Santiago: Semana una

This post has been a work in progress for the past week. The first part is called Pato! and the second part is called Training, Random Notes, and the Human Rights Tour. Also, I apologize for the typos, I'm waaaaay too tired to re-read. Lo siento!

Part One: Pato!

Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

I made it! As I type this, I am sitting in my Santiago hostel, debating whether or not to shower or sleep but I am too caught up on the fact that I can see a bit of the snow-capped Andes from my window.

So everything went well! I was sandwiched between two people from San Francisco to Dallas, had a 5-hour layover in Dallas, sat next to a nice older man from Dallas to Santiago, stood in the wrong line for customs, had to go and stand in reciprocity fee line (damn, being an American!), stood in correct customs line, gathered all my things, cursed myself for bringing so much (but it's not that much because they are teaching materials too!!), and then finally caught a transvip taxi with a wonderful man named Pato.

Even though I've only been in Santiago for 2 hours, I've already had a really awesome cultural experience (besides the Mormons that were standing in front of me for the reciprocity fee who are on their mission and were trying to convert two old ladies in line with us). Enter Pato.

So our conversation (fully in Spanish I might add!) started when he asked me where I was going. I said the name of my hostel was the Hotel Londres and he kind of acted like he knew where it was but just to double check I told him the address and the main street it is off of. Once he realized I could speak a little Spanish—and by little I mean A LITTLE—he started asking me all sorts of questions.

Over the course of our 30 minute drive/ conversation, I learned a lot from Pato. First, he is thirty-five, he's been to Canada and Australia, I should take off my earrings and any other jewelry (because “I'm looking out for you”), that large tower in the center is lit up very nicely on December 31^st, yes, the Andes are beautiful, etc.

He spoke absolutely no English, except when he told me his age he said, “twenty-five...treinta y cinco”. I laughed and had to tell him that he meant “thirty-five”. He only nodded slightly when I corrected him, I don't think he caught his mistake.

Pato was just very friendly. He was trying hard to speak slowly, and he was saying, “la significa es..” if he saw that I was kind of confused with a word he used. But my favorite part of my conversation with Pato was when he asked, “Tiene un pololo?” “No, Pato, no tengo un pololo.” (Pololo is Chilean Spanish for boyfriend).

Part Two: Training, Random Notes, and the Human Rights Tour

The past week has been a lot of fun but very busy! Training has been lasting until 7 or so in the evening, so we come back to our hostel exhausted. Training has been great though! I definitely feel sort of prepared to take on 25 Chilean students, ranging in grades from 5th to 12th.

Last night our field directors took us to a bar with 3 volunteers from the year-long program. They arrived in March and have been teaching for about 4 months now. They had A LOT of great advice. Their biggest piece of advice: "Be liquid." This will be a challenge for me, but I think it will be good for me as well. Their other piece of advice? Utilize the Chilean love of competition in the classroom. Oh, and use Frugeles.

A special note about Frugeles. They are these cheap, fruit candies. The flavors are pina, naranja, limon, manzana, fruitilla, and another one that starts with a "g". They come in a huge bag and are delicious! Expect me to come back with at least 5 bags.


Human Rights Tour: Today, we went on a special tour "de derechos humanos". The man who was our guide was a former political prisoner who was tortured. He was very friendly and extremely knowledgable. First, we went to a cemetary where there is a memorial (somewhat like the Vietnam Wall) for those who were disappeared and murdered during the military dictatorship of Pinochet. It was extremely moving.




We also stopped by Constitution Plaza, on the other side of La Moneda to watch the changing of the guards:



The changing of the guards is random, so you have to stumble upon it (which we did!) It's random to prevent protestors from staging protests.


Next, we went to una "Casa de Tortura". This was a site in the middle of a neighborhood that had once been a place where the dictatorship tortured people (fairly straight forward). The house isn't there anymore, but they are currently building a museum/ memorial.


THEN, we went to el estadio nacional...where they play futbol! While this was awesome for the sheer fact that I love soccer, the point of this stop was because the dictatorship used to keep and torture prisoners there.






After the stadium, we went to Villa Grimaldi which is a memorial and former torture site. It's a huge park with lots of memorials. It was freezing outside, and we were there FOREVER, but it was really sad. The saddest part for me was "la casa de recuerdas". It was a tiny house where family members had donated pictures and other things of the people murdered there. One woman had a glass case with her picture and a picture of a newspaper clipping with a picture of her dead body. According to the article, her body had washed up on the shore. It was way too overwhelming.


The brick rectangles represent the cells and the trees represent the prisoners at Villa Grimaldi.



These are train tracks that were found on the coast. The dictatorship used to tie prisoners to the train tracks and then drop them into the sea from helicopters and planes.


Finally, not too far past Villa Grimaldi, we drove by the prison where all the military torturers are serving their sentences. It didn't look too shabby--nice buildings, right up against the Andes.


So that is about it for Santiago: Semana una. I hope my Spanish is being used correctly in this blog post, haha. It's amazing how much my vocabulary has improved since I've been here.

Heading to Vina del Mar and Valpo next weekend! Bacan! (accento en el segundo "a". El significa es "cool".)

Hope you guys are well!

Abrazos (hugs),
Jessie


PS-My proudest moment: Connecting my cheap-o TruTech DVD player to our hostel's TV to watch 30 Rock: