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Published: February 17th 2011
Last weekend was spent on the coast. On Friday we had a class trip to Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. Before I go into that rewind back a day to Thursday. The day started out cloudy and bleak. Awesome, in my opinion. We played an epic game of soccer in the rain. Because the rain had cleared the normally polluted air we had an amazing view of the Andes Mountains.
On Friday morning we bused out to the coast. After spending the day with the class Loren, Julia, Kate, Nick, and I split off to find a hostel. It was unlike any I had previously seen. The hostel we stayed at was youthful, arties, and cheap. I loved it because it had a trapeze in the lounge. Friday night was spent on the beach watching a concert drinking wine. It was crowded, but was a relaxing and fun night. On Saturday we toured the city of Valparaiso. It is an art-friendly town with a unique flare.
Fast forward to today, February 16, 2011. This past week has been full of excitement. I am definitely starting to become comfortable with everything. I am beginning to feel like I live here,
and that I am not just a visitor
. I am feeling a closer connection with my friends. Every time I go to volunteer at the children’s foundation I realize the significance my presence brings. At first I thought the children did not care whether or not I came. But I now realize that they love having us there. I always look forward to Thursday evening soccer. I get pumped just thinking about weekend trips and other travels. As for running, every practice I go to my coach expects more and more out of me. Although I am not dedicating my time to running here I am somehow in amazing shape.
Every day is still fun and for the most part packed full of things to do. There is the occasional day where I will do nothing, but those are becoming far and few in between. On Mondays and Wednesdays I am still volunteering at the Foundation for children with cancer with Joey and Loren. We head there after school from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. Immediately after that I rush home to leave for track practice. Currently I am training for the Santiago half marathon. Usually that goes from 7:30pm to 9:00pm, so by the time I arrive home, shower, and have dinner it is nearly 9:30pm.
Over the past week or so I have spend much of my time researching travel plans online and with friends. For example last night I was communicating with five different people about three different trips. Between emails, texts, chat/messages/wall posts on facebook I manage to stay up until one or two in the morning planning trips. That was met by do a little bit of homework . School is easy, which makes it easy to not take seriously. This does not bother me, because although I consider school to be important, I think a wholesome experience abroad is also important.
The first of these three trips I am planning takes place tomorrow. Julia, Kate, Sarah, and I are going south to Pucón. We are taking the 9:45pm bus out of Santiago. The ride goes all night, as we will arrive in Pucón at 8:00am on Friday morning. This means I will be skipping class on Friday. I feel guilty about this, but honestly I can learn just as much outside of the classroom as in it. The trip is expensive, but for once in my life I am not going to let that hold me back. I have spent the last who-knows-how-many years being cheap. I still do not like to spend money casually, but I feel as though traveling the world is a valid reason to drop some cash.
Speaking of finances I just found out on Sunday that I will be returning to Mesa Verde to work this summer. That is just another thing that has gotten me excited. It is also a relief knowing that I will have a job to finance the trip I am currently on. This means that I will return to Chico for a day before heading out to Colorado. That extends my travels by an extra two months. I will have been away from home since January 4th all the way until August 20th, making it the longest period of time I have every been on the move. Bacán*.
In way it is sad to think about this trip ending. I had a dream last week that should be an eye-opener. I dreamt that I was back in Chico with my friends. They were asking me how it was in Chile. I said “it was good, but not amazing. It is weird to think that the semester is over already. I feel like it just began.” As soon as I woke up I realized that I need to make the most of every moment. True, I still have four more months in South America. However, considering that a month and a half has already gone by, and I am just now getting used to things I understand that I do not have much time.
I am making it my goal to always be doing something, even if it means something I am not enjoying. I do not want to look back on this semester and regret something that I did not do. Usually I do not like to regret things. I feel as though regretting a decision to do something is not wise. At least I had the courage to make a decision. But if I regret not doing something that bothers me. Why would I choose not to do something if it is just as easy to do it? So instead of wasting precious days here in Chile I am going to attempt to always be doing something. That way whether it is good or bad I can still take away an experience of something new.
Additionally, I am starting to grow excited for my trip to Patagonia and the south of Chile. We will fly down to Punta Arenas to spend ten days in the Patagonia/Tierra del Fuego regions. This will include a five day backpacking trip, several plane rides, bus rides, a catamaran ride, hostels, glaciers, snow, mountains, wildlife , and possibly visiting the most southern town on earth. Superbacán.
Currently my mind is swimming with all my opportunities/plans. The best part is I have yet to come to the extreme high points of my travels. This is just the tip of the ice berg. Once school is finished, my Spanish improves, I become more accustomed to South America, and I start to travel I believe that the floodgates will open, and the time of my life will commence.
To make things even better I know where my life is headed afterwards. I have a job for the summer. I am going to graduate in a year, and I have plans along the way. I just got invited to the honors society of the Chico State sociology department, and I still plan to TA for one of my professors next year. After that there is Europe and the Olympics, travel, running across the US, graduate school, work experience, and of course surprises along the way! ¿Como se dice my life rocks en español?
VIDA DIARIO
February 4th
Today Julia and I went to a farmer’s market in Santiago. After making several purchases we both went home in opposite directions. I went back towards the metro station, but instead of taking the metro home, I decided to jump on a micro**. If you transfer from a metro within two hours the micros are free. I had a backpack and three bags of food which I had bought from the market. There were no seats available so I stood. I was preoccupied, mostly with eating my food.
About fifteen minutes into the ride I exhaled too quickly out of my nose, and managed to shoot a snot rocket directly onto my own t-shirt. To add to my embarrassment I was still standing on the micro, facing perhaps twenty passengers who were sitting facing towards me. So for the next five minutes I stood there trying not to make eye contact with those who sat directly in front of me.
Five minutes passed, and I finally looked out the window. You have got to be kidding me. I had gotten on the wrong bus. I had spent twenty minutes going in the wrong direction. I hoped off the micro at the fourth to last stop, and paid for the metro. It took me almost an hour and a half to get home, and I did not managed to save any money, because the transfer is only good from for a metro and two micros, not a micro and two metros.
You would think that after five weeks in Santiago I would be getting used to everything, but things like this are still happening to me all the time.
February 9th
I had a touching moment today. As usual I went to the foundation for children with cancer to volunteer. I spent most of the two hours playing with Connie. Connie is three years old and has cancer and Down ’s syndrome. Talk about unfortunate. However, by the end of my two hours there I feel as though I had made a different in her day; she was sad to see me go.
Connie spent the first ten minutes pointing to Joey. Joey, who was playing chess with Carlos, has a lip ring. Connie would point to her own lip and then towards Joey. At first I found this to be entertaining. I also pointed to my lip and then towards Joey, saying labio, which is Spanish for lip. This meant nothing to Connie; she could not speak a word of Spanish. All she could do was make sounds. However, for nearly ten minutes she continued to point at her lip. Eventually she became bored with watching Joey and Carlos play chess. She wandered into the next room. There she got hold of a cell phone.
I thought she was going to break the phone so I gave it back to one of the mothers of the children. But the mother handed it back to Connie. The phone began playing a child’s songs. I only understood bits of the song, because it was all in Spanish. Connie ran outside with the phone. Since I was watching her I followed, hoping to get her back inside. Then I realized what she was doing. The song was about sunshine. Although she could not speak she could understand the words. This assumption was reaffirmed during the next song. The song was about noses. Whenever the word nariz was mentioned she would point to her nose and then mine. I was starting to see past the fact that she was just three years-olds and had Down’s syndrome. Although she could not speak, and I could only speak bits of Spanish we were being to bond.
Moments later the Barney song “I love you, you love me” began playing. It was, of course, in Spanish. However, Connie knew what all the words meant. I remember the song from when I was a kid. “I love you, you love me…we are one big family…with a hug and kiss from me to you…won’t you say you love me too.” Connie danced to the song, hugging me at all the correct times. She could understand Spanish. She also understood that I was there to be her friend, not just to supervise her.
After the music stopped Connie ran to the back of the yard. She climbed onto a mound of dirt, laughing and pointing to the sky. I tried to guess what she was meant. I said cielo, the word for sky or heaven. This was meant by no response. Next I said “eres muy alta, Connie.” This she understood. To my amazement she repeated the word alta . She continued to smile a huge grin and say “alta, alta, alta.” I laughed with joy. As far as I knew that was the first time she had ever spoken. Granted, I have only known her for two days so that is probably incorrect, however, I felt as though it was a big breakthrough.
I was not just teaching Connie a new word. I got to share a very memorable hour and a half with someone with whom I have absolutely nothing in common. She is a young infant girl with health problems living in a Spanish speaking country, and she probably comes from a poor family. I, on the other hand, am a twenty year-old male, who grew up in a well-off family in the United States in the best city on the face of the planet. Regardless of all this we were able to understand each other. It is moment like this that make me glad I came to Chile.
I know that was a lot of information in a single entry, but consider that a testament to the amount of things that are happening to me as of recently. I only expect more good things to come. Until then, ciao!
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*Chilean slang meaning cool/awesome.
** Micros are the public buses of Santiago.
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Angelika Brown
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Wonderful Blog
Hello Adam, It was wonderful to read your blog! I can see that you are enjoying this time of discovering a new culture, world, and language! I can see that you are discovering a lot about yourself also. It is wonderful to read your experiences and see how you reflect on them. We miss you here very much! We are visiting your parents right a now and Owen. This sure is a different world from Chile, isn't it? Lots of Love from Angelika. Keven, Minea, and Anja Anja has a summer job in New Mexico and you got your job back in Colorado! That is great!