September

Update on changes...

• Cindy, the PT, and I have been eating lunch together in the cafeteria so I am learning my food terms a little better. It has been nice to have someone else to talk to and her family is very nice.
• I have been spending many afternoons, after work, with Jenny. We go grab some food or run errands, or go to the Wednesday movie showing.
• The puppies have all been delivered to their new homes. They were fun to have but they will be well cared for.
• Gaby will be having a girl in December!
• I went rafting the other weekend, which is always a fabulous time. One of the nurses asked if I wanted to go, cause they needed more people so I joined her family for the trip. It was fun and this time we stopped in a little canyon and got our faces painted with different colors of mud.
• Work continues to be pretty busy, unless it is raining hard. The hard rain is nothing like it was when I got here though. It is now hot for much of the day. The windy season has ended.
• At the beginning of each school year the parents have a meeting with the teacher to decide what they are all going to chip in and buy for the classroom.
• The garbage truck plays music as it picks up the trash each day. The music is a song adapted to sing about the mayor.
• A popular drink here is gelatin. Think jell-o that is not ready to be finger jello but is on its way.
• Many kids here are forced to grow up fast! There are little kids that help out at their parents´store, young moms taking care of their own kids, and little ones taking care of their siblings. Their is an 8 year old that brings her 2 year old sister in for therapy each week.
• There are a number of kids who are having seizures during their therapy time, so we can only imagine how they are doing at home. They are encouraged to go see the doctor and the need for medication is re-inforced. I recently had to explain to a mother that her son has to continue taking meds until the doctor makes a change. She had stopped giving him his anti seizure meds because the seizures had stopped. I explained that it was because the meds were working!
• Unfortunately, many of the school aged children that come into the clinic, do not attend school. Sometimes it is because they did not realize that their child was capable, other times because there is not a location close to where they live. We were able to catch a few before the school year started this year and get them signed up. It is hard to see this situation, especially when there is so much potential and school is where a kid needs to be!
• Here I am considered blonde...not because I act like a blonde, thank you. Everyone else just has much darker hair.