hola amigos.
so i don´t have tons of time because i am catching the bus back to san antonio de ibarra (where i live now)... but here is the latest and greatest:
last night i went over to fannita´s casa (cristina´s sister, the woman that lauren stayed with last summer) and her son and i went for a tour around the hills and farm area via 4-wheeler. yes, helmets etc. were involved so chill. we may or may not have almost run out of gas, but that was a completely different story. and no, he is NOT my latin american boyfriend. sick. i know 15 people would email me to ask me that. NO. after that... we had some tea (imagine that!) and talked for awhile and then went to bed... at 11... maybe the latest i have gone to bed since i have been in ecuador. (bonus points: my bed has springs. be jealous.)
this morning i arrived at the hospital at 7:50 am... because they said a las 8 and we all know if you arrive at 8, you are late. not in ecuador. apparently a las 8 means a las 8 y 20. but whatever. we got my paperwork together and they think i am a first-year medical student... and that i am no older than 17... and yeah. there is another girl who has been here for awhile so i followed her around for a little bit and then started to figure out things on my own. i am learning lots of new fun words... and no one believes that i have only been speaking spanish for 4 weeks. which is so good to hear. yesterday was my first COMPLETE day en espanol without anyone... seriously. it is exhausting because you have to think ALL OF THE TIME. hmm. then i saw like 15 patients today... mostly in pediatrics... and the best part of the day was that i was actually useful... ahem...
i was just sitting in the room with a checkup patient and dr. muñoz comes in and is like beckoning me out of the room... and i´m thinking, 'you cannot possibly mean me...' but he did. there was a 10 year old boy who had this massive plantar's wart that like exploded when he was playing futbol... and he is from the states, visiting some aunts in ecuador... and he does not speak much spanish. so. i had to translate. and i actually did it. wabam. then he had minor surgery to remove it and stiches and stuff and we had to hold him down... but it was all good. and his aunts were super grateful. so yeah. i feel accomplished and somewhat not a pain in the butt... so that is good.
in other hospital news: the first patient i saw had monkey bites... yes, monkey bites. i was like, 'que es uno mono?' thinking mononucleosis... pero no... mono = monkey. ah. si. only in ecuador. welcome to jungle, no? the other girl was like, 'WHERE DO YOU LIVE?!?!' in spanish, of course. haha. then there was the GIGANTIC woman, like seriously gigantic, even for the states standards, it looked like elephantitis to me... but who am i? anyways. molly (the other girl) and i just watched from outside the room (she had hypertension or something) and i basically felt like i was in a foreign grey's anatomy episode... because she ran into my room and was like, 'you have GOT to see this...' so awful. but so interesting.
qué mas? no pienso hay mas... pero... manaña... for sure. (my journal has turned into a spanish-english much concotion of a language...)
later dudes. besos.
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I am going to be the first to leave a comment. It only took me a month to figure out how to do this. You really seem to be experiencing a whole new world. Some of your adversity reminds me of the way I felt at swim camp when I was 15, in Washington DC when I was 22,during my first year of law school when I was 23 . . .and following Abby's birth this spring. Each was new, hard, exhausing, stressful and ultimately VERY rewarding. Your mom always reminds me of something that grandpa used to say, "If it was easy, any body could do it." Sometimes those things in life that are the most challenging are also the sweetest. Times like these lead to the best stories and make us a little wiser for the wear. Hasta Luego!
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