Happy Halloween!

Surprising enough as it may seem, the Chileans have been celebrating Halloween for the past 10 years or so.  Although, if you look at the large number of commercials for credit cards and the many US products, it is less surprising to see that this up and coming capitalist country has found one more holiday to consume.  The responses, needless to say are very similar to those in the US.  For example: Most children, I would assume, would see the aisles of Halloween costumes and candy in the supermarkets and the booths of Halloween costumes in the street fairs as a fabulous opportunity to eat candy, dress up and act scary (btw, BIG benefit of celebrating Halloween in the southern hemisphere is that you won't have to wear long underwear under your costume!!!).  Antonio sees it as a holiday that belongs to some other country and thus doesn't feel that Chileans should be trying so hard to "copy" it, and Ines, Antonio's sister, makes the kids that come to her door asking for a "trick or a treat" take off their masks before she gives them anything as she feels it is worshiping the devil.  (She and her husband seem to be more conservative Catholics.  He has told me on more than one occasion of the month or so he spent, 10 years ago, only able to speak and write in Hebrew/Arabic? and unable to communicate with anyone in Spanish as God had given him that gift.)

Anywho, the Chileans, even have a convenient four day weekend to take advantage of and celebrate Halloween as ironically, next week there are two Saints' days (yes, because of the Catholic holidays, they are able to more fully celebrate the devil-worshiping one).  Most people are heading out of town or heading to the amusement park or beach for the extended weekend but Antonio and I are staying in Santiago.  Antonio will be working at Jumbo, one of the supermarket chains, restocking the shelves as he did a few other holidays past.  We were planning on joining the masses at the local amusement park, Fantasilandia, but so many people went that they had to close the gates to more visitors.  They have decked it out with walking mummies and other gruesome haunts instead of plush-costumed actors, many skeletons and other authentic decorations, and, according to the website, some other fancy stage productions as part of the "Nights of Terror."  They are open until midnight tonight!  Our neighbor Soledad and her son Martín are there and promised to take pictures so it shall be fun to see them.  I went to the non-Halloweened Fantasilandia two years ago when I studied here and enjoyed it immensely.  I feel they have changed some things since so it should be fun when we do manage to go.

In general, I am not sure we will do anything special for Halloween.  On Monday night there is a costume party at Golden Music, the salsa club where Antonio and I met.  However, we do not have costumes at this current moment in time, and Antonio has to work all day Monday and Tuesday so we'll see what happens. 

Here, as promised are a few albums to summarize the past few weeks and some of the other exciting moments.  One of the more memorable was going to Juan Luis Guerra's concert on October 7th.  It was awesome!!  Here is a link to one of my favorite songs by him called "La guagua," or "bus" in the Dominican Republic which is where he is from.  The song is one example of his fabulous ability to make a wonderful song out of social and political commentary.  Another one of his songs says "turn off and lets go" referring to the global society's electronics addition.  He is basically just the coolest guy ever!!!  Did I mention that he only has one good eye and is 54 years old?

Health update: I think I am finally nearly over my cold that started nearly three weeks ago.  After a week of sleeping, a trip to the doctor's, and several spoonfuls of cough syrup and decongestant, I think I'm down to the allergy-induced symptoms.  Good grief!  It's so hard to tell as the second wave of allergies has hit: the dreaded white fuzz that flies from the oh-so-many-trees-that-create-the-fuzz near our house.  It's awful!  I'm hoping to get the allergy test that the doctor ordered for me done soon so that I can see what else I'm allergic to besides the dreaded white flying fuzz and maybe get rid of this frustrating sore throat that won't seem to leave me be. 

Weather update: The days can get hot around midday but everything cools off by evening and at night one needs a sweater usually to be comfortable.  

Job update: Unfortunately, the one informal interview I had with a university's study abroad office didn't work out for a contracted one month position, but I will definitely apply to their full-time position once they create it at the end of December and if I still don't have a job by then.  I am now on unit 11 of 20 so halfway done with my English-teaching accreditation!  It looks like I will be helping my old supervisor from my Chilean internship out with her English once a week starting soon though so I'll have a wee bit of income, which is better than nothing.  :)  Fortunately, Antonio's father is extremely generous and hasn't complained yet about my presence.  He's even given us metro card money on several occasions. 

As Antonio's father Prudencio says, "Chau-chau!"  Happy Halloween!

Love, Kaia (^_^)

18 de septiembre - Chile's Independence!

Blackout!!!!

My Chilean Life

Lunch, Juan Luis Guerra, Halloween and the park!

Street 132, House 969

Hola from Santiago's flowered streets!

Greetings from Santiago, Chile!

It's now been almost three weeks since I departed from Portland, Oregon, and I'm sure by now you're wondering "whatever happened to Kaia??"  In a nutshell, I have been:

    - Busy recovering from a cold and dealing with my allergies (yes, apparently you can have both at the same time --it's miserable);

    - Enjoying the Chilean Independence Day (September 18th) celebrations, complete with learning the "cueca", the national dance of Chile;
    - Reconnecting with Chilean friends;
    - Getting accustomed to living in Chile, living with Antonio's family, and living with Antonio and his dog, Lukas;
    - Playing with his adorable dog Lukas, who loves to jump, sleep under the bed, and follow us around like a shadow;
    - Doing lots of dancing, including Bachata, Salsa, and Merengue;
    - and working on my online certification course to be able to teach English (I'm on #7 of 20 assignments).   

After arriving in Santiago in the evening of Thursday September 14th to find Antonio waiting for me, we headed to his house with my two rolling suitcases, one rolling carry-on and stuffed backpack.  Antonio had invited his Dad, and his Dad's niece and nephew, Maria and Florencio, and their son Jano (pronounced "Hano" as the J is an H in Spanish).  Jano is Antonio's age and María is like Antonio's other mother or Aunt rather than second cousin.  María had a big meal of steak and potatoes with veggies waiting for us to welcome me back to Chile.  And thus began the re-chilenation process. 

I had forgotten how much meat Antonio's family eats.  Most lunches consist of a hunk of meat, boiled potatoes or spaghetti noodles with a red sauce, and cut up, peeled tomatoes with salt and oil on them.  Recently we've had a salad of "ava" (a kind of bean I think that grows in a pod), cilantro, and diced onion.  But normally there are not many vegetables on the table.  I went on a vegetable craze the other day and kind of freaked out in the mall because I couldn't find any restaurant with food that wasn't fried or cooked, and that had some kind of vegetable.  The veggie cassarole that I was counting on was unavailable so I ordered a "salad" which ended up being chopped lettuce, carrots, celery and tomatoes with lime juice and salt.  It was a major disappointment, to say the least.  The lettuce wasn't even that green.  So Antonio, being the sweety he is went and bought a Pizza hut mini pizza (his favorite) and suggested I put my "salad" on top to eat.  So I did.  Pittifully.  But we had a goofy time of it anyhow. 

After our "salad pizza" we headed to the restroom of  the mall and I had just sat down to do my business when the lights went out!  I immediately reached for my purse and cell phone which is the pay-as-you-go, primitive one that hardly anybody has.  The only good thing about it is that 1) it works, and 2) it has a flashlight at the top of it!  Fortunately the emergency generator kicked in quickly and we had the basic hall lights but all the store lights were out in the entire mall!  It was crazy!  Looking outside and attempting to use our cell phones we realized that the whole city was without electricity and for some reason without cell phone service as well.  We snapped some quick photos to document the moment and then tried to navigate the hectic streets to find a bus that would get us home as the metro is electric and was shut down.  There were so many people!  And traffic jams and people honking as the street lights were out.  It took us maybe two hours to get to Antonio's family store.  By that time his part of the city had received electricity again.

Other tidbits: 

- Antonio's dad has never completed school.  I think Antonio said he dropped out in 4th grade or something like that.  It was an interesting realization.  He said that his sister Ines taught their Dad to read and do basic arithmetic. But his Dad says that it still isn't easy for him to read so he isn't very fond of it.  

- There is no pepper in this house.  I had to go and buy some.  That whole "never break up a relationship" thing that we were taught about salt and pepper apparently isn't international.  They do use tons of salt, oil, lemon and some member's of Antonio's family like to put a chili paste sauce on their food.  I don't know if other households are the same.

- They do not have squirrels in Chile.  They know what they are from movies and TV but they do not have them here.

- Apparently Antonio's family has never had an omelet.  They were amazed that I put cooked carrots in my scrambled eggs and gasped when I said that we also put diced tomatoes, spinach, and onions in it, too.  I'll have to make it for them sometime.  They also don't usually eat lettuce.  Nor many sandwiches.  Ines, Antonio's sister, said that she doesn't like lettuce because she felt sick after eating it once.  

- We have a lovely dog choir that seems to practice every night.  Don't know how late they go on nor what on earth they are talking/singing about but I think I've finally gotten used to it.  It's also not uncommon to hear cats meowing or fighting or crying on the roof.  I think I would be a cat if I had to as it is roof paradise around here.  The houses are pretty much side by side so rooftop jumping must be awesome!

Sorry this is so long.  To finish, here is my contact info.  I have a cell phone and it doesn't cost to receive calls, only to make them.  Internationally my number is 569-8400-8400 (sweet and easy to remember!).  This is my address:

Antonio Painemilla C. 

(Kaia Range)

Calle 132, Casa 969 

Villa Lo Arrieta, Peñalolén

Santiago, Código Postal 7910434

Chile

Hope you all have a great week!

Love, Kaia (^_^)