There and back again...

Wow, I think I'm having culture shock again!!

I came home Wednesday, July 20th after traveling for 26 hours!! In my travels- I met a Baptist Filipino taxi driver that is 52yrs old and working to put his 3 kids through college.  Also, I met a 34yr old Korean name Joshua, who is a Presbyterian and who was headed to NJ to take his lawyer's exam. (Did you know that in Korea you are one year old when you're born?)

I haven't written in a while so I'll do a quick recap of my last 2 weeks in the Philippines:
 I continued to stay at the clinic until right before I left. My internship ended July 15th and two new girls came to do their internship.  I had a lot of down time the last week or so because there weren't any births. I helped with prenatals and postpartum, worked on my Tagalog, talked with the midwives, went to the market, did first aid care to the guys, gave a little baby antibiotic shots( he had to have them 3 times a day), read some good midwifery material, and enjoyed some sunny days at the beach and the river! =)

When I got home from my nice long airplane rides it seriously was like having culture shock!  Just being able to drive our own car away from the airport was just weird. I'm use to being squished beside other people all crammed into a Jeepnie. Our house seemed so big!!  I will never complain on the size of a house in the states again!

My first morning back I had cereal with REAL milk!  When I got hungry in the afternoon I had CHEESE on some HOMEMADE bread!  Wow, the things we American's take for granted....

To kind of sum everything up --- I have been gone a month and 20 days. I have seen terrible, hard, life-changing, wonderful, amazing things. I have performed 64 prenatals, 8 postpartums, 7 new born exams, and assisted with 6 births. I learned how to start  an IV (and actually did on a real live person!), suture, apply an anti-shock garment, give shots, feel the position of a baby, use a pregnancy wheel, use Doppler, preform a newborn exam, prenatal, and postpartums and SO much more!!   I have given antibiotic, Hep B, vitamin K, and tetanus shots.

 I saw the huge need for health care workers, but even more for Spiritual care.  I prayed with the ladies I did prenatals on, but the language barrier was hard. (Though several of them new minimal English)

I made several new friends, learned SO much, saw so much, and will remember so much! My life is forever changed.

Signing out from her last blog posting,
 Miriam True

PS.  My plane ride on the way back was Manila-Tokyo, Tokyo-New York, New York-Nashville, Nashville-HOME!! =)

PPS. A word of warning to travelers- It is hard to exchange Filipino pesos in the Tokyo airport and everything in the Tokyo airport is like 4x the cost as it is in the Philippines and about twice as much as in the States. =)