Sprained ankle, night sweats, money changers, and language barriers

Almost three weeks in now and I’m adjusting quite well to everything and everyone.

Last weekend, in Gulshan, I managed to sprain my ankle while jaywalking, dodging a kid asking for money, and looking for oncoming traffic. I stepped off the median onto a rock and rolled my ++ weak left ankle (the one I sprain ALL the time). I fell onto all fours in the middle of the street and almost got run over by a car. For real. I was so scared. I don’t know if it was the shock, dehydration, or heat, but I was so dizzy and started seeing spots. I knew if I tried to walk, I’d pass out in the middle of the street. But no better place to hurt myself than with 3 other nurses and a decently sized crowd of hospitable strangers, n’est-ce pas? A few local ppl helped control traffic while I seeked shelter behind the gate of a restaurant. The security guard of that restaurant gave me his bench to sit on J while another person went to get me some ice for my ankle. I felt much better after about 15 minutes. As soon as the dizziness subsided, I started laughing at myself but more importantly, I was SOOOOOO angry with myself! I knew I’d have to miss clinical the next day cuz of my ankle. Luckily, I popped two Advil and then another two before I went to bed and iced my ankle for a long while. I also had it elevated (RICE!) and thank you SJA for teaching me how to help myself. J FA nerd for lyfe.

It gets pretty hot at night in my room cuz the AC is pretty much broken. I wake up drenched in sweat. I’ve not felt my prettiest in my travels. Haha. Oh well. If you can’t take reading about me at my worst you can’t have me at my best. Hahaha!

So the other day, I was so upset because I thought that I told Vincent the wrong dates for my return ( I didn’t) and I thought we missed each other by a few hours. How tragic would that have been, hey? Haha. But for real, I was so upset I started crying in the nursing office – I am so ridiculous, I’m borderline ashamed to type that. Hahaha.

So I left the office early that day cuz I had some errands to run and it totally put an Eeyore cloud over my head. I had to go buy groceries and get money changed. En route to the money changer, I hit prayer time and there were a number of devout individuals praying in front of the money changer. I didn’t want to be rude and step over them, so I stood there, pacing kind of awkwardly, trying to figure out what to do, where to stand, whether I should join in. I noticed inside the jewelry store next to the money changer, the shopkeepers were motioning for me to come inside the store to sit. So I went in, sat with them, chatted, and they were sooo friendly and nice! They gave me a pop to have while I was sitting there but I thought it might be rude to drink it in there, so I just held onto it. I love how welcoming everyone is.

Last time at the money changer, I negotiated my exchange rate with them – they wanted to give me a lower rate for my small bills and I wouldn’t give them my passport till they gave me the same rate for all my money. Haha. Small battle won. This time around, I didn’t have any 100US bills to exchange, so they wanted to give me 68 instead of the original 70 they offered when they thought I had big bills. Another battle won because the guys liked me. Hahaha. Another thing I’ve noticed is that the guys here are very direct. One of them asked for my number and offered me his phone when I said that I didn’t have one. I obviously declined and when they asked why, I said that it was because my mom always taught me to say no when someone offered me a present (it’s true). Haha.

Tomorrow I start my first med-surg clinical day at United Hospital! I’m so excited! After clinical, I come back to school around 1430 and teach my very first class of first aid to the security guards on campus! I’m excited but also so worried! There are a number of things, actually, should I organize them based on the amount of fear or alphabetically? First, the guards barely speak English, and I barely speak Bangla, so I’m not sure if I can explain everything well enough for them to understand. Next, how am I going to demonstrate my assessments if I’m not supposed to touch people of the other gender? I’m thinking if I can’t get a female student to come as a translator, I’ll ask Musa to help me bring down the ‘Alex’ doll (mannequin, same as our Terry dolls at school) for me to demonstrate. Actually, I guess it’s mostly just those two things I’m scared about…but what if they don’t get my charm!? Without that, I’ve got nothing! I guess some can find my awkward laugh and rigid body language endearing at times. Oh well, here’s to hoping. This is what I came here to do, so I’m doing it.

On our walk home yesterday, Rhodina and I were asked by the kids who live near our flat to take their pictures. We spent a good 15-20 minutes taking pictures, I think. When we finally managed to break free, the kids came running after us with shrubbery and flowers or all shapes and sizes. We had mini gardens in both hands and didn’t have the heart to throw it away while the kids were still in plain sight. Hahaha. So cute.

Love you all, thinking of you all,

Cass Ma