Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Santiago turned War Zone
So today was one of the most interesting days I’ve ever seen in Santiago. I woke up nice and tranquila, then went to campus early to “study”. All day yesterday and this morning I’d been hearing things about a supposed manifestacion de trabajadores (Worker’s Protest) that was going to happen today. We’d gotten emails from our program directors telling us to avoid Alameda, the street only 3 blocks from my house and to not travel in Santiago Centro (where I live) in the afternoon. They even canceled classes at the University of Chile. When I heard manifestacion, I imagined a bunch of people marching with signs and yelling. I figured we shouldn’t travel because certain streets would be shut down for the march and the police would be monitoring everything. While I was studying, I got a few more emails saying that La Católica had canceled classes from 4:30 on, which got me out of my Biblia class and my Pobreza class in the evening.
I went to my Doctrina Social class, then mass, where I met up with Christian. He asked me how I was getting home after class and offered to drive me, using a route around the manifestacion. I told him not to worry, that I was going to meet up with some girl friends before going home and that in fact, I kind of wanted to go check it out since its so close to my house. When I saw the look on his face when I said this, I realized this manifestacion was a lot more intense than I had thought. He explained to me that the police don’t care who you are (observer or protester) and that they go pescando (fishing), which means they grab the girls by their ponytails and throw them in the prison buses. So I got the idea and assured him that I wouldn’t go near, then headed to take my test.
Before the test the professor said she would like to say a prayer for peace in our city and also in our hearts and minds. We said the are father together, then she handed out the tests, which I basically failed. We’ll see, but it was over a lot of stuff they didn’t tell us to study. But I think a lot of the Chileans felt the same way, so hopefully it won’t be that bad.
After the test I went to Calli’s house to meet up with our girlfriends to plan our next trips. While we were hanging out, Calli, Samantha and Kristen all told their stories of the day, which included having tear bombs thrown near them, having to run away from swarms of people and police, etc. They said they never felt like they were in actual danger, but that it was pretty crazy. Anyway, we had a powwow to figure out what we are going to do for our days off. We have September 17-19, Monday thru Wednesday (which means an entire week for me) off for the Fiestas Patrias, the Chilean independence days. We decided we are going to take a bus to Puerto Montt, 12 hours south of Santiago for the first half, then come back to Santiago for the Fiestas Patrias, then we are going 7 hours north to La Serena. It should be an awesome week and a great way to see more of Chile.
I took the metro home around 6 to get back before dark. When I got of the metro (on Alameda, the supposedly dangerous street) there was practically no one around. All the shops were closed and none of the street vendors where out. I walked home quickly, expecting to see a bomb being dropped or something at any moment. I guess basically the entire city shut down and everyone went home early. Olga was glad to see me home and for the first time since I come here, she told me that I was not allowed to leave the house tonight. I told her I wasn’t planning to, so we spent the night relaxing and watching the news. It was incredible to see footage of the actual protest since I’d only heard about it so far.
It was definitely not like I’d imagined, but more like what I picture a war zone. There were people running around throwing Molotov cocktails and attacking police, police beating people, high pressure water hoses, tear bombs, the works. And all of this was happening about 7 blocks from my house, where I walk all the time. In other parts of the city they had set tires on fire in the streets and huge sections of road were shut down. Over 50 people were injured, including 33 police and one senator (a leftist senator that was protesting), and over 670 people were arrested. Check out the news link if you want to read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070830/wl_afp/chiledemo_070830171057
I still don’t understand exactly what the purpose was, but I know it was a protest about workers rights (salary, unemployment, etc.). Anyway, part of me would have liked to see it in person, but most of me was just fine watching on the news. It was pretty exciting and amazing to see what can happen when a lot of people get really pissed off and decide to do something about it. One thing I did notice was that the police didn’t have any guns. I guess that means it might be a little more chaotic, but at least no one died. I went to bed late after pretending to do homework but really just talking to Trev and relaxing.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
I woke up, went for a run, and came back to Olga waiting with an egg yolks and oil mixture for my hair. Last night I told her that my scalp was really dry and that I had dandruff (I had to look that word up: caspas). So when got back, she plopped me down and put the concoction in my hair. We ate almuerzo while I waited with my hair in a plastic bag. After about 45 minutes I took a shower to wash it out. My hair was super shiny and it seemed to work.
I spent all Tuesday afternoon studying for my first test tomorrow in my Educacion, Cultura y Sociedad class. I met up with 3 other gringos and one Chilean girl in our class to study. Luckily our friend Silvia (the Chilean) is really nice and fluent in English, so whenever we got stuck she could explain it to us. She gave us a basic break down of all the issues in Chile’s education system and helped clarify a lot of the more theoretical concepts that we didn’t understand.
The library at La Católica closed at 8:30 pm (crazy right!?) so we walked a few blocks to a posh little café with wireless and studied there. Around 10 I couldn’t think anymore and headed home. Olga was waiting for me, of course with food, and instead of eating quick and heading back to studying, I talked with her for over an hour. I eventually told her I couldn’t procrastinate any more (but there is no verb procrastinate in Spanish), and went back to study. I was pretty convinced I was going to fail this test, so I really wasn’t too stressed.
I woke up, went for a run, and came back to Olga waiting with an egg yolks and oil mixture for my hair. Last night I told her that my scalp was really dry and that I had dandruff (I had to look that word up: caspas). So when got back, she plopped me down and put the concoction in my hair. We ate almuerzo while I waited with my hair in a plastic bag. After about 45 minutes I took a shower to wash it out. My hair was super shiny and it seemed to work.
I spent all Tuesday afternoon studying for my first test tomorrow in my Educacion, Cultura y Sociedad class. I met up with 3 other gringos and one Chilean girl in our class to study. Luckily our friend Silvia (the Chilean) is really nice and fluent in English, so whenever we got stuck she could explain it to us. She gave us a basic break down of all the issues in Chile’s education system and helped clarify a lot of the more theoretical concepts that we didn’t understand.
The library at La Católica closed at 8:30 pm (crazy right!?) so we walked a few blocks to a posh little café with wireless and studied there. Around 10 I couldn’t think anymore and headed home. Olga was waiting for me, of course with food, and instead of eating quick and heading back to studying, I talked with her for over an hour. I eventually told her I couldn’t procrastinate any more (but there is no verb procrastinate in Spanish), and went back to study. I was pretty convinced I was going to fail this test, so I really wasn’t too stressed.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday August 27, 2007 Class and Culture
Monday, August 27, 2007
I woke up early to go to campus before class so I could print off my papers and finish my education assignment. It was a hassle, but I got it all printed off. I went to my Social Doctrine class and instead of listening, I worked on my assignment. Then I went to mass, then to the dreaded Education. Luckily they didn’t collect the assignment, but we have a test on Wednesday so I actually need to learn all this stuff! They handed back the first assignment we turned in and I got a 5.1 out of 7, which was actually better then a lot of the Chileans in the class. For the pop quiz we had, one of the TA’s came and talked to me and told me that I could re-do it and turn it in on Wednesday. Part of me feels a little guilty like I’m milking the extranjera card, but the other part of me knows that I definitely have a disadvantage and should appreciate any slack they give me!
After class Christian fine combed my essay. Every once in a while he would just add a sentence or redo an entire sentence. I’d didn’t mind because since he is a history major he definitely knows what he is talking about. I printed it off with the glorious feeling of being DONE! We ate lunch, and then I ran to the metro to get to my next class in time.
In my Bible class, the professor/Jesuit talked about interpretation. I was able to follow along better then I ever have before. I even understood a joke!! (Summary: Jesus was with the woman who was going to be stoned for sleeping with a man. He said, “Whoever is without sin may cast the first stone”. All the sudden a stone came flying at the woman and Jesus looked up and said, “Mom, you don’t count.”
After class I met up with 3 other kids in the program that were all in my tutor group for our Chile Contemporeano class. We ate dinner and then went to a Contemporary Guitar concert at La Católica. Gabriel, our tutor from our Chile Contemporeano class, is a composer and they performed one of his guitar/flute dos. It was incredible and honestly my favorite duo of all they played. Gabriel was thrilled to see us and I think he was honored that we came. (Plus it doesn’t hurt that he is the one grading our essays, so I think I got some bonus points!)
I walked home from the concert and when I got there Miguel was watching TV. He jumped up and yelled, “Finally you got here!” I didn’t know why he was at the apartment but he explained to me that his parents had a meeting at his school and that his abuelita was watching him. We hung out and he helped me write an email in Spanish to Trevor. He told me some jokes to write and he definitely thought they were much funnier than I did. When his parents, Rino and Evan, finally got back around 11:15, we had once. Olga made pan queques, or crepes with honey and with manjar (like dulce de leche). They left around 11:45, with poor exhausted Miguel asking to stay longer. I told him we would see each other soon and that I want to go to one of his soccer games.
I set to work and was hoping to study for my Education test, but instead took care of odds and ends. I always seem to be working (and actually being productive), but never get anything done! However, the one success I had was to finally figure out a way for you all to see my pictures. I uploaded them onto Snapfish and you can click on the link to see them. You do have to sign in, but Trevor did it and told me it was super easy. The pictures are somewhat out of chronological order, but I’m working on that. Most of them have an explanation and a date to help you out a little. Let me know if you have any trouble with the link.
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=170168552/a=103158733_103158733/t_=103158733
I woke up early to go to campus before class so I could print off my papers and finish my education assignment. It was a hassle, but I got it all printed off. I went to my Social Doctrine class and instead of listening, I worked on my assignment. Then I went to mass, then to the dreaded Education. Luckily they didn’t collect the assignment, but we have a test on Wednesday so I actually need to learn all this stuff! They handed back the first assignment we turned in and I got a 5.1 out of 7, which was actually better then a lot of the Chileans in the class. For the pop quiz we had, one of the TA’s came and talked to me and told me that I could re-do it and turn it in on Wednesday. Part of me feels a little guilty like I’m milking the extranjera card, but the other part of me knows that I definitely have a disadvantage and should appreciate any slack they give me!
After class Christian fine combed my essay. Every once in a while he would just add a sentence or redo an entire sentence. I’d didn’t mind because since he is a history major he definitely knows what he is talking about. I printed it off with the glorious feeling of being DONE! We ate lunch, and then I ran to the metro to get to my next class in time.
In my Bible class, the professor/Jesuit talked about interpretation. I was able to follow along better then I ever have before. I even understood a joke!! (Summary: Jesus was with the woman who was going to be stoned for sleeping with a man. He said, “Whoever is without sin may cast the first stone”. All the sudden a stone came flying at the woman and Jesus looked up and said, “Mom, you don’t count.”
After class I met up with 3 other kids in the program that were all in my tutor group for our Chile Contemporeano class. We ate dinner and then went to a Contemporary Guitar concert at La Católica. Gabriel, our tutor from our Chile Contemporeano class, is a composer and they performed one of his guitar/flute dos. It was incredible and honestly my favorite duo of all they played. Gabriel was thrilled to see us and I think he was honored that we came. (Plus it doesn’t hurt that he is the one grading our essays, so I think I got some bonus points!)
I walked home from the concert and when I got there Miguel was watching TV. He jumped up and yelled, “Finally you got here!” I didn’t know why he was at the apartment but he explained to me that his parents had a meeting at his school and that his abuelita was watching him. We hung out and he helped me write an email in Spanish to Trevor. He told me some jokes to write and he definitely thought they were much funnier than I did. When his parents, Rino and Evan, finally got back around 11:15, we had once. Olga made pan queques, or crepes with honey and with manjar (like dulce de leche). They left around 11:45, with poor exhausted Miguel asking to stay longer. I told him we would see each other soon and that I want to go to one of his soccer games.
I set to work and was hoping to study for my Education test, but instead took care of odds and ends. I always seem to be working (and actually being productive), but never get anything done! However, the one success I had was to finally figure out a way for you all to see my pictures. I uploaded them onto Snapfish and you can click on the link to see them. You do have to sign in, but Trevor did it and told me it was super easy. The pictures are somewhat out of chronological order, but I’m working on that. Most of them have an explanation and a date to help you out a little. Let me know if you have any trouble with the link.
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=170168552/a=103158733_103158733/t_=103158733
Sunday August 26, 2007 Get 'er done
Sunday August 26, 2007
I went to church at St. Lazaro a few blocks from the house at noon. It was a beautiful mass and there was a special event for young girls. They all sat in the first few rows and the priest did a great job addressing them and gearing the homily to them. I’m starting to understand more and more of the readings and homilies in mass, which is wonderful. I still find myself drifting off, but I do that at English masses as well!
After mass I had almuerzo con Olga and her husband Mario. For dessert Olga and I had white wine with pineapple sherbet. Incredible! Olga told me its better with champagne and that for my going away party, she is going to buy champagne. I can tell that she is already dreading when I leave and it makes me feel so very loved!
At 3 o’clock, I plopped myself in my bed with my computer and set to work. I had to finish my essay for the 2 week Chile Contemporeano class that I took before the semester started. It was supposed to be 5-7 pages, the longest essay I’ve had to write in my entire college experience (remember, I take science courses). By around midnight, I had 7.5 pages and was quite pleased. I emailed the paper to Christian and he read through it for me, reassuring me that it seemed logical. I then started my two other assignments for my Education class and around 3 am I fell asleep, still not completely done.
I went to church at St. Lazaro a few blocks from the house at noon. It was a beautiful mass and there was a special event for young girls. They all sat in the first few rows and the priest did a great job addressing them and gearing the homily to them. I’m starting to understand more and more of the readings and homilies in mass, which is wonderful. I still find myself drifting off, but I do that at English masses as well!
After mass I had almuerzo con Olga and her husband Mario. For dessert Olga and I had white wine with pineapple sherbet. Incredible! Olga told me its better with champagne and that for my going away party, she is going to buy champagne. I can tell that she is already dreading when I leave and it makes me feel so very loved!
At 3 o’clock, I plopped myself in my bed with my computer and set to work. I had to finish my essay for the 2 week Chile Contemporeano class that I took before the semester started. It was supposed to be 5-7 pages, the longest essay I’ve had to write in my entire college experience (remember, I take science courses). By around midnight, I had 7.5 pages and was quite pleased. I emailed the paper to Christian and he read through it for me, reassuring me that it seemed logical. I then started my two other assignments for my Education class and around 3 am I fell asleep, still not completely done.
Saturday August 25, 2007 I'm finally acting like a student
Saturday August 25, 2007 Shortest entry so far: I told you I came here to study!
Saturday was supposed to be my day of pure studying and I was hoping to get all my work done. By the time I woke up and got moving, I realized I was going to need a lot more than Saturday to finish. Everything is super slow: reading, writing, etc. So I finished about 1/3 of my work by Saturday evening.
To take a break, at 7:30 Calli, Christian and I went to the Chile Symphonic Orchestra. The concert was amazing and only cost $3 US$. After the concert I went home and worked more. Olga and I had an once and while we were talking she asked me if I was a crier. At first I didn’t really understand, and then I realized that she noticed that I hadn’t cried since I’ve been here and that she meant a crier in any occasion (like the Citranos!). I told her that I used to cry all the time but when I went to college I stopped and that they only time I cry is when I am at home. She immediately understood and began psychoanalyzing me. She told me it was a defense mechanism, that she knows I feel the emotions (i.e. the stress of this week), and that if I want to cry I should etc…. I was quite impressed because she hit the nail on the head! I reassured her that if I felt the urge to cry I would.
Overall, it was nice to have a relaxing night. (And it’s nice to have a day without much to write about.) Of course, I still didn’t go to bed till after 3 am. I’ve realized that my clock is just pushed back about 2 hours, so waking up at 10:30 isn’t really that bad!
Saturday was supposed to be my day of pure studying and I was hoping to get all my work done. By the time I woke up and got moving, I realized I was going to need a lot more than Saturday to finish. Everything is super slow: reading, writing, etc. So I finished about 1/3 of my work by Saturday evening.
To take a break, at 7:30 Calli, Christian and I went to the Chile Symphonic Orchestra. The concert was amazing and only cost $3 US$. After the concert I went home and worked more. Olga and I had an once and while we were talking she asked me if I was a crier. At first I didn’t really understand, and then I realized that she noticed that I hadn’t cried since I’ve been here and that she meant a crier in any occasion (like the Citranos!). I told her that I used to cry all the time but when I went to college I stopped and that they only time I cry is when I am at home. She immediately understood and began psychoanalyzing me. She told me it was a defense mechanism, that she knows I feel the emotions (i.e. the stress of this week), and that if I want to cry I should etc…. I was quite impressed because she hit the nail on the head! I reassured her that if I felt the urge to cry I would.
Overall, it was nice to have a relaxing night. (And it’s nice to have a day without much to write about.) Of course, I still didn’t go to bed till after 3 am. I’ve realized that my clock is just pushed back about 2 hours, so waking up at 10:30 isn’t really that bad!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Friday August 24, 2007
I slept in Friday, had breakfast, studied a little, had lunch, then walked to Proyecto Nuestra Casa (Project: Our Home). This is the volunteer job that I’m going to start. Nuestra Casa works with homeless men and women to help them get back on their feet. They have a house where the men can live for up to one year, another house that is open during the day for them to socialize, cook, shower, look for jobs etc. And on Thursday nights they have an outreach program where they go to the streets and bring the men coffee and bread and try to get to know them. They ultimate goal is not to only feed, clothe and shelter the men but to help them break out of their cycle of poverty, addiction and homelessness. It’s quite an impressive organization and I’m really excited to be a part of it. I had a meeting with the Volunteer Coordinator, Javiera and another woman who is also starting. She gave us a tour, explained what and how the organization works. I think what I’ll be doing is an English language workshop. Apparently the guys always like learning English. I am also hoping to do something with public health, but we’ll see.
After the meeting I walked home and home my first experience buying cosmetics from the pharmacy. In the pharmacies everything is behind the counter and you have to tell the employees what you want. Unfortunately I need female hygiene products and when it was my turn, I got the only male employee in the store. It wasn’t as awkward as I thought, but next time I’ll probably just ask Olga to get them for me!
I got home around 5, studied until about 7:30, and then went to hang out at Christian’s house. It was me, Christian, his brothers Emilio and Emanuel, Emilio’s girlfriend Maria Paz, and their friend Marcelo whom I had hung out with all day at the beach on Thursday! We had a great time chatting, eating completos (really good hotdogs with tomato), and playing karaoke, basically the Chilean version of Gin Rummy. Around 1 o’clock they decided that they want to speak English, so for the next hour or so I relaxed while they had to rack their brain every time they wanted to talk. It was amazing how much my entire continence changed when I started speaking in English. It was the first time I’ve switch from Spanish to English with native speakers and I realized how much harder it is to converse in Spanish. In English, my entire body relaxed, I took deep breaths and I laughed a lot more. I don’t even notice that I’m slightly more tense when everything is in Spanish, but there is a definite change. It was a good break but at the same time I learned a lot. Emilio and Christian drove me home around 2:30 am and I crashed.
I slept in Friday, had breakfast, studied a little, had lunch, then walked to Proyecto Nuestra Casa (Project: Our Home). This is the volunteer job that I’m going to start. Nuestra Casa works with homeless men and women to help them get back on their feet. They have a house where the men can live for up to one year, another house that is open during the day for them to socialize, cook, shower, look for jobs etc. And on Thursday nights they have an outreach program where they go to the streets and bring the men coffee and bread and try to get to know them. They ultimate goal is not to only feed, clothe and shelter the men but to help them break out of their cycle of poverty, addiction and homelessness. It’s quite an impressive organization and I’m really excited to be a part of it. I had a meeting with the Volunteer Coordinator, Javiera and another woman who is also starting. She gave us a tour, explained what and how the organization works. I think what I’ll be doing is an English language workshop. Apparently the guys always like learning English. I am also hoping to do something with public health, but we’ll see.
After the meeting I walked home and home my first experience buying cosmetics from the pharmacy. In the pharmacies everything is behind the counter and you have to tell the employees what you want. Unfortunately I need female hygiene products and when it was my turn, I got the only male employee in the store. It wasn’t as awkward as I thought, but next time I’ll probably just ask Olga to get them for me!
I got home around 5, studied until about 7:30, and then went to hang out at Christian’s house. It was me, Christian, his brothers Emilio and Emanuel, Emilio’s girlfriend Maria Paz, and their friend Marcelo whom I had hung out with all day at the beach on Thursday! We had a great time chatting, eating completos (really good hotdogs with tomato), and playing karaoke, basically the Chilean version of Gin Rummy. Around 1 o’clock they decided that they want to speak English, so for the next hour or so I relaxed while they had to rack their brain every time they wanted to talk. It was amazing how much my entire continence changed when I started speaking in English. It was the first time I’ve switch from Spanish to English with native speakers and I realized how much harder it is to converse in Spanish. In English, my entire body relaxed, I took deep breaths and I laughed a lot more. I don’t even notice that I’m slightly more tense when everything is in Spanish, but there is a definite change. It was a good break but at the same time I learned a lot. Emilio and Christian drove me home around 2:30 am and I crashed.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007 Paseo a la Playa
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Woke up around 8:15, breakfasted, and headed out to meet Calli and Kristin. While we were waiting to get on the bus, we met a group of girls who went to Wash U in St. Louis! We of course started comparing names and one of the girls knows my friend Ashley Gold from MSA and another girl from Houston knows my friend from Tulane Brooks Fowler. Small world huh? We got on the bus around 10 and unfortunately all the gringas were sitting together. We had a fun time, but agreed that we needed to make friends with some Chileans at the beach. Everyone started drinking around 11:00 and I had flash backs to Mardi Gras!
We got to the beach, which is actually Cartagena, where I’ve been twice before! We got of the bus and accidentally separated from our new friends from the States but it worked out fine. I saw Luna, the super outgoing Chilean and said hello. She hadn’t heard about the fight and Christian and when I started telling her what had happened another guy, Marcelo, overheard and had heard all about it. He ended up being a good friend of Emilio and had heard about me, the extranjera that was caught up in all the fun! Calli, Kristen and I ended up hanging out with Marcelo and his friends all day. They are all engineering students and super friendly.
I paced myself throughout the day and by 3 o’clock we were all dancing Meringue on the beach with 3,000 other La Católica students. It was incredible. A great live band, a beautiful beach, a courageous day, and thousands of drunken college students. I met lots of students and even talked to some kids in my classes that recognized me and said hello. Amazingly, I even had some great conversations about God, religion, relationships etc. At 6 they started herding us back to the buses. I was absolutely exhausted and ready to sleep on the ride home. As soon as the bus started pulling away, a fight broke out between some drunken guys. It wasn’t that big of a deal: you can’t do too much damage on a moving bus full of people, but they pulled the bus over and gave us all a good talking to. I made a comment about how I was sick of fights and all Marcelo told me was, “¡This is Chile!”.
On the ride home I talked with two different engineering students. They both spoke English quite well but we only spoke in Spanish. They told me they were really impressed how well I spoke. Overall, the trip was perfect for me: I relaxed, only spoke Spanish, and gained a lot of confidence. This week has really shown me how much I’ve improved, which definitely makes me feel better.
When we got back to campus I took the metro home. Olga made me dinner and I filled her in on the day. After dinner I crawled in bed, talked to Trevor and caught up on my journal, thankful that the next few days should be a bit more relaxed.
Woke up around 8:15, breakfasted, and headed out to meet Calli and Kristin. While we were waiting to get on the bus, we met a group of girls who went to Wash U in St. Louis! We of course started comparing names and one of the girls knows my friend Ashley Gold from MSA and another girl from Houston knows my friend from Tulane Brooks Fowler. Small world huh? We got on the bus around 10 and unfortunately all the gringas were sitting together. We had a fun time, but agreed that we needed to make friends with some Chileans at the beach. Everyone started drinking around 11:00 and I had flash backs to Mardi Gras!
We got to the beach, which is actually Cartagena, where I’ve been twice before! We got of the bus and accidentally separated from our new friends from the States but it worked out fine. I saw Luna, the super outgoing Chilean and said hello. She hadn’t heard about the fight and Christian and when I started telling her what had happened another guy, Marcelo, overheard and had heard all about it. He ended up being a good friend of Emilio and had heard about me, the extranjera that was caught up in all the fun! Calli, Kristen and I ended up hanging out with Marcelo and his friends all day. They are all engineering students and super friendly.
I paced myself throughout the day and by 3 o’clock we were all dancing Meringue on the beach with 3,000 other La Católica students. It was incredible. A great live band, a beautiful beach, a courageous day, and thousands of drunken college students. I met lots of students and even talked to some kids in my classes that recognized me and said hello. Amazingly, I even had some great conversations about God, religion, relationships etc. At 6 they started herding us back to the buses. I was absolutely exhausted and ready to sleep on the ride home. As soon as the bus started pulling away, a fight broke out between some drunken guys. It wasn’t that big of a deal: you can’t do too much damage on a moving bus full of people, but they pulled the bus over and gave us all a good talking to. I made a comment about how I was sick of fights and all Marcelo told me was, “¡This is Chile!”.
On the ride home I talked with two different engineering students. They both spoke English quite well but we only spoke in Spanish. They told me they were really impressed how well I spoke. Overall, the trip was perfect for me: I relaxed, only spoke Spanish, and gained a lot of confidence. This week has really shown me how much I’ve improved, which definitely makes me feel better.
When we got back to campus I took the metro home. Olga made me dinner and I filled her in on the day. After dinner I crawled in bed, talked to Trevor and caught up on my journal, thankful that the next few days should be a bit more relaxed.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007 Stay awake Kayla, you can do it!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
I barely woke up around 9:30 and realized 1. I still had no idea how Christian was doing. 2. I only slept about 5.5 hours, which isn’t nearly enough to function in Spanish let alone for my 6 hours of intense lectures for the day 3. I hadn’t done any of the readings for my classes and 4. I hadn’t eaten since 1:30 the day before.
At breakfast, which ended up being a double breakfast when Olga discovered I hadn’t eaten, I explained everything to Olga. She told me that she hadn’t been able to sleep last night and had been very concerned. She told me she knew I was ok but that something else had happened. Of course she had practically fallen in love with Christian on Sunday, so she was very upset.
I headed to campus and called Emilio to finally hear what was going on with Christian. Thank God, Emilio told me that they finally did some kind of a scan on his brain and didn’t find anything serious. Unfortunately I don’t understand exactly what happened because I have yet to learn the medical terms in Spanish, but basically he got hit hard enough to effect his short term memory. There was no really damage, but he has to stay in bed for two days. Much more relaxed with the good news, I went to class.
Between my classes I went to Mass, where I saw Felipe. He hadn’t talked to Emilio so when I told him the news his whole body relaxed. He told me he had been praying all night and that he knew he would see me at mass today. We hadn’t even talked about being Catholic or anything last night, but I wasn’t surprised to see him there either.
Around 4, Christian called my cell phone to tell me he had just woken up, didn’t really remember anything, but that he wanted to see me. I agreed to visit him after I finished class at 8:30. I had Biblia class, then my Pobreza class and at that point I was exhausted. There are only Estadounidenses (United State-eans) in my Pobreza class, so I was a nice break to finally speak English. I’d hadn’t spoken any since Saturday evening, except when I talked on the phone with Trevor a little on Monday.
After class I took the metro and Christian’s dad and brother Emanuel picked me up. At their house, Emanuel, Emilio and I sat around Christian’s bed with him for the next two hours. Christian was doing quite well: still a little groggy, but very animated and happy to see me. We had a great time recounting the fight and the hours leading up to it. Christian doesn’t remember anything from about 7 in the evening on and only bits and pieces of Tuesday. He said things are slowly coming back to him and while we were talking he would very excitedly interject if he remembered some random detail. At about
11:15 their mom asked if we wanted to have an once and I realized that I again hadn’t eaten dinner. We left Christian to rest and we ate our once while speaking Spanglish and teaching each other funny sayings. All the brothers speak some English and Emilio is practically fluent. Their dad also knows a lot of English. It has been a while since I laughed that hard and it was great to relax. Their family reminds me a lot of my own: They tease each other and have petty spats, but are incredibly caring and really enjoy each others company.
Emilio drove me home and I got in at about midnight. Olga insisted on feeding me when I told her I had only had an once, so we sat around and I updated her on Christian’s status. When I told her that I was going to the beach for Paseo a la Playa, she just laughed. I went to bed around 1 am and called my family, hoping for some reason they were still up. I hadn’t talked to them in a few days and after the emotional rollercoaster I’d been on, I was ready for a familiar voice. Unfortunately I’d woken them up and knew that this wasn’t the time to go into the story. I went to sleep looking forward to doing nothing while I hung out on the beach the next day.
I barely woke up around 9:30 and realized 1. I still had no idea how Christian was doing. 2. I only slept about 5.5 hours, which isn’t nearly enough to function in Spanish let alone for my 6 hours of intense lectures for the day 3. I hadn’t done any of the readings for my classes and 4. I hadn’t eaten since 1:30 the day before.
At breakfast, which ended up being a double breakfast when Olga discovered I hadn’t eaten, I explained everything to Olga. She told me that she hadn’t been able to sleep last night and had been very concerned. She told me she knew I was ok but that something else had happened. Of course she had practically fallen in love with Christian on Sunday, so she was very upset.
I headed to campus and called Emilio to finally hear what was going on with Christian. Thank God, Emilio told me that they finally did some kind of a scan on his brain and didn’t find anything serious. Unfortunately I don’t understand exactly what happened because I have yet to learn the medical terms in Spanish, but basically he got hit hard enough to effect his short term memory. There was no really damage, but he has to stay in bed for two days. Much more relaxed with the good news, I went to class.
Between my classes I went to Mass, where I saw Felipe. He hadn’t talked to Emilio so when I told him the news his whole body relaxed. He told me he had been praying all night and that he knew he would see me at mass today. We hadn’t even talked about being Catholic or anything last night, but I wasn’t surprised to see him there either.
Around 4, Christian called my cell phone to tell me he had just woken up, didn’t really remember anything, but that he wanted to see me. I agreed to visit him after I finished class at 8:30. I had Biblia class, then my Pobreza class and at that point I was exhausted. There are only Estadounidenses (United State-eans) in my Pobreza class, so I was a nice break to finally speak English. I’d hadn’t spoken any since Saturday evening, except when I talked on the phone with Trevor a little on Monday.
After class I took the metro and Christian’s dad and brother Emanuel picked me up. At their house, Emanuel, Emilio and I sat around Christian’s bed with him for the next two hours. Christian was doing quite well: still a little groggy, but very animated and happy to see me. We had a great time recounting the fight and the hours leading up to it. Christian doesn’t remember anything from about 7 in the evening on and only bits and pieces of Tuesday. He said things are slowly coming back to him and while we were talking he would very excitedly interject if he remembered some random detail. At about
11:15 their mom asked if we wanted to have an once and I realized that I again hadn’t eaten dinner. We left Christian to rest and we ate our once while speaking Spanglish and teaching each other funny sayings. All the brothers speak some English and Emilio is practically fluent. Their dad also knows a lot of English. It has been a while since I laughed that hard and it was great to relax. Their family reminds me a lot of my own: They tease each other and have petty spats, but are incredibly caring and really enjoy each others company.
Emilio drove me home and I got in at about midnight. Olga insisted on feeding me when I told her I had only had an once, so we sat around and I updated her on Christian’s status. When I told her that I was going to the beach for Paseo a la Playa, she just laughed. I went to bed around 1 am and called my family, hoping for some reason they were still up. I hadn’t talked to them in a few days and after the emotional rollercoaster I’d been on, I was ready for a familiar voice. Unfortunately I’d woken them up and knew that this wasn’t the time to go into the story. I went to sleep looking forward to doing nothing while I hung out on the beach the next day.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007 Now I know why I study public health…
p.s. This wins the record for the longest blog entry so far. Read on if you dare…
I woke up around 10:30, went for a short run, showered, and started working on my paper that I thought was due Monday but was actually due Wednesday. Of course, it was going very slowly and I once again realized that writing, in any language, is not necessarily my forte. I almuerzo-ed with Olga around 1:30 while she told me a story that made her cry. It was very emotional and I was pretty drained after talking with her. After eating I worked until about 3:30 desperately trying to finish the essay because Christian and I had planned to meet up at La Católica around 4. I only got about half way done, but I figured out a decent outline and I figured I would only need about one more hour to finish up.
Anyway, Christian and I met up on campus to hang out before the huge concert that night. This whole week is Semana Universitaria (University Week) and they have tons of awesome events. On Tuesday night there was a huge concert, Wednesday a bunch of organized sporting events, and Thursday a HUGE Paseo a la Playa (Trip to the Beach), where apparently everyone goes and hangs out at the beach all day! Plus, the professors aren’t supposed to give tests or quizzes all week (apparently my Education teacher doesn’t care…) and a lot of professors cancel class on Thursday. Anyway, we bought tickets to go to the beach on Thursday, then he helped edit my paper, and while he charged his cell phone in a public cell phone charger stand (interesting huh?), walked to the liquor store to buy beer for the concert, and we talked about all kinds of things. Christian reminds me a lot of my Tulane friend Eric Couper, for those of you lucky enough to know him. (If you are reading this Eric: you two would get along great!)
At 6 we met up with his older brother Emilio, his girlfriend, and the most outgoing Chilean I’ve ever met, Luna. Now for some seemingly useless details that will be more significant later in the story: We transfer the beer from my bag to Emilio’s backpack and Christian and I walked to his truck to drop of our stuff. I left my bag in the truck. For the next hour and a half we walked around, met their friends, etc. The concert started at 7:30 with a pretty crappy college group called Perritos Perdidos (Lost Dogs) that was a Pearl Jam tribute band. Luckily they didn’t play too long and when the MCs asked if the audience wanted them to play another song, everyone booed and they left the stage. After that came a good group called Tronic and next my new favorite Chilean band, Sinergia. They are an alternative, funk band and were so much fun and absolutely hilarious. The audience ate it up and everyone seemed to be having a great time. We were standing towards the back where it wasn’t so crowded, but it was still pretty wild. The best part: during the solos, the bassist played the Mario Nintendo song when Mario goes underground, with the star music, sound effects, and even the fireworks at the end. Totally brought me back to my childhood! At some point during the first few bands, I ran into a guy in my Biblia class and asked him if he had finished the essay yet because I was still pretty stressed that I hadn’t done it. He laughed and asked why I was worried because its not due till Monday! Apparently I missed that comment by the Professor (along with many others during that class). That lifted my mood immensely.
Sinergia finished around 11:00 and a lot of people headed home (remember, it’s a Tuesday night). The final band was called Chancho en Piedras (Pig on the Rocks) and from the way the crowd reacted, I could tell they are a pretty big deal. Men were walking around selling 2 foot tall, yellow, plastic, Porky the Pig looking dolls and I was surprised to see that a ton of people were buying them and holding them over their hands while the band played. I wasn’t really into this band; more metal then I prefer, but I wanted to go more towards the front to feel the crowd. Christian didn’t really want to go, but went because I wanted to. We were standing towards the back of the front (understand?) and everything was fine except that I was getting really tired and ready to go. Everyone in the crowd was in various stages of drunkenness, except for Christian, who was driving, and I had only had one drink about an hour before.
Emilio (Christian’s brother) came to stand with us in the back of the front when suddenly, I turned around and saw Emilio very aggressively push an extremely drunk kid. I didn’t understand why Emilio had done that, but after a bit of yelling and an exchange of words everything seemed tranquila (calm). Then out of no where three guys (apparently friends of the drunk kid), ran up to Emilio and started pounding him. Emilio was definitely holding his own, but of course mob mentality kicked in and the crowd surrounded them. A bunch of people were trying to break up the fight and Christian went in to help his brother. Things quickly got out of hand and the next think I know, Emilio et. all are lost in the crowd beating the crap out of each other and I see Christian on the ground with two or three guys punching and kicking him. I was absolutely terrified but knew I couldn’t do anything but thankfully a couple guys went and pulled the other guys off Christian. I ran to help now bleeding Christian off the ground and Emilio fought is why out. I grabbed both of them and all I could do was drag them up the hill while I yelled, “¡VAMOS, AHORA!” (Let’s go, NOW!). Of course Emilio wanted to go back and fight, but when he saw Christian bleeding then realized he himself was bleeding, I was able to convince him to just leave. As we were walking out, another friend of theirs Felipe saw us and came to help. He had seen the fight, but had no idea it was Christian and Emilio.
We started walking back to the car when we ran into a friend of theirs who was on staff for the event and she made them go to the nurse to get check out. We walked to the Ambulance and a paramedic bandaged Christian’s bleeding cut on his head and sent us off. At this point I think we were all in shock and just wanted to get out of there. The boys decided to stop in the bathroom before we went to the car to wash their hands and get Christian some water. As we were walking there Christian asked me what had happened and I explained how the fight broke out, thinking he just hadn’t realized. He told me he didn’t remember and I figured he met it was all so chaotic he didn’t know what was going on.
Christian and Emilio where in the bathroom cleaning up while Felipe and I waited outside. Suddenly Christian ran out of the bathroom towards us screaming something I didn’t understand. Felipe’s face dropped as we saw Emilio sprint out, closely followed by the very same guys they had just finished fighting. I grabbed Christian and ran to the side while Fight Part 2 broke out. Felipe went to help Emilio and luckily after an intense 45 seconds or so, everyone walked away screaming at each other. This time I wasn’t as scared as I was just pissed off. I grabbed Emilio and Christian and again yelled “¡VAMOS, AHORA!”. (Its interesting to see that such few words are necessary to get the point across.)
Again, we started walking to the car and Christian innocently asked me where my bag was. I told him it was in the car. He then asked me what had happened. I looked at him and asked if he was serious. He told me he really didn’t remember and asked me to explain. After I told him, he innocently asked me where my bag was. Realizing everything was so crazy, I reminded him I had left it in the car. Then he asked me what had happened. At this point, I realized something was wrong. I thought he was just messing with me but after questioning him further, I saw that he really had no idea. Emilio told him to tranquilo (calm down) and said that we were just going to go back to the house and that he was going to go to bed. As soon as Emilio said that, I realized that if Christian really couldn’t remember the fight or that my bag was in the car, he probably had a concussion and the worst thing he could do would be go to bed. I told Emilio we needed to bring him to the hospital, but neither Emilio or Felipe that it was that serious. Within the next two minutes talking to Christian, they both knew that something was wrong.
By the time we got to the car, out of the parking lot, and on the way to the hospital, Christian had asked, “Kayla, where is your bag?”, “what happened?”, “why am I bleeding?”, “Why did I get in a fight? I don’t like to fight” over and over. Then it turned to, “Don’t leave Kayla alone!”, “When did we go to the beach?”, “What day is it?”, “And what year?”, “What do I study?”, “In what year am I?” (in University). Over and over and over. Emilio, Felipe and I answered his questions but tried to keep him from asking. I was really concerned and by the looks on Emilio and Felipe’s faces, they were as scared as I was.
First we went to La Católica’s hospital. Felipe talked to the receptionist, Emilio parked the car, and I sat with Christian. We waited for a little while I explained to Christian that we were in the hospital because he hurt his head. He seemed really scared and I knew that he knew enough to know that something was wrong with him. I told him that I wanted to pray but at the moment I couldn’t pray in Spanish. He said not to worry, but God would understand. So we sat in the silent waiting room while I prayed for Christian, the doctors, and everyone involved. Felipe came back and with a look of fury on his face told us to get up because we were leaving. Apparently they told him that it would be a 3 hour wait and there was nothing he could do.
We got back in the truck and drove down the street to the public hospital. We all resumed our places, but this time the waiting room was not nearly as clean or pretty, people were sitting on the floor, and I was getting more and more concerned. Felipe was speaking with the receptionist when Emilio came in and I could hear her say that she was sorry, but there had been people wait there since 4 in the afternoon. Emilio went into protective big brother mode and firmly got the point across that Christian was not ok and a head injury like his could not wait. The woman begrudgingly filled out the paper work and pointed us in the direction of the next waiting room.
We got to the door and a man told us that only the patient and one other person could go in. I had been holding onto Christian, but looked to Emilio to go with him. For some reason, Christian told Emilio no and grabbed my hand as he walked through the door.
So talk about terrifying: I sitting in a waiting room with my new friend trying to keep him from asking me the same questions over and over with a young man with gauze and tape over both his eyes on one side and a woman on a gurney on the other. I asked Christian what his favorite book was and he immediately told me something about the history of the revolutions of America by so and so, then followed it by saying, “I think its because I like history”. He then started talking about his grandfather, “who I think died, but I’m not sure”.
A man called Christian’s name and we walked into a tiny room with a large woman sitting behind a little desk. Christian sat down and as she started taking his blood pressure, as him to explain what had happened. He of course had no idea, so she then turns to me. In my terrified, exhausted broken Spanish, I tried to explain while she took notes. She then asked him if he had allergies and he said “No, I don’t think so.” At that point, I realized that I needed Emilio, the family member and Spanish speaker. Luckily those were they only questions she had for him. She handed Christian the piece of paper and told him to go down the hall to the orange door #8 on the right (like he would remember!). As soon as we walked out, I dragged Christian back to the door of the waiting room and yelled at Emilio to come. I told him I absolutely could not do this and that he needed to take care of his brother. Emilio took Christian down the hall to the orange door #8 on the right and I went and collapsed next to Felipe.
For the next two hours we waited and talked about the catastrophe that is Chile’s public health care system. If this blog wasn’t already 3 pages single spaced, I would go into it, but lets just say it’s a mess. The healthcare is free, but people wait two months to get CAT scans. You think Canada is slow. Christian’s mom and dad arrived and they rotated waiting with Christian and sitting out with us. Both Christian’s parents gave me a huge hug and seemed very concerned about me. I kept telling them I was fine and that I wasn’t hurt or anything. I know they felt really bad and hated that I had to be there for all of this. Finally at 3 am Christian’s dad asked me if I had called my (Chilean) mom to tell her where I was. Felipe and I realized that there was nothing more we could do and they could be waiting all night, so Christian’s dad dropped Felipe off at the bus stop and drove me home.
Olga was awake when I got home. I told her everything was fine and that I would explain it to her in the morning. I climbed in bed and around 4 am finally fell asleep.
I woke up around 10:30, went for a short run, showered, and started working on my paper that I thought was due Monday but was actually due Wednesday. Of course, it was going very slowly and I once again realized that writing, in any language, is not necessarily my forte. I almuerzo-ed with Olga around 1:30 while she told me a story that made her cry. It was very emotional and I was pretty drained after talking with her. After eating I worked until about 3:30 desperately trying to finish the essay because Christian and I had planned to meet up at La Católica around 4. I only got about half way done, but I figured out a decent outline and I figured I would only need about one more hour to finish up.
Anyway, Christian and I met up on campus to hang out before the huge concert that night. This whole week is Semana Universitaria (University Week) and they have tons of awesome events. On Tuesday night there was a huge concert, Wednesday a bunch of organized sporting events, and Thursday a HUGE Paseo a la Playa (Trip to the Beach), where apparently everyone goes and hangs out at the beach all day! Plus, the professors aren’t supposed to give tests or quizzes all week (apparently my Education teacher doesn’t care…) and a lot of professors cancel class on Thursday. Anyway, we bought tickets to go to the beach on Thursday, then he helped edit my paper, and while he charged his cell phone in a public cell phone charger stand (interesting huh?), walked to the liquor store to buy beer for the concert, and we talked about all kinds of things. Christian reminds me a lot of my Tulane friend Eric Couper, for those of you lucky enough to know him. (If you are reading this Eric: you two would get along great!)
At 6 we met up with his older brother Emilio, his girlfriend, and the most outgoing Chilean I’ve ever met, Luna. Now for some seemingly useless details that will be more significant later in the story: We transfer the beer from my bag to Emilio’s backpack and Christian and I walked to his truck to drop of our stuff. I left my bag in the truck. For the next hour and a half we walked around, met their friends, etc. The concert started at 7:30 with a pretty crappy college group called Perritos Perdidos (Lost Dogs) that was a Pearl Jam tribute band. Luckily they didn’t play too long and when the MCs asked if the audience wanted them to play another song, everyone booed and they left the stage. After that came a good group called Tronic and next my new favorite Chilean band, Sinergia. They are an alternative, funk band and were so much fun and absolutely hilarious. The audience ate it up and everyone seemed to be having a great time. We were standing towards the back where it wasn’t so crowded, but it was still pretty wild. The best part: during the solos, the bassist played the Mario Nintendo song when Mario goes underground, with the star music, sound effects, and even the fireworks at the end. Totally brought me back to my childhood! At some point during the first few bands, I ran into a guy in my Biblia class and asked him if he had finished the essay yet because I was still pretty stressed that I hadn’t done it. He laughed and asked why I was worried because its not due till Monday! Apparently I missed that comment by the Professor (along with many others during that class). That lifted my mood immensely.
Sinergia finished around 11:00 and a lot of people headed home (remember, it’s a Tuesday night). The final band was called Chancho en Piedras (Pig on the Rocks) and from the way the crowd reacted, I could tell they are a pretty big deal. Men were walking around selling 2 foot tall, yellow, plastic, Porky the Pig looking dolls and I was surprised to see that a ton of people were buying them and holding them over their hands while the band played. I wasn’t really into this band; more metal then I prefer, but I wanted to go more towards the front to feel the crowd. Christian didn’t really want to go, but went because I wanted to. We were standing towards the back of the front (understand?) and everything was fine except that I was getting really tired and ready to go. Everyone in the crowd was in various stages of drunkenness, except for Christian, who was driving, and I had only had one drink about an hour before.
Emilio (Christian’s brother) came to stand with us in the back of the front when suddenly, I turned around and saw Emilio very aggressively push an extremely drunk kid. I didn’t understand why Emilio had done that, but after a bit of yelling and an exchange of words everything seemed tranquila (calm). Then out of no where three guys (apparently friends of the drunk kid), ran up to Emilio and started pounding him. Emilio was definitely holding his own, but of course mob mentality kicked in and the crowd surrounded them. A bunch of people were trying to break up the fight and Christian went in to help his brother. Things quickly got out of hand and the next think I know, Emilio et. all are lost in the crowd beating the crap out of each other and I see Christian on the ground with two or three guys punching and kicking him. I was absolutely terrified but knew I couldn’t do anything but thankfully a couple guys went and pulled the other guys off Christian. I ran to help now bleeding Christian off the ground and Emilio fought is why out. I grabbed both of them and all I could do was drag them up the hill while I yelled, “¡VAMOS, AHORA!” (Let’s go, NOW!). Of course Emilio wanted to go back and fight, but when he saw Christian bleeding then realized he himself was bleeding, I was able to convince him to just leave. As we were walking out, another friend of theirs Felipe saw us and came to help. He had seen the fight, but had no idea it was Christian and Emilio.
We started walking back to the car when we ran into a friend of theirs who was on staff for the event and she made them go to the nurse to get check out. We walked to the Ambulance and a paramedic bandaged Christian’s bleeding cut on his head and sent us off. At this point I think we were all in shock and just wanted to get out of there. The boys decided to stop in the bathroom before we went to the car to wash their hands and get Christian some water. As we were walking there Christian asked me what had happened and I explained how the fight broke out, thinking he just hadn’t realized. He told me he didn’t remember and I figured he met it was all so chaotic he didn’t know what was going on.
Christian and Emilio where in the bathroom cleaning up while Felipe and I waited outside. Suddenly Christian ran out of the bathroom towards us screaming something I didn’t understand. Felipe’s face dropped as we saw Emilio sprint out, closely followed by the very same guys they had just finished fighting. I grabbed Christian and ran to the side while Fight Part 2 broke out. Felipe went to help Emilio and luckily after an intense 45 seconds or so, everyone walked away screaming at each other. This time I wasn’t as scared as I was just pissed off. I grabbed Emilio and Christian and again yelled “¡VAMOS, AHORA!”. (Its interesting to see that such few words are necessary to get the point across.)
Again, we started walking to the car and Christian innocently asked me where my bag was. I told him it was in the car. He then asked me what had happened. I looked at him and asked if he was serious. He told me he really didn’t remember and asked me to explain. After I told him, he innocently asked me where my bag was. Realizing everything was so crazy, I reminded him I had left it in the car. Then he asked me what had happened. At this point, I realized something was wrong. I thought he was just messing with me but after questioning him further, I saw that he really had no idea. Emilio told him to tranquilo (calm down) and said that we were just going to go back to the house and that he was going to go to bed. As soon as Emilio said that, I realized that if Christian really couldn’t remember the fight or that my bag was in the car, he probably had a concussion and the worst thing he could do would be go to bed. I told Emilio we needed to bring him to the hospital, but neither Emilio or Felipe that it was that serious. Within the next two minutes talking to Christian, they both knew that something was wrong.
By the time we got to the car, out of the parking lot, and on the way to the hospital, Christian had asked, “Kayla, where is your bag?”, “what happened?”, “why am I bleeding?”, “Why did I get in a fight? I don’t like to fight” over and over. Then it turned to, “Don’t leave Kayla alone!”, “When did we go to the beach?”, “What day is it?”, “And what year?”, “What do I study?”, “In what year am I?” (in University). Over and over and over. Emilio, Felipe and I answered his questions but tried to keep him from asking. I was really concerned and by the looks on Emilio and Felipe’s faces, they were as scared as I was.
First we went to La Católica’s hospital. Felipe talked to the receptionist, Emilio parked the car, and I sat with Christian. We waited for a little while I explained to Christian that we were in the hospital because he hurt his head. He seemed really scared and I knew that he knew enough to know that something was wrong with him. I told him that I wanted to pray but at the moment I couldn’t pray in Spanish. He said not to worry, but God would understand. So we sat in the silent waiting room while I prayed for Christian, the doctors, and everyone involved. Felipe came back and with a look of fury on his face told us to get up because we were leaving. Apparently they told him that it would be a 3 hour wait and there was nothing he could do.
We got back in the truck and drove down the street to the public hospital. We all resumed our places, but this time the waiting room was not nearly as clean or pretty, people were sitting on the floor, and I was getting more and more concerned. Felipe was speaking with the receptionist when Emilio came in and I could hear her say that she was sorry, but there had been people wait there since 4 in the afternoon. Emilio went into protective big brother mode and firmly got the point across that Christian was not ok and a head injury like his could not wait. The woman begrudgingly filled out the paper work and pointed us in the direction of the next waiting room.
We got to the door and a man told us that only the patient and one other person could go in. I had been holding onto Christian, but looked to Emilio to go with him. For some reason, Christian told Emilio no and grabbed my hand as he walked through the door.
So talk about terrifying: I sitting in a waiting room with my new friend trying to keep him from asking me the same questions over and over with a young man with gauze and tape over both his eyes on one side and a woman on a gurney on the other. I asked Christian what his favorite book was and he immediately told me something about the history of the revolutions of America by so and so, then followed it by saying, “I think its because I like history”. He then started talking about his grandfather, “who I think died, but I’m not sure”.
A man called Christian’s name and we walked into a tiny room with a large woman sitting behind a little desk. Christian sat down and as she started taking his blood pressure, as him to explain what had happened. He of course had no idea, so she then turns to me. In my terrified, exhausted broken Spanish, I tried to explain while she took notes. She then asked him if he had allergies and he said “No, I don’t think so.” At that point, I realized that I needed Emilio, the family member and Spanish speaker. Luckily those were they only questions she had for him. She handed Christian the piece of paper and told him to go down the hall to the orange door #8 on the right (like he would remember!). As soon as we walked out, I dragged Christian back to the door of the waiting room and yelled at Emilio to come. I told him I absolutely could not do this and that he needed to take care of his brother. Emilio took Christian down the hall to the orange door #8 on the right and I went and collapsed next to Felipe.
For the next two hours we waited and talked about the catastrophe that is Chile’s public health care system. If this blog wasn’t already 3 pages single spaced, I would go into it, but lets just say it’s a mess. The healthcare is free, but people wait two months to get CAT scans. You think Canada is slow. Christian’s mom and dad arrived and they rotated waiting with Christian and sitting out with us. Both Christian’s parents gave me a huge hug and seemed very concerned about me. I kept telling them I was fine and that I wasn’t hurt or anything. I know they felt really bad and hated that I had to be there for all of this. Finally at 3 am Christian’s dad asked me if I had called my (Chilean) mom to tell her where I was. Felipe and I realized that there was nothing more we could do and they could be waiting all night, so Christian’s dad dropped Felipe off at the bus stop and drove me home.
Olga was awake when I got home. I told her everything was fine and that I would explain it to her in the morning. I climbed in bed and around 4 am finally fell asleep.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007: Welcome back to the real world
Monday, August 20, 2007
Wow, I’m finally caught up to today! I slept till 9:45, had breakfast, and headed off to class. I still can’t believe that I only have class 2 days a week and they don’t start till 11:30! Anyway, in my first class Doctrina Social of the Church, the professors asked all the Extranjeros (Foreigners) to stay after class. After class the profé (Chilean for Professor) told us he is worried that we will think the class is a waste of time since it is geared towards Chileans. He wants to make sure we enjoy the class and learn as much as we can (great!) but than said that what we talked about in this class wouldn’t necessarily apply in the States (bad!). I tried to explain to him that there is still a huge disparity of wealth and that this was a Universal concept. I think he understood, but still, the professor had a propuesto (proposition) for us: instead of writing the required essay and taking the in class final, we can write a group paper, in English, about a book (written in English) titled The Priority of Labor, by Gregory Baum (a masterpiece according to the professor). So now I have to decide: take the easier, potentially highly fulfilling way in English or take the much hard, potentially highly fulfilling but in a different way in Spanish. We’ll see, but I’m definitely leading towards the English! I figure I learn Spanish better outside the classroom anyway!
After mass, I went to my Education class, where the teacher surprised us with a pop quiz! I of course didn’t do the reading. This is the first time in my entire life that I honestly had no idea what to write. I couldn’t even BS it. So I wrote something along the lines of, “I didn’t understand the Calendar and didn’t know the reading was for today. Sorry!” After class I asked the TA and she told me that the teacher drops on quiz at the end of the semester and that they aren’t worth much anyway. So I guess I learned my lesson!
Christian and I met up for lunch before I went to my Bible class on the other campus. During lunch it hit me how tired I was and I could barely carry on a conversation. Bible class was again very difficult to follow, especially since my brain was fried. I hate not completely understanding because the 20ish% that I do get, I absolutely love. He is great about class participation and everyone asks questions and gives their opinions. I think I would have a lot to ask about and say if I could only catch up! At the end of class we got back our informes that we had written the week before. This was the two page summary of one of the lectures. I was really nervous about my grade, but I ended up getting a 5 out of 7, which is actually quite decent for my first Chilean assignment. The TA wrote (in Spanish), “Your paper is very interesting. But I think you could develop your arguments more. Don’t worry about the tangles with the language.” So for my next paper, I’m just going to ramble on. Yeah for chill TA’s!!
After class we had another “Chélaton”, or “go have a drink with the professor”. I learned that the name Chelaton actually is a play on words on Tele-a-thon (you know, to raise money for organizations) except that Chela is a Chilean word for beer. Anyway, we all shared a pitcher and Fanta while chatting. I walked the 25 minutes home from campus since it was beautiful outside and needed some exercise. Its really starting to warm up and I’m loving the spring time feel!
I had dinner with Olga and she filled me in on the end of Alquien te mira. It sounds like it was a horrible ending and I’m not too upset that I missed it. I guess that is what you get with telenovelas! Now I’m finally caught up on my journal/blog and I can finally start doing my actual work! Yeah for school!
Wow, I’m finally caught up to today! I slept till 9:45, had breakfast, and headed off to class. I still can’t believe that I only have class 2 days a week and they don’t start till 11:30! Anyway, in my first class Doctrina Social of the Church, the professors asked all the Extranjeros (Foreigners) to stay after class. After class the profé (Chilean for Professor) told us he is worried that we will think the class is a waste of time since it is geared towards Chileans. He wants to make sure we enjoy the class and learn as much as we can (great!) but than said that what we talked about in this class wouldn’t necessarily apply in the States (bad!). I tried to explain to him that there is still a huge disparity of wealth and that this was a Universal concept. I think he understood, but still, the professor had a propuesto (proposition) for us: instead of writing the required essay and taking the in class final, we can write a group paper, in English, about a book (written in English) titled The Priority of Labor, by Gregory Baum (a masterpiece according to the professor). So now I have to decide: take the easier, potentially highly fulfilling way in English or take the much hard, potentially highly fulfilling but in a different way in Spanish. We’ll see, but I’m definitely leading towards the English! I figure I learn Spanish better outside the classroom anyway!
After mass, I went to my Education class, where the teacher surprised us with a pop quiz! I of course didn’t do the reading. This is the first time in my entire life that I honestly had no idea what to write. I couldn’t even BS it. So I wrote something along the lines of, “I didn’t understand the Calendar and didn’t know the reading was for today. Sorry!” After class I asked the TA and she told me that the teacher drops on quiz at the end of the semester and that they aren’t worth much anyway. So I guess I learned my lesson!
Christian and I met up for lunch before I went to my Bible class on the other campus. During lunch it hit me how tired I was and I could barely carry on a conversation. Bible class was again very difficult to follow, especially since my brain was fried. I hate not completely understanding because the 20ish% that I do get, I absolutely love. He is great about class participation and everyone asks questions and gives their opinions. I think I would have a lot to ask about and say if I could only catch up! At the end of class we got back our informes that we had written the week before. This was the two page summary of one of the lectures. I was really nervous about my grade, but I ended up getting a 5 out of 7, which is actually quite decent for my first Chilean assignment. The TA wrote (in Spanish), “Your paper is very interesting. But I think you could develop your arguments more. Don’t worry about the tangles with the language.” So for my next paper, I’m just going to ramble on. Yeah for chill TA’s!!
After class we had another “Chélaton”, or “go have a drink with the professor”. I learned that the name Chelaton actually is a play on words on Tele-a-thon (you know, to raise money for organizations) except that Chela is a Chilean word for beer. Anyway, we all shared a pitcher and Fanta while chatting. I walked the 25 minutes home from campus since it was beautiful outside and needed some exercise. Its really starting to warm up and I’m loving the spring time feel!
I had dinner with Olga and she filled me in on the end of Alquien te mira. It sounds like it was a horrible ending and I’m not too upset that I missed it. I guess that is what you get with telenovelas! Now I’m finally caught up on my journal/blog and I can finally start doing my actual work! Yeah for school!
Sunday, August 19, 2007: I'm not a complete failure!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
I woke up around 10:30, went to mass at the Jesuit church nearby at 12:00, then took the metro to meet up with Christian, my Chilean language partner. He had emailed me while I was in Argentina and we talked on the phone Saturday and he invited me to eat lunch with his family on Sunday. I was really nervous about meeting a new Chilean family and worried that I wouldn’t be able to understand them. Christian picked me up from the metro in his dad’s truck and while we drove back to his house he explained to me that he has been studying history for 3 years now and is involved with Pastoral, La Católica’s youth ministry organization. It is through Pastoral that he got involved with the Exchange student language partner program and he has had tons of language partners over the years. This made me feel a lot more comfortable and I knew he would be patient while I struggled to communicate.
We got to his house and he introduced me to his parents and his brother, who I later found out is his twin. His brother’s name is Manuel and is also studying history. The even have a few classes together. While their parents finished cooking lunch, the three of us talked about classes, Chile, America, religion, history, public health, etc. I was pleasantly surprised that I could understand and speak quite easily and for probably the first time in Chile I felt like I could relax and be myself with Chileans. Also knowing they were both Christians really helped. They are both very interested in the role of the Church in Chile and the era of Independencia in America (remember: America is actually both North AND South America, not just the USA). Christain is doing a huge research paper on the role of the Franciscans during Independence and another one about Saint Alberto Huertado, the Chilean Jesuit who during the 1940s started Hogar de Cristo a huge charity organization to help women and children in Chile.
We realized that both Christain and Manuel took a class I am taking Iniciacion a la lectura de la Biblia (Introduction to Reading the Bible). They both absolutely loved the professor and we had a great time talking about it. Christian even emailed me his copy of the paper that I thought was due the next day.
We ate lunch with the whole family and his dad had a great time asking me questions about the States and telling me interesting things about Chile. Every once in a while he would be telling a story and one of the boys would correct his historical facts. Lunch and conversation lasted till about 5. Then we continued talking about music, movies, everything until 8ish when we had once. Finally around 9:30 I realized that I still hadn’t written my paper for my Bible class and mentioned that I should probably get home. After saying goodbye and thanking his family profusely, Christian drove me home, which ended up being only about 10 minutes away, without traffic. I invited him to come meet Olga since I had just spent over 8 hours with his family, but I warned him that he would want to offer his coffee and dessert. He told me he had finished all his homework, so Olga, Christian and I drank coffee and talked until almost 11:30. Of course, Olga fell in love with him and we had a great conversation about faith, Catholicism, miracles, etc… After a while, I was so exhausted I simply could not pay attention and just let the two of them ramble. I did my best, but my brain was fried and I still had to write my paper! After Christian’s mom and brother called to find out where he was, he decided to head home, but told me I could email him my paper and he’d edit it for me.
It was after midnight when I finally started to work and that sinking, heavy chest stress feeling was starting to creep up on me. I had a week of vacation and waited till the very last minute to start working. When I got online to review the assignment, I saw that it wasn’t due till Wednesday, Thank God! I was so relieved! Instead I stayed up till 3 am catching up on my journal and talking to Trevor. Yeah for procrastination!
I realized today that:
1. My Spanish is actually really improving (I communicated intensely and only in Spanish for over 12 hours.)
2. I think this is just the confidence boost I needed
3. Christian is going to be a great friend to help me learn Spanish and help me in my walk with Christ.
4. By brain hurts when I use it too much and don’t have enough sleep.
5. I really miss home.
I woke up around 10:30, went to mass at the Jesuit church nearby at 12:00, then took the metro to meet up with Christian, my Chilean language partner. He had emailed me while I was in Argentina and we talked on the phone Saturday and he invited me to eat lunch with his family on Sunday. I was really nervous about meeting a new Chilean family and worried that I wouldn’t be able to understand them. Christian picked me up from the metro in his dad’s truck and while we drove back to his house he explained to me that he has been studying history for 3 years now and is involved with Pastoral, La Católica’s youth ministry organization. It is through Pastoral that he got involved with the Exchange student language partner program and he has had tons of language partners over the years. This made me feel a lot more comfortable and I knew he would be patient while I struggled to communicate.
We got to his house and he introduced me to his parents and his brother, who I later found out is his twin. His brother’s name is Manuel and is also studying history. The even have a few classes together. While their parents finished cooking lunch, the three of us talked about classes, Chile, America, religion, history, public health, etc. I was pleasantly surprised that I could understand and speak quite easily and for probably the first time in Chile I felt like I could relax and be myself with Chileans. Also knowing they were both Christians really helped. They are both very interested in the role of the Church in Chile and the era of Independencia in America (remember: America is actually both North AND South America, not just the USA). Christain is doing a huge research paper on the role of the Franciscans during Independence and another one about Saint Alberto Huertado, the Chilean Jesuit who during the 1940s started Hogar de Cristo a huge charity organization to help women and children in Chile.
We realized that both Christain and Manuel took a class I am taking Iniciacion a la lectura de la Biblia (Introduction to Reading the Bible). They both absolutely loved the professor and we had a great time talking about it. Christian even emailed me his copy of the paper that I thought was due the next day.
We ate lunch with the whole family and his dad had a great time asking me questions about the States and telling me interesting things about Chile. Every once in a while he would be telling a story and one of the boys would correct his historical facts. Lunch and conversation lasted till about 5. Then we continued talking about music, movies, everything until 8ish when we had once. Finally around 9:30 I realized that I still hadn’t written my paper for my Bible class and mentioned that I should probably get home. After saying goodbye and thanking his family profusely, Christian drove me home, which ended up being only about 10 minutes away, without traffic. I invited him to come meet Olga since I had just spent over 8 hours with his family, but I warned him that he would want to offer his coffee and dessert. He told me he had finished all his homework, so Olga, Christian and I drank coffee and talked until almost 11:30. Of course, Olga fell in love with him and we had a great conversation about faith, Catholicism, miracles, etc… After a while, I was so exhausted I simply could not pay attention and just let the two of them ramble. I did my best, but my brain was fried and I still had to write my paper! After Christian’s mom and brother called to find out where he was, he decided to head home, but told me I could email him my paper and he’d edit it for me.
It was after midnight when I finally started to work and that sinking, heavy chest stress feeling was starting to creep up on me. I had a week of vacation and waited till the very last minute to start working. When I got online to review the assignment, I saw that it wasn’t due till Wednesday, Thank God! I was so relieved! Instead I stayed up till 3 am catching up on my journal and talking to Trevor. Yeah for procrastination!
I realized today that:
1. My Spanish is actually really improving (I communicated intensely and only in Spanish for over 12 hours.)
2. I think this is just the confidence boost I needed
3. Christian is going to be a great friend to help me learn Spanish and help me in my walk with Christ.
4. By brain hurts when I use it too much and don’t have enough sleep.
5. I really miss home.
Saturday, August 18, 2007 Back to my home away from home
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Amazingly, Calli and I had enough sense to set our alarm clocks before we went out Friday night, so we drug ourselves out of bed around 11:30 to make sure we made it to the airport on time. At 1:30 we shared a cab to the airport with two Brazilians who were also staying at the airport. They were a doctor and nurse couple and came to Argentina to learn Spanish and volunteer. The doctor was a more handsome version of Brendan Frasier and the nurse looked like she came straight out of a European modeling show.
After 2 hours of lines after lines after lines at the BA airport, we finally got on the plane. The flight back over the Andes was incredible. I’ve never seen anything so vastly enormous. The mountains seemed to go on forever in ever single direction, including up. I also enjoyed flying over Santiago and being able to point out streets and buildings I knew. Unfortunately we could also see the incredible amount of smog, which made my lungs hurt just looking at it.
When we landed I had a similar sensation as to that when I land in KC. That I’d finally made it home. It was strange, but I guess that is a good sign. I’ve never even had that going to New Orleans. When I got back to the apartment Olga wasn’t home, so I exercised, showered, and unpacked. When she got back she of course tried to feed me and I had to convince her that I’d eaten enough in the past 5 days to last me two weeks, but she insisted I have some salad and lentil soup.
Saturday night I spent catching up on emails and talking to my parents, Anamarie and Trevor. I was so exhausted I didn’t even want to think about getting out of my bed.
Amazingly, Calli and I had enough sense to set our alarm clocks before we went out Friday night, so we drug ourselves out of bed around 11:30 to make sure we made it to the airport on time. At 1:30 we shared a cab to the airport with two Brazilians who were also staying at the airport. They were a doctor and nurse couple and came to Argentina to learn Spanish and volunteer. The doctor was a more handsome version of Brendan Frasier and the nurse looked like she came straight out of a European modeling show.
After 2 hours of lines after lines after lines at the BA airport, we finally got on the plane. The flight back over the Andes was incredible. I’ve never seen anything so vastly enormous. The mountains seemed to go on forever in ever single direction, including up. I also enjoyed flying over Santiago and being able to point out streets and buildings I knew. Unfortunately we could also see the incredible amount of smog, which made my lungs hurt just looking at it.
When we landed I had a similar sensation as to that when I land in KC. That I’d finally made it home. It was strange, but I guess that is a good sign. I’ve never even had that going to New Orleans. When I got back to the apartment Olga wasn’t home, so I exercised, showered, and unpacked. When she got back she of course tried to feed me and I had to convince her that I’d eaten enough in the past 5 days to last me two weeks, but she insisted I have some salad and lentil soup.
Saturday night I spent catching up on emails and talking to my parents, Anamarie and Trevor. I was so exhausted I didn’t even want to think about getting out of my bed.
Friday, August 17, 2007: Last day in Argentina: Go big, then Go home!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Once again, we rolled out of bed around 12:30 pm, got ready, and took a cab to the (in)famous neighborhood La Boca (The Mouth). La Boca is known for being dangerous at night, but a must see during the day for all visitors to BA. After the night before which was one potential-disaster-narrowly-turned-amazing-experience after another, we were a little on edge and exhausted, yet hopeful that today would run smoother. We got to La Boca and I immediately fell in love. It reminds me so much of the French Quarter with its quirky buildings and interesting characters shadowed by tourist traps and overpriced shopping. But as we walked around, I learned to appreciate these tourist traps and knew that once in a while its ok to fall for them. La Boca is famous for its Tango, which was something we all wanted to see before we left. We found a restaurant that had Tango two dancers inside and we decided to fall for the trap. We ate lunch, watched the dancers and even got to dance with them for about 45 seconds, which was just enough to realize how hard it was but fall in love! It ended up being a great experience and I totally didn’t mind the gimics!
After lunch we continued walking around and admiring the leather shops that La Boca is also known for. Calli wanted to buy a leather belt and randomly ducked into a store that looked less touristy. While she was looking for a belt, Samantha found a bright green leather jacket that was her favorite color and happened to fit her perfectly. Than Calli found an amazing dark brown, funky leather jacket that fit her perfectly. We left the store and continued walking around, I bought a $10 red leather purse, and they deliberated. After much internal (and external) struggling, they both decided to buy them! Sam’s was only about $100 US$ and Calli’s was about $150, but for the quality and amount they loved them, I think it was worth it. The owner of the store had designed all the jackets and was a really nice lady. They both got amazing deals and I think they are super happy. If I didn’t have 2 leather coats already, I probably would have had my own internal struggle. They were that beautiful and that good a deal!
After our their big splurges, I bought a dozen alfajores a famous Argentine sweet consisting of dulce de leche between two cookie type pastries with various accessories (imagine doughnut varieties) for us to share. We decided to be adventurous since so far the day was going amazingly and jumped on a bus that a taxi driver told us would take us to the Botanical Gardens. It ended up being a one hour trip, but it was amazing because we got to see other parts of the city from a different perspective.
We walked around the botanical gardens admiring the beautiful statues and plants. We got kicked out at 6, before we could eat our alfajores, so we headed to Niki’s friends B&B which was actually close this time! We hung out for a while before heading back to the hostel to get ready to go to dinner. We took another bus back and again enjoyed the adventure. For dinner, we met up with another friend of Niki and Sam’s from high school named Kat. We went to a really popular restaurant called Siga la vaca (Follow the Cow) that everyone we talked to told us we HAD to go. We got there at 10:30 pm and had a 45 minute wait. But it was totally worth it: All you can eat AMAZING salad bar, All you can eat meat (and I’m talking Argentine meat: steak, ribs, steak, sausage, pork, steak, kabobs, chicken, steak…), dessert, bottled water, and a liter of either soda, beer, or wine. All for about $15 US$. No joke. It was amazing. We didn’t leave until after 2 am. The 5 of us finished 4.5 bottles of wine and I don’t know how many plates of food. It’s a good thing I didn’t study in BA.
After our monumental dining extravaganza, we jumped in some cabs and went to a popular disco tech and danced Dane Cook style: girls dancing in a tight circle and if boys tried to dance with us, we gave them death stares and shooshed them away. Around 5 am, the wine wore off and the exhaustion set in, so we headed back to our new home away from home away from home.
Once again, we rolled out of bed around 12:30 pm, got ready, and took a cab to the (in)famous neighborhood La Boca (The Mouth). La Boca is known for being dangerous at night, but a must see during the day for all visitors to BA. After the night before which was one potential-disaster-narrowly-turned-amazing-experience after another, we were a little on edge and exhausted, yet hopeful that today would run smoother. We got to La Boca and I immediately fell in love. It reminds me so much of the French Quarter with its quirky buildings and interesting characters shadowed by tourist traps and overpriced shopping. But as we walked around, I learned to appreciate these tourist traps and knew that once in a while its ok to fall for them. La Boca is famous for its Tango, which was something we all wanted to see before we left. We found a restaurant that had Tango two dancers inside and we decided to fall for the trap. We ate lunch, watched the dancers and even got to dance with them for about 45 seconds, which was just enough to realize how hard it was but fall in love! It ended up being a great experience and I totally didn’t mind the gimics!
After lunch we continued walking around and admiring the leather shops that La Boca is also known for. Calli wanted to buy a leather belt and randomly ducked into a store that looked less touristy. While she was looking for a belt, Samantha found a bright green leather jacket that was her favorite color and happened to fit her perfectly. Than Calli found an amazing dark brown, funky leather jacket that fit her perfectly. We left the store and continued walking around, I bought a $10 red leather purse, and they deliberated. After much internal (and external) struggling, they both decided to buy them! Sam’s was only about $100 US$ and Calli’s was about $150, but for the quality and amount they loved them, I think it was worth it. The owner of the store had designed all the jackets and was a really nice lady. They both got amazing deals and I think they are super happy. If I didn’t have 2 leather coats already, I probably would have had my own internal struggle. They were that beautiful and that good a deal!
After our their big splurges, I bought a dozen alfajores a famous Argentine sweet consisting of dulce de leche between two cookie type pastries with various accessories (imagine doughnut varieties) for us to share. We decided to be adventurous since so far the day was going amazingly and jumped on a bus that a taxi driver told us would take us to the Botanical Gardens. It ended up being a one hour trip, but it was amazing because we got to see other parts of the city from a different perspective.
We walked around the botanical gardens admiring the beautiful statues and plants. We got kicked out at 6, before we could eat our alfajores, so we headed to Niki’s friends B&B which was actually close this time! We hung out for a while before heading back to the hostel to get ready to go to dinner. We took another bus back and again enjoyed the adventure. For dinner, we met up with another friend of Niki and Sam’s from high school named Kat. We went to a really popular restaurant called Siga la vaca (Follow the Cow) that everyone we talked to told us we HAD to go. We got there at 10:30 pm and had a 45 minute wait. But it was totally worth it: All you can eat AMAZING salad bar, All you can eat meat (and I’m talking Argentine meat: steak, ribs, steak, sausage, pork, steak, kabobs, chicken, steak…), dessert, bottled water, and a liter of either soda, beer, or wine. All for about $15 US$. No joke. It was amazing. We didn’t leave until after 2 am. The 5 of us finished 4.5 bottles of wine and I don’t know how many plates of food. It’s a good thing I didn’t study in BA.
After our monumental dining extravaganza, we jumped in some cabs and went to a popular disco tech and danced Dane Cook style: girls dancing in a tight circle and if boys tried to dance with us, we gave them death stares and shooshed them away. Around 5 am, the wine wore off and the exhaustion set in, so we headed back to our new home away from home away from home.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Instead of waking up early like we had hoped, we again slept till noon. Asi es… (It happens…) Two of Niki’s friends from Georgetown met us at the hotel and we to lunch at 1234, the 24 hour restaurant we went to Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. But this time it was packed with business men and women and we ate a proper meal! Afterwards we walked about 1.5 miles through the city to Plaza de Mayo, the center of the Government and basically the entire city. It has the Casa Rosada (The Pink House) a.k.a. the Argentine White House. Remember Madonna and “Don’t cry for me Argentina…” from the balcony? That was the Casa Rosada. We went to the Museo Histórico inside but unfortunately the tours were cancelled for some unknown reason. Also in Plaza de Mayo is Banco Nacional de Argentina, Centro de Economia, Centro de Educación, Cabildo, and the Catedral Metropolitana. We went in the Catedral Metropoliana and saw the tomb of Jose San Martin, the liberator of all of Southern South America (Argentina, parts of Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay).
One of the most memorable things we saw in all of Argentina was the Madres de los Desaparecidos (Mothers of the Disappeared) marching around the Plaza de Mayo. Anywhere from 9,000 to 20,000 young people were kidnapped, tortured, and probably killed between the years 1976-1983 during the Anti-Communist movement in Argentina. Most of the bodies were never recovered and for many of the Desaparecidos, the government at the time completely erased their identity. To preserve the memory and make a stance against violations against human rights, many of the mothers of these young people continue to march around the plaza every Thursday afternoon. We just had really good timing and it was incredible to watch something with my very own eyes that I had learned about in the classroom. I bought a poster called Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) from the Mothers and now it is hanging up on my wall.
After exploring some of the most important places of the government and official history of Argentina, we strolled through the ancient, well known neighborhood San Telmo. The streets are cobble stone and it is full of fancy antique shops.
We went to Plaza Dorrego, where I bought a mate, which is a small hollowed out decorated gourd and a metal straw with a filter at the end. It kind of looks like drug paraphernalia, but it is used to drink the ever popular Argentine drink mate, which is an herbal tea. The tea leaves are crushed and placed in the gourd the hot water poured in. The filtered straw is to keep the floating leaves out. After playing tourists for so long, we were pretty pooped so we had coffee around 5:30 in a cute restaurant called Café Dorrego on the plaza. We took a cab back to the hostal and starting getting ready for dinner.
And so starts our night of adventures: We planned on meeting Niki’s friend at her Bed and Breakfast in Palermo Viejo (another neighborhood in BA) at 8:00. We took a cab to approximately where the friend had given Niki directions. We started follow the directions but when we should have been there, the address we had was about 8 blocks off from where we were. So we kept walking; all the way to the address we had. Unfortunately when we got to the address, there was no B&B to be found. We asked tons of people and no one had any idea. We knocked on the door of the address, hoping it was the right building but thinking it was actually an apartment building. Unfortunately, a husband and wife answered the door while we interrupted their dinner! Luckily they were very nice and tried to help us out. Anyway, this is turning into a unnecessarily long story, quite like our unnecessarily long adventure! We ended up going to a hotel where the receptionist was nice enough to look up the B&B on the internet and give us the right address! We took a cab and got there an hour and a half late! Niki’s friend felt really bad, but it worked out fine. Palermo is a great neighborhood and I enjoyed walking around, despite the fact that we were all hungry!
For dinner, Calli found a restaurant called Te Mataré Ramirez (I’m going to Kill You Ramirez) which was described in the guide book as something like an Argentine/French erotic dining experience you won’t forget with entertaining puppet shows and great food. I wanted to go to a restaurant that our guide book says was one of the best, most trendy restaurants in all of BA, but my vote lost. Anyway, about our little experience, lets just say, the guide book was right. We got there and the door was locked; the hostest had to open it for you. The entire restaurant was dark with only red lamps and candles for light. All around the walls were paintings of womens dresses and figures. The ceiling was a blue sky with playful clouds full of cherubs and naked bodies doing things I won’t describe. The menus were covered in erotic quotes comparing food to sex and every entrée was titled something inappropriate. All of us girls were second guessing our choice as we sat quietly in the overly sexually tense restaurant. We ordered our dinners, having no idea what they actually were and hoping they would be good. We continued awkwardly waiting as the clock slowly inched towards 11:00 pm. Finally, a group of waiters emerged from the kitchen to loud music and a spot light. They did a provocative little dance before jumping on stage and grabbing their puppets. Then, CENSURED CENSURED CENSURED. They took a break right when we finally got our food. We were all balancing between dieing laughing and shamefully covering our eyes while we ate our incredible, gourmet meals. I had baked rabbit with risottos in a fried cheese salad bowl. It might go down as one of the best meals I’ve ever had. The second have of the show started while we finished eating and CENSURED CENSURED CENSURED. Think Team America (the American puppet movie, don’t worry if you haven’t seen it, its not worth in) in the overly sexual Latin American context. Anyway, when we finally finished our dinner, we paid about 15 bucks a piece, which is about the most expensive you will ever pay in BA for only an entrée, and left. We skipped out on the usual coffee and dessert before things got too hot and heavy.
After our unforgettable dining experience, we went to an incredible bar called Milión. It is a three story old mansion renovated into a trendy night club. While we were hanging out, we ironically ran into the Brazilains from the hostal. In 3 story bar, in a city of 10 million people with more bars than you could imagine, what are the odds? Than my friend from Tulane, Christian Legett walked in! He came to meet up with the CIEE Buenos Aires group that was hanging out, one of which was Niki’s friend. Not completely as random, but still pretty awesome! So Christian and I got to catch up while the one of the Brazilians, Fernando, hit on Calli. Around 2, we were ready to head somewhere else and Calli needed to ditch the now drunk and desperate Fernando. When he headed to the bathroom, we ran out, hoping to ditch him. In the rush of it all, I unfortnately forgot to say goodbye to Christain! Anyway, as we were standing outside the bar trying to figure out which way to go to get back to the hostel, none other than Fernando walked out! So he followed us back to the hostal. Once there, all of us girls decided that we didn’t feel like dealing with drunk Brazilians, nor did we want to go to another bar/night club. Instead, we settled on dessert at our now favorite 24 hour 1234. Fernando was waiting for us in the lobby and we made Calli awkwardly tell him that we were going to get dessert and it was going to be pura chicas (only girls!). He was quite upset and jumped in a taxi as we walked the other way! Anyway, we enjoyed our desserts and went to bed early (around 4!) so that we could wake up early and explore more of the city on our last day.
Instead of waking up early like we had hoped, we again slept till noon. Asi es… (It happens…) Two of Niki’s friends from Georgetown met us at the hotel and we to lunch at 1234, the 24 hour restaurant we went to Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. But this time it was packed with business men and women and we ate a proper meal! Afterwards we walked about 1.5 miles through the city to Plaza de Mayo, the center of the Government and basically the entire city. It has the Casa Rosada (The Pink House) a.k.a. the Argentine White House. Remember Madonna and “Don’t cry for me Argentina…” from the balcony? That was the Casa Rosada. We went to the Museo Histórico inside but unfortunately the tours were cancelled for some unknown reason. Also in Plaza de Mayo is Banco Nacional de Argentina, Centro de Economia, Centro de Educación, Cabildo, and the Catedral Metropolitana. We went in the Catedral Metropoliana and saw the tomb of Jose San Martin, the liberator of all of Southern South America (Argentina, parts of Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay).
One of the most memorable things we saw in all of Argentina was the Madres de los Desaparecidos (Mothers of the Disappeared) marching around the Plaza de Mayo. Anywhere from 9,000 to 20,000 young people were kidnapped, tortured, and probably killed between the years 1976-1983 during the Anti-Communist movement in Argentina. Most of the bodies were never recovered and for many of the Desaparecidos, the government at the time completely erased their identity. To preserve the memory and make a stance against violations against human rights, many of the mothers of these young people continue to march around the plaza every Thursday afternoon. We just had really good timing and it was incredible to watch something with my very own eyes that I had learned about in the classroom. I bought a poster called Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) from the Mothers and now it is hanging up on my wall.
After exploring some of the most important places of the government and official history of Argentina, we strolled through the ancient, well known neighborhood San Telmo. The streets are cobble stone and it is full of fancy antique shops.
We went to Plaza Dorrego, where I bought a mate, which is a small hollowed out decorated gourd and a metal straw with a filter at the end. It kind of looks like drug paraphernalia, but it is used to drink the ever popular Argentine drink mate, which is an herbal tea. The tea leaves are crushed and placed in the gourd the hot water poured in. The filtered straw is to keep the floating leaves out. After playing tourists for so long, we were pretty pooped so we had coffee around 5:30 in a cute restaurant called Café Dorrego on the plaza. We took a cab back to the hostal and starting getting ready for dinner.
And so starts our night of adventures: We planned on meeting Niki’s friend at her Bed and Breakfast in Palermo Viejo (another neighborhood in BA) at 8:00. We took a cab to approximately where the friend had given Niki directions. We started follow the directions but when we should have been there, the address we had was about 8 blocks off from where we were. So we kept walking; all the way to the address we had. Unfortunately when we got to the address, there was no B&B to be found. We asked tons of people and no one had any idea. We knocked on the door of the address, hoping it was the right building but thinking it was actually an apartment building. Unfortunately, a husband and wife answered the door while we interrupted their dinner! Luckily they were very nice and tried to help us out. Anyway, this is turning into a unnecessarily long story, quite like our unnecessarily long adventure! We ended up going to a hotel where the receptionist was nice enough to look up the B&B on the internet and give us the right address! We took a cab and got there an hour and a half late! Niki’s friend felt really bad, but it worked out fine. Palermo is a great neighborhood and I enjoyed walking around, despite the fact that we were all hungry!
For dinner, Calli found a restaurant called Te Mataré Ramirez (I’m going to Kill You Ramirez) which was described in the guide book as something like an Argentine/French erotic dining experience you won’t forget with entertaining puppet shows and great food. I wanted to go to a restaurant that our guide book says was one of the best, most trendy restaurants in all of BA, but my vote lost. Anyway, about our little experience, lets just say, the guide book was right. We got there and the door was locked; the hostest had to open it for you. The entire restaurant was dark with only red lamps and candles for light. All around the walls were paintings of womens dresses and figures. The ceiling was a blue sky with playful clouds full of cherubs and naked bodies doing things I won’t describe. The menus were covered in erotic quotes comparing food to sex and every entrée was titled something inappropriate. All of us girls were second guessing our choice as we sat quietly in the overly sexually tense restaurant. We ordered our dinners, having no idea what they actually were and hoping they would be good. We continued awkwardly waiting as the clock slowly inched towards 11:00 pm. Finally, a group of waiters emerged from the kitchen to loud music and a spot light. They did a provocative little dance before jumping on stage and grabbing their puppets. Then, CENSURED CENSURED CENSURED. They took a break right when we finally got our food. We were all balancing between dieing laughing and shamefully covering our eyes while we ate our incredible, gourmet meals. I had baked rabbit with risottos in a fried cheese salad bowl. It might go down as one of the best meals I’ve ever had. The second have of the show started while we finished eating and CENSURED CENSURED CENSURED. Think Team America (the American puppet movie, don’t worry if you haven’t seen it, its not worth in) in the overly sexual Latin American context. Anyway, when we finally finished our dinner, we paid about 15 bucks a piece, which is about the most expensive you will ever pay in BA for only an entrée, and left. We skipped out on the usual coffee and dessert before things got too hot and heavy.
After our unforgettable dining experience, we went to an incredible bar called Milión. It is a three story old mansion renovated into a trendy night club. While we were hanging out, we ironically ran into the Brazilains from the hostal. In 3 story bar, in a city of 10 million people with more bars than you could imagine, what are the odds? Than my friend from Tulane, Christian Legett walked in! He came to meet up with the CIEE Buenos Aires group that was hanging out, one of which was Niki’s friend. Not completely as random, but still pretty awesome! So Christian and I got to catch up while the one of the Brazilians, Fernando, hit on Calli. Around 2, we were ready to head somewhere else and Calli needed to ditch the now drunk and desperate Fernando. When he headed to the bathroom, we ran out, hoping to ditch him. In the rush of it all, I unfortnately forgot to say goodbye to Christain! Anyway, as we were standing outside the bar trying to figure out which way to go to get back to the hostel, none other than Fernando walked out! So he followed us back to the hostal. Once there, all of us girls decided that we didn’t feel like dealing with drunk Brazilians, nor did we want to go to another bar/night club. Instead, we settled on dessert at our now favorite 24 hour 1234. Fernando was waiting for us in the lobby and we made Calli awkwardly tell him that we were going to get dessert and it was going to be pura chicas (only girls!). He was quite upset and jumped in a taxi as we walked the other way! Anyway, we enjoyed our desserts and went to bed early (around 4!) so that we could wake up early and explore more of the city on our last day.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007: Wake up Argentina
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
After going to bed at almost 8:30 am, I amazingly woke up at 11:15 ready to take on the day. I managed to drag Calli up around 12 and we were finally ready to head out at 1 pm. We stopped by to tell our new American friends that we were heading out. They were all dead asleep but within 10 minutes they were all showered and ready to grab lunch with us. They took us to a great parillada or steak house called La Cholita (I don’t know what it means!). I ate Bife de lomo which is basically filet mignon and fries for 6 bucks. I’m telling you, if you like steak, fly to Argentina, stay in a hostel, and eat out the whole time you are there. By the time you leave, the amount of money you saved on food will pay for the ticket down there!
After lunch we helped the boys do their last minute gift shopping that they had put of their entire 5 weeks then we parted ways. It was like saying goodbye to lifelong friends, but luckily they are on Facebook! Around 4 pm, we finally started playing tourist (which I had planned to start around 11 am!) But since the entire Argentinean biological clock is pushed back about 5 hours, it worked out quite well!
We first went to the Basilica Nuestra Señora de Pilar, a famous old church and convent in Recoleta right next to the Recoleta cemetery, which we visited next. We were sitting in the cemetery when a beautiful woman approached us and in English asked us if we spoke English. We said yes and she went on to tell us that her husband works for the cemetery restoring the monuments and when he is done for the day he is allowed to give tours. So the woman and her husband work together to give tours and all they ask for is a donation to raise money for a daycare center that they help fund for lower income families. Calli and I looked at each other, quickly judging whether or not this was a major scam, but decided that the cemetery was full of other tourists and she seemed very sincere and a tour would be really interesting. We agreed and ended up having a great tour of the incredible old cemetery.
Her husband explained to us how the families bury their dead, keep up the graves, pass them on through the generations or leave them abandoned. They showed us the graves of 1) the saddest story: an 18 year old girl went into a coma and her family, taking her for dead, buried her in the tomb. Then next day people walking through the cemetery heard pounding from inside a tomb. By the time they figured out where it was coming from and opened it up, the girl had suffocated, 2) the most expensive monument: 47 MILLION US DOLLARS! The family of a noble prize winning physician and scientist that developed vaccines etc. 3) the most romantic monument: a Christian and a Jew loved each other but their families refused to let them marry. When the parents got old and passed them the family businesses, the secret couple built a monument in the cemetery with both a menorah and a cross, representing the universality of love. Right before their parents died, they told them that they would all be buried there together. I’m sure this didn’t help, but now all the parents and the couple are buried together in one of the only monuments in all of Argentina where Jews and Christians are buried together. Finally, they took us to Evita Peron’s tomb. There were tons of plaques, flowers, and people taking photos. The amazing thing is that if you weren’t paying attention and there weren’t tons of people, you wouldn’t even notice the humble monument.
After the cemetery and the tour, we went to the Centro Cultural right next door. Right now they have an incredible Modern Art exhibit with a huge Video art exhibition. We spent about hour wandering through the galleries constantly asking ourselves, “What the crap does that mean?” When we couldn’t take anymore beauty/abstraction, we went to mass at the basilica for the Assumption of Mary. The mass was totally packed and it was a good think we arrived 15 minutes early or we would have been staying, smashed in the back. Unfortunately we were pretty far back, it was warm, and we were finally sitting down and Calli and I had a hard time staying awake for the whole mass. Moral of the story, get more sleep and sit in the front so you can pay attention!
For dinner we went to a Spanish tapas restaurant. The deal was that the kitchen picked the 6 tapas and Calli and I were in for an adventure. It turned out pretty good except for the Sweet Bread (pancreas of a cow) tapa. After dinner, we waited at the hostel for our friends Niki and Sam to get in. Once they arrived and settled, they went to find dinner and Calli and I took a cab to visit Andy, a friend of mine from Tulane. Andy is studying here with the same program as me, CIEE and was having some people over to hang out. We met 5 other girls with CIEE and it was great hearing their perspective on their study abroad experience. The CIEE program in BA is over 100 students and they can take all their classes with foreigners if they want. (In Santiago, we only have 45 ish students and we can only take 1 class with the program). Also, they have fewer options for volunteering and seemed to be really spread out all over the city. But they all love BA and seem to be having a great time. We headed home a little before 2 am since both of us were going off about 4 hours of sleep.
After going to bed at almost 8:30 am, I amazingly woke up at 11:15 ready to take on the day. I managed to drag Calli up around 12 and we were finally ready to head out at 1 pm. We stopped by to tell our new American friends that we were heading out. They were all dead asleep but within 10 minutes they were all showered and ready to grab lunch with us. They took us to a great parillada or steak house called La Cholita (I don’t know what it means!). I ate Bife de lomo which is basically filet mignon and fries for 6 bucks. I’m telling you, if you like steak, fly to Argentina, stay in a hostel, and eat out the whole time you are there. By the time you leave, the amount of money you saved on food will pay for the ticket down there!
After lunch we helped the boys do their last minute gift shopping that they had put of their entire 5 weeks then we parted ways. It was like saying goodbye to lifelong friends, but luckily they are on Facebook! Around 4 pm, we finally started playing tourist (which I had planned to start around 11 am!) But since the entire Argentinean biological clock is pushed back about 5 hours, it worked out quite well!
We first went to the Basilica Nuestra Señora de Pilar, a famous old church and convent in Recoleta right next to the Recoleta cemetery, which we visited next. We were sitting in the cemetery when a beautiful woman approached us and in English asked us if we spoke English. We said yes and she went on to tell us that her husband works for the cemetery restoring the monuments and when he is done for the day he is allowed to give tours. So the woman and her husband work together to give tours and all they ask for is a donation to raise money for a daycare center that they help fund for lower income families. Calli and I looked at each other, quickly judging whether or not this was a major scam, but decided that the cemetery was full of other tourists and she seemed very sincere and a tour would be really interesting. We agreed and ended up having a great tour of the incredible old cemetery.
Her husband explained to us how the families bury their dead, keep up the graves, pass them on through the generations or leave them abandoned. They showed us the graves of 1) the saddest story: an 18 year old girl went into a coma and her family, taking her for dead, buried her in the tomb. Then next day people walking through the cemetery heard pounding from inside a tomb. By the time they figured out where it was coming from and opened it up, the girl had suffocated, 2) the most expensive monument: 47 MILLION US DOLLARS! The family of a noble prize winning physician and scientist that developed vaccines etc. 3) the most romantic monument: a Christian and a Jew loved each other but their families refused to let them marry. When the parents got old and passed them the family businesses, the secret couple built a monument in the cemetery with both a menorah and a cross, representing the universality of love. Right before their parents died, they told them that they would all be buried there together. I’m sure this didn’t help, but now all the parents and the couple are buried together in one of the only monuments in all of Argentina where Jews and Christians are buried together. Finally, they took us to Evita Peron’s tomb. There were tons of plaques, flowers, and people taking photos. The amazing thing is that if you weren’t paying attention and there weren’t tons of people, you wouldn’t even notice the humble monument.
After the cemetery and the tour, we went to the Centro Cultural right next door. Right now they have an incredible Modern Art exhibit with a huge Video art exhibition. We spent about hour wandering through the galleries constantly asking ourselves, “What the crap does that mean?” When we couldn’t take anymore beauty/abstraction, we went to mass at the basilica for the Assumption of Mary. The mass was totally packed and it was a good think we arrived 15 minutes early or we would have been staying, smashed in the back. Unfortunately we were pretty far back, it was warm, and we were finally sitting down and Calli and I had a hard time staying awake for the whole mass. Moral of the story, get more sleep and sit in the front so you can pay attention!
For dinner we went to a Spanish tapas restaurant. The deal was that the kitchen picked the 6 tapas and Calli and I were in for an adventure. It turned out pretty good except for the Sweet Bread (pancreas of a cow) tapa. After dinner, we waited at the hostel for our friends Niki and Sam to get in. Once they arrived and settled, they went to find dinner and Calli and I took a cab to visit Andy, a friend of mine from Tulane. Andy is studying here with the same program as me, CIEE and was having some people over to hang out. We met 5 other girls with CIEE and it was great hearing their perspective on their study abroad experience. The CIEE program in BA is over 100 students and they can take all their classes with foreigners if they want. (In Santiago, we only have 45 ish students and we can only take 1 class with the program). Also, they have fewer options for volunteering and seemed to be really spread out all over the city. But they all love BA and seem to be having a great time. We headed home a little before 2 am since both of us were going off about 4 hours of sleep.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007: Welcome to Buenos Aires!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
I was supposed to wake up at 7:30 to finish packing and get to the bus stop by 8:45. Unfortunately I accidentally turned off my alarm instead of hitting snooze and didn’t wake up till 8:30!! I frantically threw clothes into my backpack and stuffed breakfast down my throat and ran out the door. I was late to meet Calli, but luckily we got on the bus to the airport no problem. We arrived at the airport about an hour and a half before our flight and we were worried we won’t make it. Amazingly we flew through check in and security in about 30 minutes and made it to our gate with plenty of time!! While we were waiting, one of Buenos Aires’ professional soccer team came through. They were all beautiful and had huge calves.
The flight to BA was quick and really pretty. We flew over the Andes Mountains, which was a sight to see. We landed and got through customs pretty. When we walked out of the airport, we came to the quick realization that we were 2 foreigners in a new country! Our first mission was to figure out a way to get from the airport to the hostel. We took a bus with a well respected company Manual Tienda Leon to their bus terminal then they took us in a van to our hostel, 3 hours after our flight landed. We stayed in a great hostel called The Recoleta. Check it out: http://www.trhostel.com.ar/location.htm.
As we were settling in, we met 3 American guys (Jeff, Patrick, and Josh –can’t get much more American than that right?) who had been traveling around Argentina for the past 5 weeks. Two were high school teachers and one just graduated college. They were all really nice guys and two of them were strong Christians. None of them spoke Spanish and they were thrilled that we could help translate for them. They had hung out with a lot of the other people staying in the hostel but hadn’t really been able to talk to them! It was their last night in Argentina and Calli and I didn’t really know what to do the first night, so we decided to all meet up after Calli and I had dinner.
Calli and I first went and walked around a park and memorial called Plaza San Martin near by the hostel, and then we found a place to have dinner called Il Immortales (The Immortales in Italian). We went at 8 pm because we knew Argentineans don’t usually eat dinner till really late, but we were the only ones in the restaurant for about an hour! We shared a bottle of wine, salad, and pizza (huge Italian influence). Then we finished off with an amazing crepe dessert (called pancaques) and coffee. We were almost done when the waiter came by with two glasses of champagne “on the house”. We finally left after paying our $35 bill! (That’s right, $35 for both of us!)
Back at the hostel a bunch Americans and Brazilians hung out in the kitchen and somehow communicated in English, Spanish and Portuguese. It was incredible to watch everyone interacting and having a great time! Eventually the Brazilians left and it was only the Americans. I told everyone I didn’t want to stay out too late because I wanted to be able to wake up early and play tourist all day Wednesday. But we were having such great conversations and everyone was having a ton of fun, so I pulled out the usually reserved for finals week, “you can sleep when you’re dead” phrase, and around 2 we went to an Irish Pub across the street called Jack the Ripper. We discussed Harry Potter, our significant others (two of the guys had girlfriends and I told them all about Trevor), Jesus, being radical, politics, traveling, America, everything, until they kicked us out at 4:30. We then migrated to a 24 hour restaurant called 1234 and had empanadas and ice cream. Finally, we followed the sunrise to another 24 bar called The Alamo, which is owned and operated by a man from the US. At 7:30 we decided to head back to the hostel and we crashed.
I was supposed to wake up at 7:30 to finish packing and get to the bus stop by 8:45. Unfortunately I accidentally turned off my alarm instead of hitting snooze and didn’t wake up till 8:30!! I frantically threw clothes into my backpack and stuffed breakfast down my throat and ran out the door. I was late to meet Calli, but luckily we got on the bus to the airport no problem. We arrived at the airport about an hour and a half before our flight and we were worried we won’t make it. Amazingly we flew through check in and security in about 30 minutes and made it to our gate with plenty of time!! While we were waiting, one of Buenos Aires’ professional soccer team came through. They were all beautiful and had huge calves.
The flight to BA was quick and really pretty. We flew over the Andes Mountains, which was a sight to see. We landed and got through customs pretty. When we walked out of the airport, we came to the quick realization that we were 2 foreigners in a new country! Our first mission was to figure out a way to get from the airport to the hostel. We took a bus with a well respected company Manual Tienda Leon to their bus terminal then they took us in a van to our hostel, 3 hours after our flight landed. We stayed in a great hostel called The Recoleta. Check it out: http://www.trhostel.com.ar/location.htm.
As we were settling in, we met 3 American guys (Jeff, Patrick, and Josh –can’t get much more American than that right?) who had been traveling around Argentina for the past 5 weeks. Two were high school teachers and one just graduated college. They were all really nice guys and two of them were strong Christians. None of them spoke Spanish and they were thrilled that we could help translate for them. They had hung out with a lot of the other people staying in the hostel but hadn’t really been able to talk to them! It was their last night in Argentina and Calli and I didn’t really know what to do the first night, so we decided to all meet up after Calli and I had dinner.
Calli and I first went and walked around a park and memorial called Plaza San Martin near by the hostel, and then we found a place to have dinner called Il Immortales (The Immortales in Italian). We went at 8 pm because we knew Argentineans don’t usually eat dinner till really late, but we were the only ones in the restaurant for about an hour! We shared a bottle of wine, salad, and pizza (huge Italian influence). Then we finished off with an amazing crepe dessert (called pancaques) and coffee. We were almost done when the waiter came by with two glasses of champagne “on the house”. We finally left after paying our $35 bill! (That’s right, $35 for both of us!)
Back at the hostel a bunch Americans and Brazilians hung out in the kitchen and somehow communicated in English, Spanish and Portuguese. It was incredible to watch everyone interacting and having a great time! Eventually the Brazilians left and it was only the Americans. I told everyone I didn’t want to stay out too late because I wanted to be able to wake up early and play tourist all day Wednesday. But we were having such great conversations and everyone was having a ton of fun, so I pulled out the usually reserved for finals week, “you can sleep when you’re dead” phrase, and around 2 we went to an Irish Pub across the street called Jack the Ripper. We discussed Harry Potter, our significant others (two of the guys had girlfriends and I told them all about Trevor), Jesus, being radical, politics, traveling, America, everything, until they kicked us out at 4:30. We then migrated to a 24 hour restaurant called 1234 and had empanadas and ice cream. Finally, we followed the sunrise to another 24 bar called The Alamo, which is owned and operated by a man from the US. At 7:30 we decided to head back to the hostel and we crashed.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007: That's right, get to work.
Monday, August 13, 2007
I woke up early to meet Calli at the Registro Civil (Civil Registry) to pick up our Cedulas, our official Chilean ID. Its pretty cool. It is basically a driver’s liscnese looking ID that makes us official temporary Chilean residents. We needed them to leave the country and it was a huge relief that they were done.
I went to campus early to try to finish my paper. I got it done then went to class. After my education class, my friend Jacklyn, who has been studying in Chile since Februaruy, read through my paper and edited for me. I didn’t have much time to print it off and get to the other campus for my 4:30 class and when I went to fix the edits and print it off, I realized that my jump drive didn’t save the last copy of my paper. I frantically re-wrote the whole think and ran to print it off. I was about 5 minutes late to my theology class, which is really good considering I used public transportation. The commute is usually about 30-40 minutes but I got there in 20!
After class, I met up with Courtney and Sara to get ice cream and discuss Harry Potter since we had all finished reading it. Since Sara loaned both Courtney and I the book, we treated her. We ate our delicious ice cream on the always busy and entertaining Paseo Ahumada, one of the pedestrian streets down town. I headed home around 8 pm, just in time to eat dinner and shower before Alquien te mira. After the show I finally started getting ready for my trip to Buenos Aires. I think because we planned the trip so last minute, it never really sunk in that I had a lot to do to get ready! I called my family and Trevor before I left and ended up not even packing!
I woke up early to meet Calli at the Registro Civil (Civil Registry) to pick up our Cedulas, our official Chilean ID. Its pretty cool. It is basically a driver’s liscnese looking ID that makes us official temporary Chilean residents. We needed them to leave the country and it was a huge relief that they were done.
I went to campus early to try to finish my paper. I got it done then went to class. After my education class, my friend Jacklyn, who has been studying in Chile since Februaruy, read through my paper and edited for me. I didn’t have much time to print it off and get to the other campus for my 4:30 class and when I went to fix the edits and print it off, I realized that my jump drive didn’t save the last copy of my paper. I frantically re-wrote the whole think and ran to print it off. I was about 5 minutes late to my theology class, which is really good considering I used public transportation. The commute is usually about 30-40 minutes but I got there in 20!
After class, I met up with Courtney and Sara to get ice cream and discuss Harry Potter since we had all finished reading it. Since Sara loaned both Courtney and I the book, we treated her. We ate our delicious ice cream on the always busy and entertaining Paseo Ahumada, one of the pedestrian streets down town. I headed home around 8 pm, just in time to eat dinner and shower before Alquien te mira. After the show I finally started getting ready for my trip to Buenos Aires. I think because we planned the trip so last minute, it never really sunk in that I had a lot to do to get ready! I called my family and Trevor before I left and ended up not even packing!
Sunday, August 12, 2007: Wait, you mean I am here to go to school?
Sunday, August 12, 2007
I woke up around noon and vowed to finish HP before Olga’s husband Mario, and her son’s family came over to celebrate Mario’s 68th birthday. I knew they would be coming around 2, so I had to book it. Of course, they arrived about 20 pages too early!! I tore the book from my hands and finally got out of bed for the day. We had a wonderful lunch and birthday celebration. After lunch the adults slept/watched TV, Miguel played soccer games on my computer, and I got to finish the epic story. I won’t give anything away, but I loved it.
Everyone hung out till about 7 pm, when I realized that I hadn’t started any of my homework for Monday. Arrrggghhh… I have a 4 day weekend and wait till Sunday night to do it! I had my first stressful evening while I realized how difficult this is actually going to be. For those of you who know me, I was much more anxious than necessary and everything work out just fine. My two page theology paper ended up pretty good despite my worries that it made no sense and was full of errors. My Education class “Concept Map” was pretty random and I have no idea if I did it correctly, but we’ll find out! I stayed up late trying to finish and fell asleep with everything about 75% done.
I woke up around noon and vowed to finish HP before Olga’s husband Mario, and her son’s family came over to celebrate Mario’s 68th birthday. I knew they would be coming around 2, so I had to book it. Of course, they arrived about 20 pages too early!! I tore the book from my hands and finally got out of bed for the day. We had a wonderful lunch and birthday celebration. After lunch the adults slept/watched TV, Miguel played soccer games on my computer, and I got to finish the epic story. I won’t give anything away, but I loved it.
Everyone hung out till about 7 pm, when I realized that I hadn’t started any of my homework for Monday. Arrrggghhh… I have a 4 day weekend and wait till Sunday night to do it! I had my first stressful evening while I realized how difficult this is actually going to be. For those of you who know me, I was much more anxious than necessary and everything work out just fine. My two page theology paper ended up pretty good despite my worries that it made no sense and was full of errors. My Education class “Concept Map” was pretty random and I have no idea if I did it correctly, but we’ll find out! I stayed up late trying to finish and fell asleep with everything about 75% done.
Saturday, August 11, 2007: HP, seafood and Salsa
Saturday, August 11, 2007
I woke up and read Harry until 12:15, then headed home from Calli’s to read more. Olga tore me from the book to have almuerzo around 1:30. After eating a was going to read more, but I decided to try to call Trevor. We hadn’t talked in almost a month and I didn’t think he would answer! Amazingly, we got a hold of each other and talked for over 2 hours. It was great to catch up and hear more about his last few weeks in Ecuador and Wyld Life camp. When Trev had to leave to go to mass, I decided I needed to stop being such a waste of life. I went running and showered and got ready for mass.
I went to mass with a friend of mine, Tom, at San Francisco, an ancient, beautiful church downtown. The building is incredible and I loved the mass. Along the sides of the church are statues and altars to different saints, Mary, etc. At St. Franis’s altar, little kids wrote prayers of thanksgiving and petitions for their pets. There were even pictures of lost pets and prayers that they will return. It was very touching.
After mass, Tom came over and ate dinner with Olga and I. He had told me a few weeks ago that he loves fish but his Chilean mom never cooks it. So when Olga cooked fish today for lunch and I knew we were going to mass together, Olga told me to invite him over. He was thrilled and great company. Olga loved him.
Saturday night a group of us went to the trendy neighborhood Bella Vista. We bar hopped a bit and I tried Schop con sangre, which is Draft beer with a shot of grenadine. It was actually quite good. We finished out the night at Maestra Vida a really popular with the locals Salsa club. We had a great time watching the Chileans dance. Its quite incredible the way they move their hips! At one point the three gringas went and stood around the dance floor and the men came and asked us to dance. It was much harder than it looked and I after a few songs and lots of awkward attempts to move like the Chileans, I resigned myself to watching in awe.
I woke up and read Harry until 12:15, then headed home from Calli’s to read more. Olga tore me from the book to have almuerzo around 1:30. After eating a was going to read more, but I decided to try to call Trevor. We hadn’t talked in almost a month and I didn’t think he would answer! Amazingly, we got a hold of each other and talked for over 2 hours. It was great to catch up and hear more about his last few weeks in Ecuador and Wyld Life camp. When Trev had to leave to go to mass, I decided I needed to stop being such a waste of life. I went running and showered and got ready for mass.
I went to mass with a friend of mine, Tom, at San Francisco, an ancient, beautiful church downtown. The building is incredible and I loved the mass. Along the sides of the church are statues and altars to different saints, Mary, etc. At St. Franis’s altar, little kids wrote prayers of thanksgiving and petitions for their pets. There were even pictures of lost pets and prayers that they will return. It was very touching.
After mass, Tom came over and ate dinner with Olga and I. He had told me a few weeks ago that he loves fish but his Chilean mom never cooks it. So when Olga cooked fish today for lunch and I knew we were going to mass together, Olga told me to invite him over. He was thrilled and great company. Olga loved him.
Saturday night a group of us went to the trendy neighborhood Bella Vista. We bar hopped a bit and I tried Schop con sangre, which is Draft beer with a shot of grenadine. It was actually quite good. We finished out the night at Maestra Vida a really popular with the locals Salsa club. We had a great time watching the Chileans dance. Its quite incredible the way they move their hips! At one point the three gringas went and stood around the dance floor and the men came and asked us to dance. It was much harder than it looked and I after a few songs and lots of awkward attempts to move like the Chileans, I resigned myself to watching in awe.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007: Pomaire!
Friday, August 10, 2007
Today CIEE took us on a day trip to Pomaire, a town about 1 hour to the southwest of Santiago. Pomaire is famous for its ceramics, called greda. We took a tour of a ceramics factory, ate lunch in the house of our tour guide, then went shopping. Its incredible to see this entire town functioning on ceramics. Our tour guide told us that basically everyone in the town works in someway on the ceramics. They have everything: place settings, cooking pots and skillets, candle holders, plant holders, HUGE pots for gardens, and more. They are super famous for their piggy banks, called chanchitas. The only way to get your coins out of the piggy bank is to break it. There is a saying “Romper la canchita” which means “to break the piggy bank” when you are really short on cash.
For lunch we ate home made empanadas (three types: pino (hamburger meat and onions), spinach, mushroom). They were incredible. For dessert we had pastel de choclo which means “corn cake” but it was actually a strange combination of layers pino, chicken, olives, and this crushed corn bread dough type thing with sugar on top. Definitely the strangest dessert I’ve ever head. After lunch I got to try making pottery on the wheel. I had to use the manual wheel and it was 100 times more difficult than it looks. I gave up and let someone else try once I’d turned my clay into what resembled an erupted volcano instead of a cup.
We went shopping and I bought a ton of awesome ceramics. Gifts for people at home (you’ll have to wait and see), and two coffee cups for Olga and I. She was absolutely thrilled and we only use them now!
Friday night I was tired and didn’t feel like going out, so after buying my plane ticket to Buenos Aires, Argentina for Tuesday to Saturday, I headed over to Calli’s house. We drank Chilean wine and watched B-Happy, a Chilean movie (with sub titles of course). Then we climbed in her bed and both read Harry Potter. She borrowed a copy from our friend Natalie. As Olga would say, I slept with Harry Potter! It’s been a while since my last slumber party, but sometimes Harry Potter is more fun when you can share him!
Today CIEE took us on a day trip to Pomaire, a town about 1 hour to the southwest of Santiago. Pomaire is famous for its ceramics, called greda. We took a tour of a ceramics factory, ate lunch in the house of our tour guide, then went shopping. Its incredible to see this entire town functioning on ceramics. Our tour guide told us that basically everyone in the town works in someway on the ceramics. They have everything: place settings, cooking pots and skillets, candle holders, plant holders, HUGE pots for gardens, and more. They are super famous for their piggy banks, called chanchitas. The only way to get your coins out of the piggy bank is to break it. There is a saying “Romper la canchita” which means “to break the piggy bank” when you are really short on cash.
For lunch we ate home made empanadas (three types: pino (hamburger meat and onions), spinach, mushroom). They were incredible. For dessert we had pastel de choclo which means “corn cake” but it was actually a strange combination of layers pino, chicken, olives, and this crushed corn bread dough type thing with sugar on top. Definitely the strangest dessert I’ve ever head. After lunch I got to try making pottery on the wheel. I had to use the manual wheel and it was 100 times more difficult than it looks. I gave up and let someone else try once I’d turned my clay into what resembled an erupted volcano instead of a cup.
We went shopping and I bought a ton of awesome ceramics. Gifts for people at home (you’ll have to wait and see), and two coffee cups for Olga and I. She was absolutely thrilled and we only use them now!
Friday night I was tired and didn’t feel like going out, so after buying my plane ticket to Buenos Aires, Argentina for Tuesday to Saturday, I headed over to Calli’s house. We drank Chilean wine and watched B-Happy, a Chilean movie (with sub titles of course). Then we climbed in her bed and both read Harry Potter. She borrowed a copy from our friend Natalie. As Olga would say, I slept with Harry Potter! It’s been a while since my last slumber party, but sometimes Harry Potter is more fun when you can share him!
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Today has been one of the laziest, most relaxing days in my life. I’m telling you, I’m living the life of luxury. I woke up around 10, ate breakfast with Olga, then climbed back into bed with Harry, Hermione and Ron. At 1:30 Olga told me almuerzo was ready, so I took a break. After lunch, I headed back to bed and I read from 2:15 to 4, when I decided to quit being so lazy. Actually my eyes and back were starting to hurt! I excercised, showered, then decided that it was so cold that the only place I should be was in my bed reading! Around 5:30, the Telefonica man came to install the internet! Olga knew within seconds that he was not Chilean and while he worked, she asked him if he was Peruvian. He chuckled/grunted and told us he was Ecuadorian. Apparently Ecuadorians don’t like Peruvians as much as Chileans don’t like Peruvians. Anyway, I now have internet in the apartment. It will be a huge help for doing homework and communicating with my friends and family.
As soon as I had internet I called my mom. Then I called Mommer to wish her a Happy Birthday, but she was too busy getting her hair done to talk to her long lost granddaughter. (Just kidding Mommer! Happy Birthday!)
Tonight I went with Calli and Courtney to see the play FuenteOvejuna, written by Lope de Vega, the Spanish version of English’s Shakespeare. I saw the play in English at Tulane and it was wonderful. Unfortunately, we didn’t think about the fact that the play would be in Old Spanish, so it was hard to understand (think “Dost thou bite thy thumb at thee?” style). But since I had seen it before I was able to explain the basics to Courtney and Calli, enough to keep us from being completely lost. Despite the language difficulties, the play was beautiful both musically and visually. If anyone has a chance to see it in the States, I highly recommend it.
After the play, I had once with Olga while she filled me in on what I missed on Alquien te mira then played on the internet (and talked to Jamie!). As soon as I finish this, its back to HP! I need to finish it before my classes start again!
Today has been one of the laziest, most relaxing days in my life. I’m telling you, I’m living the life of luxury. I woke up around 10, ate breakfast with Olga, then climbed back into bed with Harry, Hermione and Ron. At 1:30 Olga told me almuerzo was ready, so I took a break. After lunch, I headed back to bed and I read from 2:15 to 4, when I decided to quit being so lazy. Actually my eyes and back were starting to hurt! I excercised, showered, then decided that it was so cold that the only place I should be was in my bed reading! Around 5:30, the Telefonica man came to install the internet! Olga knew within seconds that he was not Chilean and while he worked, she asked him if he was Peruvian. He chuckled/grunted and told us he was Ecuadorian. Apparently Ecuadorians don’t like Peruvians as much as Chileans don’t like Peruvians. Anyway, I now have internet in the apartment. It will be a huge help for doing homework and communicating with my friends and family.
As soon as I had internet I called my mom. Then I called Mommer to wish her a Happy Birthday, but she was too busy getting her hair done to talk to her long lost granddaughter. (Just kidding Mommer! Happy Birthday!)
Tonight I went with Calli and Courtney to see the play FuenteOvejuna, written by Lope de Vega, the Spanish version of English’s Shakespeare. I saw the play in English at Tulane and it was wonderful. Unfortunately, we didn’t think about the fact that the play would be in Old Spanish, so it was hard to understand (think “Dost thou bite thy thumb at thee?” style). But since I had seen it before I was able to explain the basics to Courtney and Calli, enough to keep us from being completely lost. Despite the language difficulties, the play was beautiful both musically and visually. If anyone has a chance to see it in the States, I highly recommend it.
After the play, I had once with Olga while she filled me in on what I missed on Alquien te mira then played on the internet (and talked to Jamie!). As soon as I finish this, its back to HP! I need to finish it before my classes start again!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
I had my first full Wednesday with every single one of my classes. It sounds like a lot, but its really only 6.5 hours of lecture. Wait, that is a lot. By my last class I was pretty wiped. Courtney gave me Harry Potter, so that definitely brightened my day! After class finally got over, around nine, I headed home. Olga fried me eggs and I told her about my classes. Then we watched Alquien te mira together before I climbed into bed with my 737 page masterpiece. I read from 11 to 2 am when I fell asleep with HP in my hands.
I had my first full Wednesday with every single one of my classes. It sounds like a lot, but its really only 6.5 hours of lecture. Wait, that is a lot. By my last class I was pretty wiped. Courtney gave me Harry Potter, so that definitely brightened my day! After class finally got over, around nine, I headed home. Olga fried me eggs and I told her about my classes. Then we watched Alquien te mira together before I climbed into bed with my 737 page masterpiece. I read from 11 to 2 am when I fell asleep with HP in my hands.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Tuesday, August 8, 2007
Tuesday August 8, 2007
I could get used to having class two days a week! I slept in (only till 10ish) and went for a relaxing run followed by a warm shower. Olga and I had almuerzo (big mid-day meal) together. She cooked baked chicken just like my mom and it was delicious. She also made me homemade applesauce with honey. After stuffing myself, I headed out to La Católica to do some work. It amazing how much time I can waste on the computer when I have internet and actual work to do. My challenge for today was to figure out how to print stuff off the computer in the library. My only success was buying a print card. Unfortunately I haven’t figured out how to use it, so my mission failed.
After getting all the readings I needed (I didn’t read them, I just found them on the internet or bought photocopies of them), I went and hung out at Calli’s house. No one was home but she has internet and a comfy place to work. While she was at class, I set out to read my 40 page assignment for my Education class. We have to make a “Concept Map” about the reading and it is due tomorrow! Anyway, it took me two hours to read the first half! It was a little discouraging, but I was reading carefully and looking up almost every word I didn’t know AND taking notes. Wow, I feel like a real college student. I haven’t had to read like that in ages!
When Calli got back from class we hung out and ate once together while discussing her Chilean “cousin”/pololo. At 10, we watched Alquien te mira. I am starting to get somewhat addicted but honestly I think it helps with the language. Luckily the teleserie ends in a few weeks. I’m sure another fun one will start, and I’ll decide then if I will watch or not. I headed back on the metro after the show. Olga used the BBQ lemon on my toes again and I think they are actually getting a little better!
It was a super relaxing day. I can’t decide if it was productive or not, but I spent a long time appearing to be productive. Tomorrow is another long day of class (6 full hours of lecture!) but Courtney will be giving me Harry Potter tomorrow night! Amazingly, it is as if tomorrow is Friday and I can spend the next four days reading HP and exploring the city! Man, I am spoiled!
I could get used to having class two days a week! I slept in (only till 10ish) and went for a relaxing run followed by a warm shower. Olga and I had almuerzo (big mid-day meal) together. She cooked baked chicken just like my mom and it was delicious. She also made me homemade applesauce with honey. After stuffing myself, I headed out to La Católica to do some work. It amazing how much time I can waste on the computer when I have internet and actual work to do. My challenge for today was to figure out how to print stuff off the computer in the library. My only success was buying a print card. Unfortunately I haven’t figured out how to use it, so my mission failed.
After getting all the readings I needed (I didn’t read them, I just found them on the internet or bought photocopies of them), I went and hung out at Calli’s house. No one was home but she has internet and a comfy place to work. While she was at class, I set out to read my 40 page assignment for my Education class. We have to make a “Concept Map” about the reading and it is due tomorrow! Anyway, it took me two hours to read the first half! It was a little discouraging, but I was reading carefully and looking up almost every word I didn’t know AND taking notes. Wow, I feel like a real college student. I haven’t had to read like that in ages!
When Calli got back from class we hung out and ate once together while discussing her Chilean “cousin”/pololo. At 10, we watched Alquien te mira. I am starting to get somewhat addicted but honestly I think it helps with the language. Luckily the teleserie ends in a few weeks. I’m sure another fun one will start, and I’ll decide then if I will watch or not. I headed back on the metro after the show. Olga used the BBQ lemon on my toes again and I think they are actually getting a little better!
It was a super relaxing day. I can’t decide if it was productive or not, but I spent a long time appearing to be productive. Tomorrow is another long day of class (6 full hours of lecture!) but Courtney will be giving me Harry Potter tomorrow night! Amazingly, it is as if tomorrow is Friday and I can spend the next four days reading HP and exploring the city! Man, I am spoiled!
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Sometimes I wonder how people wake up early everyday. I had class this morning at 8:30, so I woke up around 7. Booo… But of course, Olga had breakfast hot and ready to go including super strong Columbian coffee. I walked 20 minutes to class, Politica Latinoamericana to which the professor never showed up. There are a total of 6 CIEE kids plus another 15 or so foreigners in the class. We left around 9:10 headed to La Católica’s San Joaquin campus, about 20 minutes away on the metro. At San Joaquin, I finally had a chance to use the internet and update my blog. At 11:30 I went to Doctrina Social de la Iglesia and we had the first class with the actual professor. He is very animated, passionate, and excited about his lectures. He started class by saying that you don’t have to be Catholic to take this class or enjoy this class. He said that whatever religion or nonreligion you ascribe to, you should feel at home in his classroom. He then explained that he was in seminary for many years and for some reason dropped out (he might have said why, but I missed it!). He still felt he had a vocation to serve God, so he decided to be a Professor of Doctrina Social de la Iglesia, which at that point in time didn’t exist! Since he believes teaching this is his vocation, he is incredibly passionate and has apparently been doing a great job for decades.
After class I went to mass on campus (again full of students), then to Educación, Cultura, Sociedad. The professora speaks slowly and clearly plus she has a power point. What more could I ask for!?!?!? It should be an interesting course. I think we are going to have a lot of readings and busy work type activities, but it will keep me on top of my work. Then I headed back to downtown Santiago to hang out for a while before my 4:30 class. Jackyln, a student from USC who was here last semester as well joined me in my Iniciacion a la lectura de la Biblia. She is incredibly nice and a great Christian. Plus she’s really good at Spanish, so I was thrilled to have her with me!
This professor, who I later found out is a Jesuit priest, is incredible as well. He can be a bit difficult to understand when he really gets going, but he uses multi media lectures and he as great analogies.
After class, 3 Chilean students, Jacklyn, the professor/priest and I went to a near by restaurant/pub and shared a pitcher of beer while we got to know each other. (The professor/priest drank half beer half orange Fanta! Everyone was surprised I had never heard of this and he let me try it. It was actually quite delicious and reminded me of Blue Moon with oranges!) We talked about Chile politics and society, La Catolica, and the fact that La Catolica doesn't like Jesuits (because La Catolica is very conservative). While we were talking about discrimination in Chile against darker colored people, someone made a comment about blondes and light eyes. I noticed that the Professor had beautiful blue eyes and I commented about them. He jokingly said that it was the only reason he can teach at La Catolica!
The Chileans are so nice and I feel like I can honestly say that I’ve made Chilean friends! There names are Sebastian, Elijas, and Belén. Quite Biblical names for our Bible class right!?! Anyway, we hung out for over two hours and I think I did a good job communicating. Elijas went to an English emersion high school, so he is pretty much fluent in English. It was helpful to have him around whenever I got stuck! I’m really looking forward to this class and to getting to know my new friends!
When I was finally done with the longest day in the history of a college student, I headed home. I talked to Olga about all my frustrations with picking classes and she gave me her opinion. Amazingly, it is the same as what all of you told me! She said I should take the classes i most enjoy, that are most practical, and that won´t be too dificult. I talked to her before i was able to read all the posts everyone left regarding my classes, so she was the first person to actually tell me what i should do. Its great to know that the all the adults i trust most agree. So i decided to take the two theology classes, the education class, and the CIEE class about poverty. Its such a relief to have decided! Now all i have to worry about is doing my homework!
Right before Olga and I laid down to watch Alquien te mira, I showed Olga my swollen, pink toes. I thought I just had blisters from my new boots, but apparently it’s basically a mild form of frost bite. She was quite worried about my little toes and kept asking if they itched. She of course had a remedy for me but told me that it would hurt. When I asked her what exactly this remedy entailed and she told me limon caliente (hot lemon). I was expecting her to heat up some lemon juice and have me soak my toes. Instead, she came back a few minutes later holding half a lemon burned on top (imagine bbq lemon!). She literally meant limon caliente. She held the lemon half on my toes and then reheated it on the estufa and repeated. Its amazing what you can do with lemon!!
Sidenote: some of Olga’s other secrets of nature:
1. Aqua de parahil: Water of parsley. She soaks parsley in water all day then decants the water into a little glass jar for me. Every night I was my face with this greenish murky water using cotton. My skin is clearer than its been in a long time and I don’t have to use the freezing cold water to wash my face!
2. Crema de limon: Olga bought plain hand lotion and whipped it with a ton of lemon juice. It went from a thick cream to a fluffy, light lotion. It has really helped moisturize my hands despite the dry air, smog, and cold.
I don’t have class tomorrow, but I’m exhausted, so I’m going to bed. In fact, I’m falling asleep as I write this! I’m hoping to steal Harry Potter from Courtney Wilson tomorrow!! If I do, tomorrow’s journal might be pretty short!
Sometimes I wonder how people wake up early everyday. I had class this morning at 8:30, so I woke up around 7. Booo… But of course, Olga had breakfast hot and ready to go including super strong Columbian coffee. I walked 20 minutes to class, Politica Latinoamericana to which the professor never showed up. There are a total of 6 CIEE kids plus another 15 or so foreigners in the class. We left around 9:10 headed to La Católica’s San Joaquin campus, about 20 minutes away on the metro. At San Joaquin, I finally had a chance to use the internet and update my blog. At 11:30 I went to Doctrina Social de la Iglesia and we had the first class with the actual professor. He is very animated, passionate, and excited about his lectures. He started class by saying that you don’t have to be Catholic to take this class or enjoy this class. He said that whatever religion or nonreligion you ascribe to, you should feel at home in his classroom. He then explained that he was in seminary for many years and for some reason dropped out (he might have said why, but I missed it!). He still felt he had a vocation to serve God, so he decided to be a Professor of Doctrina Social de la Iglesia, which at that point in time didn’t exist! Since he believes teaching this is his vocation, he is incredibly passionate and has apparently been doing a great job for decades.
After class I went to mass on campus (again full of students), then to Educación, Cultura, Sociedad. The professora speaks slowly and clearly plus she has a power point. What more could I ask for!?!?!? It should be an interesting course. I think we are going to have a lot of readings and busy work type activities, but it will keep me on top of my work. Then I headed back to downtown Santiago to hang out for a while before my 4:30 class. Jackyln, a student from USC who was here last semester as well joined me in my Iniciacion a la lectura de la Biblia. She is incredibly nice and a great Christian. Plus she’s really good at Spanish, so I was thrilled to have her with me!
This professor, who I later found out is a Jesuit priest, is incredible as well. He can be a bit difficult to understand when he really gets going, but he uses multi media lectures and he as great analogies.
After class, 3 Chilean students, Jacklyn, the professor/priest and I went to a near by restaurant/pub and shared a pitcher of beer while we got to know each other. (The professor/priest drank half beer half orange Fanta! Everyone was surprised I had never heard of this and he let me try it. It was actually quite delicious and reminded me of Blue Moon with oranges!) We talked about Chile politics and society, La Catolica, and the fact that La Catolica doesn't like Jesuits (because La Catolica is very conservative). While we were talking about discrimination in Chile against darker colored people, someone made a comment about blondes and light eyes. I noticed that the Professor had beautiful blue eyes and I commented about them. He jokingly said that it was the only reason he can teach at La Catolica!
The Chileans are so nice and I feel like I can honestly say that I’ve made Chilean friends! There names are Sebastian, Elijas, and Belén. Quite Biblical names for our Bible class right!?! Anyway, we hung out for over two hours and I think I did a good job communicating. Elijas went to an English emersion high school, so he is pretty much fluent in English. It was helpful to have him around whenever I got stuck! I’m really looking forward to this class and to getting to know my new friends!
When I was finally done with the longest day in the history of a college student, I headed home. I talked to Olga about all my frustrations with picking classes and she gave me her opinion. Amazingly, it is the same as what all of you told me! She said I should take the classes i most enjoy, that are most practical, and that won´t be too dificult. I talked to her before i was able to read all the posts everyone left regarding my classes, so she was the first person to actually tell me what i should do. Its great to know that the all the adults i trust most agree. So i decided to take the two theology classes, the education class, and the CIEE class about poverty. Its such a relief to have decided! Now all i have to worry about is doing my homework!
Right before Olga and I laid down to watch Alquien te mira, I showed Olga my swollen, pink toes. I thought I just had blisters from my new boots, but apparently it’s basically a mild form of frost bite. She was quite worried about my little toes and kept asking if they itched. She of course had a remedy for me but told me that it would hurt. When I asked her what exactly this remedy entailed and she told me limon caliente (hot lemon). I was expecting her to heat up some lemon juice and have me soak my toes. Instead, she came back a few minutes later holding half a lemon burned on top (imagine bbq lemon!). She literally meant limon caliente. She held the lemon half on my toes and then reheated it on the estufa and repeated. Its amazing what you can do with lemon!!
Sidenote: some of Olga’s other secrets of nature:
1. Aqua de parahil: Water of parsley. She soaks parsley in water all day then decants the water into a little glass jar for me. Every night I was my face with this greenish murky water using cotton. My skin is clearer than its been in a long time and I don’t have to use the freezing cold water to wash my face!
2. Crema de limon: Olga bought plain hand lotion and whipped it with a ton of lemon juice. It went from a thick cream to a fluffy, light lotion. It has really helped moisturize my hands despite the dry air, smog, and cold.
I don’t have class tomorrow, but I’m exhausted, so I’m going to bed. In fact, I’m falling asleep as I write this! I’m hoping to steal Harry Potter from Courtney Wilson tomorrow!! If I do, tomorrow’s journal might be pretty short!
Monday, August 6, 2007
Permiso!
Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. I´ve been faithfully journaling everyday, waiting for the chance to upload them onto the blog. i´m in the library at La Católica before my 11:30 class about the Social Doctrine of the Church. Anyway, here is what i´ve been up to the last few weeks. Keep in mind this is turning into a short novel, so please don't feel obligated to read everything!
I´m going to upload it in (reverse) chronological order like i did last time. If you want to catch up, start at Wednesday, July 25th (right after Chilean Sayings Translated). I´m hoping to get internet for good sometime this week so i should be able to update more regularly.
Much love, Kayla
I´m going to upload it in (reverse) chronological order like i did last time. If you want to catch up, start at Wednesday, July 25th (right after Chilean Sayings Translated). I´m hoping to get internet for good sometime this week so i should be able to update more regularly.
Much love, Kayla
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Sunday, August 05, 2007
We slept in till 2 pm (again) and woke up to eat almuerzo. Then we went back down to the beach to see the sights. Today in Chile is Dia de los Niños (Kid’s Day), the equivalent of Mother and Father’s Day, expect for kids. They get presents and cake and get to do fun things like fly kites at the beach or go to the zoo. Cartagena was packed with families and little kids running everywhere. The man painting in the sand was back and tried to speak to us in English. We got Rellenos, churros filled with manjar. Manjar is a thick, carmel/butterscotchy type flavored deliciousness that Chilean’s put on anything they can. The rellenos will kill ya’, but they are delicious.
We headed back to Sylvania’s house and watched the end of the Colo Colo vs. Coquimbo futbol game. I realized I was witnessing a very Chilean, yet strangely USA day when the mom’s told us that Sundays are only futbol. Most of the men are on futbol teams that have games in the morning. Then they come home and watch the professional games all day. Chile has 20 teams spread out through its 14 regions, including 3 teams in Santiago. It reminds me of the White Sox vs. Cubs rivalry on how each person routes for one of Santiago’s teams. Colo Colo is the best, then Católica University, then University of Chile (they have no association with the schools. Strange right?). The women told us that every Chilean man loves futbol more than anything else and Calli’s dad, Nelson, said that futbol is was part of who he is as a man as he lovingly held his hands over his heart. It totally reminded me of watching my dad watch football (Americano) on Sunday’s.
We drove back to Santiago around 6:30 and I slept the whole way. Olga was happy to see me home and I filled her in on everything I did this weekend. We ate once, including arroz con leche (rice with milk) for dessert. I asked her how she makes arroz con leche and she went on to tell me how to make all her favorite desserts, including one called leche asada (loosely translated, barbequed milk. It actually sounds really good!). But don’t worry, Olga usually cooks really healthy and I eat tons of fruits and veggies.
I’m going to bed early because I have class tomorrow at 8:30 am at La Chile, another 45 minute trek. My schedule still isn’t 100% set because when I emailed the professor in charge of study abroad credit transfers for the Spanish department at Tulane about my classes, she told me that my classes were close enough to the Spanish department classes and I probably won’t get major credit for them. Arrrgggghhh. So all weekend I’ve been debating whether stick with the schedule I have (classes I want to take, including 2 theology classes, and only on Monday and Wednesdays) and not get many Spanish credits, or try to change my schedule to take more literature classes (which will end up being difficult classes I don’t want to take). If anyone has any advice, let me know!
I hate to end on a sad note, but I’m sure some of you heard about the American study abroad girl who died this weekend in Valpariaso. I don’t know who it was or exactly how it happened, but apparently she went hiking with some friends. They wanted to go back but she decided to climb to the top on her own. It was getting dark and she fell from the top of the hill. When she didn´t return, her friends sent a park ranger to find her and they found her body in a ditch. Please pray for this girl’s family, friends, school, and study abroad program during this unimaginably difficult time. I know everyone’s worst fear is to lose a loved one, especially when they are so far away. This really hit close to home for me and definitely made me think about how blessed I am to be here yet how much responsibility I have. Please know that I am having fun, being safe and making smart choices. Your thoughts, prayers, and entertaining comments are greatly appreciated and keep me going!
Overall this weekend made me think about a lot of things. Perhaps all the time staring at the waves or something. A few things I realized:
We slept in till 2 pm (again) and woke up to eat almuerzo. Then we went back down to the beach to see the sights. Today in Chile is Dia de los Niños (Kid’s Day), the equivalent of Mother and Father’s Day, expect for kids. They get presents and cake and get to do fun things like fly kites at the beach or go to the zoo. Cartagena was packed with families and little kids running everywhere. The man painting in the sand was back and tried to speak to us in English. We got Rellenos, churros filled with manjar. Manjar is a thick, carmel/butterscotchy type flavored deliciousness that Chilean’s put on anything they can. The rellenos will kill ya’, but they are delicious.
We headed back to Sylvania’s house and watched the end of the Colo Colo vs. Coquimbo futbol game. I realized I was witnessing a very Chilean, yet strangely USA day when the mom’s told us that Sundays are only futbol. Most of the men are on futbol teams that have games in the morning. Then they come home and watch the professional games all day. Chile has 20 teams spread out through its 14 regions, including 3 teams in Santiago. It reminds me of the White Sox vs. Cubs rivalry on how each person routes for one of Santiago’s teams. Colo Colo is the best, then Católica University, then University of Chile (they have no association with the schools. Strange right?). The women told us that every Chilean man loves futbol more than anything else and Calli’s dad, Nelson, said that futbol is was part of who he is as a man as he lovingly held his hands over his heart. It totally reminded me of watching my dad watch football (Americano) on Sunday’s.
We drove back to Santiago around 6:30 and I slept the whole way. Olga was happy to see me home and I filled her in on everything I did this weekend. We ate once, including arroz con leche (rice with milk) for dessert. I asked her how she makes arroz con leche and she went on to tell me how to make all her favorite desserts, including one called leche asada (loosely translated, barbequed milk. It actually sounds really good!). But don’t worry, Olga usually cooks really healthy and I eat tons of fruits and veggies.
I’m going to bed early because I have class tomorrow at 8:30 am at La Chile, another 45 minute trek. My schedule still isn’t 100% set because when I emailed the professor in charge of study abroad credit transfers for the Spanish department at Tulane about my classes, she told me that my classes were close enough to the Spanish department classes and I probably won’t get major credit for them. Arrrgggghhh. So all weekend I’ve been debating whether stick with the schedule I have (classes I want to take, including 2 theology classes, and only on Monday and Wednesdays) and not get many Spanish credits, or try to change my schedule to take more literature classes (which will end up being difficult classes I don’t want to take). If anyone has any advice, let me know!
I hate to end on a sad note, but I’m sure some of you heard about the American study abroad girl who died this weekend in Valpariaso. I don’t know who it was or exactly how it happened, but apparently she went hiking with some friends. They wanted to go back but she decided to climb to the top on her own. It was getting dark and she fell from the top of the hill. When she didn´t return, her friends sent a park ranger to find her and they found her body in a ditch. Please pray for this girl’s family, friends, school, and study abroad program during this unimaginably difficult time. I know everyone’s worst fear is to lose a loved one, especially when they are so far away. This really hit close to home for me and definitely made me think about how blessed I am to be here yet how much responsibility I have. Please know that I am having fun, being safe and making smart choices. Your thoughts, prayers, and entertaining comments are greatly appreciated and keep me going!
Overall this weekend made me think about a lot of things. Perhaps all the time staring at the waves or something. A few things I realized:
- I really miss my family and friends back home.
- My difficulty with Spanish continues to frustrate me. Part of me wants to give up. The other part of me knows that all the frustration and mistakes and constant what?s will all be worth it if I can ever reach some level of fluency.
- I hate being wrong and making mistakes. But I hate not being able to express my thoughts. I need the confidence to just speak my mind, knowing that I will screw up. Just because I can’t speak fluent Spanish doesn’t mean I’m stupid.
- Despite my difficulty with speaking Spanish, it’s the understanding others that is absolutely most difficult. As many of you know, I have a tendency to ask “what?” after someone says something to me in English. I think that is because I don’t really listen the first time. So now I have to try to listen in Spanish. Wait, not Spanish, Chilean. I’m sick of not knowing what people around me are saying.
- I could totally get by in Chile by going to class and hanging out with my American friends. Even if we speak to each other in Spanish, I will never gain the level of fluency that I want. I have to make Chilean friends.
- Things always seem impossibly difficult before you actually do them (going to class the first time, navigating my way through Santiago alone, asking random people directions, etc.)
- Although I enjoy staying out all night dancing and drinking (but not too much, don’t worry!), I can’t do it very often. Not only is it unhealthy, but it ruins the next day. I want to do more than party. I want to go to museums and parks and go running and hang out with all types of different people and volunteer and study and go to mass and everything. You can’t do all those things if you are going out all the time.
- I hate cliques. I don’t mind being a part of one but I hate not being a part of another. Strange dichotomy right? Why do they form? How can we avoid them?
Alright, enough reflecting. I need to get to bed! All my love, Kayla
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Saturday we woke up around 10, ate breakfast, and walked down to the beach. The weather was beautiful and while we walked around, I realized that I absolutely love the ocean. We watched the huge waves crash against the rocks below for almost an hour and lit candles at the Virgen del Suspiro (Virgin of the Sigh) sanctuary (see photos). As we walked along the sand, watching the little kids avoid getting soaked by the coming waves, we decided that we are going to buy one of the many old, abandoned homes in Cartagena and fix it up. We picked one on the top of the hill looking out over the ocean. I can see it now when we are done. I think it will give Pablo Neruda a run for his money! (See photo and read on!).
Calli’s mom and dad picked us up and droves back to the house where we ate almuerzo then drove to Pablo Neruda’s third house, Isla Negra (Black Island). This was his favorite house and I can see why. As I wrote before, Neruda was absolutely obsessed with the sea and built his homes to resemble boats. This was the only house Neruda designed himself and the quirky genius-ness of the poet is evident. Every view from the house paints a new picture of the immense Pacific Ocean. He also adamantly collected all types of crazy objects: glass bottles in all shapes, sizes, and colors, pipes, masks, ships in bottles, porcelain, glass cups (Because “Even water has a better taste when drunk from a pretty glass”), exotic shells, maritime equipment, statues, on and on. We spent a really long time wondering the house and the beach. I bought some postcards with poems and sayings by Neruda that I hung up on my wall. They are worth sharing, although they aren’t nearly as beautiful in English. Enjoy the Chilean poetry:
Saturday we woke up around 10, ate breakfast, and walked down to the beach. The weather was beautiful and while we walked around, I realized that I absolutely love the ocean. We watched the huge waves crash against the rocks below for almost an hour and lit candles at the Virgen del Suspiro (Virgin of the Sigh) sanctuary (see photos). As we walked along the sand, watching the little kids avoid getting soaked by the coming waves, we decided that we are going to buy one of the many old, abandoned homes in Cartagena and fix it up. We picked one on the top of the hill looking out over the ocean. I can see it now when we are done. I think it will give Pablo Neruda a run for his money! (See photo and read on!).
Calli’s mom and dad picked us up and droves back to the house where we ate almuerzo then drove to Pablo Neruda’s third house, Isla Negra (Black Island). This was his favorite house and I can see why. As I wrote before, Neruda was absolutely obsessed with the sea and built his homes to resemble boats. This was the only house Neruda designed himself and the quirky genius-ness of the poet is evident. Every view from the house paints a new picture of the immense Pacific Ocean. He also adamantly collected all types of crazy objects: glass bottles in all shapes, sizes, and colors, pipes, masks, ships in bottles, porcelain, glass cups (Because “Even water has a better taste when drunk from a pretty glass”), exotic shells, maritime equipment, statues, on and on. We spent a really long time wondering the house and the beach. I bought some postcards with poems and sayings by Neruda that I hung up on my wall. They are worth sharing, although they aren’t nearly as beautiful in English. Enjoy the Chilean poetry:
- Hoy es hoy, ayer se fue. No hay duda. Today is today, yesterday is gone. There is no doubt.
- Mi deber es vivir, morir, vivir. My duty is to live, to die, to live.
- Yo vine aquí para cantar y para que cantes conmigo. I came here to sing and for you to sing with me.
- Para mi corazón basta tu pecho. / para tu libertad bastan mis alas. / Desde mi boca llegará hasta el cielo / lo que estaba dormido sobre tu alma. For my heart, your chest is enough. / For your freedom, my wings are enough. / From my mouth will rise up to heaven / that what was sleeping over your soul.
- And my personal favorite: En mi tierra desierta, eres la última rosa. In my desert earth, you are the last rose.
After falling in love with poetry, we went to mass in Cartagena. We are all Catholic, but Calli hadn’t been to mass in months. But since Natalie and I both wanted to go, we all went together. It was probably one of the most beautiful masses I’ve ever been to. At 8 pm Saturday night, the church was packed with people of all ages. The priest spoke clearly and slowly and they even sang the Our Father. During the homily the priest spoke about the importance of trying to live your life to reach the perfection of Christ. He said that we are all humans and we will continue to fail but that the important thing is to avoid things keep us from Christ. Then he talked about using our wealth for the good of the community. If we only use our money to try to make ourselves happy, we will end up alone with all our crap. I know I’ve heard homilies like that before, but the priest’s passion and the fact that I had to pay 100% attention to understand, I really enjoyed it. Calli, Natalie and I even talked about it afterwards because we all enjoyed it so much. During the sign of the peace, Alejandro showed up, which was a pleasant surprise.
After mass we went ate dinner (which finished about 10 pm!) then got ready to go out. We went out with Alejandro, Sebastian (my buddy from last time), and two of their other friends. When Sebastian saw me he gave me a big hug and said, “Mi amor!” to which I quickly reminded him that I still have a boyfriend at home. He told me he hadn’t forgotten and after that, everything was cool. One of their other friends, Raphael, was born in Chile but raised in Miami. He enjoyed speaking English with us and told me that I was very excited to see a true blonde again. Calli and Alejandro (Ale) despite the fact that they are “cousins” are pretty much in love and the whole night Natalie, Sebastian, their other friends and I had a great time making fun of them. We danced the night away (at the same club we went to two weeks ago) and came back and crashed around 5:30 am.
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