Friday, July 22, 2011

Santiago: Día Uno.

Day 1 in Santiago: Peculiarities and notable moments.

1. My first flight was from New York to Lima, Peru. We left around midnight and were scheduled to get in around 6 am. Now I'm all for airline hospitality, but dinner at 2 am seems a little unnecessary. At breakfast at 5 am? I'll take a rain check. However, the worst part was not that the attendants insisted on waking me up each time to ask if I wanted anything (no, I am SLEEPING!), but they then expected me to speak Spanish! Excuse me. It is 2 in the morning, you have just woken me up, and you expect me to be coherent enough to whip out even a simple "no, nada para mí, gracias"? rude.

2. After I mumbled some jibberish in no language known to man in response to what I wanted for breakfast (see above scenario), the flight attendant asked me (in Spanish), "what language do you speak, Portuguese?"
1. If I did, would I understand you?
2. NO YOU HAVE JUST WOKEN ME UP. i can't even speak english right now! rude.
However, going through customs (now alive and awake for a good two hours), the man asked where I was coming from. New York, I told him. "Ahh, New Jork," he said. He then told me I spoke beautiful Spanish. Take that, flight attendant lady. Portuguese my ass.

3. On the way home, my host mother told me about her dog, Lupe, and how she is a mix of a few breeds. Upon further examination of said canine, I have determined her race. She is a perfect mix of a chihuahua and Dobby.

4. Why did my computer just change the website into Spanish?! How does it knoooowwwww??

5. The whole purpose of a homestay is to immerse the students in the language, and we are advised to speak Spanish amongst each other as well, to practice, as so as to not attract attention as tourists. So, why is it, that when I was Facebook chatting a friend this morning, did I feel like I was cheating by speaking--no not even speaking, TYPING-- in English? Whenever I talk to the dog, since I have yet to master dog commands in Spanish, I whisper so that no one can hear me speak in English. Overall an odd sentiment.

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