Spring Break 2014

I know...I know...after last year's Spring Break trip, you were expecting me to head to Alaska this year to catch more snow (read up on last year's trip here, or here, or maybe here, or even here...or become very well read and check it out here, and here  and there and finish here. For the shortened version, only read this one.)

But, I decided to keep to the more traditional Spring Break this year and headed south.

As in Dominican Republic kind of south.

And, if you know me at all, you will know that by "traditional" I mean my kind of traditional.

:)

This year for Spring Break, I had the amazing opportunity to travel with a group from Clemson of 12 other nurse practitioner students, 6 senior nursing students, 2 spouses of said NP students, 2 nursing faculty, 1 former Clemson grad student, 1 somewhat random nurse from Maryland (who became a very dear friend!), and 1 family/OB/GYN/ER doctor. We spent a week in the DR and crammed so much into that week, I'm still reeling from the trip a week after we got back!


Destination: San Juan de la Maguana
Total Miles: absolutely no clue
Total Cost: around $2,000

So, I know you are wanting lots of details, etc...but...you'll have to wait for another post for that.

Just a quick run down of what we were doing:
We spent two days traveling, one day at the beach, and four days holding clinics in various locations.

The clinic days were by far my favorite part of the trip!

I'll go into more detail in the next post, but we saw a total of 552 patients, handed out tons of vitamins, prescriptions and reading glasses, got to do joint injections, saw some crazy diagnoses, met some wonderful and giving people, and made some amazing friends.

We had several translators working with us, but (with the help of a couple translators and lots of practice!) I was able to pick up a decent amount of my Spanish (learned that in two years of high school Spanish and a random semester of Spanish in college). I was also able to use my Creole from my Haiti trips with a couple Haitian patients we saw and with Pastor Anol. Pastor Anol traveled with us to the clinics and handed out tracts and spoke with people about Christ. He doesn't speak English, but I discovered on our first day of clinic that he speaks fluent Creole! Loved him and am so thankful I was able to communicate with him and see his heart for the people on this trip.

The scenery was gorgeous and reminded me of Haiti. The overall poverty level was a little better than Haiti, and the majority of the people were a little lighter skinned than the Haitians. It was really odd to see so much of the scenery and familiar buildings and feel as though I were in Haiti, but then to do a double take because everything was in Spanish and not Creole.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and I promise to share more in the next few days! For now, I'm sorting through the unpacking, the reverse culture shock, and the three languages I now have mixed up in my head.