Gifts, Gifts, & Gifts.....

Today (Tuesday) was kind of considered our “farewell day” on the units because tomorrow we have a press conference during clinical so we won’t be spending much time in the units. When Sophia and I arrived at the surgical ICU, Dr. Chan greeted us and told us that he had a special surprise for us. He took us to the break room and pulled out some “Durian ice cream bars”. Durian fruit aka “Stinky Fruit” is known all over asia for its foul odor and offensive taste! Ha ha Some hotels, businesses, and public transportation have actually banished it from their premises because of the terrible smell (it supposedly lingers for a long time)! His mother in law flew the bars over from Malaysia last night (a 4 hour flight) just for us. I was so nervous because Durion fruit is always on the top of the list for worst foods in the world ha ha.

Left to Right: Cipher (the intern I blogged about yesterday), Dr. Chan, Me, Dr. YuIt ended up not being too bad…the smell wasn’t that great…but the taste was a little bit better. It kind of tasted like rotten mashed up vegetables that were frozen….mmmmm……but they say the actual fruit is even worse. I think I’ll pass on trying it.
For lunch we had a farewell luncheon provided by the hospital. It was a HUGE buffet and everyone that we have worked with us at the hospital was invited. It was kind of a flashback (we’ve only been here for 4 weeks but it feels like a lot longer because we’ve gotten so close to everyone). Everyone that I’ve worked with earlier came like Sho Wei, Dr. Wu, the Chinese Traditional Medicine intern, etc. It was so much fun to be with all of them again! We were also bombarded with gifts. Sho Wei gave me a necklace, and a stamp book, and a little postcard with a note on it. The note melted my heart ha ha Here’s what it read:

Hi Sarah,
Becomes you very happy the shepherd. You are intelligent. I am not silled in English, as some as but you listen to understand. When we have the easiest understanding very much, you will return to us. I will miss you. Hsiu Wei.

If you knew Sho Wei you’d know that she’s very embarrassed about how terrible her English is compared to some of the other nurses. But she tries so hard. For some reason I understand her more than anyone and I can just pick up on what she’s saying. Because of that she became really close to me. The other girls say that she talks about me all of the time and she says she tells her family everything about me. Every day she gives one of the girls in community something to bring home to me. She made me promise that I keep in contact with her. In the letter she meant that we have an understanding between each other more than the others and for that reason I need to come back to Taiwan sometime in my life to see her and her family again. She also showed me a video of her son (Jeremy). I guess back at home he just runs around the house saying my name. He keeps asking for me to come back. And her daughter Peggy keeps begging her mom to take her to work so she can play with me again. I definitely plan on keeping in contact with them. She wanted to videotape me saying bye to Jeremy and Peggy and tell them that I miss them because I won’t be able to see them again.

After the buffet we went back to our unit and just hung out with the doctors and nurses. They’re so much fun. Every time we have a problem, everyone drops all of their work to help us. It’s so funny because literally every single nurse and doctor crowds around us discussing the situation. They leave the patients completely alone. We had to say goodbye to our preceptor Yen because she will not be here tomorrow. Here’s a picture of us.
In the afternoon we attended a lecture from the Hospice unit in the hospital. When we got there they had all kinds of bakery goods there for us and fruit drinks for everyone. They invited everyone on the unit to attend including friends and family. It is amazing how much time the people put into preparing events for us. They act like we are celebrities and spend tons of money and time on it even just for a 30 minute presentation. That’s how all of the presentations for us have been so far. I was very impressed with this presentation and the unit. It was very nice and the unit was gorgeous. Afterwards they gave us each a big teddy bear with their unit name on them. Then the Dr. invited us to their unit for a “traditional Taiwanese breakfast” tomorrow morning. I’m so overwhelmed by these people. They just give and give and give. It really just never stops coming. I don’t know how I’m going to pack everything home. I have SO much stuff!

On our way home from clinical we stopped at a market by our apartment and I met one of the Tainan baseball players that live in our complex! I was so excited because I was hoping that I’d run into one of them before I left…and I did…the day before we leave! He’s actually from Puerto Rico and he lives in South Carolina. He’s just here in Taiwan for the baseball season. He gets paid quite a bit. About $150,000 a year (obviously it’s not even close to the MLB, but its dang good considering its Taiwan!)
For dinner we just had leftovers from the buffet (we have toooons) and we went to get fried rice at our favorite place. We go there all of the time and it’s super cheap. There is a guy there that gives me free rice every time I come! Here he is. Tonight we had a girls night with Jane and Ya ling (they are two Taiwanese girls that help us out all the time and we hang out with them a lot too). We decided to do face masks and a chick flick…. things are NEVER the same here as in America. Even such a simple thing as a face mask…you would think it would be normal…but no. Here in Taiwan, a face mask is LITERALLY a face mask. Ha ha Enjoy…..
Oh and I come home NEXT WEEK! Crazy huh? It has gone by sooo fast….and to be honest, I don’t want to come home a single bit. I don’t even miss America a little bit. I wish I could stay longer.