Chipotle Dried my Tears

-
Seeing my parents off while I stayed in the station was one of the hardest things I've done here. We had settled so well back into our usual travel mode, that it was very surreal to not be going home with them. Now again immune to the embarrassment of crying in public, I stood in the tube station for a few minutes before donning sunglasses, popping in the elitist headphones and heading back into the city. It was pretty much decided that ice cream was in order when I remembered that C and I had stumbled across a Chipoltle which I found shocking and incredible and nearly had me licking the windows on the way past. So, I decided that an overpriced burrito was in my immediate future. But where was that? I attempted to retrace my steps for about 45 minutes before seeing it in the distance like a shining beacon of hope. I practically jogged there and excitedly waited in line, ordered my usual carnitas bowl and even got a diet coke. A-Mazing. I was renewed.

Now, I think I'm ready to declare the blogging of most recent travels over! It only took me all week! The only thing left is to find all the annoying typos. I Hope that all 3 of you out there reading enjoyed it. I do worry that the blog hasn't captured my actual life here, and has become too much of a travelogue. Which isn't all bad, I mean Bryson has produced some awesome travel writing but, to me, travel writing is completely boring unless you've already been there. It's difficult to relate a place, its customs, and its scenery to people who have never been there. And what makes good travel writing is when someone who's already been there can say 'yes, exactly!' and their own warm happy memories of that place are brought to the surface. I am, selfishly, much happier to watch a travel show about somewhere I've already been than somewhere I haven't for that very reason.

The blog promises 'this paramedics life' and although there is far less EMS than I'd like, it will be back on soon. In fact, I've recently talked with my old boss who is interested in having me back in the fall. Horray! I hope indeed that there will be slightly more to report in coming weeks than 'today I went to the library and wrote sentences.' Boring! But for now, that's what I'm doing.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I totally have enjoyed it, probably in part because of happy memories from having seen a bit of England a long time ago.
Reading about it isn't as good as being there, but since I don't expect to get there in the near future, this is a great substitute; I like your pictures too.
If you care about typos, "it's" means "it is"; spell "its" like you do "his," without the apostrophe.
Anne
16 July, 2010
Ellie said…
Thanks for the kind words and pointing out the typos. They drive me crazy! Thanks for reading!
16 July, 2010
Mom said…
Employment - sweet!!! If you only had a roof over your head!
27 July, 2010
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dueling Blogs

-
I have the immense privilege to be sitting right across from Maddog Medic in the flesh. We aren't speaking, though he is listening to me. Want to solve this riddle? He is transcribing an interview he did with me for his blog at this very moment. And I too am blogging at this very moment! How crazy?! I am stationed this week at the EMS today conference to stock up on professional wheelings and dealings and learn some stuff. This is a wonderful conference full of networking and new products and I learned already that one dose of glucagon costs $130. That's out of control! I cannot wait to catch up on disaster literature and EMS tricks of the trade and get as many free pens as I can at the expo tomorrow.  As for now, I'm headed to a class on smart stuff and pediatric breathing problems.  I am surrounded by EMS nerds and I love it! I spent the day learning about things above my pay grade such as how to read a chest x-ray and how to differentiate between subarachnoi...
Click for More

Clothing Removal

-
Image
Last week I had a patient who fell from her horse while jumping at a show. When I got there the BLS crew had immobilized her and, well, that was about it. She was complaining of neck pain and at that moment couldn't remember what had happened. I used my horsey knowledge to build up a healthy rapport with a scared patient. In general, not a lot was wrong with her. My biggest problem was that she was on the backboard and still had on all of her fancy English riding clothes. I made my best efforts to get off her button up shirt with high collar and black outer riding jacket, but it caused her pain, and then I made it worse. Worse than falling off your horse, worse than the public embarrasment of having an ambulance called for you, worse than defenitly losing your show class, was the stupid paramedic who cut off your expensive riding clothes. I, too, had never felt worse for cutting someones clothes off. She cried and shrieked and you would have thought I was punching her in the gut. I...
Click for More

The Race

-
Sometimes this job is like a race. Like you're carrying this person on your back, and it's a messy race. You're tripping and sweating and you almost drop them. It's bouncy and there's trash everywhere. And if you can just get them over that line. To the line and throw them over. Throw them over and into the ER, you're obligation is fulfilled. Your job is done. You've won the race. And for a long time, that was it. Mission accomplished and I wasn't responsible for anything else. I didn't care about anything else. Get them to the hospital.  Dust my hands off and pat myself on the back. But somehow, they crept in. What did happen?  Did they live?  For the first time I asked myself.  I began to bring them home. I put them on a shelf and they stared down at me. They said, did you run fast enough?  Did you fall?  Did you drop me?  You threw me onto this island- over your line, but was it salvation?  I left in a hel...
Click for More