Friday, August 24, 2007

stay tuned...


As many of you know Peru had a serious earthquake August 16th, and while the damage in Lima was minimal, has left over 500 people dead and thousands without homes, and even more without water or electricity. Anyway, I have been meaning to write a blog post about a) the earthquake here, and b) my trip with people from Socios en Salud to look for our patients who live in the most affected areas. I apologize for the long delay, but work has been crazy this week. So I will leave you with some photos that we took last weekend. In terms of donations, I think PIH will soon have something on their website about how to support the relief work, otherwise I know Oxfam also was collecting for the people in Peru. The Bolivian president Evo and his VP are giving half their monthly salary! ($950)


Saturday, August 11, 2007

Steps forward! Progress! Activity!

All my apologies for my extreme lack of attention to my blog upkeep. I went to Boston for 3 weeks and didn't spend much time at the computer, but now I am back to my life in Lima where I feel like I am always sitting at this computer. Fortunately now I have some new music to accompany me. It was wonderful in so many ways to be in Boston. I felt grateful to have the chance to be with my mom when she needed me and finally reciprocate to her the support and care that she has always given me. I also enjoyed practicing my skills as a "personal care assistant," as my mother referred to Eric and I. Catching up with old friends, and even older friends, was wonderful although the time was too short. I went to my first friend wedding which was beautiful, and got me thinking about life differently. Marriage is an odd phenomena. A quick trip to Brooklyn to see my little cousins. And of course trips to Walden Pond, the beach, Charlie's Kitchen, and the beloved (and changed) Diesel.

Here at Socios I have lots of exciting stuff going on (finally.) There was a meeting last weekend, like a 2-day retreat I think, of all the head honchos at Socios and my project on water and environmental health was talked about a lot. So it really seems like it's going to expand and get more support! At the same time, I am currently bogged down by hurrying to enter a whole bunch of psychiatric consults into a database.

The other exciting stuff that I have been thinking a lot about and not getting scared while thinking about it (a good sign) is where I'm going post-Socios. I'm currently starting to really look at nurse practitioner programs, study for the GREs, and apply for a grant. Wish me luck on all three of those, please.

OK, again, wonderful to see everyone back home. I wish I could've brought a little sun and warmth down here to foggy cold Lima and some farm and garden grown vegetables, but at least I can keep myself warm with coca tea and pisco sours. (Not sure why this post came out like a mass email, but it did.)