Essentials for Living in Chile

We have been missionaries for six months now. A third of our mission has already gone by.

As Norteamericanos living in Chile, there are a few things we couldn't live without. I have listed them below.

Today and yesterday we have been watching General Conference from Salt Lake City on http://lds.org. As always, it is a great comfort to hear messages from our priesthood leaders.

On Friday evening, the mission office called us with an invitation to come talk to President Arrington. So we took a colectivo to Calle Manuel Bulnes and walked the half block down Castellon. We told Pres. Arrington about our visits to the different wards and stakes, and he told us of the good feedback about the Centro de Autosuficiencia he has heard from missionaries and members.

On our way to teach the How to Strengthen Your Marriage class Tuesday night, we walked through a used car lot and saw this sign, which says you have 60 months to pay, while not on foot. To Elder Kennington, it says: Five years without pie. Bro. Verdugo has a space in the Institute parking garage and a clicker to open and close the gates, for whenever we come up with a car. Our friend Manuel Valdes says he has been looking  at cars in Santiago, where they are a lot less expensive, and he will look for one for us.  

Thursday, although our regular weaving classes are over, some of the ladies wanted me to teach them crochet stitches for joining squares, and how to make my crocheted baskets and bags. These ladies are real experts and picked up everything fast. The day before, on Wednesday, Hno. Seguel drove us and Hna. Rosa to Coronel, to the funeral of the husband of one of our ladies, in her home. He was in his 70s, and had died during the night. They were all very gracious and glad to see us. On the way we passed an encampment of gitanos, gypsies, in their multi-colored tents, selling used cars, but we were told we would not want to buy one there.

Andrea's beautiful silver jewelry. She and her husband Manuel were able to go to the Santiago LDS Temple, she for the first time, on a bus with members of the University Ward, this past week. She was thrilled to be able to go. They have had a difficult time of it-- they thought they would never be able to marry, until Chile changed its divorce laws five years later. Now they have waited another five years to be sealed in the temple, since Manuel needed permission from his ex-wife. The five years is almost up, after which they will be sealed for time and eternity in the Santiago Temple.

Manuel and Andrea picked up this natural wool in mandijas (hanks or skeins) for me in Chiloe. It will be rolled into 100 gram balls, after we dye it using different natural dye stuffs such as onion skins and beta raga, beet root. I already have knitting patterns in mind.

I put chocolate at the top of the must-have list. When you are new to a country, speaking a foreign language, and completely lost, chocolate will always help you through. Elder Pope in Santiago introduced us to Nestle's Sahne-Nuss, by far the best milk chocolate available, (and he should know,) with plenty of almendras, almonds. Great big bars. Expensive, too, but worth it. The Orly mint-filled dark chocolate is a lot less expensive and just as good, as long as you like dark chocolate, and mint.

Our charging station for cell phones, iPad, digital camera, etc.

These are the best earplugs. I ordered a large bag of them from Amazon.com. You can re-use them but eventually you will want a new pair. They stay in your ears, are effectively noise-blocking, and lightweight and comfortable. I don't use them very often, but when you need earplugs, nothing else will do.

You can always find stick-on plastic and metal hooks for tile and the usual plastic-weave wallpaper, in grocery and department stores. They come in varying sizes and claim to hang tightly to the wall until you pull them right off with no residue. It often takes several attempts to stick them up (they come with extra stickers, of course,) but eventually, after applying lots of pressure and hanging up only one towel instead of two, they get the job done. We have many of these in our apartment, the reason being, they don't really hold very much.

This is a permanent part of Chilean life. The hotpot. It heats 1-1/2 to 2 liters of water to boiling hot in just a few minutes. If your building has no hot water (for instance, the Centro de Autosuficiencia,) you can use it to wash dishes with. On cold mornings, a cup of Ecco or herbal tea can help warm you up. Elder Kennington has discovered he likes two Chamomile-with-Honey to one Mint-tea bags.

Our folding laundry dryer. We know just how many clothes we can put on it. The fan is underneath where you can't see it. We found two chin-up bars in the Jumbo, which we installed in narrow spots in the apartment to hang up more drying clothing. Our washer-dryer supposedly dries as well as washes clothes, but it really just boils them.

My comfortable computer chair, and the foam pillow I made for the airplane journey here. It is just right as a back support. I made a pillow (almohada) just like it for Elder K., but he took it to the office, where he occasionally uses it for an after-almuerzo (midday meal) rest. He lays it under his head on the floor and puts his feet up on a chair. Other visitors to the office have borrowed it, to good effect.

The wonderful HP  Deskjet 100 mobile printer sitting on the floor next to our newly-hung insulating curtains. Small, lightweight, and a real workhorse. I even found replacement cartridges at the Lapiz Lopez, but I'm still using the cartridges I brought with me. I also have a wand scanner which I haven't used much, because we have an all-in-one printer/scanner at the office.

My HP Pavilion laptop, still chugging away after seven years. I used it while traveling when I was teaching online college computer classes. I have it backed up to a USB solid state drive, and my online backup  Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and Google Drive accounts. The laptop sits on all the extra plastic bin lids on a heavy  folding tray table. I find that other than Mormonchannel.org, Facebook, Pinterest, and Foxnews.com, I visit Stitcher.com a lot, with radio podcasts I listen to every day.

I used the little round USB speaker for awhile, but eventually found some larger stereo Logitech speakers at Sodimac. They have the advantage of having a volume knob. This is the second folding tray table, which also holds the mouse. I carried them both home from Lider.

Elder Kennington has appropriated the iPad for his own use, since the laptop is really more than he needs. He wore out the first stylus, so we found another one at the Santiago airport. I feel so proud that he is actually learning to use an electronic device. He knows how to access Facebook, Fox News, and Netflix. We figured out that my PC laptop is a real WiFi bandwidth hog and we had to keep rebooting both devices, until I found some CAT5 cable so I could plug the laptop directly into the router, which has solved the problem.

My Samsung Galaxy S3, and my old Samsung T-Mobile flip phone. I was surprised to find that the flip phone worked perfectly calling to the United States on a pay-as-you-go basis. I used it for emergencies, and to renew the overseas status of our credit card every sixty days. Since we were issued a local Movistar cell phone when we got here, we didn't really need the Galaxy, so I've been using it as a Wi-Fi device. That is, until I dropped the flip phone and it hasn't worked since. Sigh. I remembered I have a VOIP Google Voice phone number, which works over Wi-Fi.  I can call the U.S. free over Wi-Fi with the GrooveIP Android phone app while using the Google Voice number. It works best when you are standing right next to the router. That is, until Google Voice threatens to disconnect any third-party apps in May. I have Skype-To-Go VOIP minutes in reserve and hopefully Google Voice will get its own phone app going. I may also get a local smart phone plan for the Galaxy, especially if we get a car. Many church employees here use the Waze app on their smartphones, plugged into the car cigarette lighter, as a GPS street guide.

Medicine cabinet essentials from the U.S. Either you can't find this stuff in Chile, or it costs an arm and a leg. We did find some good cloth vendajes, bandaids, in the local pharmacy. Elder K. always seems to need them.

A friend in the U.S. told me to bring things I don't want to be without, in order to make the transition easier. So I brought my favorite spoons we got in Sendai, two Oneida forks, two Cutco knives, and even a couple of small Wusthof knives. It does make life better.

Thermoventilador, a small space heater. Although our high rise has heated-water ducts, no one in the building uses them, because they are gastos comunes - common costs, which we all pay, like for the garbage drop and the swimming pool. Since heat is expensive, no one uses it. So everyone has hot pots, space heaters, mattress heaters, insulated curtains, shawls, knitted gorros - caps, wool socks, and fingerless gloves.

I heard about using two nested flower pots over tea lights for dispersing gentle heat. It seems to take the edge off the cold, and helps when we dry the laundry while moisture is condensing on the windows. What helped the most was locating the dryer vent to our laundry closet, through which outside air was pouring in. (It has been in the 40s in the mornings.) Since I taped it up with bubble-wrap, it's been a lot warmer in here.

Some of our tools. We also have a collection of screws and nails and a heavy-duty screwdriver with interchangeable tips. We bought the WD-40, water repellent spray, scissors, hammer, and clothespins here in Concepcion. The red-handled wrench has already been on one mission, with our son Jeff, who picked it up on the way out the door when he was leaving for Ventura, California, in order to fix his bike. Since then, we have bought red-handled wrenches for the boys we were teaching in our Primary class. Now we have it on our mission.

Coming soon -- essentials in clothing.

Speaking Spanish in Chile

It is Fall now, and noticeably cooler. It rained hard all day yesterday, so instead of taking our usual Saturday walk, we put the heating pad on our bed, under the sheets. It works perfectly. I am now wearing a shirt, sweater, leggings, a long knit skirt, Elder K.'s heavy work socks, and some slippers I knitted. My feet are still cold. The sun is shining on the balcony now, so I hope it shines through the window.

Today we visited Barrio Collao, the LDS ward in Collao. It is a small ward, in a small chapel on the second floor. But they are serious about their lives. We caught a #70 bus on San Martin, and within ten minutes we were dropped a block away from the chapel, which is near the bus terminal and the stadium. The first time we took a bus, we accidentally ended up in Collao, so we knew we could get there again. We did not meet anyone we knew in the ward. Several people were interested in the Perpetual Education Fund which is now expanding to students age 18 to 65, and several others, older, regretted the fact that they missed the chance when they were under 30. On the bus trip back,  two obviously drunken men were harassing (molestando) the other passengers, including us. Someone who got off where carabineros were hanging about on the sidewalk, sent one of them onto the bus. The carabinero told the drunken men politely to leave, which they did.

I will have to say something about music in church in Chile. There may be few hymn books available, or else people bring their own. The chorister sings a few measures in a pitch the congregation can comfortably sing, after which they sing the melody with enthusiasm. I am usually the only one singing harmony, unless Elder Balden is singing baritone. The problems come when a missionary or a member of the ward can sort of play a keyboard, so they struggle and drag and set the pitch too high. When this happens, members of the congregation take things into their own hands, and after a few measures begin singing their own tempo and pitch, leaving both the pianist and the chorister on their own. These are people after my own heart.

Not only that, apart from the actual musicality of the words, would you rather sing the hymn in English: "Should you feel inclined to censure/Faults you may in others view/Ask your own heart, ere you venture,/If you have not failings too?" or Castellan: "Brillan rayos de clemencia del gran faro del Senor, y Sus atalayas somos, alumbrando con amor."  Shining rays of mercy, from the great lighthouse of the Lord, and we are His watchmen, radiating light and love.

Excuse me, I have to go put the towel under our apartment door, one of our neighbors is burning toast again. They must really love burnt toast. At least it is not cigarette smoke.

Speaking Spanish - or I should say Castellan - in Chile

If you have traveled to a foreign language-speaking country for the first time, you will know that even if you have studied the language, nothing prepares you for actually speaking coherently upon first arrival. If you are able to speak a few words that are not too heavily accented, the natives assume you are fluent, and begin speaking very fast, using idiomatic expressions and emphasizing local vocabulary, which may not be part of the lessons you learned. You will discover that you can comprehensively listen for a limited time, after which you become so exhausted and have such a headache, that your head feels like it will explode, and you can't understand a word anyone says until you have recovered. You hesitate to tell anyone this, so they continue talking, talking, talking. Since you never say anything, they think you are taking in every word, and they keep on talking and talking, a bad habit to get into, since Chileans love to give lectures at any given moment. This continued with me for about three months, after which something seemed to click inside my head. As I learn more vocabulary, I become aware of people actually using it--I had been deaf to it before. Now I am able to segue from one language to another without much trouble, and although I still can comprehend a great deal better than I can speak, my speaking has improved immeasurably. More importantly, I am able to signal that I, being an inscrutable Gringa, am going to go do something else al tiro (right now) instead of listening to more lecturing.

Fortunately the people we have been working with daily are very patient, and/or have attempted to learn to speak English. Such people speak more slowly and clearly, since they know what it is like. Many who intend to learn to speak English here abandon it, although a surprising  number have made a good effort. It is hard to truly speak a foreign language without the surrounding culture to sustain it. English is a daunting language, with a vocabulary twice as large as the next one (German,) and lacking in rhythm and musicality like the Romance languages.  I'm glad I don't have to learn it. I do miss being able to express myself in my usual erudite manner. I find that when I'm finally in the company of English speakers, I uncharacteristically start to babble, to the point that Elder Kennington touches me on the arm to make me stop.

The desire to not look like an idiot is a real limiting factor in speaking as a foreigner, but during our time here, our need to communicate has been so intense that I have had to overcome my self-consciousness and simply blurt things out. If I can, I try to figure out the best way to say it beforehand, or else I stammer and look at Elder K. for help, expecting him to read my mind. People are usually forgiving, although they sometimes laugh uproariously at what we come up with. One can't take it personally. They love us anyway, and appreciate our effort to speak their language. My very worst problem has been saying prayers, possibly because the Latinos say such effortlessly beautiful ones.

We often get "Good Mornings!" or "Thank yous!" from Chileans, who recognize us for being Gringos and try to make us welcome. ("We know you call us Gringos," we tell them, and they smile sheepishly. "It's okay. We ARE Gringos. We live in Gringolandia." (Uproarious laughter.)) They are at pains to explain their idiomatic Chilenismo sayings to us, for example, when Galvarino describes the light rain falling outside as "gotitas de lluvia bastante para despertar un flojo," droplets of rain just enough to wake up a bum. Some of the sayings are the same as in English, for example, something with little value is referred to as "maní," peanuts. There are also words spelled the same as English words, which Bishop Anriquez refers to as "false friends" (amigos falsos):

éxito is not exit - it means success
sopa is not soap - it is soup
compromiso is not compromise - it means commitment
mascota is not a mascot - it is a pet
red is not the color red - it means network
destreza is not distress - it is skill or ability
delito (not to be confused with deleito, which means delight) is not delight - it is a crime

Related to these are a list of delightful words used in a completely different way:

frivolité  = tatting
confección = preparation, especially tailoring or dressmaking
etiqueta = label
jubilación = retirement
confabulación = conspiracy
gratificación = gratuity, reward
calipso = the color aquamarine
plaza = the size of your bed (un plaza is a twin bed, dos plazas is a queen)
taco = a traffic jam

Chileans tend to use certain words a lot, for example:

harto as in fed up, lots of, or a great deal of. They use it constantly.
Ja, ("ya") with a nod -- are you with me? -- do you understand?
al tiro = right now
logro = accomplishment
Tata = Dad or Pop
guagua (wahwah) is a baby
tipo = a guy
pololo and polola are for boyfriend or girlfriend, but not quite sweetheart (novio y novia)
lindo = pretty or cute, continually in use - ¡qué lindo!
más o menos = more or less, usually pronounced (mah-o-meno) very fast.
luca = un mil pesos, about $2, like saying "a buck" for one dollar
genial = something good
fome refers to anything boring, dull, and undesirable
"Si po" litters Chilean speech in the same way that "yeah" and "y'know" do American English. It is said in the particularly Chilean plosive articulation, barely expressed and not lingered over. It can mean OK, come on, hurry up, but, or . . . well . . . ?
Interestingly, the Chileans themselves regard surrounding Latin American countries, for example Colombians, as having superior Castellan-speaking abilities, since they speak more slowly, with better enunciation and command of the language. Something to emulate, ¿tal vez?


The Registro Civil, where we went to register our new address. Galvarino says Chileans never do it.


Inside the Registro Civil, early in the morning (before 9:00 a.m.) and amazingly empty. Usually it is harto and overflowing. There is apparently a wedding going on in the second floor, from the flower sellers and bouquets of lilies waiting out in the front.


We finally reached Graduation Day for the weavers of the Centro de Autosuficiencia. Andrea, the teacher, told her students that since she had no daughters, she had taught them all so they could teach others. Thirty women received certificates as being weavers competent to set up their own businesses. Usually weaving teachers can make a lot of money to do what Andrea has done for free.


In return, Andrea's thirty students chipped in to get her a beautiful set of silver Mapuche jewelry, with a dangling pendant and earrings with five-petal flower cutouts.


 The tender shrub, maple-leaf Abutilon, from the mallow family, in glorious bloom. We toured three small used car lots on the calle nearby, and stopped at the Institute Building on Colo Colo (not far from our apartment) to ask Hno. Verdugo, the Institute Director, if we could park a car in the Institute parking garage. He said he would certainly check into it. 
We had a good day on Friday: A returned missionary who was sent home a week early from Venezuela with all other non-native missionaries came in for Self Reliance workshop training; a couple from San Pedro, where we visited last week, came in for help with employment; Veruska, a tall beautiful Brazilian student, also needed help with employment; Hilda Gutierrez gave us a visit, as well as single High Priest Hno. Verdugo (not related to the Institute Director) who is a member of our Universitario Ward, and who resembles in many ways the English actor Rowan Atkinson. I am never quite sure what he is saying. 
I discovered that the Bishop's Storehouse, on the first floor of our building, has a sealer for plastic bags. Hna. Balden, the mission nurse, has been looking for one, since the missionaries keep eating the rations out of the emergency kits she has issued them, and she wants to deter them from opening the bags if she can.


Teatro de Liceo de los Hombres de Concepcion, Theater Club of the Men of Concepcion, built in the early 1930s, was nearly destroyed in the 9.5 1960 earthquake.You can see the brick construction, which is typical of many ruined buildings in Concepcion. Construction now is usually steel reinforced concrete, and buildings are going up all over town, mostly high-rises. Our own high rise on Orompello survived the 2010 earthquake, so we are hopeful it remains standing throughout our visit here. The theater is now a historical site, facing the Parque Ecuador on Calle Victor Lamas.

Adventures at the Supermercado

Today we attended the Barrio Norte. This was not hard to find. The colectivo #3 dropped us off on the corner of Ejercito and Galvarino, then we walked the three blocks to the chapel. Our gregarious morning concierge, also named Galvarino, who claims the calle was named after him, (there is a Calle Galvarino in every city in Chile,) promised to meet us there, since he had been visited by sister missionaries who had left him a Libro de Mormon, but he never did come. I'm sure he has a good explanation.

This ward had no benches in the chapel, so they had put out all the chairs, which were eventually mostly filled. It is an older ward, with some second-generation members in it, who have a great deal of affection for one another. We recognized Hna. Lilias, the cheerful cook to the mission president; Elder and Hermana Solis, who work in the bishop's storehouse on the first floor of our Centro; and Hna. Beatriz, who came in a few weeks ago for help with her family history. They welcomed us warmly. The little boy in the family sitting in front of us reminded Elder K. and me of our grandson Bennett, with his big brown eyes and winning ways. The ladies of the Relief Society discovered I was involved with weaving, and made me promise to come teach classes in Telar during the month of May. They seem to think that missionaries have magical qualities and are experts in everything.

 

Elder K's replacement for Ricola lemon-mint. You can find Ricola once in awhile, but it is very expensive. It took awhile to realize that in Chile, "caramelo" refers to hard candy. Fortunately for me, I can find good dark chocolate here. My favorite is the Ambrosoli Orly brand, of dark chocolate relleno sabor mente, with mint filling, hecho en Chile, made right here in Chile.Fortunately, Elder K. doesn't like it as well as I do.

Little bear cookies, distributed by the food conglomerate Bimbo.

I like the brands Mr. Musculo and Virginia for cleaning sprays and floor cleaners, but I thought I'd try Blem floor cleaner, made by the Johnson company.

This is one of the smaller stalks of apio, celery, that I could find. You can see the 12 inch ruler next to it. The squash is similar to a zucchini, called zapallo italiano, which we use in making one of our favorite dishes, of cubed  sauteed zapallo italiano, julienned carrots, and sliced onions.

Comino molido, cumin. The Negrita brand reflects a term of affection used in Chile for a spouse or other much-loved intimate. The Chileans do not understand the problem Americans have with using this word.

Bagged baking essentials in my cupboard: dill, Merken chili spice, bicarbonato--baking soda, and coco rallado, shredded coconut. Shredded. Very small, very dry. You don't have to store it in the refrigerator.

Since I had so many bags of herbs spilling in my cupboard, I searched for little containers to put them in, including these baby bottles on the clearance table, now holding oregano, and dried orange peel for my Boldo tea.

I also found these little jello molds to put things in. Nuez Moscada entera is whole nutmeg, with its own little grater.

Thursday, Google reminded us it was the Equinoccio de Otoño, Autumnal Equinox, the first day of Fall.

This is the fun lady that keeps bringing me Copihue. She apologized for leaving one home that she meant me to have. She is working on a boina, beret. More than one hermana has asked me to teach them how to make a Copihue wall hanging like the one I made, but I am not sure I could ever make one like that again.

Speaking of Copihue, Hna. Verdugo made this at home during her summer of babysitting. The tree is the Araucaria Araucana, with a Copihue vine climbing up the side.

Hna. Verdugo working on a small edition of the Copihue, for use as a bookmark.

Hermana Sofia wearing a woven blanket, and to go with it, the striped wool hat I crocheted so I would have a warm dry head when the rains and cold inevitably come. When not in use, the striped hat makes an admirable small basket for holding yarn.

Another wall hanging made by Enove, Andrea's sister.

The fall flowers are stunning. The hibiscus are especially beautiful.

 Mirabilis, the Four O'Clock, is widely planted all over Concepcion. Like the flowering impatiens, it grows to a very large size.

Cola de Leon, Leonitis Leonurus, Lion's Tail or Wild Dagga, a tender perennial originally from South Africa. From the mint family, this plant attracts birds and butterflies.

Friday afternoon (afternoon here lasts until 8:00 p.m. or 20:00 hours, after which it is night time,) we accompanied Hno. Seguel across the mouth of the Bio Bio River to the suburban city of San Pedro de la Paz, where we were to visit with the presidency and bishops of the San Pedro Stake. He checked the route before hand to make sure we would avoid the usual evening taco, traffic jam, as residents drive home from Concepcion, where they work.

San Pedro was exceptionally clean and green, with nice lawns, trees, well-ordered streets, and well-built homes.

At the San Pedro Stake Center, Hno. Seguel gave a presentation on the Centro de Autosuficiencia and all the changes coming, including  more people who can take advantage of the Perpetual Education Fund, and the discounts available. Although Hno. Seguel talked fast and skipped over lots of the Powerpoint slides, the meeting did not end until 10:30.

Saturday we had a few places to go. I took a photo of this Araucaria Araucana  tree, which we can see from our balcony.

We walked through the Plaza de Peru, where it seems they have a weekly flea market of antiques, mostly wildly overpriced.

We visited Bishop Anriquez and his wonderful wife, who live in this pretty upstairs apartment. Elder K. reported on his first lesson of Strengthening Your Marriage in the University Ward Thursday evening, which went very well indeed. Five more lessons to go. Bishop Anriquez had to limit the number of couples to six, and has a waiting list for future classes. They invited us to come to the farmer's market at Collao with them, which we said we would like to do at another time.  We then walked along Galvarino toward Los Carrera, to see if the Conejo family was home, since they had been gone to Puerto Montt, Osorno,  Ecuador, and Cartagena for the summer. The children were home, but not Hno. and Hna. Conejo.

At the Sodimac, we picked up a room heater and more insulating curtains for the coming cold weather. On the way back, we saw this unusually well-cared for tile-roof home.