Viña del Mar: the place I have called...

home ...Viña...for the last four months. I came to care about my housemates, coworkers, and friends more than I expected, but I never did refer to the casa mostaza or Viña as "home." Home, of course, is wherever my Dan is. 

Viña del Mar. Vineyard of the Sea.
aka
La Ciudad Jardin. The Garden City.

It never was the Jewel of the Pacific that Valparaíso was. When Valpo was at its prime (before the devastating earthquake of 1906 and the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914), Viña was were the upper levels of the socioeconomic stratosphere built their mansions and resorts, casino, theaters, and beaches. It is now home to Chile´s most popular music festival, long stretches of beach and rocky shoreline, and various naval facilities. 

People actually use the exercise
equipment provided at the beach

The Presidential retreat is located in Viña.
Note the cannon. Chile´s coastline is lined with cannons. 

In a way, the city still is a retreat for the wealthy. We stayed in a 16th floor condo in Gran Oceano with our primary contact's mother-in-law for the first two weeks of our stay, and learned that the complex is mostly vacant for 10 months of the year because so many Santiagoans own condos that they use during the summer months. 

Everyone knows Gran Oceano

There is a mall, complete with retail chain stores, movie theaters, and fast food. There are librerías (which don't actually sell books), botonerías (which do actually sell buttons), and mercados (that match what I imagined South America to look like). Right outside the grocery store chains, you'll find fruit stands, carnicerías and panaderías. 

Mercado Central Fish Market

It's a city where everyone but everyone wears skinny jeans everywhere (to work, church, and play), street sweepers actually use brooms and rakes, and beautiful green spaces, like Quinta Vergara, exist blocks away from a huge casino.

Quinta Vergara

Viña Del Mar Casino

It´s a city where it's hard to find a good Malbec throughout the year (but a good carmenere is impossible to not find), buskers have talent, and people buy stuff (band-aids, sewing needles, whatever) from people peddling their wares in restaurants and on the bus.

It´s a city that overlooks a horseshoe bay filled with container ships, navy ships, sail boats and some incredible Southern Hemisphere west coast sunsets. 

Not a bad view to have while hashing
out frustrations with having to break through
Spanish language learning blocks

Another not bad view

Nobody sends personal mail. Very recently, I wanted to send a card -not a postcard, a card- to my aunt and uncle. It took a week and a half to find an appropriate card (confirmation cards and birthday cards are the only options available, unless you dig deep), then another two days before I found an envelope (which seem to be sold separately!). 

It was a good choice for me, in the end. I met some people that I would love to know for the rest of my life. The air is clean, the ocean is lovely, and it is easy to navigate and get around. We both met people who would slow down and help us with the Spanish, and people who wouldn´t (which was great, actually).

Speaking of ¨"home," though...the energy and the vibe of Viña reminded me very much of my hometown of Duluth, but with a 1990s-era South American flavor. (This was both frustrating and awesome. Frustrating in that Duluth is not the town for me - awesome in that Viña felt familiar relatively quickly).

Thanks for letting me pass through, Viña. 

La casa de Starbucks

There are two Starbucks in Viña that I am aware of. One is a storefront in el mall, and looks and feels like any Starbucks. The other is a two-story house near a beach, and looks and feels like a Starbucks in Viña. 

La Casa de Starbucks

Three things came to mind when I first encountered La Casa De Starbucks.

1. It is nice to see a company with a distinct brand blend in. Or, at least make the effort.

It is very common to see residential houses converted into places of business (especially for language schools, daycares and preschools, and jewelry stores). In fact, in some of the more residential areas of Viña it's not always immediately obvious if a house is a residence or a small business. 

Travel agency or family home?

Early on, someone referred me to a travel agency that turned out to be in a house that...may or may not have been the travel agency? I definitely didn't have the language skills to ask anyone. Anyway, the only thing about the Starbucks House that screamed "Starbucks!" were the green umbrellas on the patio (and that was more of a gentle calling). 

I don't know how zoning laws work in Viña, but it does seem like foreign companies have a choice about whether to follow local practices or do their own thing. I don't know what motivated Starbucks to do the Chilean thing and buy a house (maybe it was cheaper to buy a house that was already engineered to withstand earthquakes? maybe they were trying to meet the expectations of tourists? maybe there wasn't any other land available?) but I appreciate that Starbucks went for local flavor - whether it was a gesture or not. 

Other foreign companies do not always
opt to go for local flavor

2. It can be interesting to see how a company adapts (or doesn't) to local custom. 

First, Starbucks posts its opens ours on the door. This is not done in Chile. 

Bizarre Notion

Second, Starbucks sells coffee beans. Since brewing coffee at home is not the way of coffee consumption in Chile (it's all instant all the time) they added pictures of various coffee makers (french press, expresso, etc) to their bean grinder to make it easier for the patrons and baristas to know what setting to use for grinding whole beans.

3. I am happy to report that the quality of their product is just as good in Chile as they are in the states, and that you can count on Starbucks for a good latte every time around the world. 

Día del libro: a field trip to the library

Am I reading this right? With more than 80 activities, all of
Chile celebrates the Month of the Book?
"My" class was one of them.

We took a field trip to the library yesterday for día del libro. 30 kids walked three blocks to the library, escorted by 5 teachers, 2 parents, and (true to Chilean form), 3 stray dogs. Given my one (odd at best) experience with the public library, I couldn't imagine that children would be welcome, but I was pleasantly surprised. 

I was very happy to discover that there is more library to be had inside the cultural center building - the only "hey! there's a library here" signage is on the shack outside the building. 

Cultural Center building
The front doors are obviously the emergency exit

There's the library ahead.
How is this going to work?

The side door to the cultural center
is obviously the main entrance

I'm not certain what roles the library staff play (but I am almost positive that there is not a designated youth services librarian position) but four staff members took care of us. The photographer did not seem to be connected to the cultural center - I suspected she was with the press somehow. Kids! Reading! Let's put that in the paper!

Library staff distributed
pins to the kids before
taking us into one of the library rooms

A woman (dressed as a clown, I think)
came in, told a very good story, and left.

There were books spread out on the rug before our arrival, and after the story the kids were invited to grab a a book and look through it on their own or read it with one of their teachers.

Storytime with the teachers

Storytime with a librarian

The selection consisted primarily of picture books published in the US (Anthony Browne isn't a favorite among chiquititos in Chile either), and board books from Spain. (I get the sense that there isn't a huge market for Chilean writers to write for children. I had asked about Chilean picture books at the bookstore awhile ago, and the clerk handed me four titles). 

Most popular book of the day.

I was happy to discover that the public library has books for children available for check out. I didn't see any evidence that any had been checked out, and as far as I can tell they are kept in boxes, but at least it appears to be an option. 

Remember this?

Alicia and I wondered what kind of presentation the library staff would do for the kids. How to find books you like? Why to use the library? How to take care of books? Before the group departed, the staff handed out chocolate suckers and told the kids not to get candy on the books as they walked on the scattered books to make their way to the exit. So...yes...they did mention how to take care of books...

Chocolate caramel suckers.
Delicious.

I know that there's more to public libraries in Chile than what I have observed and experienced this one library. I did leave the event feeling a bit sad that it was the first time I have really seen reading being promoted (books and shared reading with adults are not part of the routine in the preschool at all). And I couldn't help but wonder what, if anything, looks "random" to the newcomer to library programs in the US, especially knowing how intentional we are about what we do behind the scenes. I could go on.

At any rate, the dogs should have escorted us back to the school. They might have gotten a sucker from one of the kids. 

La Casa Mostaza: where I live now

Alicia named it The Mustard House

The house is located in a residential neighborhood, on a dead-end street with a mirador overlooking the bay. Our neighbors include La Iglesia Capuchinos (sweet name, yeah?), and a a take-out sushi place. (I only found an English menu, which said I was getting something with salmon and cream cheese. I don't know what it was, but I do know what it wasn't: cream cheese. Also, wasabi might be the spiciest condiment I have found so far in Chile). There are several fruterias, carnecerias, panaderias and botillerias within blocks (these are the only businesses that seem to siesta) and it is just shy of a two mile walk to work (which can be shortened by taking the metro). Like most buildings in this area, the house is a little over 100 years old. (The city was essential rebuilt after a devastating terremoto in 1906), and it is quite possible that the dust in the baseboards is 100 years old, too. (My first purchase after moving in was for different kinds of air fresheners. The second was for some wood soap and cleaning rags). 

Gatita Leona

We are subletting from Fresia (an 80-something woman with a lot of character and time to chat with us) and her son Pablo. Pablo's daughter and her boyfriend live in the house, along with three other subletters. And then there is little Gatita Leona, the mischievous-yet-adorable kitten. The other day she snuck into my room, took a pair of socks, and paraded them around the house. Sound like familiar behavior, cat people? She would definitely make a great mouser.

The windows on the right look into my room!

"I need a shower caddy and a white board"
 It's a large house in that it has 10 bedrooms (one of which is outdoors), two and a half bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen, but small cozy in terms of actual living space for the 9 people who live in the house. I am guesstimating about 1400 to 1500 square feet, all on one floor. The room I took is small (approximately 70x130 inches, using my height as a measuring stick) with the window looking into the living room.

Small, but adequate for my needs

We take turns using the communal spaces -- available counter space and cooking dishes in the kitchen means that one meal can be prepared at a time, and the four clotheslines mean that two (maybe three) people can hang clothes to dry at a time -- but there is always room around the dining room table for everyone.

The pipes had to be replaced this weekend.
At least the bathroom is functional again!
Just mind the hole in the ground...

It's basically like living in an old dorm, but with wine. And a palm tree.

View of the back of the house

The back yard

Fruta breva. Delicious.

The backyard is pretty big, with a few fruit trees and nut trees, and no grass. (There are quite a few yards with grass, but quite a few without too). There are various areas throughout the yard that turned into a grave site for broken things (a bike, a motorbike, a wheelbarrow, a mattress, some furniture) that remind me of the rusted kitchenette I discovered in the woods beyond our house as a child.

Garbage is collected twice a week, but they may or may not do large-item pick ups. Either that, or my housemates or the proprietor is like me and use the yard the way I use my front porch and the way several Americans use their basements. "I don't want this anymore...I'll take care of it eventually..."

28 days later: Intercambio de trabajo

"I'm so impressed! They have kids who are two...three...years old and they're already speaking (Spanish)!"

Home away from home, away from home

We are working at one of the Charlie Brown Sala Cuna and Jardín Infantíl houses in Viña del Mar. Preschools and daycares in the area buy residential houses and convert them. (Actually, there are quite a few businesses in residential areas, which is pretty cool, but it's not always easy to tell if a place is a business or someone's residence). I work in the pre-kinder room with a teacher, two assistants, and about 16 four year olds. When I'm "assisting," it's mostly in Spanish, so I'm not actually that useful. For example, I can't say that it is not okay to tell another child that she's ugly. I can't say that they have to stop throwing their toys across the patio because someone will get hurt. I can help them play with play dough, put puzzles together, do origami projects, etc.  (Oh! I can easily ignore the whining! I don't understand most of it! Usually a hug or a kiss will fix the situation, and if not, they know to go to another tia. That part is AWESOME.)

I have worked with preschoolers for over ten years, but have never worked in an actual preschool. I don't have much to compare, but there are three differences that stand out for me right away.  1) It's okay (expected?) for teachers to hug and kiss the kids in Chile, and 2) the teachers are making all their worksheets (worksheets? for preschoolers??) by hand (that might be unique to this school, though) and 3) books are not part of routine.  More on books later.

"She's from another planet. Here is a picture of her."

It didn't take the kids long to bond with me, and it did not take them long to figure out that I don't speak Spanish very well. When they realized that I'm not playing around, and actually do speak another language, several of the kids asked me (privately) Why do you speak English? What language does your dad speak? The first time one of the kids asked me "why do speak English?" another child answered "because she's from another planet."

This week, when the kids talk about my speaking English, they are starting to say "because she's from another country" or "because she's from the United States." So, at least I'm human this week. Progress!

I don't have a good sense yet of what the directors or the teachers would like to see happen by having native English speakers around, but I can say that at this point, we're creating a positive introduction to a new language.

I hope.

Un día típico

How to spend the last day of the first full week in Viña: 

Start off by filling the best coffee mug ever. It comes with a filter (which works) meaning it is possible to brew coffee in the mug. This is important if Nescafé isn't your thing. (Instant coffee is much better here than in the states, but it's not my thing first thing in the morning). 

Decide not to take the colectivo to work, even though you know where they do and do not stop now. 

Walk to the metro instead, and enjoy the cloudy morning view. Also, be happy that the walk back up this hill comes at the end if the day. Los cerros! 

Hop on the metro. Hop off two stops later. Walk the rest of the way - a little over a mile and a half in total. 

Watch the preschool assistants make 16 worksheets each for the number 3 and another 16 for the letter A - entirely by hand. Suddenly wonder if part of the reason worksheets seem to be a big deal (the kids erased just as much as they wrote yesterday) is because they take so long to make. Offer to help, and discover that your work-sheet making skills are not up to par. 

Help a little girl become a 20s-era vampire diva. 

Find the public library after work. Get all excited to browse! Walk in to discover there are three bookshelves and two librarians who want to know what you want. Feel abruptly put on the spot. Decide to ask for...something...

Me: Hay un diccionario? 

Bibliotecaria: Qué? 

Me: Hay un diccionario? 

Bibliotecaria: Qué? 

Bibliotecaria 2: Un diccionario. 

Bibliotecaria: [points to the dictionary]

Bibliotecaria 2: No me entiendes nada. Then she walked out.  

 

I sat on the one chair for a minute, which was kind of awkward because the librarian seemed really uncomfortable about my presence. Maybe I wasn't doing it right? Oh well. 

Go to a cafe instead - for empanadas, coffee, writing, and wifi. (Alternatively, you could walk around or buy groceries. You did that yesterday). 

Head for "home." Take a picture of the metro station sign because you want to. 

While you're at it, take a picture of the metro signage showing that pregnant women are included in the "give your seat up for" category. (Pregnant women also get preferential treatment when it comes to parking and lines in the grocery store. Families? No. Just during pregnancy). 

Get home and notice the weather has changed again, and remember that the concept of "layering" in Viña (maybe all of Chile?) means at least 3 layers. 

Also, sit and enjoy the sounds of traffic and ocean and seagulls as you let your brain hurt a little bit less after a day of mostly understanding what is being said but not being able to come close to repeating the majority of it. 

And love it. 

Con Cuidado

In Santiago (day one), we asked a woman on the street where the Plaza de Armas was. It was approaching sunset, and after the woman gave us directions (that I only partially understood), she said "con cuidado" (be careful) in the most concerned tone I have heard. 

We arrived unscathed, but have heard several people say to us "con cuidado" several times since then.

Recreo, the neighborhood we are staying in for the moment, is on a hill with a lot of twisty roads. We don't have a detailed map of the neighborhood, and the hills prevent us from easily spotting recognizable landmarks. It is easy to get lost in this part of Viña. 

The other morning, we were waiting for a colectivo (a shared taxi) to take us to the metro station (since we didn't know how to get there, and spent a long time being lost in the neighborhood only 12 hours before). We saw a bunch of buses go by, but the colectivos were all full. I spent about 5 minutes screwing up the courage to ask the four people who were also waiting if the buses go by the metro station.  Finally, I eeked something out "los buses pasan por el metro?" and all the folks started giving us all the directions. I could understand that we needed to walk one block, and go downhill from there. I didn't understand what they said to do beyond that point. And they could tell. 

Finally, one of the women told us she and her husband would walk us to the metro, and that is exactly what they did. 

I have found that people on the street (the bus stop, a taxi, anywhere), aren't going to start a conversation with us. But if we ask them something, they will be so happy to talk to us, tell us their stories, explain things to us, and offer us the help we need.  

On the way to the metro, we mentioned that we were going into Valparaíso for the day.  The woman took both of our purses, and swung them around to our front sides.  

Con cuidado! Hay muchas ladrónes!