First day of work

Today finally started my first day at the hospital! With long pants and a blouse, I went on foot with the head of the Elective Ghana Organization (Sefa) to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. By the time I arrived there (10 minutes walk), I was already sweating, but here the doctors walk around in suits and ties, while the women have to wear a blouse, skirt or long pants and ballet flats. Normal sneakers are a no-go! First, I had to go to three different offices to pay and register, and then we continued to a lecture hall. The 6th year students were already sitting there, who also had their first day of university today. I was assigned to 'ward 1', which includes cardiology and gastroenterology. After a short introduction, 15 students and I were placed in a small room (no larger than 10m2!) where we had 2 hours of teaching with a cardiologist. Today, we mainly reviewed the heart and heart sounds - it was a good refresher! However, it was quite uncomfortable... Around 11 o'clock, we went to the ward to do an anamnesis and examination together with two patients with heart problems. However, without a doctor. Later, we presented the case to the responsible doctor, who corrected our mistakes. However, teaching here was difficult because the doctor often spoke Twi and not English - here too, we were gathered in a small room and had to communicate over music and other noise. Until now (2 pm), I haven't eaten or drunk anything since 7:30 am! Ghanaians in general don't drink that much here, despite the heat... I was allowed to go home and tomorrow we will continue at 8 am - I'm curious to see how it will go!

Because it was Easter holidays, I couldn't withdraw money yesterday. We went to 4 different ATMs and they were all empty! So last night, I had to manage with 10 Cedi (= 2€)😅 Thankfully, I met nice girls here who could lend me money. Luckily, my card worked again today! I also got a Ghanaian SIM card: so now I'm always reachable and in case of emergency, I have internet or can make cheap calls to my contacts.

In the afternoon, we went to a market to buy vegetables: tonight, five of us are cooking 'Eggsauce', a typical dish in Ghana. Otherwise, I have been having a bit more luck with the food now. They mix the spice 'Pepe' into everything, which makes it inedible for me because of the spiciness! Now I just always say 'no pepe!' 😄

The market was quite big and chaotic! They mainly sell vegetables, but also fish and meat. The only thing is that there are flies everywhere and the products have been lying there all day... But it's really exciting to walk through there! Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures there... Ghanaians don't like to be photographed, so I left it for now. But at some point, I have to take pictures of it - it's so impressive!

We won't do much more tonight. I'll review my cardiology notes for tomorrow, but otherwise: chat with the girls and chill 🤗