I'm a dork
So I have a nice, newsy blog update to tell you all about my first week at the central hospital here, saved on my computer at home where I can't post it instead of on the laptop here in the mission office where I can post it. Guess that was a wasted trip over here! But such is life when you're suddenly so busy you can hardly remember your first name!
The kids started back to school on Tuesday (yeah!) and they're doing fairly well. They love their teachers, they seem to have a good mix of classmates, but that 7am start time has knocked us all for a loop again and we're dragging by about 2pm (me especially) and having melt-downs over which play shirt to wear (mostly Ethan, but I wouldn't put it past me!).
The hospital is do-able, but I'm really worn out. Part of it is the pure number of hours I suddenly find myself working...from teaching 1 hour a day, to summer break, to suddenly being gone 7am-4:45pm! Part of it is the emotional stress of seeing the suffering and the lack of available treatments and the limitations people live with on a daily basis. And some of it is the stress of being the 'outsider' who doesn't have a clue what's going on around me because everything is in rapid-fire Chichewa and all the systems are different than what I'm used to. So I mostly stand there and feel like a total moron who can't get an IV started or figure out how in the world they calculated that drug dosage! I don't mean to imply that people are rude to me...they're just enjoying laughing WITH me (?) that the azungu (foreign) nurse with a masters' degree can't read their charts and chicken-scratch shorthand! My job is to be humble, let them laugh and teach me, and get through these 4 weeks!!! Some days I've figured out how to leave at noon, and those are the really good days! But I'm almost down 2 weeks, which means half-way, so I should keep my chin up and realize it's going by quickly.
Health-wise, I'm feeling fine. I'm large and waddle-y and feel quite conspicuous at the hospital as everyone stares wide-mouthed, but really I'm doing well. And I will post the other blog as soon as I remember to put it on this computer!
The kids started back to school on Tuesday (yeah!) and they're doing fairly well. They love their teachers, they seem to have a good mix of classmates, but that 7am start time has knocked us all for a loop again and we're dragging by about 2pm (me especially) and having melt-downs over which play shirt to wear (mostly Ethan, but I wouldn't put it past me!).
The hospital is do-able, but I'm really worn out. Part of it is the pure number of hours I suddenly find myself working...from teaching 1 hour a day, to summer break, to suddenly being gone 7am-4:45pm! Part of it is the emotional stress of seeing the suffering and the lack of available treatments and the limitations people live with on a daily basis. And some of it is the stress of being the 'outsider' who doesn't have a clue what's going on around me because everything is in rapid-fire Chichewa and all the systems are different than what I'm used to. So I mostly stand there and feel like a total moron who can't get an IV started or figure out how in the world they calculated that drug dosage! I don't mean to imply that people are rude to me...they're just enjoying laughing WITH me (?) that the azungu (foreign) nurse with a masters' degree can't read their charts and chicken-scratch shorthand! My job is to be humble, let them laugh and teach me, and get through these 4 weeks!!! Some days I've figured out how to leave at noon, and those are the really good days! But I'm almost down 2 weeks, which means half-way, so I should keep my chin up and realize it's going by quickly.
Health-wise, I'm feeling fine. I'm large and waddle-y and feel quite conspicuous at the hospital as everyone stares wide-mouthed, but really I'm doing well. And I will post the other blog as soon as I remember to put it on this computer!
Comments
Post a Comment