Una confesión

Primero que todo, un "disclaimer"...trabajé 14 horas hoy día así que estoy un poco cansada, y si mi castellano no es perfecto, es solamente por eso....jajaja. Broma. Si mi castellano no es perfecto, es porque no lo es no más. Pero sí es cierto que he trabajado mucho hoy, así que puede que ande peor que lo normal. 

Bueno, tengo que confesarles algo. Aunque vivo en Chile, siento a veces que hablo inglés mucho más que debería. Bueno, hablo castellano la gran mayoría del tiempo cuando estoy en el trabajo, pero mi jefa también habla inglés, así que si de repente no sé una palabra, o si estoy cansada, puedo decir cosas en inglés y me entiende. Además como la casa central de nuestra organización está en EEUU, tengo que enviar muchos mails en inglés, además de hacer traducciones al inglés y cosas por el estilo.

Segundo, la mayoría de mis amigos acá son gringos, y hablamos inglés, obviamente, porque es más facíl y creo que sería ridículo si hablaramos castellano.

Obviamente también tengo amigos chilenos, y con ellos hablo castellano. También cuando he estado pololeando, hablo castellano con mi pololo.

Con Charlie hablo (obviamente hablo con mi gato, no me juzguen) 100% Spanglish. A veces mezclo los dos idiomas en la misma frase. Charlie es un gato bilingüe, experto en Spanglish.

Sin embargo, hoy día llegaron los nuevos estudiantes de EEUU. Como recién han llegado, tengo que hablar con ellos solamente en castellano para que se vayan acostumbrandose al idioma. O sea, se supone que durante todo el semestre tengo que hablar con ellos en castellano, así que mejor todavía que se acostumbran al tiro.

Entonces hoy día, desde las 8:00 hasta las 22:00, hablé puro castellano. Creo que dije como dos palabras en inglés todo el día. Y esto es raro para mí. Porque incluso si no hablo inglés acá en Chile, hablo a menudo con mis padres o hermanos o amigos en EEUU. Pero hoy día no. 100% castellano.

Es raro que uno viva en un país hispanoparlante y pasa mucho tiempo hablando inglés. O sea, menos mal que ya no soy profesora de inglés, porque ahí sí hablé inglés incluso mucho más que ahora.

Decidí  hace dos minutos (mientras escribía este post) que este año voy a intentar de hablar casetllano mucho más que actualmente hablo. Tengo que aprovechar que vivo en un país hispanohablante, y no andar todo el día hablando inglés. Y esto siginfica que voy a hacer más posts en castellano también. ¿Les parece?

Reasons to move to Chile

So far this week, two people have written to me asking for advice about moving to Chile. Since I believe that things happen in threes, I'm anticipating the third and writing this blog post.

When I decided to move to Chile, I didn't ask anyone anything. I just decided. Then I did it.

Looking back, this probably wasn't the best way to go about it. Granted, everything has worked out for the best, but I now truly believe that people shouldn't make such big decisions without thinking it over first and making sure it's the right decision. That being said, if you're moving here for love, that's a different story. I have my opinions about that as well but I'll just keep them to myself for the time being.

So, why should you move to Chile, specifically, Santiago?

One of my favorite classes

If your life dream has been to teach English, then by all means, come on down. There are a plethora of English teaching jobs available. See my FAQ section or these posts for more info.

If you love speaking Spanish and want to improve. Or, if you want to learn. I personally did not learn Spanish here in Chile (that happened in El Salvador) but I know plenty of people who have. There are lots of language schools in Santiago. Chilean Spanish can be tricky, but it's by no means impossible. I caught on (with a significant background in Spanish) in about a month or so. Of course, I'm constantly learning new chileanismos (like this one), even today.

If you can telecommute or work from home, Chile is a great place to live, because it's less expensive. Rent is significantly cheaper in Chile than in most places in the U.S. If you live in Santiago, there's no need for a car. You can literally get almost anywhere in the country by bus. It's pretty amazing. Some things are more expensive or the same, but overall, I live much simply and cheaper here in Santiago than I would in the U.S.

The sobremesa is one of my most favorite of Chilean traditions. It's when you sit around and talk after a meal, sometimes for hours. At my host family's house, this often includes music and singing.

If you'd like to live a slower-paced life, with long weekend lunches, lazy Sunday afternoons, and a looser concept of time, then Chile is great. This is probably the thing that has been the hardest for me to adapt to (I can be a bit impatient) but it has taught me to relax and enjoy life more.

Lota, a city in the south of Chile, near Concepción, which I think looks very "Chilean".

 If you're open minded and willing to learn about a new culture, Chile will welcome you with open arms. It's different from the U.S., but not so different that everything is 100% foreign. Parts of Santiago look so much like a U.S. city that sometimes I forget that I'm in a foreign country. But then again, there are many more parts that are 100% Chilean. Also, as a rule Chileans have a good attitude towards people from North America and Europe. There's little anti-U.S. sentiment that I've felt in other countries. (On the other side of the coin, Chileans can be very prejudiced against their South American neighbors, especially Bolivians and Peruvians, but that is for another post).

So I hope these help anyone contemplating a move to Chile. Stay tuned for future posts on the subject!

I miss these girls...

Lovely R., who lives in New Mexico and is a kick-ass geologist.

D. and E.L., both in grad school for sciency things (astrophysics and oceanography, I think). And E.L. is getting married in May!

E.R., my pretty friend who teaches English in the Mother Land and will hold your hand all through stressful episodes of Gray's Anatomy.

Me, K and S, roomies senior year!

Me and A.T., roomies freshmen and sophomore year. So close they called us "Abya" :)

Don't get me wrong, I've made lots of great friends in Chile who I wouldn't give up for the world, but sometimes, man, I miss these girls. Ever since freshmen year (well, almost, S. joined later) we were a tight group that stuck together. To my Drummond girls, plus additions, I miss you!

A Weekend at the Zoo

You may think I went to Buin Zoo this weekend, because I did, in fact go to Buin, but we skipped the zoo.

The zoo, my dear readers, was in my apartment.

So here's my Valentines Day gift to you. Cute animals. Enjoy.



Song is At the Zoo by Simon and Garfunkle

Chilean Word Play

Eileen at Bearshapedsphere once posted on how Chileans soften their swear words, replacing them with words that sound similar. Margaret recently updated her Chilenismos Glossary over at Cachando Chile. These two things inspired this post.


Chileans are good at replacing words that sound the same. For example, there is the infamous: "Y Boston?" or "Y Bosnia?" No, nobodys concerned about geography here, they just want to know about you. See, the informal version of tú here in Chile is vos (or really pronounced voh). So if you say "Y voh?" it means, "And you?" So to be clever, you can elongate this into "Y Boston?" or "Y Bosnia?" because in Spanish, the v and b are practically the same sound.

Another one my boss likes to use is "Como le baila?" which would roughly translate into "How do you dance?" But really, she just wants to know how you're doing. The correct phrase would be "Como le va?" which is the polite way of asking "How's it going?"


Here are some others that I've heard around town.

Serapio: this comes from the phrase "Será, po," which is Chilean (or Spanish, without the po) for a resigned "I guess that's the way it will be." Apio is celery.

"Veronica, mi amor, perdóname, pero no voy a poder ir a almorzar donde tus padres hoy día." (Veronica, my love, I'm sorry but I can't eat lunch at your parents' house today.)
"Bueno, serapio." (Okay, I guess that's how it is.)

De todas mangueras: This comes from the common phrase "De todas maneras", which means "By all means". A manguera is a garden hose.

"Juan, vai a venir a mi cumple?" (Juan, are you coming to my birthday party?)
"De todas mangueras, compa're" (Of course I am, man)

Por si las moscas: Moscas are flies, but this phrase means "Just in case" or "By the way" from the Spanish phrase "Por si acaso" (Which Margaret points out is often shortened to porsiaca and I've even heard porsi.)


"Susana, puedes revisar el base de datos de nuevo, por si las moscas" (Susana, can you check the data base again, just in case)
"Claro, jefa." (Sure thing, boss)


Nos Belmont: Belmont* is one of the most popular brands of cigarettes here in Chile. This phrase is derived from "Nos vemos", which is "See you later."

"Claudia, me voy." (Claudia, I'm leaving)
"Ya, nos belmont!" (Okay, see you later!)

Lenteja: This comes from the word lenta or lento, meaning slow. Lentejas are lentils.

"Vicente, ¿querí ir a almorzar en la Picola Italia?" (Vincent, wanna have lunch at the Picola Italia?"
"No, weon, son medio lentejas allá...vamos mejor al Dominó." (No, dude, they're kind of slow over there...let's go to Dominó instead.)


*Unfortunately, to many Chileans "Vermont" sounds like "Belmont" so when they ask where I'm from, they sometimes ask "You mean, like the cigarettes?" No, ew, gross.

The Break-up Scene

"Knowing me, knowing you
There is nothing we can do
Knowing me, knowing you
We just have to face it; this time we're through
Breaking up is not easy to do, but I have to go
Knowing me, knowing you
It's the best I can do"

-Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson

I guess I should start off this post with a couple of confessions. Number one: I heart Abba. A lot. Number two: I often imagine my life as a movie. I think about what genre it would be: romantic comedy, drama, musical, action (probably not), documentary (only if i become famous). I conjure up the background music, I try to decide which scenes would be edited out, and choose which actors would play me and the other people in my life. I like to think that I haven't reached the climax yet.

A few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to break up with Jack. It actually wasn't a difficult decision, it suddenly became very clear to me that this was the best option, for many reasons. Actually carrying it out, however, was the difficult part. I realized that I had never broken up with a guy in person before. Extenuating circumstances, as in I was in Chile and didn't have the money or time for a plane ticket, lead to a breakup over Skype with my Salvadoran boyfriend in 2007. It was only the second time that I actually did the breaking up, and it wasn't a mutual agreement.

I thought about what to say. I practiced out loud. I ran it by my friends, both guys and girls. I expressed that it would just be easier for me to say "I want to break up. The end," without giving any reasons. My guy friend advised that this was not a good idea.

So I did it. It was unpleasant, but not horrendous.

Then a few days later I was listening to some music, in the middle of a cleaning frenzy in my apartment, and the song quoted above came on. And I knew, that if my life were made into a musical, that this would be the perfect song for the break up scene of a few weeks ago.

I've been listening to the song a lot since then (after all, it is Abba, and extremely catchy). It's a bit strange, because it's not entirely pleasant to re-visit a break up scene over and over. But I think it's somehow comforting knowing that Abba knew exactly how I was feeling about this break-up. It's not because we hated each other, it's just that we are too different to make it work.

And who knows, maybe down the road, as my life unfolds, this scene won't even make it into the final cut.

Subconcious memories of childhood

Photo courtesy ianturton on flickr

When I was little, I don't remember exactly how old, my grandfather bought me a Jersey calf for my birthday. I remember we were at a cow auction and he told me to pick out a calf. I think he was hoping I'd pick a Holstein (the breed that my family's farm raises), but I thought Jerseys were cuter. I named her Kim, after my baby sitter.

I don't really know what happened to Kim...I think she grew up and didn't produce enough milk and so was sold for beef. Sounds sad, but when I was little I pretty much accepted this as the way things work on a dairy farm. Because she was technically mine, I got the money from her sale and went with my grandfather to buy another jersey calf. This one I named Ariel (after The Little Mermaid, duh!).

I kept Ariel (and maybe Kim too, I don't remember) in my garage and bottle fed her morning and night. When she got older she was moved over to the calf barn. That summer, I showed her in the Washington County Field Days and got Reserve Champion. I'm not quite sure how because neither my parents nor I really knew what we were doing, and even forgot the requisite white clothes. Ariel must have had good conformation and it didn't so much matter that a clueless six year old was leading her around the ring. After that, I figured I'd get out while the going was good, and never showed again.

Ariel then moved into the big barn with the rest of the herd. She even had a calf (it was a bull, which means it was automatically shipped off on the beef truck...again, this didn't cause me grief as a child). However, she got chronic mastitis and she too took a trip down the road.

The point of all this? I haven't though of Kim or Ariel for YEARS. However, the other night I had a dream that I was an international wine smuggler that brought liters and liters of wine into the U.S.. It was quite the lucrative trade, apparently. I had millions of dollars (in pesos chilenos) on my person and was for some reason obsessed with counting it. I stored the wine that I smuggled in my garage. The same garage where I bottle fed Ariel. And there she was in my dream, happily munching on some hay in the corner, surrounded by cases of wine.

I'm not really into interpreting my dreams, mostly because I have REALLY strange, vivid dreams all the time, so probably the interpretation would be something like: Abby, you're a crazy person. But I do wonder what makes our sub-conscious remember things like this, memories from so many years ago, and mix them with our current reality (not that I'm a wine smuggler, but you get the picture).

In case you forgot I had a cat...

Charlie has superior taste for most things. I recently switched him from kitten food to adult food. So the change wouldn't be so brusque, I at first mixed the two together. He refused to eat the kitten food and only picked out the bigger adult food chunks, as if to say, that other stuff? It's for babies.

His superior taste also applies to cat treats...




P.S. This is my very first attempt at editing any type of video. I just used Windows Movie Maker, so I apologize for its rudimentary nature. However, I had a pretty good time doing it!

On Networking

Last night Eileen invited me to the Santiago Travel Tweetup, and on a whim I decided to go, considering it was close by and I had nothing else to do. Besides, I like hanging out with Eileen and it beat studying for the GRE (see, even without Facebook I find ways to distract myself!)

Turns out, it was a good time, and I got some good contacts for work.

But man, being with lots of people tires me out. If I wasn't already convinced before, I now know that I'm truly an introvert.

And I don't really like networking.

See, deep down, I'm a shy person. I always find it awkward to just go up to people and ask what they do, why they are there, etc. However, I soon realized, that because of my line of work, I wold mostly be the customer for all of these travel businesses. I mean, I guess I could promote this little blog, but honestly, that doesn't really interest me. I have this blog because I like it, not because I'm counting the number of page views or trying to get ad revenue.

Anyway, once I figured out that most people there needed to be "selling" me something, it was easier. And I gave away a ton of my beautiful business cards. And then my feet were tired and I came home.

Now I've had my fill of people for at least a week, so if you don't see me for awhile, you know why. ;)