Less than two months?!

And we´re at less than two months!  I cannot think of anything to say about this that is not cliché.

The lastest from Valdivia:  I survived the great quake of 2011 yesterday.  Luckily it was actually just a city-wide drill, because our class didn´t hear the siren and carried on as usual for about 10 minutes before joining our classmates in the rainy "safe place".  And the rain finally seems to have started up.  It´s beautiful and my umbrella and boots are getting some good use.  This is fortunately still novel to me.  Also, there has also been a lot of protesting here lately.  Mostly it´s been Patagonia Sin Represas (Patagonia Without Dams) stuff.  The general debate:  do we flood lots of land in the south to create a hydroelectric energy source for the country (/to sell to other countries)?  The frustrated response to this has included lots of marches, burning tires (which, ironically, does not seem all that environmentally friendly), breaking out windows and throwing rocks.  This has in turn resulted in that big truck thing with the giant water hose and sometimes tear gas.  The last couple of days I haven´t heard or seen anything new.

Still just waking up happy every day here.  Valentina (the youngest host sister) has been getting more and more hilarious with each passing day. I think that the reality is just that I can communicate with her better now.  Whatever the reason, I really like her. We have our own jokes and have spent many a rainy night studying together on the couch, next to the fire. (she gets a little high-strung about homework, too).  Telma the Grouch sits in between us, but always closer to Vale.  My host parents are just as excited (that would be Rodolfo) and grounded (Marisol) as ever, and celebrated their 36th anniversary this week.  Pao´s coming down from Santiago to visit this weekend, which I´m sure will be hilarious, as always. 

But enough about them, let´s talk about me [again].

I registed for my classes for fall quarter back in Washington! Spanish Phonetics,ˈhɪr ˈaɪ ˈkəm. Classes are moving right along here.  And English Club is really fun this semester. The little girls in particular have befriended me, and love to tell me stories about their grade school drama/ask me ridiculous questions, usually about Justin Bieber.  I got to play a friend´s (familiarly out of tune) piano yesterday... and then they fed me sopaipillas.  So nice to just sit in their kitchen watching Chilean gameshows and talking about things. This semester is busy.  I´ve been making friends with the librarians and also the waiters in my preferred studying cafes.  My free time is usually spent eating lúcuma ice cream (lúcuma = a fruit that tastes like CARAMEL) and watching Casablanca with amigos. Sometimes we go to cafes to play cards or to someone´s kitchen for culinary experiments.  I´m still a bit of a novelty in my Chilean classes here, and never pass up an opportunity to embarrass myself.

Today I decided that think I have changed a little.  Let me tell you a story.  Once upon a time, I had to do a group project in one my my classes.  Last week in class I understood the teacher to say that my group would be presenting today, Thursday.  But I talked to two other girls in the group (separately), and realized I had misunderstood (nothing new), and that we were going to present next week. Today when I came to class, the professor was waiting for us to present. She. Was. Mad. I sighed. I SIGHED. I was frustrated, but not stressed. She said we´ll present next week, and that we´ll "get a bad grade." I was bummed, but not stressed. This did not ruin my morning. I spent that unexpected half hour of non-class time taking pictures.  I don´t know if you´re understanding the significance of this.  Anyone who has been around me previously when deadlines or grades are on the line knows that this is not characteristic of me.  I still study too much but perhaps I´m slowly starting to get over my "freak-out-about-grades-and-also-about-things-out-of-my-control" illness, if you will.

However, on that note, I´m still going to go consider doing some homework.  

Erin's birthday with her family.

"Jac, está para tu cámara!" -la Vale  (soup bowls on the dinner table.)

The famous TRUFAS!  Granted, they're a little squashed.

I like these weird plants.

Party in French class...

Fish market after hours.

I love walking home into the sun. :-)

Rainy night at la Casona Verde...

Thelma and I are still working things out.

Kiwis for breakfast, cazuela for lunch, and cake for dinner.

Sometimes my life in this house feels like a scene out of a movie.  I come downstairs, walk into the empty kitchen and cut a kiwi in half.  I take it into the sala de estar, where natural light is coming through the window wall and making the bricks of the floor glow.  (Not bright sunlight, or even warm sunlight today.  Rainy light.)  Instrumental piano music is playing, and sounds like a soundtrack.   Spanish conversation is happening in the next room.  Telma the cat is actually approaching me for affection. How could all this possibly be real?  But I guess it is.

Today was a hallmark day.   Today was the day I learned to make cazuela.  Yes.  Cazuela.   Cazuela is probably my favorite Chilean meal.  It’s a soup, but it’s all portioned out neatly.  One chunk of corn on the cob (choclo) for everyone, one piece of chicken for everyone, etc.  It’s a very orderly soup.  None of this haphazard ladling.  There are also other delicious things like green beans and squash and potatoes hiding out in it.  And today I learned to make it!  Lunch was delicious, if I do say so myself.

Chilean dinner, or once, is a funny thing,  First of all, I don’t think we’ve ever eaten it at once (eleven).  Uusally it’s between 7 and 9:30.  My very favorite once is probably hallulla (my favorite dense bread) with cheese and avocado. I could probably just eat it every night.  Oftentimes we’ll have toast and leftovers from lunch.  Sometimes scrambled eggs and hot dogs.  In some houses it is the same every night.  Hallulla, with your choice of cheese, meat, or manjar for toppings. But in our house it changes a lot.  Most nights my host mom asks what we would like.  This is so strange for me.  If someone is going to prepare a dinner for me, I will happily eat whatever they would like to prepare. Tonight  was a strange once.  My Chilean dad and I share an affinity for sweet things, and so he brought home a cake filled with manjar and whipped cream for dinner, ha.  So that is exactly what I ate.  I am fully a part of dinner conversations now, almost always knowing what we’re talking about and able to articulate my opinion.  We often listen to the news, which sparks all sorts of interesting conversation.

No smooth transition here, but I just want to talk about how Luz has become one of my dearest friends.  This has sort of changed my view on things.  I know her opinions and problems and hard things and funny things and she knows mine.  The fact that this is possible even though the majority of our interaction is in Spanish is still sort of surreal to me.  I am so grateful for the fantastic people I have met here.

Speaking of Luz, she very graciously lets me study at her pensión.  This is fun because there are all sorts of Chilean girls just sort of thrown together by chance in one house.  Studying (and sometimes more like “studying”) there is 100% enjoyable.  I already enjoy Luz’s company, but getting to watch all of these other witty ladies interact and discuss their opinions on their world has also become one of my favorite things.  I think the walk home is probably almost an hour, but sometimes I like to do that instead of take a taxi.  Especially if it’s a drizzly night.  I’ve got an umbrella, and my host dad’s giant raincoat.  For me, Valdivia is not losing any of her charm. I love letting myself into my sleeping house, hanging up my wet clothes near the glowing fire and finally sliding under those delicious, heavy covers, trying to stay awake just long enough to remember my day.

And that last part is precisely what I’m going to do now.

In the Mapuche village just outside of Pucón.

Playing that hockey-like game again.  Kids whooped our booties again, too.

Oh, Nacho.  You haven't changed a bit.

Honorary Mapuche.

Bless your heart, you wet dog, you.

Pretty hike, sunlight through the fog.

It was fun to come back to this hike in the southern hemisphere's version of May. 

Dividing up the cazuela.

Typical weekend lunch. 

Thank goodness for cake for dinner and Chilean dads with a sweet tooth.

Deep-fried broken underwear.

Last week my weekend started early because they closed campus down  due to CRAZY WIND.  There are too many old trees and stuff on campus (trees and branches were falling down all around town) for it to be safe, I guess.  By the next day things were pretty calm, a little lingering rain. 

Oh!  The power did go out for about 14 hours or something, due to wind and stuff.  So that night was fun, we made a type of doughtnut called calzones rotos ("broken underwear") by candlelight.  Some relatives stopped by and we had a pitch-black conversation over Nescafe and our calzones rotos. Later Vale’s friend came over and we and played cards. So fun! I can’t even begin to explain how much more I am learning here than I would from a textbook.  Real-life stuff like how to measure flour (and talk about it in Spanish), what the Spanish terms are in card games, how to talk about power outages… we never learned this stuff in school!

So, they killed Osama bin Laden.  This has been an interesting cultural experience for me.  Clearly, no matter what your viewpoint of the happening, it was a big deal in the United States.  Here, however, it wasn’t anything to speak of.  When my friend Erin’s family asked her if she’d heard “the big news” the next day, she assumed they meant Bin Laden… but he was more like the fourth mealtime topic.  It’s interesting how much I expect the world to care about our “big news,” when really… I don’t generally know too much about the world’s big news.  I guess it just inspired me a little to find out what sort of “big stories” are happening elsewhere in the world.

But for now, a quick overview of other happenings here.

-I don´t want to think about leaving yet (less than three months now!)
-I just finished knitting a scarf.
-I have too many classes but everything is so INTERESTING.
-I´m learning the phonetic alphabet for fun.
-They say this is the prettiest fall (March and April) they´ve had in 30 years.  (I´ll take it.)
-I FINALLY learned how to make a cursive 'x'.
-I made chocolate chip cookies.  They were a disaster.
-It stays dark until 8 in the morning (and we haven´t even hit daylight savings time yet).
-I was [briefly] mistaken for a Chilean.
-I started helping teach English to 11 year olds in a school here and I LOVE IT. 
-Also, the public school systems are a little bit of a mess.
-Luz is studying the Tempest… which means I get to learn a little about the Tempest.  (fun to have  a study buddy.)

This weekend we´re going to Pucón as a group. It’s a cute ski town at the base of a snow-covered volcano.  We went last semester, also, so it will be fun to return to a familiar place.  (I can’t get over the funny feeling of having familiar places down here.)

Card games by candlelight.

Botanical garden... such a sunny fall!

Chocolate chip disaster.

Love walking home through THIS.

The scarf.

English club... check out those matching monkeys and boots!

These guys will literally follow me for miles.

An evening out with the boys?  

I ate this berry for weeks before learning it wasn't what I thought it was...

Autumn in April and a grand entrance.

I do not know how to be bored.  Some of my friends from the United States here complain that they have too much free time.  I just do not understand how that is possible. Every SINGLE night I go to bed [late] wishing I had more time.  There are always shows going on somewhere, walks to take, grocery stores to visit, movies to watch, wash cloths to knit, friends to be with… not to MENTION all the homework I could be doing.

There are so many cool things I´m studying.  I could probably even just sit next to the fireplace and read textbooks and Wikipedia all night long and be happy.  Some of my classes are proving to be relatively hard, but all of them are interesting.  Big test coming up in my linguistics class (the hardest one), hoping to not fail it.  French is relatively easy because everyone is starting from square one.   And my Spanish is trucking along.  Sometimes I really feel like I’ve got it, some days I still want to throw in the towel.  Luckily, I’m stuck here so I will just keep on trying.  What a nice place to be stuck.

Fall is gorgeous here.  The promised surly Valdivian autumn still hasn´t come.  The days are sunny and the nights are foggy.   Some rain, yes, but still lots of sun. Huge hydrangeas are in bloom all over the place, and there are wild berries EVERYWHERE. Been gathering leaves and making "leaf and fern" arrangements for my family, they´re stoked I’m sure.  The hilarious host sister living in Santiago came home last weekend, so there were lots of family things! My family here is doing well and miracle of miracles, Telma has started sitting on my lap voluntarily.  Only late at night when she´s too tired to keep up her icy front, but I’ll take it.  The enthusiastic host dad has started giving evening college classes, and so he´s always keeping us updated on that and always interested in what I have going on.  My host mom just loves to talk, so we do a lot of that.  Vale´s really funny, and now she always brings me home stories from school about who said what and what she said back and how hilarious this one friend is and how terrible that teacher is.  

We got REALLY crazy and had a pancake party the other night, because Erin´s host family is out of town.  In her words, "When the cat's away...the foreign exchange student will probably make pancakes."  We had manjar for people to put on their pancakes.  I did not bother with the pancakes and just went straight for the manjar.  It was a lovely evening full of comfort food, card games, popcorn, and Valdivia friends.

I will conclude this entry with another sort of exciting event that took place a few days again, in the form of the e-mail I sent my sister:


“April 14  So, yeah.  I walked through a glass door at a pub and completely shattered it.  That will probably be going on my list of "really embarrassing things I´ve done" list.  It was about 9:30 last night, and we were all going to Bunker, the pub down the street that Pipe used to work at.  Unfortunately none of my friends had arrived yet when I came crashing through the door.  So I just stared into the [now extremely silent except for the Black Eyed Peas] crowd.  Like a fool.  I just FLAT OUT walked through it.  I thought it was open, but nope... just really clean.  And, of course I 100% sober and yet I´M the one who walks through and  SHATTERS the glass door. Mortifying.”

I´m working on the Windex commercial contract right now...

Chilean pat-a-cake...

Manjar on pancakes (or on a spoon).

Campus turned all sorts of colors.

Hortensia.

That face means trouble...

Spicing up the lunch table with leaves...

The light coming through the trees and fog at night changes with every step and is FASCINATING.

Beautiful park just down the road from my house.

Aw, study sessions in Terpel...

You know it's a TRUE pancake party when the hats come out.

"¡Tanto tiempo!"

Our first weekend outing with the new group was to the archipelago of Chiloé, famous for its churches, folklore and seafood—a curious mix.  It is very charming and very drizzly.  I had the luck of spending a few days there a month ago, and absolutely LOVED IT.  I was there all by my lonesome, so it was different to go back in a big group.  We more or less followed the same route:  after taking the ferry over to the main island, we stayed the first night in Ancud.   Although first we stopped at something of a bird reserve where there were lots and lots of black-necked swans.  In Ancud I took part in a pre-dinner exploration of the beach, enjoyed some famous Chiloé potatoes, and then finished the evening by moderating some wild and crazy cribbage.

The next morning we headed south to Castro, home to vibrant palafitos (stilt houses), no doubt painted so vividly to ward off the rainy day blues.  I had also gone last month, and during our free time I wandered around by myself.  It was super fun to revisit the bakery with the delicious trufas and tea. When I walked into the café where I had spent a few nights reading,  I was greeted with “tanto tiempo!”  I never thought I would be recognized as a returning customer in café in southern SOUTHERN Chile.  What a strange, fuzzy feeling.

Back in Valdivia, I´ve got my red galoshes on.  Going to class today I used my matching red umbrella.  I wore my teal raincoat (yes, that one) and a favorite scarf.  The wind was swirling, taking leaves and small dogs with it.  There are a few really logical ways to get to school, but I don´t usually take them. I like trying to find new ways; I like to look at all the houses and plants and I know where to find the best yard cuttings on yard waste pickup day.  And also where all the cutest dogs that watch from house windows live.  Today my very favorite one was acting up when I walked past his window.  I´m always so curious about his family and today I saw them, because their cab had just pulled up, which I think was what had created all his commotion.  

Other important recent events include swing dance lessons for my Chileans friends (they learn fast!), a day trip to Niebla, and button shopping.  Squash and pumpkins are in season, and I found what I believe to be possibly the only real pumpkin in Valdiva.  (Around here people eat their squash, they don´t carve it and put candles in it.)  Anyway, my Chilean friends and family were confused and awed by my carved pumpkin, and also by their first experience with roasted pumpkin seeds.  This semester I finally switched my keyboard over to Spanish.  (Copying and pasting accents was getting pretty old, and if you say you have “25 años” without that little squiggly thing above the n, it does not mean 25 years). One night I went to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as performed by Chileans, in English.  That was something, for sure.  And I´ve been slowly becoming a regular all over again at my old favorite café.  Running into people (not literally) and catching up with friends has been fun.

"Yes, my name is Jac.  Yes, just like the bus company."

Oh, costanera, you so fine.

That same famous dog, just a'walkin'.

A chance evening encounter downtown... starring DINGBAT!

These laughing birds have stolen my heart and also my sanity.

Beautiful, shiny, rainy steps.  

These are the sorts of yard-clipping piles I rummage through.

Honey, I´m home...

So getting back to Valdivia was so weird and right and hard to explain.   Ha.  So different from last time. This time (even coming from the south) I recognized stuff long before we got to Valdivia.  I got off that bus, and got my taxi to my house.  Made some light conversation with the driver, just like a pro.  It was sunny.  We crossed the bridge.  We passed Terpel.  An entirely different sensation than when I got here in August.  I kind of wanted to explode it was all so familiar and beautiful. 

Got to the house, and it was like I was just coming back from a weekend trip.  My host mom and I caught up in the doorway to my bedroom. 

Nothing and everything is different here.  Pao moved to Santiago.  My host dad is changing jobs.  My yarn was right where I left it.  Astrud Gilberto´s still singing in the living room.  On our street and in our garden there are new flowers for the season, some I´ve never seen before.  Telma was missing.  Vale still talks really fast.  New posters in my room.  One of the water glasses broke.   That sort of thing.

My classes started that next morning. 

• “Bases Teóricas del Lenguaje y Comunicación.”  Whatever that means.  But, I think I´m really going to like it,  it seems to be about language and phonetics and stuff—linguistics, really.  But it is a little scary that it´s with Chileans.   (I would have cried if I had tried to do this last semester, I think. )
• “Francés.”  That´s right, a French class.  Also with Chileans.  This should be funny.  Sure, the class is taught in Spanish, but really, we´re all starting at square one.  (Well, except for those cheaters who apparently studied before the first class). 
• “Comunicación Oral y Escrito.” Another Chilean class.  With “forestry” majors, as far as I can tell.  Anyway, I think we´re mainly just learning how to be good communicators?  You never can be too good at that…
• “Suprasegmental Phonetics.”  This one I just go to, I´m not enrolled.  ( I´m the “assistant.” ) It´s for English Teaching majors, and it´s dealing with intonation and stuff.  It´s super interesting, although funny because when the professor asks me to give an example he often has to correct it… he teaches British English, and I´m just not British.
• “History of Chile.”  The name says it all. This one is with gringos.

• “Conversation and Communication.”  We write papers.  We talk.  She corrects us.  You get it.  Also with gringos.

So speaking of gringos… the new kids from the states just got here!  It´s a way smaller group; (of last semester´s 33, seven stayed, nine new ones came and now we are 16 in total).  They go around reminding us of all the weird things that we´ve forgotten are weird.

Valdivia´s always been nice but it is just so pretty here right now; fall in March never looked so good.  The days are sunny and the nights are foggy.  Also, the homework load hasn´t really started yet, so I´ve been going to Niebla, carving pumpkins, teaching a little swing dance.   Taking pictures, going on walks.  Watching freshman hazing…  “mechoneos,”   which look kind of rough.  (Food and vinegar and stuff being thrown, hair cut off… then that poor train of mechones and their elephant-style walk through campus, I assume being led to another fate.)

En fin, I´m so happy to be back.  I´m excited to do minimal travelling and maximum living.   I´m outta here, and I know I said I´m ready to settle down a little, but stay tuned because coming soon… Chiloé, take II!

What I see if I walk a little past my house.

What I see if I take a micro (bus) a little past my house. (Saturday afternoon adventure, road to Niebla.)

What I see if I go downtown (the waterfront).

What I see right before my house (a giant orange-flowered plant).

He made the mistake of becoming a freshman.

It´s March.  This is so weird to me.

That night of the giant moon!

Our very own murta bush!

The familiar walk into the sunset, going home from downtown. :-)

And that familiar walk across the bridge.

And that one famous, ever-present dog. 

Can´t get enough of these hydrangeas, and they are EVERYWHERE.