After saying goodnight to Manuel I headed for the small side room where I store my bike and quickly changed into my bike-ware. Heading for the door I arrived just in time to see Manuel locking the door and heading out. No biggy I thought, I have a key too. The problem with my copy is sometimes it’s a little bit sticky and today was no exception. After trying a minute or so I felt it slide into place and gave a hard turn. Looking down I saw I was holding half a key, the other part wedged firmly in the lock, doh! I then realized Manuel is about the only person in Ecuador I know who doesn’t have a cell phone. There is another side-door but it’s locked with keys I do not possess. I saw his office’s light was still on and figured he’d be back soon, no one else was left in the lab.
Forty-five minutes later he finally came back, my planning on where to sleep proving to be in vain. I walked out to greet him and saw he couldn’t open the door… Apparently my broken key-half had jammed the door from the other side as well. Luckily he was able to get into the side-door and I was free from my self-imposed prison. One of those funny in hindsight experiences☺
I have another story worth sharing as well. In immunology class today we were doing “group” presentations; this works a little differently in Ecuador though. You work on the material in a group (in this case summarizing an immunology paragraph in English – I was the hot commodity!) but for the presenting part one group member is called in front of the whole class and told to “lay it all out,” all the while barraged by tough questions from the prof… in front of all 70 students! Stressful? I thought so, then to make it all “better” the first group to go ended up being called up one after another, all failing to do well, and at the end were told their presentation was horrible and they needed to prepare more. It was the truth, but wow, harsh!
I figured Dra. Estrella wouldn’t call on me, and sure enough she picked my best class-buddy, Marco (the first person I met on the first day). He was doing well until the last third of the material when he seemed to forget what he was talking about. The awkward silence began to stretch… Almost before I knew what was happening I found myself walking to the front of the class. I grabbed the dry erase marker and drew the class a picture of how non-methylated DNA containing CpG pathogen associated molecular patterns escapes dying bacteria and is picked up by TLR-9 receptors on dendritic cells, initiating a signaling cascade which results in the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, all the while trying to explain what I was drawing in Spanish. Nothing like being nervous to make one forget a second language! I think I got enough of the point across as the prof said “good” at the end as we were sitting down. I’m not so sure it was that good but I think she was too surprised I was up there to be too objective☺
Random pic to share:
(Shirley and me chilling in my room the other day, we were doing a little head-gear swapping. She looked killer in my helmet but I just couldn't pull the little pink beanie:)
Hope you’re all well.
3 comments:
I had one such experience with a broken key in a bike lock... I was able to forgo a $100 locksmith fee by busting out my MacGyver skills, pulling the broken tip out with mini tweezers that live in the handle of my Swiss Army knife. Ha! A great story but in the moment quite nerve racking :) Sounds like you're having wonderful adventures!
not gonna lie, that hat is quite becoming.
:) I actually think the pink hat is adorable, but you are right, she does look killer. I've loved reading about your adventures Mike! Your experience is absolutely fascinating and I love that you are immersing yourself in the culture there and getting the most out of your time.
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