meomayo: amigos

Now for an explanation of a few of my favorite people I have met so far here in Chile (I hope they don´t mind):

One of the first people I met when I moved into my building was an upper middle-aged man who works at the desk downstairs named Marco, which I later found out means frame in spanish. He´s a pretty average sized Chilean man (whatever that means), wears round metal framed glasses, is missing a few crucial lower teeth (not sure how that works out for him), delights in asking all my gringo friends for their Chilean identity cards and recently shaved off the small amount of hair that served no purpose on his head. I am convinced that Marco is friends with everyone who lives in my large apartment complex, he greets every single person that walks by, regardless of their age, and is usually chatting with someone. He decided from day one that he would take on the responsibility of teaching me Castellano (Spanish) and makes sure that I don´t sneak by his enclosed desk (it´s kind of like those parking lot kiosk desk box structures where you pay as you leave) without at least saying hello.

Additionally, he´s usually the one to give me any mail or packages I receive. Here´s how that goes down: 1) I greet him hello and ask how he´s doing as usual 2)he fails to give his usual response 3)he gives me a sly look and beckons me forth with the careful motion of his index finger 4)he pulls out the letter or package and asks me for my full name, as if he doesn´t know 5) I respond and receive the delivery, walk away excited and distracted by my north american correspondence.

Like most Chileans I´ve encountered, he is always concerned when I walk around the city in my Rainbow sandals. He additionally makes sure I bring a jacket with me, just like a true..grandparent I guess. Marco believes it´s his responsibility to make sure I´m prepared for the weather and that I´m healthy (after I had food poisoning awhile ago). I appreciate his consistent concern for my wellbeing and value the time I spend talking to him.



I can actually say that I have one real Chilean friend (someone who I don´t just talk to in class and isn´t one of my apartmentmates). This is desirable for every wandering exchange student. His name is Manu, which is short for Manuel, and he´s my partner in this language exchange program that he started with a friend a few years ago. They´re a group of English Literature students that partner exchange students with Chileans from the University of Chile English Literature department to facilitate the practice of speaking both English (for the Chileans) and Spanish (for the exchange students), they call it ¨Programa Tandem: intercambio de idiomas.¨ These Chilean students take all of their classes here in English, and are actually taught British English rather than American...which often adds extra entertainment to the conversations. This is helping me to slowly improve my Spanish and actually learn more about British English. Basically, we meet up once a week to hang out and try to speak Spanish for one half of the time and English the other. We typically both get hungry and end up finding a place to eat. One of the most exciting things for me to find out was that he is also vegetarian, more uncommon here than at home, and knows how to cook everything! We have yet to have a dull conversation…and he will probably read this eventually (hola Manu, que estés bien)



I should explain that I found out about this tandem program via another exchange student, originally from northern California, named Katrina. She was hosted by my Chilean family before me, returned to the US after last semester and then decided to come back to study in Chile for another six months. One morning (months ago, while I was living with my host family) I sat down at the kitchen table to eat my typical oatmeal breakfast and noticed an unfamiliar girl around my age rocking the baby (Coco) in her arms. I was confused because she definitely did not look like a Chilean family member but I was also tired and continued eating my oatmeal without questioning her presence. After passing the baby on to someone else, she came to the table and introduced herself. We soon found out that we share a lot more than our name. From extremely similar majors and life interests to family parallels, we sat in awe and decided there is a unique twin like connection between us. Not only did she inform me of the program at this time, but later wisely paired me with my partner.

There is not much for me to complain about here, life is good. Although I do still get homesick at times, when I´m not running around the city, so I appreciate communication from..wherever you may be reading this:)
 



note: Obviously, I´m not all about the consistent blogging. If this bothers any of my dear readers then leave me threatening comments and that may or may not increase my frequency of publishing entries.



besos y abrazos fuertes!