shot party with my husband

Health forms are complete! I gave Nancy (my co-op supervisor) my receipts for my forms being signed and my TB test this morning and my package of forms. I wrote up my page and a bit about all of my health issues :p Hopefully the insurance company doesn't make me do extra tests because of my asthma, chest pain and stupid stomach. *Fingers crossed* Also gave Nancy a present of maple syrup which caused her to squeal and give me a hug across her desk, haha.

Maple syrup is nothing since I owe her! CUSO and Oxfam-Quebec didn't ask for my resume based on a chart of everyone in my program. Nancy sent in my resumes anyway after I bugged her. And, go figure, I got hired by both! The Oxfam job wasn't as perfect, so my Guatemala job was an easy choice.

Dave and I went to get our shots today. We got typhoid and yellow fever shots. Technically I don't need yellow fever but I will need it if I travel to Brazil or Bolivia. Also got cholera booster powder crap that you mix with water and tastes like "raspberries". Or crap. Depending on what raspberries normally taste like to you. Prescriptions for Cipro (traveller's diarrhea) and Chloroquine (malaria) were given, too. So as soon as I get those prescriptions, I'm DONE with my health stuff! Woot.

The doctor was convinced we were married. She thought it was romantic that I want to go visit Bolivia. Uh, sure. "Do you always travel together?" Makes you a bit nervous when your travel doctor forgets you're going to two different countries/regions...

Our first Spanish lesson on Monday was good. Los palillos are chopsticks! Not the most useful addition to my vocabulary but it was relevant in the discussion because we were eating stirfry. Francis assigned me homework, which was helpful. Ania got some grammar tips. It was good times. Another "class" on Thursday!

I got traumatized by looking at Leslie's pictures of Costa Rica. I'll post some later on...scorpions, snakes, spiders and lizards...oye.

first entry!

About two months left to go before I head off into the Guatemalan rainforest. Well, technically I haven't sent in my signed contract to CUSO or been approved for health insurance, so there is potential I won't go. Technically.

I started a to do list on the side. There are approximately a million things to do in my last two months here in Canada. All of my health insurance sign offs from the doctor and tests were completed last week! Whoohoo! Remind me of things I'm missing. I don't want to forget anything!

And this week I'll be sending in all of my documents to the health insurance company and my acceptance letter to CUSO. Hopefully on Tuesday Dave and I can get our shots (or at least talk to a travel medicine doctor). On Friday, I'll be back in Ottawa. I'll be getting my licence and passport renewed that day.

Things are moving along!

I'm really happy to be leaving in May. The thought of spending a summer in Canada, anxiously waiting to head off to Central America, is brutal.

My placement is, at this point, 8 months long. Which is nuts because it means I'll be done before Christmas! However, I do plan on staying in Latin America for the holidays and travelling.

Three of my friends in my program are going to be in Latin America as well. Ania is going to be in Honduras, Francis in Nicargua (the jerk passed up a job in El Salvador -we would have been so close! Haha) and Dave in Bolivia (COCHABAMA! *hip wiggle*). We are all scheduled to leave in May. Dave and I are working for the Canadian placement agency CUSO (although we have different local partners we'll directly be working for). Francis and Ania were hired by Oxfam-Quebec but are also working for local partners.

We'll be doing Spanish practice sessions at my place twice a week starting this week. My Spanish is the weakest (the only verbs I recognize are the ones that are very close to French verbs). Dave is from Colombia, so his is pretty good, and Francis has become nearly fluent in only a few years -he tutors it now! Ania has taken classes and picks up languages really quickly. So hopefully they can whip me into shape in the short two months we have left...YIKES!

On that note, I have some residence stuff to work on and then should practice some Espanol!