Last night was quite the experience. Marisol’s nephew, Jorge Andres, is going to spend 2 years finishing up his degree in…you guessed it…Germany. These Valdivians have a thing for their German roots I’ll tell you what. Anyways, obviously, this type of endeavor calls for extravagant going away festivities. Naturally. I mean, shoot, I had an extravagant going away party in Raleigh did I not? Maybe extravagant isn’t the right word…memorable would be more appropriate. Anyways. So, the whole family came over and we had a huge ‘carrete’ with choripan, sopapillas, and all things wonderful, edible, and Chilean. Just not in that order. What am I saying? Dear Lord the food was good. I received a crash course in ‘who’s who’ in the family, and I honestly can barely remember…the other day, I had to ask Vale for a refresher on who her cousins were and which aunts and uncles were related to Marisol. This whole extended family concept, is not so much ‘extended’ here as I’m sure you all can imagine. Most importantly, I met one of Vale’s cousins who goes to UACh as well and he is going to put me in contact with one of his friends who plays on the women’s soccer team here. Brilliant eh? He warned me that they aren’t training yet…hmm wonder if that has to do with the fact that the university isn’t even working yet? Minor details. Still, I anxiously await the day when I can jump into practice with the girls. Insta-friends. Yes, that’s normally how that works. So later that night, the girls and I met up with a group of other exchange students at a bar call Madero and I chatted up some fellow students- one from Spain and one from Germany- about…of course…the universal topic of interest: futbol. You really can’t go wrong with that one, I’m tellin’ ya. So German kid I was talking to invited us to a Deportes Valdivia game that Sunday. We happily agreed and made plans to experience our first Chilean futbol match.
As it turns out, the team was a division 3 B team or something like that, and while I may have seen more technical soccer played in my lifetime…oh, I dunno, by a group of 12 year old Boca girls… I was extremely impressed with the gusto and energy of the crowd. Holy smokes. Valdivia’s got some fans! This cracked me up as the players ran onto the field and were greeted by smoke bombs, fireworks, streamers, a drum ensemble, and chanting Torreones fans. Wow. I couldn’t help but laugh. This is the equivalent of people freaking out over a Greensboro grasshopper match or something. What is the world coming too? We discovered, much later and to our utmost despair, that the actual reason for this outlandishly supportive behavior on behalf of the fans was due to the fact that we had actually attended the league championship match. Ignorant gringas? Yes, yes we are. Nonetheless, we had a blast and I am still trying to figure out if they are going to have any more games, because I may just be a Torreones fanatica by the end of my stay here in Valdivia.
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| Fans going crazy for the 'Torreones' |
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| The fan section that was more than happy to have a Gringa take their picture! |
Monday comes around and classes start. Finally, she says as she exhales a deep sigh of relief. Ha. But really. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more thrilled to start class. Let’s just say that I’ve finished 5 books since I’ve been here and my tolerance for hot tea consumption has gone through the roof. I told Josh the other day I drank something like 7 cups of tea in one day. Tea affixation? Maybe. Something has to replace my Southern Sweet Tea so that I’m not completely struck by separation anxiety… Sidenote: Willis, I found an Arizona Raspberry Tea the other day. I bought it and enjoyed it to commemorate you and River induced hunger pangs and Blood’s closing down thus removing our access to creamsicle ice cream. Does this make sense? Is it sad that I associate you with this drink and rolling it around in Nemo to make sure its fully mixed before consumption. I lova willish what? haha okay anyways…So my Monday class was Pueblos Originarios which may turn out to be a pretty sweet ancient history of people type anthropological social development Andes influencing class. Something like that. I’m excited, even though it took me a couple seconds to register Holocene, Pleistocene, Paleolith, etc etc in Spanish. Geez, words that I barely use in English will now be part of my regular vocabulary in Spanish. Gotta love it.Speaking of spanish, please read this article. It is a result of my newly founded addiction to twitter, but it also has some cool scientific base as to why people speak spanish so dang fast. For those of you who are going to judge me for my Twitter addiction, please do, but know that it's like stumbleupon for a Poli Sci kid. Haters gon hate. I don't care. :)
Then, and this might have been the most important development of the week, I was fully introduced to Violeta Parra. My Chilean Language and Culture class met on Tuesday night at the movie theater to see ‘Violeta se fue a los cielos’, a deep and moving alternative type of film about the life and struggle of Violeta Parra, a famous Chilena folklorist. She is best known for her poetry and her songwriting, but basically, in the 50s and 60s, girlfriend did a LOT to preserve Chilean culture through all types of art: writing, singing, songwriting, poetry, painting, drawing, etc etc. She was a renaissance woman who lead a very passionate existence. After this movie, I became completely consumed with Violeta and I started doing some research online. The next day we went into town and I bought two books on the brilliant lady- Mom. Shush. I know I don’t need more books. I couldn’t download them on my kindle so you are just going to have to throw me a freaking bone here. I haven’t started reading them yet, but they are in Spanish and may take a significant amount of effort to decipher, but it will be worthwhile. For what exactly? I don’t know, but I have this strange feeling that Violeta made a very memorable stamp in my little passport to life that I will not soon forget.
Little else to report, went out with Cathy and her friends on Thursday. Sang some Kelly Clarkson karaoke with Kaya, went to the disco, and crashed into my bed. Only to head out to The Bunker last night to meet some Peruvians and hang out with some exchange kids. We did receive bad news that we aren’t going to be getting a full week off for Fiestas Patrias, which kind of throws our plans to head up to Buenos Aires out the window. Instead, I think we are headed to Bariloche. Alright Argentina!! Da me cinco… literally give me five. In other random news, Marisol told me that my sense of humor would be appreciated in Chile because they are all very punny here. Kelly for the win. This comment is a result of Marisol asking me what "burro" is in English...to which i replied 'donkey....' and she said 'don-key?' and me...'si...donkey...xote...don quixote." laughs all around. baby steps Kelly, baby steps.
All in all, a good week. I’m not gonna lie, I’m due for some sunshine and springtime. Let’s make it happen Valdivia! All in favor?? ….aye.
Chao
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| some grafitti i found on the back of a micro bus seat. Kind of cool |
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