"Blan! Blan! Blan!"

Following Alex’s post will be hard and I highly doubt mine will be nearly as entertaining, but here goes. This morning we woke up and created our own workout circuit. Most of us had been up most of the night because we have a neighbor who we believe is nocturnal. The mission house (where we stay- picture of the outside and courtyard is below) has 6 rooms that surround a little square courtyard. Off to one side are two common rooms, one with chairs, tables and bookshelves and the other with tables for eating and cupboards. We were told that after the earthquake there were so many volunteers that people were living in the common areas because there were not enough rooms. Anyways, the tin roof that covers the building does not have divisions for individual rooms, thus when one person is awake and listening to music, watching movies, or talking on the phone with speaker phone that means that everyone is doing the same. Alex tried to save everyone by handing out ear plugs before bed last night, but it was a lost cause. After our half-asleep work out we started our days and went to our separate rotations throughout the hospital. The day began with sun and we thought we might be spared from rain but as I sit here writing this, it is a torrential downpour with an added bonus- thunder and lightning. For those of you who know me, I absolutely am terrified of thunder so this blog is an attempted distraction from the fact that we are outside on a patio during this storm.

Sophia and I returned to work with the OB/GYN resident Dr. Sanville who was running a prenatal clinic today. It was really exciting to learn the different ways of determining the gestational age using pretty simple diagnostic tools along with ultrasound. Dr. Sanville is such a wonderful teacher and really walks us through everything. Today, he taught us how to look at the ultrasounds. It was really incredible to see the baby moving around and the beating heart as we watched the screen. One of the most interesting parts of the day was when a patient was brought in by wheelchair to the clinic. Upon entering the door it was clear that she had an infection with lesions all over her body. Dr. Sanville quickly determined that she should not be in the room where pregnant women were being checked because it was dangerous for pregnant women to be exposed. He sent her to the emergency room and we later found out that she had measles-we were happy that we had the MMR vaccine as kids and hoped that she would get the treatment she needed to get better.

Outside of the hospital we have done a few notable things- life in Haiti continues to be entertaining and busy. The first aspect that I refuse to get used to is the dogs that have found a home on our patio. Although we would never hurt them in any way, they most definitely have fleas so their attempt to nuzzle against your leg or be pet is just not that cute. I tend to run away and yell at them, providing entertainment for all who are watching. I guess we should be happy that they don’t growl and bark really loudly at us like they do the security guards- they must have something against them. One of the dogs thought it was his duty to follow Sophia, Alex and I on our entire run yesterday—I am still trying to decide if he was being loyal or if he thought we would give him food or something. Speaking of our run- we decided to go on a short jog before dinner which started out as a nice run along the main road but then we turned left about 3 minutes in and proceeded to run through the jungle. I have never been so close to sinking into mud and ended the run absolutely covered- my sneakers will never be any shade of white again. Part of the run is through two different neighborhoods so people came out to say hello or yell “Blan, blan, blan” (meaning white person) or watch because they probably thought we were a little crazy for running for fun. We ran passed the soccer field which I hadn’t seen yet so that was really exciting. It is a full sized field that I hope to organize a game on in the near future.
As for today, Andrew and Professor Hyde introduced Sophia, Eric and I to the project that they have been working hard on since we arrived. We learned how they tested the water and saw the space that the lab technicians at the hospital have allowed them to use to incubate their samples. The hospital staff has be en so generous and welcoming to us, it has really been incredible. From the lab we began our walk around the community to test different water supplies and quickly picked up a guide- Alan ** (we are still working on understanding the language and even have a hard time understanding names so we are not 100% sure if it is Alan, Alandi, Alanze…in the picture with Eric), a 10 year boy who showed us 3 different water sources, including one that was in a woman’s house. Again, we were welcomed everywhere we went and at one point had a train of followers. One woman, Julie, particularly took a liking to Professor Hyde and when we decided to turn back because of rain, caught up with us to cover him with the umbrella she had just gone to retrieve. (see picture below). It was great to walk around and see the neighborhoods surrounding the hospital to get a glimpse of where people live, where the schools are and of course check out where the other soccer fields are in the community, haha. Alan was so great and walked us all the way back to the compound- we gave him a few candies and stickers as a thank you which we hope he enjoyed.

These posts could really go on and on because there are so many new experiences daily but I will spare you the trouble of readi ng any longer. I have really enjoyed all of the responses I have received from the blog and also all of the emails from family and friends. I miss everyone at home and can’t wait till the internet is fixed (hopefully in a few weeks) so that we might be able to skype! I must return to the game of bananagrams that I left. Apparently Professor Hyde is owning the game and making us all look foolish. Maybe Julie inspired him…