Bellavista

This weekend I tried to take care of some of the things I needed to do before leaving Santiago. One of these was to visit Pablo Neruda's house there, called La Chascona. "Chascona", I'm pretty sure, is a word used to describe a woman with messy hair, and what Neruda called his mistress at the time he was building the house. He actually built it as a refuge to hide this secret relationship from the public and his wife.

The house, like anything related to Neruda, is quirky. He was in love with the ocean, and because the house is so far away from the water he wanted it to be built like a boat. Because of this, most of the rooms are small, with low ceilings, and use a lot of wood. In one room he actually went so far as to have the floor built at an angle to further the impression of being in a boat. It also has a balcony built on the top floor which is supposed to represent the deck and gives an amazing view of Santiago with the Andes as a backdrop.


But the most impressive thing about the day was wandering around the neighborhood where the house is located, Bellavista. The neighborhood is best known for its nightlife; it's filled with popular clubs and bars and parking spots are hard to come by on Friday and Saturday nights. During the day, however, it has a vibe similar to the East Village. Filled with trendy restaurants, boutiques, and cafes, it has a very relaxed atmosphere on a Saturday afternoon. The brownstones are replaced with brightly-colored buildings and even the apartment complexes have a bohemian vibe to them with large gardens and unique architecture. Unfortunately, the neighborhood isn't perfect, it is known for being a dangerous place at night despite everything else it has going for it. But it's interesting to see an area like this in a city that sometimes feels so culturally lacking.

Español

A veces tengo ganas de escribir algo en español. Aquí no hay muchas oportunidades de escribir a partir de pruebas. No escriben ensayos largos donde se puede explorar un tema y practicar escribir prosa inteligente y interesante. El foco es más en ser eficaz y repetir mecánicamente la información que le da el profesor o un texto. Mi estilo de escribir en inglés viene de años de practicar y escribir para el gozo de escribir. Sin embargo, este estilo no traduce fácilmente al español. Tengo que practicar para dominar este idioma de la misma manera. Sin embargo, no tengo las oportunidades como el periódico en NYU donde puedo escribir tonterías para ver si alguien le gusta. Ni tengo ensayos abiertos donde puedo explicar y desarrollar un tema. Por eso, estoy escribiendo en español en mi blog en español, solamente para practicar. Es decir, tengo tarea ahora que no quiero hacer, y estoy gastando tiempo procrastinando.

El Pisco es Chileno?

So the post everyone's been waiting for, what is pisco? Oddly enough that's a difficult and politically charged question to ask. As with almost any political problem here, it's between Chile and Peru, who are like two brothers who will fight over anything they possibly can. Pisco is very popular in both countries and both claim it as their national drink.
In Chile, pisco is essentially distilled wine. The type of grapes and the way they are grown makes them high in sugar and therefore high in alcohol when fermented. Because this doesn't make good wine, it is then distilled to make aguardiente, or grain alcohol. This is then aged in barrels and then distilled water is added to lower the alcoholic content.
In Peru, the story is a little different, but I've never been there so I can't speak for it. The problem is that pisco was invented in Peru under Spanish control. Chile, during the War of the Pacific took part of Peru (as well as Bolivia's only outlet to the sea) and stole the recipe for pisco. Now Chile takes credit for popularizing it around the world and claims that their version is better. They even went as far as renaming a town in the 30's Pisco Elqui to strengthen their claim. Peru, who is always like the little brother who ends up losing just because he's smaller, did the same and have the law on their side, but is essentially fighting a losing battle.
All of this is neither here nor there. In Chile, pisco is the party drink. A Chilean once told me "No tomar pisco en una fiesta en Chile es un pecado." (Not drinking pisco at a party in Chile is a sin). In liquor stores there are three sections: pisco, wine, and everything else. Most of the time it's mixed with Coke to make a piscola, but can also be mixed with sprite or sometimes juice. And it's cheap too. A bottle of Capel, the most popular and cheapest pisco, and a bottle of Coke costs about 5 dollars at most stores. It's not uncommon for everyone to show up with the same thing at a party. Unfortunately, the mix cheap alcohol and sugar doesn't bode well for the next morning.

School

I can't believe it's been more than two weeks since my last post; time has really gone by quickly here.
Now seems like the best time to explain exactly why I'm so busy all the time here. Other than traveling and going out, school here really keeps me busy. But not in the way that I've been accustomed to over the past 14 years of school.
Here, what happens in class really doesn't matter much in your grades. Most of what your grade comes from is your ability to read several texts and regurgitate what they say on a test. These readings may be talked about in class, but for the most part they aren't. In fact, it isn't always necessary that they have anything to do with what is discussed in class. Well then, why go to class, you ask? The professors take attendance, because there really is no other reason to go to class.
It really is a frustrating system that has all the foreigners confused and angry. Grades are based not on a midterm and final, but on a series of tests on readings and a paper or two. That means that instead of a predictable schedule of paper-writing and test-taking, they fall at random depending on the schedule of the professor. These schedules are rarely hard and fast, meaning that they always fall behind and push things back, right on top of something else that you never planned on conflicting with it.
This results in a lack of incentives for keeping up with a constantly morphing schedule (because readings don't coincide with classes, they're only necessary for tests).
I've yet to find another foreigner who enjoys school here or doesn't find it frustrating. Others who had planned to stay for a year have said that the difficulty of classes here has made them reconsider.
Aside from the frustration this causes, it really isn't conducive to any sort of intellectual exchange. In only one class do I have a professor that actually tries to engage the students and stimulate discussion. In my poetry class there is never any open discussion in the classroom, the professor lectures everyone to sleep during class. The school seems to lack a real intellectual community, something that is choked back by a poorly designed system of education.

Valparaiso and Isla Negra

Because of the time I missed blogging there's too much to cover in one post, so I'm going to break this up into a couple separate posts and hope I cover everything.

Valparaiso is a port city about an hour and a half from Santiago. It's popular because it's a pretty city on the ocean that has a sort of bohemian vibe to it. There are lots of little hills that you take acensores (kind of like elevators) up to go to little restaurants and shops. The houses are all vibrant colors and from any of the hills you can get a really good view of the rest of the city. And that's more or less it. There are a few museums, but they aren't really the draw of the city. The oceanfront is completely ruined by a massive port right in front of the city, so it's not as nice as it sounds. It's a popular place for tourists, and a fun place to wander around, but I think I misunderstood the draw of the place and left disappointed. It reminded me of San Francisco, without all the fun things there are to do there.

Well, not quite. Valparaiso is also known for its nightlife. I went with a group from my university, and someone who had been there before took us all to a club there called El Huevo. Four floors with different music, and a live band later that showed up in the middle of the night, plus the fact that it doesn't close until 5 a.m. makes for a fun night.

The next day, still recovering from the night before, we went to Isla Negra where Pablo Neruda's house is. Neruda is one of the most influential Latin American poets and was also a politician and world traveler. This house is oceanfront and filled with his souvenirs from all over the world. Surprisingly, the house is pretty simple, but still incredible.

Overall, the trip was a bit disappointing, but was a look at another side of Chilean culture. Chile has this great bohemian subculture that resembles something you could find in Greenwich Village. The difficult part is that it can be hard to find at times. Chilean culture at times seems to be bland, but, like any other place, people who take their time and search around are rewarded for their effort.

Apologies

For various reasons (homework, tests, traveling, and pure laziness) I haven't posted in a while, and for this I would like to apologize. I hope that you haven't given up on me yet, and I promise that I will return to keeping up on this blog shortly. I just returned from a 9-day trip through the North of Chile, and have some tests to study for this week. But if you check back this weekend I will set to work recounting my (mis)adventures and revelations of the past month or so.

Bad Coffee=Bad Business

Good coffee is nearly impossible to find in Chile. I still have no proof that it exists. For the most part, everyone drinks NesCafe. At home, it's instant coffee that you add to hot water. Anywhere else, it comes from a machine that dispenses the same stuff, but also offers it in latte, cappuccino, or mokachino form. Each just as bad as the last. This seems to be for a variety of reasons. One is that Chileans just aren't crazy about coffee like we are. There is no gourmet café/Starbucks culture pushing for better coffee. For the most part, they drink tea and coffee when the mood strikes.

But this also appears to be symptom of a much bigger problem: a lack of competition for many companies. Nestle not only dominates the coffee market, but seems to be the most popular choice, if not only for lots of other foods. The most popular candy bar Super 8, which is terrible and will show up in a later post, is made by Nestle as well. The same thing exists with Coca-Cola. They have Pepsi in Chile, but you won't see it anywhere. When you're making your piscola, it's always with Coke. Coke advertising is everywhere too, but seems pointless because there really is no competition.

Cristal, the Chilean equivalent of Budweiser (mass-produced, cheap, bad beer), sponsors at least three soccer clubs. It doesn't have the same Coors-Bud-Miller rivalry, if you're looking for beer of this quality and price-range, it's your only choice.

I'm not sure how this affects the Chilean economy, but it can't be good. The companies have virtual monopolies on business and, what is probably worse, are all foreign (with the exception of Cristal, but beer doesn't seem to quite as big of a business here as in the US). It's a symptom of what many consider a major economic problem in Latin America, which is dependency on foreign companies not only for goods, but work as well. These companies are just a few examples I've noticed or that friends have pointed out, but I'm sure there are more. I'll be on the lookout for more and can hopefully learn a little more about how the whole thing works so I can explain it better later.

Football on TV? This calls for a post.

So I was minding my own business, eating dinner after going to a movie from the Santiago Film Festival, when I turned on the TV to find the Monday Night Football game on ESPN. Even though it's the fourth quarter of a preseason game and the announcers are speaking Spanish, I was inspired to write. (I think I'd take these guys over whoever they have announcing in the US anyway. Imagine if Dennis Miller had been speaking Spanish and you could have just tuned him out whenever he opened his mouth. The world would be a better place).

But, unfortunately, this is going to be a recap post, because there was such a long break between my last two posts I had to leave a lot out. That means it's not going to be filled with observations as much as telling what's been going on in my life for the past few weeks.

First, I broke a long streak without any illness any worse than a mild cold. I fell victim to what can only be described as Montezuma's Revenge. A weekend spent between my bed and the bathroom. Luckily, I got sick on Friday and was better in time for class on Monday, so all I missed was the first weekend of parties at my new school. Qué suerte! The only problem is that I can't figure out what caused it.
Theory 1: The water.
Unlikely. The water here is considered clean and safe for everyone, including foreigners. None of my fellow gringos fell ill, so it's unlikely that I would be the only one affected.
Theory 2: Choripan. (The night before was a party for foreigners called a Choripanada. It was basically a barbecue with chorizo and pan (bread). And piscola, lots of piscola. But more on that later.)
Unlikely again. My host family is convinced that cheap chorizo is the culprit, but again, no one else got sick. The chorizo was cooked well, sliced in half, and cooked well again. I really doubt that its the culprit.
Theory 3: Adjusting to a new environment.
Explains an upset stomach, diarrhea, etc., but not being sick for the whole weekend. This was proposed by a Chilean student in the medical program, and sounds the best, but really doesn't explain it perfectly.
It's more than likely a combination of things (minus the water), but I'd be happy to hear if anyone else has any theories of their own.

Just two weeks ago, it snowed in the city. While this might not sound very exciting since you can go into the snow-filled mountains in about an hour's drive, it was huge in Santiago. Depending on who you asked, it hadn't snowed in Santiago in anywhere from 5-9 years. On the bus, middle-aged men were giddy with excitement about the snow, and it was what everyone was talking about the next day. One professor said it was the most snow she had seen in the city in her life. In total it was about 3 inches, and probably wouldn't have even been enough for a two-hour delay at home since it didn't stick because it wasn't cold enough long enough for the ground to freeze. It was the top story on the news the next day, but for more than just the excitement of snow. The snow was actually a result of an onda polar (the opposite of a heat wave) and caused a lot of problems in other parts of the country. Destroyed crops, livestock frozen to death, and people trapped in towns that aren't equipped to deal with snow.

That's it for now, I think I'm caught up on the things worth noting that have happened to me over the past couple weeks. This weekend I'm going to Valparaíso, a famous town on the beach just an hour and a half away, and have some pictures from my ski trip last weekend that I will upload as soon as I can. Also, there are a few things I've been meaning to write about, so check back because I should have a couple more posts this week.

Contradictions

From afar, Santiago looks like a big cloud of reddish-brown smog. While skiing, we had an amazing view of the city in the morning, with what appeared to be a little bit of morning fog covering it. But I knew better. By the end of the day, the city wasn't visible at all. The valley was filled with dark smog that made it impossible to see that there was even a city in the mess. This is in contrast to a city that, for the most part, is impeccably clean. The metro trains and stations are clean and free of any sort of trash. There are no street corners that always smell of garbage, and relatively few homeless people begging for money and sleeping on street corners.

It's a city full of paradoxes. The people can be some of the nicest in the world. My family makes me feel at home. Students are more than patient with foreign students who struggle with their Spanish (luckily, I don't fall into this category, but more on that later) and are more than welcoming. Just today a kid from my soccer class invited me to play with his intramural team and then out for a drink afterwards. But on the streets of Santiago, things are much different. This may have a great deal to do with the transportation system. The Transantiago buses (las micros) and metro are overwhelmed with people during rush hour. But the micros are infrequent at best, I've waited 20 minutes for a bus only to have three come at once, which still weren't enough to pick up all the people waiting for them on the way to the metro station. Metros are packed during rush hour, so much so that even packed so tightly that you can't move, people often still have to let trains pass before they get on. As a result, people are pushy (literally) and impatient. Getting on and off trains often becomes a pushing match, and often people don't follow the instructions "dejan bajar antes de subir" (let others off before boarding). So one must fight the inflow while getting on. People will often start sneaking towards the door and expect you to let go of poles before the train comes to a stop. If you don't get off fast enough, expect them to push you in the back. Boarding is also a skill that must be honed. The best place to be when the door opens is just to the side of it so you can sneak on first after everyone gets off. If you're directly in front of the door, forget about it. You have to dodge your way away from the people getting off, while everyone else is jockeying for position to get on. It's really a mess you have to experience to understand.

My Spanish continues to improve. I've gotten a lot of compliments from native speakers about how well I speak, and at some points it flows almost as well as English. But from time to time, depending on my energy level, mood, or amount of communication in a day, I find myself struggling to ask someone's name. There are always plenty of Chileans around to humble me as well. Today while playing soccer I could barely understand a word of what my teammates were saying around me. Chilean really should be classified as another language it's so difficult to understand.

One strange thing about the foreign students here is the way people from different countries. Or more specifically, the way Americans interact with everyone else. People from the same country or people who speak the same language tend to be drawn to one another, but none more strongly than my fellow gringos. I really haven't made many friends with Americans and tend to hang out in a mixed group that includes people from Germany, France, Austria, Australia, and Brazil. But it's easy to pick out the groups of Americans because they're always speaking English and struggle when someone from another country tries to speak Spanish to them.

Unfortunately, this just adds to the stereotypes that are thrust upon us by many other foreign students. Being from the U.S. certainly carries a stigma around the world. It was a fun night when I tried to explain why my country is the way it is in Spanish to two German-speakers. I've also felt at times that telling people I'm from the U.S. is an obstacle I have to overcome in order to earn their respect (most of all when it comes to French students).

But other than my few complaints and rants everything is going well here. Thanks to everyone who sent me an e-mail, it's always nice to hear from home.

And the Smog Settles In

Saturday turned out to be the perfect day for skiing. It was sunny, clear, and warm enough that I never really felt cold. There is only one road between Santiago and the ski resorts, and on the weekends during the winter it becomes a caravan of cars going out in the morning and coming back in the evening. We woke up early to make sure we were on the slopes when they opened at 9 and didn't leave until they closed at 5. I spent the day with one of my brothers, Nícolas, and found that my Spanish was a lot better when I woke up the next morning.

On Sunday I went to el Museo de Las Bellas Artes with some friends. It's the main art museum in Santiago, but is actually pretty small. It only took a few hours to see everything. Of a group of about 12 of us that went, I was the only American. The others were German, Brazilian, or Australian. I've found over the past couple days that I've met far more people from other countries than gringos (as we're affectionately known here).

The beautiful weather didn't last long. By Sunday night a thick smog had settled in the city and has yet to go away. The mountains are nearly completely obscured and the sky is a depressing gray. It's made the city look even dirtier that it already is, and is very similar to what I saw in Beijing.

Classes started this week, and I've been spending the past few days trying to figure out how things work here. Spots are left open for foreign students, but are given away on a first-come, first-served basis. That means you can sit in on a class only to find out that it's already full when you try to sign up for it. On one hand this gives you the opportunity to actually go to a class before you actually decide whether or not to take it, but puts extra stress to make the decision quickly so you get all the classes you want. One major difference I've noticed here is that the students work in only one faculty--if you are a Political Science major, you take most of your classes in political science. Most of the other foreign students seem to think the same way too, it's really only other Americans that I see in classes like Geography of Chile or Chilean Poetry.

My Spanish has improved dramatically since I first got here because its what I use for almost everything. Even though almost everyone speaks English at some level, Spanish is what I use with most of the other foreign students. It's really depressing to be talking to a German student in Spanish and find out that they are fluent in English as well, especially compared to American students who are easy to find because of their bad Spanish and obvious accents when speaking it. In fact, almost all of the English-speaking students speak worse Spanish than the others, I assume because they were never under any pressure to learn it at a young age.

One great thing about school here is that they never have to buy books. Out of complete disrespect for copyright laws (and probably intentional disrespect towards the United States) everything is photocopied. One just goes to the photocopier on campus and orders a course packet of the readings. That means no price-gouging bookstores or buying of books you'll never read. At worst you spent 20 bucks on a stack of paper you can at least recycle.

Primer Día

My mother would not be proud. I left an airport in a foreign country with two strangers based solely on the fact that they knew my first name. But after a two-hour drive, two-hour flight, a nine-hour flight, and then a couple more hours waiting in lines for immigration and customs you can't really blame me. It all turned out alright in the end anyway.

I haven't actually been in center city yet, but what I've seen is beautiful. The whole drive from the airport and from the front yard of our house I could see the snow-capped Andes just a few miles away, where we're going skiing this weekend.

I was spared my fear of not understanding a word they said since they spoke English, but was quickly introduced to Chilean by my new brother, Nícolas (pronounced Nícola). He's very patient with me and willing to repeat himself or say something another way so that I can understand, and keeps his English to a minimum even though he speaks it very well. He was also more than happy to give me a lesson on Chilean slang over some Taco Bell at the mall (not my choice).

The house where I am living is actually pretty far out of town, so far that it's not on the maps in my travel guides. It's small too. My room is about 7x10, just big enough to fit a twin bed, some shelves, and a desk. The other rooms, including the master bedroom are only slightly smaller. The kitchen table is a sort of counter in the middle of the kitchen, and the room melds into the living room. Total, this whole area, including a little walkway leading from two of the bedrooms to the kitchen is smaller than the kitchen in my house.

Oh, and there's no heat too. It's about 30 here right now, and my mother said she forgot to buy paraffin for the heater, but apparently that's the way it is.

Also staying here is their exchange student from last semester, Rich, who is from Michigan. He has been traveling for the past month and just stopped back for a few days to go home. He went to the same school I will be going to, so he's given me some tips about classes and the city and general and is going to give me the tour tomorrow.

The Beginning

For the next five months I will be living in Santiago, Chile and studying at la Pontificia Unversidad Catolica. Hopefully it will be a time full of new experiences, good stories, and maybe I'll get a few nice pictures out of it. I plan on keeping this blog not just to keep friends and family updated on my adventures, but also for myself to follow my own progress as I spend nearly half a year immersing myself in a new culture and language more than 5,000 miles from home. So please excuse any philosophical musings, and I'll do my best to keep them to a minimum.

And please, questions, comments, and suggestions (read:criticisms) are encouraged.