Carne!

Woooff... The last week was by far the most indulgent I have had so far in Chile. It was the week of Fiestas Patrias, centered around the 18th of September which is more or less Chilean independence day. Imagine the amount you eat on thanksgiving and the amount you drink on new years, put those two together in the same day, everyday for a week. Heres a quick blow by blow of the action.

Friday the 12th was "18th at the university." They have this early because everyone travels home to be with their families on the actual day. At the school were set up "ramadas" which are booths that vend food and drink. The food consisted of "choripan" (sausage on bred), "empanadas," "sopapillas" (fried bread), and "a name i don't remember" (kabobs). The drink consisted of "ponche" (white wine with sliced peaches and aguardente), "chicha" (a strong wine combination with carbonation, i think), "cerveza," and "pisco." The food and drink cost between 200 and 500 pesos (0.40 - 1.00 USD) each.

The scene consisted of a band playing music and about 5000 students overindulging. We arrived at about 4pm and stayed until the chicha and choripan ran out.

The next thing I knew it was monday and I was on a bus headed north to Talca. I was invited to the house of one of my roomates for a couple of days before heading to Curico (a city an hour away from Talca) for the remainder of the week. In Talca we went to the University of Talca to check out their ramadas. It was considerably less exciting, so we decided to take a tour of the campus. During the tour we somehow found ourselves joining a game of soccer. I was wearing sandals, so I played barefoot. This was ok because it was on grass, and it was only 5 vs 5. The game then grew to a full field and 11 vs 11. I decided I would play goalkeeper so that I wouldn't lose any toes. This turned out to be a lot of fun, and reminded me of the old days when I was just a boy.

After a couple of non eventful nights out on the town, I was off to Curico to my other friends house. The grandma of my friend lives in a little town of about 2000 people in the country side close to Curico. Here is where we would spend the remainder of the week. At grandmas house was all of my friends family (about 30) from great grand kids, to great grandma, and me.

The first day we had an asado (BBQ). The grill was a 55 gallon drum cut in half. It was filled with meat, two layers thick, 3 times. I could barely move afterwards. They had bought a full cow for the celebration, 130 kilos worth of meat (286 lbs). Later that day we climbed up the little hillside and enjoyed the view. Many people on the hillside were flying kites, a very popular activity in the pueblo.

That evening began the drinking and to my pleasure and suprise, a bottle of Jim Beam surfaced. The uncle whom had the bottle let me drink away on it as i pleased as the rest didn't really like whisky. I haven't had that flavor in my mouth since I was in the Atlanta airport waiting for my flight to come down here. Later later in the evening we went to the ramadas where there was folk dancing, games, food and drink. One was a gambling game, so i decided to try my luck. There were 9 pins set up in a diamond. One person throws a ball at the pins and trys to knock down an even number. If he does so twice in a row, he doubles his money. Meanwhile all of the people standing around are also making bets that he wont knock down an even number. I threw the ball on about 5 occasions. After winning and losing, I finished 2000 pesos behind (about 4 USD).

The remaining days consisted of basically more of the same, however with the menu changing slightly. One day we ate empanadas and had more asado and another day we had a "discada." The discada was a large metal disk like platter (kinda like a metal garbage can lid, see fotos) that was filled with clams, oysters, beef, chicken, potatoes and sausage covered in cabbage and cooked in white wine over a fire. This was delicious.

Its hard to explain how interesting this experience was. I was with a Chilean family on the most important holiday of the year in the country side. Its interesting enough to witness all of the family dynamics of families from your own culture, so this was extraordinary. Apart from enjoying the opportunity of partaking in this celebration, I really liked the little pueblo. It was a place where the road is shared by bicycles and horses with the occasional car. Houses are not locked up and bicycles are left in the street. These are things that could never happen in the more populated areas of this country.

Back in Curico we took advantage of the final afternoon and went to the stadium for a soccer game. This was a smaller stadium than the one in Concepcion, but the fans no less passionate. I will say it once again, they do not stop singing, banging the drum, waving the flag once during the whole game. After that it was back on the bus and back to reality and to my running shoes to shed some of the weight.

It was a really special experience to be in Chile for this holiday, and to be able to share it with a family in a traditional way.

My birthday is this Friday, so there will be one more party before a nice cleansing period.

I hope all is well in Gringolandia.

The pictures can be found here under the album "Fiestas Patrias" http://picasaweb.google.com/shirleydan

Abrazo
Dan

Un poco atresado

Hola all...

I apologize for my lack of writing as of late, but I'm in Chile, and your not, so deal with it.

School has gotten off to a good start (good i guess, there is class, I go to it, and i try to understand the viejo that practically whispers.) It kinda feels like school this time around. I have already taken a class similar to this one, so despite everything being in spanish, its not as hard as it could be so far. However, this last week we had our first laboratory, a truly memorable experience.

I have taken several chemistry lab courses during my time at UM, and there was a general pattern for the first day of each of those labs. This consisted of receiving our equipment for the semester and getting a safety orientation of the lab. Well in Chile, that pattern has been snapped. The first thing we did in the lab was take a test, not a safety test, but like a real test. "reproduce the fourth period of the periodic table" Are you kidding me! Good thing there was one on the wall in my sight.

Next it was "begin." Well, I had two partners, but no equipment so I left it up to them to figure out what to do. We found ourselves a beaker and began. What came next is something I'm still not sure I experienced in real life. My fellow students went to fetch the necessary 5 mL of the prepared copper nitrate solution with their pipets. But instead of having a bulb on the end of the pipets, they only had their mouths!! Yes, they were pipetting by mouth, and this was no big deal to them. I almost freaked out. (For you non science people, I will explain. A pipet is a glass tube, like a straw, with graduation marks in order to measure and transfer small amounts of liquids. There is usually a small bulb to attach on the top in order to create suction. Pipetting be mouth is to suck on the end in order to draw in the liquid!) Well, for anyone who has ever taken a chemistry lab in the last 15 years, you have probably heard "don't pipet by mouth!" I was shocked, especially when it was my turn to fetch the solution. Yes, I pipetted by mouth.

Although what we were working with was not necessarily dangerous, I still wouldn't want to drink it. Apart from this, the lab did not have very good ventilation, no fume hoods, an emergency shower nor emergency eye washer. Hopefully I don't spill, or the old chemistry adage will definitely come into play "oops means run."

I have now met with my classes that I teach at the elementary school about 4 times each. I'm really impressed with how much the kids are learning and retaining. After I left the first time, I thought there was no hope, but at the second meeting they were all repeating what i had taught them the first time. I'm really enjoying the experience so far, its nice to see the kids excited to learn and also the corresponding results. The hardest class for me in the pre-kindergarten because they just like to sing, and I don't. The 3rd graders are good, but a little wild. The fourth graders are excellent. They are the most interested, always asking me questions and they are picking things up very fast. I hope I can take advantage of there sponginess and provide them with enough liquid.

We had the exchange student welcoming reception last night, complete with wine and hors d'oeuvres . Also, 12 students from St. Cloud university are here this semester, so the gringo ratio is up. It was fun to meet all of those Minnesotans, reminded me of my little Minnesotan back home:)

The other night La Universidad de Chile futbol team came to town again, so me and my fellow hooligans went to the stadium. It was again crazy as it was when i went back in march, but this time I snuck in my camera. I'll let the photos and video explain the rest. La U lost in a shoot out, so we drank an extra beer.










In other news, about a week a go we had one of the supposed worst rain storms in recent history here in concepcion. School was canceled for the day due to flooding. I didn't get that memo until i arrived at class, soaking wet.

My street

The U

The U

Some locas that wanted to cross the street


Thats the scoop for now. As I said before, Chilean independence day is coming up on the 18th, so that means lots of carretiando for the next couple weeks. I'm headed up to Curico to the house of one of my Chilean friends where I'm going to celebrate with his family. I shall have more on this en la vuelta. Que esten bien!!! besos y abrazos