Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Thank you
I just want to thank everyone who followed my blog this past summer. The comments that you guys left behind was very helpful and encouraging to read. I am going to continue blogging, but I've decided to change the blog site to "Me, Myself, and I" Please follow me there! :D
Friday, July 31, 2009
Last 10 Days in Africa...
July 27, 2009 – July 28,2009
This week is my final week in Bwiam. I’ll be working in the medical ward throughout this week. I’ve been wanting to work in the medical ward since day one, so I was really looking forward to it. (You save the best for last, right?) So, the medical ward is where the Cuban doctors make their rounds, meaning that they’ll go around the whole hospital checking up on patients. I get to follow the Cuban doctors and get to see how they diagnose the patients. Basically I get the opportunity to see how medicine is used and how patients are treated in a third world country. I saw many patients with different problems. One patient had her toe cut off, another had a fever up to 103 degrees, and this one patient had a 1st degree burn on her whole left arm… It’s quite unfortunate to see them. They’re so helpless. The worst part is that the Cuban doctors can only do so little to treat them. Usually their best option is to wait it out and hope that the patients get better.
July 29, 2009
Today Alex, Molly, Heedeok, Matt, and I decided to go to Brikama. We spent the entire day travelling around. We ate at a nice local African restaurant. It was really nice to get away from the hospital. These past couple of days I’ve been more homesick than ever. Travelling to Brikama definitely helped alleviate that sickness. I did some more shopping at the crafts market and finally headed back towards home. By the time I got back home, I was completely exhausted. I went to bed right away.
July 30, 2009 – July 31, 2009
Again, I went to the medical ward and got to see the patients. There weren’t any new patients these last two days, so it wasn’t as exciting. One thing I really enjoy about this program is that the people within my group are so diverse. Every time I engage on a deep conversation with them, I’m learning something new either about their culture, their country’s history, or about the world in general. I’ve become more interested in politics than I’ve ever been before. I’ve been so oblivious of everything that’s been happening outside of the U.S.
Tomorrow is officially our last day in Bwiam. After wards we’ll be traveling around The Gambia and Senegal doing some exciting things (hopefully…) I still can’t believe that I’m leaving Africa. It seems like I’ve been here for a good 3-4 months or maybe even longer… I’m so accustomed to the things here. It’ll be sad to say our farewells to our friends in the village. I’ll really miss them.
This week is my final week in Bwiam. I’ll be working in the medical ward throughout this week. I’ve been wanting to work in the medical ward since day one, so I was really looking forward to it. (You save the best for last, right?) So, the medical ward is where the Cuban doctors make their rounds, meaning that they’ll go around the whole hospital checking up on patients. I get to follow the Cuban doctors and get to see how they diagnose the patients. Basically I get the opportunity to see how medicine is used and how patients are treated in a third world country. I saw many patients with different problems. One patient had her toe cut off, another had a fever up to 103 degrees, and this one patient had a 1st degree burn on her whole left arm… It’s quite unfortunate to see them. They’re so helpless. The worst part is that the Cuban doctors can only do so little to treat them. Usually their best option is to wait it out and hope that the patients get better.
July 29, 2009
Today Alex, Molly, Heedeok, Matt, and I decided to go to Brikama. We spent the entire day travelling around. We ate at a nice local African restaurant. It was really nice to get away from the hospital. These past couple of days I’ve been more homesick than ever. Travelling to Brikama definitely helped alleviate that sickness. I did some more shopping at the crafts market and finally headed back towards home. By the time I got back home, I was completely exhausted. I went to bed right away.
July 30, 2009 – July 31, 2009
Again, I went to the medical ward and got to see the patients. There weren’t any new patients these last two days, so it wasn’t as exciting. One thing I really enjoy about this program is that the people within my group are so diverse. Every time I engage on a deep conversation with them, I’m learning something new either about their culture, their country’s history, or about the world in general. I’ve become more interested in politics than I’ve ever been before. I’ve been so oblivious of everything that’s been happening outside of the U.S.
Tomorrow is officially our last day in Bwiam. After wards we’ll be traveling around The Gambia and Senegal doing some exciting things (hopefully…) I still can’t believe that I’m leaving Africa. It seems like I’ve been here for a good 3-4 months or maybe even longer… I’m so accustomed to the things here. It’ll be sad to say our farewells to our friends in the village. I’ll really miss them.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Kanalai
July 22, 2009 - July 24, 2009
Nothing really exciting happened these days... The day time was spent doing hospital work, while the night time was spent either watching a movie or chit chatting. I've been reading Lamb to keep me occupied these last couple of days...
July 25, 2009
So originally we were supposed to go to Kanalai today to visit the President's house and his home village. However, we found out (around 6:45 am ish) that someone walked into our rooms and stole our stuff again! This time, I and Heedeok didn't lose anything, but Russell and Matt both lost around $300. Russell also lost his I-Pod and camera. F our Lives
July 26, 2009
So our weekend trip to Kanalai got postponed to a one day trip. We were supposed to leave around 9:30 am, but we ended up leaving around 12:00pm... Again, Gambian time...(everything here starts so late!) So Kanalai is really nice compared to Bwiam. You can definitely tell that the President invested a lot of money on his home village. The roads are asphalted, there's street lights, etc... We spent the day going through the game park. We got to feed ostriches, see wild crocodiles in action, hold snakes, and watch hienas in the wild. It was exciting! After wards, we spent the day lounging in the swimming pool. It was a fun filled day, unlike this week...
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One week remains until we leave Bwiam. I will probably post one last time in Africa later this week before our group heads toward Dekar. We will be traveling around The Gambia/Senegal for our last week. Diana (one of our group member who can speak French pretty well) has been making phone calls and arranging our plans for travel week. I'm really looking forward to exploring the different parts of The Gambia and Senegal. It'll be nice. :) I'll be looking forward to seeing you guys very soon! Until next time...
Nothing really exciting happened these days... The day time was spent doing hospital work, while the night time was spent either watching a movie or chit chatting. I've been reading Lamb to keep me occupied these last couple of days...
July 25, 2009
So originally we were supposed to go to Kanalai today to visit the President's house and his home village. However, we found out (around 6:45 am ish) that someone walked into our rooms and stole our stuff again! This time, I and Heedeok didn't lose anything, but Russell and Matt both lost around $300. Russell also lost his I-Pod and camera. F our Lives
July 26, 2009
So our weekend trip to Kanalai got postponed to a one day trip. We were supposed to leave around 9:30 am, but we ended up leaving around 12:00pm... Again, Gambian time...(everything here starts so late!) So Kanalai is really nice compared to Bwiam. You can definitely tell that the President invested a lot of money on his home village. The roads are asphalted, there's street lights, etc... We spent the day going through the game park. We got to feed ostriches, see wild crocodiles in action, hold snakes, and watch hienas in the wild. It was exciting! After wards, we spent the day lounging in the swimming pool. It was a fun filled day, unlike this week...
=================================================================
One week remains until we leave Bwiam. I will probably post one last time in Africa later this week before our group heads toward Dekar. We will be traveling around The Gambia/Senegal for our last week. Diana (one of our group member who can speak French pretty well) has been making phone calls and arranging our plans for travel week. I'm really looking forward to exploring the different parts of The Gambia and Senegal. It'll be nice. :) I'll be looking forward to seeing you guys very soon! Until next time...
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Life in The Gambia
Hello guys! This past weekend Russell, Matthew, Heedeok, Allison, Molly, Alexandra, and I went to Senegambia. It was really nice to get away from Bwiam and go to a more developed/westernized city.
July 17, 2009 – July 19, 2009
This weekend we decided to leave Bwiam. (In case you guys don’t know that’s the village that I’m staying at…) We left on Saturday morning around 5:45am. The ride to Senegambia (a 2-3 hour ride) went so smoothly. We didn’t have to wait 20-30 minutes to find a taxi. Our first stop was the bank. I exchanged some money for this coming weekend. We dropped by a book store and the European market afterwards. The European market was fairly big. It was really similar to Ko-Mart back in Dallas. We ate breakfast there and headed off to SeaView, the really cheap hotel. We swam around the pool area and relaxed for a bit. We then went to Paradisso, a well established Italian Pizza restaurant. It’s probably the best pizza I’ve had EVER. I think my standards for food went down ever since I got here though… haha For dinner we ate at a Chinese restaurant. We got there around 8:00pm, and they served us dinner at 10:00pm. It was by far the worst service ever! But I think that’s just how it is in The Gambia. Everything is like 2-3 hours late! That bothers me so much.
On Sunday, we went to the Brikama Craft Market. I bought a bunch of souvenirs. It’s really fun to bargain with the local dealers. You get this really good feeling when you bring the price down to 60-70% it’s original value.
July 20, 2009
After staying in outpatient for a week, they moved me to the pharmacy. Pharmacy isn’t as boring as I thought it would be. There’s a lot of sitting around, but I’m actually doing work. I get to prepare the medications that the patients need. The best part about this is that I get to learn Mandinka from the pharmacists. I’m learning more Mandinka today than I’ve done these past few weeks!
July 21, 2009
I worked from 9:00 – 11:00ish… The thing with pharmacy is that you get out really early, which means that you have a lot of free time in your hands. And that’s not good since you’ll be bored! But today I ended up borrowing this book called Lamb. It’s pretty entertaining. I also ended up tie dying today. It’s a lot easier than I thought it was. Although the end result wasn’t that great… haha Maybe I’ll get better if I try it again?
I’m starting to get a little homesick… I think it’s because I’m going to leave Bwiam pretty soon… On the bright side, I’m getting to know my group members really well. I feel a lot closer to them. It’s probably because we spend the whole days together. haha Well... until next time...
July 17, 2009 – July 19, 2009
This weekend we decided to leave Bwiam. (In case you guys don’t know that’s the village that I’m staying at…) We left on Saturday morning around 5:45am. The ride to Senegambia (a 2-3 hour ride) went so smoothly. We didn’t have to wait 20-30 minutes to find a taxi. Our first stop was the bank. I exchanged some money for this coming weekend. We dropped by a book store and the European market afterwards. The European market was fairly big. It was really similar to Ko-Mart back in Dallas. We ate breakfast there and headed off to SeaView, the really cheap hotel. We swam around the pool area and relaxed for a bit. We then went to Paradisso, a well established Italian Pizza restaurant. It’s probably the best pizza I’ve had EVER. I think my standards for food went down ever since I got here though… haha For dinner we ate at a Chinese restaurant. We got there around 8:00pm, and they served us dinner at 10:00pm. It was by far the worst service ever! But I think that’s just how it is in The Gambia. Everything is like 2-3 hours late! That bothers me so much.
On Sunday, we went to the Brikama Craft Market. I bought a bunch of souvenirs. It’s really fun to bargain with the local dealers. You get this really good feeling when you bring the price down to 60-70% it’s original value.
July 20, 2009
After staying in outpatient for a week, they moved me to the pharmacy. Pharmacy isn’t as boring as I thought it would be. There’s a lot of sitting around, but I’m actually doing work. I get to prepare the medications that the patients need. The best part about this is that I get to learn Mandinka from the pharmacists. I’m learning more Mandinka today than I’ve done these past few weeks!
July 21, 2009
I worked from 9:00 – 11:00ish… The thing with pharmacy is that you get out really early, which means that you have a lot of free time in your hands. And that’s not good since you’ll be bored! But today I ended up borrowing this book called Lamb. It’s pretty entertaining. I also ended up tie dying today. It’s a lot easier than I thought it was. Although the end result wasn’t that great… haha Maybe I’ll get better if I try it again?
I’m starting to get a little homesick… I think it’s because I’m going to leave Bwiam pretty soon… On the bright side, I’m getting to know my group members really well. I feel a lot closer to them. It’s probably because we spend the whole days together. haha Well... until next time...
Friday, July 17, 2009
Hospital Work...
So this past week I was assigned in outpatient. I've seen a lot of patients with many different types of skin infection. Most people here tend to get some sort of bacterial infection mainly because they don't take showers. It's very disheartening to see these patients especially when such a simple thing as a shower can prevent the patients from getting an infection.
On Wednesday (July 15, 2009) we attended a baby naming ceremony. It's part of an African culture. Every time a family has a new born baby, there's a huge celebration. Music blasting from the speakers, children dancing (btw people here are amazing at dancing), and food served all day long. It's really fun to attend. Dancing, eating, and chit chatting with the village people. :D
On Thursday (July 16, 2009) we had a celebration at the hospital. In the year 2006, a fellow crossroader named Catherine Cunningham, was so disheartened to see the electricity go off in the middle of surgery within the hospital. After coming back to the states she has visited many universities and companies to talk to professors, politicians, and businessmen. From her hard work effort she has raised $300,000 to install a solar panel in the hospital. Through the solar panel, the hospital is now capapble of having electricity all day long without worrying about the power cutting off. Today we officially celebrated the solar panel and had a huge festival. I was amazed at the fact that Catherine, a 20 year old college student could raise so much money. She really inspired me to do something special w/ my life as well.
This coming weekend we will be going to Senegambia (a more developed city) to relax and chill by the beach side. We'll be eating some good American food, so I'm really looking forward to it! I'll try to update you guys soon, until next time... God bless!
On Wednesday (July 15, 2009) we attended a baby naming ceremony. It's part of an African culture. Every time a family has a new born baby, there's a huge celebration. Music blasting from the speakers, children dancing (btw people here are amazing at dancing), and food served all day long. It's really fun to attend. Dancing, eating, and chit chatting with the village people. :D
On Thursday (July 16, 2009) we had a celebration at the hospital. In the year 2006, a fellow crossroader named Catherine Cunningham, was so disheartened to see the electricity go off in the middle of surgery within the hospital. After coming back to the states she has visited many universities and companies to talk to professors, politicians, and businessmen. From her hard work effort she has raised $300,000 to install a solar panel in the hospital. Through the solar panel, the hospital is now capapble of having electricity all day long without worrying about the power cutting off. Today we officially celebrated the solar panel and had a huge festival. I was amazed at the fact that Catherine, a 20 year old college student could raise so much money. She really inspired me to do something special w/ my life as well.
This coming weekend we will be going to Senegambia (a more developed city) to relax and chill by the beach side. We'll be eating some good American food, so I'm really looking forward to it! I'll try to update you guys soon, until next time... God bless!
Monday, July 13, 2009
INTERNET!!!!
So the internet hasn’t been working in the hospital for the past two weeks or so. Apparently the person in charge of paying the bills forgot to pay it… BUT we finally have access to it! So this blog might be incredibly long, but please bare with it… you can scan through it… hehe
July 1, 2009
Nothing much has happened today. Alex and I both went to John’s (a missionary who has decided to live in Bwiam…) house. Hearing his story, how he got saved, and his missionary work has really inspired me. It made me realize that God truly works in many ways and many different places throughout the world. Later in the night, it RAINED! I’ve never seen water pour down from the sky as it does here in The Gambia. I was so happy to see the rain pour down like that. :D
July 2, 2009 – July 3, 2009
I got to see another birth. Again, seeing a baby being born is pretty awesome. BUT this is definitely not something I’d be willing to do for the rest of my life… enough said.
July 4, 2009
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! Today was a very eventful day! In the morning I got to see SURGERY! I shadowed Dr. Jones (the surgeon in The Gambia) and assisted him in a hernia surgery. It was a pretty minor surgery, but just the fact that I was in the OR room assisting Dr. Jones in a surgery was thrilling! :D
After surgery (around 2:00 pm) Matt, Russell, Heedeok, and I went to Senegambia to meet up with the rest of the group. We had a pretty difficult time meeting up with them. Once we arrived at the hotel that we were going to stay at, we were all so happy. It was FREAKIN AWESOME! It cost ($22), but it was SOOOOOOOO nice. Flushing toilets, sprinkling showers, clean swimming pool, and the best part… AC!!! :D haha
We all ate dinner at this pizza place and then went to bed.
July 5, 2009
Our group decided to go to the monkey park. I took some really cool pictures. Nothing really exciting happened after the monkey park…
July 6, 2009 – July 8, 2009
So this week I’ve been staying at the laboratory doing some clinical experiments. I’ve been testing blood samples to see if the patient has syphilis, HIV 1 or HIV2. I’ve counted many WBC’s and tested their Hb. It’s pretty cool. Granted that the technology here is really limited, but the lab is still similar to the labs that I’ve been in in the states.
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BTW… SOMEONE STOLE MY CAMERA! –FML
So last Monday… someone came into our rooms and stole our belongings. Molly lost up to $300, Diana lost $150, and Tammy lost $50. I lost my camera. I’m REALLY sorry, hyung. We were all so pissed off.
I really wish I could have shown the pictures that I took these past 2 weeks to all of ya’ll… *sigh* But I still do have some pictures that I’ll post up, since all of my group members took pictures as well, so no worries?
===========================================================================
July 9, 2009 – July 10, 2009
On Thursday, we bought a chicken for 150 dallasis (approx. 6 US dollars). We literally slaughtered it on the spot, plucked its feathers, and ate it. It was delicious! We took videos of the whole thing so I’m sure you guys can see it soon! :D
Nothing much has happened on Friday. Just the usual… hospital work, cooking lunch and dinner, and playing mafia. Oh, get this! We found a projector and a computer that has movies in them! So we have movie nights now a days. :D Who would have thought that I would watch movies in Africa!
July 11, 2009
On Saturday we got to watch surgery! There were four surgeries. (1. Rectum surgery 2. Hernia 3. Hernia 4. Hydrocoel) The last one was so awesome. I’ve never seen such a big scrotum. It was literally the size of a pine apple. The doctor let us touch and do all sorts of stuff this time. It was so awesome! (I feel like I keep on using the word awesome… haha but it was!)
July 12, 2009
On Sunday we went to church. It was really different from the ones that I’ve been to at home especially the praise songs. (The only musical instrument available were wooden drums) It was a real humbling experience to watch people worship God in such a different way. There’s just so many ways we can honor God… I could really feel the Spirit working at this place. Day in and day out, I feel as if God is testing me and showing me His amazing work in so many ways. I can’t wait to share these things with my small group this coming fall year.
After service, they offered us pork! It was so GOOD! I haven’t had that much opportunity to eat meat and every time I do get to eat it, I am always so happy! Haha
So we (my group members) are all so happy that the internet is back and there are a couple of others who have to use the internet. So I’ll leave it at this. I’ll try to update soon! Until then…bye!
July 1, 2009
Nothing much has happened today. Alex and I both went to John’s (a missionary who has decided to live in Bwiam…) house. Hearing his story, how he got saved, and his missionary work has really inspired me. It made me realize that God truly works in many ways and many different places throughout the world. Later in the night, it RAINED! I’ve never seen water pour down from the sky as it does here in The Gambia. I was so happy to see the rain pour down like that. :D
July 2, 2009 – July 3, 2009
I got to see another birth. Again, seeing a baby being born is pretty awesome. BUT this is definitely not something I’d be willing to do for the rest of my life… enough said.
July 4, 2009
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! Today was a very eventful day! In the morning I got to see SURGERY! I shadowed Dr. Jones (the surgeon in The Gambia) and assisted him in a hernia surgery. It was a pretty minor surgery, but just the fact that I was in the OR room assisting Dr. Jones in a surgery was thrilling! :D
After surgery (around 2:00 pm) Matt, Russell, Heedeok, and I went to Senegambia to meet up with the rest of the group. We had a pretty difficult time meeting up with them. Once we arrived at the hotel that we were going to stay at, we were all so happy. It was FREAKIN AWESOME! It cost ($22), but it was SOOOOOOOO nice. Flushing toilets, sprinkling showers, clean swimming pool, and the best part… AC!!! :D haha
We all ate dinner at this pizza place and then went to bed.
July 5, 2009
Our group decided to go to the monkey park. I took some really cool pictures. Nothing really exciting happened after the monkey park…
July 6, 2009 – July 8, 2009
So this week I’ve been staying at the laboratory doing some clinical experiments. I’ve been testing blood samples to see if the patient has syphilis, HIV 1 or HIV2. I’ve counted many WBC’s and tested their Hb. It’s pretty cool. Granted that the technology here is really limited, but the lab is still similar to the labs that I’ve been in in the states.
===========================================================================
BTW… SOMEONE STOLE MY CAMERA! –FML
So last Monday… someone came into our rooms and stole our belongings. Molly lost up to $300, Diana lost $150, and Tammy lost $50. I lost my camera. I’m REALLY sorry, hyung. We were all so pissed off.
I really wish I could have shown the pictures that I took these past 2 weeks to all of ya’ll… *sigh* But I still do have some pictures that I’ll post up, since all of my group members took pictures as well, so no worries?
===========================================================================
July 9, 2009 – July 10, 2009
On Thursday, we bought a chicken for 150 dallasis (approx. 6 US dollars). We literally slaughtered it on the spot, plucked its feathers, and ate it. It was delicious! We took videos of the whole thing so I’m sure you guys can see it soon! :D
Nothing much has happened on Friday. Just the usual… hospital work, cooking lunch and dinner, and playing mafia. Oh, get this! We found a projector and a computer that has movies in them! So we have movie nights now a days. :D Who would have thought that I would watch movies in Africa!
July 11, 2009
On Saturday we got to watch surgery! There were four surgeries. (1. Rectum surgery 2. Hernia 3. Hernia 4. Hydrocoel) The last one was so awesome. I’ve never seen such a big scrotum. It was literally the size of a pine apple. The doctor let us touch and do all sorts of stuff this time. It was so awesome! (I feel like I keep on using the word awesome… haha but it was!)
July 12, 2009
On Sunday we went to church. It was really different from the ones that I’ve been to at home especially the praise songs. (The only musical instrument available were wooden drums) It was a real humbling experience to watch people worship God in such a different way. There’s just so many ways we can honor God… I could really feel the Spirit working at this place. Day in and day out, I feel as if God is testing me and showing me His amazing work in so many ways. I can’t wait to share these things with my small group this coming fall year.
After service, they offered us pork! It was so GOOD! I haven’t had that much opportunity to eat meat and every time I do get to eat it, I am always so happy! Haha
So we (my group members) are all so happy that the internet is back and there are a couple of others who have to use the internet. So I’ll leave it at this. I’ll try to update soon! Until then…bye!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Travel Weekend
This past weekend our group left Bwiam (the hospital area) and went on a trip to Sanyang. (It’s a city along the coast of The Gambia...)
June 27, 2009
So we finally arrived at Sanyang! To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed. Allison (our group leader) told us that Sanyang is known as “Paradise Beach” in The Gambia. I was expecting crystal clear blue water with smooth silky sand, beautiful palm trees, and hotels constructed along the coast. To my disappointment, the beach was nothing like this. There were hotels, but not as grandiose as I had imagined. I honestly can’t say they were even hotels. It was merely a one-story building with 4 dirty bed rooms. Dead bugs underneath and above the mattress and filthy pillows were the first thing that came into my sight as I stepped into the rooms. The ocean wasn’t as clean as I expected it to be and the sand wasn’t as smooth. Dead and rotten fish were here and there, trash was everywhere, and yet this beach was called the “paradise beach”? I couldn’t help but feel disappointed…
As the sun set, however, I saw the beauty in things. Granted that there was trash lying on the ground, the nice cool breeze, the beautiful sunset, and the distant drum melody playing in the background made me appreciate the beauty of Sanyang. We spent our night talking and chatting, gazing at the stars, listening to the ocean water, messing around with the crabs, and walking along the beach. It was truly Paradise Beach.
June 28, 2009 – June 30, 2009
We came back home the next day exhausted from our journey and went straight to bed. On Monday, I finally got to witness the miracle of birth. After waiting and assisting the nurses for 4 hours, the mother had finally given birth to a new born baby. Seeing a baby born was amazing and gross at the same time. Lol. It was really different from the clips I’ve seen on television. I’m pretty sure the procedures of cutting the umbilical cord is very different here in Africa (mainly due to the limited technologies), but the miracle of birth was breath taking. On Tuesday, nothing really exciting happened. We spent the mornings doing hour medical shifts, and the afternoon going to the village. Oh, yeah… we killed a chicken and ate it right on the spot! It was the best chicken I’ve ever had! :D
===============================================
This coming weekend we will be going to Brikau. Apparently it’s a tourist attraction place and really nice. I’m not going to raise my hopes too high though hehe… Until next time…
June 27, 2009
So we finally arrived at Sanyang! To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed. Allison (our group leader) told us that Sanyang is known as “Paradise Beach” in The Gambia. I was expecting crystal clear blue water with smooth silky sand, beautiful palm trees, and hotels constructed along the coast. To my disappointment, the beach was nothing like this. There were hotels, but not as grandiose as I had imagined. I honestly can’t say they were even hotels. It was merely a one-story building with 4 dirty bed rooms. Dead bugs underneath and above the mattress and filthy pillows were the first thing that came into my sight as I stepped into the rooms. The ocean wasn’t as clean as I expected it to be and the sand wasn’t as smooth. Dead and rotten fish were here and there, trash was everywhere, and yet this beach was called the “paradise beach”? I couldn’t help but feel disappointed…
As the sun set, however, I saw the beauty in things. Granted that there was trash lying on the ground, the nice cool breeze, the beautiful sunset, and the distant drum melody playing in the background made me appreciate the beauty of Sanyang. We spent our night talking and chatting, gazing at the stars, listening to the ocean water, messing around with the crabs, and walking along the beach. It was truly Paradise Beach.
June 28, 2009 – June 30, 2009
We came back home the next day exhausted from our journey and went straight to bed. On Monday, I finally got to witness the miracle of birth. After waiting and assisting the nurses for 4 hours, the mother had finally given birth to a new born baby. Seeing a baby born was amazing and gross at the same time. Lol. It was really different from the clips I’ve seen on television. I’m pretty sure the procedures of cutting the umbilical cord is very different here in Africa (mainly due to the limited technologies), but the miracle of birth was breath taking. On Tuesday, nothing really exciting happened. We spent the mornings doing hour medical shifts, and the afternoon going to the village. Oh, yeah… we killed a chicken and ate it right on the spot! It was the best chicken I’ve ever had! :D
===============================================
This coming weekend we will be going to Brikau. Apparently it’s a tourist attraction place and really nice. I’m not going to raise my hopes too high though hehe… Until next time…
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