I have "friends!"

One of the Israeli woman that I met through classes at the Estadio invited me to join a group of Israeli women meeting for lunch on Tuesday.  Apparently, there are a bunch of new Israeli families here so somebody decided that it was "כדאי" (worth it) to get everybody together.  I was an honorary member because I could get by in Hebrew (I can understand most of it and can converse a lot better in it than in Spanish!).

There were three women that I have met before and nine others who each had a unique story for how they ended up in Santiago.  Although they were all unique the common thread was "my husband's work brought us here."  The type of work really varied from an Israeli business to the embassy to trying to build a new life.  They all had children but over half of them chose not to enroll their children at the Instituto Hebreo but rather at either an American or British school.  Many of those were families that have Chile as just one stop of many among their travels and many have their company paying for their housing and kids' education.

I ended up giving a ride to a woman who I met the first week here who just moved here most recently from Panama although she is Israeli and her husband works for Keren Ha'yesod.  I spent some time just talking to her in her apartment which is close to ours and shared stories of our challenges (in Hebrew!).  They all, and especially she, were a breathe of fresh air (or shall I just say familiarity) with their frankness.

This weekend we are hopefully headed to a celebration for Fiestas Patrias which is actually September 18th.  From what I have read and heard it seems like it will be similar to the St. Joseph County Fair but on a bigger scale, with enough greasy food to keep you going for a while, a lot of Chilean folkloric dances (the kids will love that!) and without rides.  http://www.semanadelachilenidad.cl/  


We may also go to a 9/11 event that is being sponsored by Shomer Ha'tzair somehow. We ran into one of the counselors this week and she said that was the theme and she thought that a lot of kids with connections to the States (and their parents) will be there. Why not?

Sandwich Barros Luco

I try to eat lunch out with the kids on Wednesdays when they have a half day. Santiago has an abundance of sushi restaurants but they only serve rolls and most of the rolls are a variation on cream cheese (not sure what that is about - Dan? Yukari?), salmon, and avocado. We tried one once with mixed results so yesterday I searched out a "typical" restaurant that served Chilean food. The one we picked had many of the Nana's creations but also had the typical sandwich, the Barros Luco. It has strips of beef and melted cheese. It was named after a former president, Ramón Barros Luco, who always asked for this sandwich. His cousin, senator Barros Jarpa, asked instead for sandwiches with ham and cheese which are called - can you guess? - Barros Jarpa.

Jonathan tried one and somehow ate the whole thing .I found out later by observation that Chileans eat the Barros Luco with a knife and fork - definitely makes sense! Renee sandwich miga de jamon y queso (don't tell Instituto Hebreo or my father ;-) ) which is basically squooshy white bread toasted with ham and cheese, and Elisa had a hot dog without the tomato, mayonnaise or avocado ;-) It looked pretty bare in it's bun but she didn't want it Chilean style.

Experiences with Spanish

I have kept this ongoing list of funny things that we have said/seen in Spanish/English:

1.  Elisa was doing homework in English and she was supposed to color words that start with "P."  There was a penny that she skipped because she thought it was a "moneda!
2.  One night Elisa said that it was "imposible" for her to get to sleep.  She followed it by saying "That means really difficult in Spanish, Mama."
3.  I started taking a spinning class and they told me that I might have a "dolor de tushie" after the class.  That's what I get for taking spinning at a Jewish club.
4.  I use google translate a lot to get the gist of things.  I got an e-mail from Elisa's classroom mom addressed "Hola papas!"  Because it didn't have an accent mark it translated to "Hello potatoes!"  Another time "Si alguna mama de las ninitas" was translated as "If a breast of the little girls...." Obviously, you can't rely solely on google translate!
5.  Also in spinning the instructor keeps saying "Eso es!" which I think means "that's it!" but I keep hearing "S.O.S" as in get me out of this hell.
6.  The kids were playing "volleyball" with a balloon and one yelled to catch the globe (balloon=globo in Spanish). Renee wrote me an e-mail that said "I can't to watch " = no puedo ver.  Boy are they going to be messed up!

I'm sure I'll have more of these as we go on.

Chilean Dances

September 18th is Las Fiestas Patrias or Chilean Independence Day.  Apparently the whole month is celebrated and Chilean flags are popping up everywhere (mostly on cars and taxis at this point) and the stores are selling a lot of red, white, and blue products (looks familiar) and a lot of traditional costumes.

We keep wondering if we were to place a U.S., Argentine, and Israeli flag on our car which will cause it to be vandalized first.  There are definitely strong feelings on either side for all three countries but I think that given the proximity of Argentina that might annoy people off the most.  Of course, given that there are 200,000 people of Palestinian or Syrian background here the Israel flag might "win" too.  Then again, as we heard from some Chileans we had brunch with yesterday, the imperialist U.S. flag may not go over too well either.  I guess that we can't win!  I'm sure I'll post more about this as I figure it all out but will avoid the flags for now ;-)

At school, each grade learns a different traditional dance and then has to get dressed up one day and perform it.  The kids, especially the older ones, are less than pleased both about having to dance with the opposite sex and to have to dress up.  There is a list for each grade of what they have to wear and I am trying to borrow as much as possible but it is tough because everybody has to wear them.  Apparently, until first grade the kids do a performance for parents but after that they just dress up for gym class and perform for each other (and a grade).

In order to get a better appreciation of the "pain" that they are going through and for the costumes google came the rescue.

First grade is tasked with the Refalosa - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67bhHPiZgYk  I purchase a skirt, apron and handkerchief for Elisa.  She is doing it today but they change at school so I didn't get a photo.

Third grade is doing Trote Nortino - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29PNrAibB3o&feature=related  I am trying to find a wool hat (with "ears") and a black vest for J. for this one. 

Sixth grade is doing the Portena which as far as I can tell is a variation on the Cueca which is the national dance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMMGXqmXmqY&feature=related  The Director of the elementary school who is the same size as Renee has offered her a dress and I have the handkerchief.  We'll see if she actually wears it next week ;-)

Apparently, especially the younger children all wear these outfits and perform the dances at barbecues on the actual independence day. More on that after we see it!

Jekyll and Hyde

For parents of kids in their early 20s - how long does this stage last??????

Renee had a fantastic day today at a gymnastics meet.  She competed on the lower level but completely aced it because she had a few practices to finally learn the routines and the skills were pretty easy for her.  The coaches wanted to put her even another level down but she showed them that she could do it.  She was on cloud nine and really needed to be there and will now move up to the appropriate level  [Grandparents/abuelos/others who care - I'll send you a link to a youtube video].

She has yet to get a team uniform ;-)

It was at Club Manquehue which is one of five Estadios that are in a "league" together.  It is the German Estadio so there was plenty of kuchen to be had.  They also apparently produced an olympic level male gymnast recently so they had invested both in an excellent facility/equipment and first class coaches.  The best part was watching some of the male gymnasts - I don't get how they can do things like the rings....

After lunch we decided to try out another youth group - this one was at the Estadio and is called Maccabi Israelita.  It was really loud and rowdy.  Not Renee's scene but the other two seemed to have a good time.  The way Renee explained it to me later it made sense.  The12-year old girls were playing silly games where they ended up giving each other wedgies or variations on strip "something" together  - not her cup of tea.  The younger two also ran around doing silly things but more age appropriate.  We'll try out one more next week at a synagogue and then figure out what makes the most sense for everybody.

After dinner, Renee got ready for this weeks' Bat Mitzvah.  It was actually a combo event between a girl in her class' Bat Mitzvah (age 12) and her older brother's Bar Mitzvah (age 13).  I dropped her off at 9:30 and said that I'd pick her up at midnight unless I heard from her earlier (it goes until at least 2:00 but I'm OK if she comes home at midnight!).  She wore her new "flapper" outfit and looked really cute but I am not allowed to upload a photo except so that her friends can see it.  I walked her to the door, gave her a kiss, and she was greeted by two classmates who gave her a kiss (there is a lot of that down here) and the she proceeded to show off her dress with a smile.  The event itself was fancier then anything that I have ever attended - what an experience for her!

It is 10:55 pm and no phone call yet......

On the next Thursday the Nana made....

Every Tuesday I ask her for some other ideas of typical Chilean recipes.  For now I think that we are all wary of eating fish so she suggested Chorillana and I suggested a Kuchen for dessert because Rob has been eyeing them everywhere.

Chorillana is a typical dish consisting of a plate of fries with fried onions, cut up steak, and a fried egg on top. The way she prepared it there was oil gushing out of everything and it was really salty.  It reminded me of nasty bar food and probably will not be repeated although everybody else liked it.





Kuchen was introduced into the Chilean cuisine when German immigrants settled southern Chile in the 1850s. Kuchens in Chile usually have fruits, such as apples or strawberries. She made it with green apples and raisins.  It is yummy but Rob and I keep sneaking pieces.  It may not last long....





The other excitement for today is that I finally found a bank that does not charge $5 each time you take out money from an ATM.  Small thrills....

A taste of summer

Yesterday it was in the high 70s and although Santiguinos were still wearing their black high heeled boots and black coats I pulled at the Birkenstocks and took a long walk.  The kids had their short day so we had lunch at home on one of our balconies (we have three).  I also finally hung out laundry to dry and it was done by the end of the day.  I think that we'll spend a lot of time on the balconies once it gets warmer.  The only bad part was that a lot of the snow melted off of the mountaintops so they look kind of barren.