I am extremely frustrated with the range of motion of my left arm.  I am suppose to be doing these daily exercises 2 - 3 times a day but the pain is so intense I sometimes wonder how much is too much.  I get conflicting advice from my surgeon and oncologist.  My surgeon thinks I need to take my time and should get a lot of rest.  My oncologist ( Read more... )

The lumpectomy was just an introduction of what was to come.  When the "simple mastectomy" was decided (due to the margins coming back positive) I really didn't know if I had the mental capacity to deal with it.  Both my oncologist and surgeon thought it would be best to do the reconstructive surgery after my treatment (chemo) due to possible ( Read more... )

I'm so over this whole school thing.  My mole-hill was the size of Mount Everest and I'm so close to the top.   I'm doing well, I'm passing my courses, my spanish is improving and I have a cat, who tends to be a bit on the 'bitey' side.  I still live in a house of cards, but I feel optimistic.  It has to all work out in the end - right?  I just  ( Read more... )

Yes, this is what I've been nervous about for the last 2 weeks.  I'm taking a translation/interpretation course from English to Spanish.  I was able to skip all the English classes because...well...I'm a native speaker.  However, this also means that I have to be pretty fluent in Spanish - written as well as oral.  The pressure is on ( Read more... )

To others this may seem like an easy enough task, to me it's like jumping off a cliff.  I've become afraid again ( Read more... )

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Today, a student of mine (named Pablo), was telling me about his brother's trip to Vancouver.  His brother went to Canada to study English and on his travels he bought his brother, Pablo, a T-shirt.

Today I had to explain the meaning behind this T-shirt which stated 'A Real Man Eats Beaver'.  He had no idea.  He actually thought it was literal...

Yellow underwear are a flow in Chile's streets in preparation for New Years.  It is a common superstition here to wear yellow underwear on New Year's eve to ensure an abundant New Year.  In fact, I will adorn said colored underwear as I can use as much as luck as possible.  This is not to say that I don't think I'm lucky, (because I think I am) but ( Read more... )

I remember once my mother telling me that she hated gypsies.  I remember thinking that it was a strange declaration because at the time I believed gypsies were some sort of mythological creatures like unicorns or something.  Little did I know that not only do they exist, they exist in Chile ( Read more... )

Seriously, I don't know what's up.  I guess inspiration is hard to come by in a Starbucks so I'll blog the 'What's up with that?' in Chile.

1.  Breast-feeding, now really, am I the only one that thinks that once a child can walk and talk breastfeeding becomes um....creepy?

2.  Weird trends - leather pants.  Are leather pants to Latinos like cowboy ( Read more... )