Thursday night involved one of the strongest thunderstorms I’ve ever experienced and 2 after tremors. Dear mother nature, please slow your roll and let me get a good night’s sleep.
Friday morning I got to be in the consultation clinic with Denia the nurse and Bertha the American volunteer. Actually, Denia was out doing the books all morning so I worked with Bertha in patient intake. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her much so that was a nice change from working in the extended care office. We took patients’ money when they came (each person pays 50 lempiras, or about $2.75, for a consultation + any medications they need). I also weighed the patients if they were children. After they talked to Doctora Moncada, their files were sent back over to us and we labeled, explained and distributed meds. Bertha also gave a guy a shot in the butt and explained to me how to do it. Here’s hoping I get promoted to assistant shot giver next week. I liked being more hands on in the primary care part of the clinic and, again, it was a nice break from looking at files and pills.
Friday afternoon everyone else was working on their month’s report and figuring out their plans for next month. Since I’ve only been here a week and I don’t actually work here I didn’t have much to do. I managed to find some more pills to organize, and I tracked down some crayons so we can get extended care patients to draw pictures for us to send back to the foundation office in the States, and then I bothered everyone else while they were working. Finally, I think more to shut me up than anything, Danilo the groundskeeper gave me a fresh cut stalk of sugar cane and told me to chew on it. So that kept me busy for a good 45 minutes. I’ll be 22 in a month and I’m still placated by sweets. Before they left Friday afternoon, Dra Moncada and her husband gifted me a bunch of bananas and a pineapple. I’m a simple girl.
Everyone here has been so kind and so concerned about me being too lonely but so far that’s never been a problem. Today I went to Esmeralda’s house (she works here, cleaning and cooking etc) for lunch with her, her 3 daughters, son in law, friend/I’m not sure who he was, and 2 really adorable grandsons (Isaac and Jose). They’re also concerned about my safety and although it does suck to be on lockdown in the compound in the afternoons and evenings, it’s probably for the best. When Esmeralda came to pick me up she brought her random friend, who brought his machete, because she said we had to walk down some “risky” roads. Keep feeding me sugar cane and fresh pineapple and I’ll do whatever you say.
Just over a month to go, and I like it here more each day.
2 comments:
Catharine, I'm so glad that you're enjoying it! (Reading your entry makes me homesick for everyone I love down there.) I can just see you sitting on a stoop all by yourself sucking on some sugar cane, your eyes bulging out, and saliva running down your chin- precious!
bananas and pineapple? sounds like heaven. Sounds like you're doing alright down there....hope the rain has stopped by now!
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