day off the ship

My Day out in Sihanoukville, Cambodia

1.     Took a tuk tuk to the local marketcenter.  The tuk tuk is awesome. It’s a cart stuck to a motorcycle. There are two benches that seat a total of 4 normal people or 3 big boys.  There are 4 poles that hold up a roof but no closed in windows. Its open air.   The market place is huge. There are aisles after aisles of all types of stuff- clothes, electronics, shoes, jewelry, pedicure services, tailors and even a whole food section complete with snails and tanks for wild sea creatures.  I got sweet stuff for cheap cheap cheap. Shopping in Asia is great.  I got 6 bracelets for $2 and a sweet shirt for $8. Maybe I should have bargained more but the point is, there is good stuff at unbelievable prices.

2.     Went to a bagoda/pagota?  Anyway we found a super cool Buddhist temple and walked around the peaceful quiet courtyard.  We found a very reverent fountain complete with little statues of peeing boys.  Who thought that was appropriate for a religious center? I dunno, but he’s got a sense of humor.  Taylor talked to a couple of young monks complete with their vibrant orange/red robes.  They told taylor that me and Amy are beautiful. I thought that was funny to get that from monks. Moving on…

3.     We fed MONKEYSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes, we fed them bananas. They went crazy. They acted like they’d never eaten before and were surrounded within seconds by cute little primates.  No missing fingers or injuries to report.  That’s good.

4.     Went to the beach. It was raining about all day so we just decided to press onward as if it was sunny. So we had a mini beach day. Little kids just ran around naked and free. We did not.  We kept a watchful eye on our bags but still had fun. 

5.     Um, I’d go into detail about more stuff but I’m always on a time crunch, I work 12 hours a day, excersize, go to LDS devotional, take a shower and then by the time that’s over its lights out. And then another day begins…

Cambodia!

Oh boy. I can’t believe this happened… ok I’m going to back up. For the past 2 months I’ve been making friends with all the people on the boat.  They do all sorts of things. For example, the guys who work out at the front of the ship, let me and amy and Georgia go to the BOW or the front and check it out. (usually its off limits). That was cool. Then we got a little behind the scenes tour of the fridge and the ship’s freezer. I almost stole a pineapple but that would probably lose a few trustworthy points.  

            SOOOOO, our friendship with a helicopter pilot….paid off. Big time.   Me, Amy and Georgia and 5 others got to go on a HELO RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sometimes, words just don’t do justice to really cool experiences.  How do you explain how amazing it is to take off from a Navy ship in Cambodia? I don’t know. Trust me when I say,  it was incredible.  We wore our gear complete with a “cranial” which is a helmet with ear muffs to protect your hearing. Amy, Georgia and I were screaming like excited little girls the entire time.  Ok most of the time.  It was blowing my mind.  We circled the ship a couple of times, flew along the coast and then went inland.  The land is super green and lush.  Its not so humid as Vietnam but its pretty hot. Wait back to the view- the water is a mix of gray and aqua in some places and there are shacks dotting the land with tin/steel roofs.  The buildings are really colorful. 

            Yeah, I needed that helo ride. I’ve been working straight 12 hour days for weeks and I’m getting a little tired.  Its okay, when I get the rare chance to catch up on sleep, it makes everything better.

            About the kiddos- Its really interesting to see the culture differences between parents in Cambodia and in America.  In Cambodia, these patients have to pretty much stay in our little ward for about 3 days. The parents don’t bring magazines to entertain themselves like they would in the states. And they don’t really entertain their children either. I’m really used to parents being super interactive so its been very interesting to see how parenting is over here. Obviously, human nature is the same around the world, but there are definitely differences. Oh yeah, the whole sit-down-on-the-toilet-to-pee concept definitely hasn’t caught on here any better than Vietnam.  No one gets it. The mothers hold their children over the toilet, or the kids squat with their feet on the seat to go to the bathroom.  Everyday things to us, are so unusual and strange to the people of Southeast Asia.

            Wanna learn Cambodian? Here we go:

Hello: Suesiday! (They have a totally different squiggly alphabet that looks really cool so I’m going to put it phonetically)

How are you? : Sucksiby tay?

Everythings good:  Sucksiby

Thank you: Aw cone

           

Anyway, a lot goes on on this ship but once again, who wants to read a 10 page blog? Not I.  So I’ll write soon about my day in Cambodia!

Vietnam Part 2

            So we’re packing up and movin out today.  Vietnam has been an incredible experience, but really hard as well. The people are so kind and good, but the government needs a lot of work. I don’t think I’m supposed to say that but its true.  We are all reminding ourselves though that we are making baby steps and each year that projects like the Mercy visits, we’re allowed to do more things from the government.  Its just going to have to take time.  We didn’t do as many surgeries or help as much as we hoped for. 

           

            Pediatrics has been really fun. I love it because language doesn’t matter as much, kids just like to play.   I got to blow bubbles, draw, and hold babies.  Its been pretty great.  There were lots of cleft palate surgeries and its amazing to see how good all the little kids look when they get out of the OR. Within 2 days they’re discharged and they look so good!  That’s a happy thing.  The parents have been so sweet and grateful too.  One mom gave me her business card and wants me to e-mail her! yeah...we're definitly not helping the people you see in commercials asking for money. But in Cambodia, we will really get started in helping those in poverty.

            ANYWAY…on to more positive news.  Many of  the parents were very grateful and we really connected with a lot of the people who came into our ward.  One father stayed for 4 days and didn’t get much sleep because he was always holding his little son. Over time, the little boy let us hold him too.   At the end of his stay Dad told Lizzie he trusted her because she cared for his son as if she was his mother.  We all loved him and Dad.  I was touched at how loving and selfless the father was as he cared for his little baby.

            I’m still working on getting the Vietnamese squat down. Everyone here squats with their heels flat on the ground. Its amazing. They do it for hours!  It kills my calves but I’ll have it by the end of this journey. It really is a goal of mine, they look so comfortable.  Someday, someday. 

           

            Last week was really cool.  Doctors, dentists, and random people like me got to go out in rural Vietnam/ Quy Nhon and set up a clinic called a “Medcap”.  We set up at this old middle school and hundreds of people were there waiting, ready to be seen by the medical team.  I have never EVER seen such small people in my life.  Little old ladies were there in traditional Vietnam clothes with their little cone straw hats.  They were probably 4 feet to 4 ½ ft tall.  Some of them were so bent over, that as they climbed steps, they had to lean forward and use their hands for stability on the steps as they climbed up.  About 600 people were seen on my day but other medcaps see about 1000.   Oh- I ate my first and hopefully last MRE- “Meals ready to EAT”.  They are about 2000 calories and meant to fuel army men for the day. You stick whatever you got in this bag, add water, and after about 10 mins, boom, LUNCH.  It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be…but it still wasn’t Wendy’s.  I got the “beef patty” bag and it was tolerable. But cool! It comes with bread, a snack, gum, a little bottle of tobasco sauce (gee thanks) and tropical fruit punch powder. 

            Ok last night was awesome.  The ship held a “closing ceremony” and invited the Vietnamese local government to participate. Only a few people from each dpt. were invited.  I didn’t make the list. That’s ok becaaaaaause…after, they opened up the party for everyone!!! It was a magical sight. Up on the flight deck under the stars, they had nice tables and super good food out.  They even had carved watermelons and fancy pants ice sculptures.  The Navy band was playing and they are top notch. Quality music.  Earlier that night I was running on the treadmill, listening to my music wanting to dance and not fulfilling that desire. THEN, what happens? A party was waiting for me and I got to dance up on the flight deck!  It was pretty cool, there was hardly anyone dancing at first except for me, Georgia, taylor, and about 3 Navy people.  Soon, there were tons of people dancing and gettin down.  I’m not saying we started it, but we helped it! Not that that matters…

Great week. Totally ready for CAMBODIA.

VIETNAM!!!!!!!

sorry about the lack of a catchy title for this one. but holy moly, vietnam is AMAZING.  So much has happened it takes about an hour to really get started so i'm going to try to condense it as best as I can.
Here we go:

1: Vietnam is HOT. On my liberty day (such an appropriate name by the way since they own my life on the ship) we walked around in 100 degree whether with high high hiiiiiiigh humidity. now comes the crazy part: I actually got used to it.  I never thought i'd say that.

2: ....I'm just going to talk about the day from the beginning, i have to leave some precious jewels out but you'll get the most important parts.  We were lucky enough to travel with Taylor, one of the guys in our LDSC group.  He served a mission in cambodia but speaks vietnamese too. He loves talking to the people and they LOVE him, so we got quite the cultural experience we never would have had without him.
ok- we started out with going to a bagota. don't know how to spell it. aka- Buddhist Temple. When we got there, it was closed because 12-2 is when the monks eat lunch.  BUT since Taylor is so popular with the vietnamese people, we got a personal tour from one of the monks who reopened the doors of the temple so we could go in and look around. We took our shoes off and it was so peaceful and quite.  There is NEVER  peace and quite on the ship so that was a treat.  Everywhere you look there are bright colors, paper lanterns, and cool designs.  Then as we were leaving, the guide let us go up to the bell tower and ring the bell! the bell was bigger than me and I really liked it.
moving on- then we went to lunch and ate this pork and beef w/ veggies and rice dish that was DELICOUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.  i can't believe i didn't take advantage of vietnamese restaurants in San DIego, if they are anything like the place we ate at, i'll be dining out.
NEWAYZ... after that  we walked along the beach and talked to people who were just sitting in a park.  It was peaceful and a really pretty sight to see brightly colored fishing boats out on the harbor.  We sat in the shade for a while as Taylor won the hearts of yet more vietnamese people. By the way, the city we are in is called Quy Nhon. Cool place, totally not touristy, which is great because you get a cultural experience.   After we had that delicious food, taylor ordered fruit for us. I was like, fruit? we're ordering fruit? i don't need an apple. But then came out a plate of curious little round things. They were fruit called "Mangosteens" totally mispelled that too.  Inside these little mangosteens is TREASURE. pure gummy juicy delicious alien looking fruit. I pretty much look at apples and bananas with disgust now.

So then we went to a market place that sold clothes. I felt like a giantess looking around in the little girls section of clothing. I don't think i could fit a leg into their dresses. It was funny, Everywhere we went, we drew a crowd. Amy wanted to try on a jacket and everyone from the local shops came out to watch her look in the mirror.  All the kids stare at us too and shout " HELLO!" from all directions.  Once again, taylor made the everyone laugh and smile as he talked to them.  The people liked me and amy too. They think we're cute.

Gotta keep going.  So then we went to a bunch of other places which take up a lot of time to describe and wish i could tell you all about it. But i can't now... i gotta go back to my shift.  Really fast-  I did the whole day on $10. yeah- I bought lunch for 5, well spent.  then i bought 4 bottles of water, one soda called "sting" which is super tasty and strawberryish.  I bought a chinaman hat but its from vietnam, a journal with poorly translated quotes that cracks me up AND the rest of the money paid for taxi transportation and I even have 2,000 dong left over!! 20,000 dong= $1.

Um, I love Vietnam. That one day out on liberty was one of the most incredible days i've ever experienced. I went out wanting a cultual experience and totally got it. I took pictures with adorable children,  tried out crazy looking food, talked to the people (through taylor) and had the best company. Our group is so fun.  If I have time i'll try to fit in some fun stories later. But For now, i'll just say I love working in Pediatrics, the children are great and adorable and I gotta go.