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Anomop
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Name: Eric
Country: United States
State: New York
Metro: New York City
Gender: Male
Interests: Psychology, food, orchestra, viola, sleeping, neuroscience, AIM, hanging out, tour guiding, Asian-American issues, Pomona, anything college-related
Expertise: College Counseling & Medicine
Occupation: Medical Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  Draqe13
Member Since:
12/30/2003
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| Mike Chen showed me his list of goals he had for himself this upcoming year, and since tomorrow is the first day of my second year and I had sort of be thinking about ways to improve myself in my head, I thought I'd write a tangible list that I can keep referring to as a reminder. So here goes (in no particular order):
1. Continue learning and improving my Spanish
2. Participate and speak up more in discussion classes
3. Continue playing and improving in squash and/or volleyball in order to stay fit
4. Learn some new photography skills and take time to take photos for leisure
5. Continue to build meaningful relationships with my friends and family
6. Become more extroverted/friendly to those outside of my close group of friends
7. Establish stronger passions/interests
8. Stop letting fear prevent me from doing what I feel is best
9. Give my pocket change to those who need it (rather than losing it somewhere)
10. Slouch less by standing up straight
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| Here's the translated version (a month late), thanks to Google translate and some edits by me:
This week is my last week in Guatemala after two months in Central America. At first I was a little afraid to travel to an unknown country, especially a developing country, but now I'm sure I made the right decision coming here. My Spanish has improved immensely since my arrival in Guatemala, and I feel more comfortable using Spanish in my conversations with other people. I learned all the verb tenses, but sometimes I think my Spanish could be much better, and if I had taken more opportunities to speak or study Spanish, I would know the language better. Sometimes I get frustrated when I make a mistake, I need to speak very slowly, or forget words and conjugations that I should know, and I realize that there are many things still to learn. However, I hope this makes me have more motivation to continue learning instead of giving up.
Of course, my time in Guatemala is not only to learn Spanish. It was my summer vacation, and wanted to know a new place and a different culture. Guatemala certainly exceeded my expectations as it is diverse and a beautiful country. There are many different types of places and things to do, including resting in a beautiful lake, hiking to the highest volcano in Central America, walking through a beautiful colonial city, shopping in a large outdoor market, and seeing a Mayan site. But often, these sights can prevent one from knowing the real people of the country. Because I was in a Guatemalan home, I got to know a real Guatemalan family. My family is very friendly and always are my second teachers, especially my father who has enthusiasm for teaching me and my sister who is very patient with me. We had many conversations during and after we had dinner, eating typical food of Guatemala (but now, I cannot eat or look at a corn tortilla again). But while my family is a real Guatemalan family, they belong to the upper middle class in Guatemala and live well.
However, I also had the opportunity to work with people at the clinic (in Xela and rural areas) in the daycare and in the stoves projects where I got to know Guatemalans better. Moreover, in my classes and lectures, my teachers taught a lot about life, culture, and history of the Guatemalan people in general. My Spanish School, Pop-Wuj, does a good job of teaching about Guatemala and help the people of its country. Sometimes it's sad to think of the situation of most Guatemalans when watching their homes filled with smoke, their children without parents who can care for them, or people with illnesses or injuries. But they still live their lives fully, and I have always caught a smile on their faces. It is sad that the situation is bad in Guatemala mainly because of the United States.
Sometimes I wonder if I really helped at the clinic. It is true that I was doing actual work taking vital signs and patient histories, organizing the medicines at the pharmacy, and distributing to patients. Because I was an extra person in the clinic, I may have helped to speed up the work in the clinic. But maybe my Spanish was not good enough for the patients to understand me and I gave the wrong information and then their quality of health was worse because of me. This situation is very possible especially in the beginning when I felt less comfortable with my Spanish and being in the clinic. On the other hand, I feel I was helping more after the time students normally attend the medical program (for four weeks and only three in the clinic). By this time, I felt more confident in the clinic and needed to teach other new students who had no experience there. I felt the most useful when Lara, the director of the clinic, needed to teach a group of new students in one part of the clinic and I could teach another group elsewhere, which proved to be very helpful in the rural clinic in the pharmacy. So perhaps my help and my damage were balanced during my time here. While Pop-Wuj requires four weeks in the medical program, I think that is not enough time to help. To really help, I think one needs at least three months in a country, especially for something like working in a clinic. In my opinion, it is very commendable when people take time from their lives to assist in an authentic way. So I think the time most people and I have spent in this program does not really allow one to truly help the local people; it is really only for us to have an experience.
After nine weeks in Central America, I am ready to return. It is very sad that I need to leave and say goodbye to all the people I met during my time in this country. But I am very happy I decided to come to this country and have this experience in Guatemala, and is an experience that it will never forget. | | |
| Esta semana es mi última semana en Guatemala después de dos meses en centroamérica. Al principio, yo tenía un poco de miedo viajar a un país desconocido, especialmente un país en vías de desarrollo, pero ahora, estoy seguro que hice la decisión correcta venir aquí. Mi español ha mejorado inmensamente más que antes de mi llegada a Guatemala, y me siento más cómodo usando español en mis conversaciones con otras personas. Yo he aprendido todas los tiempos de los verbos, pero a veces yo pienso que mi español podría ser mucho mejor, y si he tomado más oportunidades para hablar o estudiar español, yo sabría el idioma mejor. A veces estoy frustrado cuando cometo un error, necesito hablar muy despacio o olvido palabras y conjugaciones que yo debería saber, y me doy cuenta de que todavía algunas cosas que aprender. Sin embargo, espero que tener motivación para aprender más en lugar de renunciar.
Por supuesto, mi tiempo en Guatemala no es solo para aprender español. Eran mis vacaciones de verano, y quise conocer un lugar nuevo y una cultura diferente. Guatemala seguramente excedió mis expectativas en como diverso y bonito es el país. Hay muchos tipos de lugares y actividades que hacer, incluyendo descansar en un precioso lago, ir de caminata al volcán mas alto de centroamérica, caminar por una linda ciudad colonial, ir de compras en un gran mercado al aire libre y ver un yacimiento Maya. Pero a menudo, estas lugares turísticos pueden entrometerse en conocer a la gente real de país. Porque me quedaba en una casa guatemalteca, conocía una familia guatemalteca real. Mi familia es muy simpática y siempre son mis segundos maestros, especialmente mi padre quien tiene entusiasmo para enseñarme y mi hermana quien tiene mucha paciencia conmigo. Nosotros teníamos muchas pláticas durante la cena mientras y después comíamos la comida típica de Guatemala (pero ahora, no puedo comer o mirar una tortilla de maíz otra vez). Pero mientras mi familia es una familia guatemalteca real, ellos son de la clase media alta en Guatemala y viven bien.
Sin embargo, también tenía la oportunidad de trabajar con la gente en la clínica (en Xela y en el campo), en la guardería y en el proyecto de estufas donde conocía a los guatemaltecos mejor. Además, en mis clases y en las conferencias, mis maestros enseñaban mucho sobre la vida, la cultura y la historia de los guatemaltecos en general. Mi escuela de español, Pop-Wuj, hace un buen trabajo de enseñar sobre Guatemala y ayudar a la gente de su país. A veces es muy triste pensar en la situación de la mayoría de los guatemaltecos mirando sus casas en el campo llenas de humo, sus niños sin padres quienes pueden cuidarlos o las personas con enfermedades o heridas. Pero ellos aún viven sus vidas completamente, y siempre he recibido una sonrisa en sus caras de vez en cuando. Es triste que la situación sea mala en Guatemala es principalmente porque de los Estados Unidos.
A veces no estoy seguro si yo ayudaba de verdad en la clínica. Es verdad que estaba haciendo trabajo real tomando los signos vitales y historia de los pacientes, organizando las medicinas en la farmacia y distribuyendolas a los pacientes. Porque era una persona de más en la clínica, es posible que el trabajo en la clínica sea más rápido. Pero tal vez mi español no era bastante para entenderme y yo daba la información incorrecta un entonces la cualidad de la salud era peor por mi culpa. Esta situación es muy posible especialmente al principio cuando me sentía menos cómodo con mi español y estar en la clínica. Por otro lado de siento que estaba ayudando más después de el tiempo que los estudiantes normalmente asisten al programa médico (por cuatro semanas y solo tres en la clínica). Para este tiempo, me sentía más seguro en la clínica y necesitaba enseñar a los otros estudiantes nuevos quienes no tenían experiencia allí. Me sentía el más útil cuando Lara, el director de la clínica, necesita enseñar a un grupo de los estudiantes nuevos en una parte de la clínica y podía enseñar a otro grupo en otra parte, lo cual resultó ser muy bueno en la clínica rural en la farmacia. Entonces, tal vez mi ayuda y mi daño se equilibraron durante mi tiempo aquí. Mientras Pop-Wuj requiere cuatro semanas en el programa de medicina, pienso que no es bastante tiempo para ayudar. Para ayudar de verdad, creo que se necesita por lo menos tres meses en un país, especialmente por algo como trabajo en una clínica. En mi opinión, es muy loable cuando las personas toman este tiempo de sus vidas para ayudar en una manera auténtica. Entonces, creo que el tiempo que la mayoría de la personas y yo hemos pasado en este programa no es para ayudar de verdad a la gente local pero solo para tener una experencia para nosotros.
Después de nueve semanas en centroamérica, estoy listo para regresar. Es muy triste que yo necesite salir y decir adiós a todas las personas que he conocido durante mi tiempo en este país. Pero estoy muy feliz que decidí venir a este país y tener esta experiencia en Guatemala, y es una experencia que nunca olvidaré. | | |
| Two weekends ago may have been the coolest trip I have ever done (and may ever do) in my life. A bunch of us from my Spanish school, including Jean and Peter from Columbia, went to Lanquin and Semuc Champey for a day and a half, which took us 11 hours and three different buses to get there. Even with the long ride, the journey was completely worth it. We had been recommended a hostel called El Retiro Lodge in Lanquin, which was described to me as a resort, and it pretty much came close to what I imagined a Guatemalan hostel-resort would be like. Right by a river, the hostel had different huts (named after different animals in Spanish) that we slept in. In front of the huts, as well as elsewhere on the grounds, were hammocks where you could also sleep for the night for even cheaper than having a real bed. There was also a full bar with swings as stools, where they served an amazing Mexican buffet the first night we arrived. Not only was this easily the coolest hostel I have stayed at, but it was also the cheapest, at merely 35 quetzales (or less than $4.50 a night). However, it wasn't the hostel that made the experience worthwhile, but the trips out from the hostel. The first evening, a few of us headed to the nearby Lanquin Caves, where at sunset, hundreds of thousands of bats fly out of the cave every night. After exploring the cave and the multiple rock formations named after animals that they resembled, we were able to sit right in the inside of the mouth of the cave, where the bats surrounded us at dusk while flying out into the night. The next day, we took a full day trip to Semuc Champey and the caves nearby. After getting ourselves wet jumping off a swing into the river, we headed into the water caves, each of us with a candle in hand, which would be the only source of light (in addition to the few headlights a few of us in the group brought) as we went deeper in the caves. Much of the time we had to swim from rock to rock or ledge to ledge with one hand in the air to keep our candles lit, or grab on to a few of the ladders and ropes that had been permanently fixed in the caves to make the spelunking easier. However, having to jump through a waterfall in the cave essentially kept my candle too wet to relight again, but fortunately our guides were able to keep us with light with their own candles. After exploring the caves for 2 hours, we came back out and went tubing down the river before they let us jump off the 10-meter high bridge into the river if we wanted. Following the jump, we finally made it over to see Semuc Champey, which is a gorgeous natural limestone bridge created over the river that holds pools of turquoise-blue water. There is also a climb to the lookout point, where there's a great view of all the pools. Unfortunately, it's not easy for me to upload the pictures I have, but here's a shot from the internet (and I recommend doing a Google Image search for more pictures).
It's definitely one of the most beautiful places I've been to in my life, and am surprised it's not more well-known outside of Guatemala.
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| Hola mis amigos! I just finished up my first three weeks in Guatemala and finally decided to give an update on how everything's been going. If you don't know, I decided to come to live in Guatemala for 2 months (with a week trip to Costa Rica) this summer in order to immerse myself and learn Spanish. The vast majority of the patients that I will see at Columbia are Spanish-speaking only, and even though it's not required, I feel that it's necessary to know enough Spanish to communicate to patients during my third and fourth years without always requiring a translator. I'm studying in the city of Xela (Quetzaltenango) at Pop-Wuj, which has a great Medical Spanish program, and am down in the same city with a bunch of my other classmates.
So far, Guatemala has been amazing! Everything from the school, my host family, the culture, the people, and nature here have been absolutely great. My Spanish has definitely been improving a lot and I can fairly easily have conversations with my teacher, family, and other students, but I definintely still have the most problems with understanding people, particularly those on the street who talk very fast or slurred (or use vocabulary/slang I haven't learned yet). My family has been extremely nice and hospitability, and they are very patient with me when it comes to my Spanish. Only one of the sons is fluent in English, so the the vast majority of the time I am forced to speak Spanish to communicate my needs. I'm pretty sure I lucked out too because I have a very nice room with its own bathroom, and while the hot water and pressure works a little differently here, I am still living quite comfortably.
When I'm not studying Spanish, I've had a chance to explore some of the incredible nature here. Already, I've been to the highest point in Central America, after climbing the inactive volcano Tajumulco, and also hiked to Chicabal, a lagoon inside of crater of an extinct volcano. There are also amazing hot springs less than an hour away, as well as Lake Atitlan, where a group of us went for a weekend. The entire time I had great food and felt like I was relaxing on a beach, and had the chance to kayak on the lake and do some horseback riding (all for very cheap)! When I get back, I'll be sure to post some of the beautiful pictures of the scenery that I never imagined I'd see here.
The medical program has been going well. The first week we had lectures in cultural competency, which included a lot of the history of the country. This has also been supplemented by weekly lectures that I have attended, which so far have been on the economy and the education system of Guatemala. Last week, a group of doctors and nurses from the United States came over and helped out in the clinic. There is a clinic at Pop-Wuj, as well as a weekly trip out to one of the rural villages in order to offer medical services where there aren't any. Lara, the current coordinator, has seemed to make everything very organized and I actually feel like I am being a help rather than a burden to the people in the clinic. So far, I helped to translate Spanish for Kathy, the visiting occupational therapist, worked in the pharmacy (which is much more complicated than I thought it'd be), and shadowed one of the visiting doctors while getting patients and translating a bit here and there. The same doctor also talked to me and Jean about using some data from the clinic to do some research, which could be really interesting if we're able to get it all figured out and collect the data while we're here.
Pop-Wuj, which was created to be more than a Spanish School, has multiple service projects, including their Stove Project, where they build stoves in homes in rural communities. Most of these homes have only one room, where they do all their cooking, living, and sleeping. Without stoves, smoke from the fires they use to prepare their food accumulates in the homes, causing chronic respiratory infections for the entire family living there. During my first week in Guatemala before I started the medical program, I was able to help build one, which was very rewarding since it felt like we were actually doing something tangible to improve the health and quality of life of people who really need it. Unfortunately, our rural clinic day in the medical program conflicts with when they do the Stove Project, but I plan on going back my last week in Guatemala.
Hopefully I'll be able to update more often and let you know how things are going. Hasta luego!
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