"Una Isla es un parte de tierra rodeada de agua"

"An Island is a piece of land surrounded by Water" my Spanish teacher began chanting this by way of explanation and then apologized...saying he went to school during "la dictadura" and so his education involved a lot of rote memorization. Later that day, a teacher talked about living as a refugee in the 1980's. He was my age. It wasn't so much strange that he had lived under the dictatorship or had found himself a refugee, but in the casual way he said it. It was in the context of explaining how Chile's attempt at communism meant a lot to a lot of eastern Europeans. Which he met while living as a refugee in Chile.

Another SIT staffer talked about how when she was a little girl she didn't know why she was so afraid when her father came home after curfew, but she was always terrified. Words disappeared from vocabularies. People who I now know have bodies that are covered with scars. People who, when the "golpe" happened couldn't have been much older that I am now. It's hard to think about how profoundly the dictatorship impacted everyone. Kids who chanted in school. Little girls who feared for their fathers' lives without quite knowing why. Young men who lived in another country in their early 20's not to learn something new, but for fear for their lives. Old women's bodies covered with scars.

It's hard for me to wrap my head around here. I don't know how anyone manages to avoid being extremely bitter about what happened.

Tonight begins September 11. Thirty Seven years ago today, the Chilean military attacked the Chilean government. Funded, trained, and armed by the US government, the leaders of the Coup set up a reign of terror that would last for more than two decades. I've known this for a long time. I know that there exist in this world dictatorships backed by my government. I hadn't seen the scars until this week.

After this weekend, I'll be more cheerful, promise. I am loving Chile...

things That I thought would bother me about Chile but don't

Since I'm a list person and I'm trying very hard to blog so I can remember what's going on, I am going to make lists. Today- Things That surprised me by being quite likable or not bothering me at all.

1) Kissing/Closeness in General I'm kind of OCD and have only recently come to terms with the fact that people need to be touched. In Chile, you greet everyone- family, strangers, teachers, peers- with a kiss on the cheek. You can do the cheatsy face rub and kissing sound, but this is much less common than it was in Mexico. Also, people are very close talkers, and very touchy. Putting a hand on an arm, rubbing a shoulder while talking, etc, are all very common. I didn't think that I would like this much at all, but as it turns out, it's kind of nice. Even with strangers, it doesn't feel germy, it feels friendly. It feels like you start out more willing to make a connection, more willing to trust.

2) Cat Calling on the Streets Ok, so I don't actually like this, but I don't mind it either. Es como...I mean, it's like this: in NorteAmerica, I also get shouted at on the streets, but it 's so much meaner. Here, they yell things like "hola gringa bonita, I love you" In the states, they just honk or whistle or yell much less clean things. I am aware that the random men yelling from their cars while showing off to their friends do not actually love me, but it's so much less mean spirited showing off than it could be

3) No Central Heat So it's still very early spring here, and, like most of the world this year, Chile is having a Chilly spring (see what I did there) The other thing is, most houses have a heater, but it's only for agua...and it's only connected to the shower. At first, the not having central heating thing was rough, but you just get in the habit of putting on more clothing. Those fingerless wool glover sure came in handy...it also helps that I went sweater shopping today :)

but seriously, it's actually a much more sustainable way of living. Plus, it's kind of cozy to snuggle under a bunch of blankets at night

4)The Late Night Culture As many of you know, I tend to get cranky when I am not fed promptly. In Chile, they have breakfast around eight, lunch, the biggest meal of the day, around 1:30 or 2, and dinner around ten at night. On the weekends, most clubs don't open until midnight, and people stay out until six or seven in the morning. (Obviomente, not everyone, but there's apparently still a scene at that point)This worried me very much when I was preparing for Chile, porque I am used to eating and sleeping much earlier. As it turns out, I just sort of avoided becoming jet lagged with the three hour time change. I'm getting used to going to bed just two or three hours after eating, and I hear it's not super healthy, but it is super comfortable :

5) It's very conservative There are liberals and progressives in Chile, but even among many of these people, attitudes are very socially conservative. (Looking at the wikipedia page, you may think that Chile is more liberal because a lot of the presidents in recent years have been part of the "Socialist" party, but that's actually quite centrists and not at all what Americans would think of as Socialist.) I thought that it would bother me, living in such a conservative country, but the level of public discourse is actually very high. Apparently it's not conservatives that bother me so much as name calling, anti logic warriors. Although I have to note that this may bother me more after I start studying the dictatorship more...

Overall, things are getting much better as I gallop right on through the stages of culture shock. A whole bunch of people in my host family's social circle have a pretty bad flu, so I'm REALLY hoping I don't get sick. I start morning classes tomorrow and afternoon classes early this week. Four Straight hours of Spanish class, here I come!

Peace

A week later.

I've been in Vina for all of one week, and I still think it's a beautiful city. There have been some parts that have been really tremendously difficult, but that's why God invented Google phone- so I can call my mommy for free. No wonder they used to make missionaries in the jungles be married in the days before calling one's mommy was so easy. Anyway, apparently adjusting to Mexico was this tough for me, but I don't remember that either, so I guess I'll probably forget the tough parts of this. Mom said to write it down so I could better prepare myself for the next time I go somewhere.,

Despite some challenges, I'm having an amazing time. Yesterday, I met my host family and they're fabulous. I live with my host mother, Amanda, and my host brother, David. Amanda is an actress and Theatre professor and David just graduated from college. He's a filmmaker and is just finishing a project, so he isn't home much, but that should change relatively soon.

Amanda is a wonderful woman who seems to have friends everywhere; we're always going to someone's house for delicious Chilean food or kissing people on the streets or something. She also spends a lot of time talking to me and is a very patient teacher. In Chile, breakfast and dinner each takes about an hour (lunch takes much longer) because you sit and talk for a long time. Tonight, she started talking about solidarity in Chile and about Pinochet. I had read that a lot of Chileans don't like to talk about this ever, so I feel very lucky that Amanda was willing to share so much with me so early.

It's very late here, but stay tuned to hear all about graffiti culture, communist concerts, and ChileVision!

Peace

Estoy en Chile!

Hey everyone,

I landed in Chile yesterday and it's amazing! I'm living in a town called Vina del Mar, on the coast of central Chile (just went of Santiago for those who know where that is).

We're staying in a hotel for orientation week, so we've been spoiled with unlimited hot water, catered meals, and not a lot of work. During the day, we have training mixed with adventures. Today, we got to go on a boat ride around the bay to see Vina and Valpo from the water. The university where we're having classes looks like a castle and overlooks the bay. I'm so lucky to be studying in this gorgeous city!

Beautiful as this city is, it's freezing! Because we're at the tail end of Southern Hemisphere winter and we're on the coast, it's quite chilly. The fact that there's not really central heat does not help. Fortunately, I found some beautiful wool gloves today for just 2000 pesos, so I should be fine :)
The other amazing thing about Chile is their currency- there are about 500 pesos to the dollar, so whatever you have, you get to feel ridiculously rich. I paid for something today with a 10,000
peso note, and have enjoyed leaving hundreds of peso tips for a drink in a cafe :) Exchange rates make me happy, apparently.

On an unrelated note, I am trying really hard to keep up with Infinite Jest even though I'm in Chile, so I had better get to reading that. What better way to get through culture shock (and the realization that my spanish is abysmal) that to loose myself in a novel about Hanging In There.

Hasta Mas Tarde.