Ranting and Raving

Its now almost September, been in Santiago for over 2 months and have learned more about the city and the countries social beliefs. When I first arrived I was enthralled with the city, everything was new and exciting, no matter where I went I would encounter something new to understand. In the more recent weeks the filter has dissolved and I've realized that this will be the place I will spend the next year of my life, like everything theres always the pro and con list, but I'm not going to bother writing that out. However, the one aspect of chilean life that I have recently discovered is their social belief-I'm living in my parents generation, or what I assume it would have been like. In regard to chilean history they have only recently accomplished a major social revolution, kicking out the militaristic dictatorship of Pinochet in the late 80's. So it makes sense that the santiaguinos (chilean name for people who live in Santiago) are still in their post-revolutionary stage. However, in comparison with the US social rights movement, which I know is impossible to compare because they're different countries in regards to their political, social, economic beliefs however I would have expected a more vocal activism from the population, especially the youth. I have some friends who go to my school but to a different campus (in chilean universities if you study medicine to become a doctor you will only be attending the science campus, like wise for history majors at the humanities campus and so forth-which keeps the university a bit segregated in terms of who you can meet on campus, and without a central area where all of the students can meet and interact) and have been tear-gassed by the carabineros (chilean law enforcement). However when I talk to other friends about politics or elections they simply say they don't vote because it won't change anything. This is unbelievable to me, a 19 who was born just after the end of a dictatorship, in the hope of a better place to live, and actualized by social protest, he doesn't feel the need to vote or understand that his actions can have an affect and create change if he would only realized what those have done before him. Now this could be a biased opinion considering on my campus at home its quite common to see people protesting against the way, rape of women, or the schools affiliation with nuclear weapons, however we're even skeptical of the results that will arise, but nonetheless we try. Like I've stated before I feel as though Santiago is a few decades behind, behind in their fashion, transportation, pollution control, and what I've recently realized their social beliefs. It's stated in posters all through out Santiago that less than 60% of the population don't respect the gay population, something around 75% don't respect the indigenous or poor populations-having grown up in California where yes there are those who don't respect minorities or the marginalized, for the most part Californians are pretty accepting and aware that a human being is a human being and that we all deserve common respect.

Likewise, if you try to tell a chilean something that's different from their country to that of your own they generally have a hard time believing it-food I have realized is a rather touchy subject and its best to leave undiscussed. I've been told several times as I'm making dinner at my new house that I'm making rice wrong from my landlord (dueño). I know he doesn't mean for it to come across that I'm doing it incorrectly, but at the same time I feel as though the way I should be cooking should be chilean, which is impossible because I grew up cooking in the states and its one of those customs thats so second nature I don't even think about what I'm doing (although it would be fun to pick up some chilean recipes, if I can find some foods I really dig on).

Anyway, these past three days have been SUNNY and warm in Santiago, the first time since I've been here-I forgot the joys of wearing just a tee-shirt, and walking around a city, everyone seems so much more approachable (there's a public act that's noticeable in the buses that promotes a Santiago that smile, where signs ask: Have you smiled today? or Don't forget to smile! to promote a happier population, or atleast happier looking, but with everyone dressed in black it has its challenges). Earlier in the month I was kinda bumming on Santiago, the city had lost is luster, I was falling into a routine I didn't really like, and felt that I could be doing a lot more than I was, but once the sun came out these past few days all of that angst has quickly been replaced with a new found rejuvenation for the city which is in perfect timing with Natalie, a friend from high school who I haven't seen in about 3 years coming to visit this weekend and my mom's visit next wednesday. I'm excited to play guide and show them around where I've been living the past few months, something totally different but still excited nonetheless.

Oh, and school...yea it's going. We just finished week 5, insane, and I have found out that my classes end the 17th of November, which means I have a four months summer! God I really can't wait to just backpack around Patagonia, find my way to Buenos Aires and Rio, hopefully the salt flats of Bolivia, and of course the beaches of Chile. But yes, school is good; I'm taking a Pablo Neruda & Gabriel Mistral class two famous Nobel winners who are influential in Chilean culture; a class on Latin American Politics, which is interesting but difficult at 8:30 in the morning when a man is spewing out information every minute; a mandatory class through my program about the social and political history of Chile which is interesting; and I found a way to take a modern class with some of the dance majors here. I have yet to go see the national company, who practices upstairs from the dance majors, rehears but one day I'll make it up there.

Alright, enough for now, pictures to come later-hope all is well!

Paz

time lag

Definitely not updating as frequently as I had thought but it's alright. So I've been in Santiago for almost a month now and I can't really imagine 1/13 of my trip is already over, I'm getting too relaxed too quickly I need to be more proactive. Anyway, I spent the 4th of July waking up early to go meet up with friends to go to a ferria, an outdoor market where they sell things from used barbies, electronics, food, and the reason Maggie and I went, road bikes. After walking around for what seemed like an hour through a maze of different blocks we encountered some men who were selling bikes and after checking them out making sure they decently worked we bought bikes for roughly $40. I've ridden it around a couple of time, once to school where there's apparently a guard at the bike rack who watches the bikes and checks you in and out-go figure the private university to have such a position. Anyway, once Maggie and I got back from the market we went to my house where my host family prepared pasta and sausage for us. My parents are nice and they generally cook some type of meat and a side, but the conversations at the table last for an eternity, the other day Lucky, my host-mom, pulled out her photo albums from when she vacationed in Europe, but the dates on the photos were definitely from the 70's and I'm pretty sure things have changed, but nonetheless it was nice of her to show me a part of her past, which isn't as simple as I had thought. Anyway, after lunch and Alden meeting up with us we left for the La Chile v. Union Española soccer game at the stadium right near my house. It was awesome having the game so close because we were able to walk to the game and not have to deal with public transit. The game was dreamlike, a thing you only imagine being at with crazy soccer fans chanting something every time something happened on the field. And I have never heard so much heckling, it was awesome. But the best part had to have been when La Chile, the favorites, scored and we were right behind the goal they scored on, everyone instantly starting chanting and was hugging whoever was around them. Across the field we could see fans lighting what seemed like street flares in the stands, and looking into other parts of the stands you could see everyone just jumping up and down, it honestly looked like waves. The game ended with each team with one goal but there weren't penaltys because there was another game that Tuesday and that would decide the winner of the season, which ended up being La Chile. After the game all the fans in the stands flooded the streets near my house, I have honestly never seen so many people in my neighborhood before. I live kind of far away from main streets with a lot of commerce, but hopefully that'll change soon. The street in front of my apartment building is a main street but as far down as I am there isn't much to do except for the soccer stadium and a new gym they just built. However I hopefully found a place to live! It's no longer in ñuñoa but in Providencia, the sector north of the one I'm currently living in. I'll be living with my friend Alden and 8 other people, it's sort of like a co-op style house, with 4 women downstairs and 6 people upstairs. Each floor has their own kitchen, living room, and dining room which is nice, but upstairs, in my opinion is nicer than downstairs and I'm super excited about the change. I'll be right next to a metro station so I have the ability to get around the city much quicker than I do now and there are a ton of restaurants around-my teacher told me he also lives in that area and that because there are a lot of universities around the streets are just full of young students, which is awesome. Oh but the best part about the place, which I didn't know before going to see the house, is that downstairs has a dance studio so hopefully I can get a job teaching or something to make some extra cash, it just seems too good to be happening. Plus one of the owners of the house used to play for La Chile, the soccer team and I'm hoping that over time I can become good enough friends with him so that he can help me out with some world cup tickets-ha. 

ILP, the language intensive I had to take for the first three weeks, is now officially over and a group of 7 of us decided to celebrate by going to Valparaiso. This city is one of the cooler I have visited, there's art everywhere, its common to come across some sort of tagged work or even really nice murals on every block. The city itself is a little old but it's still full of live and has a lot to offer. There's definitely a different vibe than Santiago, in Santiago I feel the people are more closed off and are harder to get to know. Still taking public transit and getting stared at is a common occurrence, I didn't think it'd bother me as much. Either way we enjoyed our time in Valpo and even made it out to Viña, which is the richer neighboring city. I'm excited that Natalie is arriving this week!! Hopefully when I visit Valpo next she can show me around her parts, god it's such a cool city. 

But yes, I have two orientation this week, one in 45 mins and then next on Thursday so I don't have much time to travel before school starts on Monday-it really sucks not having a summer, but I'm just pushing toward December when all will be balanced! Enjoy the photos, they're from the past month...

We went to see a winery in Santiago, Concha y Torro, the grounds were beautiful, our guide was awkward. We did get a chance to taste two types, and see where they fermented various types of wine. Above is the original family's house.

Their makeshift lake and forest.

Atop Cerro San Cristobol in Bellavista overlooking all of Santiago, well almost all of it-the city is huge and this is a great place to go after it rains because the majority of the smog drops. Pictured with Alden, Maggie, and Molly.

Santiago in all it's glory.

Papudo: A great place to do nothing. Went here for a school project, picturesque but not a lot of life in the winter, thrives on summer tourism. Below is the famous Barco Rojo restaurant where Pablo Neruda, a god in the Chilean eye, frequented. He also had 3 houses, one in Santiago, one in Valparaiso, and one in Isla Negra, and had a different woman for each one.

Above is the famous Papudo sign, and the blue house in the back became my favorite. To the right is a picture of Papudo from the shore. The fishermen told us that there isn't much fish in the water so instead they've been harvesting sea weed, which my host mom tells me is really good and can be used in many Chilean dishes-not sure how I feel about that, but as long as its not caked in mayo I think I'd try it.

The backside of Papudo at sunset, or rather puesta del sol.

My friend Gael, from the blue house in the picture of the Papudo sign. He's the reason I'd go back to visit Papudo, honestly. The biggest baby I've ever seen, he tied to stand on the fence so we could pet him more. He was only a year and a half and already weighed about 70 kilos which is roughly 150 pounds and expected to get bigger. He would put my hand in his mouth but not even do anything to it, he was such a baby.
The next day I wanted to see him again so we stood outside his gate and made him all hyper until his owner came out and we got to pet him some more, he honestly was my favorite thing about this whole trip.

Aside from long romantic horseback rides with Alden-spent $4 to ride a pregnant horse for 30mins on the beach. Didn't know she was pregnant until after I got back and felt back for kicking her to go faster-opps. But the guys who rented the horses were really entertaining, Jorge and Ruben-Ruben had a glass eye and three teeth, but loved to laugh and make others laugh, he was the closest pirate we saw that trip. (reason we chose Papudo was because of the legend of a pirate cave which we never found-thanks travelchile.com)

Bienvenidos

I've now been in Santiago for over a week and have seen various shades of living, the first weekend I was in a hostel in Bellavista where I met some cool travelers. I liked the hostel because everyone we met knew about the same amount of spanish and could easily converse with each other, and they were on vacation and just wanted to make the most out of their time in Santiago. Being my first weekend it was a fun way to get used to the city and a great way to start off the trip. The following Monday I met my host family, a little overwhelming considering my program doesn't give you any information about your family prior to meeting them so I was a little anxious who I was going to be living with. Fortunately I lucked out and am living these two abuelitos, a couple of grandparents who couldn't be more caring. The mom, Lucky, is somehow always trying to make my life easier by either always having a place setting for me before I get up or re-making my bed if I didn't do it how she liked it, just with she would leave a mint on my pillow. The father, Ivan, is a classic latin character, always making jokes and trying to make everyone at ease. They live in an apartment in a part of Santiago called ñuñoa right across the street from a little neighborhood park and a mico stop (which they call the buses). There have been a lot of things that I've had to get used to pretty quickly, obviously speaking spanish in order to get around or simply have a conversation but the constant stares from strangers. Chilean, from what I've been told and have experienced, like making direct eye contact, especially when trying to get to know someone for the first time. Either way I have been having fun learning the culture and getting used to my new city and am looking forward to what's next.

Oh, the yellow building is my school (the school shield is on the top) and the last picture is the view from my room, and yes those are the andes : )