Goodbye Hello by Nick Janzen

Leaving Concepción proved difficult. I’ve grown attached to my friends and family there, even though we’ve known each other for only a short period of time. Everyone was so kind and generous to us that it’s impossible not to miss them.

Camila (left) and Gumor, my translator (right), at a farewell dinner Tuesday night.  

Gumor Ignacio Castillo Fonseca was my translator for these past few weeks. Monday through Thursday we spent nearly every moment together. I don’t think I would have gotten anything accomplished without him. He told me what type of presentations the professors wanted me to make and he translated my presentations to the students. I think he probably learned more about wetlands over the past three weeks than he ever wanted to know, but he was always happy to help me. I am incredibly grateful for that.

Leo, Gumor, and I in the teachers' room. Yes, we posed for this photo.

Prof. Willie during our wetlands field trip.

Leonardo and Guillermo were the professors I was assigned to work with. Even though wetland science doesn’t have much to do with geometry and physics (which they teach, respectively), Leo and Willie were generous enough to let me talk about my field. It takes patient, confident teachers to turn their classrooms over to a relative stranger, but both were happy to do so. Wednesday of week two, Willy took Alex, Emily, Camila (Alex’s translator), Gumor, and myself to some wetlands around Concepción; the areas seemed to be used primarily as a swale. It was a really interesting trip for the science people, but it also demonstrated the generosity Willie, and the others at Colegio Concepción San Pedro, showed us during our stay.

The "Power Rangers," in a lake we visited during our wetlands tour with Willie. They were in a straight line before the 2010 earthquake.

Like I said, leaving was hard. Friday night my family went to Alex’s family’s house for a going away dinner. Saturday morning we got up early to go to the airport. I’m spending the next week in Santiago with 10 other LSU students, working at a new school. We were all on the same flight to Santiago, and it was the same scene at the airport for all of us: huddled with our families, waiting until the last possible moment to go through security (which, due to different security regulations, takes MUCH less time than it does in the States).

Panchi, Benja, and my "mom" María at Alex's house for our farewell dinner—a strikingly similar scene to the welcome lunch Alex and I received our first Sunday in Chile.

My "dad," Claudio, wondering what I'm doing with my phone pointed towards him.

The flight to Santiago was strange. Leaving Concepción was sad, but I was really excited to meet my new Santiago family—who are, of course, wonderful. After picking me up from the airport, we went to lunch, and then we took a tour of Pablo Neruda’s house, La Chascona (which is a Chilean word that refers to a woman with a wild mane of hair, in this case Neruda’s third wife, Matilde Urrutia). It was a wonderful day, and I’m very excited for the coming week. I think this week will go by all too fast; come Saturday evening, I’ll be heading back to the States. It’ll be nice to get back home, I guess, but I’m really glad I have this extra week in Santiago.

My new Santiago family at La Chascona: (from left to right) Paulina, Francisca, me, Juan Paulo, and Lorenzo.