Ok so I know I've mostly just been saying how everything is super cool here and I've been going to visit all these cool places, and how things aren't really that different here and they eat spaghetti and the metro is fast and people are all nice. This is true. However, I am in another country and all and I realized that while some things are quickly becoming a part of my everyday life, they might be slightly interesting to people back in the US. Or at least to my Dad, who I will assume finds everything I say interesting because he has to. Thus...
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
1. Mullets A lot of guys here have mullets. Like legitimate ones. Others have rat tails, or the ever popular single dreadlock rat tail combo. I have no idea why these are the current hair trends, and I am not saying everybody's doing it, but a lot of people are. Also, Chilean guys definitely can rock the mullet better than American ones. Some of them even look attractive.
2. Milk Milk is some sort of powdered and reconstituted thing. It comes in a box, and you don't have to refrigerate it until you open it. I have not seen regular milk in a gallon that you have to keep cold. Not once.
3. Cheese Every bite of cheese I have seen here has been the exact same kind of cheese. I'm not 100% sure but I think it might be a lesser form of gouda. I have not seen cheddar. I have not seen mozzarella. Exception: there is powdered parmesan cheese to put on your pasta.
4. Pizza I have only had a few pizzas so I can not vouch for all of chile, but my host mom made me a pizza, and it had ketchup, whole tomatoes, ham, and that same gouda-ish cheese. It was tasty. It was not pizza.
5. Bread, salt, mayonaise, and hot dogs. Americans are supposed to be the fatties. The great consumers of fattening foods such as these. But in reality? These four belong to Chile now more than they do to us.
Subject A, Bread: I probably eat a loaf of bread every three days. Toast at breakfast, bread at lunch, toast with tea, and bread with dinner. Bringing a snack to school? How bout some bread, with jam, butter, or palta (avocado). The fact that we aren't all fatties yet is actually some sort of miracle.
Subject B, Salt: THEY SALT EVERYTHING. In the US The only thing I put salt on is steak. I don't even put salt on my corn on the cob, or on my mashed potatoes, so the salt thing is really different for me. They salt every vegetable- beans, tomatoes, corn. They salt all meat. I think there might have even been salt on my pizza. There's this awesome place we go to get "fajitas" which are giant wraps filled with meat and veggies and beans and rice and stuff, kind of like an open faced burrito. They don't even ASK you if you want salt on it. They just load a bunch of salt on your wrap before you wrap it up. And the worst part is, I'm starting to LIKE it. Sometimes I even put extra salt on my veggies. Ew. I've got to stop doing that.
Subject C, Mayo It still surprises every chilean I tell this to that they eat more mayo than we do. However, this one I know I'm not making up because I read in my orientation booklet that Chileans eat the most mayo per capita out of any country in the world. Mayo on corn. Mayo on burgers. Mayo on hotdogs. Mayo on casseroles. Mayo on ALL sandwiches. The fajita place is actually so into mayo that they have FIVE different options of mayo (light, normal, with dill, with garlic, and another one I forgot).
Subject D, Hot Dogs Equally as prevalent here as empañadas are hot dogs. I have had hot dogs only 3 times at dinner since i've been here, but others have them almost every other night. They sell hot dogs on pretty much any street with food on it, and of course they pile them high with avocado, ketchup, and mayo. They also always expect us to love hotdogs because, we're american. (Luckily I do)
6. Spicy food There is no spicy food. I have literally not encountered a single spicy thing yet. The only way to make your food spicy is with tobasco sauce, which legitimately costs like $14 USD for a teeny tiny bottle. You can buy three handles of vodka for the price of an itty bitty bottle of tobasco sauce. Priorities.
7. Liquor Is really, really cheap. At least the cheap liquor is, I don't buy expensive liquor because I'm 20 and have no taste, but I would assume the expensive liquor is cheap too. I'm talking like $4 for a handle of vodka, you can't beat that. Exception: CLUBS. A shot in a discotec (club) will still cost you $4-6 for just one shot.
8. Drinking culture Seeing as the drinking age is different here (18 I think?) so is the drinking culture. For example, as a "welcome week" sort of activity the school sponsored a concert in the park, in which you were allowed to bring in as much alcohol as you wanted. If this were to happen in the US someone would probably die form alcohol poisoning, whereas here everyone pretty much drank responsibly, I only even saw one guy puking. They just know how to drink responsibly here because they have been allowed the opportunity to do so. (Stupid US drinking laws.)
9. Cat calling Whistling to girls, yelling things out to them in spanish or english, or making kissing noises at them is considered normal here. I have been told this many times, that Latin Americans are just more "affectionate." This does not make the guys doing it seem any less unattractive to me, nor has it stopped me from giving them the dirtiest of looks. (Being more affectionate also applies with PDA- people making out EVERYWHERE. In parks, on the metro, in the supermarket, whatever. It's normal because they can't make out in their apartments because everyone lives with their parents through college and often later.)
10. Dogs There are a lot of stray dogs. It makes me sad. A number of people have told me that when a family moves to a new neighborhood or goes on vacation and can't find someone to watch their dog, they just leave them on the street. There are some shelters but no where NEAR enough to care for the over 200,000 stray dogs there are in the Santiago area. In fact, some have to keep their locations secret because if they were known they would be overflowing with people coming in to abandon their dogs. I think they just think of dogs as more of a fun thing to play with, and less as a person like we tend to treat our pets. Note: this does NOT apply to everyone in Santiago. There are plenty of people like my host mom and others I have met that treat their dogs as if they were their own children, and are deeply upset by the stray epidemic.
11. Health care There are pubic hospitals here (I think) but they are apparently so awful that no one who can afford to go elsewhere goes to them. I also don't think health insurance is really a thing here, health care is just cheaper and you just pay for it. Not that it's cheaper than it is with insurance in the US- a visit to the clinica still costs $120 USD, and that's without any tests or anything. But the price is just listed right there in the waiting room: Between these hours, this much money, between this hours, this much, a visit for children, this much. Like at a coffee shop or something. (Clearly not like at a coffee shop, just the way the prices were listed).
12. Taking a number Chileans really like taking a number. When you get to the clinica, take a number to been seen. When it's time to pay at the clinica, take another number to wait to pay. At the pharmacia, take a number. At the deli, take a number. Buying a bus ticket? Take a number. Everywhere.
13. Bureaucracy Here I think it is better to put a quote from Isabel Allende, one of the best known modern Chilean authors.
"Al chileno le gustan las leyes, mientras más complicadas, mejor. Nada nos fascina tanto como el papeleo y los trámites. Cuando alguna gestión resulta sencilla, sospechamos de inmediato que es ilegal. (Yo, por ejemplo, siempre he dudado de que mi matrimonio con Willie sea válido, porque se llevó a cabo en menos de cinco minutos mediante un par de firmas en un libro. En Chile eso habría tomado varia semanas de burocracia)."
(my rough translation):
"A chilean likes laws, the more complicated, the better. Nothing fascinates us more than paperwork and formalities. When a process is simple, we immediately are suspicious that it's illegal. (I, for example, have always doubted that my marriage with Willie is valid, because it all happened in less than 5 minutes with a pair of signatures in a book. In Chile this would have taken weeks of bureaucracy.)"
This is what I have had to do to be a student in Chile:
1. Apply for a VISA. With this application I had to submit an FBI background check, a letter from my doctor saying I have no diseases, a separate lab test saying I don't have HIV, a letter from my school saying I have paid for school, and a letter from the school here saying I will be attending school here. When I applied for my VISA they took my fingerprints, even though I already had to be fingerprinted once for the FBI background check.
HOWEVER, that was clearly not enough to be sure I'm good to be in the country. SO.
2. I had to go into some office to get my picture taken and register my VISA with the local government here. Then I had to
3. Make copies of this registration and my passport, and
4. Go to some other government office where I had to have my picture taken AGAIN and get interviewed and leave my copies and get more fingerprints taken. Now I get to
5. Go back in three weeks or so to pick up my Chilean ID. Until I have this ID I have to carry a copy of my passport with me at all times in case a police officer stops me and asks for ID, which they can at any time.
But with ALL OF THIS. I am still not allowed to have a student metro card. That process, I'm told, takes so long that when other exchange students tried to apply for one in the past they didn't get it until two weeks before the semester ended.
In their defense, I did hear someone say at some point (don't remember who) that all this bureaucracy and number taking is for a reason. During the Pinochet era (or according to some during the Allende era) there were a lot of violations committed against the people here and a lot of things that were done with less than legal votes and paperwork. Now, everyone just wants to make sure that everything is done legally, and everyone waits their turn in line, and everything is fair. The taking a number thing is actually pretty logical, at least.
13 is an unlucky number to stop on, but it's lucky in my family so I'll stop there for cultural differences for today- not that there aren't a lot more. Now then...
What have I been up to?
So far it's been a bit challenging to remember each week exactly what I've been doing, but I will try once more. No guarantees on accuracy.
Monday
Can't remember. Went bowling I think?
Tuesday
Went through the whole "applying for my Chilean ID (carnet)" thing which was very time consuming (see above, under bureaucracy. Waited in line for like an hour and a half I think). Went to the ZOOOO. Yay zoo, small but nice, saw all da animals. GOT LICKED BY A REAL LIVE GIRAFFE. It just stuck it's tongue through two fences and licked us, just to say hi. Went to an informational meeting about possibly leading an english conversation group. Should definitely look into joining a spanish conversation group when I get back.
Wednesday
Had my first class. It was on politics and I couldn't figure out if the professor was german or from argentina, but either way I didn't pick up much. Turns out you are expected to already know some stuff about politics for the Latin American Politics class. This one could be a doozy. Later that night we went to Miércoles Po again and it was indigenous themed or something so I wore a flowered shirt and got face paint. It was fun. Danced lots. Drank pisco sours. The usual.
Thursday
Went to buy a ticket for a party/concert thing (see below). Tried to see the Crypt of Bernardo O'Higgins, the city's liberator, but it was closed. BUT I WILL GO BACK. You can go underground and see him, and he's in a glass coffin so I think you can see his bones or he's preserved or something super cool like that. No one else in my entire group finds him interesting, so I will have to go alone.
Friday
Giant party in the park with lots of music and alcohol for all kids going to my school. Made friends, danced a lot, but felt sick when I got home and couldn't rally in order to make it out again later that night. Note: pineapple juice and white wine is a good combo, as is white wine drank out of a mellon.
Saturday
Felt increasingly more sick and feverish, looked at my throat in the mirror to discover it was a disaster zone. Went to the Clinica with my madre, which was expensive (Thanks Dad!! <3) and had lots of waiting in lines, but was generally a succes. The doctor was impressed with my ability to speak spanish to him and I described my symptoms just fine. After a bit of pantomiming with my mom to see what "amigdalitis" is, I realized I have tonsillitis. I told him I was allergic to zithromax but when he prescribed me "azithromycin" i was a little suspicious and asked if he could look it up to see if they were the same drug. Turns out there WERE good thing I'm so smart or I would have had a big ol allergic reaction and could have died. Now I'm on amoxicillin and slowly getting better.
Sunday
Slept all day
Today
FINALLY had some classes. Went to buy a bus ticket for this weekend, then went to an environment class (SUPER HOT PROFESSOR) where I tried a million ways to explain deforestation when it turns out it's just called "deforestación." Felt pretty stupid. Then I had a break because our Spanish professor was sick so I got some ice cream and took a nap. Then I had a class on development and poverty which is definitely my favorite because although the professor is less cute, he was super intelligent and made it very engaging and very, very interesting. Then I had a little lesson on how to lead an English conversation group for Chileans (because I'm going to be doing that once a week! Yay volunteering) and then I finally got to go home and eat dinner.
And now it seems mi madre feels close enough with me that she feels comfortable scolding me that I am never going to get better if I don't go to sleep. (She is 100% convinced I got sick because I go out too much and don't dress warm enough and now has put an extra blanket on my bed and insists that I wear socks and long pajamas.) So I'm gonna go drink my amoxicillin and go to sleep.
Chao pescao!
aventuras de una gringa
Vamos a la playa!
I can't believe another week has gone by already! This is how it went:
Tuesday
Spanish class
Visit at the museo de la memoria- very somber, beautifully done museum in memory of the human rights violations during the Pinochet era. Akin to the Holocaust museum and very informative. Found out that the current chilean constitution is the same one which was (illegally) ratified during the Pinochet era, though a few changes have been made. Afterwards went to a very pretty park nearby to just chill out and talk.
Wednesday
Spanish class
Went back to the thrifting neighborhood so people could find clothes for St Pattys day, and got a really pretty green scarf. Also went to one of the many "tiendas de cumpleaños" (party stores) to get some green goodies. They must have a lot of parties here considering there is a whole street of these stores!
Later that night: Miercoles po! A big dance party in the middle of nowhere in an old theatre. Irish attire everywhere. People of all countries. Literally conversed in 5 different languages. And had a conversation that rotated between english, french, and spanish midsentence.
Thursday
Met at school at 7:30 to get the bus to the beach. First stop was Isla Negra, where we saw one of Pablo Neruda's houses. So cool. If you don't know anything about him/his poetry/his houses, do a little research. I'm definitely going to try to read a book of his poetry. Had the most yummy thing I've had here yet- an empañada with gobs of fresh cheese and big chunks of tasty fresh crab. After that, on to Viña del mar where we got to stay in a hotel and go out to a big tasty Italian dinner, and hung around in the hotel rooms after.
Friday
Visited Valparaíso- fell in love. The whole little town is all these colored houses up in the hills, and beautiful murals everywhere. All I could think was, why can't the rest of the world be this colorful? After Valpo we went back to Viña and to the beach where I FINALLY got a little color. We got a hostel for the night and I will say my first hostel experience was a successful one. Super cool colorful rooms and met a bunch of cool people from Norway/Canada/Argentina/Israel/other countries. 8 people to a room and there was a happy hour right in the hostel. Then we wandered around looking for somewhere to go out and I eventually ended up in a fun club with some Latino music! A late, but fun night.
Saturday
Hangover
Artisan market, bought a journal and coin purse.
Bus home, very good for napping on.
Another nap
Dinner
Bed
Today
Hanging around and lunch with Cecilia. Now I'm going to get ready to go see a museum, and then hopefully go for dinner at an Irish Pub! (the only one in the city as far as I know) Happy St. Pattys Day to all.
Que tal? What's up?
Turns out once you meet all of your wonderful new friends there is less time to do things like write blogs. This entry's not going in Spanish because I just don't have timeeee, my life is so busy, sorry not sorry. A brief summary of what has happened in the last week!
Monday
Go to first day of orientation class. Meet everyone on the trip and find out that we all sort of know each other but sort of not. Meet Margot, our crazy but awesome spanish teacher. (As an example of how crazy she is, Margot on US politics: "I really like Obama, chicos. I think he's a very... sexy man. I don't know if he's intelligent, but he's definitely sexy.") Take an entry Spanish quiz and find out that we all suck at Spanish. Hear a presentation on Chile and create a list a mile long of places we want to travel to. Finish class and go to a bar where we eat pizza and I have my first Terremoto, or "earthquake" a drink made with Pisco (grape brandy more or less, Chile's national drink), wine and pineapple ice cream. Walk around most of downtown looking for cell phone stores, and realize in the process that our group is made up of 100% great people, and 0% people who are good at deciding things.
Tuesday
Second day of orientation class. Learn about different parts of the city. Afterwards get lunch at a place with empanadas for super cheap, yum. Go to Cerro San Cristobal (giant hill on the edge of the city) and hike up it with the crew. Get as far up as the pool, which is beautiful, and go for a swim. Hike back down. Go to a sushi place and get a sushi and pisco sours. Go home for dinner a leeetle tipsy, and discover my spanish instantly improved.
Wednesday
More spanish class. Go on a tour of the city with some kids who are from Wake Forest university (college?) discover that they are very different from us and it may take some time to figure out how we function together (we'll be seeing them a bunch more) but that ultimately they're mostly nice and fun kids. See a bunch of cool parts of the city (both cerros, plaza de armas, the racetrack, etc) but decide that it was a slight waste of time because we want to go back to all the places and see them on foot anyways. Go back to the Plaza de Armas to do research for a project, which is basically the central plaza of the city with a cathedral, post office, museum, and some government stuff. Try a weird drink/food that involves seed corn and peaches. Go to Charlie's apartment in Santiago Central to put together our powerpoint and see a different version of Santiago living! Get dressed up and go to the Ritz hotel for an event with the US embassy. Meet the ambassador to Chile and feel super cool, and talk to him about being an ambassador and consider that it would be a pretty cool job. Go home and pass out.
Thursday
Present our projects about the different sights in the city (each group had something different). See a bunch of places that I want to go to. Go home for lunch with madre. Go back to city to have a little meeting with the program director and tell her that everything is going GREAT and I have no problems. Get my class schedule. Receive free mug and head warmer. Go to a cocktail party at school with all the other students, and meet their host parents which was quite fun and interesting, and mi madre got to meet all the other rents as well. Free yummy tiny foods and pisco sours and wine for all (and fruit juice too which was mostly untouched). Finish off a few more drinks after the parents leave and head to a nearby bar, where there are giant beers for like $3 US. Attract the attention of everyone in the bar by being a group of 12 gringos, and talk with some of them in Spanish. Some people left and we ended up merging tables and getting a pitcher of terremoto and playing flipcup.
Friday
Watch an EXTREMELY sad movie in class about two kids who were friends before the golpe de estado de Pinochet. Cry embarrassingly. Go to get lunch at this place with "fahitas" by which they actually mean giant delicious open top burritos for which you sort of have to guess at what the ingredients you want are called, and cost like 2 USD. Go sit in park to eat them. Go home. Leave to go out at night on the metro, only to realize I don't know how to catch the bus I need, and get help from a random guy on the metro. When exiting the metro ask the help of another man, who shows me the bus stop, and then leaves me in the care of a really nice couple who gets on the bus with me and tells me when to get off. End up at a bar and have a drink called an "ibañez black out" which is basically an Irish car bomb, except with all the ingredients separate. Go with Kati in search of a dance club and decide it is a lost cause. Spend 45 minutes trying to find a taxi that won't rob me blind, and eventually have success.
Saturday
Climb all the way up Cerro San Cristobal, which takes a long time but has an amazing view and church at the top and ice cream. Walk down. Go home to change, and go back out this time to Bellavista which is a clubbing/pubbing type neighborhood. Go on a pub crawl and meet some fun American & British dudes, along with a Chilean or two. Fun fun fun, dancing, fun. Come home at 5am (that is common here). Realize that our clocks were wrong due to the time change and actually came home at 6am (less common here).
Sunday
Hangover
Dinner
Write essay about movie
Today
Clases de español. Listen to a song by a really sad lady who was in love and committed suicide (I will put her name and more about her on here later she really did seem interesting). Go see an exhibit on her art at La Moneda (white house type building). Go to the Mercado Central and see lots of yucky dead fresh delicious fish, and lots of yummy fruit. Go to La Vega (another market) and eat lunch at a slightly sketchy but very delicious empañada/ fish/ fresh juice place. Go look around the market and discover that while it is very cheap, there is also a weird guy following us around. Leave quickly. Go to the thrift store neighborhood and find a place with amazing cheap scarves and a bunch of other good shops to go back to. Take a new way home and see a new neighborhood. Work on project. Go home. Have onces (tea) with la madre and an old friend who moved away, and discover that I can understand more and more of what people who aren't slowing down for me say. Sit down to finally write a little on el blog!
Other stuff in general
-Tried lots of empañadas and friend empañadas and potato pies and other stuff yum yum
-Eating actual meals every day gives me so much energy! Waking up at 7 every day without much of a prob.
-Still love the dog.
-A lot guys here are either super into their girlfriends and making me jealous, or super into trying to attract the attention of us girls. I think I prefer the former.
-A common name in Chile is Margot. And they pronounce the T. It sounds like Margoat. Every time I meet someone new:
"Hola, me llamo Margo!"
"Margoat?"
"No, Margo! Sin T! (without a t)."
A lot More Chilenismos I have heard: (Disclaimer: not 100% sure these are all unique to Chile)
A pata: on foot
Bigoteado: wine that comes from gathering the unfinished bits that remain in glasses drunk by others
Caña: Small glass of wine or beer. Tener caña: to be hung over
Carabinero: Chilean police officer
Dama: Lady, said instead of Señora (still say Señora to people of the older generation... I think?)
Caballero: Sir, instead of Señor, same as above
Garçon: What you call the waiter in a restaurant. It's french, I know.
Micro: What they call the buses here
Auto: Car. A "coche" is like a baby stroller here, not a car.
Colectivo: shared taxi with a fixed route
Cuica: Related to the upper class
Flaite: Related to the lower class
Filo: Never mind, don't worry about it.
Gabriela: $5000 peso bill, named for Gabriela Mistral whose face is on it
Guatón: pot belly. often used as a term of endearment, as is gordito (fatty) and negrito (which I won't say in English)
Huevón: Dude, bro. More literally, motherf***er. Imagine a group of guys on the metro going out and going "Oye, huevón, Que tal huevón, si huevón," etc. I think it can also be an insult and comes from huevos, or balls (the anatomical kind).
Italiano: A sandwich with tomato, mozzarella, and palta (avocado)
Ciao pescado: Literally Bye, fish! Think "see ya later, aligator"
Lola: Young girl at the most attractive and fun stage of her life. (usually used by older people. "When I was a lola..." "Oh, she's such a lola!")
Luca: 1000 peso bill
ojo: Literally "eye," actually means watch out or be careful
pan de molde: sliced bread that comes in a bag
po: pues, (and then/ so) a conjunction of shorts that chileans pronounce differently
na ma: nada mas, no more (another pronunciation difference)
ma o me: mas o menos= more or less, a third and final example of how chileans pronounce no consonants
pololo: boyfriend. polola means girlfriend and pololear means to be dating, though our group likes to use it to mean canoodling/pda, which there is a lot of here i.e. "Geeze there are pololos pololeando everywhere" or "I don't care if you find yourself a chilean pololo as long as you're not pololoing in front of me all the time."
tortolitos: lovebirds, aka people participating in pda
taco: 1. mexican food 2. traffic jam or 3. high heel. Yeah, it gets confusing.
paso cebra: literally "zebra crossing," means crosswalk. (black and white stripes)
Until next time, if you want to know what's good check facebook because as they say a picture's worth a thousand words. Hasta!
Margo
Monday
Go to first day of orientation class. Meet everyone on the trip and find out that we all sort of know each other but sort of not. Meet Margot, our crazy but awesome spanish teacher. (As an example of how crazy she is, Margot on US politics: "I really like Obama, chicos. I think he's a very... sexy man. I don't know if he's intelligent, but he's definitely sexy.") Take an entry Spanish quiz and find out that we all suck at Spanish. Hear a presentation on Chile and create a list a mile long of places we want to travel to. Finish class and go to a bar where we eat pizza and I have my first Terremoto, or "earthquake" a drink made with Pisco (grape brandy more or less, Chile's national drink), wine and pineapple ice cream. Walk around most of downtown looking for cell phone stores, and realize in the process that our group is made up of 100% great people, and 0% people who are good at deciding things.
Tuesday
Second day of orientation class. Learn about different parts of the city. Afterwards get lunch at a place with empanadas for super cheap, yum. Go to Cerro San Cristobal (giant hill on the edge of the city) and hike up it with the crew. Get as far up as the pool, which is beautiful, and go for a swim. Hike back down. Go to a sushi place and get a sushi and pisco sours. Go home for dinner a leeetle tipsy, and discover my spanish instantly improved.
Wednesday
More spanish class. Go on a tour of the city with some kids who are from Wake Forest university (college?) discover that they are very different from us and it may take some time to figure out how we function together (we'll be seeing them a bunch more) but that ultimately they're mostly nice and fun kids. See a bunch of cool parts of the city (both cerros, plaza de armas, the racetrack, etc) but decide that it was a slight waste of time because we want to go back to all the places and see them on foot anyways. Go back to the Plaza de Armas to do research for a project, which is basically the central plaza of the city with a cathedral, post office, museum, and some government stuff. Try a weird drink/food that involves seed corn and peaches. Go to Charlie's apartment in Santiago Central to put together our powerpoint and see a different version of Santiago living! Get dressed up and go to the Ritz hotel for an event with the US embassy. Meet the ambassador to Chile and feel super cool, and talk to him about being an ambassador and consider that it would be a pretty cool job. Go home and pass out.
Thursday
Present our projects about the different sights in the city (each group had something different). See a bunch of places that I want to go to. Go home for lunch with madre. Go back to city to have a little meeting with the program director and tell her that everything is going GREAT and I have no problems. Get my class schedule. Receive free mug and head warmer. Go to a cocktail party at school with all the other students, and meet their host parents which was quite fun and interesting, and mi madre got to meet all the other rents as well. Free yummy tiny foods and pisco sours and wine for all (and fruit juice too which was mostly untouched). Finish off a few more drinks after the parents leave and head to a nearby bar, where there are giant beers for like $3 US. Attract the attention of everyone in the bar by being a group of 12 gringos, and talk with some of them in Spanish. Some people left and we ended up merging tables and getting a pitcher of terremoto and playing flipcup.
Friday
Watch an EXTREMELY sad movie in class about two kids who were friends before the golpe de estado de Pinochet. Cry embarrassingly. Go to get lunch at this place with "fahitas" by which they actually mean giant delicious open top burritos for which you sort of have to guess at what the ingredients you want are called, and cost like 2 USD. Go sit in park to eat them. Go home. Leave to go out at night on the metro, only to realize I don't know how to catch the bus I need, and get help from a random guy on the metro. When exiting the metro ask the help of another man, who shows me the bus stop, and then leaves me in the care of a really nice couple who gets on the bus with me and tells me when to get off. End up at a bar and have a drink called an "ibañez black out" which is basically an Irish car bomb, except with all the ingredients separate. Go with Kati in search of a dance club and decide it is a lost cause. Spend 45 minutes trying to find a taxi that won't rob me blind, and eventually have success.
Saturday
Climb all the way up Cerro San Cristobal, which takes a long time but has an amazing view and church at the top and ice cream. Walk down. Go home to change, and go back out this time to Bellavista which is a clubbing/pubbing type neighborhood. Go on a pub crawl and meet some fun American & British dudes, along with a Chilean or two. Fun fun fun, dancing, fun. Come home at 5am (that is common here). Realize that our clocks were wrong due to the time change and actually came home at 6am (less common here).
Sunday
Hangover
Dinner
Write essay about movie
Today
Clases de español. Listen to a song by a really sad lady who was in love and committed suicide (I will put her name and more about her on here later she really did seem interesting). Go see an exhibit on her art at La Moneda (white house type building). Go to the Mercado Central and see lots of yucky dead fresh delicious fish, and lots of yummy fruit. Go to La Vega (another market) and eat lunch at a slightly sketchy but very delicious empañada/ fish/ fresh juice place. Go look around the market and discover that while it is very cheap, there is also a weird guy following us around. Leave quickly. Go to the thrift store neighborhood and find a place with amazing cheap scarves and a bunch of other good shops to go back to. Take a new way home and see a new neighborhood. Work on project. Go home. Have onces (tea) with la madre and an old friend who moved away, and discover that I can understand more and more of what people who aren't slowing down for me say. Sit down to finally write a little on el blog!
Other stuff in general
-Tried lots of empañadas and friend empañadas and potato pies and other stuff yum yum
-Eating actual meals every day gives me so much energy! Waking up at 7 every day without much of a prob.
-Still love the dog.
-A lot guys here are either super into their girlfriends and making me jealous, or super into trying to attract the attention of us girls. I think I prefer the former.
-A common name in Chile is Margot. And they pronounce the T. It sounds like Margoat. Every time I meet someone new:
"Hola, me llamo Margo!"
"Margoat?"
"No, Margo! Sin T! (without a t)."
A lot More Chilenismos I have heard: (Disclaimer: not 100% sure these are all unique to Chile)
A pata: on foot
Bigoteado: wine that comes from gathering the unfinished bits that remain in glasses drunk by others
Caña: Small glass of wine or beer. Tener caña: to be hung over
Carabinero: Chilean police officer
Dama: Lady, said instead of Señora (still say Señora to people of the older generation... I think?)
Caballero: Sir, instead of Señor, same as above
Garçon: What you call the waiter in a restaurant. It's french, I know.
Micro: What they call the buses here
Auto: Car. A "coche" is like a baby stroller here, not a car.
Colectivo: shared taxi with a fixed route
Cuica: Related to the upper class
Flaite: Related to the lower class
Filo: Never mind, don't worry about it.
Gabriela: $5000 peso bill, named for Gabriela Mistral whose face is on it
Guatón: pot belly. often used as a term of endearment, as is gordito (fatty) and negrito (which I won't say in English)
Huevón: Dude, bro. More literally, motherf***er. Imagine a group of guys on the metro going out and going "Oye, huevón, Que tal huevón, si huevón," etc. I think it can also be an insult and comes from huevos, or balls (the anatomical kind).
Italiano: A sandwich with tomato, mozzarella, and palta (avocado)
Ciao pescado: Literally Bye, fish! Think "see ya later, aligator"
Lola: Young girl at the most attractive and fun stage of her life. (usually used by older people. "When I was a lola..." "Oh, she's such a lola!")
Luca: 1000 peso bill
ojo: Literally "eye," actually means watch out or be careful
pan de molde: sliced bread that comes in a bag
po: pues, (and then/ so) a conjunction of shorts that chileans pronounce differently
na ma: nada mas, no more (another pronunciation difference)
ma o me: mas o menos= more or less, a third and final example of how chileans pronounce no consonants
pololo: boyfriend. polola means girlfriend and pololear means to be dating, though our group likes to use it to mean canoodling/pda, which there is a lot of here i.e. "Geeze there are pololos pololeando everywhere" or "I don't care if you find yourself a chilean pololo as long as you're not pololoing in front of me all the time."
tortolitos: lovebirds, aka people participating in pda
taco: 1. mexican food 2. traffic jam or 3. high heel. Yeah, it gets confusing.
paso cebra: literally "zebra crossing," means crosswalk. (black and white stripes)
Until next time, if you want to know what's good check facebook because as they say a picture's worth a thousand words. Hasta!
Margo
La familia
Solo quiero decir que encontré la familia de Cecilia y me enamoré de ellos. El hermano menor, Tom, es un poco mas callado de los otros, pero esto me gusta porque toma tiempo de hablar (lentamente y claramente) conmigo. Creo que es muy inteligente. El hermano mayor (no puedo recordar su nombre) es también muy simpático y traté de hablar conmigo un poco, y su esposa es muy cariñosa, maternal y sensible (Trató de hablar en ingles para ayudarme pero respondí cada vez en español ;) ). Sus cuatros hijos son todos maravillosos, pero la mayor y el menor ya extraño. El menor se llama Nicolas y es un guagua de 18 meses TAN chiquitito. Es muy curioso y inteligente y quiere ver y hacer todo. No habla mucho pero puedo ver que comprende todo. La cosa mas maravillosa es que cae todo el tiempo (y unos caes brutales) pero nunca llora. La mayor se llama Rosario y es tan preciosa. Ella tiene 13 años y es muy inteligente. Sabe mucho del ingles (probablemente igual a mi español) y le practiqué con ella. Ella me ayudó mucho también con mi español, respondiendo a todos mis preguntas de "que es esto?" y "como se dice esto?", y hablando conmigo sobre todos temas de las estrellas a los Hunger Games. Ella también quiere ser interpretadora, para que puede tener su mismo revista bilingüe, un tabloide, para que puede entrevistar los celebridades (como Niall de One Direction). El otro hermano y su familia no tuve tanto tiempo para conocer, pero parecen muy simpáticos también y quiero que puedo conocerlos más en el futuro. No puedo esperar para la próxima visita de la familia!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I only wanted to say that I met Cecilia's family and I am in love with them. The youngest brother, Tom, is a little more quiet than the others but I like this because he takes the time to talk (slowly and clearly) with me. I think he's very intelligent. The oldest brother (I can't remember his name) is also very nice and tried to talk with me a little, and his wife is so caring, motherly and sensible (She tried to help me out by speaking in English but I answered back in Spanish every time ;) ). Their four kids are all great, but the youngest and the oldest I miss already. The youngest is named Nicolas and he's the CUTEST 18 month old. He's super curios and smart, and wants to see and try everything. He doesn't talk much yet but I can tell that he understands everything. The most amazing thing is that he falls all the time (and some pretty hard falls too!) but never cries when he does. The oldest is named Rosario and she is so precious (precious sounds condescending in english but preciosa in spanish just means more precious/special to me). She knows a lot of english (probably as much as my spanish) and I practiced with her. She helped me a lot too with spanish, answering all my questions of "What is this?" and "how do you say this?", and talking with me about everything from the constellations to the Hunger Games. She too wants to be an interpreter, so she can start her own bilingual tabloid and interview celebs (like Niall from One Direction). The other brother and his family I didn't have as much of a chance to get to know, but they seemed super nice and I hope I can get to know them better in the future. I can't wait for the next visit from the family!
Words that are super simple but I can't ever remember [note to EAHS: add a unit on animals]
pig: cerdo
goat: cabra
bee: abeja (Rosario and I are both very afraid of bees)
spider: araña
rooster: gallo
rabbit: conejo
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I only wanted to say that I met Cecilia's family and I am in love with them. The youngest brother, Tom, is a little more quiet than the others but I like this because he takes the time to talk (slowly and clearly) with me. I think he's very intelligent. The oldest brother (I can't remember his name) is also very nice and tried to talk with me a little, and his wife is so caring, motherly and sensible (She tried to help me out by speaking in English but I answered back in Spanish every time ;) ). Their four kids are all great, but the youngest and the oldest I miss already. The youngest is named Nicolas and he's the CUTEST 18 month old. He's super curios and smart, and wants to see and try everything. He doesn't talk much yet but I can tell that he understands everything. The most amazing thing is that he falls all the time (and some pretty hard falls too!) but never cries when he does. The oldest is named Rosario and she is so precious (precious sounds condescending in english but preciosa in spanish just means more precious/special to me). She knows a lot of english (probably as much as my spanish) and I practiced with her. She helped me a lot too with spanish, answering all my questions of "What is this?" and "how do you say this?", and talking with me about everything from the constellations to the Hunger Games. She too wants to be an interpreter, so she can start her own bilingual tabloid and interview celebs (like Niall from One Direction). The other brother and his family I didn't have as much of a chance to get to know, but they seemed super nice and I hope I can get to know them better in the future. I can't wait for the next visit from the family!
Words that are super simple but I can't ever remember [note to EAHS: add a unit on animals]
pig: cerdo
goat: cabra
bee: abeja (Rosario and I are both very afraid of bees)
spider: araña
rooster: gallo
rabbit: conejo
3/3/13
Fue un mercado de artesanías y fue muy bonito, fundado como un pueblo antiguo- debo regresar algún vez con me camera, pero ahora no quiero parecer demasiado turista. Hubo todas formas de arte- trabajo en madura, plata, cobre, cerámica, arcilla, cuero, fabrica, vidrio y otras. Los productos fueron de pinturas y esculturas hasta joyería, ropa y muebles. También hubo tiendas de mascotas, no se porque. Hubo pequeños cerdos de arcilla con tres patas, lo que Cecilia dice son para buena suerte. Ella sabía de done fueron todos los artes diferentes, por ejemplo la arcilla para los cerdos fue del sur y algunos piedras preciosas fueron del norte. Hay una gema de color azul eléctrico que solo se encuentra en Chile y Afghanistan que se llama lápiz laluzi. Hubo mucha joyería con esa gema y quiero comprar uno eventualmente.
Hoy para el almuerzo tuvo mi primero empañada, y que rico. Fue un empañada de "pino," que es rellenado de carne de res, cebolla, pasa, aceituna, y huevo duro. Parece extraño pero el sabor me dio cuento un poco de las salchichas favoritas de me familia (Texas Red Hots). También tuvimos choclo, que es un maíz de aquí y fue preparado con mayonesa, y también tomates, pepino, y un huevo relleno. Normalmente no me gusta los pepinos pero con un poco de sal fueron buenos. Creo que voy a usar mucho mas sal cuando regreso a los estados unidos.
Fui detrás de la casa sola para la primera vez, al supermercado para comprar unos artículos de tocador. Tuve éxito en sacar plata, gracias a un opción para extranjeros. Encontré todo que necesité pero fue muy carro, como $40 USD, aunque busqué todas las marcas mas baratas. Ojalá que otras cosas como comida o el metro no están tan caro. El cajero me preguntó algo que completamente no entendí, pero no trató de hablar en ingles conmigo entonces yo lo considero un éxito.
Mas tarde viene toda la familia de Cecilia para las onces (el té). Ella ha decidido que me puedo arreglarlo... vamos a ver.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hoy para el almuerzo tuvo mi primero empañada, y que rico. Fue un empañada de "pino," que es rellenado de carne de res, cebolla, pasa, aceituna, y huevo duro. Parece extraño pero el sabor me dio cuento un poco de las salchichas favoritas de me familia (Texas Red Hots). También tuvimos choclo, que es un maíz de aquí y fue preparado con mayonesa, y también tomates, pepino, y un huevo relleno. Normalmente no me gusta los pepinos pero con un poco de sal fueron buenos. Creo que voy a usar mucho mas sal cuando regreso a los estados unidos.
Fui detrás de la casa sola para la primera vez, al supermercado para comprar unos artículos de tocador. Tuve éxito en sacar plata, gracias a un opción para extranjeros. Encontré todo que necesité pero fue muy carro, como $40 USD, aunque busqué todas las marcas mas baratas. Ojalá que otras cosas como comida o el metro no están tan caro. El cajero me preguntó algo que completamente no entendí, pero no trató de hablar en ingles conmigo entonces yo lo considero un éxito.
Mas tarde viene toda la familia de Cecilia para las onces (el té). Ella ha decidido que me puedo arreglarlo... vamos a ver.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was indeed a market of artisans and it was very pretty, set up like an old fashioned village. I should go back with my camera sometime but for now i don't want to seem like too much of a tourist. There were all kinds of art- woodwork, silver, copper, ceramic, clay, leather, fabric, glass and others. They made everything from from paintings and sculptures to jewelry, clothes and furniture. Also there were pet shops, though I don't know why. There were little pigs made out of clay with three legs, which Cecilia says are for good luck. She knew where everything was from, for example the clay for the pigs was from the south and some of the precious stones were from the north. There is a royal blue gem that's only found in Chile and Afghanistan called lapis laluzi. There was a lot of jewelry with this and I want to get a piece eventually.
Today for lunch I had my first empanada, so delicious. It was an empañada filled with "pino," which is beef, onions, raisins, olives, and hard boiled egg. It sounds weird but the taste kind of reminded me a little of my family's favorite hot dogs (Texas Red Hots). We also had choclo, which is a corn from here and was mixed up with mayonnaise, and we also had tomatoes, cucumbers, and a deviled egg. Normally I don't like cucumbers but with a little salt they were good. I think I'm going to use a lot more salt when I get home.
I left the house for the first time alone, to go to the supermarket to get some toiletries. I sucessfully took out money, thanks to an atm button "for foreigners." I found everything I needed but it was very expensive, around $40 USD, even though I looked for all the cheapest brands. Hopefully other stuff like food and the metro won't be as expensive. The cashier asked me a question that I completely didn't understand, but he didn't try to speak english to me so I considered it a success.
Later Cecilia's whole family is coming over for tea because she think's I can handle it. We'll see.
Más Chilenismos
lapiz lalulzi- stone unique to chile
pino- type of empanada
las onces- té/tea, which is always at 5:00 so I have no idea why it's called las onces (11)
Another list: words that are really simple and I've had to say a lot but I keep forgetting
cow: vaca [i had to describe this as "a white thing with black spots that makes milk" and cecilia laughed a lot]
deer: ciervo
squirrel: ardilla
to ride: montar
garlic: ajo
peach: durazno
grape: uva
plum: ciruela
vegetable: verdura
quilt: colcha
3/2/13
Aunque
ahora mi español es horrible, voy a tratar de escribir en español y
también ingles para practicar. Mi vuelo hasta Chile fue mas o menos
normal. Traté
de comprender todos los chilenos hablando, pero esto solo me hizo mas
nerviosa.
La
primera cosa que necesité hacer cuando llegué a Chile fue pagar
$160, pero cuando traté de hacerlo la dama me dijo que no fue
necesario. Dije, "Esta segura?" y ella dijo, "Si."
Entonces no argumenté. A la controla de las fronteras la dama vio
mi pasaporte para mucho tiempo. Ella fue confundida y buscó un
segundo opinión. Finalmente me dio una dirección y me dijo que
tengo 30 dias para ir alla y legalizar mi visa. Las otras chicas no
recibieron este instrucción y tuvo mucho miedo de que no fue en el
país legalmente, pero cuando encontramos Paola, la directora, ella
me dijo que todos necesitan legalizarlos.
Mi
madre Chilena, Ceclia, es muy simpatica. Ella me dijo mucho sobre
Chile y lugares donde puedo visitar, y entendí mas o menos un medio
por ciento de esto. La primera cosa que noté en el carro fue las
montañas- estratos de montañas diferentes por todo parte, como una
bellísima pintura. Cecilia me dijo que Santiago es una ciudad muy
verde y esta correcta. Hay plantas y arboles por todo parte y mucho
de los calles son cobrados de arcos de arboles que es muy bonito. Es
definitivamente una ciudad done puede ser cómodo.
Mi
cuarto es tan bella- una porta para il al jardín, dos escritorios,
mi cama, un sofa, y tambien el ropero de mis sueños. En
desempaqueando conocí Lupe, la perrita de Cecilia. Su nombre, que es
común para perros, viene de "Guadalupe." Ella es muy
amorosa y me sigue por todo parte, incluyendo en mi cama. Puedo ver
que vamos a ser mejoras amigas. Ella, como mi perro, le gusta cuando
frego su vientre y deja su pelo por toda parte.
Para
el almuerzo tuvimos primero unas galletas con conservas de ciruela de
casa. Ella hace muchas conservas de las arboles de fruta en el
jardín, y si lo recuerdo voy a tomar un foto de estos. Pues tuvimos
una ensalada con palta (muy popular en chile) y también "pasta
con salsa de tomate," aka Spaghetti. Cecilia me dijo que hay
todos tipos de comida en Chile como en otros países, pero también
hay unas platas típicas como empañadas o platos del mar.
Eventualmente vamos a los mercados como la de fruta o pez. Cecília
piensa que hay muchas posibilidades para la economia en la naturaleza
de chile como los rios y el mar y la tierra, pero todos los politicos
crean en preservarlo y esta lo cuesta mucho.
Cecilia
tiene 3 hijos pero todos han salidos de la casa, y tiene 7 nietos.
Vienen muchas veces el domingo pero no este domingo, porque ella me
cuento que es muy caotico y toda la casa es desorganizado cuando
parten. Descubrimos que tenemos mucho en común. Su marido se murió
cuando su hijo mayor tuvo 15 años, como mi madre y yo. Su marido
era francés y por eso ella sabe un poco de francés. Eso es útil
cuando no puedo pensar en una palabra en español pero puedo en
francés. Dijo que su hijo menor es su guagua (bebe) como yo soy
para mi padre, y fue muy triste para ella cuando el salio de la casa
entonces entiende mi padre. También descubrimos que nosotros dos no
sabemos realmente nuestros abuelos. Al fin del almuerzo ella me dijo
que ahora, voy a tener una abuela.
Después
de una siesta fuimos al supermercado que fue muy interesante. El
supermercado, Jumbo, es mas de un supermercado en mi opinión. Tiene
un banco, peluquelero, limpiaro en seco, y otras pequenas tiendas.
Tiene todos los marcos de Chile pero también muchos de los Estados
Unidos. Vi todas tipas de personas incluyendo muchos chicos hiciendo
el shopping, pero nadie me miro como tan extraño. Nota: las
dependientas se sienten aqui en el supermercado, y este tiene mucho
mas sentido. Por regresar noté
una montana muy cerca que no vi antes. Cecilia dice que puedo
montarlo pero es mas linda en la primavera cuando es verde.
La
cena fue la misma que el almuerzo, lo que Cecilia dice es muy común,
y esa vez tuvimos tomates con sal. Hablamos de la inmigración en
Chile- ella piensa que todos los inmigrantes causan problemas
sociales. También hablamos de tipos de perros. Después tuvimos un
té de hierbas que compramos en el supermercado y que encuentro
delicioso, y finalmente durmieron.
Por
el desayuno hoy tuvo Zucaritos (frosted flakes) con leche de un
cartón y un durazno del jardín- que rico. Hablamos sobre cosas
para hacer y ella dice que muchas veces los chicos quieren ir a un
bar en los primeros días, pero necesito tener cuidado. Cecília
dice que hay tres grupos en Chile, los educados con mucho palta, la
clase media que tiene bastante palta pero no edución, y la clase
baja. Dice que todos son las mismas pero tienen costumbres
diferentes y que debo tener cuidado en algos partes de la ciudad. Me
explicó que no puedo conocer alguien en la calle y darle mi numero
telefono o dirección o algo como asi- en chile encuentran los novios
en personas que conoce la familia, para que saber si son chicos
buenos.
Ella
me preguntó si tengo un novio y dije no. Ella me preguntó si tengo
un novio de que voy regresar y dije quizás (que perceptiva), y ella
me pregunté si tengo permiso para hacer lo que quiero y dije Si. Me
preguntó sobre los chicos de mi grupo y si son guapos, pero dije que
no los conocen ya. Cecilia dice que algunas de las chicas americanas
tienen novios americanos, o otros novios chilenos. Su vecina, ella
dice, tiene los "manos de obra" porque dos de sus
estudiantes se casaron con hombres chilenos.
Después de esto fuimos a la feria y traigamos Lupe. Otra vez fue sorprendido por las montañas. Vi todo el bario y donde esta el metro, etc. Hay un canale y un parque muy cerca y tambien hay un centro de la comunidad con un campo de fútbol etc. La feria fue muy bella con todos los frutos y verduras frescos que puedo imaginar, y también pescado y marisco fresca que fue feo pero con aroma deliciosa. El almuerzo fue pollo y arroz con pimientas, y también ensalada de repollo con palta. Me gusta mucho la agua fresca que es un jugo ligero de fruta. Hablamos de si me importa si engordo durante mi tiempo en Chile, y las otras chica quien engordaron.
Mas
tarde vamos a una otra feria para ver... artisanias, creo? Todavia solo
entender 75% de lo que ella me dice. Estoy mejorando.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even
though my spanish is horrible right now, I'm going o try to write in
spanish and english both in order to practice. My flight to Chile
was normal, I tried to understand the chileans talking, but this
only made me more nervous.
The
first thing I needed to do when I got to Chile was pay a fee of $160,
but when I got up to counter the lady told me I didn't need to. I
said, "Are you sure?" and she said, "yes." So I
didn't arugue. At border control the lady in the booth looked at my
passport for a long time confusedly, and then went to seek a second
opinion. When she got back she gave me an address and told me I had
30 days to go to it to legalize my visa. The other girls hadn't
received such instructions and I was very afraid that I wasn't in the
country legally, but when we met Paola, the director, she told me
that everyone needs to legalize them.
My
host mom, Cecilia, is very kind. She told me a lot about Chile and
different places I can visit, and I understood about half of it. The
first thing I noticed in the car were the mountains. Layers of
mountains everywhere, like a beautiful painting. Cecilia told me
Santiago is a very green city, and she's right, there are trees and
plants everywhere. Many streets are covered in an archway of trees
and it's very pretty. It's definitely a city where I could be
comfortable.
My
room is so beautiful- my own door to the garden, a bed, two desks, a
sofa, and the closet of my dreams. While unpacking I met Lupe,
Cecilia's little dog. Her name, which is common for dogs, comes from
Guadalupe. She's very lvoing and follows me everywhere, including
into bed. I can see that were going to be best friends. She, just
like my dog, likes to have her belly rubbed and sheds everywhere.
For
lunch we first had crackers with homemade plum jam. Cecilia makes a
lot of jams and cans fruit from the trees in her yard, if I remember
I'm going to take a photo of them. After that we had a salad with
avocado (very popular en Chile) and "pasta with tomato sauce"
aka spaghetti. Cecilia told me they have all types of food here
like in other countries, but also some traditional dishes like
empanadas or seafood dishes. Eventualy we're going to go to the
seafood market and some of the fruit markets. Cecilia thinks there is
a lot of possibility for Chile's economy in nature like the sea and
the rivers and the earth (for mining), but the politicians all want
to preserve it and this costs Chile dearly.
Cecilia
has three sons who have all left the house, and 7 grandkids. They
often come on Sunday but not this Sunday, because she says it's very
chaotic and when they leave the house is a disaster. We discovered
that we have a lot in common. Her husband died when her oldest son
was 15, just like me and my mom. Her husband was french and because
of this she knows a little, which is useful when I can't think of a
word in spanish but think of it in French. Also, she said that her
youngest son is her baby just like I am to my dad and it was very sad
for her when he left the house, so she understands my dad. Niether
of us really knew our grandparents, but at the end of lunch she said
that now, I will have a grandma.
After
a nap we went to the supermarket which was very interesting. The
supermarket, Jumbo, is much more than a supermarket in my opinion.
It has a bank, hairdresser, dry cleaners, and other little stores.
It has both chilean brands and american ones. I saw all kinds of
people including a lot of kids my age or younger doing the grocery
shopping, and no one looked at me too funny. Note: the cashiers here
in the supermarket are sitting instead of standing, which makes much
more sense. On the way home I noticed a mountian super close by
which I somehow missed on the way there. Cecilia says I can climb it
but it's prettier in the spring when it's green.
Dinner
was the same as lunch, which Cecilia says is very common, and this
time we had tomatoes with salt too. We talked about immigration- she
thinks that immigrants cause a lot of problems in Chile. We also
talked about different breeds of dogs. After that we drank an herbal
tea we had bought at the supermarket which I found delicious, and
finally went to sleep.
For
breakfast this morning I had Zucaritos (Frosted Flakes) with milk
from a cardboard box ad and peach fresh from the garden- so
delicious. We talked about things to do and she said a lot of the
time the kids want to go to a bar in the first few days, but I need
to be careful. She says there are three groups in Chile, those
educated who have a lot of money, those with enough money but who are
not educated, and the lower class. They are all people but have
different customs. and in some parts of the city I need to be
careful. She explained that I can't just give someone that I met out
my phone number or address here- in Chile you meet boyfriends through
your family, so you know that they are good guys.
She
asked if I had a boyfriend and I said no. She asked if I had a
boyfriend I'll go back to and I said maybe (how perceptive), and she
asked if I have permission to do what I want in the meantime and I
said yes. She asked if the boys in our groups are cute and I said I
don't really know them yet. Cecilia says some of the american girls
here find american boyfriends, and some find Chilean boyfriends. Her
neighbor, she says, has "hands of gold" because two of her
students got married to chileans.
After that we went to an open air market and brought Lupe. Again I was surprised by the mountains. I saw the whole neighborhood and the metro, etc and there's a canal and a park close by. There's also a community center with a soccer pitch and other stuff. The market was beautiful with every kind of fresh fruit and vegetable I could imagine, plus fresh fish and seafood which was ugly but smelled delicious. Lunch was chicken with rice and peppers, and coleslaw with avocado. I looove the "agua fresca" we drink with everything which is like a light fruit juice. We talked about if I care if I get fat while I'm here, and the other girls she has hosted who all got fat.
Later
were going to an outdoor market to see... artisans I think? I still
only understand 75% of what she says. But hey, I'm improving.
Unos
chilenismos
(words that only chileans say) Moira showed me a list
of them but I'm going to keep track of what ones I actually hear
people use.
Palta- Avocado
Plata-
dinero/money
Mateo-
estudioso/ person who studies a lot
Guagua-
bebe/baby
Carretear- salir/ go out drinking
Cachete-
entiendes? do you understand?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)