Santiago

I've been living in Santiago for almost a month now and I've been collecting various thoughts and observations in my head, so I suppose its about time that I write some down.

Santiago is a pretty easy place to live. We live right by the Metro, which is fast and efficient, and we're 3 blocks away from a decent grocery store. The buses run everywhere, and although they are a little bit crazy they're really not all that bad. In fact, it's almost too easy to live here--if not for "city tours" led by a teacher at school or meeting other students who live in other neighborhoods, I probably wouldn't not have seen some of the more interesting parts of the city. Most of it is pretty safe--many Santiaguinos and some foreigners spend a lot of time talking about crime, but it seems to me just like any other big city--most places are fine, as long as you are not dumb.

With school I went to the Mercado Central and to the Cemetario General. As expected, the mercado had lots of good, cheap food and other items, but I'll probably keep doing most of my shopping at our local supermarket anyway--convenience wins out over low prices and adventure. The Cemetario was interesting but totally overwhelming--after 3 hours of walking through the maze of mausoleums, I had enough. Unfortunately for both tours I was in "I live here, I'm not a tourist" mode, and so I didn't have my camera with me.

Taylor and I have done a little exploring so far--we took an afternoon hike up the big central Cerro/Parque in Santiago.

The requisite shot of La Virgen atop Cerro San Crisobal

Taylor in the gondola riding back down from San Cristobal

A nice shot of the pre-cordillera with the city beneath, from the gondola.

Also, Santiago is supposed to be terribly smoggy, especially in winter. When I first arrived I had trouble with my eyes for about a week, but since then I haven't really noticed it. While others have complained about having trouble breathing, not me. After it rains, it is gorgeous. Here is a pic from our balcony one morning:

Those are the Andes back there...

Yerba Loca

After three weekends of mostly staying inside and studying (more or less), I finally got out of the city on Saturday. Geert told me about a hiking trip coordinated by an organization that has all sorts of services for foreigners in Santiago. I'm not used to paying for guided hiking trips, so at first I was hesitant because it was a little expensive, but I'm glad I went. The trip was to the Reserva Yerba Loca, a park in the foothills of the Andes. Although technically you could get there through a combination of micro (city bus) and taxi, one of the major benefits of the guided tour is that they provide transportation.

We hiked along a river valley, through a little bit of snow, and turned around when the snow got to be too much. It was pretty, and the air was fresh:

Hiking up, toward Cerro La Paloma

The group, facing back down river

Our group consisted of me, Geert, and two other extranjeras--Michaela from Sweden and Alexandra from Switzerland. Both Michaela and Alexandra are fun, interesting people, so it was great to meet them and we talked about planning more excursions together in the future. Alexandra is also moving to Lima in January, and I'm excited to have a friend there already!

Las Fiestas Patrias

A holiday weekend is coming to an end. Yesterday--el Dieciocho--was Chilean Independence Day. Today was Armed Forces Day, so we had a 3 day weekend. Today and Saturday I studied pretty much all day (except for periodic internet breaks...), but yesterday afternoon we went out to check out the scene.

To celebrate the Fiestas, there are big festival-like things in many of the public parks. They are called "fondas." Supposedly they feature traditional crafts and dancing, but the one we went to was mostly just food and drink. We met up with some of my friends from spanish school (Peter from Scotland and Geert from the Netherlands) at Parque O'Higgins for the "official", National Fonda. We had great empenadas and drank some chicha, but the music was mostly mexican (according to Peter's Chilean friend) and most of the stuff being sold was just chintzy crap. My theory is that at the fondas in the fancier neighborhoods (where you have to pay to get in) they focus more on "traditional" stuff because they want to feel in touch with their roots. At the free, more working class fondas, they don't need to be reminded about "how life used to be", and instead they just want to relax and have fun. I can't blame 'em.

Here's a pic, my first from Chile:

Taylor, Geert, and Peter drinking chicha at Parque O'Higgins

Español

I've taken two weeks of Spanish classes so far. I think I'm making progress now, but it's been frustrating. Not like this was entirely unexpected, but still...

I should have learned from my summer class that I really can't say or understand much of anything, despite how much I have "covered" in grammar. I also should have taken the time to systematically "relearn" the grammar and vocab from my UC Extension classes, but of course I found plenty of other things to do this summer instead. Finally, I should have told Escuela Bellavista that I had studied Spanish but didn't remember much, rather than telling them how much grammar I knew. But I didn't do any of these things, so I've spent the last two weeks in "Basico IIB" (recently advanced to "Intermedio IA") with people who speak and understand Spanish a lot better than me.

It's been up and down. From the beginning I knew there was a lot of basic vocabulary/conjugations that I didn't remember, but at least it seemed like the two other people in my class didn't speak all that well. Greg the other grad student could do interviews and ask for data in Spanish, but in class he didn't sound so great. Anna de Suecia can understand her Chilean fatherish-inlaw but doesn't like to say much. I knew I needed to study at home, but hey I'm smart I'll work hard and pick it up. Then Anna de Alamania joined the class, who talked a lot with her big street vocabulary and made all of us sound dumb. The third day we had a different teacher for our morning class (the substitution of teachers at this school can be annoying and stressful, although I suppose there might be some pedagogical benefits over time), and our activity for the day was reading an article about internet crime and discussing it. That convinced me that I needed to move down a level or two--I need to be spending my class time practicing simple conversations about my weekend and my life, not pretending to discuss the future of internet crime. So after class I asked to move down, but it didn't turn out as I had hoped. I only had a brief conversation with the school director on Wednesday, because I had to leave to go on a school-sponsored excursion to the market, and on Thursday morning he said that he "had talked to my teachers and they said I should not move down but I should study more at home." Or at least I think that's what he said. It's true that I need to study consistently at home and spend time memorizing vocab, but if I were in a lower class I could do all that while simultaneously being totally on top of the homework and hopefully feeling less stupid in class. It would be más tranquilo. However, I did not say any of this and instead went back to my higher class, partially because I didn't feel like I could express myself in Spanish and partially because I don't like challenging people anyway.

The rest of the week went by. It was ok, although I thought I was so incomprehensible on Friday when the school director taught our class that for sure he would move me down. But he didn't. I studied some over the weekend but not a ton. The beginning of this past week was more of the same. Not too painful but not too productive either. I went on excursions with people from school on both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, which was good for my knowledge of the city and for my social life but not good for my Spanish. Upon getting home at 7:00, I had no energy to seriously study. Thursday was horrible. I hadn't done all of the homework, the class was disorganized, and Anna de Alamania was being especially annoying. I became extremely frustrated with my placement and annoyed that I wasn't sure I was getting my money's worth. I knew that both the school's stubbornness and my own initial misrepresentation of my abilities was to blame, and I was mad at both. The good thing is that as a result of this experience, I came home and launched systematic re-studying of all I should know but don't. I felt better on Friday, and I'm still motivated to study.

So the current situation is this. On the street (or in a shop, restaurant, or cab) I can understand almost nothing, and I still try to avoid situations where I might have to speak, although I did manage to buy coffee in the market the other day after several minutes ridiculousness and I still got the wrong grind. In class or in social situations with Chilenos, I can generally get the gist of what's going on but definitely miss important details. I think now that I've started systematic studying I'll slowly but surely get better at talking in class, but there's so much to do--everything from basic vocabulary to phrases that trigger the subjunctive. Maybe in a few weeks I'll be happy with my placement because I will be constantly challenged to learn more grammar and complex stuff as I simultaneously practice the basics. But at the same time, I'm sure I would have gotten more value out of the past two weeks if I had been in a different class. It's water under the bridge at this point but still... So much depends on who's in the class, and it will be interesting to see what it's like next week. Anna de Alamania will be gone, but we might get someone new or they might switch everyone up. At any rate, I have lots of time to study this weekend and hopefully that will help. I know I need to practice my speaking in real life situations, but I also have to shore up the base.

¿Quién Soy?

So I am living in South America for 9 months--4.5 months in Chile and 4.5 months in Peru. I don't have a job and I don't speak Spanish. So what am I doing here? I'm thinking of it as a well deserved vacation and a chance to do things that my normally straight-lined, overly responsible life hasn't had time for.

My husband Taylor is doing research for his ph.d. in Poli Sci. He speaks Spanish and splits his days between interviewing important people and watching TV (for research purposes only, really!). I just finished my masters degree in May, so this is a convenient time for me to take off and travel--I'll get a full time job next summer. My primary task for now is learning Spanish. I'm taking classes at Escuela Bellavista in Santiago, but I'm not sure for how long. I don't have anything else lined up for Chile, so unless something falls out of the sky I'll probably keep taking classes until I can't justify paying any more. I honestly have no idea when that might be--at this point I really can't tell how this learning Spanish project will turn out--but that deserves its own post.

We live in an area called Providencia in Santiago, in a spacious apartment we share with our friend Tasha, who's also doing her dissertation research. Aside from the 70s decor, it's a great place--I admit we're quite enjoying how far the dollar goes in Santiago (although the dollar itself isn't so great right now). We have a big kitchen--a rarity in Chile, a big dining/living area with a balcony, an extra room for an office, and the building is in a super convenient and safe neighborhood. It feels good to be settled (finally, after some serious computer issues that I'll avoid writing about unless it comes up again)--the apartment really does feel like home. Maybe too much so, because with our comforts and the internet, I can easily forget that when I walk outside I can barely communicate with anybody.

Hola

So last month several people told me I should write a travel blog about my time living in South America. The idea hadn't occured to me before, but now it is stuck in my head. The thing is, I don't think my descriptions of daily life in Santiago (and eventually Lima) will be very interesting, but here I am. I know it's good to keep records of things, and from a purely practical perspective I know my computer might crash at any minute and at least this way my experiencies are saved in another location! I apologize in advance for any garbled sentences or misspellings. I don't know what language I'm speaking (uh, writing) these days.