Week 21 in El Salvador

May 3, 2010

Hey,

Please do not call the nurse again, even if it’s been on your to-do list for a while. I’m actually doing a lot better, and I’ve regained my weight, so I think I’m good. If something serious happens, I will talk to the nurse. She just said to drink more water.

Yes I saw Michael and Hunter at the multi-zone. The are doing good. I also saw my old companion and more depressed than I’ve ever seen him. He wouldn’t tell me much, just that things have changed, and are different with his new companion. I just feel bad, because he helped me out a lot, and now he’s not doing good.

Mail TK [our bird] to me and I can set him free here with all his friends. A lot of them down here pluck all their feathers out though, but it’s probably because the people cut their wings off completely, and are just left to run on the floor and get eaten by the Cosuco´s or Guasala´s. I don’t know what that translates to. But there are huge rats that eat full-grown chickens. Some people call them mountain cats. Tell TK he is lucky. Tell Jared to love him.

I forgot to tell you that this Wednesday, I was translating for eye doctors from the USA and Europe. The Lion’s Club and One Sight has this huge project going on down here. I was working with this one doctor from California for most of the day. I love translating for people, and it was cool ‘cause I got to look at some crazy cataracts. She kept saying “this is the worst case I have every seen in my life,” and then someone new would come in and be worse. I saw a cataract that filled this guys whole eye. The medical terminology was difficult at first, but I got it down, because they translate pretty close. I’m going back again this Wednesday to Usulutan to translate. I’m excited.

We went through 1500 people that day. I saw a ton of blind people, too. One guy was chopping wood as a teenager, and got a splinter in his eye, and he pulled it out. The nurse asked me if he had taken treatment, and he said he had put honey in his eye to stop the redness and the pain. I freaked out, and told her, and she freaked out. I asked him again, and he was like, ”yeah, it was honey from bees, yah know the kind you eat.” The nurse responded and said that didn’t help him much. There are other crazy stories too. People here are crazy, they just tough everything out.

TTFN, Corey