Checking Out Chile

New Blog!

2011-06-08T21:55:00.002-04:00

For anyone who may still be subscribed to this blog, I thought I'd let you know that I know have a new blog for my upcoming trip to Guatemala. Feel free to check it out!

Also, I'd like to apologize (mostly to myself) for never writing a decent wrap-up post. Oh well...

Se Acaba

2010-06-30T15:07:00.004-04:00

So, I'm now back in the good ol' United States of America. I feel like I should recap a little bit, and tie some ends together, but it's really hard for two reasons:

1. It already feels like a different world and a different life
2. It's quite sad to throw my mind back to Chile because it forces me to acknowledge that it's something that's over, which reminds me of all of my friends that it will be very hard to ever see again..

So, in the interest of keeping things easier for me and more readable for you, I think I'm going to put out two more posts-- one summing up the happenings of my last month, and one relating the impacts of leaving and returning to the USA and trying to pull something more concrete out of the experiences of my year.

So, I'll start the facts and moments of my last month or so. I can't remember exactly what I did the first couple of weeks of my last month, but I mostly spent it going to school, hanging with friends, going to a couple of goodbye festivities for other exchange students, and trying simultaneously to deny and come to terms with the fact that my time in Chile was running out.

I did however manage to fit in two trips-- the first one was to Concepcion where I stayed with one of my host-mom's really good friends, in the house that my host-sister is also living in while she's in college in Concepcion. My hostess was incredibly kind and friendly, and took me out every day to get to know the area. I decided that if I were to come back to Chile to live, it would be in Concepcion. The city is fairly unremarkable but does have a nice vibe from being the home to a good number of universities. The surrounding area is gorgeous. Talcahuano, the port city just down the river is very cool-- brightly colored, funky, full of personality, industrial city, built all the way up a hillside that goes flat just a little bit before meeting the ocean. All up and down the coastline there are stunning beaches and rocky points, with cute little fishing towns scattered without. And then, if you head inland, it's forested and hilly, and actually looks a good bit like West Virginia. The main epicenter of the February 27th earthquake was quite close to Concepcion and there was some startling damage, but while some bigger buildings fell in Concepcion that what I'd seen, I'd say that downtown Curico was damaged a lot more than downtown Concepcion. However, the coastal towns were absolutely ravaged by tidal waves. I saw plenty of torn-up fishing boats resting casually a good many meters from the ocean, and a couple of towns where one half of the cove was completely destroyed (the little differences in geography made a big difference with respect to the power of the waves that arrived).

After a week there I went back to Curico, had my official Rotary farewell, relaxed a couple of days, then kicked off my week of minimal sleep by waking up at 4 AM in order to meet with friends at 5 AM for the Chile-Honduras World Cup match at 7:30 AM. Chile won. It was fun.

That afternoon, I set off for Santiago, to take care of some final matters. I bought some gifts to take home,
went skiing at El Colorado,
watched the USA-Slovenia World Cup game at a true Gringo bar, checked a few more sights-to-see of Santiago off my list, and participated in some more farewell activities for other exchange students.

That Saturday, I returned to Curico, just in time to get ready for my goodbye party that night. Emily and Liz (my fellow gringo-curicano Rotary Exchange Students at Liceo Zapallar) and I rented a space, paid for a DJ, and threw a pretty slammin' party. Lots of people, lots of dancing, and lots of fun (until the end when the sadness hit me, and a couple of dramas erupted, but it was a triumphant success regardless).

I spent most of Sunday packing, then had a farewell dinner with my family that night.

Monday I went to school to watch the Chile-Switzerland game and say goodbye to all of my classmates. Chile won the game which was great and put everyone in a good mood.

The goodbyes were hard. I had only been in my school for a few months, but I still had made some very close friends. However, because I haven't known many of them for very long, I feel like I barely had time to realize who all the cool kids were and how awesome they were. As hard as it was to leave behind my really close friends, it was almost harder to leave behind the people who I could tell would have become my really close friends if only I'd been able to spend more time with them. Still, the day went well-- I gave gifts to several of my Chilean friends, and a number of them had gifts and/or cards for me. Instead of classes in the afternoon, my class had a farewell barbecue for Emily and I, which was nice. In the evening I went and chilled at my friend Kuko's house, where I said my goodbyes to Kuko, Kaña, and Jesus, my three very close friends from my first school.

Tuesday I woke up, did the last of my packing, and journeyed to the airport. At 2:30 I set off with my host-mom, and 4 hours, 1 taxi, and 2 buses later, we arrived at the airport. Some friends from Santiago came to the airport to say goodbye, as well as some classmates who surprised us (I was flying with Liz and Anna).

After procrastinating the departure as long as possible, I passed through the gates, and was the very last person to board the plane. Liz and I read all of the messages our classmates had written us and told us to read on the plane, which was sweet and sad, and fortunately not quite as emotional as I'd expected (my capacity for sadness from the farewells ran out the moment the airplane wheels lifted off, and I was no longer on Chilean soil.) I arrived in Atlanta, spent forever going through customs, said goodbye to Liz and Anna, then rushed through the 3 terminals (the train was closed) to get to my flight, once again, in the nick of time. At that point, Chile already started to feel like dream and the people began to feel like memories, but after a rough moment, I managed to focus on the excitement of going home and leave the immense sadness from leaving in the recesses of my mind. I slept almost all of the flight to Pittsburgh, and woke up just as we touched down. I had arrived, and was once again walking on familiar American soil.

El Tiempo Pasa Volando

2010-05-21T17:27:00.022-04:00

I could have sworn that I posted my last blog entry just over a week ago, but what do I know, it's been a month. More concerning to me though is the other result of quickly passing time-- I know have less than a month left in Chile. How do I feel about this? Quite honestly I don't know. I feel good about the amount of things I've done and places I've been during my year in Chile, but now with the time winding down, so are my possibilities. I have to come to grips with the fact that I won't get to do everything. The human front is more difficult to explain. I have real friends here, both Chilean and otherwise, some of them I'm very very close with. However, the hard reality is, there's no way I will be seeing them again with any real consistency. These people have really shaped my life and my perspective over the last year, so it's tough to say the least. Leaving my friends and acquaintances at my new school adds another layer of complication- I have made some good friendships, but there are a number of people who I find really interesting and good-company that I haven't really gotten to know yet, and sadly, I may never actually get to know some of them. It really just adds on to my feeling that I can't fit in everything that I want.

Although there is a lot of sadness in leaving what has been my home for the last 9 months, I know that there are a lot of things to look forward to when I come home-- friends, family, summer, heading off to college. It should be good, but I'm a spot nervous about possibility that it won't, given that life in Morgantown will probably seem less special, less exciting, and less interesting. Hopefully that will all be overpowered by the fact that Morgantown has always been home.

Reflection aside, I have gotten to do a lot of cool stuff lately.(Though it's been long enough that I've probably forgotten a lot of things). The biggest happening since my last post was my Rotary Trip to Easter Island, which was quite definitely quite cool. However, before I get into that, I want at least mention the days before. We left for Easter Island on a Tuesday, and the Friday night before was a big ol' rave-- Sensation. I first heard about Sensation back in September, and ever since had been making sure I had people to go with. I ended up going with Peter (Chilean) and Liz (Michigander), and meeting up with other exchange students there. It was a lot of fun. eight straight hours of dancing. Lots of lights, loud music, dancers, decorations, etc. The coolest part about Sensation is that everyone has to come dressed completely in white-- it makes for quite a sweet atmosphere.

Back to the trip, first some background for those of you who aren't familiar -- Easter Island,more correctly referred to as Rapa Nui (the name in Rapa Nui's native language) is one of the most isolated inhabited locations in the world-- it's closest inhabited neighbor is more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) away. However, it's big claim to fame are the giant, somewhat ominous, and very distinct stone statues that are found all over the island, known as Moai.

After a five-to-six hour flight from Santiago, our group of thirty-some exchange students and four Rotarians arrived in Rapa Nui . We arrived around 2 in the afternoon, and had free time until dinner. So, with some friends, we walked around the little town and the surrounding area, getting ourselves oriented, and enjoying the mild climate--a departure from the winter chill that was already arriving in mainland Chile. We saw our first moai and sea turtle, then went to quench our thirst on an ocean-view balcony, that was also overlooking a very old cemetary in which some horses decided to hang out.Within a few hours, the island's laid-back atmosphere was definitely sinking in. The island life is a nice life.

The next couple of days we mostly spent touring the island. Sites visited include:

-One of the Island's two sandy beaches (the rest are rocky)

-A volcano that once served as the base for the process of selecting each year's ruling clan (determined by whose competitor snatched the first egg laid by the seagulls), which now provides fresh water to the islanders, by way of the rain water that collects in the crater

-A cave with cave paintings and lava rocks that showed how the lava flowed

-Another volcano, the site of the quarry from which the moai were carved. There are a whole bunch of moai sitting around, some which were waiting to be transported and some which were still being finished. Work on the moai stopped pretty suddenly when there was a giant ecological/political/resource collapse.

-Many many moai

-We also stopped by a school nearby to drop off some donations we'd brought with us on the plane (everything's expensive on the island because it has to be brought in by boat or plane) and chat with the kids

Each night we ended up with a different production of native dance, of various levels of polish and touristy-ness. They always called people out of the crowd to dance with them. Because they gave generally gave little (no) instruction, hilarity was abound. Eventually though, we caught on.

At some point, there was a free afternoon, which a friend and I decided to make use of to go horseback riding. We'd befriended a Rapa Nui (the term refers to the place, the language, and the people) who had a friend with a couple of horses he said would rent them to us. When we came by, a group of them were sitting down, a little bit intoxicated. We asked them about the horses, and they pointed to a couple that were walking around, but said they didn't have saddles. We decided to man-up and go anyway. The problem was that neither of us has much if any experience with horses. We crossed the field, and their our problems began. My friends horse only wanted to keep climbing up the hill, while mine found a nice patch of grass that it was determined to eat, no matter what. I managed to move from that patch of grass, only to get stopped at another one. There I sat on the horse for about 20 minutes, trying to give it enough time to eat that it might want to cooperate, then leading it a couple of yards before it got frustrated and angry again. Eventually, I saw a couple of friends passing in the distance. I shouted to them for help, and they pulled/led my horse back to where I'd come from. I told our Rapa Nui friends that my friend on the other horse was MIA somewhere up the hill, so one of them jumped on my horse, and without problem went after him. I can't say it was particularly pleasant, sitting nervously on a stubborn horse, but it was certainly an experience.

Our last full day on the island was characterized by torrential rain. Plans to go to the beach were scrapped, so my friends and I took the morning to go Scuba diving. It was way awesome. 10 meters down, swimming among a coral reef, just off the coast of Easter Island. Fantastic. That afternoon, I spent with a couple of friends getting to know some of the Easter Island characters. On the way back from Scuba, we passed a barbecue for Rapa Nui Indepence, just outside a municipal building. They invited us to try some meat, and we ended up talking for a while with one particularly drunk Rapa Nui man. I was a little confused that it was an Independence Day celebration, given that Rapa Nui is a part of Chile, and the people there were of no help-- everyone I asked told me that Rapa Nui always has and always will be independent. We went back to the hotel to grab some lunch, then headed back out to visit our friend who had the horse connection. We played a little chess and just hung out for the rest of the afternoon.

Our last morning in Rapa Nui, everyone scrambled into town for some last minute souvenir shopping, then jumped in the bus to head to the airport. Our bus driver Jimmy has a musical taste that centers on very poppy upbeat electronica, and he seemed to just have one 5-10 song mix that he put on loop, so we all became very familiar with all of the songs. There was one song we all became very attached to, and as we drove up to the airport, he put the song on, and we all went crazy dancing, singing, screaming, and jumping. It was a nice last hurrah before getting on the plane ride.

The ride back wasn't painful (LAN Chile airplanes have the sweet personal touchscreen, and have all of the games and movies and such free) but was a bit sad as people passed around flags for other people to sign, and prepared to say their last goodbyes.

I'm still really liking my new school. The kids are really nice, and it's great that I can actually communicate with them. After school every day, I walk to the Centro with some of my classmates, and then the people who don't have pre-U (college prep classes to help prepare for the big ol' standardized test), mosey around and accompany whoever happens to have errands to run. The other day was student's day which, is basically a condensed, toned-down version of the school's Anniversary. A bunch of little competitions, which was good fun.

My Brazilian friend Breno is leaving tomorrow (as I write this, by the time this is posted, he's probably already gone) and I've taken part in a lot of his goodbye activities. Especially since I now share my room with him-- he moved back in with my family after problems with his second family. Among them were his goodbye party (disappointing atmosphere, but still a fun and very interesting night), and a couple of soccer/barbecue nights with 40-something-year-old men and Breno. One of the two was their farewell to Breno, so instead of doing their typical asado, they did a discada-- a many-meat-mixture cooked in the disc-shaped blade of a harvester. It is unbelievably delicious. It was also a really cool experience just hanging out with a group of Chilean men, seeing how they talk and behave when they're just hanging out with each other. Plus I got to play soccer, which is never bad.

Mostly, as always, I've just been living life. Planning adventures (at the moment, my goodbye party), and adventuring (like a friend's goodbye party in Santo Domingo, or going to the transvestite circus, which was actually quite dreadful). I don't think I'm ready to give up my pace of life. But no matter how easy or hard it is, I'm going to have to say goodbye and I'm going to have get used to living life back in Gringolandia.

three things that are different here

1. Chileans have a different stance on sexuality. For one, PDA is everywhere-- every park and plaza will have some neckin' going on. Also, Chilean TV is way more direct in using sex to draw people in, and after 10 or 11 ( I forget the time) they show everything but genitalia on network TV. Another poignant example would be some of the student's day activities-- among them, a very blatantly sensual dance choreographed by a teacher and a few freshman girls, a game where paper is passed mouth to mouth down a line of 40 some students (if the paper drops, you're kissing), and one competition in which a teams of one guy and one girl competed to "best" pass a tiny gummy candy from mouth to mouth, that is to say, who would have the most passionate kiss in front of the whole school. The fact that Chileans are okay with all of these things is added to by the fact that Chileans are much more physically touchy-- air- kisses on the cheek are given every time a a girl says hi to a girl, to a guy, or even between two guys who are close friends, and no one thinks anything of it. Despite all of this, when there was a debate (given, at my other, more conservative school) on gay marriage, I was the only one in the whole class who willingly argued in favor.

2. When a member of a teacher/administrator's immediate family dies, the whole school gets out. Happened to me the first time the other day. I can't imagine how that works (if they do it) at the really really big schools.

3.The family-owned corner store is not at all dead in Chile. In fact, I live in one (upstairs). If I had to guess, I'd say it has to do with the culture being much less car-centric, but be that or whatever reason, as much as Lider tries to become Walmart, it doesn't seem to be taking over too terribly quickly, if at all.

Vacaciones Terminan: Viajo al Norte y Colegio Empieza

2010-04-23T22:33:00.022-04:00

This entry was written was written a couple of weeks ago, I just took forever to put the pictures in and finally post it... expect another update soon focusing on my trip to easter, among other adventures.

So, after coming back from Hualañé, I spent just enough time in Curicó to wash my clothes and say goodbye to Rafaela( my Brazilian friend who just went home) then went al tiro to Santiago to head out on the Rotary trip to the North of Chile. The trip consisted of 12 days with 20 some exchange students from the US (the majority), Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia on a bus, roadtripping 1,250 miles (2,000 km) north to Arica, and then back. We had many a laugh, chuckle, and giggle-snort; slept very,very little; and saw countless churches and plazas (every towns fall-back tourist attraction), as well as many simply fantastic views.
Some highlights:
-Seeing geysers at the break of dawn
-Visiting what I dubbed "llama-town", where there were llama pens and llama kabobs
-Exploring a canyon after our bus broke down in the middle of the desert for the fourth time in a half-hour
-Seeing flamingos in the lagoon in the middle of a giant salt flat with Volcanoes in the background
-The views and sunset in Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley), which is truly otherworldly.
-Midnight full moon sandboarding in La Valle de la Muerte (The Valley of Death)
[I'd like to note that all of the highlights to this point happened in one thoroughly awesome day]

-Gorgeous extremely high altitude lake view from somewhere near Bolivia
-Alpaca clothing (I snagged a sweater, socks, and gloves), hippy pants, and tunics
-Joke time on the bus
-Moments of absolute beauty out the window after hours of nondescript-to-ugly desert monotony
-Testing the waves everytime we stopped anywhere with ocean
-The view from Embalse Puclaro, a big ol' dam
-Iquique, which is just a cool city

After the North trip, I came back to Curicó, I had a couple of days to get everything ready for me to start school the following Monday, then had to head back to Santiago for the annual Rotary District conference. The conference was a bit pointless-- they basically just wanted us to make an appearance, then found ways to occupy our time the rest of the day, but i had a good time with my exchange student friends anyway.

Monday I started at my new school-- Liceo Zapallar. It's Curicós public school "of excellence" which means that the kids there have to do well on a standardized test and have to maintain a 6 average (~85%). There are also more than four times as many kids in my grade. Given that, and the fact that this school is public (free) while my other school was a very expensive private school, things are a lot different. Starting at a new school this time was a lot easier because A- my Spanish is so much better than it was when I arrived, B-I'd already met a number of these kids and already had a few good friends at this school so it wasn't easy to join their friend group.
I'm quite happy with my new school. The kids are nice and interesting, and having changed has definitely given me a new set of experiences.

I managed to make it up to Santiago one other time recently to see Matisyahu (Jewish Reggae-Rap Fusion that is actually quite popular/mainstream) in concert. I went with a bunch of exchange students and we had a good time. Matisyahu was great, and even though the crowd was sub-par, we still had a blast dancing and singing the whole time. I also managed to grab some scrumptious Thai food the next day before I headed back to Curicó, ebbing my constant cravings for ethnic food which is much harder to come by here than it is in the US.

Upcoming excitement includes a big ol' electronica concert and the Rotary trip to Easter Island.

Also, my return date is set. I leave Santiago the night of the 22nd and arrive in Pittsburgh the morning of June 23rd. I don't know how I feel about it. I get a bit panicked thinking about how little time is left, but there is also definitely a part of me that appreciates and looks forward to all of the positives that being home will bring. I guess the best thing to do is not worry about it too much, and use any related stress as motivation to take advantage of as much as I can.

1.Chilean grades are given on a scale of 1-7. 4 is passing, and it seems to me that there are a lot more kids who don't pass. Failing grades are known as promedios rojos or failing averages.

2. Chileans aren't as big on strong flavors and a lot of things are only seasoned with some combination of lemon, salt, and/or oil, such as salad and avocado. I miss the abundant and flavorful sauces of the US from time to time.

3. When people talk about where they've visited in the US, they have to list cities, states, and regions. In Chile, you just have to mention two places-- the furthest south you've been. For instance, I would say, Conozco desde Punta Arenas hasta Arica.

Harto Ha Pasado...

2010-03-08T23:08:00.021-03:00

Other than the update on the earthquake, it's been almost 3 months since I actually went through and described what's been happening in my life. I'm halfway considering just letting it stay in the past and turning a bit more away from a daily narrative and a bit more toward an observation journal, but I think I'd like to sum up what's happened, even if it ends up being extremely long, condensed, or both.

I wrote my last blog right before I went off to a lakehouse on Lago Villarrica (between Villarrica and Pucón). I was there for 2 weeks and it was fairly fun. It was a bit of a shock going from a few weeks travelling without and away from my family to being exclusively with them for two weeks, but it's gorgeous there and I had a good time, mostly just lying out on the beach.

Some highlights:

A wee-hours-of-the-morning outing on the lake with my brothers friend in a little rowboat;

Seeing Chancho en Piedra, a Chilean band with a really good bassist;

Playing cacho (a game with dice) and hanging with the cousins;

Winning $20 in my first and only jaunt into a Casino;

Conversing with Hube, the nana (maid, more or less);

Driving down the main street of Villarrica with a Piñera flag sticking out the sunroof, honking the horn, as we came to town just as that day's presidential election results were announced (the Donoso-Azocar family likes Piñera very much).Actually Piñera deserves a lot more mention, so I'll throw in at least a tidbit more. Piñera is from the right. Chile hasn't had a president from the right since democracy was restored after General Pinochet. Among other things, that means that anyone who didn't vote before 1955 and who has always voted for the right has never voted for a winning presidential candidate. Both of my last host-parents were in that catergory.

When I got back from Pucón, I expected to change families right away. However, because of various confusions and complications, I didn't end up changing for another week and a half. It was a bit surreal leaving the other house behind and really turning the page to another chapter, but I'm really happy with my new house/family. They're very very warm and friendly.

After just a couple of days with them, I headed up to Santiago to meet my mom at the airport. The first day, we hung out with some of my friends and relaxed so she could recuperate from the flight. The next day, we saw a whole bunch of Santiago, including Cerro San Cristobal, La Moneda, La Plaza de Armas, and Pablo Neruda's Santiago House, La Chascona. Day 3 consisted of a trip to the nearby mountains, more specifically to Cascada de Animas in Cajon de Maipo, which my mom fell in love with.

Day 4 we headed out to Isla Negra, a pretty little ocean town which is known for being the site of Pablo Neruda's main house. We went there and looked around, and it was cool and had gorgeous scenery, but I have to say I liked the one in Santiago better. From Isla Negra, we headed up to Valparaiso, where we spent the next 3 nights. My mom agrees with me that Valparaiso is a cool place. We did a whole lot of walking there, and got to know the nearest arbitrarilly named and divided hills(they say there are 45 but it just seems like one big thing). Most of our last couple of days in the Valparaiso area was spent in Viña del Mar, the very vacationy foil to the industrial-yet-chic Valparaiso. We went to the synagogue in Viña for shabbas (my first in Chile) and met some nice Jewish folk (the first non-Israeli Jews I'd met in Chile). It was cool to see and the people we met were nice-- they even invited me to come up to Santiago for a good ol' Jewish weekend. Viña was quite happening while we were there because just after we left, the Viña Song Festival started, which is kind of a really big deal. Among the things that were there as part of the excitement were huge hoards of people, an airshow, and an orchestra playing in the street for tips.

After Valparaiso and Viña, we headed south to Chiloé-- a beautiful green island that has retained a distinct flavor, culture, and mystical ambience. After an overnight busride, we came to Ancud, where 10 minutes after arriving in our hostel, we jumped in a van and took advantage of some last minute cancellations to go on a penguin tour boat ride. Our other touristy adventure was a kayak trip across the Bay of Ancud (it has another name, but that's what everyone called it) and back through a really cool American ex-pat run tourist agency, but we also did a good bit of exploring of the town on our own. I think our coolest find was a restaurant called "El Mundo de la Papa" which translates to "The World of the Potato". Every single dish on the menu used potato as its main ingredient, in celebration of the fact that there are more than 300 species of potato native to Chiloé. It actually all tasted quite good, even the chocolate potato cake.

From Ancud, we headed south to Castro, where we stayed in a palafitos-- a house on stilts. I chatted a lot with deskclerk there-- he's a sculptor and a really cool guy. Check out his blog if you're interested in seeing his art. From Castro, we took a guided bike trip to the National Park on the intensely-green west coast of Chiloé. Like just about everyone else we met who worked in the tourist industry in Chiloé, our guide was really nice and genuinely interesting. He biked with us while his 6 month pregnant wife followed the route in a truck with food and water and such. She was actually even cooler than he was.

The next day we took a bus out to Dalcahue and the Quinchao Island, where you can find little villages and what are probably the most genuine crafts in Chile. Lots of cool stuff made from wool, including some sweet slippers with a sheep skin sole (fur on the inside) and a woven top.

From Castro, we headed to the Chepú Valley, in the Northwestern corner of Chiloé. It is known for it's sunken forests-- rivers full of dead trees, killed by salt water that came with the tsunami of the Earthquake of Valdivia in 1960 (strongest earthquake ever recorded). We stayed in a cabin in an ecocampsite run by two genuine characters. The owners, a married couple, had fled to nature from Santiago and started all kinds of conservation projects in the area. They came off as a bit passive aggressive, which I think is a result of what their campsite was going through. They'd put up the campsite just to be for backpackers so that they could experience the pristine beauty of the area, but just last year they were featured in Lonely Planet, which is making them figure out how they're going to deal with a larger amount of customers, and more than that, a clientèle that's less into roughing it than the backpackers that they're used to. It's a bit of a predicament for them considering that they're extremely hardcore environmentalists and also half-way retired and not wanting to work too much. That was a long tangent.

Anyway, we were staying there at Chepu when the earthquake hit. You should read my last entry for the details on that. In the morning, we went kayaking in the sunken forest, before realizing how serious things were and making our way immediately to Ancud and then to Puerto Varas.

We stayed in Puerto Varas for a few days, as a way to pass the time before we could catch a bus north. The view from Puerto Varas's lakefront is truly absoultely breathtaking. A gorgeous lake with several volcanoes peaking out behind it. We mostly just explored the town and lazed about, but we did have one day of big adventure-- in the morning we hiked around the foothills of a volcano( a gorgeous trail) to some absolutely stunning waterfalls. The waterfalls weren't so much cascades as overgrown rapids, but the power and the color of the water made it a site to see. Just after the hike, we went white water rafting. We put in just a bit below the falls, and the rafting was great. My mom was terrified and pretty pessimistic before we started, but we both ended up having a really good time.

After another overnight bus ride, we arrived Santiago, where we found that all the things we were planning on doing were closed. We did go to a nice market/cultural center for the afternoon, then dilly-dallied around the centro for a while until my mom had to catch her bus to the airport. We said our goodbyes, she went to the just-reopened-for-international-flights airport and I jumped on a bus back to Curicó.

Arriving in Curicó at 11:00 was quite a shock. I didn't realize it, but Curicó was under a midnight curfew, so there were already lots of cops, military police, firemen, and other types of sirened vehicles patrolling the streets. I got home, glad to see my family safe and sound, and slept like a baby. I spent the next couple of weeks pretty much just helping out (details on the first days in the last entry), mostly at the red cross, and then occasionally grabbing a meal with friends afterwards. Several truckloads of aid came from the North, which meant there were several truckloads to unload, sort, and assemble into packages that we could distribute.

I also went on a few outings with the red cross. The first one was a trip to Iloca, the closest beach town which was hit really hard. We went around interviewing people to see what was needed. The damage and the sadness that we found there were tremendous.

Our second trip was to a rural town just outside of Curicó where we went to distribute supplies, just for an afternoon.

Our third Red Cross outing was much bigger. Liz (an exchange student in Curicó from Michigan) and I went with some other Red Cross youth volunteers to help out in a field hospital in Hualañé for a week. Half of the hospital there had collapsed, so the Red Cross brought in a team of Spaniards to set up a clinic. Most of our time there was spent taking down tents and putting up sturdier, bigger, and more weatherproof tents so that the hospital would better be able to function during Chile's upcoming rainy winter. I also spent some time helping out the doctors. The concept of the hospital was actually pretty cool. About 25 Spaniards came with all the supplies and know-how to run and set up a hospital.With the help of about the same number of Chilean volunteers, they set things up and got the hospital running. After a month, the team of Spaniards left and 12 new Spaniards arrived, also to stay for a month. The idea is that the hospital gradually loses its dependence on the Spaniards, and after a month more, it should be running but with only Chilean labor. Helping out there was a really good experience because on top of being able to help out in a meaningful way, I met some really cool people, both Chilean and Spanish (I'm definitely going to take advantage of my open invitation to stay in Barcelona).

There's still a lot to go for me to catch up to today (a Rotary trip to the North, starting at my new school, etc.) but I'm gonna go ahead and post here so that A. this post isn't too absurdly long, and B. I can finally get something posted.

three things that are different here

1. Pretty much everyone has a couple of round scars on their bicep from immunizations. What kind, I don't know.

2. Racial sensitivities are different. Look at this shoe store's name and image.

3. Everyone brushes their teeth after every meal. When people eat lunch at school, there's a nice social group brushing afterward.

Keep tuned!

Terremoto

2010-03-06T19:02:00.010-03:00

I've been without a functional computer since mid-January, so there's a whole whole whole lot to catch up on. However, that extensive recap has to wait a little bit longer. This entry is a quick jump out of my narrative to address in a timely fashion the thing that most people are concerned about--the earthquake.

When the earthquake hit, at 3:34 AM on Saturday the 27th of February, I was fast asleep in my bed. I stayed fast asleep. I was with my mom(dear Roz Becker was visiting from the USA) in a cabin in the rural river valley of Chepu on Chiloe Island, about 430 miles (700 kilometers) south of the epicenter. I woke up the next mornging around 7:30 when a friend from Curicó, Francisco, called me. He asked me where I was and how I was. In my very gravelly I-just-woke-up voice, I told him I was fine in Chiloe, and asked him the same. He told me he was in Curicó, and that there had been an earthquake. I thought little of it-- he didn't tell me any details and the power was out so I couldn't get any news. Carefree, I went kayaking with my mom. When I came back, the power had returned and from the minute of TV I managed to snag, I realized what a catastrophe it was. I was worried. My new host family was in Concepcion, 71 miles (115 kilometers) south of the epicenter, and Curicó where I have been living for 6 months and have many friends, is less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the epicenter. Both were all over the news. Internet was down and cell phone service and signal were both extremely patchy. My mom was scheduled to fly out the next night, and we had bus tickets to Santiago for that night (we actually almost booked the bus for the night before, which would have left us incredibly close to the epicenter at the moment the earthquake struck). We managed to talk to the airline, found out that the airport was closed for at least the next couple of days, and managed to reschedule her to the next available flight-- Thursday.

We decided that the best course of action was to head into Ancud, the nearby town, to talk to the bus company and try to be able to get connected. When we got there, the bus company told us that becuase of all of the bridges that were down and other road obstacles, there weren't any buses heading to Santiago yet, but if we came back the next evening, they'd know what's going on. After that, we went back to our hostel and checked the internet. When I checked my email and my facebook, I realized that many people back home were extremely worried. My mom and I were both a little taken aback-- we hadn't really seen anything on TV, hadn't gotten news from anywhere else, and hadn't been affected by the earthquake in anyway other than being without power, internet, and sure travel plans. It was very comforting that so many people cared (thanks!), but it really made a lot of the seriousness of what had happen sink in. We reassured everyone that we were okay, then waited to figure out what the best course of action was.

When we went back to the bus station, they told us that the first available bus was to leave Wednesday night (this was on Sunday), so, we decided to pass the days in Puerto Varas (great city, but that's for the next blog) until we could get north. In Puerto Varas, it was surreal knowing what had happened because the only evidence of the terremoto there was the absurdly long line at the one gas station that had gas(it goes well past what you can see in the photo). Other than that it was life as usual there, although with a cloud of worry always hovering nearby. The bus was overnight, so we saw little damage en route. When we got to Santiago, there was also little to see, but we were affected. Several places we intended to go were closed, though I believe it was all for the havoc wreaked within the building and not for structural damage. At the end of the day, after my mom had headed of to the airport (3 hours early because the terminal had been torn up by the quake), I took the last bus home to Curicó.

I arrived at about 11:30 to something quite different than I was used to. As we entered the centro, I saw many houses with crumbling facades, crumbling roofs, was expecting to take a colectivo home (they generally run till midnight) but none came. Therand a few that had collapsed quite entirely. There were also very few people out, and a ton of government/emergency/police vehicles with their lights flashing. I didn't know, but there was a midnight curfew imposed on the area to prevent the looting that was prevalent in many affected regions. That night, after I got back to my house, I heard some of what had happened to my family in Concepción, and felt my first earthquake/tremor/aftershock ever. Actually, my first three within 35 minutes, measurinng 5.7, 5.2, and 4.9, respectively. Replicas (Aftershocks) are still quite frequent here. Although I don't think any of them have been strong enough to be destructive--none have been over 7 and very few have been over 6.

The next day, when I went into the centro, I brought my camera as I went around taking in all of the damage.
I've spent the last couple of days helping out-- one day I helped put together a house's foundation using the rubble from a house that had collapsed with a side-trip to see the damage around the little town that we went to and yesterday and today I helped unload, sort, and package donated food that came through Chilean Red Cross.
There are a lot of people helping, and while there remains a lot of disorganization, some things are pretty incredible given that only a week has passed. For instance, a star-studded, entertaining, and heart-felt, 24 hour telethon was put together, broadcast on every channel, and raised over 60 million US dollar, doubling its goal. Money and manpower are the things that the various organizations helping out need most, and as I figure most of you reading aren't close enough to offer your time, below are a few ways that you can help out monetarilly. Also, keep your eyes and ears open because I'm working with some other exchange students here and Rotary to start our own relief fund.

By Text Message
For anyone in the US, send a message to 90999 to donate $10 US to the Red Cross (I believe it will be charged to your cell phone bill)

Online
Click here to easily donate to Un Techo para Chile (A Roof for Chile), the organization that's already very active and evident on the ground building houses for those who have lost their own, and distributing the necessities to those in need.

Bank Transfer (I feel like this is the option that will be less used, but just in case)
Here is the bank information for donations to Un Techo para Chile (described above) from the US:

FUNDACION UN TECHO PARA CHILE
Cuenta 0-051-000-8500-5
Banco Santander Chile
RUT: 65.533.130-1
SWIFT: BSCHCLRM
Dirección: Bandera 140
Santiago, Chile

Información Banco Intermediario
Cuenta: 2000192290409
WACHOVIA BANK N.A. (N. YORK)
SWIFT: PNBPUS3NNYC
ABA: 026005092

And to wrap things up, here's the photo that all of Chile has been rallying around

FUERZA CHILE!

Verano es Re Filete

2010-01-16T11:38:00.008-03:00

Sorry no pictures-- my camera is lost and I want to get this post up before I leave tomorrow and I don't really have time to hunt down pictures from facebook and most of them aren't even uploaded yet and maybe I'll put them on later and you get the idea.

Since the last post I have had a lot of fun. New Year's eve, I went with my friend kuko to his families new year's eve dinner which was laid back and fun, then went to a huge new years eve party. New year's eve is the biggest party night in Chile, and the party that I went to lived up to it. There were 2,000 people there, and it was quite a blast.

A couple of days later, I got a call from my Brazilian friend Breno inviting me to go to Pichilemu, a surf-town about 3.5 hours away. The next morning at 6 AM, Breno, two of his Chilean friends, and I hit the road. The plan was to camp, but by luck we came across a room with beds, better location, private bathrooms, and a very laid-back owner for a cheaper price. ~$20 USD for the room, which we had from 10 AM until 7 PM the next day. We basically just hung out, spending just about all of our time in the four block stretch of road that included our house, empanada shops, street vendors, and the beach.

After a day of rest when I got back, I headed up to Santiago with most of the exchange students from Curicó to go to the goodbye parties of the southern-hemisphere rotary kids who head home in early January. The first day's party was in a park, but when the park closed, we moved the party by bus and by subway to a mcdonalds, then to a little disco. The next day, I hung out with Andrew, whose house I stayed at, then walked around Santiago for a while with the Curicanos and a couple of Santiaguinos. By my request, we hunted down and Indian restaurant for dinner. Ethnic food is one of the things I really miss here, and eating Indian food put me in such a good mood. That night was despedida part 2 in an exchange students house, and there were good times to be had by all. The next morning, we were all more than a bit exhausted, so we said our final goodbyes, grabbed a bite at McDonalds, and headed home.

When I got home on Thursday, everyone in my host family except for the dad was in Viña del Mar, at their beach apartment. Friday after lunch, I headed up with my dad. We stayed until Friday, just hanging out. It had potential to be boring because I didn't manage to meet up with any friends there, but I made the most of the opportunity to just wander around the town and get some people-watching in.

That Tuesday, I headed back to Pichilemu with a different group of people. We rented a house for the 8 of us ($25 USD a piece for 3 nights, 2 blocks from the beach), and had a smashing time. A lot of chilling, walking around the town, plus two half-days of surfing. I was pleasantly surprised that I still remembered most of what I'd learned in my 3 or 4 surfing lessons I've had in the last 8 years, and even though it was too windy for the waves to be good, I managed to catch a good few waves, and I'm hoping to head back and do it again before summer break ends.

Tomorrow, I leave for Pucón (a vacaction town on a lake) for two weeks with my family, which should be good times, then as soon as I come back, I'll be changing families. Shortly after, my dearest mother is coming to visit. I don't want summer to end.

Almost 5 months in, I feel like I've just recently reached a new level of comfort/integration/acclimation. Boredom, which had been one of my major worries, has vanished for the time being, and that suits me very well. I think I've probably already changed more than I realize, because thinking back on the beginning of the exchange, my thoughts and worries and opinions on things here seem so strange and foreign. The most tangible change I think is my adjustment to independence. My family here basically lets me do whatever I want, as long as I can do it for myself. I remember how exciting it was the first time I walked to the colectivo and took it to the centro for the first time, and how exciting it was the first time I headed of by bus, just me and some friends on a trip we planned ourselves. To me these almost seem routine now. I think this is something that varies a lot between exchange students, and has a lot to do with the families-- there are some people who do everything with their families, and feel like they have less dependence here than back home. It's weird to think how different my experience could have been.

3 things that are different here

1. Telephone poles are all concrete. I looked into this one a little bit, and couldn't find any definite reason why they should be different, but they are.

2. Fanny packs don't have the same stigma that they do in the US, and are pretty commonly used. I bought myself one. It's useful as heck.

3. There's definitely something different about how old people look. Most of the time I guess 2 years older than people actually are, but there are also people who look younger than they are. I can't think of a good explanation.

El Sur y Más

2009-12-28T12:27:00.009-03:00

My trip to the south with Rotary was incredible. Really incredible. On top of seeing some of the most amazing places in the world, I spent the week with a whole bunch of other exchange students which was really cool. It's hard to have a bad time with a busload of kids with whom you have something significant in common.

Day 1- After a sleepless night on the plane from Santiago to Punto Arenas (the 2nd southernmost city in the world), our first day was pretty laid back. We took a tour of Punto Arenas, which unto itself isn't that remarkable of a city, then went off to see PENGUINS! Real live wild penguins! It wasn't a huge colony or anything, but still there were a good many of them and it was cool to see them so close just doing their thing. It was kinda weird seeing them just chilling on the dirt and grass-- there was no snow. That night, a group of us went running then swam in the Straights of Magellan. It was cold, but it was totally worthwhile.
Day 2- Took a bus to an old old fort, then to some little beaches with nice scenery, then off to Puerto Natales, the city closest to Torres del Paine National Park.

Day 3- We went into Torres del Paine. Words can't do it justice. We ate lunch in Hostería Pehoe, an absolutely gorgeous restaurant/hotel on an island in the middle of a lake surrounded by mountains (check the link for photos), then took an excessively brief hike before heading off to our hotel. The hotel was luxurious to the max-- the dinner there was incredible and the view from every room was to die for. If we were bored, we could just go outside, take a little walk, and enjoy the vista.
Day 4-We had a free morning, so most of us took the opportunity to go horseback riding. It was a definite highlight of the week. In the afternoon, we went out on a boat on Lake Gray to Gray Glacier. I somehow ended up in a pact with a couple of other kids to stay out on the front of the boat until we reached the glacier, which made for good memories and bonding, but also a very wet and cold Benny. That night, we went for another run/dip, this time into a glacial river.
Day 5- Another free morning, then to a tourist-trap cave where the body of a milodon (extinct giant sloth the size of a bear) was found, then back to Puerto Natales, where we just walked around town and did our souvenier/present shopping.

Day 6- Slight digression: I woke up in the morning and couldn't find my camera. It's still missing, and all of these pictures are stolen from facebook. I guess I should buy a new camera soon, but you know, I still have a tiny bit of hope, and it's hard to make myself spend the money...
Anyway, The day started with a boat ride on a fjord to a different glacier, then back to Punta Arenas where we got to see the palace/mansion built there by the super-rich lady who must have basically run the city back when it began. After that, it was off to the airport, arriving in Santiago at 6 AM thoroughly exhausted.

Since I got back things have been pretty relaxed. Some kids from Santiago came down for a night to check out Curicó and visit, which was fun. Other than that, just hanging out around the house and with friends in other parts.

I had my first Christmas here, but the Chilean Christmas seems to be less of a big-- not that it's not important but it's not a huge gathering and it's not the center of life for weeks. Christmas eve, I went to mass with my family(which was very cool to see), then came home, ate a midnight Christmas dinner, then gave presents, helped my brother set-up the Wii that was the family gift, then passed out well-exhausted. Christmas day was just relaxing, then that night we went to Talca to be with the extended family.

I celebrated Channukah too-- the first night I lit candles along with the Beckers and Goldwassers through Skype, then most of the rest of the nights I lit candles with the exchange students I was travelling with in Patagonia. Most of them (if not all of them) had never seen Channukah or any type of Jewish ceremony before, so I felt good being able to share that.

Monday, I went in to town to hang out with Liz and Emily (exchange students) and a few of their friends. When I got there, it turned out that they were heading to take part in the Curicó leg of The World March for Peace and Nonviolence. A photographer from the news paper was there, and we made the front page as well as another another photo in which I'm more featured. We were a small march, but it was fun nonetheless.

I'm looking forward to the next week right now as it includes New Year's Eve (tonight) which should be very sweet and the goodbye parties of two friends. After that, I don't really know what's on the horizon, but with time I suppose I'll find out.

3 things that are different here

1. Road lines are all white. There is yellow for parking and such, but there's no yellow to indicate that the road is two way. This is especially confusing to me on straight stretches of roads with one lane each way because theres just a single dotted white line.

2. Beverages-- there are no free refills, there is no free glass of ice water, and people don't drink a whole lot of water in general. They drink a ton of soda, which comes in a variety of sizes and containers : 350 cc can, or 350 cc glass bottle, 1000 cc plastic bottle, 1 liter plastic bottle, liter plastic bottle, 2 liter returnable (hard) plastic bottle, 2 liter normal/non-returnable plastic bottle, 2.5 liter plastic bottle, and 3 liter plastic bottle.

3. Counting works differently when you get to the high numbers. In Spanish it doesnt go millón, billón, trillón. Instead, they go million, thousand million, billion, thousand billion; or rather; millón, mil millones, billón, mil billones.

Vacaciones Empiezan

2009-12-02T14:01:00.016-03:00

So I'm now on summer vacation and on a small break in the middle of a travelling binge. It's been a little while since I blogged, so I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot, but maybe that's not so bad since it keeps me from writing about lots of tedious little things.

The last week of school was fairly unremarkable, but there was a really nice ceremony when the Seniors left. Each senior got a gift from each class, and every student in the school wrote a note to a Senior. Everyone lined the hallways so the Seniors walked past and said goodbye to everyone on their way out. There was also a random costume fashion show of little kids, but I have no idea what that was for....

As for me and my class, I came to school less because there were a lot of tests, and when I did come, mostly kids were just chilling and studying. I played a good bit of ping-pong on the miniature table a classmate made for an art project a few weeks back.

I just got back from a 5 day trip to Chillán with my counselor, Ernesto. The first day we travelled to the city Chillán, which is a good bit bigger than Curicó, bought food, then took an hour long bus to Valle las Trancas, where Ernesto has a cabaña (cabin).

The second day, Ernesto and I took a good long walk up to a lava hill named Shangri La.

When we got back, he took a nap and I went on a solo adventure trying to find a way to the base of the huge waterfall.

Day 3 and day 4 the real adventure took place. The reason for the whole trip was to climb Volcán Chillán, a very tall volcano which has skiing in the winter. Ernesto has a friend who, if I understood correctly, had a son loved climbing and recently passed away, and this trip was for the family and the son's college friends, who were all climbing enthusiasts. We were just lucky to be invited and tagging along. On the first day, we climbed for 3 or 4 hours, through rocks and sand and snow drifts, before making camp on a little island of rocks in the middle of all of the iced-over snow.

The second day, we put on our ice spikes and climbed to the new and old peaks of the volcano--(3,122 meters/10,243 feet) and (3,089 meters/10,135 feet), respectively.

Going up was difficult and slow, but gratifying, Going down however, was easy and a lot of fun. I did a lot of the descent boot-skiing and butt-sledding. After the descent, we had a nice asado (BBQ), then Ernesto and I headed back to his cabaña, quite exhausted. We'd had plans to stay two more nights, but we were both too worn out to want to do another walk, so we decided to head home the next day.

Last couple of wednesdays "Curicó International Club", as I like to call the gatherings of all of the exchange students from all of the programs, met. We went once for Mexican food (quite different than Mexican food in the US but still good), and hot dogs, breaking our run of international foods. Their a lot of fun. There aren't any other Americans from other programs, but theres a healthy mix of English and Spanish because there are 4 South Africans and some Europeans who learned English in school. I speak more Spanish than English when I'm with them, and I don't feel like it holds me back. I think a big part of it is that we're on a similar level so no one is impatient, which makes me more comfortable. I've realized that my level of comfort with the (person/people) I'm talking to has a big impact on my ability to communicate.

The first couple of days of summer, I was bored, which was very scary since I knew that there were still 3 months to go... however, the rest of that first week I found myself with plenty of opportunities to be sociable. Hopefully that will stay the norm, though I won't really know for a couple of weeks because right now my classmates are all on their class trip to Cancún and most of my exchange student friends are in Barriloche, Argentina. I leave for Punta Arenas (2nd most southern city in the world) and Torres Del Paine (big national park way down south in Patagonia) the day before they get back, which will be immediately followed by a 3 day hiking trip (or "trekking" as they say here) with the other Curicó Rotary kids. Anyway, this week (is going to be/has been) be quite laid back. Mostly just chilling around the house, getting some exercise, catching some rays, swimming in the pool, and trying to track down all of the stuff I need for the upcoming trips.

things that are different here:

1. Instead of using the alphabet from A to G to name music notes, people here use Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti. Do is C, and you go on from there. It's confusing to have to convert as you go-- to figure out what it means to be playing in Ti bemol menor (B flat minor), or something like that.

2. Palta (Avocado) is an absolute staple here. I can't think what an American equivalent would be, but seriously, I've been eating a lot of it. The most common way to eat it is to mash it with a fork on a piece of bread (like an undoctored guacamole). That's actually really good with ketchup (speaking of ketchup I was wrong in my last post--Heinz is available here, if not as widely spread). Palta is also put on lots of other things, like...

3. Chilean hot dogs, or "completos", are something else. The hot dog itself isn't fundamentally that different, but it's less than a third of the sandwhich. Instead of being served in a bun, it is served in marraqueta, AKA French bread. What's more, on top of the hot dog, there's usually a huge amount of mayo (Chileans LOVE mayonnaise and put it on everything), a lot of palta, some and diced tomato. This combo is referred to as the Italiano, because it's the colors of the Italian flag. These hot dogs are freaking impossible to eat normally. You have to come in from all angles, which means you can rarely manage a bite that has all of the ingredients in it, and even taking great care, the gooey toppings tend to ooze their way out of the bun and disasterously splatter whatever lies below. Completos Gigantes are also common, and really are gigantic.

Pasando Bien

2009-11-16T20:12:00.014-03:00

The last couple of weeks have gone quite smashingly. I've been busy, in a very good way. Lots of socializing and such.Most of the excitement has been with Exchange student folks. A couple of Wednesdays ago I finally met the bulk of the exchange students from other programs who are living in Curicó. We went to a hip sushi bar. At first the owner said we couldn't come in because a lot of us aren't 18 and it's technically bar, but then they said we could go upstairs which was actually better. We had a sweet lounge all to ourselves. The sushi actually wasn't that great, but everyone had a good time, and I think we're going out for Mexican next week.

Also, last week the Rotary kids in Curicó and Talca took a trip to Viña del Mar/Valparaíso. We were there for three days staying in Cabanas on the beach owned by the Chilean navy (which we got for a discounted rate because our counselor was in the army).

At the Cabanas we hung out, chased waves (I lost to the waves a few times and the water was freezing), ate, hung out, and climbed the big rocks at the water's edge (the rocks on the coast look a lot like the ones in Oregon and Northern California). The night we got there, we went to the movies which was exciting because the only movie theater in Curicó that shows new movies has been closed for renovations since before I got here. I saw Inglorious Bastards, which I would say was a quality film (as long as you're okay with Quentin Tarantino's over the top blood and gore). The next day, we went into Valparaíso to see the Chilean Congreso. Public school teachers here are on strike, so things were quite crazy, but Rotary got us in without even having to show IDs. The actual building was pretty ugly, and the chambers were nothing to write home about either (although I guess I am anyway). It was also crazy because of the strike. The room was full of teachers who did lots of cheering, some chanting, and even some singing-- while a vote was taking place!

That night we barbecued back at the Cabanas, then in the morning we took a boat tour of Valparaíso's harbor.

After that, we caught our bus to the train station in santiago and headed home.

My third exchange student adventure #3 was a jaunt up to Santo Domingo. Apparently, it's the town where the super rich people summer, and it was quite beautiful. There's an exchanger living there, and she invited a handful of Rotary kids to crash at her house. A bunch of her Chilean friends came too and we had a fun night. In the morning, we went to the beach. I got quite sunburned on my legs. Other people got burned pretty badly too-- I'm thinking it might have to do with being close to the hole in the Ozone layer over Antarctica, though but I don't know if that's significant in this part of Chile.

On the Chilean friendship front, I'm feeling more integrated. I haven't been hanging out with the seniors because they're now in super-study mode for the college entrance exam which is in a week or two, but I spent the night at a friend's house for the first time, went to another friends birthday party. It was nice that I didn't have to call and ask what was going on and if they could take me. It reassures me that I'm not just being a parasitic mooch.

In other news, my family got a new puppy. It sounds like a wolf on helium, still struggles to arrange its legs when it lies down, and is obnoxiously cute.

Also, the dollar has now fallen 10% against the Chilean peso since when I arrived. That, together with my travelling binge, is making life feel a bit expensive.

This week is probably going to be a bit slow-- there were plans to go to Talca for a day or two to help the exchange students there with a display on the US for an international fair, but our first visit to a Curicó Rotary meeting was (finally but unfortunately) scheduled the same day, so now I think it'll just be back to the routine. However, my host sister who's been in New Zealand comes home this weekend, there are just two weeks left till summer break, and just three weeks until my big Rotary trip to Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine Natl. Park in down south in Patagonia, so I think the increase in fun isn't just a flash in the pan.

3 things that are different here

1. There are a lot of brands of food that are different here, and I'm not going to talk about all of them, but I think Ketchup is noteworthy. I have a very strong attachment to Heinz ketchup which I inherited from my Mom's side of the family (they are from Pittsburgh after all). I always twinge when I go to a restaurant and find a bottle of Hunt's or some other inferior brand. Chile does not have Heinz (EDIT-- there is Heinz, although it's not very common), but it does have some good Ketchup. The good brand is called Malloa, and while it's definitely different than Heinz, I'm not sure that I can say it's worse. Also, though you can find them in bottles like we have in the US, lots of condiments (ketchup, jelly, mayo, salad dressing) come in bags.

2. Among my peers, the taste in music is fairly consistent. Most girls like Reggaeton, and while guys like Reggaeton and Electronica for parties, a strong majority are way into Classic Rock. Most of my friends' lists of favorite bands would include: Def Leppard, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, and the like. I like some Classic Rock now and again, but I can't say I love listening to it all of the time. Mostly, it amazes me how mainstream it is here, some 20-30 years later.

3. With every credit card transaction, you can choose to be break the charge into several payments (monthly or weekly or something like that). I once used my card to buy a single bag of cookies, and was offered to split the less than a dollar charge into 3. I'm yet to actually take anyone up on the offer though-- budgeting is confusing enough without triple the amount of payments.

Vida y Santiago

2009-11-01T12:04:00.015-03:00

I feel like a broken record, but I feel like the best way to describe life here is to say it's life. Still doing soccer and the gym during the week, then parties Friday and/or Saturday nights. I am getting to feel more like a participant than an observer or an outsider-- especially in spending time with friends. If it's not too fast-paced of a conversation, I can generally join in which is quite awesome because on top of making life more interesting and giving me more opportunities to be using my Spanish, it makes me feel a lot better calling people up and mooching off their social plans. It give me some confidence that I can be an interesting friend (to some degree) instead of always being a needy awkward clinger. It also feels good to add some more legitimate conversation into the question and answer sessions that I fall back on--answering questions about myself and the US and English is probably the easiest type of conversation for me to have, and there are a lot of people who are interested.

Yesterday, I opted to skip my soccer team's tournament in favor of Santiago with Rotary. Scheduling conflicts are lame, but I think

I made the right choice-- while I'm sure I'll get to go to Santiago again, I'll be with Chileans who aren't interested in seeing the touristy sites. Anyway, our group consisted of the 7 exchange students in Curicó, the 4 from Talca, plus 6 Curicanos Chilenos from Interact, which is basically Rotary club for teens. I was a bit exhausted because I went to a party the night before and my ride stayed quite late, which wouldn't have been bad except that I had to get up at 7:30 to make my way to the bus terminal. Actually, I should have woken up before 7, but my alarm didn't go off. By some miracle, I woke up of my own accord and managed to get out of the house in 6 minutes. I'm pretty proud of that.

Upon arriving in Santiago's Central Station, we took the metro to La Moneda, which is the Chilean equivalent of the White House. We checked out the gift shop, then went to see Catedral Metropolitana (a big famous cathedral), the market, Cerro Santa Lucía (a big famous beautiful hill/park with a sweet fountain and a sweet view of Santiago), and a souvenir market. Then we grabbed some lunch and headed back to La Moneda for a tour. La Moneda was cool, but had a lot less grandeur than I expected. I think my expectations were high because it's called a palace, but I found it a good bit less regal than the White House.

We took the train back because something about trains just seems fun. When I got home at 8:30 or so, I napped for about an hour, then went out with some friends to enjoy the Halloween festivities. Actually, the disco we went to had nothing Halloween themed other than the tickets. I know a couple of people who went to a costume party and all of the little kids were out trick-or-treating, but it's pretty apparent that Halloween is a lot less of a big deal here. Actually that segues nicely into...

3 things that are different here

1. Almost all of the backpacks here are Head brand. In the US, the only Head products I've ever seen are tennis related, but here, luggage and backpacks and such are their big thing. I actually bought myself one-- I hadn't brought a normal sized backpack because I was told that everyone here uses tiny backpacks here, and although some people do have tiny backpacks and backpacks in general are a bit smaller, I still needed a fairly normal sized backpack for school.

2. There is no confidentiality with grades. Sometimes, assignments are just handed back and some people won't want to share, but with tests (including the standardized tests for college admission), the grades are almost always read aloud in front of the class or posted on a bulletin board for everyone to see. The other day, the teacher even announced how many classes each person was failing (it seems like a lot more people fail here, and it's a lot easier to fail a grade). It doesn't seem to bother anyone though-- I guess you can't be too bothered by what you're used to and consider normal.

3. The soundtracks for Chilean TV shows and ads are fairly weak in my opinion. For one, they play almost exclusively the same songs that are on the radio. Also, they'll often play a song multiple times in a single episode, in places the song doesn't fit what's happening at all, and they generally use almost all of the same songs in each episode. Game shows, dramas, reality shows-- they all do it. They especially seem to love Katy Perry's Hot N Cold and I Kissed a Girl. To me, the worst offender is Corazon Rebelde, a teen drama. They play their theme song at least 5 time's an episode, always feature both of the above Katy Perry songs at least once, and fail completely at matching the song to the vibe. In an episode I saw the other day, two adults ran into each other at the park and were casually flirting. The music started out with Pink Pantheresque awkwardly-sneaking-around music, then suddenly shifted to someone-is-about-to-get-really-angry-hard-rock-guitar-shredding. No one was sneaking about(unless they were sneaking about so well that I couldn't see them), and no one got angry. A bit confusing, a bit annoying, and a bit hilarious.

Aniversario Etc.

2009-10-15T15:09:00.010-03:00

The last week and half feels like it requires a play-by-play. Sorry if it comes off as tedious, but I'm just going to pick up where I left off. Last Thursday was the only routine day. Unfortunately, at some point during my trek home from the gym, my cell-phone either fell out of my pocket or was stolen. It was quite frustrating, especially since the only place I could go to get a new phone without changing my number was closed until Tuesday.

The next day (Friday) was the anniversary of Curicó, and the 7 of us who are here with Rotary were in the city's Parade. It was the kinda thing where we were told to meet-up at 10:15, the last person arrived around 10:45, we left the house around 11:15, the parade started at 1:45 (instead of 1), and we actually marched around 2:30. The time didn't bother me though, it was all very chill, and we passed the time talking to kids who were waiting with their schools. In the afternoon I had a soccer game, which was fortunate because I was in a bit of a bad mood from walking to and from my school (it's also my colectivo stop) twice in unseasonably warm mid-day heat on top of being peeved from losing my cell phone.

Last Saturday I went to Molina by micro (bus) with a couple of exchange students for Día de la Familia at the colegio one girl's host-parents own/run. It was the best asado food I've had so far-- I've been disappointed a few times with the meat, but this was particularly good. I came back to Curicó and went straight to a friends house to watch the Chile vs. Colombia game and celebrate his birthday. Chile won 4-2, assuring them of a spot in the world cup, so everyone was in good spirits. I got to celebrate the Chilean triumph as well as the American triumph (we qualified that night also). People consider Chilean soccer better than North American and US soccer, but I can always pull out the fact that the US is still 6 places higher than Chile in the official FIFA rankings (It was 10 up until 2 days ago). Departing from chronological order for a moment, Chile played their final (albeit meaningless for them) game of World Cup Qualifying against Ecuador on Wednesday. I went to a friends house to watch, Chile won, and of course

people hung around for a few hours after partying and chilling and such.

Anyway, Sunday was the birthday of my host-grandmother (coincidentally the same day as my real grandma-- Happy Birthday Bubbie!), so we went to her big house/farm to meet up with the rest of the huge extended family. I forgot to bring my camera, but the place was really sweet. They had horses (which I rode), and peacocks, and something related to antelopes. Ate good food, played some soccer, and hung out for most of the day.

Monday was Columbus day, so there was no school, and if I remember correctly I did nothing notable. However, on Tuesday, my high-school's aniversario (anniversary celebrated for a week) began. We're divided by grade into two alianzas (alliances, more or less) to compete in all kinds of shenanigans between Tuesday and Thursday. I participated in limbo (made it pretty far, but not far enough to win my team points), metro cuadrado (seeing how many people you can fit in a square meter-- my team lost 20-19), soccer (my team of me and a buncha sophomores upset the team of a buncha seniors and a freshman 1-0), a musical TV-themed skit (no idea how it was scored), a dance competition (my partner and made it to the final 6, one step before the finals), a costume procession (I was gula[gluttony] as part of the 7 sins), an improvised dance that was supposed to have been choreographed, and a soccer game (7 sophomores and I upset the team of 7 seniors and 2 freshman), as well as serving as the mascot (Doris de Buscando Nemo/Dorie from Finding Nemo) for my alianza in a few dance/parade/general-performance type things. Thursday night it all wrapped up, and much to my surprise and excitement, our alianza had won. We went into the night with a 9,000 point lead, but the alianza headed by the seniors almost always wins (often with a bit of help from the judges), so I didn't think the fact that we'd won almost everything would actually make a difference.

Friday, I finally got my Chilean ID, hung out in the house, then went to hang out and wander the town with a friend and his friend and his friends. It wasn't that exciting unto itself, but I felt like I was finally getting a taste of the real content of a Chilean teenagers life-- hanging with friends trying (and not always succeeding) to find an interesting way to pass the time.

Saturday, I went to the cerro (big hill that's also the city's big park) to clean up trash with the other Rotary Exchange Students in town, as well as some local kids in Interact (basically teen Rotary), then have a little picnic, and some bonding activities. Afterward, we meandered through the centro for a bit, then I went with a few chilenos to one of their houses to play some video games and hangout.

Sunday (today) I went to another Curicó Unido game. They played Ñublense, who are one of Curicó's 2 big-time rivals. The crowd was significantly larger, louder, and rowdier than the last game I went to. Before the game started, the some fans from Curicó's barra (super-fan section) stole a banner from Ñublense's barra, then late in the second half, a flare was fired from Ñublense's barra into Curicó's and hit someone in the arm. I was safely seated far away, enjoying Curicós 3-0 victory.

3 things that are different here

1. Wild/ferile dogs are everywhere because there aren't many if any pounds, and neutering/spading are not common practices. Most of the wild dogs are german shepherds or unrecognizable mutts, but every once in a while you see an interesting dog. Today I saw one that had to have been half german shepherd and half dachsund. It was awesome. I want one.

2. Parking here is distinct. For paid street parking, instead of meters and meter-maids, they have guys standing there who help you park, then give you a slip with the time of arrival, and you pay them when you leave. They also have guys who help you park at a lot of stores, and they are among the few people you are supposed to tip. However, even though people are guiding them, in general a lot less attention is paid to parking within the lines.

3. The date is written DD/MM/YY instead of MM/DD/YY. It's more logical in that it goes from smallest to largest, but I've found at least one advantage of our system-- if you have a computer sort dates alphabetically, it does a much better job of achieving chronological order.

Pura Vida

2009-10-07T09:17:00.012-04:00

Although I know I´m turning into a broken record, the progression of life continues to be that more and more, things feel more like routine life than new adventures. It's a bad thing though-- I like having things to do, I´m more comfortable with, well, everything. I posted my weekeday schedule last week, and I´ve been sticking to it, outside of a few blips here and there. As for last weekend, my host-parents went to the apartment in viña del mar, and left my host brother and I here with the nana (basically a maid). I went to a party friday night which was good times, but saturday through sunday I more or less did nothing. It was very relaxing, with intermittent stabs of boredom. I had plans to go out with friends Saturday night, but the kid who has a car had gone to Santiago, so we were out of luck. I did go for another little bike ride down the road and into the campo (countryside)on Saturday, and this time I remembered to bring my camera. Enjoy some highlights:

Yesterday in the morning and all day today, my class took a practice PSU (their equivalent of the SAT/ACT) so I´ve had a lot of freetime. I´ve mostly been passing time in the Library, reading and browsing the web, but I also spent some time helping out the younger English classes. The kids are really cute. One little girl whispered in my ear that she loved me, then wanted to hold my hand the rest of the time. I've been helping the sixth graders practice for a standardized English exam for an hour every Tuesday and Thursday. It basically consists of asking them questions about their family, their likes, and their favorites, but it's good because it takes me out of math class. Not that I have a problem with the math class, but 4 days a week in a class that I'm two years past would just be too much. Inequalities and basic geometry of triangles are already painful enough 3 days a week.

Last night (Tuesday), instead of going to classes in the gym, the exchangers had a meeting with our counselor. We basically just figured out plans for trips and events (a parade this friday, a day in Santiago in a couple of weeks), although the meeting was supposedly to discuss alcohol and alcoholism and rules and such. Afterwards, we went out for ice cream. I think we all get along quite well, which is nice. It´s good to know people who are in the same boat, and going through more-or-less the same things.

Changing topics, I´d like to share to comments I´ve overheard about the US:

¨The solution to all of Chile´s problems would be to declare war on the US. The only problem would be if we won.¨

(After someone used to US to justify the death penalty as being good)
¨And which country in the world is the most absolutely crazy, with people who are all totally nuts?¨

3 things that are different here

1. Milk is all ultra-pasteurized, and comes in boxes that aren't kept refrigerated. Well, the box says you should refrigerate it once it's open, but people don't heed the instructions very often.

2. Their equivalent of a senior trip is taken before senior year. It's also done through the school, and (just about) everyone goes together. My class is going to Cancún in December and unless something changes, it looks like I'll be going with them. I´m still a little disappointed because the original plan was to go to Camboriu (a beach town in Brazil), which is much more exotic/exciting/oustide-of-normal-gringo-vacations/interesting than Cancún (plus I've never been to Brazil), but the class decided on Cancún before I got here and it should still be a sweet trip so I´m not complaining.

3. A popular mode of transportation, and the one I've been using the most, is colectivos. They´re basically taxis that work like buses. They run a route, stop whenever someone flags them, and let you off when you tell them to. I've never had to wait more than a couple of minutes for a colectivo, and they only cost 350 pesos (less than 70 cents). The only inconvenience is that the closest a route comes to my house is at my school, a 25 minutes away walking down the shoulder of a major road. It´s not so bad now, but since summer´s coming and it's going to get hot, I'm trying to figure out the schedules of the micros (busses) that run past my house.

This week flew by...

2009-09-27T16:42:00.007-04:00

Last week felt more like a real life than any of those before it. I had things to do, and they felt more like part of a routine than discovering new things all of the time. That wasn't bad at all actually. This was a very good week. I'm feeling more comfortable with just about everything-- what I can do in the house, who I can call if I need something to do, how to get where I'm going when I go alone, etc.

My weekly afterschool schedule:

Monday- Soccer

Tuesday- Soccer, then to the gym with the other exchange students for the fitness class that's replaced our Cueca class. I'm going to steal the phrase step-aerobics from my mom to describe it, tho part 2 of each class is a core workout on mats. It isn't necessarily my cup of tea, but I don't feel particularly insecure about my masculinity, and it's good to see the other kids while getting some killer abs. Anyway, I think I'm going to be particularly tired Tuesday nights.

Wednesday- Nothing. This week I helped some classmates with their English homework then walked around downtown with Liz, an exchange student from Michigan.

Thursday-Fitness class otra vez!

Friday- hopefully soccer games most weeks. I can only play when the games are friendlies, but so far that's been 2/3 weekends (I didn't join the team until my 2nd week and we were on break for one week). This week we won 4-1. I started at sweeper, but played most of the game at stopper. It's good clean fun.

Saturday is not going to have a routine. This saturday was actually pretty mantastic. I went to Molina (a smaller city a half hour from Curicó) with the other Rotary exchange students in

Curicó and some of the host families for an after-the-fact asado (BBQ) for 18 Septiembre, Chile's independence day. Lots of good relaxing and hanging out, as well as delicious sopaipilla (fried squash bread), kite flying (I'm actually pretty good at it now after being taught by my extended host family at their 18 asado), and a very silly relay. I lost because I dropped my egg at the end, but it was because I was running to catch up with Breno the Brazilian who ended up winning.

Later that night I went to a party with some friends. I was with the kids in the class above me, who are all my age , and it was a healthy heaping of fun. Plus, I now have an open invite to call them on the weekends and join in on their plans are, so that's pretty dope.

Sunday for me was a lazy day, since I got back quite late Saturday night/Sunday morning. Yom Kippur (holiest Jewish holiday, AKA The Day of Atonement) started Sunday night, and I watched Kol Nidre and the rest of the night service through streaming video on OurJewishCommunity.org, which despite the lame name, is actually pretty sweet. It's based out of a humanistic synagogue in Ohio, where they rewrote all of their liturgy to de-emphasize god and miracles and such in favor of "the humanistic values of intellectual honesty, open inquiry and human responsibility." They change some other things too, and I find it really interesting (BTW, thanks mom for sending the link). Yom Kippur actually passed pretty well. Fasting wasn't as hard as I expected given that I was doing it alone, I got some quality reflection in, and at the end of the day, I wandered around the centro with Anna from NC, then ate a gigantic meal at a Chinese restaurant for my break-fast.

On an unrelated note, I was in a local paper (for the second time) a few days ago. Check it out. I'm the one in the purple shirt.

3 things that are different here

1.To illustrate counting, instead of making 4 parallel lines then one diagonal across them, Chileans draw the 4 sides of a square, then a diagonal line through the middle. It's easier to count at a glance, but it's less space efficient.

2. The whole dynamic of college is different here. Right from the start, you have to know your concentration, and you're quite locked into it. It's a lot more career oriented, and there are relatively few elective classes. Also, nobody lives in dorms, the application is just grades and a standardized test, and it's really common to go home every weekend.

3. At least in my school, no one uses three ring binders-- spiral notebooks for everyone. That's not weird at all, but I was a little more surprised that all of the notebooks here are full of graph paper. I'm yet to see a single college-rule or wide-rule notebook, even in the store.

Vacaciones

2009-09-19T13:36:00.010-04:00

I haven't been in school for a week, but there's been a reasonable amount going on. My host family has an apartment on the beach in Viña del Mar, and I went there with my host mom, my host brother, and a friend of his. Viña and the adjacent cities are beautiful. From the apartment window, I could see across the cove/bay/inlet to Valparaíso, which is Chile's principal port and the grittier counterpart to the gentrified, fairly vacation-oriented viña. One day, after a failed attempt to get into the synagogue in viña (you need to be cleared by security in advance), I went to valparaíso with my host-dads cousin, who lives in the same apartment complex. She was incredibly welcoming, and valparaíso is incredibly awesome. I'm not usually one for superlatives, but it might just be my favorite city in the world. It has the grit of a real city, but also feels very lively. We took an incline up to the top of the city, and got drinks in a really nice café with an incredible view (and probably the best hot chocolate I've ever had). Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on me... but it was really something. Outside of that jaunt into Valparaíso, I just spent a bunch of time with my brother and his friend, combing the beach for sea-glass, playing pool, messing around/working-out in the gym, and just hanging out. We were there from Monday till Thursday.

Thursday was also my birthday. It was kinda lame that half of the day was spent in a car driving back, but when we got back, I went

to the official city of Curicó kick-off party for the Independence Day celebrations (invitation only) with the other rotary exchange students, and after that I had a little gathering at my house. A lot of people were out of town on vacation, but I still had fun with those who came, plus I got to make 3 (THREE) wishes when I blew out the candles on the AMAZING manjar cake. Manjar is ridiculously delicious. It's kinda like caramel or dulce de leche, but much better. It was a bit lonely not having all the people I know on my birthday, but it was nice to receive a lot of birthday wishes through facebook and email, and my parents even sang to me through skype.

El 18 de Septiembre was/is chilean holiday. They make a really big deal out of it (hence the week of vacation). There are lots of flags everywhere and other sorts of patriotic doodads.

Everything that doesn't have an entire Chilean flag on it is probably made by the same companies that make patriotic doodads for the US. I'd be surprised if companies from either country didn't jump on the opportunity for a market share in another country who's flag shares the same scheme of red and white stripes and (a) white star(s) on a blue field. We went to a little farm south of Talca, which I think is where my host-dad (the one who was unfortunate enough to be talking when the photo was taken) grew up. He's one of 8, and 5 of his siblings were there with their families. The barbecue was delicious and his family was really nice. A lot of eating, some soccer with the younger cousins, and flying kites. Kite flying is traditional here, and a lot of them are really good at it. We were using just a simple traditional square paper kite, and if I understood correctly, we had almost 2 miles of string out. The kite was basically just a speck.

Yesterday, some family-friends came over for an asado (BBQ). It was nice because everyone was just hanging around, eating, and talking for a good 5 hours. Today I took a little bike ride out into the country, played a little bit of soccer, and spent a good bit of time lazing around. Vacation's been relaxing, but it's also been boring a good bit of the time, and I think I'm glad that school will be starting up again tomorrow.

On the Spanish front, I'm feeling pretty solid. Conversing isn't such a chore. The things that I still struggle with are knowing the protocals for social words for greetings and such in different situations, understanding people speaking full-speed ahead with a normal Chilean vocabulary, and pronouncing English words. They try to pronounce as an English speaker would, but it's generally a bit off, and not always in the direction you'd expect. For instance-- mall is pronounced closer to mole, Jack is closer to yack, and Mcdonalds rhymes with hack-own-Al's. I am thinking in Spanish a good bit though, especially when I give keep giving myself mental nudges and avoid English.

3 things that are different here

1. Everywhere that I've been, half of the horizon consists of the Andes, which are freaking huge and all snow-capped. They're also especially dramatic because there aren't any gentle hills-- it goes straight from a steep slope to completely flat. A bit different from WV's rolling Appalachians.

2. Everyone shares any food they buy. Not at meals, but if you ever have a snack, you offer it to everyone around you, and they usually accept. I found out the hard way that it's actually very rude not to. This means it's not uncommon to buy a little bag of cookies and end up with just 3 or 4 for yourself. On the other hand, you get other people's handouts a lot. I think this is a bit of a reflection of the fact that 10% of the country is communist, and an even larger chunk (including the president) is socialist. It's nice in a lot of ways, but I also think it's a little bit impractical sometimes-- what do you do if you're really really hungry? Buy 5 bags of chips?

3. People use very little heating in their houses. Layers are definitely the thing. It doesn't work to do like I always did in the US-- winter coat for outside, just a t-shirt for inside. The difference between the two temperatures usually isn't that big, so it's a sweatshirt all the time, and usually more layers for outside.

2009-09-12T16:38:00.007-04:00

I've decided I'm going to make the "3 things that are different here" segment that I wrote last time permanent(for now). Its always nice to have a few more random facts, so:

3 things that are different here

1. Everyone wears shoes in the house, all of the time. My brother actually gets scolded every once in a while for taking his off. I need to buy some slippers so I can take my shoes off without being taboo.

2. The house only has one trashcan. It's in the kitchen. I'm not sure if/how they have less trash. I don't know if that's normal though, because my school has lots of trashcans.

3. All of the guys here have at least a borderline mullet. Really, everyone's hair is longer in the back. And actually, it doesn't look at all stupid to me.

As for life and such, everything's been going well. Days are starting to feel like spring, although the nights still feel like winter. More strangers are becoming aquaintances, and more aquaintances are becoming friends. As a result, there more people to talk to and things to do. I've hung out with classmates outside of school a few times, I've gone to a couple of parties, and I went to a discotek one weekend. I'm also going to a Curicó Unido soccer game tomorrow, so that should be a grand old time.

On the Spanish front, I believe I'm making good progress. It's hard to compare anything other than vocabulary, but my friends have told me that my Spanish is a lot better than when I arrived, and when I think about it, there are a lot of things I can do now that I couldn't do at first, like listening to a conversation without having to super-concentrate, and enjoying/understanding an episode of The Simpsons in Spanish.

My districts orientation was last sunday near Santiago. Most of the time was spent listening to Rotarians reiterating the rules we've all already been told 3 or 4 times, but it was a lot of fun meeting all of the other exchange students in the area. Plus, a traditional chilean youth dance troupe provided the lunch entertainment, and, in fact, it was entertaining. Even the 2.5 hour drive there wasn't bad-- it was carpool of the kids from Curicó and the next city south (Talca), and we passed the time with chaotic photoshoots and good conversation.

Today was the first day of our Independence Day break, and my school had folklore presentation. Lots of chilean dances with elaborate costumes, and lots and lots of

Cueca (the national dance). I played bass for one Cueca song.

There was a picnic/carnival afterward with food and lots of games and such. Every class had some sort of fundraiser. My grade sold chicks, which to me is kinda iffy-- I don't know how many will

survive being raised by 8 year olds, and I don't know what would happen to any chickens/roosters that survived...

On Monday, I'll be going with my family to Viña del Mar for the week. I'm excited to see it-- it's on the water and it's supposed to be beautiful. I think there'll be a lot of big festivities for the 18th, and maybe I'll find some way to celebrate my birthday on the 17th. I'm fairly optimistic that there'll be a healthy dose of awesome, even though I'll know no one but my host family.

About once a day or so, I still have a moment where all I can think is, "Wow, this is my life."

I'm having one of those right now. This is really something.

Viendo lo que será mi vida durante el proximo año

2009-08-28T18:51:00.018-04:00

I now have 4 days of school behind me, and I'm starting to get a sense of what my life is going to be like for the next year.

Sorry there won't be any multimedia to accompany this blog, but I haven't been taking my camera with me because even when I carried it, I used it very little to avoid looking and feeling like a tourist.

Anyhoo, school has been nice. The classes are easy and the kids are very friendly. During the classes the kids are somewhat less attentive and serious than they were in my classes in the US, but it's nice for me because I can socialize and talk and ask for definitions from my classmates the whole time without being considered a disruption. My class is apparently notorious for being a bit crazy like that though, so I'm not sure to what extent it is the norm.

Outside of school, I have had the chance to do a few things:

Soccer- I went to a practice, and it was very nice to be able to play, and I didn't feel at all out of place which is good. Unfortunately, I can't play in the official games because you have to have been born in 1992 or later, but I can play in the friendly matches. I also watched all of the school teams play today (different age groups, plus the girls' team), which was fun, and a good way to take a break from Spanish without having to use English, and still be entertained.

Cueca- All of the Rotary exchange students in Curicó are required to take lessons in Cueca, the national dance. We have them twice a week up until the Chilean Independence Day-- Sept. 18. I was very glad to meet the other exchange students in town, and it was interesting to experience, but I think that before we're done with the lessons, I may feel like I've already attained a level of skill at the cueca that is plenty satisfactory for me...

Asado- A classmate is going on exchange to England and leaving sometime within the next few days, and there was an Asado/Carrete (BBQ/Party) in her honor, with a hint of welcome party for me tacked on. It started right after the cueca classes ended, so there was a bit of coordination required for me to get there, especially since Plan A fell through due to someone not having access to their car. Anyhow, the party was a good fun. They dance a lot more here, and that suits me well.There were a lot of songs I didn't know, but there were also a lot of spanish remixes of hip-hop and electronica songs I know. All in all it was a grand ole time.

Mall- One day our language teacher was sick and didn't come to class. My classmates managed to talk some school administator into just letting us go (it was the last class of the day) instead of finding us some busy work or a substitute. So, I went to see the mall with a couple of classmates. It was a mall like just about any other, but I was very glad that someone wanted to hang out with me, and I felt like I was getting a taste of the vida curicana.

A Few Things That Are Noticably Different So Far:

A Brief List That Will Probably Be Continued

-Bread. I'm yet to see any in loaf form (it's all been individually sized), and I've eaten it with every single meal.

-Eyebrows. Perfectly maintained eyebrows are very uncommons, and unibrows are heavily abundant

-Driving. In general, everyone is a little more aggressive. There are also a lot of speedbumps here and not as many stop signs. The thing that still makes me a little nervous though are the bikers. People bike on the edge of the road, and the cars drive really really close to them...

On the Spanish front, I think I'm doing pretty well-- I've had a few dreams in Spanish, and it's hard to tell to what extent, but I'm starting to think in spanish somewhat. I'm not sure how much I'm still translating when I speak spanish, but I noticed that when I switch to English, at least for a little bit, when it comes to words I know in both languages, the Spanish word pops into my head first.

Heading into the weekend, I'm a little bit afraid that boredom will strike because I don't have any definite plans, and I don't know if my classmates are feel close enough to me that they'll call me and make plans.

Wow. This is a pretty disjointed entry. Oh well.

All in all, all is well.

Día 1

2009-08-22T18:56:00.014-04:00

no quiero hablar en inglés porque será mas dificil hablar en español después, y ya tengo bastantes problemas... pero para ustedes... I'm willing to do some english writing while the thoughts and memories are fresh.

I left from Pittsburgh friday at 5 PM, then, after a 3 hour layover and 1 hour delay in Atlanta, headed off to Santiago. There were 19 kids headed to Chile from the US on my flight, and I was fortunate enough to be sitting between Sara and Liz. We had a grand ole time, although that meant that there was less time for trying to sleep. Not that we didn't-- we just weren't very successful. So, after arriving and going through customs with minimal complications, we all walked out the door and met our host families who were waiting for us. My host parents were there-- Adriano Donoso and Ximena Azocar. Some quick group pictures, then we were off for Curicó, a 2 hour drive. At first I, was just so excited to be seeing the landscape that I was wide awake. The landscape feels raw with foothills of the Andes popping up sporadically out of the flat grassland, looking more like mountains then pretty much any of the Appalachians do. Even though it is fairly cold here (it is witer afterall), palm trees are everywhere, which surprised me. Anyway, I slept for about half the ride, and then arrived at the Donoso/Azocar house

. It's gorgeous. Really.

Lots of stone, and even a pretty gate.

My room is also very nice, and comes with a cozy bed, a good sized closet, it's own bathroom, and a substantial window with curtains that actually block the light (unlike my shades at home). At the house I met the younger brother Adriano, and the two older sisters, Ximena and Cami. The sisters are both living in Santiago, but are home for a little bit. I spent some time talking with them and they're both very nice. Adriano the dad and Adriano the son took me on a tour of the town. There are a lot of nice places to walk around, and there are a lot more people walking around then there ever are in Morgantown. It didn't take long to feel that the city is almost twice is big.

Well, I think I start school on monday, though if I understand correctly that depends on whether or not I get a uniform today, which looks doubtful. It'll be nice to go to school though because the one thing I think I may have underestimated about this experience is how much normal, somewhat boring life there is between all of the excitement of new things and adventures. It'll be nice to meet other kids and have friends to combat the monotony. It's been pretty nice overall, and I think I'm really realizing what it means that this will be my life every day for the next 11 months or so.

The Beginning

2009-07-27T13:42:00.013-04:00

So, the blog is made, if not fully fine-tuned. This is where you should come once I actually have interesting experiences to talk about, but I guess it's time to get the ball rolling on this-- it'd be a shame to make the blog and leave it empty for another month.

Whew. The departure date is in less than a month. I feel about as prepared as I think I should, given that there's no way I could ever really be well prepared. I guess now I have to do the actual preparations (packing and such) and come to terms with all of the goodbyes that I will be saying in the next few weeks. Well at least I now have this handy-dandy blog that you can all read and comment on (shameless plug to try to get you all to stay in touch)!

Bonus Video!!!!!!!!!!!

Diego, an inbound exchange student from Chile told me that a really common beer in Chile share's my last name. Here's an ad of theirs featuring a unicorn.