Dear friend,
The smells of the dog shelter overwhelmed me. I tried taking shallow, slow breaths to avoid having to experience the reality of the shelter in full. But my gasp at what I saw meant taking in one huge, strong gulp of putrid air.
Yesterday was my first day volunteering with the Asociacion de Ayuda al Animal Abandonado… roughly, “the association to help the abandoned animal.” The group takes in, cares for, and adopts out about 15 dogs at any given time. Their facility is a small shack in the corner of the University of Chile’s Veterinary School campus. I was naively expecting a fully enclosed facility with tile floors, a drainage system and maybe some coveralls or aprons for the volunteers. The reality is that, with such little funding and the formation of animal rights in Chile a relatively young, progressive idea, the organization can’t afford a lot of what we would consider “necessities.” But, the reality also exists that the dogs there are fed and given water, they have shelter, and most importantly, they have people to show them love and a chance at being adopted out into a home.
The kennels are small and dirty. Each kennel has a small door that leads to an outside pen where the dogs normally eliminate. The recent rain meant that we new volunteers got to clean up a lovely mixture of mud, feces and urine using brooms and dustpans. Because the outside pen is a flat piece of earth, water sits and stagnates instead of running into a drain or downhill somewhere. It was honestly one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever had to do. To walk in feces and inhale and be a part of that environment was difficult. But to think that these dogs have to live in these conditions was appalling. But then, I got to thinking that in spite of these conditions, the dogs at the shelter have food, a dry place to sleep when it rains, and they have a group of volunteers who sincerely care for the dogs individually. Plus, they have a higher likelihood of finding a permanent home with the shelter than they do on their own roaming the streets for scraps and digging through trash. Each dog is named, has their own personality, and has to be treated accordingly.
After cleaning their kennels, we fed the dogs, gave them water, and then took them for walks. Each dog gets a minimum of 15 minutes of one-on-one time with a volunteer. It was fun to take a few dogs out around the campus. It’s hard work there, but I’ll probably work there one or two days a week for the semester. I just hope I can keep up the energy to be committed.
Also, next week I start my English Opens Doors job. I say job like I’m getting paid for it, but it’s also a volunteer position. I’ll be working in under-resourced public schools with an English teacher helping her to develop lesson plans and activities that can support language and culture exchange with her students. Of course I’ll be in the classroom, too, helping with pronunciation and helping out in other general ways. I’m pretty excited for it.
In other news, it turns out that I won’t be running at nationals here in Chile. Whatever organization governs intercollegiate athletics requires that foreign students be in the country for a year or more before competing. But I’m still planning on training with the group and running in some open races. It’s probably for the best in all honesty. Running has a way of taking over your life very quickly and very easily, and I’m not sure if I’m I a position to want that right now. Until I can find the balance between training/competing and being able to fully experience this study abroad adventure, running will move further down the list of my priorities… at least in comparison to where it has been for the past 6 years.
I have also come to the difficult conclusion that life in another city is just that… life. It’s not a vacation or a break from drama or whatever I could have possibly escaped back home. Life for me is busy and quick and full of mistakes. But for every mistake and failure, there is one more opportunity to stand up and grow. The only challenge I face is to define life. What does it mean to live?
“I am not a thing, a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process, an integral function of the universe.” –Richard Buckminster Fuller
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
crisscross
Hello friend,
It's a cloudy, balmy day in Santiago. We're expecting rain today and through the weekend. I like the rain, especially here in the city, because I can jump over little rivers along the sidewalks as they cascade down the street looking for a storm drain.
This week went by really fast, probably because I've been more than occupied with life here. Classes are in full-swing, more or less. On top of volleyball and literature, media ethics and Spanish class started this week. Chilean culture starts in two weeks, which should be interesting, but this week I felt swamped, so two other class sessions every week might put me close to the edge. So far, I don't have a ton of work in my classes, except for literature. My professor, who looks like a Latin American version of Albert Einstein, decided to assign a Spanish novel for us to read by Tuesday. Granted, a book in a week isn't too bad, I suppose, but in a foreign language, it's going to be brutal. My professor is horrible, absolutely dreadful. He knows way too much about literature. He just rambles, for three hours, about absolutely nothing. He comes in to the class all disheveled with half of his shirt un-tucked and then when he thinks about things, he scratches one side of his head, so that his gray-black hair sticks out on one side of his head but not the other, normally it's the side opposite the un-tucked shirt. And, as if the class were super interested in what he has to say, he adds the sound "hmm" after sentences that he wishes to emphasize; I think it's as if he wanted to ask if we understand what he just said. A) No, I don't. B) It likely has nothing to do with our readings or Chilean culture or literature. It's very annoying.
Besides classes, I've been attempting to assimilate into Chilean culture. My attempt at sneaking myself into social circles comes in a 3-step plan.
Step 1: Live with a Chilean Family. Check.
Step 2: Join a team of some sort. First is volleyball class, which isn't really a team, but it has the same principals. It's easier to make friends without having to take lecture notes and read diagrams on a white-board. We played a few games today in class. I did one good thing and one bad thing in the midst of acceptable things. The good thing- I got to spike a ball and score a point. The bad thing- I watched a ball drop four feet in front of me. Secondly, Cross Country is going good. We had a really hard workout yesterday, my lungs have never burned so bad. Everyone on the team is super cool and really welcoming. I think we all might head to the beach for a weekend sometime soon. I also heard something about a time-trial next week. The Chilean Nationals race is in early September, so I have a feeling that it's to see who will compete. It would be sooooo awesome if I could compete, but since I'm technically not from this country, I'm not sure if I'll be able to. We'll see, though.
And Step 3: Volunteer. I have two programs in mind right now, and I'm hoping they will work out with my schedule so I can work with them both. The first is called English Opens Doors and it involves me working in an elementary school or high school teaching English with a Chilean teacher for 4 hours a week. The second is a shelter for abused and abandoned animals, primarily dogs. I'd have to feed them, bathe them, and take them for walks. I have trainings for both next week, so I've got my fingers crossed.
Today is Alexander's birthday. I bought him beer and chocolate... since I know no one who doesn't like beer and/or chocolate.
Tomorrow or Sunday I'm hoping to get out to Yerba Loca, a nature sanctuary about 20km. outside of Santiago. I just have to find out how to get there. You can check out this link to read up on it. It's in Spanish but I think it has pictures. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santuario_de_la_Naturaleza_Yerba_Loca
As for right now, I need food and a nap, and then I have to read, a ton. Bye!
It's a cloudy, balmy day in Santiago. We're expecting rain today and through the weekend. I like the rain, especially here in the city, because I can jump over little rivers along the sidewalks as they cascade down the street looking for a storm drain.
This week went by really fast, probably because I've been more than occupied with life here. Classes are in full-swing, more or less. On top of volleyball and literature, media ethics and Spanish class started this week. Chilean culture starts in two weeks, which should be interesting, but this week I felt swamped, so two other class sessions every week might put me close to the edge. So far, I don't have a ton of work in my classes, except for literature. My professor, who looks like a Latin American version of Albert Einstein, decided to assign a Spanish novel for us to read by Tuesday. Granted, a book in a week isn't too bad, I suppose, but in a foreign language, it's going to be brutal. My professor is horrible, absolutely dreadful. He knows way too much about literature. He just rambles, for three hours, about absolutely nothing. He comes in to the class all disheveled with half of his shirt un-tucked and then when he thinks about things, he scratches one side of his head, so that his gray-black hair sticks out on one side of his head but not the other, normally it's the side opposite the un-tucked shirt. And, as if the class were super interested in what he has to say, he adds the sound "hmm" after sentences that he wishes to emphasize; I think it's as if he wanted to ask if we understand what he just said. A) No, I don't. B) It likely has nothing to do with our readings or Chilean culture or literature. It's very annoying.
Besides classes, I've been attempting to assimilate into Chilean culture. My attempt at sneaking myself into social circles comes in a 3-step plan.
Step 1: Live with a Chilean Family. Check.
Step 2: Join a team of some sort. First is volleyball class, which isn't really a team, but it has the same principals. It's easier to make friends without having to take lecture notes and read diagrams on a white-board. We played a few games today in class. I did one good thing and one bad thing in the midst of acceptable things. The good thing- I got to spike a ball and score a point. The bad thing- I watched a ball drop four feet in front of me. Secondly, Cross Country is going good. We had a really hard workout yesterday, my lungs have never burned so bad. Everyone on the team is super cool and really welcoming. I think we all might head to the beach for a weekend sometime soon. I also heard something about a time-trial next week. The Chilean Nationals race is in early September, so I have a feeling that it's to see who will compete. It would be sooooo awesome if I could compete, but since I'm technically not from this country, I'm not sure if I'll be able to. We'll see, though.
And Step 3: Volunteer. I have two programs in mind right now, and I'm hoping they will work out with my schedule so I can work with them both. The first is called English Opens Doors and it involves me working in an elementary school or high school teaching English with a Chilean teacher for 4 hours a week. The second is a shelter for abused and abandoned animals, primarily dogs. I'd have to feed them, bathe them, and take them for walks. I have trainings for both next week, so I've got my fingers crossed.
Today is Alexander's birthday. I bought him beer and chocolate... since I know no one who doesn't like beer and/or chocolate.
Tomorrow or Sunday I'm hoping to get out to Yerba Loca, a nature sanctuary about 20km. outside of Santiago. I just have to find out how to get there. You can check out this link to read up on it. It's in Spanish but I think it has pictures. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santuario_de_la_Naturaleza_Yerba_Loca
As for right now, I need food and a nap, and then I have to read, a ton. Bye!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Getting Settled
Hello friend. Last week I told you how there wasn’t a lot going in my life so I had to dig for little pieces of treasure to show you. But this week, I have a chest full of all sorts of treasure just for you. It’s so mesmerizing that I have no idea where to begin, what to look at or grab first.
Last week was the first week of classes for my siblings. Alexander started classes at the “U” (Universidad de Chile) taking all kinds of crazy difficult classes within his civil engineering major. I can’t even pronounce half the names of his classes. Anibal and Andrea started their classes across the street at their Colegio, Calasanz. They have the best deal in the whole neighborhood. They wake up in the morning, take a shower, eat a short breakfast and then walk across the street to their school. They literally cross the street and walk through the gate. I wish my commute was that easy. Now that classes have started for me (I’ll get back to that in a minute), I have classes at multiple campuses during the day, so I have to commute a little more than normal… or a lot more than normal. Anyways, at Anibal and Andrea’s school, they just finished a week full of inter-school competition called “Alianzas,” or “Alliances.” They basically divide the school into three teams, A, B and C, and have them compete in a bunch of different activities like putting on a fashion show, putting on a comedy show, singing, dancing, volleyball, relays and cheerleading, among others. I went to a bunch of the activities to see Anibal and Andrea perform. The first night was horrible. I was dying of boredom and embarrassment for the kids. They tried really hard, which is what counts, I suppose, but it was the most horrific show I’ve ever witnessed. One group had not one, not two, but three Michael Jackson imitations within their show, and none of them could dance. My host mom and I were joking about needing to go to the bar to drink. I wasn’t kidding as much as she was. But, she was the one who suggested that for every time we have to cover our eyes, we owe ourselves 2 drinks. We never followed through, but I thought it was a good plan. The second night was the fashion show which was not only fun but very impressive as well. The kids made some very interesting and professional things to wear. The theme of the show was “The Four Seasons,” so they had to make clothes that represented different times of the year. It was fun. Anibal’s team won one and lost one in volleyball, and Andrea’s team won the cheerleading competition, even after they had to replace one of their teammates after she dislocated her knee playing soccer earlier that morning.
Thursday was our last day of the Spanish preparation program, so I had my first exam, which I think went well. It seemed pretty straight-forward so I’m hoping I did everything right. But the best part was what happened after the exam. First, we were lucky enough to see some of the University staff perform the Cueca, which is Chile’s national dance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvGURVqOmH0 ), and we got a short lesson in doing the steps. It’s not too hard, but I’m guessing we all looked like fools. After that, the two classes met up in a classroom for a party. We had music and cookies and sandwiches and chocolate and wine. Having our professor drink with us was very interesting, but something that’s not too out of the ordinary for here, I think.
Friday we had our orientation for the University. It wasn’t anything too exciting. There were a bunch of people from other universities there. When they called the group from Harvard who was rolling only 4-deep, amateur status compared to our 30, the whole room got quiet. It was pretty funny. Our Cal State group wasn’t too happy that morning after we all received letters from the system notifying us of our 20% tuition increase. That’s 32% this year if my math is right. So much for affordable education, CSU. After that we got to talk to students from each individual major and ask them questions about classes. I talked to the editor of the school’s student magazine and got on board with contributing some stuff to them. I’ve got a 200-word blurb about studying internationally coming out next week. Let me know if you want a collector’s edition ;).
Right now, my class schedule consists of Volleyball, Ethics of Communication, Chilean and Latin American Literature, Chilean Culture, and a Spanish class. Today I had volleyball which was simple enough, and my Ethics class doesn’t start until August 10th. My culture and grammar classes don’t start for another 2 weeks. Awesome.
I was able to get out to the coast for the weekend and explore the very sketchy city Valparaiso and the very touristy and affluent city Viña del Mar. Both are extremely beautiful, but they’ve got their turn-offs, like thieves stealing one of our friend’s fanny packs (they’re stylish here) and chain smoking which begins 20 minutes after waking up. There’s a ton to do and see there, though, and it’s relatively inexpensive for U.S. standards.
Getting there ~ $4
Hostel ~ $12 a night x 2 = $24 lodging
Food ~ varies depending on what you want and how nice you want it, but I bought fresh groceries Sunday morning for our breakfast and we each paid close to $1.25 for fresh toast with butter and hand-made jam, apples and bananas.
Bus to Viña del Mar from Valparaiso ~ less than $0.50
Getting back ~ $4
Basically I spent about $60 for a full-weekend getaway with boat tour, snacking, and home-made mittens included. Bomb.
They’re both port cities, more or less. Puerto Montt is in Valparaiso and there are huge cargo ships as well as navy vessels anchored there. We took a tour of the port on a boat for pretty cheap, which was awesome. In Viña we spent the day on the beach, then we ate hella hot dogs and French fries, and then we got to watch the sunset. Being back on the beach made me miss Humboldt a lot, but it was super fun, we all want to go back.
We met a group of Americans, Canadians and Mexicans on the beach. Our group was debating whether or not they were from Berkeley because they all dressed like they were. Saying “dressed like they were” sounds judgmental. I mean to say that they had Berkeley style. Upon talking to them, we found out that they were from the Maryland, Wisconsin, Canada and Mexico. Not exactly the bay area residents we thought they were, but they were cool either way.
Friday night we went to a club and the dude who works at the hostel we were staying in got us in with a discount. It was a huge basement of this building that looked like a dungeon or a cellar, I don’t even know… but it had three rooms, one with pop music, the second with electronic music, and the third with reggae. Saturday night we saw the band of some of our friend’s play. If you like instrumental post-rock with heavy bass (I think that’s how they described it), then you should check out Santiago’s Joven Abuelo. There’s also another band that, in my opinion, is much better, but I forgot their name.
I basically just napped most of the day yesterday, either on the beach or on the bus on the way back home. There was an amazing blood-orange sunset last night over the beach mountains. I woke up just in time to catch the last bit of it before we entered the light-polluted city.
Today was a little different. I was up at 7 a.m. to make my 8:30 volleyball class. I wasn’t expecting to do much today, but our “profe” had us running drills and passing, it was nuts. Not only that, but he’s assigning readings for us during the semester. They don’t mess around.
Other than that, tomorrow is my first day of cross country practice. I’ve got my fingers crossed that I don’t make myself look like a fool with how out of shape I am. Right now, I need to walk to the Jumbo… the Santiago equivalent of a Wal-Mart with Target quality. I can dig it.
See you soon.
Derek
P.s. Uploading pictures to the blog takes a lot of time and even more space on this page. So, for your convenience, and mine, I’m going to list direct links to some photos. Just paste the links into your browser and see all sorts of mischief I’ve been up to.
Picture of our hostel: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0044.jpg
City of Valparaiso: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0149.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0168.jpg
Boat Tour: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0234-1.jpg
Viña del Mar by Day: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0311.jpg
By night: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0407.jpg
Last week was the first week of classes for my siblings. Alexander started classes at the “U” (Universidad de Chile) taking all kinds of crazy difficult classes within his civil engineering major. I can’t even pronounce half the names of his classes. Anibal and Andrea started their classes across the street at their Colegio, Calasanz. They have the best deal in the whole neighborhood. They wake up in the morning, take a shower, eat a short breakfast and then walk across the street to their school. They literally cross the street and walk through the gate. I wish my commute was that easy. Now that classes have started for me (I’ll get back to that in a minute), I have classes at multiple campuses during the day, so I have to commute a little more than normal… or a lot more than normal. Anyways, at Anibal and Andrea’s school, they just finished a week full of inter-school competition called “Alianzas,” or “Alliances.” They basically divide the school into three teams, A, B and C, and have them compete in a bunch of different activities like putting on a fashion show, putting on a comedy show, singing, dancing, volleyball, relays and cheerleading, among others. I went to a bunch of the activities to see Anibal and Andrea perform. The first night was horrible. I was dying of boredom and embarrassment for the kids. They tried really hard, which is what counts, I suppose, but it was the most horrific show I’ve ever witnessed. One group had not one, not two, but three Michael Jackson imitations within their show, and none of them could dance. My host mom and I were joking about needing to go to the bar to drink. I wasn’t kidding as much as she was. But, she was the one who suggested that for every time we have to cover our eyes, we owe ourselves 2 drinks. We never followed through, but I thought it was a good plan. The second night was the fashion show which was not only fun but very impressive as well. The kids made some very interesting and professional things to wear. The theme of the show was “The Four Seasons,” so they had to make clothes that represented different times of the year. It was fun. Anibal’s team won one and lost one in volleyball, and Andrea’s team won the cheerleading competition, even after they had to replace one of their teammates after she dislocated her knee playing soccer earlier that morning.
Thursday was our last day of the Spanish preparation program, so I had my first exam, which I think went well. It seemed pretty straight-forward so I’m hoping I did everything right. But the best part was what happened after the exam. First, we were lucky enough to see some of the University staff perform the Cueca, which is Chile’s national dance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvGURVqOmH0 ), and we got a short lesson in doing the steps. It’s not too hard, but I’m guessing we all looked like fools. After that, the two classes met up in a classroom for a party. We had music and cookies and sandwiches and chocolate and wine. Having our professor drink with us was very interesting, but something that’s not too out of the ordinary for here, I think.
Friday we had our orientation for the University. It wasn’t anything too exciting. There were a bunch of people from other universities there. When they called the group from Harvard who was rolling only 4-deep, amateur status compared to our 30, the whole room got quiet. It was pretty funny. Our Cal State group wasn’t too happy that morning after we all received letters from the system notifying us of our 20% tuition increase. That’s 32% this year if my math is right. So much for affordable education, CSU. After that we got to talk to students from each individual major and ask them questions about classes. I talked to the editor of the school’s student magazine and got on board with contributing some stuff to them. I’ve got a 200-word blurb about studying internationally coming out next week. Let me know if you want a collector’s edition ;).
Right now, my class schedule consists of Volleyball, Ethics of Communication, Chilean and Latin American Literature, Chilean Culture, and a Spanish class. Today I had volleyball which was simple enough, and my Ethics class doesn’t start until August 10th. My culture and grammar classes don’t start for another 2 weeks. Awesome.
I was able to get out to the coast for the weekend and explore the very sketchy city Valparaiso and the very touristy and affluent city Viña del Mar. Both are extremely beautiful, but they’ve got their turn-offs, like thieves stealing one of our friend’s fanny packs (they’re stylish here) and chain smoking which begins 20 minutes after waking up. There’s a ton to do and see there, though, and it’s relatively inexpensive for U.S. standards.
Getting there ~ $4
Hostel ~ $12 a night x 2 = $24 lodging
Food ~ varies depending on what you want and how nice you want it, but I bought fresh groceries Sunday morning for our breakfast and we each paid close to $1.25 for fresh toast with butter and hand-made jam, apples and bananas.
Bus to Viña del Mar from Valparaiso ~ less than $0.50
Getting back ~ $4
Basically I spent about $60 for a full-weekend getaway with boat tour, snacking, and home-made mittens included. Bomb.
They’re both port cities, more or less. Puerto Montt is in Valparaiso and there are huge cargo ships as well as navy vessels anchored there. We took a tour of the port on a boat for pretty cheap, which was awesome. In Viña we spent the day on the beach, then we ate hella hot dogs and French fries, and then we got to watch the sunset. Being back on the beach made me miss Humboldt a lot, but it was super fun, we all want to go back.
We met a group of Americans, Canadians and Mexicans on the beach. Our group was debating whether or not they were from Berkeley because they all dressed like they were. Saying “dressed like they were” sounds judgmental. I mean to say that they had Berkeley style. Upon talking to them, we found out that they were from the Maryland, Wisconsin, Canada and Mexico. Not exactly the bay area residents we thought they were, but they were cool either way.
Friday night we went to a club and the dude who works at the hostel we were staying in got us in with a discount. It was a huge basement of this building that looked like a dungeon or a cellar, I don’t even know… but it had three rooms, one with pop music, the second with electronic music, and the third with reggae. Saturday night we saw the band of some of our friend’s play. If you like instrumental post-rock with heavy bass (I think that’s how they described it), then you should check out Santiago’s Joven Abuelo. There’s also another band that, in my opinion, is much better, but I forgot their name.
I basically just napped most of the day yesterday, either on the beach or on the bus on the way back home. There was an amazing blood-orange sunset last night over the beach mountains. I woke up just in time to catch the last bit of it before we entered the light-polluted city.
Today was a little different. I was up at 7 a.m. to make my 8:30 volleyball class. I wasn’t expecting to do much today, but our “profe” had us running drills and passing, it was nuts. Not only that, but he’s assigning readings for us during the semester. They don’t mess around.
Other than that, tomorrow is my first day of cross country practice. I’ve got my fingers crossed that I don’t make myself look like a fool with how out of shape I am. Right now, I need to walk to the Jumbo… the Santiago equivalent of a Wal-Mart with Target quality. I can dig it.
See you soon.
Derek
P.s. Uploading pictures to the blog takes a lot of time and even more space on this page. So, for your convenience, and mine, I’m going to list direct links to some photos. Just paste the links into your browser and see all sorts of mischief I’ve been up to.
Picture of our hostel: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0044.jpg
City of Valparaiso: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0149.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0168.jpg
Boat Tour: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0234-1.jpg
Viña del Mar by Day: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0311.jpg
By night: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/D-Lisch/DSC_0407.jpg
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