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Hello Everyone, My last week in the UAE finished on great notes. I ran up Jabel Hafeet with a marathon-running friend I met from South Africa. 7 miles up to the top - and it was up! Because of the heat we left at 5am. The top of the mountain is jagged, but an extensive hotel was built at the top as well as an incredible palace placed on one of the peaks with a man made walk way out to a gazebo that is hanging off the edge of the mountain. What a sight! I was also showered with generosity from friends who took me out to see last minute places that were a must do before I left. I had a really great time and am glad for the opportunity. Thanks for tuning into my blog and for the comments. I hope to touch base with you all soon! Looking forward to the adventures ahead! Chao, Emily
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Hello, Just a quick hello to everyone as I finish up my night shift. I have found that people here assume that because I am white I must be South African. When people here guess my nationality it’s South African every time. Now that has never happened to me before and truly must be an indicator of being in a totally different part of the world. Actually the units have been great, three languages being spoken at once in the break rooms, none of them English. Everything is documented in English, but it is certainly not many peoples first language. We get by with a lot sign language with the patients and even sometimes between each other! Tonight was another funny visiting experience and this happens frequently. We do rounds when shift begins and I walk into a patient’s room to find her family sitting around on the carpet with their dinner spread out, potent smells filling the room. The bed is empty, where is the patient? The patient in fact has left for the evening, out on pass. The family, however, are staying on to enjoy the social hour of visiting time. People love the hospital here! Tonight I have been fed well, chocolate, Arabian coffee, homemade donuts (very yummy), cake and cookies. Off to get some sleep. Hope all is well, Emily
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Greetings Everyone, Last week was a mix of different experiences. I shadowed the nurse supervisor whose job it is to keep the hospital's bed capacity organized and problem solve. It was interesting because I was able to check out all the different units of the hospital. Some of the units were similar to what you would find in a US hospital, but others a little different. They have one unit here for chronic care patients, young children born with abnormalities that will not live without ventilator support or constant care. The next couple of days I spent working on labor and delivery. Here the L&D unit is run primarily by midwives. The unit was very welcoming and I had a great time. Some of the birth stories I was a part of are quite something, a story perhaps for later. Hard to believe my clinical experience is nearing its completion. Really one week left! I will be back to my unit, female surgery for that week. I just returned from a trip to the eastern shore of the UAE. There is a small strip belonging to UAE that intersects Oman whose borders contain the northern part of the peninsula and the southern part of the Arabian coastline. I went to a small town called Khorfakkan. I have been trying to get here for some time, but there are no buses that travel here, taxis are expensive and organized trips are how most people go and I was trying to avoid that route. I met a woman on L&D who was going with an organized trip and encouraged me to come. She was going to smuggle me on as a cast away. They were leaving the next day. My transport was not completely working out so why not. Well, we did get caught, but easy to ask forgiveness then permission as they say and I made it to Khorfakkan. It was worth the effort of getting there! Rocky, jagged mountains border the coastline here towering high above the village. The mountain ranges are immense and show the feat it must have been to get a road through them! Walking along the beach I scanned the mountains and could pick out small rock fortresses here and there. It kind of reminded me of Lord of the Rings scenery. The unfortunate landscape was the HUGE cargo ships that were coming into the eastern side of the bay where a major operation of unloading, cranes, all sorts of stuff was going on and taking up a large area. Power lines also travel along the mountain side, how they got them up there must have been a lot of work! They can almost always be viewed from wherever you are. Kind of too bad they didn't put underground wires in since this infrastructure is fairly recent. As a cast away I enjoyed lovely meals and luxury of staying in a hotel. I met some really great people. Many from South Africa and heard some very interesting life stories. The beach that runs for several miles and consists of Khorfakkan’s city center is public and was a full of locals. Tents were set up, barbeques on the beach, lots of badminton and cricket. It was very festive. Sally's friends took me under their wing and we all had a really great time! Off the coast I could see many ships dotting the horizon. The weather was beautiful and the water refreshing. On our way we stopped at an outdoor market that lined both sides of the road with hundreds of vendors. Lots of fresh fruit, mangos, pineapple, dates, grapes... and corn on the cob, steamed or roasted. Plants of all kinds, essentially sitting in green houses and a plethora of carpets. The corn was quite good, can't pass up corn on the cob! and I stocked up on fruit. Its back to Al Ain for a couple more work days and then off for some final adventures. Thanks for your comments, it is great to hear from people! Cheers, Emily
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Greetings, As I learned from my recent adventure, Dubai is all about the Do and the Buy...Dubai. The doing is mostly connected with the buying. I went to Dubai yesterday all ready to check out a couple of spots I had heard about. Once arriving I quickly learned getting around in such a place was not so easy. I learned and saw much, an understatement really. Dubai is separated by a natural creek that has been dredged and is now 12 ft deep and 60ft wide. 30 ft traditional craft from Eastern Africa, Iran, Jordan, Oman sail here to trade goods. Without visas they never leave their boats except to unload cargo on the docks. So the creek is lined with these boats doubled up often selling their goods. Taxis hop back and forth from side to side, 1 dirham per ride (40cents). The creek is crystal clear and one can imagine what this old port must have looked like. The boats reflect that time while the sky scrappers on either side show the modern impacts of Dubai. Diera is on one side the creek consisting of some amazing spice souqs and the famous gold souqs, Bur Dubai is the other with the crazy hotels and things many have heard of when hearing about Dubai. I started off my day however on this side of Dubai taking a bus from place to place as walking is too far. This is where the Borj is located, the 7 star hotel $1700 min. per night as well as about 10 other 5 star hotels. It was crazy to see the development over here. They weren't joking when they said 25% of the worlds cranes are here! There are over 200 sky scrappers being built right now as well as roads and several malls. The longest man made harbor travels into the center 7km long where motor yachts live. Competition to get buildings up is to the extreme. The worlds tallest building is currently being built, the second Borj and to meet deadline they are completing one floor every four days. They are over 160 floors with an elevator going 40mph. The number of floors hasn't been announced as strategy to keep it the tallest for a while. Apparently, Dubai is running out of oil money in 4 years so they have taken there earnings and invested into making Dubai the craziest place ever and turning to tourism. You want shopping, pick from one of the 6 malls each with over 400 stores. I had to check out the indoor mountain. It was laughable really, just the pure ridiculous concept of it. You access it from inside the mall, walk through the opening and the "lodge" is there, with fires going in the fire places, ticket sales resemble a typical mountains. Then there are the changing rooms where everyone gets the same one piece suit and their winter equipment. They have a quad chair lift and a t-bar. The skiers likely have not skied before judging by what I saw. There is tubing for those not skiing or ice skating. Santa’s village came to mind. The immensity of the malls was overwhelming, but definitely where everyone hangs out so I suppose to find Dubai’s culture you can turn to the malls. Walking along the creek I stumbled upon the old outdoor souqs crammed into the back alleys seemingly untouched by the mass changes everywhere. My bargaining skills were challenged, but I think I came out okay:) I did got out on one of the dhows and ran into an American girl from DC who was in transit to Afghanistan. I noticed her right away, single woman, my age, American accent, unusual. We hit it off and went together as the sun set to the spice and gold souqs. It was really nice to have a companion there as the souqs are located in alleys with makeshift eves above to keep out the sun during the day and they get packed with people and are very easy to get lost in. Dubai is known around the world for their gold and although you are walking through small side walks and back corners the gold is clearly worth its reputation! Store after store and these souqs are some of the only places where you can bargain for gold. I had a funny incident. I was trying on some earrings from one, really expensive ones. After leaving we went into another store looked in the mirror, oops still had one of the earrings on! I went back, "missing this?". The store owner almost collapsed and needless to say was very grateful! Did I mention Dubai is also building the first underwater mall? They also have invited prestigious schools from all over the world, middlesex, northwestern? to come and set up a branch here so their young people don't have to leave the country. It was a day of one shocker after the next and to think this is real! I was thinking, who is going to live in all these skyscraper residences? Well I guess the Borj sold out in 8 hrs of sales. It is on a totally different page than the one my brain usually operates. The night ended with some good fortune of enlisting many a stranger to use their mobiles in order to check my bus home. The one number I had was from a woman who saw I was alone from Tawam and gave me her number since she was in Dubai. I called....long story, she gets the bus driver to turn the bus around for me and they come to pick me up, I was very grateful! The water was beautiful, turquoise blue. Swimming next time perhaps. All the Best, Emily
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Hello Everyone, Firstly, I just want to thank folks for commenting. It is nice to see what people think and that people are enjoying reading the blog. For the past week I have been working night shift. My body has not been too accommodating to such a change, but tonight is my last one and then I have a couple of days off. Night shift is nothing new to nurses anywhere and is probably a good thing to get some experience with, however, I hope to avoid them in the future. Night time on our unit is a little different since it is an all female unit and after 9pm there are no men of any kind allowed so the patients can walk around the unit knowing there are no men and it is their space. Yesterday, I went on this desert trip that was organized by the hospital. It was definitely a tourist trap that I usually shy away from, but what the heck. It was a riot! I really did not know what I was getting myself into when at 2pm six 4x4 Toyota land rovers came to pick us up I started to get an idea. We hopped in and were off driving at crazy speeds through the streets of Al Ain for the Dubai sand dunes. It was about an 1.5 hours to get there, for a normal driver probably 2.5+ hours. I was watching our driver shift through the gears like we were really driving a race car. speeds between roundabouts 160km, you can do the conversion. The dunes were awesome. All my environmental wherewithal was cringing as we speed through the sand. It was beautiful being in the desert, red sand rippling into hills and ridges. We met up with probably 30 other cars and then as a long line we drove off into the dunes screaming over ridges, sliding down the sides, feeling like tipping over, it was nuts. The competition between the fraternity drivers was awesome. I got a total kick out of it. While the rest of my car mates were getting a little sick to their stomachs I was really having a great time. We stopped at this camp where we had a huge BBQ and I got to watch a man making the long flat bread, kubusca. That was a highlight. He had split a metal oil drum tank in half and put it round side up on a cement slat where he had a fire going. I thought this was to be his oven, but he surprised me by laying out the long piece of dough right on top of the heated drum and it baked just like that as he kept feeding the fire below. He would flip it over and in 10 mins it was done. Well salted and very tasty! I also got to ride a camel in the desert. Its quite a hike to get on one and then up you go! I felt like I could see for miles, I must have been 15 ft high at least. Now the getting off the camel is a little more difficult. They can't just bend down for you, I suppose I could have jumped. But I let the camel drop at its front legs and nearly went head over the neck as it lurched down. Very fun. On our way home we saw fireworks in the distance celebrating UAE independence day. It was an entertaining trip and nice to meet some other travelers. I even ran into one guy who asked to have a picture with me and I asked him where he was from..."Baltimore, MD" here with the Navy. Wonders never cease. All the best, Emily
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Hello all, As I mentioned in a past blog, Al Ain is known for its elaborate center pieces in the round abouts. You are not actually allowed, by law to photograph any of them or any government buildings, which accounts for many of the potential pictures. However, I have been taking mental note and each time I take a drive am struck by the creativity of these art works. Yesterday, I came across a roundabout with tea cups and plates dancing about in the sprays of water surrounded by lush green grass, colorful flowers and lined with trees. The landscaping here is just amazing! Speaking of landscaping, I took a trip to the Al Ain zoo yesterday. I had a really great time walking through the covered paths lined with flowers of all colors, bamboo, tall grasses and often covered by a canopy like tent, kind of like the moss tent designs that shade enteries to buildings. I enjoyed the peaceful walk. There were mostly UAE national families there visiting, but not too many people making my trip a fairly quiet one. Right, and there were animals there as well. But the zoo not only had a huge variety of animals, they had a huge mosac, a picnic area, cafes, and recreation, a pretty well rounded excursion. I was surprised to see a Brown Bear, which I don't think I have seen in a US zoo. They also had these Arabian Sand Cats. They look just like house cats and are endangered. I hear that they are like racoons to us, peeing and getting into everything. They also had jacal, and wolves among many other African cats and wildlife. The animals homes were pretty spacious and very clean, for living in a zoo the conditions were quite nice. Today is HOT!!! The kind of Hot that when you breath it feels like you are drinking a hot beverage. This is the first day with this kind of heat. A quick report on the food. I have been enjoying a lot of Tabulah, a green mixture of parsley, garlic, tomatoes in a light salad dressing type sauce. There are a lot of Lebanese restuarants and the food is great, Sharmas with chicken in fresh bread with a tasty sauce of spicies and garlic. Can't go wrong. Coffee on the other hand is hard to find, unless you are a fan of Nescaffe and in that case you won't have a problem. I hope all is well, Cheers, Emily
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Good Evening, The last couple of days have gone by very quickly having been working 13 plus hours a day on the women’s surgery unit. Many of the patients thus far have been limb amputations r/t diabetes, car accidents, *** cancer, and women with over stimulation of their ovaries from in vitro fertilization. A side effect from the increased hormones can cause liver problems leading to ascites, pulmonary edema and other very serious outcomes. IVF is a very popular option here I have learned. Most couples are expected to get pregnant within the first year of marriage and if they are unsuccessful the country pays for them to get IVF treatment. I have really enjoyed my experience on the unit thus far, partly due to the staff, they are all very nice and I am finding my education paying off! I was somewhat surprised to see a man carrying a large carpet into the elevator next to me followed by several women with their arms full of tea pots, and baskets of food. Yes, when a family member is admitted the entire family seems to set up camp in their room, often pushing the patients bed out of the way to make room for their elaborate carpets. The smells from their food waft into the halls and is pretty powerful! I leave most rooms with my pockets full of gifts, cookies, fruit, juice boxes. No need for bringing lunch really, its quite nice:) I guess the hospital just got strict with their visiting policy and stopped allowing stoves to be brought into the rooms for families to cook on! If I wasn't here experiencing this I would hardly believe that. I also learned my first Arabic word, "Marga". It means watery soup. Not one that I can use too often except it is also my preceptors name and so easy to remember. We are constantly reminded of her names true meaning in Arabic as all the patients love telling us if they speak any English. Well, it appears the rec center is closely up already. Thanks for the comments. To answer my mom, Al Ain is more conservative than Dubai, but as a foreigner I have the liberty of not wearing the traditional dress. It is respectful to wear conservative clothing and beneficial as you get less attention from the men, although sometimes I wonder. Until the next time! All the best, Emily
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Hello Everyone, As predicted the Sun has arrived warming things up considerably. Only the deepest of puddles remain, the rest evaporated in no time. I went for a run and found myself choking on the dust, a surprise as it didn't even seem to be dusty. However, it is always in the air. Today we could see Mt. Jimi (sp. ?). It is the largest mountain around, I can't tell you the elevation, but a road traveling up it is seven km long. I hope to hike it soon, although I don't believe there are any hiking trails, due to the heat people usually opt to drive. I have to remind myself that this country is only 30 years old and before it there wasn't much here but small villages and sand. The UAE nationals have built these cities in relatively no time at all. One of the royal families vacationed in Al Ain and has given much money to have it landscaped. Al Ain spans a very large area, the center of town is a 15 minute drive from the hospital which is still considered in the main part of town. Perhaps due to having a very large space to work with places were built far from one another creating the need to drive everywhere. And the roads connecting them are beautifully landscaped with a wide center divider with palm trees and grass and roundabouts with elaborate master piece statues in the middle. Hard to describe, but the layout of Al Ain has struck me in its engineering. A funny story from last night. There is a rec center in the women’s compound, very nice, with a gym and library that I am writing you from. I was on the tread mill running and a woman in her abaya and fully clothed gets on to the one next to me. She was trying to get the technique, but was having a little difficulty. I taught her some tricks and she persevered. "How many calories have you lost" she kept asking me. We had fun running next to one another, me giving pointers and her making me feel welcome. I in my running attire and her in hers. A simple example of how there are many ways of doing the same thing, making friends, and having a goal. Tomorrow is my first day on the floor. All the best, Emily
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Hello, Thanks for checking out my blog, reported live to you from the United Arab Emirates. To give you all a quick update of our travels, we arrived in Dubai Friday at 1am. I was expecting big things from all the media pictures, national geographic articles, etc, I have seen of Dubai, however the real thing was far from glossy pages. The lights from the sky scrappers were impressive. The roads were a maze. The ocean was not visible due to all the construction. In fact, I have learned that 20% of the world's cranes are currently in use at Dubai's construction sites, which are many! Another visit is in the works. We were picked up by our clinical instructor and driven to Al Ain, about an hour, where we will be working at Tawam hospital. We are lucky to be given small apartments on the hospital grounds in the "female compound". Since arriving we have been adjusting to the prayer calls, obvious cultural differences, the weather, and for me the malls. The first night, I made a novice move by keeping my windows open. It was very pleasant outside, warm and breezy. Well, in fact a significant dust storm raged that evening and through the night. In the morning I laughed when I came out of my room and every surface area was covered in a thick layer of dust. The storm lasted the next day filling every crevice with sand and drying our eyes out completely. Weather is a funny thing. The dust storm ended and rain came. Sheets of rain have been pouring down ever since. The roads are flooded as the they are bordered with cement curbs that do not have any rain drainage systems. The lightning lite the dessert sky revealing more of the landscape, mountains in the distance, I hadn't yet seen due to the dust. Rumor has it around the hospital that we brought the rain. I anticipate somewhere along our way we will experience some hot, dry, clear skies, although I may be wrong. The plethora of malls are another interesting point that I have observed, but I will save that story for later as the computer must be released to another. Thanks for tuning in and hope to be in touch again soon. All the best, Emily
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Good Morning, The sun is rising up over the ocean, roosters are signaling wake up hour and the boat to Port Au Prince has blown its horn for departure. A very nice way to greet the day. Oh and can't forget the Haitian coffee, a little thicker and sweeter than back home. Yesterday some of us crossed the river in our land rover to do a clinic in a remote village. We set up at a church, no one was around when we arrived. As the morning progressed people arrived from all directions, walking paths that earlier I had not noticed. Hundreds of people came to be seen. Our group of students saw all the teenage girls, we did an anemia skit, then screened from BP, anemia, hgt., wgt. They roared with laughter at our skit, which was supposed to be funny, but previously had not received such confirmation. Our table was set up under a tree in someone’s yard next to the church where all the adults were being seen by the HHF health agents and nurses on top of a ridge looking out to mountains and more mountains. The amazing thing was seeing how the village mobilized at the church. After finishing up with the girls and walking back up the hill people had set up shop, venders out selling fresh food that was being prepared on the seen, small fires going. It was certainly a daily event and had a strong festive atmosphere. Today is our last day. We're off for a hike and perhaps a trip to the beach. Hard to believe our adventure is coming to a close. To adventures! All the best, Emily
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Good Evening Friends, Sometimes I feel like I am on an outward bound course in some respects: the group dynamics, learning, growing and seeing new things together and in different ways. Tonight we had a fun time talking about where we are coming from, little tidbits and a few embarrassing moments....funny stuff, had to be there:) Now I find myself typing away, while the rest of the gang have found themselves a bed and gone to sleep. I went solo today to the Center of Hope where I worked with a great Haitian nurse doing HIV consultations and ante partum exams. I learned a lot and got some practice at finding heart beats and measuring fundal heights. Speaking French would have been helpful so I could have understood more of what the nurse was saying to me and the patient, but heck we did alright. Noah, my interpreter where are you?:) I guess I should start practicing my French a little more. In the afternoon I shadowed the doctor at the HHF clinic. Saw all sorts of things, lots of high blood pressure and scabies. He was quick and often knew right away what the patient had, but also asked me what I thought. An eye opening experience to add to the many others. Like our trip into the mountains yesterday. Three of us were lucky enough to catch a ride with Katy, a doctor from the states who is building a clinic in the mountains. We went with her to some remote villages to do a resource assessment by talking with several of the village leaders. I was amazed by how rocky the high mountain villages are. The Toyota truck we were driving took them with stride, but a flat tire seemed inevitable! The folks we met were very welcoming and we heard perspectives from a lot of people. Katy always asked as her final question, if you were president what three things would you do? Any ideas? Consistently the answers were 1. clinic 2. roads 3. schools Keep in mind that none of these villages have electricity, running water, toilets. Tomorrow three of us head back into the mountains and across the big river (good thing we have land rovers with their long air filter stacks!) to go to a health clinic with some of the HHF health agents. All the best, Emily
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Who would think that a bundle of pipe cleaners could make kids so excited! We visited the Sisters of Charity again today to perform a skit we made up on hand washing. Afterwards we played with the toddlers. We brought bubbles, pipe cleaners and balls and made quite an impression:) Even the older men on the other end of the building looked so happy when a couple of us went around handing each one a flower a la pipe cleaner. Some others went over to the women’s side and painted their nails. It was a good morning. For the afternoon we took a land rover drive over fairly decent roads out to a village where we did a health fair for the local teenage girls. We performed another skit on anemia and then screened each of them for blood pressure, anemia, height and weight. Yesterdays health fair taught us all some tricks and we were much more efficient today. We saw 128 girls yesterday and probably about the same today. On our way home we stopped by the pier to check out the boat that runs from Port Au Prince to Jeremie. It's an old steel ferry that has definitely lived a couple of life times. It was packed to the gills with supplies and then on top of that hundreds of people. A disaster waiting to happen with any sort of seas that they may encounter. The boat is the life link to supplies for this area and people rely on it heavily. Although it is really not a good idea to set foot on that boat, it is a faster option then the roads. On the sailing side, I guess there are not a lot of fish in the area and therefore not many sailboats in the harbor. I love the mountains here! They are sharp and defiant and define the landscape. Any travel means getting up and over the many hills. One of the most beautiful places I have been. I am impressed with HHF. They are incredibly organized and to go out to these remote villages and see that people are getting health care because of the training HHF has done with local people shows the success of their programs. An NGO following a public health mission. We are hanging out on the porch right now, the fog has settled in for the first time since our arrival. We are drinking lemon grass tea. Many tired faces amongst us, but smiles throughout. I think we are all quite happy with the day. We also drove by a sugar cane mill. The smells were strong! They had huge cement walks in the ground full of sugar liquid that was being steamed down to syrup. And the milling itself was this cool set up of a wooden crank that pressed the cane as it got wound up. The crank arms were each about 15 ft long that were moved by oxen that were tied up to both ends making their way around the rutted circle. Another packed day and more on the docket for tomorrow. All the best to everyone, Chao, em
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Hello Everyone, Thanks for checking out my blog! Today was a full day that started off with an early morning walk by myself down the hills to town. The roads are impressively steep! People were out, on their way to church and the sun had begun to get warm. And fresh orange juice and fruit for breakfast!!! We made our way from our gorgeous place that we are staying to the orphanage where we helped the nuns feed the babies and played with the young ones. They were all so excited to see us. The site, of all these children was pretty shocking. I would like to go back and spend some more time there, just to give them some attention means a lot. The nuns have their hands full with all the children and babies in cribs that fill the whole room. Just changing diapers and cleaning up spit up seems to have them running around non stop. We walked from the orphanage to town to fetch some supplies at the market. The chicken feet were tempting, but I decided to bargain for the papaya instead. A lot of flour, rice, beans, bananas. The sun was really hot, it must have been in the 90's today. Luckily the group put on a gracious supply of sunscreen and a stop for a glass of coke got us all on track to continue our walk. We took a bumpy trip to the beach in the afternoon. Great waves!! It was so fun and really warm. Tomorrow we begin our work. We are meeting with the Haitian Health Foundation in the morning and then heading out to a village an hours drive away to give our anemia presentation and do screening for anemia, blood pressure, tetanus shots to the 200+ girls who are coming. So far So great. I hope you are all well and I hope to get a chance to write again soon! Chao, em
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