We have an intruder...

So, I was the first one to get up this morning because I had plans of going to the fish market (la feria fluvial) with the girls. MISTAKE.  No, no, going to the market wasn’t a mistake, waking up before everyone else was. Mind you, I really didn’t get up THAT early. I walked downstairs for breakfast around 9:30am, and no sooner did I walk downstairs did the telephone ring. I thought “wow que suerte!” or, how lucky that I came downstairs at just the right time and was there to pick up the phone before it woke everyone in the house up! So I snatched that sucker  up and attempted to address the person on the other line. ‘Halo…’ I said confidently. This confidence soon disappeared when I was greeted with a very straightforward ‘Como se llama y cual es la contrasena’ ….”um what?”, I thought, that translates to “what is your name and what is the password”. I said in my very best crappy broken radio Spanish “lo siento soy una estudiante extranjera y no entiendo.” Or, “sorry, I’m a foreign student…and I DO NOT understand you”.  The lady on the other line just kept repeating “cual es la contrasena” more and more forcibly each time! HOLY SMOKES! A) I have no FREAKING clue what is going on/ what on EARTH you are talking about and b) For God’s sake! I don’t know the password! I’m pretty sure we’ve established that! So naturally, my next course of action is to ask her if she can call back later. To which she responded something along the lines of “no, but I can call the police” okay. Double You Tee Eff mate. WHAT IS GOING ON!!!!!????!!!

Then, Marisol, bathrobe flitting behind her much in the same way as the cape of a super hero, comes running down the stairs, comes to the rescue, snags the phone. Cue a few minutes of exasperated explanation and finally the phone call ends. I look at her like a sad sad puppy that has done something very very wrong, you know what kind of puppy I’m talking about. The one that has shredded the fancy pillows on the couch, but had no idea that this was the incorrect course of action. Either way, I had obviously done something bad if rando-telephone lady was funna call the cops on me…but I didn’t know what I did!! I was just making some breakfast, and then I picked up the phone. Simple right? Can you say silent alarma? I can. Silent alarm. Shoot. Didn’t think about that. But then again, no one actually told me. This could be due to the fact that I am never the first one up because Marisol wakes up super early every morning to go to work, so she deactivates the alarm. Cue the debrief: “Kelly, we have a silent alarm, you triggered the sensor, which is why the alarm company called….Did you ask the lady if she could call back later? AY QUE COMICO!!! jajajajajaaJAJAJAJAAAAAAAAA call back later??? Hi, I’m a little busy robbing the house could you please call back later? JAJAJAA”

Good morning to you too Marisol. Que buen dia.

A little stunned, and more than traumatized I met up with the girls and we headed downtown with Feliscita. Today we hit up the little local handmade goods market, although we didn’t buy anything (but I will go back eventually! So if you want a sweet wool hat holler at me) We then hit up two museums, one art museum where the exhibit was of the work of the recently deceased Manoly, and then we checked out an old colonial type German house and by house I mean mansion for Valdivia’s standards. There was this awesome guy rocking out on cello in there and having a photo shoot. I gather he must have been important but all I heard was that he was from Russia. Anyways, either way, good show sir good show. We then headed down to the fish market, Feliscita tearing through the crowds and yelling at us to hold our purses close (not that I was concerned, if we were to be robbed in any way, I’m sure the thief would be more than sorry…if it were up to Feliscita that is.) So Feliscita elbows her way to her fish stand of choice and yells at the nearest vendor to get the fish that she wants turning to me and assuring “lo mas rica”. She then drags us to a nearby produce stand and starts calling out her order- bananas, apples, artichokes, celery, etc etc etc. Katherine glances my way as if to say “I can’t eat that much…” Feliscita pauses for a second, reaches for the bunch of bananas, rips three off and hands one to each of us, then demands more bananas for her purchase. Spit fire? Yes, yes she is. When we finish the bananas, she hands the peels to the man running the stall and doesn’t ask, but tells him to throw them away. She is such a sweet old woman, I swear, good intentions at heart. One more trip to a fish stand and then we take a taxi back to Isla Teja. Naturally, Feliscita interrogates the taxi driver who is a student- “what are you studying? Do you have a job set up? Is this your car? Etc” I think she is trying to find Katherine a pololo!!! Watch out girly!! Feliscita has plans that you don’t even realize! Hahaaa!

We get back to the house and Vale tells me all about her trip a Norte de Chile, which gave me some great ideas for when Momma comes to town! She also told me that she will be getting her braces off next week, that she is getting confirmed in octubre, and that she is going to spend her summer in England learning English! So many crazy things all at once! But I guess when I was her age I had a million things going on at once too…OH WAIT. Still do. Except for here in Chile. It’s great actually, a nice change of pace for me.

We had a Chilean specialty for lunch called casuela ( I think…) it’s a soup with chicken, corn on the cob, potatos, rice, green beans, and cilantro…and prolly some other stuff that I don’t exactly realize I’m eating. After lunch I took a short nap- yep only 30 min, and then I headed off to meet the girls and *hopefully* other exchange students at the instituto alemania where they were showing a free Chilean documentary. We get there and I spot a guy that looks American and has a shirt on that says USA. He was with another girl…these MUST be the students we are supposed to meet. So I lead us over there and say, rather pleasantly, “Hey are you guys exchange students at Austral?” To which the guy immediately replies “Hablas espanol?” To which I said “well….si?” Turns out these cats are from the United States but they are in some kind of full immersion type of program and they don’t want to associate with other exchange students, or so I gather after my attempts at being friendly are soundly rejected so much so that they pair ups and leaves the seats they were sitting in to sit elsewhere. ARE YOU KIDDING? What kind of pretentious snobs are you? It’s not like their Spanish was better than ours! Anyways, for those of you who know me, you know better than to step on my toes like that. I’m letting it go, for now. But should our paths cross again….only hope that they don’t. And that’s all I’m going to say on the subject. Also, the movie was fantastic! It was a documentary about Chilean street performers called organilleros y chinchineros who walk around with those crank organs and big bass drums and cymbals strapped to their backs which they play in the streets for change. It talked about the German influence in Chile, and then the family that the film followed was allowed the opportunity to go to this city in Germany where the organs are most famous, and appreciated. In all- super cool.

By the time I got home, my familia had not yet eaten (9:30pm…) so we all sat down for a second helping of soup with a nice glass of wine. Rodolfo asked me if I wanted some and I declined and then Marisol said “why not Kelly? You are going to bed right after!” good point. Okay I’ll have some … “wine not” I said…Rodolfo laughs- at least he gets that I’m punny J So we enjoy a nice dinner and recount the day’s events (mainly the fact that I tripped the alarm…I told them that they didn’t even give me enough time to steal anything! And Marisol said, hey the alarm has to go off every once in a while right? We have to make sure its working!) and I gotta say, I just love my family. I think I really lucked out because we really mesh well. And they said the same, Rodolfo said that it seems like I’ve lived here for months because I have such great chemistry with the family- which is good because apparently there have been students in the past who haven’t fared as well. Which I really can’t imagine!! The Lagos family is so welcoming and loving and funny and wonderful! They are also impressed with my Spanish…well not so much with my Spanish, but with how well I understand it. Which I will admit, I understand almost everything, I only ever miss a few words. But, now, my capacity to respond correctly all the time is a different story entirely. Tonight at dinner, Rodolfo did one of those parlor tricks with the forks on the table and a match. And when he does this, he whips out his English…always. It’s real funny. He says “Ohhh iyy ham a magi-shun. You know David Cupper feld? I his tea-tor”  To which I reply “ahh el profe de Harvard verdad?” (because whenever Rodolfo speaks in English, he says that he is a Harvard English professor- that’s how good he is. Facetious? Yes. Funny? Even more so. ) Cue laughing fit! Rodolfo almost spits out his wine he laughs so hard!! So then I start cracking up because I’ve yet to see him laugh so hard, and then all of a sudden everyone is laughing at everyone else just for laughing…Sounds like something like the typical night at the Cox house eh? Then my family starts talking about how I pick up things so fast and I remember what they say. Which for the most part is true. I pay very close attention, I am trying to learn here people! They just get a kick out of me and Vale called me a pajarita which means little bird, but its because I repeat what they say and then say it again later! WALDO. Yes. But it goes both ways, because I always find myself giving brief lessons in English too (tonight was how to make the “TH” sound).

OH! I almost forget, yesterday at lunch, Rodolfo was doing imitations of different accents, like the difference between an Argentinian and Chilean. He then whips out his German impression, followed shortly there after by American, Japanese, and FINALLY the long awaited British accent. Let’s talk for a brief second before I continue this story about how Chileans “Americanize” words….they add “-ation” onto the end of any word that they don’t know in Spanish. For example, Rodolfo asked me if I would like some apples “cocination” which means baked apples. This is done much in the same way that we would make words we don’t know “Spanish”, for example…voy a “walkear” a la tienda. I am going to walk to the store. ANYWAYS so back to the British accent, Rodolfo says…in the absolute BEST worst British accent I’ve EVER hear “hallo. I ham da queen of Inglaterra. I am in the bat-room. Taking a caca-tion” Read this sentence out loud. Go. Do it. Cacation. Sounds a lot a like Caucasian no? we are the equivalent of poo. Well that sure explains a lot.

Anyways, the girls and I are trying to plan a trip to Chiloe, an island off the coast of Chile about a 5 hour bus ride from here maybe with some NICER international students. It would be about a 4 day trip, BUT I would get to see both types of wild penguins that live off the coast of Chile…aka: my life would be complete. We will see how it pans out! Fingers are crossed.

Alright that’s enough for today, I have a lot of sleeping in to do before I do anything tomorrow.

Livin and lovin life- Chile style.