La Serena has better... what?

A story:
In class the other night we were going over comparisons and I had my students compare a couple cities to help me decide where I should go over winter break. The options they had were La Serena, San Pedro de Atacama, and Lima. Of course everyone had negative things to say about Lima, because they don't like Peru, or Bolivia, or...Argentina. I had the students get in groups and create some sentences to compare the cities, and then they told the entire class. The second to last group delightfully said, "La Serena has better beaches than Lima, Peru." That alone is not a bad statement, in fact it is 100% correct, but imagine the word beaches, said by a Chilean with a Spanish accent and it sounds a little dirty. Needless to say, half the class understood it as "La Serena has better bitches than Lima, Peru," and everyone was dying of laughter while I had to explain the differences in pronunciation, and meaning between the two very different words. This was probably the funniest thing to happen during class so far.
I got my finals schedule yesterday and have four finals July 4th(don't they know it's a national holiday?) and one on July 9th. Then it's Winter Break until August 11th.

Let's get ready to rumble

Well, I didn't really do too much the past week. I just kind of did the living thing: teaching, eating, hanging out with my Chilean family, and friends, experiencing an earthquake. What? Did I just say earthquake? While it was more like a tremor it still confused me and I didn't know what was going on for a good ten seconds. Yesterday I was reading in the living room, soaking in the sun with our dog Pelusa, and dozed off only to be awoken by a shaking. At first I thought it was a bus, but the movement was more intense that a truck or bus, and it continued for about 20 seconds. The dishes and glasses rattled, and I stood up thinking, "Is this the end?" as I looked Pelusa in the eye and tried so hard to understand dog language. I think she told me in broken English, "Don't worry Ben-ha-mean, this happens fairly frequently, and because we are on the fourth floor the vibrations are magnified. Now lets get back to our naps." I felt better after being reassured by my street-wise dog.
Late that night, my "Brother" who used to live in the apartment told me some stories of the windows rattling and dishes falling out of the cupboards. Wild stuff. Well I guess I can cross that off my list of things to do while here in Chile.

Interesting fact. There is a WWE wrestler from Green Bay Wisconsin. This weekend I told someone(Chilean) I was from Wisconsin and he immediately followed with, "From Green Bay, Wisconsiiiin! Mmmmmisteeeeeeeerrrr Kennedyyyyyyy...!" I'm finding out more and more about my home state and country abroad.

Sunday, like I'm sure everyone knows by now marked the first qualifying game for Chile to enter the World Cup. I ended up hanging out with some Chilean family and friends as we pre-gamed and watched the game on our little tv in our kitchen. I kept thinking about how similar it was to Badger games, but extremely different at the same time. We were drinking wine and pisco instead of beer and bloody mary's, and instead of brats we had a dish of fried onions, cheese and egg with rolls. And of course the whole, watching soccer instead of football. We had our chants as well, which were just as uninspiring as "Let's Go Red." "Ch-Ch-Ch, le, le, le, Chile!"

It is winter here, but yesterday it was 68 and sunny, so I'm not really complaining. I guess that's all for this week. I have two more weeks of teaching and then finals. How the time flies.

Snowboarding in June

It was great to hang out with my UW friends for the last five days. A few days after Hannah took off for Montana, Dylan and Katy made the trip across the Andes to Santiago. They were stuck in Mendoza for a couple days, and made it here Friday night. I introduced them to the hear attack friendly foods of Chile right away with a chorillana for dinner. After dinner we met up with two friends of Dylan for some piscolas. Dylan worked with some Chileans in Vail last winter, so he already knew some guys down here. I thought it was a good introduction to Chile. Chorillana and pisco. Saturday we went down to central part of town to Plaza de Armas and Mercado Centra for some fish. That night we met up with another friend of Dylan´s for a birthday party/ barbecue. After that they took us to some club for some reggaetoned dancing. Sunday was filled walking around Barrio Bellavista and enjoying the views from Cerro San Cristabol. We headed home early Sunday night to rest up for our day of snowboarding. We headed up to the mountains early Monday morning and rode some great, open slopes of El Colorado. For me, it seems natural to be going snowboarding now, because I've been through a month or so of fall and some of winter. The day was spent acting like idiots, taking a ton of pictures, enjoying the view from the outdoor restaurant, laughing, and some good falls. Needless to say, my body is sore today, and I was told by a co-worker that I have a nice skier`s tan on my face. After riding, we went out for sushi, placing my sushi consumption up to maybe 7 times in my life. Monday Dylan and I walked around my neighborhood in the morning, and then I pointed him and Katy in the direction of Santa Lucia while I did some work. Oh yeah, that´s right, I´m working down here. After my first class I met up with Katy, Dylan and one of Dylan´s Chilean friends for a final good-bye. And just like that, three weeks of gringo fun is over. But, I now have some new Chilean friends to hang out with. Today I had lunch with my "family" and they told me that my Spanish has slid a little during the past three weeks in my "gringo party." Oh well, it was well worth it and I have some time to get it back.
That´s all for now.

Now for some snowboarding in June pictures.


(Extreme freestyle moves)


(Extreme front side grab)

(Way up in the Andes)

(Finding a good line)

(The UW Madison, Hoofers Ski and Snowboard club representing South America)

Nothing but blue skies

Well, it has been quite some time since I’ve blogged which means one of two things: 1) I’m just living such a boring life that there isn’t anything to write about, or 2) I haven’t had any time to sit down and write down my adventures. Well, it’s the latter. Hannah came down to visit me after her Ecuador program and we spent two glorious weeks together exploring my hometown of Santiago, the coastal and valley terrain of La Serena, and the colorfully decorated hills of Valparaiso.
Hannah made it down here safe and sound on Thursday, May 22nd and on Friday we went up to Cerro Santa Lucia
for some sight seeing on one of the most clear days I’ve experienced since my arrival in February. Hannah just couldn’t understand my constant onslaught of, “look at the mountains” comments until her last day when she saw the Santiagan Smog.

(View of the Andes Mountains on a smog free days)
After work on Friday we boarded an overnight bus to La Serena, which is a beach town located 6 hours north of Santiago. We arrived bleary eyed, feeling like we slept uncomfortably on a bus at 6:30am, but safe and with all our belongings. Then after a short nap we toured the city, visited some museums, and checked out the beach.

(not exactly the best beach day)
From what I’d imagine it is a nice beach but it was cold, damp, and visibility was minimal. We decided to call it an early night because of Sunday’s plans and I don’t think La Serena has much of a nightlife this time of year. Sunday we toured the Elqui Valley which included a tour of a pisco distillery,

(Hannah and I at the birth place of many fun nights)
lunch at a restaurant that cooks their food in solar ovens,

(Solar oven restaraunt)
a stop in Gabriel Mistral’s house and schoolhouse, and a stop in some small town plazas. The weather broke for us and the sun accompanied us on our tour. Mistral is one of the two Nobel Prize winners from Chile.

(Hannah with stray dog # 456 and 457 of the week)
All in all it was a great day. Monday we returned to Santiago, and hung out with the family Monday night.
The next week we did some more sight seeing at Cerro San Cristabol

(Taking the teleférico to enjoy the view of Santiago)
, Vega Central, Mercado Central, and Plaza de Armas among others. Hannah got a chance to explore the city on her own while I worked and have some heart to heart talks with my Chilean mother Elizabeth, even invoking a tearful explanation of Elizabeth’s family, and relationship history.
Friday after work we hopped on a bus and got into Valpo late and woke up early to walk the famous hills of Valpo. We toured Pablo Neruda’s Valpo house in the morning, then walked up and down some hills before meeting up with Juan Pablo and Stephanie.

(Hills of Valpo)
They made the trip out to Valpo to meet up with Hannah and me. After meeting and greeting Juan Pablo drove us around to a few spots and then took us out to a great seafood restaurant overlooking the ocean. I swear he’s the nicest guy I’ve ever met. After lunch we drove around in the hills and then we went to the neighboring city Viña del Mar and treated us to some gelato before we strolled up and down the boardwalk on the beach. After our meandering, they dropped us off at our hostel. Right there would have been an amazing birthday, but there’s more. We met up with some of my US teacher friends and we had a good time dancing the night away.
Sunday Hannah and I woke up at an outrageously early time of 9:30 in order to hurry back to Santiago because my family was insistent on us returning in the afternoon. I realize this was a little “American” of me to assume, but I thought when we got back at 2:00 someone would be there to greet us, but of course we waited until 6:00 and when it seemed nothing was materializing, Hannah, MJ(her travel buddy from Ecuador) went to get a chorrillana.

(Very excited for our Chorrillana)
And not two minutes after ordering, I got a call from Raul telling me, “Everyone is here waiting for you” That’s the way it works. The night was eventually filled with wine, Domino’s Pizza, and entertainment from José Tomás as he danced to reggaeton and hip-hop.

(Jose Tomas dancing to Fergie's "Fergalicious")
Monday, was spent wandering the streets of Plaza del Armas one last time and eating some seafood in Mercado Central. Sadly, I saw Hannah off Monday night and then met up with MJ and some other new friends I met through Hannah at the Phone Box Pub, to talk about how much we miss Hannah.
The last two weeks flew by and it’s amazing to think of how much we did and saw.