I'm still here, I swear! I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted—I thought time was moving before, but now it's really flying. Quick updates:
Temuco Excursion
In reality, we didn't spend much time in Temuco—we lived with Mapuche families in Makewe (rural pueblo outside of Temuco) for about 8 days, did village studies in other pueblos (along with 2 of my compañeros, I was in Lautaro), and then had the last couple of days in Temuco. The excursion was definitely a memorable and enriching experience, but I was ready to come back to Viña/Valpo. The first week was stuffed with lecture after lecture and when you add the bitter cold that develops in the South this time of year, I was not the happiest of campers. But the second week was better, with our jaunt in the national park (SO BEAUTIFUL) and time to do more stuff with our families, and then the village study. With the drought that's currently going on, the families we lived with don't have running water in the house (if their house is even equipped for it all, ours was), so we learned how to shower with a tea kettle and bucket...definitely a perspective-creator. Water is seriously like gold there—they don't even think of just drinking a glass of water because they need it for cooking and washing and it's very scarce. Our host sister, Mariela, is a freshman at the university in Temuco studying the equivalent of business management. She was awarded a scholarship and also qualifies for the state to pay for food during the day (since it's a good half-hour in micro back and forth from where she lives), but the actual money has yet to appear. So she frequently skips lunch when she's at the university all day and they're just hoping the government gets it together sometime soon. Yeesh.
Okay, I could spend 10 pages on the Temuco excursion, so I'll include a couple photos and leave it at that...
Sunset...wow. Our home in Makewe. With Jenny and Maia (amigas del programa) and our host sister (Mariela, 18) and brother (Ricardo, 7) at home in Makewe.
Singing every song we know during a fogata (bonfire) in a ruka (traditional Mapuche edifice). Mark is playing guitar and I am trying not to laugh at Don Carlos (Pepe?), our driver who always fell asleep (when not driving).
Independent Research Project (ISP)
This is where we get into "where did the time go?!?" mode! I am researching the political participation of university students in the Valpo area with regard to traditional and non-traditional participation, what this means for democracy, etc etc. This is a totally awesome time to study such a topic because May is a big protest time for universities. In fact, many are or have been "en toma," which is when students literally take over ("tomar") the university buildings in protest. They've also been "en paro" (parar is "to stop"), which is a notch below toma when the students basically go on strike and don't go to class. They're protesting the issue of their mandatory student micro pass, for which the government keeps changing the price and rules. They're also working to bring attention to bigger issues in higher education that have to do with longstanding laws that affect the cost of tuition. It's interesting because, truthfully, university students have been protesting these exact issues for years. They make small strides but never seem to get to the top of what they seek, yet continue fighting and turning out new student leaders for these activities every year. It's fascinating on so many levels and again, I could spend forever on this, so I'll leave it at a couple photos of some posters at the universities.
Two universities that are currently en toma.
Life in general
¡La vida chilena es super bacán (Chilean life is super cool)! Coming back from 2 weeks in the sur, I really did feel like I was coming home—I adore my family, love Viña and Valpo, and I just thoroughly disfrutar (enjoy) my life in this long and skinny country. Although I miss things like big nonfat vanilla lattes in my hand (don't even get me started on the Nescafe fetish here...NO ES CAFÉ/IT IS NOT COFFEE!) and obviously my fabulous friends in the U.S., I am very into the comfortable-yet-still-exciting rhythm that my life here has. I'm also discovering new words, new places, and new challenges every day, but I always have my people (Cecilia, Hector, Mami Luz, Patricio, Danko, and many more) and places (our apartment, Casa SIT, Plaza Viña, the amazing panaderia near Casa SIT) to return to at the literal and metaphorical end of the day. Sigh.
1) Cecilia and Octavio at our Mother's Day get-together at Teresa's (Cecilia's hermana) apartment.
2) Amigas Angela and Emily enjoying our findings at Sausalito, a fancy chocolate shop in town. Mmm.
3) View of Valpo from way up high abova Plaza Anibal Pinto.
A big shout-out to my fabulous Oxy senior amigos, who I cannot believe are graduating TODAY! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you in person, but I am thinking of y'all today and always and send my love and congratulations all the way to the Greek Bowl (and other places that you go, duh). ¡Felicidades!
Last but certainly not least: THE PADRES ARRIVE IN SANTIAGO TOMORROW!!! Wooohooo! I am seriously pumped to a) see my parents, duh and b) get to show them some of the fabulous country. They're arriving in Santiago tomorrow evening and then on Thursday I will go up to get them and bring them to Viña! Photo documentation will seguramente (surely) be ample and subsequently represented here.
As always, saludos and cariño a todos--¡nos vemos!
