Sights, Sounds and Smells

Hello everyone!

It's been waaaay too long since I've written and I'm actually excited to let you know that all is well. I am in Chile for 18 more days (less than 3 weeks) and, as I speak, am juggling relaxing, sending this update and reading about the history of Chilean music.

It's been a busy last month, but also a very good one. I am setting my own schedule, waking up when I want and just doing things at my own pace. Though I seem to leave the house less (because I find it easy to just work at home), I have come to realize things that I've become so accustomed to, but still take note of.

Sights:

    -The house of my aunt: This aunt is the sister of my mother and we all live in the same compound. We seem to be in her house all the time. Whether we're eating, visiting, or just working, I've starting treating it as my second home because I can honestly go there whenever I want My classmate that used to live there moved out and is living in an apartment with other classmates, but comes back often enough for tea time (las onces) and lunch. This is definitely a reflection of not only the family, but the Chilean lifestyle as well. The family is such a central focal point that, even after the kids move out, dinner/lunch/onces still includes the majority of the family. It doesn't overwhelm me when there are 15 people over for lunch or onces and we spend more time talking than we do eating.

 - The city

       So, I personally am not the best first sight navigator so 4 months later I am more familiar with the city and knowing how to get home from almost any part of the city. I still have my off days. I was in Viña del Mar-a neigboring city-the other day (having an interview with a woman for my project) and didn't want to take the subway because I knew the buses are cheaper and didn't mind demorando mucho (taking much time) to get back home because it's a pretty city. On my way back, I accidentally got on the wrong bus headed the wrong way, but thanks to my previous experience of being lost, I asked the bus driver before actually boarding. I saved myself money and time...so I guess I'm getting the hang of figuring my way around...sort of.

Sounds:

   -The bus

        Las micros (pronounced: mee crows) are way more than just busses, they are one of the few sources of transportation for many many many people. I live on a hill that is casi (almost) impossible to subir (go up) if you don't drive a manual car. Most people don't have cars, and even less of them can manuver up the steep cerros (hills). Every day, almost every 15 minutes, I can hear a micro's engine going up the hill, almost in a struggle because it often has to stop on the slope to drop off passangers. Seeing as there are few actual sidwalks in Valparaíso, everyone just walks on the street and a good indicator to get off of the street is the roaring sound of the micro. It can always be heard before it's seen. Which is always a good thing because if I'm running late, but can hear the micro comming, I'm out the door in a flash.

   -Tom

         The dog. He's old and has been having a few pains. He doesn't like climbing up the stairs and so he whines when he wants to climb up. It's a shame, but we've figured out that all he really needs is sometime to say, "Sube!" "Climb!" Just a little encouragement.

    -Spanish

           I have become better at understaning Chileans (the wrost, so they say in proper Spanish speaking).

Smells:

   -Fish

         Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish. I mean, it's kind of obvious. The entire city was established on a port and you can see the mar (sea) from all points of the city (it's pretty fabulous). However, there is this route on the micro where it runs along the shoreline right next to a caleta (bay) where fishermen bring in their catch. The smell is expecially strong in this specific area, but I know where we are, if I lose track of my geographic location, when I smell fish, the strong stench of fresh fish. I'm used to it now...but still, it's strong.

-Dog excrement

    I won't explain this. There are just sooo many dogs in this city. It is sometimes unbelievable.

-Smoke

    People smoke in unimaginable quantities in this country and freely. From the age of 13, you can see young children to old people on the street smoking. Me carga (It bugs me) when I see little children smoking and no one really opposes it. I smell smoke too often and sometimes come home smelling like smoke, but am very grateful for good health.

In all this, I've learned to enjoy this city and take in all the sights, sounds or smells. I'll miss it all when I go back to the states and might bug you all with stories about these sights, sounds and smells so I hope you all get ready to be part of my reverse culture shock. :)

See you soon!

Earth to Ife. Halllo?

As I'm sitting here in my bed really late this...dusk, I'm really thinking about my future. (Buckle up, this one's a doozy). Don't fall asleep on me here.

No, just joking. I am thinking about my future, but I won't be sharing it (much) with you.

So I have 2 blogs and realized when I was writing in the other one that I really don't want to be a lawyer. Eso.

On to the rest of Chile. I think I want to come back to Chile after I finish college. I have been thinking that I really don't want to leave right now. I don't know what it is that is making me feel this way (I haven't fallen in love so I can rule that out), but it's strong enough to make me consider leaving and starting over.

Maybe that's it. Starting over. I actually don't want to talk about this right now. It's too late and I'm not thinking correctly. The blog isn't a sounding board so I won't bore you with my preliminary thoughts. I have lots of them if you want to hear them...later. Just let me know. I might just share.

Then, I am here to talk about my week. My first full week back from el norte and intense work. I've stayed in most days of this week and probably eaten way too much, but that's okay. I'm not going anywhere soon. I am working on my project that is due in a month and therefore have no classes or no obligations...speaking of obligations....

He has none. He's a 30-algo year old man with 2 kids under the age of 10 and lives in the home of his mother. My host brother in el norte. Codename: Stephen. My host mom suggested we get married. Chiste, obviously, but I was like "What? He's not married?" And so is the case of many young men here in the lovely Chile.

(Disclaimer: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION DOES NOT APPLY TO EVERY FAMILY AND DO NOT APPLY IN ALL ASPECTS.)

         I'm not going to be really extensive because I do have a 3 page paper to finish. But here's what I've noticed. There are a lot of babies having babies and baby daddies with no obligations or little obligations to the children they have, and there are a lot of 'grown men', digamos, who still live with their parents.

It is very much a cultural thing. The family setting is a very powerful organization of people and is very important. The mothers take very good care of the children (pretty much until they get married, but sometimes after that....). They do their laundry, cook, make their child's bed, etc.

Example:

  *Macarena (a very popular Chilean name) is a 25 year old that lives with her mother. She has a 3 year old daughter. She is not married to *Rodrigo (the father of the child), but sometimes spends the night in his house with his parents who take care of their daughter *Juliana. For Rodrigo to be living with his parents at the age of 30 is not anything to be ashamed of or to be made fun of as it is sometimes the case in the US. Rodrigo works, has a car (which is something pretty rare in Valparaiso) and brings in his own income; however he does not live on his own. Rodrigo's mother does not mind taking care of her granddaughter when her son has to work or is out with friends. Rodrigo does run errands for his mother and probably does some chores. This is a not always the norm.

Another scenario is that Rodrigo does not do chores, and in fact in incapable of cooking himself a meal. He has a girlfriend (off and on), carretea (parties) a lot and attends the university (say he's 25, not 30). He still has a daughter, but does not spend time with her. He lives with his mom and she does everything for him. Cooks, cleans, makes his bed and does his laundry.

Okay, basically, after an unfortunately drawn out blog (which I apologize for), the lifestyle is different here in Chile. I personally think that it spoils the young children and does not make the younger generation responsible for its actions. When you continue depending on your parents and are not given any form of independence, it can create an atmosphere of non-chalant-ness (?). Because mom and pops give you a place to stay and food and a roof even if you have kids that you don't support and spend countless nights not contributing positively to society and its growth.

Whatevs. I'm done. Earth to Ife. Wow.. what a rant. Remind me NOT to write when I'm tired.

*These names are used to protect the identity of the people involved in this story.

Teach me how to Dougie (this one's a shortie)

Hola damas y caballeros (sin cabeza?)
 
     How goes the buena onda? Okay, so we've officially entered the month of noviembre (in Spanish, not much is capitalized apart from the first letter of the first word in a sentence) and summer is SOOOOO hot here, but we're still in spring. No importa. I'm back in the city of lights, the ocean ports and hills. These past few weeks have been quite interesantes and I'm semi-nervous for the next month because I'm not always the best when left to myself. Too much free time=not enough work getting done, but God willing, this month will not be this way. I'll learn to make good use of the time I'm given.

   HIGHLIGHTS SO FAR IN CHILE:

Dancing in Mil Tambores (Valparaiso)
Volunteering in a small community with kids (El Salto)
Performing Sleepy Hallow (Caballero sin cabeza is our Spanish translation) to little school children (Putre)
       --Almost anytime I get to dance in my own little world to good music or play with kids--
Spending time with friends from WashU (Valpo/Santiago)
Watching brilliant stars (Putre)
Sharing my faith (Everywhere in Chile)


I am not going to explain every single one of these because my words wouldn't do them justice, but what I've found from these experiences are my passions in this life. Anytime I perform (dance, sing, act), I get this high that only comes from these passions. Anytime I can make a small child smile/laugh, it makes that day all that better. I get a whole lot of satisfaction in simply doing these things, but also how others feel.

-Dancing I do for myself. It's funny because I lose sight of where I am and sometimes get too consumed in the moment. One time, we went to a pretty empty bar in Arica that had media-buena musica and enough space for a dance floor. My friends went to drink, but I'm not into that so when the music got really good, I basically got up and started dancing. My other friend joins and we've got a little dance floor going. 10 minutes later, another friend tells me that there is a man recording the both of us. I immediately stop because I didn't want to draw bad attention, but 2 min later...there I was again. Ah well, maybe I'll be famous. haha. Vamos a ver.-

Music is my heartbeat.

So passions? Not really sure how this will translate into the "real world" and what my future consists of, but right now, I'm loving these moments! I realize I'm very much a homebody, but when it comes to the very core of who I am, these passions are where it's at.

Left to myself, I'd be a professional child developer/enthusiast that danced on the side. Imagine that :)

I was going to upload a super ballin' photo, but Blogger's being a bit fome (Chilean slang...look it up!). Next time.

Until then, much love, peace and pig grease,

Ife 'Quilpayan' S.

P.S. Do YOU know how to Dougie? I hear it's all the rave.