Salsa, Caballos, y Comida

June 29, 2008 (Sunday)

Thursday I had another meeting with my language exchange partner, Jorge. We met at Café Enjoy, a lovely restaurant that sits directly opposite the street that runs along the ocean. Tori, Emily, and Victoria came with me. Jorge didn’t know that it would be me plus three others, but he didn’t seem to mind. We all asked him a lot of questions about certain phrasing in Spanish, and Tori and I interviewed him for our Chilean culture class. We were given the assignment to interview both a foreigner in Chile and a native Chilean to ask about cultural perceptions and various other things. The café was so wonderful! I had a café cordato with lemon pie (amazing) Additionally, our waiter was incredibly patient with us as we tried to ask questions and order in Spanish. He would answer very slowly and distinctly (not a lot of people go out of their way to slow their speech down). After we ordered, he told us that he actually spoke English-not only English but Portuguese, French, and Japanese. This brings his fluency total to five languages. Pretty inspirational to me-to say the least. He also wasn’t more than thirty.


Friday was a really fun day as well. Class went well, and I went out in the evening. The club is called El Huevo (The Egg). Each floor has a different genre of music playing. I spent all of my time between the floor with Regetone and Salsa. Two of the other guys in the program are very good salsa dancers, so they gave some of the rest of us lessons. I even did a flip (was flipped)!


There was a scheduled event with the ISEP program yesterday, Saturday. We went to Con Con, a little town about thirty minutes away, to go horse back riding. We went to a ranch where there were a lot of horses waiting for us. Everyone got to go out together. I believe there are twenty nine students in addition to an advisor and a student assistant. The ride took about three hours, and my hose was relatively old and probably underfed. He did his best, but I really felt bad having him carry me. We rode up and over massive sand dunes to the coast. I felt like I should be in a dessert because of the dunes. The ride was wonderful! And galloping along in the coast as the waves rushed over the sand was pretty incredible! In order to get back to the ranch we backtracked along the coast and then along an unused railroad. We arrived cold and hungry to a large campfire, two banquet tables dressed in white table cloths with full place settings and bottles of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, and an absolutely delicious meal. For an appetizer while we waited for the beef and pork to finish over the open grill we were served chori pan (sausage in bread). Chori is a traditional type of sausage here. It is made with pork, seasonings, and onions diced very finely. The bread bun (pan) was home-made with a very soft inside and lightly toasted outer part. The meal consisted of two kinds of salad, yellow rice, a potato dish, a tomato and onion salad and the beef and pork. Delicious. After the meal tea and coffee were served while we stood around the fire staying warm.


Today was yet another wonderful day even though it was very foggy. Rosemary and her sister, Carol, took Victoria and me on a day trip to some nearby cities. We drove along the coast for

about two hours, stopping intermittedly to take pictures. For lunch, we went to a place that literally just sells empanadas. I had two-one with all different types of seafood and one with scallops and cheese. Oh my goodness, they were so good! I could write a page about each one starting with the texture of the actual empanada to the ingredients that must have been used and then the temperature at which they were fried-but I won’t. I’ll just make them when I get home! I don’t think Victoria and I said more than five words through the whole meal. After lunch we drove a little more and stopped to get out where there was a nice view of the cliffs. This stop happened to be a cemetery. It was nice though. Rosemary and Carol had packed tea and cake, so we enjoyed that as we walked and looked at the scenery.

La Primera Semana

June 18, 2008 (Wednesday)

Today was the second day of classes and they went pretty well. For lunch, instead of coming home, I went with some other students to a little restaurant around the corner from my university. I am not exactly sure what was on my sandwich as far as the meat was concerned, but it was supposed to be pork. In any event, it had palta (avocado) on it so it tasted pretty good. Palta is served with everything!! I’ve been told that there is even a McPalta at McDonald’s. After lunch, I went on one of the scheduled ISEP tours of the city. We took a “lift” up to a higher vantage point in the city and walked around some historical sights. The views were absolutely lovely! Would be even more so in the summer-I’ll have to come back some day! After the tour I took the metro instead of the bus home.



June 21, 2008 (Saturday)

Well it’s my first Saturday in Chile and I think it is going to be a beautiful day-cold but nice! There are no official scheduled events with ISEP today, so most people are just kind of doing things on their own. Rosemary invited me to go with her, Constanza, and Gabriela to her granddaughter’s birthday this afternoon. We are going to leave here a little after 1:00. The party is about an hour away. They vacation there in the summer.
Thursday night I went out to a club called Scratch. I danced for about two hours, but the first hour was only music I had heard in the States-very disappointing- I do love Madonna and JT, but I was hoping for something a little more “of the region”. This something finally started to play-regatone more or less. Really fun! I left a little after 2:00 am (very early here) and walked back to my house. I won’t be doing that again even though I had someone to walk with.
Last night I went to a tallarinata (a spaghetti dinner) that Constanza organized for the service organization she chairs at her university. We played Bingo for almost 4 hours and I didn’t win anything! The spaghetti was very good though, and I understanding (able to pick out more words) more Spanish every day. Talking is another story. I do have a language partner as of Thursday, however. His name is Jorge, and he speaks English very well even though he doesn’t think so. I have to ask him to repeat almost everything he says to me.


June 26, 2008 (Thursday)

Last weekend was fun. The birthday party was great, and Sophia, Rosemary’s

granddaughter, has incorporated me into her family. I am learning Spanish from a 3 year old!!

Monday I went for my first run in Chile. Tori and I ran from our neighborhood, Mira Flores, to the ocean, and then along the promenade up from the coast and back. The view was so incredibly amazing! Running alongside the Pacific Ocean, looking at the sun on the water gave me an absolutely incredible feeling of gratitute- Gratitude for not only the ability to witness such beauty but to do so while being in a state of physical health and mental clarity that having the ability to run brings. The run was about 5 miles. I would have known exactly how far, but the distance tracker I had in my shoe fell out after a little less than a mile. I looked for it-thought I had lost it-and then found it in the middle of the street on the way back. Amazingly, it hadn’t been run over!
Tuesday I went to Avenida Valparaiso, an area in downtown Vina Del Mar, to look at local artist’s goods. While there were really some pretty locally made things, a lot was made in China.
Wednesday I went to another local marketplace-more of a farmer’s market though. I went with my conversation class. Our assignment was to talk with local vendors and find the best price for our instructor’s produce for the week for which she only gave us 4 mil/approx. $8.00 US. She actually had change, and a lot was purchased. Another girl in my class and I want to go back and shop for groceries so that we can make lunch for ourselves one day after class. I am really looking forward to this! I did buy some clementine’s (little oranges) yesterday, however, and they were delicious! One kilo was 300 mil. This would have been a huge bag! I only asked for five-the vendor gave me six, so I paid only a few cents for great produce~ After class we went on another walking tour of the city. We went to the home of Pablo Neruda. As we were leaving his home and walking down a street we saw a man riding a borough.

Hola Chile!

June 17, 2008 (Tuesday)

Well, I arrived in Chile two days ago and thus far my experience has been pleasant. The plane ride was a little unsettling to me just because I was nervous and started to get pretty homesick just before I left the Dallas airport. The calmness I had felt up to that time was unexpected, for I had felt no apprehension about the trip-only excitement and a sense of readiness.
When my first plane left McGee Tyson I watched out of my window for a very long time. The land was absolutely beautiful. Unexpectantly, I became overwhelmed with emotion. Thinking about how blessed I was to be viewing such an amazing sight- that of divinely created topography, filled me with a tremendous sense of gratitude. Feeling not only blessed for the view but mostly for the journey on which I was embarking and the opportunities that I and am given daily, I becme kind of emotional. I put on my sunglasses and continued to look down at the land below as we flew.

My flight from Dallas to Santiago was delayed about forty-five minutes, (making the lay over about 2 hours) so I had time to wait and talk to Mommy before I left. I waited with mostly people who looked to be native Chilean. When I finally got on the plane I sat down and spoke with the girl next to me. She turned out to also be in the same program. Her name is Laura. In front of our seats were two other girls from the program, Jenna and Tori. Both are from San Diego and are very nice. We all talked for probably the first four hours of the trip pretty steadily.
No one was able to sleep for very long because the seats were so uncomfortable, but I did finally find one position that made resting a little better. I put my legs on top of my back pack but under the seat in front of me. Then I put the issued pillow on the left arm rest with the one Mommy made me on top and rested my head on that and the wall.
When I looked out the window as I woke up from my half-asleep state I saw the Andes as the sun was coming up. Absolutely Beautiful!!! We arrived in Santiago a little after 8:00. After I got off the plane but before I went through customs I had to purchase a “tourist visa” that I did not know about until I got on the plane and began to talk with the others coming for the same program. We had been told on the plane that it would also have to be purchased in exact change with American dollar bills, however another person who comes in and out of Chile frequently told us that Visa credit cards would be accepted as well. I was relieved…until I went to purchase the actual visa and the Visa gift card Daddy had given to me was declined. The card was supposed to be good all absolutely anywhere Visa is accepted. Not true. It has yet to work in Chile. After I paid with cash I moved on to go through customs. Here, because I had failed to claim that I had trail mix in my suitcase, I almost did not make it through customs. Jenna, my new friend from the plane ride, explained to security what I could not. He fussed at me, made me sign some papers that I hope won’t affect my leaving the country, took my trail mix, and I went on through. Relief. Finally officially in the country.

There was a very nicely dressed Chilean man waiting with a sign with about five names on it. Mine was one of them. He took my 34 pound, monogrammed bag and tossed it on top of the ones belonging to the other girls, and told me to wait until he found one more girl. We waited for about ten more minutes. While we were waiting, I helped another girl find a currency exchange station since I had already done so before going through customs.
After waiting a little more the taxi driver took us to his van and loaded the car. He then went to wait for the other girl for a few more minutes. She never came, so we left.

The ride from Santiago to Valparaiso took a little more than an hour. The last part of the ride was a quite curvy and, as I was facing backwards in the taxi, I began to feel a little nauseas. By the time we entered Vina Del Mar, I was not well. I also began to think about what I had just done. Come to live in South America-by myself, and I began to feel homesick yet again. This subsided when I arrived at my new “home”. Rosemary Faille Wallace rushed outside to greet me. She put her arms around me in a hug and told me how happy she and her two girls were that I was there. I felt immediately welcome. Constaza, her oldest daughter living at home, rushed to the doorway to greet me as well. She hugged and kissed me. They rushed me in to see the house, and told me to make myself at home and that we were going to have lunch as soon as the younger daughter, Gabriela, arrived. In the meantime, I unpacked a little in the little room I was given and took a shower. My room has a bed that is built into a little nook. I have a chest of drawers and a little closet. Fresh flowers had been placed on the chest, and a little key chain was on the night stand with a coin purse attached with my name on it. The mirror had an American and Chilean flag on either side of it as well. So the room that once belonged to Rosemary’s second eldest child and only son, as designated by the “Brian” sign on the door, now felt like my space.

At about 2:00 we sat down to a beautiful meal of empanadas as the first course with salmon and a white fish that has no English translation served alongside potatoes, followed by a baked custard for dessert. It was absolutely delicious!
After lunch I rode with Constaza and Gabriella to the coast in downtown Vina. We walked for a little while and then Constaza left Gabriella and me to walk until Rosemary came to join us again. When she arrived and picked us up we took Gabriella to sketch some store windows for one of her art school projects. Her work is incredible, by the way. So talented. After we dropped her off at some shops Rosemary drove me around the city, showing me the public library, some museums, and various other prominent places of interest. We then went to the Jumbo (Chile’s version of a Super Wal-Mart) to get some bread for the tea time later that evening and to hopefully find some electric outlet converters for me. We found both. However, as we were picking out the bread for tea, I began, once again, to become enexpectantly emotional. I was shopping in a foreign grocery store with someone else’s mother-not Mommy. I missed home-yet didn’t want to go back. I felt strange. Rosemary put her arm around me and said that I should feel the way I did and that it would not be normal if I didn’t. I smiled and we kept walking.
Later that evening we had a lovely tea time. I met the oldest daughter, Sharon, her two children Sophia and Tomas, her husband Gustavo, and her mother-in-law. We talked for about an hour and a half. Oh, and had some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted!-it was served sliced and I believe that it was hazelnut. I went to sleep about 10:30 absolutely exhausted.
The next morning I got up and left for school at about 8:00 even though orientation didn’t start until 9:00. Constaza took me and another girl in the same program, Victoria, to school and explained how we should use the bus system on the way home. Orientation went well. The placement test-not so much. I went back that same day in the evening to find out my class schedule. I could go into either of the two intermediate classes. I chose the first of the two-the less advanced.

Yesterday I had my first classes- conversation with Chilean culture and grammar. I believe I like both instructors, Virna and Maria Christina. Class went well but neither speaks English which is great! After class, I came home and ate lunch with Rosemary since she was at home with a cold. Then I went out with Tori to find some gloves. We walked about ten or fifteen blocks to a main street called Libertad. Here we found a very cute little café. We went inside and ordered some coffe and a piece of baklava to split. Both were muy bien! After this, we walked further until we came to the mall. We went in and looked for gloves-no success finding plain black gloves. I may just have to but a color that doesn’t match. There are so many wonderful-looking gelaterias in the mall and around the city. I have been told that Chileans are known to love ice cream and gelato. I have come to the right place!! Wrong season –however! It is freezing here! This is the coldest winter in a very long time. I’ll be eating gelato, though. After browsing we came across a great book store that has an upstairs like that of an old library with a little staircase leading up. On the second level, I came across a small book entitled Saber Inglés en 9 Días. It is filled with commonly used phrases that are supposed to help someone learn English. I decided that I would use it in reverse. It’s wonderful, really! Tori decided she wanted one as well, so I asked the owner/ hombre in charge if he had another one. He did and brought it to us. At about 8:00 we got back home. I ate a little pita sandwich and went to my room. I talked to Mommy and Daddy via Skype and began to feel more like myself than I have in the last few days. It was really nice.