August in Concepción

Yet another cold rainy afternoon. I took a few pictures out the window.

La lluvia...

Hombres waiting for the bus.

In my square...I spend a lot of time like this.

On a walk in Conce, flowers are blooming!

Sweet fence. Due to all the rain, it's very green here.

Pretty, dead roses. Pretty dead roses. Pretty! Dead roses.

Belonging

This weekend was a realization, however humble, of my expectations I had for Chile. Honestly, it's not that exciting, but as a result, I feel renewed and energetic after many weeks of feeling frustrated with Chilean culture, rain, my location, etc.

Starting post-lunch yesterday, I headed into the centro with quizzes in tow and the intention of finding a café and grading. But Amy called and invited me over for a mid-rainy afternoon movie. Movie over grading--obvio! I hopped off at the next stop and went into a grocery store. After drooling over the pastries and cakes, I decided on peanut butter, crackers and the closest thing to a latte: a Nescafé Café Latte (definitely NOT the same). Spending money on this small snack, with the idea that I was going to eat what I wanted, was extremely liberating! Again, I'm focusing on the small victories here...

The other girls were at Amy's after eating Chinese food for lunch. I made my "latte" and settled in for the movie. We watched "The Apartment" (circa 1960) with Shirley MacLain and Jack Lemmon. It was a nice, cozy, rainy afternoon in Concepción. I was content a) not being in my square at home and b) eating peanut butter. After the movie we got to talking about cheese.

Cheese is a tricky topic here. Pretty much because cheese is just cheese. Queso, no más. No variety whatsoever. I happen to be a lover of cheese--squeaky cheese curds, cheddar, mozzarella, brie, what have you. Here the queso is just not the same. No flava'! Anyway, we talked and talked about this cheese plate at the UniMarc grocery store about 10 blocks away. After talking long enough about how good it'd be, Jen made the executive decision to get and go buy cheese.. "Let's just go get the cheese." We donned our rain gear in search of good cheese.

Needless to say, within the hour we no only have 5 types of cheese but also 2 baguettes and 3 bottles of wine. Wine is definitely a selling point of Chilean cuisine. Delicious. And cheap. We had a great conversation and left with bellies full of wine and cheese. Great evening.

Sara cutting the cheese.

It only gets better from here! This morning I woke up feeling less than 100%. Sore throat, cough... I had planned on running an 8k race at 11 at INACAP (Duoc's competitor!). Despite my body telling me otherwise, I made myself get up, eat breakfast and go to the race. ("Take advantage of every opportunity.") After signing up, I tried to look busy among all the Chileans- a very common past time for me here--and all of a sudden I was greeted by Kati, a teacher I met while volunteering at San Agustín. She's incredibly sweet and cariñosa (kind/generous/good character) and introduced me to her running team, the "WildRunners."

After a round of besos (kisses on the cheek) from all 10+ members, they gave me a shirt and told me to pose for the photo! La foto! La foto! I am now a member of team "WildRunners." Easy as that. No questions asked, I was immediately accepted as part of the group. Everyone was laughing and joking, dancing to the "warm-up" music. This is what I'd been waiting for! People to hang out with, go out with...friends!

It is incredibly hard to make friends with Chileans. I mean my students are great and all but...no. Not quite the same. And my host brothers are sweet and fun but they have a hard time tearing their eyes from the computer screens...very common here.

During the race itself everyone ran at his or her own pace, no pressure. We'd pass each other and yell "vamos, po! vamos!!" giving the peace sign or a thumbs up. My friend Kati was taking pictures of us and cheered us into the finish line.

I guess it just feels good to be a part of a group. Belong. Everyone wants/seeks this. Buy when you travel to a foreign country with (very) different cultural norms, the challenge of figuring out where you fit is amplified. It takes awhile. It's also extremely easy to stay attached to other foreigners. In fact, had I gone to the race with one of the gringas, I wouldn't have met the "WildRunners." I learned that sometimes it's worth putting yourself out there because chances are you'll still find somewhere to belong.

This is the Chile I imagined.

things are lookin up

Signs of spring:

~The sun is shining!

~It's 60 degrees for the first time since May? Abril?

~Flowers are blooming.

~I can no longer see my breath in my classroom...or my bedroom

~Birds are chirping.

~Chileans are makin' out all over the place. Oh wait...this is a year long occurrence.

~We have a dog. A street dog in fact. My brother Bernardo brought it home on the bus on afternoon and begged Laly for the go-ahead. At first she was hesitant saying that she'd end up taking care of it. Then she gave in. Fast forward a week: guess who's taking care of the wiener dog? Laly. obvio. (not sure how a dog relates to Spring but whateves)

By the way...where did August go? Can't believe it's (almost) September. Makes me miss Olaf and soccer. Mucho. Muchísimo, even. I still have yet to play soccer in a country obsessed with soccer. And I've definitely tried to find ways to play. No luck. I think I just found my new goal for spring...

I'm so fashionable...

speaks for itself.

monjas.

nuns need their fruit too.

patience

In some ways, my entire experience here in Chile has been an exercise in patience. Only lately has this come to my attention and as a result, I feel more impatient than ever. It's as if I'm constantly waiting...

For the bus

For my students to show up to class

For my students to understand the question, "do you understand?"

For meals at my house (I am a huge fan of snacking but Chileans love enormous meals. Therefore, I've got a constant hankerin' for raisins and pb, carrot sticks, pretzels, cheez-its, etc.)

For the sun to come out.

For the telenovela to finally end.

For my laundry to dry. (Going on 3 days...)

There aren't many things here that happen right away. Right now I'm perpetually tapping my foot and checking my watch (literally and figuratively). I've got a feeling that all this waiting is good for me.

DuocUC Professor "Get together"

Yesterday, Saturday, I attended another Duoc "get together." Yes, I know the quotations marks are not necessary but this is how the professors talk about our various gatherings via email. It is always interesting in the days leading up to a big event because all 20+ teachers respond in varying levels of Spanglish. Here are a few examples of such emails:

I would be very happy to have you all in my place on Saturday 15 for lunch (around 1?) ; I think it is better, because we will have enough time to gossip and gossip and..... you can stay as long as you wish. It would be great for me!!!

I will be there.... by no means :P.

ya, Se armo el get together, I'm in the party too, voy a llevar una salad de papas mayo, is iit ok? and a diet coke.

See you there then at 1 at Ori's

I must admit, other "get togethers" had better email correspondence but nonetheless, the string of emails never fail to make me chuckle...

Anyway, I arrived 2 hours late with diet Coke and Tostidos (good American guest, no?). Everyone else had started eating, and they immediately shuffled a chair over and I squeezed in among the various dishes, bottles of wine and pisco and bags of mayo. The lunch itself was pretty standard, full of conversation and jokes I didn't quite understand. We had dessert and proceeded to break off into smaller groups. One teacher rolled a suitcase full of new clothes into a bedroom and the other ladies followed her eager to buy a pair of pants or wallet. A few minutes later, another teacher told us to go into the kitchen where she had set up a small store of homemade jelly. Peach, cherry, membrillo, guava, strawberry, take your pick.

For a while I was distracted by all of the possible purchases. My distraction was broken when yet another teacher pulled out his guitar and started belting out Guns and Roses, Sting and Beatles tunes. Sure enough, soon I found myself with a maraca in my hand, singing "Let it be" in a circle with my co-workers. The wine kept flowing and after every song they chanted, "que canta otra," (sing another, sing another). The cumbaya circle went on for awhile and many professors left.

With nothing to do at home but hang out in my square I stayed around, expecting another professor to open a bag and pull out random hair products or vitamin supplements to sell. This didn't happen but the guitar-playing prof informed us that no one ate the seafood he brought. (He lives in Tomé, famous for seafood.) Next thing I know, I'm eating crab and mussels and drinking more wine. Delicious! At this point, Fernardo was taking requests and serenaded our mid-afternoon meal. Finally, after many "ok, this is the last one," we stood up from the table and said goodbye with the typical kiss on the cheek and a bit more small talk.

In retrospect, the lunch "get together" wasn't all that different from what I expected. Except the random items for sale. This happens all the time in Chile but it never ceases to surprise me when someone opens a bag and pulls out watches, hand made soaps or "lo que sea" (whatever). I've noticed in Chile that people have lots of little ways to make money. One, two three luca at a time. (Luca is the name of the bill worth about $1.50usd). Not a bad idea...

Today was the monthly fried fish lunch Sunday. When my host dad comes from Puren for the weekend, we always eat fish on Sunday before he travels back. It is extremely delicious but not necessarily nutritious. After we all eat a few pieces of deep fried fish, my host mom puts out a dish of the "mentirosos," the liars, or dough without fish. yum. I love this day.

bold color dry erase markers.

This being the first week back to class, I've been adjusting to a new schedule, new students and getting back into the routine of life in Concepción. I must say it's been a bit rough. I now teach everyday M-F (I realize this is normal back home but last semester I taught the same amount of classes just 3 days per week), I have a class that meets M-TH which requires a very different mindset and planning style, and it's still pretty darn cold here.

I actually like my schedule so far and I enjoy being busy, it's just a jolt from the past 6 months. One thing I'm very thankful for is the experience from first semester. It's like I've jumped ten steps in one week with my students and the Duoc bureaucracy. I already know what to expect, I know what definitely won't work and I think my teaching style is more clear and succinct. In my experience teaching here, fair expectations (for myself and my students) is half the battle.

Anyway, all of that aside, my friend and fellow volunteer, Jen, and I were talking outside our classrooms the other day when she told me she had a belated birthday present for me. You'll never guess what it was! She dipped into her room and came back with a ziploc bag full of Expo white board markers--variety pack!!! I was so excited I hugged her and maybe even jumped up and down a little bit. As if this wasn't enough, I noticed the shiny gold wrapper of mini Reese's pb cups intermixed with the markers. Had she gifted such a gift 6 months ago, I would've been grateful and excited. I've always loved variety packs...remember 'gelly rolls'?

But now, as a profesora de Inglés, the gift absolutely, positively made my day. We wished each other luck with new students and I stepped into my room, set down my things, ate a Reese's and proceeded to make my board look like a graffiti wall. Who knew that all I needed was chocolate and a splash of color? ....well, I guess Jen did.

and so it begins...

Here I am, back in the ring for another round. I'm sitting at Duoc, in room S12, with "Welcome Back" and the date written neatly on the board and my trusty posters stating, "Respect, English, Effort" sticky-tacked to the board. But one major part of the education equation is missing: the students! Today is the first day back for second semester and while I'm not surprised no one showed up to my first class, it is nonetheless disheartening. It's like they stood me up. I wore my work clothes and everything. C'mon!

Sadly, this behavior is common at Duoc -and in Chile- during the first few weeks of classes according to Jorge, the English coordinator. (With one semester under my belt, I´d venture to say that skipping class is as normal as going to class).

Oh well, at least I'm out of the grip of my cozy Chilean home. After four straight days of breakfast, run, lunch, internet/reading, onces, internet/reading, bed, I was experiencing many symptoms of "cabin fever," a Minnesotan term applicable to my life at times in Chile. I can say, though, that I am once again moderately informed of US and world news thanks to npr.com. (I can also stream The Current which makes me miss driving and the Twin Cities.)

I guess you could say I've really embraced Chilean culture lately...sadly, the embrace makes me feel useless and lazy. In this sense, I can't seem to shed my uptight American lenses and see it like the Chileans do. I like being busy. I like task completion. Chileans like eating, watching reality television, gossiping, video games, and grocery shopping multiple times per day. Obviously, Chileans also value many other things, but as far as efficiency and work ethic, I think Americans have the upper hand. Because my future here isn't terribly long term, I view my discomfort with idleness as an ok roadblock in the way of my complete understanding of Chilean culture. I think I'll tuck away the relaxed part of Chilean culture and bring it out when I'm sprinting to and fro in my car, working 40+ hours per week and the words "to-do" and "stressed" creep back in to my vocabulary. Then I'll know it's time to pack my bags again.

Peru!

After San Pedro, the group split up. Some went back the the US, some to Santiago. This is when Laura and I (proud 1/2 Minnesotans:) started the next part of the trip. We bused from San Pedro to Arica, about 11 hours north. Arica is the northernmost city in Chile and, in our opinion, fome. This may be due to the fact that we stayed at an elder hostel thanks to a crazy German/Italian lady that wanted to share a taxi with us...long story.

Oh, and we also made the mistake of eating spoiled soy burgers sold by kind-hearted Hare Krishna's on the street. They were cheap and we'd had good veggie burgers in San Pedro. Not the case here. About two hours later and we both felt awful. I'll spare the details but let's just say we were glad to leave Arica the next morning.

From Arica we crossed the border into Peru. We arrived in Tacna (a bit flaite), changed our money, ate more soda crackers and boarded a bus headed for Arequipa. Seven hours later we arrived in Arequipa. Once again, we had a trifling time finding a hostel and after walking up and down the streets with our huge bags on a nice police officer led us to a no-name, no sign hostel. Sketchy! We were tired and agreed we'd spend just one night there. I think we both tried to ignore the lack of other travelers and semi-silky mustard colored sheets...

After the first night, things started looking up. Arequipa is a beautiful city. Colorful, good food, inexpensive, very historical and colonial. Like San Pedro, it's also very touristy. Laura and I had a fun time sitting in the plaza, wandering the streets, journaling, and discussing the various differences between Peru and Chile.

We both agreed that Arequipa felt more like "true South America." But I have a hard time with that phrase because all of South America is true South America. It's all on the map, right? Chile is often criticized in terms of lacking culture. My host dad once said that Chile has no culture at all. I disagree. Chile has culture, it just happens to be extremely influenced by America. There are enormous malls, American restaurants, to-go coffee shops and many English words have found their way into everyday speech. For example, "after office," "happy hour," "sale," "pitcher" (of beer), "sandwich," and on and on. There is a new verb young people use, "cachar," taken from English. "To catch/understand/get it." It's similar to our, "ya know?" Also, there are reality shows, morning news shows and "Activia," the weight-loss yogurt, is extremely popular. All of this wasn't here a decade ago, according to my host dad.

In contrast, Peru (or what I saw of it), did not look or feel as much like the US. Because of this, people are eager to say it is more "authentic" South America. I suppose that is true, but sadly, it may just be a matter of time. In fact, one morning we passed a cafe entitled, "Vanilla Coffee," and the logo was a direct knock-off of Starbucks.

sunsets seem to be a theme

These are in reverse order: from sunset to the beginning of day two:dorky jumping picture :)
sun setting over Valle de la luna, "Moon Valley"
Sidi, Laura and I taking in the Valley
Laura honkin' on her harmonica...
Cemeteries in South America are fun to photograph. (that sounds creepy but it's true!)
Finally made it to the top! A huge altiplano lake.
Pit stop/photo op.
Flamingo reserve and salt flat. The white sandy parts are pure salt.

it's like going home...

Late Tuesday July 15th, accompanied by two of my host brothers and my host mom, my friend Steph and I boarded the first of many buses overnight to Santiago. I was excited to embark on my first true "backpacking" trip. Turns out, my backpack (lent to me by a very nice tourism student of mine) was huge and I felt the need to fill it. Big mistake. One of many lessons I learned throughout the trip was: pack light. No matter how many times people tell me to do so, I still feel the need to throw in random things, "just in case." I think the advice finally sunk in. We arrived in Santiago early the next morning and met up with the other volunteers at the airport. All eight of us flew to Calama and bused about 2 hours to San Pedro de Atacama.

I should pause here to explain a few terms I've learned here in Chile that fit certain situations better than English words:

~"fome" (foam-ay) love this one. it applies to many situations and loosely means boring, lame, a shame, a bummer, not cool. One can emphasize how fome something is by using "super" as in "super fome."

~"gringo"--you've probably heard this before. Gringo encompasses foreigners, mostly from Western countries. Can be used negatively, but I typically think of it as a good word to describe my position in Chilean/South American society.

~"flaite" (fly-tay) Chilean word for sketchy people. "He/she/it is flaite." Very useful.

~"caro"- EXPENSIVE!

~"cocktail" Chilean style= Coca-cola + pisco and potato chips.

My first thought when we arrived in San Pedro was: "wow, this reminds me of Santa Fe, New Mexico." The town is tiny, only 2,000 inhabitants, and all the buildings are white adobe style. And, due to it's location smack in the middle of the Atacama Desert, it's a dry, dusty place. We woke up the next morning and I was blown away by the amount of gringos walking around. I felt like I was back in the US. Aside from the three other volunteers living in Conce, I can't tell

you the last time I've seen/heard a gringo here in Chile. Needless to say, this took some getting used to.

My time in San Pedro was a preview to the three week gringo parade I followed. It's a completely different world on the backpacking trail. Lesson two: I'm glad I'm living here in Chile. I feel as if what I experienced on the trip was the trim, polished side of Peru and Chile. It was "easy" in the sense that English was spoken, restaurants/hotels/sights cater completely to the tourists. No one takes city buses or dares to leave the center plaza of the cities. Oh, and everything is mucho más caro.

There is a reason San Pedro is touristy: it's absolutely beautiful! There are salt flats, altiplano (high in elevation) lakes, flamingos, sand dunes, an vast views of the driest desert in the world. My camera worked hard in San Pedro- especially at sunset. Here are a few of the pictures from our stay:

All of these were one day. salt flats, lagoons, sunset. the tour included a "cocktail."

I'm baaack

After three weeks, 16 (give or take a few) bus rides ranging from 2-11 hours, two plane rides and endless taxi/city buses, I'm finally back in quiet Concepción. I have seen more gringos than I care to recall and am officially tired of sleeping in random hostels and constantly referencing "the book," (Lonely Planet Peru/Chile) for information about our next city.

Nonetheless, it was an fantastic trip and a great experience. I learned a lot about what I like/don't like about traveling, ate some great (and absolutely terrible) food and saw a variety of landscapes that make up South America.

More to come, but for now I'm going to go enjoy the fruits of the best birthday surprise ever: a coffee maker. To a girl that loves her coffee, I couldn't be more feliz. :)