Piura, Peru

I am sorry, faithful blog followers! I have shirked my duties. The past few weeks have been my busiest yet. I am about to start a chain of catch-up posts, so you can know what I have been up to.

Piura, Peru must be one of the most wonderful places in the world. After three years of waiting and hoping to return someday, it felt completely unreal to finally get there. There is no way to express the exact feeling of being in this place, but I will try to give you a glimpse of the city through my experience over a week there.

To begin the story of the trip, I should probably start with where it started for me: the night before. As usual, I was packing at the very last minute the night before our flight to Lima. The week leading up to the trip was just so hectic that I hadn't really realized that I was going to Peru until this point. Javi helped me pack, and at 2:30 am I finally headed to Megans house to spend the last two hours of the night before our taxi came at 4:30 am. Luckily she was also up doing last minute spanish homework and packing! Two hours later, we got to the airport somewhat buzzed off of the lack of sleep. Megan and I bought a bar of chocolate and managed to eat almost the entire thing while waiting at the gate. The mix of chocolate and no sleep made us absolutely ridiculous, and poor Eric had to deal with us for hours as we waited.

I slept throughout the flight, and arrived in Lima a bit calmer. Of course, there was another chocolate/pastry place in the airport and Megan and I got a large amount of ice cream and apple pie, to Eric's dismay. After a long layover, we finally boarded the plane- only to be called off of it a few minutes later. Unfortunately, we had failed to realize that our Chilean watches were not correct in Peru, and in fact this was not our flight! (Although somehow they'd accepted our boarding passes...) How embarrassing! Good way to start off the trip.

Arriving in Piura was, as I said, completely unreal. Matt, Victor, Jose, and new workers from the church came to pick us up with a big welcome sign at the airport, and in a few moments we were immersed in the city, cruising down the dusty roads in the back of their pickup truck. The hazy roads, the colorful clotheslines, the people sweeping their doorsteps, the crumbling, colorful paint of the dilapidated houses, children's cries of "gringos!", the rickshaws filling the streets, the cries of street vendors, the dry desert wind in the back of the truck, carrying the familiar smells of firewood, street food, and that indescribable Piura smell, all hit me with the feeling of coming home to something after many years of absence. Even more strange was entering the church, which for years I had seen only through the webcam on the wall. After talking for a while with Matt and Victor, we headed upstairs to our rooms. That night we ate at the church, and went to mass, where I saw a few old friends, and said a quick hello to Father Joe afterwards. luckily, I was exhausted, or else I never would have been able to go to sleep that night.

The next day we went right to our volunteer work. Megan, Eric and I were sent to the new hospice for terminally ill patients, where we helped to care for them for a few hours. It wasn't easy work, but it was really rewarding. I had the job of giving haircuts to all of them, which was really fun! The men commented to each other that they looked handsome like Robin Hood.

That night, my family (the one we've sponsored and been pen pals with) showed up at mass! It was amazing to finally see them again, and I was so excited to meet Karen's new baby Luhana, and her husband Teo! We talked for a long time after church, and caught up on the last three years.

The next few days really blend together. Our volunteer activities were all really fun. We went to the kids' Vacation Bible School to help hand out drawing supplies, play games, and play outside with them, which was really fun, and also visited a girls' home/orphanage, where we later returned to bring a huge amount of food that we bought at the open market. The girls showed us their home, sang songs for us, and did a dance they learned in class. Later we all had a dance party. The girls were incredibly sweet- it was so hard to leave! My new friends Tania and Esther gave me really sweet cards when we left. Eric was a heartbreaker- many girls burst into tears when he left!

Another day, I went out with Matt, Karen, Karla, and Luhana to buy Luhana a jumper and other supplies. It was so much fun! We also visited a beautiful church and monument in the center of the city. Later int he day Megan, Eric and I got building supplies for the next day's activity, and packed food to deliver to people's houses in the outskirts of the city. I love delivering food packages- it is such an incredible experience to be able to go into people's homes in the desert and talk with them for a little while. People are always so thankful and really nice and welcoming, although sometimes I feel guilty, because I am hardly doing enough to warrant such appreciation! I feel that I am getting an equal amount out of it, really. In the end, I think people in Piura are particularly welcoming to "gringos" because of all of the donations the city gets through the church (1,400 families in Piura are sponsored by families in the US) but also, I feel like the people of Piura are just really nice, good, welcoming people.

On the other hand, a few things really threw me off at the beginning of the trip. A few of my good friends who worked at the church before are no longer there due to some scandal, and I was basically not allowed to see them. It's a long complicated story, but basically it was really sad that something like this happened, and even sadder not to be able to see my friends. I guess no person and no place is perfect. I hope it all gets sorted out and I get to see them again next time.

On the 7th, we delivered more food packages, and built a new part to somebody's house. I've never done so much sawing and construction. It was a great experience, and so cool to see the finished product! Later, as usual, the Lachiras (my family) came to mass with us, but afterwards my little brother Jorge David, Megan, Eric and I decided to join the altar boys for a soccer game. We had a fantastic time, and played for hours until we were all exhausted. What a great night.

The 8th was our last day in Piura. I was really sad to go, but there was so much going on that I didn't have much time to think about it! It was Karla's birthday, so after going to the open market (sooo cool) to get supplies for the girls' home and buy a cake, we all went to a movie together and got ice cream afterwards. It was so much fun to hang out with our friends and my family. Afterwards, we went to mass for the last time, and had a surprise cake and jello party for Karla, Teresa, and Eric. (Eric's birthday is the 9th, and Teresa's is the 13th.) We invited all the staff and soccer boys, and had a fun, crazy time before leaving. We also learned a new tradition- cracking an egg over the head of the person with the birthday, and then throwing flour over them! What a MESS! Apparently it is also traditional for despedidas (going away parties): An hour or so before leaving, Megan, Eric and I were covered in raw egg and flour. It was grossss! We quickly showered and headed off for the bus in the back of the truck. I was very sad to say goodbye to everyone, but it helped that Matt decided to come to Trujillo for the next day with us! I just hope that I see everyone there again before another three years or more pass.

Next entry on our visit to Trujillo coming soon!

Tear Gas

...it hurts. A LOT.

I was walking to class on Thursday- one of the days that I knew there would be a paro, but had to go to class anyways for a personal lesson from my video professor- and was hurrying to the campus from the bus stop. Suddenly, I noticed a burning smell, and looked up to see that a tree by the sidewalk was scorched black, and the ashes of many papers were scattered all over the road. Just as I was contemplating this, I turned the corner to see two large tanker trucks, and a huge line of policemen lining the road ahead. they were spraying a fire hose into the campus. My first thought was "man, how am I going to get to my class?" But this sentiment quickly passed as I noticed that the high pressure hose was being sprayed at students. They were hiding behind trees and falling when the hose reached them. In shock, I asked a woman what had happened as she rushed past me. "What always happens" she responded, and hurried away. Looking around, I suddenly noticed people with masks on, rushing away from the scene. At the same time that I realized what was happening, it hit me. My eyes started burning with an incredible intensity, and the air suddenly felt like poison in my nose and throat. I immediately started rushing away, but the breeze carried the gas far away from the campus. I broke into a full out sprint all the way back to the bus stop, trying to cover my face with my sleeve. On the bus, the air coming in the windows eventually helped to clear the air, but most of the people on it were red-eyed and coughing. I tried to wipe my eyes and breathe through my shirt, but everything I did seemed to make the burning worse. It finally stopped after about half an hour on the bus. I decided to go shopping afterwards, and found a fantastic new store near my house, which was wonderful and greatly improved my mood. I later found out that there had been a "toma" at the faculty, which means that the students locked themselves into the campus in protest. I still don't know exactly what they were protesting against- I think it had to do with getting more scholarships- but I am learning that Chilean students find many opportunities to protest. I technically shouldn't have had any classes this week due to the protests in my different faculties! I'm a little resentful, since I enjoy my classes and am now quite clear on the fact that I don't enjoy tear gas.

So, that is my adventure story of the week. Hopefully the next one is a bit less painful!

This week: Piropos, Paros, and Peru

What a busy week. It started out with Rebecca here- we spent Monday together, and she came to my Spanish class. Later we went to my apartment and she met my host fam! She fit right in... we tried to convince her to stay, but unfortunately she already had a plane ticket to Arica. She, Javi and I all went to see "Plan B" afterwards, which was very funny. We got there about 20 minutes late, but in accordance with Chilean time, the movie started just as we got into the theater. Love Chilean time.

Tuesday morning Rebecca and I climbed Cerro Santa Lucia. It was very beautiful! I will post photos once they get on my computer. After the climb, the personal M. Ferrill Orientation ended, and Rebecca headed off to start her own abroad adventure!

The next few days consisted of:

Peru:

Lots and lots of planning for Peru this week! It is an epic trip, but one that requires somewhat impossible planning. It seems like it will work out though...

Piropos:

Just thought I'd throw this in here since it's a part of daily life in Chile. A lot of whistling goes on here. Piropos are birds, but the word is used for men who make a similar sound. Some girls are really offended by it, but I mostly find it amusing. This week, I found the root of the whistling epidemic: Mothers. I was sitting in the bus the other day, and a group of women with a baby came to sit near me. The baby was looking at me for a while, and I smiled back... and then his mother started making whistling sounds and trying to teach him to whistle at me!!! Haha definitely one of the funniest moments of the week!

Paros:

Student protests at the different University faculties, where students refuse to go to classes. Unfortunately, as US students we still have to go to class, since the professors are still required to show up. I encountered three of these classes this week- one ended in a personal lesson in documentary making, another ended in me sitting in an empty classroom for a while and leaving, and the third... well, we'll get to the third in the next blog entry.

I think the only major thing not encompassed by these three words this week is my work. I went on Wednesday night with Megan and Becca, and we had a great time playing dominos and hanging out with some of the men. In the coming weeks we will be organizing events and things to do with them, but this week we were still getting to know them. I found out that one of the guys is really crazy this week.... we were talking about something very coherent and normal, and suddenly he started telling me about artichokes, and repeating the words "cigarette" and "South Africa" and "walnut." Oh, my adventures at work.

Week of Journaling: Day 7

Well, we've come up to the last day of the journaling week, folks. However, I've actually really enjoyed writing so often- it's such a good way to reflect on the days that I might keep it up.

Today, I woke up early and packed my bag to meet Rebecca Edelberg at her hotel, where she'd just arrived from the airport!!! I got to the hotel a little early (shocking I know) and decided to try to surprise her, but my impression of a hotel room cleaner at the door didn't convince her. She knows me too well!

After the shock of seeing each other started to wear off and we could stop hugging each other, we walked over to the Tufts office to join the bus tour to Valparaiso. There we spent the day on a guided tour through the city, and on a boat! I generally don't like being part of a tour- I have this thing against looking like a tourist, and it is impossible to blend in/ become invisible when you are in a large group with a tour guide dressed in bright red shouting out the history of the city. That said, I have already been to Valparaiso on my own, and having the tour helped me to appreciate some of the history and other parts of the city that I hadn't known about. Going on the boat was really fun too! All the time I continued to be in minor shock that Rebecca was sitting next to me. It's so great to see her again, and so strange and wonderful to have a piece of home here in Santiago with me. After Valparaiso, we were thinking of trying to get tickets at the door to the Daddy Yankee concert (I am secretly obsessed) but decided against it since it's very far away, expensive, possibly sold out, and I happen to have class tomorrow. Instead, we went out to a little diner place for dinner, where I ordered the most greasy, unhealthy meal I have ever seen by accident and they played a bunch of strange 80's music videos on the TV. We had a great time. When we asked the waiter about the music, he tried hard to make sure that we knew it wasn't his music, so of course we insisted that it must be. "Me gusta la musica ROCK" he kept trying to convince us... but we wouldn't have it. We wrote a list of 80's music videos from home that he should check out and he promised he would.

Now we're back at the hotel, catching up on life and hopefully trying to do some homework. Luckily she has some too... unluckily it is hard to work when one of your long lost best friends is in the room!

Week of Journaling: Day 6

Today was a slow day that went fast. Meaning: I spent a lot of time doing nothing. But it was the good type of nothing- my host sister just broke up with her boyfriend of four years, and had an awful test early in the morning, so when she came back I made her pancakes and we opened up the NH maple syrup I brought as a host gift. It was a nice morning and it was great to spend some time with Javi and Claudia.

In the afternoon I went to Patronato, a street/area lined with very cheap clothing and shoe stores. I had never actually been there, though I'd been in the area often (it's near La Vega) and was amazed by the overwhelming amount of clothing! I bought new ballet flats, a shirt, and a dress. Very exciting. After shopping I tried to go buy a guitar AGAIN, but the shops were closed early. Arrg. I keep being thwarted in my guitar-buying expeditions! I came home early and did homework for the rest of the night. I know, quite a Saturday night. I'm trying to be proactive, since I know I am going to want to spend all of my time with Rebecca over the next few days!!!

I am meeting up with Rebecca TOMORROW MORNING! I'm suuuper excited. I will be staying in a hotel with her near Santa Lucia in the center of the city for a few days. With that in mind, I'm off to finish my homework...

Week of Journaling: Day 5

I'm home early today! Funny to say that- it's almost 10pm but everyone stays out so late here, even if it's just for work. (For example, my work. Such a strange concept to start work at 7:30pm.)

Today I woke up early to go to the Tufts office to plan out my trip to Peru with Megan and Eric. It's going to be so amazing! We are basically traveling on buses and trains all the way along the coast of the country from the North to the South over two weeks, with cool stops along the way. I can't wait! We'll be playing some of it by ear, so chances are our plans might change over time, but whatever we end up doing will be a great adventure for sure!

After trip planning I met up with Paige and Thomas from my spanish class to take a tour around the city and take pictures of specific places to present in class. It turns out that the area we were assigned included La Vega! It was sooo strange to go back during the day and see it all full of life. I bought a delicious pomegranate in the market and ate it along the journey. Yum.

I attempted to find a guitar again today, but failed. Shall try again tomorrow. My trip to the poblacion La Victoria was cancelled for tomorrow (story of this week!) so I have a little free time. Good thing, since I have a bunch of homework to do too. AND Rebecca Edelberg is coming on Sunday!!!!!!! I can't wait! We'll be going to Valparaiso on a tour with the Tufts group all day, which should be really fun, but I'm mostly just thrilled to see her! I remember planning her visit so long ago- I can't believe she's coming so soon.

(Estacion Mapocho, an old train station)

I had a big moment today. I was walking past an art gallery in this enormous old train station, and saw these gorgeous, huge paintings of landscapes in brilliant colors. I felt really regretful that I hadn't been able to paint in a long time. Then it suddenly dawned on me that I probably have the large majority of my life ahead of me. That's a very long time. If I felt like it, I could choose to spend years in Italy painting and working in a pastry shop. Then I could spend years doing some other crazy thing that I decide I love. Just think about all the things you can do in a lifetime! It's so exciting!

Week of Journaling: Day 4

Well, technically this is day 5, as it is currently 3:30am.

This morning I woke up late because my first class was cancelled, and then found out that my second class was cancelled too due to a student protest against educational reforms. Somehow I managed to spend the entire day lounging around in the house! I think I need much more rest here, since I spend so much energy thinking in Spanish each day, and then once in a while I throw in days like these where I don't sleep until early the next morning.

Anyways, I went to work again at 6:30pm today. This time I went alone, which seemed like it might feel a little sketchy at night but ended up being fine. When I got to Nuestra Casa, I helped to prepare sandwiches, tea and hot chocolate, and then a large group of residents and volunteers headed out for La Vega to give them out to the people living on the street there.

Handing out the food and drinks was a really different experience. It allowed me to see a part of the city I would otherwise never venture to at night, and definitely broke down the barrier between me and the people I pass on the streets during the day. It was so against my instinct to knock on one of those cardboard boxes, or awaken someone sleeping under a blanket. It is so against the normal city culture to break into this hidden world, but that is what this night was all about. It felt so unreal.

La Vega is a very lively area during the day, full of vendors selling fruits and vegetables and clothing and every random supply one could want. At night it is dismal and echoing, full of smoke and burning trash and the occasional people calling out to each other in the haze. A group of guys was playing soccer, and some kids and dogs were playing in the street, but apart from that the streets were mostly quiet and deserted. All of the storefronts that look colorful and charmingly dilapidated in the day became foreboding and gloomy at night, their doors locked and barred. The group I was with consisted of men from the house, a couple volunteering adults, and several 16-18 year olds who had obviously volunteered here many times before, as they knew many of the people on the street well. I talked to them as we traveled between cardboard box dwellings and heaped blankets, handing out the sandwiches. I met a sweet little girl named Myriam who lives on the street with her mom and brothers, and we played with her for a while. So strange to think about the kind of life she has there.

The most bizarre moment of the night happened toward the beginning, when we approached a large cardboard construction and offered bread, and out jumped a man dressed as a gypsy woman. (S)he wore shining blue makeup and many enormous earrings, and had hair that stood on end as (s)he wildly ran about wielding and twirling a large stick like a baton and yelling "QUIEN FUE!?" ("Who was it?!") Finally, after a whole lot of stomping about and muttering, the gypsy returned to the house, and I breathed a large sigh of relief. My new volunteer friends told me that (s)he thinks that the house moves on a caravan and travels each day. All together, I think I would sum up this experience as very overwhelming, a little entertaining at times, and sad at others. I am both excited and apprehensive about my next trip there.

(Photos above are of La Vega in the daytime. The second one is very near where we were handing out bread.)

We left at 10pm, and two of the volunteer men took me back on the subway. I then met up with some friends to go to a club with Layla's visiting Chilean cousin, which was a very weird experience after the one that I had just had. They played a lot of reggae and rock. I was pretty mentally exhausted from the past few hours, so I ended up leaving a little early. What a day!

My New Nicknames

"La Colombiana"

I cannot for the life of me figure out why, but a few days ago two separate men (one random one and one who lives in Nuestra Casa) told me that I look Colombian. Later, I was at dinner with Megan's host family and she asked them if they though I looked Colombian, and they said that I looked like a specific Colombian actress. Whatever the reason, I have now acquired the nickname at work, and entered Nuestra Casa tonight to hear "La Colombiana!"

"Indiancita"

Who knows if this one will stick, but one of Claudia's friends came into the house recently to see that I was wearing socks and no shoes in the house, and called me "indiancita" (little indian) because of it. Apparently it is quite unusual here to go without shoes in the house!

"Corazon"

Ok, so this is not just for me but I had to put it in here. My host mom uses it, and older people call me "corazon" (heart) whenever I ask them for directions or they are helping me with something. I love it- such a sweet expression!

Week of Journaling: Day 3

Ohh the frustration. I just found out that I am one of 50 finalists (out of 700 applicants) for the National Geographic Glimpse Correspondents program, but I didn't make it through the LAST round! They chose 10 of the 700. I was so close!!! How sad. It's a confidence booster to know that I made it that far, but I also kind of wish I didn't know because it makes it all the more frustrating to have been so close. Ah well.

Apart from that little discovery, today has been great. My environmental seminar was cancelled today, so the only class I had was Spanish at 4:30. I slept late, and spent much of the morning lounging around and doing nothing, which was wonderful. Of course, an hour before my class I realized I had forgotten to do a part of my Spanish homework, but thanks to the long commute I managed to finish it!

After Spanish class, Rebecca, Megan and I headed over to Nuestra Casa. Wednesdays are going to be the days that we spend with the men in the house, organizing some kind of activity each week, but this week we just went to hang out and get to know them. It was so much fun! All of the guys are really quirky and interesting- one is a little crazy and really reminds me of Johnny Depp in "Edward Scissorhands." He spent much of the night listing off all of the types of fruits and vegetables that he sells in the market, and told me he would bring me an "atuna" tomorrow, which I think is some sort of green spiny fruit.

Three hours at the house flew by. Halfway through, we went with Jonathan, another one of the residents, to get "vienesas italianas" at the little shop next door. A vienesa italiana is a hot dog in a bun, covered in a thick layer of fresh mashed up avocados and chopped up tomatoes, with a large amount of creamy homemade mayo on top. They are very typical Chilean food, and one of the reasons I feel that I might end up returning to the US a couple hundred pounds heavier than when I left. In this particular shop, the woman made everything fresh on the spot, and Becca, Jonathan and I sat and talked for a while there. At the end of our time at Nuestra Casa, two nice guys (Paco and __ ) walked us to the metro stop. Paco is an old man from Spain, who wears a little woolen hat and knows Italian. He tried to teach me some Italian on the way there, and I promised to help him with his English in return. He is really sweet and grandfatherly, and I want to be his friend.

(Photo above is of a typical street near the house I work at- a little old and run down but quite beautiful.)

Week of Journaling: Day 2

I just returned home and am feeling a bit put out. I was really looking forward to soccer, but it turned out that there was a game today and I wasn't able to play (I would never expect to play after going to a single practice, but I had been excited for the workout!) That said, I did meet a few more of the girls on the team, and rest of the day has been quite good. I woke up early to buy clay to use when I make it to ceramics after my video class. Then I headed to the campus to have lunch with my tandem/language partner Gerson. It was fun, and I got to eat with a bunch of his friends too! Video class was very short today, but I got a personal lesson from the professor about the different ways to shoot a documentary. He offered to teach me documentary making instead of doing photo sequences like the rest of the class, since they already worked on final cut pro before this and I would like to learn it. It's so nice to get such personal attention in this class! I am also getting to know the other three students, and they actually invited me out for drinks this Thursday! I feel like that's a good social step for me. Unfortunately, I am going to work with Nuestra Casa in La Vega that night, but I am hoping we can go some other time. My neighbor also recently offered that he could show me around Santiago Centro sometime. It's so nice to find that people are actually reaching out to me! I am often the one to try to initiate things and talk to people, but it is much harder when I am the new student and also don't speak the language perfectly, so it's great that others are making the effort!

We just had a delicious squash, bean, and sausage soup for dinner. I am starting to get used to eating at 10 or 11 at night! It's lucky that people eat so late here, because by the time I get back from soccer on the micro with all of the traffic, it is usually at least 8:30.

I'm off to try to upload some pictures! I have a bunch, so I'm uploading to a picasa album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/108594640188694136506/AdventuresInChile?authkey=Gv1sRgCPHu-4je3O-9xQE#

Enjoy!

Week of Journaling: Day 1

Today was a busy day. I woke up early to skype with Bee :D which made me so happy! It’s so funny that she’s in Japan, I’m in Chile, and we can still talk almost face to face. I even got to show her the guy who always passes by on his unicycle. Afterwards I left for my Environment class. This class has made me increasingly nervous over the past few days. Suddenly, I have realized a few things. One: it is a senior seminar. Two: I am a junior. Three: A senior here is basically like a grad student in the US, because if they study politics, that is ALL they study for four years. Four: I know very little about all of the Chilean political theories they have learned about during these four years. Five: Economics and political vocabulary is challenging in English. In Spanish, it is more challenging.

So... basically, I am insane for taking this class. But here I am. It is very interesting, and I think I will get a lot out of it, but I spend much of the class hoping the professor doesn’t ask me anything for fear of social and academic death. Today I talked to the professor after class about my concerns, and he basically told me not to worry about it at all, and that he would read my research proposal with “cariño,” which I hope means with a very relaxed and lenient eye. How I will manage to write and present a senior-level public environmental policy in Spanish is beyond me, so let’s hope I improve a lot by the time the end of the semester rolls around! The professor does seem very understanding though, and I met two of my classmates today!

After my classes I went back to Nuestra Casa to participate in a big meeting they were having. Megan, Becca and I presented ourselves to the group, and met a few of the guys who hadn’t been there on Saturday. There are about 25 of them living there in total. I learned a little more about what I will be doing with them: they do lots of things, but most center around work in the house, administrative work, and work in the street. Work in the street consists of “Calle Futbol,” a new movement to get young guys living on the street to form soccer teams that compete internationally, and “Jueves Solidarios,” where the guys from the house and a bunch of volunteers hand out food and talk with the people living on the streets in La Vega. I will hopefully be participating in the work in the street, doing community building projects with the guys in the house on Wednesdays, and possibly helping with some administrative work. This Thursday, I am going to accompany one of the women in charge on her visit to the futbol practice, and help hand out food in La Vega. I’m really excited- it should be quite a new experience! Javi might come too, which would be fun.

Tonight I came back to find a delicious dinner waiting for me on a platter, and joined Javi and Claudia for dinner in bed while we watched a beauty pageant on TV. A nice thoughtless end to a packed day. Now it is 2:10 am and I’m thinking it’s probably time to go to bed. Another packed day tomorrow! Stay tuned for a week of Molly’s ramblings!

Still alive!

Hello again! I’m still alive! It may be hard to believe after three weeks. Sorry about that.

I am about to start a week of writing every night. Hopefully it will give you an idea of how my life is turning out here!

First, an update on what I’ve been up to for all this time. Three weeks ago I went skiing with the Tufts group in the Andes, at “El Colorado.”

It was really amazing! The mountains are incredibly beautiful. I kept forgetting where I was while I was skiing, and then suddenly looking up and realizing how high up I was, and how unreal the view was! It was so picturesque it looked fake. I tried out a really difficult slope at the end, which was exhilarating but unfortunately I had to slide to a stop and am only now recovering from the bruises on my leg!

That week I also had my first real week of classes. It was a very hectic week, since I was trying out more than twice the number of classes that I would actually take eventually. I went to an Experimental Video class, a Photography class, a Film Studies class, a Chilean History of Independence class, a Latin Am

erican Art and Politics class, my Spanish class, and a class titled “Public Politics of Decentralization and the Environment.” It was a very overwhelming week, since I not only had to go to all of these classes, but I had to find them all in various faculties throughout the city! I think I averaged at least one wrong micro bus taken and one completely lost moment each day. Luckily, I was able to narrow down my classes pretty quickly. The Video class ended up working out really well- the professor was very nice and there were only four of us in the class! It was supposed to meet for eight hours each week but it met twice for an hour each, which was much less intimidating. The Art and Politics class and the Film Studies class ended up being “gringo classes,” so I decided not to take them. History was fun, (the professor is crazy) but I found it very hard to understand him! Photography also seemed like fun, but I decided to choose Video since it seemed like I would learn more new material. And the Environment class… oh, the Environment class. It seemed so promising. Well, it still does… more on that in a bit.

And so I decided the next week that I would take the Video and Environment classes in addition to my Spanish class. My fourth credit will be an internship. During the week I started to organize the internship, but it ended up being challenging. I hoped to work with ECO, a very cool NGO that works to improve living conditions, education, and safety in various poblaciones (poor areas) of Santiago. Unfortunately, after meeting with the woman who runs the program in La Victoria where I hoped to work, I still haven’t been able to go there yet. I think I will be going this weekend though! The first step is to get to know the young people in the community so that it’s safe for me to go there, and later start to help them with projects they are working on with ECO. That said, I am starting to think that it is difficult to organize the trips there for each week, so I might end up going as a volunteer instead of as an intern (as an intern I have to clock 10

hours a week and write reports, etc.) Due to all of that, I tried out another internship last week. More on that later, too.

The following weekend I went to Algarrobo, a beachside town near Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, with my host sister and her friends. Her boyfriend Daniel has a house there right on the beach, and they had a party at the house for one of their friends who was leaving for Quito the next week. One of my friends decided to meet us there, but ended up getting stuck 45 minutes away in Valparaiso, so we went on a voyage to find her at one in the morning. It was quite the adventure but we made it! The next day we all went to breakfast at an empanada place and found an arcade on the same street. Very fun trip! It was great to get to know more of Javi’s friends (whole motley crew featured in the above photo!)

Last week I joined a soccer team! Crazy, I know. No, I don’t play soccer. But hey, now I will! I signed up with a few friends, thinking that we were signing up for a class, but it turned out that it was the government faculty’s team, and after practice they told us we could join! How ridiculous. I absolutely loved it. We are only going to make it to one of three practices a week, and the games, but apparently that’s just fine. On Tuesdays, the day I will be going, the guys’ and girls’ teams do lots of physical conditioning exercises together (aka a LOT of running) and lots of little games and things that actually end up being a really good workout. At the end we separate and actually play soccer. After the first practice I came back extremely sore but SO HAPPY! I am really excited to go back tomorrow. Everyone was so nice, and I have already started running into my teammates when I go to my Environment class at the government faculty!

What else happened last week… I would actually say that it was my first realll week of classes, because everyone had settled in and we actually started having assignments and discussions in class. I finally started to actually know what direction my classes were in, and only got lost once! A miracle! I also met with my tandem partner Gerson for the first time. We were paired up by the University to help each other with English and Spanish. He was really nice and we’re meeting again tomorrow- I’m hoping this will help me with the Chilean slang! I do feel like my comprehension of Chilean Spanish has improved quite a lot since I arrived, though some people are still difficult to understand.

This weekend I helped Karla move out to her new apartment. She is one of Javi’s friends from Northern Chile who was staying with us for a while until she found an apartment so she could study in Santiago. Javi, Karla and I spent much of Friday attempting to navegate the crowded buses with tupperwares, suitcases, blankets and boxes in hand. It was quite a funny experience. That night, I went out to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant, and then to Bellavista to check out the nightlife there! Loveee the Reggaeton they play here at the discos!

Saturday, I tried out a new internship- this one at Nuestra Casa, a permanent or temporary home for men who are getting over drug or alcohol dependency or need a place to stay for some reason. Megan, Becca and I spent the afternoon cleaning up the house with some of the guys, and got to know the two women who work there. It was really nice and looks promising. That night I spent the night at Megan’s house to plan our trip to Peru. I had a fun time getting to know her family and her five year old sister Josefa!

Now that you're all caught up, I'll start on today in the next post.

Want to feel better about your life?

... I'm on it.

Today, after many unexpected "adventures" on various micro buses, I decided to venture into a clothing store before hopping on yet another crowded bus. As I was leaving the store, a cute guy winked at me from across the room. Fortunately, I had been warned that in Chile, girls shouldn't respond to winks. Unfortunately, I then proceeded to walk face first into a hanging mannequin.

Feeling better now?

How to dance the Cueca, win 30 dollars, and learn to climb a silk trapeze in four days and one long night.

Two hours after learning about Kenya, I was on a bus to Valparaiso. On the bus ride, I met a nice man who was in the middle of editing a video for the government on a senator who recently passed away. He gave me some video tips and told me about the people he had interviewed and what they were like in person. I always love meeting people on buses! They always end up being so interesting!

In Valparaiso, we found that the hostel we had been recommended was a very strange place, full of bright colors and funky old furniture. Our room had rickety beds and a single lamp, and a carved gold and turquoise ceiling that looked like it was once really beautiful, but is dusty and peeling now. The best part was a trapeze in the main room downstairs! So awesome. It was all a little grungy and bohemian, in a very good way. The people were very nice and showed us how to use the trapeze :D

Later that night, we went out to a discoteca called La Sala. It was kind of sketchy but ended up being really fun. One half had a mix of spanish and english pop and reggaeton music, and the other had reggae music. I think we stumbled upon the Rasta niche, because most everyone in the room seemed to have a joint in hand, a knit cap, or dreads.

After hanging out and dancing for a few hours, a bunch of us realized we were all dancing with a group of guys who had also come together. They were a group of 11 friends, all in their early 20s, who live in the same area that I do, but were staying in a beach house near Valparaiso for the week before their classes started. As we were leaving, they invited us to an after party at their house, which the two Emilys and Mireille and I decided to go to, despite the fact that it was about 3:30am. It ended up being the best choice ever! What a crazy night. We spent the next six hours listening to them play music on guitar, many types of drums, an egg, and a thumb piano, and singing along whenever possible. (La Bamba, anyone?) They also got me to play a few songs, which was fun. I've never played for such an enthusiastic crowd! They were all very funny and used so much slang that I could barely understand anything they said.

One song they played was a Cueca song, which is the national dance of Chile. I made the mistake of saying that I didn't know what the Cueca looked like... and so of course, they decided to "teach" me the dance. This consisted of Francisco ("Tisco") putting a piece of toilet paper on each of our shoulders, dancing around twirling the paper in the air, and trying to push me to where I was supposed to be twirling mine while the others played a song. It was kind of hilarious. Later, I found out that he was in the national Cueca dancing championship in high school. I've been trained by the best!

After hours of similar nonsense, they drove us back to the hostel at 9:30 in the morning. First, one of them accidentally shut my fingers in the door. I always wondered what that would feel like- it hurts.

I slept for a little over an hour before my bed collapsed under me. Decided after that to call it a night and go for a hike up to one of the tall points of Valparaiso before heading back to Santiago. Emily, Cassie, Paige and I headed up a random road, and ended up accidentally finding the Museo al Cielo Abierto, an outdoor mural museum that leads up to a high point in the city. It was really cool, and so amazing to stumble upon! So many colors in this city. I am determined to live in this area of Valparaiso someday, it is one of my favorite places I have been to.

After having lunch in a tiny restaurant in someone's house that we came across, we headed back to Santiago. I slept so well on the way back! That night, my other host sister Maka (23) came to visit with her fiance, Rodrigo. I had never met either of them before, but they were both very nice! They don't live in this apartment, but will be very nearby.

On Thursday morning, I woke up at 9:30am- the same time I had gone to bed the day before. Maka and Rodrigo took me to Calle Rosa, where there are lots of craft and party stores. We found them a box for their engagement rings, and had the most enormous sandwiches I have ever seen near Plaza de Armas. They were literally as wide as the plates, and at least four inches high! Even I didn't have enough appetite to finish one. Later, Maka and Rodrigo dropped me off at the Facultad de Architectura for my Urban and Rural Sociology class. I couldn't find the class, and it was supposed to start at 2pm but the lady who has the list of classrooms wouldn't be in until 2:30. By some stroke of luck I found the classroom by looking at the lists on the doors (this is a very large faculty, so it really was quite lucky that I found it) and saw that they had changed the class to 3pm. I left for a while and found a nice park next door, which is tucked away behind the faculty and I had never noticed before. When I came back at 3, nobody was there! I found the lady with the class lists, and she told me that it would be postponed until next week. So this is what they mean when people say that the first few weeks of class are hectic.

Friday night I went out to a movie at Hoyt's with some Tufts friends and Jon's host brother. We watched Mi Villano Favorito. It was really funny! Afterwards we went to a bar and got Mango Sours. Saturday I stayed in the house for most of the day, probably recuperating after such a busy week! (and -1 nights of sleep...) That night, I went to Daniel's house with Javi and two of her other friends to watch 500 Days of Summer. Her friends were really nice, but once again, I found the Chilean slang almost impossible to understand. Sometimes it sounds like a completely different language! What a difference from the adult spanish used here.

Today is Sunday. This morning my host family and Daniel's family drove to the Zoo, only to find out that it was closed due to the rain. Instead, we headed to the casino/arcade nearby. I had never been to a casino before, but had always thought it would be fun to try out. I guess there is such a thing as beginner's luck, because I won $30.00 in the course of about a half hour! I was also in need of a little cash after Valparaiso, so this was perfect timing. Now we're back and I'm trying to sort out what classes I'm going to tomorrow. First real week of classes is going to be interesting!

~Molly

New apartment, new family, new friends... new spanish dictionary?

What a week it's been!
This time last week, I was waiting for my family to pick my up at the hostel. It was so scary and exciting! I was picked up second to last of my orientation group, so the anticipation was killing me by the time they got there. Claudia, (my host mom) Javiera (my 19 year old host sister) and Daniel (Javi's boyfriend) all came to pick me up. It felt so funny to meet them for the first time! Even funnier was the fact that Javi and I look surprisingly alike- she also has long curly hair and brown eyes, and is a year younger than me. Claudia laughed when she saw me, saying that she wouldn't be able to tell us apart.
I spent most of the day moving my things into my room and getting situated. At lunch I found out two things: Claudia makes very good food, and I can actually communicate perfectly well with my host family. Both very good things! I spent most of the meal wondering at how I could speak with them AND understand what was going on. Somehow I had been imagining that all of my spanish would disappear once I had to actually use it in my new house. Fortunately it didn't.
At night I found out the best part of my new living situation- I have a scaldasono!!! What is this, you might ask? It is, in fact, the most wonderful thing possible to find in a country where there is no central heating. A mattress heater. This is my new favorite piece of technology. Only problem is, it is nearly impossible to get out of bed when it is literally generating its own warm toastiness. Oh, but it is so worth it.
Sunday morning I woke up feeling ecstatic. All that nervous energy I had pent up now translated into the most deliriously happy morning I have had for quite some time. The sun was coming in the window, I had a cute little room all to myself, I finally had clean clothes and a kitchen and a pet turtle, (!!!) and my host family was nice! I had chocolate cereal, manjar (dulce de leche) on toast, and tea and sat on the porch. Life was good.

Javi and I spent much of the day together, talking, making lunch, and later taking a test run through the micro and metro system. The micro bus system seemed a bit complicated, but not impossible to sort out.

Monday morning I had to wake up really early to go to the immigration office and apply for my Chilean I.D. It took a long time and the building was freeeezing, and I couldn't get the fingerprinting ink off of my hands for most of the day, but I am excited to get the card. Later we took a Spanish oral exam at the Universidad Catolica, where we will be taking Spanish class. (The rest will be at Universidad de Chile)

I cannot believe I will be taking Spanish classes in this place. It is beautiful! Old gothic (?) architecture, stone buildings, and a courtyard right outside the classroom? I can't believe people go to school there. And... now I will be going to school there?!

Monday night I ended up being alone for much of the night, because Javi was just starting a new job and so was Claudia. Tuesday morning, they gave me directions to the Tufts office and I took the micro bus for the first time! It worked out fine, but it is very difficult to learn a new bus system when you don't recognize where to get off. These first few weeks will be a lot of trial and error, I think.

From the Tufts office we headed to the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities, where we had a tour and orientation there. On the way back I got completely lost on the micro with Rebecca, and ended up on the wrong side of a highway. Oops. Again with the trial and error.

Tuesday night Javi and Claudia were at work until late again. Unfortunately, this meant I stayed up quite late and then realized I had to wake up at 6:30 for my first class! It's very different here, since an early class means that you have to leave the house suuuper early to get there in time on the micro and metro. Finding the class was a challenge, but the three other Tufts students and I who are in the class made it on time. In fact, the teacher was the one who was 15 minutes late! There was only one other student there, but luckily we found out that there are 9 other Chilean students signed up for the class, and that it technically starts next week. After the class I went back to the apartment, where I realized someone had stolen my Spanish dictionary out of the outside pocket of my bag on the bus. Really though? Nobody needs that more than I do! And it was so cute and miniature :( Luckily, I only keep the less valuable things in the outside pockets. At least they didn't take my tissues!

Later, I had a phone interview with the SFS Kenya program coordinator for this spring. After a 30 minute interview, she told me that I got into the program!!! Yay! I can't believe I am in Chile, and now might be going to Kenya in 6 months. What an incredible year!!!!!

Second week of orientation: lots of trips, lots of lectures, and too much wine

So much has happened since the last time I wrote!

The second week of orientation was very busy. I didn't end up going Salsa dancing on Saturday night, because everyone was feeling pretty under the weather. On Sunday most of our orientation group woke up feeling quite sick. Sharing pisco sours on Friday night probably wasn't the best idea! Pisco sours = amazing citrusy drinks made with pisco, a liquor made from grapes. They are very tasty and very popular here.
We spent Sunday morning at an artisanal village called Los Dominicos, where we had lunch while a live big band played. It was really sunny and beautiful there. Later we embarked on a "social geography tour": We started in Las Condes, where my host family lives. This is the richest area, full of tall buildings, malls, and nice apartments. It is the area closest to the mountains. From there we headed all the way to the southwest area, where we visited a poor community famous for dug trafficking, and toured a drug rehab center there. It felt a little awkward touring around this area with such a big group, but it was really interesting to talk to people there. It is incredible what an extreme difference there is between the economic classes in different areas of the city. Chile is often one of the top ten most economically divided countries in the world, and this tour made me really grasp the extent of the problem.
On Monday we had an early lecture by Robert Sandoval of the armed forces, and an afternoon lecture by Manuel Garreton on politics and the election process. I was so tired, I had a hard time taking any of it in. So many interesting lecturers crammed into such a short time period! After the lectures we went to a general orientation at UChile, (the university) which made me remember that we were actually going to LIVE here and go to school, and that this isn't just a two-week vacation.
Tuesday we watched a video directed by Peter Winn, then attended a lecture on women and work in Chile over the years. Afterwards, a rep from a women's rights group called SERNAM talked to us for a while. Gender difference is so much more prominent here. I have noticed it on the streets (catcalls and "sucking" at women- a very strange tradition) and also in signing up for classes. I tried to sign up for soccer, and was told that it was a men's sport and that there were only soccer class/teams for men. After encountering the same problem in most of the departments, I finally found one that accepted women. What a frustrating system.
During the rest of the week we went to La Moneda (the government building) for a tour, had lectures on religion and newspapers (there's one here that's like the newspaper version of the Daily Show- very funny) and had personal class advising sessions. We also took a trip to Valparaiso, which I LOVED. The city is really beautiful, with thousands of colorful buildings stacked up around a picturesque port with palm trees. Megan and I took off our shoes and ran on the cold beach. It was so refreshing! Later we visited Neruda's old house there and ate in a restaurant that we had to take an outdoor elevator to get to- it was extremely old and rickety and a little frightening, but once we got to the top the view was amazing! We all ordered different types of delicious fish on silver platters, and sat in a room of glass windows overlooking the ocean. Someday when I'm rich and famous I will eat there every day.
On Friday, we went to a Poblacion, a poor urban settled community. This one was famous for being the first that was taken overnight by people who organized in the 70s and settled on public land. This was seen as a big step for the urban poor, so they named this particular poblacion La Victoria. We talked to students who are working to bring together the youth in the community through soccer and mural painting in the city. I am hoping that I can have my semester internship there, and help them with the murals or other projects that ECO (program that works with the urban poor) does there.
Friday night we had our last orientation food experience at a fancy restaurant in Santiago. We all got big bowls of clams, mussels, and other seafood and meat in a broth, plus two delicious desserts and pisco sours, red wine, and champagne. I need to learn to hold my liquor a little better here, they serve so much at dinner and I have a bit of a hard time composing myself at the dinner table after 3 glasses...
After dinner we went to a salsa club called La Maestra Vida, which was very fun but not what I expected! It was very crowded, and people dance a different sort of street salsa here. Trying to follow/watching everyone else trying to follow was hilarious.

Saturday morning I packed for moving in with my new host family! Ah! I was so nervous and excited. It was a great two weeks, but we didn't really have to branch out very much, and I still hadn't done any significant exploring alone. I couldn't really picture what my life would be like after this- my family, my house, my neighborhood, and my school were still so unknown! We all brought our suitcases down to the lobby and waited...

Chilly Chile

Hello everyone!

I am currently in an internet cafe next to our hostel. It is frigid.
Thought I would give you an update on my life: Chile is AWESOME! I have been so incredibly busy every day, I can barely absorb it all. This orientation is really intense, but really interesting and fun too! We have been learning all about Chilean history, and learning from INCREDIBLE people, like the woman that ran the workers' union in Chile during the dictatorship, and a news reporter, and a guy who was tortured in the concentration camps here and took us on a personal tour of one of them. Soooo intense and sad but very interesting. I really didn´t realize how bad Pinochet´s rule was, but I am learning more and more that it was extremely horrific. It makes me appreciate our government much more.
The orientation isn´t all serious. We are also going on fun excursions, like wine tasting at this really fancy amazing vineyard, where we had the most delicious, enormous dinner EVER. Avocados, beef (the best I´ve ever tasted, and I know I´ve been a vegetarian, but seriously. amazing.) crab stuffed shells, mussels, rice with yummy spices and things, a ton of types of cheese, asparagus, swordfish, vegetable lasagna, three types of cake (merengue, dulce de leche, and peach) and chocolate truffles. The man serving us saw how excited I was about the truffles, and after serving everyone, came back and put the rest of them at my place. So funny!
The people here are really great. I am finding out more and more that they all have a great sense of humor. There isn´t the major obsession with Americans that I have sometimes found in Peru and Guatemala, which might be why people say that Chileans are less friendly than people in some other Latin American countries, but I have found them to be fun and friendly, often with a kind of ironic sense of humor. Today we went to the Aconcagua valley, and saw the second highest mountain in the Andes. It was beautiful! Later we talked with farmers who were part of a labor union there. They farm walnuts, and so after the talk we went to a really cute restaurant in the area, which was very homey with raisins and garlic and other things hanging to dry on vines on the ceiling, and a little woodstove. I sat next to Daniel, one of the men who spoke to us earlier, and he was the sweetest man ever! We shared stories about having horses growing up. : ) I thought I had the best food in the world at the vineyard, but actually I think it was here. We had WALNUT SOUP! It sounds strange but it was absolutely phenomenal. Creamy and warm and mild tasting, with chicken and potatoes in it. Soooo heavenly. Later we had a very unusual squash dessert which was sweet and apparently the "caviar of desserts in Chile." Afterwards we went to a musician lady´s house in the mountain area, where we had a gorgeous view of the mountains and she played us songs she had written. Then we all went to a Chicheria, a surprise. It turned out that it was a sort of moonshine making place, which was full of tubs of grapes fermenting with other spices. As the man there said, "this stuff would never pass any of the country´s regulations on drinks, but it´s the best Chicha you´ll ever find." I´m slightly curious about whether my stomach will be in pain tomorrow, but it was worth it! Soooo good. It tasted like mulled cider, with a little orangey grapey taste and a little alcohol.
What else... it is very cold here. VERY cold. I guess the actual temperature isn´t that bad, in fact it is above freezing, but there is no central heating anywhere! I sleep in my coat and scarf and two wool blankets every night! Quite the shock after the 90 degree weather we were having. I am a bit concerned that I am starting to get a cold, as is everyone else on the program. We shall see...
Last night I went on a much more successful discoteca trip than last weekend. We arrived late instead of at 11 like last time, (which I had THOUGHT would be late enough before we found out everything starts at 1230.) The place we went to was actually on the top floor of a parking garage! Kind of sketchy looking but it ended up being really fun! I went with a group of 11 other Tufts students. Danced with a very amusing guy named Antonio. His mom is an english teacher, so we spent much of the time switching between languages- it was quite challenging. It turns out that he lives right down the street that I will be living on this semester! What a coincidence. Maybe I will run into him again. Anyways, the discoteca was packkked with hundreds of people, and had colorful lights and great music. It´s awesome to be allowed into a place like that here!
Tonight I am trying to decide whether to go Salsa dancing. I will have to see if I am still feeling a bit under the weather in a few hours. But it´s so tempting!!!
Tomorrow we are leaving late in the morning to go to a shantytown. Should be very interesting. I have so much more to tell you but the keyboard in this internet cafe is impossible. And this is already an essay.

Miss you all!!!

~Molly