life is different, but good

sooo i'm not too good about updating everyday online, but I've jotted down somethings over the past few days that i've noticed/ wrote vaguely about my days, so i'm just copying/pasting...sorrry...oh and it wont let me upload pics for some reason, but you can see all my pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/caitlinbuck

Noticeable differences…

Sunday, July 29, 2007

-family is super important, at least in my family here…we/they can sit around the table after each meal for hours just talking about each other’s lives, what’s going on, etc. even if they come to a disagreement, each person does their best (or at least I think) to not offend the other, and it seems like everything eventually turns into a laughing matter…which I really like.

-hernan, the dad, does nothing in the house. This is very different from my house, where yes, my mom is in charge of most things, even if it’s just delegating responsibilities, but here, no, the dad doesn’t really do anything. From what ive seen/experienced so far, he watches tv or is on the computer all day, until he is called down for meals. At meals, he is always the first served, has his tea or other drink served according to what he wants that time. Janny always serves him tea after every meal, takes up his plate right when he is done so there isn’t a dirty plate in front of him, and the meal isn’t over until he wants to get up to leave, or until he has other better things to do. Today, he was laying in his bed watching tv, he called up his son from downstairs, and ‘ordered’ a coffee. I mean, my dad asks us to do stuff for him, but this is just really different for me…a type of machismo to the extreme. Also, he gets up in the morning early, and just acts like he’s the only one in the house, but everyone has to let it be and not argue cuz he’s the man…he’ll turn on the tv and computer and radio all at the same time right outside my room and his daughter’s room, it seems without any forethought that, yes, it is still 7 am on a Saturday morning and we would like to sleep. Other than that, its ok…

-from what ive noticed, there doesn’t seem to be much to this life down here. I mean that in the best possible way. Maybe its just because I have a professor dad and the mom bakes pastries from the house, but even from what ive heard from my friends about their families, it just seems a lot more low key, a lot of home and family time, and a lot less work time. like, its normal to see full families out in the middle of the day on the beach, boardwalk, park, etc.

-you really don’t need a whole lot of space to live, and one bathroom can work out. There’s one bathroom for the family, all the rooms are pretty small (mine is second biggest to the parents’ room), and every room is used. Versus having like 5 bathrooms, large, oversized bedrooms, and extra rooms with ‘off-limits’ furniture…there’s not really excess here, at least in my family. They live simply, and are all conscious of electric, water, etc costs. Ive gotten accustomed to waking up and opening the blinds instead of turning on the overhead light. Ive gotten accustomed to being cold and having to stand in front of the calefaccion or to throw on more layers in order to warm up. Ive gotten accustomed to always making my bed, putting everything away (even if its just thrown in the closet), and unplugging everything if im not using it. Ive gotten accustomed to waiting a week for my dirty clothes to come back; to family gatherings in my room just to chat and pet the cat, to having a ‘conversation’ and walking away not really knowing what was said to me, but knowing that apparently I did my part in listening; to sitting at the table for 2 or more hours listening to family happenings and being lost, trying to understand the jist of the conversation; to accidentally taking the wrong micro and having to find my way back home; and I think most importantly, I’ve gotten accustomed to not being afraid to ask what something means, or to have them repeat themselves, even 2 or 3 times for me to understand what they’re saying. I would say ive gotten accustomed to having people laugh at me for not understanding what’s going on, but I had that happen to me in the states so I guess im used to it…

I went to Museo Fonck today. It’s a museum about Rapa Nui, or more commonly Easter Island. It was really cool to see the progression of the advancement on the island from the original ‘tribes’ of people who lived there first. I went with Kam and Katie, and it was during this museum visit that I decided I had to go to Rapa Nui…we basically decided it was a must while we were here, so when I got home I decided to research flights out there…it costs anywhere from $600-$1500 for a roundtrip flight from Santiago…sooo we’ll see if I can actually make that happen…on the up side, while I was at it I researched flights up to Lima, Peru, and it only costs like $170 for a roundtrip flight…Macchu Picchu is definitely a go…now I just need a travel buddy. Anyway, after the museum we went to a mini theater performance at Palacio Rioja, the palace where one of the founding families of Vina del Mar lived. Obviously, compared to my house (which isn’t even bad) and the rest of the majority of Vina, this palace is exorbitant. Tons of rooms that I’m sure were never used, with fancy chandeliers and gorgeous furniture throughout. Vina was originally just an area where vineyards were located…no one lived here, until these two wealthy families decided to pack up and move out here where they basically established the town and owned everything as the city expanded. For a long time, it was just a wealthy suburb off of Valparaiso where wealthy families vacationed, but obviously more recently people have moved out here and established many many neighborhoods all throughout the city…while many people (cerca 200,000) live here, it’s still a very common vacation site for los Santiaguinos (peeps from dirty Santiago) to spend their summer months.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Today I went for a great run along the beach…it was perfect weather for shorts and a tshirt to go running, but apparently chilenos wear sweatsuits in this weather to go running…lets just say I more than stood out in my short and tshirt with my blond hair…After lunch I met up with a group of people to go walking around Valpo…it was great! It reminds me a lot of New York, or Chinatown in new york, but it still definitely has its own ring to it…I think no matter how much I go out exploring around the city, I’d still miss tons of cool things, like hole-in-the-wall shops or cafes…there are tons of little alleys connecting streets full of old and colorful buildings. I took my first ascensor today too! We went up Cerro Ascensor, and once we got to the top we had a great view overlooking a portion of the city, since it’s so big…we walked up some more hills and it was really nice and quaint up away from all the traffic and horns down below…tons of houses lining the streets, with small cafes, and cute cobblestone streets. I really liked looking out at the bay from way up there…really serene.

Later that night I went out with Andrew, Jeff, and four Chilean guys, one of whom Andrew had met on the plane on the way to Chile…at first it was pretty sketch, or flyte, (?), but we went to a pub and talked and drank beer for a while, and they all turned out to be really nice guys…a bit younger (18), but still really cool. I don’t know if it was just the fact that I was the only girl in the group of 6 other guys or what, but man I was treated like a queen, especially by the Chilean guys… (could just be the blonde hair, no doubt) They taught us Chilean slang and how life is around here, we exchanged numbers, etc…one of them, Raul, after I pseudo-tripped on the rocks on the beach where we went afterward, grabbed my hand and held it…I was like, yahhh no…but apparently, after talking to all the other Chilean guys, I found out that holding a girl’s hand is normal for friends…so I said that that’s what we do in the states with our girlfriend/boyfriend and he was like, yah us too, but we kiss them when we hold hands…or something along those lines…anyway, moral is that well, guys really take care of women down here, and that definitely wasn’t the first time ive noticed it to that extreme…also, they’re pretty touchy-feely, not in a gross way, but the whole concept of personal space doesn’t really exist down here…also, it seems like the micros down here are like loquisimos…on our way home that night we got on one at like 2 am (very early) with the music blasting with a group of teenage guys in the back of the micro jamming out and being all crazy with the driver…so of course me, jeff and Andrew started talking to them and man it was a crazy bus ride…going around all those curves and feeling like the micro might bring us to our deaths…

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Today at lunch it was just me, Gustavo, Janny and Hernan. We were all eating and such and then the cat started making this crazy noise, so Janny got up to go look at it…mind you, when I say ‘got up’ I mean, she took like 2 steps to the right to look out the window…when she did this, both Gustavo and Hernan immediately told her to sit down, that we’re eating lunch, this isn’t the time…I was really surprised! They weren’t mad at her or anything, but I don’t know, maybe it offended them or the meal or the custom or something…it’s just really weird to literally be placed in the middle of someone else’s family and life and bear witness to how they live and their lifestyle…at least now I know not to get up in the middle of a meal!

-mullets are everywhere
-cars/buses don’t pull over for sirens or flashing lights…doesn’t make the essence of ‘emergency’ seem very urgent…hmm

After lunch today Hernan went immediately upstairs and got in bed and turned on the tv. It’s a beautiful day outside…I just don’t get it…then when I was about to leave I walked by the parents room and now both were in bed watching tv…this is so weird. How do they not get bored? Go DO something.

k ciao!

i'm not in "gringolandia" anymore...

yes...my host family just told me that they, (basically all chilenos) refer to the USA as "gringolandia." Anyway...I'm here! I got to Chile about a week ago after dealing with some canceled planes, some delayed planes, and some really unhelpful airport people...after we arrived in Santiago, we went to a small town called Olmue where we had our program's version of orientation-basically getting tons of food shoved down us, learning about some basic cultural differences between the US and Chile, and making fools out of ourselves at our brief salsa/merengue dance lessons. The few days at the hotel in Olmue were kinda realllllly overwhelming, because they're basically just feeding you tons of information about Chilean culture, our host families, chilean language (which apparently is not spanish, it's Chilean and nearly impossible to understand), and what we ought to expect-or not expect- for our coming semester...I was soooo anxious to just get to Vina and meet my family and confront the city rather than sitting in a conference room listening to lectures about everything...all in all, in those 2-3 days, I felt more unsettled than I've felt in a long time, and it was sooooo hard to deal with it since I knew no one...

Anyway, we finally came to Vina del Mar where all of our families were waiting for us...everyone was nervous and excited and just really anxious to get settled and meet our 5-month family...hah...I was really scared about getting stuck with a witch or something but I lucked out...I have a mom and a dad, a 16 yr old sister Natalia, a 23 yr old bro Diego, and a 26 yr old bro Gustavo...the mom, Ale, is suuuper nice and accomodating, and most of all patient and talkative! Ever since i've arrived she's gotten me everything i need and more, and cooks great food! The dad, Hernan, is really nice as well, and pretty protective...the morning after i arrived he took me down by the coast to show me where it's safe to run where there are tons of people and a path and everything along the beach, and then when i went to take my first 'micro' (bus) by myself, he walked me to the bus stop and made sure the driver knew wehre i was going...I felt like I was in kindergarten all over again, but it's ok...i guess. Natalia and I are really starting to open up with eachother, and she's started teaching me "modismos chilenos," things that only native chileans say, so hopefully i'll be able to catch on here pretty soon...we'll see about that...the brothers are cool but i dont really see them much-theyre both in school and work and out of the house most of the time...
Vina, where i live, is a small city along the coast right next to (like 5 miles away from) Valparaiso, a large, bohemian port-city...There are colorful buildings/houses lining the streets and literally piled up the hill overlooking the bay...i really like it...havent explored the inner streets yet, but i know they're full of cool things to see/do/etc...
I'd say for now, i've never felt so limited in my ability to communicate with anyone...my family will talk to me a thousand miles a minute and i basically just sit there and smile and say 'si, si, si' over and over again...and then sometimes they'll ask me a question but i dont really know it, and they'll sit there and wait for a response, until they realize i have no idea what's going on...they're finally catching on that they talk super fast and mumble and i cant understand and the mom will say, "oh, she still doesnt understand," and then they manipulate the words alot and try to explain to me...oh my gosh it's frustrating...i really feel like a little kid learning a new language from the start. For all you spanish people, basically forget the majority of your verb conjugations, grammar and pronounciation, drop the end of most words, the beginning of the rest of the words, add a dictionary's worth of new words and phrases, some serious mumbling and speed talking, and youve got what they call Chilean. Apparently I missed the memo that chilean spanish would be this tough...

ok, more later...i'm off to freeze...there's no heat anywehre, so basically in order to get warm, you have to climb into bed...in a nutshell, getting out of bed in the morning is the worst part of my day...