First day at Chi Mei!  And boy oh boy, was it filled with new experiences... 


I woke up at around 3:00am feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  With the 14 hour time difference between here and Utah, my body was telling me it was 1:00pm on a lovely Sunday afternoon.  So after laying in bed for a couple more hours (unbeknownst to me, my roommates were also all awake), we were up and ready to go scrounge up some breakfast! 


Here we are at a lovely little bakery we found.  One of the benefits of Taiwan is that the food here is superbly inexpensive, and pretty darn yummy!

After breakfast, we hurried back to our dorms to meet with our instructor.  It was right about then that it started raining.  Hard.  Guess which genius forgot to pack a poncho?  Yep, me.  Fortunately, the rain in Taiwan is warm, so it wasn't too horrible.  (Don't worry though, I bought a poncho at one of the many 7-11's that dot this nation after clinicals were over.)  Despite the rain, we arrived at Chi Mei in one piece! 


After we arrived, we were greeted by Wei-Ying, the Director of Nursing for Chi Mei.  She actually spent 2 years in Utah earning her PhD in Nursing from the University of Utah.  She seemed really excited when I told her I wanted to work at Huntsman!  Wei-Ying and all of her colleges seemed thrilled to have us there, and jumped and applauded each time we said anything in Mandarin (which realistically was only hello and thank you), but it made us feel very welcome all the same!  


Wei-Ying told us a little about the hospital, which really made me feel fortunate to be working there!  Chi Mei is a 1200 bed facility with a 100 bed ER (Ask any nurse you know, that's huge).  In 2011, the Nursing department earned the Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence, which is the highest honor in the nation of Taiwan.  Chi Mei is the first hospital in Southern Taiwan to possess the Da Vinci Robotic Surgery System, and pioneered the Laser Knife therapy now used at Huntsman to treat Cancer patients.  Chi Mei even has a mobile unit for pap smears and mammograms, providing preventative care for those in remote areas of Taiwan.  Pretty cool, eh?  I thought that just sitting in that hospital was the end-all beat-all, until I went to my unit:  Hospice and Oncology.


(This is a picture that I didn't really expect to see... It's Christ comforting a child who has been diagnosed with cancer.  The Nurse manager explained to us, in broken English, that "Jesus had cancer too."  If that isn't the best explanation of the Atonement I've ever heard, I don't know what is.)

The name for this particular Hospice and Oncology unit is, "Chi-An", which interpreted to English means, "Amazing Grace."  I could certainly see why.  The nursing staff is incredible.  They care for their patients in such a kind, compassionate way.  The doctors are so unassuming and kind.  The head of Oncology, Dr. Fong, even offered to take me on rounds with him (He told me to come and find him next Tuesday and he would do his rounds entirely in English, just for me!)!!!  Traditional Chinese medicine and western technology work together to ensure the best possible outcome for patients.  It's unreal!! 


(Me in front of the Unit)

In addition to everyone condescending to speak English to us (when realistically we're in Taiwan and should be speaking Mandarin), offering to buy us things, take us to see fun parts of the hospital, (you name it, they did it), we also made some new friends! 

The woman on the left (in the white jacket) was the Clinical Psychologist for the unit (I can't remember her name), and I believe the woman on the right was her intern.  (Jessica is the other white girl, her and I will be on the same unit the entirety of our time at Chi Mei).  The Clinical Psychologist explained to us that, in addition to using westernized evidence-based psychology to help her patients, she also accounts for their strongly Chinese heritage by using card readings to help her patients feel more at ease (kind of like one of our psychologists reading a passage from the bible to their patients).  Being the wonderful and accommodating people that they are, the psychologist and her intern offered to do a card reading for Jessica and I!  It was quite impressive!  I think mine said listen to your heart and not your head, let your animal spirit guide you... I don't remember much.  But I definitely remember one of Jessica's cards.  It said, "When you get nervous, turn to service!"  The psychologist went on to tell us that when we get nervous about serving people we can't necessarily communicate with, we should simply try to serve them.  If we did that, everything would work out fine!  (Little did she know, that fit right into what we're taught as members of the Church! )


Overall, this day has been completely amazing. And in case anyone was wondering, I did try some new food!  (And yes, that is fish with the skin still on it.)

 More to come!  Zài jiàn!

The start of a new adventure! 

The flight over to Taiwan was spectacular!  14 hours, and I slept through 13 of those hours.  Not bad at all, if I do say so myself.  The one hour I was awake was very existential; if you ever want to be cured of feelings of significance, fly across the Pacific Ocean.  You will feel very tiny afterwards, I promise! 

Arriving in Taiwan was nothing short of awesome!  The country smells like Florida, but is overcast like Michigan.  It looks totally different, though!  During the bus ride from the airport (we flew into Taoyuan) to the speed rail station (where we would ride the speed rail from Taoyuan to Tainan), I began to notice differences in the buildings between here and America.  In addition to architectural differences, there are shrines EVERYWHERE here!  I don’t know what they all mean yet, but it was wonderful to see!  I think because we are around individuals who deal with tourists quite often, most everyone that we’ve met speaks English, but it will be interesting when that begins to change in Tainan! 

Something that has already captivated my wee heart is, you guessed it, the BABIES!!!  I cannot even express to you how beautiful these little Taiwanese toddlers are.  The parents seem to be very tolerant of the 12 crazy white girls they see gawking at their kids, and several individuals have brought their babies over for us to see, most of them asking their children to greet us in English with a “Hello”.  They seem thrilled whenever we greet them in return in their native tongue (Mandarin, Chinese) or thank them (also in Mandarin) for letting us look at their kids!  My desire to pack a little Asian baby in my luggage on the way home has, unfortunately, only been strengthened by these interactions. 

When we finally arrived in Tainan, we were greeted by the nursing manager for Chi Mei hospital,  “Joanne”, and the coolest ICU nurse ever (besides Aunt Jenni), Jane!  Jane was kind enough to give us a tour around the city.  Here are some pictures from the day along with descriptions! 

This is our group after arriving in Taoyuan! 

 On the bus

 My first time on Taiwanese soil!  (I found a patch of soil just for this picture)

This is in the speed rail station, which is kind of like a high-speed subway

This is our clinical group with Joanne (on the left) and Jane (Jim has his arm around her)

My first Taiwanese shrine!  It was gorgeous!

Still at the shrine

Jane and I inside the shrine!  She is so awesome.  Plus, she speaks fluent English, which is always a bonus!

More shrine pictures...

This was perhaps the most important part of the shrine.  The dragon has special meaning for both China and Taiwan, and this year is the year of the dragon!  Jane said that lots of women have tried to plan their pregnancies so that their babies are born during this special year. :)

Jane bought us cookies!  They're kind of like Ritz crackers with honey in the middle, but they taste almost exactly like a Bit-O-Honey candy.

My roommates, Paige (in front) and Marisa (behind.  My other roommate, Jane, was taking the picture)

The 7-11 food is way different than it is in America. But we ate it! :)

It's been a while since I've posted! (Okay, that's an understatement, but we'll just roll with it.)  This is just a quick update to say that I leave for a study abroad in Taiwan in... 6 hours.  I'll be there for about a month, so I thought I'd keep everyone updated on my adventures there by using this blog!  Incredibly appropriate, seeing as Taiwan has been nicknamed The Butterfly Nation for their vast array of butterfly species:  377 have been recorded, but estimates of actual butterfly population are much higher.  Who knew? 


(This is one of the butterfly species native to Taiwan.  Pretty, no?)


In addition to its beautiful wildlife, Taiwan itself is actually very beautiful!  Dutch explorers who first discovered the small island (After the Chinese, of course) gave the name "Formosa", which literally means beautiful island!



But Taiwan isn't just a pretty country, oh no.  The Taiwanese people have some very rich and varied culture, shaped by a history full of occupations by different nationalities.  Turns out that, because of its strategic location just across the straight from China, international trade junkies have had their eyes on Taiwan for a very long time.  Perhaps unfortunately for them, Taiwan is set in a location that serves as an optimal trade port between the Pacific Islands, Japan, and of course China.  I say unfortunately for them because this location means that, historically, every country with major stakes in international trade has occupied Taiwan at one point or another:  The Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese being just some of the nations to have established dominance in Taiwan in the past.  And not all of those take-overs were pretty.


Which brings us to my favorite aspect of Taiwanese culture; an aspect which I think can be summed up in the a description of the Taiwanese national flower...



The plum blossom!


In 1964 (the same year my dad was born!), the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (official name for Taiwan, not to be confused with the People's Republic of China, which is VERY DIFFERENT!) declared the plum blossom to be the national flower of Taiwan.  The plum blossom is a delicate, beautiful, fragrance-producing flower with one prominent quality;  it is astoundingly resistant to bad weather.  For being as light and delicate as it is, the plum blossom is very rarely shaken from its branch during storms, a quality very reminiscent of the Taiwanese people themselves!  You would think that after being rocked so many times by different countries, Taiwan would kind of crumble.  But it hasn't.  On the contrary, Taiwan has become a first-world, booming society with a lot to offer in the way of healthcare (which is what I'm going to study!).  Taiwanese physicians actually invented the laser-knife therapy now used to treat cancer in the United States, particularly at Huntsman Cancer Institute (where I eventually want to work as a nurse!).  Pretty cool, eh?


So that is a short summary of Taiwan.  I can't even express how excited I am to be going there and learning what I can from the Taiwanese healthcare system and culture!  I'll keep you all updated on my adventures in the Butterfly Nation!


GO TAIWAN!