My month...

The last four weeks or so have seemed like a bit of a haze. I feel like a lot has been going on but at the same time, I haven´t done much.

Part of this has to do with my focus on my post-Peace Corps life. After a couple of months of working here as a Community Health volunteer I decided I want to get my Masters of Public Health when I finish Peace Corps. So in the past couple of months I have been researching different schools I might go to. And realizing that application deadlines for fall 2009 are in December I realized I also have to take the GRE! So the past month I have dedicated a good amount of time to the GRE (hoping my test scores will make up for my unmotivated/unfocused undergrad experience). It was fun being a student again and learning college level things. And the vocab study has proven to be a little easier based on the spanish vocab I know (although the spanish meanings trick you on a few english words). I´ll be taking the GRE in October so I felt that September was my month to buckle down and study. At first I thought being in Nicaragua and studying for the GRE would be difficult, but since I dont have TV or internet in my house it has proven much easier! All was going great with my studies until...

I got sick with who knows what. The last weekend in August I woke up one morning with a fever. I felt fine the rest of the day, then when I went to bed I had a fever. This continued for a couple of days, fever and body pains at night and feeling fine during the day. After 5 straight days I figured I should get some tests done. I did, and nothing came back. Meanwhile, the fever and body pains continued but now not only at night. I went and visited the Peace Corps doctor who said I must have an infection in my lungs (by this point, my lungs were hurting too, and my tonsils were quite swollen). He put me on amoxicilin, and that didnt do anything and I continued with the fever (about 2 weeks of fever for those of you keeping score at home) so he put me on a stronger antibiotic. Finally, that seemed to work. I started those pills at the beginning of this week and I have steadily improved. I feel about 95% healthy at this point which is a huge improvement from the previous part of this month. Yesterday I started to get a rash on my body, leading everyone (including myself) to conclude that I must have had Dengue Fever this whole time. Although my symptoms dont match up exactly, Dengue Fever is chararcterized by a rash at the end that looks exactly like the rash I have right now. Dengue is passed by mosquitos and there is no treatment or cure. (Although I´m not sure if I had Dengue, learn about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_Fever). You just have to ride out the symptoms: body pains and fever, ending with a rash. Dengue can be dangerous but only when someone has gotten it multiple times. Since this is my first time, and I´m 6 months from leaving, I think I´m safe! Anyways, I´m not sure if you are interested in my health or not, but this has dominated my life for the past couple of weeks. It was difficult for me to be working because I felt weak during the day. I tried studying for the GRE, but vocab just doesn´t stick in the brain when you have an intense headache!

Anyways...thats been my life for the past couple of weeks. Gracias a Dios, I feel better now, which is great because tomorrow I am taking a trip to Costa Rica to visit my sister! It will be a 12+ hour bus ride, but worth it since I hardly ever have a chance to see her and her husband. I´ll take lots of pics and try to blog about it when I get back. I hope all is well with everyone. It was Central American Independence day on the 14th and 15th, so Happy Independence Day!