Consumerism with an Arabic Twist

After at 13.5 hour-long flight, we arrived in the city of Dubai. 20 years ago, it was the desert-equivalent of a hole in the ground, yet the city has been spiraling upward like the Tower of Babel. As we rode through the city, we observed scores of skyscrapers under construction. In the looming distance, the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building (that just opened this January) graced us with its presence.

We managed to get a pleasant looking apartment-style room with 7 beds (for seven travelers). It looked amazing for only $33 dollars per person per night.

After our arrival, we dropped our luggage off and set off on a self-guided tour, which revealed two sides of the city. First, we visited the Golden Sok, or gold market, in the older part of town. The streets were full of small shops filled with crafts, jewelry, tea, and men who were eager to make a sale—at whatever price necessary. I regret not buying a silk shawl, which would have cost around 30-35 Durbon (so about 10 bucks).

After a long cab ride, we decided to return the Burj Khalifa’s initial greeting with a visit of our own to it's mall right below. The city’s aurora changed completely. Small independent shops were replaced with Bloomingdales, Prada, Starbucks, California Pizza Kitchen, etc. The prices were the same as in a New York or Las Vegas mall, except for the electronics, which was much more expensive.

Some friends of mine traveled to the to the top of the tower. Here's part of the view:

I was especially intrigued by the advertisements. Everything was in English and Arabic, including this Bulgari ad that was all over New York, now with Arabic writing.

With the financial crisis of 2007-2010, Dubai was in danger. As companies failed and people lost their jobs, construction projects have been suspended and foreigners have been fleeing the country to escape debtor’s prison. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/world/middleeast/12dubai.html)

Who knows if Dubai will continue to boom economically again—now, I just want to be in Africa.

More articles:

(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/business/global/28dubai.html?_r=1)

(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/business/28markets.html)

Flanking Vacations

I know it has been an egregious four months since my last update, but I guarantee you that WolverineDoc still lives on. This past Friday marks the end of my first year, and the beginning of summer travels and personal journeys. The time and the effort required to simultaneously conquer the course load and handle my family issues have taught me a lot about time management, confidence, focus, and drive.

This summer will present a new series of challenges: travel and homesickness.

Our medical school has sponsored a summer trip to a medical institution in Tanzania to conduct research and gain clinical experience. I’m curious to see how health care is practiced in developing countries.

Our trip starts with a “vacation.” We planned a layover in Dubai for 24 hours followed by an excursion on the beaches of Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar for 2-3days. Then, after an 8-hour bus ride to Moshi, Tanzania will our actual “trip” commence for 7 weeks. To add more spice to my journey, I’ve decided to end this experience with another “vacation” in Istanbul, Turkey, where a really good Turkish friend of mine will meet me.

I’ve never left the country before.

And no, Canada doesn’t count.

I plan to use this blog to recount my experiences. Stay tuned.

February

I haven't been able to post that much this February. It was filled with exams, stress, trips to Michigan, pre-health conferences, stress, event planning, script writing, and yes, stress. I will elaborate further in later posts.

Now, I'd just like to share an interesting wiki that describes reading chest x-rays. We just learned about this, so I'm enamored with its clear stepwise explanation.

http://www.wikihow.com/Read-a-Chest-X-Ray

What's ironic is that I find this after our exam on the thorax.

How psychiatrists determine your normalcy

What disappointment! On Wednesday, February 10, the American Psychiatric Association released a draft of the DSM V, where the controversial Gender Identity Disorder (GID) still exists.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is a book of psychiatric disorders for the use of mental health professionals. Within its pages, you’ll find “official” definitions of diseases that afflict the mind, like depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia nervosa, etc. Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and social workers use this manual and its semi-strict systematic guidelines to diagnose diseases.

It’s not perfect, but it has its uses – one of them: discrimination.

2012 will see the publication of the manual’s fifth edition (the DSM V), the first edition having been first published in 1952. The long, complex revision process involves examining each classified disorder, adding new disorders, removing unnecessary ones or altering criteria.

For example, until 1973, the DSM classified homosexuality as a mental disorder. That means before 1973, physicians, employers, lawmakers, could justify homophobia by saying that gay men and women literally had an “illness.” This monumental change granted gays, lesbians, and bisexuals a legitimate normalcy.

Today, most psychiatrists view homosexuality as a “normal” lifestyle, which can’t be said for our transgender brothers and sisters. Most people who identify as transgender feel as if they were born in the “wrong body.” They feel a strong – almost debilitating – desire to become a member of a different sex or gender. (male/female; man/woman) The current edition of the DSM (the fourth edition) classifies this desire as Gender Identity Disorder (GID). This pathologizes those who desire to change their sex and/or gender expression to become more comfortable with themselves. They haven’t been granted normalcy... yet.

This issue has sparked a movement to remove Gender Identity Disorder from the DSM’s fifth edition. Among many arguments, some claim that the existence of GID places a label – a pathologic label – on a diverse array of lifestyles. After several years of complaints, suggestions, reform, and patience, the rough draft of the DSM V still has GID. American Psychiatric Association’s disregard shows that transgender activists have more work to do.

Many mental health professionals, physicians, and activists hope the committee reconsiders the inclusion of GID before 2012 and grants transgender individuals their medical normalcy.

Resiliency

In between anatomy exams, I found time to watch African-American Lives, a PBS series that tracks the unknown ancestors of several famous African-Americans, including Dr. Mae Jemison, the first woman of color to go into space.

I’ve always dreamed of being an astronaut. After some investigation, I found an article of hers in the New York Times that discusses her experience as a black female in a white-male-dominated engineering program:

“Majoring in engineering, I would have maybe one of two or three African-American students in my classes. Some professors would just pretend I wasn't there. I would ask a question and a professor would act as if it was just so dumb, the dumbest question he had ever heard. Then, when a white guy would ask the same question, the professor would say, ''That's a very astute observation.''

These challenges are not uncommon among black students in higher education – even today. I, a black student, experienced similar issues in my science courses – seeing other students avoid partnering with me during projects, being talked down to by professors, hearing surprise/disbelief when I do well or understand a difficult concept. I know Dr. Jameson had it worse, and it inspires me to see her succeed despite those challenges.

musings on anatomy

Anatomy has petrified me for years. However, as the semester progresses, appreciation replaces apprehension. I’m starting to love anatomy. Initially, the idea of memorizing minute details and foreign Latin-based words filled me with dismay. However, once I get past the plethora of those foreign words, everything becomes conceptually clear.

I make the subject easier for myself by relating it to my two interests: reading maps and learning languages.

The human body is a map chronicling a landscape paved with arteries, routed with nerves, and bordered by muscles. That must be why Dr. Frank Netter publishes an atlas of Human Anatomy instead of a book. The intricate curves of the brachial plexus (that exists in your arm pit) transforms into the twisting asphalt of I-75, I-94, and I-96 in Downtown Detroit; only a native (like me) can navigate that mess.

Though I hate memorization, paradoxically, I happen to love learning languages (as evidenced by my former post), which involves a lot of memorization. Juxtaposing anatomy to the French, Hebrew, or Russian I’ve studied makes memorizing the complex of nerves, roots, veins more bearable.

Today, I took a shower after anatomy lab to wash off the formaldehyde. In the mirror, I traced my latissimus dorsi to the intertubercular sulcus of my humerus (arm). The nearby outline of my pectoralis major revealed the position of my serratus anterior. Looking closely, found my cephalic vein appeared by my deltoid followed it down my arm. A month ago, all these were mere “body parts;” now, they develop meaning as I learn more about myself.

We’ll see how much I love anatomy after our first exam next week.

10,000

…the number of words one learns in their first year of medical school – from aortic aneurysm to zygapophyseal joint. That’s a lot of memorization!

In lecture, we learn the terminologies of anatomists, physiologists, biochemists, cell biologists, and geneticists. In our problem-based learning (PBL) sessions, we gain a command of Latin and Greek-based medical jargon – neoplasia versus hyperplasia; dysuria versus hyperuria; not to mention BUN, CBC, EENT, etc.

Juxtaposing this to learning a new language: we are immersed within the “culture,” learn what words “mean,” memorize, make flash cards, adopt a medical syntax for the new words, etc. Quite the concept, eh?

This adds to challenges of another personal goal: learning Russian. I have my reasons for doing so. Sometimes I get frustrated with my slow progress. (Я гаворю по русский не оцен хорошо!) I use Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur (both of which work well and I will comment on their effectiveness in future posts), and though I enjoy learning Russian, it is quite different from the French and Hebrew I’ve studied previously.

I must be patient. Learning two languages at the same time is difficult.