Ay! My sincerest apologies. After my umpteenth complaint I decided to finally buck up and blog (enjoy your birthday present, Danimal!). Once its been too long its harder to write because so muc has happened. I´ll make a list, because that usually makes me calmer. Whenever I get overwhelmed here I make to do lists. I have nearly a whole notebook full of them.
- Tema uno: the greenstein´s kicked chile´s ass. We had a faaabulous week that included climbing a volcano, a whole series of waterfalls, lots of seafood, empanadas de carne, and wine (for Noah too, a full adult in Chile), natural hot springs, ten hours on horseback (ouch, but worth the pain), lots of scary dirty roads, and tonnnns of translating. The lastbit of our trip was especially ridiculous. A gringo couple who lived 11 years in south africa took us 5 hours into the wilderness on horses (who had never gotten on a horse until 7 months beforehand) with a crazy old german couple and an adorable girl from new zealand who hadn`t been home in 4 years. We landed at an amazing spot called la junta in time for a beautiful hike, a great waterslide, and a lamb asado (freshly killed). It was fabulous.
- Tema dos: another ridiculous weekend with Renato. My friend from the office (the same one who took me to Futrono about a month ago) invited me to come to his house for his 30th birthday asado. In case you are wondering-- much to everyone´s surprise and disapointment, we remain to be only friends. The town he lives in is absolutely beautiful and his parents librería is awesome and mostly devoid of book. All of his 30 year old friends from high school came from all over the country for the grandest asado Ive ever seen (both lamb, and cow and tons of Pisco). They were equally as amused by my age as on the last trip, and even more gracious and friendly. It was a great weekend and I´m exhausted (yes, two nights staying up till 6am). Luckily, we´re having another asado tonight with the office.
- Tema tres: la oficina. I feel like I havent talked about work in a while. My job has turned out to me being Pedro`s apprentice. The director of the project is also a sociologist (I`ve given up, I now identify as a sociologist) and we`ve develoed a lovely little relationship. I finally understan all of his mumblings and most of his jokes. He gives me sociology readings about the end of capitalism, the camesino economy, and goals for rural development. Then we chat about it and I write him summaries. Im also still working on the whole book thing, and now Im making a flyer about taking care of the environment to put up in community centers. I also spend lots of time hanging out, writing emails, and day dreaming. Which is fine by me.
- Tema cuatro: friendship. I´ve befriended the only other gringa living in Osorno. Obviously that demographic is enough to bring us together. She´s been having some troubles ajusting an I miss taking care of everyone so its a good combination. We go for walks in the afternoons and we buy her chocolate (her family is on a diet, not like mine). She isnt accoustomed to doing much by herself and hasnt traveled yet. I plan on changing her ways. We`re going to Chiloe on Friday and we are both very excited about it. In other news, Victor arrived in Valdivia. He might join us. The impending doom of the winter is biting at all of our heels, so we´re all going to try and travel before the rain hits us.
- Ultimo tema: loose ends. What else? I have to decided how much longer to stay in Osorno (at the most, one more month) and then what I´ll do next. I generally have a bunch of ideas of places I want to go (santiago, patagonia, atacama, BA) and friends I want to see (I´ve been collecting facebook friends at an alarming rate). Next week I should probably work on it, esecially if I want to make it down to the end of the eart before it gets too cold. Somedays I feel like I can finally speak a bit of spanish, but some days its still very frustrating. I have a profound apreciation for anyone who has learned to speak a new language fluently. It is so difficult. My family is great. Eli got a job and Sofi starts kindergarden tomorrow. Tío still sleeps all day. They all still call me la gringa fresca. I´m also starting to be a peace with my short hair. Somedays I miss home, but fortunately I´ve become really good at using skye. Anyway all is well. My trip is half over, which is scary. But I feel good. And I think I will be ready to come home in May.
Thanks for reading....
- Tema uno: the greenstein´s kicked chile´s ass. We had a faaabulous week that included climbing a volcano, a whole series of waterfalls, lots of seafood, empanadas de carne, and wine (for Noah too, a full adult in Chile), natural hot springs, ten hours on horseback (ouch, but worth the pain), lots of scary dirty roads, and tonnnns of translating. The lastbit of our trip was especially ridiculous. A gringo couple who lived 11 years in south africa took us 5 hours into the wilderness on horses (who had never gotten on a horse until 7 months beforehand) with a crazy old german couple and an adorable girl from new zealand who hadn`t been home in 4 years. We landed at an amazing spot called la junta in time for a beautiful hike, a great waterslide, and a lamb asado (freshly killed). It was fabulous.
- Tema dos: another ridiculous weekend with Renato. My friend from the office (the same one who took me to Futrono about a month ago) invited me to come to his house for his 30th birthday asado. In case you are wondering-- much to everyone´s surprise and disapointment, we remain to be only friends. The town he lives in is absolutely beautiful and his parents librería is awesome and mostly devoid of book. All of his 30 year old friends from high school came from all over the country for the grandest asado Ive ever seen (both lamb, and cow and tons of Pisco). They were equally as amused by my age as on the last trip, and even more gracious and friendly. It was a great weekend and I´m exhausted (yes, two nights staying up till 6am). Luckily, we´re having another asado tonight with the office.
- Tema tres: la oficina. I feel like I havent talked about work in a while. My job has turned out to me being Pedro`s apprentice. The director of the project is also a sociologist (I`ve given up, I now identify as a sociologist) and we`ve develoed a lovely little relationship. I finally understan all of his mumblings and most of his jokes. He gives me sociology readings about the end of capitalism, the camesino economy, and goals for rural development. Then we chat about it and I write him summaries. Im also still working on the whole book thing, and now Im making a flyer about taking care of the environment to put up in community centers. I also spend lots of time hanging out, writing emails, and day dreaming. Which is fine by me.
- Tema cuatro: friendship. I´ve befriended the only other gringa living in Osorno. Obviously that demographic is enough to bring us together. She´s been having some troubles ajusting an I miss taking care of everyone so its a good combination. We go for walks in the afternoons and we buy her chocolate (her family is on a diet, not like mine). She isnt accoustomed to doing much by herself and hasnt traveled yet. I plan on changing her ways. We`re going to Chiloe on Friday and we are both very excited about it. In other news, Victor arrived in Valdivia. He might join us. The impending doom of the winter is biting at all of our heels, so we´re all going to try and travel before the rain hits us.
- Ultimo tema: loose ends. What else? I have to decided how much longer to stay in Osorno (at the most, one more month) and then what I´ll do next. I generally have a bunch of ideas of places I want to go (santiago, patagonia, atacama, BA) and friends I want to see (I´ve been collecting facebook friends at an alarming rate). Next week I should probably work on it, esecially if I want to make it down to the end of the eart before it gets too cold. Somedays I feel like I can finally speak a bit of spanish, but some days its still very frustrating. I have a profound apreciation for anyone who has learned to speak a new language fluently. It is so difficult. My family is great. Eli got a job and Sofi starts kindergarden tomorrow. Tío still sleeps all day. They all still call me la gringa fresca. I´m also starting to be a peace with my short hair. Somedays I miss home, but fortunately I´ve become really good at using skye. Anyway all is well. My trip is half over, which is scary. But I feel good. And I think I will be ready to come home in May.
Thanks for reading....
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