One Year

Today marks the anniversary of Aunt Donna's death. She was a truly amazing, warm, loving woman. This is one day that I really wish I could be with family. My thoughts are with all of you today.

The song that I can't seem to get out of my head:

We remember how you loved us to your death,

And still we celebrate for you are with us here.

And we believe that we will see you when you come,

in your glory, Lord.

We remember, we celebrate, we believe.

A Stolen Post

This is from my friend Tara's blog about Santiago, but is SUPER true so I stole it:

This is what happens when you take notes in Spanish

• RRII = International Relations
• ONU = United Nations
• OMC = World Trade Organization
• DIMA = Environmental Law
• BM = World Bank
• FMI = International Monetary Fund
• ONG = Non-governmental Organization
• DDHH = Human rights
• 1° GM = World War One

The best part? After I decode all of that, every single one of the other words is still in a different language. FML (or should it be...CMV?)

A Post About Food

Tonight at dinner my 8 year old host sister, Panchi, asked me how many meals a day we have in the US. I told her 3. She thought this was very strange and asked me why we don't have dinner. I told her we have dinner but not once. Once directly translates to 11, but is used to mean the late afternoon tea. However it is meal sized with a choice of tea or coffee and then oodles of bread, meat, cheese, yogurt, eggs, avocados, and is wrapped up with a small dessert like cookies. Panchi said she was very sad for Americans who do not get to experience her favorite meal of the day. So, if you are reading this, Panchi is thinking of you and your terribly sad 3 meal a day life.

Also, when a Chilean asks you about your "media naranja" (half of an orange) they are not talking about the fruit on your plate. Media naranja is a chileanismo for "your other half." Since I've arrived I have been asked twice if my "media naranja" is still in the US. Chileans LOVE relationships and talking about them!

For now I think I will go in search of my media naranja.

Bueno Bye!

Chile's dark past

It's easy to forget that only 20 years ago Chile was under a military dictatorship. The city is modernized, the metro clean and faster than the one in DC, I have wireless internet in my house, and commercialism thrives here. Though Chile switched to an open economy in the 80s, it wasn't until 1990 that the military regime was overthrown. Throughout it's 18 year reign countless human rights abuses were committed. People who opposed the government were tortured and in many cases, "disappeared."

Every time I go to my Poverty and Development class I am reminded of Chile's past. The class is not held at the University; it's held on location at a nonprofit for the development of impoverished Chileans. Our professor is head of the nonprofit (and also is an advisor to the World Bank). The building that houses the nonprofit was used by the Pinochet regime as a torture center. It went unused for 10 years and then the Chilean government sold it to the organization at a low price, as not many investors were interested in a former torture center.

The building:

A plaque explaining it's historical significance:

I have to admit, it's weird taking class and thinking a political prisoner was probably tortured in this room.

On a happier note, I just found out Nacha has a huge dvd collection! Most of the movies are US movies with spanish subtitles. :)

Bueno Bye!

Attack of the Chocopanda!

No, the Chocopanda is not a type of panda. It's Chilean slang for mullet. They are huge here. Every male from age 12-17 has a chocopanda!

No me gusta.

That is all.

Bueno Bye!

Spring is here!

So the first few days of SPRING have been pretty good to me. Here are some reasons why:

Internship: Yesterday I interviewed and was accepted for an internship with Fundacion Instituto de la Mujer. It's a women's rights non profit in Chile. I'm pretty excited. The main things happening during my time here are an informational campaign to support the rights of immigrant women and a march at the end of november against violence against women. One other student from my program will be working there as well. Between the 2 of us we'll be doing odds and ends around the office. They sent us home with some really cool informational pamphlets. You can learn more here:

Classes: On Monday I understood every major point my politics professor made. He is by far the hardest to understand because he uses lots of political jargon and speaks VERY quickly. It also doesn't help that very basic poli sci abbreviations are completely different here. For example the UN= ONU. BUT by some stroke of luck I understood all of the main points. There were a couple of supporting anecdotes that I was fuzzy on, but I'll take what I can get.

Host family: Yesterday 2 other students came to my house to watch Gossip Girl. We were watching and talking until my host mom came into the room and told them they were staying for dinner. She insisted. I later tried to explain that the plan was for them to just watch some TV in my room and then return to their houses for dinner because we didn't want to impose. She then said that it was really no trouble at all and she felt bad that I only have my room as space and that I should feel free to have friends over for meals so that the house becomes mine. Chilean hospitality is amazing. I won't take her up on the offer so as not to impose, but my family is really amazing.

I'll leave you with a picture that sums up Chileans:

While playing cards yesterday, Tara, Alex and I realized that our discard pile looked a lot like Chileans our age: COUPLED. One of the first questions you will always be asked is if you are dating someone. If you respond that you are not the questioner will quickly follow up with a list of suitable people he/she knows for you to meet. Chileans love being in relationships. Also, because most live at home until they marry, there is A TON of PDA.

Speaking of coupling, I'm going to couple up my stomach and some dinner!

Bueno Bye!

Fiestas Patrias

Chileans sure do know how to celebrate their independence! This past Friday was the technical start of the long weekend, although universities had the week off. Also, 2010 will be Chile's 200th anniversary, so everything was larger this year to start the countdown to 200.

It started Thursday night with a huge concert at La Moneda. La Avenida (the main thoroughfare for Santiago) was blocked off so that myself and 15,000 of my closest friends could gather to count down to midnight:

Then Friday in every park in the city were huge bar-B-Qs with tons of people in traditional dress, dancing the Queca (the national dance):

My family celebrated with a grill out (or asado). Here is my entire extended Chilean family (We're fairly small in number compared to the typical family size):

It was also my Chilean grandmother's birthday. This led to a fairly confusing conversation as to whether we were celebrating Chile's birthday, my Chilean grandmother's birthday, or if my grandmother was Chile:

Then Saturday my Chilean family headed to the beach, specifically Viña del Mar:

In Viña there are a number of fishermen who head out every morning and then sell fresh caught fish throughout the day. They will grill it right there for you. These are their boats:

We did not eat their fish as my family was concerned about my delicate gringa stomach. We did eat at a buffet. Here they're called tenedor libre, which litterally translates to free fork. Here is the view from our table:

This was the view from the apartment we stayed in:

It was still to cold to go swimming, but it was great to sit, read and watch the ocean. My host sisters and I now have a pretty awesome sea shell collection. We also found other ways to entertain ourselves:

Nacha and me hat shopping (I did not actually make a purchase):

My host dad tried to join in the hat search:

Panchi and me:

The sky was filled with kites all weekend:

There are beautiful smooth tourist beaches in Viña as well. But the rocky beaches are the best for sea shells:

THAT was my independence day weekend! :) Unfortunately, classes resumed Monday. After 10 days off and traveling to San Pedro and Viña it was hard to put my backpack back on.

Bueno Bye!