Wednesday October 20, 2010
Day 47
Today I got a new assignment: prepare to give a tour to the visitors from Sanofi Pasteur next week. Now this may seem like an easy task but there are two difficult factors here. One thing is that I need to translate everything I know or will learn about the clinic in to English. The second thing is that the visitors are very important and very well educated. This company recently donated vaccines to Project HOPE so it is important that we do our part to show our gratitude. Needless to say, I spent the entire day at the clinic learning about every area of the clinic so I can describe it to the visitors at a somewhat intelligent level. One of the most interesting parts of my day was when I was learning about the check-in/payment system. Manuel (or Manuelito because his dad works there too and that is how they differentiate) gave me the lesson in his area entirely in English! He taught me about the computer program they use, how they work with the rest of the clinic and how to solve various problems. I was so impressed with his English and I finally asked him how he knew so much. He told me he learned it in his classes and I was still surprised because it was just that good.
A note about the Yankees: thank you for winning. Dad, thank you for NOT giving them bad luck at the game, for once!
Thursday October 21, 2010
Day 48
In the morning I did a little more preparing at the clinic for the tour. I visited the HIV test counseling area, the lab and another part of the check-in process. All of my lessons are short versions of what I will learn in my rotations but they are very helpful for my tour preparations. In the afternoon I went back to Obstetrics to finish my rotation there. Today I realized how many people in this area (Herrera) do not work. The doctor was telling me that people are just not motivated to work. She told me that the middle-class people are more motivated and those are the people that work long hours to provide for their families. However, in the lower classes a lot of the women just stay home all day. She asked a few of the girls/women what they do all day and they basically told us they watch TV, chat with their friends, etc. One woman had four children and didn’t work and had no intentions of looking for a job because she “doesn’t like to work”. How can you ever improve the situation if people have no motivation to do more to have a better life? Or maybe they are content with their lives and don’t see a need to do more. I do not know how anyone can ever fix this problem since it is so much a part of the culture there.
After work I went with Teresa and her family to the Dominican Fiesta. Juan Carlos had some sort of basketball tournament in school the other day and his team didn’t do very well so he and his friends wanted to practice. I took this opportunity to run on the treadmill and do some cycling. After the kids were done playing basketball, Teresa ordered them pizza and the people in the hotel let them use the sports bar area to eat. They were so nice and accommodating.
Fun Facts:
1. I bought my first item from a street vendor on Wednesday at the clinic. The banana was 5 pesos which is less than a quarter in US dollars I think.
2. Everyone shares food at the clinic during lunch and no one usually wants mine because I usually bring boring things like Healthy Choice soup. This week I brought some of Nanita’s food and everyone wanted some. I also shared my banana too. On Wednesday I scored a big piece of avocado.
3. One of the boys Juan Carlos was playing basketball with is from New York and I didn’t realize at first until he asked me in English (with an obvious NY accent) where I was from.
4. When the boys were playing basketball and eating their dinner I noticed that they randomly break into English. They all know it from school so I guess that should be expected. The funniest thing is when they imitate their female teachers, speaking in English because I could definitely picture my friends doing that at that age too.
5. When Manuel was giving me my lesson, I witnessed a very intense moment with a patient. I am still not sure why she was so angry but she was throwing a fit about something to do with the payment process. The people in the clinic were so calm, even after this went on for at least 20 minutes.
6. We finally tried the unknown fruit that Teresa picked last Saturday when we were at their friend’s house in the country. It looked like some sort of melon but when we cut it open it was more like a grapefruit. Teresa brought me a big piece on a plate to try when I was in my room talking to my mom on Skype and at first I thought it was a big raw piece of red meat (my mom thought so too). It was a little less sour than a grapefruit and it was pretty tasty.
7. Cynthia says we are going to Ruben’s house this weekend but she says that every weekend so I am not sure if that is true.
8. Cynthia tried Skippy peanut butter instead of the other kind I had (I forget which brand) that was a natural peanut butter and now she loves peanut butter. I like the natural kind because it has more of a peanut flavor but it gets kind of dry sometimes so I guess that is why she didn’t like it that much at first. I told her about these easy peanut butter cookies I know how to make and so now we will have to make those soon. I am doing my part to popularize peanut butter in the Dominican Republic.
Peace,
Jaclyn
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