¿Como te llamas?

¡Hola amigos! When speaking Spanish, it is somewhat of a challenge to slip in a word with an English pronunciation. There's something difficult about switching quickly between a Spanish accent and an English one. For example, it is much more difficult to say "Me llamo Andrew, mucho gusto" than it is to say "Me llamo Andrés, mucho gusto." For this reason I decided when I got to Chile that I would simply go by "Andrés." When in Rome, do as the Romans do, right? (By the way, that phrase translated in Spanish is "Si a Roma fueres, haz como vieres." Just in case you ever get caught doing something unusual in a spanish speaking country and need something to clear the awkward silence.) Of course, things didn't work out exactly as I had planned. Instead of simply introducing myself as "Andrés," I had the Bright Idea of saying, "well my name is Andrew, but I go by Andrés because it's easier to say." This created an interesting situation. Some people saw it as a challenge; if they could pronounce my name in English they had "exceeded my expectations." Others simply called me Andrés. I think the split between the two camps was pretty equally fifty-fifty.

You'd probably like to know where I'm going with this, but just as a reminder by reading this far you have not only learned an undeniably useful phrase in a second language, you have also learned how to introduce yourself in that language, AND you have gotten an informed insight into the inner workings of the human psyche. Not too bad for a minutes work.

Anyway, I have been here one month, and everyone (minus gringos who still call me Andrew) has agreed on what to call me. Fransisco started it, and it has spread like wildfire. The obvious compromise between the two camps was to combine the names. Hence, my Chilean name "Androos." (pronounced kind of like "papoose.")

And long story short, that's why I'll be signing off from here on out as "Androos." Hope all is well at home.

ya me voy
Androos