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What's in a pichanga? Chilean food analogies that make you go hmmm.
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 23 June 2009
In addition to word surgery, I do alot of other things with words. Mostly collect them into a word maelstrom, that I can choose from when I wish, but which I don't really know the etymology of or how they might be related to other words. Then I find out, and laugh and say aha!
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Identity Theft, or who wants to be Eileen?
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 22 June 2009
One of the many hoops that the Chilean government has us gringos jumping through, like trained seals (or are those dolphins?) is going to Registro Civil to get a "certificado de antecedentes." This is a perforated form that they give to you at low cost (anyone know how much these days, I seem to recall 800ish pesos) that certifies that you have not been convicted of a criminal act here in Chile.
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Con todo respeto
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 20 June 2009
Con todo respeto (with all due respect) is what you say to someone in Chile when you are trying to bring them down a notch in frustration, in anger, in hating you. In a place where people don't often yell at each other in anger, when someone does, you know you've got to look in your bag of tricks (with a nod to Felix the cat) and find that one phrase that you can use to defuse the situation before it blows up in your face (did you know you can also say diffuse the situation?
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A tale of tech, winter and pantyhose for your arms.
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 16 June 2009
I could start today by talking about two stupid electrical snafus I've had. There's the one where I unplugged the (functioning) washing machine to plug in my hair dryer (what!? it's cold) and now had to start the whole cycle again, because I don't know what it was up to, and I tried whispering, "pick up where you left off" like my precious MacBook does when three months after I started watching the nature DVD I was loaned (thanks Danilo!), I put it back in and the computer asks me if I'd like to start from there. Yes, please! No amount of whispering would help, for what it's worth.
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Hold your tongue, or you could "meter la pata" (put your foot in your mouth)
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 12 June 2009
Living in a fishbowl, like we do, where we are people who stand out in any visually discernible way, for being tall, for being gringas, for being the guy with the three greyhounds in their tiny vests that look like saddles (I love this guy), we get used to people looking at us.
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The famous Chilean traffic taco
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 11 June 2009
Yesterday as I was biking up from my apartment to where I was meeting the lovely Emily for lunch, I got stuck in the mother of all tacos. Which makes it sound much tastier and crunchier than it was. Write it down kids, today's Chilean word is taco. A taco is one of about three things (that I can think of at the moment). A high-heeled shoe, a small pad of paper or a traffic jam. It can also, strangely, mean burrito, but that's a culinary problem, not a linguistic one.
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Slang: thy name is Chilensis
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 5 June 2009
Well then, since we've been talking about animals and things and how they're classified and what it all means in English vs. Spanish (or at least Chilean Spanish, which this website (which Abby mentioned, and which I had just recently added to my blogroll) can help you with, it's worth turning our attention to Margaret's comment on the issue.
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Stockpile? Whatever for! Better to go to the store 8 days a week!
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 4 June 2009
If you, as a foreigner were to visit the average American home, you would be astounded at the quantity of stuff they have, well, stuffed, everywhere. I'm not talking about clothes and papers and books, things accumulated within a lifetime. I'm talking about consumables. I thought of this yesterday when the bathroom lightbulb blew at 9:30 at night, and I didn't even stop to think whether I had extras. I just knew I didn't. I wouldn't say that makes me better than anyone else, just less prepared. And then I thought about why.
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clams, worms, daisies and lettuce, a linguistic study.
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 3 June 2009
I've been at it again, this time writing an article about 15 desserts you should try on the road, and wishing that any of those were right here with me in my barbie-pink apartment (so denominated by a friend). Alas, they are not, we're all yogurt and oats and things for breakfast, whenever that happens.
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What's a polla? Chilean money-saving schemes.
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 1 June 2009
I knew going into this week that I would be in arrears on a couple of things, one of them a group blog post on the dia de patromonio which I attended with Margaret/Peg and where we were schooled in many architectural details and then doused with a bucket of cold water on a sunshiney day, this in the form of the tour given by a torturee from the Pinochet era of house where he, along with many others, were held, tortured, and some killed (though obviously not him).
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Perníl and Mariscal, two must eats in Chile in the cool season
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 26 May 2009
If everyone who'd ever complained about food here in Chile were to raise their hands simultaneously, it would create an upswell current that would probably rip the pants off of whoever lives on the opposite side of the planet. Who is that, anyway? My bearshapedsphere is all distorted, don't you know.
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Cerro La Campana, transportation and fall comes to Chile (finally!)
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 25 May 2009
I'm torn here whether I should talk about Chile's national parks or Chile's unbeatable public transportation (at least in the central region, in which Santiago is located). I guess tons has been written about the national parks, and not that much about transportation (but lookie here, an article by yours truly lauding the Santiago Metro as the Cadillac of metros, and the Viña-Valpo metro as having one of the best views of any metro. And it does).
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Medical Records Management in Chile. A Maravilla. (and puppetry of the people, if you will).
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 20 May 2009
In keeping with talking about how modern and unbelievable Chile is (in this post about how we pay taxes), which makes at least one of my friends think that the whole shebang is part of a giant conspiracy, puppet-goverment style, I want to talk to you about medical records management.
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Pomaire, in pictures. But barely any terra cotta.
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 19 May 2009
Welcome class! Yesterday we learned that she-donkey milk is still sold in Santiago, that it's high in good lipids, that Cleopatra bathed in it and that Emily could use your get well soon vibes after a very unfortunate incident which she summed up on twitter as "I braked with my face." I think she'll be okay though. Perhaps we should go find a she-donkey's milk?
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Donkey milk and raise your hand if you'd like an artichoke.
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 18 May 2009
Leche de burra! (she-donkey milk), Leche de burra! This is what one of my friends heard as a child as the local she-donkey milk salesman peddled his wares. Now I didn't ask, but I'm pretty sure this happened while he was living in the small southern (hexagonally-shaped, OMG, what a navigational nightmare for me) city of Coyhaique (Co-YI-kay), and not here in Santiago. Though people often talk about how Santiago used to be much more homey and countrified and provincial, I don't think anyone used to sell donkey milk on the street a short 30 years ago.
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Getting around in Santiago, with or without a little help from your friends
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 15 May 2009
Ever since the Transantiago overhaul, public transporation in Santiago has been, to put it politely, a bear. There's a whole long story about what's going on and what was promised and how the information was disseminated and how bad the crush is during rush hours. For a great discussion of what the metro looks (and feels) like during rush hour, I send you to Margaret's blog, Cachando Chile, where she give her impressions, as well as explains different concepts of personal space.
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Santiago: A Bagel-free-zone
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 14 May 2009
It is official. We are living in a bagel-free zone.
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Alex, I'll take beespit for 1,000. Or which way does the runny nose go in South America?
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 12 May 2009
Down, the runny nose goes down. Here we call it romadizo if we're in polite company, congestión if we don't want to allude to the nose blowiness of it all (or if none is necessary), or we talk about mocos if we're with kids or want to be a little yucky. You'll be happy to know that the word flema exists as well, and I'm not even going to tell you what it means, as I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself. (hint, switch out the f for a ph...).
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I see you, and I feel compelled to shout non sequiturs!
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 24 April 2009
As a woman in Latin America, or truthfully in many parts of the world, you get used to people shouting stuff out at you on the street. Everything from cute little "Heaven must be missing an angel" comments to things that would make your 18-year-old nephew (don't have one, this is poetic license) blush. I have a variety of reactions to these comments, based on how I feel, how lascivious they are, how much I was enjoying my day prior to being interrupted, etc. But today's jibbertyjab is not actually about men calling things out to women on the street.
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My city is a vision of safety. Except when it's not.
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 23 April 2009
Santiago is outrageously safe, for the most part. And for the most part, I mean specific neighborhoods including Providencia, Ñuñoa, La Reina, La Dehesa, Lo Barnechea, Las Condes, Vitacura, parts of downtown and lots of other comunas (districts) that you'd probably never visit unless someone invited you over for tea (or onces, as they'd be more likely to call it, especially if they are not very upper class).
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Dr. Simi! What is that funny costume you wear?
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 21 April 2009
Price fixing. That's what my first legal temp job was about after graduating from law school. I worked in a windowless "war room" with several wannabe lawyers (whereas I just wanted to be working, and soon was, as a kind of legal journalist/law clerk), checking document after document for "compliance." We were looking for evidence of price fixing between several major agricultural giants, specifically on high fructose corn syrup. You rememember that stuff, right?
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On knitting your own weekend
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 20 April 2009
This weekend I played cultural philistine, and purposely avoided several big events happening in Santiago.
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A desert full of wonders – San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Blog: velvet escape's blog - 16 April 2009
A desert full of wonders – San Pedro de Atacama (a page from my Travel Journal) A very good friend of mine persuaded me to visit northern Chile. I was quite hesitant at first because it’s a desert region and I’m not a big fan of deserts! They’re very dry and extremely hot; elements which [...]
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Expat life, those pesky and repetitive questions.
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 10 April 2009
Inspired by the blog of a France-to-Canada expat who's an adult TCK (third culture kid) which I found through someone I don't know (@expatify)who started following me on twitter, which is maybe less serendipitous than the fact that I met an exboyfriend's exgirlfriend at a party not too long ago (oh! and did we have things to talk about). But that did not inspire a blog entry, so back to this one.
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On the informal economy
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 8 April 2009
In a recent guest blog post over at Travelojos in which I talk about the contrast between formal and informal morality in Chile, I mentioned that there are two economies here, the formal and informal.
