Día 42, parte dos

My family and a few friends who know me well called shenanigans on the "to learn/improve/get-a-kickstart-to-developing-something-resembling-fluency-in Spanish" reason I gave for going to Chile. And that was fair.

From what I can tell, several of the Chileans I've spoken with could also be calling shenanigans on my choosing Chile as a place to come for Spanish. When I've told coworkers, housemates, cashiers, security guards, or people who've helped us out along the way that I'm here to work on Spanish the reaction across the board seems to be genuine confusion, followed by one of the following statements:

"Our Spanish is the worst!" 
"We talk so fast!"
"We have so many modismos!" 
"Columbians speak perfect Spanish!"
"Umm...I couldn't believe it when you told me you came here for the Spanish! Why?!?!"

I usually say that if I can understand Chilean Spanish, I will be able to understand Spanish around the world. I think there's a possibility that may be true (question mark).  

The reasons for wanting to do something like this changed over the years, changed over the course of the three months between giving Chile a green light and actually departing (um. whoa. that was quick turnaround.) and will probably change when I get home and can wrap my head around it. But here's the thing: I am actually motivated to work on the Spanish -- and I didn't discover that until I got here. 

Surprise! But that's life -- right?