For me to remember...

1) It's so cold in the D.

2) Leon Polar's Miedo is the most beautiful song I've ever heard.

3) What the heck in Deja Vu? People always have different definitions and different thoughts about this phenomenon, but Megan and I were talking about it and we have full on dreams because when were just going about our lives, something will happen that sparks this memory that we must have dreamed previously because then scene that plays out for the 30ish seconds next is exactly as I had dreamed it. Craaaaazy when you think about it...but in my thoughts, I start wondering how I could possibly dream the future?

4) I was talking to Gary today and told him about the phenomenon I have seen with people explaining situations in their life with a sort of unanimated view like: Hey did you go to Machu Picchu?!?? Answer: Yeah. It was hot. -- Well I told Gary that and he said I guess that's why we have art. I found it a particularly interesting answer because maybe some experiences that we ourselves live are just too difficult to express in words and thus through art are able to get it across to people that actual gravity of the situation. Quizas. OK buenas noches...

5) If you didn't believe me about how crazy our trekking experience was, just read this awesome article that a girl in my program wrote for the Chilean yet english-written magazine Revolver. http://www.santiagomagazine.cl/index.php/en/living/357-trekking-in-the-andes.html

Another Manic Monday...and Tuesday...

On Monday, I went over to the school at Puente Alto to meet with the occupational therapist that I am going to be observing for my research project for my Medical Anthropology class. He is very nice and willing to help, but he has to talk to his supervisor before I can start observing his patients. This school is awesome for my research because not only are things going well with the gastronomy class, but this school is one of the first in Chile to integrate children with motor difficulties/disabilities into the classroom with the other children. There are 8 children with disorders ranging from parapalegia to Down's Syndrome to Aspergers, and these kids participate in all the same activities as the other students with some differences...one being that they have to work with this occupational therapist once a week. Because this is a relatively new concept in Chile to incorporate these students in the school and not to isolate them in a school for children with discapacidades, I am lucky to have the opportunity to do research at this school. After meeting with Erik, I went over to Meg's apartment and we cooked dinner together and planned trips to far-off places and then watched a movie that my new Chilean friend had recommended. Unfortunately, the movie was one of the hardest to watch in my entire life, but it was still a great night. This morning I headed back to Puente Alto even though it took every ounce of energy I had to leave Meg's house, take a bus for 20 minutes to finally arrive at the metro, take the metro to the end of the line which takes 30-40 minutes, and then hail a collective taxi to finally take me to the school. But I got there finally and hung out with my gastronomy class for like 3 hours interviewing the kids and getting their unique opinions on topics such as the importance of food in the Chilean culture, the concept of the ideal body, exercise/gym culture in Chile, body image in relation to what one eats, the popularization of the course of gastronomy, and many other interesting topics. There is a guy named Miguel in the class who has way too much energy for his own good but him and Jose are HILARIOUS! They are always so nice to me and they can seriously make me laugh. Today I was talking to a girl named Connie and the boys came up and started dancing but Miguel was in front of Jose and started to full-on body roll and Jose like grabbed his waist and was basically freak dancing with him for a second. It was hilarious. Then the girl I was talking to mentioned that kids today would rather eat processed food than eating spinach or tomatoe...and Jose heard this and said (imitating a little kid): "Mama, no quiero comer espinaca. Mama, no quiero comer tomatoe." I will never forget that voice impression. Connie and I didn't stop laughing for 5 minutes at least. I am going back on Thursday to do more interviews but I'd say all-in-all, tuve exito. I even talked to the teacher afterwards and he told me that he was very impressed with my Spanish because in years past when extranjeros have come to the school, they had such a hard time understanding their Spanish that they had to call in one of the school's English teachers to translate. Luckily, I am really progressing in my Spanish and every day I learn something more. After Puente Alto, I returned home for a nice lunch and then a 2 hour nap because estoy resfriado y tengo que dormirme muuuucho para recuperar. I am looking forward to tomorrow because I am going to the cycling class in the morning, studying at Starbucks, returning home for lunch, going to Medical Anthropology, and then going to have dinner/study night at Megan's house with Annette and Casey. I might try to go over to El Tunel to bitch out that lady at the coat check who GAVE AWAY or STOLE my jacket on Saturday night. But that is something that I don't want to think about right now. C'est La Vie, no? Last two things I will say before I finish this entry is that 1) today before I left Puente Alto, I was in the bathroom and ran into Miss Lily who is the sweetest Chilean woman ever. She teaches the little kids English and I spent time in her class one day helping her with the instruction/pronunciation. She always asks me to speak to her in English because she wants to practice, and it was so cute today because she told me that she has to write a book review for a class she is taking at the university. Then she asked if I wouldn't mind correcting the page that she had written and of course, I had no problem so after this and before I finally get to bed, I am going to read through that and offer my corrections. I just think it is great that a Chilean woman of 30 years would look to me...a 21 year old California girl...for help just because I was lucky enough to grow up speaking a language that most of the world wants to know. The last thing that I wanted to say was that I was waiting at the bus stop today and this guy ran by me looking like he has someone super important to be. I was like: dang that guy is in a hurry to do something important. Well I stayed at that bus stop waiting for the bus and wouldn't you know that 5 minutes later...that same guy runs back by me with the same necesity of hurrying. But with a bag to chocolate chip cookies clutch in his hands. Only in Chile. Chao :-D

It's So Cold in the D

What a whirlwind of a week. I got back from Peru and I feel like everything just started up right where I had left it in spite of the fact that I had been gone from Santiago for a week. I never thought I would be SO happy to get back to my little house on Simon Bolivar with my own bed and my own closet full of clothes and my mama's yummy cooking. We got back to Santiago at 4 am on the 17th and I slept in until 3 pm! I woke up, ate something, and then spent the rest of the day in bed recovering from the stresses of the amazing yet trying trip.

The next day was DIECIOCHO which is the Chilean independence day so we went to Parque O'Higgins and also to Parque Ines de Suarez to experience the fondas in two different comunas in Santiago. Basically, we ate our way around the parks and listened to Chilean music and watched the festivities all around us. I ended the night by going over to Karen's house and talking for hours. She is such a great friend--always ready with inspiring advice and a listening ear. I got to meet Juan and Irene who she had lived with for the past 2 months and they gave me food and were just super nice which I am beginning to see is the demeanor of many Chileans who invite you into their home. They are such hospitable people who will stop at nothing to assure that a guest feels comfortable in their home. Que tierno.

The next day I went to Vina del Mar with Francisco and we passed the whole day sitting on the beach talking and later drinking Pisco Sours in a restaurant that overlooked the shore. It's not everyday that you get the chance to spend the entire day speaking with a Chilean friend in Castellano...especially someone who you feel comfortable to mess up in front of and someone who has patience for my speaking. It was a lovely day. After his recent trip to Brazil, he decided that he wasn't going to keep working so much so now he tells me that he has more time for himself. This makes me very happy because he totally deserves it.

On Sunday, I went to church and then went to lunch with Karen and her host "dad" who is actually more like her son because of her maturity and his lack-thereof. We went to an incredibly authentic Chilean restaurant complete with live music from a guitar-playing vaquero, and we were joined by Juan's sobrina and a friend of Karen's who is here for a year named Molly. After lunch, we went back to their house and what started out as having a copete de Chica (fermented grape drink with the same alcohol % as a beer) ended up being a conversation of about 3 hours...no joke. Molly gave me about 4 pages of Chilenismos that I am now using as often as I can, but it was definitely a learning day for me. [But isn't every day? :) ]

On Monday, I had a very nice Rose day in which I woke up early and ran over to the gym that I am now a member of in my neighborhood. I did my cycling class, ran back, took a shower, and ate lunch with the fam. Then by 3 pm or so I finally got out of the house and walked over to the correo to mail some postcards. After that deed was done, I decided to try out this cute sweet shop called El Ingenio and found its warm, rustic atmosphere so appealing that I stayed there long after my frothy Cafe Cortado was finished. Imagine a mom and pop bakery that you find on the side of a road during a long road trip with the smell of coffee and sugar in the air and a women with a bright smile at the counter waiting to fill your heart's desire for goodies. That is the feeling that I got from this place, and I also didn't mind that fact that I had the place to myself for the most part and I was left to write in my journal and look out the window as the rain tapped on the opposite side of the glass as if sutily asking to join me.

Once I decided to leave the coffee shop, I walked back to the correo to mail the few remaining postcards that I had written en El Ingenio and when I exited the correo and started walking down the sidewalk, a car that had been parked there honked at me. I decided to ignore whoever it was honking and continued down the sidewalk until the car pulled up next to me and I look and see it is Maggie! Well, I was excited to see that it was her...especially because it was really raining and I had no umbrella. BUT at that moment that I saw it was her, I stepped off the sidewalk and onto slick mud so all Maggie sees is that I was there one second and gone the next. hehe I totally ate it on the sidewalk on a busy street and me and Maggie had a good laugh reenacting that scene later for Jeremy (new host bro). Que chistoso. Es bueno que yo tenga un buen humor...

On Tuesday, I spend the day at Puente Alto. First I ran into some girls from Mariela's class who begged me to come back to their class that I had visited one day. I did and got to help the kids with their lesson plan, and Mariela who teaches the class at the age of only 24 has an amazing ability to speak English and I really get along well with her and look up to her. After spending time with those kids, I went to the Gastronomy class to talk with my kiddies about my research. They filled out questionaires about my research and now I am just pulling them aside one-by-one and asking them to elaborate on certain things that they put down. It is incredibly interesting to get their views and I plan on starting my paper soon because I really am gaining a lot of information in terms of my research. I am very lucky that I have the opportunity to do this because it is something that really interests me and at the same time the kids are very nice and patient with me AND it gives me a great chance to practice my Spanish. All in all, I am proud of myself. To get to Puente Alto, I have to take my metro line allllll the way to the ennddddd and then get a collective taxi to take me to the school. It takes an hour all said and done...mas o menos. But its worth the trip and I feel lucky to be a part of this school in the mountain outskirts of Santiago. Everytime I am coming back on the metro from Puente Alto, I stop into a mini-mart in the metro station terminal and I have made friends with a woman named Monica who tells me about her day and I tell her about mine. She has a good energy about her and always seems happy to see me. I love people like that.

Then I went to Hermanos Matte but there was confusion with the kids about whether I was still in Peru so they had all gone home. But the trip was saved because I got to tell Mary Cruz all about my Peru trip and I really love my conversations with her. She is such a lovely lady who works too hard but is still always with a positive attitude. After our talk together, I went to my culture class and got to hear about everyone's trips over the week vacation. So many people went to Peru too but we only ran into a select few during our travels. On Wednesday, I went to the gym again, ate lunch with the family, and then went to my medical anthropology class. We have a HUGE research project to tackle independently before the end of the term and it really scares me at times but I am making progress with securing my source so I am going to just forget about the fear for now and focus on first-things-first. I am going to be working with a child physical therapist at the same school in Puente Alto where I have my other research with the gastronomy class. My research topic is: What are the perceptions of patient's disability for the patient him/herself, the physical therapist, and the parents? How do each of these groups view the treatment process and results as well? I am supposed to have about 3 different patients to study for this reseach project and I am going back tomorrow to talk with the physical therapist named Eric.

Thursday was Bioarchaeology class but I decided to head to Starbucks early in the morning to finish rewriting my notes for that class and getting some studying in. It was a lovely way to start my morning and as I walked home from lunch, I couldn't help but feel very accomplished and proud of my self. After another scrumptious lunch with the fam, I went to my Bioarqueology class and I can't help but smile when I think about the fact that despite how difficult/scary that class seemed to me in the beginning and despite of the future work that I will have to do for that class, I am so happy that I have been able to break through that language barrier and start making friends with my classmates. And it was mostly all due to the selfless and amazingly sweet character of Addy--mi angel. After bioarchaeology, I went to the my EAP Culture Class and got to sit next to the homies from the trip: Gary, Kelly, and Elena as well as sitting with Annette and Casey. I had run into Casey on the metro on our way to class and we learned that we both love big, unused words so we were throwing out some bigs ones. Like big enough to stab someone's eye out como pernicious, nefarious, laconic, cogent, vicissitude, popinjay, etc....

Friday was un poquito fome al principio porque fui a Puente Alto para hablar con la fisioterapeuta pero el tenia citas todo el dia con pacientes. Entonces, tuve que salir sin hablar mucho con el pero voy a regresar manana y espero que pueda pasar tiempo con el en su oficina explicando mi situacion y que quiero observar su tiempo con los ninos discapacitados. When I got home, I sat in bed and watched movies all day and then went to Cine Hoytz with some friends to see La Nana. It was amazing...and I especially liked that fact that the girlies decided to unite at a place that was a hop, skip, and a jump away from my Chilean casita. Saturday Megan came over for lunch and then we did errands until it was time to meet Casey and Annette at Meg's house for some vinito antes que que salieramos para carretear. It ended up being a suuuuper fun yet suuuuper interesting night. There was a few casualties including maybe my favorite expensive jacket but I am going back tomorrow to see if maybe it was left behind. But I basically spoke a lot of Spanish and met a ton of cool people. And now Megan and I have some fuuuuunny memories that only we shall remembered but that will one day be fun to explain to people at inappropriate times like in front of strangers or at her wedding party. hehe For my own recollection, I am going to choose to write: Vodka con naranja con glow sticks, cool Czech dude, not being a mama, el jote, crazy expensive cab ride home, "the cab driver", and Cheerios at 5 am with Meggie.

I woke up today and went to church despite my tardiness. I got to see Pablo and Timo again who I missed like crazy. I also got to see Stephanie and Carissa too, and after church, we all went back to a friend's apartment in Las Condes which was the most beautiful place I have been in in a long time! It reminded me of a Southern home and they ended up serving lunch for all the guests and then we had tea afterwards and all talked...granted it was in Spanish so I didn't get it all...but it was such a warm atmosphere with friendly, kind people that I found myself thanking my lucky stars that I had found such amazing people during my time in Chile. I told Pablo I was getting sick and this guy named Sebastian asked what I was sick with. Pablo interjected by saying that my sickness was being a woman...and that there was no cure. I later retaliated this attack by point out the ice chest that he was carrying and asking if there was a heart inside. He said maybe and asked why. And I said because I thought we might need to perform an emergency transplant to replace his heart that had gone missing. He said it had been broken when I told him that his jacket was the color of caca. Gosh my life is funny :)

Welp, now that we are all caught up with Rose's exciting hustle-bustle life, I will leave you all saying GOOD NIGHT. Tomorrow is another big day and I just hope that I can make a stab at my research essay because I would really love to start that tomorrow! Always so much to do but it is a delicate balance between valuing the social time and thus making the best of my time in Chile but while also balancing the academics because I am STUDYING abroad and this means I have to apply myself to all the work I have at school too. Goosssssh I can't wait to be graduated sometimes!! OK buenas noches...PS: It's so cold in the D.

Una Mente Llena

Wooo tengo mucho en mi mente que es tan dificil expresar todo lo que quiero decir. Es que durante los dos dias pasados he tratado a arrepentir para mi falta de hablar en castellano. Asi que hable con Francisco por el viaje hacia Vina del Mar por como 8 horas mas o menos. Y hoy fue el dia final de mi Karen preciosa entonces fuimos a un restauran muy autentico para almorzar y despues regresamos a la casa en la que ella quedo durante su tiempo en Chile. Desde aqui nos quedamos hablando por casi 2 horas pero bueno no hable mucho pero de todos maneras aprendi mucho...especialmente los chilenismos. Aca en Chile siempro siento arodeada por personas suuuper lograda que en adicion puede manejarse super bueno en la lengua espanol. Es impresionante para decirlo en menos palabaras. Es que ellas ya se han graduado, han vivido en el mundo real, y han aprendido mucho informacion sobre todas partes y todas topicos. PERO la cosa mas impresionante para mi es que en adicion a hacerse inteligente en todos cuestiones en ingles, ellas decidieron aprender todas estas cosas en castellano tambien! Si, ellas se podian haber quedado en su inteligencia en solamente ingles pero ellas tuvieron ganas de desfiarse y por eso, es algo muy admirable en mi opinion. Como es mi habito, me estoy preguntado siempre si es importante para mi conquistar los obstaculos de espanol para que un dia pueda hablar con fluidez. En una mano, no soy una persona para facasarme sin una pelea pero a la otra mano, yo se que quiero perseguir el trabajo de fisioterapeuta y eso requiere mucho trabajo tambien. Entonces, mi mente siempre me dice que es demasiado dificil enfocarme en el aprender de otro idioma mientras el estudio de todos cosas fisioterapeuta. Ahhh pero eso es mi facaso en el fondo!! Es que a veces desprecio mi habilidad por creer que mi mente necesita enfocar en solamente una meta antes de que yo escoje otra meta. Pero necesito recordarme que existe gente como la Karen que es inteligente en muchismas cosas sobre que se yo!! Cualquiera cosa ella va a saber y tener una opinion o si no ella va a preguntar formalmente para que sepa en la proxima vez que alguien lo menciona. El dicho en mi Facebook actualmente es: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that seems to frighten us most." En cuanto a mi mentalidad, este dicho cabe perfecto. Tengo que empujarme a darme cuenta de que soy capaz de entender muuuchos talentos y no es demasiado aprender sobre fisioterapeuta mientas aprender espanol. Ambos valen la pena!! Durante mi experiencia en Chile, he conocido gente que son engenieros, estudiantes de maestria, maestras, o que se yo...pero la vincula es que todos tienen una pasion para la lengua de espanol y esta pasion no tiene que ser algo pesimo. Es mi metodo de divertirme mientras la vida dura...es mi diversion y no tengo que estresarme todo el tiempo. Solamente es que tengo que abrir mi boca y sencillamente tratar de hablar...tratar de abrir mi boca para ver que va a escapar. Yo se que se mucho mas espanol que no pienso y he visto eso durante mi tiempo solo con chilenos como Francisco o a la escuela en Puente Alto. Tengo un don como Molly me enseno. Tengo ganas para ser diferente que los demas monolingues en los Estados Unidos y mas encima es un milagro que estoy con esta oportunidad de aprender este idioma entre los nativos. Que suerte tengo yo. Entonces, me he dado cuento que cada dia es diferente en referencia a mi espanol. Cada dia va a costarme hablar en este idioma pero la razon que ahora conozco gente lograda pero con tanto talento en este idioma es para que pueda tener prototipos para mirar por consejos. Karen es una de las chicas mas inteligente pero genuo con lo que he pasado tiempo y ahora quiero formar mi vida o sea mi tiempo en Chile dejado especialmente estar guiado por los consejos de la Karen. Y ahora tengo una buena amiga Molly que conoci hoy por Karen. Que buenas las vinculas. OK voy a acostarme finalmente porque tengo que despertarme a la 7:30 para caminar hacia una clase de spinning! YAY! Chao, La Rose Determinada

A few observations I've recently made....

[Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Linehan's great photography skills]

[Take the time to stop and smell the roses]

1) It is so easy to compare ourselves to others. Although it makes no sense because even if we love our life and feel accomplished and happy, it is so normal to compare our lives to others. I always have to remind myself that this is nonsense especially because we are all such different people! For example, I am not a political and economic person. It is just not me. And I am going to work on it because I have Meg and other people I can talk to. But when I meet someone who is "political" I always find myself wishing that I was more like them. Then I have to stop myself by asking: OK what things do you know that they haven't learned? (Disclaimer: I don't actually speak this out loud to myself. That would mean I talk to myself and I am not crazy. Ish.) Anyways, I am working on not comparing my life to the life of anyone, but rather being appreciative of the other person's accomplishments amidst appreciating my life too.
2) "A relationship requires a person to not think too much but to think enough." This is a Gary-ism. So wise. Another good one is: "It's not usually accurate to judge people by their photos. People don't take pictures of what they always do. They take pictures of what they don't usually do."

[Case in point: We don't always tour UCSC]

3) I have come to grips with the fact that I am a quite random person. Thank God that I am funny because that means that all the randomness that comes out of my mouth finds some pleasant coherency in the form of humor...otherwise I would be no different than the loonies on the bus. Ha. But I figure that my randomness is the product of having a memory that holds on to every little thing that has occurred in my life. I can spout a story to Megan in detail about a thing that happened in 6th grade. I can tell Lee Lee what we talked about "that one night" in IV during the movie 'My Date with Drew'. haha Plus randomness makes life a surprise, right?

4) I LOVE WORDS. Oh my gosh I am obsessed. I was already obsessed with words in English but now that I am sloooooowly learning Spanish, I find myself looking up every word and trying to memorize it. It's especially toxic because Willbur gave me this awesome hand-held translator. Thus I find myself using it all the time and then all the words I discover are eventually written down on a collective paper and then transferred to fichas (index cards) which I put on a ring and study insistently. Yesterday Sam was sitting behind me in the EAP class and I pulled out the translator (ok that's a lie. it was definitely on my lap the entire class. haha). And he was like: "Yeah girl. Pull it out. You get it girl." And with a quick turn around, I managed to whisper a that's what she said amidst the lecture and received a dissimulate high-five.

[at the mission in San Diego]

5) It's not until about two or three months of living in a foreign country in the house of a native that you realize that you have forgotten to do a lot of things that help to lower your stress. They are usually things that we took for granted in the states like singing in the shower or biking or going to the beach. But all the same, we don't realize their benefit to us until we realize that we are stressed or overwhelmed and we are looking for that "fix" that we are so used to getting. For me, that is singing. And unfortunately I feel that I can't do it here because I live with a Chilean mama and other extranjeros. BUT there is something that Sally taught me that will stick with me forever. She said that only in the last 2 years did she get over her nerves of singing in front of people and acting super goofy, etc. (And she's 27 so that's still a long time to live without letting it all out in front of people! :) hehe) Inside joke. Anyways, I don't know why I have this apprehension of singing in front of people. That is another thing I would like to work on bettering during my time here. I think that as long as I tell people that I will be singing for like 20 minutes a day, it would be a great way for me to de-stress and just flow. (HEAL: Flow activities! Everyone has one! You should find yours...)

[Nostalgia: Off to our hard days of 9th/10th grade]

6) I talked to my Lee Lee yesterday after receiving her 2 page letter in the mail. This made me realize the difference between emails and letters in the mail. Everyone acknowledges the aestetic touch of snail mail but I have come to realize another thing. When we sit down and write a letter to someone special, it makes us more philosophical and memorable in our writing. We know that the letter won't get to them in 2 minutes like an email (oh god its probably way less time than that these days but you get the point) and so we write things that are timeless and nostalgic and from the heart. So Lee Lee: thank you so much for taking the time and I love what you wrote. It is so true that we had the best year of our lives last year in IV. I will never forget those days and all the memories we made my little Nozzle.

[Our Summer in the South 2008]

7) There was a guy on the metro yesterday who was reading through printed slides of...would you believe it? Kinesioterapia para geriatría....basically exactly what I want to do in the future. Physical therapy in geriatrics using my knowlege of kinesiology. And this guy in front of me was studying it!! Well obviously "our kind" don't grow on trees so I had to talk to him and without even thinking twice, I said: Para que estudias eso? He answered me with: "Quiero perseguir con mi maestria en este topico de estudio." And we talked for the rest of the subway ride about what he wants to do with his degree and how useful it is to study this. I am just amazed that it is such a small world. I mean...I haven't exactly picked the most common thing to persue. But then again, that happens a lot with me.


8) En el fondo, la vida es buena. Hago lo que hago en Chile para mejorar mi caracter y mi mentalidad y para desfiarme a aprender sobre una cultura nueva. Sin embargo, al mismo tiempo, despues de mi tiempo aca, voy a estar lista para regresar a mi Santa Barbara y mi San Diego para continuar con mi vida alla. Le extrano a mi familia pero yo se cuando salga de Chile voy a extranar la gente que he conocido tan fuerte como mi familia en los EE.UU. Entonces, la sola cosa que puedo hacer, como todos los otros que han venido antes de mi, disfrutare mi tiempo en Chile a pesar de los desfios para que pueda tener orgullo en mi mismo cuando yo este en los EE.UU. viviendo una vida no tan exigente. Efectivamente soy una persona que acepta cualquier problema y trato de solucionarlo pero despues de mis seis meses en Chile, recordare mis logras mientras me diverto en la playa con amigos y ceno con mi familia preciosa y...mas. (Por si acaso: casi me muero para no poder usar accentos pero me confien que los habria usado si tuviera la opcion!)

[Painted by Leigh Anne Linehan]

Voy a correr ahorita pero gracias por leer mis pensamientos. Ayyy me sorprenda cuantas palabras espanoles yo se ahora! Quiero un vocabulario amplio para que continue perfeccionar mi hablar. Espero que pueda usar todos mis palabras nuevas para no las olvidar. QUE LES VAYA BIEN! CHAO!

The Vicious Cycle

I went for a run this morning. Finally. I seem to always tell myself that I don't have time in the mornings to go running which is a lie because if I woke up early enough then I could go and still have time to get ready for the day. Then I started thinking about why I couldn't make myself get up early...besides being lazy...and I realized that it was because I go to bed soooo late. Granted I get home Tues and Thurs at 10 pm! But still, I should really try to get to bed earlier and give my body the sleep that it needs. So I started making this whole cycle up in my mind that all begins with a lack of sleep and now I am set on changing things to make my life healthier in all aspects. First, if you don't sleep enough, you can't wake up early to aprovecha (take advantage of) those lovely morning hours. That means that if I don't get enough sleep, I can't run. If I don't run, I am more inclined to eat unhealthy and it is crazy to see because AFTER a run, I honestly don't want to eat crappy foods, you know? Plus I am WAY HAPPIER and ready to take on the day and my Spanish even seems to be better... probably because of the endorphine-driven bubbliness. Then there's coffee. I have started drinking coffee because I have tied it to relaxation and waking up and just being happy and content with my cup of coffee and some reading. BUT I know that I must feel guilty about it because I talk about it to everyone...like: oh if I didn't have my coffee... or gosh I need a coffee. That just isn't me AT ALL. I think it is a phase but all the same, I want to see if there is a connection between my coffee fix and the fact that I am not getting enough sleep and in turn not exercising in the morning. I bet you there is. OK finally for all of you chronic coffee drinkers out there, I also realized another thing yesterday. I had forgotten that they say coffee turns your teeth yellow!!! I have a secret obsession with my teeth and I do not want then turning yellow because of stupid coffee. So if anything, that can be my catalyst to take it easy on the coffee for a while. I just want to make sure that I am taking care of MYSELF amidst it all...amidst all the responsibility, activities, and stress. I want to take time for myself and that means getting my sleep and getting my exercise and eating well. That is how I take care of myself and without that, I slowly go downhill. lol SO that is one of my many goals to start working towards. I'd love to know your opinions on this. Much love to you all! --Rosey Fair

Official Girls Club Monthly Newsletter

I got to talk to my mama and sissy this week FINALLY after not Skyping for nearly 2 weeks! The time flew by because I was so busy but I never want to let that much time pass without talking to my favorite ladies. Lee Lee, good luck with CSULA starting up soon and I am happy that you made it through all that administrative poopy! It is so hard to deal with "the system" but you sure passed the test with flying colors. Mama, I think that you could seriously be a graphic designer. Those new pictures you posted are amazing of Franklin and all of his marine friends. I just hope that my humble hiking pictures can compare to yours. The following pics are for you ladies as well as any other loyal reader of my Blog. Aqui estan:

The Taller This Week

I walked into the library today at Hermanos Matte school where I teach the after-school English conversation class...and there were 15 kids! It had been a long day because the day before I stayed at Starbucks all day writing a paper and ended up going to bed at 3 am. Megan had spent the night and I had needed to finish some work before the next day...hence the late bedtime. Well, after 4 hours of sleep, I left the house around 8 am and headed to Puente Alto. I hung out with my gastronomy students, watched them cook a delicious meal, talked with the students one-on-one, and then got to enjoy a plate of mashed potatoes seasoned to perfection, flaky reineta, and a mustard sauce that was to die for. After leaving the school, I made my way to Hermanos Matte but got lost on a bench in the metro station for a while writing down all the thoughts I had that day. When I finally got to the school's library, that's when I saw that there were 15 kids there that day! It was quite overwhelming but I had planned the days activities so I was calm. It is my goal to work on finding games for the following classes that are easier for the kids to understand because I believe in giving them a challenge but I think I might be expecting too much too soon. There are a ton of different levels but the majority of the students (8th grade) can form maybe one sentence or two and that's it for now. I'm so excited to see the progress that will have been made by December. Karen (the grad student working on her masters research here in Chile who I met serendipitously on the street outside my university campus) has so many connections it is ridiculous. Plus she is a teacher of Spanish so I asked her to give me some teaching methods I could use in the taller and she is not only going to tell me what she uses to teach her students in the classroom but also is going to ask her friend who is here teaching English. Did I also mention that Karen's UNCLE is the physical therapist for the USC FOOTBALL TEAM?? Yes...you read that right. And she wants us to all have dinner in LA when I get back from Chile so that he can tell me about the PT who taught him all he needed to know during his first PT internship...who happens to still work in...Santa Barbara. I love fate. Anyways, that was the taller this week and I can't wait to see what next week's taller has in store for me.

Mi practica en Puente Alto

I have obtained a special study project to be conducted in Puente Alto which is at the end of my metro line very close to the mountains. Once I get off the metro, I take a collective taxi and make pleasant conversation with the cab drivers every time. Last Tuesday the cab driver was playing Sarah Brightman! :) Dad, I know you are super happy right now...and so was I. It was 'My Heart Will Go On' actually so it was the best of both worlds. I get to the school and always look first for my mentor Paola who agreed to supervise me during my time at the school until December. She is the school nurse who works in the Enfermia where she deals with cute kids all day who come in complaining about this and that. Paola always knows what to do and often sprays some concoction on the area that "hurts" according to the kid, kisses them on the cheek, and tells them to go rest. She is so awesome...and she is going to be my mentor for these next 4 months. Here's the project proposal that I am submitting to the study center so that everyone knows mas o menos what I am looking at.

RESEARCH TOPIC
We live in a world obsessed with beauty. In the United States, every person is exposed to over 3,000 advertisements daily that tell him/her what is considered beautiful. There is immense pressure on women and men to meet a certain criteria which the media promote as ‘the ideal’. However, in a world where even celebrities are airbrushed on magazine covers, this idea proves time and again to be unattainable—for the sake of the media’s own profit. Thus everyday men and women after left to interpret the media’s messages as they will. Furthermore, these advertisements are being broadcasted all over the world which has created a worldwide problem of youth who are unhappy with their own body in comparison to their unattainable ‘ideal’.

For my special study project, I hope to investigate how Chilean youths (approximately aged 13-18) view their bodies and how they feel they have been affected by the media’s image of ‘the ideal’. Is there are influence from the United States’ media in Chile, and if so, how has that affected the Chilean youths concept of beauty? What is the perfect body to the Chilean youth—voluptuous, athletic, skinny?

I understand that an issue like body image is very subjective and may be difficult to investigate. Thus I will begin my research looking at the perception of food in Chilean culture. I want to learn the youth’s perception of a healthy, balanced diet and how these perceptions affect their body image? How is food viewed in this culture? Do the media have an effect on their concept of health and on their daily diet? All of these questions are examples of what I will talk with the students about in hopes of determining how the Chilean youth’s view food and how those views affect their body image, health, and concept of ‘the ideal’?

SO...that's the project theme and the school is so perfect because not only is Paola super helpful but there is also a special degree that students can earn in Gastronomia (the science of cooking). Basically, I get to hang out with the Gastronomia estudiantes for a couple hours every Tuesday while they cook and ask them questions about the food culture in Chile, why they chose this enfoque, and how it has affected their view of food/body image. It is all a work in progress...but the point is I am enjoying the process of making that progress. Not to mention, I get to converse with teachers, students, and everyone in between at this school. I have really impressed myself time and time again by how capable I am of holding a conversation...albeit broken at times. I can really use some Spanish when I want to. :) So I will keep everyone posted on my progress and what I am able to uncover in regards to my research topic. I have until December but I am going to be writing 8 pages on my findings so it is good to start now.

A Wednesday Entry

All good things my friend. Not gonna lie, there is a ton of stress to be had but I think that for now, I am balancing things well. My goal is to keep my head above water and keep on appreciating my time here instead of worrying the whole time. I have found that the worries that I have are often futile because they end up being completely unnecessary. For example, I had an essay due for Medical Anthropology today which I worked on in Starbucks all day on Monday. I still hadn't gotten two of the body paragraphs written so when I got home on Tuesday night at 10 pm, I told myself that I would eat dinner and then take a quick nap before I got to work on the essay. Ummm I woke up at 6 am...by the grace of God...and snapped awake with the sneaky suspicion that something had gone wrong. It ended up being fine because I worked through the wee hours of the morning and then had 2 hours to read through it with Maggie. She offered me a ton of constructive criticisms and I think by the end of it, my essay was more than acceptable for a gringo taking a very challenging class. The thing is that I feel I have done enough work for the class in terms of reading and attending class that I think I have enough to say to write a 3 page essay. The fact that it is in Spanish is just an added challenge but I have always had ease of expression through the written word. Thus I am very proud of myself in terms of my capacity to write essays in Spanish that sound scholarly.

Here's an excerpt from my paper for all of my Spanish-speaking friends: [Dana, if you are reading this right now, you better tell me what you think because I know you will understand muy bien :)]

Cualquiera persona en el mundo podría ser afectada por el proceso de salud-enfermedad-atención. No obstante, la gente sana suele tener el hábito de no pensar en la posibilidad de que podría volverse discapacitado en un instante. Sin la preocupación, esta gente continua siendo indiferente al sufrimiento ajeno y mirando los discapacitados como ‘inválidos’. En su libro Discapacitados, Marta Allué desafía esta percepción hacia los enfermos al decir que la sanidad es sólo temporal y la gente sana será así hasta que contraiga alguna discapacidad (Allué 2003). Entonces, como todo el mundo necesitará pedir tratamiento médico eventualmente, las sociedades desarrolladas han establecido sus propios “sistemas” médicos usando perspectivas diversas hacia la salud para que la gente pueda recibir el tratamiento apropiado.

Los dos sistemas más reconocidos pero supuestamente más diversos son la biomedicina y la medicina tradicional. Sin embargo, yo creo que a pesar de las diferencias, las contribuciones de ambos “sistemas” han hecho progresar el estudio de la medicina. Como actualmente la población utiliza muchas formas de atención no solo por problemas diferentes sino también por uno solo, es importante analizar qué valores y visión existen en estos sistemas en relación al “conditions of patients, relations with patients and colleagues, the physician him- or herself [and] the medical action” (Hahn 1995:138). La biomedicina y la medicina popular incorporan métodos y enfoques marcados, pero por este ensayo, voy a argüir que hay aspectos fundamentales que ambos campos tienen en común, los cuales muestran la universalidad de la atención médica. Así por reconocer las metodologías específicas aunque distintas de la biomedicina y la medicina popular, es posible distinguir la mezcla entre las ciencias y los aspectos socio-culturales que existe en ambos “sistemas” para exitosamente alcanzar el mismo propósito para el paciente.

In reference to my progression with my grasp of Spanish, you should all know that I have good days and bad days just like everyone. Some days I really surprise myself with how much I have grasped with this language but some days and usually when I am intimidated or scared, my Spanish is severely refrained. But one thing that has really stuck with me is what Sally told me about how singers tend to have a better capacity for language learning because we have the ear for it. This has really given me confidence because it is, in part, quite true. I am listening to people speak to me in Spanish and after only 2 months, I can catch what they are saying...most of the time. When you are in the moment, it is easy to catch what they are saying but when you distract yourself by thinking: OMG I am interpreting another language right now! WHOA!...that is when you freak yourself out. But ya...I am lucky to have such a capacity for learning Spanish and of course I still need to study a ton of words that I have written down over the past months. It is so important to know the vocabulary when learning another language. But that is something that I will work on incorporating in my busy life here.