For better or for worse, Americans are always worried about what they say. Political correctness runs rampant in an effort to not hurt any feelings, not appear discriminatory, elitist, or any other –ist. Not so much in Chile. Chileans are very honest. They won’t shy away from telling you that your Spanish isn’t good. They’ll call you fat, they’ll nickname you ‘gordo’. They’ll ask you your age, even if you’re a woman, even if you’re old. They’re not scared to talk about different races, classes, and minorities. Calling a person fat, however, isn’t an insult, it’s just an observation. It put me off at first, how outright they are with their questions and comments. They want a lot of information out of you, and have no care as to what others may think. Some of the first questions I got from my host family were “Is your mom fat?” and “How old is your dad?” My host mom had no reservations with telling me her age, even when I didn’t ask. During a dinner conversation one night, we started talking about the education systems in the US and Chile. I asked if most children went to public or private school, and they told me that, for the most part, only the ‘humildes’ (humble) attend public school. She wasn’t hesitant to even say, ‘Those like Rosita (our maid) are the ones who go to public schools.’ She said that the Mapuches were ugly, as were the Peruvians. Last night, when I asked why there weren’t watching the futbol game, they said that futbol was more of a sport for the poorer classes of Santiago. At first, I thought it was racist, classist, or elitist for them to say those things. By American standards, it is. But Chileans, as a whole, a just more frank with their dialogue. They’re not always worried about political correctness, it doesn’t cross their mind that some of the things they say may be hurtful to some, that calling a person fat in the US is not simply an observation, it’s negative, or that it’s not ‘PC’ to ask someone’s age.
Society as a whole is so much more free-flowing than it is in the US. While the streets here are nothing like Indian ones, there is an amount of relaxation that comes with driving that isn’t found in the US. It’s not a big deal if you go out of your lane for a few seconds, if you stop the car to pick up someone in an area of heavy traffic, or if you make a turn even if your lane is supposed to go straight. If it doesn’t hurt anyone, it’s considered okay. (While I’m on the note of driving, I’d like to add that the streets here change directions! One street, during the day, can turn from one way, to going the other way, to two-way all in the span of a few hours, and with little indication.) I’ve seen multiple people drive up onto the sidewalk to pick up someone or stop traffic for a few seconds to let someone off. People here just don’t care about minor, day to day things as much as in the US. They don’t get caught up in details, they’re not as stressed, and it’s much more of a relaxed atmosphere. They take 2 hours for lunch to sit outside with their friends on a restaurant patio talking, or to go home and spend the meal with their family. Meals are a social time, not just a small break in the middle of a day to eat as fast as you can and get back to work. Musicians walk in and out of buses, playing a tune for a few minutes for the passengers. (In the past 2 days, I’ve been serenaded by an accordion, a clarinet and a guitar while riding the bus to and from school.) I’m really enjoying how social and relaxed an atmosphere Chile is!
Monday and Tuesday were filled with orientation, where we learned everything we’d ever want to know (mostly) about our quarter. We’ll be having trips to Buenos Aires, Isla Negra (to the home of Pablo Neruda), dance lessons, language partners with local university students, opera performances, a visit from Helen Bing (i.e. the Bing Wing of Green Library, the Bing Overseas Study Program, etc.), field trips to the ocean, dinners, and much more. It’s going to be a busy 11 weeks , but I know it’s going to be amazing! Because of the pollution here, it can be unsafe to run too much outside, so I’m debating whether or not to join a gym to keep in shape, or to save all of my runs for right after it rains, when the pollution gets washed from the air.
Classes also started yesterday, and so yesterday and today were mostly shopping days. I went to all of the classes (except for one), so I’ve spend many hours the past few days listening to lectures in Spanish (which is a lot more tiring than lectures in English), and have learned a bit about Chilean literature, Chileanismos (Chilean slang), economic history, marine biology, and more. All of the classes here are either focused on Chile or Latin America, and range from Marine Ecology of Chile and the South Pacific to Cinema of the Southern Cone. I think I’ve decided on my 3 classes: Spanish, Politics and Culture in Chile, and the Emergence of Nations in Latin America. Real classes start next week, and while the quarter won’t be as much of an academic grind as the usual Stanford quarter, having my classes, discussions, and essays in Spanish won’t make things very easy… Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the best part: the way my classes worked out, I’ll only have class Tuesday-Thursday. Those days will be jam-packed, but it means that every weekend will be a 4 day weekend for me (although I’ll most likely work at my internship most of Monday and Wednesday). I didn’t even try to plan my schedule that way—I picked my favorite classes, and they all turned out to be on T-Th. Here’s to 4 day weekends and some amazing trips across South America!
I’ll also be starting my internship next week. For the next few months, I’ll be working at Acción Emprendedora, which is an NGO in Santiago that works with small and micro businesses across Chile to help them develop business plans, structure their financing, advertising, and teaches entrepreneurs the basics of business. These may be people who’ve already started their businesses, or Chileans who just have a goal of starting and owning their own business. Either one, AE offers them the support they need to make their businesses more successful. I’m not sure of what my exact role in the organization will be yet, but I’ll get to meet entrepreneurs all across Santiago, practice a lot of my Spanish, get to know the others who work at AE, and I’m really looking forward to it. I met one of the employees at AE today, and everything he said about the organization made me extremely excited to work there. It will be a great few months!
Tomorrow, we have the ‘Santiago Challenge’ which is a puzzle game that gives us clues that takes us all around Santiago. I think I’ll spend the rest of the day and night here in Santiago, and then venture out to the beaches at Viña del mar and Valparaiso on Saturday, and spend Sunday exploring Santiago. I can’t wait to see more of Chile!
Well, I think I’ve written enough for today. I’ll be sure to write more in the next few days telling of my weekend adventures. I’m sure I’ll have more stories to tell by then! Hope you all have a great weekend in your respective cities/countries!
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