nuevas cosas

Yay for Guatemala! Ok today has been a very eventful day so far... a lot of firsts...

1. I woke up at 5:45 and then stood in the shower for a good 3 minutes before i had the courage to get under the freeeeezing cold water and wash my hair
2. I lost my phone, somebody found it, and now they won't give it back. Therefore I got a new phone today (thank goodness they are cheap) and my new number is 47093594
3. I found my way to the main office without getting lost even once!
4. I rode a chicken bus. Now... this is where the day got reaaally interesting. A chicken bus, contrary to what one might think, does not give rides to chickens. Rather, it is a way of transporting people around AS IF they were chickens. Basically what you have to do is wait on this "bus road" and wait for your super cool multi-colored chicken ride to come along... there is a man hanging out of the door yelling out their destination - in my case "Guate." So you wave your arms and they stop for about 2 seconds while you get on and they pull away as you are looking (usually in vain) for a seat. Ay yi yi! The roads, as I mentioned before are made out of stone... and so it is VERY bumpy. Looks like I won't have to do any situps on my trip because I get such a good workout on the bus! So, you're squished in there like sardines and then this guy walks around and asks you for your money. My first bus costs 4 quetzales... which is about 50 cents or so. Then we wind up and around the mountains of Guatemala getting thrown all around - it's CRAZY! They don't just stop at your stop either... you have to watch for your place and then you have to walk up to the front (through the masses of bodies and winding turns) and tell them to stop at your place. Whew. It was quite the adventure. Oh yeah, and then I have to get on another bus to go up to the hospital... but that one is not so crowded thank goodness! Oh yeah I almost forgot... they blast latin music along the way to make it more pleasant - it works!
5. I held babies for the first time in 1.5 years!! It was always so sad to me that I couldn't hold babies on my mission... but here I get to hold them all I want! So today I was in the nursery area. I didn't do much (if any) nursing, but I helped take care of the kids, put on their shoes, feed them, play with them, cuddle them, etc etc. They are SO STINKIN CUTE! Jen, I'll try and get one home to you. jk. They are orphans and need a lot of love. They are also generally very misbehaved. Chamacos!! But, I love them. They are going to have me work in all parts of the hospital to see what I like. Even in the pharmacy - good experience! So it was good - I was there until 12 and then I came home and ate lunch...
6. it was pretty tasty although I'm not really sure what it was. Something with beets and lettuce and tostadas. Daniel also bought some exotic fruit and I sampled some of that... I don't know the names but they were delish. Fresh fresh fresh!
7. I blew my nose this afternoon and my boogers were a greyish blackish color. I was very alarmed at first but then realized that the buses let out A LOT of smoke/black/pollution/substances that will give you lung cancer... and nose is doing a great job trying to keep it out of my body.


Well, that's it for now! I have my language class in a few minutes so I better go! Love you all lots!