soy una doctora

me llamo Erica, soy una doctora aqui

apparently now I speak spanish. or at least am really, really trying to speak spanish.
this month, I'm assigned to our resident clinic, which serves a large spanish-speaking population.  One thing I love about living here is that I feel like I travel to different countries throughout the day.  During my morning commute, I feel like I'm in India - where people can disregard lanes and honk just to say hello (as well as to communicate several other, less kind, things), when I enter the hospital parking lot, I feel like I'm in Ethiopia, since all the men who work in the parking garage are Ethiopian with huge white smiles and absolutely no patience for my inability to fit into the parking spots they have chosen for me.  Later, in clinic, I travel between rooms and it feels like I go from El Salvador to Guatemala to Somalia to Cote D'Ivoire.  After clinic, travelling to happy hour, it's as if I drove down to Mexico, because our waiter tells us (in spanish) that these are the best nachos in town because the chef is truly from Mexico.  I don't know what's better - that nacho chefs exist or that I got to eat the illustrious final product.  When I coast back home on my bike, it's a bit like being in Amsterdam with all the bikes lined up one after the other along the river bike path.  Finally, while falling asleep, I hear Billy Holiday playing loud on our neighbors stereo and realize it doesn't matter where it is, I'm home.

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