First month

Remember my first post on this blog? The one where I wrote I was not motivated enough to ever leave my bed? Well, turns out I have become motivated enough- since I haven´t stayed in bed longer than till 8 am for a bit more than 5 weeks already! Actually, when I work, I have to get up at 6 at the latest (I live in Santiago now, so it takes a bit longer to get to work). And when I don't work, then well... I would stay in bed for sure, but there are the other interns who plan something for every weekend and I just join whatever they come up with.

Let's take hiking, for example. It is something I hated during my childhood (always the smallest and the weakest person in the group). When I moved to Bavaria, I believed I would immidiately become a great hiker. But during the 3 years I only went hiking once (max 2 times, but I don't remember the other one). But here, in the Andes, especially when working in the mountains, you just feel like you must go hiking. So I did.

If you are 1,60m tall and not very much acquintated with mountains, you might want to consider going there with two other interns, 30-42 cm taller than you AND hiking lovers, very thoughtfully. I mean, it might (just MIGHT) turn out to be a kind of exhausting experience. First I felt like a real fellowship of the ring kind of thing (of course, I was a hobbit) and the views even strenghtened that feeling (you could really see everything there. From the walls of Mordor, to the steps of Rohan. The only thing missing was the green Hobbiton, as the mountains are so high, they go far over the tree line). After the first few kilometers though, the trip lost the magical charm, as I realised that the guys had to wait for me all the time. Even though I tried so hard to go faster, I couldn't. All I could dream of was to be going back down. But in the end, it was worth the effort- the views were terrific! That first hiking weekend was two weeks ago and this Sunday we went hiking again- this time I was almost able to keep up with them! (ok. Not really. But at least I didn't say I wanted to go back every 5 minutes like before).

Generally, cause I really really want to go to sleep now: I'm fine. Everything is well. And, most importantly: I left my bed-comfort zone far behind.

Quick update

I seriously don’t have time to write. I try. Every day I come from work and plan to write for the blog at least a tiny bit. But after two sentences, I usually stop and go to sleep. Working is quite exhausting! The worst thing is, I don’t even know what to write: lots of things happen and none of them is more important the others.

In general, I am working quite a lot. A normal working week in Chile has 45 h, so 9 hours a day- 10 if you count a lunch break. When you count the time to get to and from the office, not really much time in the day is left (it takes the bus about an hour both ways). So, I take a bus at 7 to start work at 8. In the evening, I finish at 6, but come home at 7:30- takes a bit longer because we stop on the way to get dinner. After that, all I can think of is my bed. And, can you imagine, I haven't spent a day in bed since I came here! Surprisingly thought, working so much is not terrible. It’s actually quite funny- and the main reason for that is the interaction of two completely opposite cultures that I observe every day. There are the Germans and Austrians, whom I know and who are rather serious about work and punctuality. And there are the Chileans, who say “10 minutes” but mean something about a year. I thought, in a project like this, these two groups must work together. And they do. But how hard is it...

I could tell a hundred stories to show how it looks like but I won’t. I write this blog to not tell the same stories over and over again, but sometime, when I’m back in Europe, I’ll be able to actually tell some of the stories and I'm sure they will be funnier and more interesting than their written versions.

What do I do? I spend the weeks in my little house in Cajon del Maipo and work and on the weekends I go to different places- it’ll usually be Santiago, but last weekend we went to Vina del Mar to enjoy the, probably last, hot days. It’s amazing how perfectly everything works out. For example, before going to Vina, I had a colleague who offered to drive us there on Friday but then, on Thursday, apparently because of some personal reasons, he cancelled. We were supposed to go by bus then, but in the morning, while getting a coffee in the kitchen, another guy asked me what my plans for the weekend were (I have no idea why he did. I didn’t even know his name). When I said I wanted to go to Vina, he said he came from there and that he would take us with him! And because of a forest fire on the way, he had to drive through the place where our hostel was instead of letting us out where his house was, so that we’d need to take a bus. Things like that always happen all the time. I’d almost dare saying that it must be some kind of magic!

In exactly 2 weeks I’m moving to Santiago for good (I’ll travel to work every day but it’s not a drama. Also it’s not for good but only till the end of the internship!). But even here, in my tiny house in the end of the world, it is quite all right. Apart from the insects and animals, the place is quite lovely. The view is terrific, I don’t really need to go shopping cause I get food at work and, if you can forget about the insects, it’s a perfect place to relax. But I can’t forget about the insects. Nor animals. Nor earthquakes. I took a short bath in Pacific on Saturday, but the thought of a possible earthquake taking me to the ocean bottom didn’t let me enjoy the moment much. And there’s been nothing since I arrived- still, it’s hard to forget about the possibility.

Generally, I am really happy. Everything is going super-smoothly. It’s like I wish for something to happen and it immediately does. Every time. And I have literally no problems at all at the moment. Everything is going well. But I can just write here how wonderful my life is, so I will leave you with this: there are lots of scary and disgusting things. Here are just a few pictures I took. (you should be able to get a good resolution by clicking on the picture)

I am not posting the picture of a poisonous scorpion i've found in my flat, because I've probably sent it to everyone already. However many scary things there are though, still, the beauty of the place is overwhelming...

Days one to three

When I started writing this blog a month ago, I wanted it to be funny. Today, I’m too tired for funny. As everyone is asking me whether I’m alive and how am I doing, here is the description of my last few days:

I arrived to Chile on Sunday morning. Apparently, the Sunday before the worst Monday of the year- here, as the seasons are different than those on our hemisphere, here the children go back to school at the beginning of March. To me, it made absolutely no difference, but I guess it is a fact worth mentioning. The flight was surprisingly quite pleasant (I watched the Birdman- why, och why does everyone says it’s so good? I didn’t like it.) and I arrived on time. My bag wasn’t lost which was a big surprise too.

A funny thing happened at the airport. Chile, as someone told me later, is the only South American country which managed to avoid plagues. This is due to their extreme carefulness when it comes to what they let in- you can’t bring fruit, vegetable, honey, mushrooms etc. Theoretically I knew about it, but still- when I was waiting in a line for the luggage control, a dog approached a guy I was talking to who sat next to me on the plane and started scratching his bag. “Och dear” I thought “a drug dealer. I’m sure he put something into my bag too, like in the Bridget Jones!”. But he wasn’t a drug dealer. He’d just had an apple in a plastic bag in his handbag. He threw it away before the dog approached, but it still smelled it. Not a Bridget Jones situation after all.

Another important thing about Chile is that they don’t speak English. I read somewhere that only about 3% of the population does. And so, even in the hotel, I had quite some problems communicating. My Spanish is very, very basic as well, so it wasn’t easy. The hotel guys do speak English, but only at the reception. When I tried to order something to eat and all I said was “No comer carne. Quiero comer algo” (I don’t eat meat. I want to eat something), they didn’t know how to talk to me. In the end I just took the dish of a day which was not my dream food but at least I survived till the evening. Later, I met some friends from Poland who live in Santiago. We went to a hill called San Christopher, from where you can see the whole city. I decided to make use of my new camera for the first time  We had some traditional Chilean drinks (with a bit wild name, I don’t think I will ever remember it) and later food. It was all lovely and felt like holiday. Some pictures I took at the hill:




I stayed up till 11 pm (3 am our time) and fell asleep like a baby. On the next day, Monday, I had a health check. It took a half of the day, from 8 to 13. After that, the woman who was accompanying took me for lunch to a Chilean place in the highest building in South America- Costanera. And then, I was sent to the place which was supposed to be my home for the next 5 months.

I can’t express how I felt when I arrived. The place is lovely, no doubt about it. I have a tiny little wooden house, with a bedroom (double bed again! Hurray!!!) and a small living room. But… well. There are four houses like mine on the piece of land, surrounded by a high fence. But only my house is being used, which means… I am alone here. It is really a middle of nowhere. Santiago isn’t far away- about 50 km- but in this place- there is nothing. No shops (to the nearest market, you need 10 minutes by car), no people, really. Nothing. When I arrived, the land lord showed me the place and I told him I only had one piece of fruit, so he drove me to a shop. That was an exceptional situation. I have literally no idea how I am supposed to go shopping in the future. And there is no internet… I sat on the bed and I would probably have started crying but I was too tired, so I just fell asleep.

So the situation wasnt’t good. But… But there is the view. And it is lovely.



Today I went to work for the first time. I’m too tired to write about that. The important fact is that I got a phone which has an internet connection, so I can post this for everyone to stop worrying! And I will write again soon. Besos!!!

Chile

I started writing this blog to motivate myself to do something with my life. And to check whether the magic happens if you quit your comfort zone. What has been happening since is ... However I put it, well, it is a kind of magic.

About two hours after I published the first post, I got an e-mail from the company at which I'd applied for an internship some time before. As I applied in the beginning of October and haven't heard much from them since (well, first I got a refusal and few weeks later asked when I could come- but since I answered that there was no contact- and it has been 3 months) I gave up the hope of it ever working out. I wanted to start in February and when it came, I was sure it was all over.

But two hours after publishing the first post, I got an e-mail asking whether I was still interested. And, as I had absolutely no other plan, I was. And as they turned out to me interested too...

I am going to Chile! Visiting South America has been a dream of mine for years. But it's always been far from what I could afford. And I've never had time. When I was planning the gap year, I thought I might go, but knowing Spanish very poorly (or rather not at all) I had very poor chances of getting a job. And then, when I started looking for internship, there it was. As it's a German company, I don't even need Spanish (though of course, I'm trying to learn it now to be able to talk to the locals). As I don't know much myself yet, I can't tell you more now... But it will follow when I get there which is... in a week.

And now, after two months of watching tv and staying in bed- I'm finally making the dream come true! And the best thing, that the only time I left my comfort zone for it was the night after the first post. Who knows what would be happening if I forced myself to do so every day?

As I've spend the last week in Munich to present and hand in my bachelor thesis (finally graduated yesterday!- though well, technically, it will take a few more weeks until I'm officialy a B.Sc.) I had literally no time for anything... Started a blog to write about the huge amounts of free time that I didn't know how to use and after a week, I don't even have the time to write the blog anymore. But I will do my best to keep it updated! Ok, of course I will keep it updated- if it brought me what's been happening over the last few weeks, I just can't forsake it now!

Start

I started my get-a-life-challange a moment after I published the last post on Thursday. However unbelievably scary this sounds, I went out! With strangers!

I do realise how embarassing it is to be excited about going out. Sounds a bit like being 16 again and entering a party with a fake ID. And I wasn't even at a party. But after 6 weeks at home, this feels like a milestone!

The reason I'm writing about this at all is firstly, to let you know that I did start my challange and secondly, because of something that happened afterwards. There'd been something that I'd been waiting for for months and almost gave up hope that I would even hear about it again. But I did. I can't tell exactly what it is yet (the picture below might be a hint if someone would be bothered to guess), but hey- it did happen, after 4 months of silence, the day after I finally forced myself out of my comfort zone- could this be the magic?

Going out, shockingly, was actually really good fun and I stayed up till 4 am (if you read my last post carefully, going out with a group of strangers AND staying up later than 2 am were light years away from my comfort zone). I won't go much into details here, but the evening certainly left me with some good memories- who would have expected that? I promised to mention my friend Aska here ('write about me on your blog! maybe more people will follow me on instagram then?') who made me go out and who's been my partner in the laziness crime these last few months (e.g. I promised to help her with German, so she came over to mine so we could practice. After 10 mins of trying, we both gave up on German and ended up eating, sleeping and watching tv- but this was before my challange started!).

A proper update will come when I have confirmed my further plans. For now, I'm staying away from bed as much as I can. I wanted to stay away from it so much that I went to Vienna to hide from it. Unfortunately, there are beds here too!


Edit: I've been even going out here in Vienna. Went to a writer meeting yesterday. Avarage age: 70. I met new people: 3. Avarage age of the people I met: 68. Noone seemed to be very interested in the free wine after!

Maybe I'm just ill? http://time.com/3706453/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-systemic-exertion-intolerance-disease/

What if your comfort zone is only as big as your bed?

Everyone who knows me well would probably say "lazy" if asked for one word to describe me. I do work and go to uni, but whenever I have a chance, I stay in bed and read or watch series on the internet. I really admire people who "relax actively", go hiking or mountain biking or whatever whenever they have time. I do sports, I love swimming and I even ran a half- marathon last year, but it is only for keeping myself any fit that I do it (and so that I can carry on with my love towards chocolate).

My deep love to spending time in bed is almost legendary among my friends and flatmates. Once, a close friend and flatmate brought me a quote she read somewhere on the internet, saying "if something can't be done from a bed, it isn't worth doing at all". Apparently, it was an exact description of me! I even gave my bed a name once- I called it Ralph. So if someone who knew me well asked what I was doing I could answer "I'm spending an evening with Ralph" which ment I just wanted to sleep, but an unknowing third person could probably think that I had a life full of romance and excitement.

It's probably needless to say that I absolutely hate clubs. I do like house parties from time to time, but clubs make me crazy. I couldn't ever understand why people would go clubbing and what was so fun about it. Even if I got really drunk, I still almost never made it to stay up till later than 2 am. With a tiny exception for latino bars which I usually adore- clubs are hell for me. A good night out means going to a cozy bar and having a few gin-tonics. A night like that could possibly end in different ways, but going to a club is always a no-no scenario!

I wasn't always like this. When I lived in Cracow in my adolesence, I used to go out a lot more. But, for some reason, since I came to Germany, I started going out less and less. Now that I'm back home for some time, my friends basically drag me out of my flat if they want to see me! I have become a terrible, anti- social person! And I really don't know why...

So, when I first saw this picture, I started wondering what my comfort zone was. First thought was, of course, that it only was my bed, with my books, my magazines and my laptop. Then, I wondered where else I felt comfy and it turned out that the list was not quite that short: my flat, my uni, my office (I used to work in a tiny engineering company back then) and basically wherever I went with a big group of people I knew. So where would "outside" my comfort zone be? Meeting new people when I'm alone. Going to places alone (with one exception. I find it totally fine to go to a cinema alone. I don't know why it is that people are suprised when I say this. I usually go to a cinema to watch a movie. Why would I need anyone else in there to do it?). Going to clubs (no, no, no!). And finally... Moving countries again (I've done it twice already). Going somewhere completely new. Somewhere I wouldn't know the language!

So I took off after my bachelor in Munich and decided to do a gap year. Since I came home before Chrismas, my life was pretty constant and extremely boring. I would wake up, read, go for a walk or a run or to the swimming pool, come back, cook vegan lunch for my family, read a bit more, watch something on the tv, read again and go to bed. Even though I'd had plenty of plans for these months, I've been enjoying the time here greatly! But finally, I realized, I can't spend my life in bed anymore. Reading is great, but I feel like I'm missing out on everything else! So here you are, or maybe- here I go. From today on, I am going to plan and make something new happen. I am going to quit my comfort zone for once and see whether the magic really happens. I might even exchange my bed for a sleeping mat! But I guess it's high time I did it. If I don't start living now, when will I?