Catch-up blog

What an action packed last two weeks I’ve had! I have so much to tell you about that I’m going to write two blogs, the first one for last week and the second about my recent trip to Easter Island!

So let’s go back a week in time and get started. My classes are going well and I’m keeping up although it is a lot more work than I anticipated. Some highlights about classes include:

• For my Social & Political Themes of Chile class, I’ve been learning a lot about the politics of the Allende and Pinochet years which is just fascinating. We watched a really interesting film from the perspective of Pinochet’s party and learned that this movie is banned in the U.S. I also wrote a research paper on the Hippie movement in Chile, and my professor told me that my ideas about the effects of the movement were ‘groundbreaking’ and I should publish something. I thought that was pretty cool!
• My Art History TA made a joke about the United States and how our country doesn’t have a real name like Chile does. The entire class laughed and stared at me and the other gringo while we tried to understand what the joke had been. Jokes have proven to be some of the most difficult Spanish to understand as they are usually said really quickly and under one’s breath.
• My dance class continues to make me laugh on a daily basis. One day we had a presentation of the different outfits that are worn while dancing in various parts of Chile. Another day, we played the most ridiculous game that I call ‘strip marriage’ and included students crawling around and meowing. Ask for more details if this intrigues you ;)

For the last few weeks, I’ve been part of a conversation group of Chileans and Americans where we meet and speak English half of the time and Spanish for the other half. It started out with eight people, but everyone has been inviting all their friends and now we have a really great group going! It’s fun to hang out with Chileans in a setting where they’re trying to help us learn and vice versa. Tonight we’re having an asado, which literally means ‘grill’ and is a big barbeque with lots of meat and friends.

I also celebrated Día de la Madre with my host family and Chaz and Jacob. We gave my host mom chocolate and homemade cards and had a really nice night.

My host mom, Jeannie, appreciating her Mother's Day card and chocolate

Last, but not least, our IFSA group went on a day trip to 3 places around our area. First, we went to Curacaví to visit a chocolate factory!!! They make all natural chocolates with extremely unique flavors such as oregano, basil, lemon, cardamom, hot pepper and cheese! We tasted all of those and every single one was delicious! My favorite was definitely the cheese one, delicious!

Fancy Kamasutra chocolate

Our second stop was in Pomaire at a huge market where they specialize in pottery and ceramic pigs, but have nearly every trinket you could every need. Amazingly I left with just one pair of earrings, a scarf and a mini pig.

Here is some of the pottery and three pigs in the background

The last stop was La Isla Negra, which is another one of Pablo Neruda’s homes. We’d previously toured his home in Valparaíso and both are similar in that they are an eclectic mix of styles, colors, architecture and decorations. Each room looks nothing like the last, but is its own masterpiece. This house has a spectacular view of the ocean and is also the site where Pablo and his last wife are buried.

Pablo and me!

That’s all for the catch-up blog! Thanks for reading.