En camino (on the way)...

This is an email I sent to my grandparents, but I decided it would work just as well as a blogpost for everyone to read.

Just thought I'd write and give you and update on what's going on down here with me. I just finished up my first semester on Thursday after a long day of final exams on Wednesday. It's been a difficult, but rewarding, semester. There were times when I just wanted to quit and go back to the states, but I know I'm gaining valuable experience here not only with teaching but for any other profession I might decide to pursue in the future. And although I often my doubts about my ability as a teacher, and I know I still have a lot to learn, I have received some good feedback from many of my students (even some of the more difficult ones). I just received this message yesterday from one student who required a bit more attention (it's in Spanish, but I'll translate for you):

Alex!!
Te envio este mail para agradecerte lo buena onda que eres y por haberme ayudado mucho en ingles , espero poder tomar contigo el prox ingles! porque aprendi mucho!!
eres super buen profesor!
Muchas muchas gracias!

Alex!!
I'm sending you this email to thank you for the "good vibe" that you are and for having helped me so much in English, I hope to be able to take my next English course with you! because I learned a lot! You are a "super" good professor! Thank you so so much!

It's funny how a semester's worth of headaches and frustrations can seem entirely worth it after receiving a couple of those. Surely there were students who weren't as happy with me, but I'll take any sign of progress that I can get. Anyway, the semester ended on a high note, and I'm excited to have a fresh start next semester. After a long, well deserved break that is...

Which brings me to today...

Right now I'm in Concepción giving Jen a hand finishing up her semester before we head to Bariloche, Argentina for a couple days, then back to Santiago for our flights to Medellín. Bariloche is a town near the border with Chile on the northern edge of Patagonia. It's really picturesque during anytime of the year. Right now it should be pretty cold, highs in the 30's and lows in the 20's, probably with some snow, but I'm actually looking forward to it. I've been pretty cold for the past month or so, but there's been no snow. I guess I figure that if I'm going to be cold, I might as well see some snow. Also, with lows in the 30's we can expect buildings with heat, which will be a welcome change. Apparently there's some decent and fairly cheap skiing in the area, so we're going to look into that as well. It's kind of a haul, though. I was on an overnight bus last night, and we're taking another one tongiht to get to a town called Osorno by tomorrow morning. From Osorno we cross the border to Bariloche (about 6 hours including crossing the border). Of course we'll have to do the whole thing over again to get back to Santiago for our flight on Friday, but I'm sure it'll be worth it. It feels good just to get out of Valpo for a while. You know me, even though the constant travel can be a bit miserable at times, it's really what I live for.

Our flight to Medellín will be an experience as well. We have two short layovers on the way, one in Lima, Peru and one in Quito, Ecuador. Jen's family is very excited for us to arrive, and it sounds like they'll have a lot set up for us when we get there. I feel really luckey to have the opportunity to stay with them for so long. This isn't an opprotunity that many people can have, and I'm very greatful for their generosity.

I guess that's about all I have for now. I'll send at least one update once I get to Colombia. I'll have my computer with me, and there will also be internet cafes I can go to, so you can expect some sort of communication at some point. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying summer in the northern hemisphere!

Cuídense (take care),

Alex

Pictures!

Some Teaching Photos!

Here I am with my host family, Kathy, Mauricio, and Maria Antonieta.

And here are a few pictures that one of my field directors took while she came for her class observation last week.

Some pictures

Here are a few pictures from the other volunteers that I stole...

Laundry.

I'm officially a resident of Chile!

Actually, I have been for a while, but now I have the ID card to prove it. Photo's kind of blurry, but its' the best I could do with the iSight I'm using on my computer. Not the best ID picture I've ever taken...glasses are crooked and I think I look a little goofy, but oh well. I also blurred out my ID number. Chileans use it for everything, so it's not that big of a secret, but, hey, better safe than sorry. After all the lines and bureaucracy I had to go through to get this, it feels pretty good to finally have it. Makes everything a little more real. Anyway, off to lunch, more to come later.

My Room - Take 1

Hey all-

I moved into my host family's house yesterday, and just took this quick video of the top floor where my room is located. I imagine I'll replace this with one that has me speaking and not as poorly shot. This is sort of test-run I think. Anyway, the first room you see is a little common room, then I head down the hallway towards my room. My family here was even kind enough to put up a welcome sign with balloons! I was excited to see that I have a TV with cable, and a great view from my window of the cerros (hills) and the Congreso Nacional (Their National Congress), which is the last big building you see (looks like a big upside-down U). I'm off to lunch right now, more to come about my new living situation later.

Sooooooooooo busy!!!

I've been incredibly busy. I've been here more than a week and this is the first time I've been able to get around to writing in this thing, and that's mostly because I know many of you want to hear an update. Honestly, I'm exhausted, but in a really good way.

We're staying in a really nice hostel in the centro de Santiago. Great location, very comfortable, and wi-fi. Living out of a suitcase in a room with 3 other guys is starting to get a little old, but it's only for a month, so I think I'll survive.

Santiago is absolutely beautiful, even if it is incredibly hot. I made it here a couple of times last time, and it seems to be a lot cleaner for some reason. That may have to do with their recent revamping of the public transportation system. The metro (which has always been incredibly clean) now uses a card-pass system that is compatible with the bus system as well. The buses (or micros as they call them here) are also all new or re-painted and cleaned. It's very nice. So yeah, I'm getting a feel for the city, and could definitely see myself living here someday too. Still, I'm really looking forward to getting back to Valpo.

Speaking of which...

This weekend I'm heading to Valpo/Viña with a bunch of the other volunteers for some happy-fun-beach-time. The groups been really amazing. There's really not a single person who I dislike in the whole group, and we've all become pretty good friends. In general a very friendly group of interesting people. Couldn't be happier with how that turned out.

Holy crap, I am exhausted. We've been putting in 10 hour days lately between teacher training and spanish. Today was a 12 hour day because we also had to deal a ton of chilean bureaucracy involved with our visas. Tomorrow's the same as we go throught he process of getting our chilean ID's. So that's fun. But our directors are great and really giving 110% to make our stay here as pleasant and positive as possible.

Hmm...what else. I think I've mentioned this before, but the percentage of the world who can actually do this sort of thing is incredibly small. A day after arriving here I met a French-Californian who had visited Carleton last spring. It's very possible I passed him on the street back in May, and now I run into him in Santiago, Chile. One girl on my program went to St. Olaf (about 3 miles from Carleton). Another to the U of M (we also share a couple mutual acquaintances). Four of my former SIT classmates will be in Chile at the same time in April. Not to mention the army of Australians and Britons I've met who have passed through Minneapolis or at least the US at some point. Anyway, there are constant reminders here of how fortunate and privileged I am to be here and to have the these possibilities. There are approximately 6.8 billion people on the planet. What are the odds of being born and having these opportunities? Not great. Looking at it that way, makes fatigue (and the frustrations of Chilean bureaucracy) pretty insignificant. Anyway, I'm feeling fortunate every day.

Some of my friends are salsa (?) dancing right now in the middle of the room. Ha.

Ok, wrapping it up, I have a cell phone here now. I'll be sending out emails shortly with the number and calling instruction should you feel so inclined. Mind the time difference, though, I'm 3 hours ahead of you. Ok, that's about it for now.

¡Cuídense todos!

Alex

Chi Town, It's Always (not)Sunny in Philadelphia, NYC

Yesterday was a busy day. I don't think I've ever spent substantial periods of time in 3 major cities in one day, so it was definitely a first. First I got a ride to the blue line and took the El to Chicago O'Hare in the morning. My flight was delayed for about an hour and a half, and judging by the weather reports they were showing on TV, I was beginning to worry if I'd make it. But things ended up working out just fine. I landed in Philadelphia without a problem and was able to catch up with Neena, my friend who went to Chile with me, for a few hours. She took me to this amazing little hole-in-the-wall flower shop/grocery store/restuarant where I got a pretty authentic Mexican Torta (sandwich) of chicken and beans and other good stuff. It was amazing. After a few hours of catching up, I got on the bus as planned to NYC and made my way to Adam's place.

I have experienced quite the variety of public transportation over the past few days. Once you've managed one subway system, it's pretty easy to get a handle on any of them. They're pretty uniform from Santiago, to Mexico City, to Chicago, to New York. The trolley in Phildelphia is kind of unique, though. It runs above and below ground, and it was kind of weird to be in a subway-type setting and see only one car whiz by, instead of a long train.

Phildelphia definitely has a unique feel to it. I've never been in a city quite like it before; although, now that I think of it, I've probably been in more foreign major cities than American. It was quite bleak coming in from the airport. The SEPTA train that you use to get to the city looks really old, and that, combined with the dreary weather and industrial landscape, was a bit depressing at first. Once I got downtown, though, it had a completely different feel. I think I'd like to spend more time there eventually, it seems like an interesting place with a lot of diversity.

I haven't done a whole lot of exploring New York, yet. I was so wired from the amound of traveling I did yesterday that I wasn't all that tired until about midnight, but I think I'm feeling it a little more today. A nap seems like a glorious idea right now. So for now, I'm catching up on some last minute loose ends I need to tie up before leaving the country and relaxing a little. That and not spending money downtown, which is probably for the best right now. I have the rest of the weekend to do that.

This whole expereince has already shown me how fortunate I am to be able to do the things I'm doing. As the bus (with a whopping 3 passengers, including myself) began to enter New York, I found myself giggling out loud at how ridiculous this whole idea really is. There are very few people in this world who have the same opportunities I have, and that fact isn't lost on me.

Chicago!!

Right now, I'm sitting in a Starbucks in Lincoln Park, Chicago waiting for Pham to meet me here after she's done with work. So far things have gone according to plan. I've managed to not get myself lost, and my bus was on-time. This is Chicago though, and I'm pretty familiar with how the El works. Philadelphia will be more of a test for me...ha. On the bus ride over, I made friends with a delightfully pleasant (and maybe just a little drunk) guy on his way home to see his family, which was all he seemed to want to talk about. That and how he wanted the bus driver to turn off the surprisingly violent and intense movies playing and turn back on the Al Green that was playing when we first boarded. But hey, I guess talking music and taking turns bragging about your family is a pretty easy way to pass 8 hours on a bus. He was even nice enough to point me east once I got off the bus (it's hard to tell in cloudy weather after going around the block 2 or 3 times).

I spent about an hour and a half here talking to various friend wondering how the first leg of my journey is going, and also catching up with Bruja (my friend from the Toma in Chile). He's very excited that I'll be living in Valpo and has a long list of friends he wants me to meet and collaborate with on their project, which is good to hear. (I'll give some more details on what exactly a "Toma" is and what they're working on once I have a bit more time. In short, I collaborated with him during my independent study project in Chile on a project he's involved in to obtain adequate housing for people living in precarious situations).

Well, Pham should be here soon, so I should start getting packed up. Anyway, so far, so good!

Host Family/Work Information

Here's the description they sent me of my host family and job site:

María Antonieta (60) is a very young-looking great grandmother (as well as a mother of 3—1 boy and 2 girls), and is the “duena de la casa” and a great cook. María Antonieta and Víctor Mauricio had me over for a delicious lunch and I can tell you that your Chilean mama makes a mean peach juice! She lives with her son, Víctor Mauricio (she calls him Mauricio, but many people call him Víctor, take your pick). Víctor Mauricio works at the DuocUC Valpo site as the construction school coordinator and will being studying IT engineering at DuocUC Valpo in March. He is very excited to have you living at the house because he loves to be around foreigners and learn about different cultures. He might even need a little help with his English since he´ll be taking English at DuocUC in March! The family is originally from the small town of Laguna Verde near Valpo (you are probably familiar with it since you know Valpo), and moved into their very Valpo-style house just a year ago, though Víctor has lived outside of Laguna Verde for years. Other members of the house are Víctor´s niece, Katherine (22), who is studying to be an Orthodontic technician at DuocUC and Tomás (23), the boyfriend of a cousin of Víctor. Tomás is finishing up his studies in Geography at La Universidad Católica in Valpo. Katherine and Tomás will often leave the house on the weekends to go to their parents’ houses in Santiago.

This house is probably my favorite host family house because it is so colorful on the inside and full of space! There are 3 floors, the 2nd and 3rd of which are living space. You will have a private room upstairs with a great view of a colorful house-filled hillside and the National Congress building. The bathroom will be shared between you, Katherine and Tomás, who also have rooms on the 3rd floor. This house has so much space that there is another vacant bedroom on the 3rd floor as well as an entire common room with 180-degree views out the windows. It´s really pretty awesome! I´m sure you´re familiar with the plano area of Valpo, so you know that this house is in Valpo´s center with easy access by bus or metro to Viña, where you´ll be teaching at the DuocUC. It should be only about a 20-25 minute commute to your teaching site.

Updated Itinerary

Here's a more exact itinerary:

Tuesday, January 27

• Minneapolis to Chicago via bus. Staying with my good friend from college Amy.

Wednesday, January 28

• Morning-Afternoon: Chicago O'Hare to Phildelphia International Airport
• Evening: Dinner in Philadelphia with my friend, Neena, from the study abroad program in Chile I took part in.
• Night: Philadelphia to New York City, meeting/staying with Adam, one of my college roommates.
  

Friday, January 30

• New York City (cont.) Staying with Sean, my other college roommate.

Monday, February 2

• Morning: New York City to Miami, FL.
  

Monday, February 2 (cont.) - Tuesday, February 3

• Late Monday, leave Miami, FL for Santiago, Chile (arriving around 6am Santiago time)

The end/beginning is in sight!

I've received some requests from family/friends to maintain a blog about my travels to South America, and decided to start/restart this one. I had a started a blog earlier, but decided that I didn't particularly like what I wrote the first time around. I'm new to this whole blogging thing, so we'll chalk it up to working through the learning curve.

Considering what's about to go down in my life right now, I figured that now would be an appropriate time to start properly documenting my little adventure. I suppose it will begin in about 2 and a half weeks when I leave Minnesota and begin taking the scenic route to Chile. First I'm going to hit up Chicago and crash on some yet-to-be-determined friend's couch before I fly out of O'Hare to Philadelphia. In Philly I'm hoping to catch up with an SIT (my semester abroad program) friend of mine before making my way by bus to NYC to see some college buddies for the weekend before flying to Miami to meet up with the rest of my volunteer teacher colleagues for the group flight to Santiago. There are a couple days between Philly and NYC that I have yet to fill...I'm sort of going with the flow and seeing who I can meet up with.

Once in Chile, I'll spend most of February in training in Santiago before moving in with my host family in time for March classes. "Where will you be living/teaching?" you ask? I'll know in about 2 weeks. I made my preferences as clear as possible: Valparaíso/Viña del Mar (where I studied abroad and still have contacts) is my first choice, Santiago (where around 40% of the country lives) is my second choice. If they really decide to screw me they'll send me to Concepción. Why do I feel so strongly against Concepción? I guess I don't really know. I know practically nothing about the city itself. I did hear some not so good things from Anna's sister though. I guess I'd just much rather live in Valpo or Santiago.

I'm really excited to get going. Don't get me wrong, it's been nice living closer to family and not having to deal with Carleton classes, but with only a few notable exceptions my life's been fairly dull since graduation. My job has been at best a somewhat-bearable insult to my intelligence and at worst...well....it's been bad. I've really been going out of my mind...haha. Definitely time for something new. And as much as I like to joke that I plan on stopping the aging process at 26, the odds of pulling that off aren't the greatest. I guess I'll have to settle for this one chance at life and one chance at youth...and try my hardest to come out of it in once piece with an interesting story to tell.

19 days left and counting...not very much time to get everything in order!