El Kiwi en Sudamérica

A long overdue post... mainly about buses!

2008-12-12T18:59:00.002-03:00

Hi everyone (that means you! all three of you!)
Sorry about not posting another post since the latest post... my bad
Thing is, I don't really have any excuse really, I haven't been that busy or anything... I'm just wondering where to start. I may as well do a quick recap, and maybe an annecdote or three:
The rest of my time in Brasil was good, except for the lame weather in Florianopolis and Rio (when I went to see the statue of Jesus, Cristo Redentor, I couldn't see the city below, and could only barely even see the statue for the misty rain :( ) but at least i had a few good days there so I know how amazing both those places are on a good day. Salvador was good fun, nice and tropical with a great vibe in the streets. The only problem was that I wanted to go straight afterwards to Foz Do Iguazu, right on the border with Argentina... which meant a 34 hour bus trip to Sao Paulo, where I stopped over for a few hours and had a look around (I'll give you one word for the city-Immense) then it was a 14 hr trip t Iguazu over night... Which addd up to three nights in a row on the bus... happy days!
But Iguazu was amazing, I had a great time there, the waterfalls must be considered one of the most amazing sites in the world- phenomonal
then it was of to Paraguay, just across the border. It's not the most touristy country in the world- there's not a lot to do- it's supposedly the most corrupt country in the world outside of Africa, and it's South America 2nd poorest. But It was cool to chill out there for a few days.
I went ot church there on Sunday night, and then got invited out with some of the peeps to a movie and dinner afterwards, and went with them to the country where alot of the church was staying for the long weekend the next day for a barbeque and copious amounts of Terere (its like Mate, but with ice and cold water, if that means anything to you- if that doesn't, its this herb stuff chopped into bits, then put into a cup like thing until its nearly full, then water is poured in and you drink through this straw that has a sieve at the bottom, so you dont suck up the herby bits) which is a communal drink that gets passed and passed around- good times!
I got to see some Jesuit ruins in the south of the country later on that week as well.

Then, it was off to Bolivia, where I am now, just chilling in Santa Cruz. It's very different here to the steriotype of Bolivia (High altitude, barren climate, peeps in traditional gears drinking coca tea riding llamas etc...) It's tropical with a bit of a different mix of people and vibe.

I would tell you about the bus trip, but you guys must be sick of that by now- but this last one was kinda rugged coz the majority was off road, with the windows wide open in an old bus rattling around... But it was kinda fun though- even though I was kinda annoyed at the guys who sold me my tickets, who told me it had air conditioning and everything- next time I'm in Paraguay i'm gonna find those guys and..... anyways, you get the picture, and... ooops I actually told you about the bus trip, my bad

That's about it for now, i'll try update this sooner rather than later, so I can write up some more stories etc. instead of just give details----- I'm sure i've bored you all to tears

take care,
Nathan

A story

2008-11-15T20:07:00.002-03:00

Today I´m not going to write about whats happening now... I´ll take us on a journey to the future:

2068 AD- Family gathering, some nice beach, I don´t know which country:
An old man is sitting in the sun, just enjoying a relaxing day with all his kids and their families.
Some of his grandchildren came and asked him to tell them one of his stories about some of the stuff he got up to, back in the day. The old man thought for a minute, and then he told them to call all the grandchildren around.
Soon all his grandchildren gathered around, as they always loved his stories, and the old man started and he told them:

''When I was about 22, I was lucky enough to go on a trip to South America. After arriving in Brazil, after literally only a few days, I knew that your grandmother would be Brasilian''

As you can guess, I'm really enjoying myself here in Brasil... I'm in Florianopolis in the south of Brasil. I think it's gonna be real hard to move on to the next place... It's paradise: great beaches, great people, great music (I went to a samba party last night, with live music and everything... they were playing a whole lot of old school stuff (so i'm told) but yeah, it was awesome)

anyways, I better go, take care everyone

Nathan

I'm back!

2008-11-11T13:37:00.002-03:00

Ok, for you who are not in the know (and if your not in the know, it's my fault for beinga sad guy and not telling you) I'm back in South America for a bit of a trip (Late Oct till mid Mar)...
so, even though I wasn't planning it before, I'm resurrecting the blog. It won't be anything too crazy- probably a few anecdotes or weird stuff thats happened... and if your lucky I might put up some photos, if im not too lazy (or if the internet is cheap) anyways, I'll get started:

Punta del Este, Uruguay:

Chilling, chilling on the beach. Chilling and trying not to get burnt but also trying to get a tan before getting to Brasil.
I haven't been up to much here. I've been here the last 3 nights, and, apart from a surfing lesson I just had (the waves are so good here), things have been quiet as.
I'm really looking forward to heading to Brazil tonight overnight (first to Porto Alegre (11 hours), then i'll catch the first bus I can to Florianopolis- another 5-6 hours away)
The ticket: way too expensive... its costing me $100 NZ just to get to Porto Alegre (I miss the bus fares in Peru oh so much)
Talking of expensive, Uruguay is expensive as... It's helped me in some ways though.. i dunno, get into the traveller/backpacker save money vibe... I don't think things are gonna get much cheaper across in Brazil (Unless I can hustle some free accomodation at someones house on their couch or something)... but these expensive countries will soon pass.

you know what? I should give you guys a quick recap just to get you all up to speed on things... to give you some context... So, here we go:
Spent the first week pretty much in Carlos Paz (near Cordoba if that means anything to you) helping out with a conference for Pastors/churchy peeps etc... Had an awesome time there, meet some great people.
Then went back to Buenos Aires, spent a few days in the centre, then two days in San Isidro, on e of the cities that make up greater buenos aires, with the guy I sat by on the plane flying over (a real surfy guy who has been working in NZ on a working holiday visa...great guy)
then I was off to Colonia, Uruguay on the ferry the next day, and one of the peeps form teh hostel happened to be going there too for the day, so we had a good time crossing over on the ferry, looking at the sites, and nearly killing ourselves driving around the town on a golf cart (way too much fun)
Then, it was off to Montevideo, which was pretty uneventful really, apart from getting sunburnt on a patch were i missed sunscreen on my back... I guess I was still out of practice putting it on then as well.

So, yeah, that's about it... I'll keep you all in touch with a post hopefully once a week.

Take care, hope I didn't lose you all with the recap

fotos con el grupo de jovenes en Arequipa

2007-11-28T19:41:00.000-03:00

con David ySeth
con Miguel y Pablo
otro vez
con Daniella y Anace
Todos....

y con Gabriel

Disculpa por la mala calidad, mi camera no puede tomar fotos buenas con luz artificial... entonces hay muchos ojos rojos (¡ mis ojos especialmente !)

I'm back!

2007-08-06T18:36:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay in between posts... I wasn't really keeping up with posting during my travels through Chile and Argentina. But I'm back home now, trying to sort out some work and just generally get back to normal life (it's gonna be real hard).
The trip itself was great, despite all of the stuff that went wrong, and all of the near misses (like nearly missing a bus when I crossed the border into Chile, because I forgot to change the time on my watch, only to realize this when the bus was supposed to leave, then stressing because my luggage was in storage, which was closed... fun times).
But the worst would have been when my passport, money, camera and other stuff was stolen in the bus terminal in Mendoza, Argentina (another long story).
However, I had a great time, made heaps of new friends and got to see another large part of the continent. But I'm dieing to see more, so I started planning the next trip while in Chile (but I probably started thinking about it in Arequipa) so we'll see when I can get back over that way.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing on this blog in the near future, maybe I'll put up some funny/crazy stories from my travels, or maybe change it to cover what I'm up to back home.
Thanks to all of you regular readers for keeping in touch with what I've been doing, It was cool to keep in touch in that way.
If you have any tips etc. on how I could've made this blog better, post up a comment.

take care, and God bless,

Nathan

Im alive

2007-06-25T20:33:00.000-04:00

Sorry peeps,i've just been kinda busy travelling to Cuzco, getting sick, and then going to Chile.
But all's good and im having a great time... i'll try be a good boy and post something more substancial-but that'll take work,and I jsut haven't been in a blogging vibe lately (also internet charges here a whole lot more expensive... like a dollar fifty an hour,instead of 40 cents... one of the many differences between Chile and Peru.

anyways, the money is ticking away, so I better go,

look after yourselves,

Nathan

Trip to Puquina with the church

2007-06-05T18:18:00.000-04:00

I’ll start with a pat on the back *pat* for posting so soon… not… some things never change!
Anyways, the only big thing that’s happened lately was the churches trip to Puquina.
The subplot of this trip (for me) requires me to write about some (a lot of) stuff for context:
While pretending to be fit at the gym, I did some exercises on my calves, and got back home a little sore- but nothing out of the ordinary… then the next day I played football with early in the morning with some students and teachers from the language school. I felt a little tight before hand, but not that bad… it still felt normal.
In the afternoon I went shopping in central Arequipa, and was limping a little… and later at night my calves were all tight…
Anyways, when I got up early Sunday morning- and when I say early I mean Geneva Convention breaking, criminal bad (ok, just 4.30). My right calf was quite bad, but I thought it would go soon, or at least not get any worse…. Hahaha, how unaware of what was going to happen.

Anthony was quite crook, so Anthony, Roxanna and Melissa stayed home (it’s not worth risking things, esp. so far away from ‘civilisation’ (ok, a bit harsh to everyone who lives there… but it’s far away from good medical care, and at about 3,000 metres or something). Consequently, Ronny and Rocio picked me up at 5.15, on the way to pick up some of the Church from San Pedro.
Around this time of year it’s quite cold here at night/early morning, so things were a bit chilly… all the locals talk up the cold, and dress for it too. Funnily enough this time of year is the worse for sunburn, as the sky is really clear- and the sun more intense.
Anyways, back to the trip… we filled up the van with people from San Pedro, and I really mean filled… so I had to sit all scrunched up all the way to the church…and got mad pins and needles. So when I got out, it must’ve looked hilarious, as my leg was dead, and completely tensed up.
There must have been about 60 of us who went into total, every seat was filled, and the fun times commenced.
Everyone was in a surprisingly good mood for a bus trip at 6 in the morning on a really bad road (it’s only about 70 or something Km to Puquina, but it’s a really shocking road, and has quite a climb at the start). Ronny got us singing for a while some short choruses (most which I didn’t know very well), which we eventually stopped, then we chatted, played other games the rest of the way. The thing that made me laugh was this conversation I was having with those around me, to do with family characteristics etc. The subject was where I got my green eyes from, because some have seen the family pics… then Susannah blurts out a few rows away with this gem of a joke: “the neighbour”, which got me laughing so much that she didn’t know if I got her joke… anyways, I guess the mix of hair/eye colours in my family isn’t something that happens often here, so it actually becomes interesting (It’s funny as well how many times I’ve been asked what country my Dad is from…)
So, we eventually arrived- and the bus couldn’t navigate the narrow streets. Which meant that we all had to walk all the way down the hill, then back up to the church. So of we all went, and I’d have to be honest here- Maxamiliana, one of the old ladies from the church, with horrible knees, walked it… So I felt as if I had to tough it out, and not (excuse my language) ‘bitch’ about it as it were.
Pretty soon after we all arrived we started the service in the church building there.
The church building was put up after the earthquake when the church helped by building some 30 homes, and someone was selling the land for really cheap… so it made sense to put something up.
After the service, everyone went around and did whatever; some went for a look around town, others to a river nearby, but I was stuck pretty much- so I had an early lunch. I had quite a good chat about stuff with Alfredo- he’s the bomb, always a good laugh.
A bit later on the volleyball net came out, so I played on one foot for a bit, I guess I was hoping that maybe some movement would do me some good (ummm, no). But I tried to take some pics… and they all turned out pretty lame. By about this time I started to feel uncharacteristically cold (you know, that sick cold) which made things interesting… after sitting in the sun and watching some action for a bit we all went in for lunch (I got a few offers of some lunch- nice food too- but I was not feeling hungry at all). I don’t know how many times I had to explain what my problem was, and in how many ways (I think I figured out how in a clear manner by the end of the day) and how many opinions I heard on what was wrong, and what remedies would sort me out, some of the church members have an amazing knowledge of natural remedies etc… fascinating stuff.
So, after a lateish lunch, and a little bit more hanging out around the church, we set of back home at around 3ish. So we walked all the way back to the bus, and I was so feeling everything (sick, altitude, my leg) but I eventually made it- and I said to myself this classic quote of Sir Edmund Hillary, after he got back to base camp after climbing Mount Everest: “we knocked the bastard off” (I love classical quotes), it makes me laugh every time.
The trip back wasn’t the most fun time experience I’ve had- I was feeling like crap so I won’t bore you with the details. So, after over 3 hours in the bus, we got back. I was cold as and dieing to get home.
Once I eventually got back things didn’t look too good. I think the combination of my leg and feeling sick made the problem seem worse than it was. The Greens called up this ambulance/health care service that they’re subscribed to (it covers anyone in the house) that came around, and the doctor dude pretty much told me that It was only a muscular problem, and that I needed to rest it for two weeks, put a special cream on it, and take some tablets.
I’m writing this about a week and a half since then, and I’m feeling pretty good. My leg still isn’t 100% but I can walk (not jump, run) which is a relief I guess. I’m off to Cuzco tomorrow night which should be good times… unfortunately my mate hasn’t been able to make it, so I’m going alone. At this time of year it’s really busy up that way, with a few different festivals etc. and the best weather for visiting the sites (although it’s a bit chilly right now). I guess I just hoping that my leg will hold up, and that everything will work out just fine. I am expecting it to be pretty pricey, which is a shame… but I’ll be doing things on the cheap for sure. The leg of course rules out doing the Inca Trail, but I can live with that (it saves me having to buy/hire all the special gear etc… what a hassle)
It’s going to be weird though being in the majority, as there are so many gringos that make their way to Cuzco and the sites…
So, you can all look forward to the next blog, it should be good times up there, I hope nothing goes wrong (I don’t know how many times I’ve been told to watch out for stuff, I should be fine if I don’t do anything stupid (not like that’s ever happened haha)

Anyways, look after yourselves, and I’ll keep you all posted on what happens.

Nathan

Anticuchos and special Mothers' day thing

2007-05-22T12:14:00.000-04:00

Alrighty, sorry for the delay between posts... I don't really have an excuse, except that I haven't been in a blogging mood...
Well, I guess I should start with the anticuchos sale. As I hate arriving early (esp. when I’m more of a ‘spare wheel’ in proceedings) I thought I’d aim to arrived about half an hour late. But, surprise surprise, I was the first one there (there goes that plan), but only by a few minutes- which is to say that the others arrived on the Peruvian social clock- but strangely enough everyone seems to arrive on time for church.
Anyways, so we set up the gear outside Aldolfo, Sabina, Amy, Juan and Daisy’s, quite close to where we have church.
The afternoon started of really hot, the sun was beating down as it nearly always does here. So, as any good boy who hates getting a red face would do, I pulled out the sunscreen and shared it around. Many Peruvians are quite ‘sunsmart’, so they all plastered it on as well.
The preparation of these ‘antichuchos’ went as follows. Clara (one of the Mums helping us out) had prepared the kebab like ‘anticuchos’ ready to put them on the Barbie, and had some potatoes and corn that went with them. So she would put the anties on the Barbie with the potatoes, then when someone bought one, they’d get a anti with a potato, some corn (the corn here is really big for some reason) with some hard out hot sauce. We sold them for 1 nuevo sol each, or round about 50 cents NZ.
So there wasn’t as much to do as when I helped with the panuelos (or whatever those doughnutty things were called), which required more hands on help. So this time I just mainly chilled and ate the product. So we sold them for a good few hours, and had a great time chatting etc. So, as promised, I took a few pics- the one with me behind the Barbie was staged (it wasn’t my idea) but anyways, here they are:
Umm, this isn't a pic from the food thing, but it's one of some of the peeps from YG
Me, hard at work
The barbie with some of the crew
Me, hard at work again
Misti at night, next to the church
Chacani, from the roof of the new house

This all was for the Mothers’ day special service we were planning. After the three fundraisers that we had we raised quite a pile of cash. So, on the Friday before, I went with Ronny to buy the stuff at the market.
I’ve driven by this market heaps of times, but I’ve never walked around in it. It’s pretty much got everything spread out over a huge area. Unfortunately we didn’t enter it, as there was a stall that had everything in it.
This is pretty much what we got the Mums:
Rice, sugar, rolled oats, milk, lentils, pasta, oil, and I’m sure some other stuff I forgot… which made quite a nice little gift.

As well, someone had the bright idea of having a choir, Which resulted in me being called in to be a part of it. Little did I know that there was such a thing as a mothers’ day song- but I soon found out (Mothers’ day here is evidently more important than in New Zealand). I’ll give you a few translated quotes to give you an idea of what the song was like.
“you are the precious (or beautiful) gift from heaven, you are the precious gift of love, the fortress that I have in my life, you are my greatest treasure, you are a blessing from heaven…”
or in the other song…
“Dear (beloved) Mamá, I love you, and I will never forget you. I promise myself to you for ever, to make you always happy”
I think I translated that alright, anyways, Everyone else didn’t seem to think “ this is like a full on love song for my Mum, or at least has that vibe, and it seems weird” I guess it must be cultural- But I can’t imagine any Kiwi guys being thrilled at singing that kind of song- despite how much we all love our Mum.
Speaking of lyrics, I though I may as well put down so of my favourite lines from a hitting song.
(Calle 13, Atrevete) “It doesn’t matter if she likes Green Day, it doesn’t matter if she likes Coldplay” This song was a huge hit last year, it has some other great lines as well… “You came like an Amazon (referring to the Greek myths about a tribe of warrior women) like Brazil, you came to kill like kill bill” and “She knows karate and cooks with tomato sauce” to name a few of the lines.
It’s quite tricky to translate, especially as the song is quite fast. And, of course, I can’t get the translation to rhyme at all, which is obviously a big part of the charm. For the record Calle 13 is a Mexican Reggaeton group.

On the Sunday everything went well. We had a pretty good crowd, and the gifts were well appreciated. The singing went good as well, but not exactly a vintage performance on my part. I couldn’t hit the high notes with volume on “Precioso Don de Cielo” (I’ll blame the climate haha) to be precise. I didn’t take any pics, as I was on the video camera for Anthony- but I believe that some of you have seen some pics that he sent to my Dad. If you’re wondering, I was dressed up as that was the plan for the choir…

In more up to date news, we’ve just moved house to another area of town. The old house we were in had to be reoccupied by its owners (to make a long story short)’and another house couldn’t be found in the same zone. The new place is near the language school where I take classes, it’s a nice part of town, and the house is better (except the lack of a garden). I love the view from the roof, as you can see the three mountains that dominate the skyline here- Chacani, El Misti, and Pichu Pichu. It’s crazy to think that those mountains look so big, even though the city here is at around the same altitude as Mount Hutt (if I remember correctly) and Chacani, the tallest of the mountains, is over 6,000 metres above sea level.

I suppose that’s all I have to put up today, but there’s some fun times coming soon which include:
A trip with the Church to Pucina this Sunday
I’ll be going to Cuzco and Machu Pichu in the next few weeks with a mate from the UK that I worked with in Chile (remember James from my earlier posts?) If he turns up in time, that is…
And I might write up something about my ever improving Fútbol skills. I’ve been playing quite a bit, with students from the institute and with the crew from church. I guess the skills I still haven’t mastered would be dribbling and defensive foot positioning- but if a situation only calls for a deft kicks I’m not that bad. I’ve also been watching a bit on the telly, mainly Champions league action- It’s nice to see some pros in action, see the lines they run and the passing tactics.
If only they had a touch rugby competition here… or a basketball one at the moment…
I’ve only got another month here in Arequipa, which is kinda surprising, then after that I’m hitting the road for a month to visit my mates in Chile (for two weeks) and then two weeks in Argentina, visiting my distant relatives and meeting up with some contacts (two weeks as well) which will be ‘good times’

Look after yourselves,

Nathan

2007-04-25T12:08:00.000-04:00

Good times…
As most of my blog posts seem to be incident related, I don’t have a whole lot to write about this time, so I guess I should write some compelling anecdotes of the ‘mundane/normal’ things that happen around me, and maybe some incisive social commentary if I can get in the mood. Consequently this blog will probably be even more disjointed than usual.
I quite like useless lists… let me treat you to The 10 Things I’ll miss when I go home, and The 10 Things I won’t miss when I get home.

So in no particular order of preference:

The 10 things I’ll miss when I get home

1. The ever-present sound of Reggaeton and other forms of Latin music blaring all over the place
2. The oh so cheap buses that fill the city, for less than 30 cents NZ (60 centavos) a ride – and a smaller "carbon footprint"* to boot
3. The brilliant cuisine that is rich in flavour, and a lot better than Chilean fare (excluding the magnificent empanadas and completos)
4. All the chicas bonitas here (and in Chile and Argentina as well, of course)
5. The almost always sunny weather
6. Inca Cola, la bebida del Perú
7. Having the Language barrier as an excuse for misdemeanours and mistakes
8. Following Futból, esp. the passion and fun times watching live
9. The wonderful E-café down the road. Where I go, almost daily, to chill out and browse the net etc. for the price of around about 50 cents an hour. I also treat myself each time to a bottle of Inca kola/fanta/kola real for only around about 30 cents
10. Cheap stuff: clothing, bootleg mp3 cds, dvds of the latest movies**, food, bus travel, taxis… it goes on and on.

You may have noticed that I have put down specific people. I don’t regard people as things, and if I put them on the list would have to be huge.
*Personally, I’m in the sceptic camp in regards to the Human element in global warming, for the record. The hysteria has seemed to escalate 20 fold from a year ago, or even more. But I’m all for saving energy, from a ‘green’ and economic perspective- but unfortunately I can see this hysteria hurting the third world, in regards to them enjoying and benefiting from developing, the price of goods such as coal etc. in the market, and in unfair pressure with threats to hurt exports etc.
**I regard my purchases of pirated stuff as my part in the protest of the locals against unreasonable prices in these kind of countries. These big companies are too narrow-minded to fix prices at a reasonable level for the locals, which fuels the copying of product. You can tell when the prices are too high when piracy is wide spread to the point where real copies are hard to come bye, even rental places don’t exist. So, I have stood up for the oppressed and helped them in their struggle against this corruption. Which reminds me I need to get some more movies to practice my Spanish. The learning method I use is to watch the movie first in English with Spanish subtitles, then in the dubbed version-it works a treat, except when the end of the movie is cut off (I’m still somewhat in the dark as to what happens after the old guy in the new James Bond movie is shot in the leg- I’m pretty sure that’s very close to the end…I’m looking forward to Spiderman 3 hahaha
(I guess I did get in the mood for social commentary after all!)
Ok, On to the next list

10 things I won’t miss…

1. Having to put used toilet paper in the rubbish bin beside the loo, instead of the way God designed it- flush it down! It has something to do with the design of the toilet, and the sewage systems that can’t handle paper and… the other stuff
2. Quite possibly the most annoying thing would have to be this: after meeting a (fluent in Spanish) foreigner from a non-English speaking country, and starting the conversation in Spanish – and relatively fluently I might add. Then the other person asks me where I’m from, and when they find out it’s an English speaking country, they switch to English-which I take as an insult to my intelligence and ability in the language… quite an unfair and unnecessary put-down- even though my ability is not affecting the conversation in any way… which makes me so want to tell them ******* ******* ** ******! (Well not really all that... but something might pop out) It really ticks me off. I know they never had that problem, as what percentage of the foreigners here speak their language! This hasn’t happened to me that often, but it really grates me – I should prepare a slightly harsh phrase in Spanish that sounds extremely fluent…. Brooohahahahaaha (excuse me for this point, my blood was really boiling at the time, but it does capture my feelings somewhat)
3. This following snap shot of a conversation has happened to me so many times, it’s quite strange how often this happens (generally with, dare I say, less educated people without much knowledge of other countries):
Random person: "Where are you from?"
Me: Nueva Zelanda (New Zealand of course)
R.P: "Holanda?"
Me: "No, (slowly) nueva zelanda"
R.P: "Is it in Europe?"
Me: "No, in Oceania, near Australia"
Which, sometimes leads to: "do you have kangaroos"
4. Not being able to watch Rugby (I caught some All Blacks games in Chile, but I’m not sure if they show them here)
5. Not being able to buy Hair-wax (Maribel hasn’t got me some yet, and I’m sceptical that it’ll be the good stuff
6. Making embarrassing mistakes in Spanish, that make me look like a real idiot… all too often- though they haven’t had the comedy that sometimes comes, like this example when someone that Anthony knows mistook ‘empanada’ (a savoury pastry) and ‘empleada’ (Woman that works in the house, like a maid really) when he said this hilarious sentence:
"I like my empleadas hot" (of course he was trying to refer to the food… although he has a very valid point that he made!)
The only personal example I can think of is when I was in Chile staying at Omar and Waldo’s place, when I called the kitchen (la cocina) ‘la cochina’ which means ‘filthy, dirty’ but more specifically in regards to humans, and I was using the feminine form of the word as well…
7. The earthquakes: A few weeks back we had quite a big shake, which didn’t phase me that much, but if it got any stronger I would’ve freaked out. To my credit I preformed better that some foreigners here who run outside in panic (supposedly my German friends I went to the beach did just that, I can so picture them doing it!!! Hahaha)
8. Being on a bus that’s full to overflowing with smelly people. Not at all pleasant.
9. People thinking I’m tall, and the small space between the seats, low roofs that make them look like they have a point. It’s also a hassle to get shoes, esp. cheap ones. It does have its advantages though, in crowds especially.
10. Crime: Thankfully I’ve only been affected personally once (and was part of the reason. see the blog entry about my trip here). But it’s something to worry about, as I always here stories of peoples near misses or times they were robbed. One day I was in the bus and I heard some woman shouting, I looked outside to see someone running off with a lady’s handbag, and, much to the disgust of the people inside the bus, no one helped or noticed it quick enough to stop him. The rest of the trip I was thinking of what I’d have done if I were in the position to help. I guess (if I was in a noble mood) chased after the dude and nailed him, or if he was running toward me clothesline him or something (you can tell I’m missing Rugby, right?). But you never know if someone has a knife or if he has friends. But I could possibly count on the ‘mob justice’ culture that is prevalent here to stir up bystanders… I’ve obviously thought about this too much.

Well, that was some serious cathartic therapy there, but it was getting fairly hard to remember negative stuff (though I got fairly heated up at times). But, I think I’ve only realized recently how long a year is away from the fam – even though the wonders of video calls on skype almost make me feel as if I’m home, but then when I get off then I feel as if I’m transported instantaneously to the other side of the world. So here’s a big shout out to my family: Miss you guys heaps, I look forward to being really there in three months. (Don’t read into that sentence that I’m homesick or anything, but after having completed over ¾ of my trip, I’m starting to feel that time is running out, which gives me feelings of sadness mixed with anticipation of the next journey, whatever that entails).

The next instalment of the blog will/should have (D.V) extensive coverage of the selling of Anti-cuchos (kinda like a kebab thing on a stick)with the youth group to raise money for the foodstuffs we are giving the mums on Mothers day. Hopefully I’ll take some mean video footage as well.
In a few weeks there’ll be a baptismal service, which will be tight, as quite a number are getting baptised.
I may also be heading to Lima in a few weeks time with the Greens, as Anthony needs to renew his passport- so we’ll spend a few days there- should be "good times".
Look after yourselves, keep it real, peace out, Kia kaha, or whatever ending phrase you happen to fancy.
Nathan

Haircut and Holy Week

2007-04-11T11:59:00.000-04:00

As per usual, I will give you the gritty details etc. of my latest haircut (while you all scream, “He’s always writing about this! He’s obsessed…” or perhaps “Yes! I love it when he writes about his escapades in the fashion world!”
This latest doo wasn’t really planned – more of a result of circumstances – so here is the blow by blow-dry account:
I was chatting to Maribel the other day at church, and I asked her how her hairdressing training was going. Next thing you know, out she pulls her practice book, and shows me the pages of men’s haircuts that she needs to do. So, despite the apparent lack of need on my part, I told her that she should give me a call when it’s a good time. I noticed that there were gaps in the manicure section of her practice- but unfortunately she didn’t take my offer to help out with that.
On the following Wednesday (at prayer meeting) Maribel asked if I could do it the next day at 10, which fitted into my schedule perfectly. After telling Anthony about it out came all of the usual “your brave” comments that go around when you say your getting a practice cut. She cut Ronny’s hair once recently, and it looked all right… So I was quietly confident that it’d be all right.
After finding the Salon (after taking a bus to get there – not as easy as it sounds, due to the educated guess work involved – Respect!), I hesitantly went up the stairs to the salon. From the outside it didn’t look that big, but appearances were deceiving, as I’d find out.
As I reached the entrance I saw this room full of Hairdressers and noticed that there were adjoining rooms to the side. I felt the all too common ‘everyone’s eyes are on me’ as I don’t think they get many male customers, especially foreign ones.
So I asked if Maribel was there, waited for her to come (she was in the process of getting her hair done) and so I subsequently went and watched chatted while she got finished (all of the hairdressers seem to do each others hair – a perfect way to fill up downtime!).
While this was getting done, I got to see that the salon must’ve had around 20 employees, all with female cliental. The staff all wore these pink apronish outfits, and the clients were with pink over thingies. The walls were all covered with the usual picks of models with their way out to boring haircuts. I searched franticly for some men’s examples, to find a small array of pics across in the next room…
So, after she was finished, it was all go. The pink over thing looked all class on me, for the record. Maribel stared with a bit of hesitation, which freaked me out somewhat. Thankfully the tutor guy came by and gave her some tips, and demonstrated some technique. Tutor dude didn’t seem to fit the stereotype of the male hairdresser-In other words he didn’t have a good enough haircut/outfit to be considered as possibly gay, But he sure did have some mean as skills with the scissors.
So, Maribel finished off the job, and it looked all good – and she’s gonna source me some wax that I can use instead of the gel that seems to be the only thing they sell here- happy days!
-Money making idea #276- Become an importer of Hair wax, and convince a footballer or two to use the product to make it sufficiently macho for public consumption.
So, here's a pic right after the cut (in reality I had hardly anything cut off, not that I needed much)…
from left, Maribel, some randoms and me.

Anyway, last week was a fairly big event for the people here, being holy week and all. I first got to see some of the action on the Sunday before; as, in between youth group and the evening service, there was a procession that went by the church. There wasn’t that many people involved, but there were the sounds of explosions into the cool early evening air- some people were laying out this powder and little cardboard tubes full of the stuff, then lighting it as the procession came by. One guy was also firing off full on flares into the sky… and I was so thinking ‘I need to get myself some of those’ but when I asked where you could buy them I was told they were illegal (¡agua fiestas!).
Around here there is quite a ‘Semana Santa’ tradition, as I found out during the week. At the language place I’m studying at we had a day where we cooked some tradition Easter treats dishes; a seafood soup traditionally eaten on Good Friday (complete with fish eggs- quite crunchy) and some desserts. We also had an in-depth look at what happens each day of the week, and the points of the cross- interesting stuff. My favourite tradition would have to be “la quema de Judas” or the burning of Judas. What happens is this; some people make a paper ‘Judas’ loaded with fireworks, and then they hang him with some rope. Before lighting him up, they read his ‘will’ with ridiculous things that they bequeath to famous locals etc. for example, if the mayor was overweight they might write “give my diet pills and aerobics video to…”, I didn’t get to watch this performance, as it was early Sunday morning- sounds like good times though.
At the Church we had two special services, on the Thursday and Friday nights. Things went well, there was a lot of ‘fringe’ people and a few first time visitors as well.
We (the youth group) have started raising some money for Mother’s day, to buy the Mums some rice, sugar etc. as times a hard for so many. So two weekends ago we made and sold anticuchos (kebab kind of things- delicious) and this Saturday we’re making something else- but I forgot the name (one of the many trials of my time in S.A has been trying to remember what dishes are called, so when some asks me “have you had this before” I normally have to answer “ummm…. Maybe?) That is if I don’t climb Misti, the volcano that dominates the skyline. Some of the students will be climbing it this weekend- it’s a huge as mountain, some 6,000 metres or so, but right now to climb it you need crampons once you get near the top- unlike other times of the year where there is basically no snow. I’m probably not going to go, as it’ll cost me a bit of money to get boots as well, esp. in my size (though I’ll need some if I do the Inca trail, unless I (cheat) take the train). We’ll see.
On the fútbol front, Melgar are still top of the table, despite losing to Bolognesi in the weekend.
Colo-Colo is, after starting with two losses, have proceeded to destroy the other teams in their group in the Copa Libertadores (the champions league of Latin America). Not a small feat at all considering their pool, which includes River Plate (Argentina) famous for their rivalry with Boca Juniors (Maradonna’s team, back in the day).
So they’re looking good to finish top of their group, then proceed to the 1/8th finals or something. Fingers crossed they'll continue their from the Copa Sudamerica (like the UEFA cup) despite the loss of both Matias Fernandez and Alexis Sanchez to clubs in Europe… Sanchez is, in the next few years, going to be huge… you heard it here first. He’s only 17, has great footwork and is as quick as anything. Matias will be pretty handy too, esp. considering his knack at scoring free kicks.
Ok, you can all wake up now… hahaha
That’s all for now, I’ll try think up something interesting for the next installment.

¿Quieres perder tu tiempo? Buscas qué estoy escribiendo… las paginas del red son buenas para traducir frases- ¿sí o no?

Nathan

2007-03-28T12:35:00.000-04:00

Well, I’m not sure where I should start… I haven’t been doing anything outrageous lately- I’ll start writing, and then I may remember- we’ll see.
Since coming back from Bolivia I’ve moved into the Greens place, just down the road from where I was before. My bedroom is on the roof, with an ensuite and double bed Funnily enough I’ve seemed to move up a ‘notch’ in quality/luxury at each long-term stop on my trip- starting with the tiny room in Santiago, to a big bedroom in the last place, and now an ensuite- way to experience the hardships of Missionary life - I guess it’s a time to be content when ‘abounding’ as the Apostle Paul says. Anyway, now to some stuff that I’ve been up to:

His last weekend I got to go to the Futból again; this time against a more popular team- Universitario. I was a bit late in arriving (as I went to Puquina that morning with Ronny) so I waited in the line outside the stadium, with my ticket and with a Melgar shirt on. The shirt got me heaps of comments/questions/respect from other fans, and lots of laughs too. I guess not too many gringos go to the games and sit in the cheap seats. I got in about 10 minutes into the first half, spotted Julio waving at me way up the stand. So I pushed my way up, and just as I got seated Melgar scored. Melgar seemed to be lacking impetus in attack. Universitario had some quiet good players, and looked far more dangerous; however we had improved immensely in defence from the shocker we had vs. Sport boys. La U scored right before half time, by some brilliant play from their Colombian striker. We played a bit better in the second half, but still lacking creativity around the goal- although there was some improvement. With about 10 minutes to go we scored, sending the sell-out crowd into hysterics for a few minutes (and much relief personally, I was starting to wonder if I ‘jinxed’ the team). While we were leaving I got more comments etc. due to my shirt, and some friendly security advise (“wear that bag on your front”, I generally don’t do that, but in a crowd like that they had a very valid point) Fun times all round, can’t wait for the next big game.
I’ve restarted Spanish classes, but now only two classes a week (instead of the 10 a week with the full time schedule), which has been great. In general my fluency is improving at a good rate. I’d say, for only having been here for 3 months and having arrived with really crappy Spanish, I’m doing quite well.
My schedule is quite chilled out, which has its pluses, including time to be able to read (I’ve nearly finished The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther- deep aye- respect!), think (this may sound really weird/mystical but having time to be able to, dare I say ‘meditate’ about stuff, things I’m coming into contact here, my future, issues in general – think things through is probably a better way to put it) hang out with locals and indulge my internet addiction (surfing the net, not the blog posting or email writing variety unfortunately). As well, there’s a Gym down the road that’s really cheap ($1.25 a time) so I go there every so often to blow of some steam.
I was hoping to play in a Basketball comp here, but the season starts in July. But I’ve had the chance to play a few time at ‘club international’ and would’ve done really well- due to my size, mad skills and from what I saw of the competition (hahaha, but seriously I’m a decent size here somehow, this one kid told me I could play centre if I was on his High School team). So it looks as if there won’t be involvement in any team sports here like Touch Rugby (they only have rugby in Lima at a few posh schools).
On the language front I have possibly my biggest/funniest mistake yet. I was chatting to one of the girls from the church and she told me some ‘goss’ about her sister and one of the guys at the church (that they were an item) and she asked me if I understood who/what she was saying. So I said “el está con su hermano” or
“so-in-so (I’m not telling you who-I’m sworn to secrecy) is with his sister” I accidentally said ‘su’ (his/her/its/polite your) instead of “tu” (your) which got us laughing- as I knew I had made a mistake as soon as I said it. I quite often have problems with tu and su, as grammatically speaking I can use both to refer to ‘your’ … I mix up formal and informal far too much when I speak…
I’ve had some problems about my ticket the last few weeks (finally resolved).
It was really all my problem, as I didn’t get a flexible enough ticket (I wasn’t really aware of the 1 year restriction I had on the other ticket). So, to make a long story short, I had to cancel my ticket, and buy another with the credit and extra cash. Thankfully it wasn’t prohibitively more expensive. The main problem was that, at the start, I was trying to sort it out remotely/via Email with an agency in Chile. I was only aware of there being one office in Peru (Lima)- however I discovered (after a few weeks of trying on the net) that there was an office in Arequipa- Which annoyed me no end… (It wasn’t in my info about overseas offices- so I (naturally) assumed that there wasn’t one here).
Anyway, you can circle the 26th of July on your calendar as the date that the prodigal son returns to NZ (with a few months to spare before the Rugby world cup- (¡Vamos All Blacks!). Those reading in Chile/Argentina can expect me to be hanging around in their respective countries for 2 weeks each before I leave. I’ll be sorting out the exact dates in the next few weeks.
anyway, that me for this post, and (finally)here are the photos from the trip:

Me, on top of a hill near by Desaguadero
Right by the immigrations office in Bolivia
From left: Jessica, Ader's friend, and Ader
The houses by the lake
And an overhead view ofthe peruvian side of Desaguadero

and a view of La Paz

I'd put up more photos but Blogspot is really slow today with uploading.

Bolivia, the ordeal...

2007-03-07T14:24:00.000-03:00

Well, I’ve just recently came back from an epic weekend with the youth group to Desaguadero, a town that is split over the Peru-Bolivia border on the shores of Lake Huyñaymarka (I first though it was Lake Titicaca, but it might be a connecting wing or something…)
About 15 of us went (including some Mums and other women in the church to keep us on our best behaviour) to visit a church on the Peru side, that we have some contact with one of their members, Hilda, who works in Arequipa. Unfortunately she couldn’t make it there until Sunday.
We took the over-night bus (7.30p.m-3.00am) on Thursday night, and, surprisingly got some sleep. So, we arrived at around about 3, to be greeted by cold weather, altitude, and a muddy street with various buses waiting till the border opened. So, we walked down the street for about 20 minutes until we got to Hilda’s house (her son, Romario led the way) which had one room, two beds, a concrete floor, and no power. So, as we were all kinda cold, and there wasn’t heaps of space to sleep, we went to a roadside stall to have a coffee and some bread (cheap as chips, but dodgy as well, like old cups that you had to hope had been washed well etc. –good times!)
After that, we headed back to the house where we squeezed 4 people on to each bed, and the others on the floor somehow, or chilling outside. The room had a nice ambiance about it, with candlelight and all. Some gave up trying to get to sleep- which created more space for me so I got maybe 2 hours before I was awoken (at 6ish) saying that we were heading off to look around.
By this time the town was alive with tricycle taxis, and people own tricycles loaded with stuff, and just people in general milling around. So, after walking around bit, we found a restaurant (still a little dodgy, but a lot better than earlier… this would become a reoccurring theme during the weekend) for breakfast, then the rain poured down (and I suddenly remember that I’d forgot my rain jacket… happy days)
So, through the muddy streets we went, we all were caught out (in Arequipa it only rains in the afternoon). We eventually found a plastic dealer, so we bought sheets of plastic to make poncho thingies, oh so styley I might add…
Eventually the rain calmed down a bit, and we went to the other side of the town to Bolivia! I was expecting tight as control on the border, but people just wandered across, so I joined them- not sure if I was entering in illegally.
With the constant threat in my mind of problems with police I made a plan to save myself if they asked, I’d just show them my photocopy of my passport, not the real thing, so they wouldn’t be able to see if I was there legitimately. Despite my concerns (which would be forever put to rest later) nothing happened, I wasn’t even breaking any rules per se, as they had tight controls down the road from the town, so I was in a kind of in between area- even thought there was all the official signs and offices on either side of the river. It did feel more adventurous for a while, with the made up threat of cell time in my head (or a bribe to get out of it).
After a good look around on the other side, we went back to the Peruvian side to sort out our paper work. All the others only needed their ID cards and to fill out some stuff, which seems to work fairly well. It worked out at a very good time for me, as I needed to get my 90 day visa renewed sometime.
After a long wait for everyone to get processed, we headed off to the Bolivian border buildings (that is, all of us who could go, those who were minors needed parental permission—which was a surprise- so they had to stay- but we were only going for a night) filled out or paper work again, then crossed the border back to Peru to get our stuff (hahaha, I love this part of the world!).

So after getting all our stuff, and changing our money (One Bolivar equals about 20 cents NZ, Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and consequently, the cheapest to travel in) off we went for an adventure in La Paz (at an altitude of around about 3,600-700 in the centre, 4,000 on the outskirts, as the centre is in a valley surrounded by the outlying areas- one of the slums is said to be the fasted growing cities in South America)
The bus trip ($2NZ) was uneventful, and as we arrived the view was amazing- going down into the valley, with buildings all clinging against the hills, quite spectacular really.
After arriving, we soon found accommodation (at 10 B’s, or like, less than $2 NZ) for the night, and no, it wasn’t pretty… budget to the max- and it was sharing a double bed with someone else- but that still great value in my book.
So, we went off for a feed, which was some crappy chicken and rice or noodles- we soon found out that Peruvian cuisine (at least cheap cuisine) was a whole lot better that budget Bolivian fair (it wasn’t even much cheaper than for the same dish in Arequipa, if at all).
After that disappointment, we took a bus to the centre of the city, unfortunately I accidentally left my camera at our accommodation, but we had a great look around- everyone with their eyes peeled for bargains (Ronny had joked that Peruvians are rich in Bolivia, and he wasn’t too far off- in regards to some products) like cheap shoes, electronics clothes etc. We also had a good look at the central square (quite small considering that it has the Presidential palace, the national congress and a cathedral (circa 1800 and something). But it was still nice, and Milward joked how we were going to meet the President, Evo Morales (Think Chavez and you’ve got the right kinda picture). But, alas, we only met shoe shiners, who cleaned some of our shoes (It’s the first time I’ve had it done, quite a weird feeling, I don’t know how to describe it… it feels demeaning I guess…)
Most of the shoe shiners wear balaclavas or something else to cover there face and the stigmatism/shame associated with having to do it.
After that, we took the bus back, and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
That night was a good nights sleep, considering the circumstances (my sleeping bag came though with flying colours- and it meant that I didn’t need to use the dodgy sheets… Milward didn’t want to use them, so he didn’t get much sleep as his jersey and jacket didn’t keep him that warm…)
So, after another dodgy breakfast of some porridgey thing and bread (once again from a dodgy cup, I really should buy my own cup shouldn’t I) we headed off to the markets near the city centre.
I went off by myself (as the others weren’t on the look out for mint Inca style woolly hats etc. ) and had a “absolutely fabulous” time, you could say I shopped like a woman (exaggeration) and say it I did (I love it when I can think of something humorous to say in Spanish, it all ways goes down well- and it doesn’t need to be extremely funny, it’s almost like Fez in ‘that 70’s show’- he can say anything and it’s funny, just because of who he is)
So, for the record I purchased quite a few possible gifts, like styley Inca woolly hats for around $2 NZ (not bad aye) or bootleg Futból shirts for $5, so I got the two local teams; Bolivar and Los Tigres (the ‘tigers’ one with SINCLAIR on the back, for an extra $1), it was probably good I didn’t bring any more money, as I find bargains irresistible (especially when I’m behind a whole lot in my gifts for the family (yep, it’s a mission with a family my size, hope you don’t expect anything too outrageously cool).
The Markets were really cool, great value as I mentioned before, and they all had a good vibe. I found the Futból shirts in this street that seemed to be full of Futból related shops, with all kinds of Jerseys from all over the world (in an ideal world I would have gone over board and got shirts of all my favourite players, or made up my own shirt from scratch which was an option- I so need to design one on my computer and get it made… that’d be something….
I also got the chance to go to the centre of the city again to take photos (albeit without the others for a group shot). Happy days.
I was expecting to have killer problems with the altitude, but, to tell you the truth, I didn’t feel it as a problem… even when walking up and down the hills-though when I had my big bag I felt it (but that’s normal isn’t it? Does that count?).
After meeting up with the others we went off. I found out that the others hadn’t seen the Futból street (which was a disappointment for them, because the stuff there was about a half of the price in Arequipa)
So, we trekked off back to Desaguadero, this time in a mini bus ($2) and got back at around 2 in the afternoon. Everything went really smooth, and I got my visa renewed for until the 1st of June, and we met up with the ones left behind. So, for the afternoon we just relaxed or did whatever in the town. I went up a hill nearby with Ronny and Sabina, one of the Mums that accompanied us on the trip. The view from the top was awesome- of the lake, the mountains, and the town below. So we chatted there for a while, enjoying the view.
That evening was uneventful, we went into the bus waiting area for a feed- some more dodgy coffee and bread on the roadside- and we all made our way back to the house… and then the rain started, then the hail (which was a first time some had seen it before…quite an event for Arequipeñas). By this stage it was dark as, and Ronny was saying that we needed to find some accommodation. But apart from Ader and his friend, who had already sorted something out, no one (even those who said they could before) wanted, or could afford it for the night. So I chipped in with Ronny and got us some rooms at a place down the road, so we were all a bit wet, but happy to get some rest. We left some of the guys in the house, (funnily enough Cesár had a bed to himself, so the other 3 had to share).
After an alight night of sleep we had some breakfast (yep, more dodgy coffee and bread- but you’ve gotta love it if its for 50c).
Then we met up at the house and with Hilda (who had finally arrived) and went to the church.
When we arrived we heard singing while outside, and it didn’t sound like Spanish to me. Lo and behold I was spot on, they were singings in Aymara, in a very traditional way: with a guitarish thing, a drum and with the somewhat different melodies of the Andes. I believe that they use a different musical system than in the west- with less than 8 notes an octave, in a similar way that in the middle ages they used a different system as well. I also have a sneaking suspicion that the originators of this music had a different idea of what was good singing (maybe that too harsh) but, hey, each to their own I guess.
The church was this smallish building, with a wooded floor, wooden chairs and about 15 people (not including us) some others in the church were preparing a morning tea and lunch. After a few songs they welcomed us, and we went up and introduced ourselves. Ronny accidentally said I was from Europe, then corrected himself, but Europe stuck (as I’d find out). Then they went up and did the same thing. Then, after having a snack, we continued singing (this time in Spanish) and listened to a youngish guy give a bilingual sermon (the church official uses three languages, Aymara, Quechua and Spanish) I’m not sure if he was using Aymara or Quechua. After that we sang a song for them, which they then did the same for us.
Then, one of the leaders of the church went up and asked “the guy from Europe” to come up and share something, which freaked me out- they thought I was a full on missionary or pastor or something. So, after Ronny told them some facts (while im standing up there wondering what to say) he said I could talk about anything. So, I pretty much thanked them for their hospitality and how cool it is to have brothers and sisters in Christ all around the world… I hope I didn’t look embarrassed… that pretty much all I said. HE then asked me about what Churches are like back home, how do they worship etc… So, that got my heart rate up high for a good few minutes. Next time I’m in that situation I’ll read some verses or something- Live and learn.
After that this guy preached for ages, in Spanish so we all could understand (most of our group can’t speak much Quechua or Aymara, some of the older ones can more or less). He always lost what verse he was up too which was funny, anyway, after that we all went outside for a meal. The meal included whole gutted fish about the size of sprats, a little tomatoey sauce, potatoes, broad beans, chunyo (like a potato, but black and with a weird texture) which, once again, was probably a little suspect on the hygiene side of things. But I dug in and ate the ‘comida extremo’ as best I could, the fish was really hard to eat, as it had little bones and the head wasn’t that appetizing. I nearly finished everything, but I was full (the altitude does that to you I’ve heard… the food just staying in your stomach).
After that we headed back, and relaxed for a little while, then we went to the bus place to wait for our bus- we left early as rain was imminent in the menacing clouds.
After a long wait, we eventually got into the bus. A lot of the passengers seemed to have come back from epic shopping trips (or had bought lots of stuff to sell) so inside the bus was wild (thankfully not animals, thank God) with people stuffing things all over the bus in every nook and cranny. I guess the bottom was full, and the people here seem to have an aversion to putting their things there, preferring to have it on their lap (this weirds me out to the max, I like my comfort- only a little carry-on).
A few people were doing the rounds, trying to get other passengers to shove stuff under their seats etc. this girl asked me to look after a blanket, which was all good. Then this annoying older lady was going round trying to make people feel bad if they didn’t do her a favour by putting a box under their legs. I was fairly nice to her the first time, telling her that I couldn’t (I didn’t want to as well, I didn’t pay for a seat to have it loaded with other peoples stuff) as I had my bag underneath. So she went away, while she was away my naughty self was thinking of how to say shove that box … you get the picture, I wasn’t amused. She eventually returned in her moaning manner, saying please and begging, with a sad look on her face as if I was letting down my own grandmother. So, I told her, in no uncertain terms “Te dije que no puedo, asi que NO PUEDO- Gracias” (I told you I can’t, so I CAN’T, thank you) which shut her up good. It was quite a satisfying moment, to tell someone to leave me alone in a second language. It also gave me ‘much respect’ from the others in the youth group close by. Daniel said I was “like a Peruvian” … oh, the empowerment of language…
Unfortunately that wasn’t the worse part of the trip. For some reason, once we had reached Puno (I think it was Puno) these official looking dudes got into the bus and started searching for something (I have no idea what) asking people “whose is this bag” and opening this to have a poke around. They really ticked some people off, especially this old lady, who started hitting this guy who was asking to be able to look at some of her and her husbands luggage, he wasn’t thrilled either, so he shouted at them. Thankfully they left me alone, but this must have lasted for about an hour, with the bus stopping at some special check stations or something. I was well annoyed, as I wanted some sleep. Crazy… I couldn’t get to sleep for ages after that, but I must’ve eventually as I woke up to see that we’d reached the outskirts of Arequipa (finally) at around about 3 in the morning. So I caught a Taxi back to my place, tired out…
So that was the trip, I haven’t got sick yet (yes) but typhoid takes 2 weeks to surface (or so I’ve heard) so I’ll keep you posted. I did wake up with a killer earache though… must have been the change in altitude I guess.
Anyway, it was fun times. So the plan over the next little while is pretty much the same, but I should be moving into the Greens place sometime soon. And I should be starting up classes once a week at the language school sometime soon.

Anyway, props if you made it this far down the blog, I’ve probably set some new personal bests (just like the All Blacks in Graham Henrys master programme, how fun would that be to be a part – sounds like a perfect reality TV idea, with the people with the biggest gains etc. not getting eliminated, like that losing fat one The biggest loser, or something)
Alright, look after yourselves, and God bless.

Nathan
(i'll put up photos soonish...)

The aftermath of Carnival, and my first Fútbol game here

2007-02-20T12:51:00.000-03:00

In my last post I hyped up the locals way of celebrating carnival, and I was pretty much on the money except for the fact that this year the government had passed some new laws- Pretty much threatening to imprison people who soaked/powdered/etc anyone who wasn't playing... for up to 4 years. So that stopped the gangs that in the past have roamed the streets wetting everyone, sometimes with coloured water: which had disastrous effects on peoples clothing, and they sometimes used it as a front to rob people in mobs etc. -Especially in Lima (as I've been told many times, crime is a lot more full-on in Lima)

So the people were very well behaved during the earlier weeks, but you'd always see people (normally girls) who had been soaked or powdered (With stuff kinda like powder paint or something) which was always a good laugh.

My first time I was targeted was in the centre of town walking around, and some girls were following me with a little spray gun... so not exactly that crazy.

Next would be at the School that the Peruvian "YMCA" or (ACJ (Asociacion Cristiano de Jovenes) in Spanish) has in one of the slum areas (I went there twice last week to help out, it's summer school right now-so I was mainly just hanging around with the kiddies and playing games etc, I hope to go there about once a week for the morning to help out, chill with the kids- it's a great work they do out there). And this was the 16th, two days before the actual carnival day. So the kids were pumped up ready for a water fight, so they had to wait till 12 when we had finished, to make a long story short the boys went full on and soaked the female volunteers (lucky me not getting targeted, the kids call the others 'maricones' (roughly queer in English) if they wet someone of the same sex) so I was safe until I jokingly asked for a water balloon from one of the boys and popped it on his head, so, they soaked me, and then reinforcements came in for the girls side... so, I got drenched and ran off to catch the bus- to the amusement of the other passengers.

But the worst came on the day itself: I went to the fútbol with Julio, Pablo and Juan Carlos (which I’ll cover in depth soon) and all the action in the streets had seemed to have died down (before we saw hoards of guys and people in trucks etc, armed to the teeth with all manner of wetting equipment) so I didn't take the bottles of water in my bag like I did in the morning while I was at church (It pays to be prepared) when I went to Youth Group (we've just started up for the year pretty much) so, I took the bus like I had a few times before- but I accidentally took the wrong one (I thought Bolivar was an abbreviation of Simon Bolivar, the location of the Church) So when the bus took a turn the wrong way I started to get worried... We made our way into this huge market (the principle one of the city) so I got off the bus in this really interesting part, trying to recognize a bus to take, or some familiar street. I seemed to be in a part of the market with a-lot people second hand stuff, ranging from electronics to shoes, first up this guy asked me if I had any valuables to sell, to which I replied "no"... then I asked him and some of the other guys if they knew of a bus to Simon Bolivar- Which weirded them out big time, so they asked me if I wanted to go to the Plaza de Armas (the central square of Arequipa) I guess most 'turistas' don't really want to go to a poor comuna in the city with nothing that exciting.

So I walked off to find a bus or catch a taxi (which can be a problem, as there are so many taxis but a lot of the companies aren't that reputable- even some locals avoid them... but It's not the best to get in a dodgy taxi that can take a 'rich' gringo anywhere (if they knew the truth I could get in any taxi, dream on) and take their stuff. So, I was walking around, trying to look like I knew where I was going, trying to find a taxi or bus. Thankfully I found a principle street that I recognized, so I started walking up that, by all these stalls with everything from pirated music/movies, clothes to food.

So, while I was walking I saw ahead of me a few girls with powder on them, hanging around some people selling powder by some other stalls. I thought I was pretty safe walking there, I wasn't a threat (so according to the rules a non-combatant) but, just as I reached where they were I caught a glimpse of one of their faces, with a mischievous look. Then, next thing you know, I was attacked by them (official estimates vary, from the exaggerated 10 I told the driver of the taxi I eventually went in, the 5 I told the youth group about, and the maybe only three which doesn't sound as exciting. I didn't count as they smeared it in my face) with them throwing powder all over my t-shirt, my bag and my face. In hindsight I realise that I should have turned around and grabbed some powder from the woman there selling it, but rational thought gave way to a mix of the 'survival instinct' and the 'this is really funny so I should laugh instinct’. After the attack the reactions I got were priceless. Best of all was arriving at YG, sneaking in the back because I was late, and seeing the faces of anyone who saw me sneak in. I think it was definitely a great conversation started and it was fun telling the story... I think it has, fairly or not, given me the reputation of being a good laugh, and extra acceptance in the group.

So, next Carnival I'm not gonna be caught out!

The fútbol was good fun, and a lot cheaper than when I went in Chile (and a lot less important a match). It only cost $4 NZ to get in, which made sense as we were sitting in the cheapest seating area. The whole stadium (except for the small covered stand for the people with money ($12 NZ) was old-school embankment style concrete seating.

We arrived about 10-15 minutes before kick off, with the two Melgar mad fanatics sectiones starting to chant etc. (Melgar is a suburb in Arequipa, and the most popular team, the new team, Arequipa total- now that’s a cool name...) Melgar's colours are red and black and the other team wore pink- The aptly named "Sports Boys" from Lima. I so need to get one of their jerseys!

The game was Sunday afternoon (carnival as I mentioned before) which may have affected the crowd... the crowd didn't get into the songs like they did at the Colo Colo game I went to in Chile, But I guess who wants to sing in a 1/3 full stadium, unless your in a huge group of fans (next game I should go in team colours and join in on the fun. The game was played in generally sunny conditions, and I always love a free flowing rugby game in the afternoon, so I had high hopes for a high scoring match.

The match started terribly for Melgar, with a free kick badly defended. Melgar didn't seem to have much get up and go in the first half, but they had the majority of possession (this is starting to sound like the match report or something, anyway, I'll continue) The second half started well for Melgar, with far more positive play with the ball, still with the majority of possession. Finally they scored of a nice kick that finished of a great cross to make it a draw. I felt as if the game was going Melgars way; But the manly men from Sports Boys still had some fuel left in the tank, and they subsequently scored three easy goals (thanks to some lame defence from Melgar) and almost made Juan Carlos cry (ok, I made the last bit up, Melgar fans have tasted enough defeat in their recent history to be able to cope- and it's a long season... but it was surprising considering the start they have had to the season- most markedly their 2-0 whitewash of the reigning champions, Alianza Lima, last week. But it's still early days in the competition).

In other related Fútbol news I'm still making up my mind as to which team I will support. I made the decision far to fast in Chile, and had to eventually back two teams (much to the amusement of my friends) but I don't want to be in that situation again. Melgar is the early favourites, with Sporting Cristal (Pablo's favourite team, which got knocked out of the Copa Libertadores very early on, and in a disastrous manner) Arequipa Total (what a name, but I haven't had a chance to have a good look at their jersey) with an outside chance amongst others. I will keep you all posted on developments in this regard.

I’m slowly regaining my Samson like powers after my haircut, but it's slow going...So here are the promised photos, and a bonus one: this is of a sign on the way to Mollendo (another beach I have visited, this time for a day trip with some from the Youth Group that Pablo goes to (and I go to as well)) It pretty much says "our city is clean, keep it this way" which is all well and good... but the accompanying diagrams of someone.... I think you can make it out in the photo.

If the city councils here actually wanted to solve this problem, they could make public toilets, and free ones, or really really cheap. I'm sure people don't get a kick out of defecating/urinating in public... (That was an interesting sentence). That (the lack of public toilets) would have to be one of my pet hates. Thankfully I haven't encountered a 'no 2' on my travels yet (only doggie doo, or what I hope is!!!)
Before:
After:

Anyway, that was a really really long post- You could say that I’m doing penance for my slackness during carnival- so now it's time to be serious during lent (I’m not really an expert on such things on some churches calendars, so to find out that 40 days (not including Sundays) before ash Wednesday- or good Friday, or something).

Look after yourselves, and God bless,

Nathan

Some Photos....

2007-02-03T21:14:00.000-03:00

Well, i've promised for a long time now to put more up... these are of my time in Chile- the new hair cut ones are on the way....

From left: Ignacio (or Nacho) Me (duh) and Manuel
Pierre, Jessenia, Daniel, Leen, Marcela and me at the touch prize giving- end of season night
With John- A chilean legend and other award nominee (he used to live in NZ believe it or not, when he was a kid back in the day- I once went to his place and he has this '87 All Blacks poster- and he knew more names on it than me...)
From Left: Jean Pierre, Daniel, me , Susanah, Nicole and Sebastian
Me with Seba, Nicole and Xavier

World carnival celebrations #184

2007-02-01T19:24:00.000-03:00

Well, I mentioned in one of the comments that I should write little articles on stuff that goes on here in general- instead of the usual boring posts about my life... so here is the first instalment:

Carnival is celebrated in many different countries around the world- Most notably in Rio de Jainero, Brazil. From what i've gathered over the years the idea is to go crazy for a few days, be a bit naughty before Lent, a time of giving up things, of being a good boy/girl.
The way the locals here in Arequipa celebrate (well, one of the ways) is an 18 day long water fight, starting on the first of Febuary, and culminating on the 18th- were everything goes mad.
Supposedly it's the classic boys v.s girls battle (guess who gets really into it?) but quite often the victim is indiscriminately targeted (I guess that has to do with the ''lets do all the bad things we can before it's too late'')
From what i've heard from Anthony about it it's a real pain for motorists- It pretty much makes it a necesity to have the windows up or you're gonna get wet.
I even saw the bus I was about to take a few days ago get pelted (naughty kids, can't you wait a few days?) so things are starting to heat up...

So, I'll keep you posted on all the developments in this tradicion. I should really get some supplies in the next few days, find a good place to hide, and drench some unsuspecting 'chicas'!

In boring news about myself I got my hair cut two days ago, with mixed reviews.
I'm somewhat afraid that i'll lose my magical powers or something. It's been funny some of the coments at the institute, mainly in the lines of ''oh, there's a new student'' but it's been all good. I think I prefer the big hair- but I couldn't leave it forever. So, I guess I'll need to wait 5 or 6 months for it all to grow back...
Fotos of the hair do are on the way...

Anyway, look after yourselves, and God bless

Nathan

2007-01-21T17:30:00.000-03:00

Well, Camaná once again treated me to a great time- the camp was all "good times"In all, about 80 turned up, I left earlier in the morning with Anthony and some others to get things ready etc (and get a another sneak preview of the beach!) before the others arrived. I guess before I talk of some of the stuff we got up to I should give you a brief idea of the schedule: If you were to give the schedule one word that summed it up I’d be this: Chilled...The day started at around 6-7 to get up (or earlier- on the first day some of the guys woke up to play football at around 5 (it's alot cooler then, but still crazy) thankfully it was only the first day that was so early)After that was the time slot for a Bible reading/study, I was in the young guys group, with Ronny leading it.Then breakfast, a morning meeting with singing and a talk- THEN TO THE BEACH (from 10.30 till 1.00) less than a five-minute walkThen lunch, a siesta/nothing time (or football), then games in 2 teams, ranging from volleyball to sack races etc. for points in the competition.Then dinner, Indoor games/competitions later (a play of a bible story, a song as a team and more crazy games)Then nothing until bedtime at 10.So, as you can see, it was a very chilled schedule and not packed out at all.The people were all really friendly, and it didn't take me too long to make friends. It was a little weird at the start though, sorting stuff out in the cabin, I could kinda feel a 'who is this guy' vibe. But that passed after the first full day. It's quite strange looking back now to think how I fit into the camp lifestyle in a different culture. Normally I get more vocal back home (depending on the crowd) and here was the same, but in a very different way. The games were alot of fun, but sometime hard to understand... but they were all patient with me. Volleyball was great fun, as, for the first time in my life, I was the tallest one at camp (weird aye) so they were always passing for spikes (funnily enough the term they use for spike "matar" is literally 'to kill'). Also the games at the beach were a highlight- as my team kicked butt, and sand is always the best for crashing in. It also amused the rest of the people close by; mostly with the Sand sculpture competition and with a classic combination race, which went like this:Firstly the competitor would jump in a sack up to a container full of water, fish out a wrapped lolly, then run to the next container with flour and take out another lolly, then run up to a stick in the sand, place their forehead on the stick and run around it 10 times, run to a line and do a 'roly poly' then run back to the next team member. Some of the players didn't seem to have a high dizziness threshold, esp. Angél how fell about three time on his way back (into the crowd on the side) while trying to run straight (I wish I had it on video, it was classic..) and of course all the competitors had flour all over their faces... good times. People were always stopping and having a look (we made a bit of a scene In some ways I guess)The camp was full of characters, like this little chubby kid (I called him 'gordito' lit, little fatty- the -ito on the end is either used to talk of something’s size or as a term of endearment--I was called 'gringito' all the time) who was always a good laugh, loved singing, full of life. Ader was another legend at the camp, all the guys really (I was really bad at learning the names, as it seemed weird and out of place to ask someone once you had done so much with them and they knew your name... it was a big group as well).The beach treated us to some wonderful surf, and, strangely enough, it was different everyday- ranging from big walls of foam, to waves with a half decent break (never lasting that long though) In general the waves were powerful and really easy to body surf (some times for a good 5 metres) Unfortunately there were sometimes holes that you could walk into and (far rarer than last time) sometimes a little bit of a rip, but I don't think I ever felt it during the week (unlike at New Years). I did well on the tan... with only my nose showing signs of redness; the rest of me is "casi Peruano"(nearly Peruvian) which was a running joke during the week.One of the days some of us went into Camaná (the town itself) for a seafood delight called cerviche (fish chopped into little bits with lemon juice and a soup with it- muy rico) and some queso helado (an ice-cream typical in Arequipa), which was another culinary experience. The food here is great: Generally full of flavour and cheap (for example our cerviche meal cost 4 soles, or $2 NZ/600 Chilean pesos for those reading this in Chile) including a coke, and the ice-cream is only 1 sol (or 50c NZ, 150 pesos) I've been fortunate not to get really sick (yet) from food here, I should be more careful with my food sources really- the main problem has been my stomach adjusting to the different microbes here. All in all I’m having a great time here, I recommence my Spanish classes tomorrow, and well be working with both the past tenses (I need to learn when to use which, and how the work abit more... I know a little now). The first week went really well, with me having to cover about 200 and something irregular verbs in the present tense (I hope there isn't as many irregulars in the other tenses) and filling in other gaps: Masculine/feminine, adjectives and more. Julio is my teacher for the grammar and Juan Carlos for the conversational class. The people at the institute are really awesome, both the teachers and the students- Anyway, I better finish off now... Look after yourselves and enjoy these photos:

Some Delicious Cuy (guniea pig)
Antonio (the cook) and Ronny
Puquina in the highlands around Arequipa (I htink it's at around 3,000 metres above sea level)
At Puqunia: If you look close you ca see the ridges that the Incas created back in the day

Me as King Darius with 'Gordito' In one of the races at the beach, with Ader holding my legs
Some of the girls racing
Some of the boys: Daniel (If I remeber correctly) Cesar, Horacio, Ivan and Ader
And osme of the others (I wont even try with the names, but its a cool pic)

I'll put up some more picks this week, including ones that I haven't put up yet from my time in Chile.

Just a short note...

2007-01-14T20:01:00.000-03:00

I'm off to Camaná again, with the church for Camp until the 15th, so I probably won't be able to check my email much during that time (i'd be suprised if I can even once) so, as i'm unprepared for a long post, i'll tell you some things to look forward to in a week or so...
I ate my first guinea pig yesterday ina little town three hours away... not to shabby- you just had to eat around the head, hands and feet- mmmmm, ¡muy rico!
of course the upcoming church camp will feature heavily...
and some stuff about my time at the institute learning Spanish
Photos if i can get to an ecafe with a CD drive....

anyway, have a fun week, as I have some serious tanning, swimming, beach futból, camp shower action the next few days...

Nathan

My time here so far...

2007-01-05T13:34:00.000-03:00

Arequipa! POR FIN!!!!
Peru is the best thing since sliced bread! (What a weird saying, because in general sliced bread is the cheap crappy stuff)
You probably think I'm writing this in the Highlands, with a friendly Llama outside, wearing a poncho and chewing coca leaves - That'd be great actually - But I'm in a city with twice as many people as Christchurch (that doesn't say much does it!) But my point is this: Peru has everything!
My time here has been awesome so far. I'm sorry I haven't written a Peru post yet, having to catch up and stuff, but I’ve only been here for less than two weeks (and I was away for part of that time, away from my laptop, but I’ll get to that)
So, yeah, the day after arriving I went to the Greens church here and got to meet the people, get a feel for the place etc. It went really well, the people are friendly, but there is a slightly different cultural vibe. For example in Chile, when a man greats a woman they kiss each other on the cheek, but here it's only some who practice that- a soft hand shake is the other mode of greeting (interesting aye...I read this in a guide book before arriving so I was kinda ready, but I now I'm a bit hesitant when I greet someone, but it's all really about going with the flow).
The people at church are poor, some are without work, and pay is shocking- poverty stares you in the face in Peru, In Chile it was kinda on a different level (it exists definitely, but in different forms, and more often hidden - More like a glance now and then).
The people are really friendly, and it's Bacán to be able to hit the ground running (ok, more like walking - with a Zimmer frame!) in regards to making friends with the church. I had a good chat to the young people after the service (it was a bit quieter than usual due to peeps being away for Christmas) todos son buena onda.

That evening we had a Christmas celebration at the house I'm staying at with the extended family and some missionaries from Germany (I'm staying with Anthony's brother and law, and some more of the family live nearby as well) so we sang some carols, played some games, had a feed and had a great time. And at midnight the whole city seemed to be setting off a whole lot of crazy cheap/loud/dangerous yet fun fireworks, which was a good laugh.
The next day I just relaxed really, we went to the Green's place for lunch (which I kinda missed as I gave the fam a skype call at the time...) but caught some leftovers. It's really weird to arrive somewhere and the next day celebrate Christmas with some people you hardly even know- But it was good times- Different to my usual Navidad experience (For the record my first time away from the family for Christmas, and I definitely missed a lot of the build-up etc.)
The next few days consisted of: Sleeping in a lot, having a look around the city with Anthony, going to the Wednesday nite prayer meeting, the Thursday evangelistic meeting in San Pedro (a poor town/suburb on the outskirts of the city), a visit to another poor outskirts area with another of Anthony's brother in laws to look at the social work he is involved with out there with the Peruvian version of the YMCA (good work, I'll probably be there in some of my free time to help out) and hanging out with some of the young people I’ve met here- Some young German guys on a one-year short term mission trip, and some locals as well! All good fun.
Actually for New Years I went with some of them (including of cause the German dudes (from now on I call them either by their names: Rudy, Nataniel and 'kique' (short for Enrique I think- His name might be Henrich in German? I didn't really get the full story…) Or 'Los alemanes' (Germans in Spanish)) so, back to the point, I went with the Alemanes and some other to a beach house in Camaná (right by the 'playa') for a few days. Camaná is the second best thing since sliced bread! The beach is a favourite getaway for Arequipeñas (People from Arequipa, and also a brand of Beer for the record) and at this time of year is packed out. It has a nice beach a little way away from the town, with 'Punta arena' the place with the most action. It's quite a surfy beach, but the waves aren't good for surfing- but not too shabby for body boarding.
We were further down the beach where it was a bit quieter, in Mauricio's girlfriends family's holiday home (which was getting its finishing touches done to it) so there was a whole lot other friends of theirs as well, which lead to busy showers and fun times!
To make a long story short I should put down some highlights/things of interest of my time there, or just random thoughts:
The waves were really random, at times really powerful, but not with any good break to catch. They were more like walls of foamy water at times- but heaps of fun to jump around in/get thrown around by. But unfortunately they sometimes packed a nasty rip or two in to make things un poco peligroso. I saw two rescues by the 'salva vidas’; two girls got pulled out (really close to us at the time) and a friend of theirs tried to help them out, but was pulled away as well. They all got pulled out really far, esp. the guy, but after about 15 minutes they were all back at the beach (thankfully the life-guards were right where we were) and the other was a group of drunk men who didn't take necessary precautions and got pulled away as well. There were a whole lot of them, and I’m not sure if they all got pulled out the water. Beer was really easy to get your hands on at the beach, even some of the stands would come out and supply you with some bottles (very handy) but I guess some people don't look after themselves- It's not the best mix in the world!
We went out two of the nights (New years eve being one of them of course), to the same ‘Discoteca’, which was great fun. There were a whole pile of them right at 'la Punta' (one which we saw advertised in Arequipa "para gente cool" which we thought was pretty funny spanglish, and became an inside joke over the weekend- the party for gente cool looked pretty lame actually, judging from the lame hats some old people there where wearing (you know the type, cheesy new years hats). So we had a great time with all of us, sometimes making a big group showing off our moves in the middle... good times
New Years eve went kinda like this, a late dinner, chilling afterwards, some Peruvian pisco with sprite, blowing up balloons and draping streamers around, waiting for the clock to strike... and once it stuck; Champagne, fireworks all over the town (like at Christmas) and then of to the Punta for a night out.
On New Years we had a mean as BBQ, chilled as we always did at the beach (and working on the killer tan that I now posses, los alemanes had some burning action. most notably kique hahaha, I did warn them...) and sand boarding on the hills around the town (a whole lot of fun, and sand in every crevice of my body- we just sat down on the boards as they weren't that flash... and, more often than not, we'd careen down the hill at breakneck speeds in a cloud of sand)
The last few days I've just been relaxing, attending various meetings of the church, saying goodbye to los Alemanes, as they now have to go back to the Jungle where their mission is (in Pulcama for the record) they were here just for Christmas to meet up with some friends they made while they were studying Spanish (at the same institute that I’ll be studying at for about a month) so I’ll probably visit them in the Jungle, to use up my Malaria pills (woo woo, I’ve always wanted to go to the jungle, I might even take the boat up to the border with Brazil/Colombia on the Amazon (now that'll be a serious adventure, and would add to my passports stamp collection!)
I might be going with Ronny (a Peruvian pastor that works with Anthony) to a village about three hours away this Saturday, but I’m not 100% sure on that yet.
I'll also be starting my Spanish classes on the 8th for a week, then after that I'm off to Camaná another time, this time with the Church for the annual Church Camp (the 15th to the 20th) so I’m quite pumped for both of those things, It'll be a great time with a lot of beach soccer and a great opportunity to get to know the people of the church. There's probably going to be about 60-70 people there. Peru is a country of many different things: Jungle! Beach! (Ok it's not that amazing, but in the north I’ve heard it is) Mountains! Ruins! Culture! (I should really put cultures, as there are more than one) and more... It's definitely quite exciting to be here, and I hope this post was interesting enough, I know there's a lot that I had to leave out -for brevity (well, not today) and for the sake of anonymity! I guess I’ll need to make up a 'friend' that needs to behave better, that stays up too late, eats too much, and has interesting escapades but that'll be beside the point.
So, yeah, God bless, look after yoursleves, and tune in for the next not-so-exciting episode.
and soon I put up a whole lot of photos (I ned to buy some more CDs for them...)
Nos Vemos,

Nathan

The Trip...

2006-12-28T20:58:00.000-03:00

So, I went to the bus station at around about 9 on the morning of the 18th of December, to leave a city that had been so good to me. No problems with the bus, a 6-7 hour trip to La Serena. The trip up was fairly uneventful, the same dry, suprisingly deserty terrain (the cactus were Bacán but nothing else was of interest really).
I arrived in La Serena at around about 4 in the afternoon, found my accomadation just across the road from the bus station, and then went for soemthing to eat, then afterwards for a walk around the beach. I was hopeing to find some 'action' around the beach, some night life, but I guess Mondays don't feature on the social calendars of La Serenaens. So, after a big walk around and a cold sea breeze coming in (I didn't bring a jersey, it's summer, right?). But the next day was great weather, I headed off around 11ish and spent all afternoon at the beach, until I had to catch the bus to Iquique at 6ish. I'd grade La Serena a B- Quite a nice beach (extremly long, which is good in the busy times of year) but it's hard to judge when everything is so quiet, I can tell that around the peak period it'd be great fun, places would actually be open etc.)
The bus to Iquique was one of epic proportions, 18 hours (Demasiado largo yo creo, eso es la razón que no me gusto la viaje) in a Semi Cama bus... But I somehow slept, but it wasn't anything close to what I'd call quality sleep.
So, I arrived in Iquique, famous for its casino, its beaches and for its immense Duty free zone. The first two hostels I tryed to find weren't where the guide said they were, but on the way to the next option I encountered a residencial (kinda like a budget Motel) so I went in there (I had been walking with my heavy bags for around a half an hour, so I just needed to find somewhere) And they gave me a room with like 4 beds and cable for around 15 NZ dollars a night (not bad value I thought). But It didn't have an ensuite unfourtunatly. After that I went off to get a feed, then to the beach! The beach was nice, fairly quite, the weather wasn't amazing but it was nice. So I spent the afternoon there, I went back for a walk in the evening again but still not much was happening (except for a big christmas market thing, where I bought a mean as brazil beach towel) and that I found out that next door to the place I was staying was "las chicas de la Harem" which I hadn't noticed before (as the sigh was higher up and it didn't really grab my attention) and it sounded as if it was fairly busy... and I could hear music when I was in my room- so next time I don't think I'll stay there!) . The thursday was good though, I started by going to the duty free zone, which would have been fun if I had money!
They had like hundreds of little shops selling everything from Electronics, cloths, booze, things for cars- pretty much anything. Afterwards I went to the beach, and the weather was mint! The waves were sooo goood as well. I tryed abit of bodysurfing in the waves, but I didn't have to much luck with that- they were kinda hard to judge and, even though they weren't that high, they were very powerful (I got throw around in some of them, hahaha, great times...)
So, after yet another good day at the beach, I took all my things to the bus station at around about 6.30. My bus was late (only 20 minutes or so) for some reason which was a pain (and the first time i'd encountered that in Chile) so I arrived in Arica later than I wanted. But things didn't work out too bad because just as I left the bus station a man asked in English if I needed a place to stay which worked out good- pretty good value, very close to the station, a host who helped out with some advice and, most importantly, close to one of the beaches. So, I went for a walk around, I had quite possibly one of the most complete completos ever (there buns were quite abit bigger than the usual, so they could load it up with even more avocado, tomato and other fillings) and for the first time on my trip I bumped into a discoteca that was open, so I went in and found out it was really empty. So I waited around for a while, had a few drinks, bumped into a scary dude who had issues and eventually left because it was boring and nothing was happening (and it was a far too old crowd for my liking... traveling by yourself does have quite a few downsides).
The next day was more of the same really, chilling at the beach (it was the roughest out of all of them, but nice all the same) and I headed of to the international terminal to catch a 'collectivo' (a car that, like a bus, has a set route) to Tacna, Peru (Peru baby!). I was thinking that this was gonna be one of those difficult situations where i'd have no idea what I was suppossed to do. However my fears were dispeled when at the entrance alot of drivers were trying to fill up there cars, so they were asking me instead.
I choose to go with this one guy, and while we were waiting for the paperwork/more passengers this guy from China who has been living in NY for the last few years came with us. Which worked out good, esp. for him because he had some problems at the border and he know like, no spanish. So that was abit of a mission. It was funny to see the contrasts in border control between my other border experiance- at the border between Chile and Argentina they had all that declaration rigmarole/ xrays etc. but at the Peru border we walked though the Xray room, and out the other side just to follow protocol, even though the machine was broken! Hahahaha, but that went fairly smoothly. Arriving in Tacna though was another thing. There were alot of people hanging around the bus-station to 'help' of course (and fair enough) for a fee. And I guess that when they saw me they thought 'money', if only that was true hahaha. So this dude helped me get a ticket and a hostel with this other guys hanging around.
It was weird for them I guess because we had a chat and I don;t think they get that very often, and they were like "come out for a drink afterwards" very insistently, like "we'll be here at 8" which kinda spooked me out, and this guy I thought was a fellow passenger said, those guys are crazy, come out with me (which sounded like a far better idea, he seemed really nice) so I went for a few quiets with him and one of the other guys turned up too, and, as it turns out, he worked at the terminal! But things were going ok I thought. But, to make a log story short the guys scammed me by fabricating a bill, and by not having any money to pay there half, and the ran off pretty much leaving me with 75 cents NZ to get back, and that got me really angry (I was ticked during it too, because I could see what they were doing, but I didn't know how to back out- In hind site I do, but thats always 20/20 as they say. But some people at the bar helped me out (some were just as scary hahaha) by giving me another 50 cents to get back home on the taxi. But God was good to me despite what happened... Things could have been worse. I got back safe enough to my hostel, really annoyed at myself. So if you see a Peruvian guy called Victor you know what to do to him...
The next day went a whole lot better, once I found out were to board my bus. I was sitting by this nice guy Rudolfo, and we had a good chat on the way. The problem was that we got a flat tire, so we were over an hour late. But it wasn't too bad in the bus, as they played some movies (including Bruce Poderoso, or Bruce Almighty in English) so they trip wasn't too bad, and there weren't any chickens sitting beside me, or even on the bus! By the time we arrived at the bus station I was getting abit worried, as I had sorted out with Anthony the night before over the phone when I'd arrive- and I was 1.5 hours late. So i got out the bus, and when I didn't find him in the first two minutes started to think of what I would need to do if I couldn't find him (why I didn't get a cellphone number I don't know) anyway, after about 10 minutes I saw him, and everything worked out all right. But suprisingly they had dropped me off at the wrong station (instead of the one across the road) and Anthony was just checking across there just in case. So I arrived, shattered, stopped by at the Greens place before going to my accomadation (down the road with Anthony's brother-in-law and his family- another familia Bacán) so I slept very well that night... If you made it through this post, all power to you- as you can probably see it somewhat served the purpose of letting me get some things off my chest!
Tune in soon for the lowdown on times in Arequipa.
Nos Vemos,

Nathan

see below, as I've kinda just done a double post...

The time just before my trip to Arequipa...

2006-12-28T20:52:00.000-03:00

For the Record: Im in Arequipa, all safe, and loving it...

Disclaimer: as I'm writing this on my laptop (not connected to the internet) I'll probably miss some stuff (as well I've got alot to cover), so, anyway, here it goes:

The last week or so of my time in Santiago was one of mixed feelings, Feelings of excitement about the next step, and feelings of sadness for having to leave all my friends. Also, sorting out my stuff was a mission and a half- my bag is only so big - so I had to give some things away (they had asked at Becka's church for some clothes for the people in Renca, a poor comuna in Santiago, so that worked out well) and I left some things with a family from church.
Because I was such a busy boy the last few weeks of my time there I'll write about some of the highlights:
Viña del Mar was good times, just chilling at the beach and stuff, having a mean as Asado at Silvia's place with the crew. Also that weekend was Ashlee's goodbye party with heaps of Ice-cream and old school Michael Jackson. Also afterwards some of us headed off to Suecia for a night out.
That last week of school was very chilled out, I only helped with a swimming class, and picking up Pizza for some classes. But the rest of the time was on the net, mucking around in the staff room etc.James left for England for Christmas (lucky $@$">#$@$ hahaha) which left me as the only Gappy, and the last two days of the week without the kids was very relaxed. We even went for abit of a tour around the city with Daisy, the Spanish teacher. We saw the central squares, a museum about the history of the city, and we got to watch/hear the cannon get fired on Santa Lucia (a really beautiful park/hill/castley thing) from the inside of the tower. And I tell you; it was a full on explosion. Funnily the cartridge they use now is a whole lot smaller than what they used in the past, so now it's only heard in the central city, instead of the whole of Santiago. You could say that the guy who fires the cannon is a bit of a local celeb, and he has a important job as all the churches ring their bells after hearing it (he's kinda like the character "Admiral Boom" from Mary Poppins if you remember him- I definitely shouldn't- It's funny how often I betray my image by letting out a reference to a musical or a kids movie, hahaha.)
After the tour we had the end of year party for Upper Prep (classes for 8-12 yr.olds) at one of the teachers houses. It was cool to be able to relax and be in a more social setting. They were all like 'we're losing one of the gappys who actually did something..." but I’ll definitely pass by the school for a visit on my way back through (and get a free lunch...) they're all a good laugh, good people.
That night was the Christmas service with Church, which consisted of singing, items by some of the church, and a great message by Omar. Afterwards was a feed and a chat with the people, fun times.
Saturday was Touch finals day, starting at 1.30 in the afternoon with us playing one of the other 'bottom of the table finishing teams', the mighty T-Birds. We were missing a few people, so we only had a girls sub. But the other team was missing a few so they couldn't even field a full team. So we only played a half instead, because the winner (us) had to play the Anzacs at around 3ish. So we played them as well, and played a fairly good game I believe. Unfortunately I didn't score any tries but I set up two and had some good runs.
After that we sat around and watched the other games, culminating with the final, which was won by Speed. It was a fun season but It was frustrating as well because we were lacking a guru/on the field leader to direct the play, so I didn't get the chance to run from depth that often. But I set up heaps of tries for our wingers, and I've found out that people only buy the dummies and tricks if there's someone following you up...
That night was the award ceremony and I knew I was up for one award (new male player of the season) and that there was gonna be some eats/drinks so I went along (and to catch up with mates before going of course). 'chino' had taken a whole lot of photos during the day, and unfortunately he caught me in action and, as he had told me earlier in the day, all the photos had me running in majestic glory with some tongue action, which was a good laugh for all. I didn't win the New Player award (Ben did, he's a legend) and Leen from my team won the new girl player of the season (well deserved). But, I did win something; you could call it an award that rewards different talent- 'the most touchable award' I'm sure you get it... I was nominated along with John (another legend, good guy) and someone else who didn't go to the podium, but anyway, that was a pleasant surprise hahaha. I'll definitely miss the crew from touch, good people.
Sunday went well too, the service was fairly normalish, but afterwards they surprised me by having a special thing for me, saying goodbye, which was really awesome of them. I would have gone all emotional but they were making me smile too much about other things. I really appreciate all that they did for me in Chile, how patience they were with me with my Spanish, and their hospitality. So, I left Santiago with mixed emotions as I mentioned before, not sure if I was ready for another uprooting of all my foundations once again (definite dejavoo action happening) all ready for my trip (via La Serena, Iquique, Arica in Chile (all beach cities) and Tacna in Peru) With all my stuff stuffed into my bags. I was thinking how weird it was that I'd been there for 6 months, but wasn't at all a seasoned traveller in regards to finding accommodation etc. but as you'll find out in the next edition things went all right, well , kinda.

no me gusta a decir 'Adios'...

2006-12-14T13:03:00.000-03:00

You won't belive this, but tomorrow is my 6 month anniversary in Chile- And it feels as if i'm leaving home once again (but without the guaranty of returning for a substancial time) and everyone is like "so are you coming back? when?" I could see it happen somehow, but it's easy to say that in the emotional state that is leaving heaps of mates somewhere, and change is one of the hardest things on the planet I believe... and I guess we'll see how my time goes in Peru, and what happens in the next few months. But, for the record, I will probably arrive back home around the middle of July or something- And definetly back before the world cup.

Viña del mar was mint last weekend. Just chilling etc all day.
Things have been quite full on lately, mainly just trying to fit good ops to say goodbye to people. Work finishes up tommorow and there's a Christmasy service with church, saturday I've got touch rugby finals, and Sunday the usual with Church.

On the name front the current leader is Diego, there's abit of a story about it actually (and I liked it before too):
I was in this 'Discoteque'and this girl asked me my name, and I told her 'nathan' and she didn't get it (it was quite load in there) so I said 'n-a-t-h-a-n' but 'natan'is easier to say. But she still didn't get it, so I told her 'Diego' instead, which got her laughing, and then she told her friend beside her and then I told her my my name- and she got it first time... But the weird looks I got from that was classic. And some mates have told me I have a face that could pass as a Diego. BUT there are still 8 days to choose before I get to Peru...

And, por fin, here's some photos:
Me with Pablo and James at Ashlee's goodbye thing (more red eye action)
Sebastien, Ashlee, and Humberto
The only photos I took of the wedding were of the building (see the previous blog for an explianation)
Last YG of the year, some of the crew (a few had left by that stage, and some didn't make it-busy times with exams and such)
On San Cristobal for a multi denominational prayer meeting (it was the bomb)
Classic photo of Borquez (Francisco) and Becka
Borquez, (I forgot this ones name), Xaviera and Pablo at a BBQ at Silvia's place

Alright, so probably the next time i'll write will be on the road or in Arequipa!!!

Chao Chao,

Nathan

My name is...

2006-12-06T12:39:00.000-03:00

Today I'll break away from the normal blog, because I have a problem I need your help with; I need a spanish name.
You may wonder 'why has it taken him so long to figure this out?' or 'I thought his name is Natán' However, I have decided that I need a Latino name-Even though Natán is officialy it (but no-one esle is called this, it's like if I was called Abinidab or some other non-used biblical name) people have a puzzled look when I tell them Natán is my name in Spanish name, I normally get a look as if (that's not even a name)
So, in the great tradition of asian immigrants who come to New Zealand, I'm going to pick a name I like and that people can pronouce.
This is where you, the people come in. I could very easily pick a name that I think is cool but everyone else could think 'you are so not a Raimundo' for example.
So, If you'd like, join me in this journey, help my friends on the ground here, search the net, buy me chocolates and so on and so forth.
The following are some of the prerequisites for my possible name:

Not too common i.e not Juan, Pablo and ideally doesn't sound to much like it's english equiliant (if there is one)
Not too uncommon
One that fits my personality somehow (if that can be graded)
It has to make people go 'ooohh' what a mint-funky-sexy latino name...

So here are a few possibilites, tell me what you think:

Rodrigo
Vicente
Francisco
Diego
Gonzalo
Hilario
Ricardo
Raul
And I don't think i'll be the following
Modesto (lit. sober, moderate haha)
Fidel (cuban stlyes)
Fabio
Tupac (a Quechua name)

Give me some feedback por fa, Rodrigo is the early favorite (as this last weekend I told them my problem and Rodrigo was throw around, and it stuck when they remembered to call me it for the rest of the day) but i've probably forgotten some other great candidates.

The main reason for this is whenever I have forms etc. filled out, whenever I meet new people difficulties arise soley due to my name being difficult. So after chatting to some friends I have decided to do this. So my aim isto have a name before I reach Peru, so I can start my time there with a clear fresh plate)

Alright, look after yourselves, and each other

Nathan

The wedding and more...

2006-12-04T15:10:00.000-03:00

Well, I promised heaps of photos from this but, ummm... once again I failed to deliver - But with reason: No other randoms were taking photos! So, as not to draw attention to myself, I refreined. But I took some mean photos of the outside of the building...

Mean aye! Anyway, it was definitly a good experiance. And it ended at a fairly resonable hour (despite what i'd heard of such events) like at 4ish. So I got an early night.
So things started of at the church with a service. It was with a priest and that which kept things interesting for me, and I was completly lost when there were phrases that everyone said at the same time, but I could kinda sing-a-long to this 'alleuia' chant thing...
Then it was off to the reception, which started off with some 'nibbles', drinks etc. then the full on dinner.
So, yeah, things went like that for a while. I was fourtunate enough to be on a cool table, actually sitting by some who had just recently came back from NZ which was fun. And some others spoke english as well. It's mad, like at these kind of events when I meet people, It's so often that I'll have s conversation in english... It's a welcome break for me, and it's practice for them I guess. But sometimes it's frustrating because they don't give you a chance to show off your language skills (i'm nearly always a cronic slow starter, esp. in noisy situation) ooops, a bit of a hijack: back to the subject...
And eventually the dance floor opened up and through the night the music ranged from a walsey thing to start of with to Reggaeton near the end. But, for the record, I didn't really sample much action out there (i'll blame the shape of the floor coupled with the lack of 'opertunities' haha)
But yeah, that was a fun experiance for sure.
Other highlights of the last little while:
Visiting a property to the South of Santiago with the Moyas to pop by and see what the Valenzuelas were building there (it's gonna be like a place for weekend trips, maybe abit of a little building there, muy Bácan)
Chilling with Alex and Phil and the crew while they were popping by before going back to South Africa
Going to this inter-denominational prayer meeting on San Cristobal, which a killer view of the city and a great bunch of people
Winning our first game in touch against James and the girls team (we've drawn twice with really good teams, and been close so many times, so were still in the running for a spot in the 5-8 playoffs) and we've got one more game to go before finals day.
Visiting families from church and having a good chat about stuff, playing fútbol on the playstation, watching el ultimato pasejero (the ultimate passenger) with Katalina yesterday (reality tv has alot to answer for, doesn't it. In EUP the aim is to get heaps of kids from your school on a bus by doing all these crazy tasks etc... my personal favorite is when they pick a guy and a girl from a team and get them to reinact a kiss from a movie... so they had to do catwoman licking batmans face... last week a mate of mine went to watch some kids from his school and this kid had to lick all the chocolate from a girls face, but he only used the tip of his tongue (he was this fat kid, scarred for life I bet, pobrecito ); )
and to cap things off I would put some photos, but blogger isn't letting me at this momment...
Chao Chao,

Nathan

Coming soon: The Wedding

2006-11-24T10:15:00.000-03:00

Hola Muchachos,

Just thought I'd give you all a little update about what gonna be happening this weekend: I'm going to Omar and Consuelo's wedding- and I can tell it's gonna be GOING OFF!!!!!
So, yeah it's tonight (Friday) starting at 9 with the service, afterwards there's some eats, drinks etc, then dancing until dawn: which I have prepared for impeccably with the dance classes I've taken (I've only had three, but one was really hard out so I didn't learn much, the other two were basic)- watch out Chicas, el maestro de bailar esta aqui, preperan para una experiencia muy distinto y muy soprendente! te estoy tomando el pelo- enserio!
anyway, it should be fun. I'll keep you posted on what happens, and i'll take some photos tambien.

One bad thing about this weekend is that I won't be able to watch the rugby! I was able to watch both games Vs. France but for some reason, the good people at ESPN+ don't have it on.
Taking about rugby, Touch has been fun this season, even though we haven't won yet. We've drawn twice against two top 4 teams, and we've been unlucky. And I've been scoring some ripper tries... but it's real hard for me to get the ball at pace/with depth so that hasn't helped my scoring chances. But it's a good crowd there, i've got heaps of mates on the other teams, which makes it a good laugh.

Oh, I better go, I've got to help with a swimming lesson like now,

Chao Chao,

Nathan

Mendoza, part 2

2006-11-20T13:10:00.000-03:00

*see the previous post for the first part of the Mendoza story*

So, James and myself fancied a night out Argy style, so we wandered around town for a while, but the only thing we could find were pubs (There were a a few English and Irish pubs, believe it or not- I guess it's like us going to a Mexican place in NZ). So, after our fruitless search we asked someone where everything was happening. 'omero is the place' he said/ so we took a taxi out of the town and subsequently arrived at omero and it was completely empty/not even open. But we thought we had hit the jackpot because there was this huge as party or something down the road-but unfourtunatly you had to be 21 to enter... so we just chilled in the central city, to get a feel for the place (from then on the saturday night was the target, so we keep asking people where to go etc.)
The next day we walked all over the town, I bought a big as Argentina flag as a momento and we ate too much good food. Alos we caught the All Blacks game at the Hotel we were staying at (go the AB's).
So, after another steak for the upteenth time, we followed a road on which there was supposed to be some happening places (we were told of one place but it was like 18km out of the city...
So, after a mammoth walk, we encountered a place, and walked in to find hardly any people and dining furniture all over the room. And it was already 12:30 at this stage. So we just chilled and waited for the place to liven up. While we were waiting a live band started playing, and the lead singer was trying to sing some songs in English - he wasn't that bad, but his adaption/interpretation of Bob Sinclar's (no relation, actually it's a stage name of sorts) ''Love Generation" which was hilarious.
Eventually, at around 1:30ish, the staff started to clear up the tables, and then people started pouring in. So in the spirit of the occasion we got dancing.
From what we had heard, girls in Argentina don't act in the same way as those in Chile. In Chile myself and James would be approched by girls, kinda flipping the natural order of things. I guess girls in Argentina have a bit of a sense of decency.
That is what we were supposing but then, out of the blue, we met some girls kinda the chilean way- a pleasant suprise to say the least. So James was with this girl and I was with two (That makes me sound real bad doesn't it, they were friends and it didn't seem to phase them, you could say they had shifts-I can't think of a wholesome sounding desciption for something that was, despite the words "with two" hahaha, why am I putting this in my blog...it was all above board I tell you) and I got to show off some of my salsa moves and some reggaeton as well. But probably the best thing was asking if they wanted to met up the next day for an icecream and have a walk around the city (I was well pleased with myself when I pulled that off)
WE first thought that Argies didn't dance well, because they were rubbish with the first few songs. But then the DJ put on some songs with latin flavour then the place went of- they all were really skillful and that's what they're all about (only a few were practicing the dark arts of 'bailando suico' ) so, yeah I fit (sic) in well.

Sunday morning was a mission and a half! We needed to leave our room at the hotel by 10 in the morning, but we only got back by 6.30, with nothing packed. But we somehow made it on time, had something to eat, walked around town (extremely quite, I guess everyone was asleep) and chilled in the park 'till our rendevous with the girls.

At 4 on the dot they arrived (punctual, I was impressed) and took us to this park up the hill. This park was immense; full of people relaxing, eating, playing futbol etc. And after that we went to an ice-cream joint to chill out (it was yet another hot day). It was real cool being able to understand pretty much all that was being said, and I find that once I get into character (starting to sound like an actor, aren't I- stupid comment) my spanish flows relativley well... so after we said chao to them it was as simple as chill around town, have another fabulous steak, grab our stuff, then get on the bus at 11.

We were extremely tired by this stage, and -excluding the stop at customs- slept all the way home. 'luckly' for us we had work a few hours after we arrived... I was stoked with that, to say the least.

So, here's a few photo's of Menodza:
James, Gimena and Mariena at the park up the hill
Chilling at a streetside restaraunt, in the process of eating a mammoth steak
A cool light which, I suppose, is the shield/logo/thingee of the city
A sampling of the delicious cuisine (it is huge in real life, I wish i had a pic for scale) this was a small one however
MENDOZA!!!!! bring it on!!!!
People walking around the central square
In the Andes (Chile side)
In the Andes (Argentina side)

Look after yourselves,

Nathan

Mendoza, part one

2006-11-17T15:35:00.000-03:00

Well, Mendoza surely lived up to it's reputation- A few of our friends upped the place (and the Country, Argentina) real big... It was a pretty full on, action packed weekend so I won't even be able to scratch the surface (and because I'm too lazy to spend all that time)
We nearly didn't even make it to the Bus station to even start the trip, as James needed to get some paperwork that wasn't given to him to even leave the country (and we only found out about it being a problem about 3 hours before our bus left) so to make a long story short, he rushed of and got that, I finished his packing, and we met at the bus station- after an epic treck across town by me with all our gear, and his mad dash to the Policia International.
But we made it with time to spare, thank goodness. The bus trip was epic- 8 hours over the Andes, even though Mendoza is only 380 Kms away. But what a view, and a varied view as well. For some reason the terrain changes markedly when you cross the border. On the Chile side there's like all these cactuses and dry as. But on the Argy side it changes to more of a tussocky, grassy stuff I think was 'la pampa' where Gauchos rome with cows about to be made into brilliant cheap steaks (ahhh).
So, we eventually arrived at Mendoza, at around 10ish in the night- perfect for Argentina- so we quickly found a hotel, then went off to buy some legendary Arg. Steak. Even by this time the streets were still extremly busy with Old people, families with little kids, and young people wandering around, eating out... it was such a great vibe around the city. The tempreture was warm, the occupants of the city were as beautiful as we had been told (There's good looking people all over the world, but there the ratio was ridiculous) so we were two happy guys chilling at a restaraunt eating a divine steak that could feed a whole family (no joke, like plate size, folded so they could fit some chips). But all this 'good' food doesn't seem to affect the locals, one of the security guys at work says it because of all the local tea (mate- pronounced mar-te or something like that) that people imbibe.
After that great meal we set off for a night out in the town...
to be cont.
tune in for the rest of the trip details, and some photo's in the next edition (coming soon...)

¿Bailando Sucio?

2006-11-08T10:59:00.000-03:00

Hola Chicos,
This last week I've opened myself up to a more cultured side of life that, despite my comments before I left home, has taken me far to long to start up in my time here: I'm taking some dance classes!
Before I came here I told some people that ''I'll have to take some dance classes- get into the culture etc...'' and Ashlee asked me last week if I wanted to go to Salsa class with her. Stereotypes of salsa as 'dirty dancing' rushed around my head but I thought 'why not give it a try'
So, on Thursday last week I went... And had a brilliant time. Despite my fears I haven't received the 'bad dancing gene' from my Dad (but I'm probably a carrier) and I'm not the next MC Hammer, Fred Astaire, or shakier ( I've got a lot of work to (sic) do on my hips.)
The thing I found the hardest to pick up was changing were my body weight was resting so I could do the steps.
Salsa is based around a 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 count, with every count being a complete change of feet or a pause... I have no idea how to describe how to dance in writing, so, I'll just tell you about the more interesting stuff instead.
Anyway, it was good times. It took me a good 10 minutes to get the right rhythm with the steps, and after learning one move and getting it down (with the lady I was dancing with, she was maybe in her 50's or something) then the teacher would come up with something else for us to learn.
So, all in all, a good night. Hopefully I've learnt enough (and what I'll learn in subsequent lessons) so when opportunities arise I can make the most of them.
So yeah, I have had another lesson this week, and for a bit cheaper and a smaller class size- Ashlee, Alison, Martin (a flatmate of Alison's), me and another flatmate as the teacher (they live at the dancing school pretty much)

That's it for me today. Tomorrow I'm off to Mendoza with James from work (another Gappy) as he needs to renew his visa- Should be good times, I've heard so many good things about Argentina... I'll give you all the low down, and some photos of some stuff next episode.

Life at the Grange and other stuff

2006-11-03T09:11:00.000-03:00

Hola locos,

OK, I've been working at this school here (The Grange) for just over a month now, and I haven't really been able to tell you all about it (despite saying I would a few posts ago).
Work here for me consists of... Hey why don't I talk you through a fictional typical day!
So, I get up (far too early for my liking- like 7 in the morning-after a late night) have some breakfast, then head off, onto the Metro to School; a trip of about 25 minutes mas o menos. I walk into the rather posh school grounds, look at my time table, and lo and behold I see that I have a class with some grade 5's (about 10-11 I suppose) helping them with maths. So I head off to the class, sit beside one of the slower kids, and help them focus and figure out what the heck they are supposed to do.
So after 40 minutes of that I take three girls from grade 6 (about 11,12)to the library to work on their maths. The first classes with this lot was a bit of a mission/giggle fest, but they've learnt that Yes, you can't laugh the whole time and get nothing done, but I'm not a kill joy either. The libarians seem to be happy with how we're going today, they're all fairly quiet- until one of them asks me 'what is an isoceles triangle' which is something I know I learnt back in the day, so, in a flash of brilliance I asked 'what do you do when you don't know something?', 'you look it up in a book!' . Anyway, I think she clicked that I had completely fogotten- but who cares! It was a great learning experience!
Then I went to the Upper Prep staff room (it's got a way better vibe than the lower prep- I guess it's the 'kindergarten teacher' vibe that many of the teachers have) to grab a coffee and check my email.
So, next up I had a class in first prep (the little ones) and the teacher had a little bit of reading for me to do with them, then a load of cutting out and laminating (sometimes when I'm sitting in the staff room cutting out cards, glueing things together, making cards from stuff the kids have wrote- so much so that I feel as if I am, with lack for a better phrase, 'emasculating myself' for the sake of the school.
So, after that ordeal, it's off to lunch- and I mean lunch. A full on canteen lunch,
Sometimes it's pretty shoddy, but in general it's fine canteen cuisine. Today, some mean kebabs, rice stuff and more...
After this it's off to help with P.E. Because it's book week (and near Halloween) the kids (and teachers) have all dressed up as characters from books (I didn't know that Darth Vader, Indiana Jones and Ronaldinio featured in books, learn something new every day I guess).
So with the first class (about 6 years old) we played some kinda octopus game... Captain Jack Sparrow has some great skills of evasion, as does Indiana Jones.
The next classes played 'protect the cones from being smashed over with squishy balls' (for short) which was a riot. I played on one team and James played on the other... and, of course my team won both times... brrooohahahaha.
After the class I made the mistake of doing some fake Kung Fu to a kid who was dressed as a Ninja. Unfortunately the kid just said 'not funny' but another kid thought it was hilarious, so he unleashed a furious super combo of punches, mainly below the belt- Memo to self: Don't do fake Kung Fu fighting around 6 years ever again
The next slot was cruisy, I arrived and the teacher said 'I have nothing for you to do...' so, off to the staff room to surf the net.... then off to another class, More Maths- at least it wasn't geometry.
So, that was my fictional day... Actually all that stuff happened at different occasions- so you could call it 'historical fiction' (if you get confused in what I've wrote it's probably because I had no idea what tense to right it in...)
So, that's how a normalish day here goes, luckly for me I'm going on some more field trips next week (i've been to a park and a museum already)- twice to a vineyard (how cool is that for a trip) and back to the museum again... should be good times- It was such a misson keeping the kids behaved on the Metro, some had never been on it before (or had only been on the subways in London, NY and Madrid!! Hahahaha, it's crazy teaching the uppercrust, and as you'd expect (sic) I fit in very well, due to my good breeding and social circles back home.

I'll put up some photos soon, look after yourselves.

Nathan

Colo Colo Vs. Gimnasia

2006-10-27T15:20:00.000-03:00

Hola Compadres,

well, as mentioned previously, I went to a BIG futbÃ³l game last week.
Colo Colo ( a huge club here, the best and most popular team at the moment- very much a working class team, a team of the people) verses a team from La Plata, Argentina.
So, we (James, Helen and I) went to the ground to buy some tickets. It was anexperiencee in itself buying them; The stadium is kinda in 'the hood' and before and after we bought the tickets some local kids were trying to get some easy money I suppose, which made thing interesting. One kid in particular was pretty cool. Hetriedd to sell me a dirty Colo Colo cloth thing but I didn't have enough change on me (I couldn't just walk by, you could tell that he reallywass in need-I'm too soft for all this kinda stuff) and on theway back hetriedd to sell me this massive Colo Colo flag like the size of a sheet! So I told him no thanks, I don't have enough cash on me, and I don't need a sheet for my bed, but gave him the little bit of change I had: He impressed me with his perserverance... good times...
So, with that kind of first impression, we made ourselves ready for the game. When we bought the tickets we weren't in any sort of disguise- We must've stood out a mile. All of us have lightish hair (for perspective, mine is the darkest- and Helen's is like real blond) so we made sure we wore hoodies so, if needed, we could fit into the crowd fairly well.
So, at around 8.30ish we made our way to the ground. And we encountered no hassling at all- I guess because it was dark... So we pretty easily found our stand (a good stand, and it was well worth it- The cheap stands are pretty wild I'll tell you more later) but the seats were pretty full, so we sat on the steps; right in the middle of the stand, pretty much at half way.
The atmosphere was brilliant,across to the side we could see the cheap stand packed out with crazy fans: Singing about a hundred different songs, with the drums and everything, jumping up and down at times- the place was buzzing! Across on the other side of the ground there was the stand for Gimnasia fans. The stand was nuts; completely surrounded by a huge fence (as the whole ground was, butthiss was heaps higher) and just a smattering of very brave people with banners.
James (ah huge futbÃ³l fan) was in heaven- and the game hadn't even started yet...
The players came out through one of those tube things for protection and the crowerupteded-Literally; there were these people in the crowd firing full on flares, everyone jumping up and down singing the Colo Colo song.
So the game got started, A very free flowing game..You could see that Colo Colo had the edge by far. The crowd reactions where so good There was an audible 'oooh' every closish goal, and ther was this old guy beside me who was saying '**** tu Madre' every minute- to the ref, to the opposition and with many variations of ****... even one of the songs had that as a line (I shouldn't laugh but it was rilarious).
The score was 1-1 by half time. Colo Colo's goal was by their sensational mid fielder Matias Fernandez(who has just been sigbed by a club in Spain) and every time he touched the ball you'ld here people shouting 'Mati'- the guy is class (and only like 20 or 21). I was well impressed with Alexis Sanchez, he's like only 17 and has speed and skills to burn, he's going to play in Italy next year I think.
In the second half the striker scored 3 mean as goals. Suazo is all class as well...
So, in the end, it was a walk over for Colo Colo (but only the first leg, they played them in Arg. last night and won 2-0)
But the game ended in contreversy: Some idiot in the crowd threw a bit of the staduim they kkicked off at an opposing player! So the game was called off at that point (it was near the end anyway). Unbelievable... It was pretty funny the next few days, whenever I told someone I went, they were like 'it was you!' they still ahven't found out who did it.
After the game we planned to take a Taxi back, but unfourtunalty every taxi we bumped into was booked or something... so we walked for 2 hours trying to find one- and eventually we did (just in time, we were pretty wasted by that point)... Next time (We have to go to the semi) we'll have to plan that better... or go with friends with a car.

So that was my first FutbÃ³l eperiance in S.A... good times, may it not be the last!

Chao Chao, catch you all later

Nathan

Un Fin de semana grande

2006-10-17T11:31:00.000-03:00

Well to move on where I left of with my last post- I went to the doctor last Thursday and the diagnosis was: Take antibiotics, take an anti-flu drug, don't play sport and 'don't do anything extreme':
Friday at school was great (the weather was terrible by the way, the most rain in october for one day on record supposedly) It was 'dia del profesors' so we got the second half of the day off. The plan was to go to Parque Araco to see some of Faishon week (of all things) but first to have sushi close by.
Well sushi was good times, Sergio (a friend of ours) is such a funny guy, Phil and Alex were there and so were Helen and James- The other gappies at the grange now.
So we caught a cab to the Mall but the show was rained out (awwww... I was looking forward to some freebies) so we just went around the shops for a while. I tell ou this mall is hugemongous, totally 'gringolandia' . As well there was a stand in one part with people getting their hair done, so being the inqusitive types we found out that it was a competition with Sedal, a hair products company. All they were doing was washing, applying differnet stuff and making peoples hair look fabulous for a photo. Helen was the first to give it a go, James didn't want someone to touch his hair (chicken) so I went boldly were few men have gone before and entered as well. I asked how many guys had enterd the competion and they said that on average only one would enter every day (talk about good odds) and the prize is a years supply of their stuff, fame, fourtune...
anyway, that was kinda fun.
Friday night was also Phil and Alex's farewell party, at Sergio's place. Good times, It was cool to be able to catch up with some of their mates and stuff. So, following doctors orders, I left at around 1.30. That's not extreme is it?
Saturday was good times. First up I went to the grange to watch the first 15 play the Old boys second team. Unfourtuantly some of the 1st 15 weren't playing because of dicipline issues so they were missing some of their big forwards (there still was this beast of a guy I see at the gym all the time) so they were soundly thrashed 50ish to 10ish. It seems as if you don't need to be that big to play rugby here, I was talking to John about it (John was at the party on fri, and was playing for Old boys) and they have forwards at around 80 something kilo's. So maybe if I come back I should bulk up a little, then I could even be a flanker here (they don't have many tallish people here) haha, maybe maybe.
After that I got a call from Omar asking if I wanted to play futbòl that afternoon. Of course I'm always up for a run around and completly forgot about the doctors orders... But when I go thteir I told them my mistake so I played golie instead.
As well I got to met Jonathan, a guy from the states, who's visiting them for a few weeks to pratice english with them and be an encouragement.
Also to my suprise it wasn't the usual futból game- heaps of people turned up as it was Valentina's birthday, so it was a far bigger event. And we had completo's after the game (yes!!!). But, alas I had to leave early for the next event on my social calendar.
Sammy and Fern Lago were having their birthday at their cousins place up in Los Dominigos, Las Condes. So I rushed from the Futból and got home in time for a quick change then met up with Timo and his brother to catch a micro to the party. We kinda gave ourselves to much time, as we arrived at the party about 15min early (in Chile time I think we were more like at least 45 before, your supposed to arrive after the stated time). You could say that the house impressed me very early, we talked thought the gate intercom, then the driveway gate opened up to reveal a long tree lined driveway. Anyway so it turned out that we arrived before even the Birthday boy and girl.
But it was all good, Fransica (I think that is her name, I have even worse name memory than back home, and back home it's abysmal) showed us into a lounge/dining room, with quite a high stud. Off to the side was some stairs up to a kind of mezzanine floor with a pool table, a small bar and an attached music room (all decked out with piano, drums, quite a few guitars and lots of sheet music. So we chilled and played pool until other guests eventually arrived.
For the birthday boy I bought some 'wax' for his hair. (Wax is impossible to get her and Sam needed some more control of his ever lengthening hair. But the wax I got him is like this white fluidy stuff- definitely not the good stuff- and it's all Iíve been able to use since mine ran out) which was well appreciated.
So, by this stage all I knew was that the house was kinda big, but I was only in one of the wings. So after playing abit of pool, playing some piano, having a chat with some of the crew and having some eats Katie gave me a tour round the house. Katie is both cousins of Sammy and the homeowners and studying Interior Design at Uni, so she was the perfect tour guide. I can't write about how the walk through went but their place includes: Good sizes bedrooms on the other side of the house, good as kitchen, library, TV room, A good sized lawn, a gym, tennis court, pool, and the house had this brilliant 'huge country house with mod cons' vibe. I kinda felt like I was on MTV's "Cribs" or something. I've never been in such a house before (That doesn't say much come to think about it, I'll better stop rabbiting on).
Soon after we got back to the party's proceedings some of us started having a sing around the piano. Mark was playing the chords of heaps of songs that we found in some song books; everything from The Backstreet boys, Abba, Stuff from quite a few musicals, amongst others. It was definitely 'good times'. So we chilled, sang, ate, chatted until about 2 (another perfect example of not being extreme, esp. because it was daylight savings as well I was informed by Ashlee just before we left).
I really enjoy hanging around with this lot. And fortunately the Barretts (Jase, Mely and Katie) had brought their 4wd so we pilled in- Timo, his bro (see I can't remember names) and me in the back, with the Gringas getting a ride as well in the cab (in total we fit like 10 people I guess-sheesh- Don't worry Dad, it was perfectly safe and it saved me having to pay for a mammoth taxi ride).
After church on Sunday I visited some family friends of the Ramos family. Their daughter Lorena is going to NZ in late December for a few months before going to Uni next year. They were really cool, so we had abit of a chat about what kind of things to look out for, but it was mainly so I could touch base with them and hopefully be able to find some possible contacts.
Well, I was tired as after all that. As you can see I followed the doctors orders perfectly... A very non-extreme, non sporty weekend if you will.
Hopefully your not finding my last few blogs to long winded- It's hard to be able to write these up in a manner were you get the inside info of what's up, but also not get bogged down with details. If anyone has any good ideas on this please throw me an email or something- I want to give the people what they want. I should probably have a glossary of terms as well (some other time)
Proxima capitulo: Some more about the peeps/experiances at the grange, A Futból game of epic preportions, and more excessively detailed posts.
Chao Chao,
Nathan

and here are some photos:

Ashlee on some drums

Me sitting at the bar

Feliz Cumpleaños...

Sam, playing some pool

Katie chilling behind the bar

The Mirralles family

Temuco (te-moo-co)

2006-10-15T19:55:00.000-03:00

Well, Congreso was a fantastic time... Good people, good talks, good weather for some of it, good practice- all good (except for a few things i'll get to)
We left Friday night, at around 10:30, for a huge trip of about 10 hours... a good trip, good seats. I had a good chat to David until lights out, and then tried to get some sleep. By the time the sun got up the scenery had changed heaps; it was kinda like the Waikato with out the cows (I have no idea what they do with the land, maybe the cows have homes with all the mod cons...) so we eventually arrived at around 6.30 in Temuco very chilly (funny aye).
Took the local buses to the venue, an Anglican school for the deaf. They weren't originally planning to have it there: they had another school all lined up but for some reason they were told two days before that they had to find somewhere else. The only problem was that there wasn't really enough space for us in the rooms, as you will see in the picture, think marae style with a Latin twist and you would be right. As well most people forgot/weren't told that they needed to bring plates etc. so whoever was doing the dishes had to work during the meal so everyone could eat (quite a mission). Apart from that, all good.
Of course we were all pretty tired but at least for me the newness of the experience jolted me awake. The daily schedule consisted of two workshops, a talk thing, a study with people of the same first letter in their name (Nicolas x3 and Natalia x3 except for me duh!) and singing etc, in the main hall. I choose the Secundo Timoteo workshop, with the Youth Pastor from Viña as the speaker. I mainly choose it because Becka, Rachel and Jason wanted to go to it as well (I didn't really want to be all alone, in a little group, trying to contribute-I'm not up for that yet) And I knew that Eduardo was a good communicator. So that went real good, We started of each one with a little study kinda thing in little groups, then Eduardo would talk about what we had covered and more... It was cool to be able to understand some of what he was saying, but always with bits that lost me (I'm getting there... patience boy...). It was especially cool to understand his jokes and stories- Good times.
Unfortunately Congreso wasn't as big this year as normal-Mainly because alot of youth groups in Santiago didn't have a big showing. Me parece ellos estuveron un poco flojo! The biggest crew was from Viña by far (two huge buses full of them in fact). As well before I continue with my account Youth groups here don't stop at high school, they're more 15-plus up to early twenties thing (quite cool actually come to think about it).Even though the numbers were down it was brilliant. I found most people good to talk to with my stilted Spanish, but I still feel awkward initiating a conversation, not wanting to be a burden you know. The most frustrating thing was understanding them but not being able to put together a coherent answer (I’ll stop moaning now, there we go- that's better)
Believe it or not, I met some fellow kiwis there as well: Cameron and Rachel. They’re both here with their family, been here for 6 months so far, going to school etc. and they're from Nelson as well. I had a few chats with them and with Cameron's mates- good guys, and they were all used to speaking to an extranjero like me. So if I go to Concepcion I'll have to look them up definitely.
It was especially cool to be there with Becka, Ashlee and Rachel (The gringas) and my bilingual friends of Provi to keep me sane. They're all great fun to hang out with, and serious Christians (theological discussions anyone?) - I need some positive peer pressure now and then (ok... always). Becka was keeping us all updated about her husband hunting which was hilarious.
Another fun thing came from a comment I made about what I like to call 'Indiscriminate Hugging' (people giving others hugs with alot of affection- in a somewhat random way...like mentally linking someone being 'with' that person (these indiscriminate hugs were mainly between a chica and a chico) but lo and behold the next time you see them you see them with someone else, it's kinda hard to describe. Anyway this eventually led to some of the highlights of the week. I said that I wanted to get in on the act, so, with the others watching I approached a few random guys, walked up and gave them a hug. The best one was when I went up to one guy and said "donde esta el amor" -definitely the wrong thing to say! It translates roughly to 'where is the love' but in Spanish it's a whole lot stronger and kinda gay. The dude’s reaction was priceless: He backed off with a very scared look on his face, then I told him it was only a joke and pointed to the others with my camera. He then relaxed and I indiscriminately gave him a hug.
That's one of the cool things with my Spanish; I can get away with a whole lot. Like when we were playing games I'd sometimes make random comments like 'amazing' 'marvellous' etc. or stuff like 'rock on Muchacho's' (muchacho is like saying chaps or dudes or something).
You may recall I visited an Australian family when I arrived. Anyway Michael Charles was there as a speaker, speaking about some verses in Romans about not giving up on the gospel, not changing it etc. I found his talk quite easy to understand, probably because I’m fairly familiar with the verses he used.
So on Monday night we left, we had abit of spare time before we left so we went to a food court in a mall and looked around a real old Anglican church there (so I only saw those places, a school for the deaf and the bus station: With only the official Congreso T-shirt as a momento. Maybe next time I'll be able to see more. So we arrived back completely wasted... I was feeling pretty bad, a cough and nose thing.
After that I had to go to work, starting two hours after I arrived. At school I visited the school nurse and the next day she told me that I’d need to see a doctor (my throat was very inflamed, and I'd been sick for a few weeks and couldn't seem to shake it. Unfortunately the doctor was expensive as, like $100 bucks just for the consultation- not the kind of expense that I wanted. But I'm feeling alot better now.
I better stop this post now... I'll be posting my next instalment very soon with more 'wonderful adventures' including: Phil and Alex's farewell party, Sammy and Fern's birthday (In a MASSIVE house up Las Condes way), Futból with some from the church, a visit to one of the malls and my visit with a family.
Look after yourselves, and for you viewing pleasure here are some Photos…
Rachel, Becka, Jason and Sammy having a chat (last day just before the last talk)
Some of the Chicas waiting at the Bus Station in Temuco
Me about to hug the guy in the Puma shirt... too bad I don't have a better one so you can see his reaction!
Me with two of the 'Gringas' Becka on the left and Rachel on the right
Eduardo in action; he always sat in that pose...
Cameron on the right with some of the boys from Concepcion
And finally my touch Jersey on my messy bed...

Good times at the Grange

2006-10-03T14:34:00.000-04:00

Hola mis amigos,
well, times have been good here at 'the grange'. I started officially this week but I came for a few visits last week. So my days are now filled with sitting in classrooms, marking homework, helping with admin stuff, helping with P.E and chilling on the computers when I don't have classes. My day starts at 8.20 (and I have a half hour commute) but it's good to have a bit of continuity in my day. They look after us very well. I get a free lunch (heaven compared to what i've been making for myself- and saves heaps of cash) which is super bueno. Other perks include the washing machine in the flat, internet use, and a gym. Talking about the gym, I went there yesterday with James, the other newish gappie, and the trainer there was real nice and offered to make us a programme. So we went though his assement which was fun, esp. when we did a sit-up execise (after doing it he asked 'how many' and we hadn't counted (he doesn't speak any english- but the word for count is sounds extremly similar so we felt kinda stupid). And best of all I nailed a 60 kg bench press which I felt was pretty good for someone my weight. So i'll try go to the gym a few times a week which would be good, especially in preparation for helping in the swimming pool in about a months and a bit.
Sunday was pretty choice. I visited the Aravena family for lunch/onces- definitly a 'familia bacan'. I feel as if that 'quantum leap' i've been waiting for has come in a few instalments- But i'm pretty happy about how it's been going.
Touch started up last wednesday, and alas, we lost- to last seasons finalists- but we could have nailed them... My D was on song (extremly on song, I night say) but I didn't get into the flow on attack. Our new jerseys are mint, i'll put up a photo some time soonish.
Anyway, not too much else of note has been happening. I'm really looking forward to this coming long weekend- I'm going to congreso with the youth group, about 8 hours south to Temuco. I guess congreso is kinda like a big chile-wide anglican camp or something, so it should be going off! We leave this friday night, arrive at some ungodly hour on saturday, have congreso, then leave on monday for the mammoth bus trip back: should be good times

Nathan

Well, i haven't been tht busy but...

2006-09-28T16:15:00.000-04:00

Hola Hola (this is all stuff that has happened up to last Sunday- I haven't had a chance to put this up...Work at the grange is going good though)
Things have been great here recently; I had a great time in Viña del mar for the long weekend, and I’ve just finished off at my work (good times, pay day is coming soon as well. it’s once a month- far too infrequent in my book- I always seem to have just the right amount money when rent time comes, but I need money to keep me going until payday)
Work should be good fun, but funnily enough ever since putting in my notice work has been really fun; I'll definitely miss my students...sniffle, However it will be cool to work with the kids, get up later, have a steady schedule and not have to stress about getting my students to pass their tests (It can be quite important for them to impress their employers etc.)
Viña del mar was alot of fun- to use the local expression for this holiday there was alot of 'tiqui-tiqui-tí’ (only used for the sept. independence holidays, I think it has to do with la Cueca, a traditional dance)
Well, on Friday afternoon I left the big smoke on a Tur Bus (the buses here are good as: nice seats, good value, alright leg room and Seinfield of all things on the TV) So I arrived, chilled with Silvia, Timo (Silvia's boyfriend recently back in Santiago) and some of their friends from the church there- Walked around the city, ate a monster completo, and both Timo and I stayed at Silvia's family’s place for the night. For Saturday we chilled, had lunch, visited Valpariso with Sam and Francisco, then caught up with more of the peeps from Santiago at a fonda (kind of like a fair, but focused on food, drink etc.) where we ate some mean empanadas and kebab things, tried this traditional grape cider or something (I think it was called chicha), and soaked up the atmosphere- then to the pub for the rest of the evening (and a quick refuel at a muy barato completo joint with a 3 for 1.000 special (three for under $3 NZ, not bad) ahhhh, good times
That night Timo and I stayed with Francisco (a friend from the church there, great guy- we stayed their the rest of the time we were there)
Thankfully, church started at 11 so we had a chance to have a good rest. After church I went with Silvia and Timo to another BBQ with some family friends (have I raved on my blog about how good they are here? great cuts of meat, delicious sausages, amazing Smokey flavour. Good times eating far too much, sitting around digesting... Then church in the evening- a brilliant service, good relaxed vibe (even with the read through service thing). I prayed my first prayer in Spanish in a group, had communion- a wonderful experience.
But wait there's more... the main event, what the whole holiday was about- Dieciocho de Septiembre!!! "Tiqui Tiqui ti” anyway, to get the authentic experience I went with Silvia and Timo to Silvia's extended family do in a town inland. Good times eating more amazing BBQ delights- I was "satisfecho" (satisfied) or in slang "Jennifer" (Jennifer sounds like lleno (pronounced yeno) which means full-not the polite way to say it at all...) Then we went back to Viña to meet up with the others at someone's place, but to my surprise it wasn't just the others; half of Viña piled into the house (I think most of the peeps were from the Anglican church there with a good number of Santiagoans as well (in other words a huge number of randoms). Anyway, so we wanted to go somewhere to 'tiqui tiqui ti"- but there was the crowd who wanted to go clubbing, and then those who wanted something more chilled out- suffice to say we couldn't find a place where everyone was happy, so... to make a long story short about 12ish of us went back to the house and chatted, played games etc until way early in the morning-way to tiqui tiqui ti!
Tuesday afternoon was cool- before going back to Santiago I walked around the city with Francisco, met up with some of the Provi crew at some relatives place for a cuppa, and then saw more of the city with some of them before catching the bus back (busy as roads for the record...)
After that the week went smooth as I mentioned before. Just the usual (touch starts this Wednesday- I'll be getting my shirt as well, bwwwhahaha)
This Saturday I had the chance to go to a party with Jason and Mely which was cool-In a more posh part of town as well (so I fit in well), Up nearer the hills. Good times...
Sunday was a bit of a mission at the start; obviously getting up wasn't as easy, then to make matters worse I arrived and no one was there! So, using my amazing cognitive abilities decided to go back via the pastor's place- maybe they were meeting there... So I walked past, saw a different car there and was just about to go when I saw Omar's sister and Nadia packing gear into the car (Omar, Susana and Daniel are in Argentina or something- so the service was delayed... I guess maybe something was said a few weeks ago but it didn't register Haha. So after church I visited the Moya family again- dare I say good times... I think that I’m getting close to another 'quantum leap' in my Spanish (my speaking has alot of catching up to do). I'm even starting to be able to understand most questions (unlike before) but I often can't put my reply together in a smooth manner (it's getting there, but when I tell my bi-lingual friends they find it hard to believe that I can actually communicate in these situations (I’m at my most stilted when I’m with them: I think it's something psychosomatic- I think they expect amazing things from me, and I come up with the opposite- I wonder what is actually going through their minds... It's probably to do with the fact that I can converse perfectly fine in English, which kinda takes the necessity out of it. Anyway, back to the Moyas- they are a real cool family, I really appreciate their hospitality and love. I even got a lift back with some friends of theirs who were visiting- God is so good to me... So this week I am going to visit the Grange a few days me thinks, and try make this next quantum leap (can I call it that if it takes this long...)
Alrighty, catch you all later. Thanks for the prayers- God Bless

As well, here's some random pics from the trip...
Some cool tug boats in Valparaiso
At Silvia's extended familiy BBQ for the 18th
Some grimey buildings in Valpo
From left: Sam, Silvia, Francisco and Timo
I've never seen a building like that before-very creative
Timo about to attack a monster Completo

Some photos and good news on the job front

2006-09-15T08:40:00.000-04:00

Hola amigos,
good news with the job application- i'm starting the first week of October at The Grange, doing teacher aiding. It doesn't pay as well, but it's a better fit for me, and a good experiance to boot.
alright, here's a few photos

Here's the inside of our new church building...

the view from the front of the building, with Manuel in the middle and in traditional Nathan style I've forgot the other's names

Here's a bad photo of the lights on avenida 11 de septiembre (I live on this street)from my lounge

The Virgin on San Cristobal

I've got classes starting in a few minutes, so that'll be it for now... stay tuned for photos from Viña

Chile con Nathan

2006-09-09T18:26:00.000-04:00

ummm, this infrequent posting has become a bit of a habit... sorry guys.
Stuff has been sweet lately, same old same new stuff, if that makes sense. I've now got plans for the long weekend- I'm going to Viña del mar for the long weekend (this coming weekend is Chile's Independence celebration, lasting from Saturday till Tuesday- and it's gonna be huge) They've even put up special lights on my street like the ones that go up at Christmas in some places, and there's this 'huge koosh ball like light on a stick' directly outside my place.
Anyway, so I'm heading away to Viña with some people from youth group- should be good times. Viña is a beach town/city about an hour and a half from Santiago- yes the ocean finally- I've never been this far away from the sea before, so it'll be real nice to taste the salty air.

On the job front things are looking good- I'm hoping to start working in a teacher aidish role at a school, but I’m still working that one out. And even if it doesn't, work is picking up-I've got the perfect amount of classes, I’m more comfortable with the teaching aspect: But I still would like a change.
My language learning has seemed to plateaued for the last few weeks- but that could just be an illusion. It's probably that I haven't had the same stretching/learning experiences as the last few weeks. But I think I’m doing all right for nearly 3 months regarding the circumstances.
Another cool experience was going to Omar and Consuelo's 'blessing of the rings' ceremony. I guess it's kinda like some special engagement thing. I went with Omar, Waldo and their Mum to Consuelo's family’s place. The gathering consisted of family and friends all packed into their lounge. Then the priest said some special stuff, and we had eats and drinks afterwards. It was real cool to be able to witness such a special time. So I’m definitely looking forward to the wedding in November- should be good times.

That’s about all I can think of for now, This Sunday we are meeting in another building for the first time since we've grown out of the lounge. It's great to see the expansion of the ministry there in such a short time. So I'll take some photos of the new venue, and post some other ones this coming week.

Chao,

Nathan

2006-09-01T08:12:00.000-04:00

Well, sorry for the delay in this latest installment.
Times have been pretty good here lately- Lots has happened, but alot of same old, same old things.
The weather has been pretty choice lately, but the last few days winter has struck us with the end of it's icy tale (it hasn't been that bad).Yesterday was payday (about time) I still need to get some more classes, but i'm doing alright. Some people always cancel there classes which is a pain, Iç rather have them cancel same day, or not show up at all (So I get paid, aren't I a greedy boy)
Touch Rugby is going well, especially this last week-I've just bought some shoes with grip, which has improved my preformance immersurably. We're also getting shirts for our team soon- Orange and Blue for some reason- But they're gonna look pretty flash. I'm not sure if we are getting name on the back, but if we are i'm undecided on what i'll put there. I've got some stupid ideas ranging from Guapo (means gorgeous ha ha, something in spanish is a whole lot cooler, heaps better for when I get home) maybe Turbio (shady, dodgy etc.) or piedras locos (crazy legs- I don't think i'll use that one). Now all I need is to buy some short shorts to complete the outfit (you've gotta look the part, and the smaller the shorts the harder you are to touch! I just pity the opposition having to look at my lily white upper legs.)
Anyway our team is looking pretty good, it's also been cool to hang out with some of the crew, especially Daniel- a funny guy with an amazing turn of speed. Sadly CJ left this Tuesday, so before he left we went out a few times with some of his friends- Good times- I'll miss hanging around with him.
Sunday was good times again. I visited the Aravena family for lunch and Cena. They are a 'familia bacàn' as well. They even encougared me to have a siesta (definitly needed) in the afternoon for a while. I'll be putting up photos soon. Also on the Church front: we are moving to a building instead of meeting in a house- So our first meeting there is Sunday week- exciting times- We don't really all fit in the pastor's place. So I'll make sure I take some pics of the new venue.I'll be putting up some photos pretty soon- Look after yourselves.

Chao

Nathan

Continuation...

2006-08-21T18:18:00.000-04:00

Well, after all the fun happenings up to Thursday this happened next:
Friday was brilliant- The weather was fantastic for one thing. Not full on, but rushed between events. Youth group was good times, then I went with Becka, Ashlee and Sebastian to have Chinese for Dinner. Afterwards they were nice enough to let me use their computer for a mammoth 'skype' call to my family (which lasted forever- well into the morning, thanks to the tolerance of my hosts). Skype should get a Nobel prize, how good is it?

Saturday I was going to watch the rugby, but I must've misread the website, because it for sure wasn't on (and of course it was a vintage game of epic proportions- yep I had to miss it) After that disappointment I met up with the Gappies to give them a tour around the city. So we caught a micro, looked around Santa Lucia (this mint castle-like thing) then walked through the city. The city streets were jam-packed with people, streets sellers, buskers and a dude who tried to sell me an MP3 player (but to no avail, it had a label on the back from a store, and the others had seen on the news that some people around there are selling fake copies that don't even work-So it was either hot or a fake). We had a look around the markets, bought some Inca Kola (it's brilliant- like a bubble gum flavoured fizzy drink- i'm gonna buy crates of the stuff when I go to Peru).
Then we went though Bellavista, then back to my place for a quick bit to eat. After that CJ had an appointment to get a tattoo (his first) and we all tagged along to watch.The place he had it done looked real sterile: white walls, chairs like a doctors examination room, and surprisingly no wall with some common designs on it. Cj was in very good hands, The guy was real professional. He had this laptop were he scanned the pic Cj wanted (it was the Spade from a pack of cards to go on his back) printed it to size and let us look at a gallery of some of his work. But we thought that Cj wouldn't like us to hang around while it was getting done (and it would have looked kinda wussy as well). That was my day with the Gappies.
After that I went with Becka, Ashlee, Sebastien and Allison to someone’s karaoke birthday party in Bellavista. I would have show my skills, but the taste of the other singers seemed to be alot more 'danceable' than anything I would do, and people at least need to be able to dance if the singing is bad. Next time maybe!)
Sunday was good times- Church as per usual (if it is as per usual that means brilliant) once again the weather was fantastic (it's been like over twenty degrees the last few days, Bring on summer!) Afterwards I visited the Valenzuela family for lunch. It was good times chatting and seeing some improvement in my understanding and my speaking (Most Sundays seem to be near immersion).
And to my surprise I found out that some of the extended family was coming around. Silvia comes from a family with I think 10 kids all up, mainly sisters. So a sizable portion of the Sobrinas/Primas (Nieces/Cousins) came around with aunties/sisters and grandma. You could call it a pleasant surprise. So it was good times chatting, getting a hard time from everyone, trying to understand what people were saying (I'm used to the craziness of my Mum and two Aunties with the cousins- Times it by 4!) Then we went to one of the family’s place for onces and more madness. Definitely a 'famalia bàcan' (chilean for cool family). Then I eventually got back to my apartment
-It was a pretty full on weekend-I think i'll have a siesta this afternoon maybe (but the weather is so good...)
So, Here are some photos-Yes thery'e not all amazing, red eye disease is epidemic, but they all tell a story:

R to L: Alex, Phil and CJ at Santa Lucia
Me with some of the Moya Family
Cesar and me climbing San Cristobal (The big hill with the Virgin on the top)
Me in the snow, Colorado Ski field

See the grey patch of cloud: I'm breathing that in as I type- Mmmmm mmmmm... The Valenzuela Family this last Sunday
Me with the primas (cousins) : Not a 'vintage' photo of me, but everyone else is looking good
And the fountain at Santa Lucia (Where the earlier photo was taken)

Good good, those are the photos: Sorry to anyone with a dial up connection.

Chao

Sorry for the wait

2006-08-21T08:11:00.000-04:00

oops, sorry for the delay with this, and for penance I'll be posting two blogs in short succesion.
This entry is for up to Thursday last week.
Thursday:
Normal happenings lately, still not many hours, but i'll sort things out. The highlight this week would have to be going to the Andes on tuesday (It was a public holiday for the assumtion or ascension of the virgin, I can't remember for sure. What I can remember is that they gave us a holiday for it)Jessenia told me on Monday she was going to the Mountains to go skiing. So, after finding out the cost, I went up; but only to 'chill' in the snow. So we rushed off in the morning, caught the bus (with more gringo's than locals) So it was good times chatting to the guys on the way up. There is quite a few ski fields mear Santiago, I'm not sure how this one rates but looked pretty cool to me. It's quite a different set up to what I'm used to in NZ. There are all these Chalets/houses very close to the field, and lodges as well to stay at. So, while everyone else hit the slopes, I sat in the sun, read books and played a little in the snow (of course you need to do that, the video is on the way)
On the way back, some oif the guys mentioned that they were going to a football game the next day: Chile Vs. Colombia and invited me to come along. So the next day I met up with them and the crew from their Spanish school thing. But unfourtunatly when I met up with them I found out that the game clashed with Touch rugby, so I just tagged along to get a taste of the atmosphere, and to scout out what the process was of getting to a game. By the time we got mear the ground people were selling all these flags and stuff; Guess what I bought? I first bought a medium sized flag (for $3 NZ) which was the first ones I saw for sale. But down the road I bought a flag nearly the size of a sheet! (for $7.50 NZ approx, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I accidently used a 10,000 ($30 NZ) peso bill instead of a 1,000 one, which wasn't what I was planning!) So I followed them to the gate, lent them my flags and rushed off to touch.
Touch was good times again, but I had real bad cramp, so it wasn't a vintage preformance. But I got to meet some people from the team I will be playing for, and gave the opposition a false sense of my abilities (bruhahahaha...evil laugh). Afterwards I went to CJ and the girl's place again, and some dudes came around later as well. Good times, Yep, another late night.
As well on Sunday I went with Omar and Sussana (the Pastor and his wife) to a church's anniversay service, which was good times. The service was a bit different, but the people had the same love, and I knew quite a few of the worship songs in english, which made it alot easier to sing along. And It was cool being able to understand a bit more, both Omar's sermon and their Pastors. My Spanish seems to be inproving, which is cool. I need to get out there and practice more, but I'm generally happy with my progress.
That's about it really, hopefully there will be another opertunity to go to a football game. I was getting similar vibes to what I get going to a big night rugby game, apart from the number of street vendors (I love them, when I go home I'll have to start making bootleg flags and sell them at the rugby- Don't steal my idea). I'm missing you all: look after yourselves, and each other.

(coming soon...Photos, and this weekends edition)

Not much to report...

2006-08-11T15:25:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a fairly quiet week again, this better not become a habit-I think I could just scrape by earning this amount- and never doing anything! Anyway, It's all good
Last Wednesday (at the last blog time) I went to Touch rugby in the evening. It's pretty casual, just keeping fit until the season starts in September (Which is social as well-But i've heard some teams take it more serious than others) The ground was suprisingly firm despite the rain that had fallen; I'm still going to purchase some 'zapatillas' with studs. I'll spare you the details of each brilliant try I did, but for the record I smoked them on one occasion with a 'run across the field, right to the corner, set up the winger on the corner- then throw a dummy, hit the gap for the try' They seem to play by the book so they were kinda wondering why I would do something unothodox like that. So you could say my confidence for the up coming season is pretty good.I met this English guy on his gap year, and had a bit of a chat. He had played for half of the last season with the winning team. From what he told me it seems that there are two more serious teams- The Griffons and Speed (from what I saw of their players you have to run the 100 metres in under 10 to join their team). Everyone else is in it for more of a laugh. I've also had a few chances to do english-spanish lesson swaps: which hasd been great for my Spanish. But, alas, I still need to practice more. This Wednesday I went to touch, but the security guy said it had been cancelled. I was planning on chilling afterwards with CJ (The English guy) so I gave him a call and he invited me to his place. He 'works'at a school nearby, and his accomodation is on the grounds. But because of the conduct of some of the previous gappies they need to go through this ridiculous proccess to have anyone visit (they need to get permission in the day time) anyway, it kinda reminded me of something/someplace (Inside joke) We would have jumped the fence but they have security guards, cameras and they would have someone checking. -We made it in eventually, I'm sure your not reading this for a description of a schools policy and security- so i'll move on.So we chilled with the other gappies there, Two girls from South Africa. So yeah, it was good to spend so time with them, giving each other a hard time about stuff, things that people from the commenwealth get. And, because I had no classes the next day, it lasted quite awhile. And changed location to Providencia.
I thought I would once again mix things up some random happenings that don't fit anywhere:When I was on the job hunt I went to this Institute with my CV. Well, because I was in chilean mode when the receptionst from the states introduced herself I automaticlly gave her a kiss when greeting her- Which she wasn't planning on, and so I started the application process on the right foot. (The look on her face afterwards was interesting, hahaha). I was then coldly informed that they only teach 'north american english'. So that was a learing experiance and a half- HAHAHAHA, classic. That's one thing you need to be ready for: public humiliation. It's a neccesary part of learning a new language and culture- And it's something I need to subject myself to more often!As well, If anyone wants to pray for me right now, pray that I would not get negative/miss my family/get lazy. I'd apreciate that.Cheers for making it all the way down this illiterate rambling (Did I spell illiterate right- It like 'did I pronounce "Pronunciation" right- makes you look real smart)
Peace and love to you all!

Better late than never...

2006-08-03T12:37:00.000-04:00

To all two of the blog regulars; I'm sorry that I haven't posted for over a week. To everyone else read the blog entry below
Anyway, times have been pretty choice lately- In brief this is some of the stuff I've been doing: Chilling, having a Chilean BBQ, visiting people for lunch, and going for a huge tour around town (and stuff like work)
I went to 'la casa ramos' to, of all things, wash some clothes, this last saturday. And I found out on arrival there was a BBQ-Chilean style happening. So I was subsequently invited to stay on (lucky me!). This wasn't some cheap mad butcher sausage sizzle (no offense Peter Leach, your the man)- There was some serious portions of meat. The food was cooked over a charcoal 'barbie'- definitly more exciting than gas.
After church on Sunday I visited the Moya family. Good times definitly- even just getting there (we took a mirco- yes). Lots of Fun, and heaps of Spanish practice! Afterwards I went for a walk with Cesar to a huge mall nearbye for a look around. It had shades of Gringolandia, but not as bad as Parque Aruco (fourtunatly). We were laughing at all the signs that said 'SALE' - porque en ingles? es una oferta! That was good timesOn Tuesday I met up with Cesar to see some other sites. We visited; the Rio Mapocho, Mercardo central, Vega Central, a clothing market and San Cristobal (A big hill/park with activies ranging from the huge statue of Mary to a Zoo)*SMALL WORLD* In Mecardo Central we bumped into this guy who asked the obligitory "where are you from?" question. He then responded in perfect English (he asked in spainish) I know someone there... In Auckland... Do you know Wynton Rufer? My son played Football with him in Germany (for real- quite the bizarre moment).
When we went to San Cristobal we walked from one side to the other (this is a big as hill I'm talking about) And Ignacio and Leslie came with us as well. By this time it was getting dark, so we could see an amazing view of the city. When we reached the 'nearly summit' we didn't proceed to the top, because it's kinda dangerous at that time of night- I'll go some other time in the day. At least the way down was shorter than the way up. Then we had some chilean Fast food, then I went home, Tired as. The markets were so cool,I told Cesar that I prefer "chile real"alot more than the carbon copy mall variety. I wish i had picks of the markets, but it isn't the best idea. We saw this guy running real fast at one place, I asked Cesar what was up, he was a robber. (I just put that in to scare you Dad, but it did happen, the first encounter i've had with that while I've been here) Another highlight was watching the Rugby live at 6 in the Morning (funnily enough I was watching it before my family) Talk about commitment... That reminds me, I'm playing some touch this evening with Jessenia (just some practice game or something- the season starts in September-It's coming soon!)Anyway Sorry for the delay, I post some pics soon.
Chao,

Nathan

PS once again I didn't spell check this or proof read

Busy times... Yeah right

2006-07-25T15:29:00.000-04:00

Hola People,
Work is going fairly well, I've now got my full schedule sorted out now, It's really full on MON-WED-FRI with only one class in the morning on tuesday. So any T day is fairly freeish for other things (and preperation for the other classes- which will get smaller as I go) So that's all working out well. In my new classes I got yesterday one of the students looked like Ronaldo, and in the other he looked like a friend of mine back home (Just like Mat Hooper, I'm not kidding- Hola Mat if your reading this). I have about 19.5 teaching hours a week, which will provide me with more that enough money to survive. God is very good to me.
This weekend was good times, starting with Friday nite I went to the new pirates of the caribbeen movie (With Becka's crew and some others too). It got abit random in the end but I won't spoil it for anyone who is planning on seeing it. I'll give it ***, I thought there was enough subject material in the carribean to not have to make up some random stuff, anyway...Saturday was full on, I went to a Youth thing with Omar, Valentina, Nadia, and Pedro from church (Ignacio and Leslie were there as well)in Maipu (on the western side of the city). It was good times, trying to sing along to the songs and stuff. Omar gave a talk as well. We then played this crazy game (I kind of got the rules when people around me tryed to explain- I think I might try this game in NZ some time) It involved having two circles of the same number of people, you having a partner in the other circle, and when the music played the circles would spin around and arond- And when the music stopped you had to sit down with your partner.
After the talk everyone had lunch together- Some Asian cuisene. I let Pedro play around with my camera, he really liked to take videos. So I had an official cameraman. After that I played futból with the guys from church (Ignacio told me that by the time I go back i'll be like Maradonna (we'll see ha ha) And I stayed the night with the Ramos' family.
Sunday was cool, Church as per usual, then a big lunch afterwards. The old couple from next door came for the second time which was cool. The Old man (He's like 93, but full of life) was telling these stories about something, going on and on. I could hardly understand him but he was getting afew laughs from the others, and I think not understanding him was even funnier. He also makes some mean Empanadas. Next week i'm visiting another family for lunch.
Anyway that's my news for the last few days. Here's a few pics:

The random game on Saturday

One of the cooks in a brilliant outfit

I was going to put more photos in but blogspot has some issues right now.

Chao, Nathan

2006-07-18T13:42:00.000-04:00

Hola Amigos,
well It's been close to a week since I out something up, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so slack.Anyway, What has happened lately? Well, to tell you the truth, it's been fairly chilled out lately, just work, work and other stuff.So here's a brief recap before getting onto details:
Wednesday nite: went for a run in the rain in the dead of night- dodging spray from vehicules etc. (Ivé really been enjoying pretending i'm fit... it's a good way to familarise myself with the surroundings)
Thursday: Chilled and prepared for work, and ate Pizza with Becka and some of her friends (I must have done more...)
Friday: My student arrived for the early (7:30) class in the morning, and I taught my other class, after that I relaxed, visted Omar and his Mom who was visiting (and had a conversation with her for like an hour in spanish- yes!) went to a Ping-pong championship at Wooodward Language inst. (where I do exchanges) and went bowling at Gringolandia (a big mall in Las Condes, i'll tell you more later*)
Saturday: Ventured to another muy grande mall in Las Condes (I went by Micro, you know, the yellow crazy buses) to hopefully buy some stuff to make a shelf and fix the gap on the edge of my window, see below for more**. So I did that and lesson preperation.
Sunday: Church and lunch with one of the familys (the same family as two weeks ago, (I can't spell their last name) but in a different location- I'm not excatly clear which is their home but i'm leaning towords the later). Good times definitly. Next week it's gonna be a church luncheon or something i've heard (but when I say heard, don't take it for granted that I heard correct) And a little lesson preperation.And today I had one class in the morning and I'm getting ready for some new classes I have tommorow, both off site
*GINGOLANIDA

Anyway, I was at Woodward Inst. for their every-so-often table tennis championship (for the record I got to the second round, but failed to beat a Chilean girl (whos coming to New Zealand) who was wearing high heels) and chilling with the people there, and then I got a call from Becka saying I should come bowling with some of the people frokm her apartment, and that they were going to a alley in Las Condes. So I got the name of the place and what time, thinking it should be all sweet. But after leaving woodward I started to wonder if I woluld even find the place (I didn't have my map on me and, ummm.... what was the mall called again?) so I started walking towards Kennedy Av. because I was pretty sure that was the big mall street. So I eventually found it, with prayer (I was kinda laughing at how mad I was- running off in the dark with only a clue where this pace was) and by guessing were the people with shopping bags came from (i'll back the former) I made it to a mall- but was it the right one?- so I found a security guy, and I asked him in perfect spanish "where is the (I did some brilliant charades)" Dude was helpful as and pointed the way. But lo and behold Becka and the crew wern't there yet. but I was just on time so I waited, got a drink, and amazingly didn't feel extremly out of place (I wasn't the only one in the room without dark hair/eyes, It seemed strangly surreal. I felt like I was in some big mall in New Zealand (actually, it was too big for new zealand, lets say America instead) so I was hopeing that no-one would asume that I was some rich kid from out there and start talking spanish to me and then I'd look kinda stupid) I also had a freaked out feeling that they were at another mall that had an alley as well. But they arrived, we eventullay got a lane, and had a good time. But I'm serious that place was gringolandia to the extreme! I wish I took my camera. Madness.

*GRINGOLANDIA IION saturday I had some home-handy-man ambitions for my room: a shelf, and some "no more gaps TM" to fill up the gap on the edge of the window. so after getting some micro numbers from Becka the night before,I headed off into the unknown... ALTO LAS CONDES! (a different mall) so that was pretty straight forward. I walked around the 4 story mall for awhile, stumbled across a massive jumbo were i found some hair wax (I looked all though the pharmacies in Provi and couln't find any) and a rubgy ball (for 4,000 pesos- about 12 bucks) which was cool. The home-depotish kinda store had shelves that were too expensive, no obvious place to buy just a little bit of wood, but they did have some kind of no more gap stuff. So, with a huge sense of pride in my homehandyman skills, I filled it up... and here's the proof:
and the view up my nostrils.

Well at least the proof I bought the gear.

And a pick of the beautiful Andes (I still get a buzz looking at them)

And Saturday marked my 1 month anniversary of arriving here. 1 down 11 to go...

And here's a video tour of my apartment (very low tech, in the future videos will feature flashy effects and hitting soundtracks)

2006-07-17T18:42:00.000-04:00

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT:

It has been brought to my attention that there is another site with a very similar name

nathan.sinclair.blogspot.com which isn't at all afillianted with this site.

And don't bother looking at it, unless you really weant to read about the stuggles of someone with a cool name.

P.S I was meaning to post a blog today, but the computer i'm on doesn't have a CD drive (I now write my blogs from the comfort of my own room, and hopefull I'll be able to put a viedo on the net sometime soon)

Cheers,

Nathan

lluvia, y muy lluvia

2006-07-12T15:17:00.000-04:00

Hola Amigos,well, I’m a working man now, how about that. I started my employment at Bridge Linguitec on Monday with one class- Three guys from a technology company (yes i'm teaching business English- I can't wait till one of my students ask me what business background 'ummm... warehousing?')anyway so that’s going well. I've only taught three classes so far, and one of them was a no show by the student (I still get payed if they confirmed their lesson- but i had to be at work for his 7:30 lesson- and stay there the whole duration of the class) But I had a class after so I only lost sleep. The plan is to slowly pick up new classes as the weeks progress, until I get a full schedule.
In weather news it has been pouring down for a few days now. Ever since it has been raining there has been a proliferation of umbrella sellers on the roads peddling their wares, shouting out something like "para agua! para agua!" (I think that’s what their saying (lit. for water). I love all the stuff people sell on the streets, it's kinda like your walking in a market in some places. I wonder if these same people will come out with something different when the rain stops.

On the fashion front I purchased some trousers, a shirt and a tie to expand my business wardrobe. It had been one of my fears that my students would quickly find out i'm a two shirt, two ties and one suit man. Now they will eventually find out i'm a three shirt, three ties, one suit and an extra pair of trousers man! I'll keep you posted on further developments.

In my free time I’ve been trying to learn abit of Spanish. Well for 'practice' I sometimes on the TV and soak up the language. The only problem is that we have cable in the apartment. So suprise suprise i'm inclined to watch friends with Spanish subtitles instead of one of one of the million chilean dramas they have on. I've found 'los Simpsons' pretty good value but I'm looking for a kiddies program that isn't just slapstick comedy with no dialogue. At least the rugby is in Spanish.

To finish here are some things that have made me feel almost at home:

Sitting in the e-cafe and hearing crowded house on the radio
Watching the rugby, and seeing Fitzy give a preview of the tri-nations
Watching touch on my first weekend here (To prepare for next season i've started to get fit-amazing!-by going for a run sometimes. Bring on September!)
Playing football with the church, and thinking that one of the guys looks like Temerua Morrison

Chao amigos

Busy times....

2006-07-07T22:22:00.000-04:00

Well, not that busy, but it felt 'flat outish' to me. Thats my lame excuse for not putting up a post in the last few days.
I've just finished training at Bridge Linguitec (blinguitec for short from now on) which was a relielf. They have quite a system, it's a very concrete curiculum, which isn't all bad- but i'm not sure how i'll find doing it day in day out.
One quite funny thing from the training was working with the movie. In many of the classes you use this video with it's dialouge/images etc. to teach the class. Anyway this movie is kinda ancient (ancient may be to strong a word-It was made in the early '80's , yep, ancient fits) but I can see how it works. (Fourtunatly in the latter class they use 'real movies' for the dialogue- your've got mail, as good as it gets and some others) The school pretty much caters for buisness clients only- which could be interesting.

I started doing some swaps with Woodward inst. on tuesday. I really dig the vibe in that place, and they have a real simple, easy to prepare cirriculum which is real good. I thaught on both tue and thur, with a spanish class after each one.

anyway here's some photos- with a little commentary

This is my room in the apartment: Exciting aye. It's, um... small and its got a view of the andes (heaps of snow on them this morning, what a view)

Here's some skyscrapers in Las Condes, one of the flasher parts of town.

Felipe (from my apartment) with one of the kids from church- At a familys place for lunch on Sunday (on the 16th floor of an apartment- I was loving it)

The view from the west in the apartment: towards Santiago central

And with some of the Church.

Also yesterday I picked up my ID card which was brilliant. It has everything, including a fingerprint- Very official.

Go the All Blacks,

Chao Amigos

(PS no spell check/proof read was used in the making of this document)

On the job hunt...

2006-07-01T16:11:00.000-04:00

Hola Amigos,
Well where should I start... The last few days have been 'busyish' but chilled out as well. I've just started on my job search this week, with a few quite positive results, with prospects in many places;I'm going to some training sessions this week for one company, i'm not sure if I should commit to them, I think that there is better compaines/jobs out there and if I commit then I'm stuck with second best. But the boss is keen to have me on the team so I can't count them out.On thursday I visited a few language schools in one of the richer "comunas" Las Condes, which went pretty well. I've found that the list of schools I'm searching with is abit outdated- like some buildings have even been demolished, it seems like a 50% strike rate... anyway I went by a school owned by a Kiwi, so I had a chat to him about work, but unfourtunatly they don't have work for me right now but they have offered me lesson swaps: One english lesson for a spanish one. So i'm meeting up with him on monday (He aslo gave me pointers on what other school are good- his competitors- and that I may have work at an english expo coming up... i'll keep you all posted.But in one of the funnier 'job prospects' is this, One of the guys from the party last friday came for dinner on sunday night at my apartment. And when he heard that I needed worked he lined me up with an extras agency. So I wnet there, got my photo taken etc. So I might turn up on an advert or something in Chile maybe... hahahahaha, we'll see. As well I vivited the Charles family on wednesday night. Mike works with the anglican bible college over here and they´re origionally from Aussie. It was good times chatting about chilean stuff and more- a cool family.
And after not so popular demand heres some more photos of people (i'm still trying to shake my 'don't take photos unless you want to look super gringo'mentality, so my choices were still limited)

Here's a beautiful picture of me eating a healthy "completo" hot dog style thing (so cheap to make, with so many calories)

Here I am playing a random game with some of the boys at youth group last night

Some others from youth group...

And me all dressed up, extremely tried from walking all around Providencia yesterday handing out my C.V- in the lounge of my apartment.

Chao

photos.... finally

2006-06-27T11:18:00.000-04:00

Here´s the view from my apartment room at night (6 floors up) of Carlos Antunez Av.

Here´s the view from the lounge (take these outside photos with a grain of salt- my apartment doesn´t look so flash inside- think clean student flat with a mean view)

From left: Grandad, Valentina, Sussanah and Uncle someone. At Sussanahs mum´s birthday

Chilean Nana (too bad I don´t have a better picture)

Nadia and a Cousin

From left: Omar, Consuelo and Waldo

And touch rugby in Santiago

Anyway, I better be going. Send me feedback on the size etc of the photos- I dont want to make them too big to load up. If you´s want bigger shout out.
I´m going to try shed my ¨dont take to many photos or i´ll look like a gringo¨ mentality because, well... I look like one already.

Chao

Fun times... Chilean Nana, watching the rugby, a full on fiesta...

2006-06-26T13:31:00.000-04:00

Hola amigos,

OK, what has happened lately...
well I can´t think of what order things happened, so i´ll write up aobut a few different experiences:

Yetserday (sunday) I stayed with the ramos family afterwards for lunch, then we went to Sussanahs parents place for her mothers birthday. Abuelita (grandma) made me think of Nana almost instantly; similar size, similar personalitys etc (i´ll put up some photos soon) The extended family came around as well- heaps of fun

On Saturday I played futbol with the guys from the church, and believe it or not didn´t play to badly(I actually scored twice- I can really only kick the ball straight, nothing more) It was raining and a bit chilly (funny aye) and afterwards back at the apartment watched te last 20 minutes of the rugby (yay we won!)

Friday night I went to beckas youth group (with the anglican church in provedincia) which was cool. I think that alot of them are from expat families a few generations back. I wa even put in an only english speaking group (a first, becka told me)
afterwards I went with becka to have sushi with some of her friends. Amazingly by pure chance on my part i chose somwthing that tasted pretty good. Then we went to sebastiens birthday party (a fairly subdued affair because they were going away the next day, leaving early) Jessenia was there also and she said she was going to her friends party so I thought i´d tag along (I supposed it was going to be a short stop... hahahahahaha, i learned better.

We caught a micro(the local buses) which was an experiance in itself- the drivers always drive at crazy speeds and seem to think they´re driving rally cars or something. So we made it eventually. Ao we finally got to this club, the party was on a messineen (spelling?) floor packed with heaps of people with music blaring, smoke everywhere (they don´t have the same rules as NZ). So to make a long story short we stayed till 6am (I thought we were making more of a short ´hi and bye´stop) I didn´t know the way home, I had abit of a cold. So I just made the most of the situation, talked to some cool people, got some dancing tips from a master and soaked up the experiance (and the smoke all my clothes reaked when I got home- which reminds me I better wash them today)

well thats some of the stuff thats been happening with me lately, I´m planning on putting some photos up tommorow or something.

Look after yourselves,

Chao

something random

2006-06-22T11:15:00.000-04:00

I thought i´d do something more interesting than a blow by blow account, so instead i´ll put down some random comments on life:

On the first day I arrived i accidently bought carbonated water- i´d nearly rather drink the stuff from the tap here than drink that- ivé learned my lesson

did I write that some of the all blacks were on the plane to argentina? i should of got autographs and photos but i didn´t- Jerry Collins is the man ... i´m planning on seeing the game this weekend on cable in my apartment!

Its been crazy seeing how much coverage the world cup has here. Yesterday when i was buying my ´ropa de cama´ or bed clothes we saw people gathering round shop windows watching argentina vs the netherlands. about three free channels have some coverage as well, with at least two playing the games live. And when they show the highlights they show every shot at goal-and more. I can only imagine what it would be like if they were playing in it.

anyway, the plan for me the next few days is to get my C.V ready, settle in to my apartment and have a brilliant time.

p.s if you are a prospective employer please don´t take this as an example of my grasp of the written word- i´m typing furiously

Visa queues and rugby...

2006-06-19T17:03:00.000-04:00

These have been the longest days in my life-i´m speaking in a possitive way- it feels as if i´ve been here for at least a few... After my last post Omar gave me a tour of the central city- including the central square, plaza de armas and he took me to a castle on a hill over looking the city (I forgot the name) and we saw heaps of other stuff.
In the evening Omar´s fiance Consuelo came for tea, and I went to bed way too late.

On Saturday morning I met up with Becka (An american friend of some Aussie missionaries that i´ve had email contact with) and she showed me a vacant room in her friend Jessenia´s apartment on 11 de septembrie avenue. It´s in a good central location, very close to the metro and the ¨flatmates¨ are nice (and it´s good value too, with cable to watch the rugby...now you know why I like it) so i´ll be moving in fairly soon. The other flatmate is this Chileno guy (Jessenia is a chilena) . It´s on the sixth floor, so naturally i thought that was pretty cool (there´s about 20ish all up, and I feel like 6 is high enough)

Jessenia had her last touch game of the season in teh afternoon so I went with her to The Prince of Wales Country Club to watch. It was good fun watching and chilling out, talking to some expats, watching jessys team win, getting possible job contacts and being invited to join the team next season (in september). It was almost a NZ fix. It also was good to pratice my spanish as well, because jessy doesn´t know much. We communicated with a bit of both- so it´ll be real good living there for practice (with a dictionary and friends helping for backup)

On sunday I went to Comunidad de la Gracia (omar´s church) for both Sunday school and the service afterwards. Everyone who came was super friendly and it felt like a big family. For sunday school I sat with the adult class, and we were looking at the esto creemos, confesion bautista de fe de 1689. In paticular the part dealing with the trinidad (trinity in english). The service itself was great as well, I recognized all the tunes and most of them seemed to be translations of the songs i know (except for a song sung to the english national anthem). Im planning on playing futbol this saturday with some of the church.
Ater church I went with Omar and Waldo to Consuelo´s place where she lives with her family (father, mother and sister) for comida, or lunch. They live in a house on the eastern side of the city a nice little drive away. For comida we had empandanas (I think thats the name) a comida typica of chile. after that and a mad crazy drive in the hills we went home- to watch lost in espanol- great for practice. Waldo is teaching me some new words every day´- I thought i wa doing well untill today...

If you want a working holiday visa (or something similar) you have to go thought the process of registrering the paperwork. So this moring I went to the policia something-or-rather to start the process off. but when I arrived I had no idea were to go in the building. fourntunatly there was a nice dude there who helped me out... It was hard enough for him to find out. But eventually i found out were i was supposed to line up. then it was pretty simple for the rest of step one.
I thought that was bad, but it was all going to get even worse...

With the paper work I jhad just recieved it was time to get a chilean id. card. I eventually found it. but once again i had no idea were to line up. After going to the help desk the lady behind it said something about photocoping and pointed somewhere- but I got the impresionthey were in the buildings. But suprise suprise I couldn´t find it. So I asked the help desk guy and e made a little bit more sense- it was outside and a la derecha (to the right) so i found that easily. Then i asked the guy again were to line up... unfourtunatly it was the biggest one there (yay!) so after watching the last 70 minutes of some world cup action and some other stuff afterwards i made it though the line. so i eventually got there, finished the paper work and somehow gathered I had to get my fingerprints taken somewhere. after arrivng in the office the old lady there didn´t seem to get what i wanted for a while, but at least she knew a little english. I then went to a place I was supposed to pick up my card- but no one was there... so after talking to some staff I found out I had t go there early next month. I have alot to learn (sorry for that huge boring commentary, I had to get it out my system) so currently i´m in the E-cafe under the apartment I will move into writing this.

P.S I will fix the blogs graphics soon, i´ll pout some photos on when I get a cable for my laptop and i´ll soon have the details for my cellphone available on request

I´m here!

2006-06-16T12:03:00.000-04:00

Hola amigos!

Sorry I didn´t give a synopsis of my trip plans, i´ll give them in retrospect instead:
My journey started at home in Rolleston at 6 in the morning. After packing up I left CH CH at 9:45 to Auckland- then from auckland to Buenos Aires at 4:30 pm wiht Aerolineas Argentinas.

The flight was ok i guess-Except that I had only one/two hours sleep in a 12ish hour flight. I was sitting beside an old lady who could only speak spanish-I think she understood that i was going to chile and that i´m from New Zealand but i´m not sure even of that. After my brief nap i woke up to see the southern part of chile out the window, which gave me a huge buzz and woke me up real good. for some reason our flight took a big u shaped path instead of a straight one.

2-3 hours after that we arrived in Buenos Aires, and then I was kinda close to missing the plan- I was told it left at gate B, but i learned later that gate B was a bus to my plane. anyway an airline guy asked for "passenger sinclair" so I followed him to the bus and onto the plane. good thing i was sitting in the right place.
I wish I could show some photos becuase the flight over the Andes was "muy bonito" , but i couldn´t see the city from my seat because of the cloud/smog over the city. I arrived aoçround 4:30 pm

Omar Ramos, from the Reformed Baptist Church over there picked me up frojm the aiport. (I had a few problems in customs but i´ll talk about that some other time) He drove us on the big toll road round the top part of the city- it was such an amazing drive. The view was awesome, the mountains are so close, the city so busy, old buildings and new ones etc (i wish I took more photos, but i didnt want to feel like a crazy gringo) He took me to his place where I met his family: his wife, two daughters and his son- I also met some of an american family who have been in chile for the last 7 or so weeks. And in normal Nathan fashion I can remember for sure all their names. So I stayed there for 2 or 3 hours and followed Omar around to a dairy (i can´t remeber it´s chilean name) and to a school to pick up his son. It was great fun. Omar speaks english pretty well but the rest of the family aren´t as good as him. So I tryed to comunicate as best I could.
I eventually made it to Waldo´s and Omar´s (another Omar) apartment(they are friends of a chilean frined of mine in NZ) at around 8:30 or something. Omar and his wife, Sussanah took me) . Waldo and Omar are brothers from Concepcion. They both wnat to practice their English so we can communicate quiete well. So we went shopping for some food to make some Chilean hot dogs in their car and arrived back around 1o something to cook it up for tea. Driving around in Santiago is brilliant, swerving lanes, buses driving like crazy.
I eventually got to bed at around 11.30 chile time (3 p.m friday NZ time) Iwas "muy cansado" or very tired.

I got up this morning at 9 and i´m now in Santiago central with Omar (he is looking for work) after a trip on the "Metro" (the subway) and we´re in an e-cafe.

Sorry for all the typos and bad sentence structure- the keyboards here are weird.

Adios,

Nathan
P.S don´t expect all my post to be this long...and photos will come soon

Let it snow...

2006-06-12T06:51:00.000-04:00

The countdown: 3 sleeps to go

I don't know about the rest of you in CH CH were expecting this morning, but I'm pretty sure you weren't expecting that this morning. My first thoughts went something like this:

oh oh... This better not stop me flying out

Anyway... It's getting late, so I should hit the sack

P.S How about a trip preview/synopsis/itinerary on the next post? That is, if time permits.