School / Day to Day Life

Two blogs back to back- woohoo! haha.
Until now, I have mostly written blogs about excursions or special occasions. However, in this blog, I want to explain a little about day to day life, especially school, which is what takes up the majority of my time.
As for school here, it is a lot different than being on a campus in the U.S. Here the university buildings are spread across 2-3 cities. Therefore, depending on the day, I can either walk to class and arrive in about 15 minutes or I may have to take the metro (train system) or micro (bus system) to the neighboring city. This takes more like 30 minutes. On certain occasions I take a colectivo (taxi with designated route).
My classes usually start around 11 a.m. As a whole, things start later here and finish later. For instance, on Fridays I have classes until 8:30 p.m. As for my classes, I chose to take all classes with Chilean students, rather than classes only for gringos (United States students). Also in choosing my classes with Chileans, I tried to choose those that would not have many gringos. To my surprise, in 5 out of my 6 classes I am the only gringa. Why is this good? Well, it forces me to talk in Spanish. Otherwise, it would be easier to do homework and study in English with the other gringos. For instance, the other day I gave a dissertation in one of my classes. To help prepare for this presentation, a Chilean classmate met with me for more than four hours. If I was in a class where half of the students were gringos, I think the possibility of that happening would significantly drop. However, there are also 'bad' things about it too. For instance, if I don't understand something due to the language barrier, I am probably the only one who doesn't understand. Whereas, if I were in classes with other gringos, we could all talk to the professor, expressing our confusion and frustrations. In one of my classes the other day, called 'Video Workshop', the professor explained to us that we were not going to make any videos at all this semester. Haha. One has to laugh.
Okay, what else? As for lunch, my hostmom makes me a sacklunch for the days I do not return home (which are the same days I go to the other city by metro or micro). Otherwise, I return home to eat.
I don't think I have many pictures to include on the school aspect. But, a few other things I have done with friends are: go to the mall to play pool, go out to eat, get together to watch a movie, go fishing, go on a Church retreat, etc. I am including some of those miscellaneous pictures. (The second to last picture is of my host brother and I. The rest of the people in these pictures with me are friends that I know through the Church.)

Historical Visit to Santiago

From the title, I understand that some people may be uninterested right away from reading this blog. No worries. Feel free to skip this one. Also, just a heads up, it may be kind of sad. However, I feel that we as human beings should learn from history. In that way, it can be useful.
On September 11, 1973, there was a military coup in Chile, where a leader named General Pinochet came into power, attacking the presidential palace and overthrowing the government led by President Allende. Allende died, and Pinochet took control. There were significant human rights abuses. Many people who may have worked for the government under Allende or were not in favor of the military group, all of a sudden disappeared. Some were later found dead. Some got taken to detention centers. Some were forced out of the country. Some were never heard from again.
A place we visited yesterday is called the Center of Detention "Villa Grimaldi". It was a very sad place. This was a secret place where people got tortured. Some forms of torture were water submersion, electrocution, and graphically worse. The current Chilean president, President Michelle Bachelet, was taken with her mom to this detention center, where both were tortured. I do not know where, but her dad was also tortured and died in relation to these events. Kids were even kidnapped during this time period. It especially struck me that it seems so recent. Since then, Chile has become a democracy. And this topic is not talked about very much, as it provokes much pain, rage, and mixed emotions/feelings.
Therefore, I am not giving much for opinions, but rather merely listing a few facts that were talked about yesterday.
Actually, one of my professors told us that his dad was out in the street after curfew during the time of Pinochet's control. Therefore, a guard shot him in the leg. I cannot imagine these events.
We also went to an archival place, where there are rooms of information and accounts of the victims during this historical time period. For instance, the families came to this place and reported the time of disappearance and what the victim was last seen wearing. There are currently many court cases going on in regards to these happenings.
Another place we visited was called the Solidarity Foundation, which before consisted of an organization that worked with imprisoned people during this time period. Now, it works with the poor. Our guide/speaker actually lost her job back in 1973, as she worked for the government. She also was imprisoned a few times but always released. To the contrary, some of her co-workers were killed or disappeared.
Finally, we visited the General Cemetery. It is the most famous cemetery in Chile. Many of Chile's previous presidents were buried there, such as President Allende, who had control before the military coup. This cemetery is huge. The idea was to make it like a city. Therefore, within it, there are street names, etc. Some of the tombs are actually buildings in themselves. It was unbelievable. I can't even get an idea of how big this place is. While we were there, we saw at least 3 funeral processions going on.
In conclusion, this excursion was very different than the other ones. However, as many of the tour guides said, it is important to learn about it "para que nunca sea mas" (so that it never happens again). One thing that struck me was how recent this is. A memorial that we saw included names upon names of politically targeted individuals, included babies and children ages 9, 15, etc. This was so sad! I imagined a brother of that 9-year old, who could be in his 40's or 50's now, still grieving over this. Obviously, it is very recent, and I was surprised how little this is talked about or eluded to, at least from a foreigner's perspective. However, I then thought about September 11, 2001, of the United States. Yes, the nation was affected and is different because of it, and yes, people are still grieving losses of family members or friends. However, it is probably something that a foreigner may not realize upon a visit to the United States, because it is not something that is talked about very openly on a frequent basis.

Photography with Photoshop

Hello again! This blog is going to be about a digital photography class that I am currently enrolled in. I have a project/art image due every week, so it is pretty strenuous. However, I have been learning a lot. It is interesting, because I am a pretty black and white thinker. For instance, I really enjoy mathematics, because there is only one right answer. However, this class focuses on the abstract. Therefore, it really stretches my brain. :)
I am going to technically explain my first two works, and you can look at the according photos. My topic is traveling/cultural differences.

My first work is called "The Inevitable Views". For the background, I used a picture I had taken of the Valparaiso waterscape. (I go to this city about every other day.) Anyway, the background scenery picture represents any place that a foreigner may visit. I asked my hostmom to take a picture of her glasses. Then, I manipulated that photo, like cutting out the insides of the glasses, etc. The glasses in this picture represent the lens or "points of views" of foreigners. It is inevitable that a foreigner sees a new place through his/her personal "lens" or cultural background, including customs and attitudes. To show that these inevitable points of view are sometimes defects, I drew scratches on the glasses. Furthermore, one of the two lens is red, which usually represents excitement, passion, etc. Therefore, the red lens is probably a view of a young traveler, seeing everything for the first time. Contrastingly, the other lens is blue, which usually represents peace and tranquility. Therefore, this traveler is probably an older, more experienced traveler.

The second work is called "The Puzzle of Cultural Understanding". All the pictures in the montage are pictures I have taken while I have been here in Chile. In fact, I cut out objects from about 15-20 different pictures to make the actual montage part. Many of the objects are food, scenery, or transportation related, such as a pizza, train, fish, seashell, mountain/hill, etc. At first view, it probably looks overwhelming and is hard to distinguish what the pictures are actually of. However, I feel that it is the same when a person comes to a new culture. Everything may appear different, overwhelming, and hard to understand at first glance. Therefore, the puzzle is not completed. Each piece represents more understanding. As the pieces of understanding are added, the puzzle of the culture falls into place. Furthermore, the pieces that have not been added yet are black and white, since it's hard to understand a piece of knowledge, unless one looks at it in the whole context (the puzzle piece together). Then, when a falling puzzle piece connects with the already understood pieces below, it changes from black and white to color. Finally, instead of keeping it a white background, I took a picture of a clock and then manipulated that picture. The clock represents time. With "time", comes more "understanding" and therefore, more puzzle pieces. A person cannot come to a new culture and expect to understand everything right away. With time, comes understanding.
I hope I explained these two works well. I should get going because my next one is due on Friday, and I don't have a concrete idea yet. Chao!

Soccer game, Beaches, and Sand Dune

Okay, I have not written a blog in a while. I have been so busy, but life is going very well here. I wanted to talk about 2 excursions I went on with the exchange program.
The first excursion was a soccer game between Chile and Uruguay. The game was in the capital of Chile, Santiago. Behind the stadium are the mountains. It was interesting for me to learn cheers, such as: "Chi-chi-chi, Le-le-le, Viva Chile!" and to watch the enthusiasm of the fans. There were probably about 75,000 people there. The game ended in a tie, 0-0. (No goals!~However, the fans were screaming and screaming!) Soccer is the most popular sport here to watch, just like football is in the U.S. A quick cultural note: in a class I had back in the U.S. a year or two ago, the professor used an example to illustrate a cultural difference. Two students were chosen. Their jobs were to draw the appropriate field (soccer or football) and to explain the rules of that game. It was very interesting. The student who drew the soccer field was done way before the student who drew the football field, as the football field has many more lines. Then, when explaining the games, the student who explained soccer took way less time than the student who attempted to explain football. Imagine...in soccer the object is to kick a ball into the goal for 1 point, but in football the object is to throw, kick, or hand off the ball for 1, 3, or 6 points (and safety=2), and there are many more rules to the game. It is so difficult for somebody to understand football if they have never seen it before. However, soccer is much easier to understand the general concept. This example merely showed a cultural difference. The lack of so many explicit rules and directions in this cultural (which is the soccer culture) is so apparent. Quick example...In the U.S. a professor might tell the students to read pages 21-57 of a specific book by a specific date, and then continue to give us the instructions reading by reading. However, here, I had a professor give us a list of about 6 readings and told us to read them by the first quiz. Such a difference! My instinct is to ask which book or reading first, what pages, etc. However, in this cultural, the rules are way less explicit.
My second excursion I want to share about in this blog was to Horcon, Zapallar, and Concon. Horcon is a fishing village with many artisan sellers. This village has fresh seafood empanadas, etc. Zapallar is a wealthier area with a beautiful and more secluded/unknown beach. I fell asleep on the beach for a while...so relaxing. Don't worry- I used sunscreen! :) Concon has the sand dunes, which I had already visited. However, this time, I wanted to take pictures jumping from them (as it doesn't hurt when we land into the sand and makes fun pictures). That's what I did. Also in Concon, we saw oceanic rock, which was gorgeous with huge waves beating against it. This excursion was relaxing and beautiful.
I hope to write another blog soon about everyday life and/or cultural differences.
God has blessed me so much on this trip. Then, to think of Easter and what God and Jesus did for me. Wow! I pray that if you don't know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, that you would come to Him and accept the greatest sacrifice anyone has ever done for you. Happy Easter!

Pucon!!!

Okay, this last weekend I went to Pucon, which is about a 12-hour bus ride from where I live. It was awesome, as the weekend was filled with adventures. Personally, I am a person who prefers adventure sports and awesome scenery over historical buildings (although they are growing on me a little bit as I start enjoying geography more). So, this weekend was up my alley. I even enjoyed riding in coach buses, because as most of you know, I can sleep really well in moving vehicles. Once we arrived in Pucon, we stayed in cabins. This was a trip of my exchange program, so about 65 North Americans went. Six of us stayed in my cabin.
The first day we went on a beautiful tour. We visited Salto Palguin, Salto La China, Ojos del Caburgua, Laguna Azul, Lago Caburgua, Termas (hot springs) Los Pozones. The first waterfall was extremely tall. It was gorgeous. When we went to the lake, I swam around. It was fun. As for the hot springs, they were cool. It was my first time seeing naturally hot lake-type things like this. They can get to be so hot!
The second day was a huge day. I climbed on a Volcano. It is called Volcan Villarrica. It was such hard work. I would have liked to climb the entire thing, including snow and all, reaching the top and looking in at the lava, but the weather did not permit it that day. It was so windy! It was even hard to stand without getting blown over. It would have been impossible to climb to the top. All the groups were coming down. I wish I could explain the conditions of this climb better. It was cold, since the wind was so intense. We walked with picks and were given gear for the hike, like special pants, coats, helmets, boots, etc. Due to the wind, the dust was flying up and my face was so dirty (again!). It was hard to breathe. Some people have problems with the altitude when they do this. It was also so steep that we were almost too tired to talk to each other while climbing much. It was also somewhat dangerous; therefore, we had to hike in a single-file line. A guide was at the front of the group and another guide at the back of the group. It took about 3 hours to climb to where we had to turn around and only about 45 minutes to get down. I returned with some beautiful photos. In the afternoon, I went canopying (zip-lining). This place has the longest route in South America (1 km). It was very high in the air and very exciting.
The third day I went WHITE WATER RAFTING in the morning. This may have been my favorite activity. We did class 3 rapids. I am now ready for class 4-hehe. Anyway, it was awesome. We got soaked. Between rapids, when there was calmer water, our guide asked if anyone wanted to jump in the water. I asked if he was serious. He said yes. I jumped in, but it was very cold! Anyway, white water rafting was awesome. I learned commands and what to do, etc. I sat in the front. It was great! I was concerned about not being able to get any pictures, but I talked to the bus driver. Since he was dropping us off and picking us up, he said he could take pictures. I was happy. I gave him a quick lesson on how to operate my camera. Part way through the run, I saw him from our raft on a bridge overhead. He went above and beyond to get some extra pictures. We were excited. After white water rafting, I went horse-back riding in the afternoon. We went for a 2-3 hour horse-back ride. It was relaxing riding up and down some hills/bluffs. The volcano from the day before was in the background at times. However, since there hasn't been rain in a while, it was also VERY dusty.
Well, I feel like this blog is not giving justice to the weekend. It was jam-packed with adventures. After the days' activities I did things like going out to eat with friends, playing Uno with Chileans (who play differently), and talking/laughing with friends.
I returned very tired with much dirty laundry. But it was a great weekend!
I saw so much of God's beautiful creation. Chile has really been blessed with different natural wonders, such as: volcanoes, desert, mountains, etc. Since Chile is so tall and skinny, its climate is able to have such a diverse variety of God's creation.

Santiago

Last weekend we went to Santiago for about 4 days. Most of the Gringos (North Americans) were just arriving then. However, since I did the intensive month early with about 10 others, we went to Santiago, which is the capital of Chile, to meet up with about 50 more Gringos in the airport. This weekend consisted of a lot of English, which is one reason why I hardly spend time with Gringos. However, this weekend was interesting and relaxing too. Let me tell you a little about it.
First of all, Santiago is the capital of Chile, and its population holds about 40% of the entire country's population. I think it is a city of about 6 million. It was nice to visit, but I would not want to live there.
Anyway, I was assigned a roommate, who had just arrived to Chile that day. It was interesting talking with these new arrivals, as I was reminded of the emotions, excitements, questions, etc., that I had on that day about a month ago. Anyway, the hotel was great! My roommate and I got along very well and we had an apartment to ourselves (kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom). For a side note, my roommate shared my views on sunscreen.~yippee!
Okay, one of the first things we went to was called Cerro San Cristóbal. We rode up in large elevator type things but rode down in teleféricos. They are hard to explain but are like little carts to ride in and are transported by cables. They are used to get to and from the top of the hill. The distance from the ground can get up to 38 meters and the length of ride is about 5,000 meters. This picture might illustrate them better than written explanations.
Another interesting place was called the Palacio de la Moneda, which is kind of like the White House in the United States. The Chilean president works there, but does not live there. It was fascinating to me that we could enter so easily. We went on a tour around the facilities. Ever since Chile became a democracy, they find it important that citizens have access to this governmental building, since a democracy is supposed to be a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. I understand why the White House in the United States is less accessible, but I just found it very interesting. The president is much more accessible here. My hostmom explained that if someone wants to talk to the president, they are welcome to. She likes to be close to the people.
Oh, and I took a picture with one of the guards. Do we look alike?
We also went to other tourist places around Santiago, including an artisan fair. I would like to briefly explain two more places we visited, that especially stick out in my mind.
First, is la Vina Cousino Macul, which is one of the oldest vineyards in Chile. I think it was founded in the 1800's. Some of the wine in storage rooms that we saw on the tour dates back to 1927. Anyway, before the tour we all got a wine glass for taste-testing wines. The quality of wine from this vineyard has helped to make Chilean wine well-known on an international level.
The other place that we toured that I wanted to tell you about is called La Chascona, which was one of Pablo Neruda's houses. Neruda was a famous poet and politician and was fascinated with boats/ships. Therefore, his house is "shiplike". Let me explain. The hallways are narrow and the steps are circular, just like on a ship, where there isn't much room for luxury. The ceilings were lower. He even had a water stream outside his house to give it an additional effect. Also, in one of the rooms, the floor is purposely crooked, to make it seem like one is walking on a boat with waves underneath. Surprisingly, the resemblance is great.
Well, in a nutshell that was our trip to Santiago. During the days, we had mandatory tours, and we mostly had the nights free. It was nice to be able to relax two of those nights. The third night I was invited with a friend over to a couple's house. This couple are both Luther alumni that have lived in Chile for about 30 years or so. They were so hospitable. It was fun to converse with them. They said that we brought them a little bit of their home/past back to them, with our accents, culture, etc.
When I returned from Santiago, I walked into our apartment, and my hostmom greeted me at the door. With disappointment, she said that she was alone, that nobody else was there to welcome me home. However, as I walked around the corner, there were some of my Chilean friends there, waiting to go eat ice cream with me. It was a nice surprise!
That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed it.

La Campana

Wow- this past week or two have been even busier. I just returned from a trip to Santiago. However, before I update you on that, I would like to blog a little over a camping experience I went on with some Chilean friends.
There were 7 of us total, and let me tell you, this sort of camping was much different than the camping I do with my family. There was no camper and no car. We backpacked in food, sleeping bags, clothes, drinks, and tents.
We basically climbed a mountain. They call it a hill, but I suggest we change that name. It is 1880m high. The Lonely Planet travel book says, "The abruptly steep trail to the summit climbs 1455m in only 7km - an average gradient of nearly 21%." It is about half way between Santiago and Valparaiso.
Okay, we stayed overnight one night before climbing and descending. Our camp spot was really remote. It was a campground, but from our campsite, it was hard to even find our way to the bathrooms and back, as we were surrounded in woods. After eating, singing around the campfire, and playing cards, we layed under the stars. This was a unique experience for the Chileans, because they usually can't see the stars like we could that night. I think this is due to the smog and light pollution in the big city. However, as I said, we were so remote, that the stars glowed. :) While we were laying there on the ground, we heard an animal running at us. One of the guys in our group yelled out, "Horse". It was dark, and we all jumped up in a hurry. It ended up being a cow. Two more followed it. They were still quite a ways away from us, but when lying in silence on the ground looking up at the stars, any animal moving quickly at you sounds scary. I do not know why these cows were out and about, but it made for an interesting story. The sky was also interesting because some of the stars we saw cannot be seen in the U.S. and vice versa. For example, I do not think we can see the Big Dipper here.
Anyway, the next morning, we got a late start (Chilean time is very different) on the day. Then, the hike up took us about 5 hours and the hike down about 3 hours. I can honestly say that I did not know if I was going to make it up. It was SO intense! It was hard work and it was hot out. But we made it to the top, and there was a book chained to a huge rock, where those who had successfully climbed all the way to the top could sign their name. The last 2 hours of the climb up were so tough. There were rocks all over, and at times I was climbing on all four.
The view was spectacular! To me, it was like mountains. However, I am confused on the difference between the terms mountains and hills. We climbed so high that we could see where the clouds ended. It was incredible! Actually, where the clouds ended was probably only half the way up or so. There were 2 water spots on the way up. As for bathrooms, there was nature all over.- hehe
On the way down, our group really had to book it. However, due to the climbing conditions, we had to be rather careful. On the second half of the way down, I was walking second, following a male from our group, who was our current leader. On two different occasions, a huge spider crossed the trail. I had never seen a spider like that. It looked like a tarantula. I screamed. :) The third time something like this happened, the guy in front told me to quick pass. I asked if it was another spider. He said he heard a noise and listed some of the things it could be. I was thankful to walk quickly past that spot. We laughed. With the exception of a couple large blisters on my foot, I made it back safely with my group. The views were gorgeous. It was a rather cheap excursion for me and was definitely worth the hard work.
God's creation is gorgeous, and it was great to see it. I was also fortunate that some new Chilean friends invited me to go with.