End of week two!

“Love showed up at my door yesterday...”

Anyone recognize this line? It’s not a message from me, saying I’ve fallen in love with a dashing young Chilean; rather, it is the first line of a song whose lyrics I never expected to learn in Chile, “I Fell in Love with the Pizza Girl,” by the Jonas Brothers. The “Jo Bros” are famous in the States, but their main fan base is girls around age eleven. Apparently, Chilean 11-year-olds like them too, because Irina (my host “sister”) has had this song on repeat for several days now. I can sing the whole chorus. Irina is a fan of American music in general, as are many people in Chile. The radio at the clinic, on the bus, or in any other public place plays tons of songs in English! Elton John, Jason Mraz, Aretha Franklin—you name it. The other day I caught myself lip-synching to the Backstreet Boys in the middle of the grocery store…

Anyway, although love didn’t show up at my door yesterday, my friend Karlye (from Middlebury/ WI!) met her fiancée while she was studying abroad in Concepción two years ago. This has been to my great advantage, because I met Paulo a few days after arriving and have since met a lot of his friends! Paulo is in his last semester at the University of Concepción where he is studying to be a dietician. He has been extremely nice, teaching me lessons about the city, explaining Chilean slang, and inviting me to events at his church. Last weekend he was my tour guide for a trip to Talcahuano, a port city that is right next to Concepción (his hometown). We started our day by climbing a ridiculous number of steps to reach the top of a “cerro” (hill) from which we could see the two bays (one ingoing cargo, one outgoing) and the assorted neighborhoods of the city. Following that, we boarded the Huáscar, a famous ship that was taken over by Chile from Peru during a naval battle over a large amount of land in what is now northern Chile (but could’ve been southern Peru!). After debarking and exploring the market, where fish and vegetables are sold on the street on Saturdays, we took a micro (city bus) to a “caleta” (cove). The ride to our destination was short but really cool; the bus had to drive up a hill to go down on the other side, and you could see the ocean over the trees on some curves. We arrived to a small street lined with brightly-colored houses on one side and brightly-colored fishing boats on the other. As it was a sunny Saturday morning, the clotheslines were full and some neighbors were outside chatting and updating their boats’ paint jobs. From the caleta, we could see the Pacific Ocean!


Last night, I had another fun “cultural experience”—I went to a birthday party for Marta’s sister, Eme. Eme’s family lives in Valle Nonguén, close to the clinic that I’m working at. Marta, Irina and I took the micro to their house and were greeted by a warm stove (a real treat during a winter night in Chile!) and the family—Marta’s two sisters, their husbands, their five children, two great-aunts, and two neighbors. Eme has two daughters, ages twenty and seven. I got to talk to the older of the two for awhile; she’s a college student as well. It was nice to have a conversation, as conversations with young people can be difficult here—Chileans talk really fast, resulting in a lack of understanding for gringas (white people/foreigners) like me. I talked quite a bit with the seven-year-old as well; she asked me questions all night, and seemed surprised that I could speak Spanish with her. I think I seemed especially foreign to her…

All in all, the party was a lot of fun. There was birthday cake and the “Happy Birthday” song (same tune, but different words than I was taught in Spanish class in the States…I’ll learn them some day and let y’all know what they are). By the end of the night, I was christened Elena. Apparently, Tiernan is very difficult to say in Spanish. I have run into this problem with almost every person I’ve met here. I pronounce my name first using a Chilean/Spanish pronunciation, then the English one. I then explain that my name is exactly like the Spanish word “tierna” with an “n” on the end. Saying this is rather a mouthful, so I include that if they find it easier, the name “T” is just fine. However, the letter T is pronounced differently in the Spanish alphabet than in the English one, so I end up with a lot of “Chi” as well. Hmm.

Speaking of names, I should explain my blog title. In case you ran to your Spanish-English dictionary upon seeing that it was not in English, I should explain—you’re probably confused. “Tetera tierna en Chile” translates to “Caring/affectionate/nice tea kettle in Chile” (tetera = tea kettle; tierna = affectionate/caring…or tender, if you’re talking about meat). I decided on this title for a number of reasons. Firstly, I had friends who had artsy/international/foreign-language-laden blog titles and I thought they sounded really cool and worldly. Secondly, as mentioned above, “tierna” is very close to my name, and I like what it means! Thirdly, I have a lot of nicknames based on T: T-dog, T-shirt, T-whatever…and last year, one of my friends thought of T-kettle. “Dog” in Spanish is “perro” and “shirt” is “camisa.” Since I’m a fan of alliteration, I went with the kettle. So now you know.

That’s about all for now! I could continue writing, but I need to go to bed: week three of school starts at 8:10 AM tomorrow, and I’ve been told that this is when the homework starts…the idea of reading a lot of academic Spanish is somewhat frightening (but at least it won’t include any slang!).

Hope you all are well!

Love,
Tiernan

P.S. The class I have tomorrow is “Human-Economic Geography of Chile”—it’s been interesting so far. The reason I decided to write this PS, however, is to tell you that last week, the professor had a pink roller in her bangs during the entire class! She sat at her desk and lectured, explained the class protocol, etc…all with her bangs in a curler. I’ve been wondering if it’s her intentional routine or if she just forgot to take it out. Guess I’ll find out tomorrow!