Pirque day trip

Last Friday I went to Pirque, a small town outside of Santiago, with Emily, Katie, and Becca. We didn't take the most direct route and consequently we were on metros and micros for over two hours. The micro (inner-city bus) ride was interesting though because we passed through a few neighborhoods in Southern Santiago that we would have otherwise had no reason to see. We spent awhile discussing class distinctions in Chile because it seems so easy for Chileans to label class but for us it is difficult to understand that distinguishing features between upper-middle class, middle class, lower-middle class, and upper-lower class. I find it difficult to label classes here because what constitutes the middle class does not correspond to the middle class in other countries. The terms that we use to describe social class vary based on each country because they are relative terms that are used to compare classes within each country.

When we got to Pirque we weren't sure where we were going so we got off at what appeared to be the main (and only) street. We were about a 30 min walk from the restaurant so we decided to get back on a micro. Unfortunately the micro turned right and we needed to go left. We got off the micro as soon as possible and waited on the side of the road for a micro going back the other direction. We took it back to the corner and got on another micro. This time I asked the driver if we could have student discounts.. and we could. Next time I'll ask on the first micro. The restaurant was worth the hassle as the food and service were excellent. We were disappointed that the dish we were looking for was only available in the summer but we got hot, fresh bread with the local equivalent of salsa (pevre) and grilled salmon with shrimp and were not disappointed.

After lunch we went to Concho y Toro winery and Emily and Katie went on a tour while Becca and I enjoyed a cheese platter and wine on the terrace. I learned a lot about the different types of wines--but who knows if I will remember!

Clearly I don't understand what's going on

So in one of my first posts I described my family. I have 2 younger sisters, 3 older brothers, 2 chilean students, and a mom. It took me awhile to understand the Chilean students but I thought I had everything else figured out. Well.. I was wrong. The two brothers that I have met are named Federico and Nicolas. Federico is 23 and Nicolas is 25. Federico seems to have a job, or at least a part-time job, and has a girlfriend. They use the word polola to describe her instead of novia (polola is a serious girlfriend and novia is a fiancee) but on his facebook it says that they are engaged. The girls are usually a couple years younger than their boyfriends here so I assumed that she was about my age. Nicolas told me that he was in his last year of schooling to become an engineer. I thought that was strange because the program usually finishes when people are 23 so I asked my Chilean friend who is an engineer and he said it's rare for someone to be older than 24. Hmm..
Then I found out that I had them switched. The older one is really the younger one. Federico is 25 and has a job and fiancee that looks older than me and was talking about finding a job and Nicolas is 23 and still a student. And my friend's pointed out that it makes sense because the younger one is a little bit immature about talking to me in ways that I can't understand. So I lived with them for a month and couldn't even figure out how old they were.

Demonstrations

Chile is a country that is fond of social action. The other day at school I expereriences tear gas for the first time because there was a student protest about a Mapuche man who was killed. The carabineros (Chilean police) responded with tear gas. I was really excited about it but Rodrigo told me that it happens about once a month. I was far enough away that I only got a little bit of an itchy senstation in my eyes.

This weekend while I was shopping for brunch ingredients in Jumbo- a Chilean mix between Target and Walmart- I witnessed a labor demonstration in the middle of the star. People were holding signs, yelling, singing, and throwing confetti around. At first I couldn't tell if it was a celebration or a protest but after I read the signs it was pretty clear. "The owner is the Devil" and "Jumbo's lawyer tricked us."

I just can't get off the food topic..

Comilón- Chilean slang for a person that eats a lot.
antojos- slang for cravings
Thank you Javiera for enlightening us.

After learning such a useful term and discovering an amazing website that highlights Santiago restaurants we decided to form the "Club de Comilónes" aka The Big Eaters Club. Every Thursday night we will choose a different Santiago eatery and give it a try. Last week we went to a really small Vietnamese restaurant downtown. It serves authentic cuisine because the owner is Vietnamese and it is the only Vietnamese restaurant in Chile. Maca, Rodrigo, Javiera, and Daniel joined us for their first experience with Vietnamese food! This week we are choosing between Indian and Arabian food. Yum!

¡Viva el Club de Comilónes!

While I'm on the Topic of Food...

I did not come to Chile expecting to find amazing food. Guide books don't emphasize the availability of meat and seafood but also lament over the lack of flavor in most dishes. I have been pleasantly surprised by many foods but I am also very glad that I am not a picky eater..

photo- all that was in the refrigerator for dinner last night. Rice with clams and mashed mystery meat with green sauce.
*
Food at home:
Breakfast and Sunday lunches are the saving graces of my culinary experience so far with my host family. Sunday lunches have included salmon raviolis, soft tacos, and grilled chicken and usually involve some time of vegetable. On the other hand, food can be a bit more of a challenge during the week. For example, if I walked into the kitchen right now I would find: lemons, onions, kiwis, apples, oranges, sliced bread, cheese, olives, oats, eggs, cabbage, rice, and some condiments. There is also some turkey but I can't bring myself to eat it because I know that it was left unrefrigerated for about 12 hrs. I am not opposed to any of these foods but I cannot think of any original way to put them together to create a meal. I've already done grilled cheese and scrambled eggs multiple times. I'm not a picky eater but I am craving some salad, vegetables, and complete meals!
*
Restaurants- MAYONNAISE. If there is one food that I cannot stand it is mayonnaise. That has never been a problem before Chile but all of a sudden I can't get away from it. Mayo is always served on lettuce, hot dogs, sandwiches, fries, and usually on pretty much anything else you can think of.
+Delicious (but awful)- Let me introduce to you the Chilean Chorrillana. It is a heap of fries with grilled onions, meat, and fried eggs on top. This is something that I would assume that I would never touch but I have, on several occasions now, searched for chorrillanas in the wee hours of the morning. (thank you Rodrigo for driving us all around!)
+Completos- I think I would be embarrassed if one of my country's main culinary achievements involved hot dogs. But not the Chileans! Maca and Rodrigo brought over all the ingredients for making completos while we were studying last Sunday. What did we need? Hot dogs, buns, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, relish, tomatoes, and avocados.



Last weekend Becca, Meera, and I satisfied our cravings for breakfast foods by cooking an American brunch for Becca's family. We made chocolate chip and banana pancakes, eggs with onions, peppers, ham, cheese, and mushrooms, fried potatoes with pepper, bacon, and fruit salad. The Chileans loved it and we devoured it all. Next cooking project--pasta, salad, and garlic break/ make your own pizzas/ dumpling and asian night...looking for suggestions!

-So after all the fries, eggs, and hot dogs one would think that Chileans are not very conscious about eating healthy. After trying peanut butter for the first time Javiera and Claudia agreed that they liked it but said that they shouldn't eat it because of how unhealthy it is.. hmm

Raw Chicken

Thursday morning I woke up and went into the kitchen to eat breakfast. My host mom always makes me a breakfast tray with my name on it. The typical tray includes: bread, avocado, ham, cheese, tomato, cut fruit, oats, and coffee. It is a wonderful way to start a day! So Thursday I walk into the kitchen to get my tray and the tray is there, the plates are there, but all that is left in crumbs!! Somebody ate my breakfast.


No big deal. I decided to take the opportunity to make an egg scramble. I go to get a spoon and I see 2 big chunks of raw chicken sitting on the dish drying rack!!!!! I appreciate education and knowledge, and I was happy to be certified by Spokane Public Health Department in Food Handler's Safety, but there are some times that ignorance is bliss. My sister walked in and grabbed a spoon from the rack, wiped off the chicken drips, and started eating. I decided I wasn't hungry because I couldn't stop thinking about how every knife, fork, spoon, cup, and plate had been bathed in raw chicken juice.

e-SKI-ando en la Cordillera!!

Yesterday I WENT SKIING IN THE ANDES!!!!!
It's hard to miss the fact that I love skiing. I am obsessed with the sport. By late August/early September I am ancy for ski season to start again.
My new favorite aspect of Chile? Skiing in August. My ultimate birthday dream has been fulfilled.

The Tufts group met up at 8 am Friday morning, rented gear, loaded the vans, and headed toward the Andes. We had recieved multiple warnings about the curvy road and carsickness. As a vomitphobe I was freaked out about other people getting sick on the way up. Fortunately the van went slow and the view was distracting and nobody got sick. There were 40 nearly vertical switchbacks with steep drop-offs on both sides.

Unfortunately Farrellones is the lamest resort I have ever seen. I remembered to pack my positive attitude (skiing is always awesome!) along with my retro $4 ski suit and I had a great time! Lots of my friends had never skiied before and I got to teach people how to ski and I was able to take hilarious pictures of 20 yr olds yardsaling in neon ski suits.

Hopefully I will get a chance to go skiing for real in a few weeks. If not, I had a great Andean ski experience!

Going Out: Chilean Style

It's Friday night, 11PM. You are at Tufts. What are you doing? Most likely leaving for a party or at a party.

It's Friday night, 11PM. You are in Chile. What are you doing? Maybe eating dinner, giving a friend a call, and thinking about going out in a few hours.

People go out LATE here!!

Partying is also not the same here. During my first Sunday lunch with my family my Chilean grandmother asked me if I was partying the night before and my host mom laughed and asked if I was hungover. (No). I have never discussed partying with my real grandma and I don't plan on doing it soon.

Friday night I went out to a dance club and bar with my friend Becca's host family. The group included Becca, Meera, and I (las gringas!), Becca's host sisters, their boyfriends, one of their friends, the friend's brother, and the brother's friend. We range in ages from 18-27. In the US that is considered a large age difference; however, here in Chile it is quite different. We were also joined by Becca's host mom, her boyfriend, his sister and brother-in-law, his cousin, and his cousin's friend. I can't say that I've never partied with my parents but I certainly can say that I don't regularly volunteer to go dancing with them at 4 am on a Friday night.

Maybe I am out of the loop, but I don't consider karaoke clubs a popular option for young people in the US. I'm afraid that I have to admit that I have participated in karaoke parties more than once..but never in the US.

Saturday night I went out to El Pub Chihuahua with several friends from Tufts and Maca and Rodrigo. We spent hours drinking 2 x 1 cocktails, eating mini-empanadas, listening to drunk Chileans sing, and dancing on our chairs. At around 3 am the DJ called "Maca y Las Gringas" up to the stage and we sang or, as Rodrigo later pointed out, we yelled Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer". Sorry for the bad picture but that's all I had.

I'm starting to understand nightlife in Santiago. You plan to pregame at 11:30, actually pregame at 12, go out at 1, start dancing at 2, leave the club at 4, chow down on chorillana until 6, then head home. And don't worry about what your parents will say because they are probably with you.

Baking does not exist

Mom, this post is for you.
At home I take fresh baked cookies, pies, cakes, and cobblers for granted. If I want chocolate chip cookies, if it's a birthday, if there is a team party, etc all I have to do is open the cupboard, take out all the ingredients, and bake something. If something is missing it is a quick trip to the baking aisle of any grocery store and I can find all the flour, sprinkles, frosting, and candies that I could ever need. Becca and I decided to bake cupcakes for our friend Rodrigo's birthday. It was not easy!

Reasons why baking does not exist in Chile:
1- There is no baking aisle
We went to Jumbo (very similar to Walmart) to buy ingredients because we figured it would have everything we need. Wrong. When we found an aisle with baking mixes we thought we were in luck. Wrong. Flour and sprinkles were in that aisle but we could not find sugar, frosting, a muffin pan, or cupcake papers. After looking all over the store and asking several people we found powdered sugar near the wine, baking sheets near the rugs, and muffin liners in the party favor aisle.
2- they don't sell frosting
At first I thought that not selling frosting might be a good sign for baking. Making things from scratch is always better, right? But the concept of frosting is not really here either. They call it whipped cream even though frosting is not the same thing as whipped cream.
3-There are no words for baking sheet or cupcakes
We tried the dictionary, we tried online translators, we tried our host families.. the words don't exist.
4- The oven doesn't have a thermometer
The kitchen here is a mystery to me. We couldn't figure out how to pre-heat the over so we went and asked Becca's mom. You have to turn on the gas, light a match, turn on the stove, catch a paper on fire, turn on the oven, and light the oven with the paper. We couldn't find the temperature so we asked her again and there isn't one. It doesn't make it very easy to pre-heat the oven to 350!
5- The kitchen doesn't have measuring cups, large bowls, or mixers
Suddenly I appreciate your KitchenAid with interchangeable mixers. We searched the entire kitchen and could not find a single mixing bowl, measuring cup, or electronic mixer. In the end we used a pot, a whisk, and an empty yogurt container. We converted grams of yogurt to cups and then used the container to measure the water. There is a measuring cup after all but it is used to feed the turtle and was full of turtle water.. gross! The recipe asked us to use an electric mixer on high speed for 4 minutes. So instead I whisked as fast as I could! After finishing the cupcakes we realized that the mixer would be essential for the frosting so we rang the neighbor's doorbell. Six lilac point Siamese ran out into the hallway when she opened the door!

Anyways.. we ended up with more or less successful cupcakes and Rodrigo seemed to like them so the effort was worth it!

Pomaire

Last weekend I went to Pomaire with the Tufts group. Pomaire is a small artisans village about an hour and a half north of Santiago. It is known for its simple ceramic bowls and figures.

We started our day with breakfast at our host's house. We had bread, jam, manjar (similar to caramel), tea, and coffee. Our hosts introduced the history of Pomaire and then took us across town to the house of a typical Pomaire artist. They showed us how they dig up the soil and turn it into usable clay then they demonstrated how to make bowls and goblets on the pottery wheel.

After the demonstration I got to try to make a goblet. It was definitely a lot harder then the artists made it look! My goblet came out all right-but with a lot of help from the maestro!
After trying the pottery wheel we went to another house that specialized in clay figures. The lady who lived there showed us how to make frogs, turtles, and pigs. Here are our attempts at making frogs and turtles.

We went back to the host's house for lunch and ate empanadas and cazuela (a Chilean soup). I had been told about Pomaire's pastel de choclo and kilo empanadas so I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to eat them! After lunch we had some time to walk along main street and look at all of the ceramics that were for sale.

The mystery of the "estudiantes"

Mystery solved. I now know who lives in my apartment and I have been introduced to both mystery students.
Estudiante #1= girl, 20 Isa (short for either Isadora or Isabella- haven't figured that out yet)
Estudiante #2 = boy, 19 Juan
They are from Osorno, Chile and are studying in Santiago.

Mi cumpleaños

Sunday I turned 20 and I celebrated with my friends and my Chilean family. Saturday night I went over to Becca's house to hang out and her sister (Maca) and Maca's boyfriend (Rodrigo) invited us out to drinks. On the way there it turned midnight and they started singing Feliz cumpleaños to me. The bar was very chill and we had drinks and talked for awhile. Then they surprised me with a cheesecake and sang again!! They are so nice!

Sunday lunch was a special birthday lunch at my house. My mom, 2 sisters, one of my brothers, and my grandma's cousin were there. My mom cooked salmon, corn, tomato and avocado salad, and potatoes. After lunch they brought out a cake with trick candles! The best part about it was that since it was my birthday everyone was talking to me and I could be a bigger part of the conversation.

In the evening I went to Parque Arauco to go bowling with friends from Tufts. A lot of people couldn't make it because it was a Sunday evening but it was still a lot of fun. Maca and Rodrigo came at the end and we went out to eat waffles for dessert.

It was a fun birthday!