Spanish/Chileno/Español Latino Americano struggels and a Yungay first impression

When it comes to language preperation I was rather on the low side for this Exchange, but well even if I had prepared better it probably hadn't helped much. Here in Chile usually people don’t speak the Castellano Spanish, we learn in School (Europe). First of all it is Latin American Spanish, that is already different from Castellano, and in addition to that there are some words, that are kind of unique for Chile. Some of them I already learned for example:

First word to be learned in Chile is:  

Permiso - kind of like “excuse me” when you want to pass. That’s to be used mostly in the metro, when you like to get off the metro, but also when you want to pass in other situations or as synonym for “disculpe” or “perdon”.

A commonly used frase here is ¿Cachai?, which means more or less “Do you understand? Do you get it?”. At my first day of uni it was really helpful to know as the teacher more than once looked at us and asked “¿Cachai?”). In this context it’s handy to tell that here, people speak one of the fastest Spanish in the world. 

For the beginning it’s helpful to know the expression “Más despacio, por favor”, even though I feel like most of the time for them it does not even seem fast, so one to two sentences will be in slower still unclear Spanish, followed but a rapid one word sounding like, including a lot of “rrr” sound speech that is rather hard to understand.

Weon – a word with 1000 meanings (in German comparable with “ding”; even though weon has even more meanings)

Let me teach you some more Chilenian words that could be crucial, if you'd like to come here:

Carrete: party

Palta: avocado

Plata: money

Tranqui: calm (down); don't worry

Piscola: pisco with cola

Polola: girlfriend

Pololo: boyfriend

For those of you who'd like to learn even more (also my source of knowledge): http://www.spanish.cl/chilean-spanish-dictionary.htm

Note:  In addition to that I learn almost two languages (as chileno is a bit different) you also get good with numbers here. Or at least I have to, as on the “Ferías” (markets) they often just tell you how much it is and thanks to the big currency here you get to know the numbers until more or less 20.000.

 

 --> There is so much you can buy on the markets here, you can't even imagine!

Barrio Yungay – getting to know my neighborhood 

As I had my room already before I went to Santiago, I also checked out the neighborhood via Google Streetview. To be honest, my first impression was a bit shocked, but I tried to relax and be open for this new experience. So trying not to judge I moved here, and two weeks in I really start to enjoy living in this barrio. Yungay is one of the oldest parts in Santiago and therefore some houses here do look a bit “fucked up”, houses are a bit destroyed (missing windows etc), there is some graffiti, but the people around here are always nice. Every Thursday and Sunday there is a “Fería” where you can buy almost everything. Most stands sell fruits and vegies of the season (as it is still winter it’s all about bananas, oranges, potatoes and that kind of stuff. Next to that you can find people selling random items, like this one guy who just only sold super glue really excitedly. All in all the view of my window is amazing and I have the sun shining in all day (with the sunset being visible for me from lying in my bed). Still windows over here are not build very efficient (‘Einmalglas’) So isolation is not really a thing and you can hear people talking on the street. This is not persé a bad thing, it’s more like that you have to adjust to the circumstances, like be wearing earplugs for sleeping.

In spring (around October) there should be a spring festival or something, which I will check out for sure. So far I just have some pictures for you to get an impression. (For now it’s just pictures taken with my phone, while walking to the market.

There are like so many playgrounds and places where you can do "freeletics"

The grafities here and there give this Barrio a lot of charme

In real life this mosaic looks really pretty and the mirror parts reflect beautifully

Muchos Besos,

Leonie

How's life over there? Well, different, but fun

So as I'm here for almost two weeks now there has been quite some points coming up in my mind, that are somewhat different here in Chile (yet it's not that much of a shock as exspected)

       Heating:

Something that just does not exist here are proper heating, how I know them from Germany or the Netherlands. Even though it can be really cold as well, especially at night, there are no central heating in the apartments. The only way to get yourself warm is using multiple blankets and/or one of these tiny portable heaters that burn you to death when sitting close, but don’t warm you when you sit further away. In the end I’m glad I knew this before and brought a hot water bottle. This is also something you learn to appreciate more once you're back I guess. Still I should complain, as winter here has been easy on us so far.

Health warning stickers on food:

People told me there is a bit of a health problem here in Chile, as a lot of food is either processed or even fried and people tend to get pretty fat. Therefore the government decided to have health stickers on processed food with “high in calories”, “high in sugar” and “ high in saturated fats“ to make people aware of what they are eating. To be honest, I guess this is a really good idea and also helps myself a bit (even though with most products it’s no surprise to find a “high in sugar” sticker on it - yes choclate I’m talking about you). 

     Palm trees and the Andes and breathtaking sunsets:

Something that people living here in Santiago (or Chile in general) probably don’t realize anymore: The skyline with the Andes (especially with good weather and little smok) framing the city and the one or other palmtree here and there make me feel like I’m on constant vacation for half a year here. Also there is like so many types of palmtrees, tall and thin, small and fat, “standard” ones, really lovely! In addition to this there is great sunrises and sunsets that just take your breath away and block your storage on your phone, as you can't stop making "just one more picture, because it got even better".

 

Cannot get enough of this!

Got a room with a view <3

      Metro experience 

(prices, rush hour, different prices):

Good luck, trying to fit in :P

Oh dear,  as my schedule from Uni is like having university at 8:00 almost every day I need to push myself into the metro during rush hour. Do you know the pictures from Japanese Metro workers with white gloves, that push people in? Well The exact same thing is happening here between 7:00-9:00 and 18:00-20:00 – perfect because I need like one hour to university. Luckily I’m not claustrophobic or anything, otherwise it would be kind of challenging arriving at destinations on time. Normally you wait one or two metros, until you’re the first to “enter” (rather push yourself in where there is no space anyways). But there are mornings where it seems to be impossible to fit in, especially at stations where you can switch lines, yet many people enter anyways and once the door closed you’re good to go. Wondering where to hold onto during the ride? You don’t, as there is no space for more people, there is also no space for you to fall anywhere ;) Summer will be fun, now it already feels like going to the sauna, because you wear a jacket but summer must be even better!!!

         University life:

My university in Maastricht is pretty good organized. Every new period you receive your timetable online, where you can daily check where and when you have classes. Here stuff went a bit different until now: it’s the first week of uni and we got our “horario” (timetable) Tuesday. 

 






Many courses were already full so we kinda needed to arrange ourselves with the leftovers of courses.. Classes here are pretty small and we don’t really have lectures bigger than 55 people. Psychology seems to be a rather small study over here. 

Again the Andes contouring the neighborhood of my university (Las Condes) beautifully

          
Catcalling (being blond in a country dominated by darker hair, skin and eyecolour):

3,50€ for 1,5l of wine? Soon I'll be a Somm :P

As I read a lot of exchange reports before going to Chile I was already expecting to get some more attention than my dark haired friends, but that it would be that much was not in my expectations. During the day in the metro, supermarket and all public situations in the city center there is no up to not much calling you “bonita” or making weird sounds. Yet on the local market here in my neighborhood it was kinda much, when I went there for the first time with Tatjana and Lara. Apparently they couldn’t handle so many blondes at one time :D But well, also today, hungover and without wearing any makeup you get a bit more attention than you’d like going to the market to get yourself some fruits to restore the damage the wine had done last night. (Fun fact here – everything is expensive here EXCEPT wine!! And it’s so good over here. Even crazier is to “share” a bottle of wine because they contain 1,5l over here :D)

         Plastic bags:

Recently in Europe they decided to make people pay for plastic bags, in order to help the environment. That is a really good idea and apparently is already helping, but when you see what’s going on here at the other side of the world you’d see that we are far ahead in that matter. Here in Chile you get all groceries packed by a student at the end of the cashier. The problem here is, that they don’t get paid and you’re supposed to give them some pesos for packing your stuff. That’s in such a way a problem for me, that I actually don’t want to get my stuff packed. I like to do it my way and with the bags I take with me from home. Still it seems like living here for half a year, it probably won’t be possible to make a way around that.

Muchos Besos,

Leonie

Market, money and some Jetlag leftover

The longer I’m here in Santiago the more I realize how BIG this city really is. For a girl like me, that comes from a rather semi big city (300.000 inhabitants) and who lived in a pretty small city (100.000 inhab.)  for the past two years it is not really imaginable how a city of 7 million people would feel like. 

Slowly but steady I see different sides of the city and discover how awesome life can be here despite the sometimes pretty big differences to home (Europe in general :P ). On Wednesday me and Fabian (my best friend from Maastricht) went to La Vega – the food market here in Santiago that is basically open 365 days a year. As I said before, supermarkets are at least as pricy as German or Dutch ones, which shows that Chile is not the cheap Latin America one imagines. Anyhow on the market it is possible to find fruits, vegetables and especially grain and nuts pretty for a little less and fresher as well. I was surprised when I saw the price for Chia seeds and Quinoa and decided to buy that there more often. Further the scent experience was one of a kind. Especially smelling the fruits was amazing, even though the part of the market, where meat and fish was sold, was rather unpleasant – scent wise. Another thing that is very different here is the animals on the street. I’ve heard before, that there was a decent amount of street dogs around here, but seeing them for real is just a bit different. On that market we also found a lot of cats around and one in front of a grain stand was extremely adorable. Despite my urge to cuddle them to death I didn’t because you never know what hides in their fur. Something that is really nice is that none of them ever bothers you. Most of the dogs don’t even take a look at you.

So now – exactly one week in Santiago I will move to my room here, get to know my two chilenian roomies and continue enjoying life to the fullest. Yesterday I went out, and lucky as I am, despite the one of other pisco sour and piscola, I don’t have a hangover. Good thing about the night going out? I lack a bit of sleep atm so once I go to bed tonight I probably won’t be that tired in the early evening here anymore :P

But what do I do here despite going on partys?? A LOT! 

First of all we went on the hill Santa Lucia in the middle of Santiago. 

It is one of three spots in Santiago where you have a very nice view on the skyline. At the same time you get a bit of a feeling how big the city is, because despite the hight of the hill you can’t see the end of the city. One week in there is still so crazy much to discover and the more I visit friends in different districts the more I see the versatility of the city. Therefore I’m even more curious to get to know the whole county which is probably one of the most diverse ones in the world. After this little trip I went to an after office party with Tatjana and Julio – after office is a pretty interesting concept: around 7/8 pm you go to a rooftop club, get drunk and dance until like 1/2 am because you need to work the next day. Sadly it was pretty Europeanized, but as I’m here for like 6 more month there will me more than enough reaggaton parties I can go to. 

Thursday this week (28^th July) we had two introduction and Orientation days at the university. We learned about a lot about the country, university and in general about Latin America. We were allowed to learn dances from Peru, Chile and the Easter Islands. Most of the students being in my exchange program are from Spanish speaking countries, which if perfect for improving my Spanish. 

After all I can say, it’s not dangerous here. If you’re not acting stupid (like leaving your bag unwatched or not being a attentive with your stuff in general), nothing will happen, the most dangerous thing that could happen is pocket picking or stealing in general. Other Latin cities are a lot more dangerous, Santiago basically is “just” a big city with around 7 million inhabitants and districts you just shouldn’t go to (especially not when you’re obviously a foreigner).

No matter where you look you can't see the end of the city - not even closely

In the end I experience the different currency as a bit challenging still. 

1€ = ~700 CLP (Chilean pesos)

This rate makes prices here really big and also a bit hard to see how much you spend, because paying one Luca (1000CLP) it feels like 1€ even though it is like 1,37€. Further there is a pretty decent similarity with Euros in case of looks and sizes. The 500CLP coin looks like a 2€ coin and the newer 100CLP looks like a 1€ coin. The bank notes look really pretty, as they have Chilean nature on the back. As far as I know the biggest bank note you can get is 20.000 – that’s more or less 28-30€. Due to this it seems like everything could be cheap but as I said before it’s not even though going to the market makes a differences (price and experience wise).

For the rest I can't wait to explore the city and the country more soon, so there is more exciting stuff to tell then just everyday life. Conclusively – life here has been really great so far and it probably will be a bit difficult to go back to Europe in half a year. But also due to living in the Netherlands and not coming home often I figured there is something you will always miss in another country but even more you will adore in you new surrounding.

Muchos Besos,

Leonie

P.S.: more pictures will hopefully follow tomorrow - as I'm a bit spoiled with Dutch internet, my patients has reached a max and for now I really rather sleep than wait for pictures to load up with crappy internet :P