TreesYes, I put my Christmas tree up....on October 24th to be exact. Be a Scrooge if you must, but you will not squelch my Christmas joy! I now will have over 2 full months to enjoy the twinkling lights, romantic glow, and general Christmas cheer. TripsThe last weekend in October included a two-day extension of fun because both Monday and Tuesday were national holidays in Chile! (Oct. 31: Evangelical Church Day / Nov. 1: All Saints Day) The weekend quickly got packed with fun activities! Check them out here: 1) Mountain School Visit Tucked away up in the mountains way beyond the city of Longaví is a place called Loma de Vásquez {lo-ma-day-vahz-kez}. Along the dirt road you will find a small school for the children who live "nearby". There are 11 students from 1st to 6th grade who will greet you with warm smiles and send you off with hugs and a smile. Something that makes this primary school special is that because most of them live too far to travel every day, there is a dormitory where they stay during the week. We were honored to be received there as guests...and I am considering putting in my application! ;-) You can see more pictures and read more about our visit on Jon & Elise's blog post HERE...and as you may have guessed, Jon made a video about the trip and it is posted below. Enjoy! 2) Beach For Saturday, some church members organized a bus to take a trip to the beach! We had a great group and I had lots of fun flying my kite, building sand castles, relaxing, and having great conversations! 3) To the mountains again! Monday a group of 13 friends (and friends of friends) got together to explore the beauty of the Andes. Our destinations included: a border crossing with Argentina, Laguna del Maule, and the Inverted Waterfall. (And we saw another amazing bonus waterfall on our way to the inverted!) Yes, you read that correctly...an inverted waterfall! The wind that blows is so strong that it pushes the water right back up, producing a really cool effect! Another name for the waterfall is "Rainbow Falls"...but unfortunately it was too cloudy, so I guess we'll have to go back another day! HERE is a link to lots more fun pictures! TortillaWhen you ask for a tortilla in Chile, you will NOT get either of these: In Chile, the word tortilla is used for a delicious bread that is popular especially during the cold winter months. This dense bread's full name is Tortilla al rescoldo {tor-tee-ah-all-race-cold-oh} and it is traditionally baked in ashes. For those of you visual learners, here is a neat 2-minute video showing the whole process! (If you're feeling short on time or patience, fast-forward to about 1:30!) But, now to the REAL reason that I want to tell you about tortilla: This cute little guy showed up on the streets of our neighborhood a few weeks ago. I decided to name him Tortilla both because I love the food and he kind of has that coloring. Tortilla follows us to the park nearly every day and plays with Choripan. He is a sweet doggie, is always smiling, and loves to chase Choripan around. The other day he waited at the bus stop with me and sometimes he accompanies me when I walk downtown. It makes me so sad to think that someone tossed him out of their house but thankfully someone in the neighborhood puts food and water out for him every day. Does anybody want to come to Chile and adopt him? TeethI had been having a metallic-ish taste in my mouth for about a week, so this past Thursday I went in to the dentist to get it checked out. I found out that part of one of my wisdom teeth was infected and basically falling apart. The lovely Dr. Sandra asked if I wanted her to take it out right away and so I said "Sure, why not?" Neither of us realized that it would take an hour and a half and a large stack of nearly every tool in her office to accomplish the task. The tooth was so far back and only half there that it was hard for her to grab onto. We bonded over the pain, tears, sweat, blood, saliva, and laughter and now I feel like we are pretty much besties for life.
But aside from making a new friend, do you wanna know what the best part is? It only cost 40,000 Chilean Pesos = $60 USD (and without going through any insurance)! I would leave a picture of the event here...but since I am trying to keep the blog child-friendly, here's a picture of a happy tooth:
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If you have studied Spanish, you've learned that:
This is also a pololo...a bug that appears in Chile in spring. I've been told that the word pololo started to be used because it is a metaphor for the boyfriends always hanging around their girlfriends, just like these bugs around fruit. While walking in the park with my puppy this afternoon, I found a pololo stuck in my hair. I took a picture because I thought the story about the use of the word pololo would make a good blog post...
And right after I got done taking that picture....my dog ate my pololo. #truestory # mylife One of the questions I was sure to hear on a daily basis at school: “¿Tienes confort?” “All of these truths we hold to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and toilet paper in public places.” Well, I never was the best at history. However, growing up in the USA one might never think twice about if there will be toilet paper before entering a public bathroom. In fact, I don’t think it is too much to say that it is nearly a social crime to not provide your patrons with a sufficient supply of "decent" toilet paper. I am going to guess that you most likely have either had and/or overheard a conversation much like the following: A: "Can you believe that they still don't have any toilet paper in there?" B: "Uh, I know, so ridiculous. And when they do it is only 1-ply...ug." A: "1-ply? Puh-lease. You mean half-ply?" B: "Mmmmmhhhhhmmmm. True dat." Let’s go back to: “¿Tienes confort?” {tee-en-ehs-cone-fort} Did you figure out what it means yet? Maybe this picture will help: The word Confort could be compared to the USA’s usage of Kleenex…a name brand turned common term. Confort is also a Chileanism so you can imagine my confusion at first when asked this question…wait, do you want to know if I’m comfortable? A confier? Do I have a conifer tree? Is that a way to say gum here in Chile? After a few gestures it became known that the conversation was about toilet paper. Do you have toilet paper? Ahhh, sí…that makes so much more sense…. Something I have learned while traveling and living in other countries is that toilet paper is not a requirement, but rather a luxury…many places do not provide toilet paper so it is safest to always carry a roll with you, or, at the very least, a package of tissues. In conclusion"¿Tienes confort?" can be translated to standard English "Do you have toilet paper?" and if you also speak Seinfeldease you might say "Do you have a square to spare?" Oh, and while we're on the topic, don't flush your confort here. Bathroom wastebins get much more use in Latin America and other places in the world versus the USA. But fear not! If you're traveling and not sure if your used paper should go in the bowl or the bin, someone has taken the time to save you from a potentially awkward social situation: www.wheredoiputthepaper.com. (Not only a practical website, but quite entertaining as well.) A new ley {lay} went into effect in Chile on January 1, 2016. The law states that you must have in your car a reflective vest and you must wear it if stepping out of your auto {ow-toe} while in traffic. Not complying with this law could result in una multa {oo-nah-mool-tah} of between 10,000 and 22,000 pesos (USD$14-$30). There are, of course, many different opiniones {oh-pin-ee-oh-neys} about this new law...but my goal here of this blog is actually a Spanish lesson! Even if you don't know much Spanish, I think you could easily determine what this sign says! Give it a try! Easy...right?
And now, click HERE to practice your Chilean Spanish listening ability with this newscast. A few weeks ago our entire school had a “muestra” in the plaza. Each subject area showed off work done by the students relating to their studies. For part of the English department's area, I taught a class two children’s songs and showed the videos: “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” & “Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes”. If you read my previous post about school, you may remember that “3D” {pronounced in Spanish: ter-ser-oh-day} is a “párvula” class that is studying specifically to be nursery school workers, so children’s songs were something fun and interesting for them to sing! They also shared with me a few typical children’s songs so that I could share them with you! Warning: Only watch these videos if you are ready for uber cuteness. Araña Arañita
Al son del cocodrilo
Yo tengo una casita
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