Week 3 (long post)

Week 3 was pretty low-key during the week but we had a busy weekend so I guess it balances out. The program assistants have sort of run out of fun things to do with us, so we had a lot of free afternoons and time to study.

Monday was a trip to the major farmer's market here in Santiago. Apparently this is where the average person buys their fresh vegetables. Javier was telling us that farmers come every morning at like 4 AM to sell their fruits, vegetables, and meats to the vendors in the market so if you buy anything there you know that it came pretty much straight from the field or farm. I bought a gigantic pear which was really good, and a fruit smoothie that was also surprisingly good even though it contained banana.

On Tuesday everyone realized that we had a midterm in a week (it was today), so they went into study mode. I don't think I study as much as a lot of the other people on this trip, so I found myself with a bunch of free time. Since there weren't any activities planned with the program assistant guys, Cristhian and I went to his apartment and watched the final of the Chilean soccer tournament on TV. This was pretty much the equivalent of the Superbowl, and both teams were (I think) from Santiago. The teams were Union Espanola, who beat out U. Catolica at the game we went to see in person the week before; and U. de Chile who was the favorite to win. I was hoping that Espanola would win the final, because then I would know that at least U. Catolica got beaten by the best team in the league...but no such luck. Although, it's probably for the best since U. de Chile fans apparently become quite destructive when they do not win, and they are centered only one Metro stop from our hotel. As it was, the caravan of beeping cars and celebrating fans went on way into the night.

Wednesday afternoon was nice and lazy, but in the evening a group of 10 of us went out to get Mexican food. I do miss my frijoles, so that was some nice eats for me =) Unfortunately it was also happy hour, and some of the people I went with got a little too drunk for a public place (in my opinion). Obviously people are free to do what they want, and it doesn't usually phase me anymore when people drink but I was somewhat worried since we were attracting so much attention on the subway. But in the end we got home safely and without any pickpocketing (a minor miracle), so I can't complain much.

On Thursday we went to the Pre-Columbian art museum here, which is apparently quite famous. I wasn't horribly impressed, but maybe ancient art is just not my cup of tea. I don't know what I was expecting, but the exhibits were mostly just pottery and statues, etc. made out of stone. I will have to make time to hit up the Museo de Bellas Artes to see some less-old fine art. Some people in the group went out to a salsa club on Thursday night, but after the Mexican restaurant the night before, I felt like having a quiet night in.

We were supposed to see a concert on Friday, but for some reason it got cancelled. I was kind of bummed about that, but what can you do...Anyway, another small group ended up going out to eat at a Peruvian restaurant in the Manuel Montt area. This was a restaurant that a bunch of people went to while some of us were sick, so Cristhian wanted to take those who missed out last time. I had some really good lomo saltado, which is apparently a common Peruvian stir-fry dish. The meat was well-cooked and flavorful, which was a satisfying change from the bland Chilean food we generally get for lunch.

We got to sleep in (yay) on Saturday, and then had a barbeque in the public park in the afternoon. The park had a number of picnic areas set up with a covered table and a little grill for each area. We (well, by "we" I mean Javier, Cristhian, Matt, and Dianne) grilled chicken, chorizo, hot dogs, and meat/vegetable kabobs all afternoon. We kicked around a soccer ball while waiting for everything to get done, and made friends with a couple people who were eating at the tables next to us. All in all, it was a peaceful afternoon in a pretty park. There were lots of trees and a little river, and the Andes looked close enough that you could walk there. Clearly that's just an illusion because they are so large, but it made for a pretty sunset. On Saturday night, most people were studying so Cristhian and I went out to a bar where one of his friends from college was having a goodbye party. Apparently she was leaving for Austrailia the next day, so it was quite the big to-do. In the end there were about 14 people hanging out talking and having drinks. I tried to talk to some people, but mostly everyone spoke way too fast for me to follow what was going on. My conversational Spanish really is terrible; I am trying to improve it, and it certainly helps to hang out with a bunch of Chilean people, but I don't think I'll get significantly better by the time this program is over =(

Sunday was the day a lot of us had been waiting for - the ski trip to a resort in the Andes. We had to get up at an ungodly hour since the bus ride to the place took 2 hours. I was all set to learn to ski, or at least go down the hill a few times so I could say that I've been skiing in the Andes. Unfortunately, my knee dislocated on the stupid lift on the way up, so I never even got to go down the hill. I am a little upset about that, but I am not surprised it happened. Anyway, I've been trying to take it easy so I should be able to walk normally in a couple of days. As it was, I hung out with some of the less athlectically-inclined people in the lodge eating food and talking. I sat outside for a little while watching people go down the mountain, and it was fun to be in the snow again after so long in the desert. Overally, it was not a bad day, I was just hoping it would have turned out differently.

So that's Week 3 for you, nothing major but a lot of little fun stuff. This week is going to be 3 days of celebration followed by a long weekend in Pucon. We have a lot to celebrate right now since we just completed our midterm, today is Toan's birthday, and tomorrow is Sean's. Wednesday is the day the new Harry Potter movie comes out, and I know quite a few people (myself included) are going to try and go see it somewhere. I hope it is in English with subtitles, since I can't see that kind of movie lending itself well to a Spanish dub. I guess we'll find out when we get there. This weekend is a long national holiday so we are all heading to Pucon for some outdoor woodsy-nature-y recreation. I'm not sure why Pucon is the destination of choice since it is an 11-hour bus ride away, but I guess it is supposed to be a lot of fun. Maybe I will ride a horse again; I liked doing that at the ranch in Argentina.

Also a quick note - I am going to stop importing these posts to my Facebook, so you can use the "Follow" option on this page if you want to be notified when I've posted a new entry. You can also manually check the page; I will probably post next after the weekend in Pucon.