As the seasons change in the southern hemisphere

Well, as all of you are currently enjoying the falling leaves, the short days and the first snows, down here in the southern hemisphere it has rapidly been getter hotter and greener.

I have to admit, my impression of Mendoza has greatly changed changed since my arrival towards the end of winter. The city was very brown, kind of dull, and, quite honestly, felt a little dead. In the past two months, the grass has gotten immensely greener in the parks, the trees have become luscious and colorful, flowers have bloomed and people are constantly out and about. I love winter and think a snow-covered town is the most beautiful sight known to man, but I guess since Mendoza does not get snow my views of it were tainted from my winter arrival.

It is also very hot now each day and doesn't get much cooler at night - almost exactly like Boise's summers. I had to ask my host-mom for a fan lastnight because my tiny room has been getting unbearably hot and I haven't been able to sleep (all the other bedrooms have a personal airconditioner except mine).

So, what have I been up to in this warm weather?

The past month I have been going mountain biking once or twice a week. It has been difficult, to say the least, but I decided to stick with it. Through a Mendocan friend, I found out about a guy who teaches mountain bike classes and had an extra bike I could use. So he helped me get in touch with him and I began going to classes. Once I realized I wanted to continue mountain biking for the remainder of my time in Mendoza, I asked mom if she could send me my shoes, pedals, and some bike clothes. Well, for some unknown reason, the box got held up in Buenos Aires customs. I only received a letter saying that I would have to come to Buenos Aires to retrieve the package and that I would most likely be charged a large sum of money. Needless to say, to our knowledge the box is still there, because I don't have the time or extra money to go all the way there and get it. That was a big bummer. So I have been mountain biking without clips - which was a big adjustment. I have one pair of mediocre bike shorts that I use as well. The bike my "coach" lent me is quite a bit heavier than Matteo's awesome hand-me-down Trek I started using this summer, but I have just adopted the mindset that it will make me a better rider, right?

Exploring Mendoza on a mountain bike has been fun. It is no Idaho single-track track, I'll admit. However, as I have learned from our previous bike trips, there is nothing like exploring a new location on a bike. We mostly go behind the big, central park where there are some trails, a little dirt park and make-shift things we use for skills like stairs, gates etc. Since I started the mountain biking well after I had arrived here, I was very out of shape. But, I must thank all those who have taught me how to ride, because my skills have been better than all of those who I've ridden with here. You guys taught me well! I can't wait to get back on MY bikes and ride when I get home.

This past weekend, our study abroad program took us on an excursion to the city of San Rafael which is about 3.5 hours away, also in the province of Mendoza. It was a blast! We took a catamaran across a lake to a beach where we hung out and swam, we went on a short but beautiful hike, and we went rafting! We stayed the night in these cute cabins right on the river with tons of roses of all colors and a pool. It was a great, relaxing weekend enjoying the beautiful scenery of Argentina!

Watching religion work in the hospital

If you've read my previous posts you know that I have been volunteering in a hospital here, mostly in the maternity wards. One day we also visited people in the "burned victims section"

As I am a religion major and am interested in the role religion plays in the lives of people around the world, I have been trying to find a way to incorporate religion into my study abroad experience. I am not taking and religion classes here, because it is not normal to study "religion" especially religion in general in Argentina. And my host-family is not religious, so I don't really get to experience and first-hand accounts of religion and culture in Argentina.

However, last thursday while I was volunteering at the hospital, and we were making our rounds offering amenities and hopeful words to patients, I realized that I am seeing religion work right in front of me.

As I explained in an earlier post, the volunteer group I am a part of is religious - evangelical I believe- and a lot of our time is spent simply talking to patients. It is difficult for me to talk for several reasons. First of all there is the language barrier; although my spanish has improved immensely, I don't know medical terms and have a hard time starting a conversation with a depressed patient. Second of all, although I was brought up Christian and study religion academically, this doesn't mean I am necessarily going to go around preaching to patients. So, most of the time when I am not offering something like shampoo, soap, or yerba mate, I am observing and listening.

I watch as Anita (the elderly lady who seems to be in charge and volunteers at the same time I do) gets the patient to open up, maybe explain why they are their or what problems they're having. Almost always these patients, whom are mostly women because we spend our time in maternity, are not able to smile and are obviously in need of any fraction of hope they can get. Anita begins preaching and explaining that whatever suffering they are going through, as hard as it may be, is part of their life plan created by God. I remember distinctly of her talking with a woman who had lost 2 babies and was told she was about to lose the 3rd. I can't always follow exactly what she is talking about, however I watched the patient's expression as it changed from a nearly crying one, to a more relaxed one with eyes that looked understanding and possibly even hopefully. I have seen this transformation with many patients from a simple reminder about God and that suffering does not last for ever. I feel as if I can see these women putting their situation in perspective inside their heads as Anita helps soothe them.

Anita is speaking from her love of God and, in turn, she is able to help these women, if even a little bit, through their seamlessly hopeless situations. This is exactly what religion can do for people. It gives them something to live for, insight as to why things happen to them, and hope that things will get better. Religion is what drives Anita to serve other people and attempt to share with them what she has found in her life; in turn, religion and faith in God serves to put patients' suffering in perspective and give them something to believe in when they have nothing else.

Nicole's Random Facts and Observations about Mendoza

Hello all! I realize it has been quite awhile since I last blogged. I was busy on a second "spring break" in Peru, but now I am back in Mendoza where I have now been for over two months - about half of my study abroad experience. Already! As I sometimes feel overwhelmed with observations and thoughts and how to communicate them to people who are not living here with me, I decided to write a list of my own personal observations so that you all can get a better sense of what I experience or observe on a day to day basis. Also, stay tuned to hear about my Peruvian adventures. 

• High fashion is not the source of inspiration for the attire of the majority of the Mendocinian people.
• jeans and sportswear are favorites for everyday wear
• skirts, dresses and shorts are rare except for going out attire
• there is a peculiar trend between the girls of Mendoza - they love wearing bright, solid-colored platform shoes in suede or leather 
• It is completely acceptable for men to make cat calls to girls and women. 
• whistling, honking, making kissing noises and yelling various objectifying, gross comments are common among all ages of men here in Mendoza (trust me I know and cannot seem to understand the objective behind these actions as they only turn females off)
• Meals, in general, are very relaxed/casual.
• it is okay to use/talk on cell phones during meals
• napkins are not ordinarily put in laps
• often serving spoons are not used and instead one uses his/her own silverware to serve themselves
• It is okay to be picky and/or say you don't like something at meals (even at someone else's house).
• our housekeeper cooks lunch everyday and often makes one or two separate entrees for people's various likes/dislikes
• it is common to hear someone expressing their disgust/dislike of something at the dinner table
• Families are very tight and large family gatherings happen on a routine basis.
• almost every sunday we have a big "asado" or BBQ with my host-mother's brother and sister and their entire families as well as their parents. Whoever can come comes and often boyfriends and girlfriends come as well
• my host-sister and two of her cousins are in the same "group" of friends, as they call it, and go out together every weekend. 
• for one of my host-mother's brother's birthdays, who lives in Córdoba - about 10 hours from Mendoza - their whole family came to Mendoza and every meal of the weekend was a huge 30-50 person ordeal plus a special birthday party for him on Saturday night with tons of food and desserts. 
• Punctuality does not exist. Argentinos like to joke about what they call "Argentine time". 
• it is common and completely acceptable for students to arrive 10-30 minutes late to class. They greet the professor, the professor greets them back, and class continues as normal. 
• at meals it is also acceptable to arrive late
• when one picks a time to meet or get together this usually implies they will arrive sometime within the 30 minutes after the scheduled date
• often there are strikes causing class to be canceled or sometimes professors just simply cancel or don't show up to class without reason
• Mendocinians kiss each other all the time - that is to greet each other. 
• whenever you greet or meet someone you know or someone you are meeting for the first time you must give them a kiss on the right cheek (this excludes professors)
• this can get extremely tedious when you walk into a dinner or "asado" late - which is typical as I already described- you have to walk around, maneuvering around chairs and tables to kiss everyone. 
• Meals are eaten much later.
• dinner is typically eaten around 9:30-11:00
• lunch is eaten between 1:30 and 2:30
• Staring is completely acceptable. 
• this includes full turn arounds, scowls, obvious staring, full up-and-downs, and any other type of intrusive, uncomfortable and conspicuous looks from one person to another. 

First day of volunteering

On thursday afternoon I had my first day of volunteering at Hospital Lagomaggiore here in Mendoza. Me and another girl Alex (from my study abroad program) met with Anita, an around 70 year-old lady, and another hospital volunteer, Susanna. From what I could understand, Anita is the head volunteer, and she might have even began the program years ago. She lives alone and comes to volunteer twice a week at the hospital. When I told her I wouldn't be able to come at this time in the following weeks because I have class, she eagerly asked when I could come and suggested that she could come earlier in the day if that worked well for me. She is a gentle and grounded lady, who has the soft eyes that are common among those who spend their time giving all they have to others. I could recognize this about her from the moment she introduced herself to us. Susanna described herself as the secretary (organizer maybe?) of the volunteers. Later, I found out she was a burn patient from her chest down on one side of her body.

We sat in a tiny little room (basically a walk-in storage closet), and Anita explained to us what it is that the volunteers do at the hospital. Basically they keep their storage room stocked with all different sizes of sweaters, shirts, pants, baby clothing, shoes, shampoo and other hygienic products, and tea and sugar. They put some of the supplies in bags and they walk around the various floors of the hospital explaining that they are there to serve the patients letting them know what they have to offer in case they are in need of anything. Then, if the patient seems open to it, they begin to ask more about the patient and the reason they are in the hospital. Sometimes the patient will open up and talk about their fears, anxieties, and thoughts, and sometimes it is obvious they would rather be left alone. Anita's program is a Christian program. We prayed before leaving the supply closet/room, and she offers to pray for and/or with the patients as well.

After our brief orientation, we headed out to the maternity floors to see what they do. First we went to the 3rd floor which, in my understanding, was for pregnant women, or women who recently had their babies, who either are at risk themselves or who's babies are at risk. We walked through room to room asking if we could assist them in any way occasionally talking to some who needed to let out their anxieties. There are a couple that I remember distinctly. One woman was laying down alone in her room with her eyes closed. At first we thought she was sleeping and began to leave, but she alerted us that she wasn't. She had a look of extreme pain and discomfort on her face, and she confirmed to Anita that she was experiencing pain, as she had just the day before had a cesarean section. From what I understood, her baby was in the NICU with some kind of breathing problems, and she mentioned something about a husband or boyfriend not being there. Anita simply began speaking to her in a soothing way insisting that she must have faith that both she and her baby would be okay. She also explained that all of us in the room were women and that women are strong and independent. She told her that with or without a male she would need to, and could, take care of herself and her baby. I loved this part of Anita's advice. You could tell that this woman was suffering both physically and emotionally and that she was completely alone. She did not take her eyes off Anita as she shared her comforting words of wisdom, and I could see that she was absorbing every single thing Anita was saying. By the time we left the room, I felt as though this woman could wait with a bit more ease for news of her newborn.

On another floor, of which I was not quite certain of it's delegation, we talked to a very pregnant, very young looking girl who was standing apprehensively in the doorway of her room. We found out she was only 17 years old. We do not know her story. We do not know whether pregnancy was something she chose, or whether she is even remotely aware of the responsibility she is about to face. She looked terrified, confused and anxious. She did not seem eager to talk to us, although she was receptive to Anita's advice about how to go about childbirth. This struck me, as I could not begin to imagine what it would be like to be in her position. She, as with the other woman, seemed completely alone, about to face a terrifying unknown. She had no one to stand with her and give her company and no one to listen to her fears or give her advice.

This was a theme I saw with most all the women on my first day in the hospital. They all seemed solitary, scared, and without anyone to relieve them of their anxieties. I hope that in the days I get to come volunteer at this hospital I might be able to be a friend to these women for a few moments or at least be the person they can express their thoughts to.

I am so excited to see what this experience will teach me! Finally, I am getting my feet in some real world global health experience.

Below is a photo of Alex, Anita, me and Susanna in our "guardapolvos" which we wear when visiting patients.

Address

Don't worry, I will have a new post up either tonight or tomorrow!

In the meantime I thought I would post my address just in case anyone wants to send me postcard or a letter or whatever! (just be careful with food because Argentina has very strict import regulations)


Nicole Jorgenson 
c/o José Mostafá
Rivadavia 122 7˚76
5500 Mendoza
Argentina

food matters, a gnocchi tradition, and soccer practice for the first time in 2 years

Yesterday was another gnocchi making (and eating) day. Remember when I talked about gnocchi in my first post? Well this means I have now been in Mendoza for exactly a month, because in Argentina many families adhere to the tradition of making gnocchi every 29th of the month. The tradition goes that you should put money under your plate as you eat your gnocchi, and then carry it around with you that day for good luck. Although in my family here we do not put money under our plates, we still eat gnocchi every 29th of the month.

So, I guess I will let you in on some more of what I have been doing in my first month living in Mendoza. Last saturday I attended an all-day cooking class that was organized by our study abroad program. It was a blast! They bused us all out to a city next to Mendoza city called Maipu (famous for its vineyards) which I hope to tour in the near future), and we got started making an array of traditional Argentine food with our professional chef teachers. I have not [yet] found cooking to be something I enjoy, but this was a lot of fun. We got split into groups to make empanadas, fried sweet potato cakes, salads, potatoes, crepes with dulce de leche, and flan (also with dulce de leche). Dulce de leche is everywhere here (it is similar to carmel). They put it on fruit, in ice cream flavors, on cakes etc. At the end of our cooking class we all feasted on our delicious Argentine food with some Mendozan wine as well. The setting was gorgeous as we had vineyards surrounding us and the snow-capped Andes in the distance.

Here are some photos from the day. Afterwards we received certificates of "Tourist Chef of Argentine Cuisine".

Mendoza and the Mendocinos

I had planned on writing this blog several days ago, however then my weekend became busy with spontaneous activities (planning is not a priority or forté here). And, yesterday I was sick all day with a nasty stomach virus. Thank goodness that has passed. Anyways, I wanted get some ideas down about Mendoza in specific and about the people here. From my three and a half weeks thus far of living here, I have been able to somewhat understand who the Mendozan people are.

First of all, the city of Mendoza is a peculiar place. It is only 2,497 ft in elevation and it is a very dry climate. Mendoza rarely sees rain, and according to my host family, had almost all of the trees not been planted by humans it would not see trees either. You must be wondering how the trees survive in such a dry climate with no rain. Well, throughout the entire city there is an irrigation system. In spanish they are called "esequias". Essentially along every street or walkway there are large (usually open) trenches that allow water to run underneath the city. This allows for trees to survive. On a side note, palm trees were also planted here long ago, and it is very strange for me to see palm trees with the Andes in the backdrop. Anyhow, the esequias are very dangerous as right next to the sidewalk (running parallel between the sidewalk and the road) there are large, and fairly deep, trenches. I, myself have already almost fallen in one. I was waiting for the bus one night when it was dark and I took a step backwards not realizing I was about to step right into an esequia. I managed to catch myself, although I must say it was a frightening experience. The esequias are full of trash and I would not want to know what kind of bacteria I would be faced with should I fall in one.

This brings me to my next observation regarding Mendoza. There is trash everywhere. It is horrible for the esthetics of the city, however I can somewhat understand it seeing as though I can walk for blocks and not encounter one trash can. I usually end up putting all my trash in my purse or backpack only to unload it at the end of the day. This, along with a discussion about recycling (or lack there of) with my host-sister was one of the first things which made me actually realize that I am in a third world country. The infrastructure is just not up to par with what we have in America (or what I have seen in Europe). I can imagine that this is why there are many issues with the communities of people who live in the "basureras" or dumps which I talked about in a previous post.

There are also stray dogs EVERYWHERE. I have never seen more stray dogs. Even in Morocco there were less stray dogs. In other countries I have seen many stray cats, but here it is dogs. Often they hang out in packs. It can be scary when I have to run by them in the park and they start barking. I am constantly afraid they are going to attack me. Interestingly, it is still very common here to have dogs as pets. I would have thought that with all the gross, imposing stray dogs all over the streets people would not want them in their homes. But this is not the case. I did ask someone once why more is not done about the stray dogs. The answer I got was that they don't care. However, I tend to think it is more that there is not enough money or concern to be focused on this issue. I have noticed that many people do not neuter their pet dogs which would be the first step to reducing the problem, which leads me to believe that either it is not of concern or people cannot afford the procedure. I could be completely wrong, however. These are just my observations.

The Mendozan language (as well as the Argentine language in general) is much different than the spanish I learned in school and in Spain. As many of you may already know, Argentine spanish was heavily influenced by Italian. Throughout the 19th century immigrants came to Buenos Aires, many of which were from Italy. These were also the people who were the creators of Tango. Nevertheless, Argentine spanish has more Italian inflections and accents than other types of spanish. They also use "vos" instead of "tu" (you). This took some time for me to get used to, as it seems very strange and nonsensical to me. It still does not make much sense to me why they decided to adopt this habit instead of using "tu" like the majority of other spanish speaking countries.

The Mendocinos in specific also have peculiar speech mannerisms. They like to add "ito" or "ita" onto the end of everything. The Menocinos also tend to drop the "s"on the ends of worse in speaking. This was difficult at first for understanding. They also often use words such as negro (black), blanco (white), gordo (fat), flaco (skinny) to refer to friends. These are used all the time to friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, husbands/wives, and they are not seen as offensive. I have also noticed more outward forms of racism here. For example, during the olympics I heard several people talking about the Chinese-Argentine ping pong player in a degrading way. People in general are much more blunt here - although that seems to be the case everywhere I have travelled. Once I had dinner with Will's host-family and we were talking about how Will loves food and will eat anything. His host-mom then said "Yeah, we saw Will's picture on his application and we thought he was going to be fat!". It was hilarious, but not something that would necessarily be considered acceptable in America.

That's enough for now! But, expect more soon. Much love from Argentina.