Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Priceless ...

I´m devastated. I passed a newspaper stand only days ago with a giant picture of Madonna´s face plastered on the front and the headline read, "Por fin. Llega Carne Gringa en Chile." Translation: "Finally. White Meat Arrives in Chile." And the kicker is ... I didn´t take a picture to show the rest of the world, and now it´s gone, forever. (I´ve literally gone to several newsstands and begged for last week´s paper.) I will never get that priceless photo-op back.
I must add that Madonna´s pending December arrival in Chile rivals the publicity I´d expect of a visit from Jesus himself. A bit overkill...

Second official order of business. I´ve been strutting around the teacher´s lounge, Dora´s house and every asado I attend proclaiming, "Soy Chilena!" No, but seriously, I have a CARNET card which is a Chilean identification card, which makes me feel very very badass. It´s official proof that I´m in this country for more than a pleasant visit. I´m blending I tell you.

Third, I received a giant package from Kevin yesterday which basically made my month. It included the essentials: a book, some CD´s, tampons (God love em´ ), a new Old Navy top, some photos and magazines, including my beloved skirt! magazine. I slowly and carefully flipped through the pages of my skirt! magazine like I was holding the original Declaration of Independence. But, onto the newsworthiness of this event ... I showed some teachers and students at school some of my American reading material, and my go-to guy, Angel (very machismo and in charge of everything), took a particular liking to my skirt! magazine. He kept saying it was for mujeres (women), yet painstakingly flipped through every page. I had to take a picture. Chileno relaxing with a skirt!, ha! Gotcha! If you only knew how priceless that is, in theory.



Lastly, Chile´s Dia de Independencia is fast approaching and as I have mentioned once before, their national dance is the Cueca. Every child seems to learn this dance shortly after exiting the womb, so, how unlucky for me that I was born in America, because these people won´t cut me a break. Monday afternoon classes were cancelled to make way for the festival of the "Cien Cuecas," (100 Cuecas). Everyone dressed traditionally and schools around the city arrived in our gymnasium to literally dance, (duh) 100 cuecas. For me, it was just a bowl of photo-op´s and cultural enlightenment, and I mingled among my students for the first time as a real person and not just a teacher. I communicated with them in Spanish and some students gasped, "Profe!!! Has aprendido Espanol en una semana!!!" (Silly children.) I delightedly told them, no, I had not just learned to speak Spanish in one week, I´ve been working on my Spanish for years and after all ... "soy Chilena." One of the teachers, Lorenzo, approached my huddle and took my hand and informed me I was about to dance cueca with him. "Dear God no," I begged and pleaded. Making a fool of myself at an asado of 10 people is one thing, but we were in a gymnasium for Christ sake. Students started chanting, teachers were nudging me forward, a girl stuffed her white embroidered handkerchief into my hand and off I went. I was dancing .... something. The steps to this dance elude me. I have been a dancer all my life and can usually pick up on this sort of stuff quickly, but I swear to you ... there are no steps. There are patterns. "Ocho! Ocho!" my students kept screaming at me (helping my nerves not at all). "Que ocho!!??" I screamed back. I just wasn´t seeing the figure-eight. Anyway, after the flash of about 100 cameras and an announcement on the loudspeaker (just to make SURE every person in the gym was watching the gringa), the dance was over and I was led back into my gaggle of giggling girls (alliteration not intended). People took pictures on my camera, but I also pass students in the hallway now who stop me and inform me they have pictures of me dancing cueca. So ... let´s just stick that up there with my top three most embarrassing moments, ever.

4 comments:

RrrrreBecca said...

Kevin sent you tampons?! Wow! What a great guy...

Anonymous said...

Whatever makes her happy, right?!

Erica Jackson Curran said...

Hola Chilena! You're doing such an awesome job with your blog! You should really try submitting some stuff to travel mags. Take care!

Unknown said...

Long time no speak!!! At the beach in NJ. Just caught up with all your adventures and now I am on the right page. Thrilled to hear you are getting there at last---I knew you would. And, yes, I agree. Kevin is the best!!!! Enjoyed all the stories. Love, Susan