My first week

WOW is the phrase that comes to mind when I think of this first week. The amount of places we have seen is somewhat overwhelming but it just puts into perspective that this world is so much bigger than any one person can conquer.

Day 1, Monday, May 19th: Getting to our Hostal Amador was a shock. Walking in to the humidity of no air conditioning made me realize what I had gotten myself into. Then, the bedrooms were assigned and thank God there was air conditioning! This first night we just settled in and got a good night sleep because tomorrow we were starting off bright and early.
Day 2, Tuesday, May 20th: Today was Panama Canal day. We visited the visitors center at the Miraflores Locks which was very interesting. We got to watch the process of one huge ship go through and it wasn't a quick process whatsoever. It was a good experience to actually see the canal rise and fall and see the locks open and close. We didn't get just and ordinary visit though. We actually got to go on the locks as they were closed and take pictures. I felt special because usually only workers are allowed to be at the level of the locks! Then we went to "old town" which was the second city of Panama. That experience was so humbling because there were so many living conditions that you just would never expect people to live in. As we were walking , there was a little boy that came to his door in a diaper, a t shirt, and no shoes. Problem them was there was no door. It was simply an opening. Then I looked up and realized that their roof was roting. It made me think about how blessed I am to have a roof over my head with a door. In that perspective, the air conditioning is simply a luxury.
Day 3, Wednesday, May 21st: This day was a day for us to experience college here in Panama. First stop was the Universidad de Panama. Here, the nursing students start their education directly out of high school and all they take to get in are exams. There is no exit exam which means they have no certification or license. They just start once they graduate and the first to get hired are the male nurses which occupy about 16% of the Nursing student population. The cost of tuition per semester is only $50! We asked about the salary of a nurse and it is only about $600 a month starting out with a CAP of $2000 a month which takes about 30 years to get to. To earn that CAP you have to be a nurse manager. I find that very interesting because there are so many nurse managers in the States that are newly out of college themselves. We also visited the private university which was called Universidad Latina. It only had about 14 students per semester and went a duration of 8 semesters before one could graduate. The amount of credit hours they take per semester is amazing. The amount the first three semesters are about 29 hours and after that the lowest is about 19 hours. The cost of semesters there is $14000!
Day4, Thursday, May 22nd: Today we visited the City of Knowledge which was the old base for the American army when we had control of Panama. This place does so many things for Panama I could talk about it for days. One of the places there was something called UNICEF which has been one of my favorite things we visited. UNICEF main focus is children around the world and the health problems they endure. One of the big problems here in Panama is the amount of children living with AIDS/HIV. Mostly contracted from their mothers while delivering. Prior to recently testing amongst pregnant women was not required but now there is a law for it. It is becoming an endemic here in Panama though because there is just a stigma about AIDS/HIV. Often the health care personnel will not even give the tests and they are not penalized by the government because they do not have a form of regulation like the States do. It is a big problem that hopefully can be resolved. I would love to do work in a field like this and hopefully one day I can contribute to something like UNICEF.
Day 5, Friday, May 23rd: Today we visited the US embassy which I have to honestly say was nothing special. (forgive me teachers) The building and location was quite a site but the lecture we received did not pertain to nurses. The information was informative and was nice to know so I appreciated the experience. We then went and learned about disaster relief through the World Health Organization and I enjoyed that. I noticed that a lot of disasters occurred in 1985 which was the year I was born. I found that interesting because I was born during Hurricane Elaina. That was a busy year for this earth! Next stop was the Smithsonian Institute. I loved it because we got to see many creatures of the wild and plants. The best part was the view of the Pacific Ocean. Absolutely gorgeous. I swear the weather cleared up just in time to take amazing photos. God was looking over us. The tide was low so we got to walk out on rocks and take pictures. There were these pillars sticking up out of the ground that used to have building built on them. Come to find out, they used to be Quarantine houses for yellow fever. People were forced to go there and die and then the bodies were disposed of. Such a beautiful place but yet such unethical things happen there. Yet another humbling experience!

So I can definitely say this was an eventful week that I found to be fulfilled of amazing experiences. I am looking forward to the rest of experiences we will be enduring. This was a very long blog but it is mainly for my parents and grandparents. Without them I would not be here right now.
***Mom, Dad, Nanny, & Paw Paw: again, thank you so much! I will remember this for the rest of my life and am so grateful for the love you provide me. I cannot wait to see you and I love you all very much!