Day 6

Yay! I'm finally all caught up on my posting. Sorry it has taken me so long to update. We are just so tired by the end of the day that I can't seem get it together. Also, we only have one internet cord so the three of us have to take turns using the computer.

Today we were able to sleep in until 8:30, woot woot! It was very nice to be able to sleep in. At breakfast we were waiting for every one to come out but for some reason less than half of the group came to breakfast. After getting on the bus we found out it was because they had all gone to Starbucks. Juan drove us to the Salud Publica where we found Solana waiting for us and had our first presentation on Maternal and Chile Health Issues in Chile by Dr. Francisco Mardones. The talk was full of statistics but it was still very interesting. After that we had a short coffee break and then it was time for the first round of student presentations. I was lucky enough to present today and was the fourth person. It was interesting to hear a bit about the topic that my group members wrote their papers on.

Alex M and Sarah- HIV/AIDS
Taylor- Drug Courts
Allison- Sex education
Alex J- Obesity
Kelly- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

After the student presentations we had lunch. Emily, Kelly, Brandon, Cameron and I found a little cafe called Cafe Utopia and we all had the salmon. It was the best salmon we had ever had! With my salmon I had salad and yellow rice. It was really delicious and nice to have some fish. Juan picked us up when we had finished eating to take us to his shop where we could pick out our equipment for the snow. Tomorrow we're going up into the Andes Mountains and while some people are snow boarding and skiing Kelly, Emily, Brandon and I are going to make snow men and have snow ball fights. While we were waiting to get out gloves (we thought it necessary to purchase some gloves so our hands don't freeze off) I got pooped on by a pigeon. It was really disgusting but luckily Irena had some baby wipes so I was able to clean off my arms where the poop landed. From Juan's shop he took us back to the market so that we could shop around. There were so many things to look at! Kelly, Emily and I got these really awesome leather bracelets, and we're calling them friendship bracelets. Two hours later Juan picked us back up to take us to the hotel. Brandon and I went inside to start making dinner while Kelly, Emily and Cameron went to the store, once again. Brandon did a fabulous job making pasta with pesto and chicken, and Emily made cheesey bread. Yay cheesey bread! Again, we watched The Office. We are thinking about going out for some drinks in a little bit. It should be good times!

Day 5

We didn't have to get up as early in the morning, which was nice. Again, breakfast was the same, but I opted out on the coffee this time. It was warmer than the day before and I was grateful because I felt cold all day We spent all of today in Puente Alto, starting at the family health center and then meeting up with some community health care workers who took us around on a tour through the area. We were able to see two "primary care" facilities that help people get jobs, housing, etc. These facilities are geared for lower class people, and also have doctors who provide medical services. All day I felt like we kept getting on and off the bus! We also took a tour through the "ghettos" of Puente Alto. It was really interesting to see how the lower class people live. All the houses are small and placed really closely together. Some are nicer than others but most of them look really grundgey and there was graffiti all over every thing. There were dogs all over the streets, which was sad because a lot of them were very cute and we wanted to take them home. After all the touring the group was starved so we found a restaurant near some winery areas. it was a very long lunch and we had all the guests speakers we had picked up along the way in Puente Alto, Solana who had come with us for the trip and even Juan ate with us! It was a fun lunch, though. Emily and I got some empanadas and fruit because we had sandwiches on the bus so we weren't super hungry. After lunch we had the long drive back to Santiago where we met up with Jaime at the Salud Publica. Jaime and Solana took us a few blocks from the center to a local market where there are lots of stands that had good little gift ideas. We did not take the time to buy anything because the plan was to go back tomorrow to shop. From the market we went to a local art museum and they were nice enough to let us in for free because it was late and they were about to close up. Even though I wanted to, I didn't walk through the museum because I was really tired and starting to not feel very well. Back at the hotel we had left overs from the previous night and, of course, watched more of The Office. Emily and I went to bed early, but Kelly and Cameron went out with Jaime. They had a ton of funny stories for us in the morning.

Best quote of the day:
"Jaime, I thought you were only having one drink."
-Me
"No, no, one per minute."
-Jaime, at lunch

Day 4

Man oh man! We had to get up at 6 this morning! It was pretty rough... but not so bad. Breakfast was the same as it was the previous day and I tried to make some coffee again. To be honest, the coffee is just really really bad. I even put milk and hot chocolate mix in for the faux mocha action, but it just does not work for me; I'll probably pass tomorrow. This morning was a lot busier in the breakfast nook, probably because it was earlier than the day before and so people were up and eating before they headed to work. Juan took us to the University of Chile today instead of the Catholic University which was definitely a huge contrast. The University of Chile is a public university and so there is not as much funding. As we were walking through the halls today we could feel the chill of the cool and cloudy day and the facilities of the hospital were in kind of poor condition. It looked a bit like a rural hospital or something you would see in a movie with a hospital from a developing nation. The hall ways were a bit run down with tile floors that were chipped and paint was peeling from the ceiling. As we walked through the hospital every one was looking at us, probably wondering what we were doing there. We were told, however, that a new hospital was being built and should be done by year 2009 or 2010, and every one was very excited about it. We met for our first presentation in one of the classrooms that was in the hospital. Today was focused on mental health and the first presentation was given by a college of Jaime's, Dr. Toro. Dr. Toro's presentation talked about psychiatric reform, the levels of establishment and general psychiatric care. Next we went to a different wing of the hospital to a small women's day to day treatment center for patients recovering from substance abuse and have minor mental disorders; Olga Devia gave us a tour around the facility. During the tour we also went to the wing of the hospital where people are admitted for treatment and we even got to see some patients. After the tour we went back to the classroom we had been in before for a second presentation by Caroline Leighton who talked about depression. Solana met up with us at the end of the presentation and took us to a strip of restaurants so that we could have lunch. Emily, Kelly and I had brought PB&Js again so we ate those while Cameron and Brandon ordered food at a restaurant we chose at random. The restaurant was awesome because they were playing this one television channel that played random 30 second blurps of some really great American pop songs that are great to dance to. We were suppose to meet up with the group on the corner of a street after we ate at 2:15, but when we got there no one was there and so we had thought that everyone had left us. Fortunately, they hadn't and Jaime, Solana and Carrie showed up a few minutes after 2:15. Juan picked us up on the corner and drove us about an hour outside of Santiago to Puente Alto where we visited a Family Health Center. Thomas Leisewitz met up with us there and gave a presentation on family health centers, but we couldn't see the power point because the projector wasn't working for some reason. After the presentation we split in to two groups for a tour of the center; Thomas was my group leader. He showed us the different wings of the facility and we even got to see in side the minor operating room, and we were let into the room when a dentist was cleaning the teeth of a patient. I think she was a bit embarrassed but it was kind of cool to see what the room look like; it was very similar to a dentist office that you would see in the states. After the tour we headed back on the bus to go back to Santiago. When we got off the bus Kelly, Emily, Brandon, Cameron and I went to the store again in the "Paris" mall to pick up some more food. For dinner us girls made burritos. We had some rice, black refried beans, cheese, tortillas, chips and salsa. It was all very delicious, and we also made some drinks. The boys (Brandon and Cameron) came over and we watched more of The Office, and that was about all for the night.

We did have some excellent quotes today :)

"I definitely want to get some chicks."
-Emily... she meant chips. She wanted to buy some at the store.
"Those are cheap here too."
-Brandon's response to Emily

During Caroline's presentation Jaime asks if electric shock therapy works and when she said yes Jaime's response was "Oh, I'll have to try that."

When walking throug the Family Center, Thomas showed us the minor surgery room and Kelly asks "What qualifies as a minor surgery?"
Jaime says "It's like cutting off one finger instead of five... it's like taking the pinky instead of the thumb."

Good day.

Day 3

This morning we had to be in class a bit earlier than the day before. Getting up at 7 was not too bad since I have been getting up for work all summer, but we were still a bit exhausted from all of the traveling. Breakfast was the same buffet as before and I had a open faced egg, ham and cheese sandwich, an assortment (oranges, kiwi and apples) of fruit, cereal with strawberry yogurt, and a faux mocha. Emily, Kelly and I were excited to see Juan and when we were walking to get on the bus Kelly tripped. She was afraid that Juan had seen her, but she's so graceful it was really no big deal. Juan drove us to the Catholic University of Santiago where we met up with Dr. Jorge Jimenez, Jaime and Solana. Dr. Jimenez gave us a presentation on "Talking Politics and Health Reform- Reflections from Chile," which gave us some background information about the health reform in Chile and how the health policies of Chile have changed over the years. Afterwards Jaime took us over to the other part of the campus where we were to meet in a seminary room in the medical school part of the campus. This building was surrounded by the hospital, the law school and the school of biological sciences. We did not go into the other buildings but Jaime took us on a small tour of the area and it was very interesting to see all the religious statues and different courtyards with trees and other plants spread throughout the campus. After the mini-tour we waited in the seminar room for Dr. Jorge Jimenez to meet with us and answer some questions about his previous presentations. I really wanted to ask a question about Chile's involvement in public and global health programs especially in regards to the HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB epidemics, but Jaime kept asking questions for himself and so I was the last of the questions. By that time every one was hungry so we took a break for lunch. From the medical school we walked to a near by cafe where Jaime used to eat when he went to school in the area. When we arrived they took us down stairs to sit in a room with no windows and mirrors on the wall. It was a bit odd since there was no one else down there but we think it was because our group is so large. Jaime did not want to sit with us because he felt claustrophobic and wanted to sit by a window to watch the people walking by. Also, Emily, Kelly and I were the only ones of the girls who stayed. So it was us and the boys for lunch, though we had brought PB&J sandwiches to eat; we ordered some papas fritas (french fries) so not to be too awkward. Most of the boys got sandwiches as well. Cameron got a steak sandwich and it came with a ton of guacamole, which was interesting to see but looked quite tasty. After we ate we headed to the Salud Publica building where had our next set of presentations. One was by Paola Bedregal and the second was Paola Metilena. Both of them had similar presentations about Burden of Disease in Chile, so by the time the second Paola went we were all tired and ready to head back. Juan picked us up where he had dropped us off that morning and took us back to the hotel. That night Emily, Kelly and I made dinner for ourselves and Brandon and Cameron. With our limited utensils we were able to make farfelle pasta with tomato sauce and cheesy bread. We also had some wine with dinner (2 bottles of white, 1 red), and while we ate we watched The Office. The plan is to catch me and Emily up through Season 3 so that we can watch season 4 and then watch season 5 when it starts back up this fall. Jaideep and Alex also came to watch a few episodes with us, but they did not stay for too long. After watching quite a few episodes we decided to head to bed because we knew that the next morning we had to get up quite early.

Day 1 and 2

Dinner last night was a blast! We went to a little place just down the street from our building. It was like a Chilean Red Robin, so we did not actually get any authentic Chilean food. I was super hungry but could not decide what I wanted, so I ended up getting a pasta dish. It actually wasn’t that great. It was spaghetti-like pasta with chicken and a cream sauce; it also came with a piece of garlic bread that WAS good. While we were there is was happy hour so almost every one at the table got margaritas at the price of 2 for 1. It was really fun to be with the whole group, getting to know each other. The only problem is that it is pretty hard to talk with every one when we are all sitting at a huge table. After dinner a cake was brought out for Taylor because it was his 20^th birthday. We all sang happy birthday in Spanish and then the waitress shoved the cake (lightly) into Taylor’s face. It was awesome! From there we all went back to our building and most of us got together in one of the boys’ apartments and drank some wine and chatted. Emily and I were pretty tired though, so we didn’t stay too long. It was nice to climb in to bed and get a good night’s sleep.

This morning Kelly came in and woke Emily and me up so that we could all get ready for the day. We headed over to the lobby where breakfast was being served and found a buffet of food. On my plate I put some scrambled eggs, a slice of havarti cheese, a slice of ham, a mandarin orange, apple slices, a piece of toast and then I also had a bowl of cereal with yogurt. It was quite the display. After breakfast we got on the bus to head to our first day of class. The bus dropped us off and we made our way to a building that was a part of the University of Santiago’s Public Health department. There we met up with Dr. Gonzalo Vallvida who took us to the main building of the public health department which is attached to the hospital, and he took us to a classroom where we would be having our classes for the next couple of days. Our first presentation was made by Dr. Jorge Jimenez on “Health Policy and Health System in Chile.” It was very interesting and a great introduction in to the Chilean health system. Following the first presentation we were pointed in the direction of a close by cafeteria that is associated with the University. When we first arrived the place was practically empty, but it quickly filled up. There were a few choices, and I chose the ravioli with tomato sauce, a salad and roll. For drinks there were only soft drinks and an orange drink that looks like TANG, so I was unable to have anything to drink because all I really wanted was some water. After eating we took a walk to a local park that was absolutely huge. It looked like a large ruin because there were several layers of the park that you reached by stone staircases. The group climbed all the way to the top, which was a round tower-like platform and we could see the whole city and the Andes Mountains. There were two very nice security guys who agreed to take a photo of the group, which we were all grateful for. From there we headed back to the hospital to attend our second presentation of the day. Dr. Maria Romero gave us a presentation on “The Health Situation in Chile,” which was just as interesting as the previous presentation. After we had finished class Juan (the bus driver) picked us up where he dropped us off and drove us back to the hotel. Cameron, Brandon, Kelly, Emily and I went straight to the grocery store from there to pick up some necessities. The grocery store was located on the bottom of a near by mall. Emily and I were extremely excited to get some big jugs of water so that we could re-hydrate ourselves. As we were heading back to our apartments we ran in to the rest of the group who were heading out to dinner. They waited for us and we adventured to a restaurant a few blocks away that reminded me of a little cabana restaurant. Emily and I were so hungry we were getting cranky so it was nice to know that we were going to get some food. The restaurant was apparently known to have authentic Chilean food, but I ended up getting a pizza that was quite delicious. It was served on a large cutting board and has a bit of a flat bread crust. No one else seemed to find anything authentically Chilean either, except we did get a round of pisco sours. I do have to say that the waitress was great; she definitely got all in to our group and was excited about helping us, which was really nice. The most exciting part of the evening was how the power went out in the restaurant, twice. Luckily it was not for too long and we had candles lit at our table so we weren’t in complete darkness. After dinner we went back to the hotel and since then Kelly, Emily and I have just been hanging out in our apartment, catching up on emails and watching The Office.

Great quotes of the day (hopefully the short context blurb will suffice):

“Know what, I think we’re kind of lost.”

-Jaime during our first outing in the city, trying to find the University. Jaime leaves us standing in the shade to go figure out where we are… good work Jaime.

“Act like air in space; find all the crevices.”

-Jaime trying to get us to spread out in a tiny room that we had just entered.

“In Spanish you get last names all the way to Adam and Eve.”

-Jaime telling us his full last name

“The morning after pill… or evening after.”

-Jaime during discussion about contraception for women.

“Good, cuz I need to soak my white self.”

-Brandon in regards to Jaime reserving hot tub time at the hotel.

Traveling and Day 1

We have finally arrived at our destination after a very long journey. Emily and I stayed at her grandma’s house on Friday night so that we could get to the airport easily in the morning. We were at the airport by 8:20 Saturday morning, and were able to get our bags checked and through security in no time. Then, we waited. The first leg of our trip was from Seattle to LA which went by quickly enough. At the LA airport we were transported by bus to the correct terminal. By that time we were starving so we scoped out some food in the form of a pre-made deli sandwich (a baguette with turkey, brie and granny apple slices) and we also could not resist going to Burger King to fulfill our French fry craving. The next leg of the trip was from LA to Dallas, where we started to get exhausted. There was a movie on this flight, but Emily and I opted out on watching it and read magazines and did sudoku instead. Unfortunately, once we got to Dallas, there was some slight delay with our plane not getting catered so there was a 15 minute delay to our boarding. On the flip side, we did run in to one of our group members Jeanna. Emily and I had thought that everyone else was on the same flights to Santiago, so it was quite the surprise to see her. So far on our flights we had only been serviced with beverages and tiny packages of nuts and fearing that we would not be able to eat for the next 9 hours and 30 minutes (our estimated flight time to Santiago) Emily and I ran into a little airport store to get some snacks. Emily and I were seated together, and Jeanna was closer to the front of the plane so that was the last time we saw her before we arrived in Chile. Once we were on the plane we found out that we would be served dinner and then later on breakfast as well. We were quite excited by that, and hoping to get some good sleep we popped some Tylenol PM. Let me tell you, those things can instantly knock you out! Emily and I could barely get through our dinner of pasta with chicken, a roll, and salad because we were so groggy. And poor Emily’s seat would not recline so it took forever to get comfortable. My seat did recline but my knee was starting to swell up from all the altitude and I just could not figure out what to do with my head so that my neck didn’t hurt. I woke up off and on, each time feeling about as equally exhausted as the last, until finally the sun started to rise (on the left side of the plane, and we were seated on the right). For breakfast we were served a croissant with jam, raspberry yogurt and orange juice and it was actually quite tasty. As our flight was approaching Santiago we were not able to land because of some rising and falling fog. Instead we were circling around the area for about another 40 minutes before we were actually able to descend to the airport. Finally, we had made it. We made our way to pay the $131 fee for entering the country (yup, that’s how I spent the first of my money in Chile) and found Jeanna again. The three of us were very happy to find that our bags had made it safely and proceeded to easily make it through immigration and customs. As we were exiting the customs area we were bombarded with Chilean men asking us if we needed a bus or a taxi. I was so confused looking around at everything and then Jaime (our instructor) came out of no where and grabbed my arm saying “Hola senorita!” We were so relieved to know that the group was still there waiting for us. Emily and I were especially glad to be reunited with Kelly (our accomplice). After making sure that every one was there and had their luggage we waited for Jaime to get our bus and then we all piled on. It’s definitely going to be a party bus with its rainbow flag on the side and people ready to get their fun on. J The bus driver, Juan, drove us through the city to our hotel. It was really exciting for me to see soccer fields every where and almost every single one occupied too. I’m bummed that I will not be able to play with the locals, though. Emily, Kelly and I are sharing a room, and it is a lot different than what we expected but quaint nonetheless. The “apartment” has a tiny kitchen with barstools, a living area, two bedrooms (one double, one single) and two bathrooms. The area of the apartment isn’t very big, but it will be perfect for our two week adventure in Santiago. We even have a balcony, though it doesn’t look out onto anything other than some graveled roof area. After dragging our luggage into the room we quickly discovered the TV and the channels that it had to offer in English. We then proceeded to watch Jurassic Park, well, at least I attempted to. Apparently I slept for a really long time, but I was exhausted so it was really nice. When I woke up Emily was watching John Tucker Must Die, so I finished that with her and Kelly joined when she woke up from her nap. We then decided to go explore a bit, trying to find out where we can get some internet. Luckily I did bring an internet cord so we now can connect to the internet in our apartment. There is also a little internet room in the lobby building, which is actually disconnected from the actually apartment and rooms building. The internet is ridiculously slow, however. The lobby building is also where we will be having breakfast each morning. After getting a quick email in to the parents, Emily, Kelly, and I decided to take a walk around the block to get our bearings. We found a couple of bars and restaurants and will hopefully be able to venture out a little more with Jaime by our side. When we got back we stopped by one of the boys’ rooms and Cameron told us they had found a Subway and a little market. There will definitely be some grocery shopping going on later. The group is meeting up later for dinner, and until then us girlies plan on freshening up and relaxing after our long journey.

Until next time!

~A

Sorry for the delay!

We have had some rough times with internet and I have not been able to get my blog up and running. I have, however, been writing every day and will now post the past two days so that you can all see what I have been up to.

Pre-depature

Hello, hello!

I am taking off tomorrow morning and could not be more excited. Please feel free to email me to keep me updated on your lives!

lishagurl3@yahoo.com

More to come...