Thursday, February 28, 2008

Cuando en Roma

Another day, another adventure. So I met a couple on the airplane when I flew down here, Juan Pablo y Stephania, and Juan Pablo told me to call him when I get a chance. I was going to email him yesterday, and woke up to an email from him, so I emailed him back in Spanish (then wrote out what I meant in English underneath) and sent him a text message saying, "I'm done for the day, want to meet up for a drink, coffee, or dinner?" We were done with CIEE activities for the day around 3:00 and I got a little bored so I walked around the city, got lost for probably 20 minutes, then found my way back to the hotel. On my stroll I bought some peaches and an orange for what I thought would be my dinner. After I got back, around 7:30ish I get a phone call from Juan Pablo, who wanted to know if I wanted a ride to his place because he was having some friends over for drinks. I said sure, ¿Por qué no? (Why not?) Ends up he bought some supplies for his friend when in the USA at PetCo and was giving the ferret food to him last night. We went grocery shopping and picked up supplies for pizzas, and pisco. We get to his house and sat down to make some pizzas and mixed some drinks. Mind you I'm basically Chilean when it comes to meals so putting a home-made pizza in the oven a little after 10:00 didn't bother me. Juan Pablo's best friend from college Rodrigo and his wife were the other guests at his house besides me. I mainly talked with Juan Pablo about 70% Spanish and could accurately describe to the others when they asked me pointed questions, like, "How many other people are in your program, where is everyone teaching, do you like pisco and coke, or pisco and ginger ale better, and why, and some other questions that I don't really remember. Juan Pablo was concerned that I might get ripped off when I go house shopping and he said he'd go with me some afternoon or Saturday to look at places I find. All of us at "dinner" had a good time making fun of US stereotypes and other US things. One funny story Juan Pablo and Rodrigo told was that in Chile, when you're hungry, you eat a pizza becuase that is about the right serving size. The two of them were in the US visiting Juan Pablo's mama and got hungry. They both ordered a pizza. But the pizza was like the size of a pizza from Ian's, or Pizza DeRoma, or where you normally buy one slice. They said they sat down in the pizza shop and each ate the entire pizza. It took them over an hour, and they felt sick afterwards, but they didn't really know what else to do. At the end of the night, I felt a little better with my Spanish, but still I don't feel comfortable because when I was at the grocery store the clerk asked me a question, then repeated, then asked me a question I understood. She asked me if I understand, and that I could reply with a confident, "no, I don't understand you"
The other guys in our group are fun. I think I'll visit them on the weekends because they both have hook-ups with housing on the coast. They're both living in Valpo. The nightlife is different here. People meet up and sit down for dinner around 10:00-11:00 at night. It seems like people sit down and have dinner instead of sitting around and just drinking. I'm not quite sure yet. Also I haven't figured out the meal schedule. Apparently you're suppose to have a light breakfast, a big lunch and a light dinner. But every meal I've had has been large and good. Oh well, I'm still getting it.
This afternoon we start our Chilean Spanish lessons. Should be interesante.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The first days

The last couple days have been great. I realized that our orientation has been more of a Santiago familiarization more than anything else. Tomorrow we start doing some more Chilean Spanish work, and next week we are trained by the college to do our teaching. I've been told it is very intense, perhaps even too intense.
Yesterday we walked around Barrio Lastarria, a bohemian, cultural part of town and had lunch there. Lunch consisted of pisco sour, then a salad bar, then an entree of spinach stuffed chicken with bacon covering it, and some wonderful creamy sauce on top. Then we had a creamy orange/caramel cheesecake for dessert with coffee after. After it was all said and done it was a 2.5 hour lunch. (So far the food has been fresh and tasty. A couple of us are planning on going to the markets on Sunday and loading up on fresh, inexpensive fruits and foods).

The chicken (pollo) lunch plate.
Then we walked to La Chascona (the home of Pablo Neruda's house). Pablo Neruda was a very important poet in Chile. After the tour a couple of us stopped walked back and had a few liter's of Escudos (Chilean beer). Later six of us had dinner at a Chilean time of 10:00 PM, followed by a little karaoke. I mean, what better way to break the ice than singing songs in front of new friends and strangers. Tom Jones was on the played.
Today we took a trip to the Mapuche Center on the outskirts of the city. It was an eye-opening experience to see what the people have gone through, and it was inspiring to see the younger generation of Mapuche very involved in their culture. I understood most of it, but there were sections were I was completely lost in the Spanish.
Now we're all hanging out for a while until dinner. I think I will wander around the neighborhood in a little bit. We are in a great part of the city and the accommodation's are incredible. I left a pair of pants on my bed on accident and when I got back yesterday, they were folded.
That's all for now. It will be interesting to see what happens when more and more of the instruction is conducted in Spanish. I am going to look for a place to stay next week where I live with some Chileans.


^The view of the Andes from my balcony.^


^Mural outside of Neruda's home.^


^Ceremonial Mapuche dance.^


^Don't run in the metro(subway) or you'll end up like this figure. I obeyed the rules.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Estoy Aqui! y telefono

Finally I'm here in Chile. My day of travel was very smooth. I slept for about 6 hours last night on the plane, and even woke up to breakfast in bed. The stewardess woke me up to serve me. I met a couple from Santiago, and they gave me their phone number and wanted to take me out, show me around and go snowboarding in the winter. So we'll see how that goes. I've been able to chop my way through communication so far and people more or less understand me. Now it's off to walk around before almuerzo. Hasta luego.

At 5:45 PM
I bought a cell phone. I get free incoming calls and my number is: 011-569-7-874-2928. Easy enough.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

My bags are packed I'm ready to go...

Tomorrow I leave for Chile. My dad dropped me off at my friend's house in St. Charles (about an hour west of Chicago) Friday afternoon after I finally got my visa. I've been hanging out here catching up with friends and my friend's family. After the months of work I put into getting my visa, the actual process of getting into the Chilean Consulate and doing the "interview" (do you speak Spanish? Un poco. Can you read it? Un poco) they took my finger prints and I was on my way. A total time in the Hancock Center of about 30 minutes(that includes parking the car and taking the elevators up and down)
Right now I'm feeling a mixture of excitement, nervousness and anticipation brewing in my body, and I'm really excited to get down there and take on the challenges and adventures associated with this job.
I'll try to update this blog as much as possible and find a way to post more pictures. But for now, wish me good luck as I undertake 24 hours of travel. I leave Chicago at 8:55 AM Sunday, then leave Minneapolis at 2:25 PM, then finally leave for Santiago, from Atlanta at 9:10 PM and arrive in Chile at 8:30 Monday morning. Training and orientation starts Monday afternoon!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Camp Manito-wish Pictures



Mom and Dad on out in the woods.



Brooke and I before our epic ski.




Taking Mika out for a walk and a ski.




Jay was sooo comfortable that he napped with her.



Jay and Brooke also like Mika's new bed.



Mika, posing for the camera.

The Creagh's go to Camp

This weekend the Creagh's went to Camp Manito-wish to visit Jay and Brooke, oh and apparently they have a puppy too. Jay, Brooke and I showed my parents all of the hotspots of the northwoods. This includes Bent's Camp for Friday fish Fry, Headwaters for a Jeff(Bartenter) drink, and JJ's Friday night. Then on Saturday we all hit the ski trails. At sun set we were all pleasantly tired and eager to share stories of our day. Mom and Dad skied together, Brooke, Jay and I went out in the morning, then in the afternoon Brooke and I went out for a loop and Jay went skate skiing at a ski course nearby. Jay, Brooke and I made a pizza from scratch for my parents and then we met up with some other friends who were working up there/visiting and hung out around a bonfire with clear skies above.
The weekend was great, but too short. We all enjoyed skiing, hanging out with family(and Mika) and checking out the northwoods in the winter, contrasting it from its summer appearance.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Link it up

I added some links to other friends and family's blogs. Jay and Brooke(mainly pictures of Mika), Amos (teaching English in Hungary), and Laura (Peace Corp volunteer in Samoa, finishing in November) and Hannah (study abroad in Ecuador).
No new updates about my visa application besides that I have a Feingold Representative submitting an expedited request to the FBI, and I have collected all of the background records I can get a hold of(Manitowoc, Madison, Statewide background for the last 7 years from Camp) to maybe make a deal/plea/bargain with the consulate if I don't hear from the FBI.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Trade in your striped shirts for plaid flannels

Warning: This entry contains many hyperlinks.
After the Super Bowl weekend in Chicago and Madison hanging out at bars and restaurants frequented by young professionals, I traveled up to Camp Manito-wish located in the beautiful Northern Wisconsin. The short ~seven hour drive brought about a completely different culture. In Chicago, we had a “striped shirt count” poking fun at the over abundance of striped shirts at one bar and stopped keeping track when we got into the thirties. On the contrary, when I got up to Minocqua, WI, I didn’t see any striped shirts, but instead was greeted with flannels and arctic cat jackets. I knew I arrived to the Northwoods when I had to wait at the filling station for snowmobiles to gas up before I could fill my car. I am a member of both cultures owning both striped shirts and flannels. I’m not sure I’ll be picking up any arctic cat jackets in the near future, but you never know.
Back in Manitowoc. Yesterday I drove back home after spending the week at Camp Manito-wish with Jay and Brooke. Wednesday and Thursday Brooke’s family came up and I got a chance to know them better, and put faces and personalities to the names that I’ve been hearing for years. It was really fun playing with Mika (Jay and Brook’s puppy) throughout the week. I finally got some good use out of my cross country skis I purchased at the Ski and Snowboard Resale, going out for a couple hours every day. Friday night we opened up the climbing wall and most of the Vater family scaled the wall, even “Grandpa” (Brooke’s dad).
Last night I went to Chewy’s (I guess you could call it a sport’s bar) in Manitowoc to watch the Badger basketball game. Even though we lost the game all was not lost. There was also a NASCAR race concluding during the Badger game and one estactic patron made my night. When Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Budweiser Shootout, this guy who had been intently watching the series of left turns on the NASCAR TV was thrilled. During the climatic last series of left turns he shouted, “Come own! Hug that liine!” and when he crossed the finish line in front of the other cars, he proclaimed “Ain’t dat sweet!!” as he smacked his palm on the bar, turned to his girlfriend as asked her, “Honey, does get any better than that?!” Quite possibly the best part was that he went in for the high five and she completely ignored his request for the high five. He then went on to call his friends and repeat the above lines. Every time I got to a bar in Manitowoc, I feel as if people are trying to entertain me.
As far as my Chilean visa progress goes, I could be doing better. On Friday after talking with both the FBI offices and the Chilean consulate office I realized I applied for the wrong kind of FBI Background check, and am now going to be doing some last second preparations. For those of you keeping track, I have been going through the visa application process since December 4th when I got my HIV test completed in Madison. Overall it has been frustrating not only because of my mistakes, but because I thought I had everything taken care of, twice now, and it looks like I will schedule an appointment to go to the Chilean Consulate office in Chicago for February 22, and depart from Chicago O’Hare February 24th. Let’s hope I get my (correct) FBI background check in time for my appointment. Otherwise it’s plan B, which is still being formulated.
Another great story: When I was packing before my visit up to Camp, my new macbook(purchased for travel and teaching) slipped off the corner of my bed with my passport external hard drive resting on the keyboard and when the screen closed on itself, the screen suffered. It got two cracks on the screen and my computer is currently being shipped to get repaired, hopefully with some kind of warranty coverage. Not to be outdone by Jay and Brooke’s blog, I’ll post some pictures of Mika.


Mika in Manitowoc for Chirstmas.


Mika finding it comfortable to play under a chair.


Self picture cross country skiing Thursday morning.


Ice crystals formed on the branches making everything glisten.


Just a beautiful, crisp, Wisconsin winter morning.