Feeling Chilean

Living in a country other than your home country takes awhile to get adjusted to. But even then, getting adjusted to a new place comes in stages. From my experience, getting adjusted to the country itself took about two weeks. I had to get adjusted to the climate difference, being in a new place, the culture, the language, as well as just looking different. 

The climate was difficult to deal with for the fact that pretty much the first week of being in Chile, I was shivering non stop. I am fairly certain I gained washboard abs in a matter of days without even trying. After acclimating to the climate, I had to gain my sense of direction. For me, this was difficult because I am awful with reading a map. But once I am shown where something is in a city, I can navigate my way back and forth with ease. With thanks to my dear friend Israel, figuring out the general layout of the city was a breeze. Unfortunately, I also had to figure out the public transportation. I learned how to navigate my way to and from school on two different buses, I can navigate the metro with ease, but the colectivos I don't think I will ever understand [Colectivos are a type of taxi that is cheaper, but also shared between other people]. 

The easiest thing to transition into would have to be the culture. Having prior knowledge about Chilean culture before arriving, it was much easier to slide into the ways of the Chilean people. Drinking a lot of tea, eating one's weight in bread and palta, and eating lunch in the late afternoon were just some of the things that came naturally to me when I got here. The hardest transition for me, however, has been the language barrier. The problem hasn't been that I don't speak Spanish. The problem is that I am not an encyclopedia for Spanish slang. The Chileans speak rapidly and the accent, in some cases, is almost impossible to understand. Now that I have been here for almost two months, my ears have started adjusted to their language mannerisms. Not only do I understand them, I often find myself using them in a natural way. For example, my host family had a family party at the house this evening and we were discussing all sorts of topics, when I accidentally said one of the most commonly used Chilean slangs, "sí po." I can feel that my speaking is improving, not only with my host family, but with anyone that I come in contact with that wants to speak. 

The more time I spend here, the more I feel like I belong. Rather than feeling like an alien or an outsider, I am beginning to feel more like a Chilean. With this transition from outsider to family gives a sense of belonging, and I think it will give me an even better experience than I have already been having.