Some pics from last weekend at the lake, from Mom#2

The new boat, in the water!

View from the side of Wissahickon

The new outdoor shower

apparently it even has hot water!

Tressa's latest update

Hi all,

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I spent my birthday with three priests in the middle of literally nowhere, waiting for a flight that came 8 days late...

I've been in the DRC for about 6 weeks now and it's been pretty much as expected- frustrating, exhausting, complicated, exciting, and strange. I spent the first month 'settling-in' to a barely established office with no phones and no clear operating procedures- we're just struggling to stay on top of our programs. I've been to a ridiculous number of UN meetings where lots of decisions with no practical application are made and written a large number of reports which I doubt are read by anyone, including my boss. There's a new emergency/disaster every day; the military commandeered one of our trains with assistance for 2500 families a few weeks ago, and we have no idea when they will feel like returning it. One of the more positive aspects- there does appear to be quite a bit of NGO (non-governmental organization- usually a humanitarian organization) cooperation here, and less of the competition that I've seen in some countries.

But that's the more penible part of the project; I finally got to spend a couple weeks in the field with the evaluation team. We flew out to the middle of the province-about two hours- and rented motorcycles to visit about 15 villages. They gave me the best driver with really long legs, which helped in the sand up to our knees- 'la route du diable' according to my driver. I was only thrown a few times, while most people could barely stay on the motos. Josephine was thrown off at one point and had her pants ripped right off her body. We crossed several rivers during the trip, either loading the motos onto little wood pirogues, or rolling them across log bridges- we only lost one moto on a rather slippery log (unfortunately mine, containing all my clothes and the $1000 satellite phone; that was a long, cold night).

We visited a village, evaluated, and then moved on, covering up to 100km in a day, and sleeping in whatever village we found ourselves in at 6pm. We mostly ate once a day, fufu and dried fish; sometimes we were able to buy oranges or bananas or peanuts or yams at midi. We had to take bottles of water, as there is no potable water anywhere (even in town), which of course ran out about half way through. The team is pretty funny, they treat each other like family and they spend more time together than apart- they only get one week of rest between each mission. Typically Congolese, they have screaming fights each night about every subject under the sun, and then 5 minutes later they're rolling on the ground laughing together. When I had to start fighting for meat, I knew they had accepted me as part of the team…They discovered watermelon on this trip, which grew everywhere, but apparently this is the only region. They were so excited; Our food security guy collected about 300 seeds so we might soon have it in Lubumbashi.

The team evaluates basic needs in shelter/non food items, education, health, water and sanitation, food security, livelihoods, and nutrition. They have a whole raft of silly questionnaires designed by someone at UNICEF who has clearly never been to the field. But they do manage to give you a basic idea of how extreme the situation is and what sectors are most critical. Everywhere we went it was clear that as bad as the Bantu population was doing, the pygmies are always worse off. These are all families that have recently returned (usually less than 3 months), mostly to find their houses burned down and some/most of their stuff stolen. It's incredible how people survive out here on literally nothing, and by nothing I mean zero.

We will eventually share this info with all NGOs in Lubumbashi and hope that they then decide to act upon it. We only distribute non food items and education kits. So families that originally had no cooking pots will get two, etc. We also choose a few schools to rehabilitate. Ironically, UNICEF has forbidden us to choose those most in need- bc it costs too much money, they're inaccessible by vehicle, and it would take too long.

The first photo is a typical river crossing. The second is some of the most precarious conditions we saw. That group of pygmies had been back about a month and had not yet build any standing structures…they're standing in what passes for this woman's little place on our earth.

I hope everyone is enjoying springtime. It's 'winter' here, which means it gets down to 50 at night!!

It should be a new Olympic Sport...

So we went to Gloucester in the Cotswolds on Monday as planned to watch the traditional Cheese Roll, despite the weather. It's more of a cliffside than a hill really, and it's in the middle of nowhere on someone's farm, so you have to hike 20-30 minutes up to the grassy area they've cleared. They had a couple of ambulances parked next to the "hill" and loads of emergency staff, and far too little room for the 1000s of spectators who showed up. Let me tell you, people are mad!! Not only was the "hill" ridiculously steep (not one person stayed on their feet), but it was slick with mud, and more than half the competitors ended up in some sort of mid-air type acrobatics, whether that involved full somersaults or just being launched into the air for a spectacular face plant a few metres further down. There were only 5 races, and they only took the first 20 people for each official race. But after the official ones were completed, they started running free-for-all heats, for all the people who didn't get to compete. So even without the enticement of taking home the cheese you'd been chasing after, or 20 quid for second place, or 10 quid for third place-- even without prizes, people still threw themselves down the mountain. Mad, I tell you! I will put up pictures soon, but I've been very busy today, and am too tired to do it now.

I had a bit of madness myself today...I apparently felt very left out for not having competed in the Cheese Roll, and therefore launched myself into a graceless tumble down, oh about 12 steps, from my room to the ground floor this morning. Granted, I was wearing socks because it had been a cold night, and I was half asleep, so I think that's why I slipped, but still. It's bloody embarrassing because I'm an OT, and I advise people on how to AVOID falling down the stairs. I've actually only done this twice in my life, the other time being in high heels on polished wood (as my parents can attest to), my thing is usually falling UPstairs. But there I was, in a heap, at the bottom of the stairs this morning, laughing like a crazy person, in between saying "ow, ow, ow." According to housemate Nicole, who I woke up with all this kerfuffle, it sounded like elephants were in the house. And I had to admit to it at work as well, because by midday I had taken on a bit of a limp...I came down mostly on my left side, and now the tendinitis in my left hip seems to be flaring up. Which brought up a whole other discussion with Richard, a rehab assistant who is studying to be an osteopath, who says he's never heard of tendinitis in the hips, and I should get another opinion (which would be about my fifth opinion, but the first one in this country), but that's a story for another day. I did not go to Kickboxing, I'm now taking anti-inflammatories, and hopefully tomorrow will be less painful than today ;) It certainly was a very busy busy day on the ward, with almost more work than I could handle. Almost ;)

Helloooo the lake!

Hi to all my favorite people, currently busy opening up the lakehouse for the summer season!!! I'll indulge in a brief moment of self pity for missing out on the virgin voyage of the new boat, meeting Emma the pug, the dock boys, the new frozen drink maker with spigot, Wizard, tuna cheesies, and peanut butter chocolate chip brownies. It just doesn't seem like the start of summer without spending Memorial Day Weekend at the lake! Hope y'all are having fun, I miss everyone.

We have been having cold, rainy and gloomy weather for the holiday weekend here. So we went to the new Pirates movie (better than the second one, worth seeing on the big screen), checked out a popular pub in Wanstead, and tomorrow, we go to Gloucester for the annual Cheese-Rolling competition. Yes, you read that right, cheese-rolling. They roll a big wheel of cheese down a very steep hill, and people chase after it for the glory of winning...wait for it...a wheel of cheese. Apparently it's virtually impossible to stay on your feet whilst chasing, the hill is so steep, and injuries are common. I will have pics and possibly video posted next week.

My big news-- I found out on Friday that I have indeed been assigned the acute stroke unit for my next rotation, which begins on June 25th. I am looking forward to working with this population of patients again, and working closely with my old teammates on the rehab stroke unit, or at least have more of an excuse to spend time with them. Although I'm not as excited about this rotation as I was about the rehab one, I still think there is the potential to learn a lot, and at times, when there are no rehab beds available, we get to do a bit of rehab whilst our patients wait. Plus I do believe two of my favorite physios will be joining me about halfway through the rotation when their rotations change.

Anywho, have a pina colada for me, pump the Jimmy Buffett, beat Don at Wizard, and I hope y'all have a fabulous sunny rest of Memorial Day Weekend! Oh, and Don, bring on the Boggle for 4th of July!!!

Self Defense

So, last night my friend Sarah (physio I met working on the stroke unit) and I tried out the Kickboxing class at the hospital. When we got there, we discovered this is not your Billy Blanks Tae Bo, this is wear hand grips and gloves and punching pads kickboxing. As Sarah and I are both reasonably fit, athletic types, we had no problem picking up right where the rest of the class was, much to the surprise of some who'd been doing the class for awhile. And I have to say, it was tiring, but it was pretty awesome to actually punch pads as I worked on hooks, upper cuts, jabs, cross punches, and some sort of centripetal force, whirl-around punch-- now that was power! My arms have been feeling it today, but I think it was well worth it. The instructor is a proper martial arts teacher, so I'll think the two of us will continue to take the class. Now we just have to each get our own hand wraps and gloves...

Sam's new boat

Jinny was kind enough to forward me photos of all the things I missed in what was an action-packed weekend in PA...including pics of this boat I've been hearing so much about! Looks fast...

Emma, the pug

This is the Burk's new dog, and no, I was mistaken, she's not a puggle, she's pure pug. If you look closely this little pup is apparently "Outward Hound." I'll be meeting her in approximately 5 weeks' time, up at the lake!

This falls under the "Sad But True" category

THREE THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

1. COWS
2. THE CONSTITUTION
3. TEN COMMANDMENTS

COWS

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give them all a cow.

THE CONSTITUTION

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years and we're not using it anymore.

TEN COMMANDMENTS

The real reason we can't have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse... You cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal, "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" and "Thou Shalt Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians - it creates a hostile work environment.


**This food for thought courtesy of Mom #2

Happy Birthday Tress, whatever small Congan village you may be in today! Congo-an? Well, whichever, lots of love, hope you get to take it a little bit easy for your day :) Check your email for some bday wishes.

It's the end of an era...

I am extremely excited about the new boat, Sam's boat, which has a 190 horsepower engine and should be strong enough to completely avoid me being dragged behind the boat, choking on lake water and with goggles on to protect my contacts, as I try to slalom! It is also apparently a great cruising boat, with canopy and comfy seating for 10, and a built-in cooler for beer!! However, as many of you know, I have a hard time with letting things go at times...like the old green shag carpet that was in my bedroom for umpteen years, the tradition of having a live tree for planting at Christmas, the fact that I have been campaigning against my parents ever selling our house, and now the "old" boat in Vermont which I am told will be sold. But as they say, the only things for certain in this life are that things change and taxes.

If only it was "just another Manic Monday"

Unfortunately, I spent most of today trying to find ways to entertain myself (and not being all that successful since you can't look like you're having too much fun when you're supposed to be working). Why, you ask? Because I have to keep my assistant busy, so the few bits of work that needed to be done were handed over to her. Leaving me with almost nothing to do. And horrible flashbacks of working at CDH, my first rotation. I spent as long as I dared hanging out with the stroke unit crew, lengthening my half hour lunch into an hour. I made all my follow-up phone calls, finished off the few discharge summaries I had waiting, and would have spent an hour or two doing CPD stuff on the computer, except it was broken, naturally. Last week I found a great source of entertainment in a physio and physio assistant, Surinder and Kalu, who kept me in stitches in the afternoons on the ward, but no such luck this week because they only cover when the regular physio is not on the ward for some reason.

I did have my meeting with the Head OT about next rotation, and we find out the results by Friday. She said it looks pretty good for me to get the acute stroke unit, although of course she cannot yet guarantee anything. The next rotation will start on June 25, just in time for me to be on a course for three days, and then off to Vermont for a week of annual leave.

I was invited to Thailand for September or October, I can't remember which, to coincide with the infamous beach moon party. I know we talked about Thailand and Philippines for next year, Viv, but what do you think? Got any time/money left for another big trip this year? And I was also invited for a cycling tour along the romantic road in Germany, the only problem being the dates conflict with the August bank holiday, which is when we wanted to go to the Reading festival (we're stalking tickets on ebay). Well, that and the fact that I don't have enough annual leave for all of this plus a few other things I absolutely cannot miss, like Jenn's wedding. Five weeks of vacation plus bank holidays just aren't enough!! I know, I know, those of you in the States are thinking "Cry me a river, Allison" but you do get higher salaries as compensation...

Happy 40th Anniversary to my wonderful parents!!

The Occupational Therapy Song...too funny!

Happy Birthday Mom#2! Wish I could be there to help you celebrate, I hear it will be quite the weekend in PA, but you are definitely in my thoughts!

What on earth are they teaching these doctors?!

Had a bit of a shock today, regarding differences in medical care. I don't get these shocks all the time anymore, because of what I've learned about the NHS, and the way that medical professionals are trained (or not). We were discussing Mr. R today, and I was saying that from a therapy point of view, he will be ready for discharge on Monday. And the nurse made some comment about the medical team not being on the ball, or something like that, and all of sudden she was in the middle of a verbal spat with the SHO from that medical team who overhead the comment. Among all of his reasons for why the medical team is not happy for him to go, he threw in the comment that they are querying DVT (deep vein thrombosis, basically a blood clot). At which point, I had to interrupt the argument, and said, "Ummm, excuse me, we've been mobilising this patient. We did not realise he may possibly have a DVT, and there is no notation about this in his medical records." And the SHO said, "Oh, yeah, yeah, it's fine, keep mobilising him, he's comfortable mobilising, it's fine." I'm not sure I could have been more surprised if this SHO started belting out show tunes in the middle of the ward. I'm sorry, but I am not mobilising a patient who may have a DVT, until it is determined whether he does, and if he does, he is getting treatment for it!!

Consider yourselves bonked...

How a job can save your life

Interesting stuff, courtesy of Tufts Nicole

the new job thing

The Senior II, er, Band 6 (as I am supposed to call it) adventure continues... I have been asked by the Basic Grade, er Band 5, OT on Orthopaedics if I would let her shadow me one morning soon, so that she can see how someone with a little more experience organises and prioritises. I was a little taken aback initially, probably because it's only been two weeks since both of us were Band 5's. She claims that she's a bit "scatty" and therefore sometimes feels like she's doing more work than she would be doing if she were better organised. I mentioned this to my parents last night on the phone, and my Dad's response was something along the lines of, "She wants to learn about organisation from YOU??" In my defense (or his defense, take your pick), he's really only familiar with what a mess I am at home, and he'd probably momentarily forgotten all my stories from Roosevelt Care Center in NJ about balancing a daily caseload of 15-16 rehab patients. In one of the ironic juxtapositions of life, I'm generally pretty messy at home, but very organised and efficient at work. Which, if you have to pick one or the other, I suppose is the way I'd want it.

Also, I have signed up for a 3-day Educators' Course at the end of June, right before I take off for my annual Wissahickon holiday in Vermont, because I am expected to take on students very soon. I am supposed to have a student for at least 12 weeks per year as a matter of fact. And I've been asked to give a talk on the difference that is being an OT in the US. There's actually quite a bit to mention. Finally, Friday morning, we all have meetings with the Head OT, and in stark contrast to being a Basic Grade where you don't find out for a whole month, we should know within a week what our next rotations will be.

In a complete change of subject, I've just mentioned Vermont and the lakehouse...there are rumblings of big changes coming this year. Watch this space for news about motorboats and puggles!

Happy Mother's Day!!! (US, of course)

A few pics from the wedding this past weekend, from Cecilia's camera...

Me and Cecilia

Cecilia was my supervisor and is the rehab stroke unit's Team Leader. We've become good friends, and she's part of what I call my happy little family over here. She's from South Africa and has this gorgeous accent where she rolls all of her r's. She's also the most laid back person I have ever known.

The Whipps Cross Group

Physios and OTs who made the trip to Leamington Spa near Warwick to celebrate Laura's wedding day.

Angelica, Laura, and Leilah

I have some good pictures of bride and groom together, but they're currently trapped on my camera.

Floriditas

Last night I went out to a Cuban club in the heart of London. While I don't go out very often on a "work night," a good friend was having a bad day and I agreed to meet her there, along with her cousins who are visiting from the Dominican Republic. They had a live band who were absolutely fantastic and made some pretty decent mojitos too. Floriditas I mean, not the band itself! My feet are aching this morning because I danced the merengue all night-- did you know the merengue originated in the Dominican Republic? I didn't. I'm told I'm pretty good at it ;) And my new third housemate, who didn't realise I would be out so late (then again, neither did I, I was having too much fun to catch the last tube, and stayed until 2am) called to make sure I was okay. How sweet is that?!!

Angelica's cousins are named, get this, Julio Cesar, Julio Alfredo, and...actually I can't remember the third one, he's not here visiting, but it's Julio something. The first brother's name literally translates as Julius Caesar in English. Talk about having to live up to a name!

Oh, and apparently, I look like Drew Barrymore. I have to say, I've never had that one before ;)

It's official...

The staff change form went in this morning, so this was my very first day as a Senior II. It didn't feel any different ;) It turns out my work permit was fine, which means my entry clearance visa is also fine, so I don't have to do another CRB, hooray! I won't get paid as a Senior II this month because it's too late for the cutoff, so at the end of June apparently I will get a bunch of back pay.

I have photos from the wedding this weekend, but the battery on my camera has died and I have apparently left the charger in the US. So I'm afraid I can't post them for a little while. But it was a fantastic time, and felt like it lasted a really long time...I guess it did, if you take into account the whole thing, from the church at 1:30pm to the mimosas prior to the sit-down meal which was at 5pm, and then coffee and tea after that until the reception started around 7:30pm. And it went on until after 1am! I was too busy dancing and talking all night to drink very much, so no hangover the next morning either. The bride and groom had a gorgeous day, and I must say the scenery behind the church was just stunning for the photos. It was just perfect all around, and I must say I feel very settled in the UK now-- I guess it just hit home surrounded by friends at a good friend's wedding :)

And of course, yesterday was a Bank Holiday here in the UK, so I caught up on all the sleep I missed out on at the wedding. Can't wait for the next Bank Holiday at the end of this month (same as Memorial Day weekend in the States for a lot of you), I'll be going to the Lake District!

News

I am almost fully settled into my new room now- had to buy some organisational shelving and filing boxes this evening since the desk in this room has no drawers. It was strange at first, having someone else in the room I was in for a little over a year, and I do miss the spaciousness of that room, but I must say I'm quite happy with being away from the traffic noises, and the windows in this room are great! I think it's the only bedroom that gets a cross breeze, which will be more than welcome if this summer is anything like the last one! It's funny, the weather we are getting right now used to be what you'd expect for June and July here. But now we're having it in April/May and it'll be hot and steamy for June, July and August.

Some yummy events coming up-- drinks and dinner al fresco tomorrow night in Canary Wharf, which has an outstanding Thursday night social scene. There's just nothing like having a drink outside next to the water, used to love that in Boston :) Saturday it's Laura's wedding, and a few of us have booked a hotel room to take full advantage of the party and open bar! And we have just now decided to have a little house party on 12th May...both because we want to hang out in the garden and to welcome our new housemate (and good riddance to the old!). Should be a really good time!