The Last Post, 2

As I was saying, there's lots I'll miss about my time in Chile, including (and again, in no particular order)....

Avenida Suecia: This was the street we lived on and as I've mentioned earlier, it was full of gorgeous buildings, one more beautiful than the other. More pics below

http://picasaweb.google.com/suzannesoto03/AvenidaSuecia#

Spending time with Fernando: That's my younger brother, and although he lives in Toronto and we do visit quite a bit up here in Canada, the kids and I spent four weeks with him in Chile and it was great. He took us places we wouldn't have gone to, such as the before-mentioned soccer game, and also El Cajon de Maipo (pics below). He and I also reminisced about our childhood in Chile, got caught up with our respective lives, and became much closer than before. 

http://picasaweb.google.com/suzannesoto03/ElCajonDeMaipo#

Taking the metro: I've also mentioned this before, but, it's worth repeating, as Santiago's metro really is something special, a thing of beauty.

http://picasaweb.google.com/suzannesoto03/MetroInSantiago#

The people we met, the friends we made: We didn't meet hundreds of people, maybe more like a dozen, but they were all warm, sincere, lovely. I don't have photos for all of them, like the lady who drove Nick and Carmen to school, Ana Maria Munoz; or Luz Maria Lamas, the woman whose apartment I rented. However, their images are imprinted in my mind and I will always remember them.

http://picasaweb.google.com/suzannesoto03/FriendsInChile#

And finally, I will miss posting on this blog. According to general blog stats, Suzanne's Chilean Sabbatical got a few hundred hits over the past three months, so, to everyone and anyone who took the time to see what I was up to -- thank you very much, y adios amigos!

The Last Post, 1

Hey everyone, so I've come to the end of my sabbatical -- my "gran aventura."

It still feels strange being back in Canada, but it also feels really, really right.

Anyway, as this is my last post on this particular blog, I wanted to write about some of the things I will really miss about Chile, and my sabbatical. And here they are, in no particular order:

Santiago: is a lovely, interesting, incredibly vibrant city. Just like in some parts of Europe, there are people sitting in outdoor cafes, dining out, shopping, taking the metro, and just... walking around, enjoying themselves, at all hours. Not like in.... Guelph, or Toronto, where you can shoot a cannon down University Avenue at 9 p.m. 'cause there's no one around.

Here are a few more pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/suzannesoto03/SantiagoScenes#

Americo: Okay, so, there was one latin guy I did like, and he is the Chilean singer Americo. I must confess, it was not love at first sight, or sound. I kept hearing his songs on the radio and then saw him perform on TV. I still didn't like him, or his music. Slowly, however, his songs -- played everywhere -- started getting under my skin and I found myself singing along. I ended up bringing 3 CDs of his music with me to Canada.

Here are links to a couple of his biggest hits:
Te vas (You're leaving):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3WF1pPGg-A&feature=related
El embrujo (I'm bewitched):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CuGIDnnzsU

Chilean ice cream: is the absolute best. If you know me well, you know I actually don't like ice cream that much (prefering dangerous pastries instead). However, South American ice cream is fluffy, creamy-dreamy, heavenly. And the selection of flavours... incredible!

I have more things that I will definitely miss about Chile, but will have to post later as right now, I've gotta go! More soon.....

Oh Caaaanada...!

Overnight flights always seem like a good idea. You board a plane, go to sleep, and when you wake up, you're there!

But it's not like that. Instead, the smells, lights, noise and uncomfortable seating keep you wide awake, often all night, so you arrive completely exhausted.... which is how we were yesterday morning, when touching down at Lester B. Pearson International Airport after our all-nighter from Santiago.

Despite this, we were all very happy to be back at home, and no one more than Carmen, who spontaneously broke into song as we walked from the plane to Terminal 1 (Her song? "Oh Canada"... .yup, I am not kidding.)

One of the things that struck me about being back home is Canada's... bigness. Compared to Santiago's Arturo Merino Benitez Airport, Pearson is HUGE.

Once we got out on the 401 the roads, too, seemed so wide, the houses so tall, the sky so broad. Because from the ocean to the mountains Chile is only about 350 kilometres wide, everything there seems to have been made to fit those narrow parameters.

(That of course is not to say that Chile does not have its own bigness. As I've mentioned before, Chile's mountains are breathtaking... and that's another thing the kids and I noticed as we headed home from the airport -- no mountains in the GTA! Chile's oceans, too, are endless.)

But back to our return, as Peter drove us home, I felt so... relieved. We had made it back! Safely! Despite living in a huge city (a first for my kids), being immersed in a completely different language and environment, and having experienced one of the biggest earthquakes in Chile's history, we were fine.

Actually, some of us were more than fine. As Nicholas spoke on the phone with one of his friends yesterday afternoon, I overheard him say the whole experience had been "awesome."  Of my two kids, Nick was the one who enjoyed Chile the most. He loved Chilean school, asked the most questions about Chile's history and culture, made a couple of really good Chilean friends, and learned the most Spanish.

Carmen had a harder time. She found school boring, and this was mainly because she could not understand her teachers. She didn't make any close friends and compared to Nick, she probably knows about three quarters of the Spanish he does.

So, how much Spanish do Nick and Carmen know? After all, this was the main reason for our trip.

They know a lot, but are they now tri-lingual, if one counts their years of French immersion in there as well? No, they are not.

I thought that three months would be enough for them to learn a new language but I was completely wrong. Nick and Carmen can for sure carry on a simple conversation in Spanish. They also understand quite a bit, but many times cannot answer back.

I realized how hard learning Spanish was for them when Carmen was preparing a presentation for one of her classes in school, and she struggled with verb conjugations. I'd somehow forgotten that all verbs have a past, a present and a future, and this is something that takes years to learn, in any language.

So that Nick and Carmen don't lose the Spanish they did learn, I plan to continue speaking Spanish to them at home; we'll probably go back to Chile in a few years; I also want them to do a proper, school-sanctioned student exchange at some point; and for them to maybe take Spanish classes in high school and university.

That way, maybe in a few years they will be able to conjugate those Spanish verbs, and switch easily between English and Spanish, just like that flight attendant in our Air Canada plane, who not only spoke flawless English and Spanish all night (but also French.... and Portuguese!).

The way I see it now, our last three months were just a start....

La Partida....

There was this Chilean singer who wrote and sang beautiful, evocative songs about peace, poverty and social justice. His name was Victor Jara and although he was murdered on September 15, 1973, his music and songs continue to be heard not only in Chile, but around the world.

One of his most haunting is the instrumental song "La partida," or "The departure," which has been covered by artists from as far away as Scotland and France to as near as most Latin American countries (and in genres ranging from folk to... heavy metal).

Nicholas, my son, has been learning this song on the xylophone as part of music class in school. I will try to post his version in this blog later today. In the meantinme, here is Victor Jara's version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw1mju8VsPc&feature=related

I'm thinking of this song because today is our departure, from Chile, after three amazing months.

It's a strange feeling, to be leaving our life here. At the same time, it will be wonderful to be back at... home. Yes, although I was born here, Canada definitely is my home.

As we're packing, cleaning and wrapping up last minute details in Santiago, before our 6:30 p.m. flight tonight, I don't have much time to post.

Tomorrow, however, I will talk about all the things we all learned down here, and what we will all miss the most.

See you soon!
p.s. Here is some backround on Victor Jara:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Jara

And another (more rousing) version of the same song, by the Chilean folk group Inti-Illimani:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2Z6jtNtGME

Taking our lives in our hands.... (Part 2)

The day of the game, April 25, began with a lot of excitement and anticipation (and, yes, I confess -- some fear, on my part).

In sticking with our "stay safe" strategy, however, we planned to leave for Monumental Stadium -- about 45 minutes away -- at around 1:45 since the game was scheduled for 3:30. At around 12:30 however we began hearing crowds of fans chanting as they moved through the streets and on their way to the game, so at 1 p.m. we headed for the metro ourselves.

Our first indication this was obviously no insignificant match came at the metro station itself, where dozens of police officers were already monitoring the crowds:

When the train arrived, it was already full (uncommon for a Sunday), but we managed to squeeze in one of cars. A crowd of about a dozen young men aged from about 14 to late 20s, were chanting for Colo-Colo. They also jumped every few minutes, bouncing the metro car up and down as it moved through the tracks. I worried momentarily about what this could do to the moving train, but, the metro just moved along.

At our destination, we made our way out of the metro station and towards the stadium with hundreds of others. Lots of police, some in full riot gear, met us at every step:

After being searched at the door, we were finally in the stadium which was already half full, before 2 p.m. We then discovered this was Colo-Colo's stadium and as such, most of its seating was assigned to fans of this team (the white and black). The U de Chile (the blue and red) had been given a tiny cheering section, across from where we were:

Feeling safe, the kids donned their Colo-Colo gear:

The stadium soon filled with chanting, cheering fans, and the game began, with police first escorting the U de Chile players and the referees out onto the field:

It took a while for a team to score, but when one of Colo-Colo's star players, Argentinian Ezequiel Miralles, scored that first (and turns out, only) goal of the game, the crowd went wild(er):

Other than a lot chanting, taunting and swearing, the game's first period went without a hitch, even when Miralles was thrown out of the game, in the 38th minute of play, for apparently trying to injure a blue and red player:

Trouble actually started at the half time intermission, when fans in a section to our left, began throwing rocks at the riot police, and police responded in kind. At the time, Fernando and Nick had gone to get drinks and snacks so they got a good view of what was going on (safely, from the other side of a fence).

We learned hours later, through the news, that what had caused the minor riot was the death, a couple of hours earlier, of a Colo-Colo fan on his way to the game. The papers reported that the fan -- a 33-year-old man -- got in front of, and started taunting, one of the water-throwing trucks brought to the game (and often used to disperse rioting crowds). Apparently, the fan had slipped and fallen in front of the truck, which had then been unable to stop and had ran him over. We actually got a picture of one such truck, on our way to the stadium:

We also learned later that 19 people had been arrested during the stadium skirmish with the police.

Unable to join Carmen and me at our seats after the intermission, Fernando and Nick watched most of the score-less second period from the snack bar area. Since we'd agreed to leave 15 minutes before the game ended, Carmen and I made our way out of the stands and joined them there.

Only a handful of others were leaving at that time, but as Fernando had predicted, although the trains were running, the actual metro stations close to the stadium had shut their doors so you could not get on the subway.

As planned, we walked to a main intersection and hauled a taxi, which hesitated for a second to pick us up. I guess the driver figured if we had kids, we weren't going to trash his vehicle. Half an hour later, we were safely back at our apartment, still pumped from the excitement of the game, and happy that we'd made it home alright, after all.

Fernando, however, had a confession to make. He is actually a fan of... U de Chile!, and while the kids and I had been cheering our hearts out for the white and black, he'd been secretly clapping for the blue and red and was disappointed they'd not played better.

"Oh, the sacrifices you have to make....." he deadpanned.

Here are some more pics of the game:

Yes, there were other kids (and some women) at the game, but not many....

Carmen wearing her true colours.

Colo-Colo -- all the way!!

Also, here is some info on the two top-ranked Chilean teams:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colo-Colo

And Universidad de Chile:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.F._Universidad_de_Chile

Taking our lives in our hands... (Part 1)

As you probably know, soccer is huge down here, and it's always been so. There's a story my parents brought me to a game when I was about two. In cheering for his favourite Chilean team, Audax Italiano,  my dad would holler to the top of his lungs, wave his arms wildly around and jump for joy, like all the other young fathers at the soccer stadium then.

The story goes that until I started to cry and sputtered: "You have me all scared..!" my dad hadn't even realized my mom had handed me over to him, and I was sitting on his knee, throughout all this cheering.

In the ensuing 40+ years, soccer's popularity in Chile has not diminished one bit, but the games themselves have changed dramatically. Since being here, all we've heard about when it comes to soccer, centres on the hooliganism that now dominates the live games.

Just as it was in England years ago, it's now mainly bands of young men who go to the games and trash everything in sight -- before, during and after. Stories of violent fights between fans, rocks being thrown at the police, and tear gas being used to disperse the crowds are common. This is even more pronounced when two arch-enemy (and top-ranked) clubs face each other: Colo-Colo and Universidad de Chile.

Politics is also more predominant than ever in the sport. For example, Colo-Colo at some point changed from being the team of the working poor classes, to now representing the middle- and upper-classes. Meanwhile, U de Chile has become "los de abajo," or the lower-class underdogs. So clashes between these two teams (which happen only a few times each year) are both anticipated and feared.

One of the things my brother Fernando wanted to do while down here with us was to take Nicholas and Carmen... to a soccer game. Three years ago he'd been to a Colo-Colo vs. U de Chile game and although he's over six feet tall and has travelled the world, he said he'd felt very uneasy being part of a crowd of more than 40,000 people leaving the soccer stadium afterwards. So, the game he had in mind would not involve either of those teams, but two tamer (and bad) teams... like Audax against San Luis.

I should mention here that through his friends and involvement at school, Nicholas has become a rabid Colo-Colo fan. His grandpa -- who's now deathly afraid of setting foot in a soccer stadium, but will forever support any and all underdogs -- was not happy with this news and tried to dissuade him, by telling Nick that "only the worst of people" like Colo-Colo. However, if Nick insisted on being a fan, then, he should buy himself a knife, just so he could defend himself against attacks from other fans. ; )

A few days later, one of my dad's friends, Luis, gave Nick a large Colo-Colo flag as a gift (grandpa was once again not amused, but took it graciously by reminding Nick about the knife business). Then, my brother bought Nick a Colo-Colo shirt, which Nick was also thrilled with.

So, there we were, my brother and I, looking online for a tame soccer game, when we realized a huge match was coming up, on April 25 -- a "Superclasico." And which teams were involved? You got it: Colo-Colo against U de Chile. After much debate we decided that yeah, this was the game.

Since Fernando had previous experience, he had ideas on how to minimize the risks (arriving and leaving early, sitting near an exit, covering up any Colo-Colo paraphernalia until we were safely seated with other Colo-Colo fans, buying that knife after all....kidding!)

As for me, I just refused to believe that a family could no longer attend a soccer game in Chile, safely.

There just had to be a way....

(Here are Fernando and Nick, getting searched as they attempt to enter Monumental Stadium:)

Oh, crud....

A young man (early 20s?) gave me his seat on the Santiago metro today. I was heading home from downtown, and as I stepped into the train, he stood up and said "Señora, sientese...." (Have a seat, maa'am..." )

I looked around to see who the older lady was, and realized he was talking to me! "Ooooooh.... gracias," I said and took the seat, but, I was not impressed. As I mentioned in another post, young people here cede their seats to the handicapped, those with children... and the elderly.

Thanks a lot, kid, I thought. I wanted to ask him why he would do such a cruel thing, but, he had earphones on and got off at the next station, so, I couldn't ...Why must those metro people be so darned polite, after all?!

(Just a few hours earlier, the slightly-older woman taking my order at the Castaño --chain of Santiago bakeries that sells breads, muffins, and very dangerous pastries -- had called me "linda," as in "Digame linda, que quiere?" Tell me, pretty, what would you like?

Salespeople here do that once in a while. If they're in a good mood, they'll also call you "reina" (queen), and "dama" (dame, though it really doesn't mean that; it's more like "classy lady," I think). The one thing you don't want to be called is "señora," or, "maa'am."  But anyway, the "linda" had felt really good, until then....)

Speaking of Santiago's metro, it's one of the cleanest, fastest, most efficient modes of transportation I've ever been on. Much nicer than the Toronto subway (sorry....). Also, it has a book-borrowing service. I've never used it but have seen it advertised. It's called "Bibliometro" and it's a partnership with Santiago's libraries:
(http://www.bibliometro.cl/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=5&id=1&Itemid=2)

Anyway, got a couple of updates, on my previous posts.

The other shoe in the Fulvio Rossi-Carolina Tohá saga dropped today, with Tohá announcing that yes, she is re-launching her campaign for the Party for Democracy's presidency. (I guess she'll also be heading for divorce court, as indeed her personal break-up from her husband, Rossi, is now being acknowledged by both of them, and in the press. What a sad end to the left's "golden couple.")

Forty days after Chile's earthquake, the country is nowhere near how it was before it. The Santiago Times has put together a series of articles on how things are now, and how much there's still left to do. It's really interesting stuff... if you're interested:

http://www.santiagotimes.cl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18565:earthquake-in-chile-40-days-on&catid=1:other&Itemid=38

Finally, in a previous post I'd said there were no silent letters in Spanish. Wrong!

My daughter Carmen pointed out that indeed there is at least one silent letter -- H -- in a bunch of words (though, still not in "Nicholas").

So, yes, I stand very much corrected. (And I guess I'd better start getting used to it.....)

Riveted by Rossi (and Tohá)

South American politics are pretty darned interesting. From the charismatic "Lula" Da Silva in Brazil to the plastic surgery-enhanced Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Argentina to the controversial Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, the cast of Latin political characters keeps their respective populations if not always happy, then, at least, entertained.

Chile too has had some very interesting political figures, one of the most recent being former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet. A child of middle class parents who'd been involved in leftist politics in the early 1970s, Bachelet was imprisoned and tortured during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. She lived in exile in Australia and Germany before returning to Chile in 1979, finishing her medical degree, and beginning her political career in the 1990s.

One of the more interesting things about Bachelet however was actually her election as Latin America's first female president in 2006. In a still very patriarchal society, where a husband still calls his wife "mi mujer" (or, "my woman"), this election was novel, and paved the way for the election of other Latin female presidents, such as Mrs. de Kirschner.

Despite having a personal public approval rating of 84 percent, Bachelet's party lost the most recent election in January of this year, to rightist millionare Sebastián Piñera (a character who's had his own interesting history and is keeping Chileans in (unintended) stitches with his public verbal gaffes). Many blame the leftist political coalition Bachelet represented for the loss... and this is where Fulvio Rossi and Carolina Tohá come in.

Fulvio Rossi, 39, also a former physician with movie star looks, is a senator with Chile's Socialist Party (PS); Carolina Tohá, 45, who has a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Milan and is the daughter of a former minister in Salvador Allende's government, is a leading figure with the Party for Democracy (PPD).

Both the PS and PPD are part of the leftist coalition mentioned previously (and which includes a couple of other leftist parties as well). Since 2005, Rossi and Tohá have also been husband and wife (after Tohá allegedly left an eight-year relationship that had borne two daughters, to be with Rossi, one of Chile's most eligible bachelors at the time). Here are their pics:

The couple has been the toast of Chile's left, with both of them pursuing higher political aspirations and being seen as possible presidential candidates, down the road. Despite one very public, political spat in 2007, the couple seems to have been relatively happy and supported each other's political careers.... until very recently, that is.

It all started March 30 when Tohá announced her candidacy for the PPD's presidency, a move supported by Bachelet herself. Just a few days later, Rossi announced his own candidacy for the presidency of his party, the PS.

All good... until April 9 when Tohá suddenly (and apparently without Rossi's knowledge) held a news conference to withdraw her PPD candidacy, saying that while Rossi did not believe that their respective candidacies within their common coalition constituted a conflict of interest, she did, so she was bowing out to allow him to pursue his candidacy. A barrage of very public political attacks then ensued against Rossi, who was accused of ordering his wife to step down, looking out only for himself and being a typical Latin "machista."

Three days later, on April 12, Rossi held his own news conference, to withdraw his candidacy for the PS, and to "defend his honour," by saying he'd never pressured his wife to withdraw; that she never consulted him or asked for his permission in any political matters, as it should be; that he had always supported her and as such, that it would have been nice if she'd actually defended him against the machista charges, because that's something he is not.

After adding he was extremely disillutioned with politics, he retreated to his constituency in Chile's north (and apparently Tohá moved out of their family home, even though Chilean newspapers have not reported that.) He reappeared this week, at a news conference marking the 77th anniversary of Chile's Socialist Party... and also to announce that Piñera can count on him, as the new president takes steps to rebuild Chile following the Feb. 27 eartquake. (In other words, Piñera has a friend in Rossi, when Rossi has been one of Piñera's biggest critics in the past.)

Tohá, meanwhile, is said to be considering the PPD's request that she re-declare her candidacy for the party's presidency, but has not decided yet. She also reappeared this week, to meet with Ena Von Baer, Piñera's spokeswoman, likely to thank Von Baer for her recent support (which came via Twitter), and to maybe impart some wisdom, as Tohá was Bachelet's spokeswoman.

I'm not sure about most Chileans but as for me, I'm eagerly awaiting the next chapter in this juicy saga. Here is another version of what I've just told you:
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18617:chilean-political-party-elections-cause-marital-problems-for-concertacion-candidates&catid=19:other&Itemid=142

In the meantime, however, today I took a picture of a statue of one of my all-time political heroes:

If you haven't heard of him, he too was a pretty interesting guy.....

A drive down memory lane

This past weekend, my brother Fernando and I practically forced my dad to take us to some of the places where we used to live, in Chile. Our old neighbourhoods. (Fernando and I would have never found the particular streets and houses, having left as kids and been away now for almost four decades).

Dad didn't want to go and we didn't understand why at first, but when we were driving around he mentioned that being back in some of these places brought back painful memories for him. (For example, he lost daughter, and Fernando and I lost a sister, in a car accident, in the early 1970s, etc.)

In the end, though, we all had a good time, including him, as he ran into some ladies he'd been friends with, as a kid! Following are some of the pics... and commentary:

Most Santiago neighbourhoods are made up of row-housing, with very narrow, very low homes. Many of these row homes are more than 100 years old. The first stop on our memory lane tour was the house where my mom, Lita, grew up, in the Davila Neighbourhood (Poblacion Davila). This house (white portion only) is more than 60 years old.

 

Next stop was the street where my brother and I spent our first few years, in Poblacion Santa Olga. Those are row houses on both sides and we guessed there'd been a party on the street this past summer, because of the decorations hanging from the wires overhead.

 Another view of the same street.

Fernando and me in front of our old lot. Our house used to be a wooden structure at the back of this fenced lot, which was at one point replaced by a brick stucture closer to the street (as I've mentioned in another post, rich we were not).

Our final stop was at my dad's neighbourhood, Poblacion Nogales, and the street he grew up on.

Dad runs into a childhood friend, Patti.

My dad's neighbour when he was growing up, Mrs. Gemma, who's lived in the same house for more than 60 years (as people in Santiago's poorer neighbourhoods tend to live in one place for life), and my dad's cousin, Ona, on the right.

This one's not part of the memory lane tour. Instead, Fernando and I did some sightseeing in Santiago last week. This pic is at "La Chascona," Pablo Neruda's home in Barrio Bellavista.

$tep right thi$ way....

I decided to see a doc while down here. Nothing's wrong; I just wanted a second opinion, on a few things. I also wanted to experience the Chilean medical system a bit.

According to the internet, Chilean health care is provided through two systems operating in parallel: public and private. Workers pay for both systems through a mandatory contribution of at least 7 per cent of their salaries.

Basic health care is guaranteed to all Chileans, regardless of their ability to pay, through the state run FONASA (National Health Fund). The private system is delivered by health insurance providers called Isapres (Institutes of Public Health and Preventive Medicine), which in addition to receiving public funding, sell different levels of private health insurance to individuals wanting to "top-up" what's offered by the public system.

The way I understand it, Isapres offer and pay for services and care above and beyond what FONASA does. Let's say a basic ear exam paid for by FONASA is $80, but you want a couple of additional audiology tests done, which cost another $60, so, that comes out your Isapre, or your own health insurance, which you're paying additional premiums for.

Isapres generally work through a network of private health care providers who are either independent or contractually linked to the Isapre. One such Isapre health care provider is IntegraMedica, ( http://integramedica.cl/) a chain of privately-owned, medical service clinics located all over Santiago, and which Gladys, my dad's wife, referred me to.

These are gorgeous, modern, several storey high buildings offering the whole range of medical services. I.e. First floor is usually the lab; second: general medicine, pediatrics; third: mental health, dermatology; fourth: cardiology, neurology, traumatology; fifth: gynecology; sixth, dental health.... etc. You name it -- they HAVE it.

I wanted a full medical check-up with a female doc so I picked up the phone late one morning and called an IntegraMedica building two blocks away, hoping for an appointment later that week. "Si...," said the receptionist. " I have several openings today. How is 2:30?"

"TODAY?!" I said, choking on my coffee. "Sure...."

When I arrived, I saw the interior of IntegraMedica's buildings are as sparkly clean as their exteriors. Of course, the very first question I was asked upon arrival was, "How are you paying for this?" Well, what they actually asked was which "Isapre" did I have? As I have neither FONASA nor Isapre, I said "private."

"Then, that will be $65 for today's visit with the doc. And we accept cash, VISA or MasterCard...." A minute later, a petite brunette about my age, wearing a lab coat and stethoscope, called my name and off I went, with Dr. Elida Gonzalez. We spent about half an hour together, with about a quarter of this time being the doc inputting all kinds of info about me on her desktop computer. She also ordered a half a dozen tests -- everything from bloodwork to... well, you don't need to know.

Each test has its own cost, of course (starting at about $12 and going up to $48, for me, anyway), which you also pay upfront. But, you can check your results... on line! even before coming back to discuss them with the doc.

Exactly a week later, I got an appointment with Dr. Gonzalez, again, the same day I called. "Everything looks good," she said. "I'm just going to give you a prescription for...."  some meds that cost me about $20, and done I was!

To say it was the fastest, most efficient and best medical encounter I've had in many, many years would be the understatement of the year (for me). Yes, I had to pay for it out of my own pocket... but, really, I pay in Canada, too, just in a different way.

Of course, no system is perfect. Here's an article that puts it all into a broader context: http://managedhealthcareexecutive.modernmedicine.com/mhe/Managed+Care+Outlook/Chiles-healthcare-offers-public-and-private-plans/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/647865

I'm just glad everything was a-OK with my health.... Now, about those teeth....

Kissing in a foreign land

Let's say you're asked to leave Canada .... by your boss, and not CSIS, silly! So, it's a foreign, work assignment kind of thing and you're away for 15 years.

You come back and the next day your sister introduces you to her neighbour. You move to shake the neighbour's hand and he takes it all right but suddenly he's also ... planting a wet one on your cheek! Or, if you're a guy, the female neighbour doesn't take your hand at all but you catch a glimpse of her lips just as they're about to smack on your face!

Yes, very French, I know, but, if you're not used to it - or, you're from Anglo-Canada! - pretty disconcerting, right?

That's how it was when we first arrived in Chile. I discovered that since the last time I was here in 1994, Chileans had taken up cheek kissing as a greeting, something entirely new and different from what I remembered and which took some getting used to. 

Many times I'd forget about this new custom and would NOT move to kiss, causing the poor kisser to hesitate or feel embarrassed or end up planting one on me in a weird spot - like my forehead.

It's also a bit strange when the person you're meeting is even mildly attractive, 'cause you do this "GoshIhopemybreathdoesn'tsmellandIlookOK " kind of monologue in your head, knowing that it's probably too late now to worry about it, anyway, 'cause those lips are a-comin! whether you want them or not!

Two months now into this kissing-greeting thing and it's ... alright. Probably one of the sweetest things I've seen down here was Carmen being greeted by another little girl her age, with a kiss on the cheek - just like the grown-ups do. Also I've seen men kiss-greet, in the countryside and not in busy Santiago, but still, that's quite the progress for a macho culture!

Speaking of customs and manners, in another post I complained that I didn't think Chileans were very courteous. Well ... maybe I wasn't looking in all the right places. I've been on the metro lately and you should see how people of all types and ages immediately spring up and offer up their seats to pregnant women, people with infants, and senior citizens that come on board.

And finally on manners, I saw something in Argentina that really charmed me. Everywhere we went, if you said "Thank you very much" to a waitress, a cab driver, or the porter at the hotel, the reply would invariably be: "Oh, noooo, por favor...!" which translates into something like: "Oh, noooo, pleeeease....!" But the real meaning was in the tone, which conveyed: "Don't even think about it! It was SO my pleasure! "

"Por favor....!" is one custom I just might adopt back home, but I think I'll completely forget the kiss-greet thing ... lest I want to make myself, my friends and their husbands extremely nervous....!

So.... what do you DO all day?

Since babysitting doesn't count, I had my first "real" job at 14. I helped my dad clean a small, meat-packing plant, in Swift Current, Sask. We sprayed scalding hot water on the large meat cutting machinery with a hose, and cleaned the smaller machines by hand, with soap and water.

I still have the slightly disfigured right index finger -- and scar that goes along with that -- from when I almost severed the lower half of that finger, while cleaning a particularly treacherous machine. (I remember my biggest worry was completely losing that half-finger... before I'd had a chance to have a boyfriend! Great, I thought, now I never will!!).

It was the end of that job... but it was the start of my working life, because it was followed by dozens of other jobs: MacDonald's after school; washing dishes at a pizza place when MacDonald's didn't give enough hours; cleaning motel rooms in the summer; waiting on tables in my town's best, and worst, restaurants; taking tickets at an entertainment venue.

Thankfully as I got more education, my jobs got better: shelving books at the university library; writing stories for my small town newspaper; organizing festivities for the annual Canada Day celebrations.

Then, with a B.A. in Journalism and Communications in hand, I started having the most fabulous jobs, ever (well, a couple of them were, anyway ; ) -- news-wire beat reporter; writer at two of Canada's best universities; and PR professional for a wide range of companies and industries. In there were also my two maternity leaves, which really were my best, and toughest, jobs ever.

So... I've always worked. Until now.

I've been unemployed for just over two months now and it will be at least three 'till I return home and I'm gainfully employed again, which recently prompted a friend from down here to ask me: "Sooooooo, what do you DO all day?" I had to tell her -- I'm really busy!

I'm at up 6:15 every morning making the kids breakfast, before getting them up at 6:45. In half a hour they get dressed, eat, brush their teeth, and ensure they don't forget anything, before I walk them downstairs to catch their school bus.

On most days at this point, I keep right on walking to a nearby Starbucks Coffee shop, where I arrive just after it's opened. I grab a "Grande Americano con Leche" and a seat on the second floor, at the very back, near the electric outlets so I can plug in my laptop. The sun's just coming up over the Santiago skyline, jazz plays in the background.

I've been freelance writing and editing a bit down here so I usually spend an hour or two on this, but also send e-mails, read the local news, check Facebook and Linked In (!), look for information. Near noon, I go back to the apartment for lunch, and to catch up on housework. Laundry is usually the biggest job as we don't have many clothes down here, but a tiny washer and no dryer in the apartment. I also sweep the floors, straighten up.

My kids get home from school at around 5 p.m. so dinner is another priority. Once we've discussed their entire school day and eaten, it's homework time, and my two always have homework, much of it requiring me to sit them with them and translate, either verbally or in writing.

At 8 or 8:30 the kids prepare their backpacks and lunches for next day, take showers, and head for bed no later than 9:30. I follow soon after, as those 6:15 mornings can be a killer on less than 8 hours' sleep. On Friday nights we pack up and drive to my dad's farm, returning Sunday afternoon so we can start the weekly cycle all over again.  

So, yeah -- it's been heaven.

Still, it will be amazing to be home again. We've decided to head back April 30, as planned, instead of staying longer. My sabbatical -- and my "life of leisure," as I've called it -- will end at that point but hopefully an exciting new job will replace it.

How about you? Have you always worked too?

She gets it, now....

Carmen has never been a huge fan of her own name.

People have trouble saying it ("Carla?"), spelling it ("Karman"), and understanding it ("Thats a boy's name!"). She also never met anyone else named Carmen. When she was 6 or 7, she let some other kid at the playground call her "Carly," something that I guess sounded better to her little ears.

I tried to explain to her that I had wanted a Spanish name for her, something to reflect her background (which also includes Ukrainian, Polish, German and Mapuche Indian). Of course, being only 10 years old now, she didn't really understand my rationale... and just wanted a more common name.

Fast-forward to Chile, where "Carmen" is still as common down here as "Catherine" or "Anne," back at home. While the name has become a bit of a classic (like Catherine and Anne) and been supplanted by more modern -- and English-sounding -- names like "Ailin" and "Yuli," there are still LOTS of Carmens around.

Most notably, however, there are dozens of street names in Santiago with some version of Carmen in it. Driving around one day, we found ourselves on "Carmencita" Street. Carmencita is what I've called Carmen since she was little. It's an affectionate term, like Cathie or Annie.

So, all of a sudden, Carmen is not so foreign any more... and while I don't know if my daughter likes her name any more than she did before we came to Chile, she gets it now.

(Yes, darling, there was a method to my madness.)

Here are a few more pictures of my Carmencita:
http://picasaweb.google.com/suzannesoto03/MyCarmencita#

10 (more) things I love (and don't) about Chile

LOVE:
1. The scenery. Can't beat it, especially the mountains. They're everywhere you look. Big ones, little ones, looking all ethereal and misty. What I really, reallly love though is the contrast between Santiago's skyscrapers and the mountains in the background. Beautiful.

2. The historic architecture. It makes Santiago seem very European, but more Paris, than Madrid (probably because many of Santiago's early architects were French or French-inspired, like Emilio Jecquier and Felipe Duhart).  Newer architecture is gorgeous too. The street I'm living in -- Avenida Suecia -- is a long row of lovely buildings, all built in the 70s and 80s. An architectural tour all on its own!

3. The food and the wine. I've posted about the food before, but I haven't mentioned that you can get delicious street food just about anywhere -- empanadas, humitas, mote.... And wonderful bottles of the smoothest Carménère you've ever tasted, for about $3 a bottle!

4. The newspapers. Santiago still has 5 or 6 daily newspapers, appealing to all kinds of tastes, and readers. They sell out fast, too, so you'd better be the first in line, at the corner "kiosko"!

5. The fact that no one here knows me. No one knows me in Toronto either, but here, being anonymous feels different somehow. It feels free and transitory; like, yeah, my hair has a funny wave today and I'm not wearing any make-up... and I really could not care less. 

HATE:
6. The lack of respect between drivers and pedestrians. Pedestrians NEVER wait for walk/don't walk signs, to cross a street, even really busy ones. They always try to run it, while drivers sometimes barely miss pedestrians. (The kids and I always respect the "walk/don't walk" signs; most times we're the only ones, as Chilean moms with kids certainly don't wait!)

7. The lack of courtesy among people, sometimes. Examples: no one lets you in, when you need to merge in traffic. People behind you in a queue try to jump in front of you, if they get half a chance. If they dig baby-carriage wheels against your heels, they keep right on going, without a word of apology. (At the same time, I've been handed my bank card, just as I was walking away from an ATM; been warned to safeguard my camera against possible theft; and been given a 40-page mapbook, by a complete stranger at a gas station when I mentioned I kept getting lost in Santiago...)

8. That fact that everyone still smokes. Kids as young as 12 or 13 and seniors well in their 80s, light up, anywhere and everywhere, and most restaurants are not smoke-free.

9. The graffiti. It's mostly in the less wealthy parts of Chile, and of Santiago, but, it just makes buildings look run down, even when they aren't.

10. The poverty. Some people are still really, really poor in Chile, as the aftermath of the Feb. 27 continues to highlight. Maybe in another 30 years' time, the gap between Chile's rich and its working class/working poor will have narrowed even more, so that if I don't get to see it, hopefully my kids will.

One can only hope, right? .

This is Chile

Things are finally starting to settle (a bit) in Chile. For one, we're not having as many tremours any more. I think we're now down to three or four tremours a day in Santiago, and very mild (4 or 5 on the Richter), so I actually haven't felt one in about 3 days. Weird.

It's a different story in other parts of the country, where they're still having lots of shakes. And just this morning, Walter Mooney, here from the U.S. Geological Service, said on Chilean TV there's still a 30 percent chance of another quake happening, with a magnitude of about 7.

Thanks a lot, Walter.

(Interestingly, Mooney spoke English and Chilean TV added Spanish subtitles. A moment later, a Japanese geologist was also interviewed and, he spoke Spanish! No substitles required! I was so impressed... and imagined my two kids some day, requiring no subtitles, either).

On the positive side, other kinds of experts are predicting all this seismic activity will likely result in a ... baby boom! They're saying the country should prepare for a big spike in births in about 9 months's time. (Whatever gets you through the night.... right?) Already, about 70 percent of Chile's population is under 25 years old; guess that percentage will substantially increase.

Also on the positive side, psychologists are urging people to get out there and have some fun (guess they've haven't heard about the baby boom!). They're saying: "Go to a movie this weekend!" or "Eat out!" The point is to resume normal activities and find distraction from what's been going on which, by now, has everyone totally stressed and still scared. (Again, thanks a lot, Walter!).

This coming Monday, Nelly Furtado is giving a big concert in Santiago, with some proceeds going to earthquake relief efforts. I just might listen to those wise psychologists and go see Nelly...!

Finally, Chile is desperately trying to get tourists back, after the quake. They flew in travel journalists from all over the world and took them to parts undamaged by the quake so they can spread the word. Santiago's airport is also finally open and many hotels are offering discounts.

There is some good info (which can be translated to English), here (including a story about foreigners who experienced the quake):

http://www.thisischile.cl/

So... when can I expect you? ; )

"Neeesholaaas....!!!!"

Okay, so, this post must remain between you and me. Nicholas must never know.... as he'd be completely embarrassed and maybe a bit angry with me for telling you. (But I think this is totally cute, so, here it goes....)

Nick's 12 and still very much a kid, so, the fact that hordes of Chilean girls his age chase him all over the playground at school, during recess, as he if were "Nick Jonas" instead of Nick Skoretz, totally mortifies him.

He told me about this last week, that he'd spent an entire recess running away from half a dozen girls, chasing after him, shouting: "Neeesholaaas....!!!" (There are no silent letters in Spanish so the "ch" is pronounced as in "chocolate" instead of as in "cholera.") He said he'd stopped long enough to correct the girls on the pronunciation of his name, but, he added, they didn't care. They just wanted to get near him, the kid from Canada, the English-speaking one.

Well, today I got a chance to see this "live." I was at the school, waiting to meet with Nick's teacher, Mauricio, when Nick came by, all out of breath, his face completely red from running. He just managed to enter the classroom where I was and close the door behind him, when 5 or 6 little girls squished their faces to the glass window, shouting the funny version of Nick's name. I glanced at a couple of them and they had that adoring look that's usually reserved for pop stars. When Mauricio appeared, Nick had to go out there, to face the girls and I could see him struggling to break free from the pack.

Mauricio -- a really young teacher whom Nick really, really likes -- said the girls had come by his classroom the first or second day of school, and had asked him: "Are YOU the teacher who has that Canadian boy in his class??! He is so....DREAMY.....!" or something along those lines. Mauricio and I laughed... and agreed it's probably a good thing Nick's too young to appreciate any of this!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, a friend of Carmen's told her that "it's not really necessary" for her to go back home to Canada. Today, Mauricio told me the same thing, about Nick. When I reminded the teacher that Nick's only here for a short time, he was quite disappointed. "Too bad... he's a great kid and a really keen student. Are you sure he can't finish off the year?" 

Although it's only been two weeks, both Nick AND Carmen have been working really hard down here, wanting to learn, wanting to do their respective homework assigments every night, wanting to make friends and taking anything and everything that comes their way, very much in stride.

I told Mauricio today that our experiences down here (quake aside) have been everything I'd hoped for and more. I think it's been the same for Carmen and Nick, whom I hope will eventually remember his "fan club" fondly, once we're finally back at home.

Gracias a la vida

There's this classic Chilean folk song, titled Gracias a la vida and written in the late 1960s by Violeta Parra, but made famous by the Argentinian singer Mercedes Sosa. When translated, it goes something like this:

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It's given me two eyes, that when I open them,
Can perfectly distinguish black from white,
Can distinguish the starry sky above me,
And from the multitudes, can find the man I love.

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It's given me ears which record crickets and canaries
Hammers and turbines and bricks and storms,
And the tender voice of my beloved...

Here is Mercedes Sosa's version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHiotOgbUAI

There's LOTS lost in my translation (and in the video's), but basically, the song's an ode to life, and to love. I was reminded of it last week, when different versions of the title (i.e. colour, font, size) were posted in every one of the classrooms at the kids' new school, after the Feb. 27 quake.

And, Gracias a la vida is exactly how I'm feeling right now, after having celebrated another birthday this weekend.

I too am grateful, because I've had a really nice life, made all that much better by my very own beloved who, aside from the past six weeks, has been with me for over 25 years... and will join me here in Santiago, in just 12 days.

Can't wait.....!
p.s. Have posted some birthday pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/suzannesoto03/MyBirthday#

7.2 6.9 275+

So, I have to admit, it's finally getting more than just a little annoying.

It continues to shake, down here in Chile. The first two numbers in this post's title refer to the Richter Scale readings of the last two really strong tremours that just rocked the country this morning (which themselves were followed by at least three more immediate tremours, though not as strong as the ones that occurred at 11:39 and 11:55 a.m.)

Interestingly, all of these took place during the actual inauguration of Chile's next president, Sebastian Pinera. Here is one account:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/03/11/chile.earthquake/index.html

Since the Feb. 27. 8.8 quake, there have been more than 275 (yes, that is correct, 275) follow-up tremours, with the strongest one being the 7.2 today. They come day... and night. I woke up at around 4 this morning, to what I thought was shaking in the apartment and sure enough, I found out later it had measured just 6 on the Richter Scale. (The quake that hit Turkey earlier this week was around 6, no?)

I also read in a local paper earlier this week that according to history, many big quakes are followed up by a second, big-scale tremour, days and sometimes even weeks after the actual quake, i.e. In 1985, following the 7.9 quake in Chile, a second one was felt 36 days later with a magnitude of 7.5. Following the 9.1 quake in Indonesia in 2004, another one measuring 8.7 was felt two days later, etc.

The paper implied that Chile was due for a second, big shake.

Wondering -- was the one this morning IT?

Sure hope so, though even as I write this, it continues to shake... and shake... and shake...

"AWESOME!"

As a parent, sometimes you make decisions for your kids even when you do not have all the information and you're not really sure, which can be much more frightening than any earth tremours (i.e."What if I made the totally wrong decision ... and it negatively affects them? ")

That's how I felt, when it came to finding the kids a school. I found one, but it's really far from where we live, and even though it's a private school and expensive, and located in a gorgeous area at the foot of the Andes mountains, it also borders on one of Santiago's most dangerous neighborhoods, Penalolen (the site of sometimes violent territorial/land claim disputes between native Chilean communities and local landowners, a la Caledonia, ON).

Colegio Altamira is also unlike any other Santiago school - extremely progessive and "open," as they say here, because it not religion-based and it mixes boys and girls, something that's become uncommon here, and not something many Chileans approve of .

So, with all that, I did not know what to expect yesterday, when we set out on the 45-minute drive to the school. When we arrived, however, the school looked fine and clean! The other parents seemed happy to be there! The teachers were friendly and welcoming! I left Nick and Carmen there but on the drive back to the apartment I still wondered if I had done the right thing.

Thank goodness, I need not have worried.

When I picked them up at the end of the school day, I was greeted by two smiley, happy faces. Their answer to my: "So, how was it?" was an extremely enthusiastic: "AWESOME!" almost in unison. A handful of the teachers spoke some English so the two had been able to communicate somewhat. Carmen had already made a friend in her class, a little girl who also spoke some English and who'd told Carmen that: "It is really not necessary for you to go back to Canada. Stay here forever! " And Nick had felt like a king in his English Lab class, because he'd been able to get through the work assigned, in a flash.

Gosh ... did that EVER feel good .... What a relief ... Now, I can worry about other things, like hoping they do not get too attached to their new surroundings, 'cause, despite what Carmen's little friend said, it is definitely necessary for her (and us!) to go back home to Canada, when our time here is up. Definitely.

I've posted more first day of school photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/suzannesoto03/NickyAndCarmenSFirstDayOfChileanSchool#

And more pics and info about their school, here:

http://architecturerevived.blogspot.com/2009/08/colegio-altamira-santiago-chile.html

Rina, on second thought, don't come.

A friend of a friend e-mailed me earlier this week, asking if she should post-pone her dream vacation to Chile,because of the current travel warnings to Chile, including to Santiago.

No, I told her. Come. Santiago remains the same as ever, I said. Yes, a 20-storey apartment tower in the neighbourhood of ÑuÑoa sank 20 cms, but everyone's been evacuated and the building is under watch. No large-scale buildings have fallen here in the capital. It’s fine.

Now, however, I’m reconsidering my advice, and it’s because of the never-ending tremours which, a week after the initial earthquake, are still a daily occurrence.

Like tonight – three in a row, starting at about 1:15 a.m. Strong enough to wake you; strong enough to make 35-year-old windows rattle. And even though there’s been dozens (hundreds?) since the actual quake, you never get used to them. Your heart still races, your senses immediately go to “fight or flight,” and your thoughts instantly to your children. (Fortunately, the kids slept through these last three... and most of the time, they hardly notice them.)

So, while I’m not quite ready to get on the next plane back to Canada (yet), my advice to Rina has definitely changed to Don’t come. While nothing will likely happen while you’re here, you’ll probably be very scared at times, and that’s no way to spend a dream vacation. So, please ignore my earlier email.  (Thanks…)

On a more positive note, the kids and I did get out to volunteer. We spent all Wednesday afternoon at a large warehouse in the city’s centre assembling cardboard boxes, filling them with food, toiletries and kitchen supplies, taping them shut, and then stacking them up so that they could be loaded onto large trucks headed for Chile’s south.

We joined hundreds of other Chileans in this endeavour, mostly high school students whose back-to-school was postponed to next Monday, but there were people of all ages also there, including very young, female “carabineras,” or police women, in full police gear. A few tried to talk to Nick and Carmen in English, and asked us where we were from; a couple had relatives in Canada.

We hope to get out to volunteer a couple more times, before my two start school, next Monday as well.

Which brings me to the next positive note -- I managed to find the kids a school! I’d seen this school on line, before I left Canada but because it’s private ($$$), I’d stayed away, hoping to find a public school that would accept them for the two or three months they’ll be here. I’ve had no luck with that because, I’m finding out, there’s an extreme shortage of schools in Chile.

Public classrooms are very overcrowded (40-45 students per class is the norm) and it’s very tough to get in, and especially now that some were damaged by the earthquake. Also, over the last three decades, in an effort to keep the young sexes separate, schools have become single-sex only, meaning even if I’d found space, Nick would have had to go to an all-boys school and Carmen to an all-girls school, and I didn’t want that.

Anyway, this past week, after a fruitless public school search, where we saw more than one “go away” face, we ended up at Colegio Altamira (www.colegioaltamira.cl), talking to the principal and wow, what a difference. We were made to feel welcome right away. The school itself is extremely progressive, with great programming, including art, music and after-school activities such as rock-climbing, chess and …. trapeze artistry!!! And best of all, the kids can attend together.

I knew this was the right place when I suggested to the principal that instead of the five hours a week of English instruction that the Chilean kids get at his school, my two should perhaps receive five hours of Spanish instruction a week.

Well, he said, how much Spanish do your kids know? Ummm, not much....yet!, I said, as we’ve only been here a month. Well, he said, then we should see how it goes. We do not want your children to feel like we’re throwing them into a pool when they don’t know how to swim… Let’s get them happy and comfortable here first, then we can see if they can handle the five hours of intense Spanish a week, in addition to all the Spanish they’ll be encountering in all their OTHER classes.

Right, I said. You’re absolutely right. Happy and comfortable, that’s exactly how I want my kids to be...