La Búsqueda para el Significado

Hola amigos, (If you can't understand this text, see the English version below!)

La luna de miel esta oficialmente terminada. Esté etapa del viaje es más difícil que el anterior. Aunque es más difícil, la trae esperanza. Esperanza por que finalmente yo puedo encontrar el significado y la razón sincero en cual que yo vine a Chile. Yo nunca intentaba a viajar a Chile para hacer un vacación o para carretear. Yo intentaba a viajar a Chile para descubrir un nuevo mundo dónde la gente piensan y comportan diferente y por observación y interacción quizá yo podía entender alguna de ellos. Sin embargo el proceso es tan lento. No he descubierto alguna secreto sobre la existencia o un contrasto de perspectivo que ilumine la vida de manera especial. En mi experiencia he encontrado tanto mas similaridades que diferencias y esté es decepcionado. La culpa no es de Chile, es de yo. No trataba de escapar mí circulo de cómodo para ver un nuevo mundo a pesar de los gripes y palabras he dicho a mis amigos y a mí familia. Hoy día es casi el aniversario de dos meses desde yo llegué a Chile por primera vez. Las metas que yo ponía para el semestre son incompleta y todo me parece un poco bochornoso.

Ahora voy a reversar la dirección de este blog. La semana pasada yo fue a una organización se llama La Casa de Amor Misericordioso (CAM) para trabajar voluntario con niños. Aunque yo sólo trabajé por tres horas, la experiencia fue impresionante. La CAM es una como una escuela para los niños después de su colegio. La directora de la programa me dijo que muchas veces los niños no tienen figuras masculinos en sus vidas y por eso puedo haber un efecto muy profundo. Los niños y las niñas tienen varios años entre 7 y 13 que presentan un nuevo dificultad a mí porque nunca he trabajado con niños de esa edad. Es un poco chistoso por que los niños y yo comprendemos casi el mismo nivel de español, pero ellos entienden el Chileno mejor que yo y muchas veces me ríen por que yo nunca entendía nada. Voy a trabajar en la CAM todos los jueves entre tres y media hasta siete y media. La CAM es la encarnación de mí búsqueda para el significada acá en Chile. Espero que todo vaya bien y la experiencia es valioso a mí y además a los niños que les estaré trabajando.

En otras noticias la otra día Garrett y yo con nuestro programa en concordancia con la programa de Syracuse University fuimos al pueblo Púcon en el centro-sur de Chile.

En total eramos diecisiete estudiantes. Los chicos de la otra programa son tan amables y divertidos y estoy agradezco que ellos nos acompañaron en el viaje. Púcon es un pueblo pequeño que tiene 25 mil personas durante la temporada baja y 45 mil personas durante el invierno. La industria principal en Púcon es el turismo, sin embargo Púcon es diferente que Puerto Natales por que las turistas en Púcon son Chilenos muchas veces mientras que las turistas en Puerto Natales eran totalmente extranjeras.

El viaje claramente era un vacación. Un día nosotros fuimos al río para Raft y fue una experiencia muy entrenamiento. El río tenía corrientes poderosos y rápidos de nivel cinco. Tambíen había una pasaje en el rió que no podía pasar por raft.En vez del raft nosotros subimos una sendera a un acantilado y saltamos en el río desde el altura de cuatro metros. Desgraciadamente había un fotográfico que saqué fotos de todo el viaje. Después del viaje el fotográfico nos mostró sus fotografias y cuando el mostró la foto de yo me parecía comó un Melvin por qué estaba cerrado mi naríz con mi manos y tenía un expresión de miedo puro en mi cara. La culpa es mí madre, por que ella siempre me dijo para evitar las situaciones como esa y nunca salta en un río cual que no sabes la profundidad. Lo siento mama, y lo siento a todo la gente que tengan el nombre Melvin. Es un nombre pésimo.

Otra cosa para mencionar... Garrett es un guagua (bebé). Él gritó durante todo el viaje que él era frió y quería beber leche chocolate. El también puso su pulgar en su boca todos los noches, por que él es débil y además es un hijo.

Pues no hay tanta más otras noticias para decir. Mí polola especial me regaló el libro "Cien Años de Soledad" por Gabriel García Marquez antes de yo llegué los EE.UU. y me encanta esté historia. El libro es en español, y aunque yo no entiendo todo, te prometo que el acto de leer ha mejorado mí español profundamente. Me siento que mi habilidad para leer y escribir ha mejorado mucho, pero ya es difícil para entender el Chileno y para hablar con fluidez. Espero que estas cosas mejoren en el futuro. Tengo la confianza que vaya así.

Por ultimo, le extraño todos mis amigos y mi familia en los EE.UU. Espero que todos estén bien y buena suerte con los exámenes finales! Voy a divertirse el séptimo semana de escuela acá...

Ciao,
Charlie


--ENGLISH--

Hello Everybody,

The honeymoon is officially over. This chapter of the trip is more difficult than the previous one. However, through the difficulties lies a glimmer of hope. Hope because finally I might be able to find the meaning and reason that I came to Chile in search of. I never intended to come to this country to take a vacation or to party. I came here to discover a new world where the people think and behave differently and that somehow through observation and interaction I might be able to learn something from them. However the process has been very slow. As of yet I don't think I've discovered any grand secret about human existence or a contrast in perspective that has illuminated life in any kind of ultra special way. In my experience so far I have encountered more similarities than differences, and I guess that disappoints me. It's not Chile's fault, it's mine. I set certain exotic expectations of the country that are neither realistic nor desirable really. The fault is my own because I haven't genuinely tried to escape my circle of comfort in order to see a new world. I have failed to do this despite my own big talk to friends and family on the contrary. Thursday will be the two month anniversary of my arrival in Chile. Most of the goals I set before I arrived here are still incomplete, and that's embarrassing.

And now I'm going to reverse the direction of this blog. Last week I went to an organization called 'La Casa de Amor Misericordioso' (CAM) which translates into 'The House of Merciful Love' to volunteer working with kids. Although it was only my first time and I was only there for a few hours, the experience left an impression in its own right. CAM is basically an after school program for kids to go to after school gets out but before there parents can pick them up. The director of the program told me that oftentimes many of the kids don't have positive male figures in their lives and for that reason I have the opportunity to have quite a profound effect on them. What I don't think she realized is that in reality, the reverse would be true. The girls and boys range in age from around seven to thirteen which presents a challenge to me because I've never worked with kids in this age range extensively before. It's also a little bit comical because the kids and I probably understand about the same level of Spanish. Except that they understand Chilean Spanish way better than I do and as a result they laughed at me a lot or gave me funny looks when I was totally blown past by probably some very simple Chilean phrase that I had just never heard before. I'm going to volunteer at CAM every Thursday from 3:30 until close around 7. CAM is the embodiment of my search for significance here in Chile. I hope that everything goes well and the experience is as valuable to the niños as I know it will be to me.

In other news the other weekend Garrett and I, along with a different exchange program from Syracuse University, went to a little town called Púcon in the central-southern region of Chile.

In total our two groups equaled seventeen students. The kids in the other program were extremely nice and friendly, I'm hoping that I'll have opportunities to hang out with them in the future, I was very happy to have them on the trip. Púcon is a little pueblo that has around 25,000 residents in the low season which increases to about 45,000 in the summer. The primary industry in Púcon is tourism; however, unlike Puerto Natales the tourists in Púcon are generally Chilean rather than foreign. I definitely preferred this because the town had a much more Chilean feel than some kind of FDI experiment in the south of Chile. Don't be fooled like I was though, the trip was nothing more than a vacation. Unfortunately we didn't get to work much with the locals or have any real cultural experiences. Although who can I really blame for that other than myself? Anyways, once I got over that issue and just decided to enjoy myself Garrett, the two guys from the Syracuse program, and I all went rafting. The river was running quickly and the guides told us that it had some level 5 rapids which I believe are the highest rank, or at least close to it. At one point there was a passage in the river that we couldn't go through on the raft. Instead we had to hike up a rough trail onto this cliff that led directly back into the river but below the gigantic waterfall that we weren't allowed to raft over. Instead of rafting down this part, we were told to jump some 13-14 feet into the river below the cliff.

Unfortunately for me, there was a photographer around and he happened to take some pictures of me as I prepared for this mighty endeavor. After the trip he showed our whole group plus the Argentinian family who was in the raft behind us all the pictures. When they got to the picture of me preparing to jump in the Argentinians just burst out laughing because I looked like such a Melvin. It didn't take long for Garrett and the Syracuse boys to laugh too. Whatever...I'm clearly not bitter about it. I blame my Mom, because whe always told me to avoid situations where I'd be jumping into a river of some unknown depth. (Sorry Mom, and sorry to anyone named Melvin. What a terrible name)

Oh yes...one other little thing to mention. Garrett is a little baby. He cried the entire trip about being cold and how badly he wanted chocolate milk. I also discovered that he sleeps with his thumb in his mouth every night. But why am I acting so surprised, I already knew he's a feeble infant.

There's really not a whole lot of other news to talk about. My wonderful girlfriend gave me a copy of the book "Cien Años de Soledad" (100 Years of Solitude), printed in Spanish of course, before I left for Chile and I've been reading it pretty regularly as of the beginning of April. I really like the story, and although I don't understand close to everything that I read, I can tell that it's really helping improve my Spanish. Ever since getting back from Patagonia where I spoke little to no Spanish, I have felt like my Spanish has improved quite a bit. My reading and writing I think is much more advanced that it was when I showed up. Listening and speaking are lagging a little bit, but I have confidence they will improve as well.

Finally, I miss all of my friends and family in the US. I hope everything is going well and good luck with finals! I'll be enjoying just my seventh week of classes here in Chile...

Ciao,
Charlie