Meet Juani from Chile

Juanita Barrientos V.

My names are Juana Angela Barrientos Villanueva.Two 'first' names and two 'last' names; that´s the way we use in my country in all our documents: passport, birth certificate, checking accounts, or anything official. But we always take our first name and first last name (my father´s last name)as more important and for everyday use.

Well Juana is the Spanish name for Jane, Barrientos is a very common last name in the South of my country, and Villanueva has a Spanish origin.When I was in Museo del Prado in Madrid, I read that Villanueva is the name of the palace .

When I applied for the Fulbright Exchange I also wrote my two first names and my two last names, so when I arrived in the US my insurance policy, the Fulbright information that was sent to me, the name they had at school for me was Juana Villanueva. It was very odd, trying to explain to people and looking for a way to get my true name back again. But they never changed the name they logged me under in the school server, so I continued being called Juana Villanueva until my last day there.

Best wishes from Chile.

Juani

See another pic of Juani at Aiden's web site:
http://www.geocities.com/aidenyeh/nkfust/gen_english/teachers.html

Juani tells us about Chile Juani is responding to an inquiry from Roslyn, June 2003

Dear Roslyn:

I´m very glad to share some information about my country with the group.

Chile is a country of outstanding natural beauty with many beautiful lakes, mountains, glaciers, hot springs, volcanoes and national parks. Visitors from all over the world that come every year experience adventure and excitement.

It has all types of climates, the dry but beautiful northern Atacama Desert with its salt-flats and pink flamingoes in the North, mild warm weather in the Central area, cold and rainy in the South and very chilly and lots of snow in the Austral and Patagonia areas. You can´t miss Torres del Paine www.chileaustral.cl

Other highlighted attractions in Chile are Easter Island, San Pedro de Atacama and the Salar de Atacama, Elqui Valley, Andes Crossing.

There is very useful tourist information including main attractions, excursions and tours, local weather, currency, tipping, transport, tourist information offices at www.sernatur.cl

LanChile offices can give you information about hotels, car hire and restaurants, adventure travel and ecotourism. Activites including whitewater rafting, kayaking, trekking, horse-riding, fishing and mountaineering. www.lanchile.cl

You said your daughter is coming to study as an exchange student.Great!!She will probably be in Santiago. I can meet her and support her from my place here in the South. Chilean people are very friendly so she can make friends very easily and get lots of help from her partners.

She can study Music in the facultad de Musica y Sonología in the University of Chile, in the Modern School or in a Professional Institute. www.emoderna.cl and also in www.projazz.cl, www.uchile.cl www.mapcity.cl (to find maps )

It´s very easy to travel within the country because of the excellent public transport service. Chilean airline for domestic flights within Chile and Peru offer several flights daily. The main Chilean airline offers tourist destinations such as Patagonia, Torres del Paine, Easter Island, San Pedro de Atacama, Atacama Desert, Valle del Elqui, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Cuzco or Machu Picchu.

Does your daughter speak some Spanish? If not, no problem, she will always find someone that speaks some English. it is taught in all schools and universites.

Let me know if you need something else and when she comes to my country. I have put some pictures in the Photo album in yahoogroup.

Best wishes....Juani

You can find the photo album here: http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/efiwebheads/ and click on Photos / Chile
Or see a slide show here: http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/efiwebheads/slideshow?.dir=/CHILE&.view=t

Juani returned from the USA in summer 2002

Juani has just returned from the USA where she spent a year as part of the Fulbright Exchange Program, where a teacher from the USA spends a year in Chile, and Juani spends a year in Rifle, Colorado. Rifle sounds like a very nice place. Juani and I looked it up on the Internet: Of all the sites we found, I thought this one was particularly good:

http://www.garfieldre2.k12.co.us/community/community.html

It said it was 45 minutes from the nearest ski area, and there are 6 ski resorts within 90 minutes of her new home.

Vance, June 5, 2001

Juani responds, 04 Jun 2001

Thanks again Vance for all the information you have sent to me about Rifle, Co and for being so efficient in your work at Webheads..

Greetings from Chile....

Juani

Juani wrote us again, 06 Mar 2002

Hi Vance.

Thanks a lot for the greetings.

I'm in this mountain area of the country, happy to have come to the US and learning much about its culture.Once you get used to it you'd like to stay. I'm coming back home by the end of June.

It isn't easy for me to be online on Sundays.I'm always out of town on weekends and most of the time without internet connection.

I'm sending you my picture in this area...

Hug from Rifle.CO

Juani

... and again, 14 Mar 2002

I love reading your reports on the use of Internet because for me it's also part of my life.When I was in Chile I could go online more frequently than here and show my students what to search on the web ,how to do it, etc. I was working in the Computer Lab partime, using my webcam and having videoconferences with other schools. The school where I am here in the US has a firewall so I'm restricted from chats and some websites from 8 a.m to 4 p.m mountain time .

Greetings from Rifle

Juani

After leaving Rifle, Juani made a trip to London, from where she writes on June 13, 2002

Hi Vance, Eric and webheads:

I've been in London since yesterday morning. It was a good six and a half hour flight from Newark.

I'm very glad I could get here and understand at last what I had read and taught to my ESL students during all these years.

I hope to meet Eric one of these days. I'm near Russel Square station, so it's easy to go anywhere from here. I've already visited many places and I've walked a lot also. I'm taking pictures and recording with my digital-videocamera.

Hope to hear from you...regards Juani

Juani writes again, June 14

Dear Webheads:

I found a modest and cheap hotel but I'll probably look for another one... I don't like it. It's near the underground and has a lot of stores around, but not very good.

I'd like to meet Eric here in London and join the Sunday chat now I'm at the right GMT time.

Regards .. Juani

Eric writes, June 20, 2002

Hi Juani, > I gather you missed Eric in London. Still how nice of you to send news of your travels. I'm sorry we missed each other -

I've been out of the country myself and haven't had a chance to properly read all my e-mails! Have you left already again?

Cheers Eric

Juani flew to Spain, from where she writes June 22, 2002

Hi Vance and Sue:

Sorry I missed the party I was confused with the time and the temperature .We have had 43 ºC and 37 average at nights.

I´ll be flying back to London tomorrow at 15:55 local time,then NY on Monday and after a week I must return to Chile.

I was in Toledo and Aranjuez yesterday.I enjoyed them very much.I went by myself to have the freedom to stay in the places I liked.

Thursday 20 was a lazy day and not safe to go out. I´m in a small hotel in the center of Madrid so I could watch everything from my window. Half of the people were working and half on strike, a lot of noise and many policemen on the streets.

Saludos

Juani

Juani writes us on 29 May 2003 to give us her thoughts on "By this time last year"

Hi dear webheads:

I wanted to share with you my thoughts about my life by this time last year. I remember I was about to be done with School in Rifle High School, Colorado,USA. Students were taking their last exams and I was packing. Lots of things and my two suitcases were not enough for them. I flew Denver-N.York to stay with my cousins for a week and then London and Madrid where I spent two more weeks.

I was so happy I had done the exchange not only for the experience and the knowlegde of a different culture and the opportunity to live and work but also because I had met a wonderful group of people that made my life better and easier in a foreign country.

Vance and all webheads were fundamental for me, as a group to support me and what I was doing also. Sometimes you may think it isn´t that good. After I had done the exchange I thought I could do anything and I also discovered I was able to do more things than I thought.

The Fulbright Commision was always worried and supporting the teachers through their members in the US local organizations and in our native countries so we got lots of help.

Just two weeks ago I was invited to a meeting with the US Embassador in Puerto Montt, the capital of my region, an hour and a half drive from where I live. We got together with other Fulbrighters, American citizens living and working in this area and the staff that came from the Embassy. It was a great social gathering and the ocassion to share our experience.

I will upload pictures to the photo album of Chile I created for the group For more information about the Embassador and his job in Chile visit http://www.usembassychile.cl and to know more about my country http://www.sernatur.cl, http://www.santiago.cl or http://www.chileasutral.cl, http://www.fulbrightchile.cl

Lots of love and best wishes......Juani

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Meet Juani from Chile

Last updated: June 19, 2003