Tigre - the city of islands

This past saturday me and my two non-American friends (of which i realized i have made NO American friends for some reason...) took the subway, a train, and then another tourist train to get to a town north of Buenos Aires (1 1/2 hour trip) - Tigre. People from here say that Tigre is the Venice of Argentina.... and since I was lucky enough to visit Venice last September with my sweet sister, I can say that Tigre is actually not anything like Venice except the existance of water taxis. The two have no resembulance what so ever actually. It was however very fun and so wonderful to get away from the noise and crowds of the city for the day. We stumbled around the terminal until we decided to take a water taxi to the island of 3 bocas ( 3 mouths) where we would eat lunch. The water ride was so great and it actually lasted for a relaxing 30 mintues. Every house on the river had it´s own dock with a clever name - if i ever have my own dock this is something i will need to think really hard about... its got to be a good one. My truck back home for example is named ¨Big Red¨and i sweet talk it everytime we go up into the mountains while its trying to climb that first big hill. Works everytime.... so far. We get to 3 bocas and we take this cute rural little trail through a tropical looking forest until we get to our restaurant. We decided to go all out and get ice cold beer, grilled veggies, and a wonderful asado (grilled meat). It was so nice to sit in the shade, eat wonderful food and watch boats pass by. I have to mention what is one of the most exciting things I have ever seen... an ice cream boat! Yea! it just cruises the waters and makes deliveries or stops when you flag it down! Sweet. (Did I mention also that the majority of the ice cream parlors in Buenos Aires have delivery.... but i don´t use it... i just walk there, it makes me feel better about what I am about to do) :) After lunch we decided to explore the island a bit - but not before the 65 year old waiter (male) told my Finnish friend (also male) that he was beautiful and gave him his number. Awkward situation but really really funny. After we got back to the main land we caught the train back home and then all made dinner together. Good day :)
This past week went very well at the hospital. I thought I should mention that this hospital, which holds about500 beds, is considered to be one of the best hospitals in BA. There is just about everything you could possible think of relating to medicine here. Although I am now acustomed to the procedures done in the critical care unit I am still shocked when I hear that we can´t bathe the patient right now because there are no clean sheets left or when i see nurses or docs using the type of gloves that are used to serve food - the thin plastic ones, when the good latex type are available. The thing that I just can´t get over is how bad the bed sores are here on the people who have been there for awhile. The skin is black it is so dead and it is constantly oozing puss and blood. I can´t even imagine how bad it hurts. Although the nurses do clean the sores and put fresh gauze on them I can´t understand why they don´t keep the person off of their back as much as possible. I have often hinted at a nurse that my friend patient Ricardo looks uncomfortable and if we could change his position. It´s a loose loose situation because even if he gets well enough to leave the hospital there is no way that his weak body is going to be able to heal his horrible sore on his coccyx. His wife still gives me a kiss on the check and strokes my hand everyday so I will keep trying at least :)
Some of the things I have seen here are pretty cool. Sometimes I feel like I am watching my favorite show, Discovery Health Channel. There is a guy there now that had a brain tumor removed and now there is a huge indentation in his skull and the amount of black stitches he has is actually kind of scary. Another has pancreatic cancer and his skin is as yellow as a banana. I really wish that I had more of a background in medicine before I came down here so I had more of an idea of what was going on. For example when they kept jabbing this gaint needle into this guys spine to try and extract spinal fluid so they could check for an infection - i feel like i have a good grasp on anatomy so I don´t understand why there were so many failed attempts. This was all taking place without pain medication too. I was scwirming more than the poor guy. I was very surprised when i was asked if I wanted to help prepare the IV bags - because touching medicine without the proper liscense is what i feel one of the biggest no no´s in the US. I said yes of course, and then pretty soon i was breaking the tops off these little glass tubes and injecting the medicine into the IV solution. It was actually pretty fun :) however I´m going to take the advice of my wise boyfriend and not mention that on my resume when applying for jobs. (Of which I applyed for a job at Poudre Valley Hospital last night! cross your fingers!)
I really like having somewhat of a routine down here. Its nice when the security guard at the hospital recognizes me and says ¨see you tomorrow¨or when I get the same bus driver in the morning and he already knows where I am going so I don´t have to tell him. And if you are wondering, No, the ice cream scooper does not recognizes me.... (it might be because i go to various ones to try them all :)
I´ve actually been running a lot around this park a block away from my building in the afternoons. The park has giant beautiful fountains, little kids feeding the birds, people playing soccer, hot dog venders, dog walkers, and even a merry-go-round. It actually quite entertaining. However, now after taking a microbiology class and am slightly parnoid about catching one of the hundreds of diseases that pigions carry as they scatter away from me when i run by. And also with all the dogs around that are scratching themselves like crazy I always run the extra steps away from them so the flees won´t get me. E! (but flee free as of now! Whoop!)
Everything else... I am still missing the bus by seconds EVERY day no matter what time i leave at, I am getting pretty smooth and graceful and tango dancing, I eat a ton of fruit, I´m still getting lost in the city at times, I bought the first pair of shoes that i will be taken home with me (1 of 2 I think), we finally got light back in our room as it was broken for a whole week, and I am still liking how you can buy flavored milk in little juice boxes (milk boxes i guess). It´s the little things that count sometimes :) Hope everyone is surving the snow! (Should I mention that I am planning a weekend trip to the beach.... :)