41 days...

It's official, I now know when I'll be heading back to to the Great-White North, and it's coming faster than I want it to. I'll be leaving Chile on June 12th and arriving in Toronto on June 13th bright and early. That only gives me six more weeks in this beautiful country... not enough time, not enough.

These last two months especially I've really felt at home here. Like I've really fit in, and found my place here in this big city. I've also gotten so much closer with my Chilean friends which was a huge challenge in the beginning, but now I don't know how I can leave them now. There are going to be a lot of difficult goodbye's coming at me soon. As much as I don't like going to school I love the time that I have with my classmates. Even if I'm sitting with people and not talking, just listening I enjoy every minute of it and the atmosphere that I'm surrounded in - even though my school looks quite feo.

There's so much that I'll know that I will miss about living here. But there's also that feeling inside of me that knows, "Yep... I could go back home now." Sometimes I feel like I've exhausted this city, gone so many places, made a lot of memories, met a lot of people, and so much more. You can only live in the dream-world of exchange for so long, and then it's back to reality. But don't get me wrong, I am truly excited to see my family, friends, house, eat my favourite foods, drive, have my own family rules, and have my small-town life again.

But while I'm reflecting on the little time I have left here I'm also gearing up to head to Easter Island/Isla de Pascua/Rapa Nui on Wednesday on my third and final Rotary trip! Also tomorrow I'll be meeting two girls at the airport, who were my bosses when I did Ontario Rangers and now we'll be co-workers this summer, as their traveling and volunteering here. Maybe I'll be lucky and do the "Santiago tour" once again - hmmmm 4 times now??

And on a side note - finally I'm 18 and can vote in elections, but yet I miss the Federal Election!

Photos from the past week's birthday activities of Cony and David

Hockey de pasto... mi vida ocupada!

That's what my life finally seems to be! After receiving news that I gotten a job back in Canada that I really wanted for the summer I have been coming to the conclusion that my exchange is almost over! I think I know when I'll be arriving back in Canada and that means I have just under 2 months left here! Already a month has passed by since my North trip... these next 2 will absolutely FLY by! It's a little sad to think that I'm cutting my exchange a month short and coming back in June, (even though my visa is good until August Rotary wants us gone by mid-July.) But spending 2 weeks back home then heading off into the wilderness for 2 months in the summer I think I won't be as occupied in the state of "darn it... I'm back in my small town and not in Chile."

Back to feeling busy... field hockey has started to take over my free time here! This past week I had a scrimmage on Monday, practice Tuesday, rest day Wednesday, and a practice/game Thursday. Although I did find out I can't play in real games with the team - a little thing about not actually being a student in the university! So my day usually looks like this:

• Wake-up at 6 am, go to school
• Get out of school at 3:30-4:15 and take the metro home (40 minutes or so)
  
• Change and have an hour or so in my house
• Take the 1 hour trip by metro and bus to the stadium that we practice/play in
• Practice
  
• Return home around 10-11 pm depending on if my host-brother is also playing soccer

So needles to say I'm dead by Friday night... I wish I could just to to bed early on a regular basis sometimes - but that's not my Chilean life in any aspects!

Even trying to find a night to have dinner with friends seems to be a challenge with conflicting schedules! But it's nice to finally have my life be busy. I wish I could take the few lonely and not so busy first months and use them now - but that's the life of exchange. It's what your dealt with and how you deal... I've just come into full swing of my exchange in my last couple of months.

I can already tell that the tone and sound of this entry will sound weird, I've been typing spanish words and then deleting them, and also talking to friends in spanish then writing my blog in english... the brain can only handle so much!

Here's some pictures from the last "photo shoot" in school when I brought my camera

The girls

In the "Jardin de Eva"

Yo ♥ Santiago




I dyed my hair brown... ha ha as if!

4 Medio!

A photo from when a bunch of the exchange students stood outside La Moneda (Government Palace) for the anniversary of Rotary - you can spot me with the only red blazer!

5 months

Today marks 5 months that I've been in Chile. 153 days in a new country, new culture and living a new life. It's also about half-way through my exchange (depending on if I return in June or July), and I still don't really know how to feel about it.

The time has passed by so quickly in my exchange, and I feel like I've experienced so much, the good and the bad parts of life. Honestly this time last year I would have never expected my life to be like this, and feeling the way that I am now.

I guess I've kind of fallen into a slump right now. I mean realizing that half of my year is over I can't help but look back and think of the "what ifs" and if I've wasted some of my limited time here. Who knows when I'll be able to return again, if I'll be able to visit the exchange students, see my host-family again, classmates..? I know it's bad to think about the "what ifs" in life but when you have a lot of time to think like I do, sometimes you think to much. I also feel like my world is a little upside down right now, just a million emotions and feelings hitting me all at once, but I'm learning that sometimes I just have to let go and learn from things. Ok, so I know that's a little broad but I'm not going to spill my entire life over the world wide web.

Anyways my life is going on here. I have such a great host-family and it's summer right now! I also think that traveling will help a bit as well, for when my brother comes in 3 days!

Can you imagine.. 2 Wallis kids in Chile!

Christmas in Chile

Feliz Navidad a todos!

Christmas in Chile sure was different. First of all let's start off with the weather - bright and sunny, I was wearing shorts, birkenstocks, and a t-shirt on Christmas eve, and then a sundress on Christmas day... a little different from heavy sweaters and boots that I would normally be wearing in Canada!

Christmas eve day I woke-up, met my older host-brother who had just arrived home from Argentina, had a little something for breakfast, showered, and relaxed. For lunch we had completos (hotdogs) then some more time to just relax and chill (lately I've gotten into watching Friends with spanish subtitles or The OC in spanish... that's hard!) Around 9 pm we had a "snack" so some left overs, pan de pascua, aceitunas, my homemade ginger snap cookies, leche con cola de mono, etc. Then around 10:30 pm was the "meal." Nothing like Canadian Christmas with a big meal with all the fixings but we just had a little bit of turkey and potato salad. We skyped with my host-brother in Kentucky when we were eating and after just talking. Then after midnight that's when we opened up our presents. Again a little less-dramatic than my typical Canadian Christmas, everyone just ripped theirs open at once... I was the weird one to wait until they told me "Open them open them!!!" I stayed up until 2:30 am with my family and then finally headed to sleep because I knew I had an early morning.

On Christmas day I woke-up early to Skype with my mom and step-dad back home and open up our presents together. I think for the both of us Christmas just doesn't feel right being away from each other, me being parent-less and them being child-less. After that my Chilean family and I went to the house of one of my host-uncle's whom I'd never met before. He lives 15 mins. from Viña del Mar. So we arrived and talked a bit, then had lunch, some more turkey, then my family headed to the coast. We drove through Viña del Mar and then to Reñaca where I got to put my feet in the Pacific ocean for the first time in the southern hemisphere (i've still yet to swim in the pacific.. ever!) I can say I've never been close to going to a beach on a Christmas day before! We walked around a bit then went back to my host-uncle's. We stayed there and had once then headed back home. My family wasn't doing anything so I skyped with more family back home, my grandparents then my dad, step-mom, step-brother. After all of that it was fairly late.... but then I started to pack. Why pack you may ask? Well you see I was changing houses the next day! Yep, one day after Christmas I switched families!

I'm probably one of the worst packers in the world but I finally managed to get all of my stuff into quite a few bags. My new parents came to my now-old house with my friend from Pennsylvania (whom I switched with), and we did the big switch-a-roo. I now live in the comuna Recoleta, in my house is my mama, papa, host-brother, and also my host-grandma. It's close to the centro of Santiago and also to Cerro San Cristobal, Bellavista, and huge-cheap-shopping area Patranato. It's such a different feeling being in this area, I feel like I'm more in Chile now, although I can't be out late because it's quite a peligroso area. Unlike Las Condes my street doesn't look like there's houses, its more of flat-fronted buildings, kind of a surprise of what's inside! My house is really nice inside, and is quite larger than my last house. My parents showed me my room (with a queen bed and my own bathroom - score!) and then the rest of the house with a nice large patio also. After I got some of my stuff settled into my room I went on a walk with my parents to the supermarket nearby as they showed me landmarks, major streets, and where the closest metro station is. I think I'll be quite happy living here for the rest of my exchange, although it is very far away from my school and friends I'll make it work!

So overall my Chilean Christmas experience was, well... different, as well every family here has their own way of celebrating. For me it feels like I just skipped over another major holiday, as if it never happened. Thankfully all the major celebrations are over - in October was Thanksgiving/three family member birthdays, then November was my birthday, and now Christmas has come and passed. By no means am I complaining, it's just interesting to be apart from what I'm "used to" and doing things in a different way - but that's what exchange is all about right!

The Unexpected

Sometimes during exchange there's things that happen in which you would have never bargained for when you left your normal and comfortable life in your home country. Things that you never even thought would happen, never crossed your mind about a "what if" when your not in your own country. I know I wrote earlier that I didn't want to write about the sad things but it's truly just another part of exchange. The last 2 weeks have been extremely difficult for me especially being out of Canada. I have had to deal with the death of a very close and beloved Uncle in which no one had expected to happen. Also going along with the passing was Thanksgiving, a big family holiday back home. These last couple of weeks have truly made myself stronger as I have had to deal with the grief and flood of different emotions along with the regular exchange frustrations/emotions. But life also goes on here in Chile, and having to deal with other frustrations and difficulties/situations here as well has sure kept my mind occupied for a couple of weeks and restless nights. But like one of my exchange student friends told me, "life still happens, no matter where you are, life things still happen." It's so true and you truly can't do much about things back home other than staying in contact with those who you love and can help you. I've also been lucky enough to have great exchange friends here, Chilean friends, and other supporters who have helped me to deal with an unexpected occurrence or have been sympathetic to my situation. The other problem is that I feel like my Spanish hasn't progressed within the last few weeks which is not a good sign, and adds more stress and pressure to my situation... but that's just a short fall-back.

That being said you have to continue on with your new life, new people, new surroundings, and new culture because you truly can't stay preoccupied for to long or else you'll be wasting all your energy and thoughts on things that you can't fix. The other day I got a library card for this cute library/cultural center here in Las Condes (don't know how useful it'll be once I switch houses.) There's a lot of green-space which is nice in the city, so I've taken advantage of the children's books and I have the opportunity to sit under a tree, read or listen to music when I need some alone time not in my room. It's a hopeful thought that I'll be able to understand the books soon without my dictionary... it'll come in time!

On a good note this past Saturday I went to Fantasilandia with a group of exchange students. Fantasilandia is like Canada's Wonderland - but much smaller with a lot of flaites and english names used for all of the rides... weird. It was a good day and I even managed to get soaked on the second last ride!

The Gang: Me, Emily, Rachel, Billy, Katie, Ayrton, Jo-Ellen (missing Stephen and Sam)

I've also been here in Chile now for 2 months! I can honestly say that I really like Chile, I'm still finding my life here but I truly do enjoy living here and would not go back to Canada right now even if you shoved a one-way ticket in my face.

Spanish - what seems at the moment the most unreachable task of my life, becoming fluent.
Although I have to admit Spanish is one of the more easier languages to learn, because it's no Japanese or Thai with its own alphabet. Although I have started to notice how I'm beginning to understand more during the conversations of others. It also really helps when people slow down when they are talking (my host-family is amazing at the slow and simple words with actions) because the Spanish here is muy rápido! It's one thing to understand the conversation and what is going on/being talked about but it's a whole different ball game when it comes to speaking and responding!

Being here for 3.5 weeks there has been improvement in my Spanish especially since I came with nothing! My goal was at 3 weeks to be able to form some sentences, and I'm partially there. I have been able to ask for permission for things and make some points in which my host family or classmates can somewhat understand me. It's coming along, slowly but surely, and I've been learning new Spanish words daily - some that are useless and some that I will eventually be able to create sentences with.

Chile's national holiday, Vacaciones de Septiembre, is coming up next week and its the celebration of 200 years! It's a really big holiday and pretty much lasts a week. I've been told there is typically a lot of dancing, food, drink, and more food. Next week I have classes from Monday-Wednesday but they're only half days. Also my school is having a little fiesta and the classes are dancing, and guess who will be joining?! Yep - I volunteered to dance with my class, the only thing is that I need to find a typical Chilean style dress so I can look the part. The dance that my class is doing is really simple (I forget the name) but it also depends on your partner... I was the last girl to join in... enough said. But it'll be fun anyways - look for hilarious pictures coming soon!

The weather here is starting to warm up thankfully, even the last few days the temperature in Canada and here have been the same... and we're just starting to enter spring! On the days when the sun is out I swear I can feel myself getting a tan during break, but then i come back in, rosy cheeks and I'm still the white girl!

I'm also starting to constantly say or think "Hey, this is Chile" in so many situations. Whether its the kissy sounds that follow me around, the crowded buses where I almost couldn't get off of this morning and had to push myself through, the supermarket that is half under construction but is still a supermarket, how I never know what class I have or what to do, or the the bags of mayo and ketchup in place of jars, things are just different here - and I like it. I've already memorized the pattern of the one car alarm that seems to go off daily somewhere, and the dogs that never stop barking or sound like they want to kill each other are becoming normal background noise.

Mañana is the first orientation for all the 4340 Inbounds!

Saturday I ended up back at my school, on the weekend. Not really knowing what my host-parents were telling me I jumped in the car and was dropped off at my school/church... I guess. My host-family and school is Adventist, I don't really know much about the religion but I guess they go to church on Saturday. I ended up sitting in my school cafeteria listening to a lady talking about soy beans and how to make milk, fake meat and other things out of it... in Spanish. It was different to say the least. Then we changed rooms and I listened to some more talking about soy beans, then once that ended I helped to set-up a baby shower. To say my day was random is an understatement. I went back home then returned with my host-mom for the baby shower. They had a few games and one of them you had to give advice, so I gave mine in English. "Interview all of her boyfriends - for fun!" - I'm thinking of you Uncle Paul and dad!

Once the games and prayers were done we were able to talk and eat. I swear everyone ran to the food, you could barely get in to get anything, too funny! At the shower I had been introduced to a man who's an English teacher here, so obviously he was able to translate for me. Then my host-mom made a plan for me to go over to his friends house the next day for lunch.

Before I headed to the lunch I finally went on my first solo walk not to/from school or to the supermarket. I had no idea of where I was going other than I saw the mountains, and headed for them! I walked a good hour out and found this cool looking park but I couldn't find a way to get there without attempting to scale a large barrier or walk near the old men whistling at me. After walking a little bit more I had the feeling to turn around, 2 hours is enough to worry my host-family and I was quite far from my home by then. I have a fairly good sense of direction, I don't need to know street names, just landmarks.

Hey there Andes in the background


Stop signs are always better in foreign languages

After a little time back at home I headed out to meet up with the English teacher, his wife and daughter. We walked to his friends apartment and I was welcomed by some more English speakers. Again it was such a nice break for my head to hear English, but it didn't improve my Spanish. After an amazing meal (vegetarian may I add... mmmm!) we talked for a bit and then watched an English movie with Spanish subtitles. I still read the subtitles to see how similar they were to what was actually going on in the movie. Also everyone who was at the apartment was Adventist, the religion of my host-family and the school I attend. I was able to ask questions about the religion to try and get a grasp of what it was about. Religion is and will always be a touchy subject, but I found their beliefs to be similar of what I know of Jehovah's Witnesses.

I am now in my second week of classes here and I am really liking it! Everyone is so nice, the only bad parts is when it's freezing and there's no sun, like the past two days. Today we had another church service (we have them on Tuesday's) and it was pretty good with upbeat music put on my some of the kids. Although the sermon was lost in translation my attempts at trying to sing the Spanish songs was pretty good. I also had an English test today, and the sad part is that I didn't get perfect because there was a section where you had to get the English verb from the Spanish one... that's just now fair! I've also started to get the hang of taking the micro and am going to and from school by myself now. Tomorrow I have the whole day off due to testing, hopefully the sun will come out again!

Mi colegio

I love attempting tests in Spanish!

Also, another really big part of exchange is homesickness and emotional stress. I really do not want my blog to have a negative tone so I have decided to keep those feelings and experiences out. But it is the ugly truth because exchange truly is like your childhood seesaw, you can be up one minute and then right back down to the bottom again. So things are not always fun, foreign, funny or amusing on exchange, some times life can hit you really hard and the realizations of what you used to have and don't anymore can really get under your skin. It's all in the exchange experience!

11 days until the first Rotary 4340 Inbound meeting!

The Gringa has arrived!

I have finally been in Chile for over 24 hours. I don't know why but it has felt like at least a few days.
My flight was quite good, I flew out late Tuesday night and arrived mid-morning in Chile. Since the flight was overnight I had approx 3-4 hours of sleep on-and-off, and when the flight attendants served dinner at 3 am lets just say it didn't help with my inability to sleep. I sat beside a lovely Argentinian lady who spoke little English, a glimpse into my immediate future life in Chile, but we were able to have some conversation with the little bit of each language that we knew.

Clad in my Rotary jacket I only ran into one Rebound while waiting at immigrations. I got through security and customs easy enough (I guess you have to declare maple syrup? Well I didn't!) and there was mi mama Chileana, Alexia, and two other ladies waiting for me. With a hug and a kiss on the cheek (usual greeting) we were off. The one lady is a mother of a boy in my class, she speaks fluent English which was a help for those first culture shocked moments.

First sight of the Andes from the ground - WOW!! I think I have a thing for mountains, they are just so big, and everywhere! We drove through downtown Santiago, Provindencia and then Las Condes ( the comuna de Santiago that I will be staying in). I can't quite compare Santiago, it somewhat reminds me of Los Angeles and a bit of Toronto.. but not really at all, it's just Santiago!

Once we got to the house something that I most definably noticed were the gates. A gate to enter into the one area in which 3-4 houses are, and then a gate at my house, and then bars on my windows - I feel safe... I guess. Mi casa is very modest, quite small which is understandable in a city, very different from my house in Canada. As I have told some people before there is no central heating. So it might feel nice outside but inside is freezing, but I have found a spot on my bed where the sun shines in and is quite warm!

Can you guess a Canadian lives there?

I spent the day trying to have conversations with Alexia. We tried our best with my limited Spanish and lets just say my English-Spanish dictionary has been put to good use! I showed her my photobooks from my life in Canada along with a map of Ontario and Canada and explained to her where my family lives and where I have travelled. I arrived in time for lunch, and then around 5-6 pm we had "once", which is like crackers, cookies, tea, and coffee. Alexia knew that I was looking quite tired but I managed to stay up until 8 pm then headed to bed. I guess in that time my host-dad came home and I missed seeing him!

After about 9 hours of sleep I was ready for my first full day in Chile. I had breakfast with Alexia - tea/instant coffee(i opted out of the instant stuff), cereal but with yogurt, and some hard bread with turkey... different. After a freezing shower I gave Alexia her Canadian gifts - I don't think she knows what to do with the maple syrup!

Then she helped me learn numbers and how to count. I counted up to 131 all by myself before i got to tired of counting. Then we headed to the supermarket to pick up a few things
Differences:
-eggs are in cartons on regular shelves, not refrigerated
-pan (bread) and fruit is picked, put into bags, and then weighed by clerks and given a sticker according to weight
-cereal boxes are obnoxiously covered with graphics, I'm talking Shrek staring you down, futbal players kicking a massive soccer ball at you, way to much for the eyes
-booze is in a massive aisle as if you were buying rice or other food
-milk was no where in sight... maybe I didn't notice it or we didn't go down the aisle

Once back to the house we had lunch and I was so tired from translating and using my brain a lot so I went for a siesta. After maybe 10 minutes my cell phone started to ring. I answered it not knowing what to say and it was my friend Cristobal the past Chilean Inbound who was in Waterloo last year! Getting him to talk to my host-mom we were able to meet-up just down the main street at the one mall. It was so crazy to see him, knowing that to me he is like Canada, but now... I am in his country! We took the metro (subway) and it was so nice. Toronto subway looks so run down and disgusting, they should take a hint from the Chileans! We went to his grandparents apartment in Las Condes in a really nice part. His grandma spoke quite good English so she would ask things in English and I would reply the best I could in Spanish and fill in the blanks with English. After some conversation we had "té" which like once was milk, tea, cookies, and bread with avocado - mmmmm! We had to leave around 5:30 pm because it was getting dark, and you don't travel in the dark in Santiago. Went back through the metro and were early before my host mom came to pick me up so we went into the mall. Many different stores, but Cristobal helped me to try and convert the prices so I should know how much I am paying.

Cristobal y yo

After coming back to the house we talked some more and had a phone call from Mia Tere (Maria the lady who speaks English), she helped to translate as I have to figure out information for my school trip in November. My host-dad arrived home around 9 pm and I finally got to meet him. Teo is the president of my host Rotary club. I was finally able to give him his gifts, he loves the tie... maybe. We then had what seemed like another té, I haven't figured out meals yet! We then spent the night trying to communicate, fighting over what a moose is called in Spanish (he thinks its a donkey or a bull... no it's just... a Canadian moose!), and I showed him my maps and then helped him with an English insurance form for my host brother on exchange in Kentucky.

So pretty much my life in a nutshell is a lot of Spanglish, smiling, nodding, and laughing because I can't understand and it's pretty funny right now because I'm horrible at Spanish. I'm sorry if my grammar is getting a lot worse already, or I'm missing words. I am so tempted to write the Spanish words that I know because that is how I am talking, and I am so tired/my head hurts from thinking and having to translate so much.

Much love from South of the equator
Lynn-say (as the Chileans call me)

Ex-Vegetarian

Before I even found out which country I was being sent to I made a commitment to myself and to Rotary that I would change back to a non-vegetarian diet for my exchange. I've been a vegetarian since grade 7 (6 years), or more precisely a Pescatarian (still eating fish, eggs, dairy), although since August I have also stopped drinking cows milk. Finding out that some countries would not accept me if I was a vegetarian scared me because I didn't want to limit my opportunities. Also my exchange is a cultural exchange so I don't want to insult my host country and families by not eating their food, and instead really trying to immerse myself in the culture, including the food

Last night was the first time that I ate chicken in 6 years! It seems so surreal that I haven't ate pork, chicken, beef, etc. in so long! Luckily I didn't think much of it, I just thought it tasted like imitation chicken since it was mixed with other things so I wouldn't be disgusted. Slowly but surely I'll be back to full-on eating meat, and ready for whatever Chile has to offer!