El Principio de Semana Tercero.

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El principio de semana tercero.

Mi tostada estaba triste porque lo sabe qué pasará pronto (My toast was sad because he knows what will happen soon). 🙂  Tomorrow will mark the beginning of my third week in Chile.

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Mi desayuno en ambos estilo de modo Chile y EEUU (My breakfast in both the style of Chile and the United States).  Saturday is my best day to do my graduate assistant work.  I’m enjoying a project right now were I am helping Dr. Sandmann upgrade her PowerPoint presentation with an effort to make it more “Zen” (i.e., more minimalist).  I started working and didn’t realize that it was almost 6pm.  So this is a combination breakfast lunch meal I made for myself.  Yummy!!  Now I feel more motivated to return to my work.  I look forward to what week three is going to bring relative to my experiences in Talca, Maule, Chile.  Next week is Independence Day and the University is closed for a week.  So no access to the biblioteca research participants, or that little cabin outside the library that has WiFi and outlets.  Sigh… I’ll just have to survive working from the house. 🙂  P.S.  It’s still very cold outside down here.

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My greatest fear about coming to Chile was that I would have a difficult time adjusting to different food.  But fortunately, that has not been a problem for me.  I think that’s in large part because I’m a somewhat descent cook.  I have really become almost addicted to the pitted olives here.  I put them in all my salads and eat them for snacks.  This is the beautiful salad I made for dinner before my “clumsy gene” struck.  Yes, I am convinced that a clumsy gene exists in my hereditary pedigree.

For example, I trip over seemingly invisible objects, bump my head at the most geometrically impossible angles, and will spill a drink on my table with an amazing level of frequency.  I share all that to let you know that this is a pre-photo of my delicious salad today.  I was too embarrassed to take a picture of the post-salad victimization caused by my clumsy gene.  Me encanta pimenta negra en mi ensalada  (I love black pepper on my salad).  I didn’t realize I had opened the pour versus the sift spout on the black pepper bottle as I began to dress my salad.  That didn’t turn out well for me nor as pretty as the picture above.  Nevertheless, I giggled, shook my head at myself, and enjoyed my hot salad.  ¡Ándele! Vamos a comer. 😉

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DSC00279Christianity is the dominant religious form in Chile with almost 70% of Chileans being of the Catholic faith tradition.  Therefore, it is not uncommon to see religious representations displayed in homes as well as in  churches.  I found this piece interesting as I could not determine if it was made of wood or plastic.  I was too afraid to touch and inspect it too closely considering my “clumsy gene” and all. 🙂

Pictures from around Talca, Maule, Chile

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Pictures Around Talca, Maule, Chile

Here are some great pictures and short comments related to some recent photos and videos I took in Talca.

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I noticed this young man taking a bunch of glass bottles to this receptacle in my neighborhood.  It seems that recycle is an important goal in Talca.

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This was a charming little tienda de verduras where vegetable are sold in my neighborhood.  As I approached, I asked a guy nearby if I could take a picture of the store.  He said I had to pay him, yeah I passed on the close-up shot in that instance.

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Today was my first trip to El Centro or in other words, downtown Talca where the larger mall is located.  I needed a curling iron and the folks at the mall near my habitación said I would have to find that particular item in El Centro mall.

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Entering downtown Talca.

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Many portions of downtown Talca seemed very similar to my remembrance of downtown Manhattan in New York City, more particularly the SoHo area.

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DSC00168Yay!!  Shopping and browsing time. 🙂

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Lots of traffic in downtown Talca (El Centro).

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Chilean Independence Day is celebrated on September 18th.  The country of Chile secured its independence in 1810 and history records that the area of Talca played a major role in that event.

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These young dancers performed in honor of the upcoming September 18th Independence Day Celebration

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There are very few public restrooms in Chile which surprised me.  When we were at the bus station in Santiago my new friend Carmila told me, “Use the for-pay restroom, trust me!” I was able to use  el ban pictured above because I was a patron at one of the mall restaurants.

DSC00176Mi cena (dinner).

La mayonesa is a common dressing on food here in Chile.  As you know, yo’ girl and feeling the mayonnaise so I ended up selectively removing portions of my salad to another small plate. :/

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I also learned that ice isn’t as common in drinks here as is the case in the United States.  That’s been quite the adjustment as well.  I was happy to have a Sprit with my dinner.  Bottled drinks are served in 1/2 liter bottles versus the 12, 16, or 20 oz. bottles.

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Taking a taxi back to La Casa.

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Purchased this little change purse to avoid having to always pullout my wallet.  So cute and granny style. 🙂

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Chocolate doesn’t seem to be as available here as back in the US, however I was so happy to find these familiar friends. 🙂  They are smaller thank your typical North American candy bar, but most snacks foods appear to be in smaller portions here in general.

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La biblioteca (library) isn’t open on Sundays like is common at UGA but there is an area that’s right by the library that is open and has access to WiFi and electrical outlets for laptops.  It’s kinda like a cabin-style smaller version of the MLC (Miller Learning Center) at UGA. 🙂  Also if you look to the lower left corner of this pic you will see some dog paws.  Dogs roam quite free here.  I don’t who this one belonged to as he was there when I (and the woman in this picture) departed.  He was just laying there chillin’! lol