Hola queridos!
Happy almost one month of Chile! The time is flying past! Today I'm coming to you live form the library of La Católica, where I have been doing homework for several hours and trying not to fall asleep. I'm sitting next to a very large panel of windows overlooking a grassy and tree-y stretch of ground and a parking lot, so in a lot of ways, I'm still at Carleton.
Today I had my first meeting with my Tandem partner! Tandem is a program that matches students at La Católica with exchange students. It's a way of integrating foreigners in the culture of the school and giving them someone to practice Spanish with, while also giving Chilean students a chance to practice their English. My partner is named Cristian and he's here working in the psychology department. Specifically, he works on "psicología laboral" or the psychology of jobs and workplace environment. At first, I imagined this involved waving pom-poms and cheering the workers on and motivating them with spirit-lifting rhyme schemes, but Cristian has informed me that this is actually not what his job involves. I think we should do it my way.
In general, it's been a slow few days. I got sick on Thursday night and have been coughing up a storm and blowing my nose every 10 minutes since then. I slept about 20 hours a day for our 3 day weekend (Monday was a feriado, or national holiday), and am now feeling less like my brain is made of soggy tissue paper.
Just in case anyone was worried, I have found Thai food in Chile!! Here is my lovely friend Langley with our Thai food.
I also went to Bellas Artes, which is a trendy comuna (kind of like a barrio (neighborhood)) with a lot of coffee shops, restaurants, and--you guessed it--art. El Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes is beautiful and a must-see for art lovers! I am happy to report that I did not get yelled at by any security guards on this excursion.
Classes are in full swing at this point, and I'm loving them! I'm in a class called "Emerging Competent Abroad" which is basically a Spanish class with a fancy name that helps people who are nearing fluency in the language perfect grammar and pronunciation while also learning fun things about Chile. I'm in another Spanish class called "Spanish for Healthcare Practitioners" in which we learn vocabulary needed in the field of healthcare (this class' title actually makes sense). I'm also in a Chilean Healthcare seminar, in which we learn about Chilean healthcare (this class' title also makes sense).
I will also be working at two community health organizations: EPES, a broad organization where I will be working on a project on healthy eating; and El Sembrador, a nursery/kindergarden that has an emphasis on teaching the kids that they have rights and that they should respect themselves and others. I'll also be working on developing a program in which the kids will be taught about healthy eating through fun workshops! I'm so excited to be working with these organizations, and I'm especially excited to work at El Sembrador. The kids there are mostly from violent or impoverished neighborhoods, and the organization works to give the kids a good foundation to learn and grow intellectually and as people. I feel incredibly honored to have been chosen to work there, and hopefully by the end of the program I will be able to understand Spanish baby talk.
That's all I have to report now! I will check back in a few days :)
Un beso,
Nina
p.s.--almost forgot my wiener dog story!!! There are many street dogs here (check some out on my "dog" page on this website) and they are usually incredibly friendly and mild-mannered. This weekend, I was walking back from the bus stop and bent down to pat what looked like a very miniature version of a golden retriever when a rotund wiener dog trotted out of nowhere and began to bark at me pretty aggressively. I was a little taken aback, but I got out of it just fine. If approached by a small and angry dog, the best thing to do is speak to it calmly but firmly and take slow steps backwards and away from it. I WILL be friends with you, weenie dog. I will. You will learn to love me.
