And week one is down...
The office is smaller than I thought it would be...they have basically one and a half floors of a building here, so everything is a little cramped. I don't really complain, though, since anything is bigger than my little desk space in the MPH office. Speaking of which, anyone who is still there in Provo needs to go lobby Mike to get the 2nd year office fixed up. They only have 7 or 8 desks...
Anyway, the office staff is great. They have another American intern who's been here for about 2 months already, but he doesn't speak extremely well...that means that the secretaries are all my friends now since they have me help them translate things. I've been able to sit in on some really interesting meetings about H1N1 though, since they're gearing up for things down here. I was proud that i really did learn something in epi and even understood most of the spanish for it. My preceptor is out of the country until the 17th of May, so I'm pretty much working on getting my project translated and proposed to them...
That's where the frustration comes in. Don't get me wrong, I speak Spanish pretty fluently after living in Spain for 2 1/2 years...but I didn't learn the technical vocabulary necessary to communicate the details of a research project that involves a health behavior theory that no one in Ecuador has ever heard of! So I get to explain, be misunderstood, prepare again, explain again, be misunderstood in a different way, etc. The cycle continues. Lauren, make a basic vocab sheet before you go...that's my advice anyway!
What else? The pe0ple are very friendly, I'm about a foot taller than everyone, the sun sets at about 6:30 pm since Quito is surrounded by volcanoes, and they have office parties for holidays... Mother's Day is this Sunday, but they don't just do punch and cookies. They pulled out the wine and the nice finger foods for this one, so i got to go hunt down a glass of water really quick so i'd have something to drink during the toast. thus, everyone already knows that I don't drink...that I never have...not even a beer... I kind of think it's funny- the incredulous face people pull when they hear that.
And that's about it! Good luck to all and it's good to hear from you!
Sounds like quite the adventure Alisha! I'm excited to see some pics.
ReplyDeleteThe technical vocab is so hard - I'm sure you'll nail it soon though. I loved telling people I didn't drink in China. They would always tell me that they didn't drink either - only on special occasions, which seemed to occur quite frequently. :)
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