Been a while since I wrote anything on here, and this won't be a long post. This post is simply about waiting. Chilean time is like island time - a bit slow and variable. I am leaving now sometimes means I am leaving now, but also sometimes means I am leaving in an hour, or I am actually not going but don't want to tell you that. On time is actually early, 10min late is on time, and half and hour late isn't really a problem. I am not sure if it is due to this that everything starts late, or that everything starts late so no one is ever in a hurry - chicken and the egg styles. I do know that at midnight on a Friday night I should probably be tucked up in bed instead of waiting for my friends to get to town so we can go out dancing. Of course it doesn't help that I am one of the most impatient people that I know.... Hmmmm, good old Chilean time. Waiting waiting waiting!
K
Friday, July 31, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
The week of never ending parties
Oye, its been a crazy couple of weeks! I have become some sort of nocturnal party gringa / latina party animal... and I love it! Where to begin? With the entire weekend of partying and not sleeping in three different locations, or the three nights straight that I saw the sun come up, or the fact I am moving, or the new kinds of dance and music I have discovered?! Life is one big whirlwind at the moment!
Started last weekend on Thursday (yes that is the weekend) with the despedida (leaving) of one of our friends. He is off to Panama for a year. Thursday we went out dancing Cueca as usual, tons of fun, late night. Friday I had to work (at 9am arrgghh), and then met up with the girls in the evening and travelled down to Curicó for Pancho's despedida. We were at his parent's house which is in the country, and really big. We had asado (with churipan and pebre mmmmm), and generally there was a lot of singing and dancing. Pancho is a musician so there is always lots of guitar and singing etc. So much fun! And we saw the sun come up which was very pretty... Got a tiny bit of sleep and talked to his parents for a while, explored the hills a bit, had a siesta, and then back to Santiago, 6 of us in Zeli's little car (about the same size as the laser), for 2hrs. Lots of fun as we had moraccas and a tambourine and had the cueca turned up loud, lots of singing, general madness.
After a quick trip to the supermarket it was asado time again, and more people started turning up for more party... Quite a few of Pancho's friends are also muso's so more singing, dancing, rum, etc etc. I had to crash early (7am), as I was done, but when I got up at 9am everyone was still going. I think everyone went to bed finally at 11am, and we had a few hours sleep. Then it was off to Cajon del Maipu, the valley up in the Andes to see the snow. And they have really good empanadas up there too. So we went up there and mucked around for a few hours, in the light and the dark... Got home finally about 11pm on Sunday, exhausted and with no plan for my classes on Monday. Oppps, luckily they were all fine.
AND THEN, on Thursday was a feriado (public holiday). On Wednesday it was Zeli's birthday so we had a bit of a party at the girls house and then went out dancing. Was soooo much fun, dancing cumbia and salsa mainly. Cumbia comes from Columbia (apparently), and is super fun. Don't need a partner or anything (which makes it easier as the chances of me actually stepping on anyones feet is therefore greatly reduced), and the music is really fun. When the club closed we all piled into the car (perhaps I won't tell you quite how many of us as my Mum reads this... but it was a record for me) and headed out to an after-party. Most of us weren't that keen when we got there though so headed back to the girls' house and slept instead. On Thursday I came home around lunchtime, but had only been home about an hour when the girls called me. Talking on the phone is super difficult for me, I hardly understand anything, and while I was almost getting what they were saying the call of "churipan churipan" was enough for me to say I would be back out there pronto! Seriously it is like calling a dog for food - churipan Karen, come and get it... So after yet more delicious asado (this time with actual salad), we went to Cueca and I got home late. Luckily all my classes had cancelled for Friday as everyone was taking a sandwich day (which I think is the best concept ever).
After a lot of sleeping on Friday I met up with Naty and we went to a random bar with no name or sign. To get in you have to say the secret password 'viva chile', and it is fair to say I was the only blonde for miles. Great place though. Apparently quite historical, a meeting place for the leftists during the Pinochet regime, and had some pretty cool graffiti on the walls. I liked the fact that they sold 1L bottles of red wine for 3 luca, about $Aus7.50. They had live music, cumbia again, and the place was totally packed. Other pepole turned up, and we danced until it closed around 5am and came home. Was fair to say that the red wine didn't agree with my head in the morning!
The most exciting thing of the weekend was that the girls are moving and have asked me to move in with them. It will be really good I think. They only speak Spanish so it should be really good for me. Now we just have to find a house, but Naty and I spent some time today looking on the net and in the paper so they are going to get onto it this week. I have told Bruno and he seems to have taken it well which is good. They are both teachers and have school holidays at the moment (hence the amount of partying), so they want to get it sorted out pronto before going back to work. It is likely that I won't be quite as close in to town, but I think the change will be worth it, and the improvements that it will make on my Spanish overcome any added inconvenience.
But there are no more feriado's until September (when they have national day), so life is going to need to return to normal a bit more I think, classes and partys only on the weekend (Thursday Friday Saturday that is!)
I didn't remember my camera for Curicó and only took one photo the rest of the time. Yes I am hopeless. Its not really that important though.
Lots of classes to plan for the week and quite a bit of paperwork to catch up on so I need to go.
Chao chao,
KiwiKaz
Started last weekend on Thursday (yes that is the weekend) with the despedida (leaving) of one of our friends. He is off to Panama for a year. Thursday we went out dancing Cueca as usual, tons of fun, late night. Friday I had to work (at 9am arrgghh), and then met up with the girls in the evening and travelled down to Curicó for Pancho's despedida. We were at his parent's house which is in the country, and really big. We had asado (with churipan and pebre mmmmm), and generally there was a lot of singing and dancing. Pancho is a musician so there is always lots of guitar and singing etc. So much fun! And we saw the sun come up which was very pretty... Got a tiny bit of sleep and talked to his parents for a while, explored the hills a bit, had a siesta, and then back to Santiago, 6 of us in Zeli's little car (about the same size as the laser), for 2hrs. Lots of fun as we had moraccas and a tambourine and had the cueca turned up loud, lots of singing, general madness.
After a quick trip to the supermarket it was asado time again, and more people started turning up for more party... Quite a few of Pancho's friends are also muso's so more singing, dancing, rum, etc etc. I had to crash early (7am), as I was done, but when I got up at 9am everyone was still going. I think everyone went to bed finally at 11am, and we had a few hours sleep. Then it was off to Cajon del Maipu, the valley up in the Andes to see the snow. And they have really good empanadas up there too. So we went up there and mucked around for a few hours, in the light and the dark... Got home finally about 11pm on Sunday, exhausted and with no plan for my classes on Monday. Oppps, luckily they were all fine.
AND THEN, on Thursday was a feriado (public holiday). On Wednesday it was Zeli's birthday so we had a bit of a party at the girls house and then went out dancing. Was soooo much fun, dancing cumbia and salsa mainly. Cumbia comes from Columbia (apparently), and is super fun. Don't need a partner or anything (which makes it easier as the chances of me actually stepping on anyones feet is therefore greatly reduced), and the music is really fun. When the club closed we all piled into the car (perhaps I won't tell you quite how many of us as my Mum reads this... but it was a record for me) and headed out to an after-party. Most of us weren't that keen when we got there though so headed back to the girls' house and slept instead. On Thursday I came home around lunchtime, but had only been home about an hour when the girls called me. Talking on the phone is super difficult for me, I hardly understand anything, and while I was almost getting what they were saying the call of "churipan churipan" was enough for me to say I would be back out there pronto! Seriously it is like calling a dog for food - churipan Karen, come and get it... So after yet more delicious asado (this time with actual salad), we went to Cueca and I got home late. Luckily all my classes had cancelled for Friday as everyone was taking a sandwich day (which I think is the best concept ever).
After a lot of sleeping on Friday I met up with Naty and we went to a random bar with no name or sign. To get in you have to say the secret password 'viva chile', and it is fair to say I was the only blonde for miles. Great place though. Apparently quite historical, a meeting place for the leftists during the Pinochet regime, and had some pretty cool graffiti on the walls. I liked the fact that they sold 1L bottles of red wine for 3 luca, about $Aus7.50. They had live music, cumbia again, and the place was totally packed. Other pepole turned up, and we danced until it closed around 5am and came home. Was fair to say that the red wine didn't agree with my head in the morning!
The most exciting thing of the weekend was that the girls are moving and have asked me to move in with them. It will be really good I think. They only speak Spanish so it should be really good for me. Now we just have to find a house, but Naty and I spent some time today looking on the net and in the paper so they are going to get onto it this week. I have told Bruno and he seems to have taken it well which is good. They are both teachers and have school holidays at the moment (hence the amount of partying), so they want to get it sorted out pronto before going back to work. It is likely that I won't be quite as close in to town, but I think the change will be worth it, and the improvements that it will make on my Spanish overcome any added inconvenience.
But there are no more feriado's until September (when they have national day), so life is going to need to return to normal a bit more I think, classes and partys only on the weekend (Thursday Friday Saturday that is!)
I didn't remember my camera for Curicó and only took one photo the rest of the time. Yes I am hopeless. Its not really that important though.
Lots of classes to plan for the week and quite a bit of paperwork to catch up on so I need to go.
Chao chao,
KiwiKaz
Friday, July 10, 2009
Serviettes, sleep-deprivation, and don't even think about touching the make-up!
As a continuation of the theme from the last blog (and because life is pretty much the same pattern of work work work stay out too late and drink too much and be tired at work, and then go to another party and take most of the weekend to recover the sleep you have lost) here are some other observations of this crazy country.The first one is serviettes. I don't know if it is just that I am uncouth (not my mother's fault) or if this really is a valid observation, but it is a necessity to have a serviette at ALL TIMES when eating. This means if you buy a drink on the street they give you a serviette, even though you are drinking out of a straw. Every meal you eat MUST have a serviette, even though I thought the whole point of a knife and fork was to transport the food to your mouth without making a mess of either your hands or your mouth (yes yes I know that I do not always achieve this but we are talking about the principle). Buy a piece of fruit, get a serviette, buy an icecream and get 5 serviettes, cup of coffee with a serviette. In fact, they get quite upset if you try to turn them down on their offer of a serviette (yes I tried it in an effort to save a tree or something). So, I now eat with a serviette always at hand.
Sleep-deprivation is a way of life. It seems that while Chileans have retained their late night party hours, they no longer have a siesta or flexible working hours, which means that they sleep less. In fact, they work hard (as hard as people back home anyway), and then party all night. It is not uncommon for people to go out until 3am and still be at work at 8am the next day. And then to repeat this the next night... The weekend starts sometimes on Wednesday night, and sometimes on Thursday. It is very common to see people asleep on the metro, sitting, standing, nodding off, doesn't matter. Any when I say common, I mean probably 1 in 10 are asleep, without exaggeration. I don't cope so well with this whole lack of sleep lifestyle to be fair, though usually I only have to get through Friday incredibly tired, and I don't have too many classes.
Last time I talked about the "people in jobs" principle. And this week I came across another shining example of it. Things are different here. In shops, there are many items that you are simply not allowed to touch. Depending on which area you live in this can include sanitary products, shampoo and soap, deodorant, all forms of face care and make-up and perfume. Actually, you are NEVER allowed to touch the make-up or perfume. These precious items are stored behind a counter with very helpful sales assistants (arhem) carefully watching over them. This week I decided I needed some new eyeliner (as I lost my very good MAC one that I am still quite upset about). I went to one of the department stores to have look, and of course wasn't allowed to touch anything. Was standing at the counter with another lady who was talking with the shop-assistant about eye-liners and eyebrow pencils and the tester jar was on the table for her to look at. I waited for a bit, and then decided that seeing as the shop assistant was there it must be OK for me to try the testers too. I put my hand out to take one and the shop-assistant SLAPPED MY HAND LIKE I WAS A CHILD! I was aghast. So I asked if I could try it, in fairly passable spanish (I had been practicing), and she ignored me. The other lady finished her transaction and the shop-assistant took the testers, put them back under the bench and walked away, completely ignoring me. I wanted to cry. I left the shop very quickly. I took me 3 days to get my courage back up to go to a different place to try again. I chose a large chemist, and it was a good choice as the shop assistant was really nice and very patient with me (though I pretty much aggreed to the first one she showed me as I was still in fear of having my hand slapped again). The funniest thing was that you choose you product, and get given a receipt. Then you take the receipt to the cashier and pay, and recieve a different receipt, which you present to a third person who finds your product again and gives it to you (after it has been put in a bag by a fourth person). So yes, back to my original point, people in jobs. 4 people doing the job of one.
This weekend I am off to Curico with my Chilean friends. There is a despideda (farewell) for one of our friends who is off to Panama. I am getting a ride down with the girls, I think there will be four of us so it should be an entertaining trip though I will likely understand nothing as they turn the music up loud and then all talk flat out at the same time (girls road trips are the same the world over) which is fun but means I can't undertand anything. I haven't been to Curico before and it is where most of my friends are from so I am quite looking forward to it. I have been told that there isn't usually much going on there, but I suspect that this will be a big party that will make up for any apparent apathy in the town. It is also right in the heart of the wine district which can never be a bad thing....
Anyway, need a nap before another night of "grande fiesta". The only instructions I have been given are bring your "saco" (sleeping bag) and "panuelo" (hankerchief for dancing cueca). I hope we have Churipan and asado....
Hablamos pronto,
KiwiKaz
And here is a couple of pictures I took out of my bedroom window in case you have missed them on FB.
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