My schedule will be as follows for the next 10.5 weeks. I'll work here at the orphanage on public health education stuff on Monday, Wed and Thurs mornings and all day Tuesday and Friday. On Mon, Wed, Thurs afternooons I'll be going to the bateys with Dr. Garcia and his nurse. Sarah, the Korean nurse, leaves this Friday after spending 2 years working with him so I will be "replacing" her helping out to vaccinate, take blood pressures, etc. I am excited to get to do this because it is always rewarding to go out to where people are so poor but yet so loving and gracious for your time there. I also am happy to get to work with Dr. Garcia because I know he is excited to have me with him, although sometimes I wonder why because I don't feel like I actually offer that much assistance.
Anyway, today I worked on finishing the Nutrition Unit and got most of it finished. Still have a few things to finish up tomorrow morning but hope to be done with it by lunch tomorrow if not sooner. I worked from basically 9-12 this morning so don't have much else to say about that.
After lunch, I went and played with some of the kids for a little while. Of course, my shadow found me and hung out with me a little bit but I also got to play with some others. I had a tickling match with Lisy, one of the 4 year olds here. She would lift her arm up and say "tickle me" and then say "stop, stop" and this continued on for about 10 minutes. They love some new books that Bryson's mom sent him and so they were begging for him to read "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". About 6-7 little girls sat contently and listened to him read this book, all loving it and wanting him to read it again once he finished.
After hanging out with them for a bit, I headed to Dr. Garcia's house to go to Batey Madre. This is a bigger batey than the ones I went to last week and has a lot more kids. It also seemed to be a little more established with more money than the others, but still nothing compared to even the town of Monte Cristi which is really poor to me! We vaccinated several school aged kids as well as some adults. We were inside a school room for clinic and next door they were having class. Not sure how productive that was because people were so loud where we were, screaming about getting shots, etc. I gave tetanus/diphtheria and some of the little ones got MMR shots but the nurse did those.
After we finished we went to the main clinic area and he filled prescriptions for people that he had written last week. Typically he does this on Tuesdays but he couldn't be there yesterday so we did it today. These prescriptions he wrote last Wednesday and Thursday, so can you imagine waiting a week to get your prescription, especially if you were pretty sick!? I guess some of my patients probably do that anyway and I just don't know about it!
He did tell me that he gives the patients with hypertension 30 days worth of meds so that they will come back every month for a check up. I guess what I saw before with patients only getting 20 tablets was him giving them a pill that needed to be split in 1/2 and so they really had 40 days worth. He was talking today about one of the older ladies that has high blood pressure but refuses to take medication. There is a lot of basic education that needs to be done in the bateys, which hopefully we can do this spring, because simple things like taking a blood pressure pill are things they are not educated on and refuse to do, due to lack of education.
On the way to the batey, Guillermina (the nurse), was telling me that a lady just had a baby and he was only 3 days old but had contracted neonatal tetanus. Something I'll probably, hopefully never see. But apparently the mother was Haitian and for some reason they do not like to vaccinate themselves or their kids so this is why cases of neonatal tetanus are seen. They sent the baby to Santiago and I'm not sure what happened after that.
Today on the drive to Madre, Dr. Garcia stopped by some of the other bateys to pay the women that work with him in each batey. I saw him pay one lady and she received $1500 pesos for the month of September. So that means she made about $42 dollars in a month. Not very much, although I'm not sure that she does a whole lot of work either. She just announces to everyone the day that he is coming and then she helps out by writing down patients names that are getting vaccinated or gives shots, takes BP, etc. She may do more throughout the month to help if people need BP checked or something but I'm not sure. Regardless, could you imagine making $42/month??
After Batey Madre I came back and played again with the kids before dinner. For dinner we had Mexican night. The staff was taught how to make quesadillas so we had those and Sharon brought back some guacamole mix that we had. It was tasty. We have had fresh avocados almost everyday for lunch the past couple of weeks and they are very good. The season is almost over so I'm enjoying them while I can.
After dinner we hung out with the kids on the basketball court. Odalis, one of the older boys, was riding the little kids around on his bicycle. They were loving this, although it got a little dangerous looking with 3,4,5 year olds hanging on to his back and riding around! On Wednesday nights the kids have "culto" which is a little worship service done outside on their patio area. They sang several songs together, then 3 girls got up and sang and then about 5-6 of the younger boys got up and sang. After this, Pastor Ramon told the story of Adam and Eve using two of the kids as actors and it was pretty funny. As we were sitting there at culto, the power was out and it was so dark in the sky that you could see millions of stars for miles. When I looked straight ahead in the distance I saw stars "as low as" the tops of the trees. It was indescriable but absolutely beautiful and amazing!
After culto we had about 30 minutes left with the kids and I spent some time talking with Leonel. He is a sweet kid and I hope he does well in the future!
Well that is it for today, tomorrow working in the morning here and then off to Batey Isabel in the afternoon! Saturday we are going to the mangroves where I think we swim and it looks very pretty from pictures I've seen in the past!
I'm going to try to post some pictures tonight but the internet has been so slow that when I tried last night it failed and wouldn't upload any. I got a cute one of me and Luis Alberto so I'm excited to post it. I might make it my new Facebook picture! :)
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Working Hard!
So I've been working pretty hard the past two days! Yesterday I met with Coco in the morning to discuss what health units we want to cover for the public education in the spring that volunteers will be teaching. After this we did some dental inventory! Let me tell you that dentists have a lot of tools and I don't know any of them! Pat, can you help? ;) They also have a lot of different types of anesthesia! Wow! This lead up until lunch.
After lunch I played with the kids some out in the playground. Then it was time for driving lesson #2. Let's just say that the "minibus" or guaguita as they call it here was a lot easier than the truck. It does ride a lot lower to the ground so I scraped a few times but the steering and shifting are so much easier! We drove around town for about an hour or so and stopped for some frozen juices! Such a treat in the warm weather here! Although the minibus does have A/C, a luxury you only get here while driving or going to the bank! :)
We tried again on the dental tools, searching them online but no success. Tom, the director of OO who lives in Arizone, called later in the afternoon to discuss a PA school from Pennsylvania that is interested in bringing a team in March. They have gone to Honduras in the past and want to try something new. That would be exciting to get to work with them!
I played with the kids again before dinner. The two little twin girls are little daredevils. They swing on the tree branches, climb up everything, and try to do everything the older kids do. It is amazing how all the kids are so tough and strong here. They aren't worried about getting hurt at all! Sometimes a little to daring!
After dinner, we watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua with the kids and they loved it. They love dog movies and this was one I brought down so it was new to them! We have a "plaswood" TV here, a huge piece of wood that the movies get projected onto and we set up chairs in rows for all to watch. They typically get a treat as well like suckers, cookies, jello, etc.
Merry Risa (named because she came around Christmas and Risa means smile and she was always smiling) is one of the girls here that is about 9 years old but has cerebral palsy or something of the sorts. When I first came here in 2006 she was about the size of a 1 year old, didn't talk, and was always clapping her hands and feet together to self stimulate. She was abdandoned in a hospital bed for who knows how long. So now, she is walking, talking and starting to get a little personality but still with severe developmental delays, speech problems. Last night she was sitting next to me during the movie and everytime a song would come on she would tap me and start moving her head like she was dancing. At one point in the movie there are pumas that get scared and meow like a cat and run away. She tapped me and imitated the pumas and it was absolutely hilarious but so cute!
For the second half of the movie, Luis Alberto, my baby sat in my lap and cuddled with me! He is too cute but a little jealous of others when they try to lay on me or touch me. I need to break him of this so I can love on more than one kid at a time! :)
After the movie, I went on top of our roof where it was nice and breezy and relaxing. I read some of the book, Better, which is a great read by the way, but probably not all that interesting to non-medical people. I sat and watched the stars afterwards because we are on the outskirts of town and it is so dark outside that the stars are bright and beautiful. I saw a shooting star which was pretty awesome and just finished off a great day!
This morning I got up and went running through town for about 20 minutes. It felt good to exercise! After breakfast I worked on the Nutrition Unit for my curriculum. Next week a team from Villanova is coming and they have 4 people that want to teach Nutrition so I am trying to finish that this week so they have lesson plans for next week. I got a good portion of it done this morning before lunch. After lunch, I hung out with the kids for a bit and then took a little siesta!
After siesta, it was back to work on the Nutrition Unit. I still didn't get done because this morning I did the basic outline but this afternoon I had to fill in the meat of the information which takes a lot longer!
Coco brought back spring roll papers with her from her trip home in August and had been wanting to make spring rolls for dinner one night. Well today she tried to do a trial run and I helped her out. It was pretty fun. We filled them with cabbage, carrots, onions and Ramen noodles. We also made a peanut sauce, but had to fabricate a little because we didn't have all the ingredients. They turned out to be a success however at dinner!
After dinner we had free time with the kids. I played with a bunch of the younger kids on the merry-go-round which apparently is off limits. Volunteers have gotten hurt playing on there before so I was told later I wasn't supposed to push them on this. Oops! Well anyway, they were having me push and then all jumping off and playing a trick on me. It was quite dangerous so I quit this game and went to hang out with some other kids. Of course, not too long afterwards, Luis Alberto came and found me and sat in my lap. He eventually fell asleep in my lap until one of the older boys took him upstairs to bed.
Towards the end of the night I sat with Nena who is about 7 years old. She is very smart! She was drawing in a notebook with a pencil about the length of my pinky finger! She was drawing a house and the windows she drew had window panes in them like I would draw if I were drawing a house. She also drew a tree with the fluffy cloud like top and drew circles inside that were supposed to be apples she told me. I was amazed at how many miles away kids still draw the same images. I'm sure Nena has never seen a house with window panes because those don't exist here, you don't see houses even with glass windows here, just open air shades. And I'm pretty sure she's never seen an apple tree because apples are expensive and hard to get here, the kids only get them at Christmas time. It was pretty neat to watch her draw because of the similarities in her drawings with American children.
After lunch I played with the kids some out in the playground. Then it was time for driving lesson #2. Let's just say that the "minibus" or guaguita as they call it here was a lot easier than the truck. It does ride a lot lower to the ground so I scraped a few times but the steering and shifting are so much easier! We drove around town for about an hour or so and stopped for some frozen juices! Such a treat in the warm weather here! Although the minibus does have A/C, a luxury you only get here while driving or going to the bank! :)
We tried again on the dental tools, searching them online but no success. Tom, the director of OO who lives in Arizone, called later in the afternoon to discuss a PA school from Pennsylvania that is interested in bringing a team in March. They have gone to Honduras in the past and want to try something new. That would be exciting to get to work with them!
I played with the kids again before dinner. The two little twin girls are little daredevils. They swing on the tree branches, climb up everything, and try to do everything the older kids do. It is amazing how all the kids are so tough and strong here. They aren't worried about getting hurt at all! Sometimes a little to daring!
After dinner, we watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua with the kids and they loved it. They love dog movies and this was one I brought down so it was new to them! We have a "plaswood" TV here, a huge piece of wood that the movies get projected onto and we set up chairs in rows for all to watch. They typically get a treat as well like suckers, cookies, jello, etc.
Merry Risa (named because she came around Christmas and Risa means smile and she was always smiling) is one of the girls here that is about 9 years old but has cerebral palsy or something of the sorts. When I first came here in 2006 she was about the size of a 1 year old, didn't talk, and was always clapping her hands and feet together to self stimulate. She was abdandoned in a hospital bed for who knows how long. So now, she is walking, talking and starting to get a little personality but still with severe developmental delays, speech problems. Last night she was sitting next to me during the movie and everytime a song would come on she would tap me and start moving her head like she was dancing. At one point in the movie there are pumas that get scared and meow like a cat and run away. She tapped me and imitated the pumas and it was absolutely hilarious but so cute!
For the second half of the movie, Luis Alberto, my baby sat in my lap and cuddled with me! He is too cute but a little jealous of others when they try to lay on me or touch me. I need to break him of this so I can love on more than one kid at a time! :)
After the movie, I went on top of our roof where it was nice and breezy and relaxing. I read some of the book, Better, which is a great read by the way, but probably not all that interesting to non-medical people. I sat and watched the stars afterwards because we are on the outskirts of town and it is so dark outside that the stars are bright and beautiful. I saw a shooting star which was pretty awesome and just finished off a great day!
This morning I got up and went running through town for about 20 minutes. It felt good to exercise! After breakfast I worked on the Nutrition Unit for my curriculum. Next week a team from Villanova is coming and they have 4 people that want to teach Nutrition so I am trying to finish that this week so they have lesson plans for next week. I got a good portion of it done this morning before lunch. After lunch, I hung out with the kids for a bit and then took a little siesta!
After siesta, it was back to work on the Nutrition Unit. I still didn't get done because this morning I did the basic outline but this afternoon I had to fill in the meat of the information which takes a lot longer!
Coco brought back spring roll papers with her from her trip home in August and had been wanting to make spring rolls for dinner one night. Well today she tried to do a trial run and I helped her out. It was pretty fun. We filled them with cabbage, carrots, onions and Ramen noodles. We also made a peanut sauce, but had to fabricate a little because we didn't have all the ingredients. They turned out to be a success however at dinner!
After dinner we had free time with the kids. I played with a bunch of the younger kids on the merry-go-round which apparently is off limits. Volunteers have gotten hurt playing on there before so I was told later I wasn't supposed to push them on this. Oops! Well anyway, they were having me push and then all jumping off and playing a trick on me. It was quite dangerous so I quit this game and went to hang out with some other kids. Of course, not too long afterwards, Luis Alberto came and found me and sat in my lap. He eventually fell asleep in my lap until one of the older boys took him upstairs to bed.
Towards the end of the night I sat with Nena who is about 7 years old. She is very smart! She was drawing in a notebook with a pencil about the length of my pinky finger! She was drawing a house and the windows she drew had window panes in them like I would draw if I were drawing a house. She also drew a tree with the fluffy cloud like top and drew circles inside that were supposed to be apples she told me. I was amazed at how many miles away kids still draw the same images. I'm sure Nena has never seen a house with window panes because those don't exist here, you don't see houses even with glass windows here, just open air shades. And I'm pretty sure she's never seen an apple tree because apples are expensive and hard to get here, the kids only get them at Christmas time. It was pretty neat to watch her draw because of the similarities in her drawings with American children.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Gloria a Dios (Glory to God)
So today was a day of rest and orientation for the new people that arrived yesterday. Gabriella is from Canada, originally from Switzerland. She is here for 3 weeks. Jennifer is from Michigan but was living in Atlanta working as a nanny and is here for 3 months. They are both very nice! So this morning after breakfast we did orientation, introducing ourselves and the 10 principles of OO. After this we had time to hang out with the kiddos. I went out to the playground and played for a bit before lunch.
It was very hot here today so for 30 minutes before lunch I went to my room and read a chapter in a book that was recommended to me by a past volunteer. It was written by a surgeon and it is about the three key principles in being an effect doctor/worker in healthcare. It is pretty interesting!
After lunch, I worked a litte on trying to organize how I am going to be spending my next 11 weeks. I have to figure out when I'm going to work on certain things, and also how often I want to go to the bateys with Dr. Garcia. Right now, I'm going to try to go with him on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon to the bateys and then work here the other mornings planning and writing health modules. I need some away time to not get too bored with always working at my computer!
I went out to play with the kids after siesta and talked with Leonel, one of the oldest boys here. He was in Esperanza when I used to go there and his Mom worked at the orphanage there but he lived at the orphanage instead of at home with her and his sisters. He is a very friendly, loving kid and I enjoy talking with him. At the same time, I had Luis Alberto in my lap who fell asleep with his mouth wide open. It was precious! I spent 2-3 hours hanging out with the kids until dinner time. After dinner, I showered and got ready for church.
So typically the showers here are really cold but since it has been so warm and the tanacos (large canisters where water is stored) are black the water is actually pretty warm. Not hot but warm enough and sometimes too warm to be refreshing from the outside heat. So, I'm saying this now but come later in the fall/winter when the evenings cool off and the days aren't so warm I'm sure the water will be chilly again! Also, I think it helps that there are so few of us here using the water.
The reason for my title is because they say "Gloria a Dios" all the time here in church. They talk, preach and then throw out "Gloria a Dios" in between words or sentences. Tonight there was a guest pastor. He started out pretty interesting, talking about how his uncle has killed a lot of people, his Mom was cured from AIDs, and the cops used to come looking for him and how he ended up in jail (not sure for what reason), and how now he is a preacher but then he kept talking and talking and talking. Typically Bryson translates so we understand and this guy had Bryson translate but would talk so fast that you couldn't hear Bryson translate because this guy kept cutting him off. It was frustrating and I felt bad for him. Then at the end, he called people up to the front and started praying for each one individually. He would place his hand on their head and scream in their face. Several of them fell down to the ground, it almost looked like they were hypnotized. Not sure if they were faking it or it was real, but it was bizarre! No speaking in tongues though and no snakes! :) This lasted forever. Typically we go to church from 7-8ish and we left at 9:40! It was way too long and frustrating because he was so disrespectful to Bryson who was trying to help.
We finally arrived home from church and were all sitting around drinking water at the comedor because we were so parched. Guess what we found!?? A tarantula! Luckily it got stepped on and killed but that is the first one I've seen. Not too fond of them! :)
Well that is it for today. I tried to get some pictures of the orphanage kids today and got a few but they often will cover their faces or turn away when I try to take pictures! I'll keep trying! I did take some pictures of the orphanage grounds so I'll post them sometime tomorrow for you guys to see where I'm staying.
It was very hot here today so for 30 minutes before lunch I went to my room and read a chapter in a book that was recommended to me by a past volunteer. It was written by a surgeon and it is about the three key principles in being an effect doctor/worker in healthcare. It is pretty interesting!
After lunch, I worked a litte on trying to organize how I am going to be spending my next 11 weeks. I have to figure out when I'm going to work on certain things, and also how often I want to go to the bateys with Dr. Garcia. Right now, I'm going to try to go with him on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon to the bateys and then work here the other mornings planning and writing health modules. I need some away time to not get too bored with always working at my computer!
I went out to play with the kids after siesta and talked with Leonel, one of the oldest boys here. He was in Esperanza when I used to go there and his Mom worked at the orphanage there but he lived at the orphanage instead of at home with her and his sisters. He is a very friendly, loving kid and I enjoy talking with him. At the same time, I had Luis Alberto in my lap who fell asleep with his mouth wide open. It was precious! I spent 2-3 hours hanging out with the kids until dinner time. After dinner, I showered and got ready for church.
So typically the showers here are really cold but since it has been so warm and the tanacos (large canisters where water is stored) are black the water is actually pretty warm. Not hot but warm enough and sometimes too warm to be refreshing from the outside heat. So, I'm saying this now but come later in the fall/winter when the evenings cool off and the days aren't so warm I'm sure the water will be chilly again! Also, I think it helps that there are so few of us here using the water.
The reason for my title is because they say "Gloria a Dios" all the time here in church. They talk, preach and then throw out "Gloria a Dios" in between words or sentences. Tonight there was a guest pastor. He started out pretty interesting, talking about how his uncle has killed a lot of people, his Mom was cured from AIDs, and the cops used to come looking for him and how he ended up in jail (not sure for what reason), and how now he is a preacher but then he kept talking and talking and talking. Typically Bryson translates so we understand and this guy had Bryson translate but would talk so fast that you couldn't hear Bryson translate because this guy kept cutting him off. It was frustrating and I felt bad for him. Then at the end, he called people up to the front and started praying for each one individually. He would place his hand on their head and scream in their face. Several of them fell down to the ground, it almost looked like they were hypnotized. Not sure if they were faking it or it was real, but it was bizarre! No speaking in tongues though and no snakes! :) This lasted forever. Typically we go to church from 7-8ish and we left at 9:40! It was way too long and frustrating because he was so disrespectful to Bryson who was trying to help.
We finally arrived home from church and were all sitting around drinking water at the comedor because we were so parched. Guess what we found!?? A tarantula! Luckily it got stepped on and killed but that is the first one I've seen. Not too fond of them! :)
Well that is it for today. I tried to get some pictures of the orphanage kids today and got a few but they often will cover their faces or turn away when I try to take pictures! I'll keep trying! I did take some pictures of the orphanage grounds so I'll post them sometime tomorrow for you guys to see where I'm staying.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Week One Complete
As you can tell below, I figured out how to download pictures a little faster so I'll try to put a few on my blog as I go. I'll also continue to post the rest on Kodak Gallery so you can see them all but this will help you see pictures of what I'm talking about as you read!
So I have been here one week, well almost, since I arrived at 2am I guess it hasn't quite been a full week :)
Today we went to the Institute like I said and cleaned. Everyone cleaned their classrooms, so that left me with bathroom duty! So exciting! It wasn't so bad cleaning but the smell in the boys bathroom was awful, like stale urine that had been sitting for years. And not to mention, there were millions of mosquitos in there. Well I put on my gloves and sucked it up and cleaned away! Got it "sparkling" clean or good enough for my standards. It smelled better once I was done but still unable to completely get rid of that smell. Also, the floors are so dirty with dust that you basically just mop the dust around and I'm pretty sure the floors never really got that clean but I tried, which is all that counts :)
After cleaning, Coco bought us frozen juice in a bag. They have water and juice in bags here that you drink out of and a little colmado across the street from the Institute freezes the juice bags so they are like popsicles. I had an orange flavored one and it was tasty, especially after sweating from cleaning! A colmado is a little store that a lot of people have set up inside their homes where they sell sodas, cookies, candies, etc. It is comparable to a gas station in the states I guess, a small convience store. They cost 5 pesos and right now the exchange rate is 36 pesos for 1 dollar so pretty cheap! We got ten of them, one for everyone, for a little over $1.
We went back for lunch and had french fries, grilled cheese and leftover lasagna. It was yummy!
Since I stayed up until 12:30am last night working on my blog, I took full advantage of the siesta today and slept from 1:45pm until 3:15pm! It was great! I was going to get up at 2pm and play with the kids for an hour but couldn't get out of bed! After my siesta, we cleaned the floor in our room.
Dominican cleaning is a little different than American. Here the floors are concrete so they way we cleaned the floors was by pouring water mixed with cleaner all over the floors and brushing the floors with brooms (kind of like the big push brooms, not like a regular broom you'd think of). We swept this water out our front door which pour down to the ground from a pipe outside our door. Then we throw clean water onto the floor for the rinse cycle. It was pretty fun actually cleaning this way, however, the floors get quite slippery!
So I have been here one week, well almost, since I arrived at 2am I guess it hasn't quite been a full week :)
Today we went to the Institute like I said and cleaned. Everyone cleaned their classrooms, so that left me with bathroom duty! So exciting! It wasn't so bad cleaning but the smell in the boys bathroom was awful, like stale urine that had been sitting for years. And not to mention, there were millions of mosquitos in there. Well I put on my gloves and sucked it up and cleaned away! Got it "sparkling" clean or good enough for my standards. It smelled better once I was done but still unable to completely get rid of that smell. Also, the floors are so dirty with dust that you basically just mop the dust around and I'm pretty sure the floors never really got that clean but I tried, which is all that counts :)
After cleaning, Coco bought us frozen juice in a bag. They have water and juice in bags here that you drink out of and a little colmado across the street from the Institute freezes the juice bags so they are like popsicles. I had an orange flavored one and it was tasty, especially after sweating from cleaning! A colmado is a little store that a lot of people have set up inside their homes where they sell sodas, cookies, candies, etc. It is comparable to a gas station in the states I guess, a small convience store. They cost 5 pesos and right now the exchange rate is 36 pesos for 1 dollar so pretty cheap! We got ten of them, one for everyone, for a little over $1.
We went back for lunch and had french fries, grilled cheese and leftover lasagna. It was yummy!
Since I stayed up until 12:30am last night working on my blog, I took full advantage of the siesta today and slept from 1:45pm until 3:15pm! It was great! I was going to get up at 2pm and play with the kids for an hour but couldn't get out of bed! After my siesta, we cleaned the floor in our room.
Dominican cleaning is a little different than American. Here the floors are concrete so they way we cleaned the floors was by pouring water mixed with cleaner all over the floors and brushing the floors with brooms (kind of like the big push brooms, not like a regular broom you'd think of). We swept this water out our front door which pour down to the ground from a pipe outside our door. Then we throw clean water onto the floor for the rinse cycle. It was pretty fun actually cleaning this way, however, the floors get quite slippery!
After cleaning, I had my driver's test with Coco. We drove the big truck today. It is longer than Dad's Avalanche so just imagine me driving that plus another back end on the bumpy roads. It was interesting. I think I scared Coco because when I first got in the driver's side I was confused by the pedals and asked what the gas pedal was for. I felt pretty dumb but was also very nervous so kind of out of my element. The gears are tough to shift on the truck so that took a little bit trying to figure out how to shift from 2nd to 3rd to 4th. They rarely use 1st gear here. So I started out driving out by the ocean, headed towards the beach (the large mountain you can see in one of my pictures). We passed by a restuarant and Coco said the guy sitting outside could tell it was a new driver. I think I was going a little fast over a pretty bumpy part! Oops! Most of this road is well paved and has very little traffic. We drove out to El Moro (the beach) and had to trek up a steep hill. Coco had to coach me in how to shift to 2nd to go up the hill. I still don't quite understand the whole concept behind the different gears.
After mastering the empty paved road we headed to down that is heavily populated by motos, kids, animals and large dips in the road. I was nervous and probably drove slower than anyone has in Monte Cristi in a long time. We drove around to various landmarks that we often take volunteers to and I did pretty well. I didn't scrape the bottom of the truck on the road and only stalled the truck once! I got very nervous when cars would be behind me because I felt pressured. The way to tackle the dips in the road is to drive over to the left side of the road, cut the wheel and turn towards the right and then cut the wheel and turn left on the other side of the road, angling the truck so that it doesn't hit the dips. Kind of hard to explain but I'll take a picture some day of the dips to give you a visual of what I had to do!
Some of the main roads are split by a large median so you have to cross 1/2 way, stop then continue on. People drive on the wrong side often of the split roads so you have to look both ways even though they should only be coming one way. Also, motos often zip past you on both sides so you have to constantly be watching for them on your sides especially while you are driving left, right, right, left, etc while trying to not scrape the bottom. And along with all of this, the truck doesn't have power steering so you are trying to sharply turn a big long truck without taking something out! So we were gone about 2 hours practicing driving and although it was scary at times it was pretty fun too. The roads are quite bumpy and I'm sure I would have thrown people out if they were in the back so for right now I'll stick to driving only passengers in the front seat and no one in the back. When we came back to the orphanage, Winston, one of the kids opened the gate and was pointing at me and laughing. Apparently women only drive motos here so it is weird for Dominicans to see women driving trucks. I asked him later if I did well and he said Yes!
Tomorrow we are going in the minivan which rides a lot lower to the ground so we'll see how that goes, I'll probably be scraping the road a lot more and freak out. Although this is apparently a lot easier to steer because it has power steering and it isn't as long! We'll see!
After dinner tonight I went over and hung out with the kids for a little bit. The older kids left for church at 8pm and then we went inside their comedor (eating area) and they were watching Madagascar 2 again! Luis Alberto found me after I was over there for about 30 minutes and he laid in my lap the rest of the time. I got my hair brushed by Arianni, she had one small pony tail in the front, I'm sure it looked lovely! They are all so cute and lovable!
Sharon, a 2 year leader, Jennifer, a 3 month intern, and Gabrielle, a 3 week volunteer should be arriving in the next 30 minutes. The kids are all excited for Sharon to come back because she was here Jan-June and has been home since then. They were on the same flight as the one I came in on last week and were only delayed 25 minutes instead of 4 hours! Lucky for them!
Hasta manana! (Until tomorrow) Buenas noches! (Good night)
Friday, October 2, 2009
A Day at the English Institute
So check out my picture link because I added several pictures from the English Institute today.
One quick story from the English Institute this week to add some humor to my blog. Christine, one of the team leaders, is teaching level 1 English. This week they have been learning the alphabet and she was going through and said what comes after O. One student raised his hand and said POOH and she said, is it POOH or it is PEE! Pretty funny, at least when she tells it in person.
So anyway, a little history about the English Institute. Orphanage Outreach has always taught English in the schools following some basic modules when groups have come down. One of the main goals of OO besides supporting the orphanage has been teaching English in town because it is such a valuable resource. So up to 2006, the only English they offered was some in the schools but nothing really teaching the entire language, just teaching individual words here and there and some literacy. In 2006, Nina, a friend of mine that I met while I was here for 2 months, started the English School in a house that OO rented. She started teaching local 5th graders and was still teaching this group when I came in spring of 2007. That spring, an old hotel was for sell called Coconuts (pronounced Co-Co-new here by the locals). OO bought this hotel and turned it into what is now the English Institute. They now offer classes to 5th-8th graders, so the level 4 kids are the same kids that Nina taught from the beginning. This is a free outreach that OO offers and classes are taught for 1 hour M-F. There are 2 classes in the morning and 2 classes in the afternoons, so several students are able to participate. It is amazing to see what was started 4 years ago grow into such a successful program now.
The English Institute is also used in the spring and summer to house additional volunteer groups. I stayed here my first week in March 2009 with a health group. In the summer they offer camps at the Institute, usually English camps but with a theme such as Art or something else.
So this morning I took off from health stuff and went to see what goes on at the English Institute. Christine and Vivian teach level 1, Heather teaches level 2, and Julie teaches levels 3 and 4. It was pretty neat to see them all teaching and watching the kids be so engaged. They all have a class name such as Silly Spiders, Terrific Teapots, Lovely Ladies, Mighty Mice, etc. They also all have a chant about their team and they say this at the beginning of each day and it typically ends by saying something about "Learning English is the best". These chants date back to the beginning of the English School so it is pretty neat that they still exist although the names have changed.
I walked around and checked out what was going on and helped Sarah who was working in the library. The library opens for students that want to come for the hour before their class or stay the hour after their class depending on when their class is. It is just extra English help, typically with a lesson or game to further develop their skills. The first hour we only had one boy who spoke English pretty well. He is in level 2 but apparently has learned a lot of English from watching cartoons at home. Sarah worked with him for a little while, and read a couple of books with him and then we played dominoes, a staple here in the DR. The second hour she had about 6-7 students, who were level 1 students, and she played Bingo with the alphabet on the cards trying to teach them the alphabet better. They had a lot of fun with this, and love getting stickers as a prize for winning.
After this we returned home for lunch. Coco made lasagna, this is only the 2nd time they've had it here. She is teaching the kitchen staff how to make it and while it was very good, it wasn't as good as my moms! After lunch, I played outside with some of the kids in the playground. They got/found a new puppy today that is tiny, probably about the size of my foot and they were all following it around and entertained by it. Later in the afternoon, one of the older boys Odalis who is very creative, had made a cape for the dog and he was wearing this. It was cute!
I rode into town with the group to drop them off for afternoon classes but didn't go for the afternoon. Instead I came back and worked on finishing up the health camp stuff. It is almost done, just needs to be revised by others to see if things need to be added or omitted and Bryson has to help a little with some translation of things.
After working for a couple of hours, I went back out to play with the kids on the playground again. They have a rope that hangs down from the monkey bars (which are about 8 feet high) and the kids have designed a swing by placing a stick in the bottom of the rope that is tied into a loop and then sitting on the stick and swinging. So the piece of wood they had this afternoon was pretty big and they were fitting 4 of the little girls 3-5 years old on this piece of wood and they were all swinging together. It was super cute but unfortunately I didn't have my camera out there. I wish I had because it would have been a great video to catch!
For dinner we went out to a local pizza place in town. This is nothing like American Pizza but the owner is from Milan so the pizza is pretty good! We had Mediterrian pizza which was cheese, tomatoes and fresh basil that we saw them get from the backyard. It was tasty! We did our closing then with Sarah because she leaves at 3:30am to head to the airport. Each week we have a closing with the groups to reflect on the week and share anything.
After dinner I sat with some of the younger boys, tickling them for about 30 minutes. One of the boys, Carmelo is 9 years old but about the same size as he was in Esperanza in 2005. He kept telling me, okay now I'm not ticklish, try again and he would try so hard to keep a straight face but after about 10 seconds he'd die laughing again. It was super cute because I'm sure a 9 year old boy wouldn't do that back home! One of my favorite little boys, Luis Alberto, who speaks a few things in English was out there. When we had to leave, separation time from the kids is at 9pm, I said good night, I love you and he said I love you back and gave me a peck on the cheek. He is soooo cute, I wish I could bring him and his twin sisters back with me!
We came back to the room and played Phase 10 and I lost big time. So sad but oh well it was fun! After that I tried to kill a massive cockroach in my room but only got some guts on my shoe and it disappeared. Hope I injured it enough that it won't jump in my bed tonight because I would probably scream bloody murder! We do have a large cricket that lives in our room and comes out at night. He has been named Jepedo (not sure the spelling). He jumps so far and is so loud when he lands it is crazy but he is harmless. He went next door into Julie's room (ours are connected like a hotel by a door) and I think she hurt him, he looked to be missing a back leg when he returned so hopefully he'll regrow a new leg (if they do that) and be okay.
It is hard to believe that tomorrow is Saturday and I've been here a week. It feels like I've been here a month but at the same time feels like I just got here. Time is so weird down here. The days last forever but fly by at the same time!
Tomorrow we are going to the Institute to do some deep cleaning in the morning. Things get dirty quick here with all the dust! I know I am just going to love this as I'm sure you all can imagine with my love of cleaning! :) I guess it is good for me! I'm also getting my Dominican drivers license tomorrow from Coco. She is going to teach me to drive here in the DR so we'll see how that goes. All the vehicles are stick shift which is okay but the roads are horrible with large dips and potholes and crazy drivers and motos everywhere so hopefully I pass. The roads have large dips in them to mark who has the right of way. If you have to go thru the dip, you don't have the right of way, if your street is straight with no dips, you have the right of way. No stop lights here in Monte Cristi, just huge dips that scrape the bottom of the cars if you don't turn the vehicle to the correct angle. It's like trying to get Dad's Corvette out of their driveway before they cut the curb out. Not sure I'll tackle trying to drive the bus, but at least the little minivan thing.
Go CATS! Hopefully this game will be better than the last!
One quick story from the English Institute this week to add some humor to my blog. Christine, one of the team leaders, is teaching level 1 English. This week they have been learning the alphabet and she was going through and said what comes after O. One student raised his hand and said POOH and she said, is it POOH or it is PEE! Pretty funny, at least when she tells it in person.
So anyway, a little history about the English Institute. Orphanage Outreach has always taught English in the schools following some basic modules when groups have come down. One of the main goals of OO besides supporting the orphanage has been teaching English in town because it is such a valuable resource. So up to 2006, the only English they offered was some in the schools but nothing really teaching the entire language, just teaching individual words here and there and some literacy. In 2006, Nina, a friend of mine that I met while I was here for 2 months, started the English School in a house that OO rented. She started teaching local 5th graders and was still teaching this group when I came in spring of 2007. That spring, an old hotel was for sell called Coconuts (pronounced Co-Co-new here by the locals). OO bought this hotel and turned it into what is now the English Institute. They now offer classes to 5th-8th graders, so the level 4 kids are the same kids that Nina taught from the beginning. This is a free outreach that OO offers and classes are taught for 1 hour M-F. There are 2 classes in the morning and 2 classes in the afternoons, so several students are able to participate. It is amazing to see what was started 4 years ago grow into such a successful program now.
The English Institute is also used in the spring and summer to house additional volunteer groups. I stayed here my first week in March 2009 with a health group. In the summer they offer camps at the Institute, usually English camps but with a theme such as Art or something else.
So this morning I took off from health stuff and went to see what goes on at the English Institute. Christine and Vivian teach level 1, Heather teaches level 2, and Julie teaches levels 3 and 4. It was pretty neat to see them all teaching and watching the kids be so engaged. They all have a class name such as Silly Spiders, Terrific Teapots, Lovely Ladies, Mighty Mice, etc. They also all have a chant about their team and they say this at the beginning of each day and it typically ends by saying something about "Learning English is the best". These chants date back to the beginning of the English School so it is pretty neat that they still exist although the names have changed.
I walked around and checked out what was going on and helped Sarah who was working in the library. The library opens for students that want to come for the hour before their class or stay the hour after their class depending on when their class is. It is just extra English help, typically with a lesson or game to further develop their skills. The first hour we only had one boy who spoke English pretty well. He is in level 2 but apparently has learned a lot of English from watching cartoons at home. Sarah worked with him for a little while, and read a couple of books with him and then we played dominoes, a staple here in the DR. The second hour she had about 6-7 students, who were level 1 students, and she played Bingo with the alphabet on the cards trying to teach them the alphabet better. They had a lot of fun with this, and love getting stickers as a prize for winning.
After this we returned home for lunch. Coco made lasagna, this is only the 2nd time they've had it here. She is teaching the kitchen staff how to make it and while it was very good, it wasn't as good as my moms! After lunch, I played outside with some of the kids in the playground. They got/found a new puppy today that is tiny, probably about the size of my foot and they were all following it around and entertained by it. Later in the afternoon, one of the older boys Odalis who is very creative, had made a cape for the dog and he was wearing this. It was cute!
I rode into town with the group to drop them off for afternoon classes but didn't go for the afternoon. Instead I came back and worked on finishing up the health camp stuff. It is almost done, just needs to be revised by others to see if things need to be added or omitted and Bryson has to help a little with some translation of things.
After working for a couple of hours, I went back out to play with the kids on the playground again. They have a rope that hangs down from the monkey bars (which are about 8 feet high) and the kids have designed a swing by placing a stick in the bottom of the rope that is tied into a loop and then sitting on the stick and swinging. So the piece of wood they had this afternoon was pretty big and they were fitting 4 of the little girls 3-5 years old on this piece of wood and they were all swinging together. It was super cute but unfortunately I didn't have my camera out there. I wish I had because it would have been a great video to catch!
For dinner we went out to a local pizza place in town. This is nothing like American Pizza but the owner is from Milan so the pizza is pretty good! We had Mediterrian pizza which was cheese, tomatoes and fresh basil that we saw them get from the backyard. It was tasty! We did our closing then with Sarah because she leaves at 3:30am to head to the airport. Each week we have a closing with the groups to reflect on the week and share anything.
After dinner I sat with some of the younger boys, tickling them for about 30 minutes. One of the boys, Carmelo is 9 years old but about the same size as he was in Esperanza in 2005. He kept telling me, okay now I'm not ticklish, try again and he would try so hard to keep a straight face but after about 10 seconds he'd die laughing again. It was super cute because I'm sure a 9 year old boy wouldn't do that back home! One of my favorite little boys, Luis Alberto, who speaks a few things in English was out there. When we had to leave, separation time from the kids is at 9pm, I said good night, I love you and he said I love you back and gave me a peck on the cheek. He is soooo cute, I wish I could bring him and his twin sisters back with me!
We came back to the room and played Phase 10 and I lost big time. So sad but oh well it was fun! After that I tried to kill a massive cockroach in my room but only got some guts on my shoe and it disappeared. Hope I injured it enough that it won't jump in my bed tonight because I would probably scream bloody murder! We do have a large cricket that lives in our room and comes out at night. He has been named Jepedo (not sure the spelling). He jumps so far and is so loud when he lands it is crazy but he is harmless. He went next door into Julie's room (ours are connected like a hotel by a door) and I think she hurt him, he looked to be missing a back leg when he returned so hopefully he'll regrow a new leg (if they do that) and be okay.
It is hard to believe that tomorrow is Saturday and I've been here a week. It feels like I've been here a month but at the same time feels like I just got here. Time is so weird down here. The days last forever but fly by at the same time!
Tomorrow we are going to the Institute to do some deep cleaning in the morning. Things get dirty quick here with all the dust! I know I am just going to love this as I'm sure you all can imagine with my love of cleaning! :) I guess it is good for me! I'm also getting my Dominican drivers license tomorrow from Coco. She is going to teach me to drive here in the DR so we'll see how that goes. All the vehicles are stick shift which is okay but the roads are horrible with large dips and potholes and crazy drivers and motos everywhere so hopefully I pass. The roads have large dips in them to mark who has the right of way. If you have to go thru the dip, you don't have the right of way, if your street is straight with no dips, you have the right of way. No stop lights here in Monte Cristi, just huge dips that scrape the bottom of the cars if you don't turn the vehicle to the correct angle. It's like trying to get Dad's Corvette out of their driveway before they cut the curb out. Not sure I'll tackle trying to drive the bus, but at least the little minivan thing.
Go CATS! Hopefully this game will be better than the last!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
My Address
Some people had asked for my address here and I have forgotten to post it. Packages are not guaranteed to arrive :)
Calle Altagracia #80
Hogar de la Esperanza de un Nino (this is the name of the orphanage, Home of Hope of a Child)
Monte Cristi
Dominican Republic
You can just address it to me.
Calle Altagracia #80
Hogar de la Esperanza de un Nino (this is the name of the orphanage, Home of Hope of a Child)
Monte Cristi
Dominican Republic
You can just address it to me.
Rain, Rain, Go Away!
Some new pictures are up, click on the same link below that I added a few days ago. Not too many pictures, sorry but there are some. I'll take some tomorrow of the English Institute and get more of the orphanage kids. They are so used to having their pictures taken that they are sometimes difficult to get pictures of!
So yesterday I went to batey Juliana. This batey used to be a pretty well populated batey with nice homes and a school for the children. I can remember driving thru 2 years ago and seeing people sitting outside of one of the houses playing cards. Now, it is run down and slowly rebuilding. Apparently a Haitan killed a Dominican and all the Dominicans fled. So now, it is occupied by all Haitans and when I was there in March it was all men. Now there are a handful of women in this batey and a few children. However, we drove thru yesterday and the houses that used to be pretty nice houses for a batey are empty, dirty and overgrow with weeds, etc. We vaccinated again like before, but much fewer people than on Monday. We were only there about 1 hour. Before we stopped at Juliana, we went to the wash station.
Banelino like I said grows bananas and ships them to Europe. Well they have wash stations on the farm where the bananas are brought, inspected, cleaned in these huges basins of water and then sprayed to preserve them and boxed up to be shipped. Here at the wash station is a main building where Dr. Garcia has what actually looks like an exam room with a table, otoscope, opthalmascope on the wall and medicine. A lot of the meds he has are ones left over from this spring when we had clinics. So we stopped so that he could fill the prescriptions for the patients he saw on Monday.
Each batey has a lady that has been trained by Dr. Garcia and they are like the "nurses" in their batey. They were taught how to take BP, blood sugars, CPR, and about vaccinations, different illnesses, etc. So each time he comes to a batey, he gives the prescriptions to this lady and she comes to the wash station where he fills the prescriptions. So, he saw these people on Monday, and they were just now getting there meds on Wednesday.
I got a little frustrated while we were at the wash station because the way he filled the prescriptions was to poor about 20-30 pills into a plastic bag and put them with the prescription to be returned to the patient. However, some patients had 2-3 meds and there was no labeling of the meds or directions for how to take them. Also, 2 patients received BP meds but only got 20 days worth. I'm sure he won't be back to their batey before they run out so then what will they do...just be out until he comes again. A viscous cycle that never ends! I suppose it is better that they get some but I felt so helpless knowing that they were getting 20 days worth and then done, not to mention who knows if they were taking it correctly. Also, he gave folic acid to a lady that was pregnant, but again only gave her about 1 month worth. Just think how easy it is to get prenatal vitamins in the states and these women get maybe 30 days worth in their pregnancy! And the other thing was he has a lot of meds there but I guess if he gave every pregnant woman 9 months worth, he would only be able to supply a few of them with enough vitamins. Oh and probably 80% of them can't read, so even if the meds had names on them or directions on the prescription they can't read that anyway.
So back to Juliana...I asked the nurse if the women there went to the hospital to deliver and she said they deliver there in the batey on the dirt floors. They have a method of putting their legs up on a chair or something and delivering the baby themselves. She said often times they deliver the baby, cut the cord, and go on their merry little way! And we think 2-3 days of being the hospital isn't long enough! I'm sure there are a lot of maternal deaths due to the lack of health care and a lot of illnesses that the babies have due to lack of treatment for stuff like STDs passed during delivery and Group B strep that is treated in the states. So Jo, no complaining when Baby G arrives :)
After the batey, we had dinner and then I played with the kids. Leonel, one of the older kids here who I know from Esperanza back when I first started coming, is a trip. He makes up story and is like a father to these kids. They all love him and it is very cute to see them interact. Luis Alberto, who is in my pictures drinking water out of the bag, is my new friend. He curled up in my lap last night for about 30 minutes and just laid there like a little baby. He is 5 years old and so cute. When you ask him in English, "What is your name?" and "How old are you?" he responds correctly!
Today, I went to the hospital in the morning. Dr. Garcia took Sarah, me, and the German student on a tour of the hospital. Still the same as when I have been there in the past and words cannot even describe the poverty of this hospital. Amazingly, people from outside regions/provinces come to this hospital because it is better than theirs. Dr. Garcia refers to the hospital as an "almacen", which in basically like a storage area. He was born there in 1954, the year that it opened. We saw several diabetic patients inpatient that had amputations, horrible wounds, etc. Also, we saw 2 newborn babies. Of course I wanted to hold them but felt awkward so I didn't ask! :) One Haitan lady that must have just had a c-section was laying in her bed with nothing but a sheet covering her bottom half. She was naked from the waist up, boobs lying everywhere and a doctor and two medical students standing over her rounding on her! Crazy stuff! I also got to see two of the doctors that I taught English to when I was here for my 2 months. I always enjoy seeing them.
This afternoon we finished up plans on the health camp and I think we are almost finished!
It has been raining here tonight so all the kids are inside their comedor (kitchen area). I'll probably head over there shortly and hang out with them. Last night, some of them were watching TV towards the end of the night and they were watching Benji, an old school movie, in English! You could barely even hear it but their eyes were glued to the TV like they were watching a children's movie in Spanish. Guess that doesn't change no matter where you live!
Tomorrow I'm going to the English Institute to check it out and see how classes run and help out in the library. The library is for students who want to stay an extra hour and have more English lessons for the day. It is also the only library in Monte Cristi where they can check out books to take home with them.
Dad, have fun in Indonesia if you read this! Don't get hurt with the natural disasters that are lurking! :) I'll post a few pictures I took yesterday and today later on this evening if we still have power!
P.S. For those of you that know Jenni (Racine) Gradek, she delivered a healthy baby boy yesterday. Blake William Gradek and said everyone is doing well!
So yesterday I went to batey Juliana. This batey used to be a pretty well populated batey with nice homes and a school for the children. I can remember driving thru 2 years ago and seeing people sitting outside of one of the houses playing cards. Now, it is run down and slowly rebuilding. Apparently a Haitan killed a Dominican and all the Dominicans fled. So now, it is occupied by all Haitans and when I was there in March it was all men. Now there are a handful of women in this batey and a few children. However, we drove thru yesterday and the houses that used to be pretty nice houses for a batey are empty, dirty and overgrow with weeds, etc. We vaccinated again like before, but much fewer people than on Monday. We were only there about 1 hour. Before we stopped at Juliana, we went to the wash station.
Banelino like I said grows bananas and ships them to Europe. Well they have wash stations on the farm where the bananas are brought, inspected, cleaned in these huges basins of water and then sprayed to preserve them and boxed up to be shipped. Here at the wash station is a main building where Dr. Garcia has what actually looks like an exam room with a table, otoscope, opthalmascope on the wall and medicine. A lot of the meds he has are ones left over from this spring when we had clinics. So we stopped so that he could fill the prescriptions for the patients he saw on Monday.
Each batey has a lady that has been trained by Dr. Garcia and they are like the "nurses" in their batey. They were taught how to take BP, blood sugars, CPR, and about vaccinations, different illnesses, etc. So each time he comes to a batey, he gives the prescriptions to this lady and she comes to the wash station where he fills the prescriptions. So, he saw these people on Monday, and they were just now getting there meds on Wednesday.
I got a little frustrated while we were at the wash station because the way he filled the prescriptions was to poor about 20-30 pills into a plastic bag and put them with the prescription to be returned to the patient. However, some patients had 2-3 meds and there was no labeling of the meds or directions for how to take them. Also, 2 patients received BP meds but only got 20 days worth. I'm sure he won't be back to their batey before they run out so then what will they do...just be out until he comes again. A viscous cycle that never ends! I suppose it is better that they get some but I felt so helpless knowing that they were getting 20 days worth and then done, not to mention who knows if they were taking it correctly. Also, he gave folic acid to a lady that was pregnant, but again only gave her about 1 month worth. Just think how easy it is to get prenatal vitamins in the states and these women get maybe 30 days worth in their pregnancy! And the other thing was he has a lot of meds there but I guess if he gave every pregnant woman 9 months worth, he would only be able to supply a few of them with enough vitamins. Oh and probably 80% of them can't read, so even if the meds had names on them or directions on the prescription they can't read that anyway.
So back to Juliana...I asked the nurse if the women there went to the hospital to deliver and she said they deliver there in the batey on the dirt floors. They have a method of putting their legs up on a chair or something and delivering the baby themselves. She said often times they deliver the baby, cut the cord, and go on their merry little way! And we think 2-3 days of being the hospital isn't long enough! I'm sure there are a lot of maternal deaths due to the lack of health care and a lot of illnesses that the babies have due to lack of treatment for stuff like STDs passed during delivery and Group B strep that is treated in the states. So Jo, no complaining when Baby G arrives :)
After the batey, we had dinner and then I played with the kids. Leonel, one of the older kids here who I know from Esperanza back when I first started coming, is a trip. He makes up story and is like a father to these kids. They all love him and it is very cute to see them interact. Luis Alberto, who is in my pictures drinking water out of the bag, is my new friend. He curled up in my lap last night for about 30 minutes and just laid there like a little baby. He is 5 years old and so cute. When you ask him in English, "What is your name?" and "How old are you?" he responds correctly!
Today, I went to the hospital in the morning. Dr. Garcia took Sarah, me, and the German student on a tour of the hospital. Still the same as when I have been there in the past and words cannot even describe the poverty of this hospital. Amazingly, people from outside regions/provinces come to this hospital because it is better than theirs. Dr. Garcia refers to the hospital as an "almacen", which in basically like a storage area. He was born there in 1954, the year that it opened. We saw several diabetic patients inpatient that had amputations, horrible wounds, etc. Also, we saw 2 newborn babies. Of course I wanted to hold them but felt awkward so I didn't ask! :) One Haitan lady that must have just had a c-section was laying in her bed with nothing but a sheet covering her bottom half. She was naked from the waist up, boobs lying everywhere and a doctor and two medical students standing over her rounding on her! Crazy stuff! I also got to see two of the doctors that I taught English to when I was here for my 2 months. I always enjoy seeing them.
This afternoon we finished up plans on the health camp and I think we are almost finished!
It has been raining here tonight so all the kids are inside their comedor (kitchen area). I'll probably head over there shortly and hang out with them. Last night, some of them were watching TV towards the end of the night and they were watching Benji, an old school movie, in English! You could barely even hear it but their eyes were glued to the TV like they were watching a children's movie in Spanish. Guess that doesn't change no matter where you live!
Tomorrow I'm going to the English Institute to check it out and see how classes run and help out in the library. The library is for students who want to stay an extra hour and have more English lessons for the day. It is also the only library in Monte Cristi where they can check out books to take home with them.
Dad, have fun in Indonesia if you read this! Don't get hurt with the natural disasters that are lurking! :) I'll post a few pictures I took yesterday and today later on this evening if we still have power!
P.S. For those of you that know Jenni (Racine) Gradek, she delivered a healthy baby boy yesterday. Blake William Gradek and said everyone is doing well!
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