Lauren: One thing that is almost nonexistent here in Chile, is punctuality. Now, I would think this would be nice. A break from rigid schedules of the US, getting somewhere 20 minutes late and that being totally acceptable, but really for us this has been maddening, and our frustration went to a new level yesterday at the Red Cross of all places.
Aneya: Oh my god did it ever. There is such a thing as "Chilean Time" and Daniela informed us of this early on. A Chilean says they'll meet you at 11? Get there at around 11:30, although you might still be waiting. It's fine if you're just meeting friends, and you know of it before hand. But sometimes it's just downright rude.
Lauren: On the phone with the Red Cross girl the day before, I was told to be at the Red Cross at 9 a.m. Wow! That's early. But you know what? Since I said I'll be there at 9, I'll be there at 9 a.m. I said I would, so I'm going to do it. Right? We were there before even the directors! They casually rolled in around 9:30.
Aneya: Not to mention the two of us were completely hungover, and yet we still managed to walk all the way to the Red Cross building and be there at exactly 9 am. When we walked in, we were informed that our boss wasn't there yet. Excuse me? We were told to have a seat and wait for her arrival. I was seriously pissed.
Lauren: Talking to other people, they said the Red Cross had told them 9 a.m. too. At first I was afraid it was my Spanish, but those Chileans! They said 9 a.m. so people would get there at 9:30 a.m., but they also told other people 9:30 a.m. so we were waiting around until 10 a.m. This is so characteristically Chilean. Now I can be a bit of a stick in the mud about these things, but if you want me there at 9:30 or 10 a.m. say that!
Aneya: I mean, come on. The building was bustling with people, and everyone looked just as confused as were. A couple women sat down with us and they also were told to come at 9. Some were told 9:30. What the woman should have said was 10, because that's when things got started. Actually, scratch that, 10:30 is when things really got rolling.
Lauren: In truth we've had a lot of adjustment in our lives. The time here is totally different from that in America.
Chile's time for everything is different. Lunch is around 3-4 p.m. Onces, like tea time, are at 7 p.m. Dinner is quite often around 10 p.m. People begin to party at 1 a.m. This is something Aneya and I just cannot get used to! Dinner at 10 p.m.? I'm hungry before then, though! Onces are just not enough to keep me going through the day.
Aneya: It's true, everything is later here, just like in Europe. Meals last a lot longer (2 hours, although one time it lasted 4!) and everything has a different pace. The dinner thing is definitely the hardest to get used to. I'm hungry at 6, 7 and I don't want a little once, I want a big meal! I remember one night, early on, we went out to dinner on a Saturday night, in one of the hippest neighborhoods in the city. It was around 7:30 and the place was deserted. We didn't understand. Where were all the people? At home, eating their onces, that's where!
Lauren: We went out to dinner one time, and the old folks were arriving after us! Grandma and grandpa were having dinner at 10 p.m.! It was crazy! I was a bit embarrassed.
Aneya: That was funny. We were like, "Ok, this time we're not leaving the house until 8:30! That'll show 'em!" And then, as we were leaving the restaurant, in walked the senior citizens. Oh, Chile.
-- Aneya & Lauren
The dinner and lunch time for Chile is pretty much the same as in Spain. In Spain people have lunch and then their siesta....do they do siestas in Chile?? And dinner time starts earliest 9 p.m.
ReplyDeleteLAW: This would give your mother a heart attack.
ReplyDeleteOh, she'd die!
ReplyDelete-- LAW