My first week in Chile has already come and gone. After being in Korea for the past four months, whose culture is so different from the western side of the world, it has been a little strange being in Chile. I just moved in with my host family on Saturday, a really sweet retired couple, and started my internship yesterday. However, I am enjoying my experience so far and am thankful that I have been able to travel to such different places this year! I am still getting a feel for Chile, but here are some observations and reactions I´ve had so far.
Art:
I have been absolutely delighted and surprised at how artistic Chile and its people are. I have seen so much amazing art. My favorite thing I´ve seen in Chile so far was one of Pablo Naruda’s houses in the Bellavista District. Naruda had a really interesting life, and I definitely recommend you read up on him. He was a famous poet in the 70s and won a Nobel. His house was an amazing display of creativity through architecture, interior design, and art. After taking the tour (unfortunately no pictures allowed), I felt so inspired to do something creative myself. I plan on buying a Spanish /English book of his poetry while I’m here. I’ve been told that his other two houses are even better and plan on checking out the one in Valparaiso soon.
Intimacy:
The customary greeting in Chile is to kiss each other on the right cheek. This has been a little strange to get used to, but of course it is completely normal to everyone who lives here. It is also common to see public displays of affection. By this I mean that I have seen all-out makeout sessions in the subway station and on the street. In Korea I think I only saw people kiss only two times for the four months I was there, so the juxtaposition for me is quite funny.
Pollution:
In any big city you expect to see pollution. In Korea, everyone was always complaining about the microdust from China and would be very careful about not getting rained on since it was dirty rain. Despite this, I never really noticed the air quality too much. In Chile, there is no way not to notice the air quality. When I went to the top of San Cristobal hill, I could barely see the buildings near me. I’ve almost gone through an entire bottle of eyedrops already as well. The air is supposedly a lot clearer after a rain, so hopefully later this week I will get to experience a cleaner Santiago for a day and maybe see a view of the Andes that looks more like these photos.
Futból:
In case you didn’t know, the World Cup is going on! Chileans are very passionate about futból. The first day I arrived in Santiago, my taxi driver told me there would be a game at noon. When I was walking around town at that time looking for lunch, EVERYONE was watching the game. It doesn´t matter if you are at work or indoors, the TV is on and when Chile does well, people will shout and blow horns. During Chile´s next game (when they lost against Brazil), I was walking down a quiet street when all of a sudden cars started honking, people were shouting, and I saw people start waving out of their apartment windows. I was really taken aback at first before I realized it was because Chile made a goal. Apparently you don´t have to be watching the game to know what´s going on hahaha. Personally I am not a fan of watching most sports, but it’s cool to see a country supporting its team. Fun Fact: the Chilean team’s nickname is “La Roja,” or The Red.
conniya goes 