Actividades Recentes

iSaludos! After almost 3 weeks, I’m finally starting to feel at home here in Viña.  I’m getting used to the food, the customs, and above all, the language.  Chileans are the first to tell you that they speak “dirty” Spanish.  In other words, they use tons of Chilean slang and speak extremely fast—extremely.  I would be lying if I didn’t admit that my first few days here consisted of a lot of smiling and nodding and laughing at the right times to feign comprehension.  Within the past few weeks, though, my ability to understand has increased immensely and I feel way more comfortable listening and conversing.   That being said, there are still plenty of “lost in translation” moments.  For example, the other day I thought my mom was telling me that the creepy, tattooed guard at our apartment complex was also a priest.  Needless to say, that is not the case…. complete misunderstanding on my part. But for the most part, my Spanish is good! J Anyways, here are a few notable events/highlights of the past week or so:

Last Wednesday and Thursday there was a national strike.  So, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of teachers and students that have been on strike for the past few months demanding education reform, there were also tens of thousands of unionized Chilean workers on strike demanding all sorts of government changes.  It got super violent in some cities and there was even a death in Santiago—very sad.  Viña, however, is a really calm city so I personally didn’t really see any protesting.  And I was honestly kind of disappointed, as long as I’m here in the middle of the huge historical revolution I might as well witness a little of the action, right? Oh well, I’ve still got time.  A lot of people are starting to get scared that this is going to be another Allende/Pinochet disaster.  It will be interesting to see what happens!

Yesterday we took a class trip to Valparaíso—one of the most important port cities in South America.  It was an absolutely beautiful day and it was fascinating to learn about the history of the city.  We got to ride on a boat throughout the port, learn about the historic parts of the city, ride an outdoor elevator up one of the 42 hills that the city is built on, and tour Pablo Neruda’s house.  

One of many ascensores in Valparaíso

Port in Valparaíso

I attempted to cook some classic MN wild-rice soup for my family.  I brought the wild rice from home, but it was a struggle to find all the necessary ingredients in the supermercado and even harder make it in the tiny kitchen without any thing slightly resembling a measuring tool.  When I asked my host sister if they had anything to measure with, she looked at me like I was crazy and said “Uhhh….we use our eyes.”  I never realized how much of a luxury my half-teaspoon measurer was.  Suprisingly, though, they loved it! Or they at least pretended like they did.  They both had seconds and raved about how rich and delicious it was.  They wanted me to make it again, and suggested I look for wild rice in the “American” section of the grocery store…something tells me that won’t work. 

Last weekend, some friends of ours from the university here decided to take me and a few other friends on a trip to Reñaca, a neighboring town.  After showing us around, we went back to their apartment, made a big dinner and then invited people over for a Chilean style party.  It is really really great to be making Chilean friends and to be completely immersed in the lifestyle, however we’re all still getting used to their way of partying.  In Minnesota, the bars close at 2 am.  In Chile, that’s when they open.  5 am is a completely normal and reasonable time to return from a night out. When I come home at 2 on a weekend my host mom is surprised at what an early night I had.  I’ll get used to it eventually, but, like everything, it’ll  take some time.  

I am always excited for the next adventures to come!  Happy labor day weekend J