karen.jpg

karen.jpg
Originally uploaded by deambular.

Karen, making some snacks, staring down the camera man.

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carlosnbikes.jpg
Originally uploaded by deambular.

Matthew introduced me to Carlos and Karen, and I am forever thankful. They are both really cool, easygoing and fun people. He is a web designer, she is a teacher, and an artista, Carlos loves to ride bikes, so they were a good match for me...

Many Empanadas

Empanadas are a national dish (not really a dish, more like an object) the other day I only ate empanadas, and nothing more, which I regretted because they are more of a lunch food. They are so much better when you add some Salsa Aji, which is a sort of hot sauce. Overall I like them, but many times if you order them they are prepared earlier and are microwaved per order. That puts them some where around the level of a really good hotpocket, when you get a fresh homemade one, then your cooking!

The Art Fair

So I didn't really plan on going to the art fair, it just sort of happened. I had been hanging out with a Spanish teacher in America's school named P. We had went out for juice, and ended up talking for quite a while. After walking around in the Parque Forrestal, she said that she needed to go to the Ferria near Bellavista in order to buy a christmas gift for her father. I went along with her, and was completely surprised to find that the ferria was about four times its normal volume, with tons and tons of venders. I wandered around and looked at all the stuff for sale. From CDs to clothes, organic skin products, honey, wire art, photos, paintings, pipes, mirrors, drums, food, juice, Artisean licor, sculptures, and plenty of interesting people wandering all about through the lively labrynth.

I stumbled upon one bookbinder, she didn't sew her books she glued them and I talked for a while in espanol about her process and all that. She used the facilties at the University of Chile, and her books were all pretty cool. Then I wandered some more, stopping with P to talk to different venders, my espanol can get me by but I have trouble with groups and with some of the accents that I encounter. She asked questions and we looked for a present for America as well. I ended up buying her some fruit honey, which was so so good.

Then I stumbled on another stand selling books, lots of them, along with boxes. I checked them out and then asked the two chileanas running it about the spine, which was glued as well. One of them asked me if I spoke English, it turned out that she had lived and traveled in the States before and spoke very well. It was a very engaging conversation, we talked about traveling, about books, about anything that came up. The two were sisters, one who spoke english one who didn't. I switched back and forth trying not to let my brain get to deep into its English side. C spoke english, is an industrial designer, and M paints and studied photography in school. I was really interested in the paper that they make by hand, and wanted to buy some to use with my books. I was so interested that I forgot about P, who after a while wandered off and eventually went home. I searched for here but couldn't find her, finally called her and learned she had went home. Oops! The next day (thursday) I returned, bought paper, and talked more with C.

It turned out that she too had traveled to Guatemala as I had, to visit M while she was there. She was just as surprised as I was at the level of poverty, and how different it was from Chile. She offered to teach me about making paper, maybe sometime this week, before I leave Santiago for traveling. We talked about the places we had been, about christmas and the family. We talked about politics, about 9/11, and about Santiago. She had to return to work, and I headed home feeling enthralled by the conversation, and thankful that I had wandered through the art fair, its always great how the best things many times hit you when you least expect it.

No more christmas glee..

Its all over now, but New Years is on its way. I'm very excited about going to Valpo for New Years, party in the street, sleep on the beach, no hotel for me. It will be pretty cool to celebrate New Years in the summer, fireworks and all.

Today I went to my friend Carlos's family's house. We drank champagne and ice cream and ate a whole bunch of beef, lamb, rice, grilled onions. The Barbaque is taken seriously here, and this was my first one. Met family, was a little tired, didn't sleep too long last night, made it home around 5:30 am. I went to several different bars in Bellavista, heard some live Cuban music, a DJ who was playing a strange selection of 80s music, and in the end a salsa bar.

Soon I will figure out how to post photos on here, hopefully before I go on vacation, anyways, onward....

Christmas is on its way...

Christmas is almost here, and I don't think it will be a white one.

I have been talking to all my classes about Christmas in Chile and what it means for them. There are some differences, and a lot of similarities. The climate obviously is a major factor. Roasting chestnuts over an open fire isn't much of an option here. The heat (around 30 degrees C) and the patterns of the sun at this time of year have some interesting effects. I don't think Christmas is as depressing here for Chileans as it is for those who celebrate the holiday in the dead of winter. It stays light longer, until around nine o'clock, it is possible to go sit in the park and take a break from the buying frenzy. Something about it being cold outside makes the inside of a house with a large family and a party feel much warmer. So those without that option I think feel the lack of the warmth in the northern hemisphere. I remember the holiday season in the military, and it was horrible to be anywhere near the barracks two weeks before, or a week after Christmas.

The fact that it is light out much longer means that there are less Christmas lights set up. Sure they sure exist here, but not in the same quantity as the states. One of my students was in the US from Thanksgiving until December 22, and that was one thing that really caught his attention, how much more lights there are. He was also quite shocked when he arrived on Thanksgiving day, a rather inconspicuous day in Chile, at the Atlanta airport to find the mad chaos that exists on such holidays. The weather also makes it obvious what ideas have been imported to Chile. I really do feel sorry for the "Santa Clauses" who walk around Santiago wearing a heavy dark red coat, a beard, warm pants and a hat. It is hot enough with a short sleeve shirt on. The white Christmas trees don't make much sense either, and both are a source of entertainment and bewilderment for most of my students.

The big day in Chile is Christmas Eve, though it is not a day off. There is usually a dinner, usually some sort of meat, drinks, conversation, and more. The Chileans have a special drink which is loosely comparable to Egg Nog, but quite different. It is made with milk, cream(?I think?) and a sort of hard alcohol made from fermented grapes. It is called Corte de Mono, or in English: Tail of the Monkey. I am so curious as to how that name came to be about but have yet to receive an answer.

After the food, it all depends on the family. Most go to a midnight mass, many open presents at midnight or after the mass, and everybody stays up very late, the children pass out with there new toys. One of my students told me here family goes to sleep very early, around 2 am. Christmas Day is for sleeping.

Right now I am planning to go to the family of a friend of my roommate America, I really want to go to the midnight mass though, so we'll see what happens with that. So on, so forth......

Lots of people moving all about...

Alot of the teachers here are going back to the States for the holidays, I have to admit that I'm a little jealous. It would be really nice to sit down with some friends and have some good conversation over a beer or two. If I could just have five days to chill out I think life would be peachy, but I don't so that is that. The ticket is so expensive, the 1200 I would spend would be put to better use if I traveled in Chile.

Traveling abroad can breed a kind of loneliness that I have never experienced. It is so different from when your at home and are just bored with your current social situation or work situation or what have you. No, when your sitting in some plaza, thousands of miles from home and there isn't a person around you who can trully understand how you feel, thats when you really think about what your doing, who you are, all that jazz, it is depressing sometimes. Other times it is the most entralling feeling ever, and the way you feel can change moment to moment. Sometimes its just one person saying something to you that snaps you out of the funk, or that sends you plummeting. Its always a rollarcoaster. Today I was hit with a wave of nostalgia as I prepared to teach a class in the class room where we had the TEFL course, I really missed the feeling of just arriving, of everything being brand new, intensly overwhelming. I missed the intensity of the course which would eat away our whole day. Then, it was over and I was glad that in two hours I could leave the class room and that I have time now to do other things. So it goes, so it goes....

Linguatec Christmas Party

So we had our Christmas party last night, lots of food, wine, pisco, cerveza, the whole spread. I had some good conversation. It was more English then I have spoken for quite some time. It feels really strange to speak in your native tongue after speaking in another language. It almost shocks me because I can express my ideas without a problem, they just flow freely and in one sentence I can cover lots of ground. The nice thing about speaking in another language is that your much more aware of the words that you choose. Coming to and idea that you want to express but lack the vocabulary is interesting because you have to use the vocabulary you do know as creatively as possible, maybe add in some acting, and hopefully get your point across. It gets really fun when your switching between two languages and your native language starts to look foreign and the foreign feels familiar, that's when the brain twists, and life gets a little more interesting, and a whole lot more confusing.

Christmas is around the corner and I'm sweating...

It is a strange feeling indeed to be so hot around Christmas, though I can't say I'm against it. One thing for sure, it beats a cold Iowa winter. So next week I will turn in a slip to my boss Catherine that says I will be taking off for some vacation time. In one way I'm glad to get a chance to travel, but on the other hand I've really got into teaching my classes and I'm finally at a point with my students where I'm beginning to understand what works for them and what doesn't. No problem though, I'll just have to start over when I return to Santiago in March.

One thing that makes this city great is that even though it is a crazy city of 5 million people, it is still possible to ride a bike around without too many problems. Sure you still have to watch out but that is true anywhere, not only Santiago. There is a healthy selection of parks and walkways making it possible to cover a large portion of the city on walkways. Most of the traffic also flows on several main arteries leaving many side streets quite while only a few blocks away the mad chaos of the micros and the street ensues. Only about 10 minutes from house is the cerro San Cristobal, a mini mountain (a dirt mound compared to the Andes) that offers a spectacular view of the city, a good uphill climb, fast downhills, and plenty of off road trails leading to strange barrios full of interesting smells.

Biking seems to be pretty popular among Chileans, even if that means just meandering slowly through the parque forrestal. Many people have bikes here, though not all those people seem to use them. (i.e. America, my roommate). Most of the serious riders own Bianchi bikes, though I have seen a few Treks, the mainstream brand appears to be Oxford, which is what I´m riding for now. Come March I'm definitely going to have to find a used bike. The one I am using now needs a little work, one of the gears in the front doesn't work, and it is a women's bike as well, which I don't like because the balance is different with the angled bar on the frame.

So until March I'll just have to get by sweating the days away, traveling, and riding a women's bike.

The Binding Brothers

I really enjoy making books, it is an easy process that is very difficult to do well. There is something about taking the raw materials needed, binders board, paper, thread, your tools, and mixing it all together to yield a book. A blank book is a powerful object, it inspires some, scares others, intrigues, confesses, and remembers what ever you want it to.

I knew I would want to take a lot of pictures when I arrived in Chile, but I didn`t think I would want to start making books. Upon arrival I had almost forgot I knew how, but that soon changed. I think it was because I wanted to find a good sketch book and wasn`t quite happy with the options. It is easy to find a nice calendar, one that is well put together with a design to top it off, but finding a blank book is a different matter in Chile.

I looked around in some of the liberias, the stores that contain office supplies and a few supplies for art. It lacked a lot of the essentials: glue, binders board, thread, tools, to name a few. I knew that there had to be some where that had a better selection. About a week later I was having a conversation with Keka, the daughter of Angelica and PePe (my host family) at a going away party. She told me she used to work at a store that made notebooks and calendars, but not bound books. She asked her husband, Diego, about where I might be able to find some supplies, he looked in a phone book and found a business Diwehr that looked like it had everything I needed.

When I finally made time about five days later and got on my bike to scout out the store, it was fairly hot and around midday. I jumped on my bike and started riding in the direction of Arturo Pratt, which was about 20 blocks away. I meandered the the pedestrian and auto traffic, stopping to look at a large cathedral that I passed. It was a busy part of town just south of the centro. The neighborhood of the binding store was a neighborhood full of stores containing all sorts of materials, paints, car parts, shoe repair. sewing stores, fabric stores, anything you would need to make something else seemed to be in the area.

I got to the store Diwehr and thought that maybe it was out of business. The window were shut, the covers for them had graffiti all over them and the inside looked pretty empty. I made my way in and found that it was open, but that the store was a bit chaotic. There were several stacks of different kinds of paper, and my eyes caught a stack of binders board. I started talking with one of the guys working, trying best to describer in Spanish what I was looking for. I got to talking with the two and learned a little about Diwehr.

Their grandfather had immigrated to Chile after WWI, the only member of the family that did so. He was a bookbinder and eventually opened up a store in Santiago, now, three generations later his two grandchildren; Roldofo, and Roberto, were running the show. They have been making books since they were born, or so they say. I looked at a couple of books that were lying around and saw that they weren`t joking, they make important books, books for graduations, or for government offices to commemorate something.

I was able to get almost everything I needed, including a bone folder, which in the US can cost quite a bit of money (dick blick I think its like twenty to thirty dollars) in Chile, 1000 pesos, or about a dollar fifty. Not only that, but they told me the words for the materials and tools in Spanish and what items they didn`t they told me where to go, even printing a map off the internet and marking where the stores were and what I would find there.

So I went home feeling enthralled, some many times I had set out to look for something in Chile and hadn`t found it. Everything is rearranged differently and searching for something, especially something as specific as bookbinding materials can be a frustrating experience. Not this time, I was able to make my first book last night, I'm a bit rusty, but I got plenty of time to work that out......

Gave a test today

So I gave a test to one of my classes, one that is a little more demanding to manage. It is quite interesting being on the other side in a class. I remember taking so many classes growing up where I just zoned out and didn´t pay attention to anything. I also remember my Spanish class with Martha Perez, and how she would tell me I needed to study more, but I didn´t listen. Now I´m the one handing students a test, knowing they didnk´t study and wondering how on earth the expect to learn anything if they don´t dedicate a little time to studying English! Sitting on the other side in the class really gives me more perspective on why the teachers that were able to reach me, were able to do it. The Spanish class I took at Kirkwood Community College might not have taught me a lot in the class its self, but it did lead me eventually to Antigua, a trip that opened my eyes, and opened my mind in ways I could´ve never imagined. There is no way I would be here right now had I not gone on that trip to Guatemala, it was a life altering experience. It was also so different from what I´m doing now, I wouldn´t have been ready to live in another country for any extended amount of time at that point, it just wasn´t something that I was thinking about.

In other news, the Chilean courts indicted Pinochet today, a historic day for Chile. Yesterday I visited one of the main cemeteries in Santiago. There was a large memorial to all the people who are still missing from that era. Many, many names, and next to it is a place where the remains are housed when and if they are located. Nothing can rewrite history, but it is good that Chileans are dealing with that portion of their history. Torture, what a horrid business, maybe one day Americans will be able to deal with the reality that seems to be unfolding with our own torture practices, after all, Pinochet had the full support of the United States, and we would be wise not to get our selves involved in such ventures in the future. However Bush and co don´t seem convinced that torture is really that bad at all, Abu Gharib and Gutanamo staining all of our hands.

Just sweating the day away..

It has gotten quite hot in Santiago. I have no fan and no A/C so I just lay at night and sweat. It is usually pretty cool outside, its just that the air has no way of getting in the stuffy apartment in which I live.

The season of Navidad is in full swing. Shoppers fill the stores with gusto, they are wild circuses of energy, downtown on the ped mall near the Plaza de Armas was completely packed with people. After all christmas is only a few weeks away, and I thought the US was bad for its shopping season, Santiago seems to be just as consumed with the cosumer glee around December.

Back to Santiago....

I´m back in the city, Buenos Aires, despite having 10 million more people, didn´t have several thousand micros flying around the city, so it was quite, no diesel engines roaring at all hours of the day. I made it through customs and from the airport without incident. Tomorrow is a day off, I don´t have the slightest idea of what I´m going to do, going swimming seems like a good idea.

I had a great time overall in Buenos Aires, my head is adjusting back to Espanola, no more German to confuse me. I definitely will have to return in January and explore the place a little more.

Tired...

Just got done celebrating my grand uncle`s Berhart`s 70th birthday, lots of people showed up, most of which were speaking German, but I found a few people to speak some English and try my Spanish. Hearing German reminds me what is it like to totally be clueless about a language. I know enough Spanish now that I`m not clueless, just horribly confused, but I do manage to get by. I really need to spend more time each days trying to learn grammar and reading Spanish. It would go along ways.

The party was fun, the music was excellent, three live performers: a German band, a dixie band, a street performer from Buenas Aires, and after all was over, and people were starting to thin out the guitar and a drum was passed around and several hentes, includin Bernardo, sung some Argentine folklore. The folklore is really good, so diffrent from folk music in the US. The rythum is complex, and the song is sharp but very sweet.

Also I must add that there were some very attractive Argentinas working for the catering company. I defintely have to return to BA, not just for the mujeres, but to actually get a sense of the city as well. More pictures to come, more stories as well, I`m tired right now, the party started at 11 am, many bottles of wine, champagne, and a couple kegs of beer were consumed by the time people left around 7pm. Yo estoy muy cansado, manana yo escribro mucho a todo de fiesta, Chau.........

Ready to go to BA

ON Friday I will be heading to the airport and boarding a plane for Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am going to celebrate the 70th birthday of my grandmother´s brother. It is my first time in Buenos Aires, one of the largest cities in all of Latin America. I´m more then ready for a change of pace from Santiago. I really like the place and all, but seeing some new sites and getting a break from my early mourning classes will defitely be a plus. I will be gone from Friday until Tuesday, and Wednesday is a holiday for Chile, giving me another day to get some things done. I need to get my digital camera figured out, this blog is boring without some photos on it, and I want to start really exploring Santiago visually.

I have felt a fair amount of stress lately, many things coming together to make this so. From being in a crazy city where the traffic never stops for the longest amount of time in my life, to dealing with the social relationships that have been created, or the lack there of in my apartment (going well) at work (well so-so) and with friends outside of work (interesting to say the least). Things have changed so much since the end of the TEFL course. I don´t see the same people, I don´t get the same kind of people contact either. Mostly just my classes, going out at night has been limited because I have four early mourning classes. There is some good in all that though, I have been able to save money because of it. I am thirsty for some more social contact. After living in Iowa City for so long, where I only had to turn around to find someone I knew, to here where strangers are the norm, and even the people I do know, I don´t know well. Its fine by me though, but it does take some getting used to. I am really looking forward to talking to grandpapa this weekend in BA.

Tonight I´m going with Ingrid and Jessica to their grandfather´s house. I don´t have any idea what to expect, but I´m trying to prepare me Espanol as best I can, and am hoping for the best. No class tomorrow mourning so I will get to finally sleep in, then I want to check out the Henri Cartier Bresson show at the Museo Bellas Artes. Maybe I can even purchase a guide there, something that has been very difficult to do at the book stores, as they keeping on telling me that it is at the other store (the one I just came from) I also tried to go look at some photos at a couple of the galleries but they were both closed despite the fact that they were supposed to be open. That´s standard for small galleries though, I just think of PS one or the Space and I understand. Anyways, tonight should be interesting,

The Micros

Santiago´s public transportation systems relies heavily on the micro or bus, the system is a choatic arrangement of privatized diesel fed mounsters, most of them yellow, that growl through the streets at all hours of the day. They all spew horrid clouds of diesel fumes, are covered with graffati and other signs of wear. The drivers proceed as if they were some sort of sports car, and hold a heavy foot on the gas pedal. Because they are privatized, there is no telling how many might be going on a certain route. The routes are all published in a guide of Santiago, and the buses list the detinations on the side window.

I have to ride a micro every mourning to class, and riding the micro during the mourning rush hour isn´t the greatest experience. I have one class in Vitacuda, which means for me about twenty minutes on the micro from the Tobalaba metro station. Many times it is hard to even get one to stop for me, they have so many people on them, every availible seat is full, with other people crammed into both the entrance and the exit, and looming in the aisels. Sometimes you can jump in the back door of the micro without paying, which I try to avoid doing but sometimes have no choice because there is no room upfront. One mourning, I got on the micro in the front, and tried to push my way into the entrance. The doors closed and I hadn´t quite got enought room, so my arm and my backpack were caught in the door. I couldn´t remember the word for door and wasn´t pronoucing the word for open (abierto), so I had to just yell general noises to get the drivers attention as the rest of the passengers gawked. Being in the middle of the micro, surrounded by people when your stop nears is not a fun experience. Per Mismo just doesn´t cut it and one has to elbow and push their way to the exit before the driver shuts the door and is on his way.

Most of the drivers seem impatient, and will on occastion threaten other drivers of different companies on the same route. I have heard stories of drivers waving baseball bats as two companies compeat for passengers and space. The drivers also allow venders to get on the bus and sell things such as ice cream or a cold (at least you hope) bottle of coke or water. Sometimes performers enter the micro and will put on a show and then solicite donations from the passengers. The second time I rode the micro a blind man entered the back and started pounding his cane to rythme. He sernaded the bus in with a dissident but intriguing song, stumbled through the aisle, and was on his way. I highly recommend the micro as a way to tour the city, far cheaper, and much more entertaining then any tour.

One side note, suppusodly a new system is in the works that will address some of the problems that the privatized system causes. Who know when that will happen.

Domingo en Santiago

the streets of a sleepy Sunday in Santiago

Everything shuts down here on Sunday. I`m in Provdencia right now using the internet here because the corner cafe by my apartment is closed on Sundays along with just about everything else you can think off. Its a good day for sleeping, which seems to be a favorite activity of many of the Chileans I know. I was pretty tired this mourning following the party at my place for Alexandra`s (my German roommate) 35th birthday. After too much champagne, beer, and vino tinto, and crashed out around 3 am, everyone else continued drinking piscolas until about 5:30, but somehow managed to get up before me. I still have yet to be able to keep up with a late night Chilean party, but there's lots of time for all that.

Thanksgiving in Santiago

Well Thanksgiving has came and went,

It is one of those days that really lets you know that you are in a foreign country. Walking around in a short sleeve, going to work on Thanksgiving, it all feels so different, my body is out of rhythm with its usual yearly cycle. Fall was absent this year, replaced by another spring, fresh with life and color. Can´t complain one bit, especially as the temperature drops in Iowa, and rises in Santiago.

A new day in santiago

Today I woke up and knew that I had to do something different. I finished the TEFL course about two weeks ago, and since then I have finally had time to do something for my self. I feel like I need to establish myself creatively here in chile. I need to create some kind of record of what my life is like, what is around me, the people, the stories, the history, and how I take it all in.

It is getting warm in Santiago, summer is on its way, though it isn´t here yet. I have been in the city for six weeks now, and still have yet to see any more of Chile. This is much different from what I intended, but I find that my journey so far has been more a cultural one, then a physical one.

Its busy in the internet cafe which I sit, and I´m ready to relax for the day.