Hot showers are heaven

BIG NEWS in the life of CBK!  I had my first warm shower in 10 days today.  It was pretty amazing.

On another, but still bathroom-related note, I realize I failed to mention one very fun fact about Costa Rica - the plumbing system is not equipped to handle toilet paper.  Thus, you can't flush it and all toilet paper must be put into a trash can in the bathroom.  This is a huge departure for me, and you'd be amazed at how automatic it is to just throw toilet paper in the toilet when you're done with it.  I've made the mistake many times, and the remedy is not fun, but I would rather not damage the plumbing at my homestay and have to pay God knows how much to fix it.  (I was told that if I was determined to be the cause of a blockage or problem, I would be responsible for any costs associated with fixing it)  Woo!!!

Today at work was an interesting day.  Pretty slow, but still interesting.  I went to work in Santo Domingo at the central clinic there and was in Emergencies all day.  Nothing of great interest came through today, and the people who did show up in the Emergency Dept. didn't seem to me to be experiencing any health emergency at all.  For some of them, the head doctor pretty much said that they needed to go to a normal doctor's office (here called an EBAIS).  The only real emergency that came through was a boy of about 7 years old who had fallen while running (as so many little kids do) and split his lip open.  He needed a couple stitches, but it wasn't anything too major.  Unfortunately, he screamed as if he were in Hell and kicked and flailed in every direction.  I'm sure the entire clinic heard him crying and screaming.  It then took 3 full grown men to hold the boy down while they gave him stitches.  I was just glad that I wasn't the one trying to stick a needle into the face of a boy who was doing everything he could to escape my grasp.

Another thing I've picked up on thus far is the huge difference between patient confidentiality here and in the U.S.  Here, patients are constantly asked to call in the next patient when leaving the room, doctors talk about patients in front of other patients, etc.

But right now, I am absolutely falling asleep because of all the working out I did with my long afternoon, so tomorrow I'll explain a bit about the health system here and the differences between it and healthcare in the US.

Love you all!