01.07.15 Accepting the Challenge - Conquering the Fears

OK, so maybe I didn't conquer the fears, but I did accept the challenge. I am really afraid of deep water and breathing under water. Hence my jokes about "dry snorkeling". Well, today I did it. I went open ocean diving. And loved it. Still do not like water in my face when I am breathing on my own.

I had my first lesson on Sunday in the pool. It took a minute before I would release the air from the BCD to sink. That was made all the more challenging as the  pool was deep and all of it was above my head when I stood - so no safety net there. But I did it and got comfortable with breathing and passed all the skills. My instructor is Nick, a 24 year old who has done about 12,000 dives - he started at age 13. He is very patient and excellent at his work. He got me into the  sea!

So today it was out to the deep blue ocean. We went beyond the channel and outside of the reef for the first dive (total time each was about an hour). The thought of rolling backwards into water, oh my, but  I looked at Willy - one of the guides and he said just go. So I did. WOW. It was beautiful. Saw a turtle, shark, jelly fish.lots of reef fish of all colors and beautiful corals. Since we are actually going to Fais and Ulithi on Friday (third time is a charm for this trip) I cannot diving go as planned on Saurday. But I will the day after I return - already made the booking. I can  see the possibilities of underwater photography for me as I become more proficient. Good to have goals, but one steep at a time.

We had a small group that include John and Willy, expert divers and work for Yap Divers (Manta Ray Hotel), Nick my instructor, Kate's  (Vol Teacher) Aunt from Cleveland, a marine and his wife, and a former dive instructor from Germany. Everyone else an expert at this.

Hope you enjoy a few pictures of the scenery and the process.

One of the women lost her goggles. Willy drove in and retrieved them. That is his splash.

View of Yap from the water.

A German tourist who also was a diving instructor.

View of the sea from the dive boat.

Nick is helping Kate's Aunt Mary with her gear. Mary survived a bullet wound to the neck. She was abducted by two men in a parking lot of a shopping mall. First one man tried to shoot her in the abdomen, but that failed and she ran and he shot her from behind in the neck. She has deficits, but makes the best of everything. She is diving!

Willy retriecing the goggles. BTW, her husband (the marine) also jumped in to get them, and he lost his.  Needless to say, he was not pleased. Good thing I  had heard some of those words in the past! Sadly, he was really unkindto his wife. After thety jumped in for their dive, the rest of us agreed he should nevere have spoken to her as he did. They were just goggles. You think she lost his on purpose. Lesson from this - hold onto your goggles when diving!

And this is how we did it! I still cannot believe I did this.

And then it was my turn. Being the only student onboard, I was to watch everyone. The best way for me to relax is to photograph. Keeps  my mind focused. Willy looked me in the eye and said "Go ahead". Somehow I felt that I could not let him down so  I went! Flipped over backwards and then upright. It was so cool, and I had the chance to do it again.

Another Yap diver boat outside of the reef as well.

 

 

Nick. An excellent and very patient teacher who survived my first two dives. He also is handsome and a very nice guy. I had the chance to talk to him on several occasions before the dive. He arrived in Yap about the same time that I did. He made me very comfortable with the idea. I was going to do this in deccember but my schedule and the diving schedule were full that this week was the first I  could manage.

 

Willy. What can I say? A very nice man, rescued the goggles, encouraged me to flip backwards and was very helpful with all aspects of the trip. He helped us out of the water and was also very patient wth everyone. And he knows Chocolate. I am sure you were wondering when I'd work in a dog story!

He is signaling we did fine!

 

01.06.15 Offer of a puppy

It is work as usual now that the holidays are over. The clinics are full and everyone is busy. Tuesday is Cute Baby Clinic and I helped evaluate the little ones. Since they are short of doctors I will do some of the public health checks.

Final touches to getting ready for the day. Jayursallai won first prize for most betel nut surveys (on the left). Melissa is on the right. This is the PH uniform.

This is the corridor of the hospital. This couple was watching Shorty and me - he reponds to commands. When he hears his name or hears me whistle he comes running to me. He can sit, stay and lie down. Wih treats, of course.

Shorty is looking good.

TB testing.

Daniel and Litia.

Ivan.

Deborah.

Last night on my walk I met Alverin, a very nice roughly ten year old boy, very polite and likes to chat.  While talking with him, I saw a climpse of a dog with a bobbed off tail, like my Chocolate. When I whistled Alverin said  "That's not Chocolate, that dog is brown.".  I was impressed that he knew Chocolate's name and that he knew who Chocolate was. When I  told him I haven't seen Chocolate for a while (yet again) he offered to get me a puppy. I told him that I cannot have a puppy in the apartment and he didn't think any one would know. (right!). So he is going  to take care of  the puppy for me. I have a feeling that there would be many puppies at my place if I lived where I was allowed to have one.

01.03.15 Saturday

A very wet Saturday morning. Good for getting chores done. Then worked on a couple of projects. My real plan was to sail, but no one was there when the rains cleared and the man who rents the kayaks was at the hospital. We had a nice breeze, which made it comfortable in the shade. So basically just walked and read and now I will prepare some course work.

Here are a few clips from the dancing and singing last weekend.

 

01.02.15 TREATS FOR EVERYONE

The new year started off right with a swim in the sea. The water temperature is perfect but the beaches are rocky, rather than sandy. I am getting better with walking on the rocks.

Mail arrived today and what a treat it was. Brochures on breast cancer arrived (Thank you Kari), a huge box of puppy food and treats (Thank you Mrs. G), and treats for me (Thank you Richard and Lora). I made out like a bandit. :) We are all happy.

I still suspect customs did not release my 3000 brochures on betel nut. I ordered  them in October and they were shipped (Thank you Fenny). But the betel nut survey is going strong and I have entered almost three hundred surveys into the database. More will be coming as there is  now a Grand Prize of $100 to the person who submits the most. They must have a minimum of 50 to be elible for the Grand prize. One person has already turned in 67, good for her. Even our Chief Julie is surveying people.

On Monday we are meeting with the Chief of Nursing, she is in charge of the  outpatient clinic and the hospital ward. She is in favor of restricting bettle nut usage in the  staff, so maybe we can make at least OPD betel nut free for everyone and the ward betel nut free for the staff. This is an addiction worse than cigarette smoking and justified as cultural, but we are chipping at that excuse and finding out that there are limits to the culture of using betel nut.  Chinks in the armour.

We had a really good meeting on 12.31 with staff whom Julie has told they must do a minimum of 50 surveys. I talked about being accustomed to betel nut in usage other cultures (Bangladesh and India) but that it was confined to the village and the homes - no one chewed in public like they do  here.  They chew everywhere and all of the time. I also talked about  becoming aware that it may be a problem when I saw Mino's waste basket (he works in PH) with a sign that said no spitting in his basket. So we will let Mino take the credit or the blame, however one chooses to look at the current developments.

There is a chance that National paid our airfare and we will  be going to Ulithi and Fais next Friday, but we will miss the Department of Health holiday party. Apparently it is a very nice event. But with the new brochures in hand, I can do a nice distribution in the outer islands.

The island is still in holiday mode.. Very few patients are in the OPD. Just wait until Monday - I suspect it will be packed.

While everyone knows I am a "people" doctor, I am now getting a lot of questions about  how to take care of their dogs. They see how Shorty responds when he sees me and I think they want their dogs to do the same for them. (Daniel has been really taking good care of Shorty - now giving him three square meals a day. But I do miss my Chocolate who is lost again.) So I explain that some treats are to build strong and clean teeth, and yes, it is OK to give your dog a bath with shampoo or dish washing liquid. They also see Shorty "sit" and get a treat - few people train their dogs - at least until now. Maybe we we can work on "paw" next. He does not like "stay" as he wants to follow me home and I don't want him on the road. So I only give him treats by the hospital and not the road to reinforce he should "stay". There are two dogs that I have trained to sit and people stop to watch the dogs respond to commands.

If anyone has a friendly vet that would like to volunteer here for a couple of weeks, I would work on making that possible. We need a lot of dogs neutered - that could be another PH initiative. Just have them contact me to begin discussions.

Here is a picture of our betel nut brochure that is still at-large.

01.01.15 To be young again

How many of us would be able to make do with these paddles?

Also give them credit for having life jackets and for using them. Not sure what to  think of the creativity in wearing them, except they are really bulky, so this appears to work.

Face painting is popular for the kids. Saw the Associate Director of the hospital with face paint. Am betting he has young kids.

Not much of an explanation is needed for the following pictures. Scary fun. Fortunately the tide was coming in. But it was not anywhere near high tide yet and I could see rocks nearby.

He is jumping.

 

It is mostly girls on the bridge!

She is a natural.

She isn't sure she will jump.

I asked him what he was doing. Same thing as you, taking pictures, was his reply. Good memories.

She did it! Look at that smile!

Another girl jumped at about the same time. Our girl in the yellow shirt is the splash mark in the right upper corner. Also notice, they swim in their regular clothes. Just dry off in the sun.

I have always said about these places - it is a great childhood if you survive it.