Monday September 27, 2010
Day 23
Today I had an interesting surprise at the office: a person from the US who spoke English. A guy named Doug came from the Project HOPE office in Virginia to take care of some business down in Santo Domingo. Not only did he speak English but he was a fellow Big Ten Conference fan/alumni (Penn State). I love speaking Spanish, but it is so much easier to have a conversation in English. I always feel like my brain is fried by the end of the day when I am trying really hard to speak/understand Spanish. I worked from home (oops, sorry Mom, TERESA’S HOME) for the afternoon because the wireless internet that I normally steal wasn’t working.
Tuesday September 28, 2010
Day 24
Today was my first day observing in Pediatrics and I really enjoyed it. There weren’t too many patients while I was there but I did get to see a lot of cute little babies so that is always nice. The babies always freak out as soon as the doctor gets close to them and I am starting to get used to the ear piercing wailing that is part of pediatrics. At first all I wanted to do was whisk the babies away and comfort them but that would obviously be the wrong thing to do.
After the cute but loud babies I left to go get Cynthia from school. I already had lunch at the clinic but when we got back to the house, Nanita had made my special soup so I had to have a second lunch and it was delicious. It is some sort of squash soup with vegetables and either cassava or potato depending on the day.
HAPPY 25th ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD <3
Wednesday September 29, 2010
Day 25
This morning there was a really bad rain storm. That should end the story, shouldn’t it? I mean it is rain, this is the Caribbean, it happens. Right? Wrong. When there is heavy rain here people freak out. Kids don’t go to school and people call in sick from work. An example of this aversion to rain occurred this morning when I had a “rain delay” in my clinic schedule. The person who usually drives me from the office to the clinic wanted to wait until the rain let up a little before we made the (2 mile) journey. I didn’t mind waiting but I just thought it was funny how people really start to “melt” when it rains a lot here. Note: it has rained or drizzled at least once every day for the past 6 days but this was the most rain at once we had since I got here.
Today was supposed to be my second day of observations in pediatrics but instead I observed the nursing area again. The usual afternoon doctor wasn’t there and Teresa wanted me to learn the procedures from someone else instead. Ennie, one of the nurses, gave me my daily lessons and she was great. I learned all about the charts, procedures, formularies, tables, etc. that the pediatricians use to assess and diagnose the patients. Ennie explained everything slowly (in Spanish of course) to me so I was able to understand everything. I took copious notes and tomorrow I will be able to better understand what is going on during the consultations.
Fun Facts
1. Everyone in the kitchen at lunch has food that must be heated in the microwave. People don’t have sandwiches or salads or something like that. Needless to say, there is always a line for the microwave and people share microwave space.
2. When I am making small talk with people they always ask if I have been to the beach here yet and I always surprise them when I say no.
3. There are a ton of stray dogs on the streets.
4. I have been asked multiple times if I am married or if I have children. (No and No)
5. Avocados here are HUGE and at least twice the size of avocados in the US (from California).
6. In the last two hours I have been graced with 5 new mosquito bites. The window and door are both closed in my room so I do not know what is going on.
Peace,
Jaclyn
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