Hey readers, I sort of forgot I had a blog. Sorry for not posting for so long. I guess you could say I've been juggling my time among a 20 page essay, a 10 page essay, and my girlfriend. I'll try and recap what I've been doing for the last month or so.
September 11th has a much different significance here than in the United States. It marks the day when Pinochet enacted a coup d'etat (golpe de estado) and Allende killed himself in the capitol building. Because most of our military friends are pro-Pinochet, it's also celebrated as the day Pinochet saved the country from Socialism. That's the attitude with which we were celebrating. I could give you another account of how I got really drunk and did some stupid stuff, but I really don't want to be viewed as an alcoholic by y'all.
The next week, a delegation of cadets from Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Germany, France, and Mexico arrived. Naturally, we were the representatives for the United States. Needless to say, it was a pretty interesting experience. The Germans only spoke German and English. The Brazilians didn't speak Spanish very well and nobody else from the delegation spoke Portuguese. The French (Amaury) speaks French, English, and Spanish. He'll actually be living with us until December. I actually had to help translate a conversation between a Chilean cadet and one of the Germans who was trying to get with her.
The week was filled with various activities to show us around Chile. First we went to the vineyard at Concha y Toro where we got to do some wine tasting and learn about wine. I'm now an expert on wine so don't be serving me cheap wine. I'll know. The next day we went up to a ski slope. We didn't ski though, we just all threw snowballs at the French guy and everyone laughed at him. I'm fairly certain that the next day was the Chilean Day of Independence, September 18th. For this we went to a rodeo and, as was customary during that week, we ate free steak and drank free wine. Then we went to a park for this grand party. As usual, we drank a bunch. The Mexican lieutenant kept wanting to take pictures with Chilean girls, so we obliged him. The next day was the military parade for which all the cadets had been preparing for weeks. So we threw on our fanciest uniforms and headed over to Parque O'Higgins to watch the parade. It started with a speech by President Piñera who talked about varioius nonsense. He also gave a shout-out to the 33 miners who were still trapped underground at that time. Then the parade started and never ended. Unit after unit streamed by without end. There were tanks and commandos and bridge-building trucks and motorcycle brigades and thousands of soldiers, sailors, and airmen. There were a frew fly-bys, which was pretty cool. After about 3 or 4 hours, we left to go drink some more free wine. Ate some more free steak. Some presents were exchanged and then we went back to the school to sleep.
As the delegation began going their seperate aways, we exchanged some uniform items and said our goodbyes. All in all, it was a very interesting experience. I got to play soccer with people from all over South America and Europe(playing is much more fun than being a referee, with which I've had experience). Needless to say, the Americans were the worst guys out there.
That's all I've got to say for now. I'm pretty hungry, so I'm going to peace out.
