Me da lo mismos...

So today in my oral pronunciation Spanish class we are going over like general phrases to help us talk with Chileans and once again we are talking about how Chilean Spanish is so different from the rest of the Spanish world. For instance, in Chile, pluma is the word you use for pencil, pen, and marker, whereas in most Spanish speaking countries there is a distinction and lapiz is pencil and pluma is pen...ask for a lapiz in Chile and then they will just look at you funny.

While we are talking about these things the subject of how to say the phrase "I don't care" comes up and of course I'm like oh yeah, "me no importa" my professor is like no no "me da lo mismos" and then goes on to tell me that when I've been trying to tell my parents that I don't have a preference for the past month, I've actually been saying "I don't give a damn." Good thing my parents are awesome and don't care either way...but I'm glad I've got the phrase right now!

Our class size was small today because many of our kids were gone on a field trip for another class. So, instead of having regular lecture in one of our classes, our professor sent us to the cafeteria to talk with Chileans and come back and shared what we learned. My partner and I talked for about twenty minutes to two senior girls, Camilla and Macerena (yes like the dance...totally asked her that question and I did the dance) they were both studying law--leyes and were fixing to take their final exams for their specialty--dereche. They were super sweet and after we finished I had that moment where I was like whoa, I just had a whole conversation in Spanish with people other than my parents and those that I know here in Chile.

I've also figured out that the winter here is going to be gloomy for most of it....from what I have understood from talking with one of our directors, the sun doesn't shine much when it's cold here. She's totally right too, for the past couple of days it's been decently chilly and the sun doesn't really shine at all. If I had to guess, I would say that it's what Seattle would look like in the winter, but dear God I hope it doesn't get that cold...good thing I brought layers!

Also I asked for my mailing address today! It's pretty expensive to mail stuff here and takes about two weeks to get here but if you do want to send anything to me here is my address:

Leigh Anne Winger ISA Office
12 de Febrero #86
Valparaiso
Chile

Take note, that February 12th is the name of the street--it's the day Santiago (the capital) was founded.

Today I also gave my first oral presentation over the 13th region of Chile, all in Spanish! Whooo hooo...poco a poco. This weekend we met a girl from the states who had been here for four months and was leaving in July but she said after being here for four months she could speak and understand the language, THERE'S HOPE!

Tomorrow is the last school day for the week and most of the kids I came with are headed to Santiago this weekend for Lolopalooza--a music fest that would be similar to ACL. I'm staying here and have plans to explore the city with some of the kids that aren't going either, it should be fun to hike high into the cerros and find some of the secrets that the city holds.

Chileanismo....PO

So today's post is a little backwards, mainly because I have a lot of random Chileanness on my mind:

-Chilean hazing--today I saw shoeless students who had ripped clothes everywhere on the streets and apparently first year students get their shoes and backpacks stolen, clothes ripped, and are forced to beg for money on the streets to retrieve their personals from the upperclassmen...the money that is made by begging is used for a huge party on the beach--our parents said that it was tradition and totally not a big deal...I'd break someone's nose if they tried to steal my kicks...(for those of you who don't know, I have a huge shoe fetish)

-Since I go to a Catholic school here, like I do in the states, I might be getting a couple extra days off for Easter

-If you wear bright colors here, people assume that you are crazy or homosexual.....haha I wonder what Chileans think of me with my neon attire everyday

-There are so many words that Chileans use that aren't Spanish (Chileanismos) that I have decided that Google should have  a translate button for Chilean...

-Most of the kids here my age know tons of 80s and 90s music--tons of it--because when Pinochet was ruling such music wasn't allowed to be played and after he was no longer in power they haven't stopped playing it--literally jump on a bus and you hear it everyday thanks to my aunt back in Austin and my parents I'm pretty cultured in my music and enjoy it being the constant jam

-Nutella is like 6-7 dollars here...GET OUT OF TOWN...for that small jar...

-Smoking is literally allowed everywhere..our school is like indoor outdoor...hard to explain but like it has a plaza in the middle but you are inside the building and it isn't smoke free...I think the only place you can't smoke is on the metro..and maybe the micro...we had a big conversation about the cost of cigarettes in our class today

-Went to watch the "Hunger Games" yesterday...it was all in English, it just had Spanish subtitles and it didn't cost an arm and a leg for popcorn and a coke..I didn't get either, mainly because I hate popcorn, but it's nice to know that Chilean movie theaters aren't outrageously expensive...$5 bucks for a night show...any day.

-Okay, so it does get nippy here...granted I wore shorts all day while most of the Chileans were in coats and gloves, it was like chilly...not cold yet...I fear that it is coming now though...we'll see how bad.

-"La Nana" is this Chilean film we watched in class the other day...definitely a good movie--dry humor

-I'm running out of facts so how about some pictures from my Mama's birthday!

It's that kind of love

You know those moments in life when you have no idea what you are doing but nothing has ever felt more "right" before? I am definitely in one of those moments. Yeah, of course, I am going through all the phases that my advisors told me I would when I studied abroad, I am right in the middle of those "decide what to do with your life" years, and I am falling more in love each day with the creator of the universe. Leaving for Chile, I had known that these five months of my life were for me--this was time that God had set aside just for me and Him. My iPhone costs a fortune to use here, and as much as my new friends that I have met here would like for me to get a local phone, I don't want it--not that it isn't a hassle sometimes because I don't have one, but just that I don't really "need" it and it would take away from what God is doing with me here.

When I left Austin, I was leaning towards the idea that a romantic relationship was something I wasn't in a hurry for, and more or less, not something I had wanted at all. Honestly, I thought God was asking me to take some time to pray deeply about joining religious life--yes, joining a convent and being a nun. I had been graced by the friendship of many sisters back in Austin and had that "at home" feeling in their Holy Cross community. So that was something I definitely wanted to spend time praying about. Joining a community isn't something I just came up with one day but something I have been sitting on for many years now. However, yesterday I am sitting in mass and God puts the desire on my heart to consider a relationship. I'm young and so I've only dated a couple of guys. I've known lots of very nice guys, but I've never met that A+ guy--I don't even think I've considered the idea that he could be out there. Now, don't run with that sentence the wrong way and think that I don't think I am good enough for some guy or anything, but just that for a while now, probably a big portion of my life, I have really never wanted a relationship or have considered what my life would be like if I was in one. For the most part, my life has always been just God, my family, and my friends. I know that I have all the time in the world, right? So, now, my focus of prayer has once again shifted from what I think God wants for me to do, to what makes me happy in life--essentially the same thing, if I am doing what God wants me to do, I will also be doing what makes me happy. Do I want someone to come home to everyday--do I want to fall in love and share that with someone else? Does it make me happy to commit my life to service and be put in situations that will always be out of my control? I am in absolutely no hurry to figure any of these things out, but it's definitely a new outlook for me to consider that my life is actually about me...what a concept. I know that the Lord will grant me the desires of my heart, whatever they may be.

I know that I love being in a place like I am now--where nothing seems "normal" and every day is a new adventure. I am on that big "great adventure of self discovery" to be as cliche as possible, but it is so much more. I definitely think in my life that I have been taken out to the desert many times...but I really think that what God is doing with me is what He did with Hosea when he took her out in the desert to speak tenderly to her heart. Amidst the sirens of the street and endless howl of the dogs in the night--I come to find different expressions of love from His heart to mine. For a lot of my life I have always let myself be in the position where I am the go to person for people in my life--no matter the situation. Whether I was doing it out of grace, or to make myself feel like I was doing good (because of course I am human) I was always trying to make myself available to others as "that person." Stubborn as I am, I had a hard time finding time for me and working on myself and what was best for me--what made me happy and who I wanted in my life. Granted, I wanted to study abroad anyways, God brought me across an ocean and away from most of the things that would prevent me from taking time for myself, to learn, love, heal, let go, and open my heart to what life has in store. He started with school. School is probably my number one stress in my life--I literally stress about school to the thin lines of perfection. I know all college kids have some sort of stress about school, but school has definitely always had a huge control over my life....so God got rid of it. Yes, I still go to school here, I am still learning, everything will count for college hours back home, and yes, I still do homework--but I live in a country where my grade is completely based off of attendance--and since I have a huge moral dilemma against missing class, I have almost guaranteed myself an A. Then He went to love. I have some trouble letting people just love me if that makes sense, and usually find that my favorite kind of love to have experienced comes from my two sets of grandparents, and older people from back home alike. So, God sets me up with two awesome Chilean parents who are so similar to my grandparents it's insane. It's like all day everyday I get that dose of love that is just awesome...you know the feeling, it's that ice cream for breakfast, hugs every moment, you can't do anything wrong kind of love.

Yep, this kind of love:

Oh hey, EARTHQUAKE.

Haha so don't worry, it wasn't as bad as the title alerts it to be. Apparently in the early morning around five there was about a seven second earthquake--some of my friends felt it and my parents did--I completely slept through it. Apparently it was a 5.3 but it didn't do much as far as I can tell...everything was fine when I woke up this morning. Today we went to a bunch of beaches in the north. It was a colder day here--mid sixties, so it wasn't exactly beach weather but we still had a great time. We left around ten and got home in time for dinner, spaghetti, my favorite! This afternoon we also went to the dunes and I "sandboarded" down huge dunes that take so much leg muscle to climb up...they need to invent sandlifts or something for real! It's nothing like snowboarding but still so much fun! I also took lots of pictures today but I am waiting for my battery to charge so I can upload them.

Tonight at dinner our parents were talking to us about the reign of Pinochet and Papa told us that when he was younger he was forced to work collecting train tickets and when he walked to work in the morning he would see people who had been shot in the street the night before. They lived in Santiago and the military would bomb the city and it was very dangerous. I hope I am telling you all of this correctly...I was pretty sure I was understanding right.

Today is also Mama's birthday and the big fiesta is tomorrow! Sometime soon I am also planning on getting a video up so you all can see the house and meet my parents..I don't think they will be camera shy. :-)

Tear Gas, yes it makes you cry

Remember a few posts ago when I wrote about the educational protests in Chile? This week there were multiple protests in different plazas all over Valpo and to disperse the crowds, the cops use tear gas. Yesterday afternoon, my first class got canceled and I was walking down one of the streets with a bunch of kids in my class and all of a sudden I start crying, my nose is on fire, and I absolutely can't breathe---we had walked right into tear gas. Granted, the protest had ended an hour or so earlier but tear gas lingers in the street for hours and sometimes days after it has been used. We were walking on one of the main streets and weren't "looking" for the protests at all, yesterday, they were just unavoidable. After a second in the gas we immediately turned around and walked as fast as we could the other way. I honestly don't know how the students stand that stuff when they are on the front-lines of the protests--it's awful! I'm sure while I'm here I will run into it again but I'm still going to do my best to stay as far away from the protest streets as possible!

This past week I also figured out my Google phone on my computer and was able to call all of my grandparents, it was so great to hear their voices--I'm used to talking to them around once a week or more. Also, my bracket for March Madness is doing alright...Marquette losing last night messed up my final four though--sad I was.

I also have started drinking the milk here. I learned that it's powdered milk that has just already been mixed with water so it's okay not to refrigerate it. I liked powdered milk when I was little, nothing's changed, I just drink milk that's bought off of a store isle instead of out of an ice box,

This weekend we will be going with ISA to the beaches in the north for the day Saturday and then Sunday our Chilean siblings are coming into town and we are celebrating Mama's birthday! Yesterday Julia and I stopped in a shop up the hill from us to buy a bottle of wine for our parents and we started talking to this Chilean lady who started telling us about crazy stories from an earthquake and some other things that we couldn't really make out. She kept asking Julia if she was scared and stuff and then when we were leaving she told us not to tell our parents what she had said...so of course we went right home and told Papa everything! Turns out she was telling us that our house was haunted and that spirits lived in the neighborhood. It all made sense at that point and we figured out we'd been talking to the crazy lady of the neighborhood--oh the life. Papa assured us that there weren't any spirits in the house, not that we needed assuring, and then we all proceeded to laugh at the absurdity of the lady's story.

This morning is super chill here at the casa, I think later today we are going to go to the beach--I love having free Fridays and absurdly long weekends, it will definitely be an adjustment going back to school at SEU.

RealTime

I decided to make a video for all of you just to kind of give you a tour of the blog if you are having trouble working it and such...I also talk a little bit about how I got here..for some of you this might be a bit repetitive. All you have to do is hit the play button! I hope you enjoy it. :-) Also, sorry for the sound quality, my microphone wasn't loud so you will have to turn your volume up!

The Language of Laughter

Thursday night I got on a bus to go to Pucon, a small city in southern Chile. We left Vina around 8:30 and were on the bus all night long...twelve hours. The bus was nice, for a bus at least, the seats were pretty big and leaned back pretty far and had nice leg rests--but long bus rides are still the worst. I hate riding in buses or cars for long hours so I was pretty claustrophobic and ready to get to Pucon to say the least. Luckily, my friend had some Dramamine that helped me sleep part of the way there. Once we arrived in Pucon we dropped all of our stuff in our cabins and got on a tour bus with guides who took us all around the city. We went to beautiful waterfalls, saw the Mapuche village, and finished the tour by swimming in the hot springs that were sooooo relaxing.

That night we decided to make dinner at our cabin (ISA is very good about getting us places to stay that we can cook at). We had gone to the store and bought the stuff to make fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese. After we got back from the hot springs I started cooking....so I'm battering the chicken and the flour isn't sticking very well and I was like okay well it's just because it's Chile and it's different...I mean for real, lots of the food is just different here. My friend Jack was watching me and told me not to worry about it because his Chilean family cooked with light battering. So I was like huh okay well then I start to fry it and after a while the flour has started cooking really weird in the chicken and my friend Amber gets out of the shower and I'm telling her how weird this flour is cooking on the chicken then Jack is like "Oh my god, did you guys get flour?" I grab the bag and in the store I'd picked up "azucar flor" not "harina" haha what can I say, "flor" was in big black letters on the bag and it looked like fine flour....we rolled on the floor laughing and ate caramelized chicken for dinner. I mean it wasn't fried chicken but it wasn't bad, and the funny story that came from it all was worth it completely...oh that powdered sugar.

The next morning Jack and I woke up to hike in the National Park. It was the cheapest thing we could do and was well worth it....so pretty. There were tons of waterfalls and of course I swam in one of the catch ponds....SO COLD. I can't even explain the beauty of this wonderful place...

Crossing it off the bucket list!

We hiked this mountain all the way up to the top where there were four lakes..it was the most peaceful place ever. It was different from hiking La Campana which was basically dry mountain..this place was full of water and everything was green. I was definitely sore but such a good sore.

That night we came home and had an asado complete with chorizos and jugo. Our whole group was housed in cabins that each had a grill and all circled a pool and lounging area. We were the only people in the place so that was also nice. We went out for drinks at one of the local bars that night and had a wonderful time. Even though we were in a touristy town, there were hardly any people there but the locals...we pretty much had the town to ourselves.

The next morning we woke up and kind of just hung around town. We went down to the lakes, lounged around the pool, and had lunch at Chef Pato. That night we got on the bus around eight...as much as I love Valpo, I wasn't at all ready to leave Pucon. I wish I could've just brought Mama and Papa down and stayed another few weeks there. It was so quiet and peaceful compared to the barking dogs and endless sirens of the city. I think I probably liked it so much because it was so similar to the feeling I get when I'm in my small hometown. Gruver isn't my favorite place to be in the whole world, but I do love my people there and the quiet stillness where you can look up at night and see a million stars is a breath of fresh air--Pucon was a lot like that--a breath of fresh air.

We got on the bus and I had a harder time coming back than I did traveling there. I decided to let my mind wonder down the whole "I live in Chile" road and it was great. I first thought back to the last time I was on a bus for twelve hours and came to the conclusion that it was probably in high school for sports..which as much as I hate buses, nothing is better than being on a bus with your team. From there I thought to myself..."Ha, never would I have thought three years ago that I would've gone to school in Austin and then live abroad in Chile." I have always had huge dreams but making them a reality has been the best experience of my life. I definitely am so thankful for my parents and family who have all been so supportive--I couldn't be more blessed. It's just the cherry on top that I have the best Chilean family ever here. God definitely is the master planner. I mean it took some planning with my parents, but ultimately God was kind of like, you decide where you want to go and...GO. Every person and place in Chile is a new adventure for me. I learn more about the world and myself every day here.

Chao.