casi noviembre

La primavera

septiembre, octubre

Chile is in spring, and I have never appreciated the implications of a seasonal change so much as I do right now, not only because it allows me to run around the city in my rainbow sandals (or chalas as they´re called in chilean spanish), inspires luxurious lunches on the rich soily hills of campus, and begs for ice cream consumption, but because it also has brought sweet flowery fragrances to otherwise unnoteworthy sidewalks around the city. My own apartment building, which seemed to be surrounded by dried out dirt when I moved in, has now sprouted it´s own little green garden, front and back, green spaces that validate the existence of various green benches placed throughout the area. I am here, doing my best to simply enjoy the time I have left, and not dwell on the fact that it will be a challenge to leave the life I have created for myself over here for the past year.

this was a few months ago when I finally got my student card for public transportation (pase escolar), the price difference was definitely worth the six month wait (and yea I realize you can´t actually see it)

my fanny pack, it´s all the rage here in the city and so practical, I´ll be sporting it in california, just wait

because I know that everyone is always amazed at my hair growth, here´s the latest, and no I haven´t let anyone come near my head with scissors, it just keeps growing in like that

Maybe my guitar will save me from a rough bout of reverse culture shock. The guitar I never posted pictures of, artesan made with a deep resounding voice has become my daily dose of tranquility. Once a week I lug my guitar inside of its fancy black wooden case to campus to have lessons with another chilean english literature student. My teacher, Eli, was taught chilean folk music on guitar by her father from the time she was little, and continues to play and perform, she also sings beautifully and knows traditional chilean folk dances (like the cueca). Before leaving, my goal is to learn at least one cueca (genre of traditional chilean folk music), although I´m slowly learning other-simplified versions of a few songs as I progress. Practicing every day can be a challenge, especially when I get home late or am without my guitar, but I am striving to do it (of course there are days when I just can´t) mostly because I enjoy it, focus on it, and relax in the process. One day I hope to be one of those ¨crazy¨ people playing guitar on the bus, a bustling streetcorner, or peaceful park...but maybe my guitar is too pretty, I´ll see how that works out.

In the months that is has taken me to post this I have indeed been attending classes, continuing with my internship, and added a different dance class to my schedule, here´s the not so new scoop:

1. Etnologia de chile- I have this class every monday for three hours, haven´t decided if I actually like it or not yet. We are currently studying texts written by various (mostly) Spaniards who traveled to Chile before and up to the 18th century and wrote their own description of the land and native (mostly mapuche) people. Of course, in all the texts the author tries to ¨sell¨ the land, talk about how fertile and beautiful it is, how it needs to be populated and the mapuche must be civilized.

2. Antropologia: Sociocultura de género- Definitely my favorite class, this is every tuesday for three hours and we talk about the societal creation of gender and everything this implies. There is a focus on the roles of women in Latin America and I read my first real complete book in spanish for this class, which talked about the origen of the role of Chilean women as mothers. The profesora is young and energetic, sometimes she gets caught up in tangents or realizes no one knows anything about an example she´s trying to bring up and she lets out a big sigh as she begins summarizing the missing information.

3. Historia contemporanea de chile- This class is every tuesday and thursday morning, and taught by somewhat of a famous professor, Gabriel Salazar, who won the national prize for history a few years ago and is respected for his numerous books on contemporary chilean history told from a lower class perspective. This class has an intimidating work load, but I decided it was worth some academic time and the TA seems like he´ll be somewhat forgiving with foreign exchange students if we put in the effort.

4. ANAMURI- I work less hours but have attended a few interesting events so far this semester, I am doing a final research paper on ANAMURI with another gringa (for my history class) that will include conducting interviews and lots of in depth reading about the organization. This semester will be a mix more between direct participation in events and outside reading about the association, but less time in the office.

5. Danza moderna- Tuesday and Thursday nights have become entertaining, sometimes exhausting, sometimes embarrassing, but overall enjoyable and energizing. I am taking a modern dance class taught by an enthusiastic, choreography loving teacher who also has a career in acting (apparently was recently in a tv series on one of the main channels here). The class is at the same university (La Católica) where I had my three week language class at the waaay beginning of the program, but for some reason was relagated to a black (inside and out) medium sized rectangular wooden shack tucked into a forgotten corner of the campus, with four windows, uneven mostly carpeted floor and zero mirrors. The warm ups are always my favorite part, sometimes they´re yoga inspired, other times more ballet, cardio, or focused on a short ab workout, but they always include appropriate music to get everyone in the zone. I feel like the teacher never really stopped loving what the eighties did for music, and we often warm up to eclectic ambiance sounds or occasionally madonna, just yesterday it was Phil Collins "In the air tonight". When it´s time to go across the floor she quickly choreographs a mini dance, does it twice, and then watches everyone scramble to figure out how to do it (ok maybe just me and a few others). At the end of november we actually have a performance, she choreographs one for every semester, and so have been working on at least four difference dances. There´s something about the class, possibly the fact that it feels like we´re dancing in a black hole, maybe the music or dramatic movements, but each class I find myself smiling, whether I´m smiling as I watch the teacher quickly choreograph what seems like an impossible exercise or because the mixture of ¨ modern¨ contractions, turns, bends and jumps just make me happy.

food update? I´ve learned how to make wheat bread and peanut butter, just need to figure out jelly..I was shocked to find out how easy it is to make peanut butter (if you have a food processor, that is), you just throw the peanuts in there and blend them for about five minutes (I got Manu´s family hooked on peanut butter). Maybe I haven´t experimented that much lately with food food, I cook simple combinations of vegetables with carne de soya (a soy product..it looks like dog food and if you´re unlucky it smells like it too, I finally found some that I like and am pleased with it now) or beans and rice, things I can bring to school for lunch. If I fail to make my lunch the options are kind of sparse and usually include a good hunk of white bread, although a vegetarian friend found a conveniently close and inexpensive hare krishna (local.., uhh lunch counter I guess) and they have amazing vegetarian lasagna full of veggies (I think it´s kale) and with some sort of amazing ginger sauce, so that´s a good option if I´m near my house for lunch. I´ve also gotten pretty into these little muffin type "queques" they sell on campus, and most recently "pan de huevos". They are both extremely dry, but I think I´ve gotten used to the consistency and have started to appreciate the flavor they do have, it´s more subtle, not as sweet, somewhere between a scone and a muffin.

reflecciones: hacia la terminación

The plane ticket I finally bought is for the 21st of december, and I start class again in San Diego on January 3rd, which means I´m making my way towards a short lived reunion with family and friends for the holidays followed by a quick suction back into school, aiming for a timely graduation (whenever that may be, we´ll see if I complete the Hoffman girl may/june graduation 2011 or not). I´m on a short break from a mess of essay writing and reading, that will make time wither and make me feel glued to my computer and some trusty books and fotocopies, all before I head out on a still undecided december adventure (hopefully to explore southern chile, which is from word of mouth more bearable during these warmer months). Recently I have been less focused on seeing museum exhibits, finding hidden city gems, or finding big outdoor concerts or performances to watch, I´ve been more appreciative of the people I´ve met here, because people make places, and people create experiences, and when I get homesick it´s because I miss the people that make up home.

More often than not, I find myself in the company of friends, one of the warmest feelings. Manu and I see each other whenever possible, which depends of the week because he´s writing his thesis this semester and graduating, I also spend time at his house with him and his family on weekends when I don´t feel overwhelmed by the homework load I took on (mainly my history class. His house has become my favorite escape from the city. My apartment (which now includes a French exchange student named Antoine) has also started doing weekly dinners, we trade off cooking, and eat a (late) meal and dessert together. I have also been spending time and speaking spanglish with a couple friends who are also from California, one is Ana, my ANAMURI research paper partner, and the other is Sara (I mentioned her and she´s photographed on my birthday entry), one of the first people I met out of my big california eap group who is also here until december.

This whole year Sara has been interning at an organic community garden in La Reina, which is situated on the eastern edge of the city, and I FINALLY managed to go with her last weekend to help out and see it for myself. She has her own little plot of land to harvest organic crops and flowers, on saturday she had some cabbage, chamomile, onion, mint, garlic, pincher bugs, and caterpillars. I helped her weed and transplant some tomatoes and yams, we took a relaxing lunch break with two of her best old men friends who work there as well. From what I gathered it´s a project sponsored by the city that gives the opportunity for anyone to have their own little plot of land within the garden (they´re separated by little ropes and sections), the people who work there provide the organic seeds and seedlings, the tools and any help needed. The person just has to agree to a minumum number of hours they will come to take care of their garden, then half of what they produce is sold every friday at a stand for the garden and the other half they get to keep. I fell in love with it, maybe I haven´t realized how stress from school and the city have combined to create a designated path that I take daily, a set of restrained activities that tie me to a chair and desk. There was something so relaxing about being in the atmosphere of the garden, learning their methods of planting and listening to bad jokes, digging my hands into the soil enriched with organic compost. I left with a big smile on my face, and some pictures to share:

viajando, pololeando, viviendo. la guitarra. la u (niversidad)

Six months in:
a sloppy quilt of the past three months, and beginnings of August

backtracking

Looking back, may was full of essay writing, nothing too adventuresome until the very last few days of the month. The adventure that did occur at the end of the month would be the story of my short experience in Chiloe, an island off the southern coast of Chile that I was eager to visit because every Chilean talks about it with a big smile on their face. With luck, my internship with ANAMURI has allowed me to do some traveling and one fine week I was informed (after expressing a strong desire to go) that I would be heading fourteen hours south to help out with some workshops that were focused around two powerpoints, one of which I had spent about a month working on. These workshops are part of a larger series being conducted by ANAMURI for women in various communities, to divulge information about UN conventions which have worked to protect and fight for international women´s rights in the past 50 years or so, and emphasize the implications of these international agreements on the daily lives of these women(examples are CEDAW-Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, Beijing Conference- for greater equality and opportunity for women, as well as Convenio 169, which was created by la Oficina International de Trabajo and ratified in 2006, in Chile that protects and regulates the rights of the indigenous Mapuche population).

So getting back to the trip. After an overnight bus ride to Puerto Montt (the port city from which a ferry transports you to the island) the bus eventually boarded the ferry and about two hours later I arrived in Ancud, my destination and the location of the first workshop. I was welcomed warmly to the city at the bus station by Elizabeth, an ANAMURI associate I had previously met during her visit to the office in Santiago. The powerpoints were presented and then the women were broken off into groups and asked to answer a few questions about the problems in their community and how they can apply the knowledge shared during the presentation to improve them, then present their reflections to everyone. The point of this is to inspire and empower the women to better their working and living conditions by learning about the laws that protect them and the organizations (such as ANAMURI) that exist to support them. Each woman was given a big glossy red folder filled with copies of all the information that was shared with them during the day, lunch was served and the workshop ended in the late afternoon. The next day I headed back to Puerto Montt with two of the women that were leading the workshops (I was just helping out with anything needed and observing), we took a 20 minute bus ride away from the water and were somehow in the countryside. We held the second workshop in what seemed like a community building. The groups of women in each location were distinct; the first being predominantly indigenous in composition and the second being women from rural areas. Apparently this was a surprise to the women presenting the workshop and the focus was shifted slightly to accomodate the group, nevertheless the same powerpoints were presented.

My lunch that day was made up of pure papas, some potatoes mashed with butter and mixed with red peppers (my idea) and more simply whole, baked. Being vegetarian in the city doesn´t imply eating a carb filled diet because I can cook for myself, but it´s difficult on the road. Although I did have to survive a large quantity of white bread, an entire meal with no protein or vegetable only ocurred this once, plus the south is known for its rich selection of potatoes which made it more of a taste testing than anything.

Anyway, my plan was to travel around Chiloe once the workshops were completed with Rocio,a journalist who works with ANAMURI and was one of the leaders of the workshops. She´s in her late twenties but at this point I feel like most people in their twenties are around my age (unless they have a kid, that changes things...sometimes), I had met her a few times in the office and we got along well. Although we had just left the island, Rocio and I turned right back around, grabbed the ferry and took a bus to Castro, the other main city on Chiloe. We stayed there for the next day and a half and walked around in the cold, exploring the hilly, green landscape. A short walk from the main plaza took us to the waterfront again where we could see the well known and colorful collection of palofitos (houses that stand on stilts on the water, along the coast) decorating the small inlet to our right. After our short journey we headed back towards the city and stopped at the artesan market, which is a large market where the local artesans sell their work (which is mostly clothing made out of wool, Chiloe is known for its wool). This is where I found a small little hat to warm my frozen head, and conversed with the man who sold it to me about the different plants that were used to dye the wool (like onion, native trees..). Unfortunately I had to return to the city for class and so my adventure on Chiloe ended the next day as I headed back to Santiago with Rocio, my new hat, a better undersanding of the work that ANAMURI does, and a desire to return to the charming island on a warmer occasion.

pololeando
The month of June began with a trip to a tiny blue house by the beach for a weekend to celebrate Manu´s birthday with Katrina Pennington and Arturo (all of whom I talked about in the previous entry). Manu and I started dating, who knows when officially, at some point in May. That´s big news that I prefer to awkwardly slip into conversations rather than advertise, although now it´s published. I´ve gotten more used to saying I have a pololo, rather than a boyfriend, because in Chilean Spanish the verb ¨pololear¨ means to date, boyfriend is ¨pololo¨ and girlfriend is ¨polola.¨ This term comes from Mapudungun (the language of the Mapuche) and makes reference to a fly attracted to the light or food. What I´ve noticed from day 1 here is that Chileans traipse the country, city, everywhere really, in pairs, with their significant others. Dating seems to be more than common than in the states, and in fact people seem to be surprised if someone doesn´t have a pololo or polola, so maybe I´m just following suit and attempting to blend in (not really).

since pictures are usually the first demand shortly after sharing the news, here are a few shots from a mini foto shoot taken during our adventure north (explained below)
cactus man

everyone says he looks like a Chilean version ofJohn Lennon

the dogs that live at his sister´s house
accompanied us on a walk, Lilly and Millie

viajando

Months after my excursion to Chiloe, I finished my first semester at the beginning of July and embarked on a two week trip that took me about seven hours north of Santiago. The overwhelming majority of students from my program came for six months and therefore left at the beginning of July, many of them squeezing in travel time at the end to take in their last few weeks in South America. One of the girls from my program, Cory, and I decided to travel north in an attempt to escape the cold cold city and with hopes of seeing penguins! oh yes, penguins, penguins populate a few islands off the coast of Chile (and Argentina too). I never expected to meet a penguin but always felt an unexplainable bond with them from afar (possibly due to the fact that as a toddler I walked more like a penguin than a child, because of my pidgeon toedness).

Well, we made it to La Serena (the bulk of the trip, a 7 hour bus ride from Santiago), one large step closer to our black and white friends. We spent a few days there, devising the best plan to get to the island of our desires without handing over all of our money to become part of a group of tourists. Apparently I have grown to loath tourism, it´s just not the experience I want to have here and I try my best to stay away from those types of activities when possible (while understanding I´m still an extranjera, a foreigner, and not Chilean). After a night of planning and phone calls (which I am proud to say we handled on our own, and all in spanish of course) we packed our lunches and day bags in the morning, ready for our nine o´clock bus that would take us to the dock. Seconds after we stepped outside of our hostel, a fifteen person van, clearly the same as it was in the 70´s, swiftly flew down our street and let out a bird like honk. Instead of clearly stopping, the driver pulled a california roll and we hurried to hop on board. After a few hours of driving and dropping off our driver´s cargo at a daycare, a small mountain of avocado, tomato and bread, we made it to Punta de Choros. Step two: make it to the port, check. We were lucky to get off the bus with a group of five other people (one Spaniard, one German, one Swiss, two Chileans) who wanted to make it to the island as well. Once there as a group we agreed to take a tour of the island (s, there are actually three different islands) with one of the local fisherman on his small boat. The perks to our methodology: we paid a small fraction of what we would have with an organized tour, we did get to see the islands including the penguins (Humbolt penguins). The downside: we did not actually get off the boat and therefore did not get very close to the penguins, after leaving us waiting for a few hours, our tour guide returned to find the coast guard telling him he did not have sufficient documentation to take us out on his boat. Still, we did eventually leave the dock and were both pleased with the excursion.

From La Serena we headed to Vicuña, part of a large valley called Valle de Elquí which is known for its vineyards and wondrous mountains, also known for its tourist star observatories. Both of us had been feeling slightly sick (with cold symptoms and minor stomach problems) yet we indulged in artesanal ice cream, I had fig and manjar. Next I did a quick switch in travel partners, Cory needed to get back to Santiago and Manu came to travel with me up to see his sister and brother in law. They´re artesans who live in a small but homey wood cabin in an area called Cochiguaz, nearly on the top of mountain, and sell their handmade jewelry (macramé, other styles using metal and wood). Where they live is an oasis of mountain sides full of cactus and collections of stones that add their color to the desert landscape. Although I didn´t manage to find any, I was told that the area is full of quartz. There is a lot of mysticism surrounding the location, people say there is something magical or holy about it and there are meditation centers sprinkled along the main winding dirt road. Everyday I spent there was full of collectively cooked vegetarian meals and tea made with herbs freshly picked from a hillside garden. It was the ideal getaway and necessary time away from the noise, pollution, stress, and filth that interferes with relaxation in the city. Although an odd bout of homesickness took over towards the end of the trip and I found myself literally dreaming of bagels (which don´t exist here), my two week trip was a good break before beginning my second semester.


Cochiguaz
vineyards in Vicuña

Punta de Choro








stormy view from the bus

horses I wanted to rescue on the beach in La Serena, a man
was renting them out for beach rides



a house Gabriela Mistral briefly lived in, now preserved as a historic
monument

the main plaza in La Serena

fellow extranjera and travel buddy Cory modeled for me


goodies sold on the bus, all filled with manjar

that´s the man who sold above pictured sweets, by chance I
caught his reflection


an example of the buses that travel the country




August

The weather. The weather has been confusing in Santiago, to say the least. Every morning when I wake up I immediately know what kind of day it will be due to the poor insulation the window above my bed provides, ...but until then it´s a surprise! The exception to this statement occasionally ocurrs when my hair proves its worth as a barometer and decides to greet the air surrounding it instead of my head, forming some good old fashioned curl frizzzz. While all you southern California dwellers have been basking in the sun, which we all know never actually left the west coast, and running around nearly unclothed, I have been acclimating myself to a semi-cooler climate in Santiago. To be honest, it´s not thaaat cold and miserable. The snow stays on the mountains and doesn´t dare enter the valley that is the city, just like LA, and the rain clouds devour the blue sky for one or two days every few weeks, and then retreat to let the sun warm my frozen toes for a day or two. Maybe it´s typically twenty or thirty degrees cooler here than it would be at home, LA or SD. But still, I typically wear more layers than I´ve ever put on in my life and hesitate to leave my apartment without boots, my peacoat, the only winter scarf I brought (which is more than sufficient and was hand crocheted with love by the g-ma) and my new itchy wool hat from Chiloe. Even while just studying or hanging around in my apartment the layers stay on because indoor heating is a little different here, and by that I mean indoor heating as we´re used to doesn´t exist in most places. The most common indoor heating comes from these robot sized contraptions called ¨estufas¨ which are small portable gas run heaters that magically appear in most homes for the winter time. In my apartment we have one that now resides in our living room, which means my bedroom is still subject to the conditions outside. Suffice it to say, the most commonly uttered frase when walking inside a room before greeting everyone with a kiss has become ¨que frío.¨ Luckily, we´re more than half way through winter and spring will be here before I turn ghostly pale (I hope).

la guitarra

Right before I left for my vacation, I brought home my new guitar. Once I got here in January, I had a realization that guitar should be part of my life. Maybe it´s because I felt like something was missing because I typically spend time with friends who practice their skills on the strings of the shapely wooden box in spaces such as the food co-op. Without my relaxation time on the filthy flower patterned couch that tends to attract those who dabble on guitar, I got the DIY urge to start making my own music (ya know, do it yourself). So, months and months after spotting a hole in the wall string instrument store, I purchased and just recently brought home my newly varnished dark brown friend. Don Santiago, the man who owns the store and makes all the instruments by hand, embellished mine with the word Santiago (where the name of the maker is usually written). What I like about it is that he wrote it as his own signature, but for me it will be a momento of my time here in Chile, in the city of Santiago.

reflections and lessons: bread, buses, hospitality
Six months into my life here, I can tell you that you that in every part of the country to which I have traveled I have found three things. These are obvious parts of everyday life which I immediately noted in Santiago, but now know that they characterize the culture of the whole country rather than simply the city.

Number one: bread. Bread is breakfast, bread can be a part of lunch, and bread is a late dinner with tea. Everyone eats it, everyone. Bread is basically equivalent to life in Chile. After countless discussions with Americans and Chileans, we have concluded that there is a specific hunger for Chileans that can only be satisfied by bread in the same way that we (americans, californians, or maybe just people like me and Katrina Pennington) have a thirst that can only be satisfied by water. Of course, I cook for myself and therefore keep my bread consumption to its usual low to avoid feeling grossly stuffed with dough, but while traveling it was difficult to avoid. To be more specific, there are two types of white bread rolls that can be found in nearly any corner of Chile: 1. hallulla- a round, flat, extremely dense bread (because they make it with lard) with circular indentations on the top half 2. maraqueta- a small french roll.

Number 2: buses. Cars are not nearly as common as in California (which makes me happy), and although vehicles do fill the streets of the city most people use the metro or buses. Buses are the primary transport across the country from what I have seen, whether they be local or for longer distance traveling. Some are more efficient than others, some are ancient and dirty while others are brand new, but they run nearly everywhere.

Number 3: hospitality. It´s not good enough to say that in general the Chilean population is nice, or welcoming even. It´s more than that, and I have decided it´s not only because half the time I probably look like a sad, lost and confused foreigner. Everywhere I turn, I find that people are hospitable, they are more than simply willing to help out, they want to and will go out of their way to answer a question or make sure you know where you´re going. Our concept of untrustworthy stranger does not exactly translate. It´s not that every single person can be trusted, but people say that once you get out of the city you can trust people to give you a ride or provide you with a bed in their home (called hospedaje) for a more than reasonable price.

school
My second and final semester here has begun. School starts at different times depending on each department´s calendar within the university, but the departments of humanities and filosophy and social science, where I will be taking classes, started Monday August 2nd. The night before my first day the cookie monster inside of me was craving oatmeal raisin cookies, so I baked a batch of vegan oatmeal raisin walnut cookies to start the semester out on the right foot. I am currently in the process of eliminating classes and creating my desired schedule that will ultimately include three classes, my internship, and at least one recreation or dance class.

meomayo: imágenes del mes

Las Fotos!!

hmmm. I guess I meant to upload these in the opposite order, start from the bottom and work your way up! I have some pictures from my birthday thanks to some friends I handed my camera off to (and for some reason everyone thought I wanted pictures of myself, so I´m in most of them)..some are a bit blurry but I like them.



funny picture of me with my friend Cory, she´s in baile y ritmo with me and often comes to cook in my apartment after class. we´re eating the brownie I made, which had a gooey center, with manjar
oh hey Nico, that´s my new roommate from Berkeley..the night he found out there was an available room in the apartment. not sure what he´s doing here


she´s throwing her head back in laughter because I was cleaning some manjar off the table with my finger
song time. sitting with some of my favorite santa cruz kids Scott and Sara. that´s the cake I made, covered in my manjar, almond and walnut creation
oh thats sarah, she made the quiche. I´m busy eating as you can see
a yummy quiche one of my friends made
my two lovely lady Norwegian friends

May 2: birthday fun


there were soo many carabineros (armed policemen/..and women? not sure). I didn´t stay for that long but apparently they always come and end up provoking the demonstrators, then they used their trucks to end the protests with tear gas and water hoses...

this was too cute


May 1: International Workers´ Day

oooooh my favorite, the crashed airplane
you can´t see that well, but these were flowerboxes

April 30: Exhibition titled ¨Encaja tus dias¨ outside of a the Museum of Contemporary Art in a neighborhood called Quinta Normal (Mac) that I went to see with Manu. the sculptures were made out of Chilean cardboard postal boxes! Unfortunately we couldn´t enter the museum because it´s still closed due to earthquake damage..