confused

I love confusion. You have to, when it happens so often. Today was my first day of Responsibilidad Social, and it was chaos. First of all, Mondays now include a commute to Sausalito in Viña, then Casa Central in Valpo, then leaving early from class to make it back to Sausalito in time for this class. Today I went, found rooms 1-12 easily and had to ask for directions 3 times to find room 13, which is where my class used to be. Instead it was some horrific math class, and I backed out quickly, asked for directions again, went to reception, was directed to room 8, where my class also used to be apparently. Back to reception, who directed us to an auditorium filled with students not from my class, but others listening to a seminar from our professor... no class today. It only took 45 minutes to realize this. I did eventually encounter other confused student from my class, who shared the reading assignment with me. Haha, everyone was so confused, so imagine my confusion, having never been to the class at all before and only picked up a few words in between po this and po that, but I love it, it's fun.

I've decided that the indecisive micro drivers are my fav, the ones that are like ok, it seems like you are a student, so I guess you can pay the lower fare. They are good people.

Medusa

How amazing is it that the word for jellyfish in Spanish is medusa? Dani communicated this to me today through a drawing in butter during tea. What a good idea- I think I will walk around with a container of butter to better express myself. Today we had a lot of sisterly bonding time over TV and tea and animated discussion of the hombres calientes de intercambio, who are represented by 5 nationalities. In other news, Jono came back to life after a stomach infirmity, and Argentineans speak funny, or at least differently. I did not realize that I had become accustomed to a Chilean accent, but compared with a different one it sounds very distinctive. To Argentineans and Chileans alike, I am still Gringa.

Colliguay

Colliguay is this tiny mountain village inland from Valpo, small enough to not be on my Lonely Planet map. Dani and I joined some of her friends today (Sat 29th) on a drive to from a town just outside of Viña to the valley of Colliguay, about a two hour journey. We all piled into one of those little sort of mini bus looking things, which yes did have seat belts, but not much space. I have been looking forward to my first edge of a cliff drive for a long time, the kind where you have to drive about 5 mph or you will go over the edge. I am kidding, it was not quite that bad. There were some guardrails and high banks, but still there was an abundance of signs that said things like "USE EXTREME CAUTION" and "extremely steep slopes" and ones that showed pictures of cars being crushed by falling rocks (my personal fav). What a shame I destroyed my camera, that should be documented somewhere.

After two hours of dirt road hairpin-turn stick shift driving while sitting in the back seat, I was completely crippled by stomach upset, so when we arrived I curled up in a ball and missed much of the scenery before the early nightfall. This area looks like the mountains of southern California, with a lot of scrub and cactus, and is ridiculously pretty.

Soon after we pulled out of a park type area, we literally ran into cows, as they were being herded on the road towards our vehicle. It was like in the Lion King, during the stampede. Their eyes were creepily lit up from the headlights... maybe they were zombie cows.

After an equally thrilling/terrifying rest of the return trip, I got to play with the kids at a friend's house (Lunar lava!!... we made our own martians). I like hearing children talk, because there simple sentences are easy to understand. Plus, they are adorable when I don't know how to say something in Spanish, because they have no idea how to react, and just smile and stare at you and for some reason sing a lot. Yes, I am anxious to start volunteering in a school, I can't wait.

Cumpleaños felíz!

On my 21st birthday, I woke up at 11:45 (yay for sleeping in) to 7 cards from the US being dumped into my lap, followed by freshly squeezed orange juice (not in my lap, though that would have been ok too.)

I went to the university to finalize my schedule, which makes me a lot happier about my life. And on the commute, both micro drivers gave me the student discount!! That has never happened before! There was a sign on the one micro that said "Don't destroy the seats!" Haha, that was a gift right there, for some reason I think it is hilarious that there is actually a sign requesting that you don't destroy part of the thing you are riding on. I also enjoyed the "Evite molestias, baje por atras" because I thought it was in reference to annoying people, but molestias are annoyances- to avoid annoyances, leave from the back [door]. Oh well, I still enjoyed it.

I invited some friends over, at 7, but in Chile that is like 3 hours too early, so at 9 some friends came over. At first, we had two from Germany, one from Switzerland, one from Japan, and me, with no Chileans there to help us all communicate in our mediocre Spanish as a second language. But never fear, the Chileans arrived, helped us correct our errors, and we commenced the bathroom trap door game. I am pretty good at opening the door from the outside, but I do love to watch people get stuck unbeknownst of the danger. AThomas was stuck in there during the birthday song. In Spanish it is essentially the same, but somehow cooler. It was a full Spanish conversation night, with many different accents and nationalities represented. I also realized how gullible I am; Thomas did not really fight off a dog with a knife, and Jono's middle name is not Honey (ok, it was more convincing than you think), among other things:)

Thanks for the well wishes everyone!

the name game

For some reason, everyone I encounter greatly enjoys my name. No one has ever done this before, but there has been a boom in the giving of nicknames department. Included are the following: Señorita Grim (Ken: "your name is seriously Ellen Grim? that's awesome!!), just Grim (or GRIM!!!!!!!!, Jacob), Ellen Grim (really, everyone thinks this is hardcore, to use the full name), Grom (Rodrigo; can't remember the reasoning for that one), and Luterana (Australia Thomas). Also Helen is popular among Chileans, because the name Helen is common in Chile, but Ellen is virtually nonexistent (interesting, as the 'h' is not usually pronounced in other words). AThomas thinks the title "Lady of the Lake," from camp this summer, is the greatest title one could possibly have, followed closely by "unicorn." Either way I am kind of like a guardian figure... I will be sure to put this on my resume.

Micros

I have developed an obsession with the micros. They are often one of the most interesting things I encounter during any given day. Maybe I will study them and write a book. Me and the ice cream man can sit in the back and chat it up and observe people.

One of the best things is showing the driver my matrícula, the thing that sometimes gets me a student discount but does not necessarily have to be honored, by discretion of the driver only. Some of them nod before I can even ask, some try to argue it, some don't say anything and are confused that I have a piece of paper and not a card. Today (the 27th) was the best though- I showed my matrícula and the driver looked at me, listened to my brief memorized script about being an exchange student, and shrugged and was like, sure, why not? He just shrugged at me and gave me the benefit of the doubt, somehow declaring me worthy of a fare reduced by 35 cents. It honestly made my day. This action, however small, was part of the culture for me, the culture of the micro and of Chile. It showed empathy and some form of trust, kindness, not necessarily attributes I would have before associated with bus drivers, but now I do. The passing of the coins, the trust, the politeness factor- how people move over a seat for you or hit the button to stop when you can't reach or yell to the driver if the door is closed on you... it is all amazing and fascinating. I really do want to write a book about it, there is like this distinct micro culture. I wonder if it exists the same way in other cities, in other parts of South America. I will let you know.

the prodigal wallet

This is another one of those semi-miracle things that seem to happen quite often in Chile. The driver of the unmarked taxi in Santiago returned my wallet to Michael's house, where we were dropped off at the end of our Rapa Nui trip. Several things can be said for this. One, what a nice guy! I am insanely lucky. Two, what luck that the night we were dropped off, Michael insisted that the driver pull up right in front of the door to his apartment. At the time I thought this was not entirely necessary, but as it turns out that is the only reason the driver knew exactly where to go, because of Michael's insistence. I bought a new cédula (Chile ID) in the meantime, but it's worth it because the picture is about 100 times better.

It [the wallet] ran away to Rapa Nui, then ran away from me, but is now found!!