What are you eating there?

Mark, this post is for you! When I went to China, I posted so many pictures of food it was ridiculous. The food was so unique and the presentation so beautiful that you couldn't help but get your camera out at every meal. (Carol!) I haven't said much about the food here in Chile and it's mostly because my eating habits aren't really that different than before.
I thought I would really learn how to cook, but as it turns out I really don't put together full meals really well. I check out all of the beautiful fresh fruits and veggies and just start cutting up what sounds good at the time. Yesterday it was a tomato and avocado salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar with the tomatoes from yesterday's feria for 300 pesos a kilo!?!
It's also choclo, or corn season around here too, so the other day Ita brought me a stew-like dish with finely ground corn, white beans, and some other veggies. Many of the veggie dishes that I love are winter foods and are way too hot for the summer.
So, here are some pictures of things that people eat around here, and I'm sure you'll be able to distinguish the things that I eat from the ones I'd never touch!

Can't get enough of this stuff

Peruvian salad

Chilean salad

Aji de gallina, a Peruvian spicy chicken dish that's not made as spicy here in Chile since people like things a bit more bland.

Baked seafood empanadas, one of my favorites

Merluza, a typical whitefish with salad. It's pretty plain so you grab the lemon and squeeze it on everything and then salt away!

Fried conger eel with some kind of puree

Chorillana. Red meat, onions, eggs, fries, etc. Thankfully this is supposed to be for more than one person. Thankfully I don't eat it.

Bistec a lo pobre. Another heart stopper.

My First 18th

I was a bit disappointed this summer watching the World Cup from afar, wanting to be in Chile to join in the festivities in a country that really takes soccer seriously. Although I got up early to watch the games and proudly wore my "I heart Chile futbol" t-shirt, it just wasn't the same. I was patiently waiting for my consolation prize, being here in Chile for the Bicentennial celebration.
Dieciocho is a big word around here, meaning the 18th of September, the Fiestas Patrias, and this year, the Bicentenario, or the 200th anniversary of Chile's independence from Spain. In fact, it's not just an independence day around here, as indicated by the signage, it's a whole month of celebrating!

Bad picture, but you get the idea

Now that's a big flag

Even la casita has been properly adorned

Celebrating the 18th means that the whole country was on holiday pretty much from Thursday afternoon until this morning. Everything is closed, so you have to stock up in advance for your barbecues and all of your beverage needs.  I think about what the supermarkets are like on the 3rd of July, now imagine them all shut down from Friday afternoon until Tuesday morning!  Thankfully yesterday I was able to sneak into a botilleria that was open to grab some more wine. :) It was actually quite peaceful (I use that word lightly) at certain times in Santiago, mainly because there is less traffic due to all the people who take advantage of this time to leave the city to head out of town to visit family or head over to the beach. What can't be described as peaceful is heading out to any public places, whether to see a parade, go to a fonda, or see the light show, "Pura energia, Pura Chile."

The crowd at Parque O'Higgins gathering before the military parade

A fonda, or what in the US is similar to a summer festival with many individual booths to buy food and drinks

Don't forget your llama...

Or to eat before you leave the house if you don't like meat...

Or your game face...

Fortunately, I was able to try some food other than giant pieces of meat that I really enjoyed, like mote con huesillos and pastel de choclo.

Serving up the mote con huesillos, a sweet drink made from peaches, sugar, cinnamon, and husked wheat

Pastel de choclo, usually made with a layer of meat, boiled egg, olives, potatoes, onion, with a mashed kind of sticky corn cover that sticks to your teeth.  This one was veggie and had mushrooms instead of meat.

And just because I was a little homesick this week, I also celebrated with some good old NFL football (can't believe the Bears are 2-0!), a burrito the size of my head, and a pitcher of beer 

It was a fun week, and since I have been here in Chile I certainly cannot be accused of working too much!

Minor Issues

Earlier I wrote about the positive things that were making my adjustment to life in Chile a lot easier. Now that I've been here a little over a month, I think it's fair to mention some of the things that have made my transition here a little more difficult. Overall, I think I was more than prepared for my stay here thanks to the wealth of information made available by all of the bloggers in Chile!

1. Smog
I still do a double take some days when I gaze out at the Andes at how close they are to the city. It's a shame that they are blanketed in a cloudy layer of smog. My contact lenses and my complexion can also attest to the fact that this is no exaggeration. I'm already 2/3 of the way though a bottle of contact re-wetting drops and my skin hasn't looked this bad since I was 19.

2. Homeless animals
If you have pets or love animals, it's just difficult to get used to seeing the animals out there fending for themselves, especially when I think about my kitty back home all nice and warm cuddled up on the dog's bed.

3. Food
There will be a separate post about this, but I made the mistake of going to the supermarket hungry the first few times that I went, not realizing that I was going to have to be a lot more prepared if I wanted to survive here. No more grabbing a box of Morningstar Farm, a container of hummus, and a bag of baby carrots to have on hand.  Time to start soaking those beans and scrubbing the carrots...

4. The Metro
Don't get me wrong, I wanted to live in a "modern" city with access to good public transportation, but the life of an English teacher takes you out and about a lot, and by the 4th time on the subway in the same day, both my wallet and my personal space are wishing for an alternate form of transportation, which is why I'm currently searching for a used bike.

5. Staring at the tall gringa
It takes awhile to get used to the fact that at any given time you can look up and make eye contact with 5 people who happen to be looking at you.  I think every gringo/a has a feature that gives them away, and for me it's my height. It's kind of creepy sometimes, but I'm beginning to adjust to the fact that I'm pretty damn tall in this city and people are going to look at me. Remember my nickname, girafa? :)

6. Teaching resources
I'm a teacher by trade and was fortunate enough to work at a school with many great resources and excellent technology. It's been a bit more difficult planning lessons when some days it's just downright challenging to find paper to make 8 copies. Paper is really expensive here, so I've gotten a lot of mileage out of my one whiteboard marker.

7. Having to be on guard all of the time
Before I moved here I was living in a town where I could accidentally leave my garage door open overnight and wake up the next morning and say "oops, it's a good thing I live where I do!" Now I walk around like every single person on the street or on the metro is trying to get their hand into my purse.  Maybe I'm a little over cautious, but better safe than sorry I guess.

Overall, I feel like each week I'm able to mark a certain milestone and feel more comfortable about my situation.  It's all about putting yourself out there and learning new things!

Settling In

It's hard to believe that I haven't even been in Chile for a week yet.  It's so different than the life that I was living that sometimes I wake up in the morning and have to talk myself through what it is I supposed to do that day!  I was so accustomed to my teaching schedule that required me to do the exact same thing at the exact same time everyday that I'm still getting used to having a different schedule each day and also working at night.  I used to be able to jump in my car 5 minutes before I needed to be at work, and now I wake up and try to calculate how long it will take me to get to where I need to go based on how far the walk is, the time of day, and how busy the metro will be.  At least I'm getting used to doing all of this from the comfort of the casita  (will post some pictures of that another time).  If you want to see pictures of the hostel that we were staying in and of our weekend festivities, then check out Struan and Anna's blog.  They are 2 lovely teachers from England that I met who will also be here teaching in Santiago all year.
Now, I am waiting for Ita to show me where the grocery store is so I can go and buy myself some food, but thankfully in the meantime, she has served me a few delicious things that look like this.
 


The best part is that there are two vegetarians around already so everything that she makes is already half meatless. Let's face it, no one wants to be the only one picking out meat or asking for special things, so it is great to have delicious bean soups and things like this prepared already!  Soups like this also help to fight the cold, which has pretty much returned since that beautifully warm day that we had on Saturday.  I realized today that this is the first time I have ever left Chicago to come to colder temperatures (I mean, why would I do that anyways?) but it does take a bit of getting used to, the mittens coming out for the walk home after class and all.  And, for those of you who don't know, the reason why it's so cold is because there is no heat, so Chicagoans, imagine the month of April with no central heat.  This leads me to my next picture, my "estufa" which I light in my room at night.

Yes, we're talking matches, pilot light, gas and all!  But trust me, without this thing I'd be walking around with 3 layers and a winter coat.  In fact, my feet are pretty cold just sitting here right now, even with my shoes and socks on. I really didn't believe that I'd be cold with temps that say highs in the 60's, but trust me, I am!

Hot Dogs, a cultural phenomenon

When your assignment for Spanish class involves a "tour" of a Spanish speaking country, the most logical food sample to share from Chile is a completo, right? 

Chicago and Santiago, not really that different?!?


Side note: 45 degrees in Chicago today and 73 in Santiago. Hmmm, I thought it was spring here.