Nani sneaks up to front row during performances at the Ñuñoa festivities to get a picture with the mayor of the municipality, Pedro Sabat. Nice! Parque O'Higgins Dieciocho festivities with friends Us with Lucky and Ivan at the Viña house Us with the Patricio and his wife Fatima at their house in Viña at sunset
Has to be some of the best days I've since coming to Chile when my grandmother was here. The weather was great, the food excellent, and it was so great to see family again.
Last I left off we were having a family lunch to celebrate the 18th. A family friend of my host parents, Patricio, who they met in Switzerland and now lives in the beach town of Viña del Mar also ate with us. During the lunch, he invited my grandmother and I to a barbecue at his house the following day and there was no way we wouldn't say no. That afternoon we headed over to Parque O'Higgins for a large fiesta that was being held for the community. There were so many families, food stands, vendors, kite flyers, empanadas, anticuchos (kabobs), cueca (nacional dance); it was chaotic. We coincidentally met up with a handful of friends from my program and spent the early evening sharing stories from the past week. My grandmother and I had to take off early top meet my host dad Ivan for dinner. Unfortunately we couldn't go to one of my favorite restaurants (Liguria) because it was closed due to holiday. Instead we had went to a simple place downtown.
The next morning we got a bus ticket to his Viña, only and hour and a half, arriving around noon. Patricio picked us up and took us to his house on the hillside that overlooked the entire city. It was an eighteen person outdoor lunch with many family members and friends. Their hospitality was amazing and it was the perfect way to spend the day. We headed back around 8.
Saturday I headed over to my grandmother's hotel to take advantage of the delicious (and free) breakfast they offer there. Afterward headed off to downtown to pickup some gifts for some of my grandmother's friends and met up with my buddy Dan Nemiroff for the afternoon. We tried to go to Cerro San Cristobal to ride the funicular, but because it was a Saturday with great weather on a holiday weekend, there were tons of people, especially kids, so we decided to hang out at the hotel pool and have lunch instead. That night we had a great dinner with just my host parents and my grandmother at a nice Italian restaurant near the hotel. It was a great way for us to finish up my grandmother's trip. She left the next morning early, but her five days here were very well spent. She and I both are looking forward to getting together with the entire family in Argentina and I'm already counting down the days.
I spent my Sunday in usual fashion heading out to Basic Bar for my daily dose of football. It's a weekly tradition at this point. On Monday it was farewell to my good friend John 'Lefrog' Holder who left Chile that evening. We had a nice afternoon tribute for him and went to the airport to send him off. It's going to be tough losing a key member of the extreme team. I'll see you again soon John.
Class started back up today, yet one of my classes was oddly canceled for no apparent reason. No complaints. Exams begin next Thursday for me, and an in-class essay the following Tuesday. Not looking forward to those, but I have plenty of time to prepare. Gah!
Phew, what a nice week off. After having school everyday with field trips and meetings and such, it was so nice to be able to relax. But tomorrow the real deal starts. I have my orientation at Universidad de Chile at 10 a.m. to get a tour of the campus, ground rules, etc and then a private meeting with a faculty member from the university as well as a faculty member of the EAP program to receive advice on potential classes to take. I am a bit disappointed that I cannot take economic-intensive classes because the standards for economics department are much higher here in Chile. The EAP staff highly recommends other classes that will not be as difficult. Despite being a 4th-year Global Economics student, my experience level with economics classes does not even compare to the economics students down here. I can however take economics-themed classes in other departments that are accepted towards my final major requirements I have left such as globalization and Chilean specific economy classes. The only problem is that each department starts and ends at different times. Classes in the economics department start tomorrow and finish up Nov 28th, whereas the majority of the other departments have been delayed due to the strikes over the General Education Law and some don't finish up until as late as Dec 20th. I only need to take 3 classes, and a majority of them meet only 2 times a week (Tues/Thurs), which could potentially mean 4 day weekends every week. However, I will not mandate that my schedule is setup so nicely. After browsing through some of the class catalog, I am looking to take classes in history, social sciences, general education, and potentially literature. I want to take a class on the successful mining industry down here as well as a rare opportunity to take a literature class solely on Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral. I can't wait to have a real schedule lined up for the next 5 months and start living the true Chilean college student life.
Last Wednesday I headed back to Valparaiso with a friend of mine who hadn't visited yet, and also checked out the neighboring town of Viña del Mar. The best way to compare the two cities is that Valparaiso is Chile's San Francisco with an artsy-rougher vibe whereas Viña next-door is more like San Diego with cleaner streets and buildings and much more wealth. They even have a lavish Casino!, but I wasn't gusty enough to test my luck playing blackjack in Spanish though I regret not playing at least a couple hands. The trip in total was 3 days, and very fun because this time instead of taking a bus, we rented a car which opened up many new possibilities for exploring. We also got lucky with the weather which makes the whole beach-side experience much better. Below, a Viña sunset...
After returning on Friday absolutely exhausted, I mustered up the energy to go to Santiago's Club de Jazz, the best jazz club in the city(Louis Armstrong once performed there). Friday night they had an interesting jazz-funk trio, but the experience wasn't satisfying enough for me so I came back the following evening, after the Muse show of course.
My long awaited Muse concert at Teatro Caupolican was great. The Brit rock group's first visit was amazing, with the venue entirely packed and fans singing the lyrics in unison despite probably not knowing what any of the words mean. The band members used a bit of Spanish in between songs to address the crowd while waving a Chilean flag about. The crowd loved it, I loved it. Yes that's Galaga in the background below. Only down side was the venue isn't stellar. The floor seats were 65 dollars and sold out before I even got to Santiago, and the venue's construction made it impossible to sneak about. I paid 30 for upper level, but judging by how packed the entire place was, I was happy with having a good view and 'some' space. Obviously as a result of the consecutive long days, I have comedown with a bit of the sniffles, but I'm getting better by the minute. I spent the majority of today completing an online traffic school from a silly speeding ticket I received just before leaving. Felt pretty strange taking the course in international waters. But the process was painless considering the circumstances. That's all the news for now from the Southern hemisphere. I have the EAP program ski trip this coming Friday, but not too much else coming up other than initial university stuff. I'll shoot for a next entry Saturday. Cheers and nos vemos.
