Time flies! It has been 6 weeks since I first arrived in Houston. The memories are fresh and clear - still back to day 1, when my host was driving her SUV and came to the airport to pick me up. We never met each other - I know her online. I was quite amazed that 20 minutes of driving could put two people who never even had a cross in their lives so close - with funny talk about the same hometown and even the same neighborhood, with this nomadic spirit we share being 10,000 km away from home and sharing a huge plate of Texas BBQ together. My first week was filled with excitement and anxiety of not understanding what people were talking about in the meetings, or maybe the fridge-like office which nearly made me forget how hot and humid Texas is. “Each person is a team,” a colleague said, “everyone is insanely skillful.” They indeed are, and not only work-wise, but also life-wise. I admire their spirit of adventure and their kindness to people.
The second week ends with a whole day of cadaver lab - a real experimental surgery on a dead body. It’s always hard to explain to others how I feel - I mean, the little odour, the feeling of facing a face without nose and eyes, the feeling of staring at a scalp… or maybe the mind flow I had at that time thinking about life.
All these small moments do matter and in a way shape my understanding of this world.
Over the next few weeks, the excitement cooled down a bit, but the journey is still on! Stay tuned for “recap part 2”!