I’m not dreaming of white Christmas these days, nor am I looking to roast chestnuts on an open fire. In fact, I’m counting down the days ‘til the class I am currently teaching ends, and my friends and I pack up our things to head to the coast for some holiday, end of the year celebrations. No, this year I’m dreaming of a sandy, sunny Christmas and roasting on the endless beaches.
Christmas is by no means my favorite holiday. Sure, Christmas usually signifies a break from school and/or a job, a chance to see friends and family and a time to indulge in delicious food, but the heavily commercialized side of it overshadows all these great aspects. By the time December 25th actually rolls around, everyone is so sick of seeing tinsel and listening to Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, which has been playing on repeat since about mid-September.
In Chile, it hardly feels like Christmas, though. Just this past week did I finally see hints that it is actually right around the corner. Much in contrast to the spectacle of the States, Christmas trees, ornaments, tinsel, and lights only recently appeared in storefront windows and along Alameda/Providencia/Apoquindo, the main thoroughfare in town, did they just put up little Christmas tree lights on the lamp posts. Furthermore, I have yet to hear a single Christmas song playing anywhere.
The weather especially adds to the surreal notion that Christmas is now officially less than a month away. 80 degrees and sunny does not a winter make.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Chilean Way of Life.
I want to preface what I’m about to say in telling you that I absolutely love it here in Santiago, but, once again, I find myself comparing it to New York. It has come to my attention, over the course of the past three weeks, that things are done a bit differently around these parts.
A Midwestern girl at heart, I always say, “I’m sorry” when I bump into someone and “excuse me” to move through a group of people. I constantly smile and frequently greet strangers in passing with a friendly “hello.” You can imagine my surprise when I arrived in New York only to get elbowed or have someone throw his or her shoulder into me without so much as a glance back. I suppose with all the hustle and bustle of a city like New York, people just don’t have time for politeness and manners. And while I always maintained a courteous disposition, I grew to not expect the same in return from New Yorkers. It took a little while to adjust to that sort of brashness, but at the same time, I didn’t really mind. I loved the energy that courses through that city’s veins. It’s really unlike any other place and while everyone always seems to be in a hurry to get to their next destinations, I truly enjoyed the fast pace of the people there.
Santiago is unlike NYC in this particular sense. Even just the movement of pedestrians on the sidewalk stands in opposition to the streets of the Big Apple. People move as slow as molasses here. New York may be a bit strung out, but here, it’s as if they don’t have a care in the world, nowhere to be, nothing to do. Every day seems like a leisurely walk in the park. AND IT’S DRIVING ME CRAZY. Part of me wonders if I should stop teaching English and start teaching sidewalk etiquette, for Chileans have no mind for anyone around them. They don’t move to the side to let those with a faster pace pass. With friends, they take up the entire sidewalk and don’t move into a single file for anyone, whether following or striding towards them, to get through. Couples are so concerned with holding hands, kissing and hugging all at once while strolling down the street, they have no regard whatsoever if they are in someone else’s way. Some days, I wish the New York part of me could just barrel through these people to teach them a lesson, but the Midwestern part keeps me from doing so by politely walking around them when such opportunity arises.
This sense of relaxation found in their sidewalk mentality is reflected in their general attitude about organization or rather lack of organization, as well. They are always running late. In regard to social activities, I truly believe that to make an entrance one must be fashionably late. Let’s be honest, no one wants to be the first one to a party. However, to meetings, work shifts, practices, games, classes and the like, one must always be punctual. As my brother learned from his soccer coach, “Early is on time, and on time is late.” Here, that idea is totally lost. Students showing up on time or even, heaven forbid, early for class is a rarity. If my class starts at 7:00, you can guarantee I won’t even begin to teach until 7:15 and even then only 50-80% of the students will be there.
The way everything operates seems to be slightly dysfunctional; some days, it’s amazing that anything gets accomplished here. For example, when I arrived at the Institute for my first day of work, I was told that my contract would be ready to sign two days later and someone would be in touch to tell me when to do so. A week passed and still no call or e-mail from the Institute on the matter. When I checked on the status of my contract, I was told it hadn’t been written because they were still waiting on me to give them a few documents; documents, mind you, that I had not only sent in three weeks prior, but that had also been confirmed as being received on the Institute's end. When I relayed this story to others, I was assured that these types of occurrences were quite characteristic of operations in Chile.
While this may suitable by Chilean standards, there is no way one would survive with these attitudes and behaviors in a place like New York. For this reason, the playing fields are leveled... NYC: 1 Santiago: 1.
A Midwestern girl at heart, I always say, “I’m sorry” when I bump into someone and “excuse me” to move through a group of people. I constantly smile and frequently greet strangers in passing with a friendly “hello.” You can imagine my surprise when I arrived in New York only to get elbowed or have someone throw his or her shoulder into me without so much as a glance back. I suppose with all the hustle and bustle of a city like New York, people just don’t have time for politeness and manners. And while I always maintained a courteous disposition, I grew to not expect the same in return from New Yorkers. It took a little while to adjust to that sort of brashness, but at the same time, I didn’t really mind. I loved the energy that courses through that city’s veins. It’s really unlike any other place and while everyone always seems to be in a hurry to get to their next destinations, I truly enjoyed the fast pace of the people there.
Santiago is unlike NYC in this particular sense. Even just the movement of pedestrians on the sidewalk stands in opposition to the streets of the Big Apple. People move as slow as molasses here. New York may be a bit strung out, but here, it’s as if they don’t have a care in the world, nowhere to be, nothing to do. Every day seems like a leisurely walk in the park. AND IT’S DRIVING ME CRAZY. Part of me wonders if I should stop teaching English and start teaching sidewalk etiquette, for Chileans have no mind for anyone around them. They don’t move to the side to let those with a faster pace pass. With friends, they take up the entire sidewalk and don’t move into a single file for anyone, whether following or striding towards them, to get through. Couples are so concerned with holding hands, kissing and hugging all at once while strolling down the street, they have no regard whatsoever if they are in someone else’s way. Some days, I wish the New York part of me could just barrel through these people to teach them a lesson, but the Midwestern part keeps me from doing so by politely walking around them when such opportunity arises.
This sense of relaxation found in their sidewalk mentality is reflected in their general attitude about organization or rather lack of organization, as well. They are always running late. In regard to social activities, I truly believe that to make an entrance one must be fashionably late. Let’s be honest, no one wants to be the first one to a party. However, to meetings, work shifts, practices, games, classes and the like, one must always be punctual. As my brother learned from his soccer coach, “Early is on time, and on time is late.” Here, that idea is totally lost. Students showing up on time or even, heaven forbid, early for class is a rarity. If my class starts at 7:00, you can guarantee I won’t even begin to teach until 7:15 and even then only 50-80% of the students will be there.
The way everything operates seems to be slightly dysfunctional; some days, it’s amazing that anything gets accomplished here. For example, when I arrived at the Institute for my first day of work, I was told that my contract would be ready to sign two days later and someone would be in touch to tell me when to do so. A week passed and still no call or e-mail from the Institute on the matter. When I checked on the status of my contract, I was told it hadn’t been written because they were still waiting on me to give them a few documents; documents, mind you, that I had not only sent in three weeks prior, but that had also been confirmed as being received on the Institute's end. When I relayed this story to others, I was assured that these types of occurrences were quite characteristic of operations in Chile.
While this may suitable by Chilean standards, there is no way one would survive with these attitudes and behaviors in a place like New York. For this reason, the playing fields are leveled... NYC: 1 Santiago: 1.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Español de Chile o quizas, la falta de español en Chile.
Side note: So first off, let me apologize for being an absentee blogger as of late. I moved into my new apartment last weekend that is a bit lacking on the Internet factor (aka my lifeline). So my online activity has been mostly composed of quick e-mail checks at friends’ places and an occasional wifi session at Starbucks when I have time…like now. Never thought I would say this, but Gracias a Dios para Starbucks.
Back to the subject at hand...Español. My main motivation for coming to a place like Santiago is my desire to learn the language. Sure, I’ve studied it since I was in 3rd grade back at good ol’ St. Mary’s grade school all the way through high school and even majored in it at UW, but classroom Spanish can only teach you so much. In order to truly learn a language, you need to be fully immersed. No one can expect to spend an hour or two a day studying a foreign language only to spend the rest of his/her everyday life speaking his/her native tongue.
I can read and write Spanish a lot better than I can speak it, mostly because I find it to be very intimidating. Knowing I don’t speak well makes me more embarrassed than anything to make mistakes and sound stupid. Seeing as how I have to use Spanish everyday, I have quickly gotten over that. The only way I am going to learn and get better is to practice, right?
However, what you may not realize is that Chilean Spanish is a completely different language in and of itself. Most Chileans would not consider their language Spanish at all…just Chilean. They drop a lot of their endings, especially with words ending in ‘s.’ For example, there is a stop on the Metro called “Los Leones,” but when the conductor announces it on the speaker, it sounds like, “Lo Leone.”
Not sure how familiar you all are with Spanish conjugations, but the tú (you) present tense form always ends in an ‘s.’ Not only do they not pronounce the ‘s,’ but they change it so that the ending sounds like “ay.” For example, to say “How are you?” in Spanish, you would normally say, “¿Cómo estás?” but in Chilean you would say, “¿Cómo estái?”
Another interesting aspect to this language is its use of modismos or idioms. Words or phrases used here don’t even translate to other dialects of Spanish spoken elsewhere. The funniest one I’ve encountered is the use of the word “puta.” Puta, in any other sense of the word, means whore in Spanish. In Chile, however, puta is used much in the way that Americans use the word like…(in the Valley girl sense). When my friend first moved in with her Chilean roommate and he kept saying puta all the time, she wondered why he kept calling her a whore when he didn’t even know her! That issue quickly resolved itself as she discovered he was not, in fact, insinuating such a thing.
The jury is out on whether this is the best place to learn Spanish or quite possibly the worst, but I have been assured by multiple Chileans that if you can master the Chilean dialect, you can understand Spanish anywhere. Here’s hoping…
Back to the subject at hand...Español. My main motivation for coming to a place like Santiago is my desire to learn the language. Sure, I’ve studied it since I was in 3rd grade back at good ol’ St. Mary’s grade school all the way through high school and even majored in it at UW, but classroom Spanish can only teach you so much. In order to truly learn a language, you need to be fully immersed. No one can expect to spend an hour or two a day studying a foreign language only to spend the rest of his/her everyday life speaking his/her native tongue.
I can read and write Spanish a lot better than I can speak it, mostly because I find it to be very intimidating. Knowing I don’t speak well makes me more embarrassed than anything to make mistakes and sound stupid. Seeing as how I have to use Spanish everyday, I have quickly gotten over that. The only way I am going to learn and get better is to practice, right?
However, what you may not realize is that Chilean Spanish is a completely different language in and of itself. Most Chileans would not consider their language Spanish at all…just Chilean. They drop a lot of their endings, especially with words ending in ‘s.’ For example, there is a stop on the Metro called “Los Leones,” but when the conductor announces it on the speaker, it sounds like, “Lo Leone.”
Not sure how familiar you all are with Spanish conjugations, but the tú (you) present tense form always ends in an ‘s.’ Not only do they not pronounce the ‘s,’ but they change it so that the ending sounds like “ay.” For example, to say “How are you?” in Spanish, you would normally say, “¿Cómo estás?” but in Chilean you would say, “¿Cómo estái?”
Another interesting aspect to this language is its use of modismos or idioms. Words or phrases used here don’t even translate to other dialects of Spanish spoken elsewhere. The funniest one I’ve encountered is the use of the word “puta.” Puta, in any other sense of the word, means whore in Spanish. In Chile, however, puta is used much in the way that Americans use the word like…(in the Valley girl sense). When my friend first moved in with her Chilean roommate and he kept saying puta all the time, she wondered why he kept calling her a whore when he didn’t even know her! That issue quickly resolved itself as she discovered he was not, in fact, insinuating such a thing.
The jury is out on whether this is the best place to learn Spanish or quite possibly the worst, but I have been assured by multiple Chileans that if you can master the Chilean dialect, you can understand Spanish anywhere. Here’s hoping…
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