hump day!

so today es miércoles, which means "pregnant lady day" around here. this is the only day of the week we perform ultrasounds, so women (and girls) come in spades to get checkups. i made friends with rosbinda, one of the doctoras aquí, and got to shadow her all day, which was pretty great.

the first girl we saw was fifteen years old. she was 28 weeks pregnant, and since she's so young and little (around 4' 9'' or 10'' probably) she's at higher risk of complications. another girl was nineteen and was already having a second kid--she had her first when she was fourteen. she told us she wanted a total of four kids, but she's one of 26, so you can see why we might be a little suspicious. anyway, rosbinda is great. she taught me how to determine a woman's due date, how to use ultrasound to measure the baby's height and weight, how to feel for the baby's head and determine its sex, and taught me a bunch of great medical vocab. plus she was patient with all of my questions. love her. she's like our own bailey! (from grey's anatomy)

in other news, i now have a project! after much debate and discussion, i will be tackling the project of a "new" CHI: Children's Health Initiative. i am currently conducting some research online and in our database on the medical (and other) needs of children under 5, to determine what needs to be done and what is currently being done. then i will try to develop a proposal for possible interventions and/or projects to try to meet those needs. it's still pretty broad and ambiguous, but i'm meeting with alan tomorrow to try to narrow down some preliminary objectives. in any case, it's exciting that i now have some kind of focus.

next week i'm moving to another clinic in concepción, where i'll get to participate in a brigade and go out into the communities with health promoters. i will be meeting with people who live in the most remote (and thus poorest) outskirts of intibucá, which will be a much more representative slice of honduran life than our clinic here. we received another (i think it's probably my fourth) "orientation" the other day, in which the older volunteers gave us a better picture of our infrastructure, how we try to partner with locals, and our ongoing projects--both successes and failures. i'm hoping that after going into the communities i'll have a better idea of how best to approach various issues.

in the meantime, i'm starting to get a feel for how things work here, and how it is really pretty difficult to actually "make a difference"--at least, one that is both beneficial and sustainable. it was easy to come and think that no matter what, i would be helpful, either by volunteering in the clinic or providing english lessons. but so much of the problem is the quick volunteer turnover here. english lessons have come and gone with volunteers, which means that students get excited and are happy about the attention, but actually learn very little. knowing the alphabet (i almost typed alfabet) song is great, but english isn't going to get them anywhere unless they follow some kind of sustained, regimented curriculum. plus, i'm not sure that intermittent--if enthusiastic--attention from gringo volunteers is healthier than just the steady support they already receive in the library.

on the non-work side, life here in honduras is on the up-and-up. i'm finally starting to get into the swing of things, which mostly involves me becoming more confident about my spanish. on sunday we ventured into town, where we embarked on an adventure of honduran chinese food: "chap suey" at "restaurante danny's." no joke. on the way, we battled mangy dogs (they're everywhere, and NOT nice. many of them have rabies, and they bark and chase after you unless you throw rocks at them) and creepy men. we've also bonded over friday night lights, everyone's newest addiction. since there isn't much to do around here (definitely no bars or clubs), we mostly resort to movies and tv shows (brought from the states and projected onto the wall) for entertainment. sometimes, we'll even use our headlamps to read books at night. i know. crazy.

friday we are having una fiesta de cumples: that of liz, alex, and alan. it will be WILD.

stay tuned!

and the bonding begins...

great day today. had a bit of a rough start, but by the end of the day i made friends in la clínica, played "pato, pato, gallina!" with little fani y maricela, read stories to kids in la biblioteca, and finally figured out a potential project. also, had the best dinner yet: maíz pancakes stuffed with queso suave, or "pupusas," which, incidentally, also means vaginas. see how well my spanish lessons are going???

had an even better night! friday night lights (connie aren't you proud??? i just got SEVEN new people hooked on the show), rum, birthdays, and dave chappelle. in that order. AND makin' friends!

note to self: blog about dogs, headlamps, and danny's tomorrow. for now, off to battle the ants that live between my sheets.

'ta mañana!
yuan

First day.

Okay. So I'm here! Finally made it in last night after 8 hours on the road, which turned out not to be that bad! In fact, the horror stories I'd heard before arriving were mostly exaggerations, and in comparison, I'm actually pretty comfortable.

We arrived in San Pedro Sula airport around noon, and then dove into a driving relay of three different drivers, two Honduran and one American (gringo). The first one, Marvin, picked us up from the airport. I introduced myself, and the first thing he said was, "Oh Yuan! Not Juan! I thought you were a man!"

Ah, first impressions.

Anyway, the road trip was pretty intense. Besides its duration (8 hours from the airport to Santa Lucía) and terrain (dirt roads for 6 out of 8 hours, which meant huge ditches, boulders, and other obstacles), it was also an astonishing first glimpse of Honduras, especially the countryside. First of all, oh man the Honduran children. They are absolutely adorable, all of them, and I literally have problems holding in an "aww" every time I see them. To be fair, this is already normally true, but Honduran children are even cuter--they are beautiful, tan, and have the widest, most innocent eyes I have ever seen. Anyway, there were a huge number of children walking by themselves on the sides of the road. Every time we turned a corner, I worried that we'd run one over. Second, there is an extremely wide variety of houses. Some were gorgeous, with tiled courtyards and arches and gates, but others consisted entirely of sticks bound together. If you consider that during the rainy season (May till November) it rains practically every day, well... You see how this might be precarious. Third, the Honduran countryside is beautiful. We saw breathtaking views of mountains obscured by clouds and fog, and I can't wait to hike up and see more.

So. Life here. I am sharing a room with two other people, dorm-style. I have a bottom bunk, and since we have no room for storage, we are all living out of our suitcases. Turns out no one actually uses mosquito nets, nor do they apply 50% DEET three times a day. I actually didn't get bitten at all until this afternoon, and that's only because I was baking cookies in the kitchen, where it is much warmer and more humid. One big thing is the ants. They are everywhere. I was brushing my teeth this morning, and a swarm of ants appeared on my arm. They either apparated, or fell as a swarm from the ceiling. I still haven't decided.

Another big thing is water. We take water for granted in the States because you can get it for free, anywhere. Here, not so much. It is scarce, and never clean. There are bacteria (primarily E. Coli) and parasitic worms (and larvae) swimming in it, which means new procedures when I brush my teeth, shower, and wash dishes. The showers themselves are not as unpleasant as I'd expected--water pressure doesn't exist, obviously, and the water is cold, but the five-minute military cold showers are a reprieve from the hot, humid weather. And surprise, I don't really want to take a thirty-minute shower when the water is cold and just barely trickling down your body. Five minutes is perfectly sufficient.

There is some adjusting to do out in the town as well. People are conservative out here in the country, so I can't show any skin above the knees. I went running this morning in Kevin's basketball shorts, and still got yelled at. I heard "I love you," "ay, gringa!" and my personal favorite, "puta!" Charming, the men here. Also, running here is tooough. I mean, I'm obviously out of shape, but the hills are absolutely killer. We ran a 5K that felt like 3 miles, simply because the way back was nonstop uphill, complete with big rocks and little streams. When I made it back out into town after showering, I got to actually meet some people and make friends. For instance, I met a Emma, a storeowner and high school teacher who thus spoke clearly and slowly while being patient with my awful Spanish.

My favorite Hondurans so far are the Marías. They are the cooks here in the clinic, and they prepare all of our meals, except on Sundays. Their food is terrific. We had valeadas my first day, and today I helped make tortillas and yucca! One day I will learn how they make eggs. It's like scrambled eggs, but better. Plus we pour this great sauce (think Tabasco meets Sriracha) on everything. Anyway, both cooks are named María, have beautiful kids (of course), and are the sweetest people in the world. "Big María" is great, laughing at our bad tortilla-making skills while asking me to teach her some basic Chinese dishes. She promises to make her legendary tres leches cake for us on Monday :)

Besides that, there isn't much going on. My project has turned even more ambiguous since my arrival, and I'm at a loss on how to start. My only job this week is to get to know people, and I guess get my Spanish up to par. I'm thinking I'll explore the library, maybe read to some kids and teach some English. In a week and a half I move to the new clinic in Concepción, which is about an hour and a half away. I'll get to experience a brigade and go out into the local communities, which will involve a lot of hiking, Spanish, and health education. Excited about that.

Hope y'all are doing well in your respective places, miss you all already!

Hasta muy pronto,

Yuan

i made it!

that's all.

Cincinnati!

I'm cheating. I'm no longer in Cincinnati, but in Atlanta after missing our connecting flight to San Pedro Sula this morning. Had everything run more smoothly, I would now be somewhere on a bumpy dirt road halfway to Intibucá, packed into a 4WD truck with my luggage. Instead, Delta put us up in Comfort Inn for the night, and we head out for round 2 tomorrow morning. Hopefully this time we'll actually make it to Honduras.

Alright backtracking. So the past three days have been really great. I have learned so much already, and feel inspired (sorry for the excess cheese lately) by all of the people I have met so far. Everyone is super quirky, has strong views concerning Shoulder to Shoulder, and is absolutely adorable in his/her enthusiasm and excitement. I am already "falling in love" (I know, I shouldn't say that so much) with the people I've met so far, and I love listening to them tell stories.

Meanwhile, the more I learn about StoS and my project, I feel like there's even more to learn. My understanding so far is that the first leg of my time will be spent on data collection and record-keeping, mostly cross-checking and confirming vaccination coverage thus far. At first I was less than thrilled about this idea, mostly because I'm not a fan of data input and analysis, but it will be more people-work than computer-work, so I'm a lot more excited now. I will probably be teaming up with nutrition and health promoters, as well as brigade members of med students and nurses, so there are a lot of opportunities for me to learn and shadow different health practitioners and get a better grasp of how community medicine works in rural Honduras. Depending on how that goes, the idea is that we can use that information to target certain areas/communities where kids aren't getting their vaccinations. Fingers crossed, hopefully I'll be able to make some progress when I get down there.

Anyway, besides all the hustle and bustle of my StoS orientation, it was also SO great to see Rayray! I know y'all (read: Chris Riederer) are jealous. We spent some quality time in his dad's car, driving all over west Cincy at odd hours in the morning. Definitely need to wrangle my sleep schedule into shape... Anyway, we also saw Step Up in 3D!! Finally :)

In case anyone was wondering, it's as bad as it looks. 

Asheville

Well, I'm sitting in Dr. Jeff Heck's home right now, receiving my Shoulder to Shoulder education before my departure for Honduras in a few days. Already I'm incredibly impressed by the people I've met so far, thought it's just a short list consisting of Jody and Cathy Heck, Liz, and of course, "Dr. Jeff."

Jody is outgoing, talkative, and extremely assertive. She just got back from a gap year in Santa Lucía, where she conducted research on viral respiratory illnesses affecting children under 5. She talks about her time and experiences, and especially the people, with the kind of love and passion that was always so impressive to me. The kind that colleges (and now, med schools) supposedly look for in their applicants, people who know what they want and love to do in life. And she hasn't even started college.

Listening to Jody talk about her experiences--and her dad--was an incredible introduction to Shoulder to Shoulder, where it seems everyone is "baller" and "suffers for Honduras." I am so excited to meet and work with these people, like Dr. Heck, who is still a celebrity and hero among the villagers, even after twenty years.

As Jody and Liz talked Dr. Heck up in the car, I figured they were probably exaggerating in their admiration. But even in our brief encounter last night (right before he went to bed), I could easily see how people could fall in love with him. He is unassuming, and assertive without any ego. Here he was, the founder of Shoulder to Shoulder in front of an obviously admiring audience in his big, beautiful house, but he didn't brag about his accomplishments and instead asked about us with a quiet, calm sincerity. Today, we discussed my project, which is finally starting to morph into something concrete. It appears I won't be working with CHI at all, but will be starting up a new vaccination project. I'll be working closely with people from the nutrition center, women's health initiative, and brigades to mobilize support for registration and vaccination, and hopefully along the way to becoming a "vaccination expert" I'll get to gain both clinical and public health experience. And Spanish speaking skills.

Also, I officially have a friend! I now know Liz, a recent UNC-Chapel Hill grad who is also in the midst of med school applications. She will be going to Honduras on the same flight (and 6-hour bus ride) as me, so we were both excited to finally meet someone and have a somewhat-familiar face when we get there. She is just as nervous and excited as I am, and we hit it off pretty easily last night. Plus, we both love sweatpants, Sarah Dessen, and decided to bring frisbees in the last minute of packing. Good signs, right?

Anyway, next stop: Cincinnati! So many more people to meet. And I get to see Ray XIIII!!!!

:)

productivity.

today, i...

jumped out of a plane.
went to sonic.
AND finished online traffic school.

(obviously in decreasing order of excitement. and importance.)

so productive. especially if you factor in the movie (el violín, directed by francisco vargas) i watched while in traffic school; i learned how to be a "defensive driver" AND practiced my spanish listening skills.

if only i would actually start packing... i hate packing. maybe tomorrow.

p.s. here are pictures.

disclaimer

i am a lousy blogger.

don't worry, my dedicated readers, i promise to make more of an effort once "la yuanita" is actually "en honduras". 

for now, i have the following updates:

1. just returned from a three-day vacay on huntington beach, california. we spent all three days on the beach. it was glorious.

2. i will be attending traffic school to negate my new speeding ticket. it seems cops like me less now that i'm 21. or maybe i just speed too much?

3. plans this week are to improve my spanish by about ten-fold and jump off a plane. and then make my landing so i can get on my next few planes.

provided i make it, hasta honduras!

excited!

only three more weeks before i depart! i leave august 15 for asheville, nc, where i will be meeting StoS's founder, and then august 16 for cincinnati, OH to meet mo (our development director and my primary contact), art (my first ever contact who gave me the position), and receive training. and see rayray! i leave for honduras on august 19 :) all ver ver exciting!


i received a list of things to bring from mo, and have been trying to get things ready. i found out that the weather is basically the opposite of here (in phoenix): temp in the 70s to 80s, with humidity anywhere from 70-100 percent. and it has been raining a LOT so i'm supposed to bring several pairs of gym shoes so i can switch between them when they get soaked. yikes.


however! i am super super excited. i read through some of the documents for CHI (child health initiative) to try and figure out what i'm doing, and a lot of my first few weeks will be patient registration. we're trying to revamp our data collection system, so i will be taking people's names, ages, addresses, etc. and compiling them so that we're up to date on everything. at the very least, it'll be a way for me to ease into spanish training while getting to know the kids, so that'll be exciting. then brigade volunteers (med students and residents) will start flying in a month later to actually treat them.


besides that, i've just been trying to 下决心 and finish my secondaries. less exciting...


k before i sign off--a big fat thank you to connie for my AWESOME rain jacket + pants, and john lockwood for being my first pseudo-collaborator in the library project. hopefully we will have sesame street books down there soon :)


mit liebe,
yuan

preparations

i have just spent my morning ordering various insect repellants from travmed.com. i will now be furnished with clothing soaks, 50% DEET lotions and sprays, as well as a mosquito net. now all i need is new rain/hiking boots, a couple more lightweight pants/shirts, and i'm set :) also watching lots of spanish movies/reviewing my spanish course packets, so hopefully my spanish will be a little less rusty when i get there...

also! an email from my director, dr. ranz:

I would suggest staying home after arriving back in the states Nov 21 until early January for your interviews.  There is not much reason to be in Honduras from Dec 1 to Dec 31, nothing happens.   Sad, but classic for developing Christian countries.

so now i get a full month and a half in the states :)

oh, and this is where i will be:

santa lucía, intibucá, honduras. right on the border of honduras and el salvador.

suuuper excited,
yuan