March 8th, 2011

Hello all,



Life in Guyana is still pretty awesome. I'm settling into a routine now but I will only be here on the West coast for about 4 more weeks. After that we get moved to our permanant sites where we will be for the remainder of our 2 years. I will hopefully find out where that site will be by the end of this week or early next week. We pretty much have no idea where we might be going, where we will be working or who we will be living near. Its exciting but making us kind of anxious too. As soon as I get the news I will let you all know :)


My training is going well, the days are long sometimes and some sessions are a little tedious but the informaiton we are getting is good for when we actually go to our sites and start working. We already go twice a week, in small groups of 3 or 4, to schools or health centers and help out in the morning. My health center is close to my house and usually has anywhere from 5 to 25 patients waiting to be seen. The doctor only comes once a week, on Thursdays when patients with diabetes and hypertension are seen, the other days there is only a nurse and a Medex there. The Medex does some examinations and dispenses medications. All health care, including meds, are free in Guyana. I like going to the clinics because I get to interact with patients and give health talks on various topics and also get to sit in with the doctors and nurses while they do individual examinations. I am excited to finally be getting some practical hands on experience that I can use when I get back home.



Life with my host family is great. They have made me feel really comfortable and my 2 host sisters, Susy and AnnMarie continue to be the most adorable children ever. We had no water for 2 days last week and I had to take my first bucket bath. Basically that consists of carrying up a large bucket of water from the hose( I have no idea where water from the hose comes from and I don't think I want to know. Ignorance is bliss.) and taking it into the shower and using a smaller bucket to take water and splash it on yourself to take a shower. Luckily I don't have to do that everyday but it was a unique experience nonetheless. Also, there is a mouse living in my host family's kitchen that I'm pretty sure has never seen a white person before. It will poke its head out from behind the stove and look around. If it sees my host mom or dad it just kind of stays there and watches and then casually walks to the other side of the kitchen. If I am anywhere near the kitchen, it takes one look at me, panics, and runs back behind the stove and will not come out. It is actually kind of cute (never thought i'd say that) so I have started leaving it crumbs from my toast in the morning so it knows that, yes I am extremely pale and scary looking, but I am actually harmless.

I have posted new pictures for everyone on my facebook profile. The link below should work if you don't have facebook access but I make no promises. I miss you all and hopefully will see you all soon. Don't forget, I love getting mail and packages, it makes my day that much better!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2078255&id=1277258438&l=572ff39abd

Love

Lindsay