The First Day

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I'm at a cyber cafe right now in Port-au-Prince. I am adjusting to my new environment. On the weekends, I stay at my uncle’s house in the mountains. The weather there is amazing, very cool, zero humidity, so much better than Boston or DC. However, during the week is a different story. We stay at his second home “en ville” downtown in sweltering heat, and there is hardly ever electricity and no fan in the entire house. “Mais, nap degage” But we are managing!

My first day in the clinic was yesterday. It was an incredibly humbling experience. My communication skills in French are practically non-existent. Also, there's not much for me to do since I'm a student and they are not use to having students shadowing physicians, normally that's reserved for residents. Plus, it's a private clinic, so the doctors are hesitate to have a student listen in some of the patient visits. So far I've seen three really interesting cases. Two of them had to due with fertility testing. I had do idea the procedure was so invasive!!!! I’ve learned so much about the doctor-patient relationship and cultural conceptions of health and illness… and all just in the first day!

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Comments

[Christina]

Glad to hear that things are going well and that you´re learning so much!