New Campaign Video!

As I mentioned in my last post, VE has kicked off it's 2009 Unite. Act. Engage annual campaign. Alexandre de la Biche, a member of the September 2009 class created a video to be shown at various campaign events. We're all extremely impressed with the video, so I'd like you to see it! Enjoy!

It's November?

Yes, it's November. Somehow we sailed through September and October, and all of a sudden we're planning for the December class of volunteers to come in! Yimes.

I would say that October was pretty much as euphoric as September. The new volunteers continue to make my job (and life) a huge joy. For that reason I was incredibly excited for their Jornada. And as it turned out, I was excited for good reason! From start to finish, the weekend retreat was filled with positive energy. The September class was game for anything and handled the group-building exercises and challenges with more zest than I've ever seen.

As usual, the weekend was filled with beautifully ridiculous moments. Firstly, a cat ate one of our quiches. The event was dramatically re-enacted in one of our group photos:

Secondly, the owner's daughters, one of whom is named Genesis, spent the majority of the weekend attempting to join and/or modify our activities. At one point, all 20-something of us found ourselves walking in circles like monkeys and elephants and whatever else Genesis came up with, freezing when she yelled "Paren!" and changing when she yelled "Cambio!". As Chris eloquently describes in his Jornada-related blog post, it was an important, no-one-gives-a-shit-about-what-people-think moment. It became a theme of conversation, about the importance of being silly and comfortable with ourselves so we can help the kids we work with feel comfortable with themselves. They're all trying so hard to be cool, and as I discovered with the girls at Entre Todas a while ago, my favorite way to behave around them is to be incredibly uncool. I think VE does a great job of helping people over that hurdle of self-consciousness, regardless of who's running the activity.

In the end, Genesis walked off with our frisbee, but we won't hold it against her.

I was a bit apprehensive about the new additions I made to Jornada, but everyone dove right into the new games and seemed to have a fantastic time. I heard nothing but good things about people's experiences in their small groups, and, although someone pointed it out specifically on my personal poster, I was not the only one to "get really huggy" at Jornada.

Here's the traditional group photo, as well as a now practically requisite jumping photo featuring all the antiguos (old volunteers):

Back at the VE office, we've begun a new tradition: Friday lunch! Although we almost always eat lunch together, now we each take turns cooking a beautiful meal for the rest of the office staff (and whoever else is smart enough to schedule an early-afternoon meeting) every Friday. Normally the person who's cooking gets no work done as they cook all morning, then we gorge ourselves, impressed by everyone's ability to come up with creative gluten-free vegetarian meals.

In other office-related fun, I made this video after a particularly productive afternoon (the day after Jornada is not built for productivity). Ann's mom sent her a care package that included Halloween-themed parachuters. We launched them out of the office window and ran into a bit of an issue with some potted plants a couple floors down. Enjoy!

We also celebrated Halloween with impressive costumes. Here's a sample, as you'll find Matt dressed as a box of Gato wine and me as, well, gluten.

In other VE news, last night we held the kick-off event for out annual Unite. Act. Engage. fundraising campaign. The event was a trivia night held in a beautiful backyard in Ñuñoa, a more residential area of Santiago. With about twenty white-tableclothed tables, twinkly lights, a lit swimming pool, DJs from Santiago Radio, ten donated cases of wine, raffle prizes, traditional Chilean barbecued sausages, and a gaggle of happy VE volunteers in their matching t-shirts, it was a classy event. We even had an accordion band playing during the cocktail hour before the trivia started. It seems like every gringo in Santiago was there, and they all seemed to have a fantastic time. Rumor has it we made more money than expected, so the event was pretty much a smashing success!

And finally, I've purchased a plane ticket home for Christmas! I'll be in New England from December 22nd to January 6th. I'll be in Connecticut for Christmas with my mom's family, New Hampshire for a few days to check out my dad's new digs in North Conway, then in Maine to sit in front of the woodstove, sled, and eat my weight in gluten-free products. I suppose I should go to the dentist as well. Regardless, I'm beyond excited to see all you lovely New England-ers and have a little vacation!

Oceans and Mountains!

One of Santiago's greatest attributes is its proximity to both the ocean and the mountains. Within a month, I was able to enjoy both sledding in El Colorado, a tiny town in the Andes, and sunbathing in Isla Negra, a tiny beach town where one of Pablo Neruda's houses is located.

In late September, one of our new volunteers, Angel, invited us up to her roommate's apartment in El Colorado. She did an incredible job organizing transportation, food, and a fresh snowstorm; all we had to do was drag ourselves out of bed a little earlier than we might have otherwise. Bruno, her roommate, picked us up in Las Condes, a northeastern municipality of Santiago, in his trusty Chevrolet Luv. We had way more people than seats, but Bruno said that as long as those riding in the bed of the pickup ducked under blankets during the police check, we would be fine. The boys chivalrously offered to pack themselves into the back, with a little assistance from Bruno:


At the end of the curvy ride, Angel met us in the cozy apartment with coca tea to nip any altitude sickness in the bud. We recovered for a while by sprawling on the heated floors, then headed out into the snow. Here's a view of some of the apartment buildings in the little town:

Most of our time was devoted to beating each other up:

It was a fairly perfect day, and although the boys (and Angel) had to ride back down in the freezing cold, we were all thrilled to finally get a taste of the mountains we [occasionally] gaze at [through the smog] from Santiago.

In mid-October, under very different weather conditions, four VE women headed to Isla Negra, a beach town south-west of Santiago. We started the day by touring Pablo Neruda's house. I had already toured Neruda's houses in Santiago and Valparaiso, so this completed the trio for me. Although the house wasn't my favorite aesthetically, there was something thrilling or magical about being in it. It was Neruda's favorite house, and where he kept the largest of his collections (seashells, tiny guitars, figureheads, etc). There are fascinating details in the house; for example, in one room, there are brown and green glass jars on the windowsill facing the garden, and green and blue glass jars on the windowsill facing the sea. I would probably be fascinated by anyone's house, but Neruda provides a lot to look at.

We spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach, eating a picnic and watching tourists pose with the stone sculpture of Neruda's head. We saw some creative ideas, but no one else bothered picking his nose.

The rocky beach reminded me of Maine, so having the chance to hang out there, with no agenda, just three wonderful people, was superb.

Life in Chile is not too shabby.

September at VE: Alive, Awake, Alert, Enthusiastic!

It's safe to say that there's been an explosion of happiness into my life since the arrival of the September class of volunteers. I have always loved VE (obvio, po) but I feel that the level of excitement I feel about my job has not been this high in months.

It all began with the airport pick-ups. Three days in a row of leaving the house between 5:10 and 6:30 a.m. sounded like a terrible way to spend a weekend, but each time I left the hostel after dropping off a new batch of newbies, I walked toward the Metro feeling absolutely giddy. At the welcome dinner on the Sunday evening before Orientation, I savored the buzz and chaos that comes with a large group of people in one room, all learning that they're going to seriously love each other.

The actual Orientation week went remarkably smoothly. Monday, with the energy of eleven new volunteers, was a blast. I could tell when the class got back from the scavenger hunt around the city that something magnificent was amongst us. In order to accumulate bonus points, one of the teams constructed this human VE, which just about made me cry.


On Tuesday I woke up early with a bit of a stomach issue, but didn't want to miss giving my presentation at 10:00. I managed to drag myself through a shower and a Poweraid purchase at the market downstairs, but didn't quite make it to the gate of the office building without breaking a FIFTEEN-YEAR no-vomiting streak. Ouch. On the bright side, a sweet woman walking by held my hair back, stroked my head, and asked if I had eaten something strange. Another man walking by asked if he could call anyone, as did two men in a delivery truck a little farther down the street. I explained that I worked in the building, so they went to tell the sweet little doorman who came out to walk me inside.

Needless to say, I was sent home and was horizontal for two days. I was SO bummed to be missing Orientation days and my newbies, but the VE team got to show off its strong suit: rising to the occasion and working together to make things happen! Everyone was amazing; between bringing me Gatorade, bringing the newbies to various corners of the city for Orientation presentations, and calling to make sure I knew everything was going well, the team made me feel extremely lucky and proud to be amongst such wonderful people.

By Thursday I was back in action and on Friday at Café, I was lucky enough to witness perhaps the most epic newbie skit in the history of VE. Traditionally at Café, some of the old volunteers put together silly skits or songs, and the newbies present a skit of their own. Usually the newbie skits are comedic and centered around making fun of the "locura" (madness) that is a VE orientation. The September class's skit, however, began with one of the volunteers entering with his guitar and strumming a mellow tune. As he began to sing (in French, his native language!), the newbies came out one by one, each making a letter with their bodies. For the second time that week, I almost started to cry as we realized they were spelling "Gracias." After the song ended, one of the volunteers translated the chorus of the song into English, then they all sang it together in French (some holding note-cards). The song was an original, written by our resident Frenchman for VE, and spoke of making children smile and making the world a better place, etc. We were all a little floored.

Of course, that wasn't the only brilliant part of Café. The office staff had planned a now-traditional for the September Café cueca competition. The cueca, as I've mentioned previously, is the national dance of Chile. September 18th is Chile's celebrated independence day, and when September rolls around, the cueca abounds throughout the country. A few of us in the office took classes at a local YMCA, and to make the whole experience more authentic, we all purchased traditional garb. Here we are, about to perform:


For a clearer visual, here are Emily and I in our kitchen, modeling our new purchases for Chris:


Although my partner (Brooke) and I didn't win the competition (despite our obviously superior dancing skills), the competition was extremely well-received and gave the newbies a taste of the experience they'd have the next week when the festivities really began.

And so they did! Dieciocho, as September 18th is called, is a huge deal for Chile. There are gigantic public barbecues with live music all throughout Santiago, and people spend the whole weekend celebrating. On the evening of the 17th there was a huge concert outside the presidential palace where famous band after famous band performed. Here's a shot of the stage as well as a shot looking back at the sizable crowd:


A few days before the 18th, Entre Todas had its own celebration at the home, during which the girls performed dances, including the cueca and the hula-style dance that's traditional to Easter Island. Because those of us who work in the office as well as Entre Todas (Chris, Ann, Matt and me) had learned the cueca, we decided to surprise the girls by performing it for them at their celebration. We donned our costumes and enjoyed the squeals as we muddled our way through the dance. After we performed by ourselves, we danced again, each dancing with one of the girls. Not only was it incredibly special to share that with the girls, Entre Todas's new director, as well as the other members of the staff, seemed totally taken aback and thrilled that we would make fools of ourselves in this way. For your viewing pleasure, here's a video of us dancing, courtesy of one of the girls' excellent filming skills!

Unfortunately, my Dieciocho was not perfect. On my way to a "fonda" (a large public barbecue/party) on the night of the 18th, someone stole my bag. It was frightening for many reasons, mainly because the man who stole it ripped it fairly aggressively off my arm. Not only did I lose money, a debit card, my Chilean ID card, my cueca handkerchief(!!!) and my keys, the bag and wallet inside it were both purchased during my time in Guatemala and were therefore quite special for me. Worst of all, though, my brand-new camera was in the bag. I had ruined my good camera during the June orientation week (death by drowning in the bottom of my backpack after a water bottle spill) and had received this camera in the mail from my dad (it was on loan-- sorry, Gilman) three days before the incident. Uff.

The events that followed, however, showed me once again what extraordinary company I'm in here. Emily, without missing a beat, bought me a new Metro card and took me home to help cancel my debit card. In the morning, while I went for a run to clear my head, Chris planted gummies and cheesy chips (people know me too well) on my bed. I received emails from three other VE folks saying they were sorry about what happened, and when I arrived at the newbies' barbecue the next day, Matt greeted me with a t-shirt from the fonda I never made it to. As if all that weren't enough, about an hour into the barbecue, the song-writing Frenchman announced he had a performance to make. We all gathered around as he sang a song for me (what??) expressing his condolences. Again, I started crying, and was speechless for the next fifteen minutes at least. Here are the lyrics to the song, which Alexandre wrote in English:

I know it's only words
But these are the best that I can say
Just to try to erase bad luck you found
On your way
Life can be so unfair but you know "c'est comme sa"
And I know that this song won't bring back
Your camera

I know it's only words
And they may last for just a while
But they want you to know that VE's nothing
Without your smile
You give us the will to be the best volunteers
And we're the orphans when you're not here

There are many things
That bad guys could never
Take away from you
That you're a crazy dancer
You're enjoying life like everyone should do
And generosity should be a second name for you

I know it's only words
From a man not very strong
I hope you're not upset
If it's not a love song
It's just a little tune and I hope you'll like it
So please keep it where nobody can reach it.

The barbecue, by the way, was on the roof of the building where we now rent three apartments. The apartments, right in the city center, are a huge improvement on the old volunteer house, which took an hour to get to from pretty much everywhere. At the new apartment building there's a [tiny] pool on the roof, as well as a great grill area with a sink and tables and chairs, etc. Plus, the view of the mountains from the roof is incredible. Here's a happy group shot from the barbecue, followed by a shot of all the VE ladies with the Chilean flag and the mountains behind us:

The newbies have generally brought a lot of "buena onda" (good vibes/energy) to VE and I feel as though the organization has woken up after a little winter nap. I also feel as though we've made a lot of progress in the past few months in terms of organizational structure, so VE runs more smoothly and can provide a better experience for incoming volunteers. We may still have a few computer monitors in our office's bathtub for lack of other storage space, but how boring would we be if our bathtub were empty?

If there's anything that's a struggle right now, it's saying "no" to hanging out! Those newbies are always up to something fun, and although I hate to miss out on any time with them, I need to carve out some Mariah time every once in a while. All in all, it's a good predicament to be in.

When the smog clears...

I meant to post these earlier--it rained heavily a few days ago and we woke up to a clear Santiago. Here's what I saw from my bedroom window:

Chileans call the YMCA the "eem-ka."

Let me begin by saying that the other day at the gym, I was on an elliptical machine next to a man eating a granola bar nine minutes into his workout.

The longer I'm here in Santiago, the more I'm tickled by Chileans and their culture. This weekend has been filled with moments that make me really, really happy that I'm here. On Friday night, I went to a cueca class at a YMCA with a friend of mine. There were probably forty Chileans at the class, all of whom seemed baffled that gringos would want to learn the national dance of Chile. Because Chile's independence day is approaching, there's a great demand for cueca classes so people can brush up for the big event. The class reminded me of the contra dances my parents brought me to when I was little, where children would run around creaky grange halls while their parents danced to live fiddle music. The cueca class had the same homey feel to it, with a mix of ages, loud Chilean music, and people dancing enthusiastically, regardless of their skill levels. Of course, we were relegated to a corner of the room where a second teacher was going through the basic steps with beginners. A small crowd watched us, not hesitating to approach individuals with advice. "No, twirl your handkerchief like this." I caught on fairly quickly, causing one of the men who works at the Y to say to my friend, "She has the steps down but she's SO tall!"

By the end of the class we were completing the entire dance, rotating partners frequently, allowing me to dance with a variety of old men, feet-flapping instructors, and a few amazingly patient teenage girls. As people filed out at the end of the (two hour) class, we were approached by countless people asking where were from, what we were doing in Chile, and would they see us at the next class? We left feeling content, and for just under $2.00 US, the class was a steal.

Last night the Chilean shenanigans continued as a group of VE volunteers headed to Domingo Savio, one of VE's partner institutions. Domingo Savio was founded as a children's home, but is now an after-school community center located in La Granja, one of the poorer areas of southern Santiago. Steve Reifenberg, the Program Director for Harvard's study abroad office in Santiago, the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, lived at Domingo Savio for two years in his early twenties, starting in 1982, and continues to be very involved, even keeping in touch with some of the children who lived at Domingo Savio when he lived there. He has been living in Santiago for six (?) years now with his wife and three children, and recently published a book called Santiago's Children about his experience living and working at Domingo Savio. You should all read the book, it's a fantastically entertaining read, and you can buy it on Amazon! Half of the profits go to Domingo Savio, so it's a win-win.

Last night Domingo Savio celebrated Steve's 50th birthday, as well as the inauguration of its new theater. A donation was made with the purpose of building a theater on the property and we got to see the first performance! Each of Steve's own kids said a little something (in their incredible, practically native Spanish), then the Domingo Savio kids performed a few acts. One of our volunteers, Fabianne, is a musician and runs a singing workshop once a week with the kids and had re-written lyrics to a song and played guitar while six or seven girls who are probably seven or eight years-old sang confidently with huge smiles on their faces. All of the children performed a dance with incredible homemade constumes, then a Domingo Savio alum/success story, who's going to college and has become an impressive baritone, sang four songs. His voice was powerful; so powerful in fact that a few very small boys sitting in front of me couldn't stop giggling throughout the entirety of his performance, especially during the silent pauses in the middle of songs. The singer held himself together, though, and the crowd seemed to appreciate both his talent and the children's tittering.

At then end of the show, in the middle of Tío Steve's speech, Tío Jorge, the reason Domingo Savio functions, carried a huge birthday cake along the aisle of the theater toward the stage. While the children screamed "Cumpleaños Feliz (¡FELIZ! ¡FELIZ!)" the fifty tall, thin candles began to fall toward each other and became a fireball by the time Jorge reached Steve. It was an appropriate finale.

I felt lucky to have witnessed the occasion, and was impressed at how much work the tíos of Domingo Savio had done to prepare for the event and make the place look incredible. There was cake and fondue and champagne and the 500(!) cookies Fabianne had been asked to make. The turn-out was also fantastic and included the U.S. ambassador, many of Steve's Harvard colleagues, Domingo Savio parents, almost every VE volunteer who's here in Santiago currently, and even some of the children, now grown up, who lived at Domingo Savio when Steve did. Steve was thrilled with the occasion, reminding the children to dream big like the boy did who became the incredible singer who performed for them. He also wished that everyone in the crowd would have the opportunity to have a birthday as incredible as this one.

I can't stop thinking about what a huge impact Steve has made on the Domingo Savio community for multiple decades. At the end of Santiago's Children he gives an update on where some of the children are today. Some of the stories are happy and impressive; some are sad, as the children, as adults, have been unable to break out of the cycle. I appreciate the realism of this conclusion and feel quite affected by how Steve has led his life. One of our goals at VE is to provide as long-term support as possible; Steve, for me, is the example of how that's possible. I don't want to set unrealistic goals for myself, but I can admire Steve's accomplishments.

I didn't get any great pictures during the night, but I'll leave you all with this one (the sign says "Feliz Cumpleaños, Tío Steve!":

And, of course, the fireball/cake:

Sopaipillas! Acrobats! Palooza!

Because time is passing faster than I can comprehend, last night we held our traditional celebratory event, VEPalooza. It was a more intimate Palooza this time around, with just four despedidas, or good-bye speeches for those volunteers leaving in the following months. As with Jornada, however, we all agreed that the smaller group made for a more relaxed and silly evening. I felt more relaxed as host and made sure to take note of feeling content to be in a room with some of my favorite people, all of whom have all been doing the work of multiple people in the past few months due to our small numbers. We forgot to take a group picture before people started leaving, but this is most of us:

In other VE news, last weekend, thanks to a donation from a local company, we took thirty-five or so VE kids to the circus! The circus was, as my friend Matt so eloquently stated, "a mixed bag." The show began with all twelve circus performers muddling through a hip-hop style dance to a reggaeton song, the vernacular of Latin American music. I cringed as the performers each danced to their own rhythms at their own times, knowing the Entre Todas girls were all thinking (rightfully) how they themselves could do a better job. Things looked up, though, upon the entrance of various trapeze artists and magicians, some more impressive than others. We volunteers squirmed through the trained-dog portion, exchanging winces when a tiny poodle wearing a superman cape galloped to the top of a 15-20 foot ladder, jumping into the arms of the trainer below without hesitation. The tent full of hooting Chileans demonstrated a slightly different attitude. Overall, the kids had a fantastic time, so the outing was a clear success. It was the eleventh birthay of one of the Entre Todas girls, so I was thrilled she got to do something special. Note the mountains behind the tent in this photo:

On a different theme entirely, any of my fellow volunteers will tell you that street food is one of Santiago's highlights. To name a few classics, there's the completo, which means a hot dog with all the fixings, the sandwich called as (pronounced ass) that allows for endless jokes among English speakers, mote con huesillo, a juice-like drink filled with large grains of husked wheat and a re-hydrated peach, and sopaipillas, disks of fried dough made from flour and pumpkin. Unfortunately, all street food has one of the following defining characteristics: wheat or meat. Until a few weeks ago, I had never had the joy of a greasy sopaipilla drenched in mustard. Luckily, my culinarily adventurous friend Suemedha decided this should change, and we conquered the gluten-free sopaipilla. They were incredible. So incredible, in fact, that I made them again by myself last weekend and took pictures:

Rolling out any type of gluten-free dough is usually about 12% as successful as you'd hope for, but a few of the sopaipillas actually behaved.

Deep-fried goodness.

And finally, on the apartment front, we have a third roommate once again! Emily, a VE volunteer since September 2008, returned from a month or so in the States and is now living in the glorious 1505. Not only is it great to have someone in the little bedroom off the kitchen to chat with while cooking, etc, it's great fun to have another girl around. Plus, now the apartment is completely meat-free! Three vegetarians in one apartment--that must be against some sort of Chilean law.

Transitions, awoohoo!

Greetings from Smog-tiago! It's been quite a while since I blogged, but I'll try to slog my way through the news! Although it's apparently been a mild winter with moderate amounts of smog, I've found it pretty difficult to keep myself healthy the past few months. It's quite an adjustment to live without heating, and even though the temperature rarely dips below 35 degrees Fahrenheit, on some days it's hard to shake the cold. The upside of the smog, though, is the crazy effect it has on sunsets. My new header (above) and the photo below are evidence of polutions's silver lining:

Winter has found VE to be shrinking smaller and smaller, but we're all looking forward to greeting eleven new volunteers in September! The new volunteers hail from the US, France, Germany, Scotland, Italy, and Australia. I'm incredibly excited for them to arrive and for the beautiful chaos they'll bring. We're more prepared for this class of volunteers than VE has ever been, I think. We determined their institution placements (meaning, which children's homes, community centers, or schools they'll all work at), along with their VE committee placements about two weeks ago, and pretty much have their housing squared away. Starting in September, we'll be renting two apartments from my landlord right around Plaza Italia where the office (and my apartment) is, which should be quite exciting for the newbies, as they'll have the entire city center at their fingertips. I've also starting putting the Orientation schedule together, contacting the speakers who so generously donate their time to us every three months. We've got our chats lined up with the Santiago branch of Amnesty International, the director of Harvard's international studies office in Santiago, a Chilean history professor, and a social worker who gives a great presentation on the rights of children in Chile. I'm also working to develop a new workshop on behavior management, so I'm feeling positive about being able to provide that kind of training to the volunteers when they arrive. It's certainly not time to start getting anxious yet. Eeks.

The upside of having a pint-sized VE for now is having a cozy, pint-sized winter Jornada. I was nervous, of course, because it was the first time I was solely responsible for the weekend retreat, but everything went smoothly, and my only mistake was not making time for myself. Next time I'll know to get up early and make a point of sitting and enjoying the mountains and pomegranate trees. It was cold in Cajón de Maipo this time, but because we were a small group, we could all huddle around the huge stone fireplaces and enjoy good conversation over s'mores and mulled cider. Normally at Jornada, everyone splits off at night when the official activities are over and I always feel a little disjointed, wishing we would all hang out together. To my delight, that's exactly what happened this time. There were rousing games of spoons in which my abnormally long arms were mocked ceaselessly when I never seemed to lose. The joke got so out of control, it became our theme for the traditional goofy group picture:

Another highlight of Jornada: the food! Brooke, my Entre Todas co-worker and an incredible cook, went all-out for her last act as VE's official chef. Not only did she go all-out, she went all-out GLUTEN-FREE! There were brownies, banana bread, empanadas (a Chilean "specialty" I'd never gotten taste), curry, Mexican lasagna, tortilla soup, quiche, and Brooke's famous pumpkin-chocolate squares. It was out of control. Once again I had that overwhelmed feeling I experience so frequently with VE: sometimes the high quality of the people around me is just too much to bear. Every single dish at Jornada didn't need to be gluten-free, but it was. Ah, but I gush.

The weekend was relaxed, full of buena onda, and complete with a couple of intense games of ultimate frisbee. Although I took a few good notes for changes to make next time, I felt good about how the retreat went. Here's the group of us that stayed after the activities officially ended on Sunday afternoon to hang out and enjoy the good company (read: leftovers):

Even though I didn't take all the time I needed at Jornada, it was a good chunk of time to spend with good people and remind myself that life goes on even after your core group of friends leaves the country. It's been a harder transition that I thought it would be, adjusting to life without a few of my first best friends from my own class in December. Two of my roommates and closest friends left, followed by my friend Lindsay, who had really been my go-to, all around fastastic friend here. I've realized how much I relied on these folks for affirmation since they've been gone. It's become an office joke (with a lot of truth) that I take things personally, and without Linsday to say, "You're doing such a good jobbbbb," I do seem to question a lot of what I do. At least this is something I'm realizing about myself and can aim to work on. That doesn't mean it wasn't brutal to see my friends go, though. Here are Lindsay and I at her good-bye party the night before she left, she wearing the get-up I bought her, giving her a taste of her own medicine:

In terms of my Chilean pals, the girls at Entre Todas are challenging and amazing as ever. During one of my recent afternoons there, I danced along with them as one of the tías taught a dance she choreographed to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." The tía was a dance teacher at one point, so it was practically a real jazz class, which was a hoot. My attempts at these types of dance moves are endlessly entertaining to some of the girls, so really everybody wins. Plus, trying to explain to a group of teenage girls what the lyrics of "Billie Jean" mean was another top moment in Mariah history.

I'll close this post with a few visuals! In my last post, I talked a bit about the riots that occur in Plaza Italia (aka 15 floors down and a few yards to the right from my apartment) after important soccer games. Here's a photo of the crowd in the middle of the intersection, followed by one of the riot police using some type of water blaster, as well as tear gas:

And finally, because keeping life a little silly is very important to me, here are a few photos from our good-bye party for the VE volunteer house (to be replaced by the two VE volunteer apartments). It was very traditional for residents of the house to take photos of themselves in this spot in the kitchen with various funny props, then post the photos in this same spot. We had quite a collection, though it had already been taken down in these photos. As another way of saying good-bye, we took a final series of kitchen photos. Here are a couple favorites of mine:

The guy with the broom? He's my boss. Life could be worse.

Settling in.

As I write this, I'm sitting on a real bed in a real bedroom with my own photos on the wall. After three months of sleeping in the living room of my apartment, I have my own room! Sadly, this means that two of my lovely housemates have left Santiago. If I try not to think too hard about that, I can focus on enjoying luxuries such as a bedside table with a lamp and a little desk with drawers. Oh and walls. Although I didn't mind my previous arrangement, setting up my room has felt wonderful and I think I'll be able to have my head on a little straighter now that I have my own space.

In VE-Land, we had our traditional VEPalooza celebration at the beginning of the month, which Lindsay and I co-hosted. To open the event, Lindsay and I led a sing-along of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" with new lyrics we wrote, entitled "Don't Stop VE-ing." The new lyrics pertained to various aspects of volunteer life here in Santiago. To give you a sample of the caliber of the lyrics, we changed "Some will win, some will lose, some were born to sing the blues," to "Some will pee, some will poo, some will make you look like fools." Obviously, it was a smash hit. At Palooza volunteers give good-bye speeches for other volunteers who will be leaving in the next few months, and we give out superlative-type prizes, such as "Most skilled on the dance floor," and "Most adventurous." Somehow I tied for "Most mysterious," although the uproar in the crowd when Lindsay announced this result speaks for itself. Here's a group photo from the event:

After Palooza, Orientation Week began and although I was a nervous wreck at the beginning of the week, everything went incredible smoothly. There are only four newbies in the June class, and two of them had been in Santiago for at least a month when the week started, so they were an easy-going bunch. It didn't feel like an actual Orientation Week because there weren't a million airport pick-ups to make and there were no crises, which I found a bit unsettling. At least now I can be confident that I know how to get to all the various places around the city where we take the newbies over the course of the week. We already have a staggering TEN volunteers confirmed for the September class, so I'm glad I got to go through the motions of an Orientation with such a tranquil group because I have a feeling September will be anything but tranquil. And I will love it.

The week started with a welcome dinner at the office on Sunday night and I was quite taken aback by the effort all the current volunteers put into the meal. It was, I think, the most elaborate dinner ever held by VE. At one point I ran over to my apartment to grab a pot (for mulled cider, egad) and I got a bit emotional thinking about all the people working away in the office making soup and pizza and gluhwein to welcome the new class of volunteers. I felt and continue to feel incredibly lucky to be surrounded by so many committed, good-natured, hard-working people. Despite the fact that the honeymoon has in some ways ended, I still feel overwhelmed by the VE community. I thought for some reason that I wouldn't be able to generate the VE "onda" or vibe during Orientation, but the VE onda just happens.

Speaking of the VE onda, on the Friday of Orientation Week, we had Café, our traditional closing dinner and skits at the volunteer house out in the suburbs, but this Café was unique in that it would be the last in the volunteer house. We decided, for multiple reasons, that it was time for a change regarding volunteer housing, and will be renting two apartments for our volunteers right in the city center rather than the house an hour outside the center. A lot of volunteers, although no one likes the commute to the house, have high levels of attachment to the house, so we held a toast circle for the house after Café. We sat in the living room and went around the circle sharing memories of the house. It was hilarious and sad and wonderful and, like everything else with VE, ended with a dance party. The rest of the weekend was spent, unfortunately, cleaning out the years of accumulated crap in the house and selling it in what may have been Chile's first yard sale. It wasn't always fun, but it needed to be done, and we managed to make a bit of money for VE in the process.

Outside the VE bubble, I've seen a couple of really great Chilean bands this past weekend. On Thursday we went to a little salsa club and saw Banda Conmoción, who were incredible. There were eighteen members of the band crammed onto a tiny stage and way too many people in the audience crammed together and jumping as a single entity. So fun. Last night we saw Teleradio Donoso at a theater in an upscale part of town. They were also incredibly fun, in a more alternative-rock, funk-y sort of way. It had been a long time since I'd seen live music, so it was good to get a fix this weekend.

And finally, my roommates and I witnessed a fascinating display of Chilean culture last week after the Chilean fútbol team beat Bolivia. Fans always gather in Plaza Italia after games, win or lose, and make a huge scene. This most recent time was the most extreme I've seen, and ended with the police spraying water and eventually teargas. There were probably a few thousand people in the Plaza who moved themselves into the street, filling the entire enormous intersection right outside our apartment. They were ecstatic, chanting and singing and using huge Chilean flags as trampolines, flinging people into the air and catching them. The police started by asking them to leave through the PA systems in the riot vans, then started inching the vans toward the intersection. This caused a few people to run, but the majority stayed. Fans started getting angry, breaking bottles and ripping street signs out of the ground to hit the riot vans. Once the police started with the water and tear gas the people cleared out quickly. We watched this all from the safety of our 15th floor balcony, but rushed inside as soon as we started feeling the effects of the tear gas. It was absolutely wild.

Well, that's all for now. Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the beginning of summer up there in the Northern Hemisphere! Off I go to snuggle into my down comforter. Brrrr.

Tourism and Abandonment

When I arrived to Chile in December and discovered I'd be the only member of my VE class staying for longer than six months, I knew there would be a brutal few weeks in May/June when all my friends would file out. These weeks have arrived. After June 26th, all but two of us will be gone. This is the nature of an organization such as VE--volunteers are constantly coming and going, so those of us who stay for longer periods of time end up saying good-bye a lot. I've already seen a few volunteers leave, but in the next couple of weeks the people who I spend the majority of my time with will be heading home. It's going to be an interesting transition, and I'm sure I'll feel a little lost for a while, but I'll survive! As for the other December Class survivor, my friend, roommate, and Entre Todas co-worker Chris just signed a contract as our new Director of Institutional Relations through the end of June 2010, so we're in in for the long haul together! It's reassuring to know such a good friend will be here through the end of my time in Chile.

As for my last few weeks with the other December folks who will soon be abandoning me, we've made it a priority to do some of the things we've always talked about doing. Last weekend we decided to conquer a few tourist sites in Santiago, so we started by visiting the Cementario General (General Cemetery), where all but two of Chile's presidents are buried. It was a beautiful, quiet place to explore, full of sculptures and streets lined with ancient trees. The cemetery seems to model itself after Santiago in that the rich and poor are distinctly separated. There are parts of the cemetery, especially where the presidents are buried, that feel like a miniature village with elaborate mausoleums modeled after churches and other ornate buildings. Other more "proletarian" areas feel typical graveyards, strewn with plastic flowers and broken flower pots. Near the entrance to the cemetery, the streets are lined with large "pavilions" like the one pictured below:

Our next stop was the Natural History Museum, where we found a variety of lackluster, disorganized exhibits. Museums are certainly not Santiago's strong point, and this one was no exception. One of the high points for me, however, was this whale skeleton:

We then headed to "La Chascona," Pablo Neruda's Santiago house. I've read some of his poetry and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I didn't expect to be so taken by the tour of his home. As we learned, his Santiago house was a bit of a hideaway for him and his third and final wife Matilde--Neruda hadn't yet divorced his second wife when he and Matilde moved into the La Chascona (named after Matilde's wild, tangly hair). Hearing stories of their relationship while exploring the rooms with all their quirky art and accessories was more thrilling than I had anticipated. It was all impossibly romantic.

The next day we headed to Valparaíso, the port city about an hour and a half from Santiago by bus where Chilean congress meets. The city, long past its prime, is now known for its funiculars, colorful houses built high up on the hills overlooking the harbor, street art, and its New Year's Eve fireworks display. Valpo is also home to "La Sebastiana," another of Pablo Neruda's houses. Unfortunately, it was incredibly foggy while we were there, so in lieu of enjoying the views of the ocean, we were forced to make our own fun:

We also explored a few neighborhoods to enjoy the street art:

Another noteworthy recent event: the coffeehouse! A few of us decided that VE folks would appreciate this sort of venue, so we baked muffins and banana bread, made coffee, hot chocolate and tea, rearranged the furniture in my apartment, and let the snapping begin. A few folks read poetry, I read a non-fiction piece, and a few songs were performed. It was quite satisfying to have an event that felt completely different than the typical Friday night activities. And, of course, it turned into a sing-along, which turned into a dance party, so in the end, we returned to our roots. Here's Chris reading a poem at the beginning of the coffeehouse:

In meteorological news, "winter" seems to have finally hit Chile. This means it's cloudy, extra smoggy, and cold. I hear there's going to be rain, but I don't know if I believe it yet. The effects of the smog, however, are obvious and terrifying. Lately I wake up each morning and wonder if I picked up smoking in my sleep. We haven't seen the mountains surrounding Santiago in weeks, and some days, like today, I can't even see Cerro San Cristobal, a large hill about five or six blocks from our apartment that normally dominates the 15th floor view from my bed in the living room. Yikes. Our unheated apartment, usually warm because of sunlight coming in the huge windows you can see in the above picture, has started to get a bit chillier, so it will interesting to see how the next few months play out.

And finally, because VE is cyclical, not only will there be a mass exodus in the next few weeks, but the June class will begin their Orientation Program on June 8th. It's a small class, but my first solo-led Orientation, so I'm anxious nonetheless. I'm trying to take it easy this weekend because the next month is going to be a wild string of good-bye parties, welcome dinners and, because I wouldn't have it any other way, late nights in the office. This month's goal? Tranquility.

Nudos Humanos and other Delights

I've realized over the past few weeks that life here just isn't going to calm down. I've learned that I need to shift my line of thinking with this new job of mine and accept that due to the cyclical nature of VE, our work is never done. This is both overwhelming and exciting to me and I'm on my way to learning how to leave the office at a normal hour even if there's more I could be doing. There's always more to do, but it's important that I leave time for myself. And for blogging!

Since my last post, I've decided to stay put in this apartment with Chris, Jess and Paul. I've found the living room to be quite welcoming, and in June I'll move into Paul's room when he returns to the States. Here are a couple photos of the view from our balcony, the first of the view during the Santiago Marathon and the second, looking in the other direction, of the sunset a few nights ago:

In Entre Todas news, I've transitioned to one afternoon a week with the girls since I'm at the VE office the rest of the time. It has become a treat to go see them every Wednesday afternoon and I marvel at how positive each of these visits has been. I don't know if it's because I've known them for quite some time now, but I feel like huge steps forward have been made in terms of the girls' comfort level around me, as well as around the other volunteers. Chris continues to develop a fantastic rapport with them, and one of the new volunteers has a wonderful calm presence that the girls respond well to. There are quite a few new girls at the hogar and I think their coming in and seeing us as an established aspect of Entre Todas has helped the overall attitude towards us as well. We're also running the pilot of VE's English program ("Incredible English!") at Entre Todas, and the girls constantly speak to us in the bits of English they know. Sometimes that's limited to, "What's your name, baby?" but we take what we can get.

I've continued the cooking workshop I started a couple of months ago and have now made chocolate chip cookies (twice), chocolate cake, and apple crisp with various groups of girls. They absolutely love being in the kitchen when it doesn't involve helping prepare a standard meal. Even the hardest-to-impress girls participate and declare the project "bacán," which is a Chilean-ism for "cool." Moments like this sometimes make me wonder where I am and why the girls are so friendly with me; I can only hope it means progress has been made.

As we did for Christmas, a few of us decided to spend Easter Sunday with the girls. Ann, who had dressed up as Santa on Christmas, dressed up as the Easter Bunny, which the girls found hilarious. One of the tías hid chocolate for them around the house, and we brought the fixings for make-your-own-sundaes. It felt good to bring some silliness and gluttony to their day, which they had been passing in front of the TV before our arrival.

A major lesson I've learned about relating to the girls is that I should just be myself. Crazy, I know. I think I used to try to make them think I was cool, but things have gotten a lot better for me since I've started making my usual bad jokes around them and generally being a big nerd. A few weeks ago, while playing a terrifying Chilean version of dodge ball with a few of the girls at a park, the ball hit me in the head. The girls laughed, of course, but started laughing harder when I started flapping my arms, squinting one eye and screaming "I had two eyes when I got here, I don't know what happened!" One of the girls stopped short and shouted "Tíííía, que foooome!" ("Fome" is another Chilean-ism that means "lame"). The girl and I exchanged a smile and I knew, even if she thought I was fome, it was the right reaction for me to have upon being slammed in the head with the ball. Lately, every time I leave the hogar I think, "Wow, that was such a good day." That almost never used to be the case, so something good is happening.

Yesterday the whole Entre Todas volunteer crew went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant where one of the girls works. She's twenty and is moving out of Entre Todas soon, so we wanted to make sure we visited her at work before she moves away. We thought she was a hostess at the restaurant but as it turns out, she waits tables, and was our server! There were six of us and she handled it beautifully. As an ex-server myself, I was nervous for her--I always used to hate waiting on people I knew--but she was incredibly confident, poised and professional. She even tried to refuse a tip from us since we're her friends, but of course we insisted. We also insisted on taking a group photo, which embarrassed her to no end, but we were all thrilled to be able to provide her with that "there's a big group of people here who are proud of me" type of embarrassment.

In more general VE news, we had our Jornada weekend retreat two weekends ago in Cajón del Maipo, a gorgeous spot in the mountains about an hour outside Santiago. Here are the traditional Jornada group photos:


The weekend was brilliant. As I described after my first Jornada, the retreat is just my style, and probably my favorite aspect of VE. I had a few critiques of the last Jornada, however, and had the opportunity to make some additions to the weekend this time around. I felt strongly that the energy needed to stay positive throughout the whole weekend, so I inserted a few silly games including the classic "Ha ha" game where people lie down in a zig zag pattern with their heads on each others' stomachs and each add one "ha" until the whole group is in hysterics, every one's heads bouncing on each others' laughing stomachs. I also added an activity called "Human Knots" which, when translated into Spanish, becomes a hilarious false cognate: "Nudos Humanos." Here's an example of a fantastic Nudo Humano:


I also added a poster activity from a retreat I attended in high school. Each person had their own poster with two columns ("Something I learned about Volunteer X this weekend:" and "Something I appreciate about Volunteer X:") and other volunteers filled in the columns throughout the weekend. Although the additions I made were small, I think they were fairly successful in keeping the mood positive despite challenging group games that occasionally cause frustration.

In addition to the large group games, lively small group discussions and personal reflection time, there was lots of relaxing down time, delicious food, a few sing-alongs, and plenty of moments like this:
Outside of VE-related activities, we've managed to keep a jam-packed social schedule. Last Sunday, Lindsay, Jessica and I went to Pomaire, a tiny town outside Santiago known for its pottery. We each bought a bunch of traditional Chilean bowls for less than the cost of our transportation to and from the town. Other note-worthy events include an Easter egg scavenger hunt around Santiago organized by our very own Paul Mannix, an entertaining/educational/delicious Passover Seder hosted by a group of volunteers with varying degrees of connection to the Jewish tradition, and, of course, the usual theme parties and late night gchats, as if we don't see each other enough.

Although my stress level has been high lately because of work, I continue to feel content here. My friends are an amazing support system, and although many of them will be departing within the next month or two, I have confidence that there will continue to be people around who make me excited to go to work every morning. Geek.

She means we're bouncing into [Santiago]

Tonight I found myself on a miniature trampoline, surrounded by Chileans on their own miniature trampolines, bouncing along to American techno music while a toned Chilean man shouted garbled Spanish instructions into a headset. As most of you know my affinity for trampolines (and garbled Spanish, for that matter), this was pretty much an ideal situation for me.

My friend Lindsay has a gym membership here in Santiago and as a result has the pleasure of attending "Powerjump" classes a few times a week. I was so jealous when she told me about the class that she called the gym and asked if her friend who's "looking for a gym" could try a class. They obliged, as Chileans usually do, so there we were, two red-faced gringas trying desperately not to fly off our little trampolines. I don't want to say that it was the most amazing and/or ridiculous moment I've had thus far in Chile, but I couldn't help but think as I jumped and shouted "Hey! Hey! Hey!" along with the other participants that I'm doing something quite right with my life right now.

Patagonia! (Please pass the band-aids)

On March 12, my friend Ryan and I headed to Patagonia for a six-day trek in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine in the southern tip of Chile! We completed the "W," a famous route that brings hikers to a glacier, through a rocky valley, and to the Torres del Paine themselves. We flew down to Punta Arenas, then bussed to Puerto Natales where we took another bus into the park. This map shows all three locations, all down at the end of the world!

After entering the park, we took a ferry across Lago Pehoé:

From there we hiked to our first campsite near Glacier Grey. We had hail for our first ten minutes which made me laugh as people had warned me about the crazy weather in Patagonia. The wind there is unlike anything I've every experienced. I was blown fully over twice during the trek and had quite a few close calls, especially with my balance thrown off by my big backpack. Here's our first site of the glacier from a distance:

I was pretty excited:

Along the trail the first day we met an extraordinary man named Ian from New Zealand. He's sixty-nine years-old, has one fake hip, and maintained about the same pace as we did wearing Teva sandals. Sigh. We camped next to him at our first campsite and in chatting with him I discovered he'd lived in Maine for two years and went contra dancing every Saturday at the Wescustago Hall in North Yarmouth for those two years. Yimes!

Here's a view from the first campsite, complete with icebergs from the glacier:


Also along the trail on that first day I developed some fierce blisters on my heels. I thought my hiking boots were broken in enough, but I was sorely mistaken. Here's a shot of my heels a few days later:

The blisters made the trek painful, but when I look back on the trip, I think more about the incredible place and the incredible people I met than about how much my feet hurt. Which they certainly did.

On our second day we headed back to the refugio and campsite by the lake where we got off the ferry. Before we headed back, though, we took a quick hike to a viewpoint to get a better view of Glacier Grey:


We ended up staying our whole third day at the campsite by the lake because it was pouring when we woke up and a few people who headed out on the trail came back because the weather was so miserable. There's a quincho at this campsite, which is a little enclosed gazebo-style hut where campers can cook and hang out, so it was a lovely day playing games and socializing with other trekkers in a dry, relatively warm environment.

On the fourth day we headed to the French Valley which makes up the center prong of the "W." We didn't actually make it to the very top of this climb because it started hailing and was getting dark, but the views we did get were stunning:


On our fifth day, we headed toward the third prong of the "W," at the top of which sit the Torres themselves. This hike took us along Lake Nordenskjold with its other-worldly green water:


On the morning of our sixth day, we woke up at 5 a.m. to try to have the traditional sunrise-on-the-Torres experience. We opened the tent door to a snowy, cloudy day, but decided to make the forty-five minute climb to the base of the Torres anyway, just in case. We passed many disappointed hikers shielding themselves from sleet on the trail, but when we arrived, the clouds parted a bit and we were able to see this much of the Torres:


I was glad we hiked up, even if our view left a bit to be desired. It poured for the rest of the day so we were soaked by the time we hiked down to the refugio near the park entrance, but a wood stove, a cup of hot chocolate and switching to flip-flops healed all. That night, back in Puerto Natales, we returned to the amazing vegetarian restaurant we had found and shared a beautiful meal with a couple of people we had met on the trail. Climbing into a real bed that night, complete with a down comforter, will be among my highlights of 2009.

Overall, it felt wonderful to be back in a place where I was in awe of everything around me. I love Santiago and all its smoggy personality but a reminder of the epic possibilities of nature is always welcome. I also found myself feeling incredibly nostalgic for the camping days of my childhood. As soon as I heard our tent zipper for the first time, I felt this visceral yank into my memories and suddenly wanted to be sitting around a picnic table with my parents by the light of a lantern, drinking cocoa from my purple camping mug with its matching spoon and fork. The nostalgia travelled with me for the duration of the trip and I felt a strong sense of gratitude to my parents for providing the outdoor experiences they did when I was so young. Though the trip was not without its ups and downs, I feel extremely lucky to have had the experience.