It has been a while since I have shared any of my travels with anyone besides Jari. So if there is anyone out there who would like to know, I am in Mexico City. USUHS (the medical school I attend) has a long-standing relationship with the Mexican Military medical school (Escuela Medico Militar). Each year they send two students to our school to participate in the Bushmaster course and then we sent down two of our students to work in their hospital. This year, USUHS decided to send just one, me. I am a permanent resident of the Hospital Central Militar located in Western Mexico City. The hospital is not quite as fancy as most US hospitals but it is not bad at all. The people have been really nice. Most of them just stare at me and then after a while work up the nerve to ask me what I am doing here. Have any of you ever been injured and then had everyone and their dog ask you what happened? Did you ever at any point consider creating a handout so that people could just read it so you wouldn´t have to explain it again? That is about where I am at...
This is the third time I have tried to load this picture and it keeps showing up sideways. So just tilt your head to the right 90 degrees for 5 seconds and soak it in... Ok, this is breakfast every morning: Eggs with some sort of ham (sometimes hot dog chunks) and red spicey sauce, steamed vegetables, and pinto beans. Fresh fruit is also available. Yogurt only occasionally shows up. The food is good but repetitious. But then again, most Americans eat the same thing every day, don´t they? Cold cereal.
The amazing thing about their meals is that pinto means is part of every single meal! Spicey sauce is also served with every meal. It is all pretty good.
I know I just talked about breakfast, but that just makes this picture all the more important. One day last week, right after eating a gigantic breakfast, we were on our way to the surgical rooms when the school´s director (a General in the Mexican Military) called and invited us to breakfast. What do you say to a General besides ¨Yes Sir¨? The room was very beautiful and we were able to order what we wanted for breakfast. Ah, the life of a General. He and the other school professors were very nice and we had a great 2nd breakfast. Needless to say, I ordered something very small (and as American as I could get, Hot Cakes with Honey).
After breakfast that day, I went on a quick tour of the school. This picture represents the highlight of the tour for me. I present to you SAN UEO. For those of you familiar with the Catholic faith, you know that they believe in Saints. This one is not really a saint but its formation reflects both the Mexican-Catholic culture and the humor of medical students. UEO, according to Carlos (one of the students who went to USUHS this last summer and follows me everywhere in the hospital) stands for Ünidad de Estudiantes Oprimidos¨ - roughly translated - The Union of Oppressed Students. It was designed by students to represent what a good medical student should be: big ears to listen in class, big eyes to read, a long neck to be able to see over others while in surgery, and a flat nose which represents the student who falls asleep time and time again while studying, hitting his head on the desk, creating a big flat nose. Next to San UEO is a long prayer that talks about asking for help passing each class and year. Every year, when the rest of the country takes their representations of the Virgin Marry out for a parade around town, the students take San UEO out and join the parade for fun. Awesome.
While most of my time is spent in the Hospital, I have been able to get out and see a few things. Mexico City is ginormous and there are way too many cars so going anywhere is fairly painful. Still, I was able to make a quick visit to the National Museum of Anthropology. They have a large collection of artifacts from around Mexico like this one, the Sun Stone. The sad thing is that the museum was not built to show things off or draw visitors, it was actually built to protect the artifacts. The great majority of archeological wealth (for the lack of a better term) has been looted from Mexico over the years and taken to various museums and private collections around the world. So the government started to collect it as fast as they could before it was all gone. If anyone ever makes it to Mexico, this museum is a must. And just so you know, the cost to enter is about $5 US dollars. 
Before my trip, I checked online to find out where the closest church might be. I asked Victor if he would join me and he said, ¨Honestly, I would rather not. Every time I walk inside a church I feel like I am burning.¨ I couldn´t help but laugh out loud (LOL was something I actually explained to Victor. He had seen it a lot, and people use it here in Mexico, but no one really knows what it means...). Well as it turns out, the family Victor rents his room from are members of the church. How is that for a small world!? So I got a ride to church, and Victor avoided the flames. This meeting house is actually really cool because it is a house, not a regular church. The area it was built in is surrounded by rich people who said they did not want anything that looked like a church in their neighborhood so the solution was to buy the house and remodel it. I must say that the meetings that day were amazing. The members of the church here in Mexico City are awesome!
Well, that is about it for now. I will share more photos later. So from the Quirofano de Otorrinolaringolgia, I wish you all a very pleasant morning/afternoon/evening.
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