It's almost over

Today was our second to last day at Clinica San Antonio de la Cal. How did is all pass by so quickly? It was really enjoyable today because we made the extra effort to assert ourselves. Lisa and I got to help with more newborns that needed blood tests, who are so surprisingly small every time. I really am fascinated with newborns because they have no sense of what's going on and are purely instinctively reacting to stimuli as their body naturally responds to them. I also finally got to learn how to take blood pressure manually with the arm strap, pump, and stethoscope. The young nurses who are still in nursing school taught us how to properly do it. It took us a while to really get the hang of it because it's difficult to hear the heartbeat in the stethoscope. Having the nurses our age teach us offered good bonding time. It was actually a lot of fun because they could relate, they too were recently in the same position as us. The girls are really nice and are easy to get along with, even if we struggle with speaking each other's languages at times. It makes me so sad to think that we'll be leaving the clinic and our fellow coworkers so soon.

Medical spanish class was useful and fun as always. We've continued practicing different tenses and have expanded our vocabulary, focusing on medical terminology. I think this method of relaxed, stress-free conversational class has helped me improve more than any other classes I've taken. It allows us to learn the language the same way we would if we were children learning how to speak.

I think I have become attached to Oaxaca. I love where I work, I love where I live, I love my classes, I love my classmates, I love the people I've met here, I love the political activism of the people, I love the culture, I love the sights, I really do just love everything here. I certainly want to come back in the winter and spend some more time here. I would have liked to have more free time to relax and meet people, but there will be time for that in the future.