As I suspected, Day 2 in Chile was even better than Day 1. For the sake of time, here is a quick run through on today's sequence of events:
1. Taught Rosita how to use the dishwasher
2. Learned how to make coffee with a french press (embarssing)
3. Toured Santiago with Rosita
4. Ate lunch at a Peruvian restaurant in downtown Santiago, where Rosita (a professional cook from peru mind you), spoke with the management about how to cook more authentically
5. Made the mistake of deciding to cook dinner...it was a brutal task to translate all of the ingredients and spices...most of which sent me on quite the scavengar hunt at the market.
6. Cooked dinner with Rosita, cried like a baby while cutting the onions
7. Ate with Milka, Ernesto and Vicente...who all loved my meal!
Tomorrow, I am going to school with Vicente who is majoring in Film Studies at a University nearby. Looking forward to it, I am sure that it will be an amusing experience. Haven't spoken much English since Tuesday, feels great. Chao until tomorrow.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Hogar Dulce Hogar
Believe it or not, I have made my way Chile again. In light of the economic downturn and my current state of uneployment, I'm not entirely sure that this trip was the most fiscally responsible decision, but nonetheless, here I am, feeling more at home than ever and entirely too excited for my own good.
Yesterday's traveling was incredibly easy minus the four AM wakeup call and excessive airline security. Conveniently, my Dad was headed to New York on business, so we rendezvoused together to the airport which was a special moment for me. As always, my sleep deprivation was taken care of when I crashed on both flights here, waking up for some food and drink every few hours and conversation here and there. Before I knew it, I was standing outside of customs with Milka and Ernesto, ranting and raving about how much I have missed them over the last seven months, updating them on every detail since I left them in January.
It wasn't until well into our drive home that there was finally a moment of silence and in that moment, as I sat in the back seat and stared out the window at the Santiago night sky with the shadow of the Andes in the distance, I thought to myself, "Hogar dulce hogar," here you are Lindsay, home sweet home.
Yesterday's traveling was incredibly easy minus the four AM wakeup call and excessive airline security. Conveniently, my Dad was headed to New York on business, so we rendezvoused together to the airport which was a special moment for me. As always, my sleep deprivation was taken care of when I crashed on both flights here, waking up for some food and drink every few hours and conversation here and there. Before I knew it, I was standing outside of customs with Milka and Ernesto, ranting and raving about how much I have missed them over the last seven months, updating them on every detail since I left them in January.
It wasn't until well into our drive home that there was finally a moment of silence and in that moment, as I sat in the back seat and stared out the window at the Santiago night sky with the shadow of the Andes in the distance, I thought to myself, "Hogar dulce hogar," here you are Lindsay, home sweet home.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
billy bass meets his cousins
If, perhaps, you thought that I may have abandoned my blog, I am happy to report that I have not. Instead, I have merely taken a hiatus…one part due to a busy schedule and the other part due to pure laziness. I am a firm believer in the old saying that “distance makes the heart grow fonder” and I am counting on this hiatus to strengthen our nonexistent, blog relationship. It was all a part of the plan, you see.
Life in Chile has continued on nicely. Christmas came and went and although it was strange to be without my family, I was entirely too occupied to realize the nature of the situation. Large family gatherings are a stressful place for a new Spanish speaker…you would not believe how fast Chileans speak when they get together. I spent most of my time either trying to follow conversations, trying to make conversations, or trying to avoid conversations… and at every awkward moment, I retreated to the food table and read my dictionary. Just kidding. But not really, because I did read my dictionary at one point during the night.
As you may have concluded from my previous blog posts, Ernesto, my Chilean host father loves to fly fish. He’s a fanatic, actually, and planned a fly fishing trip the morning after Christmas with his brothers, some friends, Milka, and I. The estimated time of departure was 3:30am and although the ladies of the house were a bit puzzled as to why a fish would hold precedence over sleep, we didn’t ask questions, slid on our hiking boots and were out the door with smiles.
“This fly here, is a combination of rabbit hair and synthetic chenille” Ernesto whispers as he holds out a tiny fly the size of a pebble. We are standing beside a creek in between a mountain range, 6am in the morning, dressed head to toe in fly fishing attire.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He whispers as he holds it up to the sunlight in admiration.
“Yes, beautiful” I say, though suspicious as to how a fake fly the size of a pebble is supposed to attract fish let alone be beautiful.
“Now you have to be quiet,” he continues, “because fish are smart.” “Kneel down like this, Lindsay, we don’t want to be seen.”
I kneel beside him, trying to take this just as seriously as any avid fly fisher would. As Ernesto casts, I see the fly take a loop in the air and land in the water upstream.
“And the fish actually bite?” I ask, still perplexed as the fly disappears from sight.
“You bet they do. All it takes is a little bit of patience.” Ernesto reassures.
Yes, beautiful...
Da boss.
Although I was not entirely reassured, I took my stab at fly fishing and quickly found that the hobby takes skill. If you didn’t already know, fish swim upstream on only side of the current to find their food. You therefore, must cast your fly to land accordingly…. reel it in at a specific angle…all the while staying out of the fish’s vision. I have yet to master any of the above and instead found myself casting and reeling in, tying on new flies because I caught mine in the bushes, catching those new flies in the rocks, tying on newer flies, dropping flies, splashing around looking for flies etc. etc. Surprise, surprise, I did not catch a fish…but the boys did and I was able to take part in their excitement which was all that I needed to justify my efforts.
I am really cold in this picture! Mornings are freezing in Chile.
Heaven on earth?
Fish or no fish, I thoroughly enjoyed myself on our trip to the mountains. Chile is a beautiful country and I’m so happy that I was able to spend the weekend hiking and “fishing”. I have been lucky enough to have also made a trip to the country side last weekend but due to my blog hiatus; I do not have a post for that one. The picture below will have to suffice.
Nothin' like an American friend.
I will be spending the New Year at the beach and promise to report back with good stories. In the meantime, you all had better be getting in some good skiing with all that powder you have back home! I am legitimately upset that I have missed the snowfall and am on the verge of booking a flight back to Chile to ski the Andes in August to make up for it. Who’s down?
While you think about that one, I am signing out because I am exhausted (the Spanish takes a toll on you, it really does). Thank you for your prayers, e-mails, tweets, and letters, I love hearing from you!
Chao until next time,
Lindsay
Life in Chile has continued on nicely. Christmas came and went and although it was strange to be without my family, I was entirely too occupied to realize the nature of the situation. Large family gatherings are a stressful place for a new Spanish speaker…you would not believe how fast Chileans speak when they get together. I spent most of my time either trying to follow conversations, trying to make conversations, or trying to avoid conversations… and at every awkward moment, I retreated to the food table and read my dictionary. Just kidding. But not really, because I did read my dictionary at one point during the night.
As you may have concluded from my previous blog posts, Ernesto, my Chilean host father loves to fly fish. He’s a fanatic, actually, and planned a fly fishing trip the morning after Christmas with his brothers, some friends, Milka, and I. The estimated time of departure was 3:30am and although the ladies of the house were a bit puzzled as to why a fish would hold precedence over sleep, we didn’t ask questions, slid on our hiking boots and were out the door with smiles.
“This fly here, is a combination of rabbit hair and synthetic chenille” Ernesto whispers as he holds out a tiny fly the size of a pebble. We are standing beside a creek in between a mountain range, 6am in the morning, dressed head to toe in fly fishing attire.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He whispers as he holds it up to the sunlight in admiration.
“Yes, beautiful” I say, though suspicious as to how a fake fly the size of a pebble is supposed to attract fish let alone be beautiful.
“Now you have to be quiet,” he continues, “because fish are smart.” “Kneel down like this, Lindsay, we don’t want to be seen.”
I kneel beside him, trying to take this just as seriously as any avid fly fisher would. As Ernesto casts, I see the fly take a loop in the air and land in the water upstream.
“And the fish actually bite?” I ask, still perplexed as the fly disappears from sight.
“You bet they do. All it takes is a little bit of patience.” Ernesto reassures.
Yes, beautiful...
Da boss.
Although I was not entirely reassured, I took my stab at fly fishing and quickly found that the hobby takes skill. If you didn’t already know, fish swim upstream on only side of the current to find their food. You therefore, must cast your fly to land accordingly…. reel it in at a specific angle…all the while staying out of the fish’s vision. I have yet to master any of the above and instead found myself casting and reeling in, tying on new flies because I caught mine in the bushes, catching those new flies in the rocks, tying on newer flies, dropping flies, splashing around looking for flies etc. etc. Surprise, surprise, I did not catch a fish…but the boys did and I was able to take part in their excitement which was all that I needed to justify my efforts.
I am really cold in this picture! Mornings are freezing in Chile.
Heaven on earth?
Fish or no fish, I thoroughly enjoyed myself on our trip to the mountains. Chile is a beautiful country and I’m so happy that I was able to spend the weekend hiking and “fishing”. I have been lucky enough to have also made a trip to the country side last weekend but due to my blog hiatus; I do not have a post for that one. The picture below will have to suffice.
Nothin' like an American friend.
I will be spending the New Year at the beach and promise to report back with good stories. In the meantime, you all had better be getting in some good skiing with all that powder you have back home! I am legitimately upset that I have missed the snowfall and am on the verge of booking a flight back to Chile to ski the Andes in August to make up for it. Who’s down?
While you think about that one, I am signing out because I am exhausted (the Spanish takes a toll on you, it really does). Thank you for your prayers, e-mails, tweets, and letters, I love hearing from you!
Chao until next time,
Lindsay
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Life in Chile
Finally, a moment to update you. Between my internship and various family outings, I haven’t had a moment to write another entry without sacrificing sleep…which wasn’t going to happen given my lingering sleep deprivation from last week’s exams. As expected, I am having a wonderful time in Chile. I am finally breaking into my Spanish and am adapting nicely to the Chilean accent which is relieving because during my first two days here, I understood nothing (and thought that I was totally screwed). It turns out that the Spanish in Latin America is in fact, completely different than the Spanish in Spain. Looks like my professors were right after all…interesting.
Just as it is on any trip to a foreign country, these last few days have been full of head nodding, laughing without any idea of what is going on, and broken sentences like “I want banana” and “I go sleep” and, “I no like sugar in my coffee. I mean salt. Wait, no, I mean sugar. Azucar means sugar in Spanish, right? Right, no sugar, thanks though.” Despite the overall rough start, I have made considerable headway in my language skills and am beginning to feel more and more comfortable here, one embarrassing moment at a time.
The family that I am living with is wonderful. They are incredibly welcoming and have taken me into their home as if I were their own daughter. Milka, the beautiful, fashionable, social mother of the family has three sons: Tomas, Nicolas and Benjamin, and one daughter out of the house, Domi. Ernesto, the easy going, intelligent, business-like father of the house, has two sons: Vicente and Raimundo. Given the ratio of boys to girls, Milka and I stick together. The house is beautiful, modern, full of exotic artwork, and is in a very nice part of town. Both Milka and Ernesto work during the day and Rosita, the Peruvian maid, tends to the house and prepares all meals and snacks (love them snacks). She has become one of my very best friends here. She even came running with me this morning. Hilarious experience, by the way.
Great couple.
The internship has proven to be a bit more difficult than I expected. I go to work every day in downtown Santiago at the IBM office and have a challenging project before me. Between learning Spanish and various work expectations (I may have created some of those expectations), I am usually overwhelmed and pretty spent by the end of the day. Ernesto is my boss. He has been with IBM for 27 years and is one of the coolest guys that I have ever met (at least in the 50+ age category). He’s slick, funny, well respected and a fairly big deal at the company, but totally down to earth. I follow him everywhere… in fear that if I were to be left alone somebody might speak to me and I might not be able to respond properly. Helpless, I know.
Ernesto and I at the IBM office.
Over the holidays, I will have time off to travel (mission accomplished). While I do enjoy following a superstar around everyday and supporting IBM with my insightful telecom findings, I have several other adventures to embark upon for my own selfish satisfaction before leaving Chile. Mountains to hike, penguins to meet, a dessert to see, boys to find for my roommates, sunsets, sunrises…you get the idea. Looking forward to it all, good thing I’m only on day four.
I will try my best to keep you updated. In the meantime, I am going to head to bed and thank God for this opportunity to be in Chile because at the moment, I am feeling incredibly blessed. God is good, don’t you think?
Buenas Noches,
Lindsay
Just as it is on any trip to a foreign country, these last few days have been full of head nodding, laughing without any idea of what is going on, and broken sentences like “I want banana” and “I go sleep” and, “I no like sugar in my coffee. I mean salt. Wait, no, I mean sugar. Azucar means sugar in Spanish, right? Right, no sugar, thanks though.” Despite the overall rough start, I have made considerable headway in my language skills and am beginning to feel more and more comfortable here, one embarrassing moment at a time.
The family that I am living with is wonderful. They are incredibly welcoming and have taken me into their home as if I were their own daughter. Milka, the beautiful, fashionable, social mother of the family has three sons: Tomas, Nicolas and Benjamin, and one daughter out of the house, Domi. Ernesto, the easy going, intelligent, business-like father of the house, has two sons: Vicente and Raimundo. Given the ratio of boys to girls, Milka and I stick together. The house is beautiful, modern, full of exotic artwork, and is in a very nice part of town. Both Milka and Ernesto work during the day and Rosita, the Peruvian maid, tends to the house and prepares all meals and snacks (love them snacks). She has become one of my very best friends here. She even came running with me this morning. Hilarious experience, by the way.
Great couple.
The internship has proven to be a bit more difficult than I expected. I go to work every day in downtown Santiago at the IBM office and have a challenging project before me. Between learning Spanish and various work expectations (I may have created some of those expectations), I am usually overwhelmed and pretty spent by the end of the day. Ernesto is my boss. He has been with IBM for 27 years and is one of the coolest guys that I have ever met (at least in the 50+ age category). He’s slick, funny, well respected and a fairly big deal at the company, but totally down to earth. I follow him everywhere… in fear that if I were to be left alone somebody might speak to me and I might not be able to respond properly. Helpless, I know.
Ernesto and I at the IBM office.
Over the holidays, I will have time off to travel (mission accomplished). While I do enjoy following a superstar around everyday and supporting IBM with my insightful telecom findings, I have several other adventures to embark upon for my own selfish satisfaction before leaving Chile. Mountains to hike, penguins to meet, a dessert to see, boys to find for my roommates, sunsets, sunrises…you get the idea. Looking forward to it all, good thing I’m only on day four.
I will try my best to keep you updated. In the meantime, I am going to head to bed and thank God for this opportunity to be in Chile because at the moment, I am feeling incredibly blessed. God is good, don’t you think?
Buenas Noches,
Lindsay
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Billy Bass Goes To Chile
There are two kinds of women in this world. There are high maintenance women and there are low maintenance women. And then there are the worst kind: the kind that think they are low maintenance but in actuality, are high maintenance. Much to my dismay, I have finally concluded that I am a part of this terrible kind…because I have yet to go to the airport without being charged for an overweight suitcase.
“This red one here is 8 pounds overweight, ma’am” says the man at the concierge desk. “And this black one, well it’s uh, right around 7 pounds overweight.”
I stare at the bags. Look at the man. Stare at the bags. How could that be, I think to myself? I left the cowgirl boots and the dresses and the hairdryer and the tank tops, and the dictionary and the jeans…
Two words: high maintenance. No other explanation. Trying to embrace it.
In a pursuit to avoid the $100 overweight fee, my Mom and I began to rearrange my suitcases and create a carry on. Among the first items to fall out of my suitcase was the billy bass singing fish that I brought for my Spanish host father who loves to fly fish.
“Mind if I weigh the fish?” asks the concierge, trying his best to speed up the rearranging process.
My Mom and I look up. Is this guy serious? He really wants to weigh the fish?
“Depending on its weight, it might be better to take the fish on your carry on” he says as the fish goes on the scale.
“Yup, you’re better off taking this with you on the plane. This fish weighs 4lbs.”
We all look at the fish sitting on the scale and begin to laugh. And so, the fish is packed in my carry on, and I’m off to security.
Getting through security was equally as funny as check in.
“Lady, you know you got a fish in here?” The man asks as he holds up my bag.
You’re kidding me, a fish in my bag? I sarcastically say in my head.
“Yeah, it sings too,” I say with a smile.
The security guard looks at me curiously and waves me to be inspected further in a glassed-off area. He pats me down, and then, just as I was hoping, he pats down the fish as well. He then sends the fish through another small security machine…and by this point, I am laughing out loud. I say something along the lines of “something looks fishy here”…get a smile out of the security guard…and am free to make my merry little way to my gate.
The fish has been named "Mateo" after his father, Matt Brennan.
Upon arrival at my gate, low and behold, I find my good friend from college, Joelle, waiting for her flight. We arrange to sit next to each other and spend the entire flight to Miami interrogating the Chilean next to us about Spanish slang and life in Chile. It was a great flight and we raised our cervezas to new life in Latin America.
From Miami, I hopped on my flight to Santiago. I have no recollection of my flight here because my sleeping pill knocked me out for seven straight hours. Between traveling and a week of exams this last week, I was exhausted. Sleep felt good, especially because I was waking up in another country.
Arrival at the airport this morning is still quite a daze. Ernesto and Milka picked me up; they both welcomed me with big smiles and open arms. I look forward to telling you about them and their children in a future post. For now, I am off to bed because I have another big day tomorrow: the first day of the internship.
Chao,
Lindsay
“This red one here is 8 pounds overweight, ma’am” says the man at the concierge desk. “And this black one, well it’s uh, right around 7 pounds overweight.”
I stare at the bags. Look at the man. Stare at the bags. How could that be, I think to myself? I left the cowgirl boots and the dresses and the hairdryer and the tank tops, and the dictionary and the jeans…
Two words: high maintenance. No other explanation. Trying to embrace it.
In a pursuit to avoid the $100 overweight fee, my Mom and I began to rearrange my suitcases and create a carry on. Among the first items to fall out of my suitcase was the billy bass singing fish that I brought for my Spanish host father who loves to fly fish.
“Mind if I weigh the fish?” asks the concierge, trying his best to speed up the rearranging process.
My Mom and I look up. Is this guy serious? He really wants to weigh the fish?
“Depending on its weight, it might be better to take the fish on your carry on” he says as the fish goes on the scale.
“Yup, you’re better off taking this with you on the plane. This fish weighs 4lbs.”
We all look at the fish sitting on the scale and begin to laugh. And so, the fish is packed in my carry on, and I’m off to security.
Getting through security was equally as funny as check in.
“Lady, you know you got a fish in here?” The man asks as he holds up my bag.
You’re kidding me, a fish in my bag? I sarcastically say in my head.
“Yeah, it sings too,” I say with a smile.
The security guard looks at me curiously and waves me to be inspected further in a glassed-off area. He pats me down, and then, just as I was hoping, he pats down the fish as well. He then sends the fish through another small security machine…and by this point, I am laughing out loud. I say something along the lines of “something looks fishy here”…get a smile out of the security guard…and am free to make my merry little way to my gate.
The fish has been named "Mateo" after his father, Matt Brennan.
Upon arrival at my gate, low and behold, I find my good friend from college, Joelle, waiting for her flight. We arrange to sit next to each other and spend the entire flight to Miami interrogating the Chilean next to us about Spanish slang and life in Chile. It was a great flight and we raised our cervezas to new life in Latin America.
From Miami, I hopped on my flight to Santiago. I have no recollection of my flight here because my sleeping pill knocked me out for seven straight hours. Between traveling and a week of exams this last week, I was exhausted. Sleep felt good, especially because I was waking up in another country.
Arrival at the airport this morning is still quite a daze. Ernesto and Milka picked me up; they both welcomed me with big smiles and open arms. I look forward to telling you about them and their children in a future post. For now, I am off to bed because I have another big day tomorrow: the first day of the internship.
Chao,
Lindsay
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Hasta Luego, America
As many of you may know, I am spending a month in Chile this winter. I am interning with IBM and among other things, I will be spending my time researching the telecommunications industry in South America. In short, the purpose of this the internship is to make the most of my time as an undergraduate, to gain insight on the international business marketplace, to see the world, to understand foreign cultures, and to ultimately…prepare for a future career in international business.
As you can imagine, I am ecstatic about this opportunity to travel abroad. The cold weather here in Newport News only intensifies my excitement. Bundled in scarves, mittens, hats, and boots, a girl can’t help but think about warm weather with a few more flattering outfits in her wardrobe. Not that scarves and burly jackets aren’t cute…it’s just that cotton dresses and suntans are…well…cuter, right?
I am especially excited about speaking Spanish in Chile. I picked up a great deal during my time in Spain and I can’t wait to hear the language again. I will be living with a Chilean family who speaks little English which is a perfect environment for practicing. I imagine that my friendships with the Chileans will develop similarly as they did in Spain: I accidentally say something obscene or incorrect in Spanish, they laugh and point at me, I stare blankly like a deer in headlights, they correct me, I laugh, they laugh, we laugh, and… well…that’s essentially how friendships are made with the Spaniards. Take notes, this is good stuff.
If this blog turns out to be anything like my Spain blog, I assure you that good stories are to follow. I look forward to updating you; come visit the site when you can.
I fly out in a couple of days and will post an update upon arrival. In the meantime, please pray for safe travels, easy entry into the country because I have fly fishing supplies on board which may complicate things (will update you on that one in a future post), and well, an A on my marketing exam while you’re at it.
Buenas Noches,
Lindsay
The good life.
As you can imagine, I am ecstatic about this opportunity to travel abroad. The cold weather here in Newport News only intensifies my excitement. Bundled in scarves, mittens, hats, and boots, a girl can’t help but think about warm weather with a few more flattering outfits in her wardrobe. Not that scarves and burly jackets aren’t cute…it’s just that cotton dresses and suntans are…well…cuter, right?
I am especially excited about speaking Spanish in Chile. I picked up a great deal during my time in Spain and I can’t wait to hear the language again. I will be living with a Chilean family who speaks little English which is a perfect environment for practicing. I imagine that my friendships with the Chileans will develop similarly as they did in Spain: I accidentally say something obscene or incorrect in Spanish, they laugh and point at me, I stare blankly like a deer in headlights, they correct me, I laugh, they laugh, we laugh, and… well…that’s essentially how friendships are made with the Spaniards. Take notes, this is good stuff.
If this blog turns out to be anything like my Spain blog, I assure you that good stories are to follow. I look forward to updating you; come visit the site when you can.
I fly out in a couple of days and will post an update upon arrival. In the meantime, please pray for safe travels, easy entry into the country because I have fly fishing supplies on board which may complicate things (will update you on that one in a future post), and well, an A on my marketing exam while you’re at it.
Buenas Noches,
Lindsay
The good life.
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