"Small fish in a big pond"

So much to write but so little time. I'll try to keep it short though. Well, i officially started my orientation at Columbia last week. I feel like a "small fish in a big pond." The place is too huge for my country self :) Anyway, i like the change so far. Although i haven't gotten into my Unit yet. It's just been class room orientation, and i have another 2 weeks of that before actually getting to work in my Unit. , I'm nervous as well as excited. I never worked at a teaching hospital before. On top of that, this is one of the best hospitals in America (ranked #7 among US hospitals). So i guess i'm entitled to feel the way i do. I can honestly say the orientation is going well. I made a new friend, Valery. She reminds me so much of my good friend Koreen. So we hit it off well. I just wish she was working in my unit but we'll be neighbors :)
What else? After my first week of orientation, i really just wanted to stay home and sleep. Instead, i had a physically exhausting weekend but with lots of fun:) This saturday was our Church's Picnic. I thought i woudn't enjoy it but rather, i surprised myself by participating in all the games. I even won second place for the Three-Legged Race with our cousin Ancy. Although it was a lot of fun, i woke up next morning and i couldn't get out of bed because my whole body was sooooooooooo sore, i guess i'm really out of shape. I haven't had that much physcial activity in ages. I'm still sore and walking around the City doesn't help either. OH well!!
The only thing that sucks about my job is the commute. I've been having to depend on Saji and my in-laws for a ride. Although they are more than happy to do it, i don't like dpending on others even if it is family. So i'm learning to take the subway. I took it to work from Yonkers this morning. Of course i got completely drenched from the train as it waited for me to get out of the car :( Let's just say, my monday morning didn't start out great. But at least the train ride wasn't too bad. My hair was another story. And on top of that, i had to deal with a not so nice instructor. Why does women, especially nurses get a kick out of belittling their fellow nurses? I can never understand it, no wonder there is such a nursing shortage. Who wants to deals with that shit? We are supposed to be nurturing our young especially in a field like Nursing. That's what we are trained to do but i guess women are just too catty for their own good. It's a damn shame!!!
Anyway, i'm glad to be home and now i have to do some cooking. ANd i want to get some decent sleep as well. I'm not used to getting up the crack of dawn. It's going to take a while to get used to that! Oh how i hate changes but that's life!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking Back..............

I'm in a mood to share a little bit more than the usual every day stuff so i'm going to warn you now, this might be a long one :)
First what got me thinking about my past was the story on MSN about A Deployed Soldier's life. http://spaces.msn.com/member/nycclaye I realized that my every day life events are so boring compared to this soldier's life. But i'm definitely NOT taking my life for granted, especially reading his story. I can only pray that this war ends soon..
Anyway so looking back, let me start by saying that i was born in Kerala, India (It's the southern part of India). I did my primary schooling there. One of the things Indians pride themselves over is the value they place on Education. We are very motivated, hard-working people. Unless you are born into a very wealthy family, the only thing that will improve your economic status is getting a decent job usually in a foreign country. Because there is such scarce job opportunities in India. Although that is changing especially in the world of IT. Indian parents drill this motivation into you as soon as you come out of the womb. So We have such competitive nature to do better than the next person. Sometimes ultimately some of us achieve this and others are forever trying to get there or given up all together and brought 'shame' to the family.
Anyway back to my story of how i came to the US. My aunt is a Nurse and she was the first one in our family to come to America. She was recruited during the nursing shortage in the 70's. That's how many of the Indian families came to America, through the big nursing recruitment in the 70's. Thank God for that! I can't even imagine how my life would have been otherwise. Well actually i can and it wouldn't have been that bad. BUT, i like this a whole lot better. Anyway, it's one more reason i went into the nursing profession. Nursing had such positive influence on the life of my whole extended family as well as my husband's. Because that's how my mother-in-law came here, through the nursing recruitment. And just through one person in each of our family, the rest of the siblings and their families were able to come to the US. I can honestly say that the opportunities that we got here have changed all of our lives for the better. The only disadvantage was the fact that my grandparents were left by themselves back in India, especially in their old age. I still regret not being able to be there for my Appachan (grandfather) during his last days and especially not being there for my Ammachi when he passed away. I'll never get over that. It was in May 2002, a few days before my college graduation. So my mom and my aunt both missed my graduation. I remember all the mixed emotions i felt: the pain, the loss, the relief and joy of graduating. I remembered how proud my Dad was that day because i was the first in our family to graduate with a college degree. It gets me so emotional even now thinking about that moment, a few years back. I came a long way from being that lost 11 year old kid that stepped off the plane at JFK back in 1992. The first year here, seventh grade, was the worst year of my life. It took me a good year and a half to learn English, and get somewhat assimilated. It was a rough period there, mostly because I was one of the only few Indians in my school and i didn't have a lot of friends. My guidance counselor was very helpful in getting me through that time. Thank God for her! Adoloscence is a difficult period to begin with and on top of that, i had to go through adjusting to cultural differences & barriers. All throughout my high-school years, i was trying to find myself in terms of assimilating to the American lifestyle withough losing my Indian heritage. I think it was harder for my parents to see the changes that was going on with me. By the time i graduated from high-school, i had a pretty good head on my shoulder. I got accepted to both of the colleges of my choice. But i decided to stay local to attend MSMC and pursue Nursing, mostly because i got a full scholarship. My parents couldn't afford to pay for my tuition so the scholarship helped us tremendously. My senior year was such a turning point in my life. I still can't belive i got a full scholarship. I am so convinced it was not only because i worked very hard during those years but also because of the person i became as a result of the struggles i faced. Looking back now, i think i turned out pretty well, i have a good mix of both cultures and i'm proud to be an Indian-American. And i'm grateful for all the experiences i had, both good and bad because it made me who i am.
Well that was just a small glimpse into my past. Of course, there is a whole lot more to share but some other time. I need to get back to work :(
Take care and God Bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Life as usual......

Well, i'm at work and it has finally slowed down a little this week but i'm sure that won't be for long. Anyway Thank God i only have to work one more night shift. Tomorrow night is my last night :) I had the last two days off and basically it was restless as usual or more than usual actually. I had to study for my ICU exam for Columbia and i spent all Wed there taking ALL 4 exams and taking care of everything else so i can be cleared to start Orientaion on Monday. Absolutely Exhausting. And when i came home did i have any rest? NOT! We are planning a dinner party this sunday so we had to go grocery shopping, Then Laundry.. UGH!! It's never-ending. So i basically slept until 12:30 this afternoon. Then i woke up to get my eye-brows done at the Salon at White Plains mall. Of course instead of coming straight home, the 70% off sign at Wilson Leather store caught my attention. So i HAD to stop by just to "look around" I bought myself a nice brown leather tote bag for work. I really needed a large bag to put all my books and stuff, instead of carrying 2 bags. So i'm happy :) I earned it after all :)
Today i feel like writing my thoughts and experiences ( a little more than usual). So I'm going to continue this on to my next blog..

Good Times!!!

Let's see what happended since the last time i blogged. Basically, the 4th of July weekend was awesome for the most part. I had six days off straight which in itself was great. We went to Lancaster, PA to see the show Ruth and Psalms of David at the Sight & Sound Theatre on the 2nd. Our whole church group went on a tour bus. Unfortunately saji was working but Jary came with me. It was a loooooooong ride and i slept for the most part but the show was really great.
The next day, it was Saji's cousin Benny's engagement in NJ. After the party, we came home and did some gardening and cleaning up our Garage. Fun, Fun :( Then we headed out to celebrate Benny & Kavita's engagement again at nightclub Deep in NY city. We haven't been out clubbing for the longest time. So it was actually a lot of fun, dancing and chilling in the City. The place was packed so we didn't hang out for too long. Besides we had to go to church the next day. And believe it or not we got home at 3 in the morning and went to church at 9:30. I felt so guilty because i was falling asleep in Church. But what is a girl to do? Besides it's not often we do that, only on rare occasions so it's all good.
In the evening, we headed out to Saji's Aunt & Uncle's house for BBQ and it was also their anniversary. So most of his family was there. We spent most of the time stuffing our face and playing Batmenton with all his cousins. It's been awhile since i played so i was a little rusty but after an hour, i got pretty confident and competitive :) Good Times!!! I paid for it the next day though . Talk about sore muscles.... I'm really out of shape. I need to restart exercising again :(
The next day was 4th of July, which was spent cooking mostly. My Dad and Jary came over to help Saji with installing shelves in the garage. Afterwards, they stayed for lunch. I cooked rice, veggies and beef curry. Yum, yum!! In the evening we headed out to my parents place for Barbeque and to watch the fireworks at the Cornwall park. It's a tradition, we always go see the fireworks at Cornwall. And it gets better every year!
On Tuesday, i had my Physical at Columbia. And i was off to work three nights in a row. I hate working 3 in a row. It's simply exhausting but unfortunately i needed friday and saturday off to attend another engagement party. I tell you, it's that season again... This Saurday was saji's cousin Julie's enagement pary in Edison, NJ at Royal Albert's Palace. It was my first time there, nice place. Mad people there, they had more than 500 guests. Unfortuanetly it was also the same time as the Anniversary Perunal at my parent's church. So we missed Jary singing his first malayalam song :) I really wanted to be there but the engagement party started and ended late so we couldn't make it to the Perunal. Hopefully we won't miss it next year. On our way home from Edison, we stopped by saji's friend Annie's house party, just to say hello and we ended up playing Spoon with them. It was quite entertaining. It was almost 2 am by the time we got home. Another late night out!! And we paid for that by sleeping through our alarm and waking up at 9 am, to miss most of the sunday morning mass. Of course saji blames me for it cuz i have a habit of turning the alarm off in my sleep (which essentially is what i did, but i definitely don't recall that). Anyway, now i'm back at work. This is my last week at my current job, working Nights. I'm looking forward to working normal hours and spending more time with my favorite person. At the same time, i'm also scared about working at a Prestigious hospital in the City. As exciting as it is, it's also very intimidating. Hopefully, i'll adjust well and enjoy it. Even if i don't, i'm just going to have to toughen it out, at least for a year or so.... For now, i'm just going to pray that everything works out for the best!!!