Lazy Thursday

Today feels like it has been a fairly lazy Thursday. But when one wakes up at 6am, 2pm feels late I suppose. After Mass this morning (at which I gave Father Rick the most awkward hug possible), we took a tour of the cholera clinic that NPH has organized to deal with the outbreak. When I had been told of the treatment center, I had pictured unorganized, foul tents that were just completely questionable. To my suprise, the center is really clean and the staff for the most part is very knowledgable and entertaining. We met Dr. Conan, a ginger Dr. Cox from Scrubs, and finished our quick tour.

The afternoon brought us an amazing lunch and fresh squeezed mango juice. Thus far, while I only really eat one meal a day, the food has been fantastic enough to hold me over for 24 hours. We are planning on taking a bus up to the NPH orphanage 2 hours away this evening but have yet to leave. Which, as I wrote this I just saw someone walk into our kitchen/dining area and walk out with two butcher knives, then the lady in charge of us (Gina) goes "Our bus up to the orphanage ia going to be delayed 15 minutes. We have to kill the goat."

So another volunteer, Fiona, and I ran outside to see the (slow) end to the little guy. But I'm betting he'll be fairly tasty tonight! That's all for now! Running to catch my bus and we'll be back down to town this Sunday. To the little orphanes I go!

Malaria Will be the End of Me

Arriving to the sunset in Miami, we took off a few hours later to arrive in Port-au-Prince, after a long battle with my malaria pills for the last three days. Always fun - taking pills to prevent you from being sick that make you sick. I don't get it. That is beside the point because we are here now. While I have yet to fully taste, see, and appreciate what this country has to offer, I am struck by just the extremes it has to offer. On one hand, I can promise I'll never seem more intense poverty the rest of my life. However, the beauty of the sunset and the ocean surroundings are just magnificent, pictures can't do them justice. The ride from the airport was intense. Like Paris, it boggles my mind that drivers in other countries can have so little regard for laws, pedestrians, or just general safety. I do marvel at their driving skills, which are far superior to any American's.

Rachel and I spent most of the day exploring the campus of NPH, playing with the abandoned children at the hospital. While I did get peed on, these kids are totally adorable and I kinda wanted to steal Jonackson Jean. I was in awe of my hands. And my Beanie Baby I brought him.

I was so jetlagged that I napped the rest of the day. I did mannage to wake up at 5, see a lizard run across the floor of the facility we're staying at, to which I just assumed I was hallucinating again from the malaria. I think the little guy was real though. I managed to get up in time to share a sunset and homemade Bailey's (made by a volunteering nun) with some of the other staff. I now look forward to a sweaty night, battling mosquitos and little lizards.

Sparknoted Version of "Cholera"

Until about a month ago, the only cholera that had been in my life was Love in the Time of Cholera, a boring Javier Bardem movie. Now, after planning this trek down to Haiti, cholera dominates my conversations that I have with people when explaining what my time in Port-au-Prince entails. Due to the many questions that people have had over what exactly I'll be dealing with, I figured I'd give a very brief and quick overview of cholera.

Cholera is a bacterial infection that attacks the small intestine and causes extreme vomiting and diarrhea. These symptoms can cause rapid dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. The important thing to note about cholera is that it is transmitted through contaminated water and food and not through being sneezed on by someone who is sick. The ways to prevent getting sick is sewage treatment, cleaning up sources of water, purifying water, and sterilization aka wash your hands often with tons of Germ-X.

Due to the aggressive nature of cholera, the best treatment is hydration, electrolytes and antibiotics. This can be done with oral rehydration therapy (a stronger medical version of Gatorade) and if this proves ineffective, intravenous fluids (IV).

Many of the patients that we will be assisting at the treatment center will have IV drips and some will even have a newer, more invasive form of IV that is drilled directly into the bone and administered straight into the bone marrow. It's intense but effective.

There is your lesson of the day. No need to worry too much about me or the fellow volunteers in the treatment center getting cholera. The center is well equipped and has surprising good numbers when it comes to survival rate of the patients they take in.

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A quick sidenote: I wanted to pass along an article that I was in. I'm a celebrity for all of one brief sentence.

Time For Me to Fly

With Christmas arriving in a few days and less than a week left before I leave for Haiti, my house is a strange mix of typhoid pills and frosted cookies. And while the trip is approaching fast, it really feels like I've got at least another month or so left for all the packing and preparing I still have left to do.

There is, however, finally some clear indication of what we will be doing during our 17 days in Port-au-Prince. Our time will be spent working with an organization called Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH). NPH has what they call their 'compound' that includes their hospital, therapy center, special needs school, an orphanage, and the cholera treatment center. Originally, the plan was to spend much of our time with the children of the orphanage. However, after the outbreak of cholera (longer post on this to come), we decided that we will be more useful if we assist with the care for the patients at NPH's cholera treatment center.

This means that many days will consist of waking up early, putting on some scrubs, and heading off to the cholera treatment center for the day to clean up after the real doctors, and assisting in anyway possible. On other days, we will also have some time to spend with the orphans at NPH, which should be rather awesome.

Upon arrival in Port-au-Prince Airport, NPH will have a representative picking us up and taking us straight to the 'compound.' Due to the current political environment, we will not be leaving the NPH campus unless accompanied by an experienced member of their staff. This is probably for the best, as the recent weeks have produced protests and riots over the highly controversial presidential elections. There may be some sketchy moments near where we are staying, but I don't anticipate being in the middle of a tear gas battle with UN officials unless I turn very radical in my views in the next three weeks.

The closer I get to leaving, the more the excitement grows. Until then, I will enjoy myself some eggnog and Christmas cookies to wash down the newly started regiment of malaria pills.

Merry Christmas to All!

Holiday From Real: The Beginning

So it's finally done. I finally got this blog together. Took me a while. Mostly because I was busy learning Spanish, studying for the GRE, and reading books/articles for my trips. But yes, "Holiday From Real" is up and running.

So what to expect? I will be traveling a lot in the upcoming months (see the tabs above on Haiti and Guatemala) and my plan is to give updates of my journey, opinions on what I have learned and seen, link to a few worthwhile articles, and post tons and tons of pictures from my adventures. I hope that anyone who visits this site will leave entertained by my stories and have their open eyes with my photographs.

I'm exactly 25 days away from the first of 'The Big Two' trips. I'm not as prepared as I'd like to be, still needing to improve my Spanish and work out some other details for Guatemala. The holiday season will take up a lot of time that I should be spending on studying but I know things will work out and when it comes down to it, I will be ready for both Haiti and Guate.

Posting will be sporatic over the next few weeks as there will be little for me to report (unless you want to read about my last minute Christmas shopping that will be bound to occur) but I plan on posting a few things here and there about the build up to my departures.

I appreciate everyone who reads my posts, follows my blog, or supports what I am doing. If you keep visiting, I will keep posting!