Playas, perezosos, y papaya... Oh my!

I had a very wonderful weekend at Manuel Antonio! For those of you who don't know, my mother is a Spanish teacher & has brought down several of her Spanish students to Costa Rica as part of an exchange program (the Costa Ricans were up in the US back in January). Anyways, my family is down here as part of that trip, so I was able to spend the weekend with them! It was nice for several reasons: 1) nice to see family; 2) great to see familiar faces after not being around ANY for a solid month (which is harder than you might imagine); and 3) I saved a lot of money because my nice parents bought me food and paid for my living arrangements (which included AIR-CONDITIONING!).

Anyways, it was really great to see them and we had a very nice time. Unfortunately, I didn't go into the National Park part of Manuel Antonio, but the beaches were very nice.

Hermanas y la playa

Not feeling quite as adventurous as I have been the past few weeks, I decided not to go parasailing with my sisters. To reference an earlier post, I'm not a super huge fan of deep, dark water, so flying over it attached to a parachute didn't really sound appealing to me. I happily watched from the shore. 

After spending some time at the beach on Saturday, we showered up and took a bus into Quepos, a town near Manuel Antonio. We stopped for dinner at a GLORIOUS Italian restaurant. Back home, a majority of my favorite foods are Italian, so being deprived of that this summer has made my stomach sad. Stopping at this restaurant was AWESOME. I ordered pizza, a Snapple green iced tea, and some lemon gelato. Ahhhhhh so good!

A girl needs her pizza, okay? Especially when said girl really doesn't feel satisfied by eating beans, eggs, and rice all the time... 

We shopped a bit downtown before heading to mass. How strange it was to go to mass with people after doing it alone for the past 4 weeks! At any rate, it was really nice to have company. I'm still not understanding a lot of the mass, but it is just nice to go. Really the only consistent thing in my very inconsistent lifestyle here in Costa Rica. Yes, I consider my lifestyle here inconsistent, compared to the nice, comfortable scheduled life back home. Every day I'm thrown a different curveball... Literally every day. But it is good for character building! Anyways, before I get too off topic...

This church was one of my favorites that I have been to so far here. It was really pretty! Also, as you can kind of tell, the church doesn't have windows. Really, every building in Costa Rica is really open. Even at the big mall, there aren't doors to go in. The lack of doors/windows here is fascinating. It does make for some HOT HOT HOT masses, though. 

Closer....

I really liked the red and yellow. This altar was very beautiful.

Hola, Mary. 

Mass was really great, and it was even better to be able to share it with my family! After mass, we took a bus back down into Manuel Antonio. We were pretty tired, but we stayed up and played cards together! Fun family game night. :) If I'm not mistaken, I creamed everyone, but I may be mistaken... ;)

We had a pretty lazy day on Sunday, which was symbolically represented IN MY FIRST WILD SLOTH SIGHTING!!! It was right outside our hotel, which was really cool! 

Hello, Mr. Sloth! You can see its little head poking out from the side of its body. And, yes, I know what you are thinking... National Geographic has already contacted me about the high quality of my nature photography, and I'm giving up Xavier to go work for them. 

Just kidding.

Fun fact: sloth in Spanish is "perezoso," which also means lazy! Phil taught me that!

On Sunday, I stayed in bed until 8:30--the absolute latest I have stayed in bed since coming to Costa Rica! Ah, so relaxing. After we packed up, we walked down the beach to the center of town and had possibly the best breakfast EVER. So good. 

 Truly, a work of art: a platter of fruit (PAPAYA, pineapple, watermelon, bananas, starfruit, and some cross between a grapefruit and an orange) and some gallo pinto (which I enjoy, despite it being a combination of rice and beans, two things to don't really like all that much), eggs, and plantain!

Alongside the papaya in this breakfast, I had fresh papaya fruit juice Friday at dinner. YUM I LOVE PAPAYA! 

After breakfast, we checked out of our hotel & headed back into Quepos to catch buses to our respective towns (San Jose for me and Esparza/Puntarenas for my family). We parted ways, but I will see them this weekend, too! 

Ladies of the family (12yo Lainey, mom, me, and 19yo Andrea) with the church in the background. Photo credit: Dad

All in all, solid weekend! As for work today, it went well. We did zumba, which is getting increasingly more difficult. Alas, I have resigned to the fact that I probably will not come back from Costa Rica super tan and in the best shape of my life. But doing zumba twice a week (and running here and there, but I really don't like running) prevents me from being a total potato while I'm here in San Jose. 

I've been stressing a lot about the internship (what's new?) lately, but I really am trying the best I can, so that offers me a bit of solace. I really want to do well at this job! I am learning so much and growing so much as a person, and I want to be able to help this company as much as I can. My research now is turning more towards healthcare capital investment in China. It is really interesting because it is just another important facet of a healthcare system--one that I know very little about. There is so much to learn!! :O Hopefully I can learn it all in the next five weeks... 

Until next time!

amdg. 

Half way there (?!?!)

Well, almost halfway there, anyways.. After work tomorrow, I will be more or less halfway done with my work at Sanigest. Only five full weeks left! I cannot believe how fast time is going by. Some of my other Fellows are nearing the ends of their trips now, which is totally unreal!! Again, time never ceases to amaze me.

This week at work, like every other week, has had its ups and downs. I was feeling pretty good Monday and Tuesday, but yesterday I was assigned a pretty big project and it is giving me quite a run for my money. It goes back to the Malawi project. We got a bunch of databases with some information about Malawi, and I was asked to organize them. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Well, you're wrong if you think that. The databases are soooooooo huge (at best 20,000X400) and it is all written in a code specific to the organization that created the database. In order to merge the lists and get something somewhat useful out of the data, I have to use this program called STATA. I think as far as programs go, it is pretty easy to use, but given the short timeline that I have been given, it has NOT been easy, whatsoever. I took a Computer Science class, so I know the general idea behind programs, but no way am I an expert. Unfortunately, this sort of data manipulation calls for someone who knows what they are doing (hint hint, not me!). I am trying my best to learn how to manipulate the data, but it is HARD. Lots of YouTube, lots of Google. I worked through my lunch today trying to make sense of the data and the program, and I need to do some more tonight. They want it by tomorrow, which is kind of scary, but I'm trying the best I can! Unfortunately, the full-time analysts and consultants at my branch of the firm have their hands full with other things, so the brunt of the task falls on me. So. I say my prayers, and keep on keeping on.

Sidenote, despite the difficulties, it is really cool to be using such a program! It's a very marketable skill and there is just something so sweet about typing in a command after 50 or so tries and having it work. It's the little things in life!

This weekend I am headed to Manuel Antonio, a pretty popular Costa Rican destination. I am very excited! More about that on Monday. :)

Here is Manuel Antonio! Not to far from San Jose, only about 4 hours or so. 

As it is more or less the halfway point, I think it is a good time to stop and reflect on what has passed, how I feel about it, and how I feel I have grown as a person. Of course, I can't talk about everything, so I will try to keep it short and simple. Mostly because I need to get back to that darn project.

1. I am very proud of myself for handling everything that I have handled. Which is a lot. I'm the youngest Fellow, and I definitely always felt the youngest, so coming into the trip I was really worried about how I would be able to handle everything. It's been a trip of many "firsts": first time being abroad alone, first time cooking consistently for myself, first internship, first time dealing with prolonged homesickness... And I could go on. It's all happened at once, and, much to my surprise, I've dealt with everything quite well. No big mental breakdowns and I haven't thrown in the towel. Through the challenges, I've stuck it out. And I am proud of myself for that.
2. I told myself I would start living in the moment before I left for the trip, and I think putting myself in that mind-set pre-trip was great. Yes, I still look forward to the weekends, but I am more conscious of my overall attitude about what I am doing, right as I am doing it. It's hard and I still find myself wishing certain times would pass faster, but my improved efforts to "live in the moment" have definitely paid off!
3. I am so grateful for the blessing that Xavier University has been to me. This opportunity would not have been possible without my Xavier family & the opportunities that have been given to me there. When I step back onto campus in August, I might just fall to the ground and start kissing it (I'm only 90% joking...). I will be so grateful for a safe return--even more grateful for this opportunity to grow & become more of the person I am meant to be.  
4. Being a Brueggeman Fellow is HARD. No matter where we are or what we are doing, we have one thing in common: we have to learn to deal with ourselves, on the good days and bad days. To really throw yourself in the fire of seeking self-awareness is truly a daunting thing. I am proud to be a Fellow and I am so proud of all the Fellows, both past and present. We are awesome!

Anyways, that's all I really have time for right now. I need to work on this project! :P Until next time!

amdg. 

Keep the waterfalls coming!

Today has been a pretty good day so far! Work was good. I did a multitude of tasks today, and I felt pretty good about all of them! Awesome for a Monday! Also did zumba, which I quickly canceled out with a hearty pastry & peanut butter M&M's.

The first thing I did today was help brainstorm ideas for the creation of an index to measure the productivity of HIV clinics. I talked a bit about indices in my last post, but to elaborate a bit more, these sorts of "scores" give one number to, more or less, summarize the productivity/efficiency/whatever of an organization. A good example is the social progress index. Fun fact: the 2015 report places Costa Rica ranked at #28 and the US at #16, both in the category of "high social progress." #1 is Norway. Click on the link for more info!

I've been looking at a lot of indices throughout the duration of my work as a Brueggeman Fellow. They are pretty useful, but indices have a lot of shortcomings and limitations, too. For instance, consider the social progress index. While the US is overall ranked #16, I am willing to bet there are communities that would have a score as high as or higher than the #1 ranked Norway. On the other hand, there are certainly communities that wouldn't even make the top 100. So, yes, US is #16, but you shouldn't expect that to be a complete, across the board score for every part of the country. Yes, indices are useful, but like any sort of summary, you won't get all the details.

Anyways, what we are trying to do is a little simpler than that (obviously, if I am being asked to brainstorm--I'm just a mathematics minor, after all. :p). I really liked this task because it allowed me to do some critical, math-y thinking, and thinking applied to health, at that! So cool when my interests collide. I'm not sure if what I came up with was very good, but it basically involved a summation of ratios juxtaposing the outputs and inputs of different components of an HIV program (I tried to use big words in that sentence to make it seem more impressive.. I don't think it worked). Basic, yes. But sometimes keeping it simple is all you need in life, right? RIGHT.

Today I also helped edit a proposal for another project. The analysts and consultants here are really amazing, especially considering the fact that many of them are required to work in English, a second language for many. Their English is all very impressive, but inevitably there will be some issues when it comes to grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure. In order to help polish the report, I was just asked to do a sweep through to make sure that the English was okay. It was cool to read through the proposal and get a sense of this organization's approach to assignments they want to take on. It is some pretty cool stuff!

I am also continuing to work on the Dominican Republic project. That is also pretty cool. More on that in another post. I like this project because I have been on board for the whole thing, and it is night to see it as it grows.

Also, in other news, I am feeling much better today. Thankfully. I think I just had a little bug in my system, but I rested a bit more this weekend. Also, it is so hot on the Pacific Coast that I might have just sweat it out. :p But I am very grateful to be feeling a bit better.

Of course, I had another AMAZING weekend. This time I was in Montezuma. Here is the map:

Last weekend I was in Playa del Coco which was a bit more north, closer to Nicaragua. 

It was about a 2.5 hour bus ride to Puntarenas, a 1.5 hour ferry ride, then another 1 hour on a bus, and then another 20 minutes on a bus. A lot of moving around! One of the AMAZING parts of the ferry was watching the sunset.

STUNNING, the picture really doesn't do it justice

Faye had been here before and just raved about it--all of her positive reviews were definitely true! We were in a remote town in the middle of the jungle on the ocean. It was the most stereotypical beach town, too! Loved it. We stayed at an amazing hostel called "Luz en el Cielo." Besides no air-conditioning, it was great! Literally in the middle of the jungle. In the morning and throughout the day, we could hear howler monkeys, and we got to see some, too.

Little monkey, monkeyin' around in the jungle

On Saturday, we hiked to some local waterfalls. It was another crazy hike, but nothing like Cerro Chato from a few weeks back (wait.. I have been here a few weeks?!?). The tough thing about this hike was that it was SO HOT. I don't think I have sweat so much in my entire life, holy cow. 

You can't really tell in this picture, but it was up a jagged, rocky stream. It was pretty tough! 

Once we got to the waterfall, it was totally worth it. There were three levels to the waterfall, so the following pictures correspond to the first level:

This one was about 50 feet tall--the biggest one. 

As you can kind of tell, the water was pretty dark and brown. Safe to swim in (I haven't gotten sick... yet...). However, if Amanda's nightmares take place in creepy cemeteries, mine take place in deep, dark pools, in which some horrifying water creature grabs my legs and pulls me down into the depths of the water. Swimming in dark, deep water totally freaks me out, but I fought my fear and actually had a really good time! Fun fact: I am not as good at treading water as I thought. 

You can't really tell, but that little person jumping off the rocks is me. It doesn't look quite as impressive as it actually felt. That rock was about 10 feet above the water. The climb up the rock was kind of a challenge, too. 

The locals like to climb up the falls and jump off the top.. No gracias. I'm not that crazy. You can't really see well, but if you look hard, you can see another man in the upper righthand corner of the photo. 

After hanging out at the first level, we did another crazy climb to the second & third levels of the falls. This is where the REAL fun begins! There was a 30 foot waterfall that you could jump off.. AND I DID IT!!! :O It was crazy! Yes, 30 feet doesn't sound like much, but it was pretty adventuresome. The fall hurt, too. My feet hit the water first, but my backside caught it at a strange angle, and let's just say it hurts to sit today. :P 

Part of the crazy hike down

Me gathering my thoughts before I plunge down the waterfall

To my great dismay, I can't figure out how to upload videos to this blog, but I will try to post the video of me jumping off the waterfall on Facebook! It might be small enough for email, too. 

This is the point I jumped from... It was pretty far! Also, my foot. 

Besides the waterfall, we spent a bit of time at the beach, which was nice. I LOVE the Pacific Ocean. Yes, I have only been twice, but it has been really lovely. So warm!

Pretty pretty pretty! Check out the cool sand!

Now, Spanish mass round FOUR! Have I really been here for four weekends? The mass went well. I had to go to the town over, which was an adventure, but I made it there and back safely--by the grace of God, really. It was super hot during the mass because they actually had the mass on a basketball court outside due to construction. It is still really hard to understand, but, again, every week I am getting better! Also, everyone knew the music again without song sheets.. 

Haha, yes, plastic chairs. But Jesus is Jesus, plastic chairs or a pews made of gold.

Hello, Mary!

Well, that's all for now! Off to cook dinner, which I am totally stealing Emily's grilled cheese idea--so excited to try it! Also, Criminal Minds is on TV tonight, in Spanish. And the woman who owns my hostel LOVES it. Life is good and I am blessed. :D

amdg. 

TGIF!

¡Hola!

Quick blog post about the week before I head back to the beach ( <3 <3 <3). This weekend I am going to Montezuma, also in Guanacaste like Playa del Coco, but more south.

Every day brings its challenges, but also the reward of becoming more and more accustomed to this work and research. I feel like my feet are more firmly planted on the ground, which is great (only took me almost half the trip ;P). Even when I don't know how to do something, I have a bit more confidence in my ability to do the work I need to do.

This week we did a lot of work on the Malawi lit review which should be, fingers crossed, completely finished! Yay! I feel better now because I have contributed more, so my name on the World Bank document is worth more than the little I had contributed last week. :P I really enjoyed the research with that. Besides looking at the community-based interventions, I also did a bit of a comprehensive analysis of several studies regarding the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (the combination of 3+ antiretroviral drugs to combat the progression of HIV). It is by no means whatsoever a cure to HIV, but it is truly vital for any HIV-positive individual to enhance his or her health as much as possible. There are a lot of challenges to providing ART to HIV-positive individuals, including money, transportation to clinics, inadequate counseling, and limited access to food. The report I read was specifically talking about some rural communities in Africa, but these aren't uncommon problems in the US, either. The following link provides some stories of HIV-positive US citizens and how the ACA affected their HIV care:

The ACA and People with HIV: Profiles from the Field

The tricky thing with HIV is that it invites a lot of other complications--if you read the brief above, you saw that a lot of the interviewees weren't JUST struggling with HIV, but a multitude of other really horrible (and horribly expensive, for that matter) conditions. Reading stories like these are a reminder of the good & the bad of the ACA: the good being that a lot more people have access to healthcare because of expanded coverage, and the bad being the gaps that still exist, plus the seemingly never-ending organizational issues.

Wednesday was a long, long day. I was given an assignment regarding the data analysis of another HIV project in Myanmar a little bit before I left work. My boss wanted it by 10:00pm San Jose time, so I started it around 7:00, thinking I would be fine (she had told me it would only take an hour). Unfortunately, a lot of the data was organized in a very strange way, and some of the calculations I needed had not been completed. I had a Skype call with my boss and we hammered out some of the issues, but because of those issues the assignment took about 4.5 hours instead of 1. :p I went to bed around midnight, which is actually pretty impressive for me here in Costa Rica. On work nights, I am normally ready for sleep around 9:00 pm. This is in part due to the fact that the sun rises here around 5:30 am, and I am a really light sleeper. :p

Thursday was a bit slower, as most of the busy work had been completed Monday-Wednesday. I spent the morning looking up composite indices to measure health production. It was really challenging because these indices require some pretty complicated algorithms; I didn't understand a lot of it, but it seemed pretty interesting. I won't bother trying to summarize it here because I still don't really have a good understanding. I had a lot of fun last night; I went out to dinner with Faye, Alex, and Eve to celebrate Eve's last week in San Jose. She returns to France tomorrow. We had some good casado AND finally tres leches cake. Mmmmm!!

In not-so-good news, I've been feeling kind of weird lately (physically, not emotionally--well, I am always a little emotionally weird here, but nothing out of the ordinary :p). I woke up last night shivering like crazy with cold sweats, even though, to the touch, I was very, very warm--possibly fevered. I've been struggling with headaches the past couple of days. I took some medicine so it isn't quite as bad right now. I've been quite fatigued and a little achy, too, but I think that might just be from zumba. :p LOL, sooooo let's just hope I'm a little dehydrated or sleepy or something not too serious. :P The last thing I need right now is to be sick! But, I am equipped with a full first-aid kit and several copies of my health insurance card and claims forms--in the event that I do fall a bit ill, I am prepared! But here's to hoping I stay healthy.

Alright, off to the beach! Another weekend of sun & relaxation & hopefully more sleep! ¡Hasta luego, amigos!

Has it really been two weeks?!

Hello! I am two weeks into my Brueggeman trip--shocking! The rate at which time passes never ceases to amaze me.

Work continues to be a huge challenge, but if it weren't a challenge, would it be worth it? Probably not! :) So, while it is hard, I am very grateful for the challenges that have been presented to me. Also, did zumba today, and that was fun!

I did some really interesting research today at work. For the World Bank, we are working on a (never-ending, may I add) literature review on the HIV/AIDS situation in Malawi and what can be done to help the epidemic (the quickest summary I could possibly give). I haven't been on board long, so I am just helping out with the tail end of the lit review. I think I may have mentioned this in another post.. Oh, well. Anyways, today I did a lot of research on community-based interventions for HIV (really, it is a method that can be applied to anything, but I was looking specifically at its application to the HIV situation in Malawi). It was really interesting! So, as you can probably tell from the name, community-based interventions are--wait for it--based on individual community needs! :O I'm so insightful.

Kidding aside, I really believe this kind of approach is truly vital when it comes to providing care. Obviously, every community has different needs and characteristics--the same approach to health in Cincinnati isn't going to work as well if it was applied in Honolulu, for example. My research today reminded me a lot of some organizations I have had the privilege of stumbling upon while at Xavier. Two specifically come to mind. The first, Closing the Health Gap, aims to eliminate racial and health disparities in Cincinnati. For those of you who aren't really familiar with the overall health of Cincinnati, just be aware MANY problems exist. For instance, infant mortality in Cincinnati and Hamilton county are nearly double the rates of the rest of the country. And, to illustrate the horrific disparities that exist in our community, infant mortality among live births to white mother is approximately 7.5/1000--among live births to black mothers, it is around 17.8/1000 (Cincinnati Children's, as of 2010--I am sure there are more updated stats out there, but as I research all day at work, I think I will take a break from that for now). Crazy, right?? This is why the delivery of healthcare is so important--and not just any healthcare, but care designed to fit a community's specific and unique needs! Allow me to digress for a moment--one of the other Fellows, Tess Petrozzi, is doing some really incredible work in New Zealand with infant mortality & midwifery systems. Her trip is based a lot upon another cool organization in Cincy, Healthy Moms and Babes, which also aims to help with the health problems in Cincy. I'm speaking for Tess, so I hope I represented her correctly. :)

Anyways, back to Closing the Health Gap--As a Health Services major, we have a lot of different guest speakers come into our classes. It is a really cool networking tool and it helps us explore different careers in the healthcare industry. From my ~1.5 years experience as this major, a majority of the guest speakers are business-related; don't get me wrong, it is really interesting, but a lot of the times I am not really inspired by that aspect of healthcare. Someone is meant to be in charge of billing and revenue streams, but that someone probably isn't me. :p One day during Fall 2014, two women from Closing the Health Gap came in, and it was a breath of fresh air!! It was really interesting to hear about how they are trying to improve the health in Cincinnati in a hands-on way, one that reflects a lot of what I learned about from my research today on community-based interventions.

Crossroad Health Center is another interesting organization I am across this past spring semester. In similar ways to Closing the Health Gap, Crossroad Health Center's mission is to provide accessible, affordable, COMMUNITY-BASED primary health care services and mental health counseling to the residents of OTR and surrounding Cincinnati communities (that mission statement is, more or less, copy & pasted from their website). The husband & wife that started the clinic gave a talk to the pre-med society (no, I am not pre-med, I just attended because that is what I do for fun!), and it was truly inspiring. I took really detailed notes, but I left them back at home, so I can't really go into too much detail about the presentation. Basically, they provide care to the needy population of OTR in Cincinnati. Also, I was also amazed because the mission of the organization is rooted deeply in faith! It is quite inspiring to me. I would actually really love to get an internship here in the fall; they mostly hire on pre-med kids, but I think if I plead my case, I may have a shot! Prayers, please. :)

These sort of organizations, in my humble opinion, are truly vital for providing the healthcare that a community needs. For those of you interested, here are the links to the websites of the organizations (I don't think they would mind if I shared!):

Closing the Heath Gap
Crossroad Health Center

Whether it be for a community in Malawi struggling with HIV or Cincinnati, Ohio, community-based interventions offer a lot of great things for the provision of healthcare. A challenge is implementing such interventions, especially on a state or federal level. Could the US ever do that? Hmm, I'm not sure, because that would mean that healthcare isn't just about money.. ;) Oops, said too much!

I would like to learn more about these kind of approaches to healthcare; what I have blogged about thus far is based on just a little bit of research that I did today! I will work on it some more tomorrow before I am, no doubt, given many more assignments to complete. :)

Well, that was work for today! I am sure the rest of the week will keep me on my toes & teach me many, many new things. :)

As for my weekend, I had a really wonderful trip to Playa del Coco. It was really beautiful! My first time to the Pacific Ocean! :) I've been very blessed to make friends. I am truly thankful they have welcomed me into the group. They are so nice and friendly.. and tons of fun! :) Which is good for me, because we all know how much fun I normally have. :P We have had a lot of fun together, and I am just very happy to have made friends.. It makes the experience all the more enjoyable. :)

To give you some perspective.. I live in San Jose. It was about a 5 hour bus ride to Playa del Coco. 

First touch of the Pacific Ocean! :) 

Breakfast and a view! And my new true love.. PAPAYA! So good! Also very happy to have green tea, my other true love. <3

One of my favorite photos from the weekend--so beautiful! The water was really warm, which was great. 

Hello!

Costa Rican beach sunsets >>>

Spanish mass: Round Three!

This mass was a little strange--the music was like very creepy, weird carnival music. I cannot make that up! Not a huge fan. Besides that, it was a great mass! Good news, I am understanding more and more each time around. I can ALMOST follow along with the "Our Father." Homilies are still hard, but I figure as long as I have a basic understanding, it is fine. Reading the selected readings beforehand also helps. Also, I have some interesting thoughts on masses:

1. There are no hymnals, song booklets, nada, but somehow, EVERYBODY always knows every song and sings along. So, either there is some serious work of the Holy Spirit going on in the music liturgy in Costa Rica, or they sing the same 3 songs. I will research further. 

2. At the sign of peace, all the little kids in the church go up and shake the priest's hand--this has happened at all three masses I have attended so far in Costa Rica. I like it a lot, and it probably helps the children develop a healthy perspective/relationship of the pastoral leadership of the church. #vocationproblems #itsthelittlethingsthatcount #getonboardchurchofamerica

I do not believe this church had a name. I scoured the internet, and all I could find was "the bright green church." So, La Parroquia de La Iglesia Verde Brilliante is what I am naming it

Up close & personal! I always feel kind of strange taking pictures of churches, but I guess if I'm going to take pictures of anything, churches aren't that bad.

They love their Divine Mercy here! I've seen it on buses and trucks, even! Imagine that in the US! :O

They also love Mary. She is on a lot of buses, trucks, and cars.

That's all for now, folks! Thanks for reading! 

amdg. 

Greetings from the Office (Desk..) of Ms. Haley Beavers

Since I'm technically on my lunch break, I don't feel too bad about posting a quick update about my week. Work has gone well. These past few days haven't been quite as busy as last week, but I definitely feel as if my feet are still dragging as I attempt to master this learning curve. I'm pretty disappointed in myself that I don't feel totally grounded, but I guess dealing with such emotions are inevitable. I am doing the best I can!

This organization is focused a lot on helping provide universal health coverage. I have probably already mentioned this, but I am learning a lot about how such laws and policies are formed and put into place. It is easy to think one minute no universal coverage and then, *poof*--universal coverage. Not so!! There is a TON of work that goes into crafting every little piece of a healthcare policy (yes, Captain Obvious, please enlighten us more...). I guess it's just interesting to be a part of such a process, instead of studying it from afar. It has given me a sense of appreciation and empathy for policy makers that "can't seem to get a job done."

Yesterday & today my main focus has been helping with the simplification of the benefits package for the Dominican Republic. This goes back to last week, but now we are starting to make some headway. This is the one project that is entirely in Spanish. Once I am done writing this blog, I will go back to comparing the DR's organization of surgical procedures to other countries with SHI (social health insurance). Do I really know what I am talking about? Nope, not really, but that's been my Brueggeman experience thus far--"work the problem!" In my experience, and I am sure in the experiences of the other Fellows, "problem" is ALWAYS plural. Work the problemS. So many problems. But, all fruitful, as I am learning a lot about health care and, possibly more importantly, myself.

Three short, unrelated work comments, and then I need to get back to the grind:

1. The squirrels in Costa Rica are kind of alarming. This isn't my photo, as I am too timid to whip out my camera when I see them. I have actually only seen two or three of them, and I think I prefer US squirrels:

This counts as culture, right?? Exotic squirrels?

2. My Spanish is so embarrassing! Everyone tells me it is fine, so maybe I just have some serious insecurities to work through. Maybe I expect myself to be fluent.. Maybe I need to lower the standards I set for myself. No, I just think I need to realize that Rome wasn't built in a day, there is no such thing as the "perfect" Brueggeman Fellow, I'm not supposed to be an expert at anything at this point in the game, and it's okay to be sad. Wow, that escalated quickly, but there is a snapshot into what is really going on in my head. :p

3. I am having a crepe night with some of my new friends! :) Yum! The girl from France will be making them for us! We are also going to the Playa del Coco this weekend! Ah! Looking forward to some nice beach relaxation.


Okay, back to work!

amdg.

Climb every mountain, ford every stream...

¡Hola! :)

It has been a few days since I have last posted, and I have a lot to talk about, so this will be a lengthy post... Sorry not sorry. ;)

Last week was very tough for me, in regard to adjusting to my job--and everything else at once. It is very challenging, as is the nature of a consulting firm. There are many different projects at once, and as a grunt intern, I get asked to do a lot of little things for multiple different projects. On Friday, there was a bit literature review due regarding a project in Malawi. I don't know many of the details about the project, but it involves helping with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I had not worked on the literature review, but there was a plethora of last-minute edits that needed to be made, so I was pulled in to work on the project. I helped write a blurb on the current HIV/AIDS situation in Malawi and a section on ABC (activities based costing) and why it is a good costing method for HIV/AIDS programs. It was really, really interesting! Also, since I assisted with the lit review, my name will be mentioned (probably in very, very small font) in a World Bank document! :O Even though I only wrote about five whole paragraphs. :P At any rate, it is pretty cool! Now, maybe when you Google my name, you won't just find horrendous pictures from my high school volleyball days. Here's to hoping, anyways.

On Friday, I was also asked to convert a 3-page document into a graph. The document was discussing capital investment planning for China's health services (basically, working on bettering the hospital system in China). It was an interesting task, but I think I managed it well. I was also able to help finish up some research involving social health insurance in former Yugoslavia. Today I also helped reorganize a spreadsheet with HIV/AIDS data--Excel skills, coming in handy at last!

While the job is hard, I am glad I am being kept on my toes. Monotony in a job would be terribly difficult for me; it is exciting (albeit trying & stressful) to come to work every day not really know what to expect.

Also, on a side note, working in a bilingual workplace is exceptionally challenging. Even with the other analysts who are nearly fluent in English, language barriers still exist. I certainly will hone my communication skills while I am here. I am also working on speaking more slowly so others can understand me--my mom will be happy for that one!

Okay, enough business.. Let's talk about my weekend! :)

I've been blessed with a couple of friends here, thankfully! The hostel life is cool for that reason; you meet so many really interesting people! On Friday night, I went out to dinner with 3 new friends: Eve (from France), Faye (from Toronto, also my fellow Sanigest intern!), and Alex (from Quebec). We had a lot of fun, and I was able to try casado (the typical Costa Rican dish) for the first time! It was good.. I'm still getting used to eating a lot of beans, but I am very proud of myself for the effort I have put forth!

Early early early on Saturday morning, Eve, Faye, and I hopped on a bus to La Fortuna, near Arenal, a volcano in Costa Rica! Back to my earlier comment about language barriers: this weekend was another interesting experience with language. Faye and Eve both speak French, but I obviously don't. Faye and I speak English, by Eve's English is a little broken (although she still speaks it very well). Eve and I speak Spanish, but Faye does not. Anyways, do the math, and you can see that there is not really a common language among all three of us. It worked out just fine, but it was interesting!

Nice countryside view from the bus

"Jesus yo confio en ti"--tons of buses had this on the back. Perhaps because only Jesus can protect these bus drivers from the crazy routes and traffic. I really did like this--a nice little reminder of what's important!

The drive to La Fortuna was beautiful, but the winding hills proved a little too much for my stomach; I didn't throw up, but I certainly felt queasy!

Upon arriving to La Fortuna, we grabbed a quick breakfast before heading off to see the amazing waterfall!

The typical Costa Rican breakfast... Gallo Pinto, eggs (well, I don't know if that is typical, but it came with the meal), and a plantain! Talk about hearty! I had it both mornings in La Fortuna. 

We were told by the man at the hostel that the hike to the waterfall was only about 45 minutes away--an instance in which I found Costa Rican time is much different than real time. :p I'm not sure how long we were walking for, but it was definitely more than 45 minutes! Finally, we saw a cab coming & we hopped in--a solid investment, because the rest of the ride was up a very steep side of the mountain.

The waterfall (in Spanish, la catarata) was STUNNING. Absolutely breathtaking. I could post a million photos (on Facebook, I did! So check them out!)

La catarata and me!

Faye, Eve, and me! La catarata (why call it a waterfall when you can call it a CATARATA?) is in the background!

Hello, gorgeous!

There are tons of rocks surrounding the waterfall; they were very slippery, and one did get the best of me--I lost my footing and slipped down. Luckily, the rocks weren't jagged and I didn't get cut, but my left shin is completely bruised all the way up! It hurt, BUT I didn't cry.. ;)

The river a bit down from la catarata; we were able to swim in it! Despite being very cold, it was a great! Quite refreshing.

I was not brave enough to venture closely to the waterfall. As I mentioned earlier, I took a pretty hard spill on the rocks. The current was really strong. I will try to upload a video of the waterfall to Facebook!

Okay, enough about the waterfall! After that, we took a sketchy cab back to the hostel, and then we left to go to the natural volcanic hot springs! It was quite relaxing! :) And the water was SO WARM!! Like a big, natural hot tub!

You can see the steam!

Ahhhhhh RELAXING :)

Another highlight from the day: Spanish mass, round two! I got bits & pieces of the mass, but I was still pretty lost with the language. I was just happy I was able to go!!

La Parroquia de San Juan Bosco--very beautiful church, right in the center of La Fortuna!

¡Qué bonita!

Sorry.. I told you this would be a long post! 

Onto Sunday, by far my most favorite part of the trip! We decided to do a hike up Cerro Chato, one of the dormant volcanoes near La Fortuna. Holy cow, WHAT. A. HIKE. The goal was a swim in the green lagoon at the crater on top of the mountain. But first, we had to endure a ~2 mile hike up the volcano.

And when I say up a volcano, I literally mean UP. The hike was the most physically exerting activity that I have done in a LONG time. But, man, do I feel accomplished after taking on that monster of a hike! :O

The "before" picture... Well, actually the third-of-the-way picture. At this point, we were almost into the jungle 

Ah, yes, this is the trail. As you can see, it is not flat, and it is very UP. What a workout!! I felt like a true jungle warrior.

Yes, this is also the properly marked trail. 

Down down down to the green lagoon I go!

I MADE IT!!!

Look at how green it is! It is naturally this color.

The hike probably took ~4-5 hours, round trip. And I am feeling it today!! So sore!!

Yepp, we sure did! I didn't carve this, but I definitely appreciated the sentiment.

And, finally, the "after" shot.. I felt/looked drained! This was the BEAUTIFUL center of town. In the background is the volcano Arenal! STUNNING!

Here's the view, without sweaty me ruining the photo.. GORGEOUS!

Well, phew, that's all for now!! :) Here's to hoping for a good week at work! Maybe going to the Pacific next weekend.. :)

Peace!

amdg.