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!