10,000 Words, or 10 Pictures

I have about 10,000 words to say about my experience here in Chile, but I figured, why not just post 10 pictures? You know the equation. So here´s a series of about 10ish pictures which try to sum up my time here..... :-)I posted this in an earlier blog, but it´s a good representation of what a lot of this semester was: reflection. I came here to Curiñanco on Yom Kippur to fast and reflect. One of the most incredible things about my time here was how much time I had to myself, which really let me get to know myself and my thoughts and feelings.
Here you have it, the people of the pensión I called home for about 5 months (minus Diego and la Señora Carmen, perdón). From left to right: Allison, Mati (not to be confused with beverage Mate), Ryan, Jorge, Luis, Manolla (daughter), Jaqui (owner). this was on a boat to an island called Corral featuring old Spanish forts. Damn, it rained a lot. The first month in Valdivia, it rained 29 of the 31 days. I´m still leaking.
Jorge, my closest Chilean friend, and a truly incredible person. He introduced me to mate and helped me get through the rough times. Here we are with a volcano in the background. it´s true, we are in the middle of the road, but we managed to dodge to the side of the quickly oncoming traffic.
One of the best days I spent in Valdivia. Jorge, Allison, Jaqui, manolla, me. We went to the park on one of the first days of sun, played soccer and teeter totter, and ate a lot a lot.
The lobos marinos (sea lions) are one of Valdivia´s main attractions. They have a reputation of biting your limbs off, which is why I look a bit nervous here....
Another of Valdivia´s fames...Kuntsmann, one of the founding German families, has their brewery here. Valdivia is filled with artesan beer, with Kuntsmann leading the way. We had some good times here. Also, the cardboard cutout in which I´m posing isnt so far off...I think I gained about 10 pounds in Chile, a.k.a. land of endless bread.
At our pensión with Alex, me, Jorge. This is our famous "Vamos, Valdivia!" pose, which is one of our inside jokes which will never, ever, get old. It comes from the mayoral race in Valdivia, in which the entire city is covered with huge pictures of the candidates. Alcalde Berger, a gruff looking guy who won, had huge carboard cutouts with him with a serious face and thumbs up, saying Vamos, Valdivia. We are emulating as best as we can here.
Another one of the best nights ever. Me, dressed as tourist. Manola the fairy, Allison dressed as me, other Allison a gypsy. We went to a friend´s cabaña and hung out with gringos, Ecuadorians, Columbians and Chileans alike. They had to drag us out of there, it was so fun.
About 11 gringos gathered at our pensión for Obama election night. Alex animatedly found updates faster than CNN, although he lacked their sweet holograms (still in awe). Notice the celebratory alcohol in the foreground. We were all so excited, Allison actually started crying during Obama´s election speech. One of the times where we all would have really loved to be there for an incredible, historic moment.
Thanksgiving (día de acción de gracias in spanish) at Alex´s Chilean parents´house. The six of us, led by the incredible efforts of allison, put on Thanksgiving, Chilean style, cooking all day. Afterward, we went in a circle and said what we were thankful for. Naturally, I cried. I´m going to post, without her permission :-) what Allison said in reflection about the day:

"In a lot of ways, you could say that our Chilean Thanksgiving was the perfect metaphor for my experience here this first semester: arriving without any sense of what the “ingredients” were, searching unsuccessfully for all the things I had left in the U.S. and trying to replicate the world I had known before, when replication was impossible. In the end, you improvise and you realize that, in many ways, plum sauce is just as good as cranberry sauce and, though you had to abandon the pumpkin pie, it will be waiting for you next year. Though it may be difficult at times, you can still build a life and a community for yourself amongst strangers — beautiful in spite of and because of the differences."--Allison
I am still in complete awe at this entire hike. Up above you can see the glaciar, called Cerro Tronador. We hiked, at extreme peril (sorry Mom!) close to the source to drink the purest water of our lives. Then we climbed up to 6,000 feet and continued to gaze in awe at both sides of the Andes. Just an all around incredible weekend trip, and a nice representation of all the awesome weekend trips we took, from Pucón to Puyeue to Puerto Montt.
Here´s an anecdote for you peoples: Jorge (in the middle) introduced me to the church here, and I went with him about 8 or 9 times throughout my stay here in Valdivia. It was always the incredible music, with the whole congregation singing loudly and passionate, that brought me back. This last Sunday, we all sang a song called "With the Power of Your Love." I was singing at the top of my lungs, and getting pretty emotional, when I look to my left and see a 45 year old women with her hands raised up towards the heavens, praising, and just BELTING out the song, with an incredible beautiful voice that you could hear over the 80 plus people singing. I looked at her and just lost it, the tears started flowing. Afterward they called Jorge and I up since we were both leaving town, and we got to say some words to the congregation. Talk about a first: First good-bye speech in Spanish to Chilean church...that´s something I never thought I would say! Afterwards everyone prayed for us to have a safe return home. This church was truly one of the best things I did here in Valdivia.
Here you have 5 of the 6 kids in the program: Lilly, me, Alex, Adam, Allison (sorry Ian, you shouldn´t have vomited that weekend) in Puyeue, near the volcano peak. We all became pretty close in our own ways, and I feel really lucky to have gotten to share my time here with such wonderful people.
In Cunco with some of Jorge´s family...his 80 yr. old grandma, mom, and cousin. A truly awesome experience to spend the sept. 18 holidays with his family (sept. 18 is similar to our july 4th, but celebrated for about 4 days here). Their hospitality and amount of food they shoved in me will never be forgotten.


And so it is...I suppose I lied, I posted about 13 pictures. It turns out there was a lot a lot of cool amazing stuff I did here. One last thing I want to share.....

This past Sunday, some of us went to the beach for one last beach romp. I suggested we do a little ceremony...we would all say one wish-hope-prayer-whatever we had. Here´s mine:

"I want to take everything I´ve learned in these past 7 months, go to Italy and be with someone I love for a month, and then return to my home, and bring all of it back there. I want to take a semester to learn outside of the classroom, explore, find community and some peace."

That´s what you realize when you go far away from home. You realize your home is where your heart is, and my heart is with someone in Italy and in California, in my country, in my language, in all the people I´ve ever known. As the girl in House from Mango Street says at the end, "I had to go away to come back."

And I see now, I did. I went away so that I could come back, come back to my home, and come back to myself. Here´s to the next stage of this crazy, crazy life :-)

Love,
Ryan


"When you find yourself face to face with something you don´t understand, maybe you should ask, ´"What do you think? Is this a gift?´"--Adam Weisberg (thanks Michal for showing me)