Valpo Voyager

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The Superhumans of CGE

November 18, 2012 / samanthafrisk / 1 Comment

So throughout my trip I’ve blogged about the places we go, museums and historical sights we get to visit, and all the speakers we hear from, but I realized I never really talk about the biggest reason this program is so wonderful—the Center for Global Education staff! The people that work at this school have made this an incredible trip for me and the other students. They have served as mentors, stand-in parents, and friends to all of us. Not only do I learn so much from them, but they continue to brighten my day whenever I see one of them. I’m not sure how you find people like the one’s CGE has hired, but I thought it was time I introduced you to them so you can get to know the wonderful people I am spending my semester with.

Passat and Romanus

First let’s talk about how we get to all these awesome places. Passat has been the nick name given to the superhuman that drives us to all of our internships, homestays and trips around Namibia. He is even driving 16 hours to Cape Town (while we fly) so that we can get around while there. Nothing keeps Passat from getting to our destination—whether it’s blown tires, closed roads, or wildlife. While in the car, he’s always singing along to either 90s RnB or some traditional music that has really grown on us. I have even caught him hands in the air belting out a lyric when most of us are asleep. I have to say that some of my favorite moments are just driving in the van. He is also the handy man around our house and can fix everything. I also realized, after hearing him speak to different staff members, people in the north, and our rural homestay families that he knows six different languages. In general he just knows so much and shakes his head and giggles at us when we don’t listen to him.

Next, our professors. I don’t get to interact with Romanus, the history professor, but he’s definitely loved by the students. One student said, “If we gave out superlatives for the staff, he would be named coolest.” We got to attend his wedding early in the semester and from being with him in Swakopmund, I can tell he’s a laid back guy with a great sense of humor. Everyone in the house raves about the history class and I’m a little regretful that I didn’t take it, however, what I took in place of that class has made it worth it. Instead of taking one of the classes offered here at CGE, I decided on an independent study and my advisor, Nespect, has been absolutely incredible to work with. He is the travel seminar and internship coordinator also, so we get to spend time with him in class and also for our first week in Johannesburg. Nespect is always enthusiastic and my favorite thing is that he always greets us with, “Hello Friends!”

Last of the professors, is our development and yoga professor. Students say this countless times and I really think it’s the only to describe her, “Linda is Awesome.” For me she has not only been a fantastic professor who makes me think critically and challenges me to look at the many sides of development issues, but she has also been a great role model. Instead of rambling about great things she has taught me, I will just share her cheesy but meaningful conclusion of our development class that made me hopeful instead of cynical—she shared with us that, to her, development boils down to love. We need love one another, love people on the other side of the world that we maybe don’t know, and love them more than our material possessions. More importantly, she pointed out that love isn’t this passive, wimpy thing that many think of, but one of the most powerful tools in the world. Its statements like these that make me admire her and hope that throughout my career I can keep the same passion and optimism.

Sara and I

Evolyn and Janobe are cooks in our house and I honestly don’t how I will eat after this, because they make such delicious meals, with freshly baked bread, and incredible desserts—it’s no wonder all of our shorts are a little tighter. I am always amazed at how creative they are and how they do such a great job at planning. We have never once had the same meal and they’ve adapted to all our weird dietary requests. They’re even been cooking without an oven for the past two months. Talk about incredible!

Lastly, Sara, she is one of the cooks at the house, but she also coordinates our homestays and she traveled to Khorixas with us, which was really great because she’s from this area. We got to visit the high school she graduated from and she knew so much about the people in this area. It always puts a smile on my face to see Sara—she is always bubbly and enthusiastic and it just isn’t possible to be unhappy if you’re around her

The staff overall genuinely cares about the students on this trip. We’re often impressed with how much time they invest in getting to know us and finding out how we are daily. I admire that they value education so much and that they go out of their way (undoubtedly more than we know) to make sure students have the most incredible experience. It’s going to be really hard to leave all the incredible people here, but I am so excited for the next group of students to spend an awesome four months with them!

To get a tour of the house and introductions to everyone, check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUa8QgBHkP0

A day in the life.

November 15, 2012 / Micaela Johnston / 0 Comments

Nothing too terribly exciting (that’s to say anything outside of my normally wonderful Viña life) has happened lately, so I thought I would take you through a day-in-the-life…

On Mondays and Wednesdays I have classes at 2pm, on Tuesday at 8:20am, and on Thursday and Friday I have no class…regardless of my laze-provoking schedule, I usually wake up around 7:30/7:45am to take advantage of my day starting off at the gym or with an easy morning jog.

We post our schedules on the fridge in the kitchen so that our host parents can set out breakfast for us (awww) which usually consists of a yogurt with avena (plain oats) & a piece of (delicious) bread that can be paired with either cheese or marmalade. We spend the mornings doing homework, classes or still just trying to wake up. Chile in general is usually not up and kickin’ until about 10 or 11 when most stores and shops open.

Then anytime between 1pm to 3pm is lunch. Magaly, the house maid, is an amazing cook and always has something delicious prepared! Lunch usually consists of a salad, soup, entree, and (of course) dessert. We’ll sit at the table, make conversation and, if we’re lucky, watch Dama y Obrero, one of Magaly’s favorite soap operas (and now, one of mine as well!) Lunch usually takes an hour or two and then after we go upstairs to relax and digest a bit until the afternoon activities which are usually random and thought of in the spur of the moment which can range from going to the beach to learning how to dance Bachata to just walking around the city.

Then in the late evening there’s la once which consists of some bread with marmalade or meat, cheese and pebre and maybe some tea or coffee. It’s typically the most conversational part of the day where everyone lightly munches and shares about their daily adventures.

Outside of that, the spaces are filled with the randomness of life happenings, every weekend with its own zest.

As for this past weekend here’s what happened:

Oh my dear Lord...

I don’t remember if this was the weekend or during the week, but at some point I tried something called acompleto which is a gigantic hot dog with tomatoes, avocado and a thick layer of mayonnaise on top. I asked for no mayo and then proceeded to become more and more frightened as they prepared the beast…turns out there are two hot dogs inside the enormous bun. I managed to eat the entire thing but ate little else the entire day. It was filling to say the least.

Another food experience was with my Chilean Naval school buddies, when they introduced me to chorrillana which is this mountain of french fries, covered in eggs, onions and meat. Perfect man food…but I’m not so sure if my tummy could take anymore giant food feats of Chile any longer.

There have also been temblors which are like little earth tremors, baby earthquakes. Apparently there was one at 3am that was relatively strong that I didn’t feel…but there were a few little ones during the day that I did.

Olivia and I also discovered a club full of flaites (ghetto Chileans), which I highly recommend you do not go to. It’s called Area Universitario…or something like that. We were going to go to this salsa dancing club called Cubanismo for a birthday of one of our friends, but we couldn’t end up finding her and it was really expensive to get in, so we settled on the place next door…this club of flaite which one should never set foot into. The music was horrible and the environment was dirty and…just don’t go.

Then Saturday came along and we went to the Jardín Botánico (Botanical Garden) and enjoyed an afternoon walk there. There was a French garden and Mexican cactus garden as well as some trees, a little lake and river. There was also the opportunity to do some zip-line/rope course in the park that looked pretty cool and you could rent bicycles! (Olivia and I got excited about the bikes…) It’s a very relaxing place to sit and take in.

Basilio, Olivia and I with empanadas!

Well, you can escape Chilean’s love for food forever because we made empanadas on Sunday. They take a lot of work, but are definitely worth it. Basilio taught Olivia and I how to make them so that we can share them with our families when we go back home. We made seafood, cheese, and the classic Chilean pino (beef, onions, egg, and a single olive). It was fun, but I’m really bad in the kitchen…so I mostly watched the Mallorca vs. Barcelona game with Messi. I helped a bit though, chopping up some of the meat and folding the empanada dough into their pretty little forms. Then we lunched on each of the 3 types of empanadas and seafood soup with bread. We were so stuffed, but even still, after lunch our host mother asked us if we were could make waffles for la once. We asked her if she was serious, and after she nodded, we unwillingly agreed and took a long post-lunch nap…luckily she forgot about the waffles by the time la once came around.

La feria

After the incredibly filling lunch and siesta we took a walk over to Avenida San Martin for the Feria Artesanía where vendors show off their wares and sell them at relatively low prices. You have to be a little more careful though because especially during the start of summer/tourist season they raise prices a little more, so it’s better to buy these things (if you can) away from that season. We browsed around the stands and saw a guy make spray paint art which was incredible. It’s also right next to the beach where people make incredible sand art statues.

It seems like this weekend hasn’t been the most exciting of weekends, but I’ve found since I’ve been here that you don’t need to go on a big trip to some exotic place to have an adventure. I love my Viña life, which of course you’re probably thinking “of course she does because she’s in Chile…” but being here, I’ve learned to love even more my Minnesota life and my Valpo life. It’s just all how you look at the place you’re in and how you choose to enjoy it and take advantage of everyday.

As Neil Armstrong once so wisely stated,

Every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.

Keep that in mind and love the life you’re in, wherever you are. Don’t focus so much on what you could be doing or where in the world you could be enjoying yourself, but rather about where you are right now and the amazing things that are happening in world around you. Find adventures in the place you are with people you love because those are the adventures that will make all the difference with the people that have made all the difference.

Take in every sunrise, every sunset...

So as I said, and will continue to say for my rest of my days, I love my life.

…do you love yours?

Let me take you through Cambridge…

November 14, 2012 / ayatakahashi / 0 Comments

I don’t know if any of you knew me at Valpo, but I’d like to consider myself a studious student (:
This meant that I spent hours on end at the wonderful Christopher Center Library, which maybe you have seen me at.
Now I’m the type of person who gets pretty lonely doing homework by myself, so I like to surround myself with people when I’m working on things, even if they’re strangers (weird study tactic, I know).
So discovering that there is a public library in the city centre of Cambridge was a grade saver for me.
I have visited the library at least once or twice a week, and although it’s a 20 minute long walk, it’s never a chore.

As I decided to walk to the library today to get some papers done, I thought, why not share my little walk to the library with everyone? It’s actually quite pleasant. So this is my tour of Cambridge: the library version.

Walking out of the doors of the centre, it is immediately a bigger road. I keep following the road and as usual, see the hand wash car washing place (usually has some pretty good looking chaps there, for you ladies!). Then I cross the road, which is actually a struggle for me since I am not very used to the pedestrians not being yielded like in the States. Those cars will be pretty angry at you if you try to take over the road.
Then I continue following the sidewalk for a bit, passing a couple restaurants/bars, the castle mound, a few more shops. I reach the bridge at this point, which I always love watching the punts. I can’t imagine going punting in cold weather, but there are always people there!
As soon as I walk across the bridge, the livelier part of town starts showing. There are a lot of people walking, stores and restaurants everywhere, and a lot of huge buses. Not to mention bicycle users EVERYWHERE! I mentioned this in an earlier post, but bikes are a very used form of transportation here than compared to the US.

Look at all of those bikes that are parked there!

Once I’m walking on the street you can see above, I know that I’m close to the city centre. In the middle of the city centre, I usually hear performers singing or playing instruments. Today, I decided to take a little detour and drop by the market.

So many of them!

The market is open every day until 5 pm. It has so many shops with a huge variety of materials. Some have typical things like clothes and accessories. But there are some really creative ones like accessories made from materials inside a clock, or wine holders made from aluminum. There are markets all around Europe, (or at least the places I’ve been to so far) and I always love seeing the creative inventions that are made.
Here is another view of the market.

After strolling through the market, I turned the corner down to a street and entered the Lion Yard mall. This is a really neat mall because although it is technically not an outdoors mall, the ceiling is so high and open that it feels like it.
Surprisingly, this is where the library is at. Yep, inside a mall!

You might think it’s pretty small considering it being inside a mall, but it’s actually quite large and cozy. It also has 3 stories!
There’s plenty of tables and chairs, although most times that I’ve been there it’s been pretty occupied. I guess the English people must like to utilize their public libraries!
There’s always a broad range of people there. I see older people reading newspapers or working on crosswords, and sometimes I would see kids who look like they are in middle school. Of course a majority seem to be students and adults but there are times when I see a bunch of adorable children too.
It’s really a comfortable environment to get work done and is a nice way to get out of the centre sometimes.
For those of you planning or thinking of coming to Cambridge, I would highly recommend using this library! Getting a library card is free (:
Well, I hope you guys enjoyed my “tour” to the library and the next time you hear from me will probably be about the Castles Weekend. I can’t wait for it!!

Cheers!

"Campus" map.

The University Experience in Germany

November 13, 2012 / johnertel / 0 Comments

So….where to begin?

First of all, trying to figure out which courses to take is no small task. There isn’t a course catalog that you can look at and read all about the courses and figure out which ones are really interesting. There isn’t even something similar that exists. All of the courses are online. They are organized according to the faculty or school, such as medicine, law, philosophy, Protestant theology, Catholic theology, et cetera, and then under each general category there are categories arranged to the difficulty/level/size of the class. Then under these categories you can find a class that you might want to take, except most of the courses have no descriptions, so you basically have to guess what the course is like. This means that you should pick a lot of classes, and then visit each one to figure out which ones you do and don’t want to take. This leads to our next interesting thing about German universities….the first lecture.

Before I move on to lectures, I have to mention that this year in Baden-Württemberg there is a so-called “Doppeljahrgang” taking place, because of changes in the educational system within the state. This means that the equivalent of two classes are being accepted for one year. Basically, the state took all juniors and seniors (because one year of school was eliminated before college) and shoved them into one year. Two years ago (2010/2011 school year) there were 25, 500 students enrolled. Now there are over 27,100 students. That’s a very big difference for any university to accommodate, not to mention that you have that much more people competing for apartments and dormitory spaces.

Since there are so many students, and since everyone wants to visit a lot of lectures in order to pick one that they want, maybe you can imagine what the first lecture will be like…or maybe I should just use a visual aid from a friend’s class (stole it from her Facebook profile)…

"8 a.m. lecture. I got a seat! Woohoo."

Now, I know what you might be saying…”This is a small room in the first place!”. However, even in one of the biggest lecture halls, with more than 100 seats, people were actually sitting on the floor and standing in the back of the classroom. I was fortunate to get a seat, though. Another thing about lecture that is different than Valpo is the length. Most classes at Valpo are either 1 hour and 15 minutes or shorter. Meanwhile, all of my lectures are 1 hour and 30 minutes. You are bound to be uncomfortable, especially if you show up 30 minutes early to get a good seat for the big lectures.

Let’s move on to the “campus” layout. Let’s take a look at the campus map…

"Campus" map.

There actually isn’t a real campus. The university buildings are spread all over the city of Tübingen, so when you get a map of the various university buildings, you literally get a map of the city. A large amount of the students are forced to take a bus to class, especially if they live in the southern part of the city. Now I don’t think anyone at Valpo can complain about walking across campus…ever. There are some students that actually leave lecture early just so they can get to their next class on time. I don’t take a bus, because I don’t mind walking across the city, but maybe that will change when it starts snowing. Speaking of which…we don’t have as many breaks as Valpo. We basically have Christmas break (no Thanksgiving here, of course), and one big semester break (about three months).

I suppose the last thing that I can quickly mention about university here, is that there basically isn’t homework (except for reading). Also, there is usually only one test at the end of the semester for each course, and (maybe) a huge writing assignment. I think that’s basically all of the differences.

One last thing about the structure of the classrooms….they are all really long and not very wide, but it’s the opposite in the US. I just find that a little weird, because some students are basically very far away from the board and professor.

Until next time…

Lunch at Schloss Meersburg.

Excursions to Bodensee and Stuttgart

November 9, 2012 / johnertel / 0 Comments

I am rather behind on my blogging, but , as promised, I will talk about the great day-trip I had with the Deutsch-Kompakt course. I might as well talk about Stuttgart, too. We went to the Bodensee at the end of September, so it was sunny, and the Alps were clearly visible from where we were. Before we actually got to the waterfront, though, we visited a rococo church, which looked rather ordinary on the outside, but it was ridiculous (!) on the inside. I actually thought it was gaudy.

Birnau, the gaudy rococo church.

After the rococo church, we went to the “Pfahlbaumuseum”, which was a museum about houses that stood on pillars over the water. It is easiest to just show a picture…

Pfahlbaumuseum

Of course the museum wasn’t that interesting for everybody. What everyone did like was our penultimate destination, Meersburg. We had lunch together in front of palace, which was located on the waterfront (with a view of the Alps), before we had a tour of a castle, and some wandering-around time.

Lunch at Schloss Meersburg.

View of the Alps from Schloss Meersburg (where we ate lunch).

Then we got on a ferry and headed to Konstanz, where we spent the rest of the day. Unfortunately, at this point in the day it turned windy and cold, but we mostly just walked around the city for a while before the group had dinner together.

A week and a half later….Stuttgart. The first thing we did in Stuttgart was the Mercedes-Benz Museum, of course. I thought it was kind of interesting. I went through the whole museum in about an hour (including taking photos). It isn’t something I would necessarily do more than once.

Mercedes-Benz Museum

There were a lot of interesting cars of course…

One of the older models...

For you Jurassic Park lovers...

…and a lot of information about their vehicles…

I never really understood how someone is supposed to know which one is...

After the museum we arrived in the main part of the city. We went to the Markthalle and looked at all of the interesting foods that one can buy there. Then people went their separate ways for food or shopping. The main event of the day was going to the Stuttgart Ballet. We saw “Don Quijote”, which I never knew was a ballet, but apparently it is. That was how concluded our long day in Stuttgart before we boarded to bus to go home.

Opera and Ballet House in Stuttgart

Next time I will talk about how going to school in a German Uni is different than Valpo, and believe me…it is.

Adventuring, partying, gringo-ing.

November 4, 2012 / Micaela Johnston / 0 Comments

All right, so a LOT of things have happened since my last post:

Mendoza

I have a tourist visa instead of a student visa, which means that I have to leave the country before 90 days or I’ll be illegal and since Mendoza, Argentina is just across the border, I thought I would take a nice weekend trip there. I asked a few weeks before if anyone wanted to go with me, but everyone had plans…so I went solo (which sounds sad, but no worries; this story has a happy ending!) 90 days was October 29th, and I bought my tickets for October 25th: close call much.

I strolled on over to the bus terminal to purchase my ticket with my passport in hand to verify that I could cross the border. They examined my passport and then proceeded to ask me for my visa, where I flipped open to the page with a little piece of paper stapled; they told me that wasn’t my visa. They told me it was a yellow piece of paper that they had given me coming into Chile when I arrived at the airport and asked me if I had it. I said yes, thinking to myself “why would I throw that away, it must look important enough, right?” I went back home and started looking…and eventually destroyed my room not finding it anywhere. I realized that when I moved houses, I had thrown away a lot of things, including that yellow piece of paper that turned out to be my visa. I was under the impression that it was just a receipt for the transaction and the paper that they stapled to my passport was my visa…reverse that. Now I was stressed; I was supposed to leave for Mendoza the next day and I didn’t have a visa to cross the border to Argentina so that I wouldn’t be illegal in Chile. I had to change my ticket for the day after and scrambled to find everything I needed to get my visa (which is another novel in itself…I’ll spare you the dirty details because this blog is going to be painfully long as it is). After a long day of taking the metro to Valpo, dealing with the receptionist, hopes being crushed, thinking I would be illegal in Chile and be evicted from the country, going back to the bus terminal, going to the police station, feeling hope on the horizon, almost being a criminal and getting Carlos (director of the UVM) in trouble for not having a student visa, and explaining to many officials how I accidentally threw my visa away, I finally ended up with one, beautiful, clean, new visa in my possession. I don’t think I can tell you how relieved I was.

I arrived at the terminal with only the phone number of a family friend whom I was supposed to call when I arrived to show me around the city a bit and help me find a hostel. I changed my money and searched for the information center to find a map and a phone. The gentleman there assisted me in getting a hold of who I needed to get a hold of, and after a nice conversation with him, Maria de la Luz arrived to show me around. She and her friend (and now mine as well) Ivana walked around the city with me, showing me some plazas and finding me a safe, clean, and cheap hostel to stay at for the night. We got along immediately. Mendoza is known for its leather, so after Luz had to go to class, Ivana, her boyfriend, and I went shopping. She continued to show me around the main streets and I got a good feeling for Argentinians and their culture.

Later that night, Luz came to the hostel with her boyfriend Pipi, and we went out for some light drinks and conversations a nearby bar. We talked for hours about the differences between Argentina and Chile, the USA, soccer, and life in general. Then we went over to Ivana’s apartment and played a board game until 4 a.m. Great night.

Relajando en el Parque San Martin; Relaxing in San Martin Park

The next day I woke up at 8:45 a.m (don’t ask me how…), ate some breakfast, chatted with some French guys who stayed in the hostel the night before, and then packed up my stuff to go over to San Martín Park. The park is gigantic! There’s a zoo, garden alongside a lake, sporting fields, and lots of beautiful statues/fountains. I simply wandered around leisurely. I found a spot under some trees, took out my Bible to read and napped in the shade.

Luz and Pipi invited me to an asado at their house, where we had some delicious Argentinian BBQ and watched Zorro. I tried mate for the first time, which is absolutely delicious traditional tea in all of South America. We also had a sweet jelly (I forgot what it’s called) with cheese later before I left. Then I departed for the terminal, and it seemed like I hadn’t spent enough time there…so we agreed that I had to come back! Which I will in the coming weeks to get to know the city more and go rafting and bungee jumping. Excited 🙂

Soccer Championship

Campeonas!; Champions!

And so here we are, UVM going against la Universidad Católica in the championship game. After some incredible shots, a red card losing one of our fastest players, and plenty of aggressive play, we ended up claiming our champion title for the 4th year in a row. We won 3-0 and proudly posed for newspaper photos (you can see the article here).

The celebration really started when we got back to the locker room.

There was plenty of noise; chanting, singing, laughing, banging the locker room benches and walls. Then, of course, everyone had their turn to be drenched in trash bins filled with water. After, a few of the players tried to have a nice mil hojas cake with manjar but ended up throwing it in our coaches face and savagely grabbing at the remains to gnaw at.

Craziest celebration of a soccer win I’ve ever experienced…can’t wait to start traditions like this when I get back.

Halloween Party

The same day of the championship day was Halloween, and Olivia and I decided to invite some friends over to have a small get together. With the gracious permission from our host parents, we expected about 9 or 10 people to come over for some snacks and Halloween movies. What it ended up being was almost 20 people in the living room, most with costumes ranging from Edward Cullen to a gangster to plenty of cats. Everyone brought along something to share, so we had lots of chips and cookies; cheap college kids. One of the girls brought karaoke, so we all jammed out and sang along to every song. Then, of course, the Chilean touch of dance. Everyone wanted to dance, so with some rearrangement of furniture we created a makeshift dance floor, and after some people left there was enough room to have Bachata lessons (which I failed miserably…but with some practice I’m sure I’ll get better!…maybe). Great Halloween!

La Sebastiana

…in Valparaiso was incredible. Olivia, Oscar (host brother), and I visited another one of Pablo Neruda’s houses with a stunning view in the heart of a beautifully dysfunctional city. Walking around the city afterwards was awesome, and full of plenty of new discoveries and passing a few art galleries along with all the beautiful graffiti and murals.

Almuerzo Gringo

Que rico! YUM!

Olivia and I had cravings one day for some good ol’ USA style breakfast. Therefore, the idea came that we should make some for our host family. With the help of Alison (also in the program) and Scott (gringo host brother) we put together a giant gringo-style breakfast (that was more like lunch because we didn’t eat until almost 3 in the afternoon). Bacon, sausage, french toast, and a giant stack of waffles. The family loved it and decided we needed to make waffles again. You can be sure that we most definitely will.

Cachagua

Only an hour and a half ride from Viña, we took the micro at 10 a.m on a Saturday morning. I slept the second half. When we arrived we all stretched and walked to the beach; a walk we imagined would only be a few blocks…ended up being much more than that and up a hill. Finally, when I was at my point of almost frustration, we arrived at the peak and could see the bright turquoise water, the soothing waves, the white beach: absolutely unreal. I felt like I was in one of those seemingly photoshopped pictures that automatically come with a new computer it was so incredibly breath-taking. We took our places on the sand and then Emma (another student) and I decided to go for a swim. The water was not just cold, it was ice…but we swam anyway. “Getting used to the water” meant not being able to feel your body entirely, which was fun. We would brave the sea for a bit, and then clamber back on shore praising God that He made the sun to warm us. We did this 5 or 6 times.

Olivia and I also found a path along the side of the bay with boulders and cliffs that led all along the edge of the coast and went on for, what seemed like, ever. There was one bridge and waterway in particular that reminded me a lot of Pirates of the Caribbean; so cool. The waves were wild, the salty mist refreshing. Ahhhh…

And then we waited for the micro home. When it finally got to us, there weren’t enough seats for all of us, so a few of us (myself included) stood for the hour and half ride back to Viña del mar (which ended up being 2 hours thanks to the tourist weekend traffic). The driver was insane. As there were no more seats in the micro, the more people he picked up had to stand…and it got more and more full…and just when you thought it was full enough, he would stop to pick up more people. So, to entertain ourselves, the other gringos and I sang songs to pass the time. We would cheer when people would get off (both in relief that there was more space and in happiness for their freedom from the seeming death trap) and groan when more people would pile in. Entertaining ride to say the least. And for the last 20 minutes, enough people got off that we were able to have seats. Nice.

Lot of adventuring lately. Can’t wait to do more!

The Luck of the Irish

November 2, 2012 / ayatakahashi / 0 Comments

This past week was my second break and what did I decide to do last minute? Yes, go to Ireland.
Ireland was a country that I really wanted to go to this fall, but looking at my budget for the rest of the semester, I wasn’t quite sure if I could squeeze it in.
But it was probably the best last minute decision I have made, and I am SO glad to have done it!

One of our C-90 group members Holly and I decided that we’ll do a random travel – not have anything specific planned but just do what we want to do at that moment.
It was a great plan at the start, but we did realize later that maybe we should have done a little more thinking when we did our hostel bookings…something to keep in mind for future travelers!

Our journey started off early in the morning since we wanted to take the ferry to Ireland. We took trains up to Northern Wales where our ferry port was. We were able to see some great views of Wales on the way! The ferry was very nice too; I wouldn’t mind cruising for a few weeks on this ferry!

After about a 3 hour ride, we arrived in Dublin. Dublin wasn’t a huge interest to either of us, so it was just a stop on the way until we headed for Galway the next morning.

And let me tell you, Galway was absolutely AMAZING. I think that it could be one of my favorite towns that I have been to so far, with Venice and Cambridge as close seconds.
I don’t know exactly what it was about it, maybe it was the Irish spirit, but even just walking around town not doing so much was enjoyable.

Our hostel that we stayed at was very welcoming too. The staff were really friendly and the accommodations were great! We met and chatted with our roommates who were visiting their friend studying in Galway. They were from France!
It gave us a bunch of options that we could look into during our stay in Galway. We decided that on the first night, we would go on the pub crawl, and on the second day take the tour to Cliffs of Moher.

The pub crawl wasn’t necessary as crazy as I thought it might be (but maybe that’s because we weren’t partying with the Irish!), but Holly and I had a great time. We met a group of three, who graduated school recently and were traveling before going into grad school, or into the horrifying “real world”. It was nice talking to Americans and hearing their stories on why they were traveling.
(I don’t know if any of you guys reading this are Glee fans, but one of those guys looked like a brunette version of Cameron Mitchell from the first season of The Glee Project. I am a huge Glee fan, and of course, I was thrilled with that.)
The pub crawl ended at a club, which I was pretty excited about. As I went to the club though, I realized that the music was different from the ones that I have been used to at Cambridge. Cambridge clubs tend to play mostly music similar to what we Americans listens to. There are a couple British songs, but most of them I can recognize. But this club in Galway, had maybe two or three songs that I knew during the hour or so that I was there. We came to the conclusion later that the Irish like American music that was popular in the 80s and 90s. So any Americans travelers around their 40s-50s will probably have a blast at these clubs!

The next morning we went on the tour to Cliffs of Moher with our two French roommates.
The tour guides we had – on the bus and when we went on a little hike – both knew exactly what they were talking about. I love the fact that it is actually fun to learn about the things they were telling us because they have so much passion in their history that they want to share. What I liked about Ireland in general was how much Irish are proud of their culture and history. They want to continue to remember and pass down that history which gives them their identity. And you can really tell how much pride they have. I think that’s what makes the Irish spirit so special.
Our tour headed to Cliffs of Moher with a couple stops on the way, such as the Burrens and a little town called Doolin. But I do have to say that the Cliffs of Moher was my favorite destination out of them all. Although it was absolutely terrifying to stand so close to an edge that was unbelievably high, the beauty was haunting.

There are a few films that have been filmed here too. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan so hearing that a scene in the Half-Blood Prince was filmed here (the part where Harry and Dumbledore go into the cave to destroy the horcrux) got me really excited.
I also watched Leap Year right before going to Ireland, and the proposal scene was filmed here as well. And for those of you Princes Bride fans, this was “The Cliffs of Insanity”!

The tour was about 7 hours and it was a great opportunity for us to be able to see some major sites. It was only about 18 euros (about 23 euros) so I would highly recommend it to anyone thinking of going to Ireland. Which I think everyone should do anyway (:

I mean, just look how beautiful it is!

Although we were pretty tired from the tour, it was Halloween so we figured we needed to go out in town this night. We decided to go out with the French roommates and their friend studying in Galway. As we walked into the city centre, all 5 of us were astounded by how CRAZY it was. It was nothing like I’ve seen before! Everywhere I looked there were people dressed in costumes; it seemed like EVERYONE was dressed up!
None of us knew that Halloween was such a significant event in Ireland and we were bummed that none of us had costumes. But it’s the spirit that matters, right?
We had a great night going to a pub and a club (this time with more music that I actually knew!) and met a couple Irish people!
It was definitely a very memorable Halloween.

This Ireland trip feels special to me because of the connections that I made with other people. Since it was only Holly and I traveling together, it might’ve been easier for other people to approach us and for us to join with others. It’s weird to think that I probably won’t see any of the people that I met this past week ever again, but having that experience and time spending together with someone from another country is such a great perk of being abroad.
I think that this was a great experience, and I am definitely convinced that I will be returning to Ireland – hopefully sometime in the near future!

The tea I ordered, which I can't recall the name of... 好喝! (Delicious~)

A touch of Valpo in Hangzhou

October 30, 2012 / gloriallenos / 0 Comments

Last Wednesday, H-23 had the priviledge of having dinner at one of the most well-known teahouses in the Zhejiang province. It was sort of a bittersweet event: we were there to greet Professor Lin and former basketball coach Homer Drew who would be in Hangzhou for a few days. It was a pleasure talking with the two of them and slightly relieved our homesickness- even if just a little bit. But the dinner also marked our last night with our resident director and his family. At the beginning of the trip we knew that they would be leaving about two months earlier than us, since their children needed to return to school and the parents had to return back for important work matters. But honestly, I can’t think of any better way to send them off back to the US.

Only some of the many snack plates

We first started off with plates filled with different sorts of nuts and fruits. And each time we cleaned off a plate, the waitresses would waltz in and bring us snack after snack. It seemed like the food would never end! We snacked for a least an hour before we were given the tea menus to look at. I couldn’t believe my eyes..most of the tea prices ranged from 150-350 yuan! That’s about $24-56! H-23 was really getting treated that night.

We each ordered our own individual teas, and they came in their own sets. I cannot remember what tea I ordered specifically, but I do remember it was delicious! In addition to our tea, we were given a menu that had about 6 items that we could endlessly order…probably because of the price on the tea. After gorging ourselves on snacks for the past hour, I was by no means hungry..but I couldn’t pass up more food. We ordered noodles, dumplings, rice and all that good stuff. By the end of the night I was more full than I EVER have been in my life. We bid farewell to Prof. Lin, Homer Drew, our resident director and his family. I was really lucky to have this opportunity to dine at such a nice teahouse and sharing it with such wonderful people. (FYI: I was still full the next day..)

The tea that Kate ordered

So now we are all preparing for our upcoming mid-term exams. We will be taking an exam for each class in about two weeks- I am slightly nervous but I know my Chinese has improved greatly since taking these classes. All the classes are taught in Chinese and at times it is difficult to keep up and understand everything completely, however, I feel that you really need to be immersed in the language in order to have a better feel for it. Side note: I am super bummed that I am missing out on the Halloween fun back in the US. Halloween is not really celebrated here in China- actually, when I talk to my fellow international students from all over the world, it doesn’t seem like Halloween is a big deal anywhere besides America. There are a few bars and clubs in Hangzhou that are having costume/Halloween parties, but it is still not the same as the US! So a few of us are planning on dressing up later that night and maybe hopping around the city in our costumes to see if we can find our own Hangzhou Halloween fun.

Decolonizing the Mind

October 29, 2012 / samanthafrisk / 0 Comments

“Decolonizing the Mind.” When I received the program manual with this phrase on the front I thought I had an idea of what this meant and what I would be studying during my semester abroad, but after my rural homestay I have truly been pushed to breakdown my previous conceptions and challenge the ways I once classified people.

It was hard to acknowledge that before my rural homestay I had equated rural with poverty. I had taken a look at all the material things I have and judged households against this standard. By creating this category of “have”, my mind consequently narrowed in on what others did not have. So, admittedly, driving past farms, tin shacks, and mud huts there was a sympathetic wrenching in my stomach. At one point I considered volunteering in such communities, but I worried about my limitations or the negative effects of my “aid”. My first step toward reconciling these thoughts was to learn about “impoverished” communities.

My week on the Inhoek farm in Khorixas abolished all my previous conceptions and reasoning for wanting to learn from this rural community. From the first moment I stepped out of the CGE van, I began to look at this community for everything that they have, not for what they do not. Those things that I might have thought were lacking before had now dissipated and I began to admire their wealth of immaterial things. I even wondered if the absence of physical possessions that I saw was the reason for their strong sense of community, lively nature, and conservation of resources.

My host family lives in a small, two-room, cow dung hut that sits on a farm with several other families. The farm has no electricity, nor sewage, and a water trough that you carry water from and it is shared by the animals making the water unsafe at times. I imagine that for my host family there is a shortage of food, when me and my box of food aren’t staying with them, so there is a physical reality of problems that my family is facing and I don’t doubt that, if asked, there may be aspects they want to improve. However, these were never the focus of my thoughts while I was there and I didn’t worry about my host family because of the support the received from their neighbors.

Throughout the week, I never ate a meal with only my host family. I found myself at the neighbor’s house or children from the community at our home sharing what we had. Many of the families on our farm, who were more well off and had houses in the city, had goat and kudu meat that they contributed, while my mother would cook and share her fatcakes. It seemed that whatever you had, you shared. This unspoken expectation was incredible to me because even the families with little would divide up their food for the number of children that wondered over to their house. Fellow CGE students would mention that they would leave their house with one child and return with four, that they would then share dinner and the children would stay for the evening.

The fluidity of the community was another aspect I came to appreciate. Not only did I find myself with neighbors for dinner, but at every time of the day I was at a different house with different people. I was weird to me that I felt completely comfortable walking right in and felt welcome at any house on the farm even if they hadn’t met me yet. With the grannies that I couldn’t communicate well with, I was still always greeted and invited to sit and have some food or a drink. Even people who drove onto the farm to visit would stop their cars, talk to us and tell us to please enjoy our time. And this wasn’t just their fantastic hospitality, members of their community treated each other this way too. While my host father was gone, teenage boys were always at my house helping my mother with whatever she needed—they were especially great with my one year old little brother. Likewise, my mother frequently visited her neighbors each day to see if they needed help or just to offer some company.

At night we gathered together for conversation, games, singing and dancing and during the day we found even more to do. It is amazing what fun you can have when you don’t have a television to rely on. We hiked the mountains as a big family to watch the sunset, rode horses and chased the goats, played games, made our own swimming pool to take a break from the heat, and even pulled all our beds together and slept under the stars. There was never a moment that I wasn’t the happiest I have ever been. People worked very hard on the farm, but they played hard too. Throughout everything they seemed carefree, despite problems they could have been facing. My favorite memory is everyone singing a song in Damara entitled, “!Gâi tsedi Iguidi” meaning “Good Days Only,” and I feel this embodies their outlook and attitudes. Everyone got up and danced around, clapping and singing loud and everyone was really connected.

I truly admired them for this and for so many other things. Their values impressed me and their creativity inspired me. They somehow found the strength to forgive after every despicable thing they have been put through and focused on treating each other and guests with love and respect, regardless of who they are. Children on these farms built incredible toys and adults fashioned all kinds of tools out of recycled products and minimal resources. They use what they needed and didn’t waste and living here for a week makes me realize the obscene amount of things that I consume needlessly. With everything, I felt they were living a life that was kind to others and didn’t infringe on their way of life and a life that didn’t use more than their portion of this world. If looking at things like this, they are helping others more than anyone could ever help them and I thank them.

When I step back and look at their community I am in awe. I also realize that the industrialization that the Namibian government talks about or the international aid that countries offer could be detrimental to this. Before people go in and begin giving what they think these people need, one should think deeply about how it will change them. My advice is that we begin living lifestyles that are kind and don’t harm others, instead of trying to counteract that by then fixing them or sending what we think they need. Consider the reasoning behind the need for aid. More importantly, before pinpointing every “need,” take a step back and take in all there is to gain from places different from our own. I truly believe a better service to society would be appreciating communities like the one I stayed in, releasing our judgements and absorbing the lessons they can teach us.

One of the host fathers shared how much he appreciated us coming to his farm and learning about his family. This left me speechless because I could never begin to describe everything I have gained from spending just one week with them.

Hungry?

October 25, 2012 / samanthafrisk / 0 Comments

Throughout my time in Southern Africa there has been one food that I have been fed everywhere I go—fat cakes! These little balls of fried dough were served at my homestay in Johannesburg for breakfast with dried fish, minced meat and cheese. I’ve had them multiple times at our house in Windhoek as they are Sara’s (the house’s head cook) favorite food and you can find them at any market or street vendor around Namibia. Now, after learning how to make them with my host mother in Khorixas, I am so excited to share the recipe with you—here’s how to make them at home:

Ingredients:

6 cups cake flour, 1tbs salt, 10 gram instant yeast, 1 cup sugar, 1tbs vinegar, 3 1/2 cups water, Oil for frying

Makes 20-25 fat cakes

Directions:

First, mix flour, yeast, salt, and sugar together. Then, mix vinegar into water and pour over the dry ingredients. Using a wooden spoon, mix these into a soft dough and be sure to mix well so that there are no lumps (Add water as needed).

Cover dough and leave in a warm place until it doubles in size.

Finally, fry them up! Heat the oil in a heavy base sauce pan. Dip a large spoon into the oil then use it to take spoonfuls of the risen dough from the bowl (or you can form them by hand like I did at my home stay). The balls are normally about the size of a plum, but could be smaller or larger depending on your preference. Drop these spoonfuls of dough into the hot oil and fry until the fat cakes are a nice brown color on one side and then flip them over.

You can roll these in cinnamon and sugar—one of the group favorites—or eat them with peanut butter like the kids on the farm I visited liked. They are good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and definitely dessert!

Sara and my resident advisory, Janessa, recorded some videos cooking these and you can check them out at the CGE website: http://cgesouthernafrica.blogspot.com/

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