I'm the type of person that typically does a lot of background research when something is of interest. I read a number of books and websites that had information regarding Chile and neighboring areas. The Last Days of the Incas, Magellan, Columbus, and Pinochet to name a few. One thing that I read that stuck in the back of my mind was a piece that mentioned a kid may come up to you if they hear you speaking English because they want to practice theirs.
The other night Erin and I were out at an Italian restaurant - something different for a change. Shortly after we arrived, a family with 3 girls arrived and was seated next to us. Toward the end of our meal, the girl that was about 8 or so came over to listen. Her mother told us (in Spanish) that she wanted to hear us speak English. The door quickly opened up and the older daughter (about 12) asked a couple questions in English, though she didn't particularly understand the answers. The mother spoke so quickly - even after "mas despacio por favor" - slower please. We had the unfortunate luck to be seated beneath a speaker play loud and lousy early 80's music from the US, which made it difficult to even hear the woman - let alone understand what she was saying.
The husband spoke some English - somewhere in competence between my Spanish and Erin's. They were going for ice cream after dinner and asked if we'd like to come along. Of course! We went to the Barrio Bella Vista restaurante y zona de tiendas (restaurant and store area) and found some new experiences. The ice cream was really closer to yogurt. You choose the flavor and fruit and then the worker mixes them up in kind of a big ice cream press/mixer apparatus. Words don't do justice, and sorry, no pictures. The lady looked like she could bench press a small car as it really was an arm workout.
The other piece is Erin is interested in volunteering at an escuela (school), and the woman we met was a teacher at a nearby school. There seemed to be considerable excitement in potentially getting someone from los estados unidos potentially in their school. We'll see how this all pans out.
Today as I arrived back from the University a couple boys that looked to be about 13 were standing outside the apartment building and asked me a number of rapid fire questions. The first thing I could understand was azul bicicleta (blue bicycle) and living on a particular floor. Yes, I lived near the apartment that had an azul bicicleta. I asked them where their school was (they had on uniforms of some fashion), but had to defer most of their questions as I was beginning to think they were speaking in slang. I went and got Erin and we were able to finish the conversation. No, we weren't from England. When we said los estados unidos, on kid raised an arm like a high five and smiled. So the piece about kids coming up to you to speak English is something I can confirm.
end of post
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
First impressions from the streets of Santiago
We have spent quite a bit of time walking around Santiago trying to find simple things like a grocery store and a place to get other common items. Today is the day we are going to find theses places. Here is what it looks like out our living room window - the Andes are in the background with snow on them. We can look through the trees because it is winter - though only about the 33rd parallel, which is about the same as Atlanta Georgia in the Northern Hemisphere. (click picture to zoom)
Yes, we have a piscina (swimming pool...Seth's favorite Spanish word), but it isn't open. Note there are palm trees as well and similar to Europe, the cars parking places often have grass under the car and a paved footpath. Temps are around upper 50's/low 60's. Daylight about 7am and dark shortly after 6pm.
Another reminder of Europe is the graffiti. Not as prevalent, but still common. This is in the spillway for the river (Río Mapocho) for runoff from the Andes.
Perhaps a simple way to remember you are in Latin America rather than Europe would be the dogs. They are pretty much on every block downtown, and in housing areas people let them bark constantly. I'm sure the woman that helped me find an apartment laughed when I wrote her 1) no smoking and 2) no barking dogs.
Speaking of dogs, time to try one of Santiago's most famous dishes - a hot dog. This one is piled high with mayo, French cut green beens, and tomatoes.
Yes, French cut green beans.
Come on now, of course I found the ice cream!
Downtown Santiago (Providencia) is much like any other big city, though the Andes are always winking at you. By the way - not much in the way of McDonalds, Burger King, or KFC. Subway seems to fit in though.
There are a few things that kind of caught my attention while walking and riding the subway. First of all, the people are quite reserved - no flamboyant antics and "look at me" attractions such as outrageous dress. I'm not sure I've seen a tattoo since I've been here. The most common colors of clothes seem to be black, navy, grey, and brown (but of course it is winter) - and people like to wear jeans. Another is that I feel tall again. Spending a fair amount of time in the Netherlands, which is the world's tallest country, kind of made 6'1" feel pretty average. On the subway the other day, looking as far as I could see (about 3 cars each direction) there was nobody as tall as I am. Not unlike my experiences in Japan several years ago. The third thing that stuck out is that there are no blondes - at least no natural blondes. Erin was the only one for three days, and then we were quite sure the other blonde dyed her hair. We've yet to see another set of blue eyes. Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen a black person yet either. The fourth thing that caught my attention was how polite people are. Very similar to my experiences in The Netherlands. People go out of their way to help. Santiago itself kind of reminds me of Brussels in looks and layout for some reason, but not in persona. Clearly, though, hardly anyone seems to speak English and they changed the Spanish language here. Dropped lots of the "s" endings, which are a pretty important part of Spanish grammar - at least they help me figure out what people are saying. Here, it feels like a whole new ballgame. Erin has seemed to adapt easily though.
We came across a street market where people sell hats and sweaters they make. Mittens and leg warmers were about $4, jackets and sweaters $15 - 20 (asking price).
I'm not sure what ganjah translates into in Chile, but I do in Jamaica....Bob Marley.
There are lots of little parks scattered within the city and many of them have exercise equipment as part of that. Perhaps we need the same in the States. I already had the Brussels thing in my mind when we came upon the mini "Atomium" on the left (the grey bar structure).
One last thing - this is the large hill/mini mountain I mentioned during my run post. There is a 22 meter statue of the Virgin Mary at the top of San Cristóbal hill, which is about 300 meters tall. San Critóbal refers to the family that used to have a limestone mine on the south side. The zoo is on southern side of the hill. One of these days I'll run to the top and take some pictures for a post, but it is a long way there and back.
end of post
Yes, we have a piscina (swimming pool...Seth's favorite Spanish word), but it isn't open. Note there are palm trees as well and similar to Europe, the cars parking places often have grass under the car and a paved footpath. Temps are around upper 50's/low 60's. Daylight about 7am and dark shortly after 6pm.
Another reminder of Europe is the graffiti. Not as prevalent, but still common. This is in the spillway for the river (Río Mapocho) for runoff from the Andes.
Perhaps a simple way to remember you are in Latin America rather than Europe would be the dogs. They are pretty much on every block downtown, and in housing areas people let them bark constantly. I'm sure the woman that helped me find an apartment laughed when I wrote her 1) no smoking and 2) no barking dogs.
Speaking of dogs, time to try one of Santiago's most famous dishes - a hot dog. This one is piled high with mayo, French cut green beens, and tomatoes.
Yes, French cut green beans.
Come on now, of course I found the ice cream!
Downtown Santiago (Providencia) is much like any other big city, though the Andes are always winking at you. By the way - not much in the way of McDonalds, Burger King, or KFC. Subway seems to fit in though.
There are a few things that kind of caught my attention while walking and riding the subway. First of all, the people are quite reserved - no flamboyant antics and "look at me" attractions such as outrageous dress. I'm not sure I've seen a tattoo since I've been here. The most common colors of clothes seem to be black, navy, grey, and brown (but of course it is winter) - and people like to wear jeans. Another is that I feel tall again. Spending a fair amount of time in the Netherlands, which is the world's tallest country, kind of made 6'1" feel pretty average. On the subway the other day, looking as far as I could see (about 3 cars each direction) there was nobody as tall as I am. Not unlike my experiences in Japan several years ago. The third thing that stuck out is that there are no blondes - at least no natural blondes. Erin was the only one for three days, and then we were quite sure the other blonde dyed her hair. We've yet to see another set of blue eyes. Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen a black person yet either. The fourth thing that caught my attention was how polite people are. Very similar to my experiences in The Netherlands. People go out of their way to help. Santiago itself kind of reminds me of Brussels in looks and layout for some reason, but not in persona. Clearly, though, hardly anyone seems to speak English and they changed the Spanish language here. Dropped lots of the "s" endings, which are a pretty important part of Spanish grammar - at least they help me figure out what people are saying. Here, it feels like a whole new ballgame. Erin has seemed to adapt easily though.
We came across a street market where people sell hats and sweaters they make. Mittens and leg warmers were about $4, jackets and sweaters $15 - 20 (asking price).
I'm not sure what ganjah translates into in Chile, but I do in Jamaica....Bob Marley.
There are lots of little parks scattered within the city and many of them have exercise equipment as part of that. Perhaps we need the same in the States. I already had the Brussels thing in my mind when we came upon the mini "Atomium" on the left (the grey bar structure).
One last thing - this is the large hill/mini mountain I mentioned during my run post. There is a 22 meter statue of the Virgin Mary at the top of San Cristóbal hill, which is about 300 meters tall. San Critóbal refers to the family that used to have a limestone mine on the south side. The zoo is on southern side of the hill. One of these days I'll run to the top and take some pictures for a post, but it is a long way there and back.
end of post
Saturday, July 27, 2013
First run through Chile
I've been here for 3 days, so time for a run. I decided to go to Parque Metropolitano, which is basically a small mountain/large hill in north central Santiago with a San Cristobal statue at the top. There are supposed to be a lot of trails, so that has my name on it. There is a road that leads you in and it doesn't take long to see some trails. I would soon find these are not your average trails - very steep, rocky, muddy, and nearly impossible to run. There was a sign that indicated no bikes, but shortly into the trail I met up with 4 mountain bikes. (you can double click the pictures to zoom)
On my best day at age 16 you wouldn't catch me on these trails with a bike. Switchbacks, washouts, and cliffs to fall off. After about 5 minutes it was time to go back down to a paved road...feels like a retreat, but hopefully I'll find trails more conducive to running when I try a different route in a few days. This next picture the trail takes a hard left in the center...it is washed out and basically a switchback downhill.
The reason that I went up the trails was that I wanted to get a picture of Santiago with the Andes in the background. Today was the clearest day so far, so I wanted to take advantage of the weather and brought a GoPro with me.
Once back on the paved road I soon came across a familiar smell. Yep, made it to the zoo. It was time to get back to the apartment and make a Skype with Lauri and Seth. At the entrance area to the zoo were a bunch of the mountain bike riders. The thing is that most of them seemed to be roughly 30's and 40's, yet here they were on these crazy trails. Someone in the States would think they were the best mountain biker in the world yet here they are all nonchalant.
end of post.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Landed...more or less...and some context
There were three flights to get to Santiago. The first was in nearly 30 minutes early. The second was in to Atlanta - also about 30 minutes early. Could this string of great fortune continue? I turned on my phone and in came a text from Lauri about a message from Delta. Nope. Flight delayed 14 hours. At least it was a mechanical, so Delta put us up and gave us vouchers for food. We didn't use the full voucher amount on the first purchase, so either Delta only gives you use once vouchers (such as purchase a bottle of water and the remaining $50 balance is revoked) or the waitress got herself a $32 tip.
The flight from Atlanta to Santiago is looong! It seems so much further than flying to Europe. Going over the Andes in Peru was quite bumpy and the meal was served about an hour before landing. By that time I had such a migraine from not eating (had a fruit cup at the airport for breakfast and the fruit was spoiled) and the food was the worst I've had on my many flights. I was not feeling too well when we landed and the address I had for the apartment was incomplete. Erin knew enough Spanish and was resourceful enough that she figured out through contacts and help from a security guard where we needed to be.
The apartment was much nicer than it looked on the web. Small, but clean and in a quiet area leading to a dead end street. I had two main requirements for an apartment - 1) no smoking, and 2) no barking dogs. As soon as the elevator doors opened...bark, bark. There was a golden retriever. Oh well, 1 for 2. After two days the dog issue really hasn't been too bad and the location is proving to be quite good.
We got the Internet going and communication started flowing back and forth from the States. Somehow it already seems like I've been gone a long time even though I've only been here a couple days. I know the same strange feeling will occur when I get home - Chile will soon seem like a distant memory. But right now there are three months from that place.
There are many strange feelings in taking on a 3 month Fulbright Scholarship teaching and research engagement. You hope to keep the wheels on your personal life as you think about your family constantly. There are the things back at Ferris State University. Then there are the things at the University of Chile. All of these are compounded by being a profound introvert working in a field where you can't really talk. I'm not referring to the classes that I teach; rather, the work that enables what I teach.
There are too many potential security risks, legal and ethical issues, and a number of other things that by gosh you have to have introverted tendencies or you are going to potentially negatively impact many people. But all this introversion makes you sure that you come off as distant to most as people don't understand what they don't know and how if affects you. There are many conversations you'd like to have that need to occur only in your head. People that have found themselves in this space know what I'm talking about.
For me Digital Forensics is something that I'm at the forefront of - creating the techniques and strategies and developing the basis for what I teach. I don't read a few books on something and then teach what I read. I teach what I learn by initial discovery and in this case write the book. This isn't to slam other fields that are more established - they have their challenges too. But for me Digital Forensics isn't read chapter 1, do the questions in the back of the book, and then go on to the next chapter. The field changes so quickly and the element I hope to equip an army of former students against is formidable.
I'll give you much more on Chile and the Fulbright in the future, but I wanted to lay a little ground work to provide context for this whole ordeal.
end of post
The flight from Atlanta to Santiago is looong! It seems so much further than flying to Europe. Going over the Andes in Peru was quite bumpy and the meal was served about an hour before landing. By that time I had such a migraine from not eating (had a fruit cup at the airport for breakfast and the fruit was spoiled) and the food was the worst I've had on my many flights. I was not feeling too well when we landed and the address I had for the apartment was incomplete. Erin knew enough Spanish and was resourceful enough that she figured out through contacts and help from a security guard where we needed to be.
The apartment was much nicer than it looked on the web. Small, but clean and in a quiet area leading to a dead end street. I had two main requirements for an apartment - 1) no smoking, and 2) no barking dogs. As soon as the elevator doors opened...bark, bark. There was a golden retriever. Oh well, 1 for 2. After two days the dog issue really hasn't been too bad and the location is proving to be quite good.
We got the Internet going and communication started flowing back and forth from the States. Somehow it already seems like I've been gone a long time even though I've only been here a couple days. I know the same strange feeling will occur when I get home - Chile will soon seem like a distant memory. But right now there are three months from that place.
There are many strange feelings in taking on a 3 month Fulbright Scholarship teaching and research engagement. You hope to keep the wheels on your personal life as you think about your family constantly. There are the things back at Ferris State University. Then there are the things at the University of Chile. All of these are compounded by being a profound introvert working in a field where you can't really talk. I'm not referring to the classes that I teach; rather, the work that enables what I teach.
There are too many potential security risks, legal and ethical issues, and a number of other things that by gosh you have to have introverted tendencies or you are going to potentially negatively impact many people. But all this introversion makes you sure that you come off as distant to most as people don't understand what they don't know and how if affects you. There are many conversations you'd like to have that need to occur only in your head. People that have found themselves in this space know what I'm talking about.
For me Digital Forensics is something that I'm at the forefront of - creating the techniques and strategies and developing the basis for what I teach. I don't read a few books on something and then teach what I read. I teach what I learn by initial discovery and in this case write the book. This isn't to slam other fields that are more established - they have their challenges too. But for me Digital Forensics isn't read chapter 1, do the questions in the back of the book, and then go on to the next chapter. The field changes so quickly and the element I hope to equip an army of former students against is formidable.
I'll give you much more on Chile and the Fulbright in the future, but I wanted to lay a little ground work to provide context for this whole ordeal.
end of post
Four days before it is time to leave...
I submitted my Fulbright application just about 1 year ago. Typically you don’t hear until January or so if you make final consideration, but I found that I made it past the first round already in early November. While final notification may not occur until May, I received acceptance in early February. A dream may be realized, but also many emotions and other things to deal with. First is family. How will this be received? It is easy to think about something like this as an idea, but it is something much different when it actually is going to happen.
The time between February and now (July) were this strange state of knowing Fulbright Day will come, but it was still off in the distance and I didn’t really think about it that much. It wasn’t until I actually made travel arrangements and found an apartment in June that it started to sink in. The past few days have been spent camping on Lake Michigan with my youngest, who will stay in Michigan with my wife and other son (who got a taste of Europe for a few weeks last summer). My daughter, who finished her Spanish minor and spent 6 weeks in Costa Rica last summer, will be traveling with me. I’m sitting on the beach of Lake Michigan, where it is about 68 degrees and a nice cool breeze. And I’m nervous for the first time. All of a sudden everything is a list of lasts...the last time I'm going to go swimming in Lake Michigan until next year, the last camping trip, and soon enough the last time I'll see my wife and sons for three months...
end of post
The time between February and now (July) were this strange state of knowing Fulbright Day will come, but it was still off in the distance and I didn’t really think about it that much. It wasn’t until I actually made travel arrangements and found an apartment in June that it started to sink in. The past few days have been spent camping on Lake Michigan with my youngest, who will stay in Michigan with my wife and other son (who got a taste of Europe for a few weeks last summer). My daughter, who finished her Spanish minor and spent 6 weeks in Costa Rica last summer, will be traveling with me. I’m sitting on the beach of Lake Michigan, where it is about 68 degrees and a nice cool breeze. And I’m nervous for the first time. All of a sudden everything is a list of lasts...the last time I'm going to go swimming in Lake Michigan until next year, the last camping trip, and soon enough the last time I'll see my wife and sons for three months...
end of post
Where it all began...a Fulbright
Working in corporate America for 15 years gave me the notion that there was something more. I worked myself into a teaching position by completing my doctorate at Michigan State University. I had some international exposure in the corporate world and had a dream of some day being a visiting professor at a university somewhere in the world.
I had my eye on Ferris State University as I knew through retirement and other things that sooner or later a position would open. The piece that attracted me to Ferris was similar to what I found the difference between a large corporation and a small business to be: you have the opportunity to do more varied things at a smaller organization. By 2007 Doug Blakemore, Mike Cooper, and I had developed an undergraduate degree in Information Security & Intelligence, and in 2012 Doug Blakemore, Jerry Emerick, Hwee-Joo Kam, and I developed a graduate degree in the same field. Currently, we're working on developing a doctoral degree as well. Developing three degrees as well as more or less defining what your job will be is something that would be difficult to pull off in at a larger university.
I submitted an application for a Fulbright Scholarship for a teaching and research grant July 2012. My first attempt at a Fulbright was 2010, with my target the University of Barcelona in Spain. After submitting the application I called the department in Barcelona that had a Fulbright opening, but they indicated that although it was a potential good fit, they already had the person in mind that they were interested in. To top it off, I indicated in my application that a secondary goal was to develop better Spanish language skills and Barcelona is a heavy Catalan speaking area. Time to chalk this off to a learning experience. I decided that I was much more interested in Latin America Spanish rather than that from Spain. Further, I felt that Latin America was often overlooked and didn’t necessarily get the respect it was due. Everyone seems to focus on Europe and places like China, but my sense is that I want to be where the action is going to be rather than where it has been – and it doesn’t take a genius to see that Latin America is on the rise.
While I had spent quite a bit of time on things like Rosetta Stone, it was also clear that my Spanish skills were far too basic to get me where I needed to be if some semblance of fluency was a goal. So I didn’t submit a Fulbright application in 2011. Rather, I started taking college level Spanish courses and reading children’s books in Spanish. With three semesters of Spanish under my belt, an improved research resume, and a Distinguished Professor award, I was confident 2012 was going to be a better Fulbright outcome. Particularly given that my field of digital forensics is very hot right now. I narrowed my choice by researching the top 10 universities in Latin America, researching the programs and course offerings in Information Security, and looking for a potential match. The Spanish classes I had taken included exposure to people from Latin America, and it helped me refine things even further. I decided between Argentina, where my brother had spent time, and Chile, which academically and perhaps culturally seemed to fit with my personality. Brasil (they don't spell it Brazil) was an intriguing option, and they had an unusually large pool of potential Fulbright opportunities in my field in 2012, but Spanish can be maintained in Northern Michigan – Portuguese not so much. For that matter, Spanish is really the only non-English language that is common in Northern Michigan. Not too many Dutch or German speakers, which is my heritage.
The University of Chile seemed to have many of the aspects I was looking for, and Chile is a very intriguing place. So the next step was to try and identify a contact. Remembering that during my previous Fulbright attempt the candidate was identified before the applications were due, I knew this was important. I went through the list of faculty and looked for two things – 1) a background in information security (more specifically, something complimentary to digital forensics), and 2) time spent in the United States so that I wouldn’t run into language and cultural issues discussing a potential match. I found a potential match and fired off an email cold. After not hearing for a couple weeks I tried again – hoping things were just overlooked. Soon enough, I received a promising reply that would later prove to be the key to making this dream come true. The professor wrote strong letter of invitation for me and worked through the red tape on that side. In retrospect, this was really an act of kindness and cooperation that is hard to fathom. Simply the result of an email.
end of post
I submitted an application for a Fulbright Scholarship for a teaching and research grant July 2012. My first attempt at a Fulbright was 2010, with my target the University of Barcelona in Spain. After submitting the application I called the department in Barcelona that had a Fulbright opening, but they indicated that although it was a potential good fit, they already had the person in mind that they were interested in. To top it off, I indicated in my application that a secondary goal was to develop better Spanish language skills and Barcelona is a heavy Catalan speaking area. Time to chalk this off to a learning experience. I decided that I was much more interested in Latin America Spanish rather than that from Spain. Further, I felt that Latin America was often overlooked and didn’t necessarily get the respect it was due. Everyone seems to focus on Europe and places like China, but my sense is that I want to be where the action is going to be rather than where it has been – and it doesn’t take a genius to see that Latin America is on the rise.
While I had spent quite a bit of time on things like Rosetta Stone, it was also clear that my Spanish skills were far too basic to get me where I needed to be if some semblance of fluency was a goal. So I didn’t submit a Fulbright application in 2011. Rather, I started taking college level Spanish courses and reading children’s books in Spanish. With three semesters of Spanish under my belt, an improved research resume, and a Distinguished Professor award, I was confident 2012 was going to be a better Fulbright outcome. Particularly given that my field of digital forensics is very hot right now. I narrowed my choice by researching the top 10 universities in Latin America, researching the programs and course offerings in Information Security, and looking for a potential match. The Spanish classes I had taken included exposure to people from Latin America, and it helped me refine things even further. I decided between Argentina, where my brother had spent time, and Chile, which academically and perhaps culturally seemed to fit with my personality. Brasil (they don't spell it Brazil) was an intriguing option, and they had an unusually large pool of potential Fulbright opportunities in my field in 2012, but Spanish can be maintained in Northern Michigan – Portuguese not so much. For that matter, Spanish is really the only non-English language that is common in Northern Michigan. Not too many Dutch or German speakers, which is my heritage.
The University of Chile seemed to have many of the aspects I was looking for, and Chile is a very intriguing place. So the next step was to try and identify a contact. Remembering that during my previous Fulbright attempt the candidate was identified before the applications were due, I knew this was important. I went through the list of faculty and looked for two things – 1) a background in information security (more specifically, something complimentary to digital forensics), and 2) time spent in the United States so that I wouldn’t run into language and cultural issues discussing a potential match. I found a potential match and fired off an email cold. After not hearing for a couple weeks I tried again – hoping things were just overlooked. Soon enough, I received a promising reply that would later prove to be the key to making this dream come true. The professor wrote strong letter of invitation for me and worked through the red tape on that side. In retrospect, this was really an act of kindness and cooperation that is hard to fathom. Simply the result of an email.
end of post
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)