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. 🙂

It’s kinda cold outside today. Yikes!

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It's kinda cold today.

I mentioned to my friends on Facebook yesterday how cold it had gotten here (37F degrees last night). I have a great leather and faux fir hooded jacket but my hostess Carmen offered me this lovely scarf to wear to insure my warmth. She knitted it herself and I found it a lovely accompaniment to my outfit today. 🙂

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Here is a closer look at the lovely scarf.  It’s really very warming.  I also received an invitation to attend Misa Fiestas Patrias 2013 in celebration of the Chilean upcoming Independence Day (September 18th) tomorrow.  The University will have a reduced workday on Friday and everything will be closed in the city of Talca for two days.  This includes La Universidad Católica del Maule, that will close for a week beginning Friday afternoon.  I am excited about the fact that following the Misa (Mass) tomorrow, there will be dancing and Empanadas.  Yum! 🙂

Barneys New York And Simon Doonan Host Event In Support Of "Hola" Heart Of Los Angeles

This evening also marked a very special occurrence.  A group of young men where riding passed me on bicycles as I walked home from the library and one of them yelled out “Hola!“.  Now that might not seem like such a big thing without some context.  Chile and Talca, Maule, Chile in particular is a very racially homogeneous place.  I’ve seen virtually no North Americans here and very few who look like myself.  I thought I saw a guy yesterday afternoon but the closer I got to him he appeared perhaps to be a member of either an indigenous indian group or actually from India.  The fact that he adverted his eyes when walking passed me suggested to me he was likely the former.

In short, there appears not to be any racial or ethnic groups outside of native Chileans in Talca.  I digress, I did see one asian man on campus Monday and awaited attentively to see if he spoke fluent Spanish.  Alas, I didn’t get to hear him conversing with anyone.   I’ve only seen two black people (in Santiago I might add) and that was during my bus ride to Talca.  When I walk to the University, sometimes it seems like many of the people I encounter don’t know what to do with themselves or say.  Nevetheless, most of the time when I initiate an “Hola” or “Buenos días“, people respond in kind and some even go further to ask me,  “Como estás?”

I’ve only just started getting used to the one-sided air kiss thing to the cheek as I initially made the mistake of doing the italian two-sided cheek kiss (Ha ha).  My daughter will testify that I am typically a “respect my invisible personal space bubble” kinda person.  However, the new context and new people have required that I learn and adjust to new ways of being in this community.  So in short, having received my first unsolicited “Hola” from a group of ciudadanos de Talca, I have to admit it was pretty nice. 🙂

Misa Fiestas Patrias 2013 Universidad Católica del Maule. 9.13.13

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Semana una completé como una Erudita Visitando del Universidad de Georgia

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Week 1 as a Visiting Scholar from the University of Georgia

First week in Chile, South America completed on 9.8.13, it has been sheer bliss. 🙂

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I had a very lovely meeting today with Sr. Patrick Matzler, who is Swiss and speaks English.  Dr. Matzler is a professor on the faculty of the Instituto de Estudios Generales at UCMaule.  We discussed my dissertation research and how I could assist with other scholarly activities there at UCM.  Following out meeting he invited me to attend a Tertulias universitarias estudiantiles 2013.

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In the tertulia students and faculty came together to discuss el tema de “Educación: Calidad y Gratuidad, ¿son compatibles?”  There appears to be some concerns being raised about the quality of education from the standpoint of it being free.  This is an interesting debate, as many people are of the position that if an offering is free, it may not be of good quality.  Such ideas may also create conflict as some people believe that an education is a human right and therefore should be offered as a free opportunity for all.  This is a fascinating and complex subject to explore, particularly in light of reduced resources and issues of debt associated with the pursuit of higher education in Chile specifically and the global community generally.

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