Hola a todos! Yet again another packed week with CIEE. Monday was dedicated to learning about human rights in Chile, including visiting various memorial sites. As many probably know, there was a coup here in 1973, in which the military overthrew Presidente Salvador Allende, and replaced him with General Agosto Pinochet. Pinochet (or "la dictadura") was in power until 1990, when he was voted out of office in an official election. During these years, many people who supported Allende or supported leftist politics were dissappeared or assasinated. Today it is extremely taboo to talk about the coup--no one does. It is recent history that affected many, but is not talked about, and is still a very polemic issue. We listened to a lecture about los derechos humanos, and then went to Villa Grimaldi (remaaned Parque por la Paz), which was a site used for torture and interrogation during the reign of la dictadura. After the tour there, we continued to el Cementerio General. This national cementary is huge; there are road names to direct a lost visitor, and one wanders through rows of graves which range from small palaces of marble to long apartments of tombs. As we walked through, stray dogs accompanied us (like in all of Santiago), we passed through a large funeral party, and wandered by kiosks selling candy and cookies. While there we saw the tombs of Salvador Allende and a memorial for many deseparecidos. (LEFT: Salvador Allende's grave. RIGHT: graves of some of those who were executed during this time; most were never found.) We returned home late, around 7pm, and to say the least it was a tiring and heavy day, although extremely interesting.

On Tuesday we took a Spanish test (homework in July, whattt) to show the level of our speaking and writing skills. At the end of the semester we'll take another test, which they will compare against this one to see how much we have advanced. Once finished with work, we took a tour of la Universidad de Chile. It seems like a wonderful campus--it's huge, with beautiful buildings, all very different in architectural styles. All of the students are on vacation now (between semesters) so it was pretty empty, but I imagine it's bustling when school is in session!

Today we met at la Universidad Diego Portales for an orientation. This was great for me, because I live only 5 blocks away, and could wake up late and walk there in less than 10 minutes (once again, I love where I live, it's the best location ever!). After a quick orientation/long coffee break, I came back to my house with 3 friends from CIEE to eat our packed lunches here. We then wandered through my neighborhood, and found a huge park just 6 or 7 blocks aways, where we basked in the warm weather (well warm for here--compared to home I imagine you all would be freezing). We were craving icecream, so before heading to the CIEE office to attempt the laborious process of choosing classes, we ventured around Santiago to find a good heladería (ice cream store!). After wandering down wrong streets and asking many strangers for directions, we finally found a wonderful heladería with tons of flavors. The icecream here is absolutely delicious, and resembles gelatto more than what we're used to at home. From here I met up with Allie, a friend from K studying in Santiago, and wandered further around the city and Plaza de Armas. Quite a full and wonderful day!


Also, mi hermanita Leo had her first bath today; here's a picture of her, all warm and clean:

Eso es todo para hoy! Love to all.

algunas fotos

I thought it was about time to upload some photos, so here they are!

Here's the view out of the airplane as we flew into Santiago. The picture does not do justice to the striking glow of the sun, as it blended into the night sky behind the magnificent Andes.










This is the view from (one of) Pablo Neruda's houses, la Chascona. This is also my, "dear mom and dad, i am still alive and this is proof" picture. (hi guys)










This is my host brother, Renato. We play cars a lot (you can't see them, but there are about 20 toy cars on the ground).










It rained on and off for the past two days, leaving today sunny and clear. After heavy rains the smog clears out of the valley and you get a beautiful view of the mountains. I went on a walk today and stumbled upon this wonderful view!

Disfruta la vida

Hola a todos! Right now I'm listening to a song that I've heard a few times here, called "Arriba la vida" by Croni-K. You should look it up, it'll make you want to dance! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I9ytgRg_F8)

Today was another day for adventuring. I was exhausted last night, so I went to bed relatively early instead of meeting up with friends--I played cars with Renato for a long time, and then called it a night. This morning I woke up to a cloudy, cold sky, but nonetheless wanted to go exploring. What can I say, I always get cabin fever during the winter, and when there's a whole city to explore, there's no way that I'll let the weather get in the way. I had plans to meet up with a friend at Cerro Santa Lucía, and decided to walk there instead of taking the metro. I live about 4 or 5 metro stops away, so I set out 45 minutes early, not really knowing how far away I was. Walking to Santa Lucía was definitely a rewarding experience; not only did I orient myself to the different places that I've visited in Santiago, but I realized that I live only a 10 minute walk away from La Moneda (their white house, remember?), and 35 minutes from the National Library. It's pretty easy to orient yourself here, because a river and main street runs through the city, which the metro stops on Line 1 follow.

While many people may find other cultural differences the most striking and hard to become accustomed to, to me understanding how to walk in Chile has proved the most frustrating and complicated out of all that I have encountered. I can't seem to understand the vibe of walking. For example, at home people tend to walk on the right side of the sidewalk, at a fairly steady pace, leaving room for others to pass if they need/want to. Here I have encountered that each person has their own preference of walking. Some follow what I am used to, others amble along taking up the whole sidewalk, and others weave in and out of the surging sea of people. There is no steady flow of walking, instead each person chooses their own pace, style, and number of peer walkers. This is the one place where my Washingtonian "walk on the left, stand on the right" side remains completely perplexed. I tend to dart in and out of walkers, get stuck behind others, and then finally find a way around.

Anyway, after wading through the midday crowds, I met up with my friend, and we got lunch, wandered around permanent outdoor craft stalls (mostly just oggling over the warm sweaters, hats, and gloves because it was SO cold), and then went to a cafe to warm up with a hot NesCafe (real coffee is unfortunately pretty rare).

After las onces tonight, a big group of us went to a salsateca--first to take lessons, and then to dance. What a wonderful time! Around 8 gringas descended on the salsa club, and we all joined in the class, taught by an excellent instructor. Afterwards we danced salsa and merengue until around 1:30 (In Chile most events don't even start until midnight, and go all night, but I'm more than happy to go to bed now!...I'm sure we'll get accustomed at some point though.). I can't wait to go back and dance salsa again--everything about it is so suave and fun, and the music is tan rica! Also, people here know how to dance with their hips. Very important.

Hello all! Quick post because I'm off to meet some friends soon. Today we continued with class, and heard a really interesting presentation about Chilean past and present politics. Still very polemic up through today--it's quite interesting if you have some free time to research a bit!

After class and lunch we headed off towards La Moneda, the Chilean equivalent to the White House. However, first we stopped at Cerro Santa Lucia, a hill on top of which the Spaniards built a small lookout. It rained last night which cleared away the smog, leaving a clear view of the Andes from the top of the cerro. It was quite an impressive view, especially after climbing up the narrow, old stone steps built by the Spanish. From there we continued to La Moneda, where we got a tour around the inside of the building (apparently the president, Piñera, was there today!).

My cell phone hasn't been working, so after the tour I went with Elsa, one of the CIEE staff, to fix it at the Entel store. I tried to go by myself yesterday, but my spanish vocabulary for cell phone parts is seriously lacking.

Watching a tv show with my host dad now...chao!

Si poh

Hello! I realize that I promised many people that I would write a blog while on study abroad, and have failed to actually do so, so here goes. I've been in Chile for a week now, after arriving on an overnight flight on the 14th. My flight arrived around 7:30am, which was fortunate because many flights from the US were delayed or canceled due to bad thunderstorms. The airport in Santiago is one of the buildings that suffered the most damage during the earthquake, leaving it very drafty and poorly insulated. Waiting in the airport for 4 hours for other students to arrive was my first introduction to the heating (or lack thereof) in Chile, as it is extremely rare for houses to have central heating. (The key to staying warm includes lots of blankets, tea, and long underwear.)
After waiting there we finally got onto a bus, which drove us into downtown Santiago, about 20 minutes away. It is so incredible driving from the outskirts towards the mountains: there are cardboard houses all along the river, which turn into high rises, which turn into a nice downtown area.

The first few days we did orientation/getting to know the city sorts of activities. We did a scavenger hunt throughout the city, in which we had to take pictures of ordinary objects, but those that had Chilean names. To do this we had to ask strangers on the street what simple words meant (super gringo) and then find them. One of my favorite things about being here--although also the hardest thing to learn--are all of the chilenismos, or specifically chilean words. Chileans have a vocabulary that is very specific to this country, not spoken anywhere else. For example, cars are autos not coches/carros, parties are carretes not fiestas, and baby is guagua not bebe. Also, Chileans drop the ending "s" on words, and other letters between vowels (encargado turns into encarga'o). Todo muy bakan (cool)!

Bueno, I am living in a wonderful homestay! There are about 35 kids in CIEE, and we are all in houses spread out around Santiago. My host family lives in Santiago Central, which is in an awesome location (just as it sounds). I can walk to la Universidad Diego Portales, and there are two metro stops each only a 4 block walk from my apartment. Besides the wonderful location, I live with an amazing family! Hector and Andrea (the parents) have a 2 year old son, Renato, and just had a baby 9 days ago, named Leonor, and la abuela lives here too. Renato is so adorable--he loves the movie Cars and plays with his toy cars ALL day (he calls the movie carSH. so cute.).

Right now I'm in a class with CIEE, called chile contemporanea, which is basically a crash course to chilean everything--literature, history, politics, human rights, language, etc.

Aah my fingers are freezing--I have a limit of about 15 minutes typing time before I have to warm my hand up again. Anyway, I love Santiago, it's an absolutely wonderful city, with people and noise and life everywhere. Definitely a good start to this year. I'll fill in more later!