This week has been a whirlwind of emotion. It has been such an eye-opening experience to see how people of a different culture live. A few things I have learned about the Latino culture are that family is extremely important to them and that time moves slower here. Family loyalty is of the utmost importance and often times extended families live together under one roof. Also, the Latin culture traditionally has a different concept of time. People are usually not in as much of a rush to get places. Fortunately, this suits my personality well. On the flip side people often have to wait for longer for things which for us Americans can be quite challenging!
The last few days I have been working in a remote clinic high up in the mountains in an area called Cacha. This area is inhabited by indigenous people who have inhabited this area since before the Spanish conquest, five hundred years ago. I have been amazed at how simply these people live and it is humbling to be able to interact with them. There are many things that are vastly different about practicing healthcare in these clinics than from the U.S. For example, in Cacha dogs wander freely and today a dog happened to pop in the clinic and introduce himself to everyone. Nobody really thought anything of it which seemed a bit odd to me.
My Spanish has been improving but at the same time I often catch myself getting frustrated at how ignorant I feel when I can’t communicate something or I don’t understand someone. The family I’m living with doesn’t speak any English and neither do any of the medical staff I am working with. Also, my Spanish professor insists on only speaking Spanish to us. So, yeah, nobody speaks English. I did learn a helpful hint today in Spanish class. Apparently, in Latino culture it is awkward to announce that you are going to use the bathroom. The formality would be to just ask where the bathroom is and then it is assumed you are going to use it. Not only have I been announcing that I need to use the bathroom every day but one of the first things I said to my family the day I met them was, “I need to use the bathroom.” So I guess the joke is on me. But at least I have not been making the same mistake as one of my classmates. Instead of telling people, “I am good” he has been telling people, “I am sexy”. Quite honestly it’s a super easy mistake to make but at the same time we all had a great laugh about that.
Me outside of my classroom.
Hilarious!!! Seems like you are having a great adventure.
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