Week 10 & 11: Highs and Lows

30 Sec. Update: How time flies! I have huge backlog of things to write on my blog yet it feels that I barely find the moments to write at all. Fiestas Patrias which were back in mid-September can't go without mentioning. Imagine 4^th of July on steroids. An entire week of non-stop parades, barbecues, parties, and visits to the beach. It was a great time to be in Chile. I am posting more teaching videos this week. They are from a lesson on the weather complete with students dressing up in a tie and sunglasses to give the weekly weather forecast. Speaking of the weather, it is finally turning for the better in Chile. Sunshine is now the norm and I have been spending more and more time outdoors. Last weekend I visited the Parque Nacional Nahuelbuta to see the enormous thousand year old Arucaria which seem to belong to a prehistoric age. There is just too much to do and nowhere nearly enough time to do it all!

4^th of July on Steroids: The 18^th of September is Chile's official independence day, but give Chileans some extra time off from work and a chance to party, and they will turn one day of celebrations into an entire week. Chileans don't even call it independence day, they more appropriately call the week of festivities Fiestas Patrias. Never before have I consumed so much steak, empanadas, and wine. Everywhere I went for the entire week of September 14^th I was surrounded by good drink and good eats.

At the center of all the festivities is “el asado,” a.k.a. the barbecue. For weeks on the evening news, reporters offered tips on where to buy the best meat and which time-honored techniques ensured the perfect steak. My host father however didn't need any advice though, he should have been the one giving it. Many hours of my Fiestas Patrias were spent silently watching him prepare the coals to just the right temperature, trim & season the meat, and then carefully guide the steaks to the perfect level of temperature and tenderness. I have never tasted steak so good. After a week of late nights of dancing, mid-day hangovers, firework shows, trips to the beach, and eating my fill of rich food, I was ready to catch my breath and enter a deep sleep before I began another week of life in Chile.

Only in the Skinny One (“La Cueca”): Every week-long independence celebration has to have a national dance to go along with it. In Chile that dance is “La Cueca.” Combine Chilean folk-music and square dancing and you more or less have the Cueca. The dance celebrates Chile's rural roots in “el campo” and is a courtship between a Huaso (a Chilean cowboy) and a maiden. As early as pre-school Chilean children began learning to dance the Cueca in their classes and they continue learning it up through high school.

The Cueca is much more than America's version of the line dance. In the weeks prior to Fiestas Patrias Chile is gripped with Cueca fever. All across the country there are competitions on the communal, provincial, and regional level culminating in the national competition in Santiago. Overnight children became national celebrities based on their ability to dance Cueca.

I had been hearing the music and seeing the dance practiced at my school since the day I arrived in Los Alamos and my host-teacher and a group of my students made it their mission to teach me to dance the Cueca. Two days a week leading up to Fiestas Patrias, my students came to my class at the end of the day to coach me through the Cueca. It was a surprisingly difficult dance to learn despite its simple appearance. Each time I learned a new step, I found that there was much more attention to detail than I initially though. Nevertheless, I was a good student and after four classes I was dancing a basic version of La Cueca.

My failed quest for Cuenta RUT: Most of my posts have been overwhelmingly positive up until this point, so it is overdue to express some of my frustrations.

The Ministry of Education requires that their volunteers open Cuenta RUT (a basic checking account) in order to receive our stipends. A process that would seem relatively easy on the surface but has actually provided me with a first-hand look into all of the bureaucracy that engulfs the Chilean government. As a foreigner, a recent immigrant, and a resident in a rural town, this seemingly easy task has taken entire days of my time and I was left to figure out this entire process by myself.

Upon going to my local bank (Banco Estado) back in August to inquire about opening a Cuenta RUT, I was told that I would first need a government-issued ID card. Another seemingly simple process, but alas! After discussing this my host-family, I went to my town's registrar to apply for a ID card. BUT apparently in order to get an ID card for a foreigner, I would need to travel thirty minutes by bus to another town (Lebu) because my town's registrar was not equipped to issue ID cards to foreigners. A trip that I would have to wait another two weeks for because I that Lebu's registrar is only open 10 AM to 2 PM Monday through Friday.

Fast-forward two weeks, I arrived in Lebu ready to apply for my ID card. I went to the registrar's office to find out that before I can apply for my ID card, I needed to get my visa certified by the Policia de Investigaciones (Chile's FBI). At the PDI station, the sole person in charge of certifying visas was not in the office yet and I was told to return in two hours. Two hours later, I was sitting in an office filling out forms to get my Visa certified. After 45 minutes of this, I finally got the signatures I needed to proceed to the registrar. Another hour of filling out more forms, getting my fingerprints taken, getting asked about my organ-donor status, and paying $10, I received a small slip of paper saying that my ID card would be ready to be picked up in three weeks at my town's registrar.

Fast-forward three more weeks. Thankfully, my ID card arrived on the date promised and that same day I went to the bank to open my Cuenta RUT. Having been in Chile for 6 weeks at this point in time, I could have really used my stipend money. I go to the bank, wait in line, fill out more forms and was told that my Cuenta RUT card and number will arrive at the post-office in 15-20 days. Man this was taking a long time.

Fast-forward 15-20 days. For three weeks straight I religiously went to the post office to inquire about the arrival of my Cuenta RUT. Everyday the same disappointment: no Cuenta RUT. The municipal post office which receives all the mail in our town is only open M-F 10 AM to 2 PM and I have classes during this time Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Day 20 came and went, still without any Cuenta RUT.

Fast-forward to today (28 days after I applied for my Cuenta RUT). I found out this morning when I went to the post office that you only have 4 days to pick up your Cuenta RUT card from the post office. My fourth day was yesterday. The post office sent back my Cuenta RUT to the bank, voiding my account. The bank never told me any of this when I applied for my Cuenta RUT.

Yesterday, instead of picking up my Cuenta RUT at the post-office I was back at the registrar's office in Lebu applying for a new ID Card because I lost my original (this is the same ID card that prevented me from crossing the border into Argentina). So now if I have to wait another 3 weeks for my ID card to arrive, reapply for my Cuenta RUT, and then wait another 4 weeks for my Cuenta RUT to arrive. And by that time, I will no longer be in Los Alamos. This is a ridiculous system. Here I am at the beginning of October without any sign of a Cuenta RUT.

Tio Kevin, Tio Kevin: These videos were shot during a class that I taught last week on "What's the weather like?"