3-Day Village Study in Nueva Imperial

       I just got back to Temuco from the village study and had an really awesome time! I finally decided where I'm doing my ISP -- Nueva Imperial for sure. So it was really good to have a chance to get to know the town with friends before sending myself off there by myself. The town was even cuter and sweeter than I thought before, and this trip made me even more excited to do my ISP there--I learned so many things and met so many people, so now I literally can't wait to start my ISP and live there for a month!
       I feel like we were in a reality tv show because they dropped us off in a random town, gave us money to pay for food and a palce to stay, and we had a project to do by the time we got back today. There were 4 of us; Marlee, Machi, Katie, and Me. The first thing we had to do was find the police station and let the police know that there are gringas in town (so we know where they are and so they know that there are gringas in town and not to worry) Then we found a hostal to stay in--for 13USD we stayed in this tiny little hostel that you get into from a skinny blue door you wouldn't even notice on the street if you didn't know about it. It's run by a sweet old lady and her family and was like a really really simple bead-and-breakfast. We stayed there for 2 nights, and during the day we had to go into the town center and get information about the town's education, health care, transportation, religion, arts, culture etc.

My group the first day in Nueva Imperial!

A few highlights from our adventures....
     -There were 2 other guys staying there at the same time as us, so we got to know them a bit. They're on the Chilean canoe racing team and they're training on the river in town for the 2012 Olympics...So cool! They're living in the hostel in Imperial while they train for a year, so we can be friends when I go back for my ISP!  :-)
         - The people in Nueva Imperial are unbelievably friendly..like I can't even try to explain how every person is nicer than the next! We went to a bar for a beer and to watch the soccer game, and there was this sweet lady working there who was doing Easter arts & crafts the whole time we were there. She was cutting out eggs and flowers to hang on the walls of the bar. Then she brought us over some chocolate Easter eggs with a big smile...She's a little late for Easter, but I guess it's the thought that counts.
       -We also went to the forestry and agriculture office in town to get info on natural resources and ecology (part of the project we had to do) And they told us they have a Jeep that goes into el campo, the countryside, and they said if I go back on a day they're going into el campo they will take me with them to show me!

This is the hospital I'll be doing my ISP at!
You can see the occidental part (white) and the Mapuche part (the wood hut)

       -We went to the hospital to find out some information about public health care in Nueva Imperial. We were blown away by how easy it was to find someone to talk to--the janitor brought us to the secretary, who brought us to the assistant director of the hospital! We explained they we're study abroad students learning about communities and health care, and he spent a good 45 minutes talking to us about the hospital and how it's set up (It's essentially two hospitals--one for occidental medicine and one for traditional Mapuche medicine) At the end, I asked if there was a chance I could observe some of the therapists for my ISP, and he said absolutely! So now I know that My ISP can actually happen!
       -Yesterday we went to the school in town to find about their education system. The secretary dropped whatever she was doing to talk to us for half an hour and then take us on a tour of the entire school, where she introduced us to all the teachers and faculty. We met the English Teacher,  who said she would let me come back to teach a lesson or two and work with her classes! She also said I could join her to the English classes she teaches at the local jail--that could be quite an experience. I've kind of always wanted to teach English to little Latino kids and now I'm going to be able to! I have to work out some details with her, but I'll probably try to volunteer in the school in the mornings and work on my ISP in the hospital in the afternoons.
     -We also went to a few art shops and talked to some street artists to learn a little bit about the culture and they were all super nice. This one lady making baskets in the plaza says we should be friends when I go back and would wave at me every time I walked by her booth.  :-)
     So basically, the people in Nueva Imperial are awesome, the town is precious, the food is ridiculously cheap, and I already have a few familiar faces and contacts!

Tired, cold, and wet, but happy to be exploring the town

I still have a lot to do to get ready for my ISP--I have to figure out my host family situation, how I'm going to schedule my time, and I have to tweak my proposal because I'm slightly changing my topic. But it's all starting to come together, and I know it will eventually.

Tomorrow we're going to Bariloche, Argentina, to learn about their health system..I'm guessing it's very different from Chile's. And Bariloche is known for its delicious chocolate... It should be a good time!

Excursion in Temuco

We're in the South finally--por fin! 

On Thursday we flew from Arico to Santiago and then got on our plane to take us from Santiago to Temuco. We were on the runway and ready to go when they told us that the weather in Temuco was bad and the flight would be delayed until the next day. So we went back to the airport and they set all 30 of us up to stay at a 5-star Sheraton in Santiago. This is kind of like what happened when I first got to chile and missed my connection in Santiago and got to see the city for the day--but this time, we got to spend the night. I went out to a discotec with a couple friends in the night, and then we got to tour around the center friday morning. It was cold and rainy, but we were lucky we had the chance to see Santiago again, even if it was just for a little bit.

In front of the president's building in santiago!

Now we're in Temuco and learning about the indigenous Mapuche people. For the last few days we've been having classes in Rukas, (the Mapuche word for house which is a house made of wood and straw.) The whole class sits in a cirlce, because it's a mapuche tradition that everyone can see each other, and there's usually a fire in the middle because it's kind of cold sometimes. It's been pretty lecture-intense, but it's really cool to be learning from the actual Mapuche people.

We had two classes taught by machis, the Mapuche's spiritual doctors. We were really lucky that they were willing to talk to us about their practice, because they're usually private and don't even talk to foreigners. There were definitely some questions they couldn't or wouldn't answer, and they didn't give any details about their treatments, but they told us all about how people become machis and how they function in the greater health system. We also had a class with an intercultural facilitator, who is someone who accompanies a patient to their appointments. This person interprets for the patient or doctor and offers the patient advice on whether their illness would best be treated using occidental medicine or Mapuche medicine. We also had a class to learn a little bit of Mapudungun, the Mapuche language. And we learned a bit about the Mapuche cosmovision, their world view. So much to learn..ahhhh!!

Having classes in a ruka

Tomorrow we're doing village studies! This means that we're going in smaller groups to different villages near temuco to learn about their culture and medicine practices. I'm going with 3 other girls to Nueva Imperial, a cute little town half an hour from Temuco. It should be a really cool experience--they're basically sending us on a bus with some money, notebooks, and our backpacks to our different villages. Once we get there, we have to find the police to 'let them know that there are gringas in the town' so nobody freaks out. Then we have to find a hostel or some place to live for a few days, find some food, and then go out into the community to talk to Chileans and get info about their village! After 2 days and 3 nights, we'll all met back at the hotel in Temuco and present on what we learned...I'm super excitedddd!  =)

Hasta Luego, Arica!

Its crazy that I'm leaving Arica tomorrow! The classes are basically over, and I'm getting ready to leave my host family for the south! I still don't know exactly where I will be doing my project/internship-- either at the Teleton (pediatric rehab center) or in Makewe Hospital, a hospital that is divided into 2 departments, one where they treat patients using modern medicine and another where they treat using traditional Mapuche medicine. And I don't even know where I'll be living yet--My friend Machi and I are trying to decide between renting an apartment or living in a pension, a family's house where you just rent a room and have access to their kitchen. I feel like this should all be set in stone because I'm leaving tomorrow for the trip for 10 days and then immediately starting my ISP period. But the staff don't seem to be too concerned--they say it's easy to set stuff up once we get down there and get our bearings. So it will be an adventure!

Last night we had a goodbye dinner with all of the host families at a hotel in Arica.  Everyone got all dressed up and there were speeches, songs, a slideshow, and even a little skit to teach everyone about Passover. =) It made me think a lot about the experience living with my family and lookng back on it, it was really something special. I'm probably going to miss then after a week or two of being in Temuco and want to live with them some more! The picture below is us at the dinner...Our first formal family portrait! It was such a special night and the picture reminds me of so many good memories...I think looking at it might make me cry someday.

Tonight my relatives are coming over for a big dinner! I can't eat the lasagna, but I'm making an apple/sweet potato dish with new England maple syrup that we're all going to eat.

Also, saturday night was the last weekend night that we had together in the house. I didn't think much of it, so I was getting ready to go out at 11:30. When I walked out of my room, I saw my dad setting up a projector in the living room with karaoke! Then he started cooking french fries and bringing us soda and we just ended up sitting on the couch singing karaoke all night. So much for wanting to go out. But I guess the point is that my parents have been super sweet and have made the end of my stay really special.

I walked around el centro today one last time and realized how much I love Arica and really just don't want to leave. I love buying ice cream at DiMango,  I love shopping around for things I really don't need but buy anyway because they're dirt cheap, I love when Chilens ask me where I'm from and then we get into a nice conversation, I love buying fruit from the market, I love surfing and the beach, I love people-watching, I love riding my bike around like a native, and I love hearing Spanish songs everywhere I go and being able to sing along. I've really grown to love Arica and feel at home here. So I can't wait for then end of the ISP period when we get to come back for one more week. =)

Whenever I tell a Chilean that I'm going to Temuco they look at me like I'm crazy and ask me if I like cold weather and rain. I had to go out and buy all these warm clothes because it's wayyy farther south than Arica so it's colder and it rains. I know it's just a month, but I haven't seen real clouds in a couple months, and I'm gonna go crazy if I go down there and it just rains every day! Obviously there's no place on earth with better weather than Arica, which is 75 and sunny all year, but hopefully it won't be too bad and I'll survive! And if I do hate it,I'll just go back to Arica at the end of the month and be in heaven.

Passover!

The seder turned out really really REALLY nicely! I was on the haggadah committee (haha, I know it's funny), so we were responsible for making the hagaddah. We used different readings and songs that people usually use at their own seders, and wrote in English, Hebrew, and mainly Spanish. It was a lot of work to completely make a hagaddah from scratch, but we did it! They're going to be nice little souvenirs for us to remember the night. =)

Dahlia, Lauren and I with our finished product  <3

Cooking was also a daunting task in Chile. Thank goodness that 2 girls' moms sent them passover packages with horseradish, matzah, etc. But the rest of the stuff we made. We kashered the kitchen in casa SIT (the program headquarters) and did all the cooking there with just a few pyrex, bowls, spoons, etc. The kitchen is SO TINY, it's amazing that we were able to make everything, store it until the night, and heat it all up at the same time. This is a picture of us all crammed in the tiny kitchen--it was like out of a movie with all these Jewish girls crammed into a kitchen fussing and squeezing by each other and trying to cook.

We were all super busy cooking, moving tables and chairs, and making the hagaddah for a few days before, but it was all worth it. All 27 students came, and all but one of our Chilean staff too! Only 8 kids in the group are Jewish, so everyone was interested and wanted to learn more about the holiday, the food, etc. It definitely wasn't the same as being home for Passover, but it was really special to share the holiday with other people who had never experienced a Seder before.

Cameron, Machi, Julie, and me

Musica Bacan!

How could I forget to mention all the incredible music I've been listening to here?!! By now I've learned most of the popular songs and get super excited when I hear one that I know in the of someone driving by or on the radio. These are a few of my faves that you should totally listen to  :-)   Click on the titles to see the YouTube video.


Colgando en tus Manos

Danza Kuduro









Mi Nina Bonita

A Day in the Life of Me in Arica

I realized that I've only been taking pictures of sightseeing and special trips, and I've only been writing about the excursions and crazy stuff. I want to remember my actual life in Arica, so I decided to do a day in the life. I don't remember which day this was, but it was sometime this past week. I took lots of fun pictures of a typical day, and I'll try to kind of explain it too...  :-)

Our living room!

I woke up and had breakfast with dad and Irma, my nana. Breakfast is pancito, basically a roll with butter or jam or cheese, and tea. After breakfast, I get on my bike to ride to class! it's quite the ordeal to get out of the little patio/garden area because the biggest of the 3 dogs, Jimmy, always tries to run away when I open the door. So I have to let him out of the yard onto the porch, then lock the door from the porch to the yard, so I can open the gate from the yard to the outside, walk out with my bike, and then tell Irma she can let him back into the yard. It is crazy, but we've gotten it down to a science.

The dogs trying to get in the porch gate
Tachito, Jimmy, and Rex

So then I ride my bike to school...it's a nice ride because it's on a big street that isn't too busy. I pass by a bunch of Almacenes, which are little stores that sell bread and usually sodas, yogurt, chips, cookies, and sometimes random cosmetic supplies. I go by lots of random people hanging in the streets and usually get a few piropos (cat calls) but they're usually sweet on this back road...something along the lines of a smoochy sound or a quiet "ayy que linda" (oh how pretty). I think at this point I've just gotten used to the way the men are here and just laugh when a little 15-year-old boy tries to do the same.

on my way to school

on my way to school

on my way to school

 Then I get to the university and the doormen say Hola Hannah, and they're super excited that they always remember my name but nobody here can say it right so I just laugh and they let me into this gated area where they watch my bike for me.  :-)

My bike buddies at the university!

Hanging out on campus-we are very brave for sitting on these benches because they're super covered with birdpoop!

      I got to my Spanish class literally right as the teacher Karin was about to start talking. As always, just in the knick of time. I'm in the middle level of Spanish, and there are 8 other kids in my class.

My Spanish class

     Once a week go on an exursion, basically a field trip for big kids. This time we went to A Teleton, which is a child rehabilitation center. There was a presentation on how the center was formed and how the center works, and then we got to walk through the center to see the pool, arts & crafts room, PT room, and basketball court. It was really amazing and just the kind of place I've always pictured myself working someday. It turns out there is a Teleton in Temuco, where I want to go to do my ISP. So now I'm actually thinking of changing my entire ISP to work in the Teleton. I already turned in a proposal for my ISP, but I could probably change it if I had to, and the Director said it's not too late to change topics. (We're leaving for the south in 5 days, but it is possible!)
     After class, I rode my bike back home for almuerzo, lunch. In latin America, lunch is the big mean of the day. It's like dinner is in the US. We had some kind of beef..I never know exactly what I'm eating here.. with rice and salad. And my mom makes this really good juice out of honeydew melon. After lunch, I did a little bit of work on my computer and went to FSS (Field studies seminar class). After class, I went to Casa SIT. Casa SIT is the office building for my program. We worked on things for the seder we're planning..lots of cooking and putting together a Spanish/Hebrew/English hagaddah...it has been quite a process but it's coming out so well!
  I have a nice little routine of making my way home right around sunset when it starts to get dark..just in time to tomar te! (have tea/dinner) Dinner isn't a big meal, but we have more pancito bread and tea! And sometimes I put Manjar spread on it...it is so amazing! There will be a separate blog in the near future about manjar...no worries. But it is really good and I eat a lot of it! The picture is of my dad showing the lovely pancito bread that I eat twice a day, every single day. I'm surprised I'm not dreaming of pancito at this point, and it's pretty amazing that I haven't gotten sick of it yet. He saw this picture and decided he needed to look more macho, so the second picture is him stabbing the pancito with a knife. :-)  And the other picture is our cute little table where we have our means and tea!

Shout out to You!

I wanted to be sure to mention how excited I am about how the blog is going! I've been getting so many messages from friends and family telling me how the love the blog...it's funny because I didn't even want to keep a blog at first. Now I'm writing in it all the time and people are actually reading it!  It's so funny when I'm talking to someone from home and they cite my blog and say something like, "hey, how about that boulder in Iquique?!" and it takes me a second to figure out how they knew about that. It's really exciting to know that people are reading and enjoying it...I'm always following the stats and can see how many views it's getting. I'm up to 468 page views already...crazy! And shout outs to you who are reading from Israel, United Kingdom, and Ireland! I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone in India, but it looks like someone there stumbled across my blog.  I guess that's all for now...keep reading, because it motivates me to keep writing!  :-)

Miss you all and you should comment or email to let me know how you're doing! 
xoxo
-Hannah   

Tacna, Peru

This week we went to Tacna, Peru to learn about their health care system and gave some fun!

Machi and I in the city!

Arica is so close to the border that it was only an hour of driving to get there. We stayed in a hotel right in the center of the city, so we got to walk around, shop, and check out some restaurants and bars. The exchange rate is really good for travelers in Peru, so things were ridiculously cheap. I got a pair of sunglasses for $2.50, mixed drinks and glasses of wine for $2 each, and these really cool maracas carved out of gourds for $3 after some good bargaining. On the last day there, we found this little booth that sells pirated DVDs and CDs for super cheap.  I guess the Peruvian government has more important things to deal with than shutting down little shops where their citizens can make a living. We stocked up and bought so many! My friend Machi bought 30 DVDs! I was convinced they weren’t going to work, so I just bought a few DVDs and a couple CDs. Turns out they all work perfectly, and there are tons of little shops like this one all over Tacna. My host family was so excited about the Juanes Karaoke DVD I bought them that they bought 15 more the next day when they were in Tacna! Right now they’re actually home watching my Eat Pray Love DVD in Spanish! (I’m sitting in McDonalds right now because they have wifi and needed a change of scenery after working on my ISP proposal all day!)They are so obsessed with Karaoke and will literally just sit there on the couch and sing Spanish love songs all night long. My host dad is teaching me some of his favorite songs and I’m learning,..it’s awesome because I can actually understand songs in Spanish when I see the lyrics!

We got to do some cool things with the health care system in Tacna. We visited a community on the outskirts of the city with the most sever poverty I had ever seen or imagined. We did a workshop with some mothers in the community to teach them about proper nutrition and portions for children and pregnant women. It was informative but seemed a little silly because I’m pretty sure they couldn’t afford to buy fresh fruits and vegetables if they wanted to. But at the end they got to eat the food, which was nice.

The poor neighborhood we visited for the nutrition workshop

We also got to shadow a doctor on a home visit. Patients over 60 years of age have to go for monthly check-ups, and this man was 72 years old and hadn’t been to a check-up in ten years. So we walked to his house to see what was up, and he told us that he has private health care so he doesn’t need checkups at the public clinic. Then we did a little health education for him and left. We all thought it was kind of crazy that the doctors would waste their time going to their patients’ homes to just find out that their patient has been getting medical attention every month for the last ten years. Just another thing that I can’t figure out…

Cameron and I wondering why there are bottles of used syringes outside the health center.

On the last day we went to a vineyard and winery where they make pisco. Pisco is a popular alcohol in Chile and Peru. It’s made by heating up wine and condensing the vapor the rises from it. So it’s basically an expensive condensed wine. They make these amazing drinks out of it called Pisco Sours, which we learned how to make! They are a combination of fresh squeezed lime, ice, pisco, sugar, and egg whites. They are SO GOOD! We toured the vineyard and got to try all the different kinds of pisco drinks.

Pisco tasting!

The Vineyard

Iquique!

My family has been wanting to go to Iquique, the nearest Chilean city to Arica, for a while. We were going to go last weekend, but that didn't work. Then we were going to go this weekend, but then they found out that the hotel they wanted to stay at was booked. Then they told me Friday that they wanted to go anyways, and jsut not stay over. I'm not really sure if all this seems crazy becasue I'm  missing details when they explain what's going on, or maybe they really change plans every other day like this all the time. Anyway, we finally went this weekend! We left at 6am in the morning and got back at 1am the next morning...basically a full 24 hours minus the part when you're supposed to sleep. The common theme here seems to be that Chileans are just crazy!  =)

Typical crammed yet cozy family car ride: people sleeping, listening to music, and me having no clue what is going on

On the way there, I was sleeping but woke up to my mom screaming as we almost got hit by a boulder falling from the cliff next to the road. Luckily, my uncle slammed on the brakes and the boulder passed in front of us and continued down the cliff. We pulled over and realized that there was a temblor, or tremor, a mild earthquake going on. It ended pretty quickly and there wasn't any harm done,but there were little rocks in the middle of the road the whole way to Iquique because of it. That would never happen in Amercia--there would be tons of caution signs and guard rails and fences to stop the rocks from falling. But here driving is just your own risk.

Eventually we made it to Iquique! The city is really similar to Arica-- lots of houses and little buildings close together surrounded by mountains of sand on 3 sides and ocean on the other. We went to a mall--the first mall I've been in since I've been in Chile! That was pretty cool, except everything was overpriced. I saw an imported Polo Ralph Lauren button-down dress shirt for $136.00. Crazy! We walked along the boardwalk to see the beach, which was nice as well.

We stopped in Pica on the way home ("on the way" for them would be considered "one hour out of the way" by me, but everything is so spread out in Chile that it's normal) It's near a volcano so there was a natural pool supplied by warm underground water. And there were little caves we explored a bit. You can kind of see them in the pictures. That was pretty cool...

 We got home at 1am and were all super tired....that was all!



And today we went to surf! There's a little surf school on the beach and this was our second time going there. It's really fun! The waves were huge today-- Some of them were probably about 7 feet. They say that may be from the tremor yesterday. It was really hard work because the waves were so strong, but I loved it anyway. And I can stand up!! It usually takes me forever and by the time I'm practically on the beach. But we got some good surfing in for sure  =)

At the surf place, the secretary saw my name and asked if I was Jewish. It turns out that she is a member of one of the two Jewish families in all of Arica! That;s pretty cool that we met one of the few Arican Jews! We exchanged numbers and might order matzah together from Santiago or do something together on Passover. =)

Another Day in Arica

After picking up a bike from a friend's house, realizing that the tire was flat, filling it up with air, realizing it was still flat and must be punctured, getting another bike instead, realizing that its tire was punctured too, and finally fixing the tire on the first bike, ...I finally have a bike to ride! It's pretty sweet. There's this place at the university where they guard your bikes while you're in class and there's a little old guy who works there who is adorable and really sweet. I decided to be ambitious and take my bike into el centro after class, and realized pretty quick that it's not exactly like riding through the windy roads in the woods of North Andover. I forgot that the streets are one-way and sometimes you have to take an indirect route to get to where you want to go. I didn't want to ride my bike more than I had to in el centro, so stupid me, I decided to ride it on the sidewalk so I could take the most direct route....bad decision because a) it's super scary going in the direction of oncoming traffic, and b)there are tons of people walking on the sidewalks, because that's what sidewalks are for, after all. Let's just say it was an interesting ride, and I will never again complain that city driving is hard after experiencing city bike-riding.  ;-)

We went salsa dancing last night, which was so much fun. I've never felt more white in my entire life, because everyone there was super good and seemed to know what they were doing. But we had an awesome time anyways =) the instructor was really terrible because he didn't really give any good instructions, but it was funny.....Sometimes he would literally just stand at the front of the room and say "left, right, left, right" as if that would help or something. And then at one point he pointed at me and then at his hips to tell me I wans't moving my hips enough. hahaaa. But good thing I already knew a little bit of salsa  from dance classes in Amherst with Erinnn! <3

Also, I saw 2 dogs today walking on the roofs of stores....that's a new trick I didn't know they taught dogs.

Also, my dad here lovessss to sing karaoke. He's teaching me all his favorite Spanish songs....its super fun. The other night we just sang karaoke on the couch forever. The next morning we found out that my host mom was out singing karaoke at the casino at the same time. They are always singing karaoke!!1 All I know so far is Enrique Iglesias and Juanes...but I'm starting to learn the real stuff =)

Passover is coming up soon! A bunch of girls on my program are planning a seder for the first night of passover and a little skit to present at the end-of-semester banquet, which happens to fall on the second night. We're all super excited about it, and I'm on the service committee...woo! We're putting together a little hagaddah with all our favorite blessings/songs/discussions. and we're going to cook everything! It's going to be kind of hard, considering that there are basically no Jews in Arica and therefore no Kosher-for-Passover food. But we'll make it happen somehow. Also, I was trying to explain to my family that I won't be able to eat bread for a week and they can't believe it. they literally eat bread all day every day; it's their staple. It will be interesting to see how Passover goes this year. But they're really supportive of my keeping Kosher, and even bought chicken hot dogs tonight so I could eat them...too bad they still had some pork in them so I couldn't eat them, but it was the thought that counts!

Another funny thing that happened to me.... Last weekend we were dancing at Drake (the discotec) and this guy that was trying to dance with us pulled out a business card and handed it to me... I read it later and it was legit a business card for surf lessons.... it had his email, facebook, and number. This was a double-taboo-- trying to pick up girls at discotecs and soliciting business at the same time....hahaaa. We're going back to the beach for our second surf class this weekend, but definitely not with him!