Day 5 - en los médicos clases de español.

              Field Trip Day – It was a cultural day journey into the pueblo (town) of Tequila. This town is famous for its tequila ever since a man by the name of Jose Cuervo  came and opened, The José Cuervo Tequila Factory, La Rojeńa . This is the first of four that continue to operate in Guadalajara. I was excited to find out that we would be touring the factory and finding out about where Tequila comes from and how it is made into the alcohol that so many people purchase yearly. Jose Cuervo is the number one distributor of Tequila in the world. It comes in three different types: blanco, reposado, and anejo. Their name is indicative of the number of years it spends inside wooden barrels.

The plants used to make the Tequila are called agave, planta de agave. Within the plant toward the base, the pina (pineapple) is located. The pina is known as the heart of the agave. The plants take 7-10 years to be ready for cutting.

Once a pina is ready, the process of making tequila can begin. The plants are chopped down to size with machetes. Then they are put into very large ovens, where they stay for about 30 hours. Once that is done, the pina needs to sit and cool for approximantly 8 hours. The pina is then taken to be milled and juiced. The juice of the agave plant is put into large vats, for the fermentation process. The pina fibers are placed into a truck, where it can be taken and used to make recycled products. From there the juice of the pina is put into barrels, for the aging process. This process can be from just a few months to many years. I found the processes of making tequila very interesting. I never realized how detailed the process was. After we completed our tour we were given free time to shop and eat.

The small town had some beautiful architecture. The people were friendly and kind. I took many picture and the following are just a few of what what I captured.

              

The chopping of the agave plant

The chopping of the pina.

                                                                       
                                                                    The Oven

The Mill

Unfotunitly we were unable to get photos of the vats and barrels, because the gases that they use and snapping a photo, could case a spark.

One thing that I always have to remember with nursing is -TAKE TIME for yourself on your days off.

Favorite Spanish sentence of the day – Puedo tomar una foto, Por favor?  – I choose this photo because I practiced my Spanish speaking skills by asking some gentlemen in Tequila if I could, “Can I take your photo, Please?

                                                                         The Gentlemen

                                                          The Church in the center of the plaza

                                     My friend and I infront of the church in the center the plaza

Day 4 - en los médicos clases de español.

                 WOW!! It is already day 4. The time seems to fly by. Today in our medical Spanish class we learned more about speaking with patients during consultations and physicals. We were sent out to survey someone on campus and ask them medical questions in Spanish. The activity went well and the participants that we asked were very accommodating and pleasant. When we came back to class we practiced more questions and answers that we would use when conversing with a patient. I think one of the most helpful things that we do in class is roll play.

Yesterday during my blog I said that I would talk about my favorite historical finding from the center, but first I need to clear up a little mistake from yesterday’s blog. I was told today that what I thought was a representation of using masks to promote a presidential candidate, was actually making fun of the current president and the political party that they represent.  Okay now I can talk about what historical finding that captured my interest. There is a structure called the la Rotunda de los Hombre llustres, which means, The Rotunda of the illustrious men. This structure caught my attention because after I read the information on the plaque, I found out that the Rotunda was renamed after a woman by the name of Rita Perez DeMoreno was inducted into the Rotunda because of her heroism of independence for Guadalajara. The name was changed to The Rotunda of the illustrious people. I thought that this was quite moving because a woman’s efforts changed a part of history.

One thing that I always have to remember with nursing is - YOU can always make a DIFFERENCE!!

Favorite Spanish sentence of the day – No gracias. Estoy muy llena?

 Day 3 - en los médicos clases de español.

         Today was a very interesting day. We were told that we would be going on an investigation to the Historical Center of Guadalajara. The center is about a 30 minute drive from where we are staying. We were told to take a taxi. When we told our house mother and her nephew, they decided that he would go with us, for safety. I had no idea what we were in store for. The streets were very busy on the way there, especially during rush hour traffic. The driving and rules of the road are a lot different from the states. As we entered the roundabout we were amazed to see all of the political campaigning that was taking place. Today was the last day for campaigners to make a lasting impression on the public. Some of the supporters held signs and wore masks that looked like one of the presidential candidates face. I had never seen anything like it. There were buses with campaign signs plastered on them, megaphones chanting their presidential candidates’ names and trucks with signage honking in tune. The people of Guadalajara, Mexico take a lot of interest in politics. They have a voice and they want it to be heard. It is competitive between the different political parties, but it seems to be peaceful.

Once we arrived at the Center we had to find answers to 8 questions about the surrounding area. While we walked around looking for answers to our questions we saw campaign booths set up in a large plaza. Each booth was giving food or small gifts away to anyone that came by. Our house mother’s nephew said that if you give the people a gift, then you will get their vote. He also said that today was the last day for campaigning before the election. The election is July 1^st.

We finished our investigation quickly before it became dark. It is a beautiful and very architecturally stunning area, but we were told that it was not safe to be there after dark. I will blog about the some of my favorite historical finding from the center tomorrow.    

One thing that I always have to remember with nursing is, PATIENT ADVOCACY!!

Favorite Spanish sentence of the day – A que es alergico?

 

 Day 2 - en los médicos clases de español.

Today began another of extreme day of Spanish comprehension and grammar. I have already begun to see how difficult it is for someone from another country to come to a place that is unlike their own and learn a new language. You are accustomed to just being able to ask someone, “Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to….?” They understand what you are saying and they answer your question. Now that I am in Guadalajara I see how difficult it is to communicate when you don’t know the language. I am slowly beginning to understand bits and pieces, but the language is spoken so quickly that sometimes it is hard to pick up on what is being said. My host mother truly understands our frustration. She speaks very little English and she says, “All I hear is blah blah blah blah”, she feels so sad because she wants so badly to communicate with us and we want to do the same.

The professors are very patient and extremely intelligent in their profession. Most of them speak more than one language. We do a lot of practicing with the other students in the class. That is very helpful when you have repetition. I think the hardest part is the amount of information that is given to us in one day. It is like taking a 16 week course and condensing it down into 4 weeks, well actually 2 weeks because we are at clinical for the second 2 weeks. One thing that I always have to remember with nursing is, BE READY FOR ANYTHING!!

Favorite Spanish sentence of the day – Que tenga un buen dia.  

Day 1 - en los médicos clases de español.

              WOW....It was an extremely exhausting day. I guess I didn't understand what this course truly entailed and I should have taken the words "intensive" learning to heart!! The day consisted of first taking a test to see what level of grammatical Spanish we would be in. Then we entered the grammatical class with students that had started the course a couple of weeks prior. Then we went onto medical Spanish class where we learned all of the exterior body parts and how to write up a patient assessment. Then we had to rush down and get our pictures taken for our student cards. Then we rushed back to make it to our practical where we took what we had learned in the class prior and used a game to remember the body parts. Finally, our fourth class was cultural aspects. We learned about both formal and informal ways to show expression, such as, have a good day. My brain was on system overload by time three o'clock came. There was a lot of homework, but a mind break was definitely needed before we began. One thing that I always have to remember with nursing is, FLEXIBILITY!!

 Once classes had concluded my 2 colleagues and I walked home to our host family’s home. Our host family is extremely generous and accommodating. I have already learned so much about the Hispanic culture. I noticed that my host mother would begin dinner promptly when her nephew was hungry. Also she would serve food to him before serving us. I also learned that in Hispanic culture it is important to the woman of the house that you are not hungry and plates are overflowing with food. This is very hard for me to get used to because I do not typically eat 3 full meals in a day. My host mother is very sympathetic to my likes and dislikes of food and so I am very appreciative and grateful.

 The weather is a very interesting subject. When we first arrived, I thought that it was not really as humid as I was thinking it would be. But I was wrong. The sticky feeling is not something that you can get used to easily. In the evenings it cools down and it becomes wonderful to sit outside in. Then at about 2 am in the morning thunder and lightning begin to play their song. It was extremely loud and startling. In the morning, it was just fine, not a rain cloud in the sky.

Favorite spanish sentence of the day - La enfermera me tomó el pulso en la muñeca. 

Almost there....Flying through the international skies. We are about 20 minutes from touching down into Guadalajara, Mexico. I am excited about the adventure, but I am also starting to come to the realization that I have left my wonderful husband and beautiful children for a month.