So, soon after my last post I got a call from my cousin-in-law asking me if I could babysit my nephew for 5 days while her and my cousin go on vacation. I said of course I could so I was busy with that a few days after I posted. I didn't get much homework done because my nephew is a handful to manage. He is extremely high energy and the way he acts makes it hard to look after him for extended periods of time. He turns 4 years old later this year. But what also makes it hard is that he is extremely attached to his mom, which means he gets upset and cries quite often at different points in the day. He is just not an easy kid to take care of.
But I see my nephew's hard-to-deal-with temperament as a blessing in disguise because taking care of him pushes me out of my comfort zone and allows me to use skills like thinking quick on my feet. Also, as someone who had no younger siblings, I also find babysitting as an incredibly eye opening experience to what life is like for parents. I think this perspective is valuable for me - to understand as much as possible what life is like for parents, so that I can understand the intricacies of their life so that this knowledge will help me to care for them in any medical speciality in which I will be working with these populations. I think working with different populations is so valuable for medicine.
A few days after I was finished babysitting, I spent time with my mom and brother because we were going to a wedding this past weekend. It was good seeing all of the family members that I hadn't seen in a while, and the wedding was good too. I didn't do any homework during the weekend of the wedding, because I mostly spent time with family. Also, my brother lives in a Vancouver hotel with a full concierge. We went to a farewell party for the senior concierge attendant who was moving to a different property owned by the company. Even though me and my mom don't live there, we always saw him and we knew each other. He was such a pleasant man that I will miss seeing him when we go visit my brother. The farewell party was in the lobby and it was a very delightful few hours that we spent there chatting with the other residents and employees of the building, as well as family of the man leaving his job at the hotel. The refreshments there were delicious as well. My first time trying tiramisu and french macaroons. Both tasted really good, especially the tiramisu!
With these happenings going on, I've only had a handful of days where I was at home studying. But I've still been slowly chipping away at my bio course. I also have an upcoming one-time tutoring session for the MCAT CARS section. So in preparation of that, I've got my hands on the ExamKrackers prep books, as well as the old 101 VR Passages, also by Examkrackers. I\m going to review the CARS prep book, as well as complete about 9 VR practice passages as well. I really have no idea how CARS is going to go. On the one hand I hated reading novels growing up in grade school, but on the other hand I have a keen interest in reading about general topics and articles in the news, economics, politics, history, ethics, and healthcare. And I would say I'm quite good at discussing these topics with friends. I also think my tutor will provide an excellent framework as he received a very high CARS score and is starting medical school this year too. My session is at 7am on Saturday so I have to be sure to finish an adequate amount of CARS prep before we begin so that I can have a context and better understanding as to what he is teaching me. I'll post on Saturday or before about my feelings on CARS so far.
