The craziness continues

I went out on route a little late this week (Tuesday afternoon instead of Monday morning) because I got really sick on Sunday, and spent all of Monday lying on the couch at Staff House with a fever and headache and nausea.  Yuck.  Luckily it didn't last long.  Seeing all my volunteers was so much fun this week; it's so weird that we're post-midterm now.  Everything just goes by so quickly!  

Today I went to Managua to try to retrieve my package from my parents that has been stuck in customs for 3 weeks or so now (NEVER use DHL - they are hopeless.  Some people on staff got packages via Fedex or regular mail and those all got here).  I was told on the phone that customs close at 12:30, so we (Meredith, who kindly accompanied me, and I) rushed and got there at 12:10, only to find that the DHL desk actually closes at 12, and no one from DHL was there anymore.  So our 1 hour minibus ride and then 20 minute taxi ride was for nothing.  But I refused to go back to staff house empty-handed, so we went to the big mall in Managua (the mall for the rich Nicaraguans, where everything is priced in US dollars) for a while and splurged a bit - I got 3 summery dresses and one tank top.  Today is the first day I've worn anything sleeveless all summer, because I didn't really think to bring cooler clothes for the weekends at staff house.  So it was a good expedition after all.

Tomorrow we have our second day off as staff, and we are going to the Laguna de Apoyo again, which I am very excited about.  However, I am less excited by the 10 secondary medical school applications I have to do - ugh.  But I am grateful that I was asked to do the secondaries.  There are 4 schools I haven't heard back from yet, but the 10 that did e-mail me all asked for secondaries.  Right now, it's 31 essays in total that I have to write.  Honestly, I don't know where I'm going to find the time.  I'll definitely make a stab at some of them tomorrow at the Laguna, but that's not an atmosphere that's very conducive to working.

Despite being busy all the time, life continues to be wonderful.  I love every minute of being here in Nicaragua.  Sometimes I don't want it to ever end.  I do, however, wish I could have gone with my wonderful parents and brother and sister on their trip to Lake Tahoe this past week.

Much love to everyone back home and elsewhere who is reading this blog.

Maya