Saludos de Nicaragua,
Before I get started, here are some really great (and short) articles about reproductiveve health as development, aka what I am studying/doing/my future. If you are interested, take a look, they are very short (5 min or less each). They are from the organization Pathfinder, an organization that I would potentially like to work for.
http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/no-more-crossed-fingers/send/TakeThisPoll/
http://www.worldpulsemagazine.com/node/12652
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/node/11119
So, I have officially moved into my new apartment! Or, apartamentito (small apartment). It is the smallest apartment that I have ever been in but I LOVE it! Because it is MINE and I do not have to share it with anyone!! I enjoyed the experience of living with two different families for the past few weeks but I definately needed my space!! Pictures will come shortly but my apartment has: a sala (living room) which includes a TV with cable, a stereo, two rocking chairs and some shelves. Techinically my small refirgerator is in the living room as well...which leads to the cocina (the kitchen). I have everything (just about...) that I need for cooking in my cocinita: microwave, rice cooker, utensils, dishes, blender, tea pot, a stove that I have to light to use (little scared about that one...) and a bar with two stools that serves as my table. Right off of the kitchen is the bedroom/bathroom partioned off by a very thin partial wall/curtain combo. I have a full size bed and a bathroom with a shower and toilet, the sink is in by bedroom area. I moved the furniture around a bit in my apartment, there was an entertainment esque center in the living room which I moved to my bedroom for my clothes, and a little table cart thing in my room which I put in the living room for the TV/stereo. There are lots of religious pictures and saying all over and I have covered most of them up with pictures. Hopefully my landlady doesn't think I am a devil worshipper or anything....My apartment is about 500 sq ft or smaller, I am bad at judging distances so when I get a second opinion I will let you know. I pay $200 a month for rent which includes cable/water/electric. I am about a 2 minute (or less) walk from the beach!! It is AWESOME!!
I went on a grocery store shopping adventure today to stock up my apartementito. To give you an idea of how much things cost here, here is what I got for around $45 I got: Rice, Beans, Tortillas, Bread, 2 types of cheese, Peanut Butter (very expensive here!!), Lettuce, Apples, The world's biggest avocado (about the size of a softball or larger!), a bag of salt (not sure how I am supposed to use it but oh well...), 2 yogurts, mayonaise, mustard, italian dressing, toilet paper, shampoo, a roll of paper towels, foil, dish soap, general all-purpose cleaner, matches, a big bottle of Diet Coke, a big bottle of seltzer water, a dozen eggs, a green pepper, hand soap, microwave popcorn, spaghetti noodles, fettuchini noodles, three single serving size bags of pasta sauce (everything here comes in bags!!) and probably a few more things I am forgetting. I was utterly overwhelmed shopping. It was like, what do I buy? How big a bag of beans do I need? How do you cook beans? (I have only ever eaten canned beans) which kind of toilet paper? I was confused on the type of toilet paper, so I opted for the purple package with the golden retriever puppy on it because it made me the most happy. That is how you pick your toilet paper, isn't it? I took a cab to the grocery store (only $1) and 30 min later he came and picked me up and helped me bag my groceries! I don't actually have an address, my unofficial address is to the right of the Gato Negro cafe up the colina (hill). Seriously. So far every cab has known where to take me. So if you want to send me stuff/mail you will have to wait, because I don't know where to tell you to send it!
I decided at the end of last week to do one more week of language school. I am on the cusp of really understanding and being able to use a tense in spanish called the subjunctive which I have struggled for years with. Plus, I hadn't heard from Rosa Elena (my boss her in SJDS) so I thought what the hell, I can put off work for a week. I was starting to really panic because I couldn't get a hold of her, finally the contact for the organization in the US gave me the name of the women who I would be renting the apartment from. He had no address for her because there are no addresses here, but just told me to, "ask around". I asked my teacher and she fortunately knew the women so during class she brought me to her and I was able to get my apartment within 10 minutes!
The one thing I am somewhat confused/concerned about is the drinking water situation. I am supposed to buy those big things of water (like office water cooler style) I already have the base in my apartment, but they are very big and very heavy. I haven't figured out yet how I get them from Point A to Point B without a car or big strong guy. So, in the meantime I just bought a large bottle of water and am going to ask my teacher how that is usually handled (Ie, is there delivery?). Everything takes so long for me to do here because I don't know how to do even the simplest thing, sometimes it is utterly exhausting!
My new favorite hobby is spending my afternoons on the beach jumping/bodysurfing waves. It is so awesome! I often get thrown around and tossled amongst the waves and don't always know when I am going to resurface, but it is such a rush! This is not something I recommened to anyone with any sort of fear of the water. The waves are really big here (tons of surfers) and sometimes it can get dangerous b/c a surfer can come out of nowhere and crash into you. But, so far, so good!
I have decided that the theme of my time here in Nicaragua is Swiss people. My friend Olivia in Granada (who is coming this weekend to visit!) is from Switzerland and my new friend Nikolas here in SJDS who lived in the same family as me is also from Switzerland. AND, I met a fellow volunteer who just arrived to work with the same organization, she is 1/2 American and 1/2 Swiss. She has been living in Switzerland for the past 11 years. I have never even met a Swiss person prior to this trip! It is crazy. I am now hoping to go to Europe around this time next year and spend sometime in Switzerland with my new amigos and hit up Germany and N. Italy again. Always a new trip in mind!
SJDS is utter paradise for me. There are many days where I am walking along the beach and just start to laugh and think, "this is MY life!!! This is where I LIVE!!" it is awesome. Surrounded by palm trees, beautiful beaches and amazing sunsets everynight. It will be very hard to leave here. In the meantime, YOU should come visit ME! So far I have quite a large number of people coming to see me: Kristina/her fiancee Andrew/her dad Dave over Thanksgiving for a week here and in Honduras, Colin in January for 2 or so weeks and Jennifer and Mike in February for 3 ish weeks. Which means I still have lots of free time for more guests! Think about it!
Well, I think that about wraps it up on my end over here. I will try to upload pictures soon (hopefully today), but the connection has been quite slow.
Hasta Luego!
Kimberly
Before I get started, here are some really great (and short) articles about reproductiveve health as development, aka what I am studying/doing/my future. If you are interested, take a look, they are very short (5 min or less each). They are from the organization Pathfinder, an organization that I would potentially like to work for.
http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/no-more-crossed-fingers/send/TakeThisPoll/
http://www.worldpulsemagazine.com/node/12652
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/node/11119
So, I have officially moved into my new apartment! Or, apartamentito (small apartment). It is the smallest apartment that I have ever been in but I LOVE it! Because it is MINE and I do not have to share it with anyone!! I enjoyed the experience of living with two different families for the past few weeks but I definately needed my space!! Pictures will come shortly but my apartment has: a sala (living room) which includes a TV with cable, a stereo, two rocking chairs and some shelves. Techinically my small refirgerator is in the living room as well...which leads to the cocina (the kitchen). I have everything (just about...) that I need for cooking in my cocinita: microwave, rice cooker, utensils, dishes, blender, tea pot, a stove that I have to light to use (little scared about that one...) and a bar with two stools that serves as my table. Right off of the kitchen is the bedroom/bathroom partioned off by a very thin partial wall/curtain combo. I have a full size bed and a bathroom with a shower and toilet, the sink is in by bedroom area. I moved the furniture around a bit in my apartment, there was an entertainment esque center in the living room which I moved to my bedroom for my clothes, and a little table cart thing in my room which I put in the living room for the TV/stereo. There are lots of religious pictures and saying all over and I have covered most of them up with pictures. Hopefully my landlady doesn't think I am a devil worshipper or anything....My apartment is about 500 sq ft or smaller, I am bad at judging distances so when I get a second opinion I will let you know. I pay $200 a month for rent which includes cable/water/electric. I am about a 2 minute (or less) walk from the beach!! It is AWESOME!!
I went on a grocery store shopping adventure today to stock up my apartementito. To give you an idea of how much things cost here, here is what I got for around $45 I got: Rice, Beans, Tortillas, Bread, 2 types of cheese, Peanut Butter (very expensive here!!), Lettuce, Apples, The world's biggest avocado (about the size of a softball or larger!), a bag of salt (not sure how I am supposed to use it but oh well...), 2 yogurts, mayonaise, mustard, italian dressing, toilet paper, shampoo, a roll of paper towels, foil, dish soap, general all-purpose cleaner, matches, a big bottle of Diet Coke, a big bottle of seltzer water, a dozen eggs, a green pepper, hand soap, microwave popcorn, spaghetti noodles, fettuchini noodles, three single serving size bags of pasta sauce (everything here comes in bags!!) and probably a few more things I am forgetting. I was utterly overwhelmed shopping. It was like, what do I buy? How big a bag of beans do I need? How do you cook beans? (I have only ever eaten canned beans) which kind of toilet paper? I was confused on the type of toilet paper, so I opted for the purple package with the golden retriever puppy on it because it made me the most happy. That is how you pick your toilet paper, isn't it? I took a cab to the grocery store (only $1) and 30 min later he came and picked me up and helped me bag my groceries! I don't actually have an address, my unofficial address is to the right of the Gato Negro cafe up the colina (hill). Seriously. So far every cab has known where to take me. So if you want to send me stuff/mail you will have to wait, because I don't know where to tell you to send it!
I decided at the end of last week to do one more week of language school. I am on the cusp of really understanding and being able to use a tense in spanish called the subjunctive which I have struggled for years with. Plus, I hadn't heard from Rosa Elena (my boss her in SJDS) so I thought what the hell, I can put off work for a week. I was starting to really panic because I couldn't get a hold of her, finally the contact for the organization in the US gave me the name of the women who I would be renting the apartment from. He had no address for her because there are no addresses here, but just told me to, "ask around". I asked my teacher and she fortunately knew the women so during class she brought me to her and I was able to get my apartment within 10 minutes!
The one thing I am somewhat confused/concerned about is the drinking water situation. I am supposed to buy those big things of water (like office water cooler style) I already have the base in my apartment, but they are very big and very heavy. I haven't figured out yet how I get them from Point A to Point B without a car or big strong guy. So, in the meantime I just bought a large bottle of water and am going to ask my teacher how that is usually handled (Ie, is there delivery?). Everything takes so long for me to do here because I don't know how to do even the simplest thing, sometimes it is utterly exhausting!
My new favorite hobby is spending my afternoons on the beach jumping/bodysurfing waves. It is so awesome! I often get thrown around and tossled amongst the waves and don't always know when I am going to resurface, but it is such a rush! This is not something I recommened to anyone with any sort of fear of the water. The waves are really big here (tons of surfers) and sometimes it can get dangerous b/c a surfer can come out of nowhere and crash into you. But, so far, so good!
I have decided that the theme of my time here in Nicaragua is Swiss people. My friend Olivia in Granada (who is coming this weekend to visit!) is from Switzerland and my new friend Nikolas here in SJDS who lived in the same family as me is also from Switzerland. AND, I met a fellow volunteer who just arrived to work with the same organization, she is 1/2 American and 1/2 Swiss. She has been living in Switzerland for the past 11 years. I have never even met a Swiss person prior to this trip! It is crazy. I am now hoping to go to Europe around this time next year and spend sometime in Switzerland with my new amigos and hit up Germany and N. Italy again. Always a new trip in mind!
SJDS is utter paradise for me. There are many days where I am walking along the beach and just start to laugh and think, "this is MY life!!! This is where I LIVE!!" it is awesome. Surrounded by palm trees, beautiful beaches and amazing sunsets everynight. It will be very hard to leave here. In the meantime, YOU should come visit ME! So far I have quite a large number of people coming to see me: Kristina/her fiancee Andrew/her dad Dave over Thanksgiving for a week here and in Honduras, Colin in January for 2 or so weeks and Jennifer and Mike in February for 3 ish weeks. Which means I still have lots of free time for more guests! Think about it!
Well, I think that about wraps it up on my end over here. I will try to upload pictures soon (hopefully today), but the connection has been quite slow.
Hasta Luego!
Kimberly
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