Maximiliano with haunt me forever.

This morning, bright and early, I walked onto the metro feeling confident. I had finished my literature reading and discussion breakdown a few days before, leaving me time to read some supplementary texts. We were to read Huitzilopoxtli by Ruben Dario and then break the viaje  (journey) into thematic divisions, each was to have a key word to summarize the section. I was proud of my breakdown. My viaje was in 8 sections: an introduction, 6 out-of-body/shared experiences and a closing. The viaje circled around the theme of modern day Revolucion Mexicana v Leyenda Azteca and lived experiences v substance induced viajes. (If you happen to be doing your own analysis of  Huitzilopoxtli, please don't copy my story breakdown... *spoiler alert*... it's wrong!)

My Literature professor come crossed as a jovial great uncle, ready to quote Kahlil Gibran or Twain at any given moment; also looking a lot like Hemingway. But here is the catch (Old Man and the Sea reference intended) my professor looks at literature as if it were a mathematical equation... one answer only. The study of Literature has always been near to my heart and something I feel is accessible to everyone, of any subject. Mathematics however, there is little room for personal expansion and growth because formulas never change, there are multiple ways to arrive at the same answer, but there is only ever one answer. I would go as far to say that my he-shall-remain-nameless professor doesn't even believe in different paths toward the same end, the path is his and his path is right. 

So, the Dario story we read does not provide any sort of background information as far as the allusion to the title or historical setting for the Revolucion Mexicana. The fallowing information is the fruits of my own, out-of-classroom-time labour. 

Huitzilopoxtli- was an Aztec god of war, sun and sacrifice, also the patron god of Tenochtitlan. He had a sister who had intimate relations with their father while Huitzilpoxtli was still in his mothers womb. He became angry at his sisters sexual actions that he sprung from his mother's womb fully grown and armed, killed his sister, threw her head into the sky and created the moon and killed all of his other siblings (over 400 of them) and threw them into the sky to create the stars. 

La revolucion mexicana- started the 20th of November 1910 when the president of Mexico was Porfirio Diaz. Before the changes in power happened throughout Mexico's history, France invaded Mexico and placed Maximiliano on the throne as the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire. During Maximiliano's reign, the country was left in political shambles and economic stagnation. Porfiro Diaz then took over and the revolution began. 

After reading and taking notes on this subject (this educational moment was provided by Westminster College) I was ready for the difficult questions my professor was certain to mumble at us. After making it clear that Huitzilopoxtli is broken into 4 sections and never into 8 and telling me that by calling the traveling journalist a foreigner, I missed the entire plot he decided to ask me a History question; "¿Cómo obtener su poder de Maximiliano en México?" (How did Maximiliano obtain his power in Mexico?) My answer was more concise than the paragraph above but my information was correct and I was sure proud of knowing the answer. 

But here is what my professor did... 

He laughed. And not only did he laugh but he swiped a hand motion that translates to "silly little gringa, of course she doesn't know anything about Mexican history" and he said that it was entirely the opposite. Then he had the audacity to REexplain exactly how the French appointed Maximiliano to power, etc. 

While talking yesterday to my man, I tried to explain to him how being here is a very humbling experience. I have to ask for help all.of.the.time. I have to ask people to talk slower to repeat themselves, or even ask them what a certain verb means "cachai?" But this was the first time I was not only humbled, but embarrassed, and frustrated, and downright angry. 

I wish I had a moral to this blogpost. Maybe something I have learned from this experience. But the more I think about it, this post has everything to do with the value of self-education. Even though I had a language and a close-minded barrier, I was still learning. Anyone reading this blogpost is learning. So I guess the moral of this post is to keep learning, especially when you the student find yourself at odds with the teacher. 

And because my professor doesn't quote Mark Twain, I will...

"don't let schooling interfere with your education" 

go be a student,

rach

Artista del dia

Anamaría Merino (1977) is better know by her stage name of Ana Tijoux. Along with her Chilean parents, Ana lived in France during the political exile of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Ana's first language was French but quickly picked up Spanish when she moved back to Chile as a teenager.  She jumped into the Santiago Hip Hop scene and formed many bands, the most well known being Makiza or her collaboration with a Mexican singer/songwriter Julieta Venegas.

The change from her sweet and pop-like duet "Eres para mi" (translation: I want to tell you what I feel right now/ you are for me/ I hear it in the wind all the time/ you are the one for me)  is so tangible and politically charged that Ana seems to be a different person entirely, or at least wishing to express a different stage in her life. Her song that gained her fame in the streets of Santiago contain lyrics like this (from her song SHOCK)

Venom: your monologues,

your colorless speeches,

you don't see that we AREN'T alone,

millions from pole to pole!

NO nations, only corporations,

who has more, more actions,

fat slices, powerful decisions for very little.

Pinochetan constitution,

opus dei rights, fascist books.

Guerilla disguised as a pardoned elitist,

the drop falls, the stocks fall, the occupation takes the broken machine.

the street doesn't keep quiet, the street scratches

the street doesn't keep quiet, as wide as it is.

The Allende v Pinochet debacle of '73 is still a very relevant conversation that is held by Chileans young and old. No person seems to have the same viewpoint about what happened on September, 11th and everyone talks with a grain of salt, not wanting to severely offend. I commend Ana or Anita (she goes by both) for not only singing about such strong topics but bringing her message world wide. 

Whatever your opinion is, share it,

rach

song of the day

"some nights" by fun.

this is a good summer anthem for those nights where you don't understand anything...so you get in your car and drive to dunkin' donuts at midnight to get an iced caramel coffee. well, that's what i do when i'm feeling restless anyway...totes makes the insomnia 289349374 times worse! fun. became a huge hit this summer even though they've been around for a few years, and before that, The Format existed.  fun. is definitely more "pop" material, but at least they are bringing decent music to the pop scene.

my fav lyrics:

Well, Some nights, I wish that this all would end
Cause I could use some friends for a change
And some nights, I'm scared you'll forget me again
Some nights, I always win, I always win...

But I still wake up, I still see your ghost
Oh Lord, I'm still not sure what I stand for, oh
What do I stand for? What do I stand for?
Most nights, I don't know... (come on)

The other night, you wouldn't believe the dream I just had about you and me
I called you up, but we'd both agree
It's for the best you didn't listen
It's for the best we get our distance... oh...
It's for the best you didn't listen
It's for the best we get our distance... oh...

love,

hill

Mi familia chileana

My Chilean Family

Claudia is married to Jaime

Jaime does not live at the house

Jaime lives with his mother (she has Alzheimers)

Claudia father, Carlos (91yrs) lives with us

Claudia and Jaime have a daughter, MariaJose

MariaJose loves cats, frenchfries and the game "Uno"

Claudia was married before and has two other kids

Vicente lives downstairs and I never see him (but he has a great taste in music)

Vicente eats his dinner at 12pm, he is 21 and maybe a Communist

Alanza live somewhere else, is 19 and plays on her iPhone and with Maria Jose

Sole and Jaime (different one) are a precious couple who always come over to eat

Jaime sang me a song called "Raquel" and we are now best guitar playing friends

Brenda is our maid and makes delicious carrot bread/cake, baked apples and lasagna

Alejandra was the ISA student who lived here before me

Rosita Manchita is the orange tabby cat who lives outside of my window

Also worth acknowledging, Pablo Neruda is everyone's adoptive Abuelo.

poetry (tilt of the head),

Raquel

running down a dream

Running is my new thing. You can laugh at this statement because running was never my thing. I would honestly do anything to get out of running when I was involved in sports in high school.  I made lame excuses for skipping summer soccer training practices, I would walk when no one was looking, and I used my exercise-induced asthma as an excuse to stop running.  Now that I've taken a 2 year hiatus from physical activity (as in actually doing work-out, work-outs) I decided that it was time to do something good for my body.  I'm not trying to lose weight, I just want to be healthy again, especially since college food makes me feel like crap.  Alas, at the beginning of this summer I started working out at least 3 times a week. And let me tell ya, I've never felt so great! I have so much more energy; going for a run helps me feel active even when i spend the rest of laying outside reading a book.  I don't feel guilty about eating two bowls of ice cream, I actually don't mind putting on a swimming suit, and I'm even more motivated to do other things around the house like cooking, cleaning, crafting, re-modeling my room, and running errands.  It's all around positive and I'm so glad I got over my 'no-exercise' phase. Exercising is the best stress reliever in the world; it's the only time i don't think about anything else but what my body is doing: my breathing, muscles, & strokes.  I love how exhausted I feel immediately after a run, but how refreshed I feel after the adrenaline has died down. Nothing else in the world makes me feel like that.

Pearson park has a great trail for running-it challenges you with hills and is marked by the mile so you know how far you've ran.  It's also never too busy so I usually get the whole trail to myself. It's shaded so I don't have to worry about the sun slowing me down.  It's the perfect place to go running any time of day because of the shade! 

^^^I've had my eye on these shoes for the past 3 months, but $70 seems way too steep.  I haven't bought a new pair of running shoes for 3 years though, and I think the awesomeness of these will keep me active while in Scotland. It's probably smarter of me to spend $70 on these as opposed to a new pair of heels. 

stay active,

hill

Define Culture

It all started with an insane downhill bike race in Valparaiso, Chile.

This is how our professor introduced our class, Chilean Communication and Culture. He said that this video is a metaphor for us studying abroad and being figurativly pushed down the hills here into the whirlwind that is Valparaiso. I think the most symbolic part is almost hitting the dog. That is a literal translation. The dogs are everywhere. I have 7 that live on my street. They are so mellow and friendly. But anyway, this video is just insane. And also proof as to why Chileans are not obese.

My professor, Carlos, reminds me of Robin Williams in Dead Poet´s Society and Jack Black from School of Rock all twisted up into one. Some key phrases from our first class (translated obviously) consist of...

"let us take a moment and thank Allah for youtube"

"for our final, we will be writing a paper with pictures. a mural of sorts"

"to get your packet of photocopies, it will cost you about 2 beers"

"I will teach this class with the ideas of the hippies"

I like all kinds of music except that stuff you call... doom metal?

sometimes I feel like I am swimming in the avacado here

We also listened to Chile´s most famous band, Los Tres (too bad there are 4 members...?) And Carlos sang along to this song.

We also listened to a modern philosopher, Slavoj Zizek discuss the Marxist controversy of, ¨Why be happy when you could be interesting¨  needless to say, it was interesting. I suggest you watch him talk about it on youtube (I am not going to post it because I think it is a bad idea to start pushing Marxist forums at you) but if you so choose to look it up, just know that he is heavily addicted to cocaine. I find the strange urge to put a sicker of Che Guevara on my tea mug, oh wait... Carlos beat me to it.

Then we spent most of the class talking about our interests and bonding over reading and music and such. Our homework was to observe and record Chileanisms. We are going to discuss the Chilean language in our next class but some of the term we talked about are...

1. Chileans don´t speak Spanish. The Chilean lanugage is the most difficult to learn (says someone important in the Spanish language world) because it is so full of coloquial slang (smart man says more than Mexico)
2. The reason for that is Chile´s geography seperates the culture and language from being exposed to other South American countires. (After the building of the Panama Canal, Valaparaiso stopped being such a major sea port and immigration declined)
3. Chileans use voseo (a form of the Vosotros (singular) = tú (you) This is combined into the phrase Tú vosos mi amiga. or Tú vos sois mi amiga. Translating to the standard Spanish of (Tú eres mi amiga) You are my friend.
4. Aspiraciónes de sonidos happen in 2 major parts of Chilean speak. 1. dropping the final s of a word, los dos becomes lo do and 2. d intervocales cansado becomes cansao, pecado becomes pecao
5. The diminuitive. Everything is little this or little that. Sometimes is represents the size of something, gato v gatito (cat v kitten) but most of the time it is to show affection such as Raquelita la gringita bonitita rather than Raquel la gringa bonita. (sorry for calling myself beautiful)
6. The suffix poh is added to everything for no apparent reason. sípoh, nuncapoh, yapoh

I will stop you here so I do not overwhelm you with language knowledge. To wrap it up (because I have to go to salsa class... listen to me, have to go...) I am enjoying this Culture and Communications class and feel as if it will be my saving grace from other classes such as, oh, I don´t know, Advanced Grammar.

Chaopoh,

raquel

la yerba man...

the other day i went over to la Meghan´s casa to meet her fun little family but mostly to play with Fragula, the pregnant French Bulldog. Fragula, for all of you readers out there, is Italian for strawberry and I was just informed that yesterday she was wearing a nice knit sweater emblazoned with strawberries.

also, i had my first taste of Yerba Mate, a native drink to South American countries including, Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. The Guaranui people were the first to cultivate Ilex paraguariensis that begins as a shrub and grows into a tree, refered to simply as yerba. the caffeine content is more than black coffee, only if you can choke it down. i must say, despite the really cool mug and straw aparatus, the steeping leaves and twigs end up tasting like fermented celery and brocoli with some sweet pungent brine liquid. i am glad that i tried it, but it is not for me. 5 sips and i had to pass it on. at least it was 4 more sips than the host mom.

while we are on the topic of drinks, tea is the beverige of choice. and next comes Nescafe. they should honestly take cafe our of the the title. it is just water and brown food coloring. with milk and sugar. if you order a coffee in Chile, you must order a `cafe cafe` if you want black espresso like coffee, if not, the standard `cafe`is cafe con leche and sugar. i would reccomend sticking just to tea.

eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die,

rach