rough patch

So the culture shock process continues. I went shopping this morning to find a calendar, some sort of cheap shelving and possibly some boots...I came back with a cook book. So if someone is going to send me anything, could it please be a Target? Thanks, that would be great. At least I found out the name for a calendar: calendario...woooo. I am beginning to think that Chileans simply do not believe in calendars. It's possible.

I was talking to a friend of mine, Ingrid, yesterday about the cat calls. She's blonde so she gets them way worse than I do, but I am starting to really hate them. I am starting to have to shove my hands in my pockets to keep from flicking some of these men off...and I am not a person who generally flicks people off.
Things I wonder: Do they think it is a disrespectful thing to do? Do they know that gringas think it is disrespectful? If they did know, would they stop?
Now, people tell me that it is considered to be more of an "I think you're pretty" sort of thing, a compliment. And I have been told on several occasions that looking "whiter" (blonde hair, blue eyes) is considered more beautiful, which would explain why gringas get more than chilenas. Now cat calls in the states are pretty similar, they generally mean "you're hot" but is taken more as an objectification of the woman than a compliment...I don't know, it just gets old after awhile because it is done so much here. Ingrid and I talked about how we would react to cat calls once we were in the states. She said that she would probably be more tolerant since she will have gotten used to it by then. I think that I will be the exact opposite. I think that I will get cat calls and turn around and tell the guy off, because I will know that he knows better and knows that it is not a respectful thing to do.

Some interesting statistics thus far into my Chilean adventure:
Winona Ryder comments:4
Times I have been asked if I was French when they found out I was not Chilean: 3
Times I have used our gas oven:0
Percent of times I clean something in the bathroom when I went in for some other reason: 98%

Helping Sofia

For all those people who read my post (very much appreciated by the way) who are not in the AIESEC loop, AIESEC is an international student organization that I am involved in. It's an incredible organization and one aspect of it is to set up paid internships for students from other countries, but that's not really the point of this post. The point of this post is that a young Mexican woman named Sofia was on one of these internships in Ghana when she contracted septicemia. Now, she must be flown to Switzerland in order to receive the proper care in hopes of saving her life. Obviously, this is an extremely expensive undertaking. If you are able to spare even a dollar or two, go to http://nomadlife.org/ (if the link doesn't work, try the link to AIESEC's blogs on the right of the screen) to learn more about this situation and how to donate.

estoy cansada

I had a tremendous morning running around Santiago trying to get a cedula (a form of identification--like a driver's license) and I think I may be getting sick so I decided to treat myself to a nice lunch. So I went to my neighborhood sushi restaurant for some tempura, dim sum, sushi and a glass of wine...all for about $8. I have decided that I am going to start drinking wine with my dinners. Why? because I am 20 years old and can legally drink here, I am missing my 21st birthday in the states so I need to make up for it somehow, I like wine and the best reason is the direct relation between drinking and foreign language skills...although I'm not sure how much a glass of wine with dinner could improve my Spanish. I am kind of surprised that none of my housemates have wine or beer with their dinners on a regular basis. unexpected...

un bano limpio

I cleaned my bathroom this morning...it took three hours, two rolls of paper towel, two sponges, and a scrub brush...also some semi-permanent damage to my body. I wonder how often I will have to clean it like that? I would show "after" pictures, except that the only person who could apreciate my work would be my dad since I always forget to take "before" pictures. The rest of my room is tomorrow's project. Estoy muy emocionada... I wonder how well sarcasm translates.

The good news: my supermercado has chocolate mueslix...jealous, mom? I haven't gotten any yet though because the unrefridgerated boxed milk freaks me out slightly...soon though.

Hey, it was a long weekend!

I throw my door open, plop my bags on the ground and take my first shower since Thursday. Then I crawl into my "smoking sweater"--the sole sweatshirt I wear around the house so that all my clothing will not smell like smoke. Ahhh home...well kind of.

The Arrival
We left Santiago at about 11:00 pm, about an hour after we were supposed to leave. The bus ride was pretty uneventful, although we were not allowed to drink. It was great seeing all the different landscapes in Chile...mountains, coastline, desert and farms. A guy from our program at La Catolica was on our bus and someone walked off with his backpack which had all his gear in it. That and the fact that our driver took smoking breaks every hour set us back even further and we didn't end up getting to San Pedro until 11:30 Friday night. By that time the hostel we had booked for the night was closed up tight and we were left to wander the streets looking for room to stay. After about an hour of looking we got desperate and found a hotel that had one room for 3 people (at that time we had 5 in our group, 4 girls and the guy who got his stuff stolen) and came at a price tag of $150-that's US dollars!! Thinking we could just sneak the rest of us into the room, the other girls put their names down and we got the room. Unfortunately the front desk guy had absolutely NO heart, came into the room, discovered the guy and I were hiding in the bathroom and kicked us out...So we were sent to the streets again. Finally we found the Hostel Internacional which had one bed open for a girl and was willing to let the guy sleep on the floor in the boys room. So I scooted to my bunk 20 feet in the air while the other girls went back to their down blankets in the heated hotel room.
Day 1-Sabado
I woke up to find an incredible morning. I could see the bluest, clearest sky I have ever seen through the thatched roof of the restaurant attached to the hostel. We got a free breakfast of bread, butter, apricot marmalade and a choice of tea or cafe. Simple, but excellent. I spent the meal chatting with two sisters from Wyoming, which made me really miss Lauren and think how much she would enjoy my coming adventure. The other girls met up with me and we discovered that the hostel had a room open for us to share that night. Claudia was the girl at the desk and she talked us into a tour for the afternoon also...Sandboarding! The thing people forget to tell you about sandboarding is getting up the hill. Imagine when you go sledding, only sand. It was quite a workout but I'm pretty sure I left heavier than I came, sand was literally pouring out the bottom of my jeans. It was amazing. Then we went to trek through some salt caverns and to watch the sunset at Valle de la Luna.
In general I think the aspect of Chilean (especially San Pedro) life that people leave out is the daily workout, so if you're planning on coming...do a few lunges or stair climbs before the airplane. I don't know if it was all the dust and sand or I fell funny but my lungs were killing me for the next 24 hours. Maybe I am just out of shape. When we got back from our tour we had dinner at the hostel restaurant--lots of food for little money plus a discount because we were staying there. We had a couple of bottles of wine then headed out on the town...only to find that the town doesn't have much of a night life. There are laws that people must be served food if they are served alcohol so if you go out in San Pedro, you have to have some dish in front of you, even if it is a dirty one from someone else. We ended up at Milagro, an overpriced, like most restaurants in San Pedro, hot spot where we got the worst mai tais ever (not my choice but even if it were, since when are mai tais bright red?). Two girls kept the drinks coming. Now it is a well known fact that your foreign language skills improve with alcohol--to a point. The two girls reached that point and crossed over it, which is when their spanish skills became useful only to accidentally offend a chileno, or not offend sufficiently a gross brazilian who at one point licked my friend's face...I have yet to find a culture in which that act is acceptable or even attractive. So we left after that incident and returned to our safe ground-the hostel.

Day 2-Domingo
The next morning, after the same delightful breakfast we headed out on another tour. This time to some hot springs. We spent a few hours relaxing in our private pool with our Aussie friend Raymond, whom we had met the night before. (The great thing about our hostel, and San Pedro in general, is that it is like this oasis for nomadic young people. Yes there is a mix of people, but the average person in San Pedro is college-aged and not chilean. Makes it very interesting, but less likely that you will practice your Spanish. Oh well.)
I now realize that I am a waterbaby at heart. I miss the water, just the sight of a large body of water nearby. Being immersed (sp?) in it for a few hours helped a bit. We then went trekking through a valley of cacti, with a stream and waterfalls to boot. Claudia and her boyfriend told us about rica rica, a plant that you can make digestive tea out of, plus it smells pretty good. All of these tours are outside of San Pedro a bit and the drive out is generally an experience within itself. This tour's drive reminded me of being on the Back to the Future Ride. I was clutching my water for dear life. That night we ate at the hostel again...never a disappointment, and spent the evening learning chilenismos (Chilean slang) from Eric, a guy from Michigan who was closing up a year in the same program we are starting.

Day 3-Lunes
Our last day in San Pedro was pretty uneventful, we went through a creepy museum with decaying bodies, shopped a bit (part of Lauren's belated birthday gift is now in my possession), and drank some wine. Before we left we were talking to Rodrigo, Claudia's boyfriend, who said that late last night they had broken up over a political disagreement, which everyone agreed was a stupid reason to break up. She apparently was heading towards Santiago sometime that day. We had come to love Claudia, a 22 year old woman born in Sweden to exiled Chilean parents. She accompanied us on all our tours, taught us a lot about different things Chile style, and talked about looking Chilean but not feeling a part of the culture. Rodrigo was a funny sort of hippy guy, a chileno who looked as Chilean as Claudia looked Swedish. So of course we thought it was the sweetest thing when Rodrigo came onto our bus, like every other bus leaving town that day, in hopes of catching Claudia before she skipped town...the 3 bottles of wine we drank the hour before made it all the more poignant.

Viaje!

(I haven't talked to my sister since I got here...Heidi--the nose-picker in the back--either. Ahhh JJ's, when the only Spanish you should know is enough to ward off the dudes at the end of the bar)

Taking my first Chilean road trip to San Pedro. Pretty close, only a 24 HOUR BUS RIDE! I know it's crazy but I'm kind of looking forward to the bus ride, seeing the sites, relaxing, reading, hanging out with the girls on my bus...plus the buses are 2000 times nicer than the ones in the US...and we're bringing a few bottles of wine for the trip, what can I say? I'm my parent's daughter...and Lauren's sister.

Anyway last night I went to some girls in my program's apartment. They live with two guys, one from Chicago who had some friends over. It was so nice but also made us a little homesick. It's kind of funny that sometimes things that make you the most comfortable make you miss home the most. I was sitting there eating pizza and talking to Americans and one of the other girls looks at me and says "why is this making me miss home more?"...sometimes you forget that the culture barrier takes more out of you. I feel like I'm pretty good at reading people but it's much harder when you throw that factor in.

I am currently doing my laundry in this teeny washing machine, if you can even call it that. then everything goes into the "secadora"...apparently they are trying to pass it off as a dryer...locos

pobrecita

Yes...this is what I'm forced to look at everday...well this or something like it

put your right hand in, take your right hand out...

After talking to my parents on MSN messenger this morning (seriously the best way to have international conversations because it's FREE and a good connection) I pulled myself from under my cocoon of covers and decided to explore my neighborhood a bit. One of my roomies is from Brazil and currently one of my favorite people. He just seems very genuinely helpful, trying to get me integrated with the rest of the house and Chile in general. A few days ago he told me about another supermarket I could go to, so I thought I would check it out. I found two parks on my way, which made me happy. I have yet to be in a park and not see people making out. As I was checking out the sculptures and fountains in the second park, I saw it. A huge white building that looked new and clean. As my hopes rose a bit, I walked through the gated parking lot and into the store...and nearly started to cry. It was like being in a really nice supermarket in the US. It was beautiful but still very cheap. I am finding more and more places that make it feel like home, not that they remind me of home, but they make me feel like I am home. I know that part of really appreciating the culture is to not take the easy way out, but I have been to the open air market in the center of town, I have swatted away the bugs and ignored the catcalls. My housing is stepping out of my comfort zone enough, I will allow myself the comfort of the beautiful supermarket.

I have decided to buy a book so that I can spend some of my free time reading in Spanish--and looking up words. Tomorrow's task...

I feel that my strides in speaking spanish and being social in the house are like the bunnyhop: two steps forwards, one step back...at least I think that's how you do the bunnyhop.

me gustan piscolas

today was the best day yet. Although it started out not so great. I went to register my visa, got very confused, and when approximately 20 men started yelling/whistling/smooching at me I decided it was time to get out of there and leave the errands for another day. After spanish class me and few of mis amigas went to Santa Lucia, which has an awesome market-where they do not yell at you-and I bought a beautiful belt. Then we climbed this half building-half hill thing that gave an incredible view. So I discovered one place to take my family when they visit. Then I went out to sushi with a girl from the program. Great sushi and tempura and great conversation. We walked forever, probably 45 minutes minimum to find an apartment of another girl in the program. We stayed there for a bit and then everybody decided to go to la suecia, a very spring break style avenida that I was NOT feeling: too many gringas and chilenos trying to get you to come into their club...ugh. So Chrissy and I took a cab and I discovered a fiesta en mi casa. They play the same music over and over and over...it's weird. I also got the compliment of the year when I was telling a chileno about where I am from and he said "eres gringa?!" meaning he didn't know I was a gringa...yes! fitting in...kind of. They are big starers here. the party is still going on but I am extremely tired so I must sleep.

As the foreign woman turns the street corner, a young teenage boy approaches her, spitting out a question in the native tongue. Not understanding, the woman stammers a half-wit response, grasping her bag tightly in one hand and an umbrella in the other. The rain falls, forming tiny lakes in the sidewalk and street. The woman walks briskly, trying to keep warm and keep as far away from the water-filled street as possible. Despite her efforts, as the light turns green and cars pass, water cascades from the street directly onto the woman's jeans. She stops for a second, just long enough to laugh, and continues on her way.

I believe that my life has just become scenes from a movie. Maybe some day I will make a movie about coming here...and nearly all the people will be speaking gibberish for the first half of the movie until our heroine acclimates herself. (I can't remember if that is the spelling for the hero heroine or the drug heroine...or both...agh whatever)

The thing about the cold here is that it is not have the refreshing bite of a winter morning in Wisconsin. It's cold and damp and there's nothing refreshing about it, although the water on my jeans woke me up a bit. I didn't go out last night, I'm not going out tonight. They go out so late. I don't understand how you can get the motivation to begin your night out at 11:30...tomorrow night, but not tonight.

there are new pictures on the pics link

won't you be mi vecino?

My days feel so full but kind of empty also. Turns out Emily's father is fine and she just did not want to live here with all the smoke and such and didn't know what to tell the housemates when they kept asking her questions in spanish...I think it's for the best. Patting myself on the back for: getting a tarjeta multivia for the metro, lighting a gas stove without anyone showing me how. I celebrate the small victories ok? The girls are impressed with my independence. Last night my housemates took me out to sushi. It must be really hard to be around me I think. Not having great Spanish and not being a huge talker...egh, I would not enjoy it if I were them so it means a lot to me that they asked me. I might go out to the bars with them tonight but I'm not sure...I don't feel so great right now and am insanely tired but I feel like I should go because I don't want to dissuade them from asking me again. We also might go skiing this Saturday.
I made myself dinner tonight, chicken with mushrooms and squash. I believe it is the last meat I will be making in this place. It is too much of a task. I don't really want to bother with the gas oven because I don't know how it works or if it works (the dials are NOT self explanatory) and there is currently food in it...yes this is my dream casa. Anway, cooking meat on the stove is kind of difficult since there aren't very many pot covers, especially not clean ones. I also don't feel like buying a bunch of spices and baggies to do marinating in so I'm thinking that my diet will be more like most college kids: pre-made, bought, or sandwiches. Nutella currently makes up my desserts.
Tips for those travelling to Chile: get a bunch of those little tissue things because many of the bathrooms do not have tp for you (like the ones at my university) and those are pretty handy instead of carting tp around in your backpack. Get a messenger bag because it is less likely that someone will steal from a bag that is in your sight than one that is conveniently on your back out of view. Don't pet the dogs or cats on the street-I can't believe the girls in my program will pet something that may have never been washed ever, but are scared of bugs. Hello? what do you think is on that animal?
I am certain the blogs will slow down at some point, but until then thanks for all the messages, they really brighten my frosty cold mornings.

caminar

In Madison I took pride in never taking the bus to class. Now I refuse to take a micro (micro bus, a bit scary) if I am able to walk to the metro...which, so far, is always. However there are times when I am walking to or from a metro stop and I feel as if my feet are bleeding or wonder if I will ever stop walking. I lose track of the blocks I have passed. It's good though because I really don't have any other means of exercise. We'll see if I lose or gain weight.

Orientation was amazing. My intensive spanish class was such a mix of emotions. On one hand, I got very nervous and didn't want to be called on, but on the other hand I loved that it was a classroom setting y I was almost expected to make mistakes so that the teacher could correct me (and that I wasn't that worst in the class). Also, pretty much everyone but me arrived yesterday and all the girls were saying that they just broke down sobbing and freaking out. I'm feeling pretty tought right about now because I was definitely internally freaking out, but not to the point of uncontrollable crying, perhaps they were just tired.

Emily, the other Madison girl who lived in the same casa as me left today. I came home and our roomie from Holland told me that Emily's dad or stepdad had a heart attack and died and Emily was gone. Very horrible, I can't even imagine. I don't think she will be back, but I didn't get a chance to talk to her at all....

how could I forget?

There is no hot water this morning. fantastic. I have orientation in about an hour. It's a good thing that I have my own toilet because Emily says that the communal one doesn't flush...gross. Time to go eat some extremely runny yogurt.

If you like vino caliente and gettin caught in rain...

I'm going to sleep in my mini-bed in my mini-room, smelling like smoke and thinking about the shower I need to clean before using it tomorrow. My room is small, my house is dirty, the roomies smoke inside the house...a lot, and I did not understand 75% of what my housemates said tonight.

But I am going to bed ecstatic and in love with people. They know I can't speak the language but they press on, forcing me to try. I explained to them the meaning of "queer" as in "queer eye for the straight guy" which we laughed at together, me trying to concentrate less on the English dialogue than on the Spanish captions. (I lost my knack for definitions when it came down to the meaning of "monty" as in "the full monty"). We drank "vino caliente" which is heated wine, cinnamon, orange juice and sugar, maybe a waste of good chilean wine but it's keeping me warm enough so it doesn't really matter. It's only really cold here indoors. Crazy huh? but the sun is quite warm and there is no central heating in my house, just a heater in the main area. I'm sleeping in socks, sweatpants, a shirt and sweatshirt, plus two blankets and sheets...hopefully I'll be warm enough.

hola amigos

I have met my guardian angels in the form of Greta's family (friends of my aunt and uncle). Incredibly nice people, very helpful, Greta is definitely a mom bringing my under her wing. We might go skiing in the next few weeks. That would be fun, and embarrassing since I haven't been skiing in forever. I am moved into my place. Imagine the headboard of a twin bed with a door next to it. That is the width of my place. The length is about the length of a twin bed with a door added to it. haha, but it is fine. I need to go buy a lock for my door. My housemates seem very nice. My dad and I just talked to one of them, Dana from Michigan for an hour. I took advantage of "English time" to ask her a bunch of questions. I still have tons more. I am getting used to things. My dad and I went to Pasta Basta last night for dinner, it was pretty good and had fantastic tiramisu. Food is cheap here. Most things are cheap here. I am getting used to be stared and whistled at. I just keep telling myself that it is not disrespectful like it is in the states. I need to exchange money. There are hardly any places to exchange money, no matter what guide books say. Do it at the airport, it's just easier. The buses are a bit scary but the metro...I have fallen in love with the metro already. It's very clean, very easy to understand. Now I need to conquer the buses. Not so clean, not so safe, but more access. There is a girl from Madison who is also living in my house. We think her plane might have gotten cancelled or delayed due to weather. She was supposed to be here at 9 and it is 1:00 now. I am not sure if that is right or if I am still on Madison time. Ok I need to go buy my lock and cleaning supplies...hangers too. This is odd. I miss AIESEC...and everything. Not like a miss it enough to cry, just like a faint missing. When I think about it I wish I was there. But I like it here. An adventure. I can't see it getting boring...when I think it is boring I will just have to walk out the door and try to understand what they are saying. Bueno. Adios.

Toto, I don´t think I´m in sconnie anymore...

I left Wednesday. I found myself in the Milwaukee airport having a small anxiety attack until I overheard a soldier saying he was going to Iraq, and then I realized how scared I could be and wasn´t so scared anymore. Now I have only been here for 2 days, not even, but I feel like I have been here for longer. I am getting used to being yelled at and stared at. I have come to the conclusion that I am (in complete and total seriousness) the ONLY woman with short hair under the age of 35 in Santiago, a city of over 5 million. I am not making this up and am really wishing I had not cut my hair so short, even if I do like it.

I think I expected more people to speak English, but barely anyone speaks barely any. And I also realized that I cannot speak Spanish. I can speak a bit, but not as much as I wish I did. I also wish I had really studied Santiago before coming. Where am I staying? currently in a hotel with my dad. the place that I will be staying in is teeny. teeny tiny. Which is fine. I will find a way to make it cozy. Tonight my dad and I are having dinner with some friends of my aunt and uncle. They have two sons my age who go to the same university I will be attending and one daughter who is 16. I am incredibly excited to meet them. To have people who are staying in Santiago that I know. I am also still the only one here from my program. I have never been so excited to start school as I am to start my Spanish class especially but really all my classes. I don´t really have a support system set up right now. I see why AIESEC is so amazing even more now. Oh well, the mountains are beautiful here, but I do miss Door County like crazy right now. It will be fine, I just need to get more into it.