Primavera here we come!!!

It looks like spring. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the breeze is blowing (it could change at any minute to dark menacing skies), and things are good.

I´m finally out of the other apartment and into a new, amazing (cozy or tiny)apartment with a tiny balcony and a view that looks over the city. It has a kitning room-basically one large living room type space with a kitchen separated by a bar. It was almost fully furnished which helped. It has a small bedroom and a nice sized bath. I don´t have to share the kitchen with ANYONE, and I especially don´t have to share the bathroom. Yippeeee. things are good folks. i even bought a futon. I love futons- two purposes in one. makes me miss america. ha. anyways. I dont have much time or any pictures (the camera is in the fixing process). So, I promise there will be pictures soon, or as soon as possible. I have two lovely neighbors! there an older couple who have made it their job to take care of me. Raul and Nicole got married!!!Congratulations to them. we are all super excited. and Carl and Sierra are back. We´re not sure for how long, but I´m just glad to have the chance to hang out with Sierra again. Nico and I are good. I randomly (kinda) met his mom last night (without him because he had to work). He got tickets to the opera last minute and invited me and his mom but couldnt go because he had to work. so she and I (we´d never seen eachother before) met in front of the theater, and then promptly realized that our tickets weren´t valid because they had to be turned in earlier (or something), so I invited her back up to my apartment for tea and we had a lovely chat for about two hours. She´s absolutely adorable. As you can imagine, I was pretty nervous. I mean:
1. meeting the boyfriend´s mom
2.without the boyfriend
3.in spanish

but she repeatedly told me how impressed she was by my spanish and that she thought I was going to speak like a five year old. . . (thanks Nico). Anyways, she is lovely. I may invite her to dinner sometime this week. I dont really have a table so that might be complicated, but I´ll figure it out.

My classes are good, but I know this all the calm before the storm becuase my masters classes start this week(two), and the classes I teach start this week. So I will be in the classroom a lot more. I havent started the Y yet because I´m still trying to get a medical certificate (the plan is to try to go friday). Im still not sure if I´m going to buy a car or not. it changes daily.

what else. I have a practice interview with the director of the masters program. Im looking for a job for just the month of february. . .and I guess thats all for now.

una aurora,
Mere

Noticias Aleatorias (Rainy cold sunday)

I've been writing and reading a lot of emails lately. and i just want to say. It's really wonderful to hear from you guys. I miss you and really like knowing what's going on with you.

It's raining here. and it's cold. really cold. and I'm poised to begin the week with all sorts of thoughts churning in my head.

culture. I may have already written this, but "cultural perspective" takes on a whole new-multi-faceted and overly complicated meaning when you're in a inter-cultural relationship. oh we see the world in so many ways the same. oh we see the world in so many ways different. and yet- it's not super easy, but so rewarding--I don't even like that word "rewarding" in this context-i really mean that its lovely. and I'm learning and reevaluating my thinking all the time. trying to not automatically privilege my perspective, trying to take lots of deep breaths when I speak in spanish about complicated "feelings" and such. HA.

I should wash my hands more often. I'm just saying. I should. I'm sick too often. oh, maybe thats because I dont have heat! ha-

It's freezing here. Windy, Wet, and Cold. I don't dislike it though, the rain is comforting.

I neatly turned in my paper on friday. well, really I just emailed it. and I'm super proud of it. I procrastinated as usual, but a 12 page research paper in spanish where I only had to look up three words in the dictionary means something people. it means progress! and not the machine, technology way.

I went to see the Director of the Postgrad lit programs last week, and I was soooo nervous, but I just did it. I mean, the thing is, when I get my nervous. . . my spanish just sucks. and I. . . needed to touch base with him and make sure it was still ok for me to be taking masters classes this semester, but I also wanted to talk to him more about me wanting to stay to do the masters here. . .so i just took a deep breath. and he was AMAZINGLY COOL. and extremely excited that I want to stay. . . he even told me he would help look for scholarships for me! and now i just have to prepare for the application and the entrance exam, which is an oral interview with all the faculty (YIKES!), but I'll be ready. . . and I'll figure out some way to calm the nerves. anyways, so that's nothing but good news.

My job is a little crazy right now because due to some rather sad and unfortunate circumstances my lovely and wonderful "big sis" Sierra, had to go back to the states, and we're not sure when or if she will come back.

so, that left me to coordinate all the native speaking professors in my program. which was at the time just me!!!!!! and by coordinate i mean like figuring out what days and times all the conversation classes will be this semester (39 classes, over 400 students), and figuring out whose going to teach them (I was slightly panicking for a few days because we still didnt have more teachers). Luckily, Barret flew in Friday. I dont really know anything about him except that he's from the states and will be working full time (thank god!). so, I feel a little less stressed. It's still a lot of work, but there are perks. Like for example, I got offered this side job to teach english to the university faculty and staff (who are soooooo coool) for 30 dollars an hour (15 mil pesos)!!!!! I know, seriously right!!!!???

so that's, ridiculously cool and hopefully i will be able to save some money. . . and maybe even buy a car (I'm looking around).

I'll fill you all in more about my classes I'm taking and teaching as they unfold.

I still miss Sally and Sierra. and I'm thinking about you Sierra.

I don't have any pictures this week. As we speak my lovely boy friend (I really like the word lovely now adays. it was sally. she rubbed the word off on me) is on his way to santiago with his brother and he's going to drop off my camera at the camera shop there. he gets major points for that.

I'm thinking a lot about culture and gender right now (well, I always am), but specifically about how the two interact and how I think that a person becomes very aware of their own identity and identity struggles when they live in another culture. I am constantly over-aware of who I am here, sometimes in good ways and sometimes not.

this entry isnt funny at all. sorry. I did flood the bathroom yesterday. but it totally wasnt my fault that the sink was clogged and the washing machine water drain was in the sink. I mean, how was i supposed to know it was clogged? we did a lot of water scooping into a dust pan.

I'm such a bad friend and haven't mailed a bday present yet that i have had for a month. I'm doing it tomorrow. seriously.

and I'm also signing up for the gym tomorrow. 7:30 aerobics here i come. no more potona around here. don't ask. somebody called me that (i think in a good way), but I'm pretty sure it means fat a**. curvy girls just can't get a break. Katherine Heigl I love you-go girl.

speaking of my favorite grey's anatomy character. great greys quote:

"Hey. I ate everything out of the fridge last night-everything-including the tub of butter. There's no judgement here."-Izzie

This quotation. is my life.

I'm not really obsessed with the show, I just watched some of the old episodes while I was procrastinating and not writing my paper.

it's raining hard. and I think I will go to sleep now. it's like 1 am or something crazy and I have signing up for aerobics to do. I promise there will be blogging about the exercising. i cant wait to learn exercise commands in spanish or be that crazy giant gringa going the wrong way because she can't understand the directions.

that was funny. maybe. a little.? love you mom. miss you and love you family.

email me people!

hoping you and yours are happy and safe,
una aurora,
Mere

To brighten up your day. . . or night

If you haven't seen this. . . check it out. It's hilarious. I don't know who this guy is, but I love him. Make sure you check out the long entry I posted below. Have a great day!!!

cortando el tiempo en mitades inaccesibles

"cutting time/ into inaccessible halves"

a new dawn and the same skies. una aurora y los mismos cielos. new skies. new skies. blue skies and dark skies- and there is always morning. . . a new day.

. . .you know-

you think-

living abroad-

what an adventure-

and it is. It is wonderful. But it is also sad.

People (non-chileans) arrive and they stay for a semester-or a year-or more-and then they leave. They arrive just like I did and leave (like I will) and there are all these exciting new friendships, new memories and moments, new connections. . .

sunny afternoons with coffee

wanna-be jog-walks in pretty parks

eggs (fried, scrambled, sandwiched)

Singing english songs in loud karaoke pubs

bus rides

pizza (or the chilean version of it)

MOMENTS people. that is what I'm talking about. and you start out being people sharing the experience of struggling to adjust to a new culture and life and all of a sudden. . .

You're friends.

I haven't written for a while because things have been happening. Big things. Great things. Sad things. Things that can't be summarized into blog entries. Things that make me realize I am more than visiting here people. I'm living here. crazy.

So. happy things first.

There's a boy in my life. In "chilean" I would call him my pololo. Nicolás. We're still dating. He's lovely. I mean seriously. Look at him. and funny. and smart.

makes me laugh a lot. We saw Ratatouille today-in spanish. It was awesome. We tried to see it last week, but I got the time wrong and we ended up seeing Transformers.

Sad news.

Sally is gone. and things will NEVER be the same without her. I miss her. a lot. all the time. No more random bursts of Sound of the Music songs-
no more pant-annihilating splits
no more 5am eggs-parmesan-oregano-
no more forest gump in british accent-
no more fun slang swapping-
no more great adventure walks-
no more "hello lovely" notes-

I miss you Sal. You know that. But I'm so thankful that I was lucky enough to hang out with you for a while. I'm not going to get any mushier than that. You got my friend love letter. MISS YOU SO MUCH.

Sally Paula Dodge-light of our lives-has gone away. Here some of our last days together:






Sally's Despedida:
Pre-party. me being lazy
These were supposed to be brownies from scratch. not the dry cake-like blob you see inthe photo. I am not happy here. not happy.
the leg. always with the leg. ha
that's right we're eating. we're always eating. check out the dry cake blob in the back ground. i tried to make it better with powdered sugar. the chileans were the only ones that liked it. and they loved it. go figure
sally and nick-check out the festive eye wear

haha

Sally and isabel
aww look at us. this is in our apartment by the way

Pierre (my roomie) me, Akshai, Jano, and Rose

I MISS SALLY!




Sally you are amazing, and we miss you.
_________________________________

I went flying. FLYING above Concepcion with George and his daughter Betsy. It was incredibly cool. George flies gliders and joined a local glider club here in Conce. I had an amazing time and saw some amazing sites. Check these out:
The Hanger!

our friend
George and Betsy
me on my first flight--in the front seat!



and lift off. . .















check out the river bio bio






coming up on the University
check out the clock tower. . .thats the beginning of the quad


There it is up closer (the university). In this photo, above the clock tower is a white building-to the left of that building is the humanities building--where I study. cool huh?
closer
Check this out. The round building-if you draw a line from the round building down to the bottom right corner-you will run right through the crfd building where I teach. It's yellow.
there it is in the bottom right corner of the photo







and back again
hanger again!
before flight two
this is the glider right before take-off
look at that beautiful blue sky. I had such a amazing morning. Sadly, George and Nancy have also returned to their home in the states. They had an amazing Vulture party before they left, which was what we call a secret santa party. Did you know that people in other parts of the U S of A call it something else, not secret santa??? something about an elephant or something. I can't remember. But Nanc and George, being the amazing and gracious folks that they are, had a party to give away all the stuff that they weren't going to take back with them to the states, and we had a blast.

I got number two or something, and Nico (also known as "my team mate") got number three-but luckily our stuff was never stolen. In these photos you can see my sheer excitement at picking the package with tupperware and this awesome apron (which You can see me wearing in the pics above before sally's despedida):

look at me. sad almost. Nico's like-Ha. yes, I am with her.
hanging out this is me, Nico, Akshai, George, and Carl
Nancy, Betsy, and my big sis Sierra
I have no idea what we were laughing at, but I love this picture.

aww look at the group

Nico. you crack me up. Sally. I'm so glad the leg made another appearance.

As you all know who've read along with me, they have been like our second family here. They have taken care of me when I was sick, cooked for me,done my laundry for me, watched over me, encouraged me,. . . and it has been wonderful, wonderful, wonderful to share a bit of this adventure that is Chile with them. I am very sad to see them go and not quite sure what I will do without my american-chilean parents. I love you guys and will miss you A LOT. I feel so lucky to have had the chance to spend time with you both. cliched, but true and heartfelt.

Nico is an artist-an incredible artist. He draws mostly. . . but I guess with this artistic talent comes a great eye. Randomly one day I went to the bathroom, and when I got back he was taking these random photos:
which are
way cooler

than the pictures I normally take.

__________________________
My life has been rotarrific lately. I have gave five presentations in two weeks. Rotariffic, I tell you. First, I went to Chillan. I stayed with my host in concepcion's (Gunther) son (Herbert). His family was extremely gracious to host me, and I had a great time. Here are some photos of the Rotarians I met in Chillan:

Club Chillan Oriente brought in these great Cueca dancers to do a little show for me!!! They were amazing.

doing the cueca (the chilean national dance)



This is me, Herbert, and the club president after my presentation exchanging banners.

Me and Rotary Club Chillan Oriente
I also had the chance to go to an opening of a new dental clinic in a school. ( a project sponsored by Rotary club Chillan Oriente)
look at how cute these kids are!! They were singing about the importance of healthy teeth-singing! It reminded me of all the times that my dad used to come to my schools when I was younger to talk about teeth. good memories. love you dad.

Gustavo, me, and Rodrigo (the socios that took me to the opening-super buena onda)

This is Rotary club Marta Colvin (mostly all female), and they rock my socks off. I had a great time at their meeting. These ladies mean business. The woman in the light blue in the middle of the picture is the past district governor, Maria Teresa. She was the first female district governor in Chile.

This is me and the president of the third club I visited in Chillan, club Chillan.

and the club Chillan

The following week, I went to Arauco and Lota to give presentations.
Me and the rotary club Arauco (unexpectedly, I had to stay the night after the meeting (without contact case, solution, or a clean change of clothes or shoes other than the heels I was wearing), and I had to put my contacts in two glasses of water while I slept. The chlorine in the water turned my eyes a shed of red the color of a coke can for about an hour, but by the time I got on the bus back to concepcion I didn't look too scary.

Me at the Rotary club Lota (this is the president to my left). I have to say that these gentlemen asked me some amazing questions, and were really engaging.

the club in Lota

Right after this photo was taking, the man dropped my camera. It's not broken. I'm going to try to take it to Santiago this week to see if they can fix it. Let's cross our fingers. The lovely rotarian lent me his camera in the meantime which was super nice of him.
--------

I'm pretty bummed because Kara should be here right now at my side, but she's not. We were going to travel together for about two weeks, but she had to "POSTPONE"(because she's still coming darnet) her trip because her passport still hasn't arrived. sad. BUT, I'm keeping my chin up because the trip is not canceled just postponed, as i said.

____________

Nicolas is a really talented artist. -the other night we were at a friend's goodbye party, and I could tell he was bored so I pulled out a little pad I keep and a pen out of my purse, and he drew my eye-in like ten minutes. check this out:(I took this picture with my camera in my comp. so it's a little blurry)how cool is that?????

______________
Ok-I'm sorry this entry has been a bunch of random stuff crammed together. I think my classes start sometime next week, but I'm not entirely sure. I'm going tomorrow to check out the schedule for the postgrad classes (I still have to write a paper for my masters class from last semester that is due August 10th), and I'm also going to talk to Emerita (my boss) about how many hours I want to teach and when(which will be hard to say since I don't know my class schedule yet).

OH-I almost forgot. I'm famous. That's right. I've now appeared in my second Chilean newspaper. believe it. I will try and scan the giant picture of my face for you all to see-it's hilarious. The article isn't really good. for several reasons. like it says i said stuff I didn't say-like for example the works "sacarse la mugre"-how do i know i didnt say that? because when I read it I had to turn to Nicolas and ask-What does that mean?

anyways-I guess its typical journalism in the sense that there are missing contexts-things I said that weren't mentioned that I wish she had mentioned. Not to mention the fact that the article is written as if she sat and spoke to me.


This is how it really went down.

I was napping and my phone rang. I picked it up sleepily-didn't recognize the number and put it down again, without answering it. Then, it rang again. and again. and again. and again. On the sixth time-I answered it-

"WHATTT?" no, not really. I was nice and said a groggy hello.

it was the journalist. some rotarians had told her that I was super interesting (ha) and that the paper should do a story on me. I was totally confused and kept asking-wait. why do you want to do a story about me again? wait, wait -but why do you want to do a story about me?

we talked for about thirty minutes. she was really nice. ok-BUT the point is that it was a phone interview and in the article she describes me like "she says, her eyes twinkling and with a bright smile" seriously? seriously! you didn't even see me!

then. . . there was a photographer. . . a photographer who came to the university and took about a hundred pictures of me all over the university.

I was telling Nico about the photographer and our convo went a little like this:
(remembered and translated by me into english)
me "yeah this photographer took about a billion pictures of me today all over the university"
nico "why did he take so many?"
me "I don't know. he said he wanted to have lots to choose from. He also told me that he could be a millionaire with my photos."
nico "ha. that's creepy. and you weren't worried?"
me "well, he told me he was going to send me all the pictures. that he was taking so many for me-so I could have them as a souvenir."
nico "ha. and you believed him? You know he probably has all your pictures blown up and all over his walls."
me "great. thanks. that's just great. crazy old chilean men who love me."

The front page of the paper says something like from Alabama to Concepcion following the footsteps of Neruda. my favorite part of the article (not) is a phrase that says-Meredith is known in the classroom for being not only pretty, but also nice! SERIOUSLY-NICE AND PRETTY? IN THE CLASSROOM? NOT SMART? I MEAN IM HERE ON A SCHOLARSHIP PEOPLE!AND I MAKE GOOD GRADES! AHHHHHH

ok. that's all. It really wasn't that bad. thank god I am pretty and nice.
________________
when depressed----watch greys anatomy. It makes everything better. Mere/Der I love you, and I'm rooting for you.
_______________

This week Akshai and Nicole have been at a conference in Buenos Aires, and I miss them.
_____________
so I find myself in the midst of beginnings and endings. and I am living here. and my spanish has good days and bad days. better days with Nico-I'm trying to teach him some english. It is soo cold here, but it is nice to have a warm hand to hold.

______________

and that's it for now I guess. I promise to write again soon. How are you? Let me know. I love emails.

Hope you and yours happy and safe,

una aurora,
Mere

Slow Lament (from Residencia en La Tierra)

Into the night of the heart
your name drops slowly
and moves in silence and falls
and breaks and spreads its water.

Something wishes for its sligt harm
and its infinite and short esteem,
like the step of a lost one
suddenly heard.

Suddenly, suddenly listened to
and spread in the heart
with sad insistence and increase
lie a cold autumnal dream.

The thick wheel of the earth,
its tire moist with oblivion,
spins, cutting time
into inaccessible halves.

Its hard goblets cover your heart
spilt upon the cold earth
with its poor blue sparks
flying in the voice of the rain.