Last day of attachment, arts and music festival

Last day of attachment
3 Boyd Tower where we spent most of our time

Prepared gifts for them..

Marcia and Catherine
They are really nice pple and I am gonna miss them!

I started to take photos of familiar sites in the hospital..
The compass which helped us find our way..

The café where we had most of our lunches at

the stall which we frequent most often

The Java coffee house which had the best coffee
Where we had our discussion/gossip session and whiled away some of our time

The 7th floor atrium which had a change of menu every day!

The staff room which we spent quite a lot of time at

After we were done with our hugs and goodbyes, almost wanted to cry, and I think Catherine teared, I had to move to Sheraton hotel as we did last min booking and there was no more rooms in Hotel Vetro

My room at Sheraton



Ready for the arts and music festival rite outside my hotel at downtown iowa with my Iowa hawkeye shirt
Hawkeye is their mascot

Arts festival 2013

And downtown iowa starts to come to live!!!

Brought their own chairs for the concert!

Nice things along the streets

More nice things...

The food section
Wide selection, including indian cuisine

Street performer I

More street performers

Yes, life is beautiful...

More nice things along the way

We combed the streets a few times...

slowly appreciating nice things along the way
If only daddy is here...

Settled down for a quick bite at the supermarket at our hotel ..
was craving for soup, hence had both clam chowder and tomato soup

The deli hot bar where we bought most of our hot piping meals up to our hotel for dinner

Pple leaving their notes on the blackboard

I left my print too...
spot it..

walked around one last time before I headed back to hotel to rest
I must say this is a memorable birthday for me
almost had a continuous 2 day birthday (both Singapore and US time)
Goodbye Iowa. A place I will remember...
A place I am gonna miss
take home reminders: slow down and be happy, we can do it..

Thurs, and i am going home soon..

Outside our hotel on an early morning after my breakfast and coffee..

Everything reminds me of my Brandon and Brian
Heartwarming...

Right outside my hotel.. if only my boys are here..

The attachment is going to end, and I am having mixed feelings
Looking forward to going home to see my family
But also sort of starting to miss this place and the pple here
Started to appreciate the nice lobby of Iowa University Hospital
This nice sight greeted me everyday once I step into the hospital

Nice things they display in the hospital

Walked around Iowa downtown city where we live.
starting to miss this little place with their nice sights and places

Bought cupcakes for the pple as it is our last day tomolo

:)

I always love to look at cupcakes

walked ard more....
This place which I felt was boring suddenly began to look beautiful cos I will be leaving...
along the street opp our hotel

This is the place we had our dinner on the first few days
Decided it was really good, and we came back again

Where the good pizza comes from
I am referring more to the real fire and charcoal there... but well I guess the chef did a great job too!

Our lobster pizza!

Seafood pasta

satisfied customers!
In Singapore, it is my bday today.. but according to Iowa time, it is not.. but I guess I can still consider this great meal my bday dinner ;p
Looking forward to the arts and music festival tomolo at downtown iowa!

A busy day

This is a day which is rather packed with activites
Settled down for lunch at the hospital cafeteria
Teriyaki chicken..
I think I have more jap food here than back home

Ended the day in the evening, followed by a dinner gathering which they arranged for us at Orchard Green
It is supposed to be quite a classy and nice restaurant

Interior of Orchard Green

My shrimp and scallop linguine... Slurrp...

Very bad lighting.. but a great gathering!
I think IOWA pple are nice and slow paced and overall happier pple!

Half day today!

We pretty much met our objectives and learnt what we wanted to
Early lunch today at the hospital cafeteria.. shared the food..

Realized we cld go off as the programme was amended.
Walked ard, got some souvenirs... then sat down for ice cream at cold stone
 

walked ard again..
appreciated nice little things

more nice things
but seriously my luggage is full and I am trying to figure out how to squeeze all the things in
hence I cannot buy any more things for the next few days..

street of IOWA

settled in a small Chinese restaurant for dinner
we tot we could have steamboat but ended up there is only steamboat buffet which is too costly

settled for a simple meal
then back to hotel
Skyped with the boys this morning, Brian asked me" mama, why u always dun want to come back from US"
I feel like going back immediately to hug them
I think he feels that this is kind of long.. as he has never asked me this before for my previous conference trips
Yes... I am looking forward to going back home..

Monday back to attachment

Attached to the Psychogeri unit in the morning, spend some time discussing on how to improve our own services
Then had an early lunch, I have learnt to order one share and split as the portion is way too big

managed to squeeze in some sinful and really nice dessert.. of cos we shared this too..

Tried to find our way around and pass by this..
fascinating.. isn't it?

liking it...

Preparing for the Magnet reaccreditation.. reminds me of JCI but less stressful
I wonder when is this coming to us...

Mesmerised by him.. he is dually trained in medicine and psychiatry, and I have not seen anyone as efficient as him.. everything at his fingertips..

walked ard a bit to look for things worth getting as souvenirs
but dun enjoy the walk as there are really a lot of small flies ard everywhere
Ended up packing dinner from the supermarket again to go with my instant noodles.
Nice... I think I had too much very sinful and cheesy food with loads of carbo, I now appreciate soupy stuff..
Typed my report, update my blog, and that is the end of my Monday..
I miss daddy and the 2 boys.
They have accepted the fact that it is morning there while it is night here, brian would turn the comp to show me the sky while he asked me to do the same...
I wanna hug them and smell them.. yes, I actually miss their smell.. haha
few more days to go and I am looking forward to going home!

Lazy sunday in IOWA

lazy sunday.. no where to go... not a bad idea to slack in the hotel..
This is something which I did not have any chance to do since the boys came into our life
Had a slow breakfast of pancake and mocha at the café
Bought back some soupy stuff for lunch back in the room.
This is the view from my worktable where I eat and surf the net and watch meaningless youtube videos and slack the afternoon away..

The bed is the other place I spend most of my sunday in... while watching videos..

Finally my dinner..
packed from the supermarket downstairs.. hot and nice stuff.. and cost according to weight.
Not a bad sunday..

Sat at Coral Ridge Mall

Coral Ridge Mall, a large mall for family..
B&B will love these...

Their playground.. safe and simple, and the parents can rest outside..

Put a coin and the Thomas will go...

Another playground.. their playground is quite diff from ours...

It is a day of shopping.. finally saw toys for the kids!!!
Both lunch and dinner at Panda Express..


Showed this to Brandon on Skype and he was delighted!

 

I skyped too late and Brian was asleep. Showed Brandon his present, and he requested to see Brian's present.

I really like it when one of the boys got a present and they will ask for on behalf of their brother
That day I went out and bought something for Brian (little something from pasar malam), and he looked around and saw a Thomas jigsaw puzzle, and asked me to buy for Brandon... I really like this kind of brotherly love!!!