We're back!

This month (um, I mean June- last month!) has kind of just whizzed on by!  Here are some pictures from the last month.  We had a few significant events I should probably mention:

On June 6th, we blessed Luke.  My parents were able to fly down and most of BJ's family were able to be present, which was great.

We embarked on a 12.5 hour (each way) road trip to meet my family at Yosemite National Park.  My parents and siblings still at home were there, as well as Marissa and Richard, who live about 2 hours away from Yosemite.  This was our first real road trip with the boys, and they did great.  I really couldn't have asked them to do any better.  Gabe was obviously sick of his carseat on the way back, so there were a few minor meltdowns, but he did way better than I expected, and I guess that means we may have more road trips in our future.  We did some fun things while in California, including: descending 165 feet down a spiral staircase down one of California's deepest limestone caves (we didn't go all the way to the bottom though- it was over 400 feet deep), doing a 1/4 mile zip line at 40+ miles per hour, hiking and sightseeing in Yosemite, hiking through Big Trees State Park with the biggest trees I have ever seen, having a little early birthday party for Gabriel, and lots of swimming, tennis, ping pong and visiting.  I love my family!  It was nice to have everyone together (of course we missed my brother Tayler, who is serving a mission in Australia)- it seems like it is getting harder and harder for us all to be together.

Anyway, here are the pictures:

Happy 5 Year Anniversary!

I would certainly be remiss if I did not mention that BJ and I just celebrated our 5th Anniversary. At the risk of sounding a little mushy, these past five years have been the happiest of my life, and I consider myself blessed to be married to such a fun, kind, witty, patient, cool, talented, smart guy. We have had so many wonderful times, and I still get excited thinking about what our future holds.
So last week we headed out to Oregon to stay with my family for a while. We went swimming (one of Gabe's favorite things to do), hiking to Multnomah Falls, BJ took Cara's senior pictures, and we went to the Portland LDS Temple where we were married. On our Anniversary, BJ and I left Gabe with my family and we drove out to the coast. We honeymooned at Cannon Beach after we were married, and decided we would go back on our 5th anniversary. This time we stayed at a cute, oddly-shaped Bed and Breakfast right on the Oceanfront in Seaside. We had a really nice time, eating at Camp 18 (a really cool restaurant on Highway 26) like we did on our first trip to the beach together, right before we got engaged. We enjoyed walking on the boardwalk and down the beach. It was kind of cool and stormy, just like it was on our honeymoon. We went into a couple of really cool toy shops and bought some fun games- Mancala, Pass the Pigs, and Banana Grams, which is like the game Syzygy, which I love. My family drove out to the beach the next day, bringing Gabe of course, and we headed to Indian Beach. Love that beach. The Oregon Coast is so picturesque! The weather warmed up quite a bit. Anyway, Gabe LOVED the ocean. He is definitely a water baby. We walked him down to the waves (the tiny ones) and jumped him over each one. He loved it. He didn't care that his legs were all cold he was just enthralled the whole time. He was not happy with us when we decided that he had had enough and it was time to go warm up. We ate at Camp 18 again (my family wanted to go)on our way back and had fun playing games at the table and watching Gabe's antics.
We had a great time in Oregon, and it was kind of hard to come back and get back in to work and more work.

Here is another web album from my dad with a few more pictures.

Washington D.C.

I am finally getting around to posting what I wrote a week ago!
Well, as you know I have been preparing to present some research at the American Public Health Association conference in D.C. I have been here in D.C. since Saturday, and am leaving in just a few hours to return home. This trip has been a fantastic, educational, and interesting opportunity. I arrived Saturday afternoon, and after resolving a minor hotel problem (!) I saw some of the city with Erin, the professor I work for. She showed me how the Metro works here, and we went to a mall/subway station with a hall of restaurants, and we had dinner at a cute 1950's style diner. The next morning we found a church meeting fairly close that we could ride the metro to, and interestingly enough, it was probably the only ward in the whole area that I would have recognized someone in! My parents of my friend and roommate my freshman year were in that ward. So ironic- what a small world. We also attended the opening session for the conference, and heard from a couple of fairly high profile people in public health. I will write more about those later. We went to Arlington National Cemetery, which was an amazing experience. I had no idea how large it was, how many graves and memorials. It was incredibly reverent, and everyone was very respectful. I was really impacted by all the graves, representing lives given in service of our country. I had really never thought of it in terms like that. That same spirit was prevalent at the Tomb of the Unknowns, where I saw the changing of the guard, and was really touched by the guards' dedication and respect for the Tomb. I was thinking that if every person in the U.S. had a chance as a kid or at some point to go see some of the places like this, we would have a stronger sense of national pride and patriotism, and gratitude as a people. Of course I know that won't happen, so I think those things are important to teach in other ways.
On Monday morning, bright and early, we presented one of our research project findings in a round table format. The way a round table presentation works is a room has 9 or 10 tables with presenters, and people come in and rotate around. We gave three 30-minute presentations. Our table was always one of the most crowded! Although we felt strongly about what we were researching, it was somewhat gratifying to hear from listeners that they thought our research was important.
Tuesday we did our poster presentation, talking about the results of the other part of our study. This was in an exhibit hall with people walking around to see the posters they are interested in. Again, we had a lot of interest in and questions about our study. I think it went well. I will post a little later on some of the things I learned at the conference and what our study was about etc.
One of the last things we did before the trip was over was we went to the Visitor's Center at the Washington D.C. Temple. They close early, so we weren't able to go inside, but we saw the outside and had a nice visit with the sister missionaries at the visitor's center. I thought that was a good way to end the trip.

Washington, D.C. pictures

My turn

It is my turn to blog, and I am afraid I don't have much to report this week... I guess I will catch you up to the workings of my recent life...
I spent my last day in Buenos Aires touring the U.S. Embassy, meeting the Church Area Presidency, and going to the Buenos Aires Temple before hopping on our plane to come home. It was very good to be back, although I miss the many friends we made. There are a few things that I have really come to appreciate, which I know I took largely for granted. Those things are:
-Five star bathrooms (flushing toilet with a seat, has toilet paper, has running water, soap and something to dry hands with... none of those things could be taken for granted... you might be lucky enough to find a bathroom with TP, but you can bet you had to pay if you wanted some!)
-Carpet (you never realize how lovely carpet is until you don't see it for a while. I was so excited to see our industrial grade carpet when I got home!)
-Heating/ cooling systems (We experienced the coldest week on record for the last 40 years or so in Argentina- freezing temperatures, and of course we didn't think it would be so cold, so we had brought no coats... needless to say, it was sort of.. well.. cold in the unheated hostels we lived in.)
-Fruits and vegetables (we ate mostly meat and pasta and it was very good, but... I have been loving all the summer fruit since being home! YUUUUUUUUUUM!)
-Peanut butter! (Many of our wonderful friends in Argentina had never tried it... they really don't have it there...)
-Earplugs (really, my salvation and the only way I could get any sleep those 6 weeks)
-The ability and total confidence to be able to communicate completely any thought, desire, need, or idea to anyone as needed or wanted. (I will NEVER again think badly of anyone living in the U.S. who is having a hard time communicating in English (as their second language). I experienced quite a lot of anxiety, stress, etc. etc. when I first arrived in Argentina and hadn't gotten in my Spanish speaking mode yet. I was afraid I guess, and I even knew that I would be able to go home in 6 weeks! Imagine what it would be like to move to a completely new place where no one can understand you and you can't communicate- either adequately, or at all. You can't talk to the people at the grocery store, doctor's office, hospital, restaurant, your neighbors, schoolmates, coworkers etc. How terrifying! And you know that this place is your new "home"- you may never again go back to the place you grew up. I have a new appreciation for people who take a leap like that, who struggle to be able to communicate, and who must at times despair that no one understands them, and some people even hate them- people say things like "You're not welcome in this country if you can't speak English." While I realize that can be a frustration for all involved, I also know what it is like to be yelled at for not speaking or understanding clearly, and I know how wonderful it is when someone is sympathetic and rephrases or patiently explains what they mean. Smiles and soft tones (rather than loud exaggerated pronunciation) make understanding so much easier! OK, maybe that's enough on that subject for the moment...)
-Clean air (We lived downtown, and all the smog, car exhaust, and cigarette smoke (Young, young girls smoking everywhere- to lose weight they said) were hard on the lungs when we were walking several miles each day.)
-Clean water (we drank bottled water out of necessity, which wasn't so hard, only inconvenient, and expensive, at restaurants, when you can't get tap water or free refills!)
-My health (I got sick twice in 6 weeks... incidentally, I am fairly sick now, and have been since Tuesday, the difference being that I have access to all the comfort and familiar medicines etc. I could want.)
-Easy communication (this refers to more than just language- We relied on email and methods as unreliable as Skype and other internet methods. We couldn't use our cell phones to make the long distance calls home. Nice to be able to call people up now- just to say "Hi!" if I want.
-I appreciate the way the gospel is the same everywhere you go. (Even when I couldn't completely understand the lesson or talk given, I could feel the Spirit and the kindness of the members at church.)
I actually made a whole list of things I appreciated. I don't have that list with me now, but these are the things that stuck out the most to me. I may add more things at a later time!

I'm back!

So for those of you who haven't seen me yet, I've grown some facial hair. (I assure you, I grew it all on the 40 hour trip I had on the way home.) So what do you think? Should I keep it? Please comment and tell me what you think. :-D

Iguazu and Buenos Aires

Hello family and friends! Lots has happened since I last posted (by the way, the last post went underneath BJ's last one I think). We finished up our clinicals in Tucuman- in the hospital and in the community. On our last day of community clinical, we all went to one comedor, and did a garbage clean up that we involved the children in. It was actually a lot of fun! We were so sad to leave, and they were sad too. All the little girls were kissing and hugging us, and we got a bunch of pictures, which I don't have yet. They followed us for quite a ways too, when we had to leave! On Tuesday we left for Iguazu. We had a very difficult time saying goodbye to our friends in Tucuman. We had the privilege of meeting some really wonderful people- those who worked at the hostel, and some people from the ward we attended. We loved all the hostel employees- a truly great experience to stay there and get to know them- Martin, the owner of the hostel, my good friend Virginia, her sister Romina, who came a lot even though she didn't work there, Carolina, and Pedro. It was great to share the experience with them and make friendships. We were all very emotional when we left- I was surprised, because I thought I would be fine, and then it was time to go, and with all of us gathered together, we said our goodbyes. They told us they hoped that we would consider the hostel our other home. It was so hard to leave! They walked us out and waved us off as we drove away. So hard!
The busride was supposed to be a 16 hours... it turned out to be 21 hours! Ugh! I learned what it means to have swollen ankles... bummer. Iguazu was amazing! I have never seen anything like it in my life. Talk about a piece of paradise! I have some fun pictures, which I can't upload right now because the internet connection is pretty slow here. I will post them when I can. We visited the falls on the Argentina side the first day. We walked a bunch of trails along the falls (there are actually many many falls, but Devil's Throat is the most famous) and we also did a raft ride, a jeep ride through the jungle, and a speedboat ride which took us really close to some of the falls. We got completely soaked! It was a blast though. Iguazu, unlike the rest of Argentina right now, was quite warm- in the 70s and 80s, and quite humid. We went to the Brazil side of Iguazu falls on Friday. The falls are mainly on the Argentina side, but the most gorgeous, panoramic views are from the Brazil side. We rode a bus to get to some trails which we walked and took pictures from. Then we had to pretty much head back and get back on our bus to drive to Buenos Aires- another 16 hour bus ride. We got to Buenos Aires Saturday afternoon. We are staying at a hotel here- two stars- and I must say, we are thrilled! Only two to three per room, we have real bathrooms, with toilet paper, hot showers, mirrors, and soap, and they bring you new towels everyday! We have all been using travel towels so long, we forgot what regular towels felt like! We are staying downtown, about three blocks from Florida street, which is a famous pedestrian street with tons of vendors, musicians, artists, and magicians, besides the stores and restaurants. Very fun. Today we attended church here in Buenos Aires. This is a beautiful city- the biggest I have ever been in, though. There are 14 million people living in the inner city, almost 40 thousand in the province. We will be spending about two more days here, and then we return home! I can't believe how fast and slow this trip has gone! I am sad to leave, happy to return home. I will write more soon about what we do here in Buenos Aires in the next few days, post pictures, etc. I love you all, miss you, and hope to see you soon!

Sacrament Meeting

So, it has been a while since I have posted, and I think it might be time to post again. This week has been much like the week before, with a few small exceptions. I got to go shopping this week. I went shopping for souvenirs twice and have finished my shopping I think. If I find something else that catches my attention, I might still buy it, but I could go home tomorrow and be satisfied with what I've got.

Also, we finally got to church. It was smaller than any of the branches I have been to before... including the many tiny ones I was assigned to in Korea. There was a family, one family, that was active and regular, and the rest of us were foreigners or Indians here for a visit. The group of us amounted to about 10 people... and I think that was larger than normal. I was please with their efforts though. It made me very happy to see how strong they were in the gospel when they had so little support. They day we went was district conference, which meant that the leadership (Branch President, and 1st Councilor) were off to district meetings. The rest of the branch didn't go, but rather stayed to have their own branch meeting. The 2nd councilor seemed a little shy. He didn't conduct anything, but he did sit up front. Instead the Elders Quorum President conducted sacrament meeting. He was an American who is there on company assignment. Thank goodness for his strength!

So, we sung the opening prayer, prayed, sung the sacrament prayer, prayed, sung the closing hymn, and prayed. That had to be the shortest sacrament meeting I have ever attended by far! No talks. No announcements. Just song and prayer. I guess normally they do have a talk in there, but this time they didn't. But it did make me think... isn't that the real reason for sacrament meeting anyways? To have sacrament? To pray and sing to our God? Of course, instructing each other is important too. And we did do that in Sunday School.

The same brother who conducted Sacrament Meeting, also conducted Sunday School, and taught it. They used the gospel principles handbook for their material. It was a good lesson. Very simple and too the point. But one brother there who was Indian, and is there for only a month or two, spoke of his conversion during the lesson. He said that he was converted while he was in Texas, and that shortly after his conversion, 9-11 happened. During that time, I guess Texas had a "Share your neighbors faith" program in which once a month, some religion would speak about their beliefs in some public meeting. I guess the first meeting was about Hinduism, which was his former religion. He said that as he listed to the speaker, that things sounded very familiar, and good to him. He said he wondered if he had given his religion from birth the chance it deserved. But not long after, he went to a general conference meeting to listen to the general authorities speak. He said he heard the testimony of one of the speakers and felt an overwhelming spirit of peace and confirmation about the prophets and the truthfulness of the church. I was really impressed by it. He seems like a very nice guy, and very sincere. He seemed very devout, and strong in the church. I'm sure his strength will be appreciated wherever he goes.

After Sunday School, the services were over. There was no Elders Quorum, no Relief Society or Primary. But we did stick around for a while and chat with the people who were there. It was a good experience... and I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to be there. By the way... here are some pictures that I have taken, but have not posted anywhere. They aren't that beautiful, or great or anything, but they are here:

(If you don't have flash, or for some reason, can't see the images below, or if you'd simply prefer to see them a bit larger, please click on the links below!)

Rainy Day




The Kids




The House

Sorry for the delay...

I wrote this over a week ago, forgot to publish it, and have been traveling, and without internet access for several days! Sorry...
It has been one crazy week (or two)!
Last week I went to Salta and Jujuy for two days. We saw several cute indigenous pueblos, and the famous Mountain of 7 Colors- amazing! Gorgeous! We also saw the ruins (named Tilcara) of an ancient civilization which was conquered by the Incas, and later by the Spanish. Part of the ruins were restored. It was interesting to see, and the area was very beautiful. At the bottom I posted a link to some pictures from the trip with explanations of what they are. Sorry- I have to warn you, the pictures did not upload in any particular order, so they kind of jump from place to place.

I have had some good experiences in clinical in the past week. We have been able to do some labor coaching and support in "La sala de parto" (delivery room). Postpartum and the NICU have been good too. I am not going to write all of those experiences here, but my favorite experience was in labor and delivery, supporting a woman who had no one with her at all. Maybe because I felt like I was making a difference to her, maybe because it was the coolest birth I have ever seen! Like all the other women here, she received no anesthetic- it was all natural. She labored mostly standing, bending at the knees (up and down) during her contractions. I am always so proud of the women after giving birth- they are so exhausted afterwards, but they really work hard to get that baby out (naturally!). When she was close to delivering, the doctor helped pull her up so that she was sort of squatting on the edge of the bed. This helped the baby descend quickly, and she was able to deliver right after that, with no episiotomy or anything. (I can't stand episiotomys, but don't worry, I won't get on my soapbox about that right now. I will just say that the research shows that they are almost always unnecessary.) They let her nurse right away, and cleaned her up quickly. It was the best birth I have seen the whole time I have been here.

*I had better publish this now, before I forget again, and I will publish a more recent update as soon as I can. By the way, I will be coming home this week! See many of you soon!

Salta, Jujuy trip

4 down, 2 to go

So hello again friends family and all,
Well 4 down 2 to go. I'm 2/3s the way home. This week has been alright. Again nothing too exciting has happened, but all the same it hasn't been bad. On Saturday, Sri, the owner of Ecotech Outsourcing, the company we go through to hire our employees down here, took me to see a Jain temple here not too far away. The temple itself wasn't anything too spectacular. It was fun to go to, but nothing like some of the temples I know India has in the South. But all the same, it was an experience. We got to the temple and were about to go in when I was told that I would have to leave my camera behind. From the entrance I really couldn't see much. However the guard was kind enough to point a way around back where we go to see a little temple and be close enough to take pictures without disturbing anybody. So I got a few pictures of that. But the little temple was not much like the rest, but interesting all the same. So Jainism, it seems, is quite similar to Buddhaism but much stricter. Those who live it have a very limited diet. They do not eat meat (which isn't that uncommon around here) but they likewise do not eat anything that grows underground (carrots, potatoes, etc.) The foods they eat are limited to the fruits and vegetables that can be eaten without killing the plant. They literally do not believe in killing anything. They also feel (like many other religions do) that simplicity is the best way to live. That riches and wealth are corrupting agents and should be given away. However, while some live in such a fashion, they are the monks of the religion, though I don't know whether or not monks is the right name for them. The rest of the Jains seem to live fairly normal lives, with the exception of their diet, I believe. Some of the more religious people will wear a robe with nothing else on to display their simplicity of life (the men in particularly). They seem to be very friendly people, though I believe they felt a bit odd having a foreigner come and take pictures of them, and their temple. I believe Jain himself was at one point a wealthy prince or king who, after looking at the poor of his country, gave up all he had, and looked for a new way of life (not unlike the story of Buddha). And while he sat under a tree, he received inspiration on how he should live. And thus started a new religion.

The people here in India are a very peaceful people. Their culture, their beliefs all center around not hurting one another or even the animals and plants that surround them. India is a country that has been conquered over and over again (not unlike Korea) because they are a country that does not study war, and weapons, although they have been highly influential in world thought and beliefs. I understand that much of the culture of thought that Plato and Aristotle studied from came originally from India, and those philosophers have effected our thought much as well. The religions of India do seem to be idol worshiping religions for sure, but I do not believe that they would fall under the same condemnation that the idol worshiping religions of the old testament did. The idol worshiping religions of the old testament were condemned partially because of the sin and corruption that came with those idols. Their groves and high places were centers for sin, and excuses to commit sin, and they did it in the name of their fake god. But things are different here. While they do not seem to have all the same commandments that we have, in many ways they live more strict lives than we do. Dave (my boss) speculates that there is a lot of “playing around” outside of marriage here, but that is his opinion, and while I would agree that it likely does happen, I don't believe it happens here more than it happens in the US, in fact, I'd dare say it happens far less. The culture in the US is obsessed with sex and violence. It is uncommon to find a TV show that doesn't elude to sex or depict a violent scene. We have much we could learn from India. Unfortunately, it seems that we are influencing India more than they are us. Traditional shops that frequently have religious figurines and paintings in one corner are being replaced with malls that have great big pictures of women with little on. Materialism is slowly replacing living a life of simplicity. When I first got here I spoke of how my just being here is helping them rise out of poverty. And while that is still true, I guess I'm realizing that what we are doing isn't all good either.

We went to a mall yesterday so Dave and Amanda could buy some things for their house keeper and her daughter as a favor. I watched as all of this progressed, Reja (I'm not sure if that is how it is spelled or not) tied her scarf around her face while she was in the car. She said she couldn't stand the smells. The smell of the AC, the smell of the tar on the road, the smell of the exhaust... things that we hardly think about unless they are particularly bad she could hardly stand. When we got to the mall Reja looked lost. I think that was her first trip to a mall, but I'm not certain. She was taken to the children's clothing area and she looked around and she simply didn't know what to do. Amanda started pulling things out, and helped her choose an outfit for her daughter Wonshu. They also took her into the women's clothing area and picked her an outfit out too. I wonder what she thought of all the images that were around her. It was pretty much the same as what you would see in a mall in the US, lingerie, bright lights, models with plastic faces; she must have been somewhat overwhelmed with what she saw. I think Dave and Amanda were well intentioned and all, but I think after watching all of this that next time I'd take her to the places that she shops and not to the places they shop. She was certainly grateful for all the stuff she and her daughter was given, but I think she felt quite uneasy the entire night.

More pics

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to all those who have served, and to the families of those who have not returned. We love and appreciate you, and are grateful for all that you do and have done.
Rochelle and BJ
(Photo is from the internet)

A perplexing question

Hello all,
How are you all doing? I hope well. I'm afraid not much is happening here. I spend my time at work or at home, and I don't get out too much. This coming week though, I'm going to try to get out more and take my camera with me so I can say I actually did something interesting while I was in India. Today Dave wanted to watch the final episodes of American Idol and so we watch those. I think Jordan was the better of the two, and am glad she won. I did enjoy Blake's performance with the other beat-boxer guy, and thought that was cool, but that's not the type of music I would listen to on a regular basis. But enough about that. Monsoon season seems to be rolling in. Last week it rained a couple of times, which was nice. It seems to have broken the heat a bit. Things that way have been more bearable. But the real monsoon season won't start for another week or two. I'm told that monsoon seasons aren't that bad here. It is rarely dangerous here... it just drizzles all the time. You Oregonians should know what that is like. Only here it is in the summer so it warmer rain. The first day it rained we were at a restaurant and we looked out and it was just pouring. It did get windy at times, but nothing like I remember Korea being like. In Korea the wind would blow signs down, and windows out of buildings. I hope to get some good pictures of some storms here. I tried the other day... but I was in the second floor of the building we work in, and you can barely tell it is raining from my pictures. I haven't tried to take pictures of rain before. It seems to be a bit of a challenge. ;-) I also felt a little sheepish pulling out my camera to take pictures while everybody watched me. I kinda stand out of the crowd here anyways, but whenever my camera comes out, I feel like such a tourist. Cest la vie! I have to say though, I will be glad to come home again and have some home cooked food. We went to the nicest restaurant in the entire city the other day (or so Dave says), and I truly enjoyed my first meal since I came here. It was an Italian restaurant and I had a chicken and mushroom dish. The meal came to $50 for the 3 of us. One interesting thing about this place is that every sit down restaurant here gives service like a 5 star restaurant in the US. They put your napkin on your lap, push in your chair, do the 5 course meal thing (which I still don't quite understand). And a 5% tip is good here. The restaurants that we frequent here seem to always have the same people working. Lunch, dinner, Monday through Friday, they are always there. If these people were in the US, we would call them workaholics. But here, it is normal. The brethren teach us to embrace the parts of our culture that are good, but that we are to shun the bad parts. I don't know what to think about their work habits here. Are they a good part or a bad part? Their work habits are what is bringing their country up, but at what price? Is this something that is good for them? I know the US went through a phase like this too... and it made our country what it is today (for good and bad). But you can't work in excess of 12 hours a day, and be close to your family in my opinion. At least I know Rochelle wouldn't like it if I did that, and worked ever other Saturday too. But many workers here do that. And they are rewarded for it. By doing it they get their promotions. I have been doing it right along side of them since I have been here. And honestly, I'm not bothered by it. But I would be if I were in the US. Part of the reason I'm ok with it here, is that by being at work, Rochelle can have more opportunities to talk to me. So working the long hours here actually gets me closer to my wife. But in the US working even 10 hours a day on a regular basis would be hard for me. Not being home in time for dinner would be hard for me. And so here is my philosophical question for the day. Lets say you and your family lived in the 1920, where times were hard. Few were very rich, but most were part of the working class. And for the working class to get by they had to work hard. (I'm picturing the conditions shown in “Cinderella Man”.) You have a job at a local factory, where hard work is rewarded. One person recently was promoted for working extra hard. He worked 70 hour weeks. Should you do the same? Now, the obvious answer would be 'No'. Who would openly state that they would rather have the money than time with their family. But again, think about what life must have been like in the 1920s. Feeding your family is a struggle, adequate housing means any place that can keep the rain out, and the only schooling your kids will have a chance at is that which is free, and life all around is hard. So what do you do? From my comfortable position, I have a hard time understanding how they do it, or why they do it. I don't think that I ever want to work the hours that these people work to “get ahead” but then again, I have more now than most of these people will ever have. A legacy give to me by my parents, country, ethnicity, culture and class. Oh certainly I worked to get to where I am, but it was easy compared to what type of work these people do to obtain much less. And so I am torn. Some of these people really want to work hard to get ahead, and I can understand that, but at the same time wish that they would spend a little more time at home. Some of these programmers that I work with I think will be very good husbands and fathers (one of which just got engaged), but they may not be home very much because of their eagerness to provide. I just hope that they do the right thing... whatever that is.

Tafi del Valle, NICU and Community clinical

Last weekend we took a bus up to Taffi del Valle and went on a 6 hour horseback trip! It was fun. We didn't all know what we were getting ourselves into... instead of being a leisurely ride on some flat trail, we climbed up and down a mountain on the horses. The ride up was frightening for me... my horse wouldn't obey my reigning very well (it was just normal- neck reigning) and it had sort of a mean temperament (kept trying to kick or bite other horses). However, I made it! We got to the top of the mountain and we had an authentic Argentine asado (barbeque) grilled over an open fire. It was great food. The steak here is legendary, probably the best steak I have had, and I have had some pretty good steak! On the way back down the mountain, we took a path that was a little less treacherous, and I actually traded someone horses. My new horse actually followed my commands and did what I wanted it to do! Yay! It was a lot more fun on the way down. I like riding horses. We were all sore for several days!
As for my clinical experiences, I had a similar experience in the Newborn ICU this week as my experience in postpartum last week. The first day wasn't great in terms of being involved, learning new things, or observation opportunities. However, on the second day, we went in and things went much more smoothly, probably because we were more comfortable, we had seen how things went in that unit the day before, and we were more proactive about asking doctors and nurses what was going on. We were able to see many very interesting things and learn some new things. It was sad to see babies in the NICU who were not visited by their parents and had little affection given to them. There was a marked difference between two babies we saw with the same condition, but with very different developmental stages. My partner held one of the babies whose family never came, and she sang songs to him for a long time. It was amazing to be able to see that baby relax and look more peaceful. The baby had been there for a few months. I didn't dare get very close to the babies who were not inside incubators since I am trying to recover from a cold, and was worried that I might pass it on if I got too close. The time went by very quickly. Labor and Delivery this week was good too. I went with another clinical group to community this week. We went to the poorest comedor. It was basically just four posts with a roof overhead. The meals at this comedor were cooked over an open fire pit- very primitive circumstances. They couldn't store much there because it would all get stolen. We taught our dental hygiene class and the family planning class (which all the moms were really excited about!) and then we measured and weighed the children, did a hemoglobin test, and did a 24 hour dietary recall with as many as we could. We gave them toothbrushes, toothpaste, and shampoo to take home with them. I couldn't believe how willing all these young children were to get in line, get measured, get their finger pricked, and be interviewed about what they ate that day- just so they could get their toothbrush, shampoo, and sticker. Amazing. Hardly any children cried. Even the little ones stood in line and held out their finger to be pricked, and get a band-aid. They were so cute.
Last night we went to see "Piratas del Caribe" downtown in a nicer theater (comparatively). Don't worry, it was in English, with Spanish subtitles. We had the intermission experience also, only this time, we were left hanging by a thread! I saw tons of children begging for money, and today we saw some children trying to sell lottery tickets. It is so sad to me, and I wish I could give them all money. There are plenty of people who have enough money, but there is poverty here unlike the poverty we have in the U.S. I am so grateful for the things I have, and for the things that are so easy to take for granted. I think that if there is only one thing I take home with me, it will be an increased gratitude for the opportunities I have had as a result of being born in the U.S., and as a member of the church.

Not much new

So, I've now been here for just under two weeks. And while it has been an eye opener, I have also simply been at work a lot. I wish I were free to go to the interesting places in India, and to see the sites, but that just doesn't happen. I am grateful for the experiences I have had thus far, but I don't expect that there will be many like that. Since my last post, I haven't hardly stepped outside to do anything besides go to work. I did go to see Spiderman 3 on Saturday, but that isn't an extremely cultural experience, although I was happy to get out of the house. Dhannajay, an accountant who works here was kind enough to take me. My coworkers here refuse to let me pay for anything. It feels strange. I don't know how girls do it in the states. Maybe one of you can enlighten me as to how you are able to allow somebody to pay for you time after time. Doesn't it feel awkward? I think it would. Anyways, the movie was interesting. I've never been to a movie that had an intermission before. They just stopped the movie in the middle, and played music for 10 minutes. Then it resumed. I'm glad it wasn't in the middle of some action seen where spiderman was hanging by a thread (pardon the pun). Well... aside from that Dave has come home from his vacation. I am currently staying with them in a guest room just off from the kitchen. The room has its own bathroom, and I stay pretty much out of their way, while still trying to be a polite guest. This weekend I did much reading. I read in The Book of Mormon (we didn't get to church, 4 hour drive to get there), and "A Wrinkle in Time" and I finished the second book of "A Series of Unfortunate Events". I also read several chapters in a programming book, and watched "Independence Day". And that was my weekend. Cultural eh?

Oh well. Such is life, and work, and such was my weekend. I hope you are all alive and well, and I'll look forward to talking to you soon. Please don't be afraid of chatting with me anytime you see me online (and I am quite a fair bit). Even if I am unable to talk for long when you catch me, the 'hi' will be appreciated.

Love you all,

BJ

Postpartum and other experiences

My group and I have been working on a lesson plan on dental hygiene. There are 4 people in every group, with two strong Spanish speakers and two that may or may not speak Spanish. Each group will use our lesson plan in all of the different comedores. We will be distributing toothbrushes and some toothpaste, but we will be teaching them that the actual brushing, even if they have no toothpaste, is the most important thing.
I wrote a little song in Spanish that we will be teaching the children to help them remember where to brush and also to help them know how long they need to brush. They sing or hum it 4 times while they are brushing their teeth. It is sung to the tune of Row, row, row your boat. It goes:
Lava, lava los dientes,
lavalos otra vez,
en frente, atras, encima y mas,
y estan limpios despues!
Basically, it says wash (brush- they use the two interchangeably here) wash your teeth, wash them again in front, in back, on top, and more, and then they will be clean!
So, hopefully that goes well. We will also be teaching lesson plans that other groups are developing. The only other lesson we'll all be teaching this week besides dental hygiene is natural family planning. The mothers of the children will be coming to this class held in the comedor. Here there is a real problem with adolescent pregnancy. The attitude here is that is is normal to start having babies at a young age, and probably the majority of the women are not married, especially if they live in poverty and have little education, but even among the more wealthy, it is common. I am not exaggerating. Also, most are Catholic, which means that they do not use any form of contraception. I have also seen a number of women with STDs. It is a very difficult situation. We will be teaching a class on natural family planning with the calendar method, which can be used either to try to have children, or not. But the main thing is that it goes right along with what their religion says and hopefully that will help with compliance. We use a bracelet with different colored beads. Each color means something different. I realize many people might be reading this blog, so I won't explain much more than that. If you want to know what we are going to be teaching the women, let me know, and I will show you a picture of the bracelet, and the teaching materials we will be using. I think it is fascinating, personally, but I'm interested in everything about health, so that's not too surprising!
This week on Wednesday and Thursday, I worked in postpartum. This unit is spread over three floors of the hospital. I learned that this hospital really serves the poor. The wealthier women have their babies in the doctor's office, apparently, or in a private hospital. The women are required to stay at the hospital for at least 18 hours after birth, and they can't leave until they are tested for HIV, anemia, and I can't remember the other thing right now. They don't let adolescent mothers (under 19) leave without someone accompanying them to make sure that there will be someone to help care for the baby. One whole floor is dedicated to adolescent mothers with their babies, but the reality I discovered was that there were adolescents on every floor. Many of them had their mothers with them, but many seemed to have little support. There is one nurse on each floor. One. There are quite a few doctors and even more medical students. The doctors here do many of the things that nurses do in the United States. The nurse here just sits at a desk, really far away from the patients' rooms (there are at least 4 beds in every postpartum room, some with 10 beds) and she does mostly documentation, and one set of vital signs at 5am. Most of the women have to bring their own sheets. It is either really hot or really drafty in the rooms. Forget HIPAA laws. There is very little privacy.
My first day of postpartum was not great. In the US, during clinical, we are assigned to a nurse and we follow them, and do patient care. This is not at all the same. There are hardly any nurses, and they don't do much patient care. We are basically just let loose on the floor and are told to make rounds and assess each patient (hundreds of patients). We all felt unempowered if that is even a word. We tried to talk to the nurse, and ask her about her job etc. and she basically just told us that she sits there and writes, and helps with other things sometimes. She wouldn't tell us anything else. We would go into the rooms to do assessments and take vital signs only to find that they had just been done by medical students. Nonetheless, we went into every room on those three floors, and talked to every woman, and did what we could in the way of assessments and vital signs, and also just talking to the women, which went better at some times than others! One great thing about the day is that we ran into the patients we had been with in labor and delivery 2 days before! We were able to have a wonderful conversation with my patient and her sweet mother. It felt great to make a really strong connection with a patient, especially when it felt like I was struggling to speak their language! When we left, those kisses were 100% genuine! (For those who may be confused about kissing, see previous blogs for an explanation of the cheek kissing customs here.)
The second day of postpartum was a very different experience. We did our assessments and vital signs, but wanting to do a little more, we approached a doctor named Marta who we had been intimidated by the previous day, and explained who we were, why we were there, and we asked her if we could follow her and learn from her as she made rounds. We also explained that in the US, the nurses did a lot of the things she was doing, and that we would love it if there was anything she could teach us. Boy, that was the best idea in the world! We spent the rest of our shift with her, gaining invaluable experience and knowledge. She had 30 years of experience, and she taught us some really great assessment skills that didn't depend on technology. Also, when she had finished making her rounds, she invited us to her office where she did a sort of prenatal exam program for adolescents, which was free to them. She taught us how to use the doppler machine to find the fetal heartbeat etc. and to measure the fundus (basically how far out the stomach is) to find out the gestational age. Plus, we learned a lot about the culture and health care system here. The time went by so quickly! We learned so much, and were glad that we had decided to take our experience into our own hands.

Community health

On Tuesday I worked in the community (in the comedor- the place they serve meals to children in rural areas who are living in poverty). We visited the comedor, met the kids, and did their heights and weights. The comedor keeps track of this data, and we also use it for research.
With the first group (3 & 4 year olds) we read them a children's book in Spanish, and I did some string magic tricks that were quite the hit. These children were so adorable- some of the most beautiful children I have ever seen. Many of theme were obviously malnourished.
Most of them were very small, and their hair had this orange tint to it that is a result of malnutrition. Once they got over their shyness and the ice was broken, they were ok with talking to us, and one little girl pulled me down and planted a big kiss on my cheek and hugged me for a long time- how could I not love them? So sweet, so innocent, and so hungry! I looked at their menu for each week- often it wasn't much more than a rice dish. The Sanitoria (woman who runs the comedor) said that this is the only real meal that most of the children get that day. Some will be given a piece of bread and tea, or coffee at home, but that's it. No vegetables or fruit. Only a little protein. Not many sources of calcium. It is so heartbreaking!
The second group of children were between about 6-12 years old. We didn't get much of a chance to talk to them, although we did take their heights and weights. They were also cute. And also hungry. One girl told us that she had 9 siblings- most of them with her at the comedor.
This last picture is all of the students in my group with the medical residents that accompanied us to the comedor. It was a rural area, and as you can see, not the most beautiful area of town. The building in the background is the comedor. This is the nicest, most organized comedor in the city. All of the others are much inferior. By the way, the humanitarian missionaries from our church want to help this program by providing better food and funding, but they want to see that the CAPS program (which runs the comedores) is trying to change, to add programs and classes that will help the people. They want them to be self reliant, and to put forth some effort before they commit to funding or providing goods. We are trying to put together some classes which will hopefully be implemented and contribute to the success of the program and the health of the community and the children. We have some teaching projects that each group is in charge of putting together. I will explain that later when I know more.

A colorful day

So, I sent to a wedding yesterday. It was pretty cool. Definitely different from anything I had ever experience before. It was a Muslim wedding, and I understand that each religion has different traditions in weddings. The groom is a programmer who works here. He hasn't been here recently due to the wedding, so the wedding was the first time that I was able to meet him. He seemed to be a good guy. He looked pretty happy too. The bride I know nothing about, except that it was an arranged marriage, which most likely means that she was from the same religion, and caste. As you can see, she didn't look as happy. But, I'm not sure whether or not she was. I asked somebody about that, and he said that it is tradition for the wife to act that way. She is not to make eye contact with anyone, and to remain solemn. After greeting the groom, we went and sat down to a table, and waiters brought food to our tables. That was interesting for sure. One very large plate in the middle was filled with rice and curry (a special curry for the occasion, I understand) and then we dug in. With our hands. I'm not joking. People here eat with their hands. And the funny thing is, I never thought eating with your hands was difficult. But you trying eating rice and curry with your hands. It's not easy! Especially when you can move the plate that it is served on. Thankfully, I only had to eat with my hands for a little while, before the waiter brought me a spoon (which had been requested by my friends without my knowing). I felt sheepish, but I was glad for it. Oh, and here's the other thing... no napkins. Eating here is not the most clean or sanitary affair. And it's not like people wash their hands before eating either. Very different. Well... I'm afraid that's all I have to say for the day... but enjoy the pictures. I love you all.

The Rest of the Pictures

The weekend

I've been able to do some fun things these past few days; probably the most exciting being my hike up to San Javier on Saturday. Not just any hike, but an 11 mile trek up a mountain, on a paved road through the jungle, to see one of the largest statues of Christ in the world, made out of cement. The scenery was phenomenal. I will post a link to my photos from this hike, but they just don't do it justice. It was absolutely gorgeous, and well worth every step. We got to the top, took some pictures, and we started cooling off, and noticing that it was getting pretty chilly and sprinkling a bit. It was at that point that we found out that we couldn't catch a bus for 3 1/2 more hours. We were hungry, wet, cold, and exhausted, so we walked over to Sol de San Javier (a hotel nicer than most I have seen- even many in the United States). We ordered the cheapest food possible there, mine cost about $2USD (the most expensive thing on the menu was 48 pesos= $16 US dollars, and it was a meal for 2). Some people were able to get a taxi, but the rest of us waited for the bus to get back to town. The trip pretty much took the whole day.
Church was an interesting adventure; we had relief society, Sunday school, then sacrament meeting. More kisses. We were such a large group that a few of us (the casados- married ones) went with the older people and everyone else stayed with the solteros- singles. I got the general gist of each meeting, and even walked away feeling like I had learned something. I felt the spirit even though I couldn't always understand what they were saying. It seems to be a very strong ward, although small. There weren't a ton of youth or children, but there were some.
Today was my first day in the hospital. I was assigned to the labor and delivery (parto) unit. I was paired with a non- Spanish speaker who I was to translate for, and sort of be the voice for both of us. No pressure... We watched one birth- the first unmedicated birth I have ever been a part of. It was her first birth, and she hadn't taken any classes, and didn't know what to do- she felt like she couldn't do it, but she was incredibly strong. I was amazed and honestly somewhat horrified at some of the things the doctors do here- they put everyone on pitocin whether they need it or not, and they get up on the bed and push with all their weight on the woman's abdomen to help get the baby out faster. These things are to get the baby out as fast as possible. Some of them are quite dangerous. I felt bad when the woman delivered (with at least 12 people coming in and out of the room) and then was left alone for 2 hours with no one checking her bleeding, the firmness of her uterus (a very important assessment to do if you want to catch a hemorrhage before the woman bleeds to death) or doing any kind of assessment. So I did it. I tried to help her with breastfeeding too, because it wasn't working too well for her, but she was exhausted and kept giving up after trying for a minute. I really felt limited by my vocabulary, and by time- we had to leave soon after. We are in clinical for about 4 hours, 4 times a week, and we have class for 1-2 hours each day as well.
Tonight I am supposed to help be in charge of FHE. We will probably go to the governor's mansion for a tour. I have been inside once, but didn't stay too long. I will post pictures of that, and add to it probably, after tonight.
http://picasaweb.google.com/RochelleCTaylor/SanJavierAndTheGovernorSMansion?authkey=kUvNngSzbGo
I will post more soon. Love you all.

The many uses of a garden hose

Warning... this blog may be long and painful to the reader. Do not embark on reading unless you have spare time, and are willing to be a little philosophical with me. Otherwise, please just view the pictures.
:-D

So it is Sunday, although you will not be reading this until Monday because I am unable to post it until I get back into the office. Dave has allowed me to use one of the spare laptops here, and I brought it home with me so I see if by any chance there would be wireless Internet here. But there is none.

So, my day today has been interesting. I slept in, not having much else to do, and trying to catch up on sleep. But it wasn't too long before the garbage man woke me up, when he rang our door bell asking if we had any garbage to take out. At least that's who I think he was. I didn't understand a word he was saying, and I'm sure he didn't understand me either. But he and another guy were going down the street with large bins on wheels that I could only assume carried garbage. But it was probably good that he rang, because it reminded me to bring in the milk. Not that it would be bad to let it spoil... I have received milk every day, and haven't had any until today... and that was just a little for cereal. The refrigerator is getting full with these small plastic bags full of milk (that's how the milk comes). The milk actually didn't taste all that bad either.

So I took up by battle with the ants again... and sprayed the three holes I know about that lead to their den. The house isn't covered with ants by any means, but I happened to pick the one room to sleep in that seems to have a problem with them... and even then, it could easily be worse than ants. Afterwards, I took my shower, and got dressed... spent some time shaving (badly needed) when I realized that I could hear some kids out the back window. So, I cautiously peaked out, thinking that there might be some kids playing in the back yard, and not wanting to scare them needlessly. What I saw first was a boy in shorts sitting on the back porch with water being poured on him. So I looked a little to the right, and saw his mother. Amused, I watch this for a while. I wondered who they were, and why they were in our back yard. The mother seemed nice enough, and she and her boy were looked like they were enjoying themselves. She seemed to be helping her son bathe. Before long, the boy took off his shorts, rang them out, and put them back on with the rest of his cloths. He then took off, and ran down the street, either to go home or to go find his friends, or maybe to help with chores. The mom on the other hand stayed and continued to water the grass and the plants. I started to realize that she was the gardener. When she was done with our yard, she went over to the neighbors yard, and watered it too.

At this point, I went and looked around (camera in hand), and saw lots of things that made me start to think. All of this gives me a new perspective on what we call “outsourcing”. Although, I must say, I never have been concerned about outsourcing, I am now here looking at it first hand and seeing much of the good that it can do. Although opponents to outsourcing say (and say correctly) that outsourcing hurts Americans, it doesn't hurt us in a permanent way. But here I am, living in one of the nicest condos in the city (which is still a small step down from what I am used to) and am benefiting many just from being here. The money we bring here directly or indirectly benefits many people. As I write this there is a group of four girls and occasionally a couple of boys that are filling up buckets of water to take back to their shacks just outside the walls of this gated community. They are beautiful children. They seem to be fed well enough, although I am sure they wouldn't mind a little more. Their parents likely work for this community in which I am living, doing things like garbage duty, gardening, cleaning, and being a watch guard. By just being here, and living by the standards I am used to, I have helped to give many people much less fortunate than I, a chance to work for food, and a place to fill their water containers. (I am curious what they need the water for... they have been filling containers for quite a while now, taking them back, and bringing them again empty.) And this of course doesn't include the people that the company is actually employing here. And we pay them well enough, that I'm sure they are in turn helping others less fortunate than themselves. India is slowly rising out of its poverty due to people like me and companies like the one I work for. Are there those in America who are hurting because of this? Yes, but there are more who are benefiting because of it.

Many people hate and disdain Walmart (myself first and foremost among them, but for reasons not discussed here) because they buy very few American made goods, and import much from other countries. It is one of their secrets to keeping their prices low. Walmart has driven some companies in America into the ground due to their ability to undercut their prices. But at the same time, Walmart has helped to create large and thriving companies in other places such as India and China. The effects this has on those now jobless Americans is bad. But most of those who have lost their jobs have options. If they live in a large city, other jobs can be found near by. Some will have to move to find jobs. Many will take salary cuts for new jobs. All of them will still be better off than these in the garden filling their water bottles. But on the other hand, many of the poor in America now have access to food and clothing at cheaper costs than they ever had. They have received an effective “pay raise” because Walmart allows them to buy more for their money. And if you have ever been to Walmart, you know that there are many who have benefited from this because of how crowded they always seem to be. Global trade helps everybody, even though it also hurts some.

The girls outside seem to have left now. When they first got here, I gave a couple of them some choco-pies (an Asian treat not unlike cup cakes) I bought at the store yesterday. I then went back inside and proceeded to take their pictures when they weren't looking. Eventually, they started to notice me peaking out from my window. So I simply smiled, waved at them, and sat down to type this. They shyly waved back. They were excited about their treats. There are now a couple of boys who have taken up filling buckets with water. The oldest can't be older than seven or eight, and the youngest looks to be around 5. They seem to be happy kids. Beautiful kids. My heart goes out to them. Maybe someday they will get jobs working for an American company, and their kids won't have to carry water back and forth all day. It certainly makes you grateful for what you have. Again, I apologize about the length of this blog... but I have got nothing but time on my hands today. I hope you are all doing well. Please know that I am doing just fine out here... if not just a little bit lonely. I miss and love you all.

These, and a few more photos I took today

My first indian dinner (kind of)

So... after I wrote yesterday, two of the accountants here Michelle and Dhannajay took me to dinner. They took me to a Thai food place on Sri's orders. Sri is the general manager/ owner here. I guess the place is a place Dave likes. We ordered curry, and had an awkward, but interesting conversation. They are both fluent in English, but they still have strong accents. In fact Michelle and her family speak English at home. It is her first language. I didn't know there were people here who spoke English as their first language. It surprised me. But her accent is still strong, and so she too can be hard to understand. The conversation was a bit awkward. They are nice people, but sitting down to dinner with people you have never met can be difficult. Especially when you don't have a ton in common. Dhannajay likes to play chess, and said he wanted to play with me at some point. He is Hindu, and is a vegetarian, like many people here. They asked me if I ate non-veg. I guess here that is a common question, but it struck me as odd. In America, we usually ask people if they are vegetarians or something like that, but here, so many people are vegetarian that being a "non-veg eater" is less common. Michelle on the other hand is Catholic. Her family is Catholic, and I guess whomever brought Catholicism to India, taught people to speak English, and somehow got them to use it for everything. And so through the ages, her family has spoken English, and been Catholic. Marriages here are usually arranged within the same religion, so there is little mixing between groups that way. Michelle is a non-veg eater (common with Catholics here) which, as I have come to discover, usually means that they are willing to eat chicken. Other meats are not well looked upon. Beef is very seldom had. Non-veg eaters usually will, but don't often like, to eat fish. Pork is seldom seen as well. We spoke some about religion. I try not to be nosey, but I do like to ask questions about their religion. Especially because Hinduism is so interesting to me. It seems like everyone kinda has their own spin on Hinduism. Since they don't have "church" on Sundays, there is really no regulation about what Hinduism is from one person to the next. I can ask the same questions to different people, and get very different answers. At this point, I have discussed religion with 4 people now. While I was waiting at the airport in New York, I spoke with somebody who was very nice while we waited. He explained to me about Hinduism (probably better than anyone else has since), and I explained to him about our religion. The guy who sat on the plane next to me was fun too. He wanted to talk about the "Da Vinci Code" and get my take on it. Evidently, he and his friends in India had read the book, and they were curious as too how the book was taken by Christians, and how much was truth, and how much was fiction (he didn't know if Mary Magdalen was even mentioned in the bible). I spoke to him for a while about the church and our beliefs... but in his case, I spoke mostly about Christianity. And then I spoke with Dhannajay and Michelle about religion too. Michelle was very curious about our religion. She had never heard of it before, and thought that it was interesting. We had a good talk. She is a very religious person. She reads the bible every day. I don't think I have ever met a Catholic who reads the bible every day. I was very impressed. The Catholics in Korea that I knew were told not to bother with such things... that reading the bible was just to difficult for every day people. I told here about The Book of Mormon, and said that I would bring it in on Monday for her. She was interested in seeing it. I'm not expecting that any of my teaching here in India will come to anything. Many of the same blockades that were in Korea are here: tradition in religion, strong family regulation, and little to no exposure to good practicing members. On the other hand, all of those things but the last are strengths if seen in a different light. Anyways, I really enjoy the people here. And the food wasn't bad. It wasn't my favorite, but I still liked it. I had a green curry that I was really worried about at first, because it had coconut milk in it, but I couldn't taste the coconut in it at all. It was a good dinner. After dinner we went back to the office, and I worked quite late with one of the programmers. We were here until about 2 am. At which time employees in Utah also had many things for me to do. Preetam, the programmer that I was working with took me home on his motorbike. I know by saying this, that mom is already clicking the comment link below to tell me to never get on that bike again... but I only live about a mile away, and there is virtually no traffic on this road. It really was quite safe. I had my camera with me, and I was more worried about it bouncing off my back than I was about falling off. Even if I had fallen off, we weren't going fast (it's mostly dirt road). Well... let's put it this way... I felt safer on that bike than I would walking home a mile in the dark when I was uncertain of the way. Anyways, that was my day yesterday... and it turned out pretty well I think. :-D Hope you all are doing well! I don't know if I will be able to call or talk much this weekend. I don't want to be here real late tonight, and I'm not sure what my Sunday holds. Sunday may end up being quite quiet this week. I may just stay home. We'll see.

Siesta time!

Well, today I finally got to talk to BJ for the first time since Monday! That's a big hurray! We actually talked like 3 or 4 times today, for 15 or 20 minutes each, in between going to the hospital for orientation, class, and lunch. I was really glad we caught each other.
The people who work here at the hostel are really nice. I like talking with them to improve my Spanish, and they usually slow down a bit. They are ok with explaining things to us that we don't understand too. We are all so tired, but that's ok because siesta is about to start. Here in Argentina, Siesta happens either from 1pm to 4pm or 2pm to 5pm, depending on the place, and everything (I mean pretty much all the shops and companies and stuff) shuts down, people go home for lunch, and nap. After siesta, people go back to work, children go back to school, and don't get home for a few more hours. Then they eat dinner at about 9:30 or 10pm, sometimes later, and then go to bed. It is so crazy! Sometimes it doesn't work out so great for me, because I like to go to bed earlier than that. But it is kind of fun too. Last night I didn't go with everyone out to dinner because they didn't leave until 10pm and I was starving! So I had corn flakes. The milk here doesn't taste too bad if it is with something else like cereal, but it does taste a little funny by itself.
I just got back from a spin class (hard core biking!) at the gym we signed up at. It was like $8 for the month, and 8 of us signed up tonight. We all thought the class was going to be 30 minutes, but it ended up being an hour long. I thought I was going to die, especially since the bikes seats were too tall!
Tonight at 9:30 we are all going out for dinner. I am not sure where. Food is generally pretty cheap here. Some of the moderately expensive places are $15 pesos a plate ($5 US dollars).