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.