My living situation has taken a couple of interesting turns since arriving. After I was whisked away from the airport by my host teacher, Patricia, I started to wonder exactly where we were going. We drove through the middle of town and she pointed out all the important sites: the school, the plaza de armas (main square), the grocery stores, the post office, etc. As we drove by the school one more time, she told me to pay attention because we'd be making the trip to my house from the school backwards and I'd need to remember how to get there the next morning. As we turned onto my street and began searching for the correct address, it was clear that she'd never met the people with whom I'd be staying. That made me a bit nervous. We pulled up to a relatively large yellow house that had some cardboard covering a few of the upstairs windows. Oh boy.
The man that greeted us at the door was probably in his early 30's and introduced himself as Jose. He brought me inside and walked me to my room. Something wasn't quite right. Now I'd never lived with a Chilean family or even been invited into an actual Chilean house so I couldn't claim to be an expert but this just didn't feel like a home. As he showed me to my room and handed me a padlock that I'd attach to the door when I leave, it dawned on me that I was the newest guest in a small hostel.
Jose was very nice and always interested in practicing his English, which he learned by listening to Radiohead, U2 and Metallica. Oddly, his ex-wife also lived in the hostel (in a separate room, of course) with their 2 1/2 year old son, Luis Martin. He explained that at the moment, there were 6 other people staying in different rooms throughout the hostel but he regularly accommodates up to 15 or 16. This is when the alarms in my brain started to really scream. I didn't sign up to stay at a hostel with nearly 20 people that would be coming and going all the time. I wasn't really comfortable with the padlock on the door or the prospect of sharing a bathroom with strangers for the next 8 months. I wanted a family that I could share this experience with. Someone to make me feel welcome and teach me about life in Chile. I was already having doubts about my ability to make it until the end of November. Oh boy.
When I arrived at school the next morning, Patricia asked me how I liked the house. I could tell by the way she asked the question that she wasn't comfortable with the situation either. She explained that they'd had a lot of difficulty finding a place for me to stay because most of the student's families live too far away from the school for me to be able to walk there within 20-25 minutes (it's one of the rules of our program). She did say she was working on finding a better place and was excited about a call she'd gotten earlier that morning about an interested family. I know taking in a stranger from another country that doesn't speak your language is a big deal so I expected to stay at the hostel for at least a few weeks. I was less than excited but still determined to make the best of the situation.
The very next day, I got a call from our regional support contact, Lorena, letting me know that the family Patricia had mentioned agreed to take me in. She said she'd be paying them a visit later that day to speak with the family and check out the house (there are rules about me having to have my own room, hot water, etc). She said she'd try to let me know what decision was made within a couple of days. As I headed home for lunch a few hours later, I kept busy by reminding myself that things always work themselves out.
About 15 minutes after I got home, Lorena called me and said the family and house was great and they were very excited to invite me into their home. She said they'd be coming by the hostel to pick me up...in 30 minutes. Oh boy.
Sure enough, I heard a knock at the door and saw two women standing outside about 30 minutes later (which qualifies as a minor miracle because everyone is late to everything in Chile). Monica, mi mama, and Camila, her daughter, were there to whisk me away. As we pulled up to their house, an immediate sense of relief washed over me. They showed me to my room which is small but has a big window, a desk, a TV and a closest (in some ways, it's nicer than my room in HB was) and told me to put my bags down so I could come to the kitchen to eat some cazuela. I sat and enjoyed this homecooked, delicious meal and wondered how in the world everything about this experience had changed so quickly. This is what I'd come for. This was how it was supposed to feel the first time.
Having been there for about a week now, I can say with confidence that the family is absolutely great. The parents are named Monica and Gerrardo. They've made me feel like their new son. In orientation, we'd heard that Chilean kids can be a bit spoiled by their parents and I've definitely seen evidence of this so far with the kids in the house. Of course, I've also reaped the benefits as well. Whenever I'm around, Monica always asks about how I'm feeling, if I'm hungry, if I need something to eat and etc. She's very sweet and even speaks some English. Gerrardo is a great guy and we've already shared quite a few grunts while watching soccer highlights that qualify as male bonding at it's most basic level. Yesterday, we drank beers in the garage while he told me about all the music he likes (Depeche Mode is one of his favorites). It was cool.
As for the kids, there are 3 girls and 1 boy. Camila goes to the university in town and studies English, which means she's my personal translator. Isabel and Coti are both in high school. Coti, short for Constanza, is a freshman at the school I work at. Gerrardo, aka Gerradito, also attends a different high school somewhere in town and is a pretty good at ping pong. He actually went to Santiago last week to compete in the national championships. They're all very sweet and like to laugh at me when I try to speak Spanish. Fortunately, I'm very used to having younger siblings make fun of me constantly (thanks for the practice, Nick & Carly).
The family owns a motorcycle shop and Gerrardo races quads. I was a little taken aback by that news at first because of the stigma motocross fans carry with them in SoCal. Thankfully, the motocross scene down here is nothing like it is there so I should be able to make it through this experience without ever having to done a flat cap or a Skin Industries t-shirt. I'm supposed to go with them to a race this Sunday. We'll see how it goes.
I feel incredibly lucky to have been placed in such a great house. I'm so grateful for and impressed by the warm generosity that has been extended to a stranger from half way around the world that can't utter much more than "Me gusta pollo" on any given day.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Nun-ing it up in Punta Arenas.
I’m the newest member of the teaching staff at Liceo Maria Auxiliadora, a semi-private all girls’ catholic school here in Punta Arenas. It should go without saying that I never thought I’d be able to say I work at a catholic school...but here I am.
When I first met my host teacher, Patricia, and I told her that I was from California she said, “Oh, the girls will be soooo excited.” At that moment, I felt immediate relief. My gut had been telling me that I’d get high school students. Big, rude high school students. I don’t know why...that’s just what the gut said. I suppose I was half right being that the school is K-12 so I will have at least a couple high school classes. But all girls? Really? I’m definitely not underestimating the challenge that managing a class of kids is, but girls HAVE to be easier to deal with than boys.
With this in mind, I arrived on Tuesday morning for my first day. I met Patricia out in front and she immediately took me to the principal’s office. As I walked into the office, I looked up and saw a tiny nun that has to be pushing 75 smiling at me. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see a nun there but I was. She was very nice (are they really allowed to be mean?) and decided to try speaking Italian when she realized I didn’t understand her Spanish. Unfortunately, I studied even less Italian than Spanish so we were left to just smile while Patricia translated for us. Her name is Sor Rina. Later that day, I mentioned her name but pronounced it ‘Sorina’. Many of you probably aren’t aware of the implications of this simple mistake...I certainly wasn’t. Patricia delicately explained that rolling the R sound when pronouncing it made all the difference. She didn’t give me details but I asked a guy I met later that day what it actually meant. Now my grandmother reads this blog so I’m going to have to keep it PG and completely scientific when I explain that ‘Sorina’ translates to...vagina. If I’m not careful when speaking, I will call a 75 year old nun a vagina. (shout out to my GMa, by the way. Love you!)
I’ve been able to visit quite a few different classes of varying grades and I’ve been really impressed by what I’ve found. The girls are incredibly well behaved and mild mannered. I’m sure the group of nuns and strict teachers have a lot to do with it. In any case, it really should help me help the students. I can spend my time actually making progress instead of wasting time getting kids in their seats. I’ve been equally impressed by the resources the school has available for me to use as well. The school itself owns 10 laptops with projectors that can be checked out using an intranet system. They also have 4 SMART Boards, which are projectors that allow the teacher to use a special pen to actually interact with what’s being projected. From what I hear about other schools in the country from fellow volunteers, I’m very lucky. They’ve given me my own room as well. It’s the old science lab so it has all kinds of aged equipment in unlocked glass cases that line the walls. I asked if there would be any problems with the students playing with anything and Patricia told me not to worry about it. She then walked to the other side of the room where there were cases filled with all kinds of chemicals and powders and said “Don’t worry. We lock the dangerous stuff.” So who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to add getting a chemical burn to the list of firsts while here in Chile.
Now as you may imagine, I kind of stand out at school. There are a couple other male teachers but they’re much older so the girls do get somewhat distracted when I walk by. Luckily, I’ve been stared at so much over the last two weeks that it really doesn’t bother me anymore. My walks through the halls are filled with “Meeester, Meeester...Hi!” I’ll take those kinds of exchanges instead of whispers any day. As I’ve had the opportunity to visit more individual classes and even lead a couple lessons, the “Meeester, Meeester” in the halls is turning into “Tio! Tio! Hola!”, which is quite charming. I’m glad I didn’t have to find out my sister got pregnant in order to start being called Tio. It was a life goal of mine.
I’m really looking forward to the experience of working with these students and teachers for the next 8 months. I have a lot to learn but much more to teach.
When I first met my host teacher, Patricia, and I told her that I was from California she said, “Oh, the girls will be soooo excited.” At that moment, I felt immediate relief. My gut had been telling me that I’d get high school students. Big, rude high school students. I don’t know why...that’s just what the gut said. I suppose I was half right being that the school is K-12 so I will have at least a couple high school classes. But all girls? Really? I’m definitely not underestimating the challenge that managing a class of kids is, but girls HAVE to be easier to deal with than boys.
With this in mind, I arrived on Tuesday morning for my first day. I met Patricia out in front and she immediately took me to the principal’s office. As I walked into the office, I looked up and saw a tiny nun that has to be pushing 75 smiling at me. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see a nun there but I was. She was very nice (are they really allowed to be mean?) and decided to try speaking Italian when she realized I didn’t understand her Spanish. Unfortunately, I studied even less Italian than Spanish so we were left to just smile while Patricia translated for us. Her name is Sor Rina. Later that day, I mentioned her name but pronounced it ‘Sorina’. Many of you probably aren’t aware of the implications of this simple mistake...I certainly wasn’t. Patricia delicately explained that rolling the R sound when pronouncing it made all the difference. She didn’t give me details but I asked a guy I met later that day what it actually meant. Now my grandmother reads this blog so I’m going to have to keep it PG and completely scientific when I explain that ‘Sorina’ translates to...vagina. If I’m not careful when speaking, I will call a 75 year old nun a vagina. (shout out to my GMa, by the way. Love you!)
I’ve been able to visit quite a few different classes of varying grades and I’ve been really impressed by what I’ve found. The girls are incredibly well behaved and mild mannered. I’m sure the group of nuns and strict teachers have a lot to do with it. In any case, it really should help me help the students. I can spend my time actually making progress instead of wasting time getting kids in their seats. I’ve been equally impressed by the resources the school has available for me to use as well. The school itself owns 10 laptops with projectors that can be checked out using an intranet system. They also have 4 SMART Boards, which are projectors that allow the teacher to use a special pen to actually interact with what’s being projected. From what I hear about other schools in the country from fellow volunteers, I’m very lucky. They’ve given me my own room as well. It’s the old science lab so it has all kinds of aged equipment in unlocked glass cases that line the walls. I asked if there would be any problems with the students playing with anything and Patricia told me not to worry about it. She then walked to the other side of the room where there were cases filled with all kinds of chemicals and powders and said “Don’t worry. We lock the dangerous stuff.” So who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to add getting a chemical burn to the list of firsts while here in Chile.
Now as you may imagine, I kind of stand out at school. There are a couple other male teachers but they’re much older so the girls do get somewhat distracted when I walk by. Luckily, I’ve been stared at so much over the last two weeks that it really doesn’t bother me anymore. My walks through the halls are filled with “Meeester, Meeester...Hi!” I’ll take those kinds of exchanges instead of whispers any day. As I’ve had the opportunity to visit more individual classes and even lead a couple lessons, the “Meeester, Meeester” in the halls is turning into “Tio! Tio! Hola!”, which is quite charming. I’m glad I didn’t have to find out my sister got pregnant in order to start being called Tio. It was a life goal of mine.
I’m really looking forward to the experience of working with these students and teachers for the next 8 months. I have a lot to learn but much more to teach.
"That's bloody incredible."
On Monday, we set out from our hostel to begin our trip to the end of the Earth. Many of us were concerned about our luggage when we arrived as we'd be warned that we could only pack one bag of 45 lbs. Needless to say, none of us had one bag of 45 lbs. Luckily, the woman that checked us in looked the other way and we all managed to dodge the $100 charge that would have accompanied breaking the rules. We were off to a great start.
I've had the pleasure of taking quite a few flights over the years but this flight will surely top them all. Only a couple days before, a fellow volunteer and I had been talking about an NPR story that examined why time seems to fly by much faster as we age. The theory is that our brain works harder to remember more details when we do things the first time than when we repeat the feat as a way to be efficient and save space. The theory was put into overdrive as we flew over Patagonia and took in some of the most incredible sights I've ever seen. I think I had goosebumps for what seemed like 5 hours...even though the flight was only scheduled for 2. I truly couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. There were glaciers. FREAKING GLACIERS! I'm absolutely positive that I'll remember that flight for as long as I live.
The immensity of it all was almost too much to handle. It just goes on and on and on for as far as you could see even at 35,000 ft. My new friend, Nathaniel, that speaks Australian said, "That's bloody incredible." I'm not quite sure what it means but it sounds appropriate.
Here are some of the pictures I was able to snap:
I've had the pleasure of taking quite a few flights over the years but this flight will surely top them all. Only a couple days before, a fellow volunteer and I had been talking about an NPR story that examined why time seems to fly by much faster as we age. The theory is that our brain works harder to remember more details when we do things the first time than when we repeat the feat as a way to be efficient and save space. The theory was put into overdrive as we flew over Patagonia and took in some of the most incredible sights I've ever seen. I think I had goosebumps for what seemed like 5 hours...even though the flight was only scheduled for 2. I truly couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. There were glaciers. FREAKING GLACIERS! I'm absolutely positive that I'll remember that flight for as long as I live.
The immensity of it all was almost too much to handle. It just goes on and on and on for as far as you could see even at 35,000 ft. My new friend, Nathaniel, that speaks Australian said, "That's bloody incredible." I'm not quite sure what it means but it sounds appropriate.
Here are some of the pictures I was able to snap:
Monday, April 12, 2010
A day away from the city.
On Saturday, a small group of us decided to head up to see the sights in the Valparaiso area. It was my first experience on the famous Chilean bus system and , I have to say, I was very impressed. The buses were awesome and cheap too! It only cost about $8 to get all the way to Valpo, which is about 2 hours away, and back. Once we got there, we signed up for a tour of the area that cost $20 but would take us to each of the cities in the area (Renaca, Vina Del Mar & Valparaiso) and a few of the main turist spots. Not a bad deal.
It's a well populated area but it felt much different than Santiago, which is great. The beaches were really pretty and reminded me a lot of some of the beaches above San Diego. We stopped to eat at a seafood restaurant by the beach and ordered some kind of lunch special. Most of you probably know that I don't really eat too much seafood so choosing to follow the crowd and order the fish l was taking a bit of a risk (I know, pathetic). It was SO good. I don't remember what the name of the fish was but it was delicious. I could have eaten 3 lunches by myself without blinking. We drove around the beaches for a bit and stopped at a few scenic spots. I asked our tour guide what the name of one of the places was and she rattled off some Spanish phrase that sounded like it had a good story and said "En Ingles?". I said yes and she said "Ocean picture place". Pretty inspiring, huh?
We got to go Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso. It was really cool to be able to walk through the gardens and see the view of the city from all the benches he had throughout. It was my favorite part of the tour. I wish we could have gone inside but we didn't really have enough time to do it justice so I just peeked inside some windows. Maybe I'll get to go back once this thing is over.
It was great to get away from the city and the large groups of people constantly hanging around the hostel to see what else Chile has to offer. I'm looking forward to a few more quick trips in the south around Chile and Argentina during the months to come.
It's a well populated area but it felt much different than Santiago, which is great. The beaches were really pretty and reminded me a lot of some of the beaches above San Diego. We stopped to eat at a seafood restaurant by the beach and ordered some kind of lunch special. Most of you probably know that I don't really eat too much seafood so choosing to follow the crowd and order the fish l was taking a bit of a risk (I know, pathetic). It was SO good. I don't remember what the name of the fish was but it was delicious. I could have eaten 3 lunches by myself without blinking. We drove around the beaches for a bit and stopped at a few scenic spots. I asked our tour guide what the name of one of the places was and she rattled off some Spanish phrase that sounded like it had a good story and said "En Ingles?". I said yes and she said "Ocean picture place". Pretty inspiring, huh?
We got to go Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso. It was really cool to be able to walk through the gardens and see the view of the city from all the benches he had throughout. It was my favorite part of the tour. I wish we could have gone inside but we didn't really have enough time to do it justice so I just peeked inside some windows. Maybe I'll get to go back once this thing is over.
It was great to get away from the city and the large groups of people constantly hanging around the hostel to see what else Chile has to offer. I'm looking forward to a few more quick trips in the south around Chile and Argentina during the months to come.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
My new home.
I found out a couple days ago that I'm headed to the city of Punta Arenas. You can take a second to google that. Here's a picture to pique your interest:
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.
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.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
I think my brain is actually swirling around in my head.
I think the brain's ability to manifest stress into physical sensations is incredible. For example, when I finally arrived at the hostel this morning and laid down for a well deserved nap, it actually felt like the room was spinning and that I was inflating like a blow up mattress. I'm sure many of you are quite familiar with the sensation. However, it normally only happens after a long night involving embarrassing dance moves and one too many vodka tonics (or Miller Lite, if you're Eric Lowry). To be experiencing the dreaded 'spins' at 7:15 am in a tiny bed in a hostel in South America by myself while completely sober was not the way I wanted to start this thing off. Such is life.
Leaving the comforts of my house (and my jobless, fun-filled life) was incredibly difficult. I slept for a grand total of 15 minutes on the night before I left. Unfortunately, I couldn't pour those idle hours into something productive like practicing Spanish or completing my TEFL certification. I just sat there and tried to make sure my heart didn't literally beat out of my chest. After I left the house, things felt better. That only lasted until my Mom, sister and G-ma dropped me off at the airport. I cried a bit and felt like vomiting for a solid 20 minutes after that goodbye.
Something again seemed to change as soon as I got onto the plane though. I felt focused and a strange sense of confidence washed over me. My mission in South America had begun and I was going to take care of business. I slept in 1.5-2 hours shifts on the plane ride and each time I woke up what I was about to do slowly came back to me. It wasn't a terrible feeling but it wasn't one I enjoyed experiencing 4 or 5 times.
Finally, my plane landed and the panic of figuring out how to get out of the airport masked any remaining apprehension. As a giant of a man (had to be at least 6'8'') walked me to the van that would take me to the hostel, I started to calm down. The overwhelmed feeling went away and I realized I was actually in Santiago, Chile. A place I never would have expected myself to see as little as a year ago.
The city is a lot like other big cities. Lots of big, glass business buildings buttressed by high rise apartment buildings. I'd read about Chile's problem with stray dogs and wondered just how bad it could be. I've gotta say, it's pretty bad. There are stray dogs everywhere. Don't worry, they're friendly and don't seemed to be too bothered by sleeping anywhere and everywhere. I'm sure they make good use of the trash that seems to pile up in some places.
I checked into the hostel and was surprised to find that I was the first person in my room to arrive. I took a couple minutes to look around and reorganize some things in my backpack. That's when the spins hit. I cured them with my first Chilean siesta. By the time I woke up, the other 3 guys that would share the room had arrived so we introduced ourselves and etc. We'd been told that all meals were served at the hostel but found this not to be true when we asked about breakfast & lunch and were kindly told that dinner would be served at 7:30 pm. We decided to venture out into the city to find lunch and something to do with our day. We went to a small restaurant where I had a sandwich with chicken, red bell peppers & mayo. It was pretty good.
The restaurant was right near one of the large hills implanted right in the middle of the city so we took the opportunity to explore by hiking to the top where there's a statue of the Virgin Mary. It wasn't a difficult climb but I definitely didn't have the appropriate attire for a mid-afternoon walk in the 90 degree heat. The view of the city that we found at the top was definitely worth it though. For as far as I could see, in every single direction, there was the city. It's incredible how expansive it is. Sometimes it's good to feel small and this was one of those times.
Leaving the comforts of my house (and my jobless, fun-filled life) was incredibly difficult. I slept for a grand total of 15 minutes on the night before I left. Unfortunately, I couldn't pour those idle hours into something productive like practicing Spanish or completing my TEFL certification. I just sat there and tried to make sure my heart didn't literally beat out of my chest. After I left the house, things felt better. That only lasted until my Mom, sister and G-ma dropped me off at the airport. I cried a bit and felt like vomiting for a solid 20 minutes after that goodbye.
Something again seemed to change as soon as I got onto the plane though. I felt focused and a strange sense of confidence washed over me. My mission in South America had begun and I was going to take care of business. I slept in 1.5-2 hours shifts on the plane ride and each time I woke up what I was about to do slowly came back to me. It wasn't a terrible feeling but it wasn't one I enjoyed experiencing 4 or 5 times.
Finally, my plane landed and the panic of figuring out how to get out of the airport masked any remaining apprehension. As a giant of a man (had to be at least 6'8'') walked me to the van that would take me to the hostel, I started to calm down. The overwhelmed feeling went away and I realized I was actually in Santiago, Chile. A place I never would have expected myself to see as little as a year ago.
The city is a lot like other big cities. Lots of big, glass business buildings buttressed by high rise apartment buildings. I'd read about Chile's problem with stray dogs and wondered just how bad it could be. I've gotta say, it's pretty bad. There are stray dogs everywhere. Don't worry, they're friendly and don't seemed to be too bothered by sleeping anywhere and everywhere. I'm sure they make good use of the trash that seems to pile up in some places.
I checked into the hostel and was surprised to find that I was the first person in my room to arrive. I took a couple minutes to look around and reorganize some things in my backpack. That's when the spins hit. I cured them with my first Chilean siesta. By the time I woke up, the other 3 guys that would share the room had arrived so we introduced ourselves and etc. We'd been told that all meals were served at the hostel but found this not to be true when we asked about breakfast & lunch and were kindly told that dinner would be served at 7:30 pm. We decided to venture out into the city to find lunch and something to do with our day. We went to a small restaurant where I had a sandwich with chicken, red bell peppers & mayo. It was pretty good.
The restaurant was right near one of the large hills implanted right in the middle of the city so we took the opportunity to explore by hiking to the top where there's a statue of the Virgin Mary. It wasn't a difficult climb but I definitely didn't have the appropriate attire for a mid-afternoon walk in the 90 degree heat. The view of the city that we found at the top was definitely worth it though. For as far as I could see, in every single direction, there was the city. It's incredible how expansive it is. Sometimes it's good to feel small and this was one of those times.
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