Hump day

So, today was pretty much a relaxing and easy day! I met up with some people at 11am for a tour of my clinics. We went to a couple of places. One of the places we went to was this huge Centro de Salud ... I forgot the exact name, but there were a lot of people waiting outside. Many of us have rotations at various centro de salud which is like a public hospital for people without ANY type of health insurance. It is like a family practice hospital. Many people wait for hours up to 2 days to be seen!

I will be volunteering at Centro de Salud America. I'm really nervous because I need to figure out how to get there, preferably NOT by walking. But, I don't know. My partner Leslie will take the bus, but since I live on the opposite side of town, even if I do take the bus, it might not be the same one. Regardless, I will definitely be waking up early and LEAVING early to get there by 8am.

We basically rotate at each clinic site for 2 weeks with 3 days each week and 4 hours each day. So 6 days per clinic site I guess. I'm really excited! I think I will learn a lot. I'm also nervous too because my shoes hurt me so much. Guess I need to suck it up.

I feel like this trip has taught me to be even more independent because I need to basically figure out on my own (well with others too) how to navigate Oaxaca. This is definitely a challenge. I feel like I'm learning a lot about living by myself in a new place. These days however, I get sudden pangs of homesickness. I don't know if this is the "culture shock" they were lecturing about, but I know I was super homesick today. I think it's because I had nothing else to do after my tour since I had no class today either. So basically, I was home all afternoon. Today, I just felt very frustrated because I find it hard sometimes to get to know the people. It's especially hard because I feel that we live so far away from everyone. Also, I was frustrated because I felt that my brain was being fried from constant processing of Spanish. It's so mentally draining. I just missed my friends back home, my family, my dog, my boyfriend, and everything about the US. I missed the comfort, the familiarity and everything. I was frustrated with all the walking and the dust constantly flying into my eyes. I found comfort when I saw tourists such as myself walking the streets of downtown Oaxaca. So, I talked to my mom. I have the best mom ever. Anyways, she made me feel a lot better. I think it was just the fact that I could talk to her made me feel better. Luckily though, this feeling has passed. Perhaps it will come back, but hopefully, it won't be as bad as today. I gotta cut myself some slack too because ... well... it's only been like the 4th day of the program. LOL!

I also have a TON of reading I need to catch up on. One thing I am definitely not used to is this much reading. As a bio major, I NEVER read my textbooks. Lol. I'd rather be studying powerpoint notes than read. I hate reading textbooks and writing essays, which is what this program consists of...SO, yeah. NOT doing so well with the reading right now especially since I ALWAYS fall asleep EVERYTIME I try to read my stupid book.

Anyways, tomorrow we will be going to visit the famous MONTE ALBAN which are pyramids built by the Zapotecs! That should make for a great photo post! Then, I have Spanish class. Hope we won't have as many questions! :)

Alrighty! I think that concludes my post for today! I love and miss you all!

Cheers from Oaxaca! <3