Happy National Siblings Day!
Shout out to Raffi! I don´t know what I would do without you and love all the time we spend walking in parks and falling asleep on the living room floor together <3
This blog post is inspired by my friend Katie who graciously let me borrow her book ¨The Happiness Project¨ by Gretchen Rubin. It is about a women´s year long-journey to improve her happiness by making small changes in a variety of areas in her life including work, marriage, family, friendships, and hobbies. I had been wanting to read this book for a long time and recommend it!
*I do not recommend this book to people who dislike talking about feelings. People who are my father or similar to my father should not read this book.
Anyway, this week has not been my favorite week in Chile due to a lot of school work, not enough sleep, and missing my family a bit. However, I was thinking about the things that have made me happy this week, was pleasantly surprised by how long my list was, and decided I would share!
1) My Independent Study Project (ISP) got approved for Tufts Credit by the Tufts Child Development Department. It is such a relief to have figured out my project and to know I will get credit for it. I originally wanted to do a comparison of birth practices in traditional/ indigenous and modern medical settings. Unfortunately, and to the frustration of the indigenous Mapuche community, all births are now required by law to take place in hospitals. My study abroad program focuses on primary care so I am not allowed to work in a hospital and will be unable to observe births or interview women or medical professionals there.
Small setback, but here is my new topic:
I decided to focus on female infertility in the indigenous Mapuche community and will probably be staying with a Mapuche family located close to Temuco.
General Objective: Analyze the treatment of female infertility in the Mapuche population of Temuco and reveal the community perceptions of infertile women.
In the Mapuche culture, a women´s role is with the family. She is expected to have children, raise said children in the Mapuche tradition, and not work outside the house. The birth of a child represents the perpetuation of the Mapuche tribe and is therefore is not only important to the family, but to the community as a whole. I want to:
1) Identify the public perception of a women´s role in the Mapuche community
2) Describe how Mapuche healers (Machi, Lawentuchefe, Peñeñelchefe) treat infertility
3) Qualify the indigenous societies´ perceptions of infertile women and these women´s perception of themselves. Are infertile women shunned in the community? Do they feel purposeless or useful in society? How do their husbands react?
2) Yesterday my friend Erica and I went to a rugby practice for the women´s rugby club in Arica! It was really fun and today my whole body hurts (which I like cause it means I worked hard!) We have another practice tomorrow and a tournament on Saturday. The women´s league plays 7´s instead of 15 players to a team. Considering this change and my general level of (un)expertise in Rugby, this weekend should by interesting...but really fun!! I can´t wait!
3) After talking for 3 weeks about how badly I wanted to get part of my hair braided, I finally did it!
Some say I look like an 8th grader on vacation and some say I look like a drug dealer, but I like it and am happy! You may make your own judgements off of the picture located below
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| #selfie |
4) Pierra and I worked on her english and together we made a card introducing me to her music teacher who is a gringa as well.
5) Turned in a semester-long research paper on the sexual health of young people in Arica! Part of my research involved me making surveys and handing them out to young people in el centro. I learned a lot about contraceptive use, average age of first sexual intercourse, the casual nature of sex in this area, and adolescent pregnancy. I also did a literary review and interviewed a matrona (medical professional who deals with reproduction, women´s health, and sexual health) and a psicomotor evaluator who gave me insight into the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy and its impact on child development.
It turns out, surveys are a wonderful way to learn about people´s sex lives and a tactic I may employ in the states next time I am curious! ( I am kidding- all surveys were conducted in a professional, authorized manner).
6) My host mom made really awesome tacos with all the fixings.
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| mmmm avocado, tomatoes, chicken, corn, beef, mushrooms, onions etc! |
7) Registered for classes in the US. Here we go senior year!!!
8) There were a lot of friends and family staying in/visiting the house this week due to the earthquake. Some people who live near the beach or in tall apartment buildings had to evacuate. The fact that people had to evacuate obviously doesn´t make me happy, but the bright side is that house has been extra lively and fun! It also makes me happy to see how impressively the community came together in a time of crisis. My host mom happily welcomed 5 friends/family members into her house for the 6 days following the earthquakes. Being together kept everyone positive and calm.
9) Well this one doesn´t make me happy per say...but it is embarrassing and made my host family laugh A LOT so I think it is worth sharing. I bought my host mom and sister gifts in Temuco but could´t find anything cool to get my dad. In the airport I had my last chance to get him something and bought him a wooden mug and ¨Secret of the Machi tea¨.
I didn't read the tea box carefully before buying it, but my host dad did and apparently one of the tea´s herbal remedy properties was A POTENT APHRODISIAC....My host mom danced around happily and my family and the 5 extra people staying in the house made sexual innuendo jokes in spanish that I half understood for the next half hour as I blushed and repeatedly apologized.
I will be reading tea boxes extra carefully from now on.
10) I Learned about the mental health care system in Chile and visited an Establecimiento de Salud Mental Ambulatoria (ESSMA) or outpatient mental health care facility. Ester, the women who runs all the mental healthcare facilites in the area gave us a tour of the ESSMA and lead a seminar for my program on the mental health of Chile this Tuesday. Ester is bad-ass and inspired me to think about healthcare administration.
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| Allie and I at ESSMA Norte |
The largest mental health problems in Arica are currently anxiety and depression. There is a high rate of post-partum depression, related in part to the large amount of adolescent mothers. There is also a high rate of substance abuse and addiction. Here is a distribution of the mental health issues affecting Arica.
It was an interesting time to learn about mental health status of Arica considering the current state of anxiety caused by the recent earthquakes.
11) Tomorrow my first class isn´t until 11 am and is a trip to a local HIV/AIDs facility. I am running to the beach with friends beforehand which should be beautiful!
I better go to bed now or I wont be able to keep up with Randal in the AM! I am working on a post about my incredible experience in Temuco which will be coming shortly.
Thanks for reading and keep smiling!!
Besos,
Carrie
Ps: sorry for the arbitrary bolding
