so about a month ago, i was on the side of a busy thoroughfare in santiago, waiting for a friend when two men (one with a microphone and one with a tv camera) approached me and thrust the microphone into my face. caught completely off-guard, i knew this was my moment of truth. how fluent was i going to sound in the next 5 seconds? the pressure was on... and generally with language and me, when the pressure is on i rarely perform very well. this time i nailed it!
side note- anonymous chileans, i would say in general, don't have too much tolerance for people who don't speak the language. if a chilean stops to ask you, a gringo, for directions (which does happen sometimes) and you stumble initially, they are more inclined to kind of walk away rather than repeat the question and give you another chance. additionally, they tend to correct your language pretty regularly, even if their critique is not requested.
all i remember hearing in those first two seconds after recognizing the microphone was "viste" and "ayer". if these 9 months have done anything for my spanish, it has been my listening comprehension that has vastly improved (or at least using key words to fill in my understanding of the greater whole). in order to buy myself time to figure out what the hell they were talking about, i tried to use what i heard to complete the puzzle. to start, i knew i hadn't seen anything notable yesterday and responded "no". when asked why, i said i had worked a lot the day before. then he gave me the key i needed! he asked me if i follow politics. i said, "chilean politics?" he said yes... ahhh yes! the guys were doing a street poll of last night's political debate for the presidential election coming up on dec. 13.
well i told him no, not really all i knew was there was an election and two major candidates, frei and piñera. he then said, semi-inquisitively, "you're chilean?" WOW! i couldn't believe it. no i said! do i look chilean? and he, perhaps embarrassed by his question, said well no, you aren't. i was so surprised. most times, people will randomly start shouting any english they know at me, no one thinks i'm chilean here. i've joked i want to use the very small amount of french or whatever i have to use that instead, and throw them off of thinking i'm from the states or england or whatever.
so the brief conversation concluded. i was sure to ask him what the taped interview was for. he responded.. a certain local television station... i could've been on tv! i never watched so i really don't know but i highly doubt it. i didn't have anything inspiring to add. i then watched as the crew moved quickly away from me onto their next target. and judging by body language, i would say no one was thrilled about being interviewed...
in the days that followed i talked to a few other people about what happened that night. apparently frei (comparable to a US democrat) took a rather ideal opportunity to discuss change and strategy (yes, presidential debates outside the US are not like reality tv shows- scripted and fake) and squandered it when he accused piñera of insider trading of LAN's stock (something he has already been cleared of, after paying a fine). in fact, the lady in this
video outright accuses frei of "planting a polemic" into the evening and many say he ruined the debate. ruined the debate? that's the stuff debates thrive on in the US. they're rife with misinformation and outright lies. remember sarah palin's claims? anyway, apparently people who watched the debate said that frei looked embarassed for the remainder of the evening.
we'll see what happens here as they elect a new president. apparently their system is designed to have two elections, one run-off and one final one in january. many are saying the country will swing closer to the right and elect piñera but he'll have a tough time in january as the uber liberals who voted for the third-party candidate in december will have no choice but to vote for frei after their candidate is eliminated.
Santiago is ringed by the Andés but as a result is also situated in the middle of a number of hills. A city with hills doesn't sound all that exciting but they're isolated from the rest of the valley plain that Santiago sits in. This arrangement gives them the roles of cell tower and religious monument bases, as well as permanent oases for the city's residents. In the last two weeks, Caitlin and I have visited both of them. Cerro San Cristobal has a HUGE statue of the virgin mary on top and Cerro Santa Lucia sports a more secular approach with Greek gods and Spanish conquistadors. San Cristobal is known for it's hiking, inclined cable car, zoo, and the requisite ice cream that you'd expect at the end of a long walk up a hill. Both provide a great view of the city though and are a nice way to 'get away' without putting in too much time.
