Vina Concha y Toro

TGIF

What a long week! Its official, we are done with two out of three weeks of our intensive language program. Tomorrow morning we take off for another excursion to the beach, this time to smaller villages called Santo Domingo and Cartagena. It should be interesting to compare/contrast them with our experiences in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar last weekend.

Thursday we went to the "WORLD RENOWNED" vineyard Concha y Toro. It was absolutely gorgeous, but almost felt a bit like Disneyland in its perfection. The wine was pretty good, although Im not a huge Cabernet fan. It was nice to get out of the crowded city and escape the constant noise of traffic. Its amazing that just twenty minutes away lies such beautiful terrain and refreshing silence.

After more than two weeks, I have come to love some things about Santiago. Firstly, the empanadas...or rather the food in general. In the U.S., there doesnt exist a good meal in the 1-2 dollar range. Here, its standard practice. And whats GREAT is that the food is not sketchy (knock on wood). Walking down the street, there are little tiendas with signs for empanadas and humitas (like tamales, but no meat filling, just choclo--corn). For 900 mil pesos, which is about $1.50, you can buy an empanada, humitas, AND a drink. Que Pulento (cool!)!

Secondly, I love the history, and the fact that walking down the street there are signs of it EVERYWHERE. Santiago was founded by an indigenous group called the Mapuches. It was an ideal location for a settlement--there was a river that provided substantial water and there were two hills that could be used as "look-outs" for intruders. These two hills, now called Cerro Santa Lucia and Cerro San Cristobal, have been fully incorporated into the city and are constant reminders that this huge city used to be but a small pueblo of Mapuches.

What is increasingly interesting is that lack of anyone wanting to claim their indigenous heritage. The apellido (last name) can generally indicate any ties to the Mapuche, Aymara, or Rapanui peoples, and because of this some people have changed their names. There is this constant desire to be as European as possible--you can see it not only in the desire to change names, but also in the fashion trends here. The architecture, as well, screams with trends of Victorian England. As a whole, this country is undergoing (in my opinion) an identity crisis that is so interesting to observe after having studied a bit of the political history.

Along these lines, any of you interested in a really good movie or if you just want to practice your spanish listening skills (or caption reading skills), check out the movie Machuca. Its actually about the military coup in September of 1973 from the perspective of two youngs boys. From what I have studied, it is very comprehensive and accurate, and gives a little glimpse of humanity that is more interesting than reading a history book (and a glimpse of my campus, where it was filmed!).

I hope this finds you all well, and that you found my comments slightly interesting. I'm sure at the end of these six months I will have even more viewpoints to share and history lessons to give.

Take care and Happy Friday!

chau chau,
Beth O.

P.S. Highlight of today: Im on the bus with two girls headed to the bank when, from behind me, a man starts whistling. What song was he whistling, you might ask? "Take myyyy hand...take my whole heart tooooo...cause I...cannnt....helpp....falling in love...with...you"---hilarious.

"ChOro!"--significa CooL!

Every day I feel a little more comfortable here. After being passed up by the bus three times on Monday, I have decided to dedicate myself to walking to school. Its cheaper, better for me, and I have to leave just as early. I have been walking with a girl from UC Santa Cruz named Rachel who is awesome and “super-bacán.”

Today we were walking and were picked up by one of the spanish professors. It was precious because the husband was driving and he dropped us off and it was just nice to finally see a married couple in tact and in love! I swear, it is SO rare in this country. Divorce was just legalized a year ago…and yet EVERYONE is divorced or separated. Soooo wild.

My spanish class is going really well. Today marked the halfway point in our immersion program and then I have two weeks vacation and then REAL classes start. Yikes!

I don’t think I have told everyone this yet, but I have to move out of my house that I am living at right now because my family is having another exchange student move in from the states. Its kind of complicated to explain, but the bottom line is that there cant be two english speaking students living with the same family, and because they had already planned for this new girl to come, I have to go. Kinda shitty, BUTTTTT as of today I have a new place!!! It is in a “residencial” which is basically just a woman’s house that she has turned into a boarding house for international students. It has a GREAT location---very safe and right in the center of everything. I am next to the metro, so I can get to the other campuses without dealing with the crazy bus situation which will just get worse as people start getting back from summer vacation. It is also cheaper than staying here, which is always a good thing. Yay.

Today I went for my first run in the city. I know---Ive been here for two weeks and I just went on my first run. Pathetic, eh? I’ve been dying!! Anyway, the smog situation wasn’t as bad on my asthma as I had expected, but still a pretty heavy. I’ll work myself into it. I was the ONLY woman running though…and I passed a bunch of men…hell yeah.

Not much else to report. This weekend I take off for the “Norte Chico.” I really wanted to stick around here this weekend, but we are being sent away on an assignment for class. We have to go to a place and give an oral report to the group about where to stay, sights to see, places to eat, etc. My group is headed to La Serena, a beach resort about seven hours north of Santiago (by bus). It should be pretty awesome---apparently about an hour away are some really cool observatories that are internationally renowned, so I think we are going to check that out. I’m sure there will be a ton of pictures---I am getting better about bringing my camera everywhere now.

Lets see, I guess that is all for now. I’ve been having trouble with my internet connection, but I check my mail once a day, so keep me updated on your life/drama/annoyances/dreams/all that good stuff that makes me want to talk to you, cachai? (“okay?”—one of the most overused words in this country…along with “poh” which is short for “pues” which means “well” and in the context of every sentences NEVER makes sense, but is used anyway).

Okay…besitos to you all!

Chau chau,
Beth o.

la PLAYA!

buenos dias!

its been a while, so i just wanted to give a quick update before taking of for the weekend. im heading out to valporaiso and vina del mar for the weekend, so i'll be out of touch for a few days. anyway, nothing much new to report. i started my intensive language program this week. its pretty straight-forward, but a little repetitive at times. i feel like i have good days and bad days, sometimes i feel like i am communicating really well and other times its so painful and difficult for me to express myself.

anyway, ive come to realize that bread and fruit are the staples of the chilean diet. that is ALL they eat. every morning there is bread and coffee (instant) on the table. at lunch, i have a sandwhich (a HUGE role with one slice of turkey) and a piece of fruit. Then dinner is usually a pile of stir-fried veggies or a salad or something. kind of hilarious. i eat at least two peaches (duraznos) and a plum (ciruella) every day. sooo good.

lets see, what else to i have to report. i got a cell phone! if you all want to call me, first you have to call my country code (56) then my number which is...096954418. SKYPE is still better if you guys want to investigate that, but if not, i dont get charged for you calling me, so you can do whatever you want!

i hope you all have a great weekend and (for those of you in school) survive midterms! miss you alllllll!

chau chau,
beth o.

p.s.
a few of my favorite moments from the week:
1. chasing after the micro (bus) after it totally left me hanging
2. being late to class because my bus NEVER came
3. once ON the bus...late to class...i am seated behind a little girl who is puking into her mothers lap. after the episode has finished, she sits up to put her head out the window, turns toward me, and gags like she is about to spew all over me. i just about DIED.