RSS

Author Archive

July 22nd, 2010 - 6:00 pm § in Around Town, Guatemala, Tips & Resources, Volunteer

How to Learn a Language

Immersion, immersion, immersion! Sadly, I never learned the amount of Spanish I had hoped to while volunteering in Chile but now in Guatemala, I’m more than making up for it. Staying with a Spanish speaking family is the best possible immersion you could hope for and great fun, too. My Spanish[...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
July 5th, 2010 - 5:00 pm § in Chile, Culture, Day in the Life, Volunteer

Those Final Few Days …

Like Kent posted just a couple of weeks ago, saying goodbye is something nobody really prepares you for. (Kent, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experience.) I’ve been struggling with saying goodbye, too. “Goodbye,” “Adiós,” “Chao,” “Nos ve[...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
June 29th, 2010 - 9:28 pm § in Chile, Culture, Day in the Life, Volunteer

Curious About Chile? 15 Facts and Fictions Any Newcomer Should Know.

I’ve been a volunteer for 11 weeks to date, and the ability to now recognize fact from fiction must mean that I’ve almost completed my initiation. I’ve figured out many but here are just a few in the hopes that they might help some other newbies, too: Fact: You don’t need Spani[...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment
June 21st, 2010 - 6:00 pm § in Chile, Culture, Day in the Life, In the Field, Volunteer

Ironies and Self-Indulgence

When a fight breaks out at school,  as a volunteer you neither really know what is happening nor are able to do anything about it.  It’s a bizarre feeling to be such an unwilling and powerless observant. It’s these times, and those when I’m particularly cold, hungry, and exhausted, that for [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , No Comments
June 14th, 2010 - 4:52 pm § in Chile, Culture, Day in the Life, Good Ideas, Tips & Resources, Volunteer

Translation on the Fly

I recently read that Google has started work on a voice recognition and automatic translation system for cell phones. Now that could come in handy for Chilean asados! Here, people love to party and so it seems only right that I should partake in as many as possible – for the benefit of my cultural[...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment
June 7th, 2010 - 2:47 pm § in Chile, Culture, Day in the Life, In the Field, Tips & Resources, Volunteer

Reconstruction & Breaking In

Each day I can’t help but to continually question myself as to what I can do, how I can help, and what I might be able to achieve here in Chile. I keep searching for what might help the most – small steps that are achievable in what I can see is going to be [...][...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments
June 2nd, 2010 - 2:19 pm § in Around Town, Chile

Chasing Chile

A little over three months ago now I was about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Six months earlier I’d taken the big plunge and applied for leave from my comfortable corporate existence to throw myself deep into the unknown, yet just five days prior to my departure something you couldn’[...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , No Comments



Bad Behavior has blocked 633 access attempts in the last 7 days.