So after I finished yesterday's blog, I finally got to sit down and chat with the older daughter of the house. It's a bit ironic that I had not yet talked with her much, since she's the reason I'm living in this house. Her parents told me that she has been begging them for a long time to host an American, and they finally gave in and signed up for the English Opens Doors program. Last night we sat down and I helped her out with her English homework, and then we discussed Chilean and American geography, schools, etc. By 10pm I was pretty tired and ready for bed, but Ignacia asked to see some of my Facebook pics. For the next 2 hours we discussed my work at PNA, my various trips to different cities, and friends. We talked about Rogoz's dumbass obsession with fireworks, Hurricane Katrina and Kanye West's opinion about George Bush (that was prompted by my New Orleans pics), and the Civil Rights Movement. Meanwhile, she told me about Pinochet's reign in Chile. It was pretty awesome to practice my Spanish and shoot the breeze about Times Square, hip hop, studying abroad, etc.
This morning I went out with the parents and little Mati to the grocery store. I finally got to see the city center. The plaza and neighboring church look beautiful. Tomorrow I go to my school, which is also in Castro, so I'll see a bit more of the town. Haven't seen much yet since the house is located on the outskirts of town. So all in all, after traveling 13 hours south away from Santiago, crossing the water on a ferry, and driving 2 hours into the center of the island, I was still not at home. It's quite rural here lol. But amazingly beautiful. Pretty much all day I´ve been chilling with Ignacia going back and forth on music we like. Sadly, she is not a hip hop head. But she says the vast majority of kids here listen to American music. Thus she´s up on the latest Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Shakira. In fact, she showed me Pink and Gaga videos I myself had not seen in the States.
Now I'm blogging while she watches Jersey Shore. I cannot put into words the simultaneous pride and guilty shame I feel about the good ole U.S. of A. seeing this show abroad. Forget 3 wars in the Middle East, sweat shops, or islands of pollution in the Pacific, this show is probably the most damaging export we have ever made. I can only find relief in the fact that much of the stupidity of the show gets lost in translation. Hopefully foreigners only see young adults drinking, puking, sexing, and bickering. That can be seen as fairly normal for people our age. It´s the smushing, battling to house music, juice-head seeking, and GTL'ing that really give this show its flavor, and that's the stuff that does not come across abroad. I guess that's a good thing... or it simply makes the show even dumber... I don't know. All I know is I have a love-hate relationship with this show and it's nice to indulge in its trashiness abroad. Needless to say, I tried explaing 'smush' to Ignacia. :)
-Pablo
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