Home and still thinking in Spanish

I've been home for one week now and it still seems unreal. I may have just added the last two blog entries while being home...but it was only because I wanted to include my last memories and did not have any time during my last few weeks in Chile. There were about 6 other CIEE people on my flight to Dallas and then we said our last good-byes in the Dallas airport before heading our own ways. My dad picked me up from the airport and we went straight to have pancakes. Naturally, I was so excited to have breakfast food again that it was the first thing I wanted to have back in the US.

Being summer there and winter here, my mind is confused not only with what day it is (normal for vacation mode) but also with the month of the year. My skin is definitely more tan and my hair more blond than someone who would normally be returning home from a semester in rainy Portland. It was wonderful to sleep in my own room and not be woken up with my host family fighting over the telephone. Yet I really do miss some of them and I especially miss the wonderful public transportation and all my new friends. When I woke up in the morning after my first night here, I looked out of our kitchen window, and fittingly enough, saw a squirrel run across the lawn. Since my 11 year old brother called me his little ardillita (squirrel) it made me smile, but it was also a reality check that yes, I really am back.

It's wonderful being home with my whole family, but yet it still seems strange. Being away in another country for 5 months does not feel like a vacation, but rather a new life. I feel like I started a new life for myself in Chile and it's hard to accept that it really was just temporary. Probably the strangest thing about being home is the drastic change in language usage. It wasn't strange to start speaking in English because I always spoke in English with my CIEE friends, but it is strange to hear English being spoken all around me. I still think in Spanish and find that I think of words in Spanish and have to remember what they are in English. When I'm about to make a phone call or talk to someone more formally, I find that I start preparing (in Spanish) in my mind what I'm going to say. I then realize that this is not necessary...but I guess I've come a long way.

Another hard part about being back is answering the question "How was your semester in Chile?" I understand that people don't really know what else to ask, but it really is impossible to answer that question. There is no way to sum up everything that happened, my memories, or my emotions. I'm thankful for the opportunity that I had to go spend a semester there, but I just wish the five months didn't fly by so quickly. I'll never forget all the wonderful people I met, each one unique and interesting in their own ways. I'm most grateful for all the Chileans that accepted me into their life and were willing to show me their culture and be friends, knowing all along that I was going to leave after 5 months.

*Un mensaje especial para todos mis amigos chilenos*

Quiero agradecerles a todos por aceptarme en su cultura y sus vidas, y también por su paciencia y ayuda con mi español. Ser extranjera es difícil a veces, y con tus amistades tuve una experiencia buenísima. Estoy muy feliz que pudimos compartir tantos momentos buenos. Si vienes a los estados unidos, por favor, avisame! Normalmente, estoy en Los Angeles o Portland, pero tengo amigos en todos lados y quiero verles otra vez y reciprocar lo que puedo. Si necesitan ayuda con trabajos en inglés, envialos a mi correo porque yo sería muy feliz ayudarles con cualquier cosa. O quizás un día nos volvemos a ver cuando estoy enseñando inglés...¿quién sabe?

Para mantener contacto podemos usar email-- mi dirección es adubchansky@earthlink.net. Pero también me gusta recibir y enviar cartas porque creo que es más entretenido. Si quieres, escribame en mi universidad y les prometo que responderé.

Alison Dubchansky
MSC 763
Lewis & Clark College
0615 SW Palatine Hill Road
Portland, OR 97219 USA

¡Gracias por todo y ya les extraño! Buena suerte con todo y les mando muchos cariños de este lado del mundo.
Con amor, Alison

La patagonia Chilena!

On Monday December 7th, Allison B, Abby, Madeline, and I headed to the airport for a redeye flight to Punta Arenas. We were about to spend 5 days in the chilean Patagonia, but we didn't really know what to expect. We had all just finished finals and so little research was put into details of the actual time spent there. When we arrived at the airport in Punta Arenas, it was only 3:30am so we slept on the floor until the first bus left for Puerto Natales at 8am. Luckily, we were able to leave around 6am because there was a bus of bicyclists that was about to head for Puerto Natales and their driver offered for us to go with them. When we got to Puerto Natales, we rented two two-person tents and four sleeping bags and strapped everything to our backpacks. We had lunch and wandered around the town until the bus left for Torres del Paine National Park. When we finally got to the park, we paid to enter and then took a catamaran across Lago Pehoé to our first campsite.

When we got off the catamaran we were at the first campsite but it was pouring rain, so we went inside to make our peanut butter sandwiches which we planned to eat for the next four days. We then made friends with 3 Barcelonian guys who helped us set up our two tents. We woke up the next morning and began our hiking. We hiked for about 4 hours to get to Glacier Grey, had lunch, and then hiked back down. The glacier was so amazing to see that it seemed unreal. It rained and snowed on us that entire first day. We spent the second night at the same campsite and then packed up our stuff in the morning. The second day we camped at Los Cuernos. We met two girls from Maine and bonded with them over the food we had brought, the ridiculous costs associated with camping at these campsites, and foot pains.

The third day was my favorite because we hiked along Lago Nordenskold (we called it lake Nogin-shnogin) for the entire day. The water was turquoise and the views and reflections were amazing. We stopped at campamento Chileno for some hot chocolate and to buy some bread. Then we continued to campamento Torres so that we would be by the famous torres and go see them the next morning. All the friends that we made along the W-route were staying at the same place. It was fun to spend the evening with them since by the fourth day we felt like we knew them pretty well. The funniest part was that they were from Israel, New Zealand, Germany, France, United States, and England...but no Chileans! They all got a kick out of the fact that we were only eating peanut butter sandwiches so they offered us all of their left over pasta.

The next morning we woke up early, hiked up to the towers, and then hiked all the way down to the hotel to catch the bus back to Puerto Natales. When we got back to the hotel, we once again met up with all the friends we had made. It was so nice to sit on the lawn and rest our legs after the 66 kilometers (about 40 miles) that we had just hiked in 4 days!

Las últimas semanas...APROVECHANDO

So much has happened in my last few weeks in Chile that it's really hard to put into words...but it's definitely worth a try. I decided that the highlight of my time with my host family was definitely our Thanksgiving dinner. Allyson and Alice came over and we prepared dinner with my host family. Since my host sibilings were not too impressed by a traditional vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner (I don't blame them!), they decided we should make tacos. Since we wanted to add a traditional dish from the US, we decided on Mac 'n' cheese, tacos, and brownies. Obviously, not very traditional for Thanksgiving but fun and delicious nevertheless. We sat at the table talking for a long time, which was so fun since that never happened with my host family.

One of my most interesting moments of the semester was when I went with a few friends to a soccer game between La U and La Católica. It was the most intense sports game that I've ever seen that I was actually afraid. The fans of the different teams had to enter and sit on separate sides and couldn't exit until all fans of the other team has already exited the stadium. There were also tons of police throughout the stadium to

make sure that fights didn't start. Most of the people that go are insane fans and yell profanities during the entire game...even if they are 12 years old! It was really quite a scene but the stadium was beautiful, especially with the Andes behind it. It made me think about how different the games are between UCLA and USC!

CIEE hosted a cena de despedida (good-bye dinner) for all the people in my program. It was really nice to be able to see everyone and be together one last time before people started to leave the country. Everyone came with one of their host parents, but since my host mom couldn't come, I sat with Allyson's host dad and some of our cultural ambassadors.

Allyson and I went to Viña del Mar for a weekend because we had bought tickets to the Américo concert there. We had wanted to see him in concert all semester

, so when we found out he was going to be in Viña, we immediately bought tickets. He played at the Quinta Vergara which is an outdoor venue. He was really good but the best part was just being with all the crazy fans...most of which were 40 year old women! We then spent the entire next day on the beach in Viña. It was really similar to the beaches in Santa Monica...except with a lot less tourists!

When I finished my finals, I had about a week before I left for Patagonia. It was really nice to be able to spend time with my CIEE and

Chilean friends and enjoy Santiago without having any classes or homework. Alice, Allyson, Danilo and I went to MIM, which is the interactive museum. It was full of chi

ldren on field trips, but we managed to share the exhibits with them and have lots of fun. I also went with Alice and Allyson to Viña Concha y Toro, which is a vineyard right outside of Santiago. It was beautiful and the tour was very entertaining since we hadn't done many tourist activities during our time in Santiago. I spent one day with Fernanda and Andrea, two friends from my so

ciology class. They took me to Parque Quinta Normal and the Museo de Ferrocarriles.

Also, Allyson wrote an entry in her blog which is only a preview of the book we are going to write and call "The Adventures of Allyson and Alison." We haven't decided if it should be children's book or a chapter book...and then Alfredo told us we should just make two versions! Here's the link to her blog entry: http://allysonenchile.blogspot.com/2010/11/adventures-of-alison-and-allyson.html