¨Michael Jackson!¨

My experience so far at Luchadores has been fantastic. The doc there has got us doing a variety of stuff, so I´ve been learning a bunch. Although the sex-ed classes haven´t panned out yet, we did get a chance to do some public health education at the nearby grade school with the help of a group of first year Ecuadorian med students. The first thing that struck me was their immaturity. Med school starts right after highschool here so first year med students are the same age as college freshmen, and it shows.

On our way to the school they´re all flirty, I can discern some of what they´re saying , but mostly I´m oblivious. You can imagine a bunch of teenagers speaking in any language, it sounds the same, nothing makes sense unless you´re ¨in.¨ When we get to the school, we have to work out the candy. The leader of the group brought a bag for the grade schoolers, but the other med students are jamming it away in their pockets.

Tim and I are motioned to follow one group of students as they branch off to all the different classes. As we near the class, we hear ¨Michael Jackson! Michael Jackson!¨in cute little Spanish accents. What the med students don´t know is that we´ve already seen this class to take their height and weight and they recognized us the moment we entered the school. (They didn´t much take to Taylor, and Jackson stuck...). The grade students are all squirly with excitement, waving, and wiggling in their seats. As we start talking about proper bathroom hygiene, the class troublemaker draws a heart on his desk, pokes the girl next to him and then points at Tim. The girl (a sixth grader) turns bright red and tries to hide her face. Tim being a good sport gives her a small wave, which of course makes things worse. She gets out of her seat collects her stuff and just about storms out of the classroom.

On our way back to the clinic we stop at the playground outside the school. The med students hop on the seesaw while I snatch a swing. Another student gets on the broken swing next to me and is sorta half swinging making a big joke out of it. All of a sudden, I hear from one of the students, ¨Better if you fall¨and in the next second *thud* she does. Everyone bursts out laughing immediately, and I have to admit, it was probably the funniest thing I´ve seen while I´ve been here, all at the expense of this poor girl of course. All in all she took it pretty well, I won´t forget that moment.