Chile part two: winter again!

Hello world!

I have heard your requests and have decided to continue my blog while I'm in Chile for the summer (or rather, winter), writing my SIP (Kalamazoo's senior thesis-like project).

First off, I am finding out rather quickly that living in Santiago post-study abroad is a very different experience than my first six months here. I'm going to be researching indigenous women and their health rights (healthcare accessibility, conventional versus traditional health practices, etc.), and as my chilean advisor has not gotten in contact with me yet, today was rather free. So my day consisted of walking to the CIEE office to pop in and say hello to the lovely staff; run to Cafe Literario and take advantage of their free internet; take out way more cash than anyone should ever walk around with, and then deposit way more cash than anyone should ever display in public in a foreign country...these are the joys of renting an appartment in another country. Then I wandered around my favorite part of downtown, Bellavista and Lastarria, and ate my first italiano of the trip! I cannot even begin to say how much I have missed street food, especially the kind that is smothered in delicious mounds of avocado. From there I went to a cafe and sat for a good 2 or 3 hours, reading about the Mapuche (yeah that's right, I said working). I braved the grocery store (I've been washing dishes with shampoo for three days) and then fought my way through the pre rush hour crowds with bulky shopping bags bouncing in either hand. While it's not the most comfortable thing to carry a week's worth of groceries with you in the metro and then through the streets, there's something exciting and liberating about not being at all dependent on a car for transportation. Hello awesome public transportation! (USA, get your shit together.) After all that, I trundled back to my apartment just as it was starting to get a bit dark (at 5pm, womp womppp).

And my apartment! It's in an absolutely amazing location, only 3 blocks from La Moneda (White House equivalent). I live catty corner to a police station and a military unit on the other side, and got woken up Sunday morning to the sound of some sort of military parade going below my window. Walking to the apartment you cut through a beautiful road, wide and full of small restaurants and people bustling by.

Let's see, yesterday I got to spend the whole day with my host family, which was especially fun since it was Father's Day and the day after Héctor's birthday. I feel so thankful to have such a wonderful second family here in Santiago, and it was amazing to see them again after all this time. We spent the day having a delicious lunch, then just hanging out (I played cars with Renato, who is now TALKING, whaaaat!), and then had cake to celebrate Héctor's birthday. Some friends of his and Seba joined us for cake, and we all ended the evening watching the Chilean soccer team beat Estonia (4-0, yeaaah). Quite a lovely way to spend the day.

The only place in the apartment that has wifi is the lobby, and I've been sitting here on the steps right by the door sort of freezing my fingers off, so I think I'll call this done. I'll try and keep up the posts more regularly than on study abroad (although don't hold me to that 100%).

Happy summer-winter!
Besotes