Update Number 8: FINALLY caught up

I always say this, but it has been a while since I have sent an email update. I only have 6 weeks left in South America, so chances are you will only get 1 or 2 more South America emails before the Asia ones start. I’m writing this email on my laptop coming back on the twistiest road I have ever been on in my life, including Lombard Street in San Francisco. We are surrounded by the Andes. Its weird to think that 5 months ago these mountains would have been heavily blanketed with snow, and I have been here long enough to see that change in season.

This weekend I spent time in Mendoza, Argentina, a six-hour drive away from Santiago. The drive to Mendoza was half the journey, as you drive through tunnels and mountains and vineyards to get from one city to the other.

This weekend was slightly less adventure filled than the other trips I have taken in Chile, but nevertheless very much needed after mid-terms. My friend and I arrived on Friday morning around 5am, and sat down in a hot-dog shop until our hostel opened. Are hostel was way cool, decked out in super hero murals, a retro foose ball table and a swimming pool, which we definitely took advantage of. Everyone staying there was either Australian or Irish, and pretty much on an 8 month to year long tour of the world. We sat down with the Australians one night, and I tried some cow intestines from their barbecue. Not that bad. The inside part tasted like pâté and the outside like beef jerky.


Our first day in Mendoza consisted of shopping and eating. Argentina has so much better shopping than Chile. First of all, their peso is incredibly lower than the dollar. So basically, anything you would want to buy was somewhat affordable. Second of all, the Argentine style and quality is soooo much better than the confusingly grungy Chilean style. The conversion math was quite easy too. Say you wanted a meal combo of a steak, potatoes and a glass of wine. The total price was 9 pesos. Sounds good for 9 dollars right? Well divide 9 by three, and that’s the dollar amount. So basically we got a huge steak dinner with potatoes and a beverage for 3 dollars.

The Argentines praisin in the Park:


The second day, we had to give some Chilean goods (Chilean mariscos (shellfish) and Vino (wine)) to Cherise’s host mom’s friend who lives in Mendoza. Tito and Nany (the family that we delivered the goods to). Picked us up and decided to take us to lunch. They took us to a really fancy restaurant with a not so fancy name “Mr. Frogs”. We tried some good wine and walked around a very expensive mall. After that we wanted to see their house, so they took us too their house and fed us some Argentine Grapefruit soda and alfajores.

Their house was gorgeous. Tito and Nany are basically the coolest South Americans I have met. Nany is originally from Santiago and Tito is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Both of them moved to Miami without any American connections, established themselves, found each other and got married and had a beautiful daughter, Nicole. Tito LOVES the US, he wouldn’t stop talking about how much he loved the US. It was incredibly interesting to see how passionately someone loves the opportunity the US offers. Most of the time, all you hear about are complaints of the US’s hegemony and monopolization of the weaker countries. I think Tito had tears in his eyes when he was telling us his story. Tito is also Italian, so he reminded me a lot of my Nono, with his white hair, blue eyes and large midsection haha.


Ok so their house was the most American house I have seen in South America, obviously. They designed a beautiful modern Florida style house with stainless steel everything, tile everywhere and dark wood furniture. For dinner, Nany fed us homemade spinach empanadas and cholgas (muscles). It was so amazing how welcoming and genuine they were. (Oh yeah, they moved back to Argentina 2 years ago, after 15 years in the US).

Another thing about Argentina is they speak so much more clearly and slowly than Chileans. I had absolutely no trouble understanding anything from any Argentine. Their food is better, their clothes are better, and I think I found them warmer than Chileans as well. I think I would have chosen Argentina to study abroad rather than Chile, because of the slow economy, language and Tango. But I’m still glad to be in Chile, especially because my university is more prestigious and organized than any in Argentina, Chile’s famous seafood, and the abundance of outdoor activities and the majestic sights out in the montañas.

Well in Santiago, not much has been going on. I study way too much here, according to my housemates, of which I have two new ones.

So basically in Chile, I’ve lived with a person from every Western European nation other than Ireland, Spain and Portugal.

Other than that, I’ve been choreographing a dance that I am going to get to perform at my church next week. It’s the Spanish version of the song, “No Greater Love” by Rachel Lampa. I’m very excited, especially because I kind of prayed for that opportunity about 4 months ago, forgot about it, and was all the sudden invited to perform. So that’s all for now…. You can look forward to emails coming about Buenos Aires and Colonia, Uruguay, and our 5 day hike in Patagonia!

Update Numero 7 from Mid-October

Hi everyone! I hope everybody is healthy and happy. Here is update number 7! Oh yeah, the material I have to write about is slightly inconsistent, so tell me if you think I should switch to a blog format instead of these bimonthly updates, please ☺

This weekend was way cool. It was probably the most fun and the most I’ve learned in Chile out of the 4 months that I’ve been here (almost 4 months). There is so much to write about, I probably won’t even scratch the surface.
Friday to Sunday, I went with the La Cátolica’s (my university) student federation to one of the more poor sectors of Santiago to work on houses for families for which the mayor had picked. Before leaving, I was just expecting this weekend to be full of work, but it turned out to be so much more.
First of all, I was incredibly surprised by the number of students that dedicated their weekends to this cause. There were well over 200 students split up between 3 sites around Santiago. My site, Puente Alto, was comprised of 3 teams, 2 staying at the Maipo Elementary School. Before we left, everyone went to misa (mass) on campus, and they had a little ceremony pumping everyone up. We headed out on a short bus ride to Puente Alto and I met up with my team (equipo AZUL!) and then my comunidad, (family group) made up of 3 other girls and 2 guys. For our first meal we had some very cheap noodles and a bug juice type beverage. The weekend’s theme was “18 de Septiembre”, therefore the first team activity (red against blue) was a Cueca contest, decided by a scream vote. We introduced ourselves in a big circle. Out of about 60 people, I was the only foreigner.
Saturday was the first workday. We all got into the back of some pickup trucks and headed out to the site. Our comunidad’s house was basically a shack with a tin roof, unstable floors and cardboard-thin walls. Our mission for that weekend was to build a ceiling (a barrier between the tin roof and the rest of the room). Our materials arrived late, so our comunidad sat around discussing things, mostly relationships and religion. Chileans absolutely love talking about relationships, I think 70% percent of their conversations have to do with relationships, and your relationship status is one of the first 3 questions they will ask you upon meeting you. We worked until about 5 that day. I nailed boards to the frame and measured and cut wood, with an electric saw! We paused so everyone could watch the Chile vs. Argentina soccer game. We set up a TV outside, and everyone huddled around to watch the slightly depressing match. I got bored after Argentina was ahead by 2 goals, so I played some soccer games with some little kids in the street. They were the first Chileans to get my name right. The next day the two little boys ran up to me and gave me hugs. After the soccer game, we went back to the school and played a whole bunch of games.
The interesting thing about Chilean games, or at least the ones I played, is that they have a very guy-girl slant. For example, instead of a regular game of fruit salad, the person in the middle sits on the opposite sex’s lap, asks them if they like them, and if the answer is yes, everyone has to switch spots, and if no, the person gives a reason such as (its because you wear glasses). Another game we played was a version of musical chairs, except the boys were the chairs, and the girls had to cling to them like koalas. (Title: Koalas musicales). We also played a relay race, in which my team won. The last game was “corre y canta”, where they had to run up and grab the mic and sing the song with all correct words. Chileans love reggaton. They also knew the words to songs I didn’t even know in English! I was so surprised they all knew the words to various Backstreet Boys and Spice Girl songs. Afterwards we danced until about 3 am, having to wake up at 7am the next day to work. I taught some people the Roger Rabbit. They thought that was cool.
Oh, also that day, the mayor of Puente Alto came to talk to us. That was rad. The Chileans told me he was one of the more conservative mayors “almost too conservative”, but he was incredibly passionate talking about the trials of all the people in the area, and what it meant to give back to them. Apparently he had won a few awards for the social work he had done for the community.
The second day we worked a lot more. Our jefe (boss) for our house, Don Ramón was awesome. He was this older man in his 60s, but gives up a lot of weekends to help better these impoverished families. He had fun listening to my Spanish. We finished a little early, so I played an all girl soccer game. They boys watched and cheered. It was so fun. They cheered for me calling me “norteamerica!”
On the last day we had a reflection with our comunidad. I really am happy that I was surrounded and immersed by these people, and was able to get to know them so closely. I didn’t even feel like a language barrier existed. I told my group how cool it was that so many people dedicate their weekends to helping people, without complaining, smiles on their faces and eyes full of compassion. Its funny because the ones that were volunteering were all from the highest classes of Chilean society, yet knew that it was their responsibility to share the resources that they had. They were also very reassuring of my Spanish and my “personalidad”. To anyone planning on studying abroad, I would recommend getting involved in something like this. Force yourself to be outgoing if you aren’t already. Get out of the tourist box and see the world in a different way. I learned so much this weekend and made so many new friends. I totally see Chilean students in a different light, now seeing their compassion and liveliness.
Ok, so yeah that weekend was awesome. I also went to the Incubus concert last week. That was a lot of fun. They sound so good live. The Chileans at that concert also knew all the words in English, even though most don’t know how to speak English.

Update Numero 6

I think this one is Late September, into October.


I probably should be writing my essay or my doing my economics homework right now, but I am pretty frustrated that I can’t find the information I need right now; thus it is email update time. I definitely don’t have as much adventurous things to write about but I will do my best to captivate your interest…

I’ll start with the most “fome” (Chilean slang for boring) news. I’ve been very busy conducting research for my internship at Consumer’s International. My supervisor’s name is Luis and he speaks really slow Spanish for me, and throws in a lot of English terms (which have to do with the UN and international community, so they would probably be employed in English anyways). Every week I go into the office Luis is drinking bright pink tea and wearing one of those wool tribal sweaters. My research lately has been comparing and mapping similarities between the work of NGO’s and UN bodies over consumer sustainability and sustainable development (how consumers and producers create and use products that contribute to sustaining the environment), but I’m supposed to start researching street food vending and different Latin American nations legislation regarding to street food vendors. I get little assignments every week, and Luis always says my trabajo is super. I think he’s not that critical of my Spanish writing skills.

Yesterday was a very long day. Our study center forced a mandatory event on us, which turned out to be the most I’ve ever learned of Chilean history. A man named Pedro spoke to us for about 2 hours in the morning about Villa Grimaldi, a torture camp that ran from 1974-1978, the years of the Pinochet- coup take over. He explained the different stages of interrogation, including electric shock, stretch tables, nail and teeth extraction, confinement in very limited space, and finally, head dunking in a barrel of decomposed waste. The women in the camp were also repeatedly raped. Pedro finally confided in us that he and his wife had been through the camp before the US granted his family political asylum. In 1974, Pedro had just graduated as a law student from the University of Chile, and was very much involved in the Socialist movement and therefore a military target. For all of you that don’t know Chilean history, Pinochet and the Military took over the Allende Government on September 11th, 1973, and thousands of people were murdered, tortured or had “disappeared.” I think I very much trivialized that account, but it was a very emotional day. After the lecture, we took a bus to Villa Grimaldi, which is now “el parque de paz” or Park of Peace. We climbed the water tower, which, during the Pinochet regime, had been converted into a torture chamber full of small little rooms, which the women were forced into. After the park, we headed over to the National Cemetery. I have never seen such a place. As you enter the park there is a giant marble wall filled of names people that had disappeared during the Pinochet take over. We also passed by the Allende Tomb, which is a huge graceful granite statute stretching up into the sky. We learned that the cemetery is a symbol of the social compartmentalization of Chile. The ornate 2 story tombs gradually find their way to small humble rusted crosses which names are so decrepit you can’t even read them. After the fieldtrip I rushed home to get ready for a birthday “asado” (Chilean Barbecue) with the college and career age group from my Church.

Chilean Barbecues are awesome because the meat in South America is just so darn tender, juicy, and all-together delicious. We ate choripan (which is chorizo eaten like a hot dog, and traditionally eaten first), ensalada, and more and more meat. My church is really awesome. I think I will miss it most when I leave Chile. It was late when we decided to go home. The Chileans decided that they wanted to at least drive us to the Metro stop, which was about to close in 10 minutes. So we piled into the car. However, some of them decided to play a joke and insist that we were not allowed to squish 4 people into the back seat (don’t worry mom, the metro stop was not that far away), so they convinced us that the smallest person had to get into the trunk. I of course was the smallest, and reluctantly sat down in the little Volkswagen hatchback’s trunk. Then the Chileans all broke into a chorus of laughter. We are all obviously the victims of Chilean jokes a lot of the time. Because of their very necessary joke, we missed the last metro, but its ok, because they drove way close to where we all live, and I just took a taxi home.

Ok just a few more things, since this email is getting pretty long… I am currently in a Modern Dance class at La Catolica, and obviously the only student with an extensive background in dance. We practice twice a week for almost 3 hours at a time. My class is going to perform in October and at the end of November. Our piece is about a Chilote fisherman that is lost at sea. All the girls are the birds and the waves, and the one boy is the sailor. Everyone in the class calls me the ayudante (the TA), because they all try to go behind me and very frequently ask me questions. Its kind of fun. I think this class is where I have the most Chilean friends apart from church. Anyhow, I am always sore because of the class and attempting to run with my friend Krystal a couple days each week.

Oh one last thing. I got to eat Korean Barbecue and Boba last week in our one block of Asian food. The Boba place is actually a Chinese Market, and pretty much the only boba in all of Chile. We are the closest thing they have to regular customers. The Korean food was awesome, and definitely the spiciest type of food I can find in Chile. I think I really miss spicy food.

Ok that’s all for now. Next letter will probably be about my weekend. From Friday to Sunday I am going to be volunteering in southern Santiago (aka, the poorest sector) building houses or something like that. I’m kind of scared because I will be in a group of about 8 people who will all be Chileans, thus speaking Spanish the whole time. My American friends are going to be going to, but in different groups. I’m very excited as well, because I think this is the part of Chile I came here to see. So look forward to that. Miss you all!

More Pictures from the Last Post

These are some rocks my friend Lauren and I found in the Chiloe National Park :)On top of the Volcano (Villarica) in Pucon.

River that runs through in Pucon. We rafted down this river. So refreshing!

Going rafting:

Update Numero 5 From September 2007

Hi everyone! Yesterday was the halfway point of my program. I will have been in Chile for exactly 6 months at the end of it. 3 months have passed, and I have 3 more to go. It’s been a little while since I wrote an update letter, but here it goes…

Prior to last week I was just getting settled into things, getting used to my classes and painfully studying for my “examenes”. Taking classes in a Spanish speaking country at a top notch university is definitely not a piece of cake, thus I’m not achieving the same level as I have for pretty much the antecedent years of my life. It’s a little bit depressing, but I think my Spanish is improving, and I’ll certainly be glad when it’s all over.

Thankfully I finally received a break and took advantage of it in the southern lakes region of Chile. I and four other girls loaded up our backpacking backpacks and took a 12-hour bus ride first to the city of Puerto Montt. There isn’t much to see in Puerto Montt actually, so after talking to a few homeless people by the harbor, we got on another bus that drove us two hours, and then 15 minutes on a ferry, then 2 more hours to the island of Chiloe. Chiloe is known for its very conservative society. Women walk around in long skirts and their hairs in buns. The entire island is covered with rolling green hills and pastures, surrounded by picturesque ports. We stayed in a hostel in Castro with the most warm-hearted owner named Marta, and got to sit around a real fireplace (burning wood fireplaces are not allowed in Santiago), and played Egyptian war. In the morning, (September 18th, Fiestas Patrias, Chile’s most celebrated holiday), we took another long bus ride to the Chiloe National Park.
Chiloe:



The national park was AWESOME! I felt like I was in completely different continents at different points in time. The entrance was very similar to a Hawaii landscape, with small waterfalls, ferns, and dirt road. We even saw an endangered species called a pudú cross the road. We took a 3 or 4 hour hike through the park (don’t worry, I’ll get pictures up), and went trailblazing, but only slightly. We stumbled upon this beach COVERED in shells, but whole shells, not little broken ones. Leilani and Megan would have a field day. I was so happy just to see the ocean and breath in the air. Once we got back to Castro, we tried to find a fonda, (which is a party on Fiestas Patrias where Chileans drink Chi-cha, eat empanadas and choripan and dance the Cueca), but sadly found none. We went out and found a restaurant that served “curanto”, which is a stew cooked in the ground with native potatoes (long, purplish potatoes), chorizo, chicken, beef, and covered in mussels (Its basically what Chiloe is known for). That was delicious, I love seafood. The next day I got a seafood empanada from a random stand… amazing.

Ok, so after Chiloe, we stayed in Puerto Montt for a night. Our hostel experience was very strange to say the least. Apparently the little old lady didn’t know we were coming even though we reserved our room way ahead of time. She gave us slippers to wear. We left before 6 the next morning to take a bus to Valdivia.

Valdivia is awesome. I know I wouldn’t want to live in Santiago more than 6 months, but I don’t think I would mine living in Valdivia. The city is composed of an island and a canal that runs around the island. The town has a German history (and is known for its Beer factory, but we didn’t go there), and therefore had very German like architecture. We walked around the whole day, went to a crazy fish market where the most giant sea lions I have ever seen in my life, just sit on the mini-piers along side the side walk. Pelicans fly around over your head and the grass and graceful willows line the shore. We later went to another park and went on another hike around a pond, where we saw a river otter of some sort. I got very muddy. We took lots of pictures that day, but I left my camera in my backpack, and my friend who took most of the pictures got her camera stolen. Anyways, my friend Lauren’s camera got stolen (and entire purse) later on that day while we were eating lunch, right before we were going to get on our bus for Pucon. After dealing with the paperwork with the fastest talking Chilean Caribinero (Chilean police officer) I had ever met, we took a later bus to Pucon and arrived in Pucon around 1am.

Pucon was CRAZY. The first day that we woke up in Pucon, we went white water rafting. (The rapids were classified as 3 and mostly 4 if anyone cares). It was very very cold, but they gave us long sleeve wetsuits. That was probably the most fun I’ve had in Chile. We went to an Arabian restaurant after that and slept very well, intending to wake up at 6am or so the next morning to climb the volcano (yes active volcano, with smoke constantly billowing out, covered in snow, constantly reminding the town of Pucon of its impending doom, Volcan Villarica if you care to look it up). However it was raining, so they delayed our trek until the next day. We slept in again, until about 11, and then went on this cool little tour of the river and the waterfalls and the termas (natural hot tubs). That was fun, but I would have rather gone canopying, which cost the same, but you don’t have as many options when you travel with 4 other people.

So the volcano came the next morning. Climbing the volcano is literally the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. The entire trek is supposed to take about 5 hours. We drove up a crazy dirt road, took a ski lift to get about 45 minutes of trekking out of the way and started the climb. We were equipped with crazy orange suits, helmets, snow boots, clamp ons (for walking on ice), polarized sunglasses, and a pick-ax, the most important part. Walking uphill in the snow is not very fun. You get very very hot very fast and very very tired. Its pretty much like walking up stairs for five hours, except the stairs keep caving beneath you, and you constantly face the risk of loosing balance and falling down the steep hill. After about 3 hours of hiking I decided that if I got to the top of that volcano, I could pretty much do anything, but we didn’t make it, so I’m still very disappointed. I think our guide didn’t have faith in us, or we ran out of time. But once we got to about 3 kilometers up the side, we met a Hungarian girl and a Brazilian guy that had an injured knee and something wrong with a meniscus. So our guide stopped to help them, and we didn’t get to go on (2 hours more) to the top.

Some people had already made it, and were snowboarding/skiing down (those who brought there snowboards and skis on their backs). I was very jealous of them, but its ok because I get to go snowboarding in Utah later on, hopefully. The volcano is awesome for snowboarding down, because the lava tubes make natural half-pipes. We however, slid down on our butts for most of the way. That was my favorite part. Quite sad considering all the effort we put in to climbing up. It’s also very stressful in that there are no bathrooms on the side of the volcano, so you can imagine when we did. Lets just say that yes, I have urinated on the side of an active volcano at least once in my life. Sorry, that’s probably way too much information. Anyways, after the volcano trek, we got on a 9pm bus for Santiago and arrived around 7 in the morning. I had class at 11:30. So here I am, back in Santiago, filled with bug bites, and sad about some test grades, but my computer is filled with photos containing many crazy memories. I don’t think I will make it to any crazy places in the really near future, but my friend and I are going to Argentina and Uruguay in December, and I might go to Peru or Patagonia in November. (But I’m saving money for Asia ☺ ). The lesson I learned this week is that if you pray enough for sunshine, you might just get it. And the mountains certainly have the same revitalizing power as the ocean (maybe not quite). Ok so that’s all. I really miss you all, and I think about you guys all the time. Again don’t hesitate to talk to me or ask me to pray for something, because I will! Hopefully Fall in the US (or wherever you are) is beautiful! Chao!

Update Number four from August-September

As I alluded to in the last email, I moved out of my host family’s house and moved into a new apartment. I am staring right at the Santa Lucia Castle right now, in my living room, which is right next to the park. I pretty much live in the best of best locations in Santiago. There are countless bohemian cafes right below me, and I am across the street from the “Casa Central” campus of La Católica and the metro stop. My new apartment is basically an older, slightly dirtier version of Urban Outfitters, as the furniture and décor is very eclectic. My landlady, Lola, who actually lives here with us, is an Art-therapist for little children. She’s very artistic herself, and in result we have a wall full of mirrors, one full of tribal masks, paintings and gaudy chandeliers all over the place. (Oh yeah, I have a foosball table here too!). My room is kind of small, but I have tall ceilings and a view of the park. I have 4 housemates. Lola, who I mentioned before is a Chilena and in her thirties I would guess. Enrico is an Italian 24-year old who studies Law at La Católica (he smokes, so that’s kind of something I have to deal with). He is the only one that gets phone calls from the house line. At first I thought he was in the Mafia or something because he talks really quiet on the phone, but it just turned out to be his girlfriend back in Italy. Ciclaly is a 24-year old French girl who has an internship at a Biomass company. She likes to make jewelry in her spare time and she always wears her magenta pea coat. She is very energetic and talks super rapido. Luke is 20 years old and he is from Oxford, England. His major is philosophy and he likes to snowboard and keep up with English soccer. As you can see, our apartment is very international. But it works well. I speak Spanish with everyone, except for Luke, except when Lola yells at us and tells us to speak Spanish. We all have our own shelf in the two refrigerators we have in the kitchen. I have the bottom drawer, which is super nice.

I got a chance to go to Pomaire and Mellipia, two towns about an hour out of Santiago, with our exchange program. In Mellipia we visited a farm, with lots of cows (don’t’ worry Leilani, I will get pictures up soon), some cheese factories and a sweet factory. In Pomaire we got about half an hour to shop. Pomaire is famous for its pottery. I couldn’t really buy anything to cool, because I won’t be able to bring it home to the US, however, I spent 1 mil (which is about 2 dollars) on this set of 3 orange vases to fill up my very boring room. (Megan and Leilani, please send me picture to fill up the walls!).
Cows!
EAP Kiddos:



Last weekend, me and my friends were missing Asian food, so we had an Asian food night. We made dumplings and fried rice, and I made pancit. I ended up making a lot of it. But it was definitely a hit. (Thanks for teaching me Auntie Jo!). That was fun. I decided I definitely get a lot of joy out of feeding people. So cooking for people is turning into a theme in my life.

Skiing in the Andes!:


This weekend I went snowboarding in Valle Nevado (2 hour drive up a mountain right outside of Santiago) with 8 other girls from my program. I was a little hesitant, since I really didn’t have a fun time last time I went snowboarding in Massachusetts. Halfway through the first run I vowed never to go snowboarding again, but by the third time, I decided that snowboarding is a sport I probably really would enjoy if I ever got good at it. I was having fun after I wasn’t falling so much. The ski lift wasn’t as scary as it was last time. On my second lift, I met an old man that had a business in Texas, but he had been to Singapore, and told me it’s a great city, and that I should visit the Singapore Zoo at night, but that the Singapore Zoo was nothing compared to our zoo in San Diego.

That leads me to my next point. I got into the Education Abroad Program in Singapore for the Spring! So, at the end of December (3 to 5 days after I get back from Santiago), I’m going to be heading to Singapore for about 5 months. I’m really excited about that! Some of you that I have known for quite a while know I was planning on studying abroad in Singapore since high school, so I was kind of disappointed not to get to go to Asia by choosing Chile instead. Well it looks like I’m going to get to go, so if anyone wants to visit me in Asia or wants me to buy a fake Gucci purse, let me know. Anyways, I’m kind of stressing about all the paperwork for the Singapore program, and it getting from Santiago to Santa Barbara in time, so pray for me about that if you want.

It’s starting to get a lot warmer here in Santiago, and I’m hoping all of you back in the US are starting to feel the weather cool down. Yesterday I went to a farmer’s market and bought way too many vegetables. I bought some eggplant because I was sort of craving it. That was the first time I made eggplant. Next time I will salt them longer, because it was still a little bit bitter. I’m starting to eat healthier now that I moved out of my host families house, so hopefully the extra winter mass will begin to reduce. Chileans are definitely not the healthiest eaters in the world. It’s practically impossible to find not sugary cereal in the store.

Alrighty. That’s about all the major things for now. I miss you all very much and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I will get some new pictures up really soon. Probably tomorrow, so look forward to the shutterfly email. God Bless!


Besitos!

Pictures of my Apartment:

The Kitchen:
The View from the living:
Living room:

Update #3 From July I think

I’m sitting in the La Católica political science library right now. (In case you didn’t know, my host University is Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile). Its kind of intimidating here, since all of the students worked really hard to get here. (PUC is one of the top universities in South America, University of Chile being the other.) I have class at 3:00, so I still have a lot of time to waste.

Maybe you’re interested in the classes I’m taking. Maybe not. If not, skip this paragraph. I’m taking, Organizaciones Internacionales, Historia del Pensamiento Económico, Chilean Culture and Politics, Gymnastics and hopefully Modern Dance. (The first two translate to International Organizations and History of Economic Thought). The first class doesn’t start until next week, and the core class, Chilean culture and politics, starts in 2 weeks (that’s a University of California class). So I’ve only been going to gymnastics and History of Economic Thought so far. Funny thing about Chile… The students are always late! Only the foreign students came to my Econ class early. I’m at the San Joaquin Campus. Which is huge. The architecture is very modern and there are crazy sculptures everywhere. It’s still very cold here. Spring doesn’t come until September in Chile.

We started class on Monday, but I had a week long vacation before that. I took a 24 hour bus ride to the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world! The Atacama Desert borders Peru and Bolivia and is surrounded by volcanoes. We stayed in a hostel in San Pedro de Atacama. It was the most I’ve ever seen so many “gringos” here in Chile. (Gringos are anyone that speaks English, its not a politically incorrect term here or anything.) There isn’t that much to do in the town of San Pedro, but tons of adventurous things to do just outside of it. The first day we took a tour of the Valle de la Luna. It’s a valley with a landscape very similar to the moon. In fact, NASA tests some of its equipment and moon buggies there. I’m working on getting pictures up. Kodak gallery is not such a good one, so if anyone wants to recommend a good online album site, go right ahead.

Being flamingos at the Flamingo Salt Flats:

The second day we went to see salt flats and the Altiplano. Basically I saw flamingos and Llamas in their own perspective environments. All the landscapes were incredibly eerie, like something out of a Salvador Dali painting, but nonetheless beautiful.






This is at the Altiplano Lakes:


The third day we woke up around 3:30 am, and got picked up by a van and drove 2 hours up a volcano on the bumpiest dirt road I have ever been on. We got to the top of a volcano just in time to see the sun rise over the geysers. It was -15 degrees Celsius right before sunrise, which translates to -4 degrees Fahrenheit. I decided I really don’t like the cold. The subzero temperatures still were not enough to keep me out of the thermal baths though. So right after we had breakfast, which was heated in the steam of the geyser, I jumped into a thermal. (I smelled like sulfur the rest of the day). It seems like only Americans and Germans were willing to go into the thermal. I don’t know if that says something about our culture. Haha. After our trip to the geysers, we drove to two different pueblos. I know Auntie Jo would definitely be interested in this part. Each pueblo had a population of about 500 people, living in little adobe huts on the side of a creek (an oasis in the middle of nowhere). The pueblos had a communal oven and basically live on the sides of cliffs. It was incredibly serene and eye opening.

On the last day, I was supposed to rent a bike and go sand boarding, but I came down with the stomach flu, and was vomiting the whole morning. I didn’t miss too much though. The people that went were incredibly tired, some scratched up pretty well, and all REALLY dirty for the 24 hour bus ride back home. My friend said I can try sand boarding somewhere near Pismo Beach, so I’m not that sad to have missed out.

Well now I’m back in good ole’ polluted Santiago. I move into my new apartment tomorrow morning. (I’m living with all international students, and I don’t think any speak English, at least fluently). So you guys can look forward to the next email, which will probably be about that.

I really really really really do miss you all. I hope everyone is doing well and taking advantage of the summer. Send me your prayer requests! I’m getting better about keeping up with those!

First Post after 5 months in South America

I just thought it would be better to actually make a blog with all the emails I post, that way all the pictures are in one place. Sorry its so late in the game, but I still have until next may to fill the page with news of the rest of my time in Chile as well as Southeast Asia.

Here is the first and second emails I ever sent out (Without the salutations):

Update Numero Uno:
To begin, I arrived in Chile on Monday, and had quite a long trip, but met some interesting people on the plane. Planes are a great place to make conversation. Anyways, we got picked up (we, meaning I and my friend Cherise, the other girl from UCI that is studying abroad in Chile) by a Chilean Air force General, Hugo Tilly and his wife Priscilla. Cherise and I got to see the downtown part of Santiago from the car, and La Moneda, which is the Chilean equivalent of the White House during the time of Pinochet.

I met my family around 6. I live in Providencia in an apartment with Ximena, and her 18 year old daughter Valentina, Alejandra, who is my age, and is a Chilean girl renting a room here, Pancho the dog, who’s pretty cool, and Lanita the Cat, who I definitely cannot stand, the little bugger haha. The apartment is lively and is covered in art. I also have a substantial view of the Andes from my room. Still I think I may move to a pension (which is a boarding house for students kind of)after our intensive language program because I am quite far from the metro. However I am so thankful Ximena and Vale have welcomed me into their home and have been so patient with my horrible Spanish skills. I think my Spanish is improving the most here. Adjusting is definitely difficult, but I know God is slowly changing me.



I got to walk around Santiago a bit. I love the diversity of architecture and all the lively colors people utilize. However, I wouldn't say Santiago is you average South American city. Its very metropolitan and way more conservative. There are dogs everywhere! And fruit everywhere! The pidgeons are so fat for some reason. It might be the cold. In the park in Nunoa we saw a flock of green parrots! Santiago is so fun thus far, but I've only seen Nunoa and Providencia, which are two extremely well off parts of the city.


Tuesday-Thursday I was in Concon, a small beach town about 2 hours away with the other EAP students. This trip was full of logistics and what not, but I was happy to be so near to the beach, and hear the waves as I slept at night. It was very cold there (but its much worse in Santiago- in the 40s), so I wasn’t able to swim in the ocean. A couple students did, (safe to say they weren’t sober, and weren’t thinking of bronchitis or the new health care system they would have to get used to …) I’m in my bed right now, and I have a test tomorrow to decide what level of intensive language I will be enrolled in. After that I’m planning on exploring the city, to find a supermarket off the green metro line. Chile's transportation system is crazy, and its going to be the largest adjustment outside of the language. A couple of us are trying to find antibacterial soap because they only seem to carry bar soap everywhere. Given its winter here, and cold season, we don’t want to give up that American custom ☺. There is so much to tell you all, I wish I was a better story teller, so Chile would sound more interesting, but I know I’ll have some great stories later on.

Here are some pictures from Concon:

Update Numero 2:

Alright… so what has happened since the last email? Pretty much a lot. I know I’m going to miss quite a few events. This is the second week of intensive language class. When they say its intensive, it really is. Everyday, (including last Saturday), I and the 40 something other students have 4 hours of language class. Surprisingly, I was placed in the second to highest level. I’m not quite sure why, because my Spanish language oral skills are minimal. Perhaps they didn’t know where to put me, and assumed I had some Spanish skills given my Latin last time. (It’s actually quite difficult to write in English right now, I wanted to put an “entonces” instead of “well” haha). Well, my class is actually quite entertaining. My teacher, Margot, is a very lively “vieja”, and she keeps the class very engaged. ILP isn’t that bad apart from the fact that its 3 degrees below zero Celsius in the morning (in the classroom too). It’s been quite cold here. I keep jumping on my Chilean mama’s exercise bike every few minutes to keep my blood circulating. Interesting fact: it snowed in Buenos Aires today for the first time in 83 years!
I also heard about the heat wave in the US. I hope everyone in each of your lives is in good health.

I’ve been exploring Santiago quite a bit. The bus system is horrible, and it’s definitely a big joke of the Santiaguinos, but I love love love the Metro! I feel like a little kid every time I jump on. The metro is super clean, and not as crowded as the buses. People watching on the metro is absolutely fun.

Thus far I’ve visited/ spent time in: Parque San Cristobal to the top of the mountain to see the giant Virgin Mary statue, and took the gondolas (like skyfari at the SD Zoo) back down, Bella Vista district, Parque Arauco Mall (saw Ratatouille in Spanish), Pablo Nerudas’s House in Santiago, saw a world famous Tango group from Buenos Aires, and visited a lot of cool cafés, among other things. Today, half of the students in the program went to a vineyard and tasted two different kinds of wine (Concho y Toro if you have ever heard of it). We learned the proper way to wine-taste. I think I tried a Cabernet and a Cabernet Sauvignon. The first had berry undertones, and the second was supposed to have a chocolate like smell (Does that sound right Uncle Stephan and Auntie Lori?). Its kind of strange that this fieldtrip was sponsored by the University of California, but of course, wine is what Chile is known for. This weekend I am going to get on a midnight bus to La Serena, the second oldest city in Chile. It’s a 6-hour bus ride, so we will get there at 6 am in the morning. Apparently they have some way cool old buildings and the largest observatory in South America, so I’ll get to stargaze at night. At the end of July, I’m going to get on another bus, to San Pedro de Atacama desert, which is 18 hours away. The buses here are very clean, serve breakfast, and have beds; thus it won’t be a very uncomfortable trip. I also just bought a ticket to see Incubus here in Chile, in October.
I’m definitely trying to make it to Buenos Aires, and Maccu Picchu in December. My host sister, Valentina, is going to try and come with me too as a graduation present from her mother (and Miss Maggie Yandell too ☺).
I found a church here. Its called Luz del Mundo. It’s a very small congregation, but they have a lot of heart! They are far by the most friendly Chileans I have encountered thus far. My friend Nancy and I joked that we never received so many kisses during one day. (Chileans greet each other with a kiss on the cheek). This Sunday we sang the songs “draw me close to you” and “Forever”, but in Spanish. It was cool that I knew the songs, but didn’t really know them.
I sign up for classes at La Católica in a couple of weeks. I can’t figure out what fitness class I want to take. It’s a tie between Mountaineering, Swimming, Women’s Soccer, and Judo. What I really want to take is Contemporary Dance, but I don’t think that they offer it. I think one of the things I miss here is dancing. I get to dance (Salsa, etc.) but expressing myself apart from dancing for fun, not so much. (I MISS YOU AAYA). I’ve been praying for an opportunity to dance. I’m also going to get an internship. I’m hoping for an internship with an international company, or a non-governmental organization. They have a lot of internship placements in urban development organizations, so I might try that as well.
Hmm. What else? Soccer is a big thing here. Chile lost to Brazil. That was a disappointment, but apparently not that big of a surprise. The South American Cup is going on right now, so Soccer is the only thing I watch on TV these days. Interesting fact, Chileans love to talk about LOST. If they find out you are American, its likely they’ll ask you about the current season of Lost rather than what you think about Bush and the Iraq war. Too bad I don’t watch it. Anyways, I think a page is long enough of an update. I really miss you guys a lot of the time. I hope everyone is doing well. If you guys need prayers, I’m here for you! Oh and also, I’m going to set up a web album so you can see my pictures. The attachment thing doesn’t work so well. So look out for the link. Um yeah. I LOVE YOU ALL! God Bless, stay cool in the heat!

Concho y Toro Vineyard: