Reality

Every once in awhile, reality seems to strike in a surprise moment. I'm sure you have had these experiences. Last night, I had one as well.

My friends, Nate and Pat, and I had just parted after going to a bar for the night. I was walking down one of the most modern streets in Santiago--surrounded by multinational banks, corporate headquarters, high-rise condos, and gourmet restaurants. There were a few people out (it was past 1 am), but everyone generally keeps a good amount of space around them late at night. I walked past a young woman; she was probably in her late twenties or thirties, dressed casually, and clearly not in a rush. I would have walked right past had she not said hello and asked where I was going. I slowed down and told her the street where my bus was going to come. Her face brightened a little, and she said that was where she was going as well. We began to walk and talk together.

She introduced herself as Sandra and began to ask me the usual questions--where I am from, how old am I, am I studying at a university in Chile--among others. She commented that she was from Peru and missed her family there. I agreed and said that I missed my girlfriend as well. This seemed to grab her attention, and she asked me more questions about Christine. One of the oddest ones was if I was faithful to her. And then the light bulb went off in my head.

At this point, we had passed the street where she had said she was going, and although I continued to talk to her, I began to look for my bus stop. I got the feeling that there was more to our conversation than I had previously realized. We came to one of the stops and I politely tried to end the conversation. Before she walked away, she looked me in the eye and asked if I had ever been with an "extranjera" - a foreigner. I calmly said no and goodnight, and I turned towards the curb. She walked on down the street.

Was she a prostitute? A scared Peruvian woman? I do not pretend to know. And I'd rather not make the assumption. However, I was struck with a unique reality check. Never have I been confronted with a situation quite like this one. I still haven't decided how to feel about it--sad, scared, lucky? In Santiago, there are so many realities that I've never really opened my eyes to. Clearly, it's time to open my eyes to the good situations and the bad.

Chao.

Valparaiso

$40. Clothes. ID.

I can confirm that these things are all you need to survive in Valparaiso for at least 1 day and night. I can confirm it because that's all I had this weekend. So here's the story:

My friends--Nate, Monica, Emma, and Emily--and I had decided to go to Valparaiso from Saturday morning until Sunday morning, but we really wanted to work under a tight budget since it was going to be such a short trip. To save money, we decided to avoid booking a hostel and to see where the night would take us instead. So that was the plan.

Saturday started out on an odd note. We all agreed to meet at a certain Metro stop with a bus terminal attached at 10:45. Nate, who is normally my trusty companion on adventures, went the wrong direction on the Metro...for a half hour. After much chastising of Nate, we found a bus and set out for the coast.

Once we arrived, we immediately set out a plan. Nate has a great guide book with plenty of cool little secrets that most tourists don't know about. First, we went to a plaza with an antiques market with all kinds of Chilean knick-knacks. Some of our purchases: a rusty flask, some "artistic" photographs from the 70s (more like soft-core porn), torn Pablo Neruda books, and some really cool photos from the 1920s and 30s. I'm happy to say that I only contributed the last addition. My friends are weird...

So we trekked onwards. We had heard and read about a place where one of the greatest Chilean dishes was invented. Allow me to introduce you to the chorrillana: a BIG plate of fries topped with caramelized onions mixed with a little bit of scrambled eggs and a medley of beef pieces and sausage. It sounds odd, but trust me, it's worth the risk of early death by heart attack. We had to walk down this sketchy alley to find the place, so you could say it added to the ambiance.

Valparaiso is famous for its hills. Chileans describe the city as an amphitheater because the hills rise up around the bay in a semi-circle. It makes for great pictures and even better exercise to work off the deadly amount of calories in a chorrillana. We headed up Cerro Alegre (Happy Hill) to find some really cool British-influenced houses and Chilean artisans. On top, we stopped for pictures and met some very nice girls from London. As you will later learn, Valparaiso is also a college town in addition to a port town. Adding sailors to a college town just makes for some shenanigans. However, the city is very picturesque from the top of the hills--brightly colored houses are scattered throughout the city with the big blue bay below. (I'll just add some of my favorite pictures to the bottom of this post.)

The next few hours weren't very interesting to be honest. We took a nervous ride on an "ascensor"--think a vertical railway--to go down the hill. They've worked for decades, but it doesn't mean they're structurally sound. We went up another hill, took some pictures, and got coffee. Then, the fun began.

To save money, we decided to make our own drinks. We poured pisco into some coke bottles and set off. Legal? No. Efficient? Definitely. We ran off to get dinner and set out to see the night life of Valparaiso. After two bars, we decided it was time to go to the famous club "Huevo." It's five stories of different rooms all playing different kinds of music, ranging from rock to 80s to salsa and everything in between. It was 1:00 am when we arrived at the club. It was 5:00 am when we left. Most of the crowd spilled over into a neighboring park, so we talked with some Chileans until 6. At that point, we headed back to the bus stop and caught the 6:30 bus back to Santiago.

By 9:00, I was home and in bed until 3:00 pm when Monica woke me up to work on a presentation we had to give the next day. Such is life.

It may not sound that attractive, but I highly recommend Valparaiso. It combines just about all of the aspects of Chilean life and culture and is a beautiful city on top of that. I hope you enjoy hearing about my shenanigans, even if their legality is questionable. I'm usually a very well-behaved exchange student!

Until next time...chao.

Classes

This may be the last chance I have to update everyone for about a week, so I'm going to take advantage of it.

As promised, here are my classes:

- Internship Seminar and Field Work

- Chile and Regional/International Trade Organizations

- Medical Spanish

- Native (Chilean) Cultures

- Sexuality in the Context of a Changing Chilean Society - Gentlemen, wish me luck in this course.

I engineered my class schedule to avoid having classes on Fridays. Like I said, I'm "studying" here, and it really helps to have an extra day to travel on the weekends. Still, the classes are interesting and they are entirely in Spanish. The last two classes are offered at La Chile with other Chilean students as well. It's an adventure, for sure.

Today, I finalized plans to travel quite a bit in September . . . I'll actually be traveling for 3 of the next 5 weekends. This weekend, I'm going to visit Valparaiso and Vina del Mar - the port and preferred escape from Santiago. It should be a good start to the traveling since it's only about an hour outside of Santiago. I'll take a lot of pictures and report back when I can!

I had an interesting conversation about the health system within Chile today. Unfortunately, the US is not alone with its problems and faults associated with the health care system. There is a system and fund (similar to MediCare) that provides assistance to the population, although it seems to abandon people whenever a serious need arises. My host parents described the plan as a really bad friend. The plan covers everyone in Chile, whether they work or not, so that's good. It works like a regressive system in which yearly salary is the main determinant. The more you make, the higher percentage you pay for each health care visit. It goes as low as 10%, but for the majority, it's above 20%. That goes for small check-ups or for serious medical treatments. It's hard to imagine how people in poverty can even think about paying for some of these treatments, let alone common medical check-ups.

Additionally, even with a secure job, private health care benefits provided by employers just aren't customary. My host father, Arturo, has been a solid employee with a long tenure, but he doesn't receive or have an option for any private health care benefits. Instead, he must find private plans to insure his family.

New legislation has been passed, but, as I continue to find, the implementation of such legislation is lacking. Chile is a growing country with a solid economy. I believe it is beyond the category of a "developing nation" - whatever that may mean - and is beginning to realize the needs of a more intelligent, more demanding population. There's definitely room for improvement though.

So that's depressing. . .

On the bright side, the water tastes great and hasn't bothered me at all! And that's something everyone can enjoy!

Chao.

One Month...

As surprising as it is for me, this Thursday will be the end of one month in Santiago. Scary, I guess, but exciting at the same time. I've already accomplished quite a bit - getting to know the city, traveling a bit, making friends - and we have plans in the making to go to the Atacama Desert, Buenos Aires, and Valparaiso. I'm definitely not wasting time down here!

Today, my friend Nate and I climbed Cerro San Cristobal - the largest metropolitan park in Santiago. On clear days, the view from the top is pretty incredible. We had a very wet Friday - 46mm (almost 2 inches) of rain fell in a 24 hour period - so the smog was swept away. Nate and I hiked up the east side of the hill and followed some paths through the underbrush to the west side. We found some nice viewpoints (this one is facing south towards my side of the city). You can see the Rio Mapocho - the river in the foreground - and the big buildings along side of it make the Providencia comuna, which is the neighborhood where the IES center is located along with cool bars and restaurants. In the background is the Las Condes comuna, the residential neighborhood that I live in.

Even two days after the big rainstorm, the smog was starting to build up again. It's the sad reality of a city that holds 6 million people. You might be able to see the layer of gray that almost reaches the top of the hills in the background of this picture. And as you can see, the city is very spread out. The risk of earthquakes is ever-present, so few buildings are more than 30 stories tall. With shorter buildings, it's means less concentration and more transportation. It's an unfortunate reality that you can't ignore - especially when you start coughing on the side of a busy road.

Still, it was great to get some exercise outside. Sadly, this week will be spent inside - in classrooms, for the most part. I get to finalize my class schedule tomorrow, so I'll update you all on my classes for the term soon.

Chao.

Topics of Conversation

Most of the good discussions I've taken part in have happened at the table with my host family. Every once in awhile, they're funny, sad, political, etc. I'll share whenever we get a good one.

Today's topic: dating. Complicated? Yes. But let's see if I can explain it. Dating is different in Chile, that's for sure. I'll try to explain it in stages.

Stage 1: Rejection. There's no colloquial Spanish for this one. The basic chronology is guy meets girl, guy gets girl's number, and guy proceeds to call girl until girl decides to pick up. I'm told this can last anywhere from 3 calls to 10 or more. If the girl really isn't interested, the guy will eventually get the picture. If she is interested, she'll pick up when she feels like it. Personally, I can't handle that much rejection. I guess I wouldn't even make it past this stage...

Stage 2: "Andando" - Literally, it means "walking" but I can best describe it as "friends with benefits." I guess it's like casual dating - nothing exclusive has been established. The guy can still check out girls on the street, the girl can still give other guys her number, but they're still thinking about dating. People in this category are frequently seen making out in all manners of public places - parks, Metro stations, buses. The more crowded, the better. Maybe it's a chauvinistic thing, but most people think it's just because Chileans live with their parents for so long that they need to express their physical affection somewhere. Some couples are just more expressive than others...

Stage 3: "Pololear" - This is a serious chilenismo. I had never heard of this word before coming here. I think it means exclusive dating, but I'm really not even sure yet. I guess it's a case-by-case basis, but it's a step and more beyond "andar." If you are in this stage, you have a pololo or polola.

Stage 4: "Novios" - The date has been set if you're in this stage. That's why I'm confused about the previous stage. A lot of ground has been covered between the two.

After this, it's on to bigger and better things. I think you can all catch the drift. However, there's kind of a darker side to this next stage. Women between the ages of 25 and 35 have a really hard time finding a job. There are no discrimination or sexual harassment laws in Chile, so most companies just won't hire women of this age - expecting them to start families and not wanting to pay maternity leave. It makes it even harder for couples to start out.

This is random, but I'm still trying to figure out classes. I'll send out an update on what classes I'm taking next week. I'm not traveling this weekend either, so sorry if this is boring! I'll travel next week and in September though!

I hope everyone is staying cool!

Chao,
Mike

Museo de Bellas Artes

Today, I ventured to El Museo de Bellas Artes to take in a little bit of the more "sophisticated" culture of Santiago. The current highlight is an exhibition of Oscar Niemeyer's architecture, but as I'm continually finding, the highlight wasn't what I was most attracted to. Off of the main floor, I was surprised to find an entire wing dedicated to "Kid Art."

Organized by age, it stood as a surprising reminder of a completely different viewpoint within Chilean culture. As expected, I found some of the typical subjects: dragons and mermaids, penguins and sunsets. (I guess when you put those together, they sound odd. But honestly, they fit in the exhibit!) However, I also found something far more unexpected. Eight and ten year-olds' had painted displays of the environmental problems within the city; another showed a Chilean flag crumpled on the ground; and a six year-old had her own display for her urban photography (and she deserved it).

I suppose that I had expected to find innocence, naivete, or immaturity. Call it what you will, but I expected to find something else. What I did see was a display of awareness, maturity, and even some concern. I've felt like Santiago is a very mature city, and this experience only reinforces that belief. When schoolchildren question a country's environmental impact, urban sprawl, and even patriotism, how can you not be impressed?

At some level, I feel concerned as well. I rather fondly remember my days of innocence and naivete, when I didn't really worry about such things. These kids certainly live in a different place. But at least there are still a few dragons and mermaids floating around.

Chao.

Trying something new...

Ok, so I'm going to try out the blog idea for a little while. I'm not sure if I'll update it a lot yet, but it's worth trying.

I don't think I've talked much about my host family yet, so I think they deserve some introduction. I'm staying with Arturo and Mary Meza--a very nice couple who have three grown kids. Paula and Javier have already moved out, but Matias will be going to the same university (la Universidad de Chile - "La Chile") as me.

So far, they have been nothing but welcoming and helpful. Mary makes me a nice lunch box each morning, and I almost expect to find a little note in it someday. However, she's done the same for Arturo since they were married. They are a very sweet little couple. She calls him viejo - "old man" - affectionately since he's actually 9 years older. They were married before she even graduated from high school (!) and they seem very happy. He works as an accountant while she takes care of anything that might come up - grandchildren, foreign students, etc. They've hosted a student each semester for the past 7 years, so you could say they're veterans in this little game.

Basically, I'm taken care of. I'm well-fed, well-slept, and quite pleased with my new home.

Hasta Luego.