I [have] been in Santiago, Chile, for the last five weeks. I'm going to classes at La Catolica, and the classes there are pretty demanding. My classes are all taught in Spanish, and they are American Anthropology, La Familia: ¿Para Que?, Medios II (Radio), Spanish, and Sociology. Next week I will begin working with a friend of mine at a local radio station in Santiago. [W]e are hoping to do a segment including a mix of regaton, English lessons, and country music (at my begging).
Living in Santiago thus far has been quite an eye opening experience. As similar as it is at times to New York City, or other big American cities, its just as different. For instance, "Machismo" still persists and is prevalent today. The chileno accent is arguably the most difficult spanish accent to understand, because they don't use proper grammar, they don't typically pronounce the "s", all the words are slurred together, and there are hundreds of "chileneismos", words unique to Chile. Learning Spanish here is comparable to learning English in Australia. The family I live with is really nice; I live with a mom, her 26 year old daughter, who leaves Sunday to study in Buenos Aires, the mom's sister, and the mom's 18 year old niece, and their dog Rufo who's half blind and deaf. The apartment is in a nice, safe neighborhood in Santiago, right next door to a beautiful park where I go running in the afternoons.
Some of you may have seen Michele Bachelet's inauguration on the news. It was quite an emotional event for all the families over here. I unfortunately did not watch the inauguration because I was enjoying the countryside outside of Santiago on a lemon farm (Once I figure out how to upload photos, I will set up a website with them and you all will be able to see how amazing it is here). The following day, however, there was a celebration in honor of Michele's inauguration in the town center. I went with a few friends, and we were probably the only North Americans at the celebration, and it was quite the extravaganza. Everyone was happy, singing along to the different musicians, and cheering for Bachelet. What struck me as interesting was that Michele was sitting on stage with the rest of the crowd, without any guards or anything on her sides protecting her. The economy is very stable here, and there is an apparent dislike of North American politics here, which I feel has been expressed or implied in almost every class I'm taking here.
The first weekend here we took a trip down to the south with the program I am here with. We went down to Torres del Paine, which is basically the southern most tip of Chile, and saw the Patagonian Glaciers. We also traveled to Punta Arenas and saw penguins in their natural habitat. The next weekend we went to Valparaiso on the western coast of Chile to the beach. It is a beautiful, very touristy city. We also visited Isla Negra, where we saw one of the three houses of Pablo Neruda, the one he had constructed for his third wife. The architecture and the harmony of the house and the water was pretty interesting.
Last weekend a few of us traveled to Lake Rapel, which is a HUGE man made lake, made for energy purposes, surrounded by desert.
The weather is just now starting to cool down, which is a nice change from the summer months when we arrived here.
The people I've met here are, for the most part, very nice. A bit shy at first (which is characteristic of Chilenos, apparently).
I feel as though there has not been very many dull moments here. It's a busy city, there's always something to do, something to see, something to experience. A few weekends ago we hiked up "Cerro San Cristobal", which has a giant statue of Saint Christopher overlooking Santiago. Once at the top, we had a breathtaking view of all of Santiago.
As a random aside, there is a very large Mormon population here, and on my walk home from school everyday I pass a very large Mormon Church. The other day, when walking home, this elderly couple was standing at the stoplight with me and asked "Ud es de aca" (Are you from here), (If it's not obvious, I kinda stick out like a sore thumb in this country). And we began to talk. It turns out their from Ohio and have been living many years in South America in different places, including Uruguay, Argentina, and now Chile. It was very interesting to hear their points of view on the different places they have lived and worked.
Stevie
