Chile Siempre Estará en Mi Corazón

To fill you in on the happenings of my last week in Chile, it basically consisted of:

• An essay about the effect of culture on women's health and personal decisions
• An oral presentation about organ donations and transplants in Chile
• A final exam
• 3 yummy gelatos from Bravissimo
• 1 gelato from Emporio de la Rosa...they have awesome flavors like pineapple thai, pepper chocolate, rose, and honey!
• 4 pisco sours
• A night in Las Urracas, a popular discoteca
• A farewell dinner with the students from my program at Los Adobes de Argomedo, which included lots and lots of meat and Chilean dancing
• A trip to the hospital to be treated for pharyngitis
• A visit to the Museo de Artes Visuales
• An attempted visit to the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo (it was closed due to earthquake damage)
• Last-minute souvenir shopping
• Last-minute chorrillana lunch with some friends

At this point, I've been back in the States for two full days. My program ended on the 16th, and I left Chile on the 19th. While I've enjoyed taking in the hot summer heat, breathing smog-free air, eating peanut butter, and drinking actual hot water poured through the coffee beans, a part of me still longs to be back in Santiago. I really fell in love with the city, the people, the language (however ugly Chileans claim it to be), and my host family. The most difficult thing, by far, was leaving my apartment and saying goodbye to Vicente and Andres. I tried really hard to hold back my tears as I said goodbye; it was especially hard since Vicente began sobbing and even refused to hug me because he did not want to let me leave. Even a few days before my flight, any time it looked like I was getting ready for something he would ask me, "Kiki, te vas??" ("are you leaving??"). However misbehaved Vicente was (he bit me and spit on me on several occasions), I couldn't help but love him.  Living with this wonderful family and their two children for seven weeks was one of the things that helped me realize why I want to be a pediatrician.  I keep going back to chapter 18 of Matthew, which reads:

      At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"  He called a little child and had him stand among them.  And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."

These verses have really been speaking to me lately, as I realize more the passions the Lord has put in my heart and the ways in which he is calling me to grow in my faith.  I think children have taught me the most about following Christ, and have helped me develop a more child-like faith in Him.  As I observed Vicente's innocent trust in his parents, the way I trusted in God began to change.  Instead of analyzing and questioning everything in my life, I am getting better at approaching the Lord and simply asking, "What's next, Daddy?"

In short, my trip to Chile was an experience that I am so thankful to have had.  I saw so many awesome things, improved my Spanish, grew in my faith, and got to know some amazing people.  I'm really grateful for all of my family and friends who supported me during this trip.  For everyone who kept up with this blog, I hope you enjoyed it!

What's coming up for the remainder of the summer: Adventures of Amanda and KiKi in Baltimore, MCAT studying, and prepping and praying for leading the RAM VILLAGE Small Group!!!

Also, I am going to continue blogging here, in case anyone is interested!

Nos vemos,
KiKi

The Rest of Clinical Observation

Because I've been traveling and doing so many exciting things, I've hardly had time to update on my actual clinical observations.  If you're interested, I'll use this post to explain all that I've seen and done in my Chile & Health class since I last updated.

During the second week of observation, I went to the Centro Médico de Especialidades de la Universidad Católica.  There, I got to watch several endoscopies.  One endoscopy that was performed was on a nun in her 50's or 60's who had swallowed some kind of caustic liquid.  Since she told the story in Spanish, I only really caught the gist of what happened.  Apparently, she wanted to taste some kind of liquid she found in her cabinet, because she thought it was anise.  Turns out it was something caustic instead, and it burned her entire mouth and esophagus.  Seeing the extent of the damage through the endoscopy made me realize how painful it must have been. 

That day, I was only able to watch a few procedures because Chile was playing in the World Cup at 10 AM.  All procedures conveniently concluded at 10:00 sharp, and there were none taking place after that, since the doctors wouldn't dare schedule one during the game.  It was a really new experience for me to see how literally everything was put on hold for the sake of watching soccer.  The only thing to which I could attempt to compare the situation in Chile would be the Super Bowl, but that's only one evening!  Imagine the Super Bowl, but lasting for several weeks, and having the whole country united and cheering for the same team.  Well, Chile won that day, and it was complete madness in the streets.  I thought there were a lot of people when Chapel Hill rushed Franklin Street after winning the national championship, but compared to what I saw here in Santiago, that was nothing!

The next day of observation, I saw my first surgery ever!  Although it was a relatively minor surgery, I was very excited about it.  I watched a doctor remove a tumor from a woman's thyroid to be biopsied.  The whole time, the doctor chatted and joked with the other nurses and anesthesiologist in the room, which somewhat caught me off-guard.  I expected the climate in an OR to be a little more serious, but that definitely wasn't the case.  I'm curious whether this happens in every OR in both Chile and the US.  I guess I'll find out in time! 

At the same hospital, Hospital Clínico de la Universidad Católica, I spent additional time in palliative care with a palliative care physician.  I followed the doctor as he made his morning rounds and listened to him speak with patients who had terminal cancer or had very late-stage cancer.  I am glad that unlike other days, I wasn't just thrown into a patients' room and told to speak with them about their experience, because quite honestly, I don't know what I would have said to someone dying with cancer (especially in Spanish).  I feel like the ability to speak with a terminally ill patient is a skill that's only acquired through time and only successfully acquired by certain types of people.  It was very interesting to watch this doctor speak to and care for his patients; he did a very wonderful job at it and I was really impressed by his dedication to such a difficult field of medicine.

During the last day of week two I went to a Reiki and Hipnosis center.  The entire morning basically consisted of me discreetly rolling my eyes and attempting to keep my mouth shut about my own rather strong opinions.  A lady performed Reiki on me, and basically all she did was try to gather "energy" from her surroundings and transfer that energy to me by waving her hands around.  Feel free to call me a skeptic; I just can't get myself to believe that these therapies are legitimate.  I do believe they can have a positive effect when used in addition to modern medicine, but only because of the "placebo effect" they have on patients.  For example, the Reiki woman told me someone was cured of cancer after receiving Reiki.  The only way I believe that could be possible is because she was also receiving chemotherapy, and that Reiki helped her maintain a positive attitude towards her disease.  There are studies that have found tangible effects of patients' positivity on their recovery from diseases, including cancer. 

Another example of alternative or traditional medicine I learned about was Mapuche medicine.  We went to a Ruca Mapuche, which was basically a hut that was considered the Mapuche health "clinic."  There, we spoke with a Machi, which is basically a Mapuche witch doctor.  He practices traditional Mapuche medicine on his patients while his wife cooks the special medicinal herbs in the hut.  It was an interesting experience visiting the Ruca, and it definitely gave me a small glimpse into a world completely different from my own.

Later, we went to the Centro Médico Madre Teresa de Calcuta.  This clinic is located in Puente Alto, which is part of the southern region of the Greater Santiago area.  The clinic serves mostly low-income patients.  I shadowed a dentist, and although that wasn't my first choice, I enjoyed observing and talking to him.  The dentist had a lot to say about health education issues in Chile, specifically oral health.  Oral health education is lacking not only among low-income patients, but among the entire Chilean population.  My conversation with the dentist made me realize how thankful I was for being raised in an environment in which oral health and dentist visits were very important, but it also made me realize how unfair it is that people have not benefited from the same situation. 

During my very last day of clinical observation, I went to the Centro de Salud Comunitario Lo Franco.  This clinic was poorer and had even less resources than Madre Teresa de Calcuta.  At this clinic, I observed an OB/GYN.  Each checkup lasted only 15 minutes on average, which was rather surprising to me.  Because of this, I got to see him perform checkups on many patients.  Some were pregnant, some had already had a child, some had infections, and some wanted birth control.  Of all the patients who were pregnant or who already had children,  the pregnancy had been unplanned and the patient was extremely young.  As in the United States, this is a significant issue in Chile, but the influence of Catholisism on culture and certain taboos in the country make things a bit more complicated here.

I concluded my internship with a research paper and presentation related to my clinical observations.  My research topic came from the day I spent at the orphanage for HIV-positive children.  The title of my project, which I worked on with another student, was: El progreso de la lucha por la conciencia de VIH/SIDA en Chile y los Estados Unidos: Una Comparación de las Campañas, las Pruebas, y los Estigmas Relacionados al Virus.  Or, in English: The progress of the fight for HIV/AIDS Awareness in Chile and the US: A comparison of campaigns, testing, and stigmas related to the virus.  We worked really hard on this paper and I was really proud of the end result (and the fact that we did it all in Spanish!).

My clinical observation experiences here have revealed many things to me.  Firstly, the fact that I've been simply reflecting on my future career has made me realize something that should have been obvious a long time ago.  How did I not realize before this what kind of doctor I'm being called to become?  It's so obvious now that God has placed in my heart a really strong love and compassion for children, and that's who I'm called to serve when I'm a doctor.  I've known for a long time that there's a special place in my heart for kids, but I never but two and two together until now.  I also realized that I have a fascination with surgery and the idea that we can just go in and fix the human body just like my mom can fix my ripped jeans or like glue can fix a broken toy.  While I've got tons of time to decide my specialty, it's becoming clearer that I definitely want to do something involving both children and surgery. 

Observing and learning about the health inequities both in Chile and the United States has both increased my frustration and increased my desire to do something about it.  We'll see exactly what that means in terms of where I end up in my career, but I feel really strongly called to work in an underserved hospital in a US city and am also constantly reminded of the Lord's desire for justice and mercy for his people in the city.

Mendoza and San Pedro de Atacama

I know it has been a while since I've last posted, but don't worry--I'm still alive!

Here are some of the things I've been up to:

Two weekends ago, I went to Mendoza, Argentina.  It was about a 7 hour bus ride, but I didn't mind that because we basically drove straight through the Andes and the view was amazing for pretty much the entire ride.  My favorite thing that we did in Mendoza was the wine tour.  We rented bikes for the day and rode around some country roads to different vineyards and wineries.  I got to taste some wine, of course, but we also made a stop at an olive oil/chocolate factory.  There, we got to taste olive oil, balsamic vinegar, olives/olive products, and chocolate.  It was super tasty!  We ate lunch at a vineyard, and it was really wonderful because it we were the only ones there, and we got to sit outside next to the vineyard drinking wine while they grilled our amazing chicken and steak.

Preparing samples for us to taste

"Bienbebidos," literally, "well drunk," a word-play on "bienvenidos," or "welcome"

The next day in Mendoza, we watched the Argentina-Mexico game in a fast-food restaurant that happened to have a big-screen TV.  Little did we know what a popular spot we were in...once the game started, the employees locked the doors to prevent more people from entering and causing a scene, only to cause an almost-riot outside.  The police came three times before they sent the really intense police on motorcycles to chase everyone away.  In this picture you can see the employees trying super hard to hold the doors closed:     

                      

Mendoza, Argentina is known for their chocolate in addition to their wine.  We went to an amazing chocolate shop called La Cabaña, and I bought so much chocolate that I'm a tiny bit concerned it won't all fit in my suitcase!

The next weekend, I traveled to San Pedro de Atacama, which is the driest desert in the world.  I was told it only rains three times a year there!  Our flight left super-early in the morning--around 5 AM, and after the flight and 2-hour bus ride, we finally arrived in San Pedro around 11 AM.  Our hostel was really neat, but very rustic, to say the least.  Our room wasn't completely enclosed, so it was extremely cold at night, and the bathroom was a bit open to the outside, so I couldn't even force myself to wash my face some nights.  I think that was the first time I've ever slept with my gloves on.  In the daytime, however, it got very warm and sunny--about 70 degrees. 

During the first day in San Pedro, we toured the Laguna Cejar, which is a salt lake that contains more salt than the dead sea.  Even though it was only 70 degrees out, and the water was rather cold, I forced myself to get in.  I was so glad, though, because it was so much fun to float in the water! 

Us Floating in Laguna Cejar 

The next stop on our tour was Ojos de Salar, or literally, "salted eyes."  The Ojos de Salar were two small-ish lakes, and what was especially neat was how clear the reflection was in the water. 

Part of the group and Ojos de Salar

Lastly, we went to Tebenquiche Lagoon to watch the sun set.  We even got free pisco sours as part of our tour!  Even in just one afternoon, I saw so many neat things in San Pedro.

Tebenquiche Lagoon

The next day, we had a tour that began at 4 AM.  Our first stop was the Geysers del Tatio, where we watched the sun rise.  At this time, the temperature was below freezing, and that morning may have been the coldest I've ever gotten.  I really enjoyed seeing the geysers, since I find it really fascinating that things like that just occur naturally in the earth.  By the end of the sunrise, we were served breakfast, but I was so cold that I couldn't even stand to eat outside.  After a bit of time back in the van, I slowly started to regain feeling in my hands and toes.  Shortly after, however, we arrived at the hot spring.  Originally, I was determined to swim in the hot spring, but I was so freezing cold that I couldn't imagine the idea of getting wet.  Although the water was relatively warm, the air was still very chilly.  I managed to force myself into the water, however, and I'm really glad I did.  I enjoyed it a lot, and I'm glad I compromised my desire for comfort in order to experience the trip 100%.

Sunrise at the Tatio Geysers

It was a bit chilly

The hot spring.  Notice the people who are NOT in the water and what they are wearing!

After the hot spring, we went to visit another geyser/salt lake thing, and then to a small pueblo where I tried llama meat.  That's right!  I ate llama.  It actually tasted really good!

 

These are called vicuñas; they're closely related to the llama

More Scenery

 About to eat our llama kebab!

During the second half of our tour, we went sandboarding and then watched the sun set over Valle de la Luna ("Valley of the Moon").  We hiked up part of a mountain, so we had an excellent view of the entire valley.  Being in Valle de la Luna, I really did feel like I was on the moon!

After sandboarding--it was quite the workout!

Me in Valle de la Luna

Sunset in Valle de la Luna

I had a really wonderful time in San Pedro.  It's by far the neatest place I've ever traveled to.  I have a really strong desire to go back sometime in the future and bring my family with me.  Mom, Dad--wanna go to San Pedro? ;-)

One last picture.  During our last day in San Pedro, we came across a man with two baby llamas.  They were so cute and I was so excited that I literally stopped talking mid-sentence and skipped excitedly over to pet them.  They were so cute!

Me giving Little Llamita a snack!

Again, sorry for the lapse in posting.  Expect another one this weekend!  I miss you all!

Me Encanta Esquiar!

This Saturday I went to skiing in the ANDES!  The Andes mountains are the highest mountains outside of Asia.  I hadn't been skiing since middle school, so I was a little anxious about my skiing ability.  The mountains are just about 15 minutes outside Santiago, but it took over an hour to drive up the mountain.  About 20 of my classmates came along.  At the end of the day, I was super tired and super sore, but I had so much fun! 

The view from the top of the hill was by far the most beautiful I've ever seen.  We were so high on the mountains that we could see the cloud layer way below us.  The pictures don't do the view justice, because when seen in person, it looks like the mountains and sky go on forever. 

I had been feeling a little distanced from God since I arrived here.  This is partly due to the fact that I'm so far away from all the familiar things that I normally associate with God--church, friends, home, etc., and partly due to the fact that things have been going so well and time is just flying by.  It's a dangerous thing for me--when things are going a bit too swimmingly--because I start to believe it's by my own doing, and not the Lord's.  When I am not actively facing a challenge in my life, I start to lose sight of God's sovereignty and control.  Does this make sense?

Once I recognized this issue in myself, I began spending even more time in Scripture and prayer, but nothing really seemed to speak to me.  It's been especially difficult to maintain my relationship with the Lord since I have not been able to go to church since I arrived in Chile and since I've been away from my InterVarsity community.

Being in such a beautiful place as the Andes was just what my heart had been looking for.  How can someone come to a place like this and deny the existence of God?  To say the mountains came about by random chance is somewhat understandable.  To say that humans developed eyes by random chance is also understandable.  To say, however, that something as awesome as the Andes and the ability to see them in such great detail exist solely by random chance and without the influence of our God is impossible.  The Lord did not have to create such beauty--he could have made earth a lot more boring.  He also did not have to give us eyes to see--we could have gotten along just fine in some other manner.  But he did both of these things, which is proof to me that he knew exactly what he was doing upon creating the earth and upon the creation of each human being.  As Psalm 139 says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." It's no mistake that these mountains are so beautiful, and it's no mistake that the Lord gave us eyes to see them.  God created such beauty for his and our enjoyment, to captivate our hearts, and give us just a taste of his majesty. 

I feel so thankful for the chance to go skiing on Saturday not just because it was fun, but because of the way it awakened my heart.  Again, it's no mistake that I went skiing when I did--the Lord knew it was just what I needed to captivate my heart again.

I am reminded of Psalm 139:

"Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast."

My First Week of Clinical Observation

I certainly saw and learned a lot this week!
I spent Monday and Tuesday at Hospital Sótero del Río, which is one of the biggest hospitals in Chile. It also serves a lot of the poorest population of Santiago. The first thing I noticed was all the people in the waiting rooms. They were super-packed and it was rather difficult just to make it down the hallway amidst the patients, families, and snack-vendors. As I have learned, the long wait is one of the biggest problems with the public health care system here. It is not uncommon for patients to wait 2-8 hours for a doctor.

The hospital buildings themselves didn’t really seem like those of a hospital; there were no sterile-looking white floors and walls and bright lighting, but rather dingy tile floors and dim rooms and hallways. Another thing that was a bit shocking was the ease in which we entered and traversed most of the building without any questioning. I did not see any types of guards or security within the hospital.

The first day at Sótero del Río, I was taken with a few other students up to the general medicine floor, which contained mostly elderly patients. We went to the cardiac wing and spoke a little with a doctor and some nurses there. We also attempted to speak to two male patients about their experience. This did not go so well, because I really didn’t understand more than 5% of what they said to us, but luckily a nurse was with us to translate everything into simpler Spanish. Both patients said they were very content with the health care they had received at this hospital; in fact, one patient said the only complaint he had was that he wasn’t going to get to watch the Chile v. Honduras game on Wednesday.

Privacy is basically nonexistent here. There are six patients to a room, and the beds are not blocked off by any type of curtains. In addition, the patients’ full names are posted in bold print above their beds, and all of their charts are sitting at the foot of their bed for anyone to read. If this were to happen in the U.S., it would be a serious issue, but here it is no big deal. I really think a big reason for this difference is the culture; Chileans are much less individualistic and don’t seem to view confidentiality as something to be valued. Rather, they value community much more, and find worth in shared experiences. I think this is definitely something we can learn from—I’m not saying we need to start paper-planing patients’ charts around—but I’ve definitely observed and learned more about the merits of interdependence and community since arriving in Chile.

On the second day of observation, I got to go to with a group to the puerperio of the hospital. This is basically a post-natal unit, with eight beds per room. This means there’s a total minimum of sixteen people at one time, if you include the mothers and the babies, who always remain at their side. All of the babies were so adorable…all of that cuteness in one room is a bit overwhelming!

We first talked to a mom named Lisa who was only 19 years old. She was a member of FONASA level A, which is basically the level of public health insurance for the poorest group of Chileans. While the other levels of public health insurance require a monthly payment of 7% of your salary, level A requires nothing at all. Like in the U.S., teen pregnancy is a prevalent issue in Chile, especially among the lower economic class.

The next lady we talked had just had her first child, Franco. We talked to her about her birthing experience, her health insurance, and what she thought about the care she had received. We even got to see a midwife perform an entire checkup on the baby—it was really neat to see that. I really enjoyed the time I spent in the puerperio because I was able to have interesting conversations with the patients about their experiences and see how post-natal care is provided in a public Chilean hospital. Despite the hospital’s lack of resources, it provided an impressive quality of care to these women.

On the third day of observation, we went to Santa Clara, a home for children with HIV. Many of the children are living there because their family did not know how to handle their disease, or because they lived in abusive homes. It is very disheartening to know that these children have to live with a disease that they never deserved or asked for and that may have been prevented had the mother known she was HIV-positive or had she taken the proper clinical precautions to prevent transmission (taking proper medications, having a C-section, not breastfeeding). When all of these steps are taken, the chance of transmission is less than 2%. A big problem in Chile is the negative influence Catholicism has had on the people. Most Chileans, from what I have seen, are Catholic in culture but not in faith. Because of this, many are extremely conservative, prejudiced, and opposed to change. Chileans are also very homophobic, which is very unfortunate when it comes to HIV. If there weren’t such a stigma here attached to HIV and homosexuality, less people would feel ashamed or afraid of getting tested for HIV. It is, however, important to remember that Chile was just freed from the dictatorship of Pinochet in 1990. It seems like that dictatorship contributed to a culture of passivity in Chileans, and I think they do need more time to recover from that. For this reason, I realize it’s not quite fair to compare the receptiveness of the U.S. to homosexuals to that of Chile, since we never had to suffer such a dictatorship. I do hope and pray, however, that people here will become more open and loving towards each other—that could make a really big difference in so many ways.

"I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here"

First, a few random thoughts/feelings/observations:

I'm really surprised I haven't had much difficulty adjusting to life here.  I'm sure a lot of this has to do with the fact that I have an awesome host family, and I really like everyone in my program.  I suppose Santiago is much like the major cities in the US, but in my opinion, it's cleaner, more picturesque, and has WAY cheaper food.  You can get a heaping cup of gelato for just 500 pesos, which is about a dollar!  You can also buy empanadas and other types of "Chilean fast food" for about the same price.  My biggest difficulty here has probably been the smog.  Because of the cold weather and the mountains that line the city, the smog basically settles around Santiago and doesn't leave.  It's been giving me a cough and I've felt pretty congested for a solid week.  I've really only been able to get a clear view of the mountains from the city two times since I've been here.

My Spanish has improved so much in just two weeks.  I feel like I've learned more since I got here than I ever learned in one of my language classes.  It's amazing how much of a difference it makes to be immersed in the language--I'm so glad I'm living with a host family and that I'm getting a chance to really practice my Spanish. 

The World Cup is EVERYWHERE here.  This is partly a cultural thing, since soccer is way more popular here than in the US, but it's also because it's been 12 years since Chile has made it to the world cup.  Every T.V. commercial is somehow related to the world cup--it's like a perpetual Super Bowl!  I feel really lucky to be here while Chile is playing in the Mundial--it is fun to be a part of it. 

This past week mostly consisted of going to classes and doing homework.  My general schedule consisted of going to public health classes from 9-12:15, and then medical Spanish classes from 2-3:30.  Tomorrow, however, I finally get to start the observation portion!  I get to wear my lab coat and act all doctor-y!

This weekend I took a 2-day trip to Valparaiso (again) and Viña del Mar with 6 other friends.  The 90 minute bus ride to Valpo is super cheap--I think we paid about 10 dollars for a round trip.  The first day was really rainy, but despite the rain, we had a wonderful time.

 

The group plus our doggie friend

The awesome seafood restaurant, El Rincón de Pancho.  Service includes: cat sitting under our table, old troubadour men playing from table to table, beautiful view of Valpo, and delicious fried fish.

Pescado frito y papas saltadas

A breathtaking view of Valparaiso

Casino Social J Cruz, a hole in the wall restaurant where we ate lunch and watched the US-England game the second day.

Chorrillana, a dish of french fries, onions, fried egg, and steak (AKA heart attack on a plate)

The next day we went to Vina del Mar, which is the city right next to Valparaiso. From this city, you can see and smell the ocean.  We took a hike up to Castillo Wulff. We spent an hour or two there taking pictures and watching the ocean.  We were lucky enough to be there during a really pretty sunset, too!

Castillo Wulff at Sunset

The sky doesn't even look real!

I think it's crazy that I've been able to see so much diversity in terms of cities, people, and landscapes, and I haven't even gone farther than 2 hours from Santiago!  That's why I love it here in Chile :-)

Valpo and Isla Negra

Last weekend our class went to Valparaiso and Isla Negra.  This trip has definitely been the most fun so far!

Valparaiso is the second major city of Chile. It is a port city on the coast and is only about 1-2 hours away from Santiago. Valpo reminds me a lot of San Francisco (although I've never been there), probably because of the quaintness and colors of the residential areas. There's also a lot of interesting graffiti. Most of the residential areas are located on the many "cerros," or hills. You can get to the top of many of these hills by riding one of the "ascensores," which is basically an old cable car on that holds about 6 people. These things are probably about 100 years old, so it was a little scary riding such a rickety car! The views from the cerro were really pretty. We ate at a restaurant there too, which was delicious. I don't really know what we ate...but I know it was good!

After Valparaiso we went to Isla Negra, where we got to tour one of Pablo Neruda's homes. These are some pictures from Isla Negra:

Villa Grimaldi

Last week, our class went to Villa Grimaldi, a park where political prisoners were tortured and interrogated during the government of Pinochet. Pinochet was a dictator who was in office from 1974 to 1990. About 5 thousand prisoners were brought to Villa Grimaldi to be tortured, and hundreds were killed. Most of the buildings in which torture occurred are now demolished, but this the original pool is still present. This prisoners were submerged in the pool until the point of almost-drowning as a means of torture. Ironically, the torturers' children and wives swam in this pool for fun on the weekends.

This was a really interesting place to visit, and I'm glad I got to learn more about Chile's history, even though it has a darker side to it.

Mi Casa, La Comida, y Mas!

Here are some pictures of my apartment, my bedroom, my balcony (yeah, I have a BALCONY!), and the IES center, which is where I go for most of my classes.

Since I got here, I've been eating a TON of food.  At my house, I've been eating a lot of chicken, soup, and vegetables.  I've also been drinking an insane amount of juice--it's awesome!  My family makes their own juice so it tastes really good.  Here's a list of some of the typical Chilean food and drink we learned about:

Comidas:
Chacarero - a type of sandwich with green beans, beef, guacamole, tomato, and chili pepper.
Empanada - a stuffed bread that can be filled with a lot of things like meat, cheese, vegetables, seafood; the post popular kind is the pino, which contains beef, onion, olive, and egg
Completo - like a hot dog; it usually has tomato, avocado, mayonnaise, and sauerkraut
Barros Jarpa - melted ham and cheese sandwich
Barros Luco - basically a cheese steak sandwich
Sopaipilla - fried pastry made from squash and flour; can be sweet or savory

Bebidas:
Mote con huesillo - rehydrated peaches and barley kernels with peach juice
Pisco - sweet brandy made from grapes
Piscola - pisco and coke
Pisco sour - pisco, lime, and sugar
Vino navegado - wine heated with orange, cinnamon, and other spices
Fanschop- fanta and beer

My host mom loves pisco sours--she's made me 5 already this week! ;-)

...More to come on Villa Grimaldi, Valparaíso, and Isla Negra!

Orientation!

I'm just finishing up my 4th day in Santiago and my last day of orientation.  My flights went really well, but traveling for 24 hours straight really wore me out!  About 10 students from my program ended up on my same flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Santiago.  One of the first things I did when I got off the plane was get some coffee...but it definitely wasn't the kind I was used to!  I had associated South America with good coffee...but I was mistaken.  Good coffee has to be imported to Chile and it's really expensive...so Nescafe is EVERYWHERE.  Even decent restaurants, etc. serve instant coffee, and you have to specify that you want "CAFE cafe" if you want to get the real thing.  Most people here drink tea, so I've been drinking a lot of that instead.

One of the other first things I noticed was the COLD!  It was super cold and foggy.  It's weird to experience summer one day, and to experience winter only 24 hours later!  It won't get nearly as cold as Baltimore, thankfully!

I spent Sunday with my host family.  Their names are Myriam and Esteban--they have an eight year old named Andres a 3 year old named Vincente.  They live right in the middle of Providencia, which is a pretty nice part of the city.  My room actually has a balcony where I can look out and see a lot of the city! 

I could only understand about half of what my family said to me the first day, but it's getting a little easier each day.  Chilean accents are really difficult to understand, but everyone keeps saying that if you can understand Chilean Spanish, you can understand any Spanish. 

During our first day of orientation, we went over a lot of the basics of Chile and our program, and we got to meet the whole group for the first time.  There's about 35 of us! 

On the second day, we had more orientation classes and a group of us went to La Moneda, which is the office of the President, Sebastián Piñera.  There were a lot of police (carabineros) there, which was intimidating, but I soon discovered that they're really friendly! They also are really fond of the stray dogs that roam around Santiago (I hope I don't try to smuggle one back home). 

Oh yeah, I also got lost on the second day.  I was taking the metro home for the first time and I got on the right line, but just went in the wrong direction.  It was pretty easy to get back on track, though, and now I think I've officially conquered the Santiago metro system!  It's pretty simple, actually...a lot easier than New York or D.C.

On the last day of orientation, got to visit Cerro Santa Lucia, which was really neat.  We got to walk up these small, winding stairways all the way to the top, where we got a really good view of the city (except for the fog/smog).

At the bottom of Cerro Santa Lucia

The view from only about 1/3 of the way up!

Tomorrow is our first official day of classes.  I'm taking the clinical observation seminar portion at La Pontificia Universidad Católica and the medical Spanish portion at the IES center.  The actual observation will start in about a week or so, and that will be at the Clínica Universidad Católica, which is, if I understood correctly, a private teaching hospital.  I'm excited!

I'll post some pictures of my homestay and the IES center and more soon!

Tengo que hacer mi tarea!

Starbucks

I'm sure no one is surprised that I looked up the Starbucks locations in Chile.  This one is just 1 km away from where I'll be living!  If I'm feeling homesick, you know where I'll be!

12 Days!

So, some logistics for my trip: I leave on May 29 and return on July 20.  My flight will go from D.C. to Dallas/Fort Worth, and from there I'll be flying straight to Santiago!  My address will be:

Hernando de Aguirre 353 APPT. 32
7510067 Providencia
Chile

I just received info about my family - I will be living with a married couple with two sons who are 3 and 8 years old!

Today I began giving myself a crash review course on Spanish.  That's probably what I'm most nervous about--whether or not I can communicate somewhat coherently.  I guess I'll find out soon!

GO!

In just six weeks, I'll be leaving for Santiago!

I'd love to keep "y'all" informed about my studies and travels! ;-) It would mean a lot if you followed my blog, left feedback, and kept me in your prayers.

I never expected to end up studying abroad in Latin America.  For some reason I had it in my head that I had to study in Europe.  Luckily I listened to that whisper in my heart telling me to go somewhere else. 

With the earthquake that hit Chile, my trip was suspended for a while.  It was a relief when I received word that Chile had revised the travel advisory and UNC would still allow me to participate in the program. I was, however, really thankful for those few weeks of uncertainty, because it reminded me that I'm really not the one in control...and if you know me, you probably know that I really like to be in control.  The short span of uncertainty in my summer plans helped me learn to truly trust in the Lord in regards to the logistics of my trip.  He knows exactly what he's doing and his plans for me are perfect...so who am I to doubt what He's doing?

In light of the "Go!" workshop that I attended today, I thought this would be a good time to write my first blog entry.  At the workshop, speakers helped us evaluate expectations and potential ethical and cultural challenges.  Having no real experience in a foreign country, it was really great to hear what others had to say. 

One thing I had to disagree with though, was a certain comment by a speaker.  She talked about how many people who had internships or other similar immersion experiences ended up in a much different situation than they had initially anticipated.  Her advice for us was to lower our expectations so that we could still learn something from whatever situation we are in.  I think that's a really sad perspective to have, and I don't think that's what God would want us to do at all.

Many of us, including myself, like to romanticize and idealize future situations.  We paint these pictures in our heads of what an experience will be like, and then if things don't play out as planned, we are disappointed.  We feel like we've been robbed of something.  We forget about the One who is painting that picture for us...and we don't realize that He's painting a masterpiece beyond all of our wildest, craziest dreams.

So instead of just lowering our expectations to avoid disappointment, how about just letting go completely of what we want for ourselves, and embracing the mystery and excitement of what God might have in store?  If we trust Him, and if we truly believe in His greatness, how can there possibly be anything to lose? 

What I need...what we all need...is to have big faith.  Like...the crazy, reckless, wondrous kind that can only be a result of putting all our little, pathetic hopes and expectations at the feet of a God who is perfect in every way and who has a crazy-amazing plan for our lives.

This is my goal for this summer: to seek the Lord with all I've got, and to let him take control of my time in Chile.  I'm so excited!!


"In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory."  Ephesians 1:11-12