Oh, crud....

A young man (early 20s?) gave me his seat on the Santiago metro today. I was heading home from downtown, and as I stepped into the train, he stood up and said "Señora, sientese...." (Have a seat, maa'am..." )

I looked around to see who the older lady was, and realized he was talking to me! "Ooooooh.... gracias," I said and took the seat, but, I was not impressed. As I mentioned in another post, young people here cede their seats to the handicapped, those with children... and the elderly.

Thanks a lot, kid, I thought. I wanted to ask him why he would do such a cruel thing, but, he had earphones on and got off at the next station, so, I couldn't ...Why must those metro people be so darned polite, after all?!

(Just a few hours earlier, the slightly-older woman taking my order at the Castaño --chain of Santiago bakeries that sells breads, muffins, and very dangerous pastries -- had called me "linda," as in "Digame linda, que quiere?" Tell me, pretty, what would you like?

Salespeople here do that once in a while. If they're in a good mood, they'll also call you "reina" (queen), and "dama" (dame, though it really doesn't mean that; it's more like "classy lady," I think). The one thing you don't want to be called is "señora," or, "maa'am."  But anyway, the "linda" had felt really good, until then....)

Speaking of Santiago's metro, it's one of the cleanest, fastest, most efficient modes of transportation I've ever been on. Much nicer than the Toronto subway (sorry....). Also, it has a book-borrowing service. I've never used it but have seen it advertised. It's called "Bibliometro" and it's a partnership with Santiago's libraries:
(http://www.bibliometro.cl/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=5&id=1&Itemid=2)

Anyway, got a couple of updates, on my previous posts.

The other shoe in the Fulvio Rossi-Carolina Tohá saga dropped today, with Tohá announcing that yes, she is re-launching her campaign for the Party for Democracy's presidency. (I guess she'll also be heading for divorce court, as indeed her personal break-up from her husband, Rossi, is now being acknowledged by both of them, and in the press. What a sad end to the left's "golden couple.")

Forty days after Chile's earthquake, the country is nowhere near how it was before it. The Santiago Times has put together a series of articles on how things are now, and how much there's still left to do. It's really interesting stuff... if you're interested:

http://www.santiagotimes.cl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18565:earthquake-in-chile-40-days-on&catid=1:other&Itemid=38

Finally, in a previous post I'd said there were no silent letters in Spanish. Wrong!

My daughter Carmen pointed out that indeed there is at least one silent letter -- H -- in a bunch of words (though, still not in "Nicholas").

So, yes, I stand very much corrected. (And I guess I'd better start getting used to it.....)