Crying for Argentina

Running Riot at the Hyatt

There's something quite civilized about having a proper tea with cream and biscuits, served on silver and china. We've been planning this afternoon tea at the Park Hyatt to celebrate Sofi's birthday for nearly 2 months now and I must say it was absolutely worth the wait. So we put on fancy dresses (mine being a crazy pink and green dress actually from the 1960s) and pampered ourselves at one of Buenos Aires finest hotels.


The Park Hyatt is GORGEOUS and the service was top notch. The afternoon was absolutely beautiful so we sat outside on the balcony looking over the garden. We pretended we were "ladies who lunch." By the time the cream puffs and cucumber sandwiches came out though, we were squealing with delight and all sort of poshness was wash away with the yummy tea. It was a great way to catch up on everyone's gossip and really treat ourselves. I'm lucky to have found such a great group of girlfriends. We may only have known each other for a little over 2 months, but they feel like life long friends. I find myself contemplating my departure more and more these days and I'll be very sad to leave these friends.

Every good tea of course should be topped off with a bit of champagne in the garden. The hotel gave us complimentary champagne and a yummy chocolate birthday torte for Sofi. By the end, I was not feeling quite so elegant, busting at the seams of my dress from all the goodies. Cheers darling!



PS. Credit for the funny title is given to Sofi who posted this as her facebook status.

Genetic Counseling Field Notes

My dear friend and co-worker, Julie Mak and I worked on this article which will be published in the next UCSF Cancer Risk Program newsletter. This is actually the article I was working on when I met the waiter from the "musical cafes" blog entry.


Clinical Meeting with the ProCanHe Team:
Dr. Carlos Vaccaro, Nicola Stewart, Dra Denise Cytryn, Alejandra Ferro, Paola Bertorelli, Jose (Apellido)

Field Notes: Exploring Hereditary Cancer in the Land of Steaks, Malbec and Tango

Genetic Counselor Nicola Stewart recently commemorated five and a half years of service with the Cancer Risk Program by taking a sabbatical in Buenos Aries, Argentina. Consistent with Nicola’s spirited and adventurous style, she has been busy forming international friendships, learning Spanish, and of course, the Tango.

While you can take the girl out of the Cancer Risk Program, you can’t take the Genetic Counselor out of the girl. In between exploring museums and cafés, Nicola found time to work at the Hospital Italiano in Buenos Aries, where she has been collaborating with Dr. Carlos Vaccaro, MAAC, MSACP, a colorectal surgeon who founded the “ProCanHe,” or Progama de prevención y tratamiento del cáncer hereditario (Program for the Prevention and Treatment of Hereditary Cancer).

Although separated by over 6000 miles, the concerns of patients in Buenos Aries are very similar to those in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nicola found. People in both places share a deep concern about their family members, and they struggle with the decisions they face when they learn they are at increased risk of cancer. The administrative challenges are also very similar. Like the Cancer Risk Program, ProCanHe is exploring ways to reach out to patients and other healthcare providers to spread the word about the work they do.

A major difference Nicola found is the availability of genetic testing. Genetic tests from Argentina need to be sent to the US or Brazil or to be done part of a clinical trial. This limits the options available to healthcare providers and patients. In addition, the economic crisis of 2001 and the devaluation of the peso, make the relative cost of a genetic test (U$S3000) in Argentina insurmountable, in a country where the average salary is U$S10 000.

The experience at the Hospital Italiano, like the rest of Nicola’s journey, has been both rewarding and challenging. In her words, “As genetic counselors, we act as a liaison between the medical community and the patient. We take pride in dealing with the psychosocial aspects of care. Although, given the language barriers, I haven't been able to be as empathetic as I would like to be. I feel I am either over-emphasizing something, or under-emphasizing. We throw around a lot of scientific terms, medical diagnoses and patients have to really think to follow along. In my sessions here, it's the same, although the patient is struggling to just understand me in the regular language, not even the scientific language!”

Besides working with patients directly, Nicola has been training a health educator, Alejandra Ferro, at the hospital to take family histories, recognize patterns of hereditary cancer, and develop new approaches to find families who would benefit from their services.

Flodding

I haven't seen much rain since I've been to Buenos Aires. Supposedly the rainy season was in October and November, but I hardly noticed it. Most of the rain is dumped on the west side of the Andes Mountains, into Chile. But today we got more than our share of it.

My day started in the afternoon by taking a taxi to work. I was running a bit late and thought the colectivo (bus) might cut it a bit short. It had been pouring in the morning, but was finally clearing up with blue skies in the distance. We couldn't cross Ave. Juan B. Justo through, a major street bisecting the city. On the radio, I could hear that there was a meter of water blocking several roadways. The taxi driver and I went on a semi tour of the city, trying to find a thoroughfare. All streets were blocked and drivers were getting ansty.

After about 30 minutes, the taxi driver suggested I take a bus as they were the only ones who seemed to cross at Ave. Santa Fe. This of course was way out of the way from the hospital. Even the Subte (subway) had stopped. Once on the bus, we still didn't seem to be moving, It was a sea of Colectivos though, as most cars had been diverted back to where they came from. Slowly but surely, we made our way though. Wow, I thought, this reminded me of New Orleans. (Of course, I recognize this pales in comparison to the amount of flooding New Orleans had after hurricane Katrina.)

After crossing Ave Juan B. Justo, I hopped off the bus and grabbed another cab. This was one long and expensive journey to work. But at lease my toes were dry.

Doing the Right Thing

Latin America is not the safest place in the world. There are people who are robbed either by simple pickpockets or more frighteningly, at gunpoint. People have their bags stolen when they don't clutch them tight enough. Regardless, I feel safe in this city. I think it actually has a lower violent crime rate than in the States. It is said that you should carry an extra $2o pesos in your pocket so that if you are robbed, you can throw the $20 peso note (about 7 U$S ) at them and not have everything else stolen, including your precious bank cards and additional cash.

When I first arrived her in early October, I navigated with streets with a quick pace and a scowl on my face. "Stay away from me", I conveyed through my body language. But then I got tired of being an angry/no nonsense person and carried myself more naturally. I don't smile at strangers quite as much as I usually do in San Francisco, but I've long lost the scowl from my first few days. I've also long lost that extra $20 in my pocket. It was spent a long time ago.

Today I rode the subte (Buensos Aires subway) to Plaza Congresso, to meet some friends for a visit to the Casa de las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo. It was crowded as we all pushed ourselves through the entrance gates just in time for the arriving train. I was behind a short man holding a long sleeved shirt behind a woman. He seemed to be trying to hide what the woman in front of him was doing. She seemed to be tapping the side pocket of the man in front of her. I was taller than them all, (so I could see most of this.) The man, I assume was being pick pocketed, was oblivious. I just kept watching, somewhat in denial of what I was actually witnessing. Things seemed to move in slow motion as I thought: What are my options for trying to stop this, what would I want if I were being robbed, isn't it safer to just walk away? I hugged my timbuktu bag closer to my chest. Suddenly I found myself leaning over the suspicious couple and tapping the shoulder of the guy being robbed.

He turned around, looking a bit agitated (after all, he didn't want to miss this train), the couple turned around and glared at me, 2 other people stared at me. "Oh crap", I thought! "What am I thinking" I just shrugged my shoulders and shook my hands as if to say, "oh, no...nothing, I didn't mean anything", turned away and walked along the platform. I passed several open doors of the train, but just couldn't enter any of them. I just didn't quite know what I was doing. My only thought was to walk away. As the train took off, more people filled the platform waiting for the next train. I looked down the platform. The suspicious couple didn't seem to get on the train either. All the more reason to think they were up to no good.

I'm still not sure if it was the right thing to do, but I wouldn't change a thing if I could do it all over again.

Smart Girls Guide to Clubbing

I'm sure San Francisco has some good dance clubs, it's just not the scene I'm typically involved with and thus, I don't know the good clubs. Once a year, I might venture out. It's usually for the SF Tri Club year end party. We wrap things up around 11pm and suddenly you can tell when the club opens the doors to other night revelers. The patrons are usually much skinnier with tiny arms and legs (men and women), lots of makeup, and they wear clothes that you typically can't find in Sports Basement. As they enter the club, we leave, after all, it's early to bed so we can wake up fresh for the morning run.

But my sabbatical from work has also been a sabbatical from triathlon and thus I find myself becoming an expert on the club scene, at least here in Buenos Aires.

1. Attire: I think athletes are onto something. Dance clubs are hot and sweaty, kind of like an aerobics class. Tennis shirts are cute and flattering, and best of all, made from DryFit®. So, in order to look your best while in the sweltering smoking club, I recommend wearing tennis shirts. The Williams' sisters are onto something with their new design line.
2. Flaunt one good asset, not all of them. It's great to show off your nice long legs in a short shirt, or your flawless back in a open back top, or flash a little cleavage with a low cut top and your favorite jeans. Just avoid doing all of this at one time.
3. Don't get frustrated with the bouncer when he lets all the younger girls get in the door ahead of you while you keep on waiting outside. You'll learn later on in the evening that they are "working" that night and thus get free entry into clubs.
4. Wrap up the evening with friends watching the sun rise at a local coffee shop, drinking a strong coffee cortado, eating medialunes or tostados, and already recounting the evenings festivities.
   

(This post was a collaboration between Rob and Julia Evans and me.)

Musical Cafes

There's a confiteria (casual cafeteria place) a few blocks away from me that has WiFi. I have gone there occasionally to work online when I don't want to be stuck at home. It has air conditioning which can be a nice relief from the sweltering heat. The other night, after exchanging typical pleasantries with the waiter (how long are you here, what are you doing here, do you like Argentina, etc.) the waiter said to me, "you are muy bonita." I just said thank you and went back to chatting online with my sister. The next time I went there, I think he asked me out, but I'm not sure I understood him. Just before I left, he asked if I had a boyfriend back home, then a boy friend here. I sort of made an excuse saying it was harder to date here given the language barrier. Then he said something and I just kind of nodded and didn't say anything back (which is when I think he may have asked me out.)

I haven't gone back since. Not that I was particularly avoiding him, it's just not one of the places I frequent. I also have no idea how old he is, anywhere from 25 to 45! And while he was certainly a handsome Argentine man, I just thought of the encounter as a typical Argentine interaction where the men are constantly trying to pick up any woman within a 50 yard radius.

This afternoon I went to a nicer restaurant in the neighborhood to spend some more time on the computer working on an article with Julie and have a nice lunch. After sitting down and chatting with the owner (yes, I'm here to learn Spanish, I'm from California, I've been here for 4 months, yes, I love Argentina..........), she complimented me on my Spanish. At that moment, the waiter approached and said, yes, her Spanish is excellent and she's doing all sorts of interesting things. It was the SAME waiter from the other place!! I was shocked. So much for not really avoiding him.