It's been awhile since I have last posted. The truth is, I did not have much to write about (I felt like what I was writing was going to be redundant; community is great, life is great, Chile is great, etc.) anything I would have written would have been superficial with no real significance. I was going to post when it was my one-month anniversary being in Chile, but that was all I really had to say. It's definitely been an exciting month; one of change and growth. It has not been an easy month and it has not been easy having to sacrifice the things I never really thought about such as my independence, my way of life, and the material things I, as an US Citizen, have grown accustomed to. It has definitely been a challenge trying to stay present to community mates here and to the Chilean people while trying to maintain contact with my family during a time of loss. At the beginning of this month, my family suffered another loss. My grandmother, whose health had been deteriorating, passed away. She was my best friend and someone who definitely drove me to the point of insanity. I made sure to make my peace with her before leaving and during the Christmas holiday, I made sure to talk to her. As much as I would like to be with my family during this time, I don't feel the need to be home. I think my family would like for me to be home, but for what? I keep them in my thoughts and prayers. I know this is a difficult time for my family, but my grandmother is no longer in pain and there are more hospital/nursing home stays. No more phone calls of urgency in the middle of the night and no more dialysis. She is now resting in peace and we were blessed to have her as long as we did.
Onto more placement news...
I have learned more about the place where I will be working at next year and where I will be volunteering. It is a new volunteer site (okay, newer than the other sites). I will be volunteering with Servicios Jesuitas Migrantes (SJM), a Jesuit organization that works with the immigrants from Peru, Bolivia, and Haiti (there are immigrants from a number of other countries, but those three are the ones that are greatly represented). I will be volunteering at least two hours every Sunday at Santuario Alberto Hurtado. I will be teaching English to a group of women. I am definitely excited, but a little nervous. The person who created the class told me it will be difficult at first, but it will become easier once I find my own groove. I hope to be a decent teacher and I hope that my Chicago accent does not have a devastating effect on them.
In other news... JVC Santiago finally has a house! The house hunt ended the 14th of January. After many phone calls, walking door-to-door only to be turned away and told that there were no houses available, one finally appeared. My community mate Cati had been house hunting for over three months with no luck and once Jake and I arrived in country, we began to help as well. Over a month and nothing. We were losing hope and optimism. With a last ditch effort, Jake went online and found a listing posted on a website (similar to Craigslist). It said that it house was available as a weekly rental. There was a number and we called it. We are expecting disappointment and waiting to hear, "The house? It's already been rented," but instead we heard, "Yes, the house is still available." The following day we went to go see it and we fell in love (that' the brief version of it... we fell in love, we discussed it as community/discerned/ weighed out our options, called the office in DC/skyped and called our ICC).
We returned to the house the day after and told the owner we were definitely interested in renting (we showed up as he was showing the house to potential buyers... awkward, I know). In the end, he liked us and decided to rent the house to us. Our next move: getting appliances, furniture, mattresses, and linen. This is an incredible new chapter not only for JVC Santiago, but also for me. I look forward the new house, the new job, the new challenges (both good and bad), and the memories to be created with my community. I'll try my best to keep you all updated on what is going on down here. I will leave you all with this: it is so hot!
