Beach at the Piche

Pichelemu is a beach city about 200km southwest of Santiago. our volunteer group of 20 gringos strong arrived friday evening in time to catch the sun go down. the weather: a bit windy and chile. had to wear all three t-shirts that i brought to feel comfy.
That evening after oncé (which consisted of bread, palta(avoacado), and café) we went to the beach for to hang out, drink some chelas(cervezas), hang w/ quiltros (stray dogs) and sing songs. i was the jukebox for the evening.
quick short story. my friend lee and i were relieving ourselves in the pacific. the tide came up muy rápido and crashed into lee up to his knees whilst he was making pipí. haha. entonces, he found it appropriate to run like an antelope and found himself waste deep in sea foam. he wanted to go all in, pero i dissuaded him of this bad idea. he waddled home in his soaked pantalones. fin.

saturday morning i took surf lessons. most definitely a dream of mine to go surfing. the wind was strong. after warming up, stretching, and being briefed on surfing etiquette, it was time to hit the icy cold waves. (this water was fahreeeeeezing!) pero we had wetsuits on.
it was a slow start but i caught a few decent waves and it was plain incredible!

after a siesta, headed to a beach a taxi ride south called Punto de Lobos, the unofficial surf beach of Chile. (photo at top of this entry). the black sand, the rocky shore, the cacti on the hills, the pelicans, the surfers, the sound of the waves. sublime. ahhh.

that evening we had a grand asado (cookout) with tons of meat and mucho mucho palta! oh and plenty of chilean beers (i.e.- escudo y crystal).
afterwards, headed for the beach para la discotecas. up til 5am dancing.

domingo was time to chill and recover. hammock, crossword (cruzgrama), y café and i was on my way. on the few-hour bus ride home took a nap and watched the movie Taken en español. such an intense movie. and the español made it even more intense!


busy week ahead. clases y excursions.
leaving for patagonia late fri.
having so. much. fun.

hope you're well!
chau!

Una día en la vida

8 en la mañana.
time to hit the snooze button.
oh wait. no snooze button on this pre-paid cell phone.
need to reset the alarm for 15mins later.

straight to the water heater for to heat water.
this nescafé is starting to get on my taste bud nerves!
i miss my coffeemaker back home.

9am.
depart for class with jordan. we try to practice our spanish
with each other... then get frustrated and jump over the english fence.

930-1245. (w/ a short 15min break to eat empanadas from the corner store)
clase de español. estoy en la clase intermedio.
my teacher, daniella, is super nice! especially b/c she speaks clear and slow.
ahhh.. (much needed after the first week of advanced spanish where i
couldn't catch 2 words of what the teacher was throwing at my ears)

1245-130
almuerzo (lunch) en el casino (not that casino)

130-300
finish up w/ clases de español.
yesterday we watched La Nana, a popular chilean movie about a house maid
i give 'er a thumbs up.

after class is up for grabs.
sometimes we just go out to a park
sometimes just go exploring
sometimes we go on excursions to places like:
Pablo Neruda's home, Cerro San Cristobal (best view of Stgo.),
Sewell (an old mining town), the General Cemetary,
Pomaire (tourist trappy-like small town, but has
lots of cool pottery and we got to make pottery with our own hands with the clay
and the spinning of the wheel with your foot and molding the clay while it spins
like in that movie Ghost. and it's a lot harder than you think.)
[this weekend we're going to a beach town called Pichelemu. Qué bueno!]

After afternoon explorations, i come home to emma who has cooked us
'once' (sort of like dinner) and it's pronounced
similar to the end of beyoncé. yes, very good.

en la noche.
i spend my evenings studying spanish or playing guitar or trying to write
a spanglish song or going out with friends to carrete! (party)
i've been watching some of the soap-operas w/ emma and the news to
try to get my ears used to the speed of their tongue. hope it eventually works.

so there's a typical day
i've been here for about 16 days.
and i've got a ways to go.


ps. i'm hiking in torres del paine in patagonia in like 2weeks! sweeeeet!

Hola, todos!
Here is a video I made of my first week here in Santiago, Chile.
please click "aqui" below and enjoy!

aquí!




v.

Talita

Talita es...
inteligente (smart)
amable (friendly)
risueño (smiley)
bondadosa (caring)
bacan! (cool!) although she doesn't like slang.

emma is my host mother, so talita would be my host grandma
(although she's around the same age as my mother)

talita habla solamente en español.
she would always speak with a smile and a tone of
wholehearted accomodation. i felt instantly comfortable.
during our conversations, she was courteous enough
to slow down her speech so that i could understand
pero at times it took 5min to understand what she was talking about!

last night was the most interesting encounter..
jordan and i entered the apartment to an unexpected scolding
it was as if she was waiting right behind the door for us to get home
a lioness pouncing on unexpected prey

"por que no te levan su ropa?!" dijo talita en español rápido.
"que?" yo dije.
(insert 5minutes of homologous dialogue)

after thinking she was going to give us a present at first
then after thinking she was upset about leaving
then after she forgot jordan's name. haha.
then after thinking she needed help with the washing machine
i finally deciphered that she was scolding us for not washing out clothes yet!

aiyiyi.

talita had been living with us for the past week
she left last night and i was sad to see her go..
but i know i'll see her soon
(her house is in the same region as my placement)

oh, talita!

Santiago. Qué bueno!

atlanta, georgia to santiago, chile - 10 hours. el nueve de enero, 2010.
bags got nervous, decided to wait a day to arrive. i on the other hand was pleasantly surprised that butterflies were not having a heyday in my bellytummy. excitement gets the square!

feel! feel!
first thing to notice here. it's about 80degrees farenheit. a welcome sensation considering a harsh old man winter i've left behind.

now.
please, meet emma! my new host mother here in santiago.
emma es una health professional y teaches a una universidad local. she's young. in her early 30s.
she is as sweet as las frutillas (strawberries) y los durasno platanos (peachbananas)!

saturday afternoon, emma walks jordan and i down calle alameda (aka Bernardo O'Higgins Avenue), the major cause-way through santiago.
[btw. jordan es mi amigo de cumberland. we went to high school together]
si, see! we see museums, el palacio moneda where the president works, and enjoy a traditional summer drink called mote con huesillos. es similar to an iced tea, sans the corn at the bottom and the floating peach. qué rico!

that evening, jordan and i venture out into the night. we have so much energy! i attribute this to the sun, which goes down around 93opm. mucho vitamin D!
explore s'more! down calle pio nono, a spot that's hot with top notch bars and cars and many mucho gente like a mideast bazaars!

hola, sunday.
desayuno (breakfast). café, toast, fruit, y sweet empanadas.
emma y talita (emma's mother and my new grandma) took Jordan and I to the feria (farmer's market).
smell! smell! fish and veggies and fruits and shoes and quiltros (stray dogs) and people people! mucho mucho gente! everything is very affordable! a kilo of frutillas is 500pesos (about $1)

later, jordan and i adventure out to cerro santa lucia (cerro = hill) where the view from the top is the tops. the breeze sweeping through are the andés saying "bienvenido" (cue the will smith song and substitute santiago for miami). the acme of the tower gives a 360degree spectacle of this elephantine city and left me in whoa.

haha. whoa.

this was fun.
let's do this again soon. hasta pronto!

The New Chilean

i'm leaving for Chile soon.
on fri. jan 8

here's the spiel:
i'm participating in Chile's 'English Opens Doors' program as a volunteer English teacher.
it's operated by the Chilean Ministry of Education in partnership with a United Nations Development Program.
for the first month, i will be in Santiago w/ a host family, participating in a 4week intensive Chilean Spanish course. my placement is in southern Chile in the Araucania region near a city called Temuco. i will start teaching there in march. my stay ends in july, but i have the option of staying longer if i choose too, so i could be there until december!

i am excited! this is true.

i will be updating this blog as often as i please.
i will also be writing songs while i am away and posting them on my music page (www.myspace.com/villaryan)

leave comments/stay in touch!

hasta pronto!