Today is my 24th birthday. Nothing too excitingis happening, but we did have a spectacular weekend and I’m looking forward to a great dinner!
The weekend:
Jess, Astro, and I visited Salto Estanzuelo, a 45 foot waterfall just outside of Estelí. It was quite an ordeal getting there, but definitely worth the trip. Astro made his first trip on an inter-city bus and got to spend time in the Peace Corps office in Estelí. It’s not much, but Peace Corps maintains a little space with a bathroom and shower, small library and two computers with computer and internet. It’s available to any volunteer (you just go to the store next door and ask for the key) but really only gets used by volunteers in our area. We went to the office so I could research my future. I’m thinking about going to grad school when we get back, so we took a few hours to research programs and figure out how to take the GRE’s in Nicaragua. We made it back to Somoto by 7ish and were completely beat.
Sunday both Jess and I were sore and stiff from our travels. Astro wasn’t. We spent the day cleaning and relaxing. We also hung out with our host family and watched the Spain-Italy Eurocup game. Being the huge sports fans we are, we left during overtime. I wonder who won?
The dinner:
Jess is going to make me the following:
Cold chicken fajitas on flour tortillas with refried beans, guacamole, salsa, lettuce and cheese.
A twice baked potato
Lemon Bars
It should be great. I’m especially looking forward to the Lemon Bars. We’ll see if she pulls it off…
This week is going to be one of my busiest. First of all, the Health Center announced last week that we are in a little bit of a health crisis. In the past week, the Health Center tested three more people positive for HIV. That brings this years total to 6. There were only 7 in all of 2007. The health center recently started pushing the HIV rapid test, which is completely voluntary, confidential, and only takes 20 minutes. 98% of the women that have come into our maternity clinic in the past 2 months have elected to get tested. That’s a really good thing. The bad thing is that some of our worst fears are now being realized. Nicaragua has one of the lowest rates on HIV in Central America…lowest recorded rates, that is. It also has one of the lowest testing rates, which means could be a bunch of people out there with HIV who just don’t know (and neither do we). With these 3 new cases in just 1 week, it looks as if that’s the truth. What are we going to do about it? We started a massive outreach campaign promoting the test and alerting people to the gravity of the situation. On Friday alone we spoke with a union of taxi drivers and two radio programs. Monday is a talk with the Police. Tuesday, university students and Wednesday, the firemen. We’ll be bringing the rapid test and a few nurses to each stop, which means anyone who wants to can go ahead and get tested right there. We’ll post updates on how we do.
Another big thing on my plate is a group of 20 Irish volunteers who are coming to build a health center in an outlying community. They are arriving on the 27th. Last year, the ame group built a health center in another community and the previous Peace Corps volunteer handled all of the translating and logistics. I will be filling that role this year. The group is here for 6 weeks, only the first of which I’ll devote entirely to them. Afterwards it will be on a needs basis. I’m looking forward to teaching the group a crash course in Nicaraguan Spanish and Culture. I also can’t wait to pick up a shovel and get my hands dirty. I think I expected a lot more hands on labor in Peace Corps. Who knew it’d be so much office work?
Jess and I are also gearing up for July, which is shaping up to be a very busy month. She’s going back to Carazo for a week of Language Training (I can’t because of the Irish). We’re planning on joining a group of volunteers in Omotepe for the 4th of July. Then Jess is heading back to the States from the 17th to the 21st. She’ll be missing out on Somoto’s Fiestas Patronales (July 17th and 18th) and Nicaragua’s “Independence Day” of July 19th. I put Independence Day in quotes, because they really didn’t gain Independence from a foreign power. They gained it from a Nicaraguan dictator and put in place Sandinista leaders who some would argue actually made the country worse. More on that as we get closer.
The weekend:
Jess, Astro, and I visited Salto Estanzuelo, a 45 foot waterfall just outside of Estelí. It was quite an ordeal getting there, but definitely worth the trip. Astro made his first trip on an inter-city bus and got to spend time in the Peace Corps office in Estelí. It’s not much, but Peace Corps maintains a little space with a bathroom and shower, small library and two computers with computer and internet. It’s available to any volunteer (you just go to the store next door and ask for the key) but really only gets used by volunteers in our area. We went to the office so I could research my future. I’m thinking about going to grad school when we get back, so we took a few hours to research programs and figure out how to take the GRE’s in Nicaragua. We made it back to Somoto by 7ish and were completely beat.
Sunday both Jess and I were sore and stiff from our travels. Astro wasn’t. We spent the day cleaning and relaxing. We also hung out with our host family and watched the Spain-Italy Eurocup game. Being the huge sports fans we are, we left during overtime. I wonder who won?
The dinner:
Jess is going to make me the following:
Cold chicken fajitas on flour tortillas with refried beans, guacamole, salsa, lettuce and cheese.
A twice baked potato
Lemon Bars
It should be great. I’m especially looking forward to the Lemon Bars. We’ll see if she pulls it off…
This week is going to be one of my busiest. First of all, the Health Center announced last week that we are in a little bit of a health crisis. In the past week, the Health Center tested three more people positive for HIV. That brings this years total to 6. There were only 7 in all of 2007. The health center recently started pushing the HIV rapid test, which is completely voluntary, confidential, and only takes 20 minutes. 98% of the women that have come into our maternity clinic in the past 2 months have elected to get tested. That’s a really good thing. The bad thing is that some of our worst fears are now being realized. Nicaragua has one of the lowest rates on HIV in Central America…lowest recorded rates, that is. It also has one of the lowest testing rates, which means could be a bunch of people out there with HIV who just don’t know (and neither do we). With these 3 new cases in just 1 week, it looks as if that’s the truth. What are we going to do about it? We started a massive outreach campaign promoting the test and alerting people to the gravity of the situation. On Friday alone we spoke with a union of taxi drivers and two radio programs. Monday is a talk with the Police. Tuesday, university students and Wednesday, the firemen. We’ll be bringing the rapid test and a few nurses to each stop, which means anyone who wants to can go ahead and get tested right there. We’ll post updates on how we do.
Another big thing on my plate is a group of 20 Irish volunteers who are coming to build a health center in an outlying community. They are arriving on the 27th. Last year, the ame group built a health center in another community and the previous Peace Corps volunteer handled all of the translating and logistics. I will be filling that role this year. The group is here for 6 weeks, only the first of which I’ll devote entirely to them. Afterwards it will be on a needs basis. I’m looking forward to teaching the group a crash course in Nicaraguan Spanish and Culture. I also can’t wait to pick up a shovel and get my hands dirty. I think I expected a lot more hands on labor in Peace Corps. Who knew it’d be so much office work?
Jess and I are also gearing up for July, which is shaping up to be a very busy month. She’s going back to Carazo for a week of Language Training (I can’t because of the Irish). We’re planning on joining a group of volunteers in Omotepe for the 4th of July. Then Jess is heading back to the States from the 17th to the 21st. She’ll be missing out on Somoto’s Fiestas Patronales (July 17th and 18th) and Nicaragua’s “Independence Day” of July 19th. I put Independence Day in quotes, because they really didn’t gain Independence from a foreign power. They gained it from a Nicaraguan dictator and put in place Sandinista leaders who some would argue actually made the country worse. More on that as we get closer.
Thanks for reading!
Also, thank you to Aunt Ellen for the delicious doggie treat hamburgers! Astro really enjoys them! Everyone also got a big laugh out of the dog receiving a package, including the mail workers (the name Astro isn´t listed as one of the tenants of our mailbox).
3 comments:
Matt, Happy Birthday!
You work for a US government operation, and you didn't realize there would be a lot of office work? Welcome to government ops!
Happy (belated) birthday!
That waterfall looks so refreshing. The nice ones are always hard to get to.
How did the lemon bars turn out?
I hope the Irish don't give you too much trouble ;-)
Happy Birthday Dearest Matt!
I so enjoy the posts by you and Jess! I'm so happy for the both of you!
Did you ever get the Lemon Bars? I sure hope so!
Keep in touch!
Peace,
Margaret (from Food Pantries, now from Catholic Charities!) :)
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