Grab a cup of coffee...


...this one's going to be a long one...and if you're in a climate like this one, you could probably use it anyway. I'm freezing. I don't know what it is about the cold here, but it seems far worse than michigan, winter, weather; which seems completely impossible since they don't even get snow down here unless you venture into the mountains. But somehow, the cold here is more bone-chilling than a Michigan winter. I can't seem to shake the chills. It feels as though the cold has seeped into not only my bones, but my blood stream as well. One factor of this is the fact that heat is not used here as it is back in the states. Where I'm currently staying, heat is only used occasionally, and only at night. I come home every day and walk over to the heater, sticking out my hand with my fingers crossed, hoping that they decided to turn on the heater today. And the classrooms at the college...wow. For one, the building is made of concrete...cold. Two, the art rooms are underground...cold. and three, they don't turn on the heaters unless you walk upstairs to the office and request the remote...how difficult. It can be 70 degrees outside (which it has reached some afternoons) and yet I'll be wearing two shirts, a sweatshirt, a jacket, and a scarf in the classroom and still be freezing. Needless to say...I'm praying for spring.



To dish on the weekend news I promised, Friday night, myself and a few other exchange students stayed in and bonded over some pisco. The English played their "cheese" (an english term for the music to top all music) and we all laughed as we discovered that one of their favorites is the theme song to Bay Watch...those crazy Britts...

I spent all day saturday holed up in my room, painting a self-portrait...ewwww I loathe self-portraits. Something about having to stare at myself for hours on end and interpret what I see is completely unappealing. Go figure. But the end result was better than expected, so I can't complain much.



Sunday was zoo day. I'm not a huge supporter of the idea of a zoo with its cages and small, unnatural spaces, but I still love to visit them. A part of me is already looking forward to returning when I have a full day to sit and draw. The zoo here, however, broke my heart. Much like the dogs roaming the streets, the animals gave me a wide-eyed, "please help me" look as I passed by each cage. I was rather astonished at the large number of animals crammed into small spaces. There were even some animals, such as the hippo, which were confined to a cage in solitude. I couldn't help but feel complete sympathy for what I'm sure is a tortuous life that they're forced to live.



One animal that I found both intriguing and disgusting at the same time was the camel. There were two of these giant animals in a particularly small place, and both seemed to be rather dirty, more so than your average camel --not that I've seen that many in my life...but from what I would imagine. But the two still seemed to have an immense amount of character. One did not stand up once, but instead lay in the sand with this giant grin on his face, turning his head from side to side so that one could see his face from every angle. The other chose to stand and strut about, showing his particularly pronounced humps as well as hanging dangerously far over the fence that was confining him to his "sanctuary".





After the zoo trip, my friends and I returned home to the fresh vegetables we had bought that morning from the weekly market, and decided to cook a proper sunday dinner. I didn't think that I could find a family here, but I certainly did. I had a particularly good time chopping garlic and peppers, and was more than thrilled with the results: a well balanced meal. what a thought!!! I've been realizing recently that my diet here has consisted mainly of bread, cheese, and ham. Not the healthiest of combinations. So you can imagine my excitement when I finally had fresh fruit and vegetables to eat.

Now that my game of catch up has ended, I have a few random observations and thoughts to share --if you would like to take a bathroom break...now would be a good time... I'm rather long-winded today, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll continue on...please accept this adorable photograph as my apology...



Today I witnessed first-hand just how different arts are here in comparison to the United States. In my "general projects" course, I was well aware that the goal of the course was to develop and explore how you work and what interests you as an artist. I'm not sure if other students were unaware of this, but the professor spent about an hour discussing what she meant by exploring what you want to do with your projects. And the students still questioned her when she asked everyone what medium they preferred and tried to explain how each one could be used for the current assignment. I wanted to scream out and ask them all why they didn't grasp the fact they were responding to the topic presented. I could not understand why they didn't accept the freedom and simply run.

Then later today, I had a meeting with my group for my art history course. We were supposed to be discussing how pointillism influenced modern art, but instead, I showed them a few photographs of my work that were on my laptop, which sparked a conversation about classes and personal art preferences. This was my first real conversation about art with Chileans, so i was particularly interested. The two students both pulled out discs with examples of their flash works, which we viewed in conjunction with one I had completed freshman year. I was shocked to hear that they do not have classes using any sort of computer programs at the university. I offered to teach one of them MAYA --or at least attempt to teach-- after he explained that he had previously tried to learn the program on his own and failed miserably. Maybe it was sympathy from experience that led me to volunteer to delve back into the depths that exist in the program...but either way, I have a feeling he's going to take me up on the offer... gulp.

I was also particularly intrigued to hear that one of my assistant professors is doing his thesis on stop animation, and I'm looking forward to discussing the medium and sharing experiences with him. I have a feeling that he might be interested to hear what I have learned at U of M after having seen the lack of facilities and opportunities for digital media down here. I'm excited to hear that my experiences truly are different and that I can learn and share things with students here. True, it will be nothing like the funambulists back home, but there's an opportunity for a community here...and that's nice to discover.



I think that I'm going to wrap this up on that rather pleasant note... But before I do, I'd like to mention that the photograph above has not been altered in any way. On my way to the zoo, I encountered this strip of houses which appeared to be in black and white, punctuated with a house of bright blue and yellow. I was rather captivated, and after staring for a few minutes and making sure my eyes were not fooling me, I snapped a picture, and continued along...