“Max, tu vas a pololear a ca in Taltal?” was literally the first question I received from my family when I arrived. Although the translation into English isn’t all that smooth, they were basically asking me whether I planned on searching for a Chilean girlfriend (polola=girlfriend; pololear=verb form, literally “girlfriending”). Although my answer of “no, thank you” probably thwarted some of their lofty gossiping ambitions, it certainly didn’t faze them all that much, since they still haven’t stopped asking me this question.
They are five strong (eight if you count dogs, twenty if you count voice strength and volume of conversation): Walter, father, 44; Carmen, mother, 43; Cristian, son, 17; Stephanie (Boni), daughter, 13; and Alexandra, daughter, 11. They also have three Maltese dogs: Francisco Javier, father, 4; Francisca, mother, 4; Francisca Javiera, daughter, 3 months. Oh, and Francisca Javiera, the perrita (puppy), just so happens to be one of the cutest dogs I have ever seen, even though I don’t like Maltese very much.
Walter and Carmen are the biggest jokers I have ever encountered in my short life. Literally everything is a joke for them - which is great fun for me most of the time – especially when the jokes are at my expense (which they often are). However, their constant joking presents a particularly difficult problem, namely, I hardly ever understand them until I’ve said “no entiendo” (I don't understand) twenty times and ruined the hilarity for everyone. Their absolute favorite source of roasting is Lisa, another volunteer teacher in town from Champagne/Urbana, Illinois. Because she has very light skin and blonde hair (they call her “La Rubia”), they think I must want her to be my polola. They simply won’t take no for an answer. Every day, in fact every five minutes, they ask me “how is your polola Lisa?” or if my cell phone rings, “oh Max, it’s your polola Lisa calling!” I’m beginning to think that I should have told them I was married the minute I arrived. In fact, they just barged into my room two seconds a go because Lisa called my cell and it happened to be in the living room. “Max, corre! Lisa ha llamada!” (Max, run, Lisa called!) I’m really not sure how much more I can take!
Their other favorite joke is one that I came up with in Spanish – something I am very proud of – and it’s actually not that funny, but go easy on me guys…I made a joke in Spanish! Palta is avocado in Spanish, and they happen to eat tons of it (score!). One day, they asked me what palta is in English, and I told them. Avocado said in Spanish, however, sounds exactly like “abogado” (lawyer), because they pronounce v’s like b’s. After the entire family attempted to pronounce avocado for a full minute, I came up with “Si, las paltas estudian en la escuela del derecho para hacerse abogado!” In English, “Yeah, avocados study at law school to become lawyers!” Lame, I know, but they loved it.
The three children are extremely well-behaved and always help out around the house. Cristian, the 17 year-old, is in 12th grade (cuarto) at Liceo Politecnico, the school where I teach. Lucky for Cristian, however, I don’t teach his class! He gets muy vergonzoso (very embarrassed) whenever he walks around town with me, probably because I say “buenas dias!” to literally every person I pass in Taltal (he simply doesn’t understand this). It’s not like I have a habit of saying hello to everyone, and I certainly don’t do that in the U.S., but literally every person stares so intently at the gringo that I’m forced to say hello in order to break the awkwardness. The other day I went for a run with Cristian to the beach and much to his chagrin I decided to pass through town on the way back. At one point he thought he saw some friends from school, so he dropped back about 15 feet behind me, started to walk, and brought out his cell phone and pretended to check his messages. He’s so timid! Here in Chile, they call the years between 16-18 “El Edad del Pavo”, literally, “The Age of the Duck”. It describes that time period perfectly!
The two young daughters, Alexandra and Stephanie, are pretty quiet and very well mannered. They also love to make fun of me – especially about girls – but for the most part they’re pretty tranquilo. They’re on their laptops for an incredible amount of time each day – it’s truly amazing how little outdoor activity kids get around here. For the most part, they would rather play computer games than play sports or go down to the beach. At least Cristian plays a lot of soccer, and is always willing to bring me along to play even though I pretty much suck. But watch, by the time I get back from Chile I’ll be the American version of Cristiano Ronaldo, haha.
The bottom line is I feel like I am truly a member of the family. Everyone is so easy-going and open to discussing literally every topic – to use a particularly extreme example – Carmen has absolutely no qualms about discussing sex around the entire family, in fact, she keeps two boxes of condoms in the refrigerator. Certainly peculiar and interesting, yes, but I find it to be unbelievably refreshing in a country where little attention is paid to birth control and girls are often getting pregnant at 13 and 14 here in Taltal. Although Cristian (17) is in no way sexually active yet, I think it’s great that his parents are that open with him and want to ensure that he takes the appropriate measures when he’s ready.
Beyond that, my laundry is done for me, I have a nice big room, and the food has been great, although one big meal a day (lunch) is hard to get used to. I am so accustomed to having a large breakfast, small lunch, and large dinner that the total switcheroo is throwing me off a bit, although I’ll get used to it eventually. I live a bit far from town (in Taltal that means a whopping 15-20 min. walk), but I wouldn’t change my family here for 100,000 Chilean pesos (only $200, haha). They’ve been absolutely great, even if they are nearly impossible to understand at times, and I can’t wait to spend a full five more months here!
Here are some pictures, and if you guys have any questions about my living arrangements, family, food, etc, just comment, because I can’t continue this marathon post any longer.
They are five strong (eight if you count dogs, twenty if you count voice strength and volume of conversation): Walter, father, 44; Carmen, mother, 43; Cristian, son, 17; Stephanie (Boni), daughter, 13; and Alexandra, daughter, 11. They also have three Maltese dogs: Francisco Javier, father, 4; Francisca, mother, 4; Francisca Javiera, daughter, 3 months. Oh, and Francisca Javiera, the perrita (puppy), just so happens to be one of the cutest dogs I have ever seen, even though I don’t like Maltese very much.
Walter and Carmen are the biggest jokers I have ever encountered in my short life. Literally everything is a joke for them - which is great fun for me most of the time – especially when the jokes are at my expense (which they often are). However, their constant joking presents a particularly difficult problem, namely, I hardly ever understand them until I’ve said “no entiendo” (I don't understand) twenty times and ruined the hilarity for everyone. Their absolute favorite source of roasting is Lisa, another volunteer teacher in town from Champagne/Urbana, Illinois. Because she has very light skin and blonde hair (they call her “La Rubia”), they think I must want her to be my polola. They simply won’t take no for an answer. Every day, in fact every five minutes, they ask me “how is your polola Lisa?” or if my cell phone rings, “oh Max, it’s your polola Lisa calling!” I’m beginning to think that I should have told them I was married the minute I arrived. In fact, they just barged into my room two seconds a go because Lisa called my cell and it happened to be in the living room. “Max, corre! Lisa ha llamada!” (Max, run, Lisa called!) I’m really not sure how much more I can take!
Their other favorite joke is one that I came up with in Spanish – something I am very proud of – and it’s actually not that funny, but go easy on me guys…I made a joke in Spanish! Palta is avocado in Spanish, and they happen to eat tons of it (score!). One day, they asked me what palta is in English, and I told them. Avocado said in Spanish, however, sounds exactly like “abogado” (lawyer), because they pronounce v’s like b’s. After the entire family attempted to pronounce avocado for a full minute, I came up with “Si, las paltas estudian en la escuela del derecho para hacerse abogado!” In English, “Yeah, avocados study at law school to become lawyers!” Lame, I know, but they loved it.
The three children are extremely well-behaved and always help out around the house. Cristian, the 17 year-old, is in 12th grade (cuarto) at Liceo Politecnico, the school where I teach. Lucky for Cristian, however, I don’t teach his class! He gets muy vergonzoso (very embarrassed) whenever he walks around town with me, probably because I say “buenas dias!” to literally every person I pass in Taltal (he simply doesn’t understand this). It’s not like I have a habit of saying hello to everyone, and I certainly don’t do that in the U.S., but literally every person stares so intently at the gringo that I’m forced to say hello in order to break the awkwardness. The other day I went for a run with Cristian to the beach and much to his chagrin I decided to pass through town on the way back. At one point he thought he saw some friends from school, so he dropped back about 15 feet behind me, started to walk, and brought out his cell phone and pretended to check his messages. He’s so timid! Here in Chile, they call the years between 16-18 “El Edad del Pavo”, literally, “The Age of the Duck”. It describes that time period perfectly!
The two young daughters, Alexandra and Stephanie, are pretty quiet and very well mannered. They also love to make fun of me – especially about girls – but for the most part they’re pretty tranquilo. They’re on their laptops for an incredible amount of time each day – it’s truly amazing how little outdoor activity kids get around here. For the most part, they would rather play computer games than play sports or go down to the beach. At least Cristian plays a lot of soccer, and is always willing to bring me along to play even though I pretty much suck. But watch, by the time I get back from Chile I’ll be the American version of Cristiano Ronaldo, haha.
The bottom line is I feel like I am truly a member of the family. Everyone is so easy-going and open to discussing literally every topic – to use a particularly extreme example – Carmen has absolutely no qualms about discussing sex around the entire family, in fact, she keeps two boxes of condoms in the refrigerator. Certainly peculiar and interesting, yes, but I find it to be unbelievably refreshing in a country where little attention is paid to birth control and girls are often getting pregnant at 13 and 14 here in Taltal. Although Cristian (17) is in no way sexually active yet, I think it’s great that his parents are that open with him and want to ensure that he takes the appropriate measures when he’s ready.
Beyond that, my laundry is done for me, I have a nice big room, and the food has been great, although one big meal a day (lunch) is hard to get used to. I am so accustomed to having a large breakfast, small lunch, and large dinner that the total switcheroo is throwing me off a bit, although I’ll get used to it eventually. I live a bit far from town (in Taltal that means a whopping 15-20 min. walk), but I wouldn’t change my family here for 100,000 Chilean pesos (only $200, haha). They’ve been absolutely great, even if they are nearly impossible to understand at times, and I can’t wait to spend a full five more months here!
Here are some pictures, and if you guys have any questions about my living arrangements, family, food, etc, just comment, because I can’t continue this marathon post any longer.
Walter
Carmen
Cristian
Alexandra
Stephanie (Boni)
Francisca, the puppy
1 comment:
Max! Your family is so cute! I think it's funny that the boy is embarrassed to be seen with you...but I can't really blame him ;-) Sounds like you're having a blast!
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