Chilinismos for the Non-Native Souls

Some things I've learned while in Chile:
Peloton is the Chilean version of "Survivor" where 20 somethings dressed in military outfits compete until the last round of eliminations. Very emotional, very dramatic.
Papi Ricky and Corazon de Maria are telenovelas
Rojo is a talent competition between Chilean stars but there are no eliminations in this show. Only a difference in ranking, depending on the viewer's Reyneta Revuelva in Santiago choices.
El Baile is a formal dance competition like "Dancing with the Stars" but most of the men dancers are twice as old as the women.
Did I mention that watching TV is a family activity for me here? me posing on the bus on our way to Vina
"Te quiero yo. Y tu a mi. Somos un a familia feliz." First line of the Barney song that my family sings to my 1.5 year old "brother" (my host mom's grandson) Benjamin
"a-e-i-o-u.... el burro es tu!" Another one of Benjamin's learning songs. Both my host mom and her daughter are teachers. They've been a great help as I've been preparing for classes.
Dulce de Leche does not exist in Chile. It is called Manjar and is actually a carmelized version of condensed milk.
Learn to think in military time.
Pisco is a Chilean brandy that can be added to any soft drink but is typically had with sour mix. Pisco Sours. =)
Even if you thousands of miles away from the States, you will still find MTV on tv infiltrating the minds of young kids (like my 12, soon to be 13 yr. old "sister" ie. host mom's granddaughter) with programs such as Next and Sweet Sixteen.
Most coffee served here is powdered. Real coffee exists but isn't had on a regular basis.
Even young Benjamin has stayed up until 11pm on any given night.
Clubs don't really get going to 1am. They don't close until 5am. Me and our girls in Mejillonas (Jamie and Rio)
The little metal baskets outside each house are not for lazy storks bearing more children to the city of Antofagasta. They're actually the trash receptacles.
Dog poop on the streets isn't from lazy dog walkers (although it could be). It's usually the strays that rule the streets day and night.
Add po to the end of your sentences. Esp when saying "Si" or "No. aka: "Si, 'po. No, 'po."
Don't tell them you like George Bush. He's not so popular over here.
If you tell any little kid you like Regaetton you become automatically cooler.
Completos are hot dogs served with mashed avocado, usu. mayonnaise, and other condiments.
Dulce de Membrillo is a solidified spread made from the membrillo fruit (hard and slightly bitter like an apple)
Punk look is in for teenagers.
No matter how many times I can say I'm from the US, I will still be the Chinita.
Give kisses and spend time with your family. Especially for almuerzo in the middle of the day, when kids can get up to 2 hours off to be home with their families.
Some music to check out: "Lo que paso paso" by Daddy Yankee, "Eres Para Mi" by Julietta Venegas, "Chico Malo" by Sixpack

I love this picture. Isn't is upside down?

First week of school

Antofasta group: Rio, Cameron, Stacie, Emily, Sarah, Olivia, yours truly, Gregg, and Elliot

I´m very comfortable in my new home and family. I´ve spent the night talking to my host mother, Fresia, about my experience here during the early hours of the morning. Being the gracious mother and gentlewoman that she is, she´s stayed up for me to make sure I had eaten enough after I had spent the night visiting with friends. She had the fixings of a completo (a typical fast food dish of Chile, basically a hot dog with mashed avocado, tomato, and ketchup... a slightly healthier version that usually contains mayonnaise as well). As I ate, she sat watching Peloton, Chile´s dramatic version of Survivor. my yellow room
Me and Fresia, my host mom
We live in a three story aparment house with a metal red door. Upon entering there´s a patio area where Doggie lives in a cage. The patio is his domain and it can be hard to avoid his droppings on my way out to my early morning runs. The front door opens up to the living room where Fresia has entertained her sister visiting

from Mejillones and others. The kitchen is at the back of the first floor and the light plastic roofing gives way to the bright sunlight each morning. On the second floor is my room, Barby´s room, Fresia´s room and the bathroom. Veronica, her husband, and little Benjamin (Ben-ha-min) live on the third floor next to the laundry area. My room is painted in an almost neon yellow, which matches the white and yellow gingham bedspread. I have a single flower picture which sits above my bed. One morning as I was doing my abs I realized that the picture is hung upside down (the painter´s signature is on the top left corner and the flowers point down rather than up) but I prefer it that way. I have one window across from my bed which is covered by a pink and white gingham window curtain patterened with the cartoon Angelica from the Rugrats making various faces at me. I set up my bobblehead Dad (thank you, Auntie Betty!) by my dresser and scared my little brother, little Benjamin, with it this morning. Apparently my Dad can scare children even when he lives thousands of miles away! hehe. Bobblehead Dad
I just finished my first week of going to Cerro Moreno, the community situated outside of Antofa serving the military air base and the pilot´s families. For this reason, the escuela (1st through 8th grade) is more like a private school than it´s reality as a public school. Their one English teacher, Raquel, teaches all grades with me as well as the large Elmo Funes Colegio in the North of the city. I visited her 7th grade class at Elmo Funes. She explained that as Chile still has communist influences, the government is trying to provide for the poorer class by creating beautiful large schools for them. The school is organized like a castle with spiral staircases and a large open area within the center of the school. Emily, another volunteer, presented her Australian calendar to her 7th grade class. Raquel had me
Me, Profesora Raquel, Emily

read a text about Babylon in English which wouldn´t have been a problem until I had to read "King Namazakkadre" or something similar! In comparison, my school is a small.pink one-story building within the air base. The class size is a maximum of 40 students but, as several student are sick, one class only had 18 students present. I visited my 1st and 2nd grade classes on Wednesday afternoon. I sang Head and Shoulders 10 times for the 1st grade class. Thursday is my large day (8:30 to 6:00) and I observed 5th through 8th grade. That was the day for their monthly English test. The 8th graders had to memorize and recite oral presentations about their favorite music groups/singers (Avril Lavigne, Shakira, Evanescence, My Chemical Romance, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Don Omar among others). I admit that half the time I couldn´t understand a word of English besides "1992" but the students are very hardworking and for the most part, attentive. I´m not allowed to speak Spanish to my students and have to feign stupidity until they speak to me in English. I am allowed to speak to the other professors in English, but the faculty and students who stay at school for lunch break eat together. I was a bit worried about having to play dumb for the next 8 months, basically outcasting me during my lunch. My teacher and I had difficulty explaining ourselves as I wanted
Olivia and I at U. of Antofagasta to speak Spanish during my break so I could have someone to talk to. We resolved the problem as the school is going to pay for me to eat lunch with the professors at the casino, which provides lunch for the servicemen there. That way, I´ll be able to speak to the professors in Spanish without having it known by the students my speaking abilities. Raquel knows how much I like to talk and calls me muy sociable.... I suppose I´m her first volunteer that asked to speak Spanish at school. Nevertheless, by Friday I was excited the week was over and observed her 3rd and 4th grade classes. As a volunteer I feel almost like a superstar, receiving kisses from the students (the Chilean way of greeting), had little kids recite in English "You are beautiful" and little gifts of a plastic bracelet and a little pendant) I created a poster for my students with photos of my family from Jenny´s wedding and drew the things I like to do and made it very visually attractive for the kids (important when they can´t read what I´ve written). I´m still feeling out their ability to speak and comprehend English. Tomorrow, I´ll go to school to plan my lessons and do extracurricular activities with the students.

Gregg, TJ, Cameron, Rio, Elliot, Sarah, Stacie, Olivia, Janette, Me, Emily, Jamie

This weekend, the Mejillones volunteers Rio and Jamie, visited us. We went out in a large group to K Zona, a large bar on the main street. Sarah, Jamie and I headed to Telepizza that night at 2am and then returned home as the rest of them stayedout till 5am. Jamie stayed with me and we woke up early and bought fresh bread at Kerolaet and ate breakfast at the beach. We met up with Rio and Janette during the afternoon and went out to lunch at Pizzante. I was later informed by my host mother that this is one of the most expensive restaurants in the city (we ended up spending $60 for four Rio and I at K Zona bar people) and was repremanded accordingly. We saw the girls off at the bus station for their return to Mejillones, and then Jannette and I met up with our avid ping pong voluntarios at the beach. If you want to play ping pong with the boys, you better have your game on as its very competitive (Gregg let me know I Cameron and TJ at K Zona should call out the score each time I serve) but it´s very entertaining to see the games between Gregg, Elliot, Cameron and TJ. They´ve also competed against their host siblings or other locals from the neighborhood. We swam out to the floating raft, la balsa, at sunset and then fearing sharks, headed back to the beach. Although travelling to my school for the next 8 months will take up a good chunk of my income, I love my school, the students, and my ambitious English co-teacher. Days are long here, and on the weekends my family gets up around 10am. Being a morning person, I usually do my own thing in the morning and we gather for our large lunch around 2pm. We have a good sized once (11´s are like tea time, but my family treats it more like dinner). Most families eat cena at 9pm and don´t go to sleep until 11 or even 1am. Most Antofa schools start at 8am. Tomorrow, I´ll take a colectivo (taxi) to the center of the city, Plaza Colon, where I take a minibus to Cerro Moreno. And, that´s my life in a nutshell so far!bunny basket made by my host "sister" (actually, niece) Barby

Welcome to Antofagasta

So I crammed a bunch of things into my last day in Santiago. Lindsey, Lauren and I took the metro to Cerro San Cristobal, walking through Bellavista (the hippie, artsy neighborhood). We took the funicular to the view on the hill and walked around. There´s a Lindsey and Lauren on the Funicularhuge sitting area with little eateries and shops at the top of the funicular and a chapel and outside mass area. You can ascend closer to the Virgin. We arrived at the perfect time of day, as the sun was right behind the statue, creating a halo around the Virgin (aaaaaah!*holy choir singing in the background*) We found our way to the telegrafico to take a quick trip through the park encompassing the hill. The ride is like being in Willy Wonka´s glass elevator, suspended in the air and really stuffy but still worth the trip. We found out the park has a wine tasting area, a botanical garden, japanese garden, and an outdoor pool. We stopped and Lauren tried mote con huesillas (a cold tea with wheat on the bottom and a whole preserved peach on the top... kind of like a Chilean bubble tea) We walked through Bellavista. One of the highlights were the two cute German guys we kept running into at San Cristobal. We saw them again in Bellavista and waved. =) I picked up a cuff bracelet made of zebra fur.... punky in a fun way. We walked around an open market. Lauren and I wanted to venture to Mercado CentroThe virgin watching over Cerro San Cristobal (a seafood market) and Bellas Artes (a museum). Lindsey ventured home and Lauren and I walked through the market. I got to practice my spanish recognizing the food and trying to match it with the word. But the most educational aspect of the market was our lunch. We both ordered a salmon plate. Our server preceeded the meal with a little "compliment on the house" which turned out to be "juice of Salmon Plate and "Juice of the Sea" seafood" which came in little glasses. We couldn´t tell if it was a drink or a small "soup" in a glass, but whatever it was, we decided to save it for later (or never!). We walked to Bellas Artes and walked through the galleries. We returned in time for me to pack my things and say goodbye. The Antofa group had a send-off crowd as we drove away into the night. *sigh* After 17 hours on the bus, we arrived in the dessert. We all agreed it exceeded our expectations. We Shark head at Mercado Centro were told there was no vegitation, fleas, and lots of strays. Actually, the area by the ocean is quite beautiful, I haven´t had any encounter with fleas, and there are less strays here than Santiago. So our first days included more orientation specific to the city. We met our families on Tuesday and went home for the first time. Suprisingly, I felt terrified! I hadn´t been bothered by the fact I would be living with a host family but the idea of meeting them for the first time and living with them for 8 months made me anxious. Plus, the picture that I was given with the card had the previous host daughter in it. I was pleasantly surprised, though, to find out I wasn´t living alone with my host mother. First night in Antofagasta Her daughter, Veronica, son-in-law Roberto, and their two children Barby (12) and Benjamin (Ben-ha-min) (1.5) live with us as well. I have a nice little room to myself. They also have a dog, a poodle I think, that lives in the sitting area outside of the house. I would like to love Doggie but unfortunately, he pees and poops in the sitting area and then likes to paw me as I come and go! We celebrated our first week here by going out for dinner at an Arabic restaurant close to the Universidad de Antofagasta, where we´ve been having lectures. Then, Olivia, TJ, Eliot, Gregg, and Cameron and our director, Ana Maria, went to sector Huascar where there are a lot of clubs. We went to Kamakaze and did some dancing and except for the electricity going out for an hour during the night, it was good. I came home at 4:30am (!!!) as places close down here at 5am and don´t really start going before 1am. This morning, my sister, Barby, and I walked down to the beach and did some swimming and sun bathing. Love the beach! Next week, I´ll be observing my English classes at Edda Cuneo Moreno which is outside of the city near the airport at a military base. My co-teacher has told me the children are very disciplined and I won´t have many problems with them. I´ll be teaching classes for 1st grade through 8th grade. So far I´m loving it! I love having access to the beach, the temperature is perfect here, and I can run along the beach. My host family is very sweet yet give me a huge amount of independence. We haven´t shared many meals together, but I´ve had good conversations with my host mother and her granddaughter (little Barby who´s taller than me!) I also adore Benjamin who is still learning my name ("Lee-sha") and demonstrated his ability to copy the martial arts guys on tv kicking and punching his little 1.5 yr old legs! He´s a little bundle of energy and likes to terrorize the family when possible. =) More to come later. My home address: 1165 Chillan, Antofagasta, Chile oh! and I have a cell phone!