Friday, June 26, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
El amor lo cura todo
Hi Guys :)
I am so sorry that I haven't updated in awhile. I am reaching the end of my program here, so I am swamped with homework assignments and trying to fit in all of the last things I want to do before I head back to the United States. I will be home on July 12th, which is about two and a half weeks from now! Sort of hard to imagine, but I am sure looking forward to being home. Mostly, I am excited for the warm weather :)
Since I am still swamped with school, I don't have a lot of time to write an update, but I would like to share some photos that i have taken over the past couple of weeks. Here they are:
Valparaíso is truly a beautiful city. These are some photos of the Valparaíso port, an ascensor (which is kind of like an elavator to go up all of the hills), some more local graffiti and a snapshot of AMELIE (a character from my favorite movie)
I've been living a lot, trying to take advantage of the beauty around me. This place has helped me grow so much, it will forever be in my heart. All of the things I have learned here and all of the people I have met... will forever by in my fondest of memories.
Off to write more of a paper so that I can make it to Salsa Dancing tonight!
Sending love and a kiss :)
*Nessagirl*
Ps -
"No hay mal que por bien no venga"
Roughly translated: Everything "bad" that happens causes some form of good.
I am so sorry that I haven't updated in awhile. I am reaching the end of my program here, so I am swamped with homework assignments and trying to fit in all of the last things I want to do before I head back to the United States. I will be home on July 12th, which is about two and a half weeks from now! Sort of hard to imagine, but I am sure looking forward to being home. Mostly, I am excited for the warm weather :)
Since I am still swamped with school, I don't have a lot of time to write an update, but I would like to share some photos that i have taken over the past couple of weeks. Here they are:
Valparaíso is truly a beautiful city. These are some photos of the Valparaíso port, an ascensor (which is kind of like an elavator to go up all of the hills), some more local graffiti and a snapshot of AMELIE (a character from my favorite movie)
I've been living a lot, trying to take advantage of the beauty around me. This place has helped me grow so much, it will forever be in my heart. All of the things I have learned here and all of the people I have met... will forever by in my fondest of memories.
Off to write more of a paper so that I can make it to Salsa Dancing tonight!
Sending love and a kiss :)
*Nessagirl*
Ps -
"No hay mal que por bien no venga"
Roughly translated: Everything "bad" that happens causes some form of good.
Monday, June 15, 2009
FUTBOL!
This past week was excitingly busy. I busied myself with all different types of fun, none of which included doing homework and now I find a million things piled up before me.
Most excitingly, i went to a soccer game between CHILE and BOLIVIA. This was such an awesome experience because Chile is actually doing really well this year. They are currently in third place in all of south america, and slowly creeping into second place. We left on wednesday afternoon around 4 to go into Santiago to the national stadium. We dressed in our newly purchased chilean soccer jerseys and hats and flags, etc. On the bus there we met a really awesome group of chileans who taught us a lot of the cheers and about the traditions of chilean soccer games. At the stadium, I learned more swear words than I new possible and just about lost my voice screaming one of the many cheers. Chile ended up winning 4 to 0, so needless to say it was a game full of excitement. There was a war between Chile and bolivia many many years ago over land in the north of chile. Bolivia was fighting for the territory that touched the ocean, because they wanted parted of the shoreline. Chile also wanted this land and ended up winning. For that reason, many of the cheers at the soccer game were about this war. For example, one cheer says..
" Ole ole ole, ole ole ole ola
los que no saltan no tienen mar'
or "those who aren't jumping don't have an ocean" and then all of the chileans start jumping up and down. When the cheer is over, the WAVE begins, starting at one end of the stadium all the way around. Just re-emphasizing that we have the ocean and they do not.
It was a great cultural experience and a ton of fun.
Another fun adventure of this week was yesterday when a few friends and I went into the Casablanca region to go wine tasting. Casablanca is about 45 minutes from here and has a lot of beauty in this small town. We went to a vineyard called Casa de la bosque. We learned a lot about the different types of wine, and how to tell what different scents each wine has. We tasted five different wines and then afterwards bought a bottle of one we hadn't tried yet. After the tour, we spent the afternoon drinking wine and eating cheese and crackers and chatting. All in all it was a fantastic day overlooking beautiful mountains and other scenery.
It is Sunday night now and I am exhausted so I am off to bed.
HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!!!!
*Vanessa*
Most excitingly, i went to a soccer game between CHILE and BOLIVIA. This was such an awesome experience because Chile is actually doing really well this year. They are currently in third place in all of south america, and slowly creeping into second place. We left on wednesday afternoon around 4 to go into Santiago to the national stadium. We dressed in our newly purchased chilean soccer jerseys and hats and flags, etc. On the bus there we met a really awesome group of chileans who taught us a lot of the cheers and about the traditions of chilean soccer games. At the stadium, I learned more swear words than I new possible and just about lost my voice screaming one of the many cheers. Chile ended up winning 4 to 0, so needless to say it was a game full of excitement. There was a war between Chile and bolivia many many years ago over land in the north of chile. Bolivia was fighting for the territory that touched the ocean, because they wanted parted of the shoreline. Chile also wanted this land and ended up winning. For that reason, many of the cheers at the soccer game were about this war. For example, one cheer says..
" Ole ole ole, ole ole ole ola
los que no saltan no tienen mar'
or "those who aren't jumping don't have an ocean" and then all of the chileans start jumping up and down. When the cheer is over, the WAVE begins, starting at one end of the stadium all the way around. Just re-emphasizing that we have the ocean and they do not.
It was a great cultural experience and a ton of fun.
Another fun adventure of this week was yesterday when a few friends and I went into the Casablanca region to go wine tasting. Casablanca is about 45 minutes from here and has a lot of beauty in this small town. We went to a vineyard called Casa de la bosque. We learned a lot about the different types of wine, and how to tell what different scents each wine has. We tasted five different wines and then afterwards bought a bottle of one we hadn't tried yet. After the tour, we spent the afternoon drinking wine and eating cheese and crackers and chatting. All in all it was a fantastic day overlooking beautiful mountains and other scenery.
It is Sunday night now and I am exhausted so I am off to bed.
HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!!!!
*Vanessa*
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Abrazame
Amigos!
Sunday morning here, woke up to the sound of men walking on the road outside my window yelling.. "PALTA, PALMERA, PALTA" meaning he is selling avocado and these deliciously sweet pastry things. I can actually still hear him yelling. Oh chile...
I had a very restful and relaxing weekend. It started thursday night, since I don't have classes Friday (which is seriously the best thing ever) I went down to Cafe Vienes, which is this little bar down the street from my house. It has a great atmosphere because there are paintings hung on all of the walls and there is almost always a jazz group playing. It is a really nice atmosphere, other than way too much smoke. So I went down there with Elizabeth, Cali and Cali's friend who is visiting from the United States. We drank Pisco Sours, which is Chile's traditional drink. Ooo it was tasty! We talked about girl things and laughed a lot and went home relatively early.
Friday I didn't do much of anything, I woke up and had a video chat with Ryan, which was lovely. He leaves on Tuesday to go back to the United States. It is weird that he is leaving to go home, he feels weird about it too because Spain has been such a big part of his life and all of the sudden he just has to go home, back into his old life. It is like reverse culture shock. I'm so proud of all that he has done though. He has traveled so much through Europe and met so many new people. I like that boy.
I also cooked for most of the day with my host grandma. I wish i had a picture to post of her and I, we have become really good friends lately. Family ties here are incredible. My host grandma and host mom don't even get along that well, always bickering over small things, YET anytime my host mom needs help around the house my grandma is here to make dinner, clean the house, whatever she needs. And that is just the way things are here, you just do that for the people in your family. It is sort of beautiful really.
I don't really feel like giving a night by night recap of my weekend, but instead telling you how blessed I am with the friendships i have made here. I don't know how I got so lucky.. I think the world heard my calling before I left for Chile about the need for new wonderful people in my life. (Not that the old people aren't wonderful too!) But I have met the girls who have truly melted themselves into my heart. Girls who are so strong and capable and goofy and loving. Girls who are so smart, intelectually and emotionally, but have no problem going wild, laughing until they cry or talking about poop for hours (its a strong asset).
I spent a lot of time with them last weekend and this weekend as well, and couldn't be more thankful. Thank you world for blessing me with lifelong friendships.
Love,
Vanessa.
Sunday morning here, woke up to the sound of men walking on the road outside my window yelling.. "PALTA, PALMERA, PALTA" meaning he is selling avocado and these deliciously sweet pastry things. I can actually still hear him yelling. Oh chile...
I had a very restful and relaxing weekend. It started thursday night, since I don't have classes Friday (which is seriously the best thing ever) I went down to Cafe Vienes, which is this little bar down the street from my house. It has a great atmosphere because there are paintings hung on all of the walls and there is almost always a jazz group playing. It is a really nice atmosphere, other than way too much smoke. So I went down there with Elizabeth, Cali and Cali's friend who is visiting from the United States. We drank Pisco Sours, which is Chile's traditional drink. Ooo it was tasty! We talked about girl things and laughed a lot and went home relatively early.
Friday I didn't do much of anything, I woke up and had a video chat with Ryan, which was lovely. He leaves on Tuesday to go back to the United States. It is weird that he is leaving to go home, he feels weird about it too because Spain has been such a big part of his life and all of the sudden he just has to go home, back into his old life. It is like reverse culture shock. I'm so proud of all that he has done though. He has traveled so much through Europe and met so many new people. I like that boy.
I also cooked for most of the day with my host grandma. I wish i had a picture to post of her and I, we have become really good friends lately. Family ties here are incredible. My host grandma and host mom don't even get along that well, always bickering over small things, YET anytime my host mom needs help around the house my grandma is here to make dinner, clean the house, whatever she needs. And that is just the way things are here, you just do that for the people in your family. It is sort of beautiful really.
I don't really feel like giving a night by night recap of my weekend, but instead telling you how blessed I am with the friendships i have made here. I don't know how I got so lucky.. I think the world heard my calling before I left for Chile about the need for new wonderful people in my life. (Not that the old people aren't wonderful too!) But I have met the girls who have truly melted themselves into my heart. Girls who are so strong and capable and goofy and loving. Girls who are so smart, intelectually and emotionally, but have no problem going wild, laughing until they cry or talking about poop for hours (its a strong asset).
I spent a lot of time with them last weekend and this weekend as well, and couldn't be more thankful. Thank you world for blessing me with lifelong friendships.
Love,
Vanessa.
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