Let’s play catch up.
The girls and I took a quick day trip to Niebla. Chile is still on strike. And I went to Pilates class.
So first the Niebla trip.
Well you see, first the original plan was to go to Curinanco, another small coastal town and then Niebla. However, this plan was shot down when we got to the bus stop and I asked one of the bus drivers when the Curinanco bus was coming. Having missed the first bus, and not wanting to wait, we jumped on the bus to Niebla and saved Curinanco for another day. The bus to Niebla cost us 400 pesos….less than a dollar and it would have been cheaper if we had our student IDs…which we don’t because we aren’t in the system yet…don’t EVEN get me started…Anyways, we hopped off at the last stop, and since the bus had taken a different route than Marisol had I didn’t exactly know for sure where we were. So we pretty much walked in a circle, me periodically asking people for directions, until we arrived at the Fort!
The fort at Niebla was amazing, much cooler than the one in Ancud in my opinion, due in great part to the fact that there was a museum on the grounds. A small museum, but a museum nonetheless. We spent some time in there reading up on local history: Niebla, Valdivia, the Spanish conquest, the earthquake, etc etc. Until we were finally singled out by the man working the museum. He could tell that we were gringas (I sometimes wish it weren’t that obvious. I swear the next time I get asked ‘do you speak english’ I’m just going to say ‘No, I’m a chilena’ holy smokes…) But this man was sweet and very helpful and he gave us a complete low down of the history of the fort, and other forts like it in the area. I was shocked to find out that three of the other forts were completely destroyed and unable to be restored even in the smallest part due to the earthquake (sidenote: I was really throwing around where I could get some dive gear- how cool would it be to dive the sunken spanish forts??? um. lemme answer that...it would be AWESOME. and equally as awesome would be diving the two huge ships that sunk completely in the river as a result of the earthquake too! Where's my Uncle Billy when I need him? :) ). And this is the part where I get torn: so much history absolutely demolished in one earthquake, one singular seismic event (albeit the largest registered earthquake in the world), but then I think about the power of nature. It makes me start philosophizing a little bit about the balance of power of man and nature and who will eventually come out ‘the victor’ and maybe even what ‘victory’ will be…does it mean ultimate destruction in one way or the other? Either we go or the Earth goes? Ah, maybe I shouldn’t care, I’m not going to be alive long enough to see the end of that fight anyway…and yet of course I care, it’s a debate I’m shaping my life around. Or maybe it’s shaping me. Who really knows for sure? That question I can answer- not me. Anyways, I learned a good amount at the fort, a lot of which my historian of a host dad has already told me, but nonetheless I had a good time walking the grounds snapping photos, and making comments to myself about how ironic forts are, especially these. They were meant to protect the spanish conquests from invasion. Lot of good that did them when that whole 'war for independence' thing popped up.
After the fort, we walked some with plans of walking all the way to Los Molinos. By this time it was well after 2 and Erin and Katherine were pretty much starving children in Africa. With about an hour or so length of pavement ahead of us, I glance back at the girls and thumbs out it is. We are gonna hitch a ride down to the beach if its the last thing I do. Eventually a kind Chilean couple picks us up, the husband works at the university, and they drive us the few minutes down the road to Los Moblinos. After graciously thanking the couple, so we walk to a little beach side restaurant and order a heaping plate of empanadas, pure (mashed taters but better), and French fries. After a long lunch and a walk along the black sand beach littered with...well...litter, and some kelp, we catch a taxi back to Niebla and then hop on the micro back to Valdivia. Easy squeezy lemon peezy.
So the other exchange student who will be living with my family, Cathy, is officially here all moved in and what not. We took her for a tour of Valdivia the other night and she almost fell asleep in the car! She had a long trip from Santiago that was delayed because of ash from the volcano, so her tiredness was more than warranted. Well, that night we went out to Kuntsmann Brewery for dinner. This ‘cerverseria’ has been around for a longggg time (well not this exact one because the original was destroyed in the earthquake…but you get my point). It has been a family owned business since the 1800s and really shows the German influence in the area. While we were there I got to try a sample of one of each kind of the brews, but they were just so strong and I have got to be honest- beer isn’t really my thing. I’d take a pisco sour over a beer any day of the week. Haha! We had some traditional German food for dinner which consisted of various types of sausage. And lots of it. Stuffed full of good food and the smell of hops and barley in my hair, we head home with Rodolfo and his newly reacquainted Harvard English Professor personality. All in all, a good day.
In other news, we succeeded finally in getting our carnets (woo. bout time. and i didn't even have to yell. The whole process was really frustrating because we were told that our cards would arrive anywhere between the day we applied for them and the 17th. We assumed the process would be simple and efficient. But when you assume...), we also saw our first dubbed movie in theaters (The Green Latern- mind you Erin had a sufficient amount of trouble deciphering the meaning of ‘entrede’ at the ticket counter until I came to the striking realization that the girl at the counter is saying ‘en tres d’ …in 3D….wow. no further comment on this chilean spanish thing.Also. Ryan Reynolds, second only to Hugh in my book, is quite the Minito in this film. and if you want to know what that means...well just go see the movie.).
After the frustration en masse that we have all experienced with classes and the university, today almost resulted in an aneurism. We went in to talk to the exchange student coordinator who gave us the freaking run-around like always. "Don't worry girls", she says, "enjoy your free time". I ask her when we are having orientation because the last time we talked to her she said there weren't enough students here for orientation her response: "oh I'll send you an email. maybe next week. we will see. It depends. There is this meeting tomorrow and....." trails off. She probably didn't trail off. But I'm tired. I'm tired of the BS. I'm tired of people telling me to wait, and things will work out, I'm tired of pulling at straws. and when I say I'm tired, we ALL know that means I'm ACTUALLY angry. More like pissed beyond belief. Of all people I'm not going to be the one to sit there and drink the darn kool-aid and act like a good little girl while I know they have the power to do something. They can give us contact information for professors, they can give us a course catalog, they could have the DECENCY to give us a freaking TOUR of CAMPUS!!!!!! holy smokes. Let me NOT tried to get worked up again....but really its ridiculous. Erin writes it off as cultural differences, and trust me, I try to understand that. but what this boils down to is pure laziness. We do not have our student ID cards due to the fact that someone is not doing their job. Anyone out there in NC State land want to tell me how long it takes to get a student ID at State? Anyone? I'll tell you...less than one minute. And that's not counting the 5 minute walk to the West Dunn Building....Or better yet, at freshman orientation where you get your ID in 30 seconds in the DINING HALL and then you go and eat your lunch. We submitted our student info the first week we got here, still waiting on those IDs. I'm sure the ID lady must have a LOT to freaking do what with having SO MANY STUDENTS on campus right now....not. there is NOBODY on campus. What else is she doing? That's what I want to know. I'm plum thrilled about this if y'all can't tell. I KNOW we are sitting ducks and I know someone is trying to pull the wool over our eyes, and I'll tell you what, I'll be the last one to stand for that nonsense. And you can hold me to that.
As you can tell, I am a little bit more than fed up, but luckily right after the meeting with the coordinator (I literally was almost pulling out my hair and had to count to ten before I said anything to anyone...at least I counted in spanish. ha.) we talked with our saving grace: ximena spooner (Rodolfo’s sister). Rodolfo has been encouraging me to get up with her, but I kept heading to her office with no luck, she was nowhere to be found. Bad timing I thought, actually I was just knocking on the wrong door. Of course the office that says "Ximena Spooner" isn't actually her office...gotta love it. Anyways, we talked about the intricacies of the university system: ie: we are not yet officially students, nor registered for classes (not like there are any), the office of movilidad estudiantil has not given us a tour, orientation, or even so much as a one sentence email regarding the state of the university since we arrived…oh I dunno…three weeks ago, oh yeah, and we don't have student IDs! Let’s just say she was a little outraged and that she is on a mission to fix this for us. She is going to make us appointments with the department heads and probably arrange a bunch of other things for us too. Hey Ximena- can you fix the whole ‘nation on strike’ thing too? That’d be great. K thanks pumpkin. But really, maybe she will really be able to help us- we will see. At the very least she told me that she could help me with info about the soccer team here, which is great news considering the fact that I have no Chilean friends to speak of and could really use a change of pace around here…anyways. Patience Kelly patience.
Moreover, today Marisol invited me to pilates class with her. I was glad to get out of the house so of course I agreed! I threw on some tights and a tshirt and jumped in the car. She drove us to Club Phoenix for her pilates class. There were 5 of us in total, 6 with the instructor in a small work out room with one mirrored wall, abandoned exercise machines, and a wood stove type heater like the one in our house smack dab in the middle of the room- albeit not alight. This pilates class was very different from the ones that I had been to before at the Y or Bally Total Fitness or whatever, I would describe it more along the lines of yoga. There was a lot of stretching, a little abdominal work, but nothing too crazy, and more stretching. Nothing super cardio like I’m used to, but I still enjoyed myself. I kept thinking about mom and me and Willis at those exercise classes back home- the zumbas, the spinning, the falling asleep yoga…and I couldn’t help but smile. Although I wasn’t quite following every movement of the instructor, which Marisol made very clear at the end of the session, she was impressed with how fast I caught on. I just laughed at this and thought, well in my world of Dena fartleks and fitness circuits, you either catch on fast or get screamed at. I wonder if it’s good or bad that I am conditioned this way? Either way I am satisfied with my newly stretched out muscles and may even be encouraged to engage in exercise in the near future. But don’t get your hopes up.
Speaking of which, I really want to go climbing on that wall- maybe tomorrow I’ll go. But those girls haven’t called me back or gotten up with me. One of them is in my exchange student class so maybe I’ll call her out on it. Make her go with me! It would be good to go with someone…Maybe I’ll get R-daddy (that’s what mom calls Rodolfo) to take me, at least the first time. Maybe I’ll make him introduce me to the random boys playing soccer all the time by campus. He prolly doesn’t know them but he always acts like he knows people anyways. Just like mom. And come to think of it, if I wanted to go play soccer with the boys, my mom would walk right up into the middle of the field and stop the game completely and say “listen boys, my girl wants to play, and she will, and she may kick all of your butts- so just be aware” then she would kiss me on the head and say “have fun sweetie” and walk away as I awkwardly stand there waiting for the shock to wear off of the boys’ faces. I love my mom. So much.
It's late, I write too much. and I'm sleepy tired as my Willis says.
With that, I bid you good night
Chao
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