A vida do hospital

(Translation of title written in Galician: the life of the hospital)

I just realized it has been 3 days since my last update and I am getting ready for bed but let's try this. 

Sunday, I arrived in Ourense with another person from our group, Juan. We met up in Vigo and took the train together after 3 hours of waiting at the train station for our train. We were picked up my one of our site coordinators, Serxio (said ser-she-o), and got all checked into our rooms to wait for everyone else. Once the group got here, we went to dinner and tried a whole bunch of traditional foods from ourense, like eel tortas, squid, sardine type things, steak and patatas, and flan. My favorite was the squid and the steak. 

The next day, Monday, was our first hospital day. I started off in the hematology department. I wasn't so sure at first what I was going to do, but I got to hang out with the medical assistant residents and go to appointments, and go to the blood bank. The blood bank was my favorite part because they showed me all the machines and programs they use to analyze the blood and protein products for use in transfusions and transplants. It was cool to be able to see machines and computer programs that did what I had learned about in class simplified, and people were able to explain things to me in English. 

The second day (today), I was in the same place. I got to spend more time with the doctor and he went over more specifics of some of the patients with me. I also got to talk to him about his family. Today, I also started the English teaching portion with one other person. We were able to speak to our student, a resident at the hospital, getting to know her and the level at which she speaks. I think it will be interesting. We meet with her next week as well as another person. 

Two things I have learned so far, spaniards drink a lot of coffee ( I even tried some. Don't go into too much shock), and I am picking up on Spanish again by listening to the hospital professionals speak and reading material in Spanish. 

This picture is of me and one of the medical assistants after her first time preparing the product for a transfusio. I got to watch as she learned from the doctor I was shadowing. 

Will try my best to update more as I get further in and figure out times. Lots of love. 

Kallie

(P.s. My English is turning into a mix between American English and the broken English of the people I am working with. Soon, I may speak English with a Spanish accent. Oh well)