Gent/Gand

Today we went to Gent, we meaning Rachel, Michele and I.  Gent is beautiful also, like Brugge, however, has many older buildings and cathedrals.  For example, there is the Castle of the Counts, was first constructed in 1180.  So old!!  Here are some pictures of our day!

Saint Nicholas Cathedral

Jump!  Gent

No, I don't know the guy behind me.  Great architecture (the building, that is)

Michele and Rachel

This is the castle, completed in 1180

View from the castle, taken by Rachel.  She is the only one who went in, because it is free for those under 19, and until tomorrow, she is under 19!

The Castle of the Counts

I liked this picture--an overview of the Saint Nicholas Cathedral (front, left), the Belfry of Gent (center), and on the right, with the scaffolding, the Saint Bavo tower.

Great day in a beautiful city!

Brugge/Bruges Belgium

Today Rachel and I went to Bruges (Brugge in Flemish) by train.  Michele had to work, but gave us AWESOME directions, and we made it with no problems.  BRUGES IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!  I love the houses, the canals, the windmills, the cathedrals.  Since pictures say a thousand words, here they are!!

One of our first views.  Rachel was in love with the city immediately

No way to come to Belgium without eating a waffle!!  REAL Bruges waffles!

Rachel in the main square.  They had trucks set up selling fruits and vegetables.  We bought cherries, since we missed out getting some in the US

There are canals throughout Bruges.  I imagine it is like Holland, but I guess we'll find out soon!

Bruges in in Flanders, the more northern part of Belgium (and nearer to Holland).  All of the street signs were in Flemish

Another view of the cool houses--and the bikes!!  So many people here ride bikes.

Rachel in front of one of the cathedrals.  

Back in Brussels

I have a conference I am speaking at in Amsterdam, and decided to take Rachel along for her "senior trip".  Since Amsterdam is only three hours by train from Brussels, we just HAD to see Michele first!!  She picked us up at the airport, and took us home--she even had a table of Belgian chocolate (and "milk" or sweetened condensed milk) for us.  She offered to let us sleep (and two pretty much sleepless nights getting here made us pretty tired), but we don't have many days here, so we went into the city.  What a beautiful place Belgium is.  I have not been good about posting, but will try and do better when I am here.  We are staying with Michele and her mother here in Brussels, so hopefully the pictures will come while we are here.

Michele had a table full of Belgian Chocolate laid out for us when we arrived

Annie and Michele posed with this same cat
three years ago

Rachel and I in the main square--Brussels

Rachel and I with Gudule Cathedral in the background

Weird sculpture of Buffalo in the park by the cathedral--more graffiti on it than three years ago

Manneken Pis  (Little Boy peeing)
This is a famous sculpture that everyone comes to see.  He is dressed in the
Belgian Red Devils uniform.  Everyone here is crazy about World Cup
soccer.  We got to see the game today; Belgium vs Algeria--
BELGIUM 2, ALGERIA 1 --Woo Hoo!!

The three of us-me, Rachel, and Michele

Michele and Rachel

Tonga

We arrived in Tonga on May 29th. We spent our first 10 days in Tongatapu. We spent time in the hospital in different areas, such as pediatrics, labor and delivery, surgical, medical, psychiatry, the OR, the emergency room, diabetes clinic, and the dental clinic. In addition, all of the students got a turn going out into the community with the community health nurses, usually giving immunizations. Tonga has a very good immunization rate (everyone knows the two families who refuse immunization), partially because if the mother does not bring her child to the clinic, the nurses go to her home and immunize the child. In addition, there is a new program here with the adults (new since I was here two years ago) where they are trying to get to every adult over 30 to check for high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. We got to participate in four of these screenings as well, getting up early to get to the community at 6 or 7 am so we could get a fasting blood sugar. We participated in screening about 150 people. Our time in Tongatapu was busy, and went by quickly. We spend the week until Friday in Tongatapu (the main island), and then Friday at 2 PM flew up to Vava'u.

Vava'u is beautiful—more tropical, and definitely warmer because it is closer to the equator. Yesterday evening was more chill time. This morning we screened in the market place for high blood sugar and hypertension. The Vava'u nurses were there to record the findings and schedule high values for the hospital clinic on Monday and Tuesday. Today we screened 212 people for high blood sugar and hypertension. It was a busy day in the market, because Mother's Day is tomorrow, and we screened right by the market, with Tongan dancers and preachers right beside us. It makes it a bit hard at times to hear a blood pressure!! This afternoon we rented kayaks, and kayaked out in the bay and beyond to a little island, where we swam and had fun before kayaking back. It was a nice day, and Vava'u is beautiful. Dad hasn't been kayaking before, and I think he liked it too.

Last night I stayed up late completing a class assignment for my new PhD class. I had gone to bed and was settling myself down to get to sleep when at 11:30 pm, the house we are staying in started to shake. For 1-2 minutes it shook. It was an earthquake! I woke Mike up, and he said, "Oh, it is just the wind." However, I had been up, and I knew there wasn't any wind, and I told him so. I looked at it on the internet today, and the earthquake is 5.8 on the Richter scale. I also found out there were two other earthquakes here since we came to Tonga —both were 5.3. I can't say I remember those!!
One of the best things about being back is seeing my Tongan friends. I have been here long enough that I know many of the nurses. It is really fun to see them again!!

Mike saves a life

I have a wonderful CPR success story that I want to share.  Wednesday evening Mike was talking to his friend at the gym, when his friend collapsed right in front of him in cardiac arrest.  Mike did CPR for 15 minutes before the paramedics came, even defibrillating is friend twice with the AED.  The paramedics had to continue CPR and shocked him again before they took him away in an ambulance.  Mike was worried sick for his friend because he looked terrible when they took him away in the ambulance.  Yesterday after asking others at the gym Mike finally found his friend in an ICU at one of our local hospitals.  Not only is he alive, but they have been able to figure out what caused the cardiac arrest and can hopefully prevent future arrests.  Other than some broken ribs, he is doing pretty doggone well for someone whose heart stopped.  Yea for Mike remembering what to do so he and his friend can have many more good conversations!!  

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

We're home!!  We started at 2:30 am on Thursday, December 19th, from Lima.  We knew we had a 10 hour layover in Dallas, and were hoping to get on an earlier flight to Salt Lake.  However, the weather in Salt Lake was not good, and at least one of those earlier flights were cancelled because of it.  In the end, we were very happy to have a flight at all to Salt Lake, and got home about 11pm, Salt Lake time, on Thursday night.

Lots of snow and cold here in Salt Lake, a marked difference from sunny skies and summer in Peru.  We are working on some medical treatment due to GI issues we have all had in Peru, and looking forward to Christmas!

Machu Picchu

We spent an amazing day in Machu Picchu yesterday.  We went early--at 6:30, and stayed until 4:15 (last bus leaves at 4:30).  When we first went, there were clouds shrouding some of the peaks.  It was mystical and magical.  Here is one of our first views.

Ruth, Shelly and Sam in front of Waynapicchu (the mountain) and the ruins

Wow!!  Stuff dreams are made of.

400 people a day get to climb Waynapicchu, and we were part of that group.  It is the tallest mountain closest to the ruins, with Incan ruins on top

There was an iron cable on the steepest parts.  I held fast to that "rod"--as a person who is really afraid of heights, it was my friend!!

Sam, in front of the ruins at the top of Waynapicchu

When we first went, there were clouds drifting across our view of the ruins below

View of the Machu Picchu ruins from the top of Waynapicchu

From  Waynapicchu. Ruth is there on the left, in the white shirt.  Yep, that means I was at the top taking pictures!!

Here we all are, at the top

Sam, at the top

Ruth, on the very highest part of the mountain.  That means that I was just a little higher, taking the picture.  So scary!!

Waynapicchu is 900 meters above the ruins.  It was a steep climb

And we had no idea how the Incans hauled all of those stones and did the stone work there on the side of the mountain

Incan steps.  They were really steep!!  I slid down on my bottom.

The clouds cleared and we had a great view of the ruins below from above

Ruth and Sam "holding" the ruins up on the side of the mountain

Ruth and Sam holding fast to the "iron rod"

The ruins at Machu Picchu

This is the view that many people have of Machu Picchu, taken from the gatehouse.  Waynapicchu, the mountain we climbed, is there in the background

Take a careful look and you can see an endemic Andean rodent, the viscacha.  It looks like a rabbit with a long tail

The view with Waynapicchu in the background

Scary!!  I couldn't even take the pictures--another tourist did it for me!

The entry to the city from the Incan trail

Waynapicchu, the mountain we climbed.  Incan ruins are at the top.  We will never forget our day at Machu Picchu!!