Hi folks!
Sorry it's been, like, a month since I posted. :( Weird stuff has been happening health wise, I've been travelling, and I'm afraid that I've caught a bit of the flojera that runs rampant in Chile. Oh well. I'll make up for it by writing a lot! :) The problem now is where to begin...?
1) Bonnie and I are official (temporary) Chilean citizens! We picked up our carnets (national ID cards) a few weeks ago and have been using them since. It's sort of cool, even if it is only temporary. :)
2) Money. The Chilean gov't blows when it comes to giving folks money. We finally were "paid" on October 22nd (great timing, guys), but our money is five hours away in Coquimbo. In order for us to get said money, we'd have to take a day off of school and spend no less than 10 hours on a bus. It wouldn't be so bad if the folks who are in charge weren't so freakin' stupid. We got an email reminding us that our money is "here" and that the lady in charge (biggest idiot that I've ever had the displeasure of working with) was sorry that it was so far away but there "isn't a branch of this particular Chilean bank in our podunk town." This is true. There is, however, a branch of said bank in a town 30 minutes from here. I emailed her back and told her this. Her response? "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't realize that. But it's not my job to take care of that." o.o At first, I was too mad to even form a response in my head, much less anywhere else. After it subsided, I came up with three responses.
a) You've lived in this region (somewhat like a small state) for your entire life and you don't know what the smaller towns contain?!
b) You couldn't either a) walk down to a branch of said bank or b) hop online to check and see where other branches of this bank are? Seriously?! I DID THAT.
c) It's not your job?! Excuse me?! What is your job, then? Obviously you don't do it, either.
But, such is life here in Chile. Not exactly the most ideal of situations, but it's an experience. If anything, it's teaching us patience (or how not to serial kill every person we meet). Luckily, we're headed to Coquimbo/La Serena this week (Tuesday and Wednesday) for a stupid meeting so we'll (hopefully) be able to get our money then. Hopefully. God only knows what sort of shenanigans we'll run into...
2) School is still... Well, school. Bonnie and I only have two weeks left here, which means that most (if not all) of my "duties" have been taken away. While it's nice not to have too much to do, I do miss being able to actually teach (I was actually teaching for about a week or so). And although I like helping the teachers as much as is possible, I sort of feel useless. Most of the time, I'm a walking, breathing guide to pronunciation or dictionary which, while interesting, does leave me with A LOT of downtime. On the plus side, though, I still am getting better with my Spanish (which is a feat by itself) and I'm figuring out how I want my classroom to look/how I will teach (if I ever get that far).
3) Family life is still really, really good. There's a lot of drama and a lot of activity, but it's definitely fun. :) The only bad thing is that they've had to see me literally at my worst. I hardly ever get sick at home (the occasional cold). Here, though, it's been completely opposite. Not only have I been sick (like seriously tummy sick for about two months), but I've had the oddest things happen (sleeping wrong and pinching nerves in my back, etc.). These poor folks have to deal with me bawling and have been taking care of me like it's no problem. I feel badly, but they're more concerned with how to get me better. They've been getting frustrated with me because I won't go to the doctor (a) because rural doctors scare me and b) because I would have to pay with money that I don't have). Oh well. I just have to hold out for 19 more days and I'll be home. :)
4) I finally got to travel for two weekends in a row! The first trip was to Vina/Valpo/Villa Alemana to visit Melissa and her family (who are crazy). Bonnie, Melissa, and I had a blast. Not only was it nice to be around other English speakers, but it was nice to just have a break. We had a lunch picnic on the beach, wandered around, bought stuff we didn't need, and went sand boarding. Yes, that's right. Sand boarding. It was AMAZING. Well, getting up to the top of the hill? Not so amazing. More like "Hey fat kid? You ready to die?!". The view from the top, though, was WELL worth it. I don't think that the dunes are all that high, but the fact that they drop off into the ocean make them seem all that much bigger. I still have to get the pictures onto fb, but when I do, you'll understand what I'm talking about. :) Absolutely breathtaking. :) The sand boarding bit was fun, too. We had a good time failing. After awhile, we got it down, but that first half hour was nothing but sand-in-face time. The only bad thing about the dunes was that I got some sand in my camera. :( I think that I'll be able to fix it (or totally eff my camera)... We'll see.
On Sunday of that weekend, we went to the botanical gardens via the longest, most serial-killer-movie-esque route ever. The gardens were nice because it felt like home. There were huge trees and grass; we laid and slept for about half an hour before we had to leave to catch our bus. Happy, relaxing days. :)
The weekend after that, the whole fam (volunteers) made our way to ARGENTINA. Yes, Argentina. Like the country next to Chile. YAY SOUTH AMERICAN TRAVELLING! :D :D Bonnie's and my adventure was hilarious. We had to take a night but to Santiago in order to get to our other bus on time. Our bus left at 11:45, so we made our way to the "station" (a gated area) at about 11:30. When we got there, there was no bus and a dude just chilling. As we walked up, he asked if we needed the night bus. I had to bite back the "No. We're just wandering around at 11:30 with big backpacks because it feels nice" remark and nod. He proceeded to tell us that the bus was late (four hours late, to be exact) and that we'd have to go to Other Bus Company to see if they could give us a ride. Ugh. We high-tailed it to where the bus companies our, got our money back from one, and managed to get the last two seats on said night bus. The only problem was that we had to pay substantially more for these tickets (our first tickets were 2500 apiece. The Other Bus Company tickets were 6000 apiece). Oh well. We were on our way!
We got to Santiago and, after meeting up with the majority of the rest of the fam (YAY!!), we hopped on our DOUBLE DECKER bus. We got to go on a DOUBLE DECKER bus through the Andes. We got to go on a DOUBLE DECKER bus through the Andes. It was incredible. Despite the fact that we were up high, it felt like the mountains just kept going. No better way to make you feel absolutely tiny.
When we got to Mendoza, it was seriously like all of our worries were gone. We were all much more relaxed and it got even better as the weekend went on. We split up for dinner and Melissa, Bonnie, and I went to a buffet that had every type of meat on earth. And it was Argentine meat. *Heaven* After that, we went back to the hostel and did some major catching up. :)
The rest of the weekend was, for me, pretty tame. We all ended up getting super wasted on the 30th (which was hilarious). I ended up being the constant in Mendoza/the hostel. I never really left to go do the wine tours or the hot springs or the mountain thing. It was partially because I didn't have money, partially because I seriously wanted to just relax. And relax I did. :D The time I had in Mendoza was spent wandering around, reading my book, and eating some delicious food. Yummo. :)
We got a night bus home (to Santiago) on Monday and hit Santiago on Tuesday morning at around 6:30. Bonnie and I got a bus to Salamanca at 7:30, which, although expensive, was nice. When we got home, no one let us go to classes, so we sort of just sat around and did nothing. A nice way to end an awesome weekend. :)
5) The End? It's coming up really fast (19 days and counting!) and honestly? It doesn't feel like four months have come and gone. Sure, there were days that I never thought would end, but I have days like that in the States. Something that I've noticed here more than anywhere else, though, are the relationships I've developed. Maybe it's because I was here the longest, maybe it's because I invested more of myself into this trip--I don't know. What I do know is that I feel like these relationships are way stronger than the ones I made in the past. I know, without a doubt, that I will stay in contact with my family and friends from here (and I don't just mean that we'll be fb friends, I mean legit stay in contact). These people are more than just folks that I met and spent time with. They're family. They've seen me at my best, my worst, and everything possible in between. It's hard to imagine what my life is going to be like without hearing "MAITE! APURATE!" every morning or not having my constant travelling companion (Bonnie) wherever I go... :( I know, though, that they're all only a phone call or fb message away. :)
Alright, so I think that's it for right now. I'll probably post once or twice more before I head on outta here... :)
Loves to you all!
Cb.
P.S. Interesting note: this post took me all day. Not because I had a hard time formulating ideas, not because I didn't want to write it; it was because other stuff came up (we "had to" go to lunch, then we "had to" drive folks around, then I "had to" swim/do laundry/clean/do dishes/be a nanny). It's crazy, but it's indicative of life here. I know that, in the States, I would never leave something like this unfinished. I couldn't. Now, it's like a tickling in the back of my brain; I know it's there, but I'll get to it eventually. :) Now, whether or not this whole roll-with-the-punches-mentality follows me to the States I don't know, but it's pretty fun while I've got it.
Peace. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment