Finally Here!

Hello! I am happy to be able to be writing this first blog here in Sigua after my 5th complete day. You can probably guess a lot of what my feelings have been since I got here late Thursday evening. Excitement, Embarrassment, Worry. Can you believe it? I've even felt timid! Probably my biggest thing right now is trying to learn Spanish, of course. People have been gracious, but it seems even my simple vocab I learned back in highschool has left me, and my ability to conjugate verbs properly is also a challenge. But, as they have encouraged me, "Poco a Poco Malerie." Little by little I will learn.

So the basics of what's up:

I am living in the house of one of the doctors and his wife who is a nurse. They have been so good to me in helping me get organized with buying a simple cell phone to trying to get the internet for my computer, (we've been so far unsuccessful) getting my nurse's hat, a bank account, introducing me to people, etc. Also their niece lives with them too who is in the university studying. So I have a friend here.

There is a dorm on campus here for single nurses to live in. Probably in a month or so I will move there when I am more independent and can figure things out for my own. This house is really nice to live in, and feels like such a safe-haven. But it will be good for me to live with other nurses and find new Honduras friends. It will also help me get out and about a bit, b/c I will have to.

This is a community with a huge Christian influence. There aren't Mennonites in this area. The denomination I think is called Central American. Im not really all that well-oriented to it yet. But there are many opportunities to get involved with Bible Studies and such. These are not just Sunday morning Christians, that is for sure. They live and employ what they believe. A very nice group of people to work with.

The hospital is run completely different from what I am used to, which is to be expected. The nurses wear nurse hats which I am too. I get a black ribbon on mine b/c I'm a professional nurse, versus the auxiliar nurses who wear green. Pictures to come later. The doctors have been very nice and very friendly in welcoming me to the staff. I feel really dumb a lot due to my Spanish limitations, but they haven't made me feel bad in the least. The hospital is closely intwined to their nursing school so the students work alongside the nurses. Truly with me though, "student becomes teacher." I have to ask them all the questions. I'm super impressed with their resourcefulness. The way they sanitize and reuse stuff is actually really refreshing to me. For example, today I was helping with an EKG, and I went to throw the sticker tabs away and the student was like, 'oh, we reuse those." It never even occurred to me.

I have a whole lot to learn there, but again, "poco a poco."

I hope to soon become braver and start to explore the community outside of the hospital soon. My 'host brother' told me that I shouldn't rush the adaptation process, so I feel okay about not getting out too fast. I'll get there for sure.

The weather is so pleasant here. The mornings are a bit chilly, but the days are pleasantly warm and sunny. I love it. I did catch a small bout of bronchitis (I guess) maybe with the change of air, etc. I never felt sick, but the doctor went ahead and prescribed amoxicillin. Okay. Sure guess I'd rather do that then get a worse cough or something.

Matters for prayer if you're the prayin' kind: :)

-Spanish skills, and that they come quickly

-patience for myself. Realization that cross-cultural adaptation does not happen in 1 week.

-Norma and Enrique, my host parents who are actually in California for missions week. For their safety and contribution.

I have enjoyed getting emails and facebook posts from some of you. I'll continue to update as I can. Blessings to you! A big hug from me in Honduras.