Little Jobs That Belong to No One

Little Jobs That Belong to No One

Sunday, March 7, 2010
After a leisurely morning of sleeping late, coffee, and quiche for breakfast, Beth and I went to the wards and saw 16 patients. We found quite a few new people on the wards and in the overnight ward (kind of an ER/ staging area for new admits). Tomorrow will be very busy for everyone.

After lunch we returned to the classroom area with cleaning supplies in hand to do one of those little jobs that belongs to no one. The same cabinet that was used last summer to support the white board used in class has been moved to the new classroom in the hospital this year. It was dusty and crusted with what looked like maybe dried soft drinks or coffee or splatters of whatever. It has been that way since last summer. So we scrubbed and cleaned it. We used the wire that we purchased in the market yesterday to hang up 2 anatomy teaching posters that were gathering dust in the closet and certainly not helping the students. We cleaned out the bookshelf and put small supplies in a container. We wiped down the crutches and walker and cane used for teaching. All these little jobs belonged to no one, so we decided to be the someone who did them today. Hopefully the students will feel good about the refreshed look of their classroom. They are always diligent about dusting off the table before they put their books and papers there each day.

We are being relentlessly pursued by people trying to sell us souvenirs, and a couple of people just flat out begging for money. There were about 5 beggars sitting on the ground on the walkway into the hospital this morning. So far, no evidence of the woman with the terrible facial deformity who also begged for money over the many years I have been here. I think that she may be gone.

After two really good nights of sleep I am ready to tackle our last week.

Until later, Judy