Marchas estudiantiles

Student protests for free quality education are all the rage in Chile.  Last year, students took over the university I now attend (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso - or PUCV).  They locked themselves inside and classes stopped for five months.  This year, the government just ain't havin' it.

This morning, after my class ended at 11, my classmates and I left the building to find hundreds of students in the street with giant banners and signs, ready to march for this cause.  And these demonstrations can get very dangerous, as you can see in the video.  Vandalism, violence, beatings, tear gas, high-powered water jets, fires, and arrests aren't uncommon during these demonstrations.

These students march for educational freedom.  Education (just like in the States) is expensive.  There are very few institutions that are completely free, and they are low quality.  Only the richer people can afford to go to school here, because those under a certain income have to take out loans and graduate with lots of debt (sounds familiar, huh?).

This inequality basically shows that the rich can go to school no problem, for $X, while the less wealthy end up paying $5X or so.  Doesn't seem right.  These Chileans march to change things.  These protests for social justice beg the question...

Is quality education a right, or a privilege?

"Regresé de mis viajes. Navagé construyendo la alegría."

Saturday was one of the monthly ISA-sponsored excursions.  It's included in the program, so who wouldn't go?  We went to Pomaire, a small artisan town that appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, about an hour from Valpo; and we also visited Isla Negra, which isn't actually an island as the name may indicate, where Pablo Neruda's third and final home is located.

Only now as I upload my pictures from the weekend, did I realize that I took not a single photo of Pomaire.  Well, that's okay.  For one, I can simply describe it to you:  it's like an enormous maze of little open-aire shops, with a flea-market vibe.  But I also plan to return again, because this place will be my Christmas-shopping hot spot.  So many pottery items and for unbelievably low prices!

 Pablo Neruda had not only three wives, but also three houses:  La Chascona (in Santiago), La Sebastian (in Valparaíso), and this third house, Isla Negra.  The house at Isla Negra had a super nautical vibe and a beautiful view of the waves, despite his great fear of the sea.

= I returned from my travels.  I went building happiness.

inspired to write

Yesterday, in my culture class, we discussed poetry. We also watched this video which is an extremely powerful poem.  I don't even think I can describe it.  Just watch it.

Anyway, that video inspired me to write a poem.  Ingrid Michaelson (my favorite singer) also influenced the feel of this poem in her song "Keep Breathing," and the particular line that swayed me is this: "I want to change the world.  Instead, I sleep."

Maybe click those two little links I provided for ya.  Listen to these two poems if you want to feel a little lost and helpless too.  Listen to them if you want to be slapped in the face with how blessed you are, and how obligated you should be to help.  Just listen.

[Untitled]

end

Does it always justify the means?

People are starving, infected, freezing

I know there are so many problems

So many issues to face, to fix

But here, I’m stuck in the

middle

I try not to worry myself with superficial things

There are bigger problems

But what do I do to help?

With all the turmoil in this beautiful, messed up world,

Where on earth do I even

begin

Jesus!

This morning, Rachael and I got up, had some breakfast, and got the heck across the street to church!!  There's a Catholic church right across the street from my house, and we probably only went there because it's close, not because it's Catholic.  Rachael said she had never been to a Catholic mass before, only Catholic weddings.  There's so much that doesn't fit me about Catholicism.  It's such a strict, dogmatic religion to me.  It never seems like a personal relationship with God; but some people prefer it that way, I guess.

However, this mass was so great!  I'm so glad that we finally went this week, because we've been here a month and have been planning to but only did it today for the first time.  I sometimes have a rough time here, with loneliness and homesickness... But it's gotten better.  I've been praying a lot and I will definitely be getting more involved in volunteer work, church etc. while I'm here.

This Catholic mass was so interesting to me because it seemed so relaxed compared to the masses I've been to (which aren't many, I admit, but there seems to be a trend).  The priest makes jokes and there is a mini praise band with an acoustic guitarist!  Never have I ever associated "guitar" with "Catholic mass," but I was into it.  The people seemed so happy to be there, whereas I'm used to somber faces in mass.  It was overall a great experience.

Rachael and I were nervous about the communion part; I have never taken communion before since I'm not confirmed.  She has taken it at her Presbyterian church.  I was planning to just remain seated during that part of the service, but she wanted to participate.  I told her that it wasn't right, it's not allowed... But she said something I couldn't argue with: that God doesn't discriminate with things like that, that this kind of worship is for everyone, not just those who were raised Catholic.

moments of doubt

I don't know what I'm eating.  I don't know what the hell to drink.  I don't know what everyone around me is saying, or especially what they're laughing about.  All I know is what I'm breathing - and it's not good.

Tonight, my family hosted a party at the fancy restaurant, Portofino.  It was a surprise birthday 'dinner' for Ricardo (papa) even though we got there at 9pm, the guests didn't show up til around 9:15, and mama and papa came at 9:30.  Then, we had hors d'vours: fried empanadas filled with mysterious meat, crouton crackers topped with tomato and zucchini, salviche (seafood and onions and lemon juice and more onions, essentially), and - here's the kicker - octopus.  I couldn't quite stomach that one.

It started off as a jovial (but awkward, for me, anyway) evening.  It's always awkward to be the only gringo whitey in the party.  Especially at this 'intimate' dinner of 26 guests.  Great.  However, I kept a positive attitude:  I went into it wearing my fancy black slacks (thanks to my American mom who knew I'd have to wear something fancy at some point), make-up and HEELS.  My family kept saying "Wow, Meghan!"  Like, I know I don't dress up (ever) but do I really look that slobby every other day of my life?

Eventually, dinner was served at the ripe hour of 10:30.  We dined on some sort of seafood-like ravioli.  And then bread (of course).  And then dessert (orange cheesecake, not a fan).  And then tea and coffee.  And then more alcoholic beverages.  We left Portofino at ONE-TWENTY IN THE MORNING.  I have never been a late-nighter kinda gal, just ask my man.  We peace out from parties before midnight, if we even venture out of our cozy dorms at all.  

However, that doesn't bother me.  What bothered me was my damn inability to keep up with these people.  Sometimes I think I'm so stupid to think I can learn this language.  I felt so alone and I didn't understand anything anyone was saying.  My Chilean fam tells me I'm good at Spanish, but this was a clear example of how wrong they were.  I'm okay in classes, where the teachers know that Spanish is our second language.  I'm okay at home with my family, if they talk slow.  I'm okay one-on-one with people.  But how the hell am I supposed to keep up with 10 conversations at once?!  And they laughed and laughed and laughed like I've never seen adults laugh before.  And I was the only one not laughing.  Because I was the only one who didn't understand.  And everyone knew it.

And they'll point out (to the entire party), "Meghan, what are you thinking... Why are you so quiet?"  "Meghan, say something!"  "Meghan, why are you so shy?"  Sure, just put more attention on the fact that the gringa has no idea what's going on.  By the end of the night, I was quite familiar with the look of pity in the people's eyes around me.  I wanted to crawl under the table (where there would probably be less smoke) and shrivel up.

The worst part about it was the smoke though.  Despite the "SE PROHIBE FUMAR" signs on the wall (which also cited the LAW that prohibits smoking in undesignated areas), I probably inhaled the second hand smoke of about fifty-six cigarettes tonight.  My family KNOWS I'm asthmatic, they even made jokes at dinner about how "Meghan doesn't smoke" or "Meghan, want a cigarette? hahaha"  Great, thanks everyone.  I'm glad that even though you're all chain smokers, I'M THE ONE with asthma.  How does that work out?

I love what I study, but sometimes I wonder why I do it.  There are already so many people in the world who are bilingual (or multilingual) and I'm spending tens of thousands of dollars to kind of become fluent.

Sometimes, I feel so out of place here.  So alone.

Buen Provecho! II

SEMANA 4?! No way! Crazy how time is flying!

Arvejado - arveja means "pea" in Spanish.  Apparently, it's the most important ingredient of this meal.  Bring on the greens!!!

This dish tasted kind of stew-like - very moist, tender beef, and a sauce poured over top that included peas and carrots.  Pair that with a forkful of rice and YUM.  I chowed down on this after a looong day of school.  I had five classes today, from 10 AM til 7 PM, and my only break was a half hour for lunch.  Boy, was I glad when I came home to a plateful of arvejado!

So far my Buen Provecho posts have been either about soup or stew.  That's not necessarily because stew/soup are typical Chilean dishes, but my family likes to have soup with most lunches.  I wonder if that's just my family or if that's a Chilean custom.  My point, though, is that these soupy dishes aren't the epitome of Chilean food.  Maybe I just really like them and choose them as my post of the week, or maybe my family just eats lots of it.

I've become a bigger fan of beef than I've ever been before.  It's very common that the people here eat lots of meat, so I'm glad I'm not a vegetarian like some of my friends here!  Asados are very popular parties to have too -- they're like cookouts with lots of slow-cooked meat.  They put big slabs of meat on a spit and it rotates over the coals for hours, so it gets a great smoky, salty flavor.  So good!  Rachael and I went to an asado a couple weekends ago, and the best word I could choose to describe the flavor was: "divine."

Las Dunas de Concón

Saturday was an invented excursion day to the dunes of Concón.  A large group of gringa students (myself included) took a bus to Concón for a day of exploration.  The bus ride wasn´t too long, only about thirty or forty minutes, and it was cheap.  Then, we merely meandered our way up the big sandy dunes and spent the day there.

 
There was so much sand, it looked like the pictures I´ve seen of Egypt.  Only, it was chilly, windy, and there was an ocean past the dunes.  Once we clambored to the top of the highest peak, the view was breathtaking.  I plan to come back at least once, when it´s warmer.  I want to have a picnic there.  I even want to camp there, but I don´t know if that´s legal.

There´s a man who rents out boards for a half hour for only 500 pesos - about a dollar.  You wax the bottom of the board and coast down the dune on it, like sled-riding.  Or, you can rent a board with footholes and use it like a snowboard.  No one had much success with those kinds.  But by the end of the trip, everyone was covered in sand.  When I got home to shower, I took off my clothes and the bathroom floor was suddenly covered with sand.  Oops!

This was an amazing first-hand experience with the absolute variety of Chile´s landscapes.  There we were, half an hour from the middle of the city, past the beach, up a dune, next to the ocean.  I can´t wait to explore more - the mountains, desert, Patagonia...  What country so small has so much natural wonder to offer, besides Chile?

Buen Provecho! (It's bon appetit in Spanish)

I feel as though I have made it sound that I don't enjoy the food here.  That is absolutely not correct.  I just don't enjoy loads of mayonnaise, and I prefer vegetables.  However, the food that is prepared here is very, very good.  Very heavy, starchy, meaty, but delicious. 

For this reason, I have decided to make a special blog post weekly dedicated to delicious food.  Because food is a rich part of a culture, and I can't leave all my readers (you know, because I have millions) wondering why I'm not being fed properly.  And so, as I'm coming upon the close of my third week here, I will tell you about the three best dishes I've had so far.

SEMANA 1

Milanesa

Take a slab of beef as thin and flat as cardboard, lay it flat.  Lay a slice of turkey lunch meat across it, along with a slice of white cheese.  Fold over the steak in half so that the turkey and cheese are snuggled inside.  'Pin the edges of the steak together with a toothpick.  Cover with a bit of egg so that the breadcrumbs will stick.  After coating with breadcrumbs, fry the meat.  Add some avocado to each bite when it's done, and viola!  Delicioso.

(pic from google - hopefully we'll have it again so I can take my own pic!)

I couldn't tell you what it's called... I'll have to ask Flavia who made it!  This was the first experience I had truly enjoying avocado.  They eat it A LOT here, so I'm going to have to acquire a taste for it!

SEMANA 2

Sopa, pura verdura

This soup was homemade by the fabulous Mina, our family's maid, who certainly can cook.  She told me that she took spinach, carrots, potatoes, cauliflour, and other vegetables and stuck them in a food processer (which she simply called 'la maquina,' the machine).  Then, once it's pureed, heat it up.  Serve and sprinkle some cheese and a few drops of olive oil, and here you have a soup made purely of vegetables - hence the name 'pura verdura,' which is also very fun to say.

Initially I was nervous to try it; it looked like a strangely colored split pea liquid with the consistency of a thick bisque.  But once I tried my first spoonful, I praised the Lord for this creative way to serve a vegetable.  That's my style.

SEMANA 3

Sopa, Tomatecán

This stew-like tomato soup was grade A wonderful, I had a second helping and I was already full.  The 'broth' is like a tomato soup, but it's got large slices of soft potato, chunks of beef, green beans, corn, tomato, bits of onion.  I was thankful to have another pretty healthy lunch.  It was like a stew from home, only instead of brown, it was red and kinda healthy.  Hooray!

It was so yummy, I drooled a little when I blew on it (I'm embarrassing), and my tongue is now burnt because I was too excited to wait for it to cool down on my second bowl.

Chao for now!

I didn't think to take pictures of my food before today, so I tried to google image search the first two entrees... No such luck. I'll come back later after class for another go at it!   

Buen Provecho!

Rainy Days

Since 8 this morning, the rain has been coming down in buckets.  I didn't even know that the sky could hold so very much water.  It has been absolutely pouring for seven hours.  I woke up, snuggled in my bed, to the soft patter outside my window, and relished the fact that I don't have class on Fridays.

How wonderful is that?  Despite the large amount of credits I'm taking, I get a three-day weekend for the next four months.  I wish life could be like that, full of three-day weekends.

After this monsoon, it looks like the pool just might overflow!

It's so rainy and overcast, you can hardly see the ocean, but there it is: a barely visible grey line above those rooftops:

Well, today was the perfect day to finish the novel I have been reading, The Help.  I like to read books that have been turned into movies, because then I know they must be good (Water for Elephants, Eat Pray Love, Memoirs of a Geisha, My Sister's Keeper, The Lovely Bones..... the list goes on).  I loved the Help!  I enjoyed making the reading experience last, but today I just wanted to finally finish it, so I read about a hundred pages or so this morning.  I'm in Chile, for goodness sake; I should be reading in Spanish!

However, Rachael and I went splitsies on a DVD together - I know, I can't believe I agreed to it either.  It's called Historias Cruzadas, but it's actually the same movie as this book that coincidentally, she brought to Chile with her too.  Obviously, it's in Spanish, so we'll be watching that soon enough!

Here are the books mi mama chilena hooked me up with!  Can't wait to get started:

Time to light the estufa and cuddle back up in bed with a book. :)

Acclamation

I keep my bedroom door shut sometimes, not because I'm being antisocial, but because Chileans like to keep the doors that lead to the yard open, and it's less than 60 degrees Fahrenheit out.  My hands are perpetually frigid, even in the summer, but this is not doing me well.  

I couldn't bundle up enough here.  Seriously, I can't, because I didn't bring a coat or boots.  I thought, "Oh, their winters only get as low as 55 degrees? That's nothing! We get below 30 here, plus snow!"  But in the States, we also have indoor central heating.  Here, the temperature outside is also the temperature inside, as well as the temperature of all things in the house, like the furniture, clothing, toilet seat, etc.  I can't wait until it gets warmer out!  But I think I can survive the cold of August (gee, doesn't that sound strange...).

I also think that I may come home with a bit of extra weight.  Now, I'm not good at gaining weight (or losing it, for that matter)  I have remained at a consistent 135ish pounds for the past few years, whether I'm on a work-out kick, whether I'm sick, eating lots of sweets, eating lots of salads, what have you.  However, here my diet has changed completely.  Despite all the fresh produce that comes from the central valley of Chile - where I'm living - they don't eat many fruits and veggies.  Lots of avocado, but that's about it.  

I'm used to my real mama's dinners consisting of meat, starch, veggie.  I like that.  It's a healthy balance.  Here, it's bread, bread, meat, starch, dessert, bread.  Dang, do they carbo-load!  Even their 'juice' is practically Kool-Aid.  It even says juice on the package, but it probably doesn't even have any fruit in it.  I have to practically beg for some greens, and when they do hook me up with a salad, they pour lemon juice and oil on it, which I'm not accustomed to.  It's quite a sour dressing, but I gobble it down because I don't know the next time I'll see a green!

Those are the two customs I'm struggling with.  The cheek-kissing greetings, the Chilean slang (they practically have their own dialect here; it's definitely not the language I've been learning at school! hehe), the late lunches and dinners, having a maid do the chores (Mom, you hear that?  I don't have to do dishes, wash clothes, clean up anything!), the public transit (yes, I'm finally catching onto this one too), I don't have problems with.  For me, as expected, it's the cold and the lack of vitamins.  Typical Meghan.