David Rocks The DAT in Vancouver

As part of a class fundraiser, the second year Dentistry class does a course called Rock The DAT where they go out and teach prospective dental students a course that helps them prepare for the DAT. The DAT is the professional entrance test that dental students need to pass in order to get accepted into a school. There are four parts to it: Perceptual Ability, Carving, Reading, and Natural Sciences.

There were some people in the class who had quite the initiative and spearheaded the whole operation to make it more successful than it has been in the previous years. We were able to send people to Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Toronto and of course there were people in Edmonton too.

I was lucky enough to go with two classmates, Calvin and Nick to Vancouver. We left on Friday, taught the class for 8 hours both on Saturday and Sunday and were home in time on Sunday evening to catch a bit of television before I went to bed.

It was my first time in Vancouver and I thought it was an awesome city. You can't beat the incredible vegetation, ocean, mountains and just the feel of the city. I had a great time there even if I was teaching for most of the time there. My dad used to do a lot of travel like this and now I understand when he says that you can go to all of these great places but not see much stuff.

So probably the best part of the trip was that I got to see some of my family, some of which I don't get much of a chance to see. My Aunt Debbie and my Uncle Bill have lived in Toronto since I was 5 or so. Until about 3 years ago, I hadn't seen them for the longest time. We've been able to see each other a bit more over the last little while but it was mostly when they came back to Edmonton for family reasons. However, they just moved to Vancouver just in the last year. Since I was in Vancouver, I visited them! This best part was that I was able to visit them at their place and that made it more special. We had an incredible dinner that included a HUGE steak, asparagus and delicious potatoes with great wine and a killer brownie/fruit dessert. Though our visit was cut short due to them having to travel the same weekend, I sincerely enjoyed my time there and would like to do something like that more often.

On Saturday night, I was able to visit my cousin Chauntille who is doing her residency in Chilliwack in Family Medicine. She just happened to be in Vancouver for two weeks for a small rotation. As luck would have it, we were in the same place at the same time. With Calvin, Nick and Kathy (Calvin's wonderful girlfriend) we went out for sushi in Vancouver. I've never had Sushi before and was a little apprehensive. So was Chauntille, being a self-proclaimed small town prairie girl and all. Nevertheless, the three other Sushi lovers made their best effort to help us out in choosing good eats. I heartily enjoyed the spicy tuna and salmon both with ginger. Ironically enough, I think that I enjoyed the California Rolls (white sushi) the least. It was a great visit too.

What can't be forgotten in all of this is that we had a great time teaching. Calvin put a lot of hard work into it and it really showed in the quality of the teaching and the presentations. I had fun doing this too.

Hopefully I can go back again in January.
1. The pool at my Aunt and Uncle's Place
2. What's on at UBC? We are rocking the DAT
3. Carving away
4. Enjoying Sushi with Calvin and NIck