From learning to teaching

I have made it through another week down here in South America, and like all the weeks before it there were individual aspects that made it unforgetable. Although the week seemed rather basic, going to school, taking my first test, starting to work on projects and the sort, the week had to conclude in the most hectic way possible. As part of our curriculum we are required to do ten hours of service in the community. To earn one extra credit to transfer back we can continue the program for an additional 20 hours. We all chose to continue and so for the next 10 weeks we will go to an elementary school to help teach english. We will also go to the salvation army to spend time with some elders who have been displaced from their homes. Today was our first trip to the school on our own without our professor. However, we soon learned that we were really on our own, because the english teacher at the school had called in sick as well. Very Interesting. That being said we were prepared with our lesson plan so we started the class as we planned. Within five minutes the we had lost the class. fighting with our own spanish was difficult enough and then we had to try to keep the kids from screaming and running around. I can now say that I have much more admiration for all of the third and fourth grade teachers out there. That is not an easy job. We finally made it through without losing anyone or having anyone kill each other so I would consider that a success. Fortunately for us the restaurant next to the school was having a burrito deal so we stopped for burritos (2 for 3 bucks) and celebrated the end of another school week in Chile. This time we were both students and teachers. All I can say is I hope the teacher shows up next week. Es muy entretenido cuando estamos jugando con los chicos pero es un poco mas dificil cuando tenemos que enseñar, que lastima.

The misterious happenings of calefonts and tire treads

As I sit here on sunday night I look back over a fun filled weekend in my home town of vina del mar. Thursday night consisted of a pre at a friends house in the center of town and then a night of clubbing followed. Friday was a rather relaxing day around the house and around the neighborhood. Saturday however proved to be on of the most adventure filled days so far here in Chile. In the morning we headed out to Con Con to try out "La Vivi" the old motor boat my dad owns that he claims was built in the 1960's and I absolutely believe him. I was amazed that we were going to put this in the water, but none the less we did. First however, we had to get to the lake which was tucked back in the hills and you had to traverse this crazy road to get there. After a wild ride somewhat similar to that of "the home slice" we made it to a friends house who let us use his property to put the boat in. So off we went cruising around this gorgeous lake in this tiny little boat. After a quick tour Fernando busted out the water skis. I had never been able to get up on skis before but somehow I managed to do it yesterday and what a cool feeling it was. Very similar to the first time I got up on a wakeboard at Masi's lake this summer. It was awesome. So we skied around for about a half an hour and then went back to the friends house for lunch. He was building a little vacation home and when I say little I mean it was tiny. For all of those who know, imagine the OLD hodge podge lodge and then take half of that. There will be a kitchen a bedroom and a small patio, and then bathroom is outside. But it looked like the perfect little getaway house on a gorgeous piece of property. After lunch we went back to the lake to do some more skiing but after gabe took a few laps the clutch on the engine broke and "La vivi" se murio. Unfortunately that meant we had to figure out a way of getting it back to the trailer. In come the rescuers, with ned paddling, gabe making sure we didnt hit anything and me swimming we made it safely to the landing and got the boat on the trailer. Not until this morning when my entire body hurt did I realize how difficult it was to pull a boat through water while swimming. We finally got the boat back on land and headed home. After a quick stop at home I went over to gabes sisters bazar to raise money for her trip to Espana. After that we went to a party and took our first late night trip the classiest mcdonalds ive ever been to. Today was another relaxing day, I had the traditional lunch with the grandparents and then took a stroll around vina with anna. A good day was had by all, and hey the Pats even won too, although I wasnt able to watch. pero es la vida. Este fin de semana fue super bakan y aprendi que no tengo que ir a lugares diferentes para tener gran aventuras.

Mar Pacifico

Yesterday I swam in the Pacific Ocean... pretty awesome.

Feliz Bicentenario

This weekend happened to be the bicentennial anniversary of Chile's independence from Spain. Therefore, not only was independence day a special day, but it was most likely the biggest party in Chile for quite some time. For this reason, the bicentennial lasted 4.5 days. The traditional thing to do for independence day is have large barbeques all weekend, dance the cueca, listen to music, and drink chicha. It has come to my attention that certain people think my blog is too long and boring and that I should change it up with some lists, so for the sake of the readers i'll try a new style with this blog post.

1. Asados (BBQ's)-The barbeques are crazy, with tons and tons of steak, pork, chicken, sausages, and salads like crazy. They last all day and into the night, and usually you go to multiple in a day. On saturday (the actual independence day) I went to one from 2-5 and then another from 10- 6am. The later one, we did not eat til midnight and didnt finish eating til aroud 3 am.

2. Cueca-This is the traditional Chilean dance that kinda reminds me of square dancing but better. Its really cool to watch and most Chileans can dance it really well. Me on the other hand, not so smooth.

3. Music-They call it folklor and its the Chilean version of patriotic songs. They are all really light and upbeat, and many have either environmental or political messages in them. Everyone knows the words to all of them, and its great to hear everyone having a sing along after the BBQ's.

4. Chicha-Chileans only drink Chicha on independence day and I now understand why. It is made from fermented apples, but it tastes nothing like hard cider. It has a very distinct taste, and I can't say that I am a fan. Never the less there was plenty to go around, so I had to try a glass or two.

The other awesome part of the celebration was the ramada. Its this giant tent carnival that many people go to and its open 24 hours a day. There are ramadas all over the place and there are tons of people there at all times. To complete the weekend, there were two fireworks shows as well as a naval parade today. A ton of ships from Chile's navy were out in the harbor as well as a couple ships from the USA, Canada, Brazil and Greece. They also had 6 or 7 flyovers with everything from helicopters to old style bombers to jets. It was a spectacular site to see everyone on the beach watching and cheering along. What a weekend, what a way to finish off a week. Feliz fiesta de patrias. Feliz cumpleanos Chile doscientos anos, gracias por la opurtunidad para celebrar contigo.

Nosotros Chocamos un caballo

So this will most likely be the longest blog post I will write so let this be a warning to all. Anyone who gets to the end will win a prize...I promise. Just to start things off, I am currently sitting by the pool on a gorgeous spring day here in vina.

So since the last time I blogged, I feel like I have done so much. Last thursday we went to a course on how to make pisco sours, the national drink of chile. They turned out pretty good and it was a lot of fun hanging out with Americans, Germans, Chileans, and a ton of other people from different countries. After the pisco night, the cuatro gringos decided to stay up all night since our bus the next morning was at 5am and it was already 1. So we had a barbeque in gabes back yard and watched the time pass before our bus. Before the sun rose we headed down to the center of vina to catch the bus to the airport. Immediately after boarding the bus we all crashed and slept the hour and a half away until we got to santiago. Only a slight delay clearing Chilean customs and we were through security and to our gate...3 and a half hours early. We each made camp at the gate and fell asleep again using our packs as pillows mattresses and the like. The blessing was the dunkin donuts at the gate which unlike in the states had a delicious pastrami sandwhich which I ate for breakfast. Then onto the plane we went and off to Argentina. A rather bumpy ride across the Andes and we landed safely in Buenos Aires. We thought we could be suave  travelers and use our newly acquired Chilean residence cards to bypass the 140 dollar entrance fee but unfortunately the immigration officers would not have any of that. After clearing customs and making our way out into the terminal we were immediately accosted by taxi drivers. Luckily the police officer quickly told us that you should never accept cabs from people talking to you, instead you have to go to the cab stand. We found a safe cab and took the 45 minute drive into the city. Our first stop was the bus station. It is hands down the largest bus station I have ever seen and the terminal seemed to go on forever. After shopping around for the best deal we settled on Rio Uruguay for our trip to Iguazu. Little did we know of the adventures we had in store (more details to come later). We then hopped in another cab to go to our hostel. We think we got ripped off this time but he was a very nice cab driver who loved to talk and gave us a nice tour of the city. We also got our first glimpse of the largest city street in the world. All 21 lanes of it. We made it to our hostel, unpacked and met up with Avery, Ned's friend and our tour guide for the week. Our first sight seeing spot was a little coffee shop where we got real coffee (not the fake nescafe shit they have in Chile) submarinos, which are hot glasses of milk that you drop a chocolate bar into and alfajores, which are chocolate cookies filled with dulce de leche. Que delicioso. While enjoying our cookies and drinks, the heavens decided to open up and it rained cats and dogs for about 20 minutes. We made it back to our hostel relatively dry and decided to take a nap before getting ready to go to dinner. And what a dinner it was. We decided to go to Siga la Vaca (follow the cow) an steak restaurant in the center of Buenos Aires. For the low low price of 83 pesos (about 21 american dollars) each person got all they could eat salad, steak, and a personal bottle of wine as well as a dessert. We sat down at around 10 and did not leave the restaurant until 1am. Not only was I in heaven with the best steak I have ever eaten but the atmosphere and the company was spectacular. I dont know why but it always seems like the best meals of my life take place in other countries. The steak was to die for, they had ribs and all sorts of different cuts, as well as pork chicken and sausage. They also had interesting options like kidney and intestines that we had to try just because we could. We ate and drank like kings for 3 hours, and in between bites we laughed and laughed and laughed. What a night, one I will never forget. After making it back to the hostel we had a drink of the roof deck and called it a night.

The next morning we woke up ready to hit the city and explore. Unfortunately we were about 15 minutes late and we missed breakfast. Never the less we hopped a bus and went to la boca a really touristy neighborhood famous for their soccer. We toured around these really cool brightly colored buildings and watched tango dancers stroll around the street. It was a really cool cultural experience. They have these sculpted figurines hanging out of all the windows and its really cool to see the people wandering amongst them. La boca is also the original team of Maradona, the argentine soccer god. His picture is literally everywhere around the neighborhood and city. We also tried the most delicious churros filled with dulce de leche, amazing. After la boca we went to el centro, which is the government district. The casa rosada, or the pink house is their version of the white house. We toured around there and also went into the giant cathedral. It was gorgeous with a very European feel to it. It also houses the tomb of the liberator of south america which was really cool to see. As it turned out we also wandered into a polish dance festival in the center of Buenos Aires. We hung around there and then continued to meander around the neighborhood. We found our first street vendors and as our spanish professor told us we had to pick up a pair of fake sunglasses. I am now the owner of a sweet new pair of aviators. We got hungry so we went for these sandwhiches that smelled delicious. It was grilled meat with all sorts of sauces on them and they hit the spot. Another bus ride and we were over in recoleta. Recoleta is a shopping district with a ton of shops and vendors as well as the grand cemetery in buenos Aires. We were a little late for the cemetery but we still managed to wander through all the shops. There were also these acrobats that were suspended from trees with what looked like bed sheets, really cool tricks as well. Right before leaving we caught a tango show in the street which was awesome. They can really dance down here. We caught a bus and headed back to the hostel after a long day, and everyone was exhausted. However, right before our stop we saw a huge fireworks show. We hopped off the bus and sprinted up about 4 blocks to a church where we could see the fireworks. It was awesome everyone was out on the street and the church bells were ringing while the fireworks exploded in the background. Amazing sight. We wandered back to the central plaza and everything was lit up in bright colors. Another amazing sight. The highlight of the walk home was definitely crossing the biggest street in the world. We filmed the whole thing and its a rather funny video. I'm sure it will find its way to facebook soon so keep your eyes peeled. We made it back to the hostel and took a much needed nap before the pub crawl that awaited us that night. Slight complications with the hostel sing and we were ready to head out. A short walk to the pub crawl and we were there, with what seemed like every gringo in the city. It was a lot of fun and we got a free shot at each bar, however the free pizza was rather gross. Me and gabe had a great time trying to converse with Colombians and were rather successful at least thats what we thought until they walked away randomly. We ended up at this giant club which was a lot of fun...until we all lost our hearing. finally around 4 we got a cab and made it back to the hostel. Unfortunately we couldnt find any food, and gabes brilliant idea of getting more beer turned out worse than originally anticipated. Around 5 we all crashed.

Around 10am we were up once more, this time checking out of our first hostel and heading back to recoleta to see the cemetery. Its unlike any cemetery i've ever seen in my life. Each family has a mausoleum and they are really well crafted out of all sorts of marble. We saw Evita's tomb which was really cool, but rather small in comparison to some others we saw. After recoleta we bussed over to San Telmo, the giant street fair they have in Buenos Aires. Many of the same vendors we had seen around the city were there, including the old fat guy who sold bird whistles. We also found a cure for our chipotle craving with a burrito vendor on the side of the road. After wandering around San Telmo for a while we headed back to the hostel to pick up our stuff and go to the bus to start our trip to Iguazu. Our first subte (subway) ride was rather unique. It lasted one stop, and a fellow passenger was captain Jack Sparrow. Or someone that was dressed to the nines in his exact costume. Well around 645 we made it to the bus and boarded our first of two 18 hour bus rides.

I need to make a new paragraph just for the bus ride because what a trip it was. It started off on a great note. They give you a snack a glass of whiskey wine with dinner and they top it off with two glasses of champagne before bed time. With our additional two piscocolas we were all set. After watching a rather depressing movie, my sisters keeper, I passed out around 1130. Roughly an hour later I wake up to anna hitting me with a pillow and I soon realized that we were not moving. Before I gained complete consciousness, she told me that we had hit a horse. Now for someone that just woke up on it is rather startling and somewhat confusing to hear someone tell you that we have just hit a horse. Turns out there had been a horse running around near the road and decided to hop in front of our bus. The windshield shattered and about a half an hour later the next bus came so we could switch. Fortunately however we got upgraded to the cama suite, which is a fully reclining chair that turns into a bed. We started up again and I fell asleep only to wake up an hour later as we drove through a hail storm. I finally made it to bed for a final time. However, when I woke up the next morning I noticed that the older black man who was sitting across the isle from me had turned into a mom with a baby. Weird things happen on these buses I guess. We then had to switch buses one more time before making it to Iguazu. Our final bus was great expect that the only movie that had was the bucket list, which they showed three times in a row, in spanish with Portuguese subtitles. Great.

We finally made it to Iguazu and headed to to hostel. A quick bag drop and we were back on a bus to the national park. The falls are located way up north on the border of Argentina and Brazil so it was rather tropical which was great. We wandered around the upper and lower falls and when we finally got a glimpse of the falls it was absolutely breathtaking. I got chills watching the immense power that these waterfalls contained. I have never been to Niagra falls, but Iguazu is absolutely mind blowing. Its truly a hidden gem that is a must see in South America. The falls seem to go on forever, and the mist rising from the bottom is so strong it seems like it was shot from a cannon. Absolutely amazing, and the best part was the number of different angles you could see the falls from, and how each different angle showed something else. Totally awesome. The pictures unfortunately cannot do this wondrous place justice. The park was closing so we headed back to the hostel to experience the life in the town of Puerto Iguazu. The hostel we were staying at happened to have a buffet that night for 15 pesos (4 dollars) so we decided to check it out. After a couple of piscolas we walked down to the buffet. It was quite the buffet for 4 bucks with pasta salad, steak, chicken, grilled vegetables, rice and of course vino. The total meal for 4 people and a bottle of wine cost about 20 dollars. What a night. The funniest part was we had a power outage in the middle of dinner and no one flinched. The entire place just kept on chatting and eating. It was great. After a short walk back to the hostel, we grabbed a forty and went to bed.

The next morning we were up and out on the first bus to the falls again. This time we went to la garganta de diablo, the throat of the devil. We hadnt seen this side of the falls and it proved to be the best part. It was just a ridiculous amount of water cascading over this cliff in a continuous downpour. It was crazy. After walking around there for a while, we took a hike down to the San Martin Island where we could view the entire panoramic of the falls. Another breathtaking view and plenty of more pictures. We even saw a wild deer prancing around the woods. Around 12 we headed back to the bus station that would take us home to Buenos Aires, hoping that this bus would be a little bit smoother. However, an hour into the trip we get a flat tire and have to change. Fortunately that was the only hiccup on the return voyage and I was able to sleep for a good 14 hours back.

We arrived back in Buenos Aires to a warm bagel breakfast that Avery had won in some sort of contest. They were delicious and the perfect breakfast after a long bus ride. We all grabbed a quick shower since it had been a couple days and then we went out to explore the parks of palermo. We wandered for about two hours and ended up in the japanese gardens. They were gorgeous and a perfect place to stop and relax. After the gardens me and gabe ventured out to find the mysterious cigarettes. Our friends from Chile told us that cigarettes were much cheaper in Argentina and asked if we could bring some back for them. however we couldnt find these partiuclar ones anywhere. We started at the supermarket and then the pharmacy but had no luck. Our next stop was the kiosko or the little shops on all the streets. The first place had 3 packs so we bought those and cleaned them our of cigarettes. The next stop had 5 packs so once again we cleaned them out. The adventure lasted a good hour and a half wandering around trying to find these darn cigarettes. But it was an adventure eh? We met up witht the group once more and this time headed for the leather district. Argentina is known for their leather so we had to at least check it out. After window shopping for a while, I picked up a new pair of shoes and gabers bought a super suave jacket. Dinner that night was in China town and once again I could hardly contain my excitement for hearing asians speak spanish. On the way back home we stopped at store and picked up a couple forties so that we could pregame the bar. That night we tried ferenet, the most disgusting liquor ever. It tastes like burnt plants. that being said we had to try it. Around 1 we were all tired so we headed back to the hostel to try and catch some z's before the flight home. Our taxi came at 545 so we were up early once again. This time on the way to the airport. Our bags packed, memory cards full of pictures, and a week of unforgettable memories as well. What a week to travel. what great people I spent the vacation with. It was truly amazing.

Congradulations to everyone that has read to this point. I promise you will all get a prize next time I see you.

Que linda la vida me encanta la gente de Argentina y Chile, y gracias por dios mis companeros. Ellos son huevon huevones.

Spring Break 2010

I love being in South America because I get the luxury of having another spring break trip this year. I had my last day of classes today and tomorrow morning we are off to Buenos Aires. We will be hanging out in Buenos Aires for a couple of days before taking the 18 hour bus ride to Iguazu falls. Iguazu for a night and day and then back to Buenos Aires for a night before coming home to Chile. It will be a crazy week but I'm sure it will be action packed and loads of fun. I probably wont be able to update my blog while i'm there but I am sure to have plenty of stories once I return. Adios hasta proximo semana y el dia de los patrias!

Vacuum the Fire

This is going to be a short post but funny none the less. I learned a new method for starting a grill today. They dont use charcoal down here just wood, so in order to get the grill going today my father lit the wood and then pulled out the vacuum cleaner turned it on reverse and vacuumed the fire for about five minutes. Never knew the power of ordinary house hold objects. Me gusta el estilo de chile.

The sun is sometimes wrong.

What a weekend I have had so far and its still only saturday night. Last night my neighbor had a party with her friends and invited the cinco gringos. It was a lot of fun hanging out on a small scale without having to party to hard. That doesnt mean we didnt party however. The first person I met ironically lived in Mt. Lebo for 4 years in high school and her mom still lives there. Small small world. Later in the night we taught the Chileans beer pong. Let me tell you it is rather difficult explaining such things as the elbow rule and heating up to a bunch of Chileans. I dont know why. But anyway we hung out til about 3:30 and then I went home because we had an excursion today. Four short hours later I was awake again...driving the bus. First we went to the town of Curacavi and toured a local chocolate factory. They had all different kinds of chocolate and the best was hands down chocolate filled with marscipone cheese. Delicious. We also stopped for an empenada before heading on to our next town, Pomaire, a little artisan village. They are famous for their ceramics and these things were absolutely beautiful. And they were priced at around 3 dollars each. Our next stop was la Isla Negra, a small town that is the home to Pablo Neruda's beach house. I know I have mentioned him previously but I want to reiterate that he was the coolest person ever. His houses were amazing, decked out with all sorts of stuff from his worldly travels. We finally boarded the bus back to Vina after a long but enjoyable day. Pictures will be up soon dont worry. And now as I am writing this post, I can hear my mom singing Jay Z's empire state of mind. Weird. Aright I am off to a BBQ and then who knows. En las palabras de me amigo, yo podria escribir poemas si yo viva aca.

Esto es para mi madre

After getting home tonight, I found an amazing email from my mother. So this post will be for her. Tonight we went to cafe journal, the usual hangout for gringos on wednesday. Each wednesday its packed with foreign people and its always a good time. Tonight my brother came out and it was especially nice to have a chilean there with us. Also this week has been good in terms of getting used to classes. Even though we dont have too much homework we have a good understanding of how the classes will work. Saturday we have our first excursion to a chocolate factory and then pablo nerudas house on the ocean. I will be sure to post after that. Until then, hasta luego.