meeting the people and finding ourselves...

Since last tuesday, a lot has happened.  We spent wednesday, thursday, and friday in the barangay clinics.  We switched each day so we could experience a different community and different services.  Most clinics do immunizations on wednesdays and also fridays.  On wednesday, Roxanne and I gave something like 25 shots to children and young women in the Tomay/Bahong clinic.  As we left the clinic, we were almost undoubtedly attacked my a swarm of wasps.  We screamed so loud and ran back up the hill from where we came.  Our midwife, Brenda was laughing so hard and telling us to just run through it.  We crossed the street, (very dangerous to do here by the way) and ran down the hill to get away from the swarm.  Upon gathering our witts, we found a lovely restaurant and coffee shop owned by a local Filipino couple on land rich with organic fruits, vegetables, and flowers.  We enjoyed a lovely, relaxing, and HEALTHY lunch in a garden sanctuary before braving the city again and taking our first jeepney ride...what an experience (see pictures).  

Thursday and Friday were similar days as far as clinic hours go.  After clinic on thursday there was a celebration at the municipal hall to welcome the municipality of a neighboring province.  There were very boring speeches, which we put on a good face for and stood and smiled when our Mayor (of La Trinidad) introduced us to the visiting province.  Then there was...the sacrificing of the pig (I left the room).  Its a cultural tradition to kill a pig when friendships are made between provinces, as well as other occasions.  I came back in the room after the pig had umm passed on at which time there was so much dancing!  Alfred and Janelle were invited to dance with the local people and they donned the appropriate dress to do so.  Then we all got up and joined in  the dance.  Then of course they bring out the dead pig to do the butchering...i left again.  I was "drowning in cultural immersion" in the words of EJ and Roxanne.  Our next stop was "home."  

Friday after clinic (half day woohoo) we spent our time shopping.  Buying souvenirs for ourselves and maybe a little for you guys reading this at home :)  We stopped by the Easter School which is where all the traditional Filipino dress is handwoven.  Its really quite something to see how its all made and how the women work so fast to produce such beautiful pieces.  We spent a lot of money!  Next on the agenda, Mr. Labi took us to Mine's View and very touristy spot where we had ice cream and took pictures in the Filipino wear.  Then he took us to Camp John Hay where U.S. service men used to stay in the 1800s.  We toured the grounds bit It was BEAUTIFUL and I do believe I found the place I want to be married in :).  Next we came home to prepare for our mini trip to Bacarra for the weekend.  Bacarra is in the province of Ilocos Norte.  We went there because it is Roxanne's hometown, and Janelle and Melanie's families are from there as well.  After a 5 hour drive in the middle of the night we stayed at Roxanne's house where her brother lives now.  It was really fun to meet everyone and see where they grew up.  It made me homesick though :(  I said "next stop is to see my family...on to San Diego."  Unfortunately the driver wasn't up to it.  We made the day as relaxing as we could.  We got massages, pedicures, and haircuts.  Even seen the Philippine Sea?  We have.  It was really HOT.  Janelle and I decided not to swim because no one gets that "exposed" here and all we had were bikinis.  We felt a little awkward and didn't feel like warding off all the stares.  The caretaker at Roxanne's house took very good care of us for our meals.  It was also the best sleep any of us has had since we left Hawaii.  Probably had something to do with the AC and the real mattresses.  

Back in Baguio and La Trinidad today.  Did some more shopping and didn't relax at all like we wanted before another busy week.  Surprisingly the jeepney rides into town are exhausting and take far too long.  Taking the taxi on the way home was a good decision.  

Stay tuned and catch us this week after we spend three more days in the clinics and prepare our presentations for the municipality of La Trinidad.  This coming friday we are to present on what we have learned and taken away from our time here.  YAH for homework after graduation!!  

Aloha from Kimmie, Melanie, EJ, Roxanne, Janelle, Alfred, and Miss Finin.  

Puppy goats, bucket showers, and fish balls

Saturday, our bus ride to Baguio City was scheduled for 1145am.  However, we got to the bus terminal and low and behold there was no 1145am departure.  So we finally left Manila at 115pm.  Manila is so fricken hot when you're waiting in the sun wearing jeans consumed by diesel fuel fumes.  Anywhoo, the bus ride to Baguio City was supposed to be 5 hours...it turned out to be 7 long hours of traffic and loud movies (picture at right is us looking very excited about the bus ride).  We arrived at the Microtel Inn & Suites in Baguio at 830pm and promptly took over the lobby with our attempt at "packing light."  Saturday was Roxanne's birthday and we planned to take her to dinner, but given our exhaustion we ordered in from ChowKing mmm! 

FYI: the island is called Luzon----the region is Cordillera----the province is Benguet----Baguio and La Trinidad are the cities within it all. 

 

The next morning we met a few of the nurses and midwives as we checked out.  They helped all of us and our junk to get to La Trinidad.  One of the public health nurses owns a building with transient apartments available.  We are renting two apartments from him for two weeks and he shuttles us around to where we need to go as well.  Mr. Yoshio Labi is a funny guy who surprisingly looks a lot like Alfred HA.  While on our trip to the grocery store we saw a baby goat, AKA a kid, AKA to Alfred a puppy goat.  Hence the title and source of numerous jokes.  We cooked our first meal together that night and what a lovely dinner it was.  

Our first morning waking up in the apartments was interesting.  Ever taken a shower out a bucket?  What about boiling your water on a hot plate to pour over your head?  WE HAVE!  Hence the second part of the title.  That morning, Monday, we went to Municipal Hall of La Trinidad and had such a warm welcome from the Mayor, the doctors, the DOH, and the midwives we'll be working with.  They presented us with a gift with the seal of La Trinidad on it (picture on the left is Melanie and me with our gifts).  After the welcome program we had a tour of Benguet General Hospital...WOW extremely eye opening, especially coming straight from the critical care rotation.  There was one patient in the ICU and he was feeding himself.  All you classmates of ours know that guy would be in med-surg real fast if he could feed himself.  The NICU had four beds, compared to Kapiolani's 42.  On the OB/GYN ward two women deliver in the same room and the nurses autoclave their own instruments.  Taking it all in is very humbling.  Its amazing that they can deliver beneficial care with such limited resources.  It makes me think that everything we do in the U.S. is not always necessary.  After the hospital tour we were wined and dined with a fabulous lunch, then back "home" for dinner, homework and bed by 9 o'clock. 

Today, Tuesday, was our first day of work.  We went to the main health center called Poblacion where Mr. Labi, public health nurse/landlord/shuttle driver, oriented us to the forms used in the clinics.  Then we went to meet the Governor!  He had funny hair HA.  We took too many pictures and went on our way.  Two of us are assigned to one barangay (neighborhood/community) where one midwife cares for all the people who live in that barangay.  Roxanne and I went to Barangay Pico where we listened to a combined total of 23 fetal heart tones, did Leopold's maneuvers, took BP's and gave injections.  Melanie and Alfred went high into the mountains of La Trinidad and made home visits to dying patients.  They received bananas for their service which we decided to make banana lumpia with :-).  EJ and Janelle went to Barangay Bahong and gave 7 injections to the children and learned how the midwives teach family planning.  At the end of our clinical day we met at Municipal hall and danced!  The midwives lead exercise classes a few days a week.  Today was kickboxing! and we learned a traditional Filipino dance.  We all felt more awake after the exercise...tomorrow is Karate!  Then it was home for homework, dinner, another early bedtime, and of course updating the blog!  (its very late so please ignore any typos HA). 

Aloha from Kimmie, Melanie, Roxanne, Alfred, EJ, Ines, and Janelle

P.S. the third part of the title is something very delicious made of flour and fish (not really fish balls) that I was brave enough to try :-)

Manila afternoons

Aloha from Manila.  We arrived safely via Philippine airlines.  However, during our flight we were already challenged with a healthcare crisis.  A passenger needed medical assistance so our instructor did an assessment and one of our students recorded vitals every 15 minutes monitoring the woman's blood pressure, which was 180/110 at the time of assessment.  She was fine for the rest of the flight and as we leaving the plane after landing a doctor came on board for further assistance.  

I must say how impressed I was with Philippine airlines.  We got three meals, headphones, pillows, blankets, and a small pouch with an eye mask, socks, & toothbrush and toothpaste.  I was most pleased with the presence of foot rests, in economy class even!  We rode to the hotel in shuttle vans.  I was in awe at the roadways and traffic flow in the city.  WOW its scary.  Instead of using blinkers, drivers just honk their horns and move in an insane, hodgepodge fashion.  They seem to have no worries about hitting each other.  There's four lanes on the roads but eight cars across the lanes...how does that add up?  I'm not sure at all, I'm quite glad we will not be doing the driving here.  We have just checked into our hotel, the Mabuhay Manor in Manila and we're all utilizing the various forms of communication to the mainland and Hawaii...mostly internet as the phone costs about $3 a minute for long distance.  Our plan for the evening is to meet up with EJ (another student who made the trip yesterday), go the Mall of Asia for dinner and some shopping, followed by an early bedtime.  I'm curious to see how this jet lag thing in gonna work with our sleeping habits.  Yah for Tylenol PM!  Tomorrow morning we take a 6 hour bus ride to Baguio City where we will stay for the majority of the trip.  Magandagabi (means goodnight).  

Aloha from Kimmie, Melanie, Alfred, Janelle, Roxanne, and Ines.