Holaaaa de Guate!

Helllooooo, Everyone! Some pictures for you all:

This young man is such a JOY!! I call him two things: 1) Mi novio mas pequeño - This is a kind of slangy way of saying "My little boyfriend." I'm pretty sure it's Puerto Rican slangy, so it probably makes no sense here. 2) Mi Sombra- this one literally means "My Shadow." You might be able to guess at the name significance here... Every time I walk from the clinic to the school where the exams are taking place, he attaches to my leg, puts his arms around me, crawls on my back, kisses me on the cheeks, something. We play all manner of sports and talk about our parents. This physical affection thing is one aspect about this culture that makes my heart a little gushy. For those of you who know me well, you know I am affectionate to the point of moderate nausea. Suffice it to say, I fit in well here :D

This is kind of his "default" pose. He says he looks like a man :)

This is the room I stay in most of the time and that's my new friend from Pakistan. He made fun of the South. Apparently making fun of red-necks is international... who knew, lol. My job this week is English to Spanish translating, conducting pre-screening interviews, dishwashing, and organizing patient flow for the medical team (I'll explain this a little later). The point of this picture is to show that nurses have the coolest jobs ever. Not only do I get to participate in the medical sides of the job, kids get to sit in my lap when they aren't tall enough for the machines. This picture makes my heart glad!

This is a guy I get along with tremendously well. All my friends may be thinking something like "Yeah, I bet you do, Cody." (Given his physical appearance) BUT He's actually a Muslim from the States. I think it is insane the number of Muslims I come into contact with everywhere I go. In fact, I think about 90% of the team members who are down for surgery week are Muslim.  I've been having some pretty awesome conversations with the team members. Who knows why I'm here. For Guatemalans, for international medical team members, for Americans. Who cares. I'm just staying obedient.

Mi Sombra, his cousin, and me outside of the clinic <3

For those of you who prayed, THANK YOU. My day went super smoothly and ALL of the GLORY needs to go straight back to GOD who gave me a tongue that functions kind of well in other languages. The reason that I mention that I am specifically an English to Spanish translator is because many of the patients I am working with speak Quiche only. This is a Mayan tribal language that is quite different from Spanish in many ways. Soooooo what happened was, the medical team spoke with me, then I spoke to a translator who speaks Spanish and Quiche, and in this way we communicated with our patients. I would say about 50% of the patients speak Spanish and Quiche, and the other 50% speak Quiche alone. I had no idea how much went into just one day of exams and surgery. I also worked with patient flow and organized a systematic way to exam patients efficiently (a very nursey type of job, love it!) I conducted the interviews with the patients and discussed their general health, and more specifically their problems with sight. Let me Tell you, I heard a lot of stories. From sewing needle accidents, to a guys getting punched in the street... and many more, but the others are definitely on the sad side. I was so busy today that didn't eat lunch until about two.

I thought this was a kinda funny story:

We had a pretty cute/stylish 20 year old come to get his eyes checked because he explained that he was in need of glasses. After interviewing him and conducting an eye exam, we gave him some options to see which glasses worked best for him. Although he could see a little better with the glasses we finally found, he was very concerned that he looked like Harry Potter in them and politely declined. Who knew Harry Potter even reaches to remote villages high in the mountains of Guatemala...

God is working, folks. Pray for this team. Pray for the patients.

I love ya'll.

Codi