Of course not! Apologies for the time spent away! To be honest, I've had little time to sit down and update this site to the best of my ability since I'm more a fan of doing everything in one go rather than a little here and a little there. Well, there's a lot to cover, so it's time to get started!

After the last blog, I spent 2 rather mundane days going to class and coming straight home to do homework. The real fun began on Thursday night. Our coordinator, Evelyn, had sent us a flyer with information about the International Festival for Contemporary Music taking place that weekend at the University of Chile campus. It seemed like a cool opportunity, so I asked the other students in the program if they wanted to get dinner and go to the performance. We first went to a Peruvian restaurant, El Ahí Seco (click here for the yums!), and boy, was it amazing! I'm seriously considering working in Peru in the future partly because the food is so good. After the delicious meal, a group of us headed to the performance.

So here's the flyer for the performance. Pretty straightforward, right? A guy totally focused on his cello, artistically arranged staffs and notes--this looks like a flyer for a wonderful night of classical music. WRONG. Well, wrong for those who don't look twice at the word contemporánea. 

We were a bit late and so the performance hall was full with people even standing at the stairs leading to the seats. We were hit with a blast of hot, stuffy air when we squeezed our way through the standing figures, which only meant one thing: no air conditioner. Through all this we weren't focusing on the sounds coming from the stage until we stepped out of the hall to figure out whether whether or not we would stay and find seats. I think Charlotte put it well: "It sounded like bees in there!" Curiosity got the best of us and we went in to find two seats--and we were five people. Somehow we all managed to squish ourselves in, either into the seats or against the wall. So much effort for...well, this:

This song goes into a silence about a minute long and then starts up again. And trust me, this wasn't the worst of it. However, I can say that our group did have a pretty good time. It was pretty funny siting in that room and trying to stifle our laughter. There were people in the audience who actually liked this stuff!

After about 30 minutes of contemporary nonsense, we headed off to find the area crawling with carabineros (click here for more info about these scary people!). All crises were averted, but we found ourselves in other interesting situation. Let's call it Politically Incorrect Clown vs. Surprised Miki (check out her blog!). This very same clown later decided to make a NSFW balloon--shape--for Charlotte (and her blog too!).

The next day Evelyn took us to start the process of validating our student visas. The hours from approximately from 9 am to 3 pm were spent doing boring but necessary things in order to get our identification cards. However, this blog is for fun stuff, so here's a list of the more interesting things that happened that Friday:

• I was dumb and put yogurt in my purse. It exploded in there while I was in the most inconvenient of places: in line at the police station.
• I had some really unflattering pictures taken of me. And no, I will not be showing proof. For some reason, when it comes to government photos, I'm not very photogenic.
• We went to the mall and I tried some amazing frozen yogurt from Yogen Fruz. Oh my goodness, so good! Fresh fruits of your picking are mixed into natural yogurt or chocolate fro-yo, making for such a refreshing taste!

Not too bad of a day! And it was followed up by another asado with the family, this time for my host sister, Natalia (the first asado from the previous week had been for her husband, Alejandro). OPERATION BABY UPDATE: I got pics of Natalia's kids!!!

Saturday night was yet another night of surprises. Pablo and Alvaro took us out for more sightseeing, and we went to see a play called El centauro y el animal. O__O Talk about contemporary, abstract, weirdness. The theatre was pretty though!

Afterward, we had a very fun time in the Bellavista neighborhood (bars, cafes, clubs, and lots of gringos!). What a night!

On Monday after classes, I went with a group to Cerro San Cristobal, the principal hill of Santiago topped with a 45-foot statue of the Virgin Mary. What a climb! I was definitely not expecting such a tiring walk, but I was very thankful for the fact that Manina had packed me refreshments specifically for the climb.

On Wednesday we went on another fun-filled tour with Pablo and Alvaro. We went to La Vega (a large market for fruits and vegetables--their fresh strawberry juice is just the thing for a hot day), El Mercado Central (the prime place for fresh seafood), La Piojera (a bar cantina where we happened to spend the bulk of our time being the rowdy gringos that we are...based on my sober observations, everyone got tipsy within 30 minutes), and La Estacion Mapocho (a beautiful old train station with a temporary art exhibit for us to play with!).

And since I love slideshows...

Two days later on Friday the host moms and students had a get-together at one of the homes. We were on the 13th floor (not unlucky here!) and had a beautiful view of the city lights, sunset, and purple mountains. It was especially nice to laugh and talk with everyone with tons of food and good company!


Afterward I had an unfortunate experience on the taxi ride home. Not to worry, nothing terrible happened! More irritating than anything in fact. I was the last person out of four tobe dropped off, and this taxista didn't seem to have a clue about my neighborhood. He was also driving quite fast, which made it even more difficult for me, someone who still has a shaky sense of directions when it comes to this vast city. It even got to the point that he was telling me that I didn't know where I lived and that I must have the wrong street number. Well EXCUSE ME MR. TAXISTA BUT THIS GURL BE KNOWIN' WHERE SHE LIVES AND IF SHE HAS TO TAKE ANY MORE OF YO' LIP SHE AIN'T PAYIN' YOU NADA. Yeah, if only I could have said that. My Spanish skills are still insufficient at this point, and I had to pay my full fare despite my stammered attempt at bringing the price down. In time...in time...

The next day, Saturday, we went to the beautiful Valparaíso, land of seafood, hilly neighborhoods, amazing graffiti, and overall wonderfulness. Go to my new section, Beyond Santiago, for the full story and pics! Later that night, when we were back in Santiago, a few of us went out with Pablo and Alvaro. Oh, the shenanigans! Let's just say that my first experience of culture shock was when I saw the bus stops in downtown Santiago filled with partygoers returning home at 5 am. Honestly, I felt quite safe on the bus, which was packed with people! This is definitely not a common occurrence in the U.S.

Sunday was spent in a haze of relaxation. Cynthia and Juan Renee (Jr.) took me to Paine, a small pueblito out in the countryside 40 minutes from Santiago, to hang out with the rest of the family at their previous home that they still own. I walked into the courtyard and saw such a cute sight: all three babies (Damian, Emilia, Renato) splashing around in the pool! Eeee!!!

Yesterday was the first day of the last week of orientation classes. We're almost at the finish line! I've learned quite a bit within the past month about Spanish grammar, Chilean vocab, literature, history of the dictatorship, etc. However, 6 hours of class every day is difficult. I've woken up a few times wanting nothing more than to stay in bed, but I have to push myself so I don't give in to that desire. With the end of this week (two finals on Friday!) commences Part 2 of this grand adventure! Until then!

The word gringo is used affectionately around here for any foreigner who speaks with an accent. And believe me, that's what I definitely am. For now.

Above are photos of the apartment--pretty cute, huh? When Menina first showed me around on Thursday, the day I arrived in Santiago, I automatically felt at home. The place is so spick and span, and it smells familiar, like a home! To give you an idea of who I'm living with, here's my family:

On the left doing cara tortuga with me (sticking your neck out like a turtle) is Juan Renee, my host dad. He works as a civil engineer, and he's very funny. He helps out around the house when he gets back from work and teaches me quite a bit about Chilean life. His wife and my host mom, Menina, is a sweetheart and the person that I spend the most time with in the house. Menina is very social and talkative (remind you of someone), and she loves keeping busy with chores, visiting family, and helping out her friends. OH, AND SHE LOVES DOWNTON ABBEY. These two remind me of my parents--they're very similar!

Also living here in Juan Renee Jr. who is 26 years old and working at an organization for historical memory. He knows quite a bit about Chile's past during and after the dictatorship (1973-1991), and his political standing is more to the left. His longtime girlfriend, Cynthia, also lives here. She worked in Argentina for three years studying the dictatorship of the 70s and 80s over there, and we talk quite a bit about politics and society in Santiago. They're both very well-informed, friendly people!

I feel extremely welcome in this family. I never feel like an outsider! On Saturday I went with Menina to her brother-in-law's house to help him move out of his apartment--if that's not personal, I don't know what is! Menina's daughter, Natalia, and her family also came over, which gave me a chance to commence Operation Baby: Become Friends with All the Babies. Natalia has two children, Renato (5 yrs) and Emilia (4 yrs). Eeee! They came over to the house, and I entertained them with pictures of my family and friends. They're so mischievous and funny! And now they're my friends! They didn't want to leave!

That night Menina and I went to the program's Welcome Dinner with all the other mothers and students. It was quite the dinner, starting at 8 pm and ending a little after 12. Afterward, 14 of us gringos went out on the town (carreteando) to the central area of my neighborhood, Plaza Ñuñoa. To clarify, no one goes out at night in groups of 14; it was as if we had a giant target on our group that said "LOS GRINGOS." I had a lot of fun getting to know the people in this program! We share a lot of common interests, and we ended up sitting at a bar for ~2 hours and talking. My first bar experience ever (yeah, yeah, I'm a noob)!

Sunday was the day of our tour in central Santiago with two students from La Catolica, Pablo and Alvaro. They took us to see Lastarria (a neighborhood called the "Paris of Santiago" and known for its cafes and old buildings), Cerro Santa Lucia (a small hill in central Santiago once the site of a Spanish fort in the mid-1500s), La Alameda (Santiago's main city avenue), and La Moneda (the seat of the president--similar to the White House except that the president of Chile doesn't live there.

On the left is the view from the tower atop Santa Lucia. It's a beautiful view of the city landscape and the mountains surrounding Santiago. Have I mentioned that I love it here?

Of course, my time here in Santiago is not just sight seeing and taking pictures of food. My first day of classes was yesterday at La Catolica with the other WashU students. Talk about intensive! Our Spanish class begins at 8:30 and ends at 11:30! Transit to the school was also during rush hours, which last from 7 to 9 am--the metro's packed with people going to work...and doing other things. There was a woman separating her eyelashes with a knife. Trust me, that's uncommon.

Classes went very well! I feel very fortunate to have such wonderful professors who are really dedicated to their work and their students--it's no different from WashU! Professor Gloria Toledo teaches my Spanish class, and we had a lot of fun with Chilenismos, talking about the territories of Chile, and discussing politics. All in Spanish! After lunch outside we went to our Chilean Culture class with Professor Andrew Brown in which we watched a documentary about the political environment right before the military coup in 1973. First essay due on Thursday! O___O

After classes, a few of us went to Patronato to see the more diverse side of town. Chile is home to the largest population of Palestinians outside of the Arab world, and Patronato is where many of them live. To be honest, I just saw a few shawarma places and an Orthodox church with Arabic script on it. But Patronato is more than that! There are tons of markets and little stores selling clothes, jewelery, toys, meat, and other goods for extremely low prices! It's the place in Santiago to find great bargains!

What's that on the left? It's only Boys over Flowers, such a fun series! With Spanish subtitles! There was a store in Patronato that only sold Korean dramas, movies, music: Woah! This box set came at such a bargain price, and the lady at the store told me that she learned a lot of her Spanish by watching K-dramas with Spanish subtitles.

I also really liked Patronato for the fact that it's socioeconomically different from the neighborhoods that us students are living in. Our neighborhoods are more middle to upper-class whereas Patronato is home to lower-middle class individuals: people working in the informal sector with the majority owning or working in the small kiosks and tiendas. It reminded me quite a bit of the markets in Istanbul and Karachi: I felt at home!

I'm not a fan of long plane trips ("long="7 or more hours for me), but then again, who does? The tight space, that annoying crick in not one but several places in your neck, and the lack of sleep are enough to drive one crazy for so many hours. But we adapt. Or we just complain and push ourselves through. After all, these flights can be the start of a grand adventure!

To the left is what I busied myself with for a portion of the ~10 hour trip. This is called lazy creativity: I didn't want to write and stuff so I decided to play self-Bananagrams with an unlimited supply of letters. I had a lot of lazy, creative fun! And without the beautiful journal, I couldn't have done it (shoutout to the gals from Greenview!)! 

Throughout this build-up to my study abroad experience, the idea of living in Chile for six months was something I could never quite grasp. Even when I saw the beautiful mountains of Santiago coming closer as the plane descended, I only felt a very small--pequeñito is a better word--twinge of reality. Everything still felt like a vacation. When Menina, my darling of a host mother, showed me the apartment that I would be calling home for the next several months, I felt that slow, creeping reality once more. It finally hit me when I woke up the next day and looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. I would be waking up nearly every day for the next few months and looking into that same bathroom mirror. A strange time to realize out of all the other moments, yes, but it's better than going through denial for the next few months, right?

I've already seen so much here in this wonderful land of Santiago, much of which is very reminiscent of either the United States or Pakistan, two places I call home. I went with Menina; her daughter, Daniela; and Daniela's cutie-patootie son, Damian, to a huge nearby mall with a Wal-Mart-esque store that covered the entire main floor. I had an amazing tea time with Menina; her son, Juan Renee; and Juan Renee's novia, Cynthia--we talked into the late hours o' the night about topics as diverse as religion, politics, Chilenismos (Chilean slang), school, and more. I spent my first day at Campus San Joaquin, the main campus of La Catolica, and got to know Evelyn, our amazing residential coordinator; our Spanish professors; and the other gringos (I use that affectionately!) in the group! The metro was a fun and safe adventure with Menina, and I wrapped up the day with an asado (barbecue)/birthday party for Menina's son-in-law. There was a lot of family there that I was meeting for the first time, but I felt like a member of the clan. I had a great time with cousins, the in-laws, brother and sisters...AND THERE WERE BABIES AND A KITTEN AND A DOG EN TODAS PARTES (everywhere).

And yes, everything's been in Spanish. And I love it! I can already notice the progress I've been making after barely two days of living here, and I can't wait to see what the future holds. The language is beautiful, the people here are beautiful with their kind hearts, and I'm having a wonderful time!

Chau!