A lot of little things happened today that I feel deserve to be recorded. First, I drank coffee. All of you know I never drink coffee. On the rare occasion where things get really rough (oy, those biochem lab reports), I turn to green tea. However, everyone here drinks coffee so when I woke up this morning feeling like a bag of yuck, I asked my mother for some coffee. It was yummy - probably because I made it Dominican style with 5 spoonfulls of sugar in a tiny little teacup.

Then in our Medical Sociology class, our professor apologized for not wishing us a Happy 4th of July yesterday, and asked us to sing the Star Spangled Banner. We awkwardly all stood up and started singing. It was a surprisingly good rendition of the national anthem, as we hit the high notes and held out the long ones... I even felt a warm burst of pride. U-S-A!

Sadly, I had to skip lunch because my project partner, Kate, and I promised our clinic we would arrive earlier than usual so there wasn't enough time to walk back home. This was mostly because our promotadora de salud (a community volunteer who works in the clinic) basically had nothing for us to do the past 2 days, and when our professor made a surprise visit to our clinic, she had to have a nice loooong chat with the doctor and nurse about how we are actually supposed to be involved at the clinic.   Anyways, I saw some pretty gory stuff. One guy had a second degree burn on his lower arm from a motorcycle accident but refused to let me clean it because he was embarrassed. Psh. The skin had already been removed and it was raw, but there were still some debris embedded in the wound. He's going to regret that. Another woman came in with this huge blister/zit almost 1.5 inches in diameter under her arm that was oozing blood and what looked like pus. My first reaction after "oh my" was "....HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!" Apparently heat + humidity + bacteria + chaffing is not good. It was a sight to see.

For some reason beyond our comprehension, Kate and I received more attention than usual from the male crowds as we walked to and from the clinic. We both looked like hot messes in the heat and humidity, so we're still confused. But a group of guys was playing baseball and fervently tried to get us to join them. They were playing in the middle of the street with a stick and plastic caps from the large water jugs. Maybe this is why Dominicans are so good at baseball? I totally would have played if we hadn't been running late. Next time.

By the time we left the clinic, I was dehydrated even though I'd been constantly drinking water, covered in sweat that made my jeans cling to my legs like saran-wrap, and HUNGRY because all I had for lunch was a granola bar, empenada and some kind of chicken in fried dough. Ok, that sounds like a lot but it wasn't enough for me. Turns out, it was too much grease for my tummy because I had pretty bad cramps by my second mile at the gym and had to walk. Thankfully, there was a spinning class and I felt almost normal by the end. But still HUNGRY. Like, I NEED SOME GLUCOSE hungry.

I got home, took a cold shower, and sat down to a beautiful sight. My host mother saved me part of lunch, so I feasted on roasted chicken, rice pilaf flavored with tomatoes and some other kind of delicious seasoning, sauteed vegetables, and freshly-made jugo de lechoza, piña, y limón (juice made of papaya, pineapple and lemon). She is a goddess. I ate. and ate. and ate. And then when I was uncomfortably full, I ate a banana because my foot had been cramping (not enough potassium!) I was planning to go out with the group, since we get to sleep in tomorrow before heading out to Santo Domingo, but now all I want to do is sit, listen to my new collection of Dominican music, and digest. God, I love food.