The last few days have been full of power outages, internet failings, and my ear infection.  Not a good combination for staying in touch with the outside world.  Much better for teaching school from my bed.

 

 

I'm so thankful for the medical treatment we can access here in Honiara.  Our family has always experienced kind, knowledgeable and helpful medical staff.  After several days of my ear getting worse, I finally decided to call the doctor's office.  Dr. Steve has been our doctor since the day we landed in Honiara, and I visited him for my leg.  His office opens at 8:00, Monday through Friday.

  But his office also operates on "Solomon Time", so I started calling at 8:00 to see if he had come in yet.  I continued to call until somebody finally answered the phone around 9:00.  No, Dr. Steve wasn't coming in today, but another doctor would be working instead. 

 

Great!  I jumped in the car and drove down to the clinic.  When I arrived, I gave the nurses at the front desk my name.  Even though I was the first Choate to ever visit this clinic, they had lost my chart.  So, I had to fill out another one!  I didn't have to wait very long to meet Dr. Joyce.  One of the things I love to do when I meet Solomon Islanders is to ask what language they speak, and I discovered that Dr. Joyce grew up speaking Fatalaeka in north Malaita.  She was very nice, and we chatted while she looked in my ear and prescribed some antibiotics.  The whole visit plus the antibiotics cost me less than US $40, and I made a new friend, too!

 

Now, I'm waiting for the antibiotics to kick in and thankful for my amazing Choate Bed and Breakfast staff who can execute a meal plan and follow directions with flying colors while I recuperate.