Hogar Crescendo

On Saturday, I decided to give back to the city that has been giving me such a great experience so far, and did some volunteer work with a local expat church called Santiago Community Church. We went to a home for adults with learning disabilities in a part of town known as Nuñoa. The house, Hogar Crescendo, was badly in need of a new fresh coat of pain throughout. I took on the task of painting one of the bedrooms a lovely peach color with the help of Janet, a Deloitte colleague from Chicago, and a man named David who has lived in Santiago since 1971 (before the military coup). David had some interesting life stories to share about the differences he has seen in Santiago over the years, in addition to his experiences serving in the Peace Corps in Guatemala. He makes me look like I am not adventurous at all.




Painting the walls peach

 

We spent the morning painting the house yellow and peach and spending some time with the residents. One of the women, Adriana, was blind and kept on coming up to me and introducing herself. I think they may have let her choose the colors of the walls. Despite the pastel color choices, the house looked much better once we were done, albeit a little bit like an Easter egg.



Hard at work



I had to duck out early to return to my apartment to wait for the cable guy to come which required my first experience using the Santiago bus system. Fortunately, one of the women who worked at Hogar Crescendo took a look at my map before I left, and decided to redirect me to a different bus stop. She was so kind as to take me to the bus and wait with me to ensure I got on the right one. It is a good thing, too, because without her standing half-way in the middle of the street trying to flag down the buses as if they were cabs, and asking each bus driver if he was going to "Plaza Egaña" (which I thought was "Plaza Caña" until I arrived there), I likely wouldn't have made it back in time to meet the cable guy. Regardless, I still don't have internet. If you think that it is difficult to deal with Time Warner in the US, try dealing with VTR in Chile. I have waited for them 3 times thus far to get my internet set up, and still don't have it. Today will make my fourth attempt at getting it. On the bright side, I get to leave work early in hopes that the guy will show up and set up my connection. Cross your fingers for me! If he comes, the posts will likely come more frequently in the future.