Corrugated City

Wednesday 21 May 2008

English Speakers Anonymous

UPDATE:

I'm confirming that the meet up is going to be on Wednesday evening-8.30 pm at Allegretto (Calle Pilcomayo and Templeman behind the Iglesia Anglicana on Cerro Concepcion). Great pizza and draught Cerveza del Puerto.

If you're coming with someone can you let me know. If there are more than 6 of us-and if everyone turns up, we will be-we'll be best off in the upstairs part of the restaurant as space is limited downstairs for large-ish groups).

So enjoy the 21st May parade and I look forward to meeting everyone on Wednesday.

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Edited post:

We're organising a get-together for English speaking expats and Chileans. This will, hopefully, turn into a regular meet-up, maybe every couple of weeks and will give long term expats a break from speaking Spanish and newcomers the chance to meet people. If you're an expat who wants to meet other expats, then come along. If you're a local who wants to speak English then you're very welcome to join us as well. Please contact me either by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post of by emailing info at pacificfive dot co dot uk

25 comments:

Allison Azersky said...

I wish you would forget English....

You know I'm there.

Matt said...

I know, I know. It'd make life better for everyone if I just couldn't speak at all. But you'll just have to put up with it.

So we're two confirmed. At least I won't have to talk to myself now.

Matt said...

So we have another confirmation. 3 of us now plus a couple of maybes.

Douchebaguette said...

If you do it after June 8th, I'd come. Maybe if you have success and do another...

Matt said...

Hey attractively named user, I hope we'll still be going in a month or so. At the very least, I'm always happy to meet new people here so keep checking in.

Unknown said...

Hi, i have a flight to santiago this august to teach english there. im now really looking into moving to valparaiso instead although i can´t mucho info on it. I was wondering if you could help me or point me in the right direction. I have a degree in microbiology, i speak spanish well enough and will soon do the CELTA TEFL course, with this will i be able to find work during august there? or will it be best to stay in santiago? Thank you and my email address is christiano282@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

well.... I would be happy to chat with you guys (chaps) at some joint del puerto.... e.g. JJCruz, etc. BTW, If anybody want to share singing in English, French and Spanish we are starting a sea shanty choir at the IPA institute, Condell 1349, every thursday at 17:30. salu2, Luchovalpo

Meredith said...

Hi,

I will definitely try to make it. Given my line of work I speak all to much english, but very, very slowly. Likewise in Spanish. It's always nice to have people to speak to at a normal rate.

PS. I don't want to sing in multiple languages but I DO want to speak French before I forget all of it, just FYI to any and all.

Meredith

Meredith said...

...although I just said¨"all to much" so maybe I just don't speak anything properly anymore.

luchovalpo said...

Hi Meredith: I do remember that the Instituto norteamericano had some evening within the week for informal english conversation for english speakers too.... But, first let's try meeting at some joint.....proposals.... in Valpo maybe café paseo, poeta, etc. all of them around Plaza Anibal Pinto, in Viña Manchester Pub (8 Norte), or Café Journal (Agua santa). Any other idea? Now, with regard to the choir it is just starting singing sea songs mostly translated to spanish with some stanzas in the original language.... it is a macho thing like the old sailors and I am the anglo speaker there who sings the old shanty valparaiso round the horn...

Anonymous said...

...sea shanties?! You portenos have all the fun!!!

Patricio

Anonymous said...

Sea shanties rock, the portenyos of Bristol, England do that to. They also do trip-hop. So 1:1 on cultural preservation but what signs of evolution does the Valpo scene exhibit? Has anyone heard the new Portishead album?

Discuss.

(Scout's honor that you'll discuss, as I shant-y be attending).

Matt said...

So we're up to 5 or 6 confirmed now which is good. I'm thinking Allegretto on Pilcomayo (behind the Anglican church) on Cerro Concepcion at, say, 8.30 on Wednesday evening. Cheap and very good pizza and Cerveza del Puerto on tap.

Christian-check out Allie's and Meredith's blogs, they know more about English teaching in Valpo/Vina than I do. From what I've heard, there's plenty of work here at the moment. Don't go to Santiago. Bad place.

Lucho-Man, you've never heard me sing and I hope to god you never have to! I might have to come along and have a listen sometime though...

Meredith-good to hear you think you'll be able to make it. As for your French, just give it up. I was pretty much fluent 'tilI I started learning Spanish. Now I'm useless. My brain is capable of retaining only one Romance language at a time.

Patricio-'tis true.

Chileno-Portishead has already been discussed on this blog. Awesome album. Nicely depressing.

Douchebaguette said...

Matt- if you're squeamish about the word "douche", you can just call me Erin.
Mind if I steal a photo of the "No Entiendo" graffiti for my blahg?

Matt said...

Ok...Erin it is. And no problem, steal away.

Douchebaguette said...

Athankyewsir!

Meredith said...

Matt,

All evidence points to you being correct about retaining multiple romance languages at once....

However I am in the midst of writing letters of inquiry for next year's work, and in them I am claiming to speak French, so I am going to have to make sure that I still do in case anyone actually needs that skill.

I intend to be stubborn on this one.

Javier said...

How what is wrong with Santiago?? I like living here.. And I live downtown too.

Matt said...

Meredith-there are loads of french people in Valpo this year, you should be able to find someone to practice with pretty easily if you want to. Just don't learn any Spanish :)

Javier-You're crazy...!

Barbaridad said...

could you keep doing this until july? i would love to join the crowd...especially if there are some beers involved.

Matt said...

B-hopefully we'll still be doing this in July. The idea is to create a group of English speakers-expats and Chileans-to get together and have a good time every couple of weeks or so. I'll obviously post how things go after Wednesday.

Anonymous said...

Hey there.

I am in. Thanks for leaving the post on my blog. Also, do you know an Emma? Is she in yet? I might invite here. She has been blog stalking me. See you there.

Matt said...

Clare-cool. Thanks for confirming.

Also, Emma got in touch last week. She's coming along as well. Assuming it's the same Emma, of course...

See you Wednesday...!

Meredith said...

So, after discussion last night, I believe I've located this house of yours. If I'm correct, if the internet goes down, I should be able to send you comments by flashlight morse code out of my living room window, without any obstructions.

This explains why all of your photos of the port from the hills look exactly like the ones I have taken!

Matt said...

Haha-I can't believe you live just there. I can probably see right into your house from my balcony...

So when I'm running low on alfajores, I now know where to go to buy some...