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!

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!

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?

Long Weekends

One of the first pieces of information that I perused before arriving here in Chile was a calendar with a list of the public holidays. Some of the days are the same as my days off in the US, but others are new to me so I've had the opportunity to take advantage of days such as Dia del Profesor, which allowed me to sleep in on a Saturday, something I hadn't been able to for several months.
Several weeks ago while you folks at home were celebrating Columbus Day, we also celebrated a public holiday here that's is referred to as Dia de la Raza. This day in some Latin American countries might be seen as a counter to Columbus Day, but in talking to some of the Chilean teachers here they said that they prefer to think of it as neutrally as possible and just celebrate the discovery of the Americas.
For this long weekend I ventured about 6 hours north to La Serena, a popular vacation and beach area that sits adjacent to the beautiful Elqui Valley. I wanted to visit before the tourist season, and although it was very cloudy and a little cold, I managed to spend most of the trip seeing some of the clearest blue skies that I've even seen in my life. The skies here are so clear that this area is home to many international observatories, and although this time I didn't have the opportunity to to take a tour, just star-gazing and identifying constellations myself that I haven't seen for ages made the trip worthwhile.

Vicuna, one of the smaller towns that composes this valley is also the birthplace of the famous Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in literature. We had the chance to visit the tiny museum dedicated to her, and almost missed this opportunity since the time had changed the night before and we didn't realize it. The man kept telling us that the museum was closing at one o'clock, and I kept thinking that this was odd since it appeared to only be 11:45.

We also visited Pisco Mistral in Pisco Elqui, stopped in for a tour and tried some pisco, a liquor distilled from grapes, (you can see the vines pictured below) and most famously present here in Chile in a drink called pisco sours. Delicious!

I was so wiped out from that last long weekend that this time I decided to take the opposite approach and spend my long weekend for Dia de Todos Los Santos right here in Santiago. This Catholic holiday is celebrated on November 1st to honor all of the saints, both known and unknown and is marked by mass visits to the cemetaries. This morning I read in the publimetro newspaper that between Sunday and Monday about 700,000 people visited the Cementario General de Santiago. I asked some of my adults students this morning about how/if they celebrate and some said that they always go to the cemetary, others never do, and some usually go but didn't go yesterday since it was so hot.
I can attest to the heat yesterday, as I was out riding around on my bike quite a bit and at times felt a little light headed. It was a great weekend to get caught up on rest, read, spend some quiet time, and Skype since everyone else here at the house was away at the beach. I plan to relax as much as I can right now on the weekends since I'm working so much during the week and save up my travel time for the upcoming summer months!