logo

English
                 

Life ‘Poor as a church mouse’

2020.02.18 00:37

이병붕*63 Views:165

 

Many MCV friends recall this hilarious story as a part of the reminiscence of our residency days: ‘poor as a church mouse’!

Indeed, the MCV Surgery program then under David Hume was famous as one of top 5 surgery programs throughout the country but also known to giving the country-lowest salary after Bill Scott’s Vanderbilt surgery program ( I believe the salary we received was around 9,000 to 10,000 USD per year, almost half of what other programs in New York area paid).

 

So, the good beef steaks were a rare commodity we house staffs can hardly afford and we, ‘poor as a church mouse’, all looked forward to having a feast with an unlimited amount of the steaks once a year at Dr. James Brooks’ house. Indeed, nationally renowned thoracic surgeon Dr. James Brooks, the chief of thoracic surgery, who was a typical Southern Confederate supporter, saved one day every year along the Independence Day to invite all the surgery house staffs and their wives to his tiny house to serve outdoor barbecues with specially ordered steaks from Murray’s.

 

His house was quite small but it was supposed to be an outdoor party so that we didn’t have much trouble to eat altogether till one day when the summer storm right before the party forced all of us to come into the house! When I got the steak on my plate and joined the group/crowd within the house, there was even no standing room for me but someone from the bathroom hollered me! I found quite a few boys were already there but they spared one place, that is the toilet, for me to honor as a senior resident.

 

Well, for the first time I ever had such juicy steak while casually sitting over the toilet though I didn’t use the toilet for its original function. But embarrassingly I became an instant celebrity(?) among the colleagues because someone obviously took the photo of me sitting on the toilet - I believe there was no toilet seat cover! - to finish the steak and circulated it as a roaring gossip!

 

Later, I heard quite a few boys brought up this hilarious story on homecoming days and further someone accommodated this story on their annual satire drama MCV students and residents play to honor good(?) old days as poor as a church mouse!

 

BB Lee

P.S. My youngest daughter is so interested in our gone days through MCV so that I wrote/shared this hilarious story with her.

No. Subject Date Author Last Update Views
Notice How to write your comments onto a webpage [2] 2016.07.06 운영자 2016.11.20 17768
Notice How to Upload Pictures in webpages 2016.07.06 운영자 2018.10.19 31850
Notice How to use Rich Text Editor [3] 2016.06.28 운영자 2018.10.19 5493
Notice How to Write a Webpage 2016.06.28 운영자 2020.12.23 43427
2132 코로나 바이러스가 중국의 약점을 들어나게 했다. [4] 2020.02.16 온기철*71 2020.02.17 89
2131 Art , Democracy, Freedom of Speech [16] 2020.02.15 조중행*69 2020.02.18 21357
2130 Empathy? [7] 2020.02.15 이병붕*63 2020.02.18 117
2129 영화 "기생충"을 보고나서의 소감 [4] 2020.02.16 운영자 2020.02.20 158
2128 [EPL] '손흥민 3경기 연속골' 토트넘, 맨시티 잡고 5위 점프 [8] 2020.02.02 황규정*65 2020.02.20 644
» ‘Poor as a church mouse’ [8] 2020.02.18 이병붕*63 2020.02.21 165
2126 Bats, ?Constant Threat for Pandemic Flu [7] 2020.02.20 이한중*65 2020.02.21 179
2125 Corona Virus의 과거와 미래? 겁나는 이야기? [4] 2020.02.21 운영자 2020.02.22 114
2124 Russians like both Sanders and Trump [6] 2020.02.21 온기철*71 2020.02.22 57
2123 Until the End of Time/ Brian Greene [4] 2020.02.22 이한중*65 2020.02.23 284
2122 [LPGA] '골프 여제' 박인비, 호주여자오픈서 통산 20 [8] 2020.02.15 황규정*65 2020.02.24 56
2121 Modigliani and Jeanne Hubuterne ( Un armo tragico) [2] 2018.04.30 김성철*67 2020.02.25 190
2120 중.한.일 1,2,3위; 코로나 바이러스 [7] 2020.02.23 온기철*71 2020.02.25 71
2119 Who is Bernie Sanders? [5] 2020.02.23 온기철*71 2020.02.26 9490
2118 Korean Innovation; Drive through Coronavirus check [2] 2020.02.26 온기철*71 2020.02.27 89
2117 Free college tuition for everyone? Rescind all the student loans? [3] 2020.02.26 이병붕*63 2020.02.27 65
2116 누룽지/ Nurungji, be aware!   [2] 2020.02.23 이병붕*63 2020.02.27 18853
2115 Coronavirus is definitely coming! [10] 2020.02.25 이한중*65 2020.02.27 227
2114 Corona virus may end Kim dynasty of North Korea [4] 2020.02.27 온기철*71 2020.02.28 62
2113 방탄소년단 아민정흠 [1] 2020.02.26 온기철*71 2020.02.28 87