Tuesday, April 27, 2004
The COPA trip to La Serena was really fun. It was a long bus ride, but I got a lot of reading for my classes done, and it was fun hanging out with all the COPA people.
We went to the valley of Elqui, where Cerro Tololo is. It's such a great place for astronomy because it's only couldy once or twice a year.... well, this day it was cloudy. BUT it more or less cleared up by that evening, so we did get to do some observing. But... like I said before, not at Tololo (because it was booked), at a place called Marmalluca. It was neat because I got to see what I wanted to see (such as one of the megallanic clouds), but it was definately not a professional astronomy observatory. They have a dome yes (it's actually a sphere, suspended somehow), so it has the allusion of having a real robotic telescope, but alas no there isn't one! So basically we just went up to an observing deck and looked through 10 or 12 inch Mead telescopes at the moon, the Orion Nebula, Jupiter, Sirius, a binary system, and an open cluster. It was neat anyway though. And then the funniest part was that they have a room there JUST for music performance... so afterwards the astronomers took us down (there were several tour buses there full of tourists) for a little musical show that they themselves performed of traditional Incan music, with little guitar thingies and flutes and everything. They actually looked rather like post docs, but I don't know because I tried to talk to one of them but they just sort of walked away and ignored me. Apparently they were astronomers/musicians in any case. But I enjoyed the austral stars and the music, so it was neat.
I also really enjoyed hanging out with my friends this weekend. I haven't had a group of close female friends since the middle of high school. And while I like all of my male friends (really I do, so no offense!), it's really nice to have some girls to hang out with.
And tomorrow Terry comes to see me, and we're going to Buenos Aires this weekend!
We went to the valley of Elqui, where Cerro Tololo is. It's such a great place for astronomy because it's only couldy once or twice a year.... well, this day it was cloudy. BUT it more or less cleared up by that evening, so we did get to do some observing. But... like I said before, not at Tololo (because it was booked), at a place called Marmalluca. It was neat because I got to see what I wanted to see (such as one of the megallanic clouds), but it was definately not a professional astronomy observatory. They have a dome yes (it's actually a sphere, suspended somehow), so it has the allusion of having a real robotic telescope, but alas no there isn't one! So basically we just went up to an observing deck and looked through 10 or 12 inch Mead telescopes at the moon, the Orion Nebula, Jupiter, Sirius, a binary system, and an open cluster. It was neat anyway though. And then the funniest part was that they have a room there JUST for music performance... so afterwards the astronomers took us down (there were several tour buses there full of tourists) for a little musical show that they themselves performed of traditional Incan music, with little guitar thingies and flutes and everything. They actually looked rather like post docs, but I don't know because I tried to talk to one of them but they just sort of walked away and ignored me. Apparently they were astronomers/musicians in any case. But I enjoyed the austral stars and the music, so it was neat.
I also really enjoyed hanging out with my friends this weekend. I haven't had a group of close female friends since the middle of high school. And while I like all of my male friends (really I do, so no offense!), it's really nice to have some girls to hang out with.
And tomorrow Terry comes to see me, and we're going to Buenos Aires this weekend!
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
So the Chile life.
About a week ago I started to get really annoyed at Chile in general. As COPA tells us, eventually the "honeymoon phase" of our experience starts to wear off - what was once new and exciting become routine and bothersome. I was feeling it, my friends were feeling it. The slow internet, the public transportation, the pushy people, the men hooting and hollering at you, etc. I knew it was a passing thing so it wasn't a big deal, but it was definately getting to me a bit.
Then this weekend I felt like my sentiments changed. I have been working on being able to trill my r's, because I never could. It had been really frustrating and I could never do it, but I would practice all the time. The middle of last week, it started to get better but I still couldn't use it in words. Then all of a sudden on Sunday I was walking to the bus stop, praticing, and it worked in a word! It wasn't perfect but it was there. Then I was really happy. :) After I got on the bus, down the street I saw a "Banco de Chile" sign and I thought, "ah, Chile." And now I'm not so stressed about things here. Sort of a small turn of events to make me feel so differently, but I'm really happy to be improving because that was my main goal for coming here. So, yay!
About a week ago I started to get really annoyed at Chile in general. As COPA tells us, eventually the "honeymoon phase" of our experience starts to wear off - what was once new and exciting become routine and bothersome. I was feeling it, my friends were feeling it. The slow internet, the public transportation, the pushy people, the men hooting and hollering at you, etc. I knew it was a passing thing so it wasn't a big deal, but it was definately getting to me a bit.
Then this weekend I felt like my sentiments changed. I have been working on being able to trill my r's, because I never could. It had been really frustrating and I could never do it, but I would practice all the time. The middle of last week, it started to get better but I still couldn't use it in words. Then all of a sudden on Sunday I was walking to the bus stop, praticing, and it worked in a word! It wasn't perfect but it was there. Then I was really happy. :) After I got on the bus, down the street I saw a "Banco de Chile" sign and I thought, "ah, Chile." And now I'm not so stressed about things here. Sort of a small turn of events to make me feel so differently, but I'm really happy to be improving because that was my main goal for coming here. So, yay!
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
I have been sort of lax about posting! Nothing particuarly exciting has been happening.
It was a good weekend, and it was nice to have spent it here in Santiago instead of travelling. On Thursday we went to go hear someone's chilean brother's band play at a bar, and that was interesting, although I had to get up early Friday for a meeting about volunteering to spend time with children at the hospital. Friday was somewhat interesting because we went over to some other COPA students' chilean friend's house. It was really cold and we were outside, and they were all being sort of strange and not very nice to us. It was just me and Rachel there, and we sort of sat together huddled in a chair muttering to each other. Saturday I did a little shopping in Patronato, where you can buy really cheap clothes, and then Saturday I went to the birthday party of one of MY chilean friends. All of my COPA friends were invited too, and it was really fun and people were nice to us there.
This weekend I'm going to La Serena with COPA, from Thursday to Sunday. We get to go see a telescope at night too. :) It's not the big one, Cerro Tololo, but it's a smaller one and I'm still excited.
It was a good weekend, and it was nice to have spent it here in Santiago instead of travelling. On Thursday we went to go hear someone's chilean brother's band play at a bar, and that was interesting, although I had to get up early Friday for a meeting about volunteering to spend time with children at the hospital. Friday was somewhat interesting because we went over to some other COPA students' chilean friend's house. It was really cold and we were outside, and they were all being sort of strange and not very nice to us. It was just me and Rachel there, and we sort of sat together huddled in a chair muttering to each other. Saturday I did a little shopping in Patronato, where you can buy really cheap clothes, and then Saturday I went to the birthday party of one of MY chilean friends. All of my COPA friends were invited too, and it was really fun and people were nice to us there.
This weekend I'm going to La Serena with COPA, from Thursday to Sunday. We get to go see a telescope at night too. :) It's not the big one, Cerro Tololo, but it's a smaller one and I'm still excited.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
The beach was really fun this weekend. For whatever reason, everything was hysterical. The only people who ended up going were me, Rachel, Sara, Sara's chilean boyfriend, and Sara's chilean brother. After we got there and talked to some guy about renting his house, we got into his car and he took us and our luggage up the street... but the car was SO dusty and dirty on the inside it was just so funny. When we go to the house, there were turtle shells and the horns of some animal on the wall, and it was decorated to look like a log cabin on the inside. We took it because it was the right size and cheap (3 thousand pesos per person per night - about 5 dollars). Then later we found out that half the burners on the stove didn't work, and the hot water didn't work consistently, so when you took a shower you would have hot water for about 1 minute, then cold water for about 1 minute, then hot water again, etc. One night we were getting ready for bed and I was talking on my cell phone, and all of a sudden the light in our room just went out. Rachel and I had no idea what happened, and it was sort of creepy because it was all dark and no one else was up. I went to the switch and tried flipping it a few times, but it didn't come back on so we just figured the light bulb burned out. I got back into bed, and then all of a sudden in the middle of the night, it just came back on! Soooo funny. Leela's chilean mom's boyfriend is german, and whenever something is slow or disorganized, he would say (in english) "it's the Chili life!" This weekend was like a bunch of "Chili life" things kept compounding and it just got funnier and funnier. I had a really good time.
Nothing else very exciting is happening this week... I was supposed to have a paper due Friday in my Time, Memory, and Narration class on the movie Blade Runner, but it got moved to Monday. I still have to get it done this week, though, so I can bring it into the COPA office and have someone edit it for me. I think I'm supposed to have a quiz on Thursday in my Gabriela Mistral class, but that professor is always surprised when we ask him about something that's due according to the syllabus (as in surprised that it's on the syllabus), and then he always thinks our class is Mondays and Wednesdays and it's really Tuesdays and Thursdays. Ah well.
Nothing else very exciting is happening this week... I was supposed to have a paper due Friday in my Time, Memory, and Narration class on the movie Blade Runner, but it got moved to Monday. I still have to get it done this week, though, so I can bring it into the COPA office and have someone edit it for me. I think I'm supposed to have a quiz on Thursday in my Gabriela Mistral class, but that professor is always surprised when we ask him about something that's due according to the syllabus (as in surprised that it's on the syllabus), and then he always thinks our class is Mondays and Wednesdays and it's really Tuesdays and Thursdays. Ah well.
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
picture time!
Valparaíso:
Us on a boat in Valpo... from the left it's Rachel, me, Sara, Leela, Ruth:
Sunset in Viña del Mar:
the volcano in Pucón, with little red dots I made in Photoshop to show our approximate path up it:
on the volcano:
(before we got to the snowy part):
the mouth:
Pablo Neruda's gorgeous house in Isla Negra:
I think I might be going to the beach this weekend for semana santa (for Easter). We don't have class thursday or friday, so it's the perfect time to go.
Valparaíso:
Us on a boat in Valpo... from the left it's Rachel, me, Sara, Leela, Ruth:
Sunset in Viña del Mar:
the volcano in Pucón, with little red dots I made in Photoshop to show our approximate path up it:
on the volcano:
(before we got to the snowy part):
the mouth:
Pablo Neruda's gorgeous house in Isla Negra:
I think I might be going to the beach this weekend for semana santa (for Easter). We don't have class thursday or friday, so it's the perfect time to go.
Sunday, April 04, 2004
This Saturday I went with COPA to see Pablo Neruda's house in Isla Negra (not really an island, just a city on the coast). It was beautiful. Everyone commented that if they lived in that place they probably would have been able to write poetry too! It actually reminded me a lot of US east coast areas, just in its ambience. He had collections of really random, but pretty, things, like glass eggs and ivory tusks together in a glass coffee table, glass bottles, sea shells, insects. After touring the house (with a very boring tour guide), we could head down to the beach below the house (not a swimming beach, just a rocky pretty beach) and hang out for an hour and a half before lunch. Then after lunch we drove to another little town where there is a very unique chocolate shop, one where they make chocolates by hand with ingredients not usually associated with chocolate, like mustard, hot pepper, basil, oregano, cloves, etc. They adopted some of the ancient chocolate techniques of the Maya and Toltecs, which is why they have those strange ingredients. We tried about 7 or 8 different kinds and they were all so yummy and not strange at all.
Now I am working on an essay for my COPA Spanish class, refuting or agreeing with the assertion that a way for indigenous peoples to get out of poverty is to leave behind their traditions. Chile has a rather large indigenous population of a native group of people called the Mapuche. There is also a smaller group called Aymara that came from the northern Andes and migrated down into the Atacama desert in the North, and then a third group called the Rapa Nui, who live on Easter Island. It's an interesting topic, but sort of tedious to research and write a paper on. Ah well.
Now I am working on an essay for my COPA Spanish class, refuting or agreeing with the assertion that a way for indigenous peoples to get out of poverty is to leave behind their traditions. Chile has a rather large indigenous population of a native group of people called the Mapuche. There is also a smaller group called Aymara that came from the northern Andes and migrated down into the Atacama desert in the North, and then a third group called the Rapa Nui, who live on Easter Island. It's an interesting topic, but sort of tedious to research and write a paper on. Ah well.
