My first couple days

Yesterday I met with the people from the JFR Foundation (that's the one in Oregon who I'm technically working for), people from the Board at the elderly home in Jinotepe, and people from the Board of the AQB (the childrens' organization). We went over the details of what my time down here will be looking like. Side note: my favorite moment of this entire meeting was when someone asked one woman to explain to me what I would be doing at the elderly home. The woman asked someone to translate for her, and this other woman, Carmen said, "no, I don't need to translate for her, she speaks perfect Spanish!". (cue Rachel's goofy grin and brightened eyes). The other woman thinks I don't understand, but it's just because she speaks faster in spanish than I do in english...so that's really saying something. I guess I'll just have to ask people to speak very very slowly, and hopefully all will be well.

Anyhow, back to what I'll be doing. As the plan stands, today I am being picked up and heading to Jinotepe. I will be living with a woman named Norma and her housmaid right in Jinotepe for about a month, and during this time I will be working with the Hogar de Ancianos (elderly home). Initially, my work is dedicated to gathering information on what they are doing with their pharmacy. I am supposed to observe if they are properly using the software to enter the inventories each month, and also just observe their practices in general. Then  we will be talking about how to market their service. (They sell medications much cheaper than pharmacies to low-income individuals, and then offer a delivery service). So our goal is to reach more people. The profits then come back to support the running of the Hogar.

So that's the work I'll be starting off doing. But so far my two days here have just been play time. Yesterday I wandered around Managua a little bit with Dylan. We bought some fruit (mystery fruit) from a stand in the street (that's legit- there are people selling fruit everywhere!). I don't know what this fruit is called, but I'm positive they don't have it in the states. I'll have to buy it again and take pics, because it is some odd-looking stuff. It's a little bit smaller than a walnut, and has a really thin green skin. you cut that and pop out this ball, which is like a giant pit covered in goopy pinkish orangish material. You pop that into your mouth and kind of just chew until the goop is all gone. then you spit out the pit. It sounds kind of nasty (it looks kind of nasty too) but that is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. It's a darn shame that customs would probably arrest me if I tried to smuggle in fruit- sighh. (On the bright side it leaves more room for all the artesania (handcrafts) that I'm gonna bring back!!)

My night concluded with a dinner of champions (pictured below) and a *warm* shower!! (night one I showered in ice cold water...come to find out that the heat control is on the shower head instead of the water knob...so night 2 was a much warmer shower experience) and then 10 glorious hours of shut-eye! :)  (Random other note about showering: they told me to make sure to shower with my mouth closed because of the tap water situation. I'm wondering if that's the issue, or if they just are trying to spare people from shower singing...hmmm)

Cena de Campeones!! (Dinner of champions)- V8, water, apple, and plantain chips. Yummmmm

Note the Disney Channel...did I watch Princess Diaries in Spanish last night? yes, yes I did.

Hotel room in Managua

I don't know what my internet access will be like after today. I leave in an hour or two and won't most likely have wireless where I'm going, so posts might be less frequent (or there might be internet cafes everywhere, and posts might be just as frequent!!) I don't know. 

In any case, I'll be keeping you posted the best I can! 

With Love, 

Rachel