the grand finale

as far as grand finales go, it was a bit odd and unexpected, but honestly, probably the highlight of my clinical experience this go around...

final eval from preceptor: "Ms. McLeod has the finest pap skills I've seen of any student in the past 3 years."

oh. um....thanks. now there's a feather for my cap. i'll be sure to take that to the bargaining table wherever i go from here.

but i only worked half day today, so as it turns out i will have time to go to the beach one more time before packing up, enjoying one final dinner with friends, and then getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to drive to san francisco. with an almost 5 year old who will whine the whole time. and an almost 3 year old who has just finally come around to potty training. this week. both of them now with solid, boogery colds. awesome.

otherwise, the highlight of my week was working with a number of patients that needed translators. one of whom was deaf. which brought on a story from a co-worker that evoked the best laugh i've had on this rotation...

her friend works at a high school just for hearing impaired kids. she was tutoring a girl after school one day and the girl ripped a huge fart, but went along studying without even a blink. the teacher couldn't help but laugh, and the girl looked up and asked why her teacher was laughing. so the teacher told her (all in sign language, of course) that farting is funny sometimes. the girl seemed puzzled.
she asked her teacher, "but you're sitting across the table from me, how did you know i farted?"
the teacher answered "because it made a really funny sound."
the girl was mortified. "wait a minute, you can HEAR them?"

it would be pretty hysterical to find out in high school that sort of privvied information in high school, no?

and now, off to the beach for the last time in what will probably be a loooong time. sigh. summer will officially be over as soon as we get back to portland. pics from last weekends adventures attached....surfing was a blast and pizza port in solano beach is hands down best pizza and beer in southern california. put it on your list if you're headed this way. kudos to keri and paul AGAIN for showing us such a great time. LEGOLAND was a ginormously huge hit, just as we'd hoped it would be, a superb theme park for kids of all ages. liam and camper had the time of their lives. best. birthday. present. EVER.