Barb G-english

I’m sure I wrote about this building a few entries earlier, but I guess now I can focus on the building a bit more. “La cruz del Tercer Milenio” is a building Located in the VI region, Coquimbo, 157 meters above sea level and it has 93 meters high. This is important, because even when 157 meters is the highest point of this port city, Santiago is located 527 meters above sea level, and the building of Costanera Center counts with 300 meters high; the cross is obviously smaller than Costanera, but the influence in the city is greater and richer that the one we percibe of Costanera (even though we may be able to see the building from a lot of open fields in the city). Both of them are landmark in the cities, but if there’s something that makes The Cross special to the city is the relation to the house buildings to the scale of the Cross. Coquimbo is a small port city where the scale of the buildings doesn’t overcome 3-5 floors; they don’t have 25-30-floors towers like in Santiag...

I have always talk about drawing and how I would spend a whole day on it if an interesting idea comes to my mind, but  as I am a drawer and aspire to draw comics some day, I also play the clarinet at saxophone, and it has been my second or third love since my teen years. I started when I was fifteen seven years ago, after the earthquake of February 27 in 2010. I remember, because the School of Musicians collapsed and they moved to a temporal place (that is still the headquarters of the school, sadly). I have to say that, by that time, I just dreamed to design the new building for the School of musicians, because I was just thinking about to join architecture, but under the current circumstances, maybe I will able to properly design the new building and give back something more than all the lessons my professors have given to me this seven years. I was “old” to learn to play violin or any string instrument back then, so my teacher offered me to learn clarinet instead. I sai...

Last week my grandmother went on a trip to Chillán hot springs with an elderly group, but weather didn’t actually accompany them and the signal was so bad we were not able to talk that much those days. One day we connected, and she remembered a travel we did together with my grandfather a couple years ago. I don’t have a photo right now but I guess I can upload it later. It was the beginning of winter holidays, July 2002, I was only 7 and I came back from school. My grandmother went to see me and told me “C’mon, Bárbara, go to change clothes! We’re leaving for a trip!” So I did, and like two hours after I came back from school the day holidays started, we left in a trip to the North of Chile. It lasted a whole week, we travel through a bus, and it took us like four days to get to Arica because we stopped in various towns in Chilean Coast. Right now I remember we visited the Elqui Valley and some vineyards; La Serena and the 3rd Millennial Cross (not sure if the translation is wel...

Fiestas Patrias is very quiet for me. Each year, I visit home, I dress myself to participate with the musicians’ school at the parade, and then spend time with my family. This year I have to admit I decided to skip classes to get home early; so I did. experience pretty much told me that the traffic is a disaster during holidays, so I prefer to travel early and skip all that noise and disturb. I was able to go to "fondas" and participate in the inauguration. We, as the musicians’ school of the town, each year open the "fondas" with some typical songs, like “Casamiento de Negro”, “Qué pena tiene el alma”, “La rosa con el clavel”; everything arranged by the professor for the band. We also play the national anthem and also the local anthem of the town. This was in September 15th. Days after, in September 18th, we also play for the parade. We’re the last to present in front of people and the local authorities. That day we only did one parade, but I remember some...

I’m writing this story from the future. It’s actually November 24, the original date of the blog entry was September 14. But, something I did last weekend was traveling home, see my family and participate voting for the elections. My sister was really happy to see me and she even accompanied me to the school I was assigned to vote; I’m happy to think that I’m giving her a good example, because she’s still young (she’s only 11). Besides that, my grandmother was really busy with pastry work; she started doing “pan de Pascua” as every year for the occasion, and I saw her really tired and her feet were swollen. I wish I could be with her soon to help her in her work (she actually pays her debts with the pastry work, and I really wish I could have an income and help her… I wish she could have a quiet life now she’s with me. Money it’s always a matter in families nowadays, sadly). I was supposed to be writing for my seminar, but I knew myself and I know that I never use the ...

Something that I AM really grateful about learning to play an instrument is actually being able to participate in an orchestra. I started late to learn an instrument, but it was not an impediment to play as second clarinet and actually learn tenor saxophone to catch up with the big band songs. But a special concert was when I was 18. The boy I had a crush on was going to play a song he composed by himself for the first and only time (he’s my friend, I have to say that he’s now in Germany learning to be a director someday,  and he hasn’t played this song again). I was in the tribune, because by that year I wasn’t in the musicians’ school anymore, so I only went to see the concert. It was breath-taking and heart breaking. He broke up with his girlfriend by that time and the song was so bittersweet I couldn’t react. It was like being born; passing by the sweet childhood and then it comes love, the beauty of it, and then, the pain and death. It was mostly played by...