Day something or other, 3rd week maybe?

hola! ok, hmmm, what's new. Oh! I have seen some pretty good movies lately in our spanish classes. So far we have watched:


1) La Nana - very interesting film about the life of the nannies/housekeepers who live in the homes they work for. It exposes some of the issues such as inability of the nanas to have their own families, heirarchies within the houses, dependency of the work provided the nanas, competition from other immigrants for the jobs. I reccomend it for sure

2) El Chacotero Sentimental - short, quirky and pretty light hearted movie about the problems of a married couple who has to move into their families apartment with their kids because of financial situations. Although not as serious as La Nana, does give a good insight on the overcrowding problems in poverty stricken neighborhoods and how if affects the daily life of its residents.

3) Mi Mejor Enemigo - pretty dark and serious, about the territorial conflicts between Argentina and Chile concerning the southern end of the countries near Patagonia. War movie about how the soldiers of either side and the cultures of the two countries interact. Interesting, but kind of sad.

Also good songs:
-Color Esperanza
-La Joya del Pacifico
-Que levante la mano
-Por que no se van


Soooooo, what else is there. I basically love my host family. The other night I went out with my host brother to a cool cumbia place and learned to dance, poorly, but I managed. That was preeeetty cool. And last night went out to pretty cool and swanky bar/restaurant to watch some cueca dancing and live music. Also got to take a mini tour of La Moneda, where the president works. Going wine tasting tomorrow, hooray for cultural activities!!! Taking a day trip to the Andes this weekend. Bought my ticket to Antofagasta to see Atacama, annnnnd hopefully booking my Inca Trails trip for September. Oh, and Chile beat Peru in overtime last night. Nice. Ciao!

Things I will never understand about Chile

1) Why so much mayonnaise? Why?
2) Why no pepper? I have been to eat at places very fancy, very cheap, and even at home, and yet the pepper has yet to present itself...why?
3) Where the dogs on their streets get their sweaters
4) Coca-cola, why must you be EVERYWHERE in the store? Really, even next to the ham? The bread? The checkout? Ev'rywhereeeee
5) Why the bus drivers are actually insane. You're automobile is not tiny. Please remember
6) If I look you in the eyes because you are staring at me, please do not continue to stare me, my goodness it's getting uncomfortable.
7) Bread. Oh the bread. It's not necessary for every meal, it will still be there for tomorrow, I have a feeling the world isn't going to end the next day, it's ok to not eat it for a day.

I'm sure there are more things that I will discover and not understand over the course of my stay, these so far are the ones that have stuck out to me the most.

Day 10

Sooooo this past weekend/first part of the week has been an adventure of course. Algarrobo was soooooo much fun and so beautiful! Its about 2 hours outside of Santiago by bus and the drive there was really cool. We passed by a lot of wineries and hilly areas that remind me a lot of california, but this beach was so pretty! The water was so clear and blue, very clean beaches and semi-warm weather that was a nice break from the negative degrees in Santiago haha. Although a lot of the time was spent in meetings learning about the program, how to prepare for school, and the preparation for the spanish, it was still a lot of fun to have time to walk along the beach and get to know all the people in the program. Everyone was very easy to talk to, shared the same feelings about being in Chile, and overall I've been so happy with the people that I have been able to meet. Oh, and did I mention I saw the worlds largest swimming pool? :) thats right haha. Anyway! So after returning from our retreat, July 3rd, the American Embassy told us that they were hosting a 4th of July celebration at a place called California Cantina, hooray! This place was so cool! It looked like a regular bar downstairs, but upstairs was a little patio area with lights, and pictures of california painted on the walls and a lot of other americans there, so a good way to celebrate. Then! The next night, Chile played Mexico in the Copa America.....and who do you think won? CHILE!!!!! Downtown was really cool to experience, lots of cheering and celebrating, and may I add that the Chilean flag colors are red white and blue....so it was basically another 4th of July celebration. All was fun until the tank drove by, so we know thats when it was time to go. Not only was it a celebration, but due to a lot of discontent and demonstrations by the students, the large gathering had some undertones of political statements. Not too much has happened this week, just going along with my 4 hours of spanish today. Oh, well we did watch this movie called "La Nana", which was really interesting. It depicted the lfe of a nanny/housemaid that is very common to see in south america and the effects that this lifestyle has on the family, but more importantly how it affects the nannies. But for now, that's all. My hands are getting too cold to type, hasta luego!

Day 5

Sooooooo as the title would suggest, this is my 5th day in Chile...and its pretty freaking chilly. Like seriously haha. Anyway, so far I have loved it here besides the weather! Flight here went pretty well and I successfully made it to the Che Lagarto hostel in downtown Santiago after my flight. I´ve never stayed in a hostel before but it was a pretty cool experience. This particular hostel has locations all around South America and very good reviews and I can see why. The staff was very friendly and helpful, and speaks English haha. I stayed in a dorm type room with 5 bunk beds and a bathroom. Most of the people who were staying at the hostel were a little bit older that me, usually around 24-26, and traveled in small groups of around 3-5. Luckily, 3 other people in my program were staying at the same hostel, so it was nice to have someone to talk to and go out with for the first couple nights. The first night I met a group of Brazilians who were friendly and invited me and another friend to go out with them to a place called PatioBellaVista, which is a cool little downtown area that has good restaurants and bars. The second day I went with two other girls on a free walking tour of  Santiago that the hostel suggested and I´m so glad I did. We started in a place called Plaza de Armas that has a huge cathedral and old buildings from the time when Spain controlled Chile. Our tour guide Felipe was so good, he showed us all the major government buildings and gave us the basic facts of the Allende and Pinochet governments, with some Chilean context of how it affected the country and the people. The tour was 4 hours long, but most definitely worth it. And we got a free dinner out of it! While on the tour, I met two people from the US, one of whom went to Davis law school. One was a District Attorney and the other a Federal agent who invited us over and made us a delicious pasta with sea food. Hooray!
The next day, Wednesday, was the official start date of the program. We were told that we needed to meet at La Catolica, the school I will be attending in agosto, but we needed to find our way there. Santiago has a well set public transportation system, but since we had our luggage, the 4 of us from the program who were at the hostel decided to take a taxi...which didn´t out so well. We didn´t know which direction the campus was and only until the taxi driver asked us if we flying an international flight did we realize that he is was taking us to the airport in the opposite direction of where we needed to go. Worried that we would be dismissed from the program from being late, the ride there was a little stressful, but thankfully our host mom´s were waiting for us and greeted us with open saying "ay! mi hija!". So for the next month we will be living with our host families and I love them! My mom´s name is Sandra who has a son Ricardo who lives there and there is another student from Ecuador, Renato, who is going to the University of Chile for 2 years. Oh, and Catalina, the very cute perro :) The host family´s typically live pretty near the campus, mine is about a 5 minute drive, and in a pretty safe and calm part of town. Also, the families don´t speak any English, which obviously has its advantages and disadvantages. Of course, I get a total immersion of the language, but at the same time, Chileans speak very very very fast and with a lot of chilenismos, or slang. But for the most part, my host mom understands that she needs to speak slow and clearly with me because she has hosted I think about 5 girls before me from the program in past years. I understand her for the most part, but I feel bad that I have to concentrate so hard on what she is saying that I think I only say two words - si or no. But classes start next week, so the spanish will come I know.
This weekend we are going to Algarroba, a beach about an hour ago for our retreat con the program. There are about 45 kids in the program and from almost all the UC´s, excpet for UCLA. Should be fun and a good experience to meet all the new people.
P.S. I´m pretty sure I´m progressively getting worse at speaking English each day lol.