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.