Desde un rincón en Berlín...

Sentada en el lobby de un hotel en el downtown de Berlin, mientras escucho una buena salsa, me inspiro y me transporto a mis raíces. Me pongo a pensar, pero que hace esta Jibara acá? Me da alegría, añoranza, tristeza...Cuestiono la vida de los que me rodean, a ellos les falta algo que yo tengo, tan valioso, de lo que se pierden. Y es que me siento tan especial, por ser Boricua, y haber tenido la oportunidad de crecer en esa pequeña isla en el medio del Caribe, que muchos acá no conocen, para su desgracia. Vuelvo al mismo pensamiento, y me digo, pero es que les falta la chispa, el sabor, la pasión; todas esas cualidades que recoge un Puertorriqueño, que yo ni encuentro como describir. Les falta sentido de patriotismo, de gritar a todos y de alguna manera dejarles saber: "soy Boricua, pa que tu lo sepas"...les falta. Pienso, me imagino, en el campo de Orocovis tomándome un café prieto de mamá, metía en la finca, en la playa, comiéndome una alcapurria! También, extraño a mi familia, que aunque viven en Massachusetts me hacen sentir en Puerto Rico, ay, la sangre me llama. Mami cumple años hoy y quisiera estar con ella. Extraño la calidez de mi familia Puertorriqueña. Quizás me inspire demasiado, y sueno cursi, pero, no digas que no te ha pasado? A ti también que te haces llamar Boricua? :-) 

La Jíbara se fue a la Madre Patria!

Y esta Jibarita se fue a España, a la Madre Patria (como decimos los Boricuas) a celebrar su cumpleaños y la "honeymoon" que no habíamos tenido. Me encantó! Primero nos quedamos en la hermosa cuidad de Barcelona, repleta de edificios con calles pequeñas en ladrillo y balcones antiguos repletos de flores! La cuidad se ve viva por la gente y lo pintoresca que es! Comimos "bikinis" y cafecito con leche en la mañana, y el resto del día tapas y más tapas acompañadas de una buena sangría, cerveza o vino. El hecho de tan sólo caminar por las calles me emocionaba. El clima estaba increíble en pleno Octubre y hasta pudimos disfrutar de un día en la playa!

Después de unos días partimos al campo, al norte de Barcelona, casi llegando al borde con Francia. Allá llegamos en guagua, y ésta nos dejó en la estación cercana al B&b donde nos íbamos a quedar pero no veíamos nada. Ahí fue cuando Mark cogió la maletas y nos metimos "monte adentro" por un caminito estrecho y después de unos minutos y par de millas encontramos el tesoro de lugar. Tengo que hacer mención del mismo, La Rectoría Sant Miguel de Pineda, y se lo recomiendo a cualquiera que busque pasar unos días en el campo de Cataluña. Este parador que es ahora para viajeros, es lo que antes fue una Casa Parroquial desde el 1200! Hace unos años fue comprada por sus actuales dueños, quienes la remodelaron conservando gran parte de la inicial estructura (hay fotos). Este lugar está en pleno bosque, por el frente del mismo pasa una vereda, la cual llaman "la vía verde", y lo que antes fue el ferrocarril que conectaba los diferentes pueblitos. Además de disfrutar del encanto del mismo lugar, de la historia que guarda y de la hermita justo al lado de ésta; también decidimos rentar unas bicis y explorar. Me caí dos veces, nada mal para lo que esperaba, pero valió la pena. Las fotos lo describen todo, no hay palabras. Luego de un largo día disfrutábamos de una comida de tres platos preparada justo por el dueño del lugar, quien también es chef. El trato de sus dueños para con nosotros fue increíble, gracias Goretti y Roy!

Finalmente, regresamos a Barcelona para partir al siguiente día para Astana; que por cierto, extrañé un poco, hasta emocionada estaba de regresar! No fue hasta que toqué suelo en Kazakhstan para darme cuenta de que la emoción no era tanta, y que ya por segunda vez, llegamos, pero no nuestras maletas. Las maletas llegaron una semana después, y es por eso, que es hasta ahora que les cuento de nuestro maravilloso viaje. Welcome back to Kazakhstan!

Espero que les haya gustado!

Besos,
Nat

Ps. Mira el vídeo!

http://animoto.com/play/F6JjvasfdZwHqL0wHU16nw

Lake Borovoe!

It's been two months in Central Asia. I have had the opportunity to expose myself to new things that I never imagined I will experience before. A few weeks ago, we went to the Lake Borovoe in the north of Astana. This place is stunning, a jewel in the country! It is a huge forest with several lakes surrounded by beautiful mountains. We stayed in this place for the weekend, and it was such an Adventure, literally! During the day, we were swimming in the cold water, still nice; and at night, we were looking for places to eat. I always go for the Shislak, which is a "kebab" or well known in my beautiful Puerto Rico as a "pincho". Other ingredients in the principal plates in the Kazakh food will be: cabbage, potatoes, beef, horsemeat, and bread. Going back to the topic, everything was going well in the lake, after dinner, we decided it was time to go to bed. We rent the second floor of a house with multiple rooms. Mark and I stayed in a room and decided to lock the door just because the front door of the second floor was always open. Around 1:00 am, someone was trying very hard to open our door, and those who know me well, can imagine that I was freaking out! I was telling Mark to stay quiet. The people who were trying to open all the doors were speaking in Russian, so we didn't know what they were saying. A half an hour after that, I heard shootings! Yes, right in front of the house, but then I realized they were fireworks! So, the story doesn't end there. You can imagine, I didn't sleep that night. Around 5:00 am, the same thing happened, someone trying to open my door! I tried not to be judgmental, but imagine someone trying to get into your room, you will think that they want to rob you or something like that. Finally, when I felt brave enough to get out, at 8:00 am (haha), we discovered that no one was trying to hurt us. Some people that went to a wedding and of course were really drunk, didn't have enough room in the first floor, and were looking for a place to sleep. Let me tell you something, there are cultural differences everywhere, to which you need to get used to. If you are a person that really needs that personal space and hates when someone invades it, DO NOT COME TO KAZAKHSTAN! People here are really nice, but they don't understand that privacy we have in U.S., for example. From getting in and out of the bus pushing everyone, to open the door to others, trying to be nice, without hearing a thank you; that's normal here and don't get offended!

But since everyone does it here, you get used to it (necessary to survive), and next time you are in the bus and need to get out, you don't say "excuse me" because no one is going to move, you push people; and it's ok! :-)

I almost forget to mention, that one of the reason why I haven't post anything recently is because after the craziness in Lake Borovoe, I got super sick! I was sick for three weeks, needed to visit the doctor twice, and take antibiotics twice! But I tried to take it with a good attitude, because I knew it was going to happen at some point. 

I hope you liked the story, and feel free to comment! 

Besos, 

Nat

You want to know more? Quieres saber más?

Сәлем! Hola! Hello!

First, sorry for being missing for so many days. I have been doing interviews and deciding what fits with my education, professional background and what job is going to contribute for my personal growth. I am going to start calling myself the Mrs. Interview (ha ha)!

In the meantime, I have had more time to explore the city, and get to know more about the Kazakhs. This city is divided by the river in two, right and left bank, the old and the new part of the city.  The old part I would describe it by saying that it is a rich and cultural place ; where you can see many ethnic faces, bazaars, local restaurants and old structures. The right bank, I would describe as the National Geographic did, "the tomorrowland", very modern, futuristic, like I never seen before; and where you don't see magnificent structures, you see cranes! I prefer the old part, the right bank, I just feel more comfortable and feels like a real town! On the weekend, Mark and I decided to go to the bazaar to get more fresh vegetables and fruits, and we got lost! But the persons here are so amazingly friendly, that with signs helped us to get the right bus that will take us there. Although, sometimes people might seem a little bit serious and if you are a smiley person (just like me) who likes to smile while walking in public, they might not respond with another smile and probably will think that you are crazy. Going back to the topic, we were exhausted when we finally got to the bazaar, so we decided to eat before doing the grocery shopping. The bazaar is like a huge warehouse "mercado" and in each floor you find different products and articles. In the 5th floor they have the food court, we went to an Italian restaurant, and not surprisingly, the menu was in Russian and Kazakh! We ordered what looked more familiar, it was like Italian or Primavera Pizza. The food here it just different, delicious, but different. Our stomachs have been adjusting to it. When we got our pizza it was one with a huge fried egg on top! We have been just laughing about differences and embracing them. On our way back we took a gipsy taxi, in other words, some people here to make some money offer to take you to your destination for less than a real taxi. The driver was a very nice young male and he was trying to speak to us in English! From what we understood, he said that he has just started being a taxi driver to support his two sons and wife, and that he usually works from 8 am until midnight. Also, he mentioned living in the right bank, but said that his dream was to life in the left bank. This statement left me wondering that we always dream about living on the other side of the river. Wether it is to cross the ocean to get from PR to US, or just cross the Caribbean Sea to get from DR to PR or maybe just dreaming about moving from your "barrio" to this really nice neighborhood. Sometimes, it is good to think and achieve greater things, but also, sometimes we loose sight of the great things we have thinking about the ones we don't. I was thinking that he (taxi driver) lives in the best part. The left bank feels like walking from one nice building to the other, but nothing in between; because it is a developing part of the country. He added, that his future plans will be to live in the United States, Mexico, or South America; it seems that Kazakhs also have the "American Dream"! Anyways, it is always super cool to get to talk to the people, Kazakhs, and learn from them instead of learning from reading a book. He also taught us some greeting words in Kazakh!

Did I mention that we didn't have hot water for the first two weeks? Now, we do! This makes the adjusting process a little more easier :-). In the apartment, things have been great, well...Mark and I have been "arguing" because he thinks that the AC makes the bedroom really cold, and I feel like suffocating with the temperature he prefers; but that's cool, we have been negotiating :-). On the other side, not having the grocery items I used to have in US have helped me to become more creative in the kitchen. I start laughing every time I speak with my mom via Skype because all she says is "bendito, quieres que te envie algo?

Overall our experience living in Kazakhstan has been such an adventure, and this is just the beginning. Stay tune!

Enjoy the pictures and please feel free to comment!

Besos,

Nat

Happy Kazakhs!

Primera semana en Astana (comidas, supermercados, y transporte)

Hola amigos,

We have been in Astana for only a week, and so many things have happened. Exploring a new city is really fascinating! I had my first interview, went to the grocery store by myself, and we went out on Friday night to celebrate our first week in Central Asia. 

Feeling brave, I decided to walk to the Psychological Counseling Center at the university and introduce myself the other day. That's how I got my first interview! The interview was conducted in English, that was good. The interviewers were really nice and asked me to come to a second interview! Hopefully, it goes well, if not, I'm going to keep trying; for some special reason we are here. 

Also, I went to the grocery store for the very first time by myself (while the Profe Mark was working), and it was fun! I decided to take the bus. I'm from Orocovis, so taking taxis is not very common for me. Also, taking the bus is way cheaper, like 30 cents to go everywhere in the city! I checked the Russian map first, but honestly, I didn't understand it at all. So, I took the first bus (it was packed!), and I was praying the whole way that it was going to stop in one of the grocery stores that I had gone to with Mark, and it did! That was good, because I don't have a cellphone, neither does Mark. I don't know the names of the places in Russian, so, if I got lost that would be a total fail. Anyways, I wanted to try other transportation venues, so I decided to take a taxi to go back. I haggled with the young taxi guy by signs. I definitely looked like a crazy girl (haha). Finally, he accepted to take me to the "universitiet" (one of the few Russian words I know) for 500 tenges (less than $3). Success!

On Friday night, we went out for the first time to have dinner, we went to this really nice restaurant with a great view of the city. I was laughing so hard because Mark was a complete clown when he was trying to communicate in Russian  with the pretty young lady, it was fun! We ordered pizza. Well, I ordered pizza and a Mojito. They have delicious Mojitos made with Bacardi, win win! I didn't want to order horse meat, a main dish here, but Mark was trying to break with all the cultural barriers. He is always more bold than me and enjoys being "adventurous." He ordered the horse meat and the fermented camel's milk (yummy!). At the end, I needed to bite my tongue, because the horse meat was really delicious! Our attitude toward food is all the result of society's influence! We eat pig in Puerto Rico, and people don't think it is delicious in other parts of the world. So I'm trying to break the rules, like Mark, and be more open-minded when it comes to food. You should try too. You might surprise yourself. 

I really want to thank all of you who have visit my page, I feel very supported and happy that you are interested in this journey as well. 

Enjoy the pictures, and please don't feel offended by what I said in the video (I don't really like "morcillas", I have to be honest!). 

Besos

Hola amigos, 

Sólo hemos estado en Astana por una semana, y ya han sucedido muchísimas cosas. Explorar una nueva ciudad es fascinante!  Ya tuve mi primera entrevista, fui sola al supermercado, y salimos viernes en la noche para celebrar nuestra primera semana en Asia Central. Sintiéndome llena de coraje, hace unos días decidí ir al Centro de Consejería en la universidad para presentarme. Así fue como conseguí mi primer entrevista! La entrevista fue en inglés, eso fue bueno. Los entrevistadores fueron súper amables y me pidieron venir a una segunda entrevista! Ojalá que resulte, sino seguiré tratando, por alguna buena razón estamos aquí.  

Además, fui sola al supermercado por primera vez (mientras el Profe Mark trabajaba), y fue súper nítido! Decidí irme en guagua. Yo soy de Orocovis, así que coger el taxi no es muy usual para mi. Además, coger la guagua es más barato, como 30 centavos para ir a cualquier parte de la ciudad! Primero chequeé el mapa Ruso, pero honestamente, no entendí nada de nada. Entonces, cogí la primera guagua que vi (más llena no podía estar), y estaba rezando todo el camino que se detuviera en alguno de los supermercados que había ido con Mark, y así fue! Eso estuvo bien, porque yo no tengo celular y mucho menos Mark. No sé los nombres de lugares en Ruso, si me pierdo sería una total pesadilla. Bueno, quise tratar otros medios de transportación y decidí tomar un taxi para regresar. Regateé con el joven taxista con señas (claro). Definitivamente, me veía como una loca (ja ja). Finalmente, él acepto llevarme a la "universitiet" (una de las pocas palabras que conozco en ruso) por 500 tenges (menos de $3). Brutal!

Viernes en la noche, salimos a comer por primera vez a un restaurante súper "nice" con una súper vista de la cuidad. Yo estaba que me moría de la risa con Mark que parecía un mismo payaso tratándole de hablar ruso a la muchacha linda, súper "funny"! Ordenámos pizza, bueno, yo ordené pizza y un mojito. Tienen unos mojitos deliciosos y hechos con Bacardi, win win! Yo no quise pedir carne de caballo, plato principal aquí, pero Mark quería tratar de romper con todas las barreras culturales. Él es siempre más atrevido que yo y disfruta mucho ser el "aventurero" (lo dejo entre comillas ja ja). Él ordeñó la carne de caballo y la leche de camello fermentada (que rico!). Al final, me tuve que callar la boca porque la carne de caballo, realmente, estaba deliciosa! Nuestra actitud hacia la comida es toda resultado de la influencia que ejerce la sociedad! Nosotros comemos lechón en Puerto Rico y hay gente que no piensa que es rico en otras partes del mundo. Entonces, estoy tratando de romper las reglas como Mark y tratar de ser más open-minded en cuanto se refiere a comida. Deben tratar también, se pueden sorprenden consigo mismos. 

De verdad, quisiera agradecer a todo aquel que ha visitado mi blog. Me siento súper apoyada por ustedes y feliz que también interesados por ésta aventura. 

Disfruten las fotos y por favor no se ofendan con lo que dije en el video (la verdad no me gustan las morcillas, tengo que ser honesta!). 

Besos

Primeros días en Astana, capital de Kazakhstan

Ya llevo tres días en Kazakhstan, lo primero que hice cuando llegué al apartamento fue llorar. Después de 30 horas de vuelo, cansancio, y realizar que estoy en la otra parte del mundo y voy a estar aquí por los siguientes 3 años me hizo sentir abrumada. Astana es bello, a su manera, definitivamente no es una isla en el trópico (estoy pensando en Puerto Rico, jaja), ni tiene los bellos escenarios de New England. Es un país que apenas comienza a desarrollarse, es muy moderno, futurista. No tiene tantos árboles como quisiera, pero tiene unas estructuras increíbles.  Debo admitir, que siento un poco de nervios por no conocer el lenguaje, aquí se habla Ruso o Kazahk, pero aprender como hablar Ruso es una de mis metas. Ya fuimos a una parte de la ciudad, hicimos nuestra primera compra de alimentos y fué toda una odisea, pero la disfrutamos. Primero, todo está en Ruso, no podíamos encontrar ni la leche, ni la sal y al fin nos dimos cuenta que vienen en bolsas! Mark, amante al queso, se compró un pedazo gigante y cuando fue a probarlo por la noche, se dió cuenta que era mantequilla (ja ja)! Cocinamos nuestra primera comida acá, y claro que tenía que ser el típico plato Jíbaro (chequeen las fotos). Pagar también fue una aventura, el cambio de dólar a "tenge" es un poco complicado. Un dólar equivale 182 tenges, pero poco a poco vamos a aprender. Además la gente parece ser bien dispuesta a ayudarte. Tomamos un taxi, aunque no creo que en realidad fuera uno, más bien era como un hombre recogiendo a su esposa del supermercado y nos cobró 300 tenges, menos de $2.00; nos logramos comunicar con el idioma universal: señas! El apartamento me encantó, es todo muy moderno; pero sufrimos un poco con la lavadora porque todo estaba en Ruso. Lavamos nuestra primera tanda de ropa y se tardó lavando 4 horas! En fin, en tan solo tres días, ya hemos experimentado muchos cambios y definitivamente un choque cultural; pero me emociona conocer más. Escribir también lo hace más fácil y resulta terapeútico. 

Me encantaría que comenten y me digan que piensan!

Besos

I have been in Kazakhstan for 3 days now, the first thing that I did when I got to the apartment was cry. After 30 hours of flying, tiredness, realizing that I´m on the other side of the globe, and that I´m going to be here for the next three years made me feel very overwhelmed. Astana is beautiful, in its own way, its not an island in the tropic (I´m thinking of Puerto Rico, haha), nor does it have the beautiful landscapes of New England. It is a developing country but at the same time modern and futuristic. It  doesn´t have as many trees as I would like, but it has incredible structures. I have to admit that I feel a little bit nervous not being able to speak either of the two main languages - Russian and Kazakh; but learning how to speak Russian is one of my goals. We already went to a grocery store in one part of the city. It was an odyssey, but we enjoyed it. First of all, everything is written in Russian, we couldn´t find either salt or milk, and finally we realized that both come in bags! Mark, a cheese lover, bought a huge piece at the supermarket, and when he was going to try it later at night realized it was butter!(ha ha). We cooked our first meal here, and obviously it was the tipical Jibaro dish (check the pictures). Also, paying with tenges is such an adventure, converting dollar to tenge is somewhat complicated. One dollar equals 182 tenges, but we are going to learn little by little. Also people here seems very nice and willing to help you. We took a taxi, although it seems like a man picking up his wife from the supermarket and charged us 300 tenges, less than $ 2.00; we communicated with the universal language: signs! We loved the apartment, everything is so modern; but we struggled with the washer machine because it is in Russian. We washed our first load of clothes and it took 4 hours! After all, in only 3 days we have experienced a lot of changes, and definitely, a cultural shock; but we are excited to get to know more things. Also, writing about everything makes it easier and therapeutic.

I would love you to comment and tell me what do you think!

Besos

Talking about my blog title: What is a Jíbaro/a?

According to Wikipedia, the term Jíbaro comes from my beautiful island of Puerto Rico where it is commonly used to refer to the mountain people, the people from the countryside of the island (and Wikipedia is completely right!). "El Jíbaro" represents the traditional Puerto Rican, humble, hard-working, "los de la isla" (as we are usually called by the people who lives in the city). I remember that when I started college and decided to leave my town, Orocovis, to move to San Juan my peers started to call me "Jíbara". At the beginning, I found it to be very insulting. Then,  overtime, through self-contemplation and conversations I started to feel different. I am a Jíbara, and I feel entirely identified with the word! This word has carried a negative connotation for  many years, some related it to poorly educated and ignorant people. In the last few years, it seems that a great part of Puerto Ricans are reclaiming the word to refer to more positive aspects of it. Jíbaro for them represents the roots of our Puerto Rico, Borinquén, big part of our culture, identity, and thinking about it and all of our history can leave us with a deep patriotic sense. This is why I decided to call this blog "Una Jíbara en Kazakhstan".

I hope that you follow this Jíbara, and experience through her posts the journey that she is about to take in a totally new and strange place. Keep in touch!

Besos

De acuerdo con Wikipedia, el término Jíbaro viene de mi bella isla Puerto Rico, dónde es comúnmente usada para referirse a la gente de la montaña, la gente del campo de la isla (¡y Wikipedia está totalmente correcto!). El Jíbaro representa al tradicional Puertorriqueño, humilde, trabajador, "los de la isla" (cómo normalmente somos llamados por la gente que vive en la ciudad). Yo recuerdo que cuando inicié en la universidad y decidí dejar mi pueblo, Orocovis, para moverme a San Juan mis compañeros me comenzaron a llamar Jíbara. Al principio, lo encontrè bien insultante. Despuès, al pasar del tiempo, auto-contemplaciòn, y conversaciones comencé a sentirme diferente. ¡Yo soy una Jíbara, y me siento completamente identificada con la palabra! Èsta palabra ha tenido una connotación negativa por muchos años, alguna gente la relacionaba con gente de pobre educación e ignorante. En los últimos años, parece ser que una gran parte de los Puertorriqueños están reclamando la palabra para referirse a más aspectos positivos de la misma. Jíbaro para ellos representa las raíces de Nuestro Puerto Rico, Borinquén, gran parte de nuestra cultura, identidad, y pensar en ello y en toda nuestra historia nos puede dejar con un profundo sentimiento patriótico. Por esto es que he decidido llamar a mi blog: "Una Jíbara en Kazakhstan".

Espero que sigan a ésta Jíbara, y experimenten con ella através de sus publicaciones la jornada que apenas comienza en un lugar totalmente nuevo y extraño. Manténganse en contacto!

 Besos