Into the Weekend

It’s Saturday night and I’ve been in Santiago for four full days now. Getting to know this city and its people has had its ups and downs. Yesterday was a very frustrating day for me, but today was much better.

On Thursday night Susana and her friends Juan (“Jota”) and Mauricio took me to a restaurant where there is cueca music and dancing. Lesson number one about Chileans: they don’t go out at night until at least 10. We left the apartment at about 10:30, and spent a few hours enjoying the dancing and music before heading to another bar in Bellavista, the bohemian district of Santiago. Whereas the restaurant felt quaint and comfortable, with a wide varied cliente, with an age range of 25 to elderly, this second bar (club?) had a distinctly more trendy feel. “It’s underground,” Susana told me proudly. “Look around, do you see any other gringas here?” It was an interesting look into the Santiago party scene, I’ll admit. Although, it wasn’t too comforting when Susana looked up at the ceiling and told me: “If this place catches on fire, we’re all dead.” After trying out a drink that consisted of wine and sugar in a hollowed out melon, we headed back to the apartment, arriving at a little after 3AM. This is early for Chileans, who are known to party until 5am. How on earth Susana managed to get up at 6am for work on Friday morning is beyond me.

On Friday I pulled myself out of bed at 10am to head over to the National Library. I went there on Thursday afternoon to apply for my researcher’s card, which was in itself an interesting experience. After consulting the Salon de Investigadores, I was led downstairs to a tiny office where after providing my letter of introduction, some personal information, some money, and a passport photo, I emerged bearing a little library identification card. I decided to start work in earnest on Friday.

I have had a lot of difficulty understanding the staff at the library. Rather unfortunately, I have a particularly difficult time communicating with the man who works in the Salon de Investigadores (Researcher’s Room). Despite lots of “los sientos, no comprendo,” I did manage to successfully request some of the items I wanted to look at, and got to work. There is a LOT for me to go through at the library, and I think I will be busy for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully my ability to communicate with the librarian improves, because it was very frustrating to have no idea what he was saying to me. I have been thinking of asking him to write whatever it is he is saying down, because I am sure I would understand it then!

Understanding spoken Spanish seems like it will be the biggest hurdle for me to jump over on this trip. Reading has been fine, as I suspected it would, and I have mostly been able to get my point across when I’m speaking. However, aside from brief conversations and transactions, most of what I hear goes right over my head. I suspect it might be the Chilean dialect that is causing this problem, because I didn’t have quite so much difficulty during my intensive Spanish class over the summer. I’ve heard that the Chilean’s have a particularly idiosyncratic way of speaking Spanish. Or maybe I just need more practice. Maybe both...

By the time I got back to my apartment, I was frustrated and overwhelmed with all that had been thrown my way in the last few days. Culture shock, I’d say. Everything here feels so foreign (duh, I guess), and it has been a bit more difficult to adjust than I thought. I looked up some information on culture shock, and thought “yep, that sounds about right!”

Today I decided to try and get out and see some more of the city, and I ended up having a pretty busy day. First I went to Cerro San Cristobal, which is a huge hill in Bellavista. There is a funicular that you can ride up, and a big area to walk around (and even swim) at the top. There is also a huge shrine to the Virgin Mary (yep, definitely in a Catholic country), where I lit a candle for my grandmother. I also took advantage of the little cafe next to the shrine. As I sat down with my coffee, a little cat (probably a kitten) jumped right into my lap, nearly knocking me over but cheering me up tremendously. For those of you who aren’t aware, I am a complete and utter sucker for cats. Back home, I am on a first name basis with most of the cats who live in Kevin’s neighborhood :-)

The rest of my day was filled with museums and more parks, and despite the fact that I have a little sunburn, I am feeling much more excited and happy about being in this city.

Now, if only my aural comprehension would hurry along...