July 11/2011

Today was my first day of volunteering and it was very very stressful. My spanish is not at the level it needs to be at to be working in the hospital as I can't communicate to ask questions or speak about medical tools. The worst was trying to understand them as they speak quick slurred spanish. So that was the morning, and then this afternoon we were at the clinic across the street sitting in on consultations. This was way better as the nurse we were with spoke loud, and slow spanish. He also made the effort to teach us how to take blood pressures, and made a point of teaching us about all the drugs in the pharmacy. I have thus decided, for at least another week, I will be continuing spanish lessons in the morning, and going to the clinic in the afternoon. The occasional morning at seven, I will also be able to observe surgeries at the nearby hospital. So that is the updated plan, and will commence tomorrow morning!