Sunday, August 23, 2009
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:
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:
Sunday, August 16, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
