The cloudy day that was sunny...

So, today was my first day of work.
I woke up at 6am...which is unheard of here..and got ready to go. Once I made it down to the bus stop I waited...waited...no one wanted to pick up the gringa girl..then the bus came and it was full, then another bus came that was full. Now, I have waited outside in the 8 degree celcius, windy weather.., for about 20 minutes. I am late. woohoo, great way to start off a first day. FINALLY a colectivo stopped to pick me up and took me to the plaza where I had to pick up, and wait for, ANOTHER colectivo which took me to the sanatorio. So I am 15 minutes late when I go to the nurses station and ask for my supervisor..oh yeah, he dosen't get in until 8:30. So I wait again.
Finally, he comes in and I jump up and chase after him until he remembers that I exist and leaves me with a kinesiology teacher, Luis. Luis basically took me to the bathing room and told me to stay here and help. Well there are about 4 nurses to each child being bathed and they didn't want my help or company, I was like the awkward white girl in the room. Finally, I was asked to dry some kids hair..which wasn't wet, so I was drying his hair and apparently it wasn't good enough so the other nurse took over. So after wandering back to the room of helplessness (aka the bathing room), I finally gave up on trying to help or doing anything productive. They kept asking me if I understanded Spanish and I said yes. And then they would pretend that I was invisible. So, I had to stay here for about 3 more hours so I thought that I'd find something to do.
In one of the rooms, I recognized the coat of one of the girls as being a kinesiology student so I went and introduced myself and asked if I could observe and she said yes. Natalie was really sweet and asked me lots of questions, complemented me on my spanish, and explained all of the medical problems of the children.

I'm not going to lie, at first I was afraid that I was going to hurt these children. They are rigid, non-responsive, and abandoned by their families. They have no one in this world but the doctors and sisters at the Sanatorio, and even they don't pay them the attention that they deserve. I have no clue what the day holds for me tomorrow. Maybe I'll go work with different children, or help with something. Nobody really cares but the gringa in the hospital but I guess I'm going to make my own place. :)

Even though the day was beautiful and you could see the sea from the windows of the hospital, it was if a cloud was always over my head. So I came home, ate lunch, and slept. I spent the afternoon by myself just to do my journal for my grant, and plan other fun activities for myself during the afternoons so I am not so bored. :)
We'll see what the day holds for me tomorrow!
Chao y besos
Ashley