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Published: March 10th 2013
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Stairs to a cerro.
A great example of both the artwork and the stairs in Valpo:) As you may have surmised from the title, I had my first week of classes this week. I enjoyed them all, and just having the consistent practice in Spanish is fun for me as well. Though I have five classes, I only had three this week. Why, you ask? Well that is my question, tooJ The students showed up; the professor did not. Both the classes were classes that meet only once a week, so I am wondering if for some reason those classes do not meet the first week? But I really am not sure. One of those classes is called Mapuche Games, and it is the one class I am taking with Chileans. Many Chilean students showed up for the class too, so I guess the professor just decided to take a day off😊
The five classes I have are: Mapuche games, a grammar class, a phonetics class, urban history of Valparaíso, and a short story class. As I said, Mapuche games is the only class I am taking with Chilean students. The Mapuche are a people indigenous to Chile and, according to Wikipedia, they comprise (is that the right word, it looks weird) about 10% of Chiles
At the cemetery
This is the tombstone of the two men who died in the brawl that almost started the war. population today. When I was signing up for classes, I spoke to a person about it, and he said that some of the games we will be playing are similar to field hockey and rugby. I’ve got my fingers crossed that one of the other games we will be playing is similar to Ultimate Frisbee😉 Unfortunately, I don’t like my chances on this one.
The other four classes I have are with other students who are studying abroad in Chile this spring. I have some classes with students from my program (API), but for the most part they are from other study abroad programs. These classes are nice because they are all in Spanish, but the professors know we are all “extranjeros,” so they help us to understand. In our phonetics class, the professor made us sing… that was rough. Haha it was actually quite fun, and the professor certainly seems knowledgeable when it comes to learning how to have correct pronunciation and speak a language.
Though I started classes, I had plenty of time do other things this week. I got my student card for the metro one day. It was about a three and a half
Park.
My friends and I stumbled across this one evening while exploring Valpo! hour process of waiting in line to finally get the card. The thing is, they give you a number, and if you are not there when they call, you get skipped and they move on. So right towards the time my number was going to be called, I realized I had to pee. So bad. But after waiting 3 hours, I was not about to leave to go find a bathroom. So I waited. I still can’t believe I didn’t pee my pants right in the middle of that metro station. Most people know I tend to exaggerate, which is true, but I am being 100% honest when I tell you I have never had to pee that bad in my entire life. Ok, well now that I successfully rambled on about that for an entire paragraph…
What else? I went to a couple beaches. I still can’t get enough of the ocean. And yesterday I actually went swimming in it for the first time! The other beaches we had been to were not too safe for swimming, but this one was. It was just really cold! Another girl in my program was trying to say the water was
Zumba!
There was a free Zumba class, and they gave me free "healthy" cookies. what could be better? not cold, and where she is from (Boston), the ocean is much colder. I had to explain to her when you can’t feel your extremities after 5 minutes, the water is cold, regardless.
Some other thoughts. I had an empanada for the first time in Chile this week! It was a pino empanada, which, as far as I can tell, is like a beef and onion mix inside a dough thingy. It was pretty good, but definitely not the best food I have had here and, in my opinion, did not quite live up to all the hype they give them around here.
On Friday, we had an awesome tour of Valparaíso with a group called bicicleta verde. We learned about how Valparaíso used to be one of the most important ports in the world, and saw the house of man who helped avoid a Chilean- US war. In 1891, some US navy sailors were in Valparaíso in a place called the True Blue Saloon, which no longer exists today. A brawl ensued, and 2 U.S. soldiers were killed. This almost started a war between the US and Chile, but Chile and U.S. diplomats made a deal, which
Beautiful view
This place is right near where I live, what a beautiful lookout! involved Chile giving the U.S. $75,000, a lot of money at that time! On this tour, we also saw a cemetery in which these two men were buried. Crazy stuff. We toured a couple of the “cerros” in Valpo. In Valpo, there is a flat, main area called “plan” and then the “cerros” which are hills surrounding the “plan.” Much of the population lives on these hills and, the tour guides explained, that often the neighborhoods become very close. The reason for this is that in order to go from the plan to your neighborhood on a cerro you have to walk up about 347,756 stairs (that’s a rough estimate). So people tend to bond on their own ceros, and there are neighborhood stores where you can buy many of the every-day things you would need.
On this tour we also saw a ton of graffiti! It is very common in Valpo, and there actually are some really cool drawings. Apparently, there is unwritten in law in Valpo that if someone has made a legit graffiti picture (not like just some quickly tagged words or something), then no one else can tag that place. It is a form of respect for the taggers who make beautiful art. As a result, oftentimes businesses will have a picture tagged on the door or wall outside their building, because then they know it will graffiti-proof from the people who tag words and random spray-paint symbols and such.
On Friday night, a few of us from our group went out to a couple bars. At the first place, they asked us to sit in these couches near the back of the bar. Although it’s really for anyone, I think it is their “gringo spot.” Haha. Overall, it was an exciting week. Every day I learn more about the language (the slang is rampant!), and about the cities I live in. At times, it feels overwhelming, but I am very blessed to have people both here and back home who have always been willing to both talk and listen. Thank you to you all!
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