“All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” – Samuel Johnson

On the bus ride to the hospital yesterday morning we almost hit two stray dogs and a chicken.  I guess you could say the landscape here is a little…different.  I decided to run outside for the first time a few days ago and ran past two horses grazing in a field, a bunch of cows standing around chewing grass, a few houses, and a giant bull standing on top of a pile of dirt.  And that was all on one street.

Going back quickly to the clinicals:

I don’t think I’ve written anything about the actual hospital itself, which is actually a lot more modern than I expected it to be…but still nothing compared to some of the technology we have back in the US.  Consisting of three floors, cheesy elevator music that plays in the halls, and some passages that lead outside, Hospital de la Vigila wouldn’t stand a chance against the almighty Barnes Jewish Hospital. (For all of you non-St. Louisans…if that’s even a word…here ya go: http://www.siteman.wustl.edu/uploadedImages/About_Us/Partner_Institutions/Barnes-Jewish-Hospital-aeri.jpg) I can’t believe I spent all last semester complaining about working in SLU Hospital with paper charting (I think it will be the LAST hospital in America to switch to computers) when there is no computer to be found here in literally any hospital.  And some of the basic 10 Commandments of nursing school back at SLU don’t really seem to exist anymore:

1) Thou shalt never recap a dirty needle…seen it done several times here. Eek.

2) Save your back by always raising the bed…although if we had crank beds back in the US for every patient like they have here I might ignore this one too

3) Thou shalt always wear gloves when working with body fluids…self-explanatory.  

4) You must attend some kind of seminar or training that lasts no less than five hours on the importance of patient privacy…not complaining about this one.

Don’t you like how I said “quickly?”

One thing I really like about this little town – anywhere I go to sit for a while there is always someone that comes up to talk to me. Example: today I was back at my favorite refresquería (http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/refresqueria) by school drinking another malteada and doing some homework when a boy in my ethics class sat down at the table and just started talking. Just simple, natural conversation for about an hour. I’m amazed every day at how friendly everyone here is.

But while we were talking, I was watching a woman dressed in what looked like to me very traditional Panamanian clothes walk by with a small boy.  They crossed the street, came up to the patio we were sitting on, and the little boy walked directly over to me smiling and saying “ayuda, por favor.”  (or “help, please”) I was a little confused about what was going on because the woman (who I assumed was his mother) had sat down to watch.  The little boy walked over to the guy I was talking with who then proceeded to pull out a quarter and put it in the small bag the boy was carrying…which is when I started to realize that I was having my first encounter with poverty here in La Villa.  My friend from class later on explained to me that they were indigenous Panamanians (complete with a language even he couldn’t understand) and that this kind of thing happens quite a bit, even though it’s prohibited by law to have a child do the begging.  

Some new Panamanian friends having a "traditional" Panamanian

 lunch

But to lighten the mood a little bit, this past Saturday I traveled with a group of about 15 students to the University’s farm about an hour and a half away from Los Santos.  We spent the day with a bunch of law students from Panama City (who, by the way, immediately greeted and started talking to me in English. I’m so glad I chose to get away from the city for that exact reason).  And you could definitely tell they were law students (no offense dad).  They proved to be extremely talkative and very animated actors as they taught us the techniques of debating (why we went to a farm to learn all of that I have no idea).  Obviously this was all done in Spanish for everyone else there…which means I had to participate in spontaneous discussions/arguments in front of about 30 people (students from other USMA schools in Panama came too) who all spoke perfect Spanish about light, casual topics such as affirming or denying the existence of God.  The whole day was kind of an adrenaline rush. 

Finishing up here with another one of my new favorite Panama sayings:

To say “that’s cool!” or “that looks great!” or “oooh, I really like it!” (basically anything along those lines) you say “Que pretty!!!”…or loosely translated “How pretty!”…but the pretty is pronounced “preeee-teeeee.” Spanglish. It’s everywhere.

Happy 27^th anniversary mom and dad! I hope you don’t spend it missing your favorite child too much. 

Speaking of new friends, this little guy was at our house to greet me a few days ago. Little kids are the cutest when they speak in Spanish.