I can't actually believe this, but this was my last full day in Huancayo. In short, I am so not okay with this. Honestly, I could stay here for so much longer. But here's the recap from the last couple of days.
Sunday I had a pretty lazy day with the house all to myself. I went to the Sunday market as per usual and loved perusing the blocks upon blocks of artisan goodies. Afterwards I wandered around the Plaza Constitucíon for a little bit and headed back to 275 Brasilia. Everything else was pretty uneventful on Sunday except for having the best pizza ever homemade by Elena, my home-mom, a great way to end a relaxing weekend.
Monday, Elena smuggled me into EsSalud (the insurance hospital) to do rounds. After sneaking in, I absolutely adored the doctor that we got shadow. He did general internal medicine rounds but had more of a specialty with cardiac, pulmonary and gastric conditions. That afternoon we went to the HIV shelter to help with homework. Little did I know I had to go through "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion word by word so Karen could phonetically spell it. You know, I know that Linguistics 105 was a random class that I took and the lovely Katie McAvoy and David Gorman, and we would laugh about how we would never EVER use any of it, but it was so clutch to do this phonetic translation. Leaving was rough. Gabriel said "Adios, Mami" and I of course melted. Sanjury and Valentino asked if I really had to leave this week, and honestly I started to wonder the same exact thing.
That night, the newbies arrived... and they are pretty awesome. And two of the guys go to University of Michigan so we got to bond over all the wonderful, and not so wonderful things about Ann Arbor and the greater Detroit area. All in all there is Shelza from Vandy who was born in Peru, Abby from Iowa who goes to UVM, Chris and Nathan from the West Coast that go to U of M, and Jessica from New York who goes to Villanova and they're a great group.
Tuesday, Elena and I oriented them at the hospital and it went pretty well. Then they really got an idea of what FIMRC in Huancayo was all about at the Special Needs School. The Special Needs School was business as usual: Kelto trying to fight everyone, little kids using the restroom and then walking around without pants on, the same old same old. Soon it was time to leave, and saying goodbye to Jefery, Angel, Cristian and Jaqueline was tough. I will never, ever forget the place. That afternoon it was pretty calm just coloring with the psych ward patients at EsSalud and then giving the July group a whirlwind tour of Plaza Vea, Peru's version of Walmart.
Today was the day that I was dreading, my last full day in Huancayo. This morning it was back to Daniel Carrión for internal medicine rounds. Together we found a new favorite doctor and resource at the hospital, the resource is a gringo who just graduated from Public Health Graduate School and is starting Medical School in the fall. Needless to say he's a wealth of information. Afterwards we hung out at the house and I started to pack, a FEAT. Friends and family, the gifts I'm bringing back and my blanket (possibly my best deal yet) take up way more room in my duffel bag than anything else, get excited people. BUT IT WAS WEIRD. Packing up my life from the last 5 weeks seems so against the grain. The idea that in about 12 hours I will be boarding a bus to Lima is sitting as well as drinking a liter of the tap water here, in short, NOT WELL.
Then it was off to Rosario to do a lesson on keeping and maintaining friends. All in all it went well. Afterwards is when the fun really began, Abby and I had to translate the musical masterpieces of High School Musical and Justin Bieber, and then we all sang along. Yes, a literal Justin Bieber "sing-a-long" did ensue, Bucknell Intervarsity Christian Fellowship prepared me so well. Then the goodbyes began. Mari Elouise, Heidi, Maité, Monica, Yohan, Jean Pierre, it was a tough one. Some little ones even argued with Elena (our site coordinator) about how she really shouldn't take me to the bus station. Mom, Dad and Al, I swear I will be in Lima... or at least I should be. All in all, the new July FIMRCers are making sure I'm enjoying my last night. Now I only have uno más día in Huancayo, and my only question is, where did my five weeks go?
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