In general, status, appearance, and social class are heavily ingrained into Chilean life. Although you will find these things in varying degrees in almost any society, I find that here it takes on a much more important role than I might have imagined. Some things are purely cultural, sure, but I believe that some of it is simply the small country phenomenon.

I’ll give you an example. In the US, we only have one last name – that of our father. And rarely, if ever, have I been asked about the origin of that name and rarely, if ever, have people heard that name and automatically assumed something about my social status. Here, on the other hand, when one hears a last name (or names, seeing as women don’t change names when they marry and children are given both the father and mother’s surnames) they already know something about that person.  They might assume that the individual in question is from a “good” family, is from a lower class, etc.

Now why aren’t our last names that big of a deal in the US? Well, first of all it’s logistically impossible. There are way too many last names scattered all over the place to mean a great deal.  Additionally, unless your last name is Kennedy or Rockefeller, no one cares! (Even then, no one cares that much.) Of course in certain business circles, Ivy League universities, or small towns your name might carry a bit more weight, but those are all mini-societies and, in a matter of speaking, just like our dear Chile.

Let’s take another example – studies and career. One of the first questions you’re asked in any social (or professional) setting in Chile is: que estudiaste? (What did you study?) We call it a major in the US, but here you call it your career. So, technically my career was journalism (and sociology) and I am, therefore, a journalist. Yes, I’ve been introduced as a journalist many times and it freaks me out just a bit. Does it matter that I’ve never worked as a journalist a day in my life? Not at all. I graduated from a university in this area of study, therefore I am.

Wow. Do you get where we’re going with this? Identity is very tied to career. And if you didn’t go to a university? You technically aren’t anything. I’ve actually heard people say this before in conversation (translating from Spanish, of course): yeah, he didn’t go to the university so he isn’t anything. Sound a little harsh? Try living here and not having a degree! On top of that, to even be able to study a certain area you have to score high enough on a big test (think: SAT). So, if you’re a doctor, everyone knows that you scored very high on the exam so you’re super intelligent (or just a really good test-taker). The opposite is also true: you’re an elementary teacher? Bleh. You’re ok. You weren’t smart enough to qualify to study anything better. (Note to all elementary teachers – YOU ROCK.) Now add on top of this the fact that certain universities carry with them certain reputations. You’re a doctor from Fancypants U? You’re practically a god. And everyone knows it – after all, it’s a small, small world (country).

We have to remember that the entire country of Chile has approximately 15 million people. Texas alone has around 25 million.

I suppose I always took for granted the mindset with which I, and many other little USA kids, grew up. Life was basically a smorgasbord of options — what do you want to be when you grow up? Change it every week if you want! Where do you want to go to college? Apply a million places! Where do you want to live? Live the dream in NYC! Where do you want to work? Don’t like that job after a few years? Work somewhere else! Change careers completely! Move across the country!

You don’t move across the country here – Santiago has 6 million people and the other half of the population is scattered throughout small-to-medium-sized towns across this looooong piece of land. Universities? There aren’t that many options and competition is fierce to get the “good” schools/careers. You decide you don’t like being an architect? There is a line a mile long of other architects who are waiting to take your job and you’re not going to get hired doing anything else. After all, you ARE an architect.

Maybe some of this explains why no one here goes to the grocery store in their pajamas. (I know what you’re thinking – I didn’t used to do it THAT often, but if it was 11 p.m. and the roomies needed some Blue Bell ice cream I sure wasn’t putting on real clothes…) You need to look good all the time in Chile -  your identity is quickly formed by factors that you may or may not have chosen. You need good names, a good career, and good contacts. (Side note: Chilean networking is a completely different blog post. You have to know people here. Period.) I feel like such a hippie sometimes coming in from the US with my college degree that I don’t use, unknown last name, t-shirt and blue jeans. The options are endless – from career changes to the aforementioned Blue Bell ice cream, life is a buffet in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Probably both. Also, that pajama thing is probably just cultural.

This post started short enough but turned into very long monologue that served more to clear my own thoughts than provide riveting entertainment for you good folks. If you happened to gain some enjoyment from it, congrats! Thanks for sticking around.

As many of my quotes do, the following nugget comes to you compliments of Common Prayer. Good words for us from Cesar Chavez, a latino farmworker in the US who organized the United Farmworkers Union. Not only that, but he was committed to voluntary poverty and nonviolent struggle on behalf of vulnerable, poor, and exploited workers. It is said that he was inspired by a priest who taught him about God’s heart for social justice. Wow, and to me all this time he was just another street name in Houston’s East End! Was I ever wrong…

When we are really honest with ourselves, we must admit that our lives are all that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines what kind of men we are. It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life. I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for others in totally nonviolent struggle for justice. To be a man is to suffer for others. God help us to be men!

…and women! (I don’t think Ceasar would mind)

Amen.

I’m finally taking Spanish classes. Seems a little late, you say? I know. What actually happened was that I was asked, through a mutual acquaintance, to help a local university student with a journalism project. She needed to interview a foreigner living in Chile and I was just such a foreigner. After the interview we started talking and somehow by the end of our time had decided to do exchange classes – she needed help with her spoken English and I wanted help with my written Spanish. After three years, I feel quite confident speaking these days and can say whatever I want to say (for the most part). So much of my language development has come from listening and repeating, though, which has left me feeling quite insecure with writing. I don’t know where accent marks go and I’m still fuzzy on some grammar details.

We’ve only met once, but I’m already enjoying our exchange classes. It’s also fun to meet her at her school – I feel very academic and collegey walking the halls of the regal old buildings. I suppose it’s never too late to start something new and improve your skills. Perhaps the long-awaited blog post in Spanish will come here in the next few months. We shall see.

Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold, C.S. Lewis

Sisterhood Everlasting, Ann Brashares

The Quest for the Radical Middle: A History of the Vineyard, Bill Jackson

The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright

Emma, Jane Austen

The Politics of Jesus, John Howard Yoder

The Journey of Desire, John Eldredge

Anne of Ingleside, L.M. Montgomery

The Wounded Healer, Henri J. M. Nouwen

What’s on your bedside table these days? Any titles on your shelf that you’ve been wanting to pick up?

Megan’s Master Chile Diet Plan

Step 1: Move to Chile

Step 2: Realize that life without a car requires walking. Once realization has set in, start walking. Lots. Anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes a day (I’m not good at measuring things with proper distance measures).

Step 3: Once you’ve gotten good at walking, add to it either a) a bag of books and teaching materials b) a couple bags of groceries or c) both.

Step 4: Take a look around the grocery store and find significantly less “short cut items” than you were used to. What are these items that I speak of? Canned beans or veggies, cake mixes, ready-made sauces, microwave popcorn, frozen dishes, etc. (There are a few, mind you, but not nearly the variety and some are quite expensive.)

Step 5: While leaving the grocery store, happen upon outdoor fruit and veggie markets. Begin to note what’s in season, enjoy the low prices, and stock up!

Step 6: Walk home with all these bags in your arms.

Step 7: Combine steps 4 and 5 to begin to pay more attention to how your food is prepared. Use more fruits and vegetables in season and when something isn’t sold the quick way, learn the old fashioned way! (Example: dried black beans, air popped popcorn.) Unintentionally begin to consume less salt, preservatives, and partially hydrogenated high fructose icky stuff.

Step 8: Eat out less, not as a rule but simply because the people you’re around don’t eat out much. When you go to a restaurant, expect smaller portion sizes than you would in your homeland. Also, don’t expect free beverage refills.

Step 9: Walk home from said restaurant.

Step 10: Of course you don’t stop snacking, but realize that it takes you a while to figure out what your snack of choice is in this country. Since there are no Triscuits or other old friends, you tend to snack a bit less… again, not intentionally, but perhaps because you haven’t happened upon that magical taste that takes you straight to your happy place.

Step 11: Walk more.

Step 12: Repeat.

And there you have it, folks. All my secrets. Now I just need to write a book and get a spot on Oprah. Wait, she doesn’t have a show anymore. Hmm. Perhaps I can cut a deal with The Biggest Loser. And become best friends with Bob and Jillian! Yes!!!

I’m now off to make that happen. Walking, of course.

Jesus was a revolutionary who did not become an extremist, since he did not offer an ideology, but himself. He was also a mystic, who did not use his intimate relationship with God to avoid the social evils of his time, but shocked his milieu to the point of being executed as a rebel. In this sense he also remains for modern humanity the way to liberation and freedom. -Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer

Unacceptable, I know.

You forgive me, I know.

I’m here, though, and writing once again. Much has happened since we last met – namely an excellent trip to the US and a 30th birthday!

Yes, I am 30. No, I’m not eternally 29.

The more I’ve thought about it, the more I like the idea. I suppose on a basic level I could say that I’ve always preferred even numbers to those strangely uncomfortable odd ones. On a slightly deeper level I could say that I’m pretty content with where I find myself at this particular age. I don’t have everything figured out by any means, but I like where things are going. My 20s were well spent (read: not without hiccups or mistakes or pain) and I have hopes that this decade to come will be even richer.

I know that there’s a temptation at my age to look around the room and take note of all that I haven’t done yet. I haven’t gotten married, or reproduced, or saved a giant lump of money, or bought a house… but I’m weary to make those things my measuring stick of contentment, lest I get confused about the real stuff of life. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added… comes to mind. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven… also pops in to my train of thought.

Before this post becomes a daily bread devotional moment, I’ll just say this: I know I don’t do things perfectly. I do want to be faithful with what I’ve been given, though, and with what I’ve been asked to do in the place to which I’ve been called. What happens in these next 10 years will probably surprise us all – most of all me!

And with that, I can confidently say to 30: bring it on.

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:10-11

Of course we know that at Christmas we’re entering into the greatest love story ever. I don’t have much time to blog today, but let’s remember love as we live this week.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17