Pies al fuego (feet to the fire)

As I am writing this, it is 9:21pm here in Santiago, and the sky still has a glimmer of light to it.  I am very much grateful for how long the daylight lasts here, because it definitely allows for more time for enjoying the day!  And we're going to need all that time too, because our introduction to the hospital proved a little more challenging than either of us thought.

Us in front of the Children's Hospital at Sotero del Rio

  
We began the day with a simple breakfast of bread and Nutella and then headed out to meet Paula at the metro station closest to her house, which is on the way to the hospital Sótero del Rio.  She was so gracious in showing us how to use the metro system, which is really quite easy and safe!  Honestly I don't know what we'd do without her.  We then careened our way to the hospital, located in the southeast part of the city (20-30 minutes by metro).  After a brief tour by Paula and Cristian, the chief resident, Kelli and I then split up - I went to the service on the fourth floor which sees only infants (0-1yr) and Kelli went to the third floor where the "miscellaneous" or General Wards service is.

Justin practicing speaking Spanish while Kelli practices understanding Spanish.

     At least for me, the rest of the day proved to be rather humbling, as I quickly found myself trying to absorb as much Chilean Spanish as possible.  It is very different from the Spanish I am used to at home!  For one, they talk extremely fast, and there was many an occasion that I had to pull out the ol' "mas despacio, por favor!"  Second, as Cristian so aptly put it, they like to "swallow" parts of words - they don't say every syllable.  And last, as Cristian also pointed out, they are notorious for not saying S's at the end of words (even in the middle of words) - so, for example, pescado (fish) becomes pe'cado (couple that with the tendency to make -ado an -ao sound and you finally get pe'cao).  So it's clear that I have a lot to learn yet about understanding Chilean Spanish - fortunately the residents and attendings are very forgiving!  Kelli got to be with some residents who spoke English which was very helpful especially on the first day, and my attending was able to fill in a few details in English when things went by quickly.

Yay for our first home cooked meal!

     After our day was over we rode the metro back and wandered around some of the shops near the Plaza de Armas, before heading back to the apartment, where Kelli took a nap and I watched some Chilean news on TV, again somewhat dismayed by how little I was able to understand.  But I expect that for both of us, it'll get better every day.  We then trekked out to a small food vendor and bought the ingredients that would become our dinner - spaghetti bowties with tomato-garlic sauce and parmesan cheese with corn and garlic bread.  Yes, we cooked tonight, and what an awesome meal it was!  We even had ice cream for dessert (complete with chocolate/mint sticks called "Obsesión."  So having come to the end of our day, we prepare ourselves for another day at Sótero del Rio.
J/k

A few things Justin forgot to mention....
He speaks Spanish...I do not. So you can imagine how I felt if he felt lost...
It was like they were ripping my security blanket away when they told us we'd be splitting up...nooooo!

Macarena and Brayan

However...I was able to figure out the principal diagnosis for all of the patients we saw and I remembered that smiles and goofy hand gestures get laughs out of kids no matter the language (most of them can't talk anyway). It was a hard day but a humbling experience. I wanted to show you some pictures (of course I took pictures all day...Justin took 3, all of which I initiated). I met this very charming two year old... see the picture to the right, he's with one of the interns Macarena. He lives in the hospital and is on peritoneal dialysis but was very adorable and also medically interesting.  I was also very intrigued by his x-ray so because I'm a nerd I'm sharing it as well. I'll get back to you on a diagnosis.

Justin also forgot to tell you that one of the most exciting things I learned is that I'm wearing jeans and flip flops to work tomorrow! I've always said I think I perform better in flip flops and jeans. I was definitely 1 of 2 female physicians there in close toed shoes. I'm pumped!
Justin did not forget to tell you that I required a nap when we got home...he did leave out that he took his nap on the subway and if not for me we would've been at the end of the subway line more lost than we usually are. We did manage to get lost on the way home from the subway station (4ish short blocks and we've been that way multiple times...I stopped paying attention next thing I know we're 3 blocks past home!).
Adios, for now!
j/K