Una mezcla

As an ex-English major and student of the 5-point paragraph, I feel like all of my blogs need to have some sort of theme. However, there are a lot of random anecdotes or thoughts that don’t quite fit any one topic, so here is my mixed-bag blog…so good-bye formal rules of writing, hello William Faulkner.

Chile is great. I love the food, I love the ocean, I love my family. But there are a few things that I do not love. One of those is street dogs, and the other is powdered coffee.
There are stray dogs everywhere. Usually they don’t do anything except follow you around. Alex has a theory about this: they are used to being treated well (even fed) by Americans, so when they hear English spoken, they follow. Thank you, Pavlov. Again, usually there aren’t any problems, but I’ve discovered a new shortcut to school; only problem is, there’s a very vocal street dog. He came up to me barking…and I was not about the challenge him. Was just getting ready to turn around when this old guy sticks his head out the window and tells me that the dog “Es muy carinoso.” The dog’s loving? And I can pass for Chilean. Did end up walking down the street, but feared for my life the entire time.

The street dogs can be entertaining, though…one time as we were sitting tranquilly at a table outside Café Enjoy, these two guys come running by, all red in the face and looking absolutely petrified, and a dog is running alongside them, barking the whole time. This whole motley group just runs on by, and all of the sudden one guy picks up a napkin dispenser and chucks it (at the dog, I think). Now, there are several interpretations of this event, and we were never actually sure who was chasing who…I thought the dog was going after the guys, but Jess thought that one guy was chasing the other and the dog was along for the ride.

Also, I miss real coffee, from Kokopelli Café or O’Connell’s especially. I brought coffee (thanks, Kim!) with me as a gift to my host family, but they only use it for special occasions or like as dessert because it’s so good. Most of the time, we have powdered coffee…and it is not the same. A Starbucks just opened up Friday…and all of us gringos were there. I was all ready to get my drip coffee with hazelnut…but they didn’t have any the first day. Today was miraculous, though--Mama brewed some of the Olympia Coffee Roasters blend after dessert…I was seriously on Cloud 9.

Last week, I got on a kick of pretending I didn’t speak English. The thing is, you can spot a gringo from a mile away here…but sometimes we get tired of people approaching us and speaking in English. Jess, Lori, Alex, and I were wandering around Valpo discussing what other language we could pretend to speak and actually maybe get away with, and settled on German. Not more than a few minutes later, this guy comes over and asks me if I speak English…without thinking, I say “Spreken ze deutsch” (which clearly I do not—have no idea how to spell it). I was so surprised when the words left my mouth—I was not planning on actually doing it, but because we’d just talked about it, that was the only phrase I could think of. The beautiful thing was, the guy left us alone, despite the fact that Jess told me it was the worst German accent she’s heard. Thrilled with this success, when some British creeper (he stood—but did not dance—right next to us, and he and his friend would try taking pictures with us every once in a while—with no pretension of subtlety) in the club tried talking to me in English and asked me if I was from the States, I just shrugged, looked confused, and kept responding, “Que??” (What?) He looked really frustrated but it was really rather entertaining for me.

Overall, my sentiment right now is that I am completely spoiled in Chile—life is really good and I’m loving it. I am incredibly blessed to be experiencing all of this. I’ve gotten to do a lot of really cool things, have eaten some amazing food, and have developed some great friendships really quickly. A group of us had an American Binge night on Friday, commemorating our 4th week here (yes, it’s been over a month!) and as I looked around the room, I realized that I did not know most of the people very well (and some not at all) before I left, and yet we all act as if we’ve been friends for so long. The group is wonderful overall, and for the most part, everyone really gets along and takes care of each other. I’ve also been fortunate with my family. Octavio has been visiting Pamela in the South, so Mama Cecilia and I have had a lot of one-on-one time lately, which has been really great. She told me yesterday that I’m like one of the family now, which means a lot to me.

Well, it’s getting late, so I should turn in for the night. This past week has been my favorite week in Vina so far, and I’ll have to recount the highlights soon. But for now, Buenas noches! Chao (most people don’t spell it “ciao” here), un besito!

Current soundtrack to mi vida Chilena: Manos al Aire--Nelly Furtado. Escuchala (listen to it)