16 August 2010
Spent the weekend at Daniela’s and Diego’s apartment in Santiago so lots to write about!
LONG DISTANCE COACH
I’m in the long distance bus from Santiago to Valparaiso now as I type this. We took the metro to get here. When we arrived at the terminal it was full of people trying to get a bus. When reading the bus sign on the TV Salida means departure, Destino – Destination, Empress – Company /Carrier, Anden – Platform. In our case it reads Atrasada – meaning late. It is Sunday evening and buses leave about every 10 – 15 minutes from about 7am till midnight. The terminal hosts a variety of companies such as Condor Bus, Tur Bus (the one I am on now), Pullman Bus etc. Basically they pull into the terminal, stop long enough to load the bus which took about 5 minutes and took off again. On another bus, one lady had obviously decided to grab something from somewhere and the bus left without her. She was chasing after it with her handbag and a few rude gestures and expressions. I may not understand a lot of Spanish but body language sure can tell a lot! I didn’t hang around long enough to see the outcome of that, as I didn’t want to miss mine. The coach was full. It was pretty fancy. It had a door which shut the driver off from the other passengers. It had a toilet at the back and something else I’m not quite sure of. Once the bus started, a man was acting as a steward and walking up and down the aisles selling drinks. He then returned asking if people wanted a pillow or blanket. Of course I did just to see what he would say. Two men returned and started at the front of the bus asking people for their ticket and where they would disembark. Diego had told me the terminal so that was what was written down in the second mans book along with my seat number. The lights then went out and the two TVs on the bus switched on. It was two and a half men. It always seems strange to be in another country and have so much American English input. I wonder where you get the headphones from if you want to watch. I guess it doesn’t matter as most of the people around me are going to sleep. I haven[t even quite finished entry about the bus and Metro and before you know it the lights turn on and the two men are up and down the aisle letting passengers know that their stop is the next. One helped me get down my bags and carried it to the door for me. Impressive service!
METRO
In Santiago you buy a ‘Bip’ card which will allow you access to all forms of transport the city has to offer such as the buses, Metro etc. Private things like horse and carriage rides are separate. Like the train, you swipe the ‘Bip” card over the yellow hand and walk through the turn around. There are three different tariffs for your travel depending on the time of day you use the Metro. Punta is peak hour, Valle for Saturdays, Sundays and festivals and Bajo is basically off peak hours as written in the sign. The symbols for the Metro system are 3 red triangles. One of the main differences apart from it being underground is that the trains have tires not rims of wheels on tracks like overland trains. Sometimes these tires do get a puncture and go flat. There are 5 main lines all colour coded, but if you look closely at the photos I could not find number 3. It is a real efficient system I am told it has only broken down once last year due to the earthquake, they had no power so the trains could not run. The lines and everything else was okay it was only the electricity that was the problem. If it rains then the system still continues it does not flood like it did in England when I was there and alternative transport frequently had to be found. The only problem they did have was when the buses were privatized they had issues with matching the frequency of the metro with the volume of the people arriving in rushes as they were not used to it, It took about 3 weeks to a month to sort out. They do not employ people to push you onto the train in peak hour traffic. However there are signs that ask people to move along the platform to allow other people onto the platform. Also to wait at the side for people to get off before you enter. At peak times the trains flow about every 2 minutes. People will wait for the next train rather than push their way onto a packed train as they know the next one may not be as full. The metro is clean! No rubbish and no graffiti. I have not seen any cleaners but am told because it is such a good service people respect the company and look after it. The company that owns the metro is the government. One of the signs I took a photo of said that when you pass someone pass on the right. This takes a bit of getting used to.
It is really close to the apartment where Diego and Daniela live which makes life real easy for them.
APARTMENT
Daniela and Diego are surrounded by office buildings and apartment buildings. Their building is 18 storey’s high. Each floor has a total of 10 apartments so this makes for a lot of people in one area. It has both one bedroom and two bedroom flats. The one bedroom flat could be anywhere from 32 square meters up to 42 square meters in total coverage. Each apartment contains a toilet and shower, however there could be different combinations of the e.g. toilet shower separate, toilet and shower in same room. They have a dining room, a bedroom, a walk in wardrobe, a kitchen and a lounge. The apartment that they are in is near the centre of the city and has really good facilities that are not typical of all apartment buildings. They have a laundry room. This has washers, dryers, a folding shelf and a washing powder dispenser.
Other facilities include rubbish and recycling. On each level is a chute that goes all the way down to the basement. The only stuff you are allowed to put down this shute are small plastic bags full of rubbish. This may not include bottles, paper or other things to be recycled. They have rooms for the utilities people so they can check the power, read the meters for hot / cold water and gas. One cupboard in the hallway housed a whole lot of taps. These belonged to the individual rooms as written above so if there was a water leak or something similar the water to the Apartment could be turned off and the problem fixed. They also had a cupboard for fire extinguishers and hoses as well as exit stairwells in case of an emergency. Some of the benefits of being in this Apartment are that each Apartment has their own Storage Room ‘Bodegas’ in the basement so they can put any overflow in here of furniture or goods. They also have two rooms which can be rented out for birthdays, parties or meetings. A guard sits at the entrance 24hours and checks people who enter and exit. The guard asks for ID before anyone is allowed up. Residents receive a phone call to ask if they are expecting this person and arrangements made to either send them up to the room or ask the visitor to wait downstairs. The apartment has a small swimming pool and an area to ‘hangout’. It also has a small gym residents can use. There is an internet room also. Internet is provided as part of your rent for the apartment. However it is not hooked up to each individual apartment, you must go to a room and take your own laptop to access this facility. You’ll see one picture of a room that has table’s chairs and a modem only – this is it. This apartment also has a couple of levels which is used as parking for residents. Each apartment is allowed one car park. They also have about 40 parks outside that are available for visitors. Residents are not allowed to park in these. They must request permission if a visitor is staying for more than five hours from the building association. In certain circumstances they can request to use the car park themselves but it is only allowed to be for one night. If they are caught with using the visitor’s car park they are fined $50 a night on top of their rent for this infringement.
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT 2 WEEK MARK with my family (Diego / Daniela)
1. Has my pronunciation improved?
A little. Z has changed now say gracias.San Ignacio. Need to pronounce the c. Also when say Alejandro must pronounce the ja as ha
2. How well can you understand what I say?
Barely. Get the meaning but may not be accurate. Sometimes good Si. Here in Chile Si sounds like Se even though they write Si. This is the Chilean accent.
3. Is my use of the language idiomatic? (use of formulaic expressions) etc
You use Yapo which is the contraction of ya pues meaning (come on - It is an order)
Si po (yes indeed) No po (of course not)
Unable to use formulaic expressions
4. Do you have any other comments about my use of Spanish?
Use sentences more rather than random words.
Try to speak more Spanish. It doesn’t matter if not saying the correct words otherwise will not learn.
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