Introductions.... and My Big Break

Yesterday, I talked about how sweet and kind everyone was, and I will probably say that everyday for the rest of my life.  I am talking about the people on the team from the U.S. (Kansas City and everywhere else), I am talking about the Filipino people in the places we worked, and I am talking about the people in the airport, restaurants, or citizens just walking down the street.  Today I want to introduce you to some of the folks in our group, and I want to show you how we got started on our mission.

These peeps were unbelievably instrumental in getting this mission completely put together.  From left, Dr. Yvonne, Rommel (the IT and all-around "make-it-happen" guy), and Dr. Christine -- they are all three from Kansas City.  Drs. Christine and Yvonne are on the committee which works year-round to raise funds and make these mission trips happen.  Dr. Yvonne is currently the President of the Philippine Medical Society of Greater Kansas City, and Dr. Christine is on the Board of the PMSGKC, and currently serves as Director and Coordinator of the Medical Mission Committee.  It is my understanding that Rommel works with them throughout the year to keep everything running smoothly.  I am pretty sure he has another full time job, but this one is probably full time, too.

Matthew is Christine and Yvonne's nephew, and he also lives in Kansas City.  As a 16 year old, he was lucky enough to be able to miss school and attend this mission.  He is interested in medical school, and this experience provided him with the opportunity to see, observe and help in ways he would never be able to participate at home.  He impressed me with his respect towards everyone.  He was very obliging to anyone who asked him to do anything.

Here are Dr. Fred and his cute wife, Del, who is a nurse.  This husband and wife team worked together on lots of general surgeries, and they were beyond generous to let me watch.  In fact, they would go out of their way to let me see and learn things.  I saw several cyst removals and even more hernia surgeries.  A couple of times, Dr. Fred would say, "just don't touch anything blue, but here, come in closer, look at this, do you want to take a picture?"  And my big break came when everyone was scrubbed in and sterile except me.  I was only scrubbed in, as required.  I was standing back, trying to be out of the way, hoping to not trip over anything or knock anything down -- and they needed a blade.  I can't remember if the other one got dropped or what, but they asked me to get another one.  I'll never forget it.  A quick learner and after observing lots of this for a couple of days, I went to the supply table, I had my gloves on, got the right blade, carefully pulled back the easy-to-open package without touching the scalpel inside, and dropped it safely onto the blue sterile field.  Woo hoo!  I'm sure they have no idea how excited I was.  I believe I now have medical and surgical experience. 

This is Ted from Georgia.  He started coming on these missions with his wife, who is an anesthesiologist, and he is not a medical professional.  He works in the reading glasses dispensing department.  He'll probably cringe at my attempt to name his duties.  But he had a cool story that covered everything from college football and a big ring on his finger, to being a pretty serious runner and then the fact that we shared a religion connection in a country that is 99% Catholic.  We attended four Masses in one week with the group, happily I want to say, but we decided when the fifth one was optional, we thought it would be okay to opt out.

This is me.  Day One.  Ready to go.  I loved wearing scrubs.

Introductions.... and My Big Break

Philippines - First Impressions

I have been dying to tell you about this.  Here's how it happened.  I know someone who knows someone who is related to some people, and I wiggled my way into making them believe that someone like me, with no medical experience whatsoever, could somehow be helpful on a medical mission trip in the Philippines.  NO experience - my background is in a law office, farming and ranching, and bookkeeping.  Language (Tagalog) advantage?  Uhm, no.  Do I know any of the people going on the trip?  Not a one.  BUT.  Life is short.  I am not afraid.  I can sometimes strike up a conversation with a toddler.  It was cold at home, so a tropical climate was very inviting.  I have no children depending on me (you know, they're grown), and a husband who loves to work many hours a day.  Translation = I will hardly be missed.  It's only two weeks.

Somehow, I get a "bye" from the selection committee -- and they allow me to join the group.  This is a joint effort in its 21st year, between the Philippine Medical Society of Greater Kansas City and in cooperation with the Philippine Nurses Association of Greater Kansas City.  Not positive, but I think there were about 53 in our mission group this year.  There were a handful of us who were non-medical volunteers.

 Here's almost our whole group on Day One.  Still getting to know everyone, I felt part of the squad from the very beginning.  They were ALL so kind to me.  Every single person extended warm feelings to me, and that was my first clue about the kind of people I was preparing to meet.  I couldn't help it, but I started making generalizations right off the bat.  Every one of my thoughts were positive.  From the moment I landed, alone, in a foreign place I had never been before, I felt safe.  People were friendly and kind.  People were generous and giving.  Another thing that I noticed right away, these people were beautiful!  All of them.  They were absolutely beautiful in natural ways and in striking ways.  I went in with no expectations or assumptions, so I felt like my eyes were wide open.

Vanessa and Bernard were two of the first people I met upon arriving in the Philippines.  I could have been their mother, but they treated me like one of the "cool kids."  They are both nurses who live in the Philippines.  Last year was their first affiliation with the mission, and they were able to join the group again this year.  Such fun personalities!

And here is Tess, a nurse and lab technician.  She lives 45 miles away from me at home, and she was the only individual that I was fortunate enough to meet before we left on the trip.  She is so cute and has the sweetest, mildest manner.  

This is Lito.  Turned out he was our limo driver and personal tour guide.  In reality, he is Tess' cousin.  So I hadn't been in Manila for a few hours before these sweet new friends tracked me down, and said, "C'mon, we're going on a tour of other parts of the island!"  I'm in downtown Manila, hotel room by myself -- of course I am in for an adventure.  They showed me the well-known volcano in the ocean.  The five of us climbed a giant hill, and froze our tail ends off in unusually chilly weather.  We saw a beautiful sunset.  I ate my first authentic Filipino meal.  We bonded immediately -- it was like we had known each other forever.

There were dozens of fruit and vegetable stands all along the road everywhere we went.

This was how I really felt.  I was so excited to be there, checking into our accommodations, and getting ready to get down to business.  We were staying in an unusual place.  It was a hotel/water park.  There weren't a lot of patrons in the water, and we never had time to cool off there ourselves, but again, we experienced unusually cool weather during our whole time in the Philippines.  I didn't feel disappointed missing out on the swimming part.  Each day ended with a banquet or program of some kind.  After a full day on our feet, most of us just wanted a shower.  And a bed.

Philippines - First Impressions

Belgium...

Belgium.  The day trip that took two days to post about it.

We definitely made the most of this day.  We left early in the morning, and we didn't return until late that evening.  With no real agenda, we hoped to see as much of whatever, whenever, however.  Young Mr. Lee informed us that Brussels was home to a large Art Deco church.  Turns out, it is possibly the largest Art Deco edifice in the world.  I think it is also among the top ten largest churches in the world.

This is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.  The interior is finished in the 1930's art deco style, yet, the building wasn't completed until the late 1960's.

We did a lot of walking.  It was really surprising to me that in the middle of December, everything was as green as spring.  What's up with that?  In our conversation with the kids yesterday, they said the temperatures still had not dipped to below zero degrees Celsius.  Between that and the fact that they get lots of moisture, I guess things grow.

Here is an interior picture of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.  There were so many different naves, and each one was decorated with a different style of art deco stained glass windows.  Not a lot of rhyme or reason.  Yet another realm of art of which I have little comprehension.

The Atomium is one of the most recognized and most popular tourist attractions in Europe.  Built for the World's Fair in 1958, it is hard to describe.  Part sculpture, part spherical, futuristic (for 1958) -- standing underneath it makes the world feel smaller.  You know when you have seen pictures and images of scenes and views around the world, then you are there....?  I always think, "wow, it wasn't impossible to get here... what else am I missing?"

Full Disclosure Time

When arriving in Brussels, I admit, I had never heard of one of its most visited attractions. 

Manneken-Pis

  It is a bit hard to find.  Standing at only 24 inches tall and placed in the year 1619, this statue of a little boy has so many different legends surrounding it, I am not sure anyone has the real story.

One of the funniest things about this statue, is that several times a week, it is dressed in different costumes.  Many pictures are available online, but he has been dressed in everything from a judo uniform, to national dress from visiting expats -- one can only imagine.  To elaborate any more about this statue would only take us places I don't want to go.  The link above tells almost all.   :)

Here in the center of the city are several significant buildings and a large square.  Town Hall, Grand Place, Brussels City Museum and the King's House anchor this beautiful area, and no detail has been overlooked.  This is such a clean city, and we did a pretty nice job of hitting the highlights in only one day.  We took a late train back to Amsterdam in order to enjoy a terrific dinner, and once again, with no advance plans, we happened onto this very old pub in the city square.  When we have no idea what we are doing, most restaurants that we select have to do with the number of people we see in the window.  This day was no exception.  Once again, younger Mr. Lee pulled his French language skills out, and he easily ordered us both lunch and dinner.  I didn't mention that the two languages of Belgium are French and German, so we were more than fortunate he was fluent enough that we didn't end up with any surprises on our plates.  

So this really cool old pub that we found for dinner was right on the square.  I didn't get a picture of it -- what a dork.  We were escorted right up to the fourth floor and over to a tiny table by a window that the four of us barely could scoot up and reach.  About the time I am going to roll my eyes and ask for "that bigger table over there," this brilliant light show began.  What a treat!  There is a light show in the square during the summer months, but apparently, they do it during the holidays, too!  It was better than fireworks.  Brilliant, colored, LED lights, spot lights, all coordinated to music -- 

now we couldn't get close enough to the window.

From the fourth floor, we had such a great view of the people, and all the buildings in the square.  It was unbelievable.  Absolutely beautiful!

The light show was every hour on the hour, and enjoying the traditional German fare and beverages in the pub, we were able to see it twice, or maybe it was three times.  Kinda lost track.  This was such a terrific day.  In my head, I often say, "Top 5."  I have said it a lot of times in the last few months, but I have decided that LIFE. IS. SHORT.  I am trying to do a better job of relaxing and enjoying each opportunity that I receive.  Sometimes those opportunities are disguised as, well, things that don't look like opportunities.  You never know.  Brussels was fabulous.

Belgium...

Reverse Rogue

Today I planned to go rogue and post about my trip to the Philippines on a medical mission.  Here's what happened.  It is going to take at least 5 whole minutes to download those pictures onto my computers, and believe it or not, I haven't been able to make that happen yet.  In an effort to post almost every day, I am going to talk a bit about a Netherlands excursion with the youngest Lee family, who/whom (help me, Crystal!) we were able to Skype with today.  

We had such an awesome time during the week of Christmas when we were in Haarlem with them.  They had told us how easy it was to travel between countries there, so we made plans before we arrived to take a day trip to Belgium.  I mean, it's a small country, and it was under 3 hours by train, so a couple of days before Christmas, off we went.  With limited time and not spending the night, we chose Brussels.  After all, it is the capital of the European Union, and from what little I knew about Belgium, my guess was that there would be a lot of culture and excitement packed into that tiny country.

 

Beer is some kind of a big deal in Belgium.  I could have done some internet research and told you that beer was first brewed in Belgium or Germany, but does that really matter?  It's beer.  Seems like I heard somewhere that ancient Egyptians formulated something similar to beer way back in that day.  I can tell you that this is one of the most traditional beer brewing regions in Europe.  They brew it, they export it, they consume it -- and there are hundreds of different varieties.  It was so overwhelming, I am pretty sure I didn't consume one while I was there.  Looking at these pictures, I kind of regret that now.

 

Then there are the chocolates.... not much I can say about them.  Every piece or bite I had was worth every ounce I probably gained.  Absolutely delicious!  The packaging was as exciting and attractive to me as any part of it.  A couple of stores we went into, 

I wanted to say, "Do you sell just the box?"

And the most attractive and enticing shops!  Two things about that.

1)   It's a good deal that we were only there for one day.

2)   Whatever we bought, we knew we would have to carry for the remainder of the day.

Carrying makes me cranky.  I like to make trips to the car.  But we didn't have a car.

This post is going to go on forever...  

Well, maybe not.  I might resume it tomorrow.

Don't forget my disclaimer!

Reverse Rogue

The Lily World Tour Comes To An End...

It had to happen.  I have been on the road (or in the air) since early December.  I wanted to blog all along the way.  I wanted to keep it in chronological order.  Not gonna happen.  Internet promises are not what they seem.   Here's the deal... in the words of Forrest Gump, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get."  That's what you can expect from this blog from here on out.  :)

I haven't finished talking about the fabulous time we had in the Netherlands with the younger Lees.  I haven't given you an update on the upcoming bundle of joy and the older Lees.  I am just going to wing it.  It's going to come out as it springs from my mouth.

After what feels like months out of my own bed, I am finally home.  Olympics, mission trip, longest vacation in quite a while, Christmas month out of the country -- where do I start?

We met up with the youngest Lees, and it was a week of go-go-going.  They took us to the Grote Kerk. "high church," in Haarlem, their hometown.  

We also visited the Saturday market, what a treat!  Fresh everything.  Flowers.  Cheeses.  Breads and pastries.  I am getting a bit spoiled to experiencing new things.  
And I kind of like it.

It was so fun seeing the kids, hope they don't mind me calling them that, and letting them show us around.  First, they took us to the Grote Kerk.  (High Church - which refers to the fact that its' tall tower was built in 1613.)  That's a giant church in the center of town, and it lets its bells chime every night from 9:30 to 10 00 P.M.  We have been on iChat with them several times, and we have heard them.  How cool is that?  I can almost assure them, wherever they live for the rest of their lives, they will not hear something like that.  Additionally, they have a neighbor, who they suspect is a concert pianist, and they frequently hear her playing.  Really?  In the Southwest area of the United States, I can't even imagine such a treat.

Tomorrow, I am going to go rogue and talk about my mission trip to the Philippines.  
Check in.

:)

The Lily World Tour Comes To An End...

A Need For Speed

Wow!  Am I spoiled!  Technology is awesome, but about the time you try to depend on it or really need it, .... Nada.  No upload speed, no download speed, loss of connection, lack of connection -- and practically everywhere I have been lately, complimentary wi-fi, even in the nicest of places, means something equivalent to dial up.  High speed is not even an option.  So this blogger has let you down.  I really thought I could halfway put together a blog post every other day or something, but the stars did not align.  All my travel experiences of late, make me think I need to give a shout-out to my unbelievable, and customer-service oriented internet, phone, television and cell provider, PTCI.  The bonus of doing business with them is that they are trying so hard to stay "cutting edge" and bring us the high tech things we really want.  It sounds like they are going to play with the big boys, and we can expect lots of surprises from here on out.

While I was gone, from what I can tell, I missed a lot of nasty cold weather.  I don't recall being at home and in the house for any real length of time since about Thanksgiving.  And as far as I know, the only baby in our family as of now, is that darling, baby Clare, the Australian Shepherd.  BUT, lest you forget, we are soon to welcome the precious, real-thing, baby granddaughter.  I still can hardly believe it.  Hope her parents let us keep her sometimes.  Totally kidding.  The rancher has informed me that I will probably need to stay home for more than 10 minutes to make that happen.

I am headed home.  Not quite there yet, but getting closer.  And miles to go, before I sleep.  Miles to go before I sleep.

A Need For Speed

Road Trip

It's not very often that I can drag the rancher to another continent.  But when it is a once in a lifetime chance for unusual opportunities, he can be coerced.  It was easy to convince him to go see the kids in North Holland for Christmas.  Built-in travel guides made it an easy choice.  And as I remind you how old we are and how much we enjoy cruises, he was a push over.

We spent the entire week of Christmas with the kids.  They recently returned from their own little holiday in Paris, and I am afraid we wore them out.  Lesley was excited to visit a place she had never been, and she had always dreamed of going there.  These kids collect experiences more than they collect things.  Pretty mature for their age.

The day after we arrived they were excited to take us to their local Saturday grocery and flower market.  Oh.  My.  The breads were unbelievable.  Croissants filled with anything you could want, and people probably stayed up all night making them.  It was lightly raining, so I don't have a lot of great pics.

So I will share our beverage selections, since we were inside where it was dry for a minute.  

It's going to get better...

Stick with me, I'm getting organized, and if you know I've been on a medical mission trip shortly after we returned from this trip, you know what's next.   I'm excited to tell you all about both things!

Road Trip