Food, Family, and Getting used to Chilean Spanish

Whew! I’ve got a lot of updating to do.

First of all, I heard from Philip today that he is living in Alumni next year! He’d sent me a message online a couple of days prior, but I hadn’t had an opportunity to use the internet until today. Needless to say I am extremely excited to hear this news and can’t wait to hear stories from his first semester. Enjoy it Philip and I look forward to spending the following 3 semesters with you in the DAWG-House. But is Philip really reading this blog? Doubtful. Also, thanks for the nice card hidden in my luggage Mom, Dad, and Philip. I only just found it yesterday.

Next, my bank returned my $300 from my ATM fiasco. It’s a little confusing because they now have no record of ever withdrawing the money, but I have my money back and that’s all that matters.

On to more exciting things. I have moved in with an amazing family here in Linares, in the neighborhood of El Huapi (pretty cool name, huh?). My “Madre Chilena” is named Dori. She is incredibly friendly, a great cook, and a great person to be around. She works in a shelter for young girls who have been abandoned by their families or previously lived with abusive, alcoholic, or unstable parents. She is married to Pascual, a very laid back man (with a sweet ponytail!) who works as a lumberjack. He left yesterday for the next week to travel to the forests. Before he left we shared one of his favorite drinks, vino con arina (wine with wheat flour) over a meal. It’s a very interesting drink that requires constant stirring or else the flour settles to the bottom. The family also has three sons, Carlos, Marcos, and Alejandro. Carlos, the oldest, lives in Santiago with his girlfriend Kelsey (a fellow gringo who graduated from Marquette and attended the same program I am currently on two years ago). I spent Saturday and Sunday with the two of them and Camila, Carlos’ 12 year old daughter, before they headed back to Santiago. Marcos lives in a house a couple of blocks away with his girlfriend Pamela. I see the two of them nightly as they always eat dinner (or onces as it is known here) at Dori’s house. Alejandro is 20 years old and lives at home while taking classes to prepare himself for the college entrance exam. Like Pamela, his girlfriend Paulina always eats onces here. They’ve been a great family to spend time with, are extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY hospitable, and I will miss them when I head off to Santiago. I will however be able to meet up with Carlos and Kelsey in Santiago.

I also had my first experience with professional Chilean soccer. When we watch the news after dinner, none of us pay a lot of attention as we are talking about other things half the time. That is until the soccer highlights turn on and everyone turns silent for a good 20-30 minutes. Yes, they really have soccer highlights for 20 whole minutes here! Whereas in the U.S. all of the World Cup highlights might make up only 10 minutes on SportsCenter, the Chilean soccer league (a small league by all international standards) easily takes up twice that much time on local news programs. Soccer is such an integral part of the culture here that is doesn’t even make sense to ask any young boy what sports he plays because his answer will always be soccer. Also, in Linares, the favorite team is clearly Colo Colo, a team that has traditionally identified with the poorer and more rural areas of Chile. The other two major teams are Universidad Catolica (where I will be studying), and Universidad de Chile. Despite carrying the names of universities, these last two teams are professional teams, not collegiate teams. Their names come from the fact that these universities helped found the teams (I think…).

I’ve come to get a good feel for Chilean food in the past week and a half. I’ve enjoyed some of the favorites including sopaipillas (basically deep-fried bread, but not sweet like a donut), completos (hot-dogs overflowing with everything from tomatoes and onions to avocado and mayo-they eat a TON of mayo), and cebollas escabeches. This last selection is the one food I can honestly say I haven’t enjoyed here. They are whole onions soaked in old wine that’s gone bad and turned into vinegar. Something good to try once, but I won’t be seeking it out in the future. As a whole, Chilean food is not spicy like most other Latin-American food, and contains a lot of salt and bread. Tea and coffee is also drunk here in quantities bordering on excessive.

As for the language, I continue to improve. My family still talks to me noticeable slower and more clearly pronunciated than they do to eachother, but I do understand almost everything they say to eachother. That is until they start to talk using expressions. Chilean Spanish has more expressions than any other language I have ever encountered and although I’m doing my best to learn them, it is difficult. Life was also simplified once I began to understand the meaning, or rather lack thereof, of the word po they add to the end of nearly every sentence and often in the middle of sentences. It is a meaningless word added in informal conversations to fill space. Kind of like teenage girls usage of “like” in the United States. I’ve come to learn, and have been told many times, that Chileans speak terrible Spanish. They shorten words left and right, create what seems like hundreds of their own sayings and expressions, and tend to enunciate poorly and eat whole syllables of words.

A couple more things before I leave. A bottle of contact solution cost me $14! It might be cheaper in Santiago but I needed it now. Also, on Saturday I had my first true Chilean night out. That is I went out to a bar when there were actually other Chileans there as opposed to our obscenely early (on Chilean time) nights out last week, at about 10:00 to 12:00. Saturday we left the bar close to 5:00 AM! I tasted the local favorite, the piscola. It is a combination of Coca-Cola and pisco, the most popular Chilean liquor, made from grapes. Not bad for a mixed drink, but I still prefer my beer. We went to Bar Ganja, were I hung out behind the DJ booth all night. My host brother was really good friends with them. In addition to the very Hispanic music that was played, they also impressed me with their taste in old-school rap, including 2pac, B.I.G., Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, and Public Enemy, all remixed to more modern beats. Great taste in my eyes!

The next entry might not come for a while as I don’t have internet access and it has been hard to find time to use the internet at the church where we are taking classes.