Lo bueno y lo malo

Things I am loving about Chile so far:

1. Fresh, delicious produce todos los días.

Our local feria, where you can buy any type of produce you can possibly imagine for way cheaper than the grocery store.  Peaches are the size of softballs, a head of corn is twice the size of one of ours, fresh plums fall from a tree in my backyard, and I can buy ~2.3 lbs of avocado for around USD$2.  That brings me to my next point (related, but important enough to merit its own spot on the list):

2.  Palta like WOAH.

If you didn't know, I am WAY down with avocado.  So I am SUPER down with the fact Chileans put palta on pretty much everything.  Sushi, sandwiches, burgers, completos, breakfast, lunch, once... seriously, everything.  And it is DELICIOUS.

                                                                                                  ©http://vivavalparaiso.cl

Witness the completo.  Somewhere, under all that palta, tomato, mayonnaise, and ají (chilean hot sauce), there is a hot dog.  It's hard to believe, I know, but trust me.  It's there.

3.  La once/the eating schedule in general.

Chilenos don't do a big dinner (they have their biggest meal at lunchtime), so around "dinner time" they have la once, or té.  It's really similar to breakfast (pretty small, with tea/coffee, bread, palta, jam, butter, maybe some soup or fruit), but with cookies.  And manjar (dulce de leche).  And sometimes chocolate milk, ice cream, crepes, or chocolate.  Awesome.

4.  Dancing!

EVERYONE dances here (young, old, drunk, sober...), so it's really easy to go out and have a good time.  There are dance floors everywhere (not just in discotecas but in most bars, too),  and people here know how to work it.  I mean, there are exceptions, of course, but less than in the US, I think; people are just more accustomed to dancing.  You can definitely spot the gringos on the dance floor, ¿cachái?

5.  Chilean family culture

Now, I'm not a huge "let's all get together and have family time" type of person, but I have to admit that I kind of like the way they do things around here.  The kids don't move out until they have finished their schooling and have a career (or are married), and families stay close (all the members of my host family, save 1 or 2, live within 5 minutes' drive of our house).  Elders seem to be appreciated more, and kids are allowed to be kids.  Everyone stays close and checks up on each other, so you know that you have a really strong support structure behind you at any moment.  It's kind of like being in a time warp to my parent's generation.  Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't miss my privacy, or that I want all of this to suddenly change in my own life (too much of a shock), but Chilean family culture just seems... I don't know.  It seems healthier.  Not to mention the cultural consequences of having a tight family structure (hello fair treatment of old people!). It's awesome.

Y no tanto (not so much):

1. The smog

                                                                 ©elkioscobloggero.files.wordpress.com

It's nasty.  I could hardly breathe for the first two weeks, my allergies were so bad.  After a long day, my eyes and nose are filled with black gunk, and the Andes seem way further away on some days than they do on others.  All thanks to that delightful smog.

 2. Lack of HOT sauce

Sure, we have ají, but it's just... not that spicy.  Not like I'm used to anyways.  I definitely miss my "Thai Hot" curry from home-- I need my Thai ladies here to bring the heat!

3. Time/money spent in transit

On any given day, I spend about half of my time out of the house in transit.  To get pretty much anywhere of official importance (class, CIEE office, bus station, etc.), I need to leave at least an hour ahead of time.  Doesn't sound too bad, but consider: say I need to pick up a form from the CIEE office downtown, for example.  1 hour to get there + 1 hour to get back = two hours of travel time for less than five minutes of actual human interaction/business time.  Normal school day: 2(1 hr to get to or from campus) + 2(1.5 hr class) + 1 hr switching campuses + 1.5 hrs waiting for class to start  = a 7.5 hour-long day for two classes (3 hrs in class, 4.5 hrs traveling).  Harsh.  And money-wise, it all adds up; I've been spending ~US$20 a week in bus/metro fare alone.

                                                                                             ©plataformaurbana.cl

Metro at rush hour.  No lie.

4. Price of books

For some reason, books are crazy expensive here.  I mean, not out-of-reach expensive (for us), but definitely way above what we're used to spending in the states.  Partially to blame: the Chilean BOOK TAX.  Yes, a tax on books.  A whopping 19% (source).  How freaking feudal is that?  But I digress.  Social and political implications of the tax aside, it makes buying books way more of an investment than we Americans are used to.  Apparently Buenos Aires is like cheap book mecca, but we'll see... I certainly hope so.

5. Over-complication of pretty much everything
...seriously, everything. 
Where can I even get started on this.  In Chile, for every one necessary step in a process, there are at least 3 or 4 extra, stupid steps to complicate the process (even down to the simplest things, like buying an ice cream).  This aspect of Chilean life has made the class registration process an absolute NIGHTMARE.  Everything is SUPER disorganized; nobody knows what's going on, and every person you talk to will probably advise you to do something or go somewhere completely different.  Calling an "official" or secretary for information won't necessarily help your cause; you may spend your entire afternoon on a wild goose chase for a class that doesn't exist (I've been on a couple of these). The earthquake certainly didn't help; thanks to infrastructural damage to the school, a lot of classes have been moved to the campuses of other colleges.  A good part of the faculty at these locations doesn't know that these classes exist and will look at you like you're a  crazy person when you show up.  AWESOME.

♥  !

Viña 3.19-21

Just a couple of pictures from Viña this past weekend.  As you know, I take very few pictures, so a big thank you to my friend Emily for giving me permission to use a couple of hers.

Our little beach spot in Viña.

                                                                                                    ©Emily Williams

We stayed in a little hostel not too far from the beach.  The girls in the group shared a room. From the left: Emily, Ryann, Julianne (Julie/Jules), and me.

                                                                       ©Emily Williams

In Viña and Santiago people sometimes try to entertain drivers stopped at traffic lights for spare change (by juggling, flag-twirling, etc.).  Here's one of those guys in Viña. 

                                                                                             ©Emily Williams

Last but not least, a very pretty sunset on the beach.  Beautiful!  

Hopefully we'll get to head back again in the next couple of weekends before winter sets in (and I'll try to take more pictures!). ¡Que todo les vaya bien! ♥

Happy one month, Chile!

Almost two weeks and no post!  My apologies. These past two weeks have absolutely FLOWN by, so I hope you'll pardon the lack of posts on my part.

So let's see... as far as the replicas and the blackout last week, all is fine and there's nothing to worry about around here.  I slept through the blackout and barely felt the replicas, so neither really freaked me out too much.  The people around me were definitely pretty shaken up, though; all activities and events were canceled the day of the replicas, and everything was covered non-stop by every news channel on TV.   I guess country-wide blackouts and 6.0+ aftershocks will do that to people. 

Classes at La Católica started two weeks ago, as I mentioned, and they seem to be going pretty well.  I also got the news last week that La Chile's schedule has been changed again (exchange students no longer have to stay until July 30th), so I'm going to try to take a class or two over there if I can.  Excellent! I'm so glad they changed that up. I'm already signed up for a few classes at La Católica, and I should have my full schedule (with classes at La Chile) set by next week.  Honestly, I'm just glad that things are finally getting started; I'm excited to have a set schedule and the opportunity to meet new people.  All of this waiting around for the past month has been killing me, no lie.

We went to the beach at Viña del Mar this weekend, which was pretty nice.  It was good to get out of the city and sprawl out on the beach for a couple days.  Hopefully I'll be able to get a few pictures up, but we'll see.  ¡Chilenismos!

Chilenismos* of the Day

(*...you know) 

Jote: Technically, "vulture." Slang-wise, un hombre muy jote = that dude at the club who keeps trying to get at you and won't leave you alone, to the point where it's annoying and a problem.  Fitting, right?

Apagarse la tele: Literally, "to turn off the TV."  To black out after too many drinks.

The world's still shakin'

...though sometimes so subtly it's hard to tell whether it's real or imagined.  It's incredible to me that more than a week after the quake we're still getting replicas (aftershocks), but there it is.

I've been sick for the past few days so I really have little to report, but I figured I'd check in for regularity's sake.  CIEE activities started up again on Thursday so we at least had a bit of an opportunity to get out of the house; we took a Spanish placement test Thursday and had an orientation at PUC (the private, Catholic university) on Friday.  Later, we went out carreteando (fun!), which was nice after spending the better part of the week trapped in the house.

Our program, for the most part, hasn't been messed with too badly by the quake, with one pretty regrettable exception: due to earthquake damage, classes at La Chile (the public university) have been delayed for a couple of weeks and the semester won't end until July 30th.  Since we originally planned on returning to the states July 14th, attending La Chile is no longer a feasible option for many of us; assuming we have the extra two weeks to spare, we'd have to move, arrange new living arrangements, change our flight schedules, etc. ¡Qué pena!  It's really unfortunate; I really wanted to take classes at both universities (especially La Chile!).  La PUC's administration has taken great pains to portray it as the "prestigious," private university, "with a better infrastructure" and "the best students in the country" or whatever, but La Chile is bigger, public, and has a greater variety of students, from ALL social classes and all parts of Chile.  Opinions about which is better seems to vary from person to person, but I really wanted the opportunity to take classes at both.  Bummed.

Anyways, I'm hoping that this little sickness will disappear by tomorrow morning so I can start going to classes again.  It's registration week, and it's really essential that I attend classes so I can sign up before things fill up.  I went to one in the morning yesterday, but I was so tired and sick that I went home and spent the rest of the day in bed afterward.  I've been drinking lots of water/tea/liquids of all sorts and getting plenty of sleep, so hopefully it'll clear up by tomorrow!

Chilenismos* of the Day

(*maybe partially but certainly not entirely)

Flaite: Described to me as the Chilean equivalent of "ghetto."  
No me gustó ese bar... fue super flaite.

 Super flaite.

Fome: Kind of lame (or uninteresting).  ¿Te gusta 'Crepúsculo'? Ay, no, ¡qué fome!

Echar la corta/la grande: #1 and #2, respectively (think bathrooms here).

Piropear: to hit on, to cat-call, to sweet talk, etc.

Anyways, that's all for now.  I hope all of you are taking good care of yourselves up there, and that everything's going well for everyone. ♥!

Aftershocks

We got our power back this evening at about 8, I believe, and we've been watching the news ever since.  It seems to be a bit more video-based here, with less commentary, and it is heart-wrenching.  I've been searching the internet since the power came back to find ways to volunteer and help (because CIEE will only tell us to stay at home), but unfortunately the advice from the Chilean government at the moment is, like CIEE's, to stay at home as much as possible until they are able to fully survey the damage.  I really hope that there will be opportunities for us to go down and help people who need it; we are, as a friend of mine recently said, "a very capable demographic."  We'll see.

If you want to know how to help or send aid, Huffington post has a pretty extensive list of organizations, which they are continually updating (pardon the source, I know it's biased, blah blah blah, but in this case I hardly think it matters): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/27/chile-earthquake-relief-h_n_479426.html  I at least ask that you keep this country (which has been so warm and hospitable to me thus far) in your hearts and, if you pray, in your prayers.  I'm sure you've heard no end of it on the news (probably for at least two days longer than I have), but, you know, it bears repeating.


Anyways, let's lighten up the tone a little bit-- I've been watching the news with my host parents for the last couple of hours and it has me all sorts of riled up.  We'll look at some pictures (most are mine, but I have taken a few from Facebook because I myself take very few pictures.  After such photos I have included the name of the source/the photographer).  You can click any of these photos to make them bigger.  A ver:

Welcome to Santiago, Chile!  It is a wonderful place.

                                                                                                                                ©Heather Goodale

(BTW: What up, ANDES.)

This is where I live (the little red "A".  Again, click the picture to make it bigger): 

 

Credit: Google Maps (http://maps.google.cl/)

The neighborhood is called "La Reina," and it is very nice indeed.  My house is in a little baby gated community (not like the gigantic labyrinths in Scottsdale, but just a little baby community with a gate).  Once you pass the gate, you see this:

Cute, right?  Also, this was the day after the terremoto, so you can see that things are pretty normal.  Except for the wall that is immediately to your right when you walk through the main gate (immediately to your right in the picture above), you would never know anything happened.  It was a little wall that separated our little community from an dialysis center (the yellow building), but it fell down during the earthquake:

And a bit closer:

 

If you keep walking you will get to my house:

Pass through the gate, and you'll get to the front yard, where you can see the wall in the garden that fell:

 

Not too bad.  It's mostly been cleaned up, but again, the damage was very, very mild, as I have said.  A few broken dishes, some spilled marmalade, a garden wall... nothing compared to an entire house or anything like that.  We were very lucky.

Anyways, here is my host dad Carlos and our dog Danka in the front room (again, day after the earthquake, everyone is looking fine): 

What a cutie:

Mira la Danka.  ¡Que rica!

Anyways, pass through the house and you get to the backyard:

 

If you turn around you see this (back o' the house):

Very, very cute.  Very nice.  I am very lucky to be living in such a nice place with a family that I like so much.  I'll get a picture of Kelly up here sooner or later, but at the time that I was taking photos she said she looked "fea" and didn't want her picture taken at the moment (so not the truth, but whatever.  I understand; I hate having my picture taken 99% of the time).

Ok, so that's the round-up of the house, I think.  Now you can see where I live!  A very wonderful place, as I said, with very wonderful people.  Javier should be arriving within the next few days; the earthquake, understandably, has delayed his arrival by a couple of days.  I will leave you by starting a new section of the blog: " The Chilenismos of the Day".  Chileans have many, many modismos (slang), a lot of which are totally unique to the country.  As I've been here about a week, I've picked up quite a few, so I'll just pick my favorites.  I'll also throw in some other, non-Chile-specific gems, because a lot of them are funny (the section should really be "Vocab of the day", but whatever.  Chilenismos sounds better.).  A ver:

 Chilenismos* of the Day:  

*(Not necessarily entirely)

Pololo/a*: Girlfriend/boyfriend.  Here, novio/a is really serious.  Like, about to be engaged. So for the less serious romantic endeavor, pololo/a is the term of choice (verb= pololear)

Poto*: Bum/bottom.  A kinder, more polite version of "culo." As in, el potito de guagua (the baby's little bum)

Guagua*: Baby.  Pronouned "wahwah".  Kelly is always calling her nieto (grandson) her little guaguita. Onomatopoeia at its finest.

Tirar un peo: To fart (a real gem, in my opinion). ¡Ay, que olor! ¡La Danka tiró un peo!

Carrete*: A party.  A carrete can be big or small, but  fiesta is only used for big parties, from what I understand.  I have already used the verb form of this word in my previous entry (carretear, to go out partying)

Anyways, that should be it.   I need to work on shortening these things.  Good night! ¡Buenas noches! And as always, que todo les vaya bien.