First Post - Two Weeks in Santiago

Hello friends,

Sorry for the delay in posting my blog, its been a busy couple of weeks. I've never written a blog before and this kind of writing is weird to me but my voice needs to be heard so I'll do my best. I'll start from the beginning.

So after a long summer of packing and waiting and anticipation I finally got to Newark to try and check in when the airline lady almost didn't let me gone on the plane because I have no return ticket and she claimed she didn't want me to get to Santiago and have to turn around. Eventually she called the Continental rep in Chile and they said it was fine, they just want my money for the visa and I can come into their country.

Next I met Jen in the Miami airport, and we got really lucky, boarding our plane as the fire alarm was going off because apparently there was a bomb scare. We were able to board and take off, but when we got online the next day we saw that the airport had been closed for 5 hours as a result of the alarm.

We landed in Santiago in the early morning, met with two of the other volunteers who were there to pick us up, and proceeded to Hostel Casa Roja (www.lacasaroja.cl/).


The hostel was a legit hostel, but it got old after about a week. The week was also particularly tough because it was our orientation week, where we had to spend 10am-6pm each day learning about our organization (VE Global), Santiago, how to work with children, etc. It was a tough week and it felt a lot like high school class, but I'm sure it will prove to be worthwhile.

I finally moved into my apartment on the 12th, after 9 nights of living out of my bag. I live with Marco, a guy from Miami who just graduated Georgetown, Beth who is in the middle of her studies at Cambridge, and Victoria, a girl from California who just graduated hs. Marco, Beth and I will be staying here for 6 months, and Victoria is leaving in December to finish her college applications and get started on that stuff. Our apartment is really nice, we have a great view of the snow-capped mountains that surround the city, as well as the eastern part of the city.

The place where I work is called Mi Club Domingo Savio and it is a community/after-school center for children in a low income area of Santiago. It takes about an hour to get to by metro, switching twice. I've worked four days there and the kids are very sweet, well-mannered kids. I can't tell that they come from poor backgrounds, but that may be attributed to my lack of Spanish. The only obvious tell is that the neighborhood is low-income; the houses have barb-wired fences, tin roofs, etc. The language barrier has been particularly tough; the kids ask me so many questions and tell me so many things that I feel so bad telling them "no entiendo". Its easiest with the littlest ones, because eventually they get tired of talking to me and just ask for a piggyback ride. All people working there are called "tio/tia", so I am "tio Dominic". It's a well-run organization, and I usually get there around 1, eat lunch with the other tios/as, help set up/clean up, and then play and help with lessons once the kids get there at 3:30/4 pm. I think eventually I'll be able to teach lessons of my own, whether it be sports/english/etc, but my Spanish needs to improve.

Santiago is a cool city, its not as European as I expected, but it has a good mix of Latin American flair and modern cosmopolitanism. It's one of the financial centers of South America, if not the center, and it has a good amount of wealth as a result. However, this wealth has not been distributed as well as in some other nations and there is a large wealth differentiation between classes. This is the issue I hope to work on as a volunteer, that I may be able to help some children go beyond the restrictions of their class status. It's a nice city to walk around in because the streets are wide, and there is a real commitment to the arts here. Everywhere you turn there are murals, sculptures, etc...

The city is funny because there are a lot of stray dogs that roam around. They're not mangy, scruffy dogs either, they are beautiful retrievers, labs, shepherds, etc...I like them because sometimes when you walk they will get up and walk next to you until you reach your destination and then they leave you alone. Other times they accompany you for a little and then leave when they get tired of you.

The food here has been great. My favorite dish so far is called chorrillana, its french fries with steak and onions on top, with two eggs on top of that. The street foods are also great, late night empanadas and hot dogs are really cheap. They also eat avocado on top of everything here, my favorite hot dog is called the italiano, it has avocado, tomatoes, and mayo on it (colors of the italian flag). The beer here is legit too, you can buy a liter for about $2 USD.

This weekend marks the bicentennial of Chilean independence from Spain. There have been parades and fairs all over the city. Yesterday I went to a huge fair on the outskirts of the city, they have games, a rodeo, food, etc... I guess fairs are the same all over the world.

Thank you all for reading my blog, I'll get better at writing, posting frequently, etc. I'll also post some pics soon if I can but they scared the shit out of us during orientation about getting mugged/pickpocketed/etc, so I don't have many. Let me know if I left anything out or there is anything else you want to know about.

Love,

Dominic