Hospital Zacamil

The projects here are going really well! This last week I’ve been able to get involved in a lot of great things we’re doing here like la Crea, a treatment center for women overcoming drug addiction, el Hogar del Padre, a place for disabled children to live and receive care, English classes, Fudem, a health organization for dental and eye care. I’ve been able to be a dental assistant, assisting with cleanings, root canals, and fillings, and do vision screening in schools near the Guatemala border on the cutest kids I’ve ever seen! I just might take one home with me :) and Fundacion Amor, an after-school program for at-risk children.

Another project I’ve been working on is at Hospital Zacamil. We’ve been there for about 3 weeks now and have been looking for sustainable projects we can do to improve the quality of care given to the patients there. Until now we’ve mainly been working with the nurses bathing patients, visiting, and observing how they do things there. Today I was able to find a lady named Marta who is the head of patient education at the hospital. She is the only educator for the whole hospital and doesn’t receive any help from anyone else there. One of the major issues we’ve seen over and over both in the hospital and the country in general is a lack of teaching about health. The nurses have told us multiple times that it is needed but that they can’t provide it because they are busy and lack materials to provide. This lady Marta understands the need and has developed projects to implement to provide this much-needed teaching. The only problem is she can’t get permission or funds to get them going. Today I talked to her about it and told her we would love to help her implement her plans. She started crying because she was so frustrated, but when she realized we could help her she immediately wanted to go talk to the hospital director about a recent project proposal she had turned in to him the week before. I went with her and the director immediately gave us permission to start. We then went to the head of the nutrition department and talked to her about the project, which involved teaming up with the nutrition department to provide education on nutrition changes for critically ill patients in the hospital. She was willing to help and now we’re starting to plan projects for the upcoming weeks. Marta was really happy as was I for being able to find a project there. We have another meeting there today and I can’t wait!

There’s a ton of other projects and these are only few. It’s cool to see how everyone in our group brings a different perspective and kind of skills to the projects. I am constantly amazed at how talented each and every person is and how they can use their talents, no matter how simple they may seem, to serve the people here.

Laundry...

Today I am incredibly grateful for a washer and dryer! We don’t have either here so I just got doing all of mine by hand. I have to admit, I’m a little tired. Here they sell bars of soap specifically for laundry in the stores pretty cheap but we have to wash them by hand and hang them up to dry, which takes a while since it’s so humid here. It’s hard to even get a turn in the laundry room seeing how we have so many people living here. Anyway, it took me about 4 hours total but I’m finally done.

Last weekend we took a 2 hour micro to the beach! We went to La Costa del Sol at the beach Los Blancos. It was beautiful! The sand was dark gray and black and sparkled in the sun. There weren’t many people there and we rented a little hut with hammocks and chairs for a few bucks. The tide was really low when we got there but kept moving up throughout the day. Right before we left a huge wave came up clear into our hut getting our stuff wet and washing Hillary’s shoes into the ocean, never to be seen again, haha. Rachel was asleep on her towel and was rudely awaken by the wave. It was pretty funny. For lunch we went to a little restaurant on the beach and had all kinds of sea food, which was amazing. It was pretty cheap and really fresh.

El Imposible

Wow, I'm am loving El Salvador more and more every day! Today was our first Saturday and the first time we got to go play :) 2 cool experiences today:

The first was a cool hike 16 of us went on called el Imposible. Yeah, that means the impossible if you were wondering. It was about a 2 hour bus ride to a national park up a huge hill. The park was in a lush rainforest with lots of foliage and animals. We went on a 5 mile hike to see ancient indian ruins and an awesome river we were able to swim in. The beginning of the hike was all downhill and pretty easy but very steep. By the time we got to the bottom our knees were sore and we were sweating like crazy because of the humidity. Don’t worry, that was only the beginning. We stopped at the river to eat and play in the water then hiked up to another spot where we could play in a part of the river where two rivers join together. It was AMAZING!! So beautiful!

On the way home we had to hike uphill to get back to the start of the hike. It was crazy! I have never sweat so much in my life, and my knees are pretty sore today. Our guide told us that there are over 400 kinds of birds there and 300 trees, many of which have only been found in that specific park. There used to be tigers there but are now extinct. There is another animal called a tigrio, which is smaller than a normal house cat, but wild like a tiger. All in all it was a fun day.

The second thing was a chance I had to share my testimony with our microbus driver (like a big taxi). On the way home Mallory and I were banished to the front because we tend to get carsick so we were sitting right by the driver, Roberto. A song came on his cd that I liked and I asked about it. Turns out it was Christian music and he proceeded to tell me about his beliefs. I started talking to him about the gospel and found out that the missionaries used to teach him 5 years ago but had stopped coming suddenly one day. I asked if he’d like them to come by again and he said he would. The conversation proceeded and eventually he committed to coming to church! We talked for over 2 hours about the gospel. He used to drink and didn’t do what he knew he should but a few years ago decided he needed to dedicate himself more to his wife and 2 daughters, who are 3 and 5. Anyway, I was really grateful for the chance I had to share my testimony and I’m excited to see where it goes.

Oh, about Mallory being banished to the front. When we were leaving home we’d been driving for maybe 5 minutes, and Mallory, who was sitting next to me in the middle of the 5^th row of the van suddenly said, “I know this probably isn’t the best time to be saying this but I don’t feel very good.” We offered water and adjusted the AC on her, but she started looking frantic and pointing to the door and the window. Someone yelled “open the window!” so someone did and she jumped over them and threw half of her body out. Chunks started flying, landing on the jeep behind us. People passing by gave us strange looks and the jeep turned on their windshield wipers. She got back in and after a second said “Well that was weird!” She was completely fine after that! It was pretty funny!

Anyway, I’m so excited to be here and am incredibly grateful for everyone that helped me get here! You can still make donations to HELP International with my name in subject line of a check because I wasn’t able to raise all the money I needed. Thanks again and I hope everyone is doing well in the US.

Love, Annette

I'm in El Salvador!

Well, I got to El Salvador on Wednesday! Wow, what a crazy place! Here they have a lot of what we have in America but there's a big gap between the poor and the rich. Here they have McDonalds, Wendys, Pizza Hut, and just about everything else. Here all those place deliver and don't charge anything for it, so that's kinda cool. I don't really plan on eating at those places but it's still cool.

The food here is amazing! Here we eat breakfast and lunch on our own and go to our cook, Estella's house for dinner. So far she's made us chile relleno (a chile filled with cheese and rolled in egg), with rice and beans, tomales con helote (corn), rice, beans and tortillas, eggs and tortillas, and some beef dinner with a cabbage salad and rice, with arroz con leche for dessert (rice with milk). Tonight we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and I got carne asada tacos with tons of hot sauce!! Surprisingly the food here isn't hot and very different from Mexican food so I was pretty excited to eat it!

Right now there are 28 volunteers with HELP and they are all a ton of fun and amazing people! All 28 of us are living in a house we rented and it's crazy! I sleep on a cot in a room with 4 other girls. There's 3 rooms upstairs for all us girls and about 3-4 'rooms' downstairs for the guys. That really consists of the living room, some bedrooms, and the entryway/garage thing. We have a tiny fridge we all share in a small kitchen. It's actually pretty nice and spacious. There's a back porch with chairs and tables, and a back yard with fruit trees. I love it! Apparently some people get internet here but I haven't been able to yet. There's three little spots that work and they've figured out secrets to get it like putting it on a stool on top of the table outside, using it while it rains, or in the morning or late at night. They have quite a system going on. Anyway, there's an internet cafe that a lot of people use with Skype so that's probably how I'll communicate. Cell phones are cheap here too so I might get one to talk to people here for the projects we're doing and to call home. Part of me likes not having one though because it's nice not having to worry about it.

Ok, about the projects finally! So the people that came in the first wave set up a ton of projects and have had a lot of success so far. They just barely got into one of the hospitals called Zacamil the day before I came, so I've been able to start kind of from the beginning with them. So far we've been helping the nurses in the ICU, the MedSurg unit, and the orthopedic unit. They're really understaffed and are busy so it's been nice to help them out. Normally in an ICU there's only 1 patient per nurse but here they have 5 or more! The hospitals here are crazy! They are old and dirty. All the nurses wear white scrubs with little nursing hats. I honestly feel like I stepped back into 1911. I've seen some crazy stuff that makes me wonder about how things work here. Anyway, more later...

There are a few pre=med students with us, a nursing student, and me who just graduated. We're hoping to get into the mother baby unit next week to help with the babies and start a project to improve the patient education for the new moms. All of the projects with HELP need to be self sustaining so we are looking for the best option to really make a difference and allow them to keep it going when we leave. For now just being there and doing a needs assessment is the best we can do.

Another project is teaching English 3 times a week for an hour each lesson. I've been helping out with the beginner class and it is a TON of fun! There are about 30 students who are eager to learn and love being there.

We've been working on a mural at the national children's hospital that has disney characters on it. It's a lot of fun and the people that come through the hospital always comment on it. Apparently a high school did a different mural there a few years ago and it was pretty bad. It was blue and green with big hot air balloons and ugly! This mural's a huge improvement.

Planning is Coming Along!

El Salvador's getting closer and so is graduation! I can't believe how fast time is flying. So far things are on track for El Salvador! I've been fundraising, and thanks to donations from all of you, I am already $300 closer to reaching my goal!! My mom and I got a little teary-eyed after seeing how generous you have been in helping me get to El Salvador. So THANK YOU!

Closer to the end of the month I have my first training meeting with my team for El Salvador. We'll be going over the projects we want to do there and planning what we need to do to make them happen. I already have a lot of ideas and can't wait to collaborate with others.

Once again, thanks for all your help!

I'm going to El Salvador!!

Well, I have good news! I'm getting ready for my next adventure...off to San Salvador, El Salvador!! I'm going with HELP International, a program based out of Provo, Utah. I leave June 8th, about a month after I graduate from SUU.

I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do this summer, especially since it's the last before I want to get a real job and make real money. I came to a few conclusions that helped me decide on El Salvador:

1. I love to speak Spanish!

2. I love to serve!

3. I love Hispanic food.

4. There's a new temple that will be completed in El Salvador soon.

5. I love to travel.

6. Why not?

Anyway, while I'm there I hope to work on a few projects, including working in local hospitals there, in orphanages, and overall helping eliminate poverty. I can't wait and will try to keep my blog up to date with the whole process.

Blog Updated!!!!

So its been a REALLY, REALLY long time since I've updated my blog. Honestly, I haven't really cared much. Not that I don't like to keep people informed, its just that I've been busy and it hasn't been anywhere near the top of my priority list. And besides, most people I see with blogs are married and have updates on their spouse, their kids, pets, stuff like that. I'm just me, and although I do have a somewhat exciting life, there's not a whole lot to tell. My life really is quite adventurous, and I've done a lot of traveling in the last year, but I haven't felt inspired to document it on a blog. Thus, I have no real reason to update my blog tonight, but yet that is exactly what I'm doing as we speak. No promises for the future, we'll see how far this goes.

So a quick recap of the last year of my life, I finished the first year of nursing school! I wish it were as easy as it looks looking at my blog. I learned a ton and had many early mornings. Over the summer I worked as a Health Counselor for EFY in Texas San Antonio and Denton, Georgia, Florida, Massachusetts, and Utah (BYU Yellow and Sandy). I spent all but one weekend traveling and didn't get much sleep, but totally LOVED it!!!

I graduate from SUU in May with my BSN, and who knows where from there. I get a little overwhelmed trying to plan my life, so I've stuck to more short term plans for now, and I'm ok with that. One thing's for sure, I want to find a good job as an RN and make a difference in the world. I love nursing and can't wait to get some experience. If you read this, I hope you enjoy!

Nursing School

Well, today was my first day of nursing school, and according to my professors, the first day of my nursing career. Yesterday my mom and Sage helped me move down to Cedar, a 5 hour drivew from Logan to Cedar City, then they made the trip back to Logan after helping me move in.

I'm living in a huge house with 11 girls, all of which are awesome! Its a bed and breakfast for the Shakespearean Festival in the summer and student housing during the school year. The owner is remodeling the kitchen and repainting, so we haven't been able to use the kitchen. Before my mission I left all my silverware and kitchen stuff at my old apartment, so I don't even have stuff for the kitchen yet anyway. This morning for breakfast I found a plastic cup and had cereal in it using chop sticks. It actually worked really well. I'll just be glad when I can cook in the kitchen.

Nursing school seems like it will be intense but fun. This morning we had a welcoming meeting with all the students from all four semesters. They call us level 1, level 2, etc. according to the semester we're in. I coudn't help but feel like Harry Potter on the first day of wizard school nervous to see what I'm going to learn in the next few years.

Well, I have 2 chapters to read for tomorrow from a 3 inch thick nursing book so...that it all for now...

I'm home

Well, its been a while since I've updated my blog, so sorry to those who have been waiting to see what I've been up to. Like my life is that exciting anyway...
I'm back from Spain and am going through adjusting to normal life again. In the two weeks since I've been home I've haven't been too bored though. I've been to Bear Lake with my family, Provo with friends where I went to the Ute Stampede, and all over town on my dad's motorcycle. I'll keep you all updated.

tapas

Tonight we went out for tapas with Maite, Irene, and the neighbor next door. Tapas are like appetizers and they´re cool here because if you get a drink they´re free! We went to a place the neighbor owns so she actually gave them to us for free. We had Mexican pizza and tacos (they weren´t the real thing at all), shrimp, barbeque pork, chicken sandwich things, fries with ranch, and much more. It was amazing! In the restaurant there was a vending machine for cigarettes, which are really common in Spain. On the front of it it says For Adults Only! but that´s the only thing to stop kids from buying them. I thought it was interesting and added a picture. After tapas we went out for Italian ice cream. I´m going to miss the people here and the food!

Science Museum

I finally decided to go to the science museum in Granada the other day. Since I have school in the morning I went later in the afternoon with only 3 hours until it closed. I had actually met 3 nursing students from another town in Spain the day before and they invited me to go with them. 3 hours definitely wasn't enough time to see everything so I decided to go back the next day with Cindy. There was SO much to see, and most of it was really interactive. My favorite part was an expo on the human body that included real bodies and info. They had a presentation on the heart and the four of us nursing students went in to see it. The girl doing the presentation asked us if we knew anything about the heart and we told her we were nursing students. She got really nervous and said we could teach her. Some other highlights were the poisonous animal expo with real spiders, snakes and cool frogs, a huge chess set outside, a huge lookout tower, and a huge table and chair too tall to see over. Sadly I don't have pictures of those because my camera died. You'll just have to picture it in your head.

More pictures!

More pictures. That's where we ate last night, and the girls with Juan. He was visiting from Madrid and sadly he had to go back home today. That's the Alahambra in the background.

Back to school

Well, after a 5 day weekend we're back to school. Last week was the ferrial (fare) for Granada, so they saw it fit to give us a few days to take in the cultural experience. Some of the students from SUU went to Portugal for a few days but the rest of us decided to stay back and get to see more of Granada.

On Wed we went to la Tarasca, a big parade for the kids. They didn't throw candy or anything, but it was better in my opinion. The parade started with police men on horses, followed by 4 big people in costumes, representing the first king and queen of Spain, and the Moroccans, who used to live in Spain before the Catholic kings took over (the whole celebration is based on the Spanish kings and the Moroccans). After them is a lady manican on top of a dragon, representing a disciple of Christ overcoming evil. Legend has it that many years ago there was a dragon invading Granada and she was sent to kill it. Now, in the parade, each year she wears a new dress which supposedly represents the new fashion for the year. Its a big secret what she'll be wearing until the day of the Tarasca. The dress is never very pretty however, and if you're told you're dressed worse than the manican, you know your clothes are way out of style. Following the dragon are the Cabasudos, people with big head costumes on representing people in the culture of Spain, such as Don Quojote, and bull fighters. The best part about them was they carry around ballons made of pigs bladders and hit people on the head with them. The little kids get scared and cry and the old ladies try to duck to avoid them. An older lady in front of us totally got wapped one. It was hilarious.

That night we went to the actual fair ground and rode a fare ride. The rides here are a lot more fun than the ones in Logan. It was more like Lagoon. We just rode one but after we all got sick and thought we were going to hurl. Actually, when we got off Shaka and Cameron (2 guys from SUU) put on a big scene acting sick and scared a lot of people into not going on the ride.

On Thursday we went to the Corpus Cristi (body of Christ). Its more of a religious celebration starting with Mass at the Cathedral and a long procession. We skipped mass but decided to see the procession. It was a hot day (over 100) and after 45 minutes of watching people walk by with candles we decided it just wasn't worth it. Two older ladies had already passed out next to us, and I just knew that I was going to be next. We decided to go get an ice cream instead. I guess when the actual Corpus Cristi comes by at the end you can look at it and its just like partaking of the sacrament for them. That way they don't have to actually eat it. It was interesting.

Friday we caught a bus and went to a beach called Almuñecar with 4 or us girls from SUU, Jared, a student from New Hampshire, and 3 member guys from the ward here. We sat in the sun all day and all got burnt. The water was cold but very refreshing. I´m learning to be very careful when I go to the beach because there´s a lot of topless girls. You wouldn´t see that at Bear Lake, that´s for sure.

Saturday we walked around Granada for most of the day and tried to recover from our sunburns. That night we went to Stake Conference and hung out with some of the members again.

Sunday was Conference and more time hanging out with the members.

Today we had school and had to force ourselves to get up early and get back into things. Its always hard to go back to school, even when you´re in Spain.

The Members ROCK!!

So today I've decided that the members in Granada totally ROCK!! Since I've been here they've been the source of about 70% of our fun, not to include how much they've helped us on our Spanish. There's a group of young single adults who call us all the time and invite us to hang out. My first Sunday here I didn't know a soul in Granada but I went to church and made some instant friends with 3 girls who not only fed me lunch but hung out with me all day until I had to meet the rest of my group that night at 8. Since then we've been to the fair, to eat tapas (typical in Spain), to play pool, to the beach, to a baptism, and FHE. Tonight while playing pool we played Americans vs. Spaniards, which was totally uneven because it was 4 American girls vs. 4 Spanish boys. Anyway, we almost won but then they put in the last 4 of their bolas (balls) and won. We owe them Italian Ice Cream now, but it was totally worth it. We'll pay up tomorrow.

The Best Worst Day EVER!

Saturday turned out to be the best worst day ever. Jim, our professor, and 8 of us students decided to take a bus down to Sevilla, an old Spanish City, for the day.

It all started when we had to wake up at 6am so we could get to the bus station in time to catch the 7am. Our bus was really nice but the driver was CRAZY. I don't think he know how to correctly shift the gears, and therefore I became DEATHLY ill within an hour. Ok, maybe not deathly ill but I thought I was going to throw up. Luckly I didn't.

We finally got to the bus station and I couldn't wait to find the bathroom. I got in there to find no toilet paper and no toilet seat, and no soap. Great. We all had to go so we just went. Luckly someone had hand sanitizer.

We started our day at the catherdal then went to Alcazar, a cool palace thing. Because we were all so tired we were dragging by 11. We ate a lunch of sandwiches packed by out host moms. Mine was some sort of pepperoni with butter, and most of the others had a weird tuna thing or one just had a hamburger bun with cheese. The one with the bun and cheese decided to feed it to the birds. Not the best food ever but hey, it was free.

This is where the story starts to get interesting. Some of the students wanted to go see some ancient Rome ruins, but Haylee, Courtney, and I wanted to walk around. We headed to a cool plaza then to the bull fight arena. On the way Haylee got a carmel ice cream sundae at McDonalds. Courtney, who was the one who donated her lunch to the birds decided about now that she was starving. I was worried she may eat my left arm so I decided it would be best to find somewhere to eat, and soon. We found a pretty good looking place and I asked for some menus. The waiter told us that we couldn't eat our sundae there and refused to let us sit down. We felt so discriminated against, it was rude.

After we left we found a cool cafe with a paneria (bakery) and a heladeria (ice cream) so we went in. They weren't much better and only had pasta so Courtney ordered that and I got a ham and cheese pastry. Mine was cold and hers was really small, but we didn't care a lot by then. We got a chocolate pastry on the was out and went to sit by a river while we ate them. The pastries weren't good at all and made us both sick, so we immediately regreted our decision. We sat there laughing at our situation and the soreness of our feet when we said "the only thing to make this day worse would be if it rains on us." Ha, we thought we were funny, but that's exactly what happened. It started to pour. We would've gone inside somewhere but Haylee had to use the bathroom, so we headed out in the rain.

We got back to the McDonalds but by then we were drenched. The bathroom didn't have toiletpaper, of course, but the good news was there was a toilet seat and soap. We left the bathroom and on the way out I realized everyone was staring at me. Well, you know how in the movies people leave the bathroom and have a huge trail of toilet paper stuck to their shoe? That's exactly what happened to me. Instead of being embarassed, all three of us just busted out laughing. It was hilarious. In fact, so hilarious that one of the girls peed her pants. I still don't know how you pee your pants right after you use the bathroom, but somehow she managed to do it. Luckly we were already drenched so no one noticed.

As we were leaving the restaurant I realized that my blood sugar was low, and we had to hurry if we were going to get back to the bust station on time. I got an ice cream cone and we booked it out of there.

The bus ride home wasn't too bad. I didn't get sick, although Haylee did, but we were glad to be able to sleep. To top the day off Courtney lost her cell phone. We decided that since were were laughing all day, it would only get funnier the more time passed. I guess we'll see. Although Sevilla is an awesome city, I'm not so sure I'd be happy to go back any time soon.

Night Life

Wow, so I haven't had a lot of time to write on this thing. I'm so glad that people are reading it and following it.

So there's been a TON of stuff that we've done but I'll spare you the details (I tend to ramble) and get to the good stuff.

So here the night's are wild. Almost everyone including your grandma and dog (and the little kids) stay out at least until 1 or later. When we went to Sevilla on Saturday we had to leave at 7am and the only people on the streets were us, old men going to work, and other people our age going home from the bars. I think the only reason they're able to stay out so late is because they have siesta every day and are able to sleep in the afternoon. It's quite common to sleep 4 hours at night and 4 hours in the afternoon. Crazy!

I haven't been much of a partier. I think the latest I've been out is about 1 and even then I was dragging and couldn't wait to get home to bed.

Sunday adventure!

On Sunday I had quite the adventure. Everyone left me here in the morning and I decided to head off to find church. I was told that it was a 10 minute walk but it ended up being more like 45 minutes. I had left most of my stuff with my host family but I still had my computer, some food, and a ton of other stuff so that 45 minute walk seemed like forever. I only got lost once and only asked 3 people for help. Eventually I could see the steeple above the buildings and was so happy I took a picture of the chapel (like I´ve never seen one before). I went in and sat down by myself when about 10 minutes later a guy named Carlos came and sat by me. He was really nice. He carried my heavy backback around for me and introduced me to everyone. I met 3 other young single adults and had some instant friends. After church they invited me over to one of their apartments where we had lunch, sat around and talked, and played games. I truly am amazed by what the gospel of Jesus Christ does for people. Only in the church could you travel half way across the world to a place with a completely different culture, meet people, and instantly trust them and be their friend. I didn´t have anywhere to go until 8pm so I was grateful to have them to hang out with.

At 8 I met with my group from SUU (I hadn´t met any of them yet since I was on my mission while they were planning everything) and walked up to our school.

After that Taryn (my roommate) and I walked down to our host family´s house where we had dinner and unpacked. Its nice to have a closet again and not have to live out of a suitcase.

My host mom´s name is Mayte and she has a 4 year old daughter named Irene. They´re both adorable and very friendly. She´s an amazing cook as well so that makes it nice. I hope I don´t gain a lot of weight though. We´ll see...

Right now its Monday morning and I just took my level test to see which class I´ll be in while I´m here. I find out tomorrow. The questions seemed pretty easy but I didn´t know on some of them. I haven´t actually had a formal Spanish class since about 6th grade so I´m excited for the experience. Its a weird feeling to be a student again.