I'm back

Well here is my first post since I brought a computer back to Nicaragua with me.

I went back home a couple weeks ago for my cousin’s wedding and life has definitely been improved since. I can pre-type blogs (like this one), organize charla data, listen to music without my ipod, sync my ipod, buy new music, store photos, look at photos, drink more types of tea and hot chocolate, eat more peanut butter and other snack foods, be stocked up on toiletries, choose from a larger wardrobe, study for the gre with my new books, crotchet lots more with many types of yarn and needles, drink out of a starbucks travel mug, look at a map of central America, and read “Buenas Noches Luna.” AND Nata has a successful business. We’re getting an internet modem this week which will exponentially improve life again. It’s not that things were really hard or terrible before, but they were much more complicated and time/money consuming. Now things will be streamlined.

Now, I’m just still trying to get back into the Sabalos routine. I’m planning the rest of my casa materna charlas for the month (after “aprovechar”ing Excel to make a spreadsheet of how many times I’ve given each charla). I’m also planning charlas to give in the schools in November and planning to start English classes in the next couple of weeks. On top of all that I’m still working on my Community Health Survey.
Hopefully I’ll be moving the middle of November, but It depends on house approval when Ximena comes for my site visit (proposed for the 15th). That will change a lot of things, but the change should ultimately be great. I’ll sometimes get lonely and perhaps scared on occasion, but I’ll have my gatitos, be able to cook whatever and whenever I want, have my own toilet and shower, control the cleanliness and sanitation, be able to put up my hammock without random people sleeping in it, have lots more space, and enjoy a gorgeous view.
Things are definitely gear up as we anticipate the elections in 3 weeks. Both parties have colored the streets. Lettering, t-shirts, posters, and banners in pink for FSLN and all the same in red for PLC. The hospedaje has been packed with politicians, party members, military (because of weekends free), and a smattering of other types.

Speaking of guests, that’s one thing that both entertains and annoys me. I love seeing all the people who come and go from here, but I really don’t like when they assume I work here and ask me every little thing. Just because I occasionally serve you food and hang out with what you assume is my “marido” (Nata) doesn’t mean that I welcome you to keep interrupting my tv viewing (happened to be the Tigers on Sun) and ask me where so and so is, where you can pay, where you can shower, where you can sign the book, where you can eat, where the showers are, and anything else under the sun that you can think of.

Well that’s about it for now. I’m sure I’ll be writing again very soon.

Paz and Cheers

oh long lost blog....

...and long lost world. I feel like I´ve been so disconnected from everything lately. I´ve been keeping in touch more with home while planning a quick trip home in less than three weeks.
However, I somehow feel like its not actually going to happen. I guess I cant really imagine what it will be like. My schedule for the trip is jammed pack. While i really wish I had taken more time off to be home I think its best that I didn´t. I don´t want to get to comfortable back in the states. I should have time to get most things done that I want to, and the rest can just wait. I´ll only be gone for another 19 months or so. I think I will manage perfectly well just as I have been for the last 8 months.
Im not really going to post anything now since I´ve already spent a lot of time at the cyber planning my trip.....but....I will say that posts will be coming much more frequently when I bring my new computer back here. I´m very excited for this new addition to my life. I think it will erase a lot of stress and worries. Let´s just hope it doesn´t ever stop working on me.
Pues, the rain just stopped so Im off to enjoy the second (and my last) day of the annual San Carlos fishing tournament. I saw a 109 pounder yesterday but im hoping to see a 200 today!

Shona

not sure

I´m really not sure what to write. Every time I get to the cyber it seems like there is just too much and I don´t know what to share. I can´t wait until I bring a computer back in october. At least that way I´ll be able to write the post any time and just upload it when i get online.

However, after writing this I realize that the problem isn´t just with blogging. I also haven´t really been journalling. In fact I haven´t journalled since may 8th. I know that might be more personal that many of you want to know, but I think it means that I´m doing ok.

When things are hard, confusing, or frustrating I write. When I´m comfortable and content I don´t feel that need.

I do, however, want to keep you updated as much as possible, so I will try to set aside my lack of motivation or focus and at least give a brief rundown of my activities.

Today (in an hour and a half) at 10pm Im headed to managua. Ill get in at 4am and despite my efforts will still have to pay 100 cordobas (just under 5 dollars) for a cab. HOwever, at least the cab has been peace corps approved and i have the taxi drivers info for safety reasons. I will spend the day in managua sleeping, taking a hot shower, eating in a mall food court, and buying contacts for my boyfriend. Monday I have a meeting with my maternal and child health sector to regroup after the first three months of service and go over some inservice things such as how to fill out our 4 month reports. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I will be back in my training town of Santa Teresa, Carazo for spanish classes. There is a cyber so I plan to get on and update about what ive been doing in site for the last couple of months. Also while in Carazo I plan to visit my family from training, eat eskimo with natalie and julianne, and eat a burger and strawberry milkshake at Terry´s Diner. I´m hoping to leave early on thursday to take the ferry from Granada back to san carlos, but im not sure if ill be able too.

Anyway, that is what´s coming up in my week. I´ll post more about my past in the coming days. I also hope to post more pics but my memory card with all the pics from the last three months got some kind of virus and is currently not functioning. When I take more with my other card and am brave enough to use my memory card reader at the cyber again I´ll share them.

So I guess that´s it for now. I´ve already been at the cybr for 2.5 hours and am thoroughly prepared to sleep well during my 6 hour bus ride.

Cheers and Paz,
Shona

My life....or at least it feels like life.

...don´t ask me where that title came from. It just sort of came. I apologize if for any spelling or grammar mistakes. I´m typing this fast because I need to use the bathroom but do not want to leave the cyber to do so until im done.

Life has been good. Living here actually feels very normal. I have a list in my journal of ¨things that have become normal¨ that i will post sometime so you can get an idea.

Let me tell you about my adventure this past week. I went to Los Angeles......in El Castillo, Rio San Juan, Nicaragua. Its a small community in my municipality about 6 hours from where i live. That is, 3 hours by car over horrible rought more stone than gravel roads over hill and crossing rivers and then 3 hours by horse through muddy paths over hills and crossing rivers. I left on tuesday with a crew of health center workers. We were going for a ferria de salud on Wednesday to provide consultations, tooth extractings, immunizations, pap smears,hiv and blood sugar testing, urine testing, and a myriad of other things. When we left it was raining/sprinkling (or lluvizando). That was fine because I was riding in an ambulance. The terrain was rough as always and only a couple time did I actually think we might make it up a hill. But we made it up and down all with loud cheers and smiles each time we made it to the top. Just to clarify, its hard to make it up the hills because the are practically mud after a full day of rain and tires just cant get traction. On another ferria i attended in may the actually had to tie a rope to the front of our vehicle and pull it up manually. Anyway, we were going along just fine, well fine according to nicaraguan standards, until we reached a river. its normally a relatively small creek with a bridge over it, but after days of rain it had coverd the bridge and had a slight current. After about 20 minutes of assessing the situation, the drivers decided to cross. All vehicles made it without any trouble. We continued on just fine until we reached the top of a hill and hurt yelling. The abulance stopped and we all hopped out to see what was up. At the bottom of the hill was a very large river that would be impossible to cross in vehicle. We had to cross on foot. It will be hard to explain so I will attach pictures so you can see. Everyone made me cross first so that I could take pictures of everyone else crossing. So I started wading in the water with my camera tied in a small plastic grocery bag. The doctor who was acting as our guide saw it and insisted that he put it in his shirt to pass more securly. I hesistatingly agreed and grabbed his arm so start crossing. As you´ll see in the pictures there was a rope across the river to hold on to. I began walking and it took all my strength to not have my feet wiped out from beneath me. Actually at one point the were, but i just held on and pulled myself back up. About half way across it was much easier. Finally, my camera and i both crossed safely and were met with a crowd of smiling nicaraguans scattered on the hillside starting at me with wonder and amazement in the rain. When I pulled out my camera all the little kids moved much closed, watched my as I took pictures of everyone else crossing, and laughed as i poured water out of my rubber boots. When everyone crossed we headed up the hill to quezada and were welcome to the front porch of one of the residents for coffee and bread. It had never tasted so good. However, while trying the eat we were also surrounded by black bugs that I´m told come out right after the rain. They continued to cover my clothing, fall in some of the nurses´ coffee, and be just plain annoying until I got on my horse to finish the treck. The lady who gave us the coffee felt so bad for me that she gave me another piece of bread to put over my coffee so the bugs wouldn´t get in. Anyway, after a short rest horses arrived to take us and our supplies on the rest of the journey. As I mentioned I mounted mine and began the treck. Thankfully one of the young guides took the reins so all i had to do was try not to fall off as he lead the horse. This was perhaps the wettest 3 hour treck of my life. If got dark after about a half an hour and the only lights were two flashlights and the occassional strike of lightening. I was tired, soaked, and ready to curl up in my hammock when we finally arrived just before nine. We hurridly changed out of our wet clothes by flashlight (there is limited electricity ou there) and set up our hammocks. I enjoyed a hot cup of coffee and some gallo pinto before settling down for the night.

Just to sum up the rest of the trip quickly. Wednesday morning I bathed in the river (of course with clothes on), used the latrine several time throughout the day, helped with the hiv testing (i got to put all the bandaids on), took pictures, gave children candy, watched mud soccer, watched telenovelas on a tiny black and white tv, and drank lots more coffee. Thursday I woke up with tiny bug bites all over my left arm. (yesterday i had more. im told its some sort of bug that is so tiny it cant be seen and lives on your skin for 10 days and will continue to bite. it can be killed my washing the affected area in alcohol several time. i tried this and i don´t think ive gotten any more bites but i can count at least 20 right now). We had a delicious breakfast of rice, beans, cuajada, papaya, bananas, and pears (they are red down here). I decided again coffee because i didnt want to have to use the bathroom on the trip. We took lots more pictures of our group and the director of the health center took a ton of me on my horse because everyone kept mentioning that i wasn´t in any of the picture i´d taken so far. We finally headed out after packing up. After riding for about an hour we stopped at a house and were given a stock of huge avacadoes, other fruit, and water. We continued on and made it back to quezada. The ambulance and truck arrived an hour later. Miraculously the river level had lowered so much in less than 2 days that we were able to drive back across. When we got to the first river i mentioned you could see the bride and the water was at least 2 feet below. crazy. we finally made it home at about 4. I hopped right in the shower and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Well there are a lot more details, but at least this gives you a little taste of the adventures i can go on when i choose too. They are definitely not required but who wouldn´t want to do that. I´m headed to Fila Verde next tuesday and i hear its just as far.

Thanks for all of the love and support. Things are going well and I´m really enjoying my time down here. I can´t believe ive been in nicaragua for over 5 months. It´s ridiculous.

Enjoy the pics. ok its not working, so im going to run to the bathroom and try again later.

ok. im back and at a less reliable but cheaper cyber to finish up. the pics didnt work quite as expected, but you can see them on facebook.

cheers and paz as always

i´m still alive

This is just a quick post to let you all know that yes, i am still alive, well, and VERY happy.

I have a little bit of stomach pain with diarrhea right now that i like to call ¨mini-dengue¨ but if its anything like the last time i had it (my first week in site) it will be over by tomorrow and i won´t actually throw up. Don´t worry. It´s nothing serious just a very mild version of the same symptoms of dengue.

I´m here in San Carlos for the Rio San Juan Vac meeting and regional security meeting tomorrow. It´s nice becaus I actually get reimbursed for this trip.

Everything in my site is going great. I still haven´t really started working but i´m gradually easing into it. I feel very well integrated and practically everyone knows my name and greets me warmly when I walk by.

It´s sweltering hot right now. It rained for the first time in over a week last night so that helped a little, but not the same as the first few weeks of may. I had actually gotten used to taking my umbrella everywhere, wearing shoes that either dry fast or don´t get wet, and relying on the rain to get rid of the heat.

Anyway, I know I promised a better post, but I´d rather go down to the malecon and hang out with my other peace corps buddies. I´ll try to post some interesting anecdotes and stories from the campo (i.e. hiking over muddy hills, trudging across rivers, getting my boot stuck in the mud, fallng several times, sweating like crazy, riding back on a horse that could hardly walk faster than a human through the mud, and a small community full of smiling faces huddled under a small building waiting to be tested for hiv (among other things) including a little boy playing with his new toothbrush (probably his first ever)).

As always I love and miss you all so much.

Peace and Cheers,
Shona

over a month in site

Just to begin I´d like to say that things are MUCH better in every aspect for me.

I absolutely love my site even though it has started to rain every day and the cell service is worse than ever. (ps this post is going to be kind of short and really random). On the topic of cell phones, i have to charge mine twice a day and it still dies during the night. This is especially bad on days like today when the power goes out (or as nicas say ¨se fue la luz¨) during the night and i can´t charge it in the morning. I think it dies so fast for two reasons:
1. its an extremely cheap phone
2. it is constantly searching for service
However, I am extemely fortunate to have this luxury of a cell phone even though i don´t usually get text messages until several hours after the fact.

Another somewhat frustrating thing is the internet. I thought I´d be fine being far from a cyber, but this has proven to be very difficult since most of peace corps nicaragua uses it as a primary form of communication except for emergencies. If it weren´t so easy for everyone else to get to the cyber i´d be able to handle it better. Today I made the trip to San Carlos just to use the internet. I got on the bote at 7, arrived in S.C. at 9 and immediately bought my ticket to return at 12. I feel bad being out of site on a work-day. However, I did spend my weekend attending the Ferrias de Salud in Quezada and Buena Vista. They were muddy, rainy, and tiring, but packed full of people wanting medical attention. While it was a little sad that they hardly get this kind of assistance it was extremely encouraging to see how many people wanted it. I spent my time observing a little and writing down the information of each person getting tested for HIV. Honestly I didn´t mind the rain and mud (think torrential downpour) and got to sport my rubber boots fo all of both days. I felt very Nica as everyone else was wearing the exact same boots.

With respect to the rain, it now rains every day and is generally overcast and extremely humid. I don´t really feel the humidity because it is less hot than last week, but I can tell its there because everything is damp i.e. notebooks, towels that never dry, clothes that take a good day and a half to dry, my toms that took 4 days to dry because they kept getting rained on just when they were about dry, my hair, and gum. Gum and mints do not hold up well in this kind of weather. The second the package is opened they are gooey and if left on the table in my room are shortly covered with teeny-tiny ormigas (ants). These are the same ants that I often feel and see crawling on my arms or legs when sitting outside the casa materna (well actually anywhere). They don´t hurt, they are just annoying.

Community Integration-wise, things are going great. I am starting to make lots of friends, casi all of the children know my name and shout it when i walk by the school, i get along really well with the nurses and doctors at the health center (i usually get at least 3 or 4 hugs within 5 minutes of walking in), and I love living at Clarissa´s. I get asked several times a day when I´m going to start teaching english, and its getting really hard to say no to individuals. I do plan to have some classes in the future but only after i have a health work routine. I also can´t give lessons to each person who asks me ( i just don´t have the time), so right now i´m thinking hard about how to have a good balance.

I´ve only given a couple charlas so far, but will start giving more next week. I also want to start working in the schools next month giving at least 1 charla a week to each class. (its a small town so that wont be too hard). I also need to start working with the youth group, but i think that will take some time too.

Anyway, i´ve been on the internet for far too long, but i promise to write a more informative update next time i get to the cyber.

Peace and Cheers.

can someone say 180

It doesn´t seem like its been 3+ months since I left snowy Michigan and then snowy DC.....actually that´s a lie. It feels like it´s been much longer.

Just to sort of generalize and sum up my current feelings: It was a lot easier to be away when my thoughts of home were filled with freezing weather and snow. Now that I´m imagining the freshly blossomed flowers, warm spring air, and hopes of fun summer times, it´s getting quite a bit harder. Honestly, I think that most of this is due to my need to readjust all over again.

For the most part I feel settled in my new hospedaje home. (I had an epic battle which a cockroach last night. He insisted on continually attempting to climb the wall which hindered me from killing him until I brought the mosquito repellent into the playing field. He then had no choice but to fall and let me smash him with my Teva. This was a good lesson because I can now recognize the sound of a running cockroach in my room).

The food is great and with three decently well balanced meals a day and coffee everymorning in a beautiful semi outdoor dining room surrounding by Clarissa´s garden, I can´t complain. However, I have yet to do my laundry, and there is quite a load of dirty clothes crammed into my saco. There is a lavadora, I just haven´t gotten up the nerve to ask to use it. The days are hot, but the sound of occassional rain is soothing in the mornings. I have been told that I will come to dread this rain when the ¨rainy season¨ officially starts in a couple of months. To prepare I am buying rubber boots today.

I think the biggest obstacle in my adjustment is language in the workplace. By language I mean Spanish and not swearing. I thought I could successful communicate, while still basic, with anyone, but this has proven especially challenging with my new colleagues and the ladies in the casa materna. The talk very fast and casual (someone slurred) with eachother and therefore the same with me. I feel awkward asking them to repeat and slow down. They often do but in the same words. So if I didn´t understand something the first time it´s unlikely that I´ll understand it the second time. I just keep telling myself that this will come in time, but it sure is hard to plan my work when I don´t feel valued because of my language. My site visit on the 26th should help clear some things up. I know that I´m supposed to take things slow right now during these first few months, but forming real relationships with my counterparts and the casa materna is vital to my future work. Its not that I can´t communicate when I need to or that they ignore me because I can´t speak, Its only that I don´t feel confident anymore. I´m sure that when I get my tutor (after semana santa because the spanish prof is on vacation), I will improve a lot. Actually its not even that I need to learn more. I know a lot. I plan anything I want to say perfectly and understand someone´s words long after the fact. It´s the inbetween execution of my words and ability to quickly respond that´s lacking. Clarissa, my sort of host mom, but more like a friend, keeps reminding me that I´m doing fine and will improve quickly. However, it´s a lot easier to speak to her or other gente in the town when there is no professional pressure.

Sorry that was really rambly, but I just had to get it out there. Other that those concerns, my town is as beautiful as always. I visited both the escuela and the instituto on thursday and introduced myself to the teachers and students. I also visited the alcalde (mayor) and he seemed happy to have me and willing to help with whatever I needed (now I´ll just have to get up the courage to follow through on that help when I need it).

I also visit the cacao cooperative on Wednesday (started my the germans). They practiced giving a tour on me and I got to eat some delicious yet armargo (i think it means bitter) freshly sun dried cacao seeds. Something that not many others can say they´ve done. I only had a few as I thought was acceptable. Then the ¨tour guide¨ asked if I didn´t like them. I said that of course I did, and he said something to the effect of ¨well eat some more then.¨ Down here the rules regarding moderation are a bit fuzzy. If you eat something just because its good for you implies that you love it and want to eat it all the time (i.e. cucumbers, beets, gallo pinto, fresco de piña). I like to enjoy a varied diet, and that is just hard to grasp sometimes. However, I think I´ve finally rid myself of the soup. I really don´t mind soup, but I do not enjoy a ginormous serving bowl filled with hot liquid and ginormous chunks of vegetables and meat (of course still on the bone) when it´s at least 75 degrees outside. Clarissa somehow telepathically knows this and hasn´t once offered me the soup. If she did I would politely decline, but its much easier to not even have to encounter the situation. I´ve also eaten fish at least one time every day for the last week. I know that this will suprise you, Mom and Dad, but if you ate the same fish I do everyday you would understand. I get a few pieces (just enough) of finely breaded, just barely moist, and perfectly fried fish without the bones. It doesn´t even taste fishy. I realized that the reason I really didn´t like fish was the flavor and the chance of encountering a deadly bone. Here I have yet to come across that problem. Its also a lot cheaper to eat fish, so ¨when in (nicaragua)....¨

On the topic of food, Clarissa has begun to teach me to cook Nica style. Actually I just started watching over the counter and she began to quiz me. I would have learned in Santa Teresa, but I was always busy when the food was being prepared. I now know the concept of how to make Nica rice and fresco de pineapple, however i haven´t practiced yet. Clarissa said that this week (semana santa) there will be fewer clients in the hospedaje so she´ll let me practice some cooking.

...It seems like everything is happening ¨after¨ semana santa. Cooking, my site visit, legit work planning, visits to the communities, and a visit to a finca where they grow cacao. Oh, I also met the Alemana who lives in Jill´s old house. She invited me over to dinner on sunday. We had some good conversations (obviously in spanish because she is german and i don´t know german)(also one reason I am confused about why Its hard to understand my counterparts). However, I need to get to know her more if I hope to live in her house.

Well I´ve spent far too long on the internet, but I probably won´t get back to San Carlos for a few more weeks. However, I overheard mention of a cyber in my site the other day, so I definitely need to investigate. Also, I sent my first memory card home last week, so be looking for pictures from my parents.

I wish myself buena suerte!!! I know the adjustment will come eventually (it always does). I´m just hoping for sooner rather than later.

As always I miss you all and think of you often.

P.S. I already have lots of plans for those who come to visit me.