Me llamo Becky. Soy enfermera. (My name is Becky. I´m a nurse).

Well, beloved readers, things are getting a bit better. I teamed up with a family practice medical student today at clinical, and he was sure to include me in what was going on and even teach me some of the finer points of medical Spanish that I missed during class (and believe me, I miss a lot). We went to a clinic in Tzununa (a few villages over from where I am in Santa Cruz), where the majority of the patients only speak K´achikel. I was working on medical histories with a translator who then would speak with the patient. It was chaotic and fun. The thing that really struck me is how much you can learn from folks based on what their facial expressions are and hand gestures. Patients here love injections (they believe it´s a more powerful form of medicine), and since none of the med students do shots, I was busy all day sticking needles in folks´asses. Unlike in the US where everyone hates the nurse because of the shots, I got plenty of ¨muchos gracias, senora¨and handshakes. Even the kids seemed stoked.

There are legions of feral dogs here that are in heat. I´m trying to turn off the part of my brain that wants to make JD come down here and fix them all, and then help me take them home for flea baths and organic dog food. They all eat trash, fight constantly, and have fleas. I´m pretty sure some are crossed with foxes, as they´re really small and cunning. One dog at The Iguana, the bar where I go, has befriended me. He´s an ex-pat´s dog, so he´s at least fed. It´s so insane to think that a week ago, Jim and I were standing in Petco, trying to pick out the cheapest dog food that was organic, sustained family farms, and gave Grif all the nutrients he needed. Grif comes with us and gets to pick out a toy on the way out of the store. First world privilege is insane.

Time for happy hour. Yeah, I´ve started drinking again down here. This hippie kid bartender makes a mean vodka tonic.

Day 3...god, it´s only been day 3!?!

Learning Spanish is hard. Especially when thrust into a medical environment where you´ve just gotten your bearings in English and now have to read off a sheet to a Mayan descendent who may speak Spanish, but more likely speaks one of the 22 indigenous dialects of Guatemala. Fuck me.

I bumbled through my first clinical day scrambling for the first word to say. The program I´m with has some good folks running it, who are nice and forgiving (as are the patients), but who also make you jump in and speak. I screw up, they correct me. I screw up, they shake their heads. I screw up, they throw up their hands. But I got props at the end of the day for sticking it out.

Yesterday we were sitting in class learning about how to conjugate the eight verbs we need for medical Spanish. Despite my numerous degrees and sincere love of learning, I couldn´t even tell you how the hell to conjugate verbs in English. Thanks, public school. I´m keeping my nose to the proverbial grindstone, and hopefully will come out of this a better lady. For now, I´m tired, I´ve had a headache for two days, and I´m sick of dealing with both hippies and fundamentalist Christians (only in Guatemala).

I´ll put pics up as soon as I can. I´ve been using public computers since we got here, but I´ve been taking them faithfully.

Stoked to hear from yinz!

Antigua Pics Day 1

Some of the sights around Antigua...

Made it!

We got in around 11 last night after two flights from Philly to Guatemala City. The director of the program picked us up from the airport, and after an eventful 40-minute drive we were in Antigua. I´ll post the pics as soon as I figure out how to do so from an internet cafe (where I´m sitting now), but for now I can tell you it´s both surreal and insanely beautiful. We stayed at the surprisingly affordable Black Cat Hostel, and had breakfast on the terrace overlooking Antigua. We´re surrounded on three sides by volacanoes (one active), lush greenery, cobble stone streets, and seemingly ancient buildings. There´s a surprising amount of white folks here, both American and European, and no one gives a second look to the gaggle of nurses and medical students from the US. I spoke with a kid from Idaho on our flight to Guatemala City, and he was visiting Antigua, ¨just cause.¨ I had no idea Guatemala was such a popular destination for kids from the US. We leave for Lake Atitlan in an hour, and there´s now a question of how frequent we´ll be able to access internet.

I´ll keep in touch as much as I can, and have pictures up asap.

Leaving tomorrow

Hey folks,

I'm leaving for a month in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, tomorrow morning. I'm going in hopes of improving my abysmal Spanish skills (anyone who's had clinical with me can attest to them) and to learn about family and maternal health, indigenous style.

A few of you suggested I post things regularly about the trip to, and experience in, Guatemala. While I don't know how much I'm going to write, I'll try to post as many pics as I can. From what I've seen, it's quite beautiful where I'll be, and this will cut down on the obligatory post-trip picture time that can be quite tedious.

Have a kick ass month, and feel free to write! And when the Steelers win the Superbowl, somebody better call me.