WEEKEND OFF

Hi everyone. Hope everything is going well at home. Everything here is good, if you ignore the effect a virtually all rice diet has on your lower digestive tract!
Not much has happened the last few days. A typhoon just missed our base, but we got lots of rain. It's been raining the majority of the last few days so the church and bible studies that we do on Sunday and Tuesday were cancelled. We walk to the lecture hall in knee high deep puddles. It's still over 30 degrees though sot he water is welcome.Some place the in town don't have drains so he water builds up in the streets, sometimes shoulder deep. When it rains all the kids come out and swim and bath in the puddles.
We've been doing a couple of extra hours of class the last few days to make up for the weekend off we are getting. Yay, urine analysis!
I'm going to be heading to one of the nearby islands Thursday night to relax with some of the girls. We're hoping to go snorkling and banana boating.
I'd post pictures but there is dead bug in the USB port, so maybe next time.

I hope you can see all these pictures, some of the ones in the previous post got cut off.


We did and overnight outreach the last couple of days in a village a few hours away from where we are staying. We saw some crazy things but we were able to help a lot of people with serious problems. I got to inject anesthetic into dental patients for the first time. Felt pretty bad for the first guy I did, but we asked first to make sure he was okay with the fact that I had never given anybody a needle. There was one poor old women who had severe decay in one of her front teeth. So bad that the infection ate through the root of the tooth, through the jaw bone and out of her chin. When we pulled the tooth she bled out the bottom of her chin. We saw a man who had a serious skin infection on his legs that had been there since he was 1 year old. He is now 37. We gave some antibiotics and anti-inflammatories so hopefull it will clear up. We also saw a man who was 71 years old that was in the begining stages of a heart attack. He was so thin because he worked 10 hours days carrying bricks and doing construction and he never stopped to eat. I'm 21 and can't imagine working like that in this heat, let alone 71 years old. We also diagnosed quite a few children with various forms of TB. It's so sad because they will probably die soon because we don't have all the proper treatments and they cannot afford to go to the hospital. Unfortunately we also see alot of people taking advantage of the free medicine we give. We saw a little girl who looked perfectly well and when we asked her what was the matter she couldn't remember so she had to go back and asked her mother. So her mother came over and told us what the girls problem was and exactley what medicine she wanted. She got very upset and stormed out when we wouldn't give it to her because what she wanted was an adult medication for this girl who was 10, and the symptoms she said the daughter had didn't add up. We also saw an elderly women who was so depressed she wouldn't even look or speak to us. Her husband had brought her in to see if we could make her happy and well again. We don't have anything to help mental illnesses, but we gave her some multivitamins and ibuprofen just so they wouldn't walk away empty handed after coming so far. We also saw a girl who was ate who had severe abdominal pain. After talking to her mother we found out that she was on a diet and wouldn't any other than a little bit of rice. She was bigger than all the other girls because she was half American, but she was no where near being overweight. SHe was only 8 years old.

We see alot of patients with very serious problems, blood pressures of 200/140, cysts, cancer, heart disease, etc,. It's really hard because we don't have necessary diagnostic tools and as a one time clinic we cannot not give the long term care some require. We give them all the necessary medication we can but that's usually only about two weeks worth, most need more than that and repeat check ups to monitor their condition. But we do the best we can and most people are very gratefull for it.

It was a very long and tiring weekend both physically and emotionally. Didn't get much sleep because we slept on concrete floors and all the emotionaly stress makes it hard to sleep at night but they are going to give us a weekend off here pretty soon. When we got home last night we went to the restaurant opening of one of the former Marine reach staff and had a delicious meal. Much better than the fish heads we were served in the village(although I am thankful for the meal they cooked us). Then we went and relaxed by doing some videoke. I highly recommend it, it was a blast. This is Annemarie and I singing "Stop! In the name of love".

PICTURES, FOR REAL THIS TIME

View from hotel in Korea



Here are some pictures of our outreach. The little boy in yellow had 2 severely infected ulcers on his leg, but was so strong when we were patching him up. The last picture is the bridge we crossed to get one of the communities to hold a bible study. It was right by the ocean, so beautiful.





I have a bunch more pics but they take super long to load. Maybe next time.

FINALLY SOME PICTURES

So I finally found a computer in town with an accessible USB port so here are a few pictures. I only have a few so far because you have to be careful of taking pictures of tribal groups and land. I hope you can see them alright, I can't tell because the computer monitor here is not very good.
Here is the view from my hotel in Seoul when I had to overnight between flights. I'll have to take pictures of the toilet on the way home so you can see what a classy place it is.
We'll I've been sitting here for 25 minutes and the pictures aren't loading so I'll try again when I have more time.

For those of you who know of the unfortunate things that always seem to find me, you'll enjoy this... I've already developed three differen rashes. None of them are serious.

A PALE PARADE

I have some time left before my hour runs out at the internet cafe so I thought I would share some less important experiences.

It seems white people are quite the novelty. In the stores the big products are soaps and lotions with extra whitening ability. This struck me as odd since at home I seem to be on the recieving end of many jokes about the pasty whiteness of my skin. The ideal at home seems to be the tanned look and here it is just the opposite. At the airport coming in a couple of Filapino kids looked at me and laughed, when I turned around they ran away. It turned into almost a game as I would try and turn around and catch them before they had a chance to stop and laugh. Whenever I walk anywhere off the base people stare, men, women and children. Walking to town this morning men were honking their horns, waving, yelling and even slowing down and driving alongside of us. I don't at all feel threatened, but I feel like I am on display in a parade for the pasty white people.
The other day we rode back to the base on this motorized trike with a basket on the side. Two girls got into the basket and I jumped on the back of the bike. As we got on and started to drive away, a bunch of men were clapping and cheering for the driver. We are pretty sure they were cheering for him because he picked up three white chicks.

OUR FIRST OUTREACH

Yesterday was our first chance to use what we have learned so far. We went to a tribal group near the mountains of Mindoro. We saw over a hundred people. Some had been walking all night to reach the clinic. While the people all seemed pretty healthy, they were all very short because of poor nutrition. The tallest man that I met wasn't even my height and the women were all less than 5 feet. You could tell by looking at their hands and feet that they worked very hard all day every day. The children looked much younger and the adults looked much older than they actually were.
Most of the people just had a cough and cold. They mainly just come to get the free vitamins. There was a few more serious patients though, one women was nearly nine months pregnant and severely anemic, but they can't afford the iron supplements. We gave her what we could but we have limited resources. The saddest thing I saw was an 11 year old boy who was blind from cataracts. They could be removed relatively easily in hospital and his sight would be nearly normal. Unfortunately the hospital is about 90km away, and the tribe does not have a vehicle. There were a couple other patients who needed to go the hospital too but the director said it was unlikely they woud go.
I couldn't believe how tough the kids were. There was a twelve year old boy whose father had cut the side of his foot with an axe. It cut nearly through the bone. They have no way of dressing wounds so he has been walking on it and working in the rice fields. We cleaned and patched him up and he didn't even flinch. There was also a five year old with a couple of badly infected wounds on his arm and foot. He laid there completely still, at home people (myself included) have cried for much lesser things.
At the end we shared the gospel with the tribe. About seven of them asked Jesus into their heart. The best was this little old granny who seemed to just fill with joy. Her big toothless grin was amazing.

DAY 3

Today we did more hands on work in class. We learned how to do a general examination and about some of the most common respiratory diseases. Marine reach is starting an orphanage and already has one baby girl. She is seven months old and has been with the director since birth. She was born extremely underweight and is still recovering. We were able to do an examination on her, which made the information easier to grasp after doing it on a live patient. Our first outreach will be to a tribe just north of where we are staying. It will be a one day thing on friday.

Yesterday we did a Bible study in the village. First we just went and started singing childrens songs until everybody came out. Even the adults were doing the actions. It was so much fun. I started out with the high school students but after they finished I went and played with the kids. I have never been so entertained with jump rope. I was surprised how much english the little guys knew. The were eager to know all our names, ages and where we were from. They asked questions non-stop. They even tried to teach us some tagalog, but we couldn't pronounce anything correctly. When we were leaving we got them all into one big group hug, which ended in us lying in the dirt laughing. It's the first time I've seen these people, we could barely speak to each other but I feel like I've known them forever. I can't wait until next tuesday to see them all together again.

I tried to post pictures but it's not working. Hopefully I'll figure it out next time.

It's a good thing I like rice, because we eat it every meal, with the exception of a few breakfasts. The food has been really good but I can't wait until I can have a steak again. Speaking of food, I better get to supper. Hope everyone is doing alright where they are.

DAY ONE

We just finished our first day of class and are now in Calapan checking out the city. I just bought 1kg of the best mangos in the world for only about 90 cents. Everything is so cheap here it's unbelievable and a good thing because I have no money.
Class was really good, the couple teaching is from the UK so it is sometimes hard to understand with their accent. But they are amazing and so passionate about using medicine to serve the Lord. I can't wait to start our first outreach, we have a very dynamic team. It will be great!
But at the same time, we are struggling a bit to come together as a unified body. We vary greatly in age and theological backgrounds. We all love Jesus, but come from such different backgrounds that we are having a hard time finding common ground. Please pray for unity, I know it will come but we don't have much time here so the sooner the better.

GOD'S SENSE OF HUMOUR

I was just reading my friend's blog and was reminded of how emotional moments seem to always have a laugh attached to them. When I was saying goodbye to Jenn and Kim in the coffe shop parking lot it was pretty emotional, because we are all going different directions in life. So there was definitely some tears. Not long after the tears started coming did we turn to see a man relieving himself while his girlfriend waited in the car. What a beautiful moment. Even now as I read emails and blogs I'm starting to tear up. But I am also trying my hardest not to laugh as a really horrible Filipino singer is singing the backtstreet boys. No word of a lie!
God definitely has a sense of humor.

IN THE PHILIPPINES

The last post got cut short because the computer at the hotel in Korea started writing in Korean and I didn't know how to make it go back to english. I'm in Manila now and will be heading to the base in Calapan in a few hours. Three out of seven of our team is here now. There has been a lot of problems already with pick ups at the airport, it seems that the shuttle service has given everyone different directions on where to be picked up. Please pray that we can find the other four members of our team and that there is no more delays or cancelations.

Traffic here scares the beans out me, they have lanes but don't use them and pedestrians don't have the right of way. There is no seat belts and nobody signals. Most people speak at least sme english, so that makes things easier. I have only seen downtown Manila but already I am shocked at the poverty. I can't wait till our first outreach when we can reach out and help these people.

Also pray that I will not melt or burn to a crisp. Yesterday was about 39C with the humidity. I can't wait till I see snow again!

I have to go but before I do here is a few tips for anyone planning international travel.
1. A 12 hour flight is not the time to be adventurous with your food choices.
2. Don't allow someone who does not speak your language cut your hair, even if it is only 3$ Canadian
3. Stay away from BALUT, unless you like the taste of poultry fetus
4. Learn to like shrimp before you leave because that is the only thing that looks famiiar
5. Learn the money conversion so you can tip more than 12 cents
6. Be prepared to encounter a variety of smells

Love You All!

JUST ABOUT THERE

Right now I'm in Korea. So far nothing really weird has happened. I'm staying in a really nice hotel, you know the ones with the elevator dude that pushes the button, and I'm on the 20th floor with a sweet view of Seoul. I just had supper, I don't know exactly what it was, and I don't want to think about it. It was called soup but it looked like one on those cancer lungs they put on cigarette boxes. The fliㅑㄴㅇ롸냐ㅗㅗ마ㅓㅑㅕ

ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT

It's Saturday night, and I am losing my mind as I realize how unprepared I am and how much I have to do before I leave. I'll be heading to Edmonton Tuesday, my flight leaves at 6am Wednesday.
I just bought a suitcase so at least I can start to pack now. I'm mostly prepared to go there, I've gotten my tickets, VISA, insurance etc., I'm just not prepared for life when I get back. I still don't know where I am going to school, I seem to keep taking one step forward two (sometimes three) steps back. Until I figure this out I can't apply for my student loan, scholarships, or a place to live. Oh boy! I'm having a mild panic attack thinking about it all, but I'm trying to trust God with it. It's hard though when you're a control freak, perfectionist and over-thinker. I wish God hadn't made me this way! :)
Despite this I can't wait to get there and start class. I never thought I would spend school vacation doing more school but here I go. This is school with a Jesus centered purpose, so it should be a little more enjoyable than taxonomy and chemical equilibria. Anyway, I really have nothing to say but I needed a break from the mind boggling work of preparing to leave.