good news

Even though my platelet count is far from normal, it has come up 1,000 since yesterday! (It has decreased about 38,000 in the last 5 days). So at least it's not decreasing anymore! I have to stay tonight in Managua as well, but hope to get back to my site tomorrow after doing a few more tests.

My palms are itchy and I have some rashes on my arms, but my doc said it's okay and it's part of the dengue. My body is still achy and tired, but less than yesterday. My headache comes and goes, but its frequency has decreased. Now I'm in the "recovery" phase, and according to Wikipedia, the "recovery may be associated with prolonged fatigue and depression." My doc says that I might feel this way for a up the three weeks, but I'm hoping for a quicker recovery.

Take that dengue! I'm gonna kick your butt! I'm going to live!

dang dengue

I'm in a hotel in Managua because the Peace Corps doctors have to monitor my platelets and vital signs in this stage of dengue fever. This is definitely the worst sickness I've ever experienced-- worse than malaria and worse than amoebas!

It started with a headache last week on Wednesday. On Thursday, I had a headache and felt fatigued. I thought maybe I was just dehydrated, so I just drank lots of water. By Thursday night, my body started aching and when I went to bed, I got a bad case of chills and a high fever. I took some Tylenol and tried to sleep. On Friday morning, I called the PC docs to tell them about my fever and symptoms. They told me to go to the nearest lab and get some bloodwork. I didn't attend my training sessions. I stayed in bed all day, feeling awful and crying under my mosquito net! On Saturday, I still had the fever and I missed out on the trip to the volcano. By Sunday, my fever had passed, but I still felt achy and weak. On Monday I got more bloodwork, which indicated that my platelets were continuing to decrease, so the docs asked me to come to Managua for further testing. I came to Managua this morning and I still feel awful. My bones feel achy and I have an intense headache that comes and goes. I had some more bloodwork done, but haven't heard the results yet.

For now I'm in a hotel room watching Friends (in English!) and trying to relax. On the plus side, there is hot running water here so I'll get my first real shower in about a month and a half!

I know this post is a little sad, but this has been hard for me both physically and emotionally. However, I know that once my health improves, I'll feel happier and get back to my training with enthusiasm and joy!

Send me some good vibes...

oh yeah

On an unrelated note from the last blog, I went to this supermarket in a nearby city today. It's called Pali and I found out that it's owned by Wal-Mart. Wow. Wal-Mart is taking over the world!

Also, a word about transport in Nicaragua: one of the primary forms of transport is by busses. The busses here are recycled US school busses-- the yellow ones! They paint the busses with bright colors and build racks above the seats and "personalize" them with quotes from the Bible or stickers with Pokemons, Jesus, the saints or cartoon characters. They fill the busses above capacity and people stand in the aisles on the way to wherever they're going.
On the upside, it's cheap. And it's slightly more pleasant than west African bush taxis... I'll have to post pics soon.

Peace out :) I'm going to go eat bean soup.

starting a wish list for Christmas

So I'm doing a lot of lesson planning and for Christmas, I'm requesting teaching supplies this year.
Here's the list so far, and I'll update it as I think of other stuff:

construction paper
white paper
stickers (like those little stars)
lots of crayons
a lot of packing tape (I use it to "laminate" reusable materials)

I'll probably make a separate wish list for people who want to send me fun stuff, like hot sauce or chocolate or other luxuries!

Love you all...

nada mucho

Hello, world. I am in the internet spot downloading the first episode of Season 2 of Glee on my iTunes. (Sometimes, on the rainy days, or on the sick days, it's good to watch an American sitcom on my computer under my mosquito net.) The internet is so slow here, iTunes estimates that it will take 7 hours to download this 45 minute episode. So in the meantime, I thought I'd write a blog.

Everything is fine here. I've been busy in training, working with my group of teens and learning Spanish. There have been some unexpected bumps in the road which have prevented me from co-teaching at the local high school, but if all goes well, I'll be co-teaching this Thursday.

It's been fun working with the local teens. They seem to have a lot of fun in our meetings. Last week, we gave our first "charla" in Spanglish. (We were supposed to do it in English, but our kids don't understand it at all, so we helped them out by mixing it up.) Anyway, we gave a charla about responsibility and dreams of their futures. It was a good talk and we felt like we were actually communicating with the kids about something important.

In other news, the tropical storm Mateo has passed and the sun is finally shining. This is great news because I can actually get up and run or walk again in the mornings. I've been faithful with my yoga, though. It keeps me sane and balanced! And since the storm is gone, Peace Corps is no longer on "standfast," which is good news.

I don't really have much else to say. Everything is fine. I still love my host family and I think it's beautiful here. I'm grateful for this opportunity and incredibly thankful to all those who have been writing letters. Whenever I get letters, it makes my day!

Just know that I'm happy and healthy and that I'm exactly where I need to be. I love you all.

Nica 54 photos

a miracle

and here's some Buddhist wisdom from Thich Nhat Hanh (Be Free Where You Are) to help us get through these busy hot days and the possible tropical storm that could hit this weekend:

Dear friends, you are nothing less than a miracle. There may be times when you feel that you are worthless. But you are nothing less than a miracle. The fact that you are here—alive and capable of breathing in and out—is ample proof that you are a miracle. One string bean contains the whole cosmos in it: sunshine, rain, the whole earth, time, space and consciousness. You also contain the whole cosmos.