From Maui, With Love 1

As some of you know, I went on a trip to Hana, Maui with L and his family. I had no reception in the valleys, so I had no way to update! Booo.

Hana is a very small town on the far windward side of Maui, famously the deathplace/grave of Charles Lindbergh and the area Oprah purchased to prevent unwanted commercial development. To get there you can fly from the Kahului airport (which is in the middle of the northern shore) into the tiny Hana municipal airport. Or you can do what most people do and make THE MOST RIDICULOUS DRIVE EVER through Maui on these ludacrous winding mountain roads. The roads were originally gravel and not made for cars, so on the most dangerous curves and precarious ledges and bridges, it dips into one lane only. One lane TOTAL. People coming the opposite direction have to wait until oncoming traffic passes by before they can proceed. The road also can't go for more than 100 feet without making some kind of loony hairpin curve. Apparently it's so jerky ride that many people get seasick. It makes the 52 mile drive take somewhere between two and four hours depending on traffic and the condition of the roads that day.

About halfway there we got a flat. The right front was flat like I have never seen, it was FLAT. Riding on the hub cap flat. At first I was like "oh we have a spare, we're good." the. We hear sshhhhh coming from the rear right tire.

Eff. Okay, we'll call AAA or the rental company to come help. Take out my handy Internet phone and OH no reception. For any of us.

Okay well, we were smart enough to get two vehicles! The other can go on ahead and get a tow truck. What's that? There's no tow truck or mechanic in all of Hana? Okay. Well they can to ahead and call someone then.

Here's the road right behind us

In front of us is a bridge that makes another one lane hairpin, and across the valley (to the right of that photo) is this



Can you see the road?

L's dad and brother go on to make a call and and they're leaving, his mom adds "make sure you're back soon, once it gets dark there are no lights on this road."

I suddenly have way too much spare time

Some things you all need to watch:

Forrest Gump in One Minute
Kill Bill in One Minute
Star Wars in One Minute
28 Days Later in One Minute
Minesweeper: The Movie
Machete trailer from Grindhouse MUST SEEE
Werewolf Women of the SS trailer from Grindhouse

In which I misinterpret Alice Cooper

YESSS THE SEMESTER IS OVER I'M DONE FOREVER AND EVER AND I WILL NEVER HAVE TO DO WORK EVER AGAIN AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED RIGHT NOW OMG.

Time to eat cookies and jump on the bed and stay up AS LATE AS I WANT. HOT CRACKERS I AM SO EXCITED. I think my grade is effed in a couple of my classes I don't even caaaaare. Wait I care a little bit because I just got my Emory info packet in the mail and I really, reeeaaally want to go there but I don't know if I can possibly get in. I think if I don't I might as well go wait tables since there's nothing else I'd really like to do but ANYWAY FOR RIGHT NOW I'M GOING TO EAT ICE CREAMS AND WATCH MOVIES AND SLEEP FOREVER.

Actually I can't really get used to being done with work so I got a Chamorro language tape to study before I went to Guam but it's probably the most useless thing ever. It has a dude repeating phrases over and over and telling you to repeat them but it never tells you what they're saying. There's no accompanying book either, so I guess I'm just screwed. Normally I would just get some books but since I've never, ever heard someone speak Chamorro I don't know how to pronounce anything.

I also checked out some books on Micronesian archaeology and got some unpublished research from the University of Guam on excavations done in the area we'll be looking into. What the hell why am I so determined to keep working now.

Piggybean

Check out my newest impulse buy. I have dubbed him Piggybean.

Piiiiggybean, Piiiiiiiiggybean, looks like a piggy and a bean




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone because I am a consumer whore.

Universities: Not giving a shit about your flash cards since 1636

So. I saw a pre-health advisor and said "What do I need to do to get into an epidemiology program?" and she was like "Uh go back in time and do a pre-med track?" so I guess that's out.

I've spent the last week gradually coming to terms with the idea that, no, I am not going to be a scientist. I will probably never be a scientist. And while that SUCKS, I guess it makes sense. My advisor pointed out that when I talk about public health I talk about it like a social science, not a lab. Despite my interest in the biological sciences, my performance in the social sciences has always been substantially better. She thinks I might find it difficult to deal with public health in terms of empricism rather than personal interaction, which is partly true. So she showed me what I would have to do to get into a program for global epidemiology and a program for global health and said I should do whichever I felt was better suited, but an epi program means 1) another year of school and 2) that much more loans, which may max me out before I've finished grad school.

She also made it clear that it's very common for people to do a non-science MPH track and then later on their careers get additional education in the sciences. So basically, I can also go back and do it, but I can't undo the time/money spent on doing it now. So I went from global health to global epi and back to global health again, which I guess is okay.

The problem I'm really having is that I had been thinking my whole life that I wanted to be a SCIENTIST. I want to do science! When I was little I was always saying I wanted to do genetic research, or be a doctor, or a biologist, etc. So I am a little disappointed that I finally have to admit that I suck at it.

Who put the goat in there?

Okay I mentioned India to Layne and he reminded me of this video, which I felt I had to share. I have no idea what's actually going on but the dancing is hysterical. At the same time I feel like I can't laugh because it also looks pretty difficult. Anyway, it has subtitles that say what it sounds like they would be singing if they were singing in English. Hilarity ensues.



I actually really want to know what this is from and what they're saying, it looks fascinating. And a little bizarre.

Fashion victim

Reason #3 why I would love to get to intern with the Comprehensive Rural Health Project in Jamkhed, India, is that they recommend women to have local garments made for them in town. That means I will actually be encouraged to wear salwar kameez which is something I have always wanted to do. When I was little I remember often seeing women at the grocery store wearing them in rich colors with embroidery and I always thought they looked so cool! I can't really get away with wearing that anywhere else, though, because 1) I will stand out like a sore thumb and 2) other white people will tell me I'm racist because I am appropriating a culture that is not mine for its aesthetic value. So yeah. But see, if I actually go to India, it would be totally fine! Sweeet.

So, reasons why I want to intern with CHRP:
1) Do hands-on work making a very real, tangible difference on the population I would be working in.
2) Learn about public health from creators of a program that have effectively eliminated malnutrition and other common but preventable causes of death and illness from its area.
3) Get to wear awesome clothes that were actually tailored for me.

Okay now to be fair, I didn't know about the clothing thing until well after I'd decided I wanted to try to work with CHRP. But imagine the pleasant surprise! I'm just looking at their site, doo dee hoo, let's see what kinds of things they advise about this sweet internship. What's that? We can/should have awesome clothes made for us? Oh hells yes. I don't even care that it's in the interest of modesty, that's how much I like this idea. So not only could I potentially get to work with and learn from an immensely successful public health program in rural India, I could wear sweet digs while I do it. What a score.