Panama so far!: June 19- 22

June 19^th & 20^th

Well turns out I only went to the men’s medical side on Tuesday and the psych area on Wednesday. We weren't able to do much on Tuesday or Wednesday due to the severe language barrier and the nurses not trusting that we can do certain skills. We were able to do some vitals like temp, blood pressure, and pulse. It was the first time i have actually done a manual BP in a clinic setting. It was really sad to see how many people had to be in one room and just how sick these people are at this hospital. Social Security works differently in Panama. As long as the Panamanian person has a job then that person and their family is covered for medical expenses. If the person doesn't work then they go to this hospital that we went to. This hospital is very poor and the doctors don't usually receive any money from the patients. On the Psych day we were all a little scared because the patients were getting super close to us and don't really have "personal space bubbles." We colored flowers with the patients and hung them on the wall. Then we danced with them to different spanish songs and then we took them outside. We played games with them with the ball and they seemed to really like it. After a day we needed a good meal and so we all got mexican food! Me sarah and steph shared tostadas, tacos, and quesadillas. After that we came home and worked on school work and planned for Nutra Hogar and the school that we were going to on Thursday and Friday.

the kitchen where some patients can make there own food and cook. A group of the psych patients are higher functioning and do their own laundry, clean, make their beds, and even garden.

their rooms...about 6 to a room.

sarah coloring with the psych girls

she wanted to take a picture with us

the garden we made with their pictures

she took me outside because she wanted me to take a picture of her lol

i guess she does the laundry? idk i just went with it

dancing with them

leslie & tanika

playing outside with the ball

they can only watch TV during these hours

the mexican place :)

no cococola light for me and steph so we got lemonade

i took this for ryan so he can see what the sidewalk is like lol

these are everywhere

June 21 & 22

This is the second day we went back to Nutra Hogar. This time we were more prepared and had better activities planned. We focused this day on hand washing and dog safety (because there are so many stray dogs). We let them play on their playground at first. After that we colored pictures with the kids about germs. Then we played a game with them where they traced their hands and cut them out and put them on the pictures of the sink. After that we played the germ game which is like freeze tag. After the game we taught them how to properly wash their hands. Then we colored more with them and put on a puppet shoe about dog safety. Before we knew it we had to leave but we had a really good time with the kids :)

this is Blair playing the germ game with the kids

she was my favorite little girl

leslie and Ben :)

my favorite little guy :)

sarah & steph

cutting out our hands

putting their hands on the sink

he made a little fort.. it was cute

the little ones laying down on the ground

the little one really liked the toy dog

After Nutra Hogar a few of us had to go to the University of Panama to talk to the English majors at the university. They wanted to practice their English so it was good practice for them. I learned a lot about their culture and asked them a lot of questions. They asked me what I liked about Panama and although it is a lot different I was able to tell them a lot. The people are a lot nicer here and a lot more patient and appreciative :) I found out that the Enlgish majors pay only $28 a SEMESTER for all their classes (plus books). A girl in the class said that she wanted to do nursing but her parents couldn't afford it because it was $55 a semester plus extra nursing supplies. It was pretty sad because prior to them telling me this they asked how much I had to pay to come here and they were shocked. It was a great experience talking to the students.

June 22-

Today we went to the the elementary school in a more rural part of Panama. It took us almost 30 minutes to get there. We passed a couple really poor areas and I took pictures of the houses. Im sure anyone can feel thankful for out homes after they look at these pictures. We have so much to be thankful for in America and I realize that more and more everyday that I spend here. My group got to teach the fourth graders. My activity was about Values and I taught them about responsibility, equality, faith, love, honestidad, and respect. They placed there hand in paint and put their hand print on the value that they think is the most important. Then Ashley taught them about sun safety and drinking water. The students were supposed to take the supplies they thought were important for sun safety and put the items on Ashley. After that we played a game where they had to hold up a jug of water and see who could hold it the longest. In the jug there were 8 cups of water in it which is how much they should drink in a day :) After that we taught them about nutrition and portion controls by drawing on paper plates what they normally eat and what they should eat. After that our last activity was more about hand washing. we had two groups of kids and they each got in a line. We gave glitter to the first person and they had to shake the next persons hand. The point is to see how much germs get passed through touch hands because the last person gets a little glitter on their hands even though they are at the end. After that we all washed our hands and took pictures together. The students really enjoyed us being there and we had a good time. Right now we are home and packing because we are off to EL VALLE for the weekend! We are all so exited to have a relaxing weekend away. I will be taking lots of pictures and will blog when I am back. I love you guys ttys!