OoooooooK, finally, a little bit of free time, although I probably need to be socializing in Spanish. Don’t worry, that won’t keep me from communicating, although perhaps I should write in spanish and then plug that into Google Translate?
Anwway, Monday, we went to visit the hill San Cristobel, which overlooks Santiago and is topped by a large statue of the Virgin Mary, or the mother of Santiago. Apparently the Virgen Mary is extremely important here, moreso than for other Catholics, although I’m not sure why. This was explained to me in Spanish, so that’s about as much as I could pick up. I think it might have something to do with this small statue of the virgin which was carried to Santiago by one of the founding fathers. The statute was some kind of good luck charm, protecting him from danger in his travels. The statue is on display in town, but I’m sure I’ll have more information after I visit that particular attraction.
San Cristobel was abosolutely fabulous. The hill is behind the trendy Bellavista neighborhood, where my first hostel was located. The hill is actually a park, and contains all kinds of trails, the Santiago Zoo, and several other things (says the Fodor’s book). However, we merely passed by the zoo on the 1920s funicular (see photos) that took us all the way to the top of the hill. I was surprised to find an outdoor church upon the top of the hill (with the virgin overlooking the entire seating area and alter from the peak of the hill). The have mass there every Sunday, and as with many historic or significant churches or Catholic monuments, a worship area with candles and memorials for prayer. But really, the outdoor church upon the hill was what really interested me. I don’t think I’ll make it up there for mass, as I’m sure it’s a madhouse on Sunday (and I snowboarded today), but it would be amazing to see.
Monday night, the school held a wine tasting for the students. The only participants were the newbies, so just one of my housemates and 3 other classmates were in attendence. It was really interesting to learn about Chilean wines, and there was a Syrah that was abosolutely to die for. Now I don’t like any of my wines too sweet, but this one was pretty sweet but amazing. It smelled amazing, tasted amazing, the whole shebang. Another wine that I learned about was a Camerere (?) that is specific to Chile, I believe. Unfortunately blogging a week later results in not remembering some specifics. Sorry! But I’ll have to spend some more time in a wine store back home (or Spec’s, of course!) checking out the Chilean wine selection.
After the wine tasting, 4 of us decided to go out. Two, including myself, were hungry and wanting food first, since the selection of pickled carrot, cauliflower, and pickle (???) served with ham and cheese with our wine was less than filling. Two were not hungry, ready to continue drinking. So we were looking for a place that offered both. We ended up at Elfos bar in Providencia, only a few blocks away, which promised to have food, then had bar food priced ridiculously high. So dinner turned to liquid, not purposely. We started off with some ridiculously large beers (like at Logan’s!) and somehow forgot about dinner? I know, me forget about food is pretty ridiculous. But it happened. It was a fun night, hence the pictures posted after the wine tasting photos. I was late for class the next day, not because of any hangover, but because everyone living at the house left late. Marc (who doesn’t live in the house but was in my class) decided to give me hell about it, and I promptly returned the favor, since he was the one who kept pushing tequila (we had one…blech).
Tuesday was kind of slow. I bought a power converter. We watched a movie about Pinochet in espanol. It was entertaining, but I couldn’t pick up enough to know what was going on most of the time. On Wednesday, I really wanted to attend the scheduled event, jazz at one of the bars in Bellavista, but with a ski trip on our heels, I decided to turn in early.
On Thursday, we skipped class to go to the mountain!!! Ok, didn’t skip skip, it was organized through the school, and I’m supposed to have a private lesson sometime next week to make up for it. Since the four resorts in the Santiago area require driving up the mountain (ala Ruidosa), there are several companies that provide this service. The school has something worked out with one of them, who picked us up at La Casa Loca at 7:20 Thursday morning. After waiting at the stop point to meet other buses and a very long and conplicated drive up the mountain (due to the recent snow), we didn’t actually get moving on the mountain until at least ater 10. There were four of us total (me and 3 boys, of course), and for some reason Marc got picked by a different bus. Levin waited for Marc, while an antsy Steve and I took off for the first lift. At some point we separated, because I’m really slow. But this was fabulous, because I was able to take the day at my own pace and really work on my problems areas, such as getting off ski lifts and make left turns. All problematic for me. I realized how awesome my iPod would have been. Etc. Somehow Steve found the other boys, but I didn’t end up meeting up with them until 4:30 or so, when it was time to take the bus. Apparently we all missed each other at lunch. I knew where the food was, I was fine! But they stopped in with the locker people to see if I’d they’d seen me. Apparently Steve had fed the dog in the ski shop prior to my eating lunch, so the dog was following me around everywhere with my food! It was a big bulldog looking thing, def not as cute as our pups. Plus I think it may have had doggie pink eye. Anyways… overall it was an excellent day on the slopes. As much as I enjoy spending time with the boys and Kara during our trips, there was something completely satisfying abut spending a day out on the slopes by myself though.
Anyways, more to come. Since there’s 3 more days in between. Slowly but surely...
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Slowly But Surely Posting
Hola! I've been in Chile for 6 full days, and it is freezing! The climate is not so temperate in the foothills of the Andes, where Santiago lies, more or less.
Sunday, 16 agosto 2009, was pretty calm. I explored Bellavista and withdrew some Chilean pesos, but on Sunday, everything was closed except for the ATM. I headed to Casa Ecela, aka the student residence or "La Casa Loca," somewhere between 11 and noon. After meeting some of the students, I ran to the grocery store and began my quest for a power adaptor. After grocery shopping, I returned to the house to meet another student from the US who was moving into Casa Ecela as well. Since no one else was around, we decided to explore the city and learned that it is pretty dead on Sunday evenings. Everything closes at 4pm, except for the bars in Bellavista, of course. After another unsuccessful search for an adaptor in Providencia, we ended up back in Bellavista to share our first beers in Chile. From what I've seen, there are not many beers made here in Chile, but we did try two, Escudo and Austral. Beer is served by the liter, so it is incredibly common to order a beer with several glasses. You really don't need pitchers, the beers are big enough to share already. We tried some of the local bar food - a mountain of french fries, topped with beef, egg, onion, and Vienna sausages?? It was so good, but talk about heart attack on a plate. It was also my first experience with Vienna sausages...you know, since canned, processed meat isn't really my thing. We returned to the house and met some more people, then to bed to prepare for our 8am placement exam.
The house is nothing to rave about accomodation wise, but it is a safe and very inexpensive place to stay. If you know me well enough, you know I really could care less as long as it is clean. However, in Chile, central heat only exists in very new buildings. Although I'd planned and paid to share a room, I've hit the program in the middle of a slower season and have a room for three all to myself. The house is old and cannot handle electric space heaters, but three beds equals 3 beds worth of blankets to bury myself in each night. Getting up is pretty difficult though.
On Monday, we arrived at the school, which is less than three blocks from Casa Ecela. In our placement exam, there were also students from Germany and Switzerland. The class I have been assigned to is very diverse - me, an older lady from the states, a girl from Japan, and the two guys in our exam, from Germany and Switzerland. There is a lot of German spoken in the house and in the school, so that has been somewhat difficult. Most of them speak English incredibly well though, just prefer German among themselves. As for class level, they started me at the beginning, probably because I forgot some conjugation of some basic verbs. It could have been easily cured with more study prior to coming here. Eh, what are you going to do? So most of the material is very new to others but a review for me. However, it is very helpful because my spoken Spanish is not very good. I can understand the bulk of conversations, but I have always been very timid when speaking. Even just in the past three days, I have become more confident in my skills. I will need to continue to study, either in classes in BA or on my own when I get there.
More to come, including our trip to the hill overlooking Santiago (cerra San Cristobal)and our first trip up to the mountains... but mucha tarea (homework) to do now.
Sunday, 16 agosto 2009, was pretty calm. I explored Bellavista and withdrew some Chilean pesos, but on Sunday, everything was closed except for the ATM. I headed to Casa Ecela, aka the student residence or "La Casa Loca," somewhere between 11 and noon. After meeting some of the students, I ran to the grocery store and began my quest for a power adaptor. After grocery shopping, I returned to the house to meet another student from the US who was moving into Casa Ecela as well. Since no one else was around, we decided to explore the city and learned that it is pretty dead on Sunday evenings. Everything closes at 4pm, except for the bars in Bellavista, of course. After another unsuccessful search for an adaptor in Providencia, we ended up back in Bellavista to share our first beers in Chile. From what I've seen, there are not many beers made here in Chile, but we did try two, Escudo and Austral. Beer is served by the liter, so it is incredibly common to order a beer with several glasses. You really don't need pitchers, the beers are big enough to share already. We tried some of the local bar food - a mountain of french fries, topped with beef, egg, onion, and Vienna sausages?? It was so good, but talk about heart attack on a plate. It was also my first experience with Vienna sausages...you know, since canned, processed meat isn't really my thing. We returned to the house and met some more people, then to bed to prepare for our 8am placement exam.
The house is nothing to rave about accomodation wise, but it is a safe and very inexpensive place to stay. If you know me well enough, you know I really could care less as long as it is clean. However, in Chile, central heat only exists in very new buildings. Although I'd planned and paid to share a room, I've hit the program in the middle of a slower season and have a room for three all to myself. The house is old and cannot handle electric space heaters, but three beds equals 3 beds worth of blankets to bury myself in each night. Getting up is pretty difficult though.
On Monday, we arrived at the school, which is less than three blocks from Casa Ecela. In our placement exam, there were also students from Germany and Switzerland. The class I have been assigned to is very diverse - me, an older lady from the states, a girl from Japan, and the two guys in our exam, from Germany and Switzerland. There is a lot of German spoken in the house and in the school, so that has been somewhat difficult. Most of them speak English incredibly well though, just prefer German among themselves. As for class level, they started me at the beginning, probably because I forgot some conjugation of some basic verbs. It could have been easily cured with more study prior to coming here. Eh, what are you going to do? So most of the material is very new to others but a review for me. However, it is very helpful because my spoken Spanish is not very good. I can understand the bulk of conversations, but I have always been very timid when speaking. Even just in the past three days, I have become more confident in my skills. I will need to continue to study, either in classes in BA or on my own when I get there.
More to come, including our trip to the hill overlooking Santiago (cerra San Cristobal)and our first trip up to the mountains... but mucha tarea (homework) to do now.
Monday, August 17, 2009
BA, Veces Numero Uno
Just arrived in Buenos Aires (for the first time), only to fly right back to Santiago. I have two sweet Entrada and Salida stamps in my passport to prove it. I was surprised that they stamp the passport upon departure as well…not quite as common elsewhere. We’ll see what Chile has in store when I get there tonight. I originally thought 2 hours would be pushing it to catch the 6pm flight, so I booked the only flight after that, at 10pm. And now here I am, 5pm, checked in, and settling in for my next 6-hour layover. I thought about trying to catch an earlier flight, but of course this brilliant idea comes to my mind AFTER my bag is rechecked. Oh well, I have a car service waiting when I get there, hooray for silver linings and no sketchy cabs. One thing I don’t miss about other countries, the bombardment of “taxi services” being offered as you leave the airport. Legit car services or remises and radio taxis are the way to go.
Another thing about the airports down here is Duty Free everything. Now I’ve been through my share of international terminals, but EZE (Buenos Aires) is ridiculous. You MUST pass through massive duty free shops to get anywhere in the airport – from immigration to baggage claim, security to the terminal, and even mid-terminal, where the hallway itself passes through the duty free shop. That’s the way the exit is, like in attractions where you have to go through the gift shop to exit at all. Each shop is clad with any vice and luxury you can (legally) possess, as well as girls clad in tiny golden dresses with 4-inch heels. Welcome back to Miami. Ugh. Otherwise, EZE is not as nice as other airports, but you’d never know stepping into the duty free shop. It really is like night and day. I mean, girls in golden hooker dresses hawking cigars to dirty metal benches. Logical progression.
There was also a very fashionable group of Chilean girls on my flight from Santiago to Buenos Aires. It was a complete giggle fest en espanol, but it was interesting to listen and to see what they were wearing (as I’m still in workout pants for my 27-hour travel extravaganza). I am completely surprised to see pearls on every young woman over the age of 18. Of course I left all mine, real and fake, at home, so I wouldn’t be a target for theft. The only ones I have are the gray fakes in my ears now. Perhaps I’ll wear them around Palermo, while saving the fun, colorful plastics for volunteering, or simply go without on those days (even though I feel naked without!). As for the boots I’ve heard so much about, every woman down here is wearing either some form of boots with tucked-in skinny jeans, or sporty tennis shoes, “fashion sneakers,” as I like to call them. Good call on the Merrells everyone! I love them anyways, but style and function is always a plus. As for the boots, I’m still on the fence as to what kind I’ll end up with. There’s a lot of slouchy boots, which I haven’t exactly warmed up to yet. But who knows, it took years to get me into my riding boots and one pair of skinny jeans, so we’ll see how this progresses once I get back to BA and have room for new clothes!
Another thing about the airports down here is Duty Free everything. Now I’ve been through my share of international terminals, but EZE (Buenos Aires) is ridiculous. You MUST pass through massive duty free shops to get anywhere in the airport – from immigration to baggage claim, security to the terminal, and even mid-terminal, where the hallway itself passes through the duty free shop. That’s the way the exit is, like in attractions where you have to go through the gift shop to exit at all. Each shop is clad with any vice and luxury you can (legally) possess, as well as girls clad in tiny golden dresses with 4-inch heels. Welcome back to Miami. Ugh. Otherwise, EZE is not as nice as other airports, but you’d never know stepping into the duty free shop. It really is like night and day. I mean, girls in golden hooker dresses hawking cigars to dirty metal benches. Logical progression.
There was also a very fashionable group of Chilean girls on my flight from Santiago to Buenos Aires. It was a complete giggle fest en espanol, but it was interesting to listen and to see what they were wearing (as I’m still in workout pants for my 27-hour travel extravaganza). I am completely surprised to see pearls on every young woman over the age of 18. Of course I left all mine, real and fake, at home, so I wouldn’t be a target for theft. The only ones I have are the gray fakes in my ears now. Perhaps I’ll wear them around Palermo, while saving the fun, colorful plastics for volunteering, or simply go without on those days (even though I feel naked without!). As for the boots I’ve heard so much about, every woman down here is wearing either some form of boots with tucked-in skinny jeans, or sporty tennis shoes, “fashion sneakers,” as I like to call them. Good call on the Merrells everyone! I love them anyways, but style and function is always a plus. As for the boots, I’m still on the fence as to what kind I’ll end up with. There’s a lot of slouchy boots, which I haven’t exactly warmed up to yet. But who knows, it took years to get me into my riding boots and one pair of skinny jeans, so we’ll see how this progresses once I get back to BA and have room for new clothes!
En Santiago
Hola from
I arrived in
In true grad student fashion, I hoarded my airline non-perishables to get me through the day, although there are some fabulous-looking empanadas advertised at an Irish pub-themed fast-food restaurant?? I think I’ll pass, as I’m sure many empanadas outside of the airport are sure to come.
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