I had two days of classes last week and then we had a four day weekend because of a national holiday. I am not completely sure because the explination I got was in spanish, but I think that it is to celebrate a battle that Chile had a long time ago. They actually lost the battle but they were able to win other battles because of the battle here. I am thinking that it is kind of a 'lost the battle, but won the war' situation. If anyone has spare time feel free to research that and get back to me. I would not mind an explination in english.
I have two classes like I said before. One of them is on grammer and the other is on the Chilean culture. Both are very interesting. I am learning spanish so much quicker here than I thought was possible. Concepts that took a week or two before are only taking one class period now. Living in a place where every situation you run into requires you to speak spanish makes learning the language a necessity and not just a want. Don't get me wrong, I still can't speak it, I just really need to learn and learn quickly. I am able to come up with single words and I try to string them along to make sentences. My Chilean family is very good about guessing what I am trying to say. On the streets however people can't understand me. When I go to stores or need help with something I go up to a worker and say my single word sentences and they try to reply with full and very quick sentances. Then I pull a lost look and they find somebody that speaks English for me. Soon I will understand and they will understand me. I just keep telling myself that. I have been practicing my vowel sounds because I won't lie, it is a little frustrating when I know I am saying the correct words and people still can't understand me. When I get back hopefully I will be so used to saying words in Spanish that I will sound like a foreigner when I get back to Utah. (lol)
One time when I was walking home from the bus stop and I got lost. I saw a man walking on the other side of the street and I decided to ask him for directions. I was a little scared at first but it was getting dark and so I just figured I would ask for help. I asked him where the road I live on was. He heard my accent and recongnized me as being someone with a first language of English. It just so happened that he also spoke English. I was very excited about that because directions are much easier to follow without a language barrier. I asked him where he was from and where he learned to speak English. He said that he lived in the States for a long time and that he was a Mormon and lived there after he converted to the church. Can you believe that? I am super blessed. I told him that I was from Utah and he gave me his card with his info on it. It was so nice to know that a Priesthood member was close by and could be reached at anytime. I also felt a lot more comfortable telling him my address at that point and having him help me home. It was a tender mercy for sure. At church on Sunday I didn't understand a good portion of the things that were said, but I recognized what was going on because of the routine that we have in church. Nate Anderson, one of the other students, started joking around during the announcement time in Sacrament meeting. He said, "stake conference is coming up soon and ward temple night is next week so on and so forth". Of course Nate couldn't understand, but that is just what the announcements always are, pretty predictable. It was funny... maybe you had to be there.
With the 4 day weekend a bunch of us people from the states decided to take a trip to Santiago. I had so much fun. We were able to see the Santiago Temple and art museums and the giant statue of Mary and the President's palace and much more. There is so much culture and so many things to do and learn about there. The city really came alive at night though. Last Thursday night we went to a club because the club was advertising a show with traditional dancing and singing that night. The flier said the performance was at 11:30 PM so we got there around 11:00 PM just so that we could get good seats and get settled in. Well, the actual performance started at 1:30 AM. We looked like big time gringos getting there on time. I don't know how they party so late. I do have an idea though. I hear that after lunch people sleep until late at night and have a small dinner called 'once' and then get ready and head out on the town. I could get used to that. Don't you agree, Mom? (he he he) That was pretty much my schedule back in Utah. Now with school and language barriers I need all the rest I can get at night. Not a whole lot of clubbing all night for me. While we were waiting for the traditional number we stopped by another club to do some dancing. I had so much fun. It was like a big stake dance because there was just a group of us girls dancing ridiculously and all the guys standing around. Normally the guys dance too here, but it was a Thursday night and not many guys were really there. We had the club mostly to ourselves. One of the students that was with us understands quite a bit of Spanish and was able to understand when people would make fun of us. We knew that was going on, but we were having so much fun that we just didn't care. We just kept shakin' our booties. That was one time that not understanding was just fine with me. I wouldn't want it to interfere with my groove. In Santiago we stayed in a hostel. I love it. It was so much fun. It reminded me of a nice little bed and breakfast run by college students. We all had a bar-b-que one night we were there and they even made good old fashion North American food. Hamburgers!! Of course they still had guacamole as a topping to put on it, but what can you do, we were still in Chile. Guacamole and mayo are every where and they are in bags. Yes bags, I will have to take a picture of it sometime. I got a crack out of it the first time I saw it.
My Chilean mom got back from her visit to her daughter's house on Sunday and I got to meet her on Monday. She is so sweet. She just kept kissing my cheeks. The other students have been teasing me because I am so spoiled here. We have a maid that does all the cleaning and if I am not awake when Ale comes downstairs in the morning she brings me breakfast in bed. It is like living the life of a movie star. The maid even irons everybody's sheets. Can you believe it?
I got a converter today so I will be able to use my straightener tomorrow for my hair. I am super excited. No ponytail tomorrow!! There is a giagantic store here similar to Walmart called Jumbo. One of the students described it as Walmart on steriods. I think that explanation fits. It has FOUR floors and is very wide. They sell almost anything imaginable. Last week I went with Kathleen and Dani, other USU students, to find junk food for them. I didn't get any because I get fed so much here I don't need to buy any more food. I don't think my tummy could take it. Well, we were looking for potato chips but we could not find them so I went up to a worker and said, "Donde esta las papas... (then made a crunching sound with my mouth, yes ghomp ghomp ghomp). And I said it a lot louder than I thought. Everyone in the isle heard. We all got a good laugh out of it. The worker almost lost it. He was trying to keep his composer but he was laughing so hard he wasn't able to hide it very well. The other shoppers thought I was crazy. I guess so, but just crazy for potato chips. ( I just read what I typed, I think that it was a 'you had to be there' for it to be funny story)
I have two classes like I said before. One of them is on grammer and the other is on the Chilean culture. Both are very interesting. I am learning spanish so much quicker here than I thought was possible. Concepts that took a week or two before are only taking one class period now. Living in a place where every situation you run into requires you to speak spanish makes learning the language a necessity and not just a want. Don't get me wrong, I still can't speak it, I just really need to learn and learn quickly. I am able to come up with single words and I try to string them along to make sentences. My Chilean family is very good about guessing what I am trying to say. On the streets however people can't understand me. When I go to stores or need help with something I go up to a worker and say my single word sentences and they try to reply with full and very quick sentances. Then I pull a lost look and they find somebody that speaks English for me. Soon I will understand and they will understand me. I just keep telling myself that. I have been practicing my vowel sounds because I won't lie, it is a little frustrating when I know I am saying the correct words and people still can't understand me. When I get back hopefully I will be so used to saying words in Spanish that I will sound like a foreigner when I get back to Utah. (lol)
One time when I was walking home from the bus stop and I got lost. I saw a man walking on the other side of the street and I decided to ask him for directions. I was a little scared at first but it was getting dark and so I just figured I would ask for help. I asked him where the road I live on was. He heard my accent and recongnized me as being someone with a first language of English. It just so happened that he also spoke English. I was very excited about that because directions are much easier to follow without a language barrier. I asked him where he was from and where he learned to speak English. He said that he lived in the States for a long time and that he was a Mormon and lived there after he converted to the church. Can you believe that? I am super blessed. I told him that I was from Utah and he gave me his card with his info on it. It was so nice to know that a Priesthood member was close by and could be reached at anytime. I also felt a lot more comfortable telling him my address at that point and having him help me home. It was a tender mercy for sure. At church on Sunday I didn't understand a good portion of the things that were said, but I recognized what was going on because of the routine that we have in church. Nate Anderson, one of the other students, started joking around during the announcement time in Sacrament meeting. He said, "stake conference is coming up soon and ward temple night is next week so on and so forth". Of course Nate couldn't understand, but that is just what the announcements always are, pretty predictable. It was funny... maybe you had to be there.
With the 4 day weekend a bunch of us people from the states decided to take a trip to Santiago. I had so much fun. We were able to see the Santiago Temple and art museums and the giant statue of Mary and the President's palace and much more. There is so much culture and so many things to do and learn about there. The city really came alive at night though. Last Thursday night we went to a club because the club was advertising a show with traditional dancing and singing that night. The flier said the performance was at 11:30 PM so we got there around 11:00 PM just so that we could get good seats and get settled in. Well, the actual performance started at 1:30 AM. We looked like big time gringos getting there on time. I don't know how they party so late. I do have an idea though. I hear that after lunch people sleep until late at night and have a small dinner called 'once' and then get ready and head out on the town. I could get used to that. Don't you agree, Mom? (he he he) That was pretty much my schedule back in Utah. Now with school and language barriers I need all the rest I can get at night. Not a whole lot of clubbing all night for me. While we were waiting for the traditional number we stopped by another club to do some dancing. I had so much fun. It was like a big stake dance because there was just a group of us girls dancing ridiculously and all the guys standing around. Normally the guys dance too here, but it was a Thursday night and not many guys were really there. We had the club mostly to ourselves. One of the students that was with us understands quite a bit of Spanish and was able to understand when people would make fun of us. We knew that was going on, but we were having so much fun that we just didn't care. We just kept shakin' our booties. That was one time that not understanding was just fine with me. I wouldn't want it to interfere with my groove. In Santiago we stayed in a hostel. I love it. It was so much fun. It reminded me of a nice little bed and breakfast run by college students. We all had a bar-b-que one night we were there and they even made good old fashion North American food. Hamburgers!! Of course they still had guacamole as a topping to put on it, but what can you do, we were still in Chile. Guacamole and mayo are every where and they are in bags. Yes bags, I will have to take a picture of it sometime. I got a crack out of it the first time I saw it.
My Chilean mom got back from her visit to her daughter's house on Sunday and I got to meet her on Monday. She is so sweet. She just kept kissing my cheeks. The other students have been teasing me because I am so spoiled here. We have a maid that does all the cleaning and if I am not awake when Ale comes downstairs in the morning she brings me breakfast in bed. It is like living the life of a movie star. The maid even irons everybody's sheets. Can you believe it?
I got a converter today so I will be able to use my straightener tomorrow for my hair. I am super excited. No ponytail tomorrow!! There is a giagantic store here similar to Walmart called Jumbo. One of the students described it as Walmart on steriods. I think that explanation fits. It has FOUR floors and is very wide. They sell almost anything imaginable. Last week I went with Kathleen and Dani, other USU students, to find junk food for them. I didn't get any because I get fed so much here I don't need to buy any more food. I don't think my tummy could take it. Well, we were looking for potato chips but we could not find them so I went up to a worker and said, "Donde esta las papas... (then made a crunching sound with my mouth, yes ghomp ghomp ghomp). And I said it a lot louder than I thought. Everyone in the isle heard. We all got a good laugh out of it. The worker almost lost it. He was trying to keep his composer but he was laughing so hard he wasn't able to hide it very well. The other shoppers thought I was crazy. I guess so, but just crazy for potato chips. ( I just read what I typed, I think that it was a 'you had to be there' for it to be funny story)
I can imagine you making the ghomp sounds. Did you ask in your elf voice? I copied and pasted your posts to send to Sister Kelly. Jetaime.
ReplyDeleteSounds pretty fun, Trena! Keep up the learning. I'm so jealous!
ReplyDeleteNicole
ReplyDeleteYou are silly. And it may or may not have been in my elf voice. :)
Jennie
Come on down. You can stay with my new fam. Traveling down here is really inexpensive. I stayed in a hostel overnight for $10.