Friday: Sledding on the ice and Finnish pancakes
Even though the weather is warming up, the lakes here are still frozen. Friday was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, so Leena and I decided to take these sleds on the ice.
It was a 2.5km path to the other side where we enjoyed warm milk, Finnish pancakes and other sweets.
Then on our way back we ran into these kids on the ice and I played with them for a bit, just pushing their sled. I think they were confused when I didn't really talk to them...
These sleds are very Finnish, and with the smooth ice, we went over it pretty quickly. I think it only took us about 15 min one way. (Of course we stopped to admire the views)
Saturday: Leena and I made Finnish pulla
The most popular sweet bread is Pulla, and there are many ways to make it. You know how everybody has their own way to make chili? This is sort of like that. And everybody's grandma makes the best pulla. You can make them sort of like cinnamon rolls or like dinner rolls that you fill with whipped cream, frosting or jam. They are absolutely delicious and it's amazing I haven't gained that much weight. We made these to bring to my friend Zofie's birthday celebration the next day.
We had a fun time making them together and sometimes we were so busy talking that we forgot about the stuff in the oven. oops. But they were still good! Especially warm.
Sunday: Celebrating Zofie's birthday
I don't usually do many things on Sunday because that it is a day of rest, but my Hungarian friend Zofie celebrated her birthday, so we had a Lapland reunion and spent some time together.
Monday: Missionaries and the ice
On Sunday, Leena invited the missionaries to come back to try out the sleds on the ice with us. We brought along Pekka, and even though it was freezing and the snow (sleet) was coming down quickly, we had a good hour along the frozen lake. Afterwards, we had my favorite riisipiirakkas and warm juice! The missionaries enjoyed doing something so clearly Finnish, and once Leena decided to invite them, they really had no choice :)
Tuesday: Awesome day at clinical
Since my public health days are over, I'm now at the hospital's OR and anesthesia unit. I spent my first monday in the PACU/Recovery room, and now I'm with a anesthesia nurse the rest of the time. I've realized that we don't really have something comparable to these anesthesia nurses. What happens is the anesthesiologist starts the sedation for the operation, but the anesthesia nurse manages all the that during the procedure. The anesthesiologist comes and checks periodically, but the nurse stays with the patient. She helps with intubation, she sets the IV, gives all medicines during the procedure, and makes sure that the patient is stable. This is a lot of responsibility and takes good skills and critical thinking. I love it! I was so happy that finally I'm setting IVs, hanging medicines, giving injections, thinking about different heart rhythms, ect. I actually got to intubate before the surgery (put the tube in that breathes for the patient). It was so so cool! I helped manually ventilate a patient a couple of times during cardioversions (when the heart needs to come back into normal rhythm). I love it when they ask me questions like "look at this heart rhythm. What is it?" and then I actually know the answer. One of the anesthesiologist has really taken me under his wing and let me assist in these procedures. I saw an insertion of an arterial line, which is different from a normal IV. They use them a lot in ICUs so we learned how to use them, but I've never seen one put in before. Basically, I was so excited these days because this is the kind of stuff I really love. Of course, it's a little bit better two because when the patient is asleep, I dont' feel so bad that I can't speak Finnish with them. And many of the surgeons have been very open with me and willing to let me ask them questions. It wasn't like that when I was int he OR in the States. Basically, this is been an awesome week.
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| Another shameless selfie :) |
Wednesdays and Fridays we usually go the pool here in Savonlinna. Thank goodness I have some exercise. Recently we've been taking Leena's grandaughter with us and she plays in the kid pool while we rotate swimming laps. At first it was hard when I had to watch her because I didn't speak much Finnish and couldn't talk to her to play or keep her close. Yesterday was really cool because we talked a lot more then usual, from things like how we were playing, to just the day and small stuff like that. It felt so good to be able to communicate. I remember the first time I met her and I felt so sad that I didn't even know how to ask how she was. I felt mute, which is very unlike me. It is sad to me that just when I start picking up on things, I'll be leaving.
When we came home from swimming, Leena told me that Pekka our neighbor had brought me a surprise.
When I saw this I got so so excited and immediately stuck a spoon it. I just made me day. It was so thoughtful.
I've recently applied for my first job!! I was a little nervous being out of the country and basically felt like it would be more difficult for me to get a job with such an unusual capstone experience. I shouldn't have worried so much, but of course, that's what I do best! :) I applied at a hopsital near my parents in Kansas City, and today I had a Skype interview with managers there. It was so so so good! I was a little nervous but not overly so. I didn't really have much time this week to think about the questions they might ask, so I felt a little unprepared. Also, my computer's backlight screen has been going out, so sometimes when it is turned on, the screen looks black. So I've been nervous that something would go wrong during the interview. It was so relaxed and easy to talk. I already knew one of the managers, and she made me feel so comfortable. They asked about my experiences here, what I've learned from it. They asked how I respond in certain situations, what role my classmates would say I take in a group, how I handles a patient who was having a hard time emotionally, ect. What I was not prepared for was that the ICU manager asked me nursing/medical questions! I hadn't thought about some of this stuff in months, but we got such a good ICU semester that I remembered them and answered them well! I knew I got them right because he kept asking me more. Finally he just said that he liked hearing how I was working it out in my head. I feel so relieved about this interview and feel really good about it. Maybe it's bad luck to talk about it on the internet when I don't know the result yet, but anyway it turns out, it was good experience for me, and I could definitely go into another interview feeling more confident about what I have learned and how ready I am to graduate!!
Sorry to gush about such a great week, but with so many things going on, I didn't want to leave anything out! Do you want to know what I've had stuck in my head the last few hours?? "Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day. I've got a beautiful feeling everything's going my way" :)
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