Concert and Chilean Culture

The stage is set....

Things have mostly been plodding along as normal with the exception of last Thursday and Sunday. On Thursday morning there were several large explosions as we were teaching and by midday we were evacuating the kindergarten. An illegal furniture factory has blown up and they were unsure if the smoke was toxic. So that was pretty exciting and I got a half day! On Sunday Felipe and I went to see Andre Rieu in concert. For me this was incredibly exciting as Nana and I had watched many DVDs of his concerts and it was amazing to finally see him live. There was only minor stress getting to the concert on time and I can only thank the Lord for giving us a park. People were parking on the footpath, in the park, on the roundabout, basically any flat spot near the stadium! Pretty funny but also a little stressful. Police out in force directing traffic but they didn't seem overly concerned with the abnormal parking. We had great seats with a perfect view plus there were big screens so I was completely content. I was even allowed to take pictures! They aren't very good I'm afraid but you can hopefully get some idea. There were about 10,000 people there and I loved every second of it. Fantastic music with plenty of humour and audience participation. Totally hilarious was 15 minutes of "snow" (feathers) being rained down on the very posh people seated in the middle during one walz. Typically Chilean, people were still arriving nearly an hour after the concert started!

Me and Felipe

The Blue Danube Walz

Which brings me onto the next topic. Dad suggested I write a little bit about Chilean culture/people now that I've been here awhile. Please note that I am probably going to massively stereotype but with only 4 months of observation I guess that's inevitable. Let's start with the things that annoy me first so that I can end positively. Personally, their sense of time is very frustrating. If I say, "meet at 4" I mean at 4. Not 4:30 or 5. It generally means a lot of waiting around and wondering if I understood correctly. Also, the subjunctive tense. This gives people a whole tense to avoid committing to anything. In fact, I suspect many NZers would appreciate a subjunctive. It does mean having to listen very carefully when arranging things. Moving on, many Chileans have no concept of a rubbish bin. I frequently see people simply dropping their lolly wrapper, ice-cream stick, coffee cup etc on the street. Or out a bus window. Being a rubbish collector here is a full-time job.

Things I like about Chilean culture. People are super friendly and open up their lives far more readily than we do. Some people I've met here tell me more about their lives in 10 minutes than people I've known for years at home ever have. I like that they hug each other as part of their greeting. The kissing is ok except that it gives strange men the right to kiss you on the cheek and that's uncomfortable! Chileans have a lot of respect for elderly people and will stand up for them on the bus/train. This also extends to people with disabilities, parents with children or pregnant women. Children are highly valued and are looked after by everyone. Including the guys. It's wonderful to see guys so comfortable and involved with the kids instead of seeing them as some other kind of species. Not that I'm interested in Chilean guys! Can't cook, clean etc. However, they are far more gentlemanly than at home. They open doors, let you on the bus first, serve your food first etc. It's lovely!! Right, I think that will about do for now, I've got to get up for school tomorrow and it's late.