Euphoria

After four flights in two days on almost no sleep, I am here in Santiago. The flight into Santiago was beautiful...the sun was setting over the mountains and casting a rosy haze into the valley. It was the perfect introduction to what has proven to be an interesting city so far. I have yet to venture beyond the few blocks of downtown that contain our hostel, but there is so much to look at! We are very close to some parks and the Plaza de Armas, and the Belles Artes museum (Museum of Fine Arts), and we should have some time this weekend and next to explore. My new friends and I are going out to a reggaeton club tomorrow night. Reggaeton is a type of music that is very popular here-the song ¨Gasolina¨ is a good example of what reggaeton sounds like. Since I love to dance, I´m excited to put my moves to the test in a new style!

We have been in training for the past two days, and it has been good to have some information and clam some of my anxiety. The best news of all is that I have my placement and host family information! I will be moving to Chillan and living with a 60-year-old mama and her 21-year-old son, who is a university student. I am pleased that my host brother is relatively close to my age-and the exact age of my real brother! I hope he will let me hang out with him and introduce me to some interesting people! I have been placed in a high school that is just starting to transition from being an all-girls school, so almost all if not all of my students will be girls. This will be an interesting change for me as a teacher! My host house will be a five-minute walk into downtown Chillan and a fifteen-minute walk to the school, so I will save a lot in transportation fees, which is a blessing.

As cool as Santiago is and as excited as I am to explore the city, I am looking forward to getting to Chillan. It has been a challenge being here with Americans because I feel like I am incubated and not really getting to engage with Chileans. For example, we went out as a group yesterday and bought cell phones. Two of the girls in our group are really strong Spanish speakers, and they did all of the talking and negotiating. While part of me was grateful, I really felt left out of the experience. If given the opportunity, I would have struggled, but it is an experience I want to have. My Spanish has not improved at all, so I can´t wait to be on my own.

On the other hand, it has been nice to ease into the immersion experience. We have received cultural training so that we are prepared for some of the more daunting challenges of navigating Chilean culture. Today we started talking about different aspects of teaching, and I cannot wait to get into the classroom. It was really nice to spend some time talking about theories of language acquisition. I love being back in a (semi)academic environment.

The people in my group are pretty cool, although we don´t know each other well yet. Last night, one of the guys in my group, Andrew, and I went undefeated for three rounds of partner-pool at our hostel. We met a cool guy from Chicago who is staying at the same hostel as us. He is 25 and out trying to ¨find himself.¨ I know the feeling. I like the energy of the expat community here. Everyone has seen so much more of the world than me, and have so many interesting stories and perspectives.

Since I have only been here a short time, I have not had the chance to feel homesick or miss home yet. We talked in training about the arc of culture shock, and how this first time of euphoria can last for up to several months. However, I know I will hit bottom and have some ¨dark days.¨ Hopefully not for awhile!

It has been difficult to adjust my body and my bloodsugars to this new way of life and new diet. I have been running low all the time, and it has been a challenge to eat good food at regular intervals. However, I am going to the grocery store tonight to stock up on fruit.

I´m really looking forward to tomorrow. We are taking a ¨human rights¨tour of Santiago, going to a cemetery and a memorial park at the site of a major detention center during the Pinochet dictatorship. After our fieldtrip, we are going to an asado (BBQ!) at another park. Asados, apparently, are significant events in Chile, and are used to celebrate many different things. We will be meeting some other volunteers from a different program that have been here a month or so. Hopefully tomorrow I will finally have some time to take some pictures.