This weekend was the Chilean Independence Day and it was quite a draining weekend, but in a good way! In the week or two leading up to this weekend, I asked my students what I could expect from the festivities and what . Many of my students said I would be seeing Cueca dancing and maybe even dancing it myself (a traditional Latin American dance), that I should be attending fondas (basically county fair-styled block parties), and would probably be eating too much Chilean BBQ (especially choripan, essentially a hot dog with chorizo or longaniza and traditional Chilean bread), and probably be drinking too much Chicha (a juice-like, fermented alcoholic drink). For the most part, they were all right! After asking one of my students (who is probably in his 50s) what his plans were for the weekend, he said he was going to "eat and drink too much" and I found that wasn't too far off the marker.
When I was getting on the subway on Saturday afternoon, there was a guy who chugged a beer and after he was done, he promptly crossed himself several times. At that point I knew that the Chileans take their Independence Day very seriously!
I started off the weekend at the asado (BBQ) for my English institute. After that I just invited a few people back to my apartment to hang out and then to our friend's apartment. On Saturday afternoon, my friend Dustin and I went to a fonda called Yein Fonda (Jane Fonda), and absolutely no one was there. We realized that probably no one shows up to that particular one until night. So we met up with our friend, Franny and went to the fonda in my part of town. We just sat and enjoyed the people watching for an hour or two while there were carnival games and dancing going on. People were also just out with their families, flying kites and just enjoying the beautiful weather.
Afterwards we went back to my apartment as my roommate Liz had invited her friends from work to our place for an asado. A total of twenty or so people showed up and there was dancing, eating, and drinking. Many from the party eventually went to a Cumbia concert but I was just too exhausted to continue.
The next day we went to the biggest fonda in the city in absolutely huge public park called Parque O'Higgins (is it weird they would name a park after someone with the surname O'Higgins? Not so, Bernardo O'Higgins was a leader in their revolution again Spanish rule). Tons of people, fair games, cheap food and drink. We gorged ourselves on empanadas, kababs, and choripans as well as beer, terremotos (it means "earthquake" and it is an ice cream, white wine, and rum mixed drink), and chicha. Also, more kites flying than you could ever imagine! We met up with some friends there and just enjoyed the day by walking around, eating, and drinking. Later in the evening, my friend Dustin invited us to an asado at his apartment building. We went there and it ended up being on his rooftop terrace. It ended up being just a small group of us, and it was a great, relaxing way to spend the last part of the weekend.
Luckily, we also had Monday off from work so I took that opportunity to sleep all day and do my lesson plans.
Other than the Chilean Independence Day, I had the opportunity to go skiing towards the beginning of the month with a group from my English institute. We went to a place called Valle Nevado. We had a group discount through a company and we took a bus up there. On the way up, there were exactly 41 hairpin turns, I kid you not. I never get carsick, but I felt my stomach churn a little bit towards the latter half of the drive. At one point, the bus stopped to let a woman off so she could lose her breakfast in the snow. Skiing for the first time in a few years was great. Although I kept to the easy slopes, I thoroughly enjoyed the serene and almost mystical scenery up in the Andes mountains. Also, I didn't fall once! That was definitely a first. On the way down, our guide gave us chocolate and wine while the bus played a mix of 80s music videos. It was a great time!
Not much else to report! I'm still enjoying my classes and my students. Also, one of my best friends from college, Mikey, just booked tickets to come visit me at the end of November! Excited already.
