What's been happening. Chile week 12

I went to Arica (which is in northern Chile) this past weekend to visit friends. Chile's 200th anniversary of independence was this past Saturday so a lot was happening. It's like our 4th of July on overdrive for 3 days. I spent some time with friends who live there in the beginning just exploring. I think I definitely like Arica more than Villa Alemana. There is just more to see (the beach is ten minutes away from wherever you are) and since it's in a desert it's got alot more character.

I also went to Peru for the first time which was just peachy. Arica is the northern most city in Chile and right near the border of Peru so I had to check it out. Seriously, if you ever need to buy a freshly slaughtered chicken or a 10 year old girl, go to Peru. It's like the real South American experience. Chile is just very westernized, especially central Chile where I am. You don't have to really stretch that much out here since their standard of living is similar to ours. Peru is what I EXPECTED Chile to be:

-Open air markets
-Small Inca looking people (I saw a Peruvian midget begging for money. Seriously, you haven't seen tiny until you've seen a Peruvian midget. I almost squashed him like a bug..it was terrifying.)
-Ghetto fabulous cars with loud speakers taped/stapled/nailed to the tops blaring music and advertisements
-Not a single working faucet...anywhere.

The rest of my time in Arica, even though it's beautiful and has Sea lions, was not great. Pretty much, I was supposed to stay with Lindsay at her host house. Her mom Veronica said I could stay with Lindsay in her room on a mattress on the floor. Fine. Well I hadn't met the dad, Christian, yet. When I woke up the first morning in Arica, I found Christian and introduced myself. He looked at me, limply shook my hand, grumbled something and walked off. I soon found out that he wanted me to stay in the living room on the mattress. Why? I wasn't sure. I thought, maybe because two unmarried people were staying in a room unchaperoned and the father didn't want his 5 year old son to get the wrong message about morality? Wrong. Veronica and Christian aren't even married. Maybe because he didn't know that I was coming? Maybe but I'm sure Veronica mentioned something to him about it, my trip had been planned for 3 weeks. Either way, I had to find a hostel quick since I wasn't going to stay in the middle of the floor in this tiny apartment. Every hostel was booked except for one tiny place on the outskirts of town. The next two days I had to shuttle back and forth between my hostel and the center of town to eat awkward meals with Lindsay and her family with the Dad staring off into space like I didn't exist and the Mom being incredibly embarrassed that her baby daddy had kicked me out of the house after she had told me I could stay. This, among other issues that were happening during the time, made for an awkward trip.

Luckily I DID dance the Cueca a few times with Mandy in the streets after the bars closed (pictured) and went to some Asados (barbecues) where I met some really nice Chileans who welcomed me into their homes and said I did their country proud by my Cueca.  They seemed serious. Arica is also in a Desert so that's some really interesting landscaping. I returned to Villa Alemana this Tuesday $500 poorer, dejected, dirty and pissed. Thank god it's Friday. I'm going to read a good book to unwind. Just kidding, I'm going to drink.

First Chilean Novel

I finished my first book in chilean spanish! Here's a link to it!

http://www.santillana.cl/admin/fotograndelibro/Fantasmasenlacasa450.jpg

As you can see the book is named "Fantasmas en la casa rodante." As you can also see, it's a book written for 6 year olds. I'm not sure if I understood it completely but here is my understanding from what I read:

-There's this old guy who calls himself "el General Don Amador." He lives in a big house in the forest that he inherited from his family. He soon finds out that the house is haunted. However, luckily for him, it's haunted by a nice ghost whose name is Freddy. Freddy just wants to be friends and loves when the General plays music on his old fashioned 1920's radio so that he can dance to it. They form a strong friendship. One day, two people living in a trailer home move into the forest. They are named Florencia y Toño. They are musicians and artisans. After meeting them, the General decides that he wants them out of the forest because he likes his privacy and besides, who wants transients living in the forest near their house? He asks Freddy to go and scare them off at midnight since he's a ghost. Freddy, being the kind soul that he is, doesn't want to do this but since he's so tight with the General, he leaves to do it. The next day, the general goes to ask Florencia and Toño how their night was and if they saw anything interesting..like a ghost? Florencia says "We only saw one ghost, but that's OUR ghost!" Revealing that they too have a ghost named Viola who Freddy the ghost falls in love with. They want to get married HOWEVER, both the General and Florencia are worried about losing their best friends and tell them they can't get married. After alot of heeing and hawing, the General's heart melts, and decides that they can ALL live in Casa Rodante together since it's so huge. The assumption is that they spend the rest of their lives happily ever after, eventually the General and Florencia and Toño die, become ghosts and then all 5 have ghost parties for eternity. The End.

Conclusions from this story:

1) Chileans, like most people in the world, hate Gypsies. Just read who the people in the forest (Florencia and Toño) were. They come out of nowhere and just settle in the forest in a CARAVAN? They're musicians and artisans? They own a magic ghost? ...and the General wants them out? Typical anti-gypsy behavior.

2) Chilean kids must have some pretty advanced reading skills because I figured that a book for first graders would be a walk in the park. It wasn't. This book took me two weeks to read. OK..well I was reading it during lunches only but still, it was only like 15 pages long.

3) I want a pet ghost too.

Next, I'm going to read "La Polilla del baul" It looks easier.

First Chilean Haircut...definitely not the last

Highlights of the past week:

1) I cancelled my credit cards and luckily no charges were made. Mommy wired me some money and sent the replacement cards to my house in Villa Alemana. With the Chilean postal service, they should arrive about 2 months after I leave the country.

2) I went to legit Cueca lessons for the first time. The regional coordinator has been having them at her house for the past few weeks but I could never go. Chile is having a 200 year bicentennial celebration in September and since this is the traditional dance of Chile, it's kind of important to know it so you don't look like too much of a foreigner. It's harder than it looks and I'm terrible at it. Add it to the list. However, I DID meet a Chilean named Pilar who was my partner for some dances. She gave me her number and email. She told me that the next time I cueca somewhere, I should call her. She's 50.

3) Got a new roommate. I haven't talked about this much in my blog but the EOD program is having major financial issues. As in, NONE of the volunteers have gotten their stipends in months and neither have the families that have been hosting them. It's kind of dire and some families have been pulling out. Patrick, was "asked to leave" his house because his family was upset about not getting their money. My mom said she'd take him in. Luckily, I've already hung out with Patrick plenty since before we were housemates so the progression should be easier. Funny tidbit: Patrick is white, 6'5" and speaks basic spanish. Remind you of anyone else? We walk around this town and are a constant spectacle. I'm assuming most people think we're on some german soccer team/terrorists like those ones in Die Hard.

4) As the title heading and picture suggest, I finally got a haircut. It had been 3 months since this had happened. I went as long as I could without doing it but I knew I just had to. Don't get me wrong; washing your hair once a week and having it really long worked for me for awhile but I finally bit the bullet. I found a random peliqueria in Villa Alemana that wasn't full of women getting their hair highlighted armed with the following terms:

Quiero un recorte: I want a trim

Pero, solo un poco: But only a little....

En general, lo quiero lo mismo, solo un poco mas corto: In general, I want the same thing, just a little shorter

Por favor, solo un poco!: Please only a little!

por favor no cortarme la garganta:: Please do not slit my throat

I walked into a small place and a woman named Amelia was there with her son Sergio. Amelia understood what I wanted and, I think, it came out perfect. We talked a bit and I found out her son can speak some English and is actually in a class in another school with another teacher from my program....It's a small town. Anyway, I've heard horror stories about foreign language haircuts and since I myself have gotten a Mexican haircut in Chicago that went awry (accidental bowl cut) I was scared. I'm glad nothing bad happened and that they didn't laugh at my Spanish.

Life has been tame this weekend so far. Alot of people are gone for the weekend which makes socializing hard. I'm going to try and rustle up whoever is left and have a good time. After last weekend, I could use it. Oh also, by popular request this is what a Pudu is for whomever was curious:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pud%C3%BA


Disfruta!