i should have done this earlier but i didnt really think about it. heres some pics from the end of the semester for your viewing pleasure. enjoy! :)
So throughout my semester I decided to get a picture of me jumping in every city and or place I visited. Here are the finished results:
http://butler.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040540&l=a37bd&id=21103632
Parque Nacional Laguna Laja with Leslie Caroline and Cordelia
http://butler.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046429&l=42a74&id=21103632
Torres del Paine, Punta Arenas, Puerto Natales, etc with Dad
http://butler.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046486&l=c3ae3&id=21103632
Friday, December 28, 2007
Saying Goodbye, for real
The following is, at times, a bit melodramatic and I considered editing but decided keeping my true thoughts is fine. Feel free to laugh a bit if you want, I have after re-reading some of this. Saludos!:
Theres a song by Ben Harper that i cant stop listening to. The lyrics of said song echo in my soul.
"But its time that has taken my tomorrows and turned them into yesterdays"
"But you put the happy in my ness
You put the good times into my fun"
Josh rouse also eloquently says "life is good, sometimes its bad, it has its ups it has its down just say it all cause that’s just life" so this is just life. Saying goodbye to the most amazing experience of my life thus far, and saying hello to a new chapter of life.
Matchbox Twenty:
"Well I, believe, it all, is coming to an endoh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend, let's see how far we've come"
To think back at all I have done, seen, experienced, its been amazing. So now, its come to an end and I’ve come so far, and still have so much farther to go, so much more to see. So many more adventures. And that is what makes life exciting.
So here we are. 5 months later. And it is over. Chile is really over. These past few weeks, days, and hours have been a blur. And yet memorable, as I walked my last steps down my street, felt the waves of the Pacific Ocean lap over my feet and then the sensation of the warm sand and perfect breeze along the beach as the summer sun warmed and toasted my skin. As I said goodbye to everyone that I had met and spent time with over the past 5 months. 5 months. It sounds so long and yet so short and at times felt like a little of both. This last blog is going to be less coherent than normal, which isn’t saying a whole lot. I figured if you are reading this, you are interested in what I have to say and can stop reading whenever. So here goes everything, something, and nothing, all at once.
Im returning to Indiana. To snow, to cold weather, winter time and little sunlight. To English almost all the time. To actually studying, working, and the business environment. To my loving family and home-cooked meals. To Christmas time. To excited friends that have been counting the days til I return. To all the comforts of the U.S. like water pressure and the foods I have missed. To missing Chile, missing parts of Chile I never thought I would. To change, a new chapter of life. And as with any new chapter, I am scared. Scared of what is to come, how I will react, what it will be like. To reverse culture shock. Coming home to what was once familiar and missing what became familiar. Its going to be weird for a while and for those of you that are about to see me again, after so many months (WHEE), I beg of you understanding, lots of love, and patience. Hang with me, I will adjust eventually. I might be stubborn (I wore my flip flops home on the plane) but i´ve missed you and cant wait for all the fun to begin, though it is going to be a lot different than all the adventures and traveling and culture experiencing of Chile.
Its been an incredible semester and if you have read many of my previous blogs, you already know this. You know all the places I saw, all the things I did, all the friends I made and how I was able to completely love and enjoy life, relax and soak up everything I could for 5 full months. To learn the essence of life.
Heres a few more thoughts:
-I am independent. I learned to manage the bus system, both between Viña-Valpo and also longer distances. The Chilean system of living and surviving, all of which was in a language that was not my native one.
-I am dependent. Dependent on people, on communicating, living life, sharing anything and everything, on humankind. I love people, being social and flying from one activity to another (my host family´s nickname for me was "pajarito" which means little bird b-c I was always off to some such place or another, always ready for another flight down the street or to the next town, meeting up with someone or going somewhere.
-I am an addict. Addicted to Spanish. To Chile. To traveling. To good friends. To sunshine and summer and mountains. I know that as soon as I Graduate from Butler I will be in search of a new home with mountains nearby. Preferably a few cold rivers and lakes too. I´ve become addicted to the life I lived these past 5 months and now I am on my way to rehab(aka reality check), about to begin to deal with the effects of withdrawal. However, I would not call it success to completely rid myself of this drug I have found. This drug has become part of who I am, ingrained into the very essence of my being. To attempt to completely rid myself of all the memories, all the life I lived in chile would be foolish and the wrong approach. Instead, while I have been removed from Chile and all that it had to offer, I will live on, finding new adventures, new travels, ways to practice my Spanish so I don’t forget it, money to travel to all parts of the U.S. where I have many new friends.
-Traveling is in my bloodstream. As is adventure. Between being a risk-taker, obsessed with exploring new places, speaking another language and really learning a new culture, I doubt I will be too hard-pressed for a new travel or adventure coming soon on my horizon, whatever form the next adventure takes.
-as much as I enjoy flying from place to place, I definitiely don’t mind a chill night, talking life with close friends. These sorts of nights are where in some ways, life is really learned. The sharing of experiences, the laughter between friends over a shared memory, a secret smile or an impulsive hug. The state of just being. To just simply be I believe is a very difficult thing to achieve in the States, when you finally get a rest you almost feel guilty just laying there. There were a good number of days during the Chilean winter where I laid in bed all day long, spending hours just being, thinking things over, just soaking everything in. and it was okay. In fact, it was great. Not something i´d want to do always, but good every once in a while. That feeling of complete contentment too, when you realize that there is no other place in the world you would rather be than wherever you are just at that moment.
It´s been a wild ride and im so glad to be blessed with so many amazing family members and friends, you guys are what keep me going. What will keep me going. I wish you all the most merry of Christmases, a wonderful New Year, and that we will all be in touch. I´ve been contemplating keeping this blog and just writing random life stories in it when I get the urge but we will see. For now, thanks for being along for the ride, I cant wait to see all of you again because after many many hard goodbyes I am very ready for some happy hellos.
Hello Chapter 20.5, I cant wait to see how the events of Chapter 20.0-20.49 will affect what is to come. Saludos! Goodbye Chile, I will never forget you. And hopefully I will return and though I know if I do, it wont be the same but my memories will stay sweet and my heart light when I think of you. :)
Theres a song by Ben Harper that i cant stop listening to. The lyrics of said song echo in my soul.
"But its time that has taken my tomorrows and turned them into yesterdays"
"But you put the happy in my ness
You put the good times into my fun"
Josh rouse also eloquently says "life is good, sometimes its bad, it has its ups it has its down just say it all cause that’s just life" so this is just life. Saying goodbye to the most amazing experience of my life thus far, and saying hello to a new chapter of life.
Matchbox Twenty:
"Well I, believe, it all, is coming to an endoh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend, let's see how far we've come"
To think back at all I have done, seen, experienced, its been amazing. So now, its come to an end and I’ve come so far, and still have so much farther to go, so much more to see. So many more adventures. And that is what makes life exciting.
So here we are. 5 months later. And it is over. Chile is really over. These past few weeks, days, and hours have been a blur. And yet memorable, as I walked my last steps down my street, felt the waves of the Pacific Ocean lap over my feet and then the sensation of the warm sand and perfect breeze along the beach as the summer sun warmed and toasted my skin. As I said goodbye to everyone that I had met and spent time with over the past 5 months. 5 months. It sounds so long and yet so short and at times felt like a little of both. This last blog is going to be less coherent than normal, which isn’t saying a whole lot. I figured if you are reading this, you are interested in what I have to say and can stop reading whenever. So here goes everything, something, and nothing, all at once.
Im returning to Indiana. To snow, to cold weather, winter time and little sunlight. To English almost all the time. To actually studying, working, and the business environment. To my loving family and home-cooked meals. To Christmas time. To excited friends that have been counting the days til I return. To all the comforts of the U.S. like water pressure and the foods I have missed. To missing Chile, missing parts of Chile I never thought I would. To change, a new chapter of life. And as with any new chapter, I am scared. Scared of what is to come, how I will react, what it will be like. To reverse culture shock. Coming home to what was once familiar and missing what became familiar. Its going to be weird for a while and for those of you that are about to see me again, after so many months (WHEE), I beg of you understanding, lots of love, and patience. Hang with me, I will adjust eventually. I might be stubborn (I wore my flip flops home on the plane) but i´ve missed you and cant wait for all the fun to begin, though it is going to be a lot different than all the adventures and traveling and culture experiencing of Chile.
Its been an incredible semester and if you have read many of my previous blogs, you already know this. You know all the places I saw, all the things I did, all the friends I made and how I was able to completely love and enjoy life, relax and soak up everything I could for 5 full months. To learn the essence of life.
Heres a few more thoughts:
-I am independent. I learned to manage the bus system, both between Viña-Valpo and also longer distances. The Chilean system of living and surviving, all of which was in a language that was not my native one.
-I am dependent. Dependent on people, on communicating, living life, sharing anything and everything, on humankind. I love people, being social and flying from one activity to another (my host family´s nickname for me was "pajarito" which means little bird b-c I was always off to some such place or another, always ready for another flight down the street or to the next town, meeting up with someone or going somewhere.
-I am an addict. Addicted to Spanish. To Chile. To traveling. To good friends. To sunshine and summer and mountains. I know that as soon as I Graduate from Butler I will be in search of a new home with mountains nearby. Preferably a few cold rivers and lakes too. I´ve become addicted to the life I lived these past 5 months and now I am on my way to rehab(aka reality check), about to begin to deal with the effects of withdrawal. However, I would not call it success to completely rid myself of this drug I have found. This drug has become part of who I am, ingrained into the very essence of my being. To attempt to completely rid myself of all the memories, all the life I lived in chile would be foolish and the wrong approach. Instead, while I have been removed from Chile and all that it had to offer, I will live on, finding new adventures, new travels, ways to practice my Spanish so I don’t forget it, money to travel to all parts of the U.S. where I have many new friends.
-Traveling is in my bloodstream. As is adventure. Between being a risk-taker, obsessed with exploring new places, speaking another language and really learning a new culture, I doubt I will be too hard-pressed for a new travel or adventure coming soon on my horizon, whatever form the next adventure takes.
-as much as I enjoy flying from place to place, I definitiely don’t mind a chill night, talking life with close friends. These sorts of nights are where in some ways, life is really learned. The sharing of experiences, the laughter between friends over a shared memory, a secret smile or an impulsive hug. The state of just being. To just simply be I believe is a very difficult thing to achieve in the States, when you finally get a rest you almost feel guilty just laying there. There were a good number of days during the Chilean winter where I laid in bed all day long, spending hours just being, thinking things over, just soaking everything in. and it was okay. In fact, it was great. Not something i´d want to do always, but good every once in a while. That feeling of complete contentment too, when you realize that there is no other place in the world you would rather be than wherever you are just at that moment.
It´s been a wild ride and im so glad to be blessed with so many amazing family members and friends, you guys are what keep me going. What will keep me going. I wish you all the most merry of Christmases, a wonderful New Year, and that we will all be in touch. I´ve been contemplating keeping this blog and just writing random life stories in it when I get the urge but we will see. For now, thanks for being along for the ride, I cant wait to see all of you again because after many many hard goodbyes I am very ready for some happy hellos.
Hello Chapter 20.5, I cant wait to see how the events of Chapter 20.0-20.49 will affect what is to come. Saludos! Goodbye Chile, I will never forget you. And hopefully I will return and though I know if I do, it wont be the same but my memories will stay sweet and my heart light when I think of you. :)
Ultimate Adventures, Utter Contentment
So while i am now back in the states i figured i have some time to update you on what went down the last few weeks in chile. It was AMAZING. I still cant believe its over but lets not focus on that right now.
So as I told you, I finished school November 30thand commenced a whirlwind of amazing travels. The first stop was a 5 day adventure to Parque Nacional Laguna Laja. It was an absolutely incredible trip. I left with Leslie, Caroline, and Cordelia on a trek down south. We took a train (!) to Chillán and then from there a variety of buses. The first night we stayed in Salto Laja, near a HUGE Niagara Falls-esque waterfall. Caroline and Cordelia decided to buy food in one town for the trip (we camped) but leslie and I were going to wait til the next town so we wouldn’t have to deal with it. However, we all fell asleep and missed the town center. So leslie and I lived off of the handouts from Caroline and Cordelia, some energy bars and a bit of pasta we had brought along. We survived, though we were usually hungry, we dealt with it. Considering how much I usually eat, it was probably a good thing we didn’t eat a whole lot for a long time. The next day our task was to get to Parque Nacional Laguna Laja. With a car, im sure it wouldnt have been difficult. however, we were reliant on public transportation and well, sometimes it gets a little rough. We took a bus from Salto Laja to Los Angeles where C and C bought food but Leslie and i didnt. We fell asleep on the way to Antuco which is where as i already said, we were going to buy our food. we awoke and the bus driver asked where we were going. our options, as we had passed our stop, were to get off immediately and walk back, or continue on with the bus and try to find a way to get to the park from the end of the line. a friendly policeman took us under his wing and we all got out at the beginning of a dirt road to the park. he told he could take us to the center of the park, about 8 miles away, for 20 dollars. we didnt feel like paying and it was a beautiful day so we started to walk, with our big backpacks and the sun. we only walked maybe a half hour before a truck passed us and we decided to flag it down. the friendly couple allowed us to sit in the truck bed and drove us to the famous Laguna Laja and then back down into more of the park to find a place where we could camp.
We found a secluded area to set up camp under some pines with some fantastic views of the Volcano Antuco and other parts of the mountain range. We washed our faces in the river, filtered the water with a filter leslie brought along and cooked on a little gas stove we brought too. The next 5 days were spent hiking around, finding hidden waterfalls, walking along el Río Laja, watching the volcano, seeing a glacier, and completely enjoying nature and each other. We ate lunch in some really gorgeous areas. Caroline and Cordelia left leslie and I part way through to head back and spend more time in Valpo-Viña. So leslie and I went on a really sweet hike where we climbed up to a plateau area over the valley, I felt like we were in a desert except that there were 5 huge waterfalls along the hill in front of us, a river, and patches of snow. This park was GORGEOUS. While on this hike I felt a feeling that I hope to find again. The feeling that everything was completely right in my world, the feeling of complete and utter contentment, that there was nowhere else in the entire world that I wanted to be, except right there, hiking with a volcano and glacier covered mountain in front of me, speaking in Spanish with one of my best friends. We spoke in Spanish the entire time and just really had a good time, laughing and exploring and just simply being. The trip was so adventurous and relaxing, we saw a lot and though we had to get up really early the last day in order to walk the 7 or 8 or so miles to where the bus would stop, it was worth it. Public transportation was not really a high point in getting to the park or leaving but this added to the adventure of it all. I arrived home around 11pm, after nearly going crazy on a 6 hour bus ride alone (leslie continued south while I headed back north to viña), not showering for 5 straight days (it was pretty warm and dusty there), as well as camping for all 4 of those nights, I was a beautiful dirty mess. And it was amazing. We had been planning this trip to this park since just about one of the first weeks we had met each other so to finally make it all the way there and have a fantastic time was rewarding and awesome.
The next day, my dad arrived! (yes, these last few weeks in chile were pretty incredible) we spent a little over a day exploring Viña and Valpo, showing him my favorite places, meeting up with some of my Chilean friends for a Chilean style once (the evening meal) of tea, pie, and some little sandwich appetizers. He got a lot of practice with his Spanish and it was a really fun time to hang out with all of them. We also went out to dinner with some other Chilean friends and got the treat of eating the rare "loco", a creature that is similar to the abalone and lives in a huge shell. The Japanese steal many of the loco that live along the shores of Chile and for that reason it is hard to find. However, we found it and ate it with some leaves of lettuce…very delicious. We also ate more congor eel…yum.
After enjoying the warm summer sun and summertime in Viña and Valpo, we hopped on a plane to the end of the earth to Punta Arenas. A cold, cloudy, windy city, we explored and took a ferry 2 hours across the Magellan Strait, saw the shores of Tierra del Fuego and finally arrived to La Isla de Magdalena, the home of literally thousands of Magellanic penguins. Awesome! They were all over the island, waddling, burrowing, squawking, and we were able to disembark and walk right along the birds, so neat! For dinner we feasted on King Crab…oh how I love the pacific ocean and its delicious seafood! After Punta Arenas we took a bus 3 hours north-ish to Puerto Natales, another interesting city with a beautiful lake, more wind, and some mountain views. Then another mini-bus about an hour and a half to the impressive Torres del Paine National Park where we spent the next 5 days and 4 nights hiking and exploring this beautiful natural wonder. This time we didn’t rough it as much as I just recently had, we stayed in refugios with hot showers and bunk bed rooms with 4 or so other people. Though extremely windy as well (I guess the end of the earth is just windy) we had a good number of days with sun where I was able to hike comfortably in just a t-shirt and jeans. One day was rainy the entire day and pretty gross but we managed. We hiked along some beautiful colorful turquoise lakes to Los Cuernos (the Horns) and in between days hiked in between refugios around the park. The hikes were at times quite difficult, especially with our backpacks and the wind factor. But we made it. I also went on a solo hike where I climbed straight up and over large boulders to the base of Las Torres (the Towers), sheer straight mountains. This hike was really hard and I had been planning on it all semester, practicing difficult hikes and getting into shape. It felt amazing to finally reach the top and conquer the climb. At one refugio we met a really interesting and friendly Spanish couple with whom I enjoyed speaking. Different accent as well as different words to say things which made me realize that while I have learned a lot of Spanish here and can manage the language fluently, I have a Chilean accent and know lots of Chilean words that wont work in a lot of situations. Looks like I will have some more learning to do upon returning home! We took buses around the rest of the park and saw lots of neat lakes, some really cool birds including the majestic Andean Condor which soared on the thermal winds and was awesomely calm about life. Good views of the entire mountain range, some white glaciers, and lots of German tourists. The park was so unique with such huge, sharp mountains. It was really fun and special to explore it with my dad along my side, hiking along and discovering stuff together. We met a lot of interesting travelers, mostly from Europe and enjoyed the fact that we were so far south, so far removed from the world to the north.
After trekking back to the Santiago airport, I said goodbye to my dad for 3 days and headed back to Viña. Lots of goodbyes and "lasts". The last time to touch the pacific from the Chilean shores, the last time to walk down my street, to eat a cone of delicious ice cream, etc. It was a very full, very fun 3 days in which I slept very little but it was so worth it. Leslie cooked for her Chilean family and I got to eat with them as well, enjoying a relaxing evening of good conversation about our experiences, cultural stereotypes, challenging my Spanish and enjoying good friends. Leslie and I even survived our strongest earthquake yet! It was a level 5 in viña and occurred while we were in the supermarket. All the stuff started falling off the shelves, some woman started running around and screaming and everything was shaking and falling everywhere. It was intense but awesome because now I can say I have survived a real earthquake that was more than just a tiny tremor in viña. Sweeeeet deal. We decided the earthquake and subsequent 24 hours following were the Earth’s way of expressing its sadness over our leaving the country. I would have done the same thing, if I were the Earth. I enjoyed my last days of summer sun, skirts, and temperatures hovering around 75, 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Marc Leslie and I all had flights the same evening back to the States so we caught a bus together and all hung out in the airport until my flight started calling last boarding call and I had to leave. The following blog details a few of my thoughts while on the plane flying home.
Love,
Katie :)
So as I told you, I finished school November 30thand commenced a whirlwind of amazing travels. The first stop was a 5 day adventure to Parque Nacional Laguna Laja. It was an absolutely incredible trip. I left with Leslie, Caroline, and Cordelia on a trek down south. We took a train (!) to Chillán and then from there a variety of buses. The first night we stayed in Salto Laja, near a HUGE Niagara Falls-esque waterfall. Caroline and Cordelia decided to buy food in one town for the trip (we camped) but leslie and I were going to wait til the next town so we wouldn’t have to deal with it. However, we all fell asleep and missed the town center. So leslie and I lived off of the handouts from Caroline and Cordelia, some energy bars and a bit of pasta we had brought along. We survived, though we were usually hungry, we dealt with it. Considering how much I usually eat, it was probably a good thing we didn’t eat a whole lot for a long time. The next day our task was to get to Parque Nacional Laguna Laja. With a car, im sure it wouldnt have been difficult. however, we were reliant on public transportation and well, sometimes it gets a little rough. We took a bus from Salto Laja to Los Angeles where C and C bought food but Leslie and i didnt. We fell asleep on the way to Antuco which is where as i already said, we were going to buy our food. we awoke and the bus driver asked where we were going. our options, as we had passed our stop, were to get off immediately and walk back, or continue on with the bus and try to find a way to get to the park from the end of the line. a friendly policeman took us under his wing and we all got out at the beginning of a dirt road to the park. he told he could take us to the center of the park, about 8 miles away, for 20 dollars. we didnt feel like paying and it was a beautiful day so we started to walk, with our big backpacks and the sun. we only walked maybe a half hour before a truck passed us and we decided to flag it down. the friendly couple allowed us to sit in the truck bed and drove us to the famous Laguna Laja and then back down into more of the park to find a place where we could camp.
We found a secluded area to set up camp under some pines with some fantastic views of the Volcano Antuco and other parts of the mountain range. We washed our faces in the river, filtered the water with a filter leslie brought along and cooked on a little gas stove we brought too. The next 5 days were spent hiking around, finding hidden waterfalls, walking along el Río Laja, watching the volcano, seeing a glacier, and completely enjoying nature and each other. We ate lunch in some really gorgeous areas. Caroline and Cordelia left leslie and I part way through to head back and spend more time in Valpo-Viña. So leslie and I went on a really sweet hike where we climbed up to a plateau area over the valley, I felt like we were in a desert except that there were 5 huge waterfalls along the hill in front of us, a river, and patches of snow. This park was GORGEOUS. While on this hike I felt a feeling that I hope to find again. The feeling that everything was completely right in my world, the feeling of complete and utter contentment, that there was nowhere else in the entire world that I wanted to be, except right there, hiking with a volcano and glacier covered mountain in front of me, speaking in Spanish with one of my best friends. We spoke in Spanish the entire time and just really had a good time, laughing and exploring and just simply being. The trip was so adventurous and relaxing, we saw a lot and though we had to get up really early the last day in order to walk the 7 or 8 or so miles to where the bus would stop, it was worth it. Public transportation was not really a high point in getting to the park or leaving but this added to the adventure of it all. I arrived home around 11pm, after nearly going crazy on a 6 hour bus ride alone (leslie continued south while I headed back north to viña), not showering for 5 straight days (it was pretty warm and dusty there), as well as camping for all 4 of those nights, I was a beautiful dirty mess. And it was amazing. We had been planning this trip to this park since just about one of the first weeks we had met each other so to finally make it all the way there and have a fantastic time was rewarding and awesome.
The next day, my dad arrived! (yes, these last few weeks in chile were pretty incredible) we spent a little over a day exploring Viña and Valpo, showing him my favorite places, meeting up with some of my Chilean friends for a Chilean style once (the evening meal) of tea, pie, and some little sandwich appetizers. He got a lot of practice with his Spanish and it was a really fun time to hang out with all of them. We also went out to dinner with some other Chilean friends and got the treat of eating the rare "loco", a creature that is similar to the abalone and lives in a huge shell. The Japanese steal many of the loco that live along the shores of Chile and for that reason it is hard to find. However, we found it and ate it with some leaves of lettuce…very delicious. We also ate more congor eel…yum.
After enjoying the warm summer sun and summertime in Viña and Valpo, we hopped on a plane to the end of the earth to Punta Arenas. A cold, cloudy, windy city, we explored and took a ferry 2 hours across the Magellan Strait, saw the shores of Tierra del Fuego and finally arrived to La Isla de Magdalena, the home of literally thousands of Magellanic penguins. Awesome! They were all over the island, waddling, burrowing, squawking, and we were able to disembark and walk right along the birds, so neat! For dinner we feasted on King Crab…oh how I love the pacific ocean and its delicious seafood! After Punta Arenas we took a bus 3 hours north-ish to Puerto Natales, another interesting city with a beautiful lake, more wind, and some mountain views. Then another mini-bus about an hour and a half to the impressive Torres del Paine National Park where we spent the next 5 days and 4 nights hiking and exploring this beautiful natural wonder. This time we didn’t rough it as much as I just recently had, we stayed in refugios with hot showers and bunk bed rooms with 4 or so other people. Though extremely windy as well (I guess the end of the earth is just windy) we had a good number of days with sun where I was able to hike comfortably in just a t-shirt and jeans. One day was rainy the entire day and pretty gross but we managed. We hiked along some beautiful colorful turquoise lakes to Los Cuernos (the Horns) and in between days hiked in between refugios around the park. The hikes were at times quite difficult, especially with our backpacks and the wind factor. But we made it. I also went on a solo hike where I climbed straight up and over large boulders to the base of Las Torres (the Towers), sheer straight mountains. This hike was really hard and I had been planning on it all semester, practicing difficult hikes and getting into shape. It felt amazing to finally reach the top and conquer the climb. At one refugio we met a really interesting and friendly Spanish couple with whom I enjoyed speaking. Different accent as well as different words to say things which made me realize that while I have learned a lot of Spanish here and can manage the language fluently, I have a Chilean accent and know lots of Chilean words that wont work in a lot of situations. Looks like I will have some more learning to do upon returning home! We took buses around the rest of the park and saw lots of neat lakes, some really cool birds including the majestic Andean Condor which soared on the thermal winds and was awesomely calm about life. Good views of the entire mountain range, some white glaciers, and lots of German tourists. The park was so unique with such huge, sharp mountains. It was really fun and special to explore it with my dad along my side, hiking along and discovering stuff together. We met a lot of interesting travelers, mostly from Europe and enjoyed the fact that we were so far south, so far removed from the world to the north.
After trekking back to the Santiago airport, I said goodbye to my dad for 3 days and headed back to Viña. Lots of goodbyes and "lasts". The last time to touch the pacific from the Chilean shores, the last time to walk down my street, to eat a cone of delicious ice cream, etc. It was a very full, very fun 3 days in which I slept very little but it was so worth it. Leslie cooked for her Chilean family and I got to eat with them as well, enjoying a relaxing evening of good conversation about our experiences, cultural stereotypes, challenging my Spanish and enjoying good friends. Leslie and I even survived our strongest earthquake yet! It was a level 5 in viña and occurred while we were in the supermarket. All the stuff started falling off the shelves, some woman started running around and screaming and everything was shaking and falling everywhere. It was intense but awesome because now I can say I have survived a real earthquake that was more than just a tiny tremor in viña. Sweeeeet deal. We decided the earthquake and subsequent 24 hours following were the Earth’s way of expressing its sadness over our leaving the country. I would have done the same thing, if I were the Earth. I enjoyed my last days of summer sun, skirts, and temperatures hovering around 75, 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Marc Leslie and I all had flights the same evening back to the States so we caught a bus together and all hung out in the airport until my flight started calling last boarding call and I had to leave. The following blog details a few of my thoughts while on the plane flying home.
Love,
Katie :)
Monday, November 26, 2007
Making Memories and Living the good life, cherishing the simple moments
Chile: Where every day feels like the best day of your life and no matter how hard i try, the wheels on this car keep going and speeding down this street, stopping for no one.
I find my heart preparing to break into a hundred tiny pieces. Not only will i leave a huge chunk of my heart here in Chile but that huge chunk is going to be divided into so many pieces to so many places. To each of the amazing people I have met and loved, as they all return home or stay in this country. To the streets I walked every single day and the people I passed along said streets. To the panaderías and plazas, the U.S. will never find a match. To my home in Viña. To the metro and the micros and the port. To the beach and the contemplative rocks where I sat to watch the sun set and the waves roll in. To the hills of Valparaíso and the many hidden treasures I discovered up there. To the starry Southern Hemisphere sky. To the many many many beautiful memories that I hope to never ever forget. These are where the pieces of my heart shall stay.
I´m waxing incredibly nostalgic and i havent even left yet. my excuse is that this week, in just two short days, the goodbyes are going to begin. as if they havent already begun. i hate goodbyes. i much prefer "see you later" over "have a good life". i cant imagine never seeing some of these people again and I know that I will. I trust that I will. And i hope to come back to Chile some day. it will never be the same and i might even be disappointed, but i hope to return all the same. i dont want to say goodbye. i dont want this dream of a life to end. this life where all i have is fun, intermixed with some work here and there, where i can travel and explore and walk for hours without even getting into a car or any other form of transportation other than my own two feet. the truth is, i dont want Chile to end. im sorry, i do miss you all. but i dont want Chile to end. i dont want the time to arrive when i look back at the thousands of pictures i have taken here and i remember the good times ive had as a distant memory, with a little smile playing on my lips or maybe a laugh out loud, in regards to a memory.
moving on from my realization that this is really and truly coming to an end and well, for me i have a bit more time than the majority of my friends here but still, saying goodbye to them will not be fun and i am NOT looking forward to tuesday. or thursday. or friday. these are goodbye days. think of me will you? i know you do, i think about you every day i am here but especially on those days. you are reading my blog so i assume i can count on you for that. :)
ill rewind a bit to Thanksgiving because everyone wants to know how my Chilean thanksgiving went. to be honest, i kind of forgot it was turkey day until Thursday arrived. i would tell you it was the best day ever but i know ive said that alot and as i said with what i started this blog with, just about every day here seems like the best day ever. can you see why i dont want to leave? its not reality, and i like that, being the idealist and dreamer and traveler that i am. but really, it was a GREAT day. the sun was shining and it was really warm and beautiful out. I woke up and went to my last Spanish culture class and said goodbye to all of those people that I had met and shared experiences and thoughts and learned Spanish with this past semester. I then went to the international office computer lab. i spent the next 2 hours or so laughing harder than i have laughed in a long time, having the time of my life. so many people pass through the intl office and we were all pretty giddy from finishing a lot of studying and projects and just being able to enjoy a pretty day. after being really loud and obnoxious with all of our laughter and camaderie i went to the market to buy a bunch of delcious fruit with adam jordan and leslie. i love fruit. bought some strawberries, peaches, chirimoya, bananas, oranges. remember how i told you i dont want to leave? summer time in chile means delicious fruit time too. hoo-rah.
the afternoon was pretty tranquil, I cut up the fruit and made a fruit salad. hung out with jordan and helped him buy presents for his family members, walked around in the day, ate some delicious ice cream and smiled.
i then ran off to a potluck with the group of characters i met the first week of school, my orientation group. we all brought food and shared it, talking about the end of the semester and our travel plans. no turkey. there is turkey in chile because i ate some last week but its expensive and they dont sell it whole. so we had chicken instead. fine, im in chile. the only thing i really missed was getting to eat pumpkin pie. that may have to be arranged for when i return...;) chicken and my fruit salad, salad with avocado, mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread (but not how i like it, also going to make some of that when i return home..), some good red wine, and yeah, a meal. so that was fun. getting back to viña was a bit of an adventure as i was far out of town and there were no buses, but i eventually found one and it all worked out....
my next activity of thanksgiving was meeting up with the group in viña to meet heidis parents and share thanksgiving dinner with them. i´d already ate of course but we did have some delicious desserts. i had a frozen lúcuma cake which was amazing of course.
the third and final activity of the evening consisted of going to Valpo (Yay!) and hanging out in the basement level of a jazz club, dancing the night away to old school pop songs and laughing with friends.
all in all, a fantastic Thanksgiving. :)
today was super fun as well, i went to Valpo and climbed up one of the hills to a museum where they were having an outdoor foto contest, anyone could bring their prints to hang outside and be admired by passers-by. fantastic. i love photography. the area was brimming with people, looking at the photography, snapping pictures, hanging out with family, slowly wandering enjoying a lazy Sunday. i too enjoyed the photography, went into the museum and looked at more art and political cartoons which i understood most of but a few of the jokes were lost on me. finally i went to the main floor of the building and encountered a little cafe. im kind of obsessed with cafes. i had the best kuchen i have had in chile, raspberry. wow. it was incredible. along with a little cup of coffee and some gasified water. i spent time there delighting my taste buds and getting some writing out onto the pages of my journal. yeah, that rocked.
later this evening i helped decorate the Christmas tree. yes, there is one month til Christmas! ah! we put little balls and ribbon on it and it looks pretty awesome if my opinion counts. fun family activity, listening to the radio with its mix of english and spanish songs both of which to my delight i knew the majority of and could sing along. we dont do a whole lot as a family outside of lunching so this was special and fun.
im going to leave you all with a little gem of a story. a couple days ago i was sitting in the living room, chillin with my computer when the 2 dogs began to bark. peca NEVER barks. but there she was, literally throwing her head back howling while tula barked louder. for 10 minutes or so. obnoxious! i hate the dogs but it was annoying so i tried to comfort them but it didnt work. so i went back to my computer and turned up my music. a few minutes later, i had to get up to get some stuff in my room and i found a little pile of dog poo in the hallway. im not sure why i didnt deal with it right then, but i didnt feel like it...sometimes it works better for me if i just stick to one task at a time. so the poo pile stayed. fast forward to a few minutes later when i was running to my room to grab more stuff that i needed. well, im sure you can guess what happened. my barefeet landed right in the pile of poo, forgetting to jump over it in my rush. i stopped and just started laughing then super grossed out immediatley trying to wash my foot off. gross. so i guess i learned my lesson, clean up the poo first before continuing with other tasks. if you think on that deeper, you can find a life moral. good luck with that.
so apparently now i will have good luck b-c i guess thats what you get when you step in poo. so im told.
all is well here in Chileland, i hope you all can say the same in your respective places. send me some messages as far as how you are doing! see you all soon! :)
love and a BIG hug,
katie :)
p.s. i leave to go camping december 1st and after this time life is projected to be crazy between trips and goodbyes and traveling. my dad will be here til the 14th and then i might be able to write you a little but there will probably be too much to write about. ill see what i can do. needless to say, in case you forgot the date, i return to Indianapolis on Tuesday, December 18 around 12:30pm. im wearing my flip flops in protest of the almost certain frigidity of the weather. have a most wonderful week and i hope you get to experience a SUPER FUN day here soon enough! :)
I find my heart preparing to break into a hundred tiny pieces. Not only will i leave a huge chunk of my heart here in Chile but that huge chunk is going to be divided into so many pieces to so many places. To each of the amazing people I have met and loved, as they all return home or stay in this country. To the streets I walked every single day and the people I passed along said streets. To the panaderías and plazas, the U.S. will never find a match. To my home in Viña. To the metro and the micros and the port. To the beach and the contemplative rocks where I sat to watch the sun set and the waves roll in. To the hills of Valparaíso and the many hidden treasures I discovered up there. To the starry Southern Hemisphere sky. To the many many many beautiful memories that I hope to never ever forget. These are where the pieces of my heart shall stay.
I´m waxing incredibly nostalgic and i havent even left yet. my excuse is that this week, in just two short days, the goodbyes are going to begin. as if they havent already begun. i hate goodbyes. i much prefer "see you later" over "have a good life". i cant imagine never seeing some of these people again and I know that I will. I trust that I will. And i hope to come back to Chile some day. it will never be the same and i might even be disappointed, but i hope to return all the same. i dont want to say goodbye. i dont want this dream of a life to end. this life where all i have is fun, intermixed with some work here and there, where i can travel and explore and walk for hours without even getting into a car or any other form of transportation other than my own two feet. the truth is, i dont want Chile to end. im sorry, i do miss you all. but i dont want Chile to end. i dont want the time to arrive when i look back at the thousands of pictures i have taken here and i remember the good times ive had as a distant memory, with a little smile playing on my lips or maybe a laugh out loud, in regards to a memory.
moving on from my realization that this is really and truly coming to an end and well, for me i have a bit more time than the majority of my friends here but still, saying goodbye to them will not be fun and i am NOT looking forward to tuesday. or thursday. or friday. these are goodbye days. think of me will you? i know you do, i think about you every day i am here but especially on those days. you are reading my blog so i assume i can count on you for that. :)
ill rewind a bit to Thanksgiving because everyone wants to know how my Chilean thanksgiving went. to be honest, i kind of forgot it was turkey day until Thursday arrived. i would tell you it was the best day ever but i know ive said that alot and as i said with what i started this blog with, just about every day here seems like the best day ever. can you see why i dont want to leave? its not reality, and i like that, being the idealist and dreamer and traveler that i am. but really, it was a GREAT day. the sun was shining and it was really warm and beautiful out. I woke up and went to my last Spanish culture class and said goodbye to all of those people that I had met and shared experiences and thoughts and learned Spanish with this past semester. I then went to the international office computer lab. i spent the next 2 hours or so laughing harder than i have laughed in a long time, having the time of my life. so many people pass through the intl office and we were all pretty giddy from finishing a lot of studying and projects and just being able to enjoy a pretty day. after being really loud and obnoxious with all of our laughter and camaderie i went to the market to buy a bunch of delcious fruit with adam jordan and leslie. i love fruit. bought some strawberries, peaches, chirimoya, bananas, oranges. remember how i told you i dont want to leave? summer time in chile means delicious fruit time too. hoo-rah.
the afternoon was pretty tranquil, I cut up the fruit and made a fruit salad. hung out with jordan and helped him buy presents for his family members, walked around in the day, ate some delicious ice cream and smiled.
i then ran off to a potluck with the group of characters i met the first week of school, my orientation group. we all brought food and shared it, talking about the end of the semester and our travel plans. no turkey. there is turkey in chile because i ate some last week but its expensive and they dont sell it whole. so we had chicken instead. fine, im in chile. the only thing i really missed was getting to eat pumpkin pie. that may have to be arranged for when i return...;) chicken and my fruit salad, salad with avocado, mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread (but not how i like it, also going to make some of that when i return home..), some good red wine, and yeah, a meal. so that was fun. getting back to viña was a bit of an adventure as i was far out of town and there were no buses, but i eventually found one and it all worked out....
my next activity of thanksgiving was meeting up with the group in viña to meet heidis parents and share thanksgiving dinner with them. i´d already ate of course but we did have some delicious desserts. i had a frozen lúcuma cake which was amazing of course.
the third and final activity of the evening consisted of going to Valpo (Yay!) and hanging out in the basement level of a jazz club, dancing the night away to old school pop songs and laughing with friends.
all in all, a fantastic Thanksgiving. :)
today was super fun as well, i went to Valpo and climbed up one of the hills to a museum where they were having an outdoor foto contest, anyone could bring their prints to hang outside and be admired by passers-by. fantastic. i love photography. the area was brimming with people, looking at the photography, snapping pictures, hanging out with family, slowly wandering enjoying a lazy Sunday. i too enjoyed the photography, went into the museum and looked at more art and political cartoons which i understood most of but a few of the jokes were lost on me. finally i went to the main floor of the building and encountered a little cafe. im kind of obsessed with cafes. i had the best kuchen i have had in chile, raspberry. wow. it was incredible. along with a little cup of coffee and some gasified water. i spent time there delighting my taste buds and getting some writing out onto the pages of my journal. yeah, that rocked.
later this evening i helped decorate the Christmas tree. yes, there is one month til Christmas! ah! we put little balls and ribbon on it and it looks pretty awesome if my opinion counts. fun family activity, listening to the radio with its mix of english and spanish songs both of which to my delight i knew the majority of and could sing along. we dont do a whole lot as a family outside of lunching so this was special and fun.
im going to leave you all with a little gem of a story. a couple days ago i was sitting in the living room, chillin with my computer when the 2 dogs began to bark. peca NEVER barks. but there she was, literally throwing her head back howling while tula barked louder. for 10 minutes or so. obnoxious! i hate the dogs but it was annoying so i tried to comfort them but it didnt work. so i went back to my computer and turned up my music. a few minutes later, i had to get up to get some stuff in my room and i found a little pile of dog poo in the hallway. im not sure why i didnt deal with it right then, but i didnt feel like it...sometimes it works better for me if i just stick to one task at a time. so the poo pile stayed. fast forward to a few minutes later when i was running to my room to grab more stuff that i needed. well, im sure you can guess what happened. my barefeet landed right in the pile of poo, forgetting to jump over it in my rush. i stopped and just started laughing then super grossed out immediatley trying to wash my foot off. gross. so i guess i learned my lesson, clean up the poo first before continuing with other tasks. if you think on that deeper, you can find a life moral. good luck with that.
so apparently now i will have good luck b-c i guess thats what you get when you step in poo. so im told.
all is well here in Chileland, i hope you all can say the same in your respective places. send me some messages as far as how you are doing! see you all soon! :)
love and a BIG hug,
katie :)
p.s. i leave to go camping december 1st and after this time life is projected to be crazy between trips and goodbyes and traveling. my dad will be here til the 14th and then i might be able to write you a little but there will probably be too much to write about. ill see what i can do. needless to say, in case you forgot the date, i return to Indianapolis on Tuesday, December 18 around 12:30pm. im wearing my flip flops in protest of the almost certain frigidity of the weather. have a most wonderful week and i hope you get to experience a SUPER FUN day here soon enough! :)
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Notes
Just wanted to write a few notes real quick.
1) For those of you who have sent me things, I have gotten the majority (I think) but for those that have included a little something in the envelope as well, I havent gotten any of that. Just so you know if you were thinking of sending me something other than a letter in an envelope. I just talked to a couple of people and apparently if its not just a plain envelope with a letter you have to go to the post office and send it from there or something. Just so you know if any one was going to send something in the next month (just passed the month til i go home mark..AHHH) im not really expecting anything but at the same time if you want to, go for it..i hope i get it! i am incredibly sad about the ones that have gotten lost....ugh post offices.
2) I´m sure most of you have already heard by now but there was a huge 7.7 earthquake in northern Chile last week. that happened about 1.500 km away from me so i didnt even feel the aftershocks. i made it through! it sounded pretty crazy though, lots of electrical outages and no phones but we in Valpo-Viña were unaffected. thanks for all your emails and messages of concern, i´m fine!! :)
all right, thats it for now, hope you all are doing well! love you
katie
1) For those of you who have sent me things, I have gotten the majority (I think) but for those that have included a little something in the envelope as well, I havent gotten any of that. Just so you know if you were thinking of sending me something other than a letter in an envelope. I just talked to a couple of people and apparently if its not just a plain envelope with a letter you have to go to the post office and send it from there or something. Just so you know if any one was going to send something in the next month (just passed the month til i go home mark..AHHH) im not really expecting anything but at the same time if you want to, go for it..i hope i get it! i am incredibly sad about the ones that have gotten lost....ugh post offices.
2) I´m sure most of you have already heard by now but there was a huge 7.7 earthquake in northern Chile last week. that happened about 1.500 km away from me so i didnt even feel the aftershocks. i made it through! it sounded pretty crazy though, lots of electrical outages and no phones but we in Valpo-Viña were unaffected. thanks for all your emails and messages of concern, i´m fine!! :)
all right, thats it for now, hope you all are doing well! love you
katie
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Content. and beginning to come to an ending point.
i suppose the best way to describe life in Chile right now is delaying the inevitable. i pretend i am on eastern standard time which gives me an extra 2 hours of time in the day to get stuff done. sure its 2am here, but its only midnight back in Indiana....this also correlates to 2 hours more of being in chile, until i have to leave. sure it doesnt really make sense but it seems to work fairly well, most of the time. i have less than 5 weeks left here and time is flying. not only the hours but the days and the weeks. im sure you are tired of hearing me say it, quite possibly every single blog. but time flies! i just cant get over that. so now more than ever i am looking back on everything i have done, everyone i have met, all that i have seen and learned and really reflecting.
in this reflection i have realized a few things. first of all, never in my teenage and above, now practically adult, life, have i ever been happier. i have never been more content and completely in love with life, relaxed and literally with very few responsibilities or preoccupations than i have experienced in Chile. i have never been so free and probably never will be. to give you an example, the other day was absolutely gorgeous. warm, sunny, small breeze. i had class and was running late to it (big surprise there) and as i was about to climb the stairs to run up 5 flights of stairs to try to beat the professor who is also always late, i stopped. and came to the realization that the attendance policy is to attend 75% of the classes. that translates to being allowed to skip an entire month of classes, without penalty. theres no reading to do for the classes i am taking or papers really, just two or three randomly spaced out tests and or presentations throughout the semester. so, i decided rather than sitting in class staring out the window wishing i was outside, that i was going to stay outside. so i went down to the beach and pulled out my lunch, music, and journal and spent the next 2 hours reflecting on the state of my relaxed life and people watching, along with wave watching as they rolled in near me. i´ve come to realize time and again that there is much more than studying and doing school work. not only am i here to study, but im more here to experience the culture, learn the language, discover what makes Chile Chile. so i did that. and have been making that my goal, to really experience Chile, formalities of attending or not attending class, aside. im here to learn what it really means to live life, in its most basic, pure form. and i think i have definitely attained that.
the semester is just about over. i have 2 days of presentations, a paper, and two tests next week and then after that am done until one last test on the 30th of november. not too shabby. not only have i had few responsibilities but the classes are just not hard at all. or challenging. and i am definitely okay with that. im appreciating it now b-c i know that come January, life will not be as sunshiney and content and wonderful as it is now. that being said, balance is probably a good thing.
aside from the constant ice cream and pastry runs and trying random foods, i´ve been exploring the hills of valpo on tuesday and sunday afternoons, finding a new place to hang out for a few hours and get work done, or rather, bring work to do and end up talking life with the people around me, eating some chilean dessert or drinking some fairly decent coffee. tuesday afternoons are also spent in these aforementioned cafes playing games with a group of gringos and chileans. the past few weeks we played pictionary with spanish words...good for the vocabulary building and this week we played some form of Risk which just really isnt my style of an enjoyable game. these cafes, which i have only recently just discovered existed, show the true joy and hidden treasure of valpo. hidden high up in the hills these cafes are varied and interesting. most all of them offer just about the same basic items: natural juices, coffees, pies, cakes, and sometimes some sort of actual food. theres cafes that offer music live in the evenings, are covered with photographs and postcards and notes from regulars, tons of books, artwork, each with its own interesting style and ambiance. love it.
i also dont think ive mentioned that i have been volunteering in a local high school teaching english. if i already mentioned this, sorry, im mentioning it again. i havent gone very many times but i usually go monday mornings and hang out in the english classes, helping with lessons or in some cases, coming up with lessons on the spot to teach english words. of the classes i have helped out in, most of the students dont know much english though there are a few in each class who really get it and participate a lot. however, for the most part its kind of tough. we are supposed to talk in english the whole time, to give the teacher and the students practice hearing a native speaker but its hard, espeically when they dont understand me. interesting experience nonetheless and cool to see a high school here in Chile...very reminiscent of Mexico and my high school experiences there, though perhaps a bit more organized here in Chile.
finally, this past weekend 10 of us rented a cabin in a beach town, Maitencillo, about an hour and a half north of Viña. the bus system to semi far away places like beach towns is interesting and we spent a good amount of time sitting at the bus stop, hoping a bus would pass by and take us where we wanted to go. i only went for one night and day but it was fun all the same. someone brought a guitar and we spent a lot of time with that, singing along to whoever was playing, grilling dinner, trying weird Chilean fruits, playing ultimate frisbee down on a deserted beach and just enjoying the sunshine and waves. it wasnt too hot the day i was there, perfect temperature actually with a good breeze. ultimate frisbee on the beach was definitely my highlight and it was fun to see another town, get out of viña, hang out with friends and relax. okay so i relax almost all the time but it was like a vacation from a vacation....my life is ridiculous. its going to be major culture shock coming back to the States and Butler and having a fairly set, strict schedule with work to do. sometimes i wonder if its just me who is maybe just doesnt have that hard of classes or something but upon talking to most of the other exchange students we have all decided that life in Chile is much better than life in the States, especially study time, stress level wise.
as i watch the weather report in the States get colder and more towards winter and the days tick by faster and faster, and realize that the dates that once seemed so far away back in August, are now arriving and people are making plans to go traveling before their flights back to their respective countries, i feel the end of this experience coming. its winding down, i will be saying goodbye to some amazing friends soon, some leaving as soon as november 27. im here later than most and plan to do lots of traveling as i think i mentioned in my last post, along with the arrival of my father in a few very short weeks!!! so ive still got a decent amount of time left but the daily routine (of sorts) that i have here in chile will soon change. my plan: enjoy whats left, dont think about second semester until i absolutely have to, remember how much i really do still miss all of you, and soak up as much of Chile as i possibly can.
life is good. im probably not going to write for a little while which is why i wanted to write now. ill be studying and finishing up my semester and saying goodbye. the goal is to write again before i start traveling come december 1st. so look for that. happy thanksgiving! a few of us are planning on having a potluck of sorts, find some rotisserie chickens b-c i dont think turkey exists here, and maybe attempting a pumpkin pie. i´d be content with fresh strawberries and hold on the pumpkin pie till the States when i know it will be quite tasty and something to look forward to. as a disclaimer, i really have done some work here in Chile but to reiterate, most of the learning has come from traveling and talking with people i have met and hanging out with the chilean friends i have met as well as those here on exchange, hearing and reading Spanish everywhere and trying to talk in Spanish almost all day long. i have learned a lot, it just hasnt been in attending classes.
oh yes, and my webshots is updated with pictures of argentina so after you get over reading through how long this post was, go on over and check those out.
and, in honor of Thanksgiving, i would also like to reiterate that i am thankful for all of you. that you read my blogs, are interested in whats been going on in my life, send me letters and messages telling me how much you miss me and cant wait til i come home. it will be you, my amazing family and incredible friends, who are my motivation for coming home, back to real life and the normalcy of life in the States and the Midwest. i often play out in my head seeing you again, for the first time in many months, and how exciting that will be. i am completely enamored with Chile and if i have to hitchhike all the way back, i will someday. but you are my roots. you are my true loves. and your support and encouragement means the world to me. so as i prepare to return and then actually do, and when i miss Chile, im counting on you. to be my motivation to stay in the States, at least to graduate, and my encouragement to enjoy life and adventure back at home b-c there is definitely a lot of happiness and contentment to be had back at home. and i am looking forward to that. to the days when i see each of you again. what sweet days those will be. :)
LOVE YOU!!!!
katie
in this reflection i have realized a few things. first of all, never in my teenage and above, now practically adult, life, have i ever been happier. i have never been more content and completely in love with life, relaxed and literally with very few responsibilities or preoccupations than i have experienced in Chile. i have never been so free and probably never will be. to give you an example, the other day was absolutely gorgeous. warm, sunny, small breeze. i had class and was running late to it (big surprise there) and as i was about to climb the stairs to run up 5 flights of stairs to try to beat the professor who is also always late, i stopped. and came to the realization that the attendance policy is to attend 75% of the classes. that translates to being allowed to skip an entire month of classes, without penalty. theres no reading to do for the classes i am taking or papers really, just two or three randomly spaced out tests and or presentations throughout the semester. so, i decided rather than sitting in class staring out the window wishing i was outside, that i was going to stay outside. so i went down to the beach and pulled out my lunch, music, and journal and spent the next 2 hours reflecting on the state of my relaxed life and people watching, along with wave watching as they rolled in near me. i´ve come to realize time and again that there is much more than studying and doing school work. not only am i here to study, but im more here to experience the culture, learn the language, discover what makes Chile Chile. so i did that. and have been making that my goal, to really experience Chile, formalities of attending or not attending class, aside. im here to learn what it really means to live life, in its most basic, pure form. and i think i have definitely attained that.
the semester is just about over. i have 2 days of presentations, a paper, and two tests next week and then after that am done until one last test on the 30th of november. not too shabby. not only have i had few responsibilities but the classes are just not hard at all. or challenging. and i am definitely okay with that. im appreciating it now b-c i know that come January, life will not be as sunshiney and content and wonderful as it is now. that being said, balance is probably a good thing.
aside from the constant ice cream and pastry runs and trying random foods, i´ve been exploring the hills of valpo on tuesday and sunday afternoons, finding a new place to hang out for a few hours and get work done, or rather, bring work to do and end up talking life with the people around me, eating some chilean dessert or drinking some fairly decent coffee. tuesday afternoons are also spent in these aforementioned cafes playing games with a group of gringos and chileans. the past few weeks we played pictionary with spanish words...good for the vocabulary building and this week we played some form of Risk which just really isnt my style of an enjoyable game. these cafes, which i have only recently just discovered existed, show the true joy and hidden treasure of valpo. hidden high up in the hills these cafes are varied and interesting. most all of them offer just about the same basic items: natural juices, coffees, pies, cakes, and sometimes some sort of actual food. theres cafes that offer music live in the evenings, are covered with photographs and postcards and notes from regulars, tons of books, artwork, each with its own interesting style and ambiance. love it.
i also dont think ive mentioned that i have been volunteering in a local high school teaching english. if i already mentioned this, sorry, im mentioning it again. i havent gone very many times but i usually go monday mornings and hang out in the english classes, helping with lessons or in some cases, coming up with lessons on the spot to teach english words. of the classes i have helped out in, most of the students dont know much english though there are a few in each class who really get it and participate a lot. however, for the most part its kind of tough. we are supposed to talk in english the whole time, to give the teacher and the students practice hearing a native speaker but its hard, espeically when they dont understand me. interesting experience nonetheless and cool to see a high school here in Chile...very reminiscent of Mexico and my high school experiences there, though perhaps a bit more organized here in Chile.
finally, this past weekend 10 of us rented a cabin in a beach town, Maitencillo, about an hour and a half north of Viña. the bus system to semi far away places like beach towns is interesting and we spent a good amount of time sitting at the bus stop, hoping a bus would pass by and take us where we wanted to go. i only went for one night and day but it was fun all the same. someone brought a guitar and we spent a lot of time with that, singing along to whoever was playing, grilling dinner, trying weird Chilean fruits, playing ultimate frisbee down on a deserted beach and just enjoying the sunshine and waves. it wasnt too hot the day i was there, perfect temperature actually with a good breeze. ultimate frisbee on the beach was definitely my highlight and it was fun to see another town, get out of viña, hang out with friends and relax. okay so i relax almost all the time but it was like a vacation from a vacation....my life is ridiculous. its going to be major culture shock coming back to the States and Butler and having a fairly set, strict schedule with work to do. sometimes i wonder if its just me who is maybe just doesnt have that hard of classes or something but upon talking to most of the other exchange students we have all decided that life in Chile is much better than life in the States, especially study time, stress level wise.
as i watch the weather report in the States get colder and more towards winter and the days tick by faster and faster, and realize that the dates that once seemed so far away back in August, are now arriving and people are making plans to go traveling before their flights back to their respective countries, i feel the end of this experience coming. its winding down, i will be saying goodbye to some amazing friends soon, some leaving as soon as november 27. im here later than most and plan to do lots of traveling as i think i mentioned in my last post, along with the arrival of my father in a few very short weeks!!! so ive still got a decent amount of time left but the daily routine (of sorts) that i have here in chile will soon change. my plan: enjoy whats left, dont think about second semester until i absolutely have to, remember how much i really do still miss all of you, and soak up as much of Chile as i possibly can.
life is good. im probably not going to write for a little while which is why i wanted to write now. ill be studying and finishing up my semester and saying goodbye. the goal is to write again before i start traveling come december 1st. so look for that. happy thanksgiving! a few of us are planning on having a potluck of sorts, find some rotisserie chickens b-c i dont think turkey exists here, and maybe attempting a pumpkin pie. i´d be content with fresh strawberries and hold on the pumpkin pie till the States when i know it will be quite tasty and something to look forward to. as a disclaimer, i really have done some work here in Chile but to reiterate, most of the learning has come from traveling and talking with people i have met and hanging out with the chilean friends i have met as well as those here on exchange, hearing and reading Spanish everywhere and trying to talk in Spanish almost all day long. i have learned a lot, it just hasnt been in attending classes.
oh yes, and my webshots is updated with pictures of argentina so after you get over reading through how long this post was, go on over and check those out.
and, in honor of Thanksgiving, i would also like to reiterate that i am thankful for all of you. that you read my blogs, are interested in whats been going on in my life, send me letters and messages telling me how much you miss me and cant wait til i come home. it will be you, my amazing family and incredible friends, who are my motivation for coming home, back to real life and the normalcy of life in the States and the Midwest. i often play out in my head seeing you again, for the first time in many months, and how exciting that will be. i am completely enamored with Chile and if i have to hitchhike all the way back, i will someday. but you are my roots. you are my true loves. and your support and encouragement means the world to me. so as i prepare to return and then actually do, and when i miss Chile, im counting on you. to be my motivation to stay in the States, at least to graduate, and my encouragement to enjoy life and adventure back at home b-c there is definitely a lot of happiness and contentment to be had back at home. and i am looking forward to that. to the days when i see each of you again. what sweet days those will be. :)
LOVE YOU!!!!
katie
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Argentina: The Land of Adventurous Enchantment
hello all! i just returned from the land of Argentina, crossing over the beautiful, still snowy Andes mountains to two different towns semi near the chilean-argentine border. first of all, let me express to you how much i LOVED argentina. it was fantastic to cross the border and experience a new country, new culture. though very similar in many ways to chile, argentina felt even more european than chile does and the accent in some of the people we met was nearly impossible to understand. they speak with an Italian accent and also use a ch, j sound for the ll in all their words. this i was able to catch onto but they mumble and use a lot of slang, as does Chile but i dont know as much of the argentine slang as i have learned here in chile. im sure with practice i could catch on and understand but for the short 4.5 days we spent, it was not enough to master the argentine accent.
the first city we spent time in was Mendoza which apparnetly back in the 1800s was part of Chile. now it is part of argentina and home to streets lined with sycamores and large moats in the streets like an irrigation system or something. the weather was very warm and sunny every day we were there, just like summertime. the nights too were delightful reminiscent of summertime and i enjoyed this very much. in Mendoza we explored the city a lot, ate really cheap amazing steaks, great coffee, delicious ice cream, pastries, chocolates, all sorts of things. argentina is a very cheap country to travel in now, 3 pesos to the dollar with a good sized steak costing about 2 USD. incredible. we had more food than we knew what to do with in most cases.
also, there are ice cream shops EVERYWHERE, my friends decided to call one of the streets Katie Heaven b-c it was covered in ice cream shops. of course there are special argentine flavors. my favorite was Tramontana which was vanilla ice cream with ribbons of dulce de leche and then small chocolate cookie spheres that were crunchy. it was delicious! so rich and creamy. their coffee was also incredibly delcious and very welcome from chilean instant nescafe grossness. much better than my bad coffee experience at mcdonalds which is normally delicious and awesome here in chile. last week i went to try to get wireless and bought a cup of coffee to try to get the code which i guess i already had. anyway i bought a Ristretto aka NASTIEST coffee on earth. it was a tiny tiny cup with half of this tiny cup full of liquid that no matter how much sugar i poured in still tasted absolutely disgusting. i drank the 3 sips or so that were in it and it was painful and nasty. thus Argentina made up for that terribly sad coffee experience. their steak was also incredible and very cheap. their most popular dish is a lomito which is a sandwich that has lomo, strip steak, and then an egg, ham slice, tomato, lettuce, and cheese. sooo good.
the first day we walked and walked and ended up at a huge park where we played frisbee and walked along the lake in a rose garden. we found Cerro de la Gloria and climbed this to view vistas of the city and surrounding area as well as a statue erected in commemoration to General San Martin, a key player in some important war back in the day. :)
the next day we traveled to Uspallata, a mountain town among beautiful multi-colored mountains where a movie starring Brad Pitt...something about Tibet i think, was filmed a while back. we rented a cabin and hiked to Cerro 7 Colores, some part of the mountain range that was gorgeous, varied colors and absolutely gorgeous. we climbed up the hills and played more frisbee, hiking and taking pictures. so wide open and a wonderful reminder of the sheer power and magnamity of nature. We rented bikes the next day to see more of the mountains and biked along the Mendoza River, more wide open vistas and beautiful mountain views.
The final day we were back in Mendoza and as Mendoza is home to 70% of all wine produced in Argentina, we rented bikes and visited a couple bodegas, wineries in the area. we picnicked in a field of olive trees and enjoyed the sunny day after biking around for miles with the snowy mountains off in the distance and the grape vines slowly growing to maturity. the harvest isnt until March but the vineyards were a lot prettier than when i arrived in winter. spring is here and summer is on its way!
aside from the camping trip in Cajon del Maipo, this was one of the first trips i have taken where all of us were on the same page. being only 3 (kelan luke and i) this also made it easier to decide what to do. plus they are super adventurous as well and loved tramping around the city, riding bikes, playing frisbee, taking naps every day, cooking and just purely enjoying life. it was a wonderful vacation from a vacation and entertaining meeting friendly Argentines and delighting in the days and nights. nighttime in mendoza was delightful, the wind calm and the temperatures perfect. after dinner or sometimes before if we ate late, we would walk through the plazas and ped mall, watching the people and seeing street performances and people sipping coffee out on the sidewalk in sidewalk cafes or just walking lackadaiscally.
buena onda (good vibes)
needless to say, i loved Argentina and was impressed by their culture and lifestyle and beautiful mountains and outdoor activities. 6 weeks until i return to the states with 2 trips left or so. i plan to go to the beach and rent a cabin with some friends this weekend, celebrate a haphazard Thanksgiving in some way or another in a couple weeks, go south with Leslie and Caroline and camp in a national park amidst waterfalls and then await the arrival of my dad in exactly one month from today when we will go all the way to the end of the earth in Chile to the famous Torres del Paine National Park, penguin colony, and Punta Arenas. done and done what is ahead looks exciting, what is behind was amazing and living life now is incredible. i literally wake up everyday with a huge smile on my face, completely in love with life and all that i have gotten the chance to see and experience thus far.
good luck with the rest of the semester-year, see you all super soon!
love and miss you,
katie :)
the first city we spent time in was Mendoza which apparnetly back in the 1800s was part of Chile. now it is part of argentina and home to streets lined with sycamores and large moats in the streets like an irrigation system or something. the weather was very warm and sunny every day we were there, just like summertime. the nights too were delightful reminiscent of summertime and i enjoyed this very much. in Mendoza we explored the city a lot, ate really cheap amazing steaks, great coffee, delicious ice cream, pastries, chocolates, all sorts of things. argentina is a very cheap country to travel in now, 3 pesos to the dollar with a good sized steak costing about 2 USD. incredible. we had more food than we knew what to do with in most cases.
also, there are ice cream shops EVERYWHERE, my friends decided to call one of the streets Katie Heaven b-c it was covered in ice cream shops. of course there are special argentine flavors. my favorite was Tramontana which was vanilla ice cream with ribbons of dulce de leche and then small chocolate cookie spheres that were crunchy. it was delicious! so rich and creamy. their coffee was also incredibly delcious and very welcome from chilean instant nescafe grossness. much better than my bad coffee experience at mcdonalds which is normally delicious and awesome here in chile. last week i went to try to get wireless and bought a cup of coffee to try to get the code which i guess i already had. anyway i bought a Ristretto aka NASTIEST coffee on earth. it was a tiny tiny cup with half of this tiny cup full of liquid that no matter how much sugar i poured in still tasted absolutely disgusting. i drank the 3 sips or so that were in it and it was painful and nasty. thus Argentina made up for that terribly sad coffee experience. their steak was also incredible and very cheap. their most popular dish is a lomito which is a sandwich that has lomo, strip steak, and then an egg, ham slice, tomato, lettuce, and cheese. sooo good.
the first day we walked and walked and ended up at a huge park where we played frisbee and walked along the lake in a rose garden. we found Cerro de la Gloria and climbed this to view vistas of the city and surrounding area as well as a statue erected in commemoration to General San Martin, a key player in some important war back in the day. :)
the next day we traveled to Uspallata, a mountain town among beautiful multi-colored mountains where a movie starring Brad Pitt...something about Tibet i think, was filmed a while back. we rented a cabin and hiked to Cerro 7 Colores, some part of the mountain range that was gorgeous, varied colors and absolutely gorgeous. we climbed up the hills and played more frisbee, hiking and taking pictures. so wide open and a wonderful reminder of the sheer power and magnamity of nature. We rented bikes the next day to see more of the mountains and biked along the Mendoza River, more wide open vistas and beautiful mountain views.
The final day we were back in Mendoza and as Mendoza is home to 70% of all wine produced in Argentina, we rented bikes and visited a couple bodegas, wineries in the area. we picnicked in a field of olive trees and enjoyed the sunny day after biking around for miles with the snowy mountains off in the distance and the grape vines slowly growing to maturity. the harvest isnt until March but the vineyards were a lot prettier than when i arrived in winter. spring is here and summer is on its way!
aside from the camping trip in Cajon del Maipo, this was one of the first trips i have taken where all of us were on the same page. being only 3 (kelan luke and i) this also made it easier to decide what to do. plus they are super adventurous as well and loved tramping around the city, riding bikes, playing frisbee, taking naps every day, cooking and just purely enjoying life. it was a wonderful vacation from a vacation and entertaining meeting friendly Argentines and delighting in the days and nights. nighttime in mendoza was delightful, the wind calm and the temperatures perfect. after dinner or sometimes before if we ate late, we would walk through the plazas and ped mall, watching the people and seeing street performances and people sipping coffee out on the sidewalk in sidewalk cafes or just walking lackadaiscally.
buena onda (good vibes)
needless to say, i loved Argentina and was impressed by their culture and lifestyle and beautiful mountains and outdoor activities. 6 weeks until i return to the states with 2 trips left or so. i plan to go to the beach and rent a cabin with some friends this weekend, celebrate a haphazard Thanksgiving in some way or another in a couple weeks, go south with Leslie and Caroline and camp in a national park amidst waterfalls and then await the arrival of my dad in exactly one month from today when we will go all the way to the end of the earth in Chile to the famous Torres del Paine National Park, penguin colony, and Punta Arenas. done and done what is ahead looks exciting, what is behind was amazing and living life now is incredible. i literally wake up everyday with a huge smile on my face, completely in love with life and all that i have gotten the chance to see and experience thus far.
good luck with the rest of the semester-year, see you all super soon!
love and miss you,
katie :)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Ramblings, Reminiscing, and Risas (Laughter)
hola chiquillos! (hey everyone)
whelp, i am past the half way point of being here in chile and less than 2 months and counting until i touch back down in the united states...back to reality. and lets be honest, thats scary. i know i say this every time i write but seriously, i cannot believe how fast time is going. to think back and look at my pictures from when i first arrived, to remember how i felt seeing people and places for the first time that are now so familiar, its crazy. Chile feels normal to me now. like home (almost). dont worry, im coming home and i cant wait but really, Chile feels like a second home. or a third home i guess if we count Noblesville, Butler, and now, Chile. my heart keeps leaving itself in places but i guess that is the life of a traveler. and for now, i am good with that. leaving little pieces of myself wherever i go, bringing smiles to the faces of those i meet.
there are so many things about home that i miss. and each day i am realizing how many things about chile i will miss. but the thing is, i still have 7 or 8 weeks or so and for that reason, i am determined to make the very most of each day that i possibly can! and enjoy those who i am with and all the things we see and do. not that i havent been before but it seems like everyone here has suddenly just realized that the end is coming. studying abroad in chile will end. before it just seemed like this huge long indeterminable time but now it is as if we are all filled with a fervor to rather than put off going to see such and such place tomorrow, to go today, and live in today rather than in tomorrow. so enough of the rambling, back to refocus.
the longer i stay in chile and frequent the places that i enjoy, i am starting to be recognized by shop owners and even though we dont know each others names, we share a little bit of life in those fleeting minutes when i arrive to buy a little pastry or some dinner on the go. we chat and share a smile and then i am on my way. the smiles of these owners is something a bit difficult to describe but its kind of exciting. when they recognize me and remember the last time i visited. its pretty neat.
so. events. my MOM came and visited for 5 or 6 days last week. we had beautiful, sunny, warm weather each day she was here. it was a whirlwind of activity as i played tour guide and showed her all over Viña and Valpo, we even took a couple short trips to a vineyard and another coastal town farther north, Cachagua, where the Humboldt penguins reside on a little island. it was SO beautiful there, the beach was deserted, the water a deep blue, and the penguins small and so cute. we couldnt see them too well but close enough to know they were penguins. super sweet. it was incredible to see her, i hadnt realized how much i had missed her. seeing my mom was kind of like seeing the rest of my family as well, and i definitely miss them. being away from family and friends for this long, in completely new and foreign surroundings has really made me realize not only how much i am loved, but how blessed i really am. i know some amazing people and really truly appreciate and love all of your letters, notes, pictures, random shout-outs. i wish you could see how excited i get and the huge smile that spreads across my face when i see something waiting for me.
so anyway, i played tour guide and showed my mom my Chile. i had her try almost all of my favorite foods here: lúcuma ice cream, maicena, churrascos and completos, empanadas, mil hojas...all sorts of the delicious things Chile has to offer. it was fun to just be with her and show her my life here as well as meet my host family and friends that i have made here. its always interesting showing your life to someone else and seeing what they think of everything, re-seeing things that are super normal to you but through their eyes. not knowing much Spanish but still trying to understand and doing a pretty good job communicating with my host family, i played translator most of the time which helped my bilingualism somewhat and increased my confidence as we maneuvered through the bus and metro system among other things. we rented bikes and rode along the coast, stopping to explore some tide pools where we found some sea anemones clinging to giant kelp covered rocks and even saw a dead sun star. the penguin colony visit was most definitely the highlight of the week though it was a long 2 hour bus ride into uncharted territory..they never really tell you when you arrive to a city so we had to guess when we arrived to the city we wanted and ended up getting off on the side of the highway and hiking alongside the ocean until we finally found the path we needed. such is the life of a traveler. we cooked for my host family (chicken divan and apple crisp mmmm) and spent our last day together in Santiago, exploring around there. i ate really well the week she was here and before we both knew it, it was time for her to get back on the plane and fly back to the states. my dad comes in december to go travel south with me so that will be exciting as well though it is still far off for now...it will come fast.
we also recently sprung forward and are enjoying daylight til almost 8pm now which is glorious. i love daylight savings time and once it stays consistently warm and sunny i hope to really make the most of the longer hours of daylight.
classes here are not really that hard and i am realizing that i get a lot of pity points simply for being not from Chile or natively speaking Spanish. i've gotten a couple tests back recently where i received much higher scores than i definitely deserved, some of which i didnt even really answer the question being asked but i guess my effort got more points than actual content or maybe i did write what they were looking for. either way, the days of study are few and far between and with the onset of some gorgeous weather i find it difficult to sit inside and study anyway so i suppose it all works out. as i have told some, i am not really here to study though that is part of the experience..being in Chilean classrooms and seeing how university classes are conducted here and learning a bit. i am more here for the experience and learning the culture and the language. and with the latter goal i believe i am succeeding to the full. as i said at the start of this entry, Chile holds a piece of my heart and i consider myself extremely blessed to be able to be here, in this particular country, meeting the particular people i have, seeing so many places and truly discovering the true meaning of -living life...in its most purest form-.
if you are still reading, i applaud you for slogging through my ramblings with little focus. why focus when i can just write what is on my mind? thats the most raw anyway, what i really feel rather than some organized, neatly written, organized piece about the experiences i am having. thats not really who i am either. i am messy, all over the place and i like to ramble. (much to the chagrin of my host mom in regards to the messes i make..i dont mean to, they just happen. she is extremely concerned about me staining stuff..its a good thing i am 20 and not 2 otherwise she might really wig out)
In the spirit of previews, I will be traveling to Argentina with Kelan and Luke next Wednesday, consequently Halloween which we shall celebrate on the bus as we travel through the Andes. So look forward to some Argentine tales!
i hope you too are truly enjoying life and living it to the fullest. there will always be work to be done but not always life to be lived. with that in mind, i send my love and wish you the best. thanks for all your love and support and cyber hugs! God is good.
love,
katie :)
whelp, i am past the half way point of being here in chile and less than 2 months and counting until i touch back down in the united states...back to reality. and lets be honest, thats scary. i know i say this every time i write but seriously, i cannot believe how fast time is going. to think back and look at my pictures from when i first arrived, to remember how i felt seeing people and places for the first time that are now so familiar, its crazy. Chile feels normal to me now. like home (almost). dont worry, im coming home and i cant wait but really, Chile feels like a second home. or a third home i guess if we count Noblesville, Butler, and now, Chile. my heart keeps leaving itself in places but i guess that is the life of a traveler. and for now, i am good with that. leaving little pieces of myself wherever i go, bringing smiles to the faces of those i meet.
there are so many things about home that i miss. and each day i am realizing how many things about chile i will miss. but the thing is, i still have 7 or 8 weeks or so and for that reason, i am determined to make the very most of each day that i possibly can! and enjoy those who i am with and all the things we see and do. not that i havent been before but it seems like everyone here has suddenly just realized that the end is coming. studying abroad in chile will end. before it just seemed like this huge long indeterminable time but now it is as if we are all filled with a fervor to rather than put off going to see such and such place tomorrow, to go today, and live in today rather than in tomorrow. so enough of the rambling, back to refocus.
the longer i stay in chile and frequent the places that i enjoy, i am starting to be recognized by shop owners and even though we dont know each others names, we share a little bit of life in those fleeting minutes when i arrive to buy a little pastry or some dinner on the go. we chat and share a smile and then i am on my way. the smiles of these owners is something a bit difficult to describe but its kind of exciting. when they recognize me and remember the last time i visited. its pretty neat.
so. events. my MOM came and visited for 5 or 6 days last week. we had beautiful, sunny, warm weather each day she was here. it was a whirlwind of activity as i played tour guide and showed her all over Viña and Valpo, we even took a couple short trips to a vineyard and another coastal town farther north, Cachagua, where the Humboldt penguins reside on a little island. it was SO beautiful there, the beach was deserted, the water a deep blue, and the penguins small and so cute. we couldnt see them too well but close enough to know they were penguins. super sweet. it was incredible to see her, i hadnt realized how much i had missed her. seeing my mom was kind of like seeing the rest of my family as well, and i definitely miss them. being away from family and friends for this long, in completely new and foreign surroundings has really made me realize not only how much i am loved, but how blessed i really am. i know some amazing people and really truly appreciate and love all of your letters, notes, pictures, random shout-outs. i wish you could see how excited i get and the huge smile that spreads across my face when i see something waiting for me.
so anyway, i played tour guide and showed my mom my Chile. i had her try almost all of my favorite foods here: lúcuma ice cream, maicena, churrascos and completos, empanadas, mil hojas...all sorts of the delicious things Chile has to offer. it was fun to just be with her and show her my life here as well as meet my host family and friends that i have made here. its always interesting showing your life to someone else and seeing what they think of everything, re-seeing things that are super normal to you but through their eyes. not knowing much Spanish but still trying to understand and doing a pretty good job communicating with my host family, i played translator most of the time which helped my bilingualism somewhat and increased my confidence as we maneuvered through the bus and metro system among other things. we rented bikes and rode along the coast, stopping to explore some tide pools where we found some sea anemones clinging to giant kelp covered rocks and even saw a dead sun star. the penguin colony visit was most definitely the highlight of the week though it was a long 2 hour bus ride into uncharted territory..they never really tell you when you arrive to a city so we had to guess when we arrived to the city we wanted and ended up getting off on the side of the highway and hiking alongside the ocean until we finally found the path we needed. such is the life of a traveler. we cooked for my host family (chicken divan and apple crisp mmmm) and spent our last day together in Santiago, exploring around there. i ate really well the week she was here and before we both knew it, it was time for her to get back on the plane and fly back to the states. my dad comes in december to go travel south with me so that will be exciting as well though it is still far off for now...it will come fast.
we also recently sprung forward and are enjoying daylight til almost 8pm now which is glorious. i love daylight savings time and once it stays consistently warm and sunny i hope to really make the most of the longer hours of daylight.
classes here are not really that hard and i am realizing that i get a lot of pity points simply for being not from Chile or natively speaking Spanish. i've gotten a couple tests back recently where i received much higher scores than i definitely deserved, some of which i didnt even really answer the question being asked but i guess my effort got more points than actual content or maybe i did write what they were looking for. either way, the days of study are few and far between and with the onset of some gorgeous weather i find it difficult to sit inside and study anyway so i suppose it all works out. as i have told some, i am not really here to study though that is part of the experience..being in Chilean classrooms and seeing how university classes are conducted here and learning a bit. i am more here for the experience and learning the culture and the language. and with the latter goal i believe i am succeeding to the full. as i said at the start of this entry, Chile holds a piece of my heart and i consider myself extremely blessed to be able to be here, in this particular country, meeting the particular people i have, seeing so many places and truly discovering the true meaning of -living life...in its most purest form-.
if you are still reading, i applaud you for slogging through my ramblings with little focus. why focus when i can just write what is on my mind? thats the most raw anyway, what i really feel rather than some organized, neatly written, organized piece about the experiences i am having. thats not really who i am either. i am messy, all over the place and i like to ramble. (much to the chagrin of my host mom in regards to the messes i make..i dont mean to, they just happen. she is extremely concerned about me staining stuff..its a good thing i am 20 and not 2 otherwise she might really wig out)
In the spirit of previews, I will be traveling to Argentina with Kelan and Luke next Wednesday, consequently Halloween which we shall celebrate on the bus as we travel through the Andes. So look forward to some Argentine tales!
i hope you too are truly enjoying life and living it to the fullest. there will always be work to be done but not always life to be lived. with that in mind, i send my love and wish you the best. thanks for all your love and support and cyber hugs! God is good.
love,
katie :)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Living in the Beautiful Whirlwind Called Life
Life has definitely picked up recently. I continue to revel in the fact that I do indeed go to a Latin school and with that in mind, have lots of classes cancelled, rarely have work to do, and have the ability to just not show up for class if i have something better to do. quite the contrast from Butler but i am definitely still challenged. kind of. a little. at times. i've actually spent the last few days-week or so studying and getting a ton of stuff done. so i have been studious but upon finishing my essay at 8.30 this evening i am now looking forward to 2 weeks of fun in the sun and a little bit of class. next week one of the colleges at my university, the college of business actually, is celebrating its anniversary of becoming part of the university and therefore, we dont have business classes all week long. i'll take that. im soaking up the fun now b-c i know it wont be so laid-back at butler but to each his own.
so, what HAVE i been up to since i last checked in? spring is here with full sunny warm vengeance and spectacular green-ness and growth. there are flowers everywhere and the leaves are the trees are coming out full and new and happy. i love walking down the side streets of the cities, lined with green leaves finally as the warm sun beats down on my happy bare feet. its awesome to be able to break out the sandals yet again. i missed them.
i've had lots of random adventures...studied for a few days for a philosophy test i thought we had only to find out the night before that i was mistaken. i'd misunderstood what the profe had told me. but it worked out b-c the next week we had our test and i had already reviewed a lot of it! another essay test, they sure like those here. i went to an aerobox class with my language partner..we meet up every week or so to speak in English and Spanish as she is trying to learn english and well, im here for spanish. ive resigned myself to the fact that i will not be fluent by the time i leave here. always close but never quite there. chilean spanish isnt really the easiest to become fluent with and while i have become very fluid in my speaking theres still a lot to learn and know and grammar to correct. i try but i just dont think i will get to fluency. who knows though, i did just pass the halfway point of being here. i cant believe its nearly mid-october...it seems so weird that fall is happening in the U.S. with happy springtime here.
oh right, the aerobox class. so i met up with Gigi one saturday morning a while ago and we went to the basement gym of PUCV and i basically made a fool of myself for an hour. there was music and all these movements and punching and kicking the air and spinning. i just kind of tried to move around but kept running into people and looking silly. it would most deifnitely have been exactly the same had i tried it in the states so i cant even pull the language barrier card. i just dont have aerobox rhythm.
this past weekend i first went to Cajón de Maipo with leslie, kelan, and caroline. the 4 of us caught train after train and bus after bus until finally after exploring most of santiago's train system, we arrived to a small town on the edge of a beautiful canyon in between the Andes mountains. we backpacked around the area and climbed a few of the nearby foothills. for the evening we were told by a few as well as a sign that camping was prohibited in the area. however, after hiking for a bit and coming across a roped off area with a peruvian woman standing guard, we talked to her and were granted permission to camp, though she was surprised to see that it was just us women, no guys. chilean women arent hardcore and i doubt many of the friends i have made would be up for camping in the wilderness like we did. we brought along food, mostly crackers and a few loaves of bread and some meat and cheese sorts of stuff. ate along the River Clarillo and set up camp a little ways away. we had a gorgeous view of the snow-capped Andes as well as some neat rock formation mountains and trees. one big difference between camping in the states and camping in chile is that you cant leave your camp set up and then go hiking..it will get stolen so we had to carry everything around with us and our huge intense looking backpacks. that made hiking a bit more tricky but we definitely managed. after deciding we didnt have enough firewood to start a fire we sat around the leftover ashes from someone who had found enough wood and ate our ramshackle meal. the stars eventually started popping out, one by one and within a few minutes we were greeted to quite the display of southern hemisphere stars. it was absolutely gorgeous and after kelan and caroline went to sleep around 9, leslie and i stayed outside looking up at the sky in simple silence and awe, giving way to sharing life stories and soaking up the chilean evening and the beautiful night sky. we crawled into our sleeping bags shortly before 10pm...theres not a whole lot to do without electricity! the next morning we went farther into the canyon and were told that if we wanted to hike we had to pay the equivalent of ten bucks to go on some trail. after looking at our incredulous faces, the guide told us about a secret trail a few blocks away. we were greeted by a pack of 3 dogs at said trail and continued on anyway. the dogs became our companions and followed us all the way up to the very top of this mountain where we were all greeted with more stunning views of the canyon and mountains. the hike was super tough and at times we werent really on a trail. but we made it eventually and it was super worth it. good friends, camping, hiking, nature, laughing, living. life in its most pure of forms.
back in santiago, kelan and i joined up with heidi luke adam and jordan for a bit. kelans birthday was monday and the two of us celebrated by touring the city and climbing another hill that greeted us with less pretty views...just smoggy santiago and the mountains kind of in the distance. we spent a lot of time in the train station, traveling from one side of the city to the other. by the end of the day we joked that we could win in the scattergories category of Santiago Metro Stops...probably not far from the truth. the metro in stgo is much crazier than that of Viña-Valpo. for one thing, there are 7 million people in stgo compared to less than a million between the two cities of viña-valpo. therefore, most of the time you are running to catch the train before the doors start to close, almost cut off your leg, and then you have to kind of force people to move a smidgen to give you a bit of room to stand and kind of breathe. expect to almost fall over every time the train moves or stops or goes. it was quite the experience but fun all the same. kelan knew of some restaurant that made salads so we went there for lunch and it was delicious...the -salad- here is normally random raw veggies cut up onto a plate covered in vinegar and salt. these salads we ate were real and soooo good. a huge bowl with lettuce and nuts and chicken and veggies and goodness. yes.
the evening arrived, bringing the point of our trip to santiago in the first place: the Incubus concert. i dont really like incubus and just went along for the ride and to hang out. i ended up narking out standing up and only knew about 2 songs. the lead singer greeted the crowd with his two phrases -gracias santiago- and -que tal-. they also brought out the chilean flag and waved that around a few times, much to the glee of a pretty packed house. the concert was only 1.5 hours, incubus was the only band that played. it was fun to hang out with everyone, but not really something i'd care to repeat. after the concert we met up with a bunch of people we'd met from the hostel we were staying at from all over the world: england, spain, brazil, and some others i forget. we celebrated the last bit of kelans birthday and the start of adams in a perkins looking place on a street near our hostel.
i am eagerly looking forward to this friday now when my mom flies in from indy to visit for nearly a week. i cant wait to see her and show her around this life of mine here in chile. i miss you all a lot but am definitely enjoying chile and really cant believe its almost half over. i love the people i have met here and cant wait for more adventures though i am also counting down the days until i can brighten all of your doorsteps and see you all again. time will pass as it does and i have been learning so much. not just Spanish but about myself, about life, the perspectives of others towards the U.S. and a variety of other topics. i could go on and on but i think this is probably long enough already. the point is, study abroad if you arent already, travel whenever you get the chance, and always be ready for plans to change or not work out, perhaps for the better.
jump in a pile of crunchy leaves and drink some warmed apple cider for me!
love,
Katie
so, what HAVE i been up to since i last checked in? spring is here with full sunny warm vengeance and spectacular green-ness and growth. there are flowers everywhere and the leaves are the trees are coming out full and new and happy. i love walking down the side streets of the cities, lined with green leaves finally as the warm sun beats down on my happy bare feet. its awesome to be able to break out the sandals yet again. i missed them.
i've had lots of random adventures...studied for a few days for a philosophy test i thought we had only to find out the night before that i was mistaken. i'd misunderstood what the profe had told me. but it worked out b-c the next week we had our test and i had already reviewed a lot of it! another essay test, they sure like those here. i went to an aerobox class with my language partner..we meet up every week or so to speak in English and Spanish as she is trying to learn english and well, im here for spanish. ive resigned myself to the fact that i will not be fluent by the time i leave here. always close but never quite there. chilean spanish isnt really the easiest to become fluent with and while i have become very fluid in my speaking theres still a lot to learn and know and grammar to correct. i try but i just dont think i will get to fluency. who knows though, i did just pass the halfway point of being here. i cant believe its nearly mid-october...it seems so weird that fall is happening in the U.S. with happy springtime here.
oh right, the aerobox class. so i met up with Gigi one saturday morning a while ago and we went to the basement gym of PUCV and i basically made a fool of myself for an hour. there was music and all these movements and punching and kicking the air and spinning. i just kind of tried to move around but kept running into people and looking silly. it would most deifnitely have been exactly the same had i tried it in the states so i cant even pull the language barrier card. i just dont have aerobox rhythm.
this past weekend i first went to Cajón de Maipo with leslie, kelan, and caroline. the 4 of us caught train after train and bus after bus until finally after exploring most of santiago's train system, we arrived to a small town on the edge of a beautiful canyon in between the Andes mountains. we backpacked around the area and climbed a few of the nearby foothills. for the evening we were told by a few as well as a sign that camping was prohibited in the area. however, after hiking for a bit and coming across a roped off area with a peruvian woman standing guard, we talked to her and were granted permission to camp, though she was surprised to see that it was just us women, no guys. chilean women arent hardcore and i doubt many of the friends i have made would be up for camping in the wilderness like we did. we brought along food, mostly crackers and a few loaves of bread and some meat and cheese sorts of stuff. ate along the River Clarillo and set up camp a little ways away. we had a gorgeous view of the snow-capped Andes as well as some neat rock formation mountains and trees. one big difference between camping in the states and camping in chile is that you cant leave your camp set up and then go hiking..it will get stolen so we had to carry everything around with us and our huge intense looking backpacks. that made hiking a bit more tricky but we definitely managed. after deciding we didnt have enough firewood to start a fire we sat around the leftover ashes from someone who had found enough wood and ate our ramshackle meal. the stars eventually started popping out, one by one and within a few minutes we were greeted to quite the display of southern hemisphere stars. it was absolutely gorgeous and after kelan and caroline went to sleep around 9, leslie and i stayed outside looking up at the sky in simple silence and awe, giving way to sharing life stories and soaking up the chilean evening and the beautiful night sky. we crawled into our sleeping bags shortly before 10pm...theres not a whole lot to do without electricity! the next morning we went farther into the canyon and were told that if we wanted to hike we had to pay the equivalent of ten bucks to go on some trail. after looking at our incredulous faces, the guide told us about a secret trail a few blocks away. we were greeted by a pack of 3 dogs at said trail and continued on anyway. the dogs became our companions and followed us all the way up to the very top of this mountain where we were all greeted with more stunning views of the canyon and mountains. the hike was super tough and at times we werent really on a trail. but we made it eventually and it was super worth it. good friends, camping, hiking, nature, laughing, living. life in its most pure of forms.
back in santiago, kelan and i joined up with heidi luke adam and jordan for a bit. kelans birthday was monday and the two of us celebrated by touring the city and climbing another hill that greeted us with less pretty views...just smoggy santiago and the mountains kind of in the distance. we spent a lot of time in the train station, traveling from one side of the city to the other. by the end of the day we joked that we could win in the scattergories category of Santiago Metro Stops...probably not far from the truth. the metro in stgo is much crazier than that of Viña-Valpo. for one thing, there are 7 million people in stgo compared to less than a million between the two cities of viña-valpo. therefore, most of the time you are running to catch the train before the doors start to close, almost cut off your leg, and then you have to kind of force people to move a smidgen to give you a bit of room to stand and kind of breathe. expect to almost fall over every time the train moves or stops or goes. it was quite the experience but fun all the same. kelan knew of some restaurant that made salads so we went there for lunch and it was delicious...the -salad- here is normally random raw veggies cut up onto a plate covered in vinegar and salt. these salads we ate were real and soooo good. a huge bowl with lettuce and nuts and chicken and veggies and goodness. yes.
the evening arrived, bringing the point of our trip to santiago in the first place: the Incubus concert. i dont really like incubus and just went along for the ride and to hang out. i ended up narking out standing up and only knew about 2 songs. the lead singer greeted the crowd with his two phrases -gracias santiago- and -que tal-. they also brought out the chilean flag and waved that around a few times, much to the glee of a pretty packed house. the concert was only 1.5 hours, incubus was the only band that played. it was fun to hang out with everyone, but not really something i'd care to repeat. after the concert we met up with a bunch of people we'd met from the hostel we were staying at from all over the world: england, spain, brazil, and some others i forget. we celebrated the last bit of kelans birthday and the start of adams in a perkins looking place on a street near our hostel.
i am eagerly looking forward to this friday now when my mom flies in from indy to visit for nearly a week. i cant wait to see her and show her around this life of mine here in chile. i miss you all a lot but am definitely enjoying chile and really cant believe its almost half over. i love the people i have met here and cant wait for more adventures though i am also counting down the days until i can brighten all of your doorsteps and see you all again. time will pass as it does and i have been learning so much. not just Spanish but about myself, about life, the perspectives of others towards the U.S. and a variety of other topics. i could go on and on but i think this is probably long enough already. the point is, study abroad if you arent already, travel whenever you get the chance, and always be ready for plans to change or not work out, perhaps for the better.
jump in a pile of crunchy leaves and drink some warmed apple cider for me!
love,
Katie
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Vacationing: how sweet it is
Hello everyone!
Im really not even sure where to begin. I have been having a whole ton of adventures as of late and am now in the process of trying to get back into the swing of school and studying, at least a little bit. :)
Last Thursday, the 13th, I left the city and noise and busyness behind and rode 12 hours south in a bus to Valdivia, a little college town in between a series of three rivers, close to the ocean coast. We stayed in a hostel and met a French man who spoke a bunch of languages and was spending the year traveling the world. Visited the university campus of Universidad Austral de Chile and walked around the botanical gardens along the Rivers Valdivia and Cau-Cau. We walked through residential neighborhoods which I haven’t really seen in chile on our way to a little park and it made me kind of miss the tranquility of suburbia. One thing that really struck me in all of our travels was how green and just absolutely beautiful everything is here. There are so many different varieties of trees and birds, my eyes were so happy the entire time. We had great weather in
Villarrica was definitely my favorite city that we visited-it was small and cultural feeling, with amazing views of Volcano Villarrica which was covered by at least a bit of cloud most of the time—completely snow covered. We were hoping to do some hiking in the national parks while there but forgot that it is still winter and there was no public access…on account of there being 3-4 meters of snow covering all the areas we wanted to go hike in. Instead, Heidi and Eric and I decided to rent bikes from our hostel and go through part of the national park of the volcano. Of course we chose to do this on the ONE day of rain that we ended up having and as we began our 30 mile trek it started to rain, but we decided to just keep on going. Our non-waterproof jackets held up for a little while but not long enough. It was about a 6 hour journey mostly uphill, we even saw snow on the side of the road at the highest point. When we did not find a bridge we were supposed to cross to get across a canyon we decided to turn around. We were all pretty miserable and took a break inside a wooden structure on the side of the path for a while, trying to motivate ourselves to reenter the rain and complete the ride. We finally did and as we began to descend, the sun came out, dried us off a little and treated us to some pretty spectacular views as we realized the whole time the volcano was right in front of us but just hidden in all the rain and clouds surrounding it. We decided to cook most of our meals while traveling, not only b-c it was cheaper but b-c we could. That was so fun, I missed cooking and doing my own dishes and eating something I made by myself, with the collaboration of friends. Im sure next semester I will get tired of it after a while but for now, it was definitely enjoyable.
Pucón was pretty blasé and boring. Just like an adventure tourism
Independence Day was fun as well. We listened to Chilean music the whole day and for lunch had kababs with pork, beef, hot dogs (of course), and onions. Normally we would have had empanadas which are filled doughy masses with cheese or meat or really whatever you can think of to add but the price of onions is really high right now so we didn’t. milk is also very expensive…about 8 dollars for 8 liters of powdered and a $1.25 or so for a liter of premade milk in a bag. I miss my calcium intake. I walked along the beach and through the town, the beach was definitely the place to be as everything in town minus a very small handful of restaurants was closed. Children were flying kites and playing in the waves (it wasn’t that warm…) and families just passing the day wandering through the sand. At night I went out with my Chilean parents to one of their friends houses in a neighboring suburb of Viña. They tried to teach me to dance the cueca which is the national dance of chile with handkerchiefs. Basically independence week is the one week of the year when everyone is super patriotic and in love with chile and there is pure Chilean music and dancing and festivities…when all of chiles culture comes out. After its over, they become gringos again, adopting other cultures and such as they do. More meat at this party and lots of dancing. It was fun to meet more people and just experience an independence day party. We left for it at about 10.15 and I was pretty tired so I caught a bus at 2.45…my Chilean parents didn’t get home til 5.30! and such is how life goes…
The next day I caught the train to the end of the line about an hour away into the mountains where leslie, marc, Christian, adam, Jordan, eric, franz, caroline, leslies sister Kristin who is visiting for a week, and cordelia all rented a cabin in the mountains. It was again, super beautiful and soooo relaxing to just hang out, walk around in the area and experience warmth and sunshine and good company. We played Frisbee and walked through the town and tried to find a rodeo but missed out b-c it was the tail end of the festivities and most of the Chileans were all celebrations out and starting back to work and school.
Since then ive been trying to get back into the groove of school, my first philosophy test is on Tuesday and I have a paper and presentation coming up. October is going to fly for sure, lots going on (including my moms visit!!!)
As I said before, the homesickness comes and goes but lately I have been really really really loving it here. Of course I miss home and everyone there but at the same time here I am in chile and I have made some pretty amazing friends so for now, while we are all together here, learning Spanish and experiencing a foreign culture, I am going to live it up and soak up the culture and enjoy being here. Not to mention that the weather is getting spectacular…its going to be very difficult to study as the days get nicer and nicer here with more and more sunshine and warmer temperatures. It still gets pretty cold at night but the days are nice, minus the wind from time to time that rips through, disheveling everything and everyone in its way.
Heres to vacation, and now getting back to a bit of school mentality so I can at least pass these classes. :) love you guys!!
Katie
Monday, September 10, 2007
Immersing myself in a culture
Heyo!
I figured I should update now before we leave on our vacations and I come back and have 3 whole novels worth to tell you.
The homesickness definitely comes in waves and i´ve found the best remedy to that is to just get outside and walk around and explore. Not only do i love being outside but it makes me breathe in the culture and realize that i am in a special part of my life and in an amazing place.
We´ve had quite a few days lately of cloudy, semi cold weather which has been lamentable but today and yesterday were gorgeous and warm...i was even sweating trekking across town! Friday i went to a folklore concert with Kelan and Leslie. it was in the theater in the center of town and FREE! very interesting, neat cultural event. there were people who dressed up in many of the traditional outfits of indians throughout chile and played traditional music and acted out scenes and danced different dances. it was pretty neat and very beautiful to see all their traditional wear.
saturday i went with Caroline Adam and Jordan to Isla Negra, a little town about 1.5 hours south of Viña where one of pablo nerudas homes is located. there is not much else in this town aside from pablos house but it was a very beautiful area with a unique coarse sand beach, interesting pine trees, and a house full of all sorts of collections such as ships in bottles, TONS of shells and sea life from a narwhal horn to green shells from cuba, huge oyster shells, all sorts of stuff. a large fake horse with 3 tails, and all sorts of glass bottles and busts from boats. neruda had a large obsession with the sea and this was evident in our visit to this particular home where he spent most of his life. we met a couple on the bus back, the woman was from San Diego and her boyfriend from southern Chile. they were spending the weekend in Valparaiso and we met up with them later on in the evening to hang out and trade stories as well as experience Valpo.
Sunday was a fantastic living life day. I woke up decently early and walked all over Viña..down to the mall 20 blocks away and then back along the beach, walking barefoot watching families playing with their children, flying kites, even a group of guys playing in the ocean and getting engulfed by the large waves! sundays are bustling, family days and itw as fun to just wander and be a part of that. after a lunch of all types of grilled meat on our new grill i caught a bus to Valpo and wandered from one side to the other. i found 3 plazas and saw all sorts of people out in the streets, selling books, antiques, food, souvenoirs, gokart rides, kites. i bought a kite but didnt have the proper supplies to construct it and was told so while attempting to build it by a little boy of about 6 years of age, after his own kite hit me about 3 times while sitting in the plaza. at the last plaza which was by far the largest of those i found this day, i stopped and just breathed in chile, soaking up the sights and smells of a sunny sunday. there was a music group playing and talking on the hill in the center of the plaza amidst a statue of one of the founders of Chile, Bernard O`Higgins. Many of Chiles founders were from Great Britain thus the presence of many English names and buildings named after these specific heroes. Upon exiting the plaza, I saw a man playing guitar and singing on one of the street corners and decided to stop and listen. his manager came over, convinced me to buy a CD, and talked to me about how i enjoyed chile, what i was studying...the normal questions of almost every Chilean or non-Chilean that i have met. i stayed for quite a while, just listening and watching people bustle about as the sun began to set. i caught the metro home and found my way to a panaderia for some cake...i still havent found actual cake here and settled for a nutty, pastel papery manjar layered cake with pineapple slices. later in the evening i met up with Leslie, Christian, Marc, and Matt for our weekly sunday reunion at Ciao for 2 for 1 happy hour... 2 for 1 drinks and some of the best pizza ever. It was a relaxing evening of conversation and camaraderie on everything from this past weekend to the U.S. university education system, U.S. perspèctives of cultural experiences and travel, a German perspective from Christian on WWII and how it is treated and thought of in Germany today, etc.
Thursday evening i leave with Heidi Jordan Adam and Eric on a 12 hour bus ride down to Valdivia and then to Villarrica and Pucón for a few days until the 18th, independence day. The week of all of Chile`s culture rolled into one week of festivities. There are flags everywhere, traditional music, and all sorts of events. Upon our return and celebrating Tuesday, I am meeting up with Leslie, Marc, Christian, and a few others in Olmue, a small village in the country with cowboys and rodeos to go camping and see a different side of celebrating the 18th.
Hope everyone is well, as always, keep writing and sending stuff and conversing, i´ve been here for just about 2 months now..crazy huh?
to end this edition i am leaving you with one of my favorite songs. it is by John Mayer, titled Why Georgia. I challenge you to ask yourself the same questions he poses in this song. Are you livin it right? Write me of your adventures and strive to begin each day truly making the most of every moment and opportunity, cachai? (understand?)
^i am drivin up 85 in the kind of morning that lasts all afternoon...
either way i wonder sometimes about the outcome of a still, verdictless life
am i livin it right?
so what so ive got a smile on. but its hidin the quiet superstitions in my head. dont believe me, dont believe me when i say ive got it down
everybody is just a stranger and thats the danger in going my own way. i guess thats the price i have to pay. still everything happens for a reason its no reason not to ask myself if i am living it right..am i living it right?^
I figured I should update now before we leave on our vacations and I come back and have 3 whole novels worth to tell you.
The homesickness definitely comes in waves and i´ve found the best remedy to that is to just get outside and walk around and explore. Not only do i love being outside but it makes me breathe in the culture and realize that i am in a special part of my life and in an amazing place.
We´ve had quite a few days lately of cloudy, semi cold weather which has been lamentable but today and yesterday were gorgeous and warm...i was even sweating trekking across town! Friday i went to a folklore concert with Kelan and Leslie. it was in the theater in the center of town and FREE! very interesting, neat cultural event. there were people who dressed up in many of the traditional outfits of indians throughout chile and played traditional music and acted out scenes and danced different dances. it was pretty neat and very beautiful to see all their traditional wear.
saturday i went with Caroline Adam and Jordan to Isla Negra, a little town about 1.5 hours south of Viña where one of pablo nerudas homes is located. there is not much else in this town aside from pablos house but it was a very beautiful area with a unique coarse sand beach, interesting pine trees, and a house full of all sorts of collections such as ships in bottles, TONS of shells and sea life from a narwhal horn to green shells from cuba, huge oyster shells, all sorts of stuff. a large fake horse with 3 tails, and all sorts of glass bottles and busts from boats. neruda had a large obsession with the sea and this was evident in our visit to this particular home where he spent most of his life. we met a couple on the bus back, the woman was from San Diego and her boyfriend from southern Chile. they were spending the weekend in Valparaiso and we met up with them later on in the evening to hang out and trade stories as well as experience Valpo.
Sunday was a fantastic living life day. I woke up decently early and walked all over Viña..down to the mall 20 blocks away and then back along the beach, walking barefoot watching families playing with their children, flying kites, even a group of guys playing in the ocean and getting engulfed by the large waves! sundays are bustling, family days and itw as fun to just wander and be a part of that. after a lunch of all types of grilled meat on our new grill i caught a bus to Valpo and wandered from one side to the other. i found 3 plazas and saw all sorts of people out in the streets, selling books, antiques, food, souvenoirs, gokart rides, kites. i bought a kite but didnt have the proper supplies to construct it and was told so while attempting to build it by a little boy of about 6 years of age, after his own kite hit me about 3 times while sitting in the plaza. at the last plaza which was by far the largest of those i found this day, i stopped and just breathed in chile, soaking up the sights and smells of a sunny sunday. there was a music group playing and talking on the hill in the center of the plaza amidst a statue of one of the founders of Chile, Bernard O`Higgins. Many of Chiles founders were from Great Britain thus the presence of many English names and buildings named after these specific heroes. Upon exiting the plaza, I saw a man playing guitar and singing on one of the street corners and decided to stop and listen. his manager came over, convinced me to buy a CD, and talked to me about how i enjoyed chile, what i was studying...the normal questions of almost every Chilean or non-Chilean that i have met. i stayed for quite a while, just listening and watching people bustle about as the sun began to set. i caught the metro home and found my way to a panaderia for some cake...i still havent found actual cake here and settled for a nutty, pastel papery manjar layered cake with pineapple slices. later in the evening i met up with Leslie, Christian, Marc, and Matt for our weekly sunday reunion at Ciao for 2 for 1 happy hour... 2 for 1 drinks and some of the best pizza ever. It was a relaxing evening of conversation and camaraderie on everything from this past weekend to the U.S. university education system, U.S. perspèctives of cultural experiences and travel, a German perspective from Christian on WWII and how it is treated and thought of in Germany today, etc.
Thursday evening i leave with Heidi Jordan Adam and Eric on a 12 hour bus ride down to Valdivia and then to Villarrica and Pucón for a few days until the 18th, independence day. The week of all of Chile`s culture rolled into one week of festivities. There are flags everywhere, traditional music, and all sorts of events. Upon our return and celebrating Tuesday, I am meeting up with Leslie, Marc, Christian, and a few others in Olmue, a small village in the country with cowboys and rodeos to go camping and see a different side of celebrating the 18th.
Hope everyone is well, as always, keep writing and sending stuff and conversing, i´ve been here for just about 2 months now..crazy huh?
to end this edition i am leaving you with one of my favorite songs. it is by John Mayer, titled Why Georgia. I challenge you to ask yourself the same questions he poses in this song. Are you livin it right? Write me of your adventures and strive to begin each day truly making the most of every moment and opportunity, cachai? (understand?)
^i am drivin up 85 in the kind of morning that lasts all afternoon...
either way i wonder sometimes about the outcome of a still, verdictless life
am i livin it right?
so what so ive got a smile on. but its hidin the quiet superstitions in my head. dont believe me, dont believe me when i say ive got it down
everybody is just a stranger and thats the danger in going my own way. i guess thats the price i have to pay. still everything happens for a reason its no reason not to ask myself if i am living it right..am i living it right?^
Monday, September 3, 2007
Días Buenas, Llena con las risas y sonrisas (Good days, full of laughs and smiles)
So its been a while since I’ve updated this, I’ve been studying and living life and wanted to wait until I had a few things slightly notable to write about.
Yo no quería una vida normal,
no me gustaban los horarios de oficina.
Mi espíritu rebelde se reía
del dinero, del lujo y el comfort
Y tuve una revelación,
ya se que quiero en esta vida.
I didnt want a normal life
I never liked the hours at the office
My rebellious spirit laughed
at money, luxury, and comfort
I've had a revelation
I know what I want in this life.
Katie :)
Monday, August 20, 2007
also, keep sending me mail! i'm getting it and its super exciting!! :-D
Katie Osland
Ecuador 116, Dp. 61
Vina del Mar, Chile
Katie Osland
Ecuador 116, Dp. 61
Vina del Mar, Chile
pictures
so ive been trying to figure out how to post pictures on this thing and have yet to be successful. check out http://community.webshots.com/user/kosland for now...i'll update soon so keep checking back!
Traveling the countryside
Moving away from first impressions and settling into the routine of familiarity. That's where i'm at right about now. I live in Chile. I'm learning the ropes and more or less understand whats going on in Spanish all around me. I still havent met too many chileans...its just hard b/c its hard to meet people in general, just from going to class with them. plus no one really likes americans so we've all got that going against us. however, there is hope. classes are beginning to pile on work and to write this now i am passing on doing homework. it will get done, it always does. having everything in spanish adds an interesting element though for sure.
nothing over the past week specifically sticks out, aside from this past weekend. i'll recount the events of said weekend in the following paragraphs. shall we?
this past weekend my friends heidi, luke, adam, jordan, and i all traveled 6.5 hours by bus to La Serena, a coastal town that is the second oldest city in Chile. LS is north so it was warmer up there and they have about 300 days of sunshine year round so it was gorgeous. sunny, warm...we got to remember what 70 degrees feels like yesterday..aka wonderful! we stayed in a super nice hostal..we were the only ones there and the owner was super nice and friendly. hostals definitely get a bad rap from my experience but all the ones i have heard about and the one we stayed in have been super nice!
friday afternoon/evening we settled in and explored the town, went to an archaeological museum and found a circus that was in town all the way from Guadalajara, Mexico. I ate congor eel and we experienced being gringos...over 6 people surrounded us in the market while on our way to find food. each of these people worked for a different restaurant in town and wanted us to choose theirs. finally adam ducked below their circle of intensity and we sat down in a random one that turned out to be quite tasty. the eel was delicious! being on the coast there is a ton of seafood so we wanted to try it.
The circus in the evening was entertaining but it was freezing inside the small tent! there were trapeze artists, dancers, and lots of clowns. a guy on a motorcycle zoomed around in a large steel ball and there were also a few performances by a bear, two monkeys, and two lions. all the animal acts were super sad b/c it was obvious the animals were malnourished and mistreated. the male lion upon exiting his cage came out and just laid down..refusing to move or participate in performing. the trainer tried to motivate the lion by grabbing his tail and dragging him around the pen. yeah, that worked. not at all. super sad but still an experience. never thought i would attend a circus in spanish!
the next morning we woke up early and caught a bus to coquimbo, a nearby town that is usually a 10-15 min trip but on this particular bus it took us 45 minutes. the driver was super slow and i guess just enjoying the day ors omething..it took forever!!! we went to the town's claim to fame which is a 300 foot tall cross constructed in 2002 atop one of the hills. from the cross you can see the entire town as well as a large portion of the ocean. quite the vistas.
our next stop was an hour bus ride to the quaint, beautiful town of vicuña. the town plaza was beautiful, lots of trees. thats one thing that i love about latin american countries. there arent many parks per se but there is definitely a plaza for every city, no matter how big or small. usually lots of benches, a little bit of green space, some sort of monument in the middle to some famous person, and lots of trees. tons of people milling about. sometimes there are concerts, often times there are random people wnadering around selling food or little souvenoirs or the like. we visited the Gabriela Mistral museum where her first home is located. GM was a famous Chilean poet who was the first woman to win a nobel prize for her poetry about Chile and the Valle de Elqui which is where vicuña is located. the valley is in between the mountain ranges and there is a ton of farming in the area with fruit, vegetables, wine, etc etc. really neat area and a definite contrast from the bustling, fast paced city life in Viña and Valpo. while in this whole area we definitely didnt have to worry about getting hit by a speeding micro, taxi, or other car while crossing the street. life is slower and i really really enjoyed it. im definitely not a huge fan of the city though its good to experience what that is like.
so after the museum we got a ride up into the mountains to Mamalluca Observatory where we learned about the stars and then got to see all sorts of constellations, other galaxies, jupiter, and the moon. i cant even put into words just how amazing it was. to stand out on that terrace and look up into the sky and see nothing but thousands, millions, of stars. it was super quiet up there and even the town below was pretty dark. since we're in the southern hemisphere there is no big or little dipper down here. i saw the southern cross, the scorpion, the stork, and many others. even a few super old stars..one red and one yellow. the color of the star determines the age. great time and definitely a highlight.
upon returning to the hostal the hostal owner and his family were celebrating his birthday and they invited us to join. they showed us a little of how to dance the cueca which is the national dance in chile and played lots of chilean songs on the guitar. we talked with the adults and the younger kids too...really just a neat experience to be able to hang out with an entire chilean family that we didnt even really know. that is the latin american way and i love it. we also got some birthday cake which was mil hojas. mil hojas is layers and layers of thin pastry type dough and in the middle of many of the layers is manjar which i think i wrote about before. they love manjar down here and im probably going to have to bring some back. :)
sunday morning luke and i woke up at 6:15 and headed to the bus to try to go back to vicuna to climb a hill we had heard about that was just outside of town. however, either we were misinformed by the bus station the night before or just missed it. after walking around to the various bus stops and bus terminal in La Serena we decided it wasnt in the cards for us to go to vicuna that day. instead we decided to find our own adventure in La Serena as there are also hills and mountains surrounding that city. so we walked and walked until we got to the mountain range. we climbed up the first hill and found the university and a creepy subdivision where all the gated houses were the same. it was super deserted as it was super early sunday morning and everything was closed and people were sleeping. the other 3 in our group decided to do the same and slept in and watched tv all morning. not my style. so after passing the subdivision we entered the farming district of la serena up on this hill...lots of eucalyptse trees and farms growing who knows what. we climbed the second hill which was mostly all sand. finally we came to the hill/mountain we'd seen from a distance. we followed the path which went alongside what we later determined to be a manmade river up high on that mountain. it was too perfect, too deep, and just wide enough to be natural. we followed it hoping that the path would lead across the river on the other side of the mountain. we passed by a few homesteads with rickety bridges crossing the river but when we asked if we could cross we were glared at so we kept walking. finally came to a portion of the river that was only about waist deep on me. we forded that river holding our belongings above our heads and walking through as fast as possible...it was freezing! luckily it was a pretty warm day and super sunny so our pants dried by the time we reached the summit. the climb up was super intense and very steep. but we made it and the view was ultimately rewarding. we could see the huge cross of coquimbo across the bay, all of coquimbo and la serena and even the Andes mountains off in the distance. valleys on both sides and lots of pacific ocean off in the distance. super beautiful. it took us longer to climb and then get down than we anticipated so by the time we got back down and got across the river it was getting late. we had a bus to catch at 2pm and it was already nearly 1pm. we booked it back as fast as we could...at the mountains base we had about 3k left to cover and an hour to do it. we walked/jogged as fast as possible but by this time we were both super tired and hungry so we didnt really want to overexert ourselves. at the edge of the main town we caught a cab that dropped us off 3 blocks from our hostal so we walked there and arrived at 1:30. we caught another cab back with the rest of the group and settled in for another 6.5 hour bus trip back where we slept and recharged.
needless to say every muscle in my body hurts today but it was super worth it and quite the adventure. i love traveling and if it wasnt so expensive i would go somewhere different every weekend...now back to the school work and reading spanish! super.
good luck to everyone finally getting back to school...and thus marks my first month here in Chile!
love and miss all of you,
katie
nothing over the past week specifically sticks out, aside from this past weekend. i'll recount the events of said weekend in the following paragraphs. shall we?
this past weekend my friends heidi, luke, adam, jordan, and i all traveled 6.5 hours by bus to La Serena, a coastal town that is the second oldest city in Chile. LS is north so it was warmer up there and they have about 300 days of sunshine year round so it was gorgeous. sunny, warm...we got to remember what 70 degrees feels like yesterday..aka wonderful! we stayed in a super nice hostal..we were the only ones there and the owner was super nice and friendly. hostals definitely get a bad rap from my experience but all the ones i have heard about and the one we stayed in have been super nice!
friday afternoon/evening we settled in and explored the town, went to an archaeological museum and found a circus that was in town all the way from Guadalajara, Mexico. I ate congor eel and we experienced being gringos...over 6 people surrounded us in the market while on our way to find food. each of these people worked for a different restaurant in town and wanted us to choose theirs. finally adam ducked below their circle of intensity and we sat down in a random one that turned out to be quite tasty. the eel was delicious! being on the coast there is a ton of seafood so we wanted to try it.
The circus in the evening was entertaining but it was freezing inside the small tent! there were trapeze artists, dancers, and lots of clowns. a guy on a motorcycle zoomed around in a large steel ball and there were also a few performances by a bear, two monkeys, and two lions. all the animal acts were super sad b/c it was obvious the animals were malnourished and mistreated. the male lion upon exiting his cage came out and just laid down..refusing to move or participate in performing. the trainer tried to motivate the lion by grabbing his tail and dragging him around the pen. yeah, that worked. not at all. super sad but still an experience. never thought i would attend a circus in spanish!
the next morning we woke up early and caught a bus to coquimbo, a nearby town that is usually a 10-15 min trip but on this particular bus it took us 45 minutes. the driver was super slow and i guess just enjoying the day ors omething..it took forever!!! we went to the town's claim to fame which is a 300 foot tall cross constructed in 2002 atop one of the hills. from the cross you can see the entire town as well as a large portion of the ocean. quite the vistas.
our next stop was an hour bus ride to the quaint, beautiful town of vicuña. the town plaza was beautiful, lots of trees. thats one thing that i love about latin american countries. there arent many parks per se but there is definitely a plaza for every city, no matter how big or small. usually lots of benches, a little bit of green space, some sort of monument in the middle to some famous person, and lots of trees. tons of people milling about. sometimes there are concerts, often times there are random people wnadering around selling food or little souvenoirs or the like. we visited the Gabriela Mistral museum where her first home is located. GM was a famous Chilean poet who was the first woman to win a nobel prize for her poetry about Chile and the Valle de Elqui which is where vicuña is located. the valley is in between the mountain ranges and there is a ton of farming in the area with fruit, vegetables, wine, etc etc. really neat area and a definite contrast from the bustling, fast paced city life in Viña and Valpo. while in this whole area we definitely didnt have to worry about getting hit by a speeding micro, taxi, or other car while crossing the street. life is slower and i really really enjoyed it. im definitely not a huge fan of the city though its good to experience what that is like.
so after the museum we got a ride up into the mountains to Mamalluca Observatory where we learned about the stars and then got to see all sorts of constellations, other galaxies, jupiter, and the moon. i cant even put into words just how amazing it was. to stand out on that terrace and look up into the sky and see nothing but thousands, millions, of stars. it was super quiet up there and even the town below was pretty dark. since we're in the southern hemisphere there is no big or little dipper down here. i saw the southern cross, the scorpion, the stork, and many others. even a few super old stars..one red and one yellow. the color of the star determines the age. great time and definitely a highlight.
upon returning to the hostal the hostal owner and his family were celebrating his birthday and they invited us to join. they showed us a little of how to dance the cueca which is the national dance in chile and played lots of chilean songs on the guitar. we talked with the adults and the younger kids too...really just a neat experience to be able to hang out with an entire chilean family that we didnt even really know. that is the latin american way and i love it. we also got some birthday cake which was mil hojas. mil hojas is layers and layers of thin pastry type dough and in the middle of many of the layers is manjar which i think i wrote about before. they love manjar down here and im probably going to have to bring some back. :)
sunday morning luke and i woke up at 6:15 and headed to the bus to try to go back to vicuna to climb a hill we had heard about that was just outside of town. however, either we were misinformed by the bus station the night before or just missed it. after walking around to the various bus stops and bus terminal in La Serena we decided it wasnt in the cards for us to go to vicuna that day. instead we decided to find our own adventure in La Serena as there are also hills and mountains surrounding that city. so we walked and walked until we got to the mountain range. we climbed up the first hill and found the university and a creepy subdivision where all the gated houses were the same. it was super deserted as it was super early sunday morning and everything was closed and people were sleeping. the other 3 in our group decided to do the same and slept in and watched tv all morning. not my style. so after passing the subdivision we entered the farming district of la serena up on this hill...lots of eucalyptse trees and farms growing who knows what. we climbed the second hill which was mostly all sand. finally we came to the hill/mountain we'd seen from a distance. we followed the path which went alongside what we later determined to be a manmade river up high on that mountain. it was too perfect, too deep, and just wide enough to be natural. we followed it hoping that the path would lead across the river on the other side of the mountain. we passed by a few homesteads with rickety bridges crossing the river but when we asked if we could cross we were glared at so we kept walking. finally came to a portion of the river that was only about waist deep on me. we forded that river holding our belongings above our heads and walking through as fast as possible...it was freezing! luckily it was a pretty warm day and super sunny so our pants dried by the time we reached the summit. the climb up was super intense and very steep. but we made it and the view was ultimately rewarding. we could see the huge cross of coquimbo across the bay, all of coquimbo and la serena and even the Andes mountains off in the distance. valleys on both sides and lots of pacific ocean off in the distance. super beautiful. it took us longer to climb and then get down than we anticipated so by the time we got back down and got across the river it was getting late. we had a bus to catch at 2pm and it was already nearly 1pm. we booked it back as fast as we could...at the mountains base we had about 3k left to cover and an hour to do it. we walked/jogged as fast as possible but by this time we were both super tired and hungry so we didnt really want to overexert ourselves. at the edge of the main town we caught a cab that dropped us off 3 blocks from our hostal so we walked there and arrived at 1:30. we caught another cab back with the rest of the group and settled in for another 6.5 hour bus trip back where we slept and recharged.
needless to say every muscle in my body hurts today but it was super worth it and quite the adventure. i love traveling and if it wasnt so expensive i would go somewhere different every weekend...now back to the school work and reading spanish! super.
good luck to everyone finally getting back to school...and thus marks my first month here in Chile!
love and miss all of you,
katie
Saturday, August 11, 2007
time takes time ya know
Time is FLYING by. not only each hour in each day but each day in each month. It's insane. We are quickly approaching the first month of being here and I can't even believe how fast it has gone. I have definitely done quite a bit and explored the two towns i live in but there is still so much to be done.
i've been exploring Valpo quite a bit, before and after class and this weekend as well. definitely a cool town with a lot of atmosphere. i have yet to eat seafood here! that is definitely on the list. tomorrow i am making chili for lunch for my host sister's 25th birthday. trying to find the ingredients in the grocery store will be quite an experience. all i can hope is that it comes out tasty good, at very least.
walking along the beach, especially around sunset is my new favorite thing. watching the waves roll and crash onto the shore and to witness all the people out walking and enjoying the day, it is a beautiful thing. i also love watching children playing on the beach with their parents. there is something so special and amazing about that that i just love seeing. i saw one little girl playing in the sand the other evening while her father crouched down beside her, photographing her every move. she turned and looked towards him, dirty, sandy hands outstreched with the biggest grin on her round face. this is what pure happiness looks like.
my favorite part of this last week, besides finding good coffee(!!!!) for only $1.20, granted its not much coffee but its enough to satisfy my craving, was renting bikes and going on an approximately 20 mile bike ride with a friend of mine. it only cost us about six bucks to rent bikes for 4 hours, definite deal. it felt amazing to ride again, i have gone so long without it and am even contemplating buying a bike down here. i love it so much. theres something about biking that just makes me feel so at peace with everything in this world. cruising by, catching small glimpses of everyone interacting and living life and appreciating the beautiful scenery that surrounds me, it is so wonderful. maybe you know what i mean, if you love cycling as i do. if not, mayhaps you have found your own method of happiness. however you live your life i hope that you are finding your medium of joy. for me, it is to bike. we took a path from Vina to nearby Concon which is apparently 17km or so..round trip this was equivalent to approximately 20 miles or so. that sounds like a lot but it definitely didnt feel like that many. took us about 3.25 hours or so and we defnitely stopped often to just take it all in and appreciate the natural world around us. the vistas we came upon were some of the most amazing views i have ever seen in my life thus far. chile is by far the most beautiful country ever.
our path took us along the ocean the entire way. we went 2 hours before sunset and watching the sun set over the ocean was amazing. it was a decently warm day and probably one of my favorites that i have had in chile thus far. the morning was spent attending an ocean kayaking class, really life does not get much better than this.
my classes are hard. i kind of understand what is going on but have issues with understanding everything, espeically taking notes when i dont know many of the subject-specific words they are using. i am the only gringa in many of my classes which makes it hard to not at least have the moral support of another foreigner. i will get by but its going to be a definite challenge.
i am realizing just how rich of an experience this is. to be in chile. i feel so completely removed from eveyrthing i have ever known and in reality, i am. chile is down here, at the end of the world. if you think about it, when was the last time you really heard much about chile beyond seeing its name on a sticker attached to a piece of fruit you picked up in the supermarket? and yet the U.S. is so evident around here. many of the bars/restaurants play terrible 80s music videos and i am hard-pressed to go a day without hearing some sort of U.S. music from one era or another. many words are in english here, i went into a shoe store the other day and was confronted with sections of shoes 'cross training' 'womens' 'outdoor'...im not really sure why it was in english b/c spanish definitely has translatable equivalents but there it was. people here are obsessed with english. i dont really know why. while chile doesnt have much of a separate culture and the food isnt all that good, it is a marvelous country with much potential and a lot to offer. yet they are insistent on adopting english and many U.S. influences.
another neat thing i have done is climb up a cerro (hill) to the old prison. in 1906 there was a massive earthquake with its epicenter in valparaiso. nearly the entire city was leveled, aside from a few buildings, the old prison being one in which many of the walls stood resistent to the quaking earth. now the prison is a public community center. many have come and done grafitti and other expressions of art on its walls and while we were walking around this afternoon, someone was practicing the trumpet, others were playing futbol (soccer), still others were flying kites (!!!), and a group of students were sitting on the steps in one of the courtyards playing a sweet rhythm on drums. neat what they have done with this space. we also got to talk to a tour guide who spent 27 years in that prison and now is obviously free and spends his days taking photos, writing, acting, whatever strikes his fancy. definitely an interesting fellow.
my host parents have been gone this weekend which, while i think they are great and enjoy them immensely, it has been nice to just chill and do my own thing this weekend like usual. my room is at a great level of messy and i dont have to worry about anyone coming in to clean it all up. i get to make my own food which has been weird as i have grown accustomed to basically being waited on hand and foot.
so life is great, school is starting to pick up its pace which is sad as i have enjoyed having no responsibilities other than trying my best to keep in contact with everyone and explore this crazy place that i live in. hope summer isnt melting you away. spring is on the way for us, tehre are a few trees by school that have started flowering and that is super exciting. please dont stop writing, it does take me a while to reply but i will deifnitely reply.
que le vaya bien, may it go well with you,
katie
i've been exploring Valpo quite a bit, before and after class and this weekend as well. definitely a cool town with a lot of atmosphere. i have yet to eat seafood here! that is definitely on the list. tomorrow i am making chili for lunch for my host sister's 25th birthday. trying to find the ingredients in the grocery store will be quite an experience. all i can hope is that it comes out tasty good, at very least.
walking along the beach, especially around sunset is my new favorite thing. watching the waves roll and crash onto the shore and to witness all the people out walking and enjoying the day, it is a beautiful thing. i also love watching children playing on the beach with their parents. there is something so special and amazing about that that i just love seeing. i saw one little girl playing in the sand the other evening while her father crouched down beside her, photographing her every move. she turned and looked towards him, dirty, sandy hands outstreched with the biggest grin on her round face. this is what pure happiness looks like.
my favorite part of this last week, besides finding good coffee(!!!!) for only $1.20, granted its not much coffee but its enough to satisfy my craving, was renting bikes and going on an approximately 20 mile bike ride with a friend of mine. it only cost us about six bucks to rent bikes for 4 hours, definite deal. it felt amazing to ride again, i have gone so long without it and am even contemplating buying a bike down here. i love it so much. theres something about biking that just makes me feel so at peace with everything in this world. cruising by, catching small glimpses of everyone interacting and living life and appreciating the beautiful scenery that surrounds me, it is so wonderful. maybe you know what i mean, if you love cycling as i do. if not, mayhaps you have found your own method of happiness. however you live your life i hope that you are finding your medium of joy. for me, it is to bike. we took a path from Vina to nearby Concon which is apparently 17km or so..round trip this was equivalent to approximately 20 miles or so. that sounds like a lot but it definitely didnt feel like that many. took us about 3.25 hours or so and we defnitely stopped often to just take it all in and appreciate the natural world around us. the vistas we came upon were some of the most amazing views i have ever seen in my life thus far. chile is by far the most beautiful country ever.
our path took us along the ocean the entire way. we went 2 hours before sunset and watching the sun set over the ocean was amazing. it was a decently warm day and probably one of my favorites that i have had in chile thus far. the morning was spent attending an ocean kayaking class, really life does not get much better than this.
my classes are hard. i kind of understand what is going on but have issues with understanding everything, espeically taking notes when i dont know many of the subject-specific words they are using. i am the only gringa in many of my classes which makes it hard to not at least have the moral support of another foreigner. i will get by but its going to be a definite challenge.
i am realizing just how rich of an experience this is. to be in chile. i feel so completely removed from eveyrthing i have ever known and in reality, i am. chile is down here, at the end of the world. if you think about it, when was the last time you really heard much about chile beyond seeing its name on a sticker attached to a piece of fruit you picked up in the supermarket? and yet the U.S. is so evident around here. many of the bars/restaurants play terrible 80s music videos and i am hard-pressed to go a day without hearing some sort of U.S. music from one era or another. many words are in english here, i went into a shoe store the other day and was confronted with sections of shoes 'cross training' 'womens' 'outdoor'...im not really sure why it was in english b/c spanish definitely has translatable equivalents but there it was. people here are obsessed with english. i dont really know why. while chile doesnt have much of a separate culture and the food isnt all that good, it is a marvelous country with much potential and a lot to offer. yet they are insistent on adopting english and many U.S. influences.
another neat thing i have done is climb up a cerro (hill) to the old prison. in 1906 there was a massive earthquake with its epicenter in valparaiso. nearly the entire city was leveled, aside from a few buildings, the old prison being one in which many of the walls stood resistent to the quaking earth. now the prison is a public community center. many have come and done grafitti and other expressions of art on its walls and while we were walking around this afternoon, someone was practicing the trumpet, others were playing futbol (soccer), still others were flying kites (!!!), and a group of students were sitting on the steps in one of the courtyards playing a sweet rhythm on drums. neat what they have done with this space. we also got to talk to a tour guide who spent 27 years in that prison and now is obviously free and spends his days taking photos, writing, acting, whatever strikes his fancy. definitely an interesting fellow.
my host parents have been gone this weekend which, while i think they are great and enjoy them immensely, it has been nice to just chill and do my own thing this weekend like usual. my room is at a great level of messy and i dont have to worry about anyone coming in to clean it all up. i get to make my own food which has been weird as i have grown accustomed to basically being waited on hand and foot.
so life is great, school is starting to pick up its pace which is sad as i have enjoyed having no responsibilities other than trying my best to keep in contact with everyone and explore this crazy place that i live in. hope summer isnt melting you away. spring is on the way for us, tehre are a few trees by school that have started flowering and that is super exciting. please dont stop writing, it does take me a while to reply but i will deifnitely reply.
que le vaya bien, may it go well with you,
katie
Saturday, August 4, 2007
So im not sure how long this writing every week will last but for now I will try to keep this semi updated. I’ve been here for a little over 2 weeks now which is crazy! Starting to settle into a routine somewhat as classes started last Wednesday and I actually have stuff to be responsible for now. We’ve tried to travel a little bit but its hard b/c its winter here and traveling just isn’t the best b/c it’s often cold and sometimes rainy and while places are cheap, it would be better to just wait a month or so to enjoy traveling more in the spring time. We did travel to Renaca last weekend which was pretty boring. It sa beach town and not much happening on a Saturday afternoon. We made our own adventures and I led my friend heidi up the big hill in town, there was no path so we just ended up climbing throiugh sand and ice plant to get to the top. Im still wearing my boot so that was definitely an adventure and I cant wait to be free of this 3 pound lug so I can completely explore.
Katie
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