Walk the walk

So, does my walk give me away? Maybe it’s my “I’m trying too hard to look like I fit in” swagger, or my “please don’t ask me anything” walk, but I can tell by their eyes that they know that I don’t belong here. Oh yes, they know.

The woman at the grocery store certainly knows. She asked me “darle una fombra porquisiera dromiera juntores buioas por cuoers hoita mierles parate?” (or something like that) to which I intelligently replied “huh?”

I try to hide the fact that I’m a fish out of water by using all the Spanish I know and answering questions whenever possible. The taxi driver asked me if I want to go to the mall in Providencia or the mall in Las Condes and I answered “si”. Now he knows. The Starbucks guy found out when he asked if I wanted my coffee to go and I said “the strawberry one, please”.

But no one is rude. (At least, I don’t think they are, but who knows since I can’t understand them). They could be saying “those poor gringos, they could use some help”, or maybe “I wish those idiots would go back to where they came from”. But most likely, it’s along the lines of “I hope that American woman doesn’t trip over the sidewalk strutting down the street that way”.

Sisma

Apartment hunting

We feel so brave. Yesterday we bagged the real estate agent and randomly walked into apartment buildings and asked the doormen (in spanish) if they knew of rentals available. Sometimes they did, and we’d get to see the apartments giving us a better feeling for what’s available. Yes or no, we were always answered with a smile. I would simply say:

“Hola. Estoy buscando para un departamento para arrienda. Hay uno en este edificio?”

(Which could mean: “Bite me. I’m a burlesque dancer with the state department. Can I eat hay in your office?” This would explain the smiles.)

Chilean Spanish is, well, interesting. Its different than Mexican Spanish. Chileans speak very fast and drop off all “s”’s and the ends of words. They also randomly omit many hard consonants and any words they deem unnecessary. While the written language looks longer than English, you can actually have a whole conversation in just a few seconds. Take, for instance, a simple greeting:

“Hola. Buenos dias. Como esta usted?” (Hello. Good day. How are you?)

…now drop all “s”’s

“Hola, bueno dia. Como eta Uted”

…all unnecessary words

“Bueno dia. Como eta?”

…a few random hard consonants

“ueo ia, omo eta?”

…then run it all together as fast as you can

“ueoia omoeta?

…and you have your morning greeting.

A few other modified phrases:
Hasta Luego = lego
Mucho gusto = mu uso
Con permiso, permitame para usar el bano. Es un emergencia. = o


Now, isn’t that just fabulous.


Well, the maid should be here soon (we’re in an apart/ hotel). She keeps picking up our stuff. The other day she hid my hair dryer under the sink, folded my blue jeans, and put the dishes in the cupboard. It’s really annoying.

adio (which in Chilean means “Good bye, I’ll miss you and can’t wait to see you again soon),

Sisma Gringa

Livin' La Vida Loca

La Vida Loca. Travels in a Thin Country. Although both are titles stolen from people more poetic than I, they accurately describe our lives right now. We are, in fact, living a crazy life in this (geographically) thin country of Chile.

Who is "we"? Well, we've changed our names to protect the innocent (not us, by the way, but those we run into). First there is Cierva, which means "deer" in Spanish. Dad chose this name because he looks like a deer caught in headlights whenever anyone says something to him in Spanish. Margarita (our eldest) chose her name from a Spanish/English storybook. Sarafina is a Barbie reference, so it is appropriate for our youngest. I am Sisma Gringa. Sismo means "earthquake" in Spanish which is a disaster which is what I am, or what I will cause in this tiny kitchen I have to work in. So I am a female gringo disaster.

In order to enlighten our gringo friends and family, we will occasionally include some educational material in our blog. We hope you find these interesting:

Wierd Chilean Thing of the day ("WTC del dia"): mayonnaise is sold in bags.

Spanish word of the day ("palabra del dia"): "Casi" = almost. As in we "casi" have a place to live, we "casi" have a car, and we "casi" have the girls ready for school.

Looking forward to keeping in touch with people this way, and hope it works well. If there is anyone else out there reading this besides my mom, please let me know by sending a comment through this blog site. But only kind words, please. Remember, I'm a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Adios,
Sisma