I have been busy with work and my folks arrived on Wednesday so I haven't had time to blog. My Mom has been taking some photos and I finally got copies so no more excuses here we go.....
They arrived without any issues except that my Mom did not sleep on the airplane but apparently she never does. After a quick nap, we headed to pick up the kids at school, have lunch at a cafe, settle them in their apart hotel (the same one my in-laws stayed at), leave my Mom to rest, and then head to the Estadio for the afternoon activities.
Thursday and Friday the kids did not have school for Sukkot (a Jewish holiday) so we headed off to do some touristy things. The thought was to go to San Cristobal and go up the funicular. What we didn't realize was that the public transportation system is not ADA-compliant even the main station downtown that has some elevators has stairs for the last part of the way out. By the time we got to the hill my Dad was already not a happy camper (he has a bad back/leg/something that has yet to be defined). Last time we were there we did not stop at the zoo half way up the hill because it was super crowded and the guide books said it was pretty crummy. We decided to do it this time and were pleasantly surprised. It had all of the key Chilean animals including penguins, birds, the llama and its cousins, and the mara that we already saw at the Buenos Aires zoo.
Goin' up
What are they doing in Chile?
Ah - they belong in Chile - Magellanic penguins (right - Max?)
What we failed to think about was that a zoo on a hill would inevitably have stairs so after a bit of a stroll my Dad decided to take a nap on a bench. Luckily there were no coins in his hat we we caught up with him so he must have blended in well with the scenery.
We headed all the way up the hill for a quick peak before heading down and grabbing some lunch. At the top we saw a Brazilian tour group that my father briefly joined. He is studying Portuguese right now and was pleasantly surprised to get a brief immersion. After the group split up to walk around he made small talk with the guide and realized that he was also learning Hebrew (he was an evangelical and was studying to take a trip to Israel and be a tour guide for Israelis here). So we ended up speaking a combination of Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Hebrew with him. We headed down the hill and ate a typical Chilean lunch (at 2:30) in the Bellavista neighborhood at the foot of the hill - the neighborhood is a combination of a touristy area and a hip nighclub/bar area. We headed home and showed up as Marcela was preparing dinner - we saved it for Friday because we were stuffed.
Friday we decided to visit Rob at his work and then head to a museum close to his work. We got a late start and Rob had a phone call at noon so we did a quick tour and a coffee before heading to the MIM (Museo Interactivo Mirador).
The highlight of the visit to La Catolica for the kids - my parents have now had the pleasure of tasting both types of Chilean soda. Once is enough.....really.
The MIM is sort of like an Exploratorium/Museum of Science and Industry but placed in a part of the city that is not part of the tourist scene. We had three adults and three children so we divided and conquered and fun was had by all. My Dad did a robotics workshop with Jonathan - they had a choice to learn about robots used in the mining or forestry industry. Dan - you'll be happy to know that he chose forestry.
Not sure the purpose of this but it was fun to run through
My Mom'a favorite part - there she is with Renee!
Renee and Elisa
Saturday we headed to the Estadio for pilates (me), gymnastics (Renee and Elisa), tennis (Jonathan), coffee (grandpa, grandma, Rob and Sarah).
Estadio
Jonathan playing on clay (oh yeah, and some mountains)
After lunch, Jonathan and Elisa went to Tzieri-Ami (the youth group that meets at school) and Renee, Grandma, Grandpa and I went to a high end craft show in Las Condes - Artesanos - that featured artists from Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia with the "Arte Organico" theme. Renee really liked one artist that specialized in wood.
Grandpa noted that she must have been brought in from central casting - pretty neat to watch!
Renee liked the wood the best
Given that we had babysitters, Rob and I went finally went out to eat at THE vegetarian restaurant in Santiago - El Huerto. I was almost brought to tears as I read through the menu - definitely my best meal so far in this town and a really nice ambiance in a great neighborhood as well.
Today (Sunday), Jonathan had to get together with a kid from school for a project and Renee went over as well to play with his older sister who is in Renee's grade while the grandparents, Elisa and I checked out a local Farmers Market where the strawberries are looking amazing (although my Mom focused on the artichokes). We had both for lunch including some fresh bread purchased on the walk home. We split up in the afternoon and the grandparents "took" Jonathan and Rob to the train museum in Parque Quinta Normal which was a contrast from the art fair the day before. It is a park where working class families picnic and hang out on weekends and the place that I noted earlier had great graffiti.
This same picture has been taken in 35 other countries ;-)
On one of the old trains
Apparently my Mom did not want to take a picture of the graffiti that said "Yankees Go Home" This is more interesting.
A boy with his Grandpa's hat
I took Renee, Elisa and a friend of Renee's (a daughter of one of Rob's colleagues) to Mall Sport which is basically a mall devoted to sporting goods and adventures. They have a rock climbing wall which was our initial destination, an artificial wave for surfing and a lot more. Renee and Rosario first went on the climbing wall and then I could not resist these balls that you go in and play on water without getting wet. It is hard to explain so I uploaded this video.
Rosario in the "ball"
It was a pretty tall wall - they did great.
The grandparents are off on their own adventure for the next few days and then Thursday and Friday, when the kids have yet even more days off for Sukkot, we're going to head out of town for an adventure or two. Perhaps I'll get a guest blog out of them.
The weekend started with Yom Kippur on Friday night. One of the large supermarkets that is near the Jewish community sells challah every week and this week (and I assume last but we weren't here) they sold the traditional sweet, round challah for the Jewish New Year.
Mmmmmmm
We went to services at Ruaj Ami which is the more progressive synagogue led by an American-born Rabbi. It had some familiar tunes but the best part is that Kol Nidre (the opening prayer which is done with the same tune everywhere as far as I know) was done with a french horn. It was amazing. They also had drums and a piano. It definitely livened up services. Unlike in the States, Yom Kippur is not a fashion show but rather people take the "dressing up in white and with no leather" pretty seriously. They also, just like Shabbat, tend to go to services in the evenings so we went to Kol Nidre and Neilah (the closing service). During the day I always like to take a walk but nobody was in the mood for a big adventure so we went downtown to another hill - Cerro Santa Lucía. You have to climb up a series of paths and stairs to get up about 70 meters and then get a fantastic view of the city. There are several monuments on the hill and many places where young couples "hang out." Most people live at home until they get married so there is a lot more PDA here than elsewhere.
We went to a break-the-fast at a friend's house and stayed up much too late. Sunday we went to an asado for a birthday party of the wife of Rob's colleague who lives in our neighborhood. They have four kids, three of which are approximately the same age as our kids. Jonathan spent the whole time (5 hours?) playing futbol and rugby and I spent quite a bit of time trying to clean the knees of his pants.....
On Monday we had a mellow morning and then headed to Parque Natural Aguas de Ramón. It was Día del Descubrimiento de Dos Mundos - Columbus Day - and the kids had the day off.
Just 10 minutes from our apartment!
So you think that if you are going to go hiking in a park with a name like that it will all be rivers and waterfalls but....if you are hiking with two people who are interested in water they will, of course, focus on the prominent pipes and water treatment plant in the valley.
Water treatment plant
We finally got up to this park which is all of a 10 minute drive from our apartment but felt like a world away from Santiago (until we looked behind us and saw the skyline). We thought we'd just try the baby hike which was all of 1 km because we are more kvetchers than hikers but we ended up on a 6.6 km route up a "hill" and into a valley without the best footwear. Everybody except for me was pretty much kvetch-free. We're ready for the next adventure. The Santiago Times, a local English-language newspaper, did a write-up on the hike. Rachel and Andrew - the kids are game to do it again when you visit.
The way up was very dry and full of cacti
Grandma - this one is for you - it reminded Jonathan of the cactus garden at Stanford
The half way point across the river
Following the leader - She just "loved it"
He showed up all of a sudden and we just let him pass....
I keep a little post-it on me where I jot down odd/interesting observations and then accumulate them here. It seemed like I gathered enough for a while:
The Chilean word for a boyfriend here is pololo and for a girlfriend is polola. I learned the verb pololear (courting)! I also learned googlear ;-)
In addition to jugglers and people selling random thing and food on the street corners there has been a young woman dressed in purple and white to resemble a Kotex product who has been aggressively pushing samples at a nearby street corner. The kids insisted that I get some - an interesting conversation followed ;-)
Even when the temperatures are in the high 70s the Chilean women are still wearing their tall black leather boots. Perhaps winter is too short here and they want to get a full season in?
There is no "right turn on red" here unless there is a sign saying that you can do it. On the other hand, people often turn right from the middle lane or continue going straight on red. Go figure...
Somehow all the stray dogs figure out how to cross at the corner when the light turns green but the people don't.
I went shopping today at one of the major large supermarkets and they had no apples at all. How can that be? Last week about 1/4 of the produce was different types of apples. It is times like this that I am reminded that no matter how much Chile resembles the States there are some things that are definitely different.
Rob and Jonathan went to a futbol game of La Catolica. Originally it was the team of the university but it is now a private team but they retained their name - Los cruzados (the crusaders). My question is what does their mascot look like??????
Justin Bieber is touring South America right now and will be in Santiago on October 15th. It's the hot ticket but, luckily, my kids could not care less.
Santiago is extremely dry so my usual poofy hair has not reacted well. It preferred Buenos Aires.
The Masorti (Conservative movement) Rabbis in Latin America have interpreted the torah differently to allow musical instruments in services. What a joy! We had drums, a french horn, and a piano at Yom Kippur services. Definitely livened it up! Can you imagine Kol Nidre on a french horn? Amazing! There has been at least a piano at every service that we have attended. It definitely keeps up the interest more.
I have kept this post open for over a month and I couldn't seem to get the kids to contribute although I finally got them to dictate something to me. I quote them below ;-)
Renee
I hate it!
Jonathan
I mostly speak to my friends in English. The kids all have to wear the same uniform. The people in my class are pretty friendly including my teacher (Mora). My favorite subjects are lenguaje (language arts in Spanish) and English, though it is very boring. I play futbol during long recesses after lunch and play taka-taka (foosball). I also just started on Wednesdays during gym playing beisbal.
Elisa
"We mostly kindof speak Spanisih. I have one best friend and her name is Rocio. She only speaks Spanish. I speak to her in English and she understands me and she speaks to me in Spanish and I understand her. One of the cool things about school is that you can buy candy. My Mama gives me 1000 ($2.00) pesos a week to buy snacks and I buy candy at the little store that is next to the lunchroom after lunch or during one of the other recesses. We get three recesses a day. I play or buy candy or just hang out. After school I like to go swimming at Estadio Israelita. I swim with Taly, Sol, and Leah."
I'll add a bit (OK, a lot) to that from my own observations:
Although it is a Jewish school, it is definitely more culturally Jewish than religious. There is another school in Santiago that is a religious school - Maimonides.
There are three classes in each grade and the kids stay with the same classmates for four years at a time (1st-4th, 5th-8th, and 9th-12th) so the administration (and psychologists) spend a lot of time trying to figure out the best mix.
Given that they have the same classmates for four years there is definitely more of a family feeling to the classes. Because it is Latin America, teachers are often hugging the kids and just being more demonstrative overall. There is also a lot more yelling going on and a lot more general chaos than in the States which has been a tough adjustment for my kids.
Although in the States there is probably an implicit "rule" that moms are most involved in the school, here is it explicit in that the class e-mail list only goes to the moms and the moms are the only ones who get together or volunteer for anything. I wonder what happens if there is a single dad - maybe it just doesn't happen or maybe a female relative jumps in?
The kids have all the "normal" classes like language arts (lenguaje), math, science, social studies, gym, music and art but as a bonus they get English (as in as a second language), Hebrew (the third language?), and torah. I am still trying to figure out what they learn in torah. I think that Renee reads parts of the torah (old testament) in Hebrew and Spanish and then discusses relevant sections. Jonathan just reads stories from the torah. It looks more like a history class than anything else with discussion of the Jewish holidays thrown in for good measure. In the high school they also have a Jewish history class.
Since my kids did not have much formal Hebrew (at least conversational) training before we came, the older two are in a special program called Academia which is basically a tutoring program for kids who enter the school after first grade. Hopefully they will come back much improved and Renee will return ready to jump into her Bat Mitzvah studies....maybe.
Instead of having a bell or a beep to change classes they have music. To start the day it is always Spring from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It usually starts playing as I am leaving the building and I feel like dancing and leaping to the music but I hold it in. Apparently, depending on the season/holiday/whim of some unknown person, the rest of the music changes daily from holiday music (Chilean or Jewish) to the latest pop songs.
Instead of the orderly snakes of children changing classes at the kids' primary school in the States, it is absolute chaos with kids ages 6-18 running through the hallways. I wonder if it will take my kids time to adjust back to the orderliness.
As Elisa mentioned, they get four recesses a day. Everybody gets them and they also can run around if they finish lunch early.
The kids have to buy lunch at school which has been less than satisfying for everybody except Rob who normally gets "pack the lunches" duty at home. I think that they at least pick at lunch each day but I usually pick them up and they are starving.
They do not have any formal religious services (unlike the Jewish school that I went to where you prayed twice a day). The only time that I have heard about the school chapel was when one of Renee's classmates was going to have his Bar Mitzvah. It is customary for the classmates, family, and Rabbi to have a "tefillin club" where the boy put tefillin on for the first time, leads a service, and then there is a kiddush. I am not going to go into tefillin but if you are curious check out - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin
I usually drop off and pick up the kids. It is about a 20 minute drive from home if there is no traffic. There are several schools (collegios - several people have asked me what our colleges are if not schools) that are all in the same area and start at the same time so it is complete chaos around the school. I try to get there 20 minutes before pick up to find a place to park. Not everybody goes in to get their kids. It looks like most kids ages 10 and up have a cell phone and just call their parents to find out where they are parked. Also, many kids go home on the little school buses, older ones take public transportation, or walk home.
For every four grades there is a person (the "inspector") whose job it is to take care of all of the disciplinary actions. If you are late for school you have to see them. If you have a detention they oversee it (they use detentions quite liberally here). If a class is getting unruly they are called in. I guess that it leaves the Directors (Principals) to work more on the academics.
I think that I wrote about this before but gym classes in all of the grades are split by gender and according to Renee the boys get to do all of the fun stuff.
Because it is a Jewish school they have four days of vacation coming up for the Sukkot holiday in addition to "Encuentro de Dos Mundos" (Encounter of Two Worlds or Columbus Day) and Evangelico/Día Nacional de las Iglesias Evangélicas y Protestantes (or Reformation Day on 10/31). Reformation Day has apparently only been a national holiday since 2008. Seems odd that a Catholic Country would have Reformation Day as a national holiday but there was/is a huge German community here. I'll have to do a bit more research on that one.
P.S. I think that Renee perhaps spoke a bit strongly there. She is starting to make friends and at least some subjects are tolerable ;-)
Guess we are having another cacerolazo. The students are at it again.
Mom and Dad - they are calling for another march on October 19th. You'll get to experience it!
I just finished helping Renee study for a test in Torah by reviewing her notes and books in Hebrew and Spanish. Luckily it was the story of the parting of the Red Sea and I had heard it before :-) This is how memories are made ;-)
When I start to write on a topic I often look on-line to see if anybody else has already done the research. Oddly enough nobody has really covered the topic of the role of Nanas (I am not sure if it is capitalized ;-) ) in the Chilean middle/upper-middle class (although there are a lot of sites for Nana-seekers) so I am going to have to play amateur anthropologist and recount my own observations.
It is a definite Chilean institution that seems to be changing as the standard of living rises. Because labor has been so cheap, most middle-class and above families have traditionally had at least one Nana - several if you have a big house, entertain a lot, have a lot of kids, or are a neat freak. If they have small children (or not), she is often a live-in and will accompany the mother shopping, to the sports club, to school etc. From what I gather, they cook, clean, do laundry, take the kids to and from school - basically the third (first?) parent! People have this type of help in the States but it is usually just reserved for the wealthy - here everybody seems to have one. Some families definitely look at the Nana as being an extension of the family by doing things like inviting her to a Bar Mitzvah.
They all appear to wear some sort of outfit/uniform. Often it is almost like an art smock but they also wear a full dress or what looks like a nurse's outfit. I had wrongly assumed that most would be from Peru or Bolivia but it turns out (at least from my limited sample) that many are Chilean.
I have been trying not to be too judgmental because it is very much a cultural difference and I am all for having help around the house and child care if both parents work but....
At the Estadio there are women who come in with their children following them and the nana herding the children and all of their stuff in the back as well as cleaning their faces. At the grocery store I saw a women with her nana following her pushing the cart. The woman would point at an item and the nana would put it in the cart (I would have taken a picture but they would have carted me away). A common topic at pick up time at school is how to find a better nana and the awful thing that the nana did. One woman was lamenting that she hasn't had one for a while - only somebody that cleans and cooks three times a week... I try to turn off my judging meter but sometimes it is difficult.
It sounds like with increased economic opportunity it is getting harder to find nanas and also more expensive. I have definitely met some people who don't have one for whatever reason. That said, they are pretty ubiquitous. It was a relief to see people cooking themselves in Buenos Aires!
I don't really understand the need for the smocks - cleanliness or a uniform?
Pick up at school
Thursday update: I just came to the Estadio to meet the kids and a woman got out of a huge (read American) car followed by her Nana with all of her 2-year old's stuff subsequently followed by the chauffeur handing her the rest of the stuff and picking up after the Nana because she had too much stuff to carry. The woman strolled away and the Nana proceeded to haul enough stuff (and child) for a week in Paris into the Estadio while the chauffeur drove away. I needed a videocamera for this one. I'm not in South Bend anymore!
Our camera battery died and we didn't have the charger and we had a horrible internet connection at the apartment so I didn't blog. I realized that it is important to write right away or else you forget everything! On Friday we did a "This was Papa's life" tour including a tour of his school, neighborhood, train line, and house. He started a post and will hopefully upload it soon.
We tried to hit as many cafes as possible....
At Havanna's - a cafe, but more importantly a place that makes some yummy chocolate/dulce de leche treats
A Havannet - can't go wrong there
At the cafe on the corner of our street (Como en Casa) sin chicos!
I mentioned that there were a lot of dog walkers but we ended up not getting to the big parks until Sunday so I only got a few neighborhood shots. What I enjoyed about BA was that people had "substantial" dogs.
If only it paid well....
I'll get one soon - really.
They even have special parking areas for their dogs
On Saturday we had a very active day. We started off meeting Rob's second cousin Ariel at his apartment in San Isidro, a suburb of BA. He then took us on a ride on his boat to his island in El Tigre. From what I gathered, the Parana River comes out in a delta at Tigre. There are a series of rivers (canals) and islands where people have mostly second homes but some people live year round. It eventually leads into the Rio de la Plata (really more of an estuary) that heads to the ocean. Ariel has a home as well as 10 hectares of land with a few other structures/houses on it where friends can stay for the weekend. It is about a 25 minutes boat ride from the marina. Ariel let the kids all control the boat for a while and they were thrilled (and wearing life jackets) Because of periodic flooding most of the houses are on stilts or the lower floor is just storage. Ariel had a bedroom on his lower floor but he attached floating devices to the mattresses to avoid damage. The high water marks on the first floor were easily 4 feet off of the ground. Renee is definitely realizing that she is more comfortable in rural rather than urban areas.
Where are Ariel's hands?????
I was facing backwards - I couldn't look ;-)
She got the wettest and loved it!
The main house (notice the massive wisteria in the back)
Ariel
Walking around the property
We ended the day with a tea (and mate) at a friend of Rob's and her family. There are four sisters and they all gathered together, some with their children and husbands. Some people left early because Argentina was playing in the rugby World Cup - who knew there even was one? They won against Georgia and will be in the semi-finals next weekend against New Zealand (the host country).
The ceremonial passing of the Mate
Sunday we went to the BA zoologico which ended up being a bit rushed but a lot of fun. It was a bit run down and extremely crowded but we saw our share of llamas (and their relatives) as well as some funny looking things that we are still trying to identify that were wandering around everywhere - anyone?? They were lacking interpretative signage throughout the zoo but most things were at least familiar.
What are these????
We finished with a quick tea with Rob's uncle Jorge, his wife Mimi and his daughter Paula before headed back home.
There was so much more to do but we'll save it for another visit in February.
P.S. Google is amazing. I think that these things are Mara. "These large relatives of guinea pigs are common in the Patagonian steppes of Argentina but live in other areas of South America as well such as Paraguay. Maras are the fourth largest rodent in the world, after capybaras, beavers, and porcupines, reaching about 45 cm (18 in) in height." Rodent family - no wonder Renee liked them!
