Sunday, July 22, 2007
We woke up Sunday afternoon to Calli’s mom telling us lunch is ready at 2 pm. We watched the end of the
My Chilean friend Sebastian gave me un regalo (a present) when explaining it was “para mi insistencia” (for his insistence). It’s a small wooden box with glass stones adorning the top from the
We didn’t drive back to
Saturday night we went out with 2 of Calli’s (adopted) cousins and their friends. They grew up in
Around 1:30 at night (technically that is Sunday morning right?) we took a taxi to the next town over to a “discotheque” or club. We then danced the night away until the club closed at 5 am. All the Chileans knew every word to the songs in Spanish, but we were able to sing along with the American songs!! I had a great time and even got to meringue! My new Chilean friend that I danced with, Sebastian, asked me where I had learned to meringue and I try to explain to him that in the States we have a different type of dancing called Swing Dancing (and Cajun Dancing!) that is very similar. When I told him I wanted to learn how to meringue, he seemed confused and told me that I already knew how!! I was quite flattered, so thanks to all of you who taught me to Cajun and Swing dance!
Once they kicked us out of the club, we took a cab back to the
Another day of class. We learned about the Chilean education system’s history, infrastructure, classroom style etc. Then we had a lecture by a Chilean Judge who was in office when Pinochet took power in 1973. This judge faced a got a lot of heat from the dictatorship for his left leanings, i.e. he refused to uphold Pinochet’s unconstitutional and illegal laws. He ended up resigning his office and now works in academia. He talked about Chilean law and the judicial branch of the government. He was a very interesting man who spoke English with almost no accent. But of course he gave his talk in Spanish and it was highly technical, so I was pretty lost.
After lunch we had an amazing lecture by a Music Historian/Professor at La
After class CIEE took us all out to dinner to a traditional Chilean restaurant. We ate a delicious meal while we listened to live Chilean music. Everyone really enjoyed themselves; even our tutors enjoyed the piscos and vino and started singing with the group. Afterwards a group of us went to Plaza Nunoa and had drinks outside. Its very strange to be able to go to a bar and order drinks. Nights like this make me realize that I don’t have a problem with alcohol, only irresponsible use of alcohol.
My Spanish is seeming to get a tiny bit better. I’m able to understand a little more everyday and I’m learning hundreds of new words. I know my retention rate isn’t too hot, but it will get better. I’ve barely been here a week! To bed, I need sleep because I’m going to the beach tomorrow!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
11:30 pm
Wow, what a day. We started out with a lecture about Chilean art and literature and the effects of the dictatorship on Chilean art. Basically, the extreme censorship coupled with fear in the people forced many artists to find new ways of expressing their emotions. There was a lot of subversive art, but as our professor said, the military leaders are necessarily thinkers and they didn’t understand the metaphors behind the art. So the artists got away with it! We also learned about
After lunch we went on a huge tour of the western part of Santiago Central. We saw Cerro Santa Lucia, a castle on a hill in the middle of the city (literally), el Palacio de Bellas Artes, Parque Forestal, Plaza Italia, Bella Vista, and the two highlights: the home of Pablo Neruda and Cerro San Cristobal.
La Chascona, as Neruda’s house in the neighborhood of Bella Vista is known, was absolutely incredible. He built it to model a ship, with low ceilings, arched doors, porthole windows, the works. Also, since it was built on a hill, there are many different levels, stairways, and secret passages. You just have to see it to believe it (the pictures absolutely don’t do it justice). Also, he was an obsessive collector of almost everything: cups, dolls, porcelin, paintings, trinkets, vases, glass eggs, Russian dolls, African carvings, you name it, he collected it. We got to walk around pretty much the entire house and touch almost everything. It was much more open and accessible than any house/museum I had ever visited. We even walked on the original fur rugs on the living room floor.
El Cerro de
After the hike around the city, I went home for a quick dinner then headed out to meet up with everyone to watch the
Alright, its midnight and I’m sleepy. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get some internet, but we’ll see. I can’t believe I’ve only been here a week. I love you all and miss you like crazy.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Still no Internet, but i’ll survive. I woke up early (at 8:20!) to run before class. It was nice to finally exercise and I enjoyed the beautiful, not too cold weather this morning. Plus I was able to take a not freezing shower since I had just got done running. I decided this is the only way to go. Class today was again full of lectures, discussions, and way too much information. Despite the constant confusion, I am really enjoying the lectures. I’ve learned so much about
In my discussion group, our tutor told us that
My host mom told me that she used to think that there were no poor people in the
Tomorrow
Today was an early morning. We woke up at 6:45, ate breakfast, then headed to the metro. I met half the group of students and Elsa at 8 am in the metro to head to the Policia Internacional to register our visas. We finished early and had 2 hours free time, so a group of us took the metro to Bella Artes, a cool part of town in Santiago Central. A kid in the group, Collin, knew some kids staying in a hostel nearby, so we went and check it out. It was the first hostel I’ve ever been in, and it was surprisingly nice. Anyway, I finally got to go to an internet café to check email and give the pathetic update on my blog. I walked to the place we are having class for the next 2 weeks alone. Along the way, I realized 1) I love being in a beautiful city where you can walk and use public transportation and 2) I like being alone sometimes.
Today was the first day of our class Chile Contemporeano. We hit the ground running with a 1.5 hour lecture about the transition from dictatorship under Pinochet to democracy. Our director Mauricio gave it and I followed relatively well. I got the main ideas, missed a lot details, and paid attention as well as I could. We then met with our groups and tutors to discuss the lecture, then had 1.5 hours for lunch. After lunch our tutors took us on mini tour of interesting things to see in Santiago Central. Its amazing to think that I am about a 7 minute walk away from some of the most important historical sites of the 20th century. La Moneda, the Chilean equivalent of our white house is in the heart of the city surrounded by governemtn and military buildings. Underneath the plaza out front is a cultural center with expositions from around the world. (Everything underneath the plaza, about the size of 2 football fields, happens to be a nuclear fallout shelter built by Pinochet). There are still bullet holes in many of the buildings surrounding La Moneda, remnants of the coupe, backed (led?) by the US military to remove the Socialist, (Legitimately, democratically elected) Allende from office in 1973. The head of the military of
I learned a lot about this historic yet incredibly recent event and was able to ask Olga about it at dinner. Olga was 30 at the time and told me she remembers vividly the fear and anxiety in the city. Not surprisingly, one of the first things she told me was that you couldn’t go shopping and you could only eat what was in the house. When I asked her about the murders and kidnappings, she told me that her 21 year old nephew was shot by the police during a protest. It still amazes me to think that she lived what I am studying in a classroom. I’m now lying in my bed (the warmest place in the apartment) in my pajamas, with my electric blanket, listening to my ipod. I’ve been updating for almost 2 hours now. Its really weird to be in bed at 7:30 at night, but its dark outside and I’m tired, so it seemed natural. I have a feeling once school starts my nights will be more active and I’m enjoying the rest and sleep while I can have it.
Reflections of my almost one week in
p.s. I haven’t showered in 2.5 days and I’m totally cool with that. You try showering with lukewarm water when its only about 45 degrees in the house. Yeah, then you’ll be ok with not showering too.
Sayings I’ve learned from Olga:
“¿Cuando estoy con Dios, quien puede ser contra mi?”
“Me doy todo mi día, todo me vida a Ti”
“Si el Señor te llama, te da los medios”
“En mi relación con mi prójimo, descubro quien soy.”
“¿Estoy viviendo como en esclavo o un hijo?”
Monday, July 16, 2007
After we ate we watched some of the pan
Miguel, Olga’s grandson, is absolutely adorable. He is really patient with me and explains things quite well for a six year old. I asked him if he wanted to be my hermanito (little brother) while I am here and his eyes lit up like I’d told him he’d won a million bucks! I hope we get to spend more time with their family.
After we got back from the mall, the old ones (Olga, Rosa, and Mario) were upset with us because we’d taken too much time and
Rino drove us home after dropping off Mario at the metro station. Later they brought Rosa to the bus while I stayed at the apartment to watch the news (homework) and write my 2 page summary of the weekend/my experiences in
Olga and I toke the metro then a bus to her church, the oldest in ALL of
Sunday afternoon we relaxed and then I walked to Plaza Armas to meet Calli and Courtney to go see Harry Potter. My first time in the city along, but I got there early so I got to explore this straight out of
Harry Potter, even in Spanish, rocked my socks off. I’m not ashamed to say that I’m 20 years old and absolutely loved it. I understood pretty much of everything and even managed to get most of the jokes in Spanish! (When we went to buy our tickets, my friend Courtney went first and the teller looked at her and questioningly told her, “Es en Espanol…?” ) Everything went really well for my first time alone and I felt completely save the entire time. The streets are very well lit and there are people everywhere.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
We woke up early, breakfasted, then walked to the bus station. For breakfast, Olga heated up the milk for the cereal. I just went with it, but its really good and now I have it like that every morning! Last night I told her that we don’t normally heat up the milk for cereal in the morning. She told me that she just assumed she did and apologized but I told her it is delicious and she seemed quite pleased. Anyway, Olga, Rosa and I took a bus to the home and
Santa Teresa was the first Chilean saint and is the only Santa (female saint). She is the patron saint of
We rode back to
Friday, July 13, 2007
11:30 pm
So much to write, so little time. This morning began as usual, with my American roommates, speaking English, followed by trying to understand some basic instructions in Spanish regarding our new cellular phones. Most students bought a prepago phone which we can use to keep in touch with our Chilean friends. It costs 1 peso per second, or about $1 US dollar every minute. Its pretty ridiculous. I can send texts for 50 pesos, so about 10 texts for a dollar. Any phone calls or texts I receive are free (that’s the only plus side). We then had lunch followed by our first session with our Chilean tutors for our class Chile Contemporeano. Its going to be a lot more intense than anyone expected. We are in groups of about 8 students per tutor and we have tons to read (articles, letters, etc.) and we have to write a vitícula everyday. Its basically a dairy/journal/yes I’m paying attention paper about what we talk about in class, our perspectives of Chile/Santiago and its culture, politics, economics, etc., events in the news, our host families, basically anything. Our teacher is named Gabriel and he seems pretty cool. He’s an older gentleman but he speaks clearly and definitely knows his stuff.
After our class, I had the wonderful, anxious, exciting, most terrifying moment of the trip so far: I met my host mom and brother. They picked me up in their cute old car and we drove to their apartment in downtown
Olga is probably about 60 and incredibly sweet. I could tell she was about as nervous as I was when we first met. On the car ride to the apartment, conversation was a little slow and I think we were all trying to take in the situation. I managed to ask if she had had other students from CIEE and she told me I am here first one. She has a friend that has hosted students for a long time and recommended that she try it. Her friend lives quite close and is the host mom of my friend Natalie, so it works out perfectly!
Her apartment is really nice. It is on the third floor in the middle of a neighborhood surrounded by universities. Across the street (more of an alley turned into a makeshift parking lot) is a computer programming business. (I can pick up their wireless, but I don’t have the code. I’m going to see if I can figure out a way to get it!) The apartment has 2 bedrooms, a tiny kitchen, a living room/dining room and a back room for laundry. Its relatively roomy for the two of us. It has beautiful hardwood floors and great windows. Olga has flowers and plants everywhere and its very homey. Of course there is no central heating, but she gave me an electric blanket for my bed which seems to do the trick.
After we got the apartment and unloaded all my stuff, we walked to the supermercado and bought groceries. We all chatted along the way and I was beginning to feel more confident in my Spanish skills. Olga told me to pick out everything I like this time and next time she will know what I like. I told her I like Leche sin grasa (skim milk) and pan integral (whole wheat bread), to which
After the grocery store
Back at the apartment, I played Disney Memory with Miguel and his mom. We ate “once” or the small evening meal around 8:30 which consisted of sopapias, or fried bread (not sweet like a dessert, more like fried dinner rolls), coffee or tea, and cookies. She put turkey and cheese and wheat bread out because I think she was worried that I hadn’t eaten. Olga told everyone that I am used to having a large breakfast and dinner and that lunch is very small in the states. That sparked some interesting conversation about what we eat and when. The everyone starting talking, telling stories, and laughing when I started to look completely lost. I did my best to keep up, but it was difficult. I was exhausted and had a hard time paying attention. Olga told me she was worried that I hadn’t eaten enough and
After dinner I gave them the gifts I brought. The didn’t know what to do with the BBQ sauce or the ball caps from KC, but they all seemed to like the pralines and quickly glanced at the photo book of New Orleans.
Overally, I can understand almost everything when they speak slowly. And when I get confused, Olga is great at breaking it down for me. I know a lot of it goes over my head, but its only been seven hours of immersion!
I can’t believe I’ve only been here 3 days. My Spanish has already improved immensely. So first night (or 8 hours of immersion) have been joyfully painful and incredibly wonderful. I know this weekend is going to be a blast hanging out with Olga and her sister while we get to know the city and I practice my Spanish.
Wow, I think that’s enough for now. A few quick other notes:
· Two times today Chilean women told me to “tranquila” (Brigeta y Olga)
· I learned the difference between picó (a bug bite) y pico (a penis)
· Veamos que pasa (We’ll see what happens) when things don’t go as planned
· I’ve learned (more like heard) more new words and phrases in the past 8 hours than in the past 4 years of my spanish education.
