When dogs attack, Mistaken for a Mormon, Becoming Chilean, and Grammar Answers

So about 2 weeks ago I was bitten by a dog.

It happened in Las Condes, which is a well to do neighborhood of Santiago.  I finished a class and was on the phone calling a student and passing by a woman talking with a friend and her dog, and the dog started barking at me.  Then it bit me in the back of my leg.

I looked at my ripped pants that I had only worn twice and called out to the woman.  She didn't even notice what happened until she came over. She apologized, and when I asked what she was going to do about my pants she told me she'd pay a maximum of 20.000 pesos, which is about $40.  When I told her my pants cost more than that she started saying I was taking advantage of her.

After trying to reason with her for a few minutes I gave up, telling her I didn't agree but didn't have the time to settle it then.  I got her name, ID number, and phone numbers.  I also gave her my business card.  My student was waiting for me for my next class.

So my student for my next class picks me up on the way out of his office and we then drive to my place for the class, and when he saw my ripped pants he insisted that we go to the police right away.  After 4 hours of driving around between the police station, hospital, back to the police station, and home, I was exhausted and wanted the whole ordeal to be over with.

To make a long story short, I had black and blue marks on my leg where the dog bit me and that I now have to get a series of 5 rabies shots. (Luckily it didn't draw any blood.)   I was also mistaken for a Mormon at the hospital.  (I was wearing black dress pants, a white dress shirt, and a black tie that day.)

After getting home at 11 that night I went to sleep but was waken up by a phone call at 12:30.  After filing the police report the police forgot to give me back my ID card, so I had to go get it.  I waited until the next afternoon, and after talking to multiple people in the office and being told to sit and wait I finally got it after being persistent and asking again and again (which included a half hour wait).

So what's happening with it now?  The woman was truthful and gave her real name, ID number, and phone numbers.  I'm buying new pants in the next few days and am compiling documents showing the classes I've had to cancel to get the rabies shots (on specific days between 9 and 11 in the morning) as well as the class I lost the night of the incident.  I'm going to ask her to pay me the full amount of the pants as well as my lost classes.

Here´s what the rabies shot paperwork looks like:

No matter how many times I tried, I was unable to rotate the pictures above.  To save you from craning your necks sideways here´s what the gray box says:

No olvide que usted ha sido mordido por un animal sospechoso de rabia.  La rabia siempre es mortal.  Ud. está en peligro.

Translation?

Don´t forget that you´ve been bitted by an animal suspected of having rabies.  Rabies is always deadly.  You are in danger.

It's a frustrating situation, and I just want to get it settled.  I hope that she'll cooperate with me and take responsibility, but given her attitude I'm not hopeful that it will happen.

On a much happier note, I am now a permanent resident of Chile!

My letter that let me legally stay in the country for 6 months while the government processed my paperwork expired on Friday, so I went in on Tuesday to file for an extension.  While looking around I noticed a friend of mine was also there, and so after we got our numbers we got to chat and catch up.

After about an hour wait my number was called, and when I went to the desk the woman pulled out a small but official-looking document.  She gave me a half sheet to sign acknowledging I was getting the paperwork from her, and she gave me another half sheet with instructions on what to do next.

Here's what it looks like:

Looking at it, my residency was processed and approved on April 13th.  I got this on May 22nd, and I still never got the official letter in the mail that it was processed.  (Chile is notorious for taking a long time to mail out the letters to people).

I was a bit surprised that I didn't need my passport or get any type of stamp in it, but apparently my new ID card will indicate that I'm a permanent resident.  Permanent residency will allow me to get a credit card, a more comprehensive bank account, vote in elections, and pretty much do anything that Chileans can do.

I'm just a few steps away from completing the process.  I registered with the International Police and they took my photo and gave me a new registration card, and after that I went to the Civil Registry to apply for my new ID card.  Once there I found out I needed photocopies of particular documents which I didn't have at the time, and I didn't have enough time to get the copies and return to complete the process, so I decided to finish that part another day.

And I have taken another step towards becoming "Chilean".  I ate not only my first but my first AND second  completo on Friday.  For those of you who aren't aware of what they are, here's a visual aid:



What is that, you query?

Well, it's tomatoes, onions, mustard, mayonnaise, and a hot dog bun.  Oh, and under all of that is a hot dog.

I have seen plenty of completos in my time here, but I've never had the desire to eat one.  So how did I manage to eat TWO of these in one day?

I have a Friday class at lunch with a great student, and he always orders us each a sandwich from Dominó, a  famous sandwich chain in Santiago.  Instead of the usual sandwich this Friday, however, I was greeted with 2 styrofoam completo-shaped containers.

I´ll be the first to admit that I´m not the poster child for eating healthy.  I enjoy pizza, cakes, cookies, and things like that.  Seeing people eat completos at 10 in the morning (with a Coke to drink) however, makes me intestines start to cry just at the sight of what they´re doing.

So I dug in and ate them.  Some mayo and tomatoes fell off when I ate my second one.  I didn´t really enjoy it, and my intestines protested for the next 24 hours.  I don´t think I´ll ever willingly eat a completo again, but some people have told me that eating one is a key ingredient to becoming Chilean.

Last but not least, what are the answers to the grammar puzzle from my last post?

When using adverbs in English, there is not only one correct word order.  I´ve sorted them into groups with the adverbs in boldface:

Group 1  Subject Adverb Verb

Daniel sometimes takes the bus to work.

Some people always need to drink coffee in the morning.

She almost had a car accident.

Group 2 Subject Verb to be  Adverb

I am rarely sick.

They were both late to the party.

She is usually on time.

Group 3 Subject Verb 1 Adverb Verb 2 (perfect tenses, auxiliary verbs, future, and passive)

My brothers have never been to Chile.

You should always eat breakfast.

Exception 1: Sometimes can be at the beginning of the sentence.

Sometimes Daniel takes the bus to work.

Exception 2:  Probably

Subject Verb Probably

Homer is probably at Moe´s tavern.

Subject Probably Verb in Negative

Homer probably isn´t at work.

Well, that´s all for now.  It´s 10 AM and I figure I should go to Dominó to see some people feasting on completos.

Moving in, finding my school, and touring the city

Yesterday morning I got my things packed and moved into my apartment.  Seeing that I have so little compared to whenever I've had to move before it was really easy.

As of now, my room only has the bed, a small dresser, and a nightstand.  Mario (my landlord) has offered to take me shopping to get a desk and an armoire (or something similar) to help store the rest of my stuff on Saturday.  He has even called to check in that I moved in without a problem and if I needed anything at all.

After that I decided to scope out my school and the surrounding neighborhood, and it turned out to be quite the adventure.  I naively thought that since my school (Colegio San Marcos) is on the street Rodrigo de Araya that it would be best to get there by going to the metro stop named Rodrigo de Araya.  After walking about 7 blocks, I was relieved to find a bus stop.  People told me that the 511 goes right down the street, and I would be on it for about 10 minutes to get to my school.

Well, it turns out they were wrong.  It took a turn after a few blocks, and I explained to the bus driver where I needed to go.  He simply acknowledged I was on the wrong bus and should take another one, yet he would not open the doors for me or advise me as to what bus to take.  I had to ask him for about 3 stops in a row to pull over and let me off before he finally did.

Being the genius that I am, I did not think to bring a detailed map with me.  I called to try and get help, but it didn't work.  So I asked a woman at a bus stop, and it turns out I was able to take a different numbered bus  in the same direction Mr. Don't Let Me Off the Bus was going.

I took the bus to the stop they advised me to, and it was on the corner of a Jumbo.  Jumbo is kind of a like a one stop shopping place.  The best equivalent to the States is Walmart, but it is higher quality and doesn't seem to have the bad reputation that Walmart does.  For those that have been to Germany, it is very much like a Marktkauf.

I walked a block down the way and came across the Gimnasio Pacifico, which our program offers a discount with.  I checked it out and it looks pretty basic but very convenient since it would be on the way to and from my school.

Then I hopped on another bus and got to my school about 5 minutes later.  I couldn't go inside, but here is the view from the outside:

It is also across from a supermarket, which is perfect since there isn't one near my apartment. 

Afterwards I started to make my way back, and I did some shopping at Jumbo.  I got things I'll need like a laundry basket, ironing board, and iron along with some other small things.  I also got a bite to eat at their food court.  Beef mongolia, vegetable stew, juice, and rice milk:

On the way back home, I realized that I can take a bus directly from the major intersection of my apartment to the intersection of Jumbo, and then hop on another bus that drops me off right in front of my school.  I don't think it will take me longer than 35 minutes to commute each way, which will be really nice.

Then this morning I took a bike tour of Santiago.  Everyone else in the group didn't wake up in time, so I got my own personal tour.  The first stop was Pablo Neruda's house.  Apparently this was his 2nd house, and it was a hideaway to meet with his secret lover Matilda.  Its name means messy hair and refers to her hair, and if you look at the windows you will see a P for Pablo and an M for Matilda:

 

There is also a mini open air theater next to it, along with pillars that have one of his famous poems inscribed into them:

We then biked through Patronato (which is an area inhabited with the largest Palestinean population outside of Palenstine) and Bellavista (an area with lots of nightlife, restaurants, music, and shops).  Then it was off to La Vega, the largest and most popular farmer's market in Santiago.  They sell everything fresh and cheap there, and here is some of the stands I bought fruit and plantains from:

I was even able to get cereal at a discount.  The tour guide and I stopped and got some hot chocolate while I took in the sounds and smells that were surrounding me.  The market was bustling with people making purchases, sellers yelling out their prices, and the occasional stray cat and dog weaving their way in and out of the people and crates of food.

Then it was off to Plaza de las Armas, which is the main center of Santiago.  Every major city in Chile has a Plaza de las Armas, and it is named after where soldiers would put their guns and weapons when they were not fighting.  The post office, national musuem, and cathedral were all around the plaza, and apparently they mesaure from the very center of one Plaza de las Armas to another in any other city in Chile to determine the distance between them in kilometers.

About halfway through the tour we had someone else join along:

From time to time he would go astray to sniff something or see other dogs, but he followed us until the end of the tour.  Although there are a good amount of stray cats and dogs here, people seem to take care of them and they seem pretty well fed.

I already finished the plantains I bought at the market but have grapes, bananas, and tomatos for the next few days now.  Tomorrow I get to go to my school and meet the teachers.  I'm excited but nervous at the same time.