Paraguay 9/15/06

An email from my brother:

Good Morning,

Early Spring in Paraguay means temperatures around 105 F, I learned that yesterday sometime around 4pm when I was at the hospital in a room the size of an average patient room with 20 other people all trying to screen for surgery or being screened for surgery. As this is only the second mission here for Op Smile, the crowds came early and we finally shut down screening at 9:30 pm. The poor speech pathologist did not finish until sometime around midnight as there is only one pathologist and everyone must be seen. We screened 257 patients and expect another 200 or more today. Fortunatly, cloud cover came in around 7 pm and the temperature dove into the 80´s.

The team members are great as are the in-country assistance from Peace-corp members and students from the American school. I am even getting a little better with my Spanish. It is like learning a language with a private tutor and in an immersion setting where you have to learn it to survive. Only I really don´t. The hard language is the language of the native indian people of Paraguay. Mixed with the Spanish, then the Portugese and then the freed slaves of Brazil and then the Europeans seeking a place to hide after WWII the people are of all size and color but the Indians still survive. The language is difficult to learn and consists of a series of vowel sounds. The word for wind is similar to making a blowing sound. I do not expect to learn much of their language. We have not had any time to check out much of the city except for what we see on the 45 minute drive to and from the hospital. Today we may finish around 6pm and with any luck make a team dinner with all the members who arrive today.

I learned from C (his wife) that N (his son) toured Duke and really liked the law school. He is touring the East coast and checking out all the really expensive and difficult schools he may be able to get into. I love the fact that all new lawyers must buy their parents a condominium upon graduation even if they don´t help with the cost of school. Great profession!

Talk to you soon after I get more time. Off to the morning meeting and then to work.
Enjoy the day!
K