When in Argentina!

Just got back from the most ridiculous dinner I've ever attended. The lot of us got on a bus and were whisked 500 meters down the street to an Argentinian restaurant. I'm just gonna list out the courses. Make of them what you will. I tried to be adventurous. 

- Fried cheese. Actually called provoletta or something, but really it was just a fried cheese wheel the size of a tennis ball.

- A spicy sausage thing

- Questionable salad drenched in something beige 

- Steak tacos

- GUAC. ALL THE GUAC. I recognized this stuff and therefore went to town on it.

- The most incredible thing-- French fries in a bowl made out of potato chips, lying on a bed of potato skins. *jaw drop*

- Warm tortillas in a leather mitt?!?

- Huge platter of mystery meats

- Chocolate mousse

- Neopolitan ice cream cake

- Ice cream with a caramelized sugar doohickey on top

- Dulce deleche

- And drinks, duh-- margaritas, wine, cappuccinos, weird blends of tequila and tomato-y juice, blah blah on and on 

Unfortunately, this wasn't the kind of place that gives to-go boxes. Heartbreaking. I shoulda shoved the remainders of the fries/chip bowl/potato skins combo straight into my purse. Ah well. 

Toluca Day 1

WOW. Incredible day. All the volunteers hopped on a bus (18 in total, I think) pulled up to the mission venue and there were HUNDREDS of people. People clogging the roadway, a sea of people, all here to see us. We looked out in awe, waving through the tinted windows. I cried, I laughed, I stumbled my way through dozens of hearing aid fittings. I saw a man with hooks for hands, I saw a woman frantically needle pointing a toilet seat cover, I saw a woman so overcome with gratefulness she had to give me something. She gave me a bruised yellow apple from the depths of the trash bag she used as a purse and I've never felt so overwhelmingly happy. 

We're using a fitting system I've never heard of and it's so easy to question the validity and reliability of it, but the sheer volume of people we help makes it worth it. I learned today that Starkey's mission is to give the gift of hearing so that the person may hear well enough to go out into the world, obtain a job, and be able to support themselves so that they may afford a better hearing aid down the road.

I feel so fortunate to be here, so fortunate to be in a position where I can provide help and hope.

Also, on an unrelated note, I had my first Big Mac today. Starkey is sure taking advantage of my burger weakness. 

Denver --> Mexico

What a surreal day. This Starkey mission opportunity felt so far away, even just this morning. Even now, here in the hotel bathtub reading the itinerary, it still feels far away. 

I woke up this morning, threw clothes (and HELLA snacks) in a suitcase and hit the road for the airport. It was the most uneventful travel day in the history of ever, and for that I'm grateful. The flights were a blur, thanks to my body's ability to stop drop & nap wherever/whenever I tell it to.

Exited the baggage claim area frantically searching for the mystery someone who was supposed to pick me up. There was a dude with a Starkey sign and for the next hour and a half, he didn't say a single word. I got in the back of a car and off we went, my imagination getting the better of me. Don't worry, haven't fallen in with any drug cartels yet.

Made it to the hotel (Quinta del Rey in Toluca) and it's SWANKY as all get-out. I'm writing this post from a bubble bath with swan-shaped gold faucets. I kid you not. I'll post a picture of the view from my room tomorrow. It's insane. It feels sort of weird to be staying in such a lovely place when we're here to help people who have very little. Can't say I'm complaining about the swanky hotel by any means, but I'd like to be a bit more immersed in Toluca's culture.

Starkey University Mission Opportunity

1.     How can audiology support the mission of Starkey Hearing Foundation?

“Starkey Hearing Foundation uses hearing as a vehicle to reflect caring and sharing and improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities around the world.” There are so many ways to care and share, and just one way is by providing a service we know best: audiology. There is need all around the world for food, water, medical help, the list goes on and on. Giving the gift of hearing aids to hundreds of thousands of people in need is something within Starkey’s realm of possibility and they have grasped it with both hands, putting forth an immense effort to improve individual lives and communities all over the world. It is life changing, for both those receiving the care and those giving it.

2.     How do you want to help spread the gift of better hearing?

After speaking with several Starkey employees who have traveled all over the globe with the Starkey Hearing Foundation, I would love to volunteer on a mission myself. Hearing them talk about fitting thousands of hearing aids on people who have traveled hundreds of miles to meet them and waited hours to see a volunteer makes my heart seize up. The Starkey Hearing Foundation makes an enormous impact on peoples’ lives every day in a big, dramatic way. I want to be a part of it. But I can’t forget about the impact I make every day in the clinic.

As a first year graduate student at the University of Northern Colorado, I have fit a fair share of hearing aids and have seen what joy the gift of hearing can bring to those ready to accept it. One of my favorite experiences in my short career thus far was reprogramming hearing aids on a man who was once a wonderful musician, but hadn’t been able to stand the sound of music with his new aids. After adding a music program and making some slight adjustments, we tried out the sound by pulling up a youtube video. I will never forget the look on his face when the first chords of Willie Nelson’s “Always on my Mind” came on. Spreading the gift of better hearing doesn’t have to mean going to the ends of the earth, you can make a big difference right in your own backyard.

One of my first hearing evaluations, coming up on 3 years ago! 

Part of my wonderful graduate cohort at the Starkey U Workshop! From left: Erika, Brenna, Dani, me, Christine. 

A happy Monday, a happy list of Monday things

1. Scratchy soft grass to my waist. (sorry Christine, didn't know you were allergic to the world)
2. Giggling like 5 year olds as we mix all the slurpee flavors together (blue raspberry forever)
• Fun fact: If you fill your slurpee and then look on bewilderedly as the cashier bangs it on the counter for 30 seconds, it'll settle right down, leaving you enough space for another few inches of slurpee fill-space. AMAZING. 
3. Nepalese food for the first time: saag with naan, lentil soup, basmati rice (I'll be back, Sherpa's)
4. Signed a lease for a wonderful condo with wonderful people and now there's a wonderful, manageably small dent in my wallet. (POOLSIDE ALL SUMMA LONG)
5. Found a beautiful, beat-up leather suitcase. (Me n' my suitcase got our eyes on SoCal this weekend)
6. Benjamin now wears hearing protection at work. (my heart nearly burst with happiness)
7. Being in over my head at school, but just flowin' with it (this is temporary, it'll end sometime, things'll get done, breathing through it)

Up and down and all around and exciting and scary, but overall comforting. 

Sending all sortsa love and well wishes to all who need 'em.

Hi
I hope you're good
And already asleep
And proud of all that you accomplished
(even if it was just getting through it)
And feeling confident in getting through tomorrow, too
(even if there are breakdowns and miscommunications and tests of patience)
And I hope you remember that one funny time
And that other time, too
And and and
Sleep tight, my love.

Gotta remember this day.

• Straight-from-the-ground-rhubarb
• Mud squishing between toes
• Pokes from cacti and thistle and yucca 
• Being barreled over by a mastiff puppy covered in swamp water
• Persian/oolong/rose tea in a teacup made for mustaches
• Ladybugs that sit contentedly in your palm for miles and miles
• 20 minutes in Persian time equals roughly 2 hours, but no one gets mad.
• Hand holding/bird calling/dandelion blowing/puddle jumping
• Eyes lighting up with chocolate covered honeycomb
• Voice cracking shy singing
• Sitting between a banjo and a sitar

Haphapyhappy.