So first there was La Moneda, basically the white house of Chile. We went with our program last tuesday, which was pretty cool! It's a pretty majestic building with the biggest flag I've ever seen in the front. They've got these carabineros that stand out front kind of like those English guys with the fuzzy hats, but way less comical looking and more serious. like don't-look-at-me-for-too-long-or-you'll-turn-to-stone serious. Anyways we walked around and got to see this room with like a billion year old rug that we weren't allowed to step on (reminded me of Princess Diaries when she gets yelled at in 12 languages to get off the lawn), then we got to see where the President (currently Michelle Bachelet) gives press conferences? and super official business I guess.
The problem with tours in Spanish is I can understand for a little bit but as soon as I zone out for a moment, I'm completely lost and they're talking about some painting with an important battle on it that I swear to myself I don't need to write down because I'll definitely remember it (I don't). But regardless it was pretty cool. She told us how when Obama went for breakfast at La Moneda he brought too many people so they couldn't have it in the normal room and had to move it outside into this big square. Also we saw these ancient cannons that were named furious and lightning. We also saw the outside of where Salvador Allende died, which is noted by many Chileans as a very tragic event. Overall it was an awesome trip and the parts I understood were pretty interesting!
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| Don't step on the rug. |
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| This means business. |
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| Salvador Allende |
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| Amigos del programa( todos les gusta el vino también) |
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| This bottle of wine costs $700. Yikes! |
So this weekend we had to travel to somewhere outside of Santiago for our final project for ILP. After changing our minds 3 times of where to go, 5 of us ventured off to the coastal town of Isla Negra, where Pablo Neruda (super famous Chilean Poet) had a house. Little did we know that we had made the perfect choice, as Saturday just happened to be his birthday, and although he might not be around anymore to celebrate it, all the locals of Isla Negra sure do enjoy celebrating his birth! Everyone who lived there seemed to take a lot of pride in having Neruda's house in Isla Negra, he was very infuential and his works are very important to a lot of people today. So our plan to take a tour was turned into a very grand affair, first we got in for free, then there was all sorts of festivities with music and local artisans with every sort of craft and lots of fresh empanadas. Also it turns out that Isla Negra is a very much so communist town, they had all sorts of flags and chants and it was a very interesting experience. Now I'll admit I am not as educated as I could be when it comes to what communism means (or any politics for that matter),but we don't hear many good things about in the US, it was quite fascinating to see this whole community with their pride and love for communism, which I'm pretty sure you'd never see at any public festival for any particular political party in the US.
Later that night we returned to Neruda's house for a poetry reading thing, which ended up being way more fun than it sounded. haha. There were these 5 musicians who at first each sang a small song and then it turned into basically a rap battle of poetry. Everything was off the top of their heads and they had only a moment between one person finishing and another person responding to their song. It was all very impressive even though I probably couldn't tell you any of what was said. Something very important I've learned from not understanding much of what is said during stories is that social cues are lifesavers. Everyone laughs and you just laugh right along with them (although I suppose someday this could bite me in the butt if I was ever the subject of said joke). Anyways I had a great time listening even if I didn't understand much.
Ok just one more tidbit to share! Yesterday after getting back to my home and settling back in from the whirlwind of a day I had on Saturday, my host mom Eni had some family over, it was her son, his wife and their two daughters Dora and Antonia. The girls were adorable (ages 8 and 10) and I have to say I enjoyed talking to them much more than I do with adults in Spanish. It's really hard when you sit with a group of adults because unless they're actively including me in the conversation I feel like I'm 6 years old sitting at the grown-ups table while they talk about the latest political issue. Even though now they're probably only talking about what they bought at the store yesterday it's still pretty hard to keep up and I often don't feel like I have much to contribute to the conversation. So when I sat and talked to the girls I had a lot of fun showing them picture of my dog and even got to share our love for One Direction. They asked me a lot of questions which was fun because they were pretty easy to answer and they showed me an Disney Channel show from Argentina. Made me miss babysitting a little and I'm secretly hoping they come back soon. Anyways I guess my first Chilean girl friends are 8 and 10 years old but that's ok with me. Baby steps right? haha Anyways, one more week of ILP , 2 more weeks until school starts and about 21 more weeks of adventure!
-Faith
P.S. my host mom still refers to me as Joyce. not worth correcting her, I'll live.
Oh and heres a wonderful selfie for your viewing pleasure (my friend Charlotte in the background).
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