Sunday, December 1, 2013 - , , 0 comments

World AIDS Day 2013

HIV/AIDS was one of the main reasons that I joined the Peace Corps. A dear friend of mine got a positive diagnosis shortly before I left for Nicaragua. The emotional pain it caused me and other loved ones made me believe in the fight even more and I want to do my part in making sure no one else has to go thru that.

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Today is the day where we all have the opportunity to unite in the fight against HIV. It doesn't matter where you are in the world to show your support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died.


It's not just a disease that is isolated within a specific population, everyone is vulnerable: men, women, teens, bisexual, homosexual, heterosexual, children.

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Check out (RED); not only do they partner with companies (read: Starbucks, Beats by Dre, Apple...all of which have great gifts for the holidays!), but a large percentage of their profits go directly to AIDS relief, including 100% of the profits from their new Dance (RED) Save Lives² album (personally, I think this is a GREAT album for running, working out, dancing, etc).

So today, take the time to educate yourself about HIV and AIDS and educate those around you. Wear red or even just a red ribbon to show your support in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

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Throwback from August 2011 before doing the AIDS Walk Colorado in Denver.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013 - 0 comments

Up at Bat

Prequel

My trip to the US was awesome and just the rejuvenation I needed to get me thru this last chunk of my service. I got to see 2 university campuses that I'm applying to, hang out in (and fall in love with) Chicago and Grand Rapids, eat GREAT food and meet incredible new friends.

Reunited with my favorite Aggie volunteers!

One of my favorite people ever.

Herb bagel with whipped feta!

One of the guys.

Trying to stay warm and deciding the day's plans.

So many colors!



Visiting "Cloud Gate" aka "The Bean" in downtown Chicago


Last dinner in Grand Rapids

Pípe also just got spayed! Not only am I too young to be an abuelita, but for her health and population control, it was necessary. Dogs don't get spayed or neutered down here at all, and the fact that I got the surgery done (which is super routine, even though I was nervous the whole time she was there), people question me as to why I did it. I explain the population control, and in the end, after weird looks, they "kind of" get it. Ideally, I'd like to think I inspired people to do it to their pets, but I think that kind of progressive thinking, unfortunately, is still a long ways off. I had a Nicaraguan vet do the operation, which cost a little less than $40 dollars, and the little trooper is still recovering strong! We haven't gotten back to our normal morning walk routine, but in a couple weeks, we should be back to it!

The patient the morning before going into surgery

Chest rubs are the best! 
Mamala and Podge: She loves getting her chest scratched; just an FYI ;)


Rocking the cone of shame like nobody's business.

Taking a stroll in the neighborhood.

So now...the big news! 

It's official! As I sent my sitemate off upon coming back from the states, Nica 57, the group of Environment and English volunteers, finished their service. Essentially, this means that my group, Nica 58, is now in the beginning stages of finishing OUR service! It's so surreal.

The "COS" (close of service) process usually starts about 3 months out from the final date of service, which is projected to be March 28, 2014; for us, the process starts next week.

On Monday, we have a "LPI" (language proficiency interview) with a language facilitator from the training office. This LPI will determine our level of Spanish. I've known volunteers who pass at the level of "Superior", aka fluent, and others who are still in the "Intermediate" range. I know my Spanish is not perfect, but I'm aiming to get at least "Advanced-Intermediate" with my interview. (Side note: with each level, they have 3 rankings: Low, Intermediate and Advanced. Advanced Intermediate would be the middle of the road Advanced; nothing to scoff at!)

After our LPI, our group will be together for the rest of the week at our COS conference. There, we will talk about highlights of our service, readjusting to the US and future plans/goals we all have. This conference is several days long and will be held at Vistamar, the same venue that I assisted at the HIV conference at the beginning of October. BYOBS (bring your own bathing suit!)

From there, we will learn the next steps of finishing our last 3 months (seriously, typing that I'm almost done with my service is so odd for me). Finishing tasks include a 3-day medical checkup to be done in February, a staff presentation to the entire PC Nicaragua staff and the US Ambassador, Phyllis Powers, about the Health project and what we all have individually done as PCVs in our sites, a despedida (going away party) for our group, and finally, ringing the bell.

This is nuts. I've also heard that 6 people, of the remaining 15 in my group, are applying to extend their services. Some for a few months, others for an entire year. If you asked me if I saw anyone extending a year ago, I maybe would have said 1 or 2, but 6?! I'm excited for them and I wish them the best of luck, too.

So, alongside all of those exciting things, what am I up to the rest of my time here? I previously mentioned in my last post a couple of events. I just finished with the mobile population survey training and will be executing surveys at five coffee farms: 3 in Jalapa, 1 in Estelí and 1 in Madriz. We will be visiting the Jalapa farms in December and my counterpart and I will be assisting two other PCVs in Estelí and Madriz in January.

The PCV survey team and some Nica counterparts

I will be celebrating Christmas here in Jalapa with my Nicaraguan friend and her family at their new house in the community of La Loma, which is about 10km from Jalapa. They took me there a couple weeks ago to show me their house which used to belong to the Somoza family. After some renovating, the 8 BEDROOM house looks beautiful and I'm excited to spend time there with their family.






Picking chilis on the property

For New Year's Eve, I am going back to Pearl Lagoon on the Atlantic Coast. I just can't get enough of it! My friend from San Carlos has never been, so the two of us are making the trek to celebrate the New Year, and with our friend who is volunteering in Pearl Lagoon, we will all travel to the OTHER side of the country to a beach town in the department of Chinandega called Jiquilillo. The three PCVs from every corner of the country are uniting in the FOURTH corner. It'll be a lot of traveling, but totally worth it.

Along with the surveys in January, my counterpart and I are hosting the second half marathon in Jalapa. We had originally planned for December, but the schools are all ending during the time we were scheduled and with all of the family involvement, there would not have been much Nicaraguan participation. The ISLA brigade from Minnesota will also be arriving in January, so I'm looking forward to translating with them again while they're here.

In February, along with medical checkups, I will be a counselor in the Youth Leadership Camp in Jinotega. I'm looking forward to that and uniting youth from every department of Nicaragua, and getting to see the types of cultural exchanges happening between everyone. The "MEDICOS" brigade also comes toward the end of February to Jalapa, and I will be translating for them, too. We will get word as to the date of our Staff Presentation, but I'd imagine it, along with our despedida, will be held in February.

That brings us to March! I don't have any plans except to say my goodbyes to the Jalapa community (I don't write these words lightly; it's going to be rough), finish my service and come home!

Whew. With all of that, I can only think that I can blink my eyes a couple of times before I'm on a plane with Pípe towards Colorado. Can you believe it?
Thursday, October 10, 2013 - 0 comments

6 Months To Go

Hey there, blog. It's been a while.

I haven't been up to much too exciting, recently, hence no new and exciting posts. Let's do a quick recap of the past 2 months:

August:

  • I worked a lot in the high schools (yes, we now have two. Our main high school, INAJAL, has over 2,500 students, and MINED (Ministry of Education) decided to transform a primary school to a high school in the afternoon, which now hosts about 500 students) with the topics of Nutrition and Dengue.
  • The annual Small Business Gala was held and my friend and I got custom-made dresses by a local Jalapeña. They turned out beautifully and everything was less than $20 each!

    Myself and my friend in the middle showing off our unique, Jalapeña made dresses.


September: 
  • My host mom, Profe, is in love with the oven that my sitemate and I built for her and I told her that Agriculture volunteers also have experience with building improved stoves. The outdoor stove we had previously emitted a bunch of smoke any time she cooked coffee or beans for the week and it wasn't doing anyone any favors. One of my AG PCV friends made the trek to Jalapa and we built Profe a stove! It turned out beautiful.
  • I went to my first quinceañara...during a power outage. The church has a generator so everything there went great, but upon arrival to have the actual birthday party, there really wasn't much of one. A living room lit by candles, someone used their car radio to play music for the birthday girl and her grandfather to have the first dance. The power was eventually out for about 30 hours; I hope she got a redo on the birthday party part!

  • I hosted two friends for a few days in León! It was so great to see some familiar faces and show off some of the spots that I like to go. We went to the beach, walked around the historic city, hiked up an active volcano and had a blast together for a week before they headed back home to CO.
  • My mom had sent down a suitcase full of goodies with my friends; most importantly filled with blankets that one of her co-workers had crocheted for Nicaraguan newborns. I have been visiting the Jalapa hospital once a week to drop off these blankets, the families are especially thankful because it's going to get chilly in the next few months towards the end of winter/rainy season. When brigades come to town, the maternity house (casa materna) gets all of the donations, but the maternity and pediatric wards at the hospital get overlooked.












  • September also brings the Nicaraguan/Central American Independence Days that are celebrated on the 14/15. There were parades, presentations and lots of Nicaraguan pride that weekend. I took videos of some of the schools' performances during the parade, you can check them out at my YouTube page HERE.
        • The top students of the institute and elementary schools. My friend's daughter is second from the right.





          My friend's daughter won first place at the municipal, departamental and NATIONAL level for the oratory contest. Here she is giving her speech at the Independence Day presentation.

          With my friend's niece. People think she's my baby even though she is 100% Nica. It's gotta be the eyes.

  • Right after Independence Day(s) was the Annual Corn Fest. I helped one of my friends make Baho, a Nicaraguan delicacy, to sell on part of the Catholic Church at the festival. It made over $3,000 cordobas in profit; I'd say it was a success. The majority of the Nueva Segovian PCVs came up to celebrate and the weekend was alright.
        • After peeling over 40 unripe plantains

          My hands were stained like this all weekend

          Reyna del Maiz (Queen of the Corn..har har) parade

          The eventual winner, my host cousin!


















          The goddess of maiz, Chichimora.

          My friend's neighbor, a little cowgirl.

          Starting the Hípico (horse parade)


























  • After many agonizing weeks of asking, calling and rechecking our order with a lady in Estelí, the race shirts from the half marathon that my counterpart and I put on in June FINALLY arrived. We hosted a dinner for the participants to hand out the shirts and give out information about the next race in December. A special thank you to those from CMC in Colorado for your donations; these shirts could not have happened without them!




Most recently, I helped co-facilitate a conference for those living with HIV, used with funds from PEPFAR from the Peace Corps: Nicaragua HIVaids Task Force. We had participants from Managua, Masaya, Chinandega and Bluefields on the Atlantic Coast. It was quite the experience to involve Nicaraguans from different parts of the country and hear all of their stories. I should mention that we were fortunate enough to hold the conference on the beach in Managua, named Pochomil. It was beautiful.


View from our bungalow


Another PCV teaching Yoga/Meditation on the beach





Beautiful sunset


Getting my participation certificate, presented by my supervisor and two of the facilitators.

Coming up, I am taking the GREs in Managua to enter graduate school. Throughout everything happening the past couple of months, I have been studying for this test and applying to graduate schools (ahh life as a finishing PCV). I have goals to pursue a Master's in Public Health, primarily in Global Health and have applied to: Ann Arbor (Michigan), UI Chicago, Boston University, UMinn Minneapolis, GWU in Washington DC and CSU in Colorado. I'm really putting all my efforts into getting into one of the top 4 schools listed; five out of the six universities are in the top 20 for Public Health universities in the US. No pressure, right?

The rest of October, I hope to keep myself busy working at the high school(s) and teaching Zumba twice a week. Then, on Halloween, I'll be on a plane to the US to see my boyfriend and a couple of other AMAZING friends that I met, all thanks to Peace Corps Nicaragua. I honestly cannot wait.

Upon return, I will be attending a training to execute the national mobile population survey in coffee farms throughout the northern part of the country. I will be doing surveys in Nueva Segovia and possibly Madriz and Jinotega. Not too long after, my group of Health PCVs (Nica 58) will be participating in our COS (Close of Service) Conference. I can't believe it. We're almost done. We've done a little more than 21 months in Peace Corps, and now we're on the last stretch. My sitemate's group of English and Environment teachers are on their way out of the country in November, then we're at bat! After the conference brings the second Jalapa half marathon, and possibly another grant project with ProFamilia; all the while, performing surveys at the coffee farms.

As 2013 turns into 2014, I am mostly going to be focusing on community integration and absorbing the last 3 months of Nicaragua to the fullest. I don't have any specific work plans (the high schools break is from the middle of December and they start back up in the middle of February), but I'll do what I can to stay busy. I have also been nominated by my Health Project supervisors to be a counselor/facilitator at a youth leadership camp in February of 2014; talk about working up until the final day of service, huh? The camp will be in the department of Jinotega, and I will be working along side volunteers from other projects for this camp. I am just crossing my fingers that this next trip in Jinotega won't have as many EXCITING events happen like last time...

And that's that! I'll try not to forget  about my blog for another long hiatus, but hopefully I'll have some things to report after I get back from the states in November. 

Pípe and Jalapa. A pup and her pueblo.