7 down, 13 to go

It's been 7 weeks. A month and a half. 1/3 of my stay.
           These have been some of the most rewarding weeks I've probably ever had! I've had countless discussions about politics, social issues, cultural differences, spirituality, education and historical events. I've traveled to Valparaíso where I saw Pablo Neruda's house, the Open Sky Museum, caught up with my good friend from high school, made tator tots, and felt the differences between cordillera-filled Santiago and the coastal cities of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar.

At the top of a cerro in Viña del Mar

           I've learned how to navigate a brand-new city with a subway system that is surprisingly easy to use and a city-bus system that is surprisingly similar to Minneapolis public transportation (yay for long waits!). I'm getting to know some amazing people from the University and the exchange program I never would have met if not for this opportunity.
           So far, my classes are great. Definitely not as challenging and demanding as back home, which is refreshing because I have more time to wander around the city and talk with my host family. I'm taking a Spanish class, which is showing me just how much Spanish I've lost since the years of Park Spanish Immersion; a medical Spanish class, which will hopefully help me communicate better with doctors; and a clinical observation seminar, where I'm learning about the Chilean healthcare system and will have the opportunity to observe doctors, interact with Chilean patients, observe a surgery, learn about the needs of rural healthcare, and learn how indigenous communities are able to practice their native medicine. I'm hoping this will help me decide if a career in medicine is right for me. :)

Mad scientist?
or
Not-sure-what-she-wants-to-do-with-her-life-pre-med-student?
Let's just go with mad scientist for now.

           My favorite class with IES is Native Cultures, where I'm learning about the indigenous communities pertaining to Chile and how they fare in modern life. My other favorite class is at the Pontificia Universidad Católica, a theology class called Religions and Christianity, where I'm learning about the basis for religious thought and about the relationships between different religious practices from around the world. I'm definitely loving the lack of a lab and being able to take classes that really challenge my previous ways of thinking.
           As far as extracurriculars, I'm planning on taking yoga classes (2 dollars per class!!), working out at the track they have at the University, and hopefully a class on aerial silk if it fits with my schedule. There's always something to do in Santiago, from museums to discussions to yoga-in-the-park, so I'm never bored. :)
          So far I have plans to travel north to the Atacama desert in October, south to Patagonia in November, and in a few days I'll be leaving for Bolivia to stay with an indigenous community that lies 3 hours outside of Santa Cruz. I'll be traveling with my host mother, and we'll learn about what kinds of resources they need to improve their quality of life and hopefully work with the women on female empowerment. I'm so excited for this trip, it's a chance to see more of Latin America with a Latin American!
           Not only am I surrounded by countless opportunities to learn about a new culture, but I'm also challenged everyday to learn more about myself, my place in the world, and how US culture has influenced my values and worldview. Just like Dumbledore used the pensieve to examine his memories and thoughts from different angles, my study abroad experience thus far has helped me examine myself and the US from the outside. I talked with my host mother about this a little, and she has a strong belief that "con la conciencia viene la responsibilidad" (with awareness comes responsibility). I'm not sure exactly what this will mean for me in the future, but I've got a few more months to figure it out. :)

I have 13 weeks. 3 months. 2/3 of my stay. I can't even imagine what else is in store.
Besitos y abrazos,
Athena

A flexible control freak?

I don't know how else to start off this post but with a very blunt self-assesment: I am a control freak.

          I think this is one of the "ghosts" that our program director, Maricarmen, was describing. These "ghosts" are aspects of your personality and value system that you take for granted at home but when you're in a new culture, they come swooping down on you and gobble you up in ways you least expect. For me, I'm realizing more and more that my constant need to plan and control is hindering my full appreciation and enjoyment of certain aspects of my time here.
         Don't get me wrong, I'm truly learning a lot about the culture, meeting new people, seeing new things, and in general having a blast. But there are always those days where I feel like a hermit and don't want to venture outside my room because I feel to need to plan trips by the hour and keep track of my budget to the peso (which has the worth of about 1/5 of a penny. You can see how pointless I'm viewing the time I've spent calculating my budget). The best comparison I can think of for the way I'm feeling is when Sheldon needs to create an algorithm for making friends:

          I promise I'm definitely not THAT desperate. :) But I have to realize that I feel myself connecting with Sheldon's algorithm in other aspects of my life here. On the surface, I feel like all this meticulous planning and all the figuring out of sudoku-set-on-evil-schedules will help me have a better experience in Chile for the long run. It's the same mentality I have for the way I live my life in the States: get good grades and try to get involved with things that will help you prepare for the future. It's kind of like a reaction in ochem: control all the reactants, set the conditions, put in the right catalyst, wait, and you might get the product you want.
          Under the surface, I'm now questioning myself. With too much planning and too much control, I have a feeling I'll get stuck in Sheldon's infinite loop; unable to just "go with the flow" and see where fate takes me. My host mother has talked to me a fair amount about fate and how there is a reason (outside my control) why I was meant to come here and live with her family. In the beginning, I would internally scrunch my eyebrows and make my brain hurt trying to think from that perspective. Before it was impossible. Now, with this new conscious knowledge that I might fall into an infinite loop, I'm going to try to loosen the reigns a little and become a flexible control freak.
          After all, doesn't God have a say in my life as well? I'm sure she/he/ze's yelling at me from up there. I'm starting to listen, don't worry. :)

What could've been eaten

          Once again, many things have happened since my last post: outdoor concerts, visits to museums, eating empanadas, the start of classes, and my one-month anniversary of being in Chile (CRAZY!).
          One thing that has made the most impact on me the past few weeks has been learning how to cook. Food is a huge part of any culture, and the act of putting it all together is another way to experience people interacting with each other on a new level. My host mother talked about how cooking is more than just an act of putting different foods together and serving them on a plate. She taught me a little about how putting your love and energy into the food you're serving is the real reason why the food turns out appetizing; because the people eating it are literally receiving the energy and love put into the act of cooking.
          I rarely ever cook at Grinnell, and sometimes I cook the occasional box of Mac&Cheese or boxed dinner that's laying around my house. Of course I'll try to help my sister make Thanksgiving dinner (kudos to her: I could never do what she does every Thanksgiving). But I would always say to my friends that if you put me in a kitchen and expect me to make anything, I'll probably end up making something explode.
          Obviously that wouldn't happen. The kitchen isn't ochem lab. I just haven't had very much experience cooking, which honestly is surprising and a huge oversight of mine in hindsight. Since my mom usually cooked dinner for our family most nights, you would think that her spinal cord injury resulting in quadriplegia in 2004 and her passing in 2012 would have taught me something about it these past 8 or 9 years. But I still have the same cooking skills as that 11-year-old who burned chocolate chip cookies every time.
          But here in Chile, I've been a part of cooking real food. I helped my host mother with lunch one day, spent a Saturday shopping at a mercado then cooked various Mexican dishes for her birthday, and then went to Lonquén (a town about an hour south of Santiago) to bake some chocolate chip cookies for my extended host family. Only a few burned this time!

The Mexican food

Lonquén: in Mapudungun (the Mapuche language) it means "located down below"

A traditional Chilean oven where the cookies were baked

          During all these cooking adventures, I can't help but think about "what could've been" if my mom had a functioning body. Usually I never think this way; why waste time in an imagined fantasy land when reality is hitting you in the face? But these past few weeks it's been inevitable. What if my mom had at least functioning hands that would have allowed her to grip a stirring spoon or a whisk? Would I have appreciated her knowledge with the lessons I've learned now? Would we have spent time peeling potatoes side-by-side like I did with my host mother a few days ago? I'm not sure, but it's nice to imagine.
          Even though some of these cooking adventures have been a bit tear-inducing (I'll blame the onions) while I let myself think about what could've been, I know those onions are making me learn about myself and the way I can come home a better person. After all, I need to learn how to cook to survive in the real world.
          I'm still perfecting my potato peeling techniques. But one of these days, I'll cook a feast of Chilean food. Maybe even a Thanksgiving dinner for my host family? Hopefully it will contain all the love and energy I've gained and have yet to gain from my tasty adventures in Chile.
      
Until later, blog readers! Thank whoever cooks for you today. :)
Ciao!