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
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