Tuesday, March 29, 2011

weather update

Today's paper reports the temperature for last Sunday at 96 ( 35.7 celsius)  Here is a quote from the paper: Para tener una idea, cuando el cuerpo humano alcanza una temperatura similar or superior a los 37 grados Celsius se considera que la persona sufre calentura o fiebre."  DUH !!!!! Thats right from the horse's mouth.  When I got up on Monday, I thought I was ill but soon learned from folks at school that it was the heat....everyone felt that way.   And the paper goes on to say that this is not an historic high....more to come.

When I am home, I sit around in wet clothes in front of my best pal, my avanica, my fan !!!  When I am at school, I just sweat !!!!! But, the kids don't seem to notice...they run like m
ad all over the playground stirring up dust storms and come back to class covered with sweat and dust, i.e. mud !!! but smiling, always smiling. 

I am attaching some photos from this morning as we started our compost and garden at one of my schools.






Pat

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Medical moment addendum

I forgot to mention that all my medical care was gratis...I did not have to spend an hour talking to the billing clerk before I got to see the doc. 

And...one other thing..ITS MANGO SEASON HERE !!!!!!!!  They are everywhere and sooo delicious . 

Friday, March 25, 2011

A blogworthy medical moment

I went to the local frijole lady last Sunday to buy some frijoles.  I took my little container for my 5 cordobas worth of frijoles ( 22 cordobas to the dollar)  and as I turned to leave, smiling down at my frijoles and saying "bien rico" I completely forgot that the little lady and her little husband live in a miniature house ( which is actually very very charming with its tile roof and adobe brick) so my forehead is the same height as the roof rafter sticking out of the side of their house...so, yep, I hit it with all my force and not only was it a rafter, it had a nail ( clavo in Spanish) sticking out of the end of it.  So...I got another hole punched in my head.  I hit it really hard and can even remember feeling the impact in my teeth....so blood started flowing and I asked for some heilo, well, heilo is about as rare as hens teeth so I settled for some water.  The little lady put some sort of salve on it which got me home before it started bleeding again.

 So, I called the PC office, which I am supposed to do and they told me to go to the local er.( we have an actual er here in Malpaisillo since it is the capital of the municipo)   I did and got a Nurse Wratchet there who remembered that you are supposed to apply pressure..boy, did she ever apply pressure with  a rag or something soaked in the old fashioned iodine !!! The doc on duty talked on the phone to the PC doc and they decided to give me a stitch, antibiotics and send me for a x-ray of my skull.  Well, I got the stitch, and the anitbiotics ( 14 cefalexina 500 mg for 42 cordobas , about $2.00 over the counter in a farmacia) but waited on the x-ray and later they all forgot about it.

 It was so funny in their treatment room.   They had these little packages of instruments in a steel tray, wrapped up in paper and I actually thought to myself , how nice, sterile stuff.  Well, they got out a little package, opened it up, used some of the instruments and  after they did what the did to my wound, they rewrapped the remaining instruments in the paper.....not the ones they used on me, and put the package back in the steel tray.   I think here the whole package would be "tainted."  Right ?

It has been amazing , the sympathy I have gotten from the kids for my pitiful little stitch.  They all ask about it and flinch with sympathy when I tell them the story.  so, cute.

So, I went back today to get the stitch out.  I sat on the bench out side the ER door as there were a couple kids in their mother's arms waiting ahead of me.  As I sat there, a couple of young chickens came and went from the ER, pecking whatever they could find.  No one but me even noticed !!

The kids, of course, screamed when the doc looked at them, so when he motioned for me to come in, I commented quietly, no qiero llorar ( I don't want to cry).  I think he knew I was kidding....but, never sure.

He looked at my stitch then went into the other room and came back with a blade of some sort wrapped in a package ( another sterile incident) and I thought, oh good, sterile. Silly me  Well, you can guess, he used it to cut my stitch out  then he put it back in its paper and laid it on the table there in the treatment room ( waiting for the next gringo to wander in, I guess)

So, I'll have to find something else to arouse the sympathy of the kids....my stitch is gone.

PS.  The frijoles were fabulous !!!!!

More later.
Pat

Friday, March 11, 2011

This is not a bus story

Quite the opposite ...I am sitting in my "hovel" downloading a movie on my laptop ( while blogging) and at the same time checking my email on my I-phone which is plugged into my computer..  seems strange to be doing this knowing that when I have to use the bathroom, I'll be doing so in a place where I have to throw water into the bowl to get it to flush and where it goes is not hooked into any sort of sanitation system...lots of contradictions here.

  Had a good week in school, the kids are so great.  I had sort of fooled myself into thinking the kids were just mesmerized by my words because they look at me so intently when I talk.  Welllll, today I realized, its my light eyes ( the color ) that has them mesmerized...not my intellect !!!  Another aha moment. 

I will be gone all next week to a language seminar, an update on our Spanish skills.  I was in the borderline group at the end of the initial training session so I'll have to show considerable improvement in order to be allowed to stay.  I think I will make it.....unless they want to get rid of me for other reasons...I am sure you all can believe that I have given them plenty !!!  I have a local teen lined up to take care of Nici.  Paying someone to take care of your cat is a new concept here too....like feeding them cat food, and using kitty litter.  She has a cat of her own who is a month older than Nici but Nici is a good bit larger.  She said herself it must be because I feed her !!!  Duh !!!

We were all on Tsunami alert today but we got a text from PC that they had had voice contact with 215 or the 218 vols. in country.  They were pleased with that success rate...it will be interesting to know where those other three were.  We do have vols. along the Pacific coast and they were the ones they were worried about, but..all is well.   So sad about Japan...lots of sad news out there....Libya being one of the places.  Their effort reminds me somewhat of the rebellion here in Nicaragua back in the late 70s when a bunch of civilian  rebels overthrew the Somosas who had been in power for over 40 years. 

Last tidbit..today I ate the BEST papaya I have had, including those in Hawaii.  And it cost about 1.50 and probably weighed 3 pounds.  It was so delicious..Earlier this week I had the same feeling about a pineapple and about 2 weeks ago, I had a cantaloupe to die for.  This fruit can almost replace HagenDaz, but not quite.  I still miss high butter fat ice cream...gotta admit it !!!

Thats all for now,

This is a little photo of the Profe who teaches 3rd grade and who serves as my counterpart here in the school system.  She is terriffic....boundless energia !!!
Pat

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Trip to the town dump

NONE  thats NONE of the kids, or their teachers,  even knew there was a town dump...so, at least now they know.  We took about 35 kids on this hike, out dirt roads , about 6 km out of town, I think.   I am not sure how  shocked they were as there was not just one big steaming pile..( as there is in Managua with about 100 families who live there to scavenge) but.there were lots of little piles all along this long road with shoes, tires, plastic bottles and other non organic stuff very visible. One kid found a place where they had thrown a bunch of cattle carcases and before we knew what he was doing, he had wrenched a set of horns loose from a head that was still pretty much in tact. yuk !!!

Apparently, they dump everything in one big pile and then set it on fire !!! So, all the plastic is burned creating all that toxic smoke.  They don't bury stuff the way our landfills do....this is not a landfill, its a dump !!!  With virtually no system....

  The biggest affect of the dump is invisible.  About 8 years ago, so Im told, the water under the dump got too toxic to use and it was part of the town water supply, so the town had to find another source and lay pipe a long long way to get it.  I am told some NGO footed the bill for the water system..it seems NGOs have done a whole lot over here.  So, when I go back to the school next week we will have some follow up to see if they learned anything at all.  Hopefully, they will at least start recycling their plastic bottles...if nothing else.


 Here are a few photos from this morning.  The guy in the red shorts is Raul Obando, a local young man who is concerned about the environment and leads a group of young people to do enviromental projects.  I think they have mostly gone on camping trips to some of the really beautiful places around here but i am trying to get them more interested in recycling, too.  Picking up plastic bottles along the road is a hard sell when compared to swimming in a lagoon in a volcano crater and sleeping under the stars in a hamock. I am going to try load a video of an activity Raul led this morning, well see if that works.  I tried it and it was taking too too long.  Just stills !!!