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I survived my first quarter of medical school. Yay! It felt good. I even managed to get into the rhythm of being a medical student: studying all day and night, being efficient with my time, and learning to quickly and effectively process new information. At least in anatomy; in that class, I really felt I had learned everything I needed to. Hopefully, it won't all fade away too soon.

But that was Fall quarter. Hard, especially for those of us who have not been in school for a while, but also a way to "warm" us up for medical school. Winter quarter promises twice as much work, with almost 35 hours of classes each week and courses in physiology, histology, metabolic biochemstry and physical examination. But that's tomorrow. For now, I'm still on vacation.

This has been a very good vacation. I spent a lot of time with my family, and days revolved around yummy feasts, days curled up on the couch next to the beautiful christmas tree, and card games. I also got to catch up with many friends in the bay area, hopefully boosting the east bay restaurant/cafe economy a bit. I wish it could have lasted longer, but if it had, I probably would have been unwiling to start school again. After sleeping 9 hours a night every day for two weeks and rolling out of bed after 10 am, tomorrow's 6 am alarm clock is going to be a shock.

A lot of my vacation was also spent glued to CNN, unable to pull myself away from the incomprehensible tragedy unfolding across the world. Yesterday, a US helicopter pilot described what it was like to deliver aid to the Aceh province of Sri Lanka. This is one of the hardest hit regions in Asia. There was no contact with this area for days after the tsunami hit, and it has been impossible to deliver aid or launch rescue/relief missions there so far. The pilot said he had never seen such desperation in his life. People who probably still didn't know what happened to them a week ago because their entire cities had been wiped away by waves, who had probably no access to food and clean water, and who had probably witnessed the deaths of thousands around them. The footage showed as they chased the helicopter, trying to figure out where it would land, and then, once it landed, starving men swarmed the chopper begging for food. When they realized that there wasn't any more, they backed away, saying "thank you, thank you".

It has been enouraging to see how many people in the world rise up to help others in need, and how much it affects them as well. The helicopter crew were emotionally overwhelmed after leaving the scene. Men who had joined the military to fight and protect their country, discovered that helping the poor and helpless is more fulfilling than anything else they could have ever experienced. Unfortunately, it is also at times like these, that the true callousness of others is revealed. While CNN reported on the disaster unfolding in the Indian ocean, Fox "News" focused on the leading story of the day: "US vs UN" after one of the UN's humanitarian relief officers, overwhelmed by the disaster and frustrated by the lack of an international response, questioned the "stinginess" of "rich nations". Never mind that he wasn't talking about the US in particular or that the neo-conservatives who run Fox news have been attacking the UN any time they can (apparently, even while the UN is attempting to wake the world up to the worst natural disaster of the last 100+ years). Nevermind that at that time the US had only pledged $15 mil, (half of what Dubya plans to spend on his inauguration). Nevermind that the US has mostly not paid the money it has pledged in humanitarian relief in the past. Oh, f*^$, nevermind....