Halloween Horror Nights 2008

Some "lovely" pictures from our Halloween here in Chile. Thanks to Emma for hosting the fiesta at her place!!!

The zombie finger cookies that Christian made, complete with

strawberry-tasting blood on each end!

I have been obsessed with Phantom of the Opera since the 3rd grade

and I finally was able to be Christine!!!

Heather & Vuko starring in Kill Bill.....except we should have re-named it "Kill Vuko". Hahahaha...oh right, and Vuko is dressed up as a Chilean soccer player.

Emma as a pokemona (one of the most popular Chilean tribu urbanos)

Diego as The Crow. Christian painted his face and event though it was

a last-minute costume, it turned out really well!!!

**All images provided by the hubbs**

Significant Other Brag Tag

This was originally called the "Husband Brag Tag" but I wanted to tag some people who aren't yet married, therefore I changed the name to "Significant Other" :)

I was tagged by Stephanie, so here goes a bit about my hubs.

1. Where did you meet? We met on the second floor of Café Journal in Viña del Mar, Chile.

2. How long did you date before you were married? We started dating Aug. 13, 2006 and got married on March 25, 2008...so 1 year and 7.5 months.

3. How long have you been married? 7 months as of Oct. 25th.

4. What is one thing he does that surprises you? Hmmm, I’d say how he constantly is thinking about me and if I am ok, happy, etc. He’ll do just about anything to make me happy. I guess I’m still not used to that (although I sure do like it!).

5. What is your favorite feature about him? Physically, his hair. Personality-wise, his humor & intelligence.

6. What is your favorite quality about him? That he’s not afraid to show his emotions nor talk about them.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Yes, but those are to stay between him and me.

8. What's his favorite color? He has three—blue, yellow and red.

9. What's his favorite food? My chicken enchiladas and desayuno gringo (eggs, potatoes, bacon, orange juice, toast).

10. What's his favorite sport? Futbol (soccer for those of you non-Spanish speakers)

11. Who said, "I love you" first? I did, when we were in the bus on our way back from Mendoza, Argentina on Oct. 9, 2006. It just slipped out in the middle of a conversation...

12. When and where was your first kiss? Aug. 13, 2006 in the VTP Miss Reef party in Valpo.

13. What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? Eat a delicious meal and travel to new places.

14. Do you have kids? No and we aren’t going to have any for at least 6 more years, so let’s not bring up this topic until then. :)

15. What's a hidden talent of his? He can sew (check out his Halloween costume for proof).

16. How old is he? He just turned 28.

17. What do you admire most about him? I admire that he treats me like a princess, that family is important to him, and that he can solve just about any problem or challenge that comes his way without becoming overly stressed.

18. What's his favorite past time? Taking pictures and playing with his camera.

19. What's his favorite type of music? Reggeaton, but he likes a wide variety.

20. Do you think he'll read this? No, but if he does, it’ll be good practice for his English!

I TAG: Heather, Lydia, Amanda, and Tamsin.

Unfocused

Do you ever have those days where concentration just escapes you? Today has been one of those days. No matter how hard I’ve tried to focus on the task at hand, my mind continues to wander to unrelated topics. This turns out to be somewhat of a problem when I have 300 + pages of contracts to read and analyze at work.

First I was really tired this morning and thought about having a cup of Ceylon tea. But then I was worried that in order to wake up, I am starting to need little bits of caffeine. So I decided to research Ceylon tea and its caffeine contents. Turns out, it is pretty low (especially when compared to coffee and pop) and they said it would take about 8-10 cups of tea per day to reach what is considered to be the maximum amount of caffeine a person should safely consume. So I decided that my daily cup of tea was just fine. Plus tea has a ton of antioxidants and really, our bodies can’t get enough of those little guys.

Then my mind started to wander onto the topic of my birthday, which happens to be in about 3 weeks. I want to have a birthday party, but I have yet to find the perfect spot. This whole topic got started because I received an email that was promoting two fancy restaurants here in Santiago, Zanzibar and Lamu Lounge. While I would L.O.V.E. to go to either of these places, I’m thinking they are a bit *too* much for a birthday gathering of 15-20ish people. Ideally, I am looking for a bar/restaurant with buena onda, a space to call our own, yummy food (even just the appetizers), great drinks and good music (and perhaps the possibility to dance, although not a requirement). My birthday is on a Friday, so I was thinking starting the fiesta around 9ish, or earlier if we can make a happy hour. Lamu Lounge looks as if it could fulfill that list, but in the reviews I have read, the crowd seems to be 40ish nerds and women on the lookout for young men. Did I mention that it is pricey? Right….so not exactly the best place for a 24th birthday party. At least I don’t think so…any opinions to the contrary are welcome. In fact, any recommendations to places in Providencia, Las Condes, el Centro, and Bellavista are openly sought. I’ve received a few recommendations for places, and visited some of them, but have not found *the* place yet. Here’s a quick rundown of those places:

• Basic Bar-while the parmesan & garlic French fries might be to die for, a sports bar is definitely not the environment I am looking for.
• Bar Ecléctico-great sangria I must say, decent goyosas, and a fun little spot, but waaaayyy too small and smoke-filled for the likes of me (recommended by Katina as well)
• Playback (Pedro de Valdivia)-stopped by this place for someone else’s birthday; it is a karaoke bar and was actually really lively and fun. Happy hour was 2 for 1and the French fries were tasty too. Karaoke book was filled with both Spanish and English songs so there is definitely a variety and the crowd seems to be amusing—lots of all girl groups out for happy hour and not afraid to sing. This is a possibility, but I’m not sure how well the karaoke thing will go over with everyone…and if the rest of the crowd is a miss that evening, it could result as not too fun.
• Barcelona-a Spanish restaurant recommended to me by Katina. Haven’t been there yet, but I’m thinking it is a bit too restaurant-y for what I am looking for. I am def interested in going there, just don’t know when.

I just had an idea, salsa dancing might be fun. Anyone know a good place?

There are a ton of cuico bars in Vitacura that might fit the bill, but I was just hoping to keep the celebration close to where everyone lives. Although one of the micros definitely makes its way up to Vitacura, and was at least running at 1am when we left a different bday party a while back.

I also became somewhat obsessed with what I was going to eat for lunch for some strange reason. Normally I have either brought lunch or already have plans. Today I had neither. I had a craving for kebabs, but I didn’t find any Arab restaurants close to my work. Then I thought about going to Pizza Sí, which I have heard has really yummy pizzas. At as I was trying to think of even more ideas, a light bulb went off—“I’ll go to Unimarc (the grocery store close to my work) and get things for a sandwich. It’ll be much cheaper than buying the same ham & cheese sandwich from any type of convenience store and I’ll get to buy chips if I want.” So me and my genius self went to the grocery store. Low and behold, I am not the only person who thought it would be a good idea to head to Unimarc for lunch. The place was packed. It took me a whole 30 minutes to pick up less than $3.000 (US$6) of food—bread, two slices of turkey breast, two slices of cheese, cracker/chip-like things, Tifany’s candies and a Gatorade. And although much cheaper than a typical lunch in the Tobalaba/El Golf neighborhood, it definitely wasn’t as satisfying as a kebab or pizza would have been.

Throughout the afternoon my focus got a bit better, but not much. The carb overload from lunch took a toll with some sleepiness and that mixed with contracts does not equal fun. But I made it through the day and I still feel as scatterbrained as before....ugf.

Democracy in Chile

Considering that elections were just yesterday here in Chile, I thought I’d try to shed some light on the political parties in here and the voting procedures that are different from that of the States. I was very surprised to find out certain facts, such as voting takes place on a Sunday.

As far as political parties go in this country, there seem to be many more than in the States. However, I by no means claim to be an expert or knowledgeable about either country’s political parties. In the States, the big players are the Republicans and Democrats. I believe there are a handful of independent parties, but mostly the R&Ds rule the scene. Having been brought up to think these two are worlds apart, I have continually been confused by the number of political parties in Chile. Taken from the State.gov website, this is the clearest explanation of the situation here in English that I could find:

“Political parties: Major parties are grouped into two large coalitions:

1) the center-left "Concertacion", which includes the Christian Democrat Party, the Socialist Party, the Party for Democracy, and the Radical Social Democratic Party; and

2) the center-right "Alliance for Chile", which includes the National Renewal Party and the Independent Democratic Union.

The Communist Party joined the Humanistic Party and a number of smaller parties to form the "Together We Can" coalition in 2004, but none of these leftist parties have recently elected congressional representatives. A new center-left party, "Chile-First," was established in October 2007.”

According to what the US government publishes, there are 2 main divisions in Chile among the political parties, but some of the other sites that I found said that there are normally three clear divisions among the right, center and left. It is common to hear terms like socialism, communism, the right, the left, thrown around and every time I would ask what the party stood for, I normally received a very complicated answer. Sorry for my ignorance, but I never really know what socialism and communism meant. I now have a much better idea, but I was so surprised to find out that Democrats & Republicans really aren’t that different when put into the gamut of Chilean political parties. From what I understand, they both sit on center-right side, but never arrive at that right extreme. That was like revolutionary for me.

But what I find much more interesting about the Chilean democracy than its political parties is its voting system. Here are a few facts that I learned about this weekend:

• Voting takes place on Sundays
  
• Men and women must vote in separate places (we are talking completely separate buildings—I was not allowed inside the men’s voting location).
  
• Speaking of men voting, we saw two cross-dressers with a ton of people filming them as they went to the men’s location to vote. Later in the day there was a news bit about it on the TV, because certain cross-dressers want to be able to vote in the women’s location.
  
• Although it is voluntary to register to vote in Chile, if you do register, it is an obligation to actually go and vote. If you do not, the government will fine you.
  
• There is no such thing as absentee ballots. You must go to the location that is assigned to you, wherever it is. If you registered in your hometown and the moved away, you may re-register or change your location but otherwise you would be required to vote at that hometown location.
  
• The people who work at each location to give ballots, take names, etc. are randomly chosen to perform this service, similar to how we are chosen for jury duty in the States. Supposedly you’re only supposed to have to do it once, but my sister-in-law has done it like 3 times. Call time to be at the location is between 7am and 8am and each mesa (table, as they are called here) must be open for 8 hours straight. Then after they close the table, they must stay and count the votes.
  
• If the people who are assigned to the mesas do not show up, the first person who arrives to vote is forced by law to replace the missing person and stay the whole day. Apparently there are a few exceptions of how to get out of this if you happen to really not be able to stay.

Group Blog Topic-Racism & Classism in Chile

I find this topic really hard to write about. Although Chile could be considered the capital of classism, there are so many aspects that come into play that I think it would take me several months to be able to write a piece of work that I was happy with. It is a topic I would love to learn more about and I would want to do research to figure out why it is the way it is. Here in Chile, social classes are divided by multiple variables—your last name, in what sector of the city you live, the way you talk, the way you dress, down to in what university you study. All of these characteristics mix together to give a person a status and that status—be it high or low—is assumed as “correct” for that person. If you are born into a poor family, it is typically assumed that that is the way life is and all you can do is live with it. It is not too typical to hear stories about people who are trying to better their situation and change the future of their family. It is not too typical because in Chile, it is extremely difficult economically to better one’s situation. Here, the country’s wealth is one of the most unequally distributed of the world.

I took a Cultural Anthropology class in 2006 at La Católica in Valparaíso and it was one of my favorite classes that I have ever taken. We talked quite a bit about the distribution of wealth and I have never forgotten this one graph that my teacher showed to the class:

In this graph, which is from 2000, the Chilean population is divided into 10 parts (deciles). The top 10% of the population controls approx. 44% of the wealth. The next richest 10% only control 15% of the wealth.......uh, that is a HUGE change. For any of the populations that are not in these last two deciles, it is very easy to slip from middle-class to poor, or from poor to indigent. It is also much easier to slip downwards that increase your wealth. I’m not sure how the statistics are today, but you can bet that they are probably not too different. However, I have seen this before. Well granted, I have seen the fruits of them rising from a poor-class family to a middle-class one, but I was not here in the past 50-something years to see that change happen. All I know is that they worked extremely hard, saved all they could and put all five children through the University.

As for racism, I will just briefly touch upon the subject. There is a very similar tension here in Chile between Chileans and Peruvians as there is in the States between Gringos and Mexicans. In general (very general terms), the Peruvians are not looked upon as equals. People joke a lot about when you go to the Plaza de Armas, you go to Peru, because many illegal and legal Peruvian immigrants hang out there, waiting for work as nanas or perhaps in construction. They come to Chile with the hopes to look for a better life just as Mexican families risk their life to cross the border and do the same with their life. I find it very unfortunate that any culture is looked upon is such a way.

If you would like to read other POVs on Racism & Classism in Chile (or other countries), check out the following links:

Clare
Cachorrita
Lydia
Kathleen
Abby

Tip-Toeing To Work

It has now happened to me twice (you think I would have learned the first time)—the stub of my heels has fallen off on the way to work. This first happened about two and a half months ago and I didn’t notice it until I heard a strange clanking sound. Yes, that was the sound of the metal part of the heel hitting the pavement as I was strutting my stuff in my favorite hot pink heels. Then today, as I was walking inside the metro station, I kept slipping more with my left foot. Once I got to a point where I could take a look at my shoe without being trampled by human traffic, I saw that I was in the same boat again. This time the stub didn’t fall off, no not at all…what really happened is that it wore down to the metal part! Yes, that is what happens to heels here in Chile—sidewalks kill them!

Luckily there are a ton of shoe repair places in Chile. I’m sure that is because demand has not died down thanks to the perpetual shoe homicides. In the States, I can’t recall ever even seeing a shoe repair place like the ones here…maybe just in the movies. The first time I had to take my shoes to the repair man, I had to leave them there for 3 days or so. I’m sure there are places that do immediate work, but the whopping $3 they charged me to fix them was worth the wait. I’ll have to take these heels there too, but obviously not today or I won’t have shoes to walk home in!

So what is a gal to do when her heel stub falls off? My advice is to take a taxi cab to wherever you need to go in order to avoid walking on the sidewalk, BUT if you can’t avoid walking, then try to walk on your tip toes more than anything. For example, the shoes I’m wearing today have a very low heel so it is easy to get away with tip-toeing. Plus it is a good calf workout too!

Time Has Stopped

Why is it that when we really need time to “pass” quickly, or at least seem like it is, it never does? But of course, when we want to savor each moment, time beats the speed of light?

The very thing happened to me at work today. First of all, I am sick. Yuck. A cold and no fun right when summer is starting. And since my symptoms just started today, I have felt progressively worse. In the morning, my throat felt a bit funny but I tried to chalk it up to allergies (after all they have been crazy strong this year). The morning flew by quickly and I was able to read a good chunk of the 160 page contract I am currently analyzing. However, during the day, the funny feeling turned into pain, my body started to feel strange and weak, and my concentration started to fly out the door as sleepiness entered the picture. Then, at around 4:45pm, it seemed as if the time stopped. I would try to read as much as I could in the contract before getting confused, perhaps get up and walk around a bit, drink some water, or call my husband, and then look at the clock—and not even 10 minutes had passed. That made the rest of the work day hard to get through because I had visions of my bed and a hot bowl of soup dancing through my head.

What I wouldn’t give if time:

*Would speed up when: we are sick, work/school is boring, we are crammed on the hot subway or stuck in traffic, we are traveling to see loved ones, and bad things happen.

*Would slow down when: we spend time with loved ones, you meet the love of your life, moments like your wedding day or child’s birth happen, you eat a good meal, and we are having fun and laughing.

The other fome thing about feeling sick is that I had planned on going to the gym…but considering I barely had enough energy to get home in Transantiago, I don’t think going to the gym would be a good idea. Thus I have resorted to taking care of some blogging/email/wedding loose ends and go to bed early.

What are the times in your life you wish time would fly/crawl by?

"Please Sarah" video

Youtube video really worth watching that I got from Amanda's blog.

I just voted!!!

I just placed my Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot in the mail about 20 minutes with my vote for US President! Go Obama!!!

You should vote too! If you haven't received your offical ballot and you're living abroad check out Vote From Abroad and send in you Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (which is totally valid)!
The FWAB is a back-up ballot that you can vote TODAY. If you subsequently receive your state ballot, vote that, too. The FWAB is only counted if your state ballot is not received by your state by the ballot return deadline. It is SUPER easy and totally worth it!

I sent my ballot via Correos Chile with 72 hours priority, costing only $1.200 (or $3.40USD). The 72 hour international priority means that the letter will leave Chile within that time frame, and from there will reach its destination within 2 weeks....but we all know the US mail is pretty fast so I doubt it will take 2 weeks! (And even if it did, my ballot should get there before Nov. 4th!)

*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*

Some Interesting Articles Thanks to the NY Times

I've been wanting to get these links up for a while now....

A Debilitating Disease That Is Often Unknown - Celiac disease is a somewhat silent and overly-missed-diagnosed disease. It is an extreme gluten intolerance that leaves a person without the ability to even share a sip of water from another person just because that person might have eaten something with gluten hours earlier and drank from the same glass. I would find it impossible to live in Chile with this disease.

The Push to ‘Otherize’ Obama -I found this article on Amanda's blog, and it is great at busting some of the most popular myths against Obama.

Girl Power at School, but Not at the Office -An ESPECIALLY important article for those of us type-A personality, straight-A's all our life, perfectionist-type women who want to kick ass in the real world.

Connecticut Ruling Overturns Ban on Same-Sex Marriage -Congrats Connecticut! It's only the 3rd state to allow same-sex marriage, so we've got a ways to go, but at least it's a step in the right direction.

Cancer Vaccine Used by 25% of Girls 13 to 17 -Article about the Gardisil vaccine used to fight against cervical cancer.

Job Hunting Is, and Isn’t, What It Used to Be -Do you remember looking for a job before everything was on the internet?

Group Blog Topic: Hardest Custom to Adjust to in Chile

After pondering upon this topic for a few days, I finally realized that I was able to become accustomed to many of the Chilean traditions, but those which I either refuse to adapt to or find it hard to, are all related to the kitchen.

One thing that I’m not a fan of here is the fact most Chilean households wash their dishes in cold water with little-to-no soap at all. I don’t know how many times I’ve witnessed “washing” a spoon to be just rinsing it off in cold water, no soap, no nothing…just cold water. Hmmm….right, that doesn’t seem like it will kill the germs to me. And just think about when you’re dealing with raw meat. Yuck.

Now, the thing I absolutely detest and cannot handle is that fact that they do not refrigerate meat (cooked or otherwise) much in this country. I remember when I finally started picking up on this living with my host family. I started noticing that when we ate left-overs, my host mom would take them out of the oven. And no, she wasn’t reheating it up in the oven because she always proceeded to put the food in the microwave. I began realizing that she used our oven as storage for food that she cooked 8 hours prior, or the day before, etc. I might understand this habit if we had not had a working refrigerator, but we most certainly did. And there was space to squeeze in the food. My suegra does the same thing. I can’t eat her empanadas except for right after she makes them because they always sit out on the counter for days until they are eaten.

It is very typical here to use any space you have as storage…and with good reason since most apartments and houses are tiny. BUT, if you have space in your fridge, you should store your food there instead of inside the oven. Perhaps they do it because people aren’t used to having a fridge (speaking to the older generations), or perhaps because they find it too hard to heat up cold meat without a microwave. That too could be a valid reason, but I’d rather eat a cold empanada than one that has been sitting out for a day and a half. And just for the record, I don’t have a microwave in my house so I deal with reheating food issues all of the time.

Back when I was studying abroad, I would come up with reasons as to why I wasn’t hungry or didn’t want to eat. Or sometimes, I just bit the bullet, put the thoughts out of my head and eat the food. Obviously I didn’t die, and I can’t really recall ever getting super sick…but I also had a very different mindset back then. Everything was an adventure on study abroad and I figured, “what the hell, if it doesn’t kill me it’ll make for a good story.” That mindset lasted for about 6 months until things started to calm down, nothing really seemed new anymore, and living here became normal life. That is when the food issues started surfacing as I was eating at home more instead of going out with friends, and I was becoming more and more grossed out with meat as time went on. Plus I remember horror stories from other study abroaders who got horribly sick thanks to an empanada they bought at some random place.

From what I understand, cooked meat will not go bad as quickly as leaving raw meat out. But I think more than a time span of lunch-to-dinner is too much time out of the fridge. I just can’t handle that one. I’m too picky of a meat eater and too much of a germ-a-phob when it comes to food to give in on this topic. Luckily now that I am living in my own house with my husband, I can put everything in the fridge if I want too. And I do.

Enjoy the other bloggers' entries about the same topic!:

Sara
Heather
Abby
Rita (Colombia)
Lydia
Clare
Amanda
Kathleen (Ecuador)
Lori (Brazil)
Renee
Shannon
Carlos
Katina
Emily
Jessica
Kyle

Group Blog Topic: What Chileans Think of Gringos—My POV

So I´m about 2 weeks behind on this topic thanks to two things: 1. lack of time and 2. lack of inspiration. I have even refrained from reading everyone else’s posts on this topic because I figured that I’d get around to writing it one day. But the lack of inspiration for such a topic is an important one and so I had to wait until it came. And it did: on Sunday night when my husband took me out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday.

We arrived at the restaurant at about 7:30pm and surprisingly there were a lot of people. Most of them gringos, sitting at the bar, drinking beer and eating food from the all-you-can-eat buffet. We ended up sitting in a booth right next to the bar, and therefore next to the gringos. All of them were older, white business men, some with less hair, others with more...and from the accents I could pick up--all from the States.

Now, my objective during this evening was not to ease drop on what these guys were doing or talking about, but there was one particular old fart who made it IMPOSSIBLE for me not to pay some attention to what was going on. Obviously I didn’t talk to them...I played Chilean, but my half of my hearing was definitely dedicated to listening to the absurdities of this man and unfortunately, my fellow compatriots.

So what do I think that Chileans (and probably any other foreigner) thinks of people from the U.S.*, they think we’re loud, cold, selfish, rude, ignorant, self-absorbed, rich and exaggerated. Wow, why such harsh words? Because I’m just stating the facts here people. This is what they think of all of us (according to my point of view)....and why would that be? Because of the type of people who travel around the world who are like that old man in Ruby Tuesdays.

Let’s take a look at a few examples. This man, let’s call him Bob, seemed to come from Texas and liked his beer. It was only 7:30 and the huevon was already slurring his words. We were at the restaurant for about an hour in total...and Bob introduced himself to the same 5 men, three times (exaggerated)! At one point, he asked another guy for his business card, who then said that he didn’t have any with him. Bob said “Oh, ok, well I’m sure I’ll see you here tomorrow or Tuesday.” WHAT?!—I thought to myself, this man comes here SO frequently...that is not normal. Then Bob started talking politics, and the other men simply stared into space or drank their beers. And then he started telling everyone his “story”, even though none of the other five gringos was really paying much attention to him (self-absorbed). At one point, the men decided they wanted to watch NFL football on TV and they began discussing what channel the games would be on. Bob felt the impulse to repeat ESPN about 10 times....and yelling it....for absolutely no reason. Right......So the men told the bartender to change the channel. And no, they didn’t tell her in Spanish they yelled at her in English...trying to make the poor thing understand. And when she was flipping through the channels and none of the games showed up (because the cable didn’t include ESPN), Bob kept yelling louder “No, keep going, No go back, No, No No!” (rude, cold, loud, ignorant, exaggerated). I felt so bad for the poor bartender who had so patiently been waiting upon these jacka#@es the whole evening. The huevones even made the comment that “Oh my god, a woman is going to change the channel for us!” (selfish). What made most of the interaction between the gringos and the bartender so bad is that none of them spoke Spanish....not even a little (ignorant). Ok, really, Spanish is NOT that hard to learn...you could at least take a freaking dictionary with you to help communicate. It would be a different story if we were in Asia where the languages do not look anything alike! Bob actually made the comment that all of his work is in English, the functional currency of his business (at Merrill Lynch) in US Dollars, “so he never wants to learn that stupid language” (ignorant, ignorant, IGNORANT). At this point I was ready to throw my dinner knife towards Bob's head. Ugf, I’ll keep in mind that this huevon works at ML so that I NEVER apply for a job at the same company....I cannot stand people like Bob. They travel to foreign countries and don’t even try to 1. learn the language, 2. learn anything about the culture, 3. learn the social norms so they don’t look like idiots, etc.

These are the type of people who give all us gringos such a bad name. I don’t know how many times people have been shocked here in Chile, Peru or Argentina that I am a gringa because “gringos are so cold and you, well you are practically latina”. I take pride in the fact that I have worked by a@# off to become fluent in Spanish (although I’m not saying everyone should do the same), but for god’s sake, if you live in another country that speaks a different language—you should learn at least enough to get by (meaning going to the grocery story by yourself, etc.). None of this “I’ve lived here for 20+ years and still don’t understand Spanish.” Now that is IGNORANT. And rude. Do not move to another country (that is presumably not considered “developed”) and try to live like it is the U.S.—that is just not going to happen and it is like taking a dump upon the culture of the country where you are at. The least people can do is *try* to assimilate and learn the accepted behaviors in the places they visit. I mean, you have to be just stupid not to, because doing so actually helps you keep much safer.

As you can see, this topic infuriates me and I could probably go on forever. But I won’t. I’m done...I’ve vented about stupid Bob and all the bad gringos that give us good gringos a bad rep. And just to tie it all up: I think the impressions most people keep are negative ones because I feel like they make such a big impact on a person (especially if it is the 1st impression). Plus I feel like more ignorant gringos travel than ones who are open-minded and ready to welcome new cultures....and that is exactly why I think Chileans and other foreigners think we gringos are all alike (and not in a good way).

*I say “people from the U.S.” because I don’t like the term “Americans”. That word does not just related to gringos from the States, but to EVERYONE who lives in North, Central and South America. I don’t know where we gringos got off thinking that just we are Americans, when really everyone is. So to me, when someone asks you where you are from and you say you’re American and they too are from some part of the Americas, you just made yourself look stupid.

And now, here are the links to everyone else who participated in this group blogging post:

Carlos
Flo
Clare
Sara
Abby
Katina
Emily
Amanda
Renee
Kathleen
Lydia
Shannon
Emma
Heather
Gus
Kyle

Help Someone Else by Helping Yourself

One of my new gringa friends, Kyle, and her Chilean husband are up to something AWESOME. They have decided to give the gift of knowledge to a less fortunate person here in Santiago who has worked his butt off to get where he's at....Unfortunately, now he has hit a plateau all because he lacks a higher education which is the requirement for any type of decent salary in this country. Kyle and her hubby have decided to fund this young man's 2.5 year degree in order to help him get ahead in life.

Now, don't jump to conclusions here....Kyle nor her counterpart are rich, old people--they are both under-30 hard-working young adults. S. (Kyle's hubby) works in construction, which in Chile means like 6 days a week, and 10-12 hour days--no joke. Kyle works long days as well between being a professional blogger and a super-star up-and-coming photographer. In fact, her photography is what is going to help pay for this other young man's education.

Kyle has decided that any sales she has in photography prints and postcards between today and Nov. 6th will ALL, 100%, go towards funding the first, second, and how every many more semesters the money can stretch....and if print sales aren't enough...these two generous people are going to foot the bill with their normal salaries!

Right, so how can you help someone else by helping yourself? Well check out Kyle's pictures and postcards and BUY them! The more we all buy, the more money will be raised for this young kid's education. The best part about it for those of you in Gringolandia (USA) is that shipping is FREE. For those of us in Chile....well I don't really know how shipping works, but Kyle explains it all here on her blog. So by buying yourself something, you are taking part of changing someone's life.

All I can say is:
1. If you want to read more about Kyle and her hubby's decision and the selected young man's story, check this out.
2. If you want to buy some photography prints to spruce up your house or give as a gift, check this out.
3. If you want to send some awesome Chile postcards around the world, check this out.

Feliz Cumple Christian!!!

Esto sólo es un shout-out para mi lindo esposo, quien está de cumpleaños hoy día!!!

¡¡TE AMO MUCHO!!

A Saturday Afternoon Outing

This past Saturday, my hubby and I decided to go exploring Bellavista, which is an artsy barrio fairly close to where we live. It’s on the base and side of Cerro San Cristobal. It’s famous for its variety of restaurants and its nightlife. It is also where one of Pablo Neruda’s house-now-turned-museum is located (La Chascona, check it out here) and where you can take the funicular (tram) up the cerro (hill) to get to the Virgin located up top.

We walked around quite a bit, making our way to La Chascona (although not entering) and heading back towards the Patio Bellavista, which is the cute little patio area which is very touristy. It has a feria artesania (equivalent of craft shops), but let me say it again—it is very touristy....so in case you aren’t picking up on my point = it is much more expensive to buy a pícaro indio in the Patio Bellavista than it would be at a normal feria artesania. It also has quite a few little restaurants, and that was exactly what we were more interested it. Figures, huh?

We ate some yummy-licious pizza that was definitely not on our post-dieciocho diet. But it was the weekend so what-the-hay?! It was nice to spend alone time together, outdoors in the sun, and forgetting about work or any other stress-related topics. We also spent the afternoon taking pictures. Christian took most of them, but I took a few. Here are the best of the bunch from both of us:

Opinions Needed--Wedding Photographer vs. Videographer

So my husband and I have come to the realization that for our wedding in the States (which will be in June '09) we prefer to have our item of splurge be our photographer. I spoke about it with some girlfriends last night, and we all came to the conclusion that good money should be spent on a good photographer because really the pictures are what last forever.

As I began researching photographers in Colorado, I also came across several videographers, which are just as expensive as photographers. That would be double the already splurged budget on capturing our wedding day....but I kind of wonder if videographers are worth the money. I mean, they say pictures are worth a thousand words, and it's very easy to make a slide show, etc. with the wedding day pictures that will tell the story of the whole day....so it is really necessary to videotape the whole thing?

What do you guys think?????

If you had a certain budget to stick to, would you pick:
1. an awesome photographer (& spend all your money there), or
2. get both a photographer and videographer with the same money (meaning the quality might not be the same)?

Quick update

Well I had hoped to write more than 2 posts about Fiestas Patrias last week, but it was a vacation week for me and obviously I was partaking in the celebrations. So for now you´ve got a REALLY good idea about the cueca and not much else, but I´m sure one day I´ll get to the rest. In any case, there is always google if you have a burning desire to know everything about dieciocho right now.

So I wanted to write a quick update (hence the creative name of this post) for anyone who’s been wondering where I’ve been....

• I have a new job which I just started this Monday! So far it has been going great, I really like the people, the company and the location. I’m right off the Tobalaba metro stop which is even closer to my house than my last job—can’t beat that! My boss is a fellow Chilespouse and she is really smart, so I’m excited to work with her and learn from her. Anywho, I’m in accounting for those of you who were wondering, but not auditing, I’m in internal accounting and working with contracts.


• I had all of last week off (just a little plus to changing jobs the week of dieciocho) which gave me the necessary time to relax and unwind after my last week at my previous job (uck!).


• I have been better about going to the gym (she says as she didn’t go yesterday, haha). No, but really, it’s true! Christian and I have been making a solid effort in going to the gym. I started a new cardio routine on the elliptical or bike, which is where I power-house go hard for 1 minute and then go a moderate pace for 1 minute. The good thing is that it really gets my heart rate up and my leg is feeling better. Plus I started lifting weights again which feels good.


• I have become completely obsessed with wedding details....gathering ideas for invitations or other DIY projects, looking at what other women have done for their weddings, you name it and I’ve been reading about it, or saving pictures on my comp for inspiration. The bad thing with this is that 1. my husband feels left out when I am tied to the computer for hours and 2. I have so many ideas it is overwhelming. Now I’m trying to sort through them all to see which ones will work with our outdoor ceremony and which ones won’t. I don’t want my wedding seeming like a circus of ideas... This also explains a lack of posting last week, as I was full-force researching invitation ideas, printing locations, DIY options, the whole works!


• Christian and I finally bought plates! They are sooo beautiful and they were our birthday present from my parents (for both of our b-days which are coming up). The plates are still sitting on my dining room table because we have yet to find space in our tiny kitchen for the 30-piece set!

P.S. I came across this awesome giveaway from Handbagplanet.com which is worth checking out. It is super easy to register and you have a chance to win one of 24 BEAUTIFUL handbags! Although I have no realistic hopes of winning, it would be SO cool to actually get any one of these purses. Which one do you think I chose (based on my personality of course)??? Check it out for yourself.

La Cueca (Part 2 of 2)

Forewarning: this is going to be kind of a long post because I’m publishing a paper I wrote in November of 2007 for a dance literature class that I took at CU. It was called the History & Philosophy of Dance and was taught by Erika Randall...who is AMAZING! I loved every minute of that class. She was so inspiring and so when she gave us a research paper and specific topics to pick from, I went to her and asked if I could write about the cueca, Chile’s national dance, because I love it so much. While I studied abroad in Chile I took two folkloric dance classes, one my first semester which was more of an introduction and just dances and the second class my second semester which was much more detailed and theoretical apart from practical. Enjoy!!!

Tyffanie
Professor Erika Randall
DNCE 4017
1 November 2007

¡Vuueeelta!

¡Vuueeelta! Eres la consentida, amor de amores*… The cueca is a polyrhythmic form of music and celebratory dance that has had a presence in Chile since the late 1820s, when the zamacueca, the parent version of the dance from Lima, Peru, made its way across the border (Sánchez Vargas). The dance is performed in an imaginary circle by a man and a woman whose movements are typically associated with the courtship process of a rooster and a hen. An invisible line divides the two halves of the circle and each dancer moves within his or her respective half. The two fundamental elements of the cueca are the guitar and the pañuelo (handkerchief), which is used to convey emotions, feelings and messages throughout the dance. Worth a thousand words, Figure 1 to the right visually describes one version of the cueca, the Cueca Campesina, during the zapateo (patoramosc). In the past, the many variations of the cueca corresponded to the differences in the Chilean society; however, the nationalization of the cueca has interrupted its method of oral transference and the reflection between the dissimilarities within the society and the cueca has all but vanished.

In the past, the different variations of the cueca reflected both geographical subcultures and social-class standings in Chile. Although there are over 100 variations of the dance known to have existed, they can be divided in to several broad categories or styles. As professor Margarita Sánchez Vargas teaches in her class on folkloric dance, there are three main types of cueca based on geographical differences which split the 2,700 mile-long country into three subcultures: the North [Cueca Nortina], the Central [Cueca Central], and the South [Cueca Chilota]. The rhythm of the Cueca Nortina is much slower than that of others, especially when compared against the Cueca Central and the Cueca Chilota. The slow and gentle miniature “skip” is representative of the Northern civilization, which shares many cultural ideas with the surrounding countries of Bolivia and Peru. The zapateo in the Cueca Nortina is a small hop and then a strike to the ground with the foot. In contrast, the zapateo of the Cueca Central is much more pronounced, including the intense stomping of the heels and toes. During the Cueca Nortina, the idea of machismo is demonstrated through the role of the woman, who is supposed to look at the floor when dancing instead of making eye contact with her partner, as is done in the cuecas of the central and southern zones. After the last vuelta (or change of place) in the Cueca Nortina, the dance ends with the dancers in their beginning positions, facing one another and without physical contact anytime throughout the dance. However, in the Cueca Central, the man and the woman typically interlock arms, openly demonstrating that the man has conquered the woman (Sánchez Vargas).

The Chilean society has always been very segregated by social class distinctions, which were mimicked by the different styles of the cueca, especially within the Central region. There are more than five principal different styles of cueca within that geographical zone including Cueca Campesina, Cueca Chora, Cueca Porteña, Cueca Criolla de Medio Pelo and Cueca Criolla Salonera (Sánchez Vargas). The Cueca Campesina traditionally characterized the rural, poorer populations in the central zone of Chile. In this version, the dancers’ bodies are more grounded and hunched over as they both wave and spin their pañuelo in all areas around their body that are under eye-level (Sánchez Vargas). In some cases, the man may even use the pañuelo to join his arms in circling them around the woman during the zapateo, showing the great progress of his romantic conquest and entering into the personal space of the woman. In the upright and erect Cueca Criolla Salonera, as taught by Sánchez Vargas, the dancers are neither allowed to lower their pañuelo below eye-level nor rotate it—the handkerchief is presented nicely and basically left untouched except to change position of the hands. Musically, the Cueca Campesina is played by untrained musicians, differentiating it from the Cueca Criolla Salonera. One can easily distinguish the musical technique employed in the latter just from simply hearing the first few bars of music. The instruments vary as much as the level of musical expertise, ranging from the tambourine, drums and spoons that supplement the guitar in a Cueca Campesina, to the piano, harp and accordion played for the Cueca Criolla Salonera. Another interesting dynamic is how the two dances conclude. The Cueca Criolla Salonera is a cueca conclusive, where the dancers finish when the music stops playing. On the other hand, the Cueca Campesina is a cueca suspensiva, meaning the dancers finish their dance when the singer finishes singing, even if the music has not stopped (Sánchez Vargas). This is a very important feature of this style of cueca because it symbolizes the strong connection within the various rural communities, as the dancers must really listen to what and how the vocalist sings the cueca.

There are different versions of the cueca because it is a dance that has been historically conveyed from one generation to the next through oral tradition. Each version, whether it is the Cueca Chilota or the Cueca Porteña, has been learned through participation in the community in which the dance thrives. The different variations of the cueca survived for over 100 years because “Chilean society, in the past, was highly stratified according to income” (Roraff 51), and travel between geographic divisions was not frequent. For this exact reason, there is not much documentation regarding the cueca in general, but this is something the Chilean folklorists, such as Margot Loyola, have been improving upon.

It was declared on Sept. 18, 1979 by the Chilean government that “the cueca [was] the official national dance of Chile” (Knudsen 68). The Federación Nacional de la Cueca [FENAC], formed in response to this new law, made it obligatory for the state schools to compete in the national championship of the cueca (Knudsen 68). In turn, the school system had to start teaching this dance to students, whereas before it was an extracurricular option (Bobadilla). These competitions, as part of the nationalization, “created a stereotypical cueca …people got the impression that there is only one correct Chilean cueca: the huaso cueca [campesina] of the Zona Central” (qtd. in Knudsen 68). Even before the nationalization, the Cueca Campesina was supported as being the national symbol: “The cueca seems to be even more itself when a huaso dances it” (Garrido 66).

The nationalization of the cueca caused an abrupt change in the method of its transference. As ethnomusicologist Felix Hoerburger discusses, “…folk dances [in their first existence] are learned in a natural, functional way…[and are] an integral part of the life of a community” (qtd. in Nahachewsky 18). The cueca was exactly that—a dance “preserved by oral tradition” (Valdés 41) that was learned during community festivities such as baptisms, weddings, the Independence Day celebrations as well as during religious celebrations such as Carnival and Mingas (Sánchez Vargas). In 1979, it then became an academic study, which meant normalizing the manner in which it was taught and the style that students should learn—the Cueca Campesina. This has changed all parts of the education system, affecting even the university level. The students who study Physical Education are required to take a Folkloric Dance class in order to be better equipped as P.E. teachers with the knowledge to teach the cueca and other folkloric dances to the younger generations (Sánchez Vargas). Just as the National Anthem is seen as a national symbol in the United States, the cueca is also taught to be one of the four national symbols of Chile (Knudsen 68) as well as “part of the spiritual personality of the country” (Subercaseaux 144).

The cueca has transformed over the last 20 years since its nationalization into an international symbol of Chile both for Chileans and tourists alike, which has further perpetuated its normalization. As a foreign exchange student trying to learn the cueca from my friends and host family, it was difficult to grasp because each person taught me different and conflicting movements. The first class I took pertaining to traditional Chilean dances taught the basic choreography of the cueca; however, when we practiced the dance, we did so without any acknowledgement that other versions of the cueca exist. This style of teaching is a reoccurring approach within the education system which has caused a normalization of the dance. However, since students are not taught that variations of the cueca exist, they unknowingly mix in elements of different cuecas, demonstrating that the oral tradition of the cueca has yet to be completely interrupted by its nationalization. With the progress of this strongly developing country, the divisions between the social classes and geographical regions have lessened, but still exist. The cueca has lost the various accents it once had, and instead of portraying different dialects, it has become a voice of the masses.

*Translation: Change of place! You are spoiled, my love of all loves…

Works Cited

• Bobadilla, C. “Re: ayuda!.” E-mail to C. Bobadilla. 23 October 2007.
• Garrido, Pablo. Biografía de la Cueca. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Nascimento, 1976.
• Knudsen, Jan Sverre. “Dancing Cueca ‘With Your Coat On’: The Role of Traditional Chilean Dance in an Immigrant Community.” British Journal of Ethnomusicology 10.2 (2001): 61-83. JSTOR. U of Colorado Lib., Boulder. 4 October 2007 http://www.jstor.org.
• Nahachewsky, Andriy. “Once Again: On the Concept of ‘Second Existence Folk Dance’.”
  Yearbook for Traditional Music 33 (2001): 17-28. JSTOR. U of Colorado Lib., Boulder. 4 October 2007 http://www.jstor.org.
• patoramosc. Zona Huasa, Folklore y Tradiciones. 31 October 2007
  http://www.geocites.com/patoramosc/cueca.html.
• Roraff, Susan and Laura Camacho. Culture Shock! Chile. Oregon: Times Media Private Limited,
  2000.
• Sánchez Vargas, Margarita. Class Lecture. Danzas Folklóricas. Universidad Católica de
  Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile. Spring Semestre 2007.
• Subercaseaux, Bernardo. Historia de las Ideas y de la Cultura en Chile, Tomo II, Fin de Siglo: La Época de Balmaceda. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universitaria, S.A., 1997.
• Valdés, Samuel Claro and Carmen Peña Fuenzalida. Chilena o Cueca Tradicional. Santiago:
  Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile, 1994.
  
  

El Dieciocho in Chile (Part 1 of 2)

There is not a better time of year to be in Chile than for the week of Fiestas Patrias, September 18th and 19th. This is when all things Chile are celebrated and praised. The empanadas, chicha, vino, anticuchos, huasos and the cueca. What are all of these things you might be asking? Well stay tuned because I plan to focus this week’s blogging on my favorite Chilean holiday.

A Sex Rebellion in Chile

The New York Times online published an interesting (?) article about Chile on Friday Sept. 12th. In Tangle of Young Lips, a Sex Rebellion in Chile is about the Chilean teenagers and a new phenomenon of ponceo (or making out with multiple people the same day). There have been several television documentaries covering the same topic and it is just as repulsive to the average person here as you will probably feel reading it.

I have found something interesting about Chilean teenagers in general--they all seem to have the need to belong to a tribu urbana (urban tribe), which are cliques that take things to the extreme. We’re not just talking about valley girls vs. nerds vs. jocks vs. artists...we’re talking about pokemones, emos, hardcores and the list goes on. In fact, I found a map that details the different urban tribes defined in this country. It is a noted difference that I have seen between here and the US, whereas gringos seem to forever seek independence, the Chileans look to follow. Obviously this is not applicable to all Chileans, but I think it affects the youth greatly. Might be a more in depth topic for a future post....but for now, have at the NY Times article.

Not exactly the type of publicity I wanted Chile to have...

Recipe: Vegetable Stir-Fry with Egg Noodles

I made a modified version of this recipe (on Sunday) that I got out of a healthy-food cookbook that I bought at Barnes & Noble hace algunos años (a few years ago). I don’t remember what the book was called and I only have pictures of the recipes that I liked (this was my last-minute-way of bringing good recipes with me to Chile without actually bringing the whole book—I didn’t have space in my suitcases!). Well the recipe is modified of course because I couldn’t find all of the necessary ingredients, but it turned out well so have fun with it. I’ll post the actual recipe and then in parenthesis, I’ll put my changes or comments just as I’ve done in previous recipes.

Vegetable Stir-Fry with Egg Noodles

Preparation time: 20 minutes (I think it really depends on how fast you are to cut up all the veggies, I happen to be a slow cutter)
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4

• 7 oz (200 g) dried egg noodles (I used whole-wheat pasta, couldn’t find egg noodles here)
• 2 tsp. canola oil
• 8 scallions (spring onions), cut into 1 in. lengths (I used 2 entire green onions)
• 1.25” x 1.25” piece of fresh ginger, julienned (couldn’t find ginger, so I did without it)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 7 oz (200g) Swiss brown mushrooms, quartered (I used normal white button mushrooms)
• 1 red pepper, seeded & thinly sliced
• 1 zucchini, cut on the diagonal into 1/2 in slices
• 1 carrot, sliced on the diagonal
• 10.5 oz. broccoli, cut into small florets
• 10.5 oz Chinese cabbage, shredded (definitely couldn’t find this...so I did without it)
• 2 tbs. hoisin sauce (couldn’t find this, but my search isn’t over yet; to bring the spicy aspect into the recipe, I put in some merken)
• 4 tbs. sake or dry sherry (didn’t have either so I mixed a bit of white wine with red wine)
• 1 handful cilantro leaves, plus extra to serve
• 10.5 oz packet of firm tofu, drained and cut into cubes (couldn’t buy tofu on Sunday, so I cooked some chicken beforehand to use in the recipe)

Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Add the noodles and cook until tender, following the package’s directions. Drain.

Heat a wok over a high heat, add the canola oil and swirl to coat. Add the scallions and ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for 1 minute.

Add the red pepper, zucchini, carrot and broccoli to the wok and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes. Add 1-2 tablespoons water to help steam through, if necessary. Add the cabbage, hoisin sauce and sake and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, or until cabbage has wilted and all the ingredients are well combined. (I also threw in the chicken at this point so that it could heat up again.)

Toss through the tofu, noodles, and cilantro until well coated in the sauce and serve immediately.

Nutrition per serving:
Calories—411
Fat—10.4g
Carbs—47g
Protein—23g

Recipe: Warm & Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa from 101 Cookbooks

I found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks under the “quinoa” section. I love quinoa because you can use it in a variety of dishes, it easily replaces rice & noodles and it is a full protein. The best thing about finding this recipe is that I could actually make it here in Chile, along with a few modifications.

I made this recipe on Sunday evening and took advantage of using it as a dessert and breakfast yesterday morning! I will put up the original recipe and put my modifications in parenthesis to the side.

Warm & Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa

“... Also, a few notes and tips from the book: low-fat soy milk may replace the low fat milk, blueberries may replace the blackberries, dark honey may replace the agave nectar, and walnuts may replace the pecans.” (Don’t forget to watch the milk carefully when you boil it and then cover it because it has a tendency to rise quickly. I actually left the lid slightly ajar to ening...after it happened the first time.)

• 1 cup organic 1% low fat milk (lecha descremada en Chile)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup organic quinoa*
• 2 cups fresh blackberries, organic preferred (I used frozen berries that I bought in the supermarket)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted**
• 4 teaspoons organic agave nectar, such as Madhava brand (I used Karo pancake syrup, because we happen to have it in our house, but you could also just use honey as mentioned above or throw in a packet of Splenda in the water-milk mixture.)

Combine milk, water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. (Remember, be careful here with the milk rising!) Turn off heat; let stand covered 5 minutes. (Since I was using frozen berries, I stirred them into the quinoa right when I turned off the heat and was going to let it stand for 5 min.) Stir in blackberries and cinnamon; transfer to four bowls and top with pecans. Drizzle 1 teaspoon agave nectar over each serving.

Serves 4.

*Rinse the quinoa in warm water before using it. This helps to remove the outer coating which tends to be bitter.

**While the quinoa cooks, roast the pecans in a 350F degree toaster oven for 5 to 6 minutes or in a dry skillet over medium heat for about 3 minutes.

Recipe: Perfect Popcorn by SimplyRecipes

Christian made me the perfect popcorn on Sunday night, following the awesome recipe from Elise Bauer. Just as a preparer’s note, I would use an old pan to make the popcorn just in case it doesn’t go as planned...you don’t want to burn a new pan! Here goes the recipe tal cual as it is published on SimpleRecipes, with my comments italicized and white:

Perfect Popcorn Recipe
Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp canola, peanut or grapeseed oil (high smoke point oil)
• 1/3 cup of high quality popcorn kernels
• 1 3-quart covered saucepan
• 2 Tbsp or more (to taste) of butter
• Salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat the oil in a 3-quart saucepan on medium high heat.

2. Put 3 or 4 popcorn kernels into the oil and cover the pan.

3. When the kernels pop, add the rest of the 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels in an even layer. Cover, remove from heat and count 30 seconds. (Count out loud; it's fun to do with kids.) This method first heats the oil to the right temperature, then waiting 30 seconds brings all of the other kernels to a near-popping temperature so that when they are put back on the heat, they all pop at about the same time.

4. Return the pan to the heat. The popcorn should begin popping soon, and all at once. Once the popping starts in earnest, gently shake the pan by moving it back and forth over the burner. Try to keep the lid slightly ajar to let the steam from the popcorn release (the popcorn will be drier and crisper). Once the popping slows to several seconds between pops, remove the pan from the heat, remove the lid, and dump the popcorn immediately into a wide bowl.
With this technique, nearly all of the kernels pop (I counted 4 unpopped kernels in my last batch), and nothing burns. (I had between 10-14 kernels in the batch made by Christian)

5. If you are adding butter, you can easily melt it by placing the butter in the now empty, but hot pan.

6. Salt to taste.

Makes 2 quarts, a nice amount for two people, or for one hungry one.

Foodie much?

So I've declared myself a foodie, after having realized that my life revolves around food. The fact that I plan my day around when and what I will eat seems to be almost sufficient reason enough for this new classification...but, además de esto (in addition to this), here are the other reasons that spurred this self-diagnosis:

• One of my favorite activities is to eat delicious food, whether it be at a new restaurant, an old fave or in my own kitchen. My husband and I continually spend more money than we should eating at new restaurants in Santiago, en la búsqueda (looking) for rich FLAVORS of exotic food that give variety to the typical, plain Chilean food.
• I love looking up new recipes to cook, even if I never end up making them.
• If you’ve seen past posts in my blog, you know that I talk quite a bit about food as it is (pasta primavera, spaghetti, oranges, restaurant reviews, and desserts).
• The Food Network is my favorite channel ever...and I dearly miss it here in Chile. When I get a chance to watch cable television, the Gourmet channel is my first choice.
• I totally want to have my own cooking show like Giada’s “Everyday Italian”.
• I used to want to be a top chef when I was younger, cooking up fabulous desserts and making the presentation meet the flavor level. I soon opted out of this career after learning about the cooking industry. I had a friend, Abbye, who went to Johnson & Wale’s University in Denver for culinary arts and I remember the day she told me that she had to wear her hair back, no jewelry, and no nail polish. I thought, “Four years without jewelry and nail polish? No thank you.” Hahahaha...of course, there was more to it than that...but at the age of 16, that was definitely a huge turn-off to culinary school.

And with this new self-definition, I will be posting recipes which I make and end up loving, including any changes I made to the recipe to suit the lack of resources here in Chile. I will also post any pictures that I happen to take before we dig in (sometimes we just can’t wait for pictures!). Enjoy!!

New Look!

Well as you can see, La Chilegüita got a makeover today!

I'm pretty excited about the improvements that I made and hopefully you'll find this blog a bit easier to read--now the blog archive is on the left for easy access and all the other stuff on the right hand side.

Anywho...that's all for today!

Group Blog Topic: Chilean women

Today as I sat in a work conference and let my thoughts wander from IFRS to this topic, I came up with a variety of things that could spark inspiration for this blog post. I find there are many differences between American women and Chilean women, but I do not find them to be gaping differences, just little things that I have noticed throughout my time here. Most of them relate to girly things (obviously), like beauty, fashion, and “woman topics” if you catch my drift. I could write forever on these topics, and so to be consistent with my post on Chilean men, I will limit this post to a one pro & one con.


Behind The Times (aka the Con)

I would never say that Chile is any sort of fashion & beauty capital. In fact, I’m more likely to say it is the exact opposite. And one of the things that bugs me most about women here is how they “wear” their hair and “put” on their makeup. Let’s take each of these subjects separately because really it is a problem here.

Most Chilean women wear their hair long. And you would think that they would take care of their hair, washing at least every other day, brushing it before leaving the house, even styling it different every once in a while. Ha. Good luck finding any of that. I swear that the majority of women here wash their hair maybe once a week and definitely do not try and style it before leaving the house.* When I was studying at La Católica, it was disgusting to see how many girls wear their hair greasier than a McDonald’s french fry. And when you can see white pieces of I-don’t-know-what in someone’s hair, dirtiness has gone too far. Another thing with the hair here is that if they do fix their hair, 1. it is the same style every day, and 2. if it is in a ponytail, they put cualquier cantidad (any number) of barrettes all over the place and make their hair look like a rat’s nest. There is no such thing as a smooth, hair-sprayed ponytail...if you see one of these in this country, that girl is a gringa.

Moving on to the makeup issue, it is one of two extremes for the most part: or they wear absolutely no makeup whatsoever, or they wear it like Mimi on the Drew Carey show. Ok so in most cases, Mimi is an exaggeration, but really 99% of chilenas have NO idea how to apply makeup. How about inch-thick eyeliner under their eyes and a nasty green cream-based eye shadow (that you know they bought on the streets) on their eyelids. It really just isn’t a pretty picture.

And think about the hair and make-up (or lack thereof) together....eeek!!!


The Modernism the US Lacks (aka the Pro)

This is where most men might want to stop reading because we are going to enter in to the realm of “womanly” talk....and no, not about periods just yet (that might be another topic soon), but about depilación (hair removal).

Where as in the States, women are subjected to an everyday razor and shaving cream or products like Nair, the Chilean women have this topic under control with waxing and the máquinas de tortura (torture machines, which is my nickname for the electric depilatory devices). There are so many waxing locations here that you really do have to be choosy with the ones you go to, just to make sure you are getting a clean service. But let’s explore this topic a little further...

So, girls around the age of 12 or 13 begin to use the máquinas de tortura that their mother’s have. Or maybe they receive one as a gift from an aunt, abuela (grandmother), etc. Now, although I think these little machines are more painful that both of my tattoos, I think starting at an early age wouldn’t have been such a bad thing. Why you may ask? Because just as with waxing, this little device pulls out the hair from its root, achieving the same results as waxing, just a bit more slowly. Each machine has a rotating head with like 6 tweezer-like parts that rotate quickly to pull out the hair. One has to spend much more time going over the same spot in order to get all of the hair, unlike waxing which takes one (maybe two max.) times to remove a good section of hair.

Well, after years or using the máquina de tortura and waxing, these ladies are left with virtually no hair because they have effectively killed the root that grows hair. Not only that, but when the hair grows back, it at least comes back soft instead of course & stubbly like with a normal razor. It is so UN-popular to shave here, that it is difficult to find women’s razors and even harder to find shaving cream. It is mostly all men’s products.

And waxing here is much cheaper than in the States, which I think is an important “barrier of entry” for gringas to always wax their legs, bikinis, armpits, etc. Here, you can pay a nice & clean salon $20USD to wax everything I just mentioned. A Brazilian bikini wax is typically around $14-$20USD, more expensive than a simple bikini wax...but it’s nothing compared to the $60 Brazilians in the States.

While I have yet to jump on this waxing and torture machine bandwagon, I definitely like to take advantage of the cheap bikini waxes for the summer season. And I’m thinking about starting with the leg waxings...maybe then one day I’ll also be able to kill all the hair-growing roots and not have to worry about shaving/depilation when I’m like 50! Shout out to the women here who are WAY smarter when it comes to getting rid of body hair that we are!

*Most exceptions to this majority are the professional working women I have seen, but not even all of them fix their hair. They always wear it the same way every. single. freaking. day. BORING!

[Updated in order to publish links to the other fabulous stories that over a dozen gringas wrote!]
Lydia
Florencia
Sara
Emily
Shannon
Jessica
Heather
Sheabel
Abby
Amanda
Renee
Clare
Kyle

Pet Peeves

One of the things that drives me absolutely crazy is when people *continually* spell my name (or anyone’s name for all that matters) wrong. I understand when it happens for the first time around (especially with my name), but when the same person makes the same mistakes over and over, to me, it seems like a lack of respect that they can’t even take enough time to take note that the other person’s name is spelled differently.

I’ve been at my job for more than 2 months now and people STILL can’t spell my name right. I mean, ya so it’s a gringa name, but if I can spell their name without problems, why they hell can’t they get mine straight? This also happens with a co-worker from France, instead of putting the double “m” in his name (Emmanuel) as it should be written, they put an “n” and “m” (Enmanuel). Anyway, this is not just a Chilean thing, as people in the States did it all the time to me too!

Now of course I understand a typo here and there....but this is more than that. Perhaps I’m more sensitive to this topic since my name is always being spelled wrong: Tiffany (what people would consider the most “normal” way to write it), Tyffany, Tiffanie,.....no, it is TYFFANIE. Not that hard to learn people! And of course, this little pet peeve of mine has made me very attentive of other people’s names, which is kind of cool because they are always surprised that I remember their name or how it is spelled.

Point of the story: take 5 seconds to see how a person’s name is written and be consistent about it. If the person has an unusual name, ask them how their parents’ choose it, you might be surprised how easily that simple conversation can turn into a friendship.