The first mishap occurred when Jeannette asked me if I wanted to help make a certain Brazilian drink we would be having with lunch. I chopped up lots of little lemons, put them in a pitcher, and started mashing them with a pestle, then Jeannette started adding sugar. In English people say "tell me when" to indicate when they should stop pouring/serving - I think she asked me the equivalent in Spanish, but I didn't understand. So, she added a lot of sugar. Then I made a bit more lemon juice, and she added the alcohol (cachaça) and some ice, and after mixing we let it sit until lunch was ready (~30 min). During lunch, there were a few comments about how "rico" it was (rich/sweet), and this is when I realized that Jeannette had asked me to tell her when to stop pouring the sugar... oops. It tasted good to me, at least.
Jeannette and I had somehow happened upon the topic of lobster earlier, but I couldn't remember the word. So she brought it up again at lunch so that more brains could help think of the food that's "red and lives in the ocean," (my excellent description). Eventually I was able to tell them that it was like a large shrimp, and then they all knew what I was talking about but also couldn't remember the word. After a minute or two, Pablo realized it was a "langosta", and we were all happy. Then Sergio and I mentioned that we didn't particularly like lobster. So they asked me if I liked "marico." I had no idea what that meant, so I just looked confused, and someone asked me if I knew what "marico" were, and I answered in the negative. But when Sergio started to describe them, he said "mariscos", and then I had my "aha!" moment. I said eloquently, "si, si, si, ¡mariscos! claro."
The Chilean accent got me again - los chilenos drop their esses. So, they pronounce "los chilenos" more like this: "lo chileno." "Es lo mismo" becomes "E lo mimo." Hard to get used to. Except it's not exactly like the "s"es are just dropped - they're aspirated instead.
Here is what I thought happened next:
Jeannette asked me if I liked "los locos" (prepared for the accent now, I realized that "lo loco" was in fact "los locos"). I seemed confused, so Sergio repeated the question asking if I liked to eat with the crazies. He asked if I knew what los locos meant, saying "los locos? 'the cray-sees'?" I said yes, and was perplexed. Were they making fun of the weird eating habits of los EEUU? I knew that Jeanette thought it very strange that I usually only ate a sandwich for lunch. In Chile, the biggest meal of the day is lunch, and dinner is very late (~10, I'd say) and light - if eaten at all. Or, as my family does, you can also have "once" (spanish for 11), which is not a meal at 11:00 as you would think, but a meal around 7:00 or 8:00pm. Anyway, they asked again if I liked eating with "los locos," describing them as having a shell and living in the ocean... Then they explained that lo loco were a type of marico. Aha. As it turns out, los locos are a type of Chilean snail. They had been asking if I liked to eat los locos - not eat with them.
Anyway, I was pleasantly full after the first course (meat, celery, and palta wrapped in deli meat - like a burrito - with more celery and some olives on the side), which I originally thought was all there was to eat. After all, we had already had appetizers (Doritos, potato chips, and guac...) I was thinking that that wasn't such a huge lunch when Jeanette brought out a giant bowl of pasta with two types of sauce - crema y aceituna, y tomate y carne. I chose the tomato meat sauce, and then was incredibly full. After, there was also dessert (durazno con crema - peaches and cream), which I couldn't say no to.
The food was all delicious though, so being full wasn't that bad.
Jeannette and I had somehow happened upon the topic of lobster earlier, but I couldn't remember the word. So she brought it up again at lunch so that more brains could help think of the food that's "red and lives in the ocean," (my excellent description). Eventually I was able to tell them that it was like a large shrimp, and then they all knew what I was talking about but also couldn't remember the word. After a minute or two, Pablo realized it was a "langosta", and we were all happy. Then Sergio and I mentioned that we didn't particularly like lobster. So they asked me if I liked "marico." I had no idea what that meant, so I just looked confused, and someone asked me if I knew what "marico" were, and I answered in the negative. But when Sergio started to describe them, he said "mariscos", and then I had my "aha!" moment. I said eloquently, "si, si, si, ¡mariscos! claro."
The Chilean accent got me again - los chilenos drop their esses. So, they pronounce "los chilenos" more like this: "lo chileno." "Es lo mismo" becomes "E lo mimo." Hard to get used to. Except it's not exactly like the "s"es are just dropped - they're aspirated instead.
Here is what I thought happened next:
Jeannette asked me if I liked "los locos" (prepared for the accent now, I realized that "lo loco" was in fact "los locos"). I seemed confused, so Sergio repeated the question asking if I liked to eat with the crazies. He asked if I knew what los locos meant, saying "los locos? 'the cray-sees'?" I said yes, and was perplexed. Were they making fun of the weird eating habits of los EEUU? I knew that Jeanette thought it very strange that I usually only ate a sandwich for lunch. In Chile, the biggest meal of the day is lunch, and dinner is very late (~10, I'd say) and light - if eaten at all. Or, as my family does, you can also have "once" (spanish for 11), which is not a meal at 11:00 as you would think, but a meal around 7:00 or 8:00pm. Anyway, they asked again if I liked eating with "los locos," describing them as having a shell and living in the ocean... Then they explained that lo loco were a type of marico. Aha. As it turns out, los locos are a type of Chilean snail. They had been asking if I liked to eat los locos - not eat with them.
Anyway, I was pleasantly full after the first course (meat, celery, and palta wrapped in deli meat - like a burrito - with more celery and some olives on the side), which I originally thought was all there was to eat. After all, we had already had appetizers (Doritos, potato chips, and guac...) I was thinking that that wasn't such a huge lunch when Jeanette brought out a giant bowl of pasta with two types of sauce - crema y aceituna, y tomate y carne. I chose the tomato meat sauce, and then was incredibly full. After, there was also dessert (durazno con crema - peaches and cream), which I couldn't say no to.
The food was all delicious though, so being full wasn't that bad.
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