First post of 2009

I decided to revive the blog just for fun. It's mostly for me to have stuff written down, I've found that reading back on my study abroad experience has been really helpful- details I never would have remembered are preserved here for as long as they'll exist in cyberspace. Also, I've never been particularly good at keeping journals that only I read.

This is also nice because I'm going to have an interesting year. It's going to be my last year of competitive running on a team, and I've been running cross country since 5th grade/ track since 7th grade. So that's closing in on 12 years of middle/high school/college running and I'd like to make this last one good. Then there's my lovely thesis which I'm working on now at UCSD, and the impending MCATs, which are happening in the spring of 2010. And then med school applications. And figuring out what to do with my life the year before I go to med school provided one accepts me. With that said, I promise I won't write a bunch of whiny entries.

And then there's the uncertainty. I won't hear from schools right away, and I'm in for at least a year of no med school and maybe no job. Not that I'm alone by any means! I should really say 'we' because this is the curse of my graduating class year. But I've never really worried about where I was going next, because my heart was set on attending Claremont McKenna College as of my sophomore year of high school. Okay, I liked the idea of Stanford too, but in the end I applied Early Decision to my perfect dream school (CMC), was accepted there, and didn't look back. I don't expect to have such fantastic luck all the time.

But my luck hasn't been so bad here, I've survived science so far (scraping by at times, to be fair) and found I liked neuroscience enough to major in it. I got a grant from the Joint Science Department this summer to do my thesis research (yay, paid research!) and I'm living in San Diego this summer. So I'll most likely be writing a fair amount about running and research, and certainly will enclose some interesting articles/ book reviews/rants about my classes/anything but I won't delude myself into thinking that a ton of people are planning on reading this.

I'm open to title suggestions, and growing increasingly nervous for my first sprint triathlon (.5mi swim, 15mi bike, 5k run) this Sunday.

Reverse Culture Shock

Fine. I admit it, I'm having it. Reverse culture shock, and I admit it openly. I turn around wildly at every moment in restaurants to make sure my purse is still there. I'm in Boston now, and every five seconds I complain about how cold it is because I've been in the wrong hemisphere for a semester and in California for about three years. I nearly order a drink at dinner, then remember that I'm 19 and can't do that (oops!).

I wonder why the T in Boston is so slow, and practically shoved everyone out before me because I was afraid the doors in the metro would close. I almost forgot to tip the cab driver, cause you don't do that in Chile. Central heating makes me smile happily and I think about how much it costs Boston to keep all the lights on downtown. A hot shower with perfect water pressure is AMAZING. I go running outside and no one turns around to yell out "Señorita! Oye, mi reina! *kissy noises*"

Okay, obviously I don't miss everything about Chile. I've been in a state of complete euphoria and loving the United States of America with all of my heart. I will continue to do so for the next eleven days, and then I will wistfully bid the country goodbye and head to Thailand.I've always wanted to go to Thailand, then I'll come home and have culture shock all over again.

I experienced this when I came home from China after 3 months there in 2004 (I was in Santiago for 5 months) and I'd since forgotten how cool it feels to come back to the US.

Last few days in Chile

Oh, I'm floating somewhere in between excitement to return to the US/see my parents in Thailand and sadness to leave Chile. I haven't been particularly emotional in saying goodbye to the friends I've made here over the next four months because I'm sure we'll at least be able to stay in touch through Facebook, and also, the friendsforasemester thing is a little strange. You meet this group of new people and see them ALL the time. Then you leave, and basically never see them again. It's a weird dynamic, especially for those who have lived in one place their whole lives before college.

Having moved around the States quite a few times, I'm used to ending and beginning experiences. I no longer get that "and this will be our last blablabla together, and this will be our last drink together, and this will be our last metro ride..." thing. I just don't like dragging out goodbyes in my mind, and in this case my departure snuck right up on me. It is going to be the perfect time to go. I won't be waiting around Santiago thinking "oh my god, I'm soooo ready to go home" because there are last-minute things all around here I've been wanting to do. Also, my lack of emotion in this whole process is not me saying that I won't miss Chile, or the friends I've met here. Thankfully, I have tons of memories and pictures and my personal written journal to remind me of that any time I need.

Also, my last few days here have been absolutely perfect. We finished up classes, and for one of the end of year meetings, our class went to a famous bar called Luguria (where all the celebrities go, apparently, but I wouldn't know a Chilean celebrity if I saw them). I went to Miercoles Po for the first time, a weekly party held at various bars for the foreigners in Chile. Also known as an excuse for older Chilean men to claim they are from other countries and hit on younger women. We've converted it into a verb, as in:

"Why isn't Monica at Observación Clínica today?"
"Oh, she Po'd last night. She definitely has a caña this morning."

(A caña, in Chileno, is a hangover.)

or

"Hey, are you Po-ing tonight?"

We met up for drinks at my friend Emma's host family's apartment. It was incredibly nice for her host mom to have 15 loud drinking American students, many of whom were doing a power hour (not me). I got into a taxi to head to Miercoles Po, and the ride was a perfect wrap-up of all my favorite places in the city. Basically driving along the red subway line, I saw the outline of Cerro San Cristobal, the fountain at Parque Forestal, Cerro Santa Lucia, Casa Central of La Católica, La Moneda... you get the idea. This week's Po was held at Piso 33, which to my chagrin was actually on the fourth floor. I should have known it wouldn't really be on the 33rd piso. In this earthquake-proof country, there are virtually no 33-story buildings let alone one with a nightclub at the top.

Then today I went to the MIM (museo interactivo mirador--science museum for kids!) which was surprisingly large and surprisingly fun. I bought a duffel bag for my extra stuff, there is a depressingly large amount of extra baggage in my suitcases, but thank goodness Sean only took one suitcase with him. Then, we bought some wine and headed over to a friend's apartment for a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal. There were 7 Americans at the table, and of course we went around the table to say what we were thankful for.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Santiago. I'm definitely going to the Fería Santa Lucía to get a few gifts, and getting the manicure/pedicure/etc out of the way in Santiago where it is so very affordable. And taking Sean to Luguria.

And that's the end of my journey! I wonder what I'll call this blog when I'm writing from Thailand. I don't think I can really change the name. Just in case anyone was wondering, here's my schedule:

Nov 29-Dec 4: In San Diego
Dec 4-Dec 13: In Boston at my brother's apartment
Dec 13- Dec 18: Claremont, CA to see friends and get some stuff taken care of
Dec 18-Jan 18: Roi-Et, Thailand
Jan 18: Back in Claremont. School starts the 20th.

What a 10K feels like after four months of empanadas, wine, and desserts

This morning, I got myself out of bed at 6:45 to get to the Santiago Nike 10k, which starts at 9, but I wanted to be there an hour early (bathrooms, warming up, pre-race stuff, finding the place in general) and I was supposed to meet my friends at the Manuel Montt station at 7:50. I get to the metro at 7:15 to find that it will not open at 8. Shit. There's no way I'll get there in time.

None of the taxis or buses are stopping for me. Guess it looks like I wouldn't have money for a taxi if all I am carrying is an ipod and I'm in running clothes...

I start talking to an older guy who didn't get the memo about the metro either. Then I see a skinny man in running clothes and an unmistakable Chilean mullet. Bingo! I go over to him and ask if he's headed to la carrera Nike de diez kilometros. He is! His name is Nestor and he is in a running group. Coincidentally, I had met a member of the same running group at the Ñuñoa 10k in September, but never went to meet up with them to run...oops. Nestor is a professor who does a lot of races, and is going to Mozambique for some humanitarian work (water purification, etc). He said that there would be a 19K up the cerros of Valparaiso, which sounds beautiful. Then I realized, oh wait! I am going to be in the US next Sunday, and I can't go to that race! Whoa...

So we get there and I get to warm up with the group, which means jogging in place for a bit, some high knees, butt kicks, a few strides. They encourage each other to break the time they ran last year, and are extremely friendly to me even though I am a total stranger that no one knows. Also, since I didn't register for the race (spots filled up online), I'm wearing a slightly different red shirt with white lettering. Theirs say "Santiago Nike 10K" with "Just do it" on the back, and a Chilean flag on the sleeve. Mine says "Track and Field USA", but the similarity seemed to do the trick because I ran the race and was by no means the only unregistered runner.

And then it started. There were people carrying little balloons, "40" for those who wanted to do a 40 minute 10k, "50" for the 50 minute people, etc. I was hoping for something in between 45 and 50 minutes, having absolutely no idea what kind of shape I'm in. So I start going, and by kilometer 2 I see the guy with the "50" balloon going by me. OH, SHIT. I AM DOING LIKE 9 MINUTE MILES. THIS IS SO SLOW. I AM SO SLOW. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
I'm also thinking, "I'm only 1/5 done with this race. That's 20 percent. Or 8 more kilometers. Oh, stop thinking in fractions and percent."

Then Rational Sheila showed up (thank god) and was like, Okay. Finish the race. Then you can work on training and getting faster and not making a total ass out of yourself in track in a couple months. So I did. I was also dehydrated and slowed down by the water tables to pour a cup of water on my head/drink a cup of water. By the 8K mark I was feeling better, and sped up again.

I crossed the finish line at 49 minutes (7:54 mile pace). Whew! Mr "I'm supposed to pace people at 50 minutes" must have been having a fast day. And in general, that is not a time I am proud of. But hey, at least if this is the very rock bottom, it could be so much worse. Upon finishing, we got medals, bananas, Powerade and a free massage.

All in all, it was a great morning =)

Viña Doña Javiera

This was undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable days I've spent in Chile. Twelve of us visited the vineyard where Emma, one of the students at our group, has been working once a week all semester. While I've been waking up at 7 twice a week to go to my clinical observation internship (that had a disappointing lack of clinical observation), Emma's been spending every Friday at a beautiful, gigantic mansion with gardens, patios, and a pool, learning about vineyards. She has a three-course lunch with the dueño Don Paco and his wife Elena, who are both in their eighties.

Our group arrived in our nice bus provided by IES and got the tour of the beautiful vineyard with the Andes looming in the background. We sat on the patio with Don Paco who wanted to know all of our names, majors, ambitions, life stories and whether or not we had boyfriends. He brought us beers and Cokes and empanadas con queso, and we figured that was lunch. Though Emma told us about the three course meal she receives every week, we never expected them to do that for twelve of us. But they did- or I should say, his staff did. They escorted us into the beautiful dining room, and we were given a LOT of food and wine and dessert, oh my.

And then IT happened. We were sitting there, and Elena asked if any of us were interested in some coffee. I of course raised my hand *shame on me, i'm still addicted, yes*. She picked up a bell, and started ringing it.

Being silly gringos, we all kind of giggled. We thought she was joking. But then the servant came running out of the kitchen in a maid's outfit and asked us what we needed. Oooh, I stopped giggling immediately.

First let me explain the modern Chilean 'nana'. She comes once or twice a week to clean a family's house. I still think it's a weird relationship because my host mom refers to the nana as a 'friend', but obviously by the way she talks about the nana, a friend of a lower social status. Many Chilean families and couples can afford a nana, as opposed to the US where cleaning services are expensive. Many nanas are Peruvian immigrants, who have an automatic social stigma upon arriving to work in Chile (similar to Mexican workers in the US, at times). My host mom has two nanas: Marta and Isabel, each comes to the house once a week. Isabel, the younger of the two, "is better at the cleaning, but she isn't as personable" whereas Marta "is a great cook". Isabel comes on Tuesdays, and Marta comes on Fridays.

What in the world did we do in between Tuesday and Friday to need two house cleanings?

Ah, back to my point. Neither of these women are live-in workers. They have their own houses, their own lives. Por contraste, that particular maid (as Elena explained to me) is their god-dauughter. The mom worked for the family, and so did the grandmother.

Ewwww....generations of servitude...

Quantum of Solace... or Making Fun Of Bolivians

Recently I've had to watch a few Chilean movies for class that are far from... well, I don't want to say that all American movies are cinematic genius, but let me just say that Chilean movies aren't my favorite. So I decided to watch Quantum of Solace at the local theater. This time, the villain is hoarding all of the water in a Bolivian desert, depriving the villagers of agua.

What I couldn't figure out was why every single Chilean in the movie theater started laughing whenever there was some Bolivian character: whether it be one of the corrupt generals, a villager, townsperson, anyone. I thought it was some snooty Chilean thing, because Chile's recently been accepting higher numbers of Argentine, Bolivian and Peruvian immigrants. Of those three, Bolivians and Peruvians receive the worst stigmas (a lot of Peruvian workers come here and end up cleaning houses, etc.) So I thought it was some cultural joke.

Then later I found out they were all laughing because all of the scenes that took place in "Bolivia" really took place in Chile, but the actors hired were from Bolivia because the Atacama Desert is near the Chile-Bolivia border. But they still shot it in Chile.

In other news, I saw a bypass surgery this morning and found out that surgery is interesting. Really interesting. Even when all of the doctors' rapidfire chit-chat is all in Spanish. This señora had an aneurysm in a vein leading to the aorta, which had a giant clot, so they put in a prosthetic vein and cleared out the... anyway before I get too graphic, I found it really interesting and the doctor was eager to teach us a lot of anatomy.

PS. The heart was not red. I know that. I've learned that a million times, and yet, when I saw it I was still surprised.

Fútbol!

I went to my first soccer game here and it was incredible. Chile has two rival soccer teams called Colo Colo and U. Chile, and most Chileans are fiercely loyal to one of those two. I heard a story in which a bunch of hooligans were beating up some poor fellow when they saw a Colo Colo logo on his clothing, and let him go. My host family has told me in no uncertain terms that I should not go to Colo Colo games, EVER, because people pull out knives and I could get into some trouble.

This sentiment was reaffirmed when I was doing Observación Clínica at Liwen, a rehab center for poorer drug addicts. The treatment there is free for those who come to the center wanting to change, and they stay at the center from 9-6 Monday through Friday. We talked to the addicts for a couple hours, who were surprisingly open and friendly. One younger guy (20 but looked 15) said that lots of deals go on outside the stadium. Then we learned that the group is split about 60-40 favoring Colo Colo to UChile, but there was one Catolica fan.

The soccer game was that night, and as we got to the Estadio we saw a water tank, Carabineros (policemen) zooming around on dirtbikes, fans getting crazy, etc. We got to our seats in the gigantic section of UChile fans, and the Catolica section on the other side of the stadium was about a fourth as large (private university's team). Cheerleaders could really learn a thing or two from soccer fans, I was really impressed with all of the fight songs and cheers that everyone knew. At one point the crowd started chanting "Hijo de puta!" over and over again.
Everyone was dancing around and being generally crazy, people started fires in the stands and sent flares up, one of which landed on the soccer field near the end of the game.

I came home with "Oleeeee, oleoleole, ole, ole! LA U!" in my head.

One reminder that I'm in Chile- it was starting to get dark to the point that I couldn't see the soccer ball, and the stadium lights still were not on. Energy is very expensive here* and Chileans don't like to use it. So they turned on one for a bit, then two a little later, then the third and finally the last one.

*On the note of energy being expensive here, I am having some host family issues. I wanted to bake some cookies, which I've done before with friends, and my host mom laughed and was like, no, no you can't. I thought she was being sarcastic, like, "yeah, of course you can cook!" I asked why and she said that gas prices have gone up. We are told in the program that if there is something that we do in the house that charges the host family extra, like drinking tons of milk for example, we should get our own milk. And that's totally okay because the entire world is in an economic crisis, but we had ingredients for baking and wanted to use them so I offered to pay her some extra money for the use of her oven. Which should be fine, right? But she continued to be difficult, saying she didn't know how much it would be, showed me the gas balloon which had no measurements, and told me that she couldn't measure how much it would be, so I gave her 5 mil (about 8 or 9 dollars). I'm not going to do it again, it was for the principle of the thing at that point. She was like, "But what if your usage was only 3 mil or something? I wouldn't want to take extra money! Just buy cookies, it's cheaper." So I said I'd rather pay her more than less, that the chocolate chip cookies in stores are not as good. The reply to that was "Oh, but the last ones you made weren't very good." That certainly scored some points with me.

In the end I got to bake the cookies, gave one to my host dad, who told me they were really good. (They were. Gigantic chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm.) And I am okay with contributing a little extra. I just wish she would have said something like, "I'd love for you to bake but the gas prices have gone up, blah blah, I think x reasonable amount of money would probably be good for a single usage of the stove." instead of being sarcastic and insulting to my cookies. Also, is that saying that I have to eat everything that she gives me for the next month?

One more month here, one more month...