Chilean culture

Hey pals, Grace here reporting on the latest culture going down in Chile (jaja). I shall divide it in 2 parts: food and fashion. Vamonos!

Food

As I promised, I said I'd report on my Chinese food experiences here. Chile as a whole has very bland cuisine. The only seasoning is salt and lemon. This is a tad bit difficult from someone who has grown up on Taiwanese dishes like stinky tofu, the most pungent food of them all (dare I say even more than kimchi?) Anyway, I wanted to see how Chinese food tasted here so I went to Flor Oriental, a small Chinese take out restaurant by La Catolica university. I thought I was getting egg rolls, but this is what I found in the bag:????Why in the world is it triangular????

Took a bite. The skin was chewy and overly doughy, kind of like how doughy a donut is, only I thought this was supposed to be a thin-skinned eggroll! And the chicken inside had no flavor. I only knew it was supposed to taste Chinese because I personally bought it from a Chinese restaurant. Quelle suprise. Oh the Chilean palate. I need to get used to you. If anything, I became friends with the girl that works at that Chinese restaurant. She came from China when she was 10 and she speaks perfect Spanish and sufficient Mandarin. It's strange communicating with her in Mandarin and then have to switch back to Spanish instead of English to clarify my thoughts. A few days ago, a few friends and I went to eat again at the restaurant speaking Chinese. Her mom took such a liking to us she served us tea, tangerines, Chinese candy, and Chinese peanuts!

This is a typical Chilean meal. It consists of a salad (tomato + palta (avocado) + lettuce=salad; oil + lemon + salt=dressing) and a main dish. Usually the main dish is something filling and made of random ingredients. This day was not as random, as you can see from the potato and meatball soup.

Being desperate for flavor of some sort, no need to look anywhere else but Chilean Korean food for flava to spice up my life! It was funny because I could understand the romanized Korean better to figure out the dish rather than read the Spanish explanations. I'm convinced. I'm part Korean.

And of course, I got my favorite Korean dish--bibimbap. The gochujang was surprisingly sweet and not spicy enough (Crazy that I say that huh? Yeah, it was THAT bland. Oh Chilean palate. How could you.) The kimchi panchan gave me the spice I needed though : )

Fashion
Chilean fashion is something else.
I was told that in Chile, the fashion trend is "Anything goes." When I walk on the subway and bus, I don't see this wackiness going on, mainly because people are coming back from work or school. But when I went shopping today, my eyes were opened to the world of Chilean fashion...allow me to show you a bit...

For starters, the shirts are rather odd.

I saw this shirt on a mannequin and told Andrew to try it on just for kicks. I think Chilean fashion got to his head and he ended up actually buying it...

And for girls, shirts with badly written English is quite the rage! Well, this particular shirt has a double entendre, but in general it says things like "Great Fashion Sport Style Always."

Who remembers fanny packs? I do! You would think they are suited for middle-aged Midwestern white people who travel to an exotic locale with a large tour group with even more middle-aged Midwestern white people, no?

Not here in Chile! They come in an array of cool colors and prints, ready to match any outfit that you feel best expresses your wild personality! I opted for the checkered pink and black because I was feeling a bit ska with a touch of femininity.

Okay, in seriousness, even though I bought a trendy fanny pack, it was for good reasons, not to make an ironic fashion statement. While we were on the metro today, my friend Xenia got pickpocketed. Chilean ladrones (thieves) are very sneaky. Xenia's canvas tote bag was sliced open without her even noticing and the ladron took her wallet. Thank God he took just a cheapy wallet and about $15. She found out about half an hour later when we sat down in the restaurant when she couldn't find her wallet. It made me nervous how sneaky the pickpockets are and I didn't want the same to happen to me. Therefore, I bought the fanny pack to wear beneath my clothes so I don't always have to lug around a big purse. It's just a plus it comes in such a cool trendy print! Haha, I think I will only confine the wearing of the fanny pack in Chile though...unless fanny packs hit the States when I get back...

P.S. MC Hammer pants are in style too. Oh the horror! : (