My Site!!

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while but I have lots of stuff to tell you!
First off, last week I took a trip to Chinendega (aka the hottest place on the planet) for HIV/AIDS week. We spent 3 nights there in a hotel with a pool which was a nice little mini-vacay. The week was so busy that we didn’t have much time to relax. I had charlas every day until like 8 or 9 at night but we got to eat at some restaurants which was great. I ate Chinese and Mexican food which is absolutely nothing like Nicaraguan food. Coming here I thought “This is gonna be great! I love Taco Bell” but alas, I was very very wrong in that assumption. When reflecting on what I miss about home, eating out is definitely number one on my list. However, it is followed VERY closely by laying on the couch and drinking wine. Kinda a toss up. Oh and FYI, they don’t have wine OR couches here! Ok that’s a lie, but I have seen very few houses that have a traditional living room set. There are rocking chairs everywhere and living in rum country I have yet to see an affordable bottle of wine. But I digress.. There were 2 highlights to my trip and they were on very opposite ends of the spectrum. First, I got to give a charla to firefighters about HIV. Sounds lame but this is what my life is now and it was actually really fun. My group of 8 arrived at the station ready to blow these firefighters minds with knowledge only to find 3 guys sitting in an empty firehouse. That is correct, we outnumbered the men by 5 (7 if you count the 2 volunteers who were there to supervise). The chief was really great though and went out into the street and park to drag random men and boys into the station to listen to us talk. I was intimidated at first about speaking to a group of men. A little background: Nicaragua has a very machismo culture where masculinity rules and disrespecting women is a very common occurrence. Men are constantly tsk-tsking at women in the streets which is the Nica form of a catcall. A little more sneaky than a straight out whistle, which I think is actually worse. I was nervous about standing up in front of a group of men as a white American woman whose Spanish definitely leaves something to be desired. It actually went great! Our group did an amazing job and the men were really responsive. We even got a bunch of guys to do condom demos and they were excited about learning the material. The experience gave me a different perspective on Nica men. Not all are the machismo vagas that roam the streets. The other fun part of the trip was a visit to the beach. It was my first time going to the beach since I’ve been here and my first time ever swimming in the Pacific. The ocean was beautiful and everyone had a good time swimming and playing in the waves.

The other big news from the past few weeks is I KNOW MY SITE!!!! For the next two years I am going to be living in Totogalpa, Madriz. It is a smaller site in a mountainous region about 3 hours from Managua. At first I was a little upset about my placement but after learning more about it I’m actually really excited. Totogalpa is very close to Ocotal (only about 15 minutes) and Somoto which are 2 larger cities in the north. There are also a lot of other volunteers in the area and, while I don’t have a site mate, there are 2 girls in my group that are only about 20 minutes away from me. The last volunteer in Totogalpa was over 2 years ago, so essentially I am starting from scratch which I am excited about. This gives me the freedom to work on the projects I am passionate about rather than following up someone else’s work. There is a Casa Materna in my site which was one of the things I was pushing hard for during my site interview. Casa Maternas are a cool concept that we have no equivalent for in the states. Women journey to the Casas Maternas during their final weeks of pregnancy and stay there until they have their baby. In essence, it is a hostel for pregnant women which I think is such a fun concept. The idea behind it is that health officials are pushing for more institutionalized births to try to decrease the rate of maternal and infant mortality. Their goal is to have every women give birth in a health center or hospital. In the states this would never be a problem, but here there are many communities that are hours from the closest Centro de Salud. If a woman waits until she goes into labor to head to a health facility she could often times give birth right on the side of the road. In some of the rural communities it could be a 3 or 4 hour walk or horse ride. If a woman lives in a rural community she can stay in the Casa Materna for up to a week after she gives birth. I’m really excited about working with groups of pregnant women. Friday I am going to visit my site for a week which is going to be insane. I will go with my counterpart and spend the week with the family I will live with for at least the first 6 weeks. A counterpart is someone who works for the Ministry of Health (or MINSA) who is assigned to be my work partner. Its going to be really awkward. No one speaks English in Totogalpa so Im going to have lots of practice with my Spanish. I can’t wait to get there and see what its all about but I’m also really scared to leave the safety and comfort of my current host family, training town, and basically the cocoon that Peace Corps has made for us in during training. The most awkward thing is that I have to negotiate prices for food and rent with the family while Im there. In Spanish. Its going to be excellent haha. Ill take tons of pics when Im there and put them online. Right now my pics are only on facebook but im going to find another online place to put them so those of you who don’t have facebook can see them too.

Miss you all! Send mail :)