High on a Mountain Top

Good Day

2009-04-02T20:30:00.004-06:00

So, I guess this post is just to reward all of my true fans who just couldn’t believe me when I said that I wouldn’t post for a while. Or maybe you believed, but you were just really hoping! Anyway, congrats to you and congrats to me for having an amazing day!!

My day started on an overnight bus again. I left the Tikal area at 9:00 PM and I arrived at 6:00 AM having slept the bulk of the night. I have mad bus sleeping skills by the way. So, originally I was gonna spend a day on the caribean coast, but I decided to stay an extra day with friends at Lake Atitlan and try to make it also to the Guate Temple instead. Wise choice by me!

With the Temple address in hand I exited the bus, did a quick change into my white shirt and tie, and headed over to the cabbies. Lucky enough there is head cab dude at this station who directs the fares etc. He knew exactly where the Temple is and quickly dispatched a driver for a good price for me.

I arrived too early to the Temple to get started, so I had a pleasant wait outside in some amazing weather. It was very peaceful with only a few cars out and the sun just rising. I had plenty of time, so decided to do both initiatories and an endowment session. I don’t think this Temple sees many visitors that don’t speak Spanish, because a few troubles trying to get me clothes and set up. My first pair of pants had a busted zipper, so we had to return them. But by then I had placed my key in the pocket. It was a big difficult and funny mess trying to explain this all to the Temple workers.

In the end I had a great session with only a bit of dozing. (did I say already that I have mad sleeping-on-the-bus skills? Well I do) By the time I left the temple it was a late…oh 10:30 AM. Sweet still with plenty of day to get to Antigua for the evening. I grabbed some breakfast at the little church run restaurant on the Temple complex. And then headed to the bus stop. Originally I thought I would take a taxi from the Temple to the microbus area to catch one to Antigua. This would have been fast and I likely would have been there by like 12:30. But it also would have cost about 20 bucks to do this. Instead I decided I would just hop on a bus and try to figure out a way to Antigua on the ol’ public trans.

At the stop by the Temple I spoke in my crappy Spanish to a couple of guys waiting. They were both members and had great advice for me. I hopped on with one of the guys and he pointed me the way. I made it to Antigua at 1:30…a bit later, but 19 dollars richer. Sweet!! The guy that helped me out deserves a medal or something. Or at least 2 blessings in heaven. Part way through the trip he asked if I wanted him to come with me the whole way to make sure I got there. What a cool guy!

In Antigua (and I know this is long, but you shouldn’t be reading it anyway, so just stop if you want), I found a room in the first place I look and it has Wi-Fi. This is actually the only place I have stayed where I can get the internet in my room. And well this just makes me happy. I then headed into the central park area. Antigua is an old colonial capital, which you can read up about online if you want.

Then went for a just-below-my-lactate-threshold run for 57 minutes. My average heart rate was 164. I love my heart rate monitor. Yo.

Run. Done. Now for dinner. Because of the cheapness of getting to Antigua I ended up having 57 Quetzals or about 7.125 dollars for the rest of the trip unless I wanted to change some money, which I did not. The shuttle to the airport is in dollars, so no worries on that. After an afternoon snack and a bottle of water, I was left with a grand total of 14 quetzals for dinner. With that and backup dollars, I headed out to find my last dinner in Guatemala.

And as luck would have it the church in the square had some type of activity and there was a street vendor hang out with tons of people around. I guess this rarely happens, so I got lucky. Still with only $1.75 in quetzals I could not really buy a lot, and I was hungry. My Spanish skills came in super handy, and I talked a lady into selling me two taco like things for 3 dollars. And when I say talk, I mean I just repeated myself a few times until she took pity on me and said yes. I then purchased a Grapette soda. Yum-Yum. And I still have 7 quetzals left over. I think I did that just about perfectly.

And that concludes the post that never should have been. Thanks for reading mom.

Tikal

2009-04-01T09:24:00.003-06:00

Sitting on the top of Templo #4 I couldn’t help feeling that I was stuck in the Book of Mormon one moment and then Star Wars the next. I kept imaging myself as Mormon and then the next second I would be Luke Skywalker prepping my X-wing for the final launch against the Death Star.

I left the lake and then took a 4 hour “chicken bus”, which is an old school bus, to Guatemala City. I bought a ticket on a “first-class” overnight bus to the city of Flores, which is about 40 miles from Tikal. The bus ride was 9 hours long and I slept for about 7 hours of that. Important because I wanted to be ready to go to Tikal right when I got in. This bus is the perfect way to travel. It was comfy. I could sleep on the bus instead of a hotel, and I didn’t waste any daylight.

So, when I got in the taxi drivers start hounding me. The price wasn’t too bad to the hotel I wanted, but cheaper if I could split. I looked around and spotted a gringo pouring over his guide-book. Asked him if he wanted to split and voila-- a new friend. Travis is from Georgia—is 21 and is taking some time to find himself. So, we ended up splitting a nice hotel and doing the whole Tikal thing together. It worked out perfectly, because he had a similar monument-pace as me. We saw everything pretty quickly, but with enough time to think a bit.

This is Travis. My new Bulldog (UGA) friend.

Tikal was pretty magnificent. Huge and covered by Jungle. I think my favorite part is that the jungle is still on and over everything. One of the tallest pyramids is still covered and inaccessible to climb, because of the foliage.

There weren’t a ton of people in the park with us, which was very nice. This was a very hot, but peaceful day. After we got back we went for a run around the island of Flores with is .83 miles around (thank you Google Earth) and by the time I finished I was soaking with both sweat and hose water that people sprayed on me by my request. The sunset was incredible and the locals were all playing in the water. Was running path. I was in heaven. My pace wasn’t great….but oh well. It was HOT!!

The day before I was to come to Tikal, I was looking at pictures and there was one shot that I swear was from Star Wars, so I googled it and yep I was right! I guess a true fan would have already known that, but I guess I get points for discovering it on my own. As you all know I am a huge Star Wars fanatic. So, this just increased the anticipation. And Tikal did not let down. Tikal is only in a short part of A New Hope towards the end when ships are coming taking off of Yavin 4. But it is the only exterior shot of the Jungles of the 4^th moon of Yavin, so it really defines the jungle moon. Multiple subsequent books have taken place on the moon, and let’s just say that I have been enamored with the Jedi adventures in that jungle for 25 years. It was great to imagine being in it. Just google star wars and Guatemala and you will get a wealth of info.

So, this is the last entry from Guate, and so will likely be the last blog entry for a few months. You can all stop checking it every day. Thanks for reading!!

The Lake

2009-03-30T09:38:00.004-06:00

I am sitting at the beautiful Lake Atitlan. And it is amazing!!! We stayed in this little resort hotel with grass and lawn chairs. It is pretty sweet!

The last week or so has been full of more Spanish Classes, helping to build a stove in a little village and volunteering in a little clinic here in Xela. Oh and I also went to a black sand beach on the Pacific.

And remember that pink/purple camera? Well it is pretty crappy and so I have only a few shots. But I have been bumming good pictures of myself off of others. So, without further ado. Here are some pictures.

This is the black sands beach at Chaperico...

And the sunset...

This is a women's group that we went to to teach about health and self-esteem. It was great fun.

Just a sweet shot of the morning in Xela...

At the market with another student. Her name is Debbie. I stole a bunch of pictures from her...including these next ones and some at Lake Atitlan.

One of Pop Wuj's projects is to pay for and make stoves in the rural area around Xela. The women now cook over open fires...

Me mixing clay...Debbie took this one too...

Lake Atitlan in the morning.

Having fun.

We all bought artwork from this very talented painter.

Jen and Debbie!

The group of us that went to the Lake. I am way into this story.

Right below our hotel. These shots are from Melissa's camera.

From our grass balcony

Me and Melissa with our matching

Well I guess that is all for now. Today I am off to Tikal. Which just happens to be the Massassi Temple on the fourth moon of Yavin. Go Figure.

Remember Lot’s Wife

2009-03-18T18:02:00.003-06:00

The best things that come out of the BY Academy are beautiful women, and the Devotionals. Luckily, both us these both are available to us heathens in SLC. As most of the great women make it out of the BY still single, and all of the devotionals are available online. I often download the devotionals to listen to while running or for road trips. So, I decided to get the last 6 months or so for my time here in Guate. On the website they also have many classic speeches. I highly recommend checking the page out at speeches.byu.edu

The talk that has had the most effect on me recently is the devotional on January 13, 2009 by Jeffery R. Holland titled Remember Lot's Wife. Why was Lot’s wife punished? What was her sin? Was it simply for looking back at her previous life? Yes and more. Elder Holland masterfully describes the danger of focusing on the past. He describes the Wife as having no confidence in the future. She was scared to leave and simply did not trust in the Lord that what lay ahead was an improvement on what lay behind.

Here are just a couple of quotes from the devotional:

“Don’t yearn for yesterday.”

“Past is to be learned from and not lived in.”

“Faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives.”

He devotes a large section to forgetting and forgiving other’s pasts, so that they too may have hope and faith in the future. If we could all stop remembering the faults and problems and nit-picky little things and just move on then we would all be immensely happier for it. I’m so critical of myself and always pushing for better, that many times I forget those I hurt with my critique. My hope for the future is to remember the good and leave my friend’s and my faults in the past.

He relates a story of a man who is the brunt of all jokes of a town. After, leaving the town he gains his inner strength and confidence. Upon returning however the town beats him back into his old self. Elder Holland is pleading with us to let others change and become better. I add that we really need to lay off return missionaries. Why do we have to continuously barrage them with the question, “when are you going to be normal?” Why can’t we bask in their glory for as long as we can?

I want to add that I love Change. I push for it. I crave to see things improve. I critique my activities. Look for ways to tweak things here and there. I push people to see the better in themselves. I push other’s relationships when I shouldn’t. I love this quality about me, and think God would have has look to the future. But at times I wish I would just lay off put on the breaks and RELENT to others.

This isn’t one of those times, and I really urge everyone to follow the link and listen to his council. speeches.byu.edu

“Don’t be dissatisfied with the now.”

Volcan Tajumulco

2009-03-16T17:43:00.002-06:00

I have been to a few of the most amazing places on earth. And I get to add one to the top 5 list! At 13,845 feet, Tajumulco is the tallest point in all of Central America. Six students and our teacher/guide met at our school at 10 PM and drove to the trail head getting then by 1:30 AM. Then set off on the hike. It was pretty tame except for the elevation. The rest of the group was not really prepared. The guide was supposed to bring food and water. He brought food for breakfast and a huge jug of water, but we didn’t really have enough bottles for people to have more than 1 liter each. None of them really brought any snacks either. No worries though, I had several protein bars, some cookies, and plenty of Aleve and Tylenol to keep everyone happy.

The site from the top is one of the most incredible that I have ever seen. There is no way a picture could do service, because it is a 360 degree view of green and clouds for a hundred miles. There is nothing coming within 2000 feet in the area. Absolutely stunning. I took lots of pictures. But you can’t see any of them.

When leaving the door to the airport I always go through a list of essential things that I cannot forget. 1. Passport 2. 2 credit/ATM cards. Everything else can be purchased, looked up, and simply done without. I usually have to buy some “essential” item when I arrive in country. In packing for this trip I distinctly remember unplugging my camera battery charger, wrapping the cord around the charger. And well that’s it. And it certainly did not make it to Guate. So, I have a very nice camera that I was able to use for only a week before I drained the battery. It won’t charge from the USB (which is stupid) and I don’t even have enough juice to copy my volcano pictures to my computer. So, you will just have to see those when I get home!

Here is the picture of my new super-duper camera. Taken with my netbook camera.

I think it is made out of the cheapest materials possible. I had a few requirements for this beauty, since it is going to become my new international backup. 1. Purple (yes, I was able to find a purple camera…what luck!!) 2. Cheap—only 60 bucks 3. Uses regular ol’ batteries 4. Takes an SD card for memory.

This sweet baby meets all of the requirements. I think it is a great investment for my future grandkids, so they can have pictures of the last 3 weeks of my Guate trip.

Next post is all about Lot’s Wife. Seriously.

Xela-The 1st Week

2009-03-14T16:28:00.007-06:00

Day #1

I arrived in Guatemala City at about 5:30 AM. I had a direct flight from LA. I slept for a few hours only on the plane. Upon arrival, I was met by someone from the school who does this sort of thing. She was standing outside with a cool sign that said my name on it. She helped me get to the bus station for my long ride to Quetzaltenango (nick named Xela). I had to wait in the bus station for a few hours while waiting for my bus to leave. The bus ride was through the hilly and mountainous countryside. I was able to get probably 3 hours or so of sleep on the ride over. The bus was a pretty nice grey hound type tour bus. Very much unlike most of the buses in Guate which are old American school buses.

The bus station in Xela is just around the corner from the school, so I headed there and met some of the teachers and my host family. Then on a taxi to my home! My host family is a young couple with grandma and two little girls. They are all fantastic. The dad speaks a little English but the others do not, and he is not around too much. So the first few days were a super struggle to understand each other. Now that I have been here a week things are much easier.

This is my grandma...she cooks for me. :)

After unpacking I made my way back to the school, which is about a twenty minute walk. Down the street I noticed a church spire that look very Mormon. And lo and behold it is! I am about 1 minute away from the church. There are 8 located here in Xela…and the new temple groundbreaking just took place this week also. So, I kept heading to find the school and I got totally lost on the way. On my search I ran into two young men in white shirts and ties! Cool the elders…they helped me get to the school. Then I had an orientation.

After that I ran into another set of Elders at the mall! Crazy huh…well they were full of good advice.

The Pop Wuj school in Xela

Pic of the church from my casa. You can just barely see the spire on the right side of the road.

Day #2

Breakfasts have been eggs, beans, and sometimes a cream of wheat type hot cereal. Then off to my class. I have class every morning. We are all one-on-one for our Spanish instruction. We have been able to burn through the material, but it comes a point where there is just too much vocab to get down. Yikes. It has been fun to learn finally some Spanish grammer. I really need to get more studying done though. Languages come pretty easy for me especially after learning a couple. The trouble comes with the vocab when I always want to throw a Hungarian word into the mix. It is coming much faster than Nepali or Hungarian...so that is nice. But it still requires just sitting and memorizing vocab.

After my class I went running. There is a dirt track that I could run on and I have once, but it actually is pretty nice to run on the streets. My home is located in a pretty good and less busy area. I have been able to get out three times this week, which is a record for my running. I hope to continue that and come home super in shape! The elevation of Xela is over 7,000 ft. So, I do get a little more winded, but it will be great for my stamina back home! I have also been following these two programs to build some core strength. Both or these are great. And I highly recommend doing them.

There is also a pool in town that I could swim in, but they require a swim cap (even with my bald head) and the $10 for the cap for swimming a couple times just didn’t seem worth it. So, I guess will stick with running, push-ups and sit-ups with a weekend hike for my exercise!

On day #2 I also ran into the local Hermanas! Sweet! They cover the ward I will be going to. So, now I have seen three different sets of missionaries. The church is right out of window too. The Church is cool and true too.

Again, but with me.

Day #3

Wednesday was a great day, because I didn’t try to pack everything in that day. After class I spent a couple hours just reading my book sitting out on my roof in the sun! It was great. The weather here is actually pretty chilly. At 7,000 ft we are cold in the night and AM and then the afternoon is broilin’! So, I have to wear my sweatshirt and then shed it by the afternoon. I went running again on Wed also, otherwise I just settled in and relaxed.

Day #4

Class again. Which is great, but I really need to spend more time memorizing! In the afternoon, I walked around the old part of town, which is the opposite direction from where I live from the school. There are some really cool narrow cobble-stone streets.

I also finally bought a Spanish-English dictionary as the one I brought was pretty crappy! Thursday night is a night for all the students to get together and have dinner. We bought pizza…my belly started to get a little queasy. Some nausea without any actual up-chucking kept with me for the next day or so. Good thing I brought some Reglan, which helped a bit.

So, I wasn’t feeling too hot that night as I made my way home. BUT then the church was totally packed with people. I headed in to see what was going on. There seemed to be two activities. A choir practice, and about 20 guys playing futbol. So, even in my sickness I had to play a little bit and give a good impression for an American. We played for about 45 minutes. And well, I scored a goal, but apparently goals don’t count from outside some arbitrary line….I guess that is what happens when you don’t understand anyone.

One of the members I played with

Day #5

Today we had class in the morning and then went to a hot springs/pool area. We had to catch a couple of the local buses. The trip was fun, the water warm, but nothing too exciting. Just relaxing. And it was nice to get out of the city for a while. The terrain here is pretty amazing! Towering mountains with terraced fields etc. The land is quite formidable, and would be a pain to drive an army through, if that is your thing.

Beautiful land...

Sacred Mayan Cave...or so she said.

The warm pool..wow

Day #6

Saturday…ahhh…I slept in which was way nice. Then went for a walk to the central park and to some of the city sites. The big activity for the night is starting a little trip. One of our teachers put together a hiking trip to the highest volcano in Guatemala, which also happens to be the highest point in all of Central America. I am pretty stoked. We are leaving the school at 10PM and then hiking to be at the top for the sun rise! I am way excited about this amazing opportunity. I am feeling a little bad about missing church tomorrow. But I will have to bring my scriptures and pretend like I am Nephi or something.

Well, I guess that is all for now. I should probably have broken that up into smaller chunks, but oh well. Check back for some random thoughts on the people, food, and shotguns.

I love you all at home!

Rach’s Wedding

2009-03-12T14:10:00.003-06:00

Hello Peeps at home!

So, I am sitting her in Guatemala (which I will write about in a bit, but I just wanted to catch you up with my time in LA…

I took off from SLC Friday night after work. This week was a little bit crazy trying to get everything ready to go, finish work stuff, take care of patient stuff, and hang out with family and friends. But the time finally arrived for me to take off and it was so relaxing to finally sit down in the airplane. The weekend in LA was all planned my rides all set and I was relaaaaxed. I started reading from my book the Mormon Scientist.

Now usually for some reason other quite large gentlemen usually sit next to me, but I guess it was my lucky day. Because for the first time ever a really beautiful, engaging young lady sat next to me. We spent most of the flight to LA just chatting about life, mormons, lights, romance…you know common airplane stuff. This is Heidi. My new Malibu-dwelling friend. She was a great flirter and well it made the trip super fast. Not sure why I have my closed here...weird.

Upon arrival my really nice and busy and tired second cousin Kristen Tarjan picked me up at the airport. She lives pretty close to the airport, but the best was that she drove me down to Newport! She was great. We were gonna try to hang out later during the vacation but I forgot that her phone number was in my iPhone that I had sent back to SLC. Oh well.

The rest of the time in Newport was fantastic! It was pretty fun to hang out with cousins and my aunts and uncles for the weekend. I hadn't been able to see Michille H or Scott in quite a while so that was great.

Rach's wedding Sat was pretty dang cool. It makes me want to get married to the perfect person for me. I am super happy and can't lie pretty jealous of Rach and Grant. They are perfect for each other. They have a great balance of fun and serious in the relationship. Now the reception/party was well story book. They are friends with some people who happen to own a beach house with access to their own private beach. The setting was intimate, romantic, and fun. The dancing was great, but I was wearing my hiking boots because I didn't bring anything else that would work for the evening. So I didn't get into it too much. I didn't want to dance bare foot for fear of injury or a wound, because well that would have been horrible in Guatemala.

Dancing!

The Party Venue

Cameron looking like a techy

Me and Cousins. Yay!

My favorite part of the night was the open-mic. Everyone there got a chance to stand and just tell R&G anything they wanted. It was so great to hear about my wonderful family and friends. I am so happy for my sweet cousin and friend. It has been an amazing time seeing her become the woman she is

After the receptions us cousins went back to the Villas and went hot tubbing…super fun. Amy had the best swim wear out of everyone.

Next day Sunday…I got to spend the whole day hanging out with my college and New York buddy Billy Edwards. He is basically my hero. Still single. Still the nicest guy there ever was. And still with his fake man-made dimple. He was down in Newport with his parents and then he drove me up to airport.

What a great weekend and a great way to start my month. Thanks Wildes for letting me crash on the couch, thanks family for driving me around Newport. Thanks Kristen for the ride to Newport. Thanks Bill.

Triathlon

2008-11-02T16:05:00.002-07:00

This summer I did my first sprint distance triathlon at the Xango Echo Triathlon. I had entirely too much fun doing and vowed to do more.

I went with Derrek. We were both doing our first tri and we were both quite lost. We just followed people around and tried to look cool. He succeeded. I have his phone # if you want it.

I have to give credit to Heather for talking me into to doing this. She is the coolest. And quite the amazing racer.

I pulled out my dad's 8-10 year old Bianchi Eros (which is handmade in Italy with full Campy group set) and started my training. As you can imagine training while doing residency is quite a challenge. Especially when you decide to start night classes again and start dating a super cool young lady.

This is the Bianchi. :)

This is the young lady...Bonnie.

The next tri was a fairly disorganized affair down at Yuba Lake. It was all in all pretty dang fun. I put together a group of like 9 of us to do it. We all finished. We were all pretty happy. Bonnie unfortunately tore her elbow up after a nasty spill on the bike. But yes she did complete the race with a great time for a first time.

Yuba Crew

Yuba Start

Me on my bike...

I am flying!

Derrek at the finish

At the finish line!!

A triathlete must have clean teeth the night before the race...

Bonnie's Arm

Had such a great time that weekend that my buddy Spence and I decided to do the Ogden Valley Tri the next weekend. This tri was great. The set up was beautiful. We swam in Pineview. And then biked around the lake. The run was half on the road and then half on a trail through some trees that was just off the road. This was by far my fav of the three races for the year. I didn't cramp, and I biked super well.

This is Spence in the official Tri Pose

You will notice that my gear gets progressively better as I decided to spent lots of money. You will also notice that my body does not improve.

So what is next???

Well I basically now need to really need to build a better endurance base. I have never been a runner or a biker or a swimmer. So I have a ton of work to do. I am currently taking a beginner's Tri course from the U in the mornings. My instructer is the really cool and Ironwomen and triathlon successful Summer.

I love this sport. It is doeable by anyone in any reasonable shape. Don't be scared of the swim.... Join me if you like!!

Send To Phone

One year

2008-06-08T19:57:00.001-06:00

One year. The amount of time off from Blogging that I have just taken. In that year, it seems that everyone has one. Yea for people writing stuff down. I wonder if journal writing has suffered.

I am sitting in the Family Medicine Team Room at on the 3rd floor of Primary Children Medical Center. I just ate a baked potato and am drinking Orange-Mango juice. Oh yeah, and I just wrote an order for a 5 year old to get one unit of blood.

This is my last month of my first year of being a resident. One year of getting used to people calling me doctor. One year of getting a little bit upset at relatives and friends introducing me as, "This is Rick. He is a doctor."

One year of feeling sooooo inadequate at times to even pretend to being a physician. One year of screw-ups. Writing the wrong order. Being tired. And just wanting to leave the hospital. One year of getting more confident in clinic. One year of having a good time with the nurses, HUCs and medical assistants. One year of listening to other residents complain and moan. One year of loving each other when we can.

One loooooooong year of set-ups, blind dates, first dates, phone numbers, facebook messages, flirxting, dumb parties, ward "prayers", failed relationships, false starts.

One year of new friends, growing, changing, decorating, cleaning, ultimate games, bike rides, soccer matches, dancing, first dates, kisses, capitol steps, monitors and tv.

I have fantastic friends, family, and coworkers.

In the last year I have been the happiest when Liam freaks out when he sees me, delivering beautiful babies, on the top of O'Sullivan Peak, dancing with Amanda in the kitchen, giving reassurance to that 28 year old that wanted a full body CT, Andy showing me how to buzz my head, getting compliments on my new glasses, helping my sister in the ER, sleeping on foam pads in my newly purchased condo, diagnosing shingles for the first time, watching Iron Man, paying off that first little student loan, just being around for the important family events.

I love my mom alot.

This post is dedicated to Dani and Jo. The two who have bugged me the most to write.

Rick

Back to the States

2007-06-08T06:17:00.000-06:00

First Off...I just wanted to give all of my readers proof that yes in fact I did graduate!!! I want to thank first my family for the support and the help through the last few years, even being far away you were a great support!! Secondly my friends, for giving me needed breaks and fun in New York and Salt Lake. Lastly, I thank to thank my Heavenly Father.

Now...saying goodbye to Nepal was easier than I though it would be. I think it was because of all the excitement I felt coming home for graduation and start to residency. I absolutely loved my time there and I would go back in a heartbeat (and probably will), but three months was long enough for now, and there is so much fun to be had in the next few months....

This was saying goodbye to all of the young people in the Branch. We had scheduled an ice cream and bowling party the Friday before I was to leave, but there was a strike that closed down the entire city of Kathmandu that day. It was frustrating but typical. My pictures of the going away party with VSN are well...i didn't take any, because I was busy talking. So if someone (Liz- hint hint) could send me some then that would be fantastic.

This is Maya again. She is a master knitter, so I commissioned her to make 25 wool hats, for souvenirs for home. If you want one then let me know...

This is the Taipet 101, which is currently the tallest building in the world. I went to the observation floor on the 89 floor, and it was actually pretty cool. It was a cloudy day though, so I didn't see too much of the country side, just the immediate city. All of my connections were on time, which was a huge relief. I did have a little scare though when I was in Bangkok and Taipei. I went to the counter in Bangkok and they told me that because I missed my flight three months ago and that Delta rerouted me to Seoul on Korean Air instead of China, that China Air did not think I was coming on the flight. It was an easy fix in Bangkok and I specially made sure that he would let Taipei know that I was coming on my next flight. But of course that next morning in Taipei I was told that the flight was full and I was not on it. I was then a little persuasive and they "found" a seat for me....

Graduation day with my parents. The ceremony was held at Lincoln center and was actually pretty cool. We all stood and recited the Declaration of Geneva
and then we lined up and received our actually diploma on the stage. Then some old person that we had never met (they give lots and lots of money to do this) put our green "hood" on us. The green means we are MD. Blue is for PhD etc.

Then next few days have been just relaxing and seeing some of my NYC friends. Here we are at the Shake Shack...yummy yummy.

Now in a few hours I am off for SLC...call me in a few days my SLC friends!!

Rick

Good news and Bad news

2007-05-27T22:47:00.000-06:00

So, after I arrived home I got the news that our brand new VSN clinic for the Landless community was a great success, but that the Young Communist League decided to move into the area. They abducted the leader of the landless community and took over the office. So....we decided it best to keep international volunteers out of the area until it calms down a bit. But this abduction is not as bad in the past....they won't hurt him, just take a ransom. So, that was the bad news...

Other good news though is that instead we went to the four orphanages that VSN works with. Each day we examined and saw from 10-25 kids and some of the other volunteers taught about tooth bushing and washing hands. It was a grand success and we all had a great time. We decided to make little patient charts for all of the kids as well that they can keep at the orphanage.

Also, this week the teachers were on strike in Kathmandu, so we could do anything in the schools, and one day there was a transportation strike that shut down all of the buses, cars, and motorcycles.....

Sometimes we need a week that screams...You are in Nepal!!!

Have a great day....I come back to the states in less than a week now, so this might be my last entry....we will see....

Everest Picture Timeline Part 3

2007-05-23T23:04:00.001-06:00

Ok folks here is the last installment of my trekking pictures. I realize that I have not put too much commentary into them, but that will have to wait until I see you live. Because hey you are going to ask anyway....

This is a shot of Kala Patar from our Gorak Shep Guest House. the Peak behind is is called Pumo Ri, which is named daughter peak. It was named about Mallory's newly born daughter!

This is a shot of the valley coming into Dingboche.

The next big adventure of the trek was to climb two peaks that are along a ridge. One is called Chhukkung Ri and the the other Chukkung Tse. I went up while Liz stayed back in the town, as the climbs are not easy ones...

This is Island Peak (I think) which is a very common peak for people to come climb. Permits to climb these lower peaks about 6,000 meters or 20,000 ft cost $350 for up to five. This shot was taken at the beginning of my climb up the Ri and Tse.

You can just see the beginning of the Ri here under this gigantic peak, which is called Lotse. Lotse is the 4th tallest mountain in the world and happens to be on the south shoulder of Everest. Lotse and Everest share climbing routes for about half of the way up.

This is coming across the side of Chukkung Ri (not exactly where the trail goes, but seriously when do I stay on trails. {mom, don't worry}) I absolutley love this shot and I think it is the best of the lot that I took. The Ri is to the left and this beautiful peak is one of the ama peaks. I think Dablam but I could be wrong. Either way...wow!!!

From the top of the Ri. It is about 5,500 meters, making it the third highest for my life.

The Ri and Tse are connected by a long ridge. This shot is taken of th Tse about half-way across the ridge line. Trust me mom there were no exposed sections... (wink, wink)
This picture also shows the south shoulder of Nuptse.

This is the ridge looking back at the Ri and ama.

Here I am sitting at the highest point I have ever been. It was such a great feeling getting to the top of this thing. It wasn't my hardest of all time, but I was definitely the most winded I have ever been. I would climb/crawl a few meters and then would have to catch my breath. I left my guest house at about 8:00 am and got to the top at just before noon.

Here is the shot of my watch to prove my time and elevation!! 19,200 ft!!!!!

This next one was taken as we were heading down the canyon. I zoomed in to get this shot of the Ri and Tse. They are on this ridge, but I can't figure out which is where. But still a cool sight. What is amazing is that I was at 19,200 ft and not even close to the giants that are behind. What a sight!!

This is the Tengboche monastery. We were going to spend the night in this town, but decided to push on to the next destination.
Back to Namche Bazaar....

A monastery flag..in Lukla

I am buying my souvenoir for the trek in this shot. All of the local porters carry their goods in these baskets. During breaks they put these "sticks" called "Tokmaa" under their basket to rest. Then also on steep climbs they use them as we would use a walking stick. I had purchased a Tokmaa in Namchee from a little shop, but I really wanted one from the trail from an active porter. So I traded mine and way to many ruppees to this girl named Sabina. Hers was great and it cost me....the entire day I examined each porters until I found the one I wanted. It worked out great too that I could give the money to her, because there are so few females working as porters. Also hers was less heavy than most!

Well that's it. I will see you all in a few weeks!

Rick

Everest Picture Timeline Part 2

2007-05-22T22:07:00.000-06:00

Ok So this is a baby yak on the trail .....how cute!!

This is the top of the Cho La. We had great weather...well for half of it anyway. The pass is 5,300 meters which is like 17,500 ft or soomething..

Me in the snow at the top of the pass....

Fun little mtn peaking out!

Now to Everest Base Camp. This is the Super Sherpa food tent. Quite nice eh?

This is the outside of the communications tent. Set up with internet. Radios to communicate on the mtn etc.

Here are two of my Sherpa friends! Apa Sherpa is on the left and Lakpa on the right. They are both world record holders for summiting Everest. It was amazing to see them at Base Camp. They left the next day and summited two days later. Amazing!!!

This is the start of the climb. Through this massive maze of ice!

After I left Base Camp I finally got my first little view of Everest. That black peak with the snow blowing off the top. That my friends is the tallest point on the Earth!

This is the view away from Everest from on top of a peak called Kala Patar. It means black rock in tibetan and is the best close view point of Everest..

This is the elevation of the Kala Patar

Everest from the KP.

The next day we went back to Base Camp. And this helicopter was taking a load of a crashed copter right where we happened to be walking....cool...

View of Base Camp....a maze of tents, ice, and disease...

Everest Picture Timeline

2007-05-20T23:45:00.000-06:00

Just got back from my 19 day trek in the Solukumbu and it was amazing!!! Words cannot describe. I loved and would do it again in a heartbeat. (although I was ready to get back to Kathmandu and my computer!)

I'm not really sure how to proceed. I took about 300 pictures on the trek. I am going to just put up a bunch in time line order and then give a little blurb about each. My thoughts etc will have to come later. I also made the pictures pretty small and not the best quality so I could put up more than usual....sorry.

This is the lowest part of the trek. Just after the Airport.

There were quite a few suspension bridges lower down in the canyons to cross. Oh yeah and fun Yaks to share the trail with!

This is Namche which is the main "town" in the Kumbu region. Email, international calls, laundry, shopping, a bakery! It is quite luxurious. And it is has fantastic views!

The people carve and paint rocks with Buddhist's mantras...

View of Namche from the top...

Just above Namche is a village called Kunde. There they have to nicest hospital that I have seen in Nepal. It is amazing. They are support by Canadians and see patients from all over the Everest region. I had a great time taking a tour there and meeting the doctors and health workers. They loved that I could speak some Nepali. Maybe next year I can do an elective there....

There are two main directions out of Namche. One leads to Everest and the other up a canyon called Gokyo canyon. We went up the Gokyo area first and then over a pass to Everest....but that is getting ahead! At the top of that canyon is Cho Oyu, which is the sixth highest mountain in the world. Ain't it a beauty!! This was my first view.

Cho Oyu!!!

Gokyo is famous for the Six Sacred Lakes. This is number 2.

Lake 2

The valleys are made by cool glaciers...and they are beautiful!

This is lake three..at sunrise...right out of the door where we stayed!

Glacier again this time from above the 5th lake looking down the canyon...

Me and the Glacier. This point is called the Scoundrel's view of Everest, but it was cloudy and we couldn't see much of it. Actually from here you can see four of the tallest mountains. We only saw the glacier.

This is the Cho Oyu base camp that is no longer used. This is above the Sixth lake that hardly anyone goes to, but of course we did!

This picture was taken the first time I was at 17,000 ft!

We met some wonderful friends from Holland. Flor and Tim we traveled together for about three days!

There is a peak called Gokyo Ri (Ri means peak) that is one of the best places to see Everest etc, but of course even with waiting an extra day we only saw fog. Oh and this cool Yak chillin'.

Frozen prayer flags at the top of Gokyo Ri...

Liz looking at the wonderful view!!

So we left Gokyo and went to the Cho La (La means pass). And on the way we had to cross the glacier. This is a glacial lake. Brrr..

Some days the mountains would just pop out like this!!

Well that is all for now folks!! To the bottom of the pass....

Rick

VSN's Own Clinic

2007-04-30T07:55:00.000-06:00

hello friends-

My Nepal adventure is about to change tomorrow as I am going to head into the Everest Region!! I am extremely exciting about the whole thing! In a few weeks I will load up some beautiful pictures upon which all can feast!

But today was also a very important day in VSN's history! Today we opened the Manahara Health Clinic. The clinic is two small rooms with very basic supplies, and a limited supply of some basic free meds. The most exciting thing though is that it is located amongst a large community of internally displaced persons who basically squatting on some government land about 10 minutes from where I live. This group of people have come from all over Nepal either to find work, or more likely from the Maoist insurgency or natural disasters. These people are very poor and live in small shacks. There is one “street” that has the sewer running through the middle of it.

Here are some pictures from the ribbon cutting!

Have a great day!!

Rick

Pictures

2007-04-18T02:33:00.000-06:00

Here are some my mothers from the mother's group. The mother's group movement started about 10 years ago as a way to give women in the village move power and control about what happens. They raise money, pay for temple projects, and learn about health care!

This is Liz teaching her income generation class how to knit!!

This is at a little dessert party with some the young singles in the Branch. (not sure how to stop the underlining??

This is Iris one of the volunteers showing off her VSN T-shirt!!

This grandmother came to one of my classes about TB. She is amazing!

This is with Swastika, one of the members of the branch. She is 22 and goes to an Engineering School. She is in the Primary Presidency in the Branch.

This is Rashmi in her beautiful smile and beautiful green kurta.

Hanging out at Swastika's house. They are a very well off family...

This is disease.....kids swimming with water buffaloes!!

Thats all for now folks...

US Politics

2007-04-14T21:20:00.000-06:00

On a side note...I am a huge Barrack Obama fan and have been for about 8 months now. I have read both of his books and I highly recommend reading them. Anyone who really cares about the candidates will actually read what that candidate has to say for himself or herself, and I am making the rounds through their works. The best way to learn about Obama is his books. He puts it all out on the line in all its glory and well at times not so glorious. His website is a pretty great resources, and if interested you could join our group Mormons for Obama!

One of my favorite things about Obama is how well he incorporates the progressive/liberal/democrat agenda with religion and faith. It is such a breath of fresh air to finally find some one working for expanded health care for all, public education, and other social welfare programs, who is also committed to God and speaking my similar language when it comes to faith and religion. Of course, our faith and belief system is different, but at least he gets it. The thing that has really irked me that last few years is how lost the democratic party has been when trying to speak about faith. I feel like Obama just knows how to do it, because he actually feels it. You might say he is just being a good politician, but read for your self and then decide. This link is to a speech he gave about politics and faith.

Link to Speech

And I guess while I am spouting off about politics, let me just say that I am really excited about all of the potential presidential candidates. Never before have I felt that any of the five or six leading candidates would all be pretty good presidents. From McCain, Giuliani, Edwards, Romney, Clinton, and of course Obama...I think any of them would be a pretty good president. And I am leaving off the other 10 or so that have thrown...This election will be such a fresh breath of air from last election when I didn't really care for either of the two finalists.

One more thing...I have been asking around for a while, because I am still having trouble understanding another phenomenon in American Politics. I was on my mission and out of the country during the Bill Clinton scandal, which might have something to do with it. I can't understand the complete hatred towards Hillary Clinton. Why such the malice? When you say her name in most Utah homes, you see Brother and Sister Johnson turn into angry ogres. I mean what exactly has she done that requires the amount of hatred that people feel? I mean aren't there quite a few other people that you don't agree with, but none of them bring out the hate.

Perhaps Hillary-hate originates from the same place as the hate directed to President Bush. I mean, really, these are people, they aren't perfect. I honestly feel that they are doing what they think is best for the country. Why can't we disagree with their politics without all of the anger, malice, and hate??

I don't really want to turn my nice happy blog about mountains and Nepal into a political forum, but any comments would be appreciated.

Bleeding Mountains

2007-04-14T21:19:00.000-06:00

I have just finished reading two really great books about the political history of Nepal and then last night I picked up a book called Bleeding Mountains of Nepal. These books have been a great way for me to get to know my Nepali friends much better. Both books are written by a Nepali author named Manjushree Thapa, and were written originally in English. Their titles are “Tutor of History” and “Forget Kathmandu.” If you're interested, I think you can get them in the States. I have also spent quite a while the last few weeks just talking and asking them hard questions about caste, marriage, education, revolution, etc.

This county has a pretty crazy history with democracy in the past 50 years. There have been three major People's movements that created new democratic systems. Each of these though lasted for only a few years, mainly because the political parties could never even talk to each other. It got so bad at points with party fighting, that there would be brawls in the parliament building.

The people of Nepal have lived through also a recent Maoist revolt. And the revolt took places in most part because these democratic parties could not govern. Reading these histories and talking to these people, is really quite sad. They all want democracy and when they get...well, they just squander their opportunities.

Last year was the third major movement to democracy. This time completely getting rid of the monarchy and establishing a republic. In the past they have kept the king along in a parliamentary system, that really just didn't work too well. Currently, the parties are talking with the Maoist Party this time, and lets hope that this time things really work out. This June they are having national elections.

Money, greed, family, pride. Those four things have really done a number on this country. Crazy that I add family in well, let me explain! As in many societies in the world including our own, your family relations really are what get you jobs, marriages etc. In fact, one of the major parties was run by some brothers for the better part of the last 20 years. One taking over for the other and back etc.

I am just starting to read a book also written in English originally by a Nepali named Aditya Shrestha. It is called “Bleeding Mountains of Nepal” with the subtitle “corruption, greed, misuse of power and resources.” I'm really pretty excited to get into it. The country is so completely amazing and fascinating, and I haven't even step foot above 7,ooo ft!!!

Another topic that I couldn't even begin to scratch the surface with is how this country is a soup of so many different ethnic cultures, and religions all mix-up together, but not mix-in to each other. With the caste system here for the past thousand years there have been these ethnic groups living side by side, but hardly mixing at all. It has created this diverse beautiful group of people. The Hamung, Newars, North Indian Bhramans, and of course the Sherpas. I'm getting to point in which I have a basic idea for about half the people which caste or ethnic group they are from just by meeting them once. Of course we have our separate groups in the States, but its nothing like here.

And by the way, take all of the commentary above as straight from me. With, I would guess, at least a quarter of it wrong in some way...

Volunteer Society Nepal (vsnnepal@ntc.net.np)

2007-04-14T21:17:00.000-06:00

As I alluded to in my last post, I have been working more and more with the management side of VSN, than with actual Health Care. This basically means that I have spending about half of my day working in the clinic or teaching mother's groups and then on different projects here at VSN. VSN is an amazing organization that was started about 4 years ago, by a few really committed and sincere Nepalis. They had this idea, that they could do it all better, help more people, give volunteers a better experience, all for doing it for much less money. And I totally agree that they have succeeded. Most international groups that work here, would charge several thousand dollars for volunteers to get less training, and similar experiences.

After seeing the Nepal political and business culture described above, it has been wonderful to find a few people who are really working to change things for the better. Now are some things still problems? Yes. But at least they are really trying to change things.

Anyway, VSN is great, but they need help. Mainly with managing possible volunteers through email, the finances, and also the website has major problems. So, I have been emailing all of the potential volunteers, and also those who will be showing up in the next month. We are working on correcting some of the content and look of the website, but it really needs someone with more knowledge than me.

Any budding web designers out there who want to donate some time??? Also, I have been trying to set up a tracking system to actually see how many people are coming to the VSN website, and if some new marketing techniques are really worth the money. It has been really fun to work with it, and I feel I can make the organization better off overall with some help.

VSN would really like to get some other donors from the States, but VSN needs to get their house in order first to be able to approach people with good data to support what they are doing. I have been working with them to be more open with their income and experines and making budgets etc. Liz, who has worked for a few non-profits has pretty good grasp and doing these finance types of things, and so she will be spending some time working with them on this stuff. She will also be starting to encourage a little more organization of personnel responsibilities and duties. Getting lists of what staff members actually do, and what they should be doing etc. Hopefully, we can add some of our skills to make VSN a better place for all, and a by product will be to have a better picture to show people wanting to donate money.

liz is here

2007-04-14T21:08:00.000-06:00

My friend Liz Lamphere, who I knew as Sister Lamphere when we served Hungary together, arrived about 10 days ago. She has been wonderful and has really jumped into things here in Nepal. It has been so much fun just chatting about life, Nepal, Hungary, politics, and crazy Americans. Her blog is at Here , and you all should go check it out!! She has been working with women to teach income generation, as well as teach a couple of groups of kids English.

Busy Busy

2007-04-09T22:20:00.000-06:00

So, things got very busy here in Nepal. Mother's Groups, volunteer meetings, becoming a web designer, becoming a marketing and advertising specialist, and the computer handy-man.....life is great.

This past week I added some links to my page from my friends sites as well as sites I got to just about everyday. Please check them out...especially the blogs!

Happy East last weekend. My friend who arrived last week brought plastic eggs and we had a grand egg hunt. It was awesome!!!

I'll write more in a bit..

Namaste

2007-03-30T02:20:00.000-06:00

So, it's been over a week now since my last post. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown! I've already almost been here a month with only two more to go.

I am typing this in a bit of a frustrated state of mind...

Things have been really going so well lately, at the clinics, with my Nepali family, with the other VSN volunteers. But then a bomb of day happened today. Well, not really that bad just a little frustrating. The Gothatar Health Post has been in serious need of a few pieces of equipment, so VSN decided to pay about $100 for a new BP cuff, an otoscope, and an autoclave to sterilize tools and bandages etc. I have been wanting to go buy this stuff for a long time, and we finally went yesterday to pick it up. We got everything and saved about 10 bucks in the process. And then today as we are hooking up the autoclave...it doesn't even work!! ERGGH! I spent most of the morning trying to get the thing working and it just wouldn't. So, yeah that was a pain. I guess we will have to take another half-day to go back to this place and exchange it.

Then also yesterday, in my treasure hunting I found a Nepali language version of this really cool book called Where there is no doctor. This book is designed for health workers, new docs, and the most important person for health....the mother! It really is an amazing book, and I was so excited I picked up five copies that I can give to some people here. I had to go to the Teaching Hospital's book store in the city to find it. The publisher of the book is Hesperian and this group has an open copyright policy on the book and anyone can use and adapt it for there location and language. Well apparently the Nepalis took a little too much liberty changing the book around. Tomorrow I teaching this really enthusiastic mother's group about Health. With plans to use a diarrhea chart from the book as a teaching tool. Today, I was going through the chart at my clinic with some of the workers and we discovered that some of the stuff has been switched around. This flow chart doesn't make any sense as it is now. Frustrating!! So, now I have to make photocopies and fix the chart so it will actually make sense.

Here are the leaders of the mother's group!

So, yeah the last couple of hours have not been the greatest. But then again yesterday was one of the best, so the bad comes with the good.

Also today,. I had the pleasure of showing the entire clinic staff the importance of washing wounds with CLEAN WATER AND SOAP!!! This guy came in with some cuts on his hand and a few stitches from a five-day-old work accident. His hand had been “cleaned” at my clinic two days ago and then wrapped in a bandage. As I opened it up, his hand was filthy with dried blood and dirt covering his hands. So, for the next 10 minutes or so I made him wash his hands. Crazy huh?? The health workers use Iodine as a replacement for actually getting dirt and stuff off of peoples hands. And really cleaning things out is simply better. The bandage he was using was also nasty. He has no money for another bandage, so we talked about actually cleaning the thing. Anyway, I think he will do great, and it was a good lesson for all about proper wound treatment and infection prevention.

Also in the last few days, I have come across a couple of people who get bad headaches. Their symptoms are pretty clearly migraine, but they have not been getting proper treatment. Getting migraines myself, I consider myself a budding headache expert. One of the people is my bahini, or little sister where I am staying. We sat down and talked about her headaches for about an hour. She fit the picture pretty well, and it was like a beautiful revelation for her that people actually knows what she is going through. We came up with a treatment plan for her including, keeping a headache diary, avoiding her headache triggers, and some meds that she can get here in Nepal. Those conversations are pretty rewarding. Hopefully, the treatment plan will at least decrease the frequency of her headaches.

All the hard work and memorization the last few years really was hard, but after helping a teen-age girl finally get some relief make it all worth it. It feels so great to finally be semi-compentent to be a resource to friends and those around me!

Have a fantastic day!!!

This kid got baptized by his father who received the MelchizedekPriesthood a few hours earlier...that's cool. The kid had to wear his karate pants, because the brand didn't have white pants his size!

This picture needs no descriptor...

Kathmandu Kwickies

2007-03-21T07:57:00.000-06:00

I am taller than 99% of all Nepalis and the buses are built for Nepalis. This creates problems for my neck. The best place in the bus is either in the door, or under the window in the roof. The window gives me about 2 more inches and the door is always open. Sometimes I get a seat as well, but that is a rarity!

This is a newly baptized member and the Aunt that raised her. She is holding her favorite picture, that she has to hide in her Aunt's room or else her cousins will trash it. She lives basically a house full of mildew and mold in this really old part of the city. She works for one of the missionary couples here in the city, which is how she found the Church. I asked her what was the best part of joining the church. She said that before she had no direction, no plan, and no reason to live. After well obviously things changed. The culture here is not really that support of women, and most have a really hard lot. But look at that smile now!!

Cows just about kick it wherever they want in the city!!

This family was just washing their clothes. Just right there on the hill like nobody's business.

Little joys of life. I have been trying to find and buy a bucket with a little spout at the bottom for about a week now. The Gothatar clinic has meager hand washing facilities. And today I finally found one!!! I also bought some liquid hand soap. Life is wonderful!

We also remodeled the clinic yesterday, and now we actually have room to see patients in with a door. I take great pleasure kicking out the entire village every time we start examining a patient. And crazy enough in the last two days we have seen quite a few ladies with chest issues. Isn't that strange?? This is a picture form last weeks vaccination day. I have never seen so many babies, well except for maybe at Kougar Stadium.

Me in the nice clinic!

There is a “strike” here in the city just about every other day. That means that some of the city just shuts down, because some party or group is unhappy. To me it means that my bus sometimes just goes random ways, and there is no way to know where it is going. So, I get to exit and walk back to where I need to go. Fun huh??

The power goes out in the neighbor at random times, because there is not enough electricity at night for the whole city. This makes things fun and almost like a game.

Have a great day!!!

Rick-ji (the ji means I am super cool)

What am I really doing???

2007-03-16T09:21:00.000-06:00

Great question!!

Now that I am actually into my program and past orientation I can tell you, because now I know! I have been going to two different clinics here in Kathmandu. One is a government run clinic in our of the outlying neighborhoods called Gothatar. The other is a nicer community run clinic that is in a nicer part of the city called New Baneshwor.

I have been going to the Gothatar in the mornings for about 3-4 hours and to the Baneshwor clinic for 1.5 hours. The government clinic is in pretty bad shape. No place to wash hands, no bandages, no otoscope, one stethescope, one BP cuff, no light to look in people's mouths. But they do have antibiotics that they give out like a ton, and plenty of vaccinations. There are three community health workers, three community health worker students, and me! Two of the health workers have been around for quite awhile and are pretty knowledgeable about most of the common diseases, but their diagnostic skills are quite lacking. But then again it seems we seem the same types of people for the same problems, so most treatments are probably right enough.

There are some major problems with the clinic though. For example, I itch to wash my hands, and have to grab the picture of water and the soap and go out front to wash my hands. And only one person has washed her hands since I started there.

We decided with prompting from me, that we would each come up with a list of things we can do to improve the clinic. Then we are going to get together to talk about what we can do. For example, they really need some type of machine at the clinic to sterilize equipment etc. They use metal tongue depressors for example instead of wood, which makes sense because it can be reused. The problem is getting it clean again! I can spot quite a few things that I would change right away, but I think the ideas really need to come from themselves or else it really won't go any where! I am pretty excited about this project though. They all speak a little bit of English and with my meager Nepal we get on pretty well. My language teacher/translator has also been coming and he helps out quite a bit too.

I'll speak more about the gothatar clinic later....

The other clinic is a community run clinic and I have been shadowing an almost doctor-level worker. I am not sure what his title is, but people come to him instead of the local doctor because they like him better. This clinic is much better stocked, but also a little crazy. There are two rooms with a gate door separating the patients from him. The patients file in at a rate of one every 5 minutes or so. Two patients come into the room at a time and he sees one and then the other. Not a lot of privacy in Nepal, but this clinic is better than Gothatar....the entire neighborhood knows what disease you have, because everyone is the same room as you!!

The Baneshwor clinic is really not the best for me though as I just sit there and try to figure out what is going on and why. The almost-physician speaks English, but has next to no time to say anything to me. We will see how long I stay here. It has been good though to see how a better organized clinic works here in Nepal.

And I have now had the please of turning down a stinkin' drug rep gift in Nepal. Dang! I thought I could at least get away from that in Nepal. But nope, in walked two guys well dressed with briefcases. They had a little notebook with pictures of their drugs with lame English slogans on them. It was actaully quite comical. The ads for the drugs put the American ones to same. I'll see if I can get a copy or picture next time they are around. Anyway, after their spill they offered pens to us. McDonalds and 7-Eleven haven't made it to Kathmandu yet, but drug reps have...

My plan is work with these clinics for about six weeks, after which I will most likely going to a more remote village and conducting a health camp for a few days. After this I will be going trekking for a while to the Everest Base Camp. Then returning to Kathmandu to finish up here for a week or so, and then back to the States.

Next on the Blog with be a description of the group I volunteering with VSN.....

Here are some cool pics....I'll have some of the clinics next post!

So, this guy was collecting something out of this pristine river here.... yum yum!!

This sure beats whipped cream and Oreos.

This is the monkey temple...called that because there are monkeys all over it.

View from the top of the temple...

The top of the monkey Stupa.

I love this picture...

Another view of Kathmandu.

This is Sugandha and some of the family in the next shot. We had BBQ chicken for pre-dinner.

Ok the next two shots are proof that kids are cool and cute...especially Nepali kids...

Some cool temple thing...they are beautiful and there are about a million of them in Kathmandu!

Sacred Cows, sacred pigeons, and little kids....all just having a great time together. I call this a disease vector. But even better was that right after I took this shot I dropped my jacket on the ground. hmmm...not the best place to drop one's favorite jacket!!!

This is the god of death or something...at least that is what my cheap tour guide told me. Apparently it is impossible to lie in front of him. So, they used to get people "confess" in front of him.

Match Results

2007-03-15T21:50:00.000-06:00

Namaste!!

I just wanted to let everyone know that my match results for residency are in..........

And I got my first choice......

I will be going to the University of Utah Family Medicine Residency!!!!

I just want to thank all of you who have helped during the process including first and foremost my Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and my family.

The Church in Nepal

2007-03-12T02:54:00.000-06:00

The address for the church in Nepal is:

Address: Maharajpunj, Ring Road, Losal, Nepal
Landmark: On the way to Airport

Now I wasn't exactly sure if I could find the building as there are just a few ways to get to the airport. This address is pretty normal for how things working Nepal. If you don't know how to get somewhere already then good luck. Fortunately, just about everyone on the streets will help point you in the correct direction. I guess we did have a few phone numbers to use for directions.

My Nepali dad felt sorry for me and also I guess a little scared that I would get totally lost, so we went on Friday in his car to find the place. Here in Nepal the rest day is on Saturday, and the other six days are regular work days. Therefore, the Sabbath is held on Saturday here. It has been a little strange to spend all day Saturday calling the second hour Sunday School when it is Saturday, but oh well...

Having the Sabbath on Saturday with no other weekend day is really hard on members here as they work every other day of the week. Imagine not having that Saturday to get ready for Sunday....

Anyway, I took off on Saturday morning at 8:00 AM to get to the church at 10:00 AM. I had to take a microbus, and luckily I could take one bus the entire way. I did a much better job than I thought I would and it only took 40 minutes. When I showed up they were just started institute and seminary, so my timing ended up being perfect.

Sacrament services are held in English and Nepali depending on who is speaking, but mostly English. It was quite hilarious that the Nepali Branch President spoke in English without a translator and then the Mission President who happened to be in town spoke in English, but then he had a interpretor for him. I guess there is quite a difference between American English and Nepali English...

The light and spirit of the members here is of course amazing. How amazing is the church. The Spirit does amazing things to change our lives and bring happiness. How wonderful it was to show up half way around the world and have an amazing family and support group.

The branch here is quite interesting in that the majority of members are Young Single Adults ages about 18 to 30. And there is quite a good number of guys too, which is usually a rarity. After church the YSAs got together and we had dinner at one of the service missionary's home. It was great fun to just be able to hang out and have them teach me Nepali.

The YSAs practicing to sing in church in two weeks...

The greatest part about yesterday was the setting apart of Sister Usha to be a missionary. The Mission President set her apart and gave a short Fireside type talk to the YSAs who were there. Sister Usha is the first Nepali to be called to serve outside of India. She will be going to the England Birmingham Mission. She is actually a Physician here in Kathmandu, and for the next 18 months she will be an amazing missionary. She has quite the miracle story about being
able to get her visa, as you can imagine visas for Nepalis are quite rare.

Here is Sister Usha with her brother the President and his wife, and the two couples serving in Nepal.

Even in Kathmandu the Lord provides a family of friends. Even in Kathmandu the Lord changes peoples heart and lives for the better. Even in Kathmandu the Light of Christ is found in the hearts of young men and women. Even in Kathmandu the Church is true.

More Pictures

2007-03-11T00:08:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few pictures from the last couple of days.

This is the little shop where I buy my water everyday...

This is the VSN office building. Here I hook up my laptop to the internet (when there is power that is). We also have meetings here, and my language lessons take place in the classroom!

Here are just a couple of the cutest little neighborhood kids in the world.

This is obviously the local soccer field. People are on it just about all of the time!

Taking pictures of sweet outfits...can I find a better way to spend my time waiting for my microbus...doubtful.

Namaste!

Namaste

2007-03-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

Namaste...

So that last picture of the girl and the cow is quite a common site here in my little suburb of Kathmandu. Where I am staying is called Pepsicola...how convenient...because there is a Pepsi bottling factory down the street. We went shopping yesterday afternoon on the public buses and to get home we just had to yell pepsicola-pepsicola to see if the bus was heading our way!!!

But that is jumpin' ahead. My flight from Bangkok to Kathmandu was quite uneventful. I was privileged to watch Happy Feet and it provided sufficient entertainment for the 3 hour flight. We touched down and that is when the fun began. I had forgotten to take pictures with me for my visa, so I had to use airport Polaroid. But of course the camera guy only takes Rupes, so I had to change some money. I packed most of my US dollars in my checked bag, so I just figured I would exchange all I had. Big mistake! When I got to the front of the visa line I was informed that they only take foreign currency to pay for the visa. He told me I would have to change what I had back into US dollars. But no way did I want to pay the commission two more times on the same $40. In the end he let me go get my cash from my bag while he held my passport. And it all worked out in the end! But I may suggest to bring more cash with you and not to change all of it into Nepali Rupes.

After getting my bags I met up with Sugandha. He is one the co-directors of Volunteer Society Network of Nepal or VSN. We went off to his place where I am staying for the next few months. I have my own room on the third floor of his house. It is pretty big and furnished with a pretty decent desk a bed to place my head! Sugandha has a wonderful family of two daughters and his wife. I eat with the family and hang out when I have down time.

This is Sugandha's house where I am staying...

We eat two meals a day of DahlBhat. Basically rice and lentil soup on top with always something to put on it. Either veggies or meat of some type. The two meals are at about 9:30 AM and like 8:00 PM. When I heard the schedule I got worried that I would starve throughout the day. No worries though as they eat snacks a few times a day as well. Either momos, which are dumplings filled with veggies but usually water buffalo meat, or some other type of food. So really we eat at least 3 times a day. I have not been hungry while I have been here. And of course I have been buying little candies and food from the never-ending number of local vendors whenever we are walking somewhere.

I have been buying a liter of water every morning from one store every morning. The girl who runs it is named Sarmila, and gets a kick out of my little Nepali. I can say water and give, and that is basically all that I need to buy my water.

My orientation schedule-

7:00 or 8:00 AM –wake up and I study my scriptures or read a book.
9:30-- we eat breakfast
10:30—my language class starts
12:45-- we head out for the afternoon
5:00-- return home and use the Internet and chill with the family or some of the othervolunteers.
8:00-- Dinner
9:00 or 10:00 go to sleep

My afternoons have been spent out doing things. I have seen some of the sights around town and have walked to see some of the surrounding areas of the city. My language teacher Sujan (pronounced Susan) usually goes with me to wherever we are going for the afternoon and gives a bit of background of what we are doing. Sometimes he even fills me in on some of the Nepali delights...yesterday we had some really yummy sour milk and curds. He loved it...I could only eat/drink about half of my small glass. It cost us about 30 cents of the two glasses. Sujan is studying at one on the Universities here in Kathmandu. He has classes starting at 6:00 or 6:30 AM (not an error) and then comes to start the teaching at like 10:30. Crazy huh??

I will have this orientation schedule for the next week or so and then I will start with my volunteering at the local community hospital. I have yet to check it out, but I think I will in the next couple of days. Today, I am going to one of the orphanages that VSN helps to support, and also where I will be doing some check-ups and immunizations.

If you have any questions then go ahead and email me or leave them in a comments. Thanks for reading...

Here are some other pictures...

These two are at Darbur Square

And this last one was taken by a very excited Nepali kid and is out almost past the city boundary.

Namaste from Kathmandu

2007-03-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

Namaste!

I am finally in Nepal. It has been over a year since I have had this experience planned and it seems like it would never come. Stepping off the plane here in Kathmandu was a huge relief, and felt so great to be here. The sunny weather and beautiful mountains makes this feel like a home away from home.

But before I speak about Nepal I have to tell you about Bangkok. What a city! Crazy with tourists. It is almost overwhelming how many people are here vacationing. Although I enjoyed the sites I really wanted to get away from the vacationing masses, and the unsightly number of 7-Elevens.

I guess the highlights were the canal ride, the reclining Buddha, and flying kites with locals in the city park.

The kite, which cost me 75 cents, was sweet-- cobra like with green and orange. After I finally got the hang of it, it really soared and even the locals were impressed (well at least the eight year olds.) After baking in the sun for an hour I gave the kite up to a much better 10 year old flyer and just enjoyed the kites in the air for a while.

I am also a sucker for “local entertainment” and allowed myself to be taken on a tour of the city by a tuk-tuk driver. I was taken to few “wonderful” jewelery stores, tailor shops, and over-priced gift shops. The drivers get gas money if they bring tourists and if they stay for a certain amount of time. I had a few hours to kill so I helped the guy out. At each place I had to ask him how long I had to stay before making my exit! He also took me to a few temples and real sites in the city. It was fun....

Wow...my bloggin' skills have got to improve...oh well. This is fine for the first post in a while. Hopefully in the next few days I will have my first post about Nepal. But just for fun let me show one of my favorite pictures I have so far...

Day 1

2006-04-09T14:32:00.000-06:00

I landed at Ferihegy Airport after a quick layover in Prague. The first thing that I thought was how little the country had changed. The billboards looked the same. The streets, cars, dyed haird. I don't know why I was expecting some huge make-over. It was nice though to have the familiarity. It was quite difficult to start speaking Hungarian again. It was really a strange sensation to be back. I was still quite apprehensive and a little nervous when I got there.

I stayed for the most part at Csoti Szilveszter (family name first in Hungary) and his wife, Noemi's place. He was my lone Hungarian companion. They live in the western part of Budapest called Kobanya. They have a wonderful place especially according to Hungarian standards. They have a nice computer with high-speed internet. Nice furniture, and most importantly an extra room. Well, I guess not extra...it was their baby girl's room. But she kindly offered it to me while I was there.

We then ate dinner at their place after Szilveszter came home from church. It is very odd to call him by his given name. Szilveszter is just a rather large mouthful, and no shorter names really work. Szilvi is a girl’s name and Veszter sounds odd. His family all calls him Ocsi, which means "little brother," even his little sister calls him that. After a while I did get used to it though. Szilveszter works at Nu Skin. Just about every
member either works for Nuskin or Tahitian Noni.

I was exhausted from the flight, but I was itching to see the downtown of Pest again. My first stop was at Deak Ferenc Ter where I made a beeline to the Danube. Seeing the river really brought me back to Hungary. It was a moving experience to feel again at my second home.This the Royal palace and the castle. The light was just about perfect when I arrived at the river. I could not have asked for better timing.

I just strolled along the river for a while soaking it all in. And then I made my way to the the gigantic Szent Istvan Basillica. Seeing this building really reminded me that Hungarians sure know how to light up their buildings at night. This is Budapest's largest church, which can hold more than 8000.

My last stop was to my favorite building of all time. For five months I lived less than 5 minutes away from this building. Each and every day I would walked past on the way to the Metro. Seeing it again from down the street was simply breathtaking.

The best view of the building is from the other side of the river. And here I am a couple of days later...

I then just headed home, filled with love once again for Hungary and the Hungarian people. My first day in the country was a prelude to the rest of my travels--beautiful buildings and lots of walking.

Check back in a few days to hear about the Church in Hungary....

European Adventure

2006-04-09T12:27:00.000-06:00

It has been over a year since my last post and update. I am still here in the Bronx, but I just returned from 3 weeks in Central Europe. Over the next few weeks I will be detailing all that I did and all that I have learned from my experience. Check back for updates every few days! I was in Hungary for two weeks and then I spent one week getting to Prague for my flight home on April 8th.

Hungarian Parliament Building

2005-02-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Garfield Johns...a new recruit for next year!

New Pictures and Happy New Year!!!

2005-01-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

I just put up a ton of pictures from the holidays. I tried to get all of the ones that I promised people. If I forgot then let me know and I will throw it up. I also still need to get more pictures from during the fiesta bowl that my brother took.

2005-01-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

The is Steve Fifita's nephew whom we met during a late night Denny's run. His family was very nice and excited for the game. This little guy really knows what's going on!!!

2005-01-05T18:03:00.001-07:00

The gang who went to the game...

2005-01-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

Emily Larson and Rick at the New Year's Party. It was great fun. So much red and so much fun. How did we get those beads around both of us.....

2005-01-05T18:01:00.000-07:00

The Fiesta parade was as fun as....well a parade.

2005-01-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

Derron, Dave, James, and Dan

2005-01-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

The Dangerfields were great. We mooched off of them for a couple of days. They were the nicest people and made our stay wonderful!!

2005-01-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

camelback

2005-01-05T17:54:00.001-07:00

Grandma at Cousin Party

2005-01-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

Thurstons party style

2005-01-05T17:53:00.001-07:00

Lisa and Grace