REPITE, ¿POR FAVOR?

The Top 10

2010-01-08T17:28:00.001-08:00

So I was talking to a friend today on Skype, and he told me that he had created a top 10 list of experiences he has had thus far in Chile. That lucky shmuck gets to stick around there until July 2010 and who knows what more he will add to the list, but I'm stealing the idea and doing a little list of my own, although in no specific order.

1. CATEDRAL DE SAL

I have to say that one of the coolest places I visited my entire time I was in South America was the Salt Cathedral, located outside of Bogotá, Colombia. It was simply incredible to me that old parts of a salt mine were able to be transformed into a masterpiece to represent the Colombian catholic tradition.

2. EASTER ISLAND DRUNKARD

Sitting at a small outdoor restaurant when at Easter Island with Niels, Freddy, and Patricio, a local quickly befriended us. I was marveled by not only his ability to drink, but also his ability to piss of his family members that owned the place. I am not one to kiss and tell, but I will say that by the end of our time at the restaurant, we only paid for our food but received free coke and rum, a professional massage, and laughs that made my stomach soar.

3. THANKSGIVING GRAMMAR ARGUMENT

Having 20 guests over to celebrate Thanksgiving, I was delighted to have a family fight as you would find at any good family gathering! Four of us got into it over the correct verb conjugation for the verb gustar, and the battle still has not been won by either side.

4. DANCING ON THE LEDGE

I loved every moment of AfterOffice, the event put on every week by a friend we made. As I sit here and mourn, facing the fact I am no longer VIP (AKA crying myself to sleep every night), I fondly recall the moments in which the most beautiful Angélica Lillo and I danced on the ledge that looked down on the additional 1,500 people dancing the night away. Many probably passed judgement, but, "frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

5. WALKING WITH NIELS

My German friend Niels had a special knack to walk at a super fast clip. Literally every time I was with him, I simply was unable to keep up and ended up being at least 20 feet behind him. When I was lucky there was someone else lagging behind with me, but I also spent many walks alone. The most difficult of all was hiking with Niels, as his pace did not change, the terrain just got more difficult. The only saving grace I had in those instances was having a smoker who did worse than I!

6. SALSA KING

About a month after arriving, I went to a salsa dance festival with a few friends. Of course I was put to shame by everyone there, but the one that stung the most was being in the presence of the Salsa King. This man makes salsa look effortless and makes his partners look like professional dancers, even if it is the first time they have danced salsa, which was indeed the case for my friends Rachel and Laura who fell victim to his charm!

7. THE FRENCH SAGA

In my culture class, there was a little bit of an underlying disdain between a few of the US students and French students... or maybe it was just some of the US students who were judging the French students, ha. I by no means and endorsing stereotypes of French people as I have met many that I adore, including some in the class, HOWEVER... several of the students in class would speak in class all of the time and visibly had little interest being there. Well, on the last day of class, I got a kick out of the professor of the class coming up to a group of is and asking what the deal was with the French kids and why they were such a... let's say... pain.

8. STARTING A FIRE

Rachel, Laura, Layla, Gonzalo, and I went camping a few hours outside of Santiago in a place called Cajón de Maipo... you can already tell a struggle is to come, as I of all people was in charge of the planning. Previous to this, the last time I went camping was when I was probably like 12. Yes, disaster was to come! Well, one evening we decided to start a fire... and it took an hour. As if finding wood were not bad enough, cutting the wood was a whole different story. Gonzalo attempted to break the wood by jumping on it, and then yelping; Layla attempted breaking by whacking a tree. Finally the Jesus-camp lent us an axe... which makes them fools for thinking we knew how to use it. Unsuccessful in using the axe, a group of guys on a picnic could not handle watching our display of stupidity and came over to instruct the art of wood-cutting. Still, the others could not get it right so I had to finally step in and show them how it was done. With wood in hand, the girls tried to start the fire, which did not light for an hour. We were able to smoke out the entire camp ground though!

9. PROPOSITIONS BY PROSTITUTES

All I am going to say is that I did not think that people actually walked up to pedestrians on the street asking them if they want to pay for a visit. And maybe I was dumb enough to respond with, "you really think I want to pay you for sex?"

10. LUIS BIRTHDAY DINNER

Probably the most expensive dinner I have ever paid for, but totally worth it. I took my friend Luis out to dinner to celebrate his birthday at a great place called Opera. I have never had such delicious duck in my life. The meal reminded me of the great restaurants I enjoyed while visiting France in 2005.

Back to the US of A

2009-12-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-11-05T12:15:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-03T14:12:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-09-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

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"

2009-09-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

¨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

2009-09-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-03T05:18:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-11T16:02:00.000-07:00

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.

_________________________________________________________________________

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

2009-08-09T14:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-30T15:10:00.001-07:00

"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?

2009-07-28T18:15:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-07-27T21:20:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

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!)

2009-07-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

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.

I Don't Think My Insurance Covers All of This...

2009-07-19T21:12:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday night I took an overnight bus six hours south to a city called Los Angeles with my cousin Carlos. Of course, I was unable to sleep on the ride--that would have just been too convenient. During winter break, a lot of the family on my grandma's side gets together at my Aunt Elsa's farm. She has a large farm house that neighbors the factory she owns (they produce canned vegetables/ fruits, frozen vegetables/ fruits, and make delicious jams). At first it was a little intimidating to have so many people around because it can be difficult for me to understand what is going on with so many people talking, but I got comfortable very quickly.

During the first day five of us guys went out on an adventura around the farm with the Jeep and ATV that they fixed up a while back. Now, I do not want to deceive you, I was the awkward and confused fifth wheel that had absolutely no control of the situation. Soon after we went out driving, we got stuck in some mud in the field but were able to get out pretty easily. About a half an hour later though, we again got stuck in some mud that was even worse but managed to get out. Well, boys will be boys (although I was definitely not one of these boys!) and they decided to see of they could still drive through this patch of mud in the field by going even faster through it. Someone never taught my cousins to count their blessings because we finally ran out of them and got stuck for good. It is probably difficult for you to imagine me even in such a rugged situation because it is so out of character, so let me break it down: poor Chris is stuck out in the middle of a wet corn field, in the middle of a mud pit, sitting in the back of a Jeep with a rusty roof and no actual seats in the back where he is sitting, uncomfortable because he cannot stretch out, feeling a little sick from the crazy driving, and will not get out of the car because he does not want to get mud on his Diesel shoes (I know, I know, I am not sure what I was thinking when I chose to bring those shoes instead of hiking boots to a farm--lay off!). Two of the cousins tried for hours to try and get out of the mud while we sat in the back of the truck waiting to get out. In all fairness, it would have been unrealistic for me to do anything anyways considering that the mud was literally a foot deep. Finally, two hours later, when the sun started setting, one of the cousins used the ATV to go and get someone to tow us out of the mud. Once they arrived in a pick-up truck, they quickly got stuck as well. Funny, sort of; getting dark and frustrating, yes. Well, they went for a tractor to pull both of the trucks out, and I am not kidding you, the tractor got stuck. At this point the stars were coming out (although, I will note that I never have seen the stars as I did that night, there were thousands of them and I even saw the via lactica (Milky Way) which I have never actually seen before). I guess in this case, four was the charm and the tractor pulled out all three of the other vehicles. That night I truly learned my lesson that you always needs to take a coat with you, because it got cold very fast (sorry Mom, I know you tried to teach me this millions of times before!). I also learned that Diesel is not the Spanish translation of shoes-to-use-out-doors-when-being-manly.

I spent a lot of time working on a project that I found fascinating--making a family tree. I am still lacking a ton of people, but Elsa and her daughter know a lot of information about their side of the family (Gardeweg--originally from Germany). My great-grandmother was one of eleven children, and was an aunt of Elsa. Anyways, the family tree I am working on is a little bit unconventional because I am trying to include people on all four sides of the family, but it is really interesting to me. That being said, I have about 175 individuals accounted for on the tree and have run out of space (I used a 56 inch wide template on the computer), so I will need to re-group and figure out where to go from here. Some of you out there should prepare for me contacting you about the family lineage!

During this trip and past travels to non-English speaking countries, I actually think it is a unique position to not understand what people are saying to one another at times. This is because there is so much more communication that goes on between individuals besides when they are verbally speaking. I spend a lot more time looking at people facial expressions, their body movements and where they place themselves in a room. Perhaps this is due to my experiences within psychology, but I find myself analyzing which social roles each individual takes in a situation and recognize a lot about what I perceive to be their personality and their motivations at a given time. But then again, for all I know these are false observations and I am just making things up to pass the time!

I have to say that one of the highlights of the trip was all of the amazing food. I do not say this because we always ate elaborate meals, I say it because we always ate flavorful foods and always took time to enjoy them. Every meals that we had was absolutely delicious and extremely fresh. Every morning I ate fresh bread with delicious marmalade that was made at the farm. Lunch was served around 2 and always included a freshly made soup and delicious a postre with coffee or tea to finish off the meal. I think one of the greatest feats I had during my trip was successfully eating an apple sufficiently larger than the size of my fist. Although at first I did not really understand what people were saying during meals, I enjoyed the fact that it was a relaxing time when everyone got together and spent time. Although, this is also an easy way to gain a few pounds!

There was no Internet or cell phone access at the house (I personally find that relaxing during trips), so I definitely had to figure out other ways to spend my time. i ended up doing a lot of, well, studying. I know, I know, what the heck was I thinking! See, I brought with me my Spanish translator, my advanced Spanish grammar book and my little notebook where I write down all of the new words. I cannot believe how many times I was praised for being so smart and studious... ha, someone should probably correct them at some point but the attention was too awesome to resist! It actually was really interesting to the younger cousins that were there and they really enjoyed playing with my translator and looking at my book every day to see which new words I learned. One of them got really comfortable trying to talk to me in English and they enjoyed trying to help me learn new words that I lacked. In terms of spending time with the grammar book, it actually was amazing because it reminded me of so many things that I learned before and I also have been learning a lot of new words and ways to communicate. I have also been able to understand a lot better which areas of my Spanish are lacking: prepositional phrases, adverbial phrases, the use of the subjunctive, and well, vocabulary in general... I do feel more confident in my speaking now, although I still stumble a lot when I try to say complex things. It is not due to a lack of confidence because I have no issue attempting to talk with someone, I think it is derived from my desire to really master my understanding of the language so I spend a lot of time thinking about what I am trying to say.

Right now I am on the bus going back to Santiago. The guy next to me does not really have a sense of personal I suppose, as i am cramped between him sprawled out and the window. I mean, it is great that he feels comfortable resting his arm and leg upon me, but pretty much all I am looking for is the arm rest! I was hoping that it would be more interesting to have part of the drive during the day so that I could see where the heck I was, but I honestly have not seen a whole lot. Don't get me wrong, so many parts of Chile are absolutely breath taking, it is just that seeing highway cutting through fields is sort of the same after a while. Since i will be getting into Santiago when it is dark I bet I will be missing some of the more interesting part of the drive approaching the Andes.

Earlier we drove through a city in which the bus had a stop. In all of my travels i have always sensed that towns had a different feel than in the states but not until now have a though about what these differences actually are. So, driving through this town I jotted down some of the things I noticed: homes and stores are often mixed together a lot--in the states they seem to be zoned in more distinct and separate areas; many homes have stucco siding that has been painted over or a tin roof--in the US homes usually have wood or brick siding and tile roofing; buildings are painted in vibrant colors--back in the states homes usually have subtle earthy colors; areas are landscaped here but there are also a lot of areas that are not landscaped and are dirt--it seems like every part of a town in the states is coving with cement, asphalt or grass; all of the homes and businesses here have some type of gate around the property or a sliding metal door covering the entrance--in the US gated community implies high social status! I definitely do not feel like any of these things are abnormal or uncomfortable, they are just noticeable since they are different than what I have been immersed in my entire life. I do also think that being around all of these new things is a great way for me to become less egocentric and increase my multicultural competency (some of you are probably thinking, "duh Chris!").

Holy cow, this is long. If you even got to this point, I am impressed. I also think it may mean that you need to get a hobby if you had the time to read all of this, haha--just kidding! Orientation at the University starts this week. We do not have a whole lot that we do every day, but we have activities all during this week. Wish me luck! And, oh, did you figure out which parts my insurance does not cover?!

"Auugh! I pierced the toast!"

2009-07-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

Earlier I made some toast, and yes, I pierced it. Luckily, I did not shriek as Nathan Lane did in "The Birdcage" (although I know that several of you are sure that I did).

And I bet you thought that the day could not get more dramatic than the toast incident, but you are mistaken! This morning I again woke up early early early and spent a few hours with José Miguel. He has been so great about showing me around. First, we went to the Universidad Católica because he needed to check in with a few people there, but then we walked down the main street (it is referred to as the Alameda) and he showed me some fun parts of town. We walked through an Artesian market as well as a part of town that is known for its architectural resemblance to European buildings (I will add that this is the point in the story where I bash my knee on a post in the middle of the side walk). We then walked toward the Plaza de Armas, which is the point in which the city was founded nearly 200 years ago--in fact, next year Chile will be celebrating the bicentennial and you can tell they are already making preparations for it.

Once José had to get back to work, I accompanied my cousin Carlos out for some errands. I personally enjoy accompanying people out for that type of stuff because I pick up on a lot of new vocabulary and get more familiar with the city. We stopped by the casa central of the University of Chile since it was next to our metro stop. Although there are no classes there, I do need to go there for orientation next week so it was good to know where it was! I am happy to say that I used la micro, the term used for the bus here. It went pretty well, minus the frontal assault by the door and being scared by the clown that attempted to entertain us/ leaned out of the window and yelled ¡te odio! (I hate you!) to a passenger that disembarked. I guess it's all in a day's work... no?

I think I am getting used to some of the Chilean ways of getting things done around here... a lot of them are subtle differences than in the States, but noticeable nonetheless. For example, in the states when you get a cell phone right away they take down all of your information and credit card number, etc, but here, they practically gave me a cell phone with the hopes that I will pay for my service--they do not have my card number or anything to this date (I have come to find that they will send me a bill in the mail in August and I can go into one of their stores to pay it, how different is that!). I have gone into a variety of stores in which everything you want is scattered across the wall and you need to get a store employee to help you with anything you want, rather than grabbing it and taking it to the cashier yourself. I have learned that individuals with disabilities are allowed to sell things on the street, and have found that stray dogs are very well behaved. If I ever find a stray dog selling something, I will be sure to post it.

Take Your Child to Work Day

2009-07-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

What a great day! I forced myself out of bed at the crack of dawn (...7:45 AM, ha) so that I could spend the day with my uncle José Miguel. The day was a mix of stopping at some work sites and being shown around different parts of the city. José works at a company that does audiovisual integration into buildings around the city. The products they install are really cool technologies and were pretty fun to play with.

We spent time on the edge of town at a few different private universities. One of them was installing AV systems into classrooms of a new law building they had created. Holy cow there was definitely some money at that school--there was no holding back to make the building architecturally incredible. One thing I noticed throughout the day was that everyone was very bureaucratic. I have mentioned the bureaucratic bologna I had to deal with to get my visa as well as taking care of paperwork once I got here to Chile, but I guess it does not stop at government. Here is an example: At the university I just mentioned, before driving on to the campus José had to present himself to the security guard and explain why he was on the campus. The security guard then radioed someone to verify what he was there for. He then took his name down and took his ID card. Later, we wanted to drive up to the building where he had individuals working on some installations, and the security guard that was standing at the street barricade would not move the barrier on the street until he received approval from someone higher up via the radio...

José was awesome and drove me around different comunas here in the city and taught me about different activities and facts pertaining to each of them. There is an area near the center of town called El Mercado, which is basically an open-air market that sells tons of different foods. And when I say foods, I pretty much mean fruit. There were so many different fruit stands that I would not even know how to begin to choose which one to purchase from--they all seemed the same to me! Well, he wanted me to have the real Chilean experience and took me to a restaurant located on the edge of this market. Now, restaurant may not be the right word. Let me set this up: it was basically like sitting in an extra big stand that faced other stands that were selling food, there were multiple large tables where people sat cafeteria-style (including sharing condiments in bowls, I decided to avoid that!), there was a drunk man sitting at the table behind us giving the waitress a hard time, people walking in and out of the 'dining area' selling Band-aids and chocolate, and two men fighting over a barter of rice for wash-towels (did I mention one of the men was practically deaf and had to be yelled at to understand what they were fighting about?). I was apprehensive eating there because I do not have the... stomach to eat at a place like that but José said it was hygienic so I went with it. The food was very good, I guess very Chilean, and it definitely was a cultural experience! The only thing I regret is that I did not buy any Band-aids from that lady...

After that we spent time in an area called Cerro San Cristóbal, rightly named after me. We took a tram directly up the cerro and had the opportunity to see lots of Santiago. Too bad though, there was smog so it was impossible to even see all the way to the other side of Santiago (I mean, this city is HUGE). As you might have noticed... this is a photo of José Miguel and me near the top of Cerro San Cristóbal, although it is not the most flattering photo (I also wish I would have looked at myself in the mirror before I left this morning, but like I said, it was early! It also looks like I have a left boob that is sagging, time for a bra?).

Overall, the day was great. The only thing that made me want to cry was when I saw Sodexo Food Service at one of the universities that we stopped at. I mean, REALLY? I thought I left that at Cornell, come to find it will haunt me for the rest of my life/ is taking over the world. I mean, who do they think they are--Starbucks?

In Honor of Royce

2009-07-12T18:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Royce celebrated his birthday yesterday; hence the title of this entry--happy birthday Royce-ee!

It's been a few days since I have gotten on here to write. Perhaps that is a good sign, showing that I have been getting more busy!

I got familiar with using the Metro which has made me much more mobile. On Friday I took it down to visit an aunt that works at the Universidad de Chile so that she and I could talk a bit about what the University is like. It was interesting walking down the street to where she works because it was chalk-full of different private universities with students hangin' around. In the states when you think of a university, you think of a large campus with tons of buildings, but here it is much different. For large schools, most of them do not have a campus but have buildings located throughout different parts of the city based on the department. It also seemed like some of the schools were just small specialized universities that just had the one building for all of the students in one location.

On Friday night, Carlos, one of the cousins I am living with, invited me to go over to a friend's house where they were going to chill out and make some mexican food (although, spicy doesn't fly much around here. Many people have the misconception that since Chile is in S. America that they eat the same cuisine as in Mexico, but that is definitely incorrect.). It was really fun to go and meet some new people my age. There were 9 people total hanging out at this apartment in Las Condes. I had a great time even though I understood very little of what was going on. See, younger generations talk even more quickly than the others and speak with even more slang. On top of that there were a bunch of people talking and music was playing, so it was basically impossible for me to even try to understand what everyone was saying to each other. Nonetheless, it still was really nice to just relax. Here, I am finding that it is really common for people to spend time together at one's house rather than going out and I personally like that because you are able to get to know people better and do not spend so much money!

Since we did not get home until like 4 AM, I definitely slept in on Saturday morning. I was invited to have tea (called once although it happens at more like 5 PM) with a cousin of my Grandma, named Tio Lucho, and the same aunt that I met with the day before, named Patricia. They also invited one of their nephews and his wife and son. I had a great time chatting with them and also getting out to a different part of the city. Again, I felt very successful taking the Metro there and back, all on my own, without getting lost!

Today I spent the day with the Davids family. We went to Tia Marianna's house for lunch. I enjoyed meeting her 4 kids that vary in age. In total there were 15 people at the house which called for a lot of crazy antics! Although there are times that I miss out on what is going on, I definitely held my own. It is great to feel so comfortable with all of these family members even though I have only met them recently! I hope to have many more opportunities to spend time with them.

One thing that I is fun is that every time I meet someone I get invited to go somewhere or do something. Tomorrow I am going to spend the day with an uncle, José Miguel. I have also been invited to spend time at several family's homes in the south of Chile. On Wednesday, it looks like I am going to Los Angeles with Carlos and will meet a ton of other cousins that will be there for the vacation (right now everyone is on winter vacation). Off we go!

Sights, Sounds, and Smells

2009-07-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

If you remember from your pre-school education, there are 5 senses (well, some demented people have 6, but that is not part of today's lesson). Whenever traveling one of the things stays with me the most when I return are the sights, sounds and smells. When I lived in Mexico, I still remember the sound of the bells ringing of the trucks that sold propane, the smell of the exhaust from all of the cars on the road, and the sights of street vendors in the town squares. Here, there are already many different things that have aroused my senses. During the day the air smells fresh and crisp which I personally find invigorating while I walk around the city. I encountered my first protests today, which were full of chanting, blowing whistles, and bull horns--all of the sounds of a grassroots movement, nothing fancy, just people fighting for that which they believe with the little they have. There is also the sound of cars backfiring that I am not accustomed to hearing. Even more startling is the cannon that goes off at noon everyday really close by--I am not sure if it is done at the Military headquarters that is a block away, or if it is done at the old palace that is on the hill next to the apartment. Either way, it always makes me jump out of my seat! The apartment that I am staying in is next to a three lane road that merges into a really large intersection so I have grown accustom to honking. I also was exposed to two hours of cars honking and helicopters flying over when the Universidad de Chile soccer team won some esteemed title (I doubt anyone is surprised that I have no understanding soccer!). I think that some of the younger generations listen to reggaton which you hear whenever walking, and for those of you that are familiar, it has the distinct bass line that cannot be mistaken for anything else. Referring back to my musical knowledge... I guess it is in 4/4 time and has beats on 1, 3, 3 1/2 and 4 (I have no idea if that did anything for anyone but I sure would be curious to know, ha). I guess I have not really mentioned any sights... ha. Um, when I went to bed last night there was a discotec going on in the palace on the hill and the lights were flashing...?

Everything is going well. Today I went out and registered my visa with the Policia Internacional and then went apply for my Carnet de Identidad, the national ID that everyone has. I got everything done without any issues and didn't even get lost! Although, I did have the wait a while for the card because the strike I mentioned earlier was by government employees that I guess are worried about privatization of their jobs (although I definitely do not understand the details!). On my way back, I picked up bread like a good Chilean does and headed back to the apartment.

I am excited for this weekend. Tomorrow I am going to meet a family member that works for the Universidad de Chile and she is going to give me some advice for my time at the University. In the afternoon I am going to prepare lunch for the gang here--I hope that they like it. In the evening I am going to go over to the house of Marianna, my Dad's cousin, and stay the night there. Saturday I am going to hang out with a cousin and her friends.

Jail Break!

2009-07-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

Somehow I managed to break loose from the apartment today all on my own! Yikes, I know what you are thinking--how did he fare on his own, in a place where the Spanish sounds like Chinese and the streets change name depending on which part of the city you are in? Well, you are silly to ask because clearly I made it back alive! Really though, it was great to venture out on my own. My goal was to get a map so that I could start getting familiar with the city since I have no sense of where I am. Well, I walked over to the book store and got a map. I also purchased a book that a friend suggested called, "How to Survive in the Chilean Jungle," which is a lexicon of all the chilean and Spanish phrases/ slang I will ever need to know. With these items in hand, I mustered the confidence to mozy on over to the Metro and purchase a pass to use, called a Bip. I now successfully have obtained my Bip and am ready to take on Santiago!

This morning I woke up at the tender hour of 11:30 and accepted the fact that I would need to take a shower very soon. I guess the lady that owns this building is a little... restrictive, and turns of the hot water from 12:30 until like 6. I always dread having to get ready, but this gives me good incentive to shower earlier than later, because I will end out showering in cold water! I think that the water also has a lot of chlorine, because it has been drying me out like it is no one's business. Thank goodness I brought lotion with me because it has definitely has gone to good use.

During the day the I personally think that the weather is very nice. It seems to resemble what would be a very nice fall day in the States, minus the rotting pumpkins on porches and the dead leaves backing up the sewer. Although I did not come across this much, there were some people that were wearing scarves and placed them over their mouths to stay warm. I am very glad that these people were able to stay warm, but someone needs to remind them that it was over 50 F! I mean, I wrapped my scarf around my face sometimes in Iowa when the temperate was -5 F with a bad wind chill... we are far from that here! In the evenings it does get a little bit chilly in the apartment because there is not central heating since the building we are in is, well, let's put it this way--it is on the National Registry of Historic Places. W have a kerosene heater to use here (it is odorless, except for right now because someone spilled) and it does a fine job of preventing hypothermia. I personally like it because it looks like a really really oversized kerosene lamp and makes me feel like I am camping without having to go outside!

It's Sort of Like Being Dropped of at Camp

2009-07-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

I realized that in my previous post I did not mention who Sonia and Carlos were. For the first few days that I was here, the room I am to stay in while in Santiago was occupied, so I stayed with family friends named Sonia and Carlos. I spent a lot of time recuperating from all of my travels... aka 11 hour beauty sleeps. Sonia also showed me around some of the different places in her neighborhood including a mall that had every staple restaurant and clothier from the states. Part of me found it comforting to see so many familiar places, and the other part thought that it was sad to see globalization suck the life out of what could be an even more fruitful local culture. We also went out and set up a sim card and service plan for the phone I brought with me (feel free to call me; just let me know you need the number). One fact I found very interesting was that the neighborhood they live used to be all houses, but that many of the houses were purchased, or are in the process of being purchased in order to create high rise apartment buildings like the one they live in. It is a very unique juxtaposition of 20 story buildings and 1 or 2 story homes as you walk down the street.

Last night I had the opportunity to meet some of Sonia and Carlos's family. We ate dinner with the family of their daughter Isabel. It would have been great to have a a british documentary crew to capture my first interactions with kids my age here, like something you would see on Animal Planet. "Look now as the gringo approaches the chilean girl. Ahh, yes, he has chosen to court her with the kiss on the right cheek rather than the handshake. She responds well and it looks like the gringo successfully has been accepted into the pack." I have loved getting to know friends of my family, and it was refreshing to also meet some people my age. One of the daughters, Carolina, is studying psychology here as well so that was definitely a nice connection to start off with. We got along well and swapped information so that we could spend more time once I settle in.

Today, Sonia and Carlos took me out to a delicious restaurant called Chileanzo, and, as they said, it is bien chileno. As I also remember from meals at my grandparents, many chileans enjoy eating lots of grilled beef, sausage and pork-- and in this spirit this restaurant served us a huge pile of meat. I literally ate 3 sausages and 2 steaks. It goes without saying that I have not eaten a single thing since, and it has been over 7 hours since the meal. After the meal, we pick up my bags and headed over to the apartment where my cousins live.

Now I am here, and yeah, it sort of feels like being dropped off at camp. You know, it is the feeling where you know camp is going to be fun but you do not know anyone and do not know to expect so you are a little anxious. I do not mean at all to say that these guys are not kind or are unwelcoming, it is just a little overwhelming jumping into the unknown when I now do not have anyone, well, looking after me like I have for the first day. This is not the first time I have had to be totally independent and responsible for myself, but it definitely is the first time I have had to do so on a different continent with a different language! Everything will be great, it's just all new right now I suppose!

It Really Happened!

2009-07-03T09:33:00.000-07:00

Somehow everything actually worked out and I have arrived to Santiago safe and sound. Where to begin?

Everything went well in Los Angeles. I arrived and took the shuttle to my hotel which was about 10 minutes away. I guess the highlight of the evening was having to jaywalk across a 6 lane road to leave my hotel in order to find some dinner. Perhaps with the budget issues that California has been unable to reconcile they have they decided to stop funding crosswalks. I mean, they are only a mere safety measure, totally overrated... Well, the next day I went down to the Chilean Consulate and got the visa. Once they acknowledged my presence after 30 minutes of waiting, they were thrilled that I was from Boulder... because they have been following the trial of a Chilean man that committed murder there over 10 years ago. Not because it is a beautiful place or is in Colorado, but because of my seeming connect with the Chilean criminal. Great. From there I took the same cab back to the hotel, spoke spanish the the Guatemalan drivers, muy amable, spent more on the taxi fare than I did for the hotel, and left to complete my final journey to Santiago.

The flight to LA was uneventful, just spent time reading a book on Chilean culture so that I would have an idea of what to expect. Before leaving LA, in a glutenous state of mind, I purchased my final Starbucks in the states (although, I have already come across a Starbucks here) and boarded the plane. When I got on the plane I had two bags, coffee and my passport in my hand. You know how when you are traveling your check every 5 minutes to make sure your passport and ticket are still there even though you know there is no way you could lose it because you are so careful not to do so? Well, I royally messed up and could not find the passport when I was checking my bag for it in the middle of the night. It obviously was somewhere because I could not board the plane without it, but I absolutely could not find it and the lights were turned out because people were sleeping. 15 minutes later everyone seated in my cabin was awake from all of the commotion from 3 flight attendants, 2 passengers and me searching everywhere for my passport. Well, I found it after I remember that I boarded the airplane and placed my coffee and passport on one bin so I could put my bags in another. Yup, I was that guy. I mean, it gave me something to do though considering that I cannot sleep on those overnight flights even though I tried so hard to rest!

I arrived at around 8 AM in Santiago and was greeted by my Tia Mimi at the airport. We drove back to her apartment and I finally had the chance to sleep after being awake for over 24 hours. At lunch, I met Tia Mimi's children (all adults now!), my dad's first cousins: María Angelica, Marianna, and José Miguel. They all carry the last name of Davids as well. They informed me that I, along José Miguel are the only two left to carry on the Davids name... I being the only in the states. Never even thought of it before--lots of responsibility has been placed on my shoulders! It was wonderful eating lunch with everyone, they took me in as family right away. They also took out a lot of photos from when my Dad and his siblings were children, and also photos from visits they had made to New York. I was caught off guard to see that they had a lot of pictures of me when I was a baby from a visit they had as well. It was just awesome.

On Sunday I will be moving to the center of Santiago to live with three cousins that are my age. For the time being, I am staying with family friend's named Sonia and Carlos. They have been very kind and I have enjoyed talking with them very much, albeit they get much more talking in so far! It has been a low key day, but this is fine by me as I need time to just relax and adjust to my new setting. Other than that, I had to look up how to say the toilet was running, so I guess I am beginning to master my plumbing vocabulary.

And oh, by the way, Sonia and Carlos live on the 18 floor of this apartment complex; I rolled over and woke up to this landscape.

...No complaints here!

The Exclusive List

2009-06-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

Alright... it is almost midnight and I cannot sleep. Don't have a good book to read either--they are all packed! Tomorrow I leave for LA, and on Wednesday I catch my flight to Santiago. When I am in LA I hope to spend the evening with a few friends that are there for the summer.

Well, here is that final list of graduate schools that I have been working on applications for. They are all APA accredited programs in counseling psychology:

1.) University of Oregon, PhD. Eugene OR.

2.) University of Denver, MA. Denver CO.

3.) University of Minnesota, PhD. Minneapolis, MN.

4.) University of Missouri--Columbia, MA. Columbia, MO.

5.) University of Missouri--Kansas City, PhD. Kansas City, MO.

6.) University of Illinois, PhD. Urbana, IL.

7.) Loyola University, MA. Chicago, IL.

8.) University of Indiana, PhD. Bloomington, IN.

9.) Boston College, PhD. Boston, MA.

10.) New York University, PhD. New York, NY.

11.) Fordham University, PhD. New York, NY.

12.) Columbia University Teacher's College, MA. New York, NY.

13.) Seton Hall University, PhD. South Orange, NJ.

14.) University of Miami, PhD. Coral Gables, FL.

Leave your comments below giving me so good rationale as to why I should attend your favorite pick! :)

"It's the final count down..."

2009-06-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

I leave for LA in three days to get my visa, and once I am there I will stay overnight and pick up the visa on the next morning. Ojalá the chilean consulate will have my visa ready as they say it is... After that I am on to Dallas where I connect to Santiago!

Right now I have four major tasks before I leave on Tuesday afternoon.

Uno: Pack. A small detail, I know. For those of you that know me well... I do have a lot of, well... stuff, and I am learning very quickly how to enjoy it less and less. Since I have moved back from Iowa to Colorado I have had 4/5 of all of my things in storage because I do not have space for it right now. Now that I am packing it is the ultimate challenge. I must determine how to pack my life into two suitcases that are both under 50 pounds. This fondly calls the question though of how much I will have on my return back... when Diogo, my host brother who lived with us from Portugal left, we had to send a box of items home and then had to sit at the airport re-distributing items in his bags to avoid overweight bag charges. Again, in May I did this with Ruairi from Ireland who spent a year at Cornell and frantically needed to get everything he accrued into his 2 bags...

Dos: Pack. Did I just say that? This time I need to pack everything that is not going with me and put it in storage at my dad's house. This should be pretty easy since I only have essentials with me right now... or what I thought to be essentials before I realized that I again would have to downsize again when I moved down to Chile!

Tres: Peptobismal. I am just being honest... when you spend time with an entire new diet in a different country, your system needs some support for the adjustment! Trust me on this one.

Cuatro: Applications. Since I am going to be so far away I have had to make a lot of considerations and decisions for graduate school applications pretty early so that I could get a lot of things mailed early. I have already sent out all of my letter of recommendation forms to my professors to fill out (which took over 10 hours to prepare from beginning to end!). I have also started working on some of the applications, updated my curriculum vitae, and have been making other considerations of how I am going to compile all of these paper documents while I am in Chile. I think that this blog is going to have many accounts of grad school applications since I will have to work on these details while I am abroad. Thank goodness I already have my school list narrowed down and have been working out all of the tiny details for each program. I will post a list of my schools I am applying to for those who care to know.

So, regarding the four things that I need to do before I leave, I conclude by saying, "One of these things is not like the other..."

Preparing For a Trip in the Dark

2009-06-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to live in Chile has been so much more work than I expected... I knew that there would be a lot of considerations to fulfill before leaving, but the amount of time taken to fulfill these tasks has been unreal. I think that what has been most difficult for me is the fact that every decision I have needed to make has been contingent on forces outside of my control. For example, the Chilean Consulate would not tell me when my visa would be ready, which meant that it would be risky to purchase a ticket to Chile because it would be difficult to leave without getting my visa first. And then the prices of tickets started going up and I began to panic, which did not phase the Consulate. Finally, yesterday I found out when I could go to LA to pick up my visa, which meant that I could book my flight to Santiago. Luckily I found a fairly inexpensive ticket... especially considering that I will be leaving from Denver on June 30. From there I will pick up my visa, and fly on July 1 to Chile, arriving on July 2. In case you are wondering... I will be there until December 18. I sense that Chilean culture operates on a different time than I am used to in the States; I guess it is a good lesson in patience for me! That being said, I hope that once I get down there that I know what is going on--up until this point I have felt totally in the dark! Thank goodness for the help from my grandma, aunt and mom's help over the past few weeks as I have tried to get all of these details straightened out.

"Habrás insultado el recuerdo de mi madre"

2009-01-09T16:40:00.000-08:00

An entry I wrote in August but never published... just found it. Silly me!

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The title of the blog, from Neruda's "Tango del viudo," means in English, "you will have already insulted the memory of my mother." There were so many people in class today that got a kick out of it, basically because it seems like the equivalent of making a "your mom" insult in Spanish! Seriously, I read this line and the first thing I thought was, "why did you have to bring his mom into it!" Glad to see that even in scholarly poetry mom insults are not out of bounds.

Really, the only other thing I have to address is the mystical musical moment that I had last night. I went out dancing with a few friends, but after an hour we decided we weren't feeling it, so we went to get coats and go. Well, while we were waiting for a friend, my friend Fred happened to sit down in front of two huge sub-woofers that were on a perch. Seconds later, I realized that his life was forever changed as he indulged in the infinite energy being emitted from the speaker. Now, to understand this, you have to know that Fred is totally into music and draws so much passion from it. Soon after I sat down next to him and could understand the transcendental experience he had--it was incredible. The energy from the parlante reverberated within the depths of my body in an indescribable way. There was a sensation of air moving across my skin, because, well, the frequency was so low that it was. See, speakers create sound by displacing air particles at different rates, and since the speaker was so loud and so low (low frequencies create long wavelengths), I could feel like air being displaced from the sound being produced. So just think, hundreds of people dancing around us, and for 15 minutes we were lost in our own word taking in the energy of the sub-woofer. I do not know if I will ever be able to hear those frequencies every again, good thing I do not have much use for them! As for Fred, he said that he was now able to die a happy man... I have never seen anyone fall in love with an inanimate object before.