Valpo Day 2

So I lied...

I thought I would have time on my birthday to show you my second day in Valpo but clearly that didn't happen. Instead my lovely friends took me to dinner and bought me a cake. I had a great time, but obviously that meant no blog. Eh... whatevs! So I thought I would finally upload the second part of my Valpo adventure. I'm actually going back to Valpo tomorrow for some more birthday shenanigans, so look out, I might have even more pics to upload soon! In the mean time I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Awesome murals on the walk to Pablo Neruda's house, La Sebastiana.

The view from our walk to La Sebastiana.

Even the cars have graffiti ha!

The gift store at La Sebastiana. I thought that the window was cool (and I was bored while I waited in the longest line of old Brazilian women to use the bathroom).

Inside La Sebastiana. It was amazing! I've always loved going to houses that have been turned into museums. It's usually my favorite type of touristy thing to do. La Sebastiana did not disappoint. For those who don't know, Pablo Neruda is sort of Chile's national icon. He was a diplomat and a poet. He won the Nobel Prize and Chileans are very proud of him. He reminds me of the type of person that would have hung out with Hemingway or Fitzgerald... but the Latin American version. Anyhooooo... La Sebastiana (one of three of his houses that are now museums) is really awesome. 

The view from the living room of La Sebastiana.

A carousel horse in the living room.

I liked this little cow guy.

The view (again).

The outside of the house.

Me being all touristy.

A random abandoned house with graffiti that I spotted on my walk down the hill from La Sebastiana.

Proof that most cats are very rude.

An old prison that's now a park.

More views of more hills... that's kind of what Valpo is (ha!).

A view of Cerro Alegre... that church you see in the middle is very famous.

More pretty boats at the harbor.

One of the elevators we took. These things are CRAZY old (and slightly terrifying).

A yummy yummy breakfast restaurant.

Machismo kills.

A graffiti of Van Gough painting.

Salvador Allende graffiti (Allende was president of Chile before Pinochet took over in a coup. It is unclear whether Allende committed suicide or was killed by Pinochet's men).

The horrific bus we took back to Santiago. I'm going to avoid TurBus in the future if I can. This bus smelled AWFUL. It was super dirty, there was graffiti all over everything (and not the pretty Valpo kind). AND there were gross couples all around us that insisted on making out the entire ride... they were VERY loud.

Well that's all for now folks! I'll keep you updated... I have a lot of plans for this weekend so I should have some cool posts coming up (also another story about the children involving prosthetic eyes...).

XX

A

Chi-Chi-Chi Le-Le-Le

Hello world!

How are you all?

A slight change of plans... you see I was going to write about Valpo day 2, but Chile just qualified for the world cup for the first time in 15 years or something.

I'm currently sitting in my room and outside there's a symphony of car horns. People are FREAKING out! Everyone is going to Plaza Italia (a few blocks away from my house) and I can hear the vuvuzelas and screaming from my room. As I mentioned, I was going to write a post about Valpo, but it seems so much more pertinent to show you what I've viewed from my apartment!

The reaction is what I would expect from a country that had won the world cup--not from a country that qualified to be in the world cup! It's been about an hour and the honking has not stopped, and more and more people are pouring out of their houses to make their way to Plaza Italia. I snapped some (not very good) pics from my phone (my camera was dead... I charged it a bit and got some OK videos). Hopefully you can see at least a snippet of some of the excitment!

They have yet to stop... so we'll see if I get to sleep tonight!

In other news tomorrow actually happens to be my birthday (10/16) so I'll do a Valpo post as a gift to myself? Ha... I guess!  Goodnight world!

XX

A

Valpo Day 1

Hello!

This weekend was lovely. Neither my roommate nor I had ever been to Valparaiso. We decided to bite the bullet and instead of waiting for the friends we had intended to go with (each of us with a different set of friends) we decided to go together. We both wanted to see the city, get away from Santiago, and relax. It was totally worth it! People are always telling me that Valpo is the best and coolest. I definitely see what they mean. It reminded me of home (Berkeley+San Francisco) and the people were much more relaxed than here in Santiago. I still like Santiago (I think it's underrated), but I get why everyone oohs and ahhs over Valpo.

Our first day we walked to our hostel from the bus station (AKA hiked up a huge hill in incredible heat and inappropriate footwear). Once we settled into our (AWESOME) hostel we set out for lunch. We were starving! The guy who runs the hostel, Poroto (Chilean Spanish for bean), told us a good fish place we should try. This entailed us walking down the hill, taking a crazy old funicular/tram type of thing and walking through a pretty stinky fish market. I think, however, that it was worth it. The food was AWESOME!

After finally eating something we went down to the waterfront to take a boat tour of the harbor. Valpo is a port town and there's actually a lot to see from the water. The boat we took was very Chilean, AKA little safety provisions/looked like it would break apart while we were all on it. There was a very funny (flaite-esque (flaite in the Chilean term for white trash)) guy who sat on the edge of the boat (we were certain he would fall off) and explained the harbor to us (in Spanish, obviously). He was very nice, but he had the longest scariest fingernails in the world (clearly you all need to know that).

I've got to run and get ready but I'll leave you with some pictures from the day! There more to come, so get ready internet!

The view form the roof of our hostel.

Fish in a delicious sauce.

The Chilean understanding of Salad... AKA a few vegetables with iceberg lettuce.

The harbor (crazy colorful)

Me being a dork in a life coat... only now realizing how awful this picture is. Oh well!

Sea Lion hanging out in the harbor. 

A view of Valpo from the water.

Various shipping things... like a more colorful version of Oakland!

One of the main plazas in the city (don't know why I took this picture, but now you can see a piece of the city... woohoo)

As I said, much more is on the way. In the mean time, have a great Monday (I don't know that that's possible... but good luck trying!).

XX

A

Spotted...

These drummer guys are all over the place... this was a whole family of drummers. The little kid was TOO CUTE.

This guy trotted past while I was waiting for the bus earlier today.

That's all for now!

XX

A

Recently

Hello, Internet.

It's the middle of another CRAY-ZAY week. It never ends! I'm, as usual, totally busy and a little bit overwhelmed by everything I have to do, but it's Wednesday. I have one more crazy day and then it's essentially the weekend! Anyways... here are some random pics form the last few days (excuse horrific pic quality... all pics taken on my phone):

My breakfast the other day... I edited this photo on an app on my phone called Aviary... looking for a similar app for my computer but can't find anything that lets me do all of the things my phone app does! Any suggestions?

I finally finished my visa process this week! Despite arriving CRAZY early I was number 73!!

The many papers and machines involved when I was finally called up to finish my visa process... 3 hours later!!!

I made SUPER YUMMY burritos a few days before I started my no-gluten diet. Mmm. Despite how yummy this was, I actually don't miss eating bread/pasta at all #win.

This sign pissed me off. You see in Chile you have to throw toilet paper into the trash (never in the toilet). This obviously applies to female hygienic products. In some businesses, there is a special trash can for hygienic products. I was annoyed when this special hygiene trashcan had a sign that read "maintain the secret." As though the use of feminine products is some huge secret... like hello, it's just another annoying piece of life... My point is the sign struck me as another piece of South American sexism. I'm not feeling particularly articulate, but maybe someone out there will understand my annoyance. If not, then enjoy this random (and not good) picture of critical bathroom instructions.

That's all for now folks! Talk to ya soon!

XX

A

A Note About Food

Food. I talk about it a lot on my blog and I'm afraid you, lovely reader, are in for another post about food. I recently read Wheat Belly, a book about how modern wheat affects the digestive system. Full disclosure: I have IBS (such a fun cute disorder!) and the book goes into great detail about how gluten and wheat can impact your digestive system--especially for those with IBS and more serious disorders. Over the last week I've decided to cut out as much gluten as possible. This basically means no pasta, bread, pastries, and EMPANADAS. EEK! You'd think it would be hard to do... especially in Chile. It actually hasn't been that hard. I eat out so infrequently here so it's really a matter of being careful about what I purchase at the grocery store.

Over this last week I've been relatively successful. I've avoided most obvious forms of gluten/wheat, but I've definitely had some accidental gluten. Yikes. Most of my diet has consisted of vegetables, meat, rice, oatmeal, and dairy. And this week, because I had hardly any time to go to the store, I mostly ate oatmeal. Ha! Anyhoo today I finally made it to the feria. I was able to buy everything I need for the week (and then some) for about $20 USD. I've done a post on the feria before, but this time I went to a different, bigger one. It's always more crowded on the weekend, but there's more to choose from. I got...

-Bananas
-Walnuts
-Flax Seed powder
-Toasted honey quinoa (it's like cereal!)
-Zucchini
-Asparagus
-Honey
-Potatoes
-Avocados
-Tomatoes
-Carrots
-Mushrooms
-Strawberries (super sweet!)
-Cauliflower

I'm pretty sure I'm missing something... but that's the bulk of it! I'm pretty excited about my haul... I have some good recipes I'm thinking of making so I'll keep you guys updated!

In the mean time, here are some pics from the feria and one random meal I ate this week.

I made this pretty yummy concoction the other day... I made my yummy stir fry sauce (honey+soy sauce+ginger+garlic+oil+pepper) with chicken, mushrooms, zucchini, and onion. Then I put is in huge cabbage leaves. Mmmm. Tasty. 

The feria (vintage filters... cause I'm cool like that)

Mmmmm... strawberries (another vintage filter).

A crazy stall at the feria with weird toys. Very odd.

Well that's all for now, folks. I hope you are well and I'll be back soon!

XOXO

A

Gum on the Floor

It's been WAY too long since I've posted and for that I apologize. I'm writing this as I sit in my student's swanky lounge. I got here insanely early. On Tuesday I left my house at 9:05 and did not arrive at my class (the one I'm currently waiting for) until 10:08. The class starts at 10… so not ideal. In order to avoid this trauma I left my house today at 8:55. I figure, leave 10 minutes earlier, arrive 10 minutes earlier. False. I arrived at 9:30! Half an hour early for class and 40 minutes earlier than I arrived last time. Santiago, you and your bizarre traffic patterns never cease to confuse me!

My absence can be attributed to a multitude of tasks and annoying activities. I've been working on some things for next year which has taken up a lot of my time. By next week most of my planning for next year will have calmed down (I hope!). I've also been in overdrive since my student gave me his soul-crushing (albeit accurate) comments about my class. I've done everything I can to address the situation, but that's meant planning classes to a tee and not blogging.

I don't have much time at the moment to write a proper post but I will hopefully get back to posting more regularly soon. I will, however, leave you with this anecdote about gum in Chilean classrooms…

Before I came to Chile I read this weird book about Chilean culture. Pieces of the book are incredibly accurate, but other pieces of the book are clearly written for wealthy expats moving to Chile for important business reasons… certainly not for teachers going into poor neighborhoods to teach children. According to this book, gum is not accepted in formal environments in Chile. I assumed, therefore, that gum would be outlawed in classrooms (so to speak). 

This brings us to yesterday (Wednesday). I was teaching a class of fourth graders. They are sweet kids, but totally insane. The school even warned us that this class has behavioral issues and they didn't know what to do with them. Anyways, we were teaching a class and I look over and see a kid pull a long string-rubber thing out of his mouth and squish it into the table. At first I genuinely thought it was rubber. He then coiled it back up and popped it into his mouth. At this point I stopped class and broke into fluent English (something along the lines of "Oh my god, that is so nasty!"). My co-teachers looked over and they too were horrified. The kids, however, were totally confused because their English doesn't span past numbers, colors, and a few simple phrases. They did catch on to the fact that we were talking about the gum.

Then things took a turn. The boy with the gum took the gum out of his mouth, rolled it into a ball and threw it at another student. This student proceeded to put the gum into his mouth! At this point my co-workers and I were laughing as well as disgusted… it was all a bit crazy. Then the gum dropped out of the second boy's mouth. He dove to the ground to put it back into his mouth(!!!). I, however, could not handle the grotesque notion of the gum's recent germ contact (who knows where the gum started--> boy 1--> table--> boy 1 (+his hands)--> boy 2--> floor) and I also dove to the floor. I got the the gum first and threw it away. This caused a stir amongst the kids who felt wronged that their (horrifying) piece of gum had been thrown out. I felt a little bad, but in the end I stand by my decision.

So there's my teaching anecdote for the day. Please excuse lack of pictures, as I said proper posts will come back soon!

Have a nice THURSDAY (TGIT)!

XX
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