Back In Action

​I am finally back in Nicaragua after an incredible time in the beautiful New England fall! When the taxi driver picked me up at the airport, I drove all the way to the hostel with my head out the window like an excited dog! It’s crazy how quickly a month passed by but it honestly feels like I never left now that I’m here. However, my tongue feels heavy trying to settle into Spanish again. Being reunited with my little ones has probably been the best part so far. Sadly Mattias doesn't 100% remember me but Alejandro is very happy to have his "novia" (girlfriend) back. I also was super lucky to come back to a package from my Grammie. Alejandro has now picked up a new coloring hobby. I'd say he's pretty legit for a 3 year old. Even Sergito joined in on all the fun :)  

​Coming back has been incredible HOWEVER I did have a little surprise waiting for me… In Nicaragua we have two seasons: summer and winter. Being from New England I struggle to call the 6 months from May to November “winter” when the only thing that changes is that it’s incredibly hot AND it rains. So, being back in the states for a month left my tiny Harry Potter room super vulnerable. The humidity from the 100 degree weather with all the rain worked its magic to cover my room, floor to ceiling, in mold. All of my clothes, shoes, bed, and guitar were absolutely filthy. The second I got home and for the next 2 days all I could do was clean. I thought the mold was enough but halfway through the first day, the power line to my room went out so I could no longer have a fan to help air out the musty smell or help me to stop sweating profusely.  And to my surprise, there was an extended family of mice that found my bottom drawer and my guitar case adequate for living and took up shop. They of course ripped apart skirts and tons of my charla materials to build themselves a home but all in the name of comfort, right? It was pretty sweet finding them as well; I took my bottom drawer out back to clean all the clothes from the mold when I realized while I lifted a skirt out, baby creatures were falling from it… I salvaged what I could but definitely had to say goodbye to a lot of things upon my return. Luckily the mice seem to love the rat poison I laid out for them but I don’t think it’s actually killing them. We’ll have to try something else… All I’m saying is that I’m incredibly thankful for my new Glade Plug-In I bought while I was home. Shout out to you guys, shoot, coming home to the smell of Pumpkin Pie and not mold and mice excretions has been lovely! 

Another great addition has been this cute little guy! With all the mice, I think he'll settle pretty well into his new home!

Work wise, I have hopped right back in! I got back to site Wednesday last week and Thursday I did an overnight shift with my friends at the hospital. Sadly, I still haven’t seen a birth… OH side note: both of my sisters had their babies while I was gone so I definitely have the unlucky gene or something. But Francís Loreno and Julio César are absolutely precious! I will try to sneak get some pictures of them soon and share them! 

Today we had our monthly Red Comunitaria meeting with our volunteer community health workers (brigadistas) and our midwives (parteras). Kendra, the volunteer who lives in the site closest to mine, came to visit and help with the meeting. Today we evaluated the past year and all the topics that we covered over the past 9 months. I made a jeopardy board that covered the different topics and the group seemed to love it! I got lots of great feedback about how the activity went from the members but now I’m a little nervous for expectations of fun activities in the months to come! I’m really looking forward to next month’s meeting though. We will be celebrating Christmas together and I’ve been put on decoration and game duty; I think I got this!

​And in close, the “winter” is finally ending so now it’ll be 100+ degrees without rain. Goodbye humidity, hello desert air! WOOOO! Luckily the Peace Corps medical office were the sweetest and bought me tons of flavored rehydration salts instead of having to choke down just salt and sugar water. ;) AND!!! THIS SATURDAY I GET A SITE MATE! He will be working as an English teacher in the community! I’m so excited to welcome him in to Villanueva and hope he is ready to live in the greatest municipality in all of Nicaragua! Also.. I may be running a volcano 10K this weekend? I'll get back to you on that one.