So, I wake up. Sometimes I take a shower, which requires me to go downstairs and turn on the gas water heater. If it is a Wednesday morning (the day that I have class at 8 AM), I press my snooze button anywhere between one and five times as I curse the gods for inventing 8 AM classes. Eventually I make it down to the kitchen for breakfast! Desayuno in my casa usually consists of toast with butter or manjar (dulce de leche) and fruit/yogurt, with the option of oatmeal.
After breakfast, I walk 3 blocks to catch a micro. The micros are wonderfully quirky parts of South American culture that I actually totally love. I think I've written about them before, but here's a visual:
Photo by Erin, my face on the left!It takes around 20 minutes to get to school. My campus is on an "island" between two of Valdivia's rivers, so on a sunny day, I get to see this on my way to/from school:
I'm not going to write about my classes because they are a lot like US classes, only all in Spanish. The biggest difference is that there is a 3-hour break between my morning and afternoon classes so that all the students can go home for lunch. Almuerzo is the biggest and most important meal of the day- I've only stayed on campus for lunch 3 times in the past 3 months because lunch is such a crucial part of the Chilean family life and also is delicious. My lunch is usually a meat/starch combo (chicken and potatoes, lentil soup and steak, etc.) with a "salad." You'd think that there would be little variation between salads of the world, but it is not the case. The first day that I was ever in Valdivia, I ate a salad that was just shredded carrots coated in lemon juice. Sometimes my salads have any combination of lettuce, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers, tuna, and once even OCTOPUS. (Not kidding.) Salad dressing is a mix of lemon juice, sunflower oil, and salt. (Important: Chileans Love Salt.) Recently, my salads have been tomatoes coated in oil, lemon juice, and oregano, which is surprisingly delicious.
Dessert is generally fruit or yogurt. On a good day I get flan or ice cream, and on a REALLY good day my host mom caters to my sweet tooth and brings me a surprise. Last week I had this suuuper dense piece of orange cake.
After lunch, I go back to campus on the micro, go to class, and then come home. My evenings are pretty chill on the weeknights. I do homework, read, chat with my family, eavesdrop on the women who come to my mom's pilates classes, etc. Somewhere in there I have once, which is what they call dinner. Once is very similar to breakfast and is usually toast with butter, cheese, turkey and often avocado. Sometimes some Oreo-like cookies show up, and there is always the option for another yogurt. Oh, and tea is present at all of the meals and at any point in between. Hella tea.
If it is a weeknight in Valdivia, there is a good chance that I will go to my favorite karaoke bar, Madero, and sing an ABBA song. Empanadas are often involved. Sometimes afterward I go to a disco and dance to reggaeton. (Reggaeton is totally growing on me, by the way. I am downloading it frantically!)
This week has actually been a little different because it's finals week, so I've been studying and writing papers during every second of my free time. So far this week I've had 3 tests, 3 essays, and a debate. Bah! Now I only have one more essay to write, and after Monday my Chilean classes are over!
Also, December has arrived! My favorite of all the months! Tomorrow night is my birthday celebration at Madero and it will involve SO MUCH ABBA! (My actual birthday is not for two weeks, but this is the last weekend that a lot of my gringo friends will be in Valdivia, so we are celebrating it early. I love my life.) Anyway, I'm going to celebrate finishing my penultimate essay by watching an episode of The OC. Chao a todos!
I'm not going to write about my classes because they are a lot like US classes, only all in Spanish. The biggest difference is that there is a 3-hour break between my morning and afternoon classes so that all the students can go home for lunch. Almuerzo is the biggest and most important meal of the day- I've only stayed on campus for lunch 3 times in the past 3 months because lunch is such a crucial part of the Chilean family life and also is delicious. My lunch is usually a meat/starch combo (chicken and potatoes, lentil soup and steak, etc.) with a "salad." You'd think that there would be little variation between salads of the world, but it is not the case. The first day that I was ever in Valdivia, I ate a salad that was just shredded carrots coated in lemon juice. Sometimes my salads have any combination of lettuce, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers, tuna, and once even OCTOPUS. (Not kidding.) Salad dressing is a mix of lemon juice, sunflower oil, and salt. (Important: Chileans Love Salt.) Recently, my salads have been tomatoes coated in oil, lemon juice, and oregano, which is surprisingly delicious.
Dessert is generally fruit or yogurt. On a good day I get flan or ice cream, and on a REALLY good day my host mom caters to my sweet tooth and brings me a surprise. Last week I had this suuuper dense piece of orange cake.
After lunch, I go back to campus on the micro, go to class, and then come home. My evenings are pretty chill on the weeknights. I do homework, read, chat with my family, eavesdrop on the women who come to my mom's pilates classes, etc. Somewhere in there I have once, which is what they call dinner. Once is very similar to breakfast and is usually toast with butter, cheese, turkey and often avocado. Sometimes some Oreo-like cookies show up, and there is always the option for another yogurt. Oh, and tea is present at all of the meals and at any point in between. Hella tea.
If it is a weeknight in Valdivia, there is a good chance that I will go to my favorite karaoke bar, Madero, and sing an ABBA song. Empanadas are often involved. Sometimes afterward I go to a disco and dance to reggaeton. (Reggaeton is totally growing on me, by the way. I am downloading it frantically!)
This week has actually been a little different because it's finals week, so I've been studying and writing papers during every second of my free time. So far this week I've had 3 tests, 3 essays, and a debate. Bah! Now I only have one more essay to write, and after Monday my Chilean classes are over!
Also, December has arrived! My favorite of all the months! Tomorrow night is my birthday celebration at Madero and it will involve SO MUCH ABBA! (My actual birthday is not for two weeks, but this is the last weekend that a lot of my gringo friends will be in Valdivia, so we are celebrating it early. I love my life.) Anyway, I'm going to celebrate finishing my penultimate essay by watching an episode of The OC. Chao a todos!
Is once usually at eleven?
ReplyDeleteHere's wishing you a very happy (early;-) birthday, dear Marie! I enjoy hearing about your life and that you are loving it! I was thinking about how you will be having a different birthday this time, because of the season being opposite! We are getting cold here, have had floods and snow... You are having Spring, right? With love, Auntie Regina
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