ok! finally some pictures.
this is my attempt at a cake.

It was Rafa's birthday, he is making tortillas with our very high tech tortilla making machine: a cutting board

Jenna, the tortilla flipper

And he is usually not that scary looking

Yesterday I tried to go to the Fine Arts Museum but instead just talked with these boys from Guadalajara about art and consciousness and Americans and being a gringa and globalization and religion and public displays of affection what we want to do about the world for a couple of hours. They are graphic designers so it was fun to talk about the effect that art and design can have on people and culture. And it turned out that it was Rafa(el)'s 21st birthday so Jenna and I decided we would bake him a cake and we all went to the grocery store and made a gigantic mexican feast of tacos, guacamole, homemade salsa, beans, and of course piscolas. Oddly enough my days as a tortilla maker at Mi Rancho payed off. But my usually good baking skills were lacking. My attempt at a Jewish apple cake in an oven with no temperature markings turned into a huge burnt black mess. Apparently we were a little off on our guess of what the equivalent of 350 degrees was. (but it still tasted good inside and I saw Rafa eating it today again for dessert). Then today I actually did go to the Museo de Bellas Artes and saw a photography exhibit of Elliott Erwitt and a really colorful painter that I liked a lot named Pablo Dominguez. In front of the museum there is a big park and on Sundays people come out and juggle and do acrobatics and sell funny stuff. Once it got dark it was kind of like practice for the Surrealist Training Circus, which when I thought about made me miss Bard for the first time. I don't know if that grammar made sense, switching between languages is kind of hard. But, man, speaking spanish all day long is great. I can notice myself getting better and better and catch mistakes before i make them, kind of like the nightbloomer flowers that you can actually watch as they open and see a process happen that you usually only notice has happened once it's over. cachei? Now I need to go to sleep because I have ceramics tomorrow and I forgot that i was supposed to buy different types of dirt and some tools and things so I have to get up early and go find them before class. oh man, i also forgot I was supposed to do a bunch of drawings too. I guess it's not off to bed. It is really hard to adjust to the idea that I'm in college here too, because I'm kind of not.
(p.s. there are a lot of pictures but they are on jenna's camera so i have to wait for her to get her act together to send them to me. maybe one day.)

oh yeah, there was also this cool mime just chillin in the middle of the street. I love how watching mimes never gets old.

I fixed my internet problem today! I also tried to go to Interpol and register myself (which we have to do or we get deported) and forgot my visa! But the girl I was with forgot her form from the consulate and we both had the wrong kind of photos so at least we can go back together. Jenna, my new friend from Oregon who I'm sorry I have no pictures of, I know everyone is dying for them, is living with a family who has a 21 year old son who is in love with her and really fun so I've been hanging out with them a lot and it has been good. Also 3 Mexican "boys" or whatever 20 year olds are supposed to be called moved in and are living on my floor. Now we are all watching dubbed Men In Black. Oh yeah, I had a weird experience today. We were in a cd store looking around and I looked up and there was a section titled "black music" where all the hip hop was. wtf. and it wasn't even written in Spanish. Of course, blues and jazz was a separate section and Mariah Carey was listed under Anglo Rock/Pop.

Tonight was the last night for the French boys. which is really sad because they were amazing and knocked on my door every night and took me out. Everyone decided that the only way for people to understand how to pronounce my name is to say caliente, which is pretty funny. also funny when your landlord is the one pouring you beers. I had an hour long discussion with this 45 year old man, Juan Carlos, about why he is uncomfortable with gay people. It was pretty cool to be able to have conversations like that in Spanish and at a party, although he was pretty adamant in being uncomfortable even when he understood that his arguments really didn't make sense. Some other things that happened today are: I walked to class which was a pretty big deal because it was an hour and a half away. But I saw lots of things including a strike. Then I decided to take a sculpture class and man, I am so confused about how things work here. I was the only one who showed up for class and the teacher didn't even really know that she was scheduled to have class (she is also a cookie addict and really into talking about this trip that she recently took to Italy). And it is a four hour class but she also wants me to come in every Wednesday from 10-2 for a second class session. But it is really cool to have a bunch of bags of dirt and mix them in the right formula and be able to make your own clay. So I'm pretty excited about it. And it felt really good and right to be in the Facultad de Arte. I think I'm going to decide to only take this class and the arte textil class and maybe anthropology and responsibility, because already that will be 20 hours of class which is a ton. If I took Chilean Art History, I'd have to wake up at 7am which realistically is never going to happen. I think I'm just going to go to all the classes that sound interesting and get the syllabi and check out the books from the library on my own. Oh, also yesterday I spent almost 6 hours hanging out and having tea with my mom's colleague and her friend and sister who were supersimpatica and it was amazing to feel totally comfortable having a 6 hour long conversation in Spanish. They were really great and invited me to have lunch or dinner (or got to a bar) whenever I want, which will be really nice since my cooking has not yet excelled past mediocre. But I did buy arugula and beansprouts and honey and peanut butter, so my life now has a little variety.

ambushed by french boys and forced to drink piscocas! I got to explore the house down the street and meet all sorts of new people who are leaving in 3 days, but at least there will be lots to do for the next few days. They are really funny and nice and only speak spanish and like to talk about Tupac and sing along to the songs of my juventud. I went to the bathroom and heard one say, "ella habla superbien español." ! ! ! ! ! ! and the Chilean asked me how i got such a good accent because I didn't sound like an American at all. yes!

I just went downstairs to make dinner and I found 10 lemons in the trashcan and a French boy! So I made really good salad dressing and lemonade and we are going to do something later.

also on mtv, i saw my super sweet 16 mexican style: My Super Sweet Quinceñera! ughn. and I think my computer's broken.

Three German boys are moving in here on Sunday. Horay!

these are the classes I'm registering for:
-Arte Textil
-Ceramics
-Chilean Art History
-Anthropology of Development
-The Object of Design: Material Expression of Culture
-The Public: Monopoly of the State?
-Notions of Rights
-Anthropology and Responsibility

and then I'll drop half of them next week.

There are little boys playing soccer in the street outside of my window just like in that World Cup commerical. I keep hearing "David Beckham!", "Brasil!", "Francia", "Ronaldo", "Henri!"

p.s. if you click on the pictures, they get really big.

So those really exciting things that I thought were the Andes. They are not. Actually, they are not even mountains, just hills. But they're still pretty cool to look at. I went on a really good tour today, and man, this city is way huger than I can even comprehend. These pictures are about a 10th, if that much. I think I am just more confused now about how things are laid out than when I thought that Santiago didn't feel sprawling and enormous. Also some cool facts: -Chile is something like 7,000 kilometers long, and 5,000 of that is uninhabited mountains! -All of these buildings in the picture weren't there 20 years ago. modernization is pretty insane. -Also see that nasty gray blur in the middle. that's smog, well actually that's "no smog." Today was a really good day, usually you can't even see 10 feet from where we were standing. So I'm torn between being really glad the rain is over and wanting it to rain so the sky stays clear and I stop having so many black boogers.



We had this really good tour guide who is a history professor at la U and he took us to really interesting places and the whole tour was about seeing the inequality of the city and getting a grasp of the history beneath everything, and understanding how we fit into that, and that the places we think of as Santiago are really just a small portion where the middle and upper class live. He was just like Mr. Vlasits. which was pretty awesome.


This is this crazy valley within the larger valley that is Santiago that is essentially a mini-Santiago for the absolute wealthiest of all of Chile. They have thier own seperate police force, and school system, etc. It is also where Pinochet lives. scary.

something else crazy: the river here is the ugliest thing you can imagine with concrete banks and walls and not a thing living in it and I've been wondering what is up with it because it's so nasty, and apparently the real river is BELOW the highway! and everyone is just waiting for the day when the highway collapses into the river and the river can finally reclaim all the land that it should be taking up. Roads are also a serious problem here, aside from making obscene amounts of smog that circulate forever, the road system was designed for about 300,000 autos and obviously there are a lot more than that, more like 2 million, but no new roads have been built, and there's really no space. So right now the government is trying to build a big highway through this really nice neighborhood of fancy houses, so suddenly these wealthier communities who have never really been a part of the land problems like this are the ones who have to fight and get involved in movements to save their neighborhoods.



and we saw the school where protests started this spring, which also was the school where the tour guide went when he was in high school. And we talked for a minute about CADA and their art actions during the dictatorship and he said that they were a huge thing and everyone was really conscious of it and it was so exciting to hear that performance art and art in general actually was able to have an effect on social change and be really visible to people outside of the art world. We went to some streets where a lot of the main fighting and killing took place and it was really wierd sitting there. I mean I know all about this stuff, and I've read testimonies in so many books so I shouldn't be surprised. but it's different being there, you know. He was about our age, 20, when the coup happened and he asked us to imagine not being able to leave our houses at night or have any sort of normal life without living in complete and constant fear until we were 35 years old. and here we are, having our South American adventures and trying to find bars and parties on the same streets. but that's what it's like. they're just roads now and the rest is only in the collective memory of the people who lived through it. There wasn't a single plaque or memorial on that street explaining the events that took place there, or who died and so far no one really wants to talk about those years. I mean Pinochet is still living within 20 miles of them all! It's an interesting example of recovering from trauma that I really want to understand more.

some things that suck:
-there is no recycling. and the city makes 250,000 tons of trash a day. and there's nowhere to put it.
-there is basically no answer to the smog problem.
-it's possible to live here and not have any contact with the 2 million people who live on the outskirts in ghettos without paved roads.
-there's no way to get around being a gringo, and there's no way to make gringo not mean imperialism and war.

man, someone ate my food. specifically my really delicious looking yogurt with golden raisins and almonds and chocolate in it. and the milk! I went downstairs and there are like a million people who i've never seen before acting like they live here but i don't understand because all of the rooms are still empty. so i sat at the dining room table and ate plain pasta and a plain egg and some plain crackers while everybody else did math and pictures of lebanon flashed on the tv in the background. living here is strange.

also i forgot: 11) recording things with my new tape recorder and making mix tapes to listen to on my long walks and busrides. 12) the new sketchbook that i made. 13) writing and getting letters. give me your addresses! I made a pretty adressbook but it is all empty. 14) making a necklace out of chili peppers and feathers olivia picked off of a bird because I don't think anyone will rob that and the feathers are magical and can't be lost. seriously. 15) spring is in a few months. i can't wait to see all the plants. already, even though it's winter funny things are still in bloom or making fruit, like: irises, pyrocantha, knipfofia, oranges and lemons, palms, redbuds, and eggplants! gardens make me really excited.

top ten things i'm excited about, or maybe just things I'm excited about: 1) making a giant map of santiago made of felt and yarn and 3 dimensions and putting on all the things I'm excited about! 2) making a let the wild rumpus start stencil. 3) kissing people on the cheek when we say hello and goodbye. 4) Taking classes in the Facultad de Artes Plasticas. 5) having a friend. 6) adding more things to my delicious food book and making them! and cooking cookies. and using bananas instead of eggs. 7) the events listed on indymedia santiago. 8) drawing lots of (sea) monsters and sending them to people or making a book. 9) reacumulating a totally new set of art supplies. 10) being here for a year. holy crap!

Today was orientation for la U which was good. well actually wierd. everyone was from california and on some sort of program and only spoke english to eachother. but! I sat down next to the right person: Jorge, from Mexico City and one of the only 4 other people here independently. Which was perfect because we got along, both don't know anyone here, and only speak in Spanish. And another girl from Montana also "una independiente" found us and I think it will be a good trio to begin with. So, off to a good start, except that it might be more difficult to find an apartment since it's the middle of the school year. but there's always something to be found. The campus for art, social sciences, anthropology, and everything else I'm interested in , Macul, is pretty cool because it is an actual campus with places to eat and hang out and see music or have demonstrations and all of that, but it's a 20-30 minute busride, so a bit far away.

yes!

Today was the scariest day I have had so far. I found this great website (which strangely enough was the same one that I used to research a lot of my art history final paper) that told me what was showing at every art gallery in Chile but only 2 were open past 2 on Saturday so I decided to go to one in Las Condes, not realizing how far east it was going to be. Needless to say, I misread the map, got off the metro 2 stops early, thought it wouldn't be a big deal because I was at 300 and needed to be at 600, then realized the addresses were actually in thousands so I had a lot of blocks to walk, then the street ran into a big highway and there was no way to cross so I had to walk 5 blocks out of the way to cross and then I couldn't turn back because there was a really long fence that stretched for about 6 more blocks which I walked along and happened to turn my head to look at what was on the other side of the fence and found myself looking into the barrel of a rifle 5 feet away because it was the Escuela Militaria and ran away . . . I finally got there after walking for a really really long time and really really not liking Las Condes or the people who made tongue gestures at me. The exhibit was ok, i liked the way the three artists complemented each other but I didn't really like most of the work individually. There was a lot of symbolisom but I didn't have enough context to really get it. The work was all pieces they had done when they knew eachother in the 70's. (Gonzalo Cienfuegos, Carmen Aldunate, Benjamin Lira)




I also have been eating pretty poorly, i.e. canned tuna fish mixed with avocados and carrots every day for dinner. So if anyone has easy vegetarian recipes I can make here with limited supplies, please tell me.

also, this is my address:

Claudio Arrau 0251,
Providenica, Santiago, Chile

It was warm and sunny today so I intentionally got myself lost and found lots of exciting things, like:
-an Indian food restaurant
-ceramic classes
-an eggplant tree
-a recycled clothing store
-a huge supermarket with lots of food nearby
-a video store
-a lot of orange and lemon trees that will soon be ripe
-lots of good looking produce stands
-a poinsetta that was a tree
-really nice grafitti
-a huge hill that was a park full of young people who all like to smoke, stare at me, make out, or all three at once.
I read for a while in the park and then i looked up and there were the Andes! The picture doesn't do them justice at all but when you look up and the clouds have cleared and you realize that is what was behind them, it is really exciting.



I suddenly had this huge urge that I had to get close to them so i walked towards them for maybe an hour and a half or 2 hours through all of the wealthy suburbs and then turned around to come back thinking I was totally lost but somehow ended up at the grocery store near my house that I wanted to buy things at. So i bought a lot of food and now I am really excited to eat it.

And I made one friend. He is one of those people who is obsessed with meeting foreign people and learning english from them but he's very nice and it will be good to know someone.




(LOCE is what the big students protests this spring were about. There are also stencils of penguins everywhere which I finally figured out is because it was called "Rebelion de los pinguinos")

Today I thought I would do some tourist attractions since I was alone and I probably wouldn't do those things once I had been living here for a while but then it finally stopped raining and I decided that I wanted to explore the city more and I could see Pablo Neruda's house anytime once I was more settled in. So I crossed the river and walked around and ate for a few hours in Bellavista, the "Bohemian" artsy neighborhood. It was more suburban, but soo nice and I really want to live there, although maybe it is a richer area. Every house was amazing colors like fuscia, tangerine, turqouise, rust, or bright green. I loved it. All of the guidebooks say that Santiago is not charming, but really that is a lie.

This other picture is my house. My room is the window to the right of the big bush. It is pretty good so far but there are only about 4 people living here and I never see any of them so it's pretty empty and hard to meet anyone, although Jorge, the man who runs it, is incredibly nice and looks after me.

this is a picture of a cool piece of artwork I saw yesterday called "el traje del emperador" (the emperor's suit) by carolina ruff.

Today 4 good things happened:
1. I got a gas stove!
2. They put thick curtains on my windows
3. I learned how to use the metro and walked around a lot and developed a little bit of a map of the city
4. I went to el Museo de Arte Contemporaneo.

And 2 bad things happened:
1. The U. Chile refuses to call me KellyAnne and everything related to them, including my id and class registration will just say Kelly Mifflin. The lady and I got in an argument which was very confusing because it was in spanish and I had not eaten any food yet and she made me feel stupid for saying it was important to me and said it was all relative and here they use only one name. so goodbye, Anne.
2. I could not find chickpeas anywhere, or even a supermarket with more than 25 items. also, i guess since it's winter here, there is no fruit or produce anywhere. But I did manage to cook my first meal tonight! rice with carrots and avocado and tunafish.

This is sort of what some of the streets look like around where I live:

I just arrived in Santiago this morning at 7am after a long flight. I had a really nice taxi driver who gave me a tour of the city on the way to the house and explained how to use the metro and things like that and we spoke in Spanish the whole time without any problems. Now I am in my house, Hostal Claudio Arrau which is in a nice area although I haven't gone out and explored yet. It is cold and raining and there is no heat in the houses here so I am sitting in my long underwear, winter vest, wool socks and scarf to write this. But I like my room, it is yellow with three windows and is not too small. Here is a picture of it and a picture of the view from my window.