Kij an yo rele sa an kreyol?

today i worked in the clinic all day and there were some pretty sick people. one girl came in who had recently had both typhoid and malaria and that wasn't even what she was complaining about. "...only in Haiti does a child cry out that she is hungry in the midst of getting a spinal tap..." people here let things get really bad before they take the long trip to the MOH hospital...thus there can be multiple unrelated diagnoses for one patient. they actually have a really great lab here where they can do all types of tests, as well as most of the common prescriptions. blondy is the name of the pharmacist...he is haitian and he likes to quiz us on our kreyol. he also knows everything about every drug. there was also a man who had broken both his legs but had been casted at another haitian hospital...when we looked at his x-rays today it showed all parts completely out of place....basically his leg had just been casted, but parts of each femur were actually laying parallel to each other. bone had started to reform in the wrong places so it is likely that he will never walk again. Dr. Cheryl is sending his x-rays to a dr in the U.S. to see if it is still possible to set his femur back in place...

it finally rained here and it rained a ton. the dirt paths that we use up and down the hill got so washed out that all the stones are exposed. it makes for a rough ride on the atv or motorbikes, so i've been sticking to the climb. last night we had a haitian dinner and i had about 17 servings. basically rice in black bean sauce with fried plantains and something else that looks like coleslaw but is super spicy. they fry pretty much everything here bc it is cheap. tonight we had enchiladas and for lunch we always have pb&j and pringles. they said that i'd get hungry when i was here, but i'm always stuffed after the meals. we eat mangos every day with breakfast and they're awesome.

in the afternoon i worked in the clinic and did medical inventory...there is a dentist and a podiatrist coming soon so i have to learn the ropes so that i can assist them. i did a lot of running around looking for people and getting meds. i learned some more kreyol from the interpretor today...a lot of kreyol is the phonetics of french....for example, tois would be twa, or ca is sa, or besoin is bezwen, but some of the vocab is completely different. it is also difficult bc they speak in extended contractions, so it all kind of meshes together. the etyology of the language is really interesting because it is basically a product of Haiti's rocky history. haiti was originally a colony of african slaves which had been ruled by the spanish and then the french. bc the slaves had no education, they just pulled their own language from what they heard from their masters which is why the language is often phonetically french, with a touch of spanish and even some english. it is written how it sounds bc the spoken form came first, only recently followed by an inconsistant written form.

haiti is an extremely proud country bc it is the result of the only successful slave-rebellion that led to an independent nation. they overthrew the french under the leadership of toussant l'ouverture and ultimately dessalines. there are lots of holidays commemorating this feat, and it is really neat to see the pride which the haitians maintain...there are lots of statues and renditions of these events, along with paintings of the duvaliers.

"jaspora" (ie. diaspora) by wyclef jean speaks to preserving this pride.

tomorrow is going to be a great day bc all 4 interns are assigned to the groups and we are going on the "riverwalk" in the morning. this is basically where you hike for an hour up the mountain and then wade across a river to a remote village and play with kids. i can't imagine anything better than that! in the afternoon we go into the city to deliver supplies i think...we are basically responsible for whatever they tell us to do....sometimes it's hard, but we also get to do a lot of things that the group people can't do. sunday we have church and then us interns are taking a guard and interpretor and getting off the compound for a real haitian dinner. i'm excited for that. i have clinic monday and tuesday, construction on wednesday, and then i have my first day off on thursday.

i really love it here, and i'm surprised at how naturally i've fallen into such a lifestyle. the haitians seem to find blessings in many little things. dr. cheryl expains that the haitian has no sense of organization or plan...they live day by day...if they have enough food to eat from morning til night, then they have been successful and they won't worry about tomorrow until the morning...

now time for bugspray and bed. bonswa!