Now that I have been in-site for a month I am feeling a bit more settled and less glaringly new—not that I don’t have a long way to go yet, but I know which microbuses go to the communities I work in and how much they should cost; I know who to contact if I am trying to do health talks in schools, the women’s groups I have been trying to start are finally coming together and I am looking for different groups that would be interested in health talks and activities. Oh dear, I am still doing run-on sentences. It is just difficult to not relate everything to everything and punctuation seems like an inappropriate division of all that I feel should stay connected. Or I’m just being grammatically lazy.
In other news, I just fought a flea off my leg. I have been on and off questioning whether I have fleas or not, but once and I while I actually catch them at work. I have been lucky enough not to have a total infestation, just a few random bites—nothing compared to some legs that I saw at our swear-in ceremony or at the Huehue/Quiche welcome party last weekend. Of all the bugs that I fearfully anticipated before arriving in-country (spiders being at the top of the list) fleas did not cross my mind. I have really only associated them with cats and dogs, and since my parents were always vigilant about collars and powders with our pets, this is my first actual encounter with them. They are pesky and the itching can lead to sleep-loss but they pale in comparison to the brown recluse and its leggy cousins. Speaking of which, I am convinced I saw a brown recluse crawl across my suitcase the other day, but it may just be my brain turning every medium-size brown spider into worst-case scenario spider.
Today my site-mate Melissa and I finally braved the doorway of the carpenter and ordered bookcases and shelves. Living out of suitcases is getting old, and the word shelving has made it into our conversations almost ever day since we arrived in-site. I feel that this is a major accomplishment and will be even more pleased when these shelves grace my walls and may even merit a picture of my living situation, which I have avoided up until now due to the general bag-lady appearance of things.
The annual Quiche health workers event is coming up at the beginning of next month and to celebrate they hold various competitions, including basketball games where teams from each health center or hospital compete. I have always cowered on the basketball court; my teammates can depend on me not being where the action is and cringing if the ball comes too close to my body. I am mystified at the events leading up to me going to practice the last few days. I think that it is so that my co-workers have a chance to laugh at me. I was put to shame by women wearing long skirts and sandals while I ineptly ran about the court missing passes and hoping the other players forgot I was there. Oh well, its community integration if people are laughing at/with me, right?
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