No me preocupo

El hombre no va a ninguna parte. Todo viene al hombre, como el mañana.
-Antonio Porchia

A little bit more than three months left in this country, first time in another country, and I cannot believe how quickly time flies. I've barely left this city in which I've lived for such a short, yet long, period of time. But in these seven weeks, I've seen things that I didn't know existed and encountered a laid back way of life that I didn't know was possible. This carpe diem mentality has been ignited inside of me, and I just want to see/learn/do everything. I'm already looking into programs that let you teach English over the summer in other countries, or just other parts of the US. I've never been one to sit still, and this trip has already taught me truly just how little I like to be in one place.


However, in the past few weeks, "one place" has exactly where I've been. Last weekend was filled with CODEFF activities. I'm slowly falling in love with this organization (actually, let's call it a disorganization. En serio). All of the people in the organization (... I've met four. So tiny) are SO so eager to share all the information that they know with us. Fantastic people.

Saturday, we participated in a demonstration against the dams being built in Patagonia. There were about eleven demonstrations all held simultaneously across the nation. We were all working to get signatures on a petition to have the Chilean government request the Patagonia be protected as a UNESCO World Heritage site. And we collected the MOST signatures! Gringas can get things done!
True to form, below is my slide show :) And I stole these pictures. AND click the callout box to get captions!




Sunday, we went on a birdwatch with the same organization. The pelicans were SWEET! But the rest of it kind of bored me, not gonna lie. I think it's because I had NO IDEA what we were looking at, or why they were important. The more that was explained to me, the more I was interested in. However... I did spend some time with fantastic people, and go to walk around a part of the city I've never been to. [For some reason, the entire time I was on this birdwatch I couldn't help but think of the Vogler family...]




Then, I had a week of classes... meaning three days. On Wednesday, I met with a teacher at a school in one of the cerros of Vina, who wants to partner with Doherty Middle in Andover to start a letter exchange program! These are the kinds of things that get me so excited I can't sleep at night... and it's perfect. I start teaching on Monday with my friend Sarah. We have our own class of about 14 students. Cannot. Wait. I'll make sure I take pictures of the neighborhood and mis estudiantes.


Yesterday, we went with CIEE to Rabuco, which is a small farming town about an hour away from Vina. Beautiful, beautiful place. I think if I had to choose between a city and a farmtown... actually, I lied. I'm not sure I could decide. I feel like, in Chile, I could spend hours and hours looking at a horizon that never changes, but see something new and different every minute I spent looking. It's such an amazing country; I can't get over how lucky I am to have landed here. Kind of like applying to Vanderbilt, Chile was a bit of a whim and not much forethought. And again, like Vandy, it's everything I wanted but never knew I did.




Today, we were supposed to go to La Campana, a national park where you can hike mountains and stuff. But it's kind of chilly, and really foggy/cloudy, so this trip was postponed. It doesn't make sense to spend four/five hours hiking up a mountain when you won't have a view at the top. Instead, I stayed in bed for way too long, did a TEENY bit of homework. In a few minutes, I'm going out with a few friends, and then to someone else's house to watch the CHILE v VENEZUELA futbol game!

That's something else about Chile. Chileans in the north and Chileans in the south share so much, regardless of the distance between. They share pisco, la cueca, their national soccer team, a shared identity and culture. It's something that the US doesn't really have, I'm learning. We have more of a regional identity, that's usually associated with other countries. BUT! We have Thanksgiving!

I guess that's all for now... OH! I lied.

1. HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL to all of you Andover kiddies!! Miss you... especially my two favorites
2. GO VANDY! First home football game of the season....feels weird to not be tailgating in a sundress!


Love,
Colleen