Tuesday, April 29, 2008

"How was the weekend?"

-Mine was pretty good.
Buenos Aires was wonderful. The city is always buzzing, except maybe Sunday morning, and filled with colorful, beautiful architecture. BsAs(Buenos Aires) is one of the most popular places to visit for a reason. It's not coincidence that you can literally be entertained 24 hours a day. Whether it's staying out until 6:30 dancing, or finishing dinner at 2:00am, or walking the streets in the morning and sipping on a wonderful cup of coffee(café)
(Taking some time to record my thoughts and sip on some delectable cafe)

my time was pleasantly filled. I really feel blessed to have such a good friend, Rachel play tour guide this last weekend. We were able to share experiences about traveling, teaching, and living in a south American city. I'll try to recount what we did, and hopefully it doesn't get boring reading about this communidad, or that plaza, or this monument.
Friday afternoon I arrived and after realizing that I had fallen for the taxi driver's ploy of getting tourists in their cabs and then over charging them, Rachel met up with me at the hostel. The taxi driver saw me looking for the bus/shuttle booth and told me he was the driver. He seemed nice,and I was able to understand him, and the next thing I know, I'm talking about Manu Ginobili(who plays for the Spurs and is from Argentina), this and that, and then I realize I'd been scammed. After a quick mental math session, I realized that I ended up paying about $33 for a cab ride. All in all I ended up paying more than I planned, but for a 40 minute taxi ride in a big city, it wasn't that bad.
We took off for La Boca which is where all the "pictures" of Buenos Aires are taken. Ironically, this part of town is sort of dangerous after dark, so we took off once the sun went down.





(Rachel and I in La Boca, the old shipping port, or "mouth" of the river. Here is where everyone takes a picture) That night Rachel, two girls we met at the hostel and one of Rachel's co-workers went out for pizza at an early 9:00pm. It is true what they say about eating late. When we got to the restaurants, there were plenty of tables, but by 10:30-11:00 it was packed. Then we went up to Chris' apartment for some socializing, and beer sampling. I got a chance to talk with other instructors that are friends with Rachel. They all teach private classes, so we had different experiences to share with each other.
(The gringo English teachers) This would be a good time to mention Rachel loves to take pictures, so literally everything from the weekend is documented. It's great. From Chris' apartment we took off to some well known club where we danced, and goofed around until 6ish in the morning.



(I don't think the picture does it justice, but it was incredibly hot, smokey, and loud. But...when in Rome, right?)
The next day(note day, because we didn't really do anything until noon time) we walked past the Plaza Congreso

, and headed to Recoleta Cemetery where extremely rich people are buried, including Evita. So of course Rachel coaxed me into taking a picture in front of it. I was kind of uncomfortable to begin with, and then a tour group rounds the corner right by me as I'm standing by the memorial. After that we wandered around some markets, had lunch and some gelato. That night we ate at a Peruvian restaurant near the hostel and then walked to Café Tortoni which is the oldest café in Buenos Aires, opening in 1858 and still riding the caffeine buzz. This is where we saw an incredible Tango Show.

(Here is the kind of dancing I like to do now. After watching it a couple times I think I have the hang of it:)) They had a live band, skilled dancers and Rachel, and a friend from the hostel and I had some more Dulce de Leche ice cream and some wine to accompany the show. After the show we went to an Earth Day celebration where there was live music. At the festival I met another friend from the USA who happened to be studying in BsAs this semester. I met up with Kate Lipinski, a friend from camp, and watched a little of the live music with her. Then we all went went out for a drink and called it a night at a modest 4am.
Sunday led us to San Telmo for the the markets and sights. We had a great Italian lunch, watched some live music, and tango dancers on the streets and then had some coffee with a friend of Rachel's roommate who happened on the Plaza. (China? Nope, just the busy markets on Sundays in San Telmo) That means he has live music all day on Sunday. Then we rented some bicycles and rode around town until it was time for more food. We went out to eat at fondue restaurant in Palermo. To give an idea about prices, four of us had the meat sampler which consisted of steak, chicken, ham, chorizo, mushrooms, potatoes, bread, tomatoes with a cheese fondue, dessert of dulce de leche fondue, and a bottle of wine for about $12. All my friends had to work on Monday, so we headed to our respected homes around 12-1 where I encountered a bunch of travelers like myself who did not have to work, so we hung out in our hostel bar till the wee hours of the morning.
(Here's the view of the bar/terrace from the highest terrace on the roof of the hostel. It was really cool)
Monday I walked around by myself on Lavalle and Florida street making my way to Plaza San Martin. Lavalle and Florida streets are filled with book stores, music stores, t-shirt shops, cafes, restaurants, and some museums. It is very touristy so a lot of of the salesmen knew English, so when they would talk to me, I was respond in Spanish. This would confuse them a little bit because they wouldn't know if I knew Spanish or was just bluffing. Usually they would then ask, in Spanish, if I spoke English/Spanish. I would then tell them I didn't speak English, only Spanish and was from Germany, which explained my limited knowledge. I had fun playing that game.
Last night we went to La Bomba de Tiempo en Konex. It was mix of a Rusted Root drum jam/rave/tribal dance/hippy fest kind of place that was really fun. The show started at 8:00pm, so naturally after it we went out to eat...dinner. I once again I treated myself to a steak dish with a creamy mushroom sauce. I'm not a huge steak lover, but from what I ate in Buenos Aires, I'd imagine a steak connoisseur would live and die in Buenos Aires(Probably from eating too much steak ironically) I got back to the hostel around 1:00 and called it a night because I had to wake at a normal time of 7:45 to make sure I got to the airport on time, without paying more than I should. My flights to and from Santiago were smooth besides some drops over the Andes, and I'd label this weekend as a huge success.

My pictures can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/bjcreagh

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Ready for some good aire

It's been a little while since I last wrote in here, so I've either been really busy and haven't had time to write, or not that much has happened. I think it's a mix of the two. Last week Tuesday my family celebrated Rodrigo's birthday, and I made him a cake(from a box) and got a bottle of wine for him.
Everyone was very impressed that A) I created a cake with cappuccino frosting from "scratch" and B) I didn't use a fire and burn down the kitchen. It was fun hanging out with the family and play the game, "Let's see how much Spanish Ben understands tonight" which I play quite a bit. At the end of Tuesday's festivities Rodrigo proclaimed, "continuaremos el viernes" so Friday I got a call from Rodrigo and I met up with him and his friends after work. I shifted from understanding and being understood to being lost. But all in all it was a great night.
Then it seems lately after having my Chilean experience I went back to the comfort of my gringo friends and hung out with Vinnie and Steve Saturday for Vinnie's birthday. We went to Vitacura which is in the "nice" part of Santiago. Or as I thought, the "Phoenix" or "Miami" section of Santiago. The buildings, the American chain restaurants, the car dealerships, the prices put me right back to the US, except the Spanish language part. But as we all know, there are sections of Miami and Phoenix where speaking English will make it difficult to move around.
Monday, Steve, Vinnie and I went to a restaurant called Las Vacas Gordas which translates to The Fat Cows. Lonely Planet has it as one of the top five restaurants in all of Chile, and it was great. I ate so much meat that I was still full around dinner time, and breakfast the next day. I'm not eating a lot of meat down here so the overwhelming amount of steak, chicken and chorizo with mashed potatoes. A great place to visit everyone once in a great while otherwise I will be broke, 10 pounds heavier, and have an assortment of health problems. But I don't see anything wrong with once a month or so.
This week I'm basically planning for my trip to Buenos Aires and day dreaming about my winter break trip which Vinnie Steve and I will undertake July 13th - August 3rd or so. We're going to go north to Peru, hiking, camping, surfing and relaxing. You know, we'll need the vacation from.....oh yeah, we're working down here.
Friday I take off and will be meeting a friend from UW-Madison in Argentina. I'll be staying at Hostel Estoril, which is a couple blocks from Rachel's place, I think. Buenos Aires will be mine from Friday afternoon until Tuesday morning, when I return to Santiago. I've heard the air has cleared up so I will be able to see the sights. Last weekend the city was covered in smoke, I haven't confirmed that the city was renamed Aires Malos last weekend, but I have my suspicion.
That's about all for now, I hope everyone had a great Earth Day by recycling, turning off the light when leaving a room, walking, I enjoyed my day by seeing this picture on the front page. We have some work to do here in Santiago.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Center for ANTS?!


I walk past this every day as enter the building, and laugh (to myself) every time I see it thinking of the Zoolander scene that has this quote:
What is this? A center for ants? How can we be expected to teach children to learn how to read... if they can't even fit inside the building? The building has to be at least... three times bigger than this!
Cue to 0:55 and you'll see what I'm thinking every day.

Welcome to my world.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Remember the 80's?

Because I don't. Or at least the punk rock stuff that came from London.
I say this because last night after dinner and drinks, the "kids" all went downtown to Club Blondie.

(The "family." From left to right- Elizabeth, Marie Jose, Juan, Raul, Rodrigo, Gringo)

All I knew was that we were going to a discoteque and figured it would either be reggaeton or classic US hits. But I was wrong once again here in Chile. When I say "kids" I mean my sister Marie Jose, her boyfriend Juan, Raul, the old roommate, and Rodrigo, my "brother." And actually I found out Rodrigo is actually the nephew to Elizabeth, but I still call him my brother. Right when I was doing a little mental math about the difference in taking a taxi home, or getting another drink, Raul beckoned us onto the dance floor where I started talking to some people. Maybe they came up to me because I stuck out. This time I don't think I looked different because of my fair skin and light brown hair, but more because of I had on a polo shirt, and khakais on instead of cut of jean jackets, tight holy jeans or a mohawk. Talking in a bar is hard when speaking English, but in Spanish is even more fun. Who knows if I was making sense, but I think I understood a little hear and there.
Back to dinner: It was a Chilean Mexican fiesta, so it was everything you'd expect minus the spices. We had a kind of chicken fajitas and beef fajitas mix, with guacamole, and a home made salsa, onions, and tortillas. Dinner was fun and I got to meet Raul who is a jolly ball of energy just waiting to explode. I say this as a compliment, he is always ready to laugh and follow with a joke. I think he got up during dinner three times to dance.
(Raul, not being shy about the fajitas. When asked if he wanted chicken or meat, he laughed and said why not both? I knew right there he was a good guy. It reminded me of "taco day" at Camp)
I was the DJ and played Tito Puente, and then Orishas which were the only Latin artists I had on my ipod. We decided to go down to the city center and took off at a normal time of 12:45am, and that's when I found myself at the center of punk, indie rocker's dreams.
Friday night after work I was tired and didn't feel like going out, so I just hung out at the apartment chatting with mi madre until Rodrigo came home and I presented a problem to him. I told him I have two new wine glasses from last weekend, but no wine to fill them with. Being the problem solver he is, we got a bottle and spent the night, along with my mom, and later downstairs neighbor Cata talking about all sorts of things, including where and what I thought about the 9-11 attack. A pleasant night.
Wednesday night I bought a plane ticket to Buenos Aires. I'll be there 4/25-4/29 and will visit a friend from UW-Madison who is teaching English over there. She said she'd be my tour guide because there are things she hasn't seen yet and needs to see before she leaves.
I also gave my first round of tests last week and it was interesting how even though I wasn't taking the quizzes, I still felt nervous going into the room wondering how much my students studied, if they learned anything, how well they'll do, etc. Overall, they did well.

(Rodrigo and Raul making Cata dance)
Thursday is Rodrigo's birthday. He turns 31, and at lunch on Saturday I told Marie Jose and Elizabeth that I could bake a cake for him, that it's not that hard, especially with the cake mixes. They then asked where I learned how to bake and I told them on my camping trips, and tried to explain the concept of the dutch over. I think I did, but then a little while later they thought that was the only way I knew how to bake, so I had to explain that I use an oven when I'm home. It was classic when we all realized what happened. They had this image of their gringo house mate baking a cake with a big fire in their kitchen. That was one of many misunderstandings.



(Perusa wanted in on the action too)

Monday, April 7, 2008

If you will it, it is no dream

What makes a solid weekend?
Drinking, eating, hiking, and speaking Spanish with Chileans?
-Check(Friday night)
Getting out of the city and going on a 5 hour hike in the Andes?
-Check (Saturday morning)
Going to a BBQ(asado) at your friend's house and sharing stories with other CIEE'ers?
-Check (Saturday night)
Going on a vineyard tour, meeting some super outgoing Georgians who invite us back with their tour van to a wine fest and sample more wine, watch a rodeo, and see apopular Chilean Rock n' Roll concert?
-Check(Sunday afternoon and night)
After doing the math, I figured: pisco+ food+ meat+ white bread+ exercise+ a bit of sun + friends - sleep = an awesome weekend.

It started off after class on Friday chit chatting with mi madre until around 11:00 pm when Juan Pablo, or Jota picked me up and we went to a birthday celebration for the wife of his best friend. I really didn't know what I was getting into, but I was excited because I talked with Jota on the phone totally in Spanish, and felt proud of myself. We got to a bar and I was greeted by about 30-40 friends and family of the birthday girl, a piscola, and chips and guacamole. I talked with one of Jota's friend from college for quite a while(en Español) until the conversation turned towards, her trying to arrange private lessons for free in exchange for Spanish lessons. I really didn't know how to tell her that if I go to a bar, I can speak Spanish, and left to use the bathroom. Luckily when I returned, she had moved on to some other friends. I then talked with a couple, and the guy explained to me, that some people feel that they can learn English by being touched by a native speaker. I spoke with his wife for awhile, and got a huge ego booster, when she told me I spoke good Spanish and was very nice. I felt great then, not only because I was meeting new people, speaking Spanish, but also trying to blend in by drinking piscolas. Then finally Jota and Stephanie(his wife) sat down by me and we talked about what I've been up to the last couple weeks. And then they brought us some sushi and around 2:30, some torta(birthday cake). I left the party to people questioning my early exit at 3:30am, to which I told them I had to wake up in 3 hours and then go on a 5 hour hike in Cajón del Maipo. Then my new friends agreed I should probably go home, and remember these friends are all at the minimum of fives years older than me.
Saturday morning I woke up, and met up with three girls from my program who teach in Valparíso. We got to our destination and went on an incredible hike. Ok, so it wasn't incredible, but it was amazing. The views we got to see were breathtaking. Some of the highlights were taking a break on the edge of a cliff overlooking a huge valley,

(Break by a cliff)
lunch by a water reservoir, almost slipping down the entire trek down from the mountain, and sweating a lot.

(Head geologist Benjamin Creagh examines and explains the differences between the aging process of two different rocks. Action picture!)
After our adventure in the mountains we met each other on the main street, 11 de Septiembre and went to Vinnie's house for un asado. That was fun to see everyone again and share stories, and follies of our teaching experiences.

(Vinnie: head chef, host and Washington Redskin fan from Texas)

Sunday was spent letting things happen. We(the four of us, Kat, Kelly, Kathleen and I) went out to eat at Schopdog where I had your basic Chilean salad of lettuce, an avocado, olives, tomato, corn and some chicken with a lot of mayo, topped with avocado oil, lemon juice and salt. Then we went to Chonca y tor vineyard.


(One of the vineyards, where they put roses on the outside to serve as warnings. The roses will get infected and die before the grade vines, and they use to tell the wine makers what color of wine each grape vine would produce)
Did our tour, sampled three good wines, and enjoyed the views and the cellars. The cellars here in this vineyard were much more complex than the ones I visited in Australia. Here they are humidity controlled and temperature controlled to keep the moisture level consitent. A few intersting things about the cellar. The brand is called Casillero Del Diablo because people use to steal bottles, so the owner spread a rumor about the devil being down in the cellar and he'd dress up like the devil and run around and scare the thieves away. Then no one came back in the night to steal anything. I thought that was great.
And during this tour on of the other guys on the tour told me he's been to Cedarburg to visit a client and ice fished. We got to talking and after the tour he offered to take us to a wine festival happening in the town center. So of course we acceted his offer. It was the Fiesta del Vino en Pirque 2008 and for those of you who don't speak Spanish that translates to "try every wine they have at the festival, make friends with the wine makers and finish the bottles with them when it is time to stop serving." Or "The wine festival in Pirque"

(Here's the tent where everyone sampled various local wines, olive oil and cheeses)
The couple that took us under their wing for the night were from Atlanta and they knew no Spanish and had a guide drive them around showing them where to go. This couple was great. At one point in the night Paige said she wanted more wine, but we didn't have any more tickets, so I took her to the guy who told me I could try every wine his winery had, and explained that Paige was my mom and she came to visit me(I am studying at U Chile) and I thought she'd like the one I had. Paige loved having me as her "son" for the night and was impressed with my Spanish speaking skills. Scott was a character in his own way. I'll simply explain him by telling what he bought at the festival. He bought spurs, cowboy boots, and tried to buy a big cowboy hat, but couldn't find a hat big enough. He said he tried to say he has a big melon by saying, "grande melon-o." Around 8:00, Mario Guerrero took the stage and delighted the Chilean crowd and impressed me with his rock n roll concert. Hector(Scott and Paige's guide) said he was a famous Chilean singer.

(Mario Guerrero, rocking out for all the Backstage Betties)
After talking with Hector for some time, I got complemented for the second time in three days on my Spanish skills. I was on cloud 9, not only had I sampled plenty of wine, but a Chilean told me I was pretty good at Spanish. After sampling all the wine I came to two conclusions: one is that I like Carmenerè. It's a red wine specific to Chile. And two, wine has alcohol in it. Both conclusions will come in handy in the near future. Scott and Paige were amazingly generous and ended up getting us dinner, some beer and a ride back to my apartment. Since this relaxing afternoon jaunt to a winery turned into a late night exhibition, the girls missed the last bus home to Valpo Sunday night and left for home at 5:45 am because Kelly had to teach at 8:00am. Luckily she was just giving a test.
In other news:
After wandering around for awhile, I found an organic market. I met the owner and he said in 10-14 days they're getting their first shipment and will have a fully stocked store of organic and natural products. That will be nice. Currently ,they have coffee, rice cakes, pasta, and of course, creatine? Creatine, of course, when consumed makes you look like this.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Cross walks are multi lengual.



This crosswalk is at one of the three intersections I pass on my daily commute. Every time I see it I laugh.

More pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/bjcreagh