sassily serious

WOW! I do not even know where to begin! I guess I will begin by saying thanks be to God for all the blessings I have had here in Argentina and for a new worldly perspective. The past 2 days there has been a lot that has been going on some I'm gonna give it to ya straight!

WEDNESDAY MORN:

It was my second day at work with Dr. Ellie. I realized how exhausting it is to deal with really difficult people. Heath care is here in Argentina, therefore every one and their cat and dog comes to the doctor for really minor problems or for bigger issues. When I first started, the doctors would occasionally going into the break room and sit down and talk with each other as they ate a snack or drank mate. I was thinking to myself, "THERE ARE SICK KIDS OUT THERE, LET'S GO HELP THEM!" Also, I was wondering why the heck we were just going to sit around when there are things to do! You can see I was a little ancy! I have now come to realize that this is an important part of the doctor's day. This is the 5 minutes that they take every now and then where they can relax and not have to think about their work. Remember: the careers in the medical profession here do not get paid very well, so these doctors are working because they absolutely LOVE what they do!

Sometimes it is a little hard to understand what is wrong with the child because of the difficult Spanish terminology. For instance, today a mother came in with a 5 year old who was about the size of a 2 year old. His head was really small in comparison to the rest of his body. What I gained from the conversation was that he is really sick and this is due to the fact that the mother was an alcoholic when she was pregnant. Dr. Ellie told me that it is really sad to see so many cases that are completely preventable, if only the parents had only been informed about what to do and what not to do. (Although, some people don't always do what they are told!)

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON:

This was my first day to work at the Ronald McDonald house here in Cordoba and OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS GOODNESS I love this place! This is a large building that looks like a house and holds up to 18 families. Families apply to live here and if they are accepted they are given a room, bathroom, and they are able to use the community kitchen and laundry room. The families that apply to live here have a child that is in a serious condition and the child has to receive daily treatment from

the hospital next door. Many times the families that live here have a house that is really far away from the hospital or don't even have a place to live at all. This has been one of the places that has helped my spanish get so much better! There are absolutely the nicest people you will ever meet working there and they would absolutely bend over backwards for these families.

This afternoon, I went with my new friends

Mattie and Yani, and many other volunteers from Argentina, as they gave me THEIR tour of Cordoba. And woahhh I thought my feet were going to fall off by the end of the day because we walked so much! We went to the town center, saw many famous statues and buildings, and ended it all at the shopping mall! Throughout the whole afternoon, one of my friends had my camera and was taking pictures. Constantly he was saying, Kelsii, Kelsii, picture here! I could have been in front of a trash can and he was wanting to take a picture! All my friends told me that I need to remember every single part of Cordoba, so therefore, the pictures are a MUST. At first they would ask, "Do you want a picture of yourself here?" and I would just say something like, "oh, no it's ok!" Well...I learned quick that no was not the acceptable answer and it was just easier to go along with it! Looking back, I am really glad I have all 80 something pictures from that afternoon so that I can look back and remember.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

I went with 5 of the volunteers to one of their houses to swim in the pool and eat pizza! It was super fun, but it is hard to explain how hard it is to understand them when they speak at the speed of light. It is how we talk with our friends in English, (really fast and shorter terminology) but in Spanish. That was nothing compared to when we started to play a game where there are 2 teams and you take turns drawing a card from the pile. The card has a main word at the top and 5 words below it. You say the 5 words below the main one to the other team and the other team tries to guess the main word. For example, the main word was glasses. The five words below were: sun, reading, vision, optometry, and help. That game is hard enough in English, but in Spanish, ummm hola? Let's just say I wasn't that much help for my team! One of the really popular songs that I am now OBSESSED with is this one. It is from Brazil. CHECK IT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-AbEQNHi2A There is a dance to it and everyone here knows it. I'm determined to learn...even if it takes me a year!

THURSDAY MORN: I woke up at my usually time, 7 AM, but it was a little more difficult after having gone to sleep at 2 AM. Last night I wanted to stay and hang out with my new friends even though I knew I had to wake up early. I mean you only live once right? I can always sleep later! Today I have made headway in the medical community here at Casa Cuna Hospital! One of the really stiff doctors who never cracks a smile, smiled at me today! At first I really only liked the brand new doctors because they would talk to me, but I have turned a corner with the older, grouchy ones! HIP HIP HORAAHH! I finished the book I have ben reading, "Heaven is for real" and if your reading my blog right now. STOP!! And go read this book because it is now one of my favorites! In summary, a 4 year old boy, Colton goes under for surgury and died for a few minutes on the table, but came back to life and was able to tell people about his experience. If your wondering to yourself, umm so what the heck does this have to do with my experience...just wait! Colton constantly talks about in the book how Jesus LOVES the little children. This is not just said once, but over and over and over again. Today I saw a glimpse

at why Jesus loves these children SO MUCH. Kids are innocent, they see things in black in white, and for the most part, put their whole heart into something they believe. Kids are generous and kind, and are never worried about what others think about them. We can learn a lot from kids. There was a kid today that absolutely broke my heart. He was born in Bolivia and his family moved here. He is now 5 years old and can't talk. The doctors have nothing to make conclusions from because the mother has no medical records and it appears as if he hasn't received very much medical attention, EVER, in his life. They have no idea why he can't talk and are at a loss of what to do. But, his smile would make you absolutely melt to the ground. It was hard seeing the most precious boy, so helpless, and the doctors had no conclusions. Thank goodness no one is ever sick when they get to heaven!

THURSDAY AFTERNOON:

Back to the Ronald McDonald house! Today was a special day because it is a holiday where everyone celebrates the 3 kings that came to see Jesus. In honor of today, there was a party held for all the families and the kids and the kids each received a present! There was laughter, food, and the company of such AWESOME people! What else could you ask for? One of the girls got a new tea set and was going around taking orders and pretending to make us tea. When I was pretending to drink the tea, she said, "I'm waiting! Finish, so I can make others tea!" It made me laugh so much in the way that she was so sassily serious. SO SWEET! It was a great opportunity for the kids to forget about their medical conditions and to have fun and laugh A LOT!

THURSDAY NIGHT:

I am back at my house and we are going to have dinner soon! All of Alicia's kids are coming over and we are eating together. I haven't seen them in a few days so I am excited to be reunited with them!