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
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment