Primera Semana

Hello all,
Apologies for the tardy travel entry. I miss you all terribly! My week was a blur of acclamation (high altitude), cultural adaptation and survival spanish. Surprisingly, I`ve been extremely busy with little/no time to sit down and compose a thoughtful blog post that summarizes the events in each day I `ve lived here in Quito. I`m living the life of a full-time student with 9-5 work sched.

 

Mi mamita/abuelita Francia

Let me begin by describing my home life. Mi madre ecuatoriana is a Chilean abuela named Francia. She lives in a neighborhood close to my spanish school; her home contains the essential amenities, a ton of fake flower decor (which i love) and original art painted by Francia (a woman of many talents.) I have my own room, bed and space---and I am the only CFHI student living with her so I have a lot of time to myself which is nice. During the day Francia teaches children with learning disabilites and spends her evenings watching her favorite telenovela (or listening, rather-- her eyesight is poor and she gets double vision after 5 pm.) She prepares my breakfast and dinner each day; i`m on my own for lunch (almuerzo.) I can usually get a $2 lunch consisting of soup (chicken & rice) and either a chicken, fish or beef entree. Jugo de mora o piña is also included. each meal i eat here fills me up so my attempt to put on weight isnt working too well. Francia and I get along quite well despite moments of pure miscommunication; she regards me as "mihihita" or "querida" --- my little girl or my dear. I appreciate these terms of affection even though i `m close to 30 years old. she is simply adorable.

Last week I was given a crash course (one full semester) of Spanish: verbs, tenses, conjugations and grammar- specifically grammar re: Anatomy and Physiology. Last week we were given oral and written tests and on the 2nd day I was asked to give an oral presentation about an infection or virus......on the fly. It went surprisingly well because I chose to report on HPV which is a virus I know a lot about. The challenge was converting this to Spanish and conveying it to my classmates. My spanish classes are between 4-8 hours long each day; it`s legit and very difficult. I was placed in the most advanced spanish class, not sure why, but I`m sticking with it and improving comprehension and conversation daily.

Today (Monday = Lunes) I began my clinical rotations. The hospital I`m assigned to this week is called "La Maternidad." It has public funding ONLY and there are only women seen there, as OB/GYN services are what is provided. Today I observed Dr. Gomez in the EMERGENCY ward. The only women we saw in emergency were pregnant and many of them had signs/symptoms of Pre-clampsia which is a medical condition in pregnant women that occurs after 20 weeks gestation. It can be fatal to the mother or unborn and can be cured by the induction of labor or cesarean. The s/sx in general are :
-blurred vision/seeing lights
-pain in the head
-high blood pressure
-proteins in a womans urine
-pain in the ears

I still have a lot to learn about this specific condition.........

The doctor asked me to calculate each woman`s gestational age using long division (thank god i remember math before calculators!) I take the 1st day of her last period, add up the remaining days in that month, add days in each consecutive month up until today, then divide it by 7 to = how many weeks and days she is. I was nervous to do this on the spot, but I did it and my math added up with his. I felt bad for my 21-year old colleague who is very used to relying on calculators for everything, as this particular task was difficult for him. We got through it.

Over this past weekend, I explored Quito`s historical district with 5 other classmates. we walked through churches whose ornate interior was emboldened in Inca gold; we visited the Basilica---the oldest church in quito , eerie gothic architecture, and all the gargoyles are animals from the Galapogos Islands. We wined, dined and played soccer with some local niños in the park.
Yesterday, a friend and I rode in a gondola up to a summit at "Volcan Pichincha"--this mountain is at elevation 15, 300. we climbed from the summit (10, 000 ft) up to the peak (15,300 ft.) It took us 5 hours round-trip and we couldn`t really breathe at that elevation, but it was SO exhilarating! We had gorgeous views of Quito and the mountain`s countryside. My legs and glutes are super sore today, but it was definitely worth the pain! I will post pictures as soon as I can upload my pics onto a classmate`s laptop.

Well my dearies, it`s time for la merienda (dinner/snack.)
Sorry if I left anything out.........there is much to see, do and explain. I love you all so much. Hope you`re all in good health and enjoying autumn.
write me, and if anyone has a Skype acct please send me your name . we can set up a date for free!

i´ll write again soon! Jessica