Its not that things are getting less exciting, but things are starting to feel more normal and that's why I'm not crazy-blogging-a-lot.
I had SPAN 331 today, the class that wanted to make me cry last week because it was my first class here and I didn't understand hardly ANYTHING. Well it went much better today, thats for sure. He talked a little slower and always asked us if we understood. I kinda hate this guys teaching style, but I know I'm interested in the stuff he's teaching :) Just have to remember to study. On a side note, he looks funny. He has longish blindingly white hair and also huge bushy blindingly white eyebrows that flow over the top of his glasses hahahaha and he makes weird faces while he lecures.
Today after that class I ran around the U de C's track with Hayley, Brenna, and Cheryl. Actually, Brenna and Cheryl ran and Hayley and I jogged, haha. Hayley and I did manage to go 2.5 miles though, AND did some abs work outs, AND did some lunges. I was super intimidated by the super athletic guys playing soccer in the middle of the track, but Hayley said last week they were whistling and shouting at them as they ran so I'm just greatful they didn't do much of that today. There was one time a guy missed the soccer ball he was passing back and forth with a friend and I grabbed it and kicked it back. Well Hayley and I kept running past them and I hear them all hollar and I realized he passed me the ball and I had no idea so they made fun of me for missing. Haha.
I think I'll keep running with them after class. Its starting to get nicer out too. Can't wait to not wear my winter coat all the time, and not have SEVEN quilts/blankets/comforters on my bed! (NO JOKE). My hands are freeeezing right now as I'm typing. When I was packing for Chile, it was summer back home, so it was hard to get in the mindset that I would need a lot of warm clothes. Therefore, I wear my underarmour like every other day haha.
I think I'm going to the TV studio with Vlado again tonight. That'll be fun! Tomorrow I only have class from 10 to 12 with Luz, after that I'll almorzar con mi familia, and after that I think they're showing me more of the city :)
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Chile tiene playas MUY bonitas
I was forced to start my day when Lindsay came over for almuerzo around 12:30 maybe. (Lindsay is una gringa who was a friend of my host family's past gringa. She lives on an island in Washington state and she's been here before as well as Nicaragua to study. Tiene 23 años). We had empanaditas de queso (fue MUY bueno) and some more pastel de papas with veggies. I ran to the panaderia with Sarita to get some fresh bread. I guess they do that practically every day!
Well when Sarita and I came back, her, Lindsay, and I went to a park about 15 minutes away with a bunch of different Chilean trees in it. It was so cute and interesting! They had kids activities and games there about recycling. (too bad Chile doesn't recycle much, but at least they're not as wasteful as Americans.)
Ugh, I hate to say it, but just look at my Facebook pictures to see what beauty I managed to capture.
Lindsay speaks very good Spanish, prolly cuz she has lived in SA for over 2 years total of her life, but its intimidating when we're with her and my family so I don't talk much. I also figured out I can't talk much in the morning, haha, and my Spanish is best at night.
After the park we went home to wait for Saritas brother, my host uncle I guess, and he took Sarita, Lindsay, and I to a beach. It was the place where the Bio Bio river meets the ocean and it was breathtakingly beautiful! Even though it was rainy and windy, such a beautiful sight to see. I cant wait to go when its not raining, or even warm out!
There was a chiquitito restaurant close to the beach we went to and we went there for some seafood empanadas. Best empanadas I've had so far! There were crab and cheese in some, and a rare chilean fish and cheese in the other. With that we had this drink that was like, wine and fruit and sugar. I forgot the fruit's name but its definitely uncommon and not in the United States!
After that I came home and skyped with my family sans Robert for about two hours! I filled them in on the past 11 days or so.
Something I forgot to blog about last night, is the hilarious way Chileans would try to hit on us gringas. All of you who took Spanish for a few years and then then tried to forget it all, there's always one phrase you remember, right? And thats "Hola, como estas?" Well the Chileans that took English in high school will come up to us and say "Hello, how you?" and then when we respond, they have no idea what to say! Its soo funny. They'll yell that on the street too!
My familia chilena keeps calling me "gringa delgada" (skinny girl) and I'm afraid they're secretly trying to make me more fat by feeding me all this bread.
OH Hilarious side-note!
Earlier I blogged about the Chileans cracking up when they'd ask Sonni "Te gusta pisco?" and she'd say "CHUPALO!" Well I found out why that was so funny. They were ACTUALLY saying, "Te gusta pico?" And pico is a slang word for penis! So Sonni would respond, suck it! hahahaha oh Chile. I love Chile.
I don't know if I documented that I had my first pisco drink last night. It wasnt anything special, it was just pisco and coke which they called piscola. It was deeelicious. Pisco is kinda like a wine, but its hard liquor. VERY strong. Gringas have to be careful. I want to try a pisco sour, I hear its practically the national drink of Chile.
I just had a great chat with my dad about giving Gays/Transgenders rights. We both agree all people deserve the same rights, no matter what you are or who you love.
I swear I love my family more and more each day.
Well when Sarita and I came back, her, Lindsay, and I went to a park about 15 minutes away with a bunch of different Chilean trees in it. It was so cute and interesting! They had kids activities and games there about recycling. (too bad Chile doesn't recycle much, but at least they're not as wasteful as Americans.)
Ugh, I hate to say it, but just look at my Facebook pictures to see what beauty I managed to capture.
Lindsay speaks very good Spanish, prolly cuz she has lived in SA for over 2 years total of her life, but its intimidating when we're with her and my family so I don't talk much. I also figured out I can't talk much in the morning, haha, and my Spanish is best at night.
After the park we went home to wait for Saritas brother, my host uncle I guess, and he took Sarita, Lindsay, and I to a beach. It was the place where the Bio Bio river meets the ocean and it was breathtakingly beautiful! Even though it was rainy and windy, such a beautiful sight to see. I cant wait to go when its not raining, or even warm out!
There was a chiquitito restaurant close to the beach we went to and we went there for some seafood empanadas. Best empanadas I've had so far! There were crab and cheese in some, and a rare chilean fish and cheese in the other. With that we had this drink that was like, wine and fruit and sugar. I forgot the fruit's name but its definitely uncommon and not in the United States!
After that I came home and skyped with my family sans Robert for about two hours! I filled them in on the past 11 days or so.
Something I forgot to blog about last night, is the hilarious way Chileans would try to hit on us gringas. All of you who took Spanish for a few years and then then tried to forget it all, there's always one phrase you remember, right? And thats "Hola, como estas?" Well the Chileans that took English in high school will come up to us and say "Hello, how you?" and then when we respond, they have no idea what to say! Its soo funny. They'll yell that on the street too!
My familia chilena keeps calling me "gringa delgada" (skinny girl) and I'm afraid they're secretly trying to make me more fat by feeding me all this bread.
OH Hilarious side-note!
Earlier I blogged about the Chileans cracking up when they'd ask Sonni "Te gusta pisco?" and she'd say "CHUPALO!" Well I found out why that was so funny. They were ACTUALLY saying, "Te gusta pico?" And pico is a slang word for penis! So Sonni would respond, suck it! hahahaha oh Chile. I love Chile.
I don't know if I documented that I had my first pisco drink last night. It wasnt anything special, it was just pisco and coke which they called piscola. It was deeelicious. Pisco is kinda like a wine, but its hard liquor. VERY strong. Gringas have to be careful. I want to try a pisco sour, I hear its practically the national drink of Chile.
I just had a great chat with my dad about giving Gays/Transgenders rights. We both agree all people deserve the same rights, no matter what you are or who you love.
I swear I love my family more and more each day.
Discotheque Time.
Chilean Discotheques = ten times better than American clubs. Not only did all my dance partners ASK me to dance, but we actually DANCED. Like faced each other, spun me around, moved our hips DANCING to Latin American music. I don't know if I'll ever go to an American club again where creepers just come up to you and start grinding away.
Before the discotheque, the majority of the gringos on my trip went to this apartment super close to campus to party before the disco. We met them before class one day, there are about 10 students who are in a certain department at la U de C who help out foreign kids (us) and so we all got their numbers and they said they'd show us around school/Conce.
That was SUPER fun. I brought over half my wardrobe to Jess's house to see what to wear, but she didn't know either because she hadn't been to a discotheque yet as well. (I did manage to bring over some shoes for her that matched her shirt PERFECTLY.) Well Hayley's brother picked us up and dropped us off at la Plaza Peru which is like, a universal meeting place for students (its right in front of campus). Then we found the Chileans we were meeting and walked just a few blocks to their apartment.
Right away there was food, drinks, and dancing! I learned some pretty sweet Chilean dances, not traditional, but to popular music. I have GOT to ask one of them to share their music with me.
Well anyways, lots of us kept going out on the balcony because it was getting so hot in there and it was a super cool view of the street.
A little after 12 we practically RAN a few blocks to this station to catch a bus to get to Knockout, the discotheque. Funny there are many things with American names here. Anyway we get there so fast and early to get in free. I was told it didn't matter when gringos got there becuase we always get in free, but whatever. It was almost 1 and NOBODY was dancing yet. So of course, all the other gringos I was with were pretty hammered, so they ran out to the middle of the dance floor. I'm pretty sure chileans were making fun of us for starting so early but none of us cared, and the chileans liked it anyway, ha.
Oh by the way here's the webpage for Knockout: http://www.k-o.cl/
Well soon the Chileans started filling up the floor too and we dance for a long time. Eventually Cheryl and I were dancing with these two guys who seemed to be friends. Mine was a good dancer, Cheryl's.... was not, haha. We kept trying to dance with each other to shoo them away but Chileans don't take that as a hint. My partner dropped a burning ciggarrette on my toe and I was like, lets tell them we're going to the bathroom, hahaha.
The club was soooo hazy and I swear the music was louder than I've heard it in any American club I've been to. Eventually I started feeling super nautious and super faint and Cheryl had to keep watching that I didn't fall over.
Hayley, Cheryl, Lindsay, and I called Lindsay's brother for a ride home at FOUR in the morning! He's really cool like that. He couldn't believe we weren't staying out till six like the rest of the country, ha.
Today I'm going to some park and I really gotta get outa bed and shower soon, before almuerzo. Chao!
Before the discotheque, the majority of the gringos on my trip went to this apartment super close to campus to party before the disco. We met them before class one day, there are about 10 students who are in a certain department at la U de C who help out foreign kids (us) and so we all got their numbers and they said they'd show us around school/Conce.
That was SUPER fun. I brought over half my wardrobe to Jess's house to see what to wear, but she didn't know either because she hadn't been to a discotheque yet as well. (I did manage to bring over some shoes for her that matched her shirt PERFECTLY.) Well Hayley's brother picked us up and dropped us off at la Plaza Peru which is like, a universal meeting place for students (its right in front of campus). Then we found the Chileans we were meeting and walked just a few blocks to their apartment.
Right away there was food, drinks, and dancing! I learned some pretty sweet Chilean dances, not traditional, but to popular music. I have GOT to ask one of them to share their music with me.
Well anyways, lots of us kept going out on the balcony because it was getting so hot in there and it was a super cool view of the street.
A little after 12 we practically RAN a few blocks to this station to catch a bus to get to Knockout, the discotheque. Funny there are many things with American names here. Anyway we get there so fast and early to get in free. I was told it didn't matter when gringos got there becuase we always get in free, but whatever. It was almost 1 and NOBODY was dancing yet. So of course, all the other gringos I was with were pretty hammered, so they ran out to the middle of the dance floor. I'm pretty sure chileans were making fun of us for starting so early but none of us cared, and the chileans liked it anyway, ha.
Oh by the way here's the webpage for Knockout: http://www.k-o.cl/
Well soon the Chileans started filling up the floor too and we dance for a long time. Eventually Cheryl and I were dancing with these two guys who seemed to be friends. Mine was a good dancer, Cheryl's.... was not, haha. We kept trying to dance with each other to shoo them away but Chileans don't take that as a hint. My partner dropped a burning ciggarrette on my toe and I was like, lets tell them we're going to the bathroom, hahaha.
The club was soooo hazy and I swear the music was louder than I've heard it in any American club I've been to. Eventually I started feeling super nautious and super faint and Cheryl had to keep watching that I didn't fall over.
Hayley, Cheryl, Lindsay, and I called Lindsay's brother for a ride home at FOUR in the morning! He's really cool like that. He couldn't believe we weren't staying out till six like the rest of the country, ha.
Today I'm going to some park and I really gotta get outa bed and shower soon, before almuerzo. Chao!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Nothings ever boring here.
So I kinda had a lazy morning. Didn't want to get out of bed, mostly because I didn't sleep well.
Here's what happened last night.
I felt super weird. I still do. But last night I felt physically and emotionally off. I started looking around my room at all the things in Spanish, all the foreign outlet plugs, foreign objects in general, my suitcases, etc. I checked Facebook and noticed my mom uploaded a bunch of old and recent photos of the family and outings we went on. It didn't make me miss home, but they certainly made me super sad. I sat in my bed thinking for a while and I FINALLY cried it out! I knew it was going to happen eventually since I am the most emotional person on the face of the earth, but I can't believe it took so long. I finally cried about leaving the states and being in this strange place and missing my friends and being so lost here.
I realized that it FINALLY hit me I was in Chile. After almost 2 weeks I realize I'm in Concepcion, Chile, South America. Ha.
Well after I got that out of my system, I had to run out of the house becuase if I didn't I woulda been bumming all night. So I threw on some skinny jeans and a nice shirt and headed over to Hayleys because she's closest to me. I waited for her to get ready and eventually we walked over to Trevors, who practically lives right behind my house.
The plan was to pregame there with everybody and then take a micro to el centro (downtown) and hang out at a bar they like.
Well everyone ended up staying at Trevors all night, but Hayley and I both needed to catch up on sleep and see the market this morning, so we left around 1.
I had some cerveza, but I don't know how I stomached it. I felt really icky, still kinda do, I think the food is getting to me finally as well. I have to remember there is a lot more alcohol in the beer here. I think I'm sticking to sipping wine from now on, like I blogged earlier, I don't feel comfortable getting wasted here.
Funny story: last night it wasnt all gringos, some peoples host brothers and sisters joined us as well. We were teaching each other naughty words in each other's languages, haha, how mature we are.
Well one of the chileans kept asking Sonni, who was pretty borracha, whether she liked pisco, a chilean/peruvian hard alcohol. The conversation went "Sonni, te gusta pisco??" and she'd say "CHUPALO!" Which means "SUCK IT!" The chileans would roll on the floor laughing they thought that was so funny, haha. I remember last night when I heard that everyone made fun of me for getting out a piece of paper to write it down.
We also listened to Juanes and Mana. Twas pretty fun in general, just nothing super exciting.
Well I slept horribly, possibly from the realization I had earlier yesterday, and I woke up super early. It was okay though, I watched some futbol games on TV and tried to learn some vocabulary from a Chilean telenovela.
After a while I called Jess and me, her, Hayley, and Lindsay all went to an open air market thats like walking distance from our barrio (neighborhood).
IT WAS REALLY COOL AND REALLY SOUTH AMERICAN.
There were fruits and strange fruits and veggies and pigs feet and super fresh whole crabs and smelly FISH just about everywhere. There were also cositas like clothes and watches, it was just a huuuge market with a ton of random things. It would have been like a farmers market, but it was half outside and you could buy just about ANYthing there.
When we were walking past a fish place a guy came up to us and started talking to Jess. He was wearing really dirty and ripped clothes and I'm pretty sure he was missing a bunch of teeth. At first it was okay but we quickly realized he didn't have all his marbles. I was severely freaked out and so were the rest of us. He kept grabbing Jess's arm and we kept saying, no we don't need what you're selling go away, we're fine. He followed us around for a few minutes until I finally said firmly "Necasitamos ir ahora, lo siento, adios" and we booked it across the market.
Another thing that pissed me off was that EVERY SINGLE PERSON STARED AT US. A lot of the men whistled. It was the MOST annoying thing of my entire life. At one point I turned to Hayley and said "The next chileno that whistles at us I'm going to punch in the face."
I forgot my camera, unfortunately, but I'm sure I'll go back there. After I buy an invisibility cloak. Either that or dye my hair black.
I came home and ate pastel de papas (this potatoe dish, thing?) with kinda mashed potatoes and there was meat and eggs on the bottom. Was delicioso. Whenever I have to eat alone because I wasn't home for lunch my mom will make some tea and sit and drink it with me so I'm not all alone. I love her so much already. She's always SO happy! Even when she gets annoyed with Wladimir or Vlado she is still laughing. We talked about our views on life one day; we're so similar. We both agree that the most important thing in life is being happy and can't understand why people are okay with being angry or holding grudges all the time. She told me today she'd take me to the market when she needs more fruit because she thinks since I'll be with her, the chileans won't bug me as much.
I really need to find my glasses, I know I packed them SOMEwhere. Its difficult to see a lot of the boards and computer screens in class. Oh and I also need to get to all my homework thats due next week already. Shit. I have a shit ton of writing in spanish to do.
As I wrote this I was supposed to be taking a siesta considering I might be out all night (those crazy chilenos and their discotheques). Chao for now.
Here's what happened last night.
I felt super weird. I still do. But last night I felt physically and emotionally off. I started looking around my room at all the things in Spanish, all the foreign outlet plugs, foreign objects in general, my suitcases, etc. I checked Facebook and noticed my mom uploaded a bunch of old and recent photos of the family and outings we went on. It didn't make me miss home, but they certainly made me super sad. I sat in my bed thinking for a while and I FINALLY cried it out! I knew it was going to happen eventually since I am the most emotional person on the face of the earth, but I can't believe it took so long. I finally cried about leaving the states and being in this strange place and missing my friends and being so lost here.
I realized that it FINALLY hit me I was in Chile. After almost 2 weeks I realize I'm in Concepcion, Chile, South America. Ha.
Well after I got that out of my system, I had to run out of the house becuase if I didn't I woulda been bumming all night. So I threw on some skinny jeans and a nice shirt and headed over to Hayleys because she's closest to me. I waited for her to get ready and eventually we walked over to Trevors, who practically lives right behind my house.
The plan was to pregame there with everybody and then take a micro to el centro (downtown) and hang out at a bar they like.
Well everyone ended up staying at Trevors all night, but Hayley and I both needed to catch up on sleep and see the market this morning, so we left around 1.
I had some cerveza, but I don't know how I stomached it. I felt really icky, still kinda do, I think the food is getting to me finally as well. I have to remember there is a lot more alcohol in the beer here. I think I'm sticking to sipping wine from now on, like I blogged earlier, I don't feel comfortable getting wasted here.
Funny story: last night it wasnt all gringos, some peoples host brothers and sisters joined us as well. We were teaching each other naughty words in each other's languages, haha, how mature we are.
Well one of the chileans kept asking Sonni, who was pretty borracha, whether she liked pisco, a chilean/peruvian hard alcohol. The conversation went "Sonni, te gusta pisco??" and she'd say "CHUPALO!" Which means "SUCK IT!" The chileans would roll on the floor laughing they thought that was so funny, haha. I remember last night when I heard that everyone made fun of me for getting out a piece of paper to write it down.
We also listened to Juanes and Mana. Twas pretty fun in general, just nothing super exciting.
Well I slept horribly, possibly from the realization I had earlier yesterday, and I woke up super early. It was okay though, I watched some futbol games on TV and tried to learn some vocabulary from a Chilean telenovela.
After a while I called Jess and me, her, Hayley, and Lindsay all went to an open air market thats like walking distance from our barrio (neighborhood).
IT WAS REALLY COOL AND REALLY SOUTH AMERICAN.
There were fruits and strange fruits and veggies and pigs feet and super fresh whole crabs and smelly FISH just about everywhere. There were also cositas like clothes and watches, it was just a huuuge market with a ton of random things. It would have been like a farmers market, but it was half outside and you could buy just about ANYthing there.
When we were walking past a fish place a guy came up to us and started talking to Jess. He was wearing really dirty and ripped clothes and I'm pretty sure he was missing a bunch of teeth. At first it was okay but we quickly realized he didn't have all his marbles. I was severely freaked out and so were the rest of us. He kept grabbing Jess's arm and we kept saying, no we don't need what you're selling go away, we're fine. He followed us around for a few minutes until I finally said firmly "Necasitamos ir ahora, lo siento, adios" and we booked it across the market.
Another thing that pissed me off was that EVERY SINGLE PERSON STARED AT US. A lot of the men whistled. It was the MOST annoying thing of my entire life. At one point I turned to Hayley and said "The next chileno that whistles at us I'm going to punch in the face."
I forgot my camera, unfortunately, but I'm sure I'll go back there. After I buy an invisibility cloak. Either that or dye my hair black.
I came home and ate pastel de papas (this potatoe dish, thing?) with kinda mashed potatoes and there was meat and eggs on the bottom. Was delicioso. Whenever I have to eat alone because I wasn't home for lunch my mom will make some tea and sit and drink it with me so I'm not all alone. I love her so much already. She's always SO happy! Even when she gets annoyed with Wladimir or Vlado she is still laughing. We talked about our views on life one day; we're so similar. We both agree that the most important thing in life is being happy and can't understand why people are okay with being angry or holding grudges all the time. She told me today she'd take me to the market when she needs more fruit because she thinks since I'll be with her, the chileans won't bug me as much.
I really need to find my glasses, I know I packed them SOMEwhere. Its difficult to see a lot of the boards and computer screens in class. Oh and I also need to get to all my homework thats due next week already. Shit. I have a shit ton of writing in spanish to do.
As I wrote this I was supposed to be taking a siesta considering I might be out all night (those crazy chilenos and their discotheques). Chao for now.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
"Exactly the shit you see on TV!"
There was a protest on campus today! IT WAS CRAZY!
So Jess and I were trying to get to the micro on O'Higgins today so while we're walking past the artes y humanidades building we notice a bunch of people standing around, apparently watching something around the corner. Well Jess and I decided to go INto that building to go pee and we're halfway up the steps when some people start shouting and people behind us are running and pushing us into the building! We saw ROCKS flying through the air! People panicked and so did we, kinda scooted into the building real fast. It seemed like things calmed down for a bit after, we were really confused at that point. So we go up to the second floor to pee and when we come back down again there are people running around outside EVERYWHERE. Some of them have hoods and scarfs on covering their face, some run into the building, everyone is just scattering. I'm hearing things breaking outside. At this point me and Jess are a little shaken. We stand in the lobby and look out the window at Chilean Police chasing people dressed as terrorists! Some people run into the building we were in and the Police chased in after them! They've got the SWAT clear sheilds with the Chilean Police logo on it, helmets, guns drawn, it was scary as hell!
Things appeared to calm down and me and Jess had to get home so we leave the building and walk outside to broken glass, rocks, and paint scattered in front of the building and on the pathways of campus. We see some policia take a few men away and there are just trucks and trucks of police. Walking past the damage we found ourselves in the background of news reports becuase there were reporters on the scene. Scared the shit out of me!
The rest of my day was pretty great! One time last night when I was saying something to a Chilean on skype I accidentally said "Tengo mierda" for "Tengo miedo." One means "I'm scared" and one means "I have shit." Guess which one I used, ha.
Well I was supposed to have two 3-hr classes today but they were both cut short. I think these two will be my favorite. One is Latin American Studies and the other is like, an area studies seminar where we talk about langauge, culture, and people of Chile.
Random story: When people say "oh he's on chilean time" it means he's just running late because he's gotten used to chileans being late all the time. Its funny, and frustrating, but nobody here is on time, EVER. No wonder there is no schedule for the micros and colectivos.
For my first class I practically had to climb a MOUNTAIN to get to this building! All we did let the prof get to know us and then we left. We climbed back down the practicallly mountain and chilled in the center of campus on some stairs. It rocked. We all just had such a good time telling stories, joking around, being dumb. I love the people on this trip with me! And its not because I have to because they're the only other Americans: I honestly love them, its great.
I've decided "borracho/borracha" is better sounding than the word "drunk."
Today in our second class, which by the way the professor of this class is my host mom's brother, we heard drums outside and demonstrations and our prof told us people were practicing for the crazy independance day activities (September 16).
According to Al, the sun is hotter here and there's less air. He's convinced we're really elevated even though we're right by the ocean. hahaha
I'm gonig to take a siesta now so I can hopefully hang out with the rest of the gringos later at a pub or club.
So Jess and I were trying to get to the micro on O'Higgins today so while we're walking past the artes y humanidades building we notice a bunch of people standing around, apparently watching something around the corner. Well Jess and I decided to go INto that building to go pee and we're halfway up the steps when some people start shouting and people behind us are running and pushing us into the building! We saw ROCKS flying through the air! People panicked and so did we, kinda scooted into the building real fast. It seemed like things calmed down for a bit after, we were really confused at that point. So we go up to the second floor to pee and when we come back down again there are people running around outside EVERYWHERE. Some of them have hoods and scarfs on covering their face, some run into the building, everyone is just scattering. I'm hearing things breaking outside. At this point me and Jess are a little shaken. We stand in the lobby and look out the window at Chilean Police chasing people dressed as terrorists! Some people run into the building we were in and the Police chased in after them! They've got the SWAT clear sheilds with the Chilean Police logo on it, helmets, guns drawn, it was scary as hell!
Things appeared to calm down and me and Jess had to get home so we leave the building and walk outside to broken glass, rocks, and paint scattered in front of the building and on the pathways of campus. We see some policia take a few men away and there are just trucks and trucks of police. Walking past the damage we found ourselves in the background of news reports becuase there were reporters on the scene. Scared the shit out of me!
The rest of my day was pretty great! One time last night when I was saying something to a Chilean on skype I accidentally said "Tengo mierda" for "Tengo miedo." One means "I'm scared" and one means "I have shit." Guess which one I used, ha.
Well I was supposed to have two 3-hr classes today but they were both cut short. I think these two will be my favorite. One is Latin American Studies and the other is like, an area studies seminar where we talk about langauge, culture, and people of Chile.
Random story: When people say "oh he's on chilean time" it means he's just running late because he's gotten used to chileans being late all the time. Its funny, and frustrating, but nobody here is on time, EVER. No wonder there is no schedule for the micros and colectivos.
For my first class I practically had to climb a MOUNTAIN to get to this building! All we did let the prof get to know us and then we left. We climbed back down the practicallly mountain and chilled in the center of campus on some stairs. It rocked. We all just had such a good time telling stories, joking around, being dumb. I love the people on this trip with me! And its not because I have to because they're the only other Americans: I honestly love them, its great.
I've decided "borracho/borracha" is better sounding than the word "drunk."
Today in our second class, which by the way the professor of this class is my host mom's brother, we heard drums outside and demonstrations and our prof told us people were practicing for the crazy independance day activities (September 16).
According to Al, the sun is hotter here and there's less air. He's convinced we're really elevated even though we're right by the ocean. hahaha
I'm gonig to take a siesta now so I can hopefully hang out with the rest of the gringos later at a pub or club.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Oh Luzzz...
My first class today was actually spent at the police station downtown so that the group of us could register our visas. Wasn't as big of a disaster as I expected- WOO! We took a micro from campus to the station and THAT was a joke: there were 20 gringos packed onto this already packed bus! I hate traveling in groups, and a lot of times I cannot STAND Luz, my professor/director, so Sam was laughing at me the whole way since steam was practically coming out my ears.
At the station we had to pay 800 pesos, like, less than 2 dollars, to assure we wouldn't get deported. Cool. So I'm all set to live here for the next 4 months. Since my visa lasts for 210 days, i should just figure out how to stay here longer! If only if only if only....
From the station we walked back downtown and decided to kill some time there before our next class at two, which turned out to be at three.
Hanging out downtown was fun, we window shopped. We ended up walking all the way back towards campus and ate at a place called Cafe Neruda near the Plaza Peru. I had some funny tasting but yummy soup and the freshest apple and orange I've ever eaten. After that some of us got a cerveza at another place in la Plaza Peru and then headed over to campus at about 5 to two. Well class was changed to 3 for some odd reason. Other people headed back to 30xpress, this empanada place by campus, and threw back a couple more pints. I must say they were quite giggly in class. Anyway we watched a movie in spanish and answered some questions about the people in it. This professor was just as hard to understand as the guy on Monday, unfortunately :(
Funny moment: The profe was asking us how much we knew about downtown and she said "Saben ustedes los bares?" and its quiet when Al says loudly "Me gustan." We all just burst out laughing.
After that people went to another place to drink moooore beer. I don't know how people want to spend that kind of money every day. I'll save my money for the cover charge to the discoteque and maybe a few drinks. I want to travel and get souvineers damnit! I don't want to waste money on alcohol.
I ventured home alone, el micro 56, and surprisingly made it again. (Soon I'm going to be a pro at riding the micros and colectivos).
I looooove chatting with my mom when I get home from class. She always wants to hear about my whole day and if I need help with my homework! Today we talked about relationships. Shes very curious about my relationship with my family back home because I keep stressing how outrageously different it is than family relationships here in Chile. She told me some pretty personal stuff about her history and I was flattered she shared it with me. After she told me about some blood sugar problems and how she cant exercise much anymore, she brought down her old Zumba DVDs and we did Zumba together for like an hour! It was so random! The funniest part was that when we were done attempting to Zumba/salsa/dance, I ran to get my dictionary so that I could look up the words "uncoordinated," "klutz," and "two left feet" haha.
Then my dad came home and told me how he talked to my real mom for a while on facebook chat today. Hm. Wonder how that went.
I'm going to relax tonight since I have class from fucking 9am to 3pm tomorrow. Yeah. SUCKS. I have a class from 9 to 12 and then one from 12 to 3. I'm going to kill the idiot that made these schedules.
About my schedule, here it is:
Mondays - Class 11 to 2
Tuesdays - Class 10 to 12
Wednesdays - Class 10 to 12 and 3 to 5
Thursdays - Class 9am to 3pm
Fridays - LIBRE! (free!)
I can't wait to go to Santiago to see Sean! (I met him in my Latin American History class first semester, freshman year. He had wanted to move to Spain after he graduated in December, but moved to Santiago, Chile instead!) Lizzie and I for sure cannot wait to see a familiar face, AND see him because its been a looong time! Santiago is going to be so much fun, I already know. Its much bigger than Conce and I think the music scene will for sure be present.
This weekend Sean is going to Argentina because he has a tourist visa and has to leave the country ever.... 30 days? 60? I'm not sure. Either way he's forced to leave the country and I'm jealous, ha.
Well, I'm going to watch a pretty sweet telenovela with my mama now. I think this ones called "Donde estas Elisa?". Its veeeeery interesting. Here's a synopsis and it might be badly translated: "The plot of the novel revolves around the abduction of Eliza, the daughter of the marriage of Raymond Dominguez (Francisco Melo) and Francisca Correa (Sigrid Alegría). Donde esta Elisa is an authentic family drama and crime fiction." Yeah I can't find a better description. Anyway, its amazing. Theres like this girl who is seeing her uncle and another girl is seeing this guy whos secretly gay and dating HER DAD. Or maybe thats another telenovela. There are soo many haha.
Hasta luego
At the station we had to pay 800 pesos, like, less than 2 dollars, to assure we wouldn't get deported. Cool. So I'm all set to live here for the next 4 months. Since my visa lasts for 210 days, i should just figure out how to stay here longer! If only if only if only....
From the station we walked back downtown and decided to kill some time there before our next class at two, which turned out to be at three.
Hanging out downtown was fun, we window shopped. We ended up walking all the way back towards campus and ate at a place called Cafe Neruda near the Plaza Peru. I had some funny tasting but yummy soup and the freshest apple and orange I've ever eaten. After that some of us got a cerveza at another place in la Plaza Peru and then headed over to campus at about 5 to two. Well class was changed to 3 for some odd reason. Other people headed back to 30xpress, this empanada place by campus, and threw back a couple more pints. I must say they were quite giggly in class. Anyway we watched a movie in spanish and answered some questions about the people in it. This professor was just as hard to understand as the guy on Monday, unfortunately :(
Funny moment: The profe was asking us how much we knew about downtown and she said "Saben ustedes los bares?" and its quiet when Al says loudly "Me gustan." We all just burst out laughing.
After that people went to another place to drink moooore beer. I don't know how people want to spend that kind of money every day. I'll save my money for the cover charge to the discoteque and maybe a few drinks. I want to travel and get souvineers damnit! I don't want to waste money on alcohol.
I ventured home alone, el micro 56, and surprisingly made it again. (Soon I'm going to be a pro at riding the micros and colectivos).
I looooove chatting with my mom when I get home from class. She always wants to hear about my whole day and if I need help with my homework! Today we talked about relationships. Shes very curious about my relationship with my family back home because I keep stressing how outrageously different it is than family relationships here in Chile. She told me some pretty personal stuff about her history and I was flattered she shared it with me. After she told me about some blood sugar problems and how she cant exercise much anymore, she brought down her old Zumba DVDs and we did Zumba together for like an hour! It was so random! The funniest part was that when we were done attempting to Zumba/salsa/dance, I ran to get my dictionary so that I could look up the words "uncoordinated," "klutz," and "two left feet" haha.
Then my dad came home and told me how he talked to my real mom for a while on facebook chat today. Hm. Wonder how that went.
I'm going to relax tonight since I have class from fucking 9am to 3pm tomorrow. Yeah. SUCKS. I have a class from 9 to 12 and then one from 12 to 3. I'm going to kill the idiot that made these schedules.
About my schedule, here it is:
Mondays - Class 11 to 2
Tuesdays - Class 10 to 12
Wednesdays - Class 10 to 12 and 3 to 5
Thursdays - Class 9am to 3pm
Fridays - LIBRE! (free!)
I can't wait to go to Santiago to see Sean! (I met him in my Latin American History class first semester, freshman year. He had wanted to move to Spain after he graduated in December, but moved to Santiago, Chile instead!) Lizzie and I for sure cannot wait to see a familiar face, AND see him because its been a looong time! Santiago is going to be so much fun, I already know. Its much bigger than Conce and I think the music scene will for sure be present.
This weekend Sean is going to Argentina because he has a tourist visa and has to leave the country ever.... 30 days? 60? I'm not sure. Either way he's forced to leave the country and I'm jealous, ha.
Well, I'm going to watch a pretty sweet telenovela with my mama now. I think this ones called "Donde estas Elisa?". Its veeeeery interesting. Here's a synopsis and it might be badly translated: "The plot of the novel revolves around the abduction of Eliza, the daughter of the marriage of Raymond Dominguez (Francisco Melo) and Francisca Correa (Sigrid Alegría). Donde esta Elisa is an authentic family drama and crime fiction." Yeah I can't find a better description. Anyway, its amazing. Theres like this girl who is seeing her uncle and another girl is seeing this guy whos secretly gay and dating HER DAD. Or maybe thats another telenovela. There are soo many haha.
Hasta luego
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
So many posts... sorry
Tonight my dad gave me a pen with the Chilean police logo on it and said I better remember him when I go back to the states! Aahh I was super flattered. I think my mom wanted to give me something then too because she went and got this cute hair pin for me. I. Love. My. Chilean. Family.
After that little exchange, the TV started to get all messed up and I started hearing male Chilean voices. My mom told me when the Chilean police are near their house, the TV starts picking up the radio signals! How strange.
Oh one thing I want to take note of: since Chile is so long and thin, I've never seen a full map of Chile. Its always split into two or three pieces. Like in the mall today, in every store with a map, Chile was cut in half. Then, on the weather channel later, Chile was split in FOUR hahahaha. Doesn't make me love this country any less, however.
One thing I love about my dad chileno is that he has a terrible memory just like I do. Just another trait in him that reminds me of my Grandpa Bajczyk is that he always winks and smiles. Not in a creepy way, but in a caring/funny way, just like my grandpa used to do. I love love love him. He saw me working on my homework today and immediately took it away and was like, "How can I help you, its customary that parents help kids with homework you know, blah blah blah" hahaha he's so so funny!
On a final note for tonight: the telenovelas (soaps) here are SO INTENSE! Well, so are all soap operas, but the ones here have the most crazy complicated story lines, I really want to know who can come up with so many different stories. The one we watched in the afternoon and evening today involved wierd relationships with someones boyfriend actually is involved with that girls DAD becuase they're both secretly gay. Yeah the rest was so complicated I don't even remember.
After that little exchange, the TV started to get all messed up and I started hearing male Chilean voices. My mom told me when the Chilean police are near their house, the TV starts picking up the radio signals! How strange.
Oh one thing I want to take note of: since Chile is so long and thin, I've never seen a full map of Chile. Its always split into two or three pieces. Like in the mall today, in every store with a map, Chile was cut in half. Then, on the weather channel later, Chile was split in FOUR hahahaha. Doesn't make me love this country any less, however.
One thing I love about my dad chileno is that he has a terrible memory just like I do. Just another trait in him that reminds me of my Grandpa Bajczyk is that he always winks and smiles. Not in a creepy way, but in a caring/funny way, just like my grandpa used to do. I love love love him. He saw me working on my homework today and immediately took it away and was like, "How can I help you, its customary that parents help kids with homework you know, blah blah blah" hahaha he's so so funny!
On a final note for tonight: the telenovelas (soaps) here are SO INTENSE! Well, so are all soap operas, but the ones here have the most crazy complicated story lines, I really want to know who can come up with so many different stories. The one we watched in the afternoon and evening today involved wierd relationships with someones boyfriend actually is involved with that girls DAD becuase they're both secretly gay. Yeah the rest was so complicated I don't even remember.
Me encanta esta ciudad.
Well Hayley came over to make a copy of her passport and visa for tomorrow (all of us are going to head over to the local estacion de policia in order to register our visas). After that, her and I went to the mall to meet some people, who ended up leaving when we got there.
Well we wandered around for a bit, I looked for a scarf, and we got some AMAZING ice cream. The person working at the ice cream place was super nice and let us sample a ton of different flavors. We decided on one and got a decent size cone for like 580 pesos! Just a little more than a dollar. Turns out me and Hayley are suuuuuper alike! Speedwalkers, chocolate lovers, bargain-hunters, easy going, language-lovers. Bueno.
Well on our way home we stopped somewhere to buy some agua sin gas and ended up getting SO distracted at all the Spanish in the supermercado that we stayed there for like an hour to check stuff out. It was so interesting! I actually took pictures of "milk" in bags and boxes there.
I just noticed that I said the word "well" for the first three paragraphs.
Anyway: We took some fun pictures in the mall and got tons of weird looks from the natives (see facebook soon for pictures). On the way home we waited for a loooong time for el micro 57 that we weren't even sure we were supposed to take. In the middle of the drive, the driver switched signs in the window! But that turned out to be for our advantage. Everything was golden :)
OH I got a free pen today that says "Yo tengo poder, yo voy a votar" which means, I have power, I am going to vote."
Talking with my parents when I got home today, I noticed my Spanish is crazy better than it used to be, even just from yesterday. I think there was only one instance I struggled to describe something I didn't know the word for, otherwise everything was great. I even caught onto my dad's bromas! (jokes).
Well we wandered around for a bit, I looked for a scarf, and we got some AMAZING ice cream. The person working at the ice cream place was super nice and let us sample a ton of different flavors. We decided on one and got a decent size cone for like 580 pesos! Just a little more than a dollar. Turns out me and Hayley are suuuuuper alike! Speedwalkers, chocolate lovers, bargain-hunters, easy going, language-lovers. Bueno.
Well on our way home we stopped somewhere to buy some agua sin gas and ended up getting SO distracted at all the Spanish in the supermercado that we stayed there for like an hour to check stuff out. It was so interesting! I actually took pictures of "milk" in bags and boxes there.
I just noticed that I said the word "well" for the first three paragraphs.
Anyway: We took some fun pictures in the mall and got tons of weird looks from the natives (see facebook soon for pictures). On the way home we waited for a loooong time for el micro 57 that we weren't even sure we were supposed to take. In the middle of the drive, the driver switched signs in the window! But that turned out to be for our advantage. Everything was golden :)
OH I got a free pen today that says "Yo tengo poder, yo voy a votar" which means, I have power, I am going to vote."
Talking with my parents when I got home today, I noticed my Spanish is crazy better than it used to be, even just from yesterday. I think there was only one instance I struggled to describe something I didn't know the word for, otherwise everything was great. I even caught onto my dad's bromas! (jokes).
Chileito
So did I ever mention there are stray dogs running all over this city? Well, there are. And its really sad to see a bunch of shaking, cold, hungry puppies on the street. :'-(
They're all over campus and downtown. Its funny that they act like humans when they cross the street. Looking both ways and then crossing, haha.
It drives me crazy that all day I see things and want to remember to blog about them later and then I forget. Gah. Curse my terrible memoria.
My brother told me today that Chileans often add "-ito" to the end of words (its like, a diminutive ending). And because of this, other South American countries call Chile "Chileito" or something like that. haha its cute.
I'll talk a little more about my family.
My dad, Wladimir, is a guy people would consider weird. Its something Vlado asks me about all the time "Do you not like us? Are we too weird?" In all honesty, I wouldn't want Wladimir any other way, he is wonderful! Very loving and funny... reminds me of my Grandpa Bajczyk in a lot of ways. I've said before that 99% of Chilean humor is from sarcasm, and seriously, this guy is the KING. I've missed so many jokes becuase he'd say it, he'd have to repeat it, and then Vlado might have to translate, and by then the humor in the moment is gone. Soon I'll be able to catch on.
My mom, Sarita, is the BIGGEST sweetheart I've ever met! I would say she never gets angry, but most Chileans never get angry,haha. She'll do anything for me. She always asks me if I want rides somewhere or want ideas of places to go, or if theres any food I want in the house. She finds it weird I like to prepare my own food. Maybe the other gringas took advantage of her doing everything. I personally don't like much help! Ha, but she has helped me out greatly so far since I needed a lot of help this first week with getting to the university and knowing how to do things.
My brother, Vlado, is pretty cool! He's 25 but we're not that different. I was flattered to learn that he didn't invite the other gringas anywhere nor get along with them well, becuase me and him do! He's always saying "gineal" or maybe its "geneal" which means like "cool" except chileans dont really use it. (He uses it just to be different... sounds like something I like to do!)
I'm really glad I went to Chile. Everyone who wants to study Spanish wants to go to Spain. I'm not saying I went to Chile to spite everyone else, I'm saying I think I'm going to get a more personal experience from this. Of COURSE I want to get to Spain someday! And the rest of Europe for that matter! But I've got the rest of my life and I plan on traveling as much as possible, even if it means hitchhiking, haha. The funny thing is that so many people don't know where Chile is. See, I'm a geography freak, and if you don't know where Chile is, please go look at a map or I might laugh at you for a few weeks. Another funny thing is that nobody spells it right the first time either. They'll write Chili, like the food, or Chilly, like the cold feeling (okay so thats just you, Zach, hahaha).
The weather was a little better today! No rain and relatively warmer. Thank goodness!
They're all over campus and downtown. Its funny that they act like humans when they cross the street. Looking both ways and then crossing, haha.
It drives me crazy that all day I see things and want to remember to blog about them later and then I forget. Gah. Curse my terrible memoria.
My brother told me today that Chileans often add "-ito" to the end of words (its like, a diminutive ending). And because of this, other South American countries call Chile "Chileito" or something like that. haha its cute.
I'll talk a little more about my family.
My dad, Wladimir, is a guy people would consider weird. Its something Vlado asks me about all the time "Do you not like us? Are we too weird?" In all honesty, I wouldn't want Wladimir any other way, he is wonderful! Very loving and funny... reminds me of my Grandpa Bajczyk in a lot of ways. I've said before that 99% of Chilean humor is from sarcasm, and seriously, this guy is the KING. I've missed so many jokes becuase he'd say it, he'd have to repeat it, and then Vlado might have to translate, and by then the humor in the moment is gone. Soon I'll be able to catch on.
My mom, Sarita, is the BIGGEST sweetheart I've ever met! I would say she never gets angry, but most Chileans never get angry,haha. She'll do anything for me. She always asks me if I want rides somewhere or want ideas of places to go, or if theres any food I want in the house. She finds it weird I like to prepare my own food. Maybe the other gringas took advantage of her doing everything. I personally don't like much help! Ha, but she has helped me out greatly so far since I needed a lot of help this first week with getting to the university and knowing how to do things.
My brother, Vlado, is pretty cool! He's 25 but we're not that different. I was flattered to learn that he didn't invite the other gringas anywhere nor get along with them well, becuase me and him do! He's always saying "gineal" or maybe its "geneal" which means like "cool" except chileans dont really use it. (He uses it just to be different... sounds like something I like to do!)
I'm really glad I went to Chile. Everyone who wants to study Spanish wants to go to Spain. I'm not saying I went to Chile to spite everyone else, I'm saying I think I'm going to get a more personal experience from this. Of COURSE I want to get to Spain someday! And the rest of Europe for that matter! But I've got the rest of my life and I plan on traveling as much as possible, even if it means hitchhiking, haha. The funny thing is that so many people don't know where Chile is. See, I'm a geography freak, and if you don't know where Chile is, please go look at a map or I might laugh at you for a few weeks. Another funny thing is that nobody spells it right the first time either. They'll write Chili, like the food, or Chilly, like the cold feeling (okay so thats just you, Zach, hahaha).
The weather was a little better today! No rain and relatively warmer. Thank goodness!
I RODE THE MICRO SOLO!
I made it to class this morning on Micro 44 with Hayley, just about 15 minutes late because we got off too early.
It was really funny, the bus had some writings in the dust that said "lavame" which translates to "wash me" haahhaha Just like on dirty cars in America.
Well class with Luz was annoying as hell as always. We sat in a circle, like she always makes us do, and talked about our families. Turns out she's going to make us work hard in her class! We have to write a one page, single spaced, paper per week about cultural and racial differences. Its really complicated. We also have to write in a journal 5 times a week, 10 sentances each. We ALSO have a book for her class, wonder when she's going to whip that out!
Most importantly, I RODE THE MICRO 56 FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL ALONE! I was a little nervous, and it took like 30 minutes or so, but I made it most importantly, and I even had to converse with people on the bus and that surprisingly went well.
I'm not really sure what else I'm supposed to do today, but my family just made fun of me because I didn't want to eat a big lunch. Ha.
Tomorrow I have to get up at like, 6am to go to the police station with the rest of the gringos and register our visas. Great.
It was really funny, the bus had some writings in the dust that said "lavame" which translates to "wash me" haahhaha Just like on dirty cars in America.
Well class with Luz was annoying as hell as always. We sat in a circle, like she always makes us do, and talked about our families. Turns out she's going to make us work hard in her class! We have to write a one page, single spaced, paper per week about cultural and racial differences. Its really complicated. We also have to write in a journal 5 times a week, 10 sentances each. We ALSO have a book for her class, wonder when she's going to whip that out!
Most importantly, I RODE THE MICRO 56 FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL ALONE! I was a little nervous, and it took like 30 minutes or so, but I made it most importantly, and I even had to converse with people on the bus and that surprisingly went well.
I'm not really sure what else I'm supposed to do today, but my family just made fun of me because I didn't want to eat a big lunch. Ha.
Tomorrow I have to get up at like, 6am to go to the police station with the rest of the gringos and register our visas. Great.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Mi hermano es famoso!
SO. Today, I was lazy and talked to ppl for a long time after my first day of classes (see previous blog, it was hell, but a cold hell), and I waited to go to the studio with Vlado. I don't know if I blogged about this, but on Mondays my host brother is on TV to talk about movies on a young person's channel! He told me today he got to do this because he knows the owner of the channel or something like that.
Anyway, I watched this program being filmed! And people were watching it live! After they talked with some young chilenos (who where quite guapo I might add, wish i got better pictures) then Vlado got some screen time! It was sweet, I saw them talk about older movies like the Pineapple Express y also some newer movies coming out in spanish that were recently dubbed in Spain.
One of the young chilenos guapos was hitting on me, his name was Roberto, and it was soooo awkward becuase he kissed me! (like on the cheek). You're probably thinking "but thats standard in Chile!" Well, its more like you put your cheeks together and kiss the air. Well this guy gave me a big fat wet one right on my right cheek and everyone saw and started laughing reeeeally hard so i was really embarrassed! Later I was told that means he likes me haha, and Vlado also told me he was only in his second year of high school, meaning he was like, 16 hahahahahahaha.
I'm still laughing about that one. Its like they see a blonde girl and immediately need to get to know her because they're so rare here.
Anyway, it was really cool to see them recording live television. Especially chilean television. Oh I should mention that I didn't understand hardly ANYTHING! They talked sooooo fast and used sooo much slang, I seriously had NO idea what they were even talking about! I could pick up random words but thats about it.
After that, me and Vlado went downtown for some food and I had my first empanada! Like, the staple in chilean meals. I'm surprised it was almost a week till I had my first one haha. It was SOOO GOOD! I just had cheese and mushrooms in mine but you can get practically anything inside them. I think Vlado had ham and cheese. Mmmm.
We took a micro to the studio, and we took a colectivo home. I think I'm starting to understand public transportation here :) muy importante.
Some of the other students from St Cloud went out with some chilenos tonight to a bar and probably to party, but I'm glad I did this instead, I can go out with them like, any other night of these 4 months.
Vlado told me he knows these English sayings "She thinks her shit doesn't smell" and "Thats what she said." Yeah, I laughed for a really long time.
Did I mention that ALL of the water they serve is carbonated? If i want just plain water I have to order "agua sin gas." Yeah, by the way, carbonated water is GROSS. At least what they sell here, ew, yuck, gross. I think I was sick/dizzy the past few days becuase I was a little dehydrated (thank you for helping me figure that out, Joe). Going to buy bottled water from now on (sin gas of course). Its only like 400 pesos for a bottle of water, which is like less than one American dollar! Woot woot.
Lots of things are cheap here. = AMAZING.
I have class with my professor who came down here from St. Cloud tomorrow, so thank GOD I'll be able to understand her. Phew!
One more thing: My spanish is improving exponentially every day, but somehow, I STILL suck!
Anyway, I watched this program being filmed! And people were watching it live! After they talked with some young chilenos (who where quite guapo I might add, wish i got better pictures) then Vlado got some screen time! It was sweet, I saw them talk about older movies like the Pineapple Express y also some newer movies coming out in spanish that were recently dubbed in Spain.
One of the young chilenos guapos was hitting on me, his name was Roberto, and it was soooo awkward becuase he kissed me! (like on the cheek). You're probably thinking "but thats standard in Chile!" Well, its more like you put your cheeks together and kiss the air. Well this guy gave me a big fat wet one right on my right cheek and everyone saw and started laughing reeeeally hard so i was really embarrassed! Later I was told that means he likes me haha, and Vlado also told me he was only in his second year of high school, meaning he was like, 16 hahahahahahaha.
I'm still laughing about that one. Its like they see a blonde girl and immediately need to get to know her because they're so rare here.
Anyway, it was really cool to see them recording live television. Especially chilean television. Oh I should mention that I didn't understand hardly ANYTHING! They talked sooooo fast and used sooo much slang, I seriously had NO idea what they were even talking about! I could pick up random words but thats about it.
After that, me and Vlado went downtown for some food and I had my first empanada! Like, the staple in chilean meals. I'm surprised it was almost a week till I had my first one haha. It was SOOO GOOD! I just had cheese and mushrooms in mine but you can get practically anything inside them. I think Vlado had ham and cheese. Mmmm.
We took a micro to the studio, and we took a colectivo home. I think I'm starting to understand public transportation here :) muy importante.
Some of the other students from St Cloud went out with some chilenos tonight to a bar and probably to party, but I'm glad I did this instead, I can go out with them like, any other night of these 4 months.
Vlado told me he knows these English sayings "She thinks her shit doesn't smell" and "Thats what she said." Yeah, I laughed for a really long time.
Did I mention that ALL of the water they serve is carbonated? If i want just plain water I have to order "agua sin gas." Yeah, by the way, carbonated water is GROSS. At least what they sell here, ew, yuck, gross. I think I was sick/dizzy the past few days becuase I was a little dehydrated (thank you for helping me figure that out, Joe). Going to buy bottled water from now on (sin gas of course). Its only like 400 pesos for a bottle of water, which is like less than one American dollar! Woot woot.
Lots of things are cheap here. = AMAZING.
I have class with my professor who came down here from St. Cloud tomorrow, so thank GOD I'll be able to understand her. Phew!
One more thing: My spanish is improving exponentially every day, but somehow, I STILL suck!
First day of Classes. FML
I kinda wanted to cry when class was over today.
First of all, it was 3 hours long. Second, I sat next to the window and its effing COLD today, therefore I was wearing my coat, scarf, and mittens for the whole class. Third, my teacher's accent was so incredibly thick I don't think I understood ANYTHING. I just remember talking about different cultures and different areas of South and Central America. Fourth, every time he asked if we understood him, the whole class would say "si" and I'd weakly mutter "no."
Its great (hint: sarcasm) because when I'm uncomfortable or I don't understand something, I get suuuuper pissed. I'm normally such an easygoing person but I got pretty upset today. Ugh, it was so frustrating. The thing that sucks is I only have one textbook for one of my classes, the rest go off lecture! I hope we get some hard handouts for me to study or else I'm suuuper screwed.
On a good note: I didn't get lost coming home today!
I went home with Hayley and Lindsay and they were convinced we should get on a colectivo numero 7 en la calle Tulcapel. Well, we did it, paid 450 pesos, and made it home! SUCCESS! I think i finally understand which micro to take off la calle O'Higgens. I'll try that tomorrow.
Well. I thought we didnt have class tomorrow, but i guess the occasion is only for real Universidad de Concepcion (U de C) students and we don't count. Oh well. I still might get to drive around with my family and see more of this place :)
I want to record that last night was the first night in a long time I went to bed without music on. Thats because I got to listen to the pouring rain on the roof. I don't get that at home since my room is in the basement.
I love the rain but I can't wait for it to stop in September! Estudiantes will be able to do so much more outside.
OH and I also want to record I'm making amigos chilenos! Just what I wanted. Thank goodness they're patient with my bad spanish.
First of all, it was 3 hours long. Second, I sat next to the window and its effing COLD today, therefore I was wearing my coat, scarf, and mittens for the whole class. Third, my teacher's accent was so incredibly thick I don't think I understood ANYTHING. I just remember talking about different cultures and different areas of South and Central America. Fourth, every time he asked if we understood him, the whole class would say "si" and I'd weakly mutter "no."
Its great (hint: sarcasm) because when I'm uncomfortable or I don't understand something, I get suuuuper pissed. I'm normally such an easygoing person but I got pretty upset today. Ugh, it was so frustrating. The thing that sucks is I only have one textbook for one of my classes, the rest go off lecture! I hope we get some hard handouts for me to study or else I'm suuuper screwed.
On a good note: I didn't get lost coming home today!
I went home with Hayley and Lindsay and they were convinced we should get on a colectivo numero 7 en la calle Tulcapel. Well, we did it, paid 450 pesos, and made it home! SUCCESS! I think i finally understand which micro to take off la calle O'Higgens. I'll try that tomorrow.
Well. I thought we didnt have class tomorrow, but i guess the occasion is only for real Universidad de Concepcion (U de C) students and we don't count. Oh well. I still might get to drive around with my family and see more of this place :)
I want to record that last night was the first night in a long time I went to bed without music on. Thats because I got to listen to the pouring rain on the roof. I don't get that at home since my room is in the basement.
I love the rain but I can't wait for it to stop in September! Estudiantes will be able to do so much more outside.
OH and I also want to record I'm making amigos chilenos! Just what I wanted. Thank goodness they're patient with my bad spanish.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Successful outing with Jess!
So after bumming around and being lazy in the morning, I got ahold of Jess and we hit up the mall. Its POURING right now and has been all day. Fun stuff.
I've been on my own when it comes to communication today since Vlado has been at work most of the day.
Well Jess walked over in her rain boots and umbrella and then Sarita drove us to the mall. It was packed today since it was a Sunday and pouring I'm sure!
I'm proud we managed to do everything on our own! When we asked for directions, when we ordered food, and when we talked to the taxi driver, we successfully communicated in Spanish! WOO go us! (its not that easy with these accents!)
Right now Jess and I are reading books in Spanish on the floor in my room and its wonderful. We found Jane Eyre, Pablo Neruda's work, and a bunch of other treasures.
I've been on my own when it comes to communication today since Vlado has been at work most of the day.
Well Jess walked over in her rain boots and umbrella and then Sarita drove us to the mall. It was packed today since it was a Sunday and pouring I'm sure!
I'm proud we managed to do everything on our own! When we asked for directions, when we ordered food, and when we talked to the taxi driver, we successfully communicated in Spanish! WOO go us! (its not that easy with these accents!)
Right now Jess and I are reading books in Spanish on the floor in my room and its wonderful. We found Jane Eyre, Pablo Neruda's work, and a bunch of other treasures.
Cantame el gato
Translation of the title: Sing to me, cat.
Ever since I woke up this morning, there has been a cat attempting to sing, very close to my window/house. It might sound like its being eaten, or desperately trying to sing. I'm not quite sure.
For the record, I haven't officially cried yet. I feel like that's supposed to happen. My host family told me that the other gringas they've hosted would be very sad for the entire first week. I haven't been sad yet... weird.
I wanted to blog this morning to say how little things all over the place remind me of people back home, its crazy! I'm always thinking to myself, every time I see/pass someting: "Oh, Anne Marie would like that kid!, Katie would LOVE that dress!, This would be an amazing photo op for Joe, I wish Charlie could practice spanish with this child!, I should get Kris that sweatshirt to replace the one he gave me." Just stuff like that.
I miss all my friends! You all mean so much to me, I wish you could all be here experiencing this with me. Hope all is well, loves!
Ever since I woke up this morning, there has been a cat attempting to sing, very close to my window/house. It might sound like its being eaten, or desperately trying to sing. I'm not quite sure.
For the record, I haven't officially cried yet. I feel like that's supposed to happen. My host family told me that the other gringas they've hosted would be very sad for the entire first week. I haven't been sad yet... weird.
I wanted to blog this morning to say how little things all over the place remind me of people back home, its crazy! I'm always thinking to myself, every time I see/pass someting: "Oh, Anne Marie would like that kid!, Katie would LOVE that dress!, This would be an amazing photo op for Joe, I wish Charlie could practice spanish with this child!, I should get Kris that sweatshirt to replace the one he gave me." Just stuff like that.
I miss all my friends! You all mean so much to me, I wish you could all be here experiencing this with me. Hope all is well, loves!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Second attempt at a Discoteque: Failed again
First and foremost I have to say how much I love my madre chilena because when I got home tonight with Vlado I found a heater she puts in my bed at night and it was such a blessing because I'm FREEZING.
Second in importance, I caught on to another Chilean word today: "cachai?" which is an American slang equivalent to "ya know?". Me gustan las palabras chilenas.
So after once (again, pronounced own-say, their mini-dinner) the family and I just hung out in the living room. For the record, I love just hanging out in the living room with them. They always ask me if I'm bored and are surprised when I say, "No, estoy contenta".
Well we waited for Vlado's friend to call him and pick us up. He finally did around 11 and I learned that the night life really doesnt start in Chile till past midnight. Which they really call 24 since they use 24 hour time. We went to a bar/hangout place called Bonito. It looked suuuuper sketch on the outside, like, dirty and garages, but it was very legit on the inside. Nice place. Lots of music and smoke which probably didn't help my already dizzy head. Vlado's friend ordered drinks for all of us so we all had a pina colada while waiting for another of Vlado's friends. I just chatted with them about American movies and such.
I don't know if the person never showed or said she couldn't make it, but we left to go hang out with two other guys that Sebastian knew (Vlado's friend we were with, who drove us).
Too bad I felt super dizzy and light headed the whole time that I had to return home :( I really wanted to go to the discoteque (where everyone else went when Vlado and I left).
We took a cab home, which is rediculously expensive here. A micro or colectivo is 400 pesos or less than one American dollar. The cab cost 5,000! which is like, 10 American dollars! We couldn't have taken a micro or colectivo though because they don't run from 11pm to 6am.
Well now I'm sitting in my bed bundled up, blogging and chatting and still feeling awfully dizzy.
Second in importance, I caught on to another Chilean word today: "cachai?" which is an American slang equivalent to "ya know?". Me gustan las palabras chilenas.
So after once (again, pronounced own-say, their mini-dinner) the family and I just hung out in the living room. For the record, I love just hanging out in the living room with them. They always ask me if I'm bored and are surprised when I say, "No, estoy contenta".
Well we waited for Vlado's friend to call him and pick us up. He finally did around 11 and I learned that the night life really doesnt start in Chile till past midnight. Which they really call 24 since they use 24 hour time. We went to a bar/hangout place called Bonito. It looked suuuuper sketch on the outside, like, dirty and garages, but it was very legit on the inside. Nice place. Lots of music and smoke which probably didn't help my already dizzy head. Vlado's friend ordered drinks for all of us so we all had a pina colada while waiting for another of Vlado's friends. I just chatted with them about American movies and such.
I don't know if the person never showed or said she couldn't make it, but we left to go hang out with two other guys that Sebastian knew (Vlado's friend we were with, who drove us).
Too bad I felt super dizzy and light headed the whole time that I had to return home :( I really wanted to go to the discoteque (where everyone else went when Vlado and I left).
We took a cab home, which is rediculously expensive here. A micro or colectivo is 400 pesos or less than one American dollar. The cab cost 5,000! which is like, 10 American dollars! We couldn't have taken a micro or colectivo though because they don't run from 11pm to 6am.
Well now I'm sitting in my bed bundled up, blogging and chatting and still feeling awfully dizzy.
Funny Story
So my family and I just had some tea and cookies by the TV, and my dad had this little metal toy. I've seen them all over the united states and you probably have too: They're little metal puzzles that you're supposed to be able to get apart but its supposed to appear impossible.
Well
My host dad works on it for about 20 min, hands it to my host brother who works on it for about the same amount of time, hands it to my host mom who works on it for maybe 15 minutes, and they all get a little exasperated.
My host mom hands it to me because I'm laughing at them. "Puedo tratar?"
So its in my hands for about 3 seconds and I'm able to get them apart!
hahahahahahahahahaha
Did I mention how much I love Chile?!
By the way, reader, I never want to leave.
Me encanta este pais.
Well
My host dad works on it for about 20 min, hands it to my host brother who works on it for about the same amount of time, hands it to my host mom who works on it for maybe 15 minutes, and they all get a little exasperated.
My host mom hands it to me because I'm laughing at them. "Puedo tratar?"
So its in my hands for about 3 seconds and I'm able to get them apart!
hahahahahahahahahaha
Did I mention how much I love Chile?!
By the way, reader, I never want to leave.
Me encanta este pais.
MUSICA
I forgot to mention earlier that I had a WONDERFUL conversation about music with my host parents today.
We talked about Los Beatles, Michael Jackson, and how my favorite old Spanish song is "Cielito Lindo" :)
They asked me if I liked to dance to Enrique Inglesias haha
And he showed me this and its really cute! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1tFRuDxs-U
I just woke up from a nap and I don't feel really well :(
The only reason I rested was because I was tired all day and if I go out tonight with Vlado I'm going to need all the sleep I can get, I'm really upset I might have to pass :( :( :(
I guess this is all for now!
We talked about Los Beatles, Michael Jackson, and how my favorite old Spanish song is "Cielito Lindo" :)
They asked me if I liked to dance to Enrique Inglesias haha
And he showed me this and its really cute! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1tFRuDxs-U
I just woke up from a nap and I don't feel really well :(
The only reason I rested was because I was tired all day and if I go out tonight with Vlado I'm going to need all the sleep I can get, I'm really upset I might have to pass :( :( :(
I guess this is all for now!
What another day... wow
Okay so yesterday was almost boring in comparison to today.
To finish up yesterday's story:
We ended up getting picked up by a friend of someone's host brother (don't worry, she'd met him multiple times and trusts him). We had to retrace ALL of our steps downtown, yes my legs still hurt today. Very much so.
So then we went home. Boom.
Then Karl called me and said he was picking me up in ten minutes.
Great. No time to rest.
He comes over with Trevor and Cheryl and all of a sudden there's a ton of people in the living room and we're all trying to communicate.
After we assure my parents that we know how to get home (since los micros y los collectivos stop running after 11 until 6am) we walk over to Adrian's new house. THEN we stop at a store on the way there for some beer and head over to Brenna's house. There, we share some cerveza with her and her host family and chat til the Discoteques open (midnight).
I was too tired so I went home, but I heard someone's wallet got stolen! Good thing he took out his plastics and other important stuff. He thinks it was a Chilean girl he was dancing with.
Well, I woke up not feeling too hot, which kinda sucked and I was pissed because I didn't have ANYthing practically. My host dad just told me that theres a higher alcohol content in the beer here.
After last night and how I feel this morning, I really have no desire to drink much here at all. I'd rather be fully concious of everything I'm doing for safety sake and so that I don't forget anything.
I'll just get to laugh at all the other gringos borrachos (drunk white people) and thats fine with me.
Moving on to today. Like I said, I am very sore. Probably from last night >:-( but I felt better as the day went on. So I was lazy, blogged some, took a shower, then went sight seeing with my host mom and dad! They took me to see a beach, a really long beach, somewhere outside of Conce. it was beautiful! I cannot wait to go there in the summer. AKA in December or so.
Funny story: We were driving in their car and I'm watching the spedometer, which by the way is in the middle of the dash, and I saw my dad was driving 120! And then I remembered its in kilometers per hour and not miles per hour haha.
Anyway, then they took me a bunch of other places like scenic outlooks.
OH before I forget, Christina said something hilarious yesterday! A bunch of pidgeons were in our way and she goes "I just want to KICK a pidgeon!"
Okay so when it comes to what I did today, it would be easier if you just saw the Facebook pictures. I'm so mad because all day when we were driving around Conce I thought about all the things I wanted to remember to put in my blog and now they're flooding out of my head.
I saw a very very poor part of Conce today. Lost of shacks and stray dogs running around. Oh and we also walked out on this pier, which was FREEEZING by the way, and watched some people take their catch off the boats and onto the dock.
My host dad kept trying to tell me he wanted me to see "las focas" and since I didn't know that word, he kept trying to explain it to me, but failing. The rest of the day, he kept struggling to tell me what they were. We finally looked it up at dinner and it meant sealions! He said someday he'd take me to see them!
I have to get used to the sarcasm. Chileans are VERY sarcastic. Most if not all of their jokes and humor come from satiristical stories or comments. Its tricky to catch cuz we have to ask them to repeat what they say over and over! haha.
As I write this, I'm supposed to be taking a siesta because when Vlado gets home from work we're going to a compleanos and then a discoteque afterward with some of his friends. He's very trustworthy and knows how to have a good time so I"m super excited! However I'm exhausted so I need to rest before going out. Chileans know how to party, they start after 9 or 10 at night and go toda la noche!
This will be all for now. I think I'm going to keep a small notepad with me from now on to write down things that happen in order for me to blog about them later.
Hasta luego!
To finish up yesterday's story:
We ended up getting picked up by a friend of someone's host brother (don't worry, she'd met him multiple times and trusts him). We had to retrace ALL of our steps downtown, yes my legs still hurt today. Very much so.
So then we went home. Boom.
Then Karl called me and said he was picking me up in ten minutes.
Great. No time to rest.
He comes over with Trevor and Cheryl and all of a sudden there's a ton of people in the living room and we're all trying to communicate.
After we assure my parents that we know how to get home (since los micros y los collectivos stop running after 11 until 6am) we walk over to Adrian's new house. THEN we stop at a store on the way there for some beer and head over to Brenna's house. There, we share some cerveza with her and her host family and chat til the Discoteques open (midnight).
I was too tired so I went home, but I heard someone's wallet got stolen! Good thing he took out his plastics and other important stuff. He thinks it was a Chilean girl he was dancing with.
Well, I woke up not feeling too hot, which kinda sucked and I was pissed because I didn't have ANYthing practically. My host dad just told me that theres a higher alcohol content in the beer here.
After last night and how I feel this morning, I really have no desire to drink much here at all. I'd rather be fully concious of everything I'm doing for safety sake and so that I don't forget anything.
I'll just get to laugh at all the other gringos borrachos (drunk white people) and thats fine with me.
Moving on to today. Like I said, I am very sore. Probably from last night >:-( but I felt better as the day went on. So I was lazy, blogged some, took a shower, then went sight seeing with my host mom and dad! They took me to see a beach, a really long beach, somewhere outside of Conce. it was beautiful! I cannot wait to go there in the summer. AKA in December or so.
Funny story: We were driving in their car and I'm watching the spedometer, which by the way is in the middle of the dash, and I saw my dad was driving 120! And then I remembered its in kilometers per hour and not miles per hour haha.
Anyway, then they took me a bunch of other places like scenic outlooks.
OH before I forget, Christina said something hilarious yesterday! A bunch of pidgeons were in our way and she goes "I just want to KICK a pidgeon!"
Okay so when it comes to what I did today, it would be easier if you just saw the Facebook pictures. I'm so mad because all day when we were driving around Conce I thought about all the things I wanted to remember to put in my blog and now they're flooding out of my head.
I saw a very very poor part of Conce today. Lost of shacks and stray dogs running around. Oh and we also walked out on this pier, which was FREEEZING by the way, and watched some people take their catch off the boats and onto the dock.
My host dad kept trying to tell me he wanted me to see "las focas" and since I didn't know that word, he kept trying to explain it to me, but failing. The rest of the day, he kept struggling to tell me what they were. We finally looked it up at dinner and it meant sealions! He said someday he'd take me to see them!
I have to get used to the sarcasm. Chileans are VERY sarcastic. Most if not all of their jokes and humor come from satiristical stories or comments. Its tricky to catch cuz we have to ask them to repeat what they say over and over! haha.
As I write this, I'm supposed to be taking a siesta because when Vlado gets home from work we're going to a compleanos and then a discoteque afterward with some of his friends. He's very trustworthy and knows how to have a good time so I"m super excited! However I'm exhausted so I need to rest before going out. Chileans know how to party, they start after 9 or 10 at night and go toda la noche!
This will be all for now. I think I'm going to keep a small notepad with me from now on to write down things that happen in order for me to blog about them later.
Hasta luego!
WHAT A DAY.
Its only the... lets see, yesterday was the third day? Well it was only the third day and I got SO LOST. It was pretty scary, I mean we had our phones and stuff but we were all nervous about asking our families for the huge favor of asking them to drive downtown and find us!
Okay, So I'll get to that later. Let me start with the beginning of the day. So I woke up at 7:40ish to get ready for a meeting with the other study abroad students from St Cloud at 9:00AM. Well I took a while getting ready because every day when I open my closet, I realize that NOTHING I own will allow me to blend in. I suppose my blonde hair is to blame for that as well. People dress dark here, dark and bland. Its rare to see bright colors or anything besides a black or brown purse (good thing my purse is hot pink tye-dye... yeah I don't use it.) Whatever, I didn't know how to dress or what to bring so I was staring, dumbfounded, at my belongings for quite some time. Oh and i want to mention freezing because I was wet from my shower and its SO COLDDD here, especially in the mornings. Another thing: EVERYONE HERE WEARS SKINNY JEANS. Good thing I lost a ton of weight before leaving and managed to buy two pairs before I left because apparently they've switched over entirely unlike the US where some people do, some people dont.
So I manage to make it to the correct building, apparently the building where they teach all the gringos (for all you people who don't know what gringos means, its the chilean word for white people and not offensive at all). Hayley, Jess and I all got a ride from my host mom becuase it was our first day to the university, so that was nice. We make it to this building and see about 10 to 14 of the rest of us and grow a little concerned that the others won't make it. We are so under informed here! Its not the fault of my professor though, I guess Chileans do everything last minute. Well they give us a planner and some informational stuff in a folder and Triana (the director from St. Cloud shows up). As much as I kind of don't get along with her, it was good to see a familiar face. The Concepcion director was there as well and talked to us for a little bit. Oh and he, Omar, is the brother of my host mom, so I guess that makes him my uncle. His spanish is SO hard to understand though! He has the thickest Chilean accent I've heard so far! My host dads accent is pretty tough too, but the more I talk to him, the more I can understand.
So we sit in a circle, like Triana always makes us do when we're having a chat, and tell about our host families. I learned some of us have brothers and sisters, some of us have grandparents as host parents, and some live quite far, and some live quite close. It was interesting and nice to hear about other people's experiences so far.
After that we eat some cake becuase it was Triana's and Brad's birthday. We looked like gringos idiotas because we were in the hallway eating cake cuz we couldn't in the classroom. We sang in spanish and english and mingled for a while before leaving the building and touring the campus with two estudiantes chilenas.
It was hilarious touring the campus becuase EVERYone pointed, laughed, and or stared because we were this giant group of "gringos!!!". haha
So I got pretty pissed off hanging out with Triana, just becuase we don't get along very well, but everything ended up okay. On the tour, theres this crest we saw on the ground that has a legend. If you're a student and you step on it, you'll never graduate.
Well after the tour we wall go to this Pub Quebec place for almuerzo becuase the tour lasted so long none of us were able to go home for lunch. I had a Sandwich Chileno and it was DELICIOUS. I also ordered my first beer but the waitress got confused and gave me two, haha, everyone made fun of me. It was a Cristal. After that we all walked around downtown with our profe and Hayley and I kept getting mad because we're speed walkers and our profe can't walk that fast. So a bunch of us really have to pee and of course we can't find any bathrooms. We found one in this underground supermarket and there was a HUGE line. And also, there was a stand outside the bathroom giving toilet paper and we couldn't quite tell if they were making us pay for TP or merely rationing our pieces!
Whatever. So I stuck with Hayley, Jess, and Lindsay because we wall live very close. Well. Half of us remember some way of getting home, half of us are confused, half of us don't know where we are. We get on some Micro (bus) and its the one I was sure Vlado told me to take, but it ends up being the wrong one. We get on another one, wrong one. Oh but for some reason we never paid. THEN someone told us to grab a 7 or 14 Colectivo (taxi on fixed route kinda thing).
Well we waited on this one street for EVER and never saw a 7 or 14. I was convinced I knew where the university was, so we were going to walk back in that direction to figure out where we were. We even successfully asked someone for directions! "Seis o siete cuadros mas en esa direccion"
Oh no, I've gotta get going now..... To be continued again!
Okay, So I'll get to that later. Let me start with the beginning of the day. So I woke up at 7:40ish to get ready for a meeting with the other study abroad students from St Cloud at 9:00AM. Well I took a while getting ready because every day when I open my closet, I realize that NOTHING I own will allow me to blend in. I suppose my blonde hair is to blame for that as well. People dress dark here, dark and bland. Its rare to see bright colors or anything besides a black or brown purse (good thing my purse is hot pink tye-dye... yeah I don't use it.) Whatever, I didn't know how to dress or what to bring so I was staring, dumbfounded, at my belongings for quite some time. Oh and i want to mention freezing because I was wet from my shower and its SO COLDDD here, especially in the mornings. Another thing: EVERYONE HERE WEARS SKINNY JEANS. Good thing I lost a ton of weight before leaving and managed to buy two pairs before I left because apparently they've switched over entirely unlike the US where some people do, some people dont.
So I manage to make it to the correct building, apparently the building where they teach all the gringos (for all you people who don't know what gringos means, its the chilean word for white people and not offensive at all). Hayley, Jess and I all got a ride from my host mom becuase it was our first day to the university, so that was nice. We make it to this building and see about 10 to 14 of the rest of us and grow a little concerned that the others won't make it. We are so under informed here! Its not the fault of my professor though, I guess Chileans do everything last minute. Well they give us a planner and some informational stuff in a folder and Triana (the director from St. Cloud shows up). As much as I kind of don't get along with her, it was good to see a familiar face. The Concepcion director was there as well and talked to us for a little bit. Oh and he, Omar, is the brother of my host mom, so I guess that makes him my uncle. His spanish is SO hard to understand though! He has the thickest Chilean accent I've heard so far! My host dads accent is pretty tough too, but the more I talk to him, the more I can understand.
So we sit in a circle, like Triana always makes us do when we're having a chat, and tell about our host families. I learned some of us have brothers and sisters, some of us have grandparents as host parents, and some live quite far, and some live quite close. It was interesting and nice to hear about other people's experiences so far.
After that we eat some cake becuase it was Triana's and Brad's birthday. We looked like gringos idiotas because we were in the hallway eating cake cuz we couldn't in the classroom. We sang in spanish and english and mingled for a while before leaving the building and touring the campus with two estudiantes chilenas.
It was hilarious touring the campus becuase EVERYone pointed, laughed, and or stared because we were this giant group of "gringos!!!". haha
So I got pretty pissed off hanging out with Triana, just becuase we don't get along very well, but everything ended up okay. On the tour, theres this crest we saw on the ground that has a legend. If you're a student and you step on it, you'll never graduate.
Well after the tour we wall go to this Pub Quebec place for almuerzo becuase the tour lasted so long none of us were able to go home for lunch. I had a Sandwich Chileno and it was DELICIOUS. I also ordered my first beer but the waitress got confused and gave me two, haha, everyone made fun of me. It was a Cristal. After that we all walked around downtown with our profe and Hayley and I kept getting mad because we're speed walkers and our profe can't walk that fast. So a bunch of us really have to pee and of course we can't find any bathrooms. We found one in this underground supermarket and there was a HUGE line. And also, there was a stand outside the bathroom giving toilet paper and we couldn't quite tell if they were making us pay for TP or merely rationing our pieces!
Whatever. So I stuck with Hayley, Jess, and Lindsay because we wall live very close. Well. Half of us remember some way of getting home, half of us are confused, half of us don't know where we are. We get on some Micro (bus) and its the one I was sure Vlado told me to take, but it ends up being the wrong one. We get on another one, wrong one. Oh but for some reason we never paid. THEN someone told us to grab a 7 or 14 Colectivo (taxi on fixed route kinda thing).
Well we waited on this one street for EVER and never saw a 7 or 14. I was convinced I knew where the university was, so we were going to walk back in that direction to figure out where we were. We even successfully asked someone for directions! "Seis o siete cuadros mas en esa direccion"
Oh no, I've gotta get going now..... To be continued again!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
First Taboo word!
I was in my room with my host family today and they were talking slow so I could understand what they were saying and they suddenly turned to me and told me not to say a certain word.
So I ask "que es la palabra?"
and my mom whispers "chupa"
I say "CHUPA?"
And they freak out and say "No dice esta palabra! no no no!"
so I say "La palabra es CHUPA?!"
and they shout again "NO NO NO NO SSHHHHHH!!!"
And I go again "Entonces, no debo decir la palabra CHUPA?"
And they finally say "PARE! no la dice! ay yay yay!"
hahahahahaha.
So I ask "que es la palabra?"
and my mom whispers "chupa"
I say "CHUPA?"
And they freak out and say "No dice esta palabra! no no no!"
so I say "La palabra es CHUPA?!"
and they shout again "NO NO NO NO SSHHHHHH!!!"
And I go again "Entonces, no debo decir la palabra CHUPA?"
And they finally say "PARE! no la dice! ay yay yay!"
hahahahahaha.
SO.
In continuation:
After crawling out of this jam packed car full of my luggage, trevor's luggage, Trevor, and me, we head into the Rosas/Salazaar house. Trevor is like, this god at spanish or something cuz hes communicating with them about everything... himself, politics, and i"m sitting there like a dumbass! I found that I understood more than I can communicate.
Anyway, after Trevor leaves, I ALMOST shed a tear. But they really got me to talk a lot and I was distracted.
I havent really cried yet! Which is SO surprising because of how easily tears come from me!
So anyway, back to day one. I got there in the late morning so when I got settled in a bit we had almuerzo a la una y media and it was delicious. I was still very quiet and nervous, but seriously, with every hour i spend here i get more and more comfortable. Also, i was VERY jet-lagged. Traveling for 27 hours will do that to you. I ended up taking an unexpected three hour nap after once (own-say) which is like thier mini-dinner before real dinner (awesome). I woke up in time for the real dinner and crashed soon after.
Alright, moving on to day Two. I wish i could remember more details of day one. Damn my bad memory!
So this morning I woke up slightly early to go run errands with Sarita y Vlado. We went to Lider, which is Chile's wal-mart, and the Mall, and the post office. I also learned how to take a Micro to la universidad. While Vlado and I were there, we walked around campus, and then to downtown. We stopped and had a beer with his friend, and then she walked around with us. VERY nice people, for real!
I don't know what else to say really! We chilled around campus for a loooong time. I hope I remember where to go tomorrow morning!
I seriously love it here. Not only does my spanish improve with every hour, but I also feel more comfortable with every minute.
Hey look! I might actually remember to keep up with this blog after all! Its much easier than telling each individual person who asks me about each detail of each day.
WOW I just saw my host brother on TV! It was really funny! It was a live show and they were looking at his journalism group on facebook, and he started facebook chatting with the host of the show , hahahahaha! Look him up and you can see my host bro "Vlado Rosas".
Ok that was exciting.
The family loves to be together, i love that, As i write this I'm in the living room. We're all watching TV and me and Vlado are on our computers. I looooove how they greet each other here! Every single person you meet you semi-kiss them on the cheek with a quick embrace. Its sooo nice! Everyone is really nice! I mean, yeah theres crime here, its a big city, but like family friends and Vlado's friends I've met are insanely nice. :)
So I'm never going home. If I even have one of those anymore.
Miss everybody lots!
Until next time, adios!
In continuation:
After crawling out of this jam packed car full of my luggage, trevor's luggage, Trevor, and me, we head into the Rosas/Salazaar house. Trevor is like, this god at spanish or something cuz hes communicating with them about everything... himself, politics, and i"m sitting there like a dumbass! I found that I understood more than I can communicate.
Anyway, after Trevor leaves, I ALMOST shed a tear. But they really got me to talk a lot and I was distracted.
I havent really cried yet! Which is SO surprising because of how easily tears come from me!
So anyway, back to day one. I got there in the late morning so when I got settled in a bit we had almuerzo a la una y media and it was delicious. I was still very quiet and nervous, but seriously, with every hour i spend here i get more and more comfortable. Also, i was VERY jet-lagged. Traveling for 27 hours will do that to you. I ended up taking an unexpected three hour nap after once (own-say) which is like thier mini-dinner before real dinner (awesome). I woke up in time for the real dinner and crashed soon after.
Alright, moving on to day Two. I wish i could remember more details of day one. Damn my bad memory!
So this morning I woke up slightly early to go run errands with Sarita y Vlado. We went to Lider, which is Chile's wal-mart, and the Mall, and the post office. I also learned how to take a Micro to la universidad. While Vlado and I were there, we walked around campus, and then to downtown. We stopped and had a beer with his friend, and then she walked around with us. VERY nice people, for real!
I don't know what else to say really! We chilled around campus for a loooong time. I hope I remember where to go tomorrow morning!
I seriously love it here. Not only does my spanish improve with every hour, but I also feel more comfortable with every minute.
Hey look! I might actually remember to keep up with this blog after all! Its much easier than telling each individual person who asks me about each detail of each day.
WOW I just saw my host brother on TV! It was really funny! It was a live show and they were looking at his journalism group on facebook, and he started facebook chatting with the host of the show , hahahahaha! Look him up and you can see my host bro "Vlado Rosas".
Ok that was exciting.
The family loves to be together, i love that, As i write this I'm in the living room. We're all watching TV and me and Vlado are on our computers. I looooove how they greet each other here! Every single person you meet you semi-kiss them on the cheek with a quick embrace. Its sooo nice! Everyone is really nice! I mean, yeah theres crime here, its a big city, but like family friends and Vlado's friends I've met are insanely nice. :)
So I'm never going home. If I even have one of those anymore.
Miss everybody lots!
Until next time, adios!
Day Two. Already more comfortable than Day One.
So, I decided, I'm not going to type in Spanish in this blog. Its hard enough communicating EVERYthing in Spanish here in Chile.
Let me begin with the flights.
Well I got to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport just in time in the morning. There were a couple other people who arrived after me, but we all made it with plenty of time before our flight. I made a couple of jokes about playing the name game while waiting at our gate, but it wasn't long before we knew everybody's names anyway!
So Minneapolis/St. Paul to Detroit was fine, I don't even remember how long the flight was, but we were all pretty alert. I was proud we were able to make it through that airport with a little time to wait before our plane to Miami left. That flight was kinda long.... 3 hours was it? I should have blogged about the flights earlier, becuase my poor memory is failing me.
Its Miami to Santiago that was the kicker.
8 plus hours. The best part: the airline. I thin I'm going to fly LAN-Chile from now on. They gave us SO much food, and our TVs had touch screens (something I didn't have on my flight to England about 5 years ago).
Well they served us dinner at 10 something (our flight left at 9:50 at night) and after I had had a few glasses of wine (I'm legal here!) I was out like a light. I didn't wake up again till breakfast and that was about an hour and a half away from Santiago de Chile! So I mst have slept for 5 or 6 hours.I know I kept waking up a lot though. I had an isle seat so ppl kept bumping into me and I had no space to curl up haha.
So, it really hit all of us when we landed in Santiago. Some officials were yelling at us that we were going to miss our flight! People were boarding already they told us, so they made us run thorough Santiago's airport like idiots! THEN when we get to our gate, it turns out our flight was pushed back about a half an hour, so we had to wait AGAIN.
Let me tell you, 6 airports in 2 days is too much for me.
Anyway, we land in Concepcion, grab our bags, exit security, and find ourselves alone and without phones.
Wht the hell do we do now? Our profe isn't here, our families aren't here. So we sat and waited.
All of a sudden I recognize my host brother walking toward me! (We exchanged pictures and facebooked).
So we did the typical Chilean greeting, a hug and kiss on a cheak ("Mucho gusto!") And All of a sudden I find myself and Trevor (another student on this trip) packed like sardines in this little car.
Allright I really want to get this posted so, TO BE CONINUED!
My host brother is going to take me out and show me how to use el micro and los collectivos in order to get to the university tomorrow.
Chao!
Let me begin with the flights.
Well I got to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport just in time in the morning. There were a couple other people who arrived after me, but we all made it with plenty of time before our flight. I made a couple of jokes about playing the name game while waiting at our gate, but it wasn't long before we knew everybody's names anyway!
So Minneapolis/St. Paul to Detroit was fine, I don't even remember how long the flight was, but we were all pretty alert. I was proud we were able to make it through that airport with a little time to wait before our plane to Miami left. That flight was kinda long.... 3 hours was it? I should have blogged about the flights earlier, becuase my poor memory is failing me.
Its Miami to Santiago that was the kicker.
8 plus hours. The best part: the airline. I thin I'm going to fly LAN-Chile from now on. They gave us SO much food, and our TVs had touch screens (something I didn't have on my flight to England about 5 years ago).
Well they served us dinner at 10 something (our flight left at 9:50 at night) and after I had had a few glasses of wine (I'm legal here!) I was out like a light. I didn't wake up again till breakfast and that was about an hour and a half away from Santiago de Chile! So I mst have slept for 5 or 6 hours.I know I kept waking up a lot though. I had an isle seat so ppl kept bumping into me and I had no space to curl up haha.
So, it really hit all of us when we landed in Santiago. Some officials were yelling at us that we were going to miss our flight! People were boarding already they told us, so they made us run thorough Santiago's airport like idiots! THEN when we get to our gate, it turns out our flight was pushed back about a half an hour, so we had to wait AGAIN.
Let me tell you, 6 airports in 2 days is too much for me.
Anyway, we land in Concepcion, grab our bags, exit security, and find ourselves alone and without phones.
Wht the hell do we do now? Our profe isn't here, our families aren't here. So we sat and waited.
All of a sudden I recognize my host brother walking toward me! (We exchanged pictures and facebooked).
So we did the typical Chilean greeting, a hug and kiss on a cheak ("Mucho gusto!") And All of a sudden I find myself and Trevor (another student on this trip) packed like sardines in this little car.
Allright I really want to get this posted so, TO BE CONINUED!
My host brother is going to take me out and show me how to use el micro and los collectivos in order to get to the university tomorrow.
Chao!
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