6/23/2007
I finally had a chance to upload some photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/jackdcarrier
I arrived in San Felipe yesterday to a warm welcome (not temperature wise because very few have heat here) where all the local teachers and host families meet us for lunch. The teachers are really excited to have the volunteers here. The Spanish-English dictionary has been a key communication device.
It is difficult to describe the living situation here but so far I love it. The apartment is very small and was owned by Cecilia's parents. She has lived here her entire life. The 13 year old son, Felipe, moved into the bedroom with his mom so I could have my own room. (As I write this he is watching female pudding wrestling in Spanish). The door is covered with Simpsons stickers and the walls random South American teenage graffiti. From the window there is a great view of the Andes. They do not turn on the single heater downstairs because it is too expensive. They do have all the electronics, stereo, tv, cable, computer (no internet). The front porch is surrounded by metal bars that go to the roof. You have to hit a button to get out. Felipe is an awesome kid that loves soccer and professional wresting (mixed in with some good mud wrestling). He plays the flute and does the traditional Chilean dance dressed as a huaso (cowboy). He is my buddy. Cecilia will not let me help with any dishes..."Soy tu Madre, tu no ayudo..." They are both very patient with the language thing and we are learning a lot constantly. She is very proud to have me as her "mujer". Several times she has said "Yo, tu madre, si!?" with a big smile.
Last night we went to a big family birthday party. It was wild. There were about 20 - 30 people there. Luckily one of the daughters spoke some English, she is majoring in English at the University. One of the first questions I was asked is "Do you believe in God?" A church like service proceeded around the kitchen table with singing, praying, preaching, reading scripture. Evidently they do this every Friday night instead of Sundays. After quite awhile the birthday party started. From the start, especially with all the younger kids, I had celebrity status. They were surrounding me all talking at once trying to hear things in English. One girl sang me a song and made me dance with her to some Reggeatone, popular music here that is kind of like techno and reggea. It was good fun.
As we were leaving the party Felipe got on there computer and turned up the volume to show me this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KiAvmzcZbg
I started teaching yesterday and it is completely wild. I don't think a lot of these students have ever seen a gringo before. So as you can imagine all the students want to hang out with me contantly. If you want to know what it feels like to be a movie star, move to a rural town in Chile volunteer at a school. As I type this message there are about 10 students peering in the window! They brought fruit and candy this morning. All the girls want me to dance with them. It is awesome. I have to go play now or else there will be a riot.
Peace,
Jack
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Adios Santiago
Hey y`all,
I haven´t had a working computer to upload any pictures yet, but I have loads of good ones. For some reason my laptop will not connect here at the hostel. I´m kind of beat down right now because we have had class everyday for the last few days and we party every night. There are a lot of English speaking people here from all over the states, europe and canada at the hostel so it is a lot of fun.
Tonight is the last night in the hostel. Tomorrow I go meet my host family in a town an hour or so north of Santiago called San Felipe. You can look it up on maps.google.com...click on the ´satelitte´ view. It is a farming community where they grow a lot of Avacados. I´m a little nervous about the language barrier because my host family do not speak any english and my spanish sucks! I´m sure I will learn fast. It is a single mother and a son of age 14. She is a teacher in my school which is about a 20 minute bus ride away. San Felipe has about 70K people. It will be good fun. There will be one other volunteer from Texas in my town.
I´ve been hanging out with a guy from Ireland named Niall all week who is on an ´`around the world` trip. He is my age and we´ve had a good time exploring the city together.
When the smog isn´t too bad the mountains surrounding the city are really beautiful. There is so much going on here politically and socially. This country was under military dictatorship for almost 20 years. Just 4 years ago divorce became legal. It is an interesting time in Chile. People seem to be really excited and interested to have us here, especially the host families and teachers. You can just tell they are super interested in how we speak. There are a ton of different meanings to words and slang. For example, one woman called the sprinkles at the ice cream at lunch ``jimmies`` so a conversation proceeded about what ``jimmies´´ are in our language.
I´ve been surprised at how organized this program is. The logistics of the whole thing has been pretty smooth. There is a fuzzball table here at the hostel that has been a lot of fun as well. I also bought a ´bamboo saxiphone` for like 10 bucks that has been fun for everyone. You all will hear it I´m sure if it makes it back to the states. The wine here is delicious. For a 5 or 6 dollar bottle you can get the best wine you will ever have. Tres Medallion 120 Cabernet is a good one if you can get it in the states. Another is something, something Diablo.
There are so many little differences between the cultures and the´`things` from the plugs in the wall to the tiny urnals and how everyone kisses for a greeting, but male and male still shake hands. People eat dinner at 8:30.
I´ve got to go and pack now and get ready for the trip tomorrow.
I haven´t had a working computer to upload any pictures yet, but I have loads of good ones. For some reason my laptop will not connect here at the hostel. I´m kind of beat down right now because we have had class everyday for the last few days and we party every night. There are a lot of English speaking people here from all over the states, europe and canada at the hostel so it is a lot of fun.
Tonight is the last night in the hostel. Tomorrow I go meet my host family in a town an hour or so north of Santiago called San Felipe. You can look it up on maps.google.com...click on the ´satelitte´ view. It is a farming community where they grow a lot of Avacados. I´m a little nervous about the language barrier because my host family do not speak any english and my spanish sucks! I´m sure I will learn fast. It is a single mother and a son of age 14. She is a teacher in my school which is about a 20 minute bus ride away. San Felipe has about 70K people. It will be good fun. There will be one other volunteer from Texas in my town.
I´ve been hanging out with a guy from Ireland named Niall all week who is on an ´`around the world` trip. He is my age and we´ve had a good time exploring the city together.
When the smog isn´t too bad the mountains surrounding the city are really beautiful. There is so much going on here politically and socially. This country was under military dictatorship for almost 20 years. Just 4 years ago divorce became legal. It is an interesting time in Chile. People seem to be really excited and interested to have us here, especially the host families and teachers. You can just tell they are super interested in how we speak. There are a ton of different meanings to words and slang. For example, one woman called the sprinkles at the ice cream at lunch ``jimmies`` so a conversation proceeded about what ``jimmies´´ are in our language.
I´ve been surprised at how organized this program is. The logistics of the whole thing has been pretty smooth. There is a fuzzball table here at the hostel that has been a lot of fun as well. I also bought a ´bamboo saxiphone` for like 10 bucks that has been fun for everyone. You all will hear it I´m sure if it makes it back to the states. The wine here is delicious. For a 5 or 6 dollar bottle you can get the best wine you will ever have. Tres Medallion 120 Cabernet is a good one if you can get it in the states. Another is something, something Diablo.
There are so many little differences between the cultures and the´`things` from the plugs in the wall to the tiny urnals and how everyone kisses for a greeting, but male and male still shake hands. People eat dinner at 8:30.
I´ve got to go and pack now and get ready for the trip tomorrow.
Friday, June 15, 2007
I made it!
Hola,
I arrived yesterday morning in Santiago and made it to the hostel after surviving the bus ride. The flight was on time and everything went smooth.
I met a couple interesting people on the flights, one guy, Migueal, is a Chilean fighter pilot that was flying back from training in Texas and the other guy, Jesus, (I never thought I would ride a plane with Jesus!) was a Cuban who worked with the CIA during the Bay of Pigs to oust Fidel Castro. He has not been back to Cuba since, moved to Costa Rica for 20 years working for the the first color TV station in Central America. Got a divorce and moved to Miami. We spoke Spanglish.
It is definitely interesting over here, mostly because of the language barrier, of course, everything is in Spanish and most people only speak Spanish. The hostel is pretty nice, just had a free breakfast of bread, jam, and instant coffee. I was kind of waiting for the eggs and bacon but it never came.
Yesterday, I felt like I was one of a few among several million with blue eyes and light hair, definitely got some second glances. I was eating alone at some random place and an cute little girl about 6 or 7 comes up and starts speaking fast Spanish, the main theme being ´monero¨. After several minutes of realizing this gringo isnt Santa Claus she headed back into the street and got swept away by the huge crowd. A few times people stopped me on the street wanting to show me this or that, give me a poem, etc, always with an story about how they need money. Reminded me of getting hassled in Asheville, except for the poetry.
I´m about to go get lost in Santiago... again.
Here is a pic of Santiago:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagen:Stgo_Abril.jpg
Jack
I arrived yesterday morning in Santiago and made it to the hostel after surviving the bus ride. The flight was on time and everything went smooth.
I met a couple interesting people on the flights, one guy, Migueal, is a Chilean fighter pilot that was flying back from training in Texas and the other guy, Jesus, (I never thought I would ride a plane with Jesus!) was a Cuban who worked with the CIA during the Bay of Pigs to oust Fidel Castro. He has not been back to Cuba since, moved to Costa Rica for 20 years working for the the first color TV station in Central America. Got a divorce and moved to Miami. We spoke Spanglish.
It is definitely interesting over here, mostly because of the language barrier, of course, everything is in Spanish and most people only speak Spanish. The hostel is pretty nice, just had a free breakfast of bread, jam, and instant coffee. I was kind of waiting for the eggs and bacon but it never came.
Yesterday, I felt like I was one of a few among several million with blue eyes and light hair, definitely got some second glances. I was eating alone at some random place and an cute little girl about 6 or 7 comes up and starts speaking fast Spanish, the main theme being ´monero¨. After several minutes of realizing this gringo isnt Santa Claus she headed back into the street and got swept away by the huge crowd. A few times people stopped me on the street wanting to show me this or that, give me a poem, etc, always with an story about how they need money. Reminded me of getting hassled in Asheville, except for the poetry.
I´m about to go get lost in Santiago... again.
Here is a pic of Santiago:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagen:Stgo_Abril.jpg
Jack
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Soldier's Joy
Joe and I had good time on the front porch playing some classics like Arkansas Traveler (well hello, stranger...), Soldier's Joy, 8th of January, a cool John Hartford tune over the R & B that the Tourists were so kind to share from McCormick field . We proceeded to eat beans, rice, and collard greens at a local sports bar.
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