I was starting to feel really good about being here, as if I was starting to become integrated within this community. I could drink the tap water without problems, carry a conversation with someone on the street, and even started making friends with some of the colectivo drivers who regularly dropped me off at school. Sure I kept getting these odd bug bites more and more every day, but this whole thing would stop soon, right? Wrong. So what was going on?
Bedbugs.
To preface, practically nobody in Chile even knows what bedbugs are. So it was never actually confirmed that there were bedbugs living in my room (I'm shuddering just typing this). However - after doing my own research and piecing everything together, I was fully convinced that I have been fighting off a pretty stubborn group of bedbugs during my time here. While reading some homework in my bed one night, a small, brown bug crawled across my page. Not really thinking, I squished the little guy and flicked him away. As soon as I went back to reading, I noticed there was blood splattered on my page from where the bug was. So, being the typical hypochondriac I have become from 20 years of living with Peter and Deborah, I WebMD'd my bites, my symptoms, and bugs that eat blood. Knowing ticks weren't common in my area, and that I hadn't seen any other bugs but would always wake up with new bites, I started focusing in on bedbugs, as painful as it was for me to admit to myself. After googling 15 pages of images of the bites and comparing the entire upper half of my body to what I'd found, I was convinced - the Chilean bedbugs had gotten me. What was worse was that this revelation took place at 1:00am and I would have to go to sleep on my bedbug-infested bed. I finally gathered the chutzpah to wake up my host mother and explain everything I had found to her. The most difficult thing was that my mother had never even heard of bedbugs. Trying to explain to someone that a room in their house was infected with an insect they've never heard of is one thing, but the intricacies of the bedbug and how hard it is to find/kill them while in a different language seemed nearly impossible. My mom was super skeptical of my findings, as I frantically searched the internet for Spanish translations that explained everything about bedbugs. Thankfully, my mother communicated my findings to the entire family and maid the next day, and decided to hire an exterminator. After taking my bed apart down to its frame, all the curtains off the windows, carefully searching all upholstered furniture, moving every one of my possessions out of my room, and sleeping with my sister in her bed, my room was exterminated and we are waiting to see what happens. While we'll never know what was actually sucking my blood every night, I am stubbornly convinced that it's the Chilean Bed Bug Outbreak of 2011 (outbreak because another girl, Gillian, in my program may have it too, haha). That or this is revenge for never reading those insane Twilight books...
Last weekend was a constant party on September 18th, Chile's Independence Day. For three days, the entire country eats, drinks, and dances until they can no more, wearing traditional garments and decorating everything in red, white, and blue (their flag is almost identical to that of Texas'). Little booths are set up all over the country, selling typical foods such as empanadas, drinks such as chicha, and mini Chilean flags that people cover their cars with. This also means that we have 10 days off of school (I'm not arguing), and our group chose to take a trip to northern Chile to the desert of San Pedro de Atacama (I finally got back from the driest desert on Earth yesterday, so I promise to devote an entire blog next time to what we did there). My family decided to throw an asado, or barbecue/grill/get-together, the day before my trip for 30 friends and family. I was introduced to Chileans of all ages, to elementary school-aged Benja to grandparents in their 90s who could handle their vino better than anyone else. After consuming more empanadas, Chilean salad (literally tomato and onion) and pisco than we all could handle, certain family members and friends led the group in singing traditional patriotic songs and dancing the cueca. The party seemed to never end as we danced until the sun went down on our backyard patio. Seeing Chile's version of the 4th of July was incredible, and truly made for one of my most exciting days here. I can't even complain about the entire family trying to set me up with someone's son at the party!
My host mother's boyfriend, in the black hat and grey shirt above, has also given me some wonderful opportunities to further my career in dentistry during my time here. As a professor at one of the local universities, Raul has numerous connections in the area with various professionals, and with his hilarious and loud personality he seems to make friends with everyone in the country. Raul already set up a shadowing opportunity for me with a general dentist in the area, where I was able to sit in on tons of different procedures and learn the Spanish translations for a lot of the things I learned during my internship at Dr. Cassidy's office this summer. Raul has recently informed me that he has a female pediatric dentist friend who would love to have me shadow soon. Seeing how healthcare, especially the field of dentistry, works in another country has been incredible, allowing me to compare what I see in both countries and apply all the aspects I like to my future career as a dentist. Dental insurance is uncommon and very expensive in Chile, and every patient who came in was wealthy and educated. All of them even spoke English and gave me a "good luck and nice to meet you!" on their way out! I can't wait to compare all of my shadowing experiences in the US to those on the other side of the equator and show future dental schools just how passionate I am about all of this.
NEXT: My spring break adventures in the driest place on Earth - San Pedro de Atacama!
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