Street Spellcheck. What the Fock?
When I was living in DC, I worked at a publishing company, writing business-to-business compliance manuals and newsy bits about environmental law. It was a pretty big office, maybe 60-80 people, and there was a core group of folks that I would make coffee-machine...
read moreHow to learn to love a new flavor, experiences with boldo tea
Before living in Latin America, I could probably count the number of times I'd drunk tea on purpose on my two hands. Sure, there were the back-from-India chai preparations in the 80s and 90s, but the way we made it, it was practically hot chocolate, creamy and frothy....
read moreI’ve got a purseful of ginger and cilantro, an embarrassment of riches/feria haul
After a truly mind-bending trip to Aysén, the far, lost south of Chile (yes, again, yes, I am that lucky), on the Carretera Austral, way down to Chile Chico, where burgeoning fruit trees literally line the streets, but vegetables are harder to come by for...
read moreIs that all you’re buying? Social norms and observations on the New Year
"Tan solo eso?" (Just that?) This was what the man said to me while I was buying a bunch of grapes the other day at Tirso de Molina, the small two-story market before the real chaos of La Vega begins. In this case, I was coming from the north to the south, buying...
read moreSlicing and Dicing in Chile. Or You Know, Peeling. Tomatoes, of all things.
https://vimeo.com/194695217 "Always peel away from you." That was the advice my mother gave me in the kitchen when she was giving me tasks like peeling potatoes, or apples. It seemed so effortless to just glide the blade along the fruit, watching as coils or lengths...
read moreThe Great Election Walk of 2016, in Santiago, Chile
Though it may seem strange if you are from the US or many other countries, where only citizens are given the right to vote, once you have been in Chile as a legal resident for five years (including one-year visas), you are automatically folded into the rolls of...
read moreSuddenly you mean something else (musings on linguistic foibles)
Imagine the scene. 22-year-old Eileen is standing in the San José, Costa Rica airport, minutes from missing her flight. She has actually almost missed a flight before on this trip through Central America, from Guatemala City to Tikal (Flores airport), whereupon she...
read moreThe Joy of a Springtime Feria Haul, now with fennel!
Alto En, Exploring Chilean Memes, Nutrition and the Fiestas Patrias (Tiki tiki ti!)
One thing I love about Chile is how readily artists, graphic designers and other creative types take anything that's happening in news, or in the world, and immediately incorporate it into memes, jokes, videos and GIFs. In the past, there has been the merciless fun...
read moreFishing with peas, or Let’s Make Fun of Beginning Spanish, with Eileen
Fishing with peas. You wouldn't think you could. I have never known anyone who has. But for a long time I was convinced I'd met someone who had done just that. Once upon a time, when Eileen was just a fairly beginning Chilean Spanish speaker, she was in a taxi. And...
read more