Hello ladies!! First off, I am thankful for all of you! There are
some days that I’ve been so lonely and angry at everything South America that I
just hide in my apartment all day. At some point during those days I find
myself looking at instagram, seeing your sweet little kiddos, and all your
nieces and nephews makes me instantly encouraged. But, besides those random
discouraging days, I am doing great!!
I wanted to give you all a little update on my adventures
down here and hopefully get an update from you as well:) Cate an update of your
little hair darkening children, Kylers school and anything else exciting. And
Candi, 5 year anniversary! Crazy. What is the biggest lesson you have learned
through these 5 years that you would pass on to others? Savannah, how was Beyonce??:D
So, as you both know I am teaching English in the lovely city
of Santiago. Population 6.something million. What I didn’t know before coming
was that 6.something million is a stinkin big number. And the other thing I
didn’t know is that I had not even the slightest idea of how to teach or
explain anything about English. I’ve been speaking it my whole life and
sometimes the most basic questions cause me panic or confusion:D So, to be
honest I think I spent the first two months studying English. I wasn’t
expecting that. The first month was rough, as the institute that agreed to give
me work, didn’t give me any hours until 7 weeks after I came!!! Super
frustrating time but God was SO good to help me find other work while the
institute slowly gave me classes. And now, I work with the institute as little
as possible since I earn more without them.
I live right in the center of Santiago, in a neighborhood well
known as being a hipster/gay/artsy sector of the city. I don’t exactly fit
right in but I do like it. When I first arrived it was summer so I regularly
wore my chacos but had to stop due to the obnoxious amount of inquisitive,
“What the heck kind of shoes are you wearing” looks I kept receiving. Now they
just stare at me in general. I’ve had so many days where I had to repent for
all the mental fingers I threw up and all the cruel words I really really wanted
to say. Most days I have to remind
myself to smile because I have been forced not to, in order to avoid unwanted attention. This city is
trying to steal my smile (insert whine & sad face;).
Most of this frustration though comes from men. I constantly
have to remind myself that it’s just the culture and when they cat call 3 feet
away from me, make revolting kissy sounds, stare me up and down and make a
disgusting grunt noise or spit out some slurred sentence, that they don’t
realize how stupid they are to me. Anyways, it’s made me a lot tougher… in a
good way or bad way, I’m not sure.
Some funny situations…
1) I have been pooped on by pigeons 4 times in the last 6
months. The first 3 times were within 3 weeks of each other. One of them was SO
much pigeon poop that I had to cancel my next class. It was running down the
side of my face, all over the front of my shirt and somehow on both sleeves. I
panics and had an old lady and her son help me wipe it off with her napkin
haha:D
2) On the way to a job interview it started pouring. They
don’t have good drainage systems here so when it rains it turns into rivers in
the street. I was drenched. I decided to take a cab the last few miles. While I
was getting out of the cab and a couple inches from shutting the door, I saw
the cab driver reach back and take something from the seat. As he started
driving away I instinctively started opening the door again. He was yelling for
me to shut it and I jumped in since he wasn’t stopping. He had my iphone in his
hand! I asked him if it was mine and he denied it multiple times. Finally I let
all my frustration with south American men out on him by yelling at him, saying
some choice words and grabbing it. I was so annoyed with him. I didn’t get the
job either. Ha.
Usually I can handle 2 ½ hours around town before all my
grace, Christ-like love and kindness I prayed for in the morning is gone. After
that I’m just a grouchy faced sinner;) I’m definitely in debt for the grace God
gives me every day. The day my phone was almost stolen though, I canceled two
of my next classes and stayed on my couch all day crying and watching Friends.
I really wanted that job. However, now I’m thankful He didn’t give it to me.
3) Another (not funny) story happened yesterday. I was waiting
for the walk light on my way to the store. All over the city are people that
juggle, mime, dance and anything you can think of in front of the cars when the
light is red. I was intently staring at the juggle/unicycle girl (who is REALLY
good) as she was waiting on the platform in the middle of the two traffic
lanes. As I was waiting for her to start I see an old man in a wheelchair pull
up near her, right in between both lanes of traffic. Well, he got hit. I have
never been so panicked and frozen. He got thrown about 10 yards, right past the
lady and about 3 yards in front of me. The driver drove away. Typical South
America protocol. I started toward him to try to help, saw the blood and had to
look away. Other people and the juggler rushed to help him. I stood there for a
long time just in shock. He moved a bit though, lifted his head and the
paramedics came and helped him. Crazy. I’m praying he is ok:/
4) Also, for the sake of telling stories. I witnessed the
funniest event today. I was waiting in the park, creepily zoning out and probably
staring at children when I nasty little dog jumps on the bench near me and gets
me all wet. So, after he jumps down I watch him run all around the park as a
little boy chases him, picks him up by the hair, giggles, yells at him etc.
Then I watch him steal a boot from a little 2 year old girl. Obviously she
starts bawling, the boy starts chasing him again and I start laughing. This dog
chase involving the little girl, little boy and eventually the nanny lasted for
more than 5 minutes. The whole time I had a book up to my face laughing
non-stop. He zipped by me several times but I was enjoying the scene so much
that I refused to help. Haha.
5) The last story. They have a lot of museums here so I usually
visit one every Sunday that I can, since they’re free. Hahahah well.. this
Sunday I hit the gold mine. I went to the Natural History Museum of Santiago
Chile. I went in just looking to add something fun to my day and it turns out
it was the funniest thing I have witnessed since my arrival. I walked out full
of joy from all the laughter and appreciative to the art of good taxidermy.
This is a HUGE city and a huge museum yet I didn’t see one stuffed animal that
didn’t make me burst out laughing. I watched people take pictures of their kids
in front of the animals, all while I stood in the corner in laughter, just waiting to
take a picture that I could treasure forever in my “I Need to Laugh” album.
I’ll attach a few of my finds. It was this day that I learned to appreciate "Jake and Ryans Taxidermy" company:D
Anyway, I am currently planning a month long trip with two of
my friends from Eugene. They are coming September 16th until October
16th. I hate making itineraries but they won’t stop asking me what
we’re doing so, I’m making one. We’re going to the south of Chile &
Argentina, to see Torres del Paine and a huge glacier, then to the north to see
the Atacama desert. One of the highest and driest place in the world, known for
it’s star gazing. I’m really excited.
Then… I’m not sure. I applied for a pretty cool program in the
south of Argentina and was accepted last week. However, all week I have been
“wrestling” with it and really hearing but without clarity that I am not
supposed to join the project. I will have to tell them today what my decision
is. The program is a Christian hostel/refugio in Bariloche Argentina. The city
is considered the Switzerland of South America. It even has world famous
chocolate… apparently. Even though I’ve never heard of it before:) As a
volunteer I would be leading trekking groups, taking care of the hostel and
looking for opportunities to share Christ with Israelites that come through the
region. Yea. Crazy. Apparently Patagonia Argentina is turning into the second
promised land :D Haha jk. But in seriousness, they have upwards to 10,000
Israelites trekking through the area each year! I love the focus of this mission but really don’t think it’s
what the Lord is asking of me here in S. America.
So yeah, it’s prayer and decision time. I am actually really
wanting to do Workaway which is a connection of people that post jobs online,
you work the job and receive free housing and meals. I’m praying about one in
Bolivia right now and really hoping something like it works out. It is a
non-profit school for underprivileged children ages 5-12. They have many
different types of positions and I think working with poor families/abused women/trafficking
would be much more rewarding and useful as I try to find work back in the US.
We’ll see. The one thing I am sure of is that I really want to be out of
Santiago by the end of October and in S. America until February. So I’ll be
waiting to find out what that means.
I have also been thinking a lot about what I want to do when I
get back to the states. My cousin Tony sent me a picture of his young Marine
friend, shirtless and laying on his bed with this simple message, “Maeghan,
this is my friend Tim. He thinks you’re hot. He’ll be at my wedding.” So, I’ll
most likely be falling in love in June, at little Jessica’s wedding. He looks
19-20 but I’m ok with keeping up with the cougar name;) But seriously, I plan
on living in Oregon until right after Savannahs wedding and hopefully moving
somewhere. I would love to move to Colorado. I’m not sure though:)
Well, don’t feel bad if you didn’t finish all of this, it was
a bit long! But please!! Fill me in on anything exciting!!!! I would love to
hear from you<3
I love you all so much and truly look forward to catching up in real life.
<3Love
Maeghan
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