Holidays

Holidays were always important for my family, my parents worked a lot and we didn’t get to see them very often. So they would always say that the only time we had to together as a family without any distractions was to go on holiday somewhere we wouldn’t get signal. It was way easier in the 2000’s.

Sometimes we would go to Hornopirén, a town in the south of Chile. To get there, we would go by car by the Carretera Austral, until we hit Caleta La Arena. There we would wait for a ferry that would cross the ocean to the other side. The time we had to wait depended, sometimes we would see as we missed the ferry. It could also be a large queue of cars, and sometimes we would have to wait until the tide rised again. (One time on another trip, Cochamó I think, we couldn’t go back to Puerto Montt because the tide was too low. We ended up gathering and picking up shellfish for a few hours.)

As we waited for the ferry we would eat empanadas in “Donde la Pola”. I think it’s the oldest of the Little stores they have there. Now it’s full of them, but we remain faithful to Pola.

First Concert

Actually, the first time I went to a concert was Lollapalooza, which was technically a festival. One of my favourite bands had come a couple of years ago too, but I said to myself that I wouldn’t pay all that money to just see one band. I remember thinking, that if Florence and the Machine ever came and also Of Monsters and Men, then I would go. I put it in complete idealization, thinkig it would never happen.

As the years passed, I didn’t really got to know new music, and my favourite groups stayed the same. Then in 2016, the same year I moved to Santiago to study, both of them were coming. I knew I wouldn’t have the same opportunity twice. I asked my mom for half the ticket and payed the rest with money I had saved from a school event I had worked for.

I remember lots of Friends being there too, but I preferred being on my own. It was such a immersive experience and I felt as it was me, the artists, and the mass of people. I felt as bringing another person would distract from that.

Family Reunions

              I don’t think I have many memorable family celebrations, I mean, not as big as the ones describe don the teachers blog. But thinking about it, it’s quite different the way we celebrate with the different sides of my family.

My father, even though he was born in Santiago, he was only there for a couple days I think, he grew in the South of Chile and always lived in small towns. I grew up in the south too, and in the long weekends it’s typical for us to celebrate with a Lamb or curanto. I didn’t like it as a child, because even the chicken tasted like seafood, but now I do enjoy it. My favourite have always been the milcaos, chapaleles are not as good, but I can swallow them with pebre.

Whenever we would go to Santiago and had a family reunion, we would go to my uncle’s house and have a grill. It’s a different feel, because we would be inside a condo instead of the country side.

If you ask me which one I prefer, I’m not really sure, we’ve never been into family reunions to be frank,  but, now as I have been away for a couple years, I do miss the south, and my grandparents, so I’m looking forward to the next time I see them. Without the big meal and the questions about how my life is going would be better.

Spazieren

I think the first time I really took a walk was at 17 years old while I was an Exchange student in Germany. I don’t think it’s that common here to go on walks, I mean, we can walk, but it’s usually a way of going from one place to another, and not just for the sake of walking.

Now that I think about it, I did walk up the hill at my grandparents house, but we were always going somewhere or doing something, even if it was just picking apples in the summer.

Back to Germany. I was in the north, in a Little place called Stäbchen, which meant “Little stick”. It wasn’t really a village, there were a couple of houses, not all of them inhabited, and 17 inhabitants, 18 including me. It was in the middle of nowhere, and we didn’t have that many hours of light. At 5pm it was already dark and naturally I wanted to go to sleep. Of course there were many cultural differences, as it was cold and dark, all I wanted was to stay inside. But germans would say “there’s no bad weather, only your clothes are not the right ones/not warm enough”.

So I remember one night they said we were going out, and I didn’t really get where we were going, but I had to follow them. I was quite annoyed, but I put my shoes anyway and a big jacket on, and we went. We walked to the “main Street” kind of, as there were only two of them, and then we continued till we hit the road. I was freezing, and still didn’t understand where we were going, as we had already passed the house of their family Friends. After we turned back, I asked what we were doing, and they said we were just “spazieren” which meant, taking a walk.

I couldn’t believe they had droven me out of the house for “fun”.

The Best of 2017

So in 2017 I worked really really hard on everything, and I think what I really learned or what I’m still trying to work on is trying to not to overexploit myself.

Is it posible to wake up at three? Yes it is. Can I take a bus at 5.50 am? Can I follow the strict diet my doctor gave me?  Can I cook everyday for it? Can I go to 3 dance clases per week? Can I take an extra course? Not because something is technically or physically posible means you should do it. Sooner or later it will catch up and I learnt it the hard way.

I think the best of 2017 was learning how to fit everything on my Schedule, and actually follow it. I realized how I really enjoyed what I was doing and what my priorities were. There aren’t as many hours in a day as I would want to, and I think finding the time to rest is the most difficult part.