Reunion Pie and Goodbye Cake

Well, well, well, look who it is.  Just when you thought the ol' blog was dead, I'M BACK.  After a month of soul searching and touring Oregon, getting sunburned and talking a lot (because it's so much easier in English), I'm back at it.  I like it, my Mom likes it and my soul twin is abroad (again, sheesh) so I'm doing it.  Plus, my Chinese fan base is no doubt worried about what happened to me.  And that's all I'm going to say on the matter.

Recently Germany realized that it was missing out on having Erica around so they stole her from me.  She has landed and I expect the Euro debt crisis to be solved within the week.  A smart girl, that one.   To say goodbye, our families had a German themed dinner and I provided the German Chocolate Cake.  It was...delicious, if I do say so myself.  Betty Crocker, you have never let me down.

 

Lucky for me, Colleen came down for a visit the day before Erica left so I wasn't a complete mess.  Mom had a bunch of berries and a great idea to make a pie but when Colleen overheard her plans to use a frozen crust, Colleen offered to make one herself.  And did she ever!  Blue, black and marionberries in Colleen's famous pie crust was a beautiful reunion indeed.  I cannot wait to be roomies again.  CAN'T.  WAIT. 

 

What beauties!

To conclude, I love Oregon, my family, having a kitchen and the delights of being home.  Look forward to more updates about cool stuff, mostly food, probably.  Not too many updates though, I have to have a little mystery to myself, right?  So here's to blogging in moderation!

So, I guess I smell.

Things that I didn't know would be different but are different than they were eleven months ago:

-Tualatin has a Jimmy Johns?!  Awesome.
-New Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book...not reading it is not an option.
-I had to update the information on my library card.
-Everyone thinks I smell different.  Combination of campfire (wood burning stoves) and old people (average age of people in my Chilean home including me: 57.5).
-...that's about it.

I read the Returning Home section of my study abroad info packet and am happy to report that I'm not yet experiencing reverse culture shock (although being happy is stage one...uh oh).  However, Bridgeport Village seemed...more sinister somehow.  Other side note, I keep practicing what I'll have to say to strangers in my head before I talk to them before I realize that they speak English so I can just wing it.

I am very happy to be home.

Final Days

So I've been thinking a lot about the great USA and how much I miss it and how surreal it will be to be back.  I think that after driving down I5 again, Chile will seem like a distant dream.  Like in that episode of Even Stevens when Louis dreams about getting abducted by aliens but later that day finds the tattoo they left him (I didn't get a tattoo).  I do have just a few reservations about returning home and I shall list them here. 

1.  I'm going from mid-January to mid-July in 24 hours.  My legs are doing that so-white-they're-blue thing and I actually haven't seen my bare knees in weeks because I'm constantly wearing pants to fend off the frostbite.  I swear there was once at time when I didn't rotate between three wool sweaters and two pairs of pants, but Lord knows I don't remember it now.

2.  Michelle Bachmann.  America, I want to love you, and I do.  But only you could spawn this lady and have enough people care about her that I have to know who she is.

3.  I left my phone in Buenos Aires.  I'm sort of looking forward to getting a new phone (it will be the cheapest one offered) but I have zero contacts and don't want to do a fbook group about it.  So for some time I will be texting everyone back with, 'sorry, who are you?'

4.  Spanish.  I'm afraid that I will lose everything within the first ten minutes of being back in the US.  Must find a way to keep speaking it.  Sorry family, but I'm going to be watching Telemundo and renting Spanish movies without subtitles.  Also, I think there is way more pressure to be good at Spanish there than here, because here everyone assumes I know nothing, but at home...everyone will assume I know everything (which I don't).  Plus, Mexico is actually a different country than Chile (who knew?) and that makes me a little nervous about the Spanish that I'll be hearing.

5.  Do I still know how to drive?  Is it like riding a bike?

6.  That annoying person that never stops talking about their study abroad experience and accidentally drops Spanish phrases obnoxiously because she is so used to it and compares everything to Chile and who not infrequently uses the phrase, "well while I was backpacking through Patagonia..." or, "the Spanish translation of that is really funny because..."  And NOBODY likes that person.  This, this is my greatest fear and I'm going to try so hard not to be that person.

 I mean, if you want to hear about this experience, I'll tell you!  But if not, I swear I won't mention it.

So Close/Far

Blogging as a method of procrastination is an entirely new option for me, but here I am, avoiding my final projects in lieu of updating my four readers (hello, China!) about the last days of my Chilean life on the internet. 

Well,  I am two papers and a presentation away from winter break (and summer, WEIRD), but the date and place on that presentation is still TBD (most annoying thing) because guess what, the school has been taken.  Yes, la U está en toma, meaning that all the students are on strike, they have barricaded the entrances, lit bonfires and are preventing anyone from entering the school.  This is part of a national movement for "better education" which from what I understand just means "free education."  I haven't actually gotten a satisfactory answer about what their goals are but I am not at all impressed by the strike because from my experience with Chilean classes, attendance is optional, due dates are more like suggestions and class is not expected to start until a solid ten minutes after the scheduled time.  I hate it.  Strong words, I know, but I always attend class, ALWAYS.  I think I have skipped maybe twice in my college career and one of those times was so I could go skiing in Utah.  And when I'm one of four that regularly shows up to a class of twenty that only meets once a week, well I feel sort of foolish.  Luckily, I am so over trying to fit in in my Chilean classes, so through incessant badgering of my professors via email, I'm doing my finals, national movements be damned.  Oh, how I cannot wait for real classes again!  Books!  Professors that show up on time!  Academic standards!  Do I sound like Hermione?  Maybe, but that is so fine with me. 

 Best part of the strike: someone drew frowny faces on every light on campus.

In other news, ten days!  Which means I can start putting stuff on hold at the good old Tigard library in a few days.  Big, big plans, I know.  Watch out, Tigard.

Holy Smokes!

Two weeks out!  Two weeks from today I will be driving down Bedford St, drinking a cup of my Dad's french press, applying sunscreen.  Two weeks is a weird time before a big trip because it's too early to start packing but you can't stop thinking about how little time you have left to do everything.  I'll probably write more about this later but I do not have any lingering things to do or places to see in Valdivia.  I have taken advantage of this city and really feel that I have done it justice.  I can almost guarantee that I will never live here again (never say never) but it's been good to me and I will look back on my time here very fondly. 

Okay, couple more things:

The ash has arrived!  A month ago, Vulcan Puyehue erupted, big deal, ash cloud, evacuations, blah blah blah and yesterday, the city finally got it's first taste of the ash cloud that traveled around the world and closed almost every major airport in the Southern Hemisphere.  Yes, the ash that lightly covered Valdivia last night traveled from 70 miles away around the entire world and now it's back.  Weird stuff.

 Dog print in the ash.

Also, I stopped to wish the neighborhood Mormons a feliz cuatro de Julio when I ran into them on my walk today and I am proud to say that they totally thought I was Chilean for a full few minutes of conversation before I told them where I was from.  Although, they hadn't been here too long.  Mom and Nana and Papa, do you guys remember that Mormon dad in Buenos Aires that thought we looked super clueless so he offered his son's translating abilities?  I'm sort of comforted by the thought that no matter where I will go in the world, there are some very friendly Americans right around the corner at the local Mormon church.

Speaking of 4th of July, we're celebrating by watching the America Cup (Chile vs. Mexico) at a local bar which sounds like the least American way I can think of.   Sorry, South America (and Portland) but I still don't really give a flip about soccer.  Although it'll be fun to be around rowdy Chilean fans.  OH and I am further biased against la copa because they are showing the games instead of Tempano!  I am never going to find out how it ends!  Is Susana really going to marry Damien?  Where is all Ampáro's money coming from?  Can Teresa ever forgive Javier?  Is Luciano the father?  Does Monica love Silvio?  Will Alvaro ever get justice?  Does Loretto still want the divorce?  I WILL NEVER KNOW.

So happy 4th, America, see you soon!

Rooting Against Steak (there's a first time for everything)

Every Tuesday I get home around noon, make a cup of tea if it's cold enough, think about studying French, decide not to study French and read the newspaper with Abuelita or dick around on the internet instead.  Normally Maite is bustling around, peeling potatoes, stoking fireplaces, humming and basically being Molly Weasley.  But today I got home and she was fuming.  Being extremely astute, I of course did not notice this and instead asked the exact wrong question, which was "Where's the dog?"  Referring to her daughter's dachshund, who we are babysitting this week.  "THAT DOG IS BEING PUNISHED!" was her response and I almost dropped my cup of tea, I don't think I had ever heard Maite speak in a raised voice.  She then explained that Pioja had climbed up on the counter and somehow got on the stove where the leftover steak and our entire lunch was sitting in a huge pot, waiting to be cooked.  She knocked over the pot (this is the biggest pot I've ever seen and can probably fit three dachshunds, if we ever wanted to cook them) and ate all the steak that Maite was planning on serving four grown people, three of whom are Chilean.  The whole meal probably weighed more than she did. 

My first instinct was to laugh (wrong) but for the sake of the look on Maite's face, I didn't.  I have never ever been happy about wasted food, especially steak.  But now we're having a big pile of veggies for lunch instead, and after three days of steak and rice, I could not be happier.  I imagine Lalo (host dad) will have a fit, he hates vegetables. 

P.S. Look at this:

 There's no way to explain this house other than it must be the place where everyone puts their dead appliances to rust together. 

A List of Great Things

Because it's important to be thankful.  Here is what I'm thankful for this minute.

1.  Free movies.  Turns out the Cine Club at my school shows free classic movies on the weekdays.  Yesterday I watched the Godfather and the today was Apocalypse Now (guess it was Brando/Coppola week).  The rub is that they've been doing this all year and I've just ignored the fliers (dum dum dum).  One thing I have really missed this year is accessibility to movies, both new ones and old standbys that I used to watch monthly (10 months with no LOTR is an anomaly).  I get that you can watch movies on the internet, but most often the quality doesn't cut it for me and watching on the computer is not as fun as on a screen, especially the big screen.

2. Abuelita's quips.  I can't wait until I'm 93 and get to say whatever I want.  Examples: 

"You are much prettier when you aren't hungover." - At lunch the other day (she's probably right).

"You're going to make a wonderful housewife."  - Whenever I do the dishes (daily), it's a compliment.

"If you want to stay in Chile it's simple.  Just find a man and marry him." - Oh, so that's how you do it.  Simple.

"You don't want to get fat." - Whenever I refuse a second helping of anything (daily).

"Poor Seba." - On Chilean President, Sebastian Piñera.  They're on friendly terms, apparently.

"I saw on the news that even girls are protesting!" - On the Patgonia and education protests.

"I need to modernize." - After requesting that I paint her nails blue.

Also, after she says anything funny like above, I always smile, laugh or nod sagely, but Maite always says,  "Ay, mamá!"  




3. My hot water bottle.  The best invention.  I don't know how I ever got through winter without warming up my sheets with the guatero while I brush my teeth (although I suspect central heating has something to do with it).  Chileans call it "pololo," meaning boyfriend because it heats up your bed (good one, guys).  Abuelita and I have matching ones.

4.  Street dogs.  They are such a part of this city and South America...I'm never afraid of walking around at night because I'm never alone.  Some dog is always following me.  I'll miss you guys.  There's The Dog We Don't Touch, Big Balls Chip, Wolf Dog, Chica, Don Jimmy (RIP), Señor Pulgas and of course, Guiseppe/Rat Face/Red Eye. I would give you all a hug if I wasn't afraid of your diseases.  Sigh...I'm going to miss South America.  

The most famous dog (he has his own fbook page).  Photo by Jac.

A Well Documented Year

I learned a great many things these past ten months and one of my favorite lessons has to do with the thousands of pictures I took.  I've been here about 300 days and I have about 2,000 pictures which makes about seven photos per day.  Of course, I took more pictures on some days than others (I'm looking at you, Macchu Picchu) but that's seven more than I have ever been accustomed to taking of daily life activities like say, eating lunch.  But guess what: I love all my pictures.  This new thing had to come over quite a few obstacles to become one of my favorite new things and I will outline them for your reading pleasure now.

 One of my all time favorites from the continent.  Aguas Calientes, Perú. 

First.  My generation has a problem with public overexposure.  The fact that I am even writing this on the internet is Exhibit A.  So personal photo myth #1 that I used to believe is that since so many people my age take pics, there is no need for me to worry about it.  This is still partly true, in that I still rely on my peers to document drunken revelries, and let's face it, no party these days is complete without gems like this to remember them by: 

Thank you, McSnicks, party documenter extraordinaire.

Which leads me to myth #2, that you have to put every photo you take on the internet.  Well, you don't.  I have quite a few pics on fbook but not all of them.  This is an unknown concept for some of my peers.

Myth #3 was that you can't take good photos with little point and shoots.  It's sort of astonishing to me that I ever thought this.  These things cost like, $200 and I thought you couldn't take great photos without one of the even more expensive ones?  Well, I was wrong, and before you people with really nice cameras jump out of your seats to tell me about how great your Nikon 30093.74 gamma that transforms into an x-wing is, let me say that I'm sure it is and I'm not denying the shots that come out of those cameras.  But having really expensive stuff around makes me nervous and I learned how to use my little canon and could not be more pleased with it.  Just look at THIS:

I am very aware that it is impossible to take a bad photo of penguins.  

 The final and fourth myth was the thought that since I am not a (capital P) Photographer, I have no business being creative about photos on my little canon (goes along with myth #3).  I feel kind of dumb about admitting all this, it all sounds really stupid now.  Since when have I, Erin, who can name 50 breeds of dogs in four minutes, been afraid of being creative without permission?  And who isn't giving their permission, anyway?  Jeez.  Well, I got over that and frequently go rule-of-thirds crazy.  Yes, I took a photo of raindrops on grass and yes, I like it. 

Another souvenir from a great walk.

 I have to give some credit here, though.  I would not have come to this hobby (is that the right word?) on my own.  Left to my own devices, I would probably still think that travel photos can't be anything other than bad shots of me smiling in front of things, which are still definitely necessary, but not the only possibility (this is all so obvious to me now).  So, thank you to my trusty travel buddy and great friend, Jac.  Who herself has a beautiful photo blog here.  She takes all her photos with a "little Canon", although it is a little nicer than mine, it isn't one of the crazy ones and she knows nothing about lenses.  She will tell you that she only takes good pictures because she takes so many, and she certainly does.  But maybe that's just it.  A good (lower case p) photographer has got to be prolific.  And darned if I'm not trying, or at least trying harder than I was ten months ago.  

The famous Jac, camera safely in hand. 

Caminar

I do not take my ability to walk for granted.  Not everyone can walk, you know.  Not everyone has functional legs that will take them any which way they please.  Lately, as a thank you to my knees, ankles, feet, toes, hips and buns for working, I've been a-walkin.  I can make it to school in an hour if I focus but if I want to be leisurely and stop and take pictures, it's more like and hour and fifteen.  Time flies when you're listening to Wait Wait or Stuff You Should Know (I prefer to pretend that Chuck and Josh are hot young guns so I ignore the parts where they mention they're like, 40).  I like it because that cup of crappy tea when I make it home tastes a little better when I've been in the cold for an hour.  And I can stop and take a picture of anything I want, like this:

In other news, please recall that the seasons are switched in the Southern Hemisphere so today is the seasonal equivalent of December 14.  And I have to say, December royally SUCKS without Christmas.  It is so fracking cold that I wait until the last possible moment to shower (kind of a bad idea for a person none too intent on showering regularly in the first place) because I don't want to take my pants off but then stay in the shower for twenty minutes because it's so toasty.  Wait, I've got more.  It's so fracking cold that I sleep with my bra at the foot of my bed because if I don't, it's like strapping ice to my skin in the morning.  Like camping.  However, I have started reading by the fireplace downstairs while Abuelita knits and the sky tries to take the house down, which is pretty cute.

Always Hungry

If I have talked to you while down here there is a good chance you've heard me both complain and rave about Chilean food.  One of the things I am most looking forward to about going home is to eliminate from my diet mayonnaise, white bread, ketchup as an acceptable topping on white rice and overcooked pasta, low quality vegetables, ceylon tea, nescafé, the "juice", boiled hot dogs, boiled vegetables, soup from mix, ham, shellfish, and eating meat every day.  I am a girl that loves a rare steak but this is excessive:  

 If you were thinking that four people would have a hard time eating all this, you were mistaken.  Welcome to Sunday in Chile.  In the words of Big Joe: "Full is a state of mind."

But what Chile lacks in healthy food, it makes up for in fried things, meat and fried things with meat in them.  And for every minute I spend complaining about Chilean food, I could easily (and do) spend twice that talking about how good the good stuff is.  For example, I simply don't know what I'm going to do when I can't get empanadas at any time of day or night, probably cry.

  They really are that good. 

Other Chilean staples that I love: 

Choripan

Choripan is chorizo in pan (bread).  Chorizo is a DElicious South American sausage that is usually grilled.  It isn't a hot dog, don't even.  You nestle that sucker in a little french bread roll that you heated up on the grill and open yourself a beer and you've got a classic Chilean appetizer at the asado (bbq).  The first time I had this, I thought it was lunch, so I had two.  Then I was served the steak and potatoes...

Just call me a Pavlov Dog. (That was so lame)

The Completo
I complained about them earlier, and I still think that boiled hot dogs, especially when served next to a pile of white rice with ketchup, are GROSS.  But did you know that when you put a small hot dog in a huge bun and top tomato, avocado, mayo and saurkraut on it, it is actually heaven?  I don't even like saurkraut!  Hello Completo.

Hot dogs are awesome when the hot dog is not the main event.

Once (pronounced on-say)

 Since we eat a big, meat heavy lunch every day, dinner is a much smaller affair and I really really like it.  It's called once and it is usually toast (made from hayullah, basically a Chilean bagel, sort of) with a bunch of different stuff to put on it.  Jams, butter, ham, cheese, tomatoes, avocado and whatever is in the fridge--it all goes great on toast.  And it does!  It's a really nice way to eat something a little lighter before bed.  Best when accompanied by tea or coffee.

The weird things in the upper left are potato pancakes.

Put an Egg on It
Not sure how to round out that meal of...absolutely anything?  Put-An-Egg-On-It.  (Sunny side up)

 

Egg & Lentils, one of my favorite lunches.  Really.

Other Culinary Treasures:

Trufas

Jac (via her blog) when she first discovered Trufas: "Oh golly, trufas.   They’re like balls of mellow, approachable, chocolate dough covered in more chocolate.  I just learned about them and there’s this cute little place called Café Donde La Negra that has been my dealer."

Berlines

Jac (via above blog) when she first discovered Berlines: "...those caramel filled doughnut things.  They’re probably the answer to everything."

Manjar

Jac on manjar: "Manjar = this extremely popular dulce de leche/caramelly business.  (One might ask, “what ISN’T filled with manjar here?”)"

Sopaipillas

Fried dough heaven.  Just found out my host mom fries them with...lard.  Heart, I am so sorry for choosing Chile.

This post is long.  As you may know, I could dedicate a whole blog to food.  Thanks for hanging in there, dear (and by now I imagine hungry) reader.  See you in just over a month!  (WHAT?!)

An Update on the Weather

"If people think nature is their friend they sure don't need an enemy." - (the ever quotable) Kurt Vonnegut

So a huge volcano violently blew up pretty close to my town last Saturday and I thought maybe it wasn't actually that big of a deal or something until Tuesday, when I started getting questions about it from up North.  Apparently ash travels faster than news from Nowheresville, Southern Hemisphere (zing!).  If  you happened to read something on the internet (like this or this) and wondered if that was anywhere near where I am, it is!  Here are some photos taken by friends of mine from my town:

 Thanks Max!

Thanks Stefan!

Awesome pics, guys!  I read somewhere that the plume is something like six miles high which is just nuts.  Also, we can't see the plume anymore because it's been raining intensely since Sunday.

Luckily,  the wind was not blowing in our direction, or we would be covered in literal feet of ash, like Argentina.  The cloud reached Buenos Aires yesterday, shutting down the airport and mucking up the air (sucks to your ass-mar!) and water.  This is insane because BA is hundreds of miles away.  Hundreds!  People are being evacuated and we are all on high alert for any post-eruption earthquakes.  But something positive did come out of all the craziness.  I learned that the word 'eruptar' does not mean 'to erupt' ('explocionar') but rather, 'to burp.'  Can you imagine if I would have left Chile without learning that?  Me either.  

Muy VIP

Hilarious Spanish thing:  "You have sleepy face" (tienes cara de sueño) is a perfectly appropriate, correct and mature thing to say.  Basically it means, "you look tired."

So in this blog I use the word 'I' quite a bit.  That is sort of the whole point of a blog, I know, and I've come to terms with it.  But today I'm mixing it up and will be using the words 'she,' 'her' and 'that crazy old bat' a little more.  No, I will not be doing this post in the third person (worst idea ever?); I'm dedicating this post to an awesome Chilean, who I happen to live with, my Abuelita Chilena. 

About the cat: Lalito looks cute but don't be fooled, he is fat, always gets into fights, sticks his big fuzzy balls in your face when you're trying to do homework and he smells bad.  Yes, I live with Smelly Cat. 

Her real name is Genoveva something but I had to look it up because we only ever call her La Abuelita, Little Grandma.  But what this lady lacks in stature she makes up for in vivacity and a trait I'm calling with it-ness.  Because, people, she is with it.  Every day she puts on her pearls and her red lipstick (I'm totally experimenting with red lipstick when I get home, by the way) and she has a very excellent collection of cardigans.  She leaves the house about once a week for one of two reasons: heart check up with her cardiologist (who comes over for dinner sometimes) or to get her hair done.  Her days consist of reading the newspaper, sipping Nescafe (her only fault?), telling me how to be a lady and knitting.  And she knits the most beautiful things, mostly tiny cardigans and pants for infants.  

Back in September, she fell in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom, messing up her hip.  It was terrifying, they drove her to the hospital at like 2am.  She was bedridden (what a terrible word) for a few weeks and her friends came over during the week to chat and drink Nescafe and eat cookies by her bedside, which was precious.  But after a month or so, she was back on her feet, with the help of a walker.  Today, she uses only a cane and can climb stairs!

She is an inspiration to me because she is a living example of aging well.  At 93, she keeps her mind active by reading and knitting (and watching Tempano, a real brain stimulant) and is just of a lovely disposition.  It's easy for me to say now, not faced with the tough realities of an aging parent or grandparent, but I really think that in the future I will open my home to my parents and grandparents before putting them in a nursing home, depending on their wishes.  But nursing homes don't really exist here, kids grow up with grandparents in the house and think it's a great thing. 

Often, she is more dressed up than I am at lunch.

So that's my Abuelita Chilena, I love her and she has taught me a lot about how different societies treat, house and perceive their elderly.  Dude, she doesn't even wear GLASSES!  Machine.

Tempano or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Telenovela

YOU GUYS!  My world was shattered this week when we learned that the killer is actually the ex-lover of the captain who also is the mother of his bastard daughter!  And it makes TOTAL sense, how did we miss it?!  Susana, you sneaky, psycho woman, you.

What I'm talking about is the latest development in Tempano, the prime time Chilan soap opera that my Chilean grandma and I watch together every weeknight.  The basic 'plot' is that a bunch of people were killed on a cruise ship in Patagonia, setting us up with a classic locked room mystery.  The suspects include the rich captain and his entire family, his lover/head of staff on the ship, her daughter (who also turned out to be the daughter of the ship captain), the chef who was sleeping with (turned out just for the money) the captain's sister and -- you know what, just check out this chart I made:

 

 Okay so now that we're all clear on who's who, here's the important stuff:  

 I have a massive crush on this guy: Javier, the detective of eternal scruff.  Hot but tortured and assigned to the case.  Just look at that leather jacket!

 She is the only person in the show who I would want to be friends with: Lissette, adorable worker on the ship who is just always in the wrong place at the wrong time (plus, they all judge her for being poor).  She always has on bangin red lipstick.

The show is bad.  Really not good.  Each episode ends with a freeze frame close up of someone's (who just received some shocking news) face and a fade to black and white.  The dirty secrets of the family never end, and who finds out and when is always a major plot point.  The most used phrase on the show is "¿Qué estás haciendo aquí?" What are you doing here?  No one can do anything controversial (usually involving kissing someone you shouldn't) without someone walking in on you, no one knocks, ever.  There is cousin love.  I know these shows exist in the US but I also know that they are on at one in the afternoon, not prime time.  So why do I love it so much!?

This is my third Chilean telenovela that I have sat through.  The first was Martin Rívas: Adventures of a Dreamer, set in the early 19th century during Chile's Independence War (the finale coincided with the bicentennial) and the other was The Family Next Door, about two rich Santiago families that hate and do terrible things to each other (this one was even wackier than Tempano, involving evil twins and a fake paraplegic).  The telenovelas don't have seasons, they're just one story that goes for a few months and then the next one comes on.  The funny thing is that the Chilean acting pool isn't that big so the actors are all recycled, Martin Rívas is one of the detectives on Tempano.  No one seems to mind. 

I have come to realize that I like Tempano the best because I understand what they are saying.  I have been here nine months now and finally, finally, I get it.  I didn't look forward to Martin Rívas because even though I knew crazy stuff was going on, I didn't know what or why.  And when you know, it's hilarious.  My understanding of Spanish has increased by 200% in my time here, partly, I know it, by listening to soap operas for an hour a day.  I'm still learning of course, and from Tempano, I've learned some really important phrases like, "lover," "to have an affair," promiscuous person" and "paternity test."  That, and it's become a little ritual between me and little grandma.  And lately, it's been pretty cold so she prefers to watch it in her room rather than in the kitchen, so we've been watching it in her bed, a scene that has brought my host dad to literal tears of laughter.  I'll ask him to take a picture one of these days.  

So, Tempano, just keep doing what you're doing, my grandma and I will keep watching, you are yet another silly yet beloved aspect of my Chilean life.  

 

Goodbye from the cast, who is judging you.

Domestic Woes

 TWO FACTS: 

In Spanish the word for 'handcuffs' is 'esposa' which is the same word for 'wife.'  Seriously, Spanish?  Sometimes you make it hard for me to like you, like right now and with the verb echar.

I have a flight out of here in 50 days.  FIFTY!?  Yeesh.

But sometimes you make it easy, like when you belong to cultures with manjar.

THE STORY:

It happens every Monday.  Maite (mi mamá chilena) comes into my room in the morning and gets my laundry and changes my sheets.  I am 100% aware that I have no room to complain but here it is: I miss doing my own laundry and changing my own sheets.  I miss washing the dishes while blasting music, cooking and I don't want my room to be vaccumed every day.  I love my Chilean family but Chilean mothers are intense.  If extreme mothering was an Olympic sport, the judges would be fed mashed potatoes into submission.  Cheek pinching, really good hugs after a rough day, telling you you're too skinny and begging you to eat more, holding hands in public (sometimes), these are constant realities of mine right now.  It took some getting used to but now it's just another weird aspect of my chilean life.  But a funny thing has been happening this semester.  I don't have class in the mornings on Monday but it is still laundry day.  So I can either sit on my couch and check fbook again while Maite cleans my room around me (the whole time apologizing for bothering me) or I can help.  I started helping a few weeks ago (by the way, Chile, we wouldn't need to vaccum all the time if we would take off our shoes in the house, wearing them all the time is just barbaric), and she wasn't exactly bothered but I could tell she wasn't exactly pleased, either.  Well once I found out where the sheets are I started just doing it after breakfast and then bringing the basket down to the laundry room myself.  This, this was not okay.  First I just got a friendly talking to, "Erin, that's my job,"  "But Maite, I can help!"  "Haha, don't worry, more empanadas?"  And when I did it again the next week, she didn't say anything.  HA!  I had won, I thought--incorrectly.  The next Monday I woke up, ate breakfast and when I returned to my room, the sheets had been changed, the laundry was out and things were generally tidier.  Sneaky, sneaky lady.  Thus, it began.  I started doing it before breakfast and when she caught onto that, like this past Monday, I went to the bathroom, the bathroom, I had been awake for like, 5 minutes max, and when I got back, there she was, changing the sheets.  I helped.  

South American Life Experience #436: Get Teargassed

Remember what I just told you about graffiti as political statements?

To be honest, Chile isn't that different than the US.  Of course, they speak Spanish (sort of) and think mullets are cool but young people party, old people knit, and they have Wal-Mart (it's just called Líder).  But these past two weeks or so I have seen some things down here that just do not happen at home.  Young people are taking to the streets and protesting injustices in the government.  I know this happened in the 70's (parents, your generation is the best at everything) but nowadays it's much more likely to see people 'protesting' by complaining on the twitter or joining some angrily named group on facebook, not much of a protest at all.  But right now in Chile, the whole country is in an uproar over recent plans to build dams in Patagonia.  The project is called Hidroaysen and no one is happy about it.  Read about it here and here.  Yesterday during the President's State of the Union-type speech, 40,000 people were in the streets of Santiago, protesting the dams, getting teargassed, arrested and water cannoned.  FORTY THOUSAND!  Do that many Americans even watch the State of the Union?  My school has a lot of students from Patagonia, so we've had marches and concerts and outrage in my city too.  School was effectively canceled twice last week because so many students were protesting.  So while I'm definitely not in favor of throwing rocks and bottles at police, I am pretty inspired by what is going on.  I sincerely hope that the project doesn't go through and many Chileans are optimistic that it won't but in the meantime, I've been walking around with a scarf in my bag just in case I have to walk through a rowdy group of college students getting teargassed.  

Family, I am being very careful and not protesting (visa at stake, signed some papers with study abroad people saying I wouldn't) but if you're on campus when it happens, you might just get a mouthful of teargas, and it sucks. 

Get mad about the project here.

Last Days

Just in case the apocalypse does happen tomorrow, I had a piece of pie today.  Here's a picture of when I heard about the coming rapture literally every other day.

La escritura en la pared

Look at me, just bloggin' up a storm!  I was iffy about this blogging thing (what do I possibly have to say that's worth reading blah blah blah) but then I got over myself and realized how much I like reading other people's blogs, even if they don't have anything that great to say either.  So here's another post, yee haw!

Okay so South America has a lot of graffiti/street art.  There are basically three types of vandalization here:  bad vibes/gangs (the worst kind), political statements, art (the best kind).  I asked a prof about it because we don't really get political graffiti at home, and he told me that SA has a long tradition of loco political regimes that didn't allow a lot of freedom of ideas, making it nearly impossible for people to speak out safely--unless they're anonymous.  Many artists in Chile during the Pinochet era, for example, were either exiled from the country or mysteriously disappeared because for sticking it to the man through art.  So now, much of SA makes political statements with spray paint.  Here are some of my favorite examples of both art and other throughout SA.


Art:

 

Remember when all the kids were electric? (Not my photo, thanks Marie!)

 

Words:

"La educactión no es un negocio"  Education is not a business.

"Dónde está la primavera?"  Where is the spring?

"Construye tu historia"  Construct your history.

"Ellos tienen la fuerza y nosotros tenemos la razón"  They have the force/strength but we have the reason.  This one is a play on Chile's official motto, "Por la razón o la fuerza" meaning "for the reason or the force/strength."  But in Spanish 'to have reason' means 'to be right' so you could also read it as 'they have the force but we are right,' although it doesn't have quite the same ring to it. 

"Orgulloso Sur"  Southern Pride

"Los animales son mis amigos y no como mis amigos"--San Francis de Assisi  The animals are my friends and I don't eat my friends. -- St. Francis of Assisi, this was on the side of the cathedral.

"No aborto para pedófilos"  No abortion for pedophiles, also on the side of the (catholic) cathedral (abortions of any kind are illegal in Chile).

"El gobierno debería temerle al pueblo"  The government should fear the people.

"Si quieres ver algo k' nunca haz visto, hazlo tu mismo"  If you want to see something you've never seen before, do it yourself.  (I don't get it, maybe I'm misunderstanding though, if any gringos are reading this, let me know)

And finally, I leave you with this question:  Bathroom graffiti is done for neither recognition nor money making it the purest form of art.  Discuss amongst yourselves.

Thinking in Valdivia

Here are some random thoughts mostly about Valdivia. 

--Whenever I see the Southern Cross proudly asserting itself upon the Milky Way, I get the warm fuzzies.  Then comes a slight pang of guilt for cheating on the Big Dipper.  But I'll be home soon, Big Guy.

--Reasons why Terpel is better than the majority of gas stations in the US:  empanadas, people fill up your gas for you (I said the majority), Spanish music videos, both indoor and outdoor seating options, funny name.

 --Speaking of Spanish music videos, this song is muy popular here and I saw the video today (at above gas station) and needless to say, maybe I should plan a trip to México soon...

--I am going to have a hard time getting used to paying more than $4 for movies when I get home.  Must figure out a way around this.

--Why aren't there any female micro drivers?

--Bed head is a way different and more threatening monster with short hair.

--I love the rain but when it rains here the sidewalks become overrun with snails and I hate hearing that sickening, life-ending crunch of their shells under my shoes.  I'm so sorry to every snail I have unwillingly crushed. 

--I think after a year here, the smell of wood burning fires is no longer associated primarily with camping but with Valdivia at dusk.  Every home is heated by fireplaces and many don't have an electric oven, but a wood burning one (electricity is really expensive and they're damming up Patagonia to make more).

--WHAT ARE TRUFAS MADE OF?!  (Soon to be answered when Jac gets the secret recipe from our favorite cafe at the end of the semester!!  Sometimes it pays to be a regular)

--Does this blog look like it belongs to an old lady?

Top Fives

None of these lists are in any particular order and obviously I will miss/miss my family, friends and my cat the most so these things are besides them (and you, dear reader).

Top 5 Things I Will Miss About Chile:
Food (empanadas, choripan, hallulla, sopaipillas, berlines, sunys, trufas, mote con heuesillo, casuela)
Overwhelming popularity and stylish-ness of knitted clothing
Chilean Spanish/Chilenismos
Homes that are not afraid of color (or garish decor)
Street dogs

Top 5 Things I Will NOT Miss About Chile:
NESCAFE
Reggaeton/Bus DJs
Popularity of Mayonaise
Popular taste in clothes/jewlery/haircuts (except the good old baby mullet, obvio)
Machismos

Top 5 Things I Miss About the US:
Coffee/Coffee shops
Having a kitchen/cooking
Ethnic food
The Pacific NW
Extensive English libraries 

Top 5 Things I Do NOT Miss About the US:
Political shennanigans
Having a phone
Expensive public transportation/reliance on cars
Lack of baby mullets
A family of four not being able to go to the movies for less than $50

To Name a Few

I love Spanish.  Learning a new language has been one of the most challenging, frustrating, headache-inducing, tested, trying and mistake riddled experiences of my entire life but it has also been one of the most rewarding.  And it's especially worth it when I encounter the following phrases.  This is because sometimes I translate things literally in my head (more when I'm reading than speaking, it's a bad habit though) and they just sound funny.  Here are a few such phrases that I could think of off the top of my head, enjoy! 

He falls on me well.
Have you eaten her yet?  Any good eating this weekend?
Congrats, your wife is giving the light.
She’s my soul twin.
I spotted myself.
The thing forgot itself unto me.
The thing also fell itself.
I feel like going gringo today.
She walked down the snail stairs.
How does dinner at the free fork sound?
Speaking of the King of Rome.
Are you awake yet or do you follow sleeping?
That you enjoy the movie!
This place has too many green old men.
When the river makes noise it’s because it brings rocks.
Things I have: hunger, thirst, jealously, guilt, heat, cold, sleepyness.
Have you taken the decision yet?
Today we’ll talk close to politics.

Argentina

The border crossing into Argentina from Bolivia was rough, we got ripped off (for the first and only time, as far as we know) on bus tickets, spent a LONG time waiting for things to open (the border, buses) and it all happened between 4:30 and 11am.  We didn't sleep for a long time, it was unpleasant.  But then we made it to pretty Salta, essentially the promised land after rustic Bolivia.  They gave us towels AND breakfast at the hostel!  Salta is a gorgeous town in Northern Argentina where we unknowingly witnessed a changing of the guard (gaucho horse tricks are pretty cool to see), did a lot of walking around (as usual) and enjoyed the return to potable water.

 

 After a little self convincing (not hard), we decided that we needed to see the Foz de Iguazú on the way to Buenos Aires, where we were to go our separate ways for the month of February.  The Foz is basically an enormous waterfall in the jungle on the border between Argentina and Brazil (wiki it).  So after 23 hours on a bus we had gone from the high desert of Salta to the jungle of Puerto Iguazú.  For all the tourism the town gets, it wasn't too bad and we ate some really excellent and cheap ice cream every day we were there.  The waterfall itself was absolutely stunning, it was a great park and another amazing thing we saw this summer.  I can't believe how lucky we are!  Did some hiking through the jungle, were almost eaten by the most terrifying spiders I'd ever seen and enjoyed the last few days of our road wandering before settling down (sort of) for a month in Buenos. 

After saying goodbye to Jac (until we would meet again in Valdivia) I took a train two hours east of Buenos Aires to a little town called General Rodriguez.  There I spent the next three weeks working on an organic farm and living with a Twelve Tribes community.  Twelve Tribes is a religious group (cult) that was started in the 1970s in Tennessee...it's basically a hippies for Jesus thing but they live outside of society and try to live sustainably.  I loved getting to know their community and working with people from around the world on the farm (not to mention free room and board, and the food was EXCELLENT), what I did not love so much was the religious zealotry and fundamentalism.  They believe the apocalypse is definitely happening in the next 70 years or so and take the Bible absolutely literally, for example.  However, I did love the people, the food, the lifestyle, the dancing.  It's a very peaceful and pure way of life, even if it isn't for me.  I love coffee, chocolate, movies and outside society way to much to feel at home in a community like that.  Not to mention my family and friends.  But they have a bunch of communities in the US so if I ever need a place to kick it for free and take a break from society, I know where to go.  Anyway, wiki the religion if you have five minutes, it was a nutty three weeks.  The other workers and non-community members were great though, something about being the outsiders at a cult in a foreign country is a major bonding experience, and bond we did.  I learned how to sing 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider' in Danish!

 

Circle dancing to Hebrew folk music on the farm, check out those clothes.

 

 The band, the music was great too.

 Next stop, Valdivia!

Bolivia

Where to start with Bolivia...well it was chaotic, first of all.  Dirty, dusty, extremely poor, unorganized, crowded, stressful, at times extremely inconvenient, sanitation was questionable, the buses were the worst and Jac puked in an internet cafe.  But despite all this it was an unforgettable two weeks and an absolutely integral part of the trip.  I think we needed the jolt, to wake us up to many of Latin America's political and social realities and to really help us appreciate Chile.

We crossed the border from Peru at Lake Titicaca and were in the lakeside town of Copacabana.  The town had a definite beach vibe, unexpected in the landlocked country and is home to the Bolivian Navy (just one of the many Bolivian paradoxes).  Lake Titicaca from here was absolutely stunning and the very first night we witnessed one of the most breathtaking sunsets I have ever seen.  We made our way to Isla del Sol, an island in the middle of the lake (where all humankind was created, according to the Inca creation story) where we spent three nights hiking, relaxing, meeting what seemed like every hippie Argentine on the planet and getting really sunburned.  It was a gorgeous and farm animal filled few days and it was really nice to get away from cities and tourist stuff.

Next we were off to La Paz, the insane capitol where we spent a few uneventful days walking a lot, visiting markets, and gawking in wonder at the mess of it all.  Once you get used to the complete lack of any order, it's sort of beautiful to see so many people living so close together with no regard for any rules.  Example:  bowler hat and gathered skirt clad women take to the streets every day to sell vegetables, fruit, bread, cheese, llama fetuses, etc.  And wherever they congregate is then an unusable road because they just spread out their tarps and sit down in the middle of it.  And that's just how it is.  If you're driving through downtown and all the sudden you can't get to church (or the hospital or work or whatever) because there's an impromptu market in your way, that's just too bad.  Some drivers try to push on through anyway though, adding to the mess and frankly terror of wandering around La Paz.  Bustling and energetic doesn't do it justice, it's a city to be experienced, for sure.  Also this was the only time all summer that any of us were sick, Jac spent two days in bed (we think it was bad fry bread from a street vendor) so that was a further downer. 

From there we traveled to the smaller and more relaxed Sucre, which was quite beautiful and where we had the BEST papas rellenas ever.  Papas rellenas are potatoes filled with cheese and baked with onions and they are so so good.  Sucre is interesting because it's the constitutional capitol of Bolivia and many Bolivians consider it the true capitol, although the government operates out of La Paz.

Next stop was the wild west themed town (not really but it seemed like it) of Uyuni where all the tourists have to stop before seeing el Salar de Uyuni, the Bolivian salt flats.  The best part about Uyuni was probably the restaurant that Jac and I stopped for hot chocolate in that played Lady Gaga videos for an hour, we were mesmerized and didn't leave til closing.  "I guess we just needed some Gaga," Jac rightly observed upon leaving.  The salt flats though, they were AMAZING.  I don't have enough words to describe how incredible they were.  It was like another planet.  It was basically a dessert, but made of salt.  Miles and miles of the flattest ground MADE OF SALT.  And it had rained the night before, meaning there was a fine layer of water on top of the salt, perfectly reflecting the sky.  Everything was blue and white as far as you could see and so bright.  Spectacular, truly.

That was where Jac and I split up with Rob, we were then headed down to Salta, Argentina, a trip which would be the most trying 24 hours of our time together.  Bolivia is a fascinating and beautiful country, not for the faint of heart but a grand adventure nevertheless.