Como ATRAVESistes?

My first day in Nicaragua, Audra told me that here in Nicaragua, instead of "good morning," you say ¿Como amanesistes? I forgot the next morning, and instead said ¿Como ATRAVESistes? ATRAVES is the organization I am volunteering with this summer. Audra, Nathan, and I are doing public health initiatives in Camilo Ortega, a bario or neighborhood on the outskirts of Nicaragua. So now after work, we ask eachother, ¿Como ATRAVESistes?

Nicaragua is an amazing country. I am learning so much every day - about the language, culture, traditions, history, oh, and of course FOOD!

This past week played out somewhat like an orientation to my life for the next nine weeks. I met my amazing host family, got to train and do home visits with a community health worker (every global / public health workers' dream - see photo below!), and  spent a lot of time trying to understand what people are telling me in Spanish...

Volunteers teaching the promotoras how to use a glucometer

During our time here in Nicaragua, we will be doing a lot of projects, but most focus on health education. General health for fifth graders, sex ed for sixth graders (oy veigh!), and nutrition and exercise for the general community. We will also be working with the community health workers (here, we call them "promotoras") and will be volunteering in the open clinic once a week. We have a lot to do, and are so happy to be able to use the skills we learned in our public health courses to make some positive behavior changes!

So back to the food. Sadly, there is little interest in spicy food here. However, the gallos pintos (rice & beans) are to die for, and everything else is fried in tons of oil. So to combat the new diet, I found a gym! My host brother Jean Pierre is a pilates instructor, so we go with him to Aerobicos a few times a week. Also, sweating all day in the heat of Camilo Ortega is a workout in itself - we get so little work done compared to in the States just because we are so hot and tired all the time!

My host sister, Maria Fernanda del Rosario, or "Ma-Fer," is an amazing and spunky 16 year old with a heart of gold. She and Jean Pierre speak English, but their mom, Doña Rosario, banned English because I told her I was trying to learn Spanish... Oops. In the mornings they start chatting to me and it takes me about a half an hour to understand anything. Trying to learn Spanish is a challenge - I literally feel like I am thinking and focusing so hard all day. I can understand most conversations but miss out on things like tenses. So I will know that at any point in time, someone was, will be, has, may, or kind of did an activity. I understand a lot, but I need to learn more, and need to be able to conjugate verbs when I speak... Also, I sound like "I NEED GO KITCHEN NOW" when I speak - we like to translate what I said in hindsight. Also, a few embarrassing speaking errors: sopa means soup, not soap (jamon), and boda means wedding, not body (cuerpo). Awkward...

This post is getting rambly, I think I'll blame the heat for that. But to wrap up, here are some highlights:

Noni fruit

-went dancing with Audra's host mom at Chaman a club shaped like a pyramid that looks like it came out of Las Vegas
-saw (and smelled) a noni fruit - it supposedly can cure cancer and diabetes, but it smells and apparently tastes like barf...
-tried making a clay pot on a wheel spun by foot in San Juan de Oriente, an artisan town
-a visit to San Juan del Sur, a touristy surfing town where my MD/MPH buddies are staying for the summer, where they have iced home roasted coffee and beautiful private beaches.
-tried surfing in San Juan thanks to some super nice tourists who lent us their boards and gave us some quick lessons. I didn't stand, but I was knee surfing!
-took the chicken bus - a jam packed school bus that travels between different towns in Nicaragua. If you get on too late, you have to stand packed between vendors who hop on and off and different people and their belongings