In Which Our Heroine Bids Farewell

I have two confessions to make.

The first is that I've listened to what the right sidebar of this blog has been trying to tell me for a while now - 133 posts last year, 14 so far this year, and something is definitely awry. I think that as much as anything, it has to do with volume. The longer you live in a place, the more stories and knowledge you have to share and the more and more aware you become of the culture's complexities. And suddenly a once straightforward task feels as if it would be either impossible huge or unfairly reductionistic. So, I'm afraid to say I'm calling it a day...

But not before I make my second confession...

... which is that when, in the previous post, I said I had shared my description of Australian culture with "someone", I was actually talking about my boyfriend's Mum. And, smart people that you are, you will see that in order to have 'a boyfriend's Mum', I must have a boyfriend! Well I do, his name is Pablo, and he's a wonderful man and such a blessing to me. So far we have been very good for each other, but it's a pretty crazy thing to even contemplate joining your life with another sinner, and crazier still when they're from another culture. So we would really appreciate your prayers that God will guide our steps and give us all we need to make wise decisions, to treat each other very, very well, to be a blessing to the people around us, and to always love our Lord Jesus even more than we love each other.

... and so this is it folks. Thanks for reading - I also send out monthly updates via email, so if you'd like to receive those, just let me know in the comments section. Be assured that I love you guys!

Expressive & uptight

Here is my shorthand description of the Australian spirit which I shared with someone the other day - "We are a reserved but relaxed people". They said, "Oh, so they're the opposite of Chileans then.".

Accuracy & acceptability

Gosh. Let me give you chocolates and flowers and tickets to the opera and all the pretty things for I have been a very bad correspondent. And what I really want is for you to take me back and read my posts, but with neither promises nor hope for change. For I may be so again and there is way of no knowing.

 . . . 

Righto then. So what I actually wanted to say is that in the year and a half I've been here, I've had the very great privilege of learning from men who would never have found their way down to lil' ol' Tasmania (including Australia's very own Peter Jensen!), thanks to various conferences and intensives put on by Fundación Generación and the CEP. It's also been great Spanish practice, observing what the Chilean translators do with different English expressions and words. And here's something I've noticed time and time again... No matter the country (we've had speakers from England, the US, and Australia), in English, we tend to be fairly blunt about negative things. We just go right on and say thing x is "bad", "difficult", "misguided". But there must be an internal balking at such unwielding assessment in the Chilean mind because I always hear "pretty bad", "rather difficult", "it could be said that it is misguided".

It's quite the opposite when it comes to positive conclusions. The English speaker's enthusiasm is chastened - "good", "enjoyable", "understandable". But the Spanish-speaking translators seem unable to restrict themselves to such faint praise - it's all "excellent", "really fun", "very easy to understand".

This makes a lot of sense to me. To put it positively, when it comes to the unpleasant things in life, English speakers are more realistic and honest, while Spanish speakers (or Chileans at least, but I suspect it's more broad than that) are keen to be careful and not cause any unnecessary offence. I'm not sure what to make of the English speaker's take on life's good things ('cos mine's an unusually exuberant style), but perhaps it is equally accurate, whereas the Spanish speaker latches onto anything good and by amplifying it, celebrates it!

La serpiente era más astuta...

I never told you, but the most discouraging stretch with my Spanish has been over the last few months. My expectations were so low before that I was always feeling heartened by my progress, no matter how small. As the one-year mark ticked over I was actually doing pretty well. I could get across most of what I wanted to say and understand most of what was said to me . . . but I still made so many mistakes and was very limited in terms of the fluent, precise expression you have in your native tongue. I'd come so far, but, finally, it was the distance I had to go that was getting to me.

Well I may not have told you then, but I'm telling you now . . . because it's no longer true! As of about a month ago, my Spanish really turned a corner. I write things for my teacher and don't get too much wrong. I'm well on the way to grasping and feeling the significance of the classic English-language confusions - the two "to be" verbs (ser and estar), the two past-tenses (imperfecto and indicativo), and the subjunctive. I even think in Spanglish! And the other day the strangest thing happened - we didn't have enough Spanish Bibles to go around so I ended up with an English one. As my friend began to read the passage I was following along in my Bible, thinking to myself "Gosh, it's quite different to mine - must be a different translation". It took a verse or two before I twigged that it was actually a different language! :)

Stgo

my corner of town
the Plaza de Armas

poor suburb in the rain

the cordillera after the rain

my corner, this time with carabineros and youth long-gone

Frutos del País

Watch the opening credits of this show and you'll want to cash your savings and fly to Chile ahora mismo. It's beautiful! And even without Spanish, it's easy viewing. The episode currently up is of Melinka, a tiny little island south of Chiloé. The wild southern heart of Chile. And how much does that ferry at the start make you think of Bruny!

With a little help from my fridge

After much thinking and planning, then meeting individually with 'my women' to talk them through what I had in mind, I'm happy to say that last week my grupos de discipulado finally got going! Attendance was a bit patchy and it was an intense week (in large part because of the demands made on my Spanish), but it was wonderful! Most of the groups had a getting-to-know-you time, but, within that, we were able to encourage each other with God's truths, and each group finished up sharing favourite Bible verses and explaining why these words had been important for us. Now everyone has to memorize one verse by the next meeting in a fortnight's time . . . except for me. I have to memorize five. And as my friends who tried to help me learn Greek and Hebrew will testify, I can't remember things, even two minutes later! But I'm sure going to give it a good Aussie go...

Música de la calle

Summer

I've recently realised that, while my internet connection may be erratic, it is at least UNLIMITED!!!!! Happily, this means I've been able to augment my three-free-station television staple with the wonderfully cheap Netflix!!!!! Life is rosy. It also means I can catch you up on a a few photos I took over summer...

                                 The gorgeous campsite of the Anglican youth leaders' camp I tagged along to.
                                 (There was a pool too!) (I also ended up a leader on a, very much drier, camp for
                                 teenagers in a town in desert country eight hours north of Santiago, but my
                                 camera battery ran out and I forgot to take my charger :/.)

                                 New Year's, I think.

                                 Christmas!

                                             A very humble Christmas market - no artisan craft here.

                                 A couple of photos from Cristo Redentor's church retreat.

                                 Our annual SIM retreat. Unfortunately I couldn't fully enjoy the beautiful
                                 location as I was frantically trying to get a book read for my Latin American
                                 Church History course :/. Next time!

                                Some of the SIM team!

                                Cristo Redentor's first women's group for the year!

Vamos a celebrar

Today was el Domingo de Resurrección!!! And it's just possible that I was responsible for chucking a whole heap of balloons into the crowd at our last song-

 "Resucitó, resucitó, / y él vive para siempre, / resucitó, resucitó" ("He is risen, he is risen, / and he  will live for ever, / he is risen, he is risen")

Getting to the heart of things

Last week's Spanish homework was to write a letter of (imaginary) complaint. My teacher upped the stakes - not only was I to (try to) get the grammar right, I also had to persuade her that I had indeed been wronged and deserved recompense. But - and here's the point of my post - the way to persuade in Latin America isn't to get mad or threaten legal action: it's through emotion. The approach would be the same if you were writing to the CEO of Chile's most prestigous company - you need to wring their heart, persuade them that your grandmother's life has been threatened by their negligence, that they have made your orphaned nephew cry himself to sleep, that sort of thing.

Winging it

Speaking of cultural adjustment, I thought I'd share with you a couple of tips that have served me very well.

1. When in doubt, exaggerate your pronunciation. What might sound ridiculous to your ear will sound not-so-gringo to a native Spanish-speaker.
2. When you don't understand, fake it - or no-one will want to speak with you. I know this sounds naughty and deceitful, but the thing is most of the time social fluidity is of far more importance than the actual content. Conversations are more for building relationships than they are for transmitting information. Or at least that's how I justify the fact that I've been winging it for a year now. Usually I've been able to catch a word or even some words and guess the remainder; sometimes I've had absolutely no idea of what's being said. The practice is less necessary now that I understand most things most of the time, but it has stood me in good stead, preserving my confidence, making me an interested (though admittedly sometimes dimwitted) conservation partner, and it has certainly made good use of my problem-solving skills.

H/T Carolynn

Moving between cultures / 3

This is the third post in a looong drawn-out series about cultural adjustment (post one & post two). I wrote the previous one a year and a week ago, not long after my arrival in Chile. Let me remind you of the stage I was entering back then:

Entering
Observer of people, places, and events. Superficial relationships develop. Aware of what is different and why.
Growth in understanding and ability will be observed and noted. Invitations will be extended and 'bridge people' will help the formation of new networks of information and relationships.
Still ambivalent about roles, status, and relationships. Growing ability to take risks in order to learn. Feel less vulnerable but still uncertain of who or what to trust. 

And here's the final stage, into which I'm well-and-truely making my way into:

New culture
Growing commitment and involvement with people, places and events. Knows what is going on, acts responsibly.
Known as an individual and as part of a structure. Status will be earned or ascribed. Relationships will be at a deeper and more intimate level.
Security reestablished and growing intimacy in relationships. Confident in roles and behaviour. Sense of belonging with only occasional bouts of nostalgia.

There's still a way to go on some of the things. Because of the addled, ponderous way I'm forced to speak, most people haven't yet 'got' my personality and talents (!). There's room for growth in my friendships. And I've been fighting for a confident approach to my ministry roles this year - so it's kind-of reassuring to see this listed as 'a thing'. Going great guns with all the rest. God is good.

Getting to know ya

Here are three great ways to get to know a little about Chile, if you're keen.

1) Watch La Odisea. Three Chileans go adventuring in their own land. Lots of travel and adventure among countryside so spectacular it doesn't matter if you can't understand what they say!

2) Read Isabel Allende's My Invented Country: A Memoir. Wry, insightful and gently deprecating, it gives you a good feel for the many-threaded web that is a country's culture.

3) Watch NO. Recently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and shot with delightful creativity, NO is a strange but captivating mix of cynicism and hope.

Chiloé

*gulp* After posting regularly all last year, things fell in a heap and it's going on three months since I last wrote y'all. But to make up for it I have cool photos of my recent holiday to Chiloé. Yeah!

We booked all our accomodation in advance - except for the first night in Valdivia which we ended up spending 1) in a pub until its 3:30am closing, 2) outside a service station waiting for the bus terminal to open, 3) in the bus terminal (photographic evidence above). It was mostly fun.

Things got more civilised the next day in Frutillar.

En route to the island of Chiloé (same latitude as Tasmania!)

First night in Dalcahue

The family we stayed with

Happy puppy

                             

Achao

Castro, Feria Costumbrista - lots of gourmet salmon, potatoes, jams, beer etc etc It could've been down the Huon or Channel!

                                 A smoking house!

Castro

                       Parque Nacional de Chiloé

Hola Tasmania!

Quemchi

                       Plus toninas (dolphins, essentially) jumped and played alongside the boat.

Last few days in Huillinco

Chau Chiloé!