Today was my first day at the hospital and you know I was wearing those hot pink scrubs! I got to meet Dr. Mercado and he works at the maternity hospital. In the afternoon I stayed with Dr. Mercado while he did check ups for all the pregnant mothers. One woman was not pregnant, but she came to the doctor because she had stomach pains. Dr. Mercado used a sonogram and determined that she had small kidney stones. NOT GOOD! AHH. I could not get over how different the hospitals are here in comparison to the US.
1. The relationships the doctors have with the patients are very close and relaxed. It is kind of like your coming to see a friend.
2. The hospital is definitely not as clean as the ones in the US, but has a different style
3. The environment is very chill.
While we wearing waiting for the last patient, Dr. Mercado took me to the hospital's library. Before we arrived at the library, I was thinking to myself...I bet this is where all the med students study and read. UM WRONGO...this library was not your typical library, but was full of clear cases with different parts of the body. One of the other volunteers, Ziat, told me that he went to explore the library this morning and it totally freaked him out because it was dark and you would NOT believe the things I saw in these cases. Since its a maternity hospital, every thing in the cases had to do with children. There were preserved fetuses, heads, tumors, just about every organ you can think of, and get ready for this one....a full on abdomen that still had the baby inside! UMM EXCUSE ME? woah. I couldn't believe that I didn't have my camera when I came and saw this, but I will have to go back soon to take pics. It was something I had never seen before and I felt like I was in the middle of a crazy science lab and the mad scientist was about to jump out from behind a corner!
Lemme tell ya:
1) Last night I plugged my computer cord into the electricity converter. It had been charging for 10 minutes when I was started by a loud "pop" and smoke started to come from it. OMG what is my host mom going to think? It started to smell so bad and I quickly removed the flaming hot thing from the wall and put it outside on the patio. lesson #3 the voltages are different for different things. This morning Alicia was so confused about the small, black box on the patio. Lets just say it was a little difficult to explain in spanish...
2) I rode the bus by my self from the hospital back to my house today! This may sound like not a big deal, but WOAH, its tough. There are about 15 different types of buses and you have to get on a certain one at a certain stop. At one point I think the bus had 50 people on it and I was holding onto the railing for dear life because goodness know those bus drivers don't stop for anything!
3. I tried Mate. This is the most popular drink here in Argentina and it is full of floating herbs and juice. Interesting. And everyone around you drinks from the same cup with the same straw. You can literally look anywhere in the city and you will always find dozens of people drinking mate.
4. I learned itsy bitsy spider in spanish! A six year old taught me and even the motions! I love talking with the kids because we are little bit more on the same level in Spanish! Oh well!
5. Tonight the program is having a social gathering, where all the volunteers here get together to meet each other. WAHOOOO
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