New Things

I started out thinking it was only my mother, then I thought it was Jewish mothers, but now I’m beginning to realize that it’s just mothers—wherever you go, mothers always try to feed you.

This has been slightly problematic since I’ve been here. I don’t eat that much—or rather, I eat a lot, but I eat small things throughout the day and don’t usually sit down for big meals other than breakfast. But that doesn’t exactly fly here—where there’s culturally very little breakfast, a huge late lunch, and a big dinner late at night (10:00). And there’s very little snacking.

Mercedes packs me a lunch every day for school, and it is always delicious—but huge. Yesterday, I was literally given enough food for three meals. Mercedes made this incredible stew, and I ate as much as I could, and gave the rest to other people in the program who didn’t bring lunch or wanted to try it, so I wouldn’t have to throw anything away. It’s harder when I’m at home though—I always try to ask for small portions, but at the same time I really don’t want to be offensive. As soon as I finish, there is always pressure to eat more: Are you sure you don’t want something else? Eat something! You don’t eat enough; you’ll get too skinny. And it’s not just Mercedes—her niece came over the other day and kept handing me cookies. I would say no thanks, but she would literally ask every two minutes if I was hungry…so I just kept eating them. I guess it’s good that I walk 30 minutes to and from class every day…

Classes are moving along this week—it’s been getting a bit easier every day, but it’s still pretty difficult to understand what everyone is saying. We have three hours of Spanish class in the morning at Universidad Alberto Hurtado, and then we come back to CasaSIT (our school building) for our thematic seminars. Spanish class is going well; I’m learning a lot very quickly. The thematic seminars begin on Monday, but we’ve had introductory lessons about the history of education in Chile, and I felt completely lost. Luckily, a bunch of my classmates felt the same way and we went over everything after class—in English. I kind of felt like I was cheating, but I’d rather leave with a full understanding of the material.

Everyone in the program seems great so far. The other night we all went out to dinner after class, ordered random items off the menu, drank delicious Chilean wine, and got to know each other. Everyone is so interesting! Our academic directors are great as well, and they make it very easy for us to ask questions (we all think that they secretly speak English and are just very good liars!)

The other night, I did something that I’ve been warned against by my parents and friends and the program directors—I walked home from CasaSIT alone in the dark (I left around 9:30, after our dinner.) In my defense, I tried to call a taxi, but when I called they couldn’t understand what I was saying, or my location, so I gave up. I thought I’d be walking half of the trip with Jackie, one of my friends from the program, but it turns out we took different routes, and only walked together for about four blocks. I wish I could say the experience it was liberating and empowering, but I was pretty nervous the whole time. My nerves made me feel incredibly sexist more than anything else. I tried to walk where there were other women walking, and was always more on edge when a man was walking behind me than a woman or a group of men and women. I guess it makes sense, but it was just a bit disheartening to realize that I’ve given in to thinking this way. Anyway, I made it home just fine, although hopefully my Spanish will improve enough so that cab companies can understand my location…

On a more positive note, Mercedes and I have been working on two New York City jigsaw puzzles for the past week, and we finished them last night! Mercedes is awesome at puzzles. Pictures:

(Mercedes is on the far right, with her niece Sandra and her great niece, Marcela)

(Mercedes and the wonderful finished product!)