"old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes."

happy father's day!!

to all the dads out there, hope you have a fantastic day where your kids spoil you rotten.

shout out to my daddy-o... this photo perfectly represents what you do for our family: hold us together and keep us smilin'... your "amazingness" is apparent to all, not just us dierker kids.

i love you so much and wish i was there to make your coffee for you this mornin'!

have the best day ever and know your baby girl is thinkin' bout you today and every day. xoxo

"every good and perfect gift is from above." james 1:17

i'm so happy to introduce chase thomas... ryan (and i)'s new nephew!

i was lucky enough to skype with mama and baby their first day home from the hospital... i cant begin to explain how beautiful (& teeny tiny!) he is... so precious!
here are his baby stats:

born thursday, june 11th, 2009 at 11:00pm

7lb 5oz

20in

please pray for their new little family as they begin this adventure... we love you tony, whitney, and chase! xoxo from chile!

7 days with a chanchito

so funny story. tuesday evening, kelly and i were walking home from our exilerating trampoline class at the gym, when i started feeling like i had a little bugger in my throat. meh, just talkin' to much (as usual) out in the freezing cold weather... too much cold air hittin' the windpipe's never good, right? it'll go away.

wednesday, went to school. didn't feel 100%, but was well equipped with my handy purell just in case i was coming down with something. by midday, i felt like... well... something that would come out the back door.

so after about two days of fever and a pretty wicked 'tos' (cough), my mama decided it be best for me to see a doctor. she didn't tell me we'd have such an adventure! so we go to the doctor and she was of course concerned that i may have the swine flu. afterall, there's been quite a few people here in los angeles that have come down with the newly famous bug. so i had a rapid influenza and pertussis screen. now please dont take me as a softy, but i swear on anything good that it had to have been the WORST diagnostic test i've ever endured. this is how it went:

1: place q-tip in a nare. any one you choose!
2: continue following nasal passageway until you reach katie's brain.
3: roll around q-tip until you collect enough brain matter to steal all of katie's genius master plans.
4: send to laboratory.
5: perform times three.

yeah. needless to say they got what they needed. ended up testing positive for influenza type A. so we went back to the doctor, who then told me i need to go to the hospital for "further tests." (aka they wanted to make sure i didnt have swine flu.) sooo we take a little stroll through the city to the public hospital. waiting room is full of people with masks on. lovely. love this. same area where there are little old people that can barely breathe. waited about 2 and a half hours until the nurse called me in, took my blood pressure and heart rate, both of which were elevated. type A katie freaking out internally. vital signs expose all nerves.

so after vital sign heaven, we went on to wait a little longer. all the while people were on gurneys in the hall way while on 5 liters O2 with no one watching over them. one guy was talkin to himself and his mask kept coming off. it took all my power not to turn into dun dun dun dun: NURSE KATIE! but seriously.

so we finally get in to see the doc. i try to tell her one thing, she says she cant understand my AWESOME spanish. so she turns to my chilean mom who answers all her questions about my symptoms. never listened to my lungs, never even looked at me actually. so that was cool. way cool doctor. love those kind. she gave me a script for an antiviral which is what i would be on if i was to test positive for swine flu. i'm a little out of the loop on the diagnostics required to confirm a diagnosis for swine, but apparently they didn't feel the need to spend more money on the gringa, and thought it be best to just put me on the meds and send me home.

but ladies and gentlemen, please hold onto your seats for the best part of the story! i'm in quarantine for 7 days. not just in the house. i am to stay in my room for 7 days. not allowed to leave. i have an attached bathroom so no need to leave for that. everyone who knows me really well is laughing at this point because you know i'm going to poke my eyes out or better yet draw on the walls due to boredom. my mom brings me meals. otherwise no one's allowed in. i tried to convince my mom to let ryan in for a little make out sesh, but she politely said heck no. girl's gotta try, right?

so admist all this funny drama, my sister and mama brought me home a little get well gift from the supermarket. i'm not sure if it was a sick joke or not. please see the photo below. her name is mitsy. she's named after my doctor who sent me through all of this. so here's to mitsy and our 7 days together. oink oink.

all ya need is love...

happy anniversary mom and dad!! kudos to my parents who are a wopping 29 years old today!! you guys are the best parents a girl could ever ask for... and such a perfect example of true love. congratulations and i love you both so much!

el paro sigue...

so here we are, week numero 3 of the protest. today, tuesday june 2nd, teachers from all over chile migrated to santiago for one huge protest. the government has offered the teachers money... just not the full amount they were promised. so the teachers remain on strike. and from what i understand, will remain on strike until someone decides to show them the mula.

on a lighter note... ryan kelly and i headed north this past weekend in hopes of finding some warmer weather. first stop: valparaiso. okay so i want to eat this city up. almost every building in the town is an obnoxiouslly brilliant color. the town is set on multiple "cerros" or hills, which are lined with quirky little houses, shops with handmade goodies, restaurants, and art galleries. when the city was first being established, there were no urban plans... so everything was placed randomly on the hills, which explains all the windy streets and random stairways that lead to secret hiding spots within the hills. so fun. soooo fun.

so we stayed at this fantastic little hostel called Aleclon finehostel... its taken care of by an equally fantastic man, alberto. alberto took the time to show us a fabulous walking tour around the city our first day there. it was a tremendous help, and we wouldnt have seen half of what we did if it werent for him. of the many historic and beautiful sites we were fortunate enough to visit while in valpo, here are a few of my favorites:

1. multiple "pasajes" or walkways. apparently if a man was interested in a certain lady, he would invite her to "walk the pasaje" with him in the evening. according to history, if the lady accepted the invitation, the man had an automatic "in" and was able to kiss her at some point while walking on the pasaje. but ah-ha, ladies dont give in too soon! the man must romance her before she will pucker up. way to go ladies.

2. the death stairs. this is the longest staircase in valparaiso. there are multiple tragic stories of men and women falling to their death (usually while intoxicated) on this incredibely steep stairwell. four men have suffered heart attacks mid climb. one man allegedly died "with a wide grin on his face," having had a heart attack while walking behind a lovely lady sporting a miniskirt a very convienent 20 meters below. at least he died happy i guess.

3. naval academy. first latin american naval academy is propped up on a hill in valpo.

4. "ascensors." this literally means "lift" or "elevator." these old cable cars take you up the sometimes steep hills for cheap. good way to give the glutes a rest.

5. collectivo boat tour. after waiting about 30 minutes to take off from the dock, we took a little boat tour around valpo's bay area. i couldnt understand a darn thing the tour guide said, so ryan and i had a fun little photo shoot on the boat (please see below). it was super cold. i didnt get sick either. go me!

6. casa de pablo neruda. so there's this poet guy, pablo neruda, who apparently wrote some pretty wicked poems in his day. he has three houses, spread out between santiago and valparaiso here in chile. being that he was a popular guy during his lifetime, his funeral was to be a public event. however, the military dictator, pinochet, wouldnt allow it. despite pinochet's commands, the public crowded the streets in honor of the poet, his funeral becoming the first public protest against the military dictatorship. here's some more info if you're interested in reading more about neruda: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Neruda

7. the way the hills sparkle at night. from a distance, the hills of valpo seem to be sprinkled with gold glitter and its pretty neat.

8. ex-carcel. literally meaning "ex-jail." this old jail is now a cultural park where people come and tag the walls with beautiful artwork. it looks like graffiti from afar, but the images are worthy of praise.

9. valpo's childrens orchestra. we saw a random poster presenting the orchestra's autumn concert which was neatly placed in valpo's main cathedral. pretty sure god was smiling while listening along with us.

k so those are a few highlights from our trip to valpo. we also headed to vina del mar the last two days of our trip. vina is known more as a "resort" town, and has a more snooty vibe to it. i enjoyed it greatly, mainly due to the beach access and family vibe. if you're looking for an american style vaca in chile, go to vina.

i think i'll be taking it easy the rest of this week... hang out with my fam whom i havent spent much time with these past two weeks, make some cookie dough with kelly, read the chilean version of cosmo i picked up on the street today (i know. trashy, but a girl needs some easy reading!), possibly rent some bikes and ride around los angeles with ry, and just soak up some of autumn's soft sunrays before stormy winter hits.

lots of love and blessings from chile <3

so i've really started getting comfortable here in los angeles. i have a regular school schedule which i can't complain about... i have school most days from 8-1ish, with random breaks here and there between those hours. not bad ey? buuut our routine has recently been interrupted by a teacher strike here in chile. the los angeles teachers started striking last monday (may 18th). some regions in the north have been on strike now for about 5 weeks. crazy, right? so apparently they are upset because the government hasn't paid them their 2007 and 2008 bonuses which are promised to them by the law. so needless to say, the teachers are out on the street marching every day while the kids are doing god knows what... sitting at home with/without parents. its bothersome to me, but i guess this kind of thing happens a lot here in chile. another perk to these kids' great education.

on the bright side of this whole protest... we get to travel! this past week, we took a five day vacation to beautiful island of chiloe. our adventure actually started in valdivia, which is about 4 hours south of los angeles. we took an "overnight" bus... we left at 1230am and arrived in valdivia around 430 in the morning. woopy. we were a tired bunch. kelly and i had an interesting time trying to get a hostal at that hour, but we ended up in a cute hostal overlooking the river.

so we spent a day in valdivia, visiting the town of niebla and the kuntsmann brewery. valdivia is actually a german settlement in chile and is known for being the mama of this delicious (okay, i dont like beer much, but everyone loves this beer) beer. you can buy it in the states, but its called patagonia instead of kuntsmann. dont ask me why. so go out and try some!

hal's family picked us up the next morning for our road trip to chiloe! we travelled with hal's host "sister" (okay its actually his mom but she doesnt want to be known as such), and three of his cousins. they rented a car and let us tag along on their adventure. we did so much site seeing i couldn't begin to name all the places we saw. but in short, chiloe is known for old wooden churches (the oldest being the achao church built in 1730... made of all wood. no steel nails, just wooden pegs. it was beautiful), crafts (lots of knit work), and absolutely breathtaking views of the ocean and the numerous lakes around the lake region. we went to the national park of chiloe where ryan and i were able to cross a small river to get to the beach... thank goodness for those rain boots we brought to chile! please take a look at the pictures on my google site to see the amazing beauty we were able to endure while on this trip. absolutely breathtaking.

as for updates on the homefront...kelly and i joined a gym. those simple carbs are gettin to me (or i guess i should say they're GOING to my butt!). the gym should be a great opportunity to meet some new chilean friends!

so i'm going to continue relaxing in my pjs on this wonderful wednesday afternoon and try not to think about how much i actually kinda like this teacher's strike...

love you all!

here i go...

so i'm still not sure about this whole blog thing, but i'm giving it a shot for two reasons: 1: so you, my family and amigos can keep up with my new life over here in chile, and 2: so when i'm an old gramma i can easily show my grandkiddos all my crazy wild adventures "back in the day." so here i go...

to begin my blogging adventure, i'm going to give the mic over to someone much better with words, c.s. lewis: "experience: that most brutal of teachers. but you learn, my god do you learn."

what a smart guy ey? experience. i needed it. i wanted it. i've been living in a very nicely decorated, well groomed, sheltered bubble my entire life. now please dont get me wrong, i thank my amazing parents for giving me the opportunity to feel nothing but comfortable my entire life... i came to chile to get some dirt under my fingernails... i wanted to travel, help where help is needed, and most importantly to learn that what i had in phoenix is not the norm. aka: granite countertops, hudson jeans, and random delicious gadgets from anthropologie are not necessary to live. yes, i love them, but they are not what i want to fulfill me as a person. quite a grandiose lesson to learn in one year, but i'm on a mission. and as lewis states, experience is the best way to learn.

so as you all know, i've actually been in chile for about 2 months now. santiago was my first stop... we (my fellow volunteers and myself) had training for one month. the first two weeks we learned from what i think are two of the best teachers in the world... meghan and thomas. they work for the program i was recruited by, worldteach. they are, to say the least, amazing at what they do. we learned a lot about chile (history, educational system, culture, food, everything!)... but most importantly, we learned how to teach english (that is afterall what we're here to do!). we are using whats called the communicative method to teach these young brains. our classes are conducted in english, with much acting, props, music, etc to help these kids learn our amazing language. the idea is that the kids will be excited to learn english from the alien teacher who makes a lot of weird faces and dances around class like a complete idiot. well.... since i have arrived in los angeles (my new home), i found that this method works. the kids love it. i've been teaching for about 4 weeks now, and the kids have responded gloriously. they are active, playing games, singing songs, shouting fun english words/phrases (AWESOME!), and most importantly, internalizing the language that will carry them so far in their careers later on in life. i'm so excited to be taking on this challenge... the chilean educational system (from the administration to the discipline (or lack thereof) in the classroom) is super disorganized, but the kids are so awesome. they have so much energy and such big brains... and i'm going to fill their little cabezas with useful english that they can use as a tool to become something great.

homelife is good... although i did bonk my head on my shower knob yesterday which left me with a little ping pong/scratch on my forehead. gotta love my 2' by 2' shower! but overall, my family has been so generous and welcoming. they've showed me more love and kindness than i ever would have ever expected strangers to offer. what a lucky girl i am.. leaving the best family ever in the US only to be spoiled with another great one in chile.

so there you have it. my first blog. i hope it was enjoyable and i hope you continue to follow me throughout the year. i miss you all so much and hope this letter finds you having amazing adventures and experiences of your own.