Depto

Here it is folks!

                                El living

                                          El living desde la cocina

                                           La cocina

                                           El balcón

                                             El dormitorio desde el living

                                            El dormitorio

Streetdogs and Mother Mary

I can't remember if I've talked about the streetdogs before. They're everywhere. They're sad and peaceable (not hostile and vicious like their Thai kin). Apparently people buy whatever breed's currently in fashion (no doubt as puppies), and when they get sick of the dog or have to move house, will just let it go on the street. Or the dogs might be left to wander around the neighbourhood while their owners are at work (this happens less nowadays) and, as a result, get themselves in the family way. So you end up with lots of dogs that aren't exactly mongrels but sort of look like one particular breed, or a bizarre mixture of two or three.

I was puzzled by the dogs' good humour - apparently it's because people slip them food and water, so they're not actually starving afterall. And here's an interesting Chilean thing - people may not take responsibility for their dogs, yet they feel a tender pity for the creatures and if ever a politician were to suggest a humane, large-scale solution, the uproar would pretty much spell an end to his career. The Chilean heart breaks for the underdog, be it an actual dog, a disabled kid, or a women who has suffered great tragedy. The desire to mother runs deep and strong and is viewed as one of the purest, most noble virtues. And yet sometimes this pity seems to be less about actually helping the suffering and more about almost enjoying the melancholy emotion, and having this pity reassure you that, despite it all, you really are a caring soul. There may also be the opportunity to complete your Christian duty by a performing a - quick and concrete - good deed. Perhaps my assessment is a little too hasty and cyncial - time will tell. I'm certainly not saying it because I think Australia's got the wrap on the good virtues...

What I found out buying things for my flat

• There's no storage room out the back, so if they've run out of the red lamps you just have to go and see if they've got them in another store.
• While there are a lot of commonalities between different stores of the same chain, each will also have its own unique things. So if you see the stone pot you've been looking for, you should buy it there and then because you may never find it in any other stores and if it goes out of stock here there's no guarantee it will ever come back in.
• When they tell you they'll have more bar stools in by Thursday, it's more a general expression of hope for the future.
• Fridges, coffee tables and beds get delivered on the exact day they told you they would (though you never know at what time), and you get a phonecall afterwards to ask how you found the service.
• There don't seem to be computer systems saying what's in stock at other stores - the shop assistants just say you'll have to go have a look... except that one time a shop assistant did look up red lamps for me, so maybe they do have them...
• Even if they do have such systems, there doesn't seem to be the option to reserve a red lamp.
• If a shop assistant very kindly says she'll put a doona aside for you while you sort out your credit card issue, she won't think to tell her colleague where she hid it before knocking off for the day and her colleague won't think to ask.
• Occasionally, when you are photographing tablecloths so you can work out later how they'd look in your house, the staff will come and tell you off - but usually they leave you be.
• Shop assistants (and staff generally) aren't distributed with a view to efficiency. There will be one guy run off his feet at the wood-cutting counter and groups of people hanging around in other parts of the store. 
• Sometimes these aimless-looking assistants will ask if you need help; sometimes not. Sometimes they'll hurry over to sticky-tape together the curtain poles you've been struggling with; sometimes not.
• The shop staff usually have very specific responsibilities - so the lady who just sold you a sofa and is now without customers can't step across and serve you as you stand waiting the return of the bed section lady (except that on this occasion she did!).
• While you do get the odd person who is across all the details of the microwaves, vacuum cleaners and kettles they have to sell, most of the time shop assistants can't answer basic questions about their products.
• No-one thinks you're weird or rude for carrying great armfuls of stuff on the train or through town or piling it all into a taxi. That's just the way it is if you don't have a car. 
• Sometimes people will take pity on you and let you return the curtain ties because you realised you didn't really need them or come out to your place to find a way to get the fridge through the kitchen door; and other times they'll stick closely to the rules and refuse to cut you a small bit of wood or exchange your fridge should it fail to make it through the door.

Friends

A missionary who is part of my church and who works with adults with intellectual disabilities (like these two women) just got back from a few weeks away. She writes:

I was happy to see the folks from Crescendo who had come with me to church, disappear to sit with their friends, leaving me fend for myself.  It was wonderful!  Please continue to pray for our church, Iglesia Cristo Redentor, as we seek to share the love of Christ with all persons regardless of barriers created by ability or social status.

La 508

Sorry for the sporadic posts - I've been busy buying up big for my new apartment. It's almost in the middle of the city, so it's pretty noisy and the streetlights shine in at night but I love it all the same. It's pretty big and soaked with light during the day, there's a sweet little balcony, there are always things going on and people bustling about, and it's a short walk to some parks and funky barrios. I might post some photos once it's all 'done', though I'm having second thoughts about whether that's a good move, security wise, this being the World Wide Web and all.

Anyway here's a video out the bus window on the way into town from my old place. I love Santiago's buskers - well when they're good, which these ones sure were. I'm fairly used to living here now, but the traditional tunes had me sit back a moment and think 'Oh my goodness, here I am, sitting on a bus in South America!!".

Grace

This morning a lady with an intellectual disability who I've barely spoken to, who hardly speaks anyway, or reacts or smiles when you do speak to her, she pointed to the seat next to her as I was passing by, an invitation for me to sit with her. As the Bible was read she reached for my hand and held it in hers for all the reading and a bit of the sermon. After the sermon had finished, we stood to hug each other, as we do each Sunday, and to wish each other God's peace. Another lady who also has an intellectual disability tried to hug her and she shied away, saying "Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Don't touch me!". The other lady gave her a piece of her mind for being so rude while I tried to explain that it was just that she didn't want to. Later in the service, at the start of the Lord's Supper, the musicians and people helping were invited up to first receive the wine and bread. The lady stood up too. I touched her on the shoulder, letting her know it wasn't time yet, but she kept on walking . . . to where the other lady was sitting, second in from the aisle. She leaned in, kissed her on the cheek, and went and sat with her for the rest of the service.

☺

Retiro de mujeres

One of the things I've been privileged to be part of this year is the women's ministry team. I haven't really done much, though I did make up for that a bit during the retreat we had a couple of Saturdays ago. It turned out to be a wonderful day, with some fantastic, solid, super-helpful Bible teaching from the book of Ruth; a series of opportunities to discuss its implications with our sisters; and a delicious, even professional lunch provided by an enthusiastic bunch of our brothers.

Hijas de Dios

Let's make it a trifecta of cultural differences. I got Emy to help me translate an earlier version of my vision statement, which included the words "Christian women". Emy was a little confused about what I was trying to convey and after a bit of explanation suggested that something like "women who are daughters of God" would be clearer. Unlike Australia, all sorts of people consider themselves Christian here.

La Virgen

While we're on the topic of Catholicism, I was talking with a lady the other day who works as a maid in a wealthy person's house and she mentioned a ethical dilemma that, as an Evangelical, she's had to navigate. In the entrance of the house are statues of different Marys. The lady I was speaking with said she's agreed to arrange weekly flower displays 'for Mary', but that she won't light candles for her. I like to think Mary herself would be happy with this.

No salva a nadie

Here's a fun example of the influence of Catholicism on Chilean culture.

If you want to find out if something's any good, you can say, "¿Esta cuestión - salva o no?" (= literally "That question - does it save or not?"). And if it's no good, the answer would be, "No salva a nadie." (= "It won't save anybody."). You can use it for films, people, whatever.

Depto

After a protracted and often stressful and disappointing journey, I'm delighted to say God has had me stumble across the most perfect little apartment. It's going to be sad to leave my Chilean family but I'm so excited about decorating and looking forward to having a little place of my own where I can cook yummy meals, have people over and generally enjoy myself.

Perdonado y amado

I think I shared with you an earlier attempt to write a 'Vision Statement' for my ministry here, but I can't put my hands on it now. Anyway I thought I'd show you the very latest (hopefully the last) version. I'm happy to say it's got a whole lot more heart...

As they read the Bible, I want women to get to know their God, and learn what it means to live as people who have been forgiven much and are much loved. 

And the Spanish version: Quiero que las mujeres conozcan a su Dios mientras estudien la Biblia, y aprendan lo que significa vivir como gente que ha sido perdonado y amado en gran manera por él.

Cerro San Cristóbal

Monday was a public holiday so me, Emy, the kids, her mum, a tia and prima went on an adventure! To Cerro San Cristóbal, a great big hill in the middle of Santiago. I love the place.

Better said

¡qué pena! = how awful! (literally: what pain!) While this expression does have its English equivalent, there's something about the use of "pain" that makes the Spanish ring sharper and more true.

es una lástima = it's a shame Again there's something about the word lastima that just sounds right - maybe I'm associating it with an English word I can't currently think of, or maybe it's that the use of the longer word in Spanish allows you to put heavy emphasis on the first syllable, so you can really say it like you mean it.

¡pucha! (Chilean) = crap! bugger! My understanding is that while this widely-used expression has heart, it isn't at all rude. (Perhaps it's like if in English speakers actually went around saying "bother!".) The plosive "p" at the start is great for when you drop something, as is the English "bugger!". The expression also gets used to convey general disappointment.

¡qué fome! (Chilean) = that sucks! While the English translation uses a verb, "sucks", to express the 'suckiness' of the situation, the Spanish word, fome, functions as an adjective describing the thing itself. I guess either works well depending if you want to focus more on your experience of the crappy situation (English) or the crappiness of the thing/situation itself (Spanish).

vale la pena = it's worth it (literally: it's worth the pain) The Spanish has so much more emotion than the English, which in comparison is a cold, calculating thing. In Spanish: "it's worth the pain". No whitewashing of emotions here.

Extranjeros

So the point of me being here is to help some Christian women (God willing, a lot of women!) to better understand God's Words, to help them obey all that Jesus commands, and, obviously, as they do all this, to discover great peace, confidence, hope and joy and be a massive blessing to the people around them. But new contexts and first years are funny things - you end up doing not exactly what you thought. And it turns out that there are a few other, sometimes lonely, extranjeros (foreigners) around the place. I've got to know people from Australia, the Netherlands and England, plus some from other countries only here for a short time, a couple of whom have come along with me to church. And I've been made welcome by missionaries from Australia, England, Mexico, America, Germany and Switzerland. So there's been a fair bit of speaking English over lunches or coffees, which isn't exactly what I had planned. But I do what God gives me to do, not abandoning my earlier goals, but making the most of this opportunity to develop relationships in English when this is still hard for me to do in Spanish.

Eucalipto

I don't know what it is about gum trees, but they're everywhere. There are lots of them here, especially in the south, and I have also come across them in Ireland and Sri Lanka.

Gum trees matter to me - I love their unlikely elegance and their ashen colours. My pride and sense of connection are almost as if I had a hand in their making. It's an Australian thing. But it's also a Tasmanian thing - our trees are a key part of our identity, although the wood most precious to us comes from other species - myrtle, sassafras, huon pine. When I lived in Ireland there a gumtree up the street from us and the smell and sight of it made me glad. But here there are too many and how am I to explain that in Australia they are not one species among many, but the tree, our tree. I feel like someone's mucking around with my heritage. Poor gumtrees, so far from home, trying to fit in...

Campeones mundiales / 2

Delegating work
There is a great labour force in this country. Hardworking people capable of responsibly carrying out instructions. But it's equally true that in the heart of each of them lies a frustrated boss. The Chilean never feels like he is the last in the pyramid, even when he is. He will always find someone else to whom he can pass on his duties, because if he has 10 hours to do a job, he would prefer to spend 9 of them thinking about how to foist his work onto someone else. And he does this wishing to 'share responsibilities' and to not end up the only person suffering the costs of a possible 'negligence'. To be lazy but not appear to be so, requires a lot of ingenuity.
I wouldn't have been able to put my finger on it this way, but, yes, I have noticed (and Chileans have told me) that oftentimes people are happy if something is adequate ("Así, no más.").

Accumulating stuff
The Chilean spirit is accumulative. One doesn't start over so much as place one layer on top of the previous. Our houses are full of relics because at one time we realised that we could both start a business and create space in our houses. Perhaps certain periods of national shortage have created this hoarding tendency, the feeling that any one thing may at any moment - a moment that never arrives - be useful . . . We think the television that one day stopped working will miraculously revive. We have created places for recycling . . . where we pretend to change our paradigm and which make us believe that our treasured possessions aren't going to die but will be reincarnated in a bin.
Haven't observed this one, but a friend told me his Dad's famous for it.

In Santiago, Chile ('Tain't Chilly at All)

H/T Margaret :)

Fotos del sur: the way back

We took a less direct route on the way back, heading west to the coast and taking a couple of days. The epicentre of the big earthquake of February 2010 was close by, and there's still a lot of damage to be seen.

Los Pellines, I think, right on the coast. Down this rough-shod street are temporary houses made of sheets of wood and plastic, which have presumably been people's homes ever since the earthquake.

 Constitución

 I think this is indicating what state the house is in. Sometimes there are green crosses with "inhabitable" written on them.

To the left and behind us is the mouth of river that Constitución sits on. This area used to be covered with people's houses - all destroyed by the tsumani that came after the earthquake.

 Mariscal (seafood soup) in Constitución's mercado

 And a ¡camión enorme!