Our 2006

This year Naomi and I celebrated a belated honeymoon. We spent the month of July bumming around Costa Rica, sticking mainly to beaches, with one short, but cooling, trip into the mountains. Our favorite places were Corcovado, a vast, remote and wild wildlife refuge in the southwest, Samara, a lazy surfing town set within a picture-perfect bay on the Pacific, and Puerto Viejo, a colorful Jamaican-influenced surfer town on the Carribean. Although we grew tired of the zip line canopy tours and expensive food, we found the locals, like the weather, relaxing and warm, and the ecological diversity astonishing.

I continued on to Argentina for three weeks were I met up with a few classmates from medical school. Our plan was to establish a medical rotation/exchange program for students from our school. We spent time in Buenos Aires and Rosario, shadowing doctors in the ICU and ER. My most memorable moment was probably witnessing an unfortunate man die in surgery from a complication related to anesthesia. On a happier note, however, the physicians who hosted us expressed immeasurable generosity and kindness. I was very impressed by how caring and dedicated the doctors in Argentina were to their patients. Moreover, visiting the clinics and hospitals with local doctors was a precious opportunity to see how different a national health system is from ours.

Naomi still works at the Japanese restaurant, picking up lucrative weekend shifts that fit nicely into her busy schedule. She has also continued to work at the Wild Salmon Center with their Japanese conservation project. She has tentatively decided on earning a BS in biochemistry.

My second year of medical school is a lot like the first: mostly academic with tiresome exams that just never seem to stop. I will take the first step of my medical licensing exam in July, then continue straight on to clerkships - the part of our training where we rotate through difference services of the medical system (internal medicine, surgery, OB/GYN, pediatrics, psychiatry, rural medicine). Here I'll work side by side with residents and physicians 24/7 as if it were a job. I won't be at home much, but at least I won't be falling asleep in medical textbooks any longer either.

In addition to all that stuff, I am actively involved with global health organization, play city league indoor soccer, run, swim, ride my bikes, am learning how to telemark ski and, of course, enjoy myself with Naomi in the kitchen making delicious food, and playing with Sango, our dog, in the park. I miss playing music, but I simply don't have the time to stick with a practice schedule or commit to a group.