September 20, 2010
Day 16
Today we had a meeting at the Project HOPE office. There were a lot of things on the agenda and it was supposed to be over at 11am but it went until after 2:00pm! This meeting was mainly about administrative things and some of it was a little difficult to follow. Finance is always a little tough, so putting that in Spanish is twice as hard. Even though there were only 12 people in the room (one of them being mute…hint hint Jaclyn) it was such a loud and passionate meeting. People weren’t fighting but everyone just speaks loudly and feels very strongly about things. Today we also finalized my rotation schedule for the rest of my time here. I am going to visit and spend time in various areas of the clinic so I can learn about everything. On Mondays and Fridays I will usually be in the Project HOPE office but Tues, Wed, and Thurs I will be at the clinic. I am so excited!
September 21, 2010
Day 17
I think I was supposed to go to the clinic at 8:00am today but Teresa and I ended up staying in the office for a while because she had some other things to do. During that time I prepared my questions and notes for my first clinic visit. When I finished that I thought it would be a good idea to make a list of survival words and phrases since I will be on my own Tues-Thurs and without Teresa as my security guard, nurse, mother and translator. “Can you please help me?” and “How much does that cost” are on the list of important phrases. For the worriers (Mom, Grandmas) I am not actually going to be walking in the streets alone or anything but I am going to be doing things a little more independently on Tuesdays-Thursdays.
I went to the clinic for a couple of hours today and one of the nurses, Ennie, gave me another tour. This time I was able to understand almost everything on the tour because she spoke clearly and slowly for me. After my tour I got to observe in the area where the patients come to get their weight, height, BP, etc. checked before they see the doctors. In between patients Ennie taught me about what she has to write on the charts and why they do it. Another nurse taught me (I do not think I ever knew her name, how rude of me!) how to do the various measurements. It is so hard to concentrate when there are so many cute babies so close! Actually, babies are a great distraction.
Tonight I went to a little get-together with a group of Ecuadorian ladies with Teresa (also from Ecuador). The apartment building was in an area of the city I had never been before and wow, it was so nice. There were lots of fancy restaurants and expensive stores (Bex- Cartier!) and the total opposite of where I spent my afternoon (the clinic is in a poor area of Santo Domingo called Herrera). The ladies were so nice and sure enough, I could understand 90% of what they were saying. That is 20-30% more than what I can normally understand. I realized that I can understand people from Ecuador the best. All of the ladies agreed that Dominican people are hard to understand and one lady said she couldn’t understand anything for the first few months she lived here. After that fun little rendezvous we went to my favorite grocery store and I stocked up on cereal and yogurt. I think I am scaring the family with the immense amount of cereal and yogurt I consume. Perhaps I should cut back a little. Tomorrow I will be at the clinic for most of the day and I am so excited but until then…buenas noches!
Fun Facts:
1. Since my international calling plan on my phone doesn’t work I have only been using it as an alarm clock every night. I am happy to report that I am charging my phone for the first time since September 4th. It didn’t run out of battery yet but I just thought I would charge it to be on the safe side. Either I am not sleeping enough or the iPhone is just great.
2. We didn’t have water for most of the day today at the house. I missed most of it because I was at work of course.
3. The word “cornflakes” here refers to any type of cereal. Juan Carlos wanted Cookie Crip at the grocery store but said he wanted more cornflakes. Also, the aisle in the store has the name cornflakes as well.
4. The Problem Child 3 in Spanish is hilarious. They have men doing the voiceovers for 10 year olds so everything just sounds funny.
Paz,
Jaclyn
Jaclyn
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