Chapter One, My Nica Family
I arrived in Nicaragua full of questions. As a Type A individual, I wanted to know the whos, whats, whens, wheres and whys. Well The Whos are my wonderful Nica family!
- Of course Audra, Nate, and I are the terrible triplets - always bickering and getting into trouble.
- Jean-Pierre, our older (host) brother, is fun and exciting and always doing something way cooler than us (IE teaching pilates at our favorite gym or being a bacanalero at the local club).
- Our little (host) sister, Ma-Fer, likes to laugh at our (Spanish speaking) mistakes, show us her new shade of nail polish or scream about the latest sexy futbol player (PIQUE!).
- My host mom, Doña Rosario, makes sure we drink our suero (lemonade) when we have a tummy ache, and tells us fascinating stories about her own adventures as Minister of Health under former Presidents
- Aunt Mariana takes us out to dance and invites us over for pitahaya juice on her porch, where we help cousin Luz with homework or watch her play on facebook.
- The volunteers come and go, but each one becomes part of our Nica family for a short time.
Chapter Two, The Job
My bosses, Corey, Lara, and Brady, check in from time to time, but mostly leave us to our work.
Monday and Wednesday we teach Health to 5th grade, and Sex Ed to 6th grade. In Spanish. I have learned that I hate lesson planning, and that teaching in a language you don't really speak is a challenge. The kids are great, and the 6th graders have NO sex ed knowledge so that class is super awesome and exciting (which translates to emocionante, not exitante - which means arousing).
Monday afternoon we have Nutrition class with Public Health Hero #1 - Eugenio, or as we refer to him - The Genius (El Genio...Eugenio...get it?). Eugenio cooks us lunch every day, and never fails to impress us with amazing and unique healthy meals made with the 10 cardinal ingredients used across this country. He also knows tons about health, nutrition, and the art of cooking. We are in charge of a Weight Watchers style discussion during the class - this week we talked about portions control for example.
Tuesdays we give trainings to the promotoras, or community health workers of our community. We have given presentations on mental health, nutrition, stress, meditation, and BMI. Also, we have helped train the promotoras on taking blood sugar, blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, and giving subcutaneous insulin shots.
Tuesday and Thursday afternoons we have dance class with Cyndi. We shake our booties and sweat a TON in the non air conditioned school, and always make sure to laugh a lot. We also weigh the attendees in and give them their weight losses for the week along with information about a healthy goal weight based on their height.
Lately, we have been working a lot with data - information from school physicals that were done in May, and information on the promotoras. We are collecting the data to help with grant writing, but have also learned a lot of interesting things about the community we work with in Camilo Ortega / William Galeano along the way.
Thursday morning we have clinic - where we help in the pharmacy, take blood pressures, or shadow the main clinic doctor, Dr. Romero. Last week we had gynecology consults with a different doctor and got to see lots of cervixes and learn about the differences between Nica and US gynecology.
Basically, we stay busy. Many nights we work late or have to scramble in the morning to make things work. However, I wouldn't want to leave anything out, because it is all amazing and fun and interesting and different...
Chapter Three, Free Time
On weekdays, we mostly Skype with friends and family and then run to Master Gym for Aerobicos at 7pm. We try to keep up with Geovany's Latin rhythm while the entire gym watches in amusement. We get home soaked in sweat and starving for home cooked Nica meals. Good times. We also sometimes hit the town in Managua with friends or other volunteers, head to the mall, or watch movies with our host family.
Weekends have been incredible. I have gone to San Juan del Sur (x3), San Juan de Oriente (x3), Masaya (x2), our host family's finca (farm), Volcan Masaya, Omotepe, Granada (x2), Las Isletas, and Laguna de Apoyo. My family came to Nicaragua for a weekend. I climbed a Volcano over the course of 11 hours. I attempted to surf (fail). I caught a fish and ate it that night. I spent the day on an isolated beach. Weekends have been amazing.
The funny thing is, after 6 weekends here, I have still only visited maybe 1/3 of the places I want to see in Nicaragua. I would love to see the Corn Islands on the Atlantic Coast, the jungles of Rio San Juan, the jungles and mountains in Northern Nicaragua, the intellectual town of Leon, etc. etc. etc. I have a few more weeks. I'll see what I can accomplish.
Chapter Four, La Enferma
I have gotten sick a fair number of times - my host mom likes to call me "La Enferma". Of course, the obligatory intestinal tract infections. I have had two. I'll spare you the details. Luckily, my host mom, Loperamide, and Cipro nursed me back to health. Also, after climbing Volcan Maderas, I found a pretty weird rash on my right thigh. I will hopefully blog about that next, so stay tuned.
Sometimes I feel like I am ready to go home, but most of the time I just wish I had more time here. More time to relax. More time to explore. More time to make more change with more Spanish and more knowledge. But looking back on the chapters I have filled so far, I am more than satisfied with my experience. And it's not over yet!
Other things I failed to mention: Olympics with 5th and 6th graders, what I've learned about politics in Nicaragua / US involvement in Nica history, my two other public health heroes, the foods I have eaten, slang, etc.
You. Must. Go. To. LEON!!!!!!! It's so cute! :) Sounds like you are having a wonderful time. I got that stomach issue when I was in Ecuador (and pretty much every time I've gone to Honduras). It's terrible. Good thing you have Cipro to nurse you back to health. I was offered papaya and ramen by my host family. Nefasto! (Look that one up- It's one of my new favorite words). Have you gone salsa dancing?
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