Archive for July, 2009

Reverse Culture Shock

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

I’ve been telling people that you know you have been far away from home when your plane flies into Miami and the palm trees look normal.
Even riding home from the airport at one in the morning was shocking. 175 was so big and smooth. All of it bothered me. The sidewalks in [...]

Friday, July 10

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

I doubt I’ll have time to hit an internet café today, so I’m actually writing this by hand.
More adventures yesterday. The morning was steady but not too intense. We accepted any patient that showed up at the door. We would examine a woman and then she would ask if we would see [...]

Last Day of Work

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

So we are hanging around town waiting for lunch.  We have seen the last patient and packed up all the consulting rooms.  All of our stuff is now organized in the ‘pharmacy’, which is a lot of stuff lined up in suitcases, bags, and small plastic tables so that all wall space is used.  I [...]

Almost Done

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

I’ve got only about 30 minutes before dinner, but that’s ok, because I don’t think I have too much to write. 
I just left the hospital where I was helping explain to the night nurses (locals) the orders for each patient.  Before that I assisted in a procedure to remove a piece of corn from a [...]

A song we all can sing

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

I didn’t really delve into what I was thinking about the ‘grito en tu silencio’.  It’s poetic, I guess, so it doesn’t say anything very directly.  I guess I think about quiet consulting rooms, where no one is making a lot of noise, but there is so much fear…or how my system is on overload [...]

Friday, agotada

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

‘Agotada’ is a great word for exhausted.  I don’t quite know if they are related words, but ‘gota’ is drop, as in drop of water.  I imagine something that has been squeezed dry…
I’ve been wanting to describe the consulting room where I work with Dave.  I estimate that it is about 13 by 13 feet, [...]

El perezoso y el mono, ¡ja ja ja!

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

We saw the monkey this morning while walking to the hospital.  The hospital is about 6 or 7 blocks from where we are staying.  The people here are very nice about offering rides.  They showed up the first couple of days to drive us in, but have been willing to accomodate our desire to walk.  [...]