“When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in.” – D. H. Lawrence

Today it rained for almost eight hours straight. 

This whole week actually we’ve practically been living in a monsoon.

The good: it makes the weather much more “fresco” (or “cooler”) as everyone here says.  I’ve been able to leave the house without starting to instantly sweat.  Tuesday in class (after it had been raining the whole day for about six hours) a guy sitting behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked, “Tienes mucho frío?” or “Are you cold?”  Their mouths dropped open in amazement when I told them I was actually still a little bit warm – I mean come on, it couldn’t have been any colder than 75 degrees.  I looked around the room, and sure enough the rest of the students were all bundled up in sweatshirts and long-sleeved tees like it was the middle of winter.  Look who’s laughing now.

But of course the bad: mosquito bite count is through the roof. I don’t know how they manage to pick the weirdest places to get you.  On the end of my pinky? Really?

Right now I’m sitting in the living room table doing homework (“doing homework” I should clarify) with Césil.  Neither of us is actually talking to the other, but I find it oddly satisfying that the silence in his head is broken by thoughts all in Spanish while mine are purely in English. 

Something else I find slightly humorous: women here like to walk around with curlers in their hair.  It could be the middle of the day and a completely open, public place and they still come with their hair pulled up so tightly in those perfect little circles that it looks like they’ve had a recent face lift.  (Or they could be big curlers too – the other day while at the gym I looked over from my treadmill just in time to see a woman with curlers as big as my fists in her hair pass by. Impressive. Lucky for me the humidity is my nature’s hair curler here.)

Today I had my second day of vaccinating poor little babies in the clinic.  But Monday was the big hospital day.  After a frantic hour of getting on and off two separate buses to the hospital early in the morning, I finally arrived in one piece to el Hospital Vigia.  (And I was already exhausted – navigating Panama’s public transportation is no walk in the park, thank you very much. And you better know where you need to get off because it’s up to you to yell “PARADA!!” (stop) when it comes. Otherwise you’re stuck in an old, smelly, small bus with zero air conditioning and people all around you standing too close for comfort) I met first thing with my new clinical instructor who gave me an extended tour of the hospital.  *Sidenote – did I tell you that all nurses here also have to wear a cofia? Me: http://grupos.emagister.com/alumnos/4/9/5/3/7/foto_4953789b.jpg

I’m working with second year nursing students on a post-surgery floor of sorts.  Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be doing much since they’re just getting into passing medicine to patients, but that actually suits me just fine.  It was overwhelming enough just getting being in a hospital world completely in Spanish.  So not too much to report just yet but I did notice that men and women are completely separated in different areas on each floor.  Interesting.  And, on our little tour through the ER, I got to see a guy with a small chunk of wood sticking out of his bloody shin.  Wish I could work there instead…

Some of the Panama landscape we passed on the way...definitely surpassed all my expectations

Sunday (backtracking here) was spent at a small laboratory near the beach called Achotines where we (Ana María, Chavalín, Dinah and I) got to tour their facility known for its extensive research in all kinds of sea plants and animals.  They actually partner with a university in Miami to do their research.  I caught the gist of the tuna/algae/rotifer cycle the guide was talking about, but was more happy to stand in some of the coldest air conditioned rooms I’ve been in since first stepping on Panama territory.  I also saw a monkey in the trees surrounding the laboratory.  Can’t say that’s a regular occasion in Kansas. 

Walking back from the bus stop after the day at the beach, I was stopped by three girls and their brother playing in the front yard.  “Excuse me miss, but are you Colombian?” asked one of the girls, referring to me as “usted” or the formal version of “you.”  (For those of you with little Spanish, there are two forms of you and, depending on what country you’re in, usted is used for older people, people you don’t know very well, or persons deserving respect.  In Spain they almost NEVER use it…so for her to be referring to me as “usted” sounded really really really weird to me) I couldn’t help but smiling – my first reaction: “do I look Colombian to you???” But of course I didn’t say that. I explained I was from the US and the girls all looked at each other with wide eyes and half open mouths...making me smile even more.  So, before leaving my new friends, I made a deal with them: I’m going to teach them English and they’re going to help me with my Spanish.  Perfecto.

I think I’m going to end it here seeing as I’ve had to pause every two minutes to scratch a newly appearing mosquito bite.  Happy June to everyone! 

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