NoVa: past, present, and future

It has been such an amazing blessing to be home for this year's holidays... the last time I saw my parents and sister was about a year ago and it is always quite nostalgic, albeit a bit disconcerting, to return "home" to Virginia.

While much of McLean (where I last "lived" in HS) looks the same, I always am struck by how removed I feel from (my former) life here. Attending the Redeemer Christmas Eve Candlelight service made me feel as though I was looking into a window and watching myself (and my peers) "grow up." Kelvin was with me this year, and it is very odd to be here with my family and old friends, while still "living" in California and taking care of day-to-day tasks, and simultaneously busily planning our future [wedding, jobs, etc.]. I feel as though I am caught in an odd place among the past, present, and future.

Time has gone by extremely quickly, with various meetings with close family and work friends, godparents, and friends from my HS and college years. We have drunk and eaten very well, with quality wines, as well as courses of lamb, ham, turkey (plus soup), and my absolute favorite item, my mother's famous rum balls whose taste I can never quite replicate.



Vanessa, K, and I donning our "Christmas crowns"


festive! (looking at past photos, I realize that I wear this [Peruvian] sweater about every 2 years for Christmas)




Little taste of Vietnam

I was surprised to learn that the D.C. area's "Little Saigon" is just a few miles from McLean (Eden Center in Falls Church). K and I took an expedition there, to both take a picture with the lions and make him feel "at home," buy Asian groceries, and eat some good ol' mi la cay (regional noodle soup; wonderful in the cold weather we've been having).




We then made pho for my family, whose presentation ended up being rather comical, as my parents don't have the "deep" Asian bowls good for the noodle soup (nor did they have chopsticks until we purchased some). Rather than use the shallow soup bowls which are the only ones my parents have/routinely use, we ended up eating out of an assortment of various large bowls, including: a salad bowl, serving bowl, crystal bowls (x2-- no, I was not allowed to use one of these!), and, as you can see from the picture with Kelvin, a ceramic serving pot :). My family enjoyed the cultural experience and the food was quite tasty!







Capital to Capital:
We were able to make a quick trip to Richmond to see Sadie and visit my alma mater, UR (Go, Spiders!). It was neat to see the new on-campus football stadium (we used to have to drive to downtown Richmond to catch football games!), international center, and state-of-the-art fitness facility. I almost want to be a college student again! We also made a trip to the Museum of the Confederacy and home of Jefferson Davis (historic sights which I never visited while a student).

Jefferson Davis' "White House"


In all of our spare time, we have been continuing the job conversations and doing more wedding planning which, although painful and stressful at times, seems to be coming along.

And with that, it is almost 2011.... while enjoying past memories and friendships, I have loved the present with my family. Here is a cheer to the New Year and our future ...

'Tis the Season

I cannot believe that Christmas is three days away! I feel that December has kind of gone by in a blur!

I was been on L and D for the past two weeks (... feels like longer!) and have not, in recent memory, had so many busy days in such short a span. It was apparently THE season of births, as everyone seemed to want a pre-Christmas baby!!! We really did have 17 deliveries on 12/10/10. Last week on Wednesday we had two sets of twins trying to deliver vaginally (3/4 successful... I'll let you figure that one out!), several vacuum deliveries (I finally feel adequately prepared to do them... please flashback to a post about 1 year ago where I lamented the "whiteness" of my "cloud"), and lots of other action simultaneously. While stressful at times, it was fun and I feel that my education has been much enriched by this season's chaos :)!

We had a very awesome (the 2nd annual!) White Elephant Christmas party/Applicant dinner at Rocky's house last week, which was, as usual, extremely entertaining. The hot items (most stolen) this year included kitchen spice cannisters, the soundtrack to Glee, and a barbeque pig set!

This week, I have been able to celebrate the spirit of Christmas in a more relaxed style.

Thanks to Ashby for organizing and Wai Kiu for photo-chronicling last night's Christmas activity, caroling at Emerald Gardens Nursing Home (+ belated b'day for Mason).

We had wonderful accompaniment by Fred and Jeremy (playing on violins, mostly by ear!) and Ashby on guitar. Kimie made a fantastic music stand (and choir member!)

(Us, decking the halls!)

Happy (belated) birthday to Mason, our favorite little Santa!

There is only one more clinic day left to survive before the holiday!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone! And now, I must finish the rest of my eggnog...

The next chapter

"The future is called 'perhaps,' which is the only possible thing to call the future. And the only important thing is not to allow that to scare you." - Tennessee Williams

It is so hard to believe that it is already December, and we are nearly (1/1/11 [cool date, eh?!] will technically be the mid-way point) half-way through this academic year. Just under seven months remain for me in residency (! Can you tell that I am excited?!). It really does feel like just yesterday that I started as an intern and tomorrow I am supposedly in charge as OB chief.

It is very strange to me, and a bit scary, to contemplate all of the changes that 2011 will bring. Although I have moved every three or four years my whole life, this will be a different kind of move and transition. This is the FIRST time since high school that I have not really had to do formal school/educational applications. Having interviewed at some potential employment sites in California, it amazes me how laid back the "job" interviews have been and how different this "selection" process is from "getting in" to med school or the nail-biting residency match. It is interesting to consider that, while some of my high school friends and second-career friends have been through a number of different jobs (or careers!) by now, I feel as though my *real* life (i.e. you are not a *real* adult until you have a husband and a *real* job ;)) is just getting started!

The job search itself is rather stressful and different now in that there are two people to consider-- K and I have to think in terms of what works best for both of us, with me wanting to do full-spectrum family medicine with OB and c-sections, and him having a National Health Service Corps Scholar requirement to work in a health-professional shortage area. This narrows our choices as far as practice locations but also has made us realize that we will have to accept some tradeoffs, whether that means one or both of us has to commute a long distance daily, do more inpatient time/call than we'd ideally desire, accept a more restricted scope of practice, or live far away from friends/family/airports. Despite the above, in some ways and having now gone on several interviews, I wish we had more restrictions as I am less comfortable having too many choices or "the ball in my court," so to speak. We have some difficult decisions to make should the offers come, and hope to have a job sorted out by next month.

Another reason I hope to have the job situation figured out soon is that we have a lot to do with the upcoming wedding in July. While I feel that we are making good "task" progress (K is an unbelievable help!), including the engagement shoot and prints, purchasing wedding bands, getting my ao dai tailoring in progress, scheduling our pre-cana (Catholic pre-marital class), and initial florist/photographer meetings this past weekend, the checklist seems never-ending.

The dress-shopping itself is exhausting and not really up my alley-- I don't know how many times I have heard recently, "Do you have your dress? You really need to get it now, as it takes many months to get it and then have it altered." This obviously does not seem to help my already-high anxiety level about this whole affair. I have actually had nightmares about not getting everything done in time. I look forward to the day/evening/weekend (is the honeymoon here, yet?! :)) when we don't have to worry about wedding planning which, as I mentioned before, feels like it is a full-time job.

I do realize that everything will come together, eventually, regardless about how much stress I feel worrying about how exactly it is going to come together or the possibility that it won't. Corrie Ten Boom, a 20th century Dutch Evangelist wrote, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." I am working on remembering this faith.

Weekend of Thanks

Thanksgiving has come and passed; however, I have a lot to be thankful for!

I was on FP call for 24 hours on Thanksgiving, but had excellent food courtesy of the L and D team and, although the patients were calling the operator nonstop, I didn't have any major disasters (unlike Kristin, whose call followed mine. Sorry, girl!). K picked me up straight from the hospital and we headed down to Orange County to spend the rest of the weekend with his family and friends from home.

We had a wonderful prime rib dinner at the house of Kenn (K's brother) and fiance Lisa on Friday with an added secret santa gift exchange and family photos, which turned out really well!

Festive decor!

This bomb cake was awesome!!

Don't you think the red/black looks classy? :)

The girls (Theresa, Lisa, Mom, me, Katherine)

w/ Kat

Cute tree!

Saturday morning, Katherine (uber- talented future sis-in-law!) took some awesome photos of us at The Pike (Long Beach). Isn't she a fabulous photographer?!!

K's college friend Lauren hosted an engagement party at her very chic downtown LA apartment on Saturday, where it was fun to meet some of his old UCLA pals and catch up with some of his junior high and high school friends over yummy munchies and while enjoying a fabulous downtown view.

Lauren had these gorgeous arrangements which she created from flowers from the LA flower district:

Thank you to Chamreun who showed me how to use my camera at night :)

Two special groomsmen

On Sunday, we went to church, got some wedding shopping done, and ate yummy Korean bbq before driving home.

I was not so thankful for the 9-hour drive home to Sac (normally 6 hours!) due to holiday traffic, which got us back just after 1 a.m.; however, the drive was well worth the fun we had this weekend!

I love the holidays! I can't wait to spend Christmas at home in VA with my family (so fortunate to have the holiday off this year!). Bring on the Egg nog and Christmas tunes!

Wine and Twenty- ****

(Brad, Serena, Wai Kiu, Hanh, Mason, Kelvin, me; Roxana and Michael were just off to my right)

I have absolutely wonderful friends. For my last sub-thirty birthday this weekend, my awesome fiance and great residency friends organized a very special pre-birthday dinner in Berkeley on Saturday. Serena made reservations well in advance for Chez Panisse, a wonderful French restaurant which prides itself on wonderful, locally-grown, and extremely fresh food. There is both an upscale prix fixe downstairs restaurant and an upstairs a la carte cafe (which is where we ate), and the food was FABULOUS!!!

We had to pass by many Indian restaurants and shops en route to the restaurant (and no, thank you, K did not want to stop at any of those for a pre-dinner snack), which was kind of amusing as we were originally supposed to come straight from SFO airport to the dinner. In any case, there was no curry to be seen on the menu.

I had (not beef! but rather) a goat cheese (mmm) salad with the Dungeness crab/sole, which was extremely delectable. Between going to the Kitchen in September and now Chez Panisse, I have done my share of fine dining in 2010!

Mason also apparently thoroughly enjoyed himself! (When, before pouring the wine, the waiter confirmed with us, "You are all over 21, right?" we had to clarify, "Well, except Mason!")

Wai Kiu and Hanh had sneakily picked up this delicious passionfruit cake from a nearby bakery. MMM.

And here's an early birthday shout out to this adorable almost-1 year old who I had the privilege to deliver last November 28th (maybe, in 20 more years, we will take you out to Chez Panisse, Mason and you can drink wine to your heart's desire!!)!

Happy birthday today to Kristin and Congratulations to Kristin/Caesar on their engagement!

Stateside... (barely and gratefully)

We are back in the U.S. It was not an easy journey back from India (after our struggles with intra-India travel, somehow I [mistakenly] expected our trip back to be much smoother). After 16 hours in the Delhi Airport due to our absolute mistrust of Indian transportation and refusal to pay for another night's lodging for a 4 am scheduled departure time, a 2.5-hour flight delay in leaving Delhi, a mad dash to our connecting flight in Dubai to catch another 16-hour flight (which did not pass quickly, let me tell you), and arrival in San Francisco sans luggage which apparently is resting quite comfortably in the United Arab Emirates until tomorrow's flight, we are finally home.... (luggage being the least of our concerns.... honestly. It would have been, with our connection time and my luggage history, a virtual miracle if our bags had somehow accompanied us to the states).

We owe a huge thank you to Medina, who graciously picked us up from SFO and drove us home to Sacramento, three days earlier than originally planned. So sorry if we were grumpy.

I have NEVER, in the history of my travels or vacations, ever decided to curtail a trip abroad due to lack of enjoyment of the journeys and adventures. I have had some travel challenges and need for flexibility with plans. Two years ago, a trip to Belize was drowned in a tropical depression, which prevented a visit to the cayes (prompting a change in plans to visit Guatemala, which turned out to be wonderful!). During med school, I traveled solo in Latvia and Lithuania, the Baltic States, where I spoke more Latvian than the English spoken by some people I encountered (which is saying A LOT). Right after college, I remember finding myself explaining myself in German (most of which I've lost) to a train official in Leipzig (former East Germany) and getting by just fine. But never have I felt a fraction of the frustration that we felt in India, just trying to get around.

We were given the run-around at railway stations as to from whom we were to buy our tickets. We had railway salespeople refuse to talk to us because were foreigners. We paid for AC fares and then got stuck in the regular cars. We were told "no trains" go on that itinerary, despite knowing that trains certainly run that route, confirmed when we arrived (via very expensive long-distance taxi). We had to specifically ask for our tickets as confirmation of our payments. We paid extra for deluxe buses which ("We promise. No problem") left at a certain time and then were told "that bus is broken down on the highway" and had to settle for the later alternative. An autorickshaw driver agreed to take us from the Delhi bus stop to the airport for the price which was appropriate (1/3 of what he originally was charging us), but conveniently forgot that rickshaws can't go all the way to the terminal; we almost had to take another "taxi" from the entrance highway to the door (for the same amount, to be paid again, to a different driver) before we realized there was a free shuttle.... The transportation struggles just went on and on.

We had one city which never failed us: Jaipur. The hotel personnel were extremely helpful and we could actually figure out the bus station. We could see signs at the bus station for distance buses to Delhi, walk up, and, without lying or hassle, buy a bus ticket for a bus which was deluxe, as it said it was, which left when it was scheduled to leave, and went straight to its destination. Sadly, this was the exception. We found that our vacation, a time when we are supposed to be able to relax and enjoy our surroundings, was being largely spent being stressed at how we were going to successfully get from point A to B (and then out again), without being stranded. We were hesitant to venture very much off the main Delhi/Jaipur road for fear we would never return. We were not sleeping at night. And, despite some fun things we got to do, we were not having much fun overall. So, for a few hundred dollars, we were able to change our Emirates flight from Delhi up from Saturday to Wednesday, to have some R and R time back in the states. Initially I was hesitant to make the flight change, as I am quite frugal, and I hate to be a "quitter" or seem like I was bailing on something that really shouldn't have been so difficult. But what we were doing was "surviving," not relaxing or vacationing and, after being gone over 3 weeks, we were kind of "done" with India.

I am grateful to be back, for many reasons:

Beef

I am not a hard-core carnivore. I don't eat meat every day. I love veggies and salads. But even I had a really hard time eating exclusively "veg" food in India. Luckily, we could track down chicken sometimes when we really wanted "nonveg" food; however, I realize now that I could never be a vegetarian, or a Hindu. We were both disappointed when our "beef" option was not available on the flight from Dubai, but we both extremely enjoyed the Vietnamese beef we had as our first meal "home."

Traffic laws

Driving my car once I got back has been therapeutic. It is lovely to actually be in control of one's own transportation. Driving in the U.S. is also so very peaceful. The constant honking, rickshaws and autorickshaws weaving in and out of suggestive "lanes" in India, as well as the dust and dirt, is rather disconcerting. As both a passenger and pedestrian in India, you get used to it, as well as to dodging various animals on the streets (we saw dogs, cows, goats, sheep, camels, even elephants, but, interestingly, no cats), but I must say, I prefer the much less chaotic streets here.

Clean water

Since getting a nice Katadyn water filter from my Dad last Christmas and being somewhat of a fanatic environmentalist, I am a firm believer in using a water filter while abroad. While I take risks including eating street food and fresh veggies in foreign countries, I don't drink tapwater, but I also hate buying bottled water. My filter was wonderful for the first half of the trip. Water in Hyderabad as well as Mumbai tasted great; however, after that, it was all downhill. Water from Agra, Sawai Madhopur, Jaipur, and Pushkar tasted awful and, regrettably, I became a mineral water consumer. I am thrilled that I am back and can drink (not just brush teeth with) tapwater!

Toilet paper and septic systems (read with caution for the squeamish)

I generally have no problem with public toilets. I don't have problem with squat toilets, which are the most common type in India. I go when I have to go. However, I found it rather annoying to always have to have to carry around your own toilet paper, which is mandatory in India because, with the exception of airports, it is provided in less than 5% of bathrooms over there. And if you didn't know, you can't overwhelm the septic system by tossing TP in the actual bowl; there are (theoretically) supposed to be "bins" next to the toilet where you throw the used TP, which is sometimes the case. Ah; it is so nice to just be able to flush the actual TP instead of worrying about all of the above.

Sleeping comfortably

I think I got one, maybe two good nights' rest while in India. Between the heat, the noise, the pollution, the stress of getting stranded, the critters (in various rooms of ours, I saw spiders, mosquitoes, baby cockroaches, frogs, geckoes, and even mice!), neither Kelvin nor I slept well at all during the entire time we were abroad.

Anonymity

Walking down the streets of most places we visited brought a lot of attention. I am a rather introverted person and don't really appreciate conversations from outright strangers on the street; however, wherever we went in India, we were plagued with constant comments like "Hallo," "Do you want......? Good price!", "Rickshaw?", "Where are you going?", "Where you from? Korea? Japan?" (Kelvin apparently does not look Vietnamese and could certainly not convince anyone he was actually a U.S. citizen). I just wanted to walk down the street in peace. It is exhausting to even ingore all of the comments, which is what we had to start doing.

Health

I really do take my health for granted. I usually get a few URIs per year which leaves me coughing for several weeks, but, this trip, I got both a cold as well as a bout of travelers' diarrhea requiring (gasp) both Immodium and Cipro, which (meds) I only use as a last resort.

Understanding

It is really alienating to be somewhere where you don't know the language. Many people in India know English and know it well, so communication should not have been that big of a deal. However, I still felt that not knowing Hindi was a huge weakness in our ability to maneuver India and the way we were getting "played" and lied to.

Honest answers

We really were upset by the number of times we felt that we were deceived in India. While it is understandable that people need to make a living, by trying to get commission by taking you to certain shops/hotels and by trying to sell you goods at a price which profits them, we really hated being outright deceived. We had touts at the train station diverting us to non-official tourist offices, rickshaw drivers charging us 3x the appropriate price and then taking us to the wrong location (and then charging us again to bring us to the right place), and supposedly reputable travel offices charging us for services (deluxe buses etc.) which they "promised" but did not provide. We felt that we couldn't really "trust" the answers given us by anyone-- including people working at tourist offices, because answers were often nonchalant, vague, and actually incorrect when we double- and triple-checked (which sounds paranoid, but which was actually quite necessary). We also felt that, in order to get useful information, you had to somehow pay, which counters everything I believe in. We couldn't just ask someone on the street for directions as they would expect a tip. It was incredibly limiting and frustrating.

So there you have it. A very verbose way to express that I am thankful to be back in the U.S.

There are a few things I will miss about India...

Adventures

Here is finally a picture of Kelvin riding his camel... his first

The Taj... certainly the most beautiful building in the world

Chai ... the milk- and sugar-full tea in India is the absolute best

Fresh lime sodas- a very refreshing drink which served as an acceptable substitute to my boycott on paying for water, and a beverage which I will try to re-create here back in the states

Lassis- yummy yoghurt drink which I love but have no idea how to make

Spices- while curry itself gets old, I will really miss the hot food and variety of flavors... I had some of the best chicken tikka masala I have ever had this time in India

Time to read

I do not know how many books I was able to read on the trip. Between the downtime at Medchal, the various waiting in airports/train/bus stations/on planes/trains/buses, and evenings in hotels (when we had power), I had ample time to lose myself in literature. It was glorious. The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest), are fabulous thrillers if you can stand the graphic scenes and violence.

Hotel Pearl Palace (Jaipur)

The best hotel we stayed at-- great room, great service, and great food. We even got room service here (no extra charge), which was awesome and made us feel, just a tiny bit, as if we were on vacation!

Emirates Airlines

Hands down, this the best airline I have even flown. So good, in fact, that a 2.5 hour flight delay leaving India, a near missed connection, and lack of luggage on arrival in the U.S., could not change my opinion of them. They had the best food I have tasted, the cutest travel kits, great blankets, GREAT entertainment (I, one who usually conks out for entire flights, watched 4 movies on the flight back here, as well as reruns of Glee and Friends, and played a bunch of tetris), and fantastic customer service. I highly recommend trying them out. And maybe next time, we will skip the Asia part of the journey and just hang out in Dubai :)

Escaping reality - although vacation technically doesn't "end" until Sunday, being back in Sac and having consistent internet and phone access obliges us to return to the reality of wedding planning, the job search, residency (EMR- yuck), and "real life". Sigh.

Camelmania!

We are in the Indian state of Rajasthan which is full of camels!

I have ridden a camel on a couple of occasions in the past-- in Rajasthan with my family in India about 16 years ago, as well as in Egypt a few years ago. Even with a saddle, they are not the most comfortable (some people ride sans saddle!), and you really have to hang on for dear life during the "lurching" of the camel getting up and going down to the lying position, as it is a very rocky ride! However, Kelvin and I took a day camel safari outside of Pushkar and had a great time! After getting over the anxiety that we would be stood up at our 9 am start time, our guides, Ramu and Khan, were wonderful and really helped us have a fun day. I tried to post a pic of Kelvin but it was too blurry :(, and then the internet's power went out (leaving me to finish this post at a later date), but I swear he rode a camel, too!

We wandered by the actual fairgrounds, where there were literally hundreds- thousands of camels lounging about. Some were being "trained," others were just being noisy, but it was quite a site to see. We learned some interesting camel facts, including that they need 3 large meals per day (and favorite food is cauliflower, or gobi) but can go a week without water. They apparently can run pretty fast, too, although the fastest we got was a trot, which was enough for our groins :)



We then took the camels a few km outside of town and wandered through some smaller villages and farms (where we got to play with few-day old baby goats, drink chai, and weather another monsoon shower, which, fortunately, abated).



We had a fresh-cooked lunch of spiced rice at the home of a "baba" or holy man. He apparently subsists on (by choice!) just nuts and chappatis made of dried rose flowers . Pretty cool :)



We have really enjoyed the pace of our time in Pushkar. It is a holy city and a Hindu pilgramage site, and has hundreds of temples, including Jain, Sikh, Brahma (one of the only in the world) and other Hindu temples set around a holy lake with bathing "ghats" surrounding it. Accordingly, there are strict rules, including minimizing photography of the holy sites, and absolutely avoiding alcohol and "nonveg" food (bummer!), as you can see from the sign below...



The sacred cows wander everywhere


Although we tried to time our visit with the start of the camel fair (there are apparently horse and camel races, contests such as having people balance on a camel), and other shows, we were informed yesterday that (unlike what was posted on the India tourism website, among other places), the fair actually starts tomorrow, the 14th. As we have had to do for most days of our trip in India, we had to accept this and "go with the flow," as we are headed back to Jaipur. Ke garne (or "what to do") as they used to say in Nepal... In any case, we did get our share of camel-mania!

We had some great views with which I will end this post:

Beautiful sunset over the lake at "sunset point"

(The most peaceful we have felt since being in India!)