glossary of my past week

much has happened, but i'm not feeling inspired (or motivated) enough to write a real entry (i.e. with complete and articulate sentences), so this is my way of being lazy... i'll fill in the blanks later (and make it more interesting) i promise! and i'm sorry about all of those parentheses... whoops.

brigades - (n.) two-week rotations of 20-30 people including dentists, dental students, nurses, and nursing students accompanied by teenage translators; spend time by shadowing/working in the clinic or accompanying other personnel on paquete básicos or home visits.

idalia's birthday - (v.) eating several pieces of cake, spooning jello shots out of a tin, and kicking out the translators so we could sit and talk/crack jokes about vaginas... in spanish. followed by an invitation by delmi to stay at her house while in conce. (!!) still trying to decide if it was a serious or drunk offer. or both. (??)

parto en santa lucía - (n.) ashley, liz, and i crowd the small room as a woman lays there, silently waiting for her contractions. said woman turns out to be such a tough bitch that the birth seems almost anticlimactic--no screaming, very little bleeding, and no snipping necessary. baby is born without mishap after a nerve-wracking 5 seconds of silence. he is beautiful, and a whopping 9 pounds.

la esperanza - (n.) closest city for a girls' night out. ashley, liz, janell, and i take a 5-hour bus ride (see following entry) to the closest city in order to tomar and bailar. unforch, stomachaches and a honduran "elvis" get the best of us, preventing too much tomando and any bailando. instead, we (or just i) sway/wiggle along to various spanish songs, plus a short interlude of "yesterday." we return to the hotel to enjoy luxurious hot showers (wow do i miss those... really, the biggest thing i miss from home. surprise!) and girl talk before finally succumbing to sweet sleep at 10:30. again, WILD.

bus - (n.) similar to "short buses" of the states, packed with children on laps and in aisles. bonded with a woman and her baby son on the way back, as well as a 5-year-old who stared at me before asking "japonesa?!" and then his dad, who is a local priest, proceeds to ask if my family believes in god. and if i read the bible. ...and then stops talking to me.

22nd birthday - (n., v.) quiet and relaxed day of eating and lounging. many calories are consumed (por ejemplo karla and beth's m&m cookies, ashley's peanut sauce longevity noodles, and pastel dorado with orange juice-garnished frosting), and then preserved on the couch as we watch "i love you, man." with close friends around me and many messages from home, i go to bed feeling loved and at home despite the vast distance (both physical and metaphorical) between home home and honduras home.

birthday sex - (n.) a song that is stuck in my head.