the coriolis effect

Over my head with travel planning so sadly my paper isn`t done. we got tickets to torres del paine for january, and though I shopped around to tour agencies I think I should have stuck with my idea of doing it myself...I`m practically going to all the trouble anyway! off I go to the bus station tomorrow to see if I can hope a bus to la serena and see penguins and stars and cacti and pictoglyphs. but I am running on no sleep right now.
todays highlights include hearing strange noises next to me on the metro, and turning as I got out to see a couple making out to intently they actually were making smacking noises. in the packed car. ew.
walking into "Casa e Ideas" and it was like walking into a cross between crate and barrell, bed bath and beyond and pier one. christmas decorations everywhere. the little drummer boy and a jazzified version of silver bells (ring a ling, baby). later on I went to Parque Arauco, which had upped the christmas tinsel (but only slightly) from my last trip. the amount of decoration for Christmas holidays seems proportionate to the americaness of the place.
going to an exhausting salsa lesson with Amanda from Lake Forest and her program-mate Alex. Amanda had to bail before the real dancing part on the fault of shoes that weren`t made for walking, but Alex and I soldiered on to good old Maestra Vida in Bellavista. probably my last night out as such. weirdness.
oh yeah- and on the way to said salsa lesson, on a micro heading into the not-nice part of town, hearing a crack and having huge shards of glass fly at me. another micro knocked off the rearview mirror of ours, causing chunks of mirror to fly through the open side window, deflected somewhat by the curtain. yikes.

Happy Thanksgiving!
If I stop and think about, I remember. Considering I had an exam this morning, and an afternoon of microfilm, and its warm out, and only dark late, and schools one paper away from being done, and there certainly wasn`t an X-Files marathon on TV- it didn`t quite have the thanksgiving vibe. and no fall leaves. Thanksgiving never was a holiday I felt attached to when I was little- we had the turkey, wild rice, mashed potatos, sweet potatos, CRANBERRY SAUCE, pumpkin pie....but never any relatives to share it with, though sometimes a few friends. More than any other time of year (maybe Superbowl Sunday? Occasionally I wanted a family that was "american" enough to make that a bonding experience. like in the books. whatever) I felt in cultural limbo, and an extended family orphan. It really was what I read in books- football games and cousins and dysfunction. But its also a holiday I`ve never spent away from my parents. This week I`ve realized all the other associations Thanksgiving has come to have for me: watching the parade (even if in recent years I`ve slept through most of it), the deliciously subversive feeling of taking a break from work (coupled with the lingering indignation of having work assigned at all), the family photo, the food food food....I fried potato slices for lunch today, but my host dad came in the kitchen before I could sneak some corn out of the freezer, figuring that potatos the way my dad makes them and corn, plus the biscotti my mom made and sent via dan`s parents, was as close as it was going to get.
I spent "Thanksgiving dinner" with Dan`s family, who was in town. we went to a fusion restaurant called Agua in Vitacura. And look what was on the menu- "Pumpkin gnocci al dente with a tasty duck ragout". Scott`s family`s thanksgiving tradition is a chinese feat cmoplete with Peking Duck. So, it only seemed fitting to order it- with a fusion version of apple crisp for dessert.
The place also had the most postmodern bathroom ever.

In other news, the Jehovah`s Witnesses are in town. When I got the the Ritz to meet the Howells, and got in the elevator, this guy asked me what floor? in English. He didn´t think about, I didn`t think about it when I answered- he must have a assumed I was a Witness. The teleton last week didn`t do nearly as well as the city had hoped (see previous entry), and one of the criticisms that surfaced was that it was held the week before paychecks are handed out, so people had less money available to give. The organizers had tried to reserve the national stadium for this weekend but it had already been reserved- for the Jehovah`s Witnesses convention. There are THAT many of them in town.

In other news, there is the best exhibit ever at the Biblioteca Nacional- childrens book illustrations. Magical. and I went fromo there to a free Joan Miro exhibit at the Telefonica building. and if I write my 15 page paper I can go to La Serena....a 15 page paper between me and an entirely dizzying TWO MONTHS of traveling....I don´t think I comprehended how much time that was until now. and yet, yet...I don´t have "time" enough to go to Torres del Paine and the south, which makes me sad. or rather, I do have the time, but since I know nothing about camping, and had no one to go with....weep. next time, and next time.
off to the parliamentary elections of 1894 I go.

if you happen to be in europe this winter....take a free trip for me (is this as true as it seems?)
this is so pathetic. I`m at drclas and I´m bored, but I don´t want to go home because I´ll be even boreder and the light is worse. but I didn´t bring my notes so I can´t even study here. I am so pathetic.

Ok, now the new photos really work (Pucón, Santiago in Spring), I promise. the new group for spring semester was just informed....9 people, which should be a bazillion times more fun that 4 (in terms of being all alone in a foreign city). I trucked over to DRCLAS for lunch, and we were talking, and apparently Andryka is working on like 5 internships or something. should I care that shes (according to anibal) doing consulting for some swiss bank and won some oxford scholarship, among other projects? no. do I wonder how in the heck someone my age functions like that? yes, of course I do. especially given the amount of nothing I did this semester, the distance I felt I was from everything. it does not make the hours I`ve spent staring at microfilm any more attractive, either.

Utterly fed up with my lit paper, I escaped to the centro with Dan. we went to the museo solidaridad salvador allende, which was really great. latin american art, and some "geometric" art. and a room of photos that have been published in a book called Chile from Within, edited by Susan Meiselas and Ariel Dorfman. I looked at the book and the photos when I was writing my research paper on chile last semester. It was striking to look at them now, now that I recognize the locals. at the same time, it reminded me about my mindset before I came. which has changed, which I´d forgotten about....
at night we went to the club de jazz in nunoa. the opening act was a singer doing covers- fly me to the moon among them. then a dixieland band, then a big band that alternated between movie themes (mission impossible, the flintstones) and an awesome singer. a little funny to see all those different styles, in a club in residential Santiago...

Lest you have forgotten:

La Teleton es tuya, 21-22 nov

The Teleton is a big deal.The above is scrawled on micros everywhere, and when I was on Paseo Ahumada today, someone microphoned kept on announcing same. When I suggested to Anibal we have a gathering for the harvard-yale game, he looked at me in disbelief "but Saturday is the Teleton!"
its a big deal.

I played hooky from the microfilm reading room (and felt vindicated when I learned it had been closed anyway, for their anniversary. the difference between here and the Library of Congress- I didn`t see notice anywhere in advance) and went to the Museo de Arte Precolumbino. It was really supersuper nice (and free, for ISIC). And then got a jugo de frutilla at 100% Natural on Valetin Letelier, to celebrate exemption from the psych final (at least something paid off. and I get a snippet of the double A exemption rule so cruely denied us at Whitman). I still get a kick out of the fact that I can mosey along, fruit juice in hand, inches from the side walls of La Moneda. and peek past the guard through the open side door, which revealed, surprisingly enough, a huge underground lot a floor or two below.

Chile played Paraguay last night, and lost, and that was sad, but Lewis and I were at the game, and it was pretty awesome. the helmeted and armored riot squad squaring off between us (the gallery) and the endline, shields at the ready, was sort of scary, as were the big fiery torches people were waving. and I wasn`t positive the kid hitting on me was out of high school. but the stadium was full, and lively, and it was a "I`m glad I`m in south america moment"
saw the matrix tonight, after a round of microfilm. I hadn`t been in the mood for a war movie. in general, it was a shame.
two days later, midnight, the meats on the grill, the radios on, and its barbeque time. last night I went to bed at two, but relishing the silence. now everyone`s up, I`m exhausted. and, full, already. meat at midnight wednesday- no, gracias.
and totally panicking. if I travel after exams, this is my last full weekend in Santiago, maybe for the rest (two months) of my trip. how did that HAPpen?

More photos up!

and I did my first load of Chilean Laundry. When I asked my host dad if I could, he looked really skeptical until I assured him, yes, I´d done laundry before. Apparently my host mom wouldn`t let Paula touch the machine.
and a whole cabal of people just came home. its a monday night, and I have a morning of microfilm tomorrow. and I spent two of the last three nights on a bus. if they carrete, I cry.

Back from Temuco/Pucon. So it rained, a lot- drizzling saturday turned into pounding at night, all the next day, and all the way home to Santiago Monday morning. But it was all good- though I was reluctant (because I was wet and clammy), I was nudged along on the trip to the Termas Los Pozones with Scott and two american girls from our hostal, Hostal Sonia in Pucon (nice rooms, nice people, suspicious bathrooms). It was indeed, two hours of aqua filled bliss, followed by pear juice, oatmeal, and the best chocolate EVER:-)
Sunday I didn´t crawl out of bed til 12, thankful I brought my boots and wondering why in the heck I packed a skirt and flip flops instead of warm clothes. an hour or two of reading by the (unlit) fireplace, while scott got drenched on a shorewalk, then hot chocolate and sandwiches and kuchen, then more wooden flowers, then temuco. and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which was thoroughly (at least consistantly) ludicrous. and back to my last two weeks of school (though my wednesday class being canceled, if it weren´t for internship I´d have a 5 day weekend....)

Because my lit teacher is charming enough to assign books that are out of print (the publishing house burned down) and checked out of the library, I stumbled upon the hidden world of Santiago used booksellers today. (a more exciting discovery than the mall. more expensive, too- even used books aren´t cheap here). There are all sorts of little galleries that lead off of Avenida Providencia, and now that I was looking, most of them had one or two (or ten or twelve) used book stores (nooks, really). In one of them, between the owner and the towering piles of books all around, there was hardly room to enter. I finally found Donde mejor canta el pajaro (not El Pajaro canta dos veces, and by Jodorowsky, not Bello or this, or the other) in the galleria that was mostly bookstores, led to it by the wife of the friend of the third bookseller I asked (there, after many other places) who seemed to own two or three of the little storefronts. Do they sell many books? At 7500 pesos (12 dollars or so) for a used qp, I doubt it....
I bounced from there to the other end of the spectrum, Parque Arauco- the tony little mall next to Parque Araucano, where the cultural festival I was looking for hadn´t been set up yet. To get there, I walked from Escuela Militar, past the highrises and new condo complexes that is Alto Las Condes (I think. maybe Vitacura). It all had an outer Gaithersburg/Olney new development feel, which was emphasized by the mall itself, the first time since July 12 (Tysons Corner, the Great Jean Hunt) that I´ve been in an Americanized one, a la White Flint, Montgomery Mall, Cambridgeside Galleria. Yet the flip-flop sales and ice cream were so incongruent with the holiday wreaths and "Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." Is it really that close to Christmas? Do I (gasp) actually miss some aspects of Winter? (really though- what does a winter in June/July have going for it?). When the clothes didn´t do it (I`m too poor for Parque Arauco, and too rich for the Buses Jac office, where they asked if I´d like to pay my 15 dollar bus ticket in installments) I bought a cinnamon and sugar pretzel to console myself.
I am indeed leaving for Temuco tonight. back on monday...

Annual Harvard Club of Chile dinner tonight. Fancy Schmancy, Hotel Carrera, Ministro de Hacienda (though he had to cancel at the last minute), and Felipe Larraín on indigenous populations in Chile (the system of votes destroys the equal representation of groups, or some such). I always look forward to events like this (good food, juice!) and in some occasions more than others go from feeling awkwardly out of place ("obvio"- it was mostly middle aged men) to wanting to leave because I´ve morphed into a socially illiterate galloping elephant. or an unglamorous squeaky mouse who hasn`t adjusted as well to Chile as the others. and all I have to show for it is the Bang and Olafsson catalogue. and an insane desire to change out of this dress, pour myself a tall glass of cranberry juice, and be with friends.
possibly villarrica tomorrow. yay!

I was spacing out at the end of soc lecture today (harvard yale game versus havermaas) and tuned in just in time to hear him summarizing the course options for second years. and then he said I hope you learned a lot about Latin America, and then people started clapping, and then it was over even though it was supposed to be over NEXT thursday (our exam isn´t until the 27). for the Chileans, thats one class fewer between them and summer break. for me, it means I totally could have crammed in another trip by going to easter island next week, and doing something else in december. what I get for being overly precautious. ha:-)

NICK HORNBY is at the science center in an HOUR! and I´m here:-) and for once I don´t have choir rehearsal, so I could go. except, well, I´m here. weep!

How did it come to this?
the last day for some of my classes is next week. before thanksgiving, instead of the third week in january. whether or not I´ll have to take exams is unclear; for two of my classes it depends on semester grades (i say we adopt that system). but the study part of study abroad is practically (2 papers, 2-4 tests) over.
which, everytime I think hard about it, makes discoveries like todays so unexcusably belated. first, I found out where all the boutiques in downtown Santiago were hiding. on directions from Kelly, I found the Mall Dos Caracoles, near Ricardo Lyon and Providencia (for future reference, anyone). Store upon store upon store, in two parallel never ending upward spirals. It was terrifying ,firstly for selection (the kind of place where, ultimiately, you end up getting nothing) and secondly because I just spent way too much of my Buenos Aires time on the shopping streets, thinking nothing like that existed here (well, in B.A. it was cheaper, at least). and finally, because I just put myself on an absurdly strict budget.

The second discovery was how nice the river area can be. I walked from that nightmare of a place towards the centro, looking for the "cafe literario" building of the Providencia Library, and a book I needed for Lit class. though it wasn`t "right" next to the Salvador station as the librarian claimed, it was nestled in the pretty gardens of Parque Balmaceda. If only I lived closer....if only "Spring" here wasn`t 80 degree humid weather (better, of course than the recent "spring" in Boston, but not conducive to outdoor reading. unless I buy some summer clothes in that mall. blast)

Friday, a lousy day threatened to end with a blackout, so instead I ended it making apple strudel in las condes (through it required getting on a micro, on a busy street, where the stoplights weren´t working). but general frustration (with photo developing, and a "salon de investigadores" that closes at 5, and a library without foreign newspaper archives) spilled over to Saturday when I totally and completely blew up at my host family. after I wanted to crawl into the ground (or spend the rest of my harvard days in a quad single) but instead went with scott to a celtic festival where Seba´s band played. and an Irish musician, who abandoned his script when he realized most of the crowd spoke english anyway, and the Southern Cross Pipe Band, a Uruguayan bagpipe ensemble. After traditional type things, a Uruguayan rock-type band came out and played with them. It was bizarre and good at the same time. Who would expect to see 30 bagpipes concentrated on one stage in Santiago de Chile?

I´m back, back to canasta and cigarette smoke.....a very happy trip in overall.
I grabbed a newspaper going onto the plane, and was halfway through the article about the opening day of Matrix: Revolutions when I realized they were talking about the premier of the THIRD Matrix movie and it premiered TODAY. then I thought a little, and what do you know, the second one came out almost 6 months ago. the sheer extent of my obliviousness astonishes me.

Mere hours after mailing a postcard (so expensive, nearly 2 dollars) from Buenos Aires saying how it seemed a lot calmer here than Santiago, I emerged from my Casa Rosada guided tour to drumbeats and thousands of oncoming protesters. I skirted them there, only to come upone them gathered for a rally at the foot of the Obelisk (aka mini Washington Monument) on avenida 9 de julio. on the list of my most awkward moments....weaving through a crowd of mostly poor campesinos (the sector I found myself in at least, a whole variety of groups were represented) while wielding multiple boutique bags. oh dear.
I´m in Buenos Aires til tomorrow, and have been having a wonderful time, though in the end I spent too much of it hunting for shirts/bags/books for me/mom/hostfamily´s Christmas presents.