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.

My New Look

Hey everyone! I wanted to show you all the new look. I have always wanted short hair and well...when in Chile, right? I am loving it and I feel like I am ready to just go out and explore because I don't have to worry about maintaining long hair! Here's some pics and of course, I want to know what you all think!
Love, The New Rosey :)