Los niños y la jornada

Sorry I have not written in a while! My last two weeks have been filled with kids, meetings, good news and this past weekend a retreat.

Kids: they are still kids.

Meetings/VE: This coming Saturday is our montly Liga de Fútbol tournament!

Good news: My club, Domingo Savio is going to build a new theater!! It´s a HUGE project that right now we are fundraising for... you will get an email about this. I am super excited!

La jornada (retreat): VE host a retreat for all the new volunteers and who ever else wants to come about a month into starting work in Chile. We went to San Jose in Cajon de Maipo in the mountains. We had to track through a river (the street) just to catch a micro (like a bus) to meet everyone. I am now accepting personal donations to buy rain boots that go to my knees. Two hours later and soaking wet from rain leaking through the micro we arrived. The weekend gave us a lot of time for reflection and team building activities. It was really nice to have personal time. Also, it snowed! The place we stayed at was really nice and we were surrounded by mountains. I added on my pictures already too!

Other events: 1) My spanish is coming along. 2) Still love where I work and the people here!

Eso es todo! Chau locos! (pronunciada: logggos).

Look at the pictures!

I just found out that I am allowed to post pictures of my community center and the kids I work with online. Usually this is not allowed because of privacy issues with the kids but I got the ok. It´s in the folder labeled "Domingo Savio" and kids. Thanks!

Me caí

The weekends here are filled with food, friends, dancing and the occasional outing. Last Sunday 5 of us went "hiking" in Cajon de Maipo, an area just south of Santiago in the foothills of the Andes. The "hike" was really us walking down a gravel path, climbing up a hill and walking along the river. It also turned into an adventure – our micro broke down on the way there and while walking (within 5 minutes) we found animal tracks, followed by bones, and then a dead rabbit. It was interesting to say the least, but fun of course. It was a good group of girls and beautiful scenery. And yes, me caí (I fell). I always fall and break everything, so of course the trip was not complete without my ankle going out 10 minutes before we left. I fell on the gravel path directly on my knee and arm. Right now they are beautiful colors, like a rainbow.

The week consisted of one night out for a despedida (good bye party), working with the kids, going salsa dancing and enjoying the food and company of the usual Saturday night dinner and slumber party at our place. The younger kids I work with are cute, most are ridiculously smart, and all of them have WAY too much energy. I want all the older kids to be my siblings. Ellos son super bakán!



There are many things that I love about Santiago. One of my favorite parts is living at the community center because I am now a part of the neighborhood. I walk down the street and say hi to the kids from the club, their friends and moms. Sometimes it’s hard to see the poverty a few live in or realize there may be problems in the home, but overall it’s an enriching and eye opening experience. Kites fly high in the air all day and kids are found hanging out or playing fútbol around every corner. I walk around the corner to buy bread and on Fridays and Saturdays I just walk across the street to buy a completo (hotdog with tomato, avocado and mayonnaise – yes I ate one, not a vegetarian in Chile…). Now all I need is dark hair, eyes and complexion and maybe I’ll look Chilean. Jaja.