Summer as of lately...

Just as the temperatures are starting to get just a tiny bit cooler at night it's hard to believe my Chilean summer is almost over! I've been slacking as of lately in the blog, and even journal-ing daily events.. but hey, it's summer!

On the 6th of February I was invited to go to Valparaiso with Emily, her Canadian mom, and her mom's friend for 4 nights. We stayed in a lovely little hotel on Cerro Conception which was such an old building but with a brilliant rooftop view over the city and harbor. In the days Emily and I headed to Viña del Mar and also to Reñaca (known as the young and "hip" beach.. but not quite on a Tuesday!) We also made the best out of the nightlife in Viña on Monday and Tuesday even randomly visiting the casino to check it out and we met up with two friends from Santiago one night. After a few days of taking in sun and eating delicious seafood Emily and I hopped on a bus on the night of the 9th as I had to go and meet-up with my host-family at another beach and she had to return to her summer host-family in another beach as well.

After spending a much needed relaxing day on the beach in Las Cruces with my family we left on Friday morning to go to el campo or the country. Here is where my host-dad is from and his parents, and two sisters still live on the same piece of land. Now coming from Ayr and seeing a lot of rural Ontario in my short lifetime I have never experienced country like this before or even as one of my Chilean cousins said "este es campo, campo!" There were chickens running around freely, a stray kitten, sheep, baby chicks, grape vines growing so naturally and the family and their houses were so close together. The days at the campo may had passed slow but the kids were able to do something at night at least. On Friday night the cousins and I went to go and see the final soccer game for the 18-30 local age group. After the game they had an tent set-up for a dance. After waiting around for a bit deciding if we should stay or not, waiting for the music to be good I decided to say, "hey... let's just go in!!", I mean why stand around doing nothing? There were people of all ages in there and we had fun. Although after not sleeping so well for a week I was pretty tired by 2 am and just wanted to go home. Eventually my host-parents came and picked us all up and I was so relieved!

On Saturday night was the wedding of one of my host-Papa's cousins. I didn't get to go to the main wedding part but I sure had fun at the reception. In Chile they have a tradition at weddings where in one wedding cake the tie string to different small plastic objects (usually things such as a wedding ring, baby, cupid arrow, etc.) Being a single lady I was able to pull out one of the strings and what did I get... a baby! My host-family laughed because this isn't the first time that I've pulled a baby out of a wedding cake as I did the same thing when my host-Mama put together a mock-wedding for one of my aunt and uncle's anniversary! I seriously love receptions at weddings, and really just dancing overall now! I danced the night away with my cousins and we got home around 4 am.

Today the 18th also marks 6 months since I've arrived here... where has the time gone?!

Chau 2010, Bienvenida 2011

Feliz año nuevo!

One more year gone and past, usually I don't feel much or think to much after New Years but spending one in a foreign country really made me think this year. Last year at New Years I was in the shock mode still of receiving my exchange and was in a wanderlust of "where do I want to go?" or "Where will they send me? What will my life me like?" Well now I'm living it!

For New Years I was with my new family and we headed out to the beach to an uncle's house. They live at this beach called Las Cruces, a really cute beach town and had a spectacular view of the Pacific and a short walk to the beach. Once we arrived I met the whole family, well at least my host-Mama's side. Honestly I feel so happy and excited to have so much family now, it feels like I could have been back home with my parents family and our extended family of friends and kids. I also have quite a few cousins now, little boys, and it feels so normal playing video games or chasing after them. The family was so welcoming to me, although my spanish is much more limited than the last exchange student they had, they were still interested in talking with me. After hanging around for a while we had an asado and dinner around 10 pm. By the time it was midnight we were all outside listening to the radio doing the countdown, I was equipped with my Chile-New Years hat, confetti gun, and noise maker ready for midnight! FELIZ AÑO!!

Once it was midnight everyone went around giving every person a big hug, a kiss, and a "feliz año" salude. Then they served a traditional drink after - champagne with pineapple ice cream and we watched the fireworks far away while the dancing was just getting started! That's right, we were one of those families that has the music blasting and dance the night away! There were some good dance moves, along with some "simon-says" dancing... oh it was funny!

Some New Years traditions:

• wearing yellow underwear for good luck (they would sell these on the street as well)
• eating 12 grapes after midnight (one for every month - I said mine in Spanish first, then English... extra luck in both languages!)
  

After not getting to much sleep along with the fact I slept in the same room as a tiny baby I headed down to the beach with my little cousins and watched them try to get into the water. Then after lunch I headed out with my host-brother, Uncle, and one cousin to the "secret point." It was such a surreal feeling - driving with all the windows down, listening to "The real Slim Shady" on repeat, surfboards on top of the car on January 1st. We met-up on the road with some of my uncle's friends who directed us to the "secret point." We drove through this community of huge houses, it seemed a little like rich California to me. We ended up at this private beach in our regular vehicles with surfboards while the citizens of the neighborhood had their personal 4-wheelers for the whole family, designer sunglasses, and Mercedes cars that got stuck in the sand - I think we crashed the beach! We then walked for a 1/2 hour to get to our "secret point." While my uncle and cousin were getting their surf stuff on I decided I was going swimming... my host brother didn't believe I was going to do it. First time ever swimming in the Pacific was on New Years day, in Chile... how many can say that. But not only did I go once, but twice... in Canada we do polar-bear dips, a little bit of cold ocean water isn't that bad! After my second swim I decided to try surfing. Never being taught what to do I just went for it, and I sure made a fool out of myself. I never did stand up, but I had some good body surfs, and I also obtained some battle scars on my knees! It was truly such a relaxing and chill day to say the least, such a cool way to spend the first day of the new year. Finally getting home around 10:30 pm, I took a needed shower since I was freezing, had some once, then a few of us headed down to the arcade by the beach for a while.

I have to say honestly I really enjoyed my New Years a lot more than Christmas. Maybe it's because Christmas is more of a family thing. But I didn't even mind the fact that I couldn't go out and party with my friends here for New Years. Being with my new family and the whole family was really fun and it reminded me of New Years past with the "gang" of family-friends and all the kids (who happened to be boys) back home when I was younger.

I think I've also finally come to the conclusion that I'm in Chile, living my life here, on exchange, this is real. It hit me on New Years eve day when we were driving and I was just looking out at the landscape, listening to reggeaton, driving with my Chilean family - I'm really here. It was also reinforced when I was sitting on the beach New Years day, being able to spend half of 2011 in Chile... how amazing is that!

Christmas in Chile

Feliz Navidad a todos!

Christmas in Chile sure was different. First of all let's start off with the weather - bright and sunny, I was wearing shorts, birkenstocks, and a t-shirt on Christmas eve, and then a sundress on Christmas day... a little different from heavy sweaters and boots that I would normally be wearing in Canada!

Christmas eve day I woke-up, met my older host-brother who had just arrived home from Argentina, had a little something for breakfast, showered, and relaxed. For lunch we had completos (hotdogs) then some more time to just relax and chill (lately I've gotten into watching Friends with spanish subtitles or The OC in spanish... that's hard!) Around 9 pm we had a "snack" so some left overs, pan de pascua, aceitunas, my homemade ginger snap cookies, leche con cola de mono, etc. Then around 10:30 pm was the "meal." Nothing like Canadian Christmas with a big meal with all the fixings but we just had a little bit of turkey and potato salad. We skyped with my host-brother in Kentucky when we were eating and after just talking. Then after midnight that's when we opened up our presents. Again a little less-dramatic than my typical Canadian Christmas, everyone just ripped theirs open at once... I was the weird one to wait until they told me "Open them open them!!!" I stayed up until 2:30 am with my family and then finally headed to sleep because I knew I had an early morning.

On Christmas day I woke-up early to Skype with my mom and step-dad back home and open up our presents together. I think for the both of us Christmas just doesn't feel right being away from each other, me being parent-less and them being child-less. After that my Chilean family and I went to the house of one of my host-uncle's whom I'd never met before. He lives 15 mins. from Viña del Mar. So we arrived and talked a bit, then had lunch, some more turkey, then my family headed to the coast. We drove through Viña del Mar and then to Reñaca where I got to put my feet in the Pacific ocean for the first time in the southern hemisphere (i've still yet to swim in the pacific.. ever!) I can say I've never been close to going to a beach on a Christmas day before! We walked around a bit then went back to my host-uncle's. We stayed there and had once then headed back home. My family wasn't doing anything so I skyped with more family back home, my grandparents then my dad, step-mom, step-brother. After all of that it was fairly late.... but then I started to pack. Why pack you may ask? Well you see I was changing houses the next day! Yep, one day after Christmas I switched families!

I'm probably one of the worst packers in the world but I finally managed to get all of my stuff into quite a few bags. My new parents came to my now-old house with my friend from Pennsylvania (whom I switched with), and we did the big switch-a-roo. I now live in the comuna Recoleta, in my house is my mama, papa, host-brother, and also my host-grandma. It's close to the centro of Santiago and also to Cerro San Cristobal, Bellavista, and huge-cheap-shopping area Patranato. It's such a different feeling being in this area, I feel like I'm more in Chile now, although I can't be out late because it's quite a peligroso area. Unlike Las Condes my street doesn't look like there's houses, its more of flat-fronted buildings, kind of a surprise of what's inside! My house is really nice inside, and is quite larger than my last house. My parents showed me my room (with a queen bed and my own bathroom - score!) and then the rest of the house with a nice large patio also. After I got some of my stuff settled into my room I went on a walk with my parents to the supermarket nearby as they showed me landmarks, major streets, and where the closest metro station is. I think I'll be quite happy living here for the rest of my exchange, although it is very far away from my school and friends I'll make it work!

So overall my Chilean Christmas experience was, well... different, as well every family here has their own way of celebrating. For me it feels like I just skipped over another major holiday, as if it never happened. Thankfully all the major celebrations are over - in October was Thanksgiving/three family member birthdays, then November was my birthday, and now Christmas has come and passed. By no means am I complaining, it's just interesting to be apart from what I'm "used to" and doing things in a different way - but that's what exchange is all about right!

Happy 200th Birthday Chile!

On Thursday I headed down south with my host family to Temuco which is in the Araucanía Region in Chile. It was about a 12-13 hour drive in total after picking up my host-dad at work, my iPod and the empty backseat were my best friends! Something that came as a surprise to me is that we had to pay to use public bathrooms in the gas stations, mind you it wasn't much, but still... that's not as fair for women! We stayed at a friends of my host-parents in Temuco and as soon as we arrived passed 12 am we ate... this was a very common theme for the holiday as I will soon explain!

On Friday I went with my host mom to visit some friends (they used to live in Temuco, so lots of friends and family.) We then came back and had an asado, went to a market and saw half-alive chickens and turkeys for sale along with amazing fresh produce, came back and ate some more, went to a park area that looked over the city, then to a friends house with more food, and then back again and more friends came over.

On Saturday we went to Carahue where my host-dad is from. We saw these old trains that are only from that area and then saw a parade for the holiday celebrations. The parade had no floats, clowns, or people throwing candy out. There were a lot of groups that walked along, schools, native Mapuche people, and most importantly the huasos (Chilean cowboys.) At the end of the parade all the huasos lined-up (mind you I was cringing the whole time while half the horses were spooked) and then people danced the cueca! After that they poured some chicha (typical Chilean drink) into a cacho (bull horn) and passed it around for people to drink. Luckily I was up near the front so my host-mom told they guy that I'm from Canada and I needed to drink it, so I did! After the parade and running into family and friends of my host-family we went to three different houses of my host-dad's family, all including lots of food! We returned back to Temuco and ate, then headed to the fireworks display which ended up as a big taco (traffic-jam) and it only lasted a few minutes, different than our Canadian displays for sure.

Sunday we went to a place where they had holiday festivities for all ages along with displays and such. We also saw a rodeo when we were there, I enjoyed it but it also made me a little sad. Being the animal-lover that I am it was hard to see cows being smashed into the walls, and then some bleeding or not wanting to get back up, but that's the culture and entertainment! The day consisted of some more good food, asado, and more visits with family friends.

On Monday was our driving back home day, but we stopped at the market first to grab some more things. I love going to the markets and seeing all the fresh produce and crafts, and the different people, it's always interesting! Like any holiday, the traffic was pretty bad heading back to the "big city" and we got stuck in a few more tacos.

It was nice to see some more country and a different area of Chile. Whenever I get out of the city and see different things it reminds me of the reasons why I tried so hard to convince Rotary to send me to Chile - the diversity! Driving South the mountains are always on your left side, and vice-versa on the way North. During a few moments some of the South reminded me a lot of Canada, especially rural Ontario, lots of greenery, fields and trees. But then the trees go away, and you can see far in the distance and all of the rolling hills, no longer mountains but giant hills! Also, on our way home we stopped at the Salto del Laja which was a little waterfall and it was so beautiful and was in a little tourist town which we stopped for almuerzo in and once again ate a lot of food!

Chilean food consumption:

• Empanadas (everyone had empanadas, and everyone makes them differently so you HAD to try them!)
• Asado
• Sopapillas (fried bread)
• Sopa de campo
• Pan de Pascua
• Pan, pan and more pan! (bread)
• Chilenitos (the manjar filled one's are the best!)
  

And a lot more, those are just a few that I can remember or can find the name for! Overall I felt like I gained my entire "exchange weight" during the holiday, but thankfully that feeling is gone now and I'm back to eating normally!

Something else that I keep on forgetting to write about is how they use "la" before someone's name as if they were a subject. So therefore I am used to hearing "la Lyndsay" a lot and I've even started to use it to refer to my friends... I'm starting to speak Chilean! Also one of my friends told me that I was speaking good Spanish when I returned from the holiday - ok... good Spanish for me is speaking broken-Spanish sentences, but it was nice that she said that and it gave me an extra confidence boost to keep on practicing! I've also started to get into the habit of picking-up one of the free metro newspapers that they hand out on the street. As long as there's no line or I'm not running to late to school I quickly grab one so I have reading material for school and I can practice my Spanish and try to stay informed about what is going on in the news... if I can understand, and if not, there's always sudoku!

The Gringa has arrived!

I have finally been in Chile for over 24 hours. I don't know why but it has felt like at least a few days.
My flight was quite good, I flew out late Tuesday night and arrived mid-morning in Chile. Since the flight was overnight I had approx 3-4 hours of sleep on-and-off, and when the flight attendants served dinner at 3 am lets just say it didn't help with my inability to sleep. I sat beside a lovely Argentinian lady who spoke little English, a glimpse into my immediate future life in Chile, but we were able to have some conversation with the little bit of each language that we knew.

Clad in my Rotary jacket I only ran into one Rebound while waiting at immigrations. I got through security and customs easy enough (I guess you have to declare maple syrup? Well I didn't!) and there was mi mama Chileana, Alexia, and two other ladies waiting for me. With a hug and a kiss on the cheek (usual greeting) we were off. The one lady is a mother of a boy in my class, she speaks fluent English which was a help for those first culture shocked moments.

First sight of the Andes from the ground - WOW!! I think I have a thing for mountains, they are just so big, and everywhere! We drove through downtown Santiago, Provindencia and then Las Condes ( the comuna de Santiago that I will be staying in). I can't quite compare Santiago, it somewhat reminds me of Los Angeles and a bit of Toronto.. but not really at all, it's just Santiago!

Once we got to the house something that I most definably noticed were the gates. A gate to enter into the one area in which 3-4 houses are, and then a gate at my house, and then bars on my windows - I feel safe... I guess. Mi casa is very modest, quite small which is understandable in a city, very different from my house in Canada. As I have told some people before there is no central heating. So it might feel nice outside but inside is freezing, but I have found a spot on my bed where the sun shines in and is quite warm!

Can you guess a Canadian lives there?

I spent the day trying to have conversations with Alexia. We tried our best with my limited Spanish and lets just say my English-Spanish dictionary has been put to good use! I showed her my photobooks from my life in Canada along with a map of Ontario and Canada and explained to her where my family lives and where I have travelled. I arrived in time for lunch, and then around 5-6 pm we had "once", which is like crackers, cookies, tea, and coffee. Alexia knew that I was looking quite tired but I managed to stay up until 8 pm then headed to bed. I guess in that time my host-dad came home and I missed seeing him!

After about 9 hours of sleep I was ready for my first full day in Chile. I had breakfast with Alexia - tea/instant coffee(i opted out of the instant stuff), cereal but with yogurt, and some hard bread with turkey... different. After a freezing shower I gave Alexia her Canadian gifts - I don't think she knows what to do with the maple syrup!

Then she helped me learn numbers and how to count. I counted up to 131 all by myself before i got to tired of counting. Then we headed to the supermarket to pick up a few things
Differences:
-eggs are in cartons on regular shelves, not refrigerated
-pan (bread) and fruit is picked, put into bags, and then weighed by clerks and given a sticker according to weight
-cereal boxes are obnoxiously covered with graphics, I'm talking Shrek staring you down, futbal players kicking a massive soccer ball at you, way to much for the eyes
-booze is in a massive aisle as if you were buying rice or other food
-milk was no where in sight... maybe I didn't notice it or we didn't go down the aisle

Once back to the house we had lunch and I was so tired from translating and using my brain a lot so I went for a siesta. After maybe 10 minutes my cell phone started to ring. I answered it not knowing what to say and it was my friend Cristobal the past Chilean Inbound who was in Waterloo last year! Getting him to talk to my host-mom we were able to meet-up just down the main street at the one mall. It was so crazy to see him, knowing that to me he is like Canada, but now... I am in his country! We took the metro (subway) and it was so nice. Toronto subway looks so run down and disgusting, they should take a hint from the Chileans! We went to his grandparents apartment in Las Condes in a really nice part. His grandma spoke quite good English so she would ask things in English and I would reply the best I could in Spanish and fill in the blanks with English. After some conversation we had "té" which like once was milk, tea, cookies, and bread with avocado - mmmmm! We had to leave around 5:30 pm because it was getting dark, and you don't travel in the dark in Santiago. Went back through the metro and were early before my host mom came to pick me up so we went into the mall. Many different stores, but Cristobal helped me to try and convert the prices so I should know how much I am paying.

Cristobal y yo

After coming back to the house we talked some more and had a phone call from Mia Tere (Maria the lady who speaks English), she helped to translate as I have to figure out information for my school trip in November. My host-dad arrived home around 9 pm and I finally got to meet him. Teo is the president of my host Rotary club. I was finally able to give him his gifts, he loves the tie... maybe. We then had what seemed like another té, I haven't figured out meals yet! We then spent the night trying to communicate, fighting over what a moose is called in Spanish (he thinks its a donkey or a bull... no it's just... a Canadian moose!), and I showed him my maps and then helped him with an English insurance form for my host brother on exchange in Kentucky.

So pretty much my life in a nutshell is a lot of Spanglish, smiling, nodding, and laughing because I can't understand and it's pretty funny right now because I'm horrible at Spanish. I'm sorry if my grammar is getting a lot worse already, or I'm missing words. I am so tempted to write the Spanish words that I know because that is how I am talking, and I am so tired/my head hurts from thinking and having to translate so much.

Much love from South of the equator
Lynn-say (as the Chileans call me)

I have a home and family in Chile!

I am so excited to finally find out that I am going to be living in Las Condes, Santiago, Chile!!

Tonight I received a friend request from a guy in Chile on Facebook. In the hopes that it was my host brother I accepted, and he turned out to be my host brother!! I was ecstatic when I found out I was going to be living just outside of Santiago, and that I now have a family!! I believe Las Condes is a part of Santiago, sort of like a suburb/neighborhood but I still need to do some research. I was actually running up and down my house and screaming to my parents every bit of information that I received from my host brother! He is going on exchange to the USA around the time that I leave, and my older host brother is 21, but he doesn't live at home so therefore I will be an only child! I will stay with this host family until around Christmas time and then I will move.

This seems so surreal that I now have a place to call home in Chile! It's also quite nerve-wracking to realize the language barrier that I will be facing with my host family! I'm still in shock and amazement that this is now reality, I will be doing a lot of research on my city and area now!

Oh and the school that I will attend is Colegio Adventista Las Condes, feel free to try and translate the website! This also means that I will get to wear a uniform to school for the first time! I know that this shouldn't be exciting news but hey, it's CHILE!

Update: With all of my excitement I forgot to check my e-mail but I have received an e-mail from my host dad. Thanks to the help of Google Translator I was able to read it! So I am really living in Santiago and my older host brother is studying in Argentina.