Is that Spanish?
I just came from the US Embassy in Santiago- its set-up seemed more like a DMV or university than anything. But it didn´t take too long to accomplish my goal of filling out the card to apply for an absentee ballot. The real trick will be whether or not the ballot actually arrives in the mail. I hope so...
While I was waiting, I took note of the HORRIFIC pronunciation of the people on the loudspeaker. Instead of saying "ventana nueve" (window nine), the people were saying things like "venia nova" and "venta noiva"- words that don´t exist and hardly sound like the ones that do. Their Gringles (bad Spanish) was hard enough for me to understand because it is like a puzzle- you have to change some of the syllables and consonants in your head in order to understand what they are trying to say- almost like Pig Latin. I wonder how hard it is for the Chileans?
She shoots....she scores!
And the crowd goes wild!!!!..... Ok, not really. But the scoring part was true- I just played in a water polo game and added a point for us- we won. The score was like 17-3 or something ridiculous like that. But it was fun and very relaxing- not too competetive because mostly everyone was a beginner, which is fine with me because I am no pro. Women´s water polo is just starting to gain a bit of popularity here in Chile- there are only four teams in all of Santiago.
It was good that it wasn´t too demanding because I had a long night last night. It wasn´t planned- I really just wanted to do laundry (yes, more laundry- but this time at the my landlords apartment down the street) and chill at home. But a friend called and wanted to make sushi- of course I couldn´t say no because sushi is one of my favorite foods. So he came over and gave my roomate, Adrien, and I a sushi class. Now I am a natural pro at that. Mine was the prettiest. :-)
A friend of Adrien´s was having a going away party (he is returning to Ecuador) very close to my house, so I started a load of wash and followed the lead to the party (this was at about midnight). But everyone at the party decided that they wanted to go out and dance....and since I love to dance, I tagged along. We stayed out until about 4 (which is early according to Chilean time) but decided to go home. I needed to finish my laundry anyways.
So I went back to my landlord´s apartment and switched the load then went home to catch a bit of shut-eye. An hour later, the concierge called me to let me know that it was time to put everything in the dryer. So I went back, switched everything to the dryer, and chatted with the concierge until sunrise when my load finished.
So yeah, I had a long night. Luckily I didn´t have to be at the pool until 1, so I was able to sleep until about noon. Now, I am going to go home and eat sushi leftovers. I think I am in heaven.
Laundry
The difference between paying someone to do my laundry at the laundromat and doing it myself (therefore spending time waiting around instead of taking care of other errands) is about 400 pesos for each load- that is less than one dollar.
A cost-benefit analisis clearly shows that I should pay someone else to do it. So I do. Gladly. How spoiled am? But this is really the first time in my life, since I have been doing my own laudry since I was ten.
Senior Citizens
The pharmacy by my house offers a discount to senior citizens- adults age 49 and above! That´s six years of discounts earlier than in the US...
Where Time Stands Still
This past Friday I began helping Chileans celebrate their independence- during the afternoon I went to a fair/rodeo (called a
fonda) with my roomate where we met up with Adrien and some of her classmates. We drank some chicha, watched a horse show, ate some BBQ, listened to some music, played some games (foosball, mainly- and I kicked butt!) and generally had a very good time.
That evening, after a small get together in Adrien´s apartment, we went out to a different type of fonda- the
Yein Fonda (translation- Jane Fonda!) where some popular bands were playing- The Bunkers, La Sonora de Tommy Rey, and a few other whose names I don´t remember. But the music was very good- a mix of some funk, cumbia, norteños, and pretty much every other Latin rhythm there is. We didn´t get home until about 5.
Of course Saturday, Chile´s actual independence day, we didn´t get up until pretty late in the afternoon, but once we rolled out, we went to the house of a friend of Adrien´s outside of Santiago- it was absolutely beautiful. And there- time stood still.
We began with some Chilean wine (of course) and started up the BBQ- we picked at the salad and potato chips while the vegetables, chicken, sausage, and beef grilled on the fire. There was jazz music in the backgrouund, good conversation, a beautiful sunset- what a good way to pass the afternoon. The party continued with Chilean jokes and
cueca songs, more food, and of course, more
copete.
This little enclave where we were at ended up being the niche of mostly a family of artists and journalists- everyone there was either a photographer or painter or studying to be one, or else a journalist (one girl does documentaries) or studying to be one, or an actor or musician or studying to be one. All very interesting conversation- all obviously thoughtful (in different ways) people.
Originally, we had only planned on staying for the BBQ for a few hours, hoping to return to Santiago for another BBQ at a different friends house. But Felípe warned us that once we got there, we wouldn´t want to leave. Needless to say, he was right. I woke up at his house, for the second morning in a row, to birds chirping, clean air, warm sun, and a state of relaxation and tranquility that I hadn´t known since arriving in Chile. Time was literally standing still.
But alas, I had to return to a different reality- a reality that means books and tests instead of three holes of golf in the morning and fresh salmon for lunch (that was Sunday). And here I am, back in Santiago, trying to concentrate but not really succeeding because I have to be working in the city, when all I want to do is be out in the country.
It´s my blog and I´ll cry if I want to!
Hmmm.... I think that in the past few weeks, I have kind of strayed from the original point of this blog which was to "share my experiences from my point of view- that of a young woman in a paradoxical Latin American metropolitan area within the atypical borders of the developing country known as Chile". Instead, I have been leaning more towards sharing my personal viewpoints in regards to past and present conditions in the world.
Although at times, my opinions do pertain to sharing my experiences from my point of view (obviously), I think that recently it has prevented me from giving you an un-biased idea of what it is like to live here in general. I have been so intent on sharing my personal convictions about things like war and people in power that I haven´t been able to share other things, particularly Chile. So I am going to try to return to sharing accounts of the things that I do in a percentage that outweighs my personal (and very strong, at times) opinions.
However, it is my blog so I reserve the right to submit you to reading some of my frustrations. Sorry. But if there is ever a time when you don´t like what I say (or vice versa) then I invite you to post a comment, which you can do by clicking on the button below that says "0 comments". This blog does not have to be one-sided... if you so choose.
Although I am learning a great deal every day while living life down here in the skinny country, I might be able to learn a lot more if you were to put me in my place (like my mom and dad like to do- I know I have let way too much of my opinion squirm its way into this blog when even my mom starts looking up historical facts in order to support a rebuttal!)
Whew! Now that I got that out... over 10,000 people gathered in front of La Moneda, a government building in Santiago, on Sunday to welcome Nícolaus Massú and Fernando González (Chile´s tennis gold medalists)! I wasn´t in town to celebrate, but I saw it on TV on Sunday, last night in the bus station, and this morning on the news. Chile is so small that things like this stay in the news for at least three or four days. I am sure that after the three day celebration of Chile´s independence day, the news will be full of stories of how good the parties were for the next week....
The Flowering Desert and Copete
Right now, I am in a small town in the desert named Vallenar (population about 20.000) on my way back to Santiago and luck is with my- this week is the beginning of the
desierto florecido or flowering desert that only occurs every few years, depending on the rainfall. This means that instead of staring out of the bus window at the bleak, monotonous desert, I am seeing a light carpet of white and bright yellow flowers.
Since arriving here, I have realzed that
Chileans son buenos pa´ el copete, or Chileans are keen for spirits. Not ony do they have cheap, excellent wine and decent beer, they also have their national liquor
pisco (which I have written about before). And as I just discovered, produced in this valley and the one above it is
pajarete, a sweet wine often mixed with seltzer water and ice, and
chicha, which is also produced from grapes but is bottled immidiately (as opposed to
pajarete which is matured in barrels before being consumed).
I bought a bottle of both the
chicha and
pajarete to share with friends next weekend while celebrating Chile´s independence day (September 18). The festivities start on Friday and end on Sunday- it should be a good weekend after the two tests that I have on Thursday.
Right now, I am going to hop on a bus to the coast, which should take about two hours. Since I have some reading to do and a beautiful view to look at, I won´t mind the ride at all...
The Freaks Come Out at Night
The town of Copiapo (population approx. 30.000) has two faces and yesterday I had the opportunity to see both. During the day, there was a festival in the plaza put on by one of the candidates who is running for mayor- there were a few performers who sang before the candidate spoke, some kids putting on a drum show, children blowing bubbles and people selling all types of food. So small town.
Night time was a completely different story. I went to the plaza again with some construction workers that I had met earlier in the day who were staying in the same residencial (like a hostal but people usually stay for longer- it was the cheapest place in town at only 4.000 pesos or about $7). While they drank a bottle of rum and taught me all of the bad words in the Chilean Spanish language, I was able to see the other side of the town- the groups of old drunk men lurking in the corners, the transvestites walking around (yes, even in small town Chile!), and the domestic violence that could be heard from the street. The guys designated themselves my bodyguards so I was protected, which ended up being a good thing....
By 3am, they had finished a bottle of rum, two boxes of wine (I was not drinking) and had met some other older drunk guys on the street. One of them, about 45 yrs old, could not stop complimenting my Spanish, telling me how beautiful I was and blah, blah, blah. But there we were, a group of seven, standing in a dark corner making conversation, singing songs, and basically looking like a bunch of winos. When somehow the topic of..... da da da dum(b)..... Bush came up. Well, the same guy who couldn´t control his tounge earlier had trouble again- he proceeded to tell me that all gringos should go to hell for putting someone in like Bush in office because we were annhilating (sp?- sorry Mrs. Hall!) the Iraqis as a people and culture and that in the future we will won´t be safe anywhere and will need to have bodyguards to protect us because we murdered innocent children with our missiles. He was starting to get in my face, so one of my bodyguards kindly stepped between us....
Well, he began backing away from us towards the corner of the street, all the while his voice raising as he screamed at me to get out of his country and go back to the shithole where I came from with my inconsiderate, capitalistic brothers who only care about themselves.... and he continued backing up, literally right into two police officers who were standing on the corner! They proceeded to pour out the bottle of wine that he had in his hands and put him in the back of the truck to cart him off to the drunk tank.
My bodyguards got a good laugh at that- they said basically said that he got was he deserved for treating me like that. Maybe. But that didn´t make me feel any better. Because if what goes around comes around, then does that mean that the cycle won´t ever stop?
It seems that some common sense would do us all some good, wouldn´t it? Unfortunately, common sense isn´t all that common. Shoot, maybe I didn´t have common sense for being out that late at night with a bunch of drunkards in a foreign country... but here I am, safe and sound (in Caldera, a different town, by the way). And without trying to sound defensive- I wasn´t drinking nor was I trying to hurt someone, nor did I ever feel like I was in danger. I had bodyguards (which we will all need in the future, remember?). :-)
On another note- September 11 is also the anniversary of the day that Pinochet took power in Chile. I saw on tv while eating lunch some pictures of the protests and riots that are going on RIGHT NOW in Santiago- more people without common sense (most of whome, by the way, are only in their late teens- they weren´t even born when Pinochet took over!). I don´t pretend to have all the answers, but come on- as if violence is
really going to solve or change anything that has
already happened.
Me with my bodyguards before lunch at the residencial.
Terrorism in Copayapu?
I arrived in Copiapó this morning after the 12 hour bus ride from Santiago and was pretty tired since the five guys sitting in the rows in front of me wouldn´t stop talking all night. But when we got off the bus, we became friends- I saw that they all had instruments and asked where they would be playing. They have a gig here in town tonight so I am going to stop by and check ´em out.
While walking around looking like a lost tourist (Lonely Planet guide and map of Copiapó in hand), this photographer came up to me and asked me if I was a tourist. Duh. But we got to talking and I learned the whole history of Copiapó and the fallacies (according to him) that are written in the books (or carved in stone, as in some cases). Some quick examples- four of the religious statues in in this town that became noted as the "guardians" of the military after the war in the north were actually first "guardians" of Bolivia´s army- in other words, they were stolen. Although most histoy books say that Copiapó is the site to the fisrt locomotive in South America, it is actually the third- but the first in Chile. According to the monument in town, the discovery of silver here in the 1800`s is attributed to Juan Godoy- but it was really his mom who found it and it was Juan who capitalized it. Even the town´s name, which is said to mean "golden chalice" (copa in Spanish mean goblet or chalice) was really a big misunderstanding- it was originally a native word (Copayapu) whose meaning had something to do with greenery or pasture but since the settlers killed all of the native population in this particular area, no one really knows for sure.
We discussed quite a few things- most notably the Catholic church´s imposed presence in South America. Something he said struck a chord with the chat we had at yesterday´s Rotary meeting (I went to a dinner meeting at Peter`s host club right before catching my bus up here). The topic of discussion, spurred by the occurences in Chechnya, was terrorism. Some conclusions drawn about this tactic were that it is drawn from the struggle for power in order to defend intersts, be it political, territorial, religious, personal, etc, and that often times it is considered terrorism depending on whose point of view you share.
The idea that these people took over a school filled with children is horrific- and this exact action is what brings terror to all of us. Someone commented that the fact that it was a school made it completely inhumane.... So what? If it would have been a hospital or a retirement home, would that have made it any more humane?
But I just don´t get why these actions and tactics are being purported as new- after all, this is exactly what history had been made of- the Spanish conquistadores did the same thing when they came to settle in Latin America (that was Victor`s, the photographer´s, comment). As a matter of fact, they instilled terror by wiping out whole villages (men, women, AND children) solely because they wanted claim to a land that was already populated and the people, who had their own distinct religion and histoy, couldn´t be made to believe in what they were being told (did that have anything to do with the fact that they didn´t speak the same language?). The same goes for US history- but I don´t recall ever reading anything in our histoy books about the nonconformists seeking religious freedom in New England who massacred the native population as being terrorists.
The difference now lies in the globalized world and ease of communication, and I wonder- if every person in the 17th century had a television to watch the slaughter of millions in the name of "prosperity" and "freedom", would they have considered the founders of Western society, the settlers in Copayapu or New England as terrorists?
I love Copiapó.
Amazing
Whoa- yesterday was absoulutely amazing. I went snowboarding (finally!) and apparently is was the best day of the season. Not only that- it was the best day of snowboarding in my life! The last run was impeccable- untouched powder on a sunny day! If I never went snowboarding again in my life, I would die happy knowing that I went yesterday (well, not really- but you get what I mean).
I could spend ten minutes describing it all to you, but I can´t becauseI am already late to meet a friend (I am pretty accustomed to Chilean time standards by now, as you can see). So instead, I will try my best to post some of the pics that I took yesterday so that you can just see for yourself.
Here we go....The last run of the day.
Naturally Fried
Can you imagine it? I just bought some Chilean brand potato chips (they were good!) and the ingredients listed: potatoes, sunflower oil, and salt. I looked at the back of the Lays bag and there were six words that I couldn´t even begin to pronounce!
All for nothing
I studied Friday night, all day Saturday, all day and night Sunday, didn´t sleep a wink last night...... and I still failed. I thought I would be able to hang with Finance in Spanish, but apparently not. I am going to have to give in and check out the English version of the book for the next test. Grrrr.
RNC- Really Not Convincing?
On the way to school, I thought of something really funny to write about in this blog- it made me laugh out loud. But for the life of me, I can´t remember what it was... so I can´t write about it.
So instead, I am going to talk about... the weather. Not so funny, huh? But the thing is...it is cloudy outside and it is threatening to rain! Normally this wouldn´t make me all that happy, but if just one storm can be squeezed out, I will be a happy camper because then I can go snow boarding on Wednesday. It would be a great way to celebrate after the Finance quiz that I have on Monday....
Oh, I remember what the funny thing was- the Republican National Convention and our dear president´s speech!
W. Bush said last night that values and institutions don´t change- but I don´t think that I have ever heard him say anything so...wrong (but does that really come as a surprise?). It is precisely a society´s dinamic values that keep it "alive"- any society that does not evolve, dies. And if institutions don´t evolve following a society´s demands (especially in a democracy), then that static nature creates a large injustice because it is negating it´s inherent property of change.
And one of Bush´s proposals- giving young people the opportunity to create personal tax free accounts in order to give us the opportunity to "save" for social security. What a joke as an "opportunity". Bascially, he will tax us to pay for the older generation´s SS while at the same time, force us to save for our own since he knows that by the time we reach retiring age, there will be ablsolutely nothing in SS to give to us anyways.
And that bologna about letting the patient and medical professionals decide their treatment instead of the beauracrats in DC? Well, if he was so serious about letting them decide for themselves, he wouldn´t be so set on being that same beauracrat in DC that takes away the right of the women in the US to decide for themselves with their medical professional...
And the attack on Kerry for not voting for the 87 billion towards the troops in Iraq? Yeah, that was because he knew that it would pass anyways and he had to take a stance against the 20 BILLION of that contract that he knew would be going to Haliburton...
And Kerry... what a Democrat! I like a lot of his ideas, but going into office with such a deficit, it just won´t be possible for him to do everything that he has layed out on the table. So maybe he´ll just have to admit that the US entered into another Vietnam and pull out some of the troops (which wouldn´t be so bad because then maybe my friend Bryon could come home) and let the Coalition of the Willing (which NOW numbers over forty, but when we declared war on Iraq was significantly less- more like seven or something ridiculously low like that) have more of a say. That is the point of a coalition, you know? There is no "I" (nor U.S.) in TEAMWORK. Then he could put that 87 billion towards domestic issues- like the biggest deficit the US has ever seen, the unemployment rate, etc, etc, etc.
Ok, enough of my ranting and raving. I have to go to class. I have to learn about
financial risk (seems like the US government should be coming to school with me...)
What?
Is today really September 1st? That means that I have been here for seven months. Time flies when you are having fun, learning a language and culture, studying, volunteering, spreading the Rotary word, travelling, and finding yourself, doesn´t it?
