Valparaiso and Santiago; A Tale of Two Cities pt.2

Sorry it took so long to put up part two, I've had a lot of homework....whattttt? Also this is about to be really long.

As a side note, not related to Santiago, I woke up this morning with every intention of going running. I got out my clothes and sneakers and was actually about to go, and then I thought about all of the cat calls that I would get, when I all I really wanted was a nice quiet run by the ocean. I ended up not going. It's not because I feel unsafe in this city, quite the opposite in fact, I just get tired of being 'the gringa' that everyone calls out too. I'm pretty sure even if I wore a burlap sack I would have the same problem. However, I don't want that to dictate my lifestyle here, and I'm sure I will make it out running soon, just not today.

Friday morning, August 20th, we left to go to Santiago. My day started out kind of rough. I got on a micro at 8:25 to go to Vina, to meet up with everyone at 8:45, and got off the micro at about 9:10. This is usually a twenty minute ride. People kept calling me and asking where I was, I told them I was on my way. I found out later that the CIEE staff was going to leave without me because I was so late, which I thought was a little rich since nobody is ever on time in this country and it wasn't really my fault my micro driver decided 'carreteando' would be a good way to get to Vina (carreteando, from carretear-to party, means the micro makes a lot of stops so that a lot of people can get on).
All that aside I made it on the bus.

Upon arrival in Santiago we went straight to Cerro San Cristobal, which from the top has a panoramic view of Santiago and the Cordilleras (Andes). It was absolutely gorgeous out and I was very excited to see Santiago from above, however the amount of smog definitely didn't give me the scenic look I was hoping for. Nonetheless the Andes are very impressive, the juxtaposition with the smog is just disheartening. Apparently after it rains the smog is less dense, making for a better 'vista'.

After the Cerro we went and checked into our hotel, and went out to a delicious lunch. I sort of hate going out with our whole program, there are 40 of us and we just make such a scene, unintentionally, wherever we go. On the other hand, everyone in my program is pretty great, so it's nice to spend time with them. After lunch we had some free time and then my CIEE Cuentos class got to meet Alejandra Costamagna, who is a Chilean author. It was really interesting to talk to her about her stories that we read and hear about her transition from journalism to creative writing and from short stories to novels. I definitely geeked out and had her sign my book of short stories...check. As it turns out Alejandra Costamagna is a pretty big deal here in Chile, and through out the rest of the weekend we saw her name over and over again. Once in a review in a literary magazine and once in an exhibit called 'Transnoche' (I'll explain in a bit)

After meeting Alejandra Costamagna, the best part of my weekend happened, Allyson came to the hotel to meet up!!! I can't even explain to you how great it was to see her, in Chile, weird but so right at the same time. Later that night we went out with her and her friends (Chilean and American) for Allie's anti-despedida (anti farewell, just a good time with friends before leaving). Allie is a fellow K student who studied in Santiago last year and was here for the summer doing SIP research (Senior Individualized Project for all non-K students). I had a really good time meeting their friends, who we ended up going out with again on Saturday.

Saturday morning (bright and early) we went to Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts) in downtown Santiago. It was interesting, but I'm definitely glad we had a tour guide, because otherwise so much of it would have been lost on me. I say that because the paintings themselves weren't exceptional, but the history that accompanied them was. For example, Robert Matta, who painted a mural for Museo Cielo Abierto, also did a series of abstract paintings which were displayed in the museum. One of them was censored by the government during Pinochet's regime, and was just recently restored.

After this we went and found a hostel, La Casa Roja, close to Allyson's apartment. I went and had 'once' with her family, which was wonderful. Her little brother Renato, 2 yrs, has a thing for 'las rubias' so was pretty taken with me and spent the entire time giving me toys and staring at me with wide eyes. I also met the 1 month old, Leonora, who Renato calls 'mana' short for 'hermana' (sister). Adorable.

At the hostel I met the most interesting people, and this made me very excited to start traveling around Chile and Argentina. One of the guys we met, Andy, ended up coming out with us on Saturday. My bunkmate was from Brazil and his friend showed me pictures from Valle Nevado, which looks absolutely breathtaking.

Sunday was a memorable day for Chile; we found out that the 33 miners that were trapped in the collapsed mine are alive, and for the most part well. Being in the capital of the country to find this out was a heart warming and powerful experience. People were honking, more than usual, and waving Chilean flags out of the windows, while people gathered in the plazas to sing and celebrate. It was such a unique thing to see, since nothing like that has happened in the states, at least that I can compare it too. It was great to see a country come together to mourn and then celebrate. It will still be another 4 months until they can get the miners out, but at least they now have access to food and water.

Also on Sunday, Max, Marina, Maddy and I went to La Moneda (which is their White House) and stumbled upon a museum in the basement of the building. For 500 pesos ($1) we got tickets to four exhibits. We ended up only going to 'Mascaras de Ecuador' (masks of Ecuador) and 'Transnoche', both of which I really liked. The first one was a display of traditional masks and outfits from Ecuadorian festivals. The second one was a collaboration between photographers and writers from Santiago to show the reality of Santiago's night life (really drove home the fact I'm glad I'm not living in Santiago, I'm just a small city kind of girl). The writers wrote short excerpts which the photographers used to set up scenes to be photographed. The images and stories were really powerful, but the ending is what really brought it all together. There was a movie/power point at the end that showed the printed photographs we had scene, but also pictures that would have come before and after that one moment in time. (how the characters got to that scene and what happened after). Very good use of multi-media.

As our final farewell to Santiago we went and got ice cream with Allyson, SO GOOD! Then caught a bus home to Valpo.

Some side notes I've been meaning to add:
My host mom keeps bowls of water balloons around the house to throw at the stray cats when they sneak into our patio. Probably my favorite thing I've learned about my host family.

Our house is currently under construction, it's just like being at home in NY! The open living room is being closed up a little so that it can support the second story better (or as Dan kindly said 'my fat ass', since this support is directly below my room). 9:30am the noise starts, it's pretty great...

So much love to you all! And congrats for making it to the end of this post :)

Fotos: Andes from Cerro San Cristobal; The HUGE Virgin Mary that's at the top of the Cerro; Museo de Bellas Artes; Me and Marina dancing in front of La Moneda; Me and Allyson with some delicious ice cream.

Valparaiso and Santiago; Pt. 1 of a Tale of Two Cities

It's amazing how much can happen in a week and a half, which is why I decided to make this entry into two parts. Part one will focus on my time in Valparaiso and then part two will talk about my journey to Santiago, Chile's capital.

Last week was my first week in my house in Valpo with out my host dad, Manolo. It was definitely a different atmosphere, but the house felt just as full as ever. My host mom had her sister and best friend, Jimena, over almost every day. I also got a taste for what the rest of this semester is going to be like work-wise. Let's just say I have a lot of reading to catch up on. On Wednesday my social work class was canceled, we found out later it was because the students were out protesting in Plaza O'Higgins. Apparently the Chilean government hinted that they might rescind public funding for Universities, privatizing all schools. The students started a protest outside of the Congreso Nacional to let the government know they were unhappy. I had just dropped my friend, Bethan, off at this plaza and ten minutes later the police were there with tanks and fire hoses, spraying down unruly protesters. I later found out that there has been no legislation presented on this topic, the students were merely trying to nip this in the bud. (Bethan is ok, so no worries about her).

This past weekend I spent pretty much entirely with my family. On Saturday we went to an empanada restaurant with my aunt's family and Jimena and her son. Afterwords we drove around Valparaiso going to some beautiful look out points. Our first stop was Plaza 21 de Mayo, which is one of the longest ascensors in Valpo and has a beautiful view on the way up and from the look out point. We went on a very cloudy day, so they pictures are not so good, but the view was nice nevertheless. We then all piled in the car and drove to Playa Ancha, which is where the lighthouse is. Another breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean. Then we headed to 'La Piedra Feliz', which is rather ironically named.

La Piedra Feliz (The Happy Rock) is a huge rock point just underneath Playa Ancha, which actually used to be twice the size it is now. People used to go there to commit suicide and it became such a problem that the government decided to intervene. They blew up/cut the rock to the size it is now, which is still large, but less suitable for offing oneself. On the other hand it has a beautiful view of the ocean and was perfect for watching the sunset when I took Dan and Marina back to check it out on a clear day.

Also, I've been meaning to write this for awhile, but I found out (awhile ago) where the term "once" came from, which I have been throwing around in my posts. Once is what we have here instead of dinner, although some families do have a more typical "dinner". Once, at least for my family, consists of toast, marmalade, manjar (leche condensada turned thick), cheese and ham. We also have coffee and tea, a lot of families also have palta (avocado) with their bread. Since we do not have "once" at eleven o'clock (once en espanol) I had to ask why it was called what it's called and here's the tale:

Many years ago it was super taboo to drink a lot/socially without food, but men, being men, wanted to drink anyways. They would get together around 7 or 8 and have some aguardiente, which is a liquor made out of grapes, and sometimes have some snacks as well. When they talked about meeting up later for drinks they would ask each other 'quieres tomar la once?' which means 'would you like to have once?' Once was code for aguardiente because it has 11 letters.
Pretty crafty eh?

Last new phrase; Today when Dan called his host mom to ask if it was okay if I stayed for once, she said absolutely 'ponemos mas agua en la sopa' which basically means 'we'll water down the soup' and is a common saying here when there are lots of people over for a meal.

next installment to come tomorrow.
Fotos; my extended host family- Rachel (Emma's host student),Ceci, Gaby, Pancho, Emma (my host mom's sister);
view from Plaza 21 de Mayo; La Piedra Feliz

An Educational Experience

After finishing my first full week of classes I've been thinking a lot about what it really means to be here, in another country, learning and living a language. Especially because I am now confronted with the idea of making Chilean friends, and not just spending time with my host family or my American friends (not that I would trade either of them for anything). It's a very interesting and unique experience to be one of the few gringos in a class of 30-50 Chileans, mostly because you are always a spectacle to be looked at but not necessarily approached. On Thursday, I was put into a group in my Multicultural Education class with four other Chilean girls to discuss our thoughts on bettering an educational system where there are a lot of immigrants who haven't had the same opportunities as their chilean classmates. Having spent the last two years working with and running a bilingual mentoring/tutoring program I found this topic very pertinent to my life and experiences. However, I was feeling frustrated because I couldn't communicate the thoughts I was having because I simply don't have the vocabulary to do so yet. I sort of smiled and nodded while my classmates said everything I was hoping to say, but couldn't. The girls were actually pretty interested in hearing about my experiences running this bilingual program, since they don't seem to have programs or opportunities like that here. My new academic/personal goal is to be able to vocalize the thoughts I am having, since I think that when I am able to do that it will really mark a new level of fluency.

I try to spend as much time with my host family as possible, making a huge effort to be home for meals and around on Sundays and I think I can attribute a lot of my progress with Spanish to them. They have also been unbelievably accommodating with me and have been absolutely essential in my transition to this new city and lifestyle. I also didn't realize how beneficial it was to just sit and watch the news with them. Not only does this give me an opportunity to practice my listening skills, but it gives me a chance to ask questions about the current events occurring in Chile and get a new perspective on the issues. For example, we've been following the mine collapse where 33 miners were trapped in Northern Chile. This event really hit home with my family because my host dad works in the mines up North by Iquique. Also, the whole country has been up in arms about this tragedy and I believe it's because mining is such a large part of the culture and country here. Chile has a large source of natural minerals and substances, which Allende actually banned from being exported for awhile thus causing economic collapse, so there are a lot of mines and therefore a lot of miners. My host mom explained to me that my host dad works in a mine that is above ground, so it's a lot safer, as opposed to the underground mine where the miners are trapped. I was really disappointed to see that this tragedy barely made the news in the states;

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/world/americas/10briefs-Chile.html?ref=americas

I guess that just goes to show how what is important changes from country to country and culture to culture.

On a non academic note, I've spent a lot more time with my host sister this week and I really like being 'the big sister'. We watch telenovelas (soap operas) together and she tries to explain them to me and I've been teaching her how to make friendship bracelets, I wish I had brought my string. Also, she thinks it's really cool that I dance and choreograph so she asked me to help her choreograph a dance to a hip hop song. It's been really fun and a great way to communicate without speaking, that's what I've always loved about dance; you can tell a story in any language and that is invaluable.

Fotos: Con Con; a beach just north of Valpo/Vina (taken just after Allyson called me!). Pelican! Found out that Max, Dan and I have all separately had thoughts of wanting to be a Pelican; I saw one dive straight into the water, so cool. More pictures of Con Con, looking towards La Campana, the national park close by which we are trying to go camping at.

Gringo-meter

This has been sort of a 'gringo' week. I've been having a lot of fun getting to know the city, but am realizing more and more that I will never blend in here, which is ok. I find myself getting a lot of strange looks when I ask a stranger something in Spanish and I can't decide if it's because I'm not saying it correctly, or they're really surprised to see a gringa speaking Spanish...

I started classes on Tuesday with CIEE and on Wednesday with La Catolica (my university). The class on Wednesday is in the social work department and there are a lot of extranjeros (foreigners), but the class is also enormous so the ratio isn't really that bad. I like that it wasn't just Americans, but also students from France, Germany, Brazil, Spain and Mexico. The prof made us introduce ourselves, which was a little overwhelming, especially since a riot broke out when I told them I am a Spanish/Social Work double major. I guess they were really excited.

Thursday I had three classes, two of which are in Sausalito, which is the campus that is farthest from my house without leaving the vina/valpo area. Needless to say I did not know how to get there 1 hr before my class. We had visited the campus last Friday with our groups, but since we didn't take a Micro, it didn't really help. So I channeled my inner gringa and got the map out on the bus as clandestinely as possible. Meanwhile I'm sweating bullets because I am afraid I won't make it on time, and the weather here can't make up its mind. I figure out where I should get off, but of course there is no sign that says 'CAMPUS THIS WAY!' So I creepily followed some kids with backpacks, all the while praying they are in College and not High School. After scaling a mountain I make it to campus to find out my class is canceled (I fortunately had the forethought to ask if my next class on that campus was canceled too, which it was), so I headed back to Vina to meet up with Max. We made a valiant attempt to make lemon bars, but they sort of turned out like flaccid lemon like things. His nanny, Jackie (Yahcky), promised to teach me how to make typical Chilean pastries, so I am looking forward to that.

We finally got our visas, so I am now legally allowed to be in this country, great. It was such a process though and a lot of waiting for two minutes of sitting anxiously in a chair while someone gave you the seal of approval. Well worth the effort though.

Yesterday was my Chilean cousin, Pancho's birthday, so we all went out to 'La Sala' to celebrate. Obviously the night was topped off with a completo , which is a hot dog with avocado, tomatoes, mayo and whatever else you want. Best drunk food ever. We are celebrating his birthday with the family tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it. I really enjoy Sundays here since the whole family gets together and we spend all day together. I also spent a lot of time with my host family today, which was really great. My host dad is super funny and corny, which reminds me a lot of home. I taught my sister how to make friendship bracelets today while watching MTV, both of which were highly entertaining. We went out to lunch at 5:00pm, pretty typical for the weekends here. We went to this place that is hidden in a back alley next to a lot of graffiti and is the perfect mix of traditional and eclectic decorations. Like 'Color Cafe' it has things posted on the walls from people who have been there, mostly pictures that you would use on your visa. People also write all over the plastic table clothes. The only thing you can get at this cafe is choriallana (I think that's what it's called) and it is pretty much a heart attack on a plate. French fries, onions, eggs and beef, and it is so so so good.

After wards I came home to make lemon bars properly for my host dad since lemon is his favorite thing ever. He said some people take drugs, but he just eats lemon. I successfully made them this time, along with some chocolate chip cookies. I have another birthday party tonight which I'm going to with Max, Marina and Dan.

Much love to all.

fotos: Mis padres; Ceci y Manolo, my host sister and me; Gaby, y mi dormitorio (super clean right?)

Lessons learned

This weekend I learned that toilet paper can NOT be flushed down the toilets here. I knew about that when I was in Guatemala, but I was unaware that it was the same deal here. In fact it is assumed that even the stupid gringos will know that toilet paper is unflushable, so there are no signs to be found. So I am in the bathroom at my friend Marina's house and I hear Marina yell 'Don't flush the toilet paper!' from the living room. I automatically respond 'OK'. Meanwhile I have already dropped the toilet paper into the bowl and am watching it slowly sink to the bottom. Hmm, well it's probably not a big deal right? Wrong. Pipes got clogged, host mom got mad, but in the end it worked out ok. One would assume that now I would automatically not flush toilet paper, however one would also have to assume that I have the mental capacity to remember that...
Just signed up for classes today. Apparently there are not called 'clases' in espanol, but rather 'ramos' o 'cursos'. It was probably top ten most stressful things that I've done since I got here. The list of classes is about 15 pages long on Excel and there are no descriptions of the classes, only names. To make things better there are periods instead of times. For example period 1-2 is 8:15 to 9:45 am, there are 13 periods. And to add some more fun there are codes for all 15 buildings where you can take classes that have actually nothing to do with the name of the building. Cool. After a lot of stressing and swearing we all successfully registered this morning and I'm pretty pumped about my schedule. I have Fridays off and my first class on Monday is at 3:40. I'm taking Psicologia Adolescente, Literatura Espanola 4, Educacion Multicultural, Modernidad y Problemas Sociales, Juegos Mapuches (traditional Chilean games, yes I get to run around and throw sticks for credit) and Cuentos Hispanoamericanos. Classes start on Wednesday.

This weekend was super fun, though totally exhausting. I am now actually glad that I have a younger host sibling because she does not want to go out and party at ungodly hours of the night. We stay in and play Uno. However, staying up late and partying hard seems to be unavoidable here. Regardless of how much I drink it is guaranteed I will be up to at least 4 am. Thursday, Friday, Saturday I was up til 5-5:30am. I almost fell asleep during lunch yesterday, struggle bus. However, I went to bed early last night so today was much easier and I was looking forward to sleeping again tonight until my 'monitor' (orientation leader) told me this morning that we are all going out partying (carreteando) tonight. Yes, it is in fact Monday.
On Saturday I went to los cerros (Allegre y Concepcion) with Marina, Max and Carrie. It was a beautiful day and the sun made the colors of the hills that much brighter. The graffiti everywhere is so great and adds so much life to the city. We also went out to lunch and had 'el menu del dia' which is soup, salad, entre and dessert for 3,000 pesos (about 6 dollars). It was delicious and we had a great time laughing away in the restaurant.

Pictures from top to bottom: Traditional folkloric dancers during the first day at the University, Sunset in Cerro Concepcion, and grafitti on Cerro Allegre