Chile: April 2009

Friday, April 17, 2009

Geeeeee, Thanksssssss

If I wasn't conspicuous enough being the only exchange student in the school, I am now.

This is proof that men should not do laundry. Our Papa washed my only white polo with something red so that now my shirt, which I wear almost everyday, has a pink tint to it. Por que Dios? Por que?

Sometimes I Just Can't Understand

Today, I was enjoying my lovely feast of a lunch outside on the patio when a bunch of boys in my class started playing Donkey. For those of you who are not familiar with the game, or are familiar but just know it by another name, Donkey is essentially hackey sac except with a soccer ball. The objective is to keep the ball in the air utilizing any part of your body except for your hands. This game had a new twist unlike anything I had ever seen before. It started out normally. It passed from one person to another. One guy used his knee another his head, but then a guy messed up. He meant to hit it with his foot, but instead of moving forward it flew over his head. While one boy went to go fetch the ball, the rest encircled the poor kid that made the fault and then they each took a turn kicking him in the ass. And we're not talking about a little tap, they kicked him like a robber kicks a person they're mugging. It was horrifying, but they absolutely loved it. They played and played and played and I could not figure out for the life of me why this game would be considered fun. Sure the stakes were raised, but so that you were winning what? A big bruise? I don't know. There are just some things that I don't understand.

Gringa

That's me. The Gringa. Well, it's not just me. It's the name that the Chileans use to describe anyone lacking dark skin and dark hair. In some other Latin American countries it's used as a derogatory term, but here it's just a name. A foreigner.

I really like this word and I like the story of how it came about even more. It's not a Chileanismo, (word that the Chileans invented) which is surprising since the Chileans have almost an entirely different language. They use so many slang words. Each generation comes up with hundreds that either live or die. Living means that the word is submitted to the Real Academia Espanola, the official institute of the Spanish langauge. Their job is to ordain what exactly is Castellano since each Spanish language has a different variation of naming certain things. It's the Spanish Merriam-Webster.

Now, the word Gringa was made by the Mexicans and goes back to the American-Mexican War. Apparently, the Americans wore green for their uniform back then so that when the Spanish would spot them they would yell GREE N! GO!!!! which got smushed together to from the word Gringo or in the feminine case Gringa.

P.S. I suggest double checking this story one, because it was another kid who told me it and I have no idea how trustworthy their information about history is and two, because it was told to me in Spanish and the chances of me missing some detail are very very strong.