Today my baby went off to school for the very first time.  It was buried in such a busy day and week, that I almost didn’t notice it.  We arrived in Tansen, Nepal yesterday afternoon.  A quick tour, and long unpacking, and a long nights rest.  Or it would have been if the children hadn’t all woken at 3:30 due to excitement and jet lag.

So the kids were off to primary school on the hospital compound here.  There are nine students in the classroom, aged four to ten.  And my baby boy is now one of them.

While they were out, Luke and I were shown around the hospital.  I think Luke was fascinated and impressed by all that was going one.  I, however, kept getting caught on phrases like “open prostatectomy” and “we have a lot of burns patients right now, so they need a lot of operations” and “we’ll make sure you have a resident with you in clinic so they can translate”.  I spoke to the general surgeon here (who is just a few years ahead of me) who reckons there are a lot of standard general surgical cases about, but they aren’t memorable because they cause much less stress.

Tomorrow I have my first day.  I have already met a lot of people, who have all know for months that we are coming.  I feel like I am under a microscope.  General surgeons are desperately rare here, and I know they are wondering how much I know, and how quickly I will pick up the rest. Meanwhile, all I can hear are all the things that are outside my specialty at home, that I will need to deal with here.

Well, my gorgeous big boy got home from school today for lunch, Nepali food prepared by our Didi (housekeeper).  He stood on the stairs and yelled that the food was horrible and he thought we all should die because we ate it.

Let’s hope I cope better with my first day.