Every day I ride a bike half a mile to the clinic. I fully intended to get some pictures but was thwarted by a lack of camera battery, so I'll put some up another time, I promise. There are 4 other vets that work in the clinic other than Carlo- Giovana, his partner (everyone calls him Johnny), Tanja, a Swiss German who is newly certified, this other lady whose name I forgot but mainly does pets rather than big animals, and Laura, who I'll talk more about later. There is also a vet-in-training, a different Laura who won't be at the clinic much longer as she's going to study in Bern. This is sad because she's one of the few who speaks English and is always willing to explain to me what is going on. Finally, the clinic employs several secretaries/assistants who keep the place running by doing all the cleaning and errands and holding the dogs/cats when they get shots, etc. I'll get you pictures later (If you're lucky)
One of the things that's interesting about working in the clinic is how much people trust in the uniform. If you look official, they assume you're official when really I don't have an experience with veterinary work and don't even speak their language.
So far, I've seen several sterilization surgeries and wounded animals- like yesterday a cat came in with a severely broken bone from falling out of a window, poor thing. Fortunately, nothing so far has bothered me.
On Monday and Tuesday I was in the clinic doing basic things like cleaning, observing, holding animals during their examinations, and trying not to get in the way. Today, however, I had just arrived and got my scrubs on when Carlo asked me if I wanted to go on some big animal rounds with Laura. Obviously, I did so we grabbed some gum boots hopped in her little-big car (little by our standards, big by theirs) which is packed with all sorts of veterinary things and off we went to the farms! I think I like going on rounds better than in the clinic, you feel more free and you get to see some of the most interesting farms and people. You get a little snapshot into the farmer's lives, and that snapshot is something worth treasuring. It also helped that I was with someone as awesome as Laura.
This is Laura. She's basically one of the coolest people I've ever met. She speaks a little bit of English, enough to convey what's going on, accompanied by hand gestures. She's always smiling or laughing and she started teaching me basic Italian words. She only works two days a week (unfortunately) because she recently got married and moved a little ways a way so it's a bit of a commute for her. Also, she only likes doing the big animals so she's the one who commonly goes on rounds to all the farms. (We'll get to the roses later)
First we went to a cow farm where Laura fixed a cow with a giant pus-filled abscess on its side. (I won't go in to detail for those who get squeamish)
We visited a couple more cow farms then we went to this cute little house with some goats to give some shots to one of the little ones.
Isn't this ping pong table cool??
After lunch, we went to a couple riding schools (seriously the coolest places ever) to drop off some medicine and take some blood samples.
Finally, we ended our day on Mario's cow farm waaaaay up in the hills. Seriously the road getting up there was barely wide enough for one car and it was all hairpin turns but the view from his farm was amazing. After the examination, we were admiring the view and his roses, when he told is we could pick some, so naturally we did. On our way home, we ate peaches that made rivers of juice run down our arms and faces as we trundled down an amazing little road. All in a day's work.
At some point during the day I started to wonder how ever I got here. Here I am, a random girl from Seattle pinning a calf to the wall so it can get an injection at a little farm in the middle of Switzerland. It's crazy, but in the best way possible. :)
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