New Year Dinner

I was honored to be invited to the home of Candy's parents for a tradition New Years Meal and family celebration. (Candy is Eddie's girlfriend who is one of the resident physicians at Hope) I was the first foreigner who has visited their home. They spoke some English, but most of our communication came through Eddie and Candy translating. I had a great time and was filled to the brim with good home cooked food. I learned a lot about the history and types of Chinese tea. Her family was very gracious to me. I learned a few New Year sayings in Cantonese. They appreciated my effort and I appreciated their grace in my poor pronunciation. Below are some pictures from the night.

From Left to right, me, Candy's Mother, Candy's Father, Candy, Eddie is taking the picture

Cucumber dish with mushrooms. It is very difficult to make. And very difficult to eat with chopsticks if you are only moderately practiced with them.

Spicy Pork with Celery, My favorite dish of the evening

Glutenous Rice with peanut and sesame seed filling. Served warm as the dessert. It is tradition to eat this with your family on New Years Day.

A Few Pulbic Health Topics

As many of you know, I have an interest in Public Health. So I have been mindful of the different ways that Macau informs the public on health matters. When I get back I will have share in more detail the different formats that I encountered, but here are a few pictures. The first is an example of how exercise is promoted. In most of the parks there are at least 3-4 exercise machines. The last two pictures are of a poster advertising ways to avoid getting and spreading avian bird flu. These are posted in public areas around the city.

Lion and Dragon Dance

There have been many activities to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Here are some pictures from the Lion and Dragon dance.

Happy New Year's Eve

Today is the last day of the Chinese Lunar Year. Follow this link to see some of the activities planned for the City of Macau. Click here to learn more info on the Chinese Lunar New Year. I will try to get some good pictures to share with you all as I visit the different celebrations. Currently we are finishing the year of the pig and we are entering into the year of the rat.

It may not look like it, but I am doing Medical work too

I realize that a majority of my blog has focused more on the extracurricular activities and experiences. I have been doing medical work as well, really. The clinic in general has not been as busy as I expected. Part of it is that there is enough staff to see their current patient load. The other issue is that it is bad luck to be sick near/the beginning of the new year. We did have a rather busy day on Monday, we saw just over 100 patients. On average the clinic sees roughly 60 pt's per day. The numbers for this January were up 25% from this time last year. The leadership here feels that with the continuing boom of the casino industry the patient load will only increase. Majority of the illnesses here are similar to that of the States. I have seen alot of URI, acute bronchitis, flu, and ear infections. Conditions like T.B. are much higher in our differential here, we have placed a number of ppd's. (a way to test for tuberculosis) None have come back positive yet, but I am sure we will have at least one case before I leave. About 25% of their patient population is dealing with chronic illnesses. Again, similar to the U.S., hypertension, Diabetes, and high cholesterol being the main three.

Below is a picture from one of the parks. I thought this was an interesting way of leaving your mark in the world. (graffiti that is)

Weekend Explorations

Over the weekend there were days of opposites. Saturday was very dreary and it rained all day long. It stopped briefly at night, and I did do some exploring. But when I awoke to get ready for church on Sunday, the sun was out!!! This was the first time the sun has broken through the clouds since I have been here. It not only physically warmed my body, but also emotionally warmed my spirit. After church one of the team members took a few of us to a shrine dedicated to The Sea Goddess. Once I got back to the flat I explored the Fort that was at the very top of my hill. It was used by the Portuguese to defend Macau. It was constructed in the early 1600's. The remains of St. Paul's cathedral can be seen near by as well. I have many more pictures from these adventures, but will have to share them with you in person, so I don't overwhelm this blog entry. Directly below is St. Paul Cathedral. Kim is excited to see this site, so I have saved exploring it in detail until she arrives.

This is Monte Fort. It only had to be used in defense of the City once, - against the British. And it was successful in repelling the English charge. Now is it a Museum.

This is the Goddess of the Sea, Mazu (click to learn more),

Above is a view from the statue site. It is land that was reclaimed from swamps. They are converting it into Asia's largest strip of Casinos. It will rival Las Vegas in size and stature. Below is the Chinese Temple celebrating the Goddess of the Sea.

Friday Night out with my new Chinese friends

Below are some pictures from my evening with some of my new Chinese friends. They took me to one of their favorite local restaurants. I told them to pick out their favorite dishes and I would give them a try. I said, "As long as you are willing to eat it, so am I." Along with the pictured food below they had hot wings and fried bread. These were no different than what is in the states, so I did not take any pictures of them. And no I did not get any diarrhea or stomach cramps. I had a great time experiencing the local culture. Eddie promised me that we would play some basketball before I leave. I look forward to it!

This is Eddie and his girlfriend Candy, he is a second year resident.

This is Inson, he is a fourth year resident.

This is Tim, he is a first year resident

The up close and personal look at colon noodle soup. Yes this is pig intestine. Really not bad as long as you can get past it mentally.

Oyster pizza? Well it is not quite pizza, but it is a flat bread with oysters and cheese. Not bad when is it warm, kind of rubbery when cold

1000 year egg. Cultural myth has it that the egg was originally made with horse urine. This is what my Chinese friends told me before I ate it. But since then I have investigated it on the internet and found this to be just a myth. If you are interested in Learning more about the 1000 yr egg follow the link to wikipedia