Nicargua is NISE NIAAZE!

Week 2 and Reflective Thoughts

I can't believe its coming to the end of week 2. Everything really is going well. I think this week was all about settling into our lives in Nicaaragua as well as having a routine. There wasn't much new things although i continued to take pictures of my meals.

Weekly Meal Pictures:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Friday( since Hospital was on Thursday)

On Monday this week, i went running in the morning, which I'm really proud of myself but I AM OUT OF SHAPE! And the Heat definitely is not a great addition. I hope i can run at least once or twice a week while i am here and hopefully incoperate that when i am back at school. Yoga is going Great! I can see  myself getting more flexible and i was able to do or partially do some poses that i would have never imagined i could do. I think everyone as a whole is really proud of their progress and we are enjoying pushing our bodies and finding out what we can do. This week almost all of us did yoga including the boys this time, which was cool. This Wednesday, I was able to go to Zumba with Eva, Emily and their host sister as i missed it last week. It was really fun, and actually a bit tiring and it was a Hot room soo we were all sweating profusely. The instructor was a man and MAHN does he haves some moves. He actually put all the women to shame! It was really when i knew one of the songs because my roommate from last year Marissa(Miss you!) used to test out her Zumba routine with me in our room. Unfourtunately no picture evidence but when i got back i was very tired and sweaty and laid down for like good 30mins.


This week in Spanish, we are having more involved conversations and its really cool how we are able to have engaged conversations. I must admit i am a little more reserved in class than i usually am. I think I'm just still readjusting to remembering all my vocabulary and all the tenses. One of the days of class we had to talk about our religion and what our religion believes, when we go to church, pray, and rules etc and it was really interesting to learn about everyones religion especially when talking in spanish. We also learnt some Nicaraguan Histrory and its very interesting. Last week on our way to the hospital our professor was in the same cab and told us some Nicaraguan history about William Walker,an American who tried to take over the Nicaraguan government. I got to share that in class since no one in my group knew the story. It also goes to show how distrust of Americans is ingrained in tther past/history. I only learnt spanish for 3 years-my first three years of High school- and its been 4+ years since I've had a class or tried to speak spanish so Im quite proud of myself and look forward to constant progress especially next month in the Hospital. I do have to do a better job or remembering and making time to learn all the spanish vocal for the tools name and i do have a PDF from school on triaging in spanish, which could come in handy.


In regards to class, we have learnt so much. We had labs/lectures on Blood Pressure, Fluid Pumps, Pulse Oximeter, EKG's  and Defribalators all this week. Fun Fact, EKGs are the most common only donated Medical Equipement in the Developing world.

FlashLight!

In Lab we made Flash Lights and  Power Supplies. On another note, what i have learnt from all the reading is, first and foremeostly Manuals-presence or lack of and the language is written in- really is makes a big difference. One of the biggest problems that occurs is user error and that is mainly correlated with not having or being able to read the manual. Another problem being power supply depending on the country the different Frequencies and voltage. Whether it is 50/60 Hz or 120/230V  affects which country receives the equipment because it may be useless. The US and Nicargua happen to have the same voltage and frequency and the people in Tanzania will see they have the same as Europe. Another common problem is the resuse of non-resusable parts which is not hygienic nor good for the longevity of the equipement.  This may be an Engineering based program but I'm learning so much in terms of healthcare and Global Health.

I am very happy with my experience although at times things may get frustrating but i really am enjoying myself and learning a lot. The other people in the program really are nice and fun people and also make the whole experience. Also its always great to be surround by  your peer who share the same interests and passions.So many here are all working on their Medical School Apps and i am so excited for them its great seeing someone else directly go through the process and in some ways i am sad and jealous but my time will come hopefully! All in Gods time and life plan for me and if not i know my knowledge, skills and passions will shine and be of greater use elsewhere. I also started doing some Graduate school research. Global Health Here i come!

Thanks for  enduring my reflective moment. More exciting pictures and recounting of weekend actives and Nicaraguan Mother's Day to come!

Happy Mother's Day(Nicaragua)

Adios :)

Taking Initiative: 2nd Hospital Visit Day

Bienvenidos

So this week there was a little switch-roo(i don't think i spelt that right)! Because this Friday, May 30th is Mother's Day in Nicaragua, we went to the Hospital this thursday instead.

Again we were split into the same 4/5 groups. Being that some groups had less engineering/exciting tasks to do last week such as fan-cleaning, we made sure that each group had a new experience. My group was therefore on fan cleaning having had very interesting and involved session with troubleshooting the problem with the Dryer.

Old Battries(One side)

 As we waited for our assigned maintenance engineer i notched the Manager had out a soldering iron and trying to make small conversation, I told him-in spanish- how we had been soldering a lot in lab. He then asked me if i wanted to solder and of course i said yes. He was trying to take off the wiring that was soldered to two AAA batteries used for the phone. For some reason the phone didnt have the usual spring and designated area for batteries so wires have to be soldered to the battery and then the wire was connected to a port in the phone.

Old Batteries(Sided II)

New Batteries that needs soldering!

Team-Work! Suceess :)

I was a little nervous because i came to realize i need assistance and for someone to hold the battery as i tried to de-solder and remove the wiring. Never be afraid to ask for help! I called on brittany and we mapped out a plan for how i should desolder. The director who was working on other task also offered some suggestions for holding the batteries in place. He also gave me a higher Watt soldering iron when the one i was using was not warming up enough. Nikki, my roommate also happened to walk by and i asked for her assistance and together we successfully able to de-solder and re-solder the wires to new batteries and the Phone WORKED! *High-Five to that*

Hello..Dayo!

Hi Nikki!

Ready!

Having been so successful and wanting to solder some more we asked the Director and he showed us a old-photocopier. we examined it  a bit and found that it no longer worked because of some user error but they didn't have a manual so we would have to do some research at home but he didn't want us to fix it. Instead he wanted us to take it apart and try and salvage parts from it and practise desolder more things. Laura also joined us on the adventure.

Taking apart something has always been something i wanted to do and with the lack pressure of not having to reassemble it i was excited. we unscrewed the back panels and took out some of the boards. I was excited when i could guess what some of the chips were. We took apart some gears and transformers. I learnt from Jimmy my last week assigned maintenance guy and the Director how to take apart gears. Overall very cool experience and more interesting day of work. We did stay a full day this week which will take some getting used to. Im also happy to have established a working trust relationship with the Director who saw i was willing and excited to jump in on any task and thankfully completed them well.

Impresora-Printer!

In our debrief as a group we talked about although we were here to help  and hopefully fix things, we are still amateurs and still learning and we should also use this as an opportunity to learn from the Engineers we work with at the hospitals and not be afraid to ask for help. Also the importance of establishing a plan and troubleshooting before jumping into a task. For example, before de-soldering I took pictures and we agreed taking pictures in order to remember how to put things back together is very important.

Painted IV Stands drying :)

I am excited for next week and hopefully get to do more cool things. This weeks tasks: Cleaning fans,  Painting IV stand, testing Centrifuges etc were more relevant to things we have and will learn and hopefully that will be the same for next week.










-----Adios :)

Primero Fin de Semana: La Isla De Monos y Volcán Mombacho

¡Hola!

Este fin de semana fue muy bueno! This weekend was very good!

Bus Picture Compliments of Leila

Saturday was Clacine and Baastian's last day in Granada. They were such a nice couple and it was great meeting them. Today we all- including some spanish teachers- met at the school around 9:30 and took a Big yellow school bus to Isla de Monos( Monkey Island), which is quite close and just a bit farther from the lake. 

Pre-Boat Ride Selfie

We arrived at a port where we boarded boats and then we explored the different islands in Lake Granada as well as stopped to take pictures and throw fruit to the Monkeys on Monkey Island.

Kaitlyn Looking Good!

It was really interesting to see some houses with For Sale/ To Rent sign, guess this is one of those places where wealthy people say they

own an "island" in ....(Nicaragua). It was really fun to do this with everyone and finally get to explore around. The breeze was also very nice.

Nice Houses

This house had an American and Nica Flag

Volacano Mombacho

The middle patio

When we got back, we went to a pizza place, which was organized by the school! pPzza is not my first meal choice but it was really good. The restaurant was very westernized and had all these pictures of famous Western artist. After some people decided to go to the pool but i headed home because i was tired. We all met up later at night and hung out on the Tourist street and had a fun night.

Candid

On saturday a few people figured out the arrangements to go to  Mombacho Volcano on Sunday. We woke up really late and almost missed everyone. We boarded a bus by the market that dropped us off by the entrance of the volcano. The people on the bus were nice enough to tell us when to get off. It was not to expensive, we paid 8 Cordobas each. When there we paid $16/ ~640 Cordobas for entrance/shuttle to the hiking trail of the volcano. It totally crossed my mind how much Cordobas $16 was and did not bring enough money. I only pay in cordobas and don't carry around dollars like the other but luckily someone brought extra and Elliot borrowed me so much! Thanks Elliot! 

Leilani in our SPHS T-Shirt! Memories :)

While waiting a group got off the bus and Guess who it was? Leilani! Again! Leilani is a friend i went to Hight school with who is in Nicaragua with her school TCNJ for a mission trip and we ran into each other a few days ago by coincidence and again at the volcano.

By the waiting area there were all these malnutritioned Dogs it was really quite said. I must note by default and the stress of all the roaming stray dogs in Nicaragua I have Almost Conquered my Fear of Dogs WHOOOO! 

Ready!

Its interesting to note there are some people who live on the streets towards/on the way to the volcano and in the gated area where the entrance is. We took another bus up and had a rest stop by a cafe where i tried Vanilla Nicaraguan Coffee, which in general is quite good. Finally we made it to the last stop where we had a lady explain the hiking trails. Unfourtunately the Puma trail was closed due to reconstruction so we only hiked the smaller one that circles the main crater. We also decided to do it without a tour guide but during the hike when we didnt know which way led to the path or to the viewing point the tour guides we saw on the way were nice enough to direct us.

Getting Info Before Hiking

Group Picture

Emily, yo, y Betsy!

Cool path/cave

Hi Guys

Beautiful Landscape!

Brittany's Cool Yoga Pose!

Brittany y yo :)

Coming back down we found out the bus/shuttle wouldn't return until 1pm and it was around 11:50 so we decided to walk back to the cafe stop. I don't think we anticipated how far that was we ended up divided into 3 groups but then the farthest in the back caught up to my group who was in the middle. we explore new ways of walking down an incline.  On the way down two shuttles passed us so it was not completely true that the bus was at 1pm so when another one came past we begged the driver to pick us up and then we picked up the others at the Cafe. 

Our Sweet Ride 

The drivers also offered for the price of $1 from each of us they could drive us back to Central Park. We took them up on that offer and avoided having to wait for the bus. 


We all went for lunch together. I had a Burito. 

Today being sunday we are all relaxing. I sat in one of the rocking chairs by the patio and studied some spanish vocal. I also had a pretty long conversation suprisly in SPANISH with Maria Fatima, our host sister and it was really cool that i could work through a conversation in spanish and really did try and ask and talk to her and not limit my questions because i was talking in spanish. I guess its a sign of progress. I learnt a lot about her and we do have things in common and got to ask her about things to do and places to go in Nicaragua. We plan to go dancing together, which I'm excited about and hope to get to know her better.

Dinner!

When Snra.Bernada called us for dinner she Hugged me when i opened the door and she said in English that she loved me. I love Señora Bernada. She is such a nice woman and a great cook! I hope to get to know her better and spend time with her and learn how to cook nicaraguan food with her. Finally got a Dinner Picture. We had a typical Nicaragua Dish: Enchiladas which was DELicious.

I have to get to reviewing our homework and post my weekly pictures and get back in school mode haha. I still can't believe its been basically one whole week in Nicaragua. I look forward to more amazing weekends traveling and exploring Nicaragua. 

Adios for now.

Buenas Noches :)

" Looking for the Low Hanging Fruit"

¡Hola!

Fue esta dia de regular. It was a regular day. Class, Lunch, Lecture And you know, YOGA CLASS! 

Breakfast was  different, we had our usual fruit bowl and choice of cereal after, i chose to eat cereal, it was Frosted Flakes.

Lunch was muy delicioso. We had rice again, which makes me happy; some beans, BEEF!!! and some papas fritas otherwise know as Fries, and Passion Fruit juice!!

Delicioso

Lunch

In lecture today we talked about Ventilators and their common problems and how to test it and fix common problems. Lab was a little different today instead of hands lab, we had a reading a discussion on WHAT IS THE DEVELOPING WORLD? and Working In The Developing World! It also rained during class! Raining season is in session!

It was interesting to learn how  a countries "development"/ Human Development Index (HDI) is  evaluated. Also to just discuss what is/causes poverty. In addition we talked about expectations for the next month in our assigned cities and the importance on building a relationship and earning the trust of the workers in the hospital. Also about having realistic expectations. Although it would be nice to be able to fix thing in reality we should go with an open mind and try to be of assistance or some help to the hospitals we work at. Also "Looking for the low hanging fruit" in terms of fix the easily fix things, theres nothing better than being able to solve a basic problem in high tech equipment. I guess it just made me think about my intentions and hopes of what i want to get out of the experience and be able to offer.

I am so happy to be participating in the program. I hope to bring about some change/assistance in any way possible and I'm open to helping in any capacity. I also hope to gain better understanding of the healthcare/Medical equipment issue in Developing countries  and make the most of the learning experience be it personal or academic.

On a lighter note. After class, Brittany our Lab Instructor is a Yoga instructor back home and after class, we all got tougher by the gym area and had an intense power Yoga session. Its been a few months since i last did yoga but i felt great and it was cool to do something new with the group. 

Yoga Trees

Yoga Triangles

We'll have yoga twice a week Tuesdays and Thursdays, i will definitely try and do it once a week. Also want to do Zumba while i am here and take a Dancing class.  A few nights ago we ran into one of the dancers from the first day and we said hi to him haha.

Dinner was also delicious. We had tortilla with fried cheese inside, Gallo Pinto of course, and a nice sauce/mixture of tomatoes,onions, possible garlic and some other things for the tortilla. After dinner I talked with Sra.Bernada, the woman who cooks our food. She is so nice. It was nice to practice some Spanish and she said that in future she will help me with my spanish. She is always happy when we tell her how much we like the food. We had to tell her not to prepare lunch since well be working at the hospital all day tomorrow. And I attempted to explain to her in spanish that we were learning to fix medical equipment in the hospital. She asked me some questions about what i was studying in school and how long engineering school is etc. Good Practice  We'll be having pancakes tomorrow We are super excited haha! And i believe Beef for Dinner! I also asked if she could teach us to make some dish and se was so happy to and said whenever we are free. IT was nice to interact more with her and hopefully i get to spend more time and practice my spanish. I also gave her hug! 

Later on that night we had a fly or some sort of infestation in our room because we left the door and the light on. We didn't notice it at first. First a few were just flying around, then on our beds and then we saw about 10 on the floor and twenty by the light. The bug spray wasn't killing them and we started yelling and jumping around soon the rest of the house came to help us. It was a great laugh. We finally knew who actually lived in the house and we spent som time out by the patio conversing with them. There are two kids about our age 19 and 21- Donelio and maria Fatima- we talked to them about school and what to do for fun. Hopefully we get to hang out with them sometimes.

Adios!