Last night I was trying to get an essay done and not planning on going at out all when, de repente,three dudes, two of whom i vaguely knew, showed up at the door looking for my roomate, hanna. We all got to talking about our various experiences living in chile and comparing it to our own countries (they're from peru, brazil and spain). We all decided that foreigners were given a much warmer welcome and inegrated much quicker in our countries than in chile. Hanna stayed at home, but we all went out hoping to find food, despite it being late sunday. We went to a colombian restaurant that was packed with colombians dancing to a live merengue band. We nonetheless managed to find a table in the corner and hung out until a bona-fide bar-brawl over some skanky looking girl broke the place up. outside we met up with a friend of a friend of a friend of mine and we all went to hang out at suecia, a street in my neighborhood boasting the most 'fleite' (sketchy, dodgey) clubs and bars in central santiago. the brazilian guy and the spanish guy were quickly lured away by some uber-fleite guys describing some seedy club, but sebastian (distant connection), henry (peruvian) and i hung out. We all talked about how our friends should have been more careful about getting in a taxi with sketchy dudes promising a seedy club and how one generally has to be careful in cities. This led to sebastian dogging on the peruvians in santiago, basically calling them a bunch of thieves and the base of santiagan crime. Henry and I both just bit our lip and until he changed the subject and left. Peru and Chile have a huge rivalry going back to the war of the pacific and continue to insult each other's countries in social situations. After he left, Henry and I ended up hanging out there until 4 in the morning talking about history and politics of the americas in which he's super well-versed. I was telling him that, initially, the US had supported Hussein told him about the picture of Rumsfeld shaking hands with saddam. I was sort of embarrassed that he knew who rumsfeld was, seeing as i barely know anything about the peruvian government. When he asked what we thought of Fujimori in the US, i was also rather ashamed to tell him that, largely, we thought nothing at all of him, seeing as hardly anyone would even know who he is.
I think one of the best aspects of studying here is meeting so many people from other countries and talking about their history and their country's situations. Reading piles of articles and statistics about a country will never hold a candle to spending hours talking to one of its inhabitants. Also, hanging out with Henry made me realize the responsibility i have while traveling abroad to represent my country. Whether i try to or not, i'm forming impressions about many different countries based on their citizens that i meet here. So far I have zero interest in ever going germany, whereas i'm already convinced i want to go live in peru and mexico forever. Hanging out with my peruvian and mexican friends is completely different than hanging out with germans, chileans or gringos. The former group goes out of their way to make you feel included, welcome and appreciated. No gesture goes unnoticed.
Living in Chile i'm learning the disadvantages of living within an economic powerhouse. In the US i don't notice it as much because our system is so integrated in my consciousness, but here I notice how affluence has taken its tole on social norms. It's not uncommon here to ask someone how much money he spends in a month or what kind of car he drives. Chile doesn't have a strong sense of tradition or cultural pride, but what is notable is their economic standing in latin america. As a result, Chileans are money-obsessed -as if it were their main cultural trait. This which leads to strong classism. Chileans want to know where to place you in their concept of class hierarchy so that they know how to think about you. In contrast, people i know from other latin american countries will just enjoy a person for his personality. They don't care if you don't dress fashionably and don't spend lots of money going out.
i've been having a lot ideas lately about the attitude difference between chile and other nations, but it's already mid-afternoon and i have too much practicing and essay-writing ahead.
One final note while i'm thinking about it: I only know a couple spaniards, but i can't understand them nearly as well as south americans. i feel like my spanish is really good, but that, since i've only been exposed to latin american spanish, spanish spanish is one of the strangest dialects for me.