Some things never change....

You know, some things never change no matter what culture you're in.....like trips to the dentist.

Not long ago I was experiencing a really bad toothache and decided that I needed to have a dentist take a look at it (the dentist also happened to be one of my classmates at the training school). As I was sitting in the dentist's chair getting mentally prepared to hold my mouth open for a couple of hours while my friend poked and prodded at my throbbing tooth, I was quickly reminded of how much I hated going to the dentist as a kid. Holding my mouth open for what seemed like hours, biting down on bits of plastic that shot into my gums so that an x-ray could be taken, having different tubes in my mouth that sucked water or blew air, and being poked, pinched, scraped and tugged inside my mouth all led me to believe that I should avoid dentists at all costs.....unfortunately, I couldn't this time.

My friend examined my teeth and after a while called her assistant over. They started speaking to one another in Tagalog, pointing at my teeth and looking deeply concerned. Their faces said it all. Then she spoke again in Tagalog and it went something like this: "blah blah blah blah EXCAVATOR blah blah blah.....blah blah blah DRILL blah blah blah....."

Suddenly it was like I was a kid again. I didn't have to understand much Tagalog to know what she meant: this was gonna be PAINFUL. And it was.

Turns out I had 2 cavities that were deep and needed to be filled. Two-and-a-half hours and many prayers later, it was over. My friend said that it was a really good thing that I came in when I did because if it had gotten down to the roots, it would've been extra extra painful. Yeah, good thing.

It's true, some things never change...

But, the amazing part about it was that my friend blessed me by doing the job for free! God is good :)