Cultural Perspectives

(from moleskine #1, Sunday September 5 2010)

....My idea of the daily grind has already changed so much so fast. The never ending plane ride from Dallas to Santiago seems like a million miles away and the skype call with my family this evening is an affirmation of that distance. I find it amazing how much depth there can be in experience, in perception of place. Drastically change a perspective and time slows to a halt. My four days in Chile feel like a lifetime- not in a bad way, but in a sense that can only come from profound change, layers upon layers of altered perspective....

I've had my fair share of interesting cultural perspective already in these nine days....below is a list of some of the most obvious, interesting and easy to explain:

Pace of Life
Slower than in the US- Chileans actually take time off from work and during work to rest and chat a bit; rushing around is the exception, not the norm

Daily Schedule
Later to rise in the morning, work at 9:00am; lunch at 1:00pm or 2:00pm; work ends at 6:00pm or later; dinner after 9:00pm; at 12:00am on weekends people leave for the night for bars or discotecas and return home after 3:00am

Greetings
Men shake hands, women hug and exchange kisses on the cheek, men and women exchange kisses on the cheek, personal space is much smaller than the US, people have smaller "bubbles"

Slang
Chilean Spanish is filled with slang and at times barely resembles what I learned in school; most of the "Chilenismos" are some derivation of human anatomy and quite vulgar, tolerance for this kind of verbiage in Chile is much higher than in the US

Mate
Hierba Mate is the Chilean equivalent of coffee, most drink it 2-4 times daily; usually mate is a shared experience; el que sirve, the one who serves, passes it in a counterclockwise fashion refiling the mate with warm water after each person drinks; you drink hierba mate through a straw called "la bombilla," when you have had enough mate you say "gracias" and the server responds, "provecho"

Family
Many people have kids outside of marriage; some Chilean couples are together for life but never marry; well into middle age men and women still spend significant amounts of time with their parents

Grocery Stores
Grocery stores are almost always super busy; on pay day Chileans stock up on groceries as if the apocalypse were coming and practically clean out the store; baggers are often young, kids or teens, and work only for tips

Cellphones
Chileans love using cellphones; on my way from the airport to the NOLS campo, a span of only 30 minutes, my bus driver intercepted more than 5 calls; many calls serve the same purpose as text messaging; conversations are short, sweet, and to the point; most personal phone calls last less than a minute