Embarrassingly Awesome

I don't even like greasy Chinese food.

There is a Chinese restaurant less than 30 steps from my house. So, my roommates and I have taken to their una luca spring rolls ($2US) and wonton soup for dinner. Kelsea and I go, Annika and I used to go - sometimes, we'd all go together. Or at different times on the same day. Or alone.

How much do we go? Chinese Mom gave me a packet of spicy dried red peppers to cook with.  

The Chinese family that runs the place: Mom, Dad, and teenage daughter are so sweet. Mom came to Chile first to work with her cuñado and then brought Dad a few months later. That means their teenage daughter and younger daughter, now about 8 years old, lived alone in China for 6 months. The girls came to Chile on their own and now they live and work all day in the restaurant.

The daughter answers the phone and speaks MINIMAL beginner Spanish and beginner English. She has a journal full of Cantonese- English-Spanish words. The girl learned her Spanish from a book in China. She struggles so much with Spanish. And her English is so basic. I don't know how she does it.

Chinese Mom had me and Kelsea help her with a phone call one day! My question - does that earn us free spring rolls? 

I was walking home from a nice dinner + Pisco Sour on Lastarria Street and saw the Chinese Mom sitting at the table, in an empty restaurant. I waved and walked in to say hi. To my neighbors, the Chinese family that runs the restaurant. She started talking in her broken Chilean Spanish and we talked about how the restaurant was busy at lunch, she needs a permit to have patio seating, the heat is too much and she made rice soup today. Then, she offered me a bowl of soup.

"Te regalo una sopa por el calor. Hice una sopa de arroz. Quieres?" And I told her no, I just ate. But she insisted.

So we continued to talk, I ate and a few customers trickled in and out for take-out Chinese. They even told me where to find dim-sum in Santiago. +sarah luk we are finding dim-sum in Santiago!

So I had a on-the-house bowl of rice soup at 10:30PM on a Thursday night in Santiago, with my friends  - the Chinese family in Providencia.