El lugar que llamo hogar
It's the beggining of week three in Nicaragua and I am finally feeling like I'm settling into my training town called Dolores. It's a small pueblo of about 6,000 people and it's located 5 minutes (in taxi) away from two fairly larger towns. In Dolores there is a central park (like a town square), a health center, the mayor's office, a police station, several small places to buy basic foods, and little convenience stores called "pulperias". We are very lucky in that we also have an internet place in our town where I check my email a couple of times a week and make phone calls to the U.S.
I'm living with a very nice host family that I adore. I have a 19 year old sister (we are good friends because we are so close in age), a 17 year old brother, a 13 year old brother, and a 4 year old sister (she is the most darling little girl - I want one just like her!). My host mother is a trained secretary but is not working currently because she is so busy taking care of her beautiful but grande family. My host father works in Managua, the capital, as a business administrator.
I spend lots of time with my host family including:
1. watching at least 2 hours of telanovelas (soapoperas) every day with them - I'm such an addict!
2. going to piñatas of family and friends - these are birthday parties for kids in which there is lots of music, treats, and some serious piñata hitting. These kids don't mess around when it comes to getting that candy :)
3. going to see my host dad play soccer (futbol) in the local league
4. playing soccer with my brothers and the little sister in our patio. The boys are pretty good and the little one is hilarious because she doesn't like to speak up so she grunts when she wants to express an emotion and makes one of her many dramatically adorable faces.
5. going to church. my family is evangelical and while I don't particulary agree with the beliefs of their church I enjoy going with them and meeting their church friends and community. ( I also attend the Catholic church on Sundays which is great).
6. going dancing with my oldest sister and her friends. There's lots of opportunities since Nicaraguans can't get in enough dancing and they have festivals and religious events ALL the time. it's quite interesting because they are religiously based holidays, but they are notorious for serious partying, drinking, and having a fabulous time!
My training is going well though I often feel overwhelmed and frustrated. They are putting alot on us and we are trying to keep up with all of the readings, projects, and language training that there is often little time to ourselves. I was expecting this to happen and so I'm handling it the best I can. Things should go smoother in a few weeks after I have some work under my belt.
For those wondering, I have been strangely healthy since I arrived. I have had 0 stomach problems (or what I like to call "E. coli pains"). Lots of people in my training group have not been so lucky and a couple have even been diagnosed with amoebas. (all fairly normal and easily curable) It's amazing how comfortable we have become talking about daily experiences with our gastrointestinal tracts. We basically have no shame :)
I've come to the conclusion that at some point I will get Dengue fever. It's not as serious/deadly as one may think (I learned this in my "Malaria, Dengue, and Chagas Disease" training session) but it's rather prevalent here and certainly sucks to go through. Oh well, at least I will have a cool disease to tell stories about when I'm older.
As for my work, I have several projects I'm working on right now. The major one is a youth group that I formed with kids from all over the pueblo. We meet once each week and do fun activities. A lot of them are brigadistas or community health workers so they have lots of preventative health experience which is amazing given that they are all teenagers. As the weeks progress, we will be working on health announcements for the local radio station with a special emphasis on HIV/AIDS and STD's.
I will also be giving them some charlas or health presentations on topics such as vaccines and nutrition. I will also be giving at least one charla at the health center in Dolores each week and several in the two schools we have here (one's elementary and the other is middle school/high school).
Another project I'm working on is putting together and conducting a health survey for Dolores on the knowledge of community members in the prevention and treatment of diarrhea. This is one of the major health problems in this region. Educating the community about how to prevent and treat it will be likely a part of my work when I begin my 2 years of service after training.
My Spanish is coming along quite nicely. I'm in the most advanced language group so I have a bit of an advantage going into service. Even still, it was hard at first to understand a lot of what people are saying because they have their own accent and sayings which I was unfamiliar with. I know I'm getting better though because people here mistake me for a local all the time even after I open my mouth and speak :)
As for all of you that kept saying I was going to find a hot Nicaraguan to fall in love with...no such luck yet...there are certainly lots of good looking men here and many kind and intelligent ones, but I'm trying to stay as professional as I can in my community and keep that aspect of life called dating suppressed for the time being. :)
I got packages from my best friend and an Aunt the other day and it totally made my week...I couldn't stop smiling the rest of the afternoon. So keep sending me letters and cards!!! The address is located below. If you can't write by regular mail, send me an email...it's equally spirit lifting.
Well I hope all is well at home. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers as you are all in mine :)
Hasta pronto.
posted by Ali @ 5:11 PM
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