Rain

Dios mio, la lluvia fue muy fuerte!

I think I now understand the phrase, "When it rains, it pours". Whoever said it must've lived in Chile. The rain here was so strong and continuous today, it woke me up in the morning because of how loud it was. (I later realized it's because part of my house is only covered by a tin roof, so it was amplifying it majorly). Seattle ain't got nothin' on Chile! I'm not exaggerating when I say the streets literally had rivers flowing down them. I don't know where all of the rain was coming from, but it just rushed down every street as if it were being chased by a giant ShamWow ready to soak it all up. (Did you know that ShamWow guy was arrested for some hardcore drug use or something? Go figure) On that same note, I think we stepped on a ShamWow today to wipe our feet as we were going to one of our classes. Today was the day that the ShamWow ruled supreme in my world I guess. Anyways, the water ended up making small lagoons all over the city. Some so deep that they filled the streets, went up over the curb, and had the sidewalk under about an inch or so of water. You know all those movies and TV shows where people get splashed? So totally happened all day today. Buses and cars came flying down the streets as usual, and would splash through these lakes sending water flying ten feet up onto and over the sidewalks. Luckily I was able to avoid this unpleasant occurence, but I know it happened a lot today. I still feel like I'm drying off.

Classes were good, nothing too special happened today. I finally was able to instant message mi polola (Alyssa) today for the first time. It was good to communicate (and by communicate I mean more than an email or facebook post) with someone from back home.

My family and I all played the Scattergories type game tonight. It was super fun, even though I did horrible. I did manage to beat my mom though =) I found out I do not know any fruits/vegetables or animals/birds. The whole time Rodrigo kept hiding his answers and changing them at the last minute, and I dont know why but I found it hilarious! The family was laughing so much and I really enjoyed my time.

Oh, that brings me to my final and happiest point thus far from Chile. Before we began playing, Rodrigo was asking me how the other ISEP students' families were and if they had any problems. I said no since as far as I know everyone has super awesome host families. But then he continued to tell me how happy they are because they got such a great student to host. They were worried that I wouldn't get along with them, or that I wouldn't be willing to change how I live to how they live, or that I just wouldn't be a nice person. But he said I'm very relaxed, super nice, intelligent, and that they couldn't have asked for a better person to host. They also are really appreciative that I've gotten accustomed to how they live so quickly. It was really nice to hear, and I'm so glad I got such an awesome family. He already is introducing me as his son to people I've met =) It's wonderful.

And I'll leave you on that happy note since I need to sleep now. Buenas noches mis amigos.

I'm Getting A Cold

I'm getting a cold, or at least that's what my family thinks. They sent the kids out tonight to get me some medicine to take at night and in the morning. They think it's because I'm getting accustomed to the weather. I think it's because my body misses the 90 degree weather I had at home...ha. But seriously, they're right about my body having to adjust. It's a big difference going from 90 degrees in a very dry city to 50 degrees in a very humid city, so it's to be expected that my nose would act up. I love how they get stuff for me before I even realize I may need it.

Day 2 of bad professor went much better. I could actually comprehend what he was saying today, and he was a lot nicer and accepted our opionions as that and then offered any corrections if necessary rather than just say we were wrong. Although I still think the class will be hard, I dont think it will be because of a bad professor.

I still love my other professor. Today he went over words and expressions only used in Chile, including a very bad word that is used in more ways than any word he knows. It's used positively to greet friends, negatively towards enemies, as a verb, a noun, an adjective, and it's used so much that it's even included in their dictionaries. It was really funny to hear him explain it, and then he had us ask him about any words we've heard so far. It was really cool because after explaining a unique way in which they use the vosotros informal you form, and then the absence of S's in many words, I heard my host family use the same form tonight and I totally understood how them saying "I am" really meant "you are". Ha, I guess you probably have to speak Spanish to know what I'm talking about...

After class, I came home and Gabriela reheated some lunch for me. I'm still getting used to the gender roles here and how I have to let others do everything for me. I did however carry my plates over to the sink when she wasn't around =) haha! I talked with her a bit too and found out her pololo (boyfriend [I found out that novio is only used when you're engaged to someone, so now I say I have a polola named Alyssa]) of a year and four months is coming to visit this weekend. He lives in Santiago about an hour and a half away and they see each other about two or three times a month, I'm not sure exactly. It'll be cool to finally meet this talked about guy.

We had a meeting today between my two classes and I found out that we're all going to the vineyards of Casablanca this weekend. We'll have a tour, learn about different wines, and then have lunch. The wines are very well known throughout the world so it'll be pretty cool to visit there.

Tomorrow, my fellow classmate David and I are possibly going to go explore the city together after class. We both have the same classes and we get done by 3:30 so I was like, hey why don't we go explore this sweet place? I'm pretty excited for that.

Finally, Rodrigo just asked me if I play a game en los estados unidos (US) where it says something and you write down a word that starts with a certain letter for each one, and I was like "Oh yeah, Scattergories!!! I like that one!" He said the family will all be playing it tomorrow to practice our Spanish and such since they don't have work on Saturday. I'm so stoked, little do they know that I'm a certified pro at this game...haha, I'm going to get rocked in Spanish though. Oh well, it'll be fun nonetheless (I always feel weird writing that word, it just doesn't look right, but it looks worse spaced out)! Well I think my medicine is starting to kick in. Have a wonderful time getting tan and such.

Ciao.

City Tour

I knew I had to come down from cloud 9 eventually. I had my first bad experience today, my Social and Political Themes of Chile professor is going to be super hard and is a little rude. We have an oral quiz and a 6 page essay that are each worth 40% of our grade. He also speaks faster than anyone I've heard yet, and he acknowledged that he speaks fast and it's hard for us, but he didn't make any effort to slow down. I feel like I'm trying so hard to concentrate on actually hearing and understanding him that I can't comprehend what topics he's talking about. It's going to be a long six weeks with him. Oh, he also decided for no apparent reason to push our class back from 11:45 till 12:10 so now I only have 20 minutes for lunch between classes, poo. Oh well, at least everyone else in the class will be able to struggle together, they all agreed he was super rude (he got mad at some students for not knowing what Latin American movements weren't revolutions...). But I guess I need a little challenge while I'm here, I just hope I pass...

On a lighter note, I absolutely love my Conversation and Culture of Chile professor. He is hilarious, and his laugh is so contagious! It starts out really soft, and then he'll burst out really loud and then he'll cover his mouth because he realizes he's laughing so hard, then it makes him burst out again. I wish everyone could experience this class. He also makes the greatest facial expressions ever, and is always telling short little jokes (he forgot someone's name today so he just kept calling him Juanito and the kid didn't even realize until he admitted that he just kept calling him that since he couldn't remember it). It's just so much more relaxing, and the greatest thing is he told us he doesn't want to give a grade but he has to so he'll just grade mostly on participation and that we don't have to worry about it. Such a wonderful class...

We also had our first city tour today, and I finally had my camera with me to take pictures of this wonderful place. You can view them here if you'd like: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=85941&id=729001888 (I think it should work as long as you have a facebook you can log into. If it doesn't, just go to my facebook and look at my photos) It was really cool. We got to check out some really neat streets and see some of the graffiti that is literally everywhere. It's so insanse, and some of it is so impressive. After walking around and exploring the hilly streets, we stopped by a cafe and I had some hot milk with chocolate and cream (basically hot chocolate). It was really good and super rich, and then we all walked back to the buses to head home.

One thing I haven't mentioned yet that I'm sure you'll be able to spot is the stray dogs (we had one follow us for about half an hour today). They are everywhere. It's a little sad, though I have been told stories of the dogs forming circles around a group of girls when they were out at night almost as if they were guarding them until their bus came. And just today, I was lucky enough to witness a pack of about 10-12 dogs all wait for the crosswalk sign to turn green for them to cross the street in the middle of downtown.

Oh, and update on the Helen Keller building. We drove by it again today, and someone said they saw a sign saying the Institute of Helen Keller. It turns out it really is an institute for the blind, so they do know who she is (or at least have an institue named after her).

Finally, I took the micro home from school for the first time today. I was with a few other ISEP students for a part of it, but I found out I live a couple miles or so further than anyone else, so I rode it alone for a while as well. Interesting fact: though the micros only have seats for about 34 people, they can cram as many as they want on. People were literally hanging out the door, and yet the driver kept piling more and more on. And unfortunately, no one was getting off, so it made things extremely difficult for when my stop came. I did manage to make it off alive though, and Rodrigo drove by shortly after to come pick me up (I think he was worried since it was my first time alone). I told him I can do it in the morning too, and I could tell his wife was a little worried but I insisted that I can manage and that he doesn't have to take any more time off from work just to ride with me. They're extremely nice, but I feel more than ready to go on my own, especially since the only reason I wasnt ready to go today was because I couldn't remember which street name I have to look for on the buses. I have that information now though and will be good to go tomorrow, finally =)

It's getting really late here so I must sleep. I hope you enjoy the photos I've taken of the beautiful city. Unfortunately, I think you need to actually be here to appreciate it as much as I do. Oh well, until next time, ciao

Welcome to my home =)

My Hands Are Cold

Today I saw my favorite thing so far. Everywhere you look, they have English names for places such as "Homecenter", "Express", or "Easy". They're usually big shopping centers but there are quite a few smaller shops as well. Well I was driving along today with Rodrigo, and I don't know if it was a bar, restaurant, or what, but the name of it was Helen Keller. Priceless. I really want to get a picture of it. I don't think they even know who she was, I'll have to ask next time we drive by.

Also, my Conversation and Culture professor is awesome. He is super funny and really nice and welcoming to all of us. It's a class with only ISEP students so there aren't very many of us and if we have a problem, he said his room is safe and secure for us and that we can relax. But one of the coolest things he told us is that he has some friends who are really nice, and have agreed to put on a four week workshop for us about the graffiti in Valparaiso. It's everywhere, but it's not tagging like in the US. The first week we'll learn about it, the second we'll tour the city and check out cool places, the third we'll watch them graffiti, and the final week we'll get to do our own. I'm super stoked =)

Another exciting opportunity, Gabriella is studying English and so she talked with her teacher today and asked if I would be allowed to come to her class sometime and the teacher said I'm welcome at any time. My family was really cautious though and said I wouldn't have to if I didn't want to, but I'm super stoked for that as well! It'll be cool to be that visitor in class who actually is from a country where the language you're learning is spoken.

Final thought for now, I love it here. My family told me I'm welcome anytime I want in the future, preferably during their summer so I can experience warmer weather. They also said I'm allowed to bring my family or my girlfriend. All I need to do is call them or email them and they'll even come pick me up from the airport. Simply wonderful.

Lessons I've Learned

Since I have some time today, I've decided to share a few of the differences between here and the United States. My disclaimer: I'm very accepting of different cultures and how other countries are, so don't think that I'm complaining or calling them bad differences, I'm just informing you all in case you're interested.

Probably the biggest one for me, they don't heat their houses. They have small space heaters that I can use in my room or that we use in the living room at night, but otherwise it's just however warm it is outside. Luckily, we're on the ocean so winters don't get as cold here as they do in Spokane, but they are fairly wet. I was told it's similar to Bellingham, WA during late Spring. I've dealt with this pretty well since I prefer a cooler house to a warmer house, though my hands aren't liking it quite as much since I naturally have cold hands due to poor circulation. It makes typing a little difficult. It also was a little alarming to roll over in the morning and see my breath while lying in bed (I can still see it now).

Another big difference, the roles of women in the house. I was talking with Rodrigo (my host dad), and he told me that his job in the house is to sit, relax, and watch TV. It's up to his wife to do all the cleaning, cooking, washing dishes, etc. I tried offering to help and I've actually found it very hard not to carry my dishes over to the sink, make my own bed, etc. My host mom doesn't actually do all of the cleaning though because they have a housekeeper come and do all of the work during the day while the parents are at work. I was told that if I want anything, I just tell her what I want and she'll get it for me. It made for an interesting situation today when I said I wanted cereal and thought I was asking for some hot chocolate, but instead got Frosted Flakes in chocolate milk.

Women also don't take their husband's last name when they get married. They keep their own, and the kids get the father's last name and then the mother's, so they end up with four names. I don't quite know how it works though once a child gets married because if they kept all the names, kids would end up with many many names after a few generations. Rodrigo also asked about the US and names with women. I explained how now women are more independent and want to work in the workplace rather than be stay at home moms, which he understood. But then he asked why they still take their husband's name if they want to be so independent. I had no answer for him.

Paying for stuff is different as well. Many stores can't accept any bills higher than what equals $20 in the US, some even $10. They just don't carry as much change as US stores do.

Oh television, how interesting. So far, I don't think I've seen any TV shows other than sports that were from Chile. All they watch is US shows and movies. I've watched part of Toy Story 2, Van Helsing, and numerous shows that were just dubbed with Spanish. Many stations are dubbed with Spanish, while some are still in English but have Spanish subtitles (I find this the easiest way to learn since I can read along, though watching kid's shows and movies completely in Spanish is easy as well). They like all of the Marval comic book movies, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney movies. You name it, they've seen it.

Music is much of the same way as well. Rodrigo is a fan of Ah-Ha and Queen, Rodrigo Jr. likes Linkin Park, and Gabriella likes Backstreet Boys and the Jonas Brothers (not a fan of that last one, but she did say she can't stand Hannah Montana. Instant friendship made).

Speaking of music, this is my favorite music video right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpUWUq5O4eU I actually am a huge fan of their new album. It's old Black Eyed Peas meets Daft Punk. A nice combo that I didn't think I'd be a fan of. My other favorite video right now is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk I so wish I could've been there to join in. Definitely laugh every time I see this.

I suddenly just got very cold. I shall be going now, I'll be eating pretty soon, then it's off to my first day of class. If you want to hear a good joke (or read I suppose), then google one because I don't feel like telling you one.

Ciao.

Orientation Day

Biggest thing I've learned so far, Americans need to learn from Chileans on how to drive efficiently. I swear, they do not wait for anyone to even think about hesitating to make a turn or not. If you aren't moving, they go around you. It doesn't matter if there's a car in the next lane or not, they find a way in and just go around. Traffic lanes are optional I feel. Seat belts are too. The first time I got in the car and started to put my seat belt on, they leaned way over as if I needed the whole back seat to buckle up, but then I realized none of them followed suit, and they only did that because they aren't used to people buckling up so they don't know the appropriate amount of space necessary when doing the lean. But honestly, if you thought California or New York City drivers were aggressive, you haven't lived. I think the worst thing is that I absolutely love it! I mean it's not about watching out for pedestrians or other cars (now I understand why I haven't seen too many bikers), it's about how fast can you get from point A to point B. Tri Cities, you better watch your back when I get back...

On that note, I found out how to ride the micro (bus) today. I walk about five blocks or so to the main road to hop on a bus (if you don't hop on quickly, they'll drive right off). Buses don't have set stops either, if you wave one down they'll stop, and when you need to get off you just stand up and either pull the cords they have along the ceiling or push a button on the railings. There's also many many different types of buses, so they only way for me to know which one is mine is by reading the names of the places they go. I know H.NAVAL is for coming back (hospital naval), but I don't remember which I need to take to get to the university. Luckily, my host dad went with me today and will do the same tomorrow, or until I'm ready for him to let me do it on my own.

It is a twenty minute or so drive to Valparaiso, but I don't think I'll ever get tired of it because of the view. Today, the sun decided to show itself, and I got to see the beautiful ocean view as the sun was rising the entire way to the university. Even more beautiful was when I later walked to the supermarcado con mi padre (supermarket with my dad). The entire time, I had a fairly clear view of the sunset on the ocean. Spectacular. The sun sets very fast though, we walked into the mall while the sun was still barely visible, and by the time we had walked through it, it was completely dark out.

I'm tall. That's what I figured out very quickly. It actually was the first thing my sister said to me when I met her (she comes up to about chest height). Her dad later told me how Chileans are just short people in general. I think my dad is about the same height as Alyssa, and that's considered pretty tall here.

I got to meet my dad's sister, her husband, and their daughter today. It was a pretty good experience, and the husband had a nice conversation conmigo y mi madre (with me and my dad). I actually was able to understand about 95% of what they were talking about, and they were really nice and funny. They then stopped by again just an hour or so ago, and it was nice to see them again. My family told me that next weekend, they'll be taking me with them to Papudo (google it) for their grandmother's birthday, and that's where the sister's family lives. My dad said it's the most beautiful place he's ever seen. We'll be playing beach volleyball and beach soccer (I'll finally get to show off my amazing lack of skills for their country's favorite sport). It shall be wonderful =)

Oh yeah, we started talking about houses and prices and such, and I told my dad about some of the richer parts of America, and so he brought up on google a few different cities along the beach (Papudo being one of them), and then we continued to look at different houses for sale at these places, ooing and ahhing at every single one of them. The prices ranged from about $800,000 to $1,550,000. I think Scott would be proud...

One main difference here: eating schedules. They wake up and have desayuno (breakfast). Then, at around 1 or 2 they have almuerzo (lunch), but it's not like ours. This is their biggest meal of the day, and they told me it's because they work late into the night (till around 6:30 or 7) and they need lots of energy for the rest of the afternoon. Then, at around 5 or 6 they have an once (it's like Europe having a time for tea). Finally, at around 9 or 10 they have cena (dinner), but it's only a light meal to tide them over for the night. My family, however, skips the cena and just has an once at around 8 or 8:30 because that's when everyone gets home from work and school.

Oh yeah, Gabriella (mi hermana/sister) goes to school from 8-1, or somewhere around there. She's in high school, and in her final year. Rodrigo (mi hermano/brother [and also the same name as my father]), goes to school from 2-7. So he sleeps in and doesn't even leave for his elementary school until his sister is already home. It's very interesting, and I found it really funny when they thought 7:35 was early for classes to start when their high school only starts 25 minutes later.

Another random thought, on the way home from the university today, my dad started talking to me about politics and such, and brought up the dictatorship of Pinochet. (If you really want to learn more about Chile, I highly recommend reading up on the history involving him) Luckily, I did a project on his leadership and the US-backed coup that overtook him, so I knew exactly what he was talking about. But he told me that with him, no one was allowed in the streets past 7 PM, and no one was allowed back onto the streets until 8 AM. Todo el tiempo (all the time), there were military people with guns on the streets enforcing the strict rules and regulations. He said it was a very tense time, but now things are a lot more tranquil and they can relax. Just a little history in case you were interested.

The main reason we were talking about this is because I registered for my classes today. I had a placement test today during the orientation, and I got a 50/62 or somewhere around there, so I tested into the advanced level. I was able to take two of the following: Contemporary Chilean Literature, Grammar, Social and Political Themes of Chile, or Conversation and Culture of Chile. I was planning on taking the Lit and the Conversation class, but the Lit class went from 8:30-10:00, and the Conversation wasn't until 2:00, so I opted for the more convienent and more interesting sounding Social and Political Themes class, which goes from 11:45-1:15. Much easier to manage since I won't have to pay twice as much bus fair every day going back and forth between a huge break. It's funny to think that I have to travel all the way to Chile to finally have a schedule with classes that start later than 8:00 AM. Oh, and my first class doesn't start till Wednesday so I don't have to be there till 2 tomorrow. It'll give me plenty of time to relax and catch up on things before I need to go.

Well I think I've written more than enough for now. Tomorrow I wake up whenever and have their housekeeper make me lunch. Then I ride the bus with my dad to class. After, I have a conversation with a Chilean student that will be half English and have Spanish (they want to learn English). Then, I come back and help Gabriella study for her English test. I was looking through her book and boy am I glad I don't have to learn English. There are so many crazy rules to follow that only have like one particular case. But she's doing it, I guess she wants to be an intrepreter in the future. There's only one university for that here, but that's another story for another day. I need sleep now. Thanks for reading if you kept up till now.

Until next time, ciao!

My Arrival

Well after 25 hours of traveling, I finally arrived. I started by leaving my house in the Tri-Cities at 7:30 PM yesterday. Got to the Spokane airport by 9:45 and then waited around till departure at 11:15. Things were looking good till my next flight in Salt Lake City didn't even start boarding until it's scheduled departure time at 2:50 PM. This is where I don't know what happened exactly, but we sit around at the gate and on the runway till we finally take off at 4:10. My next flight leaves Atlanta at 10:05, and since I was supposed to arrive at around 8 I figured I'd have time to relax. Well, we touched down at about 9:10 due to the delay in Salt Lake, and then we sat and waited for a plane to leave a gate when there was another open right next to it until 9:35. I quickly jumped up and pushed my way past people who didn't have to catch another flight and managed to hop onto the tram since I needed to go from Terminal A to Terminal E, almost a mile away. Well I arrived at the gate at about 9:55 and was relieved to hear that they were seating rows 35-40 only. I was in 23. Perfect. I met up with the other two Whitworth students and then we all boarded and took our seats by 10:05. Unfortunately. our luggage doesn't move quite as fast as we did, so we ended up sitting in the gate until 11:20 PM. Hustle = worthless. This puts our arrival time to Santiago at 8:30 AM instead of 7:30. Not too bad, except we have someone picking us up and no way of contacting them to let them know we'll be late. After a restless and sore night of attempted sleeping on the plane, we arrive to Santiago, and have to wait forever to pay for our traveler's visa. (I don't understand why, but only people from Canada, US, UK, Albania, and Mexico have to pay this few...everyone else it's free) Then we go gather our luggage which was at the far back conveyor, not the first one with hundreds of people surrounding it. Then we go through customs (they let me keep my Cougar Cheese, thankfully) and have to fight our way through the mob of taxi cab drivers trying to get us to go with them to find our driver (who surprisingly was still there!). Well one would think the waiting would be over, except it was an hour and a half or so drive to Vina del Mar from Santiago. Then once there, I had to wait as each of the three other kids in our van got dropped off first. Finally, the driver crazily makes his way to my house and out comes my father and mother. Local time of arrival: 11:15 AM (8:15 AM back home). Yeah, it wasn't fun...

My family, however, is wonderful! Much to my surprise, instead of finding a 24 year old son waiting, when I walked in the door a girl came up and gave me un abrazo (hug), and a young boy came up and shook my hand. All of my host family information was wrong, except for the mother's name (I don't know how they could mess up that badly...oh well). I'm living with a 17 year old hija (daughter), and an 11 year old hijo (son). I think they'll be a lot of fun to get to know better.

As soon as I arrived, they asked if I wasnted to go to the supermarcado (grocery store)/mall with them. I said sure why not? They have super sweet escalator ramps here so you can push your cart just about everywhere! We got some shopping done, and then came home and ate some pizza. I knew that Chileans use a knife and fork to eat their meals, but I was a little surprised when they began cutting their pizza as well. It was nice though, I support good manners. Now, I'm just sitting in my room relaxing and possibly going to take a quick nap, although I don't want to sleep for too long.

First impressions of Chile? Amazing. As I was flying in, we went below these clouds and I felt as if I were in the Kingdome (google it for all you non-Mariners fans). But instead of seeing Griffey or Johnson, I saw the most beautiful mountains imaginable, with the occasional sun shining through to illuminate the peaks. Also, while in the car to Vina del Mar, I passed Dinolandia, complete with life size models!! Finally, the city I'm in sits on a hill and over looks the ocean, and although I couldn't see much today due to rainy weather, I know there's an amazing view to be discovered in a day or two...

I don't have a volt/outlet convertor yet so I need to conserve my battery. I'll update soon. Enjoy the warm weather because you can.