Hello all! This contract has us located in the Garden State of NJ. It’s been less eventful with the winter upon us except we did spend one weekend in the Poconos skiing and snowboarding. Gwyn bought me a beginners ski class, and thank goodness she did because I hadn’t tried in over 10 years and I was terrified. All in all, it went really well and I was able to go down a couple blue trails before the day was over.

Gwyn is from New Jersey so we have her family and friends to hang out with over the weekends to make up for the cold weather we have been enduring this rotation. I’m excited to be here during spring so we can enjoy the outdoors a bit more and I can see some of the historical sites in the area.

Since we’ve been here in NJ, I’ve enjoyed all of the diversity in the area with people from different walks of life, and foods available here are phenomenal. I finally had my first Japanese Soup Dumplings at a place called The Ugly Dumpling and they hit the spot.

I’ve realized I enjoy taking trips to Asian grocery stores just to walk around and see all of the different food options we don’t have in normal American grocery stores. I’m sure people wonder what the big deal is, but it’s life changing if you’ve never been in one. I for one, recommend everyone go at least once.

I started work about 6 weeks ago now, and I’m working at a skilled nursing facility again this contract. I like the set up as well as my coworkers, working with coworkers and patients from all over the world (in my last contract I had 2 patients that solely spoke Polish, and one here in NJ that speaks only Ukrainian). It’s been eye opening over the last few rotations working with people that speak so many languages I’ve never been around, and how we can still communicate with demonstrations and tactile cues with exercise and functional activities. Of course there are times I need translations for my advantage as well as the patient’s, but we really are much more similar than we are different. It’s been nice having that reiterated over and over since the madness of 2025 has began.

I’ll catch you guys the next trip.

Over and out,

Whit

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