Therese Without Borders

Got Water?

2011-06-27T03:23:27Z

This week I have been doing sanitation and water conservation seminars for the communities. We have been meeting in their schoolhouses or community centers. We are doing the seminars in a very participatory manner, asking them lots of questions about their knowledge on the subjects and what kind of solutions they already put in action and their ideas. Then of course I present some educational information, statistics and facts related to the topics of sanitation and water conservation. We also did a demonstration with a mini water system we made out of water bottles, valves and plastic tubing. With this we were able to use volunteers from the audience to help us put water through the mini water system. This demonstration showed how when someone doesn't turn off their tap or leaves their water running unnecessarily, not only does it waste water but it also inhibits other community members from getting the water that they need. The people at the seminars were really responsive and thankful and especially liked the demo. I think next time I will try to incorporate even more visual and hands on things like that since they seemed to relate to that the most.

I was pretty nervous about doing these seminars in Spanish. But I have Carlos, a fluent Spanish speaker as my co facilitator, so they have been going fine. I feel that I can get my point across. The occasional problem I run into is not being able to understand what the Hondurans are saying sometimes. They speak so fast and without clear pronunciation, plus the accent is much different than the Mexican one I'm used to. For example they often don't pronounce there s's.

Although I did feel good about the seminars I couldn't help but feel like a bit of a hypocrite lecturing about water conservation here when I know that I use a lot more water at home in Minnesota on a day to day basis than they do here in Honduras. But I think regardless that it's an important discussion to have and good to get going anywhere in the world. Education about water issues is always a positive thing in my opinion. For example I told them about the fact that only 1 percent of the world's water is fresh and accessible to us (there is another 1% or so locked up in glaciers). People often don't realize how precious and scare our water is. Putting it in perspective can make people want to conserve more thinking about the future. I know that the more I study water issues the more aware I become of this as well. Many places that I travel to are dealing with water scarcity issues, which always makes me that much more grateful when I get home and there is plenty of water (at least for now).

The Joy of Mango-ing

2011-06-01T03:35:20Z

Waking up in Sulaco is like waking up to an orchestra of noises; birds and rosters crowing, donkeys and cows hollering, dogs barking, motorcycles revving, and if I'm lucky sometimes NSYNC blasting from the neighbors house : ). Although it's a smallish town of 7000, I think it's noisier than most big cities I've been to. The humidity is already thick in the early morning hours, with much more intense heat to come once the sun is out. It's the type of weather that makes clothes just seem unnecessary, and cold drinks and frozen treats the best things in the world. Did I mention that I love this weather!!?

If any of you don't know me well, I'm not too keen on waking up early (that may be the understatement of the century!). So I've taken to skipping the official group breakfast on most days and instead can wake up a bit later and just enjoy a mango before I get to work for the day. So if you have never eaten a mango from its' country of origin, you are missing out on one of life's finest. Fresh, ripe mangos are one of the most delicious things this earth has to offer. They are so sweet and juicy and the flavor is incomparable to the mangos you can buy at the grocery stores in Minnesota. In the mornings I will take my mango and carefully peel the skin off, making sure to also scrap the remaining fruit that's on the skin off with my teeth so I don't waste any. I eat the mango over the balcony so that I don't have to worry about the mango juice that is dripping down my chin, hands and even elbows and can just let it fall on to the street. There is just no way to eat a good mango without making a mess. Which reminds me of a story my dad loves to tell about his uncle, Tio Ramon, who was a total manners fanatic. Tio Ramon lived in my fathers house when my father was a child and he always had perfect, old school table manners, which he strictly imposed on others as well. So one day my father and his brother got really excited about trying to see how Tio Ramon would eat a mango. They bought the mango and excitedly presented it to him in hopes of a great show. But Tio Ramon simply said "gentlemen don't eat mangos". Well Tio Ramon, you missed out big time haha.

Anyway besides the mangos and the homemade tortillas the food here isn't too exciting and definitely not healthy. They fry a lot of their meat and cook everything in lard. There is generally too much salt and they serve any meal with soda (usually coke). Pretty much every meal here includes beans, tortillas, fresh cheese and some sort of meat. Sometimes they throw in eggs or rice and even some vegetables. One of my companions is starting to say ¨If I have to eat beans one more time... ¨ I'm still fine with them though, but I do miss my vegetables and the diet here worries me. I have noticed that there is a large percentage of overweight individuals in the older half of the population. But that may have to do with the fact that I have seen more potbellies in the last week than I am used to due to the funny habit Honduran men here have of standing around with their shirts half folded up in the heat of the day, which comically accentuates their pop bellies.

Since we are staying in Sulcao (the nearest town that has a hotel) everyday we need to get a ride into the communities that we are working in. There are nine different communities that we are working at, so some days it feels like I'm spending half of my day in a pick up truck. We pile a couple people in the front seat, but most of us are in the back. If we have room we also pick up anyone on the side of the road, from schoolchildren to old men with machetes. The rides have become an enjoyable part of my day. It's incredibly refreshing to feel the wind zipping around me while watching the beautiful Honduran landscapes rolling by; green mountains and hills in the distance, small plots of agricultural land growing corn or yucca on either side of the rocky, dusty road. Its just the beginning of the rainy season so the land still looks a bit dry, and the rivers are low. But it's getting greener everyday. And we have been lucky, it has only been raining in the evening so far, so we are able to get in full workdays in the sun everyday. We are usually the only vehicle on the road. Sometimes there is another truck or person on a bike, horse or donkey. Our driver likes to joke about how much traffic there is when we run into a herd of cows on the road. Our driver Ernesto, has become our best friend here. He is the community plummer and he takes us around in his red truck all day, back and forth from community to community for us to do our work. So we have gotten to know each other pretty well and I am sure he will be the person I will miss the most when I am gone from here. Ernesto is a big guy for a Honduran. As one engineer but it, in general, everything here is smaller except the bugs, the kids are scrawny, you can see all the ribs on the skinny dogs and horses that run around and the adults are short. But Ernesto is about 6 feet tall and solid, with a loud voice and charismatic personality. He gave me a nickname, Teresa la Mexican, La Reina del Sur (Teresa the Mexican, the queen of the south) during the first week and since then others in the community have started to call me that as well. I guess it's from some narco drug lords song, but I can't say I mind the nickname too much haha. Oh and did I mention that he keeps a steady supply of mangos available to us??.... I am a big fan : )!

Thanks for reading!

Diarrhea Diaries

2011-05-22T21:50:09Z

It only took one day for The Diarrhea to claim its' first victim from our group. Between stomach issues, sunburns, blisters and overheating, we have had at least one person down per day. But luckily no one has had any really serious problems and everyone has been recovering pretty quickly. Which is good since we have so many things to pack into two weeks for this project. This is the 3^rd implementation trip our group has made, and we hope that the next trip with be for the installation of the water system.

My part in the project is on the community education side, so I have spent most of my days so far sitting in on meeting with the communities and their water boards. Most of the engineers are working on technical aspects, going out and surveying the community for the system designs and gathering water and soil samples. I got to join the engineers a couple times this week. I enjoyed being able to see what they do and getting to walk around the communities. They have been measuring the water tap locations at every house so I got to talk with the families that live there and take in the landscape. And there never fails to be a trail of children following after us. They love staring and giggling at us. As I was watching one of these trails of engineers and children from my water board meeting on a porch nearby, it made me laugh to see a young Honduran girl walking behind one of our female engineers with light hair, reaching out and touching her hair with curiosity, well another Honduran teenager behind her kept slapping her hand away to keep her from doing it. The whole time this was happening, the engineer was completely oblivious to the commotion her hair was making.

It's interesting, part of my work here is doing sanitation education, but I have definitely been learning a lot about sanitation as well. Mainly that sanitation is a lot harder here; no wonder diarrheal diseases are such a problem. There is only running water for parts of each day, if at all. It is super hot, humid and dusty. There are animals, and therefore their poop, pretty much everywhere. I went to wash my hands the other day and found some little wormy things swimming around in the water bucket that we use to wash our hands (I think they were mosquito larvae). When I went to bed last night I found two ticks in my bed. (None attached to me yet, so that's good. Although I may just be missing them since the freckles I have all over my body are the same color as the ticks I found haha). This trip has also been my first time having to shower out of a bucket, which is actually not too bad, it just takes longer since you can only use one hand to wash while pouring the water over your body with the other hand. The diligent hand washer that I am has been really struggling to feel clean with the conditions here. I hope that this project will at least get rid of the water scarcity barrier.

Anyway we are staying very busy and learning and experiencing many new things every day. While doing a group Skype meeting at the internet café in town to EWB members in the US the other night, one of the engineers Robert, and I started playing a ¨how many unusual things will walk right by the front door ¨ game. We had a piglet, a 2 year old girl by herself, a three legged dog, a chicken, a small boy on an adult sized bike with 2 other kids chasing after him and a cow. Come to think of it, I would guess that none of these things are actually that unusual here in Sulaco.

Have a good week amigos!

On the Way to Hell

2011-05-20T23:10:02Z

Arriving in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, it kind of feels like I never left from my travels in Central America a year ago. I'm in a new country but it feels mostly familiar; precariously swerving along dusty mountain roads in an old van, passing fields of sugar cane, rural road side shops and towns, with everyone along the way stopping to stare at the spectacle we foreigners are. The air is hot and sticky, but after this year's long Minnesotan winter it feels incredibly delightful to me.

For the first couple hours of our drive to our destination town, (Sulaco, about four hours south west from the airport we arrived at) I eagerly looked out the windows taking in the new scenery. We stopped once to rearrange all the luggage and engineering equipment that was tied (not very securely) to the top of our van and were able to buy a few coconuts to drink. We giddily passed the coconut waters around in the van and chattered about the adventures to come in the next week. After we settled into the drive and some of my fellow travelers started to dose off, I was reminded of a discussion our group had on the trip here about the ethics of this trip. It stemmed from a lecture that we read by Ivan Ilich about how wrong and harmful it is for Americans to do service trips in developing countries. He referred to the famous Irish saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." This same topic of service trips and projects through non-governmental organizations has already come up in at least three of my classes this year, and we go back and forth with this argument. Should we really feel good about swooping in for two weeks to help with a community project or are we simply causing more problems? Well after thinking about this I still haven't come to a clear determination. I think that one thing that sets us apart is that the group of communities that we are working with in Honduras had to apply to Engineers without Borders asking us to help with a water supply project. So if they solicited our help does that make a difference? We are definitely not forcing this on them. Also, even though we are only here in the communities for two weeks, this project has been being worked on from Minnesota since 2009 and had ongoing regular communication with the community (including two previous trips). We also have an organizational commitment to continue working with this project 2 years after it has been implemented. We are going into this project planning to make it sustainable, and maintainable by the community.

While I do agree that many service project and trips can cause a great deal of damage, especially in the after math once the foreigners leave, I still believe that if done correctly with the right conditions, they can be a good thing. But I continue to worry that this is just ideological thinking on my part, my own ignorance and inexperience justifying it. So even though I may not be sure if what this whole project represents will actually do good, what I am sure about is that our group needs to remain aware of and try to avoid, the pitfalls that are easy to fall into coming from an ethnocentric culture to a less developed place. We may be experts in our fields back home, but here we don't know a damn thing about what is best for the communities in particular situations. Therefore, we need to spend a lot of time listening. We can share with them the work that we have done to prepare and design this project, but they need to be in control of the direction that this project goes. We have put a great deal of time into creating a number of alternative options for the project which we will explain the cost and benefits of to the communities, then let them decide. Over the course of this trip, I am certain that we will be learning a lot from the communities. According to Ilich, it's okay to go to developing countries to travel and study. So at least for me, I can look at this as that I am here to study and learn and will help as much as I can in the mean time.

As we arrived at our hotel, members from each of the communities that we are working with were waiting for us. They surrounded us as we got unloaded out of the car, while many more onlookers leaned over the balconies above to look at us. They embraced us, fed us, and told us how happy they were to see us. And in that moment my good intentions felt right, so for now to hell with them I go.

On the Road Again

2011-05-14T17:13:50Z

I just finished my finals I am now more than ½ done with my masters degree in environmental public health, yah! I feel I have learned so much in the last year, and met a lot of very amazing like-minded people in the school of public health. But it seems like the more I go to school and learn, the more I realize I don't know. And I always thought it would be the other way around...

Anyway, today I leave for Honduras to do my field experience. The field experience is a required part of my degree program, with the purpose of getting us out in the public health arena in the real world to practice applying our skills. I am going with Engineers without Borders to the area of Sulaco, Honduras to work on a water supply project that serves 9 rural communities. This project fits well for me because I have a global concentration in my degree, I always like an opportunity to improve my Spanish, and water issues are one of my main interests in public health.

I feel like I am pretty comfortable traveling in Latin America after doing it alone last year. What I am most anxious about is going with the responsibilities of being the only public health person in the group. But none-the-less, I am very excited to go on this new challenge and to roam new territory. I will be helping with community education and health surveying among many other things. My main goal is just to help the engineers in whatever way they need and to make sure that everything that we are doing is in the best interest for the health of the communities that we are supporting with our project.

Sulaco is going to be very rural and I'm not even sure if I will have internet access while I am gone, but I will write as soon as I can and I will be taking a camera and a flip video cam so I should have some interesting things to share soon!!!

Paz amigos,

THERESE

Finally into Central America

2010-05-17T16:21:49Z

Phew . . . so where did I leave off? It's hard for me to remember since I've been moving
around soo much lately. But I will write a few excerpts of scenes from my life in the past weeks to give you a sense of my time spent here. Starting with...

Dandy Doggy Brandy

I had 10 days or so dog sitting in beautiful Coatepec. My accommodations where much nicer then I have been used to, to say the least! I ended up staying most of the time in the owners big beautiful house that she just built a couple years ago. She had an amazing book
collection so I spent a lot of time reading. One day I went to a neighboring town called Tico and hiked to a waterfall. It rained a lot during my stay there, but it was peaceful and beautiful and I had the seriously dorky Cocker Spaniel Brandy the to keep me company.

Magically Musical Veracruz

Next I headed to Veracruz the city. It is on the eastern coast of Mexico. Veracruz was kind of dirty and grimmie, but also one of the best places I think I've been to yet because it was soo alive with music. It was a Sunday night and the whole city was like a musical. There was dancing and music everywhere! There would be one theatrical scene somewhere, then I would walk away from that and 10 more feet down the road another one. There was also such a diversity of types of music. There were older people dancing to an orchestra, there were teens dancing to hip hop, of course all ages dancing salsa, there were traditional dancers and drum lines, hula-hoop dancers etc. etc. There were also no international tourists. I don't know why, maybe they haven't discovered it yet, only tourists that were other
Mexicans. This was refreshing because it felt very unspoiled since everything wasn't catered to foreigners like some places that I've been to are. With the down side being there aren't any hostels, so I had to stay alone in a very crappy hotel. Anyway I loved Veracuz and am determined to go back there when I get a chance.

Rapid Rio Retreat

The next couple days I spent in Boca de Rio ("Mouth of the River" because it is where the river joins the sea), which is kind of a suburb of Veracruz, because one of my aunts and cousins from Mexico City decided to have a little vacation there. So I got to relax and hang out with them for a couple of days, but then was forced to hurry on my way because my Mexican visa was about to expire and I needed to get into Guatemala.

. . . So begun my a crazy 24 hour journey! I left Veracruz city on an over night bus
that took me to a border town in Mexico. Form there I took another bus that
took me (and luckily guided me through the process) across the border. That bus dropped me off on the side of a highway in the middle of some small town in Guatemala! And as you can imagine I make quite the scene with my big backpack and looking all foreign-y and everything, so naturally everyone is staring at me. So I had no idea where I was, but knew which town I wanted to end up in, so I just kept asking how to get there and people would direct me which bus to take. From there I got on my first ¨chicken bus¨

***A little about the chicken buses in central America, now that I've been on quite a few I can try and give you a feel for what they are like. They are old school buses from the US that have been stripped and repainted will all sorts of new colors! These buses offer cheap transportation down the road or across the country. Now as most of you have seen, the seats in school buses are made for about two adults. But here in Guatemala we put three people in each seat, which means that the third person is half on the seat and half in the aisle, so that all the aisles are full too, plus there is other people standing. The passengers also often have to bring along things...luggage, giant tortilla baskets, stacks of egg cartons, babies, mannequins (yes I did see this) and of course live chickens (hence the nickname chicken buses). Now to mount the buses; usually you have to make a run for it, the bus many times doesn't actually stop, there is a guy that will grab any stuff that you are carrying and throw it on, then you have to run next to that bus and jump on. I was not quite used to this so usually there is some guy yelling ¨rapido mama!¨ at me. Once the passengers are barely in the door the bus goes barreling down the roads at inconceivable speeds as the passengers go jerking from side to side with each turn and flying into the air as the bus sails across speed bumps and giant potholes. Then to top it off there is usually some crazy hyper Mexican banda music to go along with the ride!

So quite an interesting experience to say the least : )***

Sacred Shores of San Pedro

From there I landed in Santiago on the shore of lake Atitlan and thankfully caught the last boat of the evening into the town San Pedro la Laguna. Lake Atitlan is quite the picturesque lake, surrounded by beautiful mountains and small towns. It justifiably has a sacred significance to many Guatemalans and is also a favorite travel place for many foreigners both young and old. I got to go on a horse ride up into the mountain to enjoy some of the gorgeous views that lake Atitlan has to offer and wonder around the friendly town for a couple of days. I stayed in a fun hostel that was full of musicians, so got to be serenaded every night by some seriously talented folks.

Escuela de los Montanas

Next I headed to a Spanish school in the mountains (the closest town about a 15 min bus ride is called Colomba). The communities next to the school are so small they each only have two streets. The students stay and take classes on the school house grounds and then go into the communities to eat meals with a family there. This was an incredible learning experience for me. Yeah sure I learned some Spanish, but I also was able to spend a lot of time reading about the history of Guatemala and talking with the locals there. The peace accords were only signed in 1996, so most of the people have very clear memories of the war and have been personally effected in very intense ways; family members killed, disappeared, tortured or all of the above, fighting in the war, living in constant fear etc. The two neighboring communities that the mountain school interacts with are ex coffee plantations workers. REMEMBER TO DRINK FAIR TRADE COFFEE EVERYONE! For many people it's hard to imagine the conditions that the workers of most coffee plantations are subjected to. It was very interesting to see what life is like in such a rural situation, and hearing peoples personal life stories, I hope I get the chance to share some of them with you in person. Each day I continue to be dumbfounded by the cruelty of some people in this world, then inspired by people's incredible resilience and also overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude for all the wonderful luxuries, opportunities and love I have in my life!

Okay this is getting really long, so I will update again soon with some more of my Guatemalan adventures

Have a good one

Until next time

THERESE

Jungles and Hostels and Iguanas , oh my!

2010-04-25T04:00:44Z

Hola amigos!!!

Ive been doing a lot since I last wrote. I spent 2 weeks in Puerto Escondido. Soaking up lots of sun and relaxing on the beach. The coast is incredibly hot, you have to walk around really slowly, and you are still really sweaty whereever you walk. I lived on aguas de sabor (refreshing waters that they flavor with fruit) and fruit popsicles made with the real stuff! Yum - the best I've ever tasted! I went swimming when I could, but Puerto Escondido is more of a surfer's destination than a swimmers' so sometimes the waves were too big!! The hostel I stayed at was really clean and great will lots of fun travelers to meet and hang out with. We would all go out together at the bars on the beaches. There is something about being able to be barefoot in the sand at a bar that feels really nice! I did a day trip with some friend to Mazute y Zipolite, beaches about an hour south on the coast. They were also gorgeous! They are famous for being small hippie destinations. It was very peaceful and chill. Zipolite is also famous for being the one nude beach around.

After about 2 weeks I was feeling too lazy from being a beach bum for too long and decided to head Chiapas, the most southern state of Mexico before Guatemala. I took an all night bus to San Cristobal de las Casa. Chiapas is known for having a very large indigenous population and also for being a place where the Zapatistas are! The colors of the textiles and art there was just amazing - everything was so bright and beautiful. The scenery is beautiful as well in Chiapas. It's mountainous and green with jungles, lakes and waterfalls. It's nice and warm in the sun but got very cold at night! I stayed at a hostel that was very social and had a bonfire every night for all the travelers, I met many cool people from all over and did a few cool excursions. I went to Palenque, a ancient ruin site that is smack dab in the middle of the jungle - the most beautiful surroundings of ruins I've seen. I went to Agua azul, some impressive waterfalls! I went to Tuxtla, the capital of Chiapas and did their famous zoo and also the Cannon de Sumidero, a famous canon in the river. I also went to a nearby indigenous village and to some caves.

I had previously just about run out of money, when I got a big fat tax return. So onward my travels go!! Next I spent a week in Oaxaca again. With my tax return I was able to take some more classes with my amazing Spanish teacher and some salsa dance lessons. Plus I got to hang out with my friends from Oaxaca. I stayed on the couch of the same German friends as before, who now have a new adopted kitty that we had fun with. My last night in Oaxaca I returned to Candela, the best place in town to go Latin dance, with some girlfriends. It was a particularly sweaty night, but probably the best I've had so far since my dancing has improved a lot, and I spent the whole night rotating between three salsa instructors (lucky, happy and tired me!). It always makes it much more enjoyable to be with good dancers especially since I am just learning.

This last weekend me and my friend Shiren headed into Mexico City to hang out with a couple we had made friends with the previous weekend in Oaxaca. They were great, took us around town and too a soccer game, which I've been wanting to do since I got to Mexico. It was CRAZY to say the least. The fans get soo into it. Im just used to twins baseball games were it's really calm. It was a the big university of Mexico stadium with their team, the Pumas, against some other university team. Everyone there wears sports gear and they sing the ENTIRE TIME, seriously, never stopping. All the chants were to the beat of a drum, and everyone jumping around and yelling. And this wasn't even an important game! A pretty wild experience! Next I spent a couple days with my relatives in Mexico City and left for Puebla Tuesday morning. I have been trying to make my huge backpack smaller. I think I have a bit, but its still ridiculously heavy. I get quite a work out while wearing it. I took the underground subway to get to the bus station in Mexico City, and almost couldn't get out the gate because of my large backpack!

I spent a day in Puebla, Mexico. I was surprised at how lovely it was. The churches were some of the most impressive I've seen yet! The food there...ooh my gosh! And there were lots of beautiful parks with gorgeous greenery. Just stayed for one night, so I wandered around town all day and went to a couple museums. The hostel was pretty weird though because it was completely empty but me!! So I was pretty lonely. I ate some regional specialties for dinner then headed to a movie for the night. The next morning I headed to Jalap, Veracruz for a dog sitting gig! My friend Beth had seen an ad to stay in an apartment and watch a dog for a lady that lives in Coatepec, Veracruz, just next to Jalapa for three weeks. We were both interested in seeing that part of Mexico but not for three weeks, so we decided to split it, Beth and her boyfriend for the first ten days, me for the second. On the bus ride I met a super nice Mexican that was going to visit her parents that live in jalapa for the week. She invited me to eat and meet her family and told me she will show me around jalap when I get a chance!

Coatepec is beautiful, it's very wet and rainy and incredibly green! The dog I am staying with is a super cute cocker spaniel! My apartment is small but lovely with a lofted bedroom and overlooks a lush green valley! The dogs owner also owns an ecolodge which has a sauna and many hiking trails, so I'm sure I will be using that a lot!

Okay promise to write again soon!

Here are some photos from recently

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2707936&id=8609614&l=1f097c1dfe

Til next time.....

THERESE

Just Another Day in Paradise

2010-03-09T16:44:17Z

Hola

Trying to start where I left off . . .

My second month in Oaxaca went by very quickly. I went in to Volunteer at Oaxaca Street Children everyday for a few hours. I met lots of cool people there because there were many travelers that volunteered on there way through Oaxaca! I was proud of myself for living on my own for a month, but I think I've had enough of that for now. It was pretty lonely at night. I battled a stomach thing for about a week. Hopefully the last time for a while, but I took some antibiotics and that cleared up.

Some highlights from this last month: I went on an amazing trip to Heirve el Agua, which is a place that has natural springs and petrified waterfalls. It was beautiful. I went with my friend Gandhi to meet a local artist who makes Mexican folkloric art out of "garbage". She is so creative and her artwork is really cool. We got to go to her house and see her studio and talk to her all about her art and experiences. My other friend took me to the pueblo of his grandmother and the nearby towns. I got to spend time at her ranch and we went to a Mezcal house to see how it is made and then taste different kinds. We went strawberry eating, um I mean picking haha ....yum! I took a couple more dancing lessons. I am loving Latin dance more and more. I went to the Santo Domingo museum and also a tour of the Ethnobotanical gardens there. Santo Domingo is this absolutly beautiful, huge catholic church, I went a little overboard wth pictures, but the plants and views were just breathtaking! I got rejected from the U of Minnesota Masters of Nursing program (okay that's a lowlight). Which I was pretty sad about . . . but, I got accepted to the U of M masters in Public Health program in the Environmental Health program. I havent made a for sure decision because I still have to hear from some more schools and think about it, but I am excited about this program, so I think I will be starting my Masters degree next fall!!

After my months rent was over, I wanted to stay in Oaxaca for a few more days and a few Germans that also volunteer at the Center with me kindly offered their couch futon at their house to me. So I was couch surfing this last week and have offically moved into my backpack, which required donating some clothes of mine and storing a few others at my old host family´s house. I was sad to leave Oaxaca because of the great friends (especially Carlos) that I have aquired there, but also ready to get out and see more of Mexico. So on Friday morning Carlos and I headed to the coast. Carlos has a glass/window company that he had some work to do for in the coast area, so it worked out perfect for getting a ride there. We spent some time in a few coastal towns, Rio Grande and Salina Cruz where his jobs were and also where he has some relatives. Then we spent a whole day in Huatulco, it's the most commerical part of the coast here probably and also the most beautiful. And then we spent a couple days in Puerto Excondido, which is where I stayed, and am now. Puerto Escondido is cheaper and is known for being one of the best spots to surf! I just checked into my hostel early this morning and then spent a couple hours watching the ocean and the surfers. The coastal area is beautiful, it's exteremly hot, and I am very happy to be here! I am also lucky to have a friend from California who I met and really hit if off with in Oaxaca who is doing a program here in Puerto Escondido this month. So I´m sure we will be spending a lot of time together. I'm not sure how long I am going to stay here becuase I want to check out some other areas of the coast, but I will keep you all posted!

Here are pics from Oaxaca and a few from the beach so far,

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2683153&id=8609614&l=ed8e80f009

enjoy, like I said, there are A LOT!!

Til next time....

love from the beach

THERESE

Decided to Stay in Oaxaca a little longer....

2010-02-08T16:11:11Z

Hi hi!! I've been having so much fun that I have been putting off writing my blog. Hmm where do I start? So I did my week in the clinic with an alternative physician. She was really great to work with. She has studied Chinese medicine and acupuncture in China and herbalism in Spain. I am definitely going to remember the tender way that she talked to her patients and the tenderness that she touched them with. Some of my duties at that clinic included taking the needles out after an acupuncture session and also taking blood pressure and applying herbs on to the body.

The last week of my Child Family Health International program was at CRIT, (Centro de Rehabilitación Infantil Teletón) a center for handicapped children in Oaxaca. They have several CRITs in major cities around Mexico and try to build a new one every year from funds that they raise in a major telethon every December. But they are still pretty far in between if you don't live in a major city. One mom that I saw had traveled 8 hours with her daughter to come to CRIT for appointments for the day. Anyway the Crit facilities are amazing. Beautiful, clean, latest technology, the staff where I worked with were all really good with the kids and really compassionate. They have all types of physical therapy including a huge pool for therapy, occupational therapy, dentists, art therapy, psychiatrists, sports therapy, mechanical therapy with machines that I don't understand , electrotherapy, all types of physicians etc etc... all specialized to work with handicapped children. I have really been noticing based on the clinics that I have been to, the technology and standards of sanitation are a lot lower I think mostly because they don't have the resources, but CRIT was right up there with the best centers Ive seen in the US! I spent my time there working in the nursing station. I took a lot of vitals signs on patients which was really good for practicing my numbers in Spanish. Im really glad I got to do this program, I have learned so much about the health care system here and got a chance to know Oaxaca which I love more and more each day!

This last week I moved out of my host family's house and into an apartment to stay here for another month or so, I am renting from a friend of my host moms, who is cutting me a deal. I am continuing with Spanish lessons twice a week with my amazing teacher and have been volunteering at an organization called Oaxaca Street Children. They are an organization that provides kindergarten for the kids that would otherwise probably be working on the street . They serve lunch to up to 80 children per day, provide medical care when they have a nurse or doctor available and a center for support. They also set up sponsorships for people to financial support children though high school. I have been doing anything from going through the clinic to check for expired medications, helping kids with their homework, translating thank you letter from Spanish to English from the child to their sponsors or helping in the office.

I also had a really cool experience this last week. One of the guys I worked with in the nursing station at CRIT is also a paramedic for the Mexican Red Cross in the nights. So he took me to work the other night. I got to follow the doctors for a while in the urgency area, then got to go to part of a paramedic's student class and got to ride around Oaxaca in the ambulance with the paramedics all night when they got a call. It was really interesting and exciting!

I am still dancing away, have made a couple new friends. My Spanish is improving, but not without several embarrassing mistakes and miscommunications per day haha. My aunt Lili and her husband came to visit me last weekend, so that was fun! I've been taking pictures, just haven't been to a computer that will let me download them onto the internet yet! I will go to an internet café soon. Hope all is well with everyone!

Until next time.....

THERESE

Child Family Health Program Week 2

2010-01-19T00:03:32Z

This week was another great one in Oaxaca! I got to go to a new clinic. I have been going to Dr Margarita´s private clinic. She is a general doctor who sees everyone from babies to the elderly from all over Oaxaca and surrounding places. Her clinic is about a 40 mintue walk from my house, so I've been able to see a different part of town. It is very small and it´s just her, she doesnt even have a nurse that helps her out. As Ive say before, things are every different here healthcare wise. For example, it was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that she doesnt even use a computer. She has a type writer that she writes out orders and perscriptions on. Its really amazing. I have enjoyed working with her this week because she is very nice and since its just the two of us, I felt like she was much more receptive to me and helpful with my questions and showed me a lot of cool things. She is a very good doctor who is nice to her patients and always takes the time to listen to them, which can be rare in some doctors. Tomorrow I head to a new physicans clinic who also incorporates traditional and alterantive healing therapies. My medical cordinator Dr Tenorio, described her as ¨an angel¨, so I'm excited for this week.

I have started going to a Latin dance studio. It cost 30 dollors for all the classes you want all month, for up to 5 hours every evening Monday through Friday (talk about a good deal). My teacher is a dancer that has won all sorts of dance competitions here. He along with several male assitants are there to dance with us every night. So I went 4 nights this week and have been having a blast. Friday night I went back to La Candela, the best salsa dance place in town with live music to try out my dancing in real life and had lots of fun. Saturday some friends and I went to Mercado Abastos, one of the biggest markets around. We walked around for a while getting lost often. Its an insanely large, busy market. Anything you could need was there, all fruits and veggies, herbs, meat, live animals, honey, clothes, shoes, dairy; the list does on and on. I tried a new fruit called a granada, its this greenish yellow fruit that you open up and it has crunchy gray seeds with greenish slimy flesh all around it. Sounds kind of gross, but its sooo delicious, I think it might be my new favorite, and its the season, so I will be buying a lot more of them in the next few weeks. I also tried a very traditinal drink called Tejate, that is made out of chocolate, cornmeal and sugar. Sunday we took a bus to Milta a neighboring town that has more Zapotec ruins. As we were walking towards the ruins, our guide from Monte Alban drove up next to us in his van and offered for us to join him. So we walked the ruins with him and a nice group of elderly people from the US and Canada. He also took us to a near by village called Teotitlan. It's famous for its hand woven carpets, which is how most of the people who live there make there living. We visited a weaving family who showed us the process of getting the wool ready and dying it with all natural sources and then how they weave it. Some of the carpets were absolutly gorgeous, if I had money and a house I would buy one. Even though the carpets seemed expensive, each medium size one takes one person about 8 months to complete working eight hours a day. I also read that their standing prices only equal out to a little less then a dollor per hour. Yet this village is relatively wealthy in comparison to other villages around the area.

I am still humming along with my Spanish, I practice a lot, but Im still far from good! The weather has been a lot warmer and lots of hot sun this week, which I love. I am starting to get a lovely farmers tan, from all my walking around town. I have a week of more learning and dancing ahead of me

Until next time.......

THERESE

First Week in Oaxaca

2010-01-11T20:04:05Z

Hello everyone! I made it here to Oaxaca for my Child Family Health International program. I am just starting my 2nd week here. My host family includes a retired Mother in her 50s named Mercedes and her elderly mother Coco (who couldnt be more cute). They are both so nice and wonderful cooks! Mercedes´ daughter is also often there with her 1 year old twins. The house is clean and comfortable, so I am very lucky. I live right in the central part of town so I am in walking distance of the Zocalo (main square), my school, and a lot of fun bars and restaurants. I arrived last Sunday evening and got started on my program right away. I go to a clinic from 8 to 1 everyday and then go home for Comida (main meal) and then have spanish classes from 4-6. I get to change clinics ever week, so I can experience a variety of things. This week I was in a clinic about 5 blocks away from my home. I spent a few days with the nurses who were giving vacinations. One day I went with the clinic Health Promotors out into the community. We went from house to house inquiring about their health and the health of everyone living in the home. We check on people that we know are sick to make sure they are okay and even those that arent just so they know we are good resource if they need anything. I also spent one day with a doctor seeing patients with general health complaints. I have been learning a lot about the health care system here and a lot of Spanish. Its very different seeing healthcare practices here. For one thing they dont have as many resources, or the same standards of sanitation, as least compared the hospital I worked at in Minnesota.

I am the only student in my level of Spanish, so I get a teacher all to my self, its really great and I feel like I´m finally making progress. I just started intercambio, where I meet with a Spanish speaker from here that is trying to learn English. We talk for a half hour in English and then a half hour in Spanish a few afternoons of the week. So I am getting lots of practice and of course talking with my host family. My frist weekend here was a lot of fun. Friday night we checked out La Candela, a restaurant/bar that has live Latin music. We got free dance lessons and then burned up the dance floor for the rest of the night dancing Salsa, Merenge and Bachata. It was a blast! Saturday I went ot Monte Alban, an ancient city ruin site just outside of the city. Our guide told us that they have uncovered only about 3 percent of the city, leaving the other 97 percent underground. There are amazing views of the whole valley of Oaxaca from there. It was a kinda rainy, cloudy day, but still very interesting. Saturday night be tried out a disco that played modern and techno music. It was a fun young crowd and a good place to dance. I was supprised at how many Americans and travelers were at the bar. Sunday I went with my host family to El Arbol del Tule. If I was told correctly, It has the biggest trunk either in the world or North America. It in the next town over from Oaxaca called Santa Maria. We also ate at the market there and I tried my first Tlayuda. Which is a famous oaxacan dish. Its a super large tortilla with toppping on it such as beans, cheese, avacado, tomato, meat if you want. Its kinda like a tortilla pizza, and delicious. They are also famous for their chocolate here, so I have been drinking a lot of hot chocolate. It tastes darker and fuller here, even though they often make it with water instead of milk. Tomorrow I get to go to a new hospital or clinic to learn some new things. My main doctor here told me I get to spend a week at a natural clinic because I told him I have an interest in alternative medicine, so I am excited for that. I met a salsa instructor this weekend that ofers really cheap group lessons and also a girl that is taking lessons from him right now, so I am going to go check that out tonight after Spanish class. I have been keeping really busy here inbetween clinic, Spanish class, intercambio and studying my Spanish, but as you can tell I have been able to squeeze in time for fun too. I like to walk up to the zocalo just to people watch and get a snack some nights. There are always tons of people and families out and something going on at the zocalo, such as live music or dancing. The streets around it are lined with white holiday lights and the trees are huge and beautiful. The city feels very safe and charming with a lot of travelers passing through. Okay off to Spanish class.

Until next time.....

THERESE

Holidays Mexican Style

2009-12-23T20:02:18Z

I have done so much since my last blog entry that I feel it will be impossible to fit it into one blog. Plus I´m in a big hurry on my way to Oaxaca, so I'm gonna sum up all the activates really briefly and a link to the pictures which speak for themselves. First of all there were more parties! We celebrated my aunts bday at an Italian restaurant and celebrated my uncles birthday with a surprise party for him! There was lots of delicious food and we even broke into an impromptu dance party with the ladies from my dance class! (Every Tuesday and Thursday my aunt has a dance instructor come to her house to teach a dance class. I have been joining in while I have been here; it has been a blast even though everyone beats me in age by at least a few decades!)

My brother and girlfriend were in town so us three when to go see Placido Domingo the famous opera singer, sing for free on the main street of the city. Once again all the relatives shyed away from the crowds, but we had a great time. There were hundreds of thousand of people there from babies, to teens, to very old people out that night to hear him sing class opera, maricachi and Christmas music all in between the angel of independence ( one of the most beautiful and significant monuments in Mexican History) and the worlds largest Christmas tree (yes officially; Mexico City is obsessed with breaking records, other records they have broken, most people kissing at once in one spot, largest naked people pictures, lasts crowd dancing thriller).

We celebrated Christmas at my aunts house. The Mexican tradition is to celebrate Christmas eve (Noche Buena) and we enjoyed great company and a midnight turkey dinner! Christmas day my brother and I skyped the family in Minnesota and pathetically watched them have Christmas from the computer screen : ). Then we went to my cousins house and spent quality time with the cousins and eating left over's. We celebrated Kent's birthday the next day with a lovely meal at my aunts house and then out for drink in our neighborhood with the cousins.

We also were able to squeeze in going to Chapultepec Castle, once where the preseidents lived, now a history museum, and the museum of modern art. And we went to Xochimilco one sunday, which is a canal where people float in colorfully painted boats and there everything that you could want floats up to you, beer, food, vendors, mariachis, plants! Its very cool!

Next I got to go on a fabulous vacation with my aunt and uncle, and some of my cousins. We drove north to the region of Lourdes to stay the first night. There the scenery was small town desert Mexico. The region of Lourdes has a lot of fresh mineral water that they sell to drink and also use therapeutically for bathing. Our hotel had filled Jacuzzis with it for us to enjoy! The next day we drove to Ciudad Valles. As we drove the landscape started to become more green. Soon there were tons of sugar cane fields, banana trees, orange trees and amazing lush valleys. I think that the scenery was in the top for most beautiful I have ever seen! The first day we went to see Edward James´s garden in the jungle. He was a surrealist artist who made his painting come to life in this garden in the middle of the jungle. It was really amazing and crazy looking. The next day we went again into the jungle to see La Hoya do Las Huahuas. The Huahuas are a type of bird that lives fly into this giant cave hole that they discovered in the jungle in the sixties. On the 31^st we went to this amazing places will lots of waterfalls. We were able to jump off the waterfalls and swim from waterfall to waterfall in this beautiful river. Some of the waterfalls were really high up and scary to jump off, it was a pretty funny sight to see us at the edge of the waterfall for a half hour contemplating whether to jump or not with everyone yelling at us to jump! me and my cousin laughed that it was a good way to jump into the New Year. Seriously what dreams are made of, it was soooo gorgeous. We brought in the New Year that night in style at the hotel´s party that included a live band, dinner and champagne and grapes for midnight (12 grapes for 12 wishes for the new year, so gobble down at midnight is a Mexican tradition). So in a nutshell I had a wonderful time! I leave for Oaxaca tomorrow morning to start my Child Family Health International program. Wish me luck!!

Picture Link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2665492&id=8609614&l=10dced98da

Until next time....

THERESE

Joining the Crowds

2009-12-19T18:11:40Z

Hi! I have been having a very exciting time since I last wrote! We went Lucha Libre which is the mexican masked wrestling. It was very funny and entertaining. The wrestlers wear these outrageous costumes and try and but on a really good show with lots of tricks and theater built in. The show was also getting filmed for TV for later in the week. SO once again I was on TV here in Mexico haha. We had a blast cheering and getting into it, and I had a blast mortifying my aunt on TV who didnt want to be seen there haha : ). We were also able to make it to a cuban salsa club called Mama Rumba. Me and my posie (my brother and tutor and his friends) went to meet my uncle and dad who were already there ealier. It had a live cuban band with about 10 members, and the dancing was absolutly phenomenol. We are talking striaght out of a dance movie. They were doing the partner dancing in a circle where they would switch partners and at one point I saw all the girls were up on the guys arms, it was crazy. And then there were all the different individual partners that had the best moves and tricks ive ever seen. It was fun just to watch in awe. We were joking that we were for sure- by far- the table of the worst dancers. We know the basics of salsa, but not much more, so it was kind of intimidating even getting on the dance floor, but all the group that I came with danced at least one song with me, even my uncle (who is quite a good dancer) except for my dad (party pooper :)

The next exciting thing we did was go to the Villa for Las Manaitas for the las virgin de guadelupe. December 12th is a very important holiday for Mexico becasue its when they celebrate the virgin marys birthday. If you are not familiar with the story of Juan Diego, look it up, but for a very simplified version, he was a poor mexican peasant who the virgin of guadelupe appeared to in 1531 to ask him to built a church. In order for other people to believe him, she made her image appear on his tilma (peasant cloak) That tilma is now hung up in a cathedral in Mexico City, called La Villa. In a defiance of science it has never deteriorated. People come from all over Mexico year around to pray to here her, usually making the journey by foot and you can often see people that make there way up to her on their knees. So the evening before Las Mananitas (her birthday) people begin to come to La Villa from all over, carrying their babies, carry pictures of the la virgin, huge statues, all sort of things to be blessed there on her birthday. Some people come and pay their respects and then leave, but many people who arent close enough to go home sleep there on the ground that night. So me and my dad had planned to go to this, but some of our relatives told us we were crazy and that we wouldnt even be able to get within miles of her etc. But we decided to check it out anyway. So we took the subway. They said there were about 5 million people there that night. It was incredible! The energy of the place and the crowd was really powerful. these millions of people gathered their in peace and in devotion. And anyone who knows me knows I´m not exactly a fan of the catholic church as an organization, but I felt nothing but respect for what was going on that night. There were many people already set up for sleeping by the time we got there around 10 pm, sleeping on the stone grounds around the church with just blankets. We saw one huge statue of la virgin that was brought to be blessed that was about 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide and had to be carried by about 10 men. It was really beautiful. My dad made the comment that we were their with the real ´people of mexico´ we didnt see any tuorists. And it was the kind of thing that most middle and upper class people dont go to, because they could stay at home and watch it on TV. At 11:30 everyone sings las mananitas to here (the birthday song) and then a bunch of famous people sing to her. I´m so glad that we didnt get talked out of going!

My dad is gone now and the relatives here are starting to be done with work for the holidays. They say there is parties every day this time of year. I think that is especailly true since my aunt and uncles birthdays are also this week. We celebrated my aunt bday last night at an iIatian restaurant. I am looking forward to the rest of the holidays : )

Here is a link to the most recent pictures http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2658545&id=8609614&l=37a06f47ef

Until next time

THERESE

Life in the Time of H1N1

2009-12-03T02:07:46Z

Hola everyboby,

Its been awhile, Ive been keeping busy here enjoying the green and sun and dong many things. I went away for a weekend to Valle de Bravo with my cousins. It was lovely and here is a link to the picture from that weekend. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2647071&id=8609614&l=b59a6e8b9b

My health has been pretty good. No one I know here has had any problems with H1N1, not that I know that many people here though haha! I did find it interesting that when we went into the National Palace they took a thermal reading of every person that come in to make sure that they didnt have a fever before they could enter and gave us all hand sanitizer. And my aunt who works as a teacher said they also take a thermal reading of every child when they come to school each day and send them home if they have a fever. I had some stomach ache issues for a little while, but I am over that now. I figure I was just getting adjusted to the new bacteria that my stomach is being exposed to.

I just turned in another grad school application this week, one more to go this month and I will be done applying for the year! I have been to downtown to see the National Palace that has some of Diego Riveras most famous murals on the walls depicting Mexicos history. I have been able to go to La Academia (Mexicos version of American Idol....my favorite!!) twice now. Both times sitting front and center of the audience. I might be embarassed to be on national television, but since I dont know many people here, Im not : ). But they really put on a show, there are dancers and elaborate costumes, live animals on stage and fireworks, smoke, everything, they even made it rain for one number. Its so much fun to be there cheering! and I get to go again this weekend for the third time. The contestants are going to start recognizng me and thinking Im a creepy super fan haha : ) I went with my uncles wifes aunt (who also happened to be my dads kindergarden teacher ....cute!) to volunteer with her at the childrens hospital here. It was very interesting to see what a hospital here is like. 'Most of the volunteers are older women who are all very sweet to me and give me great Spanish practice!

I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family here at my aunts house and got to video skype my family in Minnesota. It was kind of hard for me because it was my first time ever to be away for from them for thanksgiving! so I was feeling homesick, but I have lots of family here to love me so its okay : ). My dad and brother just got into town this week so its nice to have them around. Peter, an old friend of my fathers, is also in town and we have been hanging out with him. We have been going to lots of museums and walking around the town. At the Museum of Anthropology, there are many cool things like the stone aztec calender and one of the creepy sacrificial altars of the aztecs, that they had used to take out the hearts of millions of people.

Below is a website to see more pictures I have added from Mexico City

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2644820&id=8609614&l=c2b932b521

Hope everyone is doing great too! Have a good week....

until next time

THERESE

Last Chance to Donate

2009-11-10T21:27:50Z

Hello!

First off wanted to let you know this is the last chance to donate for anyone who hasnt and wants to, to my Child Family Health International fund, as my final payment is due in a couple weeks. Go to www.firstgiving.org/theresegenis to find out more about my public health service learning program in January in Oaxaca, Mexico and to donate. Thanks, anything helps!

So the end of my trip in New Mexico went out with a bang. I got to go to a great Flamenco dance show and went on the world's longest areil tram ride for an amazing view and some snow.

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I got to celebrate Halloween by dressing up with my couisn and then going to a party with my aunt that included live music and dancing!

After an uneventful flight I arrived in Mexico City for Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. My cousins took me to walk around downtown in the Zocalo (main plaza) where there were altars set up and people dressed up as death and skeletons. We also went to see the alebrijes. Alebrijes are monster like creatures that are made out of paper mache and then painted with brilliant colors. They are usually smaller figures, but for this exibit there were dozens of huge ones lining one of the main boulevards.

I Have already done so many things during my time here. My relatives have been amazingly kind and taken be around to do many fun things. I am staying at my uncles house, but frequent my other aunts houses regularly for comida (the main meal of the day around 3 pm) and just to hang out. I have been to some markets and parks, my couisns and aunts have taken me out to eat at some fabulous places. Oh my gosh....the food here is sooo delicious and fresh. I have been able to try many new things to eat, like tacos al pastor (a staple food here in mexico that you can get an almost every street corner, its seasoned meat is cut off a big skewer, it looks really scary, but I found out it is quite tasty). When I go to the food market there are all these things that I dont recognized so I will buy a new fruit or something to try each time.

As far as my spanish, I am making a valient effort, but most things are still over my head, especailly in social setting where people start to talk really fast and use slang, like at a party. I just take my cue from others when to laugh, haha. There werent enough students to make a class at the local university that I had planned on attending, so I now have a private tutor. He is a nephew of my uncle on the other side of the family and he comes over most mornings to tutor me, or take me on field trips.

Mexico City is a city of contrast. Their is so much wealth yet devestating poverty. Walking the streets I am bombarded at one moment by gross sewage smells, and then the next by the most delicious aromas of mexican food. The streets are dirty but filled with brilliant colored buildings and houses and lushiously green parks. This city is filled with so much culture and activity and I am really enjoying experiencing it all!

This weekend I am off to Valle de Bravo with some of my cousins, its a town a couple hours away that is beautiful, and I can´t wait!

Until next time.....

THERESE