small giants and puppets

Despite an almost complete lack of productive, income-generating work, I do love summer here in Chile. As mentioned previously, we recently celebrated the Carnavales Culturales in Valparaiso and Chile is celebrating it's 200th anniversary of country-hood all over. This means free carnivals, free theater, free public events, and lots of parades. This weekend the Pequeña Gigante, the Small Giant, is coming to Santiago! La Pequeña Gigante is a 5.5 meter marionette controlled by up to 30 Frenchmen and women, and Santiago is STOKED that she's there. Over a million people showed up this morning as la Presidenta Michelle Bachelet woke her up around 11am in a central plaza, and this huge doll/puppet proceeded to shower, dress, and eat breakfast. She's walking around the city, and will meet with her tio, el señor Escafandra, who measures 11 meters! Her recorrido or walk around the city is supposed to be full of surprises- I heard that when she was here in 2007 she stopped to go to the bathroom and a left several hundred liters of liquid in a giant puddle in the street! I'm heading to Santiago tomorrow to catch a glimpse of this spectacle, all part of the celebration Santiago a Mil. Check out images of la Pequeña Gigante by googling her name and checking out some pictures, and I'll try to take some as well. If you're really impressed and want to see her as well, I've heard that she's heading to Nueva York next!

Earlier this week I went to another production that was shown for free as part of the Bicentennial Theater Festival in Viña here, and I saw El Truco de Olej, or Olej's trick. It was great! The whole production was also done with puppets (what can I say, Chileans are crazy about seeing free puppets), manipulated by men. The cool thing is that it was all done under blacklight setting, and all of the actors were puppets, controlled by men that couldn't be seen. There were several "acts", all cool presentations of these puppets put to music. The best part was that at the end of the play, the 5 puppeteers came out and showed how they did it under normal lighting! It was a little bit like a magician revealing his/her secret, but it also made me appreciate their work. Check out a quick video here:

Other than free puppet presentations, I've been searching for more work (to no avail) and seeing friends who are visiting. Fellow UPS-er Kelsey was here earlier, having finally made it out of rainy Cusco, and it was great to see someone that I've known for more than just 6 months. Tonight I'm even heading to my first Chilean wedding! Two of Alvaro's friends here are getting married, and both of them have always been really nice to me, and I'm excited to celebrate with them.

So despite a lack of true productive activities, I'm entertaining myself quite well. It also seems likely that I'll be in Quito, Ecuador in September beginning a Masters program in Estudios Latinoamericanos with a mención or focus on agricultural studies. The program is 2 years, but the second year is spent writing a thesis and can supposedly be done from anywhere- the U.S., Chile, Antarctica, wherever the wind my take me! It's not a for sure decision, but I'm leaning towards the program and beginning my application while considering other options as well. I just thought I'd keep everyone updated on my plans as they come along.

Besos and abrazos para todos. May your days be filled with as many free puppets as mine!

Carnavales y más

This weekend was a busy one- Valparaíso celebrated the Carnavales Culturales, and two of my foreign friends left to back home. The despedidas are sad, but it's pretty cool when Valpo says goodbye with a sweet carnaval.

The cultural carnivals in Valpo happen every summer, and Valpo usually invites other countries to come and "present" parts of their culture through dance, music, and a "pasacalles"- basically a parade with floats. When I went two years ago, they invited Uruguay. This year they invited Chile, in honor of the bicentennial, but Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina all had representations. Carnavales mean that the plano section of Valpo FILLS with people at night and during the day, and it's a cool opportunity to listen to popular bands, both foreign and local, to see dance productions, buy artensania, and revel in some of the best people watching of the year. After despedida #1 (tacos, delish) on Friday, we headed into Valpo to hear the concert and dance. Saturday was despedida #2 at the toma, where I enjoyed delicious grilled zucchini (I know, right?! I ate zucchini and it was rico!) as well as pascualina (like a spinach pot pie), potato salad, bread, watermelon, and various drinks including a lucuma pisco sour like option. The toma is pretty ridiculously high in the hills in Valpo, so we didn't go down for the Carnavales, but I came back to Valpo on Sunday for the pasacalles- the parade. There were lots of people, but more than people there were lots of PAPER CIRCLES. You know how when you three-hole punch a document and then you have those little paper circles left? People sell bagfulls for 100 pesos (~20 cents) and then children and adults throw it like confetti to celebrate. Poor street cleaners, and poor children that get paper in their eyes- I saw at least two!






So you can see what else I've been up to, here are some more pictures. Since it's pretty much impossible for me not to talk about food, here's a picture of the feria, one of my vegetarian BBQ, and one of my humtias. Finally, a picture of where I live- see the big arched church? I live straight up a hill, behind it. Keep in mind that the church is already up a long hill.






love love to all. what are people up to???

more talk about food

And thus summer continues, calmly.

I spent most all of my time last week working an English Summer camp, which my first experience teaching Chilean adolescents. It's a bit different- I got called "la Miss" a lot more than I do with my adult students, and the activities were much more games/fun-based rather than vocab or grammar based, as it is with adult students. Also, I was using a curriculum designed by the Ministry of Education instead of creating my own material, which was a bit different. Still, the students were mostly sweet and nice and really REALLY interested in my story for being in Chile and what it is/was like for me. Being a bit older than them all and being a foreigner allowed me to finally maintain the intrigue that I always hope to have (the "exotic" foreign professor didn't go over as well with my tourism young professional students because they immediately started asking me personal questions and there went any hope of mine of maintaining my intrigue). The students mostly addressed me with the formal, respectful "usted" form rather than the informal "tú" form, which was something that I haven't experienced much with my adult classes, mostly because adults are less embarassed about their English and are less likely to use Spanish in class. At the end of the week, one of the students that I was working with on a dance performance project asked me, "cuantos años teni?", which is a very informal, casual, among-friends way of asking how old I was (she didn't use either the formal usted OR the informal tú- instead she used the über casual vos form). Another dancer turned to her, appalled. "You can't tutear her! She's a PROFESORA!" At that point, the first, casual-using dancer replied that she thought it was unlikely that I was a señora with 5 kids at home, and that she hadn't meant any disrespect. I just got a kick out of it all, mostly because I knew that they were never totally sure how much of their Spanish I understood.

Other than confusing chilean adolescents with my baby face yet respect-deserving position, I've been researching, enjoying the summer weather, and cooking. Yesterday we hosted a vegetarian BBQ, complete with black bean patties and garbonzo bean patties that I made, plus shish-ke-babs with veggies and pineapple. Of course, watermelon, honeydew, and potato chips were also involved. While none of the guests were actually vegetarian (all of my veg friends were either working or busy), I think it was mostly a hit.

On Friday I made humitas, a typical chilean food made out of mashed corn, basil, onions, and a bit of milk. I have always loved humitas, but never participated in the process of creating them, so I thought it was high time. I bought the humero corn at the feria, picked some of my fresh basil from my garden, and went to the internet for a recipe. With some help from Alvaro's grandma regarding the consistency, we managed to create some super rica humitas. I didn't manage to wrap them in the corn husks as I wanted, but I ended up making them in a pot, which, I was assured, is a totally acceptable method of preparation. You can eat humitas either salty or sweet, so I naturally split my bowl and enjoyed both humitas salados and dulces.

Now I'm preparing for my few English classes, researching for my Rotary scholarship, and planning which of the many free theater productions being shown in honor of the Bicentennial I want to see.

Elections have come and gone, and Chile is preparing for the first right-wing President since the dictatorship 20 years ago. While I was not particularly pleased with either of the candidates, I must admit that I'm not terribly excited about this change. I worry that the rich will get significantly richer (the President-elect is one of the most successful businessmen in Chile) and the poor will be ignored, but we shall see. It's exciting to have been in 2 countries within 2 years watching different elections.

I hope all is well with everyone. Besos y abrazos

alumnos y abejas

This week I've been working an English summer camp, which has been mostly fun. I like my other teachers (profes, or as most of my kids say, "Miss!") that I work with, and the kids are 13-15 years old, and mostly decent. We have lots of fun activities planned, including going to the beach, the pool, and a local park. They've been learning some things, but mostly they dance, they sing, and they play games.

Unfortunately, today I got stung by a bee. I just stepped (during the fieldtrip to the park), and the little devil grapped onto my big toe. I tried to kill it for at least 30 seconds, meanwhile it sucked out my soul and destroyed my big toe. Now it's being iced and elevated, but I think I'll be OK.

More about the little devils (both of the bee and student variety) later.

I hope all are well and not too congealed with cold.

summertime and the livin´s easy

OK, so I might seem like a broken record, but fruit here during the summer really is incredible. Being such a food-centered person, I´m lucky to live in a country so full of delicious food that fresh produce is one of the primary exports.

To procure above mentioned deliciousness, there are several options. You can go to the supermarket, and buy fruits and vegetables at prices that are mostly similar to prices in the U.S. This fruit almost always has the stickers on it, that means that it was originally intended for export, and probably didn´t pass some aesthetic or quality control spot. The fruit and veggies there usually look good, and are of decent quality. You can get more ´processed´ produce as well- pre-shredded carrots, pre-cut cabbage, or shrink wrapped cilantro. Fruit is picked out much like it is in the U.S.- the consumer picks the fruits that he or she wants, and then goes to weigh it.

If you don´t want to go to the supermarket, you can go to any produce vendor on the street. These vary significantly- some are pretty big, and are like any other store on the street. Others are more like street-side kiosks, and sell fewer varities and fewer quantities as well. The prics here are sometimes cheaper than the supermarket. Customers at the kiosks are more likely to be looking for a snack or a lunch addition- it´s more common to pick out a single apple/banana/small bunch of grapes or handle of cherries. At the produce vendor stores, it´s more common to buy fruit by the kilo, rather than by the number (so, I´ll have half a kilo instead of I´ll have 3 of those).

Finally, you can go as directly to the source as is possible here in Viña and Valparaiso and go to the feria or the open market where gazillions of kilos of fresh produce is sold. These ferias can be gigantic. In Valparaiso, there is a feria every day on the downtown streets (when the garbage people went on strike it was disgusting there). In Viña, there is a feria on Wednesday and Saturday. The ferias don´t just sell fresh fruits and vegetables- they sell fish, flowers, eggs, cheese, nuts, dry beans, olives, and herbs. That´s not the end of the economic opportunities there either- there are porters who constantly walk around, looking around to carry your heavy bags for you, several old ladies who claim to be blind sell burlap sacks in which you can place your heavy goods, and vendors who have bought entire sacks of oranges walk around with small shopping carts filled with oranges waiting to use their juicers and sell you a fresh, full cup of orange juice for 70 cents.

At the ferias, goods are mostly sold in bigger quantities, mostly by the kilo. A few things, namely pineapples, mangoes, some watermelons, and single heads of lettuce or bunches of spinach are sold by the unit, but most things are sold by the kilo. The quality of the produce is less guaranteed, but many vendors will cut open an avocado or orange or lemon or whatever to show the quality that supposedly all of their fruit is. Most produce is not sold with the aesthetic factor in mind the way it is in the US.

Last weekend when I went on Saturday, there were almost no vegetables (only tomatoes) because the campesinos (farm workers in the countryside) had apparently taken the week off to celebrate the New Year. So I needed to get some more. Despite the fact that it´s just Alvaro and me in the house these days, we still managed to buy at least 15 kilos in total of fruits and vegetables. Plums, peaaches, white cherries, avocados, bananas, apples, pineapple, oranges, watermelon, honeydew, broccoli, peppers, lettuce, spinach, carrots, potatoes, lemons, tiny squashes, goat cheese, almonds, green olives and 2 sunflowers- we´re ready to truly aprovechar or take full advantage of the fertile chilean soil. And all for less than $30!

The worst part is schlepping everything back home. We can either take a taxi (expensive), take a colectivo (shared taxi with fixed route) and pay the driver for the remaining seats so that he takes you directly to your house (about $4- also kind of pricey), or walk about 10 blocks to a stop on the route of a colectivo that passes right in front of our house, and put the goods in the trunk- much more reasonable (about $1.60). Still, it´s quite the strain on my shoulders walking with my half of the 30+ lb. load of food in two burlap sacks carried below hip-level (OK, so I probably never have to lug the full half because I usually take the 2 lightest bags).

At the end of the ordeal (well, not an ordeal for me- I like going to the feria and smelling everything and seeing the literal TONS of food), you get to enjoy the deliciousness. I´m planning on taking a plum and some cherries as a snack today. MMMMM. The only thing missing is an apple banana.

The beginning of the...twenty-tens? what IS this decade called?

Home was great. I saw almost all of my family (I'm sorry I couldn't see you, Aunt Janet et. all!), and a few friends as well. It was nice to cuddle up in warm clothes again, drink good teas and coffee, and be with friends and family for the holidays. I'm next scheduled to return to the U.S. during the last week of May 2010.

Until then, I'm in Chile, and it's now been almost a week since I've been back here. I've been mostly hanging out, trying to figure out English class hours, and researching for this Rotary scholarship. I've also been doing a lot of eating- lots of fresh fruits (watermelon and honey dew are finally cheap and in season- yes) and, of course, catching up on my daily bread intake.

A few days ago a friend from study abroad 2 years ago came down with 3 other friends and they crashed here for a few days, which was lots of people here but lots of fun. We all ended up going down to the pier for the New Years- it was pretty incredible. Around midnight the fireworks extravaganza began. New Year in Valparaiso is always a pretty big deal, but this year it was the 200th anniversary of Chile's independence, and they were competing for a Guiness Book of World Records title of biggest New Years display and party. I don't know if they won, but it was pretty incredible. The entire coast, from Valparaiso to Con Con was lit up! And there we were, on a pier jutting out into the ocean with a pretty sweet view of EVERYTHING. There was live music, and tons of people including other friends of mine came, so it was a good night, with the exception of completely non-functional cell phone service, which made it hard to meet up with people.

Earlier during the night, Alvaro and I began preparing to make a festive meal for the 4 chiquillas staying at the place- we made our famous vegetarian lasagna (delish), some potato balls cooked in the oven (hard to describe except very slightly like a tator tot- guess who thought that potatoes and lasagna would be a good combination again?), veggies and an incredible tsatsiki (if a may say so myself), and a bomb fruit salad with a cooked strawberry sauce that I invented. I thought everything worked out well, and we celebrated with wine and champagne (from the region of Champagne, France, so it's legit to call it champagne) to top it all off. It was a nice celebration.

Since then, we had some friends over for pizza and mojitos (Alvaro gave me a pizza pan to make pizza on, complete with a cutter and server), and last night we went to a friend's costume birthday party dressed as gypsies. My costume options are severely limited here, and I even considered wearing some of Maia's costumes (that fit me oddly well) instead. The other costumes there were pretty cool, especially considering that themed parties are much less common here than in the U.S. We came with our friends, a vagabond (complete with black nail polish on his teeth), a geisha, and a leopard, and while there we saw a couple that came in as giant cartons of milk- like, complete cardboard ensembles that covered their entire bodies and faces. It was pretty incredible.

But it hasn't just been costume parties and breaking world records for large celebrations. I've been researching for the Rotary scholarship, trying to figure out where and what I want to study next year as I have the privilege to represent Rotary as an Ambassadorial Scholar. I've been trying hard to balance my criteria of academic interests, interesting cities, and SAFE cities, and it's taking a while. Right now I'm considering a few options in Quito, Ecuador, and a few in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When I have a clearer idea of my future plans, I'll let everyone know. I've also been trying to figure out where I'll get my work hours this time- I'm picking up a few more individual students, and I'll probably work a summer school as well.

It's time to soak the garbanzo beans- I'm making falafel tonight to use up the tsatsiki. I hope everyone is warm, not too blizzard-ed out, and that 2010 is a good year for everyone. sending love and hugs!