Reflection

October 2005

Foreigner by Sarah Schnee
October 2005, Spain
How did I know she wasn't my neighbor? Her body language spoke volumes, with her shoulders slightly hunched and her steps taken cautiously, as though afraid each step would carry her into an area where her existence would take up too much space. But I knew just from looking at her face. She was from South America. Read more...

Duck...Duck...Cow? by Sarah Stephens
October 2005, Ecuador
After realizing that we actually needed to think of an activity to present to this community, the only game that came to our minds was pathetically…..duck, duck, goose. As we organized the room of about 30 people (only half of which were children)...we all suddenly realized that none of us knew the word for goose in Spanish. ¨Just use cow! ¨ yelled Nicole. So on we continued to play pata, pata, vaca…or for those that don’t speak any Spanish…duck, duck, cow. Read more...

Wai Guo by John Bailey
October 2005, China
I would look around as far as I could see in every direction and I still didn't spot one other person that looked like me. Growing up in America, where there are so many other people like me, this was an utterly new experience. I was in a social context that was a truly foreign and novel and, while intimidating, it filled me with awe at the same time. Read more...

Poverty by Nikki Arkin
October 2005, Ecuador
Dear Mom, today was the kind of day that changes how you see the world. This morning my parents took me on a bit of an adventure. The plan was to go see Evelyn’s (my mom) indigenous friend. Once we got to the town, we proceeded to visit people in the town who needed wheel chairs. Never in my life have I ever imagined the level of poverty I saw today. Read more...

Taste of Life by Susan Patrick
October 2005, Peru
During this project, we got a chance to see how hard life is for many Quechua-speaking indigenous Peruvians in small Andean communities. The women usually marry fairly young and age remarkably quickly given the hard work and climate conditions (we met women in their mid to late 20s who I would have guessed were 40). We also passed through the village’s school, where many of the children seemed generally unhealthy. Many children have scarred, red, and extremely chapped hands and faces because of the extreme cold and wind. Read more...

I Love Madrid by Lauren Ostendorf
October 2005, Spain
Madrid is a wonderful city, truly a unique society. It is a very open place, but still has some indication of its Catholic heritage. It is one of the few countries, and I think the only in the EU, to accept and recognize gay marriage, though it is generally not acceptable for students (and even sons and daughters) to introduce a boyfriend/girlfriend to a host family (or parents). Read more...

Exploring Edinburgh by Gretchen Ferber
October 2005, Scotland
I feel so blessed to be here, making new relationships, learning culturally, serving those in need, and also importantly learning about myself and the kind of environment and organizations I want to be part of in the future. I definitely want to continue traveling, and not traveling in the touristy sort of way, but understanding the culture and expanding my views. Every morning when I wake up and look out my flat out onto this city that has so much history, tradition, and energy I cannot help but be so thankful to be part of the city and the people here, even if it is just for a semester. Read more...

Dobry Den! by Patricia Kim
October 2005, Czech Republic
These people make me feel so insular. I’m starting to realize how important it is to learn a few foreign languages. They harbor so much curiosity for knowledge; they asked me so many questions and provided so many answers to my own. Their openness to new knowledge put me to shame. One of my main concerns is that I will return to American not knowing very much about myself, just that I spent a few months in Prague. Read more...

A Different Kind of Education by Harshada Rajani
October 2005, Spain
Imagine travelling to a completely different country, across a gigantic ocean, thousands of miles from sweet tea and French fries, without any of my beloved family, but solely equipped with two bags of clothes, a little spanish to get by, and most importantly, an open mind. That last key thing is the essence to any abroad experience, especially this one. I was so scared, actually terrified, to come to Madrid at first. Read more...

Shoved Under the Rug by Michelle Roy
October 2005, Spain
We have problems with race and gender in the United States, but I always felt that these problems are acknowledged by the general population, or at least a significant proportion of people. In contrast, I see racism and sexism here, but it seems that the problems are shoved under the rug-or worse, that they aren´t even acknowledged as problems. One of the more extreme examples is the Real Madrid soccer games. Just last year, thousands of people around the stadium made monkey noises whenever a black player from the opposing team touched the ball. Read more...

India, A Country of Extremes by Linda Arnade
October 2005, India
A cliché about India is that is a country of extremes. This is rather true. One minute you can be having an incredibly complex conversation with English educated Indians, while the next minute you are trying to say in Hindi to a taxi driver to go straight, but he still doesn’t understand. I find the various educational class differences even more sharp in India. I also find the gender interactions quite different. Perhaps the extreme opposite from what I am used to. Read more...

November 2005

American Stereotypes by Patricia Kim
November 2005, Prague, Czech Republic
One girl who works at the Jewish museum spoke up in very broken, bitter English. She felt condescended to on a daily basis, and couldn’t understand why Americans were all that way. I didn’t feel personally attacked, though I was very much startled as to her passionate statement against Americans. I have noticed this for myself, of course—Americans are infinitely louder, needier, and overall more touristy than any other group that passes through Prague. You can tell who is American by what they are wearing (usually a fanny pack, sunglasses perched on the head, baseball caps, T-shirts emblazoned with labels instead of statements) and how loud they are speaking (very, very loud). Read more...

Children, what do you teach them? by Michelle Roy
November 2005, Madrid
Religion, at the end of the day, is a matter of faith, of trusting in something that you cannot see. For me, it is a completely different part of my life from school, where you learn to back up your arguments with concrete, verifiable facts. While you can mathematically solve an equation using concrete laws or write a grammatically correct essay based on specific rules, you cannot ever “prove” religion to be true or false. I´m not saying this to undermine the importance of religion in any way, or to say that these children are not getting a good education at the institution; it´s simply made me reflect on the material that is taught in school, and on the impressionability of children. Read more...

Children Holiday Venture by Gretchen Ferber
November 2005, Edinburgh, Scotland
In general I feel like the time I spend with the kids is more meaningful to me than them. I feel that this can be the case in a lot of volunteer work due to the fact that so much work is making small changes that perhaps the recipient might not even notice. I have learned a lot about myself in this process, and more than ever that I really think I am meant to do some form of volunteer work in my career. Read more...

Safe Sex in Madrid by Harshada Rajani
November 2005, Madrid
This has been one of those one of a kind experiences that haas thrown me into an uncomfortable situation, pushed me beyond my limits, and truly shaken the person who I am. What could be better? These are the experiences that open our eyes to the world - to another perspective - to other cultures - to other mindsets - which truly question what our beliefs are founded on and where our standards come from. It makes me question the uber conservative, repressed nature of American society...I can't help but question why sexual freedom and preference are still so taboo in America? Why people can still be so ignorant and discriminatory in America while in Spain it seems so tolerant? Read more...

Fundación Triangulo by Lauren Ostendorf
November 2005, Madrid
Every Thursday night, we hand out condoms in ‘high risk’ areas in Madrid. I am continuing to enjoy the Spanish influence on life over work – there is seemingly very little separation between “aspects of life”, like business and pleasure for example. They are often woven together, and as with many activities in Spain, my time with Fundación Triangulo has proven to be a social one. Basically what we do is walk around to different bars in the area and refill “contraceptive boxes” on the bars and distribute the goods to all who are interested. The community views us not as workers, but as a part of their world, and while I do not always feel completely comfortable, naturally most of the people involved with the organization are members of Madrid’s close-knit gay community, which is acknowledged and respected by all. Read more...

Kiminira... Together to Make A Difference by Nikki Arkin
November 2005, Madrid
One time in particular, a young couple came in because they had already had many children and she was pregnant and they wanted to figure out how to have sex without her getting pregnant. A condom, what I thought to be the obvious choice, is not a practical method here. For one – machismo - it is not socially acceptable in a relationship, especially in a marriage, for males to use protection. Secondly, in many poorer communities, women frequently are forced to have sex at the whim and demand of their spouse and there are few laws that protect women in this circumstance. Since many people in these relationships, if not the majority of people here, are uneducated about contraception women end up with 8+ children, frequently. Read more...

Peony Wheelchairs in China by John Bailey
November 2005, China
This is a very uncertain time for certain aspects of Chinese society, one of which is children born with disabilities. China's economy and society is developing very fast and it is easy for the rights of those who cannot advocate for themselves to fall by the wayside. Due to the overpopulation law in China that limits Chinese families to having only one child, disabled children are often abandoned or hidden away from society after they are born. Thankfully as Chinese economy develops there are organizations like the one I'm working with. There has also been recent legislation that allows families to have another child if their first child is disabled or in some provinces, to prevent abandoning female children, if the first child is a girl. Read more...

Feeling like a nomad, but where's my yak hair tent? by Scott Sorrell
November 2005, Tibet
One of my friends and I were visiting an artist studio where these women were grinding paint. One woman whose baby was sleeping in the room asked us if we were students and where we had been then she said Dalai Lama and made a sign of reverence and said that she had been to India once and that she hoped to take her son there. (I'm getting teary just writing about this sort of thing so you can imagine what it's like to experience). To hear a name that is so powerful, and for the first time in my life to be constantly conscious of what I say and do...knowing the danger of the name of His Holiness and how much people long for him. It's all very sad. Sad, but very complex. Read more...

Women's Center by Sarah Schnee
November 2005, Spain
Within two minutes of meeting us, one of the women pulled down her shirt and began to breast-feed her infant. I found myself surprised by the action, though looking back on it now, I´m not sure why. In her life, that was probably perfectly normal behavior. In my life, breast-feeding seemed to be a more intimate, personal action- something one would not do in front of a stranger one had been introduced to minutes before as one´s English teacher for the next couple of months. I also realized that I live in a world so far removed from the domestic, maternal tasks which define hers. As an ambitious Duke student, my way of life is preparation for my ¨future,¨ and to me, my future is synonymous with my career. I have never once imagined myself breast-feeding a baby, yet I imagine myself countless times every week in work-related situations: in an office, giving a presentation, meeting with colleagues, making speeches, etc. Read more...

December 2005

Lima: Five Year Olds and Ethnic Development by Susan Patrick
December 2005, Peru
I spent the month of November living in Lima, Peru’s capital city. Lima is now home to over a third of the country’s population and its infrastructure can hardly keep up with its rapidly expanding growth. Like most Latin American cities, Lima has its few extremely wealthy districts and millions of citizens living in extreme poverty in its surrounding shanty towns.Read more...

Prague: St Salvator Church by Patricia Kim
December 2005, Czech Republic
I have learned that I can adapt to just about anything. That is what the humanity in me allows and requires me to do. Sometimes I step back from what I am doing and tell myself basics- basics that surprise me for some reason: I am in Prague. I have been living here for months. I am sitting in a church in which I have the key. These people are here to learn from me, and I must do the best that I can. It is that simple. Read more...

Back to reality, but with the help of amazing memories, priceless experiences and lifelong friends by Harshada Rajani
December 2005, Spain
Back to reality, but with the help of amazing memories, priceless experiences and lifelong friends. So I prepared for my flight home, my great return to the mother land, and the bittersweet end to my dream-like semester. I had heard many rumors about this "reverse culture shock" and the drastic changes in character and perspective that I would probably experience upon my return. So I prepared myself. I packed up all my memories, held onto each of my experiences, stuffed all of my laughs and smiles into my pockets, filled my suitcases with stories of my adventures, and photographed in my mind each of the faces of all those people who had changed my life little by little throughout this past semester.
Read more...

A Few Hours Out of Madrid by Lauren Ostendorf
December 2005, Spain
Well I just returned to the United States this morning, and in the limited time that I have had to reflect on my experience as a whole, I have realized that I learned and gained more from my experience than I could have hoped. From the people I met, to the places I visited, to my daily experiences, I enjoyed and will cherish every minute. Just walking off the plane at JFK, I found that I was a little shocked (and slightly disappointed) to see that all of the signs were in English. It was interesting just to be at the airport and encounter Americans again – and not just other college students studying abroad, but real everyday Americans. Read more...

This is A Tale of Taxis, Airplanes and Christmas Trees by Scott Sorrell
December 2005, India
India is so full of contradictions and unforseeable complications. It's like no where on earth (and sometimes feels like it isn't even like itself), but what struck me immediately about being back in the US is that it's like everywhere on earth (or in the US). The hotel at the LA airport could have been any hotel in America...everything is meant to feel familiar, but then it only feels familiar because it's meant to. It's all very strange, and that strangeness is certainly compounded by the fact that it's Christmas. Read more...

Finding New Perspectives in Cape Town, South Africa by Trisha Bailey
December 2005, South Africa
I never viewed studying abroad and service learning as mutually exclusive experiences, and I always saw service as the centerpiece of study abroad rather than as enrichment. Therefore, finding a place to study abroad where I could find several opportunities to engage in the community was essential. My long search finally led me to Cape Town, South Africa- a country teeming with non-profits, NGO’s, and social campaigns. Upon my arrival in Cape Town, I quickly discovered that there are SO many issues that need to be addressed in South Africa due to its recent transition to democracy, segregated history, HUGE HIV/AIDS epidemic (35%of the population), large unemployment rates (between 30% and 45%), large numbers of orphaned children, high poverty rates, astronomical rape statistics, and developing women’s issues. I was overwhelmed. Read more...