happier days

my birthday:

About Language

I recently realized that my homesickness has reached a new height. In a recent LEO-discussion an energetic lady told off the various bickering participants like toddlers. She claimed that a certain word difference is “gehupft wie gesprungen.” An even more gruesome example of my homesickness would be feeling whinesome reading a citation of “Pippi in den Augen” on spiegel.de ... (insert vomit smiley here)

Of course, there are funny Spanish words – and then there are funny Chilean ways of saying things. As a token of affection or nicety, everyone is saying things such as “chicitito” or "chicillos" (instead of chico), “besito” (instead of beso), “sopita” (instead of sopa) and so on. This excessive use of diminutives can lead to funny moments, such as when a vendor, selling quite an enormous backpack, asked her co-vendor for a “bolsita grande” (a big tiny-bag).

Nevertheless, I seem to be making progress on my Spanish. Firstly, I was told by several people that they thought I was Brasilian – “you sound like Brasilians when they try to speak Spanish” I(note the “try to speak” part). At another occasion there was musing that I were having a French accent. (I can assure this is not true, regrettably or not). Like most (I'm tempted to say "every true") Germans, I seem to be happy about having almost any other accent as long as it is not a German one. Is the implication of this (still) a wish to pass as a non-German? I was talking to an American in the hostel in Santiago, and funnily enough, he did not even ask but wanted to know whether I came directly from France to Santiago. It was a very short conversation I admit. I find the backpacker scene tiring now. Hey I´m a surfing Uruguayan – hey I´m a hip girl from Vermont, “you know, (close to) Boston and New York…” (yeah sure) – Hey, I´m an Californian skiing teacher. My thought for the day: I used to think Obama would be assassinated by the Religious Right. Now I think Obama IS the Religious Right.
Ehm.
did I miss something that happened in Gringo-land?


But then I watched a movie and the credits said, a guy on the team, gaffer or something, was called “Gonzalo Palta” (Palta meaning Avocado), and that made me think of ALF and I was happy. No problemo!

Food Days

These days are the “days of the empanada.” In truth, the 18th of September is the day of independencia – not the 11th of September, as I had thought. This one is the day of the military coup. Rodrigo said, make that mistake to the wrong people and they kill you. I try to think/hope he was just playing up the “dangerous (Latin) world” part; they are always very anxious here. (And there is the joke that the gringos stole that day, too, by having an even worse 11th of September…)
Anyway, the Day of the golpe, the coup, is not exactly celebrated, and not exactly commemorated either. I don´t know much more of yet; I am not surrounded by very political people – politics still reeks of “danger” and “trouble”, at best, futility. I just read that a third of young Chilenos is more or less apolitical, which I find astounding. Not in comparison to Europe or the States (where the figures are the same or higher, I imagine) but for the context of a country that just got rid of its dictatorship. I don´t know. Surely seems like democracy is not the hottest thing after all, at least not in this form.

Well, the 18th of September is for eating empanada de pino, a fatty delicious dough filled with pieces of beef, onions, a bit of boiled egg, olives and raisins. I think one would be enough for a calorie-comfortable day, so I had about 3 and a half. On the first day. Señora Viviana, who invited us recently to have lunch at her house in the neighboring town of Lago Algo, said it´s the healthiest empanada there is. There is also one that is filled with cheese and then deep-fried, so she might be right.



After the empanada day, there is the meat-and-potato day. The family meets and starts preparing various foods from the morning onward, mostly meat and hum, potatoes.
It is barbecue time, or rather, time for asado. Lots of wine is involved, three kinds of formery free-running, former animals, and some salads. All very relaxed and friendly; the presence of 3-year-old Angela helped when I would tighten up about all that family presence. Rodrigo and I were preparing Kartoffelschnitze (to general appreciation) in an outdoor oven, while the radio was blasting the Cueca.



I continue to be fascinated by this tradition. read this: "The Cueca has rich historical roots in both African and Native American cultures. The dance is a parody of the courtship of a chicken and rooster. The dancers wave handkerchiefs above their heads during the dance. These handkerchiefs can symbolize the feathers of the bird or the rooster’s comb."
Yesterday Chile´s president Michelle Bachelet had to/the pleasure to do the chicken dance on National Television. I savor the thought of Merkel, Schröder (less funny) or Kohl having to do a national dance.

mixed salad

Two weeks ago I went to this seminar at Valparaíso University - not the Valpo U in Indiana, US, where they offer a writing workshop and writing jobs that got me all excited. No, the Valparaíso University in Valparaíso Region, región Valparaíso, Middle Région, Greater Santiago Region, Second Largest Metropolitan Region of Chile and so on. Whatever it is called, really. So far the country´s ways of working these things out have eluded me. To find out whether a phone number is a cell or a landline, you have to count the numbers, starting from the back, and if it´s eight, it´s a cell! Nothing more obvious than that! Only no-one tells you!

Aside: This seems a good moment to squeeze in some random information about Chile (I have forgotten why it seemed a good moment though). Chile has a population of 15,665,216 (July 2003 estimates) and a total land area of 756,950 sq km. Ist economy is considered one of the strongest of South America. They export a lot of copper, apparently. The country has an extreme northern-southern length of approximately 4270 km (about 2650 mi), but its average width is less than 180 km (less than 110 mi). Archipelagoes extend along the southern Chilean coast from Chiloé Island to Cape Horn, the southernmost point of the South American continent. Islands claimed by Chile include the Juan Fernández Islands (Robinson Crusoe), Easter Island, and Sala y Gómez, all of which lie in the South Pacific. Chile also claims a section of Antarctica. Relevant economical areas of Valparaíso are maritime port, agricultural, fishing, tourism and education. I have read that the weather in Valpo and Viña is considered „temperate“ but I continue to take issue with that.

The seminar was about Latinamerican Cinema, so a fairly clearly outlined ;) and ambitious project. I haven`t sorted out what I learnt yet. It is of course all very political, which is good, and often a little boring, which is bad, but it might be my fault for not understanding the dialogue better. well. more on art later.

London, Berlin, Friends, Europe, Cheese, Bread, Television, Summer, Babys (not mine)

london

london
berlin berlin: trash cans and church



which city is it??


sah der görli je so romantisch aus?


das hier ist für insider... (in Berlin, Altonaer Strasse, toilet, and a jaguar)


my lovely nieces

doing the chicken

Last weekend we went to the “Club Aleman”.
You have to imagine the interior of that "club" like a period movie. Enter a (inconspicuous looking) building. There is a doorman, an elevator and a spacious stairway, all rather obscure, but with red carpet. Inside, seemingly randomly arranged rooms. Those are more or less empty but for chairs and tables, heavy chandeliers. The furniture is made of dark wood, it is also dark for the chunky curtains and the waiter who looks like a pimp behind a table with beverages… Well, this last bit had a different character, I read it as the Chilean part, with all the improvisation of a school event.
On the first floor we are passing tango – women heavily tarted up, in strange dresses and high shoes. Our thing is on the second floor: the national dance! It is called cueca.
Is there a national dance in Germany? Or England? The dance is awesome. I did not really get it at first, because there were only shy couples solitarily doing the thing, one after the other, although the atmosphere was great and raunchy. But then the pros stepped on stage (no stage involved)! That was so funny! For the dance has a narrative : The woman is a hen flirting with and teasing and getting away from the man, who is, you guessed it, a rooster. Imagine a guy doing a chicken, flapping the jacket, stamping the feet, moving the whole body in that sweeling, puffing fashion, uncannily like both a duck and a man (the latter puffing only on the inside, of course)
Here is a link to that dance. Enjoy! (oh, and watch the guy. Seriously, so much fun) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik7bTRYWCS4&feature=related