I'm still alive!

Sorry to neglect my blog for so long. I have gotten on a couple times and started writing a post and then ended up deleting it because it just wasn't working out the way I wanted it to. But, I'm going to give this a try and maybe it'll make the post. ;)

I never did finish posting up the rest of my email updates from Africa, but I hope none of you minded. Africa was incredibly wonderful and I enjoyed my time immensely. Would I go back? Yes. For long-term? Don't know. The hardest part about being over there was missing family so much. I missed getting to spend time with everyone and being a part of their lives. Seeing that there really wasn't much communication while I was in the bush, it was hard to know what my family was doing or what new and exciting thing was happening in their lives. That by far was harder than adjusting to the culture or way of life there. There was so much that I just loved about Africa. I really loved the people, the simplicity of their life, the love they had for others, the time they would spend with you, how generous, kind and loving they were, etc. I loved the kids. A lot! I wanted to bring a few of them home with me. But sadly, I couldn't.
There was one precious little guy that I met the day we left Kenya and I would've adopted him in a heartbeat if I could have. He was almost a year old, adorable, and had no parents. Even though I only spent an hour with him, I completely fell in love with his little personality and how incredibly happy he was. When I first saw him, he was lying in his crib watching us. Unlike the other babies who were crying or being fussy, he was content to watch and just smile at us. I really couldn't resist not picking him up, so I did and I kept him the entire time we were at the baby home....which was probably only an hour. It's amazing though how in an hour you can completely fall in love with a little boy who just wants to be loved, kissed, and hugged. I loved making him laugh. He would mimic everything I did and loved being tickled. Just talking about him makes me miss him so much!

How could you ever resist a face like that?! If there's one thing that kids are good at, it's stealing a part of your heart. <3 p="p">

My summer was definitely the most challenging, enlightening, awesome, amazing, life-changing experience that I have ever had. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love being home and close to my family again, but a part of me still wishes I was back in Kenya. So many wonderful memories....

There were 36 interns that went over to different countries this summer and I loved getting to meet so many amazing people. It was incredible how we all bonded so much after only being together a few days (during orientation) and it was like a huge family reunion when we all returned. As hard as it was to not immediately go home to family after getting back to the States, it was so much fun to reunite with the other interns and hear the amazing stories they had to tell. I feel like I made so many new, and lasting, friendships this summer and for that I am incredibly thankful for. :)

So, what's happening in my life now? Well, I am back to work full-time (and some overtime), and I'm going to school. Life stays pretty busy, but I've made sure I have some free time to spend with friends and can do things I enjoy instead of just working, going to classes, studying, and sleeping. I kinda need to be able to run, bake, shoot, and hang with friends, instead of being a hermit.....which is what I was this spring semester. ;) Right now, I really should be studying Physiology, but I wasn't getting much done and I figured instead of staring at the book for awhile, I would just post on my blog. Maybe once I start feeling cramped for time, I'll actually get some studying done. ;-)

I really hate classes.....or more like, I hate studying. So, classes are going alright, but I'll be happy when the semester is over with. :) Work has been incredibly busy. When I come home from work and feel like I've been run over a million times by a semi, then it's been a bad shift. This Saturday was that kinda shift. Usually I work a 24 on Saturday and lately every weekend there has been an MU football game....which means thousands of more people in town. During the day, it really wasn't so bad. We had calls throughout the day, but never got behind on reports. By late afternoon and early evening it slowed way down and I started to think we may actually have a good night. Wrong. Around nine, we went out for our first call of the evening and we stayed busy with calls till almost four-thirty the next morning. Nine was when the MU game ended, so imagine 71,000 people from the game all driving either downtown or driving home. Let's just say it looked like  major rush hour traffic! We of course, went downtown for a very intoxicated patient. She was unconscious and was drunk enough that my partner thought she might stop breathing at some point. Come to find out, she had a BAC of 4.35.....which, for those of you who don't know, is incredibly high. Anyway, getting a mile down to the road to the hospital was a complete joke with all the traffic. I ended up running emergency to the hospital since there was no other way to get through the traffic. And from then on, we ran calls downtown the rest of the night. I really don't mind staying busy and running on drunks all night, but when you're tired and just want to sleep, it's not exactly the funnest thing. By six in the morning, between the three of our trucks, we had run 15 calls after midnight. And that's not even counting the four trucks that University Hospital had in service that night. It was a busy night all around! There are times I really wonder why I do my job as it is the most tiring, unhealthy job out there, but I think it's because I love it. :) I seriously don't know if I would enjoy doing anything else. I mean, not everyone has such an awesome job that you get to pile three people on top of a patient to try and hold them down. ;) That was interesting because we had a fairly calm patient that then decided to freak out and try to punch everyone. The fight started when the patient didn't want an IV in his hand. We managed to calm him down and amazingly enough he didn't pull his IV out. Btw, this guy is extremely intoxicated....which explains the combativeness. We take one of the fire guys with us just in case the patient starts fighting again. I'm driving to the hospital when my partner pokes her head up to the front and says, "Give me small gloves now!" I hand her the gloves and two seconds later she yells from the back, "Stop the truck and turn your lights on!" Alright, so that was completely unexpected. I come around to the back of the truck and find our patient has managed to take off his seat belts and both my partner and the fire guy on top of him.  I couldn't really just let them have all the fun, so I join in and try to hold the guys legs down. This results in me nearly getting clobbered in the face by his foot, (this guy was strong and could move!), but after a fourth guy joins us, we finally get him calmed down and head to the hospital once again. Needless to say, I've had some interesting shifts even though we have been busy. :) You really never know what you'll have when you go to work. =)

Alright, that's all my brain is going to come up with for tonight. I'll try and be a little more consistent at posting, but I'm pretty sure it won't be very regular. Maybe once a month....if I'm lucky. ;-)