Deportes

It feels like I’ve been here forever when thinking of all the things I’ve experienced and learned since arriving two short weeks ago but then I realize I still have a lot more time to spend here which is comforting and a bit terrifying. A friend pointed out to me this past weekend that it’s kind of nice to not have to run around and quickly see all of the tourist sites before our weeklong vacation runs out because we are living here, living here. We’ve got time! Walking down the beach at sunset with some delicious helado can be a weekly tradition rather than a one time experience. That’s pretty cool.

This past weekend the school hosted a bonfire for all of the exchange students to meet a Chilean “buddy.” It was the smallest “bonfire” I’ve ever seen and did a weak job of keeping everyone warm as we stood outside in the 50° weather and did our best to keep our backs to the wind but the event itself was fun. We met some Chileans and some other exchange students from Arizona, Colorado, Germany, Switzerland and other South American countries. As per Chilean style, there was a dance-off and the Minnesotans held their own pretty well!

We hit the town after the bonfire and when I returned home at 2:30 in the morning I really shouldn’t have been surprised to find my “young hip” parents still up enjoying their Friday night. My host mom invited me to join her, my host dad and their friend for a Piscola (the classic Chilean drink). Seeing as it was almost 3am I declined the drink but sat down to talk. I feel super bad that I can’t remember the name of the friend that was over but my host dad calls him Gordo—fatty, so we’ll go with that for the point of the story. So Gordo is just finishing his law degree at the university and speaks broken English so the living room was Spanglish central as I tried to join in on the conversation and my host parents were constantly asking how to say this word and that word. I think I even managed to get off a few sarcastic jokes in Spanish, something I’m quite proud of. Anyway, before we knew it it was 5am and my brain was officially drained.

Sunday we went to watch Gordo’s tennis match because he and my host dad are self-proclaimed “amateur professionals”—there may be a lost in translation moment there but I don’t think so. Anyway, I’ve always enjoyed watching tennis but I’ve never been very good at keeping track of the score so when my host dad asked if I was having fun I said I was but then he didn’t believe me once I admitted I had no idea who was winning. He just laughed and did his best to keep me updated. After, we went out for ice cream, one of my favorite things to do anywhere. We went to this place with a deck overlooking the beach, the sun was out for the first time in days and it was gorgeous. My host mom, sisters and I shared a giant margarita glass full of ice cream, fruit and chocolate. Heaven. Needless to say I’m slowly finding my place in this family and enjoying every moment of it.

In other news, I joined my college’s basketball team. Now for those of you that know me at all you better be laughing out loud at that statement. My brother Dillon will be the first to tell you that he can school me any day when shooting hoops but let me assure you that the team here is much more similar to an intramural team in the US and many of the girls on the team do it for required physical education credit at school. I decided to do it in an attempt to keep myself busy and so that when I return home in 4 months I can say that I actually have some Chilean friends rather than spending my entire semester with a bunch of gringas. So my first practice was Monday and it was a blast AND I’m not even the worst on the team! The coach is very nice and didn’t mind repeating the drills a few times for my friend Kylie and I. Bonus, we practice at the naval base in neighboring Valparaíso aka there were plenty of army-types wandering around which I didn’t mind.

You may or may not have heard about the issues surrounding public education here in Chile in the past few months (if you haven't here's a nice re-cap from a newspaper in Santiago). Anyway, today and tomorrow have been declared para nacional (national stop) as a protest against the student's unhappiness with how the government is handling the education situation. There is supposed to be a strike of public transportation, effectively stopping the country. I haven't seen any differences in Viña today but our group was supposed to take a tour of Valparíso today but since the Congress is housed there, professors at our university worried for our safety there today so the trip was postponed. The daughter of our program director attends a British private school here and the students were told not to wear their uniforms to school today for fear they may be targeted by protestors for attending a private school. In Santiago this morning protestors of all ages turned out to barricade streets as part of the para nacional. There were reports of people boarding buses and holding the drivers at gunpoint to keep them from transporting people. It is a very interesting time to be in Chile but Ojalá que (God willing) that a resolution is reached soon so that everyone can be safe. 

One final thing, my camera has disappeared--I know, I'm a genius--so it will be a bit before I can post pictures but I look forward to being able to share with all of you how beautiful it is here!

Cariñas,

Mackenzie