Global Brigades in Honduras

I'm rushing my packing (surprise, surprise) in order to catch my super early morning flight. Thank you all for the support and prayers! I will be updating as much as I can through this blog. Here's a brief recap as to what my school will be doing with the Medical and Dental Brigades...

Our group will be staying in a secured compound in Nuevo Paraiso. The compound provides bunk beds, internet, a cafeteria, washer dryer, and a health clinic. Every morning our medical group will eat breakfast and then head out to the village by bus to provide health care to the villagers. We'll be back by the evening.

Our large group will be broken up into smallar groups, consisting of dental students, medical students, a physician, and a dentist. Our interprofessional group will be able provide all sorts of health care needs! We will all be trained to do sutures, dental extractions, charting, triaging, and much more. Over 200 patients will be seen a day Mon-Friday. We will get weekends off to explore the culture and the rich history of Honduras. But other than that, it will be work, work, work for 2 full weeks! I included a video that will allow you to take a peek at what we will be doing.


Video of Global Brigades:

This will be my first medical mission's trip in a third world country. I am excited about the trip and I can't wait to share this wonderful experience with you all!

Dissed by Duane Wade!

Yes, you read the title correctly! The cousins and I went to Portillo's for lunch last week on 100 W. Ontario in Chicago and bumped into Duane Wade and his group. I remember we walked in right behind them and I already had an inkling that someone in this group had to be a professional athlete. As we waited in line to make the orders, Duane Wade's party went to the upstairs seating area...By this time, Monique and Lisa already made eye contact with the basketball star and Cau was anxious to meet him/shake his hand/take a picture. So that's what we attempted to do after lunch (we wanted to be polite and wait until he was done eating, then bombard him!). However, our efforts failed cause one of his friends did the paparazzi "heck no" wave. AUGH!

We did get a picture of his back though...He is the one in the white hat

Despite the rejection...We brushed our shoulders off and continued to introduce the city of Chicago to Monique. It was her first time truly exploring the city. We tried our best to follow the top ten things to do in Chicago: food, monuments, buildings, deep dish pizza, picture perfect tourist shots, and a baseball game. However tickets for the baseball game were hard to find due to it being Father's day weekend. No worries though, we opted to go watch Cirque Shanghai at the Navy Pier. It did not disappoint and I highly, highly recommend anyone visiting Chicago to see it! Prices were cheap too-- $13.50 for an adult!

A must-see show! The cast are all from China and they will be performing until Sep. 9, 2010. In the words of Lisa, all the performers are "true ninjas!"

Check out more from their homepage

Cloud gate, a.k.a The Bean

Because the Blackhawks beat the Flyers, the lions in front of the Chicago Art Institute are wearing the helmets of the champions! This hardly ever happens so I'm so glad we were able to get a picture of it.

View of the gorgeous buildings from the Navy Pier

Look at this cheesy goodness from Giordano's! Deep dish pizza!

Lisa won a radio contest for knowing her pop culture. She got a free t-shirt.

Photo shoot at the Pier next to the Ferris Wheel

After the walking tour of Chicago via the Magnificent Mile, we ended the day at the John Hancock sipping on some cocktails on the 96th floor. I was able to show Mo the view of the Chicago skyline at night from the women's bathroom. Best view of the city!

**Many thanks to Cau and Christine for housing us! And of course Lisa for being our sugar mama and organizer. ;)**