The PFH Experience: ¿We´ve only been here a week?

I have no idea why, but for some reason I feel like we´ve been in Guayaquil for at least a month. It has been a looooong first week - not in a negative sense - it´s just due to the fact that all three of us have been slow in adjusting to the difference in lifestyle here. I can´t help but feel that if you want to become a physician, then no matter how laidback you seem to be, there is a bit of type A personality hiding in you (or it´s right out there in the open, whichever), and it definitely came out in all three of us when we first got here. We were all a bit restless due to the extremely random schedule during the first few days.

I don´t know what exactly happened, but somehow overnight we all chilled out and have been taking things in much better stride. Today was a great day and I somehow feel that things are going to go a lot more smoothly now that we all let go of the notion that our schedule is never set in stone (not to say we weren´t warned...). We know that no matter how hard he tries, Dr. Aguirre will always get caught up in something, and will be an hour late, ie. when every ATM he stopped at for me was out of order, or when his car wouldn´t start today and the three of us had to get out and push it down a hill while he shifted into gear.

Today we went to a school way out past Duran that was literally in the middle of a billion rice fields as a favor to some women who have helped out at our clinic in Duran in the past. We took the heights and weights of all the children in the classroom and when we head back on Friday, we will be gathering information about their health by surveying their parents. The school is actually a one-room schoolhouse with about 40 children that are in what we would consider grades pre-K to 7th...all in one room...with two teachers. It was a madhouse after we got there, and although Jeff insisted it was due to my extremely white skin (my host grandma just calls me gringa, which means white girl, instead of Christine), Dr. Aguirre assured me that it was because usually when a doctor comes, it means vaccines. So anyway it was fun to see all the kids and I look forward to going back on Friday. This weekend we plan to head to Cuenca, where Matt´s stepmom has family, and that will be a nice change of pace and apparently a little cooler in temperature, as well. Since we will be working in a big clinic next weekend, this is probably our only weekend to travel a decent distance away from Guayaquil.

The one room schoolhouse (sans children, who get to leave at 1230 for the day!)

A typical house in "el campo" aka the countryside, on the outskirts of Duran

After we got back from the school, we headed to Jeff´s house, where we´ve been taking Spanish lessons for a few hours each afternoon. I won´t lie, my head definitely hurts after trying to cram that much information in at one time. I miss my laidback intro teacher from college. Then came what was probably the best part of the day - as I got ready to head home for the day, Jeff´s host mom, Fatima, surprised him with an early birthday cake...and a fiesta! The other students who live above their house came down, and all of his family members were there, plus Matt and me, and we did some serious dancing all around their house. Fatima was easily the best dancer, although I have to say I gave her a little competition with my macarena heh heh. I have some amazing pictures, especially of Matt and Jeff dancing, and since I forgot my camera cord, I´m planning to put them on a CD at a store here one day and then upload them to the blog...sorry in advance, boys.