Vaccines

Just a quick post today. My computer charger died. Poop. So much for having internet in your site if your computer won´t turn on due to a dead battery. So I am sitting in an internet cafe right now. I have vaccines in my cesta (along with a million other things) and they need to get home to be used\ refridgerated. I will be vaccinating my dog today along with my chickens. I know there are many reasons to and not to vaccinate chickens, but right now it seems like the right thing to do. Especially because I will be going back to San Vicente for 3 weeks this Friday and I will not be able to watch out for them to the best of my ability.

Have I ever vaccinated anything before in my life? I mean I was the cootie vaccination expert in 3rd grade. Circle circle dot dot, now you have your cootie shot. No? No one? Well if any of you out there decide you need a cootie shot or know someone who does, I am your girl! But real needles? With medicine in them? Well you can just ask my parents about me and shots, my neighbors are going to want to have the smelling salts on standby.

Also speaking of vaccinating my dog, I named her! Finally. Her name is Hoja. It means leaf in Spanish. (Also that is your Spanish word of the day. Repeat? Maybe. But honestly did you remember it? Did not think so) haha I know it did not take that long, but a dog ought to have a name when she is being trained.

Ok well I have to run! Next update will probably be from San Vicente!

Just a little food for thought

Yes

It could happen any time, tornado,
earthquake, Armageddon. It could happen.
Or sunshine, love, salvation.

It could you know. That's why we wake
and look out—no guarantees
in this life.

But some bonuses, like morning,
like right now, like noon,
like evening.


William Stafford 

Dixie Chicks

I thought I would start this post out by listing some of the random things I miss from home. I miss:
being able to drive/ Blue Jay, my super sweet VW Bug
CVS
hamburgers/ red meat in general 
fast food
clean feet
clean clothes
air conditioning
showers (bucket baths just are not the same)
Dr. Pepper
tap water
fast internet
pretty much everything in my kitchen
Target


Can I live with out all of those things? Yes, of course. Are they nice to have? Yes, of course. And I am already starting to compile a list of things that I will miss from here when I go back to the states (in 2 years). (PUPUSAS, how cheap everything is, liquados (super good smoothies), how fresh everything is, the entire country that shares my love of cabbage, etc...)

Mini egg that my mini hen laid,
next to a normal egg

So an update on what I am doing these days, that's what you want now huh? I am eating scrambled eggs. Not what you ment? Fiiine, well one of my chicks died. :( Also Big Mama had some problems cohabiting with my Mini Mama, so they had to be separated. The chicks are all big enough to feed them selves. So both of the hens are out and about. Big Mama has gone back to my neighbor who loaned her to me, and Mini Mama is just hanging out. She just started laying eggs for eating, and they are so tiny! They are less than half the size of a normal egg. Also I have decided to name my flock of chickens, the Dixie Chicks. Did you all know that when I lived in Texas, and was a Girl Scout, I sold cookies one year to one of the Dixie Chicks who lived down the street from me? True Life. 

Chicks in a cesta

How do you tell if an egg is for eating or if it has a chick in it you ask? Well I am still figuring that out. But to the best of my knowledge, this is how it goes down:  if the hen is super protective, and is incubating them, then they are chick-containing-eggs.  If the hen lays the eggs and does not sit on them, they are for eating. Also I have heard that if you hold a light up to one side of the egg, and see veins running through the sides of the egg, then you know it has a chick inside. Not exactly scientific, but thats what I got so far. haha Also as requested by my Dad, here is a picture of my chicks in my cesta. (A cesta is a colorful bag made of woven plastic, not un-similar to the lanyards that kids make at camp.) Why are they in my cesta? Well until a couple days ago there was no shelter from the rain in the chicken coop, and it was starting to rain, so I had to carry them to shelter all some how....

Also this is my non-functioning wood burning stove,
where a chicken has decided it would be a great idea to lay her eggs....haha

I am still plugging away at my census. Today I hit my 100th house! Yay! Big mile stone for me, but I still have 50 or so more houses to visit. Oy. And my general, community wide assembly is only a week away! Yikes! I have confidence I will finish. I keep being reminded that the volunteer that I am replacing, did not finish his census, and people are clearly offended by this... almost 3 years later. My town is pretty spread out, and it is pretty tough to get from one side to another. Lets just say that if I was not eating peanut M&Ms to my face all day (thanks Mom and Dad!) my pants size would be dropping with all the walking I am doing. Also I have to say it is really inconvenient that when I am trying to census people decide to not be home. I mean really... how rude. Now I have to go back another day. haha 


I am trying to think of some odd experiences I have had while doing census visit.  Well there is one question on the census that asks about wither or not the women of the household know how to conduct a self breast exam. 98% of the time the women say that they do not. But one day I was at a house and I asked this question of a woman who said that she did, and then she whipped out her breast to show me the scars from where she had breast cancer. Boobs are widely accepted here as a part of life, so while I sat there in a semi-shocked state, this woman continued the conversation as though she had just showed me an ingrown finger nail or something. I bet Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction' never phased people down here. Also even though my Spanish is improving daily, a lot of people seem to tune out the fact that I am speaking coherent Spanish, and have me repeat what I am saying 3-4-5 times. Because a gringa can't possibly speak Spanish, can she? 


Speaking of language mishaps, the other day I thought I was going fishing with some people in my community but in reality I spent 6hrs hanging out in someones house, and then just because people here like to see the gringa do random stuff, they had me kill a rooster. Totally not fishing. haha Oh the joys of misunderstanding. 

And this little bundle of joy is my new puppy! I was going to try not to get a dog here, but just look at her! Who could say no to that face? She is currently nameless, but she is only a month old so we got some time to name her. She is still living part time with her brothers and sisters, but her mom has decided she wants nothing to do with her pups, so she will move in with me permanently when I get back from my next set of training in June.

Spanish word of the day (actually a sentence): Estoy cansada/o : I am tired 
End cansada with an 'a' if you are a girl, 'o' if you are a boy. Don't mix them up when talking to people because, apparently, it can be offensive to use the wrong ending....