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!