Sarah's Blog

My first few days in Chile!

Tuesday, March 03, 2009 4:13 PM

Hola!

I live in the neighborhood Recreo, but it's more an area of the city than a neighborhood. This part is very very old. All the streets are crooked and some are cobblestoned. Most of the houses are tall and thin and side by side. I live at the top of a really really really big hill. To get to the metro or the bus I have to walk all the way down the hill to the main street which is by the beach.

My host mom Monica came outside to meet me. She's adorable. She speaks absolutely no English. No one in my family speaks English. I got to the house around 11 and was hungry. They don't eat lunch here until 2 or 3 though. So Monica and I had coffee and toast. They don't drink drip coffee here; all of the coffee here is instant powder coffee. It’s not bad, but it’s not the same. I discovered a new food that I love already. It’s kind of like a mix between peanut butter and Nutella. I don't know the name of it, but it’s delicious and I eat it with every meal. After we snacked and chatted I took a shower while Monica fixed lunch. I have my own room downstairs with my own bathroom. This is very nice. It’s really really small, but it’s my own space.

When I was all cleaned up Monica introduced me to Oscar (the dad), Francisco (the 20 year old son), and Andrea (the 26 year old daughter). They have another son, Sebastian (he's around 30), but he was at work at the time. All of the children live at home and they all go to school. Andrea and Sebastian go to the university in Vina del Mar, and Francisco goes to my school. Oscar, is retired at such an early age because he has Parkinson's Disease. It’s pretty advanced so he stays at home all day. He's got a great sense of humor though and he's really funny. We all sat down to lunch. Lunch here is the biggest meal of the day. We had a salad with fish on it (lettuce, fish, oil, salt, and lemon) and then we had fried chicken with rice. They all put a strange form of mayonnaise on their rice. I left mine plain.

After lunch, Monica, Francisco, and I went to the university. We took the metro train, which is clean, safe, fast, and efficient, but also expensive. It charges you 300 pesos when you get on, and 300 when you get off (that’s 600 pesos for one way). I took the bus home today. It was only 400 pesos for one way. I figure I'll probably take the metro to school when I have to be there on time, and then take the bus home. I'll save a lot more money that way. When we got to the University I was immediately introduced to my orientation group. So far everyone is really nice. Our orientation leader is very nice and helpful. She works with us all day from 9-4 or 5 and comes early and leaves late. And she's given all of us her cell phone number in case we need to get in touch with her.

After my first day of orientation my host mom and I walked to the supermarket (she walked me to school and waited on me to walk me back. Chilean moms are very protective). I bought a cell phone that I can use here, which I needed because I already had a ton of phone numbers to put into it. After we got my phone we picked up a few things at the supermarket like cereal, bread, coffee, and bottled water. We took the metro back to the house, and on the way back up to our house we passed by Monica's father's house. We stopped by. His house is even older than ours. He's 86 years old and super super sweet. We didn't stay long because I was exhausted. We got back to the house and I took a nap. Monica woke me up around 9. I asked her about dinner, but I don't think they eat dinner here. I think it’s just more of a snack. Breakfast and lunch are huge though. I went to bed fairly early because I had to be at the university today at 9am.

The first day at school I took a written and oral Spanish exam to see what level of classes I can take. They told me I could take intermediate classes (200 levels). I'm going to sign up for a few but if they're too hard or if it’s too hard to understand the professors I'm going to drop down to basic level classes. After my exams we took a break for lunch, then went to verify my visa with another student. 

I haven't gotten to take many pictures yet because I've been busy all day and when I finally get done with orientation I'm just so tired I want to come home and go to sleep. I should have a free afternoon sometime soon. Hopefully I can walk around my area or talk a couple of students into exploring with me and get some more photos taken. Oh, I also learned that around the same time you all spring forward in time, we're going to fall back.

Talk to you all soon,

Sarah

Sunshine Chile

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Hello again!

I've spent the majority of my days down at the beach with some other American students I met at orientation. The beaches here are small patches where people on the weekends pack in. It’s not bad during the week though. The water is soo cold though -- it’s colder than the Pacific off the coast of California. That doesn't stop us from getting in though! I've been trying to find a beach where I can go surfing, but so far I haven't found one. I heard word of an area in ConCon (it’s a beach just a short bus drive away). The sun here is also really intense. The ozone layer here is really depleted so the sun can be brutal. Thankfully I brought sunscreen with me and I've been wearing it everyday. It’s funny though, a lot of our Chilean families laugh at us for getting burned. They say that the gringos that come down here always get burned and it makes us stand out more.

Apparently though, I don't look like a "gringo" to people here. (And just as a side note, gringo doesn't always have a derogatory connotation here. It can, but for the most part the people here use the word to refer to someone who is white or not necessarily from South America). I've had three people ask me for directions here. Two were Chileans, and one was an American woman. Haha! She asked me for directions in really bad Spanish. I think its funny cause if you can't tell I'm a gringo by just looking at me, you can definitely tell when I open my mouth. My Spanish is very American. But my host mom has told me I have a "cara latina" (a latin face).

Vina del Mar and Valparaiso are similar, but different cities. They are side by side with just an imaginary line drawn between the two of them. My house is right in between the two of them. Traveling anywhere is easy because I have a metro stop, bus stop, and taxi stand right down the hill from my house. Vina del Mar is a newer city with newer houses. It’s also a big vacation spot because of the beaches. There's lots of night life, restaurants, and shops. Valparaiso is a lot older. The houses are crammed in side by side and built up. They're all really really old and beautiful. I could walk around all day taking pictures of just houses and nothing else and be completely content. Valparaiso is much more urban feeling. The other night another girl and I went to the square in Valparaiso where they were celebrating International Women's Day. We got to see the singer Palmenia Pizarro sing. She's apparently a really old Latin Diva. She put on a good show!

It seems like relationships are very different here. People get into serious relationships around 18-20. The PDA here is off the charts -- I'm just now starting to get used to seeing people make out in the streets, in the supermarket, on the busses, pretty much anywhere. It’s always fun to watch other American tourist’s reactions to couples who are making out.

The public transportation is cheap except for the metro. Once I get my student ID I should be able to get a student metro pass that’s cheaper than the regular pass. That'll help me out a lot. You can't buy a monthly pass though. Everything here is pay as you go. My cell phone is pre-paid minutes and texts, the metro pass is pay as you go, and the bus systems are pay as you go too. It’s not the most efficient system but it works pretty well.

There's a strip of American restaurants in Vina del Mar. There's a McDonalds, a Domino's, and a Pizza Hut. There's also a Blockbusters, Burger King, and other fast food chains here as well. It continues to surprise me how much American stuff is around. People here wear American labels and listen to our music. Most of the clubs play 90s hit music. It’s kind of funny.

I'll let you all know how my first classes go. It should be interesting to see if I can figure out how to get to every place on time too.

Sarah

Chile - La vida

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Hola!

I’ve finally adjusted to the eating schedule here. I wake up and have a fairly large breakfast because we don’t eat lunch until about 2 or 3 some days. Dinner is called “once” and it’s served around 7 or 8 at night. I like this because it’s more like a tea time. Neighbors usually come by the house and we all just sit around talking until 12. One night a long time friend of my host mom Monica came by -- his name is Patricio and he currently lives and works in Germany. He’s just back in Chile for vacation. He signed me up for an annual 5k in Vina del Mar. I think he thinks I should work on bridging the gap between Chileans and Americans while I’m here, because he saw me running the race as an intermingling of our two countries. He quickly switched to talking about politics after I reluctantly agreed to run the race. People here love to talk politics and they love to ask me about what I think about the government. They also like to compare the youth in the United States and the youth here.

This was the perfect time to come to Chile. I don’t know much about Pinochet and his time in power, but the country is still experiencing a backlash to his reign. The country is slowly moving in a more liberal direction, and the area that this is easiest to see is in the youth. It’s illustrated in the way they dress, the way they talk, and their sexuality. The differences between the youth and the older generation who lived under Pinochet are so visible! I love to compare the two when I ride the metro or the micro. I wish I could dedicate an album of pictures to comparing the two, but I don’t think people here would appreciate me just taking pictures of them all the time.

On Thursday night a group of us went to a club called “Huevo” (it means “Egg” in English, haha). It is the best club I have ever been to. It has four floors with 5 different rooms. Each room plays a different kind of music (Hard Rock, Karaoke, Regaton, Salsa, 90s Pop/American Music). There is literally something for anyone at this club. Thursday nights are college night. Every student in Vina del Mar and Valparaiso goes to this club on Thursdays. We waited in line for an hour before we got in. But it was definitely worth it. While we were there we met a couple of Chilean guys who are in a Red Hot Chili Peppers Tribute Band. They told us about a show they were going to play at Huevo on Saturday night and invited us to come. They said they would put all of us on a list to get in for free through the back door (which is nice since the cover charge that night was $5,000 pesos).

Saturday night we all went back to Huevo’s to hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers Tribute band. They played in the basement of the club. I wasn’t sure what to expect at first. I figured they were good musicians since they were playing in the biggest club in town, but I wasn’t sure how their singing would be since their first language is Spanish. They were AMAZING. They’re a really talented group of musicians. They sounded perfect! I hope I get to see them play again. They’re all really nice guys and their friends are also really nice. And they’re patient when it comes to speaking Spanish with us (because most of them don’t speak English at all).

I’ve noticed that hardly any of the young people here speak English. I kind of assumed (which I know, you should never assume – Dr. Banker taught me that lesson) that they would teach more English in the schools than they do. But I think its best that they don’t speak English because it forces me to speak in Spanish all the time.

On Sunday I ran my first Chilean 5k! I was one of 6 American/foreign people to run the race. The first 3k of the race was straight up hill. That was so tough. I hauled it back down hill though and I finished in 33 minutes. It’s not the time I was shooting for, but I think it was pretty good considering over half the race was straight up hill. They had a 5k a 10k and a half marathon at the race, and the woman who won the half marathon was a former Olympian for Chile. I ran beside her at the beginning and I had no clue about who she was!

After the race I went back to my house and slept for a while (I was wiped out). Later that afternoon I went to one of Pablo Neruda’s houses in Valparaiso. His house was way up at the top of one of the Cerro’s. We ended up having to walk all the way up the hill, and my legs were dead by the time we got all the way up there. His house was incredible! He was such an interesting person and his house reflects that -- it’s a completely original design with items he collected from his travels around the world. He has another house close to us on Isla Negra. I want to visit that one too. I didn’t get to take many pictures inside, but the area around the house is just gorgeous. It would be impossible not to be a poet living with a view like he had.

Now I know you guys are probably thinking that all I do is go out at night and I’m not studying at all, but fear not! I am actually going to class and studying! I’m still trying to fix my schedule and move classes around though. It’s so hard to register for classes here because none of it is done by computers. Every day class times change or classes get cancelled. I’ve kind of just had to figure it out as I go. But here’s what I’m going to take for sure:

I have to add one more class. I think I’m going to add Cuento Latino Americana (a Latin American short story class). Nothing else really works with my schedule and I don’t want to drop any of those classes because they’re all really interesting. So far my History of Israel class is my favorite because it’s something I’ve never learned about. Plus it’s interesting because it’s taught from a Latin American perspective instead of an American perspective. I know it would probably be taught completely different in the United States.

Next week we don’t have classes. It’s called Semana Novata. I’m not sure why we don’t have classes, but I won’t complain about it. All of the international students are trying to figure out where to go. Originally a small group of us wanted to go down to Patagonia and hike in Tierra del Fuego. However, apparently the only way to reach it is to fly through Argentina and it’s a little bit too expensive for us to travel to. It’s no more than $300 for plane tickets, but it’s too much for us to spend this early into our semester. So instead we’re going to go a small city called La Serena. Its got all sorts of touristy things to do such as museums, snorkeling, hiking, whale watching, a penguin reserve, vineyards, and a pisco distillery. We’re all leaving tomorrow morning and only staying 4 nights in La Serena; so, I might go to Mendoza afterwards. It depends on how tired I am/how much money I have left afterwards.

Un saludo,

Sarah

La Serena, Chile

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Hola!

So I finally have a set schedule! I verified it today with the head of International Studies. Here is what I'm taking:

• Danzas Folkloricos - This class is split into two sections. The first section is a lecture class where we learn about the traditional dances for each region of Chile. Every couple of weeks we are tested on the material we learn in class. The second section is a hands-on section. We have to actually learn the dances. We are split up into groups and every couple of weeks we have to choreograph a dance ourselves (using the proper technique of the dance we're assigned) and we're graded on it. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also very difficult. Everyone in the class is a dance major, so they pick up the dances much easier than I do. Our first theory test is this coming Monday and our first dance test is the following Monday. This class is my only “Chilean students only” class and I love it. So far everyone I've met is very nice, and I like everyone in my group. It will be very challenging, but also really informative and fun.
• Gramatica para extranjeros- This class is an advanced Spanish grammar class for foreign students. It’s my smallest class -- there are 12 of us. I think it might be my favorite class (which is odd since it's a grammar class and grammar is usually really boring). The professor is really young and cool. Everyone in the class is really nice too. They're mostly Americans, but we have a couple of Japanese girls in there too.
• Danzas Tradicionales- In this class we learn traditional dances and practice them in class. This class is for foreign students. It’s a lot of fun, although there is shortage of guys in the class. But, it's always fun. The professor is the most outgoing person ever! He does the male and female parts of the dances, and he does the female parts better than I can, haha.
• Espanol Comunicacion y Cultura Chilena- This class focuses on Chilean culture and Chilean language. This class is interesting because we study a lot of the influences on the culture right now, which I love because a lot of changes have happened over the last 10 years or so.
• Historia America Latina Siglo XX - This class studies Latin American History from the 20th century to beyond. It’s a lecture class and there's not an empty seat in the class. The professor has lived all over the world and speaks 3 different languages. There are a lot more exchange students from all over in this class- Japan, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, France, and Canada. At the end of the class we have to write a 10 page research paper focusing on one specific Latin American Country and the evolution of the political situation of the country in the past decade.

As I previously mentioned, last week we didn't have any classes so I went up to La Serena with two friends of mine. We left Vina del Mar Saturday morning and took a bus up to La Serena (it’s about 8 hours north of Vina del Mar). The buses here are really clean and cheap, but they're also very very slow. If I can remember correctly our bus tickets cost us about $40.00 (USD). The hostel we stayed at in La Serena was spectacular, but a little pricy for my taste (as far as hostels go) -- it was around $60 for 4 nights. The staff was amazing, the place was super clean, it had super super hot water, great mattresses and pillows, and an amazing location and roof top terrace. It was so good I won't really complain about the price.

We met some really cool people at our hostel. We met two British couples, a German, a group of three Swedish girls who had just finished high school, and a group of Irish girls. They were fresh out of college and loads of fun. My favorite person that we met in the hostel was this older man from Australia. He was about 60 years old and retired. He's traveled all over the world (and I mean all over). He's currently getting ready to move to Switzerland because he fell in love with a Swedish woman. He would just sit around talking with us though, about everything! He was interested in American politics, youth, education, what we were studying, just anything and everything.

I really like meeting people like this from all over the world. It really makes me think about how they perceive us as Americans (and American youths) and also how we perceive them. I will admit there were a couple of times that I was embarrassed by my traveling companions. One of them has a very stereotypical outlook on the world (they base their encounters with people from different countries from the stereotypes they've learned about those countries or cultures- and those are hardly ever correct) and they were quick to say what was on their mind. It bothers me when people do that, because to one person they might represent the only encounter they have with Americans, and it doesn't always give us the best or fairest depiction. It just made me a lot more aware of what I said and how I acted. I constantly felt the need to express myself and illustrate the fact that I didn't agree with everything they said.

La Serena itself was a little bit boring. It’s also a bay/port city like Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, but it’s not as big or pretty. It's the third oldest city in Chile though, and its architecture attested to that fact. It's also known as the city of churches. We went to the Archaeological Museum in town where they had one of the large stone heads from Easter Island (they're known as moai). It was huge and impressive! The museum also had a couple of mummies and shrunken heads. The best part of this trip was the day tour we took into the Valle Elqui. This is the valley that La Serena sits outside of it -- it’s gorgeous. Its home of many wine vineyards and pisco vineyards (the hard liquor Chile produces- it’s made from a specific type of grape). We took a full day tour with a small group of local Chileans. For the first part we drove through the Valley (did I mention that it’s gorgeous?). At one point we stopped at the biggest dam in Chile. On the pathway to the dam there is a big metal sculpture that kind of looks like a harp. It catches the wind and puts out different pitches and tones. It sounds like a pretty thing, but the notes it was putting out while we were there were kind of sharp, haha.

After the restaurant we stopped by a pisco distillery. It’s a source of country pride. They drink it here as pisco sours (lemon juice, pisco, sugar, and a raw egg) or as piscola (pisco and soda). Although, apparently Peru also claims that they were the inventors of pisco. It’s a source of animosity between the two countries, as if soccer didn't produce enough on its own, haha. So we toured the distillery and learned how they make it. I got to taste 77% alcohol pisco, which is the strongest that it can be produced and still be safe enough to drink. I don't think they sell it though (and I'm not surprised because it was disgusting). I'm honestly not a big fan of pisco (but don't tell the Chileans!) -- I prefer the Chilean wine over pisco.

When we finished touring the distillery our guide dropped us off in a nearby town to wait for the next tour we were taking that night. Our guide finally took us to the Star Observatory Mamalluca (this is an old Incan god). This valley has some of the clearest skies in the world, and it has the clearest sky in the southern hemisphere. While we were standing around outside I think I saw at least 10 shooting stars. We saw the Milky Way, which you can see with the naked eye at night. It’s huge, and it really does look like spilt milk. We also saw Sirius (the brightest star in the sky), Orion's Belt, Leo, and Scorpio. With the help of a smaller telescope we got to look at another galaxy (the one closest to ours), a nebula, and a cluster of about a million stars. After we used the smaller telescope we went into the observatory where we used it to look at Saturn. I got to see the rings of Saturn and two of its moons! It was amazing! This was my favorite part of the whole trip. I will probably never get to see Saturn again like I did that night. I was so happy I got to take that tour.

A couple of nights ago Chile played Peru in futbol (soccer). It was a great game! Chile won 3-1! People went crazy in the streets. It was a big rivalry game. Today at school I got to watch Argentina and Bolivia play in between classes (our common area/cafeteria in the main building has a big screen TV). Bolivia creamed Argentina 6-1, which made all of the students happy because Chileans aren't big fans of Argentineans (there's lots of animosity there too). Tonight Chile and Uruguay played. It was an intense game -- Chile took lots of shots at the goal, but ultimately no one scored during the whole game. Everyone here is a soccer fanatic, and I'm quickly turning into one! It’s so much fun to watch with people here because they get so into it. There's lots of jumping up and shouting at every game. Whenever a game is on, no one is in the streets, and if they are, they're standing outside of a department store watching the game on their TV screens, haha.

This weekend I'm going to travel to Mendoza, Argentina. It’s about a 6 hour bus ride from Valparaiso. Everyone who's been so far loves it! I'll let you all know that I made it back safe and sound and tell you all about Argentina. It should be fun to compare the two countries and cultures.

Un saludo,

Sarah

Argentina and Pichilemu

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Hello again!

About three weekends ago I went to Mendoza, Argentina with two classmates of mine. They ended up being great traveling companions! We all had similar ideas as to what exactly we wanted to get to do, which was perfect since we didn't have that much time in the city.

We got into Mendoza around 9:30am to save money and get to check out the city we walked about 20 blocks to our hostel. The city is gorgeous. It’s easy to navigate through because it’s set up on a grid. The city has a bit of a European feel to it as far as the architecture, the restaurants, and the style of the people go. There's a huge Italian influence on the country.

We got to our Hostel Puerta del Sol. It was located by the biggest plaza in the city, Plaza Independencia. The location was great as far as getting around went. We were able to walk almost anywhere, which helped us save some money. He also got us special deals on some of the activities that we did. The first day we went into the outskirts of the city we rented bikes and rode from winery to winery. We rented the bikes for $10 for the whole day and were able to visit three wineries and one liquor processing business. It was gorgeous, the day was so clear you could see the Andes perfectly.

The next day we woke up early to go hiking and rock climbing in the Andes. We had made reservations the night before with a random company that our hostel recommended. We got a lot more than we paid for or expected though! We ended up having Federico Zambrano be our guide and instructor. He is the 2007/2008 Argentinean Climbing Champion, currently ranked #2 in Argentina, sponsored by Hawaiian Tropic, and overall an amazing rock climber. We spent the whole day with him (just the three of us). We repelled down three cliffs and climbed up our last repel. I got to do my first solo repel and first solo climbing session. It was incredible. After we spent the day climbing Federico took us to some natural hot springs to relax. There were three springs, one was super hot, another was warm, and the third one was cooler. It was so nice.

We went out to dinner that night at a small Argentinean café. It was off the beaten path, which was nice, because we got to be the only “gringos” there. Some people took to that nicely and others didn’t. But the food was delicious, and we had excellent conversations. My traveling companions and I are from completely different backgrounds and have so many different experiences. It was really interesting to talk about politics, school, love, and life with them. We spent about 3 hours sitting in that café just talking.

We headed back to Vina the next morning because I had a test I needed to study for. We tried to leave our hostel around 8 am to get to the bus station. However, apparently on Saturday night one of the taxi drivers in town had been robbed, shot, and killed. The public transportation that day was protesting by not running their routes. We were going to try and walk to the station, but luckily the hostel owner took us to the bus station in his truck. Outside of the bus station the taxi drivers had formed a blockade with their cars and were burning tires in the streets. None of the buses could get in or out of the station. We randomly found our bus waiting on the interstate. Needless to say our bus left over an hour late.

Saturday, in Pichilemu, I took some friends out to the beach and taught them how to surf. The water was freezing, but we rented wetsuits along with our boards and it wasn’t that bad. The only part of me that got that cold was my hands and that was only if I sat around in the water. The waves in Pichilemu are perfect! They have the best surf in Chile, and some of the best surf in all of South America. I caught a couple of good waves, but for the most part I wiped out all day. The waves were a lot bigger than I’ve ever experienced. The undertow is also stronger here. It pushed us way down the coast. At the end of the day I think we had to walk about a mile up to the rental place. Pichilemu is not only famous for its waves, but it’s also famous for its empanadas. One of the first things we did when we got there was finding a small, hole in the wall restaurant and ordered empanadas. They were the best ones that I’ve ever had!

My Spanish continues to improve though. I went to a birthday party the other night and I was the only foreigner there. Most of the people there wanted to talk politics or culture with me. That happens to me a lot, but I think it’s just because I’m an American and I think they think my perspective will be really different than theirs. I held my own really well and was able to keep up in the conversation. I can understand almost everything I hear now. I just need to get my speaking skills up on the same level and I’ll be set.

I’m going to try and write another email later this week about Pinochet, the educational system, and some of my classes because I’m learning a lot of really interesting things here.

Un saludo,

Sarah