Totally living up the Java Jacks thing
Oj, so I've been slack. Or busy. Or driving 41 miles to Center, Tx, which incidentally is on the very Eastern border of Texas (but is in the centre of Shelby County, Tx- go figure!)

So, Nacgdoches is kinda neat. Friendly people, a LOT bigger than I thought, a whole lot of eateries and even a college. Oh yeah, and did I mention free internet at the coffee place- and great coffee.

So I did two and a half weeks with the radiologists Drs Grohlman, Avery and Archie and had a great time. I saw some really neat tests that they do, and will not so easily send someone for an MRI after being placed in one. However, although I was only there for a short time, the lack of patient contact and sunlight really got to me, so although it was fun, I don't think I can do it. Also the constant references made by doctors referring to radiation sickness symptoms was rather scary. I also got to spend one day with a radiation oncologist, who totally undid the 6 days of clinical oncology bitterness that I had previously experienced.

In total contrast, I am now working with Dr Jane Todd and Suzanne Middlebrook PA at a rural health clinic. I'm really enjoying this, even if the drive to Center is getting really old. Like one hour each way. But having the patient contact is cool, and I'm meeting some incredibly challenging cases. Because most of the patients are lower socioeconomic (I met one who claimed to live on $70/month- not sure on the accuracy of this), there is some difficulty referring. I never thought I would be so happy to see someone with insurance and a heart murmur yesterday.

In my spare time, I have had some pretty awesome "cultural experiences" (basically my excuse to try anything). As the main cultral experience is eating I'll describe that first. I have eaten Texan vegetables like okra (fried, naturally), crawfish- a type of small fresh water lobster boiled in lots of spicy cajun sauce and served in cardboard boxes (really), eaten proper tex mex and a true texan steak. I have also had "chicken fried steak", which is only surpassed for weird names by "chicken fried chicken"- think DIY KFC coating of meat or chicken. I have also visted Caddo lake on the border of Texas and Lousisiana and frozen in the bayou on a pontoon boat. I've been to a bit of an Americana music festival, and seen a couple of movies. Did I mention how much driving I've done?

I've also been shown around the courthouse in Center- just me and 3 guides- more another time. Over the weekend, Abigail and I went to Cleburne to see the famous Aunt Donnave and Uncle Jim; went to the artists market and the historic stockyards in Fort Worth too.

Anyway, felt a bit out of my depth today- some really difficult cases today, and some easy things that I'd never seen before- like Poison Ivy dermatitis. But other wise it's been good- even if I am the only male in the practice! This has lead to me being called "the man" by some of the patients, much to the delightful taunting of some of the admin staff. Oh well, grain of salt stuff I guess :).

Hope y'all doin' well (darn accent).

Labels: Elective

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It snowed!
Easter: a time of reflection, mourning and celebration of Jesus' death and resurrection. A celebration of new life- those who prefer to remember the 'pagan festivals' would say a celebration of Spring. So when it SNOWED over the weekend, everyone was surprised. All the talk at Church was of it being the first snow since 2003, and how it was so late in the year. Well, that and the fact it was 36F (2C!!!).

So like all reasonable people, Jeff (Abbey's dad) and I went out and he shot some photos.
Here are some (published with permission of course!)

Labels: Elective

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A thought: Hypocrisy and ideals
I was listening to the radio yesterday, and the Texans (no, not all of them) were talking about John Travolta. He had said to a bunch of reporters that "rather than asking about my private life lets talk about something that is really close to my heart, global warming." It was then pointed out that Mr Travolta had flown his JUMBO JET from Berlin to Ireland with about 3 people (i'm not sure exactly, but an exceedingly small number for the craft size) and that this single act had contributed more to Carbon emissions than all four of the presenters would in one year. This apparently is true- aircraft pour out huge amounts of CO2 emissions (yes I know that makes me an evil corporate anti-green person). They then went on to criticise Al Gore for his excessive power bill (apparently ~US$20,000/month), and stated that if people are unwilling to do what they say, then they should not tell others what to do.

I think this is a reasonable point, yet I disagree with it. Why, because if nothing is said at all, then where would we end up? Yes, Travolta, Gore and everyone else, including me, will be a hypocrite at some point in our lives. In fact, I'm sure I am being a hypocrite for criticising hypocrites. Yet, if we fail to look beond the message to the messenger could we lose a whole lot more? That thought about global warming while being in America made me feel really sad.

Be our message global warming, the war in Iraq, poverty, the Gospel or anything else you feel strongly enough to "witness" I would fully encourage you to try live your ideals thoughts and values to the fullest. Yet embrace the fact that you can (as in potentially, definitely will) fall painstakingly short of the goal. And to humbly accept that you stuffed up, and offer grace to those who do likewise.

I read this incredibly challenging quote recently by John Chyrsostom (sp?; 3rd century writer)- from Philip Yancey's Rumours of another world
"We admire wealth equally with them (non-Christians), and even more. We have the same horro of death and the same dread of poverty, the same impatience with disease: We are equally fond of glory and rule... How then can they believe?"

What a challenge! So I'm now going to try and do what I have just written, and most likely fall short quite quickly, even if none of you see it and then get up and try again. But I'm sure it'll be worth a shot.

PS Ha- I totally just got into a sentence with Al Gore and John Travolta- Hollywood eat your heart out. (ah, failed already)

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Update 4: 4 weeks fly by when you're having fun
Monday and Tuesday pretty much were also sightseeing days- It was a bit disappointing that I didn’t really get to do much clinical work whilst I was here. Still going around and seeing all the patients in their plaid pyjamas and blue light jackets was still vaguely exciting. I did get to spend the morning with A/P Simon Ho, an interventional radiologist, while he did angioplasties (treating blocked arteries under x-ray). They were interesting- maybe a future career? Monday afternoon I spent at the Hong Kong Heritage museum, which was excellent. They had some cool exhibits especially this one on collections. Four different collectors, one each of Victorian (business) card boxes, depression era glass (US), export silver (HK) and Chinese/Mongolian headpieces and jewelry, loaned parts of their collections to the museum. It was quite interesting and very educational. Tuesday I spent packing and following discussion with Aunty Mirasay about Asian culture and religion, I began reading this book by Daniel Tong about a biblical view on the topic. Lauren also finally made it home from the US following two missed flights and a snowstorm in Washington DC. Made me very hopeful that I would not have to do likewise.

Following the lack of clinical interaction over the past week, I decided that on Wednesday I would take up the Chinese student's invitation to join them on their trip to Ocean Park (HK’s big amusement park). Well, that and that I wanted to go, and had no one else to go with. These things are nowhere near as fun when you by yourself. To make up for the lack of space in the area, the park was divided in two, joined by gondola. It was a pleasant ride overlooking the South China Sea. On the headland side, there was the usual assortment of rollercoasters, log rides and nausea inducing rotating rides. I went on 3 horizontal rotating rides one after another and felt quite nauseated. One personal highlight was going on ‘the abyss’- one of those rides that drops you 20-storeys straight down. It was surprising how good my head felt after that. I was also pleased because when I went to Tokyo Disneyland in 5th form, I regret greatly not going on Space mountain, and so was glad that I overcame my anxiety this time.

We also visited the various educational aquariums, played the carnival games and saw a trained animal show. We then went to the other side of the park, and we split up into those who went on a balloon ride and those who didn’t. I felt I had been brave enough doing the abyss, and some of the others wanted to visit the kids town as the bigger rides had been a bit much for them. So I just hung out of with them and took pictures while they played around there. We also did this motion ride (one of those ones that you watch a movie and your seat moves) that sprayed you with water at the appropriate moment. At the end of the day, I was going to leave for the Wednesday prayer meeting, which had become quite important to me. This bought up an entire conversation about God and church, which I quite enjoyed. Gosh, their (the Chinese student’s) English was good to be able to discuss faith and religion. I ended up shouting a taxi ride back to the train station due to the long line for the bus. Thank goodness for good exchange rates. The prayer meeting that night was pretty special too.

On Thursday I felt pretty miserable- a combination of a big day, underlying nausea, not enough sleep and a boring operation- a popliteal-pedal bypass. I had to leave to clear my head several times. I’m definitely more interested in the endovascular side of this area, not the open surgical side, although the skill required to suture 2 blood vessels together definitely requires respect. I met my Dad’s school friend, Ting, for lunch. He took me to the Jockey Club restaurant for Dim Sum. That was nice, and very posh. I’m glad I was wearing my work clothes that day.

Friday: final day. Following rounds I gave out thank you presents, took photos and said goodbye. On reflection it was a reasonable attachment, although I could have learnt more. It was a good time to gain exposure to an unfamiliar area and I did learn a few skills and tricks. But mainly it was about getting access to HK and observing the culture and the people. So that was good. Following one final mission to the book store, where I picked up some neat books I went home and finished packing. I still felt a bit off, so took things slowly. I also wanted to get to the Museum of Medical Sciences, but again that fell through. I can’t believe how long I put that off- although it was a 40min journey there. I met Kristy that night and we went to one of her friend’s play “once upon a time.” It was in Cantonese, but that wouldn’t have helped much as it was rather abstract although fun. My favourite part was this kangaroo puppet that would randomly show up. The actress who played it did so well- I was very impressed! We then met up with Kristy’s friends Judith and Sherry and went for a drink in Noho (North Hollywood Rd). Just managed to catch the last train home.

Saturday: Got up early to go to Macau. It’s a Portugese version of Hong Kong, but with a lot more casinos. Like ‘comparable to Vegas’ more casinos. Because I wanted to spend a good amount of time there and be back for church (to meet one of the Chinese students who wanted to come), I had to buy a first class ticket to get over early. For an extra HK$70 (NZ$14) I got a larger seat, a meal and a complimentary paper. I had to laugh at the paper though, it was the Chinese People’s Daily- English Edition. This is actually the alternative spelling of ‘propaganda’. Well maybe not, but it was VERY pro-peoples party.

In Macau there were all these magnificent old looking buildings on the waterfront. I was shocked to find they were all casinos. So I caught the bus into the older part of the Macau peninsula and with a lot of help from a very nice Hong Kong woman, managed to get to Largo de Senado (the Square of the Senate) to start the Lonely Planet walking tour. Around the square also was the Santa Casa da Misericordia (the Holy House of Mercy), the Leal Senado (Loyal Senate building) and St Dominic’s Church. Each had it’s own historical exhibits and were welcome shelters from the rain. I even had to pick up a cheap umbrella because it was so wet. Interestingly, I liked the old Catholic church (St Dominic’s the best- there was something about seeing old statues of saints and old pictures that was really interesting from both a spiritual and historical point of view. As I followed the directions up a narrow street where I came across Caffe Chocola- where I had a croissant and honestly the best hot chocolate in the world. It was so thick and creamy, and had a remarkable after taste. I was also fortunate to be tempted in there as the heavens opened up for 15mins and it looked like I would be wading up to the next couple of sites.

Thankfully I didn’t have to and got to see the Cathedral of Macau (nothing special), some Macau shopping (for batteries) and the Monte Fort and Macau Museum. The fort was the original central military defense for Macau, but was only used once, in 1622 to defend against a Dutch invasion. Actually the Dutch were winning, having landed a large amount of troops, however a stray shot from a fortress cannon fired by a Jesuit monk struck a gunpowder store, causing the Dutch to flee. Random story, I liked it. It now holds the excellent Macau museum, which was both educational, practical and cheap. For HK$8 (NZ$1.50) I could be dry, cooled and educated- such a bargain. Walking down from the museum, by which time the rain had stopped and was turning the air quite muggy, I came down to The Ruins of St Paul’s Church. It’s a famous monument, but as I walked through the façade, and around the small catacomb’s there my mind cast back to the memory verse that we had been learning at prayer- “and the prophets and the apostles are the foundation for the structure you are being built into” (Eph 2:20). And it started to become real in my mind- that there was this huge history, foundation if you will, of the church that God started to build. And even though this is only a ‘recent addition’, it definitely felt real more to me than before.

The rest of the time was a rather long and fruitless wander down the peninsula in the muggy air. Sure, I went to a few churches and parks, but I think I was tired and had seen what I had needed to see. I purposefully skipped the temple at the end of the peninsula as it was a long way to walk, and having had my fill of temples, I was quite ready to skip it. On the bus back to the terminal, we passed many casinos. I got frustrated trying to walk across the Formula 3 stands to the ferry. To make matters worse due to my lack of Chinese I ended having a ticket person scream at me when I boarded the ferry early. But when I asked everyone else, they just waved me on. So I did catch an earlier ferry home, and successfully managed to sleep on the ferry back to Hong Kong (in economy!). I met Sicely slightly late (thank goodness for the earlier ferry) and we went to one eighty,, where through a lot of writing notes, I think the main message got across.

On Sunday I slept late(ish), went to the late morning church service at the Vine (I have no recollection of the sermon), and then finally made it to the Museum of Medical Sciences. I wish I had gone earlier. Such a veritable treasure of medicine in Hong Kong. Like did you know the cause of Bubonic plague was found in HK? Or that the first ‘Chinese empirical medicine doctor” taught Law? Along with the very familiar ode to Sun Yat Sen (leader of the Chinese revolution, and 1st Chinese president) and an excellent comparison regarding traditional Chinese and empirical medicine. I picked up this neat book about the medical history of HK, which was written to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the museum. Its pretty cool, and even Lauren (who’s historical studies about medical missionaries into HK tend to cross into this area) was excited by it. Whilst the Lonely Planet didn’t rate the museum highly, and I wouldn’t recommend it as a tourist attraction, it is definitely a must see for all med geeks. Way too cool for (med) school. It ‘s supported by a number of hospitals and the HK heritage board too, so it will be there for a while.

After packing, repacking and packing up 2 boxes of ‘stuff’ to send home, Aunty Mirasay and Lauren hosted a farewell dinner for me at a Beijing Duck restaurant. What was better was that we had a real mixture of people: Sophy (a Russian Hebrew), Alexis and Karen (Cantonese), Hatton and Sicely (Beijing), Lauren (American who speaks many languages), Aunty Mirasay (Filipino American), Kristy (Hong Kong Kiwi), and myself (Kiwi Chinese). Jokes were told in Putonghua, Gwongdungwa, yimaan (english), and even the odd in-joke (aye Colin). It was a really good time. I even felt like Bilbo Baggins, having such an eclectic group of friends. The Pfisters gave me a wooden cross and a book on spiritual discipleship, which I deeply appreciate. Sophy gave me a small angel doll, which provided many laughs regarding it’s gender, Sicely had gotten me a picture with my name and some Chinese characters on it and Hatton gave me a Beijing pin. Oh, how time flies when you are having fun. Alas the time came for me to go, and I said goodbye to Hong Kong. Although it was sad to leave I was happy and looking forward to my next adventure in the States.

**
Well, that about sums up Hong Kong. I can’t believe I’ve written 10,000 words on it. I’ll have to read it some day. I was meant to write my elective report tonight on Hong Kong, but did this instead- opps, always um, Thursday night huh? I’m now in Nacogdoches and loving it, although my computer is being very unstable at the moment, so Jeff (Abigail’s Dad) is kindly letting me use his until a replacement is organised. I’ll write soon about the States I promise.

Kindest regards,
Brendan
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Labels: Elective

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An overdue update
Sorry these are 1) late, 2) epic length. I started writing them on Monday at Seoul, and despite having 2 Mondays (1 in Seoul, and 1 in LA) I have just been busy trying to do heaps, rather than record my thoughts about them. I’ve split them into 2, so there will be one in a few days regarding my final week in HK (and first in the US). And spologies for any bad jokes or puns along the way- I was tired! Anyway, here goes…

It’s (not) all about Seoul
No one, I say, no one has ever made a joke like that before. Honest. I’m currently nearing the end of my 11-hour vigil at Seoul Ichenon airport. Nice place- free internet (all used at the moment), and escalators and moving walkways that start when you alight, not just keep going. Also very nice (although slightly too short) couches to sleep on. Which was good, because I got very little sleep from HK- bumpy ride, Rocky Balboa, and other things put paid to that. So rather than take a “transit tour” around a very foggy Seoul, I have spent my time sleeping and reading a James Bond novel. I cannot wait until we get to LA. But I guess you’re not here to read my about my current plight, but how I got in my last few days in HK- well, I shan’t disappoint.

Week 3: Wednesday-Sunday
Yet another quiet day. Zhiuqin (aka Hatton, aka the med student from Beijing) said he was going to a lecture on renal transplantation for the 5th years which was interesting- especially how the medical students were taught- actually a lot more interactive than what I was used too, which was surprising. So yes, I learnt something today. As I really didn’t want to go to Outpatients, I went home and worked on our public health paper, before meeting Becs’ friend Gary for coffee. Interesting guy. He’s working with the St. Stephen’s society (Jackie Pullinger) who minister to heroin addicts. It was quite neat just sharing our different stories- oh, and speaking fluent English for a long time. He also helped me out as I’d managed to mangle my phone charger, but HK being HK, there’s always another one available when you know where to look. Prayer meeting was good.

Thursday was meant to be an operative day, but the team had planned an endovascular repair for someone who was not fit for surgery. In the teaching we had had on Tuesday, we had been told that this operation had no benefit in these patients (and my registrar thought likewise!) However, the senior docs felt that they could offer some help to this guy, and told us both to look up the definition of “unfit for surgery” in that paper and see if it fitted with the patient. They had a point there.

Although the op is quite risky due to the technical skill required, it is in itself quite simple conceptually- just putting some tubes together in the aorta. However, this makes it REALLY boring, as you are watching outside on a TV screen. So boring, in fact, that we needed a can of soft drink while we watched. After feeling a massive spleen of a stomach cancer patient, and some study, I considered seeing a movie. Gary had told me about 'The protégé'- a Cantonese movie starring Andy Lau, which he thought was quite realistic in terms of drug stories. Unfortunately, it was only showing at 4pm at Shatin. And given that I found this out at 3:55, I stayed home and just sorted bits and pieces out.

One thing I did check was the weather forecast as I was sick of not doing anything at the hospital I was going to go to Victoria Peak if nothing was happening. Thankfully, it was the last ‘cloudy day with fine spells’ before a week of rain. So, as soon as we were told that nothing was going on, I managed to convince ZhiuQin to come with me. Well, actually, he was meeting up with some of his classmates who were going to HK Uni, which was close to the Peak, so we compromised.

HK Uni with Chinese medical students, in fact, any Chinese person is interesting. Why? Because they understand the cultural significance behind a lot of the names of the statues and buildings. And they also spoke a bit of English, so that was all right. Things like Run Run Shaw (a famous mandarin movie producer), the Tiananmen Memorial Pillar of Shame, and the Sun Yat Sen statue, I could say were nice, but they had a lot more cultural understanding behind it and really enriched the experience. I quite enjoyed the trip.

Next, three of us (Hatton, Sicely (Aka Ming) and myself) went up to Victoria Peak. On the way there, I learnt that many people in HK could understand Putonghua better than they could understand English. In this sense, it was useful to be with some Chinese travellers (and fun!) as they could find out things like where to take the tram. The Tram up the side of the peak was steep! It made the Wellington Cable car look like a toy train set. The Peak itself is about 370m to the top, where there is a 7 level “boat-shaped” tower with viewing platform. It’s quite nice. Pity that we could only see as far as Kowloon side, and not to the mountains beyond, but the views were spectacular nonetheless. As there is a bit of a monopoly on food up there, (although accessible by tram or car), food remains quite highly priced. So, we went to McDonald’s, where I was shocked to find that HK McD’s sells sweet corn. Yep, sweet corn in a cup, hot with “Mcbutter” on the top. Hmm- strange, but I liked it.

As the clouds packed in and our stomachs settled, we decided to go for a bit of a walk down to the Pok Fu Lam reservoir. Now I should add that I was still in my work gears (shirt and pants), so I was a bit worried about overheating. Not to worry though, as the entire “track” was paved with cobblestones, making a nice, although rather long walk. It was so refreshing to be away from the bussle of the city as we walked down the hill. I think it was also special for Hatton and Sicely as I’m not sure how much walking in the bush they had done. At the bottom, I left them to meet Aunty Mirasay and Sophy for tea. We had Italian, followed by a packed showing of “The Queen.” Helen Mirren was very convincing despite not everyone else around her being so (like the guy who played Charles). I was also surprised how much NZ was touched by the British Empire. I’m not a royal follower, but I knew a lot more about the whole back story than Aunty Mirasay (American Filipino) or Sophy (Russian Hebrew). Go figure.

I slept in for the first Saturday for a while. I had planned to go to the Museum of medical sciences, but having walked all that way yesterday (with a heavy satchel) I needed some R&R. I was also enjoying Philip Yancey’s ‘Rumours of Another World”. So, as I was meeting Kelly and Victor in Sham Shui Po after lunch, I just took it easy and wandered down to Kowloon Tong before lunch. The reason I headed out early rather than later was because the European Champion’s League Trophy was on display at a mall there. Lots of soccer bits and pieces, and I got a few photos. Fortunately, it wasn’t very well marketed, so there were very few people around. This was sad, as soccer is popular in HK. Sham Shui Po was a success as I picked up a few pen drives, external hard drives, a computer fan, and a pair of shoes. Following one-eighty, which was on the “Freedom of being the sons and daughters of God”, I again crashed at Kristy’s place.

Sunday morning was an interesting one. I went to International Christian Assembly- Kristy’s parent’s church, which was probably my hardest church experience there. I can’t really put my finger on what it was, the best I can say is that “the style didn’t agree with me.” However, it did seem to suit a number of people, and that’s an important thing too. If everyone liked my style of church, then that would be a boring world indeed.

Anyhow, my plans for lunch fell through, which let me call home- yay! Then my afternoon plans to meet Shu Shan were delayed by an hour or so, so I went to the 10,000 Buddha temple and monastery by the Shatin KCR Station. It was a nice temple on the side of a hill- the first one I’ve seen with it’s own escalator and cable car. However, I’m not sure whether it was a spiritual thing with al the ancestral worship, or a mixture of tiredness, lots of people and incense or something else, but I did not enjoy the place that much. It left me thinking a lot about Chinese culture and religion and where the line is drawn between the two. It also left me kinda sad that I had managed two ‘negative’ religious experiences in one day.

After shooting through the nearby Pau Lak Tai Village (a preserved village from pre Japanese times surrounded by the KCR), I met Shu Shan at Tsim Sha Tsui. We went down to this food court and ate Bat Yuk Teh (a Singaporean dish) and ‘honey moon desert’ some kind of mango jelly dessert. We then wandered through Kowloon Park, Temple St, and the Ladies Markets and I picked up a few souvenirs along the way. We passed by a whole lot of live seafood restaurants. It looked so good, but I was seriously full and couldn’t take any more food. So instead, we got iced drinks from a Taiwanese place to end a relaxing night.

Labels: Elective

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