Week 4

Monday through Thursday of this week were typical of a school week: I got up, went to class, came home, and did homework. BTW for Ithaca people: Sodexo is global: luckily I’m not required to have a meal plan in Chile! Nothing too outstanding or worth mentioning, so instead I present to you more pictures of my gorgeous campus (Includes the top). (Jealous?!)

Friday I met up with a (Chilean) friend from class, and we went to see “Los Juegos de Hambre” (the Hunger Games) together. The movie theatre we went to is semi-famous in Chile, and was enormous! The building had three floors containing 16 theatres, as well as a small restaurant and lots of stands where you could buy junk food, ranging from the typical popcorn and candy to gelato to crêpes! Anna and I got some gelato (I had a mix of Tres Leches and Manjar: very delicious) and Anna enjoyed blackberry cream.

At 4:30 Saturday morning I had the “exciting” experience of my first seismic tremor. (Ever). While it was only a 4 and lasted a short 3 seconds, the entire household woke up. For those concerned for my well-being, don’t worry, this ‘temblor’ is common to the country, and I was in no danger.

The highlight of my week was Saturday. I had been planning on going to Valparaiso for the day Saturday and to stay over until Sunday, meeting up with friends who had headed down on Friday. Through the IES facebook page, I knew some girls were going to what I thought was Valparaiso at 7:10am, so I planned to go with them. However, as I found out while riding the metro, they were really going to Cúrica for the day to attend the famous grape harvesting festival there. Making a spontaneous decision (which I proud of myself for doing) I went to Cúrica for the day, change of clothes and all!

Cúrica is a small, ‘quaint’ little town that reminded me a lot of Hollis, and Old Homes Day. Since we got there before the festival officially started, my friends and I climbed the small hill at the East end of town, which provided a stunning view of the town and surrounding area:

At the top of the hill was a gathering of some sorts, celebrating the 100^th anniversary of a school in the town. Included was a group of boy and girl scouts: when I told some of them that I too was a scout, they all gathered together to let their “sister scout from the United States” take their picture!

Also at the summit were preparations for a wedding reception. They even had an entire pig they were preparing to roast on a spit over some coals!

The grape harvest festival commenced with the typical speeches of politicians and other famous figures. This year they had invited some people from Belgium to partake in the festivities: I do not fully understand the significance of this, but we got to see some traditional Belgian dances! At the Cúrica festival there is an annual “Wine Queen” of the festival, a young woman who is chosen ‘by the people’, and gets to partake in different functions of the festival. One activity she is key in is the “weighing of the queen”. They have a large balance, and place the queen on one side, measuring her against bottles of wine on the other side. However much the queen weighs she gets to take home!

Another tradition is the grape stomping contest: teams of 4 with a 5^th captain are given the challenge of stomping as much pure juice out of grapes as possible within 7 minutes, the way wine was produced in ancient times. The team with the most juice is the winner. Belgium had an honorary team that was amusing to watch, as they were fairly clueless to the process, but were having a good time anyway!

 

A highlight of the grape harvest festival was the food: there were stands set up that had everything from empanadas to jugo natural to pebre on tortillas to Chinese food to what we refer to as “meat on a stick”. (Known to Chileans as Brochetas and Anticuchos). It was all delicious. The festival also included a section of artisans, including jewelry, leatherwork, chocolates, and more. However, my favorite part was the wine tasting! It was a dollar a ‘taste’, but each ‘taste’ was about half a glass: thus, my friends and I would each get a different type and share. My favorite ended up being the wine produced by the company whose workers won the grape stomping contest.

The afternoon provided some cultural performances, including the Cueca, the traditional dance of Chile, performed by young dancers. We also wandered through some of the street markets next to the Plaza del Armas, where a young girl from Easter Island started asking me questions because she heard me speaking in English. (My favorite of which, (asked in Spanish) was why Americans say “yes” all the time. I had to respond by asking why Chileans say “si” all the time!) She took my picture so I asked to take one with her as well:

To conclude, it was a busy week, and the upcoming one is looking to be a lot of work as well, but I’m having a great time in Chile, meeting the people, becoming acquainted with the culture and overall just taking in all in. 

Week 3

It's amazing to look at the different degrees of difficulty between hearing a language and being able to speak that same language. After 3 weeks of Spanish bombardment I find that I can sit and listen to a lecture for an hour and a half and understand about 85% of the material, yet when my host family has a conversation over dinner I struggle to discern what the topic is. However, my goal was to greatly improve my Spanish while here, and I do believe that there has been at least a little improvement thus far!

I finished my first (official) week of classes on Thursday afternoon. Overall it was a fairly uneventful process: I went to classes, I took notes, and then I left wondering how I would pass! (All a normal day's thought process.) Despite the difficulty with the language barrier, the students in my classes have been extremely helpful and amicable, and I can't thank them enough.

Outside of class I had a bunch of opportunities to experience Chilean culture. Sunday morning I joined my host siblings for Mass. I must admit that I had close to no idea what was going on, but it was a very enjoyable experience nevertheless. Unfortunately there was no organ in the church we visited: music was provided by a solo guitarist and sung without the aid of hymnals or other written materials. Most of the process was a complete mystery, but I did recognize the Nicene Creed and snippets of Amazing Grace!

Thursday night CAUC (an organization whose goal is to bring together exchange students and Chilean students at PUC) hosted a get-together at a local discoteca, which I attended with some friends from IES. We met students from all over the world, including (but not limited to) Australia, France, Italy, Mexico, Equador, and others. It was a great opportunity to meet other students experiencing the same challenges as I am but with whom I had to communicate in Spanish. (Good practice!) Hopefully I'll get to interact more with these acquaintances more in the upcoming weeks!

IES offered a tour of the historical part of Santiago with a professor of history on Friday, so I got up early to explore that area of the city, which I haven't had a chance to see much of thus far. I've included a picture of La Moneda again because it has Argentinian flags flying out front: the president of Argentina visited Chile this weekend! That evening I also got to attend an event that I thought would be an opera, but ended up being a symphony concert including some famous opera pieces, sung by international performers, in an open-air amphitheater in the middle of a busy Santiago street. The climax of the performance was the encore: the mambo from West Side Story. The conductor invited audience members to come up and dance on stage, and a friend immediately got up and sprinted to be part of the entertainment! See pictures below (of both events):

Saturday was a dia of descanso for me. I spent the morning helping my host brother with math homework: since my knowledge of mathematical terms in Spanish is limited to about 2 words I was trying to explain in Spanglish, while he responded in Spanish too rapid to comprehend. It was an interesting experience, but a good way to spend the morning! During the afternoon I attended a youth group meeting at the invitation of a friend in one of my classes. The other members were incredibly nice and super patient with my lack of Spanish knowledge, which provided a welcoming atmosphere. For those who read my blog and have gone to Workcamp, it was somewhat similar to the nightly meetings: we sang songs and shared stories and listened to a message from the youth pastor. One of the songs was even the same as another I know, but in Spanish! To wrap up the day I brought home a bottle of wine to share with my host mom, and we sat and chatted and shared stories. (She tells me Spanish gets easier when you've had a little to drink, but I'm not so sure!)



So that was my week...the following is my perception and observations of Chilean food. Read on if you like! (This is partly for the benefit of Senora Roy's class: good luck with your food projects!)

Food in Chile is really bland. This isn't overall bad, except when you're craving flavors and some rich spices, but can't find them. For meals my host family provides two types of ahi (hot pepper) toppings: a powder literally made of crushed ahi, and a salsa-ish substance that includes ahi.

For those not familiar with Latinamerican culture, it is typical that lunch be the largest meal of the day, served around 2-3pm, with a small breakfast and either a smaller dinner or a meal called 'once' (like the number). Breakfast is usually some bread with your choice of smushed avocado, jelly, butter, or nothing and some Nescafe coffee powder stuff. (They don't drink coffee from beans here: just the Nescafe stuff. Luckily I don't enjoy coffee, so I'm not craving for it!) Once is similar, and may include some cookies or juice.

The weirdest meal I've had was the following: a bed of lettuce with lemon juice, topped with 'puree' (mashed potatoes) topped with an egg sunny-side-up. Sounds disgusting, but was surprisingly good! They also have the stereotypical Latino foods, like empenadas or pastel de choclo (corn) or sopaipillas. However, food can also be really strange such as the above, or what is referred to as a "completo". This delicacy is a hotdog covered in mayonaise and avocado and tomato. They also have a dish called "Pollo/Carne Pobre", which is basically a piece of meat with french fries and an egg sunny-side-up. (Anything 'pobre' has french fries). I was also served Chilean cake: it was a layer of cake, topped by a thick layer of strawberry yogurt, and jello as the finishing touch. Really strange, but oddly delicious! I don't have pictures, but you can google any of the above to get a better idea of what I'm talking about. My favorite food thus far is a tie between manjar (almost the same as Dulce de Leche) and pebre (like salsa, but served on bread and with a Chilean twist!).

As for drinks, Chile is famous for both it's wine and it's Pisco. Pisco is an alcohol produced by the fermentation of a special type of grape, and is typically mixed with soda or other fruity flavors to be served. (It is a hard alcohol, not wine.) There are also drinks particular to Chile, including 'mote-con-huesillos' which is a special kind of wheat and peach juice, taken cold, or 'jote', a mix of red wine and Coca Cola.

My host mom says that for a Chilean I'd be considered picky, because I don't like ensalada de tomate (which is literally just cut tomatoes on a plate; not salad), mushrooms, or fish. I thought I was doing well with not being too choosy, but I guess not! However, I have yet to find a food I can't stand. There are a lot more things that I've eaten and not listed above, so if you'd like more information let me know! I'd be happy to talk more about my eating experiences!

Week 2

The diversity of Chilean terrain is astounding. Within two weeks I have traveled and experienced valleys, mountains, deserts, rock lands, and miles upon miles of gorgeous coastline. The cities I have seen range from the bustling and heavily polluted Santiago to the windy cliffs of Valparaiso to the sandy beaches of La Serena. It will never cease to amaze me the diversity that is found in this skinny, yet extremely long (it’s about as long as Texas is wide) country.

  

This week was the official time to start looking at and choosing classes. The Pontifica Universidad de Chile (PUC) allows exchange students to “try out” and experience as many different classes as they like within the first week before officially registering. I took advantage of this opportunity to see if I could even understand the professor, let alone the material! After some thinking and finagling, I have settled on the following schedule:

M,W,F      Sociology (at PUC)

M,W         Spanish (required, at IES)

T,R           History of Music 1 (at PUC)

W             Chorus (PUC)

Going to school in Ithaca has made me fairly oblivious to how large universities work. While I can roll out of bed and be in class in five minutes in NY, school in Santiago is a whole different story. There are no dorms for any students, so I’m in the same boat as everyone else with my commute, but it’s definitely been a new experience. My classes are in three different locations, the closest fifteen minutes (walking) from my house, the furthest over an hour. Since public transportation is expensive when used frequently, I bought a bike to make my daily commute(s) faster and to save money. Many Chileans have bikes, and there is even a bike lane built into the sidewalks of major roads to facilitate pedestrian traffic.

Below is a picture of the building I have music classes in. It’s a converted monastery, and one of the prettiest places I have ever seen.

Being the last chunk of time I’ll have before classes really start, I took this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to make a trip up to La Serena, about 7 hours north of Santiago. The buses here are very comfortable: it felt more like a flight than a bus ride! (You could borrow a pillow and blanket, seats reclined and had footrests, you were served a snack, etc.) While it was a long ride, the scenery traveling North was incredibly scenic. La Serena is the second oldest city in Chile, complete with some pretty churches, craft fairs in the central plaza, and 6km of beach-filled coastline.

There were seven friends from my program that made the trip to La Serena. We stayed in a hostel together, where we met other American exchange students, as well as travelers from around the world, including Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and Brazil. During our day we experienced the local cuisine, visited the Archeological Museum (see picture of Easter Island Head!) and camped out on the beach, enjoying our last few days of relaxation prior to the beginning of classes.

Week 1

While it's not the most exciting thing to have occurred throughout this past week, I find it necessary to describe the plane ride, because it was pretty awesome. LAN airlines is based out of Santiago, and has all of the following amenities on board:
-Large seats with FOOTRESTS!
-Individual television screens with countless hours of FREE movies and TV shows
-Unlimited free wine with dinner

Needless to say it was pretty awesome, if not the most comfortable 10 hours of my life.

Arriving in Santiago I was hit by a blast of warm air: while I haven't yet figured out the conversion between Celsius and Fahrenheit yet, I'd approximate it to be around 85-90 degrees during the day, and a balmy 70 at night. Two employees of IES were there to greet me and direct me to the van that would bring me to my home. After what would be considered a short amount waiting if one were to speak in terms of Chilean time (about 2hrs) a van with four students and their luggage (myself included) set off to homes. Being the first to arrive at my home stay, I had no idea what to expect, but was greeted kindly with a kiss to the cheek by each of my host siblings: Jose Tomas and Maria Jesus. The following are a few shots of my street:

A few minutes later I was introduced to my host grandma Sonya and, when she got home from work, my host mom Vivi. Living with them thus far has been very easy, as I'm in good company and have plenty of good food!

While I've spent the majority of time this past week in IES orientation, I have had the chance to meet some genuine Chileans and to experience the area. A few notable things about Chile that I've been getting used to:

-You pay to park at supermarkets. While this doesn't affect me (there's one 5 minutes away walking) you are also expected to tip the students who bag your groceries. My host brother later informed me that the tips are their only form of income, as the supermarket itself does not pay these employees. 

-The police here are called Carabineros  (not policia). The school to train police is about 2 blocks from my residence, as is the 'mansion' that the head of the police department lives in. The neighborhood I live in is extremely safe. The picture on the right is of the police training center. 

-You do not put toilet paper in the toilet. Because many of the pipes are old, they will break from flushing excess paper. (It took a few tries to get used to this.)

-Hot water is not automatic: you have to turn on the gas every time you want to have hot water. This isn't too big a deal, but I've heard horror stories of other students who didn't want to ask again how to start the heat and had to take freezing cold showers!

-If you have bare feet inside you WILL be asked if you are cold (despite the weather conditions) and it is assumed you will soon have a cold.

-"Salad" is not a mix of veggies over lettuce or spinach. Rather, it is chopped vegetable. AKA a bunch of lettuce or chopped tomato (only). This can be seasoned with lemon juice, oil, and salt.

-There are no schedules in Chile. The public transportation comes when it comes and that's all you can expect. I've found this to be the hardest part of Chilean life to get used to, but I am working hard to adjust to "tiempo chileano" and not worry about exact times. 

There are far more interesting tidbits than I've described above, but I figure my audience is probably yawning by this point, so I shall wrap up with a few final locations of importance.

On Saturday I had the privilege of visiting two other cities, Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. The colorful houses built into the hillside are the former, and the gorgeous beaches with NH-temperature water are the latter. Valparaiso also had a ton of murals throughout the streets, one of which I've included below. Also noteworthy of Vina is the phenomenal dessert we were served at the upscale hotel where we ate lunch. It was so pretty I took a picture of it:

Finally, today I visited La Moneda, the "White House" of Chile. (Except the president only works there, he/she doesn't live there.) A picture is presented below:

Thanks for taking the time to read this week's post! I'll do my best to keep it up next week as well!

Introduction

Hi everyone! You're probably reading this blog because I sent you the link, and you want to know what I've been up to in Chile. Well, describing all the cool things I've seen and done thus far would take quite a while, so I'm going to bullet some of the highlights below, and see if I can't figure out this program!
Thanks for reading,
Becky
PS. I'm going to try to keep up a weekly post on Sunday, so check for it then, if you wish to become one of my faithful readers!