For example: I am currently sitting in Starbucks in Viña, drinking BREWED COFFEE from a paper (not styrofoam) cup. And they are playing Christmas music. And the Christmas music is English.
When I went downstairs to get more coffee (and show Chile just how much of a consumer I can be...), I heard more English-speaking people than I've ever heard in one place, except when there are reunions with all the other gringos here. Baby it's Cold Outside in English + English speakers + coffee = super happy Colleen.
And it's kind of pathetic that it makes me feel like that. That Starbucks feels like home? Kind of low. But at the same time, it makes sense. It makes sense that something familiar is comforting.
As I'm sitting here, a young boy of about 12 walked in and put rosary beads on all of the occupied table. We all ignored them, pretended they weren't there, and waited for him to come back and recollect them. Then he asked for money, and I said no. And I felt that pang that's become part of everyday life here, the one that reminds me I'm refusing to help people even though I could.
Do I really even have the right to feel so comfortable and at home right now, when I know that right outside the door there are billions and billions of people struggling to get by?
It is Thanksgiving morning. I'm awake finishing up some things for my essay exam today. And then I'll probably go to the beach. Tonight our study abroad program is having that Thanksgiving dinner I think I mentioned in an earlier post. Kind of a bizarre way to spend Thanksgiving, but I'm not complaining. I have nothing to complain about. And though it's super cliche and reminds me of second grade, I'm going to make a list of what I'm thankful for this year. So that when I start being whiny again, I'll remember.
I'm thankful I have family members who love me, however far away I wander. And however dysfunctional we all know we can be (immediate and extended included....), I wouldn't trade it for the world. And I'm thankful for the way my family has grown with the addition of new people, whether by birth or marriage, that I now could never imagine my life without.
I have amazingly wonderful friends who put up with me. My family has to - - my friend s choose to (those crazies). And whether you're back in Andover, have dispersed to various cities from Nashville, or will be sitting at the same dinner table as me in Chile, I appreciate you all. And don't say it nearly enough.
I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to aprovechar all these incredible experiences. Vanderbilt, Chile, Alternative Spring Break, Ecuador..... All things that I've dreamed of doing, and that are finally happening.
I'm thankful that I've always slept warm and full, regardless of the country I'm in or who is there taking care of me.
I'm lucky to be young and healthy. And even luckier to be realizing this while I'm still young and healthy.
I'm thankful that in 16 more days, I'll be drinking REAL COFFEE (okay, you can't expect this all to be serious...)
I'm thankful for Skype. For real. What would I have done without this amazing tool that allowed me to keep in touch with everyone? And now I still get to talk to everyone on Thanksgiving!
There's more. I know there is. And these are the types of things that I need to remember; focus on the amazing things I have instead of getting wrapped up in what I'm frustrated with at the moment.
That is a sentence I utter frequently. Two words, and they can mean A BILLION things depending on the intonation.
"OHhh, Chile." A loving sigh. "OHHH CHILE!" Excited to see what's around the corner. "Ohhhh ho ho ho, Chile..." Slightly disgusted, taken aback or "Ohhhhh, Chile...." Minorly exasperated, but mostly amused. Today (this week...) has been a lot of numero cuatro.
Classes are ending, finals are beginning. Okay, mejor dicho: Classes are ending, finals SHOULD be beginning.... Let's do a rundown of my classes:
Historia moderna de chile: Our other two tests have been in-class essays. We have to write either two or three essays, which need to be pretty long and developed. Makes it hard to get an amazing score, since there isn't too much time. Granted, it is open notes, but that almost makes it harder since he KNOWS everything that you could be including. So for this exam, we convinced him (or really we just asked him) to give us the questions beforehand. Thus, tonight I will write all but one of the essays, so I only have to write one in class tomorrow. Wahoo! Cuentos contemporaneos: Meh, no big surprises here. Still need to turn in my anthology on Monday. Psicologia de la adolescente: Profesora let me use my dictionary on our final today. SCORE HUGE!! Historia de la memoria colectiva: Haha I love this story. Okay, so we were supposed to have a test in October. But it never happened. And instead, we got a take-home essay. So we were supposed to have another test tomorrow, but with all the crazy scheduling conflicts between the rotating professors for the class, it was cancelled. So now I have one grade for this class. Hmm... And it's not that great of a grade. BUT AT LEAST I'm done with this class.
So, with all this mind, I go to my grammar class this afternoon where I had to make up an exam that I missed during my Patagonia adventure. (Sidenote: Profe had already decided to not give one of the exams. Again, another take home thing. Much easier. Mejor) So we walk into class, and profe has forgotten the pruebas.... Sarah decides to ask him if we can just have our first quiz count twice, and not even take the second quiz. I giggled a little bit as she did this, thinking "HOW IN THE WORLD WOULD A PROFESSOR AGREE TO THIS?!"
Then I remembered. I'm in Chile. He said yes.
Ohhhhh Chile......
PS!! I just found out that I got into a program in Ecuador this May!!!!!! So as I complain about living in a foreign country... I'm about to do it again!
Thanksgiving is in three days. Well, less, since Monday is nearly over. And while all of you up north are fussing over pie crust and the weight of your birds, I'm working on my final projects and exams, planning trips to the beach, and winding down here.
Our study abroad program is graciously hosting a Thanksgiving for the gringos on Thursday, and the students were asked to supply the desserts. So what is a New England girl to bake? WHOOPIE PIES, obviously. (Sidenote: I didn't learn these were regional until I went to college in Nashville. SORPRESA!)
However, baking/cooking in Chile has proven to be EXTREMELY difficult, due to the different ingredients, measurements, that whole Celsius things. I've had a few mishaps. Some really gross treats. So my friend Natalie (from New Hampshire-- she knows what's up) and I decided to attempt it anyways.
Issues: 1. They don't have shortening, so we used manteca. Manteca = lard. 2. Finding marshmellow fluff. The only reason I even attempted this desert was because my friend Sarah had found this while we were in La Serena. So I knew it was in the country. 3. Cocoa powder. Just hard to find. We found it, but it was harder than I thought it would be. It was by the hot chocolate mix, in the coffee and tea aisle. OBVIOUSLY... 4. Sugar granules here are HUGE for some reason. Makes some funny textured things. 5. Confectioner's sugar is not sold in boxes. It is sold in little baggies of 100 grams, because no one uses it. 6. Baking soda is only sold at pharmacies, not in the supermarkets. Not even the GIANT Super WalMart-esque markets. Thus, flour comes with baking soda already in it. So you don't get to choose your proportion or anything. Hmm..
First batch was a bit interesting. Kind of bland. Not chocolately. Not sweet. So we adjusted the recipe...
And we made whoopie pies. In Chile. It's stupid to be that proud of, but it kind of is an accomplishment to be able to cook something correctly here.
Also, I bought salad dressing from the store the other day. They only had Thousand Island, but I was in a home mood and splurged. So tonight, I had salad with salad dressing and whoopie pies.
Alright. So these are going to be incredibly disorganized blog posts, as opposed to how perfectly I normally try to do it. Oh well. Asi es la vida.
TUESDAY Tuesday we arrived in Punta Arenas. Seriously, I was barely functioning. Sarah had to save me from walking in front of cars too many times to count. I wish I was kidding. . . . Recuperation would take more than one night, we quickly learned.
We had a great dinner that night, though. We met up with two of the other girls that Sarah knew, and they stayed at the same hostel and stuff.
We also bought HORRIBLE cookies this day. HORRIBLE. They don't have brown sugar here, which means all cookies = bad.
Good news: Felt really proud of myself/ourselves for the most part of this day. Yeah, we might have turned back a day early. But we still did it.
Bed early. I think. Who knows --- it was still light out.
WEDNESDAY We wandered around the city this morning, to the cemetery (where you'll see the pictures of the awkward-looking trees). We saw some sculptures, and went to a mirador where you can see everything of the city. Beautiful views, everwhere, a la Chile.
We had one penguin tour canceled on us this day. We were going to go to a sanctuary-type place, where they roam free. But the weather was too bad, so we ended up getting rescheduled for a different place. It was probably for the better, quite honestly. The first one had more hiking. I didn't really have the ganas to hike.
ALSO! On this day, Sarah scored some AMAZING stuffed penguins!! Look for them in the pictures!
THURSDAY Today, we took a ferry to Porvenir, which is one of the most accessible cities of Tierra del Fuego, the largest island in South America. Sarah played with a little kid on this boat ride. He was from TdF, which makes him a FUEGINO!!! Baha, funny word to say!
Porvenir is a tiny town. Nothing was open. We had 2 hours there, and it was PLENTY (read: too much). But all of the people there were SO NICE. Well, in the entire southern part of Chile. They said hello. They drove slowly. They let you cross. Kind of the opposite of the rest of Chile...
Ate an awkward lunch on the boat. Bread and cheese. Ohh, Chile. But we had good conversations on the 2 hr boat ride back. It was cool to think hard again, in a way other than linguistically.
At 9:20 pm, the sun was stil up. And I realized that I really didn't want to go back to school EVER.
FRIDAY We went to Isla Magdalena this day. Another penguin reservation. Billions of penguins (legit 100,000). SO CLOSE TO THEM!! Insane.
We also met some cool people from the US. The husband was working in the south on a NASA mission. Cool beans.
Worth getting up at 5:30 for.
SATURDAY This day, we did a tour of the southernmost cities. Puerto Hambre, Fuerte Bulnes. Cool stuff!!
Also, we killed 2 1/2 hours in a cafe before our 1 am flight.
Oh traveling. I'm amazed at how comfortable I've become traveling. Even though it makes me feel nomadic.
