Oye weon, el weon weon po weon, weon?

Apparently this phrase means something in Chilean Spanish but I don’t remember exactly what. The best I can translate is something like “Hey, that guy over there is being an asshole, you know?” The word “guevon” is pronounced “weon” and it’s Chile’s favorite word along with the word “po”. “Weon” can mean about 100 different things (there is no English equivalent) like asshole, friend, thing, etc. It all depends on the context. “Po” more of a noise that is just inserted after phrases, like “sí po” or “no po” or after any sentence really. I don’t really get how to use either of these words but they’re a pretty important part of Chilean Spanish.

The past few weeks have been fun and eventful, making for some interesting stories. September 18th was Chile’s Independence Day, and the whole week is known as Fiestas Patrias. It’s pretty standard for young Chileans to leave Santiago for four days and go party somewhere else, and since we gringas are never ones to miss out on a cultural experience, we decided to follow them all to a small beach town called Tongoy.

There were nine girls in total and we rented a sort of dilapidated apartment for four days, which was very crowded but extremely fun. There were also two German/Chilean girls staying below us named Renate (23) and Dagmar (Daggi, 26)who we befriended on the 2nd night and added to our crew. We met lots of drunken, rich Chileans while in Tongoy. To give an example – we met a guy about our age (probably on drugs) who bore a strange resemblance to Borat, who explained to us that he “wanted to rape us, but only a little bit!” and that he was a “Tampax gangster”………. We don’t think he had any idea what he was talking about.

A funny story about our new friend Daggi – we were in a convenience store one evening buying some wine, and as the vendor walked into the back room Daggi pointed at a poster on the door and yelled “that’s me!” I laughed, thinking she was making a joke about her being a model, and she replied “No, no really! Look again!” And it was her on the poster seductively holding a beer bottle!! Apparently she was a model for a few years and she did some ads for a South American beer called Cristal, and here it was in a tiny shop in Tongoy. REALLY weird! Here is a picture (she's the one holding the beer)



Tongoy is this tiny fishing village that basically exists only to serve tourists during Fiestas Patrias and during the summer. It’s a really cute town with a pretty beach, where kite flying is really popular (I actually bought a kite there and flew it on the beach – first time I’ve done that since I was probably 8? – and it was really hard!). I would say that the population quadrupled in the four days that we were there and then quickly emptied out again the Sunday evening that we came home. Most of the people who go are wealthy young Chileans, most of which live in an area of Santiago called Las Condes, which is known for being a wealthier part of the city. There are only two clubs in the town but they’re pretty nice and we went out to one of the two every night until about 5 am. Then we’d sleep for about 6 hours, go to the beach (kind of cold and really windy), eat dinner, and do it all again. I had tons of fun but was very exhausted after 5 days of it. It was definitely the closest thing I’ve ever had to your stereotypical Spring Break.

Since we’ve been back in Santiago we’ve all just been doing school work (sort of) going to our internships (most people agree that they’re pretty boring) and planning out trips. I can’t believe that I’ve been here for almost three months already! We’re running out of weekends to do all the things we want to do which is kind of depressing. HOWEVER, we’re really good trip planners so it looks like we’re going to work them all in. The big ones coming up are a trip to Mendoza, Argentina in 2 weeks (a 6 hour bus ride over the Andes) and a 5 day trip to San Pedro de Atacama, a really beautiful desert in the North of Chile, from October 22-27. Finally, the grand finale of my time abroad will be several trips during the first two weeks of December that require a lot of special planning. Right now it looks like it will be a short trip to the island of Chiloé (southern Chile), a 5-day backpacking trip through the National Park Torres del Paine in the way south, and then a 4 day trip to Buenos Aires right before I fly home on December 13.
It’s so crazy to think about actually going home in December. I haven’t been homesick but it will be so awesome to go home in a few months. However, I’ve got lots planned until then so I’m sure the time will fly by. Hasta luego!

PS Here is a pretty good example of what the standard Chilean mullet, or "Choco" looks like (you can click on it to make it bigger):

Spring is Springin'

Life has been busy and I apologize for being MIA. I have finally figured out my classes and almost figured out my internship, but it’s been quite the struggle. “Chile Time” is pretty lax and deadlines really mean “plus or minus a few days or a week” which would be great if I didn’t have to figure things out on Tufts Time, which is all about the deadlines. My final class schedule is The Social History of Latin America (my really hard class in the Social Sciences Dept.), Cine Foro (foreign film class that gives no homework), Spanish 121 – Advanced Grammar and Composition, and Salsa. All are taught completely in Spanish, and the Social History class gives tons of reading that I don’t think I’d even understand in English… whatever, I’m going for it. There are plenty of other gringos in the class so we can get through it together.

I’m feeling pretty settled into Santiago by now. I love my host family – they’re so much fun and are always so nice to me, I got so lucky! They tease me about going out on the weekends (“carreteando”) and coming home while they’re quietly sleeping in the wee hours of the morning, but it’s always in good fun. It doesn’t get too rambunctious around my house since the son is 15, the daughter is 18 and always has tons of homework (while I basically have none – the tables have turned!), and their family is very Christian and spends a lot of time at church. Living in such a religious household has been my biggest culture shock since it’s a pretty stark contrast to my real family, but it’s been really good for me to experience and I’m excited about being here for the rest of the semester.

Short scenario that sort of embodies this living situation: last Saturday morning I woke up at about 11am, made myself some tea, and sat down on the couch to watch some TV (specifically the OC in Spanish). Everyone in my family was gone to do productive activities for the day – my sister to tutor other students at her school, my brother on a church organized hiking trip, and my parents at the fruit/veggie market. As I started to drink some tea, groggy and slightly hung over, I turned my mug and realized that I was sipping from a coffee cup that said “Club Cristo 2008” (“Christ Club 2008) with a large cartoon Jesus grinning at me with arms outstretched. It might as well have said “Tenley, come hither and rise from your post-carrete grog!” Obviously I started laughing by myself which is always a cool thing to do by yourself...

In other news, the weather is getting really nice here!! As you poor North Americans are about to nosedive into fall/winter I’m gearing up for spring/summer and it’s awesome. I have to admit that seeing all the pictures of my friends running around sunny Seattle or hanging out at Tufts during the past two weeks has made me miss home and Tufts lots, but I’m really excited for an entire semester of warm/hot weather. And apparently the smog is going to clear up a lot so I won’t be getting the Black Lung anymore. Overall: things are looking good in Santiago.