Different strokes...

It's been a quiet week for me, hanging around in Santiago for the last few days before my work finally starts. I got my schedule the other day and it's quite bizarre this semester. All my classes are consolidated into two days, Wednesday and Friday, with my last class not finishing until 10:45 PM. It should be interesting having such a wacky schedule, but it also gives me a lot of time to look into other things, like tutoring and hopefully volunteering or getting another job of some sort.

Anyway, this afternoon I started thinking about all the quirky things I've noticed about Chile and Chileans since I've been here. Here's a partial list of the cultural differences that I find infinitely entertaining (and only sometimes just a tad frustrating). 

1. Chileans have a gigantic sweet tooth. I think their choice of beverage shows this best. If you order a juice at a restaurant (which is extremely common, like ordering water or iced tea with lunch in the states) you'll get either a strangely thick and unbelievably sweet concoction from a powdered mix, or a delicious (but also don't-tell-the-dentist sweet) blend of whole fruits, pureed to an almost liquid. But Coke has to be the national "bebida" of choice. And Chile's Coke has got something going on that our version in the U.S. does not: pure, real sugar. I've seen many a Chilean walking down the street with a two liter bottle of the stuff in hand, just a little refreshment for the afternoon heat.

2. PDA is an epidemic in this city. I experienced similar awkwardness by the public displays of affection of the Spaniards when I was in Sevilla, but Chileans take it to a whole other level. Park benches, the metro, elevators, restaurants, more park benches, park grass, park statues, intersections, you name the spot and it's fair game for some heavy petting.

3. The metro at rush hour and grocery stores are the city's battlegrounds. Enter either and you better be prepared to use your muscles or you ain't going nowhere. And, DC people, you haven't seen anything like this metro rush hour. I've seen faces smooshed against windows, people trapped in the center of the car unable to get off at their stop, heads pushed into armpits, and lines to swipe your BIP! card (like SmartTrip) that wind out of the station up to the street. And grocery stores-- I think there must just be a shortage or something, because they are ALWAYS jam packed. If you don't know what you want, where to go to get it, and how the line system works, it's going to take you a good 45 minutes to get a couple yogurts and some olive oil.

4. Despite Chile's mild mediterranean climate, Chileans find an awful lot to comment (read: complain) about regarding the weather. Since I arrived toward the tail end of summer/beginning of fall, I've gotten both ends. That dial goes above 78 and all the sudden it's "Hay que calor!" but if the wind picks up a tiny bit, or when darkness falls and it's a little nippy, you'd think we were in the arctic for all the talk about the "frio." I think Chileans are preoccupied with the weather because if affects their lives a lot more than if affects people in the states'. Central heating and air are uncommon, at least from what I've seen in Santiago, so they've had to be resourceful and make do with open windows and hot water bottles to combat the elements. I'm going to go ahead and guess right now though, that this winter is going to seem like a walk in the park to me, especially after the brutal one I just came out of. But who knows, maybe come July, when I'm shivering in my bedroom cursing my estufa (space heater) for not giving off more warmth, I'll be eating my words and wondering why I didn't heed the warnings of the Chileans who tried to tell me that I would need to sleep in a hat, scarf, gloves, socks, and multiple layers.