Our Little Getaway in Salvador

My time with MHIRT has been phenomenal and I do not think I could have asked for anymore. From Morenike’s expertise on Portuguese and anything Brazilian to Donovan’s willingness to help everyone and to Norman’s very contagious energy and smile, I do not think I would get this attached to this experience and my roommates. We plan on making this last week and a half the best it can be, as we all wrap up our research. Personally, my research is nearing its final stage, and I think I have gained plenty by familiarizing myself with the entire process. My greatest joy has been getting close with the rest of the people in my lab. I have watched two of them defend their theses to get their masters’ degrees, and the joy was palpable. These are the memories that will last. This also stems from slowly growing accustomed to Portuguese.

This week, we got to experience a whole different side of Brazil. We have spent the 7 weeks before this in Florianopolis and we have loved all of our time there. Yet, we knew we wanted to experience another historical and culturally significant city before we leave, which turned out to be Salvador. We have explored so many parts of this wonderful city. We walked around the famous Pelearinho neighborhood. My favorite part of this little getaway was the time we spent in a market on Saturday. I bought a couple jerseys and souvenirs, and I just enjoyed seeing all of the handcrafted goods present. This was an amazing time spent in Salvador.

Cooking the PCR

Cooking the PCR

Welp. We are running out of time. It seems the weeks keep going by faster and faster with each day, and, yet, there is still so much to do, to learn, to experience. I am just now realizing in a few weeks we will be home, and that makes me want to spend more days playing soccer with Leo and Diego (our mentors), more days finding new cappuccino stores on the USP campus, and more days at Caju Verde, our weekly restaurant after lab. I know I'm going to miss every second, but I am going to miss the people the most. 

Yet, the memories we have made so far don't disappoint. Starting with this beautiful view we had at Pão de Acúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) on our escape to Rio de Janeiro. 

Fun fact: the wonderful woman who took this picture for us below was literally lying on the ground to take this photo. If you ever go,

Our AMAZING mentors invited us out to a "bonfire" one night at one of their friends' houses who used to work at the university. We spent the night eating and drinking amazing Brazilian food and drinks as well as meeting lovely new people who were beyond gracious enough to have us in their home.

To cap it all off, yesterday, we had to present the research we have done so far to our entire lab.. While it wasn't supposed to be stressful, I think we all were on edge. At first I was very nervous, like I am to get during normal classroom presentations; however, after I started speaking, I quickly realized I was surrounded by my newly found family (and they are all located below). Whether we are "cooking the PCR", schooling them in soccer (yes Sophiana, G, and I won 4-3 against our Leo, Diego, and Christina), or telling them our crazy adventure stories, I think they are going to miss us too. 

 Furthermore, shoutout to Dr. Diego Decleva for earning his doctorate in Neuroscience! 

Also, let it be known that they invited us back to Sao Paulo despite how crazy we are! No matter what, the story continues..

Obrigada, Sao Paulo!

Here’s a little life update:

We have wrapped up most of our lab work and spent the last week preparing for our presentations to our lab members. It was very nerve-wracking getting everything together, but everyone did a great job! Dr. Dora and all of our mentors were proud of our work, and it is amazing to think back to how far we have come. 

Attached is a photo of me before my presentation. I talked about how the distribution and density of cells in snakes’ retinas have changed over time based on their unique environments. 

We now have less than 2 weeks left in Sao Paulo, and I have so much I’m going to miss. I will miss my daily cappuccinos from the sweet lady outside the lab. I will miss working with Ju and our lunch breaks to USP’s cafeteria. I will miss my and G’s coffee breaks to the candy truck. I will miss our weekend adventures with a never ending list of things to explore. I will miss this childlike curiosity for everything I see and do while here in Brazil.

However, while I have so much that I am going to miss; these are all memories that I have so much to be thankful for. Thank you, MHIRT, for this once in a lifetime opportunity, and thank you to all my amazing lab members for welcoming us into your country! I have learned so much in lab, but- even more importantly- I have learned so much about a new culture of people. Obrigada, Sao Paulo!

Empoderamiento de los Jóvenes

I can’t believe we only have a week left and my time at AMOS is coming to an end. This past week we had our youth group meet along with some new faces that came for a 4-day gender equity training. During the training we defined gender and discussed our perceptions of gender and how structures are set up to keep things “in order” I learned so much from the training every single day and I’m so glad I could be a part of a place where so many youths felt safe to express themselves and share their ideas and experiences.

By the end of the training, we all reflected on our experiences with our parents. When everyone shared there was a common theme that emerged. Many of the traits they liked about their relationship with their parents they also wanted to change. They split into groups and made an action plan on how they could change their relationship with their parents from education programs to something as simple as talking without technology present. Each day we learned something new. Each day we broke down barriers. The final activity we made a promise to ourselves. The promise I made to myself was to work on being comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Before coming here, I knew nothing about Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). Now I’m leaving with so much experience on how to use CBPR and why it’s so important to work “with” the community and not “for” the community. There are some many details we don’t think about when we don’t involve the community and I’ve got to see first hand the difference. My time may be ending here for the summer, but it doesn’t stop here. I can’t wait to bring CBPR back and use it in the future.

Full Circle

There is only one way to describe my current time in Brazil- “fully submerged”. I have never lived in another country before or even traveled abroad, but there was no way I could have prepared myself for the changes I have faced thus far. Now, understand that I am still enjoying every minute of this experience, but cultural differences really put life into perspective. Florianopolis is a beautiful city and every morning I am awakened by glowing rays of the sun’s light as it arises between two green mountains. Given that I am a fan of American mafia biographies, it is what I imagined to be Cuba’s Casablanca. It is a great escape from reality, but even the American gangsters had to acknowledge the influence of Castro and communism.

Analogously, the beauty of Brazil can blind one to the issues. This is partially due to our American naïveté but also because of a slight façade presented by geographical location and ethnic uniformity. I am from Atlanta, a city rich in African-American history and people, where I don’t often feel like a minority even amongst other ethnicities. In Floripa, the difference is clear. Also, there is a large wealth disparity gap that can be observed in the communities with two story homes next to shacks without windows. Comparatively, we have taken a trip to Salvador, Bahia, a state in northern Brazil that is culturally rich with African ancestry. Here, I was reminded we are tourists in Brazil, whether in Floripa or Salvador, but Floripa offers a veil of protection in the cultural uniformity of the people; whereas Salvador’s people are noticeably burdened with socioeconomic disparity that affects people’s ability to achieve happiness.

In my last post I mentioned the parallelisms between America and Brazil. I have recently found another parallel in the fact that the minority people tend to suffer the greatest economic disparity despite having a history so rich. Salvador is saturated with African ancestral ties as can be seen in the naming of communities after African deities and even common phrases and sayings that have ties to African dialects. The people remind me of African-Americans in Atlanta in fact. They make music, they sing freely, they are sole proprietors, and even in the face of disparity they create their own peace. Clark Atlanta University’s motto is “Find a way or make one” and I see nothing short of this in the spirit of the Salvador people. While the lifestyles and quality of housing in different than what I’ve experienced in America or Floripa even, the cultural advantages make it all worth while.

San Juan del Sur(f)

While there are so many beaches in San Juan del Sur, my personal favorite was La Playa Madera (pictured above) where we learned to surf. We also visited Playa Marsella and Playa Hermosa. 

Walking around town, we discovered a cute coffee bar and art studio called The Art Warehouse. We spent Saturday morning painting here.

 

We took a lunch break at the coffee bar (left) before finishing up our canvases (right).

We stayed at Hotel Estrella during this past weekend in San Juan del Sur. Sunday morning, the included breakfast had many traditional Nicaraguan food items, such as gallo pinto (the rice and beans).

Work Hard, Play Hard

Late night vibes after an eventful night in Downtown Floripa 

This is the setup we use to study the behavior of the Drosophila flies for my experiment. We record the videos in the chamber and analyze them using computational tracking software.

The view from my lab in the Bioengineering Building of UFSC

Traditional Floripan artwork we saw in a preserved ancient city, Santo Antonio de Lisboa, in the northern portion of the island.

It' would be Floripa if there wasn't a beach with a view of the sunset.

What I've learned outside the textbook

"Learning outside the textbook" is what I said I would do in my essay to get into the MHIRT program. Anybody who promotes study abroad, and traveling usually uses this logic but what does it all mean? Isn't reading and studying about countries and their history fundamental to the understanding of its cultures? You can read about Rio de Janeiro's mountains and see Christ the Redemer in the movies. You can watch videos on the water quality of Sao Paulo and the crisis they faced during a huge drought in 2014, take a virtual tour of the city or even listen to Baile de Favela but you won't truly comprehend the culture without the experience. Think of it as a lab, you can read the protocol five times and still enter lab completely clueless it is not until you actively engage in the process that the movements become more natural, a muscle memory kind of learning.

So what all have I learned during my time here, in SP? I learned that the best cappuccinos are made with love no matter how much more the other food truck offers. I learned that the mesh apron never comes out of the genetics room but there is pitiful mercy to those who confess. I've learned how much force to use with the pipet tips on the agarose gel. After much trial and error, I've learned how to find my way home from practically any metro station in the city and that it is in fact very possible to injure yourself in a turnstile. I've learned that kinder eggs are legal here and collecting their surprises has become a sort of compulsion. I learned Christinia likes only artificially watermelon-flavored things, not watermelon juice which is essentially a watermelon in a cup. I learned that it is impossible to take a good picture posing like Jesus on top of Corcovado and that surely everybody else has photoshopped theirs. I learned what a feijoada party is. I learned that the cable cars which take you to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain aren't as scary as I initially imagined. I learned that it is nearly impossible to only eat one pacoca at a time. I learned that patience is in fact a virtue when running PCRs. I learned that rice and beans have some secret affair and as the equivalent of salt and pepper it is not practical to eat one without the other. One of the most important things I learned, however, is that at times when you feel lost and little helpless it is okay, expected even, to ask for help.

Amor Amor Amor Amor AMOS!

After a restful and exciting weekend of hiking and ziplining in Mombacho, we are back at work again! This week, we are finishing up collecting the data from the community and inputting into the system. After that is done, we will finally begin analysis and interpretation of the data! Though community-based data collection can be a slow process, it is so fun to be able to go out into the community and interact with one family at a time and really get to know them. Every home is so welcoming and accommodating to all of us who go visit, and I have gotten to work with some fantastic kids. As we have been entering the data in, it is so interesting to see correlations between certain factors of a mother/caretaker’s life and the development of the child in each individual family. Analyzing the data will give us a clear idea of what the most important factors are in early childhood development for Nejapa, and then we will be able to present to each sector of Nejapa, showing them what we found specifically for their area of the community. 

On Friday the 19^th, there is a holiday, so we get a long weekend! We will be traveling to San Juan del Sur to go to the beach and see a new area of Nicaragua. After that, we only have two short weeks left with the AMOS staff and consejeras! They have taught us so much and are the most important piece in our research, so I am looking forward to working closely with them for the rest of my time here. I have learned so many new research and data skills (and improved my Spanish) in such a short time, and there is so much I will continue to reflect on as I finish up the internship and then return to the United States!

El Tigre

Buenas Tardes Amigas y Amigos!

I am currently at Casa del Cafe, a local coffee shop in Nejapa, as I write to you. 

Stay tuned for the last picture (best picture). 

Here we are posing for a picture minutes before sledding down the volcano Cerro Negro. We had to wear these bright orange costumes that made us look like oompa loompas or astronauts discovering Mars! Some of us boarded down the volcano as fast as 72 km/hr!

This week of data collection in el campo was definitely a memorable one as we gathered a multitude of photos from Nejapa's youth representing their dreams for the future as well as their structural barriers to achieving their full potential. One of our questions assessed the causes of teen pregnancy and many of them responded with profound personal stories.

Here we are at el Mirador de Catarina. Right in front of us are several vendors and shops selling small accessories to big hammocks! Hadley and I are sipping on some refreshing bags of a common Nicaraguan street drink made with cacao, corn and milk!

Oh and that big and beautiful water body behind us? That is Laguna de Apoyo, a lagoon sandwiched between the city of Granada and the active volcano, Masaya (casual, I know). 

This is one of the many trails we took on a volcano named Mombacho. The air felt misty and fresh with fog surrounding us. We attempted to hike up pebble stairs like these and explore the rain-forest. Our tour guide who calls himself El Tigre (the tiger) was kind enough to share his knowledge about all the exotic wildlife and natural wonders up there.

And last but not least...

How many times can you say you've jumped as high as you possibly can at the top of an active volcano while a tiger takes your picture?

Finally Exploring!

For the first two weeks of being in Floripa, we were still getting acquainted with the city, UFSC, and our respective labs. I started my independent project during the third week of being here and my responsibilities exceeded that which I was previously expecting. Given the time constraints of the program, my mentor and I devised a plan that would take about 24-25 days to collect useful data for my project; this included working everyday — even weekends. From what I understood of what was expected, going in on weekends would only take 90 minutes or so, so I saw no issue. I quickly came to realize that weekdays would include anywhere from 3 to 16 hours worth of hands-on work in the lab, with weekends had 3-4 hours per day. Despite the highs and lows of my experiment, it is now coming to an end as I enter my last week of experimenting, which means more time for exploring!

Outside of the lab, my housemates and I realized how quickly time is passing and just how little of Floripa we have seen! So, we set out to explore new parts of the island to see all that this city has to offer. This island is actually quite large, having multiple neighborhood that are each densely packed with their own uniqueness! Today, we explored the BeiraMar area more, which is in downtown Floripa and went to the Santa Catarina Art Museum to get in touch with the culture offered by south Brazil. After leaving the museum we walked along the Beiramar coastline and watched the sun set while listening to a samba band play at a restaurant behind us. I am really looking forward to our trip to Salvador next week because I am excited to see more of Brazil’s artistic culture!

Here is a piece of art we saw at the museum:

Until next time!

Weekend Getaways

After a 4hr Uber drive, 30 min. ferry ride, and 1 mile walk, we arrived in Ilhabela for our first weekend getaway. The city is a beach town on a small island with spectacular views like this one. 

While in Ilhabela, we took a tour to see 2 beaches and 3 waterfalls. We saw many amazing sights of nature as we relaxed on the shore. 

Moving from nature to the city, we visited Rio de Janeiro the next weekend. The view from the top of Sugarloaf is breathtaking, and we were lucky enough to arrive at sunset to capture this photo. 

Of course, no trip to Rio would be complete without a glimpse of Christ the Redeemer statue located at one of the highest points in Rio. 

The Small Things

It’s been over a month since I’ve landed in São Paulo, Brazil. A quick update: my Portuguese has arguably improved um pouco. Pro tip: make sure to correct your pronunciation of certain words to avoid awkward situations (e.g. make sure you’re pronouncing bread correctly. The ã sound makes a difference). 

            I am continuing my protocol involving ERG (electroretinogram) on patients at Prevent Senior hospital. My daily 1-hour travel route includes a 1-mile walk, 2 metro stations, and 3 blocks. Though this may sound intimidating, I honestly love my daily travel. This may be due to my habit of people watching, but the constant changing of scenes makes this route beautiful especially in the morning. At the hospital, I’ve had the sweetest patients many of which are excited to meet an “Americana.” In addition, the hospital staff and doctors are very kind and friendly. 

            Last weekend, the São Paulo squad ventured to Rio De Janeiro. Let me say, the views on top of Sugar Loaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer are stunning.  On the beaches, the sand was soft and the water was warm enough to swim. While you’re laying out on the beach, many vendors will ask if you would like to buy a variety of products from sunglasses to bathing suits to shrimp on a stick. If you love to dance the night away, there are some fun places in Lapa open daily as a restaurant and nightly as a dance club. Dancing every night was a possibility and a reality. 

            Back at home, I  look forward to the little things like Tuesday nights at the bar/restaurant with the lab, finding hidden pastel stands, post work dinner when lunch was not an option due to an influx of patients, cooking with my roommates, and  nightly episodes of How to Get Away with Murder. These are where I find myself the happiest. Maybe the joy is found in the transition from visiting to living. Every day I feel so fortunate to be here. My time here and memories created are irreplaceable. 

Below is one of the beautiful views from Rio. 

In the Community with Consejeras

We decided to go to Leon and go Volcano boarding! You can see the excitement on my face before I've seen the top of the volcano.

As I attempt to slide on my board down the volcano I try not to fall off. (Spoiler Alert: I was not successful.)

Las Peñitas is a beach nearby Leon. The waves were huge! Perfect for surfing, but too strong if you wanted to dip your feet in.

Fotovoz is a study we're doing with the youth to answer questions about the community by taking pictures. This is the list of questions we presented!

This week Youth Empowerment went out into the community interviewing teens and their families. This neighborhood was called German Pomares.

After a long day of raining and working it's nice to catch the sunset as you leave the office.

Hadley Lyon lyin' in Leon

In Leon! Right beside the cathedral after picking up some plantain chips with pickled cabbage (a Nica staple) on the street!

Free art museum in Leon!

The UNESCO world heritage site in Leon!

Crianza Con Amor data collection team. We have 70 house visits down and some more next week. But we will begin to analyze the data. So exciting.