Lots to catch up on

So as many of you have probably noticed I just could not leave Belize. I woke up Friday morning to go to the Clinic with the rest of the group, after being there for about an hour and hearing everyone's plans for the next couple of days I decided I just couldn't leave; something was telling me to stay.  I made a lot of phone calls and got my flight switched last minute... This is so unlike me! Maybe this trip has taught me to a be a little  more spontaneous without having anxiety about plans changing!!

The Clinic was pretty slow on Friday with only about 15 people coming in all day. After the Clinic we went to the pool for a little to swim and hang out. I had dinner with my family which included mashed potatoes; I was in heaven because I am getting pretty sick of rice at this point...  After dinner I went to the bunk house to watch zoolander and just relax with everyone.It was a pretty early night and much more relaxing knowing it wasn't my last night anymore.

Saturday I got to go on the excursion that had been planned through proworld since I decided to stay. We went to the Mayan ruin, Xunantunich. We took a little hike to get there then walked around the ruins for a couple hours. It was pretty amazing to me how they built this with pure man power. No one this days would ever think about doing that. Although I did think it was pretty cool, I don't think I appreciate it enough to be amazed. I am glad I got to see some ruins, but I prefer the more adventurous excursions. 

After Xunantunich Ruth and I went to the market to experience what Saturdays are like in the town; everyone is out wondering around buying their groceries and having BBQ. It is amazing how lively the town gets on Saturdays. I took a few pictures of the market, but they don't give the same effect as when you are here. It is just row after row of produce, clothes and other things. I bought a banana chocolate chip muffin from the menonites....it was pretty tasty! Then off  to the pool for a few hours I went. I have started taking my swimsuit with me everywhere in case it is nice, so I don't have to walk all the way back to my house. It  was the most beautiful day I have had since I got here. 

Adma and Marlin were gone for the night in Belize City for  a family reunion so I had to fend for myself; I went up the road to a Mexican restaurant, Rolsons, and I ended up eating a cheeseburger and french fries!! Never in my life has a burger and fries tasted so good, and I don't even usually order them when I am home. It was a good change of taste! And for the first time since I have been here I have got a stomach ache from eating too much. Usually the food is very good here, but not so good that I cannot stop....The burger was so good that I could not stop haha! It was just what I needed.  After dinner I met up with everyone else to celebrate Bhavika's last night and her 21st birthday. We ended up hanging out at my house, sitting on the porch. It was so sad to already be saying good bye to these awesome people I met. The only thing that has kept me from being really sad about her leaving is that she is from Michigan, so I am sure we will keep in touch.

This morning I was abruptly awoken with a loud scream and pounding on my door.....any guesses why?!?

A TARANTULA!!!!!! Ajia was screaming and terrified of the tarantula that was in her room. I told her she was asking the wrong person for help; I wouldn't even look at it. Luckily marlin had gotten home from Belize city, so we pounded on the door to have him kill it. It was terrifying; even after it was dead I couldn't get close to it.  To make things even better marlin was taking forever to come kill it and as he came upstairs he said," sorry, I had to brush my teeth first," I don't think he understood how petrified we were...Brushing teeth can wait!! He swept the nasty little creature out onto the porch after it was dead and made a comment while staring at it, " there he goes crossing over into a new life," I guess they really like their creatures here. I can handle the cute little geckos in my  room, but now I am on serious tarantula patrol every time I move in my room. I am terrified that I am going to wake up with one in my hair!! 

After that I slept for a few hours, ate some breakfast and hung out with the family. I told them I was going to the pool today and then they started to tell me about this resort that is here where you only have to pay 5 bucks to use their pool and they have really good food. Marlin drove me up the hill to the resort; it  was awesome with such a beautiful view and pool. I was there from 10-5 today. I had some really good nachos and took advantage of good wi-fi. It was exactly what I wanted to do for my last couple of days here. The weather was amazing, not a cloud in the sky. And of course I had to get some cayo twist ice cream on my way home. Since they are only open Thursday- Sunday it was my last chance. It was pretty tasty :)

I cannot get over how cheap everything is here, in the last two day I have spent only about 19$ US  which got me a cheeseburger and fries, 3 coke lights (diet coke), nachos, ice cream and I tipped 2 servers.

All the other volunteers went to guatemala today, so I don't know if anything will be going on tonight. I am totally okay with relaxing. I have no idea what I am going to do tomorrow, hopefully the weather is beautiful again.

Miss you all!! I posted new pictures today too!!

P.S. Grandma if you read this, thank you so much for everything!! Staying a couple extra days is really maximizing my experience. I love you and hopefully will see you soon!!

Last day :(

 So I felt much better all last night and even enjoyed dinner and going out, which I am so thankful for. Everyone including staff and volunteers met at the bunkhouse for dinner . We had curry, rice, and salad.; it was tasty and didn't bother my stomach much. We also surprised Bhavika with a birthday cake because her 21^st birthday is on sunday. The cake was delicious!!

After dinner we went over to bhavikas home stay family and she made pina coladas for everyone and even made me a virgin colada, so nice! We decided to play a game, which sounds dumb, but ended up being really cool. We had different color packets of Tang (kind of like kool-aid) and each color represented a different type of story you had to tell. For example if you drew orange you had to tell a story when you were happy, red =mad, blue= sad, peach= fun and there was one that someone would ask you a question. It seemed dorky at first but we all learned so much about eachother. It was actually really cool and we had a great time. After the coladas were gone we headed to our favorite hang out place, Greedys, for ladies night. Lastly, we headed to the casino for some karaoke. It was pretty packed in there and was a fun time. I went home early because I started to feel a liittle sick to my stomach, but nothing too bad.

Now, I just woke up and have been having a lot of cramps, nothing unbearable just a little uncomfortable. I am thinking once I get another dose of medication in my system it will really help. Today we are at the clinic again and hopefully we will see a lot more patients.

Tonight is my last dinner with my host family and I think we might be going to Benque for the Benque fiesta. I also really need to get some more ice cream at cayo twist before I leave!!

I cannot believe I have already been here for 2 weeks, time has gone by so fast. I also cant believe how much I have learned and experienced from the time I got off the plane in Belize until now. I was terrified the moment I stepped off the plane wanting nothing more than to be back home and now I am comfortable being out of my comfort zone. I have met great people, doctors and patients. There were a few rough days that I was ready to come home, but I am pretty sure every one of us volunteers had that feeling and of course the amoebas ruined a little of my fun. But, I am so happy I had the opportunity to have this experience. Thanks for all the support through reading my blog, commenting on my pictures and calling me.

I am sure I will be very bored tomorrow during my 5 hour lay over so I will post one more blog. Cant wait to see you all when I get home!!

parasites in my colon....not okay!

The last couple of days I have been extremely tired, but did not think much of it because I have been working a lot and walking a lot plus I did so much activity over the weekend. I also felt like I had a fever tuesday but it quickly went a way. This morning I woke up with terrible cramps and had no appetite, but forced myself to eat breakfast and went to the clinic. I started feeling much worse after about an hour of being there. I was nauseous and really crampy in my stomach. I went back to the Cayo Clinic that I have been volunteering at to see the doctor; he was so nice and didnt even charge me for my visit which was awesome. After listening to patients for the past week I was almost positive that I had amoebas, which the doctor confirmed. After walking around san ignacio for an hour I finally found a pharmacy that carried the medication I needed. I was expecting it to be  super cheap, but I was definitely wrong. It cost 65 BZ$ for 6 pills!! But I should be feeling better by tomorrow. The only bad part is I cannot have any drinks for the  next couple days and we were all going to celebrate tonight and tomorrow for me leaving. Oh well, I am sure I will live without a few drinks.  So in conclusion I have amoebas! 

I was only at the clinic for about an hour, so I didnt see much action. The other volunteers informed me that i did not miss much. I slept all afternoon and the cramping seemed to have gone away. I still dont feel amazing, but I feel better. I am getting ready and going to dinner!! 

Hopefully the little ameobas in my stomach relax for a few hours so I can have fun!

Cayo Family Clinic!

This morning was a little rough getting up. I didn't get home until about 130 and had to be up around 630, but I can always sleep when I get home! Today the clinic was actually pretty busy which I am going to attribute to a dry day...finally! The morning was a little slow, but I had things to keep me busy; I folded gauze for a while which was interesting and very tedious, but since it was my first time it was not too bad at all. We saw a few patients in the morning with simple illnesses and injuries. There were a few injections, one for a back injury and one for plantar fascitis. It was cool to see the way Dr. Meza diagnosed patients, then to see the x-ray and then the treatment, which were the injections into the foot and the back. Reading x-rays is much more difficult than it would seem so I really enjoyed when we had x-rays to read and the doc would explain them to me.

After lunch we got really busy; none of the patients had anything too exciting, but I felt like a big help because I was actually calling patients back and taking care of all their paperwork while the nurse did patient intake. The doctor also did a lot of explaining today and taught me broad diagnostic tips for anything. Over the past few days he has pretty much explained the entire process that you go through while you are at the doctor, what they are feeling for on every part of your body and what's normal and what's not.

Today was also really fun because most of the people that came in spoke english, so I had a clue what was going on, which is quite helpful. I talked to one lady who was convinced she was dying this morning; she was completely fine though!! She was really nice and even hugged me and told me the world is a small place and that maybe she would see me in the states one day. Another lady was really interesting to talk to because she knew a lot about the healthcare system here and in the US, so while she was waiting to see the doc we had some interesting conversation and I learned a little more about the public healthcare here which I did not get to see.

Since I have been here I have only seen the private clinic I was working in and have been curious as to why people would pay for private doctors when they have free healthcare at the hospital? But, after talking to a few patients today I have learned that the wait time to see a public doctor is really long and they do not take the time to deal with your issue like they do in the private sector. Also, the doctors are supposed to be much better at the private clinics. The prices at the clinic I was at were not to steep, so I think that is what drew people in. Also, people have been hunting for Dr. Meza because he has only been back in Belize for about 5 months, so that helps to bring people into the clinic.

Today was my last day at the clinic and although it was an awesome day, it made leaving so much harder. I stayed for an extra 2 hours until the clinic closed. I took pictures with everyone and exchanged emails and such. I never felt like I was much of a help while I was there, but when I left the doctor thanked me so much for all the help and the nurse hugged and kissed me and thanked me a lot too. I told them I will definitely be back to see them again, which made them happy!! I am going to miss all of them and miss the conversation I got to have with Dr. Meza. I am going to wonder what happened to certain patients and wonder if others were okay. But, when I realize that I have that curiosity and care for people, I realize I have found something I love and that my future should be exciting. Today really reaffirmed my desire and excitement for treating patients in the future.

On the other side of things....the bugs have finally found me. I have more bug bites than I have ever had in my life; I itch so bad. The first week here they didnt bother me at all, but now I want to rip my skin off. If it was possible to overdose on deet, I would have already been in the hospital. I am starting to think the mosquitos have super powers and are immune to deet.

Tonight we had chilli for dinner which was a great change; for once in my life I am sick of chicken and craving beef. It was really good chilli but some cheddar cheese and crackers would have topped it off nicely. Instead, I had tortillas with it. At least they were home made..yum :) For the rest of the night I am just going to read my book and relax. Tomorrow we are back to our free clinic with all of the other volunteers!

Hope everyone is having a good week and I will see most of you soon!

P.S. I cannot believe I only have 2 more full days here :( Boy how time flies!

Thanks for the prayers everyone, we had a few more sick people today!! That sounds so bad. Anyways, last night it rained like I have never heard or seen rain in my life. It was continuous for hours and I even had to take a taxi to work because it was so rainy and the ground was so wet. The clinic was slow at first, so I read some of my book and just relaxed, which is hard to get used to doing at work. It still hasn't gotten in my head that it is okay to sit down and do nothing at work. I tried to explain to them that at my work that is completely not okay; even if you are not busy you must look busy all the time. They didnt get it...its  a totally different way or life here. Everything is slow and relaxed. It is kind of nice, but actually a little hard to get used to.

I dont know if you remember the man that came in last week with the open chest wound, well today the doctor cut some of the skin and stretched it to stitch it to the other side to cover the open part of his chest. Another patient came in to get a small growth from her shoulder removed, something that was probably due to sun damage I am assuming. For some reason watching him cut into the skin really made me feel sick today. I got really hot and sweaty and had to keep taking deep breaths. I think part of it is that the scalpels here are not very sharp and he has to use a let of pressure and pulling to cut the skin which was kind of gross to me. Hopefully the more I see it, the less it bothers me.

There was an older lady, about 82, that came in today and it reminded me how much I love working with the elderly. I am starting to realize what great experience being a CNA has been. I even miss the old people at home!! It was nice helping her walk and stand; the other staff wasnt sure how to assist, so that was nice to feel useful.

The rest of the patients were there for pretty common things: ear infection, allergic reaction and a few others. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some more excitement. I might ask one of the workers if they will let me try a blood draw on them and see if the lab tech is willing to show me. I dont know how much courage I will get, but it is something that I was wondering about today. I also need to take some pictures of the place and the staff tomorrow to show all of you.

Today after work I was praying for sunshine, or at least no rain and thankfully it was nice out. I walked downtown to pick up my laundry which was nicely folded when I picked it up.

After my walk home I showered, did some reading and took a long nap. We had dinner and then I went out for a little bit. I finally had some french fries too which calmed my cravings a little for american food!!

Good night all!

Never taking pavement for granted again

As I said in my last post we were headed to mountain pine ridge on sunday. Getting there was quite a treat. Imagine the worst dirt road you have ever been on and add a ton of large rocks and hills to it plus what it would feel like to be driving 60 MPH down it in a huge van....that is what I endured for an hour and a half there and an hour and a half back. And, really we were only going about 20 mph the whole time.Lets just say no one gave me a heads up on that one. It was quite miserable, but it was worth it in the end. We first arrived at rio frio cave which was a much different cave experience than the day before; this cave was open on both side and just huge inside! It had a little beach inside of it as well. After the cave we went to Rio on pools which was a bunch of small waterfalls that turned into pools that we swam in. It was refreshing and beautiful. It happened to be a hot sunny day that day as well so we laid out on the granite rocks to dry off and catch some sun. It was so nice to relax and just take it all in.  We ate lunch there while watching the beautiful waterfalls. After that we drove a few miles to big rock which is a pretty large waterfall with some pools to swim in at the bottom and ledges to cliff jump as well. This was my favorite part of the day. It was so exciting to jump of off the cliffs and to swim next to the falls. But, the rocks were SO slippery to climb up. And as clumsy as I can be...I definitely took home the award for least graceful falls; I am pretty sure my ribs are bruised. But at least the rest of the group got some entertainment out of me falling on my butt more than once. The hike up and down to the falls was also really steep and was probably the most mountain climbing I have ever done in my life. It was a good experience.

After all of that we were pretty exhausted. We got home and all went to our separate houses. I ate some dinner and hung out with ajia for a while. I  went to bed pretty early last night and got some sleep.

This morning I was up at 630 to get ready to head  to the clinic. I had a good breakfast and was on my way. Luckily the monsoon that took place last night was over by the time I had to walk to work. The clinic was extremely slow today; we think it was because of all the rain. I kept telling the doctor that we need to make some people sick so we would have something to do! I saw some x-rays and mammograms so the day wasn't completely boring. There was a patient that needed an IV, but for some reasons her veins were just not cooperating; I had asked a question and the lab tech thought I said I was good at IVs. He started to hand me the needle and I had to say no no no I have no idea how to do that. They really will just let you do anything here! It made me a little queasy when they were wiggling the needle all around trying to get it to stay, but I survived without fainting.  On Friday I missed a vasectomy which I am totally bummed about. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some excitement! Pray for some sick people for me.... just kidding!

I am just about to go eat some dinner and  then I don't know what the night will bring. I am pretty tired, so reading and sleeping sound pretty good.

Thanks for reading and for all your positive comments on FB, I appreciate it!!

Only 6 more days :(

Today was awesome!!! We booked a tour through one of the local companies that we had heard was awesome; none of us really knew what we were getting ourselves into but we were very excited to say the least. We had to be downtown at 730 ready to go. We rode in a van for about an hour, but most of it was on very crappy dirt roads and we even drove through the river; these people in Belize think cars can do anything.  The ride there was pretty exciting because we hadnt seen much of the jungle yet; it was cool to see all of the crops growing and also the houses that are that far from a city. As we got closer to the mountains we all got pretty excited and jittery. Once we got to the site they gave us packs with our lunch in them and we could put our water, socks and snacks in there as well. I used the nastiest bathroom I think I have ever had to use and the toilet seat was so far back from the edge of the wood stand that squatting was  extremely hard for the vertically challenged like me.

Our tour guide was pretty much the best person we could have gotten and he might be our favorite person from the whole trip. Patrick took good care of us and was extremely intelligent and knowledgeable about the jungle. He said when he wass 3 he was given his machette and started to learn the ways of the jungle. He and his father, who was a medicine man, would go on 2 week long trips into the jungle and he also grew up riight by the jungle. He also went to college in Boulder, Colorado and is certified in flying hot air balloons. He is  creole, meaning he is half african and half mayan. He has had the chance to travel all over the world and has seen so much, so talking to him was really exciting. He also had a great sense of humor. He discovered this cave in 1986 with one other man. Since then the government has taken control of it and has many laws. Nothing in the cave can be preserved or touched. The way it was found is the way we saw it today.

The tour started out with a hike and within 5 mins we were waist deep in the water. We continued hiking for about an hour while patrick showed us tons of plants and animals. He had us smell some plants and things like  that and told us what type of medicine is still  made from them today. We finally made it to the entrance of the cave which was amazing. We ate some lunch and then we were off on our 3 hours adventure into the cave. To get into the cave you swim a small distance first. Then we trekked through water for 90% of the cave and climbed  a little more than I expected too. There are definitely some spaces we went through that would not fit the fat americans as patrick said, " we would need a lot of oil". Patrick gave us tons of information ranging from history to the science behind all of it.

Once we got to a certain point we had to climb up to the next chamber of the cave where we took our shoes off and had to have socks on so nothing would get ruined or altered from our shoes. We then kept climbing into higher chambers to see all of the artifacts that were left from the mayans. There were so many pots and pottery as well as skeletons and bodies. It still hasnt hit me that we  werent in some disney world exhibit, but that it was actually real.

After all that we ate lunch at the campsite and trekked back for our ride home.It was an awesome experience and I am so glad we did it.

The rest of the day consisted of stopping by the market and a few shops. After that I shower, relaxed and had dinner. After dinner seems to be the time that i hang out with Adma and Marlin the most. We talked for a few hours. I love talking to them. Today Marlin told me he can see his daughter being just like me when she is older, she is 9 now. He said she wants to be a doctor just like me and has a very similar personality, so that was cool. They also told me that whenever i want to come back just get a hold of them and they will give me a deal and I can stay with them anytime. They really want me to stay longer, we were all getting sad at dinner tonight about my trip being half  way over.I guess I will just HAVE to come back!!

Tomorrow we are going to mountain pine ridge which has a 1,000 foot water fall and some cliff jumping. It should be pretty cool. Hopefully are your  weekends are going well!

Miss you all!!

It is hot hot hot!

The past two days we have been running a free clinic to provide a check-up for people; the check-up includes a patient intake form, height, weight, BMI, blood pressure, pulse, temperature and blood glucose. We mostly see high blood pressure and high blood glucose because diabetes and hypertension are very prevelent in Belize due to the lack of exercise, cheap food and lack of knowledge about food.

The clinic has been pretty successful in my eyes. Yesterday it started off a little slow, but more flyers got handed out today. With each patient we take their vitals, tell them the healthy ranges and then send them to an education table where there is information about all of the areas that we are testing. All of the people seem very interested and receptive of our information. If their BP or glucose is really high we suggest going to the doctor as soon as possible or coming back and seeing us next week to see if it is consistently high or if it just happened to be high while they saw us. If the case if extreme we will call a taxi, provide the fees and get them to the hospital. Only one case like this happened yesterday; the woman had a low blood pressure, very irregular heart beat and her sugar was not right either. She said she felt terrible which included vomiting for the past two days. We quickly got her a taxi and got her to the hospital.

Yesterday after the clinic we went to the pool to cool down and to catch some sun. While we were laying out the staff yelled at us to come up the the third floor terrace area because there was a fire. I was shocked when we got up there, the fired was spreading so rapidly right in the downtown area next to one of our favorite bars/hangout places. It was pretty sad; someones home was ruined and a shop was ruined. I am pretty sure it was an electrical fire and no one got hurt, so that is good.

Last night we went to karaoke night but not too many people were singing. But, by midnight or so the place was packed and everyone was dancing, having a great time. I am so thankful that all of us get along so well and have so much fun with each other. As much as we are here to help and learn about another culture I think I have learned so much just from dealing with different people and building relationships with people that I just met a few days ago. I really like getting to know everyone and learning about their lives.

Today after work we went to the pool again; it was the nicest day we have had here so far. It was incredibly hot this morning but some of the humidity seemed to go away in the afternoon. It was the first day I have been here that is hasnt monsoon-ed! After the pool I passed out and took a nice nap. We had chicken and rice for dinner and I tried some fried plantains, they were pretty good. I am also in love with bananas here; I tried one at home about a month ago and thought it was terrible but here they are soooo delicious. I bought one today for 10 BZ cents which is a nickle at home...cant beat that! I also tried papaya but was not too impressed.

The other night after dinner we were talking about traveling pertaining to every one's dream place to visit. Marlin had mentioned that he is obsessed with india and their culture. So, I found all of Mikes pictures from when he was in india and showed marlin; he loved them!! So, thank you mike! You just made this man very happy. Then after dinner Adma found out that her uncle passed away so we just kind of hung out with her and talked for her for a few hours. Marlin told me all about their customs and how they deal with death. It was very interesting; they dont have funeral homes here. The bodies go to the morgue where they are embalmed and cleaned up. But after that they go to the families house where they stay for a day or two. Marlin said family is there 24/7 with lots of food and drinking. We talked about our families a lot and told stories about grandparents and family members. It was a good way to distract Adma.

It is amazing to me how I have only been here for a week and I feel like I am actually part of this family. They are amazing and they just genuinely care for the people that they welcome into their home. And their kids are quite funny too...today sunita who is 4 was sitting with us at dinner and Adma was talking about how she always welcomes the neighbor kids over but sometimes she just needs them to leave and for her to relax. I made the comment “ yeah, you just need some peace and quiet sometimes.” Sunita looked at me as serious as can be with a little sass and said you can go upstairs to get peace and quiet ( my room is upstairs). It was quite hilarious.

Tomorrow we are going on the ATM adventure which involves hiking, cave swimming and treading and also some mayan ruins. It should be awesome. There are 5 of us going!! But, for now I need some sleep! I will let you know how the adventure goes tomorrow!

Good night all!

Time is flying by!

Wednesday:

Today started with some pancakes and eggs which were delicious! And then it was off to the clinic. Nothing too exciting happened at the clinic today. I met a girl from traverse city who has been living here for 3 years now; she knew I was from michigan because of my keens haha!! Medically there was not much going on at the clinic, just a few little sicknesses.

Something else that was pretty cool happened. Yesterday Dr. Mesa showed me a picture of him and Joe Mayo who is part of the Mayo family that started the Mayo clinic in minnesota. Today, Joe Mayo came into the clinic!! He is longest living case of diabetes that the clinic has ever had. He has had it since he was about 3 and is now 77 I believe. They get their insulin from the U.S. And it is a type that does not need to be refrigerated. Joe Mayo was also telling the doctor about his friend Mr. Walton...turns out it is the founder of walmart that he was talking about so that was pretty cool. His daughter wrote a book about the clinic and their family so I might look into that when I get back home.

Once again it started raining right at 3 o'clock when I was supposed to walk home. It is now the joke at the clinic around 2:30 for all the staff to point out the black clouds coming. I told them they really need to stop because the are jinxing me....i dont think they really know what that means though! So now they think it is just hilarious when I have to leave in the pouring rain. The doctor offered to leave the clinic to give me a ride home, but I told him I could probably make it and that I will not melt in the rain!

I forgot to mention yesterday about my conversation with Dr. Mesa about his pay. I had asked him if he gets paid on the basis of how many patients he sees or if it is a flat rate. That is all I really wanted to know, but he gave me much for information! He told me he make 6500 BZ$ per month and then 35$ BZ per patient with a few other add-ons for surgery and minor procedures. But, I started thinking and that is really not much for a doctor at all. In US money he is only making 3250 per month and if you do the math that is roughly 40,000 a year give or take some for the added amount per patient. He also does some teaching in another city to educate what I would call pharmaceutical sales reps to make extra money. I was really amazed at how little he was making and curious if he would be qualified in the US. There's some random information for you that I was interested in!

After work I met up with 2 of the other volunteers to go for a little hike to get farther up in the hills. It was pretty good and a good workout; I am missing the gym right now. After the hike we stopped at the market to buy some things; I have been wanting to try plantain chips. They are really good!! I think it is funny though because they come with a packet of heinz ketchup. They are similar to potato chips but much better. Gosh I am going to miss all of this food when I leave.

I might go out with the other volunteers tonight after they get done at their clinics, but we will see. I have been pretty tired and we have big plans for the next couple of days. Tomorrow we are doing the public health so that will be a good change of pace. Then it is karaoke at the casino tomorrow night! Friday one of the host families invited us over for pina coladas and then saturday and sunday we are doing an excursions. So for now I am going to relax before diner, Happy reading hope you enjoy it!

You say cheese, we say Belize :)

This morning came way too fast! I was so tired I didnt even hear the roosters and that is almost impossible. Breakfast was awesome except I think I made my first mistake while in belize...I didnt like the homemade pineapple juice because I hate pulp....so while no one was out on the porch at the table I poured it into my water bottle, making it look like I drank it all. But.... now Marlin is going to think I really liked this. If I wasn't such a rookie I would have left some in the glass....Oh well, like lessons haha! I walked to the clinic this morning from Admas and got there around 8. It was slower this morning, so again I chatted with the doctor and kind of checked everything out.

Today was a little more exciting around the clinic. Dr. Mesa had to remove  a cyst from a patients back which involved just a local anesthetic and a minor incision. There was  a young woman who had a very severe allergic reaction and needed some shots, i am thinking they were probably in the steroid family. A man came in that had a chest trauma previously that the doctor had sutured up. The skin had not come together but instead folded under and bunched up therefore there was an area the size of probably a half dollar where there was no skin. Dr. Mesa also showed me some mammograms and explained what cancerous deposits look like compared to non cancerous. 

The most exciting thing today was actually feeling like I was helping and that I may have made a difference in someone's life, which is essentially what I came here wanting to do. First was a very minor event, but it still made me feel as though I was actually in this clinic to help and not just for my benefit of observation. The doctor speaks english but isn't always confident in his word choices and phrases so he had me check his letter and help him use the word processor. It was hard for me to stand back and watch him type as I wanted to just do it for him!! He also had no idea how to get the letter in the right place to line up with the letter head. Its amazing how the small things can really help someone. It was crazy that a doctor was asking me for help...

The most exciting part of my day was making my first legal diagnosis and medication recommendation....yes a little scary!! A 19 year old girl came into the office and was complaining of pretty typical depression symptoms, so the doctor did some blood work to rule out anything serious and then told this girl and her mom that I was a psychologist; I said no no just studied psychology, but I guess when there is no psychologist then I am considered one. So, the blood work was done and the doctor said now katelyn is going to talk to you and figure some things out. The doctor gave me specific directions to find out what is going on and determine whether she had anxiety or depression or if something else is wrong. The mother also came up to me and gave me instruction to look deep into her past and childhood. I just couldn't stop thinking that these people really had the wrong idea...I did not know the correct way of doing this nor am I qualified. But, I guess the past 3 years of education may not have been a total waste!

I talked to the girl for about 45 mins and got a lot out of her and could easily say she was depressed, there was no question about it. She seemed so happy to finally be talking to someone that wasn't biased and that wasn't also worried about having food to eat or money to get home on the bus (pertaining to her family members). The doctor asked for my clinical assessment along with my medicinal recommendation....He is giving me way to much credit. We talked about different types of medication that would work and decided on one. Later while the girl and her mom were waiting for their medicine in the pharmacy I gave her my phone number and told her to call me anytime before the 16^th and I would take her to get ice cream and chat. I dont know if I was allowed to do that but oh well, I shouldnt have been allowed to “counsel” her either. I am really hoping she gives me a call! I finally had that feeling of knowing you may have helped someone and that you have done what you set out to do. It was exciting!

The rest of the afternoon was pretty slow. I messed around with the docs Iphone and tried to show him how to use the computer. We talked for a few hours about the clinic and belize. He is so full of knowledge and just a really good person to talk to. It is kind of weird because I dont feel inferior to him at all an can feel like an intelligent person talking to him even though he is very smart and educated in medicine. I am going to take many life lessons as well as medical info away from this experience because of him.

On a side note I am shocked at the lack of sterilization and cleanliness there is in belize. Gloves are not really a requirement and I havent seen one person wash their hands in the clinic. It was VERY different than the U.S. The patient that has the cyst removed was Belizean but his wife was from the U.S. She was very nervous the whole time because of how the doctor was “sterilizing” or lack there of, things.

I got monsoon-ed on today and was not a happy camper. I was walking for 40 minutes after my umbrella broke and after I realized I went the wrong way; street signs do not exist here and dirty roads make for a mess in the middle of a monsoon.

Okay, that was a lot. I am in a rambling mood. I am just sitting in my room listening to music coming from the town and about to read a book and relax. Life is great!

Miss you all!!

P.S. I hate bananas but the bananas here are AMAZING!! I am going to be so disappointed when I get home and try to eat fruit!

Happy 4th of July...Don't worry we still celebrated :)

So much has happened in the last 2 days!! I dont even know where to begin...

UPDATE: The soy ice cream was AMAZING and I am really glad the place is only open thursday-sunday or else I would eat it everyday!!

Monday morning I got up early and had breakfast which was amazing as usual and then walked to the proworld office; I met my project coordinator, Ronnie, who took me to the clinic and showed me how to get there from my house and all of that fun stuff. It is quite far from town but it is a doable walk. When I got the clinic I met all of the staff : the nurse, the office staff, pharmacy tech, lab tech and the doctor. They are all very nice and helpful. Within the first 10 mins of being there I got to run an EKG on a patient which was pretty cool; they are very easy to use. After that the clinic got swamped; it was a very busy day which they are not used to.

I shadowed the nurse a little bit, then sat in the lab for 30-40 mins to check that out too. I learned quite a bit about lab work that we seem to use frequently. After the lab I sat in with the doctor for most visits and helped call patients back and run errands for the doc. It was a little challenging because most of the patients spoke spanish so I was quite clueless as to what the heck the patient and doctor were discussing. But, on the other hand it was also very interesting to try to figure out what their complaint was by body language and a word here and there that sounded like an english word. Most of the time I was pretty close ( the nurse let me look at the charts later in the day to see what the complaint and diagnosis was). During the down time I talked to the doctor quite a bit. He is originally from Honduras but has traveled pretty much everywhere in the world. He is very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. We talked a ton about medicine and also just about life. I really like working with him.

We saw everything from a pregnancy check up, depression, nerve damage from a stabbing, UTIs and other minor things. All in all it was a good day.

Monday night we went for a tour of san ignacio with proworld staff, so that was nice. After that I came home to a nice bottle of wine that Adma and Marlin were drinking. I showered and then enjoyed some wine with them while chatting. I love getting to know them. They are such a happy family that really enjoy the little things in life! After that a taxi picked me up to take me downtown where all the other volunteers were; I met the rest of the group from June, so all together there are about 12 of us. We went to a couple bars to celebrate 4th of july. We had a great time, the group gets a long really well!!

P.S. my host mom hugged me in honor of 4th of July hahaha it was cute!

Happy reading!

orientation and soy ice cream

Sunday:

Once again I was woken up by roosters, 1,000 stray dogs barking and a car honking up and down the road; I found out that the car that is obnoxiously honking is selling freshly made tortillas...which are amazing. Adma made us homemade tortillas today with our breakfast and they were awesome. We also had eggs, avocado, and fresh cantaloupe juice. I swear chickens here lay different eggs; they are the best eggs I have ever tasted.

Marlin drove me to the proworld office and bunk house today so I would know how to get  there and back walking. We had orientation with the program director which was just a lot of common sense rules and some info about belize...the usual when you start some kind of program.   We were supposed to go swimming but its been raining cats and dogs here today. It doesnt rain like it does in the US....I was literally just standing outside trying to get internet service and it was fine outside and now if I were to walk outside I would be soaking wet from head to toe in less than 5 seconds. It happens so fast and you just pray it happens when you are inside!

A RN came from the san ignacio hospital to give us a brief history of their healthcare and to practice taking vitals and glucose readings. I even poked myself with  needles to draw blood, I wanted to know how hard to push...I found out. And, I had a high blood sugar reading....must be all the veggies I am eating....I told you all they are bad for you.

Tomorrow I start at the CAYO clinic which I found out is a private clinic and the doctor there is supposedly an awesome doctor with a ton of experience with a teaching personality. I also heard from the RN that since it is a private clinic that it can be very slow at times, but oh well I will make the best of what I am given to work with. Some of the other students are working in the hospital and will have the chance to possibly see births, ER work and different types of things.  I am thinking that they will have more of an observing experience and I am hoping mine will be a little more hands on. I am the only volunteer that had an past medical experience, which I am telling myself is the reason I am at this clinic...I guess we will find out.

We are also doing a public outreach program while I am here which I am really looking forward to. I am excited for a few different reasons with the first being the fact that all of us volunteers will be working together and get to spend all day together on these days. We are all at different settings 3 days a week so this will be a nice time to hang out with them. Some of them are even working the 3-11 shift so that limits going out with them at night too so these days should be good days to do group things. Like karaoke at the casino on thursday....cant wait! It should also be very interesting because we have to promote our free clinic and get the word out; the success is completely determined by us getting the word out. At the clinic we will offer free glucose screenings, education about diabetes,  blood pressure checks and education about hypertension as well. Hopefully we will see a lot of people coming in.

I just got back from dinner; tonight we had spaghetti. It was similar to spaghetti in the states but had some different spices. It was good enough to satisfy me. What I am really excited for is ice cream later; all of the volunteers are meeting later to get ice cream at CAYO twist. They sell soy ice cream which I havent had before. I will let you know how it is tomorrow! 

I am getting nervous for tomorrow and of course excited. I should have lots to fill you in on in my blog tomorrow. I am planning on going to Greedys or the bunkhouse after work to blog. Miss you all!!

Peace, Love, Belize :)

P.S. sorry all of my past blogs were posted all at once, that might have been confusing. And, now that I just read them they had tons of bad spelling and grammar...woops! To much excitement to think I guess!

Hannah montana probably has no idea she is all over guatemala

I set my alarm clock for breakfast at 730...which I am coming to find out that there is Belizian time and nothing starts when it is supposed to. To my surprise I had a natural alarm clock....ROOSTERS!! and let me tell you...there are tons of them and they never stop. I dont think I will need my alarm clock at all while I am here.

I woke up and showered and had breakfast. Breakfast was again, excellent! We had refried beans....I never knew that was a breakfast food until now, eggs with some spices and cheese and lastly toast with jam. Marlin is a great cook and he also loves making drinks. He made us a blended coffee type drink ( think frappacino) and it was awesome!

After breakfast we went to the market, which takes place every saturday and consists of all the produce, clothes and any other thing that any person living here would need. All of their food is organic and made right here in belize, other than a few things they get at the very small grocery store. The market is HUGE. Saturdays are also BBQ days and people BBQ on the street and sell it for insanely cheap. For lunch I got a quarter of a chicken, coleslaw and a tortilla/ crape type thing for 5 dollars belize which equals about 2.50 american and it was delicious.

Today Ajai ( Asia , the other volunteer staying here) and marlin were planning on going to Guatemala and told me I was welcome to join I just had to split the gas and pay an entrance fee to get into the country. It was 11 for gas and 30 for entrance but that is Belize and american is 2 to 1 belize so in total it was 20 bucks basically which is not to bad. Gas here is really expensive its about 10-11 dollars per gallon belize, so about 5 dollars per gallon....and we complain about 3.50 when we are making a lot more money than the people here.

Guatemala is a much poorer country, we had to change our belize and US money into money what guatemala uses and the exchange rate was about 1 US dollar to 3.65 Q ( guatemalian money). We walked around and went into their market and shopping area. I was surprised at how many health clinics and pharmacies there were, where you could buy any type of medicine.Marlin told me about how he went to guatemala to get his root canal because its so much cheaper there. I bought a few things and just looked around a lot. I really enjoyed walking around their markets, its not like in mexico where everyone hassels you and begs you to buy from them. They dont say much other than hi and gracias...they only speak spanish there.

Me and ajia took the bus to the market and walked around until it started storming.The internet stopped working so we wondered over to the resturant that we have been “borrowing” the internet from to see what was going on and to get a drink or something. Ajia and I ended up sitting there for about 3 hours talking about anythiing and everything. We talked about how belizians percieve volunteers, about her culture and job and about my lifestyle. Its interesting to learning so much about many different people. I mean obviously I was going to learn about Belize and their culture and have an eye opening experience within their culture but I am learning so much from ajia too. We have very different backgrounds and discuss controversial topics and I think we tend to enlighten eachother a little. Its good conversation and I am glad she is here to hang out with.

Once we left Rolsons I hung out with the Robinsons for a bit and then dinner was ready. It was excellent!! I am starting to really like some new vegetables. We had chicken with a gravy type sauce and sauteed carrots, zuchinni, squash and cucumbers. Also a new favorite of mine is fresh avocado. Marlin made another awesome drink: homemade vanilla iced tea. I could get used to this cooking!I have started to notice already that sometimes, well most of the time the family doesnt eat the same thing that they make for us. These confuses me and makes me wonder why and also makes me wonder how the kids perceive this? They are old enough that they would take notice to this. I also noticed that they ate the same thing for lunch and dinner, very cheap rice and beans. I wonder if they cannot afford to cook for their whole family the way the cook for us? Now I am just reading a book a relaxing. Orientation is in the morning; I am excited to get to know the other volunteers better! Stay tuned for more!! Miss all of you!

Children playing outside and lots of hot sauce

So I have arrived safe and sound after 15 hours of traveling plus a time difference....needless to say I slept pretty good last night. Anyways...yesterday started out by us getting lost on the way to DTW and me panicking a bit that I would miss my flight, but it worked out perfectly because I only had to wait for about 45 mins to board my plane. Then....my flight got delayed in Miami and it was so cold in the airport that I now own a cheap piece of hot pink fleece fabric that airports like to call blankets...and it costs $20. The flight to belize was really quick and in that short time I managed to think " what the hell did I get myself into?" over and over. Then I met a man from belize that calmed my nerves a little bit, he told me san ignacio was the best part of belize and that I will absolutely love it there. The plane landed and I was a little shocked; the airport was smaller than my high school.... The nice Belizian helped me get through customs and find my luggage. Customs in belize city is much much simpler than anywhere else I have been. It only took about 5 mins to get through the entire thing. Now it was time to find someone holding a Proworld Belize sign. Panic set in when I looked at every person holding a sign and didnt see proworld. After looking and panicking some more I spot a tall white, american looking man holding a sign down by his side so I awkwardly looked around him and stuttered,..ummmm I think I'm with you. Thankfully I was right. We waited for the other volunteers and then we were on our way. It was about a 2 hour car ride and the driver was awesome. He told us all about the country and was very funny and entertaining. I learned so much on the way to the town. On a side note, there are 5 volunteers that came in yesterday and 1 more coming tomorrow. The others are from canada, california, texas and washington. We all got along well and had fun talking. On the way to san ignacio we stopped by a little shack that served belize food and all shared some beans and rice and chicken. It was excellent; we also tried a lot of different hot sauces which was slightly entertaining.  As we were all getting really tired we had finally reached our destination: San Ignacio. I instantly thought wow this is like the New York city of Belize compared to where we had been driving through. Its very populated compared to any other city we drove through and seems very cool. We then went to the proworld office and waited for our host families.Adma came to pick me up, we stopped by the grocery store and her moms house on the way and then I got to see where I was staying. I have my own bed room and bathroom but marlin has to fix the shower. The robinsons have another volunteer staying with them from a different organization. She is from washington DC and kind of gave me the lowdown on the family and the city so that was nice and comforting; she will be here the whole time I am so I'll always have someone to explore with. Marlin and Adma welcomed me and told me the rules the expect me to abide by while living here. They are all very realistic and just kind of common courtesy. We ate dinner; this is going to shock all of you. I ate a mexican dish, served on hard tortillas that consisted of primarily onions, cabbage, peppers and tomatoes....and I really liked it. After dinner I talked to Marlin a little bit and we talked about the US ( his dad lives in chicago) and about san ignacio.  It was nice to learn about eachother. After that I retired to my room and was out for the night.

Peace and love!

Off to Belize in 5 days!

As many of you know, I am going to Belize. And, as many of you probably expect I am starting to get a little nervous.... I tend to worry a little if you havent  figured that out yet. I just received my assisgnment about a week ago; I will working in a family clinic helping with things such as mammograms, ultra sounds, EKGs, and some other lab work. It looks like a pretty small clinic (small enough that Justin compared it to a gas station). It also has  a pharmacy attached to it, so maybe I will get some hands on experience with that as well. I also received an email telling me what will happen when I get to the airport: look for a sign that says proworld Belize. This could be very interesting, but I am sure I will get where I am supposed to even if it takes a while to find where I need to be. I am getting really excited to meet my host family and to get to know the town I will be in. I am hoping to blog daily and get a lot of pictures on here throughout the trip. Wish me luck!!