Mierda Matters

Today, March 14th, 2013 marks our 6th day in Diriamba.  As a present to myself, I purchased a USB that allows me to connect to the internet on my computer regardless of where I am.  The last post I left you with some information, which upon arrival, is not entirely true.  I live with my 2 padres anfitrionas, 1 sister and her 2 year old, who is a handful.  When we first met, he was very shy.  When he warmed up a bit, he started asking tons of questions trying to figure out who I was and what I was doing sleeping in his house.  At this point, he knows who I am. The day before yesterday, I was journaling in the park when my family walked by.  As I had my hat on (representing my Rangers), I was unable to see them.  He, however, yelled out "Amanda" which was awesome.  Soon after, this man approached me saying "hey, hey."  Guarded by my hat, I pretended not to notice.  Some older kids, seeing this, called him away from me.  This not only made me feel more like part of a community and less like a guarded foreigner.  I couldn't help but attribute it to the fact that they had seen me say hello to my family (The fact that you hang with D and I, well...it speaks very highly of you). 

In adjusting to life here, there have been some interesting obstacles.  Por primera, the Peace Corps requires that we take anti-malarial medication.  This comes in the form of Chloroquine tablets (what are marijuana tablets?!)  or doxycycline.  They started us on Choloroquine.  One of the side effects of this medicine is intensely vivid dreams.  For this reason, our Medical Officer suggested watching a trippy movie before bed.  This side effect, however, is no joke.  For the first 3 or 4 days, my dreams were like an alternate reality where, for example, my sister and I were brutally trying to kill each other.  Lucy, a companera of mine, has suffered the same symptom with frequent cameos by killer clowns.  At this point, my dreams have become less vivid.  Tomorrow, I am going to discuss this with our medical officers to see about switching to doxy.  Taking antibiotics, however, also has it's side effects, specifically for women. 

Of my many firsts, Tuesday we had our first day without electricity and running water.  When I went to bed, I had taken a shower beforehand, as my host mother suggested.  Which, by the by, I am still enjoying hot showers.  I had not, however, considered that not having electricity would affect my alarm clock.  I woke up cursing, thinking it was past 8 (when Spanish class starts) as the rest of my family was awake.  So, I turned on my computer which stated 8:05.  To make sure, I looked at my watch which said 9:05.  Thinking that TX time is an hour ahead, I went with my computer and assumed I was late.  I rushed to get ready and as I hurried out of the house, apologizing to my family for not being able to eat breakfast, I passed their clock, to see that it was, in fact, 7:15.  I begged their pardon and sat down, embarrassed, to a delicious breakfast of fresh watermelon, papaya, and banana, alongside my fresco or fresh juice with sugar.

After breakfast, I had to use the restroom.  Confused, as I was, about how one would use a standard toilet without water, I awkwardly asked my family for help, without knowing the word for toilet.  Fortunately, we learned the word in class that day.  Unfortunately, as I was not armed with that information, I had to mime what I was talking about to my family as they sat comfortably eating their breakfast.  As I was the first one to use it, we could simply flush it.  In class, we had a formal tutorial.  As you are flushing the toilet, you have to pour a bucket of water down with your waste "con fuerza" or it won't flush.  After successfully completing this task, I celebrated with a victory dance as I re-entered our class.  Our Spanish classes are very informal and are held in the living room of our respective houses.  As I am here with 3 other volunteers, we started with Patricio's family. 

The food.  Oh, the food.  A lot of it is beans and rice.  Gallo Pinto is a specifically Nicaraguan plate that is basically wild rice and black beans.  It is eaten for breakfast and dinner in most cases and depending on income levels, can be eaten for all meals, as it's not very expensive to make.  We also eat soup for lunch, though it's hotter than I can say.  We had a great soup yesterday with rice, a plantain, and shredded chicken which was de-licious!  In terms of keeping cool, as any Southerner knows as a necessity, helado or ice cream is a favorite as well as relaxing on the porch in the late afternoon as it cools off.  To feel the breeze, chat with family, and greet neighbors.  On Sundays people will dress up because they know that most people will be sitting outside their houses to say hello.

My job.  So, I am here working in the health sector.  Specifically, in the areas of teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS prevention, and family planning.  Yesterday, we visited the main Health Center where we will be giving charlas or talks about these various topics.  We met several volunteers (all of whom are women), 2 nurses, and 2 doctors.  We will be observing our first charla on Monday. 

Our training consists of an integration model and as such is designed to give us a taste of what is expected of us as volunteers.  For this reason, we are expected to give 3 charlas at the Health Center, to create a youth group and empower them to serve as peer educators and also take a survey of the biggest health concerns the community faces.  Therefore, on Saturday, after our technical training in San Marcos (which is a beautiful city we visited today), we will be meeting with a youth group. 

We have been go, go, go since we got here.  So, I am super excited to have found a running buddy.  One of Patricio's host sister's is really nice and is excited to see me every time we see each other.  She told me today that she runs with one of her friends 5 km each day M - F.  I asked if I could run with her and she said of course.  She also said that her friend is a gordita (which isn't really a bad thing to say as it might be in the States), so they run/walk.  It will definitely help to mitigate the stress of these first few weeks and throughout training. 

Lastly,  Semana Santa is at the end of the month.  Everyone generally has of Thursday and Friday and most families head out to the beach.  As we are about 30 km from the beach, I'm thinking there's a pretty high likelihood that we'll be able to go.  Ojala! 

Nos vemos.