I realized that I've been a bit negligent with the photos, so this post is just to catch you up on things I've seen since I've been here, especially on my trip to Gansu.



The house where I stayed, Mr. Shi's younger brother's.




Some caves seen from the road - apparently people in this part of China used to live in caves, but have since stopped for the most part, mainly because there were moisture problems.





A view from the temple we visited.




This is a statue of one of the generals of the emperor who had the temple built.




Steps up to the temple





Bell




up close




and me playing a drum, just so you know I was there




What looked to me like a good place to drink tea, but unfortunately I didn't have any with me.




Incense outside the main temple




Inside the temple












A table for making offerings, supposedly the largest in China, and Mr. Shi's nephew




My Chinese teacher Mr. Shen reading a poem, and Mr. Shi's mom having her picture taken by her eldest son




Looking down on one of the temple gardens








Terraced land that doesn't seem to be used for agriculture - maybe it was terraced a long time ago?




A cave dwelling that still seems to be in use








Looking back up




Another part of the temple




A traditional Chinese doctor weighs out some medicine








Eating fresh sunflower seeds




The Drum Tower in Xi'an - sometime I'll go up it, maybe when the weather is nice




PBR: the only beer from the US I've seen here besides Budweiser




A group of kids who were saying hello to me, so I turned and said hello in Chinese and took their picture, causing a bit of mayhem




Some women playing mah jong, which is a common sight. Apparently some people get really involved and stay up all night playing.

new classes and tea

This week, as I mentioned in the last post, the rest of my classes started.  I have 4 new classes of freshman, half English majors and half broadcasting majors (though one of those classes is on the bigger side), and they seem to have gotten started on good notes.  The English classes in particular went quite well, as did my sophomore English classes this week.  The students are finally willing to talk a bit, which has been my goal since the beginning of the semester.  It's a little more difficult with the broadcasting majors, though, since their English isn't quite as good and they are therefore more reluctant to speak in class.  They are much more comfortable reading aloud or following a script than composing their own ideas.  Unfortunately, they get plenty of practice at that in their other classes, and somehow I need to motivate them to communicate their own thoughts and feelings in English, which is no easy task, but things seem to be improving at least in my sophomore classes.

This evening I finally got around to buying a proper Chinese tea set, or at least the beginnings of one.

It's pretty simple but functional, and the first tea I brewed in it turned out pretty good.

The experience of going to the tea shop, though, was by far the best part.  When you walk in, you're given a tea to try, and then usually invited to sit down and drink some more, which I did since I already knew I was going to buy something there and didn't feel bad taking advantage of their hospitality.  The tea we drank was of course very good, and it was a great opportunity to practice my Chinese, which is coming along pretty slowly, but improving nonetheless.  The conversation consisted of me often saying "Ting bu dong" (literally, "I hear, don't understand," which is the easiest and most common way to say you don't understand what's being said), followed by repeated explanations and hand gestures.  Usually I was able to figure out what they were saying without too much effort, and like I said, it's great practice.  They invited me to go back and drink tea anytime, as well as practice speaking, and of course teach them some English.  Every tea shop I've been in has done the same thing, though, so I'm not sure how sincere of an offer it is.  We'll have to see when I go back.

It's starting to get late though, so I'm going to practice writing some Chinese caracters in my hand notebook (see below) and get some rest.  'Night.

more classes

It's just about time for me to leave for Chinese class, so this post will be brief.  I'm just writing to let you all know that this week the rest of my classes started since it's the first week for the freshmen.  I'm still not sure exactly how many classes I'm teaching since there are some problems with the schedule they sent me.  Hopefully those will be cleared up today.  Yesterday I ate for the first time in the school cafeteria, and it wasn't bad, certainly much better than the food in the dorms at the U of I, but all of the students and teachers say that it could be much better, and in fact many teachers bring their own food to heat up in the microwave.  There are plenty of choices, but it's not a buffet.  Instead, there are many different windows lined up around the walls and you can order what you want from them and pay for it there with some sort of electronic card which you hold up against a card reader.  Unfortunately, I don't have such a card yet, so I had to go to the cash register, guess how much money I would spend, and then go back and order.  And of course ordering is a hectic, noisy, Chinese-language affair, so since it was my first time I had a Chinese student help me.  The chao mian and soup that I had were both, like I said, better than dorm food, but not quite as good as other food I've had here.

Time to go.  Take care.

my trip

It's pretty late here, and I need to be getting to bed, but while the New York Times articles about North Korea are loading, I should be able to give you a brief description of my trip. Sorry it's taken so long to write this, but as I'm sure you know, it's much easier to go somewhere than it is to describe a trip in words.

I went with my friend Mr. Shi, my teacher Mr. Shen and his wife to Mr. Shi's hometown, Qingyang, in nearby Gansu province. We left early Sunday morning on what was supposed to be a 4 or 5 hour bus ride, but it ended up taking 8 because it was a holiday (National Day) and there were many people on the road, and to make matters worse, the road was closed at one point so we had to double back and take an alternate route. Nonetheless, we arrived without any real problems just in time for dinner on Sunday at Mr. Shi's family's house. We had a hot pot, a common type of fancier meal here. The basic idea is that in the middle of the table there's a pot that's, well, hot (usually done with an electric hotplate underneath it) and filled with some sort of broth or soup-like liquid. You then place uncooked food into the pot and take it out and eat it when it's cooked. The flavors all mix together, and you can have your food cooked as long as you want since you're the one who puts it in and takes it out. It works great if you know how to use chopsticks, but I sometimes had difficulty with soft food breaking when I tried to take it out, such as potato noodles or tofu.

After dinner we went into downtown to a trade fair that was selling clothes and other items from all over the country, but nothing that really interested me. Then we went to a dance hall that reminded me of the past, though of course I've never really been to the past. Everyone was dancing in couples, some even waltzing, to music of all tempos played on a synthesizer. Certainly not my kind of dancing or music, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

The following day we all went to a nearby Taoist temple, which was a very nice place to walk around. I think most of the buildings have been restored and were not original, but it was still nice to see more or less the design of the temple. I'll put some photos here in the next day or two so you can see it too. The best part of the temple, though, was the peaceful setting, which I'm not really sure I was able to capture on "film." It was, though, the highlight of the trip for
me. Just wandering around there seemed like the ideal way to spend a sunny fall afternoon.

The next day was our last there, and we left around 4 in the afternoon. Before that, though, we attended part of a wedding. Here, the wedding begins at the bride's family's house with lots of food. The party then travels to the groom's family's place for some sort of ceremony or traditional activities followed by even more food. We just went to the first part at the bride's house, and since my friends didn't really know the family that well, we basically just ate and
talked with the people at our table a bit and then left. It was still nice to see a bit of what a Chinese wedding is like, and I did see the bride, dressed in white.

The bus ride back was only about 6 or 7 hours, since the road was still closed but generally less crowded. It's nice to be back here in Xianyang, but going away made me realize how polluted the air here is. It was very bad when we first go back since the farmers nearby were burning the dead corn stalks in the fields. Thankfully the smoke that enveloped the city cleared in a few days, and I haven't had any difficulty breathing. That first day back, though, was pretty amazingly smoky, with visibilty down to about 2 blocks, and burning eyes after being outside for too long. I opted to stay in most of the day.

Well now I need to read about the aftermath of North Korea's nuclear test and then get to bed since I have Chinese class bright and early tomorrow. Enjoy your day!

I'm back

I just wanted to let you all know that I made it back safe and sound
from my little trip. It was a great time, and a good way to start
travelling in China since I was with other people who knew where they
were going. I can only hope that all my trips go that smoothly.

I'm a bit tired now, though, so I'm going to get to bed. I should
have some pictures and a description of the trip for you in the next
couple of days. Hope you're doing well.

holiday

Today (October 1) is the Chinese National Day. Most people spend it
with their families, like many people in the US do for the 4th of
July. I'm going to go to my friend Mr. Shi's hometown with him, one
of my Chinese teachers, and his wife. The town is about 3 hours from
here by bus, and we'll be there for 2-5 days depending on how things
go. I've been led to believe that there are mountains near there, so
I might come back with some fun pictures of scenery. I'll let you
know how it went when I get back. For now I need to finish packing
and then finish breakfast.

chopsticks

Speaking of Chinese food, I should have probably said by now that
everything is eaten with chopsticks. You probably knew that, and so
did I, but it was still quite surprising when on my first day here I
had to use them in a restaurant. Fortunately, I had practiced a bit
on the plane on the way over (you get 4 meals I think from Chicago to
Shanghai), so it wasn't a completely foreign task, but I was by no
means proficient in their use, nor am I know, though of course I've
improved considerably. Eating rice from a bowl with chopsticks, which
sounds challenging, is in fact quite easy since they can be used as a
shovel with the bowl held close to the mouth. The problem comes when
eating other dishes. As I mentioned in the previous post, the meal
usually consists of many dishes which many people share. At one
restaurant, and I imagine this is true of most but I haven't been to
many with a large enough group of people, the circular table had a
raised, rotating center (leaving just enough room for your plate
outside of it) on which the dishes were placed so that people could
try everything without having to pass the dishes around. I wish I had
gotten a picture of it. When that isn't the case, though, chopstick
skills are a must since one risks dropping a piece of food onto the
table or, worse, into another dish. This has happened to me
innumerable times, and it's quite embarrassing. Fortunately the
people have been very forgiving, and my skills are improving much
faster than my language abilities.

rain rain rain

It's been raining here since Monday, and will probably continue to rain for the next week, so I went out today and invested in an umbrella. I'm told that it's usually pretty dry here, except around the beginning of October when it rains quite a lot. It hasn't been raining very hard, but just without stopping. Quite strange, and a pain to do laundry since nothing will every dry in such a moist environment.

Next Monday is Chinese National Day, so the whole week is considered a holiday. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing, since major travelling is a bad idea beacuse the whole country is off of work and will be doing just that. I don't mind being a tourist, but when everyone and their whole family is travelling, I don't think I'd have too much fun. Instead, I'll try to work more on my Chinese. It's coming along pretty slowly, which is frustrating, but at least I'm making progress.

In general, other than the rain, everything here is great. The Chinese seem to place a lot more importance on food than most people in the US, which is good for me since the food here is so wonderful. Yesterday I had dinner cooked by my friend Mr. Shi for me, one of my Chinese teachers, another teacher from the university, and Keith and his family (he's from Texas, his wife's from Panama, and they and their three young kids are here studying Chinese). The meal was amazing. If dinner for 2 or 3 consists of 3 dishes, rather than making more of those 3 dishes to serve more people, Chinese people tend to make more dishes, which means you get to try a little bit of many different things. The table is covered with many small dishes, and then more are brought and set on top of them. Soup is served at the end of the meal because it supposedly helps with digestion.

Well it's getting to be dinner time so I'm going to go - I just wanted to update you all on what was going on here.

Terracotta Warriors

On Thursday I went and saw the famous terracotta warriors. They aren't too far from here, and were quite incredible. There are three different excavations sites, all in separate hangars, which is really the only word to describe their immensity. There are large portions of them which are still not unearthed, due in part to the tremendous amount of time it takes to dig them up without damaging them, and also since the archaelogists are hoping that in the future we'll have better technology that may allow for better preservation of the relics. All the statues have individually-made heads, so you see different hair styles and different facial expressions on each one. Origninally, they were all painted in bright colors, but either the colors fade once the statues are exposed or the paint has turned to dust and it falls right off. In any case, all the visible ones are the same shade of light brown, but hopefully the aforementioned technological advances will allow for future warriors to be displayed in their original colorful glory. A few pictures so you have an idea of what I'm talking about:

Site 1



The first row of soldiers in Site 1


Site 2, and some people restoring it


Site 3, supposedly the headquarters for the army


Unearthed but not repaired


Archer


General


Kneeling archer


Bronze horses and chariot



The terracotta warriors are an amazing sight to see, mostly for the immensity of the army and the detail of each one. According to the video, they were made over 38 years by an enormous number of crafstmen, 700,000 according to Wikipedia. They form part of the tomb of the first Emperor of Qin, Qin Shi Huang. He declared himself the first emperor of China and united many different kindoms. About five years after his death, though, his son was overthrown and his tomb, at least parts of it, was destroyed and burned. That's why all the warriors are broke - the roof caved in on them and smashed them.

After visiting the warriors, we went to Li Shan, a famous mountain with a garden at the base of it that had been used by various rulers of China throughout history, and also was the site of the "Xi'an Incident" when Chiang Kai-shek was arrested by his own generals and forced to stop fighting the Red Army, leading to his eventual exile in Taiwan.





A bath, filled with natural hot springs, built by a Tang dynasty emperor for his lady





Walking around the park was a nice change from walking around the city, but it was pretty crowded with tourists, and we didn't really go up the mountain very much since we didn't have too much time to spend there. Maybe once the weather cools down a bit more and some leaves start to change colors I'll go back and walk up higher.

Other than that tourist excursion, I haven't been up to anything new. Everything is going well, my Chinese is slowly improving, very slowly, but at least I'm learning. I finally have the text books I need for my classes, so that should help things move along well. The classes I'm teaching are also still going well - it looks like it will be an interesting semester, since my students for the most part seem willing to talk about interesting things, and since it's an oral English class that's really all I need them to do.

Well now it's a bit late here, so I'm going to get some rest. I'll try to write a little more often with some more details about daily life since there are plenty of small differences that I encounter every day.

good classes

Sorry it's taken me this long to let you all know that my first days of classes went well. I didn't have any problems, and I think the students liked me, which is always helpful. Hopefully I'll be able to get them to be interested in class and willing to speak, since their English in general is quite good and all they really need to do is practice what they already know.

My Chinese classes are going well, but a bit over my head since the Korean girl I'm studying with has been here for 3 months already and I'm only just beginning. However, if her progress is any indicator, I'll be able to carry on a conversation in no time. To do so, however, I'm going to need more books than just a dictionary, so tomorrow morning I'm going to Xi'an again to buy them, since there aren't any foreign language bookstores here in Xianyang. I'm going to go with Mr. Shi, a new friend of mine here at the university. He doesn't speak any English, so just being around him forces me to put into practice what little Chinese I know. Also, he's an amazing cook and has volunteered to teach me how to make some amazing food. Hopefully next time I see you all in person, I'll be able to make you a nice meal that you'll have to eat with chopsticks.

It's been a long day, though, and I need my rest since I think I'm getting a cold (fall's just starting, you know). I'll give you some more details about Mr. Shi and my Chinese learning in the next few days.

classes start tomorrow

My classes start tomorrow, both in English and Chinese. I'm going to join a Korean girl in learning Chinese from the International Exchange Division every morning from 8:20 - 12:00 (I think those are the hours). Hopefully it'll work out okay because she already knows some Chinese, which definitely puts her ahead of me. Maybe that'll help, though, in that I can learn from her and from the teachers. It sounds like a fun adventure in any case. I even went so far as to go buy a notebook for the class. Once I learn to write some Chinese characters (like my name), I'll take a picture of them so you can see. I guess this whole learning to write a whole new set of characters is a chance to not have messy handwriting.

My English classes also start tomorrow afternoon. I'm not really worried about them, but I am quite curious to see how they go. I know what all I'm going to say and do, but I'm not sure what sort of wrenches they'll throw into my plans. Once again, I'll keep you posted.

I also may be tutoring a 14 year old outside of school a couple of hours a week. I just need to check with the university to make sure that's okay. I'm pretty sure that it is as long as I let them know, so I'll do that tomorrow morning and as long as it is, I'll start that Wednesday night. Today I met the boy and his family. They seemed very nice, and even gave me some tea to bring home, and you all know how I like tea. Speaking of tea, I found a pretty cool tea stand in a market yesterday, and was given tea there too on the condition that I go back sometime to buy some more. Quite a giving people these Chinese. Here's a picture of the kind merchant (who even spoke some English) and part of his store:



I also don't think I've written about the other fourteen year old Chinese boy I now know. He too knew the other foreign teacher who lived in my apartment (that's how I got in contact with the aformentioned tutoree), and came by to see if he had come back or if he had been replaced by someone equally interesting. I'm not sure if I fit the bill, but he keeps coming back so I mustn't be too boring. He also gave me some tea. I sure do like tea, and China is the place to drink it. Anyway, he comes by pretty regularly to practice his English and teach me a word or two of Chinese. Soon I hope to be able to practice what I learn in class on him, since repetition is the key to language learning. Here's a picture of him (his name is 王帆 (Wáng Fān)) and a friend of his who also came to meet me:




And while I'm giving you pictures, here's one of my living room:



And of two different 1 yuan bills I've had in my possesion (there's also a coin):



I think that's about it as far as news and pictures go. I'm going to go ahead and review my lesson plan (don't I sound like a real teacher now) and maybe listen to a podcast that teaches me Chinese before getting some sleep now that I have somewhere to be in the morning.

Xi'an

Today I visited Xi'an with Ron, the other foreign teacher who lives across the hall.  It's a much bigger, more touristy city than Xianyang, and since it's only about 1 hour and $1 away by bus, I can visit it most any time I want.  I didn't take my camera with me today, so I'll have to go back sometime soon to post pictures for you to see of the old city walls that surround the city (apparently you can walk on them, all the way around, which I imagine I will do), and also the old Bell Tower and Drum Tower in the middle of the city.  There are a number of souvenir markets in town, so if you want any particular Chinese souvenirs, let me know.  Otherwise you'll have to trust my judgement.  I also found a Chinese-English dictionary in a bookstore there for a much better price than I would have paid in the U.S.  All in all it was a nice day, and I think I'll be visiting Xi'an fairly often in the future, if only for a change of scenery.  Now, though, I'm pretty tired from all the walking so I'll head off to bed.

food and classes

I'm still doing alright here in Xianyang, but, as expected, the language barrier is pretty intimidating. I went out for lunch yesterday, but of course the menu was only in Chinese and no one there spoke English. I tried to order by pointing to dishes that others were having that looked good, but that wasn't working, and since I couldn't say "I'll have that" or anything else in Chinese, I just picked something at random from the menu to have. It turned out to be chicken (I think) with corn, green peppers, and ginger. It was pretty good, and I successfully asked for rice to go with it and more tea. For dinner I had some bread with fried pork in it (and cinnamon, at least that's what it tasted like) that I had had for breakfast on my first morning here with Pingde, the man from the Foreign Exchange Division who I talked to online to get this job. Ordering that was a bit easier since it was the only thing they were serving, and I successfully asked for two of them (I do know my numbers in Chinese, but am a bit shy about using them). We'll see how today goes. I was planning to go to the market this morning to buy some fruit, vegetables, eggs, and maybe some chicken so that I can make my own meals (at least breakfast - going out isn't expensive. My lunch yesterday, for example, cost just over a dollar and was quite good, but I don't like the idea of going out for every meal, mainly out of convenience. Also, Chinese people tend to eat in groups (as do most people), and order multiple dishes to share. I really like that when I'm in a group, but trying to eat alone is difficult because it seems strange that you would only want one dish, but of course I couldn't finish more than one on my own.). Anyway, as I was saying, I was going to go shopping today but it's been misting/raining all morning, so carrying lots of things doesn't sound like the best idea. Still, it's now lunch time so I think I have to go out and find something to put in my stomach. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, classes: I spoke with one of the English teachers yesterday and she gave me my preliminary schedule. It looks like I'll be teaching two oral English classes on Tuesday afternoon and another two on Wednesday afternoon at the Xi'an campus of the university, which I'll have to take an hour-long bus ride to. The bus doesn't sound like fun, but I don't have much of a choice, and of course having to take it means I have less room in my day for classes, so it could mean less work for me. Also, it could afford an opportunity to practice Chinese, if I can make a friend on the bus. Those classes actually started this week, but since they just told me about the yesterday afternoon, there was no way I could make it to them. I should be getting the textbook sometime today or tomorrow, which would give me plenty of time to prepare. Even if I don't, the first class should be pretty easy, since I'm sure they'll have lots of questions for me, and I'll have plenty for them too.

Now I'm getting hungry so I'm going to head out into the wet world in hopes of finding sustenance.

travel photos

Here are some pictures of my journey here and of my apartment as it was when I more or less first got here:

Last view of Cincinnati


Lake Michigan


Siberia


Airport in Shanghai


Kitchen


Table


Bathroom


Bedroom


I still haven't taken any pictures outside of my apartment (looking like a tourist is no fun, but I'm sure I'll get over it soon enough), but when I do I'll put them here too.

I made it

I'm writing this post from my apartment on campus at the Shaanxi University of Science and Technology. I'm pretty tired from the plane rides over here (about 24 hours of traveling, 4 of those in airports), so I should be getting off to bed to try and eliminate any jet lag, but first I want to let you all know that I made it here without missing any flights (though I came close in Chicago), losing any luggage, or having any other mishaps. There's a 13 hour time difference from EDT where I came from, but my body feels like it's bedtime so I guess it's okay. My apartment here seems pretty nice - certainly bigger than the one I had in Santiago. It has a living room, bathroom, kitchen, small dining room, bedroom, and "office" with the computer I am typing on and an extra twin bed. I'll put some pictures up tomorrow.

Okay, I think that's about it. I guess I should mention that I finally got to meet the director of Foreign Affairs (I think that's his position) with whom I'd been talking via email to get this position. He was at the airport and brought me here (in a Cadillac I might add), pointing out a few sights along the way (it was dark, but still it's nice to start getting oriented).

I don't really have much else to add now, so I'm off to bed.

Revision of itinerary

The last leg of my flight has been changed to China Eastern Air 2158,
departing Shanghai at 7:50 pm, arriving Xianyang 10:10 pm.

So it looks like I'm actually going. Today's been a hectic day
packing and dealing with American Airlines's horrible customer
service. Fortunately that should all be over now, and China will be
mine to experience.

Just so you know, I should be able to keep posting information on this
sight from the Orient. If that is not the case, I'll find some way to
make that known here and let you know where I will be putting that
information. There will also be a picture site as soon as there are
some pictures to put on it.

Back to my last minute preparations . . .

reAmbulation

Tentative plans:

Flight 1
AMERICAN AIRLINES #4289
OPERATED BY AMERICAN EAGLE
Depart : Cincinnati (CVG) at 9:27AM - September 03, 2006
Arrive : Chicago (ORD) at 9:38AM - September 03, 2006
Class : Coach Seat(s): 10A Meal(s): Food for purchase
Flight 2
AMERICAN AIRLINES #289
Depart : Chicago (ORD) at 10:55AM - September 03, 2006
Arrive : Shanghai (PVG) at 2:20PM - September 04, 2006
Class : Coach Seat(s): 39J Meal(s): Lunch, Dinner
Flight 3
AMERICAN AIRLINES #5792
OPERATED BY CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES
Depart : Shanghai (PVG) at 6:15PM - September 04, 2006
Arrive : Xi An (XIY) at 8:30PM - September 04, 2006
Class : Coach Seat(s): unassigned Meal(s): Snack or brunch

home

I got home yesterday around 2 PM. The flights weren't too bad since I had both a window seat and an empty seat next to me on both of them. It's nice to be home but also sad to not be in Chile. I'd elaborate but I'm about to go to bed - just wanted to let you know I'm home safe and sound.

Also, I got a new cell phone: (513) 435-1102. The bad news is that my old phone is dead, completely dead, so dead that it isn't chargeable . . . wait a second, now that I look at it again, it did charge and does have all the old numbers in it. But feel free to give me a call anyway.

last exam in 2 hours

My last bit of school in Chile is just about over. The complex variable exam starts at 3 and by 6 it along with my formal education in Chile will be over. It seems that the semester started just a few weeks ago, and now it's over.

presentation

In a few hours I have to give my final presentation for my translation class on the tranlation I did of a math text (well, 4 pages of it) from English to Spanish.

Tomorrow I have my topology exam, and my complex variable exam is on the seventh. After those, school will be completely over.

More amazingly, June is nearly over as well. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly time can disappear, even if you are looking.

I'm doing well, enjoying winter, etc. Now I need to make some lunch and finish preparing for this presentation.

school's out . . . almost

Tomorrow I have my last class in Chile. It's sad, really. The semester has disappeared without my realizing it, which isn't surprising since it tends to happen just about every year. In any case, I have a presentation and two exams in the following weeks and I will be officially done. Crazy.

Also, I have less than a month left in Chile. Once again, the saying from my Peru trip comes true: The days are long, but the weeks [or, in this case, months] are short.

Now I need to work on my translation final project (due on Friday) since Friday I'll be working on the final group paper for my narrative class.

he llegado

Just got back to my apartment in Santiago a few minutes ago (or however long it takes to make a cup of tea). Now I have to go out to buy lunch, pay the power bill, and go to class. What fun.

Oh, by the way, Buenos Aires is an interesting city and I enjoyed my visit. More on that later.

Buenos Aires

I'm in Buenos Aires now. Just wanted to let you know I made it and whatnot. So far I've seen lots of old bookstores, which is exactly what I was looking for.

travelling again

Tomorrow night I'm flying to Buenos Aires. Seems like a good idea, since Argentina is so close and the city is supposed to be amazing, more like a European city than an American one. I'll be there until Monday morning when I fly back in time for class. It's only a 2 hour flight over the Andes. Hopefully I'll get a window seat for the way back and be able to see the cordillera from above. I'll be sure to post something on Monday to let you know I made it back alright, and maybe I'll even write from there, but we'll see. For the curious, my flights are with LAN Chile, LA491 from Santiago to Buenos Aires and LA560 on the way back.

new photos

I've had internet again for almost a week now, but haven't posted anything here. It seems that I post more when I don't have regular access . . . weird. Probably has to do with me wasting time in internetland instead of using it for productive things like letting you know how I'm doing.

I don't really have anything to say at the moment other than that you should go look at the photos from my trip to the south that I finally got scanned and online. They aren't amazing quality since they are scanned from not-so-great prints, but it gives you an idea of where I was. Oh, and I put full sized versions of the other photos up too (and the scanned ones, but since they are smaller you get to see the full sized version right away).

It's late so I am going to be productive and try and get tired. Taking a nap in the early evening is not a good idea when you have to get up at a reasonable hour the next day.

Off to read Rayuela or study complex variables.

still disconnected

Hopefully we'll get the internet back soon - it's debilitating when you depend on something for so many things, like news, music, dictionary abilities, etc., and then suddenly it's gone, or at least moved to a much less convenient and more expensive place.

Just wanted to say that last week I went and watched the director of COPA (the program I studied with last semester) do some simultaneous interpretation. Really quite amazing stuff. I found it hard to listen to the Spanish and English at the same time. Regardless, it seemed to be a fun activity, with all sorts of wonderful time pressure. It reminded me of theatre and mock trial from high school, just with another language thrown in. Oh, and I was able to help her out when she didn't know what "empaste" meant (it means binding, at least in reference to books). Interpretation is much more fun and challenging than translation.

Now that I've been here for 20 minutes I'm going to pay my less-than-50-cents and get home to make some dinnner.

internetless

There's no internet access in my house at the moment. Boo. So I'm posting this from an internet cafe. It's amazing how much I depend on the internet for communicating with people, even with people here in Santiago. Since my cell phone doesn't get reception in my apartment, I'm completely cut off from the world without the internet. But on the bright side that gives me more time to read.

I also have a cold at the moment. Yep, winter'll do that to you. But it isn't too bad, so I won't complain much.

My birthday went well on Sunday, nice and relaxing as opposed to the "let's get drunk because I can" attitude that would have existed in the U.S. Turning 21 in Chile just isn't that big of a deal.

reading

Yesterday I went to the Contemporary Art Museum, or rather, to an exhibition by said museum in a different building since the real building is being rennovated, and has therefore been closed since I got here. Unfortunate, really, because what I saw yesterday was pretty interesting. The exhibition's called "Contrabandistas de Imágenes" (Image Smugglers), and has stuff from all over the world. There was a pretty interesting video display which was two screens which showed the set but mirrored, with mirrored camera movements which just repeated themselves endlessely. The action consisted of a man destroying and then fixing back up his aparment, the same man and apartment on both sides, but usually one apartment was messed up and the other orderly. Hmm. Sorry for the bad description - modern art videos are not meant to be paragraphs but rather moving images with coordinated sound.

Early this week I read La casa verde (The Green House) by Mario Vargas Llosa. A very good novel which I read surprisingly quickly considering its 400-page size. I read it for class, but so far the lectures have been less interesting than I had hoped, but maybe that will change on Wednesday (since Monday is a national holiday for some sort of Chilean military (naval, I think) victory).

Also this past week I made chicken parmesan, using the recipe my parents sent me. Oh so good, and surprisingly easy.

This afternoon was spent cleaning and going to the store to buy lightbulbs, and the evening drinking tea and mate while reading. I finished Amberes by Roberto Bolaño, one of my favorite authors who writes in Spanish, and read a bit of Notas de viaje: Diaro en motocicleta by Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and now that I've written this I'm going to read some Julio Cortázar short stories.

tic toc

I went and saw some flamenco on Saturday. It wasn't bad, but certainly wasn't what I expeted. The guitar playing was pretty amazing, but the dancing didn't interest me too much. But it was fun to go and see anyway.

Saturday I went to Thelonious for some jazz music. Again, nothing amazing, but a nice way to pass the evening.

Turned in a group paper today in Narrative class. The whole thing went much better than I expected. In fact, I had planned on just writing the paper by myself so I could freely talk about whatever I wanted, something about the mathmatics implicit in Borges (the paper had to be about Borges, and one or two specific stories). However, the professor was of the mind that all the students should work in groups, and, as such, I was adopted by a group. We met and talked about what we were going to write before writing, which worked surprisingly well. Whodathunk that prewriting really did have a purpose. Our thesis was basically that the reader, in reading, is really recreating the text and the author, and the author, in writing, is creating the text and a (imaginary) reader, and that the text makes the author an author and the reader a reader, because it is hard to write nothing or read nothing and still be a writer/reader. So, if you take that literally, maybe too literally, there is no meaningful difference between author, text, and reader, or maybe I should just say that they are all equally important in terms of literary creation. But yeah, the point is I worked in a group and it didn't suck.

Now I'm going to get back studying for my complex variable test on wednesday and reading about Casa Verde, the novel by Mario Vargas Llosa I have to read for a week from Wednesday.


oh, and I almost forgot (actually, I did forget but there is an edit function): there are some new photos in my photo album if you are curious. and in case it isn't obvious, the "oldalbum" album is, well, the old album.

u of i fall 2005

I registered a while back for my classes at the U of I next semester, just though I should post them here:

4 Introduction to Computer Science - CS 125 AL2 AYC
3 Probability Theory I - MATH 461 C13
3 Introduction to Hispanic Literature II - SPAN 227 X1
2 Spanish Phonetics & Phonology - SPAN 402 X2
3 Spanish Syntax & Morphology - SPAN 404 D1
3 Spanish Literature II Works & Writers - SPAN 452 B2 (ie from Spain)

for a total of 18 hours. If everything transers like it does in my dreams, I'll be able to graduate after this semester. But I don't know if that will all work out. If not, I can drop a course to lighten my load a bit and learn more fun things in the spring, which might end up being necessary if these courses are challenging. We'll see how it goes.

smoothly slipping away

Once again, I apologize for not writing for such a long time. It's so easy to just do all those things I do in a day and not even think about writing here. Maybe that's some sort of sign that, as someone said to me not too long ago, being in Chile is no longer new and exciting for me. Rather, it is the status quo. And of course that person is right, to a certain extent. But on the other hand, there are still things that surprise me, or remind me of where I am. I went for a nice twilight (well, I guess you call it twilight after the sun has set and yet the sky is not black but rather a rich, deep blue) walk around the neighborhood. Well, not so much around as to the bakery (breadery, really, but somehow that word just doesn't work in English) to pick up some bread to go with my dinner (which I've yet to make - not because I'm following the Chilean meal plan, but rather just because I can eat whenever I want to, and I've yet to get around to investing the necessary energy to prepare a meal). Said dinner will consist, probably, of the aforementioned pan, corn on the cob I bought today (the two ears I ate for lunch were excellent), and pasta with tomato, garlic, green pepper, and onion sauce. That's if I'm as ambitious in the kitchen as I am now.

In case you didn't infer from my lack of writing, everything is going along very smoothly. I think I'm doing well in my classes (I got a B+/A on my first topology test) and they are actually pretty interesting. Chilean and Hispanomaerican Narrative is finally getting interesting now that we are reading Borges, who I quite enjoy despite his excessive intellectualism. Short stories really are wonderful. I've also been reading a lot of Roberto Bolaño, a Chilean who lived most of his adult life in Mexico City and Spain, who died in 2003. So far I've only read short stories (though I started a novel, I have to read Borges so it's on hold momentarily), and find him to be an excellent author. As for those of you who are reading this and most likely don't read Spanish, I'm not sure about the availability or quality of translations. While the concept of translation interests me, there is no doubt that I prefer to read things in the language they were written, and thus have avoided translations of English into Spanish and vice versa.

Of cultural interest might be the way the death of the Pope was covered in the media. Without a doubt it was followed here with much more enthusiasm and faith than in the U.S. Chile is a Catholic country. Of note, though, is that just as the conclave was convening, the headline of a major Chilean newspaper announced that a Chilean cardinal could become pope with the support of the United States. As usual, Chileans like to see themselves in world events. There was also excessive and extensive coverage of the Pope's visit to Chile in 1987. Though I didn't watch it, I am told the television channels were non-stop Popevision for days, with interviews of everyone who had been even remotely close to him while he was here (physically, as in "I was 10 feet from the Pope," not "the Pope and I had a lenghty conversation"). In all, there was, as far as I can tell, nothing negative said about the Pope or his sucessor. But that's to be expected from the conservative Chilean media.

Now the hunger as built up enough that I'm going to get cooking. Enjoy spring, those of you lucky enough to be in that part of the world.

...going...

Just writing to let you know life is going well, i'm enjoying myself, etc. School also seems to be good - my first test went well - I got an A, well, not exactly, but the Chilean equivalent. In fact, the professor read a part of one of my answers (the test was two essays, in my Chilean narrative class) to the class when he was commenting on the test and his impressions of our interpretations. Granted, he prefaced it with, "This was written by a foreigner, and I think it's interesting to see the novel from an outside persepective," but still, it made me feel like I was in grade school all over again. But it is a good thing that he took the time to discuss the test with us rather than just hand it back and move on as some professors have the habit of doing.


Not much else new or interesting, so I guess I'll get back to being a student and read some more of Doña Barbara the Venezuelan novel I have to read for that narrative class. Enjoy the day of foolishness.

happy easter

classes are going well, as expected. nothing else much is going on, so i guess i'll say a bit more about those classes. my intro to translation class is nice, but pretty easy, or so it seems. the professor is really laid back, which makes for a nice classroom environment, especially for such an applied subject. it's probably one of the few classes i've taken that is meant to be "practical" that actually interests me. my two math classes are both sufficiently challenging, yet not overly so (at least no yet anyway), so that makes them enjoyable. and no, there isn't much difference learning math in spanish as opposed to english: it's almost exactly the same. and my other class, chilean and hispanicamerican narrative, is not a bad class (ie good professor, not bad material, etc.), but since it is literature, it can be a bit annoying. i like books and all, but they're meant for reading, not analyzing. oh well - i have to take it to graduate, so might as well do so here where the class is much better.


alright. goodnight.

school

school started a week ago today. i think i've finalized my schedule with the following courses: narrativa chilena e hispanoamericana (chilean and hispanoamerican narrative), variable compleja (complex variable/analysis), topología (topology), y introducción a la traducción (introduction to translation). so far so good . . . i'm presenting to the translation class about machine translation on wednesday, which should be fun - the professor is cool, from what i gather considering i went to the class for the first time today.

time to read the paper about machine translation

the end of summer

yep. my summer vacation is just about over. classes start on monday. i have my course selection book now, so school has officially become a reality. that being said, the summer was a lot of fun, and i'm not so upset that i have to go to school now. it's the usual back to school contradiction: it's nice to do nothing, but sometimes the idea of learning something is pretty attractive too. moreover, school is also the potential to meet more people and practice more spanish, which is, of course, why i'm in chile.

i went and saw Emir Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra wednesday night. a very good show, music that i can't really put in a category. some crazy europeans, that's for sure. Kusturica also directs movies, of which i've only seen one (underground) which was really good. the music from his band is featured in many of his movies. i recommend you see one of his movies. really.

yesterday i finally got around to making a map of my travels. enjoy.

well, now that it's almost noon, i feel i should be productive, and maybe go visit my math professor from last semester to ask him a few questions. that requires going outside were the cell phone works, and where it's much hotter.

so it goes

places to sleep

i'm sure you'd like to hear all about my travelling, but somehow i find it difficult to sum up 37 days in any meaningful way. i could list all the places i went, but that wouldn't really give you much. i could post a map with a drawing of where i went, but again, there's so much lacking on a map (hint: if you actually want me to make said map, i can do so and post it here. just let me know). but i have to do something to satisfy you, so here's an attempt:

leaving santiago, i didn't really know what to expect, but since i am a fan of not expecting anything, that made my life easier. i took a bus from here to pucon. pucon is a really touristy town, just crawling with gringos, but surrounded by some really pretty naturaleza, so i had to visit. the first day there i rented a bike and went to ojos de caburgua, some pretty blue waterfalls. the bike ride was tiring, but nice since i took a dirt back road instead of the highway. the next day there i climbed volcan villarrica and got to see lava and eat lunch inside the crater and all that fun stuff. then i went to puerto varas, with the intention of travelling around the lake to some of the other towns. but instead i ended up heading immediately south to futaleufu, having to stop in puerto montt and chaiten along the way. chaiten is nothing more than a launching point, so i was glad not to stay there for long.

futaleufu was 2 weeks of my trip. a good two weeks without a doubt, but much longer than i had thought i would spend in one place. there i camped behind futaleufu explore, a rafting company owned and run by josh lowry, an excellent kayaker best characterized by his laugh, but since i don't have a recording of it, calling him an old hippie will have to suffice. i became a friend of his as well as of the guides who work there, so i had plenty of people to hang out with. this also obviously made the river trips a lot more fun, and made me feel more secure and thus enjoy the trips even more. i also met a couple of argentine brothers who live in esquel, argentina, just over the border from futa. they came to kayak, and ended up doing some rafting too. it was nice to spend time with them and talk in spanish instead of the english i was forced to use with the guides (who all come from the states, with the exception of matze, who's german, but speaks better english than spanish so there wasn't much difference). i guess i should explain a bit about the rivers i played in. the rio espolon is a really gentle river, not worth rafting in my opinion. so i went down part of it in a kayak twice (first two times in my life, and it showed. i need practice, lots of practice, if i want to call myself a beginning kayaker) and the whole run once in a ducky (inflatable kayak/canoe). kayaking was fun, but a bit rough, and the ducky was fun as well, and really forgiving. however, without a doubt, rafting was the highlight. i went rafting on the rio futaleufu, which is considered one of the best whitewater rivers in the world. by the time i left, i'd run all of the rapids on the river. the most common section, bridge to bridge, i ran 4 or 5 times. it is made up of 15 or so (i don't remember really) class IV, IV+ rapids in close succession. there's room to stop between most of them, if you head for the eddy right away, but it's mostly non-stop action. below the last bridge are 2 class V rapids, Mas o Menos and Casa de Piedra, which i ran twice. Casa is a long, big rapid, with a huge hole at the end. the first time i went through it an oar slipped out of the guide's hand just as we dropped into the final hole, and we turned a bit causing us to flip, making everyone swim, including the guide. luckily it was at the end of the rapid so there was no problem. the second time i went through the guide lost an oar (or maybe both) at the top of the rapid, causing us to come really close to the huge Casa rock, but luckily we were able to keep our line and nothing came of the problem. the rest of the rapids are above the first bridge, a part of the river i only ran once. the furthest upstream is canyon del infierno, a few kilometer long sheer-walled canyon. once inside, the only way out is downstream. it is considered a class V canyon, and with good reason. the rapids are huge and very close together. after the canyon is some flatwater, and then comes two rapids which are unraftable and hence portaged, Zeta (because it's shaped like a Z) and Throne Room. Zeta is very dangerous, with the walls on both sides of the river undercut. the rock there has been turned to swiss cheese by the river. just looking at the rapid was amazing. Throne Room is a huge rapid with one very large rock in the middle of the river at the end. the kayakers love to run it, but it's just to big for a raft. our raft when it was ghosted through flipped three times (ghosted means there's no one in it, just our spirit, so i ended up with a nice, freshly washed spirit). after some more flat water comes the wild mile, a mile of class III-IV rapids that are fun, but not quite as big as the rest of the river. next is Terminator, so called because the first run of the river stopped there. with over 60 holes, i can see why. when we scouted it, i was intimidated to say the least. but i had faith in our team: bret, the guide, the two argentine brothers (who are raft guides on a river similar to the espolon in argentina), me, and another guide paddling with us. we went through the mile-long class V rapid without a problem, so smoothly that i could hardly believe they call it class V. then there are 3 rapids all right next to eachother: Hijo de Terminator, Kyber Pass, and Himalayas, named for the huge 20-foot breaking waves. In style, we went right for the huge waves at the end of Himalaya which give the rapid it's name. the first wave was fine, but we had to highside in the second one (which we did successfully), but then the boat turned into the last wave, leaving us on the lowside struggling to get to the other side. one of the brothers and i made it to the high side and managed to stay in the boat (and maybe keep it from flipping), but bret and the other 2 paddlers got to go for a swim. fun times.


ok, sorry about that raft-geekiness, but i couldn't resist. from futa i went to the island of chiloe where i met up with icha. we spent a couple of days in the national park there, where i saw an unprotected pacific beach with huge waves. we also got to see some native forest, showing the sort of bogginess that used to cover the island before it became rolling farmland which looks like it belongs in england. from there we went to a smaller chilote island and spent the night in the tiny, calm town of achao. then we headed up to puerto varas for icha's mom's birthday since she was there on vacation. then we headed around lago llanquihue to ensenada and up to los saltos de petrohue and lago todos los santos. really pretty water, and good views of volcan osorno, but not as good as the view we got the next day when we went up to the ski lodge, as close as one can get to the top of the volcano without a guide. the volcano is almost a perfect cone, like mt. fuji. from there we continued around the lake to las cascadas and puerto octay, and then back to chiloe to go to the sunday crafts fair in dalcahue where artisans come from all over to sell the stuff they make. a very nice way to spend a sunday morning. then we went to ancud, where i took a trip to see some islands where magellanic and humboldt penguins go to breed. silly little birds, but i have pictures of them now. then we went to valdivia, which has a strong german influence, and finally to icha's grandpa's farm near chillan. he's dead, so her uncle now runs the farm, where they grow wheat, corn, and some really yummy tomatoes.

as you can see, i got tired and stopped putting in details, but you get the picture. it was a fun time, with lots of nice scenery and even nicer people. but it sure is nice not to have to look for a place to sleep at night.

santiago

back in santiago. got back last night around 9 or so. now i get to unpack, sweep the floor, pay bills, develop pictures, buy food, etc.

i'll tell you about the trip afterwards.

back on the island

so i'm back in dalcahue, though just for the today - there's a great artesania market on sunday mornings here, with people coming from the little islands around to sell their goods. a nice sunday morning to say the least.

after achao, i went to puerto varas, ensenada, petrohue, volcán osorno, las cascadas, and puerto octay. very nice scenery around there, some pretty views of lakes and, of course, the volcano.

now i'm heading to ancud, just for a day probably, and from there north towards valdivia, or at least that's the tentative plan.




happy valentines day

chiloe

now i'm in dalcahue on the island of chiloe, and about to go to one of the smaller islands, quinchao. that should give me more of a feel for what life is/used to be like in chiloe.

today and yesterday i was in the parque nacional chiloe, which was cool. nice to see what the island was like before people arrived and turned it into farmland.

of to the ferry . . .

second biggest island in america

chiloé. the biggest is tierra del fuego, which i probably won't be visting, at least i'm not planning on it now. just posting this to say i'm doing well, didn't die in the class V rapids i was rafting or anything like that. all the whitewater fun i had in futa was amazing. a great vacation in and of itself, but i'm not quite done traveling. icha's going to arrive here in castro in little bit, so i won't be traveling alone anymore. so that's good - sokmetimes it's nice to share experiences. time to go find her and then some good chilote seafood.

still in futa

still here, waiting to run the whole river. they say we are going tomorrow. if not, i'm leaving. in any case, i'll be in castro friday or saturday, where i'll meet up with icha. should be wonderful.

time to find the argentinian kayakers and go read a book by a beautiful river.

futaleufú

so i'm in futaleufú, playing on some amazing rivers. went kayaking for the first time yesterday and rafting today. both boats flipped, but without any complications. i'm doing great and enjoying myself and the beautiful scenery.

gotta run. expensive slow internet.

puerto montt

i'm in puerto montt (hence the creavtive title) for the day. tomorrow at 1 i take a ferry to chaitén, where i'll stay the night. monday at 3 or so i take a bus from chaitén to futaleufú, which is built next to some of the best whitewater in the world. there i hope to run the river 2 or 3 times, depending on how much they charge for such an amazing experience.


time to go explore puerto montt

first 2 days of traveling:

yesterday i rented a mountain bike and rode about 20 km to some waterfalls called los ojos de caburgua. very pretty, though i was pretty tired when i got there.

today i went to the top of volcano villarrica, and also made it back down. it took about 4 hours to get to the top - not technically challenging, but definitely tiring. it only took about 1 and half hours max to slide down. the biggest slide i've ever seen, and for that matter used, in my life. walking around the inside (and rim) of the crater was incredible. i saw real molten rocks. yay lova. and even sometimes the volcano spit some up into the air. let's hope the photos of that turn out. we also ate lunch there in the crater. such and amazing few of the area.


now i'm off to find food, and in the morning i head to puerto varas.

travelling, finally

yesterday i bought a bus ticket for pucón. i leave tonight at 9:45 (7:45 EST), and will arrive about 9 hours later, or at about 7 in the morning. that should give me time to find a tourism agency and hopefully go to the top of volcano villarrica tomorrow. should be a fun time - if i'm lucky i'll actually get to see molten rock.

from there, the plans are just an outline. i'm going to go to puerto varas, but i'm not sure how long i'll stay. there i'll look into rafting on the futaleufú and maybe sea kayaking. if none of that pans out, i'll head on to chiloé via puerto montt. in any case, should be a good time.

since i'll be using the internet a bit to email a few people (those who are looking after me ;) i'll maybe give all of you an update.

for now, time to go get ready, buy those last minute items, pack, clean, etc.

mmm cheese

i got my first package in the mail about a week ago (i suppose, i don't remember the date). the only negative was the postal worker waking me up at 10 AM on a saturday to deliver it. but the package was wonderful - sharp cheddar cheese (which i'd forgetten is amazing), swiss cheese, and colby jack cheese (also incredible), some nice pocket moleskine notebooks, and reese cups. so many wonderful things - thanks again for sending it.

promted by the cheese, i think, i made french toast for icha to try. thankfully, she liked it, and i was happy to have made french toast for the first time ever - it wasn't that bad, which is probably due to the utterly simplicity of the recipe.


i've gone to 3 or 4 street theatre plays this past week. one, called eureka! theatre laboratory was amazing. they did a good job of doing lots of things with limited props, while successfully conveying a range of emotions, with unpredicatble plot twists. so much fun to watch. the others i saw weren't bad persay, just not nearly as good.

yesterday i went to a feria to buy some fruits and vegetables. a feria is basically an outdoor, impromtu market set up on a block or two of a street. i bought a kilo of peaches (peach-bannanas, a variety that had whiter flesh than most peaches), 2 large tomatoes, lettuce, and a green pepper all for $1.15 or so. a nice deal, and yummy too.

alright. not much else going on. just enjoying the summer, trying to make travel plans. i'll keep you informed.


time to make a salad with the aforementioned vegetables, and the creamy french dressing i was lucky enough to find, and some of that amazing cheddar cheese. if only i could find croutons . . .

address

a new discovery: chile does have postal codes, i just didn't know about them. so here's my address with the postal code:

Lucrecia Valdes 333
Departamento B
835-0485 Santiago, Chile

alright. that's all i've got for now. time to drink some ice water since i've got a working fridge.

happy new year

yeah, i know it's been a while since i updated this. apologies.

there's new photos in internetland for you to look at, but i've yet to fix them up with photoshop or give them real titles and captions. hopefully i'll get around to that soon. if you have questions about them, just send me an email (note: excuse to get you to send me an email).

new year's eve was lots of fun - as i said, i went to valparaiso (port city, about 2 hours from santiago) for their carnaval cultural. i saw some interesting photo exhibits, a play Beckett y Godot, the band Congresso (one of those aging bands that was popular in the early seventies and forced into exile (in France) by the military regime), and a modern Baroque dance. great fun, and all free, of course. on the night of the 31st, icha and i went to a really cool cafe for tea (they have over 40 varieties of tea there . . . oh so hard to choose what too drink) and then watched the fireworks over the bay from a mirador (one of the places on top of a hill where you have a good view). there were fireworks in valparaiso, viña del mar, and reñaca, the three cities that surround the bay. there were so many people in the streets there to celebrate, and a wide variety of people: kids, teens, adults, and the parents of said adults. after the fireworks we went for tea again - just had to try a different one.


monday i went and saw the santiago symphony orchestra (for free), yesterday Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and tonight i'm going to see the nutcracker (also free).

the apartment is nice, i should be getting a working refrigerator within the next half hour.

oh, i went yesterday and got my formal letter of acceptance from la católica where i'm going to be studying next semester. sure is nice to know that that is finalized.

i'm working on making some travel plans, though still nothing definite.


alright. time to read some of this book my math professor lent me, and maybe do some problems. looks intersting . . .

...rush...

sorry this has to be brief, but i'm going to valparaiso to celebrate new years (and enjoy the carnaval they have there before hand) today in about an hour and still need to get everything ready to go.

once again, happy christmas, and new years too.

i spent christmas eve and christmas day with icha's family and had a great time. the turkey al cubano, cooked by icha's cuban uncle, was really good - interesting flavor i'd never tasted before.

i'll try and write more and post some photos (once i fix them in photoshop) when i get back.

apartment jazz

writing this post from my new apartment. i'm almost moved in now. still have a few bags of things to bring over from the other apartment, but that should be done today (it sure is annoying taking the metro and buses with huge bags, but i suppose that's life - a taxi would be pretty expensive, and not really worth it).

the apartment's nice - well, i like it at least. the other people who live in the building are pretty nice - all in their 20's. they've been helpful so far, telling me things like where the not-quite-nearest but cheapest supermarket is, and the fastest way to get to places i need to go. the only problem thus far is the refrigerator - it doesn't quite work, but that should be fixed today or tomorrow. and i figure i can live without such convenience for a few days, especially when the grocery is within walking distance.

this post is also being written from my newly installed ubuntu system (linux, for those of you who don't know ubuntu, and for those of you who don't know linux, it's another operating system, like windows, but free, and somehow better in some indescribable way). new, fun toy. and, as i suppose is obvious, the internet (included in my rent :-) works. it's not a direct line, though; appears to be through a router, which is fine, except i'm not sure how to get bittorrent working well. but i've plenty of time to play with it and try and figure that out.


definitely doesn't feel like christmas is 3 days away. i'm sure that's mostly the weather - somehow summer != christmas in my mind. i suppose that makes sense. the displays in the mall with fake snow look so, umm, fake.

still not sure what i'll be doing to celebrate the holidays - my host family invited me to come have dinner with them, so we'll see - that seems the most viable option, especially if i don't leave santiago. i thought i might be travelling with a girl from the program, but i've yet to hear from her, so we'll see.

time to take a shower . . . wait, that's not the best idea if i'm going to be spending hours in public transportation dragging large bags of belongings across the city. so i suppose i'll postpone that and instead get dressed and try and finish this moving bit.


oh, almost forgot: happy holidays to all of you; i miss you and am sorry i can't be there with you.

things a'changin'

i signed the lease on an apartment today. i'll probably be getting the keys and starting to move in wednesday. so i guess you could start sending things there now seeing as it takes a few days for things to get here.

Lucrecia Valdes de Barros 333
Departamento B
Santiago, Chile

it looks to be a nice place, but i guess that's obvious since i signed the lease. $250 monthly, including internet, cable (though i don't as of now have a tv), and water. i'm going to have to buy things for the kitchen, but i figure if i cook mcgyver-style i shouldn't need too much.

yesterday my eye got some cat fur/dead skin in it and got all inflamed. allergic reactions are no fun. but the pharmacy gave me some anti-inflammotory anti-biotic drops, and that made it better in about 40 minutes, and about 6 hours later it felt normal. well, a bit tired and strained, but not swollen or painful anymore.

alright. it's sweltering in this apartment so i'm going to go outside and write some letters or read a book.

same old

not much new here. still looking for an apartment (got some visits scheduled for tomorrow), still yet to take that one last exam. otherwise, school's over and i'm free to do whatever i want, once i decide what that is. as for today, i'm going to go get some coffee and a french press from a friend who's going back to the u.s. and doesn't need/want them. later i'm going to a moive - drops of water falling over hot rocks, or something like that is the title. we'll see how it goes. i also talked to that professor who's willing to teach me things over the summer - tuesday or wednesday i'm gonig to go talk to him and get a book, and start learning, i guess. hopefully i'll be able to fulfill a graduation requirement for free while giving myself something to do all summer.

alright, i'm hungry. lunch time.

oh, and for those of you who want to talk to me (yes, with your voice and not via written words) you should get a microphone for your computer and download skype (user name: aschwieter). it's great fun.

school's out . . . almost

so it appears that all i have left for the semester is one essay on globalization (which i'm writing with another gringa (well, a gringa since i'm a gringo, gender, you know) [ed. note: gringo = pale skinned person, sometimes used to refer to an english speaker; unlike in mexico, it carries no negative connotation in chile]) since you've forgotten what was before the parenthesis, i'll just say that all i have left for this semester is an essay which is half done and an exam. the paper is due tuesday and the exam the following tuesday. hopefully all this time means i won't have to work for hours the night before it's due to finish it, but you never know what heights procrastination can reach.

tomorrow i'm going to go look at an apartment, actually two in the same building, in which i might live the coming semester. rent is $284 a month, including utilities, or so i am led to believe. we'll see if that information is amended tomorrow.

what else . . . tomorrow i'm also going to go talk to my math professor about the summer - he offered to lend me a book and help me learn it over the summer, which would be great not only to give me something to do but also because when i get back to the u of i i can take a proficiency test and get credit for whatever it is i learned. great way to get free credit that counts towards graduation. also in my plans for the summer, besides traveling, are maybe teaching some english - the director of my program says she knows someone who wants conversational english lessons, which i don't think would be very hard, since i can converse in english and all. there's also the potential for house/apartment-sitting for people rich enough to pay for such a service. i can act like i live in someone's house (in fact, i've been doing it all semester).

not much else going on . . . other than all that jazz with my mom. the internet sure is wonderful, allowing my dad to send me updates on her (although i'd love to hear more). it sure is hard being 5000 miles away when your mother is in the hospital.

ok. i guess i should work on that paper since i haven't all day. what better time than now to fight procrastination.

thanksgiving

yesterday was the first time i've ever eaten thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant. it's not something i'd recommend. you miss out on some of the best parts of thanksgiving, such as seeing the platter piled high with turkey, getting a choice between light and dark meat, eating until you couldn't possibly eat anymore, the sense of family, and, of course, the leftovers. here's what the main plate looked like - some mashed potatoes, turkey with a bit of gravy and stuffing, and a bit of what i assume was cranberry sauce. the food did taste pretty good, and was preceeded by a caesar salad and followed by pumpkin pie, so it sufficiently reminded me of thanksgiving. but it was in no way the same. oh, and i forgot to mention that it's almost summer here so it was warm out too.

classes are winding down, so that means i get to write a couple of papers this weekend. i'm so excited. yay . . . well, i suppose i don't have much choice. it looks like i'll only be taking exams for two of my four classes since i'm exempt from the other two, so i guess that's good.

time to go work on those papers and then go see a photography exhibition.



oh - in case you didn't notice, over there in the sidebar of this page, underneath the stuff about the past, is a link to some photo albums i put in internetland.
--->

ultimate photos

it's late, i have to get up early to go to the beach tomorrow, but here's the link to the photos from ultimate on the beach. photos let me know if it doesn't work, or if there are problems viewing this blog. i'd be glad to fix them for your viewing pleasure.

APEC

just a quick update: there's all sorts of interesting things going on in santiago because of the APEC meetings - lots of detours, protests, and universities being closed. of course, none of this really affects me personally since i live so far from downtown and i'm certainly not going to be doing any protesting (i'm told to do so would risk my visa being revoked, and i wouldn't want any of that).

today's been a nice day so far - went to look at an apartment which was pretty nice, though i'd like to find somewhere a bit cheaper or maybe a couple blocks off the main street so it isn't so loud. after that i went to the museum of beautiful arts (museo de bellas artes - maybe i should translate it as fine arts, but i prefer the literal translation) and saw a couple really cool photography exhibitions.

now it's time for some reading and/or a short nap

beet

back from the beach with a sore body and some sunburnt feet. yes, i know, sunscreen. trust me, i put it on. but apparently i didn't reapply appropriatly, and there is also the possiblitlty that the ocean washed of some of the sunscreen, as well as the other alternative that the sand, known for its exfoliating properties, exfoliated the protected layer of skin and left me with softer yet more vulnerable feet. in any case, they are nice and red now - we'll see if wearing shoes is possible tomorrow - it might be a few days of sandal wearing for "medical" purposes.

don't think that this hot sun burning my feet in any way affected my weekend. i quite enjoyed myself. we played probably 5 or 6 games (5 on 5 with 1 or 2 subs, play to 7) on saturday and another 3 sunday. i was right about the beach being windy - luckly though the wind was essentially parallel to the field, so we didn't have to deal with the oh so annoying and unpredictable crosswind. instead, the team that was throwing with the wind just had a tremendous advantage. this led to a number of games being point for point races, and the winning team was the one that could score into the wind. we played on the beach (so a couple discs did land in the surf when thrown particularly horribly) on a field marked off with some white elastic bands staked into the sand. at first, the field was nice and flat, relatively well-packed sand. that of course changed after one or two games, making all those muscles in your feet have to work extra hard to run, well, as close to running as you can get on the beach. after a long day of playing ultimate, we had an asado at the cabañas (read cookout at the cabins). chorripans, antichuchos, y pollo (sausage-on-bread, shish kabobs, and chicken). quite satisfying.

it's getting late, so i am going to get to sleep - i slept well last night, but all that exercise made me a bit tired. my body needs to rebuild all the muscles i tore.

oh, i suppose i forgot to mention earlier that i'm probably one of the worst players who went to the beach. it could be that i'm out of practice, but i blame it more on my overall lack of athletic ability. but not to worry - it was still a good time, and maybe i learned a thing or too, or at least found people with which to play in the future. they play once or twice a week, so hopefully that practice will allow me to improve.




i suppose i'm not supposed to comment on the title i just decided upon, but it makes me wonder: how is it that i never ate any beets before i came here? not that i've had a lot here, but i did have them for dinner 2 nights on my trip to the south - and they are good, not to mention beautiful to look at. such a rich color.

ice cream

well. i am officially bad at keeping an up to date web log, even though i am probably on the internet every day. somehow the urge to update this site doesn't come to me when i am at the computer, and when i am not it is a bit tough to do so. yeah, i could right these posts on real paper and then post them later, but i don't much like that idea. well, rather i like it but don't do it. i think i fear the electronicization process, and the fact that i would want to change what i had written to such a degree that there really is no point in writing anything out before i sit down at the computer. now, if i had a secretary, or a voluntary secrectary, things would be different. or maybe if i actually wrote things here that i felt expressed anything more than the moment i am writing them - i mean, if i put some really well-written things in a notebook, i don't think it would bother me much transfering them. but this page isn't so much well written, and i don't see that changing in the near future.


enough blather. you are reading this not to find out about how i write these silly posts but instead to find out about this city and country i am living in, or at least my actions in this strange place. hmm. well, today i went to a couple classes, read a really good story on the micro (micro=bus)("cuello de gatito negro" [translates as "the neck of a little black cat"] by julio cortázar), and went and saw some bad music performed by a group of musicians who wear clown noses. don't ask. the tickets were free. that is definitly the only reason i went. now i understand why they were giving away tickets. beware of free tickets found on the internet: there is a reason they are free.

i asked my math profesor if there were any math-related things i could do in the summer in the city. short answer: yes, but they are boring or unofficial. long answer: i could be a ta or something, but the word on the street is that in the summer that is not the best job to have. lots of discussion sessions, lots of papers to grade, and students who don't care to much and just want to pass the class they failed so they don't get behind. so my profesor offered to lend me a book which i could work through and learn things, and he'd be about to help me and talk about things. while this might be nice, it is in no way something i can use in any official sense in the future. well, i realize now as i write this, i could take a proficiency exam when i get back to school and get credit for a class about what i learned. so this idea just got a bit more attractive, but i'm still looking for something better to do with my summer. and there's always traveling . . .

this saturday i am taking a little trip to the beach to play ultimate on the beach. never played frisbee on the beach - i fear it might be a bit windy, but we'll see how it goes. this is related to the fact that on sunday i played ultimate for 3 hours or so with a bunch of americans and a handful of chileans. they are a group who plays 2 times a week (though i have class during one of them), made up mostly of americans who are in santiago for various reasons, but in the past it was apparently half chilean and half estadounidense. {now is as good a time as any to point out that this whole continent is america, and chileans are americans too. i can't say "i want to go back to america" because in reality i never left. that being said, it is hard to refer to residents of the united states in english in any other manner. so i will most likely continue to do so, but you should be aware there is a cultural issue here, and i cringe every time i am forced to call my compatriates americans.}

yesterday i saw some really amazing improvisational jazz (and free too). the piano player played the inside of the piano, something i hadn't seen before, and also put a piece of paper in the piano to make it sound differently. good music. tomorrow i might go see another trio in the same program.

hmm. i seem to have run out of words to add to this mountain. just one more to top it off:



cherry

books and movies

sorry for the excessive delay in posting anything.

last week i had to write a paper and give a presentation on "anything that has to do with latin america." obviously the idea was that we chose topics that were interesting to us. i chose to write and talk about nicanor parra, a chilean poet, or, as he is known, antipoet. antipoetry is just poetry that breaks with the erudite poetic tradition and brings poetry to both everyday life and coloquial language. basically, makes written poems be like the poems we see an experience every day. quite a good poet. he also makes, well i guess he still does though he is 90 years old, artifacts, which are objects together with a few short verses, for example, a bottle of cocacola and a little card that says "message in a bottle." the idea is to mix common objects with common phrase and create an altogether uncommon result that he then procedes to call art. the mere act of calling it art makes people look at it differently. i could obviously continue on for 7 pages about him, but i'll refrain from that for now. i'll post any poems i find that he wrote entirely in english (since he has a graduate degree in physics from brown university and speaks english fluently).

friday (and i guess saturday too) i went to a 24 hour movie marathon, cine adiccion, of movies that are hard to find in chile. unfortunatly i fell asleep during the one movie a really wanted to see, the holy mountain, directed by aleandro jodorowsky, so i'll just have to find it somewhere and watch it again. another good movie was the tulse luper suitcases, and also i will walk like a crazy horse. 24 hours is a long time to spend in a movie theater.

tonight, or rather in about 10 minutes, i'm going to the 24th international book fair, where i'm hopefully going to hear a professor of mine talk since he is one of 14 new chilean poets there is a presentation about (and i know he will be there since he cancelled class so he could go). hopefully i'll also find some more good books to read - i'm almost done with the perfume: story of an assasin that i'm reading in spanish, translated from the original german. if not, i'll just go to the library - i want to read more by jodorowsky and parra.

time to go.