Interesting attempts and updates

 So I will be updating from a couple weeks now since I haven’t written anything in about 3 weeks 🙂 So three weekends ago was interesting.  First, on Friday I decided to make eggplant parm for my host family because I had gone shopping with my host mom earlier that week and she told me that she had never tasted eggplant because she didn’t know how to cook it.  So we bought some eggplant and away I went to make eggplant parm (for 8 people which is a lot!)  So first obstacle I came across was the fact that when I went to buy parmesan cheese (which is one of the main ingredients in eggplant PARM) I couldn’t find any and once I did it was so expensive and it probably would’ve fed like half a person, so I had to improvise and buy mozzarella cheese (which I know is not the same but still delicious).  So once I had the ingredients I asked my dad how to make it.  He told me to cut like 6 eggplants for all of us, I ended up cutting 4 which was wayyyy to much and we ended up with an extra pan of food!  But it went well and they all loved, in fact my host dad said it’s his new favorite food and asked me when I was going to make it again.

I cannot say that I had the same success on Sunday of that same weekend when I attempted to make corn casserole that my mom and I make and everyone loves.  😦 I probably should’ve known when I went to buy the ingredients and once again couldn’t find, canned corn, cream corn, again the main ingrdients for the dish I was attempting to make, so I can’t be that hard on myself considering what I was working with and I would’ve decided not to do it except that I had already told my host mom that I would make it for her because humitas are her favorite food and thisis very similar to that and it was her birthday, so I had to make it at that point.  Anyway, so i had to cut the corn kernels off the cob boil it a couple minutes then blend half of it in a blender with some water to make creamed corn!  Then I had to boil another bit to make regular cooked corn (like from a can)!!  So it doesn’t end there… since they don’t sell cream corn I mean they obviously don’t sell corn bread mix so I bought this other flourish type corn thing which I figured was similar to what I had bought when I had made it in Ecuador… WRONG!!  It came out hard like a solid type substance, more like pizza dough!  It was weird… oh, and the sour cream!  Well we went and bought some, again figuring it’d be like the one in Ecuador… wrong again!!  First of all they don’t measure things here in ounces they use grams so I really had no idea how much I was buying because it’s not in a container it’s like in a bag so I kind of eyeballed it and I was so wrong, haha!  We only had half a cup (we needed a full cup) and then they only sell Lite sour cream! Who the heck only sells lite sour cream… it’s basically whipped butter which is all fat if you take off 6 calories, I don’t really think it’s going to make that big a difference, but I digress… Then I go to make it and the sour cream is like milk!!  It’s super watery, it was like literally cream not like the one they sell in the US that’s somewhat thick.  Oh and they don’t sell stick butter (like margarine)… all butter comes in a butter container so once again I had to eyeball it so I really have no idea how much butter I put it in it because.. oh yeah, best part… they have no measuring cups!!
 So basically I have  no idea how much of anything I put in there except eggs haha I know I put 2 eggs in!!  But on the up side… apparently it tasted just like their humitas so my host mom was happy but I didn’t really like it 🙂

So that same weekend I also went to a friend’s wedding.  Her name is Andrea and her husband’s name is Kenji; she’s in one of my classes with me.  So I went to her ceremony first in a church and then to her reception.  Her dress was gorgeous!!  She looked like a princess 🙂 and it was a lot of fun.  It was in another city that I had not been to yet (about 45 minutes from where I live) called Villa Alemana, so that was also exciting to get to know a new place. 

The following weekend I went partying all weekend! 🙂  On Friday night was my friend Rafael’s host sister’s 21st birthday so I went to her party at their house, which was a lot of fun.  I spent the night and the next day when I went home we made plans and we went out on Saturday night to a new club called El Cubanismo.  It was actually a lot of fun!  It is a Cuban owned club where basically everyone who works there is Cuban and they dance amazingly and it was fun.  I must say that besides the exchange students I’ve met, that night I saw the most diversity that I have seen since I have been in Chile, so that was nice!

So besides that I can’t really think of any other truly exciting things that have happened in my life except maybe the student protest (that I did not attend thanks to the advising of my awesome study abroad advisor at Agnes 🙂 ) but that basically all of my classmates went to last week Tuesday, April 19th.  It was a protest because the government or the people who own the metro buses, I’m not really sure which ones, are trying to get rid of the student bus pass which reduces our fair from 380 pesos to 130 pesos which makes a HUGE difference when you’re going back and forth on the bus at least twice a day.  So the students protested and I’m not exacty sure of all the details because there were different stories surrounding it but two of the ones I heard were that a)it didn’t happen where it was supposed to happen so a bunch of students were confused and didn’t go and b) that the students and police officers got into fights and the police used tear gas on the students.  So I don’t really know what is true and what isn’t but I thought it was interesting still.  So I am still loving it here and I really haven’t gotten as homesick as I expected yet so that is still good, although my classes are getting more challenging (and I didn’t do all that well on my first official test I took) but I have hope that I can do it and that it will get better!!  🙂

New explorations

So this past weekend was a very fun-filled weekend.  It all started on Friday night, which was my little brothers’ 13th birthday party.  We celebratedit at home with some family and a bunch of their friends.  It was nice for them and they loved their gifts (I got them each a soccer ball- each was like special for them) so that was good.  Saturday morning, bright and early, Mercedes and I went to volunteer with a program called Un Techo Para Chile (A Roof for Chile), which among many other things builds houses and community centers in the poorest areas of the city/country.  Most of these areas are on the hills where there is no running water and very limited electricity, which they also try to provide.  Well this weekend, we went to actually take down two of the houses they had built previously and move them to another location (because of “property” disputes).  Now when I say houses, I don’t mean a full blown house like you are probably thinking (like they do on extreme home makeover or anything like that) I’m referring to a bare minimum house, which is more similar to a shack than a house (about the size of a two-car garage to explain the size).  So we went and worked all day to first empty the houses, then take them down, which is much harder than you think because we had to be very careful with all the materials since we have very limited materials and needed to reuse everything we could!  But all in all it was a really actually fun day and I got to climb on the roof of the house and help take out all the nails and take the roof down piece by piece!  I was terrified but it was fun and I met a bunch of really nice people!!

Sunday was my host dad’s mom’s 70th birthday, so we all went to her house to celebrate with her and ate so much wonderfully delicious food!!  It was nice to meet his whole family since I had met my host mom’s family a couple weeks before.  Then on Monday, my host mom took Mercedes and I on a tour of the hills of Valparaiso.  She took us up all the hills and to see churches and landmarks that have been here for hundreds of years.  Valparaiso used to be one of the main ports of the entire world (a long time ago) but once the Panama Canal was built and cargo ships no longer had to go around South America, its popularity died down quite a bit, but still many of the “firsts” of Chile are in Valparaiso for this reason (the first fire house, Chile’s Armada, first place to buy/sell stocks [which I don’t know the name of hehehe], and many other things).  Then she took us (by accident really because we got lost) to a lake in a town called Curauma, which was so beautiful.  We ended the tour and the day with a stop to eat at a small hole-in-the wall restaurant where we bought empanadas, which were beyond delicious!  She told us that they were the best in Valparaiso but they are almost like a secret because it is a place where you have to know to get to it because if you don’t you’ll just pass it by.  This weekend is my host mom’s birthday and I’m going to a wedding that one of my classmates invited me to because she’s (obviously) getting married.  So I’m looking forward to that!!

UGH!

So I basically feel like this week keeps getting worse and worse with bits of good times that feel like a tease! So Monday I was almost late to class because the stupid buses wouldn’t stop for me!! Like 4 buses went by before I got so aggravated that I took a colectivo to class, which costs more money but I was so aggravated at that point I didn’t even care!  So I got to class and then left immediately to come back to say my last good byes to Robert before his mom took him to the hotel and on the start of his journey in the air force.  So we skyped for a little while then he had to leave, which was super sad but I was ok.  Then Tuesday morning, I woke up early because Robert was texting me via facebook messages, because he still had his phone until I left for class, which once again I was almost late for (actually I was late but the professor was also late so it was like I was on time- tease of goodness) but I was late because of the buses!!  Ugh!! I’m getting so aggravated with the bus situation, seriously!! It is really aggravating standing there for 10, 15, 20 mintues one day waiting for the bus, which you have no idea what time will be coming and when they finally do come if they will feel like stopping, one day and then another day walking down and the bus passing by and either stopping for you, on a good day, or just riding on by, on a bad day… ugh!  Well, anyway that’s what happened.  As soon as I walked down on Tuesday morning the bus came which I thought was so lucky (tease of goodness) until he DIDN’T STOP!! Then I was aggravated but then still ok until I was standing there for 15 minutes, and it was cold outside!!! But then goodness, my last class was canceled for the day so I came home and got to take a nap until I had to go to my meeting for the communtiy service project that I will be starting in about 2 weeks (I’ll tell you about that another day).  Then when I got home I had the pleasant surprise of having a message from Robert while he was in the airport for his layover on his way to Texas, so we talked for a little while until he boarded.  Later that night while I was waiting to get his message that he landed safely and his final good bye, my internet STOPPED WORKING but we didn’t know, so I was up for an extra hour waiting for a message that I didn’t receive until later that night when I happened to wake up and check!! Again, ugh!  This morning, once again 2 lovely buses passed me by before the 3rd bus finally stopped and let me on, but then I was kind of happy because the bus was basically empty (but I was cold from standing outside).  Then my last class, that I had been enjoying took a turn for the worst and I was sooooo lost!!! They are talking about philosophy!! Now I barely understood the philosophy class I took as a sophomore, and that was in English! In Spanish, I’m really lost and the worst part is, I don’t even know what to ask because everything can be answered in like 15 different ways!! And to put the cherry on my terrific half a week so far, I went to plug my computer in today and it wouldn’t work!! I had to jiggle it around and prop a book under the charger to get the light to turn on and it still turns off sometimes!!! If this is any indication of how the rest of the week is going to be I’m very scared for my test I have tomorrow!!! I really hope it gets better!

UGH!  Thank you for reading my vent 🙂

A new class

So I had to sign up for some new classes this week becaus eone of my classes was a full year course and no one noticed until last week so I wouldn’t be abloe to finish it (obviously) before I left so I had to choose 2 new ones to equal the same number of credits.  I had the other one earlier this week but today I had my last new class, Traditional Songs, Games and Dances, and I LOVED IT!  I love what we’re learning about and the way the class is set up.  We are learning about the traditions of the country by region, we watch a movie on it, discuss it in class, have some readings, and we learn to play games and songs and dances from each region!! I learned two new dances today, El Cielito and El Ranchero (the Chilean one) and yes we have tests on everything but I’m excited to be learning somethingnew and fun!!

Today was also the day they “welcome” the freshmen to the campus.  All morning the sophomores had games and tricks planned for all the freshmen and they threw buckets of water on them, flour, and powdered paint… it was crazy and I felt kind of bad for them they were like bathing in the sinks afterwards because they had to ride the buses home.  It was a very nice day actually and I’m excited for this weekend, we’re having a bachelorette lunch date for one of the girls in my class, a cookout on saturday and some lovely partying 🙂

Getting accustomed :)

Well it’s been a little while since my last post but I haven’t really felt like sitting down to write but now I do 🙂

I became official today!! I finally got my Chilean ID and it turned out that I got it for free because the man forgot to charge me (yay!!) haha.  My host mom thought that was quite funny and she kept talking about it, she made me laugh.

Last week, my second week of class went much better than my first!  I made a lot more Chilean friends and have hung out with a couple of them during the week.  They are all so nice and have so many questions about the US and how things work and what things are like it is kind of funny to me sometimes because things that seem so normal to us over there, like the kinds of cars we see on the streets or the fact that our metro buses actually have schedules and stops that they regularly stop at, seem so different to them.  I was told however, earlier in the week that I walk very American especially for a woman because I walk very aware of my surroundings with my head up and look confident; I hadn’t really noticed this but when they pointed it out, I guess I do.  On the flip side, one of my classmates asked me in class what part of Chile I was from and what year because she hadn’t seen me before, when I wold her I was from the US she just looked at me and looked surprised.   It was kind of funny.

Well, I read out loud in class for the first itme last week, which doesn’t seem like a very big deal to most reading this but it was for me because I had been listening and interacting with students individually or small groups but not in front of the entire class (which for most of you who know me isn’t a problem when I’m home and you can’t shut me up in a class but I’ve been nervous about mispronouncing words and such in front of an entire class.  I also answered some questions in class aloud, so needless to say I am becoming much more comfortable here.

I went out to a club on Friday with another exchange student from Mexico (Mercedes) and we had such a great time!!! The club was called El Huevo (The Egg) and it was huge.  There were like 6 different rooms you can go to with different types of music in each (salsa, reggaeton, tecno, rock, and some others).  We went between reggaeton and salsa/merengue/bachata all mixed together.  We met some other students there (Chilean) and they invited us to dance with them.  They were so good at dancing salsa and we were so not lol but it turned out that they teach salsa classes at their university and were really cool about teaching us.  We’re going to meet up with them again there in a couple weeks and our goal is that when Mercedes and I leave we will be salsa experts!

Still a little challenging

So I started my second week of classes today and just like last week my only class on Mondays (which is 3 hours long) left me a bit confused and overwhelmed again.  The professor talks sooo fast and although I told her last class the same thing and she told me she’d slow down a little bit, I think she forgot.  But on the bright side I made some more Chilean friends today that helped me out in class, showed me their notes, explained a couple things after class and showed me where the copies for the class are (because we need to make copies of the chapters of the book we need like two blocks away from the school).  They also asked me to be in their group for a presentation we need to do for class in a couple weeks, so that was nice.  I spent time with my brother David today, we watched MTV (which they do a lot here) because he’s home, sick for the week (doctor’s orders).  I really feel like part of the family already and I truly love them.  I couldn’t ask for a better family!

After the Tsunami

Well it’s about 10:15 am on Saturday morning and everything is ok.  I fell asleep last night waiting for the waves to come but nothing came while I was awake.  When I woke up this morning I looked outside and although the streets are a little wet up here on the hill/mountain where we are, everything looks fine, thank goodness.  Although on the news I hear that the waves were much worse  in other areas and it didn’t come up as high in this area, there was some damage done because some of the streets are still closed down below.  All the buses are maneuvering their way around the hills because the main street from Valparaiso to Vina del Mar, Avenida Espana, is still closed.  I could hear the news saying that probably the most affect area in Chile is a beach in Concepcion, which is the same area that was hit badly last year when the tsunami came after their large earthquake. 

We are going to Santiago today to visit family and to take Angelica to the airport, so when we start driving I’ll be able to see a bit more of what happened.  I’m thankful that we are all ok and that nothing to serious happened here.  I’ll let you all know how my first trip to Santiago goes!!

Tsunami Alert

Well at about 6:45 am we received our first tsunami alert.  I was already dressed and ready to go to class but my host mom stopped me and told me it was better for me to stay home because no one knew all the details at that point and she didn’t want me to get stuck somewhere alone.  So we all sat in the girls’ room and watched the news and got online to see if we could get more information for about 3 hours.  We found out about the terrible earthquake that happened in Japan during that time and that the tsunami was expected to hit our area of Chile at about 12:30 am (Friday night going into Saturday morning).  We also found out that it was hitting about 20 different countries in the process.  At that point everyone started going about their day as normal because we had plenty of time.

It’s now 11 pm and the streets are all blocked to get to any low lands, everything is quiet and we’re waiting to see what will happen.  I talked to my cousins in Ecuador where it was supposed to hit about 4 hours before here and when I talked to them it still hadn’t hit but it just hit off their coast and now I can’t get in touch with them.  That is really worrying me but I’m praying for the best, please do the same.  Everyone in the house is relaxed or at least trying to act that way but there is an unsettling sense of worry in everyone that none of us want to talk about.  We’re about to be hit with a tsunami that has affected more than half the world but we’re hoping for the best. 

The house where we live is on the side of a mountain so they believe that the water won’t reach this high, or we hope.  It was so strange to go about my day as normal knowing that tonight was going to be filled with worry.  I took a nap, watched tv, went for a walk and even went to the store and a coffee shop with a friend to come, I saw boats in the water and people at the beach and then came home to have tea time and wait.  That’s what we’re doing now.  Waiting for news, waiting for the water to rise, waiting for it to be over to be able to assess the damage and relax.  I’m not used to this and I’m scared.

I’m on skype with my mom right now and I can’t let her know how worried I actually am because I know she’s even more worried.  I’m worried about my family in Ecuador, I’m worried about how high the water will hit here, I’m worried about the other international students who live in much lower parts of the city, I’m worried about losing power, I’m worried about not knowing what to expect, and I’m worried about what’s going to happen next.  I’m worried and I’m scared. 

I wish I could tell you more about what is going on but really I don’t know.  I will post again as soon as I can but just know that we are high enough to be ok and that we are all praying for the best and again I ask you to do the same.

My trip up the mountain

It wasn’t a real mountain but it sure felt like one when I was walking up it.  The campus where most of my classes are, is on the top of a very large hill that resembles a mountain.  I hve class there Tuesday through Friday and on Wednesdays I have to walk up the mountain twice because I have class in the early morning and evening.  Well I took the micro this morning at 7:15 am, well actually it took about 10 minutes for it to come because all the other numbers were coming except the one I needed and actually I get really nervous waiting for the bus because I always feel like I’m going to miss it because they go so fast and you have to stick your hand out for them to stop but if you do it to late it’ll keep going.  It’s kind of stressful especially because I thought I was going to get there late because I wasn’t sure of where it was since it was my first trip there alone. Well anyway once I got on I definitely missed my stop and had to get off on the next street and walk an extra 2 blocks which doesn’t seem like much but when you’re hurrying to get up a mountain because everything here is on hills it seems a lot further!

I got to both my classes on time and had my first experience needing to get copies from the school.  I don’t know if copyright laws don’t apply to them but I think they are in major violation of some because no one buys text books here, the professor has one and everyone in that class makes copies of basically the entire book, a chapter at a time! It’s crazy!  Another thing that I got introduced to was a freshmen hazing of sorts.  It’s apparently tradition for the upperclassmen to harrass and scare the freshmen while they are in their classes and on their way out, so they bang on the classroom doors and scream things at them to scare them and apparently later in the week they pour water on them.  That should be interesting!

My first day of class

Well I had my very first class at a Chilean University today and it went pretty well.  I got to the room about 20 minutes early because you all know me and I like to be overprepared for everything so I got there way to earlyto ensure I wouldn’t be late but it turns out there is a tendencyfor Chilean professors to arrive late to their classes (anywhere from 5-20 minutes late) so I sat outside the classroom and waited for a while because all classrooms remained locked until the teacher arrives with the key to unlock it.  So the class went well, everyone introduced themselves and where they were from and then we got into groups did a small exercise and then class was over for the first day.  Overall the professor was very nice and friendly but she talked suuuuuuuuuuuper fast! I understood most of what she said but I also asked her a couple questions after class that I needed clarification on which she gladly answered.  One thing I found strange about the classrooms was that the desks were super close together, like literally touching one another so it was a little difficult to get in and out of them and you don’t really have personal space but it’s not that bad.  I only had one class today in a building I had already had to get to alone, tomorrow will be the real adventure at the campus that is about 25 minutes away by bus and I have to walk 15 minutes once I get off the bus.  It’s my fist time going to the campus alone so I hope I don’t get lost!!