Happy Holidays from Santiago!

Christmas 2011

I look at the calender and say "Ah, yes, it's December," and then turn to look out the window and say "No, it's not."  I see the commercials and Christmas trees and remember that it's Christmas time and then take a cold shower 'cause it's so hot!

Welcome to December in the Southern Hemisphere.  A confusing, strange experience for Northern hemisphere-ers that leaves one realizing how much temperature and climate affects our understanding of a year and the calender.  And while BBQ's and swimming in the pool could be a fun new Christmas tradition, I still must say that there is nothing like Christmas in the winter.  Listening to Christmas carols sing of "winter wonderlands" and not being able to go outside because "baby, it's cold outside," just seem so out of place!  More appropriate Christmas carols would include lyrics such as "sunbathing in the hot sand" and "oo baby it's hot outside!"  But ah, well.

It does have it's benefits: That new bike you got or other outside toy can now be played with right away!  Can't think of anything to do on Christmas day?  Go swimming!  Have a barbeque in the yard with friends that would normally not fit in your small dining room.  Fireworks anyone?  It's no longer too cold to go outside and see them!  Want to spend time with loved ones?  Now you can for longer! The day is young and the sun won't set 'till late.  Just don't forget your sunscreen, fan, ice cream, barbeque and ice.  You'll need it.

Despite the confusion and the heat, it still has been a merry Christmas.

Antonio had his last final last Thursday so we were finally free Friday to do some last minute shopping and enjoy the park at Cerro Santa Lucia (Santa Lucia Hill).  Saturday morning we made a last-minute run to the grocery store (it wasn't as crowded as we thought it would be/had heard from other grocery store-goers!), and had lunch at the house.  I finally got to meet Antonio's third sister Rosa who lives about an hour from Santiago.

After lunch I spent the afternoon with the Chilean family (Silvia, her son Victor, and his son Fransisco) I stayed with while studying abroad here almost three years ago.  They loved the presents I gave them and it was great to see them again.  Here in Chile, the tradition seems to be to have your "Christmas Dinner" (which also includes turkey) on Christmas Eve, open presents at midnight and then play with your gifts outside until you're too sleepy or parents say "bedtime."  We were invited to share dinner with Silvia and her family but we didn't want to leave Antonio's dad, Prudencio, home alone.  Antonio and I made for ourselves spaghetti and tomato sauce with corn (Prudencio and Segundo had already had "tea" separately earlier, like usual), and then opened presents just the four of us (five if you count Lukas): me, Antonio, Prudencio (Antoio's dad), and Segundo (the guy who's worked for Antonio's family for years and lives here, too).

Today has mostly been treated as a normal day in that Antonio had to go work at the kiosk in the morning and we had lunch with Antonio's sister Ines, her husband Pedro and their youngest son, Andres.  But lunch was BBQ'd meat (both beef and pork) and dessert was the pineapple cake that I had bought.  I was finally able to thank Ines for the beautiful earrings and little coin purse she gave me and she was able to receive and thank me (and Mom) profusely for the two crochet hooks we gave her.  After lunch, Antonio, Pedro, and Andres enjoyed playing with the helicopter (the ALMOST hit Prudencio in the head), and Ines was happy to be able to talk to Mom via skyping Mom's cell phone.

Conclusion: Christmas was a success and fun!  I do miss playing games with everyone and just hanging out together (TV's take up the chatting space here).  And also really wish I had access to the movie "White Christmas," but now I think I shall start my attempt at Latkes.  Hopefully they'll turn out well.  I made apple sauce the other day in preparation (a bit sweet but not too bad).

Love and hugs to you all!  Happy Holidays!

Much love (but not too many hugs as it's too hot),
Kaia (^_^)

Sharing the Memory of a Friend, Rob Ingram

Today I was very saddened to read that one of the amazing people I had worked with in the mayor's office, and had just seen this past summer, died of a hear attack this past weekend.  He was only 38, was very kind, generous and handsome, and has 5 children that I didn't get to meet but whom he always talked about so lovingly. 

Here is a link to an article about him.  He was the director of Portland's Office of Youth Violence Prevention, among other things, and as such was a fellow youth advocate and an amazing role model and mentor to so many, including me.  He lived his passion and did so much for so many people. 

I had the pleasure of running into him at a get-together this past summer.  I was so happy to be able to spend time and catch up with him.  When I interned in Mayor Tom Potter's office, he always said hello and took time out of his busy schedule to answer my questions and welcome me to the office.  Even at the get-together this past summer, we weren't his last stop for the day as he had come from one event and was going to stop by another in his gang-prevention role before heading home.  I feel honored to have been able to know him.  He's one of the people I hope to grow up to be like someday.  :)

In honor of his memory, I just wanted to share his life passion and story with you all.  May his memory continue to live in all who knew him or knew of him and his work.

As my favorite song sung by Sweet Honey and the Rock says, "Listen more often to things than to beings,... 'Tis the ancestor's breath, in the fire's voice we hear. 'Tis the ancestor's breath, in the voice of the water."

This is what was shared with me on Facebook about him, for those who are interested:

“I don’t work for the police department, I work for the kids.” -- Robert Ingram

THANK YOU
"As shown by how he lived his life my husband, Robert Ingram, was passionate about our community. He loved mentoring and leading. He believed in every person’s capacity to change, to be a good citizen. Your prayers have given us strength—please continue to offer them for us all. On behalf of our children and families, I offer sincere thanks for the beautiful outpouring of support and love."
--Dana Fuller Ingram

VIEWING OF OUR BELOVED
Caldwell, Hennessey, Goetsch & McGee
20 Northeast 14th Avenue (at Sandy)
Portland, Oregon 97232
Tel: 503/232-4111
Thursday, December 1, 2011
5:30pm-7:30pm in the evening

LIFE CELEBRATION
The International Fellowship Family (TIFF)
4401 NE 122nd Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97230
Tel: 503/249-0347
There is limited parking at TIFF, please carpool.
Viewing: Friday, December 2, 2011
10am until 11:00am
Ceremony: Friday, December 2, 2011
12 O’clock in the afternoon
Please note, the casket will be closed at 11:00am.

INTERMENT
Rose City Cemetery
5625 Northeast Fremont Street
Portland, Oregon 97213
503/281-3821

REPAST
Fellowship and food will be shared at TIFF at 4pm in the afternoon.

MEMORIAL FUND
If you would like to make a contribution in support of Rob’s memorial to help his family, please contribute to:
Rob Ingram Memorial Fund
Bank of America (any Portland/ SW Washington area branch) 

FLOWERS
Flowers may be delivered to:
The International Fellowship Family (TIFF)
4401 NE 122nd Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97230
503/249-0347
Hours 9am to 4pm

 

Wishing You a Happy Thanksgiving from Down South!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I just wanted to take a moment and thank all of you for your constant support, friendship, love, knowledge, mentorship and for just being such beautiful people and for being in my life.  They say that it takes a village to raise a child and I'd like to thank each one of you for continuing to be a part of my village. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving day!  May you eat lots of deliciousness, play lots of fun games, and speak only kind words today and every day.  We forget that not everyone has what we do and that we really have so much to be thankful for!  So whether they be a friend, family member or stranger on the street, thank someone!!!

In general, Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Chile.  But those ex-pats who are here are celebrating with their family or friends.  We are not going to do anything particularly special today for Thanksgiving, but on Saturday it looks like we will be going to have a Thanksgiving picnic with some college friends.  I'm planning on bringing the sequence game that I made (pictures to come) and the Bananagrams that Antonio got for Christmas last year.  It should be fun.  Tonight I'm hoping to watch a movie of some sort when Antonio isn't studying for his exam on Saturday.

Here in Santiago, Chile, things have been going along.  I'm on unit 17 of 20 on my way to getting my certificate to teach English.  I'm hoping to finish the course next week.  Antonio is almost done with his classes so we will soon both be looking for work.  The weather here is already into the mid-high 80's and Sunday I got my first sunburn of the season (went to see Chile's first ever Red Bull Soap Box Race down a hill nearby-- it was fun but super crowded and HOT).  

Yesterday we accompanied Antonio's dad on the weekly shopping trip for the family store and I discovered the Chilean version of Costco.  It's nowhere near as big, nor does it sell everything like Costco (only food), and it's not a club, but you buy things in bulk and it's cheaper.  Two shopping carts and $400 or so later and we had all the necessary items to sell for another week at Kiosk Lago Budí (Lake Budí Kiosk - it's a named after a lake in Southern Chile).  We also went and bought 8 boxes of ice cream bars and trucked them to the kiosk on the bus --YUP!  :D

The other news is that last night we both started a new dance class taught by a friend of Antonio's from Colombia.  It's called Salsa Caleña and is similar to salsa, but instead of taking steps on 1-2-3 (pause) and 4-5-6, in salsa caleña, you step or do a kick or tap on every beat which makes it a lot faster and more difficult!  Here is a link to the 2007 World Salsa Caleña Competition winners.  Fyi, we're not that good yet. :p 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and rest of the week!  Love and hugs to you all!

Love, Kaia (^_^)

Happy Halloween!

Surprising enough as it may seem, the Chileans have been celebrating Halloween for the past 10 years or so.  Although, if you look at the large number of commercials for credit cards and the many US products, it is less surprising to see that this up and coming capitalist country has found one more holiday to consume.  The responses, needless to say are very similar to those in the US.  For example: Most children, I would assume, would see the aisles of Halloween costumes and candy in the supermarkets and the booths of Halloween costumes in the street fairs as a fabulous opportunity to eat candy, dress up and act scary (btw, BIG benefit of celebrating Halloween in the southern hemisphere is that you won't have to wear long underwear under your costume!!!).  Antonio sees it as a holiday that belongs to some other country and thus doesn't feel that Chileans should be trying so hard to "copy" it, and Ines, Antonio's sister, makes the kids that come to her door asking for a "trick or a treat" take off their masks before she gives them anything as she feels it is worshiping the devil.  (She and her husband seem to be more conservative Catholics.  He has told me on more than one occasion of the month or so he spent, 10 years ago, only able to speak and write in Hebrew/Arabic? and unable to communicate with anyone in Spanish as God had given him that gift.)

Anywho, the Chileans, even have a convenient four day weekend to take advantage of and celebrate Halloween as ironically, next week there are two Saints' days (yes, because of the Catholic holidays, they are able to more fully celebrate the devil-worshiping one).  Most people are heading out of town or heading to the amusement park or beach for the extended weekend but Antonio and I are staying in Santiago.  Antonio will be working at Jumbo, one of the supermarket chains, restocking the shelves as he did a few other holidays past.  We were planning on joining the masses at the local amusement park, Fantasilandia, but so many people went that they had to close the gates to more visitors.  They have decked it out with walking mummies and other gruesome haunts instead of plush-costumed actors, many skeletons and other authentic decorations, and, according to the website, some other fancy stage productions as part of the "Nights of Terror."  They are open until midnight tonight!  Our neighbor Soledad and her son Martín are there and promised to take pictures so it shall be fun to see them.  I went to the non-Halloweened Fantasilandia two years ago when I studied here and enjoyed it immensely.  I feel they have changed some things since so it should be fun when we do manage to go.

In general, I am not sure we will do anything special for Halloween.  On Monday night there is a costume party at Golden Music, the salsa club where Antonio and I met.  However, we do not have costumes at this current moment in time, and Antonio has to work all day Monday and Tuesday so we'll see what happens. 

Here, as promised are a few albums to summarize the past few weeks and some of the other exciting moments.  One of the more memorable was going to Juan Luis Guerra's concert on October 7th.  It was awesome!!  Here is a link to one of my favorite songs by him called "La guagua," or "bus" in the Dominican Republic which is where he is from.  The song is one example of his fabulous ability to make a wonderful song out of social and political commentary.  Another one of his songs says "turn off and lets go" referring to the global society's electronics addition.  He is basically just the coolest guy ever!!!  Did I mention that he only has one good eye and is 54 years old?

Health update: I think I am finally nearly over my cold that started nearly three weeks ago.  After a week of sleeping, a trip to the doctor's, and several spoonfuls of cough syrup and decongestant, I think I'm down to the allergy-induced symptoms.  Good grief!  It's so hard to tell as the second wave of allergies has hit: the dreaded white fuzz that flies from the oh-so-many-trees-that-create-the-fuzz near our house.  It's awful!  I'm hoping to get the allergy test that the doctor ordered for me done soon so that I can see what else I'm allergic to besides the dreaded white flying fuzz and maybe get rid of this frustrating sore throat that won't seem to leave me be. 

Weather update: The days can get hot around midday but everything cools off by evening and at night one needs a sweater usually to be comfortable.  

Job update: Unfortunately, the one informal interview I had with a university's study abroad office didn't work out for a contracted one month position, but I will definitely apply to their full-time position once they create it at the end of December and if I still don't have a job by then.  I am now on unit 11 of 20 so halfway done with my English-teaching accreditation!  It looks like I will be helping my old supervisor from my Chilean internship out with her English once a week starting soon though so I'll have a wee bit of income, which is better than nothing.  :)  Fortunately, Antonio's father is extremely generous and hasn't complained yet about my presence.  He's even given us metro card money on several occasions. 

As Antonio's father Prudencio says, "Chau-chau!"  Happy Halloween!

Love, Kaia (^_^)

18 de septiembre - Chile's Independence!

Blackout!!!!

My Chilean Life

Lunch, Juan Luis Guerra, Halloween and the park!

Street 132, House 969

Hola from Santiago's flowered streets!

Greetings from Santiago, Chile!

It's now been almost three weeks since I departed from Portland, Oregon, and I'm sure by now you're wondering "whatever happened to Kaia??"  In a nutshell, I have been:

    - Busy recovering from a cold and dealing with my allergies (yes, apparently you can have both at the same time --it's miserable);

    - Enjoying the Chilean Independence Day (September 18th) celebrations, complete with learning the "cueca", the national dance of Chile;
    - Reconnecting with Chilean friends;
    - Getting accustomed to living in Chile, living with Antonio's family, and living with Antonio and his dog, Lukas;
    - Playing with his adorable dog Lukas, who loves to jump, sleep under the bed, and follow us around like a shadow;
    - Doing lots of dancing, including Bachata, Salsa, and Merengue;
    - and working on my online certification course to be able to teach English (I'm on #7 of 20 assignments).   

After arriving in Santiago in the evening of Thursday September 14th to find Antonio waiting for me, we headed to his house with my two rolling suitcases, one rolling carry-on and stuffed backpack.  Antonio had invited his Dad, and his Dad's niece and nephew, Maria and Florencio, and their son Jano (pronounced "Hano" as the J is an H in Spanish).  Jano is Antonio's age and María is like Antonio's other mother or Aunt rather than second cousin.  María had a big meal of steak and potatoes with veggies waiting for us to welcome me back to Chile.  And thus began the re-chilenation process. 

I had forgotten how much meat Antonio's family eats.  Most lunches consist of a hunk of meat, boiled potatoes or spaghetti noodles with a red sauce, and cut up, peeled tomatoes with salt and oil on them.  Recently we've had a salad of "ava" (a kind of bean I think that grows in a pod), cilantro, and diced onion.  But normally there are not many vegetables on the table.  I went on a vegetable craze the other day and kind of freaked out in the mall because I couldn't find any restaurant with food that wasn't fried or cooked, and that had some kind of vegetable.  The veggie cassarole that I was counting on was unavailable so I ordered a "salad" which ended up being chopped lettuce, carrots, celery and tomatoes with lime juice and salt.  It was a major disappointment, to say the least.  The lettuce wasn't even that green.  So Antonio, being the sweety he is went and bought a Pizza hut mini pizza (his favorite) and suggested I put my "salad" on top to eat.  So I did.  Pittifully.  But we had a goofy time of it anyhow. 

After our "salad pizza" we headed to the restroom of  the mall and I had just sat down to do my business when the lights went out!  I immediately reached for my purse and cell phone which is the pay-as-you-go, primitive one that hardly anybody has.  The only good thing about it is that 1) it works, and 2) it has a flashlight at the top of it!  Fortunately the emergency generator kicked in quickly and we had the basic hall lights but all the store lights were out in the entire mall!  It was crazy!  Looking outside and attempting to use our cell phones we realized that the whole city was without electricity and for some reason without cell phone service as well.  We snapped some quick photos to document the moment and then tried to navigate the hectic streets to find a bus that would get us home as the metro is electric and was shut down.  There were so many people!  And traffic jams and people honking as the street lights were out.  It took us maybe two hours to get to Antonio's family store.  By that time his part of the city had received electricity again.

Other tidbits: 

- Antonio's dad has never completed school.  I think Antonio said he dropped out in 4th grade or something like that.  It was an interesting realization.  He said that his sister Ines taught their Dad to read and do basic arithmetic. But his Dad says that it still isn't easy for him to read so he isn't very fond of it.  

- There is no pepper in this house.  I had to go and buy some.  That whole "never break up a relationship" thing that we were taught about salt and pepper apparently isn't international.  They do use tons of salt, oil, lemon and some member's of Antonio's family like to put a chili paste sauce on their food.  I don't know if other households are the same.

- They do not have squirrels in Chile.  They know what they are from movies and TV but they do not have them here.

- Apparently Antonio's family has never had an omelet.  They were amazed that I put cooked carrots in my scrambled eggs and gasped when I said that we also put diced tomatoes, spinach, and onions in it, too.  I'll have to make it for them sometime.  They also don't usually eat lettuce.  Nor many sandwiches.  Ines, Antonio's sister, said that she doesn't like lettuce because she felt sick after eating it once.  

- We have a lovely dog choir that seems to practice every night.  Don't know how late they go on nor what on earth they are talking/singing about but I think I've finally gotten used to it.  It's also not uncommon to hear cats meowing or fighting or crying on the roof.  I think I would be a cat if I had to as it is roof paradise around here.  The houses are pretty much side by side so rooftop jumping must be awesome!

Sorry this is so long.  To finish, here is my contact info.  I have a cell phone and it doesn't cost to receive calls, only to make them.  Internationally my number is 569-8400-8400 (sweet and easy to remember!).  This is my address:

Antonio Painemilla C. 

(Kaia Range)

Calle 132, Casa 969 

Villa Lo Arrieta, Peñalolén

Santiago, Código Postal 7910434

Chile

Hope you all have a great week!

Love, Kaia (^_^)

The summer is coming to an end...

And I've finally uploaded the photos of where I'm living!  I only have three more weeks here but at least now you can get a better sense of where I am.  Mary, my landlady (she's more like a host mother or fellow housemate) is very kind and told her friend the other day on introducing me that she wants to kidnap me and keep forever.  So I guess I've been a good housemate.  

https://picasaweb.google.com/kaiarange/HouseInFriendshipHeights?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Work is going well.  This past week was actually quite good.  I've been working on the website a lot so editing the English and making sure everything is linked properly and also giving feedback for user-friendliness, etc.  I also had one client that we'd been working with for a while (the State Department wanted to know why he wasn't registered for a birth certificate until he was 5 -- apparently he grew up in a reeeeaaaallly small town in the middle of nowhere) finally get his passport.  Yay!  He was so happy that he brought me a gift when he came to pick it up!  It was a cd of lullabies by an artist named Jewel and a really sweet thank you card.  He is a really nice grandfatherly guy so I was really happy that he was finally able to get the passport and really touched by the small gift.  We also finally got the three UK passports that had been causing lots of grief: Iit took 5 weeks to get them and the clients were not too happy about it.  Unfortunately, with UK passports (and other embassies in general), there is only so much that we can do.  The UK Embassy here in DC is the ONLY passport-issuing agency in all of the Western Hemisphere.  It usually takes 12-14 weeks for people to get their passports so 5 weeks is actually really impressive.  

I've found that I really do love working with clients, especially in helping them get something so important as a passport.  Mom suggested that maybe I would enjoy being an immigration lawyer some day.  Who knows!  I'll think about it. 

Other than work I have been hanging out with my friend Lauren a lot.  She is teaching me how to cook various things and is also my shopping buddy and adventure buddy.  We went to a Peace Corps/ Colombia fair on the mall a few weekends ago and we went to brunch the other day as well!  She just finished her first year at AU (I was convinced she was already finishing her second year) and works at the Air and Space Museum as one of the demonstration people.  She also volunteers at the zoo weekly and is planning to major in Anthropology and Spanish and some other minors and such.  She's very motivated and fun.  She was in my Spanish Grammar class last fall and then was in my Historical Archaeology class this past spring so we got to know each other pretty well. 

I also have been hanging out with Ana and her family as much as possible.  Last weekend I went and stayed the weekend with them and we went to Six Flags America in Baltimore, Maryland.  It was fun.  They even have a swimming park!  She and her family (and her boyfriend Alex) are so wonderful.  I will miss them dearly.  Ana will be studying abroad in Morocco this fall and Argentina this spring.  She's already promised to jump over the Andes to come visit Antonio and I in Chile for her spring break.  Yay!  I've been helping her with packing suggestions, etc.  She'll have so much fun!

So now I only have three weeks before I leave DC.  It's crazy!!!  I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone in Oregon but I'm going to miss DC and my friends here.  Who know though, I may be back here sooner than I know it. I'll just enjoy it while I'm here and try to see all my friends before I go.  This is more challenging than it could be as I never know what time they will let me out of work.  Bother.  Ah, well.  

Oh, and I've been meeting weekly for the past few weeks with my Japanese friend Yuko who was in a class with me last fall.  She's really fun and has been helping me practice my Japanese. Last week we went to a Mexican restaurant where I spoke Spanish with the waiter and Japanese with her.  It was funny.  I only messed up with the wrong language to the wrong person a couple of times.  Definitely good practice!

I started an online certification program to get my TEFL certification (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) a few weeks ago.  It's 20 units with assignments and I'm trying to finish it before I get to Oregon. We'll see how that works.  It's not too hard but I still managed to get behind on my schedule anyways.  Bother. 

I'm looking at scheduling things for the month I'll be in Portland so if anyone has any preferences, please do shoot me an email!  I'm looking forward to seeing you all!

Have a great week!

Love, Kaia (^_^)

The end of college... the beginning of even more adventures!

 From L-R, back-front: Uncle Jesse, Uncle Bob, Aunt Maggie, Aunt Karen, 

Oma, Dad, Mom, Me, and Granny Kit.

 Me, Shirin (frosh room mate), Abdul (frosh next door neighbor), Khileen (frosh neighbor)

 My dear friend Jenny who is from Washington state and will probably never come back from India/the Middle East.  :)

 How American University really works.  :p  Love you Mom, and Dad!  Thanks for all your support!

 (Photos courtesy of Aunt Karen.  Thanks, Aunt Karen!  I love them!)

 Kikue, my Japanese mother, and I in the Lincoln Memorial. 
She came all the way to DC to spend four days with me!

On May 8th at 1 pm I officially graduated from American University with a BA in International Studies and a minor in Spanish, magna cum laude.  Oma, Granny Kit, Uncle Bob, Aunt Maggie, Aunt Karen, Uncle Jesse, Mom and Dad were there as well as my friend Abdul who came all the way from Kuwait to see me and his other friends from AU graduate, and Khileen, my dear dear friend from Frosh and Sophomore year who switched schools and just came back from Cuba!  It was so wonderful to see everyone and have them here to help me celebrate such a special moment in my life!  The weather was beautiful, our speaker was good (the president of the Peace Corps), and everyone managed to find me in the sea of blue.  

Four years really just flew by, especially this past few weeks!  I had finals, the ending of my job on campus and internship, finals, the start of my new job working at a passport and visa expediting company (Inter-American Group), spending a weekend with Kikue, my Japanese mother, having my family come to visit, searching for summer housing, and moving out of the house I was living in for the past school year.  All in all, I was a bit busy.  But it was fun and exciting!  I am finally being able to fully understand what being graduated means: I can read books again!  No more tests, homework or late nights writing papers.  When I leave the office, I don't have to go to my internship or class and then home to homework!  It's wonderful!  


I am currently living on a couch in the living room of Rachel and James, two of my ex-housemates.  :)  We spent ALL of last weekend moving out and cleaning up the house as the other three housemates had already left.  It was definitely a challenge but we did it!  I've been helping Rachel and James (they will get married next year) unpack and settle down in their first apartment together.  James loves to cook and I love to clean and organize and they both seem to enjoy my company so it works out well!  They also have two extremely ridiculous cats who are talented in getting into all sorts of trouble.  :D


On Saturday I will be moving into a room in a house near the Friendship Heights metro.  The house is owned by Mary, a woman with grandchildren in Mexico (and somewhere else) who has always rented out two of her rooms to students.  Yay!  She used to paint and seems very nice so I look forward to living with her.  My address will be: 

4415 Harrison St, NW

Washington, DC 20015

Thus far I am enjoying my job.  I work at the Inter-American Group (IAG) which is a small (there are three owners and one other employee besides me), family-run business that specializes in assisting people obtain new or renewed passports and visas within 24 hours or up to two weeks.  Because it is such a small business, I am learning a ton about small business, business in general, search engines (how google charges companies to be able to have their business pop up first in a search), marketing, websites, passports, and visas.  I answer phones, translate (the president and vice-president are both from Colombia so we speak Spanish in the office), answer phones, prepare applications, assist in marketing and am also the Editor of the websites and all their pages (so forgive the grammar errors in visas portion of the link above -- haven't gotten there yet).  IAG has three websites so I definitely have my work cut out for me!  I am also helping them with ideas for improving their websites and marketing in general as business has been bad lately.  Though it can be a bit hard to concentrate sometimes and a little busy as I juggle my multiple roles, it is definitely not boring and the people are very kind and interesting.  Señora Sanchez, the VP was the Consulate General from Colombia here in DC for 10 years before seeking political asylum here with her family because of some of the warrants for arrest she signed as a Colombian judge and lawyer (apparently he was the Osama bin Laden of Colombia).  So there is plenty to talk about!

The other excitement is that my professor finally posted the video of my group's dance performance.  This was for my Dance and Society class where we compared Salsa dance to Martha Graham style modern dance.  I had to learn to be the lead in Salsa which was really fun but challenging.  Here is a link to the video if you are interested!  We ended up getting a good grade on it, too!  :D

As for future plans, I will be in DC until August 14th when I will fly back to Portland, Oregon to arrive at 11 pm or so at night.  I will then be home for a month before I leave for Santiago, Chile on September 14th to find a job there and live for a bit until I figure out what I want to study in Grad School.  I'm extremely excited and can hardly wait to start my Chilean adventures!  

Though I am no longer attending AU, I will still try to keep updating my blog every once in a while.  Please let me know if you need me to take you off my list!  I will not be offended. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week.  I hope to see many of you before I leave for Chile!

Love, Kaia (^_^)

Kaia got a summer job!

For those who had not heard yet, I now have a job for the summer here in DC!  I will be working 35 or so hours a week at a family-run business that specializes in expedited passports and visas.  They are from Colombia and don't speak much English so it will be a great way to get practice and used to working in a professional Spanish-speaking environment!  The office is also small: there will be five of us, including the two owners, so there will be plenty to do, I think!  I will be in charge of the phones and in helping to sooth frantic potential customers who need visas or passports ASAP and will have to understand their situation to see if we can help them. 

They want me as soon as possible because they have so few employees so I will begin training Wednesday, May 4th!  My usual hours will be 7/8:30 am to 3:30 or 4 pm so I'll be free in the late afternoons it sounds like.  Yay! 

I've just finished my two finals that I had and now all that remains between me and graduation is a final paper about Central America to get credit for my internship. 

Hope you all are doing well!

~ Kaia (^_^)

My Dance Manifesto that I will turn in tomorrow...

* Professor Melanie George * Dance and Society * April 4, 2011 *

Dance Manifesto: Kaia Range

I. Preamble

I am a dancer.  Not the type that has been taking dance classes since she was three, but the kid who’s been dancing in her living room since she can remember, has taken a few classes here and there, and takes every opportunity to dance some more.  I just haven’t had much formal instruction.  I’ve taken a class or two of ballet, tap, and hip-hop; have been in a ballet, participated in community dance circles at festivals in Japan, and in ceili dance demonstrations; I love salsa, merengue, ceili dancing, and contra dancing; I know the basics in most ballroom dances, and am in the process of learning bachata.

Dance for me has been a meaning of expression, a way to enjoy life, connect with others (my community), learn culture (especially in other countries like Japan, Chile, and India) and it is how I met my boyfriend of almost two years.  I used to dance with my brother during the family dance class we attended with my parents, and enjoyed many evenings dancing with my grandfather before he passed away.  Simply put, I love to dance and it means a lot to me.  It is my form of exercise, stress relief, and fun.  That said, I want others to be able to gain as much as I have from dance.  With this in mind, let the following be known about dance:

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Dance: A Common Language for Everyone

II. Anyone can do it...

Anyone can dance.  Can you breath? Can you walk or wiggle?  Are you alive?  If “yes” is the answer for any one of these questions, then you can dance.  Dance is just motion and by being alive we are inevitably moving. 

It’s about YOU...

The most important part of dance is that you make a connection with yourself, with your body.  Through dance you realize how your body works, how it moves, it’s potential, and it’s limitations.  Not every dance move or position is easy to achieve in one go.  It takes practice, working with yourself to understand how much farther you need to stretch, where to shift your weight to be able to balance or even how to put into motion the vision that you see in your head.  All this requires a knowledge about yourself, about what your body can do and how to utilize it’s many abilities.  Through this learning process you gain confidence in yourself and your abilities.

It’s an outlet...

Dance is yet another way for us to express ourselves.  We communicate through movement on a daily basis.  Our physical expressions and movements add deeper understanding to our words.  So dancing is just an extension of our natural tendencies to express ourselves physically.  This physical activity relieves emotions that can’t be expressed other ways.  The best dances are done by people who put all of their energy, their emotion, into the dance to express themselves. 

It can happen anywhere...

There is no elaborate preparation process for dancing.  No instruments are required, special clothes aren’t needed –dance is all about the movements of your body.  You can dance in any setting: in the street, in your room, in the hallway, on stage... it is all up to you.

Dance is a language...

Dance is transcontinental, trans-cultural, and trans-lingual.  If you know how to move in one country, you can move with other people in another country regardless of language, race, origin or any other boundary that usually prevents connections.  By moving together we can learn from each other.  If dance is the language, then dance steps and costumes are the words and ideas that show the traditions, culture, and beliefs of a different people, and which facilitate teaching verbal language.  

Dance unites us all...

Dance is a means of communication and a reason for communication.  Dance unites us all and brings people together to do just that –dance.   Dance can be a great catalyst for learning and unifying our communities on a global scale.  Dance can help us see the similarities and commonalities that exist between us while celebrating the differences—the different styles of dance. 

If people can dance together, people should be able to work together and do business, politics, art, and work together.  So everyone, go out and dance!

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Project AU Dance

III. Flash mobs

Goal: To promote dancing in general but specifically to promote AU dance clubs/performances

When: As many times as it can be organized

Where: Open, public spaces on AU campus (i.e. SIS lobby, MGC, the Quad, Anderson Quad, etc). 

Who: 5 to 15 (or as many as possible) seemingly normal, unconnected people who would break out into dance suddenly for 5 minutes and then stop just as suddenly as if nothing had happened.  One person would be in charge of a boom box which would play music for the duration of the dance time.  Each flash mob could have a different kind of music (Latin, Waltz, Indian, etc) which might correspond with the people recruited to participate.  Recruits could include dance club members (AU salsa, AU Bhangra club, AU in Motion, Dance in Society class members, etc), or simply dance fans.  Another idea is to get professional dancers or an adult dance club from the area to participate and do their own special number as a flash dance performance.

Details: The flash dance could coincide with tabling done in the area to promote dance in general (explaining the positive benefits: physical and mental, stress relief), or to promote a specific club or one of their dance performances.  Regardless of the table, a sign would be put up in the area ahead of time, before the flash dance, to promote whatever group the flash dance was to advertise and also provide an explanation for the flash dance.  Example: “Come learn to salsa with the AU salsa club!....”  

Outcome: Hopefully, after witnessing the impressive, fun, exciting flash dance on campus, more people would want to join the dance groups and attend dance concerts.  The success of these flash dances could be measured by clubs who would notice the increased attendance in weekly sessions and performances.  And also by the tablers who could count how many people stopped by the table.  It might also be interesting to create an experiment: During the dance flash one person could walk by and put a sign in the middle of the flash dancers saying “Please join in.”  An observer could keep track of how many bystanders join the flash dances over time to look for correlation and a possible increase in willingness to participate. 

Regardless of if anyone physically indicates a change in opinion or willingness to dance, the more people are exposed to dance the more comfortable they will feel and the more likely they will be to join. 

Documentation:

Today, April 4^th at 1 pm will be the first AU Salsa flash dance.  Hopefully the 11 people who RSVP’d on facebook will attend.  I will play the music and take pictures of the dancers and how people around them react.  If my attendees are willing we might do another flash mob in a week or two.  Making reservations and such for tables, etc, was too complicated and frustrating so I will just be looking at how people respond and how willing they are to do another one.  So far I think my goal of getting more people to dance is working as one person has already told me that they want to participate even though they have never done a flash mob. 

Thursday, April 7^th, I may have another dance flash mob with the members of AU in Motion.  Rosa, the president of AU in Motion has already invited her club members.  We’ll see if people can make it Thursday and if not I’ll see if another week would work better for them. 

I will submit copies of the pictures or the video I take from the flash mobs, but in the meantime, attached you will find the facebook event for today’s flashmob, my email correspondence with Rosa regarding Thursday’s potential flash mob, and my correspondence with Kerry who seems to be hosting a flash mob, too, that I might attend to take pictures and see people’s reactions. 

Has it really been 4 years?!

Hello Everyone!

I know it has been AGES since I have done an update, but this semester has by far been the busiest.  I have been interning at the Inter-American Dialogue 24 hrs or so a week (http://www.thedialogue.org), working 10 hours a week for Professor Said, and taking three classes: Historical Archaeology, Dance & Society, and US Foreign Policy: Latin America.  I'm really enjoying all of it but the semester is completely flying by! 

My internship...
The Inter-American Dialogue is a non-profit organization that provides US-Latin America Foreign Policy recommendations that it gets from its members who include past heads of state, business and media leaders, and academics from the US, Canada and Latin America.  Every two years their 100 members meet to discuss US-Latin American Foreign Policy and from that a suggestion is written and distributed to all the Western Hemisphere country leaders.  Besides this members' meeting which is called the Linowitz Forum, the Dialogue also has many different project areas which cover projects such as education policy, China and Latin America, Energy, Development and Remittances, and many different kinds of conferences and meetings.  There are weekly events that the Dialogue hosts which usually include experts from Latin America (today it was Bolivian Senators who were meeting with the president and other Dialogue staff).  Most are usually open to the public. 

I'm working in the Special Projects/Legislative Affairs division where I help plan Congressional Dinners (dinners planned for Senators and Representatives so they can meet with the Latin American experts and learn about certain current topics like Obama's trip to Latin America) and with preparations for two other big meetings which will not happen in the US and sadly I will not be able to attend.  One will be in Madrid, Spain and the other in El Salvador.  This means I usually do lots of phone calling to try to get contact info (both to congress members, embassy's and if that doesn't work sometimes different countries).  I also search for information (official titles, etc) of people and am gathering election statistics of Central American countries for the meeting in El Salvador.  It's really interesting and I always get to meet interesting people, including those that work at the Dialogue.  Most people speak or at least can understand English and Spanish.  :)  It's fun. 

One of the most exciting contacts I've made has been with Mr. Sergio Bitar, the Chilean ex-minister of education, mining, and public works (during three separate administrations).  He is currently a resident fellow until the end of April, I think.  Because he worked for Chilean President Salvador Allende, when Pinochet took over, Mr. Bitar was put in several concentration camps in the far south of Chile for over a year.  He has written a book in Spanish based on his experiences in the concentration camps called "Isla 10" which has also been made into a movie "Dawson Isla 10"  (haven't been able to find it in the US yet).  He even gave me a copy of his book that I am reading and I will be meeting with him next Tuesday to ask him some more questions about his experiences.  He said when I first met him and his wife that I should come visit them in Santiago!  (^_^)

Work...
Working with Professor Said is as inspirational as always.  He really is like a grandfather and always wants to know how I am doing and what I have been up to.  He is one of the busiest 80 year olds I have ever met but still keeps on his toes (which keeps us running!).  As official Office Organizer I have finally finished unpacking the many boxes that were the storage closet, but am stiiiiiill filing and alphabetizing his MANY articles (written by him and others) and files.  Electronisizing will be the next process.

Class...
I am also enjoying my classes.  Historical Archaeology is fairly easy for me but really interesting.  I'm learning about what life was like in the US (mostly south-eastern part) and how scientists understand these things from the artifacts and documents they find.  We've learned about the colonists at Jamestown, the native americans and the Trail of Tears, and are now learning about the African American enslaved peoples.  It is extremely interesting.  Dance & Society is fun as it is mostly lecture-based about the history of dance and how different dances evolved and what they mean, etc.  However, 6 or so times during the semester we have been going into the dance studio to learn a few dances ourselves!  It's fun.  The semester projects include: creating a manifesto of what I think of dance, choreographing a group dance to portray a research question (ours is "What are the similarities and differences between Salsa and Martha Graham technique of Modern Dance?"), and creating an artifact that somehow ties together my major (int'l relations) and dance.  I will be making a collage using different important aspects or props of dances from around the world.  My US-Latin American Foreign Policy class has been challenging just because of the large volume of reading, but also very interesting and has coincided nicely with my internship.  Also, my professor, Robert Pastor, worked for Carter's Administration and specifically on the Panama Canal transfer, and the Nicaragua intervention and is still active as he was sent to the Middle East to speak with Hamas a few weeks back and accompanied Carter on his trip to Cuba.  So it's amazing to hear his stories, even if he is a hard grader.  :)

GRADUATION!!!...
Crazy as it seems, my four years of college are almost over!  It's craaaaazy!!!!  I will be graduating from American University on Sunday, May 8th at 1 pm and will have a BA in International Studies with a Minor in Spanish.  Soooo weird to say that.  To help me celebrate the big day, my Japanese mother-like figure Kikue, my parents, Granny Kit and Oma, Aunt Karen and great Aunt Maggie and Uncle Bob will be coming to take over DC.  :p  It shall be fun and exciting! (^_^)

And beyond...
For after graduation I have applied to a temp agency that specializes in governmental, legal and non-governmental organizations (some of which are international-related) so hopefully I will find something fun and exciting to pass my summer days in DC and save up so that I can head down to Chile sometime at the end of the summer (August or September) to find a job there and work until I figure out what I want to study in Grad school.  Don't worry!  I do plan to got to Portland for a few weeks first to 1) get my driver's licens, 2) spend time with family and friends, and 3) un-pack, store, and re-pack my things for Chile.  :)  It shall be exciting!  Hopefully I will be able to find a cheap living situation in DC so that I can save more for my Chilean adventures (and paying back student loans starting next year).  I'm hoping for maybe a kidsitting for rent situation?  I'm in the process of searching.

So anywho, that's my life in a nutshell.  It's a bit crazy and stressful at times but very exciting! 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!  Sorry for the lengthy post, but it'd been a while.  :) 

Love, Kaia (^_^)