June 3, 2009...

This has been and still is a busy week up here for me! Monday we had training for the summer lunch program we will be helping with during our weeks up here which was pretty hectic. We got all of the food unloaded, labeled, and stored. We washed pots, pans, and utensils and blocked off areas of the rec center where the kids should not go. All of this, and I have come to the (not too surprising) realization that I do NOT want to go into food service. However, I know this will be a great opportunity, and I will just have to grin and bear it for a while.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I began shadowing in the Step by Step program, but I only sat in on one patient yesterday before I had to help set up for registration. Summercise registration began yesterday with a bang! I have at LEAST three Sarah's in the 5 and 6 year old class, two of whom have the exact same pair of rubber boots. I am so glad I will be working with the younger kids...I relate to them much better than the older ones. I'm not exactly sure what that says about me. ;-]) We spent the rest of the day planning and I went to a yoga class last night! I haven't done yoga in years, and my only experience with it has been following along with a video in my room at home. To attend a real class was really a big treat! I can't explain how relaxing and peaceful it felt to stretch and meditate for a while.

Today was awesome! I continued working with Step by Step today and got to see 5 more patients, some healthy, one homeless, and one who couldn't speak English. Two of my poor bosses sacrificed their fingers today so I could practice finger pricking before the first patients got there. By the end of the day I was allowed to conduct pretty much the full consultation by myself. I had a superviser in the room, of course, but I was allowed to do pretty much everything, including counseling. I am in love with it! (Fingers beware! Pricking is fun!)

Once I finished with the last patient, I met the other interns at Nome Eskimo Center where there was a seal demonstration going on. We got to watch a few Eskimo women prepare the hide of the seal...so they separated the meat from the blubber and the blubber from the fur. There was a group of young girls there watching, as well, and as the blubber was removed, each girl would eagerly rush forward with a jar to put it in. If you let the blubber sit at room temperature for several days it produces seal oil, which is a delicacy up here. Each of our apartments got a jar as well. The women at the center told us you can eat the blubber raw so the two of us interns still watching tried a small chunk. It didn't have a strong flavor at all like I thought it would, but it was really tough and really oily. My hands smelled of seal for the rest of the day. Seal blubber is definitely not something I want to eat everyday, but it wasn't awful, and I'm glad I tried it. I also learned how to say hello in Central Yupik: "Wagaa".

It was a really good day, and now I have to start preparing for my breast feeding presentation on Friday. Oh boy!