Back to the US of A

So I have now returned back to the states after six months of living in Chile. When I first arrived, I felt like December 19 would never arrive, but now that the date has come and gone, I have deep feelings regarding my departure from Santiago. I have had to move many times before and I am accustomed to saying goodbyes. Nonetheless, in the past I have felt ready to move on to new opportunities--that is to say, ready to say move forward to something new. Being in Santiago though, I definitely did not feel that way which made saying goodbye so much more difficult. It is such an awkward time to be leaving: I was not there long enough to feel like I really made an impact or established myself in the city. I just recently felt like I got to a point where I had a nice social networks of friends and peers. Only recently have I had more confidence which has allowed me to relax a bit regarding speaking Spanish--although I definitely could use a lot more time to polish my skills off even more. All in all, I have a sense that I did not accomplish everything that I would have wanted to in order to feel like it was my time to move on, again, to other opportunities. Who knows, as my departure date crawled closer, my consciousness of it grew greater and I think it provoked me to try and spend as much quality time with those I care for--something emotionally silly to do because it just made it that much more difficult to leave. Sadly, since I spent so much time working on graduate school applications (which, by the way are done, just waiting to start hearing from schools next month), I think I spent a lot of time looking forward rather than living in the moment... So, now I am left to reflect on my time there and hope that I return soon. For my first several months in Chile I was not really convinced that it was the country for me... I mean, living in a new place, it is easy to fantasize about whether or not it is a place I could possible spend my life living. However, in my final two months I reaffirmed to myself a very important reality of my life: the place I live is just the place I live--what makes it special are the people with whom I share my life. At this moment in time I have so many people that I care about in Santiago that I would move back in a heartbeat (although there are of course countless people in the states that I would do the same for, and am excited to see again now that I am home). Knowing myself, and having experienced the same in the past, I know that I will move past this... and the emotions will fade, the desire to go back immediately will release its hold on me, and I will continue on to other great things. So, what is it that I will miss, and what am I glad to be done with?

THINGS I MISS

TranSantiago. The metro and bus system in the city is great and I am going to feel weird having to drive myself around again.

AfterOffice. This is a great party-club atmosphere that is done every Wednesday night with around 1,500 guests. During my final months in Santiago, by coincidence I because dear friends with the organizer and several of his friends. The party was great, but what kept me going week after week were the people I befriended... and maybe just a tiny bit, the free drinks and top VIP access I was continually showered with ;) I have joked around with friends that it will be hard going back to my none-celebrity lifestyle in Colorado!

Politics. As some of you may recall, politics was quite an uneasy topic for me in Chile, but now I really enjoy the topic and feel like I understand it quite well.

Café Concepto. A block away from the apartment was a café that I visited several times a week, for hours at a time, where I knew the baristas well and felt like home. On top of that, I was even able to get work done there!

Travel. Being abroad is a great excuse to travel as much as possible, and although I did not feel like I wanted to travel ALL of the time (I do enjoy being home and having down time), I did thoroughly enjoy how easy it was the travel around the area and enjoy what Chile had to offer.

Drop-in visits. It was so easy to just call up a friend and hang out or do something since everyone was nearby and transportation was so easy.

Speaking Spanish. Although I always complained about Chilean Spanish... I do miss speaking it and hearing it around me. I think I was finally getting to a point where I was absorbing a lot of new vocabulary. I need to find a way to keep using it...

Santiago. I really enjoyed being in a big city. From all of the cultural opportunities around me, to the hustle and bustle of city life--I miss being around it all. It is funny for me to drive around the Boulder area and have, well, empty space everywhere.

Fresh fruits and veggies. It was so easy and cheap to eat tons of great produce. Strawberries, grapes, tomatoes, avocado, the list goes on. Now it is back the the same old stuff... apples, bananas, and oranges.

THINGS I'M FINE NOT SEEING AGAIN

Stray dogs. It is a running joke among many that you know you have arrived in Chile if you see stray dogs on the street. Maybe it is that I am not much of a dog lover, or maybe it is that I am too worried about the fact that the dogs probably need a bath, but I did not have much of an issue leaving the dogs behind (although I am excited to see our dog Bailey!).

The door man. The guy that worked as our doorman during the day always did well to make me feel unwelcome to return back to the building. Just like many people probably would say I do well, he gave me some of the most unwelcoming and accusing looks that I received during my time. Thanks buddy!

PDI. La policía de investigaciones, who are responsible for passport control and customs at the airport were always guaranteed to make me feel like a failure at life every time we had the pleasure of encountering one another. During my recent disembarkation from Santiago, the agent felt it was her responsibility to correct my behavior when I apparently tossed my chilean ID card at her when she asked for it. I was informed that Chileans know better than to engage in such a behavior and that I should learn the same. The only behavior I engaged in at that point was the type in which I held my tongue-- because God knows that woman is not my mother!

That For Which I'm Grateful

So most of the time, I feel like there is not much legitimate culture to share with the world that comes from the States.... unless you consider pop-culture to be culture. Luckily, Thanksgiving is one of the few exceptions that I have found, and I quickly jumped on the opportunity to share this experience with friends here in Chile. Last Friday, I had the opportunity to host 20 gusts at the apartment to share with them what Thanksgiving is

all about, representing the States, Chile, Germany, Finland, Sweden, the UK, Australia, and Holland. To be honest, I was slightly terrified that the meal would be a success, as it definitely was the first time that I have prepared a Thanksgiving meal. There were definitely a lot of barriers that we came across in the preparation of the meal as well. It was nearly impossible to find a turkey (which did not even turn out to be the whole turkey), we could not find pumpkin to make a pumpkin pie, I had to search high and low for yams, we could only find cream of chicken soup rather than cream of mushroom for the green beans, the pecans for pie cost $25 US, and we came across cherry pie filling by accident. Two friends and I spent 2 full days in the kitchen preparing the meal, I alone spent at least 18 hours in the kitchen those two days... my feet definitely hurt. However, it was totally worth the effort, as everyone had an incredible time--it was great to see the expressions of friend's faces when you would tell them what was served... the concept most difficult to understand was eating potatoes that were sweet, haha. It also felt really good to celebrate Thanksgiving, considering that I was not able to be at home to celebrate with friends and family, and it is one of the few holidays that is truly cherished in the states. I think that the highlight of the whole night, though, was when literally all 20 people stopped and listened to five of us argue... just like a real family Thanksgiving! The fight was over the proper conjugation of the verb 'gustar' (meaning to like), as it is different from normal verbs... we still have not determined who won the debate.

THE MENU...

• 1 Turkey
• 2 Hams
• 34 Potatoes for Garlic Mashers
• 12 Yams for Sweet Potatoes
• Green Bean Casserole
• 5 Small Loaves of Bread for Stuffing
• 15 HUGE Asparagus
• Gravy Made From Scratch
• 2 Bowls of Salad & Vinaigrette From Scratch
• 24 Rolls
• 1 Cherry Pie from Scratch
• 1 Pecan Pie from Scratch
• 2 Kilos of Fresh Strawberries

What's it all about, anyways?

So lately I have been having an internal struggle that is often on my mind when it's on idle... you know, when your brain has no difficult computation to makes and is just... there, conserving energy until the next time it has something to do. I guess you could say that it is a question to the effect of, "what's important in life?," but for me the question goes deeper. The question is not about how I spend my time, but how I value life and the instruments that I use to value it.

So what could I possibly be struggling over? I consider how I spend my time, how I spend my money, and what my theories and ideas of our world are, but I realize that all of these... I dunno, aspects of my reality do not quite match up as I would expect. I say that I believe in parity for everyone, but my actions do not align. What does it mean that I am willing to spend money on new technologies that I will enjoy, but I ignore a grassroots advocate who asks for support of their campaign? How is it that I think that all life has value, yet I cannot bring myself to look a homeless person in the eye when I walk to class? When you are in a place of privilege looking down, it is easy to ignore the realities and hardships of others around you. However, not for me, not anymore. I feel like I am in an intermediate where I know that I need to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, but I feel like it would be so much more comfortable to retreat to the securities in which I have learned to identify, forgetting the experiences of others.

A few of you probably do not understand what I am trying to say, a few probably have felt the same way before, and a few of you may say that I am accidently turning into a communist! But that is not the point. The point is that I am trying to determine how to remove the dissonance I currently experience in my life and continue moving towards a place of social action. I want to be able to determine what's important in my life by the impact I am making and the experiences I am having, not by the amount of goods I have in my name or the associations I have made in my life. To me this is not political, it is just me appreciating my interaction with the world around me. So yes, reading this, it looks cheesy, but this is what my mind mulls over, day after day, as I wonder when I will come to a resolution!

Back from my Break

It's customary to take a break from blogging in October, right? I mean, the internet needs a break every once in a while from me hogging up all of its space... Yes, yes, I am quite aware that I have not written a blog in a long time. A VERY long time... so I am here to correct this grave error. So what is there to say about a month in your life? I guess we'll find out together...

TRAVEL LIFE

I took two great trips during October. On one weekend, I took a bus 10 hours south, and, guess what? The follow weekend I took a bus 10 hours north!

The trip south was with a group of guy friends to stay at the house of one of my friend's brother. The first day that we were there, we went to a town called Entre Lagos (meaning "between lakes," and you would be correct to assume that the town was next to a bunch of lakes!) and stayed in a cabana. While we were there we went hiking in a national forest, and let's just say that I need to start working out more consistently if I am going to going hiking with that crew again! The next two days were spent driving around to different cities in the southern part of Chile, including Puerto Montt, Puerto Arenas, and Valdivia. There is some amazing history to be told about those areas, but I will not bore you! I will note though, that Valdivia is the location of the largest earthquake to be recorded in history--the town was completely destroyed and a huge tsunami decimated the region. We had an absolutely awesome time. Check out the pictures to the right!

The trip to the north was a totally last minute thing (which took its tool on my check book) but was also a great time. The intention of the trip was the see a phenomena called 'flowering desert,' in which seeds in this desert region grow when there is enough rain that year; however, the information we had was wrong and there was only limited flowering desert! Nonetheless, we still had a great time and made a lot of the weekend. Some of the highlights include taking a four hour stroll on the beach (where my feet got so sunburned that they did not even start peeling until recently--gross!), seeing total desert back up to the pacific ocean (an amazing juxtaposition), and staying overnight in a cabana in a tiny village with only like 50 inhabitants that live there to fish. Again... pictures to the right.

SCHOOL LIFE

I am so happy to say that I have only two weeks of school left! I am so thrilled to be done with classes. Here is the thing, I enjoy my courses, but I am getting bored with the topics. I dunno, maybe it is because I am not being challenged enough in the classes, or maybe it is because I am used to only taking one class at a time and getting down with it after a month. Whatever the reason, I am counting down the days until I am done. Being the good student that I all of the sudden became while I was here, I have done a really nice job of working on final projects ahead of time, so while everyone else is stressed right now, I only have two more projects to finish in the next two weeks. One realization I had a while back is that I am working way too hard for the credit I will get from the classes... I only need to "pass" my classes to have the credit transfer to Cornell, and I have A equivalents in all three classes. I guess we will just say I am doing to work so I can have the personal satisfaction of learning as much as I have.

SOCIAL LIFE

It is sad for me that I only have a little bit of time left before I leave the friends that I have made here. I suppose I am ready for it, as I have done it a million times before, but it always stinks. The nice thing is that it is so easy to stay in touch with people now-a-days so I know that the relationships that are most important will maintain. We have had a few great get-togethers recently that I have really enjoyed.

GRADUATE SCHOOL LIFE

As of now, I have completed 6 of my 14 graduate school applications. Once I put my mind to it, I will finish the other ones very quickly as well: all I need to do is modify my personal statement for the remaining schools and submit it with the application and I am set. From there it is a waiting game where I will need to start practicing getting rejected, because there is a lot of that to come! Remember, these schools are accepting like 4-6 students out of 100 or more. Yikes!

SPANISH SPEAKING LIFE

I chose the wrong country to feel good about speaking Spanish! I still feel incredibly defeated regarding my skills and it is so frustrating! Of course my Spanish gets better every day, but I am positive that I would feel so much more confident if I were to be speaking in a different country.

What did you actually DO?

There are probably at least three or four of you out there in cyber space that are slightly curious to know what I did on my trip to Colombia (I considered saying five, but I want to stay realisitc...). Well, the three or four of you can read on as I am about to indulge you, the rest of you can go ahead and log off!

I actually went on the trip with a German friend of mine, Johanna (she is the "so what do you think of abortion?" girl, to give you some perspective!). After a five hour, early morning flight, we arrived in Bogotá at about 3 PM. Johanna has a Colombian friend named Ana that she met on previous travels, and Ana was gracious enough to meet us at the airport. I spent the afternoon with the girls, and then met up with Jorge and his girlfriend later in the evening. It turns out that I spent a fair amount of time with Ana and Johanna while they were in Bogotá because Jorge is in medical school and has a pretty demanding schedule, but it worked out great because I had a great time with both of them.

There were a lot of great places that I visited, but I think the highlight would have the be the Catedral de Sal, or the Salt Cathedral. About an hour outside of Bogotá there is an active salt mine in which this cathedral was built. After an area has been completely exploited, a huge dwelling remains, that is nearly as long as a football field, probably 75 feet wide and 125 feet tall. After mining the area, there is no use for this space, so the miners decided to create a mine, reflecting their religiosity as well as desire to be protected by the patron saint of mining (I cannot remember the name...) since their work is extremely dangerous. The cathedral is comprised of many different parts, all with symbolic meanings. There is a large part that is meant to represent symbolic parts of Christ's life towards his crucifixion. There is also a large part that is actually a cathedral that has a huge cross carved into stone. Other highlights include the reflection pool and the movie theatre. Besides the sheer size of the cathedral, all of the lighting made the experience awesome.

Another great place that I visited was the Museo de Oro, or the Gold Museum. The museum hosts thousands of relics from pre-Colombian societies. It was simply awesome to see all of these pieces. Although it was a little bit repetitive after a while, I definitely enjoyed the experience. There was a really cool exhibit that showed how archaeologists excavate relics and how they interpret their findings. The best exhibit was a huge oval room with literally thousands of gold pieces hanging on the wall around you. After walking in, doors close behind you and it is pitch black. Soon, a light show starts, along with sounds of what is thought to be of an indigenous offering to the gods. The lights illuminate different parts of the room, and along with the sounds, it creates an incredible inundation of the senses. Along with this, other highlights include the Botanical Gardens, the Botero Museum (Botero is the artist that is well known for his pieces that exacerbate the physical body size of the people, making them almost reminiscent of a cartoon), and the National Museum, that had an interesting piece on Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and other revolutionary artists of Mexico and how it influenced Colombia.

There is also some great night life in Bogotá. Although I never went out alone, there were a few times that I went out with friends. It was really cool to meet a bunch of Jorge's friends as they were really fun and seem really kind. It was also a lot of fun to go out dancing. The area that we spent time in was called the T-Zone. I guess you could think of it like a pedestrian mall like Pearl Street in Boulder, or the Ped Mall in Iowa City, but I have to say, there was a lot more going on there and I would choose to go out there than the others hand down if I had the choice!

As for my cultural experience in Colombia, I think it was pretty unique. One thing that I said once I got back to Chile was, "I like that there is some latin cultural influence in Colombia, mixed with western culture," however, I quickly was corrected, begin told, "and what exactly is latin culture?" I still have not come up with the answer, and I am not sure if I will, or if it is just an expectation I have in my head of Spanish speaking countries. One aspect that I definitely enjoyed was the food their. There is a lot of food that you can find anywhere, but there also were a lot of regional foods available, and I did my best to eat as much Colombian food as I could get my hands on (I also bought a used cook book to try it out myself!). Seriously though, I absolutely loved my time in Colombia and would like to return soon. I only saw areas around Bogotá, and although it was nice having a lot of time there to do a lot of different things, I would enjoy to see other parts of Colombia as well.

...And a little bit about what I have been up to now that I am back. Last Friday, I felt an earthquake, but when I asked people about it, they looked at me like I was crazy and I could not find any information about it so I gave up. WELL, it turns out there WAS one... just that it was too small for people to notice or care, ha. It was a weird sensation though, feeling like your insides were wobbling, like you are being scrambled. It was only small, but definitely disorienting knowing that the earth literally is shaking below you (and you are 4 stories up!). Other than that, things continue to go well in classes. I have finally gotten some papers back, and got a 6.6/7 (like a 94%) on my first psychology paper, and a 7/7 on a paper about Pablo Neruda (did you catch that they grade on a scale of 7 here?). Considering class, I am still surprised how readily time is wasted in my classes, yesterday class started a half of an hour late and we chatted about a lot of ridiculous stuff, including pretty much every political and religious belief (or, perhaps disbelief) the professor has. The highlight of my time back would have to be going to the opera last night. I saw Turandot in box seats just to the right of the orchestra pit. Amazing.

"Ooo aah, ooo aah, my boyfriend's back"

After a wonderful trip, I am now back in Chile! Where, you ask? I spent nine awesome days in Bogotá, Colombia. Those of you from high school know Jorge, one of the international students that spent a year at Peak to Peak. Well, connecting that dots, you may have come the the correction conclusion that I indeed went to Bogotá for a visit!

To be honest, I did not have high expectations of going to Colombia because, well, the country does not really receive positive attention from a US perspective (although, in all fairness I hear time and time again from international friends I meet that the US also has a pretty shameful reputation as a country, perhaps this is a good blog entry for another day). In the US, Colombia is often associated with drug trafficking and insecurity, and as a South American country, I believe that many people fixate on the fact that it is a developing nation rather than a first world country. So yes, I admit that with these thoughts in the back of my mind I was hesitant to go. However, my preconceptions were kicked soon after arriving in Colombia and I have fallen in love with the country (in fact, the tourism slogan for Colombia is el riesgo es que te quieras quedar, the risk is that you will want to stay--a little bit dorky but pretty much true).

So, yes, Colombia does have some security problems still and there are issues with drug trafficking, but as a nation these concerns have been addressed and security gets better and better every day. There are policia everywhere, and security guards posted at literally every public building. You cannot enter a mall without having your bag searched, a museum without going through a metal detector, or a parking garage without having your car inspected by a bomb-sniffing dog. There are still risky areas in which revolutionary groups such as the FARC has control, but as a smart traveler or a Colombian resident, you know the appropriate ways to stay safe and make good choices.

Enough about all of that debbie-downer stuff, there are so many great things about Colombia that deserve to be proclaimed to the world! With Spanish as a second language, Colombia is the perfect place to go if you want to feel successful in your ability to communicate, it's great--they speak like the textbooks tell you they will! I know that sounds silly, but it really can be disappointing to spend years learning a language, and then try to use the language in a place where you feel like you have learned nothing. Luckily, I have gotten used to how they speak here in Chile (remember that they take pride in speaking to worst form of Spanish there is!), but I totally felt defeated as I got used to it all. On top of that, I am not accustomed using so many words and phrases that are Chilean, that when I used them in Colombia, they had not clue what I was saying... thanks for that one Chile... ha. To be fair, all countries have certain phrases and words that they use. In Colombia, I was reminded of the word chévere, to mean "cool." They also used this word in México, which makes me think that they probably use it in Central America as well, but I totally forgot about it, which is good because if I use it here in Chile I can guarantee I will be laughed at. Here, bácan (not bacon, that would be tocineta) is used, and it actually has caught on in other places as well. In Colombia, they also say the infamous Chilean huevón, having literally 15 uses/ derivatives, but most commonly used for "dude," "dork," or "a-hole." One phrase that I enjoyed was instead of saying, ¿cómo estás?, many people would say, ¿qué más?, "what more?" as in, "what more do you have to tell me about what's going on in your life?"

Since Bogotá is a large city in South America, it was fun for me to notice similarities and difference as compared to Santiago (mind you that these are all personal observations!). I feel like Santiago does a better job of public services... for example, the parts of Santiago I have spent time in are always extremely clean. I think I have mentioned this before, but they pay tons a people that are responsible for keeps sidewalks, parks and streets impeccably clean. Another example is public transportation--in Santiago the bus system runs extremely efficiently and there is a state-of-the-art metro system. In Bogotá, public transportation is not governed by the municipality, and because of that, it's a nightmare. There are a few main thoroughfares that have a system called the Transmilenio that is like a normal bus system, but it's very limited. On all of the other streets there are OLD privately owned buses that have between 8 and 15 rows of seats, called busetas or colectivos. Each one is different than the other, and many are totally pimped out the the driver's liking. They cause huge traffic issues, as they drive extremely dangerously, I mean, I cannot even describe how dangerously they drive, and they stop wherever they want to in order to let people on and off of the bus; there are not consistent bus stops. Considering driving, the Colombians drive like maniacs, and enjoy their horns like Chileans do. The only difference is Chileans honk sitting in traffic, whereas Colombians honk when they are cut off, which happens roughly every 2 seconds. In Bogotá, I was surprised to see that all motorcyclists were required to wear a very unfashionable vest that has their license plate number on it while driving, very foreign to me (I am told it is a safely measure). Here in Santiago, there are stray dogs all over the place, whereas the parts that I saw in Colombia only had an occasional stray. A welcomed difference was that shopping in Colombia was a lot less expensive that Chile, although Chile is still less expensive than shopping in the US. This is interesting though because as a country, my understanding is the Chile is poorer than Colombia (but I cannot like, I have not actually verified this). Both countries have lots of street vendors (although in Colombia a lot of people sell things out of jimmied up shopping carts and in Chile there tend to be more kiosks), and both love eating ice cream!

I think that my favorite thing that Colombia does that I have not seen anywhere else in the world is the sale of minutes. Sounds weird, right? Well, the phenomenon that has developed is that rather than people using pay phones to call people, there are vendors EVERYWHERE that will sell you minutes to use a cell phone to make a call! They have vests on that say minutos or attach some type of sign to themselves to advertise they are available. It is an art form, some people will have cell phones for every single type of provider and offer you a choice of which service you want, some people put the cell phone on a chain so you cannot run away, and the cost varies depending on who you use, ranging from 100 to 300 Colombian pesos a minute ( US $0.05-$0.15 a minute). Why not use your own phone you ask? Turns out that there are different fees for calling a phone within your network our outside of your networks, and once people use up their alloted minutes, they can no longer make out-going calls unless they recharge. So, it can be economical to use your local minutes dealer than use your own phone. The next time you are walking down the street and you hear, "¡llamadas, llamadas!" (calls, calls!) or, "minutos," you will know exactly what's up!

Well this looks like enough for today, I will do my best to post again soon and talk some about what I actually DID in Bogotá!

Re: Out of Office Notification

¨I will be out of the office until September 24 and will get back to you as soon as I can.¨

Really though, I am going to be out of town for the next nine days but look forward to writting all about it when I am back in town!

Spanish Update

So, I have been here in Chile for two months now, I am still thinking in English, and I have gotten very involved with the idea of whether or not my Spanish is progressing at a fast enough pace. My biggest fear is to leave Chile not feeling like I am fluent--when I expressed this to my Spanish professor I was told that there are different levels of fluency... aka, everyone uses the word but means something different by saying it. So basically, I am forever stuck in a purgatory of never knowing how to express my abilities... or disabilities... in Spanish because, ironically, the thought will be lost in communication.

When I first got here, I felt like I lacked a vast vocabulary. What I realized was that, although there were a lot of words that I needed to learn, the bigger issue was learning how to experience Spanish in a Chilean context. That is to say, know all of the local cultural influences, concepts, sayings, products, streets, landmarks, and influence of the ancient civilizations that has lived in these parts for hundreds of years. I was expecting myself to know a lot of things that I would have not had any previous exposure to since they are words and concepts unique to Chile, yet I never realized that this was the issue that I had come up against. For example, instead of calling the police policía, they are called carabineros. When going to the supermarket, they ask you if you want to pay en cuotas, which always confused me because I had no clue what it meant (making me feel like an idiot), but finally came to understand that it is normal in Chile to purchase something and pay the debt off in smaller installments rather than all at the time of the purchase. In the states, police are police and it is uncommon to pay installments directly to a retailer, rather than paying the lump sum at the time of purchase (although I suppose our solution is credit cards!).

Apart from needing to learn of the ins and outs of everyday life here, the fact does remain that in order to articulate myself better, I do need to learn more vocabulary. I keep a small notebook that probably contains 500 new words that I have read or heard, although I cannot say that I have actually learned them all! A lot of the time though, I have found that I am learning a lot of synonyms of words that I already know. It is easy to convey an idea to someone with a limited vocabulary, but to understand you need to be able to grasp onto the important words and concepts. In order to start picking up on more of these words, I have been reading the newspaper daily. I have only been consistently doing it for a week now, but already I have found it easier to read, even though there are still a lot of words I do not know. I should be watching TV in Spanish, but I did not watch it much at home, and I do not have the urge to do it here... especially considering the TV is ancient and there is not cable!

One of the other big issues that I have come up against is that, although I can effectively communicate most ideas, I feel my Spanish is currently a science rather than an art. I mean this in the sense that I always string words together that I know belong, but if you think about it, there are tons of times in English where you use a word that does not directly mean what you are trying to say, but in that specific context fits well. The first example I can think of is the Skittles one-liner, "taste the rainbow." WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT ACTUALLY MEAN? Luckily, with a strong command of English, we are able to understand what it means without thinking twice about it. I definitely am not at the point where I can use Spanish in that way. Nonetheless, with my English, I have begun to note all of the times that I use forms of slang or colloquialisms that would seem bizarre to a non-native speaker. For example, the other day I was talking to a friend in Germany and I said to him, "I bet you're eating that up," to mean that he must be loving it; right away I knew that he would not know what that means, and his response was a simple, "What?"

I was curious to know how I am doing on verbs, and so I went through my 501 Spanish Verbs book to see which ones I didn't know. I still do not know if I am happy or sad about the fact that there are 120 that I did not know. I guess the positive way to say it is that I do know 381 of the verbs in the book, and of course there are others that are not included in the book that I know as well (which conversely means that are a million more not in the book that I do not know...ha). When I get the motivation, I think I will do flash cards for those verbs I am missing. I mean, if I know the 501 most important verbs, I should be at a pretty good place in my ability to communicate...

The one thing that I am still missing is constant conversation with native speakers. Like I have said before, I try really hard to avoid English, but I may not try hard enough to find good Spanish. Many of my friends are international students, which is great, but I am not learning anything from their speaking. I am not picking up on colloquial phrases used, or hearing them speak Spanish as an art, rather that the science that my friends and I are currently doing (luckily, at this point our lab has not blown up!). And that previous side note brings me to my final point, I simply do not think that I have found my voice in Spanish. There is so much to be said about intonation and emphasis in what you are saying that helps convey a thought. If I were to say the previous side note in a monotonous voice, you would not necessarily get that I was being sarcastic and referring to my comment about art.

Well, I guess that is where my Spanish is. I can only hope that my skills progress exponentially, because I only have 3.5 months left!

Illness and Medicine Abroad

So I have learned that being sick in a different country is very different than being sick back in the states. I mean, sure, we have the same ailments in both places, but the way that people approach the sickness is completely different.

Last Tuesday, I noticed that I had a bit of a soar throat but didn't really think much of it. Wednesday I had a little bit of a stuffy nose and noticed that cigarette smoke was agitating me a lot in a café, but still went about my business. Well, Thursday came around and I woke up with sinus pressure and was stuffed up. At this point I started taking notice of what seemed to be coming over me, but it was too late. Thursday night and Friday night were miserable as what seemed to be a refrio (a cold) turned into what seemed to be a sinus infection. At this point, I started mentioning to people that I was sick, and holy cow, I was inundated by things I needed to do in order to get better. As said by my grandma, "When people get the sniffles in Chile, they stay in bed!" and I am pretty sure she is right on this one. Everyone told me that I needed to stay in bed, drink lots of liquids, and sleep. To me this seemed ridiculous because the only reason you stay in bed in the states is when you are on the verge of death! On top of thinking bed rest for a cold was over the top, a sample of some of the other things I was told to do includes, "make fresh orange juice and drink it within 10 minutes before the vitamin C disappears," "drink a beer with lemon and salt and then stay in bed (I heard this one several times, and I want to know what the purpose is of wasting a beer on sleeping!), and, "Do not be around humidity and steam because it will stuff you up," (which is just flat out wrong!).

Well, today I went to the student health clinic at the university to get what I expected would be an antibiotic for a sinus infection because that is always what I get sick with during the winter (which means that I can expect it again when I come back to the states when it is winter!). Rather than seeing a nurse first to collect all of the pointless information about me like my weight and blood pressure, I was immediately seen my the doctor (that is to say I surpassed seeing a nurse before seeing a doctor, because I definitely waited for ever, I do not think chileans are familiar with a term to express immediacy [actually they express that by saying altiro, but it is used to mean right now most of the time], but they are definitely into the concept of tipin, meaning around a general time!). After a quick visit with the doctor, she prescribed me an antibiotic for sinusiti, a sinus infection, but she did not even check to see if I was taking any other medication that might interact!

Off I went, an hour and a half after arriving at the doctor, to a farmacia to fill my recete. Here in Chile, there is basically a farmacia on every corner, but of course, the day I needed one I had to walk forever. Once I finally found one, I went in, pulled a number like I was buying luncheon meats, and waited for just a few minutes before I was seen. I told the pharmacist what I needed, showed my prescriptions to him, and in under a minute he was back with what I requested. In the states you always have to wait for insurance to go through, the time to fill the prescription, blah, blah, blah. Here is was as easy as buy chocolate at a candy shop! After finalizing my purchase, he said to have a good day and gave my my prescriptions back. I'm thinking, "What?! Why did he give me my prescriptions back?" That makes absolutely no sense to me, now I can just go and fill the prescription again at my own leisure!

Definitely interesting to see the Chilean way of dealing with sickness, although I would have been okay with never knowing in the first place! As for the bed rest, I suspect this is a sociocultural thing, meaning that the Chileans that do this are the ones that can afford to, and they likely have a maid that will take care of their every beck and call (which I definitely did not have!). Careful though, do not tell any chileans that I am out of bed writing this blog or I will get yelled at!

Viña y Valpo

Over the past weekend, I traveled an hour and a half outside of Santiago to the coast to stay with an aunt named Sandra. She lives in a city called Viña del Mar, which means vineyard of the sea in English (it was given this name because of the fact that there were so many naturally growing vines of grapes in the area when the city was founded in the 19th century). The city has around half a million people and is located right next to Valparaíso (seen in the photo), an important port city that also has over half a million inhabitants. Combined, the two cities span for miles along the Chilean coastline, allowing for an incredible view of the ocean from the land, but also a picturesque shoreline or brilliantly colored buildings and homes. The cities consist of many different hills that intertwine and make for a great vantage point at nearly every location.

I had a great time and the trip was definitely very relaxing. I really enjoy just strolling around and taking in what is going on around me, especially when it is at the ocean! There is nothing like waking up in the morning, opening the window, breathing in, and experiencing the crisp morning air. Being on the coast definitely reminded me of being in Monterrey, California where my aunt lives, as it is one of my favorite places to be. One of the marked differences between Monterrey and Viña/ Valpo is that there are dog droppings everywhere (different than in Santiago where the same phenomena happens, but gets dealt with very quickly by, I imagine, the city employees that are responsible for keeping public areas tidy!), which adds an additional element of... excitement and surprise to one's journey. One of the highlights of the trip was going to La Sebastiana, one of the three homes of Nobel Prize winning poet Pablo Neruda. The home was very interesting, full of bizarre objects, relics of the author's past, and a rich history. In fact, I have written an essay for my literature class based on my experience at the house.

Apart from my trip, everything is going well for me. I am still well ahead of schedule in regards to all of my classwork, although I have yet to get anything back from my professors--so we have yet to know if they like the work I am producing! September is an active month here in Chile. Many people celebrate the change from winter to spring that takes place right around now, although, it has been pretty dang cold these past few days! On September 11, they mark the anniversary of when the presidential palace (La Moneda) was bombed and the coup took place ousting Salvador Allende, replacing him with Augusto Pinochet. On September 18, the nation stops to celebrate its independence day (really, the entire week consists of partying), and on the 19 the country recognizes the armed forces. The entire country celebrates with barbecues (asados) and chicha (hard cider) none stop. I am told that there is a national law mandating that everyone hang a Chilean flag in their home. After building up this holiday so much, I guess it sounds silly to say that I will be traveling to Colombia during this time for 9 days to visit a friend, ha.

I'm Still Alive, I Promise!

Wow... I have not written on the blog in a week and a half... oops! What to say? I feel like I have not written in so long that I need to answer the question of, "how's everything going?" The only issue with that is, it is always the hardest question to answer. Normally, the set response is, "Things are going well... I have been in class for a month, have written two essays already, have been making a lot of great friends, and my Spanish seems to be getting a lot better." Let's see... that's 36 words to describe my entire experience of uprooting my life, moving to a different country, and starting from scratch. Seems pretty simplistic for something so drastic! I'll break it down in a very organized way (AKA the German way) to sift through what's gone down.

SCHOOL LIFE

It has been really nice to stay on top of everything so well for class. I cannot say this enough, but having done one course at a time before, I seriously get my work done so quickly and early. I suppose the fact that I am only taking three classes also contributes to the fact that I have not had an overwhelming amount of work to do. I will note that yesterday, my professor for my history and culture class randomly decided that we needed to finish a 400 page book by next Tuesday... a book that he has previously told us to casually read. One thing that has caught my attention with class is the amount of time that is literally wasted doing nothing related to learning in any way. For example, recently in my culture class we literally spent 45 minutes of the 90 minutes in class listening to the professor talk about the most random stuff. Similarly, on Monday in my psychology class the first 30 minutes of the 3 hour class were spent chatting.

SOCIAL LIFE

I definitely have been having a nice time with friends lately. My friend Niels from Germany turned 25 last weekend, so like 25 people got together to celebrate with him. (Now, I will note that we got together at my friend Fred's hostal, where he has now lived for 6 weeks... he has become really good friends with the people that work there and I doubt he will ever leave... I told him I am just going to start referring to the place as his home. The other night I went over there, cooked dinner and did his sewing--seems pretty home-y to me!). Sunday night I went to my third salsa lesson, which is getting popular with my group of friends. It went really really well. I am now at the point where I have enough trucos up my sleeve to readily do different figuras without having to think extremely hard at doing so, meaning that it all comes together much more naturally. Sometimes I still get overwhelmed and lose count which basically means that I do not mark the time and get sloppy! Last night I went out to a concert of a Chilean friend. It was really fun, although the music was different than what I normally listen to (it was in English, and I would describe it as something like The Killers), meaning that I had no clue how to jam out to it!

LOVE LIFE

If you read that and honestly thought was going somewhere, the joke's on you! Who knows the last time I dated... ha.

CORNELL LIFE

It has been pretty weird for me to know that New Student Orientation is starting up on campus and I am not there. I mean, trust me, I know that somehow they are managing to continue on without me, it just feels weird because I have been pretty involved during the past two years with it. On top of that, it is always such a fun time on campus and I feel like I am totally missing out. There have been a couple of times I have felt lonely about not being there as the school year starts off because I still have a lot of good friends on campus, but such is life. On the psychology front, my research professor and I submitted a research manuscript to the Journal of Counseling Psychology to be peer-reviewed. This is a big deal for me because I lead the research project and am first author on it. I am sure that it will be a long road to getting the paper published, but it's a start!

GRADUATE SCHOOL LIFE

Again, if you read this and thought that it was going somewhere... you were right to think it was, but the joke is still on you! I have gotten pretty lazy with my grad school applications. Luckily, before I left I had to get everything in order, so I would say I am 3/4 of the way done. However, it still remains that I need to write my 14 personal statements and applications to the individual programs. This will be a lot, but luckily I can use the same base-essay for each, and the applications are pretty basic and I have already started many of them.

SPANISH SPEAKING LIFE

I have come to the conclusion that trying to fully immerse yourself into a Spanish speaking culture is really difficult. I have realized three major set-backs: 1.) Everyone speaks English! Even if I want to escape it, there are so many people that speak it, that it is easy to ask how to say something in Spanish rather than have to use Spanish to describe the word that I lack. In addition, many people just straight up want to speak English with me. 2.) A lot of my friends are international students, and although they do not necessarily have English as their primary language, they speak it quite well, meaning that sometimes we slip into English (although I really try hard not to!). I have been meeting more people that are Chilean which is good, because that gives me to opportunity to have casual conversation in Spanish and learn from what they are saying to me. 3.) Technology. Oh my goodness I think this is the one that has been the most debilitating. I mean, it is so easy for me to be able to have epic phone conversations on Skype in English, it is easy for me to read the news in English, and the listen to English podcasts. I have intentionally tried to limit some of that exposure, but it is hard to do when it is so readily available. I mean, I would have to be a pretty big tool to just tell friends and family to forget about talking to me which I was here! Really though, I think the only way that I will ever be fully immersed is if I move to the middle of nowhere in a small indigenous town that is not accessible by anything besides a llama a some type of charm to scare off the chupacabra.

BLOG LIFE

Finally, it is revived!

It's Normal

I have been here for a month and a half now, and there are a lot of things that have become commonplace to me. A few days back, I started to think about all of the things that are now normal to me, that before definitely caught my attention.

It's normal to see people selling things on the streets. Sometimes I wonder where they get the items they sell, and how they possibly can profit by charging so little.

It's normal to see stray dogs on the street. They have better street smarts than I do.

It's normal to eat avocado on everything that is served to me here. I have taken to enjoy it very much, although I still have not been won over by the mayonnaise that people try to feed me.

It's normal to go out dancing on Wednesday night. Luckily, I do not have class until 12 the next day so I still get enough sleep.

It's normal to make food knowing that I will be the only one that will enjoy it. I guess it is also normal for me to eat alone at a restaurant; I do so every martes and jueves between classes.

It's normal to pick up on what people are talking about around me when I am in public. Before, I was pretty sure they were speaking Chinese.

It's normal to make my bed in the morning. I have never been good at doing so, but here I feel like I need to keep everything tidy.

It's normal to eat meals that lack meat since one of my friends is a vegetarian here. I have even started to intentionally buy things at the store tailored to her "lifestyle."

It's normal to use the metro, buses, and taxis to get around. Luckily, the transportation network here rocks.

It's normal to take three classes at a time rather than just taking one. Actually, I feel like I am retaining the material better than I thought I would!

It's normal to start my morning listening to the NPR News Update podcast. This way, I feel like I still have somewhat of an idea of what is going on in the world.

It's normal to shave only once every two or three days. Looks like I have gotten pretty lazy.

It's normal when things are not normal.

Nuestro Escritor Caliente

Again, no, the title is not referring to me! Today I was in class and the professor said, "¿Hay más comentarios sobre nuestro escritor caliente?" and my jaw dropped. For those of you needing a Spanish lesson, the translation: "Are there any more comments about our horny writer?" I know, not what you are expecting to hear from the professor in class, right? Some of you may recall that when using the word caliente it typically is used referring to heat, although if you want to say that someone is physically warm from the heat, it is best to use tener calor (To have heat) because saying estar caliente means to be horny, hot, aroused, etc, whatever suits your fancy! As it turns out, our author, Pablo Neruda, was in fact horny and not warm. Part of the reason why I enjoyed her saying this is because it has a religions ring to it, like when I lived in México and they would refer to Nuestro Señora Guadalupe or Nuestro Salvador Jesús. I particularly enjoy the religious reference made in my culture class today when the professor said, "todos suspenden una virgen por el espejo en su coche" meant to say, "Everyone hangs a Virgin Mary from their rearview mirror in the car," but I got much more of a kick from the interpretation, "Everyone hangs a virgin from their rearview mirror in the car." Oh what joys...

I have been quite the busy bee lately getting all of my homework done. This is very new for me, to have the time to do homework and not worry about anything else on my plate! What has come of me? I have actually enjoyed delving into some of this work because it really interests me, and I am praying that I will maintain this same stamina going through graduate school (ojalá), well, let alone the rest of this semester! Today I had two classes, and I get more and more frustrated with the US students in my classes--I can speak English well enough to take a break from using it, and it would be great if they could help me out and speak in Spanish! One thing that I recently have been getting a little nervous about is that, the more Spanish I learn, the more I feel like I know very little about speaking it. I suppose I still have 4.5 months, but my biggest fear right now is that I will not be fluent when I leave, and now is the time get it done! Really, I should not be writing this in English, I should not be chatting in English, and I definitely should not be using words in English when I cannot remember how to say them in Spanish, but... unless you are ready to speak with me in Spanish, were out of luck! I have been trying to incorporate more Spanish listening into my day by downloading a Spanish news podcast to listen to. I am also trying to catch myself when I try to formulate thoughts in English and translate them to Spanish, rather thing formulating my thoughts in Spanish structures. I am also hopeful that with the 11 essays that I will need to write this semester for my three classes (although remember, I have no tests), that this will get me thinking a lot about forming thoughts in Spanish. Maybe every once in a while I will translate a blog entry into Spanish.

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Otra vez, ¡el título no me refiere! Hoy día, estuve en la clase y la profesora dijo, “¿Hay más comentarios sobre nuestro escritor caliente?” y se cayó mi mandíbula. Para ustedes necesitando una clase de castellano, la traducción: “Are there any more comments about our horny writer?” Sé, no que alquien espera oír de la professora en clase, ¿cierto? Algunos de ustedes recordaran cuando alguien tiene calor, sea mejor decir to have heat porque decir to be hot significa estar caliente, excitado, ¡lo que quieras! Se hace, nuestro escritor, Pablo Neruda, estaba caliente de hecho y no tenía calor. Parte de la razón me disfruté lo que dijo la profesora es porque suena un poco religioso, como cuando vivía en méxico y se refirieron a Nuestro Señora Guadalupe o Nuestro Señor Jesús. En particular, disfrutí la referencia religiosa dicho por mi profesor hoy día en la clase, “todos suspenden una virgen por el espejo en su coche,” para decir, “todos suspenden una virgen (María) por el espejo en su coche,” pero prefiero la interpretación, “todos suspenden una virgen (en general) por el espejo en su coche.” Qué felicidad…

He ocupado recientemente haciendo toda de mi tarea. ¡Es algo nuevo para me, tener el tiempo para hacer la tarea sin preocuparme con otras cosas! ¿Qué me pasó? Actualmente, he disfrutado plantearme de partes de la tarea porque sí me interesa, y estoy rogando que mantendrá resistencia durante el postgrado (God willing), pues, ¡y mucho menos el resto del semestre! Hoy día hubo dos clases, y me pongo más y más frustrado con los estudiantes estadounidenses en mis clases—puedo hablar en ingles bastante bien para tomarme un descanso de usarlo, y sería excelente si ellos me ayudaran y hablaran castellano! Una cosa he puesto nervioso de es que, lo más castellano aprendo, lo más me siento como sé poco de hablar. Supongo que todavía tenga 4,5 meses, pero mi miedo más grande es que no seré fluente cuando salgo, ¡y ahora es la época hacerlo! Realmente, no debo escribir eso en ingles, no debo charlar en ingles, y definidamente no debo usar palabras en ingles cuando no los recuerdo en castellano, pero… a menos que estás listo hablar conmigo en castellano, ¡no tenemos suerte! He tratado incorporar más escuchando en castellano a mí día de manera de descargar un podcast de noticias españoles para escuchar. También, me controlo cuando me da cuenta que formulo pensamientos en ingles y traduzcolos a castellano, en vez de formular los pensamientos en estructuras castellanas. Espero que los 11 informes tenga que escribir este semestre para mis 3 cursos (acuérdate, no tengo examines), me fuerzan formar mis pensamientos en castellano. Quizá a veces traduciré un blog a castellano.

All Hail the Salsa King

Although I am sure that this is hard to believe, I am not the Salsa King who deserves everyone's undying love and showering of gifts. Salsa King is the man that dominates the dance floor, calling everyone's attention as he places a spell on the woman he has wooed into a dancing submission. Salsa King manipulates her body in a way that she did not realize she was capable, and although he is the one that deserves the attention, he humbly creates a space allowing his woman to receive all of the attention as he exhibits her on his salsa pedestal. As he is a ravenous man at heart, he moves onto his next maiden before his last partner even realizes what has happened unto her. And, although the women in the room anxiously watch the of Salsa King, they all wish that he will choose her to be his next woman to mystify. As you suspected, you are right, his hips don't lie when he starts to feel it's right.

Going salsa dancing last night was incredible! Although I have taken several salsa dancing classes in the past, I have never gone to a salsa club. I went with two friends from my program to a salsa festival that was organized with live bands. Oh man, I had a great time. Too bad, my ability to dance with a partner is pretty much non-existent because I am only capable of doing like 3 different steps and twirling my partner around in circles until she vomits. I am really interested in learning more salsa moves, especially because the man leads while dancing with a partner, and I basically suck at doing it. Nonetheless, it was so awesome to dance until 3 in the morning, although if I continue at this rate I will need a hip replacement surgery!

One day, one day, I will be the Salsa King.

Stuck in the '80s

Usually any discussion I have about the '80s stirs emotions of embarrassment and denial in both myself and the person with whom I am speaking, however, Chile never received the important memo that the '80s were done and officially disowned from the lives of millions. Here in Chile, the radio plays Brian Adams and the B-52s. Men strut down the street with pride as they sport their mullets, others with their rat tails--the elite have a combination of both. The fanny pack never was laid to rest and can be spotted at places ranging from the supermercado to the discoteca. Woman wear leggings that can only be described as utterly fabulous as they glow with sparkles and vibrant colors. And I am just going to say it because I cannot keep it in any longer: last night I met a woman wearing parachute pants! ¡Ya poh! Enough is enough! I cannot remember the word, but a friend from Germany told me that they have a word that encompasses the emotion of feeling embarrassment/ shame for someone else, well, that word is what I feel for this nation. Something is rotten in the state of Chile (raise your hand if you know this allusion)!

Well, whenever I manage to find time not consumed in agony of the '80s that fills my life, I try to do productive things with my life. Classes have been going pretty well, although, I am pretty tired of hearing all of the students from the states speaking English to one another in my literature class. These students are ones that traveled down to Chile as cohorts of students from specific universities, and I am pretty sure they just think they are in vacation. They come to class speaking English, are not prepared, do not participate and then look at the professor like she is inconveniencing them by holding class. It is great that they are taking the opportunity to experience a different culture, I guess I just have different purpose for my time compared to them.

I have fallen pretty stagnant in my interest of cooking as of recent. I think that it is because I am tired of making the same things for myself all of the time because I only cook for myself and never want to make anything overly complicated. Well, I think that I am going to try and buy a cookbook and see of I can't kick this kitchen-laziness and learn some local cuisine. I still do not know the name of any of the food that I eat when I am out, which makes me feel pretty dang incompetent!

And a few additional notes:

1.) The world for scarf in Spanish is bufanda. Whether or not you speak Spanish you can tell that is probably the most effeminate word there ever was, leading me to the sad conclusion that God only intended woman to wear scarves.

2.) The hot water did not work in the apartment from Monday through Friday evening. That being said, if you smelled something offensive last week if was probably me.

Lost in Thought and Lost in Translation

It looks like I am getting into a routine here now that I have my classes set and have been spending time with friends that I have met from the university. I am now trekking into my second week of classes and am ready to take on what the professors throw at me. Today, I had my second session of Psychosocial Trauma. The course was much different today than what I anticipated it would be like. We spent most of the class talking about social and political events that have taken place throughout history that have caused traumatic experiences for individuals. We also talked about events that cause trauma, although at a lesser degree, that give governing bodies the ability to exercise power and control over others. Normally I would find this topic very interesting and would find many areas to agree with. However, the class session ultimately spent more time discussing these events that happened, and the opinions of the professor about the political actions, rather than the effect these events psychologically had on those who were impacted. Before starting my courses, I was advised that I would likely come across this and I was adequately warmed, however, I was not prepared for the highly biased information that was being lectured. I do not mean to say that I feel the professor was poor-intentioned, I just was very surprised that the historical information that was being presented was saturated with information saturated with the professors personal beliefs, rather than beliefs that were informed by academic knowledge. I am so grateful for my ability to critically analyze the information that is presented to me, allowing me to consider the possible benefits and disadvantages of every given situation. I wonder if the native students posses the same ability to form their own opinions rather than take what is taught to them as pure fact, especially because I am told that it is common to professors here to be biased in the information they teach. I appreciate the importance of understanding historical backgrounds that have caused psychosocial traumas, however, after understand those backgrounds I am more interested in understanding the psychological and theoretical implications from the traumas that took place--at this point I feel we are lacking this information from class. As draining as this class experience was for me today, I am also grateful to see the perspectives of my professor because it is a starting point for me to explore the topics we discussed at a deeper level so that I can make an informed decision on what my stance is on the topic. The only thing I wish is to be able to express myself better in Spanish regarding what this experience was like for me, because it felt very stifling, hopeless, and lonely to sit with all of this and not adequately share these thoughts with others in the way I meant to.

Over the weekend I had a nice time. On Friday evening I went to the Symphonic Orchestra of the University of Chile and saw a very nice performance of three pieces, including the overture from The Magic Flute (this brought back great memories of seeing that opera performed in full while traveling in Madrid). After that I went with a friend and met some friends of his. Much later that night they decided they wanted to go out to a club, so we traveled to the other side of the city. Remember how I have said that one must be flexible when being living in a new country? Well, little did we know that we were being taken to an alternative club. My friend's reaction was priceless when he realized where we were. Nonetheless we had a great time and it was fun meeting some new Chileans! On Saturday I got a dose of Western culture as I went to a huge mall with a friend. Later that night a few friends came over and we made dinner together, had some great discussion, and enjoyed one another's company. Sunday was low key, as I spent hours revising my research paper that Professor Green and I are submitting for publication, followed by hours more of studying. And let me tell you, studying academic writing in Spanish is not a walk in the park! In fact, my translator lacks like half of the words I needed to find. Likewise, it has been driving me crazy that a lot of the new words I am learning in Spanish lack a corresponding word in English. For example, cronicidad seems to translate to, "a chronic state of being." Now I am searching for the Spanish words that mean, "Time to go to bed because it is past your bed time," and, "typos will be checked for later because right now I lack the energy and motivation to care."

To The Club

"Monday night, to the club. Tuesday night, to the club, Wednesday night--what a headache, but i went, to the club. Thursday night, to the club, Friday night--didn't wanna go, then my friend Michelle called me on the phone and so I went, to the club." If you know this song, it is probably because I have subjected you to it, and if not, then I am very proud of you for listening to house music. Curious to know what I am talking about--> Spankox, "To the Club."

So that may be just a little bit of an exaggeration... I only went to the club on two of those nights... although there have only been three full nights so far this week, ha. I see it now, all of the people reading this under the age of 30 are pumped and everyone over 30 is worried that I am making poor decisions. For those of you that are happy about this, I tell you that it has been really fun to go out these past few nights. For those of you waiting for a chance to lecture me when we speak next, have no fear, as this is not going to become a regular routine--if nothing else, my feet hurt from dancing two nights in a row and I cannot take a third!

Really though, I have enjoyed going out these past few nights and seeing what the night life is like. These are the first times that I have gone out clubbing during my time here because I now have met a group of friends with which to do these activities. It is feasible to do now because classes are slow starting up so I am not making any mistakes by having not focused on academics... there have yet to be any! On Tuesday night I was invited to go out with a few friends to a club in Bella Vista, which is a comuna known for both its tourist attraction as well as its night life. The club was fun but fairly small. I also enjoyed that a lot of the music they played was Spanish, however, this meant that I did not know the songs and it is always even more fun when you know the songs you're dancing to. On Wednesday night, my friend Niels (from Germany) invited me to go to AfterOfficeSantiago, a party that is put up every Wednesday from like 7 until 1 AM at the palace on Cerro Santa Lucía, the park that I literally live across the street from. As the title suggests, the crowd was a little bit older on average, and when I saw a little bit I mean the ages ranged from 20's through 40's, ha. Nothing wrong with that, just makes you weary of who is moving in on you since it is hard to tell for sure if they are in your age range... I mean, I definitely got spanked waiting in line at the coat check, and I could not tell if the lady was a student or a business executive since the atmosphere was so disorienting with flashing lights! I also learned that if you ask for a drink con cariños, the bartender adds another shot (although it comes at the price of paying them a big tip!). I have to admit though, the best part of the night was when the DJ played a set of house music that I was all too familiar with. The crowd went wild with Show Me Love, and I was totally pumped when he played one of my favorite songs, World, Hold On, which is my ring tone that many of you know well!

As for school... It has been interesting not having class every day. I do not have class on Wednesdays or Fridays, meaning I am already done for the week! Like I said before, class is going slowly right now because we have not been given any assignments really. I also anticipate that my workload is going to be pretty light (But maybe it just seems that way coming from the block plan where I would have already been 1/4 of the way done with my class by now!). I have also learned that for all of my courses, I will only have papers and will not have any tests which I think is awesome. In fact, the first paper I need to write is a three page reflection on what I have perceived of Chile, and I am thinking I will just translate my blog entries! Ha, I wish. One campus where I take courses is a pretty far distance away from where I live, but the campus that I go to on Tuesdays and Thursdays is only two metro stops away from the apartment. The building must be over 100 years old, it has beautiful architecture, but it has not been kept up well. The interior architecture of the classroom reminds me of being on the third floor of College Hall back at Cornell. One thing I have found interesting is what students do while they are out of class but still in the building. There is a big courtyard area outside of the building with a lot of tables and a few games where students chill out, play music, sing and eat. They are very relaxed and seem to just be enjoying simple things. I never saw much of this at Cornell, but that probably is because everyone lives on campus and can go back to their dorms between classes instead of waiting. I did find it surprising though that they had Reggaeton blasting over speakers, considering that there was class going on inside of the building...

Third Time's a Charm...Or Is It?

So a common modismo in English is, "the third time is the charm," but today I have not been fully convinced that this holds true in Chile.

Today I went to my third and final course that I have enrolled in. I expected that the professor would come and give us a preview of what to expect for the semester, yet, after 20 minutes he did not show. The registrar eventually came in and let us know that the professor was not coming and that we would just meet again on Thursday. It is very surprising to me to not have a professor to just decide to not show up, but I am told that this is pretty common. Nonetheless, it was a great time getting to chat with the other students-- am also glad to have learned that class is optional for everyone involved!

I also made my third attempt to find an English literature book store. I was sure that I finally found a legitimate store. It sounded great, "Books and Bits," I mean, that sounds pretty English to me and it seems like they may sell some books too... I trekked to the store, which was impossible to find (imagine a building that has 6 levels, and me walking around each level from top to bottom looking for it, I eventually found it on a separate wing of the building that I had not idea even existed on the bottom level...) but once I arrived I was very disappointed to find that the store only sold books that are used for students learning English. I guess I should have just broke down and bought an English reader intended for a student. At least it would put me to sleep, as I am trying to find something to read before bed.

The jury is out on the last third attempt... the Starbucks saga. See, I happened to come across a Starbucks near our house on my walk back from the book store, so I decided I should try another Mocha with whole milk rather than skim as I had before to see if the drink was any more satisfying (You may be thinking that this is attempt two and not three, but have no fear because as you read on you will realize that it in fact make sense!). Many of you probably do not think that Starbucks even deserved another chance, but to me that corporation is a black hole, and I have been sucked in past its event horizon (I learned those fancy words from when I took Astronomy, Google it!). After paying for the drink, the cashier realized that he charged me for a drink and a muffin. I guess giving refunds is way too strenuous for humans and computers, so the manager asked me if I wanted the muffin I paid for and I said "no way José." He asked me if they could just give me a larger drink instead so I settled and said yes. The manager changed my drink from a tall to a venti. After watching all 8 people who ordered after me get my drink, I finally was given my massive mocha. The manager was kind enough to give me a coupon for a free drink during my next trip, but at this moment, I declare: After I use my coupon for my free drink, that will be the third and final time, whether or not there is charm!

So What Do You Think About Abortion?

I bet that the title of this entry caught you off guard? I was also caught off guard by this question today. See, I was with a new friend that I met, and literally, we were walking off of an escalator and she asked me this! I was caught off guard because, 1.) normally in the States I have not experienced this topic as being widely discussed in the open, especially with people you just met, 2.) We were in the middle of the Metro station! I would think that discussion of this topic minimally deserves a bench to sit down and chat about it! Ha. My friend explained to me that she saw something in the station that triggered a memory of a poster she saw advocating abortion here in Chile earlier today (see, here it is illegal under most, if not all circumstances). Nonetheless, I got a good laugh out of the incident and we had a great conversation.

There does seem to be something unique about getting a whole bunch of people together from different countries at the same time. Personally, I absolutely love it; if nothing else, there are great stories that come of it. A few nights ago I was hanging out with a group that was from all over the world and the funniest things were said. For example, one of the German students was trying to get a rise out of the French student, so he snobishly proclaimed that he elected to take Ancient Greek in high school rather than having to take French (I thought it was hysterical, but maybe you just had to be there...). The Swedish student did not know that castellano was used in Chile instead of español, so in English he asked us where Castellanean was spoken because he had never heard of it before!

These definitely were not the only times that something was lost in translation... On Saturday I was invited to go to lunch and go to the "country" with family friends Sonia and Carlos. I took this to mean, drive out to the country for the day and have lunch somewhere. Well, I realized that this must have been incorrect because I told to meet for lunch at their house and then they were going to go to the "country" so I thought I must have misunderstood and that actually, we were going to have lunch and then Sonia and Carlos were going to spend a few days out in the "country." It turns out that when I asked them what time they were leaving for their short vacation to the "country" (mind you many people here have homes in Santiago and a vacation home elsewhere), I was given a puzzled look as the why I was asking why they were going to the campo, in which I was told that "country" was short for the Country Club--oops! I now know that "country" is used instead of "country club" as to not sound snooty. As it turns out, after lunch I spent the afternoon at the Country Club with Sonia, Carlos and their granddaughter. The club was beautiful, with tennis courts, a golf course, soccer field, rugby field, hockey field, swimming pools, workout areas, 4 dining areas and a library. There are many different clubs in the city. I am told that they were created as a place for people of a certain cultural descent (groups that colonized the area) to come together and spend time as to not lose their cultural identity. The Country Club is English, and I learned that the first brick laid was by the Prince of Wales nearly 100 years ago.

Today was the first day of classes for the second semester. I had class at 2:30 and definitely cut it close considering that I had never even been to the campus before. I was a little over-zealous and decided to leave at 1 PM to pick up my Carnét de Identidad from the Registro Civil (now I have another ID with an awkward picture to add to my collection). After that I took the Metro, made a transfer to a different line, and then took a bus from the station to the campus. I did not really know which bus to take, where the campus actually was, or which building was for the facultdad de ciensias sociales. I did get to class 10 minutes early nonetheless, although, I learned that being on-time was optional for the profe and her other students! Class went pretty well, I understood more than I anticipated and the topic seems really interesting. The professor also is very nice and willing to work with those of us whom are international students. In fact, she told us we could just write everything in English that we give her, ha. I will not take her up on it but I found it very kind. I was blown away that a student answered her phone in class. I was even more surprised when the professor answered her phone in class! Not sure if this is a Chilean thing, but I definitely noted that it is very different than what I experienced at Cornell... although it was very similar to Cornell to have only like 15 students in the class. It is also very exciting that there are no tests in the class... yes! I think that my favorite part of class would have to be the two times that the professor looked at me and said, "sorry Chris," before she cited examples of US foreign occupations that caused psychological traumas (although she does not mean to suggest that the US is the only country to have done this). I am very interested to better understand the perceptions of others regarding governmental policy because I sense that many people have something to say about it based on today's class.

It turns out that my friend Johanna, the German girl I mentioned earlier, is in my Trauma Psicosocial class--it was nice to have a familiar face in class. Class ended around 5:30 PM and I accompanied her to go see a few prospects for living arrangements. Afterward she and I spent a good amount of time talking over coffee. She is very involved with initiatives of social justice back home and it was phenomenal to talk with someone who had such a great understanding of the topic. We also dug a great deal into what it is like to move to a place of action in social justice work. Definitely gave me a lot of things to think about. I am really happy to have met someone with such similar passions. I guess this takes us full circle, as Johanna asked the question of the day, "So what do you think about abortion?"

The Mystery Is Solved

Finally I was able to select my courses today. Finally! Every day I get asked, "so which courses are you taking?" or, "which facultdad will you have to go to for class?" and my answer is always the same, "no hablo español." Ha, actually, it is more like, "Dude, I have no clue because like I tell you every day, I do not know where I will go for class until I select my courses and we have not selected our courses! ¿Cachai?" (Interesting note: the verb cachar which is used here in Chile is derived from "catch it," you know, like saying, "got it?"). Now with confidence I can go to tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere (like when Jesus Christ was born [props if you got that reference]) that I have selected my courses. I will be taking Imagen de Chile en Pablo Neruda y Gabriela Mistral (Image of Chile in light of Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral [Chilean poets that have won the Nobel Prize]), Chile: Historia, Identidad, y Cultura (Chile: History, Identity, and Culture [I almost chose not to translate that one because, well... I think you get it]), and Trauma Psicosocial: Teoria Terapeutica (Psychsocial Trauma: Therapeutic Theory). I am pretty pumped about the schedule too, I will have class on Monday afternoon, and Tuesday/ Thursday from noon until about 4 with an hour break in between. This means that I will have long weekends every week and can travel! I mean, dude, I can leave Thursday nights and come back Monday mornings. Killer. Before I selected my courses, I had to go to an academic advising session with a professor, which was, well, pointless. I had already decided everything I wanted and knew everything he tried to tell me, so basically he was pumped that I only took like 2 minutes instead of 15 because he was 30 minutes behind. I also accidently landed my first legitimate joke in Spanish. I understood everything he said me to me until he asked, "¿Adónde aprendiste hablar castellano tan bien?" (Where did you learn to speak Spanish so well? Note: castellano = español) and at first I was confused and said, "¿otra vez?" (Again?) and then quickly processed what he said and luckily played it off as a joke just in time! Accident? Yes. Good joke? Yes. We had a good laugh, and I think all of the other students waiting were jealous of my supposed skill, ha.

Earlier this afternoon I finally got to meet some of the international students that are here independently. It was really fun to spend time with some people my age. I enjoyed hanging out with people that are literally from different parts of the world. Let's see who we have reppin' here: Ireland, The Netherlands, Australia, Germany, Sweden, and, well, Wyoming. Everyone spoke Spanish at least pretty well and wanted to speak that rather than English, which makes me really happy because I was nervous they would want to speak English. It will be interesting seeing how friendships develop with this group of students because it seems like they are going to hang out more.

I have been trying to work on some Spanish grammar areas I lack. Right now, I am reviewing prepositional phrases. I know, I know, you're jealous because you want to learn them too. Maybe you will one day be as lucky as I am to submit to the beast that is Spanish grammar (although, at least it follows a pretty consistent set of rules, rather than English which I am pretty sure was just made up to piss off the French).

Right now all of the cousins are out of town meaning I have the place to myself. Too bad I have gotten past the age where it would have been cool to throw a party while the parents are out of town! That being said, when I was in high school I never did that, instead, I had people over on Sunday morning for brunch... Anyways, hopefully I do not burn the place down. I guess if I am able to get on here and make a new post that will be a good sign!

Important Lessons (Take Note!)

Number One: Starbucks in Chile is a disappointment. I am sorry to have to hate on Starbucks considering I probably could solely keep them afloat at home, but it looks like they need a good knock on the head. I went because I needed to buy some type of permanent water bottle to use, rather than using the same Fiji bottle that I bought at the airport in Los Angeles. I was excited to come across the store, however I was turned off by the fact that I had to pay nearly 20$ for a stainless steel water bottle. THEN, the straw that broke the camel's back (clearly this camel is very weak considering it only had two things on its back when it broke!) was the fact that the mocha I bought pretty much did not come close to its counterpart in the states. Sure, part of the problem was probably that I got it nonfat, but this drink was way different than what I have had before. Here, it was pretty much like having espresso, chocolate, and water mixed together. Mmm... I think this is because the milk here simply is, well... not as full as it is in the US. Milk here is sold in liter sized cardboard boxes and is sold warm, not needing to be refrigerated until it is opened.

Number Two: Closing orientation is next Wednesday and not today. I definitely showed up for an orientation that did not exist today and was schooled when the program director told me that I was a week early for the meeting.

Number Three: Cetaphil costs way too much in Chile. Dude, that face wash is basic soap and water and should not cost a whole lot. In the states I bet it costs like $8, well here it cost the equivalent of $30. For spending that much on a cosmetic product, I would expect it to a least come in a more fancy bottle (and make my face look amazing in under 5 minutes!). It took me forever to find the product and I finally did in a pharmacy. The cost, and difficulty to find it makes me think that it is probably more common on the US market making it pricer here.

Number Four: When taking the metro, choosing the far corner adjacent to the door is a bad idea during rush hour. I usually try to stand with my back to the wall so that I can see around me and keep my bag secure, but doing this while everyone was going home from work resulted in me having to fight for my life as I tried to exit the subway at my stop.

I hope that you learn from my mistakes so that you do not have to bare the pain and suffering I did!

English Books and Corn Soup

So I'm back here in the big city. It is pretty quiet here in the apartment since two of the cousins are out of town for winter break. Today has been a rainy day here in Santiago. Maybe I am making things up again, but there definitely seems to be a different mood here when it is rainy. It is a juxtaposition of people seemingly more rushed to get out of the rain, yet there is an undertone of calmness. Now, my favorite thing I saw while I was out recently was a soldier saluting a military officer at the Metro station. See, the building I live in is about 2 blocks away from the Defense Ministry (I guess that means I am either really safe or a target for an attack). I do not know why I laughed when I saw it, but it just seemed so out of context... military personnel saluting at the subway... really? Don't they have boats and tanks to do that kind of stuff in?

Recently I have been feeling a little bit disconnect from the world's on-goings. I do not watch any television here, I do not receive the news magazine I normally ready, and even if I do want to learn anything I have to labor through it in Spanish. I decided to go on a quest to find English language publications and books and figured it would be fairly simple being in a large city. Well, as it turns out: not so much. The first store I went to just simply did not exist as the internet said... The second store I found was closed for inventory but I have a hunch that they are not going to have the type of works I am looking for. Yes, I know, I should be reading in Spanish, and I have been, the thing is that I just want to be able to stay up to date with what's going on in the world and have a book to read before going to bed in which I do not have to spend hours trying to comprehend!

Today we had our group orientation for the University of Chile. There are about 300 new international students that are taking courses this semester. Most of them are doing exchanges as a part of a group from universities in the states so everyone seemed pretty cliquy right off the bat. We only spent 2.5 hours there, which surprises me because you would think there would be more to do but I guess they don't think so. I would have liked it if there was organized time to get to know other students because I left not knowing anyone else. Luckily I have so many family members that I spend time with and meet people through.

And my cultural thought for the day... It has been interesting for me to see how people talk about Agosto Pinochet (supports would say president from 1973-1990, critics would say dictator from 1973-1990). This is a very divisive topic here and something that I avoid discussing because I do not want to create rifts or alliances with anyone--I simply do not know enough about it and only have a short time here. That being said, I do think the topic is very interesting and I have noticed two very distinct and opposing ways that people discuss the topic here based on whether or not they support him. Coming here, I sort of assumed that most Chileans did not support him but that turns out to not be totally correct. This is based on the fact that in the states, whenever I have been taught about it, the discussion has been framed around human rights violations and formation of a dictatorship, but not the policy that he created or the direction he took the country. I do not mean to say that I feel like I have been taught incorrectly or that anyone every had bad intentions, I just think that in the states only one side of the story is told. I imagine this comes from the fact that what he did was not aligned the fundamental belief of democracy held by the United States, and also by the fact that many Chileans that left the country during Pinochet's time were exiled or fled due to Pinochet. The point of this is not to take a stance on either side or denounce what I have been taught. This just served as a really good example of the importance to think critically and understand fact from fiction, or even harder, fact from biased fact. I am interested to do some more individual research into all of this.

The next time I post I should know which classes I am in! I have had the chance to look at some of the courses and with any luck I will be able to take the course I would like. That being said, I would like to end by noting that here it is normal to eat sopa de choclo (corn soup, although the Spanish way sounds more classy) as a meal, which basically is the equivalent of eating a can of creamed corn for dinner, ha.