sexy legs and the environment

chile is expensive, but having sexy legs isn't.

along with my iron tablets, services for beauty (nails, hair, color, waxing), relaxation (massage), exercise (yoga) are much more inexpensive here than in the States.

call it machismo, but i'm glad all these ladies here have no excuse not to be beautiful...

service....................chile...........................USA

brazilian wax................$7.00 USD.........................$65.00 USD

full leg wax...................$10.00 USD........................$70.00 USD

pedicure........................$15.00 USD........................$40.00 USD

hair cut (no color)........$14.00 USD........................$40.00 USD

and at first i was scared to have my hair cut here, just like latin women i know are scared to have their hair cut by just anyone in the States. the thing is that fashion for the most part is just so traditional. practically no one has short hair and the majority smell so fragrantly and wear more make-up and lipstick than i would ever dream of... i wasn't sure i'd have a hair dresser on my level. but man, she did a great job for me being gringa with short hair!

you can't get your legs waxed without a healthy dose of man-ness...

so i'm getting my legs waxed (oh joy, weeks and weeks without shaving) when the lady says to me something about how i've obviously been needing this for a while. almost, why did you wait so long? then she says, it'll be a gift for your boyfriend (with a big smile on her face).

do you get angry? or do you just accept cultural differences? these are the questions i ask myself on a more frequent basis here in chile.

on another note, it's impressive to see the degree of conservation here. the lady at the hair salon was washing and drying the foils used in hair coloring so she could re-use them. unbelievable! and this was the thing, it was foil from real tin foil rolls! in the US they have special rolls that come off like tissues and they throw them away like used tissues just the same.

people, not even like homeless people, will dig and dig in huge piles of trash to find cans, scrap metal. metals are just expensive enough here to conserve them the way we should conserve all of the stuff we just blow through in the states.

chileans can't help but plasticize everything, though. if only plastic came with a tax that reflects the way it harms the environment. the other day at the market, a guy insisted i take his new plastic bag because it would look nicer than the "ugly", reused plastic bag i had. yes, that's right though, what chileans save in tin, glass, wood, paper, aluminum and ceramic they make up for in plastic. plastic bags? look nice?? ugh...

Chile Gets Its Capitalistic Props

The whole article is definitely worth the read but after my last post, I found this to be a good follow up.

clipped from www.techcrunch.com Chile Wants Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses, Your Tech Entrepreneurs To top this off, Chile is a thriving democracy with one of the most open economies in South America. In fact, if I was starting a new tech company and didn’t need to be in any particular area, I’d start it in Chile in a heartbeat. What really struck me was how many Chileans I met who boasted of their country being a “land of immigrants.” Everyone told stories about how Chile was built by immigrants and welcomed the world’s most skilled and most oppressed. This reminded me of how America used to be before the xenophobes started blaming immigrants for all their own shortcomings and misery. Seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? There are some downsides. Chile is a 15 hour flight from the West Coast. And if you’re going to stay long-term, you’ll need to learn Spanish. That’s not a big price to pay for all the benefits.

Bus Clowns, Wines, and Beer

Something I will miss about Santiago are all the street performers who entertain you at the red light or take your mind off the fact that the bus driver is piloting his spruce goose of the Santiago bus fleet like a driver at Le Mans mainlining red bulls just to make it past that 23rd hour.
These men and women will dress up in everything from clown suits to mime gear. They will play music with a band of friends or throw down some serious chilean rap to the always soothing dre-snoop beat of ain't nuthin like a G thang. Never mind the guy ripping off a perfect rendition of some bach on a pan flute while the bus reincarnates the horse chase from zorro

While my folks were here, the conversation often turned to the fact that the Chilean economy is leading the South American continent. At a time of serious economic pain in the States, the Chileans have barely flinched as their long-term economic planning, that took some heat during the good times, has now paid unbelievable dividends. Squirreling away revenue like batteries and bottled water before a storm, the Chilean finance minister was able to save for a rainy day. Boy, are they putting it to good use now! The city continues to grow each day with new housing and commercial properties being built in every direction. It's not hard to look at their brand of capitalism and be a little envious. It seems like a place where you could truely pull yourself up by the proverbial bootstraps.

From the food vendors selling spring rolls and sandwiches made in their kitchen that morning, to the guy Cait and I bought new socks from as we waited for the crosswalk light to change...this place just oozes capitalism and opportunity. It's really impressive.
We're looking at a long weekend that serves essentially as their memorial day weekend. The official arrival of daylight savings time and the fantastic weather that we've had a taste of this last week. After visa problems, weeks of double classes, bad weather, and a fun but exhausting week of hosting my folks...cait and I are looking forward to some food, a bbq and some relaxation. No better way to start than a little beer and wine sampling night with guacamole and a movie.

flags or fines

on the independence day weekend several weeks ago, scott and i went to pichilemu to celebrate with our friend silvia. we had heard a while ago about how much fun the september holiday is. chileans party all week, drink chicha, eat lots of meat (cuchicheos) and go to fondas. we weren't sure where we would be spending our time off (friday and half of that thursday) as well as the whole weekend but silvia's family's place ended up being a great venue.

many people who travel to chile around this time comment that chileans are "so patriotic" because of the amazing amounts of flags everywhere. in fact, chileans are patriotic, similar in spirit to those from the USA. the flag colors are the same as well which makes the regalia look startlingly similar... anyway, i think it's notable to counter that in fact their patriotism is enforced with a fine; a 20,000 peso fine if a flag is not displayed in their residence or domicile. i would hate to be the carabinero walking around ticketing on a day so festive and drunk as this.


so about the town, pichilemu is just beautiful. there is a special green that lines the colored clay hills that end at the ocean's edge. the waves are perfect for surfers and it certainly attracts a ton of them. the fruits, vegetables, flowers.... amazing. at one point on the drive back north you can see a beautiful strip of coastline at the same time you are staring the andes in the face. the coolest part was seeing silvia's dad's beach house. just breathtaking...

check the view and other pictures from the trip out on facebook.

Students Say The Darndest Things

I've wanted to keep a running journal of the things my students say but generally end up forgetting the little nuggets of joy before I get home at the end of the day. Last week, however, I was presented with two beauties that just wouldn't fade in my memory. The first...a classic... was a student trying to communicate that she had looked up extra information about a topic we'd been covering.

"I know this one, I know this.....I found it in the google"

She said it with a straight face and I absolutely lost it. I love how far google has come as a word in the last however many years. Someone needs to put it to music...like our friend f*#k here.

The second may be one of the funniest things that has happened to me down here in Chile. During a discussion between two students, one had a killer comeback and absolutely crushed the first student's BS argument. This led to me bellowing out a heyooooo as well all laughed at the righteous smackdown. What blew me away wasn't the great english being exchanged, or the rare, true-humor in english. No, It was what happened next. The student with the smackdown...clearly on fire, looked at me as I was finishing my heyooooo and said,

"thunder, thunder, thundercats....heyoooo"

Insert death by laughter.....by me....here

why sweater vests aren't a good idea for dogs

chile is a catholic country. though many chileans could tell you less than i could about catholicism, they still get about 10 days off a year due to various catholic saints' days.

religious polemics aside, the culture here presents a very touching side regarding charity and family. i've heard stories of random people holding up and turning over very drunk people so they don't choke on their own pewk. homeless people are well-fed and supplied with ample drink.

and the dogs... the dogs have sweater vests for the winter (even the homeless ones). of course they pee all over them which is kind of gross. but regardless, they're well-fed and you know, supplied with ample... these dogs are really loved too. i've seen packs of dogs that would lay down their lives for the people who care for them: care for them with love, maybe nothing else.

not only that but people are so respectful of the dogs. at least when i'm looking.
when you talk to a chilean about the dogs, they might actually feel bad about their state. they treat them almost as if they have the same right to be there as any other person. i've seen men physically halted, stumped by a dog's dislike of him. like, instead of anger, complete surprise.."huh i wonder why this dog is barking ferociously at me?" and a side note on the dogs, they are so freaking cute (some of them) that it's hard to not touch them. and touch them you shouldn't because the emotional attachment a deprived being can form at the touch of a hat is absolutely incredible- i've seen it. don't touch them unless you want to take them home.

also, i had never seen a dog look across a street and then cross it (when it was safe) before i came to santiago. literally, these stray dogs cross the street like humans would.

i found out long ago that jokes about children being annoying and troublesome don't go over well with really any chilean, young or old. in fact, many examples in english classes have included loving children, wanting to work with children and of course indecisively, asserting they will have children. there isn't even an iota of like, maybe i'll have kids. it's more like when i do...

abortion is illegal in this country. i found out it costs about a million pesos (about $1,900) to obtain illegally which is a ton for someone who low or even middle class. if you get pregnant and you are unmarried, it seems that the family compensates and in most cases supports the single mother (providing room, board and daycare services). informally, the father will even pay child support. in the US, indecent men will quit their jobs so their child support payment gets lowered.
when people see children on the street, men and women alike will stop to gawk and make cutsey comments.

just the other day, scott and i were with our friend silvia. a young child fell off a stool and the chileans nearby were making consoling comments of "awwww." next to us was a group of gringoes. i could hear them saying, as the child continued to cry, "control your child." now this brings up two issues: one being the fact that gringoes (like me) think that no one here can understand english and secondly, young, traveling gringoes aren't necessarily staring parenthood in the face.

i had a student the other day ask me if my family came with me to live in chile! haha so cute.

for a long time i didn't know why chileans in a largish group would force you off a sidewalk if you tried to pass them walking alone... i just didn't understand it. at home, the individual on the sidewalk would get first priority (after all they are taking up the least amount of space). i should have known that the family/group mentality was part of the reason...
it is this idea. "we the group are stronger than the sum of our individual parts... together we are more important than any individual alone... if you find yourself to be alone trying to walk on the sidewalk, you're better off finding a group and doing it that way, cachai?"

there are countless ways that family has influenced culture here. i'll write up a few more when they come to me. it's fascinating, really.

deaths

it's crazy hearing about all those who have died so far this year...
since i've been gone, utah phillips, michael jackson, farah fawcett, ted kennedy, patrick swayze, walter conkrite, natasha richardson and apparently a 21 year-old dog (the world's oldest) have all died in 2009.

feels kind of strange. i swear i didn't know this many people who died last year.

perception

over 100 arrested for "war crimes" from pinochet's time

today is the anniversary of the day when pinochet took over santiago by means of a military coup 36 years ago. almost 20 years after his rule ended, under a liberal female president, the world expects chile to hold those henchmen accountable now that it is well recovered.

what does the rest of the world think? pinochet was a bad bad man who killed many people and no one likes him and they're glad he's gone.

the issue, in chile though, is much more complicated. many people here in fact loved pinochet. and at first i thought these people must be rich. in fact no, some poor people loved him too. because while they didn't necessarily benefit monetarily, the country was considered more secure after the coup took hold. people were scared of the government and certainly less "flaite," less violent.

some have suggested this mass arrest is merely a game, that the judge who issued the warrants has no real intent of throwing these people in jail; it's just a show to make chile look favorable in today's political forum. one of the proponents of this theory points out that the judges are the same ones on the bench from 30 years ago...

not everyone loves pinochet...
i wondered why then, is every sept. 11 considered to be a potentially violent day? sept. 11 is mostly when pinochet opposers protest his legacy. in the past kids have been known to cut electricity in various areas of the city, protests have erupted quickly and turned to violence. in rare occasions, people have died. but it seems to get less violent every year.

an aside- my thought is, protest violence and dictatorship with more violence?

so if sept. 11 protesters clearly have no problem with violence then what exactly are they challenging? well, the reality is that this day has become about delinquents more than anything else. many of the kids who come out to wreak havoc have in fact been born after 1990 (the last year of pinochet's rule).

according to the chileans i've spoken to; sept. 11 is more of an excuse to be rebellious and dangerous than an organized fight against "the man."

at any rate, i doubt well see much. well be out in las condes for the weekend, far away from centro, the most energetic area for protests and things.

immigration

scott got stuck at the "border" two weekends ago. because he and i both miscalculated his 90 day stay (or entirely forgot to count it all together) he was kept from leaving the country from the santiago national airport. definitely scared when he called me at home, i spoke with the international police officer who was dealing with him. now, i've heard of immigration/visa blunders from others living as foreigners in chile. these people (not americans) didn't stress nearly as much as scott and i did in those minutes. coming from working near immigration issues in domestic violence, i know how high the stakes are...

so i'm apologizing, trying to assure the officer that it was not with mal intent that scott screwed up. trying to be as formal, polite, and apologetic as i could i talked while a very nice officer on the other end tried to reassure that things would be ok if he reported to an office for foreigners on monday. i thought initially, how can this be true? don't countries find a way to kick you out, especially if you mess up?

so when he returned we figured out exactly how long his stay had been. 91 days!!! that is, if you count the day he entered the country as one whole day, not half of a day leading to the next. so, we lost the 80 dollar LAN flight to Mendoza and were looking at paying a fine as well. fortunately, he was not fined. i couldn't believe how happy i was to find out they ONLY GIVE YOU A SLAP ON THE WRIST for doing this once. he will have to leave the country again, and within 10 days but he can reenter the same day.

scott probably should be writing this... but he described the fear he felt at that minute he was "caught" as kind of paralyzing. here he was, in a foreign country, speaking in a foreign language to a person who was now leading him into a separate room and he knew he was in "trouble" whatever that means. he had remarked something about how it gave him some perspective about what immigrants-illegal or otherwise- must feel like...

Distorted Beauty

This has been a topic that I've thought about for a while now. It seemed like every time I wanted to illustrate how pervasive advertising and media can be in relation to self-image, my words and statistics would just fall flat. If a picture is worth a thousand words....

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com 1] Out Your Inner Hater: Claim your fears and negative perspectves about yourself by completing the sentence, "Right now, I feel like I really hate my____". By owning where you're at instead of hating yourself for hating yourself, and adding guilt onto shame, you can begin to see other, more positive avenues more clearly. 2] Question Your Motives: Ask yourself if this wallowing is making any progress towards your stated goals of confidence, inner strength, peace, and rational self-improvement? Hint: probably not. So why do you continue with it if it's not serving you to get where you want to go? Hmmmmm? 3] Use It...or Lose It!: Apply your natural stubbornness to either take action to change the things you can, or surrender the fight against that which is, and turn your mind towards more positive ways to move towards health, happiness and prosperity. And, as the old saying goes...have the wisdom to know the difference.