Today is the day of the assasination of the Mirabel sisters and therefore the day of elimination of violence against women.
Today was a fun and different day for me. Bryson and I left right after breakfast to meet Dr. Garcia at the hospital. We are doing a video tour of the hospital to show groups in the spring because often times it is difficult to take large groups through the hospital. I interviewed Dr. Garcia asking him about the history of the hospital, how people pay, the different services provided, and what areas it serves. After his interview, he took us to find the director of the hospital, Dr. Reinoso for an interview. He hadn't arrived yet so we waited a bit for him and then went and interviewed him. He is an internist and talked about the teaching aspects of the hospital and the HIV/AIDS program/ward that they have. From there we toured around on our own some, and talked with the radiology tech and he showed up the equipment there. They have an old x-ray machine from the 1950s that looks like something out of Frankenstein!
On our tour we talked with a man who was in an accident and had a full leg cast, we saw many other men inpatient and a couple of kids. One guy got up out of bed holding his IV bag in one hand and his catheter bag in another. We got some good shots downstairs before heading upstairs. We also got a shot of the huge laundry machine and the kitchen where they were cooking. I learned today that they put plastic over the rice while it is cooking to keep the steam in to cook it more. So much for BPA worries here! They also were spraying roach killer on the counters while cooking! SANITARY!
We went upstairs and ran into a girl that was walking the hall with her IV bag in hand. She was shorter than me, probably about up to my shoulder and her arms and legs were smaller than my wrists (and I have small wrists). She obviously had some sort of genetic or growth problem. But she was very sweet and let us film her and talked with us about where she went to school, etc. She was coming out to the nurses station to watch TV, she had an extra IV pole set up by a lounge chair and enjoyed some cartoons.
We continued on upstairs, which is all women, and started talking with a lady in one of the beds. She asked me if I knew her neice, who lives in NY and studies medicine. She went on and on and couldn't understand why I didn't know her. She said we look alike! :) Her sister did marry an American but for some reason I just don't think I look like a half Dominican/half American girl!
We went to my favorite area next, the mother/baby rooms! There was a 5 day old little boy that was adorable. I talked with his Mom a little while Bryson filmed him.
From there we toured around the OR, which is quite impressive compared to the States. They make us put on gowns to walk back, but not really sure how that is keeping anything sterile! ;) We didn't finish filming but had to head back so he could teach Spanish to the Hopkins family.
After returning, I sat with Ari for a bit while she was coloring. She said something I found so funny! She was talking to Franchesca who is 4, they are about the same age, and told her that if she colored her back ugly she wasn't going to love her, but if she colored it pretty she would love her. So, Franchesca colored, not so well (remember she is only 4 and a little behind at that) and Ari said, "No te quiero" which means I don't love you. It was hilarious! Then she told me I wasn't her friend so I'd tickle her until she said, Ok you are my friend!
After lunch, I hung out with the kids for a bit. I did some coloring and was disappointed in my lack of coloring skills. I used to think I was good, but now I'm not!
I headed out to Batey Maguaca today with the crew and gave some vaccinations. I took some decent pictures. One boy had gone fishing and had about 8 fish that I got a picture of, got a garland Christmas tree, and some other shots of people.
Tonight we had activity night with the kids and had them over to our side to play games. I played Candyland several times with Mancho and won twice even though he kept cheating. He would rig it so he advanced to the end with the princess card and I'd go back to the beginning. But I still won because he'd draw another card that would send him backwards! We had puzzles, Jenga, coloring, Betty Spaghetti and other games out for about an hour.
Wednesday night is always culto, the little worship service on the patio so we went over there to participate in this. Luz Maria fell asleep on my lap and she snores louder than a grown man. Apparently she had a true problem with her sinuses so she snores crazy loud! After culto I spent a little time with Carolina before heading to my room because of the mosquitos.
A couple more things that I forgot from the past couple of days. Two nights ago I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth and saw in the window a tarantula about the size of an egg, maybe a little bigger. We have screens on our window so it couldn't come in but it still was gross! I softly screamed and had Heather come to look at it. I stood in the corner while she looked through the screen and said "Wow you can see how fuzzy it is!". Meanwhile I wasn't too entertained but she blew on it to see what it would do and apparently they don't hold on and it fell over the wall! Oops! :) We put up some toilet paper in the area where the screen is not completely intact with the wall and covered it with duct tape. Didn't want any chance of that thing squeezing thru, if it didn't fall to its death before that.
Then, the next morning I was running down the street working out and by the sewer drain, which I was closest to out of the 3 in my group, there was an even bigger tranatula! I did a few high knees and quickly moved over to the right. Bryson got a stick to see if he could get it to bite because he could see its teeth! It scurried down the crack in the drain and we continued on. In my 8 other trips, I had maybe seen 1-2 of these, but I guess being here longer you see more! :)
Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow! I'm jealous somewhat of the great food everyone will be enjoying! We are having dinner with the kids which will be fun, but not all the same food :( I hope everyone enjoys their day off work and time with friends and family and enjoying great food!
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