Week 4: Somos Campesinos (“We are country people”)

30 Sec. Update: First week living in Los Alamos was one of the richest and stimulating weeks of my life. I taught a few classes last week but it was mostly introductions and classroom observations. I start teaching in earnest this upcoming week. My classes have 15 to 20 students and I teach straight through from 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM Wednesday through Friday. Mondays and Tuesdays are left for lesson planning, meetings, and a little down time. This weekend I went on a day trip to Cañete and my family and I went to the countryside in search of a “vaquilla” (a medium sized cow) for a wedding this upcoming Friday. I'm loving every minute of it. Every moment here presents something new to be learned or figured out. Even the smallest daily routine like taking a shower with an electric water heater becomes an adventure and a new experience.

Only in the “Skinny One” (Electric Showers): New addition to the blog this week; an attempt to highlight some of the more unique aspects of life in Chile. This week is about showering.

The first shower I ever took in Chile was cold. I turned on the water full blast like I'm accustomed to in the US only to find that the water was freezing. Having already taken off my clothes and too embarrassed to ask my host family what to do, I sucked it up and took a cold one. That night at dinner I asked my host family in my broken Spanish how the shower works. Looking at me confusedly, they immediately took me to the bathroom, turned on the water to a slow trickle, and I watched as lukewarm water came out of the shower head. Not wanting to be rude. I shook my head yes and anxiously awaited my shower the following morning.

On Day 2, I tried again only to find that again the water was cold. Determined to figure this out, I spent the next five minutes changing the water pressure to exactly the right pressure. After much patience and time spent staring at the shower head, I eventually discovered that if you listen carefully you can hear the water heater turn on. The water pressure has to be exactly right otherwise the device will not turn on. The count so far is about 3 cold to 3 lukewarm but I think I have finally figured it out. The other volunteers and I get a good laugh thinking about what it would be like for our family to come to the US and take a steaming hot shower at full pressure. I'm sure that they would have a similar experience to my own. Coming up next week: toilet paper etiquette in Chile.

El Campo: Despite only being in Los Alamos for a week, I have already been to the countryside twice. Both times were equally enchanting and comical. This past Sunday we drove around from farm to farm “shopping” for a medium sized cow. Big enough to feed 85 people at the upcoming wedding (about 250 pounds of beef). What was supposed to be only a 2 hour excursion quickly turned into a 4 hour adventure. I drank a glass of “leche crudo” (milk literally straight from the udder), walked through several large green pastures in search of the right size cow, and spoke with several campesinos about the United States, the Chilean winter, and size of their cows. It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday morning.

My other experience in the campo was earlier in the week. Last Thursday I was being picked up from school by my host-teacher's husband (Oscar) to be taken home after a long day of observations and teaching. It was 5 PM and I hopped into his truck and he said: “Vamos al campo.” [“We are going to the countryside”]. To which I didn't really have a response except for “Si!”

After talking to him for a while, I was able to discern that he owned a potato farm out in the countryside and one of his worker's vans had a dead battery. The two of us continued on down a muddy, dirt road for about 20 minutes to arrive at the side of forested valley with several acres of potato fields on the valley floor. We spent the first half hour trying to jump start the van which was unsuccessful. Then we tried to tow the van using the truck which resulted in the van getting stuck in the mud. After we pushed the van out of the mud, finally we filled the bed of the truck with firewood to give it more traction. With the added weight, we successfully managed to get the van up to 20 mph and it was able to start.

By this time it was 7 PM and Oscar again surprised me by saying: “Vamos a la estación de radio.” [“We are going to the radio station.”]. I was already a hour late coming home, but he assured me that it would only take five minutes. I knew that it wouldn't just take five minutes but he was the driver and I didn't really feel like trying to argue with him so we headed to the radio station. I found this out later, but Oscar is a city council member in Los Alamos. He was being interviewed on the radio about the rise in alcohol and drug use amongst the town's youth. He was using the radio interview to promote an upcoming community meeting to voice concerns about this problem.

As we drove to the radio station, we were listening to the station's broadcast. The radio DJ began to introduce Oscar, but we still had yet to arrive at the radio station. Another song went on the radio and we raced at 60 miles per hour through the town to get to the radio station (in case you are wondering, the speed limit was 35 mph). We arrived at the station, Oscar walked through the doors, and within sixty seconds he was being interviewed live on the radio. After the interview, I met the DJ and told him a little bit about my teaching in Chile. He seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say and we scheduled a radio interview for this upcoming week. I arrived at home a little bit before 8 PM and exasperatedly tried to explain everything that happened. My host family lightly scolded me for being late, congratulated me on the radio interview, and we sat down for dinner. So ended another day in Chile.

Wrap-up: When I was in Santiago, one of the veteran teachers advised us to “just be liquid” during our time in Chile. I have taken his advice to heart and let life fall as it will. Every day has been full of small and big adventures which could fill many more pages of this blog. In this past week there was an intense indoor soccer game with all of the male teachers at the school, an electronic keyboard serenade by our host father, star-struck students who ask for my autograph and tell me “I love you,” hilarious conversations with strangers riding public transportation, and lots of time spent just sitting around the table talking.

Last night my host father and I shared a couple drinks before we went to bed. We talked about everything from my shoe size to car culture in Chile. Every time that we took a sip, we would make a toast. We toasted to family, Chile, Norteamericanos, marriage, my first week in Los Alamos, and friendship. It was a fitting way to end my first week in Chile. After only a week here in Los Alamos, I feel completely at ease living here. Altogether we are a family of ten living under the same roof but our close quarters only makes us closer. If this first week is any indicator of what's to come in the next 6 months, in the words of my host-father, this experience is going to be "inolvidable."