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.