First Month

Wow! Where have the weeks gone? It still feels as though I have just stepped off the plane into the frozen grip of winter. Santiago is indescribable. The Andes paint a gorgeous backdrop against the towering sky scrapers, palm trees, and houses. My host father told me during one of these many days, “Santiago es Chile y Chile es Santiago. Vallenar es Vallenar.” When translated it states that Santiago is Chile and Chile is Santiago. The next part about Vallenar being Vallenar is symbolic for both my home town and all other towns in Chile. Each town is unique to it’s self and differs from the others. Santiago is the point where all beliefs, people, places, cultures, etcetera come together to create a pu-pu platter of all of Chile. With that said, it is also going through a sort of Cultural Revolution. Everything has become Americanized. Mayonnaise, salt, and sugar are three condiments which are always found on the table and in the food. Starbucks has found a perfect country in which to releases its coffee craze. Heck! Santiago is also getting a Walmart in, I think 2 months. There is a TGI Fridays at the big mall here. Surprisingly though, for everything being so American, hardly anyone speaks English beyond common phrases.

Although, America is not the only country sinking it’s fangs into Chile. Asia is starting to emerge as well. Chinese restaurants can be found easily along with many people of Asian descent. The school that my host cousin attends is filled with Asians. This is due to many corporations finding Chilean soil ripe for not only the growth of vegetation.

Santiago truly is “Chile” and all the other towns are their own.

Let’s get back to my tale. As I was saying, my first welcome to Chile was not only cold physically but also emotionally. Chile does not care for avellanas (hazelnuts). My bag dinged going through the little scanner (they made me load my own bags and several other peoples . . . which I found very strange). One of the men at the scanner told me to come with him and take my bags. Thus I went off on my first mini-adventure in a foreign country. He started out by filling out paperwork, having me sign countless documents, and finally copying my passport a few times. From there, he told me I had to go in front of a “judge”. There were two in this tiny room and both were busy. I sat outside the little office alone until this very friendly American also got in trouble for nuts in trail mix. We talked and she watched my bags when it was finally my turn. I sat down on the opposite end of the man’s desk. He asked me if I could speak Spanish and I responded with a little. From there, the conversation turned into Spanglish since he didn’t know English. Luckily I knew enough Spanish to communicate what was necessary and understand him. He began filling in various forms popping up on his computer screen with his slow two-finger typing speed and asking me questions. Another person went off to make more copies of my passport. After an eternity went by, he handed me a slip of paper with CLP$277.680,00 written on it. That is about US$500 that they wanted me to pay for a few nuts! I was about to leave to get money for him when a bunch of people came in and started speaking with the man in really quick Spanish. They left, I got up, and then he told me to sit down again and give him the paper. He then told me to go wait outside. I stood next to the door in anticipation for 10 minutes. When he came back out, he handed me several forms, told me I didn’t have to pay anything, and then pushed me out the door to the crowd of people. Rotary quickly found me, I met my host aunt and mother, and then we went off and ate.

After eating they took me back to my aunt’s house. They kept asking me if I was tired which I was, but who wants to sleep when first coming to a new country? I constantly responded with no. Once I finished putting my bags in the room and getting everything in order along with a quick shower and change of clothes since I was dressed very formally, we went out to the mall. After the mall, we had empenadas and then went back to my aunt’s house. I met her husband that night and then we picked my cousin, Andres, up at his school. The next day my host father came and they bought me a heavy jacket because it is “really cold”. After wearing it for a few days I switched back to the lighter one I brought. On Sunday we returned to Vallenar. We stopped in La Serena to look at the beach really quickly and grab ice cream. My first impression of the driest desert in the world was seeing it in pink due to the setting sun. It was simply amazing. Once in Vallenar, I put all my stuff into my host sister’s room since my bed had yet to arrive (they special ordered me one 2 meters long since I’m so tall) and then was dragged to meet all the family in Vallenar. Everything went dandily until Wednesday when I had school.

Schools here are rather disorganized and the students can behave worse than they do in the USA. There are about a million breaks between classes and I have a different set of classes everyday (12 classes in total and 13 if you include the “homeroom” period on Monday). My school starts at 8am and ends at 4:20pm except on Fridays when it gets out an hour early. Most of the students study religiously during the week and then finally get a little crazier for the weekend. In my opinion, schools here are easier than the ones in the USA and most of the other exchange students agree with me. It seems as though most of the stuff we are doing here I have already learned. However, not all schools in the USA are the same and that is also true for Chile. I don’t really care for the classes most of the time, but the social aspect is great. All the students are wonderfully nice and the school is very open to the outdoors. Sitting in a tree during one of the recreos (breaks) eating an orange or some cookies is one of my favorite things to do. Other than that, we stay in class the whole time and teachers change classes (as most know) unless we are going to art – right now we are panting a mural – or need a science room.

The second weekend of being here was at my family’s beach house. It was gorgeous. The main beach has white sand and crystal clear blue water. My family wouldn’t let us swim because apparently it is still “too cold”. It is so strange stepping onto desert and then from desert onto beach. There are cacti everywhere along with little foxes. My little brother and cousin kicked around a soccer ball for most of the time and dug in the sand. It was so beautiful. I also found a sea lion shoulder bone and my host dad found a vertebrae. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. The coolest thing about Punto del Lobo (the location of their house) is it is in an ecological community. The houses are designed to fit in the area, the environment isn’t harmed, and the houses only use electricity at night by a generator. I had a great time . . . even if we weren’t allowed to swim.

The following weekend I went to a BBQ at Trygve’s host house. He is also an exchange student, but from Denmark. (There are 4 exchange students at my school in my class: Trygve [Denmark], Laura [Switzerland], Olivia [New York/Rotary], and me [Oregon/Rotary]). It was a ton of fun. We ate a ton of food. Watched soccer, played soccer on an XBOX360, and I taught him how to throw an American Football. His host brother was an exchange student to the USA and had brought back a football. Afterwards we ate more food and watched some more soccer. Sunday I stayed home.

This last weekend past I was and still am in Santiago. We left last Wednesday and so I’ve been here for a week. The original plan was only to come for a few days, but my host dad ended up having to stay in the hospital until Tuesday. He had a hernia. Now, it sounds as though he is all better. My host family isn’t really telling me much about how he is doing. I only found out he had a hernia due to my older cousin who asked her mom. While here though, I’ve done quiet a bit. I went and saw Harry Potter 6 in theatres. I love the movie theatres here! The seats are comfortable and recline, tickets and food are dirt cheap, and the quality of picture is superb. Unfortunately the movie was in English with Spanish subtitles. This seems to be the same for all other movies in theatre as well. Besides that I also went bowling. THEY HAD SHOES WHICH FIT ME!!! That is a first. NOTHING fits me in Chile. I’d have to order shoes online and I can’t buy clothes in stores. It is horrible. My host family had to special ordered me my uniform and PE outfit. They are so nice. (Seamstresses are actually really cheap, but it still is a sort of a hassle.) Two of the most fun things I’ve done while here have been Zip-lining (called Canopy here for an obvious reason) and bobsledding. How many people can say they have zip-lined over the top of trees indigenous to the central region of Chile? At first it was rather scary, but I ended up really enjoying it. Bobsledding was also amazing. On the way up to the top of the hill thing, there were signs warning that this is not a game, but a sport and it is possible to die. At first I was rather freaked, but after the first time I wanted to go again – and I did!

Monday I went to see a British school in Santiago. Well, I sat in on a class for an hour and half. Everyone was so nice and I had a ton of fun. It was similar to my class in Vallenar in regards to chaos, but the course work was harder. After that I went with my aunt to one of her friend’s houses to have Once (what tea time is called). There were three girls a year older than me there too with whom I hung out. We had a bunch of fun just talking (between mouthfuls of chocolate!!) and then played Volleyball after eating Once.

Oh, and I’ve also baked 8 batches of M&M Cookies for everyone here because my older cousin loved them when she was in the USA and the cookies here aren’t all that great. They are good, but aren’t anything special . . . like cookies from scratch. My little brother and cousins thought it weird when I said it is common to eat cookies by dunking them in milk. After trying it though . . . they are hooked. As told by the amount of cookies I have made.

And that is about it. I have tried Chinese food and Sushi here. The Chinese food is a little different than in the States and isn’t as good in my opinion. Sushi is the same. Other than that, I’ll probably be in Santiago until Monday. The thing I hate the most about Chile is there are no clothes here which fit me. I have no idea what I’m going to do about clothes if I happen to need some.