Santiago Acheivement #2

April seems to be a time of pushing myself to new physical abilities!

My previous backpacking experience was pretty limited to when I was a camp counselor at Camp Celo. We took short hikes with groups of 7, 8 and 9 years old, carrying packs with our tents, supplies and some of our food.

This easter weekend, my gringa friends and I deecided to hike to a glaciar and camp out for the night. We drove up to the park (up, and up and up), which is about an hour outside the city.

We had been told the hike was about 8 hours to the glacier and we wern´t quite sure about the level of difficulty, rather we just figured, that we´d find out soon.

Classic gringa style, I didn´t wake up to my alarm (two of us had gone out dancing the night before so didn´t get quite as much sleep as we would have liked). I arrived to our meeting place late, but I wasn´t the only one running a little behind schedule.

We left a little late than planned, around 10, when had hoped to leave at 8:30. Oops.

The hike was incredibly beautiful and didn´t start out too hard. It went back and forth from flat to incline, some brief downhills, although we were generally hiking up, with the glaciar in the verrrry far off distance the whole time.

After we stopped for lunch 3 hrs in, the hike got a little harder. We stopped for snack 2 hrs later, it got a LOT harder. By this time, our packs were digging into our shoulders and feeling really heavy. We were sunburtn, had some blisters, and our thights were burning from the incline.

The path was often confusing, whether we were walking through swamp, brambles, grass, streams or rocks and rocks and rocks.

We reached a place where the path seemed to end and all we could see was a huge cliff ahead of us that I could not imagine how in the world we were going to climb. There were a couple of hikers on the ledge on the cliff and we asked them about the path. They just pointed up, of course.

We did find it; it was a switchback path but still, straight up. At this point, we were all feeling the altitude and were literally walking 10 feet and then stopping to wrest our backs, thighs and catch our breath.

We soon ran into some other hikers coming down and they gave us the incredible news that we were only 30 minutes from the campsite! It ended up being more like an hour and when we made it over the cliff and walked a short bit down the other side to a large open clearing, there was one other tent set up.

The nice fellow whos tent it was, informed us that we had indeed reached the camp site and we were overjoyed.

The camp sight was an hours hike from the glaciar, but we´d been planning on hiking there in the morning anyway.

We set up our tents and cooked a lovely, hot dinner of rice and lentils. Although we hiked all day in t-shirts, by this time it was cold and we were as bundled up as possible.

The night ended up being awful. We were so cold that we barely slept even though my friend and I both slept in the same sleeping bag to try and stay warm.

When the sun finally showed its face, we were still so cold that we didn´t bother making breakfast but decided to hike to the glaciar to warm up.

Again, the path was straight up, switchback and really scary at times it was so steep. We were so grateful to have left our packs at the campsite.

When we had hiked about an hour and could see the glaciar really well, but would probably have to hike another day to touch it, (and we didn´t think we could take another step up) we stopped, took some pictures and hiked down, back to camp to eat, and pack up.

I felt great on the hike back. although we didn´t have much water cause boiling snow took way to long and although we boiled stream water, it tasted so coppery it felt dangerous to drink.

My pack was lighter since we´d eaten most of our food, it was all down hill and I was so happy to be in the warmth of the sun even if I was turning even more red (we focused so much on the cold when getting ready that we forgot to bring sun block).

About 4 hrs in, we were getting a little nervous about making it back before dark, but we ended up arriving at the car (and clean drinking water!) with daylight to spare.

We were exhausted, burnt, aching and so proud of ourselves.

I got back to my house a little before 8pm and was in bed and sound asleep by 9:30. The next day I had a little trouble walking and was sore for about 3 days.

We later read that the hike was 20 kilometres there, and 20 back. After a half marathon and this hike, I feel prepared for a cold winter and hopefully my body won´t be mad at me if I use the cold as an excuse to not exercise that much!

Running and Reflecting, at the same time of course!

March was one of the busiest months I´ve had in Santiago. We literally had a VE event every single weekend: We held our annual trivia event to raise funds, we took our Jornada retreat to the Cajon de Maipu for a reflection and bonding time specifically for the new class of volunteers, we had our first Liga de Deportes event which happens once a month with our kids and we had our bi-annual Festival de Arte (organized by...me!) for the children as well.

Jornada, is one of the most special parts of VE and it reminds me exactly of the good ol´QLSP days. It´s a time were we leave the loud, dirty city (not that Guilford was loud or dirty) and take a retreat to the Cajon de Maipu and stay in an incredibly trainquilo retreat center called Chalet de Piedra.

During my last Jornada I spent a lot of time reflecting on why I came to VE/Chile, as well as getting to know the antiguos (old VE volunteers and directors) better as well as the other volunteers in my class.

This Jornada was very different as I was a guia (guide) for one of the small groups of new volunteers. Last time, the antigous and directors where there creating the experience for me, whereas this time I was taking part in creating the experience for others. This was really awesome and helped me get to know the new volunteers and remind myself that clerking or group facilitation is something I feel really good about doing and havn´t done in a long time.

I still had the chance to reflect on my work with VE and so much has changed from being a volunteer to being on the directors team. I took out my old personal and professional goals (which Mariah keeps for everyone in sealed envelopes with our names on them) and was pleasantly surprised to see how many of my initial goals I´ve achieved, especially the personal ones: being outgoing in Spanish, realizations that I can be in a different country, all alone, and make good friends and still be myself as wierd as I may be, etc! The professional one´s have changed so much from working directly with the children to working mostly in the office, so it was harder to see progress in that area.

Then April rolled on in, with an exciting event the first weekend: The Santiago Marathon. I ran the half (13 miles, 21 kilometres) with two of my co-workers (both of my bosses actually) and we had one friend who ran the full as well!

I was really excited about this run becuase before I started training, I had never ran more than 7 miles in my life. So it was quite an achevement for me. I finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes and 25 seconds and felt goooooood.

Besides that, leaves are starting to fall in Santiago, days and nights are getting increasingly colder and I´m starting to wonder how I´ll fare in a country with no central heating in any indoor spaces. I just may find myself spending a lot of time in the one cafe with heating on my block...luckily they have super tasty tea there, and even gluten free treats for my dear coeliac friend.

I think I´ll probably manage:)

Santiago Summer

Five months in.

January began my training for the Assistant Director of Operations position so I only went to the Jardín once a week, up until it closed for the summer. Ive been missing my kids a lot and looking forward to March when the Jardín opens again for the new school year.

Training has been intense because there´s so much to learn, about all our programs (which I´ll be in charge of), about the selection and recruitment process (also of which I´ll be responsible), and lots more about volunteer responsibilities, general operations tasks, finances, etc.

Now that February has arrived, I´ve finished my training and am doing my best to stay on top of my many tasks and responsibilities. My days in the office pass very quickly with a million emails to answer and send (in English and Spanish), institution visits, staff meeeting, long lunches where we all cook and eat together, phone calls, reports to read and write, and more. It's an office job, but a dynamic and relaxing one. "Muy piola" as we say here in chile to mean "super chill".

One event I had the privilege to help organize was a repair day at my very own Jardín, hence the fun pictures above. VE collaborates with a Chilean organization called the Austral Group, that organizes activities for business students who travel to Chile for an international perspective on business, or something like that. We provide the day of service, of course.

We had 30 New Zealand students working on their Masters in Business, come to the Jardín to paint the inside and outside, shelves, do some general repairs and paint a sign out front and a mural in one of the main rooms.

Annie (the director of resource developement), Josh (our ED) and I (the one and only Jardin volunteer!) did a lot of preparation and planning to be as organized as possible for the day. Still, there were things we forgot or didn't calculate correctly so things were not perfect, but they were incredible even so.

Annie and Josh went ahead to call it the most successful repair day we've ever had. The students seemed so happy to be there, they were coming up with their own projects, fixing toilets, playing with the few kids who showed up, they brought bags full of donations and gave a small monetary donation to VE. And the mural and sign on the front wall of the Jardín turned out incredible as you can see in the pictures!

Tía Luz, the head tía at the Jardín, cried when she arrived and she saw the incredible work that was happening. "We would not be able to realize these necessary changes and improvements to the Jardin if it wern't for groups like you all. I don't have words to express how grateful I am" she exclaimed in fast Spanish that Josh quickly translated for everyone to understand.

It was especially incredible for me to experience because I've spent 30 hours there every week for my first four months here. To see the transformation that took place, from the dingy, dirty, barely-held-together Jardín, to a shining, clean and incredibly sweet looking one, was incredibly special.

I don´t need to say anymore because the pictures do more justice to the work that was done than my words could ever do (Thanks Aunt Diana for a great camera to take all these photos!).

In other Chile news, there've been a few earthquakes in the South, but nothing that I ever feel here in Santiago. So, you don't have to worry about me when you hear about the quakes on the news!

There's a Santiago full and half marathon on April 2nd that a bunch of us VE-ers are going to participate in. I'm going to run the half (did you think I was crazy there for a moment or something?). I've started training, trying to run about five days a week (but not always succeeding), throwing in a little strengthening here and there, and running a long run once a week, adding an extra mile each time.

I´m up to 8 miles and most training plans tell you to stop at 10, so I'm taking it easy, not getting down on myself if I miss a day or two of running as I've still got a month and some to go. It feels really good to set a goal for myself that is hard enough that I'll really have to work for it but not completely out of my reach. I´ll keep you all updated on how this goes.

I've also started riding my roommates bicycle which makes me incredibly happy (as I´m sure you can imagine). Riding a bike is a little like making art for me. I could be in a really bad mood, be sad or upset about something, but the minute I'm on that bike (instead of being on the hot, crowded metro or bus) with the wind blowing through my hair, passing people and traveling at a perfect pace, I am suddenly transfered to a world where nothing is ever wrong. It´s the best therapy ever for me and makes my life here in this big city, more enjoyable than ever.

I'll even save some money by not using public transportation. So, thanks to Jorge, my roomate, for buying a wonderful cruizer bicycle that he never rides and lets me ride instead!

I have been taking an hour or so bus ride to the beach these past few weekends, to Vina del Mar one of the most popular beaches outside Santiago. I really enjoy the hot city weather, and cool evenings but its always a nice break to get away for the weekend and spend the days lying on the beach slathered in suntan lotion and eating artesanal sorbet that come in flavors like naranja- gingibre (orange-ginger) and frambuesa-menta (rasberry-mint), to name a few of my favorites.

Nest weekend I plan on going camping at the best surf beach in Chile, Pichulemu, with a few friends. The plan is to get as much beach time in as possible before March and fall arrives in Santiago. Leaves are already beginning to fall...

As always, thank for reading and please do drop me a line to let me know how your doing!

Nos Vemos,

Fey

A New Year, a New Outlook on Life

Me and my VE friends at our Christmas Party

Stephen, Lindsey, Lily, Meghan, Faith, Jamie (from left)

New Years Eve in Valpo with Katelin and her pololo

The incredible City of Santiago, photo taken from the top of La Santa Lucia which is a "cerro" (hill) right by my house that is basically forest with steep winding paths and a little lookout spot on top. It is also a favorite place for "pololos" (couples dating) to go and make out, EVERYWHERE and in plain sight (although that basically describes all of Chile in a nutshell). The point is, its very turisty but also incredibly beautiful and one of the best places to see the entire city all around you.

___________________________________________

Dear Friends,

I just spent my first Christmas away from my nuclear family, and although this was difficult for me, I also began to see how I can form family wherever I am, in whatever country, language and culture.

Chileans celebrate on the 24th in the evening with a large dinner and then present opening at midnight. I celebrated a half chilean and a half american Christmas eve. First, I spent time with my roommate and his family and our Brazilian couch surver, eating really good food (you would be surprised how much random vegan food there is here in Chile) and making small talk, in Spanish of course.

Then, when things started getting a little to family oriented and I became a little sad because my family was so far away, I took a quiet walk (there was noooo one out in the streets, it was the quietest I've ever heard Santiago) to my friend Stephen´s apartment (fellow VE volunteer). We were both a lil sad not be participating in our normal family traditions so we comforted ourselves by listening to our favorite selections from the Hanson Christmas album and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas.

On Christmas day a VEer had a Christmas potluck barbecue so we celebrated with Chilean classics; lots and lots of meat and delicious veggie kabobs made by me.

For New Years I went to Valpairiso and Vina del Mar with my friend Katelin, who actually left for the states this Tuesday morning and I will miss her dearly.

We had a blast staying with the family of her boyfriend, meeting his incredibly nice family members, eating the delicious food they made and being driven around by him in his Sisters fancy car. It´s funny how walking and taking public transportation all the time (which is suuuuper hot and sticky during the summer, and always crowded) makes me appreciate cars much more than ever before.

However, don´t think I´ve given up my environmental ways, I think about buying a bicycle daily and I often spend about 20 minutes every day looking on the craigs list of Chile for good deals...

Besides crowded metros and HOT weather, the new year also brought my new job as the Assistant Director of Operations for VE - GLobal! So far its going quite well. I´ve been spending my days in the office contacting new volunteers who will be arriving this weekend, finding them housing, planning welcome dinners, preparing for the week of orientation, writing up program reports, sending thank you notes and so much more.

From now on I´m mostly in the office and I go to the Jardin once a week. For the summer they will be closing anyway, from January 15th until the beginning of March, so there is a possibility that I will get to spend some time in a different institution while mine is closed for the summer.

Today when I arrived at the Jardin, bringing with me two other volunteers who´s institutions already closed for the summer so they´re helping me out at the Jardin, we were told that the electricity was cut off because there was no "plata" (money) to pay for the "luz" (lights). Apparently, they had been without electricity for about a week and they had to transfer all the food in the frigerator and freezer into those of neighboring "houses".

The fridges stank, and all morning I kept trying to turn on lights to find a pencil sharper or more toilet paper, and I kept being reminded that this is not the situation where the irresponsible college kids forgets to pay their bills. This is an issue of an incredible lack of resources and extreme poverty where at the end of the year, there just isn´t money any more for the lights.

Luckily, electricity workers seem to be pretty understanding here because some men rolled up after lunch and turned the electricity back on! I tried to ask the Tias what happened, where did the plata come from, but they just shrugged their shoulders and said "we told them we´d pay later." There will always be things like this that I just don´t understand here...If only I could have told Duke Energy in North Carolina that I´d pay them later, I could have saved a lot of plata. Or maybe a lot of electricy...(since they are not Chilean so they would have just cut it off, get my joke?).

Other good news is that once again, I can tell that my Spanish is improving! When I first got to the Jardin, I could barely understand the Tias and I barely said a word. Today, I understood almost everything they said and we were cracking jokes, having serious conversations about birth control and sex ed. for teenagers and I felt at ease with my language skills. As this is one of my main goals of being here in Chile, it brings me so much joy when I can see these concrete improvements.

Lastly, both myself and my class of volunteers reached our fundraising goal for VE! Thank you all so much to those of you who donated and to those of you who sent me loving thoughts, emails and more. We couldn´t do it without you all.

Muchos Besos de Santiago, Chile.

Faith

p.s. Some friends asked for my mailing address, so I'm gonna put it up here!

Merced 332

Depto. 73

Santiago, Chile

America del Sur

(no zipcodes here)

www.ve-global.org

Christmas time in the Jardin!

Monday we spent the afternoon making santa and elf hats! They turned out quite well don't you think?

Chile Forever...I may never come home

Katelin and I in Brasil!

Dear Friends,

I´m getting close to my 4 month mark here in Chile, and I´ve decided, that I may never come home. I promise you, this is not because I feel negative feelings towards the US, I´m just in love with my kids, feel like many opportunities are being presented to me here, and my Spanish is improving!

Within my organization, I quickly moved from a full time volunteer in my institution, to a coordinator (still full time volunteer but 2 days are spent in the office, 3 in my institutution) which is the position I have been working in for about a month. I´m the coordinator of the Arts and Sports programs so I organize sports and art materials in the office, I coordinate and plan sporting events and art events for our kids to attend, evaluate the programs, come up with field trips, etc.

And now in January, I will be starting a new position I just applied for, recieved and accepted. I will be the Assistant Director of Operations of VE-Global!

This is super exciting for me because first of all, I will receive a stipend (about 400 USD a month, very little but very helpful) which means I can stay in Chile for longer than the 8 months my budget would have allowed. Second of all, I will hold a lot of responsibility in a really incredible organization making concrete positive change in the lives of the children we work with every day. I am also excited about this work because I will continue to be with the children one full day week, then in the office I will be working with the volunteer relations side of the organization and I will continue in program coordinating as well.

So that´s my big news.

In other news, I just took a really incredible trip. I traveled with my friend Katelin (from Guilford) who has been doing the English Open Doors program here in Chile. We went to Las Cataratas de Iguazu, (Iguazu Falls) in Argentina, Paraguay for about a day to check out the cheep electronics and to buy fun floral print clothing, and then to the incredible beaches of Florianopolis Brazil!!!!

I can easily say that the Waterfals of Iguazu were the most amazing thing I have seen in my life. There were points were I had to look away the sights were so breathtaking and powerful.

There isn´t much to say about Paraguay, but we were glad we went for the crazy shopping experience. It´s not every day you eat fresh mangos on the side of the road while taxi motercycles go zipping through the traffic and men forcefully try to sell you flash drives and socks for very low prices in a currency we really dont understand.

And then Brasil. It was "muto bien" which if I remember correct in portoguese, means it was very good. Actualy it was amazing. We stayed at what I like to call a Hostel Resort, becase this was not your ordinary hostel. They had advertised "free towels, 100% cotton linens and a big healthy breakfast" so we decided to check it out. And were we glad that we did!

They also had free internet, surf boards, and 1 fancy drink a night at the bar they had just built with the most incredible view ever.

Katelin and I relaxed to our hearts content, we layed in the sun, surfed, went for morning runs on the beach, drank real coffee, ate fresh fruit and we even squeezed in a night of Samba dancing before we left!

All in all, an incredibly restful and wonderful trip.

And then I was happy to return to Santiago, to my kids at te Jardin, and to the Christmas festivities in Chile!

At the Jardin, we´ve had some highschools and elementary schools come visit us to give our kids little christmas parties, gifts and sweets. At first I thought this was just an overwhelming experience and would probably give the kids lots of cavities. However, on Monday the second "colegio" (elementary school) that came was very small and they brought one gift for each child. (This first group had just brought games and snacks, no material gifts).

I had heard stories about these groups coming in, leaving toys, then booking out of there, that sort of charitable giving that people like to do at Christmas but that doesn´t leave much longstanding impact. However I was pleasantly surprised.

Our children sat in a circle while children from the Colegio called out their names one by one and gave them their gift when they came forward. I will never forget the faces of my kids as they were handed giftwrapped packages often larger than them, and quickly unwrapped them with a little help.

I realized that these children very rarely are given a brand new toy that is their very own. In the Jardin we have toys, but they are all slightly broken, drawn all over, and it is always stressed that the toys are the Jardins and no child can take ownership over it because the toys have to be shared among all the kids.

In my anti-materialistic mind I think this is great, but to see the kids faces when they unwrapped their brand new baby doll or their toy car, I saw this incredible excitement of a chile receiving a gift that they were going to treasure for as long as possible and it was just for them; they did not have to hand it over to some other kid after 5 minutes.

After a moment, I became worried because I saw how some toys were bigger than others, and I worried that the kids would begin fighting because they wanted something bigger, more exciting like what another kid had. However, they were so amazed by their own toy, they only congratulated their friends and went back to their own new backpack or game, their very own christmas gift. I realized they may never have received a brand new gift before in their lives, and this could very likely be the only one this year.

So i´m learning some things this about the meaning of giving and receiving, materialism and the christmas spirit. I´m not completely sure what this all means yet, but I was just so happy this colegio came to give gifts to our children, and it did have a positive impact on their lives whether it will have longterm impact or not, Im not sure.

To close out this lengthy post (i´m trying to make up for lack of posts the past few months) I´m going to ask you all to help out my new employer in this season of giving!

We are working on our campaign of the year, Unite.Act.Engage! My personal goal is to raise $300 USD and I have already raised $130! So thanks to those who already donated and If you would make an alternative christmas gift and donate to VE. A donation of $15 would make a big difference in the life of one my kids, a girl in one of the hogares or a child attending an after school center. Dec 31st is the last time to donate for it to be tax deductable for the year!

To make a contribution to the Unite.Act.Engage campaign, please click here http://www.ve-global.org/support-ve/?utm_source=Active%2BVolunteers&utm_medium=All&utm_content=Donate&utm:campaign=AV2010. And please send me an email letting me know if you donate so I can keep track of my personal fundraising!

My only negative news, is another chapter of my electronics saga here in chile, after a non working camera battery charger, a broken computer and now a lens error i´m getting on the camera with ALL my vacay pictures, so I promise, pictures to come very soon.

Thank you all so much for your love and support.

Faith

And now it´s been a month

Dear Friends,

I have been in Chile for a month and a half now, and I can´t believe how quickly the time has passed.

I have fallen in love with my kids at the Jardin, and finally, I took lots of photos of them for you all to see! I´m working on a flicker page as well, if you want to see them allllll.

My pattern at the jardin is starting to feel quite natural. I have an hour commute, first the metro, then the micro (bus), and then a ten minute walk to the Toma. The other Tias and I eat breakfast together and drink tea and coffee while the children arrive and eat their breakfast as well.

We have circle time, where we sing all different songs in Spanish and I recognise almost all the tunes, but not the words. Then the kids go out to the patio to play for about a half hour, followed by an art project led by the Tias, either painting or drawing. Then back out to the patio until lunch. The pattern is pretty much repeated in the afternoon, except for about one day a week when we go to the park!

I´m working on some small programming for the kids. There are very few books at the jardin, and the ones that are there, are missing pages and have scribbled drawings all over them. There are small amounts of money alloted to all volunteers to buy supplies for programing, so I hope to buy some board books to teach the kids how to care for books, and to start having story time once or twice a week.

Overall, I am really enjoying being a part of this VE-Global organization community. We have a general newsletter that updates folks on any new programs going on, events, and overall organization news, so if you´re interested in being on that newsletter, please let me know. We are always looking for new contacts!

We are also at the beginning of this years fundraising campaign! If anyone is interested in donating please let me know or go to the website, www.ve-global.org. We are trying to be very creative in our fundraising and as volunteers we are trying to raise $30,000 by the end of the year (our internal campaign)! So if anyone wants to hold an event wherever you are, that would be greatly appreciated, easy and creative ideas are encouraged.

I am currently applying for a new position within the organization, a coordinator position. This would mean I would spend a little less time with the kids and more time doing work for the organization and being in charge of a committee of volunteers (kind of like being a quaker committee clerk) . I would feel a little more balanced this way, because I become easily exhausted when I spend all day every day only with los niños.

I stay super busy here in Santiago, which is why I've been here almost two months and have only completed 2 blog posts. I'm working on this.

Thank you all for reading and I'll keep you posted!

For more pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038
200&id=55100930&l=67baf34ae8