The man, the myth, the legend: Papa José

One night while we were sitting down having a glass of wine (or was it pisco.....) José asked me, "After seeing all of these decorations in my house, what did you think I would be like?"

Without hesitating I replied, "Ridiculous."

I really nailed it with my predictions of what José would be like, although I believe he prefers to be considered more as a roommate than my Chilean father. Papa José, who informs me that he prefers to be called 'José Carlos,' has been a great host and constantly keeps me entertained simply by his unpredictability. When he first came back from his vacation, José informed us that he kept a very strict routine and liked to have everything in order. Five minutes after that spiel we started drinking pisco.

One Tuesday evening after declaring that he was going to karate practice for two hours, José packed up all of his karate gear and took off.....only to return an hour later with several bottles of wine and two friends, and proceeded to have a party until one a.m.

Wanting to take full advantage of his situation (having a gringa living in his house), José has decided to learn English. As I was sitting down trying to write one afternoon, he dropped 18 'Let's Learn English!' CDs on the table in front of me and asked me to review them for him so see if they would be helpful. Fortunately, he has settled for me writing down words and expressions for him.

After flipping through his 'cuaderno' (notebook) the other day I realized I am teaching him the English equivalent of the Spanish that a restaurant employee can learn from native Spanish-speakers in the back of a restaurant. José is going to be fluent in 'dirty English' in a couple of months. I think I have created a monster. And it only gets worse when my friends come over...they all want to see the expressions and words that he knows and then give me even more suggestions (which are always hilarious and always dirty). José did buy a great book (I forget the name of it) that includes a self-monitoring system so he can give himself tests and quizzes on the material he learns. In fact, he has already taken one quiz, although he informs me he could have done better. My favorite part is when we sit down and he repeats and practices his pronunciation, because we usually end up yelling the word.

me (normally): January
José (normally): Jan-u-areey
me (slightly louder): January
José (slightly louder): Jan-u-ary
me (a little louder): January!
José (same level): January!
Together (yelling): JANUARY!!!!

I have a feeling that the neighbors don't like it when we do that........

José has been very great to not only me, but my friends here as well. He has let 3 different people come stay with us and is always going out of his way to make us feel comfortable. He gave me rides to school a couple of times when my back was hurting, helped me find an open ATM one night so I could get money to travel, and even dropped my friend's huge travel backpack off to her yesterday so she didn't have to haul it around Punta Arenas until her bus left at 5pm. José is a very sweet man, and even though he claims to be like Charlie Sheen's character in 'Two and a Half Men,' it's obvious that he is a softie. I'll have to just include all of his hilarious expressions as they come along, but they are mostly about beautiful women, alcohol, and bathroom humor......I'm such a great influence!!!!

Picture: José giving the shaka this weekend while eating an empanada and dancing with his niece (my cutie-pie chilean cousin) Natalia (la Nati)

Besos y abrazos!

La Keeley