Fiestas Patrias

The 18th and 19th of September are Chile's fiestas patrias, a celebration of Chile's independence. Since this year the holidays fall on a Sunday and Monday, the celebration started on Friday and continued all weekend.

On Friday, my Chilean family had an asado (barbacue) which is an extremely popular way to celebrate. Meat sales are at their highest around this time in Chile and everywhere you go in Santiago you can smell the smoke from the grills. We had the asado on Friday because my host brother, Gonzalo, was flying back to Madrid on Saturday and my host brother, Francisco, took a bus up from Valdivia (a city in southern Chile) for the weekend to see him off. So I got to meet a lot of their extended family and my host mother, Paulina, was happy to have all four of her children together one last time. The food was great, we had choripan, which is a very typical Chilean dish, which is basically just a hot dog, but smaller and with better bread and better meat (chorizo means sausage and pan means bread so choripan is a pretty perfect name). And of course there was grilled beef and chicken, which might actually be the best chicken I ever had.
(Side note: They really cook their meat here in Santiago. It isn't too bad for me, but if I think that the meat is overcooked, then that is really saying something as I'm sure my family will agree. Every time we eat meat here, I always think of my "blue-rare" family and their reactions to overcooked meat.)

Meat cooking on the grill.

One of the most popular things to do to celebrate this holiday is to go to one of the many fondas, which are held in parks all over the city. They are very similar to street fairs or carnivals, with food stands, rides, artisan crafts, games, face painting, dancing, music, and performers. On Saturday & Sunday I went to one of the biggest and best known fondas in Parque O'Higggins with a group of people. We were actually pretty diverse as there were 3 Chileans (they didn't go with us on Sunday), 4 Italians, 1 French Colombian, 1 girl from France, 2 girls from Mexico, and 1 American (me!).

Partial Group Photo of Katerine, Elita, Chiara, Mariana, Me, and Nydia.

Anyways, on Saturday we got to the park around 6pm and spent several hours walking around the HUGE grounds and soaking up the festive atmosphere. In Chile, empanadas are extremely popular, especially as street food. You can basically fill it with whatever you want, but the most popular types are empanadas de queso (cheese), de queso y camerones (cheese and shrimp), or de pino. Empanadas de Pino are the most popular type and are filled with a beef and onion mixture, half a hard-boiled egg and an olive and they are baked (the cheese ones are usually fried). They are actually pretty good, since it's pretty easy to remove the egg and olive, but I decided to purchase an empanada de queso for $2 since I have been missing cheese.

As we walked around we saw a mini parade of Chilean dancers, a man dressed as a woman dancing around, and several boxes of baby chickens, which were the cutest things ever. While exploring the artisan section of the fonda I bought some pink aretes (earrings) and some chicha to drink, which is a typical Chilean drink that was described to me as a "lightly fermented wine". It is delicious and tastes very similar to Sangria.

Chilean dancers.

CHICKIES! so cute!

Chicha

After everybody had finished eating their empanadas several people in our group were intent on finding some cerveza (beer) to wash everything down. At first we were worried that they didn't sell any alcohol there (which would have been very peculiar for Chile) but the Chileans in our group assured us that we just had to go to another section where there was more food and drinks. The national drink of Chile is the terremoto, which means earthquake, aptly named for it's ability to make the earth "move" if you drink too many. It's made by filling a glass with a sweet white wine and then adding a shot of Pisco (a grape brandy that is very popular in Chile), a splash of grenadine, and a scoop of pineapple ice cream or sherbet. Not too many bars serve them year round, but during the fiestas patrias they are served everywhere, so of course several of us opted for the $2 terremoto. Nearby there was a game where you paid 200 Chilean pesos (around 50 cents) and you got 8 tries to throw a wooden ring around the top of one of the many liquor bottles that they had grouped up in back. If you got it around, you won the bottle, which, unfortunately, I did not do.

Katerine and I with our terremotos!

After sitting in the grass and talking for awhile (the Italian guy, Fabrizio, is a fan of the Big Bang Theory and we were convincing Katerine to watch it) everybody decided that we were hungry once again, and that we should head to a nearby "restaurant" for food (this restaurant consisted of a giant circus-like tent and plastic tables and chairs). We all ordered pork kabobs (another popular food) and several pitchers of terremotos for the table. It was interesting being surrounded by people from so many different cultures. Everyone was comparing and contrasting different aspects of their home countries, and it was fun, if a little weird, being the minority in the group. Everybody kept asking for my "American" view on things and I was often asked how to say certain words in English.
(Side note: Whenever people ask me where exactly I am from in the United States, and I reply Seattle, the first thing people say to me is "Grey's Anatomy!". I guess that is Seattle's claim to fame across the world.)

When we went back on Sunday and ate dinner,
a mime came up to us selling roses. When nobody
wanted one, he put a fake gun to Fabrizio's head...

Around 11:30pm we decided it was time to get going. A few people were heading out to a club afterwords, and I almost went, but the metro closes at midnight and the buses late at night can be sketchy by yourself and I didn't want to have to pay for a cab, so I decided to head home.
(A rather long side note: Two other girls were also heading home, and we got to chatting as we waited for the metro. They told me that I spoke Spanish really well, that I had a good accent and had a good grasp of the grammar, which of course made me feel good. This is actually something I have heard quite a few times since I've been down here, and though it makes me very happy to hear it, I take it with a grain of salt, because I know I have told foreigners that they speak great English when it wasn't necessarily true... But they went on to say that they have noticed that a lot of native English speakers (not just the USA, but Australia and the UK as well) often not only have poor accents but that their grammar just isn't there. Now these two girls were from France and Italy, so neither of them are native Spanish speakers, but they weren't saying this negatively. They were acknowledging that it is much harder for us to grasp this language because it not only sounds so different from our own, but is also grammatically very different. I have definitely noticed that the french and Italians seem to speak Spanish much better, and it was interesting to hear that I wasn't the only one who noticed. Of course, it was also nice to hear that my years of studying Spanish had paid off and I didn't sound too much like a gringa. I was talking to the Mexican girls the next day, and they told me that I actually speak a lot like a Mexican with my accent and vocabulary.)

Anyways, to get home I have to take two different metro lines, and the line change is four stops away from where I get off. From there I need to take a bus to get closer to my house. Now here is where I am super proud of myself. I took the first line all the way to the stop where I normally switch, but at this point it is a little after midnight, and the other line has closed. So it's after midnight, I'm alone, I'm slightly tipsy, and I have never actually been above ground at this metro stop before. But I knew that I was close to my house, and I was almost positive that one of the buses I needed to take home, would be close to the station. And sure enough, a short distance away was parada (bus stop) for the 412, which would take me all the way to my street. Granted, this wasn't exactly the most astonishing display of problem-solving abilities, but I was still pretty proud that I was able to stay completely calm and figure everything out. And I didn't even have to call a taxi (I have the number for a taxi service, so I could have got home even if there wasn't a bus there).

Sorry that this was such a long blog post, but I wasn't really sure how to split it up. All in all, it was been one of the best weekends I have had in Santiago and I am finally starting to feel like my Spanish is really improving! Ciao!

Finding "Home" Abroad

My time in Santiago has been great. I have been meeting people from around the globe, trying new food, seeing new sights, and hearing Spanish 24/7. Though I have never been the type of person to get homesick, I sometimes find myself longing for something a little less exotic and a little more familiar. Santiago really isn't that different from any major city in the US, but it's the small differences that really stand out. They have the same kinds of cell phones, but the carriers are different. They have department stores and malls, but most of the stores are different. People chat as they walk down the street, but the language is different. These slight deviations underline that I am in a foreign city far from home, and though I love the newness and the excitement this city brings, there are times when I just want the simplicity and familiarity of the US.

This is when I love that there are American stores here. I know that you're supposed to hate big American chains that come into developing countries and ruin that rustic appeal, but to me they are simply home. I love that I can walk into a mall here and buy an overpriced vegan conditioner from Lush like I would at Westlake. I love that I can walk through an apple store and play with their iPads like I often do at U Village. I love that there is a Ruby Tuesday's down the street from my house (even though I have never eaten there, here or in the US). But mostly I love that I can walk into a Starbucks here and buy an iced peppermint latte that tastes exactly the same as the latte I would buy on the Ave on my way to class. More than any other American store, Starbucks represents home for me. Probably because I live in Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks, and because I have been going to Starbucks for as long as I can remember. Even when I was younger we went, though my parents would make me get hot chocolate or decaf coffee. Yes, it's overpriced, even more so here than in the states, but paying $6 for a latte and a reminder that I am not so far removed from home as I sometimes feel, is totally worth it.

The Starbucks on my bus route to the metro station near my house :)

Frustrations

I haven't been posting all that much the past few weeks because I honestly haven't done anything too terribly exciting lately. I had a test this past week, I have been working on a take-home test all week that is due tomorrow, and I have another test on Wednesday. So I have been studying all week. Or watching Modern Family on Cuevana...defintitely one of those....

Anyways on to my blog post.

One of the most frustrating things about started to speak a foreign language all the time is that I feel like I lose a little bit of my personality. I can communicate really well in Spanish, I am usually understood and if I don't know how to say something, I can describe what I mean well enough that people get the gist of want I'm trying to say. Years of Spanish classes have taught me basic communication, but that's about it. I know how to get my point across, but it's in the most basic, straightforward way, which isn't a bad thing, but sometimes I feel like a robot.

I never really thought about how much of "me" goes into what I say. In English, those phrases you use, the idioms and swear words, the slang and even just the variation of vocabulary all mix together to give off an impression. The way that you speak really says a lot about who you are and how you present yourself. And the problem is that I don't know any of these sayings and phrases in Spanish. Without all these extra things to add to my speech, I feel a little bland. Hopefully I will start picking them up soon, but until then I suppose I am doomed to be personality-less.

Also, my padre should be happy to note that my use of the word "like" doesn't really transfer in Spanish. ;)

Museo Bellas Artes y Museo de Arte Contemporáneo

So just a quick post on the museums I visited today...

Today I decided to check a few things off of my to-do list in Santiago and visited some popular museums, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC). In Santiago, many museums are actually free on Sundays, and even with the free incentive, there aren't usually very many people, so it is the perfect time to go. And even better, these two museums actually share a building, so it is easy to knock them both out in a day.

The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes was a bit smaller than I thought it would be, but there were some pretty cool exhibits. Mostly older paintings and sculptures by Chilean or Latino painters/sculptors. I was mostly curious to see if there were any real differences between the art in Chile and the art I have seen in museums back home, but the techniques and subject matter seemed relatively similar.

After looking around that museum, I headed around the building to the MAC. Some of the stuff there was really cool, some of it interesting, and some just plain peculiar. There was this room filled with headphones and they all had different freaky sounds coming from them. Another room had a table covered in plastic food containers and cup and they were covered in painted on flies. But I did come to one very important conclusion. It isn't contemporary art if it isn't a. weird, b. creepy, or c. confusing. Preferably all three.

↓ a few art pieces from the contemporary art museum ↓

There were photos next to this one detailing the process.
The lady got stark naked, covered herself in pink paint and made
those pink body impressions...

Photos of furniture.

Mona Lisa with meats hanging in front of her?

All in all, a few hours well spent. I love museums, especially when they are free!

Random Facts About Santiago and Chile

I have been working on this blog post awhile, making note of differences and simple facts of life I have seen while living in Santiago, Chile. It's certainly not a complete list, and I am sure I'm forgetting something, but here are a few of the things I've noticed.

PDA: There is a lot of it, and not just the hand-holding, brief kiss on the lips kind. I'm talking making out on the subway, literally lying on top of each other in the park, openly groping each other in the street kind. In the United States, PDA is usually frowned upon, and while you might see the occasional couple going at it, those sightings are few and far between. But not here. If you are young and in love in Santiago, you are all for displaying that love for everybody to see. Seeing couples being so touchy-feely in public has definitely taken some getting used to.

Dogs: They are everywhere. Not only does just about every Chilean family seem to own a dog or three, but there is an abundance of street dogs with no apparent home. You can always hear dogs barking at all hours of the day and night and everywhere you look there are dogs laying about in the sun. And the truly surprising thing is that, unlike the half-starved mangy dogs in Costa Rica, these dogs seem fairly well fed.

Not sure if you can see,
but there are 6 dogs sleeping in this photo.
And there are 2 more out of frame.

Streets: Nobody cleans them. I mean, not every street is covered in stuff, but many are. This was most noticeable in Valparaiso, but it's true in Santiago too. The other day when I was riding the Micro (that's what the bus system) we passed by a street that looked like an entire farmers market worth of vegetables got thrown about. It was crazy. And it isn't just vegetables and pieces of plastic. Do to the abundance of dogs I mentioned earlier, there is dog crap everywhere. You have to constantly be on the lookout so you don't accidentally step in something gross.

Bread: Eaten with every meal. Which is actually something I am quite thrilled with. I love bread and, due to my somewhat finicky eating habits, it is often the only food I can eat while traveling to foreign countries. But the Chileans eat bread as often as the French. It's primarily sold in these funny little 4-roll loaves (see photo). For breakfast you might have one or two rolls slathered in butter and jam with a cup of tea. For lunch and dinner, you may use a roll to clean your plate or as an appetizer. For dessert, a little bit of manjar spread on some bread can not be beat. I was surprised by the sheer amount of bread consumed here, but I am not complaining!

Smoking: Everybody does it. I'm no stranger to smoking. My mom smokes, and I know a lot of people who might smoke a cigarette or two while drinking, but most of the people I know back home really do not smoke. Which is not that surprising considering the ad campaigns and research studies we are inundated with, telling us that smoking kills. But here it is as if nobody is getting those messages. I have heard about places like France having a lot of smokers, but I just was not really expecting it here. The most surprising is the number of younger Chileans that smoke, college age and even younger. In the US, it seems like the majority of smokers that I know are older, people who have been smoking before the health risks became so well known. But in any case, this has been one of the harder things to become accustomed too, since I really can't stand the smoke.

Lemons: They love them. Seriously, I never knew people could like lemon so much; they put it on everything. You ordered a salad? Squeeze some lemon juice on it. You're eating some fish? It'll taste better with some lemon juice on it. You want a snack? Just snack on a lemon. I have literally seen people on the bus just sucking on a lemon. With dinner every night we usually have a side salad, which is iceberg lettuce with lemon juice, oil, and salt. Sometime we will have a carrot salad or a broccoli salad or a cauliflower salad. Which just involves said vegetable, lemon juice, oil, and salt. I believe I'm actually becoming quite fond of lemons. :)
<-- My host mother making our daily salad.

A few other things to note...

• The typical greeting is the one-cheek kiss, and it can get awkward if you go for the handshake and they go for your face.
• They are big fans of avocado here, which surprised me for some reason, but I love avocado so it's okay with me.
• There is a sad lack of cheese here, and the few types they have are pretty expensive. I want to eat more or less like a local, so it isn't so bad, but I am definitely missing cheese.
• Names can get a bit confusing: In my 25-person Marketing class, there are 7 girls named Maria.
  
• This isn't the Spanish you have been learning in class. Yes the words are more or less the same, but their vocab is a little different and some phrases have different connotations. They also speak very fast here and sometimes drop the "s". The youth say cachai? after almost every sentence which basically means "you know" "understand?"
• Ciao is the customary goodbye around here. I know I lot of countries use Ciao as a goodbye, but I still associate it with Europe, so it caught me a bit off guard.