Yay school!

Now I can start getting into a solid routine here with my first week of classes under my belt. Monday I was able to pickup my Chilean identity card, finally. I also went to pickup my course reader (costs $15!) for the mandatory program course so I could take care of the reading due the following evening. Tuesday at 8 a.m. I had my first class, Economia II. I am so happy I actually get to take an Economics class. This one is particularly interesting because it is one, with a sociological perspective as opposed to straight economics, and two, it is essentially three classes wrapped into one. What I mean by that is that I have three professors for the course, each of whom will use a third of the course to teach their topic of instruction and give a test on the material at the end of each part. I begin with macroeconomics, wasn't sure what the second theme was because I couldn't read the teacher's handwriting, and the third part is Economic Development in Chile, which sounds fantastic. I am happily the only foreign student in the class, of about 25 students.

My first impressions of school are as follows. One, my campus is quite liberal and diverse, which I obviously like. This manifests itself as variety of clothing styles, on campus drinking and smoking in social circles between and after class, and tons of on campus graffiti. One that caught my attention: "Bachelet rima con Pinochet" trans-> Bachelet (current president) rhymes with Pinochet (former dictator). The other observation I had about life is that none of the Chileans seriously consider the concept of punctuality. I was two minute early to my first class and the only person in the room was the professor. Most of the class arrived within 10-20 after it should have started. Not that I'm complaining or anything...

My second class, luckily in the same classroom, is a Social History of Latin America. As was the case previously, most of the class showed up late, including the teacher. Sadly this class is filled with foreign students, some from my program other from other abroad programs. We probably represent the majority. This is important to note since the professor of this class has a unique view on the history and development of Latin America and tends to announce his stern points about the United States (most of which are true) directly at a specific foreign student. Cracks me up. From the two classes I have had so far, this class seems very interesting and the teacher tremendously insightful. Just with their weren't so many gringos.

Following the these two back-to-back classes that take place Tuesday/Thursday, I have a nice, long break for lunch. At 7 p.m., the entire program has a dull history class located far from my apartment. I left on Tuesday at 6, and showed up a half hour late because of all the subway traffic. It's a battle down there; I missed 6 straight, packed subways. Strangely when I left at 5:30 on Thursday, transit was a breeze and arrived at 6:10. Bah! The course is a tough time of the day for us to be in class, but I assume they were forced to do this in order to avoid interfering with student's desired schedules of other University courses. Luckily we will have some interesting guest speakers every once in a while to break the trend. For now, its painful.

Wednesday I only had a three hour long class on rural life in Chile and the problems that these agricultural valleys encounter that started at 10:15 a.m. The location of this class was not clear on the first day and the teacher showed up 45 minutes late to his intended classroom. After an hour discussion in a small room about, we had a ten minute break and met back up at another classroom where the course supposedly started. I then realize that the class is two classes blended into one: there are two professors and two classes, one titled anthropology of the new rural life and the other sociology (mine) of the new rural life that together form anthro-sociology of the new rural life. Not sure how that works, but we'll see. The other odd thing about this class was that we spent the last 20 minutes of the classes immediately determining dates for field trips to visit two agricultural valleys in Chile: half the class to the Aconcagua valley and the other half to Cachapoal valley. Apparently, we need to select a topic of debate (water, labor, identity, memory, geography) in which we will be studying over the course of the year and investigating on these field trips. The first trip is 3 days long, the next 5 days, and the third 4 days. The teachers are not sure where we are going to stay, and I'm not sure how we are even getting there. Should be interesting... : / I had a a temporary heart-attack since the first trip is supposedly going to occur on the weekend in which the Chile vs. Brazil World Cup Qualifier is taking place. Thank god I also have a mandatory field trip with the entire Education Abroad program to a mine, "El Teniente" in the town of Sewell. I have to get all this confusion taken care of some time this week, but it shouldn't be a problem.

After a full day of class, and the dreadful evening course, I spent the evening with a buddy at the famous jazz club near my house to checkout a Miles Davis tribute that was absolutely incredible. I also found out the Jazz club is open on Wednesdays for blues nights, which I will most certainly be attending in the near future.

Friday's are free days for almost every student in Chile. That evening I went out to dinner with my buddy, his host family, some friends, and his older brother and wife who had traveled here to visit him. At dinner we had some excellent traditional Chilean dishes as well as some quality Chilean wine. I had not heard of the blend before, but the Carménère down here is excellent.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Carménère grape is a wine grape variety originally planted in the Médoc region of Bordeaux, France, where it was used to produce deep red wines and occasionally used for blending purposes in the same manner as Petit Verdot.

A member of the Cabernet family of grapes, the name "Carménère" originates from the French word for crimson (carmin) which refers to the brilliant crimson colour of the autumn foliage prior to leaf-fall. The grape is also known as Grande Vidure, a historic Bordeaux synonym, although current European Union regulations prohibit Chilean imports under this name into the European Union. Along with Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit verdot, Carménère is considered part of the original six red grapes of Bordeaux, France.

Now rarely found in France, the world's largest area planted with this variety is in Chile in South America, with more than 4,000 Hectares (2006) cultivated in the Central Valley. As such, Chile produces the vast majority of Carménère wines available today and as the Chilean wine industry grows, more experimentation is being carried out on Carménère's potential as a blending grape, especially with Cabernet Sauvignon.

Carménère is also grown in Italy's Eastern Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions and in smaller quantities in the California and Walla Walla regions of the United States.

Following dinner, we all attending a concert of a Chilean guitarist, Manuel García. He has an excellent voice as well as other members in his band that play great complimentary instruments: violinist, cellist, electric and base guitar, and a no older than 16 year old drummer. In addition to his own music, he plays a lot of Victor Jarra songs, which practically every Chilean knows by heart. The show was sold out and excellent. the clip below is one of his songs titled "El viejo communista->the old communist."



Saturday I watched the finale of the Olympics and the closing ceremony. Congratulations to the U.S.A basketball 'Redeem' team, the American men's volleyball team who overcame tragedy early on in the Olympics, as well as all the athletes that participated. It was a great two weeks of memories and inspiration. On Sunday I headed to the Chilean museum "Bellas Artes" both because my program's class is requiring us to visit and pick a favorite piece of art to write about at the end of our first essay as well as because on Sunday the museum is free. I love the Chilean surrealist Roberto Matta and I need to visit a museum nearby that is dedicated entirely to his work. Below is one of his titled "Jazz Band."


When I got home, I was overwhelmed with the tragic news that I received. I oped the door to my apartment and notice that there are two children inside. One only a year and a half old, the other nine. My host father Ivan was missing, while Luke my host mother was tending to the younger child. I quietly whispered to Luke what had happened and it turned out these kids were the children of a family on the first floor of my apartment building. Their father, training for the army, had been running with two other friends that morning and were tragically struck by the car of a drunk driver. One of the men was killed instantly, the father of the children and the other man were in the hospital. After entertaining the kids for a half-hour or so, Ivan came home from the hospital with the news that the father had died as well. The mother of the family does not work, and their financial situation is not that secure. Now with this taking place, they will probably have to move down south and look for work. My parents have been saints in helping out the window and her family with all of the arrangements necessary following this tragedy. It seems as though I hear stories about this type of situation happening every night on the news. What a terrible situation for this woman and her family.

Today I attempted to go purchase a textbook for my history course only to discover that the publishing company has stopped printing the book, and no new books will be available until September at the earliest. I need to talk to my teacher tomorrow about what to do, but I will probably just have to make photocopies from someone else. Apparently from what the bookstore worker told me, only 5 or six books were sold last Thursday, so not many students have a copy at all. Luckily we haven't been assigned any reading yet, so it shouldn't be a a big deal. I also tracked down my package from my family that contained my driver's license and my birthday present from my sister (board shorts). Thanks Casey! I love 'em.

That's all the news I have for now. Sorry I have been so slow in posting recently. Quite a busy week I had last week. Cheers.

Last free week

Countdown to class...finally. I start Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m. with an economics class in the social sciences department (my backdoor strategy for taking an economics class since they won't let me through the actual department due to extreme difficulty). I have another class at 10 a.m. on the social history of Latin America, and then a third class with the entire abroad program on Chilean politics and culture at 7 p.m. I also have a class titled 'la nueva ruralidad' - the new rurality, which meets once a week on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. I am so excited that school is finally starting, that's why I came down here right? I was also able to select classes that all take place at the campus 15 minutes away from my house, which is very convenient.

So I did my best to try and take advantage of this final free week the best I could. Monday I attempted to pickup my Chilean identification card, only to be denied once again and told to come back in a week. I also had to head over to the college campus to make sure that my desired classes still existed and the meeting times stayed the same. This was not the case and had to rework my schedule a bit. It's all taken care of now.

On Tuesday I spent the afternoon at the oldest bar (circa 1916) in Santiago, La Piojera. The strange names comes from a story that a former Chilean president Arturo Alessandri was invited by the leader of a workers syndicate to this bar and upon entering he exclaimed, "Have you brought me to a lice-house (piojas->lice...piojera) or what?" Since then the place has taken on the name. They are famous for their chicha (fermented corn, apples, or other fruits) and their 'terremotos(earthquake),' a mix of fermented white wine, pisco (part of the brandy family, made from distilled grapes) and ice cream. The place has a real Chilean atmosphere.


Thursday I went out with some buddies to have a traditional Chilean dish called a Lomito, essentially a gigantic pork sandwich with guacamole and tomato. Solid. Afterward we went next door to a cafe that also doubles as a social group for people who want to practice their English as well as for others, like me, to practice speaking Chilean. The place is open Tuesdays and Thursdays, and sadly attending will begin to conflict with my school schedule. Hopefully I can just scoot over after class from here on out.

Friday, few girls in our program hosted a EAP beer pong tournament at their new apartment on the 11th story of a downtown complex. It turned out being very fun despite being entirely gringo since my fellow Santa Cruz slug friend and I were declared technical champs. I saw technical because the landlords cut the power to the apartment after one warning. Pretty strange, Friday also a Chilean holiday and the electricity is cut to the place before 8 p.m. That's some gringo hate right there.

On Saturday, a couple of friends and I went out to take a visit to a famous concentration/torture camp during the coup called Villa Grimaldi. My friend's host-brother has a relative who redesigned the site as a place of reflection and was able to give us the inside scoop about all the architecture, murals, history, etc. Current president Michelle Bachelet and her mother were even tortured here. It was a powerful experience and I could draw many similarities to my trip to Cambodia. Dictatorships from what I have seen/read are almost have a formula. I can draw so many parallels between Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Stalin's Russia, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Peron's Arentina, and Pinochet's Chile. Sickening.










I would like to end this entry with a shout out to Michael Phelps. what an Olympian. An inspiration to all athletes and Americans. Too bad for Fernando Gonzalez of Chile. He was the last hope for Chile to get a gold medal this year and got crushed this morning by Rafael Nadal in the tennis finals. I woke up at 5 a.m. to watch the match and had to head back to sleep following the second set. The Chilean have still been able to recognize the success and joke, he is the master of the metals...being the only living tennis player to win a gold, silver, and bronze medal. The American Basketball team (no longer the Dream team but the Redeem team), should be able to bring the gold back to the U.S. They are looking absolutely dominant. There is a big Olympic soccer match on Tuesday: semifinals between Brazil and Argentina. I'll be up at watching at 6 a.m. EST cheering on the baby blue and white.

I just received the travel plans of my grandmother who is due to visit during the national independence weekend. I am so excited and can't wait to see her. It's going to be a lot of fun.

That's all for now, I'm out.

Back from Buenos

Wow an amazing place. The rest of my trip felt like a whirlwind, constantly cruising throughout the various barrios and other parts of the city. I'll do my best to include all the highlights...so many...

Last I left off we had just finished touring the botanical gardens in Palermo. After popping into an internet cafe so my buddy could chat with his parents and I could put in an on-the-go blog entry, we marched to the MALBA (Museo de Art Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires).

Filled with countless works of art in all forms of media, the free experience (yes, free on Wednesdays) was unforgetable. Works by Frida Kahlo, Tarsila do Amaral, Diego Rivera, Roberto Matta, Jorge de la Vega, and Xul Solar are just some of the many artists portrayed. Afterward we toured the massive parks around the barrio and ended up at the Evita Museum, which exists in the original Transition Home built by the former Vice President nominee and social worker. Inside holds many of Eva Perón's clothes, portraits, and artistic renderings of her life. It seemed to be very one-sided and girlish exhibit, but its hard to say anything bad about Eva in Argentina after all that she did for the lower class and women, but her legacy is certainly controversial. No need to get into a political debate...

At the end of the day, we returned to our hostel to meet up with two more friend who had agreed to join in on our trip. The following morning we started the day off with some glasses of yerba mate from a cafe like true Argentines...I'm quite fond of the drink, like it even more than coffee to be honest. We then set forth to barrio La Boca to checkout of the futbol stadium of the historic squad Boca Juniors and this unique part of town.
"La Bombanera" is quite a site. We explored the museum on the team's history under the stadium, then went on a full stadium tour (press room, locker rooms) and even sneaked up into the top section to the highest point in the stadium for a view.

We continued on to another part of Buenos Aires called San Telmo for an excursion of touristy areas called El Caminito (below) and Plaza Dorrego that has a lot of artesanal history, but now is just overrun with tourists. We didn't stay long.

That night it was my buddy's 22nd birthday, so we went out to uptown Palermo to a nice meat restaurant, La Cabrera, and I must say it was probably one of the best meals I have ever had and cheap too. Good stuff.

The next day we left our hostel for a tour of other parts of the city, and just outside the front door to our place, a massive walking protest was taking place. The march probably had about 10,000+ people from different political groups and spoke out against the current government of Argentina for their lack of concern regarding inflation levels and standard of living.

We asked a man on the street about the protest, and learned that the majority of these people were unemployed and we actually being paid by the government about once a month to participate in this march. They want legal recognition for their unions and walk down the widest street in the world (17 lanes) in Avenida de Julio towards the government buildings to fight their cause. Very interesting.

After following around the protest for a while, we got back on track and proceeded to barrio Recoleta where the Cementerio Nacional exists. Inside, mausoleums of previous presidents, politicians, and important figures are all held inside this place. We saw the final resting place of Evita Peron in addition to many others. Seems pretty wild that the majority of the well-known figures in Argentinian history are kept in one cemetary. Very different from the U.S. I could not vet over what a perfect place it would be for tag, paint-ball, etc. Bad thoughts...

Practically across the street was the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. What a treat. This 3 story landmark holds paintings from countless artists, and dedicates entire sections to Argentinian art as well as pre-columbian works. Van Gough, Monet, Picasso, Diego Rivera, Kadinsky, Miro, La Trec, Matisse...amazing. You could spend 5 hours in this place.

That night we headed out to a bar to watch some Olympic coverage. I love this time of year and there is a reason only comes every four years (well two if you count the winter Olympics which are awesome too). I hope China can keep a lock down on its country like it normally does, but all eyes are on them and the pressure is intense. They already dropped the ball with the murder of an American tourist related to the coach of the U.S. Men's volleyball team. I just have a bad feeling this type of stuff is not over yet. There is still a week and half left.

Our final day we headed back to Palermo to enjoy our final afternoon in the giant parks. We ran into an spot that rented our sports equipment for free (skates, ping pong, basketball, soccer, etc.). We were told that it was paid for by the government and it seemed as though a good number of people were taking advantage of the service. What a great concept. We also had a couple of classic Choripans (chorizo+pan(bread)) for lunch and our pre-bus ride meal.

Excellent.

Bus ride took quite a while with a one hour stop in Mendoza. But that was perfect because I got to watch the second half of the Olympic futbol match between Argentina and Australia. Argentina barely pulled it out with about 15 minutes left and basically played keep away until the final whistle. The trip was one of the best I have taken and I am once again so glad that I get to return with my entire family. It is going to be a blast. Upon returning hope I discovered that my classes have been delayed yet another week which is just ridiculous. I am heading to campus to talk with my potential professors about the schedule because many of the dates and times of classes aren't official yet and are subject to change. I need exact times. Bah. Hopefully I get this all straightened out by the end of today. I am also going to pickup my Chilean identification card (carnet), which officially makes me a temporary Chilean citizens. Sweet. Should be able to muster up a post near the end of the week. Cheers...Go U.S.A!!

Argentina

Well since I have another week of until classes started, a buddy of mine decided to take off to Argentina for a weak. Great decision. Exchange rate awesome, country spectacular.

We left for a small ski town called Penitentes just ten minutes beyond the border of Chile/Argentina. We were stuck at border patrol for about 6 horus which was horrible. Its a great place except for the fact there is no bank, atm, and no place takes credit card. We stayed there one night, ski'd all the next day, and then took a collectivo bus to Mendoza in the early evening.

The drive through the Andes is amazing. We spent only an hour at the bus station in Mendoza, and then boarded another bus to Buenos Aires (12 hrs). We are currently staying at a cool Hostel called Millhouse that´s full of Brits, but the atmosphere is nice and its very cheap.

We only have another 3 days in this city so we are cruising around like mad to see as many sites as we can. Museums, botanical gardens, barrios, widest stret in the world, dykes, natural reserves, sreakhouses. We attended a futbol match betweeen two argentinian clubs last night (Estudiantes vs. Independiente). What a great experience. The Argentine soccer fans are the most passionate on the planet hands down. Independiente scored the go ahead goal with a minute left in the match. Great game. Currently we are cruising around a barrio called Palermo which is such a beautiful part of town. Below is the Carlos Thays Botanical Garden, amazing.

We are hoping to stay a couple nights in the house of a cousin of my buddy´s host brother, but our cellphones do not work here so the setup process is currently a bit slow. I must asy, I loev this city so much and I could definitely see myself living here. I can´t wait to come back with my entire family in Deecmber. Sadly, we will have head back to Santiago on Saturday and i´ll post an update of the end of our trip sometime this weekend. Cheers.