Lastarria and Fires in Valpo

On Saturday I had a free day to do whatever I wanted in Santiago. I really wanted to go on a walking tour called Tours for Tips. Google it, it sounds awesome. Also, it came highly recommended.

I also haven't done the hike up to Cerro San Cristobal (the hill in the center of Santiago that has those amazing views) and it's starting to get to me. They both have to happen in the next week or so.

Instead, I walked around an area near my depot (apartment). It's called Lastarria, and it's amazing. It's just a little barrio a few blocks behind my street. It has amazing restaurants and cafes, clothes stores and book stores and street vendors selling art, books (I found books by Herman Hesse, Kahlil Gibran, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and so many more, all in Spanish), and traditional Chilean things. It was packed with tourists on the beautiful Saturday morning (it was really beautiful. 75 and sunny).

I saw a group of dancers, some delicious looking restaurants and one amazingly beautiful Catholic church. I wanted to go inside so badly, the entire inside was a golden hue of lighting, but there was a wedding going on.

The streets were narrow and some kind of new cobblestone, but it felt old and a little colonial and I was loving it. I found a few bookstores, one that was full of old, beautiful books, but they were all law books or studies of government history. A few blocks and at the end of a dead end street full of restaurants, I found an even more amazing book store. The shelves went to the ceiling and there were ladders on wheels, a la Beauty and the Beast and I was a freaking kid in a candy store. I have no idea how long I was there, or how many books I wanted to buy (books here are super expensive, because there's a paper tax... their paper resource is running low apparently), but it was a magical experience.

On Friday I found out about the fires in Valparaiso. Valpo is one of the two cities I went to one of my first weekends here.

The fires started in this city and killed almost 13 people and left over 8000 with nothing. It's been amazing to see the Chilean reaction to this tragedy. So many people have come together to donate their time, money, food, water, clothes, and other items for these families that have nothing.

This article explains what happened and the devestation that has been left behind.

BBC Chile fire in Valparaiso kills 12 and forces thousands to evacuate

Two of my friends, Dana and Kylie, live in Valpo. They are both okay, as the fires hit mostly hill areas and they don't live near there. But I know it has been so hard for them and their community, especially their students.

Here is a post Dana put on Facebook about donating. Anything you can give would help! And please, please, please be praying for everyone in Valpo... all were affected in some way or another.



Dana Wilson:

Hey guys, Duoc in Vina is working with one of the local elementary schools that was greatly effected. One of our Co-Workers created this page to make it easier for friends and family in the US to donate. Please share with whoever 

Hi friends and family,

By now, I'm sure most of you have heard about the devastating fire that has destroyed over 2100 homes and left 8000+ people homeless in the city of Valparaiso, Chile. The fire is still burning after 48 hours, and authorities are calling it the worst fire in the city's history. Everyone here knows someone who has lost everything.

Together with friends and colleagues here in the area, we are starting a collection to support families in one of the neighborhoods that suffered some of the worst damage. We are collaborating with a school on Cerro La Cruz in Valparaiso where 90% of the students lost their homes and everything in them. If you are interested in collaborating, you can donate through PayPal at the link below.

http://www.youcaring.com/other/relief-for-fire-victims-in-valparaiso-chile/164994

If you feel more comfortable contributing to a national organization, you can visit the Chilean Red Cross at http://www.cruzroja.cl/donaciones, or Desafio Levantemos Chile athttp://www.desafiolevantemoschile.cl/aportes/ and wire a bank transfer to Chile.

Thank you for your support! Fuerza Valpo!

Relief for Fire Victims in Valparaiso, Chile
www.youcaring.com

So grateful for my health and safety today.

Besos,
Ally

Eso es la vida

I feel like it's been ages since an update. Really, I think it's been 2 weeks.

I'm still slowly but surely adjusting to life here. I'm learning more every day and my expectations are changing each day too (and some are, a little stubbornly so, not changing).

My daily life still sometimes feels hazy, like a dream, or like I'm on auto-pilot. I can't figure out if that's just life here, or if my life would be like there no matter where I was, and this is just what it feels like to have a "real" job.

Last weekend I went out on Friday night with my roommate Jenni, and 2 of her friends from her program last year that are now living in Santiago again. We met up with Lizzi and Natalie and a group of Chileans that they know and a really cool underground karaoke bar. It was actually underground, and called Zotano, which means basement in Spanish. Go figure. We were the only gringos in the place and it felt pretty cool. The only songs they had in English were Adele, but honestly what more can you ask for? We requested it and belted it out, as best as we could and in our own true Adele fashion. On our walk home we found a group of street performers. They looked about our age (in their 20s) and there were about 8 guys playing instruments and about 6 girls dancing. There was a huge crowd surrounding them and watching, moving to the music too. It was really cool.

The next day (Saturday) I went with Lizzi, Hannah, and Hannah's visiting sister and brother-in-law to a vineyard on the outskirts of Santiago. We took a metro line all the way to the last stop, then took a bus about 20 minutes. It was BEAUTIFUL there. I've never been to a vineyard, and this one seemed pretty simple, but the day was gorgeous, the air was beautiful and cleaner... it was wonderful. We paid around $13 for an hour long tour of the place and tasting of 3 wines. I can't wait to bring all of my from home visitors there, it was really fun.

On Sunday, my church had services in parks across Santiago. My ministry met in Quinta Normal, a park I had never heard of or been to before. I was supposed to meet a woman from my church at my metro stop and go from there together. We missed each other and we each had the wrong phone number for each other so we never found each other. I basically knew were to go and decided I'd just wing it, and if I couldn't find it then that was God's plan. So of course I exit the metro at the stop I knew I was supposed to, and the park was right there. I walked in and it was amazing. The day was a little cloudy and cold, but I was loving it (reminded me of Ireland. Plus, it's a nice break from the heat). I didn't know where in the park to go and it was relatively big so again I just decided to wander and pray and whether I found the group or not, that was meant to be. There was a river, and benches, and trees, and little paddle boats, and fountains and grass and paths everywhere. I was loving it. I did find my church group too. The service was so nice and the message was super inspiring and encouraging. I was reminded a little bit of how I felt when I was first baptized... The new sort of excited feeling I had when I realized how much I loved God. It was refreshing to feel.

This past week I've been spending a lot of time with Marisela and Jenni. I'm so grateful for them. Jenni and I pretty much spend every waking minute together, besides when we're teaching our classes, which  I had imagined would happen when I first moved in. I did also assume that if that happened it would be the most annoying thing ever. The truth is I'm not tired of her yet! We have a lot in common and we always have fun together. I hope it stays that way.

Mari has cooked for us (she made an Indian Daal this week... so delicious) and this week she helped me out with an issue I feel like I'm having with my students and their behavior. She obviously knows a lot about Chilean people and culture and she was able to give me a perspective on my students that I might not have otherwise had. She's also helped me to feel less stressed about my sleeping and eating habits, which have not been good or regular lately, because I'm stressed, and since I worry about it I'm therefore even more stressed out.

There are a couple named Roger and Marcia Lamb that were a part of my church in Chicago during my first few years there. They are older and had 3 grown kids in their 30s. Their youngest son, Dave Lamb, was a folk singer in a duo with his wife MorganEve Swain, called Brown Bird. I knew very little about their family or their children (I met their oldest daughter before), but I knew Dave was sick about a year ago. He had leukemia and was going through chemotherapy. He had a bone marrow transplant and was seemingly getting better. A few weeks ago his leukemia relapsed and on Saturday of this past week he passed away. I heard about his passing through Facebook and other people in my church (Mary was good friends with Marcia) and since then I've been reading and listening about his life and music. Through another friend, Paul Lutz, I found this song.

All of his music is deeply spiritual, though not in the way that some people would expect. I'm learning more every day about what spirituality can mean and am grateful for the chance to grow and learn and change through other people, experience and every day life.

You can find Brown Bird's music on Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, and iTunes. Highly, highly recommended.

 

Besos y amor,

Ally

My new place, Lollapalooza Chile, and more updates

Topics separated by section (in case you only care to know about specific things :) )


My New Place

Well, let's begin with my new place! I chose to live with Marisela and Jenni. The depto (apartment) is about 3 blocks north of the hostel, on the opposite side of the street. It's closer to the metro stop and Plaza Italia, and Bellas Artes (where there is a Starbucks, Spanish restaurant and apparently more vegan health food). I absolutely love it here. I moved in last Wednesday night (about a week and a half ago) and feel like I've been living here for years already (though I still don't really know how to use the washing machine, or where Jenni stores the bananas.) Jenni and Marisela have already made some delicious foods, like coconut/sunflower seed nutter butter, and spinach soup. We had a Pad Thai family dinner 2 nights ago, Marisela cooked, Jenni and I "helped" and we sat and talked about life. It was wonderful. Jenni and I were talking about how much we love living with people that have open minds, open hearts, that we can talk about health and food and life and feeling, emotions, being confused, doing what's right for yourself. It's a very welcoming and loving environment. They day after I moved in I was feeling so upset about something and Mari said, "Somos como una familia acá." (We're like a family here)... "Anything you need we can help, and you'll help us when we need it." I found out that Mari is 29 and she has some kind of psychology degree. She works now in a vegan restaurant, but she is so passionate about health and about the environment, which is so different than most Chileans, and especially Santiago. Jenni is trying to get her to move to Austin with her at the end of this year, which I think would be amazing. I also am hoping to go to Easter Island with them in August and maybe some places in the south (Patagonia, Chiloe, etc) in the summer (December).


Lolla Chile

Day 1

Important info for later: I woke up with a really bad stomach ache and some bowel problems the morning of Lolla. I chilled around all morning and took some Imodium to help my situation and ended up rest in bed all morning trying to make my stomach feel better. By the time I left I had dull stomach pain but nothing I felt like I couldn't push through.
So we got to Lolla around late afternoon and the first artist we went to see was Cage the Elephant. I had only kind of hear of them (sorry, I suck at music a little bit right now), but their performance was AMAZING. I loved their music but their stage presence was what sealed the deal for me. I was blown away. I realized that I love those bands that are just getting up there, not really well known yet, because, for the most part, they try so hard to but on a good performance, they care so much.
After we saw Imagine Dragons. This was such an amazing show for me to see. About 1.5 (almost 2 now) years ago I went through a really bad break up. The Imagine Dragons album had just come out and no one had ever heard of them of course, and my friend Matt discovered them and shared their music with me. That album was my break up album. It is beautifully written, somewhat depressing, but the point is that is got me through a really hard time. And I still know every single word to every song. The band themselves did not put on that great of a performance. There was a lot of pausing, playing instrumental bits for like 10 minutes... I feel like that could have played one or 2 more songs in the time that they spent chilling on stage inbetween songs. I don't know, maybe someone who is in a band could explain that to me. So it was me, surrounded by Lizzi, Hannah, Amy, and Natalie, and about a thousand Chileans, and my voice was the only one screaming all the words to the verses. The energy was just different. At least I had that connection with the music! After, we saw Ellie Goulding. She put on a great performance and she has a beautiful voice. I'm not the biggest fan but I would say it wasn't phenomenal. She held her own, had a great stage set up and definitely sang with passion. Next was Phoenix. That was SO much fun. I love their music, I loved their energy. It was definitely a fun one. At this point I had been awake and on my feet for about 6 hours. So I was starting to feel really tired and we still had about 2 hours until the next performance. So we ate a little, sat on the grass, and tried to huddle together for warmth. During this time of year in Santiago, the day time will be around 85 degrees, and once the sun goes down, it will drop to about 40. So I had 2 sweaters and a sweatshirt over my tank top, and jeans, and I was still freezing. Then Red Hot Chili Peppers started as the last act of the night. EVERY single person at Lolla that night, plus more, were there. It was pretty cool. They put on a great show as well. They played a lot of songs from their newest album, which of course no one knew, haha, but they played a lot of classics as well, and the atmosphere of awesome. The craziest part for me is that they told the audience the first time they had played in Santiago was '92... I realized that people that were in that audience probably have kids that were in our audience! So insane.


Day 2

This might be the saddest thing I've had to write in a while. I didn't make it to Lolla Day 2. I woke up with the worst stomach ache of my life (it brought me back to Chirstmas Eve 1999). I spent the morning resting, letting all the stuff work through my system, but (warning, TMI stop reading now if you care) I threw up twice and was having to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes. I was supposed to get to Lolla around 1:30 for the first act. At around 1 I had some church friends come over to check on me (Dan and Mary, my adoptive parents), and at that point I was shaking, felt really weak, and couldn't keep down water. So they convinced me to go to a hospital for an IV. We were there until 8 pm, which was about when the last artist I wanted to see was over.

Artists I was planning to go see and missed:
Ana Tijoux
Portugal. The Man
Vampire Weekend
Lorde
Arcade Fire/Kid Cudi (at the same time but would've probably chosen Arcade Fire)

It breaks my heart just seeing that list. One day I'll have to see all these artists, I just wish it could've been at this Lolla.


More Updates

- Sick: So I got really sick this past weekend! I'm okay now, but like I said I went to the hospital for an IV. I wasn't going to go and I'm really glad Dan and Mary convinced me. I was struggling and there's no way I would've gotten better as quickly as I did if I hadn't gone. It turned out to be a mix of a small stomach virus, huge amount of stress, not eating well, and not sleeping well. My immune system was just shot. I'm working on making all of that better now, which includes relaxing when I can, eating food, and seeking out some melatonin to help me sleep.

- School: the students just had their first exams! I'm actually having fun grading the written exams, that was my favorite part of playing "school" when I was little... S/O to Rachel for all the times I forced you to play school when you hated it so much. Sorry little sis! haha. But the oral exams are harder to grade, so that's a process to figure out.
One of the other English teachers is out sick right now. She had surgery and she has Lupus, which reacted badly to the surgery. Our boss had to split up her classes, but for some reason gave each of us part time, foreign teachers at least one. And one of us has two. I think that's part of the reason I'm so stressed and something I might need to talk to my boss about. It's just too much. The problem is that we don't know when she's coming back. If it was for 2 weeks, I'd gladly help out this sick colleague. But if it's going to be longer, they should be able to hire someone to even temporarily replace her. We aren't getting paid more and I am here as a part time employee so I can have time to see a city and country I've never seen before.

- this weekend: I have plans to go out tonight with Natalie and Lizzi and some Chilean friends they met, Jenni and some of her American friends from last years program, or with Hannah and possibly others to a Viking bar. Or maybe all 3! Tomorrow I'm going with Hannah and her sister and brother-in-law, visiting from England, to a vineyard just outside of Santiago! It's called Concha y Toro http://www.conchaytoro.com/web/ and it looks like it'll be a wonderful afternoon. The weather here is getting so nice now... it's no longer a stifling 90-100 degrees, but closer to 75-80 during the day and around 55 at night. PERFECT weather. No rain at all and no clouds for the most part. If fall was like this all the time I'd be a fan of fall for sure. Also tomorrow, Jenni is going to work for the day at Marisela's restaurant! I'm planning to stop by, and maybe think of finding a similar job (since I have a temporary visa, I can work anywhere really, in addition to my school). And on Sunday, my church is having a service in the park. I'm planning to go to that and go to a ferria (small daily or weekend market) to buy fruit!


Positive/good things in my life right now:

On Tuesday I got my first REAL PAYCHECK!!! Ahhh. It's the first paycheck I've needed a college degree to receive. It was a pretty cool thing.
I'm finally feeling like I know how to teach a little bit and I know my way around the school.
I'm comfortable enough to speak Spanish with the faculty. I've been picking up on more Chilean Spanish too, which feels amazing. I feel like I can speak it well and understand my students even better, which has been great because they aren't always aware that I can understand them.
The weather here is so lovely now! (as mentioned above) I hope it stays like this for a long time!
I'm planning all these trips to places I mentioned above as well! It feels good to have something on the agenda.
I'm looking forward to joining a gym, working out again, and finding a yoga studio!
And hopeful to meet more Spanish speakers/Chileans!!!



Besos a todos,
Ally