Report of 9, 16 April 2006
Hello from the United States!
How is everyone? I had a good trip in, no medical emergencies on the flight. The Immigration authorities in Philadelphia gave me a lot of grief about my situation of living and working in India and spending part of the time here. I mentioned that I was married to an American citizen, and then proceeded to hear that I must choose between my work and my status as a permanent resident. The officer was also yelling, I guess he thought that because of my accent, I must also be deaf. The first option he presented for my situation was giving up my green card ("very easy to get it back," he said but not in writing); after I had a good night's sleep, I decided that this option would not be as easy as he made it out to be and I am going to evaluate other options. The terrorists that brought down the World Trade Center trained for the deed on American soil, and were permitted into the country to so train; the officer did not want to hear squat about my being a physician and working w/ the destitute.
It has been a glorious couple of weeks seeing friends. Ann and Phil Bagley met me at Philly airport (they had a long wait due to the above merriment) and housed me in their beautiful home, full of their warmth, grace and Ann's wonderful meals. Olivia, my residency colleague, joined us there, and it was so nice to have her; we hung out at the conference of the American College of Physicians, which was, as usual, excellent. The 3 Weiss men flew into Baltimore later in the week and stayed w/ Craig, our friend from college days, having a rollicking good manly time. All 4 picked me up in Philly at the end of the conference, and Craig, Scott and I went out to dinner that night - speaking of work, play, Immigration issues (Craig was once questioned extensively at the Canadian border prior to his weekend visit there as his passport cover had a Moroccan - ?Islamic - design on it), and other fun things. It was a memorable evening.
We took the plane to Houston the next day (9 April), had a delicious meal w/ our friends Bojie and Satchi, who had gathered all the other Coorgis in 1 spot, making it very easy for us to see everyone. We saw my college friend Latha and her family, which was nice. We then went on to spend the night w/ Tori Scott and her family; her kids, Jordan and Caithn, took our sons to Cici's pizza (considered gourmet eating by all 4 teenagers) and the adults had a lovely salad at home. Tori had also made awesome chocolate chip cookies, which we don't routinely get, and we hugely appreciated this gesture, and all the spoiling! We hung out all the following day w/ the Scotts, Tori taking a day off and Jordan unexpectedly joining us as he had thrown up all night (kind courtesy Cici's, we suspected). We saw Chris Ortiz and Amy Mendez and their cute new daughter, Anna, and had a nice dinner w/ them.
We flew to San Antonio on the 10th and my former professor, Richard Luduena, picked us up. We have been staying w/ Richard and Linda, and it's been great fun in their book-laden house. Greg Brown, the med student who'd visited India, took us to Austin on the 11th to visit Christine and Ganesh Ramakrishnan, which was great - very kind of Greg, and his company was a treat, too. Scott and I spoke at a banquet that night for the American Medical Women's Association, which we enjoyed. I started to choke up when I spoke of the goodness and kindness of the people of the United States, remembered how moronic it'd look to have the speaker bawling her eyeballs out, and attempted to compose myself. All 4 of us were present the following day when I spoke at my med school at an event kindly organised by Abraham Verghese and his crew. We visited former neighbors (Aurora and Scott Freeman, Lamont and Gabi Potter) after this, and then went to dinner w/ former professors Linda and David Johnson. We had Tex-Mex food, Linda proceeded to spoil the boys w/ Best Buy gift cards, and then we went out for ice cream. This was, also, a memorable evening - full of the genial good time the Johnsons are renowned for.
Scott flew to Cincinnati on the 13th to spend a little time w/ his family w/o the entire brood tagging along. We will join him on the 15th. I came to school and saw some former faculty - Drs. Kozue Shibazaki, Vick Williams and met our new dean, Dr. Lee Jones. These interactions were absolutely lovely and I appreciate the time everyone has made for us. We spent the afternoon watching a movie ("Love, Actually") and the Luduenas took us out for a great Italian meal. Their strength, among others, is the ability to engage our boys in conversation and they did so very well, making for a chatty time full of camaraderie.
Greg Freeman, another former professor, took me out for b'fast today and we sat and talked for a while. This is always a treat for me. I also got to see Dr. Scott Johnson and we had a great time gabbing of his mission trip to Guatemala, and the perspective it has since shed. Good fortune took me by Dr. Lois Bready's door briefly, and that was lovely. All these faculty and their spouses are so staggeringly busy that I greatly appreciate when they make time in their schedules for me. The boys are w/ the Freeman girls - Michaela, Shaunessey and Arwen - having a marvellous time.
Better wind up. More next week. Hope you have lots of fun interactions of your own.
R
How is everyone? I had a good trip in, no medical emergencies on the flight. The Immigration authorities in Philadelphia gave me a lot of grief about my situation of living and working in India and spending part of the time here. I mentioned that I was married to an American citizen, and then proceeded to hear that I must choose between my work and my status as a permanent resident. The officer was also yelling, I guess he thought that because of my accent, I must also be deaf. The first option he presented for my situation was giving up my green card ("very easy to get it back," he said but not in writing); after I had a good night's sleep, I decided that this option would not be as easy as he made it out to be and I am going to evaluate other options. The terrorists that brought down the World Trade Center trained for the deed on American soil, and were permitted into the country to so train; the officer did not want to hear squat about my being a physician and working w/ the destitute.
It has been a glorious couple of weeks seeing friends. Ann and Phil Bagley met me at Philly airport (they had a long wait due to the above merriment) and housed me in their beautiful home, full of their warmth, grace and Ann's wonderful meals. Olivia, my residency colleague, joined us there, and it was so nice to have her; we hung out at the conference of the American College of Physicians, which was, as usual, excellent. The 3 Weiss men flew into Baltimore later in the week and stayed w/ Craig, our friend from college days, having a rollicking good manly time. All 4 picked me up in Philly at the end of the conference, and Craig, Scott and I went out to dinner that night - speaking of work, play, Immigration issues (Craig was once questioned extensively at the Canadian border prior to his weekend visit there as his passport cover had a Moroccan - ?Islamic - design on it), and other fun things. It was a memorable evening.
We took the plane to Houston the next day (9 April), had a delicious meal w/ our friends Bojie and Satchi, who had gathered all the other Coorgis in 1 spot, making it very easy for us to see everyone. We saw my college friend Latha and her family, which was nice. We then went on to spend the night w/ Tori Scott and her family; her kids, Jordan and Caithn, took our sons to Cici's pizza (considered gourmet eating by all 4 teenagers) and the adults had a lovely salad at home. Tori had also made awesome chocolate chip cookies, which we don't routinely get, and we hugely appreciated this gesture, and all the spoiling! We hung out all the following day w/ the Scotts, Tori taking a day off and Jordan unexpectedly joining us as he had thrown up all night (kind courtesy Cici's, we suspected). We saw Chris Ortiz and Amy Mendez and their cute new daughter, Anna, and had a nice dinner w/ them.
We flew to San Antonio on the 10th and my former professor, Richard Luduena, picked us up. We have been staying w/ Richard and Linda, and it's been great fun in their book-laden house. Greg Brown, the med student who'd visited India, took us to Austin on the 11th to visit Christine and Ganesh Ramakrishnan, which was great - very kind of Greg, and his company was a treat, too. Scott and I spoke at a banquet that night for the American Medical Women's Association, which we enjoyed. I started to choke up when I spoke of the goodness and kindness of the people of the United States, remembered how moronic it'd look to have the speaker bawling her eyeballs out, and attempted to compose myself. All 4 of us were present the following day when I spoke at my med school at an event kindly organised by Abraham Verghese and his crew. We visited former neighbors (Aurora and Scott Freeman, Lamont and Gabi Potter) after this, and then went to dinner w/ former professors Linda and David Johnson. We had Tex-Mex food, Linda proceeded to spoil the boys w/ Best Buy gift cards, and then we went out for ice cream. This was, also, a memorable evening - full of the genial good time the Johnsons are renowned for.
Scott flew to Cincinnati on the 13th to spend a little time w/ his family w/o the entire brood tagging along. We will join him on the 15th. I came to school and saw some former faculty - Drs. Kozue Shibazaki, Vick Williams and met our new dean, Dr. Lee Jones. These interactions were absolutely lovely and I appreciate the time everyone has made for us. We spent the afternoon watching a movie ("Love, Actually") and the Luduenas took us out for a great Italian meal. Their strength, among others, is the ability to engage our boys in conversation and they did so very well, making for a chatty time full of camaraderie.
Greg Freeman, another former professor, took me out for b'fast today and we sat and talked for a while. This is always a treat for me. I also got to see Dr. Scott Johnson and we had a great time gabbing of his mission trip to Guatemala, and the perspective it has since shed. Good fortune took me by Dr. Lois Bready's door briefly, and that was lovely. All these faculty and their spouses are so staggeringly busy that I greatly appreciate when they make time in their schedules for me. The boys are w/ the Freeman girls - Michaela, Shaunessey and Arwen - having a marvellous time.
Better wind up. More next week. Hope you have lots of fun interactions of your own.
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
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