slow down

I love being in new places and seeing how different the pace of life is between the two. Life is much slower here and choices for things are limited. There are only a few clothing stores;Buckle, Maurices and a JC Pennys. In the Buckle today I spent the first 20min of my 30 min looksie talking with the three gals working there trying to explain my journies as a PA student (sorta like Elf : through the forest of swirly twirly gumdrops and thru the Lincoln tunnel...) anywho it was rather refreshing if if the variety was less than stellar. Another notable thing today - the Herb Shoppe. Now in most big cities(especially in a hippie city like PDX) a store named as such would indicate a shop where one could find paraphernalia for a fun Friday night, but this shop was full of spices and delicious smells. There are three main streets: Broadway, 10th and Main St. You can pretty much get to everything you need if you can navigate these streets. The side neighborhoods are reminiscent of the older days, cobblestone streets in some areas, stop signs are few and far between, no gutters, no sidewalks and in some cases no mailboxes - in fact grandma clothespins her mail to the side of the house for the mailman - who walks house to house - will pick up sometime on the route. My routine in the office feels slowed down, which is nice but I like to have a little edge to my day - it's funny that my preceptor gets excited for me to see a patient with cerebral palsy (he thinks I've never seen that before) or a patient that has a complex heart history but doesn't get too excited for giant boils under people's arms or third nipples. It might be a generation thing. My preceptor is the true meaning of a family doc complete with black doctor bag. He makes house calls, he delivers babies, up until a couple years ago still did some general surgery stuff, he goes to the nursing home, works long hours and knows his patient's ins and outs (literally). It's really a slower pace of life - may not be for me, but different.

Still home sick...that's not going to change but it helps putting that in writing.