Completos and Havana Salsa

Completos, which are extremely common in Chile, are hot dogs

lathered generously with avocado, mayonnaise, and tomatoes.

Monday marked the first actual day of real class. It went really well, especially since I only have one class on Mondays and Wednesdays at 9:00 am - 10:30 am. I did have tutorial at 3:00 pm, so I couldn't necessarily leave the center right away to go home. In any case, I started up doing Insanity with Angela almost everyday, who is a beast at it. After class, I decided on a whim with Brittany to try these famed completos that every Chilean has raved to me about. Brittany and I went to Domino, which is a huge hot-dog joint that specializes in completos of every kind. The traditional completo is an italiano, which is what Brittany and I ordered. I was super hungry, so I ended up ordering two. Don't judge. You wish you were me.


Soon after enjoying my completos with Brittany, I headed home for an amazing dinner of pasta and grapes. I realized that I'm already eating significant healthier than I usually do in the United States. Maybe I could get used to this.

Location of the main center stage of Havana Salsa, where basic class is.

The warmups for each salsa class is led by a team of dancers on this exalted stage.

First dance crew: Left to right. Kevin, Laura F., Laura P., me, Keryn, Brittany, and Gavin

After classes end, a free-for-all dance takeover of the central stage commences.

This dessert my mom made with banana looks so good that it would be a crime not to mention it here.

Ariel's Visit and Church

Ariel's mom, Ariel, Ma, and me

Ma, Ariel's host sister's friend, host sister, me, Ariel

Saturday night, Ariel comes over with her mom, her host sister, and her host sister's friend. We all have some wine together and discuss Ariel's and my adjustment to living in Chile. It turns out that Ariel's mom is a singer, which is funny because so is my host mom. It was very interesting and amusing to watch both of them bust out their iPods and play their songs and point out exactly when they're singing. Then, Ma mentions to Ariel's mom that I'm a singer, and she asks me to sing. I decided to sing Amazing Grace since I'm used to how Talisman, my a capella group, sings it. Ariel's host mom really like it a lot and asked me questions about my singing career. Another topic Ariel's host mom brought up was Chilean cuss words, and she immediately asked my mom what words I learned. This was an interesting topic, because Ma had actually never taught me any bad words. I did pick up bad words along the streets and in conversation, but even then I didn't really know that many. It was funny because Ma immediately starts spitting out words that I recognize but she never taught me, primarily because she sensed a competition with Ariel's mom. The mother began responding with a whole novel of words that she taught Ariel, much to my mom's dismay. This turned out to be a very comical discourse between families, and it brought to attention a very important part of Chilean culture: the emphasis on inter-familial bonds. Sharing of wine with friends is very common when inviting them over, and usually friends spend about 2 to 3 hours catching up and having a great time.

After wine sharing, I went to Ariel's house with her family so the sister could get ready because she was going to take me and Ariel to a very popular club on Ave. Ossa, called D'Katar. Ariel and her sister and her sister's friend were going over lessons in make-up, while the mother hosted me while singing songs for me using recorded accompaniment. Finally the ladies finished their prettying rituals and were ready to bounce. We ended up having a great time at D'Katar, meeting up with a whole bunch of girl friends of the host sister and dancing on the main floor.

Parroquia Nuestra Senora de la Divina Providencia

Laura and I found a very nice old gentleman walking around the gardens.

The next day being Sunday, I decided to go to church with Laura. We went to Parroquia Nuestra Senora de la Divina Providencia on Ave. 11 de Septiembre, next to Antonio Varas. It was a very beautiful church, and there was a beautiful courtyard inside where I took time to just gaze at the beauty of the plants. Unfortunately, we didn't make it in time for Mass, but we stayed for a while. We also met with this very kind old gentleman, who happened to know a lot about the church. However, his accent and overall enunciation was very unclear, and it was difficult to hear and understand what he was saying, even for Laura, a native Spanish speaker. Afterwards, we headed home for dinner.

Dinner tonight was salad (eggs and tomatoes), olives, rice (see below), and juice

My host mom knows how much I love rice.

My host family's kitchen

My host family's living and dining room

Festival del Arte and Harvard

The Capoeira group we ran into in front of the Metro Station

Laura looking nice for the concert.

The Mapocho River that separated the park in half

Later that night, after coming back from hanging out with the Chilean students from the University of Chile, I went with a few friends to the Festival del Arte they were holding in a park near the Mapocho River, which at first glance looked like Willy Wonka's Chocolate River without as much flair. I walked with Laura, Kevin, and Chris (since we all live basically within 2 minutes of each other along Antonio Varas and Manuel Montt) to the Metro station where we bumped into a group of Chileans doing Capoeira, which is a Brazilian martial art that combines both dance and music.

View of the audience and the stage

One of the artists performing that night.

I don't really know what I was doing.

Here too.

Kevin and Brittany waiting in line freezing to death.

The genre of music at the concert was jazz, but I don't think it's jazz that is usually heard in the United States. It was very atonal, and didn't stick with any certain key in particular for more than 2 notes, I'm sure. The musicians were from Germany, and their German accent clearly bled through their Spanish phrases. It turned out to be a very chill night, with the clear sky and the music echoing in the park. Across the river on the other side of the park, you could see tons of other people sitting down listening to the concert for free. Laura and I were a bit restless afterwards and decided to take random pictures of the art that was around the park, while Kevin and Brittany went in line to get something to eat during the concert.

Posing near a typical menu at one of the many bars in Barrio Bellavista

Keryn, Laura, and me, waiting to get our drinks and fries

After the concert, everyone wanted to go to another club, preferably in Barrio Bellavista where the nightlife is. We found a club named Harvard in huge blue letters and was immediately attracted. The club was, more or less, pretty straight in comparison with the club from the night before, but it wasn't as fun, interestingly enough. There weren't that many people in Harvard, but we came a bit early around 12 am when people still are barely showing up. Let's just say that the girls had a really good time that night.

Brittany and her police guy friend at Harvard

Imani poses with her newfound friend

Imani getting it on with her newfound friend

Chris carrying Michael into the taxi... for some reason unbeknownst to me.

First Friday Off – Visit to Palacio de La Moneda, Parque O-Higgins

Palacio de La Moneda

Imani posing with the stalwart guard

Brittany looks excited to enter!

The Stanford crew meets with the tour leader

One of the many paintings that adorned the walls of La Moneda

Our first Friday and our first “day-off” (although frankly it feels more like a “week-off” already), we paid a visit to Palacio de la Moneda, or simply La Moneda, which is the seat of the President of Chile. It was originally a colonial mint where they manufactured coins from 1814-1929. Designed by Italian architect Joaquin Toesca, La Moneda officially became a presidential residence in 1845.

The main conference room

A model of a real cannon used during the military coup d'etat against

Socialist President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973

Model of the Palacio

Coins of all of the presidents of Chile except for Pinochet

Imani and Ariel with their new friend

The official chapel of the President

Brittany being silly before the Stanford alumnus arrives

Stanford students can spell C-H-I-L-E!

Left to right: Imani, Brittany, Eliza, Keryn, Ariel, Michael, Alex, me, and Lynsey

Stanford in Santiago Winter 2012

Stanford alumnus Claudio Seebach from the General Secretariat of the Government

We also got to meet with a Stanford alumnus, whose name I forgot. He gave us a speech and formally welcomed us to the Palace. We were all a bit tired of walking, so we decided instead to create the word “Chile” with our bodies.

Afterwards, we all went on the metro towards the stop Los Heroes so that we could transfer to the yellow line to Parque O-Higgins, which is where we would have our first encounter with Chilean students! I have to say, we were all excited to get to meet students our own age. We of course had more walking to do, but it was definitely worth it. The park was beautiful, and there were girls jumping in and out of sprinklers getting wet and crazy. It was a sight to behold.

We ended up meeting some Chilean students on the way to the BBQ spot, and we chatted for a while about things like university life and how much the fee is for private universities. It’s quite sad that most of the universities are private and thus very expensive, even though they hold the better quality education in comparison with public schools. It’s hard for students from low-income students to have access to higher education unless they have scholarships based on income.

Me trying out the ribbon activity

almost there...

Made it!

This crazy guy who can do it upside down.

Brittany exercising her muscles

Kevin too!

The food at the BBQ was amazing; we had different types of empanadas and hot dogs. It was definitely fun and entertaining, to say the least, to interact with the students. I remember I met a couple students, Alfredo and Thomas, who were both really cool and fun to talk with. Afterwards, there was this gymnastics ribbon game that some of the guys were doing. I became interested in trying it out, and it turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. It takes a lot of strength to bring yourself up, and your hands are constantly clamping on for dear life. Turns out I did okay, and I got a pretty good picture of myself.

Visiting the Engineering Department Building in the University of Chile campus

Posing with the statue at the entrance of the building

Afterwards, the Chilean students offered to give us a tour of the University of Chile. The campus was really big, and it was brimming with students. I was a bit surprised because I expected there to be no students during the summer, but it turns out that many students need to take or retake classes during the summer in order to catch up on classes they missed out on because they were busy with protests during the school year.

Some Chilean students trailing us

I met another student, Diego, who turned out to be very skilled in guitar. This one guy, Ignacio, was noticeably friendly towards one of my friends, Brittney; it was very entertaining to watch them interact.

Brittany and Ignacio being silly

Me and Lemuel (right) and another Chilean friend whose name I forgot

Emily and Laura

Michael providing booty space for Ariel

Black Luv moment #2

The students showed us a little shop downstairs where they sold snacks and drinks. This was the first time I willingly bought carbonated water (agua con gas) since normally I think it tastes disgusting. Shout-out to Eliza, who is the matron of carbonated water and introduced its joys to me for the first time. However, when you’re dead thirsty and hot, carbonated water is God’s special gift to Robi Bucayu. We left for home soon afterwards to grab dinner with our host families, and some students were kind enough to accompany us to the metro.

Dinner today was mashed potatoes, sausage, eggs, tomatoes and banana!