squeeze me

fresh juice

one of my favourite things about living in Chile is the amount of fresh juice I can consume on a teacher's salary. And even if I'm feeling creative or Martha Stewart-ish, I can buy fresh fruit and make my own juice without even making the slightest of dents in my wallet.

There's a man who sells fresh fruits and veggies outside my apartment building on the street. A few days ago I bought a bag of 17 tomatoes from him...for two dollars. A while ago I wanted to have a dinner with friends and so I bought 8 cobs of corn...for 2 dollars. So just the other day I decided I would visit him and see what kind of juice I could make. A minute or so later I took a 2 dollar bag of 14 peaches up to my apartment and juiced away. delishh!

At almost every restaurant or cafe you can order fresh juices - strawberry, peach, melon, pineapple and my favourite....raspberry!

In North America I thought it was just the trendy rich folk that bought these kinds of things...I mean really, who can afford to always be making fresh juices?

well look who's drinking juice now Hollywood!

(well to be honest, my cup has wine in it..but that's also how I look when I'm drinking juice)

This is just the first thing I'll comment on that makes me feel rich...even when I'm not. :)

cheers (with my raspberry juice in hand)

love love

-jac

you see these red wine lips?

I didn't dream up THIS but when the truth is told, we're all dreamers

(beginning year 2 in Chile)

It's interesting that at the end of my first year in Chile I was actually in Argentina. On January 29th, I left Santiago with a couple of my friends to visit Mendoza, Argentina. It was my first time to another country in South America. We left at 10pm to take the subway to the bus station in order to catch our bus at 10:40 (leaving a generous amount of time). There was a massive event happening downtown and so the subway stopped at every station and stayed there for about a minute (and if you've counted a minute...well its a long time when you've got somewhere to go).

Long story short...we missed our bus. yeah it's true. So we begged another bus driver that was leaving for Mendoza who then asked a nearby police officer if it was ok. And the only reason I can assume for why he said "yes, but don't let them be seen by the other cops at the checkpoint" is that saying no to 3 blonde foreign girls must be some kind of weakness (like kryptonite is to Superman). I'm sure of it. So the 3 of us hopped on a bus that had only one seat available. After we got on the road, the co-bus driver (or whatever his "real" title is) came to tell us that 2 of us could sit with the driver in the front seats. So my friend Kate and I had quite the comfortable ride beside our Argentinian bus driver as we looked out the massive windshield and watched the towering mountains go by.

We arrived at the border where we met up with our original bus which we boarded after the very long wait in customs. We arrived in Mendoza at 8am - the perfect time for a nice fresh coffee and some pastries. Kate had been to Mendoza before and so she led the way for Caitlin and I. We chatted over some coffee.

Then later shopped around but surprisingly we weren't in much of a shopping mood. Pizza..that's what we really wanted. At around 1 or 2 we asked a shoe shiner man on the street where the best pizza in Mendoza was. He led us to this little but popular not so fabulous looking restaurant. BUT...he was right. The pizza was fantastic!

..

After filling up on pizza, we rested in a park near our hostel. After a couple hours there of doing nothing but chatting, laying in the grass and just "being" in Mendoza, we decided we were lacking some wine. We bought watermelon and wine and took it back to the hostel. After meeting some interesting people from Brazil, the three of us girls went out to dinner and more wine...followed by more wine...and more wine again in a park.

The following day was quite similar to the first...but this time with ice cream!

and relaxing, delicious and fun. lots of walking, talking, eating and relaxing. it wasn't anything fancy, my trip to Mendoza but it was definitely wonderful. We returned back to Chile on Monday morning, one day before my "1 year in Chile".

______________________________________________________________

The beginning of my second year in Chile has been great. I returned from Mendoza and spent a few days working, a few days hanging out with friends (Nov-March is the slow season in terms of English classes here because it's summertime) and a few wonderful nights with my boyfriend Alvaro. We went out to dinner and just spent some quality time together after being apart for the weekend.

It is now February 16th, 2 weeks after my "one year in Chile" day. February has been great so far. My boyfriend left for his 3 week vacation to the south of Chile on the 7th and although I'm missing him a lot, I've been having a great time being on my own vacation here in Santiago. I decided that it would be better if I stayed in the city for a few reasons:

1) February is a verrry slow month in terms of students taking English classes and so my income at the moment is quite low. If I leave for even a weeks vacation...it makes a pretty obvious difference in my pay for this month

2) Chileans...well they like to party and although I'm not against a good party...I have a feeling a 3 week day after day party might get to me especially when you factor in the sun and speaking ONLY spanish that whole time. So I decided that maybe I wouldn't be the most fun to be around after 3-4 days of 24/7 partying and stayed here...and basically I'm glad I made that decision.

I usually reserve the hours after 7pm everyday for Alvaro. Which means that although I make a point to visit my friends during the day, it's been really nice seeing them at night - meeting up for drinks, cooking with them and just spending some quality time together. I actually was invited out to lunch by one of my students and his wife along with another teacher that taught the class with me!

My girls...well some of them.

It's been great...but don't get me wrong.....I really miss that guy!

I decided that for valentines day I would do something special for myself...especially since Alvaro wasn't here to do that for me. I didn't do anything fantastic but I made myself abeautiful omelette for breakfast, went for a walk in the afternoon with one of my friends and at night made dinner with some of my girlfriends. It was delicious and the least any girl should have done for herself on that day.

This month I've been teaching one to two classes a day. It's been slow but I'm making sure I appreciate the time I've had off. The weather is so beautiful right now - everyday you can basically bet your life savings on it being sunny - and you won't lose a dime. It's been gorgeous!

Hopefully the rest of this month will be as great as it is right now. :)

love love

jac.

this year long relationship

one year ago today, I arrived in Chile.

It's been such a long journey if I really think about it...and yet sometimes that year went by so fast. I know that I've learned so much but I'm not sure what I've learned. I just feel different. I feel better, stronger, smarter, prouder and just more...me I guess. I don't know how that happened but it did and I know it's a direct result of being in Chile - the people I've met (good and not so good), the language, the hurdles I've encountered, the food I've eaten and the places I've seen.

Things are different here, but not so much so that I feel like I am in a strange place. I notice small differences in politeness for example, work ethic, irresponsible behaviour, public displays of affection and lifestyle but I guess the only thing that really makes me feel like I'm sooo far from home is the lengthy plane ride. I don't know how much longer I'll be in Chile and it was just in September when I made the decision to stay here longer than I originally anticipated, but I think I could stay or return to this place for longer. It's a simple place to live.

Below are two pictures of me, wearing the same dress almost one year apart. Of course there are from very different situations but just looking at these pictures I can see and feel the difference in what I've learned and who I am...with or without the friends I'm standing next to.

Sometimes though, I feel like I should start "doing" something with my life...and that's strange because to be honest, I think I'm finding and learning more about life here than I could in a career in North America. It's interesting to encounter older men and women here from other parts of the world that say they had the career, marriage, family and all of that...things they thought they wanted and they realized when they couldn't get out that it wasn't what they wanted at that time in their life. I don't think my married friends or the people I know with great careers are in any way doing the wrong thing...I'm proud of you for that...I'm proud of them. But it's not what's right for me at this point. Not just yet. And even though I have this doubt sometimes (that I think has been implanted into my mind from 'western cultre') about where my life is going and the whole meaning of it...I try to think about the people in my life that inspire me to just LIVE.

Just over a week ago, my granddad passed away. He had been suffering....no wait...he had been diagnosed with cancer, diabetes and had other ailments for a while. He never complained and therefore...I take back the word "suffer". My granddad was such a strong man...even in his last month of life and I think the more aware I was of his age and his declining health...the more he indirectly taught me how to live.

I received news last year in April I think it was that my granddad was very sick and doctors said he may not live much longer. I made the difficult decision that I would stay in Chile, even if something happened to him. And I did stay. I wrote him a letter of the things I would want to say to him if I could. I sent that in an email to my dad and my dad read it to my granddad.

In December of last year I was fortunate enough to visit my family for one month. One person I was especially excited to see...my granddad. I was able to spend a lot of time with him even if it wasn't anything extra special. I knew these visits in December were going to be our last and so I appreciated them when they happened. My granddad still gave good strong hugs and made me laugh up until the last day I visited him. I felt a little lucky knowing that he and I knew our last minute together. We knew that when I left for Chile, not only were we saying goodbye because I was leaving...but because he would be leaving too.

My granddad was always a really positive person and I will always remember him for that. I rarely ever saw him complain or bicker about things. And I think when I did see him argue about things, it was almost just for fun. I didn't go home for his funeral but I think he knows I'm thinking of him and I'm happy he's in a better, less painful place right now...wherever it is.

I think knowing that my granddad was going to die, made me think a lot about what I'm doing in Chile..what I'm doing in life. I've tried to really make an effort to enjoy the things and people around. Enjoy the life I've got and the choices I am able to make in how I can live my life. I'm grateful that my granddad was one of my many teachers in lessons of positivity and happiness in simple things like creating fun or adventure out of almost nothing. He will be missed but of course, never forgotten.

I'm happy that I've been here for one year. It feels like an accomplishment. I feel like I'm really being me and I'm learning about who "me" really is. It's a cool process when doing so in another country and sometimes in another language. I guess after all, I'm just grateful for this experience.

Happy one year to me. Salud!

love love.

jac