longest hiatus ever

SORRY!

i haven't even been that busy so i have no excuse this time. i am sorry. i will tell you what's been going on though.

i had planned on going to Mendoza to renew my tourist visa in Chile. unfortunately when i got to the airport, they told me that i couldn't leave the country. my visa had expired on august 3rd and it was august 12th. sonofabitch. i couldn't change or cancel my flight so i lost the $76 i spent on that. so i didn't end up going to Mendoza that weekend. instead i had a fun filled exciting weekend at the immigration office in downtown Santiago. this consisted of getting up at the crack of dawn and waiting outside said office in the cold. upon entering the office i took a number and waited for an hour only to have them tell me i needed to go to the bank and fill out another form before i went to immigration. HOW LOVELY. luckily after my little song and dance at the bank, i didn't have to wait in line again at immigration. they just let me through and gave me my paperwork and now i'm all set until like, the end of October. since i'm going to Peru in October with my family, i can come back, get stamped again and never have to worry about this stupid crap ever again. huzzah!

speaking of families, alice's parents and sister were here for a week. they got to do touristy things like Santa Lucia, Cerro San Cristobal and i even joined them for walks to Bellas Artes, The Zoo and the awesome Peruvian restaurant on Manuel Montt. we also ate at a new restaurant in downtown Santiago called Confeteria Torres. it was super fancy and had Chilean cuisine. good atmosphere. i really liked that place. so yeah, it was nice having people i sort of knew (and in Rachel's case, knew) stop by and say hello. but it only got me really REALLY excited to see my parents in October. since they shortened their stay, we now have no choice but to cram a ton of awesome things into 4 days (as opposed to stretching out those awesome things to a week). it will be exhausting but oh so worth it. i can't wait til they get here. they are going to have a blast.

what else? teaching English ROCKS now. i am teaching 3 classes with Polyglot-Mitford and privately tutoring 2 classes on my own. when i privately tutor, i make double to triple what i make with Polyglot. so i'm actually working less hours and getting paid more. it's kind of ridiculously sweet. also, some of my private students feed me when i come over to teach them! it's a good deal all around. i wish ALL my classes were private tutoring. now that'd be amazing.

one of my favorite bands (The Prodigy) is coming to Chile. they are a band that i have been into since around 1997 and i have never seen them live in over 10 years. every time they come around i miss my chance. earlier this year they came to Boston while i was in Chile and i secretly died a little inside. i was like "UGHHH THAT WAS MY CHANCE!". after about a month of griping i was like "it's cool it's cool. it's just not meant to be." even though i was continuing to die inside. however, about 3 weeks ago i checked the prodigy website just for funsies and lo and behold, they are playing at the Movistar arena in Santiago, Chile in late October!! of course the next chance i had, i rushed to the ticketmaster outlet in Providencia and purchased my ticket. finally, after over a decade of waiting and enjoying their music, i get to see them live. AND IN ANOTHER COUNTRY. and also... I HAVE GENERAL ADMISSION SEATS! translation: i will be as close to the stage as i can get and i will be flipping out 900% of the time. so excited.

this past weekend i went to an area of Santiago i have never been before with Alice called La Florida. we went to the Museo de Interactivo in Mirador (or MIM as they call it). it's basically the children's museum but it doesn't smell like diapers. we had fun. it was a good way to kill an afternoon. not to mention there was a kind of cool aquarium next to it. we saw it all and then had lunch in the giant mall nearby. it still amazes me that mcdonalds in south america is actually the best tasting fast food chain.

i think i've got cooking fries down. since i can't use our oven because the door doesn't close all the way and our temperature knob doesn't display degrees, i put the cold fries in a very small bowl on the stove. then i fill the bowl a quarter of the way with olive oil and let that boil for a while. it's costly but it gets the job done quickly and they taste absolutely delicious. i know it's fries and it's simple but it's always been a mystery to me. i also made my first successful quesadilla burger. that was really damn delicious. i think when my rents get here i'm going to make them burritos one night. ideally i'd like to go to la vega that day with them and buy the veggies there so they can get the full experience of what it's like to cook food here but we'll see.

alice and i have been watching a lot of downloaded tv. i'm showing her Lost and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. she's showing me Scrubs and the British version of The Office. we're also watching Dexter together (phenomenal show).

i really miss my friends and my Nintendo Wii. i think when i come home in january i'm going to require playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl with like 4 or 5 other people for hours and hours. same goes for Mario Party and Wario Ware and stuff. also, i can't wait to get back into Wii Fit. i've been getting into a lot of new music down here. not like, Chilean music or anything but new music in general. and usually i have a bunch of people to play it for and be like "THIS IS AMAZING! LISTEN TO IT!" which is good because i can share the joy. but since no one is here it's tough to do that. i'm going crazy finding a bunch of new stuff and not being able to share said joy. ah well. i'll just explode when i see people in january. also when i get back, i definitely want to take a trip to Western Mass. I've also thought about maybe doing a tour DJing at various places in New England, maybe even down to Philadelphia and in NYC. we'll see how it goes. it'd be cool to be "on tour".

I'm saving up some serious money for December trying to go to the South of Chile before i head out of this country. ideally, i'd like to go to Pucon, Valdivia, Puerto Varas, Chiloe and parts of Patagonia. whether or not all of those places will happen is still a mystery. but dammit, i'm gonna try. of course this means i have to sacrifice weekend trips to certain places (was going to go to Cajon De Maipo for a weekend in September but decided it's too costly), but it'll be worth it when i take a giant voyage in a few months. oh well. at least i have New Year's Eve to actually look forward to. i'm spending it in Valparaiso where there are supposed to be fireworks and parties galore. it will be one of the last things i do in this country and i think that's pretty damn fitting.

and that's all i got for now. not much has been happening but those are the notables. i'll see you next time. again, sorry about the hiatus. i feel like a broken record saying that but i'll try to update more often. CCFN. chau chau for now.