Friday, September 5, 2008

Spanish, dengue and more

Hey there everyone :)

Hope you are all well there. We just finished lunch here and the internet isn’t working so I decided to write you all yet another blog. Everyone is sitting at a toilet right now thinking about their pooping habits now vs before. One girl is giving an example of how a person is supposed to poop if one can not go- like how you are supposed to sit. Interesting.

So, Dengue has claimed yet another victim here in the group. This time it was a technical trainer (the people who teach us what to do next week at CBT) and there are just four of them total- one for each sector. So, we hope he gets better soon!!

To answer some questions, the girl who got Dengue is doing better. At first we were all upset about our PCV visits were going to be moved to Tuesday- Thursday but now we’re all pretty happy since that girl won’t be missing her trip. That would be a BIG bummer. She thought she was having symptoms when she was sitting in the lecture the nurse was giving us about Dengue and Malaria but she wasn’t sure if it was just in her head. I guess she had a headache and her eyes were hurting. She said she just didn’t feel well. Poor girl, glad she’s on the recovery now though.

I guess there are 4 strains and once you get one your more prone to get the others. One of them is really bad where your organs hemorrhage, so that’s not good. But, people typically (well PCVs) die or go home or anything due to it.

With all the rain that’s coming I guess this weekend is going to be pretty dull. We’re all talking about going to a car wash to party it up on Sat but not if it’s pouring. (Note, here car washes are transformed into dance partys at night). It may be a good thing though since I have a bunch of tests on Monday. They won’t kick any of us out for not performing well on these. They’re to monitor our progress, and I don’t feel like it’s much so I need to study study study!!!

Yesterday my Spanish group practiced calling realators in the paper. We need to know how to get housing so we thought this would be good practice. The first girl got through the second sentence and then started laughing so hard she hung up on the guy. I went next and did really well till I started reading off of my sheet. Turns out I used too many new and big words so when I tried to pronounce them they had no idea what I was saying. They passed the phone from person to person till finally I started laughing so hard I couldn’t talk. I said I was sorry and meant to say I was sick but accidently said they were sick. I have no idea what she said but it wasn’t nice and then she hung up. Whoops.

The next girl did a good job but the last girl didn’t have good results. She got through a few of the questions and accidentally asked if there was gold in the kitchen instead of an oven. She didn’t know what the guy was saying in between her questions so she just kept asking new ones. Finally he told her she needed to learn how to speak Spanish and he hung up on her. We think she may have had the wrong number anyways.

So, yesterday was fun in my 6 ½ hours of Spanish. We played Monopolio (Spanish monopoly) and got better with our numbers. I thought it was going to suck soooo bad being in Spanish that long but my teacher did a great job keeping it interesting.

Well, that’s all for now. Dad, I don’t need you to come and rescue me but thanks for the offer. It’s seriously not bad here so don’t worry about me. They take care of us here. The worst thing I have to deal with is my own frustration, which was in full swing today. But thanks for all the comments, I love reading them. Sarah, whats the deal with not calling me on Sunday you butthead? Good thing I didn’t stay home from the beach for the call!! If you call and I’m not there just try a few hours later. I’m always home by 8 or 9 but generally by 7.

Ok, hope to hear from you all soon. Miss you tons!!

Love

Betsy

1 comment:

i_should_b_asleep said...

hey!!!
I'll send you a package this week with a good strong poncho (I'll go to Dick's Sporting Goods) and some markers and hot cocoa. :)
I didn't call last week beccause mom called me at 8 a.m. and said not to. I didn't call this week because you said you're usually not home till 7 or 8. (I go to bed around 6:30).
How bout this... I'll wait up till 7 next week (hopefully you'll see this by then with Hurricane Ike)-- and we'll talk? :)
Miss you SO much. Thanks for the update on Dengay. I can't wait till you see the letters the boys were working on for you in Spanish... they are SO cute. They're on their way! Sunday is our "write Aunt Betsy" day. :) :)
Spanish monopoly... hmmm... sounds like a nice torture method for kids who don't listen during homeschool..
Oh-- the kid's birthdays-- you asked...
John: (he's still a kid) Nov 2nd
Me: june 27th
Gabe: May 3rd
Isaiah: March 4th
Gracie: August 23rd
Ben: July 14th
No-No: December 3rd
How are you holding up with all the hurricanes? I don't think you went north this weekend... north DR got hammered by Ike. Haiti got totally nailed-- there's like almost 300 people dead now. Hopefully it'll wipe out Cuba tomorrow (I won't say that on the air....) and it's on its way to the Gulf Coast again. Maybe New Orleans will be gone when you come home! Now just Vegas and California to go!!
K... I'm starting to sound like dad... :)
Love you! Your letters are on their way!
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