Shellback and New Haiti Experience

I’m a Shellback now!

It is Sunday July 11. Last 36 hours have been a combo of fun and work. Friday not us former Pollywogs had to entertain the Shellbacks with a talent show. The crowd was pretty rough, much worse that Simon Cowell. Our group got booed off before we were able to start our song. Luckily we were one of the first groups so I got to sneak a peek at the other groups. Lets just say there is much medical talent here and they should stick to that. We lost an hour of sleep that night with a time change then were woken up very early for our ‘initiation’. Can’t tell you specifics other than it was a long, grueling morning. Dawn, Vanessa, and I all toughed it out and now are shellbacks. However, afterwards, while most of the ship played and had a cookout on the flight deck, I was on call in sick bay. Many people have URI’s now and they spread quickly in this environment.
We got our assignments for the first two stops of the mission. In Morotai, Dawn get to go on a 5 day overnight. Now usually that means really roughing it but her group will be based on an Australian ship. They will get Australian cooking, etc although some will have to sleep on the deck on cots, but that sounds fun. Each day they will shuttle to their clinic. Vanessa and I are on call in sick bay much of the time and hopefully will be able to go ashore for at least one visit. However, at the next stop in Ternate, Vanessa and I go on a 7 day overnight and we will be roughing it. No showers, toilets, beds, etc for a week. Food comes prepackaged in foil. Saw an example last night and was thinking I am so glad I brought a box of protein bars. The longest mission is Ambon, but no schedule for it yet.

Another former student of mine from Samuel Merritt U., Karen Cory-Mejia just got back from Haiti. I can’t open attachments so I am sending her link where she reports on her mission in Haiti. I haven’t seen it yet but knowing Karen it will definitely be worth checking out.
http://cid-18f68b9f1343f0cd.spaces.live.com/default.aspx