Swedish Institute, College of Health Sciences

That is the new school I am attending now. I am so glad I transferred here. I love it already. It is a place good for me. All my teachers are incredible: the type which I like the most i.e. firm but humane; direct, concrete and serious, but witty and having great sense of humor at the same time. No wishy-washy ways as in the old school. It seems that there's also lots more studying from day one. Tests are every week. Anatomy seems better here and geared toward acupuncture practice more, which is very good. I feel that what I learn here is practical knowledge but at the same time everyone pays attention to the Shen or the spirit, understanding that all, health and disease, good and bad, comes from it... It goes along with what I believe so it all makes sense to me. The students are also more mature here than in the old school. We are a group of 12 people (six girls and six boys) and it is a very interesting group with various backgrounds. We dived right into the Chinese theory of acupuncture and we already have point location class so we basically lie down on tables and learn how to locate points on each other's bodies (we use colorful stickers to mark them). When the program is over we'll know almost 400 points on our bodies so our own mothers will know less about our bodies than our classmates. Now we locate points on upper and lower extremities but we'll get to the bare bottoms or basically bare bodies next semester when we get to the points on the trunk. Sounds like fun? Shame is not something one would worry about in a medical school I guess... I also attended the first weekend class of the Chinese herbs with the famous professor and it was incredible. We are fully clothed there and will be just uncovering the bare facts about almost 400 herbs, their properties, how to mix them into formulas, when to gather them, witch parts to use for what ailment, how to store, how to cook, etc. Lots of information to memorize... but the profesor makes it interesting and fun and we treat plants as beings so it is like meeting people and getting friends with them. It's like the anatomy class where all the bones and muscles, and tendons and ligaments, and blood vessles and nerves (why did God have to create man in such a complicated way?!) are friends and we get their names, and say hallo to them (Hallo Latissimus Dorsi, how are you today? All is well Brachioradialis?). That makes learning fun. The administration works much better in the new school as well. I have a feeling that the people who work for the school are really concerned with passing on the knowledge to us and want to take the administrative stuff out of our shoulders so that we can concentrate on studying. I'll be happy here.

The end of the year was fun. My friend Alejandro from Mexico came to visit with his friend Hector and together with other friends we went to Mexico Lindo restaurant, where one of my friends works, to celebrate the New Year's Eve. It was very nice. I spent a day walking with Alejandro and Hector around the city and it made me feel like a tourist and that was nice also. We went to the Metropolitan Museum, to Central Park and along 5th Avenue. Now the vacation is over and it's mostly school and work again. I arranged the schedule at PQ nicely so that I can work there in the morning and the classes are in the evening 6-10 pm. For a period of time I was entertaining the idea of working for a publishing house but I let go of this idea. For the time being I am happy at PQ since I like the staff a lot and some of the regular customers. And, the thing is - I don't know if I would want to be chained to a desk again... I think tis the time in my life to be in motion, except for the time I have to sit firmy on my Gluteus Maximus when I study Mrs muscles and such, and the points. But the studying for Qi Gong is also about movement and I love this class a lot and the practice I do for it at home. I will proscribe the Qi Gong exercises for my patients when the time comes.

Many hugs to all my friends reading the blog. There are, as usually, many things I want to write about, philosophical and medical, but I have so little time... I will write when I find some...