Second week in Santiago

            This past week was supposed to be our first week teaching.  However, the keg of Red Bull was floated at the construction site and the workers weren’t able to expedite the completion of our university in time for us to start.  So we have been enjoying our paid time off, which beats being unemployed.  Most of our time has been consumed by playing administrative assistants to the English coordinator, searching for an apartment, and having an enjoyable, PTO induced nightlife.

            On Tuesday morning, we were summoned by the English coordinator to help her organize packets for the 60 or 70 other teachers in the program.  She also relayed the message that our starting date was still not confirmed.  This mind-numbing task exhausted us because work had been merely a four-letter word since February 4^th.  After putting in long hours from 10 to 4, we went back to the headquarters at Hostel Providencia.

            While hanging out on the patio at the hostel, we heard a faint sound that was reminiscent of a college marching band.  After going inside and confirming it wasn’t this Israeli couple watching Drumline (they literally watched 3 to 4 movies a day), we went outside like old people do to see what the ruckus was all about.  Coming up the street right in front of the hostel was a parade complete with instruments and Chileans adorned in colorful dress.  After doing some under the hot lamp interrogations, I found out this parade was in honor of International Women’s Day which is a really big deal here. 

           Upon becoming privy to this information, I realized my international woman was inside the hostel.  I then went inside and retrieved her and in honor of this special day, I held the door for her on the way out.  This parade was unlike any we’ve seen before as the mood at the beginning of the parade contrasted sharply with the taste you were left with at the end.  After all of the initial bells and whistles, protestors piggybacked the vibrant musicians to spread the word about perceived labor mistreatments and surprise surprise, Obama also hurt their feelings. 

            Obama is set to come and speak here on March 21^st and the protestors were demanding that he lift the embargo on Cuba before his arrival.  To illustrate this message, they had a hybrid Obama/Joker from Batman face superimposed on a large white canvas.  Being from the poster country of capitalism, it was definitely an awkward experience observing these anti-capitalistic protestors from no more than 10 feet away.  Much like you would try to avoid eye contact with the cashier after stealing a Snickers bar, our exchanges were much the same. 

International Women's Day parade taking place on Vicuña Mackenna in front of our hostel.

Later that night, we went to a karaoke bar in celebration of our friend Rich’s birthday.  It continues to boggle my mind how Chileans have really taken a liking to U.S. music and are very knowledgeable about artists and songs spanning the past several decades.  The Chilean directing the karaoke came over to our table and uttered a few encrypted English statements to us before he went on the stage to belt a Sinatra classic in perfect English.  Dare I say, he made Sinatra sound like Justin Beiber? 

Singing in front of a crowd with a blatant Chilean bias was challenging, so I had to bring out a special song.  I chose “To Be With You” by the one-hit-wonder Mister Big.  Following up Rich’s rendition of “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” where he made Mic Jagger sound like Stephen Balsley (a bad thing), I took the stage and connected with I counted one Chilean in the packed bar waving his arms.  The thing is I may have changed his life so that was satisfying enough for me.   

            After Mister Big and a couple Chilean-sung Guns ‘N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilot songs, it was time for Katie accompanied by our friend, Jamie, to step up to the stage.  In order to not draw any attention to themselves, they chose a very subtle song, “Barbie Girl” by Aqua.  I wasn’t sure how the Chilean crowd was going to react, but they LOVED IT!!!!!  There was a creepy local that was in front of the stage shooting a video from his phone, so don’t be surprised if you see the girls on YouTube.  I don’t think I would have received the same reaction if I sang this song.

          The next night, our hostel put on this amazing barbecue consisting of chorizo, beef, chicken shishkabobs, potatoes, and a Chilean salad.  Barbecues are a big tradition down here and a common staple in these gatherings is the choripan.  Originating in Argentina in the mid-19^th century, choripan has since spread to Chile and other Latin American countries.  Choripan is simply chorizo sausage inside of a French roll (chorizo + pan = choripan) with any desired additives.  They usually top them off with "salsa de pebre", a chopped mix of tomatoes, onions, cilantro, peppers, olive oil, and vinegar.  After drinking cerveza leading up to the BBQ, we ate ourselves to the point of complete sobriety.  Excusing ourselves from the group due to the deep food coma that had overcome us, we proceeded upstairs to pass out in our less than comfortable beds.

Us with some of the chicas in our program at the BBQ

The delicious chorizo, chicken shishkabobs, and beef

            On Thursday, we had two appointments scheduled to see apartments that were centrally located in the city.  We really liked the first apartment we saw, but the second apartment smelled like Joe Camel was living in it prior and was not what we were looking for.  Needless to say, we opted for the first apartment and moved in the next day.  The apartments here only have the bare essentials.  It was actually some what difficult to find one that had a microwave, wi-fi, and cable, but we managed.  Our apartment consists of a kitchen (with two little refrigerators), little living area, a bedroom, and a bathroom.  The apartment building has a gym, pool on the roof top, and a laundry room.  Here are the pics of the new place!

The kitchen

Eating area and living room

Bathroom

Bedroom

View from our 9th floor bedroom window

View from the living room window

         Moving in wasn’t a stressful process due to the close proximity of our hostel and the fact that we were just moving clothes.  Moved in, trip to the grocery store, trip to the department store was the chain of events that ensued.  That night, we went to a Chilean friend’s apartment that had a beautiful view of the skyline.  We hung out there for a while before making our way to a local bar.  At about 3:30, when we were perhaps winding down a little, the Chileans asked who wanted to go to the discoteca.  We politely declined as I probably had 20 seconds of the robot in me and that was it. 

Katie with some of the girls on the roof top

            On Saturday, our power went out due to trying to force our U.S. electrical customs on the Chilean electrical grid.  We were without electricity for over an hour and after the service technician finished his sandwich (no joke), we were back in business. 

            Dinner was our next mission and we decided that spaghetti sounded appetizing.  If Katie were to be wearing sunglasses inside, I would have seen the reflection of myself preparing the whole dinner.  I would have also stopped to admire myself a couple of times.  I’m sure I’ll be wearing the incriminating shades plenty as well.  That’s what marriage is all about, so they say.  We are going to attempt laundry today….wish us luck.

Our amazing spaghetti dinner

Another stray dog of Santiago, just for everyone's enjoyment