1st day of 'work'

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I finally got some $$ from the bank, which is releasing my money in trickles. I can finally afford toiletries - yay. Might even be able to pick up comfortable shoes at some point.

The weather was just brilliant today. After a slightly rocky start at hospital (in the midst of exam prep I had forgotten to fill out some forms) I had the rest of the day off and decided to take a walk through Central Park. While at the park, a cute little Indian toddler took a liking to me and started following me around so I struck up a conversation with her mother.

Central Park in autumn (taken from http://alwayslookingoutthewindow.blogspot.com)
 Anyway, I ended up at Wholefoods at the basement of Time Warner Centre where I finally found dark soy sauce. I'd almost given up hope since Gourmet Garage and Associated only carry light soy... while at the Asian food aisle, an older gentleman struck up a conversation, asking about some varieties rice he wanted to try. I subsequently found out he had migrated from Israel over 20 years ago and since I have always been interested in Jewish history I agreed to have coffee when he asked.

Time Warner Center
It was an interesting conversation - as soon as he found out I was in the medical field he started talking about how the system was broken and how doctors were just in the field to get rich. I didn't quite mind though because you need to know how a system is perceived before you can attempt to rehabilitate it. We then talked about Israel and how it had progressed from the biblical land of Canaan to Palestine and then to modern day Jordan and Israel.

The day ended with a trip to the bank and really, my horrible experience with banks in Australia made me that much more appreciative of the little favors bankers do for you in America. It makes such a difference to life as a whole when people don't simply look at you from the other side of the bureaucratic glass. In America I feel like I am a human - a person - dealing with other people, unlike in Australia where you always feel like you're interacting with a System that is against you.

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