Academic term

This academic year has been quite interesting. . Finally, I'm taking the last courses of the dentistry program. I'm very happy about it. I've worked so hard to reach this moment. But, at the same time,   I started this year feeling very afraid because I had high expectation of myself. The courses are 100% clinical time. It is almost like been working already.

With the time, and after a lot of studying, I've become more secure with myself. More frequently I feel prepared, and that makes me feel very good.

Another aspect that I'm working on is stress control. I'm a very anxious person, but I've been able to control my negative thoughts and make times to chill and enjoy. It is real achievement for me.

When I started this English course, I wanted to improve my speaking and writing skills. I hadn't practiced since 2010, when I finished school. I thought that resume my English learning would be very hard, but I took the chance. At the beginning, I doubted about every single word I said and wrote. Now I can say more complex sentences and without trembling. I have a lot to learn yet and I need more practice, but I feel more comfortable now with the language. I think I accomplished my goals

I’m really happy to have taken this course.

My favourite meal

Hello everyone, today our topic is ♥FOOD♥. I really love food, I like coocking it and eating it.

I don't really have a favoutite meal, it depends on the occasion, who made it, my mood, the wather, etc. 

If I think like foodie. My grandmother cook the best pizzas and bread. My boyfriend cook really good "porotos con riendas" and "calzones rotos". And my sister, even when she doesn´t cook often, cook perfect fries. I have my favourite meal  for every cook.

When I think like a cook, my  favourite recipes are all vegan: hummus, falafel cinnamon rolls and ratatouille. This are cheap and easy recipies, everyone can cook it. When I cook this dishes I don´t tell people that are vegan food, until they taste them, because many people have prejudices. A lot of people think that vegan food is unsavory, flavorless or boring. I want to change people's minds. I want to prove that vegan food can be delicious. With vegetables, legumes and condiments anyone can cook a healthy and tasty meal.

I cooked ratatouille for christmas. I celebrated it with my family (meat lovers). Everyone enjoy the meal and some of my relatives ask me for the recipe. In internet you can find many ways to cook it, the recipe I follow is : 

Ratatouille

http://www.recetaratatouille.com

Ingredients:

-1 large eggplant 

-1 zucchini

-1 large tomato

-1 green pepper 

-1 red pepper 

-2 cloves of garlic 

- olive oil 

- salt, pepper 

- Herbs: Parsley, oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil 

Preparation:

We will start with the eggplant, wash it well, remove the top part and cut it into slices. Between half and one centimeter is a suitable thickness.We are going to leave the slices of eggplant in water for 15-20 minutes. They'll lose that bitter touch they have, and then we drain them well.
We'll do the same with the zucchini, tomato and peppers , wash it, remove the stem and cut into slices of the same previous thickness.Peel the garlic cloves and chop them finely. Reserve them for later.
Light the oven and put it at 180ºC .Pour some virgin olive oil in the bottom of the oven tray, and on top of it place layers of vegetables
Add a good amount of herbs, a little salt and chopped parsley together with the garlic that we had previously chopped. You can also do this by mixing a little virgin olive oil with herbs and garlic. You should try that all the slices are impregnated
Put the Ratatouille in the oven and let it bake for half an hour
We recommend do not eat it freshly made,  leave it to rest. The flavor will be more intense, and it stays perfectly in the refrigerator for several days. 

environmentalism

For the majority, the main topic this year has been feminism. In my case, I declare myself as feminist since I knew what it means (I don’t remember when it was, but I think I was around twelve years old). So feminism is not a new topic for me and I already wrote about related topics: abortion and stereotypes.

So that's why I'm going to write about my second main topic for this year: "environmentalism".

Environmentalism, animalism and having an eco-friendly lifestyle are becoming more and more important for me.

Vermicomposter

It is clear that climate change is happening. We all can see the melting of the polar ice and the deforestation. It is more common to see new animals in danger of extinction (the last ones in danger are giraffes). 

I wanted to be part of the "solution", so I started being vegetarian two years ago. Then I make a vermicomposter for reduce organic waste (it is a serie of boxes where earthworm eats organic waste and produces a nutritional planting soil named hummus) and started to recycle part of my garbage. Today, I’m trying to reduce the amount of garbage that I produce; I'm using reusable bags and reusable bottles. I’m avoiding straws and plastic cup covers. Also, I’m trying to shop less, in general.

In other words, I’m trying to live according the three R's rule: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

My last project is being volunteer in the rehabilitation center for wildlife (CRSF). If you are interested, you may visit the webpage:  http://www.codeff.cl/crfs-codeff/

Keeping updated

For the health-related students and professionals is very important keep updated with the latest knowlege. The dental field is not an exception. The odontology is changing every day as biomedical technology is evolving We should be updated with the new treatments, materials, health programs and more. Personally, I use google scholar or books when I want to have a general idea about a topic. This are very useful when we have to learn fundamental concepts and basic sciences (Biology, chemistry, anatomy, etc.). When I want to find the latest investigation about a patology or treatment, I use pubmed or scielo. In pubmed exist lots of papers, that’s why we must learn how to search in this webpage . Most of the investigation are in english, we should choose the highest level of evidence (meta-analysis and systematic reviews), prioritize investigations made in the last five years and define keywords. Scielo is similar but has more latin-american research.

In our dental program, we have courses to learn how to make a good bibliographic review. We do it constantly and thus offer our patients the best treatment for each case. This is very helpful when we do our thesis project because make a research is not a new thing. 

Gender roles and stereotypes.

Nowadays, a new feminist movement is happening in our country .It is questioning our social relations, including the educational model and our laws. In this context, is easy to empathise: Women have the same value and potencial than a men and all genders deserve same treatment.

But, we are so used to live in a macho way. Little actions and actitudes perpetuate the steriotypes and slow down the change into an equal society. For example: when I go to a restorant, the bill is ussualy given to the male in the table. When I go with my boyfriend to a hardware store, the seller offers help to him , ignoring me. When I say that I don't want to have children, people had said to me "you will change your mind" or "but it is the most beutiful thing in life". I can keep  showing more examples of how  deep the macho actitudes are placed in our daily behaviour,  but the importat thing is became aware of that. We must re-think our way of living and interact with other. Always questioning "I'm doing this/that because I'm female/male or because I want to? " , before criticize how a woman looks (I say woman because we don't used to criticize males so often) we have to think "Why I'm judging her look if that doesn't change the who she is?etc.

For everyone is difficult to recognize our own prejudices. I will leave you some questions to think. What do you think when you see a stunning woman working in a high standard work? When someone is a bad driver, do you assume that is a woman? What do you think when a woman speaks freely about sex?  If you have children, would you leave them with a male nursery school techer? What do you think about cases of working women and hosekeeping men?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYRg2DPj-FM

Photograph

Hello, this time I have to tell you what is the story behind a photo. It was a difficult task for me because I have a lot of meaningful photos and I didn´t know wich one to choose. I reviewed my old facebook photos and I found this:

My uncle, Fernando, and I dancing Tango.

This photo was taken at the Municipal Theatre of Calama in 2009 . My grandfathers began a Tango Club in Calama, they became dancing teachers and my whole family learnt to dance tango or helped with organization of the club. They taught me to dance when I was around 5 years old and I'm still loving it.  Every year (1997-2009) was celebrated a festival  named "Tango en el Desierto" where dancers from Chile, Argentina and Uruguay participated. That festival was very special for me because there I knew wonderful people and dancers who taught me so much. Those were marvelous moments in my natal city, with family and friend, doing what I love.
 It was celebrated always in November, so I had to miss school classes and travel. I prepared myself months earlier practicing, studying and doing exams before the travel. It was very exciting await for November each year, scape for the  daily life and became quasi dancer for few days. 

Abortion

Abortion is such a controversial topic. There are so many ways to analyze it and so many things to say about it.

First I want to say: Chile is a secular country, where religious freedom is guaranteed. In abortion discussions I’ve seen politicians who try to stop progress in these topic based on their religious beliefs.  I think, we cannot allow political discussion based on personal opinions or religious norms. This discussion must be done based on facts, research, public health impact, etc. Because no one can impose his/her own lifestyle or religious in others.

In our country , even when is punished , around  60.000 clandestine abortions are made each year. Changes in the law and the implementation would improve the safety of the procedure, causing fewer women deaths and complications. But, I think, it won’t encourage more women to do abortions because who needed it, are already doing it, but in an illicit way,  putting their health at risk. In Canada, where abortions are legal and part of their public health program, de number of abortions is decreasing, also decreased the complications and deaths.

I think, we need a better sexual education and better legislation about abortions. I’m agreeing with the depenalization of abortion in all circumstances, because women have the right of decide if they want to be pregnant and the contraceptive method are not infallible. Because a pregnant woman have right about her body, and she isn`t just an incubator. 

 “The 3 causes” legislation  was a good first step, but is not enough. Because is not fair that poor girls are dying in clandestine clinic and going to jail while rich girls  are paying illicit abortions in private clinics hiding under “appendicitis” .

This is a public health issue that must be continue in discussion, putting aside religious ideals  and taking charge of our reality.