San Pedro de Atacama

I'm up in San Pedro de Atacama, in Chile's northern desert, on vacation with my parents. It's great here. I can't write much because I'm on one of the two hotel computers and the connection is slow, and I can't post pictures because we forgot our camera cable. But, yesterday we climbed a 18,000 foot volcano, we've done tons of beautiful hikes, and tomorrow we're doing another full day tough one before we leave on Friday. Luxury accomodations + active excursions = fun. But this town is pretty weird. Ok, 'night.

Casi La Navidad

Yes, just 4 more days until Christmas and you can feel it in the air in Santiago. The UV rays are strong, everyone is talking about their beach vacations, and our local grocery store is playing cheesy american christmas music on their soundsystem. Like "Jingle Bell Rock", which I find is actually a better song when you're the only one in the store who can sing all the words. Just like at home the department stores are packed with Christmas decorations and Christmas shoppers, except that they're all shopping for bikinis and tanktops. Some of our neighbors have trees, including the people in the apartment directly across from ours who we always spy on but who never seem to be looking at us. Here's a picture of their tree, which I felt totally sketchy taking (the picture, that is, not the tree). The tree is outside on their balcony, by the way.


The weird thing about Christmas in Santiago (aside from the fact that they sometimes call it Pascua, which is Easter), is not so much that it is hot, but that it keeps getting hotter and the days keep getting longer. So everything is moving in the wrong direction. Although since today is the first day of summer I guess from now on the days will be getting shorter.

My parents arrive tomorrow morning. We are meeting them at the airport, and I have a full day of activities planned in Santiago. Friday we drive to the coast (Valparaiso area), which I haven't visited yet. And then Saturday we fly to the north of Chile for our week-long vacation in the Atacama desert. I can't wait. I don't know if I'll have internet access up there, so just in case, Feliz Navidad to all! 

el corte de pelo

I got my haircut today. It would be an overstatement to say I have been actively worrying about/procrastinating doing this ever since I arrived, but...I did purposely get it cut very short before I left California so that I could let it grow as long as possible, and I only did it today because I am going on vacation soon and I had nothing else to do. I had no more excuses for not going somewhere and communicating.

So, I was successful in that my hair is now shorter. But it's certainly not the best cut in the world, nor did I feel particularly good about my communicative experience. First of all, I think the people there thought I was weird because I think I picked a place where mostly men go to get haircuts and women go to get waxed. But since I wanted to minimize my conversation, I picked a place where I could easily see from the street that they had space to cut my hair right then, whereas all the more girlie salon places had their windows and doors more covered up. I also knew I was planning to just get a simple, straight cut, and I didn't want to go anywhere where they would try to engage me for something more complicated, although in retrospect maybe I should have had higher standards. For some reason, I also bypassed the place next door that had a prominently displayed "we speak english" sign in front--I think because after psyching myself up to get my hair cut in Spanish, I wasn't going to cop out and choose the place that marketed itself to English speakers (which probably wasn't really spoken there anyway, considering my experience with the "english-speaking" doctor I went to).

I was hoping it would be quick and I could just sit there and not say much, but like hairdressers everywhere mine today liked to talk. And as far as I can tell she made the same comments I always get--"oh, do you highlight your hair it's so blond on top, oh your hair is so thick", etc. But I know many of my responses were ridiculous since I only half understood what she said. I also got the typical comments about my age--"que jovencita" (how young you are) when I tell them I am here with my husband--but today they were even more extreme. I'm pretty sure the lady said I looked 13. Ok so I know I look 22-23 because that's what everyone else says when I meet them, and when I'm nervous or unsure of myself like I was today that knocks off another 5 years, plus right now I have a nice zit on my chin--I clearly should have put on makeup before going to the salon. And of course, I do now have the basically the same haircut I had when I was 13, so it all makes sense. All I can say is, I can't wait to go home and get a good haircut to put some shape back into my hair (and Bay Area friends, be advised that I will be looking for stylist recommendations in June!).

I know its normal to have not learned the vocabulary for many day-to-day situations, and it's always easier to communicate within the flow of a conversation then it is to answer random questions and respond to commands out of the blue, but it does seem a little strange that soon I will be discussing international economic development policies in Spanish (and I will be taking private lesson in January to help me with that), but I feel like an idiot most of the time I try to run errands here. I know I shouldn't let it bother me, because I still accomplish what I need to accomplish, and all second language learners make mistakes and no one cares, and I guess for the most part I am understood, but some days are better than others. And with those two exquisite examples of English-language sentences, I'll sign off for now.

Word of the day: partidura=part (in hair). Ok, that's not too hard but it's the only word I can remember from my haircut experience.

La Vega

At the dinner party we went to last week (for which I made the brownies), our Chilean hosts made excellent food. Good meat, tasty dumplings, and great salads. Of particular note were the tomatoes, which were much more flavorful than any tomatoes we had eaten here thus far. It turns out they shop every weekend at the big vegetable market downtown--called La Vega--the same market I went to on a city tour with school way back in September. They confirmed that it's definitely worth it. Now, I feel a little dumb that I haven't been shopping there, since I knew about it all along, but I will contend that the difference between the market and the supermarket was less in September--winter/early spring--than it is now. Regardless, we decided to try to shop there more during our last month in Santiago.

So yesterday we decided to make pasta with fresh tomato sauce for dinner, and I took Taylor to La Vega to buy the tomatoes. We went after an afternoon meeting Taylor had with a government official, so when we arrived the market was closing up and Taylor looked totally out of place in his suit (and hot, both literally and figuratively ;-)). Therefore, the trip was rushed, but we did successfully buy heirloom-looking tomatoes and Taylor was sufficiently impressed with this part of the city he had never seen before. We're definitely going back on the weekend. Oh, and the pasta sauce was good, especially with the fresh basil we planted in our balcony flower box a few weeks ago.

This week and next I am playing tourist in Santiago. Yesterday afternoon I walked around downtown, and this morning I did more of the same, plus I visited a 19th century mansion. The mansion was built and occupied by one of the country's mining/wine/shipping barrons. The inside was filled with original french, italian, and asian fabrics, scuptures, glassware, furniture, etc. Here's a picture of the outside:

Palacio Cousiño

uh oh, I haven't spoken/heard/read enough Spanish today to have a word of the day. Tonight we're going to a despedida=going away party for Alexandra and we will be meeting her Peruvian boyfriend, so maybe I will learn some new words there.

El Banco Mundial

So, I finally figured out what I will be doing in Peru. I will be working for the World Bank. Well, I will be providing my services as a researcher and analyst on a full time basis from February through May, and they may or may not be compensating me monetarily for my time. Details, schmetails. This has been in the works for a few weeks, but I didn't want to say anything until it was confirmed. I basically got very lucky--the combination of having a grad school colleague who used to work for the current country director in Peru, plus (and even more importantly) the fact that they are starting a new project that fits perfectly with my timeframe. Fortuitous timing. What will I be doing there? The usual combination of data analysis and qualitative research/literature review. If you're into to international development and you want more details, email me and I'm happy to share. It fits perfectly with my goal of doing something that uses my quantitative skills, where I can write my report in English, yet Spanish skills are desirable because at the very least I will be reading stuff in Spanish and will possibly have to talk to people in Spanish to obtain information. So yay, "figuring out what I will be doing in Peru" is officially off my plate of things to do.

Word of the day (courtesy of tonight's bottle of wine): retrogusto=aftertaste

Las Elecciones

Today was the presidential election. Well, the first round anyway. Right now, with 82.5 percent of the precincts reporting (and the election called), the results are:

Michelle Bachelet, Concertacion (center-left coalition that has been in power since democracy in 1989): 45.76%
Sebastian Pinera, RN (center-right, "business" party): 25.65%
Joaquin Lavin, UDI (uber-right, uber-Catholic party): 23.31%
Tomas Hirsch, Juntos Podemos Mas (Communist/Humanist/Green coalition): 5.27%

As expected, the woman representing the ruling coalition came in first, but also as expected, there will be a second round against a very competitive candidate. For a summary of the electoral situation and some relevant history, today's (12/11) New York Times article is pretty good. It's interesting though, how all the U.S. press has focused on the likelihood that Chile will have a female president--as in, it's almost certain and isn't that incredible since Chile is such a conservative country.

Whereas the story from the inside is, I think, a little more sobering. Four months ago, Bachelet was polling at around 55%. I didn't really observe it myself, but Taylor says that she was in fact a "phenomenon"--with lots of personal support as a woman, and a woman with an interesting past. But since the election began in earnest, the two candidates on the right gained support and Bachelet's numbers fell, and moreover her campaign strategy seems to have changed--rather than focusing on her personal connection with the voters, her more recent advertisements have emphasized the achievements of the government of which she is the continuation. The current president, who was only barely elected in 1999, has a 60% approval rating. So why did only 45% vote for Bachelet? While it's certainly interesting that Chile might have a woman president, it is ever more notable that it might not. Who knows if its machismo, Catholicsm (as the U.S. articles have pointed out, Bachelet is a divorced agnostic), a lackluster campaign, or people just being more provocative with their first round vote, but it is certainly possible that Bachelet will lose the runoff with Pinera. Of course, there are also good reasons to think she will still win, but the point is that it's far from a sure bet. Although I have no personal stake in the outcome of this election, I will be sad if such a strong female candidate ultimately loses the race, for whatever reason.

As for the voting process itself, I am a little embarrassed to say that I did not leave the house today, so I didn't observe any of it. But I resolve to walk around town a bit on January 15, because I think it's quite interesting--each polling station only has 200-300 voters, all votes are done with a pencil and paper, and they are counted by hand. Men and women vote in different places. Taylor says it's just because when the enfranchised women they didn't want to reassign the men, and they couldn't just add the women because they needed to keep the stations small for hand counting, so they kept them separate. Still, weird. Votes are counted once and can be challenged on the spot, but after that the count is official. So, no chance of a recount tomorrow.

New Spanish word of the day*: derrota=defeat
*as of today, this is a regular feature of my blog

Comida

People have asked about Chilean food, and I have thought about what I like and what I miss, so now I am going to write about it. It's a good time, since last night I went out for dinner with a Chilean friend and had one of their specialties, "Pastel de Choclo." It's ground beef, onions, and chicken, with a hard boiled egg and an olive thrown in for good measure, baked in a casserole dish with a thick corn bread top crust (choclo=corn). I think if it much like chicken pot pie--kind of a weird combination of flavors, but also kind of hearty and comforting, if you're in the right mood.

I am a fan of empanadas (dumpling/turnover things), either traditional pino (the ground beef-onion-hard boiled egg-olive filling), or cheese, or something fancy. They're just a great satisfying lunch food. The steaks are not so great, although their "a lo pobre" method of serving steak with a fried egg on top does make cheap, thin meat more moist and filling. Fish here is generally good, and salmon is cheap. Other than these highlights, traditional Chilean meals are pretty "meat and potatoes," so not that exciting. I must admit, though, that my exposure to actual Chilean cooking comes only through meals at the Villa, where they have a very tight budget, and occasionally at restaurants. At home, Taylor and I cook pretty much the same stuff we do in California--stir fry, pizza, fish, and even Indian food because we surprisingly found most of the spices here. Finding the right ingredients is generally not the biggest problem (with some notable exceptions)--the greatest challenge is cooking with our incredibly limited and poorly made selection of pots and pans. I know I shouldn't complain because we do have a fully functioning kitchen, but on the other hand we may be getting cancer from our thin and disintegrating "non-stick" frying pans.

Everyone talks about how great the produce is in Chile--fresh, tasty, and cheap. Well, maybe at the central market it is, but at the supermarket it has been disappointing, and even at the real market...I have definitely been spoiled by California, and Berkeley in particular, because I really don't think it's all that special.

So, on to what I miss. #1, by far, is normal milk. Milk that hasn't been ultra-pasteurized such that you can leave it on a shelf forever until you open it. Milk belongs in the refrigerator, period. I love fresh, cold milk but I am totally squeamish about anything other than skim-to-2% normally pasteurized milk, so I haven't had a drop to drink since I've been here. For breakfast I eat yogurt with granola, because I can't have cereal with weird milk. That's definitely the first thing I will savor when I get home--a tall glass of cold, 1% milk and a bowl of cereal. Probably Cheerios.

What else do I miss? I'm sure there is more but I can't think of it now. In general we buy the same stuff every week so there are no surprises, but it's annoying when we want to try something new and discover they don't have it here. Like tonight I am making brownies for a dinner party, and I discovered that they have no unsweetened baking chocolate or chocolate chips.

Finally, one thing I've adopted here that I'll probably bring home with me--I've kicked my Coke habit and have become addicted to "agua con gas." Light gas preferably--lightly sparkling water. Here it is everywhere and it costs the same as regular water (tap water is perfectly safe but it has a strong mineral taste), whereas at home it is fancy and expensive. We might have to join Costco so I can keep buying San Pellegrino.

Idiomas

I have various loosely related thoughts about languages and language learning bouncing around in my head right now, so here's where I write about them all in one place.

1. Improving my Spanish through volunteering. Clearly, one of my major reasons (if not *the major* reason) for volunteering last month was to practice my Spanish and to help it improve through forced use. Although I think I am getting better at expressing basic ideas, and I picked up a new few phrases/word usages here and there, I didn't internalize a lot of new vocabulary nor did I feel that my comprehension improved that much. The reason for that is since I don't learn languages easily via osmosis, I really needed to be studying my new vocab every night and reviewing grammar stuff continuously, for me to be able to then *use* the new stuff and have it start to sink in. But I didn't end up doing much outside studying last month, mostly because I had other projects I was excited about--organizing my pictures and updating my blog, for example. So most of the time at work I was tripped up by the same words and phrases over and over again, which was kind of a bummer. So on the one hand, I'm kind of sad about my "missed" opportunity to focus on real life Spanish for a solid month and improve, but on the other hand I'm happy with what I accomplished (and the fun I had, both inside and outside of Santiago) during the month, and hey, this language stuff is a hard, slow process. There are many things I can do to work on it--study more flashcards, take more classes, watch more TV, find more volunteer work--and at any given moment I'm not sure what would be the best use of my time, but nor do I think there is any one "order of operations" for me to learn. So, I guess I'll just keep trying to do a little of everything, and keep on living here of course.

2. My inferiority complex as an English speaker. I have always been alternately in awe of and jealous of people from other countries, especially Europeans, who speak English fluently as a second language and often other languages as well. Not surprisingly, I have thought about it a lot here as I struggle to learn Spanish and most of my friends in Santiago are European. With my friends, I'm just happy that I've met interesting people and we can get to know each other using a language we both feel comfortable with, rather than facing a huge language barrier. But this weekend I had the experience of being the only native English speaker in the hostel we stayed at and on our excursion on Sunday. I always just feel lame when I'm sitting around shooting the shit with a bunch of people from all over the world, and everyone's speaking English and I'm the only one who can't have a side conversation in another cool language. Or on our excursion, where I think I was the only one other than the guide who couldn't understand German (the non-Germans either spoke German as another language or could understand it because their native language was close), yet the tour was in English (and some Spanish). At lunch, I felt like the only reason anyone was speaking English was because I was there. And then I became *really* jealous/annoyed/protective when someone mentioned that Spanish classes were becoming popular in Europe because everyone wanted to travel in South America because it was cheap, because Spanish is the only language that Americans are more likely to know/have studied than Europeans and I want Americans to keep some shred of language learning credibility. (of course it's funny that I only thought of this then, since I've spent the last 3 months with Europeans who are learning or speak Spanish)
But after this burst of jealousy, I had a second thought on this whole multi-lingual thing. Yes, speaking multiple languages is cool because you can communicate with more people, you can understand better other cultures, and you can have secret side conversations if you are careful. There will always be people who learn new languages easily, who just pick up new languages for fun or to enable them to do specific things like travel, and kudos to them. But for the rest of us, in whatever country, it doesn't necessarily make that much sense to worry a ton about learning a skills that won't be used. So in the States (with apologies to my French teachers and other francophiles out there), Spanish and Chinese are the only languages that are useful and necessary on a general level (obviously any language could be useful in a specific situation or community). For people in the rest of the world, learning English is almost always useful, and in Europe it is clearly useful to speak multiple languages since multiple language areas are only a short car/train trip away! And not it's not only useful to those who are gifted in languages--my friend Geert said he never paid much attention in his French and German classes, and thus he doesn't speak those languages and has traveled though Europe fine without them, but American sitcoms are on Dutch TV undubbed, and his advanced textbooks were in English, so of course he speaks it. And now he's learning Spanish because he's living here and working for a Chilean company. So it's silly to feel too bad about "only" speaking English, especially since I'm trying to learn Spanish now that I need to. And I'm trying to quash my complex that monolingual (or 1 1/2 lingual)=dumb, and also trying to not to let it bother me when I sense that other people have that perception (which is harder).
Having said all that, I do want to make clear that I think the process of second language learning is invaluable, because of the way it makes you think about communication, other cultures, and your own language, and therefore everyone should study at least one other language in school. And the opportunity for kids to become fluent by learning multiple languages at a young age should be exploited whenever possible. But if you didn't start studying a second language until you were 14 and have never lived anywhere where you needed to speak a language other than English, that's ok too.

3. Ok, this will be short because this post is already way too long. I completed the "grammar awareness module" in my teaching english class this afternoon. I have though about this before in the process of studying Spanish, but the module reminded me again--English is such an inelegant language. Instead of specific conjugations, tenses, moods, and specific vocabulary (which are a pain to memorize but are beautifully expressive), English is just a bunch of bits and pieces strung together--so many common words and phrases have no meaning on their own. I don't know how people figure it out (although I'm supposed to be learning how to teach them). My guess is that they watch a lot of bad American TV and movies.

La Serena

I got back from La Serena this morning. It was a nice place and I'm glad I went, but 2 night buses in 3 nights was rough. Especially after spending 4 weeks playing with small children...I "woke up" on Saturday morning with the beginnings of a cold, which just got worse throughout the weekend. But it didn't affect my activities that much, and I slept better on the way back. At least the night buses didn't require an hour long border stop like the trip to Mendoza, and at least today I had nothing to do but rest. It feels great to have no pressing responsibilities to feel guilty about/have to work through while sick.

On Saturday we went into the Elqui Valley, which runs east from La Serena (on the coast) up into the mountains. The Elqui Valley is one of the regions in Chile that produces grapes for Pisco, the distilled grape liquor that Chile calls it own (and fights with Peru about, of course). One of my coolest pictures from the weekend is this:
which shows the contrast between the green vineyards planted in the valley and the arid slopes that surround it. Other highlights of the day were visiting the Gabriela Mistral museum in Vicuña and a Pisco plant in the valley.

On Sunday we went on a guided excursion to the Reserva Nacional Pingüino de Humbolt--three islands off the coast north of La Serena, one of which is home to lots of wildlife including Humbolt Penguins. Here's a sampling:

lobos de mar

the contrast with the guano makes this my best penguin pic

pelicans

After cruising around the penguin island in the boat we got off on a different island to walk around, and then we went back to shore for a tasty late lunch of coastal specialties--fish and crab.

Sunday evening we wandered around La Serena a little more and then finally checked out the beach, which was nice and beachy (sand, waves, and overpriced hotels across the street). It was nice to relax before heading back, and to "see" what there was to see in La Serena itself--not much.

Otro mes

It is now December--one third of this adventure complete!

I finished up at the Villa yesterday. At the beginning of the week I was sad to go, because Monday and Tuesday were fun, interesting days and it was hard to tell people that Thursday was my "ultimo dia." Especially when they ask why I am leaving, and I don't have any other reason than that I committed for a month and now the month is over and I have other things I want to do. And that I've paid for the experience thus far and I don't want to pay more (but I didn't tell them that). I briefly thought about asking if I could stay on without paying, but then I decided that the reality is that I do have other things I want to do and the idea of committing a lot more time doesn't excite me that much. Even though I finally know everyone, and it sucks to leave just when I've reached that level of familiarity. This familiarity was highlighted for me because a new volunteer started this week--a girl from Austria who will be at the Villa every day, all day for 2 months. At first I was totally jealous of her because she will have so much more time than me, both in days and hours. It was weird to think about how much better she will know the girls after 2 months, while during this week I knew so much more than she did. But then I realized that 1) no matter how much time you spend doing this type of work, you always wish you could stay longer because of course the girls aren't going anywhere and 2) school is going to be out soon which will remove what little structure the days currently have, which just sounds even more frustrating and tiring. So by the end of yesterday I was quite comfortable with my decision to leave, especially since Wednesday and Thursday were not particularly fulfilling days--more coloring, playing outside in the hot sun, and some frustrating "conversations." However, I am very excited that I am going back next Thursday because they are having a big baptism and First Communion service. I'm glad that my daily commitment is over but since I'm not leaving the country, I can go back for important events. And I'm bringing Taylor, which I know they all will love.

So what exactly am I doing for the next 2 months? I just signed up for an online teaching English certification, which I'm taking more for my personal interest in learning about English grammar and the process of teaching the language, not because I really want to get a job teaching English in the near future. But someday I might, and I think this will be a good intro, and if the opportunity does arise I'll have this training in my back pocket. I also might take some more Spanish classes, this time one-on-one so that I can practice my skills in conversing about adult topics. I will also travel, both with family and on my own. This weekend Geert and I are going to La Serena, a town about 7 hours north of here that is the jumping off point for some interesting excursions. Unfortunately the election here will almost certainly be going to a second round, which means Taylor won't have extra time to travel in January. But, we still plan to squeeze in some more day trips. And finally, I will be preparing for my time in Peru...stay tuned.