Dominican Republic 4

February 19, 2008

Dear Diary . . . just kidding, I wish I would Dear Diary this blog. Update on the shower . . . they finally moved us into a new room. They knocked on the door and started grabbing our stuff to take us to the room next door. I was like you want us to move ahora and she said, "Si, ahora!" . . . he he he I love it. Yesterday, I was joking about some of our group members getting jumped. Well, I found out that there was another small incident yesterday. One of our group members was walking alone and someone came and snatched her cross off her neck. She did not get harmed in the process, but you know you always feel bad when someone steals something from you.

Today, I got up on time for once, but I still missed the devotional because I needed to stuff my face. I am really getting used to this breakfast; this is some of the best pineapple I have ever eaten. We went to Batey 4 this time and this Batey is a little further down the road from Batey 7. Driving there was a lot of fun because I got to sit on the back of a truck with 11 of my other teammates. My bottom got a little sore riding on the back of that truck, I mean as you can imagine we were riding on the dirt/stones/gravel/only God knows what else roads. I captured video of one of the sugar cane trains going by and that was so cool. Kevin stood up and had the guy honk his horn . . . yay! We arrived to Batey 4 and you immediately notice that it is a lot worse than Batey 7, which is very sad.

I had the same job I had yesterday, but I got to work with Johnette. She is hilarious, her and her husband are a lot of fun to be around. Johnette did her thing today even though she does not know too much Spanish. She never let that slow her down. Anyway, we saw about 125 patients today and thankfully there were no muggings. Well, there couldn't be too many because the bead carnivores took everything yesterday, but we love them anyway. Well the lady in rosada (pink) almost started a problem today because she snuck in when we were closing for lunch. She was sitting there with her ticket demanding to be seen. Well, as you know . . . I let her butt sit right there and demand to be seen.

Their baseball field had animal droppings on it.

One of guys playing baseball, he was so happy.

I am really getting good at this medical translation thing, I do not mind doing this for the rest of the week. Translating has improved my ability to think in Spanish tenfold. No wonder Wake wants us to go abroad to learn Spanish, but because I was an athlete I could never do it. I did not have too many rare cases today, most people tienen gripe, fiebre, diarrhea y parisito. However, this one time this woman just wipes out her son's you know what and explains to me that his foreskin could not open . . . that was muy intersante. Oh and I got to see a live case of goiter, which was really cool to finally see outside of a biology textbook.

Giving out candy to all the kids.

During our break I gave one of the baseballs that the WFU Baseball team donated to some kids playing baseball, they were so happy. Our head nurse who is from the Dominican Republic also took some of the balls home so she could give to the children. I also wanted to thank everyone who donated muchas cosas para mi viaje a la Republica Dominica. Your donation really meant a lot. I mean if you could see the kids faces when you give them some as small as a baseball, it just makes all the dust in your eyes and burning in the sun worth it! Thank you Charlie! The shoes will be shipped after the trip is over because they had a lot of medical supplies we had to bring. At the end of our day, I ran outside and gave candy to all the children . . . I'm actually surprised they didn't jump me, but I am 300lbs.

Little bit blowing up her balloon.

Before we ended, Johnette and I watched a little girl blow up a balloon. Oh wait . . . the balloon was a condom. Let's just pray that it was new. Anway, we ended our trip taking a scenic route in the truck and it was so much fun. Well, it was fun to see, but it hurt my bottom. We drove through the surrounding Bateys and there were a ton of speed bumps along the way . . . ouch! Our scenic trip ended at a beach that was next to a factory. As we were approaching the beach some of the kids came and jumped on the back of our truck. They were so cute, but Janette was a little worried que los ninos would fall of the back and get hurt . . . well, I was worried also. On the shore there was a ton of trash that washed up on the shore making this once beautiful beach look awful. Even with the trash, this beach looked better than some of the beaches in the states. The water in the Dominican is just so blue.

Little boy hanging off our truck heading to the beach.