Wednesday, May 20, 2009
May 20, 2009, We are here in Cairo!!!!
Madeline and I went to Heathrow and met up with my niece, Tara DeLancey. She was sitting with another student from Colorado University, Joel. Joel had heard one of the Codepink speakers do a presentation on campus, and it inspired him to join the student delegation that is attempting to go into Gaza this week.
When we got into Egypt, before we cleared immigration all of the passengers had their temperature taken. I do not know if this is routinely done, or if it is in response to the swine flu concerns. I would be interested to know, and will blog it if I find out. I have posted a picture of Madeline having hers done.
We then went out for either a taxi ride or a bus to our hotel. According to the travel books, it is hard to trust the vendors at the airport. They supposedly do a bait and switch type deal where they will tell you there is no bus service, or tell you that your hotel is closed.....all of this sort of thing. We ended up getting a good price into Cairo for 12 dollars, and that was for 4 with our bags, as Joel came with us. I am not sure how far the ride was, but I do know that the driving was a little scary for me. I did not see a lot of the scenery on the way in, as I had to close my eyes a lot of the time to keep my nerves calm. When we got to our hotel, there was an interesting looking man sitting outside of the elevator, and I will be attaching a picture of him. Joel had been planning on staying at a hostel, but as it was so late, he ended up staying with us. Our room accommodates 4 very well, as it has two rooms with two beds each. It will be fine with me if he stays with us the whole time. I told him that I liked a tidy room, and he said the same. So after he Febreezed his pants and sanitized his hands, we settled into bed. I like this roommate a lot!!
As I a blogging, I hear a minarette calling out. I am also starting to do a lot of scratching, and I am afraid it is some type of bug eating me. I had read about mosquitoes, but I do not hear their buzzing. hmmmm.................anyway.
The room comes with breakfast that is served until 11am, yeah for a sleep in!!
Stay posted. Tomorrow is a new day, new adventures~~~~~~
When we got into Egypt, before we cleared immigration all of the passengers had their temperature taken. I do not know if this is routinely done, or if it is in response to the swine flu concerns. I would be interested to know, and will blog it if I find out. I have posted a picture of Madeline having hers done.
We then went out for either a taxi ride or a bus to our hotel. According to the travel books, it is hard to trust the vendors at the airport. They supposedly do a bait and switch type deal where they will tell you there is no bus service, or tell you that your hotel is closed.....all of this sort of thing. We ended up getting a good price into Cairo for 12 dollars, and that was for 4 with our bags, as Joel came with us. I am not sure how far the ride was, but I do know that the driving was a little scary for me. I did not see a lot of the scenery on the way in, as I had to close my eyes a lot of the time to keep my nerves calm. When we got to our hotel, there was an interesting looking man sitting outside of the elevator, and I will be attaching a picture of him. Joel had been planning on staying at a hostel, but as it was so late, he ended up staying with us. Our room accommodates 4 very well, as it has two rooms with two beds each. It will be fine with me if he stays with us the whole time. I told him that I liked a tidy room, and he said the same. So after he Febreezed his pants and sanitized his hands, we settled into bed. I like this roommate a lot!!
As I a blogging, I hear a minarette calling out. I am also starting to do a lot of scratching, and I am afraid it is some type of bug eating me. I had read about mosquitoes, but I do not hear their buzzing. hmmmm.................anyway.
The room comes with breakfast that is served until 11am, yeah for a sleep in!!
Stay posted. Tomorrow is a new day, new adventures~~~~~~
May 20, 2009
Greetings!!!! Madeline flew into Heathrow yesterday, and today we head back out together to meet my niece, Tara, there to fly to Cairo. Our goal is to enter Gaza, as Tara has been online dating a man there for two years. Wish us luck!!!
Friday, May 15, 2009
May 15, 2009.
Greetings to all!!!! I cannot believe it is May 15. I have been so busy with work and getting out and around. All has been going fine. I still marvel at how different everything is in the hospital world, in regards to my particular ward. We had a Band 5 nursing day yesterday, and I was able to learn more about the nursing band system. We were given many sheet handout that addresses how nurses progress up the layers of bands. I am going to take time to look at it and see if I can make sense out of it.
While my nursing experience is winding down, next week I am going to try to get into Gaza with my daughter, Madeline, and niece, Tara. My niece has just graduated from the Colorado University with a degree in linguistics. She speaks Arabic and is now Muslim. She has been communicating with a man in Gaza for 2 years, and is now ready to go meet him. It is not easy to get into Gaza, you have to apply for permission to enter, and it is my understanding that most people are denied. Therefore, we are signed up with two delegations for the attempt to enter, one a students' delegation, and the other, Codepink. It is my understanding that Codepink may have a better chance of getting in, as they are more recognized worldwide as a peace keeping activists group, formed by women. It is not totally clear to me exactly how this will unfold. I am hearing snippets about a tent at the border? not sure about that, hmm.....
Stay tuned.
Thank you to those who have been following, as I know I have have quite a dry spell. I will be honest, my experiences at the hospital have been hard to blog about. In the meanwhile, I have been communicating to my Portland coworkers via email, and that has been a more comfortable way to share my experiences. Basically, I have found that the differences between working in a London neurology hospital and a Portland, Oregon, hospital to be vastly different.
So my next adventure that my blog will be covering will be my trip to Gaza, or at least the attempt. My plan is to chronicle it well. Please stay tuned. Donna
While my nursing experience is winding down, next week I am going to try to get into Gaza with my daughter, Madeline, and niece, Tara. My niece has just graduated from the Colorado University with a degree in linguistics. She speaks Arabic and is now Muslim. She has been communicating with a man in Gaza for 2 years, and is now ready to go meet him. It is not easy to get into Gaza, you have to apply for permission to enter, and it is my understanding that most people are denied. Therefore, we are signed up with two delegations for the attempt to enter, one a students' delegation, and the other, Codepink. It is my understanding that Codepink may have a better chance of getting in, as they are more recognized worldwide as a peace keeping activists group, formed by women. It is not totally clear to me exactly how this will unfold. I am hearing snippets about a tent at the border? not sure about that, hmm.....
Stay tuned.
Thank you to those who have been following, as I know I have have quite a dry spell. I will be honest, my experiences at the hospital have been hard to blog about. In the meanwhile, I have been communicating to my Portland coworkers via email, and that has been a more comfortable way to share my experiences. Basically, I have found that the differences between working in a London neurology hospital and a Portland, Oregon, hospital to be vastly different.
So my next adventure that my blog will be covering will be my trip to Gaza, or at least the attempt. My plan is to chronicle it well. Please stay tuned. Donna
Friday, April 24, 2009
April 25, 2009
Well, my enthusiasm for passing the IV skills assessment has vanished. I got Bobbi to send an email stating that I am qualified to administer IV medication, but the manager said as far as he knew, it could have been sent by my best friend. He is right, it could have been.
Cheers!
Cheers!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
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