6/20/11

Cooking, Pilates, and Surveys

   I have a lot of down time here so I have set some goals for myself during my service. One of my goals is to become a better cook. In the U.S. I just never really took the time to learn to cook anything other than just plain pasta or rice with vegetables. A lot of my meals involved adding veggies to ramen noodles. I also worked during most meal times for a long time, which meant I was eating at work and didn't really need to cook for myself. Here I have a lot of time on my hands in the evenings so this is the perfect opportunity to learn how to cook new things. I've also been trying to exercise more. I used to be really good about that and enjoyed pilates work outs very much. However, due to a busy schedule and always feeling the need to be out with friends or family  when not at work, I let that slide. Now that I'm at site I've been trying to start an exercise routine back up. I've been doing pilates work outs this week, and I already am feeling better! ( sore, but I guess that means it is working, right?)
   Something that is keeping me busy ( well, as busy as I'm going to get during my first couple of months at site) at at the clinic right now is a survey that I created this weekend. I'm supposed to be assessing the needs of my community right now so I created a survey of questions that I thought may help with this. I showed it to my counterpart this morning, and he said he thought it was a good idea. He also helped me translate it into Setswana. Now I have copies in both English and Setswana so people can choose which they prefer. I started by handing them out to a couple of the nurses who have been welcoming and supportive of me first to see what they thought, and they were helpful in encouraging other people to fill them out for me. Then I started handing  the surveys out to everyone coming into the clinic. I'm realistic in that I realize not everyone will fill them out or hand them back to me. Many people took off with them, and I may never see those surveys again. However, a handful of people have turned them into me already. I went to the junior secondary school this afternoon to talk to the school head, who I met last week, to see if I could set up a table sometime soon at the school to hand out surveys so that students could fill them out right then, and I would be sure I would get them back. I ended up getting to meet with the assistant school head and one of the guidance counselors who want me to come in this Thursday! I'm looking forward to it.


So yes, things are going ok here. I'm adjusting.

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