Wax

Friday 29 July 06

The morning humidity is intense especially on the bus journeys to the hospital. We had a grand round with refreshments (baked snacks) afterwards similar to the U.K tradition. We saw massive splenomegaly which I will never forget, liver disease in pregnancy, hepatitis C, Norwegian scabies and Corrigan’s sign (aortic regurgitation). I got to take a history in
English for the first time today and this made a change from my staccato Singhalese phrases. Many patients in the hospital have murmurs, even the relatively uncommon (vs. U.K) ones-diastolic murmurs such as aortic regurgitation and mitral stenosis. We got tips form the other students on sites to visit in Colombo and where to purchase cheaper souvenirs.

After dinner the door bell rang. A beautician was here to wax and thread every strand of unwanted body hair into non existence. I am a wax and thread virgin so I took the plunge with my eyebrows. For those who don’t know, you can hardly even see them and as the lady told me, I don’t have bushy brows. The result was neater sculpted brows at the cost of my pain fibres. Unlike my predecessors, I resisted the urge to scream and clenched my fist instead.

In the evening, I went to a house party in Colombo. Sri Lankans can drink and party. The surrounding gardens were beautiful at night and the patio area was a make shift dance floor with DJ. ABBA and pussy cat dolls were a recurring theme as well as old school classics. If you are spotted with an empty glass people insist on refilling it or offer you tequila. I had to hold my resolve. Afterwards we went to a club called ‘R&B’, ironic because the live band had left and dance music was the only genre on offer. The crowd were older and the men persistent- I ended up sharing a pepsi with someone just to get away. I rolled into bed in the early hours.

Saturday 30 July 06
Today was spent recovering from last night’s festivities and eating a lot.