murcielago is the spanish word for bat.
during a recent spanish lesson in canada, my profesora realized that this was a new word for me and she used Batman as example to help me understand the new vocabulary.
for weeks leading up to our trip i refered to chris as "my sweet murcielago", thinking that i was buttering up my comic loving boyfriend by calling him "my sweet superhero", instead i was calling him an ugly flying rodent.
bats and i have a bad history. the last time i was in nicaragua a bat flew up out of the outhouse while i was using it. the bat flew full speed right into my butt. i ran out of the outhouse screaming with my pants around my ankles, much to the delight of the neighborhood children waiting outside. so i have some bat issues.
last night chris and i woke up to a flapping sound in our room. chris's main suspect was the king cockroach that had been hiding out in the bathroom. but no, it was my nemisis, the murcielago. he hid under our bed, and scrurried across the floor. chris wanted to pick him up and put him outside, but i know that those little creatures can carry rabies, and i didnt want chris to risk the bite. so i told the sweet girl downstairs about our problem. she giggled at the silly cheles (white folks) and promptly dealt with the bat. she used a combo "broom handle and heel of her shoe" approach. chris was upset at the violence. am i a bad person for not being upset? peta be damned. i rolled over and fell back asleep.
i hope that people made it out to the big fundraiser last night! was anyone there? i am dying to hear how it went!
take care! the clinic is closer every day!
xoxo
jania
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In January and February 2007 our team traveled to Managua, Nicaragua, to provide Traditional Chinese Medicine services to the children of the Parajito Azul orphanage.
Saludos Amigos
the bloggers: Jania writes in red, Lindsay in black, Andrea in blue, and Lynda in purple.
The Acupuncture Works in Nicaragua team is made of
one acupuncturist (Andrea), one nurse (Lynda), and two social workers (Jania & Lindsay).
We are travelling with our friends Angel and Chris, who may make occasional guest blogger appearances. Angel is a Nicaraguan who is helping us with translation, and Chris is an Edmonton theatre artist who is working on a documentary film about Nicaragua. He will be filming our experiences at Parajito Azul.
Welcome to our little blog. Please email us with any questions or comments at AWN2007@gmail.com
Our Project
- Acupuncture Works in Nicaragua
- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- It is this team’s mission to investigate the use of acupuncture as a modality of healing for children with various developmental and physical disabilities in a community where access to health care is limited. Traditional Chinese Medicine, and specifically acupuncture, has been practiced for over 3000 years and has been recognized by the World Health Organization to provide relief for over 40 different conditions. We are interested in exploring how this safe, simple and inexpensive treatment will improve the quality of life for these children. Acupuncture is not meant to act as a replacement for Western Medicine; rather, it is our mandate to open the door to providing complementary care. Acupuncture does not require the careful administering of pharmaceuticals or extensive follow-up that many Western treatments and surgeries necessitate. For a community where the cost of treatment is prohibitive, acupuncture will provide high quality, cost-effective services to children who require care.
some of our favourite sites
- 1. Change for Children Association (CFCA) homepage --- Thank you CFCA. Without your support this trip would not have been possible. We believe in the work that you do.
- 2. Eastern Currents Distributing --- We would like to thank Eastern Currents for their kind donation of acupunture supplies. We are so grateful for the needles. Thank you for believing in this project.
- 3. Acupuncture Works in Nicaragua has a myspace page!
- 4. Chris Craddock´s poetry blog
- 5. Andrea House homepage
2 comments:
Hallo dearest Jania, thanks for your updates and highly amusing tales of adventure and intrigue in Nicaragua! I once had a similar ugly-rodent-under-the-bed experience in Kenya except it was a rat instead of a bat.. ewwww! :P
In any event, I'm so glad you're back in your second home and having a grand time with your sweet superhero. Best of luck with the upcoming clinic and the filming too! Take good care, pam :)
Hello Lindsay darling and all your wonderful friends. I am relieved and happy to hear that everyone is safely together. My thoughts and prayers are with you all, and I look forward to reading your "blogs" in the upcoming days. Love - Mama BrendaKim
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