Emergency Room

So, where did I leave off? Oh yes, that’s right…the CAT. It was a pretty nerve-wrecking point of the night, but I was much happier to find that it was a cat and not a rat. We do have rats, however, but with the cat under my bed, hopefully they will stay away from my room at least. It’s all in the food chain. Since then, I’ve used a few tactics to not hear the meowing that occasionally visits me. First, I have begun to sleep with my fan on again (I had stopped since it wasn’t exactly necessary). But now, the noise of the fan helps to drown out any squeaking or questionable noises that go on in my vicinity. Good thing that it is multi-functional. Listening to the iPod helps as well, but the fan and the iPod only drown out the problem. Sometimes, a good “Tsssk” is necessary. The cat(s) respond well to the “Tsssk” so it leaves them scampering for the window.

On the business side, by now we have visited all of our potential placements within my city (there are 6 others on other islands that we have not seen yet). While I would absolutely love to stay here, I am not quite sure if the right placement for me is here. I am hoping to work with girls who have been abused and/or trafficked, or second choice children who have been orphaned or abandoned, so we will see where I get placed. I have my site interview on Tuesday, so I will then discuss with my regional manager my preferences for where I want to be—everything from preferred clientele to internet access to distance to other volunteers. I trust that I am in good hands!

Today, we participated in our water safety training. Being in a nation with 7,107 islands sort of requires this, as much transportation between islands is by boat. We learned, “Don’t take this boat…don’t take that boat…don’t touch anything in the water…you’ll get stung…save yourself first…rescue a person this way…don’t let people stand on top of you in the water…don’t panic…etc, etc.” The “hands-on” portion of water safety involved a practice drowning/rescue in the water in addition to a “roll-over” boat exercise. I have learned one thing—I hope I never am in a situation where I actually have to try to rescue someone! Yikes. For the second part, we went out on a boat in a group of 8 or so and had to practice getting on top of a rolled-over boat, rolling it back over, and bailing out water. This was all done with the ridiculous life-vests that are issued by Peace Corps, mandatory to take with us on any trip (makes sense, actually). But these life-vests are anything but comfortable by any means! They are the exact ones that are found on airplanes beneath the seat. Picture the movie Tommy Boy. These make it very difficult to actually do anything, because the only part of your body that is above water is your head (again, makes sense….you need your mouth and nose to breathe). Anyways, we were successful. And then…we swam and ate and enjoyed the sun and the pool at the resort. Ahhh, Peace Corps. It’s hard work.

But really, it’s hard work. Cultural adjustment is hard work. Serious. Living with a family again after living on my own or living with my own family is hard work. Changing your eating habits is hard work. Learning a new language is hard work. Not knowing if and when you’ll have toilet paper accessible is hard work. All this hard work is of course supplemented by all the fun and enjoyment and difference that we’re making. It’s just those days that seem like hard work where it is actually hard work, but it’s all worth it.

Today, I witnessed the “emergency room” of the Philippines…also known as the “healer”. This is not an emergency room at all, but rather the man who heals people naturally. My host sister fell off her bike, and I was absolutely sure that her leg was broken (may still be). Her foot was facing a direction that it should not have been facing! I thought, “She needs to go to the hospital, she needs to go to the hospital.” Well, of course that was silly. The healer showed up and fixed everything. Hm. He rubbed a substance that looked like baby oil on the foot and leg and, of course, twisted it back. It was accompanied with horrible sound effects, as you could probably imagine. Watching this, I was about to cry. I just wanted to say, “Wait! She needs an x-ray…it’s broken! It needs a cast…it needs to be reset. Don’t move it!” I was stifled. What do I know? The healer will return tomorrow for follow-up, and I hope she will be okay. But don’t worry, Peace Corps forbids me to see a healer—I will be whisked to the hospital (and by whisked, I mean…of course that’s dependent on so many factors). Ahhh, life.