Where Thou Art -that- is Home

Happy Battle of Iquique Day yesterday! This fantastic festival enabled my friends and me to take a much needed break and travel to Buenos Aires for a glorious five day vacation to the big city. Going back to Bs As was incredible; I love that city...the people are beautiful, the way they speak is gorgeous, and the distinct feel of neighborhoods strongly reminiscent of the big cities of Europe enchants me. I got to go back to a few of my favorite places in the old barrio, but I mainly had the opportunity to discover new spots and wander around famous tourist areas that I never saw in 2006. But even more than reconnecting with an old "home," this trip made me realize that I've found a new one; I caught myself saying "when we get back home..." and meaning Vina del Mar, not the U.S. It was a little overwhelming when I first heard myself say that, because it happened without thinking. Today I landed in Santiago, got the bus to Vina, and stepped out into the cold, drizzly, unwelcoming, and harsh quinta region and realized that even though it's impossible to love this place sometimes, it has undeniably become home.
I feel like I know the twists and turns of almost every street here, I know how to get around, and I know when to cross the street and in which grocery store to shop. There are taxi drivers that recognize me, and I could walk down my neighborhood streets to the bottom of the hill to the coast in my sleep. I *know* this city. I am growing to understand the pain and the perseverance of its people and I am proud to call it home, even for just one year.

Dig and Be Dug in Return

My mother's classroom in St. Joseph's elementary school had Langston Hughes' poem "Motto" hanging from the wall; it was the first poem I memorized and the words have stayed with me.

I have been in Chile for around two and a half months now, and after cancelling classes for two bomb threats, being surrounded by student revolts and transportation strikes, and bombarded with a culture still perpetuating and recovering from a tumultuous and horrific history, I get along here by following Hughes' motto: play it cool, dig all jive, and as I live and learn, try to dig and be dug in return.

With this first post, salud! to Chile, writing, and getting lost....only in order to find ourselves again.