Chilean Christmas

Even though I had a couple adventures last weekend I will get to those in a the next post or two because I think this weeks topic definitely should be my Chilean Christmas. Unfortunately for you guys who actually read my blog and fortunately I have been outrageously busy. This has been the first morning I haven't woken up to something that ended up taking up my whole day, so I take this time to tell you about my Christmas…

If you want a quick summary so you can back to what you are all doing it was a fairly sad couple of days for me. I have avoided homesickness pretty well. I was a little homesick in October but to be honest that all passed fairly quickly. I had avoided homesickness on Thanksgiving and almost all through December (the time when they say is the hardest to be an exchange student). I had already talked myself off the ledge and had told myself that I was okay without a Christmas this year and that the next one was just going to be that much better. Then midnight came on the 24th, and we began celebrating in my house… and then it hit me. I realized that I would never be okay without a Christmas and without Christmas spirit. 

I am going to now insert the positives of the Christmas. I spent it with my host family, for the most part. My mom got me a beautiful silver necklace and everyone seemed generally happy the whole time. The food was really good. I also ready a poem that I wrote in Spanish in tradition of how we do Christmas with my family. 

Here in Chile Christmas is a little different (a tradition I have yet to understand) but they celebrate the night of the 24th when the clock strikes midnight. I do not understand this because it kind of destroys the whole Santa illusion. Unfortunately this means that the 25th is an almost nothing. This was very weird to me because every year I have generally celebrated Christmas between Black Friday and New Years. Maybe that's a little longer than it should be but I just love the whole idea behind it. The movies, the music, the family, and of course you can't leave out the presents. To have a celebration for two hours and nothing more was very odd to me. During December our town was decorated very nicely with a big tree, with lights, and with the occasional musical performance in the plaza but it just wasn't the same. In my house there was never a sign of Christmas, not even a little evidence that we were in December. It was summer outside too, that definitely didn't help. I tried watching a Christmas movie every night in Spanish but watching them alone, although fun, didn't boost the lack of spirit. I have had a rule this whole trip that I will not listen to music in English and I actually stood by that very religiously until the 24th, it was too much. I needed something to revive me. 

I am going to talk a little about the emotions I felt when the clock struck midnight and then the eventless 25th followed. All I wanted to be was with my family. We started saying Merry Christmas to each other and all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks and I had to separate myself from the rest of the group for 5 minutes or so. I was saying Merry Christmas and for the first time I realized what time of the year it was and all I wanted was my family. 

So after reading this I want that all of you to really take today to appreciate your family. I have only been away from my house for almost 5 months and now I finally truly appreciate my family and would do anything to see them. Love your friends, appreciate your family and have a great day. 

P.S. I played guitar around all the shops and last minute XMAS shoppers during the 24th and made 15 bucks!

A Cultural Experience

Since I returned from my awesome trip, I have been very bored. Every day I go to the gym and my friend from Norway and about 3 times a week I go running, but that's about all the excitement I've got. I wake up late, I eat, I exercise, and I watch TV and go to bed. There isn't a lot of practicing Spanish (at least with the natives) and the boredom hit me like a Randy Johnson fastball coming off a trip of a lifetime. 

About 4 days ago my mom asked me if I wanted to go the farm with my dad and brother to work a little bit. I obviously said yes because it was bound to be a cool cultural experience. She also invited Knut, the Norwegian, to come with us and so it would be a great cultural experience of the time two of us. They told us to wear old clothes because we were going to be marking the sheep and there would be a lot of crap (literally and blood that could get on our clothes). So when the day came I changed into clothes that were either broken or the color red (for the blood). Unfortunately Knut is from Europe and definitely had no idea what he was getting himself into and wore really nice and expensive clothes that were not really to get seriously dirty. I mean he wasn't dressed to go out to a club or a party, but his version of warm clothes and sweatpants to get dirty are nice Nike or Adidas sweats, and mine were crappy thrift shop sweats. 

Anyways, we drove about 40 minutes outside of Coyhaique and arrive at this cute little farm house. When we walked in we were greeted by a bunch of little chickens that ran out of the house. I was like this is a true farm. The man, Claudio, that was sitting in the kitchen didn't have all his teeth and the way he talked reminded me of a good old serious Tator Hill Vermonter or something. He was really redneck/hilbilly Chilean. It was awesome. 

We drank some coffee and maté and then we were ready to work. We headed down the pen and there were 100+ sheep and a giant cutting bored--yikes--waiting for us. I knew what we were doing beforehand however, I definitely wasn't prepared for it. Claudio went out there, lassoed in sheep like it was his job--cause it was--and then with his freshly sharpened knife sliced off the tips of the ears and the tail, without hesitation. I was tough to watch at first but after 66, yes 66, sheep I got very used to it although not used to it enough to venture into the task myself. It was really fun feeling like an actual rancher. Although if you watched Knut and I with the also you would have laughed you *** off because  we were just way out of place. I am going to add another part thats a little more gruesome in a different font, read at your own risk. If you don't to read it skip to the paragraph with the regular font…

All the sheep together. 

Farmer Weston

*** 

Claudio also neutered the sheep. If you are unfamiliar with this process it goes like this… You catch the sheep and sling it onto the cutting board. Then after that you check to see if its a boy and you slice open the sack. Once the balls of exposed you go in head first and take the balls out with your mouth and spit them out in a bucket. It was raunchy. He was in pretty good spirits the whole time and in fact said how tasty the balls were when he was done--he was a strange man.

***

I am sorry if you read the previous paragraph and did not expect what I said. Anyways working on that farm was one of those moments where I really thought about where I was and what I was doing and was just really happy. I was having these cultural experiences with people from different countries and on the other side of the planet. It is just so profound for me. 

After working for 2 hours or so we headed inside to eat lunch and relax. We ate really good meat (like usual) and then we had about 3 hours where we just did what we want. Knut, my brother Jere, and I went down by the river (CHRIS FARLEY) and explored a little. There were a bunch of animals running around the farm, sheep, pigs, horses, chickens etc. It was very farmy. All of a sudden Knut had this desire to ride a horse even though he had never ridden a horse before and before you know we are up by the house and Knut is on the horse. The horse did not respond to him at all. My dad and Claudio did not seemed worried and just let him ride the horse without a helmet, on his own, and without supervision or instruction. After a minute, Knut was gone. We just thought he was trotting around and didn't think anything of it. Turns out he had lot control of his horse and also flew off it. It started cantering and he had no idea what he was doing. The story was quite entertaining. Because my mom is so interested in horses I decided I wanted to hop on, get a picture, and hop off. I thought I would be safe because it was tied to a tree but within 3 seconds of being on the horse it spooked and started to trot away from the tree but this didn't work because it was tied up. When the rope became taught and he head jerked back towards the tree, he stopped moving and I flew off the other side. Fortunately I wasn't hurt and I left laughing like crazy but unfortunately Knut was too busy laughing he didn't take a picture or a video. Let's just say it was funny. 

Knut before the horse took off. 

Other animals on the farm: pigs.

                                   

The next night we cooked the tails ups and ate them. Apparently there is a little bit of meat on those suckers and they are good. Living in Patagonia and with a farm family I get to have these cultural experiences that a lot people don't get to share with me. It makes me appreciate where I am so much and makes me really enjoy it. The time is flying by so fast and it just scares the crap out of me that I have already been here for almost 5 months. Someone slow the clock down. 

SIDENOTE:

Today I went to a Rotary lunch with a about 30-40 Rotarians and their families and got to meet a lot of people. Not only was it a great social event with unbelievable food, but it was also on another farm with a bunch of sheep. The own picked Max (the german), two Rotarians, and I to have a competition to see who could catch a sheep first with our bare hands. Well, I had some practice. I had one in my hands within two minutes. I carried it up to the house and everyone took pictures and said congrats to me. I am starting to become a bit of a farmer. Yeehaa.

P.S. If you want more photos that are more graphic shoot me an email at westonmuenchrotary@gmail.com  and I would be happy to show you some more details. 

RYLA + Southern Tour

So a few days ago I returned from a trip that I will honestly say were the best two weeks of my life. Unfortunately for the small few of you who get to the end of all my blog posts, I will not be writing about every detail. I just don't have enough time. Sometimes I get the feeling that this blog is more of a chore instead of enjoyment and that is probably why you have noticed a thinning out in the number of posts every month. However, I am going to try to spill out as much as I can. So here it goes…

P.S. I have broken it into 3 parts: The RYLA, In between events, and Torres del Paine… read whichever you choose. 

PART 1: THE RYLA

Starting two Thursdays ago Max (German in Coyhaique) and I embarked on our two week journey away from home. The rest of the district were about to experience two separate Rotary events. But because the two of them were far away and only separated by 3 days it didn't make any sense to have the two of us go all the way home so we would be staying in Rotarian's houses meanwhile. The first event that we would be going to is a Rotary leadership two camp called the RYLA. The people that were invited to this camp were the current exchange students along with all the postulating students in the district. This meant that there were 60 kids--40 being chileans--that we got to meet and spend the weekend with. Normally I go into details about the traveling but there is just too much to talk about. What'll I'll add was that Max and I spent the first day with one the postulating students' family who happened to also be a family friend of Max's host family. They had a 12, 15, and 16 year old and we all got along very well in their house in Puerto Varas. Thank you for your hospitality. 

Upon arriving at the hotel/camp we would be staying at in Los Angeles, the first people I saw were my fellow exchangers and I couldn't have been more happy to see them. I gave them all big hugs and kisses on the cheek and we all entered nervously to sign in. Turns out there were no need for nerves. Immediately I started connecting with people. In fact, I met someone randomly within five minutes that used to go to my school and is best friends with one of my friends in class. Turns out they are literally the same person so we got along very well. While a lot of the exchangers were starting it off with interexchanger conversation, I decided to speak only Spanish the whole weekend. That made making friends much easier since I was the only person that was speaking Spanish with everyone. By the time the orientation started an hour later, I definitely already had people I could joke around with outside of the exchange group. 

Flor and I, new friend that lived in Coyhaique!

The start of the orientation was immediately to split up in the groups called our "families" and we ended up spending the rest of our time with this group. I noticed fairly quickly that the kids were a lot different, younger, and not really my type in terms of identifying friends. However, I could not have cared less. I was ready to make this group gel. I did make a connection with of the guys in the group immediately and he ended up being my best friend out of the Chileans when it was all said and done. 

The next couple hours were spent playing metaphorical leadership games and listening to Rotary presentations which in reality wasn't that much fun. But it was the idea of being with a new group from all over that really had me enjoying the day. I will not bore you with individual details of the boring stuff but at the end of the day we went on a short little hike to a nice little view and took a bunch of pictures and it was hear I began to realize something the Rotary people didn't seem to get. We were gelling really well and were getting along fantastic. But it was all happening outside of the orientation part: during breaks, on the hike, during meals etc. They didn't have a great line up set for us but we seemed to make it worth our while anyway with every free moment we had. 

My "family" at the top of the hill we hiked. 

All the American exchange students. 

Our failed attempt at a pyramid.

We came down the hill and were greeted with hot dogs and then later in the night grill beef. The rest of the day had no orientation involved. Just sitting and laughing and later on dancing. They had two professional dance instructors come and dance with us and play games for an hour. It was fun but it was hot as balls and I still can't dance. It's amazing watching these people dance and physically not be able to do the things they are doing. 

Leaving the dance floor in a sweaty pile the Rotarians wanted us to head to bed, like that was going to happen. At 1 we "said goodnight" and then when the elders hit the sack we all met up in a patio and listened to music and talked until about 5 in the morning. 

The next morning there was some orientation stuff but it was really about spending the rest of the time together. We had about 3 more free hours together. What I realized after it was all said in done was how quickly a group can come together. I mean we left making so many jokes and having so much fun and we did this really coming out of a pretty boring orientation. We were 60 strangers 30 hours before and when we left we were far from that. The next day was spent hours on Facebook sharing pictures and on chat groups (that two weeks later are still very active) and it made, especially us exchangers, feel really special and unified throughout Chile. I can honestly say I had 5-10 people I really didn't want to say goodbye too. They are people that I could have really seen myself being friends with for a long long time and most of them I was probably saying goodbye to for good. But hey you know everything comes to an end and I am going to be saying a lot of goodbyes this year so I might as well get used to it. 

Cup scout Weston is all the way to the right
in the blue. 

PHOTOS FROM THE RYLA :

https://www.facebook.com/weston.muench/media_set?set=a.10202708819626823.1073741845.1388974335&type=3

PART II: In Between

While Max went back down south to say with a family friend during the next three days, I stayed up north in Los Angeles. What's awesome about this is that there are 5 different Rotary friends that live near or in Los Angeles. So instead of just having boring days on the computer we filled them with really great memories together. To start, the next day I got to sleep in until I wanted to. It was so nice considering I slept for a total of 5 hours the two nights before. Then I did some errands with my temporary host mom and at 5:30 one of the french, americans, germans, chileans, and a person (the best friend I mentioned) from the RYLA who took a 45 minute bus, met up at the mall to see the movie I had been waiting a year to see, HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE! We elected to see it in English with Spanish subtitles, which made it easier for me. This isn't going to turn into a movie review but it was the fasted 2.5 y life and was SO much better than the first movie. We left the movie and hung out for a little before we ended up going home to rest ourselves for a long night together the next day.

Getting ready for the Hunger Games

Hunger Games movie ticket.

The next day we had a plan to all meet up and we were going to buy food and have a big BBQ together. It was so much fun. To start, the kid that lives outside of LA cooked the meat and it was the best meat I have ever eaten. Like I think I hate 2 pounds, without exaggeration. Second we stayed up until about 5 in the morning just talking, some good things, bad things, funny things, but just talking and really getting to know each other. We listened to music and laughed and when it was all said and done we found ourselves very tired on a Wednesday morning at 9 o clock. The girl who's house we stayed at had piles and piles of CDs and a CD player so after eating breakfast we all danced to a mixture of Chilean music and Frank Sinatra. It was so good to hear Franky's voice after a long break.

Tastiest meat I've had. 

The rest of the day was spent hanging out, eating food, looking at pictures and at the end getting the french girl and I ready for our trip. Which we would be taking that night on an overnight bus. This week I had so much fun that this blog can't do it half justice. However, the real was was only waiting for me on the other side of that overnight bus. 

PART III: The Southern Tour/Torres del Paine

For most of the group this was their exciting trip to Patagonia. For Max and I it was a trip to explore deeper into our region. The first step of our week long journey would be on a plane to head way down south to Punta Arenas. It was a 2.5 hour flight that had me sleeping like a baby and before you knew it it was nice and cold again just how I had remembered. We took a tour of the city and the plaza as well. In the city we took a tour of a very strange graveyard. It was cool and we took pictures but it was really difficult to think about what it really was as we kind of walked through it like it was nothing. There was even a section for babies that had passed. It was pretty heavy. After this we had some free time at a mall and it turns out for like 4 bucks we could skate around on a dinky ice rink for half an hour. When I say dinky, I ain't lying. It definitely wasn't safe especially with us screwing around on it. But it was more than worth the four bucks and several bruises for that half hour. We headed back to our hotel after the city tour and my oh my the shower was cool. It looked like a transformer. After dinner our tour guide took us out for a walk to stretch our legs. We came upon a gambling protest and all of us took a turn with the megaphone to put in our two cents, or shout out AMERICA! Let's just say, some shirts came off during this half hour. I am not going to disclose the contents of the conversation but after returning we had a 4 hour conversation, all of us together. We laughed…a lot. 

Just posing next to a street sign. 

First day group photo. 

The next day was a day all of us were really looking forward to, the penguins! The plan for today was to go to see the penguins and then return to Puerto Natales. When we all loaded the bus to go see the penguins we were hit with some tragic news. Apparently about three weeks ago a pack of stray dogs came and ate and killed about 2000 of the penguins. We almost didn't go because there was some speculation that there weren't any left. Turns out there were about 200 left so we bussed ourselves over there. It was so cool to see actual penguins. They move around and look just like the penguins in the movies and documentaries and it was just took cool. We took a bunch of group pictures and then took the long buss ride back to Puerto Natales were we set up camp for the night. This is another really cool city farther south in Patagonia. The mountains that backgrounded the ocean were incredible. We walked down there before dinner and just talked a little while admiring where we were. The rest of the night may be the most I have laughed in my whole life. Between the hours of 12-4 I had the most fun I've ever had. Unfortunately, that our memory that will not be posted on a public blog. 

Penguin!

Following that awesome night we headed to the main event, Torres del Paine and the Milodon Cave. These two places are very famous in Patagonia. It was literally like looking at a painting the whole time. We took lots of pictures of our flags I may or may not have taken my shirt off and used the US flag as a cape for a picture. That's for me to know and you all to find out. 

Confirming speculation about my shirt. 

My favorite picture of me from the trip. 

I think the biggest problem I had with Torres del Paine was the fact we were there for one day only, took pictures, and then left. I really didn't read my emails too carefully so the truth was I thought it was a 6 day Torres del Paine tour and did not know that it was the southern tour which included visiting Torres del Paine. Although the trip went really well, it was so hard to get so close and not climb it. So far on my exchange, despite the fact I am living in Patagonia, I have not had many nature opportunities. I really don't have a ton of time left, I hope this changes for me soon. Back to the trip…

We visited many parts of the national park including a beach that had the strongest winds I have ever experienced. We are talking hurricane force gusts. It was so cool. we could lean forward and the wind would hold us up. The beach came right after a landmark that ended up producing an amazing small world story. We met a person from Vermont so I was like wow way too cool and we started talking. Turns out she grew up in Burlington and was classmates with the son the of owners of Brown Ledge Camp (aka he's a friend of my mom). Talk about weird. That night I shaved my No Shave November beard. Thank god. Another great night following the legendary night before. 

Hannah (Vermont) and I!

Final NSN Beard!

One of my favorite parts of the whole trip came the next day when we took a 3 hour boat ride to the Balmaceda Glacier. A lot of us were tired including myself but what really surprised me was that half of the group stayed on the boat the entire time sleeping while about 6 of us spent a good amount of time outside enjoying the view (because it was a PERFECT day). The view was spectacular and we had a lot of laughs on that boat. Then the actual glacier was crazy cool. It was very powerful seeing first hand the effects of global warming. There really wasn't a ton of the glacier left. In face there were hundreds of pieces of floating ice. It was a good time to stop and think about the big picture, at least for me. I think there were a couple kids in my group that have not matured enough to think that deep and didn't really appreciate where we were, and the fact it might not be there in the future. On the ride back all the passengers on the boat got a small glass of whiskey with glacier ice in it. Even though we were with Rotary we were permitted to have it but with a small quantity. The glacier ice was so tasty. We ate lunch at this spot off the water that was absolutely beautiful and had a really hefty lunch of Patagonian meat. A long bus ride followed and we arrived at Punta Arenas at 9:30 for dinner and another long and fun night. 

Casual Titanic Pic

Floating ice. 

Group next to the glacier. 

We hopped on another plane and headed back to Puerto Montt. That airport is becoming a bit too familiar. We then hopped on our bus (lots of bussing this trip) and headed to Puerto Varas. I thought we were going to be spending our time in the city but actually we headed out of the city into the more naturey area. To start, we ate lunch. This lunch was my favorite of all. It was a choice of Salmon or meat. Well, I got them both. May I add that I ate a lot this trip…a lot. It was easily the best Salmon I have ever eaten and the meat was way above par as well. I left satisfied. Where we ate lunch was located right next to an unoccupied beach. There we spent about 15 minutes taking pictures and goofing off in the sand. This was where we encountered another one of the small problems I had on the trip. There were several things that we really as a group wanted to spend our time doing or a least more time doing and this little beach thing was one of them. Even though on paper it looks like a time waster, our young little brains were entertaining ourselves greatly on this dinky beach overlooking the Osorno Volcano. We could have spent 2 hours there if we wanted to. Unfortunately our time was abruptly cut. Luckily we had so many cool things to look at we forgot about it rather quickly. We spent the day looking at different forests and rivers and buying alpaca jackets. It was definitely the most low-key day but at the same time it was really relaxing. The thing that was amazing about this part was the water. The water was SO BLUE. It was unbelievable. As blue as any blue I have ever seen and it was completely natural. Amazing. When we got back to our hotel in Puerto Montt we had dinner and then got ready to take a night out on the town in celebration of our last night together as well as the birthday of one of our fellow germans. I'll definitely never forget what happened during the following hours.

On the beach with the Osorno Volcano.

Very blue water.

Random group of girls, Max, Nathan, and I. 

The next morning we hopped on a ferry to take us to the island Chiloe. I didn't really know anything about this island but it is completely separated from the rest of the world but once you're on it feels the exact same. Relatively big towns and cities, lot of people, and tourism. It was a very relaxing and kind of enjoy yourself type of day. We started it off with a brief historical story telling by our tour guide and then it was all boat tours and exploring the city from there. We went through markets, talked to locals and just goofed around within ourselves in this really neat little spot. We even took a tour of a church that is literally made out of just wood. it has burned down before (as you can imagine) but it completely structured from wood. INCLUDING the nails. Before you knew it we were back on the boat to head back to the bus that would take us home, ending but for most of us was the best week of our lives. What happened on the way back to the bus was pretty special.

All of our Alpaca Jackets. PPAP!

Wooden church

Bring hipster in front of the church. 

All of us were sitting in the back and I decided to start talking about how I had changed as a person. Let me prelude this by saying this group has spend a total about 8 days together and in the scheme of things has had almost no time together. After I started talking about this everyone chimed in how they had changed so far and this led to very very very deep conversation about families and family issues. Conversations that normally only take place between the best of friends IF that. However, it was then that I realized that these ARE my best friends right now. When we return to our countries and start to live our normal lives again only the closest will probably maintain a relationship (just like high school or college), but as for right then, they were my best friends in the whole world. The clock slowly ticked away until we were sitting in the terminal waiting for everyones buses. Of course Max and I would be staying the night and later taking a plane as usual but that wait in the terminal to say goodbye was terrible. I managed to squeeze a few laughs out of everyone when I began to play guitar for money on the side but when we really had to give our last hugs, kisses, and goodbyes it was really hard. Mostly because it was the last time that ALL of us would be together until March (I stress the ALL and will explain that in a second). I had a group of people I never wanted to say goodbye. What made it even more difficult was that in just one week, they would be getting back together to celebrate Christmas and a birthday of one of our group members but because Max and I live so far away, we would not be allowed to join in the fun. I will see you all next March, it was the best time of my life. 

PHOTOS FROM THE SOUTHERN TOUR: 

https://www.facebook.com/weston.muench/media_set?set=a.10202789163915380.1073741846.1388974335&type=3

The Circle Game

After sleeping in until 11 o'clock on a classless Friday morning. And after eating a nice hefty bowl of rice with a shortened maté session, I took a look in the mirror and I looked at the calendar. Do you know what the date is? It is November 15, 2013. That is 18 years, 3 months, and 6 days after I was born. More importantly, it's 3 months and 13 days after I arrived here in Chile. If you know me, does it feel like that much time has past in the US (or wherever you are while reading this)? Because for me, it doesn't even feel like half that much time. It's starting to freak me out a little bit. Is this going to be the rest of my life? Dragging my feet to stop the clock? Or am I out of the water after this year because like every cliché I'm living the "you're exchange is going to go by so fast".

As for looking in the mirror, which is something I didn't address in the first paragraph, I am not sure if I should be happy at what I saw. Proud? Sad? I could easily say all three. I could easily say none of the above. To help me come to a conclusion, what did I see? I saw a pitiful excuse for a beard, you think being in another country is going to stop me from participating in No Shave November? It's called sharing cultures, you were sadly mistaken. I saw a buzzed head of no hair, which is a result of my first time traveling with the basketball team. I am noticing that parts of my hair isn't growing as fast as the front. Wait, am I really seeing symptoms of balding? I am praying that it's just early unevenness in my hair due to the fact that I only shaved it two weeks ago. However, it does have me scared. Everything is pointing me in the direction of a bald head, genes and the fact I've had a receding hairline since I popped out of the woom. What else did I saw beside my patchy facial and head of hair? To tell you the truth? I saw a man. I don't know if I need to reiterate what I mentioned in the first paragraph, but I'm 18 years old. I am not a little kid any more. Mom. Dad. When I get home, you aren't going to see or talk to the same person (almost used the word kid here) that you had in your house just three months ago. I will have changed physically but more importantly I will have changed emotionally and mentally. Should I be proud of this? Should the two of you be proud of this? I guess the correct answer would be yes because every adult wants their child to grow up to be a strong, mature, and healthy adult. However, is the answer deep down really no? Because the reality is, no adult wants their child to grow up, it means that they too are getting older, and the train starts moving faster. Mom. Dad. You think this is depressing or reality checking? Hold your thoughts, because if you look at the calendar again you'll see that Taylor is more than halfway done with BBA and that he will be receiving letters from colleges in one year to say whether he got in or not. Woah. 

I've listened to two songs recently that not only sparked this reality check, but also helped me check reality. The Circle Game by Joni Mitchell and Stop This Train by John Mayer. Both of which tell the same story of life passing us by. I am now the person dragging my feet to slow the circle down and asking, no sorry BEGGING to stop the train. But in reality, begging for something that isn't possible is just wasting my breath. My childhood has slipped past me and I have to move on from the fact I'll never see it again. It's time I have to move into adulthood with purpose. I have to understand I'm not a kid and take some initiative. Fortunately, I have 7 months left of this wonderful adventure before that really begins. Who knows though, I may close my eyes to fall asleep tonight and wake up and it'll all be over. When my mom worked at Brown Ledge Camp in Burlington, Vermont, we would always sing this song. As 10 year old Weston sang with 200+ girls at the beautiful girls summer camp he had a smile on his face and had no idea what in the world he was singing about. Whenever, we started singing there was this one girl who was about 7 years old and she would run our of the dining hall crying every single time. I always asked my mom why and she always said I don't know. I just didn't understand, because I was in the stage of the song where "words like when you're older must appease him". That little girl, at age 7, understood getting older when I didn't get until 18. I know my mom knew exactly why she was crying, but I am glad she didn't tell me. I need to pass through the phases of the Circle Game, I mean that's life isn't it?

Take a minute or two and read the lyrics of the two songs if you aren't familiar with them. If you are reading this, take 10 minutes today and just think about this topic. 

The Circle Game : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9VoLCO-d6U

Yesterday, a child came out to wander

Caught a dragonfly inside a jar

Fearful when the sky was full of thunder

And tearful at the falling of a star

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round

And the painted ponies go up and down

We're captive on the carousel of time

We can't return we can only look behind

From where we came

And go round and round and round

In the circle game

Then, the child moved ten times 'round the seasons

Skated over ten clear frozen streams

Words like, "When you're older", must appease him

And promises of someday make his dreams 

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round

And the painted ponies go up and down

We're captive on the carousel of time

We can't return we can only look behind

From where we came, 

And go round and round and round 

In the circle game

Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now

Cartwheels turn to car wheels through the town

And they tell him, "Take your time. It won't be long now.

'Til your drag your feet to slow the circles down" 

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round

And the painted ponies go up and down

We're captive on the carousel of time

We can't return we can only look behind

From where we came

And go round and round and round

In the circle game

So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty

Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true

There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty

Before the last revolving year is through.

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round

And the painted ponies go up and down

We're captive on the carousel of time

We can't return, we can only look behind

From where we came

And go round and 'round and 'round

In the circle game

And go 'round and 'round and 'round in the circle game.

Stop This Train: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BTzNX5OMN4

No I'm not color blind

I know the world is black and white

Try to keep an open mind but...

I just can't sleep on this tonight

Stop this train I want to get off and go home again

I can't take the speed it's moving in

I know I can't

But honestly won't someone stop this train

Don't know how else to say it, don't want to see my parents go

One generation's length away

From fighting life out on my own

Stop this train

I want to get off and go home again

I can't take the speed it's moving in

I know I can't but honestly won't someone stop this train

So scared of getting older

I'm only good at being young

So I play the numbers game to find away to say that life has just begun

Had a talk with my old man

Said help me understand

He said turn 68, you'll renegotiate

Don't stop this train

Don't for a minute change the place you're in

Don't think I couldn't ever understand

I tried my hand

John, honestly we'll never stop this train

See once in a while when it's good

It'll feel like it should

And they're all still around

And you're still safe and sound

And you don't miss a thing

'til you cry when you're driving away in the dark.

Singing stop this train I want to get off and go home again

I can't take this speed it's moving in

I know I can't

Cause now I see I'll never stop this train

(think I got 'em now)

Basketball Tournament

After two months of planning and waiting, my basketball team loaded up on the bus to the airport to head to Temuco for a basketball tournament. If you read about my previous tournament, we ended up winning a nail biter (quite literally I think I was biting my nails) against a team from Temuco. After the game they invited us to their 5 day, 8 team tournament October 30-November 2. I was quite groggy the morning of the 29th when we uploaded our transfer bus in front of our school. I hadn't really been thinking about basketball that much lately because the reality is we didn't practice or prepare much for the tournament. High school sports work differently down here. If you want to play a lot you have to go out and make regional selection or club teams. Because the high school teams only practice about 2-3 times a week. In our case, 4-5 times a month from September-November. I am going to skip this part of the story and head right into the tourney. 

I was pretty groggy in the morning and didn't talk much through the bus ride and into the plane ride. We landed after a 50 minute flight in Puerto Montt and pretty shortly after that we hopped onto a bus that I thought was the bus to Temuco. I fell asleep on the bus and when we got to the bus station I was very surprised to see signs for Puerto Montt around the station. I asked my teammate why we were still in Puerto Montt if we took a bus for an hour from the airport. This made my team laugh because apparently I fell asleep for 10 minutes and we drove from one side of the city to the other. That made for a good joke for the rest of the week. We put our luggage, in a storage area and all headed for the mall as we had several hours waiting for hour bus to Temuco. It was about a 20 minute walk there and back, and like classic chileans we were running incredibly tardy and ended up sprinting back full speed after eating lunch at the mall to catch the bus, we made it. 

Getting ready for Game 6!

Waiting with out luggage. 

On the bus we got really lucky and there was a hot water dispenser in the back. I brought all my stuff for maté and we drank maté the entire bus ride while enjoying 5 hours of pure laughs. This included a lot of improvising in Spanish. Which I found out is very difficult when you don't speak Spanish… There are two kids on my team on the other hand are quite talented. Although I don't understand every word that's being said, it is still fun to listen and laugh at the parts that I understand (or know should be laughed at). It was the best five hour bus ride that I've ever taken. 

When we arrived in Temuco a classic Weston, at the time very frustrating, thing happened. So we got off the bus, I was last as usual. Everyone was ready, I wasn't as usual. Just as I had all my carryon fixated and started to pick my head up to get my carryons out from the bottom of the bus, the bus started driving away, and my team was gone. I didn't know what to do so I turned down the street and saw my team driving away without me. I yelled to my coach to stop and then screamed if he had my bags, which we didn't. Then I ran after the bus and caught up with it at the next stop light, leaving my backpack with my computer, passport, and wallet on the ground. When I ran onto the bus the driver said that we couldn't take the bags out now (which I still don't know why) and that we had to wait and he drove away about 6 blocks. Then he let me out and gave me my bags. At this point I had no phone, no team, all my important belongings on the curb an unknown distance due north, and I was alone in an unfamiliar city. I was quite nervous. Luckily my team chased after the bus in the car and found me. Unfortunately they didn't know that I left my bags back at the stop. Two team mates and I sprinted full speed and found the bag next to the tree where I left it. Huge Phew. 

Our Hostel for the week. 

This incident put me in a pretty bad mood for a little while. To start I was pretty mad that my team straight up left without even checking if I was there and I was also mad that the bus driver couldn't help me at the red light. I gave myself some space from people and within 20 minutes of arriving at the student hostel where we would be staying I cooled down and was ready for dinner. We were put up in a student hostel with four of the other teams and stayed in the same room together with a bunch of bunk beds. After a late dinner of pasta and meat, we headed to bed and rested for our 10:30 game. We arrived at the gym at 9 o'clock the next day and it was a pretty nice venue. Very international feel with a lot of students watching. I was really nervous before it started and unfortunately I didn't turn those nerves into something productive because we lost the first game. It was a really close game the whole time although I never felt comfortable. We were tied going into the fourth and ended up losing by 20. It was a total collapse in the fourth. I had about 15 points probably but they weren't 15 good ones and I really didn't feel good about how I played afterwards. They had a couple big men (which we don't have) and one kid who was really tore us up. When the game ended I had a bunch of negative thoughts going through my head and needed about an hour to cool off. However, once I cooled down I was ready to enjoy the rest of the day. 

Team picture after game 1.

Skying up for an almost dunk in game 1. 

We spent the rest of the day until 5 at the hostel eating lunch and playing guitar and singing. Then at 5 we had the players ceremony and opening presentation. There were a lot of people and it was well put together despite the fact they spelled the name of my school wrong. There were lots of people taking pictures and it was cool to see all the teams together in one place. 

Our team at the ceremony. 

After the ceremony, we headed to the mall in Temuco with the two girls (students of the home town high school) who volunteered to walk our team to every place during the week. We were also accompanied by two former students of my high school who are now studying in Temuco. It was great to get to know the four of them and have some Chilean fast/mall food. We only had a couple hours at the mall so at 8:30 we found a bus and headed back to the hostel. 

A not so flattering picture of my friend and I
at the mall. 

One of the kids on my basketball team went to Missouri for an exchange year right outside of St. Louis almost two years ago. From this he was a pretty serious Cardinals fan. Well, this was perfect. As you probably know, Wednesday night was Game 6 of the World Series. Maybe the most important baseball game in Red Sox history. To be honest with you, it was one of those moments during my exchange that I really missed home and just wished I was able to enjoy this game with my family. However, I did get to watch it with someone and I didn't watch it solo. That was really important to me, even if he was a Cardinals fan. Unfortunately, dinner was at the same time. To manage this, in between innings we would run to the cafeteria, eat a little, and come back. We did this for about an hour. We missed a total of about 20 pitches in the entire game, which really isn't that bad when you think about it. 

Watching the Sox destroy. 

Our giant flat screen World Series TV. 

Let's skip through the game and enjoy the fact that the Sox one. It was a really cool moment for me. I ran down the hallways and screamed and even explained to someone in the hallway what had happened and he shook my hand and congratulated me. I went to bed incredibly happy and the next day I couldn't stop reading about the game and the series. I read for about 30 minutes, article after article after article. 

We we allowed had another early game on Thursday at 9:30. When we got to our new gym location we were greeted by bright blue floors. However, it was a nice court. About 30 seconds into our warmup they said it was time to start. I couldn't believe it. I literally hadn't touched a basketball yet and it felt like I had just gotten out of bed. The game started it appeared that both sides felt this way. At the start of the game I was a little intimidated by the team we were playing. I honestly thought they were a lot better than us. However, we played them close during the entire first half and it was a one or two point game at halftime. The second half they had a kid face guard me and after getting three fouls early on I ended up guarding there scrub point guard. I looked at this, and then schemed a plan that helped our team beat the other team by about 15 when it was all said and done. On offense I ran the kid guarding me into the ground. Even though I wasn't the best basketball player at the tournament (probably in the top 5) I was easily the fastest and the best at running the floor. I literally just cut back and forth and back and forth across the gym and away from the ball. This meant he wasn't helping on defense so my point guard was getting to the hoop and it also meant that the kid looked like he was about to puke after two minutes. What the other coach should have done was switch who was guarding me every 3 minutes or so to give people rests but they had the same kid guard me the whole time and he never came out…and I never tired. This meant two things while we were playing defense. One, the kid was a zero threat. He had no energy and the little that he had left he spent guarding me. I took him out of the game offensively. Secondly, their point guard didn't want to do anything but dribble the ball up and pass it away at the three point line. So what I ended up doing what I stood in the middle of the paint and help out on the good kids. They played 3 on 5 offensively more or less. It was a really fun game to play and I finished with 22. 

My Point Guard, Marcello, and I
during the game. 

We headed back to the shack for lunch and then had a two hour play guitar and chillax break until our 5 o clock game. This next game was really important because if we won we advanced to play for the championship and if we lost we were stuck in a 5th place game no matter how we did the next day. After the first half it seemed like it would be a close one till the end. I was playing terrible. I think I had four points in the first half, my attitude was bad, my percentages were terrible, and I just wasn't in the game. Luckily our point guard was putting on a show with about 15 first half points and so we were still in it. The third started and I was still struggling and then with 30 seconds left in the 3rd I got going. I hit a 3 at the top of the key, nothing but net. Then 15 seconds later we had the ball for the last possession and as the clock hit 5 someone past me the ball outside the 3 point line and right in front of my bench I shot. I held my followthrough just like I learned at Muench Camp and even though it went through with 2 seconds left I stood there with my hand up until that horn sounded. I was now in the game. I ended up scoring 20 points in the last 10 minutes of play and we ended up winning by 50. It was a throw down of sorts. 

After the game we had time to enjoy the rest of the day to head to the mall again. All this walking around Temuco was great because we were really getting to know the city and not just the gymnasiums. I have an actual opinion of the city now instead of just saying we won this game and lost this game. It's not the nicest city I have ever been too but not the ugliest ever. It has almost no background or scenery but it has things to do and nice markets along with about 200,000 inhabitants. 

Friday was the big day that all of us had been waiting for. In our hometown tournament we won an incredibly exciting game against the home town team in this tournament. The way the brackets ended up, we faced them in the semifinal. It was a special game for all of us especially because we had the opportunity to become very friendly with the other team off the court. They played me just how I had expected, right on my grill, face to face. Unfortunately I just did not have a good game. I didn't shoot well and couldn't shake my defenders. The thing I did correctly was I cleared the lanes which gave a ton of space to operate for my point guard. He had a great game an scored almost every point for us. I ended up with about 10. We played them tight the whole way until the last 8 minutes. We ended up losing by about 13 but in reality it was an 8 point game. We didn't give the game to them, they took it from us. It was well deserved. 

This game was really hard for me to bounce back from. I was upset for quite an extended period of time and obviously now I see how asking no one to talk to me and brushing off my teammates was foolish but you have to understand that in the moment, I wanted to win that game and I really felt like I let my team down. I had to let myself cool off. 

After I cooled off I enjoyed a Subway sandwich in the mall. It was definitely not as good as American Subway, however it was the first Subway I had eaten in about five months so it was a big moment nonetheless. 

The next day we had the 3rd place game. For us we had lost our big opportunity at the ship. So the night before the third place game we weren't worried about sleep or getting rest. We stayed up late, and had a lot of won. If we won the next day great, if not then we still grabbed a trophy with third. To start the night all the teams ate dinner together and we came up with the idea to have a soccer tournament at 10:30 outside. 

What came after dinner was the most interesting part of the night. In Chile it's tradition with the sports teams that when a person travels with the team for the first time the team shaves their head really strangely. I initially that no way in hell would I be partaking in this because I actually wasn't planning on cutting my hair for a long time. I had long hair for the first time. However, after watching two of my teammates go down the drain and be utterly shamed, I realized that when I got back in the US I would regret this if I didn't do it. So I took my shirt off and told them to have at it as I bit my lip and cried inside. I watched as slowly my hair fell to the ground and my teammates started to laugh. What they did to my hair was absolutely hideous. They shaved sunglasses, a beard, and a mustache in the back of my head, then a mohawk in the front. Although terrible, it was a memory and I am very glad with the decision I made. Now, all I have to do is wait five more months until my hair is where it was!

Before.

After.

The three victims together. 

The hair incident led right into the soccer tournament. Every team was present except for a Santiago team which would be playing in the championship game the next day, understood. Every team wore their uniform or warmup on the court. It was very funny. I obviously didn't play because I am very incapable of playing soccer but I watched and talked to the other teams that weren't playing on the side lines. What was great about this part of the night was we all bonded and made jokes and when we woke up the next day we all were like one team. 

We took third in the soccer tournament. 

After the soccer tournament, I thought we would be headed to bed but instead my friends told me they wanted to meet a pretty American girl in a Skype. Sorry, Casey. My good friend and diaper amigo Casey Apps was the lucky victim. They were incredibly obnoxious and even though I thought it was funny I'm sure she thought it was quite strange. There is one kid on my team that wants to marry you Casey! It was still great seeing you! Finally, we went to bed pushing 2 o clock. 

Case!

The next morning our 3rd place game started at 10. We were zombies. I almost missed breakfast. I really just didn't want to get up. We got to the gym with only 15 minutes of game time until the start of our game. I was sore, I was tired, I was unmotivated, and I was not ready to play a basketball game. I got ready very slowly and while everyone else was spending their 10 minutes getting warmed up I sat in a chair and watched the game. We had 5 minutes to warm up when it ended. I have never been so not ready for a game in my entire life…

A rare shot of me touching a basketball
before the game started. 

I had my best game of the tournament. I scored 29, had a bunch of assists, and carried the team. I am not sure what happened. In the first half alone I had four 3s, and the three point line here is closer to NBA than it is to USA high school. I was absolutely on fire and I felt great. We won by about 15 even though we were only up 1 at the half. We were just too fast for them. I just ran and ran and ran and ran and they didn't have enough gas to keep up. So we took third, it wasn't what we wanted but honestly it was better than I thought we would do considering we barely practiced leading up to the tournament. 

During the 3rd place victory.

After us Santiago beat the hometown team in a nail biter by 3. Temuco was down 23-9 at the half and just slowly chipped away. I won't go into too much detail about the game because that would just bore you guys…if you are still already reading this thank you. 

The two teams fighting for a rebound in the championship.

We received our medals and trophies in a presentation following the games and then said goodbye to two of the teams. We then went to the mall per usual and made our ways back to the shack for our "Last Supper" at the hostel. There was a Chinese kid on one of the other teams so he said grace and Chinese and I said grace in English. Then, we had a rap battle. He rapped in Chinese and I rapped in English. It was really funny because no one understood us but they reacted like we dissed each other so hard. After dinner the two of us had a rap battle in Spanish and it was absolutely terrible. But we laughed it off. I won somehow and he's been here for 12 years. Go USA!

All the teams together, the trophy in the air
is ours!

Our whole group for the week.

Giving our trophy one big kiss.

The daughter of the head coach of Temuco works for an exchange program named AFS and also went on exchange and speaks English so we had a very good conversation (her in English and me in Spanish) about exchange and it was good for me because now I feel like I have a very good resource. She has a South African accent and I am pretty sure that her English is better than mine. After all the excited we finally said our goodbyes and uploaded the bus to the terminal. During our two hour wait we had the great idea to play guitar for money. We set out the case put some change in it and started singing songs as a team. Some lady gave us the equivalent of a 2 dollar bill and even though nobody else contributed after an hour, we had a TON of fun. I even met a street puppy that I named "Blerst" and he slept on my lap for about half an hour. I am not sure how sanitary that was but he was just too cute.  

Blerst!

Our team playing music. We made 2 bucks!

Me and my Chinese friend. 

We then took an over night bus to Puertto Mont and from Puerto Montt we took our plane back to Coyhaique, which ended our trip. I can't tell you how great this was for my exchange. I got to know so many people from all different parts of Chile. I got to know Temuco. We got very close with our two volunteer tour guides. I got to meet 3 alumni from my school and now we are friends. I got to play basketball against good competition. Most importantly, I am now incredibly close with my team and have hundreds of jokes that we use every day now. I am very grateful for my exchange and the new experiences I get to have daily. 

Thank you so much to these
two girls (our tour guides for the weekend). 

PHOTOS: 

https://www.facebook.com/weston.muench/media_set?set=a.10202597604646518.1073741844.1388974335&type=3