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?

Feria de San Patricio y hurto (petty theft)

Happy St. Patricks day to everyone. Nobody knows much about it here, except the one gringo Irish bar in Providencia. I did not celebrate much because I couldn't fall asleep last night, and have been walking around like a zombie all day. I would prefer to sleep well tonight than go out to the one very crowded bar that has an event. I can barely speak English when I sleep for only 4 hours, and Spanish is impossible, so I need to rest for tomorrow in order to be productive. Tonight is my classmate Valentina's birthday, so happy birthday to her too!

Mom and Dad are coming in on Thurs, which should be a fun time. It will be nice to see them, but I have to work on planning a few excursions for them while they are in Santiago. I think a wine tour and a trip up Cerro San Cristobal will be in order, but I need to come up with a few more ideas. However it is too late for that now.

Another classmate of mine from UofC had his backpack stolen the other day while eating at a restaurant. This was a reminder that despite Santiago's modern feel, there is still a lot of chaos present here. I am very careful about keeping my wallet and gear secure, but one cannot afford to let his or her guard down here.

en espanol hoy

Esta noche tuve mi clase - Canales de distribucion, cual es un clase de marketing y estrategia muy util y interesante, pero el profesor es imposible a entender. Su accento y dialecto es como espanol de la luna. El topico es fantastico y puedo entender los apuentes sin dificultad, pero durante el discurso, estoy perdido totalmente. El habla ridiculosamente rapido, y no pronuncia nada palabras con claridad. Hace falta tener una traduccion de Prof. XYZ a espanol normal. Si pueda entenderle al fin del curso, sera un maestro de espanol.

Mi piel esta muy rosa hoy por el sol Chileno en Sabado. El sol es SUPER fuerte aca, como resultado de una falta de ozono en el hemisfero sur. OUCH! nunca, jamas, nada voy afuera sin protector del sol de fuerza 50 o mas. En los EEUU puedo quedarme en el sol sin protector por lo menos 2 horas sin problema, pero aqui, despues de 30 min afuera con protector, estoy como un langosto.

Los padres vendran aca en Jueves, y tengo mucho trabajo cumplir por mis clases. Buenas noches, es tiempo a relajarme y entonces acostarme.

time to work

OK so classes are in full swing now at PUC. I have to go to the university and actually do quite a bit of work to prepare for tonight's class. Also I am looking for another program for continuing my spanish conversational skills. I feel like since my classes at Ecela ended that my ability has dropped off a bit - too much time spent with English speakers! Today the sunburn from Saturday in Valpo has diminished, and although I am still a bit pink and ridiculous looking, at least I am not in pain! Stupid stupid me for forgetting how strong the sun is here.

more from Santiago

Classes started last week at PUC, or Catolica as they call it here. The classes would not be very difficult if not for the language barrier, but I will have to work a lot to get thru the spanish part. The university is known to be the top in Chile, very demanding. I selected a few classes that I believe will work well, 1 in south american business law, 1 in marketing distribution channels, and 1 in marketing research. We will see how they turn out.

I went to Valparaiso on Saturday, which is a very nice place. It is a town on a large natural bay, similar to Monterrey, CA, but it has quite a bit of natural character due to all the people who have come and gone. It reminded me of San Francisco a bit - hills, full of old and colorful buildings, very beautiful but also a little edgy, and not at all bland or sterile. The only problem is that I went to the beach for a short while - an hour at most - and even with some sunscreen, I got scorched by the extremely strong South American sun. Today I am not feeling great, but I have bought the proper remedies and hopefully in a few days I will be back to normal.

Su amigo Estadounidense en Santiago

Hello to my loyal audience,
I am in Santiago right now, but I haven't written anything about Argentina yet, or anything at all for that matter, so let's cover Argentina first, shall we? I will try to keep the foul language and other potentially offensive material (photos, stories, etc) to a minimum since I never know who will be reading this, but will be as colorful and descriptive as possible so as not to bore you to death.

I enjoyed Buenos Aires - met a lot of terrific people, saw some great sights, ate fantastic food, and spent a fraction of the amount of money that I thought I would spend, but I'd go bonkers if I had to live there all the time, and I see why all the people there are a bit stressed and a little crazy like Seal. The good things first: the nightlife is awesome, there are many cultural and historical sites to see that are unique to BA, the parks of Palermo are fantastically beautiful, the Puerto Madero area near the city center is very nice, relaxing and modern, the food is great if you like red meat, the prices are cheap, the women are very attractive although difficult to approach and not all that friendly, and they love football. The Spanish is very pleasing to the ear as well, though difficult for those of use accustomed to Mexican, Spanish, or Carribbean accents.

The downside: there are so many daily tasks that I easily and thoughtlessly accomplish in US that are difficult to accomplish in BA, made more difficult by the language barrier - for example there aren't enough coins or small bills in circulation, and the ATMs only dispense 100 peso notes, so often you find yourself in a position of having too much money to buy anything. I did not hear one nice word about the government from anyone in Argentina, and I have to agree with their opinion if the government can't make enough effing coins and small bills! If the gov't can't handle something simple, why would anyone have faith in them to handle complicated problems that have serious consequences? Another example - some jackass of an Argentinian customs agent - if I still had the letter I'd use his actual name - tried to hold a package of personal effects sent to me from back home hostage until I paid a ridiculous fee to get it out of hock. Those of you familiar with my level of patience can imagine my reply to them, and a special ironic thanks to FedEx Argentina for being of absolutely no help whatsover with this openly corrupt customs after charging an extortionate shipping fee. By 'thanks', I mean that I think that you are useless idiots who are terrible at what you do, and I hope you fail miserably very soon at your job and in the next four or five things you do in life. Ok I am done with that rant. I loved the nightlife in BA and in general, but I am not 22 anymore like a lot of my comrades were, and can't do it every single night. The next days were usually a complete waste after being out at a nightclub or bar. Yes, only nightclubs and bars, I did not go to any strip clubs or casinos, though they were definitely available.

OK, next posting will go into more detail about my opinion about the fun things to do in Buenos Aires, and later I'll go into Bariloche. I'll intersperse this with some daily updates. All the best and buena suerte to you all.