Gaining a Family
Hello hello hello! Before I dive too deeply into the good stuff, I would like to take a special moment to wish two of my loyal followers a happy birthday! As of Friday, Haley "Harold" Ladd-Luthringshauser is 24! I love you with all of my heart, and I am honored to have a big sister like you to look up to and emulate. The second birthday shoutout goes to Layla Susan Varkey, who, on this day 20 years ago, changed the world forever. I love and miss you chica.
And with that... greetings from my new home in Ñuñoa! Yesterday, orientation officially came to an end, and all fifteen of us Tufts in Chile kiddos moved in with our new host families around Santiago. We all scattered within four different neighborhoods situated to the southeast/east of the city (Ñuñoa, Providencia, Las Condes, and La Reina). I was very much ready to move off of my top bunk and out of the Happy House Hostel (as much as I loved being with my fellow room 19-ers, we all needed to unpack desperately). It was incredibly fun to live and explore the city together for our first two weeks, I honestly felt like my abroad experience hadn't really begun until yesterday. Rather, it felt as though we were on a two week school trip. We had a set daily routine, we stayed mainly in two central neighborhoods, and we did little exploring outside of that radius that wasn't built into our orientation. I'm now all settled and unpacked, I am learning new micro (public bus transit) routes, I'm preparing for classes that start on Wednesday, and I'm getting to know my host family. But before we get to that, we have a whole week to recap!
A lot of the week included a continuation of orientation lectures and speakers on a variety of topics from the Chilean health care system to The Clinic (really the only main leftist Chilean newspaper) to the environment to the history of women in Chile. The first main highlight was on Wednesday, when, as a group, we traveled about two hours by bus to Valparaíso (nicknamed Valpo), Chile's second largest city. Famous for being a port city built into the surrounding hills, as we explored I felt as though I was in a more colorful and incredibly less organized San Francisco. Think of a bus trying to make its way down Lombard Street for our entire city tour. Our first major stop was at La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda's Valpo home. It is a gorgeous five story home that is entirely windows on the western side meaning that Neruda had a ocean view from every room in his house. We all took a self guided tour and ended with a ten minute documentary about the Nobel Prize winning Communist Senator. Goodness did he do a lot in his time!
After a DELICIOUS lunch at Cafe Turri (@LLfam we are certainly going back here together), we walked down the hill and headed toward the building of Chile's Congress. During his dictatorship, Pinochet split up the executive and legislative branches, the latter of which was moved to Valparaíso. There are a couple of theories of why Valpo was chosen (one being that it was Pinochet's home town), but overall, the goal was to decentralize the government. Our incredible tour guide Andres took us around the building and showed us the three main chambers. We visited a largely ceremonial room first made for special events such as the inauguration of a new President of the Republic. The guests of honor enter the room through the copper doors to the right of the room and walk down the center isle. Though the chairs aren't situated correctly in this picture, all chairs normally face the center isle to avoid the guest being greeted by the backs of senators and representatives. What immediately stood out the most to me was the chilean crest in the center of the marble wall. The motto reads "Por el Razon o la Fuerza" (By Reason or By Force). It is the only portion of the wall that isn't glossy because it is actually a separate piece entirely; it is made specially to survive an earthquake. There is a particular system built into the crest that causes the pieces to safely come apart before they are shattered. Welcome to modern chilean architecture. This is incredibly necessary as there are parts of Valpo that are still struggling to rebuild following the >9.0 earthquake that hit the city in 2010.
We next traveled into the chamber of the diputados (representatives) and then the chamber of senadores (senators) following that. The most interesting parts to me in these two chambers are the walls of copper that stand behind the central elevated desks. If you look closely, there is a difference in the color of the wall of the diputados than that of the senadores. The first wall is made of copper in its naturally occurring, more oxidized form. In contrast, the second wall is made of refined copper. Copper mining and export makes up just under 50% of the chilean economy, so it makes complete sense as to why it makes up such a prominent decoration in these two rooms. And using two different forms was a completely conscious decision. Bills start with the diputados, they are raw and fresh and come without amendments or edits -- just like the natural copper wall in the front of the room. In contrast, when bills make it to the Senate, they are more edited and refined, just like the copper wall in the chamber. How's that for a nice metaphor!
The other major fact that stood out to me from our tour with Andres was the level of female representation in the legislative branch of the government. Chile is last remaining country in Latin America to have a female president, who is finishing up her term this fall. (I really recommend reading this New York Times article if you have time: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/world/americas/michelle-bachelet-president-of-chile.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0. Shout out to Daddy-o for sharing that one with me.) That being said, only 19 out of 123 diputados (15%) and 6 out of 38 senadores are female (16%). When I first heard that I was shocked at how low those numbers are... until I started thinking about what representation is like in the US. So I did some digging, and guess what? The US really ain't much better friends. In 2017 (based on my nice quick Wikipedia search) 21 women (21%) serve in the United States Senate, and 83 women (19.1%) serve in the United States House of Representatives. Take what you will away from these stats, but it certainly brought to light the fact that a pretty machista and conservative population in Latin America has been able to elect a female president TWICE while we haven't been able to do it once, and our legislative representation is pretty much the same for all intensive purposes.
This day trip was also important because it marked a turning point away from charlas where we were simply being lectured at and toward visits and and meetings with important players in modern day Chilean culture. Friday was the best example of this. We started our morning by taking the linea 1 metro to the Universidad de Chile station. There, we were greeted by our academic director, Peter Winn, who facilitated our exploration of "Memoria Visual de una Nación," an art installation that covers all four sides of tracks. The display is divided in half by pedestrian overpass which naturally divided the murals into the Past and the Present. As the name suggests, the murals represent the history of Chile, starting with pre-conquest Mapuche traditions through the Spanish invasion, Chilean Independence, important social revolutions, and the golpe de estado of 1973. It ends with the visual representations of famous chilean poets (people like to joke that Chile's second largest export following copper is amazing poetry) and other important aspects of Chile today, such as the ocean. The murals are not only incredible because of their scale, but also because of their placement. The Universidad de Chile stop is one of the most visited ones in the city; more than 2,000,000 eyes see the murals each day. Even more, the university is a famous home to some of Chile's most important intellectuals and historic social movements (including one that continues to this day with students going on strike calling for free education and more inclusion of students from low socioeconomic classes). It was so interesting to also see such incredible works of art covering these walls and having trains and passengers flowing in and out underneath them. It was such a beautiful contrast. After seeing the murals in person, we drove to Las Condes to visit the studio of the lead artist, Mario Toral, and discuss the mural from his perspective. Later that afternoon, we were visited by Raul Zurita, arguably the most famous and influential living chilean poet. We were honored to have him recite some of his own work as well as the work of greats that came before his time such as Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda.
We ended our week with a culminating dinner on Friday night, full of amazing foods, too many toasts, and alumni from the Tufts in Chile program who came back to visit this amazing country they fell in love with while in our own place. I tried some new seafood I had never even heard of before and ate some very chilean combinations that I probably will never put back together. But it was such a special way to finish our orientation as a team and get ready to move on to our host families the next morning.
Speaking of! My amazing host family! I successfully moved in to apartment 701 of Avenida Chile-España 537 around noon yesterday. The apartment is perfect and has a beautiful view of the city and I am a 5 minute walk from school. A five minute walk in the opposite direction brings me to a bus stop that I allows me to easily get back into the center of the city in around 30 minutes. I apologize for the fact that I am lacking pictures of everyone, but Pati and Polo are pictured below (my host mom and her boyfriend). In addition, I gained two little brothers, Manuel (11) and Pedro Pablo (10)! They both love a good fidget spinner and their favorite colors are red and green respectively. Pati's mom also lives in the apartment. They have been nothing but welcoming and kind and and patient with my Spanish and easy going with my dislike of mayonnaise (which is surprisingly a chilean staple if you did not know). Abuela tells me I will be protected and safe because I wear enough silver to scare off any bad spirits, and my room is cozy and warm. And for the first time since July 12th, I have a mom to say goodnight to in person. I am finally feeling settled and am ready for the next 5 months!
With that, we begin a new week of adventures! See you back here next Sunday!
Love,
Olivia/Liv/Boo
Spanish word of the blog!!
La estufa: heater (more specifically a space heater)
Something that we didn't have enough of at the Happy House Hostel, but something that I beautifully have in my room now :)
And with that... greetings from my new home in Ñuñoa! Yesterday, orientation officially came to an end, and all fifteen of us Tufts in Chile kiddos moved in with our new host families around Santiago. We all scattered within four different neighborhoods situated to the southeast/east of the city (Ñuñoa, Providencia, Las Condes, and La Reina). I was very much ready to move off of my top bunk and out of the Happy House Hostel (as much as I loved being with my fellow room 19-ers, we all needed to unpack desperately). It was incredibly fun to live and explore the city together for our first two weeks, I honestly felt like my abroad experience hadn't really begun until yesterday. Rather, it felt as though we were on a two week school trip. We had a set daily routine, we stayed mainly in two central neighborhoods, and we did little exploring outside of that radius that wasn't built into our orientation. I'm now all settled and unpacked, I am learning new micro (public bus transit) routes, I'm preparing for classes that start on Wednesday, and I'm getting to know my host family. But before we get to that, we have a whole week to recap!
A lot of the week included a continuation of orientation lectures and speakers on a variety of topics from the Chilean health care system to The Clinic (really the only main leftist Chilean newspaper) to the environment to the history of women in Chile. The first main highlight was on Wednesday, when, as a group, we traveled about two hours by bus to Valparaíso (nicknamed Valpo), Chile's second largest city. Famous for being a port city built into the surrounding hills, as we explored I felt as though I was in a more colorful and incredibly less organized San Francisco. Think of a bus trying to make its way down Lombard Street for our entire city tour. Our first major stop was at La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda's Valpo home. It is a gorgeous five story home that is entirely windows on the western side meaning that Neruda had a ocean view from every room in his house. We all took a self guided tour and ended with a ten minute documentary about the Nobel Prize winning Communist Senator. Goodness did he do a lot in his time!
La Sebastiana
View from Neruda's dining room table
A colorful port city built into the hills!
Central ceremonial room
We next traveled into the chamber of the diputados (representatives) and then the chamber of senadores (senators) following that. The most interesting parts to me in these two chambers are the walls of copper that stand behind the central elevated desks. If you look closely, there is a difference in the color of the wall of the diputados than that of the senadores. The first wall is made of copper in its naturally occurring, more oxidized form. In contrast, the second wall is made of refined copper. Copper mining and export makes up just under 50% of the chilean economy, so it makes complete sense as to why it makes up such a prominent decoration in these two rooms. And using two different forms was a completely conscious decision. Bills start with the diputados, they are raw and fresh and come without amendments or edits -- just like the natural copper wall in the front of the room. In contrast, when bills make it to the Senate, they are more edited and refined, just like the copper wall in the chamber. How's that for a nice metaphor!
Chamber of the diputados Chamber of the senadores
This day trip was also important because it marked a turning point away from charlas where we were simply being lectured at and toward visits and and meetings with important players in modern day Chilean culture. Friday was the best example of this. We started our morning by taking the linea 1 metro to the Universidad de Chile station. There, we were greeted by our academic director, Peter Winn, who facilitated our exploration of "Memoria Visual de una Nación," an art installation that covers all four sides of tracks. The display is divided in half by pedestrian overpass which naturally divided the murals into the Past and the Present. As the name suggests, the murals represent the history of Chile, starting with pre-conquest Mapuche traditions through the Spanish invasion, Chilean Independence, important social revolutions, and the golpe de estado of 1973. It ends with the visual representations of famous chilean poets (people like to joke that Chile's second largest export following copper is amazing poetry) and other important aspects of Chile today, such as the ocean. The murals are not only incredible because of their scale, but also because of their placement. The Universidad de Chile stop is one of the most visited ones in the city; more than 2,000,000 eyes see the murals each day. Even more, the university is a famous home to some of Chile's most important intellectuals and historic social movements (including one that continues to this day with students going on strike calling for free education and more inclusion of students from low socioeconomic classes). It was so interesting to also see such incredible works of art covering these walls and having trains and passengers flowing in and out underneath them. It was such a beautiful contrast. After seeing the murals in person, we drove to Las Condes to visit the studio of the lead artist, Mario Toral, and discuss the mural from his perspective. Later that afternoon, we were visited by Raul Zurita, arguably the most famous and influential living chilean poet. We were honored to have him recite some of his own work as well as the work of greats that came before his time such as Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda.
"The Past" portion of the mural
Speaking of! My amazing host family! I successfully moved in to apartment 701 of Avenida Chile-España 537 around noon yesterday. The apartment is perfect and has a beautiful view of the city and I am a 5 minute walk from school. A five minute walk in the opposite direction brings me to a bus stop that I allows me to easily get back into the center of the city in around 30 minutes. I apologize for the fact that I am lacking pictures of everyone, but Pati and Polo are pictured below (my host mom and her boyfriend). In addition, I gained two little brothers, Manuel (11) and Pedro Pablo (10)! They both love a good fidget spinner and their favorite colors are red and green respectively. Pati's mom also lives in the apartment. They have been nothing but welcoming and kind and and patient with my Spanish and easy going with my dislike of mayonnaise (which is surprisingly a chilean staple if you did not know). Abuela tells me I will be protected and safe because I wear enough silver to scare off any bad spirits, and my room is cozy and warm. And for the first time since July 12th, I have a mom to say goodnight to in person. I am finally feeling settled and am ready for the next 5 months!
Polo and Pati!
Love,
Olivia/Liv/Boo
Spanish word of the blog!!
La estufa: heater (more specifically a space heater)
Something that we didn't have enough of at the Happy House Hostel, but something that I beautifully have in my room now :)
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