Bye Bye Mall

Well, our mall burned down today. It is the one mall in town. The one movie theater in town. It is probably the biggest entertainment place in all of Conce and 1/3 of it burned down today. I am not sure what caused it but it's not good. Luckily the fire started during the night so I do not think any one was injured and they seem to have gotten it under control.


I realized something was going on when I was on my run this morning and I saw helicopters flying around in our area with those big water carrier things. I kept watching them go back and forth and could not figure out what they were doing. When I got home I looked at the news and saw what was happening. Bye bye mall.


Now they are saying it will be closed down for 3 months because even though it did not all burn I'm sure all of it has smoke damage and will need to be cleaned and repaired. There are going to be a lot of bored people in this town.

Speaking Chileano

So in Chile you have Spanish and you have Chileano. Chileans love to talk about how poorly they speak, how hard to understand they are and how much slang, catch-phrases and sayings they have. I know other Latin American countries claim to have a lot of this as well but when they come to Chile they realize how much more we have here. As you can imagine, this makes learning the language a little more difficult but get a Chilean talking about their sayings and they can go on and on and think its hilarious when a gringo uses them.

There are a number of common ones that even I pick up on and have heard since being here. Things such as:

Cachai = "understand?" or "get it?"
Como estai? = como estas? = how are you?
Ma o meno = mas o menos = more or less
Huevón = dude
Al tiro = right now
Po = they put this at the end of words, mainly after si and no which really has no significance other than its what they do in Chile.

So, the list could go on. One of my teammates actually has a book called Chilenismos. While hanging out with some friends the other day I heard two new ones that I thought were funny and worth sharing. One is they will call romantic music "musica cebolla." Cebolla means onion. Onions make you cry. Chacai? Get it? Haha. I like that one.

A second one that I learned is "andar a lo gringo." Gringo is the term they use for pretty much any foreigner and it is not derogatory here as it is in some places. Andar means to walk or to go about so basically, "to go/walk gringo style." What does this actually mean you ask? Strangely enough, it means to go commando. That's right, and even Wikipedia mentions this.

Now my Chilean friends said that the meaning comes from one place but I read in another site that the term came about when a poor man from the country, who had never seen a person from the city before, came across a gringo who was wearing cotton underwear. The poor guy only used wool underwear, and he was so fascinated that he and his friend stole the gringo's underwear and for the rest of the time, the gringo had to go without.

My Chilean friends said that it is because whenever you watch movies from the US and someone gets out of bed while having nothing on, they will put their jeans without putting any undergarments on so they are going commando. They associate this with us and so came about the term.

I have no idea which story is true, probably both, but it is quite funny. They actually think that is something most of us do on a regular basis!

It's never boring around here!

Success

Even though I completely failed, I still had a great success. If you remember, my gas stove is fueled by a gas tank in the storage shed with a hole drilled through the kitchen wall to connect them. I have been using the same tank since I got it but have been waiting for the day that it would run out. I thought that day was a few months ago, but since there really is no way to know for sure until it actually runs out, every time I went to bake something I would just hope that it would make it through one more use. I recently decided that it may not be completely out but it must be close.

To get a new tank you have to call the company and they deliver one to your house and change it out for you. I thought, ok, I can do this, no problem. Then the questions started. "What type of gas is it?" "How big of a tank is it?" "Is it a tank or a canister?" Ummmm.... Well, I had no idea what the answers were to these questions so I just took a guess. Turns out I guess wrong on all of it. Luckily, they carry with them all types of gas, tanks, canisters and sizes so when I showed them what I had they just switched it out and gave me what I needed.

I asked the guy "how do I know when it's empty" and he (thinking I'm and idiot I'm sure) was like, "See, this new one is heavy, and this old one isn't. That's how you know." Haha. Before they left I had them tell me exactly what I had (15,ooo kg canister) and wrote it down and taped it to the new one. That way, 8 months from now when I forget again, I will be able to order it correctly. So, even though I totally failed it still worked out just fine. Now I can cook again without fear!

In case you forgot, this is what I'm talking about

Summer Time

Summer time in Concepcion is marvelous! I just love it to pieces. The sun shines almost every day and it is warm but not hot. People here think it's hot but they have never been to Houston so they don't really know. I love it because I get to give my winter clothes a break and wear my skirts and tank tops for a while. I love it because most people are on vacation so they are either super chill hanging around town or they have left town, making things more chill for the rest of us. And, I love it because of all the wonderful fruits that all the stores and street vendors have. Yum!

A favorite summer time activity is to go to the beach and there are plenty to visit. If I tell one Chilean which beaches I have been to they tell me "oh, no, you need to go to such-and-such playa" and if I go to such-and-such playa the people there tell me I gotta visit another one. It is never ending and I have to say, I don't mind following those orders.

I had a fun beach trip the other day with Chad, Sara and some of my neighbors. They have the most precious little girls and we had a blast hanging out with them at the beach for a day. This beach was beautiful and the most alive I have ever seen a beach. There were little critters everywhere including sea urchins, star fish, crabs, other things that look like crabs but I was assured they were something else, and tons of other unidentifiable sea creatures that people were collecting to take home and eat!

I attempted to get in the water a few times but it was unbearable for me. That is the coldest ocean I have ever felt and it is not warmed up in the summer. Some people were swimming but I do not know how. The only thing I can imagine is that their bodies went numb and they couldn't feel any more.

I can't say it enough. I love summer time and I do not want it to end. Ever.

Skype

Aren't my friends beautiful

I know we all know how amazing Skype is but I just gotta share what a blessing it is in my life sometimes. You see, my BFF is getting married in a few weeks and I am blessed to be her Maid of Honor and actually be at the wedding. Unfortunately, I don't really get to be a part of all the other activities leading up to her wedding, but I get to be there and that is what is most important.

I did however get to be a little part of her shower that my wonderful mother had at her house (stepping in for me in my absence). I hear it was a wild and fun time and I got to Skype in for a few minutes to say hey to everyone. They passed around the computer and even took their picture with me. I think the picture is hilarious! I wish I could have been there for all of it and more but I cannot wait to be there for the wedding. How wonderful that I get to come home for a little vacation to celebrate with my BFF and see my family and friends as well. I am so blessed.