Picture(s) of the Week - April 17-24

We went out to the countryside this week, and we were blessed enough to have an ophthalmologist, Dr. K, come with us!  Not only was it a great learning opportunity for our residents on how to do a good eye exam, but we had a bunch of our kids with Down Syndrome evaluated by Dr. K.

Dr. K teaching and demonstrating how to examine the eye

Our residents putting it into practice

Oh, and Happy Fu-Huo-Jie!

Picture of the Week - April 10-16

In an attempt to avoid future blog-a-mania's, I'm going try a weekly update and see how it goes.

Meet XM, our newest addition to our foster program.  We went on Thursday to pick him up from the orphanage.  He is 5 months old and it doesn't look like malnutrition is a concern (a rare thing to see).  We were asked to foster him because of concerns for frequent infections - he's been diagnosed with pneumonia three times since birth.  Hopefully, we'll be able to figure out the problem soon!  In the meantime, he's joined a family with 2 little ones of their own, so he now has a big sister and brother to love on him.

blog-a-mania

I realize that it's been quite a while since I've blogged about life over here, and I apologize.  Here are some updates about what I've been up to...enjoy!

I've been doing a lot more traveling recently, some for work and some for vacation.  All have been fun, but I'm also glad to be back home.  I took advantage of the weeklong Spring Festival holiday and went to Taiwan to see family.  I met up with family from both sides of the family, some of whom I'd never met before.  I loved every minute of this trip!

Enjoying dinner with Aunt Catherine and her family.
She and my uncle are my second set of parents in Taiwan,
and they were wonderful hosts!

The long-awaited Chili's bacon cheeseburger!
I had been craving a good ole' hamburger for months,
and it was delicious down to the very last bite.
Still not sure why my family was so shocked to see me polish off everything...

Reunion with my uncle from my dad's side.
It's been over 10 years since I last saw them,
so it felt like the first time to meet them.  I loved meeting my family,
 and I hope that we'll be seeing more of each other in the future!

The International Flower Expo was in town...
how could I pass that up?
Can you tell which country we're visiting?

More family!  I tell you, Taiwan is my second home...

Where our conference was held

After spending such a rich time with family, I then headed to Thailand for a weeklong medical conference with like-minded workers.  And it was awesome!  There were hundreds of people at the conference, including many families with little ones.  My days were filled with various seminars updating us on current medical practices, and evenings were filled with testimonies from those working in the field.  Mealtimes were busy with meeting people and making new friends.  This was such a sweet time of education and fellowship, all rolled into one.  What a great combo.

Casting workshop

Joan looking pretty happy with her cast

Reuniting with good friends

Skit night by the kids.  A seriously hilarious skit about traveling between E. Asia-stan and W. Asia-stan.

Feeding time!

Signing our life away to go ziplining

On our way down

Healthy ice cream??  Sounds like an oxymoron to me...

Teaching the ayis life support and basic healthcare

My most recent travel has been to Macau and the southern part of China to do some orphanage work.  We visited a foster home and two orphanages, providing medical checks on the children in these places.  There were three of us from this city (a pediatric colleague, me, and our pediatric assistant), another pediatrician from the US, and 2 family physicians from Macau who went on this trip.  It was a great vision trip, and we hope the relationships that were formed will lead to more opportunities in the future.

Medical checks on the children

The kids learning life support, too!

Back home, I've continued to be busy with our weekly trips to the local orphanage, a local foster home, working in the clinic, and teaching our residents.  During one of our academic afternoons, the pediatric faculty did a developmental session.  We invited families with children ages 1 year and up, and had the kids draw and play before us.  We had the residents observe, interact, and compare the skills of each child according to their age.  The kids had fun and we learned a lot from them that day!

Here are also some more firsts...
- watching a movie in a real movie theater (the popcorn was sweet, we had assigned seats, I understood half of the movie because it was in the local language...I now know how to say "I support you" in the local language)
- going to a child's birthday party (there were four cakes, pin the tail on the donkey, balloons, presents, a puppet show, the works)

J pinning his tail on the donkey

H blowing out her candles!

- surviving the entire winter here (lots of hot chocolate and baking)
- making my first medical error on my own (since finishing residency, not fun, very humbling and scary)
- pr-ing in the local language
- being in a book club (we've already read through a few books, I love my group!)
- fostering a child (only for four days but enough to give me a new-found deep, deep respect to all parents)

picking up QH from the orphanage along with two other families

QH resting in bed, looking at me warily

QH with her ayi - not sure why my ayi is not smiling because she was pretty joyful during her time with us.  Maybe it's a culture thing to look serious in photos.  QH, on the other hand, had a really difficult time transitioning from the orphanage - she cried all the time and refused to eat or drink anything during her four days with me.  I saw her a few weeks ago when her foster mom brought her in for a check-up.  She has really adjusted well, and is now eating tons of different foods, smiling, and playful!

- karaoking (both with my local friends and with my foreign friends, we've got some talent on our team!)

can't go wrong with John Denver!

Act of kindness

Post birthday party cleanup.
Presents, food, cake, games and crafts, loads AND loads of stuff.
5 adults, 2 children.
Rush hour.  No taxis.  Tired.
Stranger in a van.  Act of kindness.
Very cool.

The back-backseat

The birthday girl

All of us in the backseat

B, me, and pin the tail on the donkey

Tomb-sweeping Day

Today was tomb-sweeping day, a holiday set aside for sweeping and cleaning the tombs of loved ones.  People will return home to visit the graves of their loved ones, and many will burn paper money in an effort to bring wealth to their loved ones in the afterworld.  On my way home this evening, small fires dotted the streets as people paid their respects to their deceased relatives.  The observation of this holiday has made me reflect on some things that I believe about death, namely that I will not be able to take anything with me from this world, "treasures" that can be destroyed by moth, rust, and thieves.  In my life, these treasures often appear to be material things, such as clothes, money, the latest electronic gadget, etc.  Why do I toil after these things if they won't last?  Thankfully, I have a choice.  I have a choice to spend my time and effort in storing up these fleeting treasures...or I have a choice to pursue the treasures that will last, such as love, generosity, friendship.  Some days, I choose better than others.  But with each morning, I'm given this choice and find myself asking, "what treasure will I store up today?"  May it be the one that will last.