Carol Tagawa

San Francisco, California

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:31:51 +0000

I never thought 55 degrees would be warm for me.
A weekend to see my hanai uncle Dave in January.
Uncle is a part of two wine clubs so of course we got spoiled in Napa. We also figured out I am allergic to scallops but it was totally worth it to taste fresh wasabi and miso soup made from scratch for the first time.
Also good to see the homies who hella got me.
Tha yay area, my other home.

Last Day/Night in Chile

admin — Sun, 06 May 2012 02:32:29 +0000

Do I got stories from this night…thanks Matis for your “number one advice.”
To say the least, I got a lot more than I could ever bargain for.
I thought I would be in a new place experiencing and eating new things. Along with all of that, I gained a family and insights that I won’t forget.
Te extraño, Chile. Hasta pronto.

Mario’s in Santiago, Chile

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:43:47 +0000

I miss Chile and everyone there.
Mario is Diego’s cousin who lives in Santiago and was nice enough to have us over. The night was planned for all of us to go dancing downtown, but then we went to a grocery store and spent the night eating, cooking and drinking until damn near sunrise.

Sleepless in Santiago, Chile

admin — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:47:58 +0000

A date in Santiago that left one in Seattle and one in Santiago sleepless for a little bit.
I gotta watch that movie again and see if that reference is even relevant, considering that we didn’t meet via mail or the Empire State building, probably not.
It was amazing to be treated like a “princess” from the subway ride home, bottles of water and color coded wikipedia page print outs.

Another Side of Santiago, Chile

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:29:29 +0000

The day after xmas, my tia, Belen and myself headed into Santiago.
We went to another la feria and since the holidays were over, the streets were not as packed and the threat of wachiturrios seemed to have lessened. In the heat of the day and after math of xmas, Cris also met with us.
The area we were in was a great mix of modern buildings with a touch of age in it’s dirt stained walls as well as buildings with echoes of ancient and Spanish architectural design sporadically decorated with graffiti and hints of the educational protests.
There was something really interesting about the area we had dined in. A feeling of what I’d imagine Europe is like in warmer weather with our slow lunch out doors with the heavily clothed waiters in large hats as the languages of other tourists were amongst us. But in contrast to my imagined European scene there were also the crowds swarming by along with the smell of thick pollution and homeless men asking for money. This was not a place to leave a tip on the table. Colonization is an interesting thing as it’s effects linger in contrasting but partnered ways so many years into the present.
What is also interesting is the cultural difference between how people show affection publicly. Regardless, sometimes, in contrary to something as obvious as a kiss, all it takes is just an innocent touch, sometimes not even intentional but in passing, such as one on the shoulder, to record a memory filled with feeling only to replay over again when the moment is over.

Rico, Chile

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:10:36 +0000

More pictures of food in Chile for you.
I miss the ensalada de Chile, the Chilean rice and the best mashed up avocados on toasted fluffy bread.
Mostly, I miss eating with my family there.

A Feliz Navidad in Chile

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:46:33 +0000

The Muñoz family xmas consisted of a HUGE xmas eve dinner with the family plus Grandpa Leo from Valpo and Tio godfather (Claudio). I was able to video chat with my family and of course with my uncle’s life long routine of meal times, he was amazed that we hadn’t eaten yet. Dinner started around 11pm and the whole family partook in three courses of amazingness along with a total of 8 bottles of wine.
I could go on and on about how amazing the whole night was and the gifts exchanged but there was one thing that really touched my heart. I started to write about it and realized how personal of a matter it was to tio Claudio. To put it simply, I could see the look in tio’s eyes as he took a position in front of the xmas tree and began to speak to the family that I was not the only one who sometimes felt alone in a room full of people. He presented a gift that once was in the possession of this own father–a pair of meter tall wood carved figures that his father picked up from Spain almost half a century ago. This gift that tio gave, “a gift truly from the heart,” only led me to think of my father…again.
My father at some point in his life possessed many material objects. And as I’ve said before, when you grow up with little you have a tendency to want a lot if you are able to (such as my current taste for nice things) and my father did just that. What I remember him is giving away things to the people he loved or simply as a token of good faith and friendship. Once in middle school I had slept over at friends house and my father sent me there with a solid silver coin to present to my friend and her mother. To me, it seemed semi-normal since I had seen him give such gifts before (and since we were living in a low income area after my dad had lost so much of his money, I thought he was giving these things away as gifts since we didn’t have or could afford anything else, it was the last of what was left of my father’s material wealth at the time). My friend’s mother was in shock and proclaimed it was more than just any gift but an investment and an heirloom.
So in this moment as I stared into the hollow eyes of the wooden carvings, I thought of how tio had just given a true gift. Something from his own father, that he simply could’ve given his own children but instead used it to display his ultimate appreciation to Tio Manuel and his family. Then, like gifts like the silver coin, I suddenly thought about where these two wooden figures would be in 50 years let alone the 50 years and two generations it had witnessed. I wonder which if the three Muñoz children would take them and where in the world they would be next. It was truly a gift from the heart I appreciated and understood.
The next day I rose late as the huge xmas day lunch was in preparation. The outdoor event included everyone from the previous night plus a few more friends. After the huge meal more friends joined and we spent a loooong day out in the pool and out in the sun. The day of course consisted of unforgettable moments of midday xmas debauchery and was later blamed for why the pool water didn’t look so good.

Leo’s Kitchen, Chile

admin — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:33:33 +0000

In both the Valpo and Hospital house, Manu had the room in which you had to walk thru the kitchen to get to.
He also was a very good cook. Currently writing this from Texas, I haven’t had good rice in days and now I am thinking about Manu’s Chilean rice. I am also remembering the feeling of the summerly December in Chile…
Grandpa Leo’s closet sized windowless kitchen was filled with cold looking tools but the smell of his food and the warm feeling from his tight quarters while he asked me what kinds of foods I liked is something engraved in my mind. Manu’s bedroom door was in front of the stove and the whole house was filled, I mean filled, with amazing things that Leo had collected from all over the world during his very interesting lifetime of travel and work. And there was something about the rasp in his voice, whether speaking in Spanish or English, that made me feel like I really missed out not having any grandparents myself. I wish I could express to Grandpa Leo how much I truly treasured his presence and hospitality. When I am his age, I will remember him.

People, Chile

admin — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 10:00:44 +0000

My tia said: How can it be after only two weeks you can love someone like family when you had never known them before?
Something along those lines. And something along those lines is how I feel about so many people who are over 6,000 miles or over 10,000 KM away. I gave someone there an interesting speech and half epiphany about time and location and it’s relationship when put together. When I think about my deceased family, I have an interesting feeling about time and place making things seems so much father away. Still, Chile and my folks there, stay close in my heart and mind.
Pictured below is amazing avacado with tea, Tio, Diego (Bootie), and Josefa (Deedee).

Snippets of Chile

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:00:51 +0000

Tio had me try sushi.
He said: Please, I want you to rate.
My first time swallowing shrimp in about five years (for those that don’t know, I have a shellfish allergy).
Aside from the little food slip up, Tio claimed that Chile had better sushi than Hawaii as he gave me a glass of wine to drink with the sushi. Which I will say was weird but I ain’t hating on it.
The fish in Chile is amazing which I think may have made this Chilean sushi better than sushi in Seattle. I remember buying salmon in Hawaii and it usually came from Chile. But here in Chile, the frozen fish was amazing.
I was at my friend’s little sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s house (which I think I need to stop saying because they are really just all my friends). He and his wife had just gotten back from a honey moon in Tahiti. He was telling me how amazing it was there but also how he had thought a dude he had met at the resort was Tahitian but sure enough was another Chilean man (he had lived in Vancouver for a period of time so his English was very good). And for those who’ve heard me still endlessly laugh about the “rice teeth” and “You need hungry?” incidents. Basically, it was hella hospitality and good, good, good jokes all around. I was trying it figure out what made people easily say things like: yeah, they call me Toucan because of my nose. As he shows me his profile and points at his very large nose and again proclaims how huge it is or when saying things like the homie had a “rice teeth.”
I wondered if the ability to be light hearted and joke about things like that had to do with the same idea that the people I met in general didn’t have a stick up their ass every day as most American do?
I truly believe when a country or people struggle together, they are dope! Some of the most ride or die and amazing people I’ve met.
When I travel to new places, even though I should do this to every place I travel to, I carry around a little black book to collect the flyer hand outs, bus tickets and my thoughts. I picked this habit from my friend Geo who had spent months on the road collecting thoughts and a log of food he had eaten while in different citites (again thanks Geo!). I also have people write/draw in my book. Being that I was around a number of people who didn’t speak English, lots of the texts were encoded in Chilean Spanish. That night at Toucan’s house, someone had written something in my book in Spanish that for some reason really stuck with me. I was thinking maybe it was just a nice repeated snippet that anyone would write since it feels like writing in someone’s year book. And we all have done the very generic repeated “You’re so nice I can’t wait to see you next school year and have a good summer.” I would write what he wrote but now I feel like it’s too built up and I’ve already primed your minds into thinking it was just some nice words to a stranger reminiscent of a year book blurb than something that touched my heart. But trust me, it did.