Although this was not a study abroad trip, Hartstein said she learned a lot about the Spanish language, Ecuadorian culture and life. She said the group completed 40 surgeries – each took approximately two hours – which enabled some children to hear and breathe better, and swallow without pain. “The emotional reward from this trip is nearly inexplicable,” she said.
When Hartstein speaks about how experience, it’s obvious that is passionate and thankful for her opportunity to volunteer in South America. She is also zealous about the Spanish language and life abroad. This week I decided there would be no better way “to show, not tell” you about her personal experiences, than with her words.
Here is the text from our question and answer session:
SM: How did your education, both abroad and in the United States, enable you to serve alongside doctors and nurses in Ecuador?
EH: Studying Spanish in the US gave me the basic understandings of the grammatical rules in the language. Living abroad allowed me to speak and understand it. There is without a doubt a difference of learning a language in a classroom setting and immersing yourself in the culture. While I lived abroad, I read Spanish every where I went, I heard it every where I went, I literally lived within the language. I think a person not only learns a language exponentially faster while living in a foreign country, but they learn it so much better. In the classroom setting in the U.S. students learn the grammar rules in a 50 minutes class period and exit the classroom to resume their lifestyle which obviously, includes speaking English. Living abroad, especially with a host family, students are left with no choice but to practice what they just learned in the classroom. Because I lived abroad I had a better familiarity of conversational Spanish, especially colloquialisms which assisted me in helping the doctor’s and nurses in Ecuador. This helped in a major way because if a translator went on this trip not having studied abroad and only having studied from the text book, they slang terms would prove to be difficult to understand, if not impossible, which reiterates the advantage of living like a local in a Spanish-speaking country.
SM: Where have you traveled and used Spanish?
EH: I studied in Viña del Mar, Chile for four months but spent time in Buenos Aires, Argentina and also Peru before and afterward and just recently returned from a trip to Ecuador where I was the designated translator. I utilized Spanish in each of these countries.
SM: Would you consider yourself fluent? If so, how did you learn Spanish? For how many years have you studied it?
EH: I would consider myself fluent in the language. It is difficult to live in an English-speaking country and attempt to maintain my Spanish though. I noticed that when I arrived in Ecuador which was about eight months after having lived in South America, I had lost a lot of my Spanish speaking abilities. I picked them up quickly once I got there, but it was a bit disheartening to remember how much I used to know in comparison to how much I know now. It is a tricky thing consistently switching between countries because on the brink of my confidence to be 100 perfect fluent I return to the U.S. and lose a good amount of it. I have studied Spanish my whole life, but to be quite honest, none of it was as helpful as living my day-to-day life speaking the language.
SM: How did you get involved with traveling to Ecuador?
EH: Our good family friend is an anesthesiologist who has volunteered with this organization before and invited me to go on the trip. I was ecstatic when I received the invitation and without hesitation agreed. I was one of eight team members- the only translator- who volunteered for 12 days’ time. I stayed for five more days on my own for personal travel.
SM: Were your parents and friends supportive of your decision to go?
EH: It was overwhelming how much support I had for this trip. I have never done anything like this, and because the invitation was so abrupt I wasn’t financially able to fund my trip. I was apprehensive and nervous to send out a letter to my friends and family asking for monetary, and good blessings, donations but I did it because I needed the help in order to go. To my surprise, not only did my friends and family send me emotional support and numerous good blessings, but they helped me raised over what I needed to cover my flight, which truly helped me while abroad to indulge in the culture. It was incredible. I remember sitting on the plane ride and absorbing how loved I felt from all of the support, another monumental day in my life.
SM: What was your experience like?
EH: My experience was ideal. Each individual member of the team was essential and brilliant and in their field, and collectively made up for one of the goofiest and kindest group of people to help in the lives of disadvantaged Ecuadorian families. I did the translating the entire time and challenged myself in ways that were at times uncomfortable but always proved to teach me lessons about myself. I loved the challenge, but more than anything, I loved the ability to participate in the lives of these families in ways that the average person can’t. Anyone can help build a home, donate money, cultivate food, or provide clean water. I’m not saying these acts of kindness are anything less than monumental, but it takes a very specific type of person to give help in the field of medicine. And although I have no experience in the medical field, I was able to help based off of another unrelated talent I had. For that, my experience was irreplaceable. The families were so warm and grateful and I was honored to give them the aid they needed. The surgeon even let me help perform one of the surgeries. It was incredible, every moment of my trip.
SM: Is there one moment that made a monumental impact on your life?
EH: To be honest, each day I was there made a different impact on my life. The one that I think will stay with me the longest is when a boy, the one I got to help operate on, gave me his thanks. It was at that moment that I realized that although these doctors and nurses are brilliant, I wouldn’t trade my talent for theirs for anything. I love being able to communicate and was so honored that I was able to internalize their gratitude rather than needing to listen to another person in order to understand. I think we all have an incredible connection as humans and the truth is we don’t have many differences. It just takes the ability to communicate, empathize, and understand to realize the similarities each type of person has with the next. I was so grateful that I was able to talk and create relationships with each of the patients and families we met.
As you now understand, there would have been no better way to share Hartstein's experience than through her own words. My hope is to better captivate her experience by doing a more in-depth story for the Border Beat website later in the semester.
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