So I made it to Nicaragua and the PC training retreat center. The facility is pretty basic but has a nice tropical sleep-away camp feel. And there's wireless throughout the compound which is super handy and mango trees that keep dropping ripe fruit near my make-shift internet cafe. A far cry from my NYC lifestyle but I think I'm adjusting fairly well...
Up to now we have had intensive information sessions regarding project info, country info, language skills assessment, etc. I'm starting to get really pumped up to get my family assignment and training town (which I will be moving to on Saturday) I'll be there for an additional 11 weeks and then get sworn in as an official volunteer July 31.
Tonight I decided to venture out with some of the other trainees and volunteers to check out the Texaco down the street and see what Nicaraguan gas stations have for snacks (my new definition of entertainment). I feel like I have been cooped up for the past several days so I was all excited about the adventure down the road. So out we go through the barbed wire gate around the corner on a dirt path and to the gas station - the Texaco was pretty standard and I was happily browsing through the cookies when I felt something poking me inside my shirt... Oy ve.
Well I didn't want to freak out in the middle of the gas station the clerks were already staring at us because we were a big group and obviously not locals so I casually try to shake out my shirt. So this was not working and then the mystery thing bit me(I think). This was the point where I basically started hyperventilating and taking off my shirt - some of the other people tried to assist by slapping me and squishing whatever it was but I could still feel it crawling it was so horrible. Ultimately I ran into the bathroom ripped off the shirt and found out it was a creepy beetle thing that bit me. I squished it before I could really ID it but I am hoping and assuming it wasn't anything too dangerous - maybe a cockroach(?) After this happened I lost all interest in finding snacks - I think the clerks and the people I was with think I'm a bit crazy but honestly I feel like I handled the situation pretty well considering my huge aversion to all insects.
Alright that's all I have to report thus far and it's starting to thunder. Next time I post I should have some pictures to share!
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hahaha i love how you trying to play it cool and quietly shoo the bug away turned into you taking your shirt off in nicaraguan texaco station. overall i think you handled it well though, jb. and just wait til those other volunteers have their first creepy crawler experiences - they'll be squirming and looking crazy too! i saw a bug crawling across the floor in the ER the other day and calmly pointed it out to the nurse who was near it. as she was stepping on it i heard her mutter "damn cockroaches" at which point my calmness turned into shock and horror and i made a complete ass out of myself in my place of work, ranting and raving about cockroaches in what should be sterile environments and about how now the nurse's shoe is going to have baby cockroach eggs nesting in it.
ReplyDeletemoral of the story: whether it is nicaragua or boston, no one likes bugs and everyone (over?)reacts at times. post again soon!! <3 mol
That would've been enough to send me packing for JFK. LOL.
ReplyDeletexo,
Jamie