It was another busy week. We started off with trying to find furniture. We made a trip to Ikea and found a nice table. We both liked it and it was the right price.
After success at Ikea we went to find a couch. At our first store we were able to find what we wanted. Within the hour they delivered the couch and hauled it up three flights of stairs. Not sure how we are going to get it down, but we will worry about that in a few years.
Tuesday, was spent working on different things like health insurance. Wednesday, Tim left early for the first day of orientation. He rode the bus system, where he discovered the real cost of public transportation. Thankfully, the nice lady didn't charge Tim the full price, or would have had to come and rescue him. I was at home killing bugs and working on teaching stuff. That evening we went to meet with the Bishop and were extended callings. It thought it was really fast. We are now ward missionaries. There was another couple called with us and it looks like there is a lot of missionary work going on in our mission.
Thursday was a busy day for Tim as well. He had orientation that started early in the morning and this time I got to drive him. Yeah for Whitney (not really...)! We made it there in one piece and then I had to drive home all by myself. The downtown medical center is like downtown Houston, but it has all hospitals. By the time I got home, which was about 10 minutes, my legs were shaking. It went better when I went to pick him up a few hours later. Shortly after I got home I received an email stating that I had been cleared for teaching and that I was ready to take the next step, which is paying more money to take another test...I totally thought I was done with all that! But, it gets me closer.
That evening was the White Coat Ceremony. They took the student oath of conduct and the Hippocratic Oath. I actually remember to take pictures, so I will not proceed to give you a play by play.
I found a seat and wait for the students to come in. After they were all seated I realized that our last name is Zimmerman and as such Tim would be very last. They started with a German doctor who spoke on remembering compassion along with the service. He said that there would be times of failure and times of triumph and that is to be expected. There isn't anything magical about medicine that makes it all okay. You have your good days and your bad days. After that, the students took the school oath of conduct, and then began the long line of students putting on the coats. I was surprised at how quickly they went. There was 241 students entering.
Here is Tim the last one in line.
He finally made it to the stage and was ready to walk on, but the announcer told him to wait.
Notice how the stage is now empty as they called his name.
If there was sound you would hear the whole crowd clapping (1000 people+).
He is getting on his coat, while everyone is clapping.
He is walking off the stage to sign the book saying he will follow the oath.
After signing all the students stood and took the Hippocratic Oath and they were finished.
UT Houston likes Mormon boys. The right photo is of the LDS students from BYU. There are two missing from the picture. We also heard there was another one from the U that was attending. In looking at the numbers that is really high. Two of the students were accepted as in state students the rest are out of state. 90% of the seats were saved for Texas residents. 10% of the seats, about 24 students, are for out of state students. So, six of the 24 students are LDS.
Friday was our last day to get stuff done. We decided that we were going to the temple on Saturday, so we cleaned, shopped, and did laundry. Saturday we decided to leave around 1:30, so we could drive the 40 minutes, with a little extra for Houston driving, and have just a little time to ponder before our session started. Yet again, we were caught unprepared. He started off great and then we started to seeing flashing signs for a road that was completely closed to traffic. FYI...all roads are major roads in Houston. If it shuts down it causes major delays. Low and behold it was the road that we needed to take and traffic suddenly stopped and proceeded to inch forward for the next 40 minutes until we could get off and try another way. We ended up at the temple 40 minutes later than we wanted and late for the session. Lucky for us, the roads were not the only thing backed up. We sat down a little after 3 and then they came and got us for the session. The group ahead of us was really big so it took longer and we were on time.
After the temple we decided to use the last of our gift cards for dinner. We were going to Chili's. Another thing we are discovering is we need to be careful where we drive. The one GPS took us to was in a very busy shopping center. After ten minutes driving around underground parking with 100 other cars, we decided to try another place. That place didn't actually exist any more. The the clock fast approaching seven, we opted for a fast food place close to our apartment that we knew was open and not in a really congested area.
Sunday has been nice and relaxing...which is what we needed. We subbed in a primary class of all boys, which was totally awesome. We also went to a missionary meeting. Next week Tim will start school and will start studying. Until next week!
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