Tuesday morning was a special viewing of the 2004 Chilean film, Machuca. It was set around the 1973 coup seen through the eyes of a young, high class boy who makes friends with a boy from the lower class through their private school. This was a very interesting look at that time period and how the different social classes were affected by Pinochet’s takeover. I don’t know how available this film is in the states, but if you want a good foreign film, pick this up. The latter part of the day involved more classes, then bumming around because I was so tired. I think I fell asleep on the hostel couch while Patrick read about Angkor Wat.
Wednesday was a much busier day. We were doing lesson plan presentations on Thursday, so orientation was cut short after lunch and we were given the rest of the day to do our plans. I was assigned the topic of introductions, and planned some games on how to introduce yourself in English. The cafeteria/lounge area in the hostel was officially taken over by all the WorldTeach crew, busily working on materials for the lesson plans – and some wine bottles to help lubricate the process.
The entire Thursday morning was devoted to presenting pieces of our lesson plans in three small groups, led by our field directors, Meghan and Thomas, and a former director, Josh, who now works for the instituto. I lost on “nose goes” and presented first; I was so happy to get it over with. It was very fun presenting and participating in the various plans, and receiving very, very helpful feedback from everyone and our group’s leader, Meghan. We also had a great view because we were on the seventh floor of the instituto.
View from our 7th floor classroom at the instituto.
The rest of the day was given over to more orientation, before I went home to spruce up a little – I was going to Patrick’s host family’s house for dinner that night and wanted to make a good impression. They are definitely what the Chileans identify as cuico – upper class. They lived out in the Viticura commune of Santiago, which is actually quite a bit away from my hostel in the Santiago Centro.
Viticura may look close to Santiago Centro, but it was usually a 45 minute bus ride.
Their house was really nice and spacious. There were only three people who lived there: Rita, the asthmatic but sincerely kind grandmother; Fabiola, the mother who I can only describe as merry; and her four year old daughter, Flo. Flo was a little terror, pulling on her grandma’s scarf and terrorizing the dog and crawling under the table while barking. However, she warmed up to me before dinner – something that took Patrick days to accomplish. Since they were of Italian origins, our dinner had a definite Italian flair: pumpkin soup and bread, followed by rich ricotta cheese raviolis in an alfredo sauce, and then a very sweet flan for dessert. It was great being with them, and Patrick was kind enough to translate cause I didn’t understand a thing going on. They also demonstrated their infamous Chilean hospitality by saying anytime I was in Santiago, I could call and come over.
Friday was our final day of WorldTeach orientation. We spent our time reviewing what we had learned and writing buena ondas (basically, props) to each other. It was a generally feel good time for everyone before we had the afternoon off. I ended up palling around with Meghan, Jenny, Kevin, and Matt, and making our way to the Mercado Central. This is a huge market near the river that contains a couple rings of fish and produce sellers, mingled with restaurants and some more stalls and bigger restaurants in the middle.
A panorama outside the Mercado Central, looking towards Cerro San Cristobal.
We were hawked constantly by people trying to get us to eat at their place, and we eventually settled at one tucked in a corner away from everything. It was definitely a good choice. I got my chance to tick off a food from my list – conger eel, known as congrio here. Despite it’s name, it is not actually an eel; it is more of a streamlined, marbled fish found in Chilean waters. The meat comes in several grades, designated by different colors.
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Fish! The congrio is the marbled one in the center.
My dish was congrio caldillio (conger eel soup, pretty much). It was absolutely fantastic. It was a huge chunk of conger eel surrounded by chunks of potato, tomato, red pepper, onions, cilantro, and various spices. It was served still boiling and cooking. I let it cool for a few minutes, and then dug in. Conger is definitely a different tasting fish, and it’s very hard to describe the taste. There is no denying that this is the tastiest fish I have ever had, and puts all fish in the U.S. to shame. I polished the entire bowl off and proceeded to gross everyone out by sucking the jellied marrow from the spine of the conger - so rich and delicious. I then tucked in to some of Kevin’s marisco (seafood) stew and some of Jenny’s leftover mashed potatoes. This place was just awesome.
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My congrio caldillio, and Kevin's mariscos.
Afterwards, we took a stroll to the Plaza de Armas to take in the socialist and artist gathering there. I watched a street artist make a chalk drawing of Jesus, and was reminded of Arts Fest at PSU and how I missed it. I was sad for a second, and then thought – why be sad? I’m in Chile!
The awesome street artist, a view down a Santiago street, and artists in the Plaza de Armas.
Our stroll eventually took us back to the hostel, and I lazed around for a little bit before going out to nab gelato in Providencia with Patrick at my favorite place, Bravissimo. The gelato there was awesome, and I was very pleased in the first week to find they had lucuma flavors. I made my way back to the hostel just in time to spruce up to go out with the WorldTeach crew to officially celebrate the end of our orientation. We went to La Chimeneria (I think was its name) and took up an entire room for ourselves on the third floor. It was our entire crew, plus some of Thomas’s friends, Josh, and Meghan’s pololo (boyfriend). Thomas loved the pie de limon we got him, and we also gave Meghan a bottle of wine to say thanks for the great 10 days with them. We all shared tons of appetizers (seafood, meat, cheeses, veggies, bread, you name it), drinks (pisco, wine, beer, and more), and ran up a bill of roughly 220,000 pesos (about $440, before tip) for 28 people. Oops.
Thomas digging into his pie de limon, my delicious pisco tropical, and some of the WorldTeach crew.
Afterwards, we all made our way back to the hostel to pack a little and crash after 2. We were moving hostels around 10:30 in the coming morning, and I had to pack my backpack for my upcoming camping trip. I didn’t want to leave our cozy corner in Hotel Plaza Londres, but sadly, we had to. Our orientation with the Ministry of Education was to start the following Monday, and, well… that’s another story.
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