Asado

Last Saturday, the University and the "buddies" put on an asado (barbecue) for all of the intercambio (exchange) students.  There are about 120 of us form all over the world.  As far as I know, there are people from the US, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Finland, Australia, and probably more.  Some of them are in my classes, but for the most part I have not met them.  We also sometimes could see them when we go out, but thus far that has not happen.  Most of the US students live with families, while most of the students from other countries room together in apartments near the coast.  Both options seem fun to me: families for the cultural and linguistic aspect, rooming internationally for a different kind of cultural experience and to make friends with people from all over the world.

The asado was super fun!  It lasted from noon until 7 that night and included hanging out, meeting people from all over the world, eating, talking, dancing, games like sack racing, a dance competition in which people from our group won, and finishing the day with some football!

Below are photos from the day, starting with a view of the nearby lagoon when we arrived and as we were leaving.

Making new friends - Iriati (left) is from the Basque region of Spain!

El cocinero, Fernando - a student ambassador from UAI
When they say a barbecue, they mean TONS of meat!

Monkeyin' around

Playing some sort of German drinking game with los Alemanes.

See the football goal waaay back there? That's where we played and got
all muddy. But it was worth it because it was so fun.

Sack racing.  And they're off!

Dance competition!(Spain left, Belgium center, and Minnesota)

Gettin' jiggy wid it (and they won!)

Traveling!

Travel Young (click to read the article)

I love traveling. I have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to travel so many amazing places.  You really do become very changed by these experiences and understand people in new ways. Traveling, and in turn meeting people from all over the world, cause you to open your mind, think differently, and eliminate prejudice.  I love it.  That's why I'm moving to Spain after I graduate.  Or France.  Or Italy.  Or all of the above.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

There was a quote in the article that I really like and want to remember, so I am putting it here:
“The habits you form here will be with you for the rest of your life.”

¡Perros en las calles!

The dogs are everywhere. Here's a picture:

They lie around all over the streets and I even saw one inside the mall today because the doors are always open.

They usually look well fed and very cute.  They are also obedient and enjoy the company of humans.  This is because, according to what I've heard, most of them used to be pets.  When the owner got sick of them, they did something wrong, or they simply got too old, the owner let them go in the street.  It is a strangely common thing here that they are trying to do something about, but have thus far been unsuccessful.  The dogs will follow you around all day (like this little guy bellow), even if you don't feed them.

So, definitely do not feed the dogs!  You can tell they are well fed, so they are finding it somewhere else.  Normally they are fine, but every once in a while a dog fight breaks out near me and it freaks me out.

This video that a girl in my group made basically sums up the dog situation:

Chilenismos

Chilenismos Online Glossary

Chilean is a whole different language from Spanish.  Of course it is basically the same, but many words and phrases, especially slang, are different.  It is like the difference between American English and English (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFMaYLI17z8).  The website above has a pretty comprehensive list of these so called "Chilenismos."  Here are the ones I've heard most:

• Asado - barbecue - in Chile, meat fest (we had one last weekend, blog post to come)
• Bomba de bencina - gas station
• Cachái? Sí, cachoi. - Get it? (Maybe comes from "Catch it?") Yes, got it.
• Carrete/Carretear - party (noun/verb)
• Completo - a variety of Chilean fast food that is a hot dog topped with many things including mayo and avocado
• Carabinero - police
• Cueca - Chile's national dance (Cueca dance on YouTube). I will get to see little children perform this in two weeks when I go to Bingo at my host mom's work.
• Confort - brand of toilet paper, but used to refer to TP in general
• Colectivo - type of taxi that has a route and can pick up other people
• Caña - hangover (I have not heard this because I have had one, just because other people talk about them)
• Guatero - hot water bottle you put on your feet when you sleep during the winter because their houses don't have central heating
• Gringo/a - this one is common and not exclusively use in Chile, but it is essential to know that if you come here, you will be called Gringo/a.  My host mom calls me Gringa and it is a term of endearment.  They also have "Gringo Night" on Wednesdays at the bar called Café Journal.
• Huevón(a)/Hueón/Wueón(a)/Weá - from word for egg, "huevo" - many uses - guy, idiot, thing, vulgarity, etc. depending on the tone
• Italiano - type of sandwich or completo - tomato, avocado, and mayonnaise
• Luca - 1,000 Chilean pesos (kind of like a "buck" in the US)
• Metro - subway
• Micro - city bus
• Mina - attractive young woman
• Onces - Chilean version of afternoon tea/snack - we don't have this at my house, but other people in my group say they do.
• Pisco - most common alcohol here
• Pisco sour - pisco with sour or pisco with Sprite
• Piscola - pisco with Coca Cola
• Po - shortening for pues, which means "well" or "so" - apparently can be used wheneverPorfa - please
• Pololo/a - Boyfriend or girlfriend
• ¿Qué onda? or Es buena onda - What's up? or He/she is a good person.
• Plata - money
• Previa - pre-gaming for a night out
• Schop - draft beer - there is a restaurant called Schop Dog at the mall
• Temblor - tremor (baby earthquake)
• Terremoto - earthquake, alcoholic beverage with white wine and sherbet
• Vale - OK
• Varón - baby boy
• Ya - technically means already, but they say it A LOT. Kind of means "ok" a lot of times.
• Ya po - "Ya pues" - Sure thing, right on it, ok well, etc.

A giant hill and 50 steps later...

So I'm seriously going to have huge calves after this.  I will probably not get thinner because of all the food I am eating here, but if you could only see/walk up the hill I need to go up and down everyday to get anywhere.  Here is a picture, but you really can't see it's magnitude:

Yes, it is 8 blocks long. 8 blocks.  So every day I allow myself about 15 minutes to hike down this hill from my apartment complex at 23 Norte and pass the mall at 15 Norte.

By the way, Líder is their version of Wal-Mart and I've shopped there a lot already! The mall has 3 buildings and two of most things, including two Cinemarks.  The buildings are connected by a skyway.

After I pass the mall, I turn left onto the main street in the city, Libertad.  This street is a major reference point because all of the other streets are oriented around it.  Towards the sea, the streets start at 1 Poniente from Libertad and increase; towards the hills, they start at 1 Oriente and increase.  Once on Libertad, I continue walking a couple of blocks to where the UAI bus picks us up between 12 and 13 Norte.  If it is after 12:30, I have to keep walking all the way to 4 Norte.  

Of course, if I am running late or it is dark out, I can always take a micro (city bus).  Right outside of my apartment complex sits Parada 23 (stop 23).  The micro costs about 370 Chilean pesos, which is just under one US dollar.  As long as I get on one that says Libertad (there are usually several street or landmark names written on each bus), I am good to go all along Avenida Libertad.  This street ends just after Plaza de Viña when it intersects with Álvarez, which is a street near several of my friends' houses, bars, and clubs.  On the way home, I need to make sure to get on a bus that say H. Naval - for Hospital Naval, which is just beyond my apartment complex.  I can also take a colectivo - a taxi with set routes that are shared by however many people need to stop and can fit - or a radio taxi - a normal taxi.

So I wait for the bus at 12 Norte or 4 Norte.  I am looking for a bus that says only UAI.  Sometimes the bus is very prompt, sometimes a little early or a little late.  You never really know with the public transportation around here.  Once on it, we will take a 10 minute bus ride to school that includes a hill that would KO my hill in seconds flat in a boxing match.  Hopefully I will walk all the way to school one day and I can post pictures.  However, the view from the school is utterly worth it.

View from school at night!

Overall, it takes about 30 minutes to get there.  On the way home, I have to go through the whole process backwards.  Not so bad until you get to the hill.  When I arrive at my gate, I use my key or the guard buzzes me in.  Then I walk down to the end of the row, use another key to get into my building, go up 3 flights of stairs, use my last key to get into my apartment, and go up one more flight of stairs to get to my room.  Finally home!  Some other people have to take the Metro (subway) in addition to the micro, school bus, and walking, so I guess I am lucky.

My bus stop and city at night.

Bridge I sometimes have to cross.

My apartment complex by night.

Front door to my building.

Walking along the row of apartments to get to mine.

View from the stairs.

If you like looking at maps like me, I took some screen shots of Google Maps to put things in perspective:

Chile/South America

Viña in respect to Santiago

The entire Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, and Con Con region.

Viña.

My route to the bus stop.

¡Jugando al voleibol otra vez!

Today I started practicing volleyball with the Chileans!  It kind of came about all of a sudden.  I, of course, wanted to play a sport and was definitely going to do volleyball.  Until I heard that the coach didn't really like intercambio students from some girls from a few years back.  But a TON of girls from my group are doing football and basketball, the other two sports I was interested in.  Being me, I wanted to do something different and out of my comfort zone.  So I facebook messaged Jaime, our group's coordinator from UAI, and asked him to find out details.  He hooked me up with a ride to the practice, which was pretty far in Valpo at the Naval University's gym.  In order to meet my ride I had to take a micro to 7 Norte (remember, I live at 23 Norte) and wait for her inside a Shell gas station.  I know this sounds somewhat shady.  Random side note: yes, they have Shell stations and many other US stores/brands.  It's very Americanized here, although distinctly a different culture.  Back to the story.  I decided to leave with less than 15 minutes to do this so I found myself running to the bus (just like at school in the U.S.).  I barely got there on time, but Paola (my ride) wasn't there.  I sat in the gas station for 10 minutes, scared that she wouldn't come because the basketball girls' ride didn't show the day before.  Por fin, she arrived and ended up being very nice.  It was really good for me to spend almost an hour driving to and from the practice trying to listen to rapid, youthful Spanish and converse.  Though it was much more difficult to understand her than my host family (they talk slow for me :) ) because of her accent, vocabulary, and speed, I managed to converse with her.  When we got to the gym I was slightly nervous because I always am when I go to a sport's practice, but also I felt awkward and did not know how I would be received.  However, everyone was friendly and the coach did not seem put off in the slightest by my presence.  We started out just like any other volleyball practice I've had in my life.  We jogged around the court, warmed up our arms with slams and throws, peppered a bit, and then started drills.  We had to do passing, conditioning, hitting, and serving.  It was all very similar to at home.  I even told them to call me Shaughn like some other teammates have in the past.
A couple random differences:
It was all in Spanish so I wasn't even sure how to say "good set" or "sorry I was in the net"
They don't have drinking fountains here and I didn't have a water bottle at home, so I went thirsty
They actually ended up calling me Gringa (don't worry, it's a term of endearment)
For not playing since November, I did alright and it was pretty fun.  A girl from my group named Abby Mohr might come next time.  That's all on that front, but I will keep you updated and hopefully have photos in the future.

Besitos!
Shaughnessy

Clare's Videos

A girl in my group is creating frequent videos. Yes, I should be doing this, but a) I'm too lazy, and b) I can't figure out how to use my videos.  I finally downloaded a program that allowed me to move them from my camera to the computer, but now that they are in this program, I have no idea how to do anything but watch them.  So here are Clare's videos.  I'm not really in them, but they have a lot to do with what I've been doing.  Basically the same stuff.  So enjoy!