An American Male Nurse Volunteers Inside a Community Hospital in Small Town Nepal (Part 2: The Hospital Cantina)

Jahn and I walked to the hospital. It was ten minutes from the homestay. Jahn had been there for the past week, so he knew the way. Jahn was eighteen and planned on being a doctor. He’ll be a damn good one. At home in Germany, he read anatomy text books in his leisure time. He taught his classmates how the human eyes works. He knew more than his teacher. When I was eighteen I watched Doogie Howser Teenage M.D. I never became a doctor (did become a nurse years later though).

CHECK OUT PART ONE HERE:
https://steemit.com/travel/@travelman/travelman-nepal-volunteering-at-a-hospital-and-school-in-pharping-nepal-part-1-the-homestay
AND MY OTHER AWESOME CONTENT HERE:
https://steemit.com/travel/@travelman/travelman-s-first-edition-of-a-weekly-table-of-contents-for-your-reading-pleasure

An ambulance sat parked outside the hospital. Jahn told me that the Japanese had donated it. It said that on the side of the ambulance though, so I probably could’ve figured that out (I’m pretty smart; I’ve seen every episode of Doogie Howser, M.D.)

The hospital provided our breakfast and lunch everyday in the Cantina. When Jahn referred to it as the “cantina, “ I thought he was trying to say cafeteria. No, it was more of a cantina, like at an Army base in the fifties.

Two nice ladies cooked our breakfast every morning. We didn’t choose our menu. We’d sit down and they’d bring us something after a few minutes. They had a counter with bottled water and packaged snacks for sale. I don’t know how many people ever bought them. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the packages of cookies was a few years old.

Some mornings we’d have hard boiled egg, roti, beans, and potatoes. Some days there’d be no egg or no roti. One day Jahn got beans and roti, and I got a half serving of potatoes and half beans and roti. Jahn didn’t like beans. He spoke up and they happily gave him potatoes. I ate his beans. The days with no roti were a let down.

After a few days the lady began serving my egg with no yolk because she noticed I always left it on my plate. She was so sweet...

After a couple days, I looked forward to breakfast every morning. It tasted excellent and it was hot. The best part was the cup of hot milk tea. It was about 5 degrees Celsius in the Cantina. I’d wrap my hands around the mug to warm them. A milk skin always collected on the top of the tea. I’d have to remove it with my spoon. I felt like a picky child getting grossed out.

One morning they gave us freshly deep fried Nepali donuts. I want to return to the hospital cantina just for another one of those heavenly warm, chewy donuts. They taste somewhere between a donut and a bagel (NYC has the cronut, Nepal has the Bagnut!). They went so well with the milk tea.

They never gave them to us again. However, on Christmas I saw a pile of them on the counter. Thanks to Jahn having spoken up about his beans, and it being Christmas and all, I got up the nerve to ask for one. They happily gave one to me. I should’ve asked everyday.

In the photo above you can see a door. This is directly outside that door. It’s one of their stoves...

This is where we washed our hands before and after meals. A trickle of sometimes not freezing cold water came out of the tank. A hand towel that everyone but me and Jahn and the doctor used hung in the door way. We’d ask for a napkin to dry. They’d hand us one or two tiny napkins. Any warmth gained from hugging the mug of milk tea was lost with hand washing. They did the dishes here as well. You see this a lot in Nepal and SE Asia, doing the dishes outside...

And this is the spectacular sunrise view above the outdoor stove. I could see people working in their gardens or standing on the roof doing something or other. I would’ve been content sitting there all morning...

At lunchtime, Jahn and I would eat dal bhat with the two doctors of the clinic, Dr. Ran and Dr. Rog. The doctors would eat like Nepalese, with their hand. I stuck to my fork and spoon. The Dal Bhat was excellent, I’d always ask for seconds and sometimes thirds.

On the first day, we had to go to the administrative/eye clinic/dental clinic building to meet the administrators. This is the clinic pictured below. Not so much like your suburban Vision Eye Care or Dentist office.

They didn’t even have out of date magazines that stand up comedians could complain about in their acts. -They didn’t even have magazines. They couldn’t, they didn’t have a table for them. They didn’t have the table for them because they didn’t have the waiting room to put it in. And you complain about your HMO.

The roof was made of corrugated aluminum and the administrators desk would be left on a curb in an American college town without anyone claiming it before trash day...

Okay, I swear, the next post will actually take us INSIDE the hospital. There’s just so much to share! You’re probably whining, “When’s he going to get to the hospital! Geez, c’mon already!” Patience young Jedi, the way to what you want is like enlightenment, it is not a direct path. You have to go to the cantina first before both (don’t quote me on that)

Note: Unlike in Star Wars, there was no Walrus Man or Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes in this cantina. Trust me, I asked. Jahn didn’t get it ...and he called himself a Star Wars fan. Phpht.

Travelman log, day 185. Cold finally seem gone this evening. Still in Pokhura. For logistical reasons I won’t be able to start trekking until Monday. I’m doing the sissy, short and easy one, Poon Hill, due to time constraints (not cuz I’m a little sissy!). !steemitworldmap 26.6127 lat 85.2637 long Volunteering Part 2, Hospital Cantina and Eye Clinic/Dental Clinic- Pokhara,Nepal, d3scr 315 Followers and counting, 904.8 steem earned. Rep 59. Travelman out.