Last Day

Today is my last day in Tainan...My home for the last 5 weeks. I cannot believe how quickly it went and how much fun we had. I have learned so much from the amazing people here. I could not have anticipated how warm and accepting and humble the people of Taiwan are. We had some really special experiences in the hospitals here and have made friendships that will never be forgotten. I have gotten to know the people in my group so well and we were always so adventurous it made for a thrilling time every day. I will miss traveling with this group and hopefully some future plans to get together really do come true. I have had an incredible time here in Taiwan and hope to never forget the experiences I have had that will make me a better person, a better nurse and a better friend. Thanks for the memories and the pictures (all 7000 of them...). Hope to make it back here someday!

Chinese Medicine...cool stuff.

There is a section of the hospital here that is devoted to chinese medicine. We were fortunate to go and see the department and then have a couple of the doctors and nurses there try some stuff out on us! It was pretty cool to see how everything is done. We tried out the acupuncture and the bok wan (I have no clue how to spell that, but it is cupping...if you have ever heard of that). I had the bok wan on my neck and they told me that I needed to drink more water...apparently they can tell I was dehydrated from it... And I got acupuncture done on my right wrist because I told the doctor that it hurt (it still does from when I sprained it a long time ago...). He said that if it was like a carpel tunnel problem they would go right in the middle of the underside of the wrist. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to let him do it on me, because I knew that that area is full of tons of nerves and blood vessels and tendons and such. A very sensitive area. Well I just sat down and he flicked it in and before I knew it, there was shooting pains down all my fingers and even up my arm a bit. Apparently I went from normal color to white to green and everyone was afraid I was going down. But the doctor just kept telling me to keep breathing and he twisted it even further until it was just right (which means that it kills) and said it was good. Well we kept it in for several minutes and then he offered to take it out. Now that was a werid sensation. I felt like I was being pulled up and out of my chair. The rest of the day my hand felt slightly numb and funny and now my wrist feels bruised. I think I just hurt myself. Oh and the bok wan on the neck leaves this perfectly circular bruise of differing colors. Very interesting.

Kind of an unfortunate picture of me, but a fairly accurate depiction of my thoughts about the whole procedure.The wrist...such an awful place to put it.
Bok wan! (or...cupping!) It feels really weird...but afterwards, I actually felt super relaxed and great. And they use this cream that is like Icy-Hot, so that was kinda cool.

The suction gun!

You can't really see it super well, but the skin gets sucked up in these cups and is raised a good inch or so and it turns really red. Then you have a nice little hicky to remember it by.

Hualien and Taipei

We had an incredible weekend. We started by waking up early and traveling to the east side of the island to a town called Hualien. There is a gorge here called Toroko gorge with the most incredible views and pretty cool hikes. We also did an activity called river walking, which was way fun. It just was us, basically walking up a river, decked out in a bunch of gear. It was so fun. Then we went to Taipei and stayed with Adam and Kay, who were the best hosts ever for taking in all crazy 9 of us for two nights. It was so fun to see them and see the sights of Taipei! That is just a really brief outline of the weekend, but the pictures are the best part, so here they are!

See what I mean about the gorge?? Gorgeous.

Jumping on a suspension bridge. Cheap thrills :)

Way cool temple and monestary perched on the mountain. And amazing view from the top.

The Eternal Spring Shrine. That water was so clear.


Closer view of the shrine.

I just couldn't get enough of the nature shots. Everything was incredible.

The group at the martyrs shrine. After we watched an intense changing of the guards.

A guided tour of the National Palace Museum...in English! Its the simple things really...

That is the tallest building in the world...and I went to the top. Doesn't look so big in this picture...but... :)

Ready to board the fastest elevator in the world! 90-something floors in about 30 seconds. We were zooming!

Shout out to the hometown. Go Space Needle!

One of the best things about this weekend was seeing and hanging out with Adam, Kay, Lizzy and James!!!!!!

A gong! A ma!

A gong and A ma are the titles for the old people in Taiwan. It is Taiwanese for Grandfather and Grandmother. They are the cutest ever! Here are a few of them that I have had the opportunity to meet while in community.
This was one of our patients. He was a little out of it, as you might be able to gather, but he was actually a very happy man and waved to me as I said hello!
And this is his spry cute wife. She was so adorable with her pearls and nice shirt. She owned a grocery store here, which I should have taken a picture of. It was interesting :) I would tell her that she was "ju schwei" which means beautiful and she would just laugh. And tell us that we had cute little noses.
And this is the cutest man on the entire planet. I am convinced. He is really old and is the sole caretaker for his invalid wife. He is adorable with her and I would tell him "ju entah" which is handsome and he smiled and said he didn't want any pictures, but I think he secretly liked it and the nurse said that he was excited to tell all his old friends about how he took a picture with a beautiful american girl. He was so cute. I love these people!

Best Weekend Ever!

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. There has simply not been enough time. I have now finished up my rotation in the ICU, got to do a day in the ER and now will move onto Community (home health) nursing. I am excited to go into the country and visit patients in their home! Should be a good experience. I am still loving every minute here and we are having a blast!

This weekend we went to a place called Kenting. It was beautiful! The views were amazing and the night market was a blast. (sorry about the sparce picture content. For some reason I didn't use my camera much and hopefully I will get some pictures from other people soon)
We got there not knowing what to expect or where our hotel was. So we talked to some people and decided that we would rather stay at a different hotel than originally planned. Thats something I really like about this group that I am with. We are all very flexible and adventurous. Makes things more fun and exciting. After switching it up with hotels, we made some plans. First on the list was the beach. So we went and found a surf shop where we got some lunch and some surf boards. We went to the beach, which was amazing and Calvin taught all of us to surf! I actually got up on my second attempt and it was so fun! Calvin was a very good teacher and he got all 6 of us up and going! It was incredible. After surfing we went back to town and hit up the night markets. These are so fun with a ton of food and shopping. We all spent some money and got some cool things and ate some great food. This night market was really fun with a ton of things to see.

Saturday we got up bright and early and some people went scuba diving and the rest of us when snorkeling.
It was so funny because these people didn't speak any english and we didn't speak any chinese, and it was hilarious. Once we got things sorta figured out, we piled into the back of a suspicious looking van and headed to the beach! Once we were there, I think the idea was that we all hold on to each other and stay in a group, but we just acted like we didn't understand and went out on our own. It was so cool! The fish were awesome and the reef was actually pretty neat. I was pleasently surprised. Then we went to lunch at this Tex-Mex restaurant, which was amazing. After a while, the chinese food (while still good) gets to you and a nice burrito or hamburger really hits the spot. It was so good. After that we headed home via a crazy taxi driver that luckily knew how to maneuver his way through traffic and some train hopping. We were all exhausted by the time we got home, quite sunburned, but so happy about the weekend.

Today, Sunday, we sang with the choir. In chinese of course. It was probably really wrong and who knows what we actually said. But it was still fun. They recruited us our first week in the ward and today was performance day. So funny. I love the ward that we go to. They are all amazing!


This is a major reason why this was the best weekened ever. This was taken atop a beautiful mountain overlooking the ocean. Breathtaking, right? The elementary school had a sign that said "English teachers wanted. Requirements: Native English Speaker." Um...thats me! Im thinking about moving here for real.

Food. Food. Food.

These people are all about the food. Seriously every where we go we are bombarded by new foods and interesting dishes. And I feel like we are the circus come to town. Everyone is like, lets see what we can get the Americans to eat and watch their reactions. Its crazy. We have eaten some crazy things over here because let me tell ya, they get creative with their meals sometimes. Let me show you a few things that I have had the pleasure of having since arriving in Taiwan a mere week ago. There is plenty of good things to eat as well, don't get me wrong, but these are just the choicest shock factor items :)

First we have duck tongue. I have actually had the pleasure of eating this twice. First at lunch in the ICU with all the nurses and then again at dinner with the ER staff. The second time was funny because they thought I would be grossed out but I just acted like it was no big thing and chomped down cause I knew I could handle it. They were surprised I think.

First Timer in the ICU

Duck Tongue Veteran

Next on the menu is Chicken Feet. Now these didn't really gross me out as bad as they did some other people, but I just don't get the appeal. There isn't any meat on it and there isn't really anything to it. You are just supposed to suck on the bone and eat the skin I guess. Nothing really appealing to me about it. But this picture is priceless.
We also had the "opportunity" to get some stinky tofu from the night market. Imagine, if you will, really old stinky socks mixed with a bad case of diarrhea left sitting out in the sun for a week or so and you begin to imagine the smell of this stuff. You are sense it a mile away and don't believe the people that say that it tastes much better than it smells. It tastes EXACTLY like it smells. This is the one and only time I have nearly thrown up because of something I ate here. Absolutely awful. Never again.

Right after we pounded a huge bite of stinky tofu. It hadn't hit us quite yet obviously.
After knowing the awfulness of the stuff.

This next picture is a little decieving. The ER docs at our table made a pact with us that we would try anything they ordered for us. So they tried their hardest to get us the worst. They made us eat this one without telling us what it was. While chewing my piece, Whitney guesses that it is squid eyes and the doctor says she is right! I stopped chewing immediately and didn't know what to do. So that is why I am pointing to my eye. However, don't fear, they were joking. It is actually squid mouth, which is still weird but somehow better than eyes. Much better.
Now these puppies are the biggest shrimp I have ever seen. We got to rip off the heads and eat the meat. This is the first shrimp I have ever actually enjoyed. Perhaps I am just becoming accustomed to it a little more since it is in EVERYTHING, or maybe I like the big ones better?
Now it wouldn't be asia without a little raw fish right? We were told that as long as we doused it is wasabi we wouldn't get sick from it...I might believe them because it makes me sleep better at night.

And this nice looking fella is an octopus. I didn't eat this particular one but I did try a piece of his friend at dinner tonight. Not so good this octopus. As my friend Whitney put it, it tastes like the ocean. Yum.
So those are a few fun things I have tried. Maybe I will post later about some of the good finds I have had like papaya and mango milk. Or the omlet - meat taco things I found the other day. Or the amazing fish I had tonight. Or the plethora of amazing pastrys and breads they have there. But that isn't as much fun as it is delicious and I don't want to make you jealous. And don't worry. This isn't everything nasty that I have tried so far and I am sure it will just continue. This is just a sampling :) Hao Chur!!

Night Out with the Girls :)

So at lunch in the hospital yesterday the nurses that we were eating with asked if we wanted to go to a movie. Alexa and I said, sure and in typical Chinese fashion they made plans immediately to go out that night. They are very spontaneous here and make plans when they think of them. Its pretty funny. Luckily we didn't have anything else going on, so we got tickets and arranged rides. LaLa, a girl who told us to call her Vegetable and another nurse picked us up on their scooters (which everyone rides here) at 8:30 and we scootered to the theater.
Its a wonder people don't die more often in Taiwan on scooters. They are crazy on them and weave in and out of traffic. No one has any regard for lines or rules or lights or anything, so its pretty funny. We were safe though...promise. :)
So we saw 17 Again with Zac Efron (from High School Musical). It was actually a pretty good movie! I like it a lot. The movie was completely in english with Chinese subtitles. If I was Chinese, I would never go to movies...but hey it worked out for us! Total there were about 6 or 7 girls that came with us, none of their english being top notch, so it was just hilarious. They would speak the little that they knew and then giggle incessently. After the movie we had a photo shoot with the different movie posters in the theater and even though these girls are all in their 20's you would have thought we were all pre-teens. It was awesome.

The Proposal...
Zac Efron - So Hot. As those girls would say
Don't worry Jim, we didn't actually drive them...
These girls were so much fun!

It seriously was probably the most fun I have ever had going to a movie and I didn't really understand anything that was going on! It was amazing. And I got to see a pretty good movie as well! All in all a very fun night. Thanks nurses!