Oh, I'm Halfway There, Ohhhhhh Living in Chile

Life this past week or so has been full of adventure. Last Monday after class, we walked along the coast and watched the sunset. Like any sunset, it was breathtaking. It’s incredible to think that there are so many other people in the world who were watching the exact same thing. And then it makes you realize that Earth is so much bigger than what we are able to fathom—it’s overwhelming and full of (unknown) wonder. It was great time to think and appreciate one another’s company:

  

"CHILE"

I got home that night and Skyped with Stephanie. It’s always refreshing talking to those back home. I’m not incredibly homesick but I find myself missing the company of my loved ones and having real conversations—something that I’m limited with in Spanish. Granted I can do it, but I still get discouraged if there’s something that they don’t understand or find myself being very self-conscious of my grammar.

Tuesday Anna and Lydia came over for lunch. My mom made potato cake, which is amazing. It’s just layers of meet, onion, cheese, and a few other vegetables covered in a french-fry type potato—but much better. I prepared dessert the night before (apple crisp). I was so nervous for everyone to eat it because I felt incredibly under pressure. But they really enjoyed it. Multiple times throughout the rest of the week I found my mom snacking on it in between meals. Later that night we had conversation group again with the Chilean students. Some of them were teaching us vocabulary but not telling us what it means, just the context in which we should use it, and only use it amongst peers. In other words, they were more than likely teaching us bad things.

Wednesday was my Chilean niece’s birthday. She turned three. So that night, we had a birthday party for her. My mom decorated the house elaborately, they had cake for her, balloons, party hats, and pretty much everything else you could imagine for a three-year-old princesses birthday. The amount of love that Emilia and her brother Darío receive is incredible and overwhelms me: 

Thursday was the fourth of July, obviously. Happy late birthday ‘merica! A few of us went over to Lydia’s house where we had a typical American meal—burgers, chips, and beer. Afterwards, we made s’mores over the fireplace. It was the first time her family had tried them.

 

Later that night, we went salsa dancing. It was really fun, but only reaffirmed the fact that I am white and cannot move my hips. Stereotypical American. I honestly felt bad for the Chileans that had to dance with me because my coordination is zero. Good thing I’ll never see them again because whatever pride I had left is now gone and I’ll probably never get it back.

Lydia and I got to school the next morning (after complaining about going to class) and we found out that classes were cancelled. Why, you may ask? Well, the students decided to take over the main building and create a chair barricade. Therefore, no one could enter the building.

And so, as a result, Anna, Lydia, Jill and I went to go see ‘Mi Villano Favorito 2’, also known as Despicable Me 2. Way better than class. Except, the voice-overs were annoying. It made it hard to focus on the movie sometimes (if you haven’t caught on, the movie was entirely in Spanish). We all decided to pose with the minions. The minions we're with, ended up fitting our personalities to a tee:

Lydia’s sister was nice enough to invite Lydia and I to hang out with her and her friends Friday night. So we spent the night playing games with them and I got tricked into watching Paranormal Activity 4. I thought it’d be in Spanish, somehow making it less scary, but lucky us—it was in English. Lydia’s fifteen year old sister and nineteen year old brother continued to laugh at me throughout the entirety of the film because I was hiding under a scarf, blanket, and Anna’s arm. Scary movies are the worst. And because of it, I don’t think I ever want to play Xbox again, stand under a chandelier again, take a bath again, leave my computer on at night, etc. I shudder just thinking about the movie. Good thing Anna, Lydia, and I crammed into Lyd’s bed that night. Except that Anna woke me up around 4:30 AM and said, “Don’t move. Stay where you are.” I was internally panicking because of the movie and I had just woken up and felt vulnerable and Anna was literally hovering over me. She then proceeded to say, “There’s a giant spider on the wall.” I then went back to bed.

Saturday morning Emy had another birthday party with her friends. Imagine a room filled with six two to three year olds running around with sugar coursing through their blood stream. It was crazy. We then went over to Lorena and Osvaldo’s house (Emy and Darío’s parents, Claudia’s sister, aka, my other sister) for lunch. There, I got a history lesson of Lorena’s music selection. It was wonderful. That night our friends Cristobol and Matio took us around Viña on a tour—we got pizza and walked along the beach.

Sunday morning Claudia and my mom took Anna and I to Olmué, which was a little pueblo in the countryside of Chile. It was a bit rainy, but I could tell that in the summer, it would be a wonderful place to visit. It was full of color and street vendors—a tourist’s dream. We also went to Campana, a national park, where we took about five pictures. For lunch we had completos, which is a hot dog on steroids. It’s a hotdog. Then you put on tomatoes. Then avocado. Then relish. Then mayonnaise. Then ketchup. And then mustard. SO MUCH. I think I would have liked it without the mayonnaise. Before it, Claudia taught us how to make a Brasilian drink called Caipirinha, which contains freshly squeezed lemon, sugar, ice, and pisco. It was really great, but one was more than enough, if you know what I mean.

Monday night my mom taught me how to make her homemade applesauce. I can’t wait to go to the apple orchards and make some back in the states! If you really must know how to make it, because the suspense is killing you, I’ll let you in on the secret. It’s nine apples (green preferably)—peeled and thinly sliced. Two cups of sugar. And fill the pot about halfway with water. Let it all come to a boil. Turn down heat. And continue to stir and mash with a wooden spoon. And BAM. You have apple-sauce. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much applesauce in my entire life. I probably eat it with every meal. My family always makes fun of me and says that I’m going to start having tears of apple. They also only used to make it once a week but since I’ve been here, they make it twice...

Today was a really great day. In my literature class, in which the professor is obviously not happy to be there, she let us talk about whatever we wanted. She provided us with information on the Chilean culture and the significance of greeting someone with a kiss on the cheek. We managed to talk about marshmallows for fifteen or twenty minutes, the LGBTQ movement in Chile, traditional Chilean plates and pretty much anything else that didn’t involve the class material. But in all honesty, I learned more throughout that class period than any other of the classes.

After class, I walked in the door and my mom said we were having spaghetti for lunch. My heart leaped with joy. Then I sat down at the table, and it was just spaghetti noodles with a creamy tuna sauce. I was kind of weirded out by it, but it actually ended up being pretty good. Would I eat it again? Possibly, but only if there were no other pasta options. Afterwards we had conversation partners again and this was probably the best night I had. We met at the Café again and shared embarrassing stories—well, I shared embarrassing stories, because naturally, I have so many of them. We shared hidden talents. Discussed the fall of Nickelback’s popularity in the States but the rise of it in South America. Bon Jovi. I talked about my love for Adele and Bruce Springsteen. And we just overall had good conversation, not random small talk. My new Chilean friend, Javier, invited me to hang out with him and his friends sometime this week. Hopefully that actually happens because you can never have to many Chilean friends.

Instead of going to a bar afterwards, we went to get ice-cream. It was literally the cherry on top of the night. It was easy to converse because we didn’t have to shout over the bumpin’ music at the bar and we were seated in a way that we could talk to more than just the person sitting next to us. 

part of our group.

 At this point, I’m sad that there’s only a few weeks left. I finally feel like I’ve gotten over the idea of culture shock and am starting to clique with the Chilean students. But, I need to stop thinking about the future and enjoy the experiences I have yet to experience. Take each day one at a time.