This life changing experience

It is with great sadness that I announce that I must leave this wonderful country in 2 weeks. Since I haven't written in a while there are obviously many stories and things that have taken place that I could right about, such as an amazing trip to Punta Arenas and the Strait of Magellan. However, at this point I would rather write, not about the past, but about the future. This semester in Chile has completely changed my life... for the better. There were times when I thought about how bad I wanted to go to Australia, and I thought perhaps I could go to Mexico instead because then I could afford to go "down under." But that never sat right with me, and now I know why. The Lord obviously wanted me here, not in Mexico.

There are three ways in which this experience has affected me. The first, and most obvious, is my ability to speak the language. Before coming to Chile I had the expectation of leaving fluent. But I realized about half way through the program that that really depends on your definition of "fluent." If you consider the ability to live in a Spanish speaking country without need of a translator or interpreter, yes, I am fluent. But I consider fluent to be the ability to use the language naturally and easily like you do with your native tongue. That being the case, I certainly have not achieved what I had expected upon arrival. However, I find myself not at all disappointed by this. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being someone who knows a few words or phrases in Spanish, and 10 being a native speaker, I feel like I came to Chile at about level 3. Some people might say I was higher than that, but you have to realize that a native speaker's ability to use the language is so far superior to what mine was, that there is no way it could have been higher, even though I had studied Spanish for 5 years. This is a gradient scale. Approximately 3-4 months later, I feel like I am about a level 6. That means that it took me 5 years to achieve level three, and 3-4 months to achieve another 3 levels here in Chile. Suffice it to say I learned a whole lot! Even though I still lack a lot, I am beginning to grasp this language, and everything that ever confused me in the past.

The second thing that has changed me has been the amazing friends that I have made. Two weeks after getting here I started attending a local christian church. It is there that I have met some of the most amazing people and made so many life-long friends. Over the past 3 months I have spent almost no time with my fellow "gringos," and almost all my time with Chileans (who, in all honesty find me fairly fascinating). Honestly, there are so many friends here that I have made that I cannot begin to get into details, but, if I were to mention anyone, I would have to mention the friendships I have built with my friend Pablo, and his girlfriend (polola) Minerva.

Over the past 3 months I have become very close friends with Pablo, and I am so blessed to get along so well with Minerva too. I will miss both of them terribly when I am gone, along with everyone else I have become such good friends with. I wouldn't be surprised if I cry when I leave. And even though goodbye tears are not very fun, if I do cry, I will give thanks for them because I would rather cry because I don't want to leave than because I can't wait to get home.

One thing about Pablo is that he is very good at drawing. I have attached a video to this blog of him doing a amazing drawing of him, me, and Minerva respectively, which I am going to take home and frame. It's not long, you should watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhAZ5uK_8ws

The third way in which this experience has changed me is that I now have an idea of what I want to do after I graduate from university. Being that my Spanish is not as good as I want it to be, I want to return to Chile for at least one year, perhaps two, to teach English. The great thing about being a native English speaker is that it can be incredibly easy to find work as an English teacher in a non-English speaking country. By living and working here I would be able to support myself financially while at the same time living once again in a Spanish environment. Over 1 or 2 years I am sure I would be able to reach the level of fluency I am seeking. What is even more exciting about this is that Pablo should be finishing university about the same time as I would be coming back down here. Since both of us would be more likely to find jobs in Santiago (because from what I have learned, Santiago IS Chile), he suggested to me that we could get an apartment together. Obviously much can change over the next two years before that happens, but dreaming is free, and we both like this dream a lot. :)

When I got to Chile the Chileans themselves told me that they speak bad Spanish. That doesn't mean they speak incorrectly; their grammar is just as good as that of any other country. It's simply that they speak way faster and therefore don't pronounce their words well, which makes them harder to understand. Some people have asked me why I would want to live here if I am going to learn "bad" Spanish. My most simple answer is that I have no reason to learn "good" Spanish. Look at how the Lord has blessed me here. My Spanish speaking friends speak this way, so that's how I want to speak. Lo bueno no me sirve.

So I haven't written in a while because I wanted to include two trips I recently took.

A few weekends ago I went up North to Pucon about 3hrs by bus to visit some more rural areas of Chile. We saw the Volcano Villarrica, which was hermoso! (beautiful) We got to sit in some natural host springs (termas) and take a LONG 7hr hike up and down in the mountains. It was beautiful, but strenuous. My least favorite part of the trip was realizing that I was walking on a frozen lake after I was half way across. :)

The hot springs (termas)

Volcán Villarrica

Took this picture right before realizing I was on the frozen lake.

The following weekend I took the opportunity to travel to Argentina. Why not right? I spent the weekend in Bariloche, which is located on a lake nestled among the Andes Mountains. The city is well known for its chocolate (of which I ate a good portion). I also went to the Cathedral (Catedral) and heard the choir practicing. It reminded me so much of being in Swizterland in John Calvin's church listening to the organ. It was incredible. We decided to return Sunday for mass. Unfortunately the choir did not sing though. I also went in the teleférico (cable car) and got an absolutely breathtaking view of the lake and the mountains. One of the most "productive" parts of the trip was getting my passport stamped for Argentina. :)

Couldn't figure out how to turn this. This is the Cathedral. It looked so old and European.

Inside

Chocolate!!!!

I have found this sort of "tree sock" thing to be very common in Latin America

Evidence I was there :)

View of the Andes Mountains and the lake.

Suffice it to say, I'm really having a tough time down here. :) I shall have another blog very soon.

Spring break travels

First of all I want to point out that while Americans consider themselves patriotic, they are not near as patriotic as Chileans. For the fourth of July we go watch fireworks, and sometimes have a picnic. In Chile, for September 18th, you take the whole week off, eat, drink, party, dance the Cueca (national dance), and watch fireworks several nights in a row. Hence, all students get a week off from school. So for my week off I traveled north to Valparaiso, Viña del Mar, and Santiago.

Unlike in the United States, bus travel in Chile is incredibly nice, and incredibly well used. The bus ride from Valdivia to Valparaiso was about 13hrs with a few stops in between. For the long haul routes such as this one you travel overnight. I was a little unlucky in that I happened to choose the bus company that stops in Viña del Mar first before Valparaiso. I didn't realize this so I got off and ended up having to take a taxi the rest of the way to Valparaiso (only about 15 minutes apart) which cost about $20, but it took me right to the house where I and several other program students were staying. Beautiful drive though. The house we stayed in was a little bit sketchy. It wasn't the cleanest, and the bathroom could have used some work. We all got to know each other a little more than we ever wanted, but it was only for three days, so it was tolerable. Here is the house:

Other than exploring the city, I was able to visit one of the many "lifts," or "funiculares," that give you a beautiful view of the city, the house of the famous poet Pablo Neruda, and El Museo Fancisco Fonk (actually located in Viña del Mar) which has artifacts from all over Latin America. The prize landmark is one of the few Moai heads from Easter Island (Isla de Pasqua) on mainland South America. One night I was also able to catch some fireworks from a hill near our house. Here are some more photos:

Being in Valparaiso reminded me a lot of being in Europe. The city is characterized by its European architecture, vibrant colors, wild artwork, and of course its hills:

As great as Valparaiso was, after three days I was ready for Santiago. I took a bus early Wednesday morning, got off at the station "Pajaritos," and took the metro to La Moneda, where my friend Pablo met me. He was staying with his brother not too far from there. What was awesome was that his brother lives in a high rise condominium so I was able to get some great rooftop photos of the city! Pablo accompanied me around Santiago and together we went to the Cerro San Cristobal (which we walked all the way up and down, taking about 30-45 minutes each way), Cerro Santa Lucia, La Moneda (the equivalent of the White House), La Plaza de Armas, and el Centro Constanera (the tallest building in South America). Being in Santiago was also the first time I was actually able to see the Andes mountains as I cannot see them from Valdivia.

Santiago from 27 floors up 

Pablo and I

El Centro from Cerro San Cristobal with the Andes behind

La Moneda

Cerro Santa Lucia

I originally was planning on returning from Valparaiso later in the week but ended up changing my plans to return with Pablo Wednesday night. The rest of the week I planned to spend with my Chilean friends. Unfortunately now I am a little sick and have been home in bed most of the weekend so I have missed out on those things. But I am lucky I decided to come home early! But other than being sick my first spring break was great!

My new life in Valdivia

I haven't written in a while so I figured it would be good to get back to it!

So I will have been in Valdivia for over 3 weeks now and things are increasingly getting better! While sitting in the airport in Dallas awaiting my flight to Santiago, I was a little nervous as I really didn't know what to expect. Part of me felt like it would just be easier if the whole thing were over and I could just know that it was good. Now, I already don't want to go home.

I must say I have been pleasantly surprised that I have experienced no culture shock and zero home-sickness. I have been quite content with my host family and lifestyle, and other than some minor differences, living in Chile is not all that different the United States.

I think I lucked out on the weather here too. It hasn't rained near as much as I thought it would. We have been blessed with some nice sunny days, a few of which have been a little bit warm! Several times I have had to take my jacket off while walking down the street. Even though I have to return to the dreaded cold winter in a few months, I am so glad that I don't have to experience it's slow and tedious arrival. Instead I get to experience spring and look forward to beautiful weather. It has been a treat seeing trees blooming during September.

Here are some other pictures of the city I have taken on our nice days.

As for my Spanish, it is certainly improving! I still have not yet reached the point where I can understand everything, nor do I expect to for another month or so. But while I am not able to always follow conversations, I have found I have been doing better at picking out the words that are being said instead of hearing one long blurb. As for communicating, I still have a hard time speaking at times. However, I don't expect it to feel natural until the very end of the program.

One of the biggest blessings I have had is the opportunity to plug in with some local churches here. I love the kids in my program, but I will admit that hanging around them can be spiritually draining at times. It is so nice to have a christian community, and have people that think the same way I do. At one of the churches I have connected with some of the youth, some of whom attend university and others high school.

This past weekend I had an excellent time at my new friend Pablo's house. Friday night we had a game night and we ate a bunch of snacks, sat around and talked, and played cards until 4am! The next day he took me to go play "futbol," or "soccer," with some of the church kids. I didn't last long. I quickly remembered why I didn't like it as a kid. But I spent quite a bit of time with his girlfriend talking and watching. Suffice it to say I am grateful to have made some good friends here. And I can assure you spending time with them has been helping my Spanish a lot.

I will have my next blog soon as next week we have our spring break, which is when Chile celebrates its Independence Day. It's a huge deal here. I will be going to Valparaiso for the week with some students from the program, and I hope to visit Santiago and a couple other locations that are all around there. More pictures and stories to come!

6,500 Miles From Home

So, as many of you know, I am in Chile! I can't believe I'm here! I've been anticipating this trip for 2 and a half years now. I imagine it will go by fast. Before coming, I was blessed to be able to spend some time with my Summit friend Blake in a tiny little town outside of Dallas, Texas before coming to Chile. I was so blessed being able to fellowship with him and his family before departing on this journey.

My flight to Santiago was great. Only 9 and a half hours. Piece of cake. I had a window seat, and the seat next to me was unoccupied, which gave me extra room to sleep. I dozed in and out for probably 4-5 hours on the flight. When we landed we were greeted with balmy 48 degree weather, clouds, and rain.

After arriving I was a little confused after exiting customs and getting my bags. I had to go back upstairs and check in with LAN Airlines for my next flight. Thankfully I had a man show me everywhere I needed to go. Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to me, he was also seeking a tip. The smallest bill I had was a 5.000 peso bill, or about $10. Not cheap. At least he was helpful.

Before going to bed last night I took a shower. In order to get hot water, I have to turn on the water heater, and then light a match to start the flame. I then have to turn it to the temperature I want. I have been told you must be careful because it can either be really cold or really hot. Unfortunately I only got lukewarm. Hopefully I can figure it out and get hot water next time!

Also, Chileans heat their homes with a wood fireplace because electricity is expensive here. So basically even inside the house it is kind of cold. I always wear a jacket inside. That is basically the only thing I don't like about Chile. Thankfully I have a bunch of blankets on my bed, so I sleep warm.

I also have felt like going to bed around 6-7pm. I think it is because I am used to the sun setting around 8-9pm, and I forget that because it is winter here it sets between 5-6pm. So if always feels like 10 or 11pm and I look and its only 7pm!

Another thing that is opposite about the southern hemisphere is that when the water drains, it spins in the opposite direction. I experienced this personally, having watched it spin to the left while in Texas, and then watching it spin to the right after taking a shower last night. So EPIC!

I went to the "supermercado," or supermarket with my host mom last night to get some things. It looked just like a supermarket in the States. Tons of food. The prices looked like this: "3.400" or "1.500" pesos. For those of you who don't know, for each dollar you get almost 500 pesos. They also use periods instead of commas to divide the numbers. So my first bank withdrawal was 100.000 pesos!

Today we had an orientation in the morning going over some of the basic things we need to be aware of. One of which was the "saludos," or "greetings." In Chile, people meet each other with a "beso," or "kiss" on the cheek. I always remember it, but only AFTER I realize what's happening, so it still surprises me.

They took us to a restaurant by the river today called "Agridulce." It was amazing, with more food than I have ever eaten at a restaurant. Everyone was filled to overflowing. They had a huge fire pit which of course felt good. We ate rolls, salad, these fried shrimp ravioli things, meatballs, and some other little bread thing. That was just the appetizers. I then had a delicious piece of salmon with vegetables. Then we had dessert, which I could not finish, which was a chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream, or "helado." Also, they served wine, which I decided to try. Blah!!! I tried to drink a little bit because it is good for you, but I could barely do it.

Afterwords a bunch of us went to the mall with our Chilean "guides" to buy cell phones, or "celulares." We all got one with Entel, a popular Chilean cell phone company. We all exchanged phone numbers, and might go exploring the city together tomorrow because we have a day off.

Overall, I have already learned several new words. I won't bore you due to space, but if I retain like 3 words per day, I will learn well over 300 words while I'm here!

So much to say, so little space. More things to come. But suffice it to say, I'm having a great time thus far!

One Week and Counting!

I just returned late Monday night from a trip back to the Midwest visiting several family members, and as I unpack from that trip I must start packing for my next trip one week from today! I cannot believe that I am leaving in one week! It still has not hit me yet what I am doing, much to my surprise.

Many things happened while in the Midwest. I had three documents that had to be notarized and thumb printed and sent to the Chilean Consulate in San Francisco. I only got them by email the day before leaving, so I had to do it while back there. Apparently the Consulate did not find it necessary to point out that the documents would have to be re-sized to fit on regular printer paper, so we did not notice this discrepancy until the Consulate contacted me while in St. Louis telling me they would not accept what I sent them because they were not "complete." So I had to do it again! After nearly $80 in overnight shipping costs they finally accepted them and sent me my VISA. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get this small little piece of paper to be placed in my passport. Finally!

I also got my housing assignment, which I am very pleased with. I will be living with Señora Aruti and her father. She is in her mid 40s and is an English Professor at the University (I suppose that might come in handy at some point). Much to my joy, it is a non-smoking house! Apparently many people smoke there, which I would imagine is a result of Chile's high tobacco production. From what I got from the profile, they seem to be very nice people and I look forward to meeting them. I received an email from my host mom and I was so excited that I understood everything she said to me! Praise the Lord! It makes me so much more excited to continue to develop my Spanish. I was also pleased to find that they live within walking distance of the University. Its about a 15 minute walk, so I might take the bus (also known as a "micro" in Chile. pronounced "mee-cro") during the first half of the semester when it is cold and rainy. They do not live on Isla Teja as I was thinking. They live just a few blocks from downtown so overall the location looks great to me!

I have a few more things to figure out before leaving, such as buying a power adapter, registering my trip with the U.S. Embassy, and of course registering to vote absentee! As we all know, we have an important election year coming up, and I intend on taking part, and keeping up with things while away. It will certainly be interesting to watch this presidential election from another country in another part of the world.

It is hard to believe that in less than two weeks I will be starting school!! Where did the summer go? I guess the question is not where summer went, but "why am I leaving it behind?" I fully expect to be greeted by what the Valdivia locals call "Valluvia." (lluvia is Spanish for "rain") This place gets more rain on average than Seattle. It will probably be cold too. Sad face. But what the heck, I'll be in Chile! It will be awesome. And I'll get some warm weather again soon. I just have to wait to get my suntan until December. :)

I have been surprised how many people think I will come back tan, believing Chile to be particularly "warm." When I think of Chile, I think of Cape Horn and the glaciers at the southern end. That makes me think of something cold. Besides, it will be end of winter. Since when is winter warm? It should be noted, that Chile does have a very diverse climate, being very hot and sunny in the North, and very cold and wet in the South. I will be towards the southern part, so it will never get terribly hot. I will be lucky to see 80 degrees in Valdivia while I'm there. In Santiago I will almost for sure. We'll find out!

How I got here, and where I'm going

Almost a month ago I went out for a 5 minute break in the middle of my Latin American History class when after all of that talk about Latin America it suddenly hit me; "I'm going to Latin America in two months!" Utter excitement mixed with a little bit of fear washed over me. Now I'm down to just over a month, and it almost seems less real. But in a few weeks it will hit me again and I will attempting to maintain my excitement and anxiety!

This all started when I went to Europe just after my junior year of high school, visiting Italy, France, Switzerland, and Germany (in the airport only, but still there!). International travel became my new best friend. Therefore study abroad while at the university became a must. What impacted me the most on my Europe trip was watching a fellow student use her French to by some chocolate in a shop in Annecy, France. The sounds coming out of her mouth sounded like smooth gibberish to me, but I knew there was some sort of hidden meaning behind it. This transformed my life. I saw foreign language outside the classroom, and saw how cool it is to be able to use it. "I want to be able to do that," I thought to myself. Since I had already studied Spanish for 2 years, I figured I would stick with it, and learn it well. Hence my decision to minor in Spanish.

Originally I was planning to study abroad in Australia, a dream that came to me in October of my sophomore year of high school when my family was traveling to New York City. We were sitting in LAX when a Qantas 747 pulled up on the other side of the terminal, with the large Kangaroo on the tail fin, and the logo "Spirit of Australia" written on the side of the plane.

My jaw dropped on the floor. I practically drooled all over myself. "I want to go there!!!" My dream to travel down under has only grown stronger over the past 5 years, but I realized that if I wanted to speak Spanish fluently, I needed to study in a Spanish-speaking country. So with a little research on the SOU study abroad website, Chile became my destination. Australia will wait for now. (Though hopefully only 2 more years!)

For those of you who don't know where exactly I am going, here is some info on Valdivia, which is where I will live for 4 months. Below is a map of where Valdivia lies in South America, the town itself (also featured as the background of this blog), and a map with my own additions.

El Centro

I will likely be living on Isla Teja (red) which is where La Universidad Austral de Chile (which basically translates to Southern University of Chile) is located. It will definitely be a little scary trying to adapt to a new culture, a new language, and even the cold winter weather during those first few weeks. However, just like the old saying goes, "no pain no gain!"

I want to give a out a big thanks for those of you who will be praying for me, and for all of your support. Please follow my blog throughout the end of the year. I will be updating it regularly throughout my semester with stories, experiences, and things I have learned. You can sign up to get it in your email inbox to the right if you like. Thanks!