So I've been meaning....

So I've been meaning to post something on this blog for the last few months, but somehow, never seemed to get around to it. I always get behind in posting, and then I want to write about all the stuff that's happened over the last few months, but don't because I have no idea where to start. So then I don't write anything and people stop reading my blog...but then when I do decide to write something, no one reads it because they think I've stopped posting for the time being.

Really, nothing major has happened in the past 6 weeks or so since I last blogged.. It looks like we are not moving to Atlanta-- Scientist's job didn't come through, and Atlanta is just too expensive to up move there without a job or any prospects, really, whatsoever. So, for now, we'll be staying here. Although, that may change in the next few weeks. We'll see.

Atlanta?

I know its been something like 4 or 5 weeks since I've posted anything. However, since no one has e-mailed me bitching, I figure y'all understand I'm a very busy graduate student and after acquiring my cool new job I've had very little time to do stuff like blog.

So, as some of you may have guessed from the title of this blog I WAS ACCEPTED TO EMORY! I think I'm still in a little bit of shock--this is one of the best public health programs in the country, and I got in.

Unfortunately, since nothing is ever easy anymore, I'm not sure if Atlanta is in the future for us despite my acceptance into such a phenomenal program. Scientist has to get a post doc or some other job, and then we'll very seriously consider moving.

See, Emory would cost me $40,000 plus per year, so before we pack our shit up and head down there I need to be absolutely certain that the advantages of transferring there will out weigh staying in Iowa, which may, in fact, be the case. The Center for Disease Control is in Atlanta (its even physically located next to the Emory campus), so, in theory I'll have more opportunities for both internships, which would help out financially, and jobs post graduation. That, and the curriculum, not to mention the tremendous number of resources, at EU make Iowa pale in comparison. Here I can't really specialize in anything--all I do is take one fucking required course after another-- and at EU they have course after course dedicated to STIs, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, immigrant health....IT'S AWESOME.

So, there will be some major decision making being done in the next few weeks. I'll keep you all updated. Promise.

Wow

It has been three weeks since I posted anything. I promise to change that, like, within the next few days. See then I'll have time and everything, it being Spring Break and all.

Two Good Things

Two big things have happened since the end of January (and my last post).

First, I GOT A JOB! Actually the job 'got' me. I had applied for a regular, low level, student position at the University and had been told by the department secretary that I would "definitely be someone they would like to interview". Anyway, a week passed, and one day I got this e-mail from another guy in that office saying the position I had applied for would be filled soon, but there would be another position, as a research assistant, that I might be interested in.

So, to make a long story short, I'm now working at the university as a research assistant in global road safety. I'm helping my boss, Glasses, both find material for a course he'll be teaching on the same subject this fall, as well as shape the curriculum. It's completely autonomous, which is kind of nice, and allows me to read and think, unlike my other jobs.

The second big thing that's happened is I'm having my ear drum repaired in a minor, outpatient surgery on the 23rd. Despite the fact that this will be the third surgery on my ear in four years, I think this is actually a good thing. I'll feel better and hear a LOT better. I still hate surgery though, and I'm trying not to think about it.

Not much else is really going on. I need to start writing shorter posts; that way I can post more often. I hope.

War or Health

I won't bother to tell you things have been crazy, because, really they haven't been all that crazy; Scientist and I actually went out and did something social as opposed to sitting on the couch and arguing over who's cuter, so I was actually busy this weekend. Other than that, I've been too lazy to write.

My classes are going pretty well thus far, although I'm a little wary of Global Health and Human Rights class. The subtitle (I guess that's what you'd call it) of the class is 'War and Beyond'; the course is suppose to examine the effects of war on health. I say suppose to because thus far we've not spent a whole hell of a lot of time discussing the impact war has on health, but instead my classmates and one of my professors (there are two) have made it abundantly clear that they want to 'discuss' how bad war is and how we should not be in Iraq and that Bush is a total fucker.

I have multiple problems with the way this class and it's subject matter are being handled. Firstly, I think it's pretty obvious that war is bad (DUH), therefore sitting around and repeating that very idea over and over again in different ways seems like a waste of time. It doesn't bare repeating--we all know war is "bad".

Secondly, this is not a political science class, nor a politics class, so discussing the validity of the war and why we entered into it in the first place seem irrelevant. If I had wanted to take a class about the second gulf war, I would've signed up for that. One of the professors seems perfectly content to let this go on, and in fact encourages it to a certain extent.

Thirdly, and most importantly, it upsets me a little that we're wasting valuable time discussing Iraq when we could be discussing things like the effect of civil war or ethnic cleansing on the health of the general public in warring countries. I took this class because I thought we'd be discussing the impact war--ALL types of war, not just the war we're in--on those living in affected countries. Ideally, I would like to work in an organization that helps the international community/immigrants with healthcare issues. I originally decided to enroll in this class because I thought I'd learn a lot of valuable information that I could later use to understand some of the people I'd be helping over the course of my career.

Instead I've learned something that actually drove me away from applying to graduate school years ago: Academics are completely out of touch with reality and have no idea how the world really works. They also have their own agenda, and even though I'm liberal, and I really dislike Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, Inc., I'm sick and tired of having this academic fantasy world shoved done my throat. I also find it very difficult to take any of the undergrads serious (I'm also one of three grad students in the class, another surprise I discovered on the first day).

Last week I listened to a presentation given by a young man who said 'fuck' over five times along with 'shit', as well as slammed the army and called some of them psychopaths. I was offended.

So, my strategy to get through the class is this: I'm reading a book for a presentation that has NOTHING to do with Iraq. It is about Chechnya, a subject much more relevant to what we're suppose to be studying, and something I've studied before. Hopefully I can just put my head down and involve myself in my own work for the rest of the semester.

Goodbye Job!

Today is my last day of work. I'm pretty happy about it, although I am actally going to miss some of my co-workers. I worked with my favorite co-worker yesterday and felt sort of sorry about leaving.

Last Day

Jeez, I guess I didn't realize I hadn't posted in two weeks.

So, I sent my manager my letter of resignation on Sunday and haven't heard anything from her since. I'm sure this means that she's pissed at me. Gee, I guess this would mean something to me if a) I had done something wrong, but last time I checked I had the RIGHT to quit and b) I cared. However, since neither of those things are true (I didn't do anything wrong and I do not, in all honesty, care if she's pissed at me), I guess I'll just write this job off as another experience.

I decided to quit for several reasons. First, I'm tired of working crappy shifts late into the night or at the butt crack of dawn for very very little money. Second, this place is managed horribly. Third, and I know this isn't going to sound very nice, but I'm tired of working with undergraduates. Correction, I'm tired of working with some of the undergraduates I currently work with. I actually like the people at the JH branch I'm currently working with a lot better than the ones at the JH I used to work at. I don't think I'm better than they are, or smarter--I'm not that obnoxious--I'm just in an entirely different place in my life. That and I'm more mature and it makes dealing with their drama and temper tantrums (I'm thinking of one particular employee, especially) much much more difficult. I'm also tired of some of my co-workers taking their bad days out on me (see above comment about maturity). I used to have to put up with shit from other volunteers when I was in Peace Corps (where it was much more understandable because of the constant stress we were all under), and I'm frankly tired of having to deal with it. My tolerance for that is much lower than it was before. Sometimes, if you're nice and try to be understanding and empathetic in these sorts of situations (i.e. thinking to oneself, "B is being a total dick, but he's had a really bad day so I'm going to turn the other cheek and give him a break....like I did last week and the week before that.") you end up getting stepped on repeatedly.

So, I'm done. I mailed my boss my letter of resignation last Sunday and haven't heard anything since. I assume, knowing her, this is because she's pissed at me, which only proves the aforementioned point I made about the management. Last time I checked, I had a right to quit my job. I gave her two weeks notice, so what the fuck is her problem?

I still haven't decided if I'm going to get another job. I applied for one at the University that's a bit more in my line of work and will be a good resume builder, but I haven't decided if I'll be disappointed if I don't get a call back. I guess I should just shut up and enjoy my free time.

My Last Graduate Application Ever!....I really mean it this time....

As some of you may know, Scientist is graduating (God-fucking-willing) with his Ph.D. in Immunology. Essentially this means he's sort of keeping an eye out for jobs in his field. Right now he's looking for stuff in Iowa, but he's also found a postdoctoral position at Emory University in Atlanta.

Now, one of the many reasons why I adore this man is because he's so considerate....and he adores me. When he first started looking for postdocs he said that, upon finding one, the first thing he did was check out to see if said university (postdocs are always with universities) had a college of public health. If not, he wouldn't considerate it and it was taken off his list of possible post doc positions. Isn't that nice? See what I mean about him adoring me?

Anyway, so he found this fabulous post doc at Emory. It's not just any old post doc where he'd spend the majority of his day conducting experiments: this position matches postdoctoral fellows to historically black colleges and allows them to teach hard sciences there. It wouldn't be full time teaching (I think he'd only be teaching 1/3 of the time and the other 2/3s he'd be doing research), but it would be enough so he'd get good experience. Scientist is not wild about spending his life locked up in a lab, killing mice and analyzing results. He's much more interested in teaching--he's got some experience at doing this and, given his disposition, I think he's much more suited for it. I'm in full support of him going after this post doc.

And it also doesn't hurt that Emory has an unbeatable program. Seriously. I know I've said that various schools I've applied to have had great programs, although not all of them have been in public health (remember I applied to Carnegie Mellon--and didn't get in-- along with Marquette--and did get in, but not with a fellowship--for non-profit management), and it's true, but this one....Is fabulous.

The Center for Disease Control--the mecca of all public health organizations--is in Atlanta. Emory does a tremendous amount of HIV/AIDS research. The Global Health program offers students the option to go overseas and conduct a research project. It's in the south!

So, of course, now I'm all excited about applying to this program. Yes, I know, I've already been accepted to the U of I program but, well, I might as well give it a shot. Besides, I doubt I'll get in....although, my stupid fucking math GRE score looks a lot less ugly now that I have a B+ in Biostats to put next on my transcript.....Still, I won't get in. I have to try though.

When I e-mailed a former Peace Corps volunteer at Emory (did I mention they have a Master's International program with PC?) she told me that they would pay close attention to my essay, and, incidentally, that my GRE score was just one tool they would use to measure my 'aptitude'.

So, as dorky as this is, here is my essay. Tell me all what you think (NOTE to those of you who read my Carnegie Mellon essay--it is very similar but not identical, especially the further you read).

Challenges in Healthcare

“Your Russian is excellent, really. You barely have an accent at all,” said the slightly plump, middle aged sex worker. I blushed. I always blush whenever someone compliments my Russian, because it makes me uncomfortable. Secretly, though, I love it.

I was gathering my things after meeting with a group of orphans at Unitus, an NGO located about 3 hours south of the small town in Ukraine where I served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer, when I met this woman. Up to that point, my day had been spent showing these children pictures of America and answering their questions. By chance, however, I soon found myself in a meeting with a group of sex workers who quickly piqued my interest in the perils they face, specifically the threat of HIV/AIDS. I wasn’t aware at the time that this serendipitous encounter would influence me beyond my service in Ukraine.

That sex worker, like the other nine or ten sex workers that gathered at the center that day, was one of many that Unitus had educated about HIV/AIDS and STDs through their outreach program. My extensive knowledge of Ukrainian culture and Russian also provided me with the opportunity to work with Unitus for about a year and a half, translating a 16 page report from Russian into English, in addition to meeting with the orphans.

My experience with Unitus was beneficial to me on both personal and professional levels. It opened my eyes to the explosive infection rate of HIV/AIDS in Ukraine (both the highest and fastest growth in Europe), along with instilling a personal sense of urgency regarding the prevention and treatment of this disease in the United States and the developing world. My work at Unitus led me to co-chair Peace Corps Ukraine’s HIV/AIDS Working Group committee, which focuses on helping volunteers educate Ukrainians about HIV/AIDS. I served as a liaison between the working group and Peace Corps administration, helping recruit other volunteers to assist with different projects across Ukraine.

The challenges that the healthcare field now faces, both internationally and domestically, are enormous and frightening. How do we prevent further infection? How do we identify those at risk? Where do we choose to allocate resources—to areas within the U.S., or to developing countries with much higher infection rates? My interest in public health lies here--where home and abroad meet-- in educating and designing prevention programs for implementation both overseas and for non-English speaking communities within the U.S.

Both international and domestic communities challenge the public health system in unique ways. Working within immigrant communities in the U.S. is often more complex than working with at risk individuals in communities where English is the predominant native language. As a Peace Corps volunteer, I discovered that working abroad can be both incredibly rewarding and endlessly frustrating. Working around cultural taboos and mores while simultaneously providing accurate, clear information about HIV in a foreign language can seem nearly impossible. Both immigrant and communities overseas often pose additional challenges such as illiteracy and unemployment that impact the design of STD and HIV prevention programs aimed at high risk individuals within those communities.

In addition to creating prevention programs in the U.S. and abroad, government and grass roots organizations must be equipped to deal with more than medical issues to effectively combat the spread of HIV. All too often programs targeting the international community fail to understand cultural responsiveness to issues both directly and peripherally related to HIV/AIDS. This is an understandably complicated task for any NGO, or employee of an NGO, to undertake. As a Peace Corps volunteer, I needed to learn about Ukrainians’ attitudes towards a whole host of issues like drug use, contraception, and homosexuality in order to better understand the spread of HIV in Ukraine. I then used that knowledge to correct common misperceptions about prevention of infection. By implementing programs that strive to understand immigrant communities and their perceptions of issues related to HIV/AIDS, we can better treat those already infected as well as better prevent further spread of the disease.

My education at the Rollins School of Public Health will focus on the study of design and implemention of more effective programs to meet the needs of underserved communities Over the next two years, I hope to strengthen my project management skills in order to be better able to create culturally appropriate prevention programs. While at Emory I plan to expand my knowledge in areas such as needs assessment, reproductive health, and infectious diseases affecting immigrant communities and the developing world. There are also other areas of the public health sector in Atlanta, such as the CDC, where I would like to explore the possibility of assisting in research projects.

One of the most attractive features of the Global Health Program at the Rollins School of Public Health is the overseas experience that students are encouraged to undertake while pursuing their Master of Public Health degree. I believe this experience will benefit me enormously by providing the opportunity to return to Eastern Europe and use the knowledge I have gained at Emory to design and execute an STD and HIV prevention program in a small community. While a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine, I had not fully acquired the skills needed to influence the way Ukrainians viewed reproductive health or how to protect themselves from contracting HIV. I view the overseas experience as an opportunity to use the skills I will develop at Emory to make small changes in the attitudes of the people like those who I lived and worked with for two years in Ukraine. After completing my project abroad, I hope to use what I learned to grow as a public health professional as well as give me the opportunity to identify the additional skills I will need to develop in the future.

Completing the Global Health program at the Rollins School of Public Health will provide me with the appropriate tools to make a significant contribution towards solving the immense healthcare problems that international and immigrant communities now face. Ultimately, upon graduating from Emory, I hope to be better equipped with the knowledge, experience and skills to help women like that sex worker, who unknowingly set me on this path towards a career in public health.

Another Set of New Year's Resolutions

Last year I managed to accomplish 4 and 1/2 of 6 of my resolutions (I only missed on number 4 and somewhat on number 2, so I'm adhering to resolution number 3 and cutting myself some slack), and consequently have decided to make a whole new set for 2007. They are as follows:

1. Enroll in, and complete, a boxing or kickboxing class.
2. Lose 7 pounds.
3. Run 5 miles in a week (this will be a huge coup if I do it).
4. Write and apply for a grant (to then be applied to my overseas internship in Summer 2008).
5. Get health insurance.
6. Eat at least one-two servings of vegetables and one serving of fruit most days.
7. Be better at keeping in touch with friends, especially those in Ukraine.
8. Study Russian once-twice a week for 1-2 hours at a time.

I think these are all accomplishable goals. I've wanted to both run and enroll in a boxing class since I arrived home from Ukraine just over a year ago, so that will be fairly easy. If I lose 7 pounds I'll be back at my college weight, which would be awesome. Applying for the grant will probably be the most frustrating of all--I have no experience writing grants, and do all that stuff you need to do with budgets sounds highly irritating. Health insurance is something I'm definatley going to need considering I'll probably be having surgery to repair my poor little eardrum sometime this spring. Number 6 will probably be the easiest to accomplish given my love of our new food steamer/rice cooker. And the last two.....I've just been really bad at these last few months.

What are everyone else's resolutions?

Hangovers and Christmas

My head hurts and I'm hungover. Out-of-town Ellen and in-town Ellen, along with Darcy, Karen, and I all went to Formosa, this Asian Fusion place, last night for three dollar martinis and I drank a bit more than I'm use to (which is nothing, usually) and now my head hurts. I guess this would be why I don't drink much, huh? That and I was forced to drink huge amounts of alcohol in Ukraine and I'm totally done with doing that to myself now.

As most of you probably know, or guessed by now, I was in St. Louis for the weekend preceeding Christmas with Scientist. We did the usually family stuff, which was pretty fun. I got some nice things from Scientist-- a cool striped sweater and a gift certificate for a massage-- and his family. I got nothing hideous or stupid.

Scientist and I actually got up at the butt crack of dawn on Christmas day and drove back to Iowa, where we went for Christmas dinner (best ever--my aunt and uncle are awesome cooks!) at my grandma's place and opened even more presents. Scientist told me later that he was a little nervous about meeting my whole family (grandma, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.), but totally relaxed once he realized my family is completely unintimidating. That, and three of cousins had significant others with them, one of whom was new to the scene as well, so it took a great deal of pressure off him.

Since then we've been chillin'. Actually, I've been working and chillin'. I don't know how my manager got the impression I like closing, but I've closed nearly every shift at this new store and I really don't like it. Closing sucks.

We've also been doing a fair amount of cooking (big surprise). For Christmas I bought Scientist an Indian cookbook (along with the new Killers CD and a sweater) and convinced my mom to buy him a rice cooker/food steamer. It ROCKS. We fixed broccoli with cheese for lunch and Butter Chicken for dinner yesterday. Who knew appliances could be so much fun?

The Ear

As some of you may know, about three years ago I had a couple of operations on my left ear to remove a cholesteatoma , a nasty little bugger that had decided to take up residence in my ear. I had a 'second look' operation a year later, and since having left Peace Corps I have had virtually no one touch it whatsoever.

So right around my birthday I start to feel as though I couldn't hear as well out of my left ear as usual. I made a big mistake of trying to clean it myself, with the help of Scientist, who insisted that if I used hydrogen peroxide to clean it out I'd feel much better (he was shown how to do this by a doctor after he had a nasty infection in his ear awhile ago). I basically dumped a bunch of hydrogen peroxide on my ear, and upon tasting it and feeling it slide down the back of my throat, decided this was not such a good idea. After that, my sinus started to bother me.

Finally, after a couple months of on and off sinus and hearing problems, I made an appointment with Otolarongolgy (Head and Neck Surgery) at the University of Iowa. I pretty nervous, seeing as how I want someone cutting into my head again about as much as I want to be thrown off a cliff (did I mention I don't have insurance until, at the earliest next month when I can get on UI Grad Care, which, apparently, rocks the house as far as coverage is concerned).

After waiting an hour and a half (remind me to be late next time) and sweating my ass off out of nervousness, a resident came in, took a medical history and proceeded to spend about 10 seconds trying to examine the inside of my ear before announcing we were going to another room with an ear microscope. Once inside the room the real fun began.

Apparently my ear was full of crap--not just ear wax (I know this is gross guys, but bare with me), but hard, bloody, glued to my ear drum ear wax. As the resident was extracting it I was squirming and gripping the sides of the chair. At one point he was like, "Um, I'm going to take out a tube....I'm not sure why that was there....It was just hanging out in your ear canal...Did you have tubes in your ears?" He had to stop half way through because I was in some pain and was about to fall of the chair (it literally felt like he was dragging a rake across my eardrum, which was not only painful, it was super loud). Then, about 5 minutes later he said, "Uh, here's another tube. Why do you have another tube." I said something about just being operated on and the surgeon in D.C. who did my surgery last while I was still in Peace Corps just operating on me and not telling me much about what he was doing (I don't think he could be bothered to explain, say, why the fuck he was putting two tubes in my ear).

You wouldn't believe the crap they pulled out of such as small canal. It was nasty. I think the resident was a little surprised as well.

After I was tortured and examined by the resident, the head doc came in. He told me he was amazed at what was in there, and in all the many years he had been doing this he had never pulled two tubes out of one ear (he told me I could take pride in breaking a new record). He then looked in my ear, and announced he saw two things: a) no problem with my middle ear, and thus, no recurrence in of my little friend cholesteatoma, and b) a "gaping hole" in my eardrum. The gaping hole is what, apparently, is causing the hearing loss.

So, in about 6 weeks, after I've officially started grad school and officially gotten health insurance, I will be going in for an audiogram (hearing test) and a consultation with an ear specialist about how to fix my hearing in my left ear. Should be interesting....

Stupid Grades

So, my Epidemiology test went horribly awry, apparently, because I totally tanked the last exam. I'm not even kidding. Oh well, at least I still passed with a B (I hope). I have no idea what I got on my Biostats final, but I have a feeling I got a B+ on both the exam and for my final grade.

I know I shouldn't be so hard on myself given that a) this is my first semester of grad school, b) I haven't taken math since I was 17 and b) I didn't take the prerequisite course I should've for Biostats, but....damn it, I was nearly a few tenths of a percentage point from an A- in both classes and due to very little sleep the night before my finals and nerves, I blew As in both classes. Damn ITTTTT!

Enough. I'm on vacation. I should be relaxing for God's sakes. Jesus. What is my problem?

For the past three days I've worked new location of the coffee shop I work for. My tips were much better yesterday than they usually are at the location I use to work at, plus I really liked some of the people I worked with. Closing didn't even suck that much (when I worked at B & N I closed all the time and grew to hate it with a passion, along with the fact that the boss I had never ever closed), although I'm going to be sure to do it as little as possible next semester.

My mom and I are going to do a little shopping this afternoon, but other than that, I'm pretty much going to chill. Ah, I love vacation.

My Russian Winter Vacation

Now that my semester of math is finally over maybe I can actually update this blog every so often. Really, though, who am I kidding? I always find other things to do other than update this blog. Like, say, watch episodes of Lost with Scientist while snuggling and drinking hot cocoa (I'm not even kidding: we're that disgustingly cute).

One thing I've been promising myself I'll do over the next month or so is brush up on my Russian. When I got back from Ukraine last year I pretty much purposely avoided do ANYTHING with Russian--I was so sick and tired of speaking it, reading it, writing it, hearing it....After acting as translator for another volunteer for over a year, along with using it to do normal every day sorts of things, I need a break. I never thought I'd get to that point, but I did. And my desire to speak remained at an all time low for almost a year.

But now I'm ready to pick up Harry Potter or Master and Margarita where I left off. I think I'll maybe even seek out a Russian conversation circle if I can (I've heard rumors of one existing here in Iowa City). I mean, I might start practicing now--I'm going to need my language skills for my overseas practicum for the summer of 2008....I know that sounds like the most anal retentive thing to do ever; to start honing and refining my Russian skills for something that's still a year and a half off, but Russian is a difficult languageand my standards are extremely high. Seriously.

Other than that I'm going to try to spend some serious time at the gym, read and work. We'll see if I get all these things accomplished. I'm always super ambitious when I have copious amounts of free time and then, ultimately end up doing squat.

Finals Week

Thank God this semester is finally over. I've been studying for both of my finals for about two weeks now (I know, I know, I'm a nerd, but this math stuf is really hard for me) and I'm just ready for it all to be over. I don't know why I'm so worried about my grades; it's not like what I get in either class is going to affect whether or not I get into grad school here or not.

On a better, more exciting note, I scored big and signed up for three classes yesterday that I'm super excited about. The classes I'll be taking next spring are as follows: Global Health and Human Rights, Human Biology and Global Health Seminar. I'm not so excited about the Global Health Seminar (in fact, I'm trying to get permission to take another class instead, but I needed to sign up for at least 3 classes) because it's a 2 and a half hour seminar, but, hey, what can you do? I have to take it for my major.

I'm also going to start working at a different branch of the coffee house I work for. This one is a bit closer to home and will allow me to park for free as opposed to paying an arm and a leg like I do now whenever I work.

All in all, it's been a pretty good week. Wish me luck on my finals.

Public Health Goddess

BIG NEWS!

I was accepted into the University of Iowa's Global Health program for spring 2007! YIPPEEE!!!

This is super great. Why? Because it means all of my hard work this semester has paid off. It means I finally got a department at the University of Iowa to acknowledge all the cool stuff I did in Ukraine. Hell, it means my Peace Corps experience is finally paying off-- a little.

It also means I'll get to take interesting classes next semester like 'Health Disparities and Cultural Competence' and, possibly, (if I get the professor to let me in dispite the class being closed) 'Global Health and Human Rights: War and Beyond'. Don't those classes sound COOL?

It also means that I'll be required to go overseas for my 'overseas experience' the summer of 2008. I don't know too much about the requirements thus far, but I've already got an idea for what I'd do there.

Just because I've been accepted here doesn't mean I'm necessarily going to stick around at Iowa to get my degree. See, Scientist graduates sometime this summer, and that means I'm going to apply to schools in the cities where he's looking for work, in the hopes that I get in and we can avoid being apart for a year or more while I finish my degree. By at least beginning my graduate studies now I can get some requirements out of the way and some of credits will transfer if we, in fact, move.

In the meantime, I'm going to bask in my happiness just a little bit longer. Oh, and I guess I should get crackin' on studying for my Epi and Biostats finals.

Back from St. Louis

I hope everyone had a fabulous, relaxing, work free Thanksgiving. I know I did. I didn't do shit. Actually, that's not true....

I pretty much met all of the Scientist's family--his aunts and uncles, grandma, and cousin's family. They all seemed very nice, although I didn't get a lot of time to talk to each of them individually. His grandma seemed especially sweet, and for 90 years old she seemed really really with it (who still does crosswords at 90--the only person I know who will still be doing crosswords at 90 is Jake).

On Saturday night Steve and I went out with two of his friends from high school, Ice Cream man and his girlfriend, Candle Girl to the Hill, an Italian neighborhood in St. Louis. Everyone had so much pasta and toasted ravioli (a St. Louis thing; afterwards, everytime I told anyone that I had never had toasted ravioli they all got these incredulous looks on their faces and said, "REALLY?") we could barely move and punked out early. We're all 32 and 30 respectively and we're already going to bed at 11 on a Saturday night during Thanksgiving break. Christ.

It was, in all, a really nice, fairly stress-free weekend. I still love St. Louis and would not mind moving there with Scientist next year, and I got to spend time with people he loves while not overdoing it. Hopefully Christmas will be the same, although I doubt I'll be able to go to STL because of my shitty minimum wage job. GRRRR.....

Two Pairs of Jeans

You'll have to forgive me if this entry is a little loopy. I had a really nasty nightmare last night that I was being tortured in someone's basement, and, as a result I was awake for three hours in the middle of the night. Why is it that even if I fall asleep after being in the middle of the night, I still wake up super tired?

Our trip to Chicago was great. I got some good relaxation time in, as well as having a dinner with Brian twice. On Friday we went for some very mediocre Ukrainian food in Ukrainian village, and then went for some beer afterwards. I forgot to warn Scientist that Ukrainian beer is about twice as strong as American beer, so he was staggering a bit at the end of the night.

Seeing Brian was great: I've been thinking about Ukraine a lot lately, so regailing Scientist with stories and speaking a little Russian, was nice. I wish Brian could come to Iowa City and see me in my element, now that I've seen him in his, but alas, grown-up things like work and school have kept that from happening thus far.

We also had a great culinary weekend as well. On Saturday night we went for Indian food at a place called Gaylord India (its downtownish, on Clark) and had some super spicy Indian food, which was a nice change from Iowa City, where, unless we have our Indian friends with us, no one believes that we, and more specifically me, can handle seriously spicy food. In fact, when we were ordering one of our friends said to the waiter, "These two can handle it spicy." I ended up getting what I asked for. Any spicer and it would've made me cry. Literally.

On Sunday I ended up buying not one but TWO pairs of Levi jeans. This is a major coup for me for several reasons: a) I'm 5'2 so finding jeans that fit and I don't have to have shortened is difficult, b) these jeans totally fit well and look super nice on my body, and c) I got two pairs for $70 bucks, which ain't bad if you refuse to get cheap jeans that fall apart in the wash and make your ass look huge like you would if you bought them at Walmart. Honestly, this alone brightened my entire weekend.

Tomorrow I probably won't be posting, seeing as how Scientist and I are heading to St. Louis for Turkey Day and won't have access to e-mail quite as often as I do at home. I hope you all have a wonderful day with people you love, relaxing and enjoying time off.

Chicago

I know this is going to come as a big shock, but Scientist and I are going out of town this weekend.

Scientist is presenting at an Immunology conference this weekend, and since I LOVE CHICAGO and we're so attached to each other we can't even be apart for a weekend, we decided it would be best if I came. That, and I threatened to break up with him if he didn't take me.

So, off to Chicago we go. I'm super excited, not only because I love Chicago (I always thought it'd be nice to move there some day when I have a job or something), but because I'll get to see my bestest friend in the whole world, Brian. I haven't seen Brian in almost a year, so it will be super cool to hang with him in Ukrainian Village, the neighborhood where he lives, drink Slavootich, and speak in Russian.

Speaking of all things Ukrainian, on Thanksgiving Day it will be one year exactly since Brian and I left the land of borsht and vodka for Europe where we bumbled around for 3 weeks after our Peace Corps service ended.

I don't think I've fully absorbed the fact that it's been 1 whole year since I last saw Oksana, my host mother, Lubov Illinichna, my lovely Russian tutor, and Evgenia Alekseevna, my one and only ally at my school, along with a numerous other people I loved while I was a volunteer. It's hard to believe that's it's been so long.

I don't write about Ukraine too much on this blog because I'm still sort of processing everything that happened. That, and I realized during the course of my PTSD treatment that my entire Peace Corps experience was colored by the fact that I was desperately trying to come to grips with my accident and how much it totally fucked with my head, that, and I was trying to hide from everyone around me how much I still thought about it and how frustrated I was that I couldn't stop feeling anxious and scared. All that makes me very very sad....but that is for another post and another time.

AAAACHOOO!

Man, am I sick. My throat hurts, I can't breath out of the right side of my nose, my ears pop every time I blow my nose and my sense of taste and smell are totally shot.

This probably won't surprise a lot of you that knew me during Peace Corps, when I was sick constantly, but since arriving home I've only had a cold twice. Stupid me, I was under the mistaken impression that, because my immune system had taken such a beating for two years while I was in Ukraine, that now that I was back in the U.S. where everything is so god damn clean and people are crazy sanitation freaks (have you seen the handy wipes they have at the grocery store--completely unneccessary), I wouldn't get sick. Alas, not even my super robust immune system can escape the first round of winter colds circling this winter.

Election

It is nice to see we didn't screw up this election like we did in 2004.

I don't remember the last time I've as unpolitical as I am right now. Honestly, I don't read the paper more than once or twice a week and, as ashamed as I am to admit this, I didn't know a tremendous amount about the candidates I voted for. Now, that being said, I didn't just vote for whoever. I voted Democrat--as any good, smart American would.

I think part of the reason I've tried to distant myself from reading the paper is because of the war: I don't know how I feel about it anymore, and honestly, I'm so frustrated and confused about who actually did what, who said what and where the hell we're suppose to go from here, I've decided to stop reading about it. Maybe it's not the most responsible thing for me as an American of voting age to do, but its what I've chosen to do for now. But just for now.