Last Days in Oaxaca...

8/1/23

After our experience at Medica Rojas, our rotation got changed to a new clinic called El Rosario. Unfortunately, that means I won't get to see more surgeries, but a clinic is still a cool place to observe. This was the first rotation where everyone in our group was completely split up, so I was by myself with one doctor, which honestly made it a lot more personal. However, I think the doctor I was assigned to has lost his hearing a bit because I had to repeat and talk really loud for him to understand me, but that didn't stop him from explaining all of the things that he was doing. I saw mostly early teens today. I think they are getting ready to go back to school, which requires them to get a checkup. One thing that surprised me was the prevalence of obesity in these kids. When I think of obesity, and perhaps this is because it's almost an endemic of the South, I think of someone really large, and rarely do I imagine kids or teens. But today, I saw kids that looked maybe slightly overweight be labeled as obese by the doctor and be referred to a nutritionist.

8/2/23

Back at El Rosario and floated around between the doctor I had yesterday and a new one. The new one was roasting me because I didn't want juice and I wouldn't accept her yogurt, and looking back maybe I should've just accepted it? I think I forgot I was in a different culture for a second. I hope I didn't come off as rude, but she was so nice to me and I kept asking her questions so I don't think I did.... but you never know. She sees mostly pregnant women, which we saw a little bit of at CESSA, but they spend at least quadruple the time here. I think that might be because CESSA is more urgent care and El Rosario is more check-up and planning.

Anyways, we've also got a prompt for today's entry! The question was, what is an example of a cultural difference that we've seen here in Oaxaca, and how can we reflect on it? I would definitely say the hierarchy we see in the clinical setting, or lack thereof. I've shadowed doctors here and there in the US, but never have I had one directly ask if I had Instagram or if I wanted to go Salsa dancing after knowing them for 20 minutes. At first, I interpreted this interaction as being very odd just because in the US people only ask for Instagrams that fast when there's more of a love interest, but upon evaluation, I think there's some collectivist and egalitarian culture that we can see here. Going out and dancing is a form of bonding for them as a team, with no importance on status. And even as observers from a foreign country, we are included in this collectivist and egalitarian ideal.

8/3/23

Today was so busy, but in the best way, of course. We started off with our rotation at El Rosario, where I shadowed the same doctor again but I was of use today! There was a 50 year old diabetic man that came in with a 2nd degree burn, so the doctor had me help pour iodine and water on the wound and open up sterile packages that he couldn't open with gloves on. While this happening, the patient was so excited to hear that I'm Vietnamese and from South Carolina because he said he has many Vietnamese friends and he's worked in South Carolina before. Small world! In the afternoon, we finished our group project on alternative medicine, went to our last Spanish class for 2 hours where we reviewed subjunctive and played "Basta", had a 1 hour class on salsa dancing, ate a really good seafood dinner at El Humor, and then met up again to have our last night of fun before we leave. I think we're all catching some sort of cold, but it's not stopping us from enjoying every last minute we have left!

8/4/23

Our last rotation and our last full day here in Oaxaca! This morning, we all felt like zombies because we got back to our homestays really late. But we still made it to our rotation at El Rosario, where they were doing a health fair for the community, educating them about Dengue fever, diabetes, and oral health. We spent our time just chatting with the staff, which was a great way to end our rotations here. We then got a ride back to Conzatti Park where we walked over to a cafe to get some hot drinks. All of our throats are sore, so that was much needed. We then walked back to the language school, where we did our final presentations (ours was on Chakra and alternative medicine in Oaxaca), received our diplomas from the school, had a snack, and said our goodbyes to our program coordinators. CFHI, our program organization, been so welcoming to us during our time here, and I would absolutely recommend them to anyone interested in studying abroad. We then walked back home to have our last "la comida", I packed my stuff, went back out to buy some last minute souvenirs, and here we are in bed, waiting for the rest of the group to be ready so we can head out for our last dinner here. It's getting real!

Closing

Stay tuned for 1 final reflection in the coming days...