Mystery solved.

I know you all have been wondering about my geography professor, so I will make you wait no longer for news of Dr. Ximena Toledo Olivares. Today in class she was not sporting the curler of last week, although she made herself distinctive in a different manner. As I’ve mentioned before, “Chilean time” accepts the fact that life is rough and people are sometimes late…sometimes very late. However, Prof. Toledo does not accept this in her classroom. Today as the tenth person arrived late (about 20 minutes after the start of class), Prof. Toledo stopped lecturing about geography and started lecturing about punctuality: “Adaptation to one’s environment is important, as we learn in geography…young professors, you must all learn to leave your houses earlier if you know your environment is one in which there is a lot of traffic.” She absolutely forbade the class from arriving after 8:30 AM next class (class starts at 8:10), and then continued talking about the academic importance of geography. What a professor. I am really enjoying her class so far.

(The picture above is just a street near the center of the city--note the couple? There are tons of couples here. I think I know why: the word for boyfriend/girlfriend here is "pololo" or "polola", which is really fun to say...)

Now for a culture lesson: you might have noticed that although my professor’s name is Ximena Toledo Olivares, she is Prof. Toledo. Last names are different here than in the States. Each person, regardless of gender, carries their father’s last name, followed by their mother’s paternal last name (example: Ximena’s father was José Toledo Gonzalez and her mother was Carla Olivares Hernandez). When two people get married, no one changes names. The children have the father’s name/ mother’s name setup, and they will keep those names forever.

Once again, it’s time for bed in Concepción. At 8:10 AM tomorrow is a three hour lecture on political sociology in Chile, but this professor serves tea, coffee, and cookies in class. I have had great luck with professors thus far!

Buenas noches,
(Good night)

Tiernan

P.S. Has everyone here seen 101 Dalmatians? There’s one scene when the puppies are in the countryside and dogs are barking everywhere in this great chorus of canine communication…aside from my love for Disney, I bring this up because I often feel like that scene has become my life (minus the countryside, plus a South American city). There are dogs everywhere in Concepción—a lot of people keep them as pets, and hundreds roam the streets as passive strays. As a result, a cohort of dogs is barking back and forth at all hours of day and night. Good night, dogs, and good night, friends!