What NOT to do in DC

So DC is filled with countless museums, parks, all forms of history, art and all sorts of cool stuff. But of course my most memorable experiences thus far have had little to do with any of those. So instead of the DC must sees and dos, I thought I would provided you with a list of what not to do. Of course these are all from the wisdom of my personal experience…



1. Do not pack 3 suitcases if you are traveling by yourself. Why? Because you have 2 arms.
2. Do not book your SuperShuttle from the airport for the wrong day. You get to wait an extra hour and pay for it twice.
3. Do not walk 2 miles uphill with your groceries. No matter how fit you are, this is just obnoxious.
4. Do not use the word "fun" w/o careful discretion especially when doing HIV counseling
5. Do not take the metro with people who walk faster than you/ are more aggressive than you. You will end up standing on the wrong side of the metro door.
6. Do not rely on other people to know where you are going even if you are traveling in a group. See #5.
7. Do not walk on a bridge, in the rain, when there are cars. You will get covered with water.
8. Do not show up to work soaking wet. See #7
9. Do not plan air travel w/o knowing how far the trip is to the airport. You will miss your flight.
10. Do not forget your metro card.
11. Do not try to take the bus w/o correct change because they don't give change.
12. Do not forget to brush your teeth after every meal if you have braces (or in general). Things will get stuck in them and ruin conversations with cute guys.
13. Do not get proposed to by a random guy at Au Bon Pain whose pick up line is "You look like you like to eat"
14. Do not get proposed to by one of your patients

And my personal favorite:
15. Do NOT pass out in the elevator at work during your first week. Cause that my friends is just a fail.

I hope this list will help steer you away from my mistakes and will make any future trips to DC that much more enjoyable :)

***Miles: 52.5!!!***

WoRdS

You never realize how important words are till you don't have them...

While I've been in DC I've been going to National Community Church and right now they are in a series called Words. I hadn't really though much about the concept until yesterday.



Yesterday was my first time at Bible study in spanish. I got an email on Tuesday that we would be going over the first 4 chapters of proverbs for our first meeting. Not bad right? Well, 4 chapters can seem like an epic novel when you're reading it in your second language. But I got through it and was even able to learn and hear God speak to me through my rusty spanish.

Then came Bible study. There were so many things the Lord had shown me and that I wanted to share and engage with the group. But there was a lack of words. Not knowing one word can wreck a sentance, shake confidence and interrupt a train of thought. But one word can also be powerful and can encourage and uplift and strenghten.

I'll have to be more careful about the words I choose from now on...

****Miles: 29.5!!!!!!****

Walking to Paris...

So over the last few months I've been working on support raising for my mission trip to Burkina Faso. And as it gets closer we are starting to figure out things like plane tickets (exciting!). Well, we have a layover in Paris on our way home and some of the team is extending the layover to check out Paris for the day since the tix was the same price either way. I wanted to go SO bad. But I felt it was too much of a financial burden so I said no, prayed that God would close the door and didn't think about it. Weeeeeell, the door wasn't closed... and one last time I had the chance to stay. Ok, ok. I could pass once, but not twice! I will only have to pay for my hotel (which I'm splitting with someone else) and food. Though I was still stuck with the question of where the funds would come from...

So, this is where the walking comes in... I was working on my budget and my biggest expense is taking the metro (especially to work) and I was spending $20-30/week!!! So I mapped out the route, strapped on my tennis shoes and water bottle and hit the pavement. It's a 3 mile walk each way, not too bad. Today was the first day I did it and of course it was HOT and uphill the majority of the way but I felt very accomplished when I reached my door stop. So 3 miles and $2.60 saved so far and I am so excited!

Step by step, walking with Jesus and walking the streets of DC :)

****Since writing this post on Friday I have walked 15 miles!!! I'll keep track and post my miles each week :) *****

Torpe goes to Washington!!!

First off, people actually read this!!? What!?!

Ok now that I'm over my shock I suppose I will update you all on my time in "The District". I can't believe it's been 3 weeks already!!! I live in an apartment with 3 other BU students and I have mastered the metro/ walking around the city. Me and busses are still a fail... I've loved exploring and getting involved.

But I've been keeping pretty busy. I haven't gotten to see a lot of the sites yet but here is what I have seen/done:
-The White House
-The Zoo
-I went on a walking tour of all of the embassies of countries I have been to or am going too soon
-Arlington cemetary
-Iwogima

Man that's not a lot huh?? I gotta get more on top of it! Luckily a lot of the museums and such are free here and free is my favorite price :)

I'll try to be better about posting from here on out.

Burkina Faso

You're a Pharmacist...so what????

"5, 10, 15, 20….countin by 5's and makin big money!" Hehe, I've sung this line many times in the last few weeks as I've learned the ins and outs of retail pharmacy on this rotation. Many people see this as the pharmacists only job. And let me tell you that can be really frustrating to those of us who have dedicated 6-8 years to school to have people only think we count by 5's and stick on labels. But I'll get off my soapbox on that one…

So what does a pharmacist do in the mission field exactly??? And I mean are we even necessary? How hard is it to read a name and count pills??? Sigh… Yes. To all my friends who are or one day aspire to be pharmacists, we are important and we do have a place in the mission field. Actually our place usually sits sadly unoccupied as someone else struggles to fill our place. Imagine a combination of a retail pharmacist (the chaos, the counting and checking, and did I mention the chaos!?!), a clinical pharmacist as you're often called on to dose, recommend, etc and an artist being that creativity is a must as working with a limited formulary and substitutions are a given especially by your last clinic day.

Now I'm by no means an expert missionary pharmacist. On the contrary, I am actually very much a baby. But I love it :) I love that in the middle of the chaos I can talk to a patient and not only give them their medication but pray with them. Instead of hoping that a young mother doesn't get mad when I explain that I can't give her medicine for her baby's cough, I offer to pray for the baby (and the mother's sanity cause sick babies are no fun!). In the mission field I feel like the perfect combination of pharmacist and soldier as God calls us to be for Christ. Is that weird??? Hehe, probably.

3 years and counting...

So as I was in Nicaragua and retrospective as I often am on mission trips, I realized something really cool. 3 years prior over my Spring Break I had prayed to receive Christ. So often I'm reminded of how far I've come since that day. How I went from this lost, broken, little girl to becoming a woman of God. Haha, I'm still very much becoming… there are still lots of mistakes and a lot of questions and a lot of awkward moments.

I'm humbled and amazed and soooooooooo….thankful. I'm still so very young in my faith and I have so much to learn. And I remember when I didn't know if I would stick with it, if I wanted to follow Christ for the right reasons and besides I had no idea what the heck I was doing… But God was with me and like He said, hasn't left me. Thank you Jesus.

"Me viste a mi cuando nadie me veó. Me amaste a mi cuando nadie me amó.
Me diste nombre…yo soy tu niña, la niña de tus ojos porque me amaste a mi…Te amo más que a mi vida"
(You saw me when no one saw me. You loved me when no one loved me. You gave me a name…I am Your child, the apple of your eye because You loved me…I love You more than my life)

P.s. I will try to get around to posting about my last two trips soon. I have a lot of school work to catch up on so be patient :)