On Being White

This past semester, my Old Testament professor walked in and shut the door, cleared his throat and said, "folks, we are so white. In my class of cookie cutter Wofford students, he was right--we were so white. He had a challenge for us: study abroad. But don't go to Western Europe, Canada, Australia, or any other typically white country. He told us that our time at Wofford college will teach us about cultures, the nature of humans, places on a map, and the politics of those countries. However, our time at Wofford college will not teach us how to be less white.

In the short month I've been in chile, I've never felt whiter in my life. Besides the fact that I don't look like the people in Chile, I don't act like these people either. My whole life, I've been provided for, above and beyond. (Thanks, Mom and Dad). Take a moment to think about it--we have hot water tanks, washing machines and dryers, dishwashers, 2+ cars--only because it makes our lives easier. Our lives rely on things like these because it makes things easier for us. Chileans, on the other hand, do what works--regardless of the time or work required, or if there is an easier way. If it works, it works.

I've also never felt more ignorant in my whole life. Sometimes, I think whiteness and ignorance go hand in hand. When it comes down to it, I went to a country that I knew NOTHING about. And it's a shame. I learned about a history that I've never been taught in school. And it's a really terrible and fascinating history all at the same time. Did you know that Chile had a prominent political war during the 1970's? Did you know that a military junta took over the government, and thousands "disappeared" and thousands more killed under this government--in their own country. Did you know that Chile was communist for almost 20 years? And they're socialist today? Yeah, I didn't either.

The other seriously disturbing thing I've encountered is the fact that our whiteness is rubbing off on them. (I got a glimpse of this in Australia, too, but I attributed it to the fact that they are also a white country). So many things in Chile are American; it's almost as if they're losing their culture because they're taking in ours. And it's really sad. Just some examples:

1. Chileans don't watch TV, they read it. 95% of their TV shows are in English, with Spanish subtitles.
2. McDonald's--McDonald's is hoppin', ALL of the time. Even at 5 AM.
3. During world news on the nightly news, 90% of it is US news.

I almost hate being American. Not because I have anything against our country, but because we are ruining other cultures and we're not even aware of it. We're not all that great, and we're not all we're cracked up to be, either.

So after a month, my Spanish is still pretty terrible. The only thing I really have to show for my trip is a sunburn. But, if I've learned one thing, it is this: Being white is not always good.

Dr. McCane was right. When removed from your comfort zone and put into a place where you clearly don't belong, the experience is more rewarding than anything I have ever learned from a textbook. I'll admit, when I stepped into the Santiago airport and heard EVERYONE around me speaking Spanish, I FREAKED out (read: had a slight panic attack and debated finding the nearest ticket counter and getting on a plane to go back where I came from). However, staying in the airport, outside of my comfort zone and jumping in feet first is probably one of the best decisions I have made and will make in my entire life.

I only hope that I am a little less white because of it.

We're not sure where they're hiding the other kids

Since living with a host family, everyone that has been on this trip has experience a decline in the number of clothes they have. It seems like my clothes will be washed, and one or two things will disappear.

Well, this morning, we played the "Es tuyo?" (Is it yours?) game. My Chilean mom would bring something to me every few minutes and say, "es tuyo?" Some of them were mine, but some of them..I don't even know where they came from.

My Chilean sister is significantly smaller than me, so it's pretty easy to figure out what's mine and what's hers. However, I had tons of clothes being brought to me that belong to someone that I don't even know? Apparently, everyone on this trip has been having the same experience. These people must have other kids that they're not telling us about.

In other news, my bags are packed and I'm ready to go. And by ready, I mean that I am physically able to get on a plane and return to the States..However, I'm not ready (mentally) to back to the pile of work that will begin on Monday morning when I have a 8:30, a 9:30, a 10:30, and an 11:30 class, followed by a 3:30 lab.

Wofford College, sometimes, I hate you and your massive work load.

He's Got Georgia on His Mind

My Chilean dad was walking around this afternoon singing "Georgia on my Mind". (In perfect english, by the way. The accent and everything. Too bad he doesn't know what any of it means.)

I asked him if he knew what Georgia was (In spanish), and he told me yeah, It's a country.

Nice.

The Things I Miss the Most

(In no particular order)

My family
My best friends and the fact that I only have to pick up a phone or walk down the hall to get to them
My bed at school (yeah, weird, I know)
My Nana and Papa
Sundays with Aunt Sue (and her amazing cooking) & Uncle Manuel, Aubrey, and Annika Grace
Biscuits
Burwell food (the cafeteria at school..yeah, I know, still weird. It's just that at school you can choose what you want. Even if you can't identify what your choices are, you can choose the lesser of three evils. That's a pretty awesome thing to know)
Wofford College (If I have ever been unsure if Wofford is right for me, the fact that I've REALLY missed it for the past 6 weeks has said a lot)
English. (you have no idea.)

Instantes

We read this poem today in class, and I really, really like it. For an English version, check out this.

Instantates

Si pudiera vivir nuevamente mi vida,
en la próxima trataría de cometer más errores.
No intentaría ser tan perfecto, me relajaría más.
Sería más tonto de lo que he sido,
de hecho tomaría muy pocas cosas con seriedad.
Sería menos higiénico.
Correría más riesgos,
haría más viajes,
contemplaría más atardeceres,
subiría más montañas, nadaría más ríos.
Iría a más lugares adonde nunca he ido,
comería más helados y menos habas,
tendría más problemas reales y menos imaginarios.

Yo fui una de esas personas que vivió sensata
y prolíficamente cada minuto de su vida;
claro que tuve momentos de alegría.
Pero si pudiera volver atrás trataría
de tener solamente buenos momentos.

Por si no lo saben, de eso está hecha la vida,
sólo de momentos; no te pierdas el ahora.

Yo era uno de esos que nunca
iban a ninguna parte sin un termómetro,
una bolsa de agua caliente,
un paraguas y un paracaídas;
si pudiera volver a vivir, viajaría más liviano.

Si pudiera volver a vivir
comenzaría a andar descalzo a principios
de la primavera
y seguiría descalzo hasta concluir el otoño.
Daría más vueltas en calesita,
contemplaría más amaneceres,
y jugaría con más niños,
si tuviera otra vez vida por delante.

Pero ya ven, tengo 85 años...
y sé que me estoy muriendo.

--Juan Luis Borges

Pucon Recap

When we made it to Pucon on Friday morning, we ended up finding a hostal very close to the bus station, and this was the view out of our window:

We went horseback riding that afternoon, and this is Aften on her horse (cause it's kind of hard to take a picture of myself on a horse):

The view from our ride:




Our guide took us to this random waterfall, and we thought that it would be a good idea to stand under it, IN ALL OF OUR CLOTHES. (we really didn't have that much of a choice)



This the huge hamburger I had for lunch. (Don't worry, I didn't eat it all)


Saturday, we had plans to climb the volcano. However, the weather was really bad and when the tour company came to pick up us at our hostal, they told us that our trip was cancelled and rescheduled for Sunday. We promptly went back to sleep. That afternoon, we went to a Mexican restaurant..yeah, in Chile, I know, strange...and these are my quesadillas:

And these are some pictures from the way back to the hostal:



Saturday afternoon, I went on a hidrospeed down a river. Okay, let me take a moment to explain hidrospeeding. Basically, it's a glorified kickboard. Riding rapids on a kickboard. I mean, I had a helmet and everything, but it was terrifying and satisfying and an adrenaline rush all at the same time. So, this was my attire for hidrospeeding:

Sunday morning, we climbed the beast of the volcano. It was terrible. Looking back on it, I can't believe I 1)made it to the top and 2)didn't die. Here's pictures from our trek:










The top of the volcano. Please note how cold I look:




And if you were on a huge mountain covered in snow, without trees, and without skis, how would you get off? You would sit down on your butt and slide, right? Yeah, that's what we did. It was absolutely AWESOME, and it was definitely worth the walk up:



And, because I thought this sign was awesome, and because it's all over Pucon, I'd like to share:

I'm just glad we didn't have to follow that green line while I was in Pucon.

The majority of our trip can be summed up in one word: lawsuit. Apparently, these people don't believe in signing waivers. Therefore, had any of us been hurt, they would have been held responsible. It was really weird for us, because we're used to signing our life away before doing anything dangerous.

Today, we got back to Viña, and I went to class (in a daze, I'm sure), and then took a four hour nap. I'm absolutely exhausted and have a nice red neck and face. Yay, sunburn!

And, in closing, I just realized that when I ate dinner tonight, I didn't cut my sandwich, I picked it up and bit it. Whoops.

Adventurous Kristina

Apparently, Chile has made me a little bit adventurous. The last five days have been completely and totally different from anything I would ever do.

Wednesday: Ropes course in the rain forest
Thursday: Getting on a bus to Pucon without a clear destination in mind (don't worry--we made it somewhere!)
Friday: Riding horses up a mountain
Saturday: Glorified kickboardingHidrospeeding down a river
Today: Climbing a volcano. For 11 hours. And then sitting in the snow (!) and sliding down the whole way.

Do you know the last time I walked for 11 hours? Yeah, that's right, NEVER. Do you know when I'm going to do it again? Mhm, NEVER. (Um and do you know the last time that I got up at 6 AM? It's been A LONG TIME.)

I'm about to get on a bus to return to Vina (which I REALLY miss) and after I recuperate and regain feeling in my feet, I'm going to show you all the cool pictures. It will be exciting! But for now, I'm going to sleep.

P is for Pucon, Pretty, and Pain

We arrived in Pucon yesterday morning at 8:30 after a long, and horrible time on the bus. However, the buses here are absolutely amazing. They have a leg rest that folds down so you can sleep, but I didn't sleep much.

Yesterday morning we found ourselves a hostal (yeah, we didn't really have a plan in mind when we got off the bus), and went down to the tourism place to make reservations for the volcano climb and a horse back trip up a mountain.

The horse ride was gorgeous. We stopped god knows where at a waterfall, and because we could we decided to stand under it.

We ate hamburgers the size of my face (no lie) for lunch, and then rested the rest of the day.

Our volcano trip this morning was cancelled because there's really bad weather here today. We've just hung around the hostal. In about an hour, I'm going on a hidrospeed trip down the river, and Aften and Casey are going shopping. Im not sure what hidrospeeding is exactly, but once I know, I'll let you know!

I'll post pictures as soon as I get the chance!

Packing for Pucon

This weekend, I'm headed to Pucon, in the south of Chile with Aften and Casey.

We leave tonight (we don't have class tomorrow), and will return Monday morning at 8:30 AM (just in time for a 9:00 class, joy..)

I haven't decided if I'm taking my computer with me, so I may or may not blog from there!

Ciao!

Waffle College

Every once in a while, my Chilean mom will look at me inquisitively and say, "Waffle?" I usually just say "No, Gracias, Estoy Bien". (which means, no thanks, I'm fine). I finally figured out last night at dinner what she meant.

My Chilean dad started a sentence with, "A Waffle Universidad.." (At Waffle University). And it clicked. My Chilean family thinks that I go to Waffle College.

Obama, oddities about Chile, and where's my snow?

So, because EVERYONE likes Obama, our third class was cancelled today so that we could come home and watch the inauguration. My Chilean mom was so great about it, because she knew I wanted to watch it, even though it was lunchtime, and so she set up this little number:

So sweet! After the rest of my family ate lunch, my mom turned on CNN and was watching the inauguration. She already told me she doesn't really like politics that much, but every time the people at the inauguration would cheer, I would hear a big "WOOOOO!" from her room..too funny..

Other than that, I have two strange (maybe we're the strange ones, I'm not sure?) things about Chile to share.

1) Unless you are in an apartment or a condo and you hate hot water, you're going to want to know about this one. Every house has a box where you light a pilot light for the gas and then you turn the gas on to get hot water:

2) Chileans don't use dryers unless they absolutely have to, but my family doesn't even have a dryer. So, I've learned to like jeans that feel like cardboard:


Also, here's some pictures from my new host family!
My room:

And my bathroom:

And our sweet view of Viña from the living room:


I assure you though, the walk up that hill after school is everything but sweet.

And, in closing, please talk to the snow fairies and make sure that they return sometime after January 30th. I'd appreciate that! :)

Estoy acá (I am here)!

I don't really want to do much explaining, but there was a bit of a hiccup with my host family..as in, they didn't feed me. Like, I don't even think they ate. And last night a remark was made about my Spanish is so bad, why am I even in Chile?

So, today I moved in to a different host family. Our lunch (!) was amazing, and I just had dinner (!!). It's like a whole other world exists in Chile that I wasn't informed about! I'm so glad to be in a family that sincerely wants me here!

Ciao, ciao!

Chorrillana, La Sebastiana, Chile through the decades, Isla Negra

Here's my long post, as promised!

Wednesday, we had class and then went to the house of Pablo Neruda, a poet and ambassador for Chile (he's dead now). Apparently he's super famous, but to be quite honest, I've never heard of the guy. His first house was in Valpo, and it was gorgeous. Before we went though, we went to this little hole in the wall place (think Bowens Island) for lunch. Carlos (one of our teachers) took us there, and we thought we would have the option to choose what we wanted. We got the option to choose Chorrillana for two, or Chorrillana for three. In case you're wondering, Chorrillana has a nice thick layer of grease on the bottom, topped with french fries, scrambled eggs, onions dripping with grease, and meat:

It was as good as it could be, I suppose. However, it's a once in a lifetime kind of food because every time you eat it, you lose 10 years off your life, I'm sure.

I branded the restaurant forever, with my name (don't worry, all the furniture and walls looked like this--I'm not just writing on random pieces of furniture in random restaurants):



We then went up the hill to the house of Pablo Neruda:





We walked through the garden at the Neruda house, and I took this picture for my dad to identify this strange plant:

And more pictures:




And since what goes up must come down, we walked back down the hill through the horrible twisting winding gross and disgusting oh so lovely streets of Valpo:


We walked down Ferrari street (the name was misleading, let me tell you):

And saw some amazing graffiti:


And then headed back to Viña:


Thursday was pretty uneventful. We went to school, I came back and took a nap, and that night, Aften and I went to a discotech (a dancing place), stayed out til three in the morning, and had a grand old time. (Really, it was a lot of fun).

Yesterday, we went to school (the days would be so much more exciting without this), and took a trip to Pablo Neruda's second house in Isla Negra. If I thought the first one was pretty, this one was AMAZING. We stopped to eat lunch at a little bit nicer place where we actually had some sort of say in what we ate, but of course, the menu was all in spanish. I know the spanish word for fish, but I couldn't tell all the types of fish apart. So I did what I could, and closed my eyes and stuck my finger somewhere on the page, and ended up with this:

It was really, really good!

We went to the house at Isla Negra, which was fairly uneventful and dull:





Here's where dear old Pablo lies:

And here's what his head looks like, in case you were wondering:

Then we went to the beach at Isla Negra. I have never seen a beach like this before in my whole life. I spent a good hour just sitting on a rock and watching the waves, it was mesmerizing:
Hey, welcome to paradise!:










After we got back from Isla Negra, Aften and I wanted to do something, but we weren't sure what. I knew that I couldn't do another "let's not come home until 3 in the morning" kind of thing, but I mean, we're in CHILE, why sit at home?!

So, we went to the beach to watch the sunset. It was awesome. And then, we went to the casino. Because we can do that here. We each played a 500 pesos (less than one dollar) slot machine, one time, and we each won nothing. So we left and got ice cream, because that makes everything better. We went to a karaoke place where we watched people make fools of themselves, and then we came home. It was pretty fun and eventful night, and I was in bed by 12:30!

I've been working on an accurate description of Chile, and I think I'm finally on to something:

They live like it's the 60's (technology wise), smoke like it's the 70's, dress like it's the 80's, and party like it's the 90's.