Cruising for Chicks at the Family Reunion
It’s been just about a month since Erin has written a blog entry, so I figure most of you are already wise to the fact that I’ve killed her and secretly fed her corpse to the people in our house. Mwahaha…and so on. That being said, I guess everyone is just going to have to get used to hearing my relatively pointless ramblings on Chilean culture and the things we’ve been doing (by we I mean me and my new Chilean girlfriend, who is conveniently also named Erin…and also looks exactly like her in photos). Erin and I are both officially working now. I know Dave and Lisa thought I was just going to sponge off their daughter (may she rest in peace) for months on end, but I’ve actually managed to start work, and beginning next week I’ll be waking up at the ridiculous hour of 5:30 (that’s 3:30 EST) in order to make it to a one-hour private lesson with a man that by all accounts is incapable of learning English. He’s been taking private lessons with several other teachers every day now for several months and has not improved at all. I’m looking forward to it.
In other news, Halloween just passed, which means most of you are already seeing Christmas decorations in your local Walmart or Kohls or whatever soulless corporate super-store sells you your groceries, clothing, electronics, and children. Halloween hasn’t really been a big holiday for me for a while, and the Chileans can sympathize since they’re still emerging from their dictatorship. Apparently, in addition to routinely abducting random people and torturing them, the military regime also took exception to all candy-related holidays, so Halloween went uncelebrated for quite some time. Now it’s getting more popular again, but the Chilenos don’t really seem to know how to do it. Not many kids trick-or-treat, which is probably good since not many people give out stuff and if they do its liable to be cards with religious messages written on them. For us, Halloween meant another opportunity for the owners of our house to try to make some extra cash by trying to throw a party and selling alcohol to foreigners. This has been kind of an ongoing scheme that never seems to work out very well for a couple reasons that I won’t get into. Nobody ever shows up and we all just end up talking about why it wasn’t a good idea in the first place and how we hope this will be the last time they try it. It’s really an awkward situation for everyone involved, but it’s how we spent our evening. For anyone wondering, Erin went as a sexually confused pirate and I went as a girl, so sexual confusion was kind of the theme.
We woke up around 1:00 in the afternoon, to find that someone had brought a ping pong table to the house. This pretty much kicked off what turned out to be a fantastic day for everyone. Having discovered the ping pong table, we spent the first three hours of the day challenging various housemates to games and scaling the fence into the next door neighbor’s yard whenever someone hit a wild shot. Next, since it was a holiday, we managed to convince a fair number of the people in the house to participate in a barbeque, which basically consisted of lots and lots of Choripan (still one of the best things about this country). We spent the rest of the day cooking, gorging ourselves on cheap sausage and vegetables, and discussing marrying first cousins. Interesting fact: Chileans seem to be for it. We learned over the course of the evening that 1) marrying your first cousin is not against the law here (George Michael would be thrilled) and 2) the couple that owns our house are actually cousins. Lest you grab your cutest cousin and jump on a plane to Chile, I think I should point out first that Mexico is closer (it's also allowed there according to our Mexican friend) and also marrying your relative is not all fun and games. Although it’s legal, not everyone approves of it and it's not necessarily easy to do. To manage it in Chile you have to get a letter from the Pope saying that it’s okay. Definitely something to think about though...
Changing subjects, Erin and I welcomed a new member into our Chilean family a couple days ago, a Bonsai tree that despite all odds is still alive. We got it from a plant fair that we happened to pass in the park near our house. I managed to convince Erin to name it Gus, with the promise that I’d never suggest the name for anything else. Hopefully some day he'll look this good.
Happy Halloween everyone.
In other news, Halloween just passed, which means most of you are already seeing Christmas decorations in your local Walmart or Kohls or whatever soulless corporate super-store sells you your groceries, clothing, electronics, and children. Halloween hasn’t really been a big holiday for me for a while, and the Chileans can sympathize since they’re still emerging from their dictatorship. Apparently, in addition to routinely abducting random people and torturing them, the military regime also took exception to all candy-related holidays, so Halloween went uncelebrated for quite some time. Now it’s getting more popular again, but the Chilenos don’t really seem to know how to do it. Not many kids trick-or-treat, which is probably good since not many people give out stuff and if they do its liable to be cards with religious messages written on them. For us, Halloween meant another opportunity for the owners of our house to try to make some extra cash by trying to throw a party and selling alcohol to foreigners. This has been kind of an ongoing scheme that never seems to work out very well for a couple reasons that I won’t get into. Nobody ever shows up and we all just end up talking about why it wasn’t a good idea in the first place and how we hope this will be the last time they try it. It’s really an awkward situation for everyone involved, but it’s how we spent our evening. For anyone wondering, Erin went as a sexually confused pirate and I went as a girl, so sexual confusion was kind of the theme.
We woke up around 1:00 in the afternoon, to find that someone had brought a ping pong table to the house. This pretty much kicked off what turned out to be a fantastic day for everyone. Having discovered the ping pong table, we spent the first three hours of the day challenging various housemates to games and scaling the fence into the next door neighbor’s yard whenever someone hit a wild shot. Next, since it was a holiday, we managed to convince a fair number of the people in the house to participate in a barbeque, which basically consisted of lots and lots of Choripan (still one of the best things about this country). We spent the rest of the day cooking, gorging ourselves on cheap sausage and vegetables, and discussing marrying first cousins. Interesting fact: Chileans seem to be for it. We learned over the course of the evening that 1) marrying your first cousin is not against the law here (George Michael would be thrilled) and 2) the couple that owns our house are actually cousins. Lest you grab your cutest cousin and jump on a plane to Chile, I think I should point out first that Mexico is closer (it's also allowed there according to our Mexican friend) and also marrying your relative is not all fun and games. Although it’s legal, not everyone approves of it and it's not necessarily easy to do. To manage it in Chile you have to get a letter from the Pope saying that it’s okay. Definitely something to think about though...
Changing subjects, Erin and I welcomed a new member into our Chilean family a couple days ago, a Bonsai tree that despite all odds is still alive. We got it from a plant fair that we happened to pass in the park near our house. I managed to convince Erin to name it Gus, with the promise that I’d never suggest the name for anything else. Hopefully some day he'll look this good.
Happy Halloween everyone.
posted by Erin and Nate at
8:14 AM
2 Comments:
Whoa there, did you just suggest that the Pope is cool with Chileans marrying their cousins? Cause if it's ok in Chile if you have a letter from the Pope, presumably some cousin-couples have these letters? This, to me, is Shocking, seeing as the Pope isn't cool with gay people or sex or Fun. But screwing your cousin? A-OK.
By
kid cass, at 3:40 PM
I had better have some communication from my baby girl very soon or else you'd better start your life as a fugitive!
By
Anonymous, at 1:43 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home