A week in Chillan

The week started out with a walk to Chillan Viejo which is where the center of Chillan used to be before it was flattened by an earthquake in the 1930s. It’s less than a mile from where we live and there is a plaza, a park and a small museum/cultural center. It was nice to see where Chillan Viejo was since I’d heard it mentioned many times. Later that day Sister Mimi was cleaning out the freezer and showed me three 9x13 containers full of frozen raspberries!! So naturally I went and looked up a recipe for raspberry crisp and made one to have with our dinner. It turned out great and hardly lasted 2 days! (I’d say that’s a sign that the others liked it too!)

Tuesday classes started again at Casa Ursulina (after the break for the independence day celebrations). In the morning there was a wool working class where the women spin yarn from wool. It was interesting and we helped get some of the wool ready to spin. After lunch we went out to the rural town of Piedra Lisa where every other week Sister Mimi and a couple women from the house take projects and teach the women different skills. They have been teaching weaving for a little while now and the women are getting quite good. They teach the class in a rural school that has about 18 students. Kym and I met the students and if we stay here in Chillan will most likely go out there and do activities with them. On the way home we road part way with one of the women in her two wheeled horse drawn cart. It was a fun, new experience.

On Wednesday I played in the Sala Cuna (daycare room) with all the little kids that come with while their moms go to classes. It was a lot of fun and we did a lot of different activities: coloring, playing with legos, reading stories, playing with dolls, etc. The kids are very cute and for the most part well behaved.

On Thursday there was a reflexology class. I went to see went it was all about and was made a “victim” meaning someone practiced the reflexology techniques they had learned on me and as a result I got a really nice foot massage :D In the afternoon there were classes for weaving, home decoration (wall hangings, embroidered cushions, etc) and policromía (not sure what the English translation would be but they take statues, boxes or other things, apply a layer of plaster and sometimes texture of some sort and then paint the object). I spent time in each of the classes and ended with weaving were they were celebrating one of the women’s birthday with the hugest cake I’ve ever seen! (it was not only impressive to look at but also very tasty!)

Friday morning we worked in the greenhouse (a very small one by the side of the house) with Ale and planted tomatoes, lettuce and green peppers. After planting everything we ripped up some cabbage leaves and spread them around our newly planted plants in hopes that this will keep the snails away! If this doesn’t work, the snails will get more of a feast than we will :( Later that day Kym and I went to town. We wandered through the central market and then went looking for shops. Oddly Chillan is filled with thrift stores that sell nothing but American clothes! The prices for the most part are good, I only got a light sweatshirt but envision myself going back in the future as I discover what my clothing needs are. After dinner we watched Forrest Gump. I had never seen it before and thought it was very good.

Yesterday we went to a mass for a priest (Raul) celebrating the 60th anniversary of his ordination. After the mass there was a reception where Raul said a few words and then gave this toast “Drinking makes you happy, when you are happy you don’t sin, and by not sinning you are saved… so if drinking makes you happy, and when you are happy you don’t sin, and when you don’t sin you are saved, LET’S DRINK!” After that the crowd burst out laughing! Apparently after his first mass 60 years ago, another priest gave this same toast. After that we went over to Maria Erica’s house for lunch. She teaches the baking class at Casa Ursulina and is a good friend of the Sisters. We started out with coffee and cookies right after we got there. A little while later came punch and little fried cheese empanadas, of course they made about a million of these little empanadas so each of us ate a lot! Then for the actual meal we each had a huge piece of fish, potatoes, salad and bread. Everything was delicious. After we had eaten our fill Maria Erica brought out ice cream. Of course I thought we were done at this point but I was wrong. She then came out with a Tres Leches cake so we each had a piece of that. Needless to say we pretty much rolled home after all that food !

This morning I woke up to the wind howling outside my window. The news had been predicting lots of wind and they were right! Sister Ruth made French toast for brunch. It was amazing plus I smothered mine in raspberries so it was extra delicious. In the afternoon we went over to the church about a block away from the house to wait for the procession that would be coming through town. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the patron Saint of Chile and today there was a procession through town honoring her which ended in Chillan Viejo with a mass in the plaza. We started at the church and walked behind the priests and others carrying flags and a cross all the while singing and praying the rosary (there was a load speaker hooked up to a truck leading the group). When we got to the main procession route we waited there until the rest of the procession came by. Other churches had joined the procession along the way, each carrying banners and/or flags. By the time the procession came by where we were standing it was raining pretty hard. Most of the people in the procession did not have umbrellas but kept walking anyway. Unlike most of the others in our group, we did not join the procession but instead headed home after the end of the procession passed by.

This week I started running again. It has been a very long time since I have run on a regular basis so it felt great to start running again. This week I ran four times. Even though I was hoping to run more, it’s a good starting point. As soon as I get settled somewhere I am going to look for some other activity to join… something to get me out of the house and involved in physical activity and meet friends. Perhaps rowing, circus or tennis.

The pictures are as follows: making empandas (me), Casa Ursulina, the church we go to (we can't actually enter the building shown because it was damaged in the earthquake but it's a national monument so it will be restored, mass is held in a partially finished community hall next to the church), pictures from the procession, a typical picture from the artesania part of the central market in Chillan, Kym and I in front of a church in the center of town, pictures from the plaza in Chillan Viejo.

Fiestas, Food and Fun

Last Wednesday we went up the street to the church where the abuelitos (elderly people or “grandparents”) eat lunch once a week. Previous volunteers have gone to spend time with them, chat and play games after they have lunch. They seemed like a fun bunch and if we decide to stay here in Chillan we will most likely spend time with them.
Later that day we went to a neighbor’s house because it was one of her daughter’s birthdays. Sister Mimi is her godmother and has a really good relationship with the family. When we got there the birthday girl (Camilla) and all her friends were playing Uno so Kym and I joined in. After awhile all the kids left and we sat around eating snacks and talking. It was a very low key party but it was definitely fun spending time with the family and getting to know them. Everyone was very nice and I look forward to getting to know them better.
On Thursday we went to town with Ale (a woman who helps clean and does other things at Casa Ursulina). She showed us where the important places are such as the post office, banks, theather, etc. We also went to the market and bought all sorts of good stuff: avocados, clementines, lemons, lettuce, artichokes, etc. It was fun to go into town and I look forward to going another time when it isn’t so crowded (everyone was in town preparing for the weekend’s festivities).
On Friday we went out to the campo (country) to visit a lady (Sandra) who attends workshops at Casa Ursulina in Chillan but spends her weekends in the campo. The town is only about 45 minutes away so it didn’t take too long to get there. On the farm there were a bunch of baby lambs, chickens, ginny hens and goats. Before lunch we walked around the farm, caught a baby lamb to hold and talked with Sandra’s daughter. After a huge lunch we all took a siesta which was very nice. After everyone had woken up we went back out to see the sheep and goats because it was time for them to come into their pen for the night. I thought it was really cute how the lambs cry out when they get separated from their mother and then the mom and baby proceed to play a version of Marco Polo until they find each other in the clump of sheep, it’s hard to explain but very amusing to watch! Before leaving we had onces- tea and coffee, bread with jam and cookies.
Saturday was a big day! September 18th is Chile’s independence day and this year is the bicentennial! Viva Chile!! In the morning we went into town and watched a parade. It was pretty much your average parade but with short presentation of La Cueca (the national dance) and lots of Huasos (Chilean cowboys). After the parade a big military helicopter flew overhead and dropped what looked like a ton of confetti but it was actually a bunch of bicentennial bookmarks. Later that night around 8:30 we went over to Carola’s house (same family we visited earlier this week for the birthday) to help make empanadas. Kym and I made lots of empanadas which was fun. Other people were busy making salad, potatoes and grilling meat. Around 10:00 or later everyone (at least 25 people) sat down at a huge table out back to eat. After 3 empanadas, a huge helping of mashed potatoes and salad I was ready to burst! It was all very good and I have to say they were the best empanadas I’ve ever eaten! It may have to do with the fact that these empanadas where fried whereas all the others I’ve eaten have been baked in the oven but I also feel like this dough was extra good and different from what I’ve eaten in the past. As soon as everyone finished eating the dancing began. There was lots of Cueca to begin with but later it was “free dance" time. I eventually danced a little and Kym and I learned (more or less) how to dance la Cueca. It’s not terribly hard but I can’t say I’m any good at it. After lots of talking, dancing and laughing Carola and her husband walked Kym and I home around 4:30 am. It was a great night and fun to meet lots of new people.

Below are pictures of the sheep and goats (the goats reminded us of the story "Three Billy Goats Gruff"!), dancing la Cueca (the little girl in pink has a twin sister and they really can dance!), friends from the party, Carola's relative dressed as a Huaso (Chilean cowboy), and Kym with her first empanada (she has pictures of me making empanadas on her camera but she is sleeping so those will come later...)

Adventures in Santiago

Last week we had our first visit to the women’s center in Renca (a neighborhood of Santiago). I don’t have the information with me right now but they have workshops and other services such as social workers, counseling, etc. The focus of the organization is for women who have lived or are living violence. Part of our time there we went to the local feria (farmer’s market) and passed out flyers. I love to go to the ferias and see all the fresh fruits and vegetables :D Later that day we went to another part of town to a community center where Lia teachs a class to teens about HIV/AIDS. We also visited with a group of women who bake and sell bread weekly. They save their bread money to take a vacation. Of course we bought a bunch of bread and it was wonderful! On Thursday we had another free day which was great. After sleeping in we took off to explore the city. We got off the metro near La Moneda which is the Chilean equivalent of the White House. In a plaza behind La Moneda there was a circus show going on so we sat down and watched that for awhile which I really enjoyed! Later that day we went and wandered around the Bella Vista neighborhood and found Pablo Neruda’s house (famous Chilean Poet). We were both quite tired by this point (we had been walking around Santiago for nearly 6 hours) and didn’t tour the house but might go back another day. On our way home we stopped at Blockbuster and rented a DVD. This was an interesting experience… of course we don’t belong to Blockbuster in Chile (or the States) and so we had to sign up before we could rent a movie. Pretty much the only information I could give them was my name… I didn’t have my cell phone on me so I didn’t know the number for that and I didn’t know the address to where we were staying (smart I know…) so they just made up information and let us rent the DVD, hehe. The next day we went back to the jardin to teach English to the little kids. They were practicing dancing La Cueca for their independence day performance, it was adorable! This coming Saturday is a huge day here in Chile because it is their independence day, similar to our 4th of July but this year is the bicentennial so it’s a really big deal! After the jardin we walked around the neighborhood and hung up posters for the women’s center we had visited earlier that week. On Saturday we went over to Gretchen and Lia’s and were going to cook lunch but their floors were being repaired so we ended up going out for pizza and had a good time chatting. After lunch we hung out in the park and later went out to ice cream with Rachel and Chago, it was great to see them :D The next day we did laundry and went over to Gretchen and Lia’s and made the lunch we were planning on making the day before. We made pasta with pesto sauce, broccoli and salad. It actually turned out really good so we were all happy. On Monday we went back to the jardin. The kids are really getting good at animals, colors, clothing and members of the family. They really love singing songs like Old McDonald had a farm (Gretchen and Lia made up a translated version called Tio Sam) and playing games. One of their favorites is “Caminando por el bosque” or Walking through the forest. They put a bunch of toy animals, dolls or other objects on the floor and one kid walks around the circle while everyone sings a song, at the end an English word is called out and they have to pick up the right object. It is really quite funny and the kids love it! After the jardin we went over to Margaret’s house and made lunch. She does a lot of alternative healing for people in the community and has served as a mentor and resource for Gretchen and Lia. It was fun to meet her and we had a good time preparing lunch, even though we did manage to burn some of the rice, oops. Yesterday we spent a long time packing and cleaning up our stuff because we took the 12:45am bus to Chillan. We actually almost missed the bus because it did not say Chillan on it but it was in the same parking place as our bus was suppose to be and had the same departure time… apparently it was continuing further south past Chillan so it had that town listed because it was the final destination… another 10 minutes and we probably would have missed the bus which would have been bad because all transportation going south is pretty much sold out by now due to the independence day celebrations. Anyway, after about five hours of sleeping on and off we made it to Chillan and then took a taxi to Casa Ursulina. Our driver was very nice and waited to make sure we got in the house before he took off. Today consisted of lots of rest. For the past four days I haven’t had much of a voice… other than that I’ve been feeling fine but it’s been a bit annoying not being able to talk normally. Kym felt a little under the weather today and Sister Ruth is getting over being sick so all of us napped, watched tv and otherwise rested pretty much all day. We will actually get a good night’s sleep tonight so that should help. The weather has been a bit chilly and rainy over the past few days but it is suppose to be better for the rest of the week and through the weekend.

Picutres are as follows- the first 3 are of the circus show, the next one is of some decorations for the fiestas patrias on the 18th, then the ladies making bread, the second picture is of their "oven" which heats/cooks from the bottom and top, the next 3 are of the feria- food, holding a sign for the women's center and Kym enjoying a sopaipilla she bought, the green house is where we have been staying in Santiago, next are the little kids learning to dance at the jardin, then there is a picture of one of the metro stops we use a lot and last is a picture of a little playground- seriously these playgrounds are everywhere!

Week one

One week ago today I arrived in Chile, it seems like a long time ago yet every day goes by very fast. It has been a busy week! My trip to Chile was uneventful for the most part so that is good I guess… the only interesting part of my trip down was once we got to customs... The line for customs took at least an hour and the customs person tried to tell me that I needed to pay my reciprocity fee again (I paid it when I came for study abroad) but thankfully another guy convinced her that I was fine (I was told you only have to pay it once and it is good as long as your passport is valid). After that we went to pick up our luggage and my red suitcase had this red and white tape wrapped around it so I was very confused… when we went to scan our luggage they had to search my entire bag because the fruit/food sniffing dog had smelled something on/in my bag. They didn’t find anything because, well, I didn’t try to bring any food into Chile. For future reference if anyone goes to Chile- do not try to bring fruit or nuts of any sort into Chile! They are very strict as to what you can and cannot bring into the country! From the airport we went to the house of a Maryknoll Missioner named Judy. She served us pancakes (they were great!) and then we took a nap before heading down to Chillan for the anniversary of the woman’s center. Maruja (another Maryknoll Missioner from Vilches) drove us down to Chillan which is about 5 hours south of Santiago. Over the next couple days the Woman’s Center was very busy! For the anniversary of the center they have a big exposition where the women show the crafts they have been working on (knitting, felting, quilting, oil painting, crochet, etc). They also made and sold empanadas and lots of pastries :) The next day there was bingo (Chilean style bingo is different than in the US) and completos (hot dogs with mashed avocado, tomato and mayo- very popular here). It was fun meeting a lot of people from the community and getting to know Mimi and Ruth who run the women’s center. They are both Ursuline sisters from the US. One highlight of the woman’s center is that they have six cats!! I immediately made friends with lots of them and almost always had a lap-mate :) While in Chillan, we went to a radio station and they interviewed us (Kym, the other volunteer, and myself) about what we are doing in Chile, why we came, etc… we hadn’t even been in Chile for more than 3 or 4 days and we were already on the radio! After all the excitement at the women’s center we returned to Santiago and started following Gretchen and Lia around on their daily activities (they have been here for a year with the same program and will be here until December). So far we have gone to EPES (Educacion Popular en Salud) which is a public health organization, a jardin (preschool) to teach English and passed out flyers at a market. We also went over to the apartment of one of the other volunteer’s at EPES for an afternoon of Mafia (a game) which was very entertaining especially since it ended up being a bilingual game (there were 6 Americans, 1 Spaniard, 1 Canadian, and 1 Uruguayan). We have also been exploring a little on our own and getting accustomed to the metro and bus systems here. Today was a free day so Kym and I did a little shopping and just explored a lot which was fun especially since it was a beautiful day. We have had great weather so far! Most days it is in the 70s with lots of sun, the mornings and nights are quite cool but a couple layers of clothing is all you need :)

At the airport before I left

Kym and I when we landed in Santiago

At the women's center celebration

Sisters Mimi and Ruth presenting a cake for the celebration :)

Two of my cat buddies! The grey one is my favorite, best lap cat ever!

These are all the pictures I have for now... I haven't been taking my camera everywhere but I promise I'll take more soon.