The Gira

THE GIRA

Because the Chilean education system is really different from the US’, they are lots of traditions that exist only here. One of these involves the class that you are with from 7^th grade on. From 7-12^th grade, you have the same kids in the same class and every year the only thing you change is the classroom. This definitely has its drawbacks and I definitely do not agree with it, however it means that 45 kids get really close over a long period of time. Starting in 7^th grade each class begins to raise money to go on a big expensive get away in some luxurious or foreign location with all their classmates. The location and the length of the trip are dependent on how much money the kids at the school have pretty much. I know kids that are going to Cuba, Brazil, and other countries in South America for 1-2 weeks. Luckily for us, we already live in Patagonia, so going somewhere beautiful wouldn’t be far. My trip was last weekend and it was 3 days and 2 nights at The Hot Springs of Puyuhuapi.

We took a 5 hour bus ride from Coyhaique to the location while taking several scenic stops along the way. The road to the resort was absolutely beautiful but there was something that wasn’t right with me. It was bit strange for several reasons but one was very obvious. This was the trip that everyone in my class had been counting down the days (literally we had a calendar on the whiteboard counting down the days of October) since 7^th grade for. For me, it was definitely something I was looking forward to, and something that I was excited about, however it was hard to match the excitement of the rest of the group. This overwhelmed me tremendously and it tired me out very quickly. I spent the first day very tired, always wanting to sleep, and having trouble comprehending Spanish.

My class with out teacher at a stop during the busride

Moving on from the bad and onto the good. When we arrived boats where we loaded up and took onto an island where we found our resort greeted us. The rooms were really nice and the view of the mountains was just breathtaking. There wasn’t any cable, wifi, we were completely disconnected. Well, I am going to take back the word COMPLETELY because there was a hardwire computer that I used Saturday night to periodically check the score of the Sox game, GO SOX! After settling in with our first meal we were told that we had 30 min to change and get ready for a walk in the woods to tour the area. The Patagonia has a lot biological differences than Vermont and so it was really cool to see all the different plants, trees, and insects. Let’s just say, even though they live in Patagonia, my classmates are not so much for nature. They kept asking when we were getting back so they could go to the spa and they struggled tremendously walking in the woods. ‘Twas sad and funny at the same time.

Getting ready to hike with my friend Ignacio

After an hour in the woods we returned to three hours of free time where we first tried out the main attraction at the resort, the natural hot springs. They were so relaxing and warm and just, perfect. We all had our bathrobes from our rooms on and we were just living the life. Luckily, before the trip I bought an underwater camera. This was perfect. We began what would be the process of taking hundreds of underwater photos.

Dinner was next and it was so good. It was a beef dish with mashed potatoes and fortunately/unfortunately everyone found out that I loved the food and also had a huge appetite. This meant that every single person nearby that did not finish or like the food just passed it on to me. I ate a lot of food this trip…

After dinner we all hung out in the lobby playing pool and talking before starting the “persona secreta” (secret santa). I bought 3 bars of chocolate for one girl in my class and I felt really badly afterwards because my gift was a really nice winter hat. Maybe I should have spent a little more, I didn’t really know before hand. After persona secreta we watched two videos that the parents put together for everyone. This moment was really special for all the kids and the 3 adults. Remember, these kids had been together since 7^th grade and were now watching a video of baby-current pictures of all of them together. It was a pretty special moment for me and I wasn’t even REALLY part of the process. Although, I did feel really good when I appeared in three of the pictures towards the end.

When this ended it was about 10 o clock and this started our free time. I tired very quickly. I hung out in a couple of the hotel rooms until 1 and when the rest of the group when to go night swimming in the hot springs I just knew I wouldn’t be able to function the next day so I decided to go to bed.

Cesar grabbing my butt after giving me
my awesome hat

Me hugging Carla after giving her my pitiful chocolate

I woke up an hour after breakfast had started. That ended up being alright because it was buffet style and there was still enough food to slow me down and with four cups of coffee I was ready to take on the day. Some of the others that went to the hot springs slept through the entire morning; I think I made the right decision to throw in the towel a little earlier. Promptly after breakfast, there was a kayaking/leaf hunting/clue finding team race that was really fun. I happened to find a shower cap in my bathroom so obviously I wore that the whole time. I was part of the kayak crew. We kayaked out to another island to get our colored balloon and came back. It was really informal and the winner wasn’t very clearly decided but being out there kayaking was really great. I felt like I was in Vermont, until I looked up and saw mountains that I would most definitely not be able to find in Vermont.

Following the race, it was spa all day e’rry day with only a break for lunch. The spa had hot tubs, a very warm pool, a sauna, and later I discovered a very small but adequate gym. I spent my time in the spa before lunch. Napped for two hours after lunch to let myself digest then hit the gym for an hour. I feel like the gym really helped clear out my drowsiness and any negative energy that remained from the day before. The gym was incredibly hot and humid from the hot tubs below so I sweated like an animal. It was felt really good to get outside afterwards instead of spending my last hour before another woods tour in the spa I walked down to the water and skipped some rocks. The rocks weren’t great for skipping but after searching for about ten minutes for good ones I scrapped up a good batch of about twenty and had a decent skipping session. It was really relaxing with the sun starting to go down a little bit, not many people around, and snowcapped mountains ahead of me.

Before the Gira I bought 20 dollars worth of marshmallows, chocolate, and crackers (they don’t have graham crackers) to show my class what an American s’more was like. When I told them about s’mores they actually had seen them in movies but didn’t believe that they were actually real. Unfortunately, no one told me that the fire was going to be on the hike Saturday afternoon and I became very bummed out when we arrived to a campfire that would have been PERFECT for s’mores. Luckily they had a lot of herb for maté tea and we all had our maté. Our class professor  gave us a nice long inspirational speech and then we took pictures and had a minute long moment of silence for nature (which I thought was really neat). I walked back with to the resort with the tour guide and had a nice conversation with him and he invited me to drink maté with him and help organize the boots, while everyone else went to shower and change for dinner. Maté is really good for conversation and getting to know someone. I like to compare it to smoking a cigar or drinking a beer with a friend and just talking. The only difference is it doesn’t have alcohol or tobacco so there’s no health threat. We talked about music, sports, our lives, and about the Chilean Patagonia. I actually learned a lot about where I live right now from our conversation.

Dinner Saturday was unfreakingbelievable. It was even better than the night before. It was a chicken and corn dish, oh my god. I literally didn’t stop eating. I was in pain afterwards. People just kept giving me their food. Oh, and I forgot to mention the salads before ever meal were killer good. Especially since right now “salad” in my house is a bowl of lettuce, it was nostalgic to have a salad with a lot of stuff in it and some kick-*** flavor.

After dinner, I went up to my porch and started playing guitar and singing. I was very quickly joined by 5 friends who heard me and we belted out songs to the rest of the people walking below us for about 30 minutes. It was awesome. When everyone left, my roommate Miguel and I drank some Maté and talked for about 30 minutes. Once again, I haven’t had a conversation like that with Miguel until we sat down, no technology, and had a maté together. We ended our conversation with getting ready for the costume party. We all rented costumes, like Halloween, and had a legitimate 3 hours dance party that was SO MUCH FUN. We danced from 11-2 and it was so frakin’ great. I was a German from Octoberfest. The costume was quite small and was either flattering or not flattering, I guess it depends on who you are.

The two germans together!

My friend Pilar and my teacher

We all slowly returned and eventually about twenty of us ended up in one of the rooms at about 3 and we played truth or dare and talked until 5:30 when about all of us passed out on either a floor or a bed. 10 people slept in a two person bedroom. At 8 o clock we rose like zombies for breakfast. The day was one of the most gorgeous days I have ever seen. I was incredibly upset that I missed the sunrise. It would have been right over the main mountain. I ate like a champion, per usual, at breakfast and just like the weekend was over…or so I thought.

We may have packed our bags and left the resort but that didn’t mean that it was all over. In fact for me the best part was yet to come I just didn’t know it. We drove for about 35 minutes when we parked the bus and unloaded. Turns our we were going on a 1:30 roundtrip hike up to a peak to look at a glacier. With the day being as perfect as it was it may have been my favorite part of the entire trip. What I didn’t understand was that about 15 kids stayed back and slept on the bus. I will touch on this in a moment. I think this was something I really missed about the US and although brought back from memories of the Inca Trail. Even though I live in Patagonia I have yet to have to the opportunity to go hiking or climbing of any sort. In Vermont it’s so accessible but here you are surrounded by mountains, but they ain’t close. You gotta travel and you gotta travel with someone. I felt really cleansed after the hike.

The rest of the bus ride home was filled laughs, guitar playing and singing, taking pictures, and talking about the trip. When we returned to Coyhaique, the sun setting on the mountains was one of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Coming back from this weekend I had a lot to reflect on…

awake!

1.     I am very happy that I not only landed in Coyhaique and at the Liceo San Felipe Benicio (my school) but I am also really happy that I landed in the class that I am in. I have made really good friends. I’m not talking about acquaintances or people that just know my name. I mean I have a group of people that really care about me and I care about them. I am with the perfect group.

2.   There is a problem with Chile in terms of cigarettes and I am so tired of it. I really want to make a change but I don’t know how. Every person smokes, the adults smoke, the kids smoke, the teachers smoke, and they if they did it in private, I wouldn’t have anything to complain about but they smoke in public everywhere. I firmly believe it really comes down to the education. To start, the teachers smoke and they have no problem telling the kids they smoke or joking about smoking. Some even smoke the second they walk out of school or during free blocks with the kids watching. During the trip everyone was allowed to smoke as long as they didn’t smoke in the rooms. They smoked in the pools, walking around, on the hikes, and this included the parent chaperones. I mean, I don’t even know what fresh air is like anymore. The kids think it’s cool and just don’t get it. It’s sad for me because I can already hear the cracking in their voices and they are only 16-17 years old. I hope somehow I can make a change with this, even if it’s a little one.

3.    The last thing I want to reflect upon is the difference in the culture in terms of Carpe Diem (seize the day) and living the party life. I mean I am not going to lie, I have a lot of fun here. The people down here look to celebrate whenever they have the opportunity and so I have had the opportunity to enjoy a lot of different festivities. But the downside of this is almost everyone wakes up in the middle of the day and then goes to bed super late. To me and to America in general we like to enjoy the day more. The nature, the sunrise, the sunset, the beautiful weather. All of it is really important. A lot of my friends missed everything that was was important to this trip, just to sleep a little extra so they could be ready to go at it at night. It’s an adjustment I am constantly making and is interesting food for thought.

Gracias Tercero D por tenerme  y aceptarme en tu curso y la Gira pasó  la raja.

~Gringo

PHOTOS UNDERWATER:

https://www.facebook.com/weston.muench/media_set?set=a.10202445892053798.1073741843.1388974335&type=3

GENERAL PHOTOS FROM THE TRIP:

https://www.facebook.com/weston.muench/media_set?set=a.10202441846952673.1073741842.1388974335&type=3

A Strange Sensation

            Even though there were good things that happened this week that I could spend my time sharing in this blog post, I am going to instead reflect. Because something very interesting happened during this week and it wasn’t exactly a good thing…

            Coming off one of the best weekends ever at orientation (read prior post) I came back to the real world on Tuesday. Only the real world wasn’t real for me anymore. It was foreign. It was lonely. It was confusing. For the first time in over two months I spoke English and I spoke English constantly—during the orientation. Upon returning it was like I arrived all over again. I was thinking in English. I wasn’t understanding what people were telling me. Simple things that I was slaying 5 days before were now incredibly difficult to formulate and say. I was incredibly home sick, or at least I thought I was. Then I realized what the route of the problem was. I had become so accustomed to not understanding what people were telling me and not having the words to say what I wanted that it became incredibly normal and didn’t bother me anymore. Then for the first time I understood EVERYTHING. I could say ANYTHING I wanted to. Honestly, it was incredibly overwhelming. At the same time it was amazing. It was refreshing and it became natural again during those two days. If you know me well, I talk a lot—a LOT. I had my voice taken away from me for two months and then all of a sudden it was just there. But just as fast as it came, it was gone again and along with it the naturalness of my life here in Patagonia. I was very depressed the first two days back and I turned to my grandpa when my counselor here wasn’t in his office and had a very good hour long conversation with my grandpa, Tom Muench. Although he himself has no experience with my specific situation, he as an abundance of knowledge and experience in about every other thing you can think of in life. He gave me very wise and helpful advice and upon hanging up with him I went for an hour long walk, followed by basketball practice, and finished with going to the gym. It was like all the toxins in my mind were freed and now I really feel like I am living normal once again. It was a very peculiar thing that happened to me and I really hope that it doesn’t happen again.

Orientation Weekend

I am going to start this week's blog post with the negative. Monday morning as I ran to school and sprinted down the stairs, I rolled my ankle. It scared the crap out of me just because I have done it so many times. At first it appeared to be bad but over the course of the week it has heeled nicely and I think that in two-three days I'll be about 95 percent. But I am not even going to talk about this another second. 

This weekend I had my second Rotary orientation with the people from my district. About a month back I asked my friends in Coyhaique who went on exchange last year if they wanted to come with me. ROTARY ALLOWED IT! So, Max from Germany, Weston from the US, and Oscar, Michelle, and Nicole from Chile were going up north to Chillán together! During Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday my mind was completely preoccupied with this. I was so excited. Finally, Thursday came and all of us packed our stuff into a little car and headed an hour south to Balmaceda Airport where we were depart. The difference between us and the rest of the district in regards to the orientation was that we live SUPER far away. For the rest it was a 2 day shindig. For us it was 5 days. 

We left Balmeceda at about 11:30 and landed in Puerto Montt an hour later only to be greeted by a two incredibly nice Rotarians. What I found out next was that we were going to spend the entire day in Puerto Montt and we could do whatever we want! The two Rotarians drove us all to the mall to eat and after that we were free to go. We spent the first hour of our free time in the mall. They had a very nice guitar shop that half of us checked out while the other half went shopping. After the mall we headed outside and walked along the ocean to take pictures. Puerto Montt is really beautiful. Its a city right off the coast with about 200,000 people. After taking pictures and getting our hair ruined from the wind Oscar asked if we wanted to go to Puerto Varas, another city. The difference between Rotary in the US and here is exactly this. We literally had the freedom to do whatever we felt like until 7 o'clock. In the US traveling alone is very prohibited and you are constantly monitored. I kind of like this way better. So we hopped on a bus for a dollar and some change. It was about a 30 minute bus ride and I slept through most of it. In Puerto Varas we went to the supermarket to get food for the upcoming bus ride to Los Angeles and we went to a traditional Chilean market where I bought a pin for my jacket. Unfortunately I didn't have anymore money and I couldn't get anything more than that. It started to rain a little bit but we just enjoyed the smell of the rain and the ocean together instead of getting mopey about it. Like Puerto Montt the city is right off the ocean. We took some pictures by the sea and then found an ice cream place where we hung out for about an hour while waiting for our mom for the day to return from work. She picked us up there and took us to her house for dinner. Her house is beautiful. It is four floors and very well taken care off. Dinner was a wonderful mixture of classic chilean snack food and we were and then we just relaxed. There was a Rotary event in the basement and one of the daughters of the Rotarians was our age and came over to hang out. We hung out listened to music, danced, talked, and then finally repacked and said goodbye. Next stop Los Angeles. 

Our bus left at about 11 o clock and arrived at 6:30. Unlike the rest of my friends I could not sleep at all. I tried and tried but it just wasn't happening. I ended up reading Harry Potter and just closing my eyes for most of the time. But the the seat leaned back so it really wasn't all that bad. We were greeted once again by a group of incredibly friendly Rotarians. Rotarians that I recognized from my previous orientation. This time around with Rotarians, we were all going to spend the night. Because there were five of us and it was too much to all stay in one house we divided into 3 houses. I was alone in a house with 18 year old and 12 year brothers and a very kind mother and father. I ate breakfast with the mom and the kids and then went to bed to catch 2.5 hours of shut eye. At 10:30 my mom for the day took me into the city to check it out. It was a beautiful day. The first time I could wear t-shirt and shorts. To her though it was very average and if not even a little chilly. We went to the supermarket to buy food for the orientation and also to the bank to pick up some cash. I found out during this time the the 18 year old was having a birthday party that night and I was invited. I lucked out. At 4 I met up with the Oscar, Nicole, and Michelle at the mall. We ate and walked around but we did not do anything special. Then when we exited the mall we saw a little street show. It was a very slapstick classic chilean humor type of show. I didn't really understand most of the jokes but it was funny to watch other people laughing at them. At 7:30 I headed back to the house for the party! About 15 people were there and it was perfect for me. I got to meet people that were my age in a different city AND they knew three of the other exchangers in my district because they were in their classes. We danced, ate great food, and sang (literally, I played guitar and everybody sang) until about 1 when I elected to go to bed as I would be waking up at 6 the next morning. 

I was not a happy camper waking up at 6 in the morning, and then I remembered that the orientation I had waited weeks to go to was finally here! It was a quick breakfast turnaround and repack and before I knew it I was in the car to the bus station. At the bus station I was reunited with 3 other people in the district along another Rotex (like Oscar, Michelle, and Nicole). I also met the other Rotex that would be joining us for the first time. Even though I was running on very little sleep, I had so much energy. I was so excited to be reunited with everyone. The bus ride was two hours long and I sat next to my friend Kobie. We spoke Spanish the whole which was pretty cool considering we are both from the US. When we arrived in Chillán slowly people started to show up. At first there were no Rotarians and no one knew what to do. So basically it was 8 kids just sitting at the bus station without a clue of what to do. Once we found the adults waiting for us we met up with the rest of the group in bursts. We all made our way to the bus that would later take us to our orientation and we hung out here for about 30 minutes waiting for the last three people, one of which is my best friend in the group Nathan. When I saw them walking towards us I ran as fast as I could and jumped on him and gave him a giant hug. Missed that bro. We had 4 new members to the district 4355 crew and all of us got comfortable and introduced and finally we began the journey into nature to get to our cabañas in Las Trancas where we would be staying. 

The bus ride was one of the weirdest experiences of my life. So for the past two months, I have used english two times and they were both with Max (the german in my town). Obviously I have used it in Skype and Facebook but only two times face to face. All of a sudden 18 people were all speaking english to each other. It was so overwhelming. It was like I had 10 cups of coffee. I just couldn't control myself. For the first time in 2 months I understood every word that was said and I had a voice. I will get touch on this topic a little later on. 

All of us on the bus

Upon arrival at Las Trancas, the first thing I noted was that I finally was experiencing summer heat. Where I live it is still jacket and pants weather. We are talking 70-80 and not a cloud in the sky all weekend. It was beautiful. The next thing I noted was that with the 80 weather we were surrounded by snow capped mountains. It was such a paradox. We all hauled our things into our 3 different cabañas and had about an hour to settle ourselves before lunch. Lunch was traditional chilean empanadas and meat. During lunch we had lots of good conversation in English and broken Spanish. I just feel at home when I'm with this group of people. After lunch we all went for a walk around Las Trancas and even though it was a 20 minute walk and the views were nothing different than what we could see from where we were staying I used it as a good way to talk and get to know one of the other Rotex, Javiera. She went to Canada last year and learned French and English, very cool. 

During the rest of the day there was a lot of just hanging out, talking, playing guitar, and best of all DRINKING MATÉ! The 5 Patagonians got to share the culture of maté with our friends to the north. Watching everyone drink it for the first time was pretty comical considering the taste is pretty bitter but after a while it seemed that just about everyone had gotten used to it and everyone always wanted more and more and more! It is my favorite drink in the whole world so I was happy everyone else seemed to like it. After dinner we had a presentation of talents from all the different students. I sang two songs that I wrote. One kid debated at the speed of light using the spread technique. Another student spoke in 5 different languages. Others sang. My fellow Coyhaiquian completed a rubix cube in 47 seconds. Others danced. And finally the 5 Rotex did a dance they put together in the kitchen. Following that Michelle, Nicole, and I danced Chamamay (no idea how to spell it) which is traditional to Patagonia. This was another great opportunity to share our culture. After the presentation we had a half hour to socialize. The stars were absolutely amazing. Unfortunately all the lights were on. I cannot imagine how beautiful they would have been without any lights around. I used my half hour of social time as an opportunity to sit on the porch and play guitar. Javiera and Katei (an American) sat and listened to me. It was very peaceful and a great way to spend my time. At 12:30 we all went to our cabañas and prepped ourselves to sleep. Us men ended up living the night until 3 talking in a very interesting mixture of Spanish, German, and English. I was the first one to go to bed because I was planning on checking out the sunrise at 7 o clock while the others slept until 9:30 breakfast time. 

Playing an original song

One of the Rotarian and
Nicole dancing the national dance
for the talent show. 

After 5 different alarms went off letting me know it was sun rise time, I finally was up and out at 6:55. Although tired, I was ready for some kick but sun rise, guitar in hand. I found a spot behind a cabaña and started playing my guitar. It was cold out and I was definitely about 30 minutes at least from any sunlight but it was peacefulness at it's definition. After about five minutes I was accompanied by Javiera, the girl that went to Canada last year. I played guitar and we talked for about half an hour when finally the sun peaked over the mountain. It was stellar. It was so slow and fast at the same time and before I knew it I had to take my sweater off from the morning heat. We talked for about 2.5 hours until it was time for breakfast. It was a really special way to get to know someone I knew nothing about. We were disconnected from wifi and phones and just had the mountains and ourselves to talk to. 

Breakfast was your classic chilean bread, ham, avocado, and tomato. After breakfast we had some orientation to take care of. We had two written quizzes. They were basic comprehension stuff so I personally had no problem. I think there were a few others who probably struggled. I am surprised at the rate some of the people in the group are improving. I guess it really comes down to how much work you put into it. Next up was drink maté till we couldn't drink no more and that led us into presentation of our countries. This was very funny. All of us were supposed to bring one thing from our country. We did a short presentation to the rest of the group and at the end every group sand their respective national anthems. Very fun and informative experience for all. Following this, our lunch. It was like a cooking class but all the work was done for us and all we had to do was chop up vegetables. Either way it was fun and we had a very informal meal filled with sopaipillas (chilean fried dough with a spicy topping) and chicken. It was basically the last thing on the menu for all of us so even though it was fun at the time. It was incredibly bitter sweet. 

'Murica!

We had an hour to get all of our things next to the bus and we also used this time to take pictures with our friends and enjoy the 75 degree sun one more time. For some they would be returning to more heat if not more. I would be returning to 50 degrees and a great chance of rain. During the bus ride back I was wiped. I was half asleep almost the whole way. The next two hours went by really fast. First we arrived in Chillán. Then we said goof by to the first part of our group. Next was the walk to the train station where we sat for 30 minutes baking in the heat and talking. Before I knew it, the weeks of anticipation and excited to see my friends and go on this orientation was over and I was heading back on a bus to Los Angeles. 

Max and I with the Rotex

Javiera and I 

I am going to shorten the last two days because I have already written so much so if you are still reading this, thank you for your patience. We spent the rest of the day with the Rotex and the students from Los Angeles: Mialen, Kobie, and Javiera. We went to a mall for a little while to eat but it was a Sunday and was closed very shortly. After the mall we all went to our host families in LA to get our luggage and head to the train station for another 7 hour bus ride starting at 12. We were met in Puerto Montt by the same family at 8 and spent the rest of the day with them. Max, Oscar, and I seized the day and walked around the city while the girls slept and when we returned a very traditional and tasty chilean lunch was awaiting us. At 3 we headed to the airport and then it seriously done. I was in my house by 6. 

Sunrise view from the bus station in Puerto Montt

This picture sums up our weekend: Puerto Montt

The whole weekend--traveling, the orientation, staying with different families etc--was honestly was of the most fun times I have ever had. Over the 4 days the 5 of us from Coyhaique grew together like a family. We just cannot wait for the next orientation. The actual group at the orientation is already a family. We could literally spend the entire year together. I just got so lucky with the group I am with. Because it's only 18 people we really have the opportunity to get to know everyone. Finally, the families that I stayed with were so nice and I really felt at home. I have a house to stay in anytime I go to Puerto Montt and Los Angeles. Thank you for reading everything…I love Rotary. 

A Week of Comprehension

The Week of Comprehension

So on Monday, the 23rd, I immediately noticed a change in my life here in Chile. All of a sudden I could understand a noticeably larger amount. I also felt more comfortable with my speaking. I could participate a larger amount in my classes and all of a sudden in classes I previously used to catch up on my sleep I found myself taking out a pen and paper to take notes because I finally understood what the teacher was talking about. This seemed to last everyday this week instead of going in and out every day. I can't tell you how happy I was for this to change. 

Tuesday two things happened for me that were huge. To start, I had to give my first important speech in front of a class. Normally I volunteer to read passages from stuff in class but on Tuesday I gave a 20 minute speech on the US Constitution for my History class. I spent a total of 5 hours on it and not only did I learn some Spanish along the way, I also learned/refreshed about the constitution and that was a pretty cool experience. The presentation could not have gone better. Obviously I could have been more fluent with my speaking but the entire class was engaged the entire time and was asking questions and everything. Everyone said they learned a lot. It was a prideful time for the Gringo (me). I even got to get a few people to laugh when I tried to sing the preamble. Of course, I led with "I can sing the Preamble!" Then I forgot the words. It was classic. 

That night was a local free concert with a bunch of warmup acts and ending with the main show, "Gepe" who is a relatively famous chilean pop artist. He is very good, if you get the chance to go to you youtube and check him out I am now an avid listener. The afternoon went like this… So my friend Michelle and I thought that there were two concerts one at 4:30 and 7:30. So the two of us got all ready, skipped our afternoon classes and went to the concert. Turns out that there is only one at 7:30. However, we got to witness what, for a musician like myself, was the coolest part of the show. We got to watch them sound check. To me it is very fascinating to see a musician really raw and asking about the mic and the EQ. Also to add to this awesome discovery, it was 60 and VERY sunny. I was wearing a T Shirt. This was unheard of during my exchange. Then he finished his soundcheck and Michele was ready to go. I was not so quick to mess up a great opportunity in front of us. No one was there. It was Gepe. He was just hanging out in the middle of Coyhaique. I turned to Michelle and asked her if she wanted to talk to him. She responded very confused on how we would accomplish that. I told her to come with me and I walked right up to the stage and said excuse me but I'm from the United States and would love to get a picture with you it would be a highlight of my exchange. So the two of us took pictures with him and he talked to me for about 5 minutes about why I was here and everything. It was really cool. This was before I really knew his music so Gepe (Daniel) will be in my memory as a regular nice guy from Santiago while to all my friends he is a superstar that creates music. 

My favorite stray dog and I, "Jenny"

My friend Angel playing in his show

Michelle and I watching the sound check

Gepe sound checking

Daniel and I 

Michelle and Daniel 

We enjoyed the next two hours walking around city in the beautiful weather and when the rest of my friends wanted to hang out in the Plaza I elected to head over to concert set up and watch the warmup acts. The first act I saw was a group of youngions from another school doing a cup song performance which was very cute. The next act was my friend's band the music was great however, there was problems with the sound they seemed to not figure out and the mix was fairly shaky. After them there was a very famous magic act named "Magic Twins" (I found out they were famous the next day). If you look them up on youtube they are like a less good Chris Angel. They were good but they did acts for kids and not super cool illusions. There was a half hour break and then GEPE!

It was so much fun. The music was great, there wasn't a ton of people so it was really intimate, and it made the middle of the week feel like the weekend. I was dancing and humming (didn't know the lyrics) along the whole time. My friends were so much fun to watch the concert with. I really have found some good people. 

I am going to fast forward to Friday where I had a Rotary meeting and had to give a presentation on the US and my town/family. To start it went really well. I was the last person to go after 4 other Rotary students and I felt fluid with my speech, people were laughing, and I shared pretty much everything important about my family and town. The meeting was 4 hours long…. this was just a little too much for us. While the old people smoked and drank to their little lung/kidney's desire, the 5 kids were falling asleep in their chairs (because it ended at 1). Men, we can be more efficient than this! It was a good night overall and a good way to end the week. 

Looking back on this week I got a glimpse of how great my exchange can be and the potential I have when I begin to understand everything. I am looking forward to every morning when I wake up because I know I will be that much closer. The little things that I didn't understand and would go in one ear and out the other are now being processed in my head and life if continuing to be that much more enjoyable. Next week is my 4 day traveling/orientation with Rotary, I am very excited to see my friends again after two very quick months.