At my (american) mamma`s request I am going to write about the culture here in Chile. (once again I appologize for my typing, im using the wonky chileano keyboard again)
Hmmm.... where to begin?
Lets start with the families. They say that family here is very important. Yet when the family members are at home the only thing they do together is eat. before and after dinner everyone is in their own room doing their own thing. to me this does not scream that chile has a family oriented culture. but heres the thing: its normal for single children to live with their parents until they get married. so they could be 35, unmarried, and still living with their family. the parents make no effort to kick their kids out, they insist that they stay. so now when i think family oriented, i think of children who are dependent on their parents. i would die! The moms are also very 50s. they do EVERYTHING for everyone. like my mom making my bed, changing my sheets, making me tea, setting out all of my food for breakfast, doing all of the laundry, doing all of the cleaning, and of course, they nag you about not wearing enough clothes when you leave the house. its crazy and i feel really guilty that my madre does everything for me but when i tell her i can do something (like no ketty, i can put the sheets on my bed) she shoos me away so she can do it herself. oh well, i just tell her thank you and move on, theres no use fighting with a determined woman whether you know the language to argue or not.
Now lets talk about the men here. they stare at everyone and it isnt unusual. the women here are used to it so they just ignore the cat calls and keep walking. And they have a word here for male creepers: hotes. my RD reccomended that when we go dancing we watch the chilean women at the club to see which men they dance with. if a particular man is continually turned down when he asks a woman to dance you know that he is a hote. its funny because in the states i know what a creeper looks like, its incredibly obvious to me. but here its hard for us gringas to spot hotes.
Scheduling: if given the opportunity (like on saturdays, sundays, and any other day off) all of the people here sleep in. Last saturday i got up around noon and when i walked into the kitchen it looked like my madre had just woken up too. and the earliest sunday church service is at 10 am. but theyres a reason everyone wakes up late, its because they stay up sooo late! the other night my madre was up until 12:30am watchign TV. its pretty bad when your mom stays up later than you do. And after`youth group`on friday we went out to mc donalds (which is a big deal here, the building was 2 stories and it was packed!) and we were there until midnight. And this was considered going home early. on the micro (the bus) all of the peopel were young, scantily dressed, and clearly baracho (drunk). But they were on their way out at midnight, not on their way in. Most kids that go out dont get home until 5-7am. And the young guys on the back of the bus were ROUDY. they kept yelling out common girl`s names trying to get the girls at the front of the bus to turn around and look at them. oh and they were having such a good time with it, they reminded me of all the jerks at high school football games: always in a pack, always incredibly loud, and always looking like a bunch of idiots. anyways, because everyone gets up late and stays up late the meals are pushed back by a few hours each. cena (dinner) isnt until 8-10pm most nights.
hmmm...what else?
the couples here are loco. they are always all over eachother all the time. these people have mastered PDA, in fact, they could teach courses on it or have their own sport in the olympics. the event would be titled How Awkward Can You Make The People Around You Feel? the couples here walk together. and i know that sounds normal, but let me explain: the men will stand behind their woman, wrap their arms around their shoulders and then they walk in sync, still `attached` to eachother. its rather impressive. if i had ever tried this i would have tripped and died, but no, they are pros.
I don´t know if this is a seasonal thing or if its cultural but i have been here for 2 weeks and have only seen 4 pregnant women the whole time. i feel like everytime i turn a corner in the states someone is preggers. i don´t see too many kids around either but that might be because im only out and about during school hours. who knows, but its definitely strange.
I live in a culture of public transportation. many people have cars but they only have one per family. so my madre takes the car and my brother Mauro and i take the metro or a micro to wherever we need to go. and as much as i hate public transportation in the states, i was pleasently surprised with the system here. You have 4 public transportation options here: theres the metro, which is a train. theres the micros, which are public buses that each run on their own line. theres collectivos, which are shared taxis that run on the same line with the same stops all the time. and theres a standard taxi. i have yet to take a taxi or collectivo but i love the metro. the micro is a bit intimidating for me because some of the drivers will try to take advantage of gringos and charge them extra or they just wont give you back your change. they also drive on comission so they drive like mad from micro stop to micro stop so that they can get as many passangers as possible. depending on the time of day the micros can be super packed or really empty. obviously, i prefer the empty times because the drivers are nicer and you get to sit in the seats. ahhh, but my favorite is the metro. the metro is my best friend here. with my student card it costs roughly 30 cents to ride from Recreo (the stop by my house) to Baròn (the stop at my school). on the metro you dont have to deal with drivers or with turns taken so fast that you almost fall out of your seat. you simply cruise and listen to the sounds of whatever performer is in your car trying to make tips. its wonderful and so easy.
la comida. Everyone here eats berad. you think you eat bread in the states? wrong sir! you nibble on bread. we EAT bread here. every meal is carbs, carbs, carbs. getting a piece of meat at dinner is a rare treat for me. like yesterday at lunch: i had a pork chop that didnt look very good but i was excited because it was meat. the people here not only have a love affair with bread but with avocados, tomatoes, and salt as well. the families here can take a perfectly healthy meal (like a piece of bread with mashed avocado on it or a plate of sliced tomatoes) and then douse it in salt, making it terrifying to eat. but oh well, its eat or starve so i have learned to eat.
la ropa. i cant decide if i like the clothes here or not. i think im going to have to wait until summer hits so i can make a fully informed decision. but i am whole heartedly in love with the shoes here. all of the women wear boots. high heeled boots, flat boots, shiny boots, short boots, tall boots, boots boots boots. i have been searching and searching for that perfect pair and when i finally found a pair that i loved enough to consider buying but they didnt have my size...but the search will continue. because its winter the clothes are mostly dark. black coats, brown coats, long dark skirts, blue jeans, or dark colored business pants, everything seems serious. ordinarily i would hate this but because i go to school in a more metropolitan area then im used to this is ok. it makes me feel like im living in a big city, very similar to how new yorkers dress in the winter (well at least how they dress in the movies in the winter). but with that being said they also have amazing coats here. unfortunately i dont have to space in my luggage nor the money to buy a new one, so the black one i brought will have to do.
well thats it for now. i can´t think of any other cultural topics to think about and my fingers are starting to cramp up. if you have any suggestions about what to write or have any specific questions about anything let me know and i can talk about it in the next post.
chaopo!
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