Ah-Dua-Nuh

6/10/08
I had no classes scheduled this afternoon so I went with another student interested in medicine and shadowed a doctor. The doctor we went with works in a local clinic for a cerro way far outside of the city. We spent the afternoon with her making house calls to patients that couldn’t physically make it into the clinic. More than half the time was spent just walking to their houses to make the visits. The first patient we saw was an elderly man who had been hospitalized previously for about a month and a half (not sure for what cause if I have trouble with Spanish than I definitely have trouble understanding medical terms in Spanish) and had developed bed sores. He lived in a house about the size of a shed. The walls were made of wood and scrap metal and the ceiling was comprised of sheets of semi-translucent plastic. There was a closet sized kitchen attached that had one piece of fruit lying on the floor and one onion chopped up on the counter. Other than that and two burned wooden cutting boards there wasn’t much else. We showed up and he was lying in bed watching Japanese cartoons on tv. I hadn’t learned the word for bed sores in Spanish, so when we first got there I only knew that he had a problem with one of his legs. When the doctor removed the covers he was lying under and undressed the wound I was not prepared for what was coming. I won’t go into detail much here, but it is safe to say that it was not very pleasant to look at, but definitely the worst smell I have ever encountered. We stayed there for a bit, and the doctor did things that once again I won’t go into detail about. Needless to say not many people in the room were having a good time. After that lovely experience, we walked for a while longer to the next house. On the way we had to stop for the doctor to chase several snakes through a field. The first could fit in your hand, the second couldn’t fit in a poster tube. The second case was way worse than the first cause it was a kid born with cerebral palsy. After another cheery experience, we hiked the long way back to the clinic and the doctor showed us around a bit.

9/10/08
Learning Spanish for me here has been a bizarre experience. When I first stepped off the plane, my Spanish speaking skills were almost nonexistent. I hadn’t taken a Spanish class since 2007, and even that was only a semester – the last class before that was in high school. I was armed with only a rudimentary understanding of grammar rules and a spotty vocabulary. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting to happen when I came here, but it definitely wasn’t what I have experienced so far. Learning a second language is tough, each conversation that I start can quite possibly end with me not having the capacity to express a certain concept. Learning a second language is frustrating, what you can (or can’t) say in Spanish defines you as a person, even if that isn’t necessarily who you are. I feel and I hope, though, that my Spanish has improved drastically. The other thing I can attest to, is there is no Harry Potter scene. Explanation. In the book, Harry can speak to snakes in their language and oftentimes “accidentally” talks to them without realizing that he is indeed speaking in snake language and not English. Sadly, this does not happen in real life. Sure, my English is completely breaking down and the little Spanish I know is eating up the pieces, but there is no magic moment (at least for me) in which I catch myself speaking in Spanish without trying to or realizing it. There is still a split between the two languages that will never go away. The only thing I have experienced that come close to this moment happened last night at Yom Kippur services. I went once again to the synagogue and was speaking with one of the members right before the services started. One of the Rabbi’s was singing a song in Hebrew in the background, but I wasn’t listening. The song ended and he began to explain the purpose behind the prayer Kol Nidre. Without giving any thought, I half listened while still maintaining the conversation. After the conversation, I started thinking about the meaning of Kol Nidre and it hit me. I had taken in the meaning of what the Rabbi had said completely without thinking twice about it. I had to go over in my mind multiple times asking myself if he had really been speaking in Spanish because I was thoroughly convinced it had to have been in English. Sure I can understand when people speaking Spanish, but this was different. This was a seamless flow of words that entered without having to be delayed in the “Oh no, I-hope-I-understand-this-Spanish Center in my brain.” Although the meaning might be lost in this entry, it was definitely a great feeling. Not to give the wrong impression, but my Spanish isn’t awful. I feel pretty good about it right now (it’s day-to-day), and so far I would have to say that I am pleased with the progress I have made. There is a long way to go, though, before I get to that Harry Potter point. Even though it may have just been a trick in my mind that happened due to the switch from a language I didn’t know at all (Hebrew) to one that I did (Spanish), I’ll take the victory. Give me a break, they are few and far between.

11/10/08
After staying out late the night before, we decided to keep it low key tonight. I went to Viña to work on a project, and when I got back, met up with Catherine and we walked around the Plan (flat part of Valpo). We eventually meander our way up to my house so I could drop off my stuff. Since we had already made the trip all the way up, I take her over to a cool look out that has an absolutely phenomenal view. Thing is, though, that it is right in front of someone’s house (property isn’t clear because it is on a toma). We are standing there for about a minute when a dog in the house starts barking and the owner lets him outside. We turn to leave when he comes out, but he stops us and starts up a conversation. He is incredibly friendly, and it isn’t long until several other members of the family are outside smoking cigarettes and joining in on the conversation. A minute later his wife brings out a mug of rum and coca-cola for us, and Catherine and I can’t refuse so it gets passed around while we talk. Our new friend then begins to explain how his brother works at customs and that the rum we are drinking is from Cuba and is illegal. Whenever he says aduana (customs), he also adds a dramatic grabbing movement to signify that they like to take stuff while at work. After repeating the motion several times throughout the conversation, he then adds a pretty realistic cat hissing noise to it. We have to go meet people, but before we say our goodbyes, he gives us an illegal, of course, cigar to take with us as a gift. Even though neither of us is a smoker, we took it down to the port and sat there smoking it looking out at the ocean watching the boats rock up and down in the water.