also, keep sending me mail! i'm getting it and its super exciting!! :-D
Katie Osland
Ecuador 116, Dp. 61
Vina del Mar, Chile
Monday, August 20, 2007
pictures
so ive been trying to figure out how to post pictures on this thing and have yet to be successful. check out http://community.webshots.com/user/kosland for now...i'll update soon so keep checking back!
Traveling the countryside
Moving away from first impressions and settling into the routine of familiarity. That's where i'm at right about now. I live in Chile. I'm learning the ropes and more or less understand whats going on in Spanish all around me. I still havent met too many chileans...its just hard b/c its hard to meet people in general, just from going to class with them. plus no one really likes americans so we've all got that going against us. however, there is hope. classes are beginning to pile on work and to write this now i am passing on doing homework. it will get done, it always does. having everything in spanish adds an interesting element though for sure.
nothing over the past week specifically sticks out, aside from this past weekend. i'll recount the events of said weekend in the following paragraphs. shall we?
this past weekend my friends heidi, luke, adam, jordan, and i all traveled 6.5 hours by bus to La Serena, a coastal town that is the second oldest city in Chile. LS is north so it was warmer up there and they have about 300 days of sunshine year round so it was gorgeous. sunny, warm...we got to remember what 70 degrees feels like yesterday..aka wonderful! we stayed in a super nice hostal..we were the only ones there and the owner was super nice and friendly. hostals definitely get a bad rap from my experience but all the ones i have heard about and the one we stayed in have been super nice!
friday afternoon/evening we settled in and explored the town, went to an archaeological museum and found a circus that was in town all the way from Guadalajara, Mexico. I ate congor eel and we experienced being gringos...over 6 people surrounded us in the market while on our way to find food. each of these people worked for a different restaurant in town and wanted us to choose theirs. finally adam ducked below their circle of intensity and we sat down in a random one that turned out to be quite tasty. the eel was delicious! being on the coast there is a ton of seafood so we wanted to try it.
The circus in the evening was entertaining but it was freezing inside the small tent! there were trapeze artists, dancers, and lots of clowns. a guy on a motorcycle zoomed around in a large steel ball and there were also a few performances by a bear, two monkeys, and two lions. all the animal acts were super sad b/c it was obvious the animals were malnourished and mistreated. the male lion upon exiting his cage came out and just laid down..refusing to move or participate in performing. the trainer tried to motivate the lion by grabbing his tail and dragging him around the pen. yeah, that worked. not at all. super sad but still an experience. never thought i would attend a circus in spanish!
the next morning we woke up early and caught a bus to coquimbo, a nearby town that is usually a 10-15 min trip but on this particular bus it took us 45 minutes. the driver was super slow and i guess just enjoying the day ors omething..it took forever!!! we went to the town's claim to fame which is a 300 foot tall cross constructed in 2002 atop one of the hills. from the cross you can see the entire town as well as a large portion of the ocean. quite the vistas.
our next stop was an hour bus ride to the quaint, beautiful town of vicuña. the town plaza was beautiful, lots of trees. thats one thing that i love about latin american countries. there arent many parks per se but there is definitely a plaza for every city, no matter how big or small. usually lots of benches, a little bit of green space, some sort of monument in the middle to some famous person, and lots of trees. tons of people milling about. sometimes there are concerts, often times there are random people wnadering around selling food or little souvenoirs or the like. we visited the Gabriela Mistral museum where her first home is located. GM was a famous Chilean poet who was the first woman to win a nobel prize for her poetry about Chile and the Valle de Elqui which is where vicuña is located. the valley is in between the mountain ranges and there is a ton of farming in the area with fruit, vegetables, wine, etc etc. really neat area and a definite contrast from the bustling, fast paced city life in Viña and Valpo. while in this whole area we definitely didnt have to worry about getting hit by a speeding micro, taxi, or other car while crossing the street. life is slower and i really really enjoyed it. im definitely not a huge fan of the city though its good to experience what that is like.
so after the museum we got a ride up into the mountains to Mamalluca Observatory where we learned about the stars and then got to see all sorts of constellations, other galaxies, jupiter, and the moon. i cant even put into words just how amazing it was. to stand out on that terrace and look up into the sky and see nothing but thousands, millions, of stars. it was super quiet up there and even the town below was pretty dark. since we're in the southern hemisphere there is no big or little dipper down here. i saw the southern cross, the scorpion, the stork, and many others. even a few super old stars..one red and one yellow. the color of the star determines the age. great time and definitely a highlight.
upon returning to the hostal the hostal owner and his family were celebrating his birthday and they invited us to join. they showed us a little of how to dance the cueca which is the national dance in chile and played lots of chilean songs on the guitar. we talked with the adults and the younger kids too...really just a neat experience to be able to hang out with an entire chilean family that we didnt even really know. that is the latin american way and i love it. we also got some birthday cake which was mil hojas. mil hojas is layers and layers of thin pastry type dough and in the middle of many of the layers is manjar which i think i wrote about before. they love manjar down here and im probably going to have to bring some back. :)
sunday morning luke and i woke up at 6:15 and headed to the bus to try to go back to vicuna to climb a hill we had heard about that was just outside of town. however, either we were misinformed by the bus station the night before or just missed it. after walking around to the various bus stops and bus terminal in La Serena we decided it wasnt in the cards for us to go to vicuna that day. instead we decided to find our own adventure in La Serena as there are also hills and mountains surrounding that city. so we walked and walked until we got to the mountain range. we climbed up the first hill and found the university and a creepy subdivision where all the gated houses were the same. it was super deserted as it was super early sunday morning and everything was closed and people were sleeping. the other 3 in our group decided to do the same and slept in and watched tv all morning. not my style. so after passing the subdivision we entered the farming district of la serena up on this hill...lots of eucalyptse trees and farms growing who knows what. we climbed the second hill which was mostly all sand. finally we came to the hill/mountain we'd seen from a distance. we followed the path which went alongside what we later determined to be a manmade river up high on that mountain. it was too perfect, too deep, and just wide enough to be natural. we followed it hoping that the path would lead across the river on the other side of the mountain. we passed by a few homesteads with rickety bridges crossing the river but when we asked if we could cross we were glared at so we kept walking. finally came to a portion of the river that was only about waist deep on me. we forded that river holding our belongings above our heads and walking through as fast as possible...it was freezing! luckily it was a pretty warm day and super sunny so our pants dried by the time we reached the summit. the climb up was super intense and very steep. but we made it and the view was ultimately rewarding. we could see the huge cross of coquimbo across the bay, all of coquimbo and la serena and even the Andes mountains off in the distance. valleys on both sides and lots of pacific ocean off in the distance. super beautiful. it took us longer to climb and then get down than we anticipated so by the time we got back down and got across the river it was getting late. we had a bus to catch at 2pm and it was already nearly 1pm. we booked it back as fast as we could...at the mountains base we had about 3k left to cover and an hour to do it. we walked/jogged as fast as possible but by this time we were both super tired and hungry so we didnt really want to overexert ourselves. at the edge of the main town we caught a cab that dropped us off 3 blocks from our hostal so we walked there and arrived at 1:30. we caught another cab back with the rest of the group and settled in for another 6.5 hour bus trip back where we slept and recharged.
needless to say every muscle in my body hurts today but it was super worth it and quite the adventure. i love traveling and if it wasnt so expensive i would go somewhere different every weekend...now back to the school work and reading spanish! super.
good luck to everyone finally getting back to school...and thus marks my first month here in Chile!
love and miss all of you,
katie
nothing over the past week specifically sticks out, aside from this past weekend. i'll recount the events of said weekend in the following paragraphs. shall we?
this past weekend my friends heidi, luke, adam, jordan, and i all traveled 6.5 hours by bus to La Serena, a coastal town that is the second oldest city in Chile. LS is north so it was warmer up there and they have about 300 days of sunshine year round so it was gorgeous. sunny, warm...we got to remember what 70 degrees feels like yesterday..aka wonderful! we stayed in a super nice hostal..we were the only ones there and the owner was super nice and friendly. hostals definitely get a bad rap from my experience but all the ones i have heard about and the one we stayed in have been super nice!
friday afternoon/evening we settled in and explored the town, went to an archaeological museum and found a circus that was in town all the way from Guadalajara, Mexico. I ate congor eel and we experienced being gringos...over 6 people surrounded us in the market while on our way to find food. each of these people worked for a different restaurant in town and wanted us to choose theirs. finally adam ducked below their circle of intensity and we sat down in a random one that turned out to be quite tasty. the eel was delicious! being on the coast there is a ton of seafood so we wanted to try it.
The circus in the evening was entertaining but it was freezing inside the small tent! there were trapeze artists, dancers, and lots of clowns. a guy on a motorcycle zoomed around in a large steel ball and there were also a few performances by a bear, two monkeys, and two lions. all the animal acts were super sad b/c it was obvious the animals were malnourished and mistreated. the male lion upon exiting his cage came out and just laid down..refusing to move or participate in performing. the trainer tried to motivate the lion by grabbing his tail and dragging him around the pen. yeah, that worked. not at all. super sad but still an experience. never thought i would attend a circus in spanish!
the next morning we woke up early and caught a bus to coquimbo, a nearby town that is usually a 10-15 min trip but on this particular bus it took us 45 minutes. the driver was super slow and i guess just enjoying the day ors omething..it took forever!!! we went to the town's claim to fame which is a 300 foot tall cross constructed in 2002 atop one of the hills. from the cross you can see the entire town as well as a large portion of the ocean. quite the vistas.
our next stop was an hour bus ride to the quaint, beautiful town of vicuña. the town plaza was beautiful, lots of trees. thats one thing that i love about latin american countries. there arent many parks per se but there is definitely a plaza for every city, no matter how big or small. usually lots of benches, a little bit of green space, some sort of monument in the middle to some famous person, and lots of trees. tons of people milling about. sometimes there are concerts, often times there are random people wnadering around selling food or little souvenoirs or the like. we visited the Gabriela Mistral museum where her first home is located. GM was a famous Chilean poet who was the first woman to win a nobel prize for her poetry about Chile and the Valle de Elqui which is where vicuña is located. the valley is in between the mountain ranges and there is a ton of farming in the area with fruit, vegetables, wine, etc etc. really neat area and a definite contrast from the bustling, fast paced city life in Viña and Valpo. while in this whole area we definitely didnt have to worry about getting hit by a speeding micro, taxi, or other car while crossing the street. life is slower and i really really enjoyed it. im definitely not a huge fan of the city though its good to experience what that is like.
so after the museum we got a ride up into the mountains to Mamalluca Observatory where we learned about the stars and then got to see all sorts of constellations, other galaxies, jupiter, and the moon. i cant even put into words just how amazing it was. to stand out on that terrace and look up into the sky and see nothing but thousands, millions, of stars. it was super quiet up there and even the town below was pretty dark. since we're in the southern hemisphere there is no big or little dipper down here. i saw the southern cross, the scorpion, the stork, and many others. even a few super old stars..one red and one yellow. the color of the star determines the age. great time and definitely a highlight.
upon returning to the hostal the hostal owner and his family were celebrating his birthday and they invited us to join. they showed us a little of how to dance the cueca which is the national dance in chile and played lots of chilean songs on the guitar. we talked with the adults and the younger kids too...really just a neat experience to be able to hang out with an entire chilean family that we didnt even really know. that is the latin american way and i love it. we also got some birthday cake which was mil hojas. mil hojas is layers and layers of thin pastry type dough and in the middle of many of the layers is manjar which i think i wrote about before. they love manjar down here and im probably going to have to bring some back. :)
sunday morning luke and i woke up at 6:15 and headed to the bus to try to go back to vicuna to climb a hill we had heard about that was just outside of town. however, either we were misinformed by the bus station the night before or just missed it. after walking around to the various bus stops and bus terminal in La Serena we decided it wasnt in the cards for us to go to vicuna that day. instead we decided to find our own adventure in La Serena as there are also hills and mountains surrounding that city. so we walked and walked until we got to the mountain range. we climbed up the first hill and found the university and a creepy subdivision where all the gated houses were the same. it was super deserted as it was super early sunday morning and everything was closed and people were sleeping. the other 3 in our group decided to do the same and slept in and watched tv all morning. not my style. so after passing the subdivision we entered the farming district of la serena up on this hill...lots of eucalyptse trees and farms growing who knows what. we climbed the second hill which was mostly all sand. finally we came to the hill/mountain we'd seen from a distance. we followed the path which went alongside what we later determined to be a manmade river up high on that mountain. it was too perfect, too deep, and just wide enough to be natural. we followed it hoping that the path would lead across the river on the other side of the mountain. we passed by a few homesteads with rickety bridges crossing the river but when we asked if we could cross we were glared at so we kept walking. finally came to a portion of the river that was only about waist deep on me. we forded that river holding our belongings above our heads and walking through as fast as possible...it was freezing! luckily it was a pretty warm day and super sunny so our pants dried by the time we reached the summit. the climb up was super intense and very steep. but we made it and the view was ultimately rewarding. we could see the huge cross of coquimbo across the bay, all of coquimbo and la serena and even the Andes mountains off in the distance. valleys on both sides and lots of pacific ocean off in the distance. super beautiful. it took us longer to climb and then get down than we anticipated so by the time we got back down and got across the river it was getting late. we had a bus to catch at 2pm and it was already nearly 1pm. we booked it back as fast as we could...at the mountains base we had about 3k left to cover and an hour to do it. we walked/jogged as fast as possible but by this time we were both super tired and hungry so we didnt really want to overexert ourselves. at the edge of the main town we caught a cab that dropped us off 3 blocks from our hostal so we walked there and arrived at 1:30. we caught another cab back with the rest of the group and settled in for another 6.5 hour bus trip back where we slept and recharged.
needless to say every muscle in my body hurts today but it was super worth it and quite the adventure. i love traveling and if it wasnt so expensive i would go somewhere different every weekend...now back to the school work and reading spanish! super.
good luck to everyone finally getting back to school...and thus marks my first month here in Chile!
love and miss all of you,
katie
Saturday, August 11, 2007
time takes time ya know
Time is FLYING by. not only each hour in each day but each day in each month. It's insane. We are quickly approaching the first month of being here and I can't even believe how fast it has gone. I have definitely done quite a bit and explored the two towns i live in but there is still so much to be done.
i've been exploring Valpo quite a bit, before and after class and this weekend as well. definitely a cool town with a lot of atmosphere. i have yet to eat seafood here! that is definitely on the list. tomorrow i am making chili for lunch for my host sister's 25th birthday. trying to find the ingredients in the grocery store will be quite an experience. all i can hope is that it comes out tasty good, at very least.
walking along the beach, especially around sunset is my new favorite thing. watching the waves roll and crash onto the shore and to witness all the people out walking and enjoying the day, it is a beautiful thing. i also love watching children playing on the beach with their parents. there is something so special and amazing about that that i just love seeing. i saw one little girl playing in the sand the other evening while her father crouched down beside her, photographing her every move. she turned and looked towards him, dirty, sandy hands outstreched with the biggest grin on her round face. this is what pure happiness looks like.
my favorite part of this last week, besides finding good coffee(!!!!) for only $1.20, granted its not much coffee but its enough to satisfy my craving, was renting bikes and going on an approximately 20 mile bike ride with a friend of mine. it only cost us about six bucks to rent bikes for 4 hours, definite deal. it felt amazing to ride again, i have gone so long without it and am even contemplating buying a bike down here. i love it so much. theres something about biking that just makes me feel so at peace with everything in this world. cruising by, catching small glimpses of everyone interacting and living life and appreciating the beautiful scenery that surrounds me, it is so wonderful. maybe you know what i mean, if you love cycling as i do. if not, mayhaps you have found your own method of happiness. however you live your life i hope that you are finding your medium of joy. for me, it is to bike. we took a path from Vina to nearby Concon which is apparently 17km or so..round trip this was equivalent to approximately 20 miles or so. that sounds like a lot but it definitely didnt feel like that many. took us about 3.25 hours or so and we defnitely stopped often to just take it all in and appreciate the natural world around us. the vistas we came upon were some of the most amazing views i have ever seen in my life thus far. chile is by far the most beautiful country ever.
our path took us along the ocean the entire way. we went 2 hours before sunset and watching the sun set over the ocean was amazing. it was a decently warm day and probably one of my favorites that i have had in chile thus far. the morning was spent attending an ocean kayaking class, really life does not get much better than this.
my classes are hard. i kind of understand what is going on but have issues with understanding everything, espeically taking notes when i dont know many of the subject-specific words they are using. i am the only gringa in many of my classes which makes it hard to not at least have the moral support of another foreigner. i will get by but its going to be a definite challenge.
i am realizing just how rich of an experience this is. to be in chile. i feel so completely removed from eveyrthing i have ever known and in reality, i am. chile is down here, at the end of the world. if you think about it, when was the last time you really heard much about chile beyond seeing its name on a sticker attached to a piece of fruit you picked up in the supermarket? and yet the U.S. is so evident around here. many of the bars/restaurants play terrible 80s music videos and i am hard-pressed to go a day without hearing some sort of U.S. music from one era or another. many words are in english here, i went into a shoe store the other day and was confronted with sections of shoes 'cross training' 'womens' 'outdoor'...im not really sure why it was in english b/c spanish definitely has translatable equivalents but there it was. people here are obsessed with english. i dont really know why. while chile doesnt have much of a separate culture and the food isnt all that good, it is a marvelous country with much potential and a lot to offer. yet they are insistent on adopting english and many U.S. influences.
another neat thing i have done is climb up a cerro (hill) to the old prison. in 1906 there was a massive earthquake with its epicenter in valparaiso. nearly the entire city was leveled, aside from a few buildings, the old prison being one in which many of the walls stood resistent to the quaking earth. now the prison is a public community center. many have come and done grafitti and other expressions of art on its walls and while we were walking around this afternoon, someone was practicing the trumpet, others were playing futbol (soccer), still others were flying kites (!!!), and a group of students were sitting on the steps in one of the courtyards playing a sweet rhythm on drums. neat what they have done with this space. we also got to talk to a tour guide who spent 27 years in that prison and now is obviously free and spends his days taking photos, writing, acting, whatever strikes his fancy. definitely an interesting fellow.
my host parents have been gone this weekend which, while i think they are great and enjoy them immensely, it has been nice to just chill and do my own thing this weekend like usual. my room is at a great level of messy and i dont have to worry about anyone coming in to clean it all up. i get to make my own food which has been weird as i have grown accustomed to basically being waited on hand and foot.
so life is great, school is starting to pick up its pace which is sad as i have enjoyed having no responsibilities other than trying my best to keep in contact with everyone and explore this crazy place that i live in. hope summer isnt melting you away. spring is on the way for us, tehre are a few trees by school that have started flowering and that is super exciting. please dont stop writing, it does take me a while to reply but i will deifnitely reply.
que le vaya bien, may it go well with you,
katie
i've been exploring Valpo quite a bit, before and after class and this weekend as well. definitely a cool town with a lot of atmosphere. i have yet to eat seafood here! that is definitely on the list. tomorrow i am making chili for lunch for my host sister's 25th birthday. trying to find the ingredients in the grocery store will be quite an experience. all i can hope is that it comes out tasty good, at very least.
walking along the beach, especially around sunset is my new favorite thing. watching the waves roll and crash onto the shore and to witness all the people out walking and enjoying the day, it is a beautiful thing. i also love watching children playing on the beach with their parents. there is something so special and amazing about that that i just love seeing. i saw one little girl playing in the sand the other evening while her father crouched down beside her, photographing her every move. she turned and looked towards him, dirty, sandy hands outstreched with the biggest grin on her round face. this is what pure happiness looks like.
my favorite part of this last week, besides finding good coffee(!!!!) for only $1.20, granted its not much coffee but its enough to satisfy my craving, was renting bikes and going on an approximately 20 mile bike ride with a friend of mine. it only cost us about six bucks to rent bikes for 4 hours, definite deal. it felt amazing to ride again, i have gone so long without it and am even contemplating buying a bike down here. i love it so much. theres something about biking that just makes me feel so at peace with everything in this world. cruising by, catching small glimpses of everyone interacting and living life and appreciating the beautiful scenery that surrounds me, it is so wonderful. maybe you know what i mean, if you love cycling as i do. if not, mayhaps you have found your own method of happiness. however you live your life i hope that you are finding your medium of joy. for me, it is to bike. we took a path from Vina to nearby Concon which is apparently 17km or so..round trip this was equivalent to approximately 20 miles or so. that sounds like a lot but it definitely didnt feel like that many. took us about 3.25 hours or so and we defnitely stopped often to just take it all in and appreciate the natural world around us. the vistas we came upon were some of the most amazing views i have ever seen in my life thus far. chile is by far the most beautiful country ever.
our path took us along the ocean the entire way. we went 2 hours before sunset and watching the sun set over the ocean was amazing. it was a decently warm day and probably one of my favorites that i have had in chile thus far. the morning was spent attending an ocean kayaking class, really life does not get much better than this.
my classes are hard. i kind of understand what is going on but have issues with understanding everything, espeically taking notes when i dont know many of the subject-specific words they are using. i am the only gringa in many of my classes which makes it hard to not at least have the moral support of another foreigner. i will get by but its going to be a definite challenge.
i am realizing just how rich of an experience this is. to be in chile. i feel so completely removed from eveyrthing i have ever known and in reality, i am. chile is down here, at the end of the world. if you think about it, when was the last time you really heard much about chile beyond seeing its name on a sticker attached to a piece of fruit you picked up in the supermarket? and yet the U.S. is so evident around here. many of the bars/restaurants play terrible 80s music videos and i am hard-pressed to go a day without hearing some sort of U.S. music from one era or another. many words are in english here, i went into a shoe store the other day and was confronted with sections of shoes 'cross training' 'womens' 'outdoor'...im not really sure why it was in english b/c spanish definitely has translatable equivalents but there it was. people here are obsessed with english. i dont really know why. while chile doesnt have much of a separate culture and the food isnt all that good, it is a marvelous country with much potential and a lot to offer. yet they are insistent on adopting english and many U.S. influences.
another neat thing i have done is climb up a cerro (hill) to the old prison. in 1906 there was a massive earthquake with its epicenter in valparaiso. nearly the entire city was leveled, aside from a few buildings, the old prison being one in which many of the walls stood resistent to the quaking earth. now the prison is a public community center. many have come and done grafitti and other expressions of art on its walls and while we were walking around this afternoon, someone was practicing the trumpet, others were playing futbol (soccer), still others were flying kites (!!!), and a group of students were sitting on the steps in one of the courtyards playing a sweet rhythm on drums. neat what they have done with this space. we also got to talk to a tour guide who spent 27 years in that prison and now is obviously free and spends his days taking photos, writing, acting, whatever strikes his fancy. definitely an interesting fellow.
my host parents have been gone this weekend which, while i think they are great and enjoy them immensely, it has been nice to just chill and do my own thing this weekend like usual. my room is at a great level of messy and i dont have to worry about anyone coming in to clean it all up. i get to make my own food which has been weird as i have grown accustomed to basically being waited on hand and foot.
so life is great, school is starting to pick up its pace which is sad as i have enjoyed having no responsibilities other than trying my best to keep in contact with everyone and explore this crazy place that i live in. hope summer isnt melting you away. spring is on the way for us, tehre are a few trees by school that have started flowering and that is super exciting. please dont stop writing, it does take me a while to reply but i will deifnitely reply.
que le vaya bien, may it go well with you,
katie
Saturday, August 4, 2007
So im not sure how long this writing every week will last but for now I will try to keep this semi updated. I’ve been here for a little over 2 weeks now which is crazy! Starting to settle into a routine somewhat as classes started last Wednesday and I actually have stuff to be responsible for now. We’ve tried to travel a little bit but its hard b/c its winter here and traveling just isn’t the best b/c it’s often cold and sometimes rainy and while places are cheap, it would be better to just wait a month or so to enjoy traveling more in the spring time. We did travel to Renaca last weekend which was pretty boring. It sa beach town and not much happening on a Saturday afternoon. We made our own adventures and I led my friend heidi up the big hill in town, there was no path so we just ended up climbing throiugh sand and ice plant to get to the top. Im still wearing my boot so that was definitely an adventure and I cant wait to be free of this 3 pound lug so I can completely explore.
Katie
Thursday, July 26, 2007
So it's been one week since I have arrived in Chile and I must say its been amazing. its difficult for me even to decide where to begin. i love it here and nearly each day as i walk down the street and blend in with the people and listen to the crowd and watch people passing by it slightly hits me that i am in chile! i love hearing spanish everywhere i go and being completely immersed in it. i dont always understand but that makes it more fun! i wish there were more hours in the day to spend talking with all of you, writing down my thoughts, and experiencing chile. it is such an interesting great country and already i have experienced so much. rather than telling what i have done each day i thought i would just write a little about a few highlights as well as some random observations for your enjoyment. bear with me as i have spent almost all of today speaking and being surrounded by spanish and i feel like my sentence construction is not up to par. but thats okay. english is my mother tongue, i will never forget it. i constantly struggle with spanish verb conjugations and each day learn and then usually forget, new vocabulary. oh well, c'est la vie. ;)
i am now moved into my room where i will be for the rest of the semester, it has a great view of the city and nearly everyone lives in apartments. the poorest of the people live at the top of the many hills that surround Vina and Valparaiso. i have spent a good deal of time traversing Vina, soaking up life and exploring as i enjoy doing. it has been very cold, around 30 at night and we had some days of gross rain and miserable puddles and such but the past few days have been absolutely amazing, brilliant sunshine, moderate temperatures and really its all downhill from here weather wise. as chile is in the southern hemisphere it is technically winter here but the seasons and temperatures directly mirror those of san francisco so it never snows here, only rains on occasion and doesnt get extremely hot, isnt all the humid and of course i daily enjoy views of the beautiful, mysterious pacific ocean. the andes stand tall and proud off in the distance, also presenting themselves as adventures waiting to be discovered.
i LOVE my host family. i am so lucky though i ahve not heard many stories of people not getting along with their families. my older brother, agustin is 25 and i rarely see him. he works and when he is home he spends all his time in his room on the computer. literally all his time. my older sister, verito, is 24 and is SO FUN. tonight we went to the supermarket, all of us minus agustin, and we tried to find me a new coat as my old ones were stolen along with my house keys and minimal cash last night while at a cafe/bar celebrating my 20th birthday. it was so much fun to just hang out with her and talk about whatever came to mind, learn some spanish, and just relate to one another and joke around as i enjoy doing throughout my life. we made plans to go camping soon and i'm relally pumped about that. my host parents are older and i think retired b/c they never go to work or anything. my host dad always makes lunch which is the main big meal here and sometimes is the only meal i eat in a day b/c its so big. i've had some interesting foods such as artichoke and they also looooove mayonesa and 'pancitos' which is bread with ham and cheese. all the time i am asked if i want 'un tecito, un cafecito, un pancito': tea, coffee, sandwich. my host mom is extremely neat and tidy and everyday i make my bed and when i return she has completely straightened up my room, folded my pajamas and once i was missing one of my necklaces and found it tied in a knot, hanging from a nail on the wall...decoration? for those of you who know how extremely neat i am ;), it is quite strange to always have a clean room. currently my room is really messy and i hope it stays that way for a little bit anyway, it makes me happy to have a disorganized room dont ask me why. lived in maybe?
all of the friends i have met so far are from the united states, all over. it is super exciting and fun to hang out with people who not only share my love of the spanish language but who are experiencing similar things as i am. while i definitely missed being home for my birthday this year, they made me feel celebrated and my host dad even made me a birthday cake...it had a sugar wafer bottom and then cream and lucuma which is a chilean type of fruit and realllllly good in a sort of meringue cake, pie. riiiiiiico. (deliciously rich) i have even found a few who share my love of adventuring though my adventure level has been down on account of my foot but i am happy to relate that yesterday i spent most of the day without my boot, and walked along the beach a little without it. i hate wearing it and want my foot to get strong. one of my friends here is majoring in exercise science and she is my doctor, always giving me advice as far as what to do for my foot and how to make it feel better faster. we have plans to go climbing once i free myself of the boot and im really pumepd about that. i have definitely explored and walked everywhere with it but will be able to take my experience of chile to the next level of awesomeness once it is completely healed. i reallllly wanted to climb a tree today but had to stop myself b/c well, that would just be a bad idea. climbing trees is a bad choice!
i have had orientation week at school all this week, registering my visa, getting pictures for identification cards, scheduling classes, touring the two cities where all the buildings of this exteremly spread out school are(about 3 times the students as butler and definitely muchhhh bigger, as i said, there are classroom buildings all throughout Vina and Valparaiso..luckily Vina and Valpo are only about 10 minutes about by bus..i hope to bike between the two cities one day soon) figuring out the public transportation system has been entertaining and i spend about $1.60 each day taking the buses back and forth. they dont really stop so i have to kind of hop on and off and its a really bumpy ride, definitely difficult with a crazy boot but i deal of course. makes life more entertaining but im getting tired of the buses. tomorrow i might take the metro which is the new subway system in Vina. there are between 200-300 foreign exchange students from over one hundred different universities and all sorts of countries here this semester. lots more than i ever imagined. there are still mannny mannnny hoops to jump through for my time in chile such as registering my visa and getting an id card and all sorts of more obnoxious things, it didnt end even though i am here!
i should probably end here and go to bed but yeah, if you have any comments or questions or something you want to hear about, write in teh comment section and i'll write away next time about whatever. thanks for reading my ramblings and know that i love you soooooooooo much and miss you even more. it is awesome here but i miss my people. you are my people.
oh yes and anyone who wants to visit, please tell me. i dont have a lot of money so i cant offer that to you but i can offer a great time and a high place in my heart for the rest of time. or mail. i'm content with mail. speaking of, here is my address:
Katie Osland
Ecuador 116, Dp. 61
Vina del Mar, Chile
currently accepting long letters, presents, pictures, stories, money, whatever you feel like. anything. also, get on skype and i'll get really excited and talk to you whenever you're online. its free so theres really no excuse. other than the minimal purchase of a microphone, ten dollars in a walmart near you. do it. because you love me. many many thanks to all those who have contacted me in any way while i have been here, know that each and every message warms my heart and brings a smile to my face.
i'll end for now with this quote that a dear friend sent me before i left for Chile:
"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."
-Andre Gide
may that be your motivation to seek adventure and live your life to the fullest.
get skype and write me letters of love,
katie :-D
i am now moved into my room where i will be for the rest of the semester, it has a great view of the city and nearly everyone lives in apartments. the poorest of the people live at the top of the many hills that surround Vina and Valparaiso. i have spent a good deal of time traversing Vina, soaking up life and exploring as i enjoy doing. it has been very cold, around 30 at night and we had some days of gross rain and miserable puddles and such but the past few days have been absolutely amazing, brilliant sunshine, moderate temperatures and really its all downhill from here weather wise. as chile is in the southern hemisphere it is technically winter here but the seasons and temperatures directly mirror those of san francisco so it never snows here, only rains on occasion and doesnt get extremely hot, isnt all the humid and of course i daily enjoy views of the beautiful, mysterious pacific ocean. the andes stand tall and proud off in the distance, also presenting themselves as adventures waiting to be discovered.
i LOVE my host family. i am so lucky though i ahve not heard many stories of people not getting along with their families. my older brother, agustin is 25 and i rarely see him. he works and when he is home he spends all his time in his room on the computer. literally all his time. my older sister, verito, is 24 and is SO FUN. tonight we went to the supermarket, all of us minus agustin, and we tried to find me a new coat as my old ones were stolen along with my house keys and minimal cash last night while at a cafe/bar celebrating my 20th birthday. it was so much fun to just hang out with her and talk about whatever came to mind, learn some spanish, and just relate to one another and joke around as i enjoy doing throughout my life. we made plans to go camping soon and i'm relally pumped about that. my host parents are older and i think retired b/c they never go to work or anything. my host dad always makes lunch which is the main big meal here and sometimes is the only meal i eat in a day b/c its so big. i've had some interesting foods such as artichoke and they also looooove mayonesa and 'pancitos' which is bread with ham and cheese. all the time i am asked if i want 'un tecito, un cafecito, un pancito': tea, coffee, sandwich. my host mom is extremely neat and tidy and everyday i make my bed and when i return she has completely straightened up my room, folded my pajamas and once i was missing one of my necklaces and found it tied in a knot, hanging from a nail on the wall...decoration? for those of you who know how extremely neat i am ;), it is quite strange to always have a clean room. currently my room is really messy and i hope it stays that way for a little bit anyway, it makes me happy to have a disorganized room dont ask me why. lived in maybe?
all of the friends i have met so far are from the united states, all over. it is super exciting and fun to hang out with people who not only share my love of the spanish language but who are experiencing similar things as i am. while i definitely missed being home for my birthday this year, they made me feel celebrated and my host dad even made me a birthday cake...it had a sugar wafer bottom and then cream and lucuma which is a chilean type of fruit and realllllly good in a sort of meringue cake, pie. riiiiiiico. (deliciously rich) i have even found a few who share my love of adventuring though my adventure level has been down on account of my foot but i am happy to relate that yesterday i spent most of the day without my boot, and walked along the beach a little without it. i hate wearing it and want my foot to get strong. one of my friends here is majoring in exercise science and she is my doctor, always giving me advice as far as what to do for my foot and how to make it feel better faster. we have plans to go climbing once i free myself of the boot and im really pumepd about that. i have definitely explored and walked everywhere with it but will be able to take my experience of chile to the next level of awesomeness once it is completely healed. i reallllly wanted to climb a tree today but had to stop myself b/c well, that would just be a bad idea. climbing trees is a bad choice!
i have had orientation week at school all this week, registering my visa, getting pictures for identification cards, scheduling classes, touring the two cities where all the buildings of this exteremly spread out school are(about 3 times the students as butler and definitely muchhhh bigger, as i said, there are classroom buildings all throughout Vina and Valparaiso..luckily Vina and Valpo are only about 10 minutes about by bus..i hope to bike between the two cities one day soon) figuring out the public transportation system has been entertaining and i spend about $1.60 each day taking the buses back and forth. they dont really stop so i have to kind of hop on and off and its a really bumpy ride, definitely difficult with a crazy boot but i deal of course. makes life more entertaining but im getting tired of the buses. tomorrow i might take the metro which is the new subway system in Vina. there are between 200-300 foreign exchange students from over one hundred different universities and all sorts of countries here this semester. lots more than i ever imagined. there are still mannny mannnny hoops to jump through for my time in chile such as registering my visa and getting an id card and all sorts of more obnoxious things, it didnt end even though i am here!
i should probably end here and go to bed but yeah, if you have any comments or questions or something you want to hear about, write in teh comment section and i'll write away next time about whatever. thanks for reading my ramblings and know that i love you soooooooooo much and miss you even more. it is awesome here but i miss my people. you are my people.
oh yes and anyone who wants to visit, please tell me. i dont have a lot of money so i cant offer that to you but i can offer a great time and a high place in my heart for the rest of time. or mail. i'm content with mail. speaking of, here is my address:
Katie Osland
Ecuador 116, Dp. 61
Vina del Mar, Chile
currently accepting long letters, presents, pictures, stories, money, whatever you feel like. anything. also, get on skype and i'll get really excited and talk to you whenever you're online. its free so theres really no excuse. other than the minimal purchase of a microphone, ten dollars in a walmart near you. do it. because you love me. many many thanks to all those who have contacted me in any way while i have been here, know that each and every message warms my heart and brings a smile to my face.
i'll end for now with this quote that a dear friend sent me before i left for Chile:
"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."
-Andre Gide
may that be your motivation to seek adventure and live your life to the fullest.
get skype and write me letters of love,
katie :-D
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Mi llegada a mi nueva vida (my arrival to my new life)
Hola todos!
Sooo i made it to Chile, how bout it.the flight went well, customs went well, everything is going super bien.
i live in downtown Vina del Mar, a touristy city really close to Valparaiso where my school is located. It is winter here which means that all the plants are dead and its in the 50s. there is no central heating so its chilly in Chile but doable. everyone just wears shoes and jackets all the time. my family is super great, very open and willing to adopt me as their daughter. the dad and sister smoke, actually apparently almost everyone in Chile smokes which is going to be something to adjust to. i miss summertime but the sun did peek out for a little bit today. i cant wait to go exploring more of the city but for now i just relax at home. i live in a large apartment on the 6th floor. the elevator is the smallest i have ever seen...quite the feat to fit me, my two suitcases, backpack, and host dad into upon arrival. we had a big lunch of soup and some sort of rice, pumpkin, beef, spinach, onion, potato mixture. really good.
orientation starts next week at school and that is also a short week of vacation for many students, including my sister who is in her 4th year of vet school. she has to study a lot but she´s super friendly and always willing to chat. there is another exchange student from TN living here right now as well, he leaves on Saturday so until then I am staying in another room and will move into the bigger one later. so for now, my stuff stays in the suitcases and i root through them trying to guess where stuff is.
spanish is coming easily to me, i keep remembering words as needed which helpsbut of course do not always understand everything taht is said. sometimes i guess, soemtimes they ask if i understand, sometimes i just smile and try to react appropriately. its a challenge.
my foot is doing better, still in the boot and it aches some but i can already tell it is on the mend. i cant wait for it to completely heal so that i can explore and climb stuff and jump around and such. i am also hoping to acquire a bike but am not sure if that is even a possibility. i am surrounded by mountainous views and the ocean is somewhere nearby, i havent seen it yet b-c while driving in this morning from the capital, Santiago, a lot of the world was covered in clouds. i hope to sooon adventure out of doors, cold or not.
a bunch of the other exchange students are coming over in a little bit to watch the world cup game of chile vs. argentina, quite the matchup. basically today and the next few will be all about becoming accustomed to everything and meeting a ton of people. i still cant really believe that i am here...after so many months of waitiing and preparing, here i am! solid.
viva chile,
katie
Sooo i made it to Chile, how bout it.the flight went well, customs went well, everything is going super bien.
i live in downtown Vina del Mar, a touristy city really close to Valparaiso where my school is located. It is winter here which means that all the plants are dead and its in the 50s. there is no central heating so its chilly in Chile but doable. everyone just wears shoes and jackets all the time. my family is super great, very open and willing to adopt me as their daughter. the dad and sister smoke, actually apparently almost everyone in Chile smokes which is going to be something to adjust to. i miss summertime but the sun did peek out for a little bit today. i cant wait to go exploring more of the city but for now i just relax at home. i live in a large apartment on the 6th floor. the elevator is the smallest i have ever seen...quite the feat to fit me, my two suitcases, backpack, and host dad into upon arrival. we had a big lunch of soup and some sort of rice, pumpkin, beef, spinach, onion, potato mixture. really good.
orientation starts next week at school and that is also a short week of vacation for many students, including my sister who is in her 4th year of vet school. she has to study a lot but she´s super friendly and always willing to chat. there is another exchange student from TN living here right now as well, he leaves on Saturday so until then I am staying in another room and will move into the bigger one later. so for now, my stuff stays in the suitcases and i root through them trying to guess where stuff is.
spanish is coming easily to me, i keep remembering words as needed which helpsbut of course do not always understand everything taht is said. sometimes i guess, soemtimes they ask if i understand, sometimes i just smile and try to react appropriately. its a challenge.
my foot is doing better, still in the boot and it aches some but i can already tell it is on the mend. i cant wait for it to completely heal so that i can explore and climb stuff and jump around and such. i am also hoping to acquire a bike but am not sure if that is even a possibility. i am surrounded by mountainous views and the ocean is somewhere nearby, i havent seen it yet b-c while driving in this morning from the capital, Santiago, a lot of the world was covered in clouds. i hope to sooon adventure out of doors, cold or not.
a bunch of the other exchange students are coming over in a little bit to watch the world cup game of chile vs. argentina, quite the matchup. basically today and the next few will be all about becoming accustomed to everything and meeting a ton of people. i still cant really believe that i am here...after so many months of waitiing and preparing, here i am! solid.
viva chile,
katie
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