We've created a monster

Since being in Santiago, we have had cable, something we have never had before. This has lead to much viewing of a television for a few reasons:

* Cable deprivation for many years,
* Craving to see any TV shows in English,
* Having only brought 4 novels and having finished the first two in under two weeks (therefore needing to space out my reading so that I don't have an entire month with nothing to read),
* And a child that has learned how to turn on the television and does so whenever she so feels like. (Luckily she gets bored after 5- 10 minutes, and will then turn it off herself.)

After a few nights of doing nothing more than watching TV, we get the urge to throw it away. This desire lasts a day, or a few hours, and then there we are, back watching more- SAD. I can understand why my father refers to the TV as the 'One Eyed Monster'. I get why we never had cable growing up.

I really am trying to think of things to do with all my time- I didn't bring any projects, and as mentioned before, only 4 novels. Maybe I'll take up writing a novel, eh? I think I already blog too much, so more blogging is out of the question! Any other ideas?

Easter Report

Our weekend summed up in one picture- fresh fish on the coast of Chile.

This is obviously not the two of us fishing, but I thought it was a fairly interesting shot. I tried to climb out on those rocks, but didn't get nearly as far. They were actually in the middle of trying to real in a larger fish, hence the team work to that the actual fisher in this shot wouldn't fall over into the rocks and ocean.

J had off 3 days for Easter weekend, and he did some arranging of things to allow us to go to Con Con, a fishing/tourist town on the coast of Chile, about 2 hours west of Santiago. We stayed in a cabin...not nice enough to call it a full blown apartment, but had electricity, a bathroom, beds and dining area. At first we were a little surprised by the conditions of where we were staying, and then we decided to just relax and have a fun weekend.

Our cabins were at the top of a hill. One block away were many, many, many stairs leading down to the beach and ocean. After venturing down the first time, we decided that we would only go down if we were going to stay down for a while. That was to make the trip back up the many, many, many stairs worth it.

C loved playing and walking around in the sand, but would cry as the water touched her, mostly because it was fairly chilly water. Despite the cold water, the days were fairly nice and sunny, and there were lots of families out on the beach playing, building sand creations, and running around in the water.

Since we knew she wouldn't want to play in the water, we splurged the 1,000 pesos (really only like $2) on the sand pail, which she loved to play with while doing her famous people watching.

Outside our cabins there was a large grassy area, tennis courts and a swimming pool. Luckily there were lots of other families in surrounding cabins, and C was able to make some friends with other little kids her age. She and this little girl even gave hugs and kisses to each other at the end of one night! She would also chase around this huge dog, (part Malamute, part ???) that was old and not at all bothered by her.

Our second day there we decided to be adventurous and found a local bus to take us to a more touristy area, Renaca. There we wandered the streets and shops, walked the beach and ate very authentic Chilean lunches. I had what they call Corn cake, but it's really more like a cornbread topped pot pie. J had the equivalent of a steak, french fries and eggs. We again splurged on a plate of fresh veggies: tomato, avocado, and palm hearts, (as pictured below).

Mostly we just tried to take it easy and enjoy the down time together as a family.

C I know was very grateful for time to spend outside in a different atmosphere and to have some kids to play with. We were grateful to be able to have some slow time.

Playa Amarilla en Con Con

On the way there and back we rode with one of J's colleagues and his wife. They own one of the cabins and were our hook-up. They were kind enough to take good care of us getting there and back and seeing lots of different parts of Chile on the way, including a breathtaking view of the Andes from atop a mountain range in western Chile. (Unfortunately, C was having a minor lack of sleep breakdown, so no picture was taken.) They also had us over for lunch one day, and to play games the next night. Thanks go to the Kings for helping us have an exceptionally unique Easter and birthday for J!

La Orquesta Filarmonica de Santiago - What it's like so far...

We have now been in Santiago for 2 weeks and I thought it might be nice to say something about what it's been like in the orchestra so far...

First of all, the orchestra performs in the Teatro Municpal which is right downtown in Santiago. There is always a lot of hustle and bustle around the area and it is always exciting to go to work. Unfortunately, they are constructing a new underground parking space for the Theater, so I can't post any neat pictures of the outside. But here is one I took of the inside of the hall from my chair in the orchestra before a concert (and before the audience was allowed in). It's a little fuzzy, so I'll try and take a new one next week.


The theater is 150 years old and is very beautiful. But the 150 years old part takes its toll and there are many very old parts to the hall, especially with things falling apart. Nevertheless, it's the best space in Santiago and a lot of fun to perform in every week.

The orchestra itself is very good. The members of the orchestra have been very welcoming and supportive of me. I seem to meet someone new every day and more and more I'm fitting in. The orchestra is approximately 1/2 Chilean and 1/2 European with a few Americans in the mix. The music director is Jan Latham-Koening who is a British conductor who seems especially good at conducting opera. He is really enthusiastic about my playing and in his words, "absolutely loves me." He is a bit tough to work with as he is over demanding and never pleased, but maybe because he likes my work so far, hasn't been too unpleasant with me in rehearsals. The resident conductor is a Chilean named Jose Luis Domingues and he is great. He conducts mostly the ballets, but we get to work with him quite a bit in other rehearsals too. I have also begun a good relationship with him.

The orchestra functions in many ways throughout the season. They do a series of orchestral concerts, but also perform for the Opera and Ballet in the same theater. It is organized similarly to the MET orchestra where there are double wind and brass players who alternate assignments with the opera and ballet. This current season is filled many exciting works: Mahler 2, Pines of Rome, Shostakovich 5, Also Sprach Zarathustra, The Marriage of Figaro, The Rite of Spring, The Barber of Seville, etc...

The trumpet section is great and a good bunch of men too. The principal trumpet, Eugene King, is originally from Kentucky, but has been in South America for over 30 years and has played in Santiago for 23. He has only been kind and supportive to me and I find him a great resource of wisdom and advice. Erlantz Fernandez is the new 2nd trumpet player and he is from Spain. He arrived here in February and is also a good trumpet player. He's 30 and like me, one of the younger musicians in the group. He is very active and a lot of fun. As I've been playing 1st so far, he and I have had a lot of time to play together and it's been great playing with him. Javier Contreras is the 4th trumpet player. He is a good family man. His wife is the theaters pianist/organist and apparently she is incredible. She can play anything. I have been invited to do a masterclass at the University of Chile and I hope to be able to perform with her at the masterclass. They have 3 kids are a very happy family. He did his masters in the US and loves to speak English with me. His dream is to do a doctorate in the US and has been asking me a lot of questions because I've just been through the process myself.

The Trumpet Section (From left to right):
Javier Contreras, Me, Eugene King, and Erlantz Fernandez

My first week we did a Mozart Symphony and some music of Schubert - his 8th symphony "the Unfinished" and his Overture to Rosamunde. This past week we performed Mahler's Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection." This is one of my all-time favorite works and it is incredibly moving. It has VERY exposed and powerful trumpet parts. The orchestra called for is over 100 musicians and it has 2 solo singers and full choir. From start to finish it is about 80 minutes long. The music portrays the composer's belief in the Resurrection (and was written for his friend who had recently passed away) and to me this music has become sacred. Although Mahler was Jewish, he had a strong belief about this principle and I believe that the music he writes is divine. It's incredible to say the least. I highly recommend you all to listen to it, especially the final 2 movements. You can easily find an English translation of the German on wikipedia. Especially with Easter being this weekend, this is an assignment you can't miss.

We did 3 performances of it with the last being last night, Thursday. They went great and each was so special. The experiences that I have performing this piece and some others like it are why I chose to play the trumpet professionally. There are moments when the hair on my neck stands up and I feel the most amazing rush. The end of the 5th movement is just incredible and genius. Being able to play Principal Trumpet and sit a top the power of a great brass section of a Mahler symphony is an experience that I wish all people could have, it's amazing.

Well, that's a little summary of the first 2 weeks here. They have been very positive and I'm looking forward to this next week when the big piece is Pines of Rome (check out Fantasia 2000 if you want to see a Disney version of this great piece).

J

Me case con un hombre sabio

(I married a wise man- translation)

This has been a crazy, crazy week, and I am very glad that I married such a wise man.

Secret is out...I bite my fingernails, and at least every other day I seem to be pulling a hang nail. This has occurred for years on end with no problems, (other than driving J crazy).

About a week ago, I pulled a seemingly unimportant hangnail- I'm sure I didn't even think about it at all, until 3-4 days later when my finger started to turn red and swollen. Then I remembered pulling that hang nail. J advised me to pop it or push really hard on it to push the infection out. 3 days of trying that made me no happier, especially as my finger continued to grow more and more infected, tender and swollen.

Then, about 3 days ago, I realized that I was going to need some sort of professional medical attention, and I started to stress out...BIG TIME. A few days before I had been on a walk with C, and we passed a local hospital- talk about scary looking. I thought nothing of it while walking past, other than...

"Wow...I sure hope I never have to go to a hospital here!"

I believe as I reflected on that hospital, my stress level shot through the roof, and left me feeling sick to my stomach (That and the fact that I'd only had sopapillas dinner the night before and breakfast that day). My dear, wise, husband could sense this stress and asked an American colleague for recommendations. He even went by the clinic to try to make me an appointment, and arrived home to tell me he found a 'clean, modern clinic' that I could go to. He even walked back up to the clinic with me to help me stay calm...wise, wise man.

You see, I am the gal that has been known to faint when getting shots, or having blood drawn, or even sitting in an oral surgeon's chair to discuss the possibility of needing to have my wisdom teeth taken out...just a consultation! Did I mention I've fainted when taking other's to the hospital or ER, or the time I got sick while visiting someone else in the hospital...all out of fear! Yes, this is why even thought I said I thought I would be fine to go by myself, my husband made sure I got there okay! You can't have some random woman passed out in downtown Santiago outside a clinic!

Luckily, the appointment went well, I'm currently taking antibiotics and the finger should be back to normal within the week!

Reason #2 J is wise: He found ingredients, or the closest he could find, to one of our favorite meals at home, and we dined with comfort foods!

Cerro San Cristobal

Our most recent adventure was last Saturday. C and I met up with J downtown after his morning rehearsal, and found our way by Metro to a new area of Santiago- we were in search of Cerro San Cristobal (Saint Christopher Hill). This is that largest hill in the area, and one that we were able to see on our last adventure to Cerro Santa Lucia.

When we got off the Metro we basically just followed our way to the large hill- us smart kiddos found it!

After we got to the bottom of the hill, we bought passes to ride the funicular ( basically a trolley car that carries lots of people up the steep incline. I thought I understood what we were buying- passes to ride up the hill and entrance to the zoo.

Our little gal loved the zoo- we were fairly impressed with the many animals and birds, especially since we had heard it wasn't worth really going to. C's love of animals, especially stray and sick ones in the street, inspired us to take her to see safe animals.


Our favorite part of the zoo was to see and hear her try to interact with animals. She sure can make a noise just like a monkey- too funny!

After the zoo, we tried to get back on the funicular to ride to the top of the hill, but found that our tickets only included a ride to the zoo- we had to buy another ticket to ride up and come back down. Dummy me.

We did get to the top and enjoyed the view and gentle breeze. The first picture of this post is taken from atop the hill- quite a hill!

This is the face that C makes each time we take a picture and tell her to 'Smile!'

From the top of the funicular ride, there are 50-80 steps that lead up to this large statue of the Virgin Mary. It was a very peaceful area and well cared for.

As we tried to come down the hill and head home, I realized that I had lost my return ticket down- J gave me a fairly hard time, to which I reacted in a somewhat uncivilized manner- 30 minutes later we laughed about it, and continue to do so each day. Ahh, here is to the long hot days when we learn to learn to live with each other in love, despite our impatience!

The food... what we didn't expect.

While we have been in Santiago we have had to rediscover cooking food. The food here actually is ok and most of it is also easily found in the states. However, it's been hard remembering what we used to eat and how we cooked it. Maybe it's the lack of our familiar and usable kitchen utensils and tools (like our amazing Crock Pot) or it's just some food looking different down here. Either way, we wanted to post about some of the food we've found and other food related items.

A few of our new favorites here have included: empanadas, empanadas, and more empanadas. As most people will tell you, they are delicious . We've also made ravioli, other pasta dishes, beans and rice, and from the staged photo below we splurged with a familiar brand: Domino's pizza. Despite our "fun" with Dominos, we don't eat out, except for our empanadas, and the making things from scratch has been a strange surprise.

An early version of our pantry - pasta, a box of jello, bread, and a can of tuna



This was supposed to be a fun box of Maccaroni and Cheese - it was actually terrible . It tasted like smelly feet with rotten cheese on them.

The staged Dominos overdose
NOTE: J doesn't really sleep with Diet Coke and Pizza

Another fun food adventure was J getting out a banana to eat with his cereal when he realized it was a freak, Siamese banana. Yes, there were actually two bananas that had grown together. They were Siamese, or Conjoined Twin Bananas. We nicknamed it the Two Headed Banana Beast.

Meet the Beast

2 for the price of 1!

The fruit here is really good! Actually, most of the fruit in the winter in the US comes from Chile. We have enjoyed many good apples, bananas (except the Two Headed Banana Beast), lots of avocados, blueberries, nectarines, peaches, and strawberries.

We also make sure to drink a lot of water, and the various flavors of Tang. Note C attacking a giant bottle of water during her dinner.


We are now pretty well adjusted with how to cook here and are doing much better with the food culture shock. Here's to more empanadas, more avocados, more Tang, and more turkey and cheese sandwiches!

Who knew?!

Disclaimer: Much of the Chile blogging is for journaling purposes, and to assure our family we are alright. J informed me after the last blog post that, "Three pictures doesn't cut it." Therefore, I know this could seem like a ridiculous amount of pictures, so feel free to breeze on by if you so choose!

Today we decided to go exploring Santiago. J basically had the day off until his concert tonight, so we hit the metro searching for a humongous park a few miles away. However, after getting off the metro at the appointed stop, we spotted a few potential parks.

We decided to hang a right and headed up a few dozen steps into what looked like a jungle-type forest. Quickly the forest disappeared, and having no real idea what we were headed towards, we took off up a slight hill, as seen below.

As we continued up the hill we were admiring various trees and foliage, thinking we had found the desired park. Aha, but then we saw these huge rocks off to our left and steep rock stairs leading up to some kind of old buildings- hmm...they look neat, let's take some pictures. Right...


As we kept moving up, there was a nice ledge overlooking western Santiago- more pics eh? Why not!

Farther up the hill, we came to the conclusion that this was definitely not the park we were in search of, but something much cooler. After asking a nice security guard to take a picture for us, (btw, you would think that security guards at places like this have probably taken lots of pictures before and would know that the best way to take a picture is not like this!, but we were grateful!) I asked him what was this place.


He informed us that this was the beginning of where Santiago was formed, on the mouth of a volcano, near 1840. The founders of Santiago built a fort and castle over looking the surrounding area. Who knew?! One of the founders, General Mackenna, and 5 of his children are buried in a tomb near the top of the structure, as shown below.


We could see what we thought was the rest of the fort up top, but appeared to be accessible only by narrow and uneven steps- more than we wanted to try with a stroller and baby. So I went up alone! There I found another grassy area and fountain.

At the top, which was actually much easier to reach than first expected, was a great view of the entire city, which I captured many views of, (as did J, who I convinced to go check it out by himself afterward) but we will spare you shots of every view of the city, taken twice!

C wanted to go dip into the fountain, as you can see the two of us in the bottom left corner of the following shot, but we made her wait to get home and go swimming in our pool on the roof, which was freezing cold, for the which reason she didn't want to swim at all.

Sidenote: Chileans are very loving people- not just in general, but very specifically in that everywhere you turn you see some young couple involved in an extremely passionate moment that they want to share with all around. Look at the top center of the shot, this is purposely taken from such a distance to keep it G rated. (Not really, but it's the only pic we have that shows this chilean love in the moment.) I even had to go up different sets of stairs to get around love happening on the steps.


After all, we did find the park- not nearly as cool as the volcano forts, but to make up for it, you get a shot of me mid-pull up. I got slightly higher, but can not honestly say that it was a full pull-up. Shucks!
So here is to discovering without a map, and following your gut to 'Turn right!'

2 Plazas - Constitution and Brasil

We wanted to show you two neat Plazas that we have found in our adventure in Santiago. The first is the Plaza de la Constitucion. This is Santiago's most formal square. There is a changing of the guard and it also houses the Treasury Department of the government, (thank you Wikipedia for helping us learn more about everything!)


The second is the Plaza de Brasil. Most of the Plaza is a playground for kids of all different ages. Luckily, our little girl is highly amused to be there almost everyday- double luck is that it's only about 5 blocks away. She has discovered that if Mom helps her, she can play just like a 'big kid', climbing up large cement slides that are painted in bold and bright colors.



She also loves to follow any stray dog, which this park is full of, and palomas, or pigeons.

One of the best things about this whole trip was being transfered from 10 degree weather with snow, to 70's and 80's with mostly sunny days and lots of palm trees to be found helping us relish in the summer sun!

Here is to el dia numero 2

After many hours of traveling, especially when you include extra delays and one lost bag, our pre-arranged ride to our apartment wasn't at the airport to pick us up. However, Jorge, an extremely friendly, and almost too helpful chileno, wanted to give us a ride, but really wanted our money! In the end, with his help (that we probably paid too much for), we did arrive safely and exhausted to our apartment.

There we found another extra friendly chileno, Vinka, our landlord's mother. She helped us get situated and explained every little detail involved in running different aspects of our apartment. It was about this time that I became extra grateful for our small, yet very modern apartment in the States. See if I complain about lack of counter space again!

Shortly thereafter, we all wondered what on earth we were doing in Santiago, Chile, and tried to come to peace with that reality, but found it somewhat difficult. We all have since received enough sleep and food to feel sane, and we are happy to be here and enjoying discovering different parts of the city. With my spanish, or lack of it as J seems to think, his travel know how, and C's beautiful smile, we have managed to get just about everything we need, except for some familiar food, which I would give lots of pesos for at this moment.

I can't seem to remember how to cook anything...what did I ever cook for meals before? I have no idea! Last night we had plain boiled pasta with butter- how's that for gourmet dining! I really think that it's the lack of ingredients in our home currently, which we are working at changing each day, but will probably take a while since we have to walk the heavy food home in plastic sacks about 7 blocks- while also pushing a stroller. Once we are stocked, the menu might improve. We sure hope so. That or we are going to come home much lighter from eating much less food and walking much more to earn it. Maybe that's why so many women are wearing what have to be smaller than size 0 jeans! Wow!

Anyway, today J went to his first day of work and had a good experience, and later C and I ventured out to a local park with lots of things for her to climb up and around. We even had rice and beans for dinner, just like most of Chile.

Other good news for the day, we located an LDS chapel about 5 blocks from our place, and it actually looks like one, but one in South America (picture to come). That was true luck considering how many listed chapels there are, and us not being familiar with more than 20 street names to help us know where they might actually be in this very large city.

One day at a time huh? Here is to day #2! Things really are an adventure here which is good for all of us to have those new experiences to help us grow and appreciate certain things.

Summer in Winter? We're pulling out the summer clothes! - 1 day left...

Although it's a bitter cold, snowy winter here in Michigan, we're pulling out our summer clothes for the 80 degree weather we'll find in Santiago! We leave tomorrow - so we're packing and cleaning like crazy. Here are a few snapshots of C trying on her backpack, summer hat, and new sandal shoes.




We are ready to go! Next post will be from Santiago, Chile!

Spring Break Express

Thanks to a generous donor, we were lucky enough to take a few days trip to NYC this last week.

L-O-V-E is what we have in our family!

The last time we were there as a family was for our honeymoon. This time was a different kind of trip, and we were able to spend lots of time with different family members and friends.

We were actually staying on Staten Island most of the week, and enjoyed lots of relax time together.

On Wednesday we ventured into Manhattan, and despite the +1 hour drive by bus into the city (and back out) we all had a really good time. While there we met up with my sister who lives and works in Manhattan. We found a little Mexican restaurant that conveniently didn't have a high chair for C. This meant she wandered around in the corner we created for her! Good food!


Then we took a little walk to FAO Schwartz, the schnazy toy store so that we could feel like we provided something fun for our little one. She was excited to have space to run around and be able to touch things.

4 generations of Bergmanos!

More than anythings we were grateful to be able to catch up with family and let them see our little gal in action.