I Heart Chile (sort of)

I recently talked to my mom for a while and was informed that she "thoroughly enjoys reading my blogs". I told her that she and my friend Renee seem to be the only ones who read it, and she reminded me that it's a great personal journal source and I should just write for myself, regardless if anyone else reads it. So in the spirit of remembering things 10 years from now, I wrote down some stuff that I'm totally missing in Seattle and totally loving here in Santiago. Hopefully,by December, my list of "things i'm going to miss" about Chile will have grown a bit. Here goes. . .

Things I love here: My roommates; the view from my apartment; my students; my boss; my new gringa friends; cheap wine; being able to use the preterit-FINALLY; being ogled by hot, 20-something year old Duoc students; ogling hot, 20-something year old Duoc students; Spanglish; speaking loudly about inappropriate subjects on the metro and NO ONE HAVING A CLUE!; my students; the very talented musicians on the Micros; the availability of ice cream; SOPAIPILLAS; deep fried hot dogs; terremotos; churrasco italianos; the price of produce; cookies; having the door opened for me every time I leave the building and come back home; being called “MEEZ!”; instant parties (parties start faster here than at Steve and Jaylene’s); empanadas

Things I hate: starers on the bus and everywhere else; line-cutters; being in a language bubble; impossibility of finding shoes in double digits (thanks mom. . . or dad??); five-step purchases (see previous blogs); never being able to split a freakin check at restaurants

Things I miss: Real coffee; real beer; my nieces and nephews; my potty-humor-enjoying friends; clean air; clean air; clean air; being assertive (well, not sounding retarded while being assertive); !!!!MEXICAN FOOD!!!; going out to breakfast; dim sum; walking Greenlake with Susan and Lily; telling stories to Ethan on my walk home from work; chatting with my mom on the way to work; having a lot of cell minutes to make such calls; being able to stop at Susan’s on my way home from work; only having a 15 minute walk to get to work. . . definitely don’t miss the work, though=); Tillamook extra sharp, aged white cheddar; goat cheese; string cheese (am I five?); Nancy’s plain yogurt; bulk bins at the Greenwood Market; last minute beers with Shannon; tennis and beers with Shannon; lazy Sunday mornings with cable TV at Bo and Mike’s; evenings around the fire pit at Bo and Mike’s or Amy and Rosy’s; (brace yourself). . . my cat, believe it or not!; aerobics with Shannon (believe it or not)

Things I’m going to miss: see above, under “things I love”

Two More Weeks

The end of the semester is now only two weeks away and while I'm really going to miss my students I am glad to get a break. WE've only had short ones since we arrived, so it will be nice to have that vacation mentality again- although, I can't complain. My hours allow for me to spend late nights shooting the shit with Rafael and a bottle of wine (or two, sometimes three), and meeting people for late dinners after classes. Definitely nothing like my endless hours at the Fokin' office in Greenwood =).

On top of prepping for finals and getting all the grades and make up quizes taken care of, I'm totally slammed trying to get ahead for next week. SHANNON'S COMING IN TWO DAYS!!!! Como se dice "Hallelujah!"? I was really excited, but I lack the ability to envision, so it wasnt until a couple days ago that it actually hit. I can't wait to hang out with her and laugh my ass off. . . as is always guaranteed in her presence. I feel lucky because my friends here are pretty understanding of my crazy sense of humor and I was really appreciating that about them recently (during a PMS-y/hallmark-y moment). So, fortunately I've not been deprived of great laughs in Santiago. Actually, I can say that laughing with my gringas has been my medicine, because there were certainly times when I wanted to go right back home.

Since she couldnt come after I was done with school, we're going to take a trip to the coast- Vina del Mar and Valparaiso (maybe go to the fancy casino in Vina, on the beach). Then, with our next two-day stretch we'll head to some smaller towns for a more "south american", small town feel. One, in particular, is called Pomaire and is supposed to be great for shopping- she can get it all out of her system in one day (i hope) and also for good traditional chilean food. Rafael's uncle has property outside of Santiago that I hear is really cool- we'll see about convincing him to take a couple a' gringas out of town.

I told Rafael about the fart machine that Shannon and I have so much fun with, and we're planning all kinds of schemes for after she gets here. I'm pretty excited to watch Flito-tito (rafael) flirt with someone on the metro as he cues me or Shannon to make the machine fart. We're also going to plant it under a couch cushion and let it rip when his fart-despising friend Patricio is sitting down. I have a feeling that Shannon, Flito and I are going to be the only ones laughing. Apparently farting is particularly gross here. ??? ha ha ha

It should be good times. I'll keep things posted. we should have some funny pictures and/or stories. These Chilenos won't know what hit them.

Reformed Chanchita

Many of you might not believe it unless you saw it, but I am a reformed slob. More so, I’m a borderline neat freak. Thanks to my roommate, I’m disgusted by clutter and dirty dishes. I was tolerant of his chanchito ways during the time he was employed, but now that he has no early morning wakeup calls and long hours at the office, I accept no excuses for the constant messes left in his wake. Strewn piles of dishes and newspapers, snack wrappers and empty beer/wine bottles have practically turned me into my sister Christine. I say practically because I at least wait until after eating my meals to clean up, but (unlike my old, living-alone self) I do clean up immediately. No dishes soaking in the sink for even an hour. No counter left unwiped. I used to make fun of Kathy for having a personal soundtrack of a swishing broom sound but now the noise applies to me, as well. It’s painful but I do try to hold out from cleaning up after him, and can usually last up to three or four days while crusty dishes accumulate in the sink. Elsa warned me not to give in because she’s desperately concerned about Rafael becoming accustomed to being a kept man, living with two tidy women. However, I am a cooker and there come times when I NEED the dirty dishes that sit in his pile so at times I break down. I was having people for Chinese dinner on Saturday and had three dishes to prepare, so I needed a lot of kitchen/sink space. Without thinking, I went ahead and cleared out the sink so the kitchen would be presentable when people showed, but since remembered a GIANT Rubbermaid container that Elsa sometimes uses to consolidate his disaster zones and hides in the laundry room. . . NOT E TO SELF, CAROL. Yes, next time, I will pull a Joan Willis/Elsa move and contain the wreckage. Elsa usually goes off on him about it, much like a bossy big sister, but she works long hours and isn’t around as much as I am. What I need is to learn some pestering phrases in Spanish so I can nag, nag, nag. But, when did nagging a man ever get me anywhere??