In case you haven´t already noticed, I´m a lists person. I like them, they´re effective at sharing information, and I use them a lot.

So I made a "best of" list for Chile of things I like the most so far. I might tack on a "best of part deux" in a week or something, but for now, here´s a few things that make my life about this country.

1. LA ROJITA (namely, Arturo Vidal and Cristopher Toselli... they´re kind of amazing)

La Rojita is the name for the Chilean Sub 20 national team, which is currently playing in the FIFA World Cup in Edmonton, Canada. They´re all 18-20 years old and I´m kind of in love with them (plus they´re a refreshing counterpart to the Chilean national team that got booted out of the Copa America earlier this week during a horrendous 6-1 loss to Brazil... there´s a lot more drama to that story, but you can read it all online).

Currently La Rojita is the only selection in the Cup that has no goals against them. Oh, and they beat Portugal last night... Nigeria is up next. I love these boys.

2. The obsession with 80s music here, plus hearing Spanish covers of English songs.

3. Mullets. I know this should be on a "WORST OF" list, but I think it´s the funniest thing ever. There´s this phrase we coined week one... "Chilean men would be so much hotter if the weren´t all sporting mullets" and heavens to betsy is it applicable. They are EVERYWHERE. At least they tend to be more subtle than, like, the all-out butt rock kind of mullet that can be found in some parts of the U.S. I blame the 80s music.

4. Any time any Chilean person tries to say anything in English. We tried to teach a guy how to say "tickle" the other day and it was a lost cause.
Us: "Flatten your voice. TIH-ckle"
Sebastián: "Tayyyyy-ckle."

5. Any time any Chilean yells the one English phrase they know at us. I also think this is funny, because you never know what you´re going to hear. It typically tends to be something along the lines of "Bush is a horrible person" except with more profanity, or someone drunk man bursting out in song, "youuuu arrrre sooooo beauuuuutifulllll to meeeeeeee."

6. Chilean slang. They tack on a "po" for any statement that needs emphasis. There´s a lot of sípos, nopos, en serio-pos, but my favorite is "¡chaopo!" Also, "cachai" on the end of a sentence is synonymous with "do you get it?" But the verb "cachar" is used for a lot of things in casual speech and when someone says "voy a cachar" they could really be referring to any action they are about to do. Pololo/polola are other favorites of mine; those mean boyfriend and girlfriend, respectively. And "pololear" is the all-inclusive verb for when two people who are dating hook up. My friend´s host mother explained that to her... I reckon that conversation must have been awkward.

7. Pan with every meal. The food here in general. Which, by the way, the word here for every damn thing on the dinner table is "rico".

A brief glimpse at my first family meal in Chile:
Ambar: "¿Te gusta la sopa, Mónica?"
Me: "Sí. Gracias, es muy sabrosa."
Ambar: "Sabrosa.... mmm, yeah. ¿Pero es rica, sípo?"
Me: "Uhhhh... ¿sí? Po."
Ambar: "La carne con arroz es muy rica, también. ¿Quieres pan, Mónica? Este es súper rico."
Me: "Right..."

8. An ocean view to kill for from every house. The rich have it, the poor have it, everyone has it. It is absolutely breathtaking.

9. A decent lunch for less than US $4.

10. The obsession with dancing. My host grandfather told me that dancing here is a separate, non-verbal language here where people can connect with total strangers in a way that cannot be expressed with words. I thought that was really interesting.

11. The dramatic narrator for all of the commercials on Warner Channel. I wish I knew how to make a recording of it to put on here. So try to imagine these phrases with a really thick, super-dramatic male, mid-40s Chilean accent:
"Ya volvemos con... TRAH-VE-LERRRRR"
"Mujeres iiiiirreverentes. The L Werrrrrrrrrd"
"Nueva serie... nueva temporada... Studio 60 on de Sunset Striiiiiiiiiip"

It kills me every time.

12. While we´re on the subject of announcers, the way the La Rojita announcer says "Alexis Sanchezsssssssssssssss"

13. Subtitles. Because when you´re watching Seth Cohen´s antics on the first season of the O.C. or all of those subtle jokes on Gilmore Girls, it just can´t be translated. The subtitles tend to cut out proper nouns and everything so it´s all totally lost. Not like anyone here would get it anyway. Can you just imagine Arrested Development or The Office subtitled?...

14. Chivalry. At least in my experience, the men here have been a little more chivalrous as far as picking up the tab for an entire table and walking us home and making sure we get home safely and whatnot. Of course, there´s different degrees of it, as in any culture.

15. Open doors and hospitality. The first day I went to my friend´s house on Cerro Castillo, she said her host mother flipped out when she let me leave without eating something (mind you, I was only there for about three minutes). Kind of like how grandparents are always shoving food down our throat in the states, well, everyone here does that, regardless of age. And they are so open to guests, too. For the first few weeks here, my same aforementioned friend couldn´t distinguish who was part of her host family and who wasn´t because there were always tons of visitors flocking to her house. I love how social everyone is here.

Preview: a "WORST OF" list is in the works.