...the daily grind...

I've neglected my blog! I am so sorry. Since I last wrote I've had 3 wonderful visitors. I was blessed with the presence of my friend Kaitlin, my brother, and my mom. It was wonderful to be with them and to give them a taste of my life here. Besides their visits, I have filled my days with work. Because of this I've felt that I've had nothing "new to report," nothing "blog-worthy." I've been exhausted. The workdays are long here. I usually get home in between 7 and 10 p.m. every night. So because my life has been so work-oriented, I’ve decided to make a list of things I've learned from this "I'm-not-a-student-anymore-and-oh-wait-I-have-to-pay-for-everything-now" work experience.

1. Wear flats. Most of the professional women I see here wear heals everyday. I mean 2-3 inch heals. They are crazy! It's not common to wear gym shoes (it's very gringo, actually) while you're walking and then to switch into your work shoes. I've worn heals ONE day here in Chile and regretted every minute of it. Without comfortable shoes, the workday is unbearable. So flats/sandals are the way to go. I'm sold.

2. Wake up early in order to not be smashed on the metro. Since I've studied here in 2006 the amount of people who use the metro on a daily basis has doubled. That combined with the heat does not make for a good combination.

3. Waking up early can't happen unless I go to bed early. I've learned that when I go to bed early I'm much more happier the next day (go figure). This, as you all know, is much easier said than done. I'm still trying to work on this. It's not really my fault, I mean since the workdays are so long the only time I can email/talk with friends is at night, which means I get less sleep. But it would be wonderful if I could go to bed earlier.

4. Get a day planner. It looks professional and it keeps people organized. I don't have one and I've constantly forgotten things for my students, bosses, etc. Not good. I need to get one.

5. Keep records of how you spend your money. ummmm...yeah....

6. Drink Tea or coffee. After lunch my body naturally wants to take a long nap. Instead I have to have tea or else I'm miserable.

Here is a list of things I've thought deeply about since I last wrote. It's just a jumbled list of anything that has stayed on my mind for more than a few days. I tend to elaborate on some of these soon.

1. Chile wants major change in the U.S. government. They want Obama or Hillary. Most like Hillary because of her husband's positive foreign policy towards the world and Latin America (their words). But they also see Obama as the change we need in order to help our shattered, international image. People here are educated and eager to discuss the future of the States. They don't like how the U.S. economy affects them (for the good or the bad). They love the fact that they can buy dollars now because the value has dropped in the past few weeks.

2. I understand why people have maids. I come home late and the last thing I want to do is clean or cook. When I came here I thought that the people who had maids were lazy. That's just not the case here. A lot of people simply don't have the time to cook decent meals and to keep the house clean (it's amazing how dirty things get in 24 hours). If this were a culture of TV dinners and fast food then I think things would be different. But it's not. This is a culture of REAL meals, thus the need for someone to make those meals. I understand this cultural need and the reason why so many people employ someone to help around the house. They're being realistic with what they can and can't handle, and I think that's good.

3. Everything boils down to communication. We need to communicate more with each other. I am constantly forced to communicate with my co-workers, roommates, Felipe, bosses, friends, etc. Maybe I should have studied communication??

4. I'm in this transition of where I'm at right now and where I could possibly be in the future. The decisions I make now will greatly affect my future. Do I stay in Chile? Do I go back to the States to work or study more? If so, what would I study? Where would I work? If I stay here, where would I live? Who would I live with? What would I do? Where should I dedicate my time and my energy? I have always envied my brother because ever since 5th grade he's known what he wanted to do. Drums. Teach music. Duh. Of course. Claro. Obvio. But me? When I was in 5th grade I wanted to be an astronaut, then an archeologist, then an astronaut again, then an actress, etc. I've never known. I'm 23 and I still don't. By Chilean standards I should still be studying and living with my parents. By the U.S. standards I should be on a career path and should have ideas and the jobs that will help me get on that path. I'm stuck between these cultural expectations.

So there you have it. An update. Questions?

Be well.

a Visual Glimpse

Valparaiso, Chile. If you eat Chilean fruit it's probably shipped out of Valparaiso.

Pipe's dad and Landon smiling for the camera on Christmas Eve.

Danielle and Pipe's niece Amanda. She is adorable!

This is a view from the Matetic Vineyard my mom and I visited during her stay here. It's top of the line organic wine. It's amazing.

Pipe and I, his parents, and my mom after a lovely seafood meal. We were exhausted but we decided to take a picture anyway, as hot and tired as we were.

The sunset from Pipe's apartment (they moved since we've been here.)

The view from the other side of the balcony.

Giving Thanks

I remember when I was in high school I was friends with a guy who was from India. He was a Muslim. I went to a store to buy something and he was working at the checkout counter. It had to have been Thanksgiving or the day before so I asked him, "What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" He responded, "Nothing! Sarah, everyday is Thanksgiving!"

He is so right! Everyday should be a day of thanks, a day where we reflect on what we have and how grateful we are for it all. Unfortunately, I have been lazy. It's hard to remind myself to be thankful of everything, especially when the the daily routines set in. So I'm glad that we have a day to remind us what we should be doing everyday...giving thanks. Well, being that today is Thanksgiving and that all of my family back home will be getting together to celebrate over turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberries, I wanted to say what I'm thankful for. (Unfortunately, this holiday isn't celebrated in Chile.)

I'm thankful for my health, the ability to walk, breath, see, hear, listen, and taste. I'm thankful for the love I receive from my family and friends, and for them not allowing the thousands of miles to come between us. I'm thankful for Pipe and his great sense of humor. I'm thankful for music, books, movies, and theatre for transporting me to a different world whenever I want to go. I'm thankful for laughter and jokes, which help me remember not to take myself so seriously all the time. I'm thankful for language and how vital it is for us to communicate with each other. I'm thankful for browines. I'm thankful for Chai tea. I'm thankful for this experience and for the ability to grow. Thank you, God, for everything.

What are you thankful for?

The Chilean Experience: mountains and the beach!

The 18th of September is when Chileans celebrate their independence from Spain. This particular year, the 18th happened to be on a Tuesday so there was a 5-day weekend. Saturday came and we were free to enjoy ourselves for a couple of days until we had to return to work on Thursday, so we woke up early Saturday morning, packed and went camping! We went to a National Park about 2 hours outside of Santiago in the Andes. We were a group of 7: Pipe, Danielle, Landon, Bekah (a friend who I met last year in my study abroad program who is teaching English on the coast and who also has a Chilean boyfriend), Javier (Pipe's friend), Sebastian (Javier's brother), and me. We hiked for about 2 hours before we decided to camp because the rest of the path was covered in snow and we didn't have snow equipment. All we could hear was the rushing water in the stream below us. Besides that there was silence, pure silence, a huge change from the busy streets of Santiago! We hung out and at night Pipe cooked us longanizas (Chilean sausages) for dinner. The only bad thing was that at night I was the coldest I've ever been in my life due to the fact that my blood suddenly decided to stop circulating, so I couldn't feel my toes for about 10 hours. Besides the cold and my sneezing/running nose because of bad allergies, it was a great time. There's something about being surrounded by enormous mountains that makes one realize how small we all are. It's also fun and powerful to be surrounded by such beauty and such tall mountains. All I could say was, "Wow." I signed a lot. Me encantó. (I loved it.)


Above is a picture of the view from our camping site. Below was the stream that had the freshest water I've tasted since being in Patagonia last year!


As we were walking back to the bus the next day I turned and took this picture of Landon and Sebastian. It's one of my favorites. This was right before my foot got stuck in the snow and I fell backwards. Basically, I was hanging upside-down by my twisted foot. Pipe rescued me. We had a good laugh/cry/laugh about it afterwards.

The next day Pipe and I went by bus to meet the rest of his family at their beach apartment in Papudo, Chile. By this time my allergies were at their all-time worse and so I spent all of Monday in bed reading and sleeping. Tuesday I felt better and it was a good thing because this was the celebration day, the day were everyone gets together and eats the Chilean barbecue, the "asado." Some of Pipe's extended family came over to celebrate and eat with us. Pipe officially was and still is the "Grill man" so he slaved over the grill and prepared the meat. Every Chilean tells me that it isn't the 18th without an asado, and it's not an asado without TONS of meat. I have never seen that much meat before in my life! Chileans without their meat for the 18th is like Americans without their fireworks for the 4th. It's that big.


Above is a picture of about 15% of the meat that was consumed by all of us that day.


Pipe's second cousin's his niece Laurita (on the right) with the traditional Chilean Cueca dresses. The Cueca is the national dance.


This is a picture of all the "young" people at the party: Pipe's cousins, 2 nieces, sister and brother-in-law.

After an afternoon of delicious food, we walked to la playa (the beach) and hung out there for a couple of hours. I was amazed at how many kites there were in the sky! Pipe tells me that this is the season for kites and so almost every family had a person who was trying to fly their kite. It's also good business for kite makers because they can charge whatever they want because they're in season and in such high demand!


People at la playa.


The sunset from where where we were sitting.

It was fun watching the colorful kites glide through the air, and fun watching all the people with their families and loved ones. Chile and probably all of Latin America is very family-oriented. Here in Chile it's common for families to be together every weekend, especially for holidays. I'm definitely getting a taste of how Chileans are because of Pipe's family. Almost every single weekend they prepare huge lunches and eat well. I think there's beauty to it, to the value they put in being together and "compartiendo" or sharing/spending time together as a family. Just think how things would be in the States if most of the people rearranged their busy schedules to dedicate the weekends to their families! It's not perfect here in Chile, nor in the States, but it's just a thought. Just another way we can learn and grow from each other.

Overall, it was a great 5-day weekend and the perfect way to experience the Chilean Independence. Cuidense.

Protest!

I wrote this a few weeks ago but haven’t had time to put it on my blog until now. This is a story of what happened to me one Saturday afternoon...

So, I was walking to the apartment on Saturday around 1:00 p.m. from the metro station Bellas Artes. I crossed the street and turned right to go in the back entrance of the apartment building, the way I always go. I was thinking about how nice it would be to tidy up my room (I know, you don't believe me, but I was) while I looked up and all of a sudden I saw a HUGE mob of people walking in a straight line down the empty street. “A protest!” I thought. I was terrified.

Let me explain why I was so scared. About 2 weeks ago there was a huge protest for worker’s rights and against the economic system of neo-liberalism. The protests in Chile are insane! Cops bring out huge, green tanks that spray people with water (yes, exactly like the Civil Rights Movement) and tons of armed buses that take all of the protesters who cause violence or disturbance to jail. Usually the protesters start fires, spray paint buildings and tear down several street signs. Of course not all of the protesters were doing this two weeks ago but regardless, it created a very dangerous situation for anyone who was participating or around it.

When I saw the protesters walking down my street I was overcome with fear because I had no idea what they were protesting. What if they were protesting the U.S. and it’s foreign policy? What if they were protesting gringos? I had no idea, so all I could do was grab my keys and run for my life. I sprinted down the street, past a few people who were also looking at the oncoming herd of people. The only thought running through my head was “What if they get to my door before I do?” All I wanted was to get to my door first and to be safe. Luckily, the key I chose for the back door was correct and I got to the door before they did. So I slammed the door shut and ran quickly up the stairs to the second floor, banged on the door to Landon and Danielle and screamed, “Protest!!!!!! There’s a protest outside!!!!” The door opened and all I remember is running to my room, grabbing my camera, opening my window and taking pictures of the crowd walking by. What where they protesting, you might ask? Well, after careful examination with Danielle, we realized that they were protesting animal rights!

(Huge sigh.)


I had never been happier to see an animal rights protest before in my life! These people are harmless! The best part is that while Danielle and I were taking pictures, a lot of the guy protesters starting yelling and whistling at us (we’re just gonna take it as a complement!). They were even trying to pose for our pictures! It was great. What I thought was a mob of at least a thousand people turned into decent size group of probably 300. A couple police vehicles and only one police bus that takes people to jail followed them. There was even a guy inside the bus who smashed his face against the barred window, smiled, and gave us the peace sign as they drove by. Priceless.

I’m glad that I can laugh about everything now. Thank God for Animal Rights Protests.

All moved in and teaching

Saturday was a long day. Danielle and Landon and I moved all of our suitcases to our new apartment which is located in the historical/cultural neighborhood of Santiago, the neighborhood Bellas Artes. Our apartment has two bedrooms, a living room, one bathroom, and a spacious kitchen. It’s right next to Parque Forestal (a huge park) and el museo de Bellas Artes (the art museum.) We are told that this is THE neighborhood to be in as long as we are careful at night because like any neighborhood in a big city, it can get sketchy.

We had our first “get-together” on Saturday night with a few of Pipe’s best friends to inaugurate our apartment. It wouldn’t be official without piscolas, the Chilean alcohol Pisco mixed with Sprite or Coke, a very typical Chilean drink for youngsters like us. So we drank piscolas and conversed until about 3:45 a.m. and there was nothing abnormal about it. Apparently, 3:45 a.m. is early! I still need to get used to this type of schedule.

Now, I realize how sweet we had it by living with Pipe’s parents. We never worried about our meals and about having what we needed to survive. We had everything from clean towels to a delicious home cooked meal. Now, as we are living on our own we realized how expensive things are and how hard it will be to adjust to the idea that we need to cook things regularly. My idea of cooking before consisted of opening up a can of soup and putting it in the microwave and maybe if I’m lucky boiling some noodles for spaghetti. I have learned from Pipe’s family that real cooking takes a lot of time and preparation because they simply don’t have prepared meals in the supermarket and if they do they are very expensive. So, in order to survive here I’ll have to do a couple of things. First, I’ll have to plan what exactly needs to be bought and when (especially because we don’t live right next to a supermarket.) Second and definitely most important, I’m going to have to bite the bullet and take cooking lessons from Pipe´s mom. I want to eat things other than bread and starches for a change, but it´s kinda difficult here because Chileans eat a ton of starch everyday. Regardless, I still need to learn how to cook meals because if I don’t learn how to cook soon, I won’t survive. O sea, puedo sobrevivir pero me cuesta mucho porque no puedo comer pan para cada comida, cachai? So I will be taking cooking lessons from Pipe’s mom and probably Pipe himself (who is a great cook by the way. Is that just a coincidence?)

My teaching is going well. The hours of an EFL teacher aren’t that great, though. For example, I have three classes on Monday and Wednesdays. My first class is from 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m., then I have a class from 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. and then finally from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Basically, they are long days. I come home late and I wake up early. The worst part is that all English teachers have the same type of schedule. Because I teach businesspeople for an institute, we have to work around their schedules, which means we teach before work, during lunch, or after work. If an English teacher has a class during these three time slots, they are considered lucky. We also have to teach most of the classes outside of the institute and in the actual company’s office. I teach English to people who work for international banks, pharmaceutical companies and the oil/gas industry. English for these people is a necessity because as you all know, most of the world’s business is conducted in it. I’m still getting use to everything but I enjoy what I do so far. I just can’t wait until my first paycheck comes which will happen once the Chilean government sends me a letter saying my work visa is "en tramite" (in transit.)

For now, my days will be filled with classes, trying to get enough sleep, and trying to put my room together in this new apartment of ours. Hasta luego.

A Little Wish

Today, if I could have one wish, I would wish that every person could be able to experience life in a different country for longer than a month. And by experience I don’t mean vacation. They must live with and among the people, thus having to do everyday life activities with a different routine, currency, and possible language. Of course this could not happen all at once because then the particular country would lack the usual homogeneousness that makes it uniquely “foreign” to the visiting person. If someone would have asked me for a wish yesterday I’m sure that my wish would have been different, and I’ll probably have a different wish for tomorrow, but for today, this is my wish.

Why? Why should every person encounter life in this unfamiliar and strange manner? Because I believe that the learning and the growth that will occur as a result of the experience could be a priceless blessing for the world. Maybe instead of learning about war, racism, poverty, free-trade agreements, spicy foods, good wine, beautiful countrysides, love, sacrifice, violence, hospitality, respect, anarchy, fear, dictatorships, censorships, genocide, capitalism, agriculture, global warming, and democracy, we as a people could go to different countries and personally experience all of the above and quite possibly more. We need this uniquely human experience.

In teaching English as a second/foreign language, the teacher is suppose to ask specific questions that show the students comprehension on a grammar point, vocabulary word, or idea. Basically, the teacher tries to get the student to use the word in a sentence, or to somehow personalize it because then if that happens it’s harder to forget and easier to recall the next time. I think my wish is like this teaching method. Once we personalize our experiences, we are changed and thus bring our experiences with us wherever we go. If we all experienced life in a different country, if we all truly got to know other people’s frustrations, likes, dislikes, joys, beliefs, and what makes them laugh and cry, then we can be expected to “mejorar la sociedad” (to better society), not just for ourselves but for everyone. Somos ciudadanos del MUNDO. No solamente de nuestro propio país.

Maybe if my wished happened then we could begin to appreciate what we have no matter how much or little it is. We could begin to see the pros and cons of each society, to see and hopefully understand different ways of doing things, and hopefully, the end result would be people who are conscious of the world around them, where they are able to see how their decisions affect other nations. People will be able to bring what they have learned back to their own country to “mejorar” it because I believe that we can all learn from each other. We’re all imperfect and flawed.

Sure, some people think that we don’t physically need to go to a different country. I mean why would we? We have jobs! A family! A life here!! And those are good reasons why people don’t go abroad. But there is something that happens abroad that simply cannot be learned from a textbook, a professor, a pastor, or a discovery channel show. It’s the personal experience that becomes a part of you, that forces you to grow in ways you never thought possible, think about things you never thought about, and love in a way you never thought you could. This is my wish for myself as I am here in Chile, and this is my wish for every person.