My turn

It is my turn to blog, and I am afraid I don't have much to report this week... I guess I will catch you up to the workings of my recent life...
I spent my last day in Buenos Aires touring the U.S. Embassy, meeting the Church Area Presidency, and going to the Buenos Aires Temple before hopping on our plane to come home. It was very good to be back, although I miss the many friends we made. There are a few things that I have really come to appreciate, which I know I took largely for granted. Those things are:
-Five star bathrooms (flushing toilet with a seat, has toilet paper, has running water, soap and something to dry hands with... none of those things could be taken for granted... you might be lucky enough to find a bathroom with TP, but you can bet you had to pay if you wanted some!)
-Carpet (you never realize how lovely carpet is until you don't see it for a while. I was so excited to see our industrial grade carpet when I got home!)
-Heating/ cooling systems (We experienced the coldest week on record for the last 40 years or so in Argentina- freezing temperatures, and of course we didn't think it would be so cold, so we had brought no coats... needless to say, it was sort of.. well.. cold in the unheated hostels we lived in.)
-Fruits and vegetables (we ate mostly meat and pasta and it was very good, but... I have been loving all the summer fruit since being home! YUUUUUUUUUUM!)
-Peanut butter! (Many of our wonderful friends in Argentina had never tried it... they really don't have it there...)
-Earplugs (really, my salvation and the only way I could get any sleep those 6 weeks)
-The ability and total confidence to be able to communicate completely any thought, desire, need, or idea to anyone as needed or wanted. (I will NEVER again think badly of anyone living in the U.S. who is having a hard time communicating in English (as their second language). I experienced quite a lot of anxiety, stress, etc. etc. when I first arrived in Argentina and hadn't gotten in my Spanish speaking mode yet. I was afraid I guess, and I even knew that I would be able to go home in 6 weeks! Imagine what it would be like to move to a completely new place where no one can understand you and you can't communicate- either adequately, or at all. You can't talk to the people at the grocery store, doctor's office, hospital, restaurant, your neighbors, schoolmates, coworkers etc. How terrifying! And you know that this place is your new "home"- you may never again go back to the place you grew up. I have a new appreciation for people who take a leap like that, who struggle to be able to communicate, and who must at times despair that no one understands them, and some people even hate them- people say things like "You're not welcome in this country if you can't speak English." While I realize that can be a frustration for all involved, I also know what it is like to be yelled at for not speaking or understanding clearly, and I know how wonderful it is when someone is sympathetic and rephrases or patiently explains what they mean. Smiles and soft tones (rather than loud exaggerated pronunciation) make understanding so much easier! OK, maybe that's enough on that subject for the moment...)
-Clean air (We lived downtown, and all the smog, car exhaust, and cigarette smoke (Young, young girls smoking everywhere- to lose weight they said) were hard on the lungs when we were walking several miles each day.)
-Clean water (we drank bottled water out of necessity, which wasn't so hard, only inconvenient, and expensive, at restaurants, when you can't get tap water or free refills!)
-My health (I got sick twice in 6 weeks... incidentally, I am fairly sick now, and have been since Tuesday, the difference being that I have access to all the comfort and familiar medicines etc. I could want.)
-Easy communication (this refers to more than just language- We relied on email and methods as unreliable as Skype and other internet methods. We couldn't use our cell phones to make the long distance calls home. Nice to be able to call people up now- just to say "Hi!" if I want.
-I appreciate the way the gospel is the same everywhere you go. (Even when I couldn't completely understand the lesson or talk given, I could feel the Spirit and the kindness of the members at church.)
I actually made a whole list of things I appreciated. I don't have that list with me now, but these are the things that stuck out the most to me. I may add more things at a later time!

Iguazu and Buenos Aires

Hello family and friends! Lots has happened since I last posted (by the way, the last post went underneath BJ's last one I think). We finished up our clinicals in Tucuman- in the hospital and in the community. On our last day of community clinical, we all went to one comedor, and did a garbage clean up that we involved the children in. It was actually a lot of fun! We were so sad to leave, and they were sad too. All the little girls were kissing and hugging us, and we got a bunch of pictures, which I don't have yet. They followed us for quite a ways too, when we had to leave! On Tuesday we left for Iguazu. We had a very difficult time saying goodbye to our friends in Tucuman. We had the privilege of meeting some really wonderful people- those who worked at the hostel, and some people from the ward we attended. We loved all the hostel employees- a truly great experience to stay there and get to know them- Martin, the owner of the hostel, my good friend Virginia, her sister Romina, who came a lot even though she didn't work there, Carolina, and Pedro. It was great to share the experience with them and make friendships. We were all very emotional when we left- I was surprised, because I thought I would be fine, and then it was time to go, and with all of us gathered together, we said our goodbyes. They told us they hoped that we would consider the hostel our other home. It was so hard to leave! They walked us out and waved us off as we drove away. So hard!
The busride was supposed to be a 16 hours... it turned out to be 21 hours! Ugh! I learned what it means to have swollen ankles... bummer. Iguazu was amazing! I have never seen anything like it in my life. Talk about a piece of paradise! I have some fun pictures, which I can't upload right now because the internet connection is pretty slow here. I will post them when I can. We visited the falls on the Argentina side the first day. We walked a bunch of trails along the falls (there are actually many many falls, but Devil's Throat is the most famous) and we also did a raft ride, a jeep ride through the jungle, and a speedboat ride which took us really close to some of the falls. We got completely soaked! It was a blast though. Iguazu, unlike the rest of Argentina right now, was quite warm- in the 70s and 80s, and quite humid. We went to the Brazil side of Iguazu falls on Friday. The falls are mainly on the Argentina side, but the most gorgeous, panoramic views are from the Brazil side. We rode a bus to get to some trails which we walked and took pictures from. Then we had to pretty much head back and get back on our bus to drive to Buenos Aires- another 16 hour bus ride. We got to Buenos Aires Saturday afternoon. We are staying at a hotel here- two stars- and I must say, we are thrilled! Only two to three per room, we have real bathrooms, with toilet paper, hot showers, mirrors, and soap, and they bring you new towels everyday! We have all been using travel towels so long, we forgot what regular towels felt like! We are staying downtown, about three blocks from Florida street, which is a famous pedestrian street with tons of vendors, musicians, artists, and magicians, besides the stores and restaurants. Very fun. Today we attended church here in Buenos Aires. This is a beautiful city- the biggest I have ever been in, though. There are 14 million people living in the inner city, almost 40 thousand in the province. We will be spending about two more days here, and then we return home! I can't believe how fast and slow this trip has gone! I am sad to leave, happy to return home. I will write more soon about what we do here in Buenos Aires in the next few days, post pictures, etc. I love you all, miss you, and hope to see you soon!

Sorry for the delay...

I wrote this over a week ago, forgot to publish it, and have been traveling, and without internet access for several days! Sorry...
It has been one crazy week (or two)!
Last week I went to Salta and Jujuy for two days. We saw several cute indigenous pueblos, and the famous Mountain of 7 Colors- amazing! Gorgeous! We also saw the ruins (named Tilcara) of an ancient civilization which was conquered by the Incas, and later by the Spanish. Part of the ruins were restored. It was interesting to see, and the area was very beautiful. At the bottom I posted a link to some pictures from the trip with explanations of what they are. Sorry- I have to warn you, the pictures did not upload in any particular order, so they kind of jump from place to place.

I have had some good experiences in clinical in the past week. We have been able to do some labor coaching and support in "La sala de parto" (delivery room). Postpartum and the NICU have been good too. I am not going to write all of those experiences here, but my favorite experience was in labor and delivery, supporting a woman who had no one with her at all. Maybe because I felt like I was making a difference to her, maybe because it was the coolest birth I have ever seen! Like all the other women here, she received no anesthetic- it was all natural. She labored mostly standing, bending at the knees (up and down) during her contractions. I am always so proud of the women after giving birth- they are so exhausted afterwards, but they really work hard to get that baby out (naturally!). When she was close to delivering, the doctor helped pull her up so that she was sort of squatting on the edge of the bed. This helped the baby descend quickly, and she was able to deliver right after that, with no episiotomy or anything. (I can't stand episiotomys, but don't worry, I won't get on my soapbox about that right now. I will just say that the research shows that they are almost always unnecessary.) They let her nurse right away, and cleaned her up quickly. It was the best birth I have seen the whole time I have been here.

*I had better publish this now, before I forget again, and I will publish a more recent update as soon as I can. By the way, I will be coming home this week! See many of you soon!

Salta, Jujuy trip

Tafi del Valle, NICU and Community clinical

Last weekend we took a bus up to Taffi del Valle and went on a 6 hour horseback trip! It was fun. We didn't all know what we were getting ourselves into... instead of being a leisurely ride on some flat trail, we climbed up and down a mountain on the horses. The ride up was frightening for me... my horse wouldn't obey my reigning very well (it was just normal- neck reigning) and it had sort of a mean temperament (kept trying to kick or bite other horses). However, I made it! We got to the top of the mountain and we had an authentic Argentine asado (barbeque) grilled over an open fire. It was great food. The steak here is legendary, probably the best steak I have had, and I have had some pretty good steak! On the way back down the mountain, we took a path that was a little less treacherous, and I actually traded someone horses. My new horse actually followed my commands and did what I wanted it to do! Yay! It was a lot more fun on the way down. I like riding horses. We were all sore for several days!
As for my clinical experiences, I had a similar experience in the Newborn ICU this week as my experience in postpartum last week. The first day wasn't great in terms of being involved, learning new things, or observation opportunities. However, on the second day, we went in and things went much more smoothly, probably because we were more comfortable, we had seen how things went in that unit the day before, and we were more proactive about asking doctors and nurses what was going on. We were able to see many very interesting things and learn some new things. It was sad to see babies in the NICU who were not visited by their parents and had little affection given to them. There was a marked difference between two babies we saw with the same condition, but with very different developmental stages. My partner held one of the babies whose family never came, and she sang songs to him for a long time. It was amazing to be able to see that baby relax and look more peaceful. The baby had been there for a few months. I didn't dare get very close to the babies who were not inside incubators since I am trying to recover from a cold, and was worried that I might pass it on if I got too close. The time went by very quickly. Labor and Delivery this week was good too. I went with another clinical group to community this week. We went to the poorest comedor. It was basically just four posts with a roof overhead. The meals at this comedor were cooked over an open fire pit- very primitive circumstances. They couldn't store much there because it would all get stolen. We taught our dental hygiene class and the family planning class (which all the moms were really excited about!) and then we measured and weighed the children, did a hemoglobin test, and did a 24 hour dietary recall with as many as we could. We gave them toothbrushes, toothpaste, and shampoo to take home with them. I couldn't believe how willing all these young children were to get in line, get measured, get their finger pricked, and be interviewed about what they ate that day- just so they could get their toothbrush, shampoo, and sticker. Amazing. Hardly any children cried. Even the little ones stood in line and held out their finger to be pricked, and get a band-aid. They were so cute.
Last night we went to see "Piratas del Caribe" downtown in a nicer theater (comparatively). Don't worry, it was in English, with Spanish subtitles. We had the intermission experience also, only this time, we were left hanging by a thread! I saw tons of children begging for money, and today we saw some children trying to sell lottery tickets. It is so sad to me, and I wish I could give them all money. There are plenty of people who have enough money, but there is poverty here unlike the poverty we have in the U.S. I am so grateful for the things I have, and for the things that are so easy to take for granted. I think that if there is only one thing I take home with me, it will be an increased gratitude for the opportunities I have had as a result of being born in the U.S., and as a member of the church.

Postpartum and other experiences

My group and I have been working on a lesson plan on dental hygiene. There are 4 people in every group, with two strong Spanish speakers and two that may or may not speak Spanish. Each group will use our lesson plan in all of the different comedores. We will be distributing toothbrushes and some toothpaste, but we will be teaching them that the actual brushing, even if they have no toothpaste, is the most important thing.
I wrote a little song in Spanish that we will be teaching the children to help them remember where to brush and also to help them know how long they need to brush. They sing or hum it 4 times while they are brushing their teeth. It is sung to the tune of Row, row, row your boat. It goes:
Lava, lava los dientes,
lavalos otra vez,
en frente, atras, encima y mas,
y estan limpios despues!
Basically, it says wash (brush- they use the two interchangeably here) wash your teeth, wash them again in front, in back, on top, and more, and then they will be clean!
So, hopefully that goes well. We will also be teaching lesson plans that other groups are developing. The only other lesson we'll all be teaching this week besides dental hygiene is natural family planning. The mothers of the children will be coming to this class held in the comedor. Here there is a real problem with adolescent pregnancy. The attitude here is that is is normal to start having babies at a young age, and probably the majority of the women are not married, especially if they live in poverty and have little education, but even among the more wealthy, it is common. I am not exaggerating. Also, most are Catholic, which means that they do not use any form of contraception. I have also seen a number of women with STDs. It is a very difficult situation. We will be teaching a class on natural family planning with the calendar method, which can be used either to try to have children, or not. But the main thing is that it goes right along with what their religion says and hopefully that will help with compliance. We use a bracelet with different colored beads. Each color means something different. I realize many people might be reading this blog, so I won't explain much more than that. If you want to know what we are going to be teaching the women, let me know, and I will show you a picture of the bracelet, and the teaching materials we will be using. I think it is fascinating, personally, but I'm interested in everything about health, so that's not too surprising!
This week on Wednesday and Thursday, I worked in postpartum. This unit is spread over three floors of the hospital. I learned that this hospital really serves the poor. The wealthier women have their babies in the doctor's office, apparently, or in a private hospital. The women are required to stay at the hospital for at least 18 hours after birth, and they can't leave until they are tested for HIV, anemia, and I can't remember the other thing right now. They don't let adolescent mothers (under 19) leave without someone accompanying them to make sure that there will be someone to help care for the baby. One whole floor is dedicated to adolescent mothers with their babies, but the reality I discovered was that there were adolescents on every floor. Many of them had their mothers with them, but many seemed to have little support. There is one nurse on each floor. One. There are quite a few doctors and even more medical students. The doctors here do many of the things that nurses do in the United States. The nurse here just sits at a desk, really far away from the patients' rooms (there are at least 4 beds in every postpartum room, some with 10 beds) and she does mostly documentation, and one set of vital signs at 5am. Most of the women have to bring their own sheets. It is either really hot or really drafty in the rooms. Forget HIPAA laws. There is very little privacy.
My first day of postpartum was not great. In the US, during clinical, we are assigned to a nurse and we follow them, and do patient care. This is not at all the same. There are hardly any nurses, and they don't do much patient care. We are basically just let loose on the floor and are told to make rounds and assess each patient (hundreds of patients). We all felt unempowered if that is even a word. We tried to talk to the nurse, and ask her about her job etc. and she basically just told us that she sits there and writes, and helps with other things sometimes. She wouldn't tell us anything else. We would go into the rooms to do assessments and take vital signs only to find that they had just been done by medical students. Nonetheless, we went into every room on those three floors, and talked to every woman, and did what we could in the way of assessments and vital signs, and also just talking to the women, which went better at some times than others! One great thing about the day is that we ran into the patients we had been with in labor and delivery 2 days before! We were able to have a wonderful conversation with my patient and her sweet mother. It felt great to make a really strong connection with a patient, especially when it felt like I was struggling to speak their language! When we left, those kisses were 100% genuine! (For those who may be confused about kissing, see previous blogs for an explanation of the cheek kissing customs here.)
The second day of postpartum was a very different experience. We did our assessments and vital signs, but wanting to do a little more, we approached a doctor named Marta who we had been intimidated by the previous day, and explained who we were, why we were there, and we asked her if we could follow her and learn from her as she made rounds. We also explained that in the US, the nurses did a lot of the things she was doing, and that we would love it if there was anything she could teach us. Boy, that was the best idea in the world! We spent the rest of our shift with her, gaining invaluable experience and knowledge. She had 30 years of experience, and she taught us some really great assessment skills that didn't depend on technology. Also, when she had finished making her rounds, she invited us to her office where she did a sort of prenatal exam program for adolescents, which was free to them. She taught us how to use the doppler machine to find the fetal heartbeat etc. and to measure the fundus (basically how far out the stomach is) to find out the gestational age. Plus, we learned a lot about the culture and health care system here. The time went by so quickly! We learned so much, and were glad that we had decided to take our experience into our own hands.

Community health

On Tuesday I worked in the community (in the comedor- the place they serve meals to children in rural areas who are living in poverty). We visited the comedor, met the kids, and did their heights and weights. The comedor keeps track of this data, and we also use it for research.
With the first group (3 & 4 year olds) we read them a children's book in Spanish, and I did some string magic tricks that were quite the hit. These children were so adorable- some of the most beautiful children I have ever seen. Many of theme were obviously malnourished.
Most of them were very small, and their hair had this orange tint to it that is a result of malnutrition. Once they got over their shyness and the ice was broken, they were ok with talking to us, and one little girl pulled me down and planted a big kiss on my cheek and hugged me for a long time- how could I not love them? So sweet, so innocent, and so hungry! I looked at their menu for each week- often it wasn't much more than a rice dish. The Sanitoria (woman who runs the comedor) said that this is the only real meal that most of the children get that day. Some will be given a piece of bread and tea, or coffee at home, but that's it. No vegetables or fruit. Only a little protein. Not many sources of calcium. It is so heartbreaking!
The second group of children were between about 6-12 years old. We didn't get much of a chance to talk to them, although we did take their heights and weights. They were also cute. And also hungry. One girl told us that she had 9 siblings- most of them with her at the comedor.
This last picture is all of the students in my group with the medical residents that accompanied us to the comedor. It was a rural area, and as you can see, not the most beautiful area of town. The building in the background is the comedor. This is the nicest, most organized comedor in the city. All of the others are much inferior. By the way, the humanitarian missionaries from our church want to help this program by providing better food and funding, but they want to see that the CAPS program (which runs the comedores) is trying to change, to add programs and classes that will help the people. They want them to be self reliant, and to put forth some effort before they commit to funding or providing goods. We are trying to put together some classes which will hopefully be implemented and contribute to the success of the program and the health of the community and the children. We have some teaching projects that each group is in charge of putting together. I will explain that later when I know more.

The weekend

I've been able to do some fun things these past few days; probably the most exciting being my hike up to San Javier on Saturday. Not just any hike, but an 11 mile trek up a mountain, on a paved road through the jungle, to see one of the largest statues of Christ in the world, made out of cement. The scenery was phenomenal. I will post a link to my photos from this hike, but they just don't do it justice. It was absolutely gorgeous, and well worth every step. We got to the top, took some pictures, and we started cooling off, and noticing that it was getting pretty chilly and sprinkling a bit. It was at that point that we found out that we couldn't catch a bus for 3 1/2 more hours. We were hungry, wet, cold, and exhausted, so we walked over to Sol de San Javier (a hotel nicer than most I have seen- even many in the United States). We ordered the cheapest food possible there, mine cost about $2USD (the most expensive thing on the menu was 48 pesos= $16 US dollars, and it was a meal for 2). Some people were able to get a taxi, but the rest of us waited for the bus to get back to town. The trip pretty much took the whole day.
Church was an interesting adventure; we had relief society, Sunday school, then sacrament meeting. More kisses. We were such a large group that a few of us (the casados- married ones) went with the older people and everyone else stayed with the solteros- singles. I got the general gist of each meeting, and even walked away feeling like I had learned something. I felt the spirit even though I couldn't always understand what they were saying. It seems to be a very strong ward, although small. There weren't a ton of youth or children, but there were some.
Today was my first day in the hospital. I was assigned to the labor and delivery (parto) unit. I was paired with a non- Spanish speaker who I was to translate for, and sort of be the voice for both of us. No pressure... We watched one birth- the first unmedicated birth I have ever been a part of. It was her first birth, and she hadn't taken any classes, and didn't know what to do- she felt like she couldn't do it, but she was incredibly strong. I was amazed and honestly somewhat horrified at some of the things the doctors do here- they put everyone on pitocin whether they need it or not, and they get up on the bed and push with all their weight on the woman's abdomen to help get the baby out faster. These things are to get the baby out as fast as possible. Some of them are quite dangerous. I felt bad when the woman delivered (with at least 12 people coming in and out of the room) and then was left alone for 2 hours with no one checking her bleeding, the firmness of her uterus (a very important assessment to do if you want to catch a hemorrhage before the woman bleeds to death) or doing any kind of assessment. So I did it. I tried to help her with breastfeeding too, because it wasn't working too well for her, but she was exhausted and kept giving up after trying for a minute. I really felt limited by my vocabulary, and by time- we had to leave soon after. We are in clinical for about 4 hours, 4 times a week, and we have class for 1-2 hours each day as well.
Tonight I am supposed to help be in charge of FHE. We will probably go to the governor's mansion for a tour. I have been inside once, but didn't stay too long. I will post pictures of that, and add to it probably, after tonight.
http://picasaweb.google.com/RochelleCTaylor/SanJavierAndTheGovernorSMansion?authkey=kUvNngSzbGo
I will post more soon. Love you all.

Siesta time!

Well, today I finally got to talk to BJ for the first time since Monday! That's a big hurray! We actually talked like 3 or 4 times today, for 15 or 20 minutes each, in between going to the hospital for orientation, class, and lunch. I was really glad we caught each other.
The people who work here at the hostel are really nice. I like talking with them to improve my Spanish, and they usually slow down a bit. They are ok with explaining things to us that we don't understand too. We are all so tired, but that's ok because siesta is about to start. Here in Argentina, Siesta happens either from 1pm to 4pm or 2pm to 5pm, depending on the place, and everything (I mean pretty much all the shops and companies and stuff) shuts down, people go home for lunch, and nap. After siesta, people go back to work, children go back to school, and don't get home for a few more hours. Then they eat dinner at about 9:30 or 10pm, sometimes later, and then go to bed. It is so crazy! Sometimes it doesn't work out so great for me, because I like to go to bed earlier than that. But it is kind of fun too. Last night I didn't go with everyone out to dinner because they didn't leave until 10pm and I was starving! So I had corn flakes. The milk here doesn't taste too bad if it is with something else like cereal, but it does taste a little funny by itself.
I just got back from a spin class (hard core biking!) at the gym we signed up at. It was like $8 for the month, and 8 of us signed up tonight. We all thought the class was going to be 30 minutes, but it ended up being an hour long. I thought I was going to die, especially since the bikes seats were too tall!
Tonight at 9:30 we are all going out for dinner. I am not sure where. Food is generally pretty cheap here. Some of the moderately expensive places are $15 pesos a plate ($5 US dollars).

Update

Somehow my computer knows that I am in Argentina! It is displaying some of my websites in Spanish to me... such as this one!
Well, things are going fairly well. I have been here for nearly 2 days, and I can tell that it is going to be an adjustment- in a good way. When I first got here I couldn't understand a word that was said. The people here talk very quickly, and have different accents and dialects in every province. I am starting to understand more and more, and I can always get the gist of the conversation, but certain people are just very difficult to understand. Everyone is very nice though.
There are many things that are different that I never would have guessed- I never knew that there could be a learning curve for grocery shopping, but there is, when many of the foods are different, and they are all written in another language! I couldn't find peanut butter, liquid soap, or paper towels at the store, and milk comes in tiny little boxes. I haven't tried it yet, but I hear it is very different than what we are used to. Also- when people here meet, even complete strangers, but especially among women, the older generations, and friends, it is expected that you "kiss" cheeks. I missed doing this the first time because I had no idea, and couldn't figure out why someone was leaning so close to my face. After I understood what the custom was, it was just fine, and I have been "kissed" on the cheek many times today.
I am living in a youth hostel. It is kind of a fun place with very brightly painted walls- of all colors. My room is purple and orange. We have no carpet or heating. Several rooms (but not mine) open directly onto an outdoor patio, so it gets pretty cold, especially at night. Temperatures aren't too bad though, for winter. It has been in the 50's and 60's I think. Yep- right now, the temperature in my room is 66 degrees. Not too bad.
Today we walked to the hospital and met the director and also took taxis to the community center and talked to the people there. It sounds like they have some other needs besides the comedores that they would like us to work on. So maybe some of us will still work with the children, and others will be working with the elderly in a healthy aging program. There are several students who are doing research projects, and so we will all be participating in those projects, helping gather data and implementing the interventions we might come up with for improving health, especially in the maternity hospital. Speaking of that hospital, I knew it would be a poor hospital, but I didn't realize how much they were lacking. We have brought many sheets, scrubs, blankets, and various other hospital supplies with us. I knew they had no sheets. I didn't know they had no towels. It is a much bigger hospital than I had imagined. They use the things we bring all year, we were told. They appreciate what we bring- it is pretty much all they get from the U.S., I think, because you cannot mail things to them (there is a tax on everything that comes into the country, which they cannot pay, and besides, there is no guarantee that what you send will ever arrive where it is meant to go).
Here is the link to some pictures I posted. Don't judge the photography too much- I took the pictures kind of fast, and they aren't really meant to be artistic, just document the place I live! http://picasaweb.google.com/RochelleCTaylor/YouthHostel?authkey=ELRWjOTTG0w
Well, I think that is enough for now. If you have things you want to know about where I am, email me, or comment, and I will do my best to answer your question. I will tell you more about what I am doing here next week- when I actually start doing stuff at the hospital etc.