September

Well I've been pretty good about updating my blog, expect for the last few weeks. A lot has been happening, and I've been trying to plan out my future, or at least my next year, or couple months. September 16th, I went to see Medeski Martin & Wood. The show was good, but not fantastic. It was great to see a jazz/funk band from the US in the Chilean environment. Normally at their shows you have the hippy/dancing crowd, but September 16th the norm was sport coats for men, and dress pants/skirts for women. I actually heard someone "shhhhhh" someone else. Definitely a cultural experience.

Then the parties of Chile began. The fiestas patrias are what drive Chileans to live. It is a combination of Thanksgiving, Spring Break, Christmas, the State Fair, and July 4th. This year September 18, their Independence Day, and September 19th, their milatary day happened to fall on Thursday and Friday, so the party got started on Wednesday night. Many schools were closed all week and people left Santiago on the Sunday before. I say it is like our holidays for these reasons
Thanksgiving: It is centered around eating. We had bbq's every day, and ate empanadas every day.
Spring Break: It is getting nice down here so people are antsy to get outside, and the beach towns are flooded with vacationers.
Christmas: We put up decorations, banners, flags, and people just had a general giddiness about them that reminded me of the last day of school before Christmas Vacations. I saw students running up and down the hallway giggling gleefully on the Tuesday before "the parties"
The State Fair: All around Santiago and the country there are huge "Fondas" which are basically huge fairs with games, live music, tons of food and drinks, dance tents and a fair like atmosphere.
July 4th: The whole country shows their patriotism during the entire month of September. In the grocery stores, in the little corner shops, in the pharmacy, there are decorations, banners, flags, and national colors hanging proudly. In the major grocery stores there is Traditional Chilean music playing non-stop. Now I thought people may get sick of these songs, but every time I went in, I'd see fathers singing to their children, couples happily reciting the lyrics and generally loving the music.
I didn't leave Santiago for the vacation but instead hung out with my "family" down here and enjoyed hanging out with them.


(Carne galore. Meat, meat and more meat. I think I ate more meat that week than I had in the previous couple months.)


(The cueca, the traditional dance that is performed during this week, but otherwise sort of forgotten about. There was a show on the street outside my apartment in front of the Municipality Building)


(Military parade outside our apartment. They really take their armed forces seriously down here. The parade started in the center of the city and lasted about 3 hours. Then each section of the military marched back through their communities.)


(José-Tomás continues to entertain me, or I entertain him. I'm not sure, but it is fun to have him around the house. He always walking into my room and trys to pull down everything from my desk and investigate.)


(Teaching Angie how to make cinnamon rolls. My "family" is obsessed with the rolls. They think I should sell them outside of Starbucks for $2 a roll. They swear I'd make a ton of money)