En Santiago otra vez

I am back here in Santiago after a nice 10 day visit to the States. I missed the US and it was nice to be back, but I feel like spending a bit more time here would do me good, and I think with the job I have I will gain alot from the experience. It was great to see my family, especially my nephew, who is 7 months old and a completely different person from when I left, not just a crying baby anymore but one with some personality. Also the new family dog is a big success, I will have to pooch sit and baby sit in upcoming months when I return.

I settled into a shared apartment here with a Chilean couple and a Canadian girl. Thus far the arrangement is decent, they are very nice and friendly. The apartment looks nice but not very modern. Apparently central heat does not exist here and it is as cold inside as it is outside. Also there is no closet, which is a problem given that I have to wear suits to work everyday. We'll see how the arrangment works out, it would be a great way to make some new friends but I think I will go effing bananas being cold all day everyday and wearing wrinkled clothes constantly. They invited me to a dinner tonight at the restauraunt that is owned by the guy, which I am sure will be a good time. Only one way to find out, right?

a lazy blogger am I

I have been a very lazy blogger, more than 1 month has passed since I updated this. I just finished my last final exam tonight, and I am quite relieved to not have any more spanish language exams or classes. I am feeling good about the amount of spanish I acquired - in the exams, I was able to understand almost all of the questions, and I think that I will leave here with my academic dignity intact. I'll be leaving Santiago on Friday, which is a sad thought... after 3 months, I am starting to feel comfortable here. The language barrier is still there, but it is not quite as extreme as it was at the beginning. I am glad to say that I will be returning in June for a 3 month job here, after which I should be an absolute ace in castellano.

Tomorrow and Friday will be days of enjoyment I hope. No responsibilities, nothing to accomplish, just have some fun with my classmates, and walk around town to take a few photos of the places where I spent most of my time. The other exchange students, and a few of the full time foreign students, have a going-away dinner tomorrow night at a cool sushi spot, which will be a great time I'm sure. I need to go see an apartment for when I return as well. I plan to share an apartment when I return - it is boring and a bit overpriced to live alone here, and now that I will not be studying, I don't need all the peace and quiet. Something a bit more social would be better.

I am very much looking forward to returning to the States for a little while. It has been 5.5 months since I've been home, and it will be great to see all the familiar places, faces, and also to be able to communicate without any difficulty. In particular, I'm curious to see what my nephew looks like now, he was a tiny thing when I left, and now he is a lot different from what they have told me - he has a distinct personality and doesn't only cry all the time. I want to make the most of my time there, but at the same time I don't want to be rushing around for 10 days. Some R&R is in order.

Business end of the trip

OK so this weekend promises to be a bit dull unfortunately. I have 2 big exams on Monday and Tuesday, and needless to say, at this moment, I am bit unprepared, so I need to study quite a bit over the next few days. A few of the others are doing their normal weekend trip routine, except the other guy who has the same classes as me. One exam should have occured last week, but was postponed for no apparent reason. This created a bad situation because I had a previously scheduled exam already this week, and now there are 2 on consecutive days. Of course, this would never in a million years happen in the US, but being adaptable to new situations is part of the experience, so I have to just do it, as the famous athletic shoe advertisements say.

I am thinking of taking one or two more sidetrips here. I took care of the Rio/Brazil arrangements yesterday, but would like to see somewhere like Pucon, Atacama, or Chico Norte, and Vina del Mar. Also I would like to get back to Buenos Aires for one more round of partying. Finally, I am trying to change my plane ticket to move it back one more week so that I can relax down here for a week after exams. That was my original plan, but later I found out that the school had incorrectly published the exam dates for a week earlier than they actually occur. Consequently, as of now, I'll be taking my exams, chilling for a few days, then heading back to the US. As long as it does not cost a small fortune on American Airlines, I think I have earned a week of worry free traveling.

Yo foolz - onto Rio de Janeiro in a few weeks

I don't mean 'yo' as in "I", I mean it as in 'hey'. Been spending a lot of time on my spanish lately, but I'm writing in English for now because I am lazy, I spent 4 hours speaking continous spanish today so I am taking a bit of a break. I went to language class this morning and had class with the lovely and talented Catalina at Escuela Bellavista (http://www.escuelabellevista.cl/), then went to the Brazilian consulate to finalize my visa. I'll be going there in a few weekends with Andre from Chicago and a few of his pals. At the consulate, they were very friendly, helpful, and efficient, as if they actually WANT you to go to Brazil and to enjoy the experience. What a fantastic concept! The only downer is that it costs about $160 US for the visa, in reciprocity for our xenophobic US government charging Brazilians this amount when they want to come to our country. I wonder why we do this? Perhaps to weed out people that they perceive as undesirable? Were they nice to me only because I was paying their extortionate fee? I think we need to be careful because if the rest of the world perceives us as unwelcoming, no one will want to come anymore. As a nation built on immigration, we would stagnate and eventually decline. Some say we are doing this now. In any case, this was the only part of the process that was the least bit unpleasant.

I am at the San Joaquin campus of PUC today, where I met my tandem language partner Maria Jose, who is a graduate student here. We had a nice lunch and a tour around campus, and now I am in the library, where I am supposed to be studying. SJ is the undergraduate campus here, and I feel old walking around here. I don't think I look old for my age, but compared to 18 year old hipster Chileans, I might as well have a walking stick and an AARP card. Seriously I could be the dad of this girl sitting in the cube next to me, or at least her uncle.

Also, 1980's fashion amongst Chileans has been taken to the extreme. I saw an otherwise attractive woman in a fashionable part of Santiago wearing 'MC Hammer' style pants yesterday, which are tight at the ankle and get baggier in the legs as you go up. If you remember these pants, you know that they look ridiculous on anyone. I think she thought that she was stylish, and judging from the rest of her outfit, she probably paid a lot for those pants. She did not understand however when I told her she can't touch this (no toca a ti). Everyone under the age of 25 looks like an extra from a Pat Benatar, Flock of Seagulls, or Whitesnake video. I lived through the 80's once already, though I was very young, and I feel like I am reliving it here, except it is in Spanish.

Apartmento y trabajo

For some reason they call an apartment a "departamento" here, which does not make any sense to me, but I suppose not everything has to make sense. I am learning that the world does not cater everything to my whims and convenience, although I wish that were the case. I finally moved into my own apartment in Providencia after 3 months of family stays, and it is nice to have some privacy. Posted are some photos of the view from my balcony, and some pictures of the inside. You can see how much smog there is in the final photos, but you can also see the difference of the view after the traffic clears and some wind comes through. There are a few things about the place that are not quite to my liking - no microwave oven, I had to buy an iron and a coffeemaker, cable does not work all the time, and there was a blackout in my neighborhood last night - but location is great and in general it is very comfortable.

Thursday I went to Univ. of Chicago event here in Santiago. I was impressed by the level of friendliness and warmth of the people attending, who were both alumnus, accepted students, and even a dean of advancement from UofC who had travelled down to visit. Also, the alumnus are incredibly successful. One man is the head of the company that manages the huge portfolio of businesses owned by the Lukcic family, the richest in Chile. Today I am off to take a jog, and then I need to do a lot of reading for tomorrow's Control (quiz). I did OK on the last one but let's just say that there is room for improvement. Ok I'm off for now!

Es tiempo a blogar y trabajar

Blogar: to blog
Yo blogo, tu blogas, ud. bloga, nosotros blogamos, etc
En serio, mi vida ha sido mas intenso este semana. Los cursos aca son mas dificil que yo habia esperado, y me siento mas estres por resultado. Ademas, mis destrezas de idioma parecen ser disminuyendo. Quizas haya demasiado informacion en mi celebra ahora a poder aprender mas espanol, pero necesito evitar hablantes de ingles tan mucho como posible de este punto. Manana tengo un dia muy ocupado pero muy muy divertido - ejercisio en la manana, almuerzo con mi amiga Claudia, con quien intercambio mi ingles por su espanol, prepara mi maletas para viajar con mis padres a Mendoza en Viernes, y el show de Radiohead en la noche con Francis y otra gente en la noche. Debo dormirme ahora pero tome demasiado cafe hoy! Una error terrible de mi, pero estoy acostumbrado a funcionando sin sueno suficiente.

Saludos y suerte, Greg

Mom and Pops in Santiago

My mom and dad arrived in Santiago this morning. It is very nice to see them and I am glad they are able to visit. Getting to and from the airport, as well as getting them into their accomodations, was interesting and tiring. Warning: a run-on sentence follows immediately. First I had to take the Metro during rush hour downtown to find the bus stop for the airport bus, which was not where it was advertised to be (Los Heroes, not La Moneda), then find the correct bus, then fight off aggressive taxi services who wanted my business and who speak horrible english and are more difficult to understand in English than they are in Spanish, then wait for their late flight to arrive, then find the least obnoxious taxi service, then go to the hotel I recommended, then find out that the hotel is overbooked, then get them to the new hotel, then navigate the neighborhood where they are which is not where I wanted them to stay and will make sure they change next time, then walk for 15 min through downtown Santiago to find a place to eat lunch while making sure my mom and dad's wallets do not get lifted, then eat lunch which was excellent by the way, and then take the Metro back to the apartment in rush hour. There is never a dull moment here, and though it is exciting, it also tires me out. I am taking a short rest at the apartment before gathering my books to head over to PUC to study tonight. I really need to hit the books. Maybe I'll have a quick beer before I go, what do you think? Do I deserve it after such a busy day?