Tuesday July 24, 2007

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

It has officially sunk in that I am in Chile to go to school, not for vacation! We had an oral and a written Spanish exam to evaluate our level of fluency so they can recommend us for classes. The oral exam was really easy: three of us talking about Globalization and Poverty for about 5 minutes. Then came the written exam. It wasn’t that it was so difficult, more that it was really long. About six pages with grammar, reading comprehension, an essay. Wow, I was exhausted when I finally finished. And it isn’t even for a grade! I think I did alright considering we’ve been here less then two weeks. But I know I did a lot better than I would have two weeks ago, so that is encouraging.

After the exam, we went to the Mapuche Cultural Center about 30 minutes south of Santiago. The Mapuche are an indigenous people of Chile with their own language, culture, and land. We were able to watch a religious ceremony which crazily reminded me of the consecration of the Eucharist at a Catholic mass. We then ate a traditional Mapuche meal with chicken, steak, sopapillas (fried bread, not dessert), two other types of delicious bread, and cockroach looking fruit that was surprisingly tasty. We then watched a film and heard a talk from a Mapuche leader about the Mapuche people and the struggles they faced in the past and those they continue to fight. Their story reminded me of the Chinese take over of Tibet in that the Mapuche people view the Republic of Chile as invaders of their land and dream of someday reaching independence from Chile and international recognition as a sovereign country. Makes you think about all the horrible things those in power have done throughout the century and continue to do today.

We got out of class early and it was a beautiful sunny day, so 3 of my girlfriends and I walked to Pasaje Ahumada and went shopping. I also had my first experience of exchanging my travelers checks for pesos, which went relatively smooth. I really enjoy watching peoples reactions when they hear me (or my friends) speak. Some are really friendly and help us along while others give us impatient looks. I think my biggest problem right now is having the confidence to simply speak and be ok if I make mistakes.

Tonight at dinner Olga and I chatted for a long time. She told me about her childhood, how she and her husband met, about working in the hospital downtown when she couldn’t finish her nursing degree because her family ran out of money, and about staying home to take care of the kids. We then started planning the trip we are going to win from the contest on the package of the coffee she buys. We’ll find out August 30 if we get to go to one of 5 places on the coffee route. We are hoping we get to go the Venice, Italy. When we win, she will bring one friend and I’ll bring my mom. She told me that is good to dream every once in a while.

After dinner, I worked a little then watched Alquien Te Mira or “Someone is Watching You”, a very popular “teleserie” here in Chile. It takes place in Santiago and is your typical trashy soap opera. But it is great to watch to hear the Chilean accent and understand a lot of Chilenismos.

(Yes Uncle Mike, the accent in Chile is completely different than the accent in Mexico. In Chile they have completely different words and phrases, they speak really fast, and they have a horrible habit of randomly dropping off the last consant of words. For example, “Muchas Gracias” sounds more like “mucha gracia” which is easy to understand. It gets more complicated when they mean to say for example, “Ponga el papel abajo la mesa” but it really sounds like “Ponga elpape’ aba’olame’a”. (That means “Put the paper under the table”. I just came up with it, but it’s a good example to show they’re crazy language.)

Anyway, we watched the show and Olga explained to me each character and how they are related to each other. I want to start watching more often simply because it is really good practice. And I never have nor probably never will watch a soap, so why not kill two birds with one stone right? After the show, a made for tv movie came on. We watched the first few minutes before I made yet another one of my embarrassing Spanish moments. The movie was about a gay man who kills his wife after she begins to suspect he’s gay. During the opening scene where the man is ballroom dancing with the cook, I asked Olga if the man was a “Maricona” which means gay. She politely chuckled and said yes. As soon as the commercials started, Olga started busting out laughing about how Maricona is apparently a really bad word. I’ve never seen her giggle like she did, but we both laid in bed cracking up while I explained to her that this was the word my Chilean friends taught me and she told me more polite words to use. She then randomly asked me to tell her a bad word in English just because she was curious, like a little school girl asking her big sister while she nervously giggles. Between my gut wrenching laughs, I explained to her the word “shit” that it means to go to the bathroom, number 2. Definitely a priceless Chile moment that I will never forget!

Alright, off to bed. I’m going to venture off in the morning on another run. Tomorrow night Calli’s mom is having a surprise birthday party for her. Her mom asked me to invite a few of Calli’s friends and she is really excited. Should be a fun time. Much love to all, Kayla