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.
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.
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.
