Caxias, Judit and my fond farewell to Brazil.

Well, it's been a fairly hectic few weeks, and I can finally say that I am more settled than unsettled here in Melbourne. I've started my new job and have managed to arrive at work, looking somehow like I am comfortable in a suit and tie. The next few posts will cover how I got back home, before I try and get on with my NY resolution to keep this regularly updated.

My final week in South America was spent in the southern most part of brazil and saying my farewells to the churrascarias which were quite easily the highlight of my trips to the Portuguese empire, and enjoying the last of my caiparinhas.
The purpose of my final visit was not entirely culinary, rather it was to play in the caxias do sul open chess tournament which runs in conjunction with the grape festival every second year. Andre Boff did an extraordinary job running the tournament, and proved his commitment to high quality chess by backing up the previous appearance of elite GM Vassily Ivanchuk by attracting legend, and the worlds best ever female chess player GM Judith Polgar. Judith proved everything which has been said about her, that she truly is a Lady of chess. Regardless of the time, she was always willing to pose for an photo or sign an autograph, and quite memorably played a friendly game with a 4 year old entrant to the tournament. It would be amazing if Australia could somehow attract her to play down under.

Personally the tournament was a mixed success. After winning my first two games, I played quite poorly against former top 100 GM Giovanni Vasquez in round 3 and he beat me quite easily. Round 4 was an uncomfortable game in which I was always worse as black until the final position in which I had equalized, and was calculating to see if an exchange sacrifice would have been advantageous (it was equal, nothing more) when I looked at the clock and thought I had about 5 minutes left with my opponent 2. I continued calculating when suddenly my flag fell. I had misread the clock, (there were a variety of analogue clocks being used and this one was different to any I have seen in my life). As it eventuates, my opponent only had 15 seconds left, and i had thrown away the easiest of wins.
At this point I was feeling pretty poorly about the tournament, however I went on to win the remainder of my games and end upon 7/9 which was enough for =4th, which is quite pleasing in a field which had 10 GM's and several IM's, even if I didn't collect a 2400+ scalp.

This it turns out was only the beginning of my adventures of getting back to Australia (well chile also), but it requires another complete post to cover that.

Dia de Australia - a Chilean Australia Day

Green and Gold Face-Paint... Tick, Great Australian Music.... Tick, Rediculous amounts of meat.... Tick, Green and Gold house decorations.... Tick.

Australia Day is one of my favourite days of the year. I realise that almost every year there is some controversy about whether or not Australia Day should have its name changed to "Invasion Day" or simply move the National Public holiday to a different day, but to me the 26th of January is a really important day on the calendar. 

After nearly 12 months abroad I have learnt a lot about what it means to be an Australian, and also given that I am regularly asked about Australian history, I have developed a much better knowledge of what has happened in the 224 years since colonisation.  I cannot, and will not condone the atrocities which were committed against the indigenous population of this country and really feel like that as a society we still have a lot of work to do to ensure that there is true equality between the "white" population and the traditional owners of the continent. 

That being said, I love Australia. I genuinely believe that the complete freedom of expression, generally high standard of living, and openness to each and every culture is something which is unique to our great country. Our history has some dreadful acts that have been condoned by previous governments, with "The Stolen Generation" being the most well known. There is nothing that any white Australian can say or do which will fix the broken families which were a result of government policy which was just inexcusably wrong. 
I think that one of the most important and signifcant days in recent Australian history was the 12th of February 2008, when Kevin Rudd formally apologised to the stolen generation for the previous governmental policy and for the lives which were ruined.

Despite my views mentioned above, I don't feel that they preclude me from celebrating the multitude of great achievements and noteworthy events which have come about throughout our history. To mention a few: the discovery of penecilin as a medicine, the work done by Mary McKillop, Frank Fenner's contribution to the eradication of Smallpox, Barry Marshall's cure for Ulcers, Terence Tao's contribution to Mathematics. Can you imagine life without the Combine Harvester, the inflatable aircraft escape raft and slide, the electric drill, latex gloves, the roller door, the photocopier, refrigeration, the pacemaker, Internet Wifi or the bionic ear (with the bionic eye on its way).  These discoveries and actions have improved and saved countless lives, and have played a very significant part in global development.

These things fill me with an immense feeling of pride and show that whilst we are a small population we have made and are continuing to make a global impact. These are the things which I celebrate on Australia day. I celebrate that we are a free, tolerant and unique nation and what it is we have achieved.

This Australia day for me was slightly different to previous years, although I at least tried to keep the general theme of the celebrations as I would have if I was in the Great Southern Land. Obviously it was not a public holiday here and so the post work celebrations kicked off with some of my Chilean mates arriving unusually punctually and the music starting. Great Aussie hits like "What About Me?", "Khe Sahn", "My Island Home", "I Still Call Australia Home", "I Come From a Land Down Under", "Back in Black" etc started to be belted out over a few beers, prior to the last 20 songs of the Hottest 100 were put on to countdown. A short while later, the meat went on the BBQ and the smokey aroma of Steak and Snags quickly permeated the apartment and quickly, delicious sausage sangas were being eaten.

I actually thought that I would really miss not spending Australia Day in Australia, but it was a real pleasure to share some of the things which I feel are important on Australia Day with my Chilean friends. It was a great night, and the fact that the Aussie's got up in the cricket made it even better. The apartment is still graced by the presence of the Green and Gold Balloons, and provided they don't become too limp before I leave I can see them being the last item taken down before I return down under.

I apologise for the delay between posts, as with all my other attempts at New Years resolutions, I appear to have failed after less than a month. Unfortunately, amongst work travel and trying to arrange my life to leave Chile by the end of this month I just haven't had time. Anyway.... enough of the excuses, next blog will hopefully be more timely!

The Semi-Transparent Mirror

Like most people at around 11:55pm, December 31st, I hurriedly thought about what it was that I wanted out of the following year, and made snap decisions on the things in my life that I can improve upon or can change. Like most people, I also realized around 3 days later that it was a rather poor list and that I would never actually follow through on them, and to be honest had no desire to.

I did however, come up with a revised list of resolutions which I believe are things which I can attain this year, and will actually be beneficial to me. Looking through the semi-transparent mirror that is a combination of reflection and projection has meant that I have come up with a SMART (specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and timely) list of goals. They cover all aspects of my life and hopefully will assist me with looking back on 2012 with the same level of fondness that I viewed 2011.

For me, 2012 is shaping up to be really exciting. I will be returning home in the not-too-distant future, although exact dates remain uncertain and I am really looking forward to seeing family and friends again. 2012 is also however, inherently going to be a sad year. I had no idea when I arrived in South America how attached I would become to the place and my new friends. Saying goodbye to friends and family in February last year was difficult, but I knew that there was a deadline on when I saw them again. Leaving Chile however is not quite the same proposition, I truly want to see again my friends here who have made my time here such an incredible experience . Given the uncertainty in my future right now, I unfortunately am not sure when that will actually be. There is no way that I could have survived this year, let alone prospered personally as well as professionally if it wasn’t for the immediate friendship and support that I was greeted with at 10am on my first day. I hope that I see them again soon, but nonetheless I imagine that I will get emotional again, Fran will call me a little girl and I will sit on the airplane, wishing there was a way that I could stop time and spend a just a few days more on this wonderful continent.

Having said all of that, I am excited about the future and the prospect of living in Australia again, readjusting to life in my home country and seeing a game of AFL live. I am really looking forward to seeing what challenges and adventures 2012 brings, and my expectations for 2012 are extremely high, although as a Richmond supporter my expectations are always high in January.

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Beat a Grandmaster – 2011 was the first time I drew with a GM, and I have recorded several victories against IM’s, 2012 will be the year for my first GM scalp.

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Complete fluency in Spanish – I feel I am quite close, however a combination of vocabulary, and a devilish tense called the subjunctive are currently standing between me and being able to express myself in every context I want.

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Get fit again – In 2010 I was in really good shape, but unfortunately due to a variety of factors I let that slip in 2011. Running or cycling every day and eating more healthily will be on the cards once my clothes and shoes return from the abyss that is Iberia’s luggage service.

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I am going to maintain contact with my friends better – I made excuses throughout most of 2011 for not maintaining the level of contact with my mates that I should have. In 2012 there won't be excuses and will make sure that I stay in touch.

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Get more organised – In the second half of 2011 my organisational skill improved significantly and I have been able to juggle more balls and maintain order in my life much better than in the past. I want this to continue, and am committed to having my life achieve a level of positive structure.

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Post on my blog weekly – I started the year with a great deal of verve and excitement, and communicating this to the internet seemed like an excellent idea. However, once time started to become a little scarcer as other interests took over I got lazy and didn’t post for a long time.

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Take up a new extracurricular past time – this is a little vague, but the possibilities include things like: learning an instrument, playing football again, taking creative writing classes, joining toastmasters (probably the frontrunner atm), martial arts or learning to dance.