I was pretty excited to hear about the placement as I'd read about many of the cities in the region and dreaded the possibility of being placed in one of the small little island cities that are only accessible by boat (see Puerto Williams). Punta Arenas is the biggest city and the capital of the region. It has an airport that we'll be flying to on Monday morning, saving those of us that were placed there the displeasure of a marathon bus ride. A few of the other volunteers have 12-23 hour long bus rides ahead of them and they're less than thrilled. It's a protected port city and one of main bases for expeditions leaving for Antartica. Obviously, this gives it a little more of a touristy vibe that may help me fit in a bit better. I found out that there's a decent ski resort just a few miles outside of town so it sounds like I'll be picking up snowboarding again. It's been a while since the last time I've done that but I do remember loving it quite a bit back in high school so I'm looking forward to that very much. I can expect to find all the amenities that you'd find in most medium to large size cities so I'm happy to report that I'll be able to share lots of pictures and continue to update this regularly. I'm most excited about the fact that I'll be able to talk to everyone back home without much of a problem. I don't know how I'd cope with living at the end of the Earth and not being able to talk to you all. The emails and chats I've been able to have so far with some of you have really lifted my spirits when I've felt less than great. So thanks.
I still haven't found out anything about my host family or the school I'll be working at. Our Apoyo Curriculara (Curriculum Support), Lorena, let us know about some of the schools in the city but couldn't recall which ones we'd been assigned to. We've been told that the government prefers to send volunteers to basica (elementary-jr. high) schools because they feel we can have the greatest impact there. However, the schools themselves request our presence so there is a possibility that I'll be teaching at a medio (high school). I don't really have a preference either way. The way I see it, both levels would present different challenges and benefits so I'm just excited and ready to go.
This excitement is causing me to get a little stir crazy here in Santiago. The city is nice enough but I feel like after you've seen a few big cities in the world, you've seen them all so spending more than a few days here isn't really necessary. It reminds me of LA so the exoticism has kind of worn off and I'm left to sit and wait. Waiting is something I should be used to at this point but I still don't enjoy it. We've spent the week cooped up in a small room in a school down the street from the hostel for our orientation. While the info shared in this 'training' has been helpful, I can't help but feel like we won't have the chance to implement much of it once we actually make it to our classrooms. Because Chile is so large and individual schools are so small, it's difficult for them to make any kind of promises about the situation we'll soon find ourselves in. I've tried to approach the training as something that's nice to have and I take their suggestions seriously but it's pointless for me to start to develop any sort of plan at this point. All will be revealed once we arrive in Punta Arenas. Things will fall into place, as they always do, so I'm just trying to be patient. I'm not finding much success.
I realized quite a long time ago that this experience will be a defining moment in my life and it's difficult to continue to wait on the precipice. I've been looking forward to being in my new home, finding my new routine and discovering all the new experiences and perspectives that await for almost a year now. The time has come to get this show on the road.
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