Yuen-10 child family

During epicentro weekend, we were hanging out at the park at Monte Brasil eating some free food when we met a 14 year old boy Hugo and his 9 siblings. Hugo was the oldest and had dropped out of school to take care of his other brothers and to help provide for the family. Though it certainly isn't fair that Hugo has been forced to grow up so rapidly to help take care of his family, still it is very touching to see him look after his other brothers and be both a playmate and father figure for them. The school system here is undergoing changes to extend the mandatory education to finishing the 12th grade, though this will only become effective with the incoming kindergarten class still hopefully this will help change the futures of boys like Hugo who are in a compromising situation and cannot afford to pursue an education past the legal minimum requirements.

Suzanne - OR = HEAVEN

This week I shadowed doctors in the operating room. Being in the OR here was amazing, I could "surgery hop" or go from surgery to surgery as I pleased, depending on what was happening and what I was interested in!! All of the doctors were super friendly and very willing to answer questions (as long as you did not ask them during the middle of an intense part of the surgery, or the question only required a "yes" or "no" response.) The most amazing surgery of the week was a carotid artery repair on Thursday morning. The anesthesiologists were all really excited because an anesthesiologist from Lisbon or "the mainland" had flown in to show them another option for anesthesia during the carotid artery surgery (using local blocks and a small sedative as opposed to general anesthesia--under which the patient would be completely unconscious). Therefore, the patient was awake during the entire carotid artery surgery (which was done on the neck) and it was really really weird/ strange / amazing/ interesting to watch him talk as half of his neck was essentially "not there"-- during the surgery they had to cut all the skin and superficial muscles of the neck to get to the deep carotid artery. So besides the sci-fi engaging features of the surgery, the delicateness which which they cut open the artery, scrapped out the hardened walls and then carefully (so carefully) sewed a prosthetic onto the remaining artery was unbelievable. Such care and beauty and art and delicate workmanship -- the finished new artery was unbelievable!!!!!!!!! The stitches were close together and small and perfect...I wish I could watch the surgery over and over again every day.

Blog 2
Also amazingly (though not quite as), on Friday, I saw a total hip replacement!!!! As for the carotid artery surgery, I was given a stool to stand on to watch over the heads of the surgeons only a foot or so behind where they were working and I could see absolutely everything--> incredibly amazing paraezu. Marta warned me before hand that watching the surgery would like standing in a carpenter's shop...and she was NOT kidding. During the surgery (this patient was also awake but sedated...it was...interesting...he was a heavy snorer...) they cut deep down the the bone and sawed off the head of the femur (with a literal saw -- imagine bone chips and blood flying everywhere!) then stuck a large ball shaped drill into the socket and ground away until it was a perfect fit for the prosthetic new femur head. The surgery was the absolute opposite of the carotid artery surgery - delicate and painstaking vs. fast and merciless. However, both were absolutely amazing to watch and I am so happy I got the opportunity!!!!

Yuen-speak chinese?

On Friday night the Americans went to a club for some dancing and a woman approached me who was Terceirian and had lived in China and Taiwan for 9 months. She wanted to practice her Chinese with me but my Chinese is lousy and it didn't work out very well. Then we started talking about Portuguese and she offered to give me some Portuguese lessons in the future and we exchanged contact information. Hopefully she will get back to me and we can further the language exchange. Anyways, I've noticed that the people here are extremely friendly and approachable and often offer to help us. The other day, while we were in a pastry shop, we started talking to two locals and we ended up exchanging emails and they offered to take us to the American base in the near future because they had military connections. There's a huge sense of community here and though we stick out as the strangers, I've still experienced great hospitality from almost everyone I've met.

Ana Maria - Just Dance

Today was day 2 of Epicentro: Festival da Actividade! While all of the activities have been a lot of fun, my favorite part of the weekend was this afternoon. After an intense morning of physical activities on Monte Brasil, we had just settled down for lunch outdoors, when some of the staff members came over to our group and asked us if we wanted to get up on the stage and dance. A few of us had initial reservations, but soon our entire group was on the stage mimicking the moves and grooves of one of the staff members as we jammed out to techno music. We may have looked conspicuous, and maybe even a little ridiculous, but I was once again reminded of how wonderfully active and open-javascript:void(0)minded our group is. Everyone is such a good sport!

DAVID JARAMILLO EURO CHAMPIONS CAMPIONATO

ONTEM EU E ERIC FOIMOS A NA CASA DO UM COMPANERO DO TRAVHALO PRA ASISTIR O PARTIDO DO BARCELONA E MANCHESTER UNTD. ERAMOS NOVE E BEBIMOS MUITO SUPER BOCK Y TAMBEN LLANTAMOS DEZ DIFERENTES TIPOS DO PORCO E PAPAS FRITAS. I HAVE LEARNED THAT A BIG PART OF MALE CULTURE IN TERCEIRA IS TO TELL JOKES, A MAN WHO IS POOR AT TELLING JOKES IS LOOKED DOWN UPON AS SOCIALLY MEEK. MANY OF THE JOKES RELATE TO WHORES, SEX, AND SMALL PENIS. MANY TIMES ERIC AND I CATCH THE GIST OF THE JOKE YET CANNOT FULLY COMPREHEND THE PUNCH LINE BUT WITH TIME WE WILL GET BETTER. WHEN TELLING A JOKE THE MEN USUALLY LOOK TO PONTES FOR APPROVAL, I BELIEVE THIS THE CASE SINCE HE HAS WHITE HAIR AND AN IMPRESSIVE DOS XX SNOW/GRAY BEARD. THUS PONTES IS THE ALPHA MALE IN THE CAMARA'S MALE SOCIAL CIRCLE. I LIEK THESE SOCIAL EVENTS AND TODAY IT IS UNFORTUNATE I MISS PLAYING SOCCER GAME WITH COWORKERS YET TOMORROW WE ARE SUPPOSED TO SET UP AN OUT TO NIGHT CLUB TWINS.


ADIEU

Ana Maria - Gallo!

One of the first things I learned in Terceira was that “café” here does NOT mean the same thing as coffee in the United States (or anywhere else I’ve been thus far for that matter). Instead of your standard, albeit watery, cup of joe, a café fresh is served in what looks like a kiddie playset cup and saucer. You get two large packets of sugar with it, and in case there’s any doubt in your mind at first, you quickly realize that you’ll need both packets for your first Portuguese coffee. It’s more potent than any shot of espresso I’ve ever had before, and yet people here drink it black or with at most one packet of sugar. Now, I’m a pretty big fan of coffee, so I was trying to order café con leite. It backfired once because instead of a larger cup diluted with milk, I got maybe a drop of milk added to my espresso. However, after some perseverance, I was taught about “gallo,” which is a most delicious alternative to café fresh. It consists of ¾ of a cup of steamed milk with the shot of café poured on top. Plus, it’s a wonderful way to keep up with my calcium intake! The downside is that today, Dr. Rui told me that gallo is generally a breakfast drink, and it’s more of a kiddie drink than an adult drink, which would explain why every time we’ve ordered gallo in restaurants and bars, not only have we received 2 packets of sugar, but we’ve gotten some pretty funny looks. Apparently as long as I can’t drink like the locals, I’m bound to stick out. But hey, gallo is absolutely delicious, so I’ll take the looks of surprise if that’s the price to pay for such a yummy drink!

Lover of Indigenous Foods - Hospital 1, Hospital 2

Sometime during the morning of 5/26 I was asked by Dr. Lima if I wanted to go with him to the army base on the other side of the island when he goes later. Of course I said yes. At a bit after noon we went and drove over there. We talked about the island and family and such, where he was from and all that. He lived in Angola for the first 18 years of his life during the civil war there and all that jazz, kind of crazy. The base was really cool. A few thousand people live there permanently and they have awesome ocean side condo’s and everything you could ever want for services – movies, gym, restaurant, store, pool, etc. We went to the clinic since that’s where we were destined (Dr. Lima does consulting for them once a week). Once there we were told that there was nothing for Dr. Lima to do there that day so he had Bryan (their ultrasound technician) show us/me around their clinic. It was weird, I’ve only been here for 10ish days and seeing American money (once you are on the base property you are on American soil and they speak English and use dollars etc.) was really a novelty. After the tour we stopped and got basket & robins ice cream and then we went to tour the rest of the base and go home. Instead of going through the island on the way home we drove along the coast through praia da vittoria, porto martin, porto judeo, and back to angra. It was the most incredible drive I’ve been on in such a long time. Dr. Lima was so so kind to take me on this drive and show me swimming holes and towns and beautiful waters and coast lines.

Today (5/27) in Radiology I saw something that only happened on tv. A lady was getting a ct scan and she was unconscious to begin with (maybe why they were scanning her head) and she was really large. So they moved her from her rolling bed on to the CT bed and wrapped her up and scanned her head and then did a CT on her. The doctor watched the scan come up and decided that he wanted contrast to be able to see better. The nurse didn’t want to do it because it was a lot of effort to do to a fat unconscious person (the people here seem to really dislike fat people by the way, almost everyone makes fun of them – which may explain why there are so few). While she was debating it with him some shit went down and all the sudden the patients heart rate flat-lined. The nurses and people from the ER were trying sort of frantically to save the lady. The doctor that was there sort of moseyed up and started to try to help. They had put the tube through her throat because it had closed so the oxygen wasn’t getting to her and they couldn’t get it in. At one point the lady trying to do it said ‘we lost her.’ The doctor started doing CPR and was doing 5 compressions and 2 breaths which is not what I know to be the latest standard but I don’t know as much as a doctor so I won’t question it. After a big push the tube got into the throat and they gave her oxygen, her heart started again and they got her on a breathing machine and took her out of Radiology to the ER. That was a bit more than I was ready for.

Sarah - Hitchiking

Amanda and I were about to head down Monte Brasil- both of us tired and not feeling to great when a guy driving stopped the car beside us and waved for us to get it. To be honest I was super hesitant- this was the type of thing your parents warn you about from the time you are a young child - don't get in cars with strangers. Being a female, this notion has always been emphasized. In America I wouldn't dream of it. But- we did. The guy spoke barely any English, and through our small knowledge of Spanish and Portuguese we managed to tell him where we lived so he could give us a ride home. It truly was an experience hitchhiking with a language barrier. We made it to the harbor where his phone rang and he stopped the car...we were close to the Residence but heading a little away from it. I took the opportunity to get out of the car and just walk the rest of the way. The guy was really nice, but all the same I was still apprehensive most of the time-based on all the horrible things I've heard in America about girls hitchiking. The guy proceeded to circle around us twice-which was a little creepy, but hey we made it back in one piece. Overall it was a fun experience, a new one, and I got to interact with a local Azorean who proved to be very friendly and helpful like the other locals I've met.

Kim- Machines are female

I'm in Clinical Pathology this week, which is pretty different from the OR. It's quieter, definitely- it's pretty much middle aged women who can't speak English very well. There's a different sense of purpose though, which is cool. When they talk about all the different machines that they use to prevent coagulation, or to count the RBCs and WBCs, they always say "she", instead of "it", and I thought that was interesting. I'm assuming it must be because of the male/female genders of words in the Romance languages, but I'm not positive; I'll have to find out.

It was interesting how some of the machines are brand new, maybe 3 or 4 years old? While others were 20 something years old. I've never been to a clinical pathology department in the US before, but I do wonder how much is similar and how much is different. I know that this department is one of the last to lack network access, so they have to print everything out and plug it into the computer by hand, and send it to the doctor manually themselves. Claudia, one of the technicians, said that she's been working there 8 years and they still don't have it. I wonder if the hospital is actually trying, or if it's just one of those things that are going to be ignored. Potential triple bottom line project? Maybe.

Amanda: fala Inglês?

On Tuesday I had my first day of actual shadowing at the hospital. And thank goodness for swine flu; Sarah was able to come to cardiology with me because internal medicine doesn’t want the Americans in their department. I was so relieved I didn’t have to solely take on the challenge of figuring out what I was supposed to do in a department where the majority of people don’t speak English. After communicating with a cleaning lady, three nurses, a secretary, and a male doctor, we finally were paired up with a very friendly lady doctor who spoke great English.

Amanda: Spaghetti!

Abby and I attempted to cook this week, it didn’t go so well. Turns out, it’s really hard to cook when you can’t read the labels at the supermarket. You would think spaghetti is a pretty easy dish to make, but when you can’t find the isle with the “prego” or even know if a convenient jar of pre-made tasty spaghetti sauce exists, the task of cooking spaghetti becomes much harder. We also learned the Vinho de Mesa isn’t “wine for the drinking, but for the cooking!” We drank it anyways, and it only cost €1.60!

Fitting in- Abby Furr

two blogs in one!

I am so very American. I like to think that I’m pretty adaptable, that I can always make new friends pretty easily, that, as corny as it sounds, a smile is the same in every language, and that I can always mostly fit in. While some of these ideas are not so far from the truth, others could not be more removed from the reality in which I currently live.
The first day I arrived on Terciera, I was equipped with a few Portuguese phrases, the most treasured of which was fala ingles? (Do you speak English) to which I generally thought the answer would be yes. Strike one. Um poco was the most common response, starting with a man in the airport whom I asked how to call a taxi. Fortunately, the word for taxi is the same in every language, and through some smiling and gesturing, he called one for three people: Amanda, Andy, and me. Moving right along with my adventures in language barriers, I thought my six years of Spanish might do me some good. It has, a little, many words are similar if pronounced pretty differently (gustar=gosto- that last o sounds like a u), but as it turns out, it’s a little offensive to reply no, but that you speak some Spanish when asked fala Portuguese? My internship leader explained to me that they gained independence from Spain some 900 years ago, and it’s still a little to soon to say they’re similar. Since we quickly formed a good relationship, I spent the majority of my day pointing out words like de nada, which sound exactly the same in each language. He eventually conceded laughingly that they may have some words in common, but Portuguese is still the more elegant and beautiful language; despite the gags and shhhh’s, I might have to agree.
This strange expectation of convenience and a timetable that I was brought up with has also become abundantly apparent. The internet goes on and off here frequently, much to the annoyance of those in our group from UNC. Everyone here seems so unaffected by it. I ask one of the students whose school work depends on accessing the internet when it will probably come back and the reply is always, “I don’t know, some time soon” as they switch to textbook reading to study for exams. Soon is a relative term meaning, some time this week, I think. Even my internship operates on a convenience basis. I don’t have a very strict time to come and go, and I get about a three hour lunch break. I’ve come to realize that not being on time here is not so much a sign of disrespect, as people at home tend to see it, but just more how things work. I’m pretty sure I like it.
I met the group which already included some Portuguese men who attend university here after I checked in to my beautiful dorm room. Upon nearly every introduction to a guy, I was kissed squarely on the cheek; whereas girls tended to air kiss each side of my face. I do my best to remember to return the gesture, but my firmly ingrained American need for personal space, which I only just realized existed, always makes me feel very awkward. Even meeting one or two ladies at the office required um besito. Once I figure out exactly who to air kiss, I’ll try and make sure to get it right, and stop confusing people by extending a hand for them to shake.
Even though I may find it impossible to fully integrate myself into this culture where flip flops are not always the accessory of choice with a skirt and wearing sweat pants is simply not done, I will try. Every time I look out my window at the very green mount Brazil and the hills with charming little houses neatly stacked along the sides, I feel so lucky to live here for just a little while. The people are so friendly, and willing to try and work with my abundantly obvious American-ness. Though my worse than broken Portuguese, southern accent, light features, and lack of fashion sense will always make me stand out just a little bit; the locals and college students will likely always continue to be as nice and welcoming as they have been thus far. I’ve already made lots of new friends in the residencia in the first week, and I genuinely like them…even if they do try to kiss me.

Courtney: The Group

Our experiences here have been wonderful and the island is beautiful. But I think one of the more interesting and surprising aspects of the Atlantis Project is the interaction between group members. At least half of us have met because of this Project and we have really all gotten to know each other only since we’ve arrived to Terceira. It’s fair to say that we come from different backgrounds and groups of friends at Carolina, and many of us probably wouldn’t have come together outside of the AP. Regardless of our differences, we have spent a week together now and the group still often travels as 12. We are getting to know each other better everyday. Yesterday, we spent the day at Monte Brasil for Amanda’s 21st birthday. We grilled tons of meat and ate straight off the grill and later watched the sunset. It makes me incredibly happy that the group gets along so well and that we can all enjoy our surroundings together.

Suzanne - KONA PIZZA!

I was expecting some really exotic food here in the Azores, however, for the most part the food has seemed quite similar to the food we have at home. Perhaps this is because we mainly only order things on the menu we can read/ figure out what they are but still... Kona Pizza, however, is the most "American-ish" food venue that we have seen so far. Apparently, all of the non-American students are the residence made fun of us when they heard we went to Kona Pizza for dinner... In any case, at Kona Pizza they basically take a slice of pizza dough, role it into a cone, put TONS of cheese (probably too much cheese) inside and a little bit of something else (like ham, or oregano, or pineapple...whatever you ask for) and then sent it through the oven. The out-coming pizza cone is usually SUPER (I think), even if it is a bit too cheesy.

eric - soccer

on thursday david and i played soccer with some of the guys that work at the local government with us. they were all older and more out of shape than us but damn did they take it seriously. after being stripped of the ball and knocked on my butt by the secretary of urban planning i recognized that this game was no intramural sport. we held are own out there but it was not enough to keep from hearing the phrase "fucking americans" after every time we made a mistake. after the game they took us to the bar where wave after wave of food and beer was provided for us free of charge. By the end of the evening we were all drunk and joking like old friends through a rough combination of english and portuguese. overall, it is evident that no matter where you are in the world, the comradery achieved through sports is universally effective in bringing people together.

Kevin – Bus ride

Dear blog,
Hey blog, it’s Kevin. So on Friday I needed to catch a bus back to Angra after some classes at the school. Yuen and Courtney were teaching different classes so I was supposed to meet up with them, but things didn’t pan out so I had to get on the bus alone. I was pretty confident I was on the right one, but without Courtney I couldn’t be sure. Luckily one of the few students I know by name came up to say hello and he was able to help me out. I realized two things then – firstly that I’m really at the mercy of everyone on the island when it comes to my inability to speak Portuguese. I can’t really expect to get by with the assumption that someone will know English to give me a hand when I need it. It’s ironic that a student of mine - who I am supposed to be teaching – could use his English to help me out. So the other thing I realized is that I need to make moves on my Portuguese lessons.


Kevin – Bull fight
At yesterday’s Torador Corda we ran into a teacher from Escola Tomas de Borba. After the bulls she invited us into her sister’s house for food and drink. I’m starting to appreciate the generosity people have here – even to strangers. At the bull fight last week it was the same way – strangers had us into their house and were incredibly generous and eager to talk to us. I’d like to say things would be the same way at home but I really doubt it. I ate some cow bacon – can’t remember what it’s called – but it’s dope. Also those spicy garlic potato things are pretty tight.

Kim- Hospital OR

So, for the first week of our internship at the hospital, I was in the Operating Room. It was really cool, and I saw lots of different surgeries; mastectomies, a C-section, cataracts, and one guy had some of his toes amputated…the list goes on. I always kind of got the same feeling from watching all of the surgeries, and it was kind of weird; some internal part of me would cringe, because they are dealing with a person with thoughts and feelings, but then again, it was also just the human anatomy. They knew what they had to do and they did it as efficiently and respectfully as they could. It was interesting to feel things two feelings simultaneously, with each surgery, no matter what it was too.

Kim- Conversacion y Estrellas

Please ignore the title- I'm more familiar with Spanish than Portuguese, but I'm learning! Two nights ago, I went up to the upstairs patio with two boys that live in the Residence that we are staying at; Vicente and Hugo. We went up to watch the stars, and gosh, it was absolutely beautiful. The sky was very clear, which is apparently very rare here in the islands; I believe it, because the weather here is completely bipolar. It will be cloudy and cold one minute, and warm and sunny the next. The light pollution also wasn't an issue for the star gazing, since we were also up high. Anyway, it was really fun just talking and having great conversation, about space, aliens, culture, languages, people, time...lots of subjects, even though all our primary languages are different (mine is Vietnamese/English, Vicente is Spanish, and Hugo is Portuguese). It was fun to talk, and when we came across a word that someone didn't understand, we would translate and figure it out, and then the conversation continued. It just reinforces that people can always relate to each other, and that language doesn't have to be a barrier. I mean, if I can do it here, it should never be a problem back at home, where the majority of the population speaks English. Good conversation, good people.

Yuen-Teacher call outs

Something strange I've noticed in the classroom is that teachers call out their students in front of everyone about how they're doing academically. In the middle of class in front of everybody, they'll spend 5 minutes commenting about how one student is very bright and promising or how another student has gotten lazy in their school work and just failed a test or something and then call out another student about specific grades they had received. In all my schooling in the U.S, teachers would never call out students in front of the entire class about their academic performance or specific grades. It's not good or bad, it's just something different that I've noticed many different teachers do here. I am curious to know if this is something normal that happens in all the schools around the area and if it reflects a difference in teaching philosophy in general compared to the general teaching philosophy and approach of the U.S.

Yuen-Hitchhiking

I would never be comfortable hitchhiking in the U.S, but here,for some reason, I feel really comfortable doing it. The bus schedule to get to the school can be frustrating and we are sometimes stranded there for 4 or 5 hours or just miss the bus because classes go on later than the last bus time. That being said, this has caused a necessity for us to get rides from all sorts of strangers just to get back to Angra. We decided to walk to the school one day and got lost and asked a man for directions and after giving us directions, he turned around in his car and found us to give us a ride because he realized that we were really lost and the school was far away. We've also hitched rides from unsuspecting faculty at the school. I have felt a huge sense of community here, everyone seems to know everybody in some way or another. Though the south in the U.S is known for their hospitality and friendliness, I have experienced even more friendliness and openness here. Strangers will strike up conversations and offer us food or a ride or anything else. Maybe this is what has contributed to my willingness to hitchhike. Whether its the sense of community or the overwhelming friendliness of the people here, hitchhiking is something I'd never though I'd do that I am doing here now.

Courtney: Luis de Sao Miguel

On Sunday, the group went for a late dinner at the steak house down the street. Our first surprise was that our ‘snack menu’ hamburgers were the size of our faces. As most of the group began to learn Portuguese, David and I helped the others order from the menu and interact with the waitress. From a table on the other side of the restaurant, a middle-aged man began calling out corrections to the group’s Portuguese. It wasn’t long before he moved his drink to a table closer to ours. We told him we are students at Carolina, working and living in Terceira for a month and a half. He noticed my ‘accent from Sao Miguel,’ striking conversation about my parents and my familiarity with the island. He was from Agua de Pau, Sao Miguel, and visiting Terceira for business purposes. He told us about his huge family, parts of which live in the States or Canada, and a niece there named Courtney. He finished his drink, and left shortly after we said our goodbyes and nice-to-meet-yous. Our table of four was dividing our bill and counting money when our waitress came over with 30 Euros. Luis had left her with instructions to put the money toward our bill. We were surprised by the generosity shown by the man who we had met only a half an hour earlier, and realized that the people here not only take care of each other but also the island’s visitors.

Sarah- Patients in Cardiology

I walked hesitantly into the cardiology department, hearing no English and following the doctor I was assigned to for patient exams. The patient rooms were painted a sort of bland yellow, but the view was magnificent. The windows were huge and looked across Angra and out to the sea. The doctor would talk to the patient, in Portuguese of course, and then explain to me and Amanda what was going on. Privacy is not stressed in the hospital at all. Over half of the patients that had a problem and recommended treatment refused the treatment and wished to go home. For example, we oversaw our doctor telling a middle age woman that she stay for further treatment, and through I could not understand the language, the woman’s face was of pure disappointment, and even anger. She wanted to go home, she wanted to not look out at the view but be part of it.

Suzanne - A Day in the ER

I spent the past week shadowing doctors in ER of the Santo Espirito hospital here in Angra do Heroismo. On Thursday, a burly 25 year old man with lots of tattoos came in complaining of shortness of breath and pain in his chest area. The doctors ordered an X-Ray, which showed that the man had pneumothorax. (Pneumothorax is a condition in which the pressure in the interpleural cavity of the lungs is compromised by a hole in either the visceral or parietal pleural membranes.) Although due to the language barrier (I don't speak any Portuguese and the doctors do not usually speak perfect English) it is always slightly hard to tell exactly what the doctors are trying to communicate to me, especially when they are explaining medical conditions or procedures, I believe they said Pneumothorax can occur spontaneously in young people, especially young men who smoke heavily. To fix his condition, they decided to put a chest tube in. The tube was HUGE for something that they were going to stick between his ribs. The circumference of the tube was probably larger than a dime. By the time they finally were ready to place the tube into his chest, there was an audience of approximately 5 nurses and 6 doctors watching, so the room was very crowded. This made it somewhat hard to see what was going on, and no one in the room spoke English well, but I believe they just gave his three shots in rapid sucession and then top the scalpel and made a cut in his side. The main doctor then took scissors and begin cutting and tearing the hole to make it bigger and bigger. Then, she was handed the tube and begin to press it through the hole into his lungs. While she was doing this, I looked at the man's face and his expression was horrific. I thought they had given him local anesthesia, but from the look on his face it seemed they literally just stuck the tube in there without any pain medication at all. The look on his face was much harder to stomach than either the cutting or tearing of the hole for the chest tube.

Monte Brasil & Dr. Victor - Ana Maria

1. Last Sunday was the first day that most of us were here together (except Kevin). It absolutely made my day to see how well everyone connected. I’m sure many of us could have used some serious shut-eye, but instead we all put on our hiking gear and headed for Monte Brasil. We hiked for the majority of the afternoon, and the views were absolutely breathtaking. It felt like every time we came to a clearing, we were stunned by yet another incredible skyline or coastline. I think I took about a hundred pictures, and don’t get me wrong, I was pretty stoked about the vegetation, but I kept thinking how nice it was that we were all getting along so well. I know we’re from a range of backgrounds, but that’s just another perk of this experience.

2. This week I was rotating in the Pediatric ward of the hospital. I love kids, and I think pediatrics is what I want to do with my life, so I was pretty stoked that I got to rotate there first. Initially, I think the director of the ward was a little less than enthusiastic by our presence (since apparently they were afraid we had brought Swine Flu with us), but he assigned me to the most awesome intern ever. Dr. Victor was the nicest and most helpful doctor I’ve ever met. Not only did he take the time to explain procedures and protocols to me, but he also clearly conveyed such a genuine passion for what he does. On Thursday, a kid came in with appendicitis, and Dr. Victor talked to the surgeons and the nurses, and they let me watch the appendectomy! It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. These surgeons were sticking their hands through a small hole in this kid to dig out his appendix; it was like watching a group of artists at work. Afterwords, I went back to tell Dr. Victor all about it, and he listened to me gush about a surgery that I’m sure he’s seen plenty of times. I really appreciated all of the time he spent with me, and I feel incredibly lucky to have learned so much from him this week. :)

Secret Swimming Spot

We were tired from the hike and were on the road that headed towards our residence when David yelled something about a ‘secret swimming spot’. David had been conversing with a local as usual and we decided to take the detour hoping to find a secret gem of the island only an older Azorean fisherman, like the one who led us, would know. He left us at the beginning of a small downhill path and one by one we entered. The path was barely visible with foliage, trees, and flowers on it that had fallen from the green wall around us. To our right was a wall of bamboo; “How far from America am I?” I thought. We reached a clearing and ragged stone steps became our path. A few steps more and the sea was visible-endless and blue and beautiful. A stone staircase, some hundreds years old, continued to take us downhill. And we found it- the secret swimming spot, more of less a platform to jump into the ocean from. A fisherman took advantage of the location and had caught colorful fish I had not seen in America. You could see the rocks in the water, the worn cliffs, the beach, and our town. It was absolutely beautiful and made me understand a peace that’s hard to find in Chapel Hill and Elizabeth City, but seems so apparent in Terceira.

southpark

we were walking through the school and from the floor above us we heard some kids yell down "shit fuck bitch ass," and the teacher who was giving us a tour said, "this is why we don't want them watching southpark." Later, we passed by some grafatti on a wall that said "shut up" and "fuck bitches." It's good that the english language is so popular and used here, though perhaps not in the most ideal way. haha. I feel like the kids who consume our trashy culture, our bad language and terrible MTV shows or computer games will be the ones who are most eager to learn english and to practice it on their own through leisure activities. Already I am amazed at how exposed the people here are to American culture, television shows, news, fashion, etc. It has given me a new perspective on how other people view our culture, good or bad.

Blog 1

I tried all weekend to cash the travelers check’s that I brought but since the banks only open M-F from like 9 to 3 (no lunch break though, go big banks). So Monday comes and we get this sweet tour of the hospital and sort of told to go home at like 10 am leaving us with nothing to do for the rest of the day – nothing planned at least. So I’m lacking money but needing to pay the lady for the housing and such. Trying to tell her that I need to go to the bank to get the money to do so but with her lack of English and my lack of Portuguese it failed until this guy came along and translated. Then he drove me to the bank and walked me inside to get a ticket so I could be in line without being asked and risking a parking ticket in the process. If that doesn’t demonstrate awesomeness I can’t imagine what would.

Ps – my English is pretty bad at this point because I spend more time trying to learn Portuguese than speaking English – its going well though.

Blog 2

I got to go to a bull fight – torero corda – on Monday night and it was maybe the coolest thing I’ve been a part of in 2009. They have the bull on a rope and there is a huge party at every house or every other house. David and Eric work with this guy, Antonio Ponche who we called ‘Ponche,’ who showed us to this huge party with an outrageous amount of food and beer and fun. Ponche used to be a bull fighter so he knew everyone and he is hysterical. Anyways, so we get there and chill for a while and eat and drink and try to listen to Portuguese even though david is the only one who really knows any of it, eric knows some but not tons and then Kevin and I know almost none. The bull fights start and they shoot off a rocket (held in hand I found out) to warn that the bull is getting released soon, then another to say that the bull is out. There are interesting liablitiy things, the owner of the bull is responsible for damage that happens because of the bull beyond a certain point but not at all within so there are guys in groups of 4 at 30, 60, and 90 meters from the bull whose job is to pull the bull back if it starts to go to far. There are hordes of people in the streets (maybe not hordes but plenty) who want to tease the bull and there are people whose job is to get the bull riled up who used umbrella’s and blankets and whatnot to tease it into attacking. We run from the bull when it comes near and plan our escape route in the mean time while watching and enjoying the other people run and get scared by the bull. After about 20 or so minutes of this happening and the bull getting tired the reel it in and put it away and 2 rockets are shot to signal the end. This happens 4 times total with 4 different bulls. We drank beer during and in between every bull. We talked to this really interesting guy who was deported from America an incident and he now lives in Terceira and works at the golf club. We ate cool, indigenous foods – sausages, rice pudding, soup, cow stomach (which tasted so good – it was the little bit of stuff in between the ribs of cows and they cook it sort of like bacon and the seasoning and it’s so amazing, there was this pig intestine that was cleaned out and filled with rice and blood and something else and that was pretty good. All in all it was really freaking cool and I hope we get to go again.

Week 1: The Adventure Begins!

All twelve of us are now here in Terceira, and we're already having a blast! Our internships began on Monday, and so far everything has gone pretty smoothly. Our focus thus far has been on getting settled in, figuring out how to get an internet connection, and getting to know each other a little better. For the next six or seven weeks, we'll explore Angra do Heroismo and the rest of the island, and maybe even some of the other islands. Each of us will update this blog twice a week with little anecdotes and brief descriptions of a variety of experiences we've had. Happy reading!