Ketchup

Don't worry friends, I have not forgotten about you.  The last two weeks have been busy because I finally got to take my free Spanish classes!  Woo hoo!  I am actually going to really miss having class, despite the fact that it was a slightly higher level than what I tested at, and therefore, a little challenging at times.  It was however, lots of fun.  I now know how to use the pluscuamperfecto and the subjuntivo (kind of...).  My friend and I decided to keep practicing, so once a week we will get together with our books and be nerds practicing our Spanish.

The other thing that has kept me busy this weekend is Clea leaving :(  I am sad to see her go, but I will get to see her again in March!  Horrays!   We had dancing on Friday night, music and move sharing on Saturday, and we went to the airport with her today.  It was like watching my first empanada get fried.  So sweet and emotional.

I went back to Valpo (and Viña del Mar) last weekend, and nobody got robbed!  Horray!  It was actually tons of fun.  They have these big bubbles on the beach in Viña that you get into and play on a pool of water.  Here are my friends having fun in the balls:

It was a lot of fun watching them until it started to rain, so we headed to the bus station to come back to Santiago.

I also got to experience Halloween here, and I learned that Halloween is really an American holiday.  Like, seriously.  There were hardly any decorations out or candy displays in the supermarket.  However, it is becoming more popular.  I went to two parties, and I saw some interesting costumes.  There was Freddy Kruger, a ghost, Blues Brothers, grapes, Chilean miners, a pink unicorn, crabs, vampires, the Joker, and a Chilean.  (Keep in mind that most of these people were gringos, or at least friends with lots of gringos.  There were very few Chileans out and about dressed in costume.)  It was really fun seeing some of the things people came up with, especially the poor teachers trying to find a costume on a budget, and the non-Americans that weren't quite sure what was going on.

Speaking of non-Americans wanting to see what all the hype about holidays... Thanksgiving is coming up, and we are going to have a delicious potluck/pool party!  I am sooo excited!  Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday because I love mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.  Neither is quite as good without cheddar cheese though. 

Tonight I get to enjoy some Chilean theatre, and tomorrow I get to stand in line for hours at the Extrajeria to get my visa stamp.  Luckily, my friend also has to wait in line, so I will have a buddy.  Expect to hear some great stories about that.

Peace and Love

Stray in Viña del Mar

Everything Here Is About Food

Santiago is weird.  There is no other word to describe this city.  Ask anybody.

Last weekend I went to the beach with my new flatmates.  It was definately interesting.  Both of my flatmates are from the States and bilingual (one has lived in Chile for 4+ years; the other has lived in Chile for over a year, and her family is from El Salvador), and the rest of the group was Chilean.  It was Spanish the entire time (except for the couple of times I had no idea what was going on and someone had to explain what was going on. 

The fact that it was all Chilean all the time made it a challenge, of course.  But what was also challenging about it was being dropped into a group of close friend without really knowing any of them.  This made me realize how much this move has made me grow as a person.  I never would have done something like that in the past.  This experience has really made me come out of my bubble.  I want to thank Santiago for that, despite its high level of weirdness. 

I got to try a fantastic new food last weekend!  They were patties made out of carne de soya, so it was kind of like a Boca burger or something of that nature.  This was so much better though!  Carne de soya is much like dehydrated tofu- you soak it in water and then mix it with stuff and it picks up the flavors of whatever you mix it with.  We mixed it with egg, onion, and bread crumbs, formed it into a paddy, and grilled it.  I put the grilled paddy on a toasted bun with palta (avocado), tomate, and lechuga (lettuce) and had a burst of flavor in my mouth.  I am going to get some carne de soya the next time I am at the store.  It is a great source of protein and can easily be added to almost anything. 

One last share about the fondas from the celebrations for the 18th- it can prove to be challenging to be a vegitarian, especially on the last night of a fonda.  There were no vegetarian dishes left at the fonda I went to the Monday after the 18th.  There were tons of antichuchos with more meat than any one person should eat (I thought Americans ate a lot of meat, but they have nothing on the Chilean anticuchos), but nothing sans meat.  I found caramel corn though.  And mote con huesillo.  It is this fantastic sweet drink.  They put mote (boiled wheat stuff) in a cup, and then they put a dried peach and peach juice in the cup.  It's fun.  Look:

Mote con Huesillos

I found a recipe, and I want to try to make it (for those that might be interested in trying such an ethnic beverage) when I come back to Iowa.  It might turn out right though because I hear the closest thing we have to mote is hominy.

I, along with many of my friends, feel that all we think about is food and what our next meal is going to be.  I am always thinking of what I can try to make (because half of the time I have to alter recipes and find alternatives- remind me to tell the story of  baking cookies).  I also love thinking about the new and exciting foods I get to eat while I am here (i.e. carne de soya).  Tomorrow I get to check out a Thai place with some friends.  We will see how this goes.

Finally, I just want to say that I think Travis is right (to some degree) about only being friends with people because it is convenient.  If you aren't right there, people kind of start to forget about you.  I have to decide if he was right about the part where you just stop being friends when the distance becomes to inconvenient.  I really started to think about all of this last week when all of my classes were getting canceled and I was starting to get bored out of my mind. 

Peace and love

Current Tunes: Dresden Dolls (I am in the process of moving all of my music from my iPod to my computer, so I am being reminded of all the great music I started to forget about.  I have been listening to this fantastic "faggy" (in the words of Travis) music while walking to classes today.)