My mom is here and it's kinda the best thing EVER.
We are hanging out with the Rhodes team from North Carolina going to the barrios this week and it's just been awesome. I mean, I am a little tired since this is our 12th team in 13 weeks but overall feeling pretty darn grateful that I get to be here and do this. Last week was the Nelson team going to the barrios as well and before that...an AMAZING week of surgery with the one and only Greg Pomeroy and his fantastic ortho crew. I think I am still spinning from the wealth of knowledge that I garnered on foot and ankle surgery!
Anyway- it's been a great winter. I look back and wonder exactly what I have done. Not sure. I've seen lots of surgery, I've been to lots of barrios to help with clinics, I've folded lots of scrubs and reorganized the med room a few times (:)). I've held hands and wiped noses and written vitals and made kajillions of copies of charting forms, barrio intake forms, etc. It's just part of my life here. Really...what I've done is had the opportunity to participate in watching lives change, whether through a life changing surgery...... or a life changing mission trip... or maybe just watching a really cool nurse love on some new nurses and teach them how to start IVs safely. Being part of the stuff that happens here is the best!
Speaking of cool stuff- Mom and I (and the team) went to a concert at Central Mennonite here in San Juan on Sunday evening. The worship team (who are AMAZING) was working on a demo CD and taping the concert there ,etc. Nef sang with them and from the second they started singing...I think I was transported to one of those rare moments in which you just are seriously WORSHIPING for real. And feeling like you and Jesus are just RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER. I loved it and I'm still humming the songs that they sang. There WAS a mime, which was a bit scary since mimes just WIG me out. Mimes are an essential part of nearly every church production that I've have attended. Dominicans love mimes. And I am frightened by them...but growing accustomed to it by now. Mimes and clowns and puppets. Completely utilized whenever they can be. It' s just good to have a heads up that there COULD be a mime when you show up for a service.
Yet other cultural stuff I am learning about..... If you have enough swagger, you can certainly wear socks with your flip-flops and be cool. If you are bathing/showering with warm water, you really aren't clean. You have to bathe with COLD water to be clean (I'm still trying to figure this out?). You should NOT drink milk at night, that is ridiculous. If you haven't eaten rice for lunch... you really haven't eaten. You should shower BEFORE and AFTER working out/running. You should NEVER eat and drink together. Drink AFTER you finish eating. All the juice that I make (me..personally) is only good for diabetics and NEVER has enough sugar in it. Oh and all homemade juices should have vanilla added ("do you mean you don't KNOW that?"). You throw water on people on their birthdays and sometimes even flour and eggs. You should NEVER call someone a clown (in spanish) to their face- it's super offensive (oops!). And the list goes on and on. It's actually hilarious.
So I am working on the running too. Trying to keep up with the old exercise since ya know, I'm 40 and all and basically falling apart at the seams. I think 5 minutes after I turned 40, I talked to the orthos who were in town and we figured out that I have bursitis in my left shoulder. Ummmm hello- I turned 40 and got like an old person problem. BURSITIS? What is THAT? But I do my exercises and got a steroid injection and I will march onward. But the running...ufffff. The running. I run with Monchi and we plug in my earphones together ( one in his ear and one in mine) and run in sync and that is how I do it. I kinda can't do it without either of those things and while it isn't getting one bit easier.......I MIGHT be whining less.... maybe. I watch his feet and heave and plod and try to stay in pace. And then I fuss and sniffle about how I'm probably dying and can't go on another minute and all that. And there is some gentle (and ungentle) encouragement and pulling and pushing. And then jumping up and down with joy when it's over "you did it you did it you did it!!!!". And then a stretching routine and then home, sweaty and happy. And I am grateful. Grateful for this "Dominican hijo mio" who helps me out without a whimper, grateful for the mountains around us as we head for Mogollon in our "ruta", grateful for the waving and cheering (maybe sneering?) as we pass by, grateful that I get this opportunity. Just grateful.
Hanging out at the park last weekend, I learned a couple other phrases of Dominicanisms. Coolness- I love learning stuff like that. But the one that stuck with me is something that I like to say in English too. I like to say "but then again, we are always on the journey". And basically Chino told me the same in Spanish...that folks can say "siempre la historia continua"...that things keep going on. And I love it. Feeling like I'm IN that, the story that always continues. And I love my story (for the most part) and seeing where Jesus and I are going. And here's a shout out to those who are and have been praying for me....THANK YOU! With Jesus, siempre la historia continua....
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