Ciao Chile. Gracias.

After a year full of pisco, pebre and periodismo (among other things) and lacking plata, plata and plata my tenure as a gringo journalist in Chile is coming to an end. I'm moving back to my native Phoenix, Arizona (gringolandia) to pursue a job opportunity in event management and will most likely reside there for the next few years. Events will be my full-time trade, but I'll be looking to continue writing freelance on the side.

While I'm excited at the outlook of a steady income, mexican food, good beer, ESPN, moving in with my girlfriend and reuniting with family and friends, I'm sad to leave all of the people, places and projects that have made this one of the most fun, beneficial and educational years of my life.

I originally came to Santiago on an internship with The Santiago Times, looking to explore and develop a career in journalism. I recognized it as a starting block and though it provided a great amount of frustrations, it also provided me with my first ever reporting experience and a portfolio of stories that won't win any nobel prizes, but will compliment a nice foot in the door for any potential writing/reporting gig.

After a month into my four-month stint with "The Times" I had teamed up with a few other gringo-journos to start Revista Revolver, the only bilingual cultural and entertainment magazine in Santiago. The project took off very quickly and soon I was engulfed in the operations of a startup business. This was the last thing I expected to be doing when I initially made the trip here and goes to show that for better or worse (better in this case...I think) things don't always play out the way you plan them to.

I'm a firm believer that life is about decisions and making the best of the situation. Sometimes things line up just the way you want them to, other times they fall apart and most times they're somewhere in between. The key to success (with exceptions given to the phenomenally talented, wealthy or lucky) is keeping a cool head, avoiding peaks and valleys and continuing to step up to the plate.

While these concepts are obviously far from novel ideas, they are lessons that need to be learned and reinforced through experiences on the road of life, and ones that aren't taught at the starting gates. (Sorry for the bombardment of sports analogies; brace yourself, there's sure to be more comin down the stretch.)

I remember first tasting these concepts as a teenager during annoying lectures from my mom and shrugged-off advice from basketball coaches. Even though I recognized them as important, I was more occupied with worrying about not having a date to homecoming, improving my crossover dribble (NO L...the cat was out of the bag a long time ago) and listening to the Beastie Boys, and never gave them much thought.

Since then, lessons have come in a variety of shapes and sizes. For example, I thought about decision-making when my long-time friend Sean Higgins fell out of the back of a pickup truck and died, sophomore year of college. While I thought about consistency and keeping an even keel reflecting on the career of my favorite basketball player Charles Barkley, one of the most heated and emotional players of all time. He never won a title. Tim Duncan, on the other hand, who I've never seen crack a smile or make a frown, has four championship rings. (Very difficult paragraph to write.)

I went to Japan two years ago to teach English, looking for an exciting jolt from the day-to-day in Phoenix. I was looking for an easy job with ample time to party and go wild while I could. Instead I was blind-sided by a year in a small town, with no night life and a frosty mountain range of a language and cultural barrier. While I'm in no rush to go back to Japan, I grew from the experience and wouldn't change a thing (see posts labeled "Japan" on this blog for more details).

My experiences in Chile provided yet another set of lessons, affirming these values and propelling me towards this next stage in my life. I saw some beautiful sights, met spectacular people and got to know the country as intimately as I've known any country.

Gracias Chile and ciao.

"Gracias a la Vida que me ha dado tanto
me ha dado la risa y me ha dado el llanto,
así yo distingo dicha de quebranto
los dos materiales que forman mi canto
y el canto de ustedes que es el mismo canto
y el canto de todos que es mi propio canto."
--Violeta Parra

(sidenote: with my move back home, I technically won't be a "Gaijin" anymore, but I'll find a way to keep this blog going in one angle or another)