Ubuntu - in abundance

Ubuntu is a concept that we came across a few months ago thanks to Sonja Kruse. It is difficult to translate but it means something like: "I am what I am because of who we all are"
  
"Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity." (Archbishop Desmond Tutu)



Today, we experienced Ubuntu. We made a chileno friend: Ismael. He is also a vegan and he took us shopping in a crazy south american market. He took us to a place where we could buy soy milk, tofu and vegan empanadas (some kind of south american calzone or pastry filled with nice stuff). He was utterly helpful and lovely. He helped us with the most basic things (that we currently are USELESS at doing) such as buying a metro card and putting credit on it, ordering food from a very intimidating market, telling us who was probably trying to pick pockets, letting us know what fruit was over priced, giving us earthquake advice etc... All of this just for the love of it. He traveled by tube for 1h to meet us and help us (and then he traveled 1h back).

So this is how our day went:

BANK ACCOUNT:
Work guys said, don't worry about the silly bank man, you will have an account early next week. Sounds promising!

HOUSE:

We did our first viewing!!! hooray!!! (we did not like the place that much but loved the area so will be looking at more places there)... turns out some agencies are a bit more lax about random documents...

FOOD:
Soy milk is not very common here... powder seems to be as good as it gets and some liquid stuff in very alternative places... hmmm... might buy a soy milk and tofu making machine!

Bought lots of stuff: purple potatoes, more pepino fruta, tomatoes, corn, peas, mangoes, grapes, blue berries... will try to post photos, these veg are so beautiful!

Discovered a new Super food: Chia - rich in omega 3 and calcium (look out for this beauty all vegans out there!)... have not tried it yet so we don't know about taste but looks VERY promising! :o)


LANGUAGE:
So a few language lessons from standard Spanish to Chile Spanish:

Vale = Ya
Maiz = Choclo
Fresa = Frutilla
Guisante = Arveja
Judia = Poroto
Melocoton = DuraZno (thanks Ismael for the correction ;o))
Aguacate = palta
Ahora mismo = al tiro

The list goes on!

Other words - "po" and "huevon" appear too often in conversations... meaning yet unknown!
Other things - chilenos greet by kissing once (only women kiss, men shake hands with other men but kiss women)