Engineers are also Professional Cleaners

¡Buenas!

I can't believe its been a whole school/working week! It came by so fast. This week has been soo amazing, getting to meet and know the other students better as well as our home stay family, constantly learning and practicing spanish as well as all the new knowledge and skills from the Technical Lab and Lecture. To end it off well and like every other Friday for this month, we had our first Hospital Visit. We went to la hospital de Amistad Japon-Nicaragua, Its the only hospital aside from the clinic in Managua! Japan has funded various development projects in Nicaragua one being the hospital as well as the water sanitation project. It was very exciting and we were all wearing our scrubs, Finally!

On our way out in the Morning

We met in front of school and took Taxis in groups to the hospital! I was the last group and it was  a little nerve racking when we couldn't find a taxi that could fit the remaining four of us.  Its interesting in Nicaragua, the Taxi will pick up people along the way so there may be multiple stops during your trip. Also each passenger pays individually so the price is not a set fee but a fee of 10/15 Cordobas per person.

When we first arrived to the Hospital, there was a big Gate. When we walked in and towards the maintenance offices, in the middle there was what we have been describing "Equipement Graveyards" basically the storage closet/area where all the broken, donated, and "Frankenstiened" equipment are stored. We were all so excited to get working and all immediately started accessing the problems with the wheelchairs and some like me and few others started using wrench to loosens screws to replace a chair. We got ahead of ourselves.



We were called to meet the workers in the maintenance offices, this included the head Maintenacne Director, the Engineers, Carpenters etc. We were divided into four groups each with a Group 6/Fluent student speaker. I was in Eva's group who is fluent is spanish and she is just amazing! Our group worked on cleaning and accessing the problem with the Dryer(Secadora) and Washing Machines(Lavaradora) in the Laundary room. Two groups cleaned fans and another cleaned the AC!

Equipement "Graveyard"

Frankeinsteined wheelchairs

Iyad, Becca y Elliot scraping Gum from the dryer

Dryer!

My group was assigned to an Engineer named Jimmy! who was very nice and could speak some English but only after i clearly didnt understand in spanish. He was really nice and patient and even taught me how to say phillps head and flat head screw-driver in spanish and helped me with my grammar.


Our task was to clan using vacuum and aircompresser the two dryers, both which were not working. One because it was missing a controller the other because of Gas intake problem which we lester figured out may be as a result of other things not the Gas intake itself. We hope to come back in the next few weeks to help them really acesss or give them ideas of what the problem is how they may fix it. Although they have had many technicians from Mangua and jimmy himself have tried to fix or diagnose the problem so its a work in progress.

Eva y you during our break

Becca and I during the break managed to somewhat fix the wheel on one of the wheel-chairs. She was familiar with the company who made the wheelchair and knew how to fix the wheel.

Wheelchairing

The main objective today was really one seeing the hospital and what a days work would be like but more importantly gaining the trust and respect of the workers. It was nice that the maintenance department was there to guide us in what they need us to do and some other groups actually got to fix things like one group fixed the Director of one wards chair.Also unlike what we may have thought, which was we would go to the hospital and fix things sometimes the hospital may only ask you to clean things like we were doing. Its understanding that we are her to be of assistance in any way or form and not coming in with an arrogance that we know everything. I hope the maintenance office gained our trust and now respect us and in the next few weeks we get to see more of the hospital and apply our new knowledge and skills and successfully repair things.

Eva!!! Happy after a days work! 

Street musicians that followed us into the resutranc

Once we all returned to the school we all had lunch together at a Restaurant called "Fresca" its on the Touristy street with all the bars and restaurants and interestingly it was owned by an American couple from california although they may have been Nicaraguan or from some Latin American country. The food was good.

Ropa vieja

Lounging!

Betsy and Shruthhi Lounging at the Resutrant

 We also had a group debrief about day and experience and thoughts and opinions. We mentioned some things we didn't expect such as the same indoor/outdoor mixture parts of the hospital, that there were stray dogs and cats, also their filing system.

The Lake

After lunch a few of us walked to the lake, which i hadn't seen yet so that was cool. It was kind of dirty and we saw a horse, cow and some birds and few stray dogs. It was pretty deserted.

Bridge/Dock leading to the water apparently for the military

Group Picture

After long day we returned home and had dinner which was really good. Since we
didn't have lunch at home our dinner was more heavy than usual. We had white rice, beef and potato croquet it was delicious.  Later on at night, we met up with the group and hung out a bar and walked to the lake again. 

#Enginereds & Professional Wire Strippers

¡Hola! Buenas Tarde

Today is Day 3 and I feel like I'm starting to get into a daily routine. I should manage my time better after class so i don't have to wake up even earlier to finish doing homework.

I never remember to take pictures of breakfast but we had our usual fruit bowl and a sandwich with some type of chicken seasoned filling like the pastries we get at school during the day, which is always delicious.

Today in spanish class we did more active learning. The first part, we went over the Preterite: irregular and regular verbs. For the conversation portion, the teacher had a bag of questions and we each picked on. Most were questions about how we or Americans in general celebrate certain holidays. Then we combined groups with Group 1 and played spanish shards where we had to act out a verb and everyone had to guess. Then also a game where we had to say spanish words of things we bought at the market in alphabetical order( Anaconda, Bola, Carro, Donut(me)..)) and we had to remember the previous things, it was not as bad.

For the next half of class, we played more games and learnt new vocabulary and pronunciations. One of the games i had to imitate a horse and sing a song in spanish the other groups stared as i trotted on the floor like a horse and everyone laughed.

Lunch was really good and different today. We had white rice, some beans, and PLANTAINS! Also some really good chicken and vegetable mix seasoned with ginger and i love ginger. Also we had some sort of guacamole, which was really good. Also the juice was different can't pinpoint the fruit possibly Lychee.

Lunch1

Lab was really fun today we learnt how to make power supply and in lecture we had learnt about Batteries, which we read about the night before. It was very Nerdy moment when we finished and tested for continuity and no shorts and everything was working properly!

Class in session

Professor Iyad Obeid

First we had to strip the big wire. Then strip the smaller wires. Black was the "hot wire", White was the "neutral wire" and Green was "Ground". Then we had to connect it to the plug and then screw that all back together.










Then having stripped the other end of the wire we put it through the actual outlet then traced the wire around and screwed them to the correct positions. We tested for continuity and no shorts using the probes of on the Multimeter and measuring the resistance :) I can honestly say Kaitlyn and I and the rest of our class are on our way to being professional wire strippers having successfully stripped the big wire. :)

During Lab, at one point the power went out and apparently the power outage was all over Managua. Shortly maybe after 25minutes, the power came back on. Luckily i had my portable water sprits& Fan so Kaitlyn and I were cooler than other but it was nice to have the Big fans on.

My fan

lj;j

Feeling accomplished

Kaitlyn and I with our completed Power supply

Dinner today was really good today. we had a tortilla, pinto de gallo, cheese and piece of sausage/Hot Dog. Tonight we talked a lot about the Education system in America compared to Europe/ other countries as well as Medical Insurance. The lady from Holland apparently is a Geriatrics Doctor.

We planned on going out to watch the OKC game at the same place as yesterday but it just started raining so we may not be actually it just thundered soo we will not be going out.

Nicaraguan Spanish Language School & Engineering Lab

¡Bienvenido!

Me, Nicholette y Jessica vayando a la escuela

Today is Day 2 and the first official day of classes. I was up by 5:50am because we are three, we need enough time to get ready especially because breakfast is at 7am. For breakfast we had the same fruit bowl and surprisingly a small PANCAKE more because it was unexpected. There was also Aunt Jemima Syrup haha. It was more fluffy that regular pancakes. Having walked back home yesterday, we knew how to walk to school and found our easily. We left early to explore Central park which, is across the street from our school.

Houses on our way to school

One of my favorite houses

Fountain in Central Park

Closer shot of the church

Today technically was still placement test being that the written exam has "holes" in that one may be good at reading and writing but not necessarily at speaking. SO first a paper with about 5rows and columns with boxes of different open-Ended questions was passed around our group table and we had to talk/answer. For example, What is your city like? Who is your favorite actor and why? what mode of transportation do you prefer and why? I was really nervous but I MADE IT, I will be staying in Group 4. My group is really nice theres Shana, Raj and Elliot and Brittany. We had two teachers Carla Y Maria Elena. Maria Elena review Present tense and then we had to conjugate verbs for about an hour. Then Carla asked us open-ended question and we talked, she's really funny! Also we learnt some new words and we have to write story using those words for homework.

EWH Nicaragua 2014

A section of our classroom

My table, Brittany

Lunch is always exciting to see what we are getting. We had a different juice almost like ginger Ice Tea. We had Yellow rice, Potatoes, chicken and vegetable(squash, Yuca, and Broccli).

Delicios

After we all walked to the bank, which was a really nice building and AIR CONDITIONED, which was great. The other tried to exchange money but no  one had their passport with them so they couldn't. Get to go back to the Bank Tomorrow Yahy!

In Lecture we disscused Electrical safety and Learnt about Transformers. We were given a packet today with engineering terms and tools in spanish. In lab we labeled our tools with their spanish names. 

Also we had a lab on Soldering & Desoldering and Connecting Solid-Core and Spliced Wire. My partner Kaityln is awesome and Im excited to work with her more. Only complaint about classes is it get really hot especially when soldering and being that its after Lunch we are all pretty knackered. 

Me and our Perfboard

Kaitlyn

Selca #2: My lab table

After class, which seemed like it would never end we walked as a big group to the nearby market. Then decided to meet after dinner to explore. Dinner today were two Hard tacos/tortillas, blended beans so it was like sauce like an salad. Señora Fatima, told us our first morning Dinner is usually light, so I'm worried because we eat light and early so ill probably always be a little hungry.

After Dinner we met up with Justing Y Elliot and then surprisingly more people showed up,who were looking for place to watch the basketball gam.We ended up at a Bar Place
and mostly talked and got to know each other better which was cool. On our way home we stopped at store and i got to see prices for things.

Now We are back at home and Im blogging while Jessica and Nicolette are reading. Going to get back to my Homework. I have new words to learn, a story to write and Reading on Batteries for Lecture.

Hasta Luego!

Day 1 & Orientation

¡Hola!

Today wass day Day 1 in Nicaragua and so far everything is going well. My roommates Nicolette and Jessica are great! Today is our official orientation. We arrived at school at 9:00am but other days school starts at 8:15am. Breakfast is at 7 so we were up and ready to go. For Desayuno(Breakfast) we had a fruit bowl of Pineapple, watermelon and Papaya, and a banana on the side, there was toast and coffee and water. There is also a couple from Holland here on vaction, who we eat with and are really nice.After Breakfast Carlos, our homeowner's dousing told us about their family,his life story and a tour of the house. The house has so many paintings and antiques such as record player, German Clock, Cassetes, lots of books and of course my instagramed Fountain in the center of our house. 

Fountain in center of the house

Antiques, Painting, Rocking chairs, Record player etc

Meet Jessica y Nicolette, my awesome roomies!

Front of our school

Inside the school

Carlos from our home stay escorted us but the route is pretty straightforward so my roommates and i should have no problem finding our way around. The school is in a really cool building, and we got to explore by the balcony area.

Balcony with Nicolette

          First we did our Spanish Placement exam, which was interesting but turned out pretty well; I was placed in Group 4/6. Im glad i feel like its both a good representation of my knowledge and will be a good level/challenge for me. Its really cool some of the student in Group 6 are fluent and that will be helpful when we travel in big groups! 

Next we had our official orientation talking about rules, class structure, stereotypes and culture shock, pretty typical information.

Rice+chicken, cheese, vegetables, salad

After we had Lunch, which was delivered by our lovely home stay. It was deliciousAfter we walked around a bit to get some credit for our phones and then returned for Part II of classes.

We also had a performance by a dance company, showing us traditional dances and combination of spanish, indigenous and traditional Nicaraguan dances. All the outfits were soo colorful and beautiful. I also like the music, hope I can learn few songs before i leave.

My favorite outfit

The last dance all three couples danced together

The center of the school

Our class consist of Lecture followed by a lab. our Instructor is Iyad Obeid, a BME professor from Temple University. We talked about Medical Equipement in the Developing world and had crash course of important engineering concepts we should have basic foundation in like Ohms law, Fourier Transform, Amplifiers etc. For Lab we just received our equipment and our partners are the people we will be working with in the next month, my partner is Kaitlyn, she just graduated from university in Iowa.

Dinner was really early. Shortly after we arrived from school Dinner was served. We had eggs, feta cheese, salad and  Gallo Pinto ( beans with rice).  And Horchata( don't think i spelt that correctly) it was like a milky drink we all agreed it tasted like cereal milk. 

Being that it was our first night and hadn't organized a collective way to communicate as a big group everyone did their own thing. We just stayed home. There is wifi so we were on the internet or reading book.

Buenas Noches!

Managua, Nicaragua 2014

¡Hola! ¿Como esta usted?

Estoy en Managua, Nicaragua. 

I arrived today in Managua and I am so excited for what is to come.

First Impressions:

• everyone seems nice/smiles back when i say Hola
• Its Hot!
• Everywhere is so colorful
• Food is good
• My home stay is beautiful! and has Wifi!

My Schedule for the next two months:

Training

May 19 – June 16, 2014 (Monday through Thursday)

8:15-12:00 Spanish Lessons
12:00-1:00 Lunch break
1:00-2:00 Introduction to Medical Equipment
2:00-5:00 Troubleshoot/Repair Medical Equipment Laboratory
 Fridays during June Hospital workdays near Granada

 HOSPITAL WORK

June 17 - July 18, 2014

8 PM – 5 PM Work at hospitals.
Please note that every hospital has a different schedule. You should discuss the schedule with
your hospital director or head of engineering on the first day.

END OF PROGRAM CONFERENCE
Saturday July 19 and Sunday July 20, 2014
EWH End of Program Conference in Managua
 Monday July 21

EWH program ends; transport to airport for departure

My flight went went, a long layover from Miami to Managua, but thanks to United Frequent Flyers Club, i was invited to the Club Lounge and ate soo many mini sandwiches and fruit haha.

I arrived pretty in the afternoon and found Brittany, our On The Ground Coordinator, very easily. 

Nica Selfie #1: Britany & I

I also had my first meal, which i was able to order and pay for fairly easy, knowing beforehand what i planned to order and the lady was happy when i told her-in spanish- i was practicing/trying to learn spanish. Interesting to note this Enchilada, was in the form/looked like an Empanada o_O, Nevertheless, it was delicious although the cutlery provide was futile. 

Enchilada y Ensalada

 Unfourtunately the majority of the students and the instructor arrived at night so we had to wait for everyone to arrive. As we were waiting i got to know Brittany, and she is Hilarious, and so much fun! She is actually an alumni of the Program and went to Tanzania. There are i believe 23 of us and majority girls! Yahhy, Engineering/STEM Women! When everyone finally arrived, we all boarded a Yellow School Bus haaha and were joined by Lydon, the owner of NSLS-Nicaragual Spanish Language School- the school we will be attending and one of our teachers Vernoica and another worker Carlos. On the bus we received our cell phones and had mini-orientation. At one point we went past a truck with chickens and lets just say thats one smell i won't forget about my time in Nicaragua haha but it passed pretty quickly. It was pretty late about 10/11 when we finally arrived in Granda from Managua where the airport is. 

We were split into pairs or groups of 3 at each homestay and all live close to one another and not far from the school. I was paired with jessica and Nicholette and although it was really dark when we arrived the Homestay looks really cool. More pictures later. We are all in one pretty big room and each have a bed. I like it and am very satisfied. The owner La Señora Fatma seems really nice.

Thats all for now. 

Buenas Noches :)

Engineering World Health Summer Institute-Nicaragua '14

¡Bienvenido!
Since I have decided to continue writing on the same blog about my adventures in Nicaragua, I see it fit to re-introduce myself again and any new audience this trip may accrue.  

My name is Adedayo O. Jobi-Odeneye, and I am Nigerian-American. In case you are wondering, my name is pronounced Aah-day-dhye-o, and it means "The crown has turned to joy."I am a rising senior at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. I am a Biomedical Engineering Major. I am interested in the fields of Global Health and Medicine and hope to combine my Engineering background with these fields to make a impact in area of Global health development.  My blog "Plat de résistance" meaning, "the best part", the main course, "the highlight",  recounts my amazing experiences abroad and my journey to fulfilling my dreams. I began writing  when I studied abroad in Seoul South Korea, from March -August 2013.


This summer, from May to end of July, I shall be participating in the Engineering World Health Summer Institute Program in Nicaragua. Engineering World Health, is a Non-Profit Organization, with a mission to empower Biomedical Engineers to improve healthcare delivery in the developing world.EWH, has Biomedical Engineering Technician Programs globally: Africa  Asia, and Latin America  in which they teach  and train groups of Engineering Technicians to better serve the countries and communities by repairing and maintaining medical equipment. The Summer Institute Program which, I am participating in is allows for college students and graduates to engage in a cultural and academic experience learning the language of the country they are working in and learn hands on technical skills to help repair equipment in public hospitals and rural clinics. 

EWH was created by Professor.Bob Malkin and Mohammad kiani in 2001 and has later collaborated with Duke Engineering  School, where Professor.Malkin teaches in the BME department, and the Duke Engage Initiative program.   I really encourage you all to learn more about the program and Donate to the organization. Professor. Malkin did a TED Talk: 

Dr. Robert Malkin - "Donations Hurt"

This will be my first time traveling to Central America and this makes me very excited. A friend of mine once told me that my Bucket-List should include living-even for short period of time- in every continent, and I say with the exception of Antarctica, but hey, we never know :)

I leave tomorrow morning, Newark --> Miami--> Managua! I hope to share my adventures and experience over the next two months here so stay tuned.

**Special Thanks to The Derfner Foundation and The Donald and Alice Noble Foundation for their funding and scholarship and making it possible for me to participate in the program. 

Adios!