"Be the best penguin you can be."

¡Hola!

Happy Thursday! This week has absolutely FLOWN by. It has been really crazy at work, and I've been pretty focused on a big project, which helps time go by a little bit faster.

So, this big project... Where to start? I might be blowing things way out of proportion, which I have a tendency to do, but it has been pretty stressful. The very first week I was here, I was asked to edit & integrate comments into a document. I thought it was the HARDEST THING EVER--hindsight 20/20, it was a piece of cake.

Alright, so what am I doing? From my understanding, we are doing some consulting work for the World Bank, who, in turn, is doing some consulting (or something of that nature) for the government of China regarding their healthcare capital investment planning (CIP). Basically, we are trying to give advice to China on how to move their health CIP from a hospital-centered approach to a more service-based approach. In a nutshell, China is just chucking beds into hospitals and building up facilities based upon population projections and not much else. This causes CIP to naturally favor larger facilities, which can be inefficient and, also, not good for rural communities who don't have easy access to larger facilities. We are trying to advise them to plan their capital investments on the actual health needs of the population using a service-based approach to CIP. Obviously, much more difficult than solely basing CIP on population projections, but it is so much more efficient at helping improve population health. For instance, let's say China has a lot of heart problems going on. What will better prevent and treat chronic heart conditions? 200 extra beds in a city hospital OR a new cath lab & investments in tele-health technologies to give rural communities better access to cardiologist specialists? Well, I'm going to say the latter, and so should you. BTW, this is a pretty crude summary of what we are doing, but you get the general idea.

For this project, Faye and I were asked to write a 40-50 page chapter on various OECD case studies and other evidence to help inform the World Bank and China (insert laugh about how I--me, Haley--am writing something to, more or less, inform/advise/give direction to/whatever the World Bank and the Chinese government on health capital policy. It sounds like I am exaggerating, but this is legitimately what we are doing...). We had Skyped with the president about a week and a half ago, and he gave us the outline for the assignment. Unfortunately, with the Malawi lit review stuff & other projects, we didn't really have time to work on this China project. Also, we didn't really know exactly what we were doing. We had some files that we had been looking over, but when Faye met with the president on Friday, he had explained to her that what we originally doing wasn't what he wanted--and that he wanted us to do more than originally planned... For Wednesday. :|

Needless to say, these past three days have been a bit of a scramble. On Monday, Faye and I split up the tasks and got started immediately on writing up case studies & formatting the chapter. We were given a study on some provinces in China, but it wasn't finished, so I had the job of finishing that. I had to do some data analysis and edit the entire study, including reformatting and restructuring. Basically, redo it. :P After that, I did the same thing for a case study done about service-based CIP with stroke treatment and prevention in OECD countries. Did another case study write-up on CIP at Interior Health in British Columbia and another on the Certificate of Need program in Maine. Edited a bit, searched for some references, filled out a chart summarizing all the case studies... Aye caramba. We finally sent the initial draft to the president--now anxiously awaiting feedback and further instructions.

There are both good things and bad things to this kind of work that I am doing. Actually, I don't really mean "bad" when I say "bad." Perhaps the word "interesting" would be more appropriate. And for "good," let's change that to "positive" So, rephrase: there are both "positive" and "interesting" things to this kind of work I am doing. Yes, that sounds more optimistic.

"Interesting" first:

1. I am not an expert (or really knowledgable, at all) on any of this, so anything I have to write takes a lot of research and reading. Not bad, but when I have to do it on the fly--stressful. Also, I'm quite young & inexperienced, which makes all of this a lot more challenging... and interesting.
2. I am not a procrastinator, by any means, whatsoever. I don't know the exact statistics, but I am pretty sure I am in the minority here. Regardless, doing stuff like this really fast, right before the deadline kind of freaks me out. This is definitely a personal issue, but an interesting dynamic to work through nonetheless.

Now, "positive" things:

1. I AM LEARNING SO MUCH AND IT IS GREAT! I find the research topics to be really cool, and I don't feel as if my Brueggeman trip has been in vain because I am learning so many amazing things that pertain to what I wanted to study in the first place! Yay!
2. I am learning to deal with very stressful things. All my life, I have had a tendency to overdo things and really push myself to the limit (which, I guess isn't exactly a bad thing, but it can be pretty exhausting). I kept really busy in high school with a crazy heavy workload from school, year-round volleyball, and other extracurriculars, and at Xavier, it's the same (minus the volleyball, obv LOL). I like to be busy, but it certainly provides many opportunities for stress. This job is no exception. However, I like to think that the more stressful situations I encounter, the better I am able to handle them. Kind of like bench-pressing. If I keep on bench-pressing stress, eventually I get stronger and stronger. At least that's how I see it. So, with this job, I am learning how to do with a lot of crazy stuff, but it is better preparing me for the workforce and my future. I will be a stress heavy-weight champion soon! ;D
3. Similar to the stress thing, the more I work and the more I am involved, the more I come to appreciate being me. I found this quote today, and not only did it make me laugh, but I think it illustrates well what I am trying to say here:

With this job and life in general, it won't do me any good to try to be anything but myself. I had this same sort of thought last year before Manresa (Xavier freshman orientation, for those non-Xavier readers). I was TERRIFIED that I would be a bad group leader because I'm not outgoing enough, funny enough, nice enough, and the whole litany of "I'm not's." But, I told myself, as long as I tried to be the best "me" as possible, then everything would be okay & I would succeed!

So, I'm just going to be the best little penguin I can be for the next 3.5 weeks at this internship, and everything will be fine. :) Maybe not for China, though... Just kidding, of course. :)

On a semi-related work note, last night some of my coworkers and I went out to a restaurant in Heredia to watch the Costa Rica vs. Jamaica soccer game. Soccer is a HUGE part of the culture here. Hearing "gooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaallllllllll" in my hostel has become another background noise, because the owner loves to watch soccer so much. Ticos sure do love their soccer! Unfortunately, for me, I am NOT a soccer fan, at all, whatsoever. It was really fun to spend time with my colleagues because they are all super cool, buuuuut the soccer part was a bit of a snooze. The worst part? THEY TIED. Now, this is probably indicative of the super intense, competitive personality of mine (which has since dulled down since the good ol' volleyball days, thank the Lord). Also, I think it may be a USA thing, too--maybe. I just don't understand how there can't be a winner and a loser. Yes, I understand that there are ways to tell which team is better, but for goodness sake, at least do penalty kicks or something. The American inside me was screaming, "ENTERTAIN ME," while I was stuffing my face with a giant chicken wrap. Try as I may, I can't deny that American culture hasn't affected me in some way. *Sigh.*

As for my weekend plans, I am headed back to Manuel Antonio with my friend Alex. I am so happy she is joining me, because I was originally going to do it alone. Faye is going back to Playa del Coco for a diving trip with sharks, so she isn't coming with us. I'm going back to Manuel Antonio because I didn't get a chance to go into the national park when I was there with my family 2 weeks ago. I want to see some more wildlife! Also, Manuel Antonio is only 3 hours away from San Jose, so a shorter bus ride for me, yay!

Here is a nice quote to end my post:

"May today there be peace within. 

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you use those gifts that you have received, 

and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content knowing you are a child of God."

- St Teresa of Ávila

¡Hasta luego!

amdg.