I've Never Been So Cold in July

I've never been so cold in July. Maybe even in my whole life. Houses here don't have central heating but they usually have small heaters in each room. However, that's not the case in mine. It's freezing! I'm super glad that I brought lots of jackets, fleece, socks, and fuzzy slippers!

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I still haven't fully recovered from my first shower experience. To get hot water in the shower I have to turn on the hot water in the sink, turn on the shower, then turn off the sink. I did that before undressing so that the water would have time to warm up. The floor of the bathroom was absolutely freezing so I jumped right into the shower. The water was warm but the pressure was really low so I couldn't be all the way under the water all at one time. The part of me that was wet but out of the warm water felt icy. I was shivering uncontrollably. I showered as fast as possible then got out and wrapped up in a towel.

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The whole bathroom was full of steam and I could hardly see the door. The sink, toilet, mirror, and walls were dripping with freezing water. My toes were numb. I ran back to my room and put on long underwear, fleece pants, a long sleeve shirt, fleece top, jacket, wool socks, and hat. I was still cold.

This is my room and the bathroom I share with one of the mysterious students.

Wait, is this Japan? And other confusions.

The first day with my family was really confusing. After lunch my grandma, mom, and I went for for a walk around the neighborhood. My mom stopped at a house and asked me if I knew what it was. It looked like a normal house but it had Japanese writing on the gate and lots of shoes on the front porch. I replied that I wasn't sure but that I thought it was a house where Japanese people lived. Then a woman came to the gate and asked us if we wanted to come in and my mom said yes. The woman asked us if we wanted to try something (I didn't understand what) and my mom looked at me so I said yes.
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We took off our shoes outside and put them in a cubby then followed the lady inside and washed our hands. There was a room with an anatomy poster and a mix of Japanese and Spanish writing. The room we entered had an altar with a red carpet leading up to it. People were bowing and kneeling on both sides of the room. Our guide told us to kneel and bow 3 times then clap twice, then bow twice and clap twice. I followed along and then 2 more women came over and we each went with one of them. I kneeled on a mat and the women made me repeat something to her. I have no idea what I said. Then she told me to close my eyes. I thought I was misunderstanding so I repeated what she said and she told me that I would only have to close them for 5 minutes. While my eyes were closed there were random bowing and kneeling noises and some Japanese/Spanish chanting. I was so confused! When I opened my eyes my guide told me to sit facing away from her and then she put pressure on my head. She let go then I sat there for a minute. Then she did it again. I could see my grandma and her woman was doing the same thing: applying pressure then holding her hand in the air about 6'' from the place she had applied pressure. I thought that it was probably some sort of healing art that had to do with energy. This went on in a sitting and lying position for nearly an hour.
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When it was done I had to bow and clap some more then my lady pointed me back to the shoes. While walking back to our apartment my mom asked if I enjoyed it and (since I didn't know what to say) I said yes but that I was confused about what it was. When she didn't explain it I realized that confusion was about to become a central part of my daily life.

Moving in with the "Brady Bunch"

I was so excited to move in with our host families last weekend. When I asked Carmen Gloria (our director) about my family she said that other students usually called them the Brady Bunch. Why? Because they have 5 kids!

All of our host parents picked us up from the hostel Saturday afternoon. My mom drove me to our apartment in Las Condes. My building is the middle one that is white and rectangular in the picture.

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I unpacked my bags and got settled in my room before lunch. Weekend lunches in Chile are family meals so we all sat down to eat together. The were 7 at the table:

-mom: Carmen Gloria

-Grandma

-Sister: Consuelo- 18

-Sister: Carmen Gloria- 19

-Brother: Federico- 23

-Brother: Nicolas- 25

Missing from the table was my other brother (Pable Pedro/ Pedro Pable?) and the 2 other "estudiantes". They were very confusing at first. I couldn't figure out who they were, where they were, or why there lived here. I still haven't met them but I know a little bit more. They are brother and sister and they are from the Chilean countryside. They are 19 and 20 and are studying in Santiago. Right now I think the brother is here (and has been for 2 days) but I haven't seen him. The sister is travelling.

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Lunch was crazy. I had no idea what was going on. They were all speaking so fast and with a chilean accent and chilean slang (chileanismos). Occasionally they would look at me and say, "Si?" and I would nod. I expected them to be a little more interested in me and want to ask me questions and talk to me but maybe that will come later. For now I have one crazy living situation!

Orientation Part 2

The first weekend we had a break from all the charlas (back to back academic lectures in Spanish that usually last approx. 2 hours each) and we visited Santa Rita vinyard and winery. We tasted several different wines then had a really nice lunch (with lots more wine) before touring the wine production facilities. Needless to say, we had a TON of fun.

It was a beautiful day and we could see the foothills surrounding the vinyards.

Another excursion was to a small agricultural town called San Felipe. We met with a group of women who work in the packing plants then went to the local pub with them for lunch. The cazuela (soup with chicken, vegetables, and nuts) was amazing but the conversation was a little bit difficult!

After lunch we walked up a little hill for a spectacular photo shoot of the Andes and the surrounding valley.

Then we went to a local chicheria where the maestro taught us about making the local drink chicha and let us taste this year's batch.

This is the church in San Felipe's town square.

One of the days we did a 'Social Geography' tour of Santiago. We started with a nice lunch in an art village in the barrio alto of Santiago- the richest part of the city. Lunch was great and we the shopping area was beautiful. Then we got on the bus and drove on Santiago's ring road- Americo Vespucio. We drove through several nice neighborhoods then through the middle class, lower middle class, lower class, and poblaciones. We made several stops to explore different areas. Santiago is a city with a lot of inequality and it is very obvious when you move around the city.

Santo Domingo Art Village in the barrio alto
Where we ended up- a poblacion.

This is a photo of a Mapuche women singing and drumming for us.

Visiting La Moneda- the presidential palace.

Visiting Mario Toral's home and studio. He is a very prominent and very interesting Chilean artist.

This is Prof. Peter Winn. He is a Chilean historian from Tufts and he led our orientation. He is very knowledgeable on all things Chilean and was a great person to introduce us to Chile. This is him doing his normal thing- speaking very quietly into his recorder during a charla.

More than 2 weeks in Chile already

I've been in Chile for more than 2 weeks and I haven't updated my blog at all. I'm going to put up some pictures from orientation and then try to update more regularly!

These are pictures from our first day in Santiago. We had a typical lunch then went to Cerro San Cristobal- a hill in the middle of the city. It was cloudy but the view was still amazing! I am absolutely in love with the Andes and cannot stop staring. You can catch glimpses of the mountains throughout the whole city.

These are photos of the old downtown area. Plaza de Armas is the central square and there are old churches, government buildings, and offices around it.

This is La Vega at El Mercado Central. The market sells live fish and sea food as well as vegetables and prepared food. It is also a popular place for pickpockets.
Of course I couldn't miss the opening night of Harry Potter :) This is the line for tickets in a movie theatre in downtown Santiago.

Hanging out in the hostel after really long days of lectures and tours.



These are photos from the human rights section of our orientation. After the 1973 coup Pinochet's dictatorship imprisoned and tortured thousands of civilians. We heard from torture survivors, military men, historians, and politicians and we toured an old torture camp, cemetery, and memorial. It was a very moving experience.

I'm going to split this into 2 posts so that I don't risk messing up my formatting by adding more pictures.