Settling In

Eduardo and Paola took me to the university and to eat at a seafood restaurant that evening. The university is so beautiful. A large clock sits in the center, and it is the main landmark of the university. As we were walking across the U, a procession of mechones (freshman) passed by. The second-year students make the mechones do crazy stuff during the first weeks of school, and then the different departments throw parties. It’s all in good fun—I don’t think they have them do some of the things that fraternities do to their new initiates.
The seafood restaurant was simple but very good. I need to work on my seafood vocabulary! I also tried two typical beers, a Guzman and an Austral with calefate, which is a fruit from the southernmost part of Chile. The latter resembled an apricot beer, and it was my favorite. I felt like I was going to explode after the restaurant. It’s a little difficult to eat such a heavy meal at 10:00 pm, but I’m sure I’ll adjust.


The next day, as we were searching for a pension, we met Diane. As it turns out, Paola is Diane’s host counselor. She is from Arizona and is studying law. She’s very sweet, has a quiet voice, and is very organized—she reminds me a lot of Tera Rica. She lives in a pension near mine, but is paying a little more. The four of us were walking to an advertised pension when an older lady approached us and told us that she, too, has a pension in a house just across the street. The house was absolutely gorgeous and very large. She was very lively and cute in her red platform shoes. She showed us the room that was available, and it reminded me a lot of a Southern room. The wallpaper was sage green with pink roses, and the carpet matched the green of the wallpaper. I would have half of the room, and she would have the rest in which to put some of her things. I would have all my meals and laundry service. For around $460 a month, especially with such a good location, we were sold on it. I moved into Tia Lucia’s pension the next day.
Before I moved in, though, I had to get some things straightened out. I am still not registered at the U, and the secretary, Lilian, said that the system wasn’t ready yet, but when it was, she would help me register. In the meantime, I can start classes. I met Dr. Valdes, who helped me so much before I came here. He wasn’t as lively as I’d imagined, but he is still very friendly and helpful. When explaining things to me, he took long pauses and looked out the window in thought. These pauses were sometimes awkwardly long! I think he is a person who is very careful with his words.


Friday morning, Paola took me to the police station to get my visa validated. She left me there for a long time, thinking it would be a while before I would be seen. One of the officers let me use the internet to look up Eduardo’s number, and we called him to get Paola’s. We got ahold of her, and she came back quickly, not realizing I had been waiting for an hour! Then, we had lunch and a cute little restaurant run by friends of Eduardo’s, and then I went to a doctor and friend of Paola’s who gave me a medical certificate of good health, which I need for my registration, even though I had had to get one for my student visa as well. We went to the pharmacy to get some calomine lotion for my mosquito bites, which are still plaguing my ankles and the backs of my knees, and then we checked out a gym next door that I plan to join tomorrow. It’s super nice, with TV’s in all the cardio machines, lots of strength-training machines, and classes that seem like they would be fun.


That afternoon, I moved into the pension. Right now, they are in the process of moving from a house down the street into this one, but things are falling into place. I ate supper at the other house. I met Carlos, a friend of la Tia who comes around to help out with things, Sadi, a young Cuban woman who has an eight-year-old son named Arturo, Pancha, and Coni. After supper, la Tia, Sadi, Carlos, Pancha, and I went to the supermarket. It reminded me a lot of a super Wal-Mart. I bought some milk, cereal, water, coke zero, and marshmallow Easter eggs to eat and some toiletries and school supplies. Tia Lucia and I slept in the new house, and the rest of the people moved in the next day, Saturday.


That day, yesterday, I met Allen and Piero, the two guys who share a room upstairs. They are very friendly, and Allen especially is very outgoing. I arranged my room, and then joined the others for almuerzo, or lunch. We had empanadas and barbecued chicken, and both were very tasty. That night, we had an asado, or barbecue, on the back patio. It was essentially a meat fest. As the meat was grilling, Carlos, a dance instructor, taught me some salsa pasos and techniques. If I have time (which is doubtful), I’d really like to take lessons from him. Later, he danced with a 15-year-old girl who had been taking lessons from him for three months, and she danced fantastically. I would love to be able to dance like that by the time I get back to the Albuquerque salsa clubs.


Last night after the asado, I went out with Allen, Piero, their friend and classmate Andrea, and another friend of theirs. We went to one of their friends’ 20th birthday party (all of them are 19 or 20, in their second year). The guy’s dad threw him the party, complete with alcohol. I love Catholic countries. In the Protestant U.S., that rarely happens.
At the party, I tried my first piscola, which is a mixture of pisco and coca-cola. It was really good. The pizza was also good—it had corn as a topping! My ability to speak Spanish increased as I drank more. I conversed mainly with Andrea and Allen. Andrea speaks English, so any time we wanted to say something that we didn’t want Allen to hear, we’d say it in English.

Sunday, we had another asado for almuerzo. It was nice sitting on the patio, eating, and enjoying the sun. Here, it is the end of summer, like the end of August or beginning of September at home. It should be warming up for spring at home, and it will be weird when winter comes in place of my normal summer!
I am understanding Chilean Spanish a little better each day, and I’ve been here less than a week. Maybe I’ll understand 95% of it in a month. I hope so, at least! Still, the people here are fantastic, and I think I will continue to be very happy here. School starts Monday the 17th, so we’ll see how that goes!