The First Few Days...

While I'm typing this, there are people in my hostel downstairs watching a soccer game and speaking Spanish. They cooked something that smells delicious and I'd eat some if i wasn't so full of delicious food already. The window is open and it's about 60 degrees outside. I have a sunburn on my forehead from walking around pretty much nonstop for the past 3 days. i'm listening to "Go Hard" by Kanye West and T-Pain and i'm finally able to get on the internet on my own laptop after much trying for the past few days.

so really, there's no better time to start this blog up. here we go.

the flight was totally easy. it was 10 hours long but felt like 5. i slept for a good portion of it and watched Little Miss Sunshine. I also ate some food, played some games with alice and got through some mildly disturbing turbulance. right before we landed in Santiago, the Andes mountains were poking through the tops of the clouds. as we descended, they were everywhere and gorgeous. i really wish i hadn't packed my camera in one of the bags i checked but take my word for it, these mountains are beauuuutiful. customs at the airport took forever. i stood in a really really long line only for them to tell me i was in the wrong line. so i went and stood in the right line and then had to stand in the ridiculously long line again. then more customs afterward. it took a while but it was worth it when i stepped outside and the weather was fantastic. sunny. barely any clouds.

i stayed at a holiday inn that was a 30 second walk from the airport as it was right across the street. during my time, alice and i mainly only got to explore the airport as we were nowhere near the city yet. we ate at this place called "gatsby" and i got this delicious chicken quesadilla with tomatoes and guacamole on it (to the right). we both agreed that we weren't really "there" yet because we hadn't seen the city. the next day, alice left with her group. i had arranged for a shuttle from my hostel to pick me up but they never showed, so i shared a cab with one of the people leading alice's program. we got to talking on the cab ride to santiago and it turns out there's a small opening in alice's program and there's a very very very small chance i may be able to fill it based on my qualifications. i'm not banking on it. but that'd be kind of amazing as it pays way better than any English Teaching job i've seen so far.

Santiago looked much like any other big city i'd been to at first. once i got to my hostel, i checked in and got situated. i saw one of my apartment contacts on gchat and messaged him asking when i could check out the room available. he said i could stop by today so we arranged to do that. after doing that bit of online work, all i wanted to do was explore. the metro stop i'm near is called Salvador, and i chose to walk west towards downtown Santiago. i didn't get very far but walked through some amazing looking parks.the trees curve in a really cool way. people are relaxing everywhere. the general Chilean mentality is that no one's ever in a hurry and you can just relax all you want. it's great for being lazy but not so much when you need to be somewhere soon and don't have a lot of time to wait for food to be brought to you. generally, i enjoy it.

after walking through these parks i eventually made my way to the next stop west on the metro and was incredibly intimidated by the city. it looked like the grosser parts of new york or boston. i walked into a phone kiosk to try to buy a prepaid phone but realized that my lack of knowledge of the Spanish language will be a huge crutch while i'm here. i didn't get a phone and decided to meet up and check out the apartment i had agreed to see.

and OH MY GOD this apartment is amazing! it's very clean and right in my price range and in the safest part of Providencia, which is pretty safe to begin with. it gets an A- from me. after that, i felt a lot better because if every other apartment i see sucks, i can move in there and i would absolutely love it. lots of confidence after that.

oh, and let me talk a little about the subways in Chile. absolutely gorgeous. the best public transportation i've ever experienced. everything is brand new so it's clean. there are flat TVs in the subway that play music videos by the likes of Kanye West and Coldplay (it's really surprising how much American music is played in Chile). The trains come literally every 30 seconds. so if you miss one, no pasa nada. just wait around and count to 30 and another one will be there. upon entering the train, i noticed that similar to Boston and NYC trains, it was blazingly hot. so i was like "oh well.. it can't all be perfect i guess." and then as soon as the train took off at a blazingly fast speed, the train's superior ventilation system shot cold air at me from what seemed like, all directions. it's like if your head is out the window of a car minus all the annoying air pressure but keeping all the coolness. Easily the best public transportation i've ever experienced.

my hostel was having a barbeque dinner for $8 that was all you could eat. i'm really going to have to get used to these late dinners. i ate at around 8:30 and the meal lasted for like 4 hours. they just kept bringing food. i has sausage, rice, cucumbers, steak and pasta. all infinitely amazingly delicious. chilean wine was free everywhere but i'm standing by my not drinking. also, while i was eating i met a lot of interesting people. i met two girls from Germany that were touring south america. today they're on a 40 hour bus ride to buenos aires (no thanks!). i met a couple from Ireland that's doing something similar except they're taking a 10 hour bus ride somewhere. i also met 3 people from Austrailia that were flying to New Zealand the next day. let me just say that the Flight of the Conchords descriptions of Austrailians is pretty accurate. at least for these people. I also met this guy named Eric. He's here for a few months but, similar to me, he's trying to extend his stay to 10 months by trying to find a job teaching English. as if those similarities weren't crazy enough, get this... he grew up in LEXINGTON!!!! which is 2 towns away from Burlington. it blows my mind. so of course we became friends right away. i plan on hanging out with him a lot even when we both leave this hostel. he's a really cool guy. i also met Eric's friend who is also cool and is ALSO trying to teach English. after about 4 hours of socializing and eating delicious food, i passed out.

today i decided to get a phone as soon as i woke up. i went to a convenience store and they tried to explain to me where i could get one but i didn't fully understand. they mentioned something about Lyon and Paris and Los Leones. i didn't quite get it all so i came back to the hostel. Eric said he needed to add more minutes to his prepaid phone. since we were on a similar quest to find prepaid phone areas, we walked down Providencia Ave looking for one. we walked past 3 or 4 stops on the metro until we reached Los Leones. We were going East instead of West. i think that the further east you get in Santiago, the nicer/cleaner/safer/funner it gets. it revamped my confidence in my choosing to reside in this city. lots of trees everywhere. lots of colorful shops. and did i mention that i went by a grocery store that was blasting "Confusion" by New Order? so cool. at any rate, Eric and I were able to find a place to buy a prepaid phone. it was in a store called Paris in a shopping center called Lyon! so it looks like the people at that convenience store were leading me to exactly this spot! no other phone kiosks were open. so i finally got a phone. huzzah!

we celebrated by eating a disgusting lunch at Burger King. all the sodas here are in way smaller portions than in the United States. I kind of love it. it's way better to at least try to watch your weight even when you're eating a ton of gross food. did i mention it was gross? i'm going to try to steer clear of american food from now on and eat all the Chilean food i can when i get hungry.

after that i was off to see apartment #2. i had to cross one of the bridges that goes over the river of sludge in Santiago (right). one of the few really gross looking things here so far. oh i also heard there was smog here and that it really messes with some people but as far as i can tell, there is virtually no strange odors. any way, this apartment wasn't that great. the guys that live there are cool but i took one look at the sink and noticed that there were ants all over a dish. the guy was basically like "they come and go". i was reminded of my ant horrors with the apartment i had in Amherst. at any rate that was kind of a deal breaker.

after that i wandered back over the bridge over sludgeoned water to Los Leones. Alice's program currently has her there. she's currently doing orientation for her program but had the night off so we spent it together. we went and sat on a bench in a park and i brought her up to speed on my experiences here since we parted ways at the airport. we actually found another gatsby's and ate there again but this time we were coupley and got what the other person ordered last time. so she had the quesadilla and i had a turkey sandwich with cream cheese in it (so delicious). after that i went and saw Alice's accommodations (which are way nicer than mine) and we made our way down to my hostel. we walked down the same park trails i went down before. this time we crossed a bridge over sludgeoned water (which actually looks a lot nicer at night) and walked along the trails on the OTHER side of the bridge. we made our way to Bellavista and saw a lot of cool shops and restaurants in one of the many nooks and crannies of Providencia that gives it an amusement park feel. after that we went back to Alice's accomodations in Los Leones and i taught her how to play rummy. Eric called me and asked if i wanted to join some others for some clubbing but i was wiped so i just headed back to the hostel to relax. it was a really fun night.

and now i'm here listening to "Heartbreak Armageddon" by Dragonforce updating my blog. i think we've covered the other logistics of the soccer game and the chill atmosphere.

all in all, i'm thoroughly glad i chose to come here. while i miss everyone, i could definitely live here for 10 months. i just pray my interviews go well and i get a job so i actually CAN stay. this is exactly the break i've needed from life in the states. not too overwhelming but overwhelming enough so that it can be a completely unique experience. i have no idea what these next few days weeks or months will bring but if these past few days are any indication of what life is like here, i'm happy as hell that i chose to come to Chile.

tomorrow i'm checking out another apartment. monday i have 2 interviews and i'm checking out my last apartment that day. monday will be nuts. i will definitely write about it.

until then, buenos noches. expect more later. adios.