two more days!

we had a great time making cookies with areli. we were forunate to be able to use susie yanez´s kitchen. it´s super nice because she loves to cook and they just built a new kitchen. it´s amazing, there is a 6 burner stovetop and everything =) she also had baking powder, vanilla, and chocolate chips which are about impossible to find here. we even had to go to FOUR different stores before we found one that carried flour, nobody bakes things like that here =) we had to go to three different stores to find one that carried butter too. it´s funny the things that are our staples that are impossible to find anywhere else. we have cookies to the yanez, dr. steinneman, dr. nela (she also owns the hotel we are staying at), and of course, our cooks (las cocineras)!

areli, megan, and i hung out and talked last night. it was a great time to just chat. we listened to different praise songs in english and areli wanted to learn some of them. we also practiced saying each others name and of course, making fun of how are pronounce it. i could just never say her name right and she couldn´t say mine because the r´s are so different you really have to grow up with the language to say it correctly. it was funny!

today we were at the hospital again all day. i never feel like i tell very exciting stories about the hospital but i don´t know that it´s all that interesting to everyone!! we always have great discussions with dr yanez about how medicine is practiced in the united states. the privacy act HIPAA would be appalled at how things are handled in mexico. but it works for them so that´s just fine. patient confidentiality doesn´t really exist. Curious patients have been known to stand in and listen to others, there are 10 people in one hospital room with no dividers or privacy, and after an ultrasound many patients just get up and walk out-bearing their backside to everybody in the hallway on the way to their room. it´s just really funny here. medicine is a lot simpler and there´s not even patient history forms, dr yanez explained . many people can´t read or write anyway so it´s actually more of a hassle but he says it takes up a lot of his time getting a family history on them. and, of course, everyone is in charge of their own medical records, dr´s don´´t keep that info. it´s really been interesting learning more about the logistics of a hospital in a third world country. it´s a lot simpler and sometimes i think that´s a very good thing!

one funny thing that happened is that dr. yanez was talking to a patient about her separation from her husband. he asked me what i think she should do. i said, i don´t know because i don´t know her. he asked me again to give her advice since i am the married one of us girls, and so i said, i would talk to God about it and go to church. this was great because then it was kind of an opening for him to talk to her about her spiritual life. they talked about it at great length and he was telling her about some of the churches in ometepec. maybe she can find strength in the church because she´s having a rough time.

tonight we are going to the church again to hang out with the young adult group. it was a lot of fun last time so i´m looking forward to it. and tonight we get PIZZA! it´s our first time to eat at a restaurant in mexico. we had the same pizza at church the other night so i´m sure it´s fine. and we don´t really care, we are looking forward to some americanish food. hopefully i´ll get to write on wednesday. it will be our last day and the woods are having us over. it should be very nice =)

have a great day!
love in Christ,
kristi