I'm Gonna Eat What I Want!

So... here's the deal. For all of you out there who do not know... you need to learn now. Diabetes insipidus (which I have) is NOT, I repeat NOT, the same thing as diabetes mellitus. When most people hear the word "diabetes" they automatically think insulin, blood sugar levels, shots, etc. Those are the words that go along with diabetes mellitus. I wanna know who the genius is that came up with the name for my disease, because I would like to have a talk with him. The only reason that the name of my disease has the word "diabetes" in it is because it has similar symptoms to the more common and well-known form of diabetes... diabetes mellitus. This fact has often caused many problems for me, and my experiences thus far in Chile are of no exception.

This past spring, as we were filling out our forms for housing placements here in Chile, we were required to list any of diseases or disorders that we have. Obviously I listed diabetes insipidus and did my best to explain (in Spanish) that it is NOT the same as diabetes mellitus and that I have complete control over it as long as I take my medicine.

Then my first night here, as I was completely overwhelmed and having a hard enough time communicating in Spanish, the topic came up at the dinner table. I was actually pretty impressed with myself following the discussion as I felt that I had made it clear that I do not have the common form of diabetes and no, I do not have to regulate my blood sugar levels. My family seemed to have understood everything I said as they sat there nodding their heads. Little did I know...

Every meal that my host mom cooked for me was super healthy. She made sure to emphasize that the food was "sin azucar y sin sal" (without sugar or salt). "Wow this is great," I thought. The food was (and continues to be) healthy and at the same time really good. Then one night a large group of us decided to go out to eat. We went to a place called "Margarita" on the beach and had a great time. The next morning as I ate breakfast I told my host mom about the previous night. All of the sudden she gasped really loud. I thought she was upset that I had walked all the way home, so I started explaining to her that I was with another guy on our trip who lives nearby the entire time. No, that wasn't it though. The reason she gasped was because I had eaten a sandwich. That's right... a sandwich. The sandwich was bad for my health because it has so much salt etc. etc. etc. My mouth dropped. "Oh no," I thought, "she thinks I have 'los diabetes'." I did not now how I was going to explain everything to her, nor did I have the time to do it then because I needed to leave for school.

For the next couple of days I tried to figure out the easiest way to tell her that I don't have the diabetes she thought I did. I needed to do it quickly though because I was going to being going to an asado (BBQ) and did not want to receive a lecture on how bad the food would be for me. So one day over the lunch table I just told it how it is. It took a lot of explaining, and I wasn't exactly sure if I was getting my point across. I left the table that day feeling like I had done a pretty good job of convincing her not to worry about what I eat so much, but I wasn't positive. However, I knew that I had finally convinced her when the next night she came into the bathroom as I was getting ready to leave and offered me an alfajor (a chocolate desert filled with dulce de leche). Needless to say... I gladly accepted it. =)

Goal for the week: to eat more of what I want because I don't have to worry about getting a lecture anymore!

She checked the list... and my name was on it.

So I made it through the first week of classes here without too much trouble. I think I'm going to get really used to my schedule with only one or two classes each day and zero labs! Unfortunately... we've found out that a few of the professors feel as if we have a lot of extra time on our hands. As a result, we seem to have a fairly heavy reading load for each class. But alas, what can we do?

Wednesday night was one of the most amazing nights ever. Our entire group of 28 students loaded a bus at 4:30 in the afternoon for the hour and a half ride to Santiago, the capital of Chile. Once there, the bus driver dropped us off in front of La Moneda (the equivalent of the U.S. White House except in Chile). As a result of some great fortune, we were in fact there to watch the premiere of El Largo Exilio de Ariel Dorfman: Una Voz Contra el Olvido, a documentary on the life of Ariel Dorfman who is a famous Chilean author. One of the directors of our trip was his student at Duke University for several years and that is how we obtained this great opportunity. After taking some pictures out front, we preceeded to walk into the building. One by one we walked up to the main podium to identify ourselves and receive a program. When it was my turn I told the lady my name. She checked the list and yes... my name was in deed on it! Beforehand we were all served wine and cheese and had the chance to mingle with all of the important people there. I have no idea how we got so lucky. Many of us felt as if we were not even worthy to be there. It was such an amazing experience that I can hardly put words to describe it. We eventually made our way into the theatre to view the film. The film was very well done by a Canadian producer. There was a Q & A session following the film after which we headed for home. It was a long ride home, and most of us did not arrive to our houses until 1 A.M. only to be up in time for class at 8 A.M. the next morning. Nonetheless... the experience was well worth it!


This afternoon our university had a free asado (like a BBQ) for all of the students to start off the semester. It was at the university in Valparaiso which is a city right next to Vina del Mar. Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are often described as being like the St. Paul and Minneapolis of Minnesota. Anyways, five of us decided to try taking the metro from Vina to Valparaiso. I had never been on it before but was excited to try it out. What an adventure the trip was! We managed to purchase our tickets, ride the metro, and get off at the correct station without any problems. Then we started walking towards the university. As it turns out the university was WAY to far away to walk to, so a man told us to take bus # 705 to get there. We got on bus #705 and after asking around discovered that we were definitely NOT on the right bus. So after riding a few more blocks we jumped right back off. We had no idea where we were or where we wanted to be going. We talked to a couple of boys on the street and they told us to get on bus #701. Multiple buses continued to pass us as we stood there on the side of the curb without seeing bus #701. All of the sudden a bus numbered 704 pulled up to the curb to let people out. The doors opened up and lo and behold what do you know? Some of our fellow American students were sitting in the seats, staring at us from up above. "AHH!!!" we screamed as we ran towards the bus to jump in. We rode the bus the rest of the way and got off at the correct stop. I have absolutely no idea how we would of found the university had that bus not pulled up at that exact moment. Isn't it funny how somethings seem to just work out perfectly?

Goal for the week: to figure out the micro (bus) system!

Demolition Derby… Chilean Style

For all of you who have been wondering… I made it to Chile safe and sound. We arrived in Vina del Mar last Friday to pouring rain and temperatures in the low 50’s. It is there winter here and unlike what most people think, it really is pretty cold here right now. However, I must say that I am quite spoiled as I sit in my bedroom with a space heater blowing hot air directly me. We (my Chilean mom, Maria Elena; my sister, Fran; and my brother, Guillermo, on the weekends) live in an apartment on the 4th floor of an apartment complex that sits on a hill. Not only do I love my family so far, but I don’t think I could have asked for a more perfect room. In addition to the space heater, I have an electric blanket, a queen-sized bed, a closet, a desk, a power strip cord with adapter plug-ins, HUGE windows that give rise to the best view ever of the ocean and the city of Vina, and to top it all off… my room is yellow! Yeah… just try to tell me it’s not great.

Anyways… this morning I went to mass at a church near my house. It was all in Spanish, so I couldn’t understand too much of it yet, but it was easy enough to follow along. Communion, though, was another story. When it came time for people to go up for communion I had absolutely no idea what was going on. People behind us were going up to receive communion before people in the 2nd row had even gotten up. People were going up so randomly and I didn’t know what to do, so I finally looked at my friend and we decided to go. Most people after receiving the host simply turned around right where they were and started walking back to their seat. Pretty soon we had one big traffic jam going on in the middle of the aisle. Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure everyone managed to make it back to their seats in a surprisingly quick fashion without getting hurt.

After church a larger group of us met up and walked down to la playa (the beach). We walked by and looked at all of the artesanarías (art/craft booths). Then we stopped to grab something for lunch. I had what I’m pretty sure was called a churrosco. Others had hamburgers, churros, chicken sandwiches, and completos which are HUGE hot dogs and buns with TONS of stuff on them (I’m sorry Meghan for never wanting you to make them because I am SUPER excited to eat one now… they look AMAZING!)

Right next to the place we were sitting and eating our food on the beach, there was an area with all kinds of activities for kids. The one closest to us was a small racetrack. After paying their money, each kid was able to pick out their favorite power wheel car drive around the track. It was so entertaining to watch… let me tell you! All of us got such a kick out of this one little girl in a blue jeep. This little girl had a look of determination in her eyes as she whipped around each corner of the track. I can’t even tell you how many cars she ran into as a result. The funny thing is, when she ran into a car she didn’t just stop like most people probably would. No, instead, she kept giving it more gas until one of the workers would come, grab her jeep, pull her back, and point her in a new direction. One time she even hit a car going so fast that the front of her jeep drove up and was resting on the back end of the car in front of her. We were all laughing so hard as I sat there trying to decide if it was this was the new version of bumper cars or simply a little kids demolition derby. It looked like so much fun though, and I think it’s interesting to think that there is absolutely no way you would ever see anything remotely close to that in the United States. It’s kind of sad to think about, but if there was a little kid’s demolition derby in the U.S. like the one they have here, you know there would be lawsuits flying left and right.

Classes start tomorrow. I’m taking 4 classes. For our first senior seminar class on Thursday we are taking a bus to Santiago. When we get there we will be going to La Moneda (the Chilean equivalent of the United States White House) and watching a documentary on the life of Ariel Dorfman (a famous author from Chile). Yeah are we lucky or what??? One of the leaders of our trip was a student of his while she was a student at Duke University and that is why we are able to go. I am really excited.

Goal for my next trip to the beach: to eat an entire completo.