Top Ten- Nica 52

1. The local drunks know me now. I see them every morning on my run to Diriamba or Dolores and recently they started saying, ‘Good afternoon,’ to me, in English! It’s pretty great.

2. Nicaraguans use gestures for everything. They point with their lips. This they can do while talking. They slap their left elbow when someone is being cheap. And best of all, they have a lovely gesture they use when someone has diarrhea. Bahaha.

3. Andar por los aguacates, which literally means, ‘walking for the avocados,’ is a popular expression here that means you have your head in the clouds.

4. My little sister found me working on a contraception poster for the local health center yesterday. She pointed to a penis, looked at me with these huge brown eyes and asked me what it was. It said PENIS in Spanish directly underneath. What and endearing little monster. She knew exactly what she was pointing to.

5. I taught my first Nica 5^th grade class and survived.

6. Gallo Pinto, a Nicaraguan dish consisting of only rice and beans, has been a part of or the entirety of my last 9 meals.

7. Nicaraguans use the term fatty as in the most blasé way. If anyone is every curvy or slightly overweight they will be known as the ‘Gordita’ forever.

8. When passing someone on the street here is common to say Adios. This means goodbye, but in Nicaragua it is used as a passing hello. Odd but so satisfying to say to someone. Sometimes I even feel like a local.

9. Peace Corps training has turned everyone into the biggest gossips ever, even if they were totally anti-gossip their entire lives before coming here. It is our new favorite pastime and it is incredible. Don’t judge. (Stolen from Kate Spangler’s top ten, and wonderfully true).

10. I’ve almost been a month in country! Less then 3 days to go.

Sorry, running out of Cords. I´ll write more later.

My first talk in the health center in Jinotepe. Dengue and Malaria.

Jinotepe #1. Dona Gloria, Jenny, Me, Robyn and Kate. My group is pretty fabulous if you ask me.

A dinamica (ice breaker) with our youth group. Lots of fun as you can see.

A double shot nonfat latte sounds so good right now.

Nothing ridiculously new besides lots of work. The girls and I have been kept busy planning our meetings with our youth, and conducting these little soirée. In fact, we had our first meeting this past Friday! Everything seemed to go well. We had eight kids show up and enthusiastically draw community maps for us. I had been prepared for a group of kids that would be more or less silent. Instead we had a couple of girls who really dived into the participation (I am psyched). Now all we have to do is keep it up.

Along with youth group work I’ve been working like mad the past few days studying Malaria and Dengue. I am giving my first talk, charla, at the health center on Tuesday. Although a simple topic I am terrified of questions. My Spanish is coming along and I am relatively confident I will be able to get the idea across. But, understanding anyone who pipes up about Dengue? I could easy have no idea what they are asking. Here in Nicaragua everyone cuts off the ends of words, specifically the S’s. It can make it difficult when someone mumbles something to you. The ‘I don’t understand’ really works for my family, but it may not have the same result for patients . . . I’ll report back . . . maybe even with a little movie of my charla? Baha.

As for the rest of my life in Nicaragua it has been interesting. Food is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Vegetables are far and few between. For the families with a little more money fruit is pretty common. My family serves fruit two or three times a week. I have been feeling a little malnourished on simply rice, beans, and plantains. Although, I recently found out that you can write to the health center in PC Managua asking for vitamins. Fabulous.

The weather is not bad. It is warms and humid, but it is paradise compared to Managua. Managua is like walking into a sauna. Here in Jinotepe it’s more like walking into an indoor pool. Very manageable. I know I questioned it, but wearing skirts and sandals, like Ecco sandals, can really make all the difference. A little breeze now and then, ooo! That being said, I only work out early in the morning. If I don’t leave my house by 5:55 am to run . . . well it just won’t happen.

I’ve attached pictures of my house through out just to give you an idea of what the rest of my house looks like. You can see our little kitchen, fully stocked with an oven and fridge over on the right. The sink station is where I do my laundry, where Maria does the family laundry, where Maria washes dishes, where Rosalia brushes her teeth, and I think occasionally where Pedro showers. There is a picture of the courtyard. All of the rooms open up into it. You may even be able to see my laundry! Delightful. All in all, this house is quite functional and a comfortable place to live. Although, I can not help but think about the possibility of living on my own in a few of months. Cooking for myself will be amazing!

Love from Nica 52.

Nica Time

I think I may have been vaccinated for almost every disease one can be vaccinated for. Hep A, Hep B, MMR, Tetanus, Rabies . . . It just gets better and better. That being said I don’t want any of those so I am relatively happy it’s happening. This week in Managua there was an outbreak of Dengue. Thousands of people are sick. It has shut down entire portions of Managua and prompted NicaSalud, a group of health organizations in Nicaragua, to do a city wide fumigation. All I can say is PC has prepared me. Yeah mosquito net.

Last Friday I went to Peace Corps Headquarters in Managua for the first time, (no mosquito bites so it looks like I’ll be dengue free for the time being). Oddly enough the best part about headquarters was the parking lot full of white jeeps with PC emblems. They looked like UN vehicles you would see racing through the Sudan. It was pretty awesome. If only each PCV was issued one, we would be so cool.

In Managua we were briefed on our responsibilities as health sector trainees. In our language groups we are to organize a local youth group. With this group we will give charlas (30 min presentations) on health, lead group dinamicas (ice breaks but way more fun), and provide our kiddos with the tools to continue educating their local community on health after we have left. Individually each volunteer will begin giving charlas at the local elementary schools and health centers each week. And lastly, each group of trainees will be conducting a city wide survey about a prominent health issue. And I thought training was just about learning the language!

Speaking of language, my Jinotepe group is pretty fabulous. We are all incredibly driven and have strengths in different areas. Already we have identified a group of youth we hope to work with, written our survey, and observed a charla at the Centro de Salud. Of all of these I’m pretty excited about our youth group. We hopefully will be working with a group of young women who are local brigadistas. They are between the ages of 15-20, not attending school, and may or may not be literate. But, they are all interested in being community leaders in health. We meet with their leader tonight. Hopefully all will go well. Because Nicaragua is still developing and less than 30% of the population has a permanent job time is abundant. If we make a meeting for 5 pm, people usually will turn up around 6 pm, 7 pm, 7:30 pm . . . or the next day. Nica time is not USA time. Like I said, hopefully all will go well.



As for my mental state after two weeks in Nicaragua there is a lot to be said. I have moments when all I can do is sit down, listen to Gloria speak to us in Spanish, and hope that I don’t start crying. But, I also have moments when I am sitting with my host mother at lunch, explaining to her how VIH/SIDA (HIV/AIDS) spreads, and I realize two hours have gone by and I’m late for my afternoon class. It’s hard but I know it is worth it. In the second poorest developing country on this side of the globe, help is needed. I realize I will not change the world or Nicaragua. But, I hope that sometime in the next few years I may be able to give a little something to a local community in need of care.