Italy: Bellagio, Venice

Overall, a fabulous trip! Loved Italy and hope we will come back (did kind of toss a coin in the Trevi fountain). But it was definitely way too crowded, so would hope to visit in the spring/fall next time. General outline of our trip: Milan -> Bellagio -> Venice -> Rome -> Florence (Pisa) -> Milan.  Things that definitely require ahead of time booking include Colosseum, Vatican, Uffizi, and Last Supper. Many others are also better booked a few days in advance. Some sites we used wikipedia as a guide, but later found Rick Steve's audioguide to be awesome.

Day 1: arrive midday to Milan airport Malpensa, which is actually 1hr train ride to Milano Centrale, so we decided to go to Lake Como up north. Required taking 2 trains (>1hr) to get to city of Como. From there, we took a 2hr ferry to Bellagio where our first hotel was waiting. Quite a bit of transit for the first day, but it was nice to just enjoy the beautiful view of a lake between mountains while lounging on the ferry and half asleep.

Our boat from Como to Bellagio

George Clooney's Villa

View from our balcony

Steep stairs next to Hotel Bellagio

Sunset at Bellagio fishing dock

Day 2 Bellagio: Beautiful small city that required going uphill immediately from the ferry. Our place had a beautiful view of the lake and mountains beyond. We wanted to go on the tour of the Villa Serbelloni, but there were no tours on Mondays. Instead we took self-guided city hike up the hills (maps in tourist office just behind Basilica of San Giacomo), and got some good views of the city, lake, and Alps beyond. AB was a bit drained from the sun, but he made it. The views were okay, but probably would have made better time by visiting the Villa Melzi Gardens. A lot of people spend a couple of days here and perhaps get an all day on/off ferry pass, and then can visit multiple little towns with their beautiful villas. We didn't have time, so we went to Varenna, spent some time along the beautiful narrow pathways and main plaza, and then took a train to Milan, then Venice.

View of Bellagio, Lake Como, and the Alps in the distance

Bellagio town center, lake bank

Varenna

   




Day 3 Venice: The benefit of the summer is that the days are long, so despite arriving at night time, we were still welcomed by a stunning view of the Grand Canal and the San Simeone Piccolo Church. Venice is just like no other. Pictures can't express the atmosphere of no cars or roads and the enchantment of water everywhere. Instead of EMS cars or police cars, there are boat EMS and police in motor boats. Same with taxis - all boats!  Venice really lived up to its hype and glamour.

San Simeone Piccolo Church

Grand Canal on top of the Rialto Bridge

Rialto Bridge ($12 million), has shops on top of it, made of marble

First full day we went to the San Marco Plaza that housed the San Marco Basilica with it's glorious mosaics - one of the largest collections in the world. It was called the Church of Gold because of its extensive gold backed mosaics covering 8000 square meters (enough to cover 1.5 football fields!) and makes the whole place glitter gold. The life of St. Mark is depicted inside. In 9th century, St. Mark's body was stolen from Egypt (pictured in mosaic above the door) and now lies as a sacred relic here. Most of the treasures were from Crusades of Constantinople (Istanbul). There is also a famous alterpiece, the Pala d'Oro, Byzantine gold masterpiece studded with thousands of gems. Church is free, and for $5, we went to the top to see the mosaics up close - amazing!

San Marco (St. Mark's) Plaza

St. Mark's Basilica + amazing mosaics

AB waiting in line to get into the Cathedral, background is the National Library

Doge's Palace corridor

Entrance to the St. Mark's Basilica show scene where St. Mark's body stolen from Egypt

View of St. Mark's Plaza from on top of the Basilica

Top of St. Mark's Basilica. Doge's Palace on left and National Library on right, ocean straight ahead.

Next we visited the Doge's Palace, which was kind of like the president's palace. Entering the palace, there are the Golden Staircases that are literally gold. The rest of the rooms were were the Doge attended his affairs including room of advisors (Scarlet Chamber), granted audience (Scudo Room), for the Senate, for the Great Council (one of the largest rooms in Europe b/c 1 male from each family came), administration of justice (Compass room), etc.  There is also a Bridge of Sighs that prisoners would walk across to the prisons (called sighs because prisoners would sigh when they took a last look at freedom through the windows of the bridge). The prisons were such a maze. This whole place was much bigger than it appeared from the outside. Apparently there are secret passageways, and there's a specific tour you have to book ahead of time for that - sad we missed that!

The Giant's Staircase guarded
by Mars (land) and Neptune (sea)

Golden Staircase leading to
Doge's apartments

One of many beautiful rooms

Chamber of the great Council

Senate Room

Prisons

We continued on to get a fabulous view of Venice (no skyscrapers!) from the Campanille (Bell Tower) that collapsed and had to be rebuilt in 1900's. Then walked along the water, and went to the Arsenal.

St Mark's Basilica

Doge's Palace

Looking out into the the ocean, church, Lido beach on right

St. Mark's Plaze

Looking out towards the trains station and mainland

   

First tiramisu! Yum!

Tried tapas from Cantina Aziende Agricole: sardines/onions on corn meal, fried meat ball, fried eggplant + cheese, strawberries on cheese/bread, eggplant/cheese/bread, cheese? 

We had the best pasta ever here in this small restaurant (where we noticed other than us, there were only italian men). Trattoria Chinellato.

BEST PASTA EVER! Squid ink pasta with cuttlefish - so tender!

It was so fun just to wander the streets!

Day 4 Venice: Since we were in Venice, we wanted to take a gondola ride, but boy is it expensive if you just want a 2 person ride (80 euro/boat), so we waited for some other people to join us.

 

We decided to take the ferry bus to the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. But the ferry was so slow, essentially going from bank to bank and stopping every single min, that by the time we got there, it was closed for lunch (noon-3p). It would've been faster if we walked! So unfortunately, we could only see the gorgeous outside. We continued on to the Gallerie dell'Accademia, but I think it was under construction, and without Rick Steve's audioguide, we didn't really know what we were to look at. It had venetian paintings of the 13-18th centuries. There was art by Bellini, Lotto, Tinteretto, Titian, Veronese, but I wonder if we might have missed a floor or building or perhaps so much of it was closed due to contruction... The original Vitruvian Man is there, but it wasn't on display. :( Anyhow, we left a good time b/c otherwise we would have been caught in the massive rainstorm.

Looking towards St. Mark's Plaze and the Bell Tower

Santa Maria della Salute Basilica

Wandering the narrow pedestrians streets

The Tempest: "Some academics think that this is the first landscape of Western art history (excluding drawings or watercolors). It depicts a soldier and a gypsy breastfeeding, isolated in a lush landscape. In the background there’s a city, threatened by a storm. This was Lord Byron’s favourite painting because of its ambiguity."

Massive rainstorm with "bus stop" on the right.

Baby AB

During father's day, ABs mom was reminiscing about baby AB.

- Cried really loudly as a baby, louder than the other babies.

- Cried every time he was put down on the crib or when dad picked him up.

- Used to draw out calendars (January, Feb...)

- After arriving at aunt and uncles home from school, AB asked for pen and pencil and quickly drew the streets from the school to the house. The uncle confirmed all the streets were correct.
- He would read the TV guide and confirm it was correct.
- When he was 6mo and looking through the newspaper and flipped from colored to a black/white page, he would cover and uncover his eyes. 

- Parents had told him he was gonna have a sister. But when it turned out to be a boy, AB told his principal that he changed his mind and is getting a sister. 

- There was a spill on aisle 13 of the grocery store. So from then on, he would always go back to that aisle every time he went to that grocery store to see if there was a spill.

- His mom went shopping and 3yo AB said don't spend all the money, need to save some money for college. 

- When 12yo, was super upset when he didn't get on the all star team for little league.

- In high school, was lying down sullen and depressed after the stock market tech crash.

Married life 6+ Months

A quick 6 months has passed since getting married, and it went by in the blink of an eye.

What I've learned:
-Don't fret over the small things: which day to hold small group, what meal to get, which restaurant to go to, what hike to go on. Probably better to keep peace. AB claims he is the one who keeps peace though.
-AB has a very detailed journal that he allowed me to read a bit of. Quite interesting... though he denies it.
-It's possible to love even more than when we first got married.
-Don't rub face to face
-That there's a grown up version of Chuck-E-Cheese's: Dave & Buster's
-& is called "ampersand"
-AB brushes his teeth a lot, but not very well....
-AB's favorite fruit is strawberries, and then bananas.
-Cooking and other chores are so much more fun with another person.
-Don't plan more than one vacation at a time with AB. Overwhelms him.
-If AB isn't talking very much at night time, it's not because he doesn't love me, it's because he's tired or focusing on the road while driving and has bad night time vision.
-How did AB ever think that eating a muffin a day was healthy?!

Nap time! During fun camping trip to Lake Livingston April 2017 (Easter)

View of Lake Livingston, quite shaky up here!

EC's wedding in Palo Alto area! Got to see AB's bro! Thanks HL and GC for hosting!

Is My Child Being Protected?

Have you ever heard of anyone suffering from diphtheria, polio, or small pox in the US? Probably not, and that is due to the success of immunizations. These diseases are rare or non-existent in the US today because vaccines prevent these devastating diseases.  However, the US is on the verge of an epidemic.  Although the highest unvaccination rate in Texas public school districts is 4%, rates in private schools can be significantly increased, as high as 40% at Austin Waldorf School. With unvaccination rates this high we are risking the lives of our children with vaccine-preventable diseases. 

California previously allowed non-medical exemptions of vaccines for school attendance; however, after the 2014 measles outbreak in Disneyland, California now has one of the strictest vaccine exemptions.  This year, mump cases surge in the US and is now on track to surpass last year by 50%. Texas has not learned from the measles or mumps outbreak and remains one of 18 states that allow non-medical exemptions.  In fact, there are currently bills moving through the House and Senate that would make this exemption even easier and further damage herd immunity.  As part of a community, we strive for the health of not only our own children but also our neighbors' children. When more than 95% of the population is vaccinated, those who cannot be vaccinated because they are too young or have compromised immune systems can still be protected from these preventable illnesses.

Although pediatricians believe vaccines are an important part of children’s health, some parents are still hesitant.  Many parents fear that vaccines cause autism; however, that myth has been debunked with many studies. Furthermore, the original paper stating that connection was withdrawn from publication due to falsified data.  The cause of autism is still unknown, but experts believe it is most likely related to genetics.  Other parents worry that too many vaccines will overwhelm their child’s immune system. In fact, our immune system is built to handle thousands of germs that we might be exposed to through a mere cough, so the handful of germs in the recommended vaccine schedule pales in comparison.

In 1955 alone, more than 13,850 people suffered from paralytic polio.  In 1999, one child a week died from chickenpox.  Even now at least 3,300 people die from the flu every year.  Do we really want to go back to the days when we fear that our children will become paralyzed from polio or killed by chickenpox? 

China trip

AB had never met my family in China so we decided to take a trip to China. It's a mixer of ups and downs to say the least.

Not so good:

-Got sick the whole trip, both of us. First AB got sick from his aunt, and cuz I was sitting right next to him on the plane, I got sick too. And it wasn't just a simple cold, it made us so tired and cough so much that neither of us could sleep. Thankfully we were with family so they gave us some cold medicines and we tested a lot. 

- the smog in China was insane. While the regular value of health is supposed to be less than 30, the smog level in China got up to the three hundreds! We had to wear an n95 mask every time when it went outside.
-AB didn't like the West Lake so much, even though it's supposed to be one of the more beautiful and inspiring places in China partly b/c we went on a weekend and it was way too crowded, also the smog was bad.

- we got scammed: we had search drop a route to get to the Great Wall but then in the morning when we looked up the route it turned out not to be there so we had to ask the front Hotel how to get there. The hotel told us to get off at this one station and look for a tour bus that's really easy. When we got off at the station a bunch of people told us all yeah take this tour bus and it's about to leave so we were in a big hurry to find the tour bus. They told us that it would only be 20 you and going there and coming back and it also included the tickets which were $45 per person which we thought was pretty good. But then once we got on the bus they told us the bus wasn't going to leave until another 45 minutes later so we waited there for 45 minutes but when the time came they told us this bus is actually not leaving and they made us take another small car to another bus. And when we got to that bus they told us that car wasn't leaving for another hour and so by that time I wanted my money back but they refused so we decided to wait for the bus to go. When the tour bus started the lady initially it was talking about China but then all the sudden she stopped and said that we had to pay another 170 in order to watch this cultural show that none of us wanted to watch. Some of us in the back realize that she was trying to get us to pay more money so we refused to pay but she got angry and stopped the bus and told us that if we refuse to pay that we needed to get off the bus. At this point AB put on his phone and pretended to videotape her  and she got very upset and came over to us and tried to ask for the video. Fortunately I didn't know what she was talking about cuz my Chinese wasn't that good so she just went back to the front of the bus. So we didn't say anything until we got to the great wall and then she divided us up individually and tried to make deals with us. She initially told us so she will just drop the price to 110 per person but we thought that was still ridiculous since we had no intentions of watching this cultural show and all we wanted to do was go see the Great Wall. We really had no intention to continue on this tour with this ridiculous lady so we said that we wanted to go on our own way and we wanted to entrance tickets to The Great Wall that we had already paid for however she refused to give us the entrance tickets to The Great Wall because we refused to pay for the cultural show that we didn't want to go to in the first place.we finally worked out a deal with her where we pay her 20 yuan each for entrance tickets (would be 40 yuan otherwise).  So although we didn't get scammed as much as the other people it was so ridiculous that we had to pay additional in order to get the tickets that we already paid for. And it was good that we didn't continue on her tour cuz otherwise we would have only gotten 20 minutes at the Great Wall! 

- Google was banned in China, and it sucked! Man, did we feel the real impact of Google in our lives. It meant no google search, no gmail, no google maps, no google play to download apps that would be compatible in China! And all the apps I did end up downloading ended up all in Chinese - sadness that I can't read Chinese. :(  I was hoping to map out our trip in Beijing via Google Maps, but then I was forced to learn some Chinese characters and use a Chinese map app.

The good:
-Got to see my cousin's super cute and precociously smart boy. Man, he can talk up a storm. :D
-On the last day in Beijing, it snowed! It was so beautiful and peaceful. I won't forget that moment because AB made me pause and enjoy the snow because I don't think he's ever seen snowfall. O_o It was so cute watching him amuse over the snow, sticking out his tongue. >_<
-Because of the snow, the smog level went down from "hazardous" (the highest level) to "unhealthy" (below very unhealthy, which is below hazardous). Yes!
-Despite all the hassle of getting to the Great Wall, once we got in the wall, there weren't that many people (not the peak season), we could see the Great Wall for miles, and we got some nice us-only pictures! - which would seem impossible in China!  So it turned out rather enjoyable. We did have a little trouble finding the bus to go back, and ended up taking a taxi to the bus station, and it all worked out. Phew.
-The next day we actually went back to the same lady who sold us the tour bus ticket, complained about the terrible tour guide, and got 100 yuan back. I'm still amazed we were able to do that!  That NEVER happens in China. I looked up scams in Beijing and so many came up ranging from tour guide scams to tea house scams to rickshaw scams in front of the forbidden palace to KTV scams. YOU ARE FOREWARNED!
-Ate so much delicious Chinese food, especially cooked by my aunt and grandmother. But we also went to this awesome Hangzhou Restaurant (Xin He Yuan).
-We had family around us to take care of us when we were sick.
-Got to hangout with my cousin a bit and walk around West Lake. Also got to bike a little bit! Biking is so much fun and freeeee rental!
-Played some Majong with my grandparents and AB. AB was surprised how serious my grandparents were. Haha.
-Seeing how ginormous the Forbidden City was as well as Tian Tan (religious place that the emperor went) in Beijing. Seeing the enormous 13 Lin (Chinese Buddhist Temple).
-Staying in a very comfortable and posh hotel (Novotel)

Married Life 1.5mo

Random thoughts:

Here I am lying in bed going to sleep after a night shift in the ER. All I want to do is stare at the adorable, sweet, wonderful man next to me. It's been several days on nights so I haven't had a face to face conversation with him in days, and I'm really missing him.  It gives me a mixture of emotions including happiness to the point of tears when I think about our future together. I wonder what it would be like to have kids in the future; how did I end up with such a sweet and understanding man; what is he dreaming about now; what will we be like when we are both old; will we get to be old together?  He looks so angelic gently snoring now (well...kind of getting louder now). So peaceful. Part of me is wondering if I'm being so overly rosy colored about everything and emotional now because of monthly hormones. Who knows. Perhaps. 

Are you really mine? I still can't believe it. I'm sorry for my emotional breakdown earlier today. I appreciate how you said "I love you" even when I kind of woke you up earlier as I was getting in bed. Also for secretly doing the laundry and not mentioning it or seeking acknowledgement from me.  I on the otherhand, definitely had times where I made sure you saw that I cleaned something or did a chore, making sure to seek appreciation and approval from you. I should learn from your humbleness and selflessness. Miss you! 

New Discoveries about AB and myself since being Married

• He has never been anywhere cold. You'd think I'd figure this out earlier, but nope, just found this out while trying to plan a trip to Beijing in the dead of winter. This is gonna be interesting....  When I asked where's the coldest he's been, reply: "New York or Chicago...in the summer...or the air conditioning at work."  Uh oh....
• So glad we got a robotic vacuum b/c neither of us likes to vacuum
• Snoring is not that easy to deal with...penetrates even ear plugs sometimes.
• His beard is reddish!
• He likes to sleep on his right side
• He looks like 3 year old when he sees snowfall
• Even though we're both not very materialistic or gift oriented, he still gave me flowers on Vday (actually, day before)
• Other than not liking green peppers, melons, celery, grapefruit, pineapple, he also doesn't like peas
• I'm bad at doing the laundry, picking up mail, throwing away the trash...somehow AB quietly gets all those things done secretly.
• Does not know how to use a can opener. Yup. True.
• Something about soap and socks
• To be continued...

Moments from our wedding

Rehearsal/pre-wedding:

• Fun bachlorette party: delicious food, AB knowledge game, who's best at drawing AB ...with plate on their head, escape room with the wedding party. Family and friends getting together to make the center pieces and boutineers.
• So many ppl helping out with making the center pieces and boutineers (Megan, KP, family)
• 1st time me doing french manicure for KP
• AB (groom) struggling with exchange of bride with father of the bride. "Think football!"
• AB got boo'ed for peck on the cheek and then people surprised at intense first kiss.
• Accidentally always looking at the pastor during ring exchange.
• Venue coordinator changed last minute due to family emergency, but we reviewed details with club manager before rehearsal
• Last minute change in procession with surprisingly insistent pastor
• Eating delicious meal at Feng's Kitchin for rehearsal dinner.
• Ordering way too much food at Classic Kitchen for wedding breakfast

Wedding:

• Trying out a lot of different types of photos with photographer.
• Being worried when some people didn't show up at designated time, but it all turned out ok.
• Awesome maids of honor: there to give us food, touch ups, finding random items, fixing dress, like body guards.  And family who were there early to help with unloading and decorations.
• Decoration team. Awesome.
• RW looking confused regarding what to do with the tulle.
• Neal helping with tying ties and putting on boutineers.
• Confidence that things will go okay: hearing music when we were taking pictures prior to ceremony. Also when AB put on his suit and found the thank you speech in his pocket - that we had planned it well. Also when WK said the venue was really nice before the ceremony.
• Moment of sadness/tearing up when I started walking down the aisle, but dad made a joke.
• AB fearful that I ran away after professional paused.
• First time after walking down aisle and realizing how many people there are and recognizing people.
• Seeing so many diff people from diff parts of my life at the same time and place.
• Tear up when AB said his vow.
• Wedding message from pastor Tow: commitment, complement, companionship.
• Beautiful song from Ken, Steven, Karen.
• Forgot the prayer after sand ceremony, AB had to remind me.
• Surprise at seeing GA family after ceremony when they said they wouldn't make it (and their lovely adorable daughter!)
• Having trouble getting family together for pictures. "Where is Neal!?"
• Delicious appetizers: ahi tuna, mushroom purse, lobster empanadas with white wine sauce.
• MS said he ate like 7 empanadas.
• Riding on the golf cart, everyone on golf course being nice and saying congrats even when delaying their rounds
• Small group being loud when we went to take pictures
• Really good stuffed balsamic chicken, flat iron steak with tobacco onions, and pesto crusted salmon.
• AB's times of uncertainty: started first look late (didn't know if makeup was close to being done or would be very late), backlog at club entrance before ceremony (not sure whether to start with 60% there, or delay further), dress bustle broke (not sure if would delay dinner, activities, dress quality), hair appearance in pictures
• Fun shoe game where bride and groom answer series of questions with "bride" or "groom" by raising corresponding shoe: my Washu friends surprised AB has worse sense of direction, his friends surprised I'm more frugal. So many people thought that was the best game ever and had never seen that game before. Having the same answers. Yi apologizes first. Who is more thrifty, adventurous, better driver, better cook and what the other person cook best (egg and tomato vs spaghetti)...
• People asking about honeymoon, whether AB's place had furniture now (haha).
• Fun 2 hours after scheduled program: getting to see and talk to people.
• Having lots of people wanting to take your picture like you are famous.
• Feeling nice that people appreciated how nice the venue was taking into account all the effort we made to figure out if people all fit.
• Taking pics at wine cellar, photographer Clint's jokes: what is a pirates favorite letter?
• Being able to take some of the pictures outside and inside. How we had awesome weather!
• Having issues with the bustle and MLC came to the rescue with needle and thread.
• Amazing photo booth that was better than professional quality. And getting to see the pictures.
• Wish I could have told more people that the ceremony flowers, boutineers, centerpieces, bouquets, were done by friends and family.
• Speeches: Darrin and sports analogy, reference to being homeless. Maids of h: funny tag team about past (301, scatterbrain, xmas gift); and tearing up. Tearing up during dad's speech about meaning of name and finding a worthy person after so many miles. Parents tag team and Alan saving up for college at 5, clock, maps.
• AB's father shocked that he could dance (kind of).
• Some people looking different than what we thought when we finally met them. 
• Not getting to eat an egg tart - asked brother to keep one for me and he forgot.
• People commenting on how sweet the fruit was - but didn't get to eat any. :(
• People so complementary of how well the wedding went.
• Everyone helping to clean up.
• Staff took one of our flowers and took a selfie to send to his wife in Japan.
• Us being the last 2 to leave.

Kruger Safari, South Africa

(Very late post)

In Oct 2015, CY, YN, and I decided to take my car up to Kruger National Park for a Safari/camping trip. We borrowed a 3-person tent, some sleeping bags, padding, and drove the 9.5 hour drive up to Kruger, South Africa. We had booked a sunset "drive" that day, so we needed to get there by 5:15pm. We got up bright and early before 6am, had no issues at the Lesotho-South Africa border, but were met by many construction zones that slowed our drive. When we got close to the park, we realized we might be late, so we called to see if they can hold the drive for us. But as we entered the Skukuza camping zone, we saw the safari trucks drive by. We barely missed it by a minute! 

Thankfully, we when we did sign in, someone took us on a separate car to catch up to the safari truck and we were able to join the rest of the drive. Thankgoodness! Because we managed to see nearly all the big five on that trip! We saw some hippos in the river with low tide, elephants roaming the trees, and of course the plentiful impala. 

Hyena

We set up our tent in the dark, ate some mixture of tuna, canned beans, and noodles, and went to sleep in our tight tent. The next morning we woke up early to take a morning drive, because animals are most active in the morning or dusk and sleep during high sun time. On the drive we saw a big rhino barely perceptible because it looked just like a big rock. Our trip was cut short when a tourist got car sickness and we all had to turn back. 

Wild dogs

Leopard blur

The next day we headed North to Satara camp. On the way, there was a traffic jam, but soon we realized it was because a lion had just killed a buffalo and was resting within 50 feet of the road. The lion was still breathing heavily, guarding its kill, as we spotted another lion nearby eyeing everything going on.  It was amazing seeing nature in its rawest form, with the entrails of the buffalo spilling out and flies swarming it. 

We continued up north, but the rest of the drive wasn't as eventful. We did however get to have lunch at one of the stops, which consisted of Kudu sandwich. Mmmmm.  

Kruger is a park that is very lengthy north/south, that just driving up to the halfway camp of Satara took a whole day. After we set up camp, we decided to drive around some more before the night drive we booked. We saw some jackels and a pack of wild dogs, which were rare to see. But then we saw in the distance what seemed like a black line moving in the distance. We realized it was a massive migration of hundreds, maybe thousands of buffalo. There were numerous, and they started crossing the road. We became worried because the crossing was going to take a long time, and we needed to make it back to camp before 6p otherwise the camp closes its gates and makes us pay a fine. The cars in front of us also noticed, so they just started slowly driving forward, making a way between the line of buffalo crossing the road. It was risky, especially since these 1.3k lb animals could easily get agitated and start charging, but fortunately, we made it across safely. 

During the night drive, it was very very difficult to see anything. They gave us lights to flash around, but we didn't see anything for the longest time. But then, a ranger who was driving ahead of us told us they just saw a leopard near the road. It was a young leopard, just strolling along the road, and sure enough, we caught a site of its spotted coat among the shrubbery. We continued to drive along it, until it disappeared into the darkness again. Finally! On the last drive, we found the last 5 of the big 5!

On the way back the next day, we saw another pair of lions strolling along the road. We drove slowly behind the lion when it came on the road, and interested in taking a better picture, CY lowered her window. The sound of the window lowering startled the lioness, and she twitched aggressively, which gave all of us a start, and CY immediately rolled up the window. No more lowering the windows!! We didn't want to be lion lunch!

Kudu and pap - yum!

Impala

This one elephant came super close to our car:

On the way back, we went via a different route through the Blyde River Canyon River Reserve. We visited Echo caves, which had some interesting formations, and also through Blyde River. We saw the Three Rondovals (Lesotho/South African huts), God's window, but didn't make it to the Lucky Potholes. 

Echo Caves formations

Echo Caves

Three Rondovals

Blyth River Canyon

We went through Johannesburg, ate some delicious Korean food, and headed back to Lesotho. 

Waterfall on the way there: 

Post Global Health Year Thoughts

1. What motivations and experiences led you to apply and join the global health residency? I was interested in working global health environment long term, so I wanted to test it out and see if I'd enjoy it.  I had experience in working at a fairly poorly run clinic, so I wanted to see what it was like to work in a place that had a bit more resources and better well run. Maybe in the future even if I don't work in a global health setting, it would be helpful if I go into public health or education. 

2. What was your most meaningful experience during your year abroad and why?I really enjoyed seeing what healthcare could be like in a resources limited setting. It was good to see what components made up a well run clinic. It would be helpful in my future endeavors if I choose to work in a global health setting. I also really enjoyed having continuity with the patients at the COE where I was able to be comfortable with caring for HIV patients. 

3. What advice do you have for future GH residents and other pediatricians who want to do work abroad? What tips would you like to share that knowing would have benefited you at the start of your year?Some days get busy and tough, and it's easy to get down.  So it's important to get to know the staff and other coworkers at the clinic or hospital. People are more willing to work with you and help you if you do simple things like go through the greetings, keep a smile, ask them how their day is doing, including the nurses in your plan, etc. It's not possible to save every child, and you just have to focus on the kids that you were able to help. But also remember what your limitations are and continue to ask for help when you're not sure. 

4. How do you think your experiences abroad will improve your abilities as a clinician in Houston and in other resource-rich settings?Working in Lesotho required me to be much more independent in terms of problem solving and looking up information.  I couldn't just defer to an attending.  It helped me learn what my limits were.  I was more confident to make difficult decisions that required action as opposed to letting things go its course. The experience has also made me more eager to continue learning to increase my fund of knowledge.  I also had more experience with doing research - including coming up with a project, submitting an IRB proposal, gathering data, and data analysis.