Urgéncias

So, another week-ish in Costa Rica. There really wasn't too much crazy that happened this week, so I'll give some of the daily highlights.

I've been working in the emergency room in Coopesalud - I figured that if anything will look better on a resumé than a hospital internship, it's a hospital internship in the emergency room. Yesterday, we had a few interesting things - a partial finger amputation, another finger injury, and a drug case. The partial finger amputation was pretty cool because the entire final finger joint was expelled. The drug case wasn't very interesting, a bit funny though. The man who came in had taken something, then fallen in the street, vomiting blood. Not funny so far. When he fell, he triggered a priaprism, which he was trying very hard to conceal. OK, so it's dark humor, but it was funny nonetheless.

So, I'm flapping my arms, breathing fake fire, generally making an ass of myself

Well, Harry Potter came out this week in theatres. That was a bit of a fiasco for me. I tried to get into the movie three times before I succeeded. The first time I approached the ticket counter, they were out of tickets, but suggested that I get in line later. So I did that. I waited in line for two hours, only to find out that the line I was in was the admission line - as in, admission to the theatre for those who already had tickets. There's the first two attempts. Three days later, I came back, with renewed spirits, and tried again. This time, I not only succeeded, but I somehow got two tickets. The gringo in front of me had to catch an early plane, so he gave me his ticket to give away, as he spoke no Spanish. I wasn't able to give it away though; we began filing into the room about two minutes after he left. I'm currently trying to ascertain whether or not I can use the ticket for a different show. We'll see.

Last saturday it was Ana Christina's birthday - she's my tica sister. That was perhaps the most entertaining party I've ever been at. Christina is sorda, or deaf. Consequentially, most of her friends are too. To sum it all up, there was a party of about fifteen people who were absolutely silent. If you've ever been around deaf people, you know that when things are exciting, they yell (verbally). There'd be about fifteen minutes of perfect silence, then a sudden ejaculation of sound. Really, really loud sound. They can't hear how loud they are, so there's no reason to control their volume. Conversations were pretty difficult for me, as I know how to spell my name, the words "doctor", "dream", "turtle", and "peanut butter" in signs. Anything more advanced than that was all out acting. That doesn't sound like a problem, but if you can easily act out "I live in Indiana, Pennsylvania with some friends," I'd like to see it.

Yesterday, I also toured the best medical school in Costa Rica. It's insanely different - no MCATs, a doctorate in 5 years, each semester costs around $5800. They even include a program to prep you for the Bars. How about that?

Last Tuesday I went to a Mimfu class - a martial art that claims to be the source of Ninjitsu, or the Ninja's martial art. That was a blast. I actually still have bruises today, I week later. If you've ever taken any martial arts, think of your sparring. Then make it two hours long with close supervision by an instructor. Then remove all pads, replace the floor with concrete, replace any finesse with sheer power. The instructor doesn't break boards, he breaks baseball bats with his feet. Well, shins, actually. Now, only block blows that would hit your head. Anything else is taken by the body. After a bit, introduce some wooden weapons. Like I said, I still have bruises.

Hey, funny story. So, I was trying to communicate the concept of a dragon to Ana, my tica mama. We were talking about the Harry Potter books after I came back from the film, and I wanted to describe one of my favorite parts. So, I'm flapping my arms, breathing fake fire, generally making an ass of myself - and she says, "Oh! Dragon! ¿Como se llama en Ingés?" Wow. Lesson learned. Try english with a spanish accent before trying anything else.

I'll be able to do better than write to you next week - I'll see you!