Weekend Review

Weekends here are nice.  The “work-week” is not terribly busy, but as I may have mentioned there are a lot of other Muzungus around which makes it sometimes difficult to get the full hospital experience I think.  On the weekends though, most people travel out of the area and the hospital is quiet.  The residents here have it pretty rough on the weekend as they cover the entire medicine ward (around 50 patients) while they, an intern, and a medical student also admit patients.

We decided to work this weekend to help offload some work off the resident and also to get some more one-on-one patient experience.  So we went to post-take rounds both days and then after that rounded on patients in the female ward.  The Ugandan resident took care of the men while Anem and I split up the women.  We each saw patients with the help of a medical student who could translate for us (some patients speak English, but very few).  We reviewed the charts, did an exam, and decided what the patient needed that day.  Unfortunately a lot of the things they needed (labs, ultrasound, etc) can’t get done on the weekend – but at least I wrote them in the chart!  It was really kind of weird seeing patients without an attending … a bit of preparation for when I am responsible after graduation in a little less than a year and a half!

After working we headed to the canteen for lunch around 1pm.  A young guy named David took our order, and decided to sit with us during lunch.  He’s a student at the university here, studying information technology.  He goes to school full-time but also works at the canteen to supplement his income.  He was so kind, and gave Anem and I a list of things to do around town, as well as free bananas for dessert.  Ugandans are really so friendly, and it wasn’t too surprising to have a total stranger sit down to lunch with us and have a great conversation.

After lunch we headed home to take a nap (which seems to be a daily occurrence) and then went to the city market with our roommate Allison to get some things to cook this week!  I got brave enough to take a few photos and also bought some beets, beans, and cabbage all for about $2!  The beans are so beautiful I kind of just want to look at them and not eat them.  We’ll see what concoctions I can whip up with our very limited kitchen tools this week.

I must mention that yesterday after work we happened upon a soccer game close to our house.  It was between the first and third years of the Mbarara University. They were decked out in their uniforms and there was a huge crowd there.  The field didn’t have any markings, so it seemed the boundaries were marked by the bodies of the fans.  We walked up right as there was a giant cheer and half of the fans ran out onto the field.  Apparently the first years beat the third years, and this was the end of a tournament of some sorts.  The most interesting part was that the winner of the game won a bull, and the runner up got a goat.  Both animals were out on the field I guess as motivation to the teams of what their dinner would be like afterwards.  The animals, however, did not enjoy being there.  The bull actually got loose at one point and ran around on the field and started chasing people!  Fortunately we were a far enough distance away to not get chased.  But the crowd was unphased.  I guess because they knew it would get roasted soon!  Otherwise the evening was marked (literally) by the fact that I got pooped on by one of those giant storks while standing under a tree watching the game.  It washed off easily.