szczecin

ive been in szczecin for almost a week now, and there has been nothing but non-stop action, albeit getting off a slow start. right now, i am just so bushed that afternoon naps have become essential to my staying awake in the hospital.

also, i have realized that partying on a weeknight pretty much wipes me out the following day. but i am glad in retrospect that i pulled my lead-heavy eyelids open today and dragged my zombie body to the hospital because i got to see a real life labor in action! it seemed considerably less painful than people have made it out to be, but then again it could have been that the mother received an epidural, or that people are just more apt at giving life.

by all accounts, it was rather weird to stand right in front of someone's grossly expanded virgina but it was rather amazing to see the baby (huge!) pop out all purple and angry. and the umbilical cord looked so rubbery too!

i must say that i am so lucky to have jacek rubinski as my prof-in-charge. he is just about the coolest professor ever. never donning a white coat, he wears a yellow polo tee with collars flipped up, and is never seen without his quirky golf caps - which he prefers to wear the other way around. btw, he also has his own band, although he decided to go solo recently. how cool is that?

he simply charms me with the way he speaks too, with his oh-so-polish accent. he refers to the two resident patients as: big one baby, and small one baby. also, during examinations, a healthy baby would be referred to as a "hero", which really tickled me because you have this little gurgling baby and the contrasting image of an omnipotent hero. haha... and he made funny faces at us from inside the operation room too, which simply blew my mind. lol. and good grief he greets us with a "turtle" greeting and says 'see you later, alligator'. oh i would work so hard in his classes if he ever taught in taiwan!

from an academic point of view, i think i really learnt alot this week. i can now conduct my own EEG connections, and also do simple physical examinations of newborns. ive even been able to do my own ultrasound scans! now i understand why people say that there is nothing like the real thing to bring out interest in learning.

im really looking forward to the next few weeks in hospital with rubinski - and for the sake of the big one baby and small one baby, lampart and franas respectively.. i hope you guys get well soon! go babies!