Dear Readers,

It has been over 2 months since my last post! I have been having a great time. In between that time I made it to Peru (and just bought my tickets to go to Buenos Aires) and have been meeting so many new and interesting people. At the same time I have been solidifying relationships with people that I think will be friends for some time in the future or at least maintain as a colleague for a get-together somewhere down the road. So here's what I have felt about this whole life-changing experience.

Study Abroad Self Reflection

June 27^th 2009 I am sitting in my room here in Recreo and I am avoiding my final papers at all costs. Although, I am not getting to work this post is not a complete waste of time.

At this point I am getting ready to close the chapter of my life here in Chile. With this closing chapter so many conclusions are evolving and so many new thoughts and emotions are running through my mind and spirit all at once.I came here to Chile with simple goals and that was to learn Spanish and get away from all that I have known for the first 20 years of my life. Through this journey I have added many goals; while some have been met others have been nothing more than ideas. Honestly, the two main goals that I came to this foreign land to accomplish have been completed. Obviously my goal to get out of normal rhythm of life in Long Beach has been met. Here I have introduced to my self a new life routine and have experienced things I never would have imaged. For example, I never thought I would go backpacking on a 4-day excursion but I did and now I love backpacking. My second goal to learn Spanish has been met also. Okay, maybe I do not speak perfectly and maybe I do not understand what people say at first, and I do have a gringo accent but I have impressed myself with how I developed the language. Even though my host sister Isabel makes fun of me everyday and tells me that I do not know how to speak Spanish (nor English haha) I know I have learned so much. With learning a language you realize so many other self-truths.

The biggest life lesson I had here was getting to know myself more; finding out what I want to do in my future, my strengths, and my weaknesses. And so I have learned is that confidence goes a very long way. With confidence it gives you the courage to take on new tasks and excel in any subject. I have learned that somewhere along the way my confidence level went down below natural level. With out maintaining a high confidence level I began to accept things that I necessarily did not want to do. For example, at the begging of my stay I did not go out much because I lacked the confidence to learn how to get around on my own. I hid in a comfort zone and did not want to put myself in a vulnerable position. So what I learned is so what, I am going to make a mistake, I may sound funny, and obviously I am not Chilean but going out there and making yourself live life is how you learn. I am not going to let a lack of confidence be an issue no more. In addition to that I have learned some other important things about my self.

Additionally, these quick points are those I need to admit to myself before I can start getting better at them. One is I need to stop procrastinating. I severely procrastinate and that leads to a lower quality outcome. I know I am capable of many things yet I just do not do them to the highest caliber because I wait too long for them to develop into a great work. Being a procrastinator is not a trait I want to have for the rest of my life so at this moment I need to make that change. Second thing I need to work on is selling my self. Everyday if you realize it or not you are being perceived or in other words judged by people. Where ever you go or what ever you do people see the way you walk, speak, and carry yourself as a person. The reason why I feel that I need to work on self-image is because I want to be a leader whether it is in a small community or among a larger scale I want people to see me as someone they can trust. Doing the right thing is half of it but if there is no one there to support you, you are not leading anyone. At least through my actions I want to be a leader by example. All in all most of the time I am not a leader yet working towards that goal now will turn me into the person I want to be tomorrow. So every day I am starting to become a leader, at least by influencing an individual in some type of positive way.

P.S. adding some pics for your viewing pleasure!

Mama Loreto

Just wanted to say that I got so lucky with my chilean family. I almost feel like I am part of the family at times which is what makes everything so comfortable. Today for example Loreto was running a little late making lunch and I had to be in class by 2. She didn't serve me until 1:30 and it takes about 25 minutes to get to school. What makes her so cool is that she offered to drop me off at the bus stop instead of me having to walk all the way down there which takes at least 10 minutes. So after I finished eating Eduardo (on his lunch break) took me down to the bus stop and dropped me off. I ended up making it to class right on time at 2 o'clock (actually thats early for chilean time). 

After class I went to the law library to work on an essay but was not too successful. I ended up wasting my computer battery reading news about the pandemic swine flu. I hopped on a bus overflowing with people after and had to stand most of the way home squeezed up against the door jam and front railing of the dashboard. There was one other gringo in there squished in the back and through the thick masses of standing people we exchanged glances of hilarity. It was worth the effort to fight the people and jerky movements of the bus because I was dropped off two non-inclinated blocks away from my front door. This time I was happy to dodge two neighborhood beasts of dogs that heckled me two days before. 

When I got home I got the usual hugs that turned into quick annoyance from Andrea. I ate chilean dinner this time 3 pieces of bread with some tuna spread and the 4th with jam. Not my favorite dinner but it keeps me alive. As I am sitting here on the computer trying to get my essay done and sidetracked by facebook Loreto before she went to bed let me know that there is some chicken in the oven. Also she told me to use the portable heater if I was cold. Truth is it is cold here, why you may ask? It's because they don't have central heating and I don't know one building that does. So all in all before I go back to writing my essay (which sucks) I thought I would share how I felt at home here with Loreto treating me like a son. Anyways thats it for now. Wish me luck on the essay. 

Buenas Noches :)

Gringo Soccer

Thought I would update the few readers of my blog. Its a great read especially if you are procrastinating a little on school work or work in general :)

So today after waking up at 11:30, eating a chilean breakfast (composed of white bread with jam, tea, and chocolate milk), going to 12:00 mass with the family, eating lunch at Estadio Español (a country club), and playing gringo soccer (regular soccer with all foreigners) I thought now after all of todays events would be a great time to write my blog. 

So to catch you up on some of the things going on here in my Chilean life I think I would have to start with gringo soccer. Lately I have been playing soccer 1 or 2 days a week with all the gringos or foreigners (we have 2 mexicans, 1 columbian, 1 frenchman, 1 german, 1 brazilian, and the rest are from the states). It is great playing with all those guys and not to fool anyone I am no soccer pro but its a great way to get the blood pumpin. There are a few guys that are really good and I know one guy plays for his college team so there is some good talent out there. Our team is not definite yet but sometime in May (we dont know when yet because Chilean calendars usually only work a week in advance/ similar to mine though so I cant complain) we will start playing chilenos from teams comprised of the various colleges here for example law, physical education, etc. I don't know how much I will be an asset to the team or if I'll even play at all because there are alot of talented guys coming out for the team but I am pretty sure I am one of the few that has made every practice. 

So in addition to soccer taking up time in my week I of coarse have school. But no one wants to hear about that. Its good but hard as you can imagine taking a law or poetry class in a language you are not too great at speaking to begin with. But my weeks are also made up of a basketball class that practices Mondays and Fridays. Its a great class and we've been doing a lot of drills on fundamentals so I have been learning alot but sometimes I just want to play! 

I applied to an internship the other day and will probably only be able to do it for a month or a month and a half since I applied so late and I dont know what I will be doing yet but there are many fields I can choose from. There are many that have grabbed my attention including law, business development, public/international relations, tourism, and viticulture. So I'll let you know what I end up doing!

As for everything in between I would have to say life is good. My chilean family is great as usual. Tonight they helped me with poetry homework and I was also smothered with hugs and kisses from Andrea the 6 year old. 

In other more random notes I have continued to download movies off the internet the latest one being Hannah Montana haha (its for the kids though I am not secretly a Hannah Montana fan even though I think she does rock). I went to the club last night and danced the night away but that was after I got some great sushi with some of my gringo buddies: Ashley, Anthony, Jessica, and Kerry. Doing great in stocks but might have to sell some soon to fuel the cash flow (shame because the market is doing well right now). Its crazy how fast the money goes without working! Next week I am making some kind of glass mural that I am going to paint. I'm thinking something very abstract. I like abstract art. Who knows maybe I'll even be the next Joan Miro. The plant on my glass round table of a desk has been growing :) (Note to self I need to buy an indoor plant for my place wherever that may be when I get home). Also, I am definitely getting tired of my clothes. I brought all my nice jeans and cant help but wear them, and I dont have any warm but stylish-looking jackets because it's starting to get cold here, and my shoes are getting beat up. A nice new pair of Toms, Clay, Vans, or Creative Rec would be nice. Im thinking about going to Venezuela after Chile for 2 weeks for a CSULB course (I will get credit for my last capstone requirement) but I will still get back around the same time only 4 days after on the 24th of July. Let's see... I register for classes for Fall semester May 4th and if I get the schedule I set up will only be going to class M/W. So that leaves 5 days for work/internship. Been researching some law schools around the states. I was thinking West coast, East coast, Texas? Who knows I guess I will go with the best I can get into or where I feel most comfortable. I saw a mom breast-feeding her baby with her whole boob exposed in public for like the millionth time today. My 12 yr old Chilean sister was practicing "Love Story" by Taylor Swift on her guitar (she's pretty good too) at the time of this publication. What else. Only a few more random blurbs about my experiences here because Im feeling the close of this piece quite near. Another side note. I have had no luck with the ladies here haha. I don't really care though I am happy. There just hasn't been one that I have clicked with and I dont think it helps that I am super picky. But its fine I have always said "If you wait good things will come". Oh and by the way I have been growing a mustache haha As a joke at first but I've had it for over a month now so who knows when I will get the urge to shave er'. My friend Paige calls it the "Malestache" as in molestor and mustache put together. I was never aware that molestors and mustaches have a correlation but maybe it has something to do with being denied 3 times last night to dance. haha I dont know! I'll let you decide.

Well that's it yall. 

Chao 

yours truly 

Good Friday (Vía Cruces)

Its Always Ticking

So I’ve been in Chile for almost three months now. The time has passed by extremely fast but that’s the nature of time.

 

Time never stops but only proceeds

It’s our marker

An invisible sharpie that never stops being written with

Time is life and life is time

We cannot fight it

But acquiesce to its unstoppable rhythm

The best players of time can juggle it well

Like Ronaldinho on a break-away pass

As for me in order to score my goals I must use that sharpie

And write my way into the future

 

So like I was trying to say time has gone by so fast since I’ve been here and it looks as if July is going to arrive sooner than expected this year. For the amount of time I’ve been here I have learned so much but at the same time I feel I am nowhere near I would like to be in terms of language proficiency. I know by the end of my time here in Chile my abilities will advance tenfold but what I have to keep reminding myself is learning a language takes time. For example it has taken me over twenty years to develop my English proficiency and yet I feel I have so much to ameliorate. With that in mind I have accepted that I am not going to be able learn Spanish (Castellano) to my desired level in less than 7 months time (and as of now less than 4). So in hindsight when I thought 7 months was going to be a long time it turns out that the invisible sharpie of life is writing a little bit faster in this part of the world. All in all what does this mean? ¡Disfrutalo!