Imagine

Every Thursday evening here, many of us at IU House gather for what we call "fireside chats." The topic of these chats can be just about anything: we have spoken of Kenyan culture, research ethics, the children of Tumaini, and have even watched "The Lion King." This past week, however, I particularly enjoyed our evening. The topic was "Humanities," with the idea being everyone bringing something outside of medicine that they enjoy or do or that is important to them and sharing it with the group. It was really nice getting to see a different side of all the awesome people that I have gotten to know for the last 2-7 weeks (depending on how long they've been here).

Some spoke of their family: their parents, brothers, sisters, nephews, pets. Many pictures were passed around the room, and I got to look at a lot of people's adorable dogs. It made me miss Vito, I can't wait to see him on Saturday. I can't wait to see all of my family.

Some spoke of hobbies. We have a new student from IU from Ontario who talked about hockey; stereotypes exist for a reason, but he showed us a commercial aired in Canada prior to the last Winter Olympics that gave me chills. It reminded me how much I miss sports. In case anyone was wondering, one of the reasons the Colts haven't won a game yet is because I haven't been able to watch the games. Don't worry, Chuck, I'll be back for next weekend. You're just gonna have to find a way to beat the Jags on your own today--and please do, for crying out loud. It's a division game.

We had one of the more senior members of our group talk about his loves of poetry as well as fencing. He read us a poem written by a famous poet/pediatrician, and then showed us a short clip of a fencing match on YouTube. He explained the different weapons and how each one is used for a very different style of fencing, and he spoke about some of his experiences with the sport. I couldn't help but feel like fencing was a poetic sport as I watched the video; perhaps that's why he particularly enjoys them both.

One of our med students from Brown showed us videos of two of her unique talents: an ethnic dance of which I can't particularly remember the name, and hula hooping. One of my Purdue classmates talked about his love of woodworking and showed us some pictures of one of his pieces. Another fellow Boiler played us a recording on his phone of a song he wrote on guitar. One more classmate is really into film editing and is actually somewhat of a Facebook sensation; he shared some of his work with us and even showed us a video he made for AMPATH.

Another Brown student and myself spoke of ways that we like to take a break from reality for a little while. He talked of his love of fantasy novels, which I related to very much and we exchanged some book recommendations when the evening was over. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a deep-seated passion for movies. I shared a few short clips from some of my favorite films: the wedding scene from "The Godfather" and the scene from "Billy Madison" where he is informed that his answer to the question about the Industrial Revolution is less than satisfactory. Lastly, I showed one of my favorite movie scenes of all time: Robin Williams' park bench monologue from "Good Will Hunting." I plan on watching several Robin Williams movies when I get home for obvious reasons; he will be missed.

The cherry on top of the evening was one of the new IU students teaching us origami; it might have taken some time and frustration, but I'll be darned if I didn't successfully make a crane. It might not have been the best in the room, but hey, it was recognizable.

Sometimes it's good to take a break, even for only a short time. I was grateful for such an opportunity, particularly as it afforded me the chance to take a closer look at the human side of my colleagues as opposed to the all-business side.

"Where there are many, nothing goes wrong." ~ Swahili proverb