Long time, no see...

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates-- I've been a little under the weather lately and my bed has been winning out over blogging lately. But I thought I'd let you all know what I've been up to over the past week or so...

We had Monday off this week-- it's the day of the patron saint of Managua (probably). This was especially nice since it meant we didn't have anything to do in Managua, but other areas of the country were still open for business. Sarah and Monica (a girl who has been doing a 6-week internship here) and I decided to go to Grenada, a colonial town on Lake Nicaragua, and the Laguna de Apoyo, a nearby crater lake. Grenada is only an hour away from Managua, so it was an easy bus ride, especially after our commute out to El Obraje.

I wish I had all kinds of exciting things to tell you about the weekend, but we spent most of our time relaxing. Both hostels we stayed at had some really great hammocks, and the Laguna had a wonderful cool breeze.

This week we're staying in Managua (thus the Internet access). We've been working on standardizing protocols for the water filter activities-- taking and processing samples, training the health committees in the communities, etc.-- to make sure everyone who has a filter is getting the exact same information. Hopefully this will improve both ends of the spectrum-- the action of the community members and of the staff here-- to eventually wind up with some really beautiful water. Not the most exciting sounding activity, maybe, but it's nice to be working on something that will continue to be used long after I've left here.

There's a delegation coming in tomorrow-- it'll be weird to have eleven extra people here after having the place to ourselves for so long! We'll be heading out to a community with them on Monday to install some filters. I'll be working as a translator between one of the Spanish-speaking technicians and the English speaking delegation members-- wish me luck!

Finally, check out the GlobeMed blog for Sarah's post about the weekend and some awesome pictures. Now I really wish she had been in Turkey with me last semester, because my pictures look so dinky next to hers.

http://globemedatrhodes.wordpress.com/

Look for another update on Sunday :)