Sunday, December 22, 2013
Newest Nickname
My friends in Cuba gave me the nickname BlackLock which is from the old TV show Matlock. They said I pay attention to every little detail of everything and analyze it in a way that allows me to come to conclusions really fast, and figure out mysteries. They were like, she's like Matlock, but black, and thus BlackLock! I take it as a compliment, even though I think it could be misinterpreted as nosy. That adds to the list of nicknames I've had over the years like sista born-ready, sunshine, signal light, and lawyer/defender! All things that are good for a future doctor!
My World Is Changing
Hey All My Blog Followers!
I know I'm kind of mushy and always into some "weird" stuff, but sometimes I just sit and think about how much my world has changed. My diet is completely different now from what it was 5 years ago. I used to eat just about everything, except meat since I've been a cheese and egg vegetarian for almost 20 years. Now, I really do avoid lots of unhealthy things and incorporate lots of new veggies, spices and whole grains that I never would have considered in the past. My family is very different now, and continues to change. My sister who is closest to me in age has 3 kids under 3 years old, and is pregnant again with twins! I never thought she would have so many little ones so fast! My mom also has lung cancer, which is the same thing that took her mother's life, and that has brought it's own struggle for me and my family. My love interest is not a person I would have seen myself with 5 years ago. He's from the English speaking Caribbean, and I didn't know enough about Caribbean culture 5 years ago to really understand or appreciate him, but I'm learning more and more about him and where he comes from every day. My friends are very different from friends I had in the past. My whole world really is different. I am not as angry or vengeful as I was in the past. I feel like I've really learned to be a better listener and not just wait to talk. I have been fortunate to meet people, mostly women, who are loving, compassionate, humble, mindful and just like angels here on earth who have showed me the type of woman I want to be. I really feel very blessed and very fortunate to be where I am today, and I hope that everyone can experience the type of peace and contentment I feel with my life now. Things are by no means perfect, and I would never claim that. I still have issues with Cuba. I still have issues with the US, and I still have issues with myself. All that being said, I am still very happy with my growth and development these past few years. I just wanted to share that.
I know I'm kind of mushy and always into some "weird" stuff, but sometimes I just sit and think about how much my world has changed. My diet is completely different now from what it was 5 years ago. I used to eat just about everything, except meat since I've been a cheese and egg vegetarian for almost 20 years. Now, I really do avoid lots of unhealthy things and incorporate lots of new veggies, spices and whole grains that I never would have considered in the past. My family is very different now, and continues to change. My sister who is closest to me in age has 3 kids under 3 years old, and is pregnant again with twins! I never thought she would have so many little ones so fast! My mom also has lung cancer, which is the same thing that took her mother's life, and that has brought it's own struggle for me and my family. My love interest is not a person I would have seen myself with 5 years ago. He's from the English speaking Caribbean, and I didn't know enough about Caribbean culture 5 years ago to really understand or appreciate him, but I'm learning more and more about him and where he comes from every day. My friends are very different from friends I had in the past. My whole world really is different. I am not as angry or vengeful as I was in the past. I feel like I've really learned to be a better listener and not just wait to talk. I have been fortunate to meet people, mostly women, who are loving, compassionate, humble, mindful and just like angels here on earth who have showed me the type of woman I want to be. I really feel very blessed and very fortunate to be where I am today, and I hope that everyone can experience the type of peace and contentment I feel with my life now. Things are by no means perfect, and I would never claim that. I still have issues with Cuba. I still have issues with the US, and I still have issues with myself. All that being said, I am still very happy with my growth and development these past few years. I just wanted to share that.
Monday, July 22, 2013
"1st World" Woman Living in the "3rd World"
I didn't know much about the world outside the US growing up. I don't know if I just never learned anything about how people live in other countries, or I just didn't pay attention. Either way, I feel like I was really ignorant, and even though I have learned quite a bit these last 4 1/2 years living with people from over 80 countries in the "3rd world," I still have a lot to learn.
One thing I've learned is that not everyone lives like the kids on those ridiculous save the children ads. My friends are very clean, they have fashion, they have culture and pride in where they're from, and they make things work despite their apparent lack of resources. I wasn't necessarily surprised to see how many people look good, smell good and just overall exude confidence and swagg, but it was definitely new to me. I thought people would look "poor" whatever that means, but people look fine. With some cultures, like Caribbean culture and Central American culture, image is everything! People stay ironed, matched up from head to toe, cologned/perfumed, hair always done, always sharp...I can't keep up!
Something people sometimes ask me is how people react to me, being that I'm American living in Cuba, and people think America is the promise land, so why did I leave. I'm not really a typical American in America or outside America, so my experience is very different. I don't want to go into why my American experience has been different, but I will say that, even though I'm the exact same color as many Cubans, with the same hair and everything, very few people think I'm Cuban. It's not like in South Africa, where I could blend in. Cubans have a way of dressing and carrying themselves that makes it kind of obvious who's Cuban and who's not. I usually respond to Cubans, who often think I'm African (I take it as a compliment :-), that I think Cuba is beautiful and I'm very grateful for the sacrifice Cuban people make in order to allow me to study in their country for free. I usually add that MY country isn't paying for me to go to medical school for free, so why not come? Plus, everything that glitters isn't gold so don't get caught up on the hype of the American dream. People have to work really hard, and often the people who work the hardest, make the least. There's a lot of discrimination, profiling, abuse and depression. There are beautiful things too, but America isn't perfect, and I can always use a little break from it.
I really like the noise in Cuba. Being back here, everything feels really quiet. In Cuba, there's music everywhere! There's live music at a lot of cafes. There's a radio with techno or reggaeton at all the cafeterias. The city bus plays reggaeton, oldies from the states (Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, Frankie Beverly and Maze!), salsa music, pop music...they be jammin on the bus! It's just a good time. People are always dancing. Here you can only get public music at bars or very quietly in restaurants...it's really an adjustment coming back.
Other than a few other small things to add to the small things I've already mentioned, it's really not that different for me. Yes, I hand-wash clothes, no I don't have hot water or AC, yes I walk almost everywhere or take the bus (sometimes its so full I'm hanging out of the door), yes I recycle almost everything (saving clothes by sewing them shut, using plastic bottles as planters, even turning old yogurt to new with fresh milk), yes I live in small spaces with lots of people, yes we run out of gloves, water, soap, space, sheets and just about everything you can think of except for doctors at the hospital, BUT I am still human, just like the people I live with, and we always make a way to survive and live a happy and dignified life. This experience has been so valuable to me that no words can really express how grateful I am to Cuba and all my friends and family and all the politicians, activists, business and community people who have made this happen! If I could do it all over again, in a heartbeat, I most certainly would!
One thing I've learned is that not everyone lives like the kids on those ridiculous save the children ads. My friends are very clean, they have fashion, they have culture and pride in where they're from, and they make things work despite their apparent lack of resources. I wasn't necessarily surprised to see how many people look good, smell good and just overall exude confidence and swagg, but it was definitely new to me. I thought people would look "poor" whatever that means, but people look fine. With some cultures, like Caribbean culture and Central American culture, image is everything! People stay ironed, matched up from head to toe, cologned/perfumed, hair always done, always sharp...I can't keep up!
Something people sometimes ask me is how people react to me, being that I'm American living in Cuba, and people think America is the promise land, so why did I leave. I'm not really a typical American in America or outside America, so my experience is very different. I don't want to go into why my American experience has been different, but I will say that, even though I'm the exact same color as many Cubans, with the same hair and everything, very few people think I'm Cuban. It's not like in South Africa, where I could blend in. Cubans have a way of dressing and carrying themselves that makes it kind of obvious who's Cuban and who's not. I usually respond to Cubans, who often think I'm African (I take it as a compliment :-), that I think Cuba is beautiful and I'm very grateful for the sacrifice Cuban people make in order to allow me to study in their country for free. I usually add that MY country isn't paying for me to go to medical school for free, so why not come? Plus, everything that glitters isn't gold so don't get caught up on the hype of the American dream. People have to work really hard, and often the people who work the hardest, make the least. There's a lot of discrimination, profiling, abuse and depression. There are beautiful things too, but America isn't perfect, and I can always use a little break from it.
I really like the noise in Cuba. Being back here, everything feels really quiet. In Cuba, there's music everywhere! There's live music at a lot of cafes. There's a radio with techno or reggaeton at all the cafeterias. The city bus plays reggaeton, oldies from the states (Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, Frankie Beverly and Maze!), salsa music, pop music...they be jammin on the bus! It's just a good time. People are always dancing. Here you can only get public music at bars or very quietly in restaurants...it's really an adjustment coming back.
Other than a few other small things to add to the small things I've already mentioned, it's really not that different for me. Yes, I hand-wash clothes, no I don't have hot water or AC, yes I walk almost everywhere or take the bus (sometimes its so full I'm hanging out of the door), yes I recycle almost everything (saving clothes by sewing them shut, using plastic bottles as planters, even turning old yogurt to new with fresh milk), yes I live in small spaces with lots of people, yes we run out of gloves, water, soap, space, sheets and just about everything you can think of except for doctors at the hospital, BUT I am still human, just like the people I live with, and we always make a way to survive and live a happy and dignified life. This experience has been so valuable to me that no words can really express how grateful I am to Cuba and all my friends and family and all the politicians, activists, business and community people who have made this happen! If I could do it all over again, in a heartbeat, I most certainly would!
Friday, July 19, 2013
Newly Committed to Health!
So, what I want to do is basically teach people who live in low income settings to eat well, exercise and manage stress. So many people focus on having money as a way to bring health, but the reality for a lot of people in my community in the US and worldwide, is that they don't have much money, and may never have much. Instead of just telling them to either get more money or never be healthy, I would like to teach them to use the few resources they DO have to make healthier choices, and to really change their priorities when it comes to how they use their resources whether it be their time, energy, money, etc. It's something I've struggled with and am still learning, so my patients can teach me and we can improve together.
We want to start this work even before we graduate with families in Cuba, and have already started formative research to do that. We are currently planning, organizing and looking for support with the project we would like to start in the Spring 2014. If anyone has any interesting documentaries, books, articles, info, funding sources, etc, they would like to share, please let me know!
Preventive Medicine Research Institute
Always a little weird to be back...
So I'm back home again, and there are so many things that are oddly new to me. The first thing that struck me was the auto-change toilet seat cover in the restroom at the airport. The toilet said it was "ready" for me. Weird! I was still a little skeptical about sitting on it, but I went ahead and did it. After I used it, I wanted to see if it would be automatically "ready" for the next person, but it didn't do anything besides flush, which made me feel like I had been deceived by the toilet. Why is that even an issue? The next thing was the warm water in a public restroom sink. I LOVE washing my hands with warm water. It just feels so nice, and it's something I really missed and appreciated about the first world. I actually forgot that it was a possibility and when I felt it, it was like "aaahhh....nice!"
Aside from those silly things about being back, there are bigger things like death and destruction, disregard for human life, intense fear, widespread obesity, mistreatment of our environment, corporate greed and all sorts of weird things that are particularly striking in the US that are really depressing. I really want to dedicate myself to loving all mankind as if they were my sisters and brothers and really sharing my life with my brothers and sisters. Aside from just deciding that in my profession, I will love with God's love, in the grocery store, while driving, playing sports, wherever...I want to make my best effort, to always love people. I know this may sound all hippy like, but its real.
I really miss my family, and because of studying, I haven't had a chance yet to catch up with people like I want to. I almost always cry when I arrive and usually an hour later, my mom and/or sisters come to the airport and pick me up in some vehicle that may or may not even be running properly, but they made it! This year, I'm going to have to wait 7 weeks to see my mom and those sisters, which hurts, and changes the experience of coming home. I still appreciate all the family and friends I've been able to see, but it's different.
Last but not least, I'm just happy to be alive and well. Once again, I was sick this year with gastrointestinal issues, and as a result I lost a significant amount of weight. I'm happy to be feeling strong and ready to work! I love working. I love having responsibilities, and I'm very grateful that my health is not in the way of that. It's a blessing to be able to do with your body what your mind wants. So yea...that's being back this year.
Aside from those silly things about being back, there are bigger things like death and destruction, disregard for human life, intense fear, widespread obesity, mistreatment of our environment, corporate greed and all sorts of weird things that are particularly striking in the US that are really depressing. I really want to dedicate myself to loving all mankind as if they were my sisters and brothers and really sharing my life with my brothers and sisters. Aside from just deciding that in my profession, I will love with God's love, in the grocery store, while driving, playing sports, wherever...I want to make my best effort, to always love people. I know this may sound all hippy like, but its real.
I really miss my family, and because of studying, I haven't had a chance yet to catch up with people like I want to. I almost always cry when I arrive and usually an hour later, my mom and/or sisters come to the airport and pick me up in some vehicle that may or may not even be running properly, but they made it! This year, I'm going to have to wait 7 weeks to see my mom and those sisters, which hurts, and changes the experience of coming home. I still appreciate all the family and friends I've been able to see, but it's different.
Last but not least, I'm just happy to be alive and well. Once again, I was sick this year with gastrointestinal issues, and as a result I lost a significant amount of weight. I'm happy to be feeling strong and ready to work! I love working. I love having responsibilities, and I'm very grateful that my health is not in the way of that. It's a blessing to be able to do with your body what your mind wants. So yea...that's being back this year.
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