The adventures of Alison and Allyson

This post should really be the length of a novel, but seeing as it's almost midnight and I need to get up early to do some work, it's going to be short for now. Mostly I just wanted to show off what has become a rather lengthy album (well 3 pictures) of Alison and I eating ridiculous food in ridiculous places.

Exhibit A: Eating whole veggies on the mountain. (I believe this one has already made its debut on the blog).



Exhibit B: Eating kiwis on a different section of the Andes. As Alison puts it, "what goes down when you don't have any utensils to cut the kiwis". I would argue that, utensils or not, this was bound to happen.



Exhibit C: Eating bread and cheese/salami at the beach (we are so chilean, oh my goodness). This is what happens when you sleep through your hostel's complimentary breakfast. P.S. Please note the awesome chilean sunglasses.

Rando

That's right, I'm writing ANOTHER blog post and 500 years haven't even passed. Who am I? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvbcLzFtM6I) hahaha it couldn't be helped.

I don't really have ganas to write one of those long blog posts, but here are some snapshots of here there and everywhere:

This is what all of the packages of cigarettes have on them. Basically saying YOU AND YO BABY GONNA DIE FOOL, DO YOU KNOW WHAT CIGARETTES DO TO YOU? My interpretation. But close enough.


In my human rights class (I officially had the last class yesterday, whoaaa!) I wrote an essay on el estadio Víctor Jara. Jara was a folk musician during the time of the dictator, and was one of the first people to be killed, just a few days after the coup. I went to the stadium where he was assassinated--which happens to be only about 10 blocks from my house--and walked around it a bit. It's really fascinating, because many of the spaces dedicated to the memory of those tortures/desaparecido/killed during the dictatorship, are so hard to distinguish from normal buildings/monuments. One reason, I believe, why it's still so hard to talk about what happened during the years of the dictadura--everything is still so hidden.

One weekend we went with CIEE on a 15 mile (oh yes) bike tour of literally ALL of santiago. Bikes for short people + 7 hours andando en bici=one sore poto the next day.


I forgot to write about this one time when I went to Argentina for the weekend. hahhh. Three friends and I decided to take the bus to Mendoza, Argentina, famous for wine tours, a beautiful little city, and paragliding (we did not partake in this however). Also, Christine and I needed to get out of the country for a hot second before our visas expired and we were deported back to the US. Woops. Here's a picture of us at one of the vineyards, having a wine tasting.

We rented bikes for only about $3 a day, and headed out through the beautiful, sunny Argentinian countryside, stopping every now and then at a wine bodega. Quite a wonderful way to pass the day. Sun, bikes, wine, and good friends.


Love them.


Oh, and then our bus broke down on the way home....




....While stranded in the middle of no where Chile, we decided to have the world's best picnic.


But good thing that no matter where you are in Chile--even if stranded--you tend to be in the middle of the most beautiful scenery. Not to bad of a night all in all.


Back in Santiago:
Alison and I go trekking at Yerba Loca!

Everyone thinks the gringas are loca because we eat veggies like this. Maybe we are a little crazy, quien sabeee.


The other weekend I went with my Indigenous Rights class to Valparaíso to visit a Mapuche community. Alison and I asked our profe to leave us in Valpo, and we spent the night hanging out with Anna, and then bummed around Valpo the next day!


Gosh we're the coolest.

Last night I went with Christine and my host dad to see Harry Potter 7! SOOO GOOD. Also it came out a day earlier than in the US so whaaaaatttt. I guess Chile's just cool like that. This morning I woke up late (we got home around 2am), and took a nice swim in the building's outdoor pool! Aaah spring is lovely. Now, off to meet friends, and tomorrow we're going on another trekking (or hike as one might say in english).

Lots of love,
Allo (pronounced "ah-joo". Names from 2 year olds are the best, yo.)

pizza personal por 990 pesos? claaaro que sí.

Today after lunch with my family I set off to meet many a CIEEer working in the Starbucks in La Reina. I tend to make it a general rule that I don't like to go to Starbucks and haven't really done so before, but today I needed to be able to sit in a cafe for hours without having to buy lots of coffee/food the entire time. I set out towards La Reina, one of Santiago's many comunas, which happens to be lightyears away from my house. However, the sun was out, I had my trusty flipflops, shorts on (!!!helloooo summer), sun glasses, and my wonderful cellphone/ghetto radio. I got off of the metro at the world's most confusing intersection and started towards the cafe. It was hot hot hottt, but I was walking through a beautiful park, with small houses on one side and a little creek running on the other. After about twenty minutes I decided that, yes I was probably lost, and decided to ask a friendly jogger to point me in the right direction (less of a jogger, and more of a walker bouncing along, with grandma running arms. Adorable.). Obvio, I had walked in the wrong direction. As I turned back, slightly frustrated to have taken up so much time with my mistake, I spun and took in the view in front of me. In the center you don't really see the mountains unless you're in the right place on the street, but here the Andes loomed up over me, a majestic view to stumble upon. I love living so centrally to everything, but it was also incredible to be out in the burbs and see the cordillera so close.

After finally arriving at Starbucks Alison and I caught up on life, laughed really hard (I would like to appologize to all my fellow patrons--those guffaws were my fault), and shared good music. (ohhh yes, you know you like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E46BhMIRujI). We worked hard for two hours and then called it quits. On the walk back to the metro we stopped at telepizza, and got delicious $2 personal sized pizzas. We walked back to the metro, swapping stories and eating pizza out of the box. So often while I'm here the big trips and the crazy sightseeing is what sticks out in my mind as something remarkable to share with the world. There was nothing particularly exciting or "chilean" that happened today, but often the laidback, guffaw-filled days are the ones worth remembering as well.

Trip to Temuco

Welllll I was clearly not born to be a blogger. But really, how has more than a month passed by since I last wrote!? Quien sabe.

A quick side note before I start off on the whirlwind that has been this last month: Maybe this will help to explain a bit why I forget to write in ye olde blogge (yeah I don't know, it's been a long day). I've tried to explain this to a few of you devoted readers from home; while I'm in Chile yes I certainly think about home and about everyone I love, but I don't miss you actively. People and places, images of the Takoma field at sunset, the K reading room (hahhh nerdy), dinner with family, spending time with friends; all of these things do flit through my mind and I think about them fondly, but I don't yearn for any of them. When chilean friends or acquantainces ask if I miss my home, friends, family, they always look slightly taken aback when I respond, no. Mi mente está acá, mi vida ahora está acá--no puedo vivir siempre pensando en otro lugar. Eso no es manera de vivir. My mind is always here because my life is here right now. I'm making my own way, figuring out how to find friends, becoming part of another family, learning the joys of a whole wide city. I'm not replacing any of the people or places that I love at home, I'm mearly not willing to spend all of my time missing home while I'm living such a rich life here. I'm learning more and more that "home" will never be just one place for me, and honestly I wouldn't want it to be, whether it be Silver Spring, Kalamazoo, Santiago, or some other unknown future city.

(It should be noted that I wrote this about 2 weeks ago and have just been too busy/lazy to post it....)
Side note part two. On the note of being very immersed in life here, I got to thinking a lot about how awesome it would be to stay here for another semester. Mom and Dad, before you freak out, I already talked to the kalamazoo study abroad people and they told me that it wasn't possible to stay for the next semester. For a few days I was seriously thinking about what it would mean to stay for six more months, and was extremely tempted. When you set off for study abroad, six months away from home sounds like an eternity! But having lived through almost four months, I would say that it almost seems necessary to stay even longer to truly immerse yourself in a community, family, and group of friends. I mean think about it--at college in the states you live with your peers and are therefore around them ALL the time. Here, you only see peers when you are in class or hanging out at the university, which all in all is not a lot of time comparatively. I've found this to have positive and negative sides--on the negative side, it's super hard to make friends with someone because you don't really spend lots of time together. On the positive side, this teaches you to be extremely forward and persistent if you want to make friends. There is no waiting around for someone to contact you--this is no place for middle school fears of who to sit with at lunch; you pick someone and sit with them sin miedo po. And if you get the oh so chilean response of "te llamo" (I'll call you), go ahead and ignore that, because you will NEVER be getting that call--best just to go ahead and call them yourself. Anyway, the point of all this is that it takes time to make friends, to finally learn how to meet people and actually continue a friendship, and therefore I can see how staying on study abroad for a whole year would be awesome. Plus, helloooo Santiago rocks. No question. (Jumping back to the present, now that I've had some time to warm up to the idea of actually returning January 24th--which I've realized isn't that soon--I'm letting myself look forward to all the things I love about home, which is better than freaking out about the short amount of time I have left here. All in all, love you people at home.)

On that note, after Kalamazoo shot down my idea of prolonging my stay (jerks.), they suggested that I think about applying for a grant to come back here next summer to work on my SIP (aka pull an Allie Sachnoff whatuppp....hi allie XD). When I mentioned all of this to my host family, they immediately said, hmmm well I don't think we'll have a student here then, so you'll be staying with us? Sin pausa para pensar. GAhhh they're the best. Seriously couldn't have asked for a better family. (Renato is learning more and more words...he recently learned how to say "te amo", I love you, and I die everytime he says it in his jolly, jolting two year old speech.) Anyway, am still mulling over ideas for SIP research.

There is so so much to catch up on, but I think I'll start with the weekend of October 21-24 and then devote another post to the past month (uuuy dios mio). That weekend we went with CIEE to Temuco, which is in the south of Chile.

(See Iquique way at the top? That's where we went about a month ago. Temuco is a little further south than Concepción...so cool to see the huge difference between the north and south!)




On Wednesday I had a bunch of papers due and a debate in Enfrentando la pobreza (ooooh ese curso...), and slept not a lot the night before (hah. obvio po). We successfully (or at least semi-successfully) debated financial decentralization v. centralization in Chile, related to urban vs. rural living spaces. En español. Oh yeahhhh, fun times at la U. After all of that sillyness was over, I basically crashed at home, woke up late from my nap, and stumbled into my next class a half hour late (sooo chilean). After a nice once (remember? that time where we eat bread and jam/ham/avocado and drink teaaaa) with the fam, I met a friend for a movie at this great little indie theatre that shows Chilean movies. On wednesdays it only costs about $3!

The next day I got to sleep in a bit, but had to run to la U for a bit, before running back home, eating, showering, packing, and then rushing off to the airport. Found out that there's this great bus that drives you the half hour to the airport for only about 2 dollars! (Alison and I have taken to eating raw vegetables here as snacks--pretty standard at home, right--but here people look at you like you're eating a small baby. Needless to say Alison pulled out some celery on the bus. Just how we do.)

On Thursday we pretty much just got to the hotel, had dinner and an orientation, and then crashed. Friday morning we got up early and walked around an outdoor market, which was so great! So many colors and smells of fresh mariscos (mmm shellfish! jaja), ripe frutilla (strawberries), and picante ají! It was pretty interesting being in a smaller city, because even though Temuco is one of the biggest cities in Chile (this is not saying a lot when the majority of the population lives in Santiago, and the rest is spread throughout Chile), it was extremely different from the metropolis that is Santiago. Walking around the market there was much more friendly small talk between vendors and customers, that often gets lost in the bustle of the big city.

This one guy let me pick up one of the dead crabs that he was selling...lucky me?

I think walking through markets is one of my favorite things to do where ever I go; it tells so much about a place. Markets are one of the few places where you can really utilize all your senses to get to know an area--smell the olor of fish mezclando con fresh fruit; see all the colors of freshly picked veggies; talk to the vendors, listen to the sounds of interactions, people working, dogs running through; and touch (with permision) the different products available.

Different spices sold in the market. Look at those coloressss.

Yes, that would be horse meat. Apparently it's supposed to be pretty good (did NOT probar that shit).

After walking around the market we boarded the bus and set off to a small school set back in the rolling hills in the outskirts of Temuco. I'll try to describe the school, but I know I won't do it justice. We pulled up to the entrance, stopping on the side of a windy dirt road. Waiting outside of the bus was the entire school, including kids ages 7-14. As all the gringos sleepily (or perhaps a bit car sick-ly) walked off the bus, about 20 of the little girls lined up and saludo-ed us; each one kissed us on the cheek, the way that we great one another here. As everyone gathered, they explained that we would be helping to paint the school, and would be there all day to get to know the kids and share some games with them. Only a few classes were supposed to stay outside to help, but when the principal directed the others to go inside, it was obvious that no one wanted to miss out on the fun day of painting with the extranjeros. With barely a pause, the principal immediately said--wellll why not, everyone can help today!--and was immediately met with a roar of cheers from the kids.


The buildings that we were supposed to paint were actually not that huge, and with the 40 gringos plus all of the school kids, there was no way that we were all going to be able to help. I started off helping to sand the chipped paint off of the schoolbuilding to prep before painting (BUILDING BLOCKS THROWBACK OHMYGOODNESSS!...minus our oh so cool methlab drug busting suits). After about ten minutes it was pretty obvious that we were not helping a whole ton, and Alison and I decided that it would be more fun to play some games with the girls that we had been talking with while sanding. We tried to teach them "Down by the banks of the hanky panky where the bullfrogs jump from bank to bank-y". Obviously they were not about to instantly learn the words in english, so we asked them to teach us a song in Spanish to sing while doing the hand slappy part. It was only sort of successful, but lots of fun. Afterwards the girls seemed to be coming out of their shells and were acting less shy around us, and decided to teach us a game of their own. This involved singing a song while standing in a circle, then each person jumped around in their own spot. Afterwards you had to freeze in whichever direction you were facing, regardless of whether or not it was facing into the circle, and try to sing and clap hands again. Needless to say, the girls were way better at this game than Alison and I were. However I still had a lot of fun screaming in spanish (because we all know I can't sing), and jumping and flapping my hands around.

Playing! (See how we're all facing in different directions.)

I really loved being at the school, because it was such a better way to get to know a community than, for example, when we just toured around Iquique en el bus. The school was tucked in between lush, rolling hills, covered in brilliant green grasses, curious piglets, lazy grazing cows, and the random farmhouse.

Before we left for Temuco I had dropped into the CIEE office, as I often do before my Human Rights/Indigenous Rights class, and there Elsa began talking to me about our upcoming trip. She was explaining that the kids there were going to teach us a game, and in return we were going to teach them one. "I was thinking baseball?" she suggested (en español, obvio po). "Baseball???? Tannnn fome! Let's play capture the flag!", was my response. So the day that we visited the school, I found myself infront of 60 small children excited how to learn my new game. Somewhat disjointedly, but successfully, I explained how to play, and off we went into the world's most rediculous partido of Capture the Flag. Imagine letting 60 elementary/middle school kids loose, only sort of knowing how to play, but really just wanting to run around and enjoy, plus about 40 gringos who were trying to help their team win/not step on anyone. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY GREAT! The game was really short, but everyone ended smiling.

After the game, a (partial) group picture:

The next day we visited a Mapuche community! The Mapuches are one of the indigenous groups of people in Chile. Like indigenous peoples all over the world, they are fighting for the rights for their land as the government and big companies continue to take it away from them. (Google Mapuches, and also read up on the hunger strike that they were on recently!). Visiting the community was really amazing to be able to get a better idea of how and where they live. We watched a traditional game, which looks a lot like hockey. Only men play, and they have to take off their shoes to be more connected to the mother earth (Mapuche: "mapu"=earth, "che", like "gente" in spanish=people). The Mapuches have an appreciation and understanding of how important it is to respect the earth (as I'm sure you'll find in many/all indigenous communities).

Later we ate delicious potatoes and fish for lunch, and then went to see the herb garden where a medicine woman explained to us all of the uses for the plants; there were remedies for headaches, stomach aches, high blood pressure, and many many more. Afterwards we went to see where the women weave and make beautiful blankets, scarves, gloves, etc.

B eing a silly tourist, but look at that view! Behind me is a lake, and wayyy in the background is the ocean.

The last day we went on two "hikes" (although I would call them little walks más que naaaa). First we left the little cabins where we were staying and walked up to the tallest point there, to look out over the ocean. I could have stayed there all day, just gazing over the beautiful green hills, and sparkling, clear blue ocean.

Look at that. But really.

Alison and I had fun teaching and learning camp songs with one of the guides on our trip. Here's us doing "Baby Shark". Classic.

Well that's all for now friends. I promise I'll write more to catch up on stories from daily life in Santiago! This weekend I'm going to Valparaíso with my Indigenous Rights class, and then am just going to stay there to hang out with miss Anna Miller! Loveeeee.

Oh and p.s. it is spring/sometimes feels like summer now and I am LOVIN it. Helloooo flip-flops errryday.

September in Santiago: Iquique, fietas patrias, y amigosss

Hello world, sorry I fail at writing blog posts. Ready to read a novel? Ok great.

Just for some context, here's what i've been up to the past few weeks:

• September 3-5th: Trip to Northern Chile with CIEE
• September 10-12th: Anna visits Santiago!
• September 15-20th: Chile celebrates its bicentenario; 200 years of independence!

(I'll leave you with another song, so you can dance while reading! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfoc4S1cFGs)

See Iquique waaaay at the Northern end of Chile? Almost in Peru!

Part 1: Into the desert!
I'll start with the trip that I took a few weeks ago to northern Chile. My program, CIEE, took us to Iquique and Pica the weekend of the 3rd-5th. We started by getting to the airport at 6am (heyyyy 4am wake up call), and promptly ended up on the plane at 7am. Oh yeah, except for that tiny little snafu, when our program director and two students missed the flight. So, instead of setting off on our scheduled tour we had coffee/nap time. It helped a lot that this took place in a gorgeous hotel overlooking the Pacific ocean; crashing waves on one side, the driest desert in the world on the other. It doesn't get much more incredible than that. We spent Friday touring around Iquique (I'm sure I could tell you much more about the history of the city if I had been paying better attention to the tour guide. But hey, three hours of sleep plus quiet spanish speaking guide=seriously hard para prestar atencion.) I really enjoyed visiting Iquique though--it's a beautiful little town, with really interesting architecture (huge influence from the English, who were really involved in the economy....seeee I did listen a little). There were awesome murals painted all over the buildings, and as we were walking at one point we ran into a huuuge group of kids dancing la cueca (Chile's national dance). That evening we went out to dinner and ate the most delicious seafood; of course only after pestering the waiter to explain/translate every single fish for us...we left a good tip.

Iquique

The next day we got up bright and early (this was not a trip to catch up on sleep) and drove over the cordillera on the coast, and arrived in the heart of the desert. It was absolutely like nothing I've ever seen before. Everywhere you looked it was brown and dusty, with the sun beating down on everything. In some places the most rain they get is mist in the morning every now and then. While driving through the desert, we stopped to tour an old salitrera, or saltpetre/nitrate mine. Next we went to a ghost town nearby, where the miners lived before abandoning it in the 70s. The best part of this for me was the strong dessert sun and temperatures in the 90s! After going through Santiago's coldest winter in 98 years, we were all ready for some warmth. From there, we drove off of the main highway, onto a twisty bumpy road, to go see ancient painted rocks on the side of a mountain. These are remains from long ago, preserved in the dry desert climate.

The group! (apparently we fail at centering ourselves...)

After visiting these areas, we drove further into the desert to Pica, which is a little town nestled into an oasis. We drove across a salt flat; the bus tires spun over dry, cracked earth, and mirages of water arose in the distance. As we drove off of the salt flat, all of a sudden the landscape changed. We rose up a little, and saw that orange trees began to pop up out of the dusty, brown earth. We went swiftly from sun scorching desert, to a small, quaint town, sustained by the underground water keeping it alive and thriving. In Pica we visited a small, natural hotspring, and wandered around through a small art fair, the sun slowly setting behind groves of orange, lemon, and grapefruit trees. Once back to our gorgeous hotel (props to CIEE, we dined and lived in style) we managed to catch the tail end of the desert sunset, which was made especially spectacular by the purple and red glow that appeared on the mountains to the east.



Hungry after a long day, we walked 40 minutes back into "downtown" Pica (oh heyyy one main road), in search of some dinner. Everything seemed to be either closed, or just a small hole in the wall restaurant serving completos or empanadas. Our large group of about 16 gringos walked around, until a car pulled up to us; the man inside explained that he owned a restaurant and was out looking for people to come eat there, that we should go! So of course, we decided to see what it was like. Wandering into a back alley, we entered into a dimly lit hallway, which opened up into the most adorable restaurant. One side was full of tables and a small bar; the other side had a big fire pit with lots of benches surrounding the pit, the cieling open to the starry sky. We ordered food, and then spent a lovely long evening eating, sitting at the table talking, and every now and then heading to the fire to warm up and enjoy the crackle of the flames. Heading home that night, I spent more time looking up than in front of me; the desert stars are incredibly clear and bright, and just absolutely breathtaking.

Part 2: Anna visits and we do some Santiago exploring
The next weekend Anna came to visit me from Valpo! I met up with her on Friday night, and after some searching for her friend (failsauce) we ended up right outside of La Catolica for a nice dinner. (Haha and by nice dinner I mean "grilled cheese" with tomato and avocado...but seriously delicious). We adventured off to the other side of town to go to Alexandra's house. When we got there the table was full of delicious food made by her wonderful mom; guacamole, chips, mini choripanes, olives, and locos (Chilean shellfish). We spent a long time there, hanging out and meeting her friends (a lot of them I have class with at La Chile!) and then headed out to a club. The next day, we went off on a long transportation adventure (metro to metro to micro aaah!) and met up with my friend for an asado--basically a barbecue with sausages in bread, piscola, reggaeton, and friends. Very fun to get to know more chileans and visit Las Condes, a part of Santiago that I never go to, and therefore don't know very well.

That night Anna and I stayed in because a) we were exhausted, and b) it was September 11th, which meant some potential unrest in the streets. In the U.S. September 11th has its own significance obviously, but it is extremely significant in Chile as well, as it was the day of the coup that overthrew Allende and placed Pinochet in power for the next 17 years. We watched the news that night, and there were many violent protests and rioting in the streets in reaction to what happened during the dictatorship. It was really interesting to get to talk to my host family about la dictadura and get a better understanding of the still very polemic divide of politics in Chile.



The next morning Anna and I got up bright and early to go trekking! Unbeknownest to us, while weather.com bragged about temperatures in the mid 70s and sunny skies, we walked out into a cold, rainy day. And unfortunately for us, we both decided to wear shorts and no raincoats. Hahhhh. Either way, we met up with my friends and spent a fun albeit cold morning hiking up a cerro in the foothills of the Andes. It was actually quite beautiful to see the cordillera covered with clouds, and then to climb up into those clouds (wet, but awesome).



To wrap up the wonderful weekend, Anna and I decided to go get a cafecito before she headed out of town. Of course since it was Sunday everyyything was closed, but we stumbled upon some weird restaurant/pub/biker hangout. Kind of the perfect way to end a great weekend: drinking a mediocre cup of coffee, listening to a medley of 80s rock, ocassionally having to ignore the jotes attempting to speak to us in english from the next table, and planning future South America adventures with a good friend.

To wrap up a wonderful weekend, we celebrated mi abuela's birthday on Sunday! For lunch she made tons of delicious homemade empanadas, and then for once we had homemade bread and alfajores. Some family and friends came over, and we spent a relaxed evening chatting and eating. At the end, once almost everyone had left, we had the great chance to talk with Daniel, the student who lived here last semester! He called via Skype and we all got to talk to him--like he was back at the table with us all again. All in all, a very special birthday.

Part 3: Chi-Chi-Chi Le-Le-Le Viva Chile!!
How to describe the bicentenario? First of all scratch any ideas you've ever had of a typical 4th of July Independence day. Not nearly the same at all. (When I describe our Independence day to chileans they just laugh really hard and reply, "que fome!"...how boring!) Here the party starts Wednesday night...most people don't go to school on Thursday or Friday, and generally professors cancel classes anyway. Saturday was the actual bicentenario, and then today, Monday is a national holiday. My host parents explained to me how some people save money for months in preperation for el 18 de septiembre, while others make the most money they will all year over these four or five days.

To start off the celebrations, CIEE had a workshop to teach us all cueca, the national dance. It's kind of a mix between morris dancing and some latin dance. Lots of stomping and dancing in circles (that makes it sound really unattractive, it's actually really pretty). It's supposed to look sort of like a flirtatious dance between a chicken and a rooster, and when you dance you wave around a pañuelo, or handkerchief. We all looked pretty silly doing it, but it was a lot of fun to learn (and came in useful to know how to do).

On Thursday night the official bicentenario celebrations really got kicked off. Christine and I met up to go watch a lights show in front of La Moneda. I walked from my house to meet her, and when I passed by La Moneda 2 hours before it started, the lawn was already packed. When we walked back to go to the show, essentially every single resident of Santiago seemed to be on la calle Alameda with us. We tried to get close enough to see, but spent about a half hour squashed between hundreds of people, almost falling, being shoved violently from side to side. There was so little room that at one point a bunch of guys started pushing and about 50 of us swayed in unison, panic and shouts arising from where we were. We decided that living was better than being able to see (hahhh, but really), so we peaced out of there as fast as we could (which wasn't very quickly) to go to a less crowded area. Couldn't see very well, but at least we weren't afraid of falling and being trampled by todos los santiaguinos. Here's a video of the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtRCjtw46To. Fortunately I had seen the "ensayo" (preview) two nights before, so I didn't mind not being able to see.



Friday I went out in the afternoon to the fonda in Parque Ohiggins with a handful of friends. Fondas are where basically everyone goes to celebrate el 18; basically they take place in all of the big parks all over Santiago and are FULL of people eating, dancing, and drinking. Sort of like a state fair, but minus all the animals and rides. And then on some serious steroids. There are people everywhere eating anticucho (kebabs with meat/onions), choripanes (sausage sandwich), mote de huesillo (google that one, it'll take too long to explain), and drinking chicha (a type of wine). Smoke from all of the grills fills the air, and from all over there is a dull roar of voices and music. The different fondas are huge tents that have been constructed, where you can buy and eat all the aforementioned food/drink (plus pisco and cerveza and the famous terremoto...pineapple ice cream, white wine, and maybe rum). The fondas are packed, and inside people dance to cumbia, cueca, and reggaeton all night long...and then come back the next 3 days to do it again. Such a fun/sensory overload experience. Yet again, I'd just like to reiterate how much I love where I live. Not only do I have the best family in the world, but we live super close to everything. Parque Ohiggins is a 10 minute walk from our house, and is one of the most famous fondas in Santiago (mostly because it is so crazy--there's no cover charge to get into the park--but also there's a tradition that some of the politicians go there to dance the cueca to start off the celebrations).

Anticucho!

Saturday, the 18th was the actual Independence Day. After waking up my abuela taught me how to make empanadas from scratch! (I wrote down the recipe and will be having an empanada and pisco party when I come home.) We made 40 empanadas (yeah baby) and have been eating them ever since. Renatito and Leo dressed up in adorable little outfits to celebrate the day. That evening Hector and I wandered back to the fondas at Parque Ohiggins to buy chicha and eat an anticucho; to say the least, the fonda was completely more llena than before. As we walked around we looked at all of the people who had already passed out on the ground from a long day (perhaps weekend) of partying. From there I went to meet friends (of course showing up an hour late, chilean style) and we spent a wonderful night talking en español and dancing, closing the club down at ungodly o'clock.

Making empanadas:

Sunday after sleeping in late (and getting teased about carreteando harto) we had a late lunch and then went to mass at mi abuela's church. I'm not generally one for Catholic services, but I had a really good time with them. We got there late (so seems to be the way with two small children) and stayed for about an hour. Since it was a special bicentenario mass, everyone in the chorus was dressed in traditional cueca/huaso clothes, and they played/danced the cueca. I had a really good time because hanging out with my family is always great: my parents and abuela just have such good senses of humor and are always laughing and joking. When we walked back from the metro we ran right into the military parade that was going through downtown Santiago (once again, such a prime place to live). I didn't notice, but apparently when one of the soldiers on horseback was going by he stared at me the entire time (I'm blond in a country where approximately 8 blondes live...what can I say). My parents thought it was the most hilarious thing, and as we walked back to the house they made plans about how I need to marry him (I think I'll pass). As we continued our walk back, just one block after passing through the parada militar we ran into a brigade of cars, which was apparently all of the politicians, including President Piñera, leaving Parque Ohiggins. Pretty cool!

Woooo, so that is my life at the moment! I'm a bit beat, we got back from a relative's birthday party; apparently small chat is harder in spanish--I should have known this before going. Tomorrow I have class for the first time in forever, and then tomorrow night is another relative's birthday party; mas carrrrrete ayy. Loving life in Chile, hope you are all doing well! Suerte to those who have just started back up in school and those who are now off on study abroad. Sending love to K as the year starts up again! And happy birthday, Dad!

Chau y besitosss

One of THOSE days

Recently I've been finding myself say/think..."yeah today is just one of THOSE days". You know, the kind: you forget to do something you've been repeating over and over to yourself, you wake up 20 minutes late, whatever. Pretty much everyday I have a "one of THOSE days" moment. Whether it's trying to push my way onto a completely full metro, just to be shoved back out to wait as 4 more trains go by; or perhaps causing a huge line behind me while trying to leave the library (because yes, there are turnstiles to leave the library, and apparently there's some secret way to swipe your student ID, because I tend to take 10 minutes trying to position it in every different way possible, until if finally beeps and lets me out...I'M NOT GOING TO STEAL THE BOOKS TE JUROOOO). While these things are certainly extremely tiring and trying, I find myself appreciating things more. At times it's so frustrating to continuously stick out (hellooo tall and blond), so when I figure out the little things it's a huge victory.

This past weekend I went with some of the gringas para ir a trekking (to go hiking!). It was really great--we went with this group recommended by a Chilean friend. Basically they seem to be the equivalent of the chilean sierra club. We met at 8:15am on sunday morning at a metro station in macul (I got up at 6:30 ON THE WEEKEND. yes I swear it is still me.). It was really nice--some of the group meets there to give transportation to those without cars. We went to the trailhead, and ended up with a group of about 30 people, including lots of families! It was about a 2 hour hike up to a pretty waterfall. We stayed there for a half hour lunch break, and then headed back down. Alison and I ended up talking a lot with two Chileans, and they gave us lots of great suggestions to go hiking in the area. Hopefully we'll get to meet back up with them later to learn the good hiking spots! The group posted a link/description of our trip. At the end they even mentioned that they had 4 people from the US with them on their trip! Here's the link: (http://www.elmontanista.cl/component/content/article/52.html) You have to scroll down to Salida de Trekking: quebrada de macul. Step two, find someone to translate for you haha.

In other news, I've recently become addicted to a new telenovela called La Primera Dama, or the First Lady. If you haven't watched a telenovela, you really haven't truly lived. My description wouldn't do it justice, so here's the trailer for the show (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXs_ZlTayFM). Seriously, you'll get hooked, I swear.

Happy belated birthday to my mom! I had a wonderful time skyping with you crazy partiers the other night. (Way to taunt me with watermelon; uyyy just cruel!)

I'll leave you with another song (of course from la famosa Allie). The wonderful Americo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCFRYupdMXU

Besitos a todos. Cuídense!

Juevesss what up

It is thursday hallelujuah I can sleep! Lovely. Somehow I've managed to not get a lot of sleep OR do a lot of homework. (Really good equation to never get ANYTHING done: put a natural procrastinator in a new country, and all they do is sit there thinking "i'm in chile, i'm in chile, heehee this is so cool, i'm in chile". Oh yeah, it's that bad.)

Also funny thing, is that parents here actually encourage kids to go out on the weekend. Example: as today is thursday and i'm really tired, I plan on doing some homework (hahahaha yeah. right.) and then going to bed. When I say things like that to my family, they're like, mannn you should go out, take advantage of life, what are you doing at home?

Oh that? Just normal life with a two year old. Today we took out all of my head bands and then put ALL of them on...


In other news, today my class at la Chile was canceled, as were all classes there, because the students in my "facultad" (department) are having demonstrations and participating in protests organized by the ANEF (Asociación Nacional de Empleados Fiscales). Clearly I was productive with my hour and a half off: Christine and I hypothesized ways to initiate making more new friends without being really awkward (we're going for the natural, just slip into being friends thing). So far we have 1) trip and fall into someone, 2) spill something on someone, 3) fall in the fountain by "accident" and hope someone takes pity on the soaking wet idiot, 4) learn how to play the guitar...by tomorrow, 5) sing "La Bamba" at the top of our lungs to the quad. Clearly all of these are looking like they'll have positive outcomes. (I predict that after the "La bamba" performance we'll have friends galore.)

One last thing...the vote has been taken and I am temporarily changing the name of the blog. (Dear Rebecca and Travis, I hope you're happy.)

Well that's all for now. chauuu!

Visitas, despedidas, y NOTICIAS!

Hola hola amigos! Yet again I have so much to write about, where to start...

Well hopefully you've all been reading your daily newspaper and know about the wonderful news in Chile; a mine caved in, trapping 33 miners inside about 3 weeks ago, and it was unknown whether or not they were alive. A few days ago the rescue workers pulled up a drill (they were trying to get to where they thought the miners were) and a note was attached from the miners, saying that everyone is fine! This happened on Sunday, and as I walked down Alameda, the main street running through Santiago, cars everywhere honked their horns in celebration. People leaned out of car windows, flying their Chilean flags and shouting in celebration. There was a real sense of euphoria in the entire city, which was extremely powerful to feel. In all the plazas around Chile people gathered to sing, cheer, and show their happiness and support for the miners. It's going to take a long time to get them out, but it had been a hard few weeks not knowing whether or not they were alive. (Here's an article from today's NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/world/americas/25chile.html?_r=1&ref=world). This picture is of Presidente Piñera with the miners' note ("We're fine en the refuge, the 33").

Another noteworthy piece of news is that a thermoelectic plant has been approved to be built in Punto de Choros, a beautiful area in the south of Chile known for its diverse ecology. People have been really upset about this, as a) it's basically going to destroy the environment in punto de choros if built, and b) Piñera promised to oppose the construction of just such a plant. Yesterday there were peaceful protests that turned a bit crazy when the carabineros (police) brought out fire hoses and tear gas (!!!). Here's an article about the construction of the plant: http://www.santiagotimes.cl/news/environmental/19641-regional-environmental-board-approves-thermoelectric-plant-near-chilean-marine-reserve. I don't know what the reaction of everyone in Chile is, but a lot of students that I've talked to have been really upset about it. (Another link: this is in spanish, but there's a video that shows some of the protesting/scenes here http://tele13.13.cl/noticias/nacional/20399.htm).

Let's see...This past week was full of visiting and enjoying time with people. The weekend was a mixture of saying goodbye/hello. On friday Allie had an "anti-despedida" (despedida=farewell) on Friday, and we all got together to say goodbye, but mostly just to celebrate in the here and now. Simultaneously the Valpo CIEE kids came to visit for the weekend so I got to see Anna and Maddie!! It was so so wonderful to see them and show them around the city; also extremely surreal to meet up with K kids in the middle of Santiago, but lots of fun! Anna came over for once on Saturday and got to meet my family. Renato basically couldn't stop showing off for her/staring at her. It was really freaking cute. (My parents joked that I should bring my blond gringa friends over more often so that Renato will behave that superbly all the time.) The valpo kids stayed at an awesome hostel really close to my house in Barrio Brasil, which was super convenient, and also cool to meet other random people traveling from all over the world. Anna and I decided that hanging out in hostels is definitely something that has to happen more often. The entire weekend was so warm--the most beautiful that it's been since I've been here! On Sunday I showed, Maddie, Anna, and their friends Emporio de la Rosa--it got a great review from everyone (new flavor to try: ginger-orange).

Once again, some quick snapshots:

• Continuing my daily walk home tradition (I cannot express how happy this makes me at the end of everyday, no matter how tired I am), yesterday I zigzagged across downtown Santiago, starting at a bookstore and ending up at a random church (I saw some awesome steeples from far away...what can I say, I had to check it out!). From there I pushed through the rush hour swarm of people, stopping at a sopaipilla stand to get two delicious fried disks of dough with the secret salsa. There is nothing like ducking through crowds of people with a steaming hot sopaipilla in hand, heading towards sunset over the screaching traffic of downtown santiago.
• Metro fail. I left late today and got to San Joaquin (one of the la catolica campuses) right as my class was starting, but I still had to print my homework. However, the printint system here is so convoluted: basically you log into a computer, press print, wait in a line in another room, give your paper to a person at another computer (they put it into a printer), you go to ANOTHER computer, sign in, press print, and wait for your papers, hoping that it worked. In other words, I wound up 20 minutes late to class. However, this is a pretty standard thing for a lot of chileans, so not a problem. Excellent. (I already show up an hour late to most things here...aka meeting up with friends...I just want to let you all know that I'm never going to be on time to anything ever again.)
• I TOOK A NAP IN THE LIBRARY TODAY IT WAS SO GREAT. They literally have a section of arm chairs FOR NAPPING. New favorite place at San Joaquin.
• A few weeks ago Allie, Ale, and I went to a concert to see wonderful folk/traditional/chilean indie artist Pascuala Ilbaca perform. So cheap, so great. Definitely not enough people take advantage of the concerts (thank you Allie for pointing this out to me). Anyway, here's the link to her myspace: http://www.myspace.com/pascualailabaca. My favorite songs are "Diablo Rojo Diablo Verde" and "Ay mamita mamita". Basically, she's just awesome and has this super impressive, powerful voice.
• I HAVE A NAME!! And by that I clearly mean that Renato has finally given me a name, although it's still used pretty infrequently. I'm called Allie but pronounced cute baby chilean style aka "Ahgee" ("ll" turns into a "j" sound en espanol). Name name, I have a name!
• It sounds like two dogs are killing each other outside my window. Just normal.

I love feeling proficient enough in Spanish to be completely comfortable wandering around and striking up a conversation with anyone. It doesn't feel like I've improved that much, but I now realize that I'm actually having more conversations with my host family as opposed to sitting at the dinner table, nodding and smiling like an idiot (hahaha that happened a lot.). I still make a ton of mistakes I know, but it's slowly getting easier!

So I appologize--I sort of fail at taking pictures here, but I'm going to try to take more (aka pester my friends to bring their cameras out and then steal their pics...but of course). Here are some for now!



With Alice and Allison one of the first weeks here, trying delicios pasteles! Side note: basically ever gringa is named something like Alice/Allyson/Alexandra/Alejandra. If you yell "Allie" into a crowd of gringas, I bet you at least half of them would respond to you.

Some pics with mi familia:

Renato playing before lunch.

La Leo! So adorable. (The papelito on her forehead is a secret trick to get rid of hiccups.)























Hector teaching me to make panqueques--what we'd think of as crepes.

Today was beautiful! Enjoying the sun in one of the quad/plazas at san joaquin (la cato)

We like to play with my camera a lot. (...It's better than coloring on my homework with pen. Slash also lots and lots of fun.)

One of my favorite streets in Santiago near Baquedano/Santa Lucía--It's got lots of fun cafes, bookstores, is close to el parque forestal (awesome huge park), and the heladería of course!

Much love to all! Cuídense y besitoss.