Summer Break
Last April 4, I went with my family to Metrobar to support an event my sister had to organize for one of her classes. The show had the typical Pinoy brand of humor: audience roasts, self-deprecation, gay jokes, green jokes and kanto humor. Most of the comedians were gay men and all of the performers were amazing singers. I’m a big fan of stand up comedy so I had a blast.
The next day, my high school barkada and I used our school’s open house as an excuse to go back and go around the campus. It’s been 4 years since we graduated but it’s been 8 years since we entered high school. Just like ourselves and just like everything else, the school has changed but some things remain distinctly familiar.
It was my friend’s birthday so we had lunch at her house afterwards. Kwento, tambay, at karaoke lang. It’s refreshing to just have good, clean fun again.
On my way home, I bumped into my grade 5 science teacher and one of the best teachers I’ve known in my life. I nearly walked past him. Before he talked to me, I just saw him in my peripheral vision and I thought he was some weird guy who was literally trying to bump into me. I’m happy he still remembers me.
On April 6, I participated in the circumcision mission in Norzagaray, Bulacan. I paired up with a friend of mine ’cause it was our first time. I was sweating profusely when I had to inject the anesthesia for the first time. And when I had to cut the foreskin. And when I had to do the suturing. I was nervous plus the weather was typically hot and humid. But by the end of the day, my friend and I were confident with our new skills. We circumcised 5 boys and the last one was almost bloodless. O di ba. Libreng tuli, anyone?
We ate lunch on a riverbank before 27 of us headed off to Pampanga for our three day immersion at a government hospital. We were staying at a resort so we went swimming on our first night. It was pretty much an immersion-slash-outing.
Our first day on duty was pretty benign ’cause it was a holiday. We left at around two and I was finally able to eat at a local Razon’s. I spent the night drinking, singing karaoke and playing 1-2-3-pass and two different versions of High Jack/Hi Jack with several of my classmates and 2nd year students.
Our next day on duty was a bit more eventful. I wasn’t able to scrub in any operation and I missed all the normal deliveries (which I had been looking forward to) but I did give my first intramuscular injection to a kid who was involved in a VA (vicycle accident hehe) and I was able to do my first postpartum internal exam on an Aeta. There were a lot of neonates going in for check ups so we were able to elicit a lot of the reflexes we learned in Pedia. I was particularly fond of scaring the shit out of babies (Moro reflex), having them hold onto my finger (grasp reflex) and watching their tiny toes fan out (Babinski reflex). We discussed some cases and it’s great to find that I have pretty good recall in almost all the subjects we took up in second year.
I’d probably get tired of the menial tasks I’m all too eager to learn right now. I may get around to cursing them at one point when I’ve done them one too many times. But then again, I may end up appreciating them more when I’m doing them to benefit someone else.
On our last night, wasakan na. Almost everyone got wasted. I drank ’til I vomited and swore off drinking again. At least I was one of those who made it to the sink/cr. The ones who vomited on the mattress and on the floor weren’t as lucky.
This is obviously my fave lolcat image.
I woke up with a bad hangover and bruises on my thigh cause I kept on slapping myself when my body was starting to get numb. lol. We got back to school at around two so we were still able to see Shutter and 10,000 BC.
For last two Fridays and Saturdays, I’ve been taking voice lessons. I decided to pick it up again after 5 years. My shyness was the reason I “lost” the previous training I had. I reverted to some of my old habits: I don’t open my mouth wide enough and I don’t hit the notes hard enough. But once I understood what the problems were, it was easier to overcome them. It’s great being able to belt out songs again.
Aside from that, I’ve been spending my free time sleeping, watching J-doramas and movies (Hana Kimi, Densha Otoko, Water Boys and Nobuta wo Produce) and reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
Holy crap you like Densha Otoko as well?!
Also, LOL at the lolcat.
Aaaaaand great job at traumatizing kids?
is that cool or what?? getting to circumcise 5 boys! i’m gonna take this rare opportunity to congratulate someone on a circumcision well done. :) :)
ditto on making it to the sink and on your success at your vocal lessons. :)
I love the lolcat! :D
I can’t believe I just read a post about free tuli’s. OMG.
hey! glad to see you’re enjoying your well-deserved summer break.
i haven’t made tuli anyone since internship! *lol* pero i might try joining one of the missions this summer while i am on hiatus. ;P
where do you take voice? i’ve never taken, and while i think i’m too old for it na, my friends who are trained tell me i’ll still get a lot out of it. suggestions? and how much would it cost?
enjoy the rest of your summer! :))
hi, bloghopping. :)
I’m so amused that someone can write something about.. tuli’s so freely. :)) Good job on the five guys. Teehee.
Love the image, btw. =))
Sutures? Sounds like you used a Western medicalized circumcision. The poor boys would have been much better off with the traditional Philippine procedure (supercision) which just slits the skin tube so it can hang free of the glans, but amputates nothing.
So the first four guys you circumcised were really bloody? Lol. Joke.
Hmm. Let me take a guess, The government hospital you were talking about is JBL… eh?
Ade> I was nice! :p
Ami> thanks hehe
Juice> I’m serious though, free tuli anyone? ;)
Dr. Claire> I’ll leave the answers on your blog. :)
Cars> lol I guess tuli posts are hard to come by e? Thanks for dropping by.
Ron Low> Who said we amputated anything? We did just slit the foreskin. And when you do that there is a tendency for bleeding. That’s why the suturing is done. lol
Christian> Some of them were bloody. wehe
I don’t know where JBL is but that isn’t where we had our immersion.
Hahaw! You’re having a blast this summer, yes? :D And here, I still am not doing anything yet. But I do plan of visiting Davao next month.
Have you watched “Nodame Cantabile?” “Densha Otoko” is one of the best. :D
Nodame is next on my list actually! :D
hahaha! great post!
Reminds of the time I had m circumcision. a whole lot of boys were lined up between two rooms. In one room, you can hear groans and screams of pain, in the other one, not one boy cried out. I prayed to God I would be assigned to THAT room! Haha!
Luckily I was. :P
Ah, I see. Well, JBL is the provincial hospital here in Pampanga.
Why would any person ever be proud of performing a circumcision? You should be ashamed! Those poor boys. The foreskin is a natural, healthy, belonging piece of skin and you do not no better than God knows when designing a human body. And you were drunk???I’m not sure, you say you were hungover afterward. I only pray you were not drunk while cutting those poor boys but maybe had to drink the guilt away after you amputated their penis skin. So sad. Please try to pick another hobby that doesn’t harm children.
You need a hobby. LOL!
lol at Kevin. The doctor’s on duty, she knows what she’s doing, imo. If one doesn’t wanna get ‘cut’ then it’s fine. *resists temperment lol* Gomenazai had to let that out.
Anyways, awesome summer u had (aside from getting wasted at the drinking sessions lol)…hope mine will be as cool as yours. ^^;
All that chop-chop. How empowering. :P
A long time ago, I saw this documentary on television about the practice of ‘female circumcision - genital mutilation’ in certain parts of the world i.e. Egypt, Africa… And now, every time I hear/read the word ‘circumcision’… I cringe.
Moro reflex? I gotta use that in my jargon.