To All:
Wow! Where have the weeks gone? It still feels
as though I have just stepped off the plane into
the frozen grip of winter. Santiago is
indescribable. The Andes paint a gorgeous
backdrop against the towering sky scrapers, palm
trees, and houses. My host father told me during
one of these many days, “Santiago es Chile y
Chile es Santiago. Vallenar es Vallenar.” When
translated it states that Santiago is Chile and
Chile is Santiago. The next part about Vallenar
being Vallenar is symbolic for both my home town
and all other towns in Chile. Each town is
unique to it’s self and differs from the
others.Santiago is the point where all beliefs,
people, places, cultures, etcetera come together
to create a pu-pu platter of all of Chile. With
that said, it is also going through a sort of
Cultural Revolution. Everything has become
Americanized. Mayonnaise, salt, and sugar are
three condiments which are always found on the
table and in the food. Starbucks has found a
perfect country in which to releases its coffee
craze. Heck! Santiago is also getting a Walmart
in, I think 2 months. There is a TGI Fridays at
the big mall here. Surprisingly though, for
everything being so American, hardly anyone
speaks English beyond common phrases.
Although, America is not the only country
sinking it’s fangs into Chile. Asia is starting
to emerge as well. Chinese restaurants can be
found easily along with many people of Asian
descent. The school that my host cousin attends
is filled with Asians. This is due to many
corporations finding Chilean soil ripe for not
only the growth of vegetation.
Santiago truly is “Chile” and all the other
towns are their own.
Let’s get back to my tale. As I was saying, my
first welcome to Chile was not only cold
physically but also emotionally. Chile does not
care for avellanas (hazelnuts). My bag dinged
going through the little scanner (they made me
load my own bags and several other peoples . .
.which I found very strange). One of the men at
the scanner told me to come with him and take my
bags. Thus I went off on my first mini-adventure
in a foreign country. He started out by filling
out paperwork, having me sign countless
documents, and finally copying my passport a few
times. From there, he told me I had to go in
front of a “judge”. There were two in this tiny
room and both were busy. I sat outside the
little office alone until this very friendly
American also got in trouble for nuts in trail
mix. We talked and she watched my bags when it
was finally my turn. I sat down on the opposite
end of the man’s desk. He asked me if I could
speak Spanish and I responded with a little.
From there, the conversation turned into
Spanglish since he didn’t know English. Luckily
I knew enough Spanish to communicate what was
necessary and understand him. He began filling
in various forms popping up on his computer
screen with his slow two-finger typing speed and
asking me questions. Another person went off to
make more copies of my passport. After an
eternity went by, he handed me a slip of paper
with CLP$277.680,00 written on it. That is about
US$500 that they wanted me to pay for a few
nuts! I was about to leave to get money for him
when a bunch of people came in and started
speaking with the man in really quick Spanish.
They left, I got up, and then he told me to sit
down again and give him the paper. He then told
me to go wait outside. I stood next to the door
in anticipation for 10 minutes. When he came
back out, he handed me several forms, told me I
didn’t have to pay anything, and then pushed me
out the door to the crowd of people. Rotary
quickly found me, I met my host aunt and mother,
and then we went off and ate.
After eating they took me back to my aunt’s
house. They kept asking me if I was tired which
I was, but who wants to sleep when first coming
to a new country? I constantly responded with
no. Once I finished putting my bags in the room
and getting everything in order along with a
quick shower and change of clothes since I was
dressed very formally, we went out to the mall.
After the mall, we had empenadas and then went
back to my aunt’s house. I met her husband that
night and then we picked my cousin, Andres, up
at his school. The next day my host father came
and they bought me a heavy jacket because it is
“really cold”. After wearing it for a few days I
switched back to the lighter one I brought. On
Sunday we returned to Vallenar. We stopped in La
Serena to look at the beach really quickly and
grab ice cream. My first impression of the
driest desert in the world was seeing it in pink
due to the setting sun. It was simply amazing.
Once in Vallenar, I put all my stuff into my
host sister’s room since my bed had yet to
arrive (they special ordered me one 2 meters
long since I’m so tall) and then was dragged to
meet all the family in Vallenar. Everything went
dandily until Wednesday when I had school.
Schools here are rather disorganized and the
students can behave worse than they do in the
USA. There are about a million breaks between
classes and I have a different set of classes
everyday (12 classes in total and 13 if you
include the “homeroom” period on Monday). My
school starts at 8am and ends at 4:20pm except
on Fridays when it gets out an hour early. Most
of the students study religiously during the
week and then finally get a little crazier for
the weekend. In my opinion, schools here are
easier than the ones in the USA and most of the
other exchange students agree with me. It seems
as though most of the stuff we are doing here I
have already learned. However, not all schools
in the USA are the same and that is also true
for Chile. I don’t really care for the classes
most of the time, but the social aspect is
great. All the students are wonderfully nice and
the school is very open to the outdoors. Sitting
in a tree during one of the recreos (breaks)
eating an orange or some cookies is one of my
favorite things to do. Other than that, we stay
in class the whole time and teachers change
classes (as most know) unless we are going to
art – right now we are panting a mural – or need
a science room.
The second weekend of being here was at my
family’s beach house. It was gorgeous. The main
beach has white sand and crystal clear blue
water. My family wouldn’t let us swim because
apparently it is still “too cold”. It is so
strange stepping onto desert and then from
desert onto beach. There are cacti everywhere
along with little foxes. My little brother and
cousin kicked around a soccer ball for most of
the time and dug in the sand. It was so
beautiful. I also found a sea lion shoulder bone
and my host dad found a vertebrae.
Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. The coolest
thing about Punto del Lobo (the location of
their house) is it is in an ecological
community. The houses are designed to fit in the
area, the environment isn’t harmed, and the
houses only use electricity at night by a
generator. I had a great time . . . even if we
weren’t allowed to swim.
The following weekend I went to a BBQ at
Trygve’s host house. He is also an exchange
student, but from Denmark. (There are 4 exchange
students at my school in my class: Trygve
[Denmark], Laura [Switzerland], Olivia [New
York/Rotary], and me [Oregon/Rotary]). It was a
ton of fun. We ate a ton of food. Watched
soccer, played soccer on an XBOX360, and I
taught him how to throw an American Football.
His host brother was an exchange student to the
USA and had brought back a football. Afterwards
we ate more food and watched some more soccer.
Sunday I stayed home.
This last weekend past I was and still am in
Santiago. We left last Wednesday and so I’ve
been here for a week. The original plan was only
to come for a few days, but my host dad ended up
having to say in the hospital until Tuesday. He
had a hernia. Now, it sounds as though he is all
better. My host family isn’t really telling me
much about how he is doing. I only found out he
had a hernia due to my older cousin who asked
her mom. While he though, I’ve done quiet a bit.
I went and saw Harry Potter 6 in theatres. I
love the movie theatres here! The seats are
comfortable and recline, tickets and food are
dirt cheap, and the quality of picture is
superb. Unfortunately the movie was in English
with Spanish subtitles. This seems to be the
same for all other movies in theatre as well.
Besides that I also went bowling. THEY HAD SHOES
WHICH FIT ME!!! That is a first. NOTHING fits me
in Chile. I’d have to order shoes online and I
can’t buy clothes in stores. It is horrible. My
host family had to special ordered me my uniform
and PE outfit. They are so nice. (Seamstresses
are actually really cheap, but it still is a
sort of a hassle.) Two of the most fun things
I’ve done while here have been Zip-lining
(called Canopy here for an obvious reason) and
bobsledding. How many people can say they have
zip-lined over the top of trees indigenous to
the central region of Chile? At first it was
rather scary, but I ended up really enjoying it.
Bobsledding was also amazing. On the way up to
the top of the hill thing, there were signs
warning that this is not a game, but a sport and
it is possible to die. At first I was rather
freaked, but after the first time I wanted to go
again – and I did!
Monday I went to see a British school in
Santiago. Well, I sat in on a class for an hour
and half. Everyone was so nice and I had a ton
of fun. It was similar to my class in Vallenar
in regards to chaos, but the course work was
harder. I enjoyed it more . . . but don’t tell
my class back at Colegio Ambrosio O’Higgins.
After that I went with my aunt to one of her
friend’s houses to have Once (what tea time is
called). There were three girls a year older
than me there too with whom I hung out. We had a
bunch of fun just talking (between mouthfuls of
chocolate!!) and then played Volleyball after
eating Once.
Oh, and I’ve also baked 8 batches of M&M Cookies
for everyone here because my older cousin loved
them when she was in the USA and the cookies
here aren’t all that great. They are good, but
aren’t anything special . . . like cookies from
scratch. My little brother and cousins thought
it weird when I said it is common to eat cookies
by dunking them in milk. After trying it though
. . . they are hooked. As told by the amount of
cookies I have made. And that is about it. I
have tried Chinese food and Sushi here. The
Chinese food is a little different than in the
States and isn’t as good in my opinion. Sushi is
the same. Other than that, I’ll probably be in
Santiago until Monday. The thing I hate the most
about Chile is there are no clothes here which
fit me. I have no idea what I’m going to do
about clothes if I happen to need some. Until
next time, hope all is well.
Rickey Bodle
John
Larsen introduced JASON HAUN, a
Linfield Student who recently spent six
months abroad, attending school in
Galway, Ireland. A math major, JASON was
able to achieve this goal by being
awarded the Gilman International
Scholarship. This scholarship is
generally awarded to students on the
basis of financial need, as opposed to
an established scholastic level of
accomplishment. 
During
his six months in Ireland, JASON had the
opportunity to travel extensively
throughout Ireland. One of his favorite
classes, as well as being one of his
chief travel interests, was the study of
castles. He remarked how the local
population largely takes for granted the
existence of many castles on the Irish
landscape, an attitude JASON found to be
rather odd. 