Departure Day!

I've made it past the first hurdle! Packing up and getting to the airport went just fine, after a slight detour down I77. Baggage check and security were unbelievably painless. My single allowed suitcase weighed 49.5 lbs, thank heavens! I'm so glad all of my packing rearrangements paid off! I just checked in at the podium, a required step before boarding. They asked for my passport, ticket, and also paperwork for my return trip out of San Jose'. This drew me up short, because firstly, I have no return trip from San Jose', and secondly I have no printed record of my flight out of San Jose to Managua. I'm sure there's one in my email somewhere, and had they pushed me I would have pulled it up on my laptop (or on the handy-dandy iPod I'm using now), but the supervisor said I was okay, so it turned out not to be a problem. I think I'll print all of my flight documents and keep them on hand from now on. The terminal is starting to fill up now. There are touristy types like me, residents returning home, and busy-looking business people. A lot of them speak Spanish. As I've been typing, I've been eavesdropping for practice :) I think it might be better practice to strike up a conversation once I finish! The Charlotte terminal is gorgeous. I wish I could upload a picture from this device. There is probably a way. I'll fiddle with it and see. Buen viaje!

Departure’s Eve

It has finally come.  I am leaving for San José, Costa Rica tomorrow morning.  Today has been a race to pull all of my packing efforts together and be ready to walk out the door.  

I drew up my packing list last week, and over the course of this week the items on the list accumulated in little heaps on my bedroom floor, meaning that packing today merely involved tossing it into the suitcase.  There were a few items I had to track down, like my calculator, which ran off when I was helping my sister with homework last week. 

Packing for a flight is not a task I have had much practice with.  The last time I flew on a plane I had just graduated the sixth grade and still had Mommy checking to make sure I hadn’t forgotten my underwear.  I am spoiled rotten being driven to and from college in a spacious minivan with room for all of my things.  I knew this going in, and resolved to take a few tips from my experienced friends. 

It went smoothly, and I was left with more room left over than I expected.  Who’s the novice flier now?  Then I picked up the suitcase and instantly knew it would never meet the weight requirement.  I saw two options: shuffle items from suitcase to carry-on (and facing the nightmare 4 oz. bottles in quart-sized bags regulations), and remove unnecessary items.  As loathe I was to consider either, I chose a combination of the two.  I didn’t really need that extra pair of shoes, or that other nice outfit… I guess I’m accustomed to variety.  I removed my purse from my bookbag/carry-on to use as a “personal item,” and stuffed it to capacity.  I moved all shoes to my carry-on.  I also separated out all items in my toiletries that cannot go in the carry-on and segregated them away in the suitcase.  Now, if when I turn up to the airport and my bag, by chance, is overweight, I will have but one item to move.  As a last resort, I have another HUGE bag, one huge enough to contain my bookbag and a bit extra, that I can bust out and through random stuff in until it’s under the limit.  I really hope it doesn’t come to this.  Tomorrow is going to be hectic enough.  Those baggage guys don’t mess around.  If it’s over they just charge you an extra $90 and go about their business.

I am going to get to the airport 2 hours early, at 9:30.  I will not have any unforeseen challenges keep me from my flight.  I have books many books waiting to be read to keep me occupied until boarding. 

 

I will have my camera out and be taking pictures from the start tomorrow.  Get excited!  I know I am!  But I best get to sleep or I will be a zombie. 

Christmas in May!

I received a package of supplies from EWH that I’ll pack and take with me on the trip.  It’s given me a glimpse into what I’ll be doing for the next two months.  With all the goodies taken out of the box and strewn around me I feel like Santa Claus has come early!

Stylish EWH-SI Tee Shirt :)

I also received “textbooks” containing practice laboratory exercises and a handbook on medical equipment repair.  Overall, the package is a bit of a combination of care package and school supplies.  I’m glad my program fee included these essentials, like the insect repellant. Now I have less that I’ll have to go out and buy. I’m happy to see some soldering equipment in here.  I learned how to solder through extracurricular activities last year and got a load of practice in my recent analog circuits class.  I find it fun!

I haven’t weighed the package, but I’d guess it’s about 10 pounds.  That’s 10 pounds less of my stuff that I can bring.  Perhaps I should have lied and said I was not going to be in the country before the trip… but it’s probably best that I pack light – less to keep up with.

Only 10 more days until I leave!  Thanks to all my recent donors!

Travel Tech

It is now less than two weeks until I leave for San José!  I’ve started making a packing list, and it looks like I’m going to be taking quite a few electronics!

I’ll need my laptop, because we will need its spreadsheet capabilities to do inventory on the hospital’s equipment.  Now more than ever I wish I had bought the 13’ version of my 15’ monster for the lighter weight.  I imagine I’ll be doing quite a bit of running around with it, which means I’ll need to have a longer battery life than its current 45 minutes.  Here’s the first thing to add to the pre-departure shopping list: laptop battery.  Also, I should probably bring an Ethernet cable.  I’ve never used one with my laptop before since the wireless is so reliable, but who knows how the wifi will be there.  

My digital camera is a given.  I had a heart attack moment a few weeks ago when the lens got stuck and wouldn’t go back in, and I feared it was because it had been jostled continuously in my bookbag for the past month.  Luckily the solution was as simple as recharging and reinserting the battery.  I was going to be very sad if I couldn’t take high-quality photos for you guys.  As my friends know, I have thus far been too lazy/cheap to store my camera in anything nicer than a disused sock, so now is the perfect time to purchase a decent case.  No more lens errors for this girl.  

My dad also gave me our old MagicJack USB, which lets you make free phone calls from anywhere in the world through your PC to the US and Canada.  We were going to use it for our house phone, since yearly membership is only $12 and all you need is an internet connection, but the call quality was a bit poor to be replacing our landline.  We figure it’ll be a bit easier to get in touch with the family back home than Skype, because, honestly, I can’t expect them to be sitting around the computer all day waiting for me to sign on.  This way I’ll call and get an immediate answer, and then we can swap to Skype if we choose.  I’ll not be so far away from home, after all!

My Auntie Kami gave me her iPod touch to take with me on the trip!  I have never had the pleasure of using one of these before, and I was completely blown away by how many things you can do with an iPod.  Depending on the wireless internet access, this will be a great way onto the internet without hauling out the laptop.  I can check my email, check the weather, send iMessages to my friends with iPhones, etc.  This is so exciting!

She was also thoughtful enough to send a Spanish phrase book for travelers, which I’ve been reading nightly before bed.  It’s not meant to teach you nitty-gritty Spanish, just the phrases you need in a given situation, like asking how much a taxi costs, ordering in a restaurant, etc.  It states the English meaning, the Spanish translation, and the pronunciation.  The book is for Castilian Spanish (the Spanish spoken in Spain), and I had forgotten that they pronounce “c’s” and “z’s” like the “th” in “think.”  That lispy Spanish always sounded silly to me!  I won’t be encountering that in Costa Rica or Nicaragua, but I have heard that they use different personal pronouns than the rest of Latin America.  I wonder what else will be new.  

Today I think I'll start on the packing list and peruse the EWHSI Google Site for tips about what to bring.

About Month Two: Boaco

Time flies when you’re preparing for exams!  School may have hindered me updating my blog, but preparations my trip carried on!  Today I'll talk about my hospital assignment that I received a week or so ago.  I've had time to do my research, so here it is!

For the second month of my trip I will be living and working in Boaco, Nicaragua:

[Image from citypictures.org]

This is the capital city of the Boaco district and is about 55 miles east of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.  And, as is clearly visible, the city is located in the mountains!  Boaco’s nickname is “La Ciudad de Dos Pisos,” or “The Two-Story City” because there are only two flat places in the entire city.  The city’s major yearly event, which honors Boaco’s patron saint Apostle Saint James, is held on July 25th, and I will be there for it!  How fortuitous!  I found a couple of videos on Youtube about the kind of festivities that go on.  I can't wait to experience it for myself!





I’ll be working in the hospital Boaco José Nieborowski, one of the most modern hospitals in Nicaragua.  It was built in 2008, and funds for its construction and medical equipment were donated from Japan.  It has beds for 120 and at least three operating rooms.  I’ve read that they have a hard time keeping doctors here because with the same training they could be making more money elsewhere, in Mexico, for instance.  I’ll be curious to see if that’s the case.  In any case, I’m sure there will be plenty for us to help out with here!