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yu-en-me ´a man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher, .. he who goes from country to country guided by blind impulses of curiosity is .. a vagabond.´ - oliver goldsmith

how to be a good chilean...

CHILE | Thursday, 11 May 2006 | Views [557]

Chile has, on average, one of the longest working weeks in the world, with 12-hour working days being quite common. It also has, on average, one of the lowest productivity rates in the world, or so Steph told me while flicking through a magazine while the boss had gone for a meeting. So I guess i´m just trying to fit in in this country, as I type this email when I should really be ´working´ and doing research for the weekend ahead of me. Tomorrow, i´m leaving to go down south, acting as a tour guide for 3 middle-aged Frenchmen who are stopping over in the Chilean lakes district for 4 days - quite exciting! I don´t know the area we´ll be visiting that well, which is too bad for the Frenchies (and also why I´m doing research - so I can reel off interesting trivia for them as we go on our daytrips), but really good for me – free transport, accommodation, food while I get to tour an unknown area.. in essence, a paid holiday - woohoo!

Until I get back, however, all I can really tell you about is Santiago, where yesterday, I celebrated my 4-week anniversary staying here. It´s come to my attention that some of you don´t know that much about this place, so here´re some tidbits about Santiago:

- Capital of chile, population of approx 5million, ie about 1/3 of the whole country lives here

- it´s located in a ´basin´ between mountains and hills, which means that more smog collects over the city than others of comparable size. As a way around this, there´re restrictions on which cars are legally allowed to be on the roads: So for example, if your car´s numberplate starts with 1 or 2, you´re not allowed to drive on Wednesdays. The smog also means that the sunsets here are beautiful, reminding me of Malaysia at times.

- Everywhere you go, you see uniformed nannies playing with kids, taking dogs for walks, watering lawns and generally maintaining the upkeep of households where the parents work a lot. (I don´t want to say anything here. But the fact that i´ve just said that means that i´m saying something.)

- Instead of construction sites like in Australia, they have bus stops, where your average girl will get appreciative glances, bold whistles, and murmured comments, - but all minus the tradie bumcracks.

- It´s quite common for people to do a big shop-up at the supermarket and get a taxi home with their groceries. This may not sound particularly interesting, but it was a bit of a surprise to see the taxi ranks set up specifically for this – makes the shops look like an airport

And now, a bit about my life: I live in a teeny tiny apartment with steph and her cousin, Coty. I share a room with steph – and yes, we´ve already agreed on a ´please don´t disturb´ policy, and how to implement it if and when the need should arise. We´re on the 3rd floor of an old building on one of the main thoroughfares in Santiago; all the rooms´ windows look out on to the road. So it´s not just traffic I hear, but also road rage, wolf whistles, and anything else that blares through open car windows. The freeway has quite a wide median strip, with trees, benches, play equipment.. it´s perfect to stroll along or go for a run if you can stand the noise. I´ve gotten into the habit of idly watching this strip of ´park´ whenever i´m in the bathroom or kitchen, and I get a certain Rear Window-esque kick out of imagining conversations between people who walk by while i´m having a shower. (the angles between the shower and window are such that it would be near impossible for such a voyeur to get caught…)

Sharing this place is great – I feel right at home, with Steph dutifully doing things that remind me of my childhood with my brother so many years ago. Things like calling me names (shorty, ugly, germ), making fun of me when I can´t reach the top shelf in the kitchen, punching or pushing me over whenever she gets the chance, or waiting for me to enter the room before releasing a silent-but-deadly... yeah, it´s definitely sibling love. On the other hand, i´ve been in the bad books with Coty for stupid things, like waxing the floor with the wrong cloths, and innocently telling the mailman that she doesn´t live here. (how the hell am I meant to know that *she´s* ´Maria Lopez´ when she introduces herself as Coty, which is short for Constanza, from her full name Maria Constanza Lopez Marcoleta?!?!) But all in all, it´s a good household.

My kung fu classes are really amusing for me on many levels: - half the time I don´t know if the teacher´s talking in Spanish with a Cantonese accent, or in Cantonese with a Spanish accent - whenever I walk in, people look at me expectantly as if by nature of being asian, I must know my stuff - even though it´s a Chinese art form, there are a surprising number of students who answer the teacher with a very Japanese ´hai´.

This is of no relevance, but I find it funny: my right headphone started playing up recently, and now gives me mini electric shocks to my ear. And to end on an equally irrelevant, but etymological note: Spanish for ´to watch´ is ´mirar´. Spanish for ´to admire´ is ´admirar´. So admiring is an intense form of watching. go figure! (or go intensely watch my deductions). 

Tags: Culture

 

 

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