The Worst Day ever!

Disclaimer: Computer time is of short supply and I am letting you know
in advance that I may have some grammar errors in my e-mail.

Hi all!

Its been a couple of weeks since I last wrote and many interesting
things have been happening here in Nicaragua as I expect are happening
back home. Life in San Juan de Oriente is very tranquillo and much
slower then in California but in now way is it dull. I was going to
write about all the political happenings in Nicaragua and with us,
trainees, trying to vote. Then tell you all about the mold and how it
grows on almost everything, about learning how to make ceramics using
the manual pottery wheel (lots of kicking), and about the Finca (farm)
party we had and all the random games we played with Kendell´s host
family. And I will but I first must tell you about the worst day
ever.

This week started off with a me having a cold by Wednesday it was
really bad but nothing I couldn´t handle. But by wed night I had some
weird pain in my lower abs. So I went to bed hopping I would wake up
with the runs. I awoke Thursday moring to more pain now in my chest
area but the cold was feeling better and no runs. (yes!!) So I went
to Spanish class figuring I would feel better as the day progressed.
WRONG! By lunch time I was crying because I could only take short
breaths due to the pain in my chest and I had no idea what was wrong
with me. I had to call the PC Medical Officer (the doctors) and Dr.
Martha said I needed to come to Managua to get checked out. Lucky for
me Don Douglas our bus driver was going to be able to take me to
Managua, so I would not have to ride a cramp school bus.

I get to the Peace Corps office and I am in a haze. I not breathing
well by body aches I cant lay down and I have now idea what or how to
get though all the forms for PC or where to go a blood test or food.
Plus every 5 minutes or so I burst into tears because I have never
felt this bad or had a breath problem before and its really scary and
painful.

I spend the next five hours waiting around, bursting into tears in
front of all my bosses and finally asking to call my parents so that I
can stop worrying that they are going to freak out when they call my
house and I am not there. Dr. Martha finally calls me in to check me
out. She needs me to lay down to better examine the pain I am having.
So she tries to help me lay down and I feel like my throat closes up
and I cant breath. Now I am hysterically crying and gasping for air.
So I am put on a saline inhaler to help open my airways. It does and
the doctor is able to examine me. She pokes me gives me a funny look
then walks outside to get the other Dr. He pokes me then they both
go back outside. I am able to breath more normally so I am not to
freaked out but I don't think its a good thing that they are leaving
the room. They come back in and tell me that I can go to the hospital
to get test run now or I could go to the hotel and do the tests in the
morning. This days has already been horrible enough for me I don't
want it to end in a hospital visit so I choose the hotel. So off I am
sent with 2 inhaler medications, antibiotics, Tylenol for the fever,
and ibuprofen for the pain.

After a horrible sleepless night I go back to the office to get more
test done I have an ultrasound, a chest xray and blood drawn. I wait
around all day, but now know where things are and I can get food and
not feel like a 5 year old being driven around everywhere by Don
Douglas. My results are all normal. So now there is no specific
cause as to my pain and breathing problems which has lessened through
out the day. I still have to stay over night for one more blood test
and see if I am getting better.

The next morning I feel a hundred times better. So I am waiting
around the office for my results when George the country director
comes into the Volunteer lounge looking for me. He calls me into his
office which feels like I´m going to see the principal and he calm me
tells me that my parents are very worried about me and had called the
Office of Special Services (oss) (which is the emergency PC number)
and that I need to call my parents. I breath a sigh of relief it was
nothing terrible and that my loving parents were concerned about me
because they couldn't get ahold of me at the hotel. So I was able to
call home and reassure my parents that was feeling better and would be
back with the Family but that afternoon. Then George had to call OSS
and let them know everything was resolved. I saw the doctor and she
said my results are normal and that I need to just keep taking the
medication and see if I get better in a week. Still after 3 blood
samples in 3 days, a chest xray, and ultrasound she has no really idea
why I am having pain.

Today I have more pain and cant take normal breaths but nothing nearly
as back as Thursday. Tomorrow I have to get more blood drawn and then
talk to the doctors again. I am happy to say that PC Nicaragua does
not mess around with the cost of figuring out whats wrong with you.
Now I just have to focus on getting better and getting things done in
these last few weeks of training. Think healthy thoughts.

Here is a recap of the more fun side of training.

Mold grows everywhere. I have lost a bracelet to mold. I had to
clean 5 bags that had mold on it and I even found mold growing on my
shoes. Lots of soap and scrubbing.

Making ceramic looks easy but it not. I am in the process of make a
few ceramic bowls. The family we meet is really nice and is happy to
show us how to make ceramic. We are happy to learn and seem to
provide them with a lot of amusement as we attempt to kick the wheel
mold the barro (clay), don't apply to much pressure, oh yeah remember
to keep kicking the wheel)

Finca (farm) parties in Masatepe with Kendall´s family was amazing.
They family was so excited to have as go with them to their finca to
have a BBQ. They planned all kinds of games for us to play. Banana
eating contest, saco water balloon volleyball, water balloon relay,
and saco races. I think my blue team one but who knows. It was a ton
of fun.

There is a huge election coming up in Nicaragua on Nov 9th. There are
parades and rallies all the time. They shoot of ¨bombs¨ which are
just loud fireworks that go bang. Its annoying. Then they had a
rally in SJO that became a huge dance party. Peace Corps required
that we do not associate so I just observe the craziness of it all in
passing. Interesting thing about politics here is that its all about
the colors. Pink is the new red and black that stands for Sandinista,
red is the liberal 1 party, and red with a Nike swoosh and a 9 is
another liberal party. You can easily identify homes what are for
which party because they have propaganda painted on there houses.

Here are some photos.



All the best,
Olenka

Write me:
PCT olenka langen
Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3256
Managua, Nicaragua
Central America

Esquipulas to Volan Masaya

Hola Familia y Amigos,

I´ve officially been living in Nicaragua for over a month! I´ve reached the half way point of training week 6, which means we have a lot to do in the next/last 5 weeks of training. Here is a recap of all the happenings the last few weeks since I last wrote.

One Saturday a group of us trainees meet up with a volunteer in the pueblo next to mine called Didia. She took us on a hike down to the Laguna De Apoyo, which is a lake in the crater volcano near San Juan De Oreinte. It was a long steep trek down but it paided off with a swim in the volcanically heated laguna. Very nice and relaxing. The hike back up is another story but the howler monkeys did not throw anything at us, we only heard their calls.

During week 4we had to do 2 formal charlas (meetings) in the elementary school and with our youth group. The elementary school one was on ¨los tres erres¨ (the three R´s). The kids seemed to enjoy the activities but discipline in the schools in Nicaragua is highly lacking. The youth group on the other hands rocks and really got involved in our decision making charla. We also had to select a mini proyecto (mini project) to do with the youth group and they selected giving a charla to the elementary students about trees and then planting some trees in the community. They are really motivated.

This past weekend (Sun-Wed) I spent in Esquipulas, Matagalpa on my volunteer visit with another trainee (Margot) visiting the volunteer Erika. Esquipulas is about 4 hours north or the pueblos and all we got was a sheet of paper with the prices and names of the bus depots and buses to take to get to there. So on Sunday morning at 6:30 am Margot and I flaged down the bus to Managua and were on our way on our adventure / field trip (we are traveling on a school bus). We had to transfer bus depots in Managua which ment we had to take a taxi. It really was not as scary as Peace Corps (PC) makes it sound plus I was able to bargain down the price. We arrived at Esquipulas and Erika was nowhere to be found at the bus depot / park. So we pulled out our map of the town ( not at all to scale) and walked in the direction of her house. We got about a block before we ran into her and her sitemate a TEFOL volunteer. In the 4 days that we were there Erika showed us about her town, 2 of the three schools she works in, where to buy the best vegetables and baking supplies, and on lots of hikes up and down the city since it´s built on a hill and you are either going down or going up. Her town is in the mountains so it rained a lot but the view was beautiful since everything is green right now. We also baked a lot of cookies and they were yummy!

Yesterday we went to Volcan Masaya. It´s one of the most active Volcanoes in Central Amaerica. We climed the volcanoe and could see the smoke coming out but no lava. Then we the crater volcano to the vista point where you can see all of Masaya, the laguna of Masaya, and the smoking Volcan Masaya. Then Don Douglas the P.C. bus driver dropped us off in Masaya for lunch and some shopping in the local market. The local market where we shop is non-tourist market so it is cheaper but dirtier then the tourist market. But hey I make a whopping 2 dollars a day so I go where I can get more for my money. The Market though is equivalent to a Walmat where you can buy anything from lunch to clothes, to household supplies, to bootleg music and DVDs. Its a very interesting place to shop. And today I may go to Granada if it does not rain.

In the coming weeks we have our mid training language interview and then our site fair to learn about all the potential sites we could be placed at. Then in Week 7 we have our last site interview and then on Monday of week 8 we find out our site. It´s all coming up fast.

I hope everyone is doing well. I´ve received my first package (thanks Jackie) and I have one more in the Peace corps office. I´m way excited to find out what I got. Thanks for all the letters. I love hearing about whats going on back home.

All the best,

Olenka

Write me:
PCT olenka langen
Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3256
Managua, Nicaragua
Central America

School buses and Gardens

Have you ever wondered where old school buses go? I would have said Ithough they get scraped for part or sold at some car auction. But Iknow know that they end up in Nicaragua as the mass transportationsystem. Every wed my pueblo mates (Katie and Jenny) and I hop on aschool bus to go to our training meeting in San Marcos. It´s always afun ride because were still learning which buses goes where, you mightend up rocking out to 80 music, or end up sitting next to a livechicken. So far we have made it to our training meeting on time andon the right bus.
September 14 & 15 were Nicaragua´s Independence days. Everyone inNicaragua had a 4 day weekend. There were tons of parades on Sundayin all the pueblos. I saw 3 different parades. The best one was withmy host sister´s school. Peace Corps however did not observe theholiday and we had a full week of classes. Spanish is going well. Iam learning new words all the time and correcting many of my grammarissues. But there is still a lot of work ahead of me but I am givingit my full effort so when Nov 21st comes around I will be sworn in a avolunteer and not be sent home.
We started our meetings with the ¨grupo de jovenes¨ (youth group). Inour second meeting our goal was to have the student make a communitymap. Well they really like the map activity so much that we ran outof time to finish it. Horrible time management. But we are flexibleand we will finish it on Tuesday at the next meeting. Oh and Ernie(our technical trainer) made a surprise visit to the meeting. it wasvery sneaky of him but the meeting was over good and it was our secondtime doing it. Today we completed another project with the Jovenes ,we made out Huerto (garden). 7 members of the group showed up, allgirls, to work on the garden. It took us two hours but we weresuccessful and created a really nice garden. Peace Corps (PC) showedup to help us just as we were finishing up. Ernie said we had a verywell made garden. So I guess I am a quick study at gardening 101.
This week coming up (week 3) we will be observing the elementaryschools because in week 4 we will giving our first of 3 charlas(lessons) in the schools. And it will as always be all in Spanish.It´s going to be interesting.
Other news:
Its rained the most of the week. Two of the days it seemed like myZinc roof was going to crash in from all the rain. Good thing I havemy mosquito net.
I´ve had a lot of really good fresh made juices and some interestingdrinks like oatmeal or a chocolate popcorn tasting corn drink. yum
I have rice and beans at least twice a day and up to three times aday. Who would have thought GalloPinto (rice and beans mixedtogether) would be a breakfast food.
I have found and bought Resse´s (over priced), Peanut butter (freshmade), and fudgesicles (mmmm).
Everyday something new or interesting happens. There is never a dullmoment. Oh and letters make training meeting a hundred times better.Ernie passes them out and its like Christmas morning. So start writing.