Feb 03 2012
6 Comments
Charlie

Where are you Charlie?

My transfer will arrive in about an hour to bring me to the airport. Why I need to leave my house FOUR hours before my flight leaves is beyond me, but at least it will give me plenty of time to snag some free chocolate samples at that Ruta Sur store, or whatever that store is called that apparently has a monopoly in the Santiago airport, because it has like six locations. Oh well, I’m not complaining. They give out free chocolate.

Anyway so I decided to try to take a little nap because I slept horribly last night (ohh the excitement!) but all of a sudden I woke up because I realized I hadn’t seen Charlie for awhile. And also I kind of wanted him to nap with me, you know, one last snuggle session before I left. I looked in all his normal spots: the couch, the back of the couch, underneath the couch, at the foot of the bed, on the balcony. No Charlie.

Nope, he wasn't hiding in here. This was last week in the empty kitty litter bag.

My apartment is small. It has one bedroom, one livng-comedor (basically a large room), a bathroom and a tiny kitchen. I have netting up on the balcony and bedroom window so there is literally no way that Charlie can escape. I tried to remember the last time I had left the apartment, but it had been hours ago to go put some stuff in storage, and I had definitely seen him since then. Plus Charlie is afraid of the outside world, so he almost never tries to leave the apartment.

Oh, and all this time I am calling him in my special kitty voice and nothing. So I went and got his treats and started shaking them. Nothing. I really started to panic. Where could he be?

I went to check the bathroom window (which I almost never open because it doesn’t have netting on it) and after I found it securely shut, I came back into the living-comedor. There he was, sitting next to the box with his treats in it, looking at me like, “Hi, I heard treats were offered.”

Where had he been? I have no clue. But I think it’s a sign that he doesn’t want me to leave. That, and the fact that he’s been hanging out in my suitcase since I brought it up from storage two days ago.

Charles, you aren't on my packing list.

Sorry, Charlie, I’ll be back soon.

Feb 01 2012
14 Comments
Traveling

How I Survive an 11-Hour Flight

I’ve traveled either to or from Chile thirteen times. Each of those times required, at least one 9+ hour flight. I’ve flown through Atlanta (once was enough), Miami (meh), Dallas (nice airport, but I got stuck there), Toronto (I had bronchitis: it was me, not Toronto) and JFK.

My preferred flight route is a direct flight on LAN from SCL to JFK. It is 10 hours and 50 minutes long, but it means that I can avoid layovers by either taking the train from JFK or having my parents pick me up.

Yes, an almost 11 hour flight is a long time, but I do the following things to help me survive. And hey, maybe they will be helpful for you too. :)

2008/12/06 LAN Chile CC-CQA

Via wicho on flickr.

  1. Fly LAN. It tends to be a bit more expensive, but I try to get around that by booking through American or booking in advance and getting a good deal. LAN’s seats are more comfy. They recline differently, so that the seat cushion kind of slides forward as the back part moves back. The planes are newer and the most important part: the individual television screen. You can watch movies or TV shows, listen to the radio or play games. Excellent.
  2. Entertain yourself until dinner comes. I bring my kindle on board and make sure I have a good book to read until dinner comes. Or I watch a TV show or start watching a movie. They key is not to fall asleep and miss dinner because then you’ll be really hungry. I try to bring a small snack with me too, but for me, eating dinner is key. It also helps pass the time. Another reason to fly LAN? The food is better, and there is free wine.
  3. Wear comfy but not frumpy clothes. This is always a struggle for me because I’m either coming from winter and going to summer or vice versa. I used to not care about what I looked like at the airport and wear sweatpants or pjs, but at some point I just didn’t like feeling frumpy anymore. My favorite thing to wear is a comfy cotton short-sleeved dress with leggings. It’s practically like pajamas but looks cuter. Usually I tend to dress for the colder weather, so this trip I’ll be wearing boots and bringing a sweater to put on over the dress.
  4. Make an airplane play list. Otherwise known as, music to fall asleep by. In case there are noisy kids (there are always noisy kids!) I have a playlist with gentle music that I can fall asleep to. It includes Norah Jones, Jack Johnson, some instrumental stuff, a little bit of Coldplay. Nothing too crazy that is going to wake me up.
  5. Take a NyQuil. Or some other sleep aid. I know, you’re probably not technically supposed to do this, but I need my sleep. And I know I won’t sleep without it.
  6. Be friendly with your seatmate, but establish boundaries. If you want to sleep, there is nothing more annoying than a young Argentinean who wants to practice English with you all night long. In this situation, I suggest showing him the great movie selection and recommending a movie. Oye, che, why don’t you watch Friends with Benefits so I can sleep? Ok great! However, I’ve also sat next to people who I have made no effort to small talk with, and it can be kind of awkward too, especially when you’re sitting in the window seat and have to get up to pee multiple times. It’s better to be friendly so they don’t send you a death stare every time nature calls.
  7. Get up and go to the bathroom. If you don’t have to go for 11 whole hours, something might be wrong with you. But even if not, it’s a good idea to get up and at least stretch your legs a bit. Flight attendants can get annoyed if it’s when the fasten seat belt sign is on, so try to do it when it’s off. I tend to get up three times: once before dinner, once after dinner before I fall asleep, and once either right before or right after breakfast.
  8. Relax and be in the moment. You’re not going anywhere, no one can reach you (I’ve never been on a flight with wi-fi, and I never want to be), so I just sit back and try to relax a little bit.

What are your tips for surviving long flights? 

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Jan 30 2012
1 Comment
Mondays are for Music

Into the Wild Blue

I am going home on Friday. This past week, living in the city with all the people, sounds, smells, chaos and cement has really been grating on me. So when I am feeling like I can’t take it anymore, I just turn the Dixie Chicks up on my iPod and try to block it all out.

I want to walk and not run.

I want to skip and not fall.

I want to look at the horizon and not see a building standing tall.

Indeed.

Jan 28 2012
9 Comments
ex-pats, Happiness

Negative Nancy

 

What you will see next Wednesday if you are my Facebook friend

On Wednesday I switched over from the old Facebook to Facebook Timeline. Normally this wouldn’t be blog worthy, but I began to notice a pattern. As I went through my old status updates from when I first moved here in 2009 to around mid-2010, I noticed a pattern. First of all, I updated my status a ton. Too much. Secondly, the majority of my status updates were negative. Here is a sampling just from 2009:

  • “se siente pésimo”  feels awful
  • “is really hoping that this week will be better than the last…”
  • “this rain is not helping my mood :( “
  • “is frustrated.”
  • “is booooooooooored (and didn’t think she would say that at least until august)”
  • “sometimes life just messes with you”
  • “is sick in bed :( “
  • “tiene frio, para variar…brrrr!” is cold, as usual…brrrr!
  • “rain rain go awayyyyyyy”
  • “shouldn’t have eaten that pie de limon right before class…uuugh :( “
  • “unfair. really unfair.”
  • “frustrated.”
  • “cansadita…long day tomorrow”
  • “está inquieta” is restless
  • “will never be a morning person…ugh!”
  • “stupid stupid stupid stupid futbol game is cramping my style”
  • “tengo tuto pero no tengo donde dormirrrr….que frustrante” I’m tired but I don’t have a place to sleep…how frustrating
  • “puuuucha” darrrrrn
  • “creo que me voy a resfriar….que lata” I think I’m getting a cold…what a drag
  • “me duele la guataaaaa…y otro dia muy largo :( puuuucha.” My stomach hurts…and another really long day :( darrrrn
  • “gruñona…tengo calor, hambre y sueño :( ” grumpy…I’m hot, hungry and tired :(
Of course there were some positive ones thrown in there too, but it struck me that, according to my Facebook presence, I was either sick, tired, cold, hot, or frustrated for the majority of the first year and a half that I lived in Chile. And I don’t remember it being that way in real life. Sure, there were some rough patches, like when I was working 48 hours a week teaching English and I got really sick as a result, but I honestly don’t remember being so darn whiny all the time! And why was I sick like every other day? And why was I so cryptic? What was so unfair? Why was I so frustrated? I honestly don’t remember.
I was talking to some friends about this the other night, and both of them (who arrived to Chile before me and pre-Facebook era) said “Thank God I didn’t have Facebook when I first moved here!” This led me to think that perhaps I used Facebook as an outlet to let off steam, and simply didn’t update when things were peachy keen.
I also think that now I am simply more private with Facebook, due to the people who I am friends with. Yes, I have privacy controls and lots of people are on the “Restricted” list, but sometimes I am paranoid and don’t absolutely trust that those lists work. So now when I’m frustrated or tired or hot or cold or sick, I complain to my friends or family, instead of social media. :)
Besides the negative status updates, I really didn’t find anything too embarrassing in my 8 years of Facebook use. It turns out that I deleted my wall (yes, you could do that back in the day) at the end of 2004, so that probably saved me a lot of clicking “hide from timeline”.
Have you found anything interesting while switching over to Timeline?
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Jan 23 2012
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Uncategorized

Oh you know, like Bruno

My little brother turned 22 last week. For some reason, I never feel old on my birthday, but rather on my siblings’ birthdays. It’s like…if my little brother is 22, that means that I’m older than that! I’ll probably turn 50 and it won’t even phase me but when my brother turns 47 I will freak out.

When we were little, we had a cassette tape of the album Moonboat by Tom Chapin that had funny songs with “hidden” messages like: go to the library, be nice to your mom on Mother’s Day, it’s okay to be different, even princesses get the hiccups sometimes and, most importantly, don’t be a bully.

My brother and I loved this song in particular. Maybe because we identified with Bruno? ;)

 

Jan 18 2012
1 Comment
Uncategorized

A Comprehensive Guide to Teaching English in Chile

Since I started working at my dream job full-time, I now only have time to teach private English classes. However, teaching my student and her really cute two-year-old son is one of the highlights of my week.

I recently wrote a comprehensive guide to Teaching English in Chile for Go Overseas. If you are thinking of moving down to this corner of the world to teach, I recommend checking it out. Just click here, then click on the button that says “Read the Go Overseas Guide to Teaching in Chile”. You can also check out my FAQ section, or e-mail me if I haven’t answered your questions there.

Teaching English is a good excuse to move to Chile, and if you’re like me, you might love it so much and end up staying for a while. :)

 

Jan 17 2012
12 Comments
Chile, Chileans, cultural differences

What color IS my hair, anyway? On being rubia in Chile

I was born with blonde hair and blue eyes. The blue eyes quickly darkened to brown, but I held on to my blonde hair until I was around 3 or 4. I am 2 1/2 in the picture below.

Thanks, Mom, for giving me such a fashionable haircut :)

Since then, I have always self-identified as having brown hair. Light brown hair, if pressed to be specific. But really, it depends on how much sun my hair has been exposed to. In winter, I have solidly brown hair. In the summer, light brown with some lighter streaks.

Here I am (far right), age 7 or 8. My sister and I clearly have brown hair. My brother is blonde.

That is, until I moved to Chile. Now, I am blonde. Rubia, in Spanish. I have been described as such hundreds of times. Yes, my hair is lighter than the average Chilean who doesn’t take a bottle of peroxide to their hair every month. But blonde?

Junior Year Prom. My hair actually looks kind of reddish in this picture? But not blonde.

Yep, blonde. Confirmed this morning by a creepy man waiting for the bus as I walked through Plaza Italia. As he banged some empty soda bottles against the bus stop, he sang: Mira la rubiecita linda como camina la rubiecita linda (Look at the cute blondie look at how the cute blondie walks).

I posted about the singing man on my Facebook this morning and some discussion ensued. Some said hair color is a euphemism for skin color. I am pasty pale, but that doesn’t change my hair color! Most of the rest of the conversation centered on Eileen, who has dark hair and white skin, as to whether anyone would call her morenita (answer: no) which is what Chileans call people with a darker complexion and dark hair.

This was just this past August. My BFF has blonde hair, I have brown.

It doesn’t bother me per se that people call me blonde here; being blonde is a quality that a lot of Chileans strive for, as it is considered a beauty ideal. So really, every time someone calls me blonde, they are paying me a small compliment.

However, I do find it inaccurate. According to Wikipedia (obviously the expert on everything) I have pelo castaño. I’ve never heard a Chilean use that term though. Maybe I should start to bring it back.

Next time some creepy guy starts singing me a song, I’ll have to correct him: Mira la casteñita linda como camina la casteñita linda. 

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Jan 16 2012
1 Comment
Mondays are for Music

I’m just a girl

This weekend I was listening to my iTunes on shuffle, which is always an interesting experience. I may have the world’s most eclectic taste in music, so it’s quite an adventure in pop, rock, country, show tunes, Disney music, folk, hip hop and reggaeton.

Anyway, this song came on and reminded me so much of my middle school and high school years. I specifically remember listening to this CD on my discman during a road trip somewhere with my family. I can’t remember where we were going, but I remember my Dad getting excited about visiting a new grocery store (he loves visiting new grocery stores) so we must have been at least in a different state.

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Jan 10 2012
14 Comments
Chile, Picture post, random

2012 So Far In Photos

So far, 2012 has been cra-zay. Between the holidays, and work, and games of Angry Birds various other social engagements I’ve been out straight recently. Luckily, I’ve also had my camera. So here goes, a summary of my past few weeks, in photos.

El Yeco

New Year’s day at El Yeco, a beach near Algarrobo. Beautiful.

Tour of ARCIS University and Barrio Yungay, by two of the best profes in Chile. Did you all know that the ARCIS campus used to be a foundry?

El Teatro Municipal de Santiago

A night at the Municipal Theater to see 30 & Tres Horas Bar, which made me stop hating Los Tres.

Who knew going to a ski area in the summer could be fun?

A summer time drive up to Valle Nevado without a ride up the chair lift because we were too late (it closes at 4). I wasn’t too torn up about it. I’m afraid of heights, and plus, we got to see lots of condors and I ate one of the best cheeseburgers ever.

Only the very beginning of the extreme weirdness.

Eileen and I tried to be cultured and go to a Santiago A Mil event, but it was WAY. TOO. WEIRD. So instead we ate some questionable empanadas, drank some good beer, and as they say here in Chile, we fixed the world (arreglamos el mundo, in other words, chatted A LOT).

Dancing, good meat, Polynesian dancers and the best bathroom decor ever.

Los Buenos Muchachos is a restaurant in Barrio Brasil (Cumming 1031) where they put on a show while you eat. There are typical dances from around Chile, and they encourage audience participation. After the show there is a live band and everyone dances. I was a little skeptical, but it was a great time. Extra highlights included the women’s rest room, the half-naked Easter Island dancers and the cute waiter who gave me extra french fries. I mean it can’t be called Los Buenos Muchachos for nothing!

And I don’t have any pictures, but today we went to Cousiño Macul Vineyard here in Santiago. What better way to end a crazy couple of weeks than with some Cabernet Sauvignon?

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Jan 09 2012
5 Comments
Mondays are for Music

The Three

In September 2010 I went to a concert featuring Inti Illimani, Quilapayún and Los Tres, three very famous Chilean bands. I thoroughly enjoyed Inti Illimani and Quilapayún, but I pretty much hated Los Tres. Every song they played I wished it would be over soon.

Last week, when my boss told me we were going to take our students to the Municipal Theater to see a Ballet with live music by Los Tres, I was intrigued. What would a ballet be like with live rock music? On the other hand, I was less than excited about having to listen to Los Tres again.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. The ballet took place in a bar in Valparaíso, and even though the dancing could have been a bit tighter, it was cool to see ballet set to rock music. And I didn’t hate Los Tres this time. There were some songs that I didn’t love, but overall, I enjoyed it.

Los Tres played this song for one of the opening numbers when the characters were introduced. It’s called Amor Violento.

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