Signs of a coming New Year’s Eve: Santiago, Chile
A quick end of the year post, in which I talk not about how grateful, humble or lucky I am, nor about the year gone by, nor the one coming up. I will say that I am so delighted that the chaos surrounding Christmas is finally over in Santiago. Soon it will be January,...
Barrio Brasil Feria Report. Newsflash: prices up
On a recent trip down to Temuco, where I finally met someone I've known online for years, over a lunch that was too big for anyone to eat, we got to talking about my feria reports. Prices are much higher in Santiago, my friend-in-the-computer said. I have heard this...
I am not particularly escrupulosa, and that might not mean what you think
I was sitting at the dining room table of a friend's beach house a few years ago in Maitencillo, when someone offered me a bite of something they were eating, holding out the fork to me. It was some kind of cake. And since I don't like Chilean cake, generally...
The Ultimate Architecture Disrespect, Santiago’s Patrimonial Architecture on Fire (Again)
This morning I woke up thinking many things. Maybe I would finish a blog post on language, or give you a feria report, now that the asparagus, cherries, blueberries and nisperos/loquats are in. I opened the curtain in the living room and saw white. It's unseasonably...
Shooting film after many, many years (plus two photo-related datos)
Several years ago, when my mother was first talking about moving out of her house in NY, and my sister and brother in law were packing up their house to move to San Francisco with two kids I am no longer allowed to call neither niecelet (13), nor moppet (6), the issue...
I was the weakest link. Playing Cranium in Chile.
One day, you may be asked to play Cranium in a language/culture that is not your own. You should heed this tale, and consider yourself mas que advertido (strongly warned). So one day, I was at a party at a friend-of-a-friend's house. The host is a hilarious,...
Know what I mean? Canned expressions and politeness in Chile
Must write about language. Again. When first learning a language, you start to notice the expressions or words that you use all the time in your native language that you can't find in the second one. In Chile, I struggled with "afford," as in "I can afford it, but I...
The things you hear, a different kind of feria report. This time in Ñuñoa.
Overheard at the Ñuñoa Feria in Santiago, Chile from Eileen Smith on Vimeo. If you've ever walked around in a public place, letting the words wash over you, you know some voices carry more than others. And if you happen to be in a foreign country, or the people...
Y le digo/And I said to him… AKA: Lies your friends told you
In my last post, I posted an audioclip of a man pretending to speak English. Several people I know, and even some I don't told me how much they enjoyed it. So far, it's going strong at 269 listens, which is a lot of people listening to someone speaking gibberish. Or...
The role of imitation in language learning, and cracking up your interlocutor. Or as I like to call it: “What does English sound like to Spanish-speakers?”
There's this thing that happens quite a lot in Chile, when people hear an English speaker speaking Spanish, they respond, usually among their group, not to the foreigner in question, by exaggerating an English/American/gringo accent in Spanish. You know, the one where...
