Hello all...
Here I find myslef again in the busy, crazy world of Valparaìso, Chile. I got back earlier in the week after a 5 day trip to see John Keim and his sisters, Abby and Amanda and their mom, Ingrid in the enormous city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. 5 days trickled by in this crazy white water adventure of mine, and some pretty entertaining stories came from the journey... Note: It is very entertaining to stay across the street from a sex hotel. Enough said.
Anyway, my time in BA was really interesting, because I finally got to see what all the fuss was about. I have heard from SO many people who LOVE the city, and would elope with it were it an actual living being. But, I also talked to a few people who were not so enthralled, and viewed it as just another big city. So, what did I think??? Well, overall I liked it. A lot, actually. From the moseying around in the different, colorful barrios, to bustling through Florida street to NOT sleeping during the night time... It was fun and had a good energy. I can see how it would turn some people off, though. IT IS HUGE. I felt almost as if I was in a different city each day, and that it could easily swallow me if it wanted to. But it was colorful, fun and full of music. Which, obviously, I like.
So, speaking of colors, fun and music, I am IN VALPO. And it rules. Valparaìso is truly a unique city. I see, smell, hear and feeeeel something new every day. I walk about 30 minutes to class, and just enjoy every second of every sensation I experience along the way. From the vendors singing their sales, to the construction workers chit-chatting, to the smells (both good and bad) on the street of.... whatever is cooking. It is so thriving. It lives and breathes every second of every day. It is a constantly changing, morphing organism. And it has digested me into its system.
Updates:
So, I have started classes, finally! And I really like them all. I am taking Portugues (because, one day I will go to Brazil), Geography of Latinamerica, Chilean dialect, History of Valparaìso, and Biodiversity and Sustainable Development. wow. yes. bakan. The last class I mentioned about Sustainable Development intrests me a whole lot. The whole theme of Developent, sustainability, all this... Is so complex that it takes my brain for a nice long exercise. What does it mean to "develop"? What IS Sustainable??? So many people say that Chile is "developing"- but, how??? With more cars and plastic bags to support their growing number of Supermarkets??? With their interest in damming the Patagonia Wilderness or mining through Glaciers to provide More people with More stuff and more energy??? Don`t get me wrong, I am all about providing people with basic goods like heat and electricity, but at what cost?? fuuuuuuck. at WHAT COST!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
damn.
Ah, to be a critically-thinking human. mmmm. Well. Whatever. We are all part of it.
In class the other day, one of my Professors was glad to hear that a majority of us were so interested in sustainability and the Environment and stuff, and he basically said that it is up to us, and that WE are the hope, etc... But, last time I checked, We ALL ARE. We are ALL on this planet, hello, riiiight!?!?!?!?!?!? Young, old, whatever. We ALL consume. EVERY DAY WE DEVOUR THE EARTH. Every. Single. Day. So, maybe we can just do it less????? maybe.
Well, anyway, that may be all of my ranting power for now. The only reason I am wiriting this now is beacuse I couldn`t find the place where I saw a free pilates class advertised. So, here I am, ranting and bitching... :) But, well. There we go.
Have a blessed day.
Chau Chau
jueves, 25 de marzo de 2010
martes, 16 de marzo de 2010
Again, Buenos Aires
Hello all,
Well, still here. Sorry to leave so briefly on the last post. After lunch and a nap now, and I am feeling oh-so-nice. John and I are in this sweet little apartment in a neat barrio that is realatevly close to his mom and sister's apartment here. It is warmly comforting to see so many familiar faces so far from where I saw them last. How lucky I am! I was getting a little nostalgic this last week about home, family and Colorado, so seeing bits of that is so lovely. So, yea here I am in Buenos Aires! wohoooooooo!!!! I have wanted to come here for a while now, so I am really glad to be here now. It is soooo big and I have seen a fingernail of it, but so far I like it. The Argentinians here are so different than the Chileans. I feel like I am in Denver or something. Everyone is Super fit, and has really light skin and there are more blondes here than I have seen in.... A very long time. Ingrid, John's mother actually told me that Argentina has the Highest anorexia rate in the world! Ironic, given that the food here is o good! She was also saying how self-conscious so many of the people are here, and how some of them won't even dance on the beach during a concert. wow. BUT, that is just a very, very small population of this country and im sure in no way represents any kind of national sentiment. Both John and I have contacts here, so we'll hopefully get to see and experience more of the culture as we continue our trip. yay! Glad to be here... So glad, in fact, that I am going to go experience it Right Now. Keep you posted...
Chau!
Well, still here. Sorry to leave so briefly on the last post. After lunch and a nap now, and I am feeling oh-so-nice. John and I are in this sweet little apartment in a neat barrio that is realatevly close to his mom and sister's apartment here. It is warmly comforting to see so many familiar faces so far from where I saw them last. How lucky I am! I was getting a little nostalgic this last week about home, family and Colorado, so seeing bits of that is so lovely. So, yea here I am in Buenos Aires! wohoooooooo!!!! I have wanted to come here for a while now, so I am really glad to be here now. It is soooo big and I have seen a fingernail of it, but so far I like it. The Argentinians here are so different than the Chileans. I feel like I am in Denver or something. Everyone is Super fit, and has really light skin and there are more blondes here than I have seen in.... A very long time. Ingrid, John's mother actually told me that Argentina has the Highest anorexia rate in the world! Ironic, given that the food here is o good! She was also saying how self-conscious so many of the people are here, and how some of them won't even dance on the beach during a concert. wow. BUT, that is just a very, very small population of this country and im sure in no way represents any kind of national sentiment. Both John and I have contacts here, so we'll hopefully get to see and experience more of the culture as we continue our trip. yay! Glad to be here... So glad, in fact, that I am going to go experience it Right Now. Keep you posted...
Chau!
Bueeeeeeeenos, Aires....
Hello all!
Writing here, sipping an Argentinian Malbek wine and relaxing after a nearly 24 hour bus ride, finally! Needless to say, I am safely in Argentina. It is hard to believe it is my first time in this country whose border is shared with the one I have now spent significant time in, but well, here I am. I left Chile at around 8 yesterday after my roomate Roberto gave me a lift to the bus station in Valpo at the sunrise time of around 7:30. I got on the bus, and prepaired for the journey which was long, but plesant. So many people were surprised that I was going in bus instead of plane, because a bus is at least 6 times slower. Or, just takes WAY longer. 24 hours versus 4... BUT, its also more than $200 cheaper, and you can see scenery fly by and just think and space out for a while. So, duh... It is one of my preffered methods of travel. And how else do we spend days, anyways? Thinking, spacing out, doing "things"...??? So this was just another day, only with less corporal movement. I am actually reading this really good book right now called What is the What, by Dave Eggers. He also wrote A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which is excellent as well. This book now, What is the What, is biographical and about a Lost Boy who escaped from, and survived the Sudanese Civil War. It is at some points, although true, very very hard to believe. He describes (it is written in beautiful first-person prose) the way hundreds and thousands of people had been murdered, at any given time, and by all methods, by their own people.
And this is something my young mind can STILL not Really believe. The way human life is indespensibale to the point where a single movement of the index finger around a plastic apparatus can just BOOM. Send someone into the next stage of this human, soul experience... well, shit. I have to go eat lunch with Johnathans mother and sister now, So, I will pick up next time... stay tuned! :)
Chau cahu.
Writing here, sipping an Argentinian Malbek wine and relaxing after a nearly 24 hour bus ride, finally! Needless to say, I am safely in Argentina. It is hard to believe it is my first time in this country whose border is shared with the one I have now spent significant time in, but well, here I am. I left Chile at around 8 yesterday after my roomate Roberto gave me a lift to the bus station in Valpo at the sunrise time of around 7:30. I got on the bus, and prepaired for the journey which was long, but plesant. So many people were surprised that I was going in bus instead of plane, because a bus is at least 6 times slower. Or, just takes WAY longer. 24 hours versus 4... BUT, its also more than $200 cheaper, and you can see scenery fly by and just think and space out for a while. So, duh... It is one of my preffered methods of travel. And how else do we spend days, anyways? Thinking, spacing out, doing "things"...??? So this was just another day, only with less corporal movement. I am actually reading this really good book right now called What is the What, by Dave Eggers. He also wrote A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which is excellent as well. This book now, What is the What, is biographical and about a Lost Boy who escaped from, and survived the Sudanese Civil War. It is at some points, although true, very very hard to believe. He describes (it is written in beautiful first-person prose) the way hundreds and thousands of people had been murdered, at any given time, and by all methods, by their own people.
And this is something my young mind can STILL not Really believe. The way human life is indespensibale to the point where a single movement of the index finger around a plastic apparatus can just BOOM. Send someone into the next stage of this human, soul experience... well, shit. I have to go eat lunch with Johnathans mother and sister now, So, I will pick up next time... stay tuned! :)
Chau cahu.
jueves, 11 de marzo de 2010
Learning How To....
Hello all,
Well, its been a while and the reason nothing has been written is because there is really not much to write. My days here back in Valpo consist of getting up when Im ready (which is surprisingly around 9 or 930), going up to my roof and stretching/dancing for a bit, eating some breakfast and..... well, not doing much else. I went with my roomate Marie one day to get her a guitar, and ended up buying an English lesson book off the street for about a dollar. Hopefully it will pay itself off. Joke.
Other than that..... I have been thinking about this whole theme of "getting over" things. Like missing family, friends, cultural familiarity... But these are things you just get over. You realize that some things simply cannot and will not change, so you do. You change, you adapt. You live. And its all, usually, for the better. There are still a few things I am working on getting over, like when people assume that I get all of my money from my super rich parents, and have never worked before. (or, if I have, in Starbucks Coffee). And this still kind of pisses me off. But, I just need to GET OVER IT. And just accept the fact that a lot of people DO think that everyone from the US lives off their parents money and doesnt do shit. Well, I kindly explain to them otherwise, and try not to be like, "and what the hell are YOU doing with yourself becides living with your parents and NOT working???". But, again. the assumptions are not Bad, and maybe its time I stop taking offence to them, and just let it be. Let it be.
Thats one thing Ive also learned how to do down here. Let things BE. I have no idea what is being said around me. Listen, let it be. I cannot communicate my feelings. wait, try, let it be. I really sometimes have NO idea what I am doing here. let it be. well.
Also, amongst many other things of learning How To.... Its nice now to know more of what Chile is like. I can walk the walk a little more, and am improving my talk the talk daily. But also, learning How to walk, how to appear, how to cook and share and live and travel and communicate... Damn, I am SO glad I stayed! My feet feel so much more confident and grounded. I am no longer walking in this mystery fog of, "Chile...????" so, thats nice. And everything is just more familiar, too. Even though every day is new, exciting and awesome, I still feel more accostomed to it all. Like a reoccuring dream. I know the plot, but the landscape and characters are constantly changing. so, thats nice.
.....I register for classes tomorrow, so it looks like it will be another busy semester. But I think thats part of the reason I am here, right? Something about Studying Abroad??? Something like that. Anyway, ONE (well, two actually) more trips before I may be done traveling. I am going to Buenos Aires (!) to meet my dear dear friend John Keim for about a week, then coming back and leaving a few days after that to go to Chiloe in the South of Chile with my "Study" abroad program. Theres that word again, Study... oh yea, I remember that now... hm....
well, off to the books I guess!
Until more exciting news arises...
Chau!
Well, its been a while and the reason nothing has been written is because there is really not much to write. My days here back in Valpo consist of getting up when Im ready (which is surprisingly around 9 or 930), going up to my roof and stretching/dancing for a bit, eating some breakfast and..... well, not doing much else. I went with my roomate Marie one day to get her a guitar, and ended up buying an English lesson book off the street for about a dollar. Hopefully it will pay itself off. Joke.
Other than that..... I have been thinking about this whole theme of "getting over" things. Like missing family, friends, cultural familiarity... But these are things you just get over. You realize that some things simply cannot and will not change, so you do. You change, you adapt. You live. And its all, usually, for the better. There are still a few things I am working on getting over, like when people assume that I get all of my money from my super rich parents, and have never worked before. (or, if I have, in Starbucks Coffee). And this still kind of pisses me off. But, I just need to GET OVER IT. And just accept the fact that a lot of people DO think that everyone from the US lives off their parents money and doesnt do shit. Well, I kindly explain to them otherwise, and try not to be like, "and what the hell are YOU doing with yourself becides living with your parents and NOT working???". But, again. the assumptions are not Bad, and maybe its time I stop taking offence to them, and just let it be. Let it be.
Thats one thing Ive also learned how to do down here. Let things BE. I have no idea what is being said around me. Listen, let it be. I cannot communicate my feelings. wait, try, let it be. I really sometimes have NO idea what I am doing here. let it be. well.
Also, amongst many other things of learning How To.... Its nice now to know more of what Chile is like. I can walk the walk a little more, and am improving my talk the talk daily. But also, learning How to walk, how to appear, how to cook and share and live and travel and communicate... Damn, I am SO glad I stayed! My feet feel so much more confident and grounded. I am no longer walking in this mystery fog of, "Chile...????" so, thats nice. And everything is just more familiar, too. Even though every day is new, exciting and awesome, I still feel more accostomed to it all. Like a reoccuring dream. I know the plot, but the landscape and characters are constantly changing. so, thats nice.
.....I register for classes tomorrow, so it looks like it will be another busy semester. But I think thats part of the reason I am here, right? Something about Studying Abroad??? Something like that. Anyway, ONE (well, two actually) more trips before I may be done traveling. I am going to Buenos Aires (!) to meet my dear dear friend John Keim for about a week, then coming back and leaving a few days after that to go to Chiloe in the South of Chile with my "Study" abroad program. Theres that word again, Study... oh yea, I remember that now... hm....
well, off to the books I guess!
Until more exciting news arises...
Chau!
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