Well ladies and gents!
I just finished my third week! It’s been an incredible week jammed with farm
visits, festas, confusion, delicious food, embarrassing moments, learning and exhaustion!
My week started Monday afternoon, when we returned from
Caxias, with a sheep lecture. The school
hosted a four-day course on sheep in vitro fertilization/reproduction type stuff
for a good price, 50 reis. At first I
really, really didn’t want to go. I knew
that it would be in Portuguese and I wouldn’t be able to grasp what they were
telling me. I figured it would be like a
lecture I had the previous week where I concentrated really hard trying to at
least identify a few words she was saying, and when I finally thought my brain
was going to explode, I just stared at the wall and tried to recover. I am not an auditory learner at all. Like at all.
(Which makes it very hard to learn new Portuguese by the way!) I can’t even pay attention to classes at home, and here I find myself with the same problem
except that the material doesn’t just SEEM
like it’s a foreign language, it actually is!!!
How I feel in class
Any who, so my point here is that I really wasn’t looking
forward to the sheep course. I went
because they wanted us to try and it ended up going a lot smoother than I
expected because the two professors taught in Canada and so their power point
slides were in English! It was neat to read about synchronization
programs and super ovulation even if I couldn’t actually follow the
professor! The courses lasted from two
to five pm and we planned to go Monday – Wednesday. We didn’t make it to Wednesday (more on that
later) but the Monday and Tuesday lectures were interesting. It’s frustrating at times because if I knew
the language I could learn so much more veterinary medicine. For example, Friday I got to sit in on a
small animal practical class with Vivian and Mariani. It was an AWESOME class where the professor
presented a group of students with a case, then brought the animal in, ran some
tests, and then talked the class through results, diagnosis, possibilities,
etc. etc. I love things like this where
you can actually take the veterinary medicine you have learned in class and
apply it to a case! I defs learned
something from the class but probably only took away about 10-20% of what I
actually could have if I could understand what the professor was saying! ( I do have to give the teacher credit here. He spent time after class talking to us about the case in English. The professors here are amazing and really take time to help us!) I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining
or unhappy! This exchange program is so
much more than learning just veterinary medicine and I am extremely gracious
for the opportunity to be here!! I’m
learning Portuguese, exploring another part of the world, and learning things
about myself!
Speaking of veterinary medicine, I’ve been able to so much
this week! It’s been great! Here are a few bullets since I’m lazy!
-
Deworming cattle and vaccinating against foot
and mouth disease back at Hotel Fazenda
-
Random class trip out to the school beef farm
where we were able to assist in ultra sounding pregnant cows. We got to see the placetomes. (Areas of
attachment between mom and fetus) Woo hoo!
I’m always amazed when I actually understand something on the mysterious
ultrasound screen. We also were able to
watch the class process a group of calves.
They were dewormed or vaccinated, branded, given an ear tag if needed,
and castrated if needed.
-
I was able to watch students wash out an abscess
on the neck of a cow. This happens occasionally
at the injection sites of vaccines, especially if the needle was dirty.
-
Horse endoscopy lab/ultrasound - Watched as a teacher performed/explained the procedures
-
Worked in the embryolab. We make a test kit that creates a fast way
to check to see if the foal got proper antibodies from mom's colostrum.
-
The biggest thing this week was the embryo lab
pony. She was around twenty years old
was the beloved tease mare they have used for years and years. On Wednesday, she was found around noon
colicing. Colic is a general term used
for horses when they are having some time of GI pain. She went down hill very quickly. I was able to assist as a team of vets
inserted a jugular catheter, started fluids, administered meds, and worked to diagnose
the problem. After ultra sounding her,
it was determined that her GI system was all kinds of contorted. The only option was surgery or
euthanasia. The sweet little pony was
put out of her misery and euthanized.
-
The pony was then taken to pathology where a
necropsy was performed to identify the cause of the problem. She ended up being an exciting case because
she had a lipoma! It was the size of an
orange and hanging from the mesentery in her abdomen. Her intestines had wrapped themselves
around the hanging lipoma and strangulated.
Woah! You don’t see that every day. The professor in necropsy was extremely nice
and explained what was happening in English.
During the necropsy, they examine the whole body. This was a great
anatomy review for me and made me want to go study! Insert nerdy snort here… #Nerdstatus
Living in another country where everything is new and
different, it’s impossible not to make a fool out of yourself! For me, I’m a champ. In the words of Fergie, “I do it on the daily.” Really though, it’s pretty impressive just
how much of goof I can be!
My favorite story comes from the second time Ashlee and I
ever took the bus home. Backup... Monday night,
Ashlee and I took the bus home not only for the first time by ourselves, but
for the first time ever. We conquered it
like champs! Boom, we got on the right
bus, convinced ourselves that just because people were staring doesn’t mean we
have something on my face, got off at the right stop, crossed the super scary,
crowded, dangerous highway in the dark, and made it home! How you like them apples! Well, this peacock got on the bus Tuesday not
worried about a thing. The bus was
really crowded so we stood and then made it to the door at our stop. Unfortunate for me there was some guy sitting
on the steps. (uh… A. Illegal. I can’t understand Portuguese and even I
understand that sign. B. Rude C. Weren’t you tired of
people bumping into you?) The guy slowed me down and I guess I didn’t get off
the bus fast enough because the doors closed on me and I found myself
sandwiched in, unable to go back or forward, as the bus started to pull
away. I threw myself forward and tumbled
out into the ground, past the small strip of dirt on the side of the road, and
slumped down into the knee high grass on the downward slopping hill. Yep.
This Gringa (white girl) catapulted out of the bus and fell into the
grass. Luckily for me, the bus driver,
having realized I was stuck in the doors, stopped the bus so that everyone was
able to witness my graceful performance!
:p
.....but really though
I feel like my trip into the center of the city this morning
really sums up my daily ride on the struggle bus….
Ashlee and I wake up
at 7am after going to bed at 2am to get ready for a horse research project. Poring outside. Research canceled. Decide to head to center of the city. Walk to bus stop. Realize we should have
grabbed an umbrella. Starts raining
harder. Really wish we had an
umbrella. Realize we don’t actually know
when the bus comes. Deny some nice old
man trying to lend us his umbrella.
Instead, stand beside nice old man for fifteen more minutes in the rain
getting soaked. A bus comes. Not sure if we should take it. Everyone at bus stop gets on bus. Still not sure if we should take it. It leaves.
Regret not getting on the bus.
Wait in the rain for another fifteen minutes for another bus to
come. Get frantically on to that bus.
Jump off at a stop that heads to the mall.
Decide not to go to mall. Turn
left and hope it heads towards the center of the city. Look a in a few shops for a warm jacket/sweater. Can’t understand employees trying to help
us. Refuse to buy because things are so
expensive. Continue walking. Soaked from the rain. Feel sweet relief when we make it to the
center of the city. Successfully run a
few errands. Deem ourselves adequate. Buy the most delicious donut thing from
street side vender. Enter a state of
heaven. Devour treat. Speculate I’m ready to take on anything. Attempt to enter the bank to use an atm.
Doors locked but see people inside. Look
for another door. Press our faces awkwardly
against the window. Try doors
again. Give up in desperation. Watch man
enter bank through handicap door we had not tried. Bust out laughing. Play it cool. Follow man into bank. Continue to run a few more successful
errands. Decide to catch bus home. Realize we have two different opinions of
where the bus stop is. Convince Ashley
to trust me. Remember we forgot to bring
the list of buses Vivian made for us.
Accept that we aren’t 100% sure which bus to get on. Surrender and call Vivian to ask. Told to stay where we are. Picked up by Vivian and taken home!
Yep. So that’s
that. It isn’t always pretty but it’s an
adventure! I’m heading to a weeklong
artificial insemination course tomorrow.
It is taught in Portuguese and we don’t know anyone who is going. It should be interesting all right! I just hope there is someone there that maybe
knows a little bit of English and is patient enough to deal with our broken
Portuguese! He he! Bring it on!
