Week 6

This week was an incredibly uneventful week: no fun trips, no exciting events; nothing really. Thus, I will sum up my week fairly quickly, and then talk about a few cultural things I've noticed in Chile. All pictures are from previous weeks, but are super pretty and ones I didn't put into this blog earlier.

Wednesday I had my first test with Sociology. While it was extremely difficult to do an essay test in Spanish, I knew all the material, so answering the questions themselves wasn't too hard. I just hope my professors have the patience to read my awful grammer! (They both know that I'm an exchange student, and even gave me the aid of a Spanish-English dictionary on the test.)

Thursday I met with my tandem (intercambio) partner again. He told me about a whole variety of things, including the educational system in Chile and that, apparently, avocados grow on trees! (Honestly didn't know that: he laughed at me for this lack of knowledge, which is apparently fairly universal in Chile.)

That's pretty much it for outstanding events of the week. If you're interested in some Chilean fun-facts and culture, continue reading! (However if you just read to see what I do, the next part isn't so much for you.)


A dictionary of 'Chileanismos':
pololo(a)=boyfriend/girlfriend
bakan=cool!
pacos=police
¿cachai?=understand?
choqulo=corn
Cueca=national dance of Chile
micro=public transportation busses around the city
palta=avocado
Que fome=that's boring
carretear= to go out (drinking, dancing, etc)
manjar=dulce de leche
flaite=creepy/sketchy
joto=a guy who is a 'player'
mino/mina=an attractive

Semana Santa is the week leading up to Easter. Since the country is 6_% Catholic, kids get out of high school early, universities cancel classes, and people stay home from work on the Thursday and Friday leading up to Easter. Unfortunately, this also means that everything is closed, which is a really strange feeling: you can be walking through downtown Santiago and there are very few people, and almost all the stores are closed. While this is a nice change, it makes it hard to go places! It reminded me of the week before the end of summer vacation for the Chileans: the streets were far more empty, and you could actually get places in the morning. With the start of the school year a ton of cars came out of no-where, and traffic got horrible! It was a really stark contrast.

As you may know, Chileans greet each-other with a kiss to the cheek if one of the parties is a female, and usually a shake/hug if the greeting is between two males. My first time experiencing this greeting was with my host siblings, upon my arrival. Although it wasn't unpleasant, I certainly wasn't expecting to get kissed by total strangers, and was luckily able to override my reflex to duck out of the way! However, I have come to enjoy this custom, as I feel it brings people closer together through the physical contact. The one aspect I'll never be totally comfortable with though is the kiss (on the cheek) of total strangers. I may be talking with a Chilean friend and their amiga comes up: she kisses them, and to be courteous, kisses me as well. I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that I've been kissed by a total stranger, whose name I don't know, and who I'll probably never see again.

 Fun fact: in Chile it's illegal to buy, sell, or consume marijuana. However, if a carabinero catches you on the street with an amount less than 3grams, you can say that you are taking it to your house, and they cannot legally fine/incarcerate you for it!

That's all I have off the top of my head, but if you have questions about Chilean culture and traditions, please don't hesitate to contact me, as I'd love to talk to you about it! As always, thanks for reading my blog, and make sure you look for next week's installment!