Horse stickers, cable needles, and time differences

This kid has single-handedly nearly exhausted my supply of horse stickers. I think his sister is here as a patient and he is just a boarder. He sure seems healthy.

Aah... here's the coy, knowing look he gives me while leaning against buildings or briefly stopping whatever game he's playing. I'm a total sucker. I'll have to bring in the "playful pandas" book on Monday since I only have one horse left. There are lots of horses in Lesotho but will he ever have seen a picture of a panda before?
I don't know if this is his grandma and brother or just some folks he's made friends with since he's been here (the whole time I have). They were all reduced to giggles looking at pics of themselves on my camera.

Alright, the race is on. One of my best friends from high school is looking REALLY and GORGEOUSLY pregnant in her update pictures and my knitting is totally stalled because I don't know how to twist my cable! I can't skype with my mother for another four hours or so because she's asleep (the nerve) so I'm downloading a video from www.knittinghelp.com which looks very promising. The woman has a calm voice and has already said things like "the basic idea" and "so, all it is..." so I think she'll be able to help me. Most of my goal for today invovles sitting in the sun with hydrating liquids, music, and soft yarn.

I've hit a point in this trip where I just want to stay. Not all the time. Sometimes I want to hop in the car with my kayak on top and bikes on the back and tent in the passenger seat and drive across the U.S. to start my Seattle life. Sometimes I want to be floating in a swimming hole in Ithaca or mountain biking in Shindagin Hollow or having a beer at the Chapter House with old friends. But a lot of the time I just want to stay here for a year or so.

I worried before I came that I wouldn't be helpful, that I would order too many lab tests and waste resources, need to ask so many questions about patient care that I would be a time drain on the hospital, and that I would generally be a hindrance not a help to the health care of Lesotho. Maybe it's self-deception but I feel genuinely and increasingly useful now. And that makes me feel SURE that I'll do international health as part of my career forever. I love this. I love being away from home. I love that people laugh at me kindly and respectfully when I try to speak their language. I love the heart-strengthening practice of giving and receiving little pieces of love with gentle touch at the bedside, shared and amused joy at a patient's excellent urine production, and mute but smiley sticker distribution. And I feel so gratified to be learning so much practical medicine here: medicine I wouldn't have the chance to learn in the States but which will be useful when I get back as well. I know that when I start residency in late June I'll feel incompetent again (heh heh) but for now I feel helpful and part of a much bigger definition of medicine than what I left in Boston. Now when am I gonna get that Masters in Public Health...?

OK, I think my cable video is ready.