September 1, 2009

Hey everyone!
Yesterday we went to a hospital to go and do some service and it was way fun! It was about 11 a.m. and during the day there is nothing to really do. Everyone is at work! So we decided to head over to the nearest hospital and do volunteer work. We got there and it was more like the employees were serving us then us serving them. They took us on a tour of the hospital and they showed us everything! We even got to go into room that I don't think normal people are allowed to go in. I learned something interesting when we went into the birth room, yeah...they took us there too, I felt weird...But apparently its bad luck to call a baby cute. If you think a baby is cute you have to say it’s ugly! We have a Thai missionary in our district and when we went to the birth room she stopped to look at some of the babies and she told the mother that her baby was so ugly! I thought whoa whoa! Well yeah it’s not the best looking kid but you don't have to let the mother know! Later I asked her why she said such harsh things! and she started laughing...She said if you say a baby is cute then it will curse them in the future and when they are older, they won’t be good looking. So you have to say they are ugly and by saying that, it's a compliment to the mother. I thought how bizarre that is! That doesn't make sense at all...But hey, its Thai culture. So continuing the tour of the hospital, they took us to the Surgery Room and showed us how things worked. Then they said that at 1 o'clock, there was going to be a surgery taking place and they asked if we wanted to watch it! I thought...can we do that?! Everyone was like yeah! Let’s do it! But I was a little unsure...I don't like watching surgeries...I remember when I was little; Mike and I would always find them on TV and watch them. I don't know why we did this because we both hated it and it grossed us out! Now I was put with the same situation where I was offered to watch again. I kept saying no but everyone else kept saying yes! I didn't want to look like a weenie so I had to give in and say ok. They got us all dressed up in these nurses’ closes and sent us in. The whole time I was thinking how stupid this was that we were watching! Why would anyone want to watch a surgery! Its torture to your eyes! What had happened was this kid ran into a tree somehow and broke his arm and they had to get in there and put it back into place. The X-ray looked pretty cool, the surgery didn’t though...I was holding my mouth the entire time thinking why am I watching! Turn away! But I couldn't...I was intrigued. They were shoving clamps, scissors and all sorts of tools in there. At one point they even took a power drill to his arm! I'm not sure what that was for. But I was cringing the entire time. I didn't like it! In the end I was pretty proud of myself for being able to watch the whole thing. I wouldn't choose to watch it again though. This experience helped me to realize that I could never be a Surgeon. I wouldn't be able to handle it.
Once the surgery was over, it was time to go home and we ended up not getting to do too much. We sent like 3 people up the Delivery Room and that was about it. It was fun though! Good experience.
Well I got to go now, I love you all!

Steve