Monday, July 26, 2010
Those promised pictures...
First and most importantly, the sandwich from Pablo Neruda's house. In both of our opinions, it was The Best Sandwich Ever. That's because every savory layer of it (tomatoes, cheese, oregano, and some delicious bread with seeds) was "hand-crafted by Jesus," in the words of Madeline.
Second, while on the topic of food, here is a picture of Madeline contemplating how good her strawberry and banana frozen yogurt is.
Back to Pablo Neruda's house ...
For those of you who have not been graced by Pablo's poetry, he is one of Chile's very own who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. Although he was a self-proclaimed communist, he was also quite the hoarder (hmmm). His house was filled to the brim with out-of-the-ordinary collectors' items ... Russian nesting dolls, shoes, paintings of watermelons, seashells, colored glass. Quite the brilliant oddball, he was. We hope to visit his other two houses in Valparaíso and Isla Negra.
Now, as Mads said, I've always been fascinated by graffiti. I think it's really quite beautiful. Here are some pieces of my growing collection.
And lastly, since Madeline showed you her furry friends, I shall show you mine. Here's the little guy who followed me around as I snapped pictures at the base of the Andes this Sunday afternoon. Sadly, stray dogs are quite a big problem in Santiago. People let dogs (un-neutered) run free once they outgrow their cute puppy stage. And some of 'em are just too dang cute.
Until next time!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Salsa?
Friday, July 23, 2010
Sweet little moment
Buenas noches.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Let's Celebrate: One Week!
Today, Madeline and I are celebrating our one-week anniversary of being in Chile. Woo hoo! In honor of the seven days we've been in this fascinating country, I'm going to list my seven favorite things about la vida chilena.
1. Today, in an effort to eliminate just a small portion of all those carbs we've been eating (in the form of bread, pasta, and potatoes), Madeline and I went running along a path near la cordillera, the Andean mountain range. As I mentioned in my former post, rain clears up the smog that typically makes the vista hazy. And boy o boy did it rain last night. So clean(er) air + a cold front that has brought much snow to the mountain caps = quite the magical backdrop for some exercising. Adding to our pleasant jog was a setting sun that made the magenta pink clouds look like, in the words of Madeline Swayze, "an alpaca tongue. Unless, of course, alpacas have black tongues. Then I retract my simile." To verify the legitimacy of her figurative language, I have included a picture of an alpaca tongue. I'll let you be the judge of Madeline's proficiency in making realistic comparisons.
Also included below is a picture of la cordillera during the daytime (taken today from the top of Santa Lucía Hill in Santiago).2. Also tonight, I played volleyball, or vóleibol, with my host parents. At first, I wasn't going to play. I had just wanted to tag along to take pictures. But when my parents introduced me to the group, they feigned that I was a Nordic import, ready to contribute my height and ferocity to a good match. Coincidentally, my mom had brought an extra pair of knee pads. So I played with the senior league-ers, and now my arms are swollen and bruised. But for good reason. I had a blast, and everyone was very patient with my rusty joints!
In the picture below appear the trophies, proudly displayed in the dining room, that my parents have won + a picture of the lovely couple whose teamwork earned them.
3. I'm in avocado paradise here. We eat avocados, or palta, with everything. Hamburgers. Bread. Spoonfuls alone. Ahhhhh. Christmas better be avocado season in Kansas City ...
4. As Madeline mentioned, we took a trip to La Vega, a ginormous open air market where independent vendors (many of them Peruvian) can sell their harvest. While I am usually averse to any sort of "cat call," I found much humor in the comments, or piropos (both whispered and shouted), that came out of the mouths of the Shrimp Man, Pickles Man, and Pumpkin Man. "I love you." "You're beautiful." "Hi there." If I ever need a confidence booster, I'll head to La Vega again.
5. I met my future co-ed touch rugby team last week :). Ali, the gringa girl who stayed with my family the whole past year, also played touch rugby with my host sister Paulina. Ali has been traveling throughout South America since classes ended a few weeks ago, but she's in and out of the house and will be departing very soon for los Estados Unidos. The small gathering, complete with cheesy garlic bread and red wine, was a goodbye party for her and an introduction for me. As if understanding my parents wasn't hard enough, Chilean youth have their very own accent and vocabulary. Sooooo I'm simultaneously excited and nervous to spend more time around the team and pick up on some more chilenismos.
6. Chileans add an article before names. So I'm not just "Abby," but "la Abby." I'm sure this doesn't directly translate as "the Abby," but it's nice thinking my family thinks I'm the only Abby in the world.
7. The Bachelorette is available in Chile. In the spirit of Latin America, go Roberto. For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, you should watch the super high-quality reality (joke ... maybe) television show The Bachelorette. It'll transform you.
Thanks for reading! ¡Buenas noches!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Happy Tuesday!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Y mía ...
Sunday, July 18, 2010
La primera impresión
I will begin this post with an excerpt of what I wrote while on the airplane … then I’ll describe my first introduction to la vida chilena! And then Mads can add her two cents when she returns.
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I can’t be 100% positive, but I’m pretty sure that, as I stare out my 39A window, I’m seeing mountains. Then again, those black silhouettes that appear to be projecting upward against the backdrop of the rising sun could just be holes in the clouds. The flight map says Lima is to the east. Bolivia is fast-approaching. It’s 7:17 AM Santiago time on July 15th, and I’m set to arrive in about three hours. My mind is not the most reliable right now. The last 36 hours have been interesting, to say the least. While Madeline was probably enjoying her last American meal with her family in Hotlanta, I was preparing to hop on a plane to Dallas, where I’d have a short layover and then head to Santiago. As I was about to go through security, Allison Buterbaugh, also a Vandy participant in this study abroad program, called from Pittsburgh to notify me that our connecting flight in Dallas had been delayed from 10 PM til 8 AM. Since we were required to be in Santiago by 10 AM, that wasn’t going to cut it. Paul Murphy, a refreshingly jolly American Airlines employee, helped me switch to a Delta flight going out of … guess where … Atlanta! I boarded that plane from Kansas City to Atlanta with a barely containable excitement. Madeline was going to be my headrest, and I hers, for the long 9-hour flight. Charming.
But Mother Nature had other plans. Storms in Atlanta caused me to miss my connection in ATL by just minutes. After re-booking for the 10 PM flight out of ATL for the next night, the lovely father-daughter duo of Scott Sr. and Adair Swayze picked up my exhausted, dejected self and shuttled me to their beautiful home. Madeline was on her way to South America. I was on my way to having a slumber party at the Swayze household. I had to smile at the absurdity of the situation.
Those Swayzes, man … they’re something special. They made my inconvenient extra day in los Estados Unidos absolutely wonderful. I awoke Wednesday morning to adorable black lab Jackson patiently waiting outside my door. I then spent some tumble time with a delightfully exuberant 10-month-old named Lacy Elaine … Adair’s progeny for the day. Mrs. Swayze and I had a lunch date at Goldberg’s Deli (apparently an ATL staple), ran some errands, drove through Westminster (further confirming my inordinate obsession with that high school), and arrived home with plenty of time to spare for some Jodi Piccoult and napping. And before I knew it, I was eating my “last American meal” yet again before being whisked away to the airport.
Well, as my 10 PM flight was about to take off, the captain announced a “hydraulics problem” that would take til 3 AM to fix—if the airport had the proper equipment, that is. A chorus of Spanish cusswords filled the air. I recognized many of the faces as those who had begrudgingly waited with me in line last night for re-booking. No way was I going to be delayed two days. By some unusual twist of airport serendipity, our flight crew secured a different plane for us to fly. Of course, re-boarding and mechanical check-ups took until 1:30 AM … but hey. I’m now two hours from Chile!
Fun fact of the day: An airplane “security check” involves taking off all the seat cushions in an airplane, inspecting, and re-fastening them.
So while I will always be one day less of a Latin American than Madeline and Allison, I’ll cherish those sweet, simple memories born of Swayze generosity. That dose of southern hospitality must’ve been God’s way of priming me for really southern living.
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Ahora, Chile. Ahhhh, what can I say. I think I’ll focus on my host family for this post, then describe more about the city and country as I learn and see more. I am enamored with my host family. There’s host brother Alvaro Esteban, my mom Rosa Correa Santelices (pictured below with a dollar she found in my laundry), my dad Carlos González Jedia, host sister Paulina Andrea, host brother Carlos Antonio, and hyperactive golden retriever el René (pictured with Dad below). Alvaro is a civil engineer in Australia, and Carlos Antonio is an air traffic controller in Osorno (southern Chile). He lives with his girlfriend and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Sofía. Paulina is living at home while she finishes her thesis in engineering for the Universidad Diego Portales. She plays co-ed touch rugby and field hockey, and has invited me to play on both teams … I’m thinking I might go for it! Papá has green eyes, is muy “quirky,” likes to blast French classical music in the car, and is a die-hard aficionado of the Chilean professional soccer team called Colo-Colo (“For a team that has won 29 national titles, it better be your team too …” said Papá). He makes homemade mayonnaise with garlic and lemon (“cosas caseras comunican el amor” … homemade things communicate love). Mamá is the typical Latin American matriarch, always worrying about my comfort and happiness. She has crazy vivid dreams, and harvests and makes her very own marmalade, in three flavors: blackberry, peach, and apricot. By the end of my semester here, my pores will be oozing marmalade. We eat it with breakfast and dinner on big slabs of bread called tortillas, but they’re not your typical Tex-Mex brand. They’re much thicker, and can be peeled into layers almost like string cheese. Mamá buys them hot-n-fresh out of the oven from the local panadería, or bread store, each afternoon.
I can only catch about 40-50% of what my family says to me … Chileans speak verrryyy fast, drop the “s” in many words, and have an entire arsenal of chilenismos (expressions and words that only exist in Chile). All of this makes carrying on a productive conversation difficult. But I’m learning, and everyone is very patient!
Below are pictures of the decorations that greeted me upon arrival + some of my own (BIENVENIDA = WELCOME!). Plus some of my house.
My quaint yellow casa is situated in a district called Ñuñoa, a little to the east of downtown Santiago, closer to the cordillera, or the Andes mountain range. Sidenote: the cordillera, which is very visible from my driveway, was absolutely majestic when I arrived on Thursday. Today, though, the smog (aka la contaminación or, as my mom endearingly calls it, “el esmoke”) COMPLETELY obscured the entire range. It’s like it doesn’t even exist. Rain and increasingly warm weather alleviate the pollution a little, says my family, but as for now I’m stuck with a mountain range that likes to play hide-and-seek.
Hmmm what else … it’s winter now. During the days the temperature is around 50˚, but at night, with temperatures dropping below 30˚, it’s cold. My house is older, so there’s no central heating. We have two estufas, portable gas-powered heaters that can be rolled from room to room for a little bit of heat. But at bedtime, I’ve been sleeping in Under Armor + sweatpants + a sweatshirt + my North Face. I’ve been snuggling with a little rubber pouch filled with hot water, so that helps a little. Otherwise, I’m dreaming of la primavera.
I think I’ll stop here for now, because I am headed out soon for my first taste of Chilean night life with la gringa (girl from the United States) who stayed with my family the whole last year. Carretear = “go out” in Chilean speak. Mamá just gave me a shot of pomegranate, lemon, and honey to prevent "the sickness of staying up late." So don't you worry ... I won't fall ill due to too much dancing! Pues, hasta la próxima vez (until next time …)!
(Oops. I forgot to post this last night. Sorry it's a little dated!).
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Welcome! Bienvenido!
Abby Hannifan, also a n.
*Note: Madeline's biography composed by Abby, Abby's biography composed by Madeline ... for credibility's sake.
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Cornbread and Chile
Apropos in Santiago
Hillbillies in Chile
Red Hot Mabby Peppers (Madeline + Abby = Mabby)
Gringo Lingo
Llama Drama
Chile? Grab a sweater.
Alpaca the suitcase, you pack-a the duffel bag.
After months of deliberation, heated dinner table vote-casting, and rejection after rejection of rhymes and witticisms, we settled on "Chile Cheese Blog." The title came to us on America's birthday when news broke that Joey Chestnut (pictured below) secured his fourth victory in Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest by consuming an impressive 54 hot dogs. What's more American than that? Probably not much. So, in the end, it was this great American tradition that inspired our blog's cheesy (hehe) title. While we might be two traditional Americans, we're about to embark on anything but a traditional American experience ... we're going to Santiago! Hurrah!
With our adrenaline hopping like a can of Mexican jumping beans, we are oh so excited for our adventure! We are also going to miss family and friends like crazy, so starting on July 13th, our Chile Cheese Blog will be here to fill you in on life below the equator. Feel free to comment and send some virtual love our way! Thanks for reading! ¡Hasta Santiago!