Today Was a Good Day

As the title of this post says, today was a good day and I kind of needed it. I've been in a funk the past few days and I'm not quite sure why. I had a wonderful site visit last week. I have a cute apartment, complete with furnishings, acquired pets, and a constant supply of cockroaches. I was walking around my house with a broom before I went to bed at night and killed a significant amount of them. Luckily, I have a mosquito net which keeps most critters out. I live below a large family with 6 kids. They seem pretty nice and there is always someone around to play with.

I will be working at the New Amsterdam School of Nursing and possibly teaching Community Health and Anatomy & Physiology. My introduction to all 178 students went something like this:

Tutor over the microphone: Students, I'd like you to all meet our new Peace Corps volunteer Mrs. Brooks
Me: (quietly whispering ) Excuse me, I'm not married
Tutor over the microphone: You're not married?!!
Me: Umm..no not yet
Tutor over the microphone: Ohhhh, okay. Well students this is Miss. Brooks...

Besides the marital status mix up, I am really excited to be working at the school. It is going to be a big challenge teaching so many students that are around my age, but I think I can pull it off. I am also very grateful for the current volunteers at my site because they were awesome and showed me around and even cooked dinner. :-)

This is where I will be working for the next 2 years!

This was the original maternal and child health bed in the clinic

So despite the encouraging visit, some how I landed flat at the beginning of this week. Maybe I've been a bit homesick or just a bit nostalgic/jealous of the Cherry Blossom pictures people are posting (having access to FB can be a blessing and a curse). Fortunately, today was just what I needed. A group of us on the Health side has been working with a local health center. This was our week of project implementation. We really weren't given much time to organize everything and gather supplies, so I was a little worried about how much we would be able to get done. Our goals were to fix the examining bed for pregnant moms, cut down all the weeds surrounding the center, and general clean up. In short, a health center beautification project. On Tuesday, we did a general clean up, put up health posters, and secured a cushion for the maternal health bed. Today we were set on painting and still in desperate need of someone to cut the grass. Soon after arriving for the day, we had a whole group of Community Health Worker students, the clinic staff, and ourselves listening to music, painting, and chatting.

Working with the health centre staff to beautify the clinic!

Even better, we had a potluck style lunch to keep us all going. However, we still had money in our budget for someone (anyone at this point) to cut the grass. A neighbor stopped by the clinic for a check-up and we told him about our tall grass situation. He said he'd go check, hopped on his bike, and came back a bit later to say a guy would be coming, just now. I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but just now is a Guyanese phrase that means now, a few hours from now, a few days, weeks, or months from now, and any time in between. To our surprise, just now meant about 10 mins and we had someone chopping away at the tall grass. We finished our mural and took a step back to realize all of the positive changes we were able to make with a small budget, a short time frame, and some really great relationships with our clinic staff.

Only 1 week left until I am a full fledged volunteer!! Until then!

-KB