Top Ten (in no particular order) - Living in Jinotega

1. Last week out in the campo a nurse called me his muñeca preciosa, precious doll. I told him my name was Lorena, not muñeca.When I asked why he called me that he said, “women like to be called sweet things: beautiful, doll, my love. Everyone knows that.” Turns out everyone means all of his male friends.

2. Tuesday at a workshop on school gardens two brigadistas, health workers, from a community outside of town I work at walked in. I saw them and waved. They waved back. A local NGO leader looked over at me and said, “you have people.”
Check me out, I have people.

3. I’m thinking about buying a chicken . . . a live one . . . for eggs. I could name her Juanita.

4. In Nicaragua people DRINK oatmeal. Oatmeal as a hot cereal just does not exist.
2 Tbls Oatmeal
2-3 Tbls Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Water

5. I was recently asked if I knew the Japanese volunteer who worked at the community based birthing home . . . 8 yrs ago.

6. Hugo Chavez owns Channel 8 on the TV.

7. If you have been eating and are full in Nicaragua you can use the English word full. It is amazing. Estoy full.

8. A few days ago while in the mountains with the National Vaccine Campaign I was sent out with a truck, driver, paper and markers, and a loud speaker system. I went to all the communities the campaign would be visiting the next day and announced their imminent arrival. I feel important. Ha.

9. There are huge protests going on in Managua. Daniel Ortega, the President of Nicaragua, is trying to change the constitution. Currently it states that an individual can not be president for more than two terms in Nicaragua. Unfortunately Ortega was president once before in the late 80´s. He is trying to take the limit out all together. Many Nicaraguans believe that it is very likely this will happen.

10. ABBA just came on in my office. In Spanish.

On the Campaign Trail . . . that is the Vaccination Campaign Trail

Cow

Don Enrigue.

Working the National Vaccination Campaign . . . sort of.


How tortillas are made.

My first poster! Yeah vaccines.

One week in site, hamburgers for breakfast and a 30 day vaccination campaign.

In Nicaragua the Ministry of Health, MINSA, has an annual nationwide vaccination campaign. Nurses from every health center and post scour the country side to vaccinate. This involves a month of 10 hour days, weekends, nurses (and sometimes a PCV or two) squished into the back of small Toyota trucks, and hundreds of anti-parasitics, polio vaccines, Vitamin-A drops and DPT/dT vaccines. For the past week this is pretty much all I have been doing. It is awesome.

Check out my cool MINSA hat.

I don’t get to do anything with needles (too bad), but what I do get to do is talk about parasites . . . all day long. Every classroom, farm, household, you name it that we vaccinate gets to meet me. I kind of love it. It is a great way to practice my Spanish. I’m making friends with the nurses. And, I get free rice and beans everywhere I go. What’s not to love?

Outside of work in the jornada, I’m slowly learning about what Jinotega has to offer. My favorite discovery so far is the Casa de Viejos. This literally translates to House of the Old People. That is exactly what it is. Sort of like a club house for the elderly in the urban Jinotega area. Clearly this is a place I plan on getting to know. Cooking classes anyone?

Anyway, so far I’ve been really lucky with my site.
My work is going well.
Jinotega as a city has a lot to offer.
My living situation is very comfortable.
And, I have a sitemate who is a Small Business Peace Corps Volunteer.


I’m pretty happy.

Swearing In.

Swearing In .

A fun perk of being a PCT in Nicaragua, as of 2010, is that you get to go the embassy and meet the ambassador. The ambassador swears in every group of Nicaraguan Peace Corps Volunteers but, previously trainees haven’t been invited to meet him before swearing in. Obviously we were all excited about this change of pace. Really excited.

Ambassador Callaghan is really just capitvating. An Irish Catholic from Chicago, Callaghan is direct. In a county like Nicaragua where the people are incredibly generous and will offend no one willingly (unless it is about your weight and that is just fair game here), Callaghan is seen as somewhat odd.

Basically, we loved him. It was the first time anyone had sat us down and explained in depth Nicaraguan History. Here the Liberalista/Sandanista divide is strong, the wars were very recent, and an important possibly unconstitutional presidential election is coming up. You can imagine why it might be hard to learn about all the nuances of recent Nicaraguan History.

Anyway, it was pretty exciting and fascinating to meet Ambassador Callaghan and hear all he had to say.

After our embassy visit we became real Peace Corps Volunteers! Finally. Unfortunately, I came down with Giardia. If you don’t know what that is it basically means you want to live on the toilet. Super fun. I made it through swearing in though. My Nicaraguan host family came, and it ended up being a really nice ceremony considering.


My Nica host family!

So . . . now I’m a PCV!

Swearing in- MINSA Official

Swearing in- George Baldino, Country Director Peace Corps