It's Been to Long

Hello everyone!!! I know it HAS been to long and I am sorry. Summer has come and gone and I missed it some how. During the summer I decided to get another job, so I was working 40 hours plus. What was I thinking!?! I guess I was trying to catch up financially with all of my early vacations this year.

I am now in my third semester of nursing school and to be honest it is kicking my trash. OH did I mention I am still working the 2 jobs? I know its ridiculous............but the reason for it, is to be honest I hate quiting jobs, even the ones I do not like. Also I absolutely love every girl that I work with. Working at the mall is such a refreshing change to the urologist office. It's just so final to quit and walk away I guess, but I know the time is coming soon to do so. Maybe the semester wouldn't be so bad if I only had one job:)

Another new thing that has happened is that I moved out into an apartment of my own back in August. That's right folks I am living the awesome life of no roommates. Don't get me wrong, I miss my old roommate Suzy A LOT, but their is just something about being alone that is so nice. I was completely terrified to make this big step, cause for the most part I hate being alone but I put my big girl panties on and took the plunge:) Well I better get back studying, but I will make sure I will write soon again.

Disneyland!!!!!!!!!

So I just recently experienced Disneyland for my first time last week!! It was more than I had hoped for. Disneyland is the HAPPIEST place on earth : ) I went with my friends, Suzy and Mallory. We drove 10 hours straight last Saturday to West Village, where Suzy's sister Megan let us stay for the night (thank you Megan!)

The next day was awesome. We had a long day of shopping and we ended it with laying out on the beach. Monday was Disneyland! We were there from opening until close. I loved it! My number one favorite ride was the Indiana Jones ride : ) Tuesday was California Adventures and a Dodgers game. I liked California Adventures, but not as much as Disneyland. The girls talked me into going onto The Tower of Terror. Now if you don't know me, you wouldn't know that I have a horrible fear of heights. I decided though that I would swallow it, man up, and get on the ride.

Well all I can say is that when I got off the ride, my hands were numb and I was dizzy from hyperventilating. It was the most terrifying experience of my life!! I'm proud of myself for going through with it though. Haha life is good!

Tag Your It!

Rules

A. Post the rules
B. Answer all the questions about yourself
C. After you are done posting, tag 5 people


1. What were you doing 10 years ago? 10 years ago I was 16, so I was probably living it up cause I thought I was the coolest person alive!! I would've been a sophomore at WeJo High (ya Baby!!) so pretty much I got into a lot of trouble. : )

2. Five things on your to do list today-

1. Study for the horrid and painful HESSI
   
2. Go to class
   
3. Watch the Jazz game
   
4. Think about how much I don't want to do my care plans.
5. Laundry (I'm out of undies. I know, I know TMI)
   

Nobody can completely appreciate the hatred feelings I have towards care plans, unless you've done them. All my classmates understand!

3. Snacks I enjoy- I'm a salt girl ( Suzy hates it) so chips, cashews, almonds, sweet potato fries from Rumbi's , but I do love Popsicle's.

4. What would I do if suddenly I were a billionaire? First I would pay all my crappy student loans. Then I would give all my family and friends a million and 5 million for myself. After that I would just give it to charity

5. 3 bad habits- 1) I don't take out my contacts (surprisingly I've never have had an eye infection) 2) I make big decisions without thoroughly thinking about it 3) My room is always messy


6. 5 places I've lived- Ummmmmmmm Utah (wow I just realized how lame that is)


7. 5 jobs I've had- St Marks Hospital, Emerald Restaurant, Alta View, the doc's office

8. 5 things people don't know about me-

1. I’m going to Disneyland for the first time in a couple of weeks (Whoowho)

2. I have 2 small toes that are stuck together on my left foot (Ya I know, I'm a freak)

3. I have dual citizenship

4. I hate having hot feet

5. I dance in the shower sometimes (that could be a TMI too, but I'm going with it)

All the friends I have that blog have already been tagged. I would also like to keep these friends so I opt out of tagging peeps!! : P

Bon Voyage Elder Woodall!!

Yesterday my family and I said goodbye to my little brother, Joel. He left for his mission in South Africa. I have mixed feelings about him leaving. It has just started to sink in that I won't be seeing him for 2 years and that totally bums me out, but I also know this is going to be an experience of a life time for him and that makes me excited and happy. It's my own selfish reasons that are making me sad I guess.

Everybody should know Joel. He has this awesome ability to make anything funny!! He can make you laugh so hard that your stomach would hurt, tears streaming down your face and you would be fighting the urge to pee your pants : ) Joel is going to be a great missionary and the people of South Africa (and his companions) better brace themselves for his funny sense of humor and his ambition to spread the gospel. I will miss my partner in crime : )

So the semester is almost over, and I am definitely ready for it to be over!! I'm desperately craving the smell, sounds, and warmth of summer. There is nothing like it!!!

Beating the Goliath of JET LAG

And so far I'm losing!!!!

It's early Wednesday morning at 3:30am and I am still awake!!! Uuugggggghhhhhhh WTF! I'm still on Vietnam time. Which means my body thinks that it is 4:30 in the afternoon tomorrow. Honestly, I have never dragged my butt this much since the great sickness of 1995 ( that's a whole different story). I just don't know what I'm going to do, to get back on Utah time. Does anybody have any suggestions? I'm tired of walking around like a zombie!

Anyways................. Coming home was long, but not as painful as going there (thank you Ambien). I arrived in Salt Lake City at 9:45pm on Saturday. I love airports. It is a really good place to people watch. Everybody getting off that plane, couldn't wait to see their family at the front of security, including me. At airports you get the best of both worlds. Their are people saying goodbye, not wanting to say goodbye, for fear of experiencing the feeling of missing someone or something. The other side of this picture is when people are coming back. The joy and excitement that people get in their faces to see a loved one or a really good friend. There is nothing like knowing and being loved.

Reality came and hit me quick when I walked to my family. We gave our hugs, kisses, and "I missed you", but then our conversation turned quickly to school and school work. I honestly didn't miss that much, but none the less, I am behind.

So just in case you were wondering why I changed my template for this blog.......... the reason why is I never realized how pink it was. It wasn't just pink, it was fluorescent pink. I am so sorry to those who have stared at that computer screen faithfully to learn all about what I was doing in Vietnam. Did I cause any seizures!?! LOL Oh and I would like to apologize for my awful grammar and punctuation on this blog. That is why I am not an English Major : )

Well I've almost slept the last 3 days away, and I'm getting pretty sick of it. But I'm back home!! Home in my bed, home were my fam is, home were my friends are. There's nothing like it: )

Final Entry in Vietnam

Sorry for the delay in writing. The last couple days have been nuts, so I'm just going to write what I have down in my journal

3-18-08
We had a clinic near the town (I'm still in Hoi An at this time). The old people were not so crazy this time : ) The weather was not as hot and we had fans. I have become grateful for the little things in life on this trip. We had a few babies that day also. The fav baby of that day was a 20 old little boy. Usuall ywhen the babies are brought to us they sit down with there mom, take one look at us and turn into freak out mode. Not this guy!! He was happy, giggling and smiling our entire visit. I wish I could've taken him home with me. I have to admit I was slow on his exam, cause I just wanted to play with him ALL day!!!! The older people had their usual complaints of OPS. We heard a lot of war stories that day also. Nobody was trying to get in forcefully and sneak in though today, so their were no need for bouncers : )

For that day's main topic I would like to talk about the nasty teeth I've been looking at for the past 2 days. I'm going to have to give a little history lesson first. So back in the day (like 40-50 yrs ago) Vietnam was always getting invaded by China, Japan, and eventually us. When the soldiers would come over they would rape the women. So the girls got this awesome idea that they would find a way to make themselves look unattractive to the men that were doing this. What they did was chew this nut called a beach nut ( strangely in doesn't look like a nut at all. It looks kinda like a mushroom, but it grows on a tree, thus it's a nut) and what this nut does is that it stains their teeth BLACK! Also when their chewing this nut they add a leaf and some kind of a white paste. The leaf and the white paste turns their tongue and lips orange. Sooooo just imagine this....................... Your at clinic all day. This 80 year old women is your patient and you tell her to open her mouth so you can check out her tonsils. Not only do you see this nasty glob of beach nut, but her whole entire mouth would be stained orange. Then they would realize what you were trying to look at and spit it in the corner. Oh did I forget to tell you that it's highly addictive. That's right folks, that has been my life for two days, but they are still sooooooo cute. I will miss the smiles of my old people with their 4 black teeth and orange lips : )

A little tid bit on the city of Hoi An........... Hoi An is known for the best tailor shops in the world!!! Best of all it's dirt cheap. You can give them any picture of anything (shirts, pants, skirts, dresses) and they will make 100% copy of it, plus you get to pick out the fabric. This place is not good for a shop-aholic like myself.

3-19-08
We left Hoi An at 2:00pm ( after a group picture in the blazing hot sun!) had lunch and left for the airport to fly to Saigon. Our flight was suppose to leave at 5:30 and was layed over till 9:40pm. I knew something was up when the intercom turned on and Miss Hanoi started talking. Thirty seconds later all the Vietnamese started to sigh with frustration and Tonk told us what they were saying. I guess what happens here, it that they will delay the flight unitl it fills up. I had mixed feelings about this. I'm pretty done with traveling. I mean I haven't stayed in one place longer than two days! Sometimes I even don't know where I am or what day it is. I just do and go where I'm told to. It was good to just sit one place for 4 hours and think.

Today
There are only 3 words to describe today. Depressing, unfair, and humbling. Today we went to a Youth Center (aka detention center) In Vietnam they put foster and juvenile deliquents together in one place, this place. The youngest is 5 and the oldest is 17. They sleep on bamboo wood frames with no mattresses and are locked there rooms at night, cause there is no adult supervision. All day I heard stories of how they were abandoned by their parents. " To many mouths to feed, so my parents gave me away" or "my parents didn't want me" they would mainly state. Their sadness and fear of the unknown future crippled me inside. They can't leave the center until they are 18.

After a long hot day of clinic, we went to the orphanage across the street. The first place we stopped was the baby room. We held, loved and fed all every baby in that room (about 20-25). Then we moved to the babies who were abandoned because of their handicaps. "Life is not fair" is the absolute definition of these two rooms. These babies have handicaps that could and would be fixed in the states, so they could live full and productive lives. No questions asked! But because these babies do not have parents they are denied treatment and forgotten. What right does any human have to put a price on a life? My soul ached and my heart broke for these beautiful babies that cannot be picked up for fear of the weight of their heads would surely break their necks.

I don't mean to be preachy or anything, but everyone should count and be grateful for there blessings. To be in a country that is free is a blessing in itself. Free to not be persecuted, free to dream and make it happen, free to hope, and free to live. I never realized that people are denied those simple, yet important freedoms that everyone yearns for. Or maybe I did realize it, but didn't want to acknowledge it. I will never forget today. I will not let myself forget. May God forgive me for my foolish pride and my ungrateful heart. This trip has been exhausting. Emotionally and physically exhausting, but it was so worth it. Every bit of it was worth it. Tomorrow is a shopping day and Saturday I leave for home. I can't wait to see everybody!!

Love you all!

The Old People in Hoi An are Crazy!!!

Hey everybody!!!! I'm in Hoi An now, since we got kicked out of Hue. Today we had clinic in a remote village 2 hours away from our hotel (which by the way are Nazi's. We had to fight to get a shower curtain!). Okay back to the clinic................. so this village was torn up by us in the Vietnam war and ever since then they have never seen American people. Soooooooooo they kinda don't like us and I completely understand. I know there are two sides to every story and that both sides try to make it sound more positive for their cause. But from what I have seen so far, we messed this country up. It's harder for us to recognize it in our own country, since we do not see the consequences of it. We have never had to worry about the next bomb or soldiers burning our houses down and beating us.

Anyways, back to the crazy people at clinic. We only saw old people, CRAZY old people. There was even a need for bouncers at todays clinic. They kept trying to sneak in or they would try to reach into the building and try to steal stuff. They definitely kept us on our toes. Their complaints were the usual for OPS ( Old Person Syndrome). Everything aches and they can't see LOL. To make things just a little more interesting, the heat was to much today. It wouldn't of been so bad if we had some kind of air conditioning, but we didn't!! The team did an awesome job though. We saw 250 patients and left as friends. I'm so glad that we could help change their opinion of us.

P.S. I slept in a mosquitoe net for my first time : ) (just for you Suzy)