Sunday in Santiago-Parks

My blog needs life and it's up to me to revive it. The best way to do so, I feel, is to start a series called "Sunday in Santiago." Ok, I admit this is a spin off of another blog of an expat in Santiago, who does "Saturday in Santiago." She is a much more experienced blogger and usually reviews a  nice restaurant. I am not an experienced blogger, but rather just someone letting her family and friends know she is alive down here via blog. Nor am I a working expat with the financial means to review restaurants every week, but rather a study abroad participant on a student visa  who lives off the boxes of macaroni  her mom brought down after a visit. So, I'll take my own approach and report on...well I suppose it will be what I encounter everyday here. The first topic...parks. Coming from a University with a giant park in the middle of campus, I have come to believe parks are some of the best reflections of culture. In UC Irvine's case, Aldrich park is the epitome of student culture, full of students doing what students do best, "studying" and napping. So I guess I could say that parks in Santiago are of a reflection of, well, Santiago culture. Take a walk with me and I'll explain...

Starting my stroll in Parque Bustamante. Biking is a surprisingly popular way to get around,given the way people drive here. The parks serve as  sanctuaries for bikers from the traffic.In the background is a skate  park, where on any given afternoon hoards of teenagers come to hang out, smoke, and conspicuously drink. Sometimes it's not so conspicuous and you get to witness the cops pulling up in their motorcycles, pouring out and stomping on the kids' boxed wine and/or beer cans, and telling them to beat it. 

In route from Parque Bustamante to Parque Balmaceda.Not uncommon to see zumba classes pop up in the middle of plazas. I was almost inspired to join, if it weren't in jeans and ballet flats.

Seeing this surprised me, because I don't really see the encouragement to recycle, nor get the trash actually into the trash can here. Ok, it's not always the case, but I'm biased coming from earth friendly, hipster, and organic SoCal, where they charge money for plastic bags. Still, it's nice to see little steps like this are being taken here. 

Yup, that's more like it. Water bottles left over from a 5k/10k race earlier that day.

I took a shot of this spot, because it shows how Santiago is a city of sharp contrasts. You are strolling through a serene, shady park and then you cross the street and  are suddenly blinded by the reflection of this monstrous building. 

I just love this place. Getting work done at home is almost impossible, so it's wonderful to have a study spot within walking distance. People of all ages come to study, read, or chat over a cup of coffee. 

Complete serenity. During the week I would be dodging bikers and rushed businessmen and women. Off to the right and not pictured, to avoid the risk of being a creeper, a couple are in their own little world. In the States, a couple having a full make out session in any public place, parks included, would be met with eye rolls and perhaps utterances of "get a room..."  Here the they are as a common as the trees...in fact like trees there can be clusters of couples in one particular area. And the  other park-goers don't seem to mind. It's the underlying "You go about your business, I'll go about mine" mentality.  

The metro station in the middle of the park. It's just strange to think how under a pretty bed of flowers lies what is basically Santiago's circulatory system, transporting 2.3 million passengers daily (thanks Wikipedia). Speaking of metros, there is growing popularity for a Facebook page called "Spotted Metrosantiago." People can anonymously write in their romantic moments on the metro hoping to reencounter this person with whom they shared a smile or lingering eye contact with over a pair of stations, before being torn away by their unshared final destination. Whether or not it actually works I haven't a clue, but it makes for some good reading...some of these people get pretty poetic.

The metro station is where the park ends and the street in route to my house begins. I chose the topic of parks for my first post, because they are honestly one of my favorite parts about this city. Parks provide an endless spectrum of opportunities to invent scenarios for the random occurrences I see and histories of the people I come across briefly. 
Thanks for taking a stroll with me. See you next Sunday! 

3/4 Done!

Hey all!
Wow, I can't believe that I have a little less than three months here! I´ve been a bit behind on the blogging lately, thanks to being sick. On a postive note, cough syrup in Chile tastes much better than cough syrup in the U.S...kinda like honey instead of nasty, artificial cherry flavor. I will obviously keep up the blog posts, but they may just be focusing on less travels and more living here. Even still, there is always something to write about.
A couple weekends ago, I celebrated an Easter Eve dinner with my California friend Andrea, her Chilean tandem buddy, and a couple more people from our year program. We had homemade gnocchi, pisco sours, and plenty of dessert. It's always hard to spend holidays away from family, but being able to share them with others here makes the homesickness less. On actual Easter Sunday, Andrea and I went to a mass in the big cathedral in Plaza de Armas. After the Eucharist a couple of guys jumped onto the altar and unfurled a sign promoting a strike. This was actually covered in the news...where Andrea and I appeared!  Here's a screen shot of us, since our screen time is literally a second long shot...

Other than making it in the news, life has been going pretty normally here with plenty of school work. I had my first test in my Chilean theatre class, and it seemed to go pretty well. Plus, we got to bring notes since it was an essay style. I touched upon this in the past post, but thankfully it's a lot easier  now to follow along with classes now and get through readings. In fact my professor came up to another foreign student and I and said "You know, foreign students usually struggle with this class for obvious reasons of language. But judging by the work on some of your quizzes, you two really seem to have a great grasp of the language." That was one of those moments that made my past few months here so worth it!
As far as my internship goes, I'm really enjoying it! A lot of it is answering phones to schedule appointments for employers to come into the office and look for maids to hire. It is definitely helping my phone skills! When they don't need help inside the office, I get to sit outside and chat with the women waiting to get hired. Some of them sit out there all day, waiting for a good offer to interview for. The older women are a bit shyer, but there are a few women I've seen around a couple times love to chat!  Many of them have come from Peru, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic  looking for jobs. Sadly, some of them have to leave their kids behind in their home country. With Peru in particular you have to be with the same employeer for three years to have permanent residency here. A lot of times it doesn't work out with the employeer, so when they have to change jobs the three year rule starts all over again. Basically, that means  it can be really tough to be a permanent resident here since it's hard to luck out on the first job and find a great family to work for. Overall, it's really interesting to hear how the immigration situation works in Chile.
I've also stayed involved with the organization in my host university with which I did the volunteer project back in January. One of the guys from my group over summer invited me to join the Activities Committee for the fall project, so I said "Sure, why not!?" On Saturday, we had a get together at one of the student's house, with all the typical skit performing, competitions, and other team bonding activities any student volunteer group does. The difference of course, is that I was the only foreigner in a group of Chileans. I just feel really thankful to have the opportunity to be included in a campus organization. Everyone in the project is really nice and asks questions about my country and experience here. I tend  to respond and then reflect back those questions by asking what they study and where they would want to study abroad if they have the chance to(I´m not bias in anyway telling them to study in California ;) ) Oh, and apparently my nickname here is now "Eli (pronounced Ellie, not like short for Elijah!)." I will actually miss that little name when I go back, since none of my U.S. friends or family use it.
Other than classes and internship, it's just been hanging out and getting to know my housemates. Plans just tend to sporadically come together, but it's always a good time with them. Last Friday we went to a concert at University of Santiago (my housemate's host university). I was listening to the music thinking "Cool, this group is doing a really good cover of  Chico Trujillo's songs!" Chico Trujillo is a famous Chilean cumbia band, with a rock/reggae mixed style. Then, a student  nearby recognizing me as a foreigner turned to me and asked (in Spanish) "Do you like Chico Trujillo?," pointing to the stage. "Oh, it's actually them!," I responded, feeling a bit silly I didn't recognize it was them right away and thinking it was just an amazing cover band. Apparently, they play at a lot of universities, but I hadn't seen them live yet. So naturally, I was pretty excited...There are surprises here everyday!
So that's what I got for you all. I definitely feel like I'm in a different stage in my experience, but things are in no way winding down either. Chao for now!