Get your GIANT HAIRPUFF outta my face!!

Today was my second day shadowing in the government hospital, and it was definitely more jarring than the first.    I was in the internal medicine ward, following another group of med students during rounds.  I have a few b!tchy and not-so-b!tchy things to say.

1)The hospital is SMALL.  There is HARDLY any space; beds are CRAMMED next to each-other, and there is definitely not enough space for about fifteen med students.
Anyway, I stand about five inches away from the patient's bed so that I can keep a safe amount of space between myself and the patient, while still maintaining the ability to hear the doctor speak.  I do not leave that extra wiggle room for you pushy med student b!tches to wedge your way in front of me.  Ugh.  Seriously, this med student with the BIGGEST HAIR I've ever seen just shoves her way in front of me.  I am literally coughing and gagging on her hair, and she just stands there.  F*ck that.

2)Ironically, I can understand the doctor's Sinhalese better than her English.  HAHAHAH.  I feel sorry for those poor guys from the U.K. who were there on elective (and also pretty nice.  Hey, get at me, I didn't give you my contact information for no reason!  Haha.  Let's go to the beach!).  At least I'm not totally cut off in this country.

3)Speaking of understanding Sinhalese ... all you people should know that I understand Sinhalese.  This means that when you talk to someone else while both of you are staring at me, I am fully aware of the fact that you are gossiping about me.  What you need to know is that I can ALSO understand what you're saying!  (And you know what, you're just jealous that I'm skinny and "fair-skinned", so go shove it.)

4)It really does not matter what I wear AT ALL--I will ALWAYS get gawked at.  I wore what I thought was a respectable outfit for a hospital setting (consisting of a loose yellow shirt and a tight gray sweater skirt), but I guess it wasn't respectful enough because my bra strap may have been visible and my knees were definitely visible.  So I got stared at ... again ... just like I always get stares everywhere I go here.  Ughhh.  I am so tired of that.  I mean, yesterday, I was wearing a strappy dress that cut below my knees, and I STILL got stared at.  Maybe it's because I wear glasses?  Or because I'm skiny?  Or "fair"?  IDK, but whatever it is, I f*cking hate it.  I cannot WAIT to be back in the States where the only kinds of looks I ever got were good ones ...

... Except when I dressed like this, and then people almost laughed at me.  (True story.  In my defense, it was a costume party and clearly I'm Princess Peach!!)

5)This one's the most depressing.  There was a suicide patient in there who had ingested a small amount of concentrated weed-killer, and he was on his way to multi-system organ failure.  There are very few machines around in the hospital and it is not very technologically advanced.  I felt sorry because this patient was pretty much on his way out, vomiting profusely and wasting away.  It turns out that he attempted suicide because his beloved was having an affair with someone else ... I guess it gave me perspective, because at one point I felt SO terrible about similar things that I did want to just end it.  However, I don't think that anyone should have to resort to that.  It's hard, but it's worth it to suffer through and maintain hope.  Good things happen to good people.

See you all in a while.