Wonderful Pictures

(sand dunes of ConCon)

(it was quite cold because of the wind)

(the ocean...)

(I plan to buy this house one day)

(the band and the dancers)

(traditional dances at the International Students fiesta... that is a bottle of water on her head...)

(ISA group on the boat ride through the harbor)

(Valparaiso from the boat trip)

(a crane lifting huge containers into the boat)

(view of Valparaiso's port)

(this acensor, or Funicular Railway is one of the oldest ones, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century)

(View from the acensor on Cerro Alegre)

Late Nights of Knitting

Yesterday was a pretty relaxed day. After sleeping in, eating lunch, saying goodbye to Crystal, and moving into my new room, Sigrid, Angelica, and I ventured to Vina to buy yarn. Sigrid has been looking to learn how to knit, and I decided to pick up some yarn to make a scarf to keep me warm!

We then made a quick stop to the grocery store before going over to Gisela's house, where we were going to do some knitting and eat once. Gisela has two ISA girls living at her house, Michaela and Scarlett. Maria Teresa, another ISA mom, was also coming over to join the party. Sigrid and I knitted, giving me the opportunity to learn a lot of different knitting terms in Spanish that I don't think I would have learned otherwise.

After knitting and tea, we had once (which is like a late night snack), that consisted of mini pizzas on bread and chocolate cake. Nine women (Gisela, her mother, her daughter, Angelica, Maria Teresa, Sigrid, Michaela, Scarlett, and I) sat around the table and talked about lots of different things. It was interesting to hear the moms talk about former students that they had living with them and the advice they had to give.

One thing was clear, they are always happy when students do something with them. Since we are part of their family for this semester, they want us to do the types of things we would do if we were in their family: go to the store with them, go to the movies with them, visit their friends houses, etc. They are opening up their home and they expect us to go through the door and live as they live.

Rearrangements

Now that Crystal has left, I have moved into her room and most importantly, gotten her cell-phone so that I can communicate with the world! Crystal was nice enough to give me her phone, which I believe still has some minutes left on it. My number is 99520144, which to call from the U.S. means you need to call 011 + 56 + 9 + phone number. But, I also have downloaded skype, which is much easier to use!

Yesterday, the "Monitors," or student advisers threw a party for all the international students at a hotel in Viña del Mar. It was quite surprising that they had decided to throw a party on a pretty big scale. Unfortunately, it was geared towards dancing and "carreteando" (partying) rather than getting to know other students. After dancing for a while, we headed over to Cafe Journal, a hot-spot for students in Viña. We met up with some other students, talked, danced some more and finally headed home.

Videos!

A street band that we came across in Santiago.


Changing of the guard at La Moneda, the presidential palace.


Another clip of the changing of the guard.

I live by the ocean!

For someone who has never lived by the ocean, Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are pretty amazing!

On Tuesday, the ISA group took a walking tour of Vina del Mar, which lies right next to Valparaiso and where some of my classes will be held, which included walking along one of the main beaches, passing by more artisan stands. It was amazing to see people walking along the beach, sitting in the sand, and even getting a little wet when it is supposed to be winter! However, it has gotten considerably warmer these last couple of days.

On Wednesday, I only had about a half day of activities, so Angelica, my mom, Gabriel, her son, Sebastian, the neighbor, Crystal, the other ISA student, and I went for a drive to Concon. About twenty minutes to a half an hour north of Valparaiso, Concon is know for its sand dunes. Although we didn't get to go up on the dunes, we went to a spectacular overlook on the ocean. The cliffs fell strait into the sea, and the huge waves crashed up against them, creating beautiful scenes of water rushing up against the rocks and then falling away. There was also a house that was built into the rocks, which must have one of the most spectacular views on all the coast line.

Fin de Santiago, Empieza de Valparaiso (Pictures...)

(the personal reserve of the family that founded, owns and runs the winery)

(Ali, Me, and Erika at the winery)

(our guide at the winery)

(the vineyard! so beautiful and relaxed...)

(The house consists of three parts and are all designed to look and feel like boats. This reflected Neruda's love of the ocean, but his unfortunate ability to get seasick easily.)

(Pablo Neruda (won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971)'s house in Santiago - which is one of three houses he owned)

(andes outlined by the city)

(the group)

(climbing down from the top)

(heaven and earth in the face of a building...)

(the village of the Dominicans... where there are lots of artisans who sell their crafts)

(how our stuff got from Santiago to Valparaiso)

(waiting to meet our families in Valparaiso)

(room with a view... my room only temporarily)

Brrrrrrr.....

Chile is not chilly. It is cold.

I really underestimated how cold it was going to be. This isn't because the temperature is something different than what I expected, it is because you don't get warm. At home, when it is cold outside, you walk into your house, school, or basically any building and the heat is blasting so you can warm up. Not so in Chile - they don't have central heating or air... so any warm you get inside is from space heaters... which makes it unbearably cold sometimes.

In the cold, we took a placement exam yesterday at the Casa Central (Main Building) after a brief introduction to the University from the International Study Office. After the exam, all forty of us trekked over to the International Studies Abroad Office, which is right across the street from the main building of the university. The rather small office was a mad house with all the new semester students and a lot of the summer students milling around, trying to use the computers and eat their lunches.

After sitting around for a while, we ventured out into the rain and cold to take a tour of downtown Valparaiso. We saw a lot of shops, as well as the Congress building while roaming around the city, trying to get acquainted with the area.

When we got back to the office, we went to "Jumbo," which was described as a 'super Wal-mart.' I found it hard to believe that there would be anything that resembled a super Wal-Mart in Chile, but low and behold, it was! There was clothing, food, electronics, everything. And, it was super cheap. So I bought the necessities I needed, plus a sweater for about six dollars.

Now, if I could only find my camera cable to be able to upload more pictures...

Valparaiso

After one more day or touring Santiago (where we visited the Cerro Santa Lucia again and the Los Dominicos artisan neighborhood-selling place), we headed off to Valparaiso. Of course, I was reading Harry Potter basically the whole ride, but when I did look at the scenery, the Andes had been replaced by flat fields where smaller hills erupted like a person lying under a sheet on a flat bed.

When we got to Valparaiso, the bus was overcome with amazement, excitement and nervousness. We began to descend down then hill, seeing all the colorful houses, the water, and the beach. The energy in the bus was overwhelming - everyone was nervous about meeting their family while at the same time realizing that this was the beginning not of a vacation, but four months in a completely different country.

As we got off the bus, we were told to stay on one side, get our luggage, and wait for our names to be called so we could meet our parents. Among the sea of people, we couldn't really see the families, but they were trying to look at us just as much as we were trying to check them out.

I met my mother, Angelica, and her son, Gabriel, towards the end of the introductions. And we headed off to their house.

In the pension, Angelica and Gabriel, who is 29 and studying to be a lawyer, both live. I also met Carla, a doctor studying to be a Pediatrician, and Crystal, a student with ISA who is studying in Valparaiso for the summer. Four other Chileans live here, who are all studying engineering, as well as Sigrid, an ISA student who has been in Valparaiso since last semester.

When I arrived, we talked and eventually had dinner - which was a delicious quiche with avocado salad. :-) I can get used to the fact that a kilo of avocados here costs about $1.50, which means a lb would be about 75 cents!

After dinner, we took a drive in the car, so that Gabriel and his neighbor could show me and Crystal around Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, which is literally connected to Valparaiso and very close to where we live.

After our drive, we had some Piscolas (which is the Chilean drink Pisco mixed with Coke) and talked. Chileans have a very interesting way of speaking, which I will have to get used to. They also have a lot of slang, a couple of words which I have now learned... but there are many more to come.

Mas Picturas

Click on the pictures to see them larger!

(Our group!!)

(One of the Liberators of Chile, General Bernardo O'Higgins. Born to an Irishman working for the Government of Spain and a Chilean woman, he is credited with starting the revolution to free Chile from Spain)

(current President of Chile)

(statue of Salvador Allende outside la Moneda)

(Donde Augosto, where we ate lunch in the Mercado Central)

(the old congress; made me feel right at home with the architecture in the style of the White House)

(map of Pueblos Originales - original people - in the museum of pre-colobian art)

(the court house in Santiago)

(the guards)

(changing of the guard outside the Presidential Palace "La Moneda")

Distractions

I must say that I am quite distracted from writing this blog right now. For one, I meet my host family tomorrow and it is simply a nerve wracking experience. And second, I just bought the seventh Harry Potter book at a bookstore here and I am racing to finish it, while still engaging in the group, etc. So, disculpe the quick review of events.

Yesterday, we went to the Presidential Palace, where the President only works, not lives, to get a tour and see the changing of the guard. The changing of the guard is very elaborate, and happens every 48 hours. The Presidential Palace is very interesting because it was the center of activity during the military coup. Parts of it were destroyed and Dr. Allende, the president at the time, ended up committing suicide inside the Palace, in order to die with honor.

After lunch at the Mercado Central, we went to the museum of precolobian (before Columbus) art. The most interesting pieces were the mummified babies that were found in the desert and the string-recording method that the Incas used.

Today, we went to a vineyard to take a tour and taste wine in the morning. The vineyard is one of the oldest in Chile, and has very special wines. Still in the city, but clearly with a lot of land, it really left me feeling like I had escaped the city for at least a little while and was in a calmer place. The wine was very good, and the guide gave a good insight into wine tasting and new words in Spanish. (Uva is grape, but when talking about wine, it can also be a sepa, por ejemplo)

We the ate lunch in the Bellavista neighborhood, which is a very artsy quarter. It also has the house of Pablo Neruda, that was dedicated to his mistress and later his wife, Matilde. There were a lot of indications in the house of how much he cared for her, such as having the wrought-iron on the windows in the shape of their initials. The house has many of Pablo Neruda's belongings that were not stolen or destroyed by the military government after he died in 1973. The house also has the Nobel Prize that he won in 1971, the money from which helps fund the Pablo Neruda Foundation.

Both days we ended with three hour long orientation meetings that were saved only by the expresso break we got. But, I guess all that information is necessary.

(Again, pictures are forthcoming...)

All together now....

On our second day in Santiago, we met with the ISA group at the hotel and got somewhat settled into our rooms - although my room wasn't ready yet. It was quite overwhelming trying to meet about 40 people in a short span of time, and I still haven't met some of them.

We had lunch at a cafe next to the hotel - which was sad for other customers since we took up the whole restaurant. The lunch was very filling, and surprisingly vegetarian (it actually didn't have any meat)!
(hostel take over of the restaurant)

After lunch, we headed to the Cerro San Cristobal, a hill that rises in the middle of Santiago. It received it's name because St. Christopher is the patron Saint of travelers, and travelers used it as an indicator that they were approaching Santiago.

We used the funicular (a railway that goes up the side of a mountain) to get to the top of the hill. (the railway, the station from the outside, and our group waiting to go up).


Once we got to the top, we were given time to look around the top of the hill, where there is a large statue of the Virgin Mary, that was actually made in France and shipped over), and an outdoor church that has Mass on Sundays. (the statue, which is illuminated at night as well)

To get down from the hill we took the telefonico, which is like an enclosed ski-lift or cable-car. I also thought of the Bond movie where Jaws tries to snap the cable-car that Bond and a girl are in. It did give us some marvelous views of the city, and an insightful look at how the hill separates the wealthy part of Santiago, that we are in right now, from the poor side.

(a cable-car, they seat 4)
(Leslie and Erika taking a ride)
(a view of Santiago from the cable-car)
(el Cerro and the city)
(a cable-car whizzing past)
(another view)
(going down!)

When we got back, we took a little break and then went out to watch some futbol (or soccer as us Americans say). Chile was playing Argentina in the qualifiers for the U-20 World Cup in a match for second place. We were told that this was a huge game, not only because it was a semi-final, but also because Chile and Argentina are huge rivals. Chile is not known to have a good team, and it showed while they were playing Argentina. Nonetheless, every bar was packed with Chileans watching big screen TVs and projectors outside. I'd be surprised if there was a TV that wasn't playing the match in all Santiago. Chile ended up loosing 3-0, so there were no parties in the streets, but it was clear that they do love their futbol.

First pictures!

Getting ready to leave! So little packing...
The pigeons in Santiago are huge!!

Tourists much??


The entrance to Cerro Santa Lucia

Fountain in the middle...


Another view of the fountain.



A view of the traffic in the city.... which explains the smog...


Yea... that's the smog right there....



Ali, Brittany and I at the top of the Cerro Santa Lucia, overlooking the city.


It was a long walk up.


View of the Cerro San Christobal... a large park that contains the Parque Metropolitano and the Zoo.




Another view of the Andes from the Cerro.




Looked like a hawk! All this new wildlife is so interesting! (I'm such a nerd...)


Here I am in Santiago!




The steep way up to the top of the hill.


Another picture from the Cerro Santa Lucia.




Cathedral by the Plaza de Armas.


A very European looking Cathedral.