Mapuche

On Friday, our CIEE program had our last orientation program class of the week and we had several guest speakers come talk to us about the indigenous Mapuche population of Chile and Argentina. Cecilia, a lawyer who is involved in many of the conflicts that arise between Mapuche and the government explained to us the details of many of these conflicts. Mapu means land and che means people. They are the people of the land, and they fight against the government often because of the exploitation of the Chilean natural resources. Everyone in the family is involved in these fights and they are very physical. I saw pictures of little children with BB gun wounds all over their bodies, and videos of Chilean soldiers actually hitting women, children and men alike. They fight for the land, for their homes, for their lives. But the government represses them very heavily and many Chileans don't know the extent of the conflicts because the media does not cover it enough.  Since 1855, I think, the territory of the Mapuche has been dwindling from what was once about 1/4 of the Chilean boundary to interspersed communities within the central region. It is very strange to see blatant violence against people and having it go unnoticed and unseen by many. It is interesting to see the similarities between Chile and the Unite State's government treatment of our own Native American population. It was a very interesting class as we also were told the story of a Mapuche woman who grew up in Valparaiso and experienced a lot of mistreatment and violence by non-mapuche Chileans. Her story was sad, but she has found peace and happiness through sharing her story, and writing poetry. 

The weekend was fun however clubs are just not my scene I think. On Friday there was a club that held a special party for gringos and holy moly I never want to do that again. I came to Chile to get away from gringos, not meet more of them! It was fun to see what a club is like...for about two minutes.  And then the music just starts sounding the same and I quickly lose motivation. I have an image in my head of a perfect night out at a bar, a friends house, or somewhere low key where you can hang out, talk and get to know one another. I know that it happens here, I just need to find Chileans who will invite me to! 

 Saturday I spent the day with Kacey, walking around Cerro Concepcion, looking at insane views and getting coffee at El Desayunador. I don't think I'll every get used to how beautiful it is around here, or how insane it is that I live here. Today I did the same thing as yesterday and had a chai tea at Color Cafe, listened to a patagonian guitar player sing and play music, and started a new book. For lunch we had a huge meal of fried fish, rebollo which is cabbage with lemon and salt, shredded carrots, rice, and pelva which is a yummy tomato and cilantro with lemon side dish. It was DELICIOUS. I'm still having a hard time getting used to not eating dinner! We eat huge lunches but dinners don't really exist. It's really hard resisting the urge to stuff myself until I'm full at la once, which consists of crackers, bread, cheese, ham and tea. It is a nice meal but I've been craving a nice big dinner with vegetables NO BREAD. So much bread is eaten here and my gluten allergy has been acting up a lot. I'm on my way to getting used to the different meal schedule here, I'm just not quite there yet. 

Tomorrow I start class for the first time, but thankfully I only have one on mondays! Can't wait to see what happens this week :) 

cafe journal

As I'm getting more comfortable with the city, I'm finding myself loving it more and more. Yesterday I took the micro alone to la Casa Central which is where the main building is for the university I will be studying in. It was a little nerve-wracking to be alone for the first time but it was also very empowering to not get lost and make my way there all alone. Already though I understand the layout of the city and the micro system even better. In between our interview and tour of la Casa Central me and a few girls walked to the mercado and got some tea and coffee in the upper level. Thing I learned: don't go to the mercado anymore. Very aggressive staring/cat calls that made me and the other girls pretty uncomfortable. I remember seeing a truck driver drive by without looking at the street for almost a block! Who does that??Anyways, after the morning tour of la Casa Central I went home and exercised for the first time in a week and it was a great work out! There is a set of stairs that I counted 120 stairs and I ran up those 3 times, then ran to the other side and ran those as well as around the hill back home. Then of course I did Isabelle's ten minute workout inside! Felt really good to move again.

Last night was my true first night out in Valparaiso or I guess it was Viña. Kacey and I took a micro over to Viña and had a drink at Bar Fusion before walking over to Cafe Journal, a very popular gringo bar where we met with a lot of CIEE members. Dancing for a few hours, jamming out to 90's music and 50's music surprisingly. It was by far a successful night, I made it home safe and remembered the alarm code for the house. All around a good night.

Nina, my houses student from Boston who lived her last semester just got back from Bolivia and stayed here the night until her flight for the US left this afternoon. It was good to talk to someone who knew the streets and what to do/not to do in the neighborhood. I hope I see her again and that she's able to come back to Chile like I know she wants to.

Today we focused on figuring out or class schedule and it is probably the most frustrating thing I've ever done. I have to have a minimum of 18 credits according to Kalamazoo College while everyone else is taking 15-16 credits. But of course they can't just be any kind of credits. They have to be classes that are at least 3 credits which eliminates all the fun, easier classes that I was looking forward to taking. And annoyingly and very disappointingly, we won't be taking classes with Chilean students because of strikes last year. So the class list is much smaller and so there's only one option that I can take that will transfer as a credit towards my ANSO major at Kalamazoo. BUT I'm not even sure if I can get in to that one class and so, I just gave up. There is my rant. It is a very frustrating, stupid, and unnecessary event.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I can look forward to the weekend and the next five months :)

big family and orientation

Yesterday, an interesting and car ride filled day was my first day of class with CIEE (the program I'm studying through). We learned all the different regions (there are 15!), their names, climates, and importance. I learned that Chile is tricontinental with it's mainland in South America, Easter Island in Oceania and part of Patagonia in Antarctica. Also, every region has a distinct subculture, and trade/economic importance in the Chilean economy. In each region, the landscape is completely varied and different ranging from the huge Andes mountains to the desert sand dunes in the North. It's all something that we know and say, "Chile is so long and it has all kinds of climates" but when you sit down and really look at pictures, diagrams etc. it is incredible to see how varied the geography actually is.
After class mami Ximena picked me up and we drove and picked up Andres after school and waited around until his doctors appointment arrived. While waiting we bought a coconut macaroon type thing but better! It is something that I know mommy Vero will be all over when she gets here in December. After the doctor we all drove to papi Claudio's sisters apartment to celebrate her birthday! We had a cake that was called mil ojas or a thousand papers similar to mille feuille, the cake my grandma used to make in France. I remember that her mille feuille cake was stupendous and it was her specialty and the cake I had last night was no where close to as good as her cake. However, it was delicious. Did I mention they like sweets here? My family LOOOOOOVES cookies, cakes and candy; basically anything sweet. It's gonna be tough to burn all those calories but I've found a stair case that I think I'm going to try and run up in the mornings that is right by my house. The birthday party was fun and crowded with family members that were super welcoming and nice as they kept trying to shove food down my throat (in a kindly manner). They all tried to include me in conversation and ask me questions and it was overall a very sweet time.
Before we went to this birthday party, we went to a pet store and bought a hamster for Coty. Apparently her and two of her friends are sharing ownership of a hamster that they called Alfonsina. Each of them are purchasing something; Coty bought the hamster, her friend bought the cage, and another the food. Funny enough, the hamster last night chewed through the cardboard box it was staying in and escaped somewhere in the house! Thankfully, they found it this evening down in the kitchen and is now safely in a metal cage.
This morning I woke up to an unreal sunrise but after a few seconds of taking pictures I realized that I had set the alarm off and so I sprinted downstairs to turn it off. That sure woke me up!

Sunrise:

We had a day of orientation run by la Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso where we didn't do a whole lot except each some avocado sandwiches and take a Spanish placement test which made me realize I have no idea how to write in spanish. After taking the micro (bus) home with a girl who lives close, I had lunch with mami Ximena in bed watching a telenovela. My life is ridiculously good.  We then went to a debate/conference regarding the city of Valparaiso. There were two speakers with completely opposite approaches to how the city should be seen. The woman who presented was a strong advocate for "cleaning" the city by removing graffiti, putting all the stray dogs in a special place, and doing a whole bunch of other stuff to restore the city to it's previous splendor. She showed pictures of the city and she was saying how ugly all the graffiti is, even the beautiful murals that are actually wonderful. She was a little ridiculous to say the least, but her message was clear.

After going out and getting completos (hot dogs in a bread bun with ketchup, mayo, and mushed avocado; que rico!) with a group of CIEE kids, I called my mami to see if she could pick me up at the cerro concepcion which is a 10 minute walk from the house but I was told by her and Claudio that I should never walk alone up to the house at night. We agreed on a place and we hung up, but my phone had already died and I had no way of reaching her! She had thought that I was going to call her when I got the place and I was under the impression that she was leaving once we hung up! I had no way of reaching her and so I ended up just running/walking home only to be told when I got home that it was completely safe to walk back alone at night that way!! I waited for probably half an hour for her to come pick me up and she never came!!! I'm sure only the first of many miscommunications between me and my mami but it was a nerve-racking adventure. Anyways, that's about it for now,  nothing too huge, just trying to find my way in Valparaiso :)

This morning at noon I went to Coty's pre-communion ceremony at her elementary school where all the kids got their first cross and their parents put it around their neck and give them tons of kisses and hugs. Coty's elementary school is high up on the hill with huge windows with a beautiful view of Valparaiso and a modern look. It is completely made of concrete which make for very cold feet, but it also reminds of la Cite Scholaire Internacional where I went to school in Lyon when we were living in France. I had mixed feelings about the place but being in that kind of structure brought back memories of that time of my life, good and bad. There was a wide open space in the middle where the kids played basketball and futbol. What is crazy to me is the fact that there is absolutely no central heating in any of the buildings, houses, stores or restaurants. As we speak I am wearing my newly bought fleece pajamas, heavy wool socks, gloves, and a bout five layers of blankets and I can barely feel my toes and my face is freezing and i'm thinking about putting another fleece on top of these pajamas. I think it's customary for homes to have space heaters but mi familia does not. At all!
 Anyways, the ceremony was all in Spanish, obviously, but I did not understand a thing. The music however was beautiful and everyone knew the words and sang along. There were probably 250 people in that room and despite the fact that it was a religious event, it was super loud. There was a constant murmur but there were the occasional outbursts from younger brothers and sisters who were at the event. After Coty and all her classmates were given their crosses, we went to their classrooms and had homemade empenadas.
After the event we went home and had a big lunch of rice, meat, some kind of potato balls, and soup. Coty and I then went on a two hour walk around the neighborhood. I've been itching to explore the last couple days because I can tell that my neighborhood is exactly what I wanted, expected, and was hoping for. Colorful houses, tiny little boutiques, restaurants and deli shops. The kicker is that once you go down, you have to come up, and these hills are monstrous. Someone told me that by the end of the trip I will have buns of steel from climbing up the hills so much. We got lost trying to find Cerro Concepcion and we asked an old man for help but me nor Coty understood exactly what he said so we just pretended and went in the direction he pointed. We finally found our way and it was worth it! On our way home we followed the spray painted ants on the ground until we got to the dulceria (sweets shop) and I got Coty a little box of sweets (she has a major sweet tooth that makes me proud to be her sister). After this we both got into my bed, cuddle to keep warm and watched the spanish disney channel until we fell asleep. She is the little sibling I always wanted growing up! She is such a kid but she is also very mature and wise for a ten year old. She's also taller than all the boys in her class which is very similar to me. I already know we will be close and that we will have a lot of good times together.
After our nap we drove to the store and I got my cheap phone that was actually not that cheap. But maybe that just the college student in me talking. We also went and bought these fleece pajamas and some more long underwear type clothes because it is absolutely freezing.My favorite part of the day though was my hour long discussion with mi mami y Coti about all sorts of things ranging from partying, to our childhood memories. Ximena is a great host mother, but also a friend who I know I will be able to tell all my excitements, doubts, fears, and joys with.

Here are some pictures from today:

Coty's (Costanza) ceremony, Ximena and Claudio

 street art:

 I even found a store that Julien would feel comfortable in:

 I'm gonna attempt to sleep so tomorrow I will be ready to get my chilean ID!! YAY I'M GONNA BE CHILEAN!

familia, introducciones y cerro alegre

Our first full day included a wonderful tour by CIEE workers! Fernando, un profesor de CIEE was my leader along with Cezar, a student activity organizer. I think I asked about 30 questions about transportation and how the micro (buses) works and I have yet to understand it fully. We went to La Vista Baron, which was magnificent and we saw all of Valpo. We went from el Puerto, or the port neighborhood all the way to Baron which was a fairly extensive walk although I'm pretty sure it wasn't a lot and I'm just used to Kalamazoo distance. It was great just to be outside and exploring as well as chit chatting with my CIEE amigos. After our tour we went out to dinner and had the most delicious empenadas I've ever had and also the only empenadas I've ever had. On our way back to our hotel, Miriam offered to take us out to get a drink at Bar Fusion a few blocks away. There was only six of us but it was perfect as an introduction to night life in Chile. My favorite part about this bar was watching the old man at the bars very uncomfortable face, staring at us the entire time with absolutely no shame whatsoever. In our last night at the hotel, Cameron, Kacey, and I got our typical hotel bed jumping out of the way in unison with our declared theme song, We Can't Stop by Miley Cyrus.

Meeting mi madre y mi familia chilena was surprisingly easy once we were face to face but my stomach was in knots all  morning. Constanza or "Coty" is my hermanita who was waiting for me in the lobby with her two cousins Isi and Nini. My inner chica came out and we bonded almost instantly. I've never experience such a quick transition from stranger to family member as I did with Coty and Ximena who is mi mama. Straight from the hotel we drove to Concón which is a few little towns away to watch Andres, mi hermano play rugby FOR 4 HOURS. I was surprised that nobody complained once about being there, almost as if they would do anything for a family member without question, even if it meant watching multiple games for four straight hours without even knowing the rules of the game. After this we drove home along the beach and saw this:

WHAT?!   Are you telling me I'll be living here for six months? al;kjew;lfkjasldkfjakjdfhlajknd;f!!!!! This is postcard worthy. The number of picture Coty took with my camera is ridiculous but some of them are wonderful. Finally after a long drive home we finally get home and I walk into my room and BAM BAM BAM

I think I can handle living here even though the micro is terrifying. I can hear the carretes (fiestas) from my room so that makes me happy along with this amazing views. Also did I say that this is from a balcony? In my room? The only one there is in the house? Oh yeah, well it is!

Plans for tomorrow: money, cell phone, jogging? and maybe getting a hat and some gloves cause my fingers are about to fall off right now- there is no central heating and mi familia doesn't have any space heaters. 

Ok tengo sueño, buena noche!

-Camila

Arrival

The majority of our CIEE group arrived this morning, either in a flight form Detroit or Dallas (which was me). We awkwardly said hello as we saw in each other’s faces, the anxiety we all had in our own. In Dallas Kacey and Dana, a girl from Ann Arbor walked around and got frozen yogurt. I that walk around the stupid airport was when I realized that for the next six months I will be having the excitement of constantly seeing and doing new things like take a stupid picture in front of a metal castle at the Dallas airport. The flight was long but I luckily had a little stash of sleeping pills, which knocked me out for a good six hours. Upon arrival I had my first official conversation with an airport security officer after the customs woman shooed me away, despite the fact that I had all the right papers. I knew I did, and she was wrong but she just shook her hand in my face and mumbled for me to go somewhere else! But it was her loss because the policeman brought me to the front of the line and a very nice woman helped me get through. From the airport we drove from Santiago to Valparaiso, and inevitably, I fell asleep and missed all the apparently spectacular views. In Viña del Mar we got to our hotel and we were fed an elaborate three course meal, with an entrée of some sort of chicken with ham and cheese roll. After this we had a short introduction meeting and then a fun icebreaker game at a park nearby.  It was by far the most fun I’ve ever had at an ice breaker (sorry GV!). The most memorable was the activity when two groups had to get everybody in our group over a rope that was almost at head level without touching the rope or passing under it. We got everyone over using multitude of strategies until the end when the two groups had to help each other. Then after these games we had a delicious dinner at a little family-run café that served pisco sours, wine, a sort of Sheppard’s pie with egg in the mashed potatoes, Chilean salad, and an apple cobbler. DELICIOUS, but holy moly starches, starches, starches!! Already I can tell it’s going to be a fun time! 

Hasta Pronto!