Back to E4

I arrived on L4 at 10:00. I had to wait a few minutes because the AT just ran out the ward. She didn't have much for me to do since the patients on her unit are pretty independent. They get discharged pretty quickly too. She had me glue some decorations on the May calendar and stamp some papers while she ran off to a meeting. She brought Simon the therapy cat up after lunch, but there were only 3 patients. She took me around the hospital again (she did that in the morning too) to ask if anybody else needed help. Two other volunteers arrived and she handed them over to another AT. We bumped into the AT I worked with yesterday and she immediately took me in her unit. Since all of E4's bed were full, it's obvious that she needed help. She was head-high in paperwork that was all due today. Her patients are "very demanding" too, so she had to keep running around tending to them (or telling them "No! Can't you see I have all paperwork! It's the last day of the month and I need to get all this finished!"). I would totally get annoyed too if I had a bunch of stuff to do and people kept bothering me. This one patient that I met yesterday wanted to watch TV. He did this yesterday too, but the AT shooed him away. I felt bad for her because she looked so stress. I decided to stay an extra hour to help her with some charting. She mentioned that if I ever need a letter or recommendation that she would write one for me. It's only the second day I've worked with her! E4 is great though. It keeps me busy.

I got labeled Korean again today. One of the patients that was playing with Simon kept pointing at me and told her physical therapist something in Chinese. The PT asked if I was Korean. Haha...the patient said had "Korean eyes" (second time in a week!) Someone asked if I was Japanese today too. Jeez.

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If you haven't heard about Amtrekker, you gotta check out his website!

www.amtrekker.com

I wish I had the guts to do something similar to what he's doing. It looks so fun. I have a list of 10 things I want to do before I die but I'm not going to go hurry off and have them checked off. Anyways, Amtrekker is in the city today!! KAKOW!!!!

Bus Trip of Tough Love

WHOO HOO! Today was my first LLH bus trip! I got to spend the day with some of the gentleman of E4! I got to LLH around 9:30, so that the volunteer coordinator could walk me up to the unit and introduce me to the activity therapist. I stood around awkwardly while she tried to round off the guys that wanted to go. It took about half an hour loading all the patients onto the bus. I was told that we were going to Kennedy Park. I googled it up last night because I had no clue where that was. Union City popped up and I doubted that we were going all the way to Hayward. It turns out that we did go to Hayward. The bus stopped in South San Fran so that we could pick up some chicken for lunch. Then, we bumped our way down the San Mateo bridge to Hayward (It was an extremely bumpy ride. I saw the poor guy in the back bounce his head throughout the trip). Since there were 11 patients (more than what the AT anticipated) and only 4 people looking after them, all we did was sit on the bus and eat lunch. Kennedy Park has a petting zoo. I felt bad that the men could go see the animals. When we stopped at McDonald's to get some ice cream, one of the patients asked me when we were going to the park. I seriously thought the bus was going to turn back around after ice cream. The bus did turn around, but it headed towards the freeway instead. Whoops. We got back to LLH around 3:15. The other unit that had another bus trip was stuck on twin peaks because of the bus broke down. Good thing they were still in the city. I would hate it if our bus did that in Hayward. Once we got back, I decided to stay a bit longer and do the events calendar for May. The AT seemed tired, so I let her rest. Gah, throughout the trip she made fun of how the men acted out because of me. A little disturbing but I joined in with the laughs.

One of the other volunteers was on the trip to help her twin brother. Really nice lady. The other person was a CNA; He was really flamboyant. The AT was a bit loud herself, but I think that it was needed. If she didn't joke around and give the men some tough love, the bus trip wouldn't have been as fun. I guess her character made up for not being able to go out onto the park.

Chinese? Korean?

No, sorry..I'm Vietnamese. Throughout my life, people have assumed that I'm anything but Vietnamese. I have to admit that I don't connect with my heritage that well, but still. If I have black hair and brown eyes, why do you assume that I know Chinese? Yes, I have some Chinese running in my blood, but I don't mark off the "Chinese" box on forms that ask for ethnicity.
It wasn't until I started college that people asked if I was Korean. Just because my name is Kim doesn't mean that I'm Korean. A CNA told me yesterday that it was because of my eyes. I've never got that before...Korean eyes.
Even when I tell some people they don't believe me. "Really? You're Vietnamese? But you're so white!" No, sorry..I'm Asian (I don't actually say this). Hey! I take pride of my paleness. I'm the crazy kid that use to carry around an umbrella on sunny days! (I should start doing that again) Just because I don't look a certain way don't assume that I'm something else. I don't even care what you are! Just as long as you're a decent person I'm good with you.

good day gone bad?

Don't you hate it when little things make a day that could have been perfectly good go bad? That's how life is though. There are rarely any days that are perfect. Life keeps you on your toes, throws you challenges. You just need to become greater than these situations and deal with them.

Today wasn't a bad day. There are just little things that made my day not perfect.

This morning I was scheduled for registration at a community college. As I predicted, I didn't get my "perfect" schedule. The situation has brought me to a difficult decision. What class do I try to add because the times conflict? What happens if I try to add and the professor ends up not letting me? What if I lose my chance with the other class I wanted to add? Do I apply for readmission with Davis now? If I get into ochem then I won't go back until W09 but if I get into physics I have to go back during F08. If I apply now then I might be able to register for classes sooner but I don't know if I'm going to get into ochem! I realize this is confusing even when I've typed it down, so sorry if you read this and ended up with a "huh?!" To sum things up, I don't know what to do. It's not the end of the world if I get pushed back in academics a little more, but it would be nice to get things straightened out.

Another problem has arised involving school. Davis has billed me again. After reading the bill, rereading it, and comparing it to the online bill, things don't add up (or subtract down). I have to call them tomorrow to figure this out. It's stupid enough that they're making me pay for half of last quarter (stupid Davis and it's only one type of withdrawal form). Now, they're making me pay for who knows what.

Now to the good part of my day. My first day back at LLH felt so rewarding and brightened up my spirits throughout the majority of the day. I'm not sure if my supervisor knew why I was gone for a month but I think she does. When she saw me walk in she said "I'm so glad you're okay. I got the email that you would be coming back today." I told the volunteer coordinator where I was and why I could complete my first week, but I wasn't sure if I should have explained to my supervisors. Actually, I couldn't have told them because all the numbers I got for their units turned out to be wrong or disconnected. So, I'm not sure if I should have told the volunteer coordinator how to explain to my supervisors. Anyways, the patient that I've mentioned in my first LLH post has moved to another unit! My supervisor said it was because he was ok speaking English and it was hard for him being the only Vietnamese patient on the Asian-American unit. I was going to ask her if I could pay him a visit but I knew she was going to take me to the unit instead of just telling me where he moved. I didn't want her to go to the trouble. Maybe on a day when she has nothing for me to do. My first task was helping one of the men with his English lesson. I've helped him before but he didn't remember me. I wouldn't blame him; It's been a month. He's a sweet guy. My supervisor was really impressed when I told him I could understand him fine. Apparently, she's never talked to him in English so she never knew how his English was. I have to say that I'm impressed too. He has the willingness to learn and he tries his best to talk to me. When I came back from break, I asked him how lunch was, which lead to a brief convo about how he was waiting for coffee ("Coffee everyday at 1:30"). I helped out my supervisor handing out Sara Lee pound cake and diet cokes (lucky patients, they get Sara Lee!). After that, I wrote out the events for May on a poster and took a couple of patients out for a stroll to the library. I'm pretty sure that I'm not really needed around the unit. I think it just a bonus that I'm there though. I get to report how patients are progressing and how they are in general. Nurses might not pick up on certain things because they deal with so many patients at a time. Plus, I enjoy it. I like the Asian-American unit, but I look forward to volunteering with an English speaking unit tomorrow. Wait, I don't know what the theme is for the units I'm on Tuesday and Wednesday so I shouldn't say that just yet. Watch it's a Spanish unit and I get totally lost.

After volunteering, I was planning to walk home instead of taking the bus. I ended up going to Sharon's to pick up my mail instead. I seriously need to go to the post office to fill out the "change of address" form so they stop sending stuff to the apartment in Davis. When I got home, I immediately turned on my computer and changed my address with Davis. At least I won't get any bills late now. (Side note: Thanks Becky for bringing back my mail!) Sharon and I ended up talking about school, professors that digress, TV and animals. Oh! Animals! When I was writing out the May events at LLH, there was some weird segment about goats that climb trees on Animal Planet. Goats that climb trees! How do goats climb trees?! They have hooves! No imposable thumbs! HOW?! I'm going to google it after this post. Thanks Sharon for the the gummy bears and for keeping my mail safe!

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Edit...

Here's the best explanation I found after searching for 3 minutes.

http://www.smm.org/buzz/blog/goats_in_trees

Yeah...I hope your not buying goat poop, ladies.

Darn, I missed the Big Bang Theory and HIMYM. Actually, I caught the last 30 seconds of HIMYM. Haha..goat..what a cowinkeedink.