the hospital with infection of her C-section wound was told she must not really want to heal, and that if she wanted to, she would be just fine.

As I continued in the pre-birthing room doing labor support (counterpressure on the women's lower backs or on the front of their knees during contractions, etc.), I was suddenly asked to help a woman who was saying something was coming out. I went to help, finding that was indeed the case. When I told a doctor, he asked around a minute, realized the patient was in the miscarriage line, and went on with his business. Soon, the little body was all the way out, and I let another staff member know, but she just kept on with her business. In the meantime, I just stayed with the crying mother, answering her questions, and applying counterpressure as she continued to have contractions to expel the placenta. It was probably 10 or more minutes before the placenta was out, and no one from the hospital staff came to explain anything, make any assessment, or anything. Minutes continued to pass, and my teacher had been over a couple times to check on us. She finally relayed the message that they were waiting for a space in the OR/for the anesthesiologist so the mother could be taken in there to assure that everything was out of the uterus. (otherwise, hemorrhage and infection easily occur) I was glad I could finally tell the mom what was going on. It was just frustrating to see this mom suffer and cry silently, covering her face with her sheet as she used it to wipe her eyes, without any aknowledgement from a nurse or anyone. Then, she just had her poor 18 week old child lying there between her legs, soon followed by a placenta for at least 20 minutes. All this without someone from the hospital to teach her why such things happen, what they were going to do to help her, or anything. I don't know that I did much, either. I could answer her questions and did reassure her of the omniscience and understanding of God. Maybe the counterpressure doesn't seem like much to see, but she said it helped with the pain. Maybe things like holding her hand or just caressing her shoulder didn't really help, but I wanted her to know that someone was there, that even though I don't really know how it feels, I was sorry for her loss, for her pain. And it made me hope someone else had been there for my mom, sisters and loved ones who'd experienced similar loss, too.

Monday night several of us were invited to have dinner with a family in the ward. The hermana that invited us, Martha, teaches relief society. She and her husband have three little girls, Diana, Martha, and Emma. The little sister (of big Martha), Marjorie, just got home from a mission in Chile 3 months ago and also lives with them. We had a fun night just sitting and talking with them. It was very Ecua to just sit and visit for several hours, then have them share their dinner with us and visit for another hour. No one else who went was completely fluent (not that I always know what's said perfectly, either) but enough to always get what was going on and participate. I love that we felt super honored to be invited to their home and they were so pleased that we accepted the invitation. I guess it's just the shared joy. I sat by the youngest when I was up on the stand the other Sunday to speak. She had cute pictures prepared for each of us. I thought mine was pretty impressive for a 9 year-old.

Wednesday I was out in the community, which was pretty fun. We got some 24 hr intake recalls from the kids to understand what they're eating normally and what they perceive as healthy. I also interviewed several of the mothers about their typical alimentation at home and their perceptions on health. We were told to be ready to go at noon, so I didn't start any more interviews at that point. However, the ambulance didn't come to pick us up until 12:30, so Marie and I enjoyed a good 30 mins of tag and red light-green light with the kids. They loved it, and so did we. We also got to go to the temple again, where I saw some mission friends, as always.

The today part is pretty great, too, but we have a meeting with the nursing school of Guayaquil that we need to leave for now. I've obviously been working on this post and not publishing for a while since I've needed to finish it, but each day, I just feel like there's more to add. So, since Michael is now objecting. I must mush. I'll figure out some pics later.

The Worth of Souls

Just so you all know, the rest of the week at Vernaza, I was not appalled or disgusted by things I saw, because it was much better. Wednesday our guy from the Junta de Beneficencio (group of benificence...it runs several hospitals, nursing homes, etc. and is funded by the lottery), Vicente, got us all into surgery. I was able to watch a full thyroidectomy with Marie and Taniel. The nurse who intubated the patient seemed very ready to let me go ahead and do that, but I admitted I didn't know how in practice. Somehow I just can't claim I "know how" to do it (like he asked...in Spanish) when I've only seen it and know the theory. I'll go ahead and do it someday, though.
Thursday I was super excited because we'd heard such great things about the burn unit. Well, Taniel and I got there to find that the whole surgical section (where you'd see more cool stuff like debridement and get to help with intubations, IVs, etc.) was closed down for that day for cleaning. The 2 surgery burn patients were being sent to the ER, but we knew 3 of our students were already there. It was still a pretty fun day, though. We saw how they run things there, talked with pretty much all the patients, gave meds and such, and learned about the treatments provided. People are bathed/showered everyday with soap and water, and then, depending on their burn, they'll either get a cream or a sulfur powder on their burn areas to fight infection and help with the healing process. I thought it was interesting to see they used a hot lamp to dry new skin grafts onto people.
I loved that we got to know Beatrice. She was severely burned as a girl and would not even show her face to people. So apparently she had surgery in the States and then was referred to the Vernaza for follow-up surgeries. She's originally from Brazil, but apparently has no family. Whether that means they were killed in a terrible fire, or she was abandoned, or what, I don't know. Our instructor, Debbie, told us a little about her, and I was intrigued to hear she lived there. Apparently after having work done several times at Vernaza, and since she has no family, she just sleeps and stays in the subacute burn unit. She will go out and work around the hospital (though I don't really think she's an employee...but one surgeon was having his son in high school help out with some surgery, too...lol) and go visit people she meets from all over Ecuador who were in the burn unit before, too. She didn't really tell us this story, but the head doctor of the unit did. She introduced herself to us and started interviewing us in English with her camera on video. We told her about our likes, asked about hers, and she and I even sang "Anything I do, I do it for you" by Brian Adams. (I know we're all sad that was on her camera, so we can be more sure it won't show up on YouTube.) She was cute. It made me sad that she never let us take a picture with her. Not so much because I need some visual evidence, but because I want her to feel loved and beautiful, confident to be in photos. I wouldn't jump to that conclusion, but she did change the subject directly or run away when we wanted pictures with her. Even with the obviously scarred and deformed face, after that interaction, she will always be a beautiful friend to me, not some lady who looks different. Hopefully she can feel that way someday and know the great worth she has as a person, as a treasured child of an Eternal Father.

Happy Nurses' Day!

So I didn't write yesterday. I was a little disgusted. For clinical, I was at Vernaza hospital in the intensive care unit. We went in and actually got paired up with nurses' aides first, so I was just helping a lady give bedbaths for a while. Now, this ICU is all in one big open room. Remember that in Ecuador there are not the same laws or resources. For example, the family must provide medications and such, so sometimes the scheduled ones are not given because the family hasn't been able to buy them and bring them in. I can even handle the fact that we had to use the same basin for water to do bedbaths, changing the water and cleaning it out (with water) between each person. We even changed gloves between patients. However, I was shocked the aide I was working with just kept rinsing off the same piece of gauze (our washcloth to bathe the people) and using it on all of the people. Gag, gross, unclean, ACK! Now I understand why one of my instructors says that if she's in a bad accident down here, she just wants us to send her on a plane home, and she'll be squeezing her own Ambu (oxygen) bag the whole way home. I did feel a little better when she started sending me to get fresh water and rinse stuff off, because I started using hot water and made sure visible pubic hairs were not still there... (still gross)

I did let my teacher know about that, and she let some of the infection control directors know, who were shocked. So, you can sigh a breath of relief to know that's not just standard protocol, but evidence that the concepts behind infection control are not understood. However, there is evident progess. (Hey, they don't use the same gloves for all the surgeries anymore!)

There's also other evidences of progress, such as some of the signs that I took pictures of the first day we were there. My favorite, and the first that caught my attention says "don't spit on the floor." Yeah, it's just on the wall up in the cardiac unit. haha The next one says, "please don't rest your feet on the wall, help with hygiene-the administration." Then, the notice on the door at the pediatric hospital reminded me of Arkansas. For those of you who don't know/remember, we had a glass door infront of the blue solid one, and apparently sometimes it was clean enough that people didn't notice it, and would walk right into it. Thus, "Warning! Glass door!" hahaha I know I said the spitting one was my favorite, but I think this last one might be tied for that rank. This is from the zoo/historical park. It reminds me of the funny interpretations of signs that Mark sent us all a long time ago...like hand dryers really being bacon dispensers. I'm still unsure on the meaning, though. No, to smoking and hamburgers, but feel free to pick out a monkey? Please don't give the animals cigarettes or greasy fast food, but your own flesh is fine? Or maybe don't smoke or eat here, but go ahead and bring your pet monkey and hand (like the Addams family?) I'm up to more suggestions, if you can decipher the meaning. :)

I quickly decided accompanying the aide was not new or useful for my educational experience, so I bounced around, talking to and following nurses, residents, and just trying to be really nice with the patients. One thing that really made me sad was how disrespectful some "higher ups" were to the aide. She was also sometimes kindof cold and threatening with patients. That's sad. Sometimes, though, I saw a lot of respect and good caring. I think it's hard for people to remember that each patient is really somebody's loved one....mom, brother, sister, someone, and that we should treat them with such regard as we would our own loved ones. I'm grateful to be in a program with peers who also understand that each patient and person is a beloved child of God. It can be hard to remember that in all of our daily interactions, no matter the profession or setting, but I think the more we do remember that, the more we treat others that way, making everyone's life more pleasant.

I then went with a group to teach CPR, supposedly to firemen. However, we arrived to find a room of mothers. Apparently the coordinating guy misinformed us. It was kindof funny. So instead of teaching advanced care life support, we taught basic life support. It was a good review and practice (though I was teaching some of that last Saturday, too).

Today is Nurses' Day! We all were at the Vernaza Hospital in the courtyard at a booth. We had the mannequins again and I got to teach adult, child, and infant CPR stuff to a bunch of people who came up. I might have thought it was a big waste for all 24 of us to be there all morning to do so little (there wasn't really work for all of us...but we got some reading for class done, and lots of people went to mass at the little cathedral behind the stand), but my opinion changed as I taught. I was surprised at how interested people were in learning. Nurses here go through a 5 year course of study, so I assume some form of CPR is covered, but in the States we have to recertify often, and it can still be confusing, as standards/recommendations are changed often. I think the best was when I taught a peditric nurse who had specifically come to the Vernaza (she works somewhere else) because she saw in the paper that we'd be teaching CPR, and she's always been nervous about having to resuscitate a baby when she's alone on the shift. That comment made me decide our hours of there were all worth it, even just for her. I'm glad we were able to teach many more, though. I love teaching!

(For those of you who are wondering, current standard is 2 breaths, 30 compressions...5 cycles and reassess for respirations and pulse.)