Adios 2010

I'm supposed to be making guacamole and resting up for tonight, but I wanted to take this opportunity to post one more time before the year's end. 2010 was a big year, and as always, not all of the news was good. While I'm lucky enough to say that most of my family is happy and healthy, I send my thoughts and prayers to those in my family who aren't very healthy these days. The same holds true for my very close friends who recently experienced a devastating and tragic loss, I think of you both every day.

As for me personally, in 2010 I left a lot behind, moved to a new country, and got settled in to a new job and a new life. That being said, I have to say that I really like Santiago. Being here has really helped me to take one day at a time, give up control, focus on the present moment, and not worry so much about the future. I know some friends back home are anxiously awaiting a full report from my friend M. who leaves Chile tomorrow, but it's fun for me to be able to say that I don't really know what my future holds. Change is inevitable, and I think resistance to change only makes life more difficult. Looking back over the last couple years, I know that I never would have predicted that life would lead me on the path that it did, and I'm happy to be where I am.

I'm looking forward to what 2011 will bring, including some awesome travel opportunities coming up at the end of January into February, beginning with my first trip to the south of Chile. After that, I plan to go wherever LAN Chile will take me...
Happy New Year to everyone I love, to those who have made me feel so at home here in Chile, and to those of you who might stumble on my blog that I haven't met yet.

Bike n Wine

With my amigos M and J still here the obvious next phase of their visit had to involve some Chilean wine. Why not try to incorporate two things that really shouldn't be combined...drinking wine and riding a bike? Well, that's what the tour company La Bicicleta Verde has done, and today we took advantage of their ingenuity and my day without classes and headed down to the Maipo Valley to visit 3 private vineyards on bike around the Paine area. Don't worry, we wore helmets and they saved the drinking for the end of the tour, where we enjoyed a delicious wine tasting with cheese, crackers, and snacks with Mario at Vina Huelquen and then headed off to a restaurant to eat a typical Chilean lunch and drink the rest of the wine from the earlier vineyards.

As you can see from the photos, it wasn't a "typical" day weather-wise around Santiago. Along with many other places around the world, we have been experiencing strange weather patterns and cooler temps. Today was a bit cloudy with a chance of rain (it's very unusual to have any rain this time of year) but as the afternoon went on the skies cleared a bit and we had a beautiful day for our tour!

Let the games begin!

Lookin' good grapes

Check out those cool helmets

Water run-off from the Andes, no shortage around here

We stumbled upon some huasos, cowboys training horses for the rodeo

Skies are clearing a bit

Check out the dynamic duo

Why are these glasses empty?

Our adorable little friend. The owner told me it'd cost me some pesos to take her picture since she's so famous. :) At some point I offered him English lessons in exchange for bottles of wine...

The evidence, and some friends we met today. She grew up in the same town in the Chicago area as J...small world!

Santa is still lingering around. He must have gotten his own bicicleta verde for Christmas!?!

Christmas with friends

This wasn't the first Christmas that I have spent away from my family, being that we are spread all across the country and sometimes being together on the actual holidays doesn't work out exactly right. I always have friends at home who take me in and for that I'm forever grateful. This year I was lucky enough to spend Christmas with M and J, my first two visitors!

They came prepared with the essentials, summer clothes and Santa hats

 

It is difficult to find restaurants open for dinner on Christmas Eve since most people are home with their families to eat a late dinner and open gifts at midnight. Since M and J were staying at a hotel, they got some recommendations and we chose this place, Los Adobes de Argomedo. It caters to tourists and serves some "typical" Chilean food. They were offering a set Christmas Eve menu and show representing typical music and dance of the different regions of Chile.

Luckily Christmas turkey was on the menu

Christmas decorations and Chilean flags

Even Santa stopped by to play the sax

And the show begins

And the crowd goes wild!

Everyone hugging and celebrating after the countdown to Christmas at midnight (so it felt like New Years Eve to us)

Since all of the celebrating and gift opening happens at midnight, Christmas is more like a day of rest. I slept until 11:00 yesterday morning without even waking up. It was by far the quietest day since I've been in Santiago with absolutely no noise to wake me up. Happy Holidays everyone!

Tijerales

On Monday I was discussing the weekend with some of my adult students and one of them mentioned a party that they gave for the workers that were doing some construction on the house. I inquired a little more about this custom and in turn I learned about the fiestas tijerales, a traditional party given for the workers when the support structure of the house is completed and a symbol of good luck.
The name comes from the Spanish word tijeral, which is framework or support trusses for the roof.  From what I gathered by reading and asking around a bit, the tradition seems to date back to the type of support beams that were used in the construction of churches, with the shape being similar to tijeras, or the Spanish word for scissors.
Typically when the workers finish with this phase of the construction, a typical Chilean flag is placed at the top to signal the homeowners to start preparing the feast, usually an asado, (barbecue). I asked Ita if she had a party when the casita was built, and she said "Obvio po!"

Roomies

It had been a long while since I had lived with a roommate, and sharing a small space with someone again was a concern of mine in coming to Chile after having lived on my own for so long. When Ita told me that my roommate was a 22 year-old chemistry student from the Ukraine, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but in the last 4 months I have really come to love and appreciate my little S.
Those of us around the house are always telling her how funny she is and I don't think she understands why. She tells stories in Spanish with the same speed and enthusiasm that speaks Russian, and her insights are usually a combination of someone worldly, optimistic, and a little naive all rolled into one.
I love that when I come home from class at night she always asks me about my day, and when I reciprocate she tries to explain her chemistry formulas to me since she gets so excited about the work that she's doing. She talks about molecules and reactions and probably doesn't realize that I haven't studied anything chemistry related since my junior year of high school.
Most of all, I appreciate her sincerity. Nothing that we talk about feels like an effort to make small talk. She asks me about whether I miss my family or the USA and tells me that if I'm sad and I need to talk to anyone that I can talk to her. She inquires as to what language I will learn next (since she speaks 4) and to whether or not I have ever considered writing a book. (Not because of my tremendous writing skills!) The other morning in the kitchen she asked me "So, what did you dream about last night, Heather?"
Precious!

Futbol

A couple of weekends ago some friends and I attended our first soccer match here in Santiago. Of the two possible games to attend that day, we chose the one that was easier to get tickets for, the Colo-Colo vs. Universidad de Concepcion. Colo-Colo, named after a Mapuche Indian chief, is one of the teams in the Primera Division. This day closed out the second half of the season, and a new round will be starting up again sometime in January after a short break.
There is a ton of hype around Santiago for 3 teams, Colo-Colo, Universidad de Chile, and Universidad Catolica. You can even see the fans camped out near the metro stations with their team's flag on the ground, asking you to contribute coins so that they can buy a ticket for the upcoming game to support their team.
On this particular day, the Universidad Catolica game happening on the other side of the city was deemed the championship game. (unless they were to lose and Colo-Colo was to win, then they would have been locked at an even number of points and a 1 game tie-breaker would have been needed.)
When I told people that I was going to the game, a lot of them looked at me with a quizzical expression, since a gringa like me should proceed with a certain amount of caution and respect for the Colo-Colo. The games and fans are notoriously rowdy, and I went into it knowing that anything that wasn't a part of my body could disappear, but feeling confident that I would be with a group of friends and that we would stay far from the mayhem. Thanks to S and A for being brave enough to bring their camera and take the shots below. I'm already down one camera and wasn't willing to risk losing another.
Our adventure was suddenly all the more interesting when the subway line that goes in the direction of the stadium was closed that day due to a Metro strike. That meant we either had to take a cab or get on the micro (bus) with all of the fans. Because we were pressed for time, we opted for the cab down there and braved the micro on the way back. We were actually befriended by one of the fans who asked us when we were getting on the bus if we were sure that we "didn't want to go get something to eat at the mall first and wait a little while..." Yikes, I think that sums up what I was explaining above!

Estadio Monumental-The Black-Eyed Peas just played here too. Too bad I had to work that night!

This is what happens when the police charge the fans in their riot gear to try to get them to calm down, even more flares and fireworks!

My "Central Perk"

I love how lush and green it is in Santiago now, a complete change from when I first arrived in August. There are some really nice parks around, and now that it's rather warm outside I've also become one of those people who prefers to escape to a bigger outdoor place rather than bake inside my tiny room in the casita that suffers from direct late afternoon sun.
Parks are a great place to people watch, and I've witnessed many different things while passing by this particular park. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of a Saturday morning exercise class or ride by on my bike when they're watering or sweeping up trash from the night before. I've seen both people and dogs swimming in the "pool" out front and boyfriends and girlfriends engaged in PDA that might make you folks back home feel a tiny bit uncomfortable.
There's a cafe literario in this particular park, and it's a great place to go when Starbucks isn't calling my name. It's a library with an indoor/outdoor cafe with wifi and I love the relaxed environment compared to the libraries at home. Yes, I can actually sit and drink a coffee or a soda here and not be scolded for bringing in a water bottle like I commonly was at my old library. I actually remembered to bring my camera the last time I decided to take a stroll, and yes, I have been watching a lot of Friends re-runs here!

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La Moneda

I spend 6 days a week in this area, so I thought it was time to post some pictures and information about Palacio La Moneda, or more simply called La Moneda. Its original name comes from the Spanish word for coin, since the building originally opened as a mint and produced coins there from 1814 to 1829. In 1845, it became the seat for the government and the presidential palace. However, it no longer serves at the presidential residence.
It was here that Salvador Allende allegedly killed himself during the military coup, and the palace was partially destroyed and reconstructed in the early 80's. A more recent development has been the addition of the Centro Cultural, a cultural museum which offers guided visits, art exhibitions, and films. There are often special exhibits presented outside of the Palace as well, including the display of Fenix II, the one of the metal capsules designed for the rescue of the 33 Chilean Miners that was on display at La Moneda in late October.

 

A little boy chasing his dog around the lawn

Fenix II, and the lines of people that waited to have their photo taken next to it

Plaza de la Ciudadania, on the other side

Winding Down

On Monday I finished my early morning class and by the end of next week my schedule will essentially have been trimmed from 6 classes down to 3, which includes saying adios for awhile to a Saturday class. It's amazing how much of a difference waking up early on that sixth morning makes. I used to do extra things at school on Saturdays a lot but it was always by choice or for "extra money" which made it feel a lot different. However, I'll miss those Saturday morning bike rides in to the institute which always provided some early morning entertainment since I seemed to always catch a glimpse of a few people stumbling home from the previous night's adventures.

The schedule changes bring obvious positives and negatives, the positive being that I will have more time for weekend trips again and can return to exploring the city and traveling around on weekends a little more. The last time that I had the opportunity to do this was back in early September, and I obviously know my way around a little better now so that's a huge plus. Another positive is sleep...I was definitely struggling with the late nights and early mornings, so now I will continue to work M-F until 9pm but the earliest that I'll have to be at class will be T/R at 9:30.

The negative is now that I work an hourly job, less hours obviously means less money. It has definitely been a big transition for me and I miss earning a salary as well as the paid breaks and vacations. Now if I don't work I end up owing the institute more time since they usually end up paying us in advance for things and then we owe them back. It's definitely different than what I was used to, but I've learned a lot and it's been great to work with both teens and adults.

It's also been fulfilling to teach two business related English courses and I like discussing the "corporate" side of things. I've always worked in a school and have never had experience in any sort of company. I was reading a little the other day about how so many former teachers go on to become corporate trainers, and former corporate trainers go back to school to earn teaching degrees. Could it lead to a career change for me? We'll see what happens...

Sending home my love

Too often we are reminded about how short and fragile life can be. So take an extra moment today to contact the people you love and tell them that you love them. Hug and kiss your family, children, friends, and everyone who is important to you. Right now I can't be home to do this in person for everyone I care about, so this post is dedicated to all of the ones I love, and especially to my dear friends who need all the love and support in the world right now.
I love you!

What's wrong with this picture?

Just because we weren't out cutting down Christmas trees this weekend doesn't mean there wasn't decorating to be done. Yesterday Ita called me into the house to look at the tree she had just put up and I immediately started laughing. I wasn't laughing at the size of the tree, merely at its placement. I had to explain to her that where I come from this would be a huge fire hazard and that the fire is necessary for sitting around drinking hot drinks, playing cards, opening gifts, etc.
I apologize if I already sound like a broken record (ok Heather, we GET it, it's hot in Chile for the holidays!) but don't judge me until you have experienced it for yourself. I hope you all had a great weekend doing some decorating of your own!

Thank you, technology

In spirit of the holiday season, I wanted to express my gratitude for all of the free technology that's available these days. I miss everyone a lot, but thanks to technology I don't feel nearly as isolated down here in the Southern Hemisphere. Many of my teen students can´t comprehend a world without Skype, but having spent my younger years without it, I truly appreciate how much easier my experience in Chile has been because of how easy it is to maintain my strong connections with the people at home.

One of my favorite options has been the "Text free" app that I have on my Itouch. It assigned me a number in my¨"home" area code so as long as I'm connected to wi-fi I can send and receive texts at no extra cost to anyone at home. This is great for sending birthday or congratulatory messages, coordinating Skype dates, or in general being able to send "can you believe this just happened!?!" texts to my friends at home.

If you sometimes get annoyed with the quirkiness of Skype, or if it's difficult to get both parties to the computer and you don't have a cool smart phone that forwards your Skype calls like I don't, you can currently use Google to call land lines and cell phones in the US for free until the end of the year. You have to download something first, but then you just load up your Gmail account and use the "call phones" option. One more month of free talking!!!

Happy Turkey Day

This will be the second year in a row that I've celebrated a "non-Thanksgiving-ey" Thanksgiving. Last year I went to my friend J's house and we ate delicious paella and grilled asparagus. (she's an excellent cook by the way...) This year I think the closest I'll get to Thanksgiving will be pumpkin pie, zucchini bread, mashed potatoes and wine. (all of those things put together make a meal, don't they?) It's difficult to find the all of the ingredients that you need around here, so you make the most of it and have whatever kind of gringo celebration that you can put together.

Friends have already chimed in to say that warm weather makes you less nostalgic for your typical holidays and it's absolutely true. The weather is a consistent 84 degrees now and I have to work a regular week so it's business as usual here in Chile. I find it strange to open the Amazon.com page and see the Black Friday specials advertised. I hate shopping on Black Friday, so all the more reason to be here enjoying the end of November. I do get a little nostalgic about silly things, like I miss going to Borders this time of year, just milling around sipping a coffee and looking at books in the evening after leaving the gym. It always seemed like a logical thing to do when it was suddenly dark outside at 4:30 pm and it always put me into the holiday spirit.

I wish everyone safe travels and hope that the weather cooperates with your journeys. Have a very safe, happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

Superstore No More

When I first got to Santiago I really missed my weekly stock up trips to Super Target or Super Walmart. It was all part of the routine, Sunday morning yoga, grabbing a coffee at Panera or Einstein Brothers, and then swinging by the superstore to take advantage of the fact that everyone else was either still asleep or at church. Usually my trips resulted in 3 or 4 "green" shopping bags with supplies for the week, and maybe some little extra things that I found on end caps along the way. It´s not so much that Santiago doesn't have superstores to shop at because I definitely take advantage of Jumbo, and there´s also Hiperlider, the place co-owned by Walmart, so if you pop in there the Great Value products definitely don´t make you feel like you are too far from home.

The biggest change in my shopping habits is most definitely due to my lack of car and the availability of the ferias to buy beautiful fresh fruits and veggies, eggs, cheese, nuts, etc. and the fact that you can find one just about any day of the week for prices much lower than the supermarkets. The experience itself is worth the trip. I have been serenaded while they are weighing my apples, teased about the basket on my bike, talked to in the best and worst English, and had just as much fun teasing them right back.
At home the farmers markets are a growing phenomenon, but often those are only one day a week, and if you live in a colder place like I do, often both the selection and schedule are very limited and seasonal. In fact, many of you will begin eating a lot of fruits and veggies from Chile very soon, so keep your eye on those fruit stickers and think of me.

In class we generally teach about how in Spanish speaking countries it's a lot more common to go to many different stores for many different things, and now living it first hand in a large city I can really understand why. There is a pharmacy on practically every corner, and not like how there are a lot of CVS or Walgreen's, I mean literally on every corner.

It's easier to grab a couple of things at a time since there are so many smaller stores that I pass by, and the less I have to carry, the better.Yesterday I needed some black pens for my roll books, so I headed into the libreria to buy pens and a notebook.

There is also no shortage of ice cream here in Santiago, even McDonald's has their own special little stands.

I still miss my 4 wheels every so often, but then I jump on the Mean Green Machine and head out to fill up the basket with fresh strawberries and cherries and realize that I've made a pretty good trade for now!

Seasonal Reverse Disorder

Please don't take this post as a complaint. I'm a summer lover, so the fact that I get to enjoy two summers in the same year is absolutely fantastic, but it's kind of like taking a vacation to Mexico in December and seeing a Santa Claus by the pool, something just doesn't seem right.
I love the weather here right now, even though it means I'm a sweaty mess after taking the Metro and it's not even summer yet. It's so much easier to cool down than it is to warm up, and it's true what everyone says about Chile, it doesn't matter if you're from Alaska, it really is cold here in the winter.
I think the hardest thing to get over is the associating certain special days or holidays with the time of year. For instance, H, the student in the house will celebrate her 21st birthday this weekend. When I asked her if she was excited about it, she said that she couldn't get ready for it because it was too warm outside. I imagine the same will be true next week when Thanksgiving rolls around I have to work a normal week and wear short sleeves and not eat turkey.
I haven't quite wrapped my brain around the whole concept of Christmas yet either. I ride up to Starbucks, park my bike, select a table outside, walk in and order an iced soy mocha? in a Christmas cup while being serenaded by Christmas music? Seasonal merchandise at Jumbo means I have my choice of Christmas towels, beach towels, beach chairs, and coolers? Maybe after several years here it'd be something that one grows accustomed to, but I imagine that the association might always remain.
Hm, I wonder what it'll be like to celebrate my birthday in the winter this year?

3 Months

It's hard to believe that I've been here for 3 months already. Back when I was trying to piece together my time in Chile, I had to choose between leaving for only a semester or for a full year. Now that it's already mid-November, I can't imagine planning to leave at the end of December. Some of my fellow counterparts from Teaching Chile are in the midst of making their travel plans for the summer months, as many of them are on a university-like schedule, where they finish the third week of December and then they use the summer months here to travel around South America.

I plan to take the month of February as unpaid vacation and I've just begun to piece together some travel plans for February. The summer months are really slow when you do institute work, so I plan to work during January and entertain my guests that will begin to arrive here in Santiago at the end of December.
Meg and Javier (two of my bff's) December 22-January 1st.
My mom and Jim (January 8th to 15th)
My aunt and uncle (January 14th to February 3rd) They will spend a couple of days here in Santiago and then will set off to see the rest of Chile, and I'll meet them in the south at the end of the month!

Speaking of Teaching Chile, every semester they host a mid-semester reunion, so here are some photos that I took from the rooftop. I don't live in a high-rise apartment, so it's nice to have these views once in awhile and take some new photos. However, the best part of this event might have been all of the delicious food and Chilean beer and wine.

homemade grilled arepas, corn patty which is a traditional food in both Colombia and Venezuela. Delicious and gluten-free and the sauces were excellent!

Now for those city views...