Monday, July 26, 2004

back in santiago

sorry for not writing for those of you so kind as to complain - i was in the town of Olmue for orientation and did not have any access to a computer. now, i am back in my host family´s apartment in Santiago, using their computer on their cable modem. hopefully i´ll figure out how to properly configure my computer so i can use the internet connection.
orientation was nice, though it didn´t feel very much like chile. yes, the food was different (but very good) and the people in the hotel and from the program spoke spanish, and we had to with them, but among ourselves, we stuck mostly to english, despite my desire to do otherwise. it´s just so easy to slip into english when you run into difficulty. the weather was nice, but colder than expected. fortunatly the nicest day was the one on which we went to la viña sauce, a vineyard that produces wonderful organic wine.  the port was amazingly good.  we also watched some chilean movies, the best being the independtly-funded el chacocero sentimental, which i would have easily paid money to see.  a groundbreaking chilean film.
i only have a book of couses i can take from one of the universities, but there are some interesting classes.  hopefully i´ll get to take bridge - if no one at school wants to play, i´ll go to the end of the world to find people who will.  tomorrow i get to be oriented again, and maybe attend some classes i might take.  also i get to figure out how to get from this apartment to school - it will involve a micro (bus) and the metro (subway).  we´ll see how it goes.
for now, i´m going to take advantage of my location and watch the final match of the copa america on tv.

chao.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

one week

good news: i got an appointment at the chilean consulate in chicago to get my visa
funny news: it's at 9:30 on tuesday and i leave cincinnati at 10 or chicago at 1

what an interesting departure day.

time spent at home is surreal - it's a home i didn't live in for a year and won't for another. and, somehow, i don't have friends here. strange how the world changes.

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

illusions

it's hard to look at the future. it's just too big, too overwhelming to focus on. but it's bluriness is mesmerizing.

it's hard to look at the present. it's going to change, and i don't know if i want that. but if i don't look now, i'll never know.

Sunday, July 04, 2004

it's coming

in just 18 days i'll be in a different country, a different continent, a different season. the world will be turned upsidedown, and maybe people have to walk that way too.