Jazz Brunch

I totally forgot to write about the Jazz Brunch Shirin and I went to last Saturday morning! We went to Johnny D's in Davis Square, which is just one stop away on the train from our place. Every Saturday and Sunday morning, there is a Jazz Brunch, when there is Jazz music performed live in the restaurant. The restaurant itself is a really neat place and the guy playing some jazz added to the ambience. However, we went at maybe 11:30, and the man who was playing music didn't play between noon and one. We figured we probably shouldn't go during lunch hour if we really wanted to hear the live jazz music. But, we did get a taste of it and it was quite fun! Also, the restaurant serves grits so we shared a small bowl of cheesy grits to taste. And, they were definitely gritty! Tasteless without the cheese, but we tried them! Definitely wouldn't want them on a regular basis...I prefer Cream of Wheat, even if the bottom burns and sticks to the pan. :) After Johnny D's, we went to study at Diesel Cafe, which was so great! It's a rather large cafe with quite a few tables. It was a popular place with many little trinkets to look at from time to time, during a study break. :) After a long afternoon of studying, Shirin and I went over to Neil's place for dinner. Neil is a friend, future roommate, and classmate. (He is the lone non-California one in the apartment-from Florida.)

Finally Summer...

Yep! Summer has come upon us here on the east coast. Or, at least I'm told this is more of a typical summer. Yesterday morning, I woke up hot and sticky. Yes...the humidity has set in. And, the heat. So, I took a shower, but I was just as sweaty after as I was before, so I'm not sure if it was worth it. Then, I went to church at Hope Fellowship Church yesterday morning, which was pretty good. I enjoyed the service and the preaching and it seems as if they are pretty involved in the community and are looking for ways to continually reach out to those around them, which is encouraging. Kind of a smaller church and I absolutely loved the building! :) (an added bonus) I met up with two of my friends from Cal Poly, Ruth and Lissa, at church and it was so much fun to see them on the opposite coast! And, I found out that I will be living close to Ruth next year while Lissa moves back to California to go to Fuller Seminary in Pasadena. Both Ruth and Lissa have lived here for the past year and I am looking forward to seeing Ruth more in the coming year! We went to lunch together after church and towards the end of lunch, it randomly started pouring and maybe ten minutes later, it stopped just as abruptly as it began. When the rain has stopped, we decided to take advantage of the dry sky and travel home. I went to study at Breugger's which is a great coffee shop place with excellent music. Shirin met me there and we studied until they closed. We had a coupon we were going to use to buy a dozen bagels, but when we went to go buy them, they had already closed the registers and had partial bags of bagels, so the workers gave us a bunch of bagels for free! It was so nice of them and so great for us! We were given six pumpernickel, five or six wheat, and maybe four multi-bagels. Whatever they were, they were free and gave us reason to smile and something to eat! :)

Last night, while I was laying in bed, all of a sudden there was a flash outside my window followed by claps of thunder. A bit confused, I laid in my bed, listening and waiting. There was more thunder and lightening and maybe two minutes later, the rain finally came. And, when the rain came, it came all at once...in a downpour. Right before this happened, I was thinking that summer had finally come and I was experiencing the hot and humid summer as I was expecting. And, then the rain came and thought I had thought too soon. However, I was talking with a fellow classmate this morning and she informed me that these thunderstorms are typical and normal in the summer. Whereas I think winter when I think thunderstorm, these people over here think summer when they think thunderstorm. Interesting difference. So, I suppose I was correct in thinking that I am finally experiencing a more typical east coast summer. So much to get used too...can't wait until I learn about and experience a New England winter! I think I'm in for a surprise! :) And today, again, was hot and humid. I am so thankful for the window air conditioning unit in my room and that my room is on the second floor and not the third. Shirin and Laura (my two roommates who both have rooms upstairs) are so warm in their rooms-I feel bad for them. So, I really have not too much, if anything, to complain about!

Random thought/observation:

I noticed this a while ago...on my way back to Boston from California from the wedding...but it's useless to have automatic flushing toilets in the bathrooms if they do not work properly. Sometimes the automatic flusher flushes way too early--before I even sit down! Then, I have to get another seat cover and start over. Or, there are the toilets that the automatic flusher doesn't flush automatically, so I have to manually push the button anyway to flush it. What's the point of that? I don't see one, but maybe I need to be enlightened. However, we have automatic flushing toilets at school and they work wonderfully...flushing at the right time and everything! When the automatic flusher works like it's supposed to, automatic flushing toilets can be great! However, when they work like they are not supposed to, automatic flushing toilets are useless and more frustrating because it does not function as expected.

A Few Exciting Things (and a couple pictures)

So, I totally neglected to share a few exciting pieces of mail I received since moving to Boston! Mail time is my favorite part of the day, although I rarely find something in the mailbox for me. Somehow, just the excitement of getting the mail and the possibility of there being something for me inside makes me happy. Usually, there is nothing for me, but then I can see who did receive something in the mail and I can be excited for them because who doesn't like to receive real mail? Right...nobody...EVERYONE likes to receive some real mail, even if it's just a letter from the dentist's office. Okay, it's not so personal, but at least they take the time to mail a pre-printed, pre-signed happy birthday card. Growing up, some days I would race my dad to the mailbox to be able to get the mail first. Then, even if he won, I would still have to look through the mail myself after he told me I didn't get anything or giving me what was addressed to me. Then, there were those days that he would beat me to the mailbox and still let me take the mail out. What a great dad! I said there were those days, but they still occur. :) When I was home for Nathan and Erin's wedding, my dad made a special point to ask me if I wanted to get the mail one day and I said OF COURSE! Then I went and got the mail because he told me it had arrived. :)

Okay...back to my story. I have received a few wonderful letters and appreciate them so much. Thank you to those who have sent me mail-I absolutely love it and it pretty much makes my day!!! :) When I got back to my place after coming back to Boston from the wedding last month, there was a note on my bedroom door that said that I have a package downstairs, to the laundry. A bit confused, I opened the door that goes downstairs to go to the laundry in the basement, and what do I see?! A HUMUNGOUS box addressed to ME!!!! I was SO excited and a bit confused too. I later found out that my downstairs neighbor brought the box in and put it in the stairwell to get it off the front porch, which was really nice of him. When I brought it up to my room, I looked at it and saw that my sister had sent it to me. Then, I was a little confused as to what was inside. It was such a big box and I had no idea what she had sent me. I opened it and to my surprise, it was the most amazing care package I have ever received. There was a huge card that said Welcome to Boston along with all kinds of goodies and trinkets and things to decorate and play with! :) THANK YOU CARI!!!! That was the ultimate home-coming and Boston-welcoming gift! I was so excited and still can't help but smile and get excited when I think about it or look at anything that came in it. :)

I was so excited! Such a large card and a large basket with so many goodies!!!

All the contents in the care package. It's so much!!! :)

Then, maybe it was the next week or sometime later, I received another box in the mail, but this time it was from my mom and dad! It was significantly smaller than the previous box, but just as exciting nonetheless. :) I opened it and this time, I found all my spices and a few snacks and food items! Spices are expensive to buy, so I was just going to wait until later to bring them from home because I didn't want to buy new ones when I already had some at home and could bring later. So, now we can use the spices when we cook, which is actually not as often as we should or want to. But, we have them available when we want to use them! Thank you mom!!! and dad too!!! :)

SKIP THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ ABOUT MY CADAVER LAB.

Some of you know about what I missed in the cadaver lab by going to Nathan and Erin's wedding. For those of you who don't know...our class is broken into two groups for dissecting. That Thursday I left for California, my normal group was going second. In order to make sure I had plenty of time to get to the airport and checked in so I wouldn't be late for my plane, I switched with a girl in the first group that day and went to lab early. Thursday night, right before I boarded my plane, I found out that the second group (my normal group) cut one of the legs off the cadaver that afternoon. If I didn't have to go to the airport to catch a plane, I would have been there. Keep in mind that my group had primarily done skinning and getting through all the fat of our body while the other group cut through the ribs and took out the rib cage and took out the organs (they did leave the heart for us to take out, which was nice). So, I felt like I was missing out on the "exciting" stuff, but really, skinning is pretty exciting because we find so many cutaneous nerves, arteries, veins, and other neat things as we dissect. Anyway, I had the opportunity to cut the clavicles out last week, which I was thankful for the opportunity to do so. It allowed me to have a more complete dissection lab experience. It wasn't anything like the leg, but it was something. And, we started dissecting the face and to look at the tempomandibular joint (TMJ) we chiseled through the mandible a bit. Dad...we definitely use tools in lab, but for a very different reason than you ever have.

And now, here are a couple pictures to go with the last post:

Shirin and I in our white coats after the white coat ceremony.

Neil, Kristina, and Erin in front of one of the tall ships that came through Boston Harbor.

My Half Birthday...

...was a week and a half ago on July 7. Just in case you were wondering. However, that was a pretty eventful day and I have been rather busy recently and have decided to take some time to write about last week a bit. After studying all weekend long, I had my first gross anatomy test on that Tuesday. It was pretty intense, but my study habits have significantly changed from undergrad, so I felt rather comfortable and calm and somewhat confident going into the test. And, I came out of it feeling pretty good about it. After the test, some of my classmates and I went to celebrate and then about ten of us left the larger celebration to go to the A's game! Well, everyone else said it was the Red Sox game, but Oakland was in town. Although the A's scored the first run, they ended up losing when the ninth inning came around. The A's had won 6-0 Monday night and I realize I was being rather hopeful in wanting them to win two in a row. Needless to say, I really enjoyed the game and it was fun to be in Fenway Park, which is a lot smaller of a field than I was expecting it to be. I did not get a Fenway Frank though...I suppose I'll just have to go again.

Wednesday was our White Coat Ceremony for school. Nothing big nor fancy, but just a small ceremony in our classroom in which the third year DPT students coated us with our white coats and then pinned us with our MGH Institute of Health Professions pin. There were only a few families there...mom and dad--you didn't miss much! I can re-enact it for you in August if you so desire. It's kind of fun to have a white coat, which we will be wearing when we go to our clinical observations and practicums. It looks rather professional and medical. I have my first clinical observation on Monday at Massachusetts General Hospital, so I will be wearing my white coat for the first time on Monday. I'm excited for it, so hopefully it goes well! After the ceremony, I went apartment searching with my future roommates and it was a successful trip--the realtor called us yesterday and told us that he has a lease for us to sign! I will be living with five other people and we are all pretty excited. It's almost a California exclusive house; there is one guy from Florida, but the rest of us are from California. It most definitely is CA dominant (and northern CA to be more specific). One girl from Los Angeles area (Cerritos), one girl from San Ramon (Shirin-current roommate), one girl from San Jose, one guy from Petaluma, and me! We'll all be learning how to manage in the cold winter together when the time comes. :)

Last Friday morning I went into school to practice my transfers. It was great! haha... But, really, it was good practice and becoming more comfortable in transferring people from a bed to a wheelchair and back again and moving them around to different positions while they are in the bed. It will be necessary for me, especially if I am working in the hospital or rehab setting. After practicing those important skills, I went with a couple friends to wander around the tall ships. I suppose once every five or six years or so these "tall ships" come into the Boston Harbor from all over the world for a weekend for people to visit and explore and learn a bit. We didn't go on any of the ships because there were so many people and families around. But, since our school is right in the navy yard, right on the water/harbor, we walked around and explored the festivities. It was a beautiful day outside and seeing the tall ships was fun and a good study break (between transfer practicing and anatomy studying). After eating lunch in the festivities, I went inside for the rest of the day and missed the gorgeous weather in the harbor to study. Then, we went to Indian food for dinner and the dish I got was a bit too spicy for my liking, but I was able to try other not so spicy dishes that were rather tasty. It was a pretty good first impression of Indian food.

Saturday morning, we went to Haymarket, which has an outdoor farmer's market every Friday and Saturday all day. It was nothing like Thursday nights in San Luis, but we were able to get a bunch of fruit and vegetables and some cheese and bread for pretty cheap. Then, we came home and guess what we did?!?! Yep, you're right...we studied. Then, I had a mini baking session that night in which I baked brownies and it was great.

Sunday morning, I went to Park Street Church which is celebrating their 200th anniversary and part of their celebration is having a few featured guest speakers throughout the year. One of the guest speakers, Joni Eareckson Tada, came last week and spoke about the goodness of God in all situations and circumstances. It was neat to hear from her and how she has experienced God's goodness in her life after becoming a quadriplegic following a diving accident after high school. She has been a quadriplegic for 42 years and she shared what's real to her, but was able to remind people that everyone experiences brokenness. She broke her neck, but others have broken hearts and broken families, and we need God and his mercy and goodness to experience freedom from the brokenness we experience. After church, I went to Harvard Med to study a bit and look at the cadavers some. During that time, I realized how much I don't know and how much studying I had before me. Now, I still have a lot to study, but am getting through...a little bit at a time.

Tuesday, I had a test in my Professional Socialization class and I think/hope I did alright. This class is not as intense as anatomy and I'm sure I did alright. We were told to not stress over it and my teacher is aware of how demanding our anatomy class, so now, I'm just waiting and studying for anatomy. That night, I was so tired and exhausted, but had bought a ticket to a Greg Laswell concert in town. It was a nice setting--small venue, pretty low key. However, I was so tired, I almost fell asleep during the concert. It was a pretty good show and I enjoyed the music for the most part, but I was so ready to be in bed!

Nothing else really exciting, except one thing. But, I will wait to write about that until next time. This is already a pretty long post, so if you read this whole thing, I'm impressed and honored! So, the exciting stuff for a later time. However, I will warn you that I will not be writing until after Tuesday. If you can't guess, I have a test on Tuesday! Yay anatomy! Actually, there's quite a few exciting things that have been going on recently. Although, most of them have been in the cadaver lab, so I'm sure many people won't find them as exciting as I do, but that's okay! I'll still share! :) That may deter a few people from reading the happenings in my life, but oh well! It'll only be a few more weeks before I'm done in the cadaver lab...which is crazy! It has gone by so fast! Ok....off to sleep so I can study well all day tomorrow! :)

Fourth of July...Boston Style

The fourth of July this year was different than any other year. There has been years at the singing flag, others at barbeques, others at the Clayton parade, one on the top of our roof, one at the Clayton Community Park...many different places to spend Independence Day and in different ways and with different people. 2006 was in East Asia. I remember throwing up that morning and it was probably the one time I was thankful to vomit. I think we had been there a few days, maybe a week, and I was still feeling sick from the plane ride, and after that morning and resting a bit, I felt much, much better. 2009 will also be a memorable one. I slept in a bit and went to study for a few hours before going to the Esplanade right along the Charles River to meet up with a few friends. Thankfully the day was GORGEOUS! It had been gloomy and rainy for who knows how long before (pretty much the whole month of June) and it was forecasted to rain on the fourth, but God had a great surprise for us and it was so nice out all day long! Not a rain cloud in the sky (there were clouds) and the sky was nice and clear--perfect to see the fireworks! I found my friends in the sea of people spread out all along the waterfront. They had a few blankets out and books and flashcards and we studied a bit more while a few boyfriends/husbands who were there did a bit of trivia on their own. We were quizzing each other on the thoracic and abdominal cavities while the significant others were quizzing each other on random trivia or movie or sports trivia. It was rather enjoyable. Then, the sun started to go down and the Boston Pops concert started, but since we couldn't see it, we listened to it over the speakers set up. It was the CBS televised fourth of July celebration and it was fun to be a part of it. It was somewhat similar to the Singing Flag celebration except there were maybe a hundred times more people and one was unable to watch the musical performance and the fireworks both. So, we opted for the fireworks show. It was a great show and there were many people out on their boats in the river, which is where I would have preferred to be, but it's kinda hard to be on a boat in the water when I don't have a boat (or access to one at all). After the fireworks were done, it was like a crazy madhouse leaving and the T was PACKED full of people. It was free that night though, which helped the non-Bostonians who don't know how to ride the T get through faster and out of our way for those of us who knew where we were going. :) Just kidding. :) There were so many people though; it was crazy! Just look at some of the pictures below.

Lots of people on the Esplanade on the gorgeous day!

The Oval Platform where the Boston Pops performed from.

People everywhere!

So many boats in the water--beautiful day along the Charles River.

Sunset along the Charles River with a lot of people walking about.

A few classmates and friends I celebrated the 4th with! (L to R: Cathy, Erin, Shirin (roommate), Hannah, Brian, Kristina, Neil, Thomas, and me)

Friends/significant others/non-PT students :)

Crowded T station

Crowded T platform...I have never seen this many people in the T station at once, before the 4th of July.

If you'd like to watch, here's a little sample of the fireworks show we saw (I think this was the finale):

No longer MIA

I realize it's been about two weeks since I have written a little somethin' somethin', and I know some people have noticed and have been wondering about my life. Well, at least I hope some people have. :) It has been quite the two weeks though. And, there's a lot I could write about, but I'll give the very abbreviated version right now. I forget what I did the week after Father's Day...it was kind of a long time ago and I probably just studied since I left Thursday night to go home to California. So, Thursday night came, and I was CA bound. Friday morning, my mom treated me to a pedicure and manicure...thanks mom! Cari came with us (yay!) and got a manicure. :) The pedicure will come later...no matter what she says. One day, she will enjoy people touching her feet and legs. :) So, then we went home, packed an overnight bag and went to the rehearsal dinner for my brother's WEDDING! Such a great weekend to be with family and friends. Thanks to everyone who came--it was great to celebrate with you all! Saturday was the wedding--woke up at 4:45 am, went to Erin's house, did hair and make-up and got dressed, took the limo to the chapel, had the BEAUTIFUL ceremony, took a bunch of fun pictures (which I'm really excited to see), went to the reception, and had a bunch of fun and danced with my cousins and friends! The whole wedding was so great and such a testament of Nathan and Erin's love for one another and their love for God and their desire to serve God through their marriage. Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of it and to witness such a neat, God-glorifying celebration! Love you guys! Then, Sunday was the day after the wedding brunch which was another great time to spend time with and see family who had come from out of town and who I don't get to see too often. (Nathan and Erin had some out of town friends come too, but I don't really know them, so I stuck with my cousins!) Sunday night, mom and dad took Nathan, Erin, and I to SFO and while the newlyweds went off to the Cayman Islands, I headed back to Boston. As I was waiting to board the plane, an announcement was made that they had overbooked the flight and were looking for volunteers to go on a different flight. Had I been a volunteer, I would have flown to Chicago first class and landed in Boston at 9:43 am (instead of 7:03 am) plus I would have received a free roundtrip plane ticket to anywhere within the 48 contiguous states. If only I didn't have class at 9:00 Monday morning.

So, I landed at Boston Logan Monday morning after maybe three hours of sleep and was met so wonderfully by one of my friends and classmates, Kristina, who took me back to her place and we hung out for a bit before class. Monday afternoon I went and spent some time in lab studying for anatomy. I have accepted that my clothes are going to smell like the cadaver room and it will not come out, no matter how many times I wash them. That's the end of those clothes! Tuesday, we studied all day and then came home to a home-cooked meal made by Mahsa, Shirin's friend from Californai! It was so great--thanks so much Mahsa!!! (even though she will probably never read this) Mahsa was visiting for the week and we were able to do a few fun things with her. After class on Wednesday, it was raining (surprise, surprise) and we went to the USS Constitution for a bit and talked to a few sailors, including our new sailor friend John, before going to a restaurant right down the street from school called Tavern on the Water. Since it was raining super hard and we trampled through puddles (the deep ones not on purpose), we were super wet and decided to go buy raincoats. Of course, it didn't rain the whole rest of the week, but we were prepared had it rained! And, I'm sure the rain is not over, so I will get a good use out of that raincoat (now or next year). The rain and puddles were fun, until we got home and opened our backpacks and found a bunch of our stuff wet! I had to open up books and cards and all kinds of wet items to dry overnight. What a sad evening that was. I lost my calculator to the rain! It turns on, but the numbers don't appear correctly on the screen. I had that calculator since sixth grade and I had personalized it with stickers and all. Granted it wasn't a super calculator or anything, but there was definitely a lot of sentimental value to it. :( Bummer for me. After class on Thursday, some of our classmates went to a karaoke bar (Hong Kong) and one of the girls sang (not me). A few of us left the karaoke bar not too long after we got there and decided to go to the original (or inspirational, rather) Cheers bar! I bought a mug with "Cheers" on it and it was kind of fun! Now, I know where it is too so when people (you) come visit me, I can take you there if you want! Friday morning we went to Harvard Medical School for our practice practical to help us study for the test, which was really helpful. Then, I stayed there all day and studied with a couple other classmates and enjoyed another evening out at Boston Beer Works with some classmates. Lots of fun times, but well deserved after the amount of studying!

Well, this is definitely NOT the really abbreviated version as promised in the beginning, but there's just so much going on in Boston and surrounding areas! I'm definitely keeping busy with school and extra stuff, but it's all so great. More on the fourth of July and this week later. If you're lucky, I'll include some pictures as well! :)