kate

Another post is up for May 10th.

2011-06-17T20:04:00.000-06:00

Click here

Something I Would Do Well to Keep in Mind

2011-06-17T12:18:00.000-06:00

when I am OCD-ingly planning out every hour of each day in my planner.

Now available: Ngorongoro crater

2011-06-16T10:51:00.001-06:00

See below (May 10, 2011)

I Love. . .

2011-06-15T12:36:00.000-06:00

this song.

And probably most of you have already heard it or know about it because I am usually pretty much the last person to catch on to new songs, but in case you haven't or in case you've forgotten about it.

And I have to give credit to my cousin Geri for blessing me with this little gem because I first heard it on her blog.

It's just so cute. It makes me want to skip and prance around my house.

PS I know. I know. I need to finish our trip. I promise to post at least 2 new posts about it TONIGHT. There you go. I've said it and now it must be done.

Ruckus Run

2011-06-14T12:11:00.000-06:00

So I realize that I still need to finish my posts about the trip, and it really is just laziness on my part because I have most of the actual writings of the posts already done, it is just the putting them together and uploading pictures that I have left.

BUT right now I want to talk about this Run Ruckus Boston race I did 2 weeks ago which was basically like a 5K course with military-like obstacles. It was SUPER fun. It was also really hard, but it was great because they do it in waves, so once you finish you can look back out over the course and see people still running it and actually even over the next few days, I could just see the course and the obstacles in my mind, and think, "wow! I did that!"

Don't be fooled by the medals.
Everyone is a winner in the Ruckus Run.
I did finish in 46 minutes though and the avg. for men AND women was 45 minutes.
So yeah, you should be somewhat impressed. ;)

If you click on the link I put above you will be able to see a map of the course and some pictures of some of the obstacles they had. One of the first obstacles we came up to was "down and outs" which was this series of 4 or 5 mud pits in a row where you had to jump down into this pool of muddy water and run across it and then climb back up the other side and over a mound of dirt just to find that there was another one to go through and another and another and another. Although it definitely wasn't the hardest one, it was a little shocking to find such a wet obstacle right at the beginning of the race when you knew that it meant running the next 3 miles in soaking wet shoes and shorts.

Here is a link to some photos that were taken of me during the race. Two of the pictures were of the "gorilla bars" which when I heard about there being monkey bars on the course, I definitely didn't think that they would be one of the hardest obstacles for me, but these bars were made out of wood and they weren't stuck into the sides very well so they rotated around (I don't know if that was on purpose to make it harder, or just poor-craftsmanship) and so as you will see I was only ever able to get through 3 or 4 before dropping to my death below. And then the other obstacle that really gave me trouble were the 8-foot walls. I was able to get over the other ones that were shorter, but I had to pass after two unsuccessful attempts at each of the two 8-foot walls.

Anyway, it was a really fun and rewarding experience overall. I did it with 3 friends from my ward and I think that each of us along with other people we've talked to since the race will be running it again next year.

Brent, Melanie and I BEFORE the race

Melanie, Brent, Mary and I AFTER the race

And after a quick but necessary rinse.

Sorry for the delay

2011-05-15T13:04:00.001-06:00

I have had most of these posts written for over a week, but we haven't had internet that would upload one picture in less than 60 minutes since we left Spain, so that is why you are only getting these now and all at once.

PS You should be able to make the pictures bigger by clicking on them. They are pretty small but I was afraid if I made them any bigger the post wouldn't all be able to fit on one page.

Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

2011-05-10T20:02:00.000-06:00

Looking out over the crater from the deck of our room.

This lodge was pretty cool. It had a real cabin/hunting (NOT poaching, the catch and release kind maybe. . . can you do that with hunting? Anyway. . . ) feel to it. We again were welcomed in with warm moist towels (and with me being the little bit of a clean body person that I am, you have to understand that this is a major point winner for me) and some freshly squeezed orange juice. It was delicious, and that's saying something because I’m not usually a big juice lover.

The lodge’s location is also awesome because it sits on the edge of the crater and all of the rooms face out over the crater. I have to say that I still think that I liked Gibb’s farm a little better (not just because I was able to show up my brothers in cow milking) but maybe that also had to do with the fact that at this lodge we no longer were the only ones around. But this lodge was lovely and it was fun to have a new experience.

Toothless grin after C.J. nicknamed me "cheese-whiz" for smiling too big.

Relaxing around the fire after a "hard" day out on safari

With these binoculars you could see the animals down in the crater

A group of Masai youth that came into the lodge to do a dance before we ate dinner.

Apparently the higher the boys can jump, the more beautiful of a first wife he gets.

Eating another 5-course dinner.
Man. Life is rough on a safari.

The two love birds that made this whole journey possible.
Thanks Mom & Dad!

Safari Day 2: Ngorongoro National Conservatory

2011-05-10T19:35:00.004-06:00

Leaving behind Gibbs farm we headed off for the Ngorongoro crater. It’s called a “conservatory” instead of a “park” or “reserve” because the Masai people are allowed to live and pasture their animals on the land. Ngorongoro crater is this 160 square mile crater and Hezron told us that many of the animals will just stay there year-round because the walls of the crater are so steep.

Anyway I will just start off by saying that as AMAZING as yesterday was in Manyara Park, today was even 100 times better. To get a small picture of it, try to imagine a huge crater completely COVERED with African animals roaming all around like it was the set of The Lion King.

We were a little worried because it had rained all night long (which as pretty as it sounded over our heads on the tin roofs is not exactly great for safari viewing) and when we woke up, it was hard to see out even 10 feet in front of you because of the fog, and even when we drove through the gates of the conservatory the weather still didn’t look too promising, but it was amazing how the weather happening exactly over and inside the crater was completely different than what was going on around its rim. Inside the crater was completely rain and fog free—perfect weather for the perfect day of our second day of safari.

Just about to drive down into the crater

Wildebeasts. Possibly some of the ugliest animals ever, but still there is something cool about them.
Also, Hezron says that they "are a bit stupid" (in comparison to the zebras anyway)

Thomson Gazelles

Pumba!

Cape Buffalo.
Look at the cute little baby!

Another baby buffalo.
It was cute because whenever we got near or stopped by them, if there was a baby or small one in the group, the adults would all turn and face us in the car just to say, "Hey. Don't even think about it!"

Dik Dik. SOOOO small.

Oh Hey Mr. Hyena!

Not sure of the name of these guys.

Or this one either.
But look at those legs!

When I think about African wildlife, I don't usually think about ostriches, but here they are!

Okay, so this is an example of why Hezron is like the COOLEST and SMARTEST guides ever. We were just driving around the crater looking at all of the things you see above, and then Hezron was like, "Hey. We gotta hurry and catch those elephants before they cross the road." We all look at each other, because to us, no elephants were even in sight. So he points way off in the distance at this moving line of small black dots. "They're going to get water" he says, "and we want to get on that road before they cross." So we rush off and are able to get there in time before they cross the road. Hezron turns off the truck right in the middle of the road and then the elephants seeing us stopped there, put themselves in single file and just cross along RIGHT behind us. We literally could have reached out and touched them if we had wanted to. Which wouldn't have been the best idea because even though they aren't usually looking for a fight, these African Elephant guys are HUGE and you definitely don't want to be on their bad side.

Here they come.

Putting themselves into a line.

Single file.

Their line was so straight I think they might be soldier elephants or something.

Preparing to cross the road

My favorite.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE it!

And they're on their way to the watering hole.

This one decided to catch a quick bite just to show off.

I really wish I knew/remembered all of the names of these birds. But alas, I do not.

LIONS! guarding their kill from the previous day

4 lionesses (and 1 or 2/3 of 1 hart beast)

These two were about 20 feet off just taking a nap and relaxing in the sun.

1 brave little jakal starts creeping in to see if he can steal a bite

3 buddies join him to try a team attack

Nope. Not happening on these ladies' watch.

This lady lion decides it's just easier to lie right next to the food
instead of having to get up and down and up down chasing away the little guys.

Jakal--the African kanine.

another birdy

Pumba's relatives.

Not a clue.

SOOOOooo pretty!

Evidence of the co-habitation

We stopped here for lunch.
Just eating lunch in the middle of an African garden of Eden.
NBD.

Me and my new BFF Hezron.

Me and my old BFF Mom
("old" as in long-time BFF. Obviously.)

Boys just chillin' out up top enjoying suckers from that place in Alpine.
(yes we brought some Utah with us)

Love this pic.

Packing it up and ready to finish the day.

A better pic of the little lake so you can see the hippos.

Hart beasts (live ones)

This is an example of one of the reasons that Hezron says that zebras are a lot smarter than wildebeasts.
The zebras stand together like this so they can be looking in all directions.
While the wildebeasts are just chowing down.

Heading back out of the beautiful crater.

Animal sightings of the day: African elephants, lion and lionesses (with dead eland) , wildebeests, zebra, hyenas, Thomson gazelles, gnu, Hartebeests, secretariats, hippopotamus, flamingos, warthogs, 2 black rhinos (from a long ways away, but close enough that we could see them and their horns with our binoculars), cape buffalos, plover, jackals (2 types. I can’t remember their names), vultures, and I think that is about it.

Gibbs Farm

2011-05-09T23:03:00.000-06:00

After finishing our tour of Manyara Park we went to our “camp” at Gibbs farm. And I know that the boys used to always make fun of us going to girls “camp” when we had cabins (said “cabins” though did not have any electricity, nor toilets inside nor were really even that great at keeping the bugs out or the heat in, but they were a roof over our heads that is true). Anyway, the point is: if people thought that Camp Mia Shalom wasn’t much of a “camp,” they definitely would have denied Gibbs farm any sort of “camp” status.

Upon arriving, we were greeted with moist warm towels and a glass of freshly squeezed papaya juice (not exactly MY favorite fruit (actually probably one of my least) but the idea was great) and then our bags were taken up to our cabins for us while we walked hands-free behind. The “camp” is set on the grounds of an 80-year-old working African coffee, fruit and vegetable farm. They also have a working dairy on the farm (although somehow it didn’t smell like the ones I’ve experienced in Idaho). Anyway, I could blab on and on about it, but I’ll just say that after washing up and settling into our cabins (Mom and Dad in one and the boys and I in another one (with our own bedrooms)) we enjoyed a lovely 5-course dinner of food picked fresh from the farm before turning in for the night. And we actually were the only ones staying at the camp that night and so our wish was their command.

Leaving Manyara for Gibbs Farm

A local soccer game we passed on the way

BEAUTIFUL Gibbs Farm

Mom and Dad's castle

Hanging around in the gardens

At a fancy-pants dinner

Mosquito netted bed

C.J. checking out what's for breakfast.
Homemade croissants--that's what I wanted!! And fresh PINEAPPLE!!

C.J. and I at the breakfast table

After breakfast, and before we left for another day of safari with Hezron, we got the opportunity to milk the cows they have there on the farm. And I will let you be the judge of who did it the best. (Just look for who actually has milk coming out and into the pail.)

The view from our house

Just gorgeous. I think I may want to move in here permanently.

Safari Day 1: Manyara Park

2011-05-09T22:34:00.001-06:00

We left our hotel in Nairobi this morning around 5 am to catch our private “luxury shuttle” Dad scheduled for us over the internet to take us to Arusha.

3 signs that “luxury shuttle” may have been a misnomer:

1. It showed up 45 minutes late

2. The sliding door on the side through which we all were supposed to enter wouldn’t open

3. The seats inside were about as “comfortable as a broken lawn chair” (quoting C.J.)

The fact that it was late and that the door wouldn’t open were really the lesser two of the three evils because it was on those “broken lawn chairs” that we got to make the 5 hour trip on a dirt road so bumpy that you could have lost a not-even-so-small child in one of its pot holes.

The streets of Nairobi

Crossing the border from Kenya into Tanzania pretty much marked the halfway point and let’s just say that I did not even whine when I saw that the “toilet” they had was really just a hole in the ground. However, I did want to whine when I found out that this HOLE was a “private toilet” and they were charging 200 tish (Tanzanian shillings) for the privilege of using it. WHAT??!! And since we were just crossing the border into Tanzania, we did not have any tish yet. Luckily there was some SUPER kind and generous Tanzanian man coming out of the bathroom just as I was remarking to C.J. how I thought that I was going to DIE if I had to wait any longer and he just freely offered to pay my way. He was just a normal looking guy and not that I think it probably cost him his family’s dinner or anything for the night, but I know he probably could have used his 200 tish for something other than paying some American girl’s way into the bathroom, and his act of generosity and charity is one that I won’t forget and made me feel a little bad about whining about our “luxury shuttle” (although apparently not enough not to want to tell you about it. . . )

Anyway, once we finally got to Arusha, we met our safari guide, Hezron, at the Impala Hotel, jumped into his Land Rover, leaving our beloved luxury wagon behind, and set off for the Manyara National Park.

Manyara Park is the smallest of the parks we will be going to and 75% of the park is covered by the Manyara Lake, and so each time we were ooing and ahhhing and gasping Hezron just kept telling us “this is just a warm-up” and “this is just a warm-up for your camera skills.” But if it really is just a “warm-up” I don’t know how much of the real “game time” I will be able to survive because as you will see in the pics below we got so close to these HUGE elephants that we easily could have reached out of our windows or out the top and touched them.

They say that "a picture is worth more than 1,000 words," and since I am sure that I have already used more than 1,000 words, these next few posts will likely mostly consist of pictures.

Getting ready for the SAFARI!!!!!!!

African Elephants--they are HUGE
Hezron says that unlike the elephants in Asia, these have never been tamed or trained

olive baboon and baby--so cute!!!

Blue Monkey

Ummm. . . I'm not very good at bird names

Giraffes--Mom's favorite

Black-face or Vervet Monkey

PUMBA!!!! (Swahili for warthog)

A pool FULL of Hippos
Or as C.J. remarked "they look like a bunch of fat kids in a hot tub at fat camp"

This is real. I couldn't believe it.
I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn't the zoo
and that they were real animals that could roam around wherever they wanted.

Do you see how they kneel down on their front legs to eat?
Hezron taught us about the grass feeding levels.
Highest grass is for: elephants, zebras, wildebeests, cape buffalo
Middle: Topi, Impalas, Gazelles, etc.
Lowest: Warthogs

These birds I know--guinea fowl

More elephants!
I think these may be my favorite animal to see.
This one came so close to our car that Mom could have easily reached out and touched it!

Cute little TINY dik-dik

Leaving the park after an INCREDIBLE first day of safari!
Thank you Hezron (and Dad)!

Each day I think I will try to list the things we saw that day. I don’t know if I will be able to remember all of the names of the birds though but I will try.

Today’s animal sightings: African elephants, olive baboons, black-faced monkeys, blue monkeys, hippopotamus, giraffe, flamingos, impalas, warthogs, Hartbeests, common zebras, wildebeasts, Guinea fowl, dik-diks, and many other birds that I don’t remember the names of, nor have pictures of all of them.

Kilungu Hills and Nairobi

2011-05-08T22:00:00.000-06:00

Our red eye flight from Cairo to Nairobi yesterday morning landed around 5 am and we went over to the car rental kiosk to pick up our car only to find the woman who was supposed to be working there asleep. And not just like head down on her desk asleep, she was curled up in a sleeping bag on the floor! Awesome. I guess we should just be grateful that she works for the Budget car rental and not for the air traffic control.

After she woke up, we were given keys to our very own, not-so-brand-new 1990’s Land Cruiser Prado. It was really a gutless wonder, but we were grateful for the 4-WD because after picking up a few grocery items at the Nakaumatt we headed up to Kilungu Hills, the last area where C.J. served during his mission.

Everyone was pretty beat up from the long day in Cairo and getting little-to-no sleep on the red eye flight.

Also, please don't judge that the clothes you will see are the same as those worn the previous day. . . :)

The members of Kilungu Hills are AMAZING! Due to living conditions (no running water or electricity) the Church had not allowed missionaries to live in that area for the past 15 years and so the members have been on their own and had been doing their own missionary work and preparing people for baptism themselves. C.J. fell in love with those members when he was working as an assistant to his mission president and was given the responsibility of going up to interview the prospective baptism candidate to ensure that they had been taught the necessary basic principles of the gospel before being baptized.

About a month after C.J. started working in the office, the mission was able to find a house in the area where the missionaries could live (it had electricity at least half of the time) and so the mission president sent C.J. and his companion up there to try to work on the “running water” situation. And they were able to jerry-rig some pipe with running water to come into the house into a sink (aka a bucket) and then they sent 2 missionaries up to re-open the area. And then when C.J. was transferred out of the office, he was able to spend the last 2 transfers of his mission in the area and fell even more in love with the members.

C.J. with 2 of the missionaries now serving in Kilungu outside of the apartment they fixed up

And let me just add, that I found out that yes, they do have "running water;"

however, having a real toilet is not apparently on the church's list,

because when I asked where the bathroom was

I was directed to a hole in a closet in the hall of the apartment building.

Looking out over part of Kilungu

Even Kilungu has a "corner store."

Although I doubt they have slurpees.

Although they may have had penny candy. I should have checked into that.

The boys with some of the leadership, and children, of one of the branches in Kilungu.

Mom and I with the Branch President Onesmus' wife and Lucy (a branch member)

Sean and I with some of the ADORABLE kids of the branch

One of Kilungu's church buildings

Then today we went to church at the Mountainview Ward (formerly the Westlands Branch while C.J. was serving there) which also has a special place in his heart because he spent nearly a year of his mission in that branch/ward.

with the Australian bishop, Bishop Osborne, who threatened that he was going to make C.J. a permanent member of the branch and give him a branch calling if he stayed with them any longer

C.J. with Kevin (who served in Uganda with my cousin Tyler Batt) and his wife and baby

C.J. and Mom and Dad with Richard and his wife

(Richard is the ward clerk, and is a member of the Masai tribe)

C.J.'s mission president and his wife, President and Sister Broadbent, invited us over to their home for dinner after church. They are such a cute, fun and energetic couple and so it was awesome to get to spend time with them and hear how the mission is doing.

And tomorrow, we head to Arusha, Tanzania to start our SAFARI!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Egypt: I Love You.

2011-05-06T23:02:00.000-06:00

Our flight from Madrid to Nairobi had a layover in Cairo and thanks to a suggestion of my cousin, Becca, Dad arranged it for us to spend an entire day in Egypt.

I have to admit that due to current events, I had a few safety concerns myself and so it was good that it was not until after we were safely settled in Nairobi that Dad told us that Egypt was still on the U.S.’s list of countries that its citizens are currently not advised to visit. I really am grateful for that and for the fact that we took the risk because Egypt was AMAZING!!!! And most of that credit we probably owe to Khaleed (our Egyptian homeboy who I will tell you more about in just a second).

The only sketchy thing that really happened while we were in Cairo occurred within the first 10 minutes of landing. After picking up our bags, we exited the security area and were greeted by more than 100 “cab drivers” one of which just basically came up to us, asked Dad which hotel we were staying at, grabbed my bag I was rolling and started leading us to a van around the corner. Luckily the van he hooked us up with wasn’t anyone too scary although it definitely was not a legitimate or legal taxi.

Of note: over the next 24 hours and actually within the first 60 seconds of being out on the streets of Cairo, I decided that it is a city that I would NEVER like to drive in. You could start by saying that they were fitting 6 lanes of cars on roads only built for 2, but even that does not begin to describe the chaos. No one even really tries to stay in a lane, it is just a mass swarming and you just try to stay on the side of the road that is moving in the direction that you want to go. It was unlike anything I have ever seen before. It made driving in Boston look as easy as driving around downtown Manti, Utah or something.

Anyway, we did arrive safely at our hotel, even if it was in some shady black market sin wagon. The hotel was lovely. It was the InterContinental CityStar Hotel. The lobby and rooms were so stunning that I almost instantly forgot about the worries that had so recently been occupying my mind. And a wedding was just about to start in the basement of the hotel and so we got to see a beautiful Egyptian bride and her father and maid of honor descend the stairs in the main lobby before disappearing into the ceremony. So cool.

Walking like Egyptians in the lobby of the hotel

I digress. Egypt was awesome and this is why: KHALEED.

My dad found out about this amazing young Egyptologist online and I am almost 100% certain that it is because of him that I think that I might be picking up Egyptology as a new hobby for myself. He was a wonderful tour guide. With him we felt super safe and were able to learn more about Egypt in the 12 hours we were with him than I ever did in the 3 months we studied it in 6^th grade or even from classes in college. It was awesome.

We first visited the Mit Rahina Museum.

The fam in front of a sphynx at the Mit Rahina Museum

Check out how ENORMOUS this thing is by scaling it to real size using that man down there.

Also, check out the Egyptian's incredible knowledge of anatomy by looking at the leg muscles. Awesome.

After the Mit Rahina museum, we went to visit Imhotep and Saqqara. Saqqara is likely the world's first pyramid or pyramid prototype as Saqqara is really more of a step-pyramid. And Imhotep was the genius behind the whole thing.

These are believed to be some of the first columns ever built.

They were built in approx. 8 inch layers laid on top of each other. Can you see that?

And then because they weren't sure if the columns would be able to hold themselves,

the columns are actually anchored to the walls.

The family in front of Saqqara.

Khaleed educating us about the evolution of the pyramid

After Saqqara, we went to visit the Giza pyramids.

This is the guy that Sean tried to take a picture of him and his camel in front of the pyramids and within 30 seconds, the guy had Sean's (actually my Dad's) camera in his hands and was asking Sean for money, which Sean likely would have given him, along with just about anything else (his passport, his soul, etc.) had Khaleed not swooped in and rescued him.

Pyramids of Giza

The Syphnx.

Until today, I didn't know that this was basically buried in sand up to its neck until only recently.

After Giza, we went to the Citadel, which was really awesome to go to with Khaleed because he is Muslim. And he helped us understand a lot more about the mosques and their decorations (or lack thereof in one of the mosques).

Shoes off following Khaleed across the center of the mosque

My only regret is that we were not able to go to the Cairo Museum because it closed early that day due to some MILD MILD protests/demonstrations that were happening in the square in front of the museum.

The small protests in the square.

Many of you will likely recognize this area from the shots on the news over the past month.

After being turned away from the museum, we went to the GIGANTIC open market. This was another time that I was glad to have Khaleed with us--both for safety and for help in bargaining.

In a little local cafe Khaleed took us to

In the market Khaleed told us to try to go for 25% of the price they were asking.

This is the scarab beetle bracelet I bought from a SUPER cute little boy for $1 USD

He initially asked me for 5 Egyptians pounds.

1 USD = approx. 6 Egyptian pounds.

125% of the price.

I am apparently not the best bargainer. And I will likely never hear the end of it from my brothers.

And because we just couldn’t get enough of Cairo, after Khaleed and the driver dropped us back off at the hotel, we spent over an hour and a half just lounging around the lobby and roaming around in the COLOSSAL mall connected to the hotel, to arrive at the airport only 20 minutes before take-off, thinking that we were arriving 2 hours early. Luckily enough though both we and our bags (miracle of all miracles) made it.

Taking a quick nap in the lobby after a jam-packed day of Egyptian wonders.

Burgos, Holy Toledo and the Temple

2011-05-05T18:26:00.001-06:00

Tuesday morning we left Pais Vasco and headed down to Spain. Burgos was the second city I served in in Spain and where I ended the mission. We arrived around noon and took a tour around Burgos' cathedral. The cathedral is HUGE for a town that is now fairly small.

Chillin on the stairs to the side of the cathedral.

Enjoying pepitos (a delicious pastry found only in Burgos) before entering the Cathedral.

After visiting the cathedral, I took the family on a walking tour of Burgos from the cathedral down to the other side of the city past the church and to where we lived.

Outside the church.

Please don't mind the fact that C.J. looks a little drugged up and all of the construction happening on the street outside.

It's funny how when you are a missionary you don't even realize how much walking/running around you do in a day because as missionaries we would make the rounds of that city multiple times a day and not even think about it, but just taking them down the strip once (roughly a 2-mile walk) had both of the boys asking "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" more times than I can even count. Although I have to admit that it didn't help the situation when after making the walk all the way down with a promise of the best Doner Kebab of their lives, we arrived only to find that it was closed down for the month of April (mind you it was MAY 10th, but that is just kind of how Spanish vacations and shop closings roll). So we went to the local Eroski and picked up some picnic food and ate it in the plaza where I used to run.

Everyone whining when we found that the Doner was closed

C.J. and Sean on the bench were they plopped down on and refused to move

until they were provided with nourishment from the "long journey"

After lunch we went back to the hotel (on the bus at Sean's BEGGING request) and relaxed for a few quick minutes before going out again to meet up with a few of my favorite peeps from Burgos for some more churros and chocolate and ice cream.

Right to left: Lia (Sara's cute friend that we taught), Margarita (Sara's mom and the mom to all the missionaries who pass through Burgos), Sara (the most AMAZING member missionary ever), Jared (her husband of about 1 year), and you know the rest.

This picture reminds me how GIGANTIC I always used to feel while around Spanish people.

The day was full of eating because after that, we headed over to meet Javi at the church and followed him out to he and his wife, Hedy's, new house in a little pueblo outside of Burgos for dinner. Hedy really made the boys in the family happy by serving them spaghetti, chicken nuggets (with barbeque sauce) and mashed potatoes. They are such a cute family and were such a great help to us with the missionary work while I was serving in Burgos.

Hedy, Javi and their adorable son Marcos (their baby daughter was upstairs sleeping by this point)

Before going home we did a quick stop by the Abajo family's house (it was quick because the Barcelona vs. Madrid game was on and I didn't want to be the cause of interrupting that because I know that in my house that would have been like interrupting BYU's sweet 16 game or actually just about any other basketball game) and it was so good to see all of them. Their son, Jairo, only 23 years old (I think. He returned home from serving a mission in Ogden, Utah while I was there in the fall of 2008) is now the branch president there in Burgos. I can't even imagine having that kind of responsibility. They are an impressive bunch.

We left Burgos early Wednesday morning and headed to Toledo. I had never been to Toledo before and so that was fun. It is a small city but jam-packed with Spanish history, culture and architecture.

Outside the gate to the inner city of Toledo

Everyone super happy that we found them an OPEN Doner Kebap joint

Mom & Dad outside Toledo's HUGE Cathedral

Mom adding to her china colection in a cute store with an ancient basement in Toledo

Outside the city about to head back to Madrid

We stayed in the temple housing that night in Madrid which was fun because the rooms are almost exactly like the ones that are there for the missionaries (it is in the same building as the MTC just on a different floor) and so it was fun little memory to relive (I was really only there for a week while getting my residency worked out when I made it over to Spain). And then we were able to attend a session at the temple the next morning before heading back to the airport bound for Cairo.

eating dinner in the temple hostel's kitchen/dining room

Jam packed into one room for the night.

(These bunks are the same ones the missionaries have there in the MTC)

The beautiful Madrid Temple

Land That I Love

2011-05-03T14:54:00.085-06:00

Because how can you not love a land as beautiful as this??

I dedicate this post to: Pais Vasco (Basque Country)

I met up with the family at JFK on Friday afternoon and we flew overnight to Madrid. Upon landing in Madrid we rented a car and headed right up to Pais Vasco. (If there are still some of you out there that I have not yet educated about the difference between Spain and Pais Vasco, come find me and we’ll have a little chat and until then you can check this out.

Anyway, after landing we made the 4-hour plus drive up north and stopped over in San Sebastian (a BEATUIFUL beach city that borders Southern France). I never served there because it is so expensive to rent an apartment there that the Church has only ever had elders there for as long as I have ever heard about so that they wouldn’t have to rent 2 pisos, but it is beautiful and was every sisters dream to visit.

And of course I had to introduce the family to Spanish tortilla

After visiting San Sebastian, we headed back down to Bilbao and arrived just in time to check in to our hotel/apartment where we were staying (I had forgotten that Spain has such crazy hours—that only the 24-hour/day services are the bars, restaurants and discotecas).

The next morning we woke up and went to church in Bilbao. It was so great to be back in that ward. I think that it will always feel like a second home ward to me. (And yes it is now a WARD which happened in September of 2010 and everyone is still pretty excited about it).

Me with Gilda and Patricia in 2011

Gilda, Patricia, Hna. Carroll, Edid (Gilda's neice and Patricia's cousin) and Me (Hna. Thornton) in 2008

And after church and a quick bit for lunch (you better believe that the “quick bite” involved some DELICIOUS Spanish bread. I swear I would be happy eating a sandwich for every meal of the day if it could be on their bread here) we went for a leisurely stroll around Bilbao.

Mom and I in front of the Guggenheim

I don’t know why brothers aren’t ever allowed to more than barely touch each other in pictures,

but apparently that's the way these boys roll.

I don’t know when I became the “little” sister, but apparently it has happened as you can see in this picture and by the fact that I have had the” back middle seat with my feet on the hump” reserved solely for me for the past 6 years or so now I think.

showing Sean that I can still be the older/bigger sister when I need to be

pointing to our old apartment from the park we used to run in every morning

We ended our walk through Bilbao at Hermana Nieves’ house for a late Spanish dinner.

She was the Relief Society President while I was serving in Bilbao and my Bilbao Mom if you will.

I love this woman.

After a fun run along the river Monday morning, we went for a hike to this old cathedral that is out on a little almost island/outlet. La Capilla de San Juan de Gaztelugatxe.

Even though their faces don’t show it, Sean and Ceej are happy to be there I swear

a picture of the church at the top and so that you know that we did actually bring Dad with us—he is just usually BEHIND the camera

The view from up top

The stairs and little land that connect it to the mainland

The inside of the chapel

are you sufficiently jealous yet??

And we made a quick stop through Guernica/Gernika on our way back into Bilbao. The real Picaso of this is in the Prado in Madrid (Franco's old backyard. . . .hmmmm. . . that hasn't ever really made a lot of sense to me, but whatevs)

Then we had a lovely “tapas bar” lunch with President (now Bishop) Gonzalez and his wife Zuleima. They are both wonderful and were always a lot of help with the missionary work in Bilbao.

And then finished off the night with churros and chocolate a Spanish favorite—especially necessary in the cold winter, but also a wonderful addition to just about any day of the year.

It was kind of heartbreaking to leave Tuesday morning, but I know that I won’t ever be able to stay away for too long. The country is just too beautiful and its people just too good that upon entering Pais Vasco you cannot leave without a piece of you also being left behind as well and you’ve got to come back to feel completely whole again.

But until then Pais Vasco—AGUR!

Bones

2011-04-27T08:58:00.004-06:00

So this is a post that I meant to do a few weeks ago for my Dad's birthday, but obviously didn't get it done. But I am getting it done now so better late than never, right?

Anyway, "Bones" was the name of one of my brothers' and I's all-time FAVORITE of all favorite games to play with our dad when we were younger. We used to beg and beg for him to play it with us just about every Sunday summer evening.

The Rules of Bones:

We kids would line up along the rock wall we helped my dad build in our backyard and then my dad would stand about 30 feet away from the wall holding a nerf ball and yell "Bones!" and we would start running back and forth along the wall trying to guess where he was going to throw the ball and trying to fall to the ground or jump out of the way if it came hurling towards you. Because if/when the ball did hit you, you lost whatever limb (bones) it hit. So if it hit your left arm you had to hold it behind your back for the next round. If it hit your right leg, you had to hop around on just your left leg.
The 2 worst situations you could be in were: losing both of your legs (because then you had to just walk on your knees), or if you got hit in the head (because then you had to close your eyes and you were as good as dead in the coming rounds, although sometimes Dad would just leave you there dreading the inevitable for a few rounds before killing you off).

It is important that you remember that we kids used to beg and beg for him to play this with us because if the game sounds a little like abuse to you, you should know that it was abuse that we BEGGED for. :)

Nurse Katie

2011-03-10T08:01:00.002-07:00

So I realized yesterday that I haven't told a lot of people about my new job. So here is the background on Nurse Katie.

Right before Christmas I quit my home health nursing job. It was defnitely a good and necessary move.
Anyway I came back to Boston in January without a job. About a week after I got here, I got an e-mail through our ward e-mail list or whatever about a nursing job opportunity at a private Catholic school. I figured, "Hey. Why not?" So I interviewed and the interview went really well. And they knew I was Mormon because the family that referred me to the job is Mormon. And anyway, they called me and offered me the job the next day but then I told them about the 1-month vacation I have planned with my family and that I would understand if they couldn't give me the job because unlike a hospital or something, there just isn't the same type of coverage built-in. They said that they thought they would have to give the job to the other candidate. Fine. I mean, I wanted the job, because I needed a job and I like kids (especially in cute little plaid uniforms) but it wasn't my dream job or anything or I would have considered cutting the trip short or something. But then they called back on Monday (the offer was made on Friday) and offered the job to me again and I took it.

I only work 20 hours a week. Usually 9:30-1:30 or 10-2. So I try to supplement that with doing 20-30 hours of work on this research project for the VA Hospital and University of Utah that I can do from home on the computer (kind of like the one I did last summer).

The school is great. It is K1 (pre-school) through 8th grade. They have uniforms. The teachers are all way cool and really care about the students. And one of them I think might actually turn into a real outside of work friend. (Which is good, because that was the only sad part about quitting my last job, was leaving the friends I had made behind.)

I mostly work with the younger kids (I mean, think about how many times you went and saw the nurse when you were in middle school) and they are SO cute. There is this TINY little K1-er that I love and that comes in every day for some medicine he has to take and then sometimes comes in other times because he misses his mommy and we get to read books together. There is another kid in 1st grade who I LOVE. He is black and has lived in England until last year and is SOOOOOOOOO cute. He usually comes by to tell me what good things he ate for lunch. And I know I probably shouldn't have favorites, but I guess I kind of do.

And yeah, that is pretty much it. They call me "Nurse Katie" or "Miss Katie" which I also love.

The actual nursing of it isn't exactly my dream. I mean, I was made for the ER, and so bloody noses, bumped knees and paper cuts don't really do much for me. But I do like the pediatric aspect of it. And I feel like I get to use a lot of creativity which is something that I missed about the ER. (For example, a little girl came in a couple of weeks ago that had been eating her crayons. (Luckily they were non-toxic) Try getting crayon out of those back molars without a toothbrush. Trick? Gum.)

New trick tried today: my rolling desk chair can serve as a perfectly great wheelchair for transporting wounded basketball victims

Love it!

2011-01-27T10:57:00.002-07:00

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

2011-01-17T22:08:00.001-07:00

Quoting from one of my favorite books (and movies), Anne of Green Gables, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." And I am going to imitate my friend Erin, (and hopefully flatter her as well) and copy her goal of reading 50 books in 2011 and in order to track that have posted a list on the side of this blog (which is nearly EXACTLY like her's so copy copy copy cat Katie).

I think I will mostly just put the titles up there. But if you want to read my thoughts and feelings about the books, you can check out the book review blog I started with my friends.

PS Yes I am embarrassed about book #2 for 2011 and almost didn't put it up, but because I am a little nervous about meeting the goal. I decided to count it. BUT just so you know, I found the book at the bedside of one of my patients while working an overnight shift and thought that it might help keep me awake. Which it did, but does not help the embarassment. However, I recognize that I probably do need help in that department, so it was probably a good decision overall. Just a little bit shameful.

Christmas Eve Tradition

2010-12-14T23:27:00.001-07:00

This week's family memory will be about what our family does on Christmas Eve.

So we always do the put on the traditional Chrismas play (which turns out to be I guess not so traditional because there are only 3 of us kids, and a lot more roles than that, especially since we always do the BofM part of it too (Samuel the Lamanite's prophecy of the birth of Christ) so that may have to be its own blog post for another day). But after the play, at the sole request of our mom, we always end up singing some Christmas songs around the piano. Mind you, the only one in our family who is not completely tone deaf is probably my brother Sean, so it's always a somewhat painful experience.

After that, we always get to open two gifts. One of which is always the stereotypical Christmas pajamas. The thing that isn't so stereotypical about them though is that for some reason, years ago, my mom decided to start using the food storage machine to can them so we actually have to open it with a can opener. Now that I am writing this, I am realizing how weird of a tradition it kind of is, but let me tell you, that it must be a good one, because the years she has forgotten or not been able to get them "canned" we've all complained. So I guess the lesson to be learned here is if you are looking for a way to spice up the Christmas Eve pajama idea, you might try putting them in a can. After opening our cans, we all get to open one more gift which is always a children's book and then Mom makes us each read them.

After that, we always put out hot cocoa and cookies for Santa (and yes, even now, when the youngest kid is 21 years old) and then we all go and sleep in my room. We used to all sleep in the guest room bed because it was the biggest, and then I got a queen sized bed in my room too and so we started just sleeping in my bed, and then as we got older, I made the boys sleep on the floor next to my bed and they would just drag in blankets etc., but now as they have gotten older as well, still unable/unwilling to stop the tradition, but also unwilling to sleep on the floor, they have started dragging their mattresses into my room. It's a tight fit, but always fun and it made it easier for us to be able to coordinate who would go into Mom and Dad's room each hour on the hour starting around 2 am to ask if it was time to get up yet.

So I realized today that I really don't have any pictures of our family at Christmas, so I'm going to have to work on that when I go home this year. This picture was the only one I could find, that was Christmas-related and really isn't that great other than the incredible bow I have on top of my head (yes it does match my shirt, thank you mom-made clothes and accessories) and the lite-brite in the background which is probably one of the greatest Christmas gifts of ALL history.

Family History

2010-12-14T22:52:00.001-07:00

So this month's visting teaching message was about doing family history and temple work. Family history is something that I have been feeling pretty guilty lately about not participating in and so I set some goals of things I can do to start doing my part a little more. Most of my goals are about finding things about my ancestors, but I also set a goal to be better about leaving things for my posterity (I guess I should say POSSIBLE posterity) to have to know more about me and our family. So I am going to write in my journal at least once a week (I realize that for some of you, this may be a shockingly low aim of a goal, but it would be a definite improvement for me from where my journal writing is at now) and I also am going to try to write about a family memory, tradition or something of the kind on this blog at least once a week (you all can monitor me and chastise me if needed on this part of the goal).

Random Funny

2010-12-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

Sign posted in the bathroom in the building of one of my patients says:

"When you are finished using the tolit (underlined two times), Please Flush the Tolit!! If everything dose not go down, it is your (underlined 5 times) Responsibility (underlines 3 times) to plung the tolit (underlined three times. Thank you (underlined once)"

I like to think that the person actually pronounces toilet as two-let and that the number of underlines is an equivalent ratio to how loud their voice would be raised to emphasize that word.

Just Do It. . . Please

2010-09-23T08:31:00.001-06:00

Have a second?

This is my cousin's husband.

He has CF and is trying to get a scholarship to help them pay for Optometry school.

All you have to do is send a text or vote online, or both. :)

And it honestly only takes 20 seconds. Or less if you are a turbo-twitch texter. (I couldn't think of any other t things at the moment. Don't hate me.)

Miracle of Miracles :)

2010-09-23T07:00:00.001-06:00

So it has now been a little over a month since I arrived in Boston, and up until two days ago I had experienced no real signs of progression or seen real signs of hope in me getting a job as an RN anytime soon.

I would like to share with you what I read in my scripture study two days ago BEFORE any of the good job news came along.

The previous day had been one of the hardest and most discouraging days since I got here. Not for any particular reason, but I was starting to doubt again the soundness of my decision to move to Boston without having any sort of job set up for me when I got here. And I realized then just as I know now that I shouldn't be doubting it because the answer came very clear after a lot of work and prayer. But I'm human and when things are tough and not going as well as I dreamed, it is hard not to wonder if I really did make the right decision. Anyway I was reading Elder Holland's Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence. (Do you italicize talk titles or put them in quotes? I forget.) Anyway, I was reading it and came across these lines:

Everyone runs the risk of fear. For a moment in Moses’ confrontation with the adversary, “Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell.” 9 That’s when you see it—when you are afraid.

That is exactly the problem that beset the children of Israel at the edge of the Red Sea, and it has everything to do with holding fast to your earlier illumination. The record says, “And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid.” Some (just like those Paul described earlier) said words to this effect: “Let’s go back. This isn’t worth it. We must have been wrong. That probably wasn’t the right spirit telling us to leave Egypt.” What they actually said to Moses was: “Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? … It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.” 10 And I have to say, “What about that which has already happened? What about the miracles that got you here? What about the frogs and the lice? What about the rod and the serpent, the river and the blood? What about the hail, the locusts, the fire, the firstborn sons?”

Now I don't get me wrong. I do not wish to compare Provo to Egypt; however, I cannot deny that I know that I should not be living in Provo at this period of my life, just as the children of Israel should not have been living in Egypt at that time in theirs. And reading this talk made me see how ridiculous I was for thinking about turning around. I had always wanted to laugh when I read in the scriptures about the children of Israel wanting to turn around and enter back into servitude in Egypt, but when I read this talk, I realized that I was doing the same thing by wondering if I shouldn't have ever left Provo or if I should just go back.

I decided then and there not to question my decision again. I knew that I was supposed to come to Boston and nothing about the correctness of that decision has changed yet.

Now we also know that although the children of Israel had to wander about the wilderness for 40 years, they experienced many miracles along the way.

My miracle came within 30 minutes of me finishing reading Elder Holland's talk and my resolution not to question the decision to move again.

About a week after moving here, I got a call from a man who ran a temp agency here in the Boston area telling me that he thought he could for sure get me a job with a home health agency (not my FAVORITE field of nursing, but hey in these economic times, any field of nursing is my favorite. . .). I was super excited and spent a day and a half filling out his paperwork and taking some tests, etc. But then nothing happened. He kept saying, "oh after Labor day" and then "your resume is in their hands, they will call you if they need you" blah blah. And after about 3 weeks of that I kind of wrote it off.

But this day I got a call from him saying that the agency wanted to have me come in so they could meet me. And then the next day (yesterday) I went in for an "interview" and I will be starting to work on Tuesday. This last part has happened so quickly that the whole thing seems kind of like a dream, or I guess MIRACLE. :)

Then if that all wasn't good enough, I got a call from another lady a couple of hours later from Mass General Hospital that my background check had FINALLY gone through and that I will be able to go in and get everything set-up on this next Monday so I can start working for them as well. (This job is just as a sitter/observer, but it will allow me to apply as an internal candidate for a few of the major hospitals here in Boston so I think it's a good thing).

After these two phone calls, which occurred literally within hours of each other and hours of my decision to stick with it and stop questioning my prayerfully made decision, I couldn't help but feel so overwhelmed with gratitude and faith in my Heavenly Father. I know He lives. I know He loves me. I know that He knows all of the little details of my life and of my every day. And I know that He is the ultimate "trainer" and knows exactly how far to push us so that we will grow and develop, but that He also knows our limits and will never push us farther than we can handle.

I re-read the talk again today and this final part stuck out to me:

How soon we forget. It would not have been better to stay and serve the Egyptians, and it is not better to remain outside the Church, nor to put off marriage, nor to reject a mission call or other Church service, and so on and so on forever. Of course our faith will be tested as we fight through these self-doubts and second thoughts. Some days we will be miraculously led out of Egypt—seemingly free, seemingly on our way—only to come to yet another confrontation, like all that water lying before us. At those times we must resist the temptation to panic and give up. At those times fear will be the strongest of the adversary’s weapons against us.

And I know that even after all of these miracles and blessings I have been given lately and even now that it looks like I won't have to worry about having work to do for a while (I will likely even have too much between the two jobs), I know that my testing period is not over and that I will have to continue to push myself and go through experiences that will make me grow and develop even greater faith and love for my Father in Heaven and His plan for me, but I'm excited for it. And I say, "BRING IT ON!" (Okay, maybe not really, but I know I'll get through and be better for any trials that do come my way.)

Joy in the Little (or LONG) Things

2010-09-17T07:06:00.001-06:00

My hair touches the bottom of the back of my neck when it's in a pony tail.

I'm super excited about it!

I still have the urge to chop my hair off whenever I see someone with a cute short cut, but I am committed to letting it grow until at least my next birthday, so here we go.

Check it Out!!!

2010-09-16T17:49:00.000-06:00

Please check out the new blog I just created inspired by my last post.

http://justablogaboutbooks.blogspot.com/

I'd love it if any of you wanted to join as authors.

Libros Libros Libros

2010-09-16T09:59:00.003-06:00

Okay so I know that I should have a TON to blog about seeing as I have recently moved to the other side of the country and I promise I will. I will blog about our trek (Sean and I) out here to Boston and our adventures together, about my new house and roommates, Labor day Maryland cabin and Amish peeps trip, and the like, but not today.

Today I just want to talk about books.

Maybe I am just missing school more than I thought I would or something. Actually I don't think that is the case, because the GRE studying I am doing now is a good reminder of how school isn't always fun. Or maybe the GRE just isn't always fun. Especially the ridiculous vocab. ANYWAY, back to books. Lovely books.

I want new suggestions.

Here is a list of the books I have read and enjoyed this summer:

The Book Thief
The Help
The Glass Castle
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
I Feel Bad about my Neck
Peace Like a River
A Room with a View
The Hunger Games Series
Things Fall Apart
Born to Run
False Impression
Into the Darkness
Sense and Sensibility (don't know how I got this far in life without having READ it)
Pride and Prejudice (re-read)
The Forgotten Garden
Jamaica Inn
Rebecca

Okay so some of these, I am realizing I actually read this spring, but spring/summer same thing.

And now I'm looking for some suggestions. So if you've read a good book lately, please post it on here, because being jobless, I've got some time. ;) I've heard good things about the "Uglies" series and will likely be starting them soon, but if you have others, I'd love your suggestions.

And if you haven't read some of the ones I read this summer and want to know more about them, just ask. I would STRONGLY recommend reading all of them except maybe "A Room with a View." It was one I was supposed to have read in high school and never finished, and although I liked it more and got more out of it this time around than I would have in high school, it still wouldn't make my love list. Or actually "I Feel Bad about my Neck." I just didn't get that into it.

Aparment Enrichment Night #1

2010-06-29T10:10:00.000-06:00

So a few weeks ago in church I found a paper on the floor with ideas for enrichment nights and some of them sounded really fun to me. However, neither I nor any of my roommates are currently in any positions in which we really have any influence over enrichment night activities. So Reenie and I came up with the idea of having weekly Apartment Enrichment Night.

It seemed an especially good idea now since in the summer everyone seems to be traveling around and with Meagan now being engaged and Reenie dating someone, there isn't ever a lot of time where we all just get to hang out and do "girl talk." Hence the need for a planned weekly apartment enrichment night.

So for our first activity, we stole one of the ideas off the paper I found. Yoga and smoothie night.

Reenie and I doing our ohms at the end of the workout

Meagan didn't end up coming, so we invited our neighbor Laura to join us, we all put on our best and tightest yoga pants and had a fabulous and enlightening (or should I say "enriching") time.

Special thanks go out to my home boy Tony Horton for leading us in the rigorous workout and to the old classic Orange Julius for providing us with much needed refreshment after it was all done.

Aparment Enrichment Night #1 = Success!

Welp. . .

2010-06-28T10:12:00.000-06:00

So after thoroughly enjoying the cute header and design that my friend Andrea made for my blog last summer, which I have used now for over a year, I was able to con another good friend into helping me spruce up my blog a bit. (Thanks Kiley!) And I am really hoping that this will get me excited about writing on here again. Because after all, if I have titled it, "Kate's Summer Adventures" I better get going on writing down some of the summer adventures I have already had, and get excited about planning some more before the summer ends.

So here's to hoping that this will be the catalyst to get this blog going again. . .

Thanks again Kiley!

Please be my Consumer Report

2010-06-10T23:42:00.002-06:00

So I have decided to sell my car. It was actually a pretty sudden decision. I am moving to Boston in the fall and planned to take my X-Terra along with me, because I heard that especially as a nurse and working crazy hours, I will definitely still want a car. However, I think ever since my mom got her Camry hybrid and my little brother his Nissan Altima which both nearly double the gas mileage I get in my car, I have been a little jealous. So, even though I have totally LOVED my little beast, I think it is time to sell it and get a more gas friendly friend.

Okay now here is the part that concerns you. I am looking at Mazda 3s. I don't know why. I've never actually even ridden in one. I just think they are cute looking mostly and I know Mazda is a good brand. But I want to know if any of you out there own a Mazda 3 or 6 or know someone who does and whether you love, like or hate? OR do you have a gas-friendly car that you would recommend?

I probably won't start looking very seriously until I start getting offers on my car. But I am hoping that might be soon because I just posted it today on kslcars.com and I don't even have pictures up yet and I have had 2 people contact me.

Counting Up Again

2010-06-09T07:49:00.000-06:00

I'm training for another half-marathon this summer and I think I'll restart my "odometer" on the side bar of this blog. I don't know why, but it really is exciting and motivating to me to run more when I get to find a fun new picture to put up each day. Lame I know, but hey, whatever works!

Cute Video Revival

2010-06-02T11:54:00.001-06:00

I watched this little 30 second clip last night. I actually saw it for the first time a few years ago, but feel that it deserves being revived. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPibcB1Rego

Can I please take this little boy home?! So cute!!

PS Does anyone know how to just load an acutal video not just a link onto a blog? I used to, but as you know, have kind of sucked it up at blogging lately and I can't figure it out now.

Roley Poley

2010-04-07T14:25:00.000-06:00

I have been sitting in the Harold B. Lee Library for 6 hours straight now. I didn't even leave for a lunch break. I have of course put my 20-page final research paper off until the last week even though I have known about it all semester. But that's not what I want to write about right now. (Although I do have a pretty amazing story about trying to make a copy of an article out of a nursing journal 2 days ago that you will have to remind me to share)

Today I want to write about roley poleys. I am sitting in periodicals, one of the only places in the HBLL that has a good window view to the real world. There is a steep hill that I know most all of you know about that leads down to the windows. It is a nice day outside and I watch about 10 kids all jumping onto their bellies and rolling down the hill.

"What makes us do that?" I think to myself. Why when we are kids do we see a hill, and think, "Hey! I know! Let's make myself dizzy and nauseous and hurl myself down this hill!" I'm not saying it's a stupid idea, I know I did it all the time as a kid, but I do wonder who was the first person to do it? What gave them that idea? Would we as kids have thought to do it if we hadn't seen older kids doing it before?

I just looked up and saw that now a pretty overweight father is rolling down the hill behind his kids. So I guess it isn't just a kid thing. And now one of the older kids is sick of just "lamely" laying down on his stomach to start the roll and is now jumping down the hill and doing a belly flop into his roll!

Well, I better get back to my paper, or. . . maybe back to watching the hill to see if any other new tricks develop.

The Dangers of Returning a Late Book

2010-03-06T19:19:00.001-07:00

So yesterday, I was attempting to return my book from last month's book club to the Provo City Library. Yes. It is now 2 weeks late. Why? I am not really sure, because I finished it just 3 days after the due date which would have fallen into the Provo Library's lovely grace period.

Anyway, on to the action. It was a super snowy day and so I was having a fun time just trying to get around and for any of you who have tried to pull into the Provo City Library's book-return drive-through, you know that it is a pretty tight corner even when you aren't dealing with inclement weather.
Anyway, so I pull in, but I was a little far from the slot so I ended up dropping the book down on to the wet and snowy ground below the car. Without even thinking, I open my door and just start jumping out to save the soon-to-be avalanched-in book. (PS I think I might be a little dash happy tonight)
However, in my haste to save the helpless book I forgot that I had not put my car into park when I stopped so at the same moment I put one foot on the ground and start moving my other foot (which had been on the brake) out, the car starts rolling forward! Perfect!
I quickly move my foot back into place on the brake even though my other foot is still on the ground and the car screeches to a stop.
I catch my breath, jump back in the car, put it into park. Jump back out. This time the car doesn't move. I grabbed the book and returned it. It was a little wet, and I hope I don't get fined, but mostly I am just grateful that a) my car didn't end up a permanent fixture in the side of the library and b) that my body didn't get sucked in between the open car door, the book vaults and the underside of my car!

Integrit-izzle

2009-11-10T22:42:00.004-07:00

So today was a hard day. I stayed up late working on my clinical write-up and it was really frustrating and I don’t know if I even did that well on it. Then I had to wake up early this morning because it is my long day of classes on campus. By the time I got ready and got my paper all printed and ready, I left a little later than I normally do, and so I had to basically run up to campus and from where I live it normally takes me at least 10 minutes or 15 to get to this class, but today I made it in 7 because I was really cruising.
And I am almost always (like 99% of the time) on time for class anyway, but I know I always have to be on time to this class in particular because they have quizzes about every other time and you don’t get to take it unless you are there right on time and they won’t give you the powerpoint handouts (the notes) for the class either unless you are on time.
So I was feeling pretty good when I ran in with a whole minute to spare. Aubrey was saving me a seat and I slid into it and sure enough, we were having a quiz. Now usually, these quizzes are basically just attendance-based and so as long as you are there and take it, it doesn’t matter how many points you actually get, they just give you 100%, but not today. And because I was Indianapolis last week, I didn’t read and I haven’t gotten caught up yet and so I still haven’t read the material for last week (which is what the quiz was on) plus I hadn’t reviewed over my notes or anything since class a week ago, and blah blah blah.
Anyway, the point is when I looked at the questions I knew I was in trouble. There were 5 and I only really knew 2. And that is exactly how many I got right. 2. 2 out of 5. 4 out of 10 points. Which 6 points no big deal, but that is how many points I missed on my first EXAM and now I just missed that many points again within a matter of seconds over a stupid little quiz. And I didn’t do so well on my second exam in that class and so I could have really used the points. And this is my ICU class and there just really aren’t a lot of points that you can miss. Also I was bummed because I almost put the right answer on 2 of them but I second-guessed myself.
I tell this story because I was pretty disappointed, in fact I almost cried (I think that was just because I am just SO tired though and it was frustrating) but also because it could have turned out another way.

When I didn’t know the answers, I was really tempted to look down on either side of me at Taniel’s or Aubrey’s papers. They are both smart girls, and although they were kind of whining that they didn’t really know either, I was pretty sure they knew better than me on this one. But I didn’t look. I thought, “you know, this is a really BIG deal right now, but in the grand scheme of things, it definitely is not worth cheating for.”

I don’t write about this to pat myself on the back, because honestly I am appalled that I even really considered looking at either of their papers, but because after the class I was feeling REALLY discouraged about getting a 4, and Aubrey and I went over to the auditorium in the basement of the Art Museum to watch the devotional like we normally do.
Elder Jon Huntsman spoke. I think the main focus of his talk was about how God didn’t set us up to fail in this life which I totally believe, but he started his talk out by saying “Without integrity nothing else matters and with integrity nothing else matters.” and then he said it at least 2 more times throughout his talk. And I instantly was SO grateful that I had made the right decision that morning to miss a few little stupid points but keep my integrity because I know that really is what matters. If I hadn’t I cannot even imagine how I would have felt when I heard him say that. I probably would have wanted to crawl under my chair and bury my head into the sick nasty floor and hide.
I hope you won’t think less of me that I even considered cheating (because I know probably most of you never would have) but I don’t really care, because I didn’t do it, and boy am I so grateful and I think or at least hope that it won’t ever be such a strong temptation again, because I already know what I am going to do (or not do) now.

cheating has apparently gotten a little more high-tech these days?!

Horrific but Hillarious

2009-11-07T13:25:00.001-07:00

Check this out!!
All I can say is "OH MY GOSH!!"
Incredible.

Halloween in Indy

2009-11-01T22:05:00.003-07:00

Yep, three posts in one day. It's Sunday so I'm not doing homework, and I am in Indianapolis so there aren't any sick or afflicted people I know around that I should be visiting.

So last night was Halloween. Possibly one of the most uneventful Halloween nights of my entire life, EXCEPT for the fact that on our way home from eating at the famous Irish Pub (notice I said EATING, not drinking; and we were with our 2 BYU PROFESSORS) across the street from our hotel, we passed a bar that had a security guard standing outside dressed in probably the most UN-PC Halloween costume I have ever seen!

He was dressed up all in Middle-Eastern attire, turban and all, and then had like 20 sticks of DYNAMITE strapped to his stomach!

I am not saying that I am the most PC person ever, and am actually probably far from being such. However, even I was somewhat appalled or at least found his little get-up quite jaw-dropping. I wonder what Mr. Obama would say. Tsk. Tsk.

You Might be a Recluse if. . .

2009-11-01T20:03:00.004-07:00

. . . you don't mind eating in a sit-down restaurant all by yourself.

Two posts in one day!! No I am not bored, but I wanted to share another experience with you from my trip. So tonight Christie Sue was out at her brother's house and my professors had something else which left little not-so-old me "home" alone with no one to go to dinner with. I think some people might have just ordered take-out or room service, or waited until 9:30 pm when Christie Sue got back and had already eaten dinner but asked her to go anyway, not me.

Finding myself in this situation, I thought, I can sit here and be hungry or I can treat myself to a night out on the town. Okay so I didn't quite treat myself to a "night out on the town" because being in a somewhat of a strange city and it being dark, I didn't really dare venture out farther than across the street, which put me at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Said restaurant is not exactly my FAVORITE restaurant by any means, but it did the job nicely.

The hostess sat me at this cute little table with luxurious tall wing-backed comfy chairs. My waitress was very kind and gave prompt service, and I have to say that I overall, I quite enjoyed myself. At first I was kicking myself for not bringing my planner or something to keep me busy, but I now am glad that I didn't.

I am not saying that I would rather go out to dinner by myself every time instead of with friends. I much prefer the dinner with good friends option. I am simply wanting to say, that instead of being a TERRIBLE HORRIBLE NO GOOD VERY BAD experience, it was actually quite liberating and refreshing. I think I quite enjoy my own company.

That is all.

Windy Indy

2009-11-01T15:29:00.004-07:00

Here I am reporting in from Indianapolis. Who knew it would take getting out of Provo to get me to start writing on here again. "Why Indianapolis?" you ask? Well you see there is some big biennial Sigma Theta Tau International (an international honor society) conference that I got chosen to go to. And lest you start thinking that I am super cool, the only reason I really got chosen is because my name was drawn out of a hat of like 5 eligible people, so don't go off thinking I am too wonderful. :)
Anyway, I came here along with one other student who I went to Ecuador with and two of our professors. We presented a research project that was conducted about using student nurses in global health efforts (Ecuador). It was pretty cool because we are like two of probably 15 students at this conference of probably more than 500 people and then we actually presented. There were probably only 30 people that attended our presentation, but when I started our presentation by introducing us as students, you could just hear the awe pass over the room. It was pretty cool.
We probably weren't the most professional presentation in the conference, but I can say that at least out of the group of the three presentations that we presented with we were probably the most fun and interesting to listen too. Not to pat myself on the back or anything. . . :) It just seemed like everyone else was so caught up in using sophisticated terms and everything that you just kind of got lost in the details, instead of leaving with a good overall picture of what they were saying. One cute lady in the front of the room even gave us a little standing ovation. It was so adorable.
The whole experience has been interesting, and it makes me want to always continue learning, but I also have realized how much I like being on the practical side of things. So many of the nurses here have not actually worked as a nurse on the floors of the hospitals in YEARS, they are all professors or nurse educators, etc. which are very important, I just don't know if I ever want to be on that side of things. I think much prefer the patient interaction.
Today we watched our chapter get its first key award. Don't ask me what that means exactly, but apparently it is kind of a big deal. Then we went to the Spanish branch. It was so fun. We got there a little late because we got a little lost, well not actually lost, but it took us longer than it should have because we had to drive around the football (Colts vs. 49ers) traffic to get there. Anyway, we walked in with a little family that even as they were hopping out of their car I thought to myself, "I bet they are investigators or new members" because they just seemed a little nervous. We walked in with them, and showed them to the chapel where an elder came out to meet them.
Luckily we sat just a few rows behind them and it was just so fun because it so took me back to mission days as I watched them try to figure out how to follow along and sing the hymns. I wanted to tap the elder and tell him that they needed help, but I couldn't reach him nor them. She figured it out though by the last verse of the closing hymn. Anyway it took me back. Also the fact that it was fast and testimony meeting and I remember always praying as a missionary that none of the members would say anything too weird. :)
After church, Christie Sue (the other student), took off to see her brother who lives pretty nearby, and the rest of us went back to the conference. I only went to one more set of breakout sessions and then Sheri and I, took off back towards the hotel but ended up just walking around the historical center of the city. It is so pretty. I guess I just never really thought of Indianapolis as a place with a lot of history but we saw the Civil War monument and then even went inside the World War II history museum (which really had stuff from nearly every war that the U.S. has been involved in, not just World War II) and that was pretty neat because with everyone being at the Colts game, we were the ONLY ones in the museum.
Then we headed home and here I am now. Anyway, I was pretty bummed about missing Halloween with all of the friends peeps, but it has been a pretty fun weekend and I have appreciated having Christie Sue here with me who keeps reminding me that we are on "VACATION" every time I get stressed about not going to all of the conference or about taking a nap or relaxing.
Overall, my first time to Indianapolis has turned out to be a real treat. I still think I would rather end up in Boston than here, but it is a lot prettier and has more history than I would have thought.
I will try to post a few pics of the trip when I get home.

PS If you ever want to feel REALLY PRETTY just walk around downtown Indianapolis after the football game got out and all of the drunken fans are heading home. FUN!

Hello School, Goodbye Blog

2009-10-02T16:03:00.002-06:00

I know some of you are very disappointed kate's blog viewers these days due to the lack of "postage" that has been happening as of late. I really have written half of my summer wrap-up entry and have all sorts of hopes for finishing it someday soon, but until then, just know that school is back in. I am studying psychiatric and critical care unit nursing this semester and a humanities class and actually am enjoying it all quite a bit, but it takes up most of my life.
Busy and happy,
kate

What She Said

2009-09-17T20:54:00.001-06:00

Dear Blog,

Sorry I suck at updating you. I will nurture you more later. But a soon later. . .(probably)Thats all

~me

I might even suck even more than the person who wrote this, my friend, Andrea, because I didn't even write it myself, I ripped it off of her.
I can promise though that a summer summary is coming soon.

Remembering

2009-09-11T14:49:00.004-06:00

Hi. I know I have kind of neglected this blog for a while. I promise to post a summer wrap-up post this weekend, but for today being 9/11 I thought I would post this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkWc_EKLs4E
Check it out. It's worth it.

at least it's out of the way

2009-07-28T10:53:00.001-06:00

I ran 12 miles this morning. That is the longest run I am going to do before the race and BOY am I glad. 10 wasn't really hard, but today almost killed me.
PS Thank you Tanner Family from me and Stephanie, we were dying and needed water and stopped by but no one answered so we helped ourselves to the hose out back. Hope that was okay! ;)

FHE Music Video

2009-07-16T09:17:00.002-06:00

This is a music video we made with our FHE group for the ward music activity. Enjoy!

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5383499/14184416

PS I ran 10 miles this morning and am feeling pretty good about myself! (Not to pat myself on the back or anything. . . just throwing it out there so you all can. ;) )

Home is Where the Parents Are

2009-07-14T00:06:00.000-06:00

That's right! I went "home" to Seattle this past week. It was kind of weird because when people found out that I was going out of town, and would ask where I was going and I would say to visit my parents in Seattle, and they would always say, "but I thought you were from Provo!"

At the same time though, I kind of like it because it's like I am now having the "real" college experience of actually not just living outside of my home during college but actually more than 2 miles AWAY from "home."

Anyway, it was a good week. It's always good to see my parents. As they could or most likely already have told many of you, I'm not the best phone talker, and I never have been really with ANYONE, so it really is a treat to just be able to go and hang out with them for a little while. They may be a little "older," but they are definitely some of my best friends.

Let me tell you though, it was no relaxing vay-cay as I might have guessed or expected. I don't know why I actually thought it would be though seeing as I have had how many years growing up with my action-packed-trips-planner father. (I think that the Wimmers and any other family friends can definitely testify with me on this one)

I won't bore you to death with all of the details, but here are a few of the highlights:

SPIRITUAL

Getting to see my parents teach their institue classes on the living prophets and a marriage prep class (okay that one, might have mostly just been pretty entertaining! PS You'll have to ask my Dad or the institute kids about the "Dating Stimulus Package" he has set up.)
Going to TWO wards on Sunday. I being the little diablita (devil) that I am, sweet talked my dad out of attending the THIRD one that day.

EDUCATIONAL

My parents took me on a little U-dub campus tour. Their campus is beautiful! I especially liked the library. They have a study hall inside that looks like something out of Hogwarts.

PHYSICAL

There is a sweet running trail right next to my parents apartment so that made it easy to keep up with my training for the half-marathon (that and my parents bought me some really nice new and PINK running shoes). I ran 7 miles one of the days which is more than I had ever run before in my entire life! In high school I only ever ran up to six miles at once for basketball. So I felt pretty good about myself.

Also, my parents (including DAD) have become pretty avid evening speed-walkers, and so I got to do 2-a-days a couple of times trying to keep up with them at night after having run in the morning.

DELICIOUSNESS

We hit up the local Pho (pronounced Fuh) hot spot on campus. It was delicious! I guess all you need to know when ordering Pho, in the Seattle area at least, is to get a number 1 or number 2. The kids there say it doesn't matter which restaurant, it's always the same thing. It was delicious.
Gelato. There is this place--the Botega--has the absolute BEST gelato I have ever had since coming home from Italy. Our favorite is the pear one. If you're ever in Seattle, it is an absolute must-try.
On my last night, we went to probably one of my favorite restaurants of ALL time--Maggiano's. Gnocchi with pesto--enough said.
Mom's delicious Sunday dinner--turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and homemade rolls. I got spoiled big time.

TRAVELING

With it being the 4th of July weekend, not many of the kids were going to be around Thursday and the institute was closed Friday and Saturday, so Mom and Dad got permission to take a little trip with me for a few days.

San Juan Islands. They were beautiful. We rented scooters and rode around the whole island of Friday Harbor. We made stops along the way at the lilac farm, a lighthouse where we got to watch basically a parade of orcas swim by. It was the first time I had ever seen a whale outside of Sea World so it was pretty exciting and there were so many of them and they were pretty close to us too. We also got to stopped to see the American and English soldiers' camps. I somehow managed to get stung by a bee TWICE though during our little scooter adventure. The first time it was just on my shoulder and didn't hurt too bad, but the second one flew right in over the top of my sunglasses and started buzzing between my glasses and my eye and of course in the process managed to give me a huge sting. Keep in mind, that I was also at this moment trying to keep from crashing myself off of the side of the island down the rocks and into the water. Yep, I'm pretty lucky I guess to be able to get stung twice in one day.

This picture doesn't do the bee's work justice. I woke up the next morning with my eye swollen half-shut!

O Canada. We got stamps in our passports as we crossed the border into Victoria. We stayed at a beautiful hotel there for the two nights. We went to Buchart gardens on Friday morning and then in the afternoon hit up the museum and the National Geographic IMAX theater. It was a good day.

Port Angeles, Forks and La Push. On our way home on Saturday, we swung through Port Angeles, and the famous Twilight towns of Forks and La Push. We didn't manage to see any vampires or werewolves though so it was a little bit of a bust.

Last but not least, we found this "troll" under the freeway bridge. If you look close, you can see that he has a VW bug in one of his hands. Random, but cool.

It was a fun trip, and Mom is already scheming trying to plan my next one out there. I haven't given her any firm dates yet, but I am sure that it will be sooner rather than later. Thanks for the fun week Mom and Dad, or "Elder and Sister Thornton!"

Summer Plans

2009-06-13T01:23:00.026-06:00

It's 1:23 am, but I can't sleep so what better else to do than write on my blog and let you all know about my plans for the summer.

First of all, I don't think that I ever wrote on here that I have started to work at the MTC. I started right before I left for Ecuador, met my district for 1 day and then I left and they had a teacher sub in my place for the month I was gone and then I came back and they were in their 5th week. I like it a lot. It stretches me and makes me almost feel like I am back out in the field because I find myself stressing and thinking about them all day even when I am not at work just like we do with investigators. It will be good though.

I also am still doing some work for the Vein Center. I just have a hard time leaving that place. Everyone is just so good to me, they are really flexible with my hours and they have killer bonuses and kick backs. I will have to quit in the fall. Actually, I don't know if I will officially quit, maybe just stay on prn, but I won't be able to handle working at both during the school year. It was a hard decision to "leave" just because I do like them so much, but I figure that I will be able to do medical stuff for the rest of my life if I choose, and working at the MTC is kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I also started working at the Provo Temple a couple of weeks ago. It has been in the plans since I got home from the mission, but it takes a while for everything to be processed, to schedule an interview with President Bateman (yeah that was cool) and by that time I was about to go to Ecuador, so I decided to wait to start until after I got back. I work Monday mornings from 6 to 11, so if any of you want to come in during that time I would love to see you. I have really loved it so far. First of all, I feel like I have 30 new grandmas. The first day, they all were calling me Kathy (not really sure why), but then one of them read my nametag last time and realized that it was Katie, and quickly spread the word to the other ladies. So cute. Second of all, I think that it will really help me take the time to ponder and meditate a little more which is something I have really been missing lately. So that is exciting.

If that isn't enough to keep me busy, I finally decided to go ahead and sign up for the Provo Canyon half-marathon on August 8th. I had been wanting to do it for a while, but wouldn't ever commit myself, but I paid on Monday and so there is no turning back. I don't really have a time goal or anything, just a goal to run the whole time. I convinced three of my other roommates to do it with me, so that will be fun. I have a lot of work to do to work up to 13 miles, but it will be good.

Travel plans:

I am going to go up to Seattle again and visit my parents at the end of June when my missionaries leave for the field.

My friend Eleanor and I are planning on putting together a roadtrip out to Mount Rushmore sometime this summer which should be really fun (there are still spots available on this one, so if you are interested, let me know. . . ).

My cousin Becca and I are planning on travelling out of the country for her birthday, August 14. We still don't have firm dates or even a destination yet, just that we will leave after I run on August 8th and make sure that we are gone over her birthday. Becca is in Africa right now, so she's kind of left it up to me to choose our destination with the sole request being that it be a country she's never been to before which doesn't sound too hard until you see her list: USA(born and raised), Australia, Canada(2 times), United Kingdom(3 times), Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Argentina(2 times), China/Hong Kong, Guatemala(4 times), Honduras, Mexico(3 times),Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Holland(2 times), Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Thailand, France(2 times), Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Belgium, Ethiopia, Kenya, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Paraguay, Brazil (3 times), Costa Rica, and Belize(2 times). Ridiculous. The girl even has plans to go to Anarctica this January or February! Jealous. I think the top contenders right now are: Switzerland, Greece and Denmark, but we'll see.

And sometime before the summer ends, I will also need to go on a couple overnight camping trips or something random and fun.

So yeah. My Grandma Fern summed it up best when I was talking to her the other day on the phone. She said, "Well at least you don't have to worry about waking up in the morning and not knowing what to do with yourself." She is right, and it should be fun.

I hate when I do stupid things

2009-06-13T01:01:00.004-06:00

So I am sick today. I have actually been sick with a nasty cough and congestion for over a week, but refused to let it really slow me down. I didn't feel too bad this morning--tired, but not bad. I got up and ran, came back, showered and headed over to the parents' place to do some work for them. I haven't had much of an appetite all week but especially not today. I only had eaten like two little oatmeal cookies and a string cheese by 3 o'clock when I left my parents' house. Driving home, I found myself falling asleep at the wheel (it's only like 1 mile I know!). I was supposed to be at work at the MTC at 5 so I showered, and after, I was so tired that I decided to lay down for a few minutes. I only was able to sleep for like 15 minutes and then I decided I had better get up and get something to eat and finish getting ready before I had to take off.
So I went out to the kitchen, put some water on to boil, talked to my roommate Shar for a minute and then headed back to the bathroom to dry my hair. At this point, I started to get really light headed and I couldn't even stand in one place to dry my hair without swaying around like I was about to pass out or fall over. I didn't have a lot of time so I just kept trying to dry my hair. Next thing I know, I am running into the bathroom and am sitting on the floor and emptying what little I had eaten throughout the day. I had to call in sick obviously to the MTC which I felt SUPER bad about because my missionaries have already had subs almost every day this week for their other teacher, but there was no way I could go, so what are you going to do.
Anyway, the point is: I hate when I do stupid things. I don't know if any of you remember or read the post I put up about http://doihavetheswineflu.com/ only to come home and find that my own workplace was inundated with real cases of the H1N1 itself. I don't really think that I have the swine flu, especially because I haven't ever had a fever, and am actually running a low temp but it still makes me regret and feel stupid about mocking the swine flu when now I myself am somewhat wondering if I will become a victim to it. I hope that someday I will learn not to mock silly things because they always seem to come back and bite me in the end.

final post of Ecuador

2009-06-10T00:09:00.001-06:00

check out the 27th!!!

TGIF

2009-05-31T07:53:00.002-06:00

Friday the 22nd is up

Feeling Expensive

2009-05-29T14:57:00.000-06:00

So today I woke up around 7 am and laid in bed in and out of sleep until 9--my favorite. I love waking up to my own body and the sun and not an abnoxious alarm. We then all mosied on down for the breakfast buffet. So good. We all ate way too much. The hot chocolate reminded me of the kind we used to treat ourselves to once a transfer in Spain. Super rich and delicious.

After breakfast, we went to the Casa de Cultura--a museum Allie had found online. We asked the concierge if it would be possible to find a taxi for 6 people, and told us about the bus that was just around the corner and went straight there. Feeling adventurous, we agreed. The bus was fun. We held our bags close to us the whole time and giggled the whole way there just loving the spontaneity of this whole last day excursion.

The museum was way cool. They had art and artifacts dating back from approx. 12,000 BC until the present time. I was amazed at how well preserved most of the pieces were. It was incredible. My favorite piece of the whole museum was a painting on wood of Christ and His mother, Mary. It was just so intimate. It only really showed their faces, but you could tell that He was lying in her arms after being crucified. The thing I loved was all of the emotion that was in the painting without Christ looking so weak and helpless or Mary looking hopeless. It was stunning. Of course the artist was unknown and they didn't have a print of it or anything down in the gift shop, so I will tell you about so that I won't forget the beauty of it.

I loved the museum. We haven't done a lot of artsy things on this trip, and so it was great. I was missing my Erin though. I know it would have been even better had you been there to explain how fantastic everything there was and the symbolism to me.

After the museum, we came home but were still too full to eat so we lounged around until about 2 o'clock and then headed down for another delicious free meal. Lunch did not disappoint either. It was probably one of the most delicious meals I have had on this trip. What am I saying? It DEFINITELY was the most delicious meal I have had on this trip. They served us ceviche as an appetizer. It is a shrimp/salsa thing that Ecuador is famous for. Neither Allie or I like shrimp that much, but didn't want to pass up the free opportunity to try it, so we shared a bowl. I tried it. It actually wasn't even that bad. The salsa is good, and I could barely taste the shrimp. Maybe someday I won't be such a new-food-pansy. There was a dessert bar and I chose a chocolate cake thing with whip cream and raspberry sauce. Most of the desserts down here have always looked a lot better than they have actually tasted, but that was not the case with this one. Chocolate goodness.

Now, it is 3:30 and we are heading up to the pool they have here and will swim in the pool, sit in the hot tub, enjoy the sauna and steam room and just relax. This is good for me. ;) Our only plans for the rest of the evening are to shower, pack, eat dinner, and take some sweet pics of our new place before we take off for the airport at 8. This is the best act of service I have ever performed. Thank you Delta Airlines.

Megan summed today up best when she said, "I just feel so expensive right now." Sad part is, we definitely do not look expensive, especially because none of us have ANY clean or nice clothes left. So we will try not to embarrass the hotel too much.

I just made $400 in 2 minutes!

2009-05-28T21:50:00.008-06:00

So my flight for the U. S. of A. is leaving in 37 minutes, but I will NOT be on it! Why? $400 in Delta vouchers, a one-night stay in a 5-star hotel, free food and transportation is why!
I got the offer first and Allie was checking in at the same time and I asked her if she would do it with me. She had some plans back on the homefront so she faltered, so I turned to Sonya, related her the details, after thinking about it for a minute, she was in. Then Allie seeing us all excited decided to ditch her plans and join us for the party. Three more girls decided to join us. Two of the boys called their wives but when they heard the sadness of their wives about the 24-hour delay it was a no go. Oh the joys of being single and unattached!
I'll be arriving Saturday morning at 10:25 am! See you then!

Allie & I living it up in the posh. Yep those are REAL roses. BEAUTIFUL!

Slippers party!

Ecuador Excursion

2009-05-27T23:48:00.001-06:00

So today we did some of this

And this

It was definitely one of the most fun days of the trip. Zip-lining was exhilarating! We got to do 13 different runs for only $8!! I love Ecuador! There were super fast ones, one where they bounced the cable up and down so you were springing around just trying not to catch your neck on the cable, and one SUPER long one. Loved it. They also let us do tricks with the guides. I got to do Superman twice. I will attach a video of that so you can see it.

The other trick I got to do was “mariposa” (butterfly). Basically you are attached to the guide and I guess somehow to the cable, not really sure about that actually (hmmm. . . that’s kind of scary now that I think about it), and you are hanging upside down in like a big X (almost like a butterfly, hence the name). The butterfly one was a little scarier and more thrilling, but I liked Superman better because you got to just look down and around you and you really felt like you were flying. Awesome.
The best part was that after we were done, I realized that they never even had us sign a waiver or anything. Things are just so much simpler down here. I love it.
I was ready to do it all again, along with the majority of the students after we were finished, but we had a waterfall hike already planned so we jumped into the back of these trucks (that is kind of the mode of transportation it seems when going out into the mountains or out of the major city).
We took a tram ride over to the other side of this valley thing to start our hike. The “tram” was actually scarier than the ziplines! I think that it was probably at least 100 years old or something. Well, maybe it was not actually 100 years old, but it definitely looked like it was.

Then we hiked around through the Amazons for a couple of hours. The waterfalls were beautiful. It all just seems like a movie or a dream now because it just doesn’t seem real that there are actually places like this in the real world and not just in the movies. I loved it. Hiking back up and out we started getting a little bored, so of course we had to sing a few girls camp songs. Poor boys.

After the adventures, we had a 2 ½-hour ride home back through the jungle and pretty mountains and hills. I snuggled up to the window and listened to Screwtape Letters on my iPod. My favorite. It was a perfect set-up to contemplate my tiny little life and the universes. All in all, I would say it was a pretty darn good day.

A friend we picked up along the way

Okay the smile MAY be a little fake. . . because gross!!

Highway Robbery & Drug Smuggling

2009-05-23T18:42:00.012-06:00

We left Guayaquil today. As we packed up last night I felt like I was leaving home again. We made so many friends there, even within the hotel—Angel and Ronald the doormen; Papi (don’t know his real name, we just called him that because we always had to ask him for the sheet to sign out whenever we left the hotel so our instructors would know where we were, and he liked the name); Freddy was our favorite guy at breakfast; and of course our girls that helped us clean our room: Teresa, Lady and Nelly.
We arrived in Quito around 11:30 am today. It is TOTALLY different than Guayaquil. It is super green and the streets are a lot cleaner, and it just seems a little less third-worldish. I have to remember though that we did basically only see the airport and then we drove through the town on our way out to Otovalo. Even though it is cleaner and nicer looking though, Guayaquil will always have a very special place in my heart because of the friends I met and was hopefully able to serve there and maybe even because it wasn’t so nice looking.
We did have an experience at the airport that didn’t leave the best taste in our mouths of Quito though. As a group of 22 people, and even worse, 22 American people, getting around is sometimes a little bit of a circus. After we got off the plane, we went down and got all of our bags at the baggage claim no problem. We then in herd-like fashion started exiting the airport looking for our Quito/Otovalo tour guide, Ornela, and the bus we would be getting on to go out to Otovalo. We found Ornela as soon as we exited the airport and she waved the bus over to get us. As we were walking out to the bus, all of these people started swarming us, some asking for money, others asking to take our bags. Thanks to my mom, I have awesome luggage, that sticks out so that it is easy to find and all chains together really well, so it is super easy to manage and so I just kept telling them, “No. I’ve got it, thanks.”
So we all form this line to get our luggage put under the bus and still there are like 4 people helping put the luggage in. We knew after, that really we only had one bus driver that probably should have been helping. Where the other people came from, I have no idea. Luckily though, I just stood there until I had handed them each piece of my luggage and watched them load them each into the bus. I then got on the bus.
Anyway, there were six of us on the bus—me, my two roommates (Allie and Mykel), Jarom (one of the 3 boys on the trip with us), Marie and Tricia. Allie and I just sat down and were putting ourselves together—arranging bags, sweaters, etc. Then I notice that there is this woman walking down the aisle of the bus. I think nothing of it, except I poke Allie and say, “Hey look at those girl’s sunglasses! They are super cute!” Allie agreed and we kept on doing whatever we were doing (which was nothing). Next thing I know, there is someone tapping on the other side of the bus and talking to Marie, I look over there to see who it is, just as a man dressed in really nice clothes, comes and taps on our side of the bus and starts talking to Jerome. He says, “Where are you from?” As if it isn’t obvious?! We are like a walking American flag everywhere we go. I don’t really pay attention to anything else the man says, but can’t help but notice the big cheesy grin the guy is sporting. It was almost like he was playing the permasmile game himself. Eventually the tappers of both sides of the bus leave and then Tricia is frantically searching for her backpack.
The story is that some man in a white button-up official looking shirt got on the bus and asked Jerome if he could help him with his backpack, and Jerome said no. He then moved on to my roommate Mykel and was able to talk her into giving him her carry-on bag but not her backpack. He put it above her head and then moved it down towards the front of the bus. She noticed and said, “No! Aqui.” (pointing for him to bring it back above her head) and so he did. Unfortunately Tricia was not as lucky. He asked for her bag and she let him put it up on the shelf above her head, and then as far as we can guess, he slid it to the front of the bus with him as he walked off and was able to take off with it while the people were tapping on the sides of the bus! It had everything in it—her computer (with pictures of her and her fiancé that she was going to put in her wedding video), her iPod, her camera and $150 cash. So sad. We all pitched in $10 or whatever, but even still that barely even covered her lost cash! Sondra (one of the professors) said that we could use the leftover money we have from the trip to help her out too, which will hopefully help a little more, but still, such a bummer! We are super lucky though that they didn’t get more bags. It could have been way worse. I still am puzzled as to why they didn’t even ask Allie or I. I know that I probably would have been dumb enough to give them my bag too. He just looked like he belonged to the bus crew! I never would have guessed that someone would have the guts to get on the bus and do that if they weren’t a part of the bus staff or whatever. We know better now I guess.

Taniel, one of my friends here, randomly took a picture of the bus at the precise moment when the distractions were happening. You can’t see any faces, but you can see the man’s shadow in the bus. Freaky. Our tour guide made Tricia go through the whole process of reporting it and everything which took forever and even Tricia herself didn’t want to do it, because she knew that she would never see any of her stuff again regardless, but whatevs. We all are going to be a lot more cautious from now on, even with our own tour guide because there are some reasons for suspicion of her possible involvement, not that we will ever find out for sure, so I will try not to false accuse.
After getting through that mess, we had a 2-hour bus ride to Otovalo to the prettiest little hotel on the lake. Here is the link to it and you can check it out yourselves. http://www.puertolago.com/

Our room is the top window on the farthest left

It was a fun change up from the city. Everything is a lot greener and prettier here. It is like a new country. Beautiful. I still love Guayaquil though. The rooms here are more like cabins and we also don’t have the best internet service or whatever so that is kind of a downer especially for the married and engaged peeps on the trip, but it is really nice and relaxing here. It has a kind of Tahoe-like feel. Love it.

Just chilling on the dock looking at the Andes

We went out to the Ponchos Fair right after check-in and we stayed there for almost 4 hours finding and buying lots of cool stuff and lots of stuff that we didn’t need. J I bought a bunch of finger puppets for my cousin Lucy, some fun jewelry and another pretty nativity. I am a sucker for nativities. I also discovered a new favorite shopping partner, Allie. Like I have mentioned before, I am not the best at loving to shop and it was great to have another person who knows how to move through the “stores” with me and not linger too long. We probably missed out on a lot of good deals because we didn’t take time to look at everything, (not to mention because also I suck at bargaining! I just hate to feel like you are taking advantage of them just to save a few cents that they could use more than you. I didn’t ever pay the first price they asked though, so don’t be too ashamed).

Then we went out to eat at this restaurant our tour guide had picked out for us. It was really good. We had these like cheesey/meat crepe things that I wouldn’t have normally ordered for myself, but loved them. Then we went back to the hotel, had a quick devotional, and then girls night in our room. Of course we had to watch She’s the Man because what else would be more appropriate for girls night? Fun. If you are wondering why I look so stinking wide-eyed and alert in this picture, it is because I looked half doped-up in the one before and tried to make up for it in the second picture, but apparently overshot the mark.
After the other girls left, I was unpacking my suitcases a little, and when I opened my smaller suitcase I was met with an interesting surprise! I had a ton of extra room in that suitcase (because I had to bring a bunch of medical supplies over here that we had used in Guayaquil) so I had put everything in the suitcase, and then laid a black garbage bag over it and strapped everything down so it wouldn’t be floating around everywhere during the flight. Well when I opened my suitcase, I wasn’t surprised to see that a few of my things had wiggled their way out on top of the garbage bag, but what did surprise me was that there were several packages of medications that were ripped open laying on top of my bag.

We all freaked out for a minute and then called our professors to come over and check it out. Sondra and Cheryl were so good and quickly came over. Sondra put on latex gloves (yes, only nursing students probably pack latex gloves with them) and inspected it. It turned out just to be some topical anti-fungal medication and some vitamins. It was funny because as she dug into the box that had been ripped open, there was a piece of paper in there and she was like, “It’s a note!” Of course we all gasped, and then laughed when it turned out to be a prescription for the drugs.
I am still not really sure how those ended up in my bag, one of the creams must have also been opened too because I have some cream on my pajama bottoms and on a few other things, but overall, not too bad. It just added to the creepy day. Another girl on the trip, also found drugs in her bag in the same condition—ripped open boxes, just laid on the top of her stuff. Weird. Our guide is supposedly going to try to get the medications back to the person they were prescribed to, but we’ll see if she actually is able to. I hope so, the receipt said it was like $25 or something, which is a lot down here. Creepy, yet very pretty day.

4-wheeling, lunch, love & fun

2009-05-22T22:12:00.002-06:00

Last day in Guayaquil. We were all scheduled to go to a final meeting with Hogar de Cristo to talk with them about the things we found in screening the kids and just do a wrap-up. We had an opening meeting with them though our first day here and it was interesting, but I really didn’t feel like we ALL needed to be there for it, so when my professor, Cheryl, asked me if I wanted to go out into the community with her again and do some more interviews I was totally on board.
We met some amazing women. One of the women was just SO excited about being a mom. She already had two children, but she was just still so excited and euphoric about the whole thing. It was really just an incredible experience getting to hear her talk about everything. She didn’t say anything particularly new or fascinating, but the sense of sheer enchantment with being a mom in her voice was contagious. Okay now I sound cheesy, I will stop now.

Wilson, one of the guys from Hogar de Cristo came to pick us up from the subcentro after the meeting at the office was done. Two of the boys from the group were with him and I wondered, “why did they come out? That’s weird.” As it turned out, they had convinced Wilson to take us all digging a little bit on our way back to the office in the ambulance (aka Land Rover). It was super fun. I’m so glad that sometimes boys don’t ever seem to grow up.
We met up with the rest of the group and headed back into town to meet with the Junta because they were providing a lunch for us. It was at a really nice restaurant right off the Malecón (the boardwalk). They had Spanish Tortilla on their menu and so I ordered it as my appetizer. But it was bad news. It definitely was not as good as Hermana Moreno’s or anyone else’s in Spain for that matter and actually made me more homesick for Spain than anything. Oh well. I guess I will just have to go back and visit! ;) Anybody up for a fun run to Spain?
After lunch we went home to blog, pack, and relax! For our final evening in Guayaquil, we got batidos (smoothies) at a little corner fruit shop and played love-odometer. This is basically a glorified game of MASH with playing cards. We had fun predicting each other’s future lives (husband, number of kids, wealth, etc.) and having girl talk. I love all the girls here. We seriously have so much fun together. Here’s the fortune telling crew with one of our awesome instructors- Cheryl.
The night was spent packing up all our gear, although we did have a little fun. Allie had a random idea earlier in the week to make a movie like we were Spiderman scaling the wall because our elevator had an open side that would pass by while we were going up. Anyway, we decided we should definitely make these videos we had talked about. We were exhausted and delirious so this probably was a lot funnier to us than it will be to you but enjoy!

Okay I am now seriously questioning my reasoning and sanity in putting out this incredibly embarrassing video of myself, but hopefully it will at least lighten someone's day or at least let you know that there are people in the world more easily entertained than you.

If you want another taste, you can check out Allie's Spiderman vid at http://alliejoyce.blogspot.com/2009/05/today-was-little-bittersweet.html

Interviews, Smiles, Ice Cream & Missionary Work

2009-05-21T21:10:00.008-06:00

Today I went out to the subcentros again to do interviews. This time though I went with Allie because Cheryl had to stay with the other students at the hospital. It was so fun. The woman that took us around at this subcentro wasn’t as outgoing and didn’t seem to know the people as well, so she kept saying, “I don’t know of anyone else who has recently given birth.” And I would say, “Well, why don’t we ask these women sitting here on the corner if they know of anyone?” She would say, “I don’t even know them!” And this is where I would be so glad that I had served a mission, because during that year and a half of going up and starting conversations multiple upon multiple times a day with people that you had no idea who they were, I definitely got over the feeling awkward about it stage. Also, asking them if they knew of anyone who had recently had a baby is usually a whole lot easier than diving into something deep and asking them to change their lives. (Not quite as fulfilling, but easier.)

In asking around, we were able to find 2 women who had recently given birth and were able to do interviews with them. When we got back to the subcentro, the ambulance still wasn’t there to pick us up and there was a woman coming out who had just had a baby and she allowed us to follow us to her house and interview her there. When we got there, she took off her shoes before entering the house and so we did the same. She told us that we didn’t need to or whatever, but of course, if she herself did it and from the looks of the number of shoes on the porch, also made her children do it, how were we not going to do it. It was just a crazy feeling though to take off our shoes to enter the house when it really just seems like everybody is just always camping out here.

When we returned again to the subcentro, the head volunteer lady came out and apologized that she hadn’t been able to take us out to find women because she had been in a meeting and invited me to come back the next day. I told her that I would have to talk to my professors and see if it would be possible, but I would love to.
After clinical, the nursing program at the University of Guayaquil had invited us to come and tour their school. We went and toured the school which was actually incredibly like our own school back at the SWKT, except for one thing that they have that we all wish we had. Instead of using mannequins, they have their own “clinic” where real people come in to get checks and help and they are able to learn using real people. A little scary (on both sides) but cool. We also got to just chat with several of the students. It still amazes me sometimes how similar all of our concerns, complaints (about busy work), hopes and dreams are.

Driving home from the university, we were all a little tired and some were a little grouchy, so my friend Casey and I somehow came up with the “Permasmile game.” The rules were that you had to permasmile the whole way home. You could talk and do basically anything you wanted, as long as you were able to keep the permasmile on your face. We got almost the whole van involved. Let me tell you though, that after 20 minutes of all out grinning, our face muscles were absolutely quivering by the time we got home. It was a good dorky fun game though and it seemed to lighten everyone’s mood a little.

After burning off all of those calories exercising our faces, we decided that we needed to treat ourselves to ice cream at Fragolis, and not just their regular ice cream cones (which are incredible), but their famous stretched and chocolate dipped cones. See picture below. Good times.
Then we got showered and all pretty to go perform at a musical fireside. The missionaries who came to our ward on Sunday when we sang in sacrament had apparently spoken with their mission president and the other missionaries of their district and decided to do a musical fireside for their investigators and asked us to help them. So we sang Joseph Smith’s First Prayer again and some other song that I can’t remember right now. Yay for fun missionary experiences!

Hanging out with the Professor & Temple Time

2009-05-20T22:21:00.011-06:00

Today was another one of those favorite days. I chose to go back out into the community again today, but instead of going to the schools and working with the kids, I got to go out to one of the health subcentros again. I went out with one of our professors, Cheryl Corbett. She is one of the professors involved with the study I am helping with so we went out with our main objective being to do some interviews of the women in their own homes. When we got to the subcentro though there were people already waiting for us to check them for their blood pressure and blood glucose. Actually, that is kind of the funny thing, half of the people didn’t even know what we were checking for, they had just heard we were coming from the people at the subcentro or from their friends, or had passed by and noticed all of the people waiting around and just got in line. It cracked me up every time when AFTER I had pricked one of their fingers for their blood glucose level and told them if they were in the normal range or not, they would turn and ask, “Now, what was that for?” “What was that?” Oh man! It almost scared me how much they just trust us, because I don’t think that if I just saw a line where people were getting their fingers poked, I would just hop in without even finding out what they were checking for, let alone WHO they were. So funny. Love it.

After about an hour of pumping through the line, we were able to escape and go out with a guide from the subcentro to find some of the women who had recently given birth. We interviewed three women. It was such a neat experience. I liked it a lot better than even the interviews I had done in the hospital because they were just so much more open and natural in their own homes and also they had more time to have processed the whole birth experience. (For example, one of the questions is, “What is the most difficult/gratifying thing about being a mom?”, and that is just kind of a ridiculous question for a woman who has not even left the hospital yet and has only been able to be with her baby for less than 24 hours or something.) It was really neat.

One of the women in particular touched my heart. She was only like 26 years old, and she already had 5 miscarriages, she had a 4-year old daughter and a new baby girl just 24 days old. As I got into the interview and asked her questions about her pregnancy, she mentioned that her “husband” (aka boyfriend) had not let her leave the house to go to her appointments with the doctor while she was pregnant and wouldn’t give her food either. She said that several of her friends told her to have an abortion (down here that is usually accomplished by drinking some crazy toxic herb thing that kills the developing baby) but she said, “I told them no. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to take care of the baby, but I knew that I am not a killer.” I was so touched and proud that there still exists some sense of sacredness for human life in this world that sometimes seems to be turning upside down.

She also told me that her husband beat her even throughout the entire pregnancy. She said that she just remembers trying to protect her stomach each time he hit her. I could not even imagine. (PS She had left him just on Sunday and is living with her mom right now at night, and staying in her old house sometimes during the day while he is at work, so that is why she probably even dared tell us these things.) She said that she rarely got more to eat than crackers and a soda during her pregnancy. Between the lack of nutrition, maternal stress and physical abuse, by some absolute miracle, the baby had actually come out pretty healthy, a little small, but with no real problems. Anyway, I spent the rest of the interview, just being amazed at this woman’s faith and courage to take her current situation head on.

We met with her in her mother’s house, which was made out of cinderblocks, which is actually the high-quality stuff around these parts, but the inside had more of the feeling of a garage than anything else. I have a video I will try to put up. Needless to say, this woman was living in very humble conditions, and this was the house of her mother, I can’t imagine what her own house looked like. There was one point when her niece opened up the refrigerator to get something and I noticed that it really was completely empty save maybe 4 small items; yet, the moment we had arrived as unannounced guests, she had sent her niece and daughter out with a little money that she got from who knows where to buy some Coke to share with us. It reminded me so much of the people I met on the mission, especially the Central American people in Virginia and the South Americans we worked with in Spain. They are just unbelievable giving. It almost makes me sick how they would give you every single thing they have if you asked them to; and even when you don’t, they still make HUGE sacrifices just to serve you and make you feel special in some way. I could sure learn a lot from them in the charity department.

We also learned come new common cultural practices from her. Apparently here in Ecuador, outtie (sp?) bellybuttons are not super cool, so after the umbilical cord falls off, they melt candle wax and pour a little bit of it into the baby’s umbilicus, cover it with gauze and tape it down for a month in order to prevent it sticking out. I don’t know if it actually works or not, but we have since found that it is pretty common practice down here. Also when we came into her house and she handed her baby over to me, I noticed that the baby had a small square of newspaper stuck to its forehead. I would have normally taken it off thinking that it was just an accident, but since being down here, I have learned that things aren’t always what they appear, so I asked her about it, and apparently, it helps the baby’s hiccups go away. I asked other people about it, and a lot of them swore by it. So my challenge to all of you young moms out there is to try it and let me know if it works.

If you look hard, you can see an edge of the square of newspaper on the baby's head

One last crazy thing about her whole interview is that she told us that during one of the visits her husband had allowed her to have, she had an ultrasound and the doctor told her that she was having twins and that at least one of them was a boy. Well at Sotomayor, which is where she had her baby, they routinely do C-sections for all twins, so she had a C-section. She says that she doesn’t remember anything about the C-section after the put her out, not even seeing the baby until they brought her to her in the postpartum unit, and there they told her that she had only had one baby and that it was a girl. I don’t know if the ultrasound person was just totally crazy. I have heard of them missing twins before in ultrasounds and just thinking that it is the same baby and has moved or whatever while they are doing the study, but haven’t heard a lot the other way. Also for her to be told at least one of them was a boy and then her one baby turns out to be a girl. I don’t know. It just seems weird. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the babies died or had major complications because of the mother’s pregnancy history, but it’s weird that they wouldn’t tell her about that. Also, maybe the hospital decided that there was no way she was going to be able to take care of two babies, due to her lack of any income and marital situation, and gave the baby up for adoption. Or like I said, maybe the ultrasound person was just crazy. I don’t know, but it seemed pretty crazy. She didn’t seem to have any doubts about anything about the situation though which is good (it might go back to that whole complete trust in medical authority issue, I don’t know) and so I wasn’t about to stir up the pot and ask more questions about it.

This video shows some of her living conditions

Another woman we interviewed lived in a bamboo house that was on 8-foot stilts like the one we built last week. The house was impeccably clean and organized. And this was with absolutely no notice that we would be coming to visit her. It was impressive. Even more impressive or shocking maybe, was the fact that her 2 year-old son could climb up and down the 8-foot ladder to the house all on his own. I was even a little scared going back down the tiny, rickety thing, but he just took it like a natural.

After clinical, we got to go to the temple again. I love going to the temple down here. It is beautiful and always such a spiritual lift. Today as I was learning and pondering in the temple, for some reason I started thinking about foreordination and about how we all have certain “missions” that our Heavenly Father has planned for us to accomplish if we keep the commandments and follow His plan. And I realized that in order to be worthy and able to complete the things He has planned for me, there are some major things I need to work on and change in my life right now. This might not sound like it was the most fun or exciting thing of my day, but actually it was super inspiring. I think that is what I love about the way Heavenly Father teaches us—He lets us know what areas we need to work on if we ask Him, but instead of feeling bogged down and worthless after, I always feel inspired and motivated and like I can do anything with His help. I am so grateful to know that we truly are literally children of God and that He loves and cares for us as such.

La Vernaza & CPR to the max

2009-05-19T22:23:00.002-06:00

Today was my one and only real clinical day at Vernaza. We came here and toured all of the units our first day, and then last week, we came to a little health fair here, but as for doing real nursing stuff, this will be my only day. I am not that sad about it though. I mean, it was great and all that, but I just like the community rotation with the kids and the mother/baby stuff so much more.
We taught a CPR class first thing to the auxiliaries (kind of like our CNAs in the U.S.) when we arrived and that was fun. The people here are just so fun to work with. Every day I realize more and more how much they are just like you and me, and at the same time, love them for their differences. After the CPR class, we kind of got to choose where we wanted to go. I ended up going to the burn unit. I actually find burns probably one of the grossest and most painful looking things, but a lot of the other students had talked about how neat of experiences they had there, so I didn’t want to pansy out. We had to put on these plastic blue suits to enter the unit. The protection was great, the sweating under them and the plastic sticking to your skin was not so great, but what are you going to do?
We saw a woman who had somehow spilled boiling milk on herself and had burns all down her arms and chest. The doctors were cleaning out her wounds and that was also a pretty nasty one. We also saw a man get skin grafts that had gotten in a motorcycle accident and had burns over most of his entire body, save luckily his face. I found myself reconfirming my anti-motorcycle feelings, and then I thought of Jerry Jolley who used to feel the same after his paramedic experiences, but is now Mr. Harley Davidson himself, and I decided not to make any final or rash judgments, but man it was nasty.
I did make one resolution though. I don’t mean to diss on the doctors down here because the same thing happens up in the good old U. S. of A. as well, and it is just as bad. As the doctors were working on these people, their faces were covered with a towel by the anesthesiologist so just in case they woke up or whatever they wouldn’t see everything happening and freak out (I don’t know how they wouldn’t have freaked out about what was happening to their bodies though even if they hadn’t seen it, but whatever) and I don’t know, it was like the doctors were sitting there working on the body, but it was like it wasn’t even a real person to them. And I think that is easy to do. I mean, in a way, you almost have to do it or mentally you wouldn’t be able to handle some of the stuff you have to do or see, but still I think that there must be a way to always remember that this person you are working on, isn’t just like a machine or a piece of meat (excuse the expression). So I challenged myself to always remember that—to always remember that each person I work with someone’s family member or loved one , and more, a child of our Heavenly Father, and therefore my own sister or brother. Looking at it from that perspective kind of changed things for me.
Tonight we had our last health fair here in Guayaquil. I helped teach the CPR class. I have sat through hours and hours of classes about CPR, but I don’t think it really sunk in until this trip. However, they change the ratios and rules about every other year, so I won’t get too comfortable. It was a lot of fun though and I always love to see how surprised people are by how tiring performing CPR is. After even just the first 5 cycles when you do another evaluation of how the patient is doing, everyone is sweating and tired. When we told them that you have to do it until the patient becomes conscious or the ambulance arrives at the scene some of them just about died saying, “That could be 3 hours!” Hopefully that was at least a little bit of an exaggeration.

CPR video to be added soon!

moms, $1 meals & market

2009-05-18T22:06:00.002-06:00

This week I am assigned to work at the general hospital, Luis Vernaza, but because we have so many other things going on, and now only 2 instructors, they are kind of letting us choose our own clinical sites. So today, I chose to go back to good old Soto Mayor, the baby factory. I love that place. I didn’t do any labor support today though. Before we came, I was asked by one of my professors to be one of four students to help them conduct interviews here in Guayaquil of women who recently gave birth. We just ask them a bunch of questions about their whole pregnancy, the actual labor and birthing process and then the post-partum period. I did a few interviews my first week here, but in order to get the minimum 20 interviews that the head professor, Lynn Callister, wanted, I needed to do at least six, and I had only done 2. Today I did 3 more. They are really a lot of fun, especially with the first-time moms. They are just so excited and emotional about the whole thing. It has been very a neat experience talking to them.
One thing that I love is that these women who I have talked to are all extremely spiritual. Almost every single person I have talked to, when I asked them about what helped them the most during the laboring process mentioned Heavenly Father as their biggest source of strength. It’s also been fun just to hear about the different customs and ideas they have. One big thing here is that the moms put little red bracelets on the babies to protect them from being “ojeado” (the evil eye). From what I gather, it protects them from when they meet people that want to do them harm, it protects the baby from getting sick. It is also connected in some way to the custom that if you are admiring a baby, you need to touch it, because if not, maybe you are giving it the “evil eye” or something. I’m still not completely sure on that whole thing but, yeah.
By the time I had finished three interviews, it was time for the women to have their allowed one-hour visit with their family and so I definitely did not want to encroach on that time, so I left post-partum. I was going to try to get back into the labor and delivery unit, but they wouldn’t let me in because we already had 5 students in there or whatever, so instead I went and found one of the nurseries. The nurse I worked with was super cool. It felt just like a clinical in the States, she taught me stuff, like how to give a baby its first bath (I never had actually done that before) and then expected me to do it. It was super fun. But remember how I mentioned a while ago how the babies don’t get to be with their moms for four hours if it is a normal delivery or for six hours if it was a C-section, and we always worried about the babies getting really hungry? Well, I found out how they solve that problem! If a baby was crying because it was hungry the nurse would pull out a bottle from who knows where, wrap it up in a blanket and come and hand it to me and have me hold the baby at the back of the room with my back to the window so the parents couldn’t see that we were bottle-feeding their children! I seriously felt so sneaky! I especially laughed when I was back there feeding a baby and I looked up at the wall in front of me and found a huge poster about how giving only mother’s milk for at least the first six months is the best thing for the baby! Oh Soto Mayor!
We found this amazing place for dinner tonight. $1 meals! Yep, I paid $1 for carne asada (thin steak), rice and beans! I will let you know if I am sick tomorrow, but for today it tasted really good and with a price you can’t beat, the cons seemed minimal.

All of this for $1!

After dinner, we went out to an artisan market here in Guayaquil. It was fun but pretty crazy. Most of you know how much I just LOVE shopping, especially in places that have a ton of things just all stacked and shoved together. I am pretty sure that entering the store Ross Dress for Less is like my worst nightmare. (Maybe that is one of those things I could work on changing as well.) Anyway, this place was packed and there were rows and rows of all of these different little booths. It was inside a building too so it was also super hot and sweaty, yeah, I think you get the picture. Amazingly enough though, it was pretty fun. We were only there for an hour, so it wasn’t that terrible, and I found a really cute necklace and earrings set for $2, so I shouldn’t complain too much. I would have died had I gone there with my friend, Eleanor Kramer, though because I think we could have been there for more like 10 hours. (I am just remembering a brief shopping trip we had going through Vegas once.)
FHE and then nighty night for this little nurse.

Okay so I realized today that I am not so good at remembering to take pictures. Allie, my roommate is usually the one to help me out in that area, and we weren't together today. So sorry about the only picture being of the $1 meal.

A Day of Rest

2009-05-17T21:18:00.001-06:00

Today was our last day of church here in Guayaquil. It's funny how after only a few weeks, you kind of get attached to the members. The members here have been super sweet and kind to us all to so it will be sad not to see them again next week. I am sure that we will meet fun new members in Otovalo, but still, me da un poco de pena. They asked us to sing during sacrament meeting as a "parting gift." We sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer to the tune of Come Thou Fount and it was beautiful. I can say that, because I am very aware that the results of the beauty of our performance had very little to do with me, and more because we have some amazing voices in this group and because the hymns just have such power to bring the Spirit. I loved it.
Sorry to disappoint, but we didn't do much else today. We were tired from the week's work and really just paused to enjoy the day of rest for the rest of the day. We didn't even leave the hotel for dinner. We just ate here. I don't even think I took a single picture today. Kind of sad, but kind of necessary, so what are you going to do?

Delfines y Las Playas

2009-05-16T19:54:00.008-06:00

So I realize that I have not blogged about the last 5 days yet, but have no fear it will be coming soon. I am also super tired tonight, but I promised myself that I would work on my blog today and so here goes.
This morning we left our hotel at 7:30 am for the BEACH!!!!!! Yay! It came a little early since we didn't get back from the Stake YSA dance until about 11:45 (that is LATE for us here, as we typically have to be in the hotel no later than 8), and on top of that, Allie and I stayed awake talking until 1 am. Really smart. (I am realizing now that I still got as much sleep if not more than I usually do at home, so I don't know why I am whining. The heat must just take it out of me I guess. Tired katie.) Moving on. . .
So in addition to many other valuable things, the week I was at the maternity hospital, Sotomayor, I made friends with one of the medical residents and she invited me to go to this beach, Las Playas, with her where she said you can swim with the dolphins and there is a really pretty beach that is not as touristy. Well, she invited me to go with her on a Sunday, so that didn't really pan out, but I had her write down the name of the beach and that is where we went today.
As it turns out, you don't actually get to "swim" with the dolphins, or at least not where we saw them, but it was still cool, and we had several of them come up really close to our boat. (Sidenote, another thing I LOVE about Ecuador: 2-hour boat ride for 15 people = $30.) Fun. It did cause me to make an addition to the things I want to do before I die though, and that is to swim with the dolphins. I remember when I was a little girl thinking that I wanted to be a marine biologist, but I realized later that it was only because I thought it meant I would be able to chill with the dolphins and play with them like the Sea World peeps. So new goal=dolphin swim.
After the dolpin WATCH we went and had lunch at this little cafe thing on this private beach. I think we mostly did it so we would have access to the private beach, but whatever. The food was good and the price even better because it was free because the Junta paid for it all again. I feel a little bad about it because I don't know what we are even actually doing to help the Junta. I feel like we actually help the other organization, Hogar de Cristo, more but the Junta is the one who pays for everything (our transport, random beach trips and fun lunches, etc.). Oh well.

This beach was tons of fun. Salinas, from last week was fun, but the water was warmer at this beach and even better, it had WAVES! I loved it! Major body surfing was accomplished. Boogie boards were in sight, but renting wasn't really an option and none of us shmoozed (sp?) enough to get one of the natives to let us borrow one. But the waves were big enough to body surf so it was tons of fun!
Since we didn't have a health fair to run back to tonight we also had enough time to just relax and fall asleep on the sand for a while. Also fun. So that was my day. A beautiful and fun-filled day at the beach. How was yours?

A Day to Be Jealous Of

2009-05-15T23:49:00.005-06:00

Today was probably one of my favorite days of the excursion so far. Okay, maybe just about every day is one of my "favortie" days here, but today was pretty high up there, maybe even first or second. Remember the organization Hogar de Cristo I have mentioned several times before? Well, not only do we work in the schools with them, we also help them with what their organization's name says, "Homes of Christ," in building homes for the people of Ecuador. They only work with the poorest of the poor, (like those who earn $1/day or less or something like that--I'm not really sure where I heard that number, but I have heard it from several people, so. . . why not post it on the blog?!) and they don't just give the houses to the people; the people have to provide their own land and then they set them up with micro credit loans for the cost of the house: $800. The labor for the house is free, because they get volunteers to do it, like us, and then we, the volunteers, pay the professional house-builder (why they think we need one of those is beyond me! ;) ) who comes with us $25 for his day's worth of labor. It seems like a pretty good system.

So we arrive at the Hogar de Cristo warehouse where they assemble all of the walls and everything that they drop off to the sites of the houses for us to put together into something that resembles a house. We pick up two post-hole diggers per house and two hole digger sticks/rods whatever per house. (Only half of our group came today, the other half went last Friday, so there were 12 of us split between the 2 houses.) Then, we all piled into the back of this huge truck. Yep, we rode back there.

The houses were only like a 30-minutes ride away from the warehouse, and we only had to get on two different freeways and a few dozen bumpy dirt roads to get there. No need to freak Mom!

We picked up the owner of our house along the way, and she got in the cab of the truck so we didn't get to meet her until we got to the lot she owned. The pile of materials was there waiting for us, (no, no instructions were included) and we got straight to work. The man who we were working with was not a man of many words I will just say that. He was nice and everything, but all he would ever say was "Por aca" or "Por alla" (over here, over there) and point to something or someone and you would have to guess what he was talking about and/or who he was even talking to. It was pretty funny.

The BEFORE picture

The first job, was to dig the holes for the foundation poles (okay, here is my upfront disclaimer: I had no real previous construction experience and so the terms used in this blog entry may sound quite ridiculous to you, but I'm going to do my best) to go into. The holes had to be a meter deep. That is actually quite deep for those of you who have never dug a meter-deep hole before, thank you very much. So I was glad that it was the first job when we still had lots of energy and not the last job. It was a two-step effort with the pice of rebar to dig up the bottom of the hole and the post hole maker to dig and bring the dirt/mud up out of the hole. A great muscle-building activity I can assure you.

After/while the holes were being dug we had to put extra nails into the bamboo walls to help strengthen them or something. That was a fun undertaking. I was wishing that I had taken my dad more seriously when he was teaching me how to use (or not use) a hammer years ago while building the barn. It took a while for me to learn that I needed to be brave and hold the hammer down farther towards the base (My father's words, "You don't need to choke up on it Kate!" rang through my head several times) in order to not have to hit the same stinking nail 500 times to get it to go in. But then, just when I would start to get brave, I would get a "subtle" reminder of my rookie-ness when I missed the nail and thundered down upon my own thumb. See picture below. Needless to say, it took me a few more 500-strike nails to get over that one and a few others. This is just the swing that still has me scarred, literally.

This may look like some pansy little red mark to you, but I assure you, this blood blister buddy has stuck around with me all week. (Don't worry, I popped it on my next swing and miss, but it bubbled back before the end of the night.)

Okay, moving along. Foundation poles in and level, walls fortified, time for the floor. We made an assembly line to get all of the materials up to Lazaro and the boys and somehow Lazaro made a floor out of so few boards that I thought that there was no way possible it would actually cover the whole thing. Really, I think I should call these "miracle houses."

The owner of the house had taken off about 30 minutes after we got there to go make us food. We told her that she didn't need to, but of course that was fruitless. She came back about the time we got the floor finished so we took a lunch break. The food was amazing! Probably some of the best I have had since we got here. We were all a little worried about it, just because we try to eat at "safe" places, but "safe" or "not safe," the woman can cook.

One of her daughters came back with her too and so it was fun to kind of chat with them. She told me that 6 people are going to live in the house: her, her 2 youngest daughters and then 3 of her oldest daughter's children. She told me later that her daughter was killed 2 years ago by her husband (the daughter's husband) and that he had disappeared, the police had never been able to find him or anything. I had no idea where her own husband was and didn't ask. My heart went out to her, I can't even imagine what kind of heartaches she has had in her lifetime. She was very sweet, yet a very strong woman. A perfect example of a true "steel magnolia."

After the lunch break, we got back to work hefting the walls up onto the floor base for Lazaro and the boys to nail down. If you were wondering if the girls got to do the grunt work on this part, you are wondering right. I can't really blame Lazaro though because who would you pick to help you up there? The 500-strikes/nail weenies or the boys who even though they might not have been that much better than us girls, at least LOOK like they might. So we heaved the walls up to them and they nailed them all down.

In the meantime, I found some local kids from the backyard neighboring house who were out back trying to climb a banana tree. Sounds like a movie right? So I went back there and started talking to them and playing with them. Kids here love getting their pictures taken so that is always a favorite activity as well.

I also got some of these kids to sing for me. I will attach the video of one of their songs/yells. Okay, I actually can't decide between two, so you can choose or just enjoy them both if you wish.

Videos coming soon. . . I will let you know when I figure out how to post them. I'm sorry that you have to deal with my IT disabilities.

After the walls were secured, we lifted up the wood and the tin for the roof (I know this would have been your favorite part Dad. I know how you feel about those tin roofs.) They nailed all that down while a few of us played with the kids for a while. More kids showed up and then the truck showed up and they all climbed into the back of it. It's amazing how kids all over the world love a big truck. I asked them if they wanted to go home with us and they said, "Yeah!" And then one little 8 year-old girl asked, "Where is your home?" I told her that we were from the States and a little boy asked, "Is that very far from here? Did you come in car or plane?" "Plane," I said. "Oh! It must be REALLY far then!" "Yeah, I guess so," I said.

By this time, Lazaro and the boys had pretty much finished up nailing everything down and so we all got together picked up a few things, took some final pictures, and got ready to go. It was an incredible feeling to see the faces of the woman and her daughter as they looked excitedly at their new house and made plans for a fence and their future.

Before we took off, we had to pull the kids out of the truck. Just as we were about to leave, the girl that asked me where I was from, asked, "When are you coming back?" What do you say to that?! My heart broke. I wanted to tell her that I would come back the very next day, but I knew that was impossible. A lump formed in my throat and I said, "We won't be back. We came to help them build their house, and now it's time for us to go." "But aren't you going to ever come back and visit them? Can I see you then?" Tears came to my eyes, and I had to quickly say, "I don't know if I will ever be able to come back and visit, but if I do, I promise I will look for you, okay?" and then I had to jump into the truck before the tears came down. I hate goodbyes. I feel like we have to do them all the time here. I guess I shouldn't be too suprised though, goodbyes were my least favorite thing of the mission too, so it's not really anything new to me. I cried as we drove away and waved back at them as they waved to us until we were out of sight.

During the exhilarating truck ride home, I managed to lose my pink bandana. Sad news. We got home, and luckily we actually had finished a little early so I had time to take a super-quick shower and get dressed and run downstairs within a half an hour before leaving for another stake health fair. I did blood glucose checks during this one. That was pretty fun. It's fun to mingle with the members.

After the health fair, the ward had invited us to go to the tri-stake YSA dance they were having. Not all of the students went. We were able to talk some into coming though that weren't planning on coming before and therefore hadn't brought clothes to change into and so most of us ended up striking a deal with them that we too would just stay in our navy scrub bottoms and our white BYU College of Nursing polos. We made quite an entrance to the dance with 10 of us all dressed the same, not to mention the gringa vibes that I am sure were radiating from every fiber of our beings. We didn't really fit in at first. First of all, people here dance in lines and not in circle groups like we do in the States, so we were kind of off there. Secondly, and even worse, was the fact that compared to their beautiful, fluid-like dancing, we all looked like we were having seizures out on the dance floor. We didn't stay that long, but in the little time that we were there, we were able to make a few friends, who took pity on us and attempted to teach us a few moves so that we wouldn't embarrass ourselves any further. We didn't get good enough that I feel the need to attach any pictures of this part of the day though. :)

And that was my crazy beautiful day. Thanks for reading if you've made it this far!

The Fun Videos

2009-05-15T22:59:00.002-06:00

Back to School!

2009-05-14T22:41:00.004-06:00

I was back at the school today with the kids. My favorite. I originally wanted to check hemoglobin levels of the kids, and then I thought, why in the heck would I want to be the mean nurse?! So instead, I got to be the nurse who checked their mouths for sores, caries and rotting; their skin, nails and hands for signs of nutrition deficiency and their hair for lice. Luckily, I only found a few kids with lice eggs and no crawling lice so that was really good compared to the school last week. I ended up loving my job. I think you can't really go that wrong though with these cute kids. They are seriously adorable.

There was this one child in particular, David, I think that he was about 5 or 6, but the size of a 3 or 4 year-old, that I just fell in LOVE with. Maybe it was because his cross-eyes reminded me of one of my very own favorite brothers, C.J., when he was little, I don't know, but he won my heart. He just kind of hung out around us all day. He would open up the bandaids for us, or just chill with us. I love him. One of my biggest disappointments of the day is that I didn't ever get a picture of him! I am so bummed about that.
Oh wait! I just found a picture that my friend Tricia took with him in it! I present you my new best friend DAVID!!! He's the middle guy. Don't you love him? Seriously the kid is a whiz.

Honestly, who knew that checking for lice and cavities could be so fun! I learned quickly to tell the girls that they were bonita or guapa (beautiful) and they would blush and giggle and love it, and to tell the boys they had cool hair or something, because if you even say the word guapo with them, the whole rest of line of boys would start chanting "feo! feo! feisimo!" etc. (ugly!). Oh boys! The boys were probably my favorites though. For some reason, I always have kind of liked the trouble-maker kids, they are just hillarious to me! Here is the group of boys that were kind of making trouble in the long line for hemoglobin checks that I embarrassed by making them sing songs to me for stickers.

Like I said before, lice actually wasn't a real problem at this school, but their teeth, oh man! So sad! Not only did a lot of them have several visible caries, they were numerous kids (probably 1 out of 4) with incredibly rotten teeth. With some of them, you could actually see the gum sticking up out of the middle of where the tooth should be, and just a ring of a "tooth" around the gum. It made my mouth hurt every time. I am a mouth baby.

At the end of the day as we left, we taught them to do high-5s on our way out. The kids LOVED it! The teachers. . . maybe not so much. They all followed us out to the ambulance though and waved until we were out of sight. I will miss them. After clinical, we went out on the Malecon with some of the girls and our 3 professors to look for nativities. I found a really pretty traditional Ecuadorian-looking one. Come over for Christmas and I will share it with you. Then we went out to dinner again at "Cafe Rio." It's good food, but I some real Cafe Rio would definitely hit the spot about right now. Then we had class in our professors' room (that is always a fun classroom setting) and it's time to get ready for the morning again.

Tracting in Ecuador

2009-05-13T21:07:00.002-06:00

So I was assigned to the community rotation again today, but as part of this rotation, we not only get to go to the schools, one pair of students get to go out to the community's health sub-center and do blood pressure and blood glucose checks and other various teaching topics as necessary. I volunteered to go out today with Brianna. It was so fun! When we first got there, we just took the blood pressures and blood glucoses of the patients that were there at the sub-center for appointments for other things. Then they had a volunteer, Flor, come and meet us and she took us around to various houses of people they were particularly worried about, and after we had finished their list of people, we just went around asking for "referrals" from the people of people who they thought might need or be interested in being checked.

Brianna in front of the health center. Prices are a little different here. Doctor's visit = $1.25

The whole experience reminded me a lot of tracting and finding work out on the mission. It was super fun. I felt like it was a TINY taste of what it may have been like to serve a mission in a third-world country--the dirt and flooded over roads, random animals roaming the streets (some of which are pets, that may end up being dinner before the end of the week), fun music blasting from almost every other house (they may not have much, but most of them do seem to have amazing sound systems) and just everything. I can't explain myself very well, but it was a very neat and even spiritual experience.

I especially liked being able to actually enter quite a few of the homes. It was an eye opening and hopefully life-changing experience. I have visited third-world countries before, but had never gotten into the homes and lives of the real people and not just the touristy spots before, and this was a very special experience for me. Something that was reaffirmed in my mind though is that it isn't about what you have as far as wordly posessions that determines your happiness, it is who you are and your attitude about life. I realized that the MOST important thing I have in my life right now is my knowledge of the plan of salvacion and if I could only have one thing, that is what I would want to have, because that is everything to me. I also realized that there are some things that I need to change in order to better live in accordance with the knowledge I do have. I apologize that I cannot better explain myself, but I LOVED today. Loved it.

A couple of the houses along our way

Yes that is a medical glove balloon. The nurses at Sotomayor would have died to see me "waste" a glove like this. I was wishing I was brave enough to stick it over my head and blow it up with my nose like my little brothers used to do, but I might have to work on that.

Chatting it up with the locals about hypertension

We dropped by the school before taking off and the kids just love taking pictures

A "car wash" we passed by on our way in

To top off the amazing day, we also got to attend the temple again that night. Awesome. It was a good day.

Happy Nurses Week!

2009-05-12T18:21:00.001-06:00

Today the General Hospital we are working with here, Luis Vernaza, had a big Nurses Week Convention thing. I had never even heard of Nurse's week or Nurse's day before I got here, but apparently it is a universal "holiday" and it is a big thing down here. Party!

It was a fun day. They had a booth for us and we taught CPR to people as they came around which was fun. Mostly it was kind of a publicity thing, but whatever. We got to be on the news and get lots of pictures taken of us.

I also got to meet some nursing students from the University of Guayaquil. It's incredible how similar we all are. Our likes, worries, stresses, everything. I especially love their nurses hats, they are super traditional and super awesome. I wanted to ask them where I could get one, but I know that they just would have given me theirs and then I would have felt bad, so I will have to work on that one later.

As part of the festivities, they also held a special mass at the cathedral there at the hospital for the nurses. I attended it with a few of the other girls. Here is the special prayer they wrote for it:

Oración por las(os) enfermeras(os)

(the only time I have ever seen (as) come before (os) Thank you female-dominated nursing profession)
Señor, hazme un reflejo de tu bondad;
que en cada prójimo vea a un hermano,
que so dolor sea el mío;
dame el don para suavizar sus penas
y compartir su Espíritu,
que yo pueda infundirle valor y esperanza,
llevándole un mensaje de amor
por la confianza en ti.
Haz que todas sus tareas
Las emprenda con decisión,
Abnegación y perseverancia.
Por Jesucristo, Nuestro Señor.
Amen.

Ugly English Translation:

Make me a reflection of your goodness
That in every person I see a brother
That their pain is mine
Give me the gift to soften their pains
And share Thy Spirit
That I can instill in them courage and hope
Bringing them a message of love
for the trust in Thee.
Make that all of Thy duties
I undertake with firmness,
Selflessness and perseverance.

I thought that it was quite pretty. As part of the mass, they offered the priest one of those awesome nursing hats and and a vial of some liquid, not really sure what, but it was pretty cool.

Yes, those are blue neon lights around the Christ figure

After nurses party, we went back to the hotel for a second and then I had volunteered with other students to go and help our professor, Debbie, teach an Advanced Life Support class to the firefighters. Let me just tell you, that if you were to collapse and almost die in Ecuador, you should do it on the street and not in the hospital. The firefighters were incredible! They knew so much! We barely even taught them anything they didn't already know. Actually, let me rephrase that, our professor barely taught them anything they didn't already know. I was definitely on the learning end of this "teaching" experience. It was cool though, and it was cool to see how many terms and words I could actually figure out that were words I had never heard before, it made me wonder how it would be going to college in Spanish. It would be difficult, but cool I think. And as far as I remember, that was pretty much my day.

Hello Beautiful Ecuadorian Children!!

2009-05-11T16:30:00.004-06:00

Monday was my first day of the "community" rotation where we go out in the "ambulance" (aka old Land Rover to handle the dirt roads) to the rural schools with the organization, Hogar de Cristo. I loved my time in maternity this past week, but I was so excited to go out and be with the kids. It really helped me realize that for at least this point in my life, I think I really do want to work in pediatrics. The kids are so stinking cute.

I don't know if I really explained what we are doing for them before, so I will try to sum it up quickly. Kelloggs, the cereal company, has offered these schools a grant to provide fortified soy milk for the kids here, and they want to conduct a study to see if it will really help these kids grow. So we have been going around to the schools. We will only actually finish 3 schools while we are down here, which is kind of a bummer and makes me want to come back and volunteer later, but even a little helps, right? So for the study, we are teaching the parents some basic stuff about nutrition. I was in charge of the class today, and since it was the first day the class was offered, 90 parents showed up! The class was outside on these bleacher things so we had them all move in to the middle and then I basically shouted at the top of my lungs for a good 20 minutes. I still don't think that they all heard me, but some of them came up to me after and had good questions, so hopefully it accomplished something.

It was funny/sad though because for the demographics part of the study, I had to ask the parents all of these questions. One of the questions was marital status, so I first asked those who were married and about 15 raised their hands. Separated/Divorced? 5 raised their hands. Single? 5 more. At this point I am wondering if they just can't understand my Spanish or what, so I am like, uh. . . what about the other 70 of you? "Unidos!" (together, but not married) a bunch of them yell out at the same time. Oh! Duh! I mean, I guess they are right, that isn't married, nor is it really single, I should have thought of it, but it was crazy to me that seriously 70 out of the 90 are living in that situation. I was talking to one of the volunteers from Hogar de Cristo after about it, and she said that most of them just can't afford it, and others can't talk their "husbands" into getting married or whatever. Sad. I was impressed though by the attendance of the parents to the class. They all have the desires to learn how to better help and raise their children, so that is definitely a good thing. Now I just hope that I was able to teach them something that might stick enough to help them actually apply and practice the things we talked about.

While I was teaching, the other students were setting up our health screening stations. For the study, we are measure their height, weight and blood hemoglobin levels, and then just for their own benefit, we do vision screenings, hearing screenings, basic hygeine assessments and everyone gets a parasite pill. Yay! We don't even check for parasites, they all just get the pill because over 90% of them have parasites and it doesn't hurt anything for the other 10%.

I did vision screenings for the most part today after finishing teaching the class. We screened the kindergarteners, first and second graders today. The whole "Which way does the E face?" was just WAY above all but 2 of the kindergartners heads, and for most of the first graders it was a little bit of a struggle. I can't count how many times I explained the chart and asked the question, "Para a donde van los palitos?" (In which direction are the little sticks going?) They were adorable though so it really was a ton of fun.

We had FHE tonight after we got home and basically had a testimony type meeting talking about all of the things we KNOW because of the restoration of the gospel. The Spirit was strong and it really helped me remember the many blessings I have from being a member of Christ's church, and helped me think of areas where my testimony could improve. I am also just so grateful to be able to talk about these kinds of things in a "school" setting. It is definitely an interesting situation. I love it though. Thank you Mom and Dad for encouraging me to go to BYU. You were "right." ;)

Missionary Day & The Lighthouse

2009-05-10T23:31:00.000-06:00

PS (Actually the opposite of PS. What is the opposite of PS? Antescript? AS? Anyway. . . ) I added pictures to the latest two blogs so you can give them both an eye over again if you wish to see the new pics.

So today is Mother's Day. It's a big deal here in Ecuador. People have been selling beautiful fresh roses and "classy" silk arrangements all weekend. So besides celebrating my wonderful mom, who I love and miss for many reasons including being able to just go home and chat in the kitchen with her, piecing quilts and going on walks together. It is also a great day because Mother's Day as a missionary orphan also means MISSIONARY DAY!

I actually stayed home from church today so that I would be able to talk to all of my missionaries. First, I got on Skype and did a 3-way/4-way call with my parents, Elder and Sister Thornton, in Seattle, Washington with Anziano Sean Thornton in Milan, Italy

He's the Blue Tie Guy

and then a few minutes later, another 3/4-way with Elder Clark (C.J.) Thornton in Kenya.

I think you can guess which one he is

It was just like Christmas. (literally) It's been over two years since I have seen either of my brothers and I miss them like crazy. I remember as a little girl when I would stomp off because the boys were being mean or because they wouldn't let me boss them around :) and my dad and mom would say, "You know Kate, one day those boys are going to be your very best friends!" I would always roll my eyes in disbelief. I've come to see though that parents are almost always right and that was definitely one of those things that came true. Sean gets home in February though, so that's only what. . . 9 months away? Now, I sound like my mom.

Those phone calls were definitely the highlight of the day, but there were two other great things about today. I was in our hotel room and everyone else had left for church and I was just waiting for the boys to call when the woman who cleans our room, Teresa, came in. I hadn't ever met Teresa before, usually we have Nelly. But anyway, I told her that she could come in even though I was here and so she did. I felt a little bad about missing church and was trying to have somewhat of a church atmosphere in the room and had those cds of Spanish Church music playing (the ones that almost every Spanish-speaking missionary has that were made by some mission in Argentina. . . those ones) and so that probably helped foster the question, but when she came in, she came over to start on the beds, and I offered to help her. (Obviously I was not just going to sit around doing nothing and watch her clean up our mess.) So anyway, I offer to help, and she's like, "Oh no! It's okay. This is my job." But I insisted and just started helping. Two minutes later she asks, "Is it okay if I ask you what religion you are?" "Of course." I said, "I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . The Mormons." "Oh yeah. I thought I knew." she says, "I had two amigos that came to my house and were talking to me about your church before and they always made me let them help me too."

It made me so happy. We then talked about how there are so many religions in the world today and how it's hard to tell which one is THE ONE, and I told her that all she had to do was pray about it. I also told her that I knew more "amigos" that would be MORE than willing to drop by her house again to visit with her about the Church if she wanted to give me her address, I could send them. She didn't take me up on the offer. Well, she didn't say no, but she didn't spout off her address either. It was a good talk though and it made me thankful that she had a good experience with the Church and the missionaries. I hope to run into her again and give her a Book of Mormon that we bought at the Distribution Center here. So that was probably the number two experience.

Number three experience was walking up to the Cerro Santa Ana. There is a touristy little 444-stairs or something path that winds through all of these bright and colorful houses on the way up to a lighthouse on top of the hill. It was a fun experience. We were all super sweaty by the time we got up there though. The stairs weren't that bad, nor was it even that hot today, but the humidity here is a killer. As soon as I get the pictures of us on the walk I will put them up here, but for now, here are some awesome google images for you.

Salinas & Leftover Randoms

2009-05-09T23:30:00.001-06:00

Today we went to Salinas. It is like a beach resort place. You don't hear very many people say that they are going to Ecuador for their beach va-cay and there is probably a reason for that, but we still definitely enjoyed ourselves. The water was pretty cold at first, but most of us just jumped in and got over it and it felt great after a few minutes. We swam around a bit, played catch the football (aka full water bottle) in the water until we found a frisbee, met some guy who let us borrow his snorkeling gearand then we all went on a boat ride. They let us stop the boat and jump out into the water. It was a two-story (is that proper boat lingo) boat and I was hoping so badly that they were going to let us jump off the top, but I didn't know if they really would. I should have just remembered that we are in Ecuador, where legal liability issues aren't really a major concern because they definitely did let us jump from the top. It was probably still only like 15 feet from the water, but super fun. I dove all three times. Thank you Shelly for the Tahoe diving lessons.

I promise I straightened out more before I hit the water :)

So fun. After the water adventures, the Junta paid for us all to have this nice buffet lunch at one of the resorts. You cannot imagine how excited we all were to see vegetables, and even ones that weren't fried! Delicious.

After the two and a half hour ride home we ran into our hotel, each had 5 minute showers and were back down in the lobby within 25 minutes ready for the health fair we were doing for one of the stakes here. I don't have any pictures yet of the day at the beach or the health fair, so I will put those up on here as soon as I get them. The members were all so cute. They were all dressed up and seemed super excited to have us there. I taught the nutrition class with another girl in our group, Cassidy. It was fun and they all seemed to get a lot out of it. It was adorable they were all taking notes and had awesome questions. After the class, we gave them all these giant food pyramid type posters and they asked us to sign them for them. I love these people. They are so loving. They make you feel so special.

To finish off this week, I would just like to do a short picture post of a few of the random things this week that have made me realize. . .

WHY I LOVE ECUADOR

Beautiful cathedrals and cute kids who want to take their picture with you.

arroz y menestra

Iguana Park (Erin--does this remind you of me and the birds in Venice experience)

PS I wish I could watch you as you twist your head to try to watch this. Sorry about that.

El Templo & Highlights of Sotomayor

2009-05-08T23:15:00.008-06:00

Wednesday night we got to go to the temple here in Guayaquil. It is beautiful! We ate in the little cafeteria of the temple, which reminded me a lot of the cafeteria at the Madric MTC and so that was really neat. Then the half of our group that are all endowed all got to do a session. The other half of the girls did baptisms and the three boys that are with us helped them with that. I hadn't ever done a session in Spanish before since being in the Madrid MTC and I absolutely loved it. I loved the vosotros, it made me miss Spain so much. Even more, it is just great I think to learn things in another language once in a while because just like reading scriptures in Spanish and English, they say the same thing, but with the change of words sometimes you can see different possible meanings/symbolism. Such a neat experience. It made me just love BYU too, because where else are you going to be able to attend a temple session with all of your classmates and professors? Phenomenal.

Okay now to wrap up my time at Sotomayor with a few of my favorite things I learned/witnessed in no particular order.

First, eavsdropping on the head nurse teaching a newly admitted patient, I learned the three keys to a successful labor and delivery. These include:
1. Ser fuerte (Be strong)
2. No gritar (Don't yell)
3. Respirar (Breathe)
We all got a good kick out of that. None of us had ever heard the rule about not yelling, but I guess it makes sense with them having so many patients so close together. Just funny. They also tell the patients that they shouldn't talk in the immediate postpartum unit because it makes them hurt more. Maybe it does down here I guess. I don't know.

Another good experience I had, was one of the days, one of my professors, came and found me and told me she wanted me to help her understand and talk to one of the patients that was there for a miscarriage. Talking to her, I found out that this was her second baby she had lost. Her first had been a stillbirth at seven months, and this one she had lost at four weeks of pregnancy. Also, her husband had left her for another woman three weeks ago, so she was worried that all of her stress and emotions had killed her baby. Which according to everything I know, I am 99.9% sure that is NOT the case. So I just talked to her and listened. We cried together and laughed together. At one point, she pointed to the rosary from Hogar de Cristo I still have wrapped around my wrist like a braclet and asked, "rezas?" (Do you pray/recite?) And I was like, "Oh, this is a gift. I am a Mormon." The doctor was actually there at the bed then and he was like, "You are Mormon?" "Yeah,"I said. "Two. . ." "Missionaries?" "Yeah. They came to my house and talked to me about Jose Smith." "Yeah, they are from our church." I told him. The patient then was like, "Los santos de los ultimos dias?" "Yeah," I said. It turns out, she is actually a member of the Church, but is now attending a Evangelical church. She asked when she could see me again and I invited her to come to church with us this Sunday. We'll see if she is able to come. It was a really spiritual experience though talking to her.

I also got to work with another woman who had just had a miscarriage. She was super sad. Understandably. I was racking my brain for anything to tell her or that I could offer her. The only thing I really had after my words that I just didn't feel had helped that much, was the tiny CTR or HLJ ring I had bought at the distribution center at the temple the night before. I just gave it to her and told her that I hoped that it would be something to help her remember her baby (in the States we usually give women who have a miscarriage now a memory box and stuff). This wasn't really the same as that, but it was all that I had. We're not allowed to prostelyte so I didn't explain to her what the HLJ meant, but I figure that if she wears it all the time, she will eventually get curious or someone else will point it out to her what it means. There are tons of members down here. At least this is my prayer.

Another thing I did, and I will try to get a picture of it from my professor because I knew she took some was give labor support to this one woman who just seemed like she was about to die. They don't get epidurals here unless they are having a C-section, or even any sort of pain meds during labor or after the birth, so yeah. Imagine the pain. But this girl was just so cute. My friend, Allie, was helping me with her and the girl was just so cute. She kept just crumbling don't into my arms. It was so cute, and I was so glad we got to be there for her. After her baby was born and the doctor was cleaning her up, she grabbed my hand and said, "Thank you. Thank you so much for being here with me." And that's what makes the whole day worth it.

Her hungry baby that won't get to see his mom for 3 more hours

Okay it's getting late, and I am sure you are wondering when this novel of a post is going to end, so I'll wrap it up with just two more short things. One thing was just absolutely comical. So with this woman that I just told you about. Allie and I had helped her through the whole labor process and delivery and Allie had left the delivery room with the baby and I had stayed with the woman. The baby is out. . . check. (Here again, if you don't love L&D stuff, or if it creeps you, don't read on) Here comes the placenta. I see it and the nurse walking by sees it and we both yell to the doctor who was sitting 5 feet away on a stool with one gloved hand and the other hand ungloved and texting on her cell phone. She jumps up, and gets there just in time to grab it, but the clean-up crew (thank you again Yellow Friends) had taken away all of the stuff, so the doctor stood there dangling the placenta by the umbilical cord in her gloved hand while she continued to text with the other hand for a full minute before they brought her something to drop it into. I was so flabbergasted and I wanted to take a picture of the scene so badly because it was just absolutely unbelieveable. Craziness.

The other short story was that on our last day at Sotomayor, and the very last birth that I saw, the baby was born with the cord around its neck and she came out almost black. Seriously. They usually come out a scary purple color, but this baby was black. They clamped the cord and the nurse ran her into the nursery. I followed. They suctioned the baby's mouth but it still wouldn't breathe. I just stood there praying, "Breathe baby. Please let her breathe. Please breathe." One of the nurses bagged the baby while the other nurse just kept rubbing the baby all over trying to stimulate it and checking the heart periodically. This lasted for almost 5 minutes. Probably some of the scariest five minutes of my life. I was so worried. In the end, the baby did begin to breathe on its own and the color even came back pretty quickly too, but oh man, I was dying. I just kept thinking of the baby herself and the poor mom and the family out in the waiting area. I was going to die. I still have yet to have one of my patients die during my shift and I really wouldn't mind keeping it that way.

In the end, I hope that I haven't been offensive or demeaning about this hospital. It really has been a good learning experience. I feel very grateful for the things I have gotten to see and learn here. It is just very different that the L&D experience I had at LDS Hospital and I can't help but find some of the things a little shocking. They must be doing something right though because they do have a fairly low death rate at the hospital, so there you go. Thank you Sotomayor.

PS Thank you Andrea for giving my blog a much needed facelift.

Conveyor Belt of Sotomayor

2009-05-06T21:06:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I have been putting off writing about these last three days (it's actually Friday, although I will post this as if it were Wednesday), because the task just seems too daunting by the time we finally get home showered and eat and ready for bed. So to make sure I get it done, or at least kind of done, I have make an executive decision to just blog about the three days combined into one--a highlights blog if you will.

To start off I will attach the two video clips that I took of the whole system. They aren't that great, and I didn't catch any real action and actually it isn't as cool as I wish it was because I had to do it at a time when I wasn't actually busy, so you don't really get the full "factory" effect, but whatevs. PLUS, remember that it is a hospital, and despite the fact that nobody really cares if you take pictures (or video) down here, I still felt a little bad, and didn't want to add too much to the lack of privacy problem. Enough of the disclaimers, here you go:

So as for other highlights. It really has been a blast working in this hospital. To start, I will try to explain a little more about the conveyor belt system. In the video I showed you were the patients come in. I'm still not sure how they pass them over that 3.5 foot tall wall thing, but that will just be a mystery I might never know. So they come in through there on, and somewhere between there and the main labor room, they pick up a stretcher because that is how they come in to us. These stretchers are incredible. Think MASH. I don't even like that show, never really watched it, but that is the picture that the whole thing brings to my mind.

Woman enters room on stretcher. She is put at the end of the line so they can strap her up to their ONE fetal heart rate and contraction monitoring unit (the High Risk room has one for each patient). For those of you who may not be as familiar with the whole birthing scene, in the U.S. we have one of these for EACH patient for the whole labor process. Anyway, so they come in, and the woman last to enter who was strapped to the machine, gets pulled off and bumped down the line (this is where the yellow friends come in), and the woman gets strapped in. So this one wall (the side where the most medical peeps are on in the video) is the vaginal birth side, and as the woman progress in dilation they get pushed ahead or back in the line (again, thank you Yellow Peeps).

When they get dilated to a 10 or sometimes after the baby is already crowning, the doctor yells "PARTO!" (Birth!) and the yellow guys come running and they whisk the woman off into white room with all of the stirrups. The woman then has to crab walk/crawl herself up on to the bed from the stretcher. (Mind you, this is when she is just 2-3 minutes from giving birth!) The doctor comes in, gets dressed, they open the sterile pack, yadda yadda yadda, and out comes the baby. I saw one today where the doctor barely got her gloves on before the baby was coming out! I thought we were going to have a baby on the floor!

After the birth, they show the baby for the mom for a total of maybe .5 seconds and they whisk it off to the nursery. The mom then stays and gets stiched up from her tear or the episiotomy (as a standard they give all first-time moms an episiotomy, yep. . . sad). PS--sorry if this is TMI for some of you, feel free to tune out if it gets too much. I kind of forget that not everybody loves this stuff. After they are done with the mom they bring her back in a stretcher. I think it is actually one with fresh sheets and they have her slide herself on to it and they wheel her into the immediate-postpartum room. (That is IF they have room, if not, they get lined up and down both sides of the hallways).

They stay in there and if they are lucky, they get to see their babies after 2 or 3 hours. They don't really even get to hear any updates about how their baby is doing or anything. Nothing. I'd like to hear how any of you moms out there would feel about that happening if that was the case for you. If they have had a C-section, they don't get to have their baby from anywhere from 5 to 8 hours! They simply just do not have the staff to take all of the babies in to the moms and monitor them, etc. etc., but it's still sad. As the week went on and the nurses and doctors trusted us more, they let us just take the babies in to the moms ourselves. Awesome.

So that is the process for the normal delivery moms. The C-sections and miscarriages are on the other side. That is probably the part I feel the worst about the whole hospital is that the women with miscarriages have to be in there with all of the women who are still going to have their baby alive and healthy with them. They also have to be in the same postpartum units, including the ones after the immediate-postpartum unit where all of the moms get to have their babies on their beds with them, while they just lay there by themselves. So sad.

The C-sections are lined up along the wall and they take them in one by one into one of the six OR C-section rooms. I never really got how they run that system, because I didn't really see any rhyme or rhythm to who they decided to take next. And yeah so that is the process of Sotomayor.

It's really not that bad. They do the very best they can with what they have and they have a good system. I just sometimes wish they could be a little more personal. One other thing that I have come to love about the whole thing is that every half hour the nurse at the nurses table calls out the last names of all of the patients and they have to raise their hands to indicate that they are still there. It is like role call. And when the doctors or nurses come up to the patients, they don't even pretend to know who they are they just ask them for their last name, and if they aren't the right one, they just move along down looking for them, or if they get impatient, they just yell out the name and wait for a woman to raise her hand like they do during roll call. It is definitely a little different than what I am used to where you at least try to pretend you know who you are going in to see, even if you have to check their chart or name plaque on the outside of the door. Not wrong, just different.

Okay, well now I am actually pretty tired and spent WAY more time blogging about the conveyor belt than I was going to so I will get to the other stuff in no particular order later I guess.

The Baby Factory

2009-05-05T21:41:00.001-06:00

So today was my first official clinical day here in Ecuador. Backing up, I will explain a little about how our little experience down here is supposed to go. The motto our instructors keep telling us is "be flexible" so everything is a little relative, but here is the basic plan. We are down here for four weeks. The first three weeks we will spend here in Guayaquil working in the hospitals and community and doing health fairs in the stake centers, etc. The last week we are going to travel up to Quito and spend time there and in Otavalo, and we will be doing more touristy and "fun" stuff.
For the three weeks that we are here in Guayaquil we "ideally" rotate through 3 different clinicals: a maternity hospital (Sotomayor), a general hospital (Luis Vernaza) and the community (with Hogar de Cristo). My rotation schedule is that I spend this first week in maternity, next week in the community and the last week in Luis Vernaza. We'll see how it actually plays out, but that is the plan.
So for this week I will supposedly be in Sotomayor in labor and delivery and post-partum. Today was my first day here in Soto Mayor and let me just tell you that it is incredible! If you thought that UVRMC cranked out babies, this place outdoes it by far! Between 80-100 babies are born in this hospital EVERY DAY! It is craziness!
It is a FACTORY! They have like a conveyor belt system, and I am not kidding. Well, there isn't an actual conveyor belt, but that is how they run the place. I will explain more later, but it seriously was incredible to see. So different. Like I mentioned earlier, we didn't come down here to change the way they do things, because really they are doing well with what they have and everything, but this is pretty unbelievable. I will put up a video of the system and explain a little more another day, but just know that it will be different than any birth experience I think any of you have ever had or seen.

Capri Scrubs!

We were all pretty amused as well by the L&D (labor and delivery) scrubs they provided for us. They were the typical "OR greens," but like everything else in the hospital, true to army-like form, they were made of this heavy canvas and they hit us all about midcalf. You could tell that they were built especially for Ecuadorians--short legs and a short, boxy top. Hilarious.
The other random thing I will write about today is the fact that they basically have their gloves under lock and key. It is a labor and delivery unit, so you've got amniotic fluid and all sorts of other bodily stuff going on all over the place, and in the morning, my friend, Allie, was helping our professor with this one woman and she told her to go get some gloves on and get some for her too, and so she went to find them, and when she couldn't find them all over on the walls (like they are in the States), I went and asked at the nurses station and they basically gave me the third degree about why I needed them. I finally gave up and ran back to the locker room and grabbed some that I had packed in my bag. It is a different world down here. Good, but different.

Hanging out with our favorite "conveyor belt" friends (yellow=conveyor belt)

Hogar de Cristo, Rosaries and FHE-izzle

2009-05-04T21:25:00.000-06:00

Today we went out and met the group, Hogar de Cristo, that we will be working with in the community. Like the name explains, they help provide thousands of homes for the needy people here in Ecuador. Their whole thing is that they work with "the poorest of the poor" (aka people that make less than $1/day). The organization also provides several other wonderful helps to the community including health teaching and screening which is what we will be helping them with over the next few weeks. It's a Catholic organization, but they apparently don't have a problem working with a bunch of mormones. They even gave us each our own little rosary. Bonus!

Today we got to meet two of the organization's big leaders: Roberto (loved the Spanish accent and usage of vosotros) and Luis. It is a very well organized and inspiring establishment. As a team, we have a great potential for being able to accomplish a lot of good for the Ecuadorian people over the next few short weeks and we are all pretty excited about it.We piled into the ambulance and the truck to go out and tour one of their facilities which was cool. We finally got to go out and see some of the more impoverished areas of Guayaquil and it really got me excited to serve these great people, if with nothing more than just a "smile and eyes filled with hope" which is what one of the Hogar de Cristo directors asked us to do.

After meeting Hogar de Cristo, we all went out to get dinner at "Cafe Rio," the restaurant of the mom of one of our fellow nursing students, David. It was delicious and gave us all a little energy back from the hot day. After a quick rest back at the hotel, we all met up for FHE in our instructor's room. We had a great lesson and then, I tried. . .

PASSION FRUIT!

That is big for me, yeah? It actually wasn't too bad. I don't know how many of you have actually tried passion fruit, but it is very different than any other fruit that I have tried. The "fruit" is almost gray colored inside. But it wasn't bad. I would eat it again, but probably wouldn't buy it for myself. Now it's off to bed to prepare for our first "real" day of clinicals tomorrow!

Un domingo en Ecuador

2009-05-03T22:22:00.002-06:00

Sunday.

Church in Spanish! Yay! It was wonderful! I was so excited just to even get to sing the hymns in Spanish. So awesome. It was fast Sunday so it was also fun to hear how strong the testimonies of the members are all around the world. After church, I talked to this woman who had only been a member for two years. She had married one of the returned missionary men in the ward, and then gotten baptized, and here she was two years later super active. It made me excited for the new members I worked with in Spain. I asked if any of her family members were members of the Church yet and she said "no, but maybe someday." I don't know exactly how to explain it, but it filled me with hope for the spread of the gospel.

After church and a nap, we took a walk down the Malecon. It's a beautiful Boardwalk down the river here in Guayaquil. The river itself, is not so great. . . pretty brown and a little smelly; but the boardwalk is super pretty and fun. It's almost like a carnival, they have face painting stations, ice cream shops and little games: boat races, bumper cars for the kids (motorized jeep style, that I guess shouldn't ideally "bump") and little playgrounds. It was obviously made for tourism purposes, but a lot of the local families were hanging out there for the Sunday afternoon and it was fun.

Me and roomies McKell and Allie

The Hosptial and The Habitat

2009-05-02T21:16:00.005-06:00

Today we toured two hospitals. I should maybe first explain that the “Junta” is the organization we are working with down here. It is an organization that sells lottery tickets in Guayaquil to fund their community projects. I don’t know how many hospitals they run down here but I think that there are at least four in Guayaquil because there are four hospitals that we will be working in.
So today we toured the Luis Vernaza Hospital and the Childrens Hospital. We first toured the Luis Vernaza General Hospital. It was founded in 1564 and is one of the oldest in Latin America. I don’t know if the woman giving us the tour was exaggerating or not, but she kept saying that it was the biggest hospital in all of Ecuador, and whether or not the superlative is really true, I can attest that the hospital truly is gigantic. It even has its own free standing Catholic cathedral within the quad of the hospital! Awesome.
It was really a neat experience. It is definitely different than the hospitals that we are all used to. Probably the biggest difference that I first noticed is the lack of privacy the patients have. They had bed after bed all lined up against the walls with just like 1 foot spaces in between the beds in some of the rooms and no curtains or anything in between; they had people being treated in beds with IV therapy out in the “waiting room” of the ER; all of which for Americans who have been totally HIPPA brainwashed can seem absolutely unfathomable.
But here’s the thing: I am not going to say that everything else was the same as our hospitals, because it definitely is not, but I think that I am really starting to see that we didn’t come down here really on a medical “mission” to save everybody. Instead, we came here to learn from them. They do things simpler here. In all of my clinicals, I don’t think that I have ever actually calculated and timed a drip rate of an IV bag. If it has a specific rate, we just put it on a pump and type in the rate. But today, I think I only saw maybe 2 IV pumps in the entire 800 bed hospital. And I ask myself, “Does that really matter?” They have their suctioning going into old pop bottles where we have them in clean new plastic containers, but again, when it all is just stuff you are trying to get out of the patient and you will be throwing it away, does it need to be put into a sterile container? No. They use jugs of water instead of the fancy weights we do to do traction (see picture below), but is the outcome any different? No.

Everything is just simpler here. They may not have all of the “up-to-date” technology that we have in the States, but they get the job done. They also are doing stem cell implants here which is something we aren’t really even doing yet in the U.S. due to all of our “safety” regulations. I don’t mean to downplay the U.S., I am grateful and proud to be an American, but I was definitely humbled today.
We then toured the Childrens Hospital which due to the profits from the Lotto tickets and from other people’s donations looks almost identical to Primary Childrens Hospital. Not much to comment there. After that we went to the Parque Histórico Guayaquil. They had a kind of zoo thing with a lot of the native animals, a part with a lot of the old buildings they had taken down from the old central of Guayaquil and rebuilt in the park with a lot of the original materials and everything. They also had gardens of banana trees, cocoa bean trees and other garden items, and of course, another Catholic cathedral.

All in all, it was a good day. We were all pretty tired by the time we made it back to the hotel tonight, but I am excited for church tomorrow—in Spanish! Yay! I am also really excited to get out in the community and work with the people in their own homes because right now I still feel like a tourist. Validation of those feelings came when we were at the Maxi Mart buying some groceries and this woman came up to me to ask me if I needed help (picking tuna) aka find out who in the heck all of these 22 people (I can’t say girls because there are 3 guys with us) all dressed in white polos and navy scrub bottoms were. I told her that we were nursing students down here to work a little in the hospitals and she asked me which hospitals we were working in and I told her and she was like, “Well then, how did you get HERE?!” I had NO idea where we were so I was just like, “Uhhhh. . . I don’t know. We just went to this park and then we got in these vans and they brought us here. . .” Awesome. Tourist.
Okay, that is all for tonight. Sorry about the length. But enjoy it while it lasts as I am sure this word count probably won’t continue.