needless to say, i loved the playa.

• Roundtrip bus ticket to Viña del Mar: 6.000 pesos
• A bed in a hostel 5 minutes away from the ocean: 8.000 pesos
• Chile's weak attempt at a Mexican burrito: 5.200 pesos
• A completo for lunch from a stand on the beach: 900 pesos
• The buy-in at a poker game with some French guys at my hostel: 150 pesos (if we could pause for a moment to allow for some bragging, I knocked one of them off the table! ...but then returned his money to him at the end)
• Total money spent on a two-day beach trip: about $40 USD
• Overhearing Chileans joke about how sunburnt the gringas were going to get, napping on the beach, watching a sunset over the ocean, enjoying a vacation without the stress of classes or homework, bonding with the wonderful people that I've been lucky enough to spend this semester with, and working on my tan just in time for the Christmas season: priceless

viva summer in sudamerica

Because classes are over and it's beautiful outside, we are enjoying the BEACH for a couple of days. We're currently soaking up the sun in Viña del Mar. I love it here. Be back later.

happy turkey day!

Confession: I have never really liked turkey that much. So despite the fact that I'm missing out on Thanksgiving at home this year, I tried to tell myself it wouldn't be much of a loss.

But even though the turkey isn't my favorite, there are some things I do enjoy about this holiday -- friends, family, fall weather, a break from classes, getting to return to Lancaster after a few months of being away, and taking time to be mindful of all the things I'm thankful to have in my life. Oh, and pumpkin pie. I like the pumpkin pie a lot.

So even though I'm spending the whole day at my internship, even though it's 80 degrees outside, even though I'm in a country of people who are oblivious to the gringo concept of giving thanks over turkey and mashed potatoes, even though I'm not at home with all of the people I love, I'm still remembering Thanksgiving Day. I wish I could be celebrating it in the States with all of you, but one of the things I'm most thankful for is the opportunity I have to spend this time in Chile. The fact that I feel so torn between the U.S. and South America reminds me that I am lucky enough be happy in several different places -- Lancaster, DC, and Santiago all feel like home to me in different ways, and that is such a blessing to have.

It's sad to think that I only have two weeks left in Chile, and I'm not sure I'll be able to fit everything in that I want to do. But as I look ahead to the Christmas season in Lancaster and the spring semester in DC, I'm so excited for what's coming next! I am grateful to have each and every one of you in my life, and I'll see you soon!

Feliz Día de Acción Gracias.

list of reasons to be happy

• it's strawberry season in Chile
• my classes are over
• I bought new earrings for myself
• my commute was 20 minutes shorter than usual today
• the cat is nowhere to be seen
• the rest of my semester will be nothing but sunshine

letters

Dear construction workers,

You are especially obnoxious when I am on my way to my internship, wearing heels and a skirt. I wish I didn't have to stand in front of you for TEN MINUTES as I waited for my bus. I know it may come as a shock, but I can actually understand what you're saying about me.


Dear internship,

Our days are numbered. I'm leaving you in two short weeks. I'm sorry if this comes as a shock, but you're mind-numbingly boring and it's time for me to move on. Someday you'll find another intern who makes you very happy.


Dear Mancha,

I don't care how much my host dad likes you. You are a devil cat. I don't know how you always figure out how to open the door by yourself -- but if you jump on my face and wake me up one more time, I will throw you out the window. Also, I don't appreciate the cat hair all over my black skirt.


Dear man who stopped and asked me for directions to somewhere in Vitacura this morning,

I'm sorry I was so unhelpful. My knowledge of Santiago geography is limited to my bus route. Thanks for smiling and nodding even though it was painfully obvious that I am not a true chilena.


Dear Thanksgiving,

This is the first year I haven't been at home to enjoy you. Try not to miss me too much. It's strange to think about skipping you (and spending the day at my internship instead, gross) but I think I'll use the beach to numb my pain.


Dear United States,

I hope you're getting ready for my imminent return.

a realization

Today marks my 3 month mark in Chile. Exactly 3 months ago today, I stepped off the plane and tried not to hyperventilate from the thought of everything that lay ahead. I had an awkward car ride home with my host parents, I unpacked my stuff in my new casita, I tried and failed to decipher all the unfamiliar Chilean words everyone kept using, my host mom gave me my first shot of pisco. It seems like a long time ago.

This means I will be stateside in three short weeks. If it's hard to think back to my first few days in Chile, it's even harder to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm leaving this place so soon.

ATTACK OF THE LENTILS

This semester has taught me a few things about lentils.

1. When you see a mountain of lentils soaking in a tub in the kitchen, be afraid. Be very afraid. You are looking at all of your dinners for the next foreseeable future.
2. Your greatest fears will come true the next day, when your host mother serves you the biggest bowl of lentil soup you have ever seen.
3. You will not be able to finish all of the lentils.
4. You will not be able to explain to your host family why you are unable to finish all of the lentils.
5. You will attempt to leave your bowl in a strategic location for the cats to finish off. This is wishful thinking. Not even the cats will touch that.
6. Take these steps and repeat once approximately every two weeks. This is your life in Chile.

why i am a sucky blogger right now

Finals. They are killing me.

Fortunately this will all be over soon -- I have one week, three classes, one paper, two presentations, one exam, one take-home exam, and one paper revision standing in between me and FREEDOM! This semester flew by faster than I thought was possible...although these last 7 days are seeming like an eternity right now...sí se puede sí se puede sí se puede sí se puede

AHHHHH I HATE SPIDERS

My casita has wayyyy too many bugs sometimes. If you know anything about me, you know that I am wimpy and I don't kill bugs. And I'm pretty sure that works to my disadvantage because OH HEY SOMETHING CRAWLED INTO MY BED LAST NIGHT AND BIT ME.

No, seriously. I THINK I HAVE A SPIDER BITE. Can you see it??????

I am very unhappy about this. My Chilean parents need to buy some window screens ASAP.

my daily shower adventure

I turn on the shower at least 5 minutes before I'm ready to get in --> FREEZING --> I wait until I see steam filling up the bathroom --> WARM --> HOT --> SCALDING --> I turn on the cold water to keep my skin from burning --> WARM --> LUKEWARM --> COLD --> FREEZING --> I jump to the other side of the shower to try to avoid getting splashed by the icy water --> I wait it out and wonder if I will ever get this shampoo out of my hair --> LUKEWARM --> WARM --> I jump back under the shower and rinse off --> SCALDING --> I consider shaving my legs --> WARM --> LUKEWARM --> I decide not to push my luck --> I call it a day --> COLD --> just in time.

Doesn't this seem like a fun game? It's cut my shower time in half, so it even has an environmental benefit. The girl scouts would be so proud of me!

recent events

Our group took a tour of La Moneda, the Chilean White House. As someone who lives in DC and has never been inside of the White House, I'm glad we were able to accomplish this during the semester.

This is the place inside La Moneda where President Salvador Allende was killed during the 1973 coup. It's now preserved as a memorial to him.

Of course the Chilean White House has a special room for official masses. Of course.

We all continue to learn how to be more Chilean with each passing day. Exhibit A: using more condiments. Dan has perfected the art of blending mayonnaise, mustard, and ají (kind of like Chilean hot sauce...or as hot as you can get in this country of very bland food). Yum.

On a similarly food-related note, we are also continuing to take advantage of the Chilean exchange rate. This past week, we bought an entire cake for the equivalent of 3 dollars. And look, it looks like a donut! A win-win situation.

Last week, we had trouble concentrating in our classes because there were giant parties going on outside. It was kind of like a school spirit week at our university, which included skits and choreographed dances and loud reggaeton music that completely drowned out our professors' lectures. Sitting through class was a painful experience, especially because every single Chilean student magically had the week off and could join the fun. On Friday, the festivities culminated in a giant dance party (complete with FOAM and FREE BEER) on the quad. Anyone want to pitch this idea to our student government at AU?

I'm finally able to associate Santiago with more adjectives than "freezing"! Lately the weather has been beautiful and sunny, which means we can spend hours in parks working on our pre-Christmas season tans.

Unfortunately, amidst the school spirit week and the gorgeous weather, we've finally had to get serious about our final projects. Our semester ends the last week of November, so the proverbial shit is starting to hit the fan...and this picture conveys my emotional state after spending an entire week doing nothing except trying to write a research paper in my second language.

This past weekend, we took a field trip to Villa Grimaldi with two of our professors. Villa Grimaldi is a huge property tucked away in the corner of metropolitan Santiago, and during the Pinochet regime it was turned into a torture and detention center for political dissidents. The original structures have since been destroyed, so now the property exists as a memorial to all the victims of violence and torture during the 1970s. This wall lists the names of the desaparecidos, the people who "disappeared" during the military dictatorship.

Now, Villa Grimaldi is a peaceful place full of grass, gardens, trees, and fountains. It's hard to imagine that it's the very same place where terrible things happened just a few decades ago. These are images of some of the victims.

The memorial garden includes bajillions of different types of roses and plaques with the names of the victims.

And despite classes and papers and getting up at the crack of dawn to go on depressing field trips, we've still been managing to have some fun! I'll leave it at that...and I'll try to get better at taking more pictures. Vamos a ver.

hang in there!

Pictures are coming soon. I promise.

and after this i promise i will stop whining.

My paper goes something like this:

So this economic theory called neoliberalism exists and it kind of messes up developing countries in Latin America and one of those countries is Argentina and here are more some facts about neoliberal economics and here's a little bit of the history of Argentina and it's a little confusing because there were approximately a zillion coups and this is when they started implementing neoliberalism and now we're back to history because that's easier to write about and here are a bunch of quotes that relate to my unoriginal undergraduate ideas and now I'm going to say something obvious about Argentinean politics and maybe this doesn't even need a concluding paragraph because I'm tired of doing this.

If that were written in Spanish and about 10 pages longer, you would have just suffered through exactly what awaits my professor on Monday.

the gringos next door

One of the more interesting things about my living situation here in Chile is the fact there's a family of gringos living next door. Apparently the parents are missionaries who relocated their family to Santiago to start some kind of a church or do some kind of term of service...I'm not entirely sure. I don't know much about them because my host mom told them I'm Amish when I first moved in, and I think they're afraid to approach me now.

I've tried asking my host parents what kind of missionaries they are -- I'm curious about their denomination because there aren't very many Protestants in Chile. But my attempts to figure it out always go something along these lines:

Tara: So, what kind of Christians are they?

Host mom: They're not Catholic. They're Christians.

Tara: Well, yes, but do you know their denomination?

Host mom: They're the kind of Christians who believe in Jesus Christ.

Tara: Okay...

Host mom: They don't believe in the Virgin Mary or any of the saints.

Tara: Right, they're Protestants.

Host mom: Yes. Definitely not Catholic. They don't even pray to the Virgin! Just to Jesus. They believe in the Bible, too.

Tara: Yes. I understand. Do you know what they call themselves?

Host mom: Christian. Not Catholic.

...and at this point I usually give up. There's only so far I can get in a country that just kicked off a month-long celebration of the Virgin.

But even though I don't have very much interaction with the neighbors, their presence provides an interesting backdrop to my life here in Santiago. For example, their young children always get up early on Saturday and play loud games right outside my bedroom...and I always wake up suddenly, wondering why I'm hearing so much English and thinking I must be back at home with my younger brothers. Also, they're constantly blasting alternative American music in the evenings, and nothing is weirder than trying to get through my Spanish homework with the sounds of Jack Johnson, Death Cab for Cutie, John Mayer, Coldplay, and Bright Eyes drifting through the window. Today it's been a Beatles marathon, but I'm trying to block it out and get back to this beast of an essay. It's weird to think that I've been living here for so long that my fellow gringos now seem foreign to me.

conversations with my host parents

Host mom: What's that?

Host dad: What?

Host mom: That thing you're eating.

Host dad: It's cheese, a special kind of cheese I brought for myself.

Host mom: Well, aren't you going to offer Tara any?

Tara: Oh no, you don't have to--

Host dad: Tara, do you want some cheese?

Tara: Well, sure, only if you don't mind--

Host mom: And I want some too. Look, Tara, men are so greedy. They never offer to share anything. It's so rude.

Host dad: Aha! Now I see! Women take everything right out from under your nose. I'll have to be more careful in the future!

Host dad: There you go. But that's ALL THE CHEESE YOU'RE GETTING.

Host mom: Do you like this cheese, Tara?

Host dad: Of course she does, it's from Belgium. Tara likes Belgians. Aren't Mennonites from Belgium or something like that?

Host mom: She does not! She likes the Chileans.

Host dad: Oh, that's true. Only the Latinos.

Tara: What?!?

Host mom: Let's just say it's obvious...

Tara: Okay, I have to get going. Thanks for the tea!

Host dad: Where are you going?

Tara: I have to keep working on my essay.

Host mom: BORING!

Host dad: Super boring.

Host mom: Are you going to go out this weekend, or are you going to be boring?

Tara: It's only Monday! I have time!

Host mom: Good luck...

weird things i eat in chile: the seafood edition

ummmm sometimes there are still tentacles.

My lunch today was delicious until I came to this realization. Dear host parents, please don't serve me things that used to be suction cups. It's just not right.

happy sunday, part II

As a Mennonite, going to Catholic mass is always an experience for me. Going to a Catholic mass on the top of a hill overlooking all of Santiago, sitting at the base of a huge statue of the Virgin Mary, listening to the Spanish translations of the Creed and the Hail Mary, watching girls in braids and brightly skirts perform dances to the hymns...well, let's just say I was a little overwhelmed.

Today kicks off the "month of the Virgin", culminating on December 8, which is a national holiday in honor of the Virgin Mary. There's a huge mass at the top of Cerro San Cristóbal on the 8th that I wanted to check out -- but I won't be around then because my group is taking a trip to Easter Island (I know, my life is rough). So Quinn and I decided to get our dose of Virgin-celebrating in this morning. I wish I had pictures to share, but I didn't think it would be appropriate to bring my camera to a church service (bad call, because everyone else there was snapping pictures...even a priest stepped aside during the sermon to get a photo of the decorated altar).

Living in such an intensely Catholic country is so strange.

live from mcdonald's

I continue to find gringo-tastic places to get my homework done! Awesome things about studying in McDonalds: wi-fi and McFlurrys. Not so awesome things about studying in McDonalds: screaming children, the temptation of french fries, and the fact that I am forced to confront the harsh reality that I am, sadly, using a fast food restaurant as a library.

Viva studying abroad.

things i am running out of

• peanut butter
• toothpaste
• cell phone minutes
• weeks left in Santiago
• excuses for putting off my paper

globalization at its finest

I'm typing this from a two-story Starbucks in downtown Santiago. I'm sitting on a cushy couch, listening to soft alternative music, surrounded by vaguely abstract wall art, and drinking a mocha latte. If I ignored all the Spanish conversations going on around me, I could be in Tenleytown.

As I attempt to start my 12-page Globalization paper about neoliberal economic policies in Latin America, what could be more appropriate?

-------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE

They're playing a Regina Spektor song now. I am prepared to camp out here for the next 5 weeks. This is my new home. Does this make me an exchange student fail?

sometimes living with a host family isn't half bad.

After spending the past two years enjoying all of the freedoms that come with being a college student, it was definitely a little bit strange to move in with a host family. It kind of feels like I'm back in high school -- my friends all live far away and none of us can drive, I never know what's going to be for dinner or when it will be served, I report my upcoming plans to my parents, I call home when I'm running late. (And then there are other things that are definitely nothing like my high school experience...like getting my laundry done for me, my room cleaned for me, my bed made for me, and my sheets changed a million times a week. My host parents laugh at me if I even so much as offer to help clear the table. If my mom thought living in a dorm made me lazy, she'll really hate me when I come home from Chile!)

Sometimes it's easy to get frustrated with spending the semester as a guest in someone else's home. I wish I felt more comfortable rummaging through the fridge, and I wish I could tell my host mom not to rearrange my underwear drawer. Sometimes I can't wait to be a normal college student again so I can live on my own and eat ramen noodles at 2 in the morning.

But there are other times I wish I never had to leave this strange little Chilean bubble. This morning, as I was rushing around to get ready for my internship, my host mom set out a coffee cup for me and called me to the table. "Tarita, you have to eat breakfast!" she told me. I was running a little late, but she insisted, so I sat down to eat with my host mom, my host dad, and the maid. They all asked me about my internship and my upcoming classes, we talked about the news, my host mom cut me a huge slice of cake (for breakfast??? I love you, Chile), and my host dad reminded me to take an apple for lunch.

They may be kind of crazy and they may serve me some weird things for dinner, but it's nice to have a family when I'm far away from home. Maybe some nice old DC couple will want to take me in next semester.

i miss fall.

Don't get me wrong, this 75-degree weather is awesome -- but it would also be nice to have some crunchy leaves and chai lattes. I keep writing the wrong dates on all my class notes because it can't possibly be November right now.

noche de brujas (a chilean halloween)

Who knew that Chileans celebrated Halloween (or "Night of Witches," as the Spanish directly translates to)?

Photo credit: Alex

Well apparently, they do. Quinn and her host sister threw a Halloween party at their house on Saturday night.

Photo credit: Alex

Quinn dressed up as a Super 8, a popular Chilean candy bar that's similar to a Kit-Kat.

Photo credit: Alex

Caitlin and Jessa were a piscola -- the classic Chilean mixed drink that consists of pisco and coke. (Notice the emerging theme of gringas using costumes to prove how well they know Chilean culture! We've been here over two months and we're pros by now.)

Photo credit: Alex

I was fome (boring) and didn't have a super creative costume like my cool friends. But the point of this picture is to demonstrate the excellent party decorations in the background: instead of going trick-or-treating, we could just grab the candy that was taped to the windows.

Photo credit: Alex

Chilenos and gringas all love Halloween!