Jesse: Welcome back to Coffee with Gringos brought to you by Dynamic English. I'm your host, Jesse Andrews Maxwell. And I'm joined today by my lovely co-host, Brittany Duke. Hi.
Brittany: Hi, Jesse. How are we today?
Jesse: Doing pretty, pretty good.
Brittany: Good.
Jesse: Today is a Friday.
Brittany: Oh, Friday. We love Fridays.
Jesse: So on today's podcast, we're going to be talking about strange things that Brittany and I encounter in Chile. Both Brittany and I have lived in Chile for many years, and there's many things that we've noticed, that to us coming from the United States and South Africa respectively, seem very strange.
Brittany: Yeah, different, interesting.
Jesse: There’s a lot of strange customs. So let's get started. What would you say, Brittany, is probably one of the strangest things that you have observed?
Brittany: I just, I think I, I still. Okay. So in South Africa, we don't have any natural disasters. So for me, definitely the most interesting thing that I've noticed is when there's a tremor in Chile, an earthquake. An earthquake. Okay. I've never been here during an earthquake, but during a tremor, I lived in La Serena for six months, and I lived with a grandmother, a mother and the granddaughter, you know, and it was fascinating for me to be in the room when there was a tremor because the grandmother would be with her tea and would be shaking, but she would so gracefully just and it just everybody was completely calm to the point where I was like, am I imagining this?
Jesse: No, I agree with you. I think, I'm from a state that never experiences earthquakes. The only time I've ever experienced them is living here in Chile. And yeah, for me it's very nerve wracking and kind of an emotional moment where I don't know, is this going to end? How long is this going to last? But my roommate just remains calm.
Brittany: Exactly. Does she even say anything?
Jesse: No, no, no, no.
Brittany: No, people around me, Chileans just, they just continue what they're doing.
Jesse: The room is shaking. Okay. No big deal. Let's just continue.
Brittany: Exactly.
Jesse: Yeah, I would definitely say that that's one of the stranger things about Chileans. You know, one of the things that I find strangest and will be coming up on the new year pretty soon, is all of the customs and the traditions, I guess. I would actually say superstitions that Chileans have around the new year. So are you familiar with any of these customs that they do?
Brittany: So I've only heard about the grape thing, like 12 grapes.
Jesse: So they believe that you need to eat 12 grapes. But they also have this superstition and I've seen it personally. It looks very ridiculous. But people will put, they will get a suitcase and run around their living room or run around their house, because the belief is that by running around the house with a suitcase, that you will travel more in that year. Exactly.
Brittany: I like the one I think I'm going to adopt it.
Jesse: Yeah, I mean, who wouldn't want to travel more? But I think it's just a bit ridiculous to be running around your house at midnight with an empty suitcase. So the other thing about New Year's, I don't know if you've experienced this, but around after Christmas, I would say right before New Year's, you will start to see a lot of street vendors selling only yellow underwear.
Brittany: Mm hmm.
Jesse: Because the belief is that if you are wearing yellow underwear on New Year's Eve, it brings good luck.
Brittany: Interesting.
Jesse: So you're going to see a lot of yellow.
Brittany:I'm definitely going to keep my eye open.
Jesse: Yeah.
Brittany: Yeah. Because I've never actually seen any of these traditions being, like, practiced, you know?
Jesse: Yeah. They really do. I've seen all of them, and it's a bit strange.
Brittany: Yeah, I mean, it's interesting, that's for sure.
Jesse: In the United States for New Year's, we just get really drunk and have a big party.
Brittany: Exactly.
Jesse: The whole pre-show that goes into planning here in Chile is a bit different.
Brittany: Oh, 100%. I mean for me, coming from South Africa, South Africans are more superstitious. So I get it. I wouldn't do that and I don't practice the superstitious traditions, but I definitely feel like I get it. I get that.
Jesse: Do you think that this year that this coming up here, you will maybe start practicing some of the Chilean traditions?
Brittany: Yeah, I already told you that suitcase one is right up my alley.
Jesse: There you go. Nice.
Brittany: So, talking about these interesting, these things that you've noticed. Have you noticed just in terms of like fashion, that Chileans don't wear flip flops, like in public? Maybe at the beach.
Jesse: Yeah.
Brittany: Even then, I lived in La Serena and it wasn't super common to see people walking around in flip flops.
Jesse: Yeah. And for those of you who don't know, I think in South Africa, you actually don't call them flip flops.
Brittany: No. We say the better version of the word, which is slip slops.
Jesse: Slip slops.
Brittany: Slip slops.
Jesse: So, for those of you who maybe aren't aware, I think here in Chile, we just call, everyone calls them Havianas.
Brittany: Oh really? Not sandalias?
Jesse: Yeah but most people will refer to them as Havaianas. Speaking of that, you're correct. You don't see a lot of exposed toes.
Brittany: Is it a thing against exposed toes?
Jesse: I don't know. Culturally, and I really don't care because as the weather gets warmer, that is all you will find me wearing, nothing but flip flops in the street, on the beach. Doesn't matter. Once it's hot outside, it's flip flops all the way. But speaking of, I said that Chileans often call the flip flops. That's the other strange thing about Chile is the referring to a product by a name.
Jesse: So, for example, I've never heard a Chilean say cream cheese. They won't say queso crema, they say, “Un, Philadelphia.”
Brittany: Yeah.
Jesse: Calling it by the brand.
Brittany: Quicks.
Jesse: Quicks as well. Instead of saying, you know, dishwashing soap, they say “No, un Quicks.” The same thing for toilet paper.
Brittany: Confort.
Jesse: It's a brand, but it doesn't matter if it's that brand or another. It's still just referred to.
Brittany: Yeah. Colgate tambien.
Jesse: Yeah. It's very, it's interesting that they just refer to.
Brittany: Yeah, that is interesting.
Jesse: Not so different, though. You know, in the United States, especially in the South, you can go to a restaurant and say, I want a Coke Sprite, because all, all Fanta, Sprite, Pepsi, Coca Cola, they're all referred to as Coke. But then you have to be more specific in which type you would like.
Brittany: So I thought it was like more soda in the US, or Pop?
Jesse: Depends on the region. Yeah. Each section of the US is going to call that something different. So where I’m from, a Coke.
Brittany: Yeah.
Jesse: Yeah.
Brittany: And but, I mean, just back to the fashion thing, because I feel like that's where I've noticed the most interesting differences between South Africa and Chile, is, have you noticed that most women don't wear makeup?
Jesse: I have noticed. I do notice that. But I don't know if I find that strange.
Brittany: It's not strange. I love it. I feel like it's so empowering as a woman to be able to just go au natural, you know, because in South Africa, full face makeup every day.
Jesse: Well, speaking of women and what they wear, there's a lot of, I guess, shorter women in Chile. The shoes that a lot of women wear are these big, like thick, platform boots that make them taller.
Brittany: Way taller.
Jesse: But it’s like everyone or most women will walk around in these big, giant, giant boots. So I've always found that to be a little strange.
Brittany: I've never seen that anywhere else. Not that I've traveled to like hundreds of places, but I have never seen that. And I'm not going to lie. I kind of like it.
Jesse: Yeah, well, you're a little more fashionable, I guess, than I am. Because if I'm not doing a broadcast or teaching a class, I dress like a homeless person. Uh huh. So, yeah, I'm not. I'm not super big on the fashion. Speaking of fashion, have you noticed that here in Chile during the winter, it's just black? Everyone just wears black. There's no yellow coats or red coats or green. It's just black.
Brittany: It’s true.
Jesse: And I don't know if it's says something about how cold it is or maybe just the popularity of black.
Brittany: I mean, I feel like now if I think about my cupboard, my closet. Sorry, speaking to an American and we say cupboard. Most of the things I own are black.
Jesse: Now, most of the things I own are also black, black and gray. So, my two go to colors, but I also have a blue coat. I have a green coat. It's not just black.
Brittany: Just all black every day. I've actually noticed that too. My roommate and I were talking about it. Yeah.
Jesse: Now, and speaking of clothing and maybe rolling back to superstitions, I find it very, very strange that Chileans have a belief that if it's very cold and you don't wrap your neck with a scarf, that you will get sick.
Brittany: Yes.
Jesse: And there's nothing about that that is actually true.
Brittany: Factual.
Jesse: You get sick because of a germ or something. Not necessarily because your neck got cold.
Brittany: Yes.
Jesse: So you'll see these people in winter and they're just up to their eyes in scarves, very strange.
Brittany: I mean, I've even, in La Serena with my abuelita, she didn't she always used to like, tell me to put shoes on. So I like to walk around my house with socks on, sometimes in winter, thick socks, you know, like winter socks. And she always used to tell me in Spanish, obviously, “Brittany, please go put on some shoes.You're going to get sick.” I was like, “Oh, okay, that's interesting.” I’ve never heard that one before.
Jesse: Well, yeah, because, you know, it's clinically proven that all infections and all illnesses come straight through from your feet.
Jesse: Yeah, it's. I'm not an expert. I'm not a doctor, but.
Brittany: Yeah, so maybe I'm the strange one.
Jesse: Yeah, perhaps.
Brittany: But I mean, even just like on the topic of winter, when I arrived in La Serena, it was winter. And I remember, I will never forget it was freezing cold coming from South Africa, like semi tropical. You've been there in summer, right?
Jesse: Yes.
Brittany: So when it's - on the bed, there's not like one thick thermal blanket like in South Africa. No, no, no. There's just like layers and layers of blankets. You feel like you just, like, working out, trying to turn.
Jesse: And that is, it is strange that instead of just having one one thick, it is multiple layers.
Brittany: Yes.
Jesse: And not just any blankets. They're always wool.
Brittany: Yes, exactly.
Jesse: Very hot, heavy wool. And you know, it's funny, too. I have many friends here in Chile and there's a lot of them that will use those eight or nine or ten layers of blankets and then they also have a heated blanket, which they call a calientecama. So, I don't understand. I will say, though, in winter and especially outside of Santiago, it can get very cold. So, I do agree. They're yeah, the amount of blankets, it's a bit daunting sometimes.
Brittany: Yes. And what else? What other things have you found different or interesting here?
Jesse: Oh another interesting thing I always find is the way that Chileans refer to other people as an animal. So it's very common to say to a friend like, “Hola perrito” which literally translates to, “Hello, my little dog.” And it's a term of affection.
Brittany: Yes, of endearment.
Jesse: Yeah but you’re literally calling them a dog.
Brittany: I have the funniest story. My roommate doesn't speak any English, Spanish. Okay. She's South African, so she speaks English, but she doesn't speak Spanish. So one day she was on a group chat with other Chileans, and they were talking about a guy, gossiping about him. And they said something like, “Oh, este Cabral weon” blah blah blah. And she translated it and she was highly offended on his behalf. “Why are they calling him a goat?”
Jesse: Right. You know, but I get it, to call someone a cabro or a goat, is very strange to me, but to them, completely normal, right? So there's, there's several of those, where a term of endearment or affection is actually an animal. But then the other expressions that they have sort of like “pasar el chancho”, chanco is a pig. But if we literally translate it, it’s pass the pig. But it really means have a good time.
Brittany: Yes.
Jesse: So overuse, I think, sometimes of animals. Lots of references to animals.
Brittany: I love it. I love it.
Jesse: I would say that’s probably the strangest thing for me.
Brittany: I definitely, like, there's one thing that in being a foreigner and speaking to other foreigners specifically from South Africa, which is interesting, people are obviously always surprised to find out that I'm white and from South Africa. And I feel like Chileans are really polite and indirect, and almost subtle about asking you personal questions or like questions they might think are offensive, which are kind of like I think it's it's. So, for example, when people find out, okay, Brittany is from South Africa, they'll ask me, this has happened so many times, like at least 20 times. “South Africa. Oh, were you born there?” I'm like, “Yes.” “Were your parents born there?” I'm like, “Yes.” “And your grandparents?” I'm like, “Yes, we have white people.” Basically.
Jesse: To put it in simpler terms, yes.
Brittany: “Oh, no lo sabia.” So, yeah, I definitely think that's something I've noticed about Chileans in general.
Jesse: Yeah. But we have to say, although we find some of these customs or traditions to be very strange. Yeah, we love our Chileans. We love our Chileans so much.
Brittany: Honestly, I've chosen this to be my home. Yeah. So thank you for having us.
Jesse: As well, yeah. So with that, we were going to tell you again how much we love our Chileans and how much we enjoy bringing you these podcasts. If you enjoy watching them, be sure to subscribe and like, that's all I’ve got for today. Anything else, Brittany?
Brittany: No, thanks for having us guys and for listening, tuning in. We will see you on the next episode.
Jesse: See you then. Take care.
VOCABULARY, PHRASES AND SLANG
Nerve-wracking (adjective) = when a situation causes you to feel anxious or nervous
Example: I find public speaking nerve-wracking.
Superstitious (adjective) = a person who believes in superstitions.
Example: Many people around the world are superstitious.
Around (adverb) = a synonym for approximately
Example: There are around 5 million people living in Santiago.
Right up (a person’s) alley (phrase) = used to describe when something matches a person’s tastes or interests
Example: You should definitely apply for that job, it’s right up your alley.
Empowering (adjective) = used when something makes a person feel more confident and powerful
Example: Having conversations with native speakers in English, makes me feel empowered because they understand me perfectly.
Au naturel (adjective) = derived from French, meaning when something is completely natural, usually with a connotation of being nude or naked
Example: At nude beaches, you are allowed to go au naturel.
Gossip (verb) = to talk about another person without their knowledge, usually in a negative way
Example: I found out that they were gossiping about me, so I decided to confront them.