Taking time.

It feels as though it's been an eternity since I've been 'round these parts, and as usual I'm being pestered to update. So here we go...

As per the previous post, you may know my sister visited me in Berlin for my last week in Germany. Instead of re-posting everything, I will just direct you to her blog for stories and photos. She captured everything much better than I could even attempt to.

Just days after moving back to the US from Europe, saying goodbye to many dear friends I met over the last year (photo above was taken at a little "going away" dinner we had the night before my sister and I flew home) I embarked on a long-awaited journey to Honduras for the annual HOMBRE medical brigade I've been participating in since 2005. This year we spent eight days providing medical consults to adults and children in some of the poorest areas of the country. The first four days were split between two villages in remote villages in the mountain, La Hicaca and Las Lomitas. We set up consult rooms for the first couple of days in la Hicaca, and also cleaned and distributed 25 new water filters to replace those that were left two years ago.

The third day we made the journey to Lomitas, about an hour drive from La Hicaca. On a good day the roads are bad. This year the road was nearly impassable. The worst part is always the narrow, steep, winding road heading up the mountainside. My heart nearly stopped as I was trying to get one of our pickups to the top, and we got stuck in the enormous crevices. The only thing I could think about at that point was the story the priests told us about last year about a woman that died driving on the roads up in that area last year. She lost momentum, the car died, and as she tried to go up again she lost traction and fell off the cliff. You can probably imagine the terror surging throughout my body at that moment. I was about to make everybody get out of my truck so I could give it another go, but at that moment the priest came running to my rescue, and safely took us up the mountain. Padre Enrique is my hero.

In Lomitas we brought another 25 water filters for families that had never received one before. Their source of drinking water is the river that runs not too far from the villages. They previously had not been treating the water before drinking it, thus GI infections were common, and death in young children from dehydration along with diarrhea was just a reality. After cleaning and installing all of the filters, we gathered at least one person from each household to run through the fairly simple instructions on how to use and maintain the filter so it lasts at least two years. The entire system (bucket and filter) is purchased locally (in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras), and costs approximately $25, and provides clean drinking water to an entire household for two years. It is such a simple and cheap solution to preventing illness and death in young children due to diarrheal infections. If you are interested in supporting the work done on these trips, including the purchase of these water filters and medications, please visit the Golden Phoenix Foundation website.


The trip ended with four more days of clinic in Coyoles (following a day of rest at the beach in Trujillo - photo above), a town surrounded by Dole plantations. This year we noticed more so than in past years the effects of poverty, low-level education, gender discrimination and broken families. As always, it was a pleasure to work with the local people who make these trips possible. The group of youth this year in Coyoles was more energetic than ever, which made working in the heat and humidity so much more pleasant. The photo below is of several of the doctors and students with the wonderful people we had the opportunity to work with again this year.

Immediately following the brigade (unfortunately I didn't even have time to make it to Tegucigalpa to visit all of my little loves and friends at NPH), I embarked on a journey to another part of the world that is unfamiliar to me...Washington, D.C. Days later I began a summer internship through the Global Health Fellows Program of the Public Health Institute. I am working in the Office of HIV of the Global Health Bureau at the Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID). I am working with the Orphans and Vulnerable Children technical working group, as well as with the team addressing the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. My role is still a bit in the developmental stage, but it sounds as though things might become a bit more solidified this week. Great opportunities are popping up, and I'm meeting many wonderful people, and working in an environment that is new to me, and one which is providing an opportunity to learn another side of international health work.

I guess that about sums it up for now.
Happy 4th of July weekend!

happy.

check out these rainbow throwing chimneys i captured out my kitchen window yesterday.

these last few weeks top the list of my best weeks yet in berlin/europe. i was able to spend lots of time relaxing, finishing a book, hanging out with friends, and enjoying the city. trying to savor it all before heading home in just over a week.

...a cook-out on the terrace of classmate's flat, a house-warming party, brunch at a friend's place, baleadas at my place, a cook-out in the park in friedrichshain and out for a drink afterwards, the best homemade mexican dinner night yet, sangria at treptower park, strolls along the river, old man jazz at zosch, taking in the body worlds exhibit, hitting up street markets, and more.

BUT this next week is bound to be even better! my sister arrives tomorrow morning, and we will do out best to live up this last week in germany before heading back to the US on the 25th. my european adventure has been just that...and i am sad to see it come to an end, but am excited about the things to come.

until next time...

what says spring better than a juicy fruit?

i seem to be on a kick of blogging about sphere-shaped fruits. well this time it's not so much about the fruit itself, but the life-altering tool i have used for years to access the sweetness that awaits inside this fruit. my mother is a Pampered Chef consultant, and loves supplying her children with her favorite kitchen gadgets. including this one

i have always loved to eat oranges, but before this "Citrus Peeler" came into my life, i admit that i rarely ate them because i couldn't stand to peel them. i know that's a lame excuse, right?

mom has given me several of these peelers, and i take one with me whenever i travel. people watch in awe when i whip this gadget out and access the sweet goodness of my orange in record time (and i don't even have to pick the orange peels out from my fingernails afterwards!) really, this thing is amazing, and only costs $1. so worth it.

do i sound like i'm on a commercial? i guarantee you that i get absolutely none of the proceeds from their sales. i'm simply just trying to spread the love. so having said that, i would really recommend it if you have children that are orange-lovers. when i worked in honduras with something like 60 children from the ages of 2 through 9, i always feared the day when we got oranges as snacks. those days meant that the staff and volunteers spent hours peeling oranges for the kids (this was before i had my very own citrus peeler). if there was a knife nearby, the kids would use those to peel their oranges. i would be on stand-by to take them to the clinic for stitches when they cut themselves (luckily that happened infrequently...). but there was still always that fear someone would lose a finger.

i'm contemplating buying loads of these peelers for the orphanage. 1 - so the caregivers and volunteers don't have to destroy their fingers peeling 60 oranges, and 2 - so the children can just do it themselves without the running the risk of cutting their pretty little fingers off.

i know you want one. or more. you can order them here.

"Shoot for the moon...

even if you miss you’ll land among the stars."

After googling to find the origin of this quote, I found two options. One site said it was a quote from Brian Littrell, who I discovered is a former member of Backstreet Boys. I knew I couldn't possibly be quoting a Backstreet Boy on my blog, so I continued searching. And it looks as though the quote actually comes from Les Brown, a motivational speaker. Yes, that sounds much more appropriate. We'll stick with that.

Anyways - to the point. Difficult decisions have come upon me over these past couple of days, and we all know how amazing I am at making decisions. Well, I finally just came up with a solution to this little dilemma, set the wheels in motion, then strolled into the kitchen to make lunch. As I threw together the fixings for a salad, I noticed the end of the tomato I had pulled from the fridge. See photo above. I choose to take this as a sign. So maybe my decision wasn't perfect, or maybe something went awry along the way that got me into this situation, but look. I still landed among the stars :) I'm certain things will work themselves out. Thank you tomato for making my day.

cheerio.

They say Americans love Heidelberg...

I was told that three times in one day shortly after arriving in Heidelberg. And after spending two weeks there, I can see why they say it. Not specifically about Americans, but for all people. It's a quaint little town, and of course a place with lots of history (maybe that's why Americans like it? our history just isn't quite that old).

I didn't get out to take in the sites until my last weekend there. A shame. A friend came to town on Saturday, so we hit up the old town and grabbed some lunch at a Mexican place. Yeah, I know. German Mexican food - just not the same, but was still good nonetheless. Sunday I took a hike on the "Philosophenweg", a trail overlooking the old town. That's where the photos were taken. I proceeded to lose myself in the forest once I deviated off the main trail a bit. Was a beautiful escape after finishing my courses.

Feels like home....

Monday I said "tschuss" to Heidelberg, where I lived just "down the road" from the US military base, and enjoyed being in the land of the soft pretzel (which I have learned used to be hidden on Easter just like eggs are these days. I must say, I would prefer finding pretzels) and journeyed back to Berlin. Stepping off the train station just blocks from the place I'm staying (same place as before I left for my great European study adventure), I felt like i was coming home somehow. As strange as it may be, this is the place I've lived for the longest amount of time in the past 3+ years. Who thought I'd ever call Berlin "home". But, I guess for another month it is.

Berlin is a whole new place when there are leaves on the trees, the snow has disappeared, and the sun is out full-force. Ahhh spring. I'm really going to enjoy relaxing a bit and getting to see the city over this next month now that there are no classes to worry about - only planning my thesis.

And having said that, it's time to hit the patio for some vitamin D, vino and a book on qualitative research. What a combination.

Wrapping up...

I guess it's about that time again...

I arrived to Heidelberg, Germany about a week and a half ago to finish up with my Advanced Modules for my program. This final course is on consultancy skills in international health for the evaluation of health projects and programs. The professor is a pretty fantastic woman (a fellow nurse), with many years of experience as a consultant, and has done an amazing job at convincing me that short-term international health consultancy is not the career for me =) Maybe someday, but definitely not any time in the near future...too tough of a game for me to manage right now.

I am happy to announce that although we have two days of lecture left, our assignments for the course are finished as of today. I'm looking forward to seeing a bit more of Heidelberg now that the rush of the first week is over. All I've really seen so far is the castle (see photos), but Heidelberg is a pretty small place, so I guess there's not much left to see! Saturday a dear friend I met six years ago in Honduras will come to visit, so I'm really looking forward to seeing her again and to finally meet her family.

Next Monday it's back to Berlin, to prepare for my sister's first ever European vacation! Only one month away, and I can hardly wait. In the mean time, I'll be working on preparing the research for my thesis, and on May 25 it's back to Iowa for a few days, then off to Honduras for the annual medical brigade to Olanchito. I've been dying to head back that way, and am really excited to spend some weeks on the Ranch. Missing the kids like crazy.

Well, here are a few pictures from the castle, and probably more to come after this weekend.
hugs all around...

i. love. english. update from london.

following a great send-off in bergen (bottom two photos above. i admit the one on the left isn't the best photo of all of us. however the chaoticness of it is quite representative of who we are together! top photo is our Tuberculosis Epidemiology class. great group of people...), i arrived in london about a week and a half ago.

*I LOVE IT* i understand the announcements on the tube. i know what the road signs say. i can tell what exactly i'm buying at the grocery store. i can just walk up to somebody and speak to them, without asking first if they speak english. *I LOVE IT*

my first course in london (at University College London - Center for Global Health and Development) is "children in difficult circumstances" and is by far the heaviest one i've had. it's a great course...learning a lot, and getting exposed to many things. it is however awful having to hear day after day about the struggles children in this world face. children on the street. children trafficked into sex work. conflict minerals and the awful forms of sexual violence in the Congo. the arms trade and child soldiers. well, you get the point. tough stuff. my next module here is nutrition and public health, so hopefully that will be a bit lighter.

am really enjoying london so far. haven't done the "tourist" thing yet - but have been able to walk around quite a bit and see the sights. met with some friends to run through the British Museum (had less than an hour until closing), and strolled along the river a bit a couple of different days. see pics. i'm living in a really great location - only a 30 minute walk to class, which is pretty close to the thames. great for saving money on transportation!

captions.

1. Tower Bridge
2. flying greek goddesses in the British Museum
   
3. excuse this stupid photo (in the british museum as well). but i must prove a point. see those 3 little stairs behind this lift? i'm wondering if it wouldn't have been MUCH cheaper just to build a ramp instead of install this lift to climb no higher than possibly a foot and a half?
4. my favorite thing so far. they paint on the pavement which way you need to look when crossing the street (for us stupid foreigners that drive on the "right" side of the road). well, just take note of this arrow.
5. nothing special 'bout this one. just a sign outside the co-op i go to. change. i like it.
6. met with some friends from our course in berlin one rainy afternoon at westminster for a coffee.
   

beautiful days.

Who knew it was possible? Friday was the most amazing day yet in Bergen. The sun was out all day long, and we got out of class in time to go enjoy it. It's a completely different city when it's not completely hazed over! We took full advantage of this rare opportunity, and a bunch of us walked about the city looking for a place for a nice small picnic lunch. This is where we ended up...just along one of the ports. It got a bit chilly after a bit, so we headed for a coffee, then to a classmate's place where we awaited a delicious Indian dinner. Thank you Mayuri for yet another wonderful meal!


Saturday a group of us took off for Voss, home to the nearest ski resort, which is just an hour by train from Bergen (an absolutely amazing view from the train - right along the lake and snow-covered mountains with the sun shining brightly). One group hit the mountains to try out the snow (several on skis for the first time ever!), and another smaller group hit the hills on foot (myself included). We were in search of Bordal's Gorge, however, we unfortunately did not find it. We decided to turn back prematurely due to extreme temperatures (even our eyelashes and hair were freezing) and a general lack of "umf" among our group. We at least had a really nice hike, and saw some beautiful scenery along the way. Not to mention, the ice cold (literally frozen by the time we got to the bottom) Hansa beer we cracked open once we decided to not continue climbing. Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure.


Just one week left here. Hope the weather stays decent so I can enjoy the last days.

It matters to this one...

Our professor starts class every day by reading a poem, a quote from a speech, or an excerpt from a novel. He reminded us of this story last week, and its relevance in international health work. I wanted to pass it along...possibly to stimulate some thought...

Adapted from "The Star Thrower"

- Loren Eiseley

A young girl was walking along the beach early one morning. The tide was receding, leaving numerous starfish stranded on the beach. The girl began picking them up and tossing them back into the water.

Engrossed in her task, she didn't notice the old fisherman sitting quietly watching her. He startled her with a gruff, "What are you doing?" to which she smiled and enthusiastically replied, "I'm saving the starfish."

He laughed at her and launched into a scoffing ridicule. "Look ahead of you down the beach," he said, pointing to the seemingly endless expanse of sand and surf. "There are thousands of starfish washed up on this beach. You can't hope to save them all. You're just wasting your time. What you're doing doesn't matter," he exclaimed in a dismissive tone.

The girl stopped, momentarily pondering his words. Then she picked up a starfish and threw it far into the water. She stood straight and looked him in the eye. "It matters to that one," she said, and continued down the beach.

Pieces of the past.

** I wrote this the day after arriving. But decided to let things settle a bit before posting so I could laugh at it rather than be annoyed. **

Looks like it is back to simple living, in a kind of complicated, unexpected and undesired way.

After tromping around the city yesterday afternoon with our suitcases (I always love that part), my friend and I arrived at our student hostel just in time, as the girl that had our keys was just leaving her place – actually met us in the parking lot on her way out. Good timing.

The hostel is well…an enormous complex of (extremely over-priced) student dorms. Walking into it, I felt like I was going eleven years into the past…walking into St. Mary’s dorm. Except this building is dirty, smelly, and is filled with graffiti. Violent, disturbing, dark…graffiti.

We learned the hard way what “white goods” means. No, it is not sheets. It means refrigerator. Good thing I brought a pair of sheets (gave the top sheet to a friend that only had a light blanket), travel pillow, and the Snuggy I got from my east coast family, just in case!

My kitchen is also completely empty. There is one hot plate however. No pots or pans. This is serious. I don’t even have a way to heat water for my coffee. I guess they expect the students that come just for one month (or even less) to travel with a kitchen? I left my kitchen in Berlin. And I am back to eating Ranch style. One eating utensil (a plastic spoon). One mug - my travel coffee mug. Good thing I packed that and my Swiss Army knife. For now I make do with the side of a cereal box as a plate (Yes, I'm serious.) and the tupperware i usually use for lunch serves as my bowl.

My room is as dark as it is outside (nearly). I’m sure this will be the ideal study environment.

My bathroom from time to time lets out whiffs of outhouse smells. And no, not just any outhouse. I’m talking La Hicaca outhouse smells. The maintenance crew came to “fix” it. Nothing actually has changed.

The knob on my radiator is broken, so it’s nearly impossible to change it without a pliers. I forgot to pack my pliers.

Norwegian? Forget it. However it seems that many people here speak English, which is a blessing.

We can’t access the internet until we begin courses and get our user accounts, which is on Monday. Then it takes another 24 hours apparently for our account to be activated. That’s a downer. Oh, and they also fail to mention there is no wireless, so of course we have to buy a cable when we get here.

The housing department is taking advantage of us in regards to rent and the termination of our contract. I'll spare you those details. Just another obnoxious bump in the road. Hopefully we'll get this fixed.

And to make matters worse, I seem to have left my cell phone in the apartment in Berlin, and didn’t realize it until I had already locked things up (left the keys inside), and was on my way to the train station. The neighbor with a spare key wasn’t home. So, am a bit out of touch.

Haha, and the weather. At 8:30am, we leave for class in the dark. By 4pm, it is nearly dark again. The days are cloudy, rainy, and windy. Not my style.

Sigh.

------------now back to real time-----------------

Worse things happen, and I will survive a month. I will probably be settled in just as I'm ready to leave for London.

My second day here I went shopping and purchased an over-priced pot. First, they didn't give me the sale price, then they supposedly reimbursed me. Now nearly two weeks later, and my bank statement still shows I paid $60 for a pot and a fork. Awesome.

Today is the first day I have actually eaten from a glass plate. A friend loaned me one from their shared kitchen. Thank you block C floor 6 =).

The housing department has finally given in to my slightly threatening emails, and has decided to allow my contract to be terminated when I move out, and not a month later as they were trying to do previously.

Today and yesterday we have actually see SUN. Now if only we didn't have to be sitting in class during those precious hours. The city of Bergen looks MUCH different these days now that we can actually see it. I hope it lasts!!

Some of our classmates from the program in Berlin will join us this weekend for the upcoming modules. Looking forward to seeing some more familiar faces!

Things are looking up.