First Post from Chile

I’m sure this will be a really random post just by the nature of my activities over the first 48 hours of my time in Santiago.  First, I’m at a hostel with other participants from Teaching Chile, so imagine a tiny little room with the majority of us being female and having approximately 4 bags each!  Second, I had only been here one day and had to attend an orientation at my institute for my classes which begin on MONDAY!  Yikes, I haven’t even had a chance to sit down and write a lesson yet for my Monday class, which thankfully isn’t until Monday evening, and I still have to make a trip down to pick up materials for my Tuesday/Thursday class, which I still won’t have time to do until Monday morning.  Tomorrow, hopefully I will get the heck out of this hostel since 3 nights will definitely be my limit here.  Thankfully I have met some really cool people and two of them happen to have birthdays this weekend so we plan to go out tonight to do a bit of celebrating! So far I am enjoying the city and trying to find my way around and get used to the subway lines so I don’t do something stupid and end up being really late for a class.  It’s a great city, and the weather has warmed up quite a bit since my arrival. It’ll be nice to get a little clearer view of the Andes at some point and hopefully see less of the smog blanket.  I’ve already eaten a great Peruvian meal and tried an empanada de choclo.  Keep your fingers crossed that I move into my casita tomorrow, get unpacked, and write a good lesson plan!

Cheers to the little ones

It's time for me to make my way south tomorrow!  I've said my goodbyes, seen my little brother marry the girl of his dreams, and done everything that I can do to prepare myself for the this next chapter of my life.  I know that a year isn't very long, and that most things here will remain the same while I'm the one who will probably experience the most changes...except for my friends and their growing families. Kids change a lot in a year, and it makes me sad to not be able to see a lot of these little guys and gals for so long.

So here's a toast to you my friends, I'll be running around South America while you are busy raising your beautiful families.  Give them all kisses for me!!!

Another woman's experience at the car dealership

If you've ever purchased a new car, then you might know that as your car depreciates, you periodically get offers from the dealer from whom you purchased the car asking you to trade it back to them and upgrade to a new car.  At first glance this idea seemed a bit ridiculous to me, but the last letter that I received was requesting to buy back my car and wasn't requiring me to buy a new one.  Enter my plan to easily unload my car before my move to Chile without having to do anything at all.  They appraise it, write me a check and I'm on my merry way. I had a great experience with the used car buyer M., who was nice enough to offer to let me use my car for the next couple of weeks until I was ready to leave the country and told me I could drop it off on a Tuesday or a Saturday (when he works) and he would cut me a check.  Fast forward to the next week and the follow-up call comes from one of the nice ladies at the dealership and she inquires about my experience and I tell her that I'd like to make an appointment with M. to drop off my car on Saturday and get my check.  My car registration was expiring on the 31st and I'm leaving town on Tuesday for Idaho so I thought I was being extra crafty when devising this plan.

I arrange for my friend A. to pick me up after I complete my transaction, collect my extra keys, dig up the car title, and I'm off.  Upon arrival, I quickly scan the office and don't see M. and immediately have a sinking feeling in my stomach.  I'm approached by a salesman on the floor who offers to help and I explain that I have an appointment with M. at 10:45.  He tells me that M. is not here today and that I'll have to come back on Tuesday.  I politely explain that someone from his place of employment called ME to set up this appointment and ask why they would do that on a day that M. is obviously not in attendance.  He brushes me off and says that there is nothing he can do, M. is the used car buyer and that I can return on Tuesday or Saturday.  Again, I politely explain that on both Tuesday AND Saturday I will out of town for a wedding and the following Tuesday is the day before I MOVE TO SOUTH AMERICA, and that there is no way I would take the chance of just popping in again and having him not be there they day before I get on the plane for Chile.  After I get another "I don't know what to tell you ma'am" speech, I collect my thoughts, take a deep breath, and ask to speak to the manager instead of sprinting out the door and starting to kick all the brand-new cars on their lot.

My lovely salesman proceeds to enter the manager's office, (while I'm still within earshot mind you) and say who knows what, because I hear the manager say, "Well you just tell her she can wait like everyone else and that we're here to sell cars not buy them!"  At this point I'm ready to run out and key the cars that I have recently kicked, but again I sit there and collect my hot-headed self and decide that in this situation, for me to get what I want, I have to ignore that comment and play all nicey-nice since all I really want is my check.  The manager comes out, I very politely explain my deal with M. and he says that all he has to do is give him a quick call to verify this.  REALLY?  Was that so difficult?  I'm pretty sure Mr. Salesman just decided to treat me like garbage since he knew he wasn't going to sell me a car and proceeded to approach his manager like I was some finger-waving crazy lady who was going to give him hell!

I don't have my check yet, but (fingers crossed) I'm supposed to pick it up tomorrow afternoon.  As I sat back and pondered this whole experience, I decided that it was a great pre-Chile lesson in having to remain calm, cool, and collected and not react too emotionally in a situation.  I'm sure I'll have many experiences where I'm misunderstood, talked down to, or less than satisfied with customer service.  For this reason I'm trying to follow this mantra and in every situation, no matter how it evolves, think about what it is I want or need and how to get it, and hope that I can achieve my goal without too many tears or too much yelling.

Organized Chaos

This picture pretty much sums up my life right now.  I'm not used to living like this. I like structure.  Everything has a place...um, and it doesn't belong on the floor.  Isn't it hard to look around one's house and realize that everything that's here needs to go somewhere else? Currently, I'm spending more time with the people I love than I am on these piles and that's ok, because when the piles are gone the real chaos begins!

10 Random Thoughts

I'm not in Chile yet but I am starting to feel like I'm not yet really here anymore either.  I can't come up with anything concrete to write about pertaining to one topic so I guess I'll just try to formulate my thoughts into a list.

1. Kind of ironic that my first day of work in Chile will be exactly the same as it would have been had I kept my current teaching job. (Friday the 13th? Not sure how I feel about that either way)

2. I can't seem to stop eating avocados almost daily although they will still be a main staple in my diet very soon.

3. People are starting to ask me if I'm freaking out yet and I continue to say no.  When will I say yes?

4. It's been so hot here this summer that for the first time in my life I think I might be excited about putting on a sweater in a few weeks.

5. I spent 500 bucks on a kitty cardiology appointment today and when good news accompanies it it's amazing how you just don't really care how much it costs.

6. I borrowed a luggage scale from a friend and just weighed my first suitcase with a whole lot of stuff in it and I'm only at 26.5 pounds so far. Score.

7. My cell phone is now a piece of crap. It doesn't ring anymore and when half of my friends call it restarts itself and goes straight to voicemail.  I guess it's good practice for my future piece of crap Nokia.

8. At my house right now (where only one person is currently residing) there are 2 cars, 3 computers, 2 ipods, and 2 Kindles.  I can rationalize some of this, but seriously, why bother? Ridiculous.

9. Perfect timing that I get to see my whole family at my brother's wedding right before I leave.

10. I really hope that living in Chile sparks my interest in cooking some more.  I love foods that are good for me but love them so much more when someone else cooks them for me.  This is so not a part of my gene pool...not sure what happened.

Precious Pets

A perk of owning only one cat?  By definition it makes one a cat OWNER, not a crazy cat lady. (or so I maintain...) I know I made the right decision many years ago when I opted for a cat rather than a dog.  My family had dogs growing up, so I never considered that I would ever choose a cat.  My main rationale at the time: my selfish lifestyle and me wanting to come and go as I pleased.  In my opinion, a dog is a two-person job at the very least.  I didn't want to have to plan my social life around my dog's schedule or feel guilty when I had to run home and let him out and then watch his sad eyes as I slowly tried to sneak out the door again.  I soon learned that I would feel just as guilty about leaving my cat at home alone and that he would look at me with those same "What?  You're leaving again?" eyes.  I have to say that I sufficiently projected many dog-like qualities onto Cameron.  He greets me at the door when I come in, he goes outside on a harness/leash thingy, he licks my face when I wake up in the morning, and he begs for anything fish or poultry related.  He hasn't quite graduated to eating salad like Abby's cat, but he sure does sit and beg for treats out of the cabinet well.

Not to mention his human-like qualities...he texts?!?

Lately I'm just feeling really guilty about leaving my little guy behind.  Well, he's not so little anymore, that's part of the problem since he is now 11!  I know cats live a long time but I worry about him adjusting to life at my parent's house so much that he won't re-adjust well to living with me again, (I'm pretty sure he loves their place more than mine anyway) or that I won't come back to the US in a year and I'll have to ask them to keep him, or put him in a crate and ship him to Chile...

I think I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but I can't help but worry about the changes to his lifestyle.  I'm not sure, how many people bring their pets with them to other countries when they permanently move?  For those of you that have acquired pets in Chile and may return to the US at some point, do you just pack up the crate and say "Hold on to your fur, we're taking a little trip!?!"

My Summer Part 1

Spent a few days in Boca Raton with Meg and Jenna...

Celebrated Courtney being 14 years cancer free...

 Had a boating day with the girls and even got to drive a little...

 Borrowed some mint-green Manolos to wear to a fancy SATC 2 Party...

 Sold a bunch of my stuff at a yard sale...

Had my first going away party...

Dog-sat for my second favorite furry friend...

Watched the Cubs really suck it up...

Watched the Brazil v Netherlands game with a bunch of disappointed brasilenos...

Actually put some effort into celebrating the 4th this year...