I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep you guys updated about my totally awesome life here in Santo Domingo for this past week. I've been super busy, and enjoying everything I can. I can't believe that it's already been 5 weeks and I'll be back in the States tomorrow. I just finished packing, and it was quite depressing to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be going home. BUT, I absolutely love it here and there are many things that I'm going to miss. We're having a big barbecue tonight (although I'm sure there won't actually be any BBQ), and I just know I'm going to cry. It sucks having to say bye to all of these people who truly have become my family. Not only that, it's going to be hard having to wake up everyday in Texas - where the closest PRETTY beach is more than a 10 minute drive. What am I going to do without white sandy beaches, palm trees, and umbrella drinks?!
Anyway, I don't want to spend any more time on my computer - I wanna cherish the last few hours I have here. On that note, I hope you guys enjoyed reading about my crazy time here in the Dominican. Love you all and hope to see you soon! xoxo
Monday, June 25, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Días 27 y 28
I can't believe it - our last week en el hospital!
Since it's our last week, we pretty much get to go wherever we want. We start off by heading to surgery, but there really isn't anything that we haven't seen. Sadly, radiology was the same as well. After this less than memorable day, we pretty much want to just end our work week today. I mean, why keep going back to a place where we don't get to do anything anyway!
Thank goodness we actually did go back on Tuesday - one of the best work days in a long time! We went to surgery, only because we knew one of our favorite doctors, Carlos, would be there. He has been doing his rotations en quemado, but he was going to cirugía to help with some reconstructive surgery for the burn victims. Entonces, we get there and find him in quirofano 6, helping another doctor with something we had never seen before. This little child was born with 6 fingers on each hand as well as 6 toes on one of her feet. We were under the impression that there weren't actually any bones in the extra phalanges, because the doctor simply cut them off...with scissors. During this whole procedure, we were talking to and getting to know the doctor a little better. We simply asked him if we could help out with the next procedures, and he told us absolutely! There were 3 surgeries coming up, each of which required a skin graft - and there are 3 of us. How perfect!? I won't bore you with all of the gory details, but to sum it up: each of the 3 children had burns of different sizes and severities, and each had a skin graft taken from their thigh to be used to replace the damaged skin of the burn. All of us got to help out in different ways, whether it was holding tools or body parts or severing nerve endings. It was pretty cool to watch and help with. I had never seen a skin graft before, but you know those things you use to cut slices of cheese - the ones that you usually use on velveta? Well, that's what it reminded me of - just shaving off a thin layer of skin from the leg. Pretty crazy!
After work, we decided to head up to the park to play kickball and/or frisbee. Well since there are only 6 of us, we asked the local kids to play with us. Naturally, they said no. Instead, they asked us to play fútbol with them. Those of you hat know me pretty well, know that I am absolutely awful at soccer. Luckily, I didn't get hit in the face or anything too bad - just took one in the chest that wasn't exactly pain free. But, it was a lot of fun and we're thinking about going to play with them again tonight (Thursday)!
Since it's our last week, we pretty much get to go wherever we want. We start off by heading to surgery, but there really isn't anything that we haven't seen. Sadly, radiology was the same as well. After this less than memorable day, we pretty much want to just end our work week today. I mean, why keep going back to a place where we don't get to do anything anyway!
Thank goodness we actually did go back on Tuesday - one of the best work days in a long time! We went to surgery, only because we knew one of our favorite doctors, Carlos, would be there. He has been doing his rotations en quemado, but he was going to cirugía to help with some reconstructive surgery for the burn victims. Entonces, we get there and find him in quirofano 6, helping another doctor with something we had never seen before. This little child was born with 6 fingers on each hand as well as 6 toes on one of her feet. We were under the impression that there weren't actually any bones in the extra phalanges, because the doctor simply cut them off...with scissors. During this whole procedure, we were talking to and getting to know the doctor a little better. We simply asked him if we could help out with the next procedures, and he told us absolutely! There were 3 surgeries coming up, each of which required a skin graft - and there are 3 of us. How perfect!? I won't bore you with all of the gory details, but to sum it up: each of the 3 children had burns of different sizes and severities, and each had a skin graft taken from their thigh to be used to replace the damaged skin of the burn. All of us got to help out in different ways, whether it was holding tools or body parts or severing nerve endings. It was pretty cool to watch and help with. I had never seen a skin graft before, but you know those things you use to cut slices of cheese - the ones that you usually use on velveta? Well, that's what it reminded me of - just shaving off a thin layer of skin from the leg. Pretty crazy!
After work, we decided to head up to the park to play kickball and/or frisbee. Well since there are only 6 of us, we asked the local kids to play with us. Naturally, they said no. Instead, they asked us to play fútbol with them. Those of you hat know me pretty well, know that I am absolutely awful at soccer. Luckily, I didn't get hit in the face or anything too bad - just took one in the chest that wasn't exactly pain free. But, it was a lot of fun and we're thinking about going to play with them again tonight (Thursday)!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Día 26
I finally got to go to church!
Like all new things in this country, church was quite an experience. First of all, the Church is usually a place where I feel like I always fit in. Well, I seriously felt so out of place. As usual, people were staring at us and whispering about us. On top of that, Mass started a las doce, but when we got there 5 minutes before, the church was hardly full at all. Me and Christina were super confused, but just waited for the mass to begin. Well once it started (which was surprisingly on time), people were still showing up - all the way until after the Gospel was over! I honestly couldn't believe it! Entonces, I know all of the responses throughout mass, but since everyone around me was saying everything in Spanish, it made it super difficult to focus on what I was saying - what I know by heart in English. Mass continues, and it comes time to offer peace to those around you. It was like a 10 minute party, no joke. Everyone was walking around the church, catching up with friends, having conversations, etc. After that, once it was time for communion, it was like a "free-for-all". There is usually some form of order when people receive the host, but it was kind of like, "If you want Jesus, go get you some Jesus!" People would just get up and rush to the line to receive the host, but then others just sat there and looked around for this 10 minute process. Also, there is typically wine that comes with the host - nope. Only for the Priest. It was just all a very strange experience.
The rest of our afternoon was quite relaxing. We went to the Blue Mall and saw Madagascar 3 - in Spanish! Honestly, I think it was funnier in Spanish than it would have been in English. Things don't exactly translate perfectly to Spanish, and it was pretty evident. But very funny! After that, we treated ourselves to and expensive dinner at a Spanish restaurant - mostly a Tapas Bar. Check it out!
Like all new things in this country, church was quite an experience. First of all, the Church is usually a place where I feel like I always fit in. Well, I seriously felt so out of place. As usual, people were staring at us and whispering about us. On top of that, Mass started a las doce, but when we got there 5 minutes before, the church was hardly full at all. Me and Christina were super confused, but just waited for the mass to begin. Well once it started (which was surprisingly on time), people were still showing up - all the way until after the Gospel was over! I honestly couldn't believe it! Entonces, I know all of the responses throughout mass, but since everyone around me was saying everything in Spanish, it made it super difficult to focus on what I was saying - what I know by heart in English. Mass continues, and it comes time to offer peace to those around you. It was like a 10 minute party, no joke. Everyone was walking around the church, catching up with friends, having conversations, etc. After that, once it was time for communion, it was like a "free-for-all". There is usually some form of order when people receive the host, but it was kind of like, "If you want Jesus, go get you some Jesus!" People would just get up and rush to the line to receive the host, but then others just sat there and looked around for this 10 minute process. Also, there is typically wine that comes with the host - nope. Only for the Priest. It was just all a very strange experience.
The rest of our afternoon was quite relaxing. We went to the Blue Mall and saw Madagascar 3 - in Spanish! Honestly, I think it was funnier in Spanish than it would have been in English. Things don't exactly translate perfectly to Spanish, and it was pretty evident. But very funny! After that, we treated ourselves to and expensive dinner at a Spanish restaurant - mostly a Tapas Bar. Check it out!
Día 25
Unlike Friday, Saturday was "blog-worthy!"
We got up around 9 on Saturday and wanted to head to La Zona Colonial to do some shopping. We went when we first got to the Dominican, but Aaron didn't get to come with us the first time and he really wanted to check it out. Well, I don't know if you guys have ever been to Chinatown, but this was like the Dominican version of that. Tons of shops with people yelling at you and telling you "we give you good price", and asking you to come see what else they have upstairs, blah blah blah. It was very overwhelming, to say the least! We pretty much got out of that area as fast as we could, and headed to the La Primera Catedral de las Americas (The First Cathedral of the Americas). I have never really been disrespected at a church, but there's a first time for everything. Last time we went to the Cathedral, we didn't have to pay for the skirts to cover our legs. Well, this guy was clearly doing anything he could for money. We walk up to get our skirts, and he just looks away from us as if we aren't good enough. A staring contest ensues, and a few minutes later he shoves the skirts in our face and tells us, "three skirts, three dollars." We look at each other, look at him, and explain that we didn't have to pay last time and refuse to pay this time. He repeats the price, and we decide that it's simply not worth the fight or the money. How unfortunate though, I mean...this is a church!
Anyway, we head over to a local restaurant en la plaza and had a nice three hour lunch. Our group just hung out and talked about our trip thus far - favorite experiences, what we'll miss the most, what we won't miss, etc. Well, I would have to say that my most favorite experience was when we went to the mountains, to Jarabacoa. It was just a beautiful city, and an extremely tranquillo (tranquil/peaceful) getaway. I'll miss the easy going way of life the most, by far. Everything here is just "fly by the seat of your pants", no schedules, nothing is ever on time. It truly is island time, and I surprisingly love it. I won't be ready to go back to the fast paced life of the US - always having to be on time...ahh! BUT, on the other hand, I will be ready to be back in a country where people aren't always staring at you. I almost have to give them credit for how much they can stare, and honestly not care that they're staring. Usually when you're staring at someone and they look at you, you'll look away. Not here. They seriously just keep staring until you look away. Pretty impressive actually!
A few weeks back, we bought tickets for a concert, and it was that night! Funny story - we asked our taxi driver what time the concert started. Well, he says "Juan Luis, well he is Christian. He say he start at 8, he start at 8. He no es Dominicana, he is Christian. So he start at 8." We were all just taken aback - their perception of things is just so funny to us! But anyway, we head to the house to get ready for the Juan Luis Guerra concert, and head over around 530 or so. We didn't have seats, only tickets for standing room en el terrano, which was actually the best idea ever. It ended up starting to pour down rain (like border-line-hurricance!), but that didn't stop us or the locals from singing and dancing until the rain got to be too much. The equipment wasn't exactly working properly, so we figured it was time to go. Well, our ride wasn't going to get there for about 20 or 30 minutes, so we headed to the park to pass the time. So I decided to go down the slide - naturally I went down a little to fast and of course fell straight on my butt and ended up covering myself in dirt. Typical me. But, other than that, it was an amazing experience! I mean, how often do you get to see the most famous Dominican artist in his own country!?
We got up around 9 on Saturday and wanted to head to La Zona Colonial to do some shopping. We went when we first got to the Dominican, but Aaron didn't get to come with us the first time and he really wanted to check it out. Well, I don't know if you guys have ever been to Chinatown, but this was like the Dominican version of that. Tons of shops with people yelling at you and telling you "we give you good price", and asking you to come see what else they have upstairs, blah blah blah. It was very overwhelming, to say the least! We pretty much got out of that area as fast as we could, and headed to the La Primera Catedral de las Americas (The First Cathedral of the Americas). I have never really been disrespected at a church, but there's a first time for everything. Last time we went to the Cathedral, we didn't have to pay for the skirts to cover our legs. Well, this guy was clearly doing anything he could for money. We walk up to get our skirts, and he just looks away from us as if we aren't good enough. A staring contest ensues, and a few minutes later he shoves the skirts in our face and tells us, "three skirts, three dollars." We look at each other, look at him, and explain that we didn't have to pay last time and refuse to pay this time. He repeats the price, and we decide that it's simply not worth the fight or the money. How unfortunate though, I mean...this is a church!
Anyway, we head over to a local restaurant en la plaza and had a nice three hour lunch. Our group just hung out and talked about our trip thus far - favorite experiences, what we'll miss the most, what we won't miss, etc. Well, I would have to say that my most favorite experience was when we went to the mountains, to Jarabacoa. It was just a beautiful city, and an extremely tranquillo (tranquil/peaceful) getaway. I'll miss the easy going way of life the most, by far. Everything here is just "fly by the seat of your pants", no schedules, nothing is ever on time. It truly is island time, and I surprisingly love it. I won't be ready to go back to the fast paced life of the US - always having to be on time...ahh! BUT, on the other hand, I will be ready to be back in a country where people aren't always staring at you. I almost have to give them credit for how much they can stare, and honestly not care that they're staring. Usually when you're staring at someone and they look at you, you'll look away. Not here. They seriously just keep staring until you look away. Pretty impressive actually!
A few weeks back, we bought tickets for a concert, and it was that night! Funny story - we asked our taxi driver what time the concert started. Well, he says "Juan Luis, well he is Christian. He say he start at 8, he start at 8. He no es Dominicana, he is Christian. So he start at 8." We were all just taken aback - their perception of things is just so funny to us! But anyway, we head to the house to get ready for the Juan Luis Guerra concert, and head over around 530 or so. We didn't have seats, only tickets for standing room en el terrano, which was actually the best idea ever. It ended up starting to pour down rain (like border-line-hurricance!), but that didn't stop us or the locals from singing and dancing until the rain got to be too much. The equipment wasn't exactly working properly, so we figured it was time to go. Well, our ride wasn't going to get there for about 20 or 30 minutes, so we headed to the park to pass the time. So I decided to go down the slide - naturally I went down a little to fast and of course fell straight on my butt and ended up covering myself in dirt. Typical me. But, other than that, it was an amazing experience! I mean, how often do you get to see the most famous Dominican artist in his own country!?
Monday, June 18, 2012
Día 24
Friday - just one of those days.
I don't honestly have much to say about Friday, except than it was less than memorable. Things here in the Dominican are kind of just becoming a way of life. Nothing really surprises me anymore, you know? It's weird - I've only been here a month but yet things just feel so natural. Honestly, it's going to be a culture shock going back to America. There are so many parts of this culture that I've grown accustomed to, and I don't know how it'll be without that. Even though I can't bring the Dominican home with me, there are many parts of the culture that I won't be able to get rid of. Mostly it'll be the language - I will definitely be speaking Spanglish!
Anyway, there was really nothing "blog-worthy" on Friday. Sorry to disappoint!
I don't honestly have much to say about Friday, except than it was less than memorable. Things here in the Dominican are kind of just becoming a way of life. Nothing really surprises me anymore, you know? It's weird - I've only been here a month but yet things just feel so natural. Honestly, it's going to be a culture shock going back to America. There are so many parts of this culture that I've grown accustomed to, and I don't know how it'll be without that. Even though I can't bring the Dominican home with me, there are many parts of the culture that I won't be able to get rid of. Mostly it'll be the language - I will definitely be speaking Spanglish!
Anyway, there was really nothing "blog-worthy" on Friday. Sorry to disappoint!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Días 22 y 23
Ayer, muy mal. Pero hoy, mucho mejor. (Yesterday, very bad. But today, much better.)
Literally, we sat in a hallway for two and half hours. Just sitting there, waiting for our doctor to show up. It was absolutely ridiculous. Then, when she finally did show up, she just pawned us off on some other doctors who clearly didn't want us around. We followed them for about an hour and a half on "grand rounds", but it mainly consisted of them going to whatever room and checking out whatever patients they pleased. There was no real method to their madness, and I felt like they didn't know or care if we were there or not. When we were finally done and went back to "our" doctor, she briefly talked to us about leukemia for a little while longer and then called it a day. Yes, I'm very lucky to have this experience, but it does nothing for me if I'm just sitting in a hallway learning absolutely nothing?
Last night wasn't so bad though! We went for a run around the park, and instead of going home, we hung out and watched some of the softball games that were going on. For a while, we were standing awkwardly outside of the field. The dads that were playing were nice enough to offer us their chairs by the field, so we went around and ended up watching them play for the next two hours! We found out that all of their kids are in a baseball league, and that all of the dads play together every Wednesday. They invited us back next week, so we'll be there cheering on Los Padres!
Back to work today, and we ended up actually working - finally! We first went to oncología, but when we could find out doctor nowhere, but ditched and went back to radiology. We didn't want to sit around for another 2 hours waiting for her to show up. Well, today we asked if we could actually help out with the patients and luckily Jose said yes! Anytime a patient would come in for a CT scan or MRI, we got to take them to the bed and actually position the machines to complete whatever particular scan they needed. After that, he taught us how to work the computer and prepare the actual print-outs of the scans! Although it wasn't much, it was still something! Sadly, the day flew by - but we plan on returning tomorrow for sure.
Tonight, me and my roommate Christina are making dinner for all of our friends as well as our host mom! She cooks for us all day, every day, and we decided that she deserved a night off. We're making chicken parmesan, green beans, and pasta salad. And of course, a yummy cake for dessert! Other than that, no big plans. Maybe watching some more baseball, but we'll be heading to bed early I'm sure. Pues, necesito una siesta. Hasta mañana! (Well, I need a nap. See you tomorrow!)
Literally, we sat in a hallway for two and half hours. Just sitting there, waiting for our doctor to show up. It was absolutely ridiculous. Then, when she finally did show up, she just pawned us off on some other doctors who clearly didn't want us around. We followed them for about an hour and a half on "grand rounds", but it mainly consisted of them going to whatever room and checking out whatever patients they pleased. There was no real method to their madness, and I felt like they didn't know or care if we were there or not. When we were finally done and went back to "our" doctor, she briefly talked to us about leukemia for a little while longer and then called it a day. Yes, I'm very lucky to have this experience, but it does nothing for me if I'm just sitting in a hallway learning absolutely nothing?
Last night wasn't so bad though! We went for a run around the park, and instead of going home, we hung out and watched some of the softball games that were going on. For a while, we were standing awkwardly outside of the field. The dads that were playing were nice enough to offer us their chairs by the field, so we went around and ended up watching them play for the next two hours! We found out that all of their kids are in a baseball league, and that all of the dads play together every Wednesday. They invited us back next week, so we'll be there cheering on Los Padres!
Back to work today, and we ended up actually working - finally! We first went to oncología, but when we could find out doctor nowhere, but ditched and went back to radiology. We didn't want to sit around for another 2 hours waiting for her to show up. Well, today we asked if we could actually help out with the patients and luckily Jose said yes! Anytime a patient would come in for a CT scan or MRI, we got to take them to the bed and actually position the machines to complete whatever particular scan they needed. After that, he taught us how to work the computer and prepare the actual print-outs of the scans! Although it wasn't much, it was still something! Sadly, the day flew by - but we plan on returning tomorrow for sure.
Tonight, me and my roommate Christina are making dinner for all of our friends as well as our host mom! She cooks for us all day, every day, and we decided that she deserved a night off. We're making chicken parmesan, green beans, and pasta salad. And of course, a yummy cake for dessert! Other than that, no big plans. Maybe watching some more baseball, but we'll be heading to bed early I'm sure. Pues, necesito una siesta. Hasta mañana! (Well, I need a nap. See you tomorrow!)
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Días 20 y 21
I'm sorry I haven't been writing as much lately, I've just been having trouble finding what to say.
My first few weeks here were super exciting and we learned so many new things, but lately it just hasn't been the same. We have moved on to a new department - oncología (oncology) - but it's not what I expected I guess. I had hoped that we would be able to see more cases and patients, but the cancer wing here is rather small. On top of that, they don't have the money for expensive treatments nor do they have a large knowledge base about different types of cancer. When they see a case they've never seen before, they have to consult doctors and hospitals in the United States, and as you can imagine, that takes a lot of time and money. These past few days, we've been learning the basics of cancer - where it comes from, how it starts, why it spreads to quickly, etc. Tomorrow, we'll be learning in-depth about leukemia (which is very common in children). We have to do some research before tomorrow, so that we know the basics, but I'm very excited to hear about the most common cases here in the DR and how they treat them with such limited funds.
Being in the hospital every day, and seeing how little so many people have, makes me want to give all of my time and money to them. I've even been considering coming back and living here for a few months after I graduate. I really do love it here, but more than that, I want to do anything I can to help these people. Whether it's just coming to the hospital and playing with the children, or coming back 15 years from now and opening up my own clinic. It's going to be very hard for me to go home. It's difficult seeing so many rich people who do absolutely nothing with their money - except blow it all on themselves. There are families in this country who won't eat for days or weeks at a time, just to save money so they can afford transportation to the hospital. I feel even more guilty when I don't finish a meal here - I wish I could save it all and give it to those less fortunate.
I know that I am blessed to live in a country like America, and every day I thank God for all of my blessings. But, I'm even more blessed to be here, right now, in this country. There is so much on my mind and in my heart, but I've just been at a loss for words. I don't know how much I'll have to say these next few days, but I'll do my best to put all of these feelings into writing - and writing that will make sense to all of you. I just ask that you continue to pray for those less fortunate than you, and I pray that all of you will be fortunate enough to stumble upon an opportunity in which you can make a lasting impact on someone else's life. Dios de bendiga.
My first few weeks here were super exciting and we learned so many new things, but lately it just hasn't been the same. We have moved on to a new department - oncología (oncology) - but it's not what I expected I guess. I had hoped that we would be able to see more cases and patients, but the cancer wing here is rather small. On top of that, they don't have the money for expensive treatments nor do they have a large knowledge base about different types of cancer. When they see a case they've never seen before, they have to consult doctors and hospitals in the United States, and as you can imagine, that takes a lot of time and money. These past few days, we've been learning the basics of cancer - where it comes from, how it starts, why it spreads to quickly, etc. Tomorrow, we'll be learning in-depth about leukemia (which is very common in children). We have to do some research before tomorrow, so that we know the basics, but I'm very excited to hear about the most common cases here in the DR and how they treat them with such limited funds.
Being in the hospital every day, and seeing how little so many people have, makes me want to give all of my time and money to them. I've even been considering coming back and living here for a few months after I graduate. I really do love it here, but more than that, I want to do anything I can to help these people. Whether it's just coming to the hospital and playing with the children, or coming back 15 years from now and opening up my own clinic. It's going to be very hard for me to go home. It's difficult seeing so many rich people who do absolutely nothing with their money - except blow it all on themselves. There are families in this country who won't eat for days or weeks at a time, just to save money so they can afford transportation to the hospital. I feel even more guilty when I don't finish a meal here - I wish I could save it all and give it to those less fortunate.
I know that I am blessed to live in a country like America, and every day I thank God for all of my blessings. But, I'm even more blessed to be here, right now, in this country. There is so much on my mind and in my heart, but I've just been at a loss for words. I don't know how much I'll have to say these next few days, but I'll do my best to put all of these feelings into writing - and writing that will make sense to all of you. I just ask that you continue to pray for those less fortunate than you, and I pray that all of you will be fortunate enough to stumble upon an opportunity in which you can make a lasting impact on someone else's life. Dios de bendiga.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Días 16 al 19
I swear, this country just keeps getting better and better! Rather than giving you every detail of my trip, I've included a lot of pictures. So, enjoy!
We left bright and early, a las ocho en la mañana, on Thursday and were in the beautiful city of Samaná by 11! We drop our stuff off at our "hotel", which is more of a motel, and head straight to the beach! Since we only had half of the day left, we drove to a beach about and hour away and enjoyed having the place all to ourselves!
The rest of the night was spent eating dinner and getting to bed early - we had a big day ahead of us. We're up by 8 on Friday morning and are off to Salto El Limon, which is a breathtaking waterfall that was well worth the trip! After about a 40 minute hike into the jungle, we find a waterfall. Needless to say, we were slightly disappointed until we found out that this was NOT the one we were here to see. 20 minutes and a trek down the mountain, we feel the spray of the massive waterfall and can't wait to dive in! Sadly, we could only jump off of the small rocks, but you can be sure that we took full advantage of those rocks. This pictures I have don't do it justice, but the 160 foot tall waterfall was beyond amazing! (Google it!) We swam around in the pool for a while, even went behind the waterfall in to a little cave. I felt like I was in a movie, no joke!
About an hour later, and we were on our way to yet another breathtaking beach in Las Terranas. This was of counse another playa that I could've stayed at all day.
As the night began to fall, the night life came alive! Since we've grown to love dancing, we head down to the local car wash. Sounded strange at first, but this was the place to be if you wanted to go dancing. We ended up spending Friday and Saturday night dancing with the locals and really enjoying the culture. I know I didn't mention Saturday during the day - but it was nothing too exciting. Just spent the whole day on a smaller island, about 20 minutes from the main land. I don't have any pictures, but you can be sure that this beach was as gorgeous as all of the others!
I don't really have much else to say. It was an amazing and relaxing weekend and it makes me want to live here, without a doubt! There's is just so much beauty in this country, and I highly recommend that you visit if you ever have the chance! Until tomorrow, duerme bien!
We left bright and early, a las ocho en la mañana, on Thursday and were in the beautiful city of Samaná by 11! We drop our stuff off at our "hotel", which is more of a motel, and head straight to the beach! Since we only had half of the day left, we drove to a beach about and hour away and enjoyed having the place all to ourselves!
The rest of the night was spent eating dinner and getting to bed early - we had a big day ahead of us. We're up by 8 on Friday morning and are off to Salto El Limon, which is a breathtaking waterfall that was well worth the trip! After about a 40 minute hike into the jungle, we find a waterfall. Needless to say, we were slightly disappointed until we found out that this was NOT the one we were here to see. 20 minutes and a trek down the mountain, we feel the spray of the massive waterfall and can't wait to dive in! Sadly, we could only jump off of the small rocks, but you can be sure that we took full advantage of those rocks. This pictures I have don't do it justice, but the 160 foot tall waterfall was beyond amazing! (Google it!) We swam around in the pool for a while, even went behind the waterfall in to a little cave. I felt like I was in a movie, no joke!
About an hour later, and we were on our way to yet another breathtaking beach in Las Terranas. This was of counse another playa that I could've stayed at all day.
As the night began to fall, the night life came alive! Since we've grown to love dancing, we head down to the local car wash. Sounded strange at first, but this was the place to be if you wanted to go dancing. We ended up spending Friday and Saturday night dancing with the locals and really enjoying the culture. I know I didn't mention Saturday during the day - but it was nothing too exciting. Just spent the whole day on a smaller island, about 20 minutes from the main land. I don't have any pictures, but you can be sure that this beach was as gorgeous as all of the others!
I don't really have much else to say. It was an amazing and relaxing weekend and it makes me want to live here, without a doubt! There's is just so much beauty in this country, and I highly recommend that you visit if you ever have the chance! Until tomorrow, duerme bien!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Día 15
Slow start today - like always, but a powerful ending.
I'm really happy to be done with infectología - it's just not the department for me. Part of it has to do with the doctors, but I also am too afraid of catching something to enjoy the work. The doctors there were not very nice to us...actually they were pretty mean to us. And los residentes. They wouldn't answer questions, and when they asked us questions we didn't know the answers to it was like the world was coming to an end. To be honest, we couldn't stand it there and left early today to head to a different department.
One of our favorite residents, Carlos, has been going to a different department every month. Well this month, he will be working en quemado (in the burn unit). As you can imagine, this is a tough place to be. Every child is covered in burns, and we find out that some have been there as long as 8 months. So the cause of the burns? It differs in every case, but the most common cause is either house fires, or hot water. The mother could walk away from the boiling water on the stove to grab something, and the child either grabs the pan or it boils over and spills on the child. Some kids only have a few limbs burned, but some are covered from head to toe in 2nd and 3rd degree burns. The burns were even so bad on some children, that they had to amputate fingers or parts of their limbs. Not only is it extremely sad to see the children crying in pain, but the worst part is hearing them be bathed. Now a bath really only consists of a light wash down with a saline solution, but evidently it's extremely painful. The room becomes filled with a child screaming bloody murder, which causes many other children to begin to scream and cry as well. I couldn't imagine being the mother of one of these children - not only seeing your kid in pain, hearing them scream, but not being able to hold them and comfort them. It just seems like an impossible feat.
Many of the children are babies and can't really talk, or are too scared to. But, there's a girl who I can tell is just dying to talk to someone. Well, for the last 30 or so minutes of my day, I spent hanging out with her and just talking to her about life in general. I found out that she was learning how to cook spaghetti and the pot of boiling water fell of the stove, severely burning the right side of her upper body as well as almost all of her right arm. She has been in the hospital for 8 months, and is obviously ready to get out. Her favorite subject is math, she loves to color, and her favorite food is anything chocolate. La semana proxíma (next week), we plan on taking her coloring books and crayons to fill her time. We're also going to buy some suckers and candies for all of the children in the burn unit. I'm very excited - they're going to be so happy!
Deep down, I know it's a good thing to be able to see these kinds of cases. But, it's very difficult. I nearly cry when I burn myself with a curling iron - I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would feel like to have half of mi cuerpo (my body) covered in burns. Especially as un niño. Again, I ask that you keep these children in your prayers!
We head to the beach tomorrow, in Samaná, for the weekend! We're all so pumped about it too! We've heard from all of the locals that some of the most beautiful beaches in the country are in Samaná, so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures! I am taking mi computadora this weekend, so I'll keep you all updated! Abrazos y besos mis amores! (Hugs and kisses my loves!)
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Día 14
One of the less exciting days of work, but as always - it could be worse.
Actually, we saw something kind of 'exciting' on the way to work. There was significantly more traffic than usual, and it turns out that someone se murió en el parque (died in the park) we pass on the way to work. There was quite a crowd gathered around and the police we're just beginning to show up. Our driver just kind of brushed it off, as if this thing happens all the time here. Huh, rough stuff.
Once we finally arrived en el hospital, we ended up getting split up a bit and had to do a full physical exam of some of the patients. As I mentioned yesterday, when doing the physical exam, part of it is the family history including where the family lives, their jobs, etc. It's really not an easy task when you get to the portion about their pregnancy y medical history when your medical vocabulary is limited. I got lucky and the family I spoke to was very helpful. They would finish sentences for me, talk slow enough for me to understand, and would repeat anything I didn't catch the first time around. Christina, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. The mother would literally stare at her and laugh. We were doing the best we could when asking personal questions, but she just refused to help us out. She would just give a one word answer and then proceed to laugh at us. And that's not always easy to handle. You're doing the best you can, and these people are just making fun of us. We were happy when that was over, to say the least.
Sadly, the rest of our day was muy aburrido (very boring). We hung out in radiology, but we saw no exciting casos. Just the same old things - hernias, pneumonia, and abscesses. We left work around 2, and that was it for our day. I'm sorry I don't have more for you, but today was just a slow day. Tomorrow is our last day en infectología, which is honestly fine by me. We're head to Samaná en Jueves (on Thursday), which is supposed to be a beautiful beach. I'll be taking my computer this time, so I'll do my best to post some pictures of where we're staying! Hasta mañana!
Actually, we saw something kind of 'exciting' on the way to work. There was significantly more traffic than usual, and it turns out that someone se murió en el parque (died in the park) we pass on the way to work. There was quite a crowd gathered around and the police we're just beginning to show up. Our driver just kind of brushed it off, as if this thing happens all the time here. Huh, rough stuff.
Once we finally arrived en el hospital, we ended up getting split up a bit and had to do a full physical exam of some of the patients. As I mentioned yesterday, when doing the physical exam, part of it is the family history including where the family lives, their jobs, etc. It's really not an easy task when you get to the portion about their pregnancy y medical history when your medical vocabulary is limited. I got lucky and the family I spoke to was very helpful. They would finish sentences for me, talk slow enough for me to understand, and would repeat anything I didn't catch the first time around. Christina, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. The mother would literally stare at her and laugh. We were doing the best we could when asking personal questions, but she just refused to help us out. She would just give a one word answer and then proceed to laugh at us. And that's not always easy to handle. You're doing the best you can, and these people are just making fun of us. We were happy when that was over, to say the least.
Sadly, the rest of our day was muy aburrido (very boring). We hung out in radiology, but we saw no exciting casos. Just the same old things - hernias, pneumonia, and abscesses. We left work around 2, and that was it for our day. I'm sorry I don't have more for you, but today was just a slow day. Tomorrow is our last day en infectología, which is honestly fine by me. We're head to Samaná en Jueves (on Thursday), which is supposed to be a beautiful beach. I'll be taking my computer this time, so I'll do my best to post some pictures of where we're staying! Hasta mañana!
Monday, June 4, 2012
Día 13
Fuimos a infectología hoy, y fue una experiencia (we went to infectious diseases today, and it was an experience). This post gets pretty intense, and extremely sad. I have been debating about whether to post all of this, but I feel compelled to give you the whole truth. I just want to give you all a heads up, and ask that you keep these children in your thoughts and prayers.
This week, we'll be with some residents - but these residents are super helpful and I'm pretty sure all of them speak English, which is a plus. They explain everything to us in Spanish, pero if we don't understand something, they always take the time to explain it in English. They first warn us to always wash our hands antes y después (before and after) we touch any of the children. Although not all of the diseases are contagious, many are and it would be awful for one of us to pick anything up.
We see kids with anything from whooping cough, Dengue fever, Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, cholera, malaria, to pneumonia. Some kids even have multiple diseases. Por ejemplo, we saw a 12 year old girl who had TB, HIV, and nemonía. Just imagine being that sick, your body having no way to fight all of these diseases, and all you can do is lay in a hospital bed. It's just awful. Another little boy had Dengue Fever. Dengue fever is a virus that is spread by mosquitoes; symptoms include a very high fiebre (fever - 104 degrees or more), fatigue, dehydration, headache, joint/muscle pain, presence of a red rash, vomiting sangre (blood), and difficulty breathing. There is no real treatment for it, just fluids and acetaminophen for fever, as well as pain relievers for any muscular/joint/abdominal pain. Well, not only did the child have many of these symptoms, but he also head very swollen lips and sores in his mouth. His lymph nodes were swollen, and they were at first unsure of what else was causing all of these reactions. Upon more testing, they discovered that on top of Dengue, he also had herpes.
As the morning went on, we began asking the residents about common cases and life in the country. I asked because whenever they do physical exams, part of the paperwork includes many preguntas about how the family lives. Por ejemplo: Where do you live? How many people live en la casa? How many beds are there? How many people sleep in each cama? What kind of house is it - tile floors or dirt floors? Etc. It seemed strange at first, but after seeing some of the impoverished areas of the country, you begin to understand why. There are areas of the city called los campos o los barrios, and they remind me of the Projects almost - but worse. There are tons of houses, or apartments, with only one or two rooms in which tons of family members live. Sometimes only 5 people, but sometimes up to 15 people can live in a small house with two beds and a couch. Do the math - there's a lot of people sleeping in each bed. If one person has some contagious disease, you can bet that more than just that one person has the disease. It's extremely sad.
Not only are living conditions rough, but you can imagine the kind of life these people live. My next question was about child abuse - is it common in this country? We had our preconceptions, assuming that there was - many children come in with "trauma". Sadly, the answer is yes. They begin to tell us about some of los pacientes that they see, and my heart just broke for these children.
Caso A: First of all, we find out that burns are very common in this country. It didn't make sense at first, but after hearing this case, I was began to understand. A little boy comes in with his whole hands and forearms just burned layers and layers deep. It turns out, his mother was addicted to cocaine. I guess on one of her highs, the little boy did something to set her off. She turned on the stove and held his hands and arms down until they were sufficiently burned. Thank God, the lady next door heard the mother yelling and the child screaming, and rushed over to take the child away from her and to the hospital. The police got involved, and luckily, this poor child is no longer in the custody of his mother.
Caso B: A dad brings his little girl in to the hospital for a "routine checkup". The doctor goes to give a physical, and the dad has already taken off her Pampers - which he is supposed to let the doctor do. This instantly raised a red flag, and the doctor began to question him as to why he did this, and asks him to put them back on her. He takes the little girl away and puts the Pampers back on in a different room. When he comes back, the doctor continues to question him, and when the time has come to remove her Pampers, they are covered in blood. I don't think this needs further explanation, considering that this is a children's hospital.
It truly breaks my heart to hear that this is common here - I have a very hard time fathoming it to be honest. This really is an experience of a life time. In America, although things like this do happen, it's not very common, and it's even less common for these children to be brought out into a public place such as a hospital. Again, I ask that you keep this children in your thoughts and prayers. Dios de bendiga (God Bless).
This week, we'll be with some residents - but these residents are super helpful and I'm pretty sure all of them speak English, which is a plus. They explain everything to us in Spanish, pero if we don't understand something, they always take the time to explain it in English. They first warn us to always wash our hands antes y después (before and after) we touch any of the children. Although not all of the diseases are contagious, many are and it would be awful for one of us to pick anything up.
We see kids with anything from whooping cough, Dengue fever, Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, cholera, malaria, to pneumonia. Some kids even have multiple diseases. Por ejemplo, we saw a 12 year old girl who had TB, HIV, and nemonía. Just imagine being that sick, your body having no way to fight all of these diseases, and all you can do is lay in a hospital bed. It's just awful. Another little boy had Dengue Fever. Dengue fever is a virus that is spread by mosquitoes; symptoms include a very high fiebre (fever - 104 degrees or more), fatigue, dehydration, headache, joint/muscle pain, presence of a red rash, vomiting sangre (blood), and difficulty breathing. There is no real treatment for it, just fluids and acetaminophen for fever, as well as pain relievers for any muscular/joint/abdominal pain. Well, not only did the child have many of these symptoms, but he also head very swollen lips and sores in his mouth. His lymph nodes were swollen, and they were at first unsure of what else was causing all of these reactions. Upon more testing, they discovered that on top of Dengue, he also had herpes.
As the morning went on, we began asking the residents about common cases and life in the country. I asked because whenever they do physical exams, part of the paperwork includes many preguntas about how the family lives. Por ejemplo: Where do you live? How many people live en la casa? How many beds are there? How many people sleep in each cama? What kind of house is it - tile floors or dirt floors? Etc. It seemed strange at first, but after seeing some of the impoverished areas of the country, you begin to understand why. There are areas of the city called los campos o los barrios, and they remind me of the Projects almost - but worse. There are tons of houses, or apartments, with only one or two rooms in which tons of family members live. Sometimes only 5 people, but sometimes up to 15 people can live in a small house with two beds and a couch. Do the math - there's a lot of people sleeping in each bed. If one person has some contagious disease, you can bet that more than just that one person has the disease. It's extremely sad.
Not only are living conditions rough, but you can imagine the kind of life these people live. My next question was about child abuse - is it common in this country? We had our preconceptions, assuming that there was - many children come in with "trauma". Sadly, the answer is yes. They begin to tell us about some of los pacientes that they see, and my heart just broke for these children.
Caso A: First of all, we find out that burns are very common in this country. It didn't make sense at first, but after hearing this case, I was began to understand. A little boy comes in with his whole hands and forearms just burned layers and layers deep. It turns out, his mother was addicted to cocaine. I guess on one of her highs, the little boy did something to set her off. She turned on the stove and held his hands and arms down until they were sufficiently burned. Thank God, the lady next door heard the mother yelling and the child screaming, and rushed over to take the child away from her and to the hospital. The police got involved, and luckily, this poor child is no longer in the custody of his mother.
Caso B: A dad brings his little girl in to the hospital for a "routine checkup". The doctor goes to give a physical, and the dad has already taken off her Pampers - which he is supposed to let the doctor do. This instantly raised a red flag, and the doctor began to question him as to why he did this, and asks him to put them back on her. He takes the little girl away and puts the Pampers back on in a different room. When he comes back, the doctor continues to question him, and when the time has come to remove her Pampers, they are covered in blood. I don't think this needs further explanation, considering that this is a children's hospital.
It truly breaks my heart to hear that this is common here - I have a very hard time fathoming it to be honest. This really is an experience of a life time. In America, although things like this do happen, it's not very common, and it's even less common for these children to be brought out into a public place such as a hospital. Again, I ask that you keep this children in your thoughts and prayers. Dios de bendiga (God Bless).
Días 11 y 12
Buen día amores! Off to Jarabacoa for the weekend!
Jarabacoa is a small little town up in the mountains, and we all decided to set our expectations pretty low as we didn't want to be disappointed. We get to the town about 3 hours after we left Santo Domingo, and it's a small little town which is fine by us. Well, we turn off on to a dirt road and all of us start to get a little nervous. There are some mansions on this road, but there are also some tiny little houses - so naturally we assume that we're going to be staying in a small little place. About 5 minutes down the dirt road, we turn into a property that's gated...ehh, maybe we missed it and are just turning around? To our surprise, a guy opens up the gate and reveals to us the mansion we'll be living in for the weekend. This place is absolutely gorgeous - something out of a magazine for sure. The entire house is made of wood, the whole second floor opens up to make a large balcony, and the whole place sits on the side of a mountain. Just look at this place, and the view we have!
As much as we wanted to just hang out at the house, Miguel (the guy who took us to the house - it's his dad's) told us that we should go check out the rivers and what not. Of course we say yes, and we're off to los rios (the rivers). A 10 minute drive and we pull into another parque nacional, and the big sign tells us that we're heading to Salto Biguate. We're in the heart of the mountains - literally walking on a ledge on the side of the mountains - heading toward a 25 meter waterfall. The place is just absolutely breathtaking, to say the least. Although the pool of water at the base isn't quite deep enough for us to dive in to, we wade in and spend la hora proxima (the next hour) swimming and just enjoying it all. I mean, how often do you get to play in a waterfall/river in the middle of the mountains?? It was just unreal!
We headed back to the house for dinner, and after dinner headed into town para bailar toda la noche (to dance all night)!! It was a little intimidating at first because everyone here is so good at dancing, but they are very good at teaching you how do dance. So, by the end of the night none of us could stop dancing el merengue, la machata, y salsa (the merengue, the machete, and salsa)! Even though we were absolutely exhausted the next day, it was well worth it. We even ended up going hiking again and wound up in another river, jumping off the small cliffs and really enjoying the little bit of time we had left in this sanctuary.
On the way home, we stopped in some town (no, I don't know el nobre) to check out a really beautiful catedral (cathedral). We haven't had time to actually go to church (I'm sorry Father Sean!!), but we have seen not only this beautiful church, but we also got to see La Primera Catedral de las Americas (The First Cathedral of the Americas). Although the outside of these churches isn't exactly flattering, the amazing architecture on the inside is just overwhelming. El primero fotó es de la Primera Catedral, y el segundo es de la otra iglesia (The first picture is the First Cathedral, and the second is the other church).
Anyway, that's all I have from the weekend! Hope yours was amazing! Con amor!
Jarabacoa is a small little town up in the mountains, and we all decided to set our expectations pretty low as we didn't want to be disappointed. We get to the town about 3 hours after we left Santo Domingo, and it's a small little town which is fine by us. Well, we turn off on to a dirt road and all of us start to get a little nervous. There are some mansions on this road, but there are also some tiny little houses - so naturally we assume that we're going to be staying in a small little place. About 5 minutes down the dirt road, we turn into a property that's gated...ehh, maybe we missed it and are just turning around? To our surprise, a guy opens up the gate and reveals to us the mansion we'll be living in for the weekend. This place is absolutely gorgeous - something out of a magazine for sure. The entire house is made of wood, the whole second floor opens up to make a large balcony, and the whole place sits on the side of a mountain. Just look at this place, and the view we have!
As much as we wanted to just hang out at the house, Miguel (the guy who took us to the house - it's his dad's) told us that we should go check out the rivers and what not. Of course we say yes, and we're off to los rios (the rivers). A 10 minute drive and we pull into another parque nacional, and the big sign tells us that we're heading to Salto Biguate. We're in the heart of the mountains - literally walking on a ledge on the side of the mountains - heading toward a 25 meter waterfall. The place is just absolutely breathtaking, to say the least. Although the pool of water at the base isn't quite deep enough for us to dive in to, we wade in and spend la hora proxima (the next hour) swimming and just enjoying it all. I mean, how often do you get to play in a waterfall/river in the middle of the mountains?? It was just unreal!
We headed back to the house for dinner, and after dinner headed into town para bailar toda la noche (to dance all night)!! It was a little intimidating at first because everyone here is so good at dancing, but they are very good at teaching you how do dance. So, by the end of the night none of us could stop dancing el merengue, la machata, y salsa (the merengue, the machete, and salsa)! Even though we were absolutely exhausted the next day, it was well worth it. We even ended up going hiking again and wound up in another river, jumping off the small cliffs and really enjoying the little bit of time we had left in this sanctuary.
On the way home, we stopped in some town (no, I don't know el nobre) to check out a really beautiful catedral (cathedral). We haven't had time to actually go to church (I'm sorry Father Sean!!), but we have seen not only this beautiful church, but we also got to see La Primera Catedral de las Americas (The First Cathedral of the Americas). Although the outside of these churches isn't exactly flattering, the amazing architecture on the inside is just overwhelming. El primero fotó es de la Primera Catedral, y el segundo es de la otra iglesia (The first picture is the First Cathedral, and the second is the other church).
Anyway, that's all I have from the weekend! Hope yours was amazing! Con amor!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Día 10
El Viernes (Friday) - absolutely amazing! And it wasn't even the best part of my weekend!
We get to work and we were wandering in and out of different quirofanos waiting for something super exciting to happen - mostly there was just general surgery going on. Well we walk in to room number 2, and one of the nurses asks us who wants help out with the next surgery. The patient has appendicitis and needed to get it removed. Obviously I jump at this opportunity - actually getting to scrub in and help with surgery...yes please! Well there's three of us in the hospital, and after a short discussion I end up being the one who gets to do it! (We're going to head back to surgery next week though so my friend Christina can help out with one too.) All of the doctors and nurses in the room were super helpful and extremely nice, so I ended up not being nervous at all. Although I didn't get to actually cut the appendix out or anything like that, I did get to hold back layers of skin and muscle, hand instruments, soak up blood, etc. It was so freaking cool!! Christina took some pictures of me, so below you'll get to see the progression. The first picture is me before surgery, already sterile, about to get dressed. The second picture is me chatting with the doctor, and the third is me holding back some skin and what not - super exciting! After the appendix was removed, they let me take a picture with it hahaha. This thing was huge, by the way. And extremely hard - kind of like a frozen grape. So yeah, it was a successful day at work to say the least! Next week we're heading to Infectious Diseases - should be pretty interesting.
Everyone in our group got off work early on Friday, around 1, so that we could go do some sight seeing. We first head to Los Tres Ojos, which is in un parque nacional (a national park). It's 3 lagoons that are in a system of caves. There's a fourth lagoon, but isn't considered and 'eye' simply because it's not in a cave - it's just open above it. Back in the day, the Taíno people used to live in these caves, and after we saw them we understood why. It reminded me of a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean, no joke. Sadly, the pictures I have don't do it justice, but believe when I say this place was breathtaking. We seriously wanted to just dive in to the clear blue water and spend our whole day there! The fourth lagoon, on the other hand, reminded me of a scene from Avatar. I decided that if I could live in the wild somewhere, it would be there for sure. Check it out! Oh, and the random picture of the guy in the second set - funny story. We're all sitting on this bench, just admiring the beauty of it all. He comes up and tells us that the park is closing and we had to leave. Well, he was talking so fast in Dominican and none of us had any idea what he was saying, so we literally just sat there staring and smiling at him for a solid 30 seconds. He repeated what he said, and we finally realized that he was asking us to leave. So before we leave, I ask him, "Puedes tomar un fotó por favors?" (Can you take a picture, please?) We all gather and pose, and he points the lens of the camera at himself. Uhm, is this like a joke he always plays on tourists? It's not. We're just stunned. Finally, our friend Aaron goes over and shows him how to take a picture. We pose again and I guess he didn't get it, because he points the lens at himself yet again. None of us could keep from laughing, and we just let him take the picture. What else could we do!? We show him a second time how to take the picture, and finally come up with a decent picture. It was a priceless moment to say the least!
Our day isn't over, so we head to the outskirts of Santo Domingo. Well, the outskirts is actually the coast of the country. And it's absolutely gorgeous! We don't understand how people in this country ever get anything done - I feel like I would spend all of my time wandering the country seeing all of the beautiful things! It honestly doesn't seem real to me!
We spent the rest of the night just hanging out and packing - we had a big weekend in Jarabacoa to rest up for. I'll update you all about my weekend as soon as I can tomorrow! Buena noche mis amores!
Friday, June 1, 2012
Lo siento!
So today was a super long day, and we're leaving pretty early tomorrow to go to Jarabacoa for the weekend - in which I will not be taking my computer. So, this will be my last post until Sunday night. But don't worry, I'll fill you in on everything when I get back!
Until then, have an amazing weekend and I'll talk to you soon mis amores!
Until then, have an amazing weekend and I'll talk to you soon mis amores!
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