I’ve been trying to increase the amount of mediums I use to improve my Spanish, other than reading the signs on the metro and talking to the doormen at work.  A few weeks ago I bought Tropico de Cancer and a small pocket dictionary at a used bookstore for $8.00, and started spending my free time in between classes trying to get through one page at a time. This old and erotic book is quite the dirty one, so I am more than enjoying bettering my vocabulary in the body parts category.  I also spontaneously signed up for a job interview after seeing a hiring sign at the small fruits and vegetable store by my apartment.  I thought working part time selling avocados would be a win win situation for me, because I could practice my Spanish and make some extra cash. However when I arrived the next day at the office where the interview was being held, my eyes widened as I realized I had been incredibly misinformed.  I walked up to the second floor and ran smack into about 100 young people in suits and nervous faces.  I was the only foreigner in the room, and the only one not dressed in business professional (I thought my cotton dress and leggings would suffice for business casual).  As I was herded into a room big enough for only 2/3rds of the people in it, I quickly realized what I was getting myself into.  They were recruiting people to work for a big scam company, where you try their weight loss products in hopes of miraculously losing weight so you can share your story and convince other people to buy the products too.  I knew immediately that I was not interested in this bullshit, but instead of walking out, I figured I could use the 45 minute presentation as a way to practice my Spanish listening skills.  After intently listening to everyone’s non-inspirational and most likely fake stories, I actually considered moving on the next step and having a one-on-one interview for some more practice.  However when they asked me what my weight was in kg and my height in meters, I didn’t know the answer, so I gracefully slipped out the back staircase and out onto the street.  Oh well.  My favorite new way of practicing my Spanish however is finding conversation buddies. My friends and I have chosen to use this creepy yet effective conversation exchange website.  Kooch basically uses it to find Chilean girls who are DTF, but I use it to make new friends who are interested in exchanging languages, not bodily fluids.  Last Thursday I hit the jackpot of conversation exchanges.  Patricio, a 26 year old student, contacted me and wanted to set up a group conversation.  Him and his friends wanted to take me and my friends out for a typical Chilean good time so we could more naturally practice each other’s native languages.  On Thursday night, as Fro, Steph, and I headed out to find the college bar we were instructed to meet them at, we were practically pissing our pants with excitement. I had no idea what Patricio and his friends looked like, so we walked into the bar hoping a friendly group of 7 Chileans would recognize the out-of-place gringas and invite us over their way.  At first we were welcomed by a group of creepy men desperate for American attention, until we saw a group smiling in the corner waving us over.  A few beers later we were laughing and chatting as if we had known each other for years.  It was the perfect group, filled with gay men who loved to dance, straight men with girlfriends who were therefore out of the creeper category, and non jealous and totally fun to be around fashion forward girls. It was love at first sight. As we walked into bar number 2 and saw shirtless men with mullets dancing to a live typical Chilean band, I saw only good things in the future.  As I downed a $2 terremoto, I let my dance moves run wild.  At one point a man wearing a colorful ninja outfit with a green ski mask crawled under my legs as I rode him like a miniature pony, because at the time it seemed the fairly appropriate.  A drunken overly excited man with a mustache was walking around delivering beers out of an orange traffic cone (he may or may not have been trying to sell these as his only source of income, but either way I happily received the beer he placed into my empty hand).  Steph and I also taught the “suck it” move to our new friends.  Even though they were skeptical and admitted feeling wrong doing it, I think they liked it.  After Steph’s third terremoto and multiple rounds of dancing with strangers, she surprised me by declaring that she would “have sex with a monkey right now.”  Good to know Steph, ill make sure to have one waiting for you when we get back to your apartment. After registering what she had just said, she realized it was time to get some fresh air and head home. We night capped the evening by performing a dance with an impromptu street band and a happy toothless homeless man in the park across from the bar.  Hey the homeless are entitled to some partying too.  The next morning Steph and I reminisced about the evening over a bowl of fish soup at Mercado Central, and couldn’t wait to plan our next “conversation exchange” with our new friends.  I may not have learned new vocabulary during this exchange, but I did discover how the power of a sketchy website and alcohol can create life long memories.   

Coversation Buds

Teaching “suck it” to Chileans