Rain and Outdoor Tile, What Were They Thinking?

So, it is now the begining of winter. And what comes with winter in Santiago?? RAIN! Today was the first day that I had to walk in the rain, and it suddenly hit me. Why would they put tile outside? Its like nice polished tile something that should be in a bank or the Mall of America, but here they put it outside as sidewalk. Well, when that kind of tile is wet at the mall or a bank its very very slippery which is why there is always that CAUTION WET FLOOR sign. Theres no caution sign here. You are just forced to walk really really slow and try to not slip and fall. I really don't understand what people were thinking when they did this. Are they just so stupid that they thought that the tiles would never get wet? Or do they enjoy watching people walk around trying not to slip?!? WTF?!?!

Anyways... Its the last day of April. In two weeks I will have finished my fourth month in this city, my second month working here at WEUSA. And what do I have to say for it. Well first only 2 and a half months til my 10 day vacation to the US!!! I can't wait!! Only 8 more months in this city. And my job.... well I am at work right now, I came here actually kind of excited that it was going to be a busy day. I had 5 interviews scheduled, its 11:35 right now and the second person didn't show up. No call, no show. This kind of frustrates me. Since one of our programs we use is down I have nothing to do. I spent all of yesterday ripping up old applications from winter season 2006, I found Rodrigo's app and picture! I wish I could put it up on here, he would kill me, but he has changed so much in the last year and a half since the pic was taken!! That was the highlight of my day. SO now here I sit hoping that my 1:30 shows up and since its not noon yet, I have a while to wait. I found Super Nintendo games on this computer so I think Im gonna give one of those a try!! Hahaah!
Tomorrow is a holiday here in Chile so we don't have to work, Rodrigo doesn't have classes and we have the whole day free!! So if I get paid tonight I am going to buy Pictionary, in Spanish. And we are going to play with our friends tonight. Of course we have to somehow turn it into a drinking game so the night will probably be interesting. And of course I will have to pull out my Spanish/English dictionary so maybe I will learn a few new words tonight. Also tomorrow I am going to put all of my pictures from here this time around on a memory stick and I will bring them to work so I can work on adding them to this so everyone can see what they have been waiting to see!! Lots of love.

An OK My Kind of Weekend

Not too much happened this weekend, but it was fun. On Friday night we went to a club, where I didn't dance like I never do. We didn't stay there for very long, after that we, as in Rodrigo, me, Romy, Pancho, Pato, Vivi, and Maca, went to Pancho's house where all the couples were fighting except Rodrigo and I. We decided to drink rum and just listen in and give our drunkenish imput into the comversations. We ended up going home at about 6am. Slept til 4:30pm and got up and just kind of spent the rest of the day being lazy. I made some mac and cheese with hotdogs for lunch, thats pretty much our usual these days. And since we can buy the blue box at Jumbo now, I'm sure we will be eating plenty of it!! We watched the movie Jumper, and went to bed. Very very exciting huh?? Sunday morning we got up pretty early, like 8:30am and layed around for awhile, took showers, and got ready to leave. We went to a "feria" which is a market in the street, where there are lots of little booths selling lots of different things. This happens to be my favorite Sunday outing. The smells at the feria are what makes me want to keep going. The mixure of the smell of fresh fruits and vegetables, spices, popcorn and cotton candy, even the smell of fresh fish and chicken and beef is amazing!! I bought some apples since the weather is very apple pie-ish. At least baking the pies will warm the house and our bellies up a little bit!! I also bought some fresh strawberries!! Mmmmm!! For anyone interested in the price difference, if there is any, I never bought strawberries in the US so I don't really know. But they costed about $2 for a kilo which is about 2 pounds. After the "feria" we went to Mami's house (Rodrigo's grandma/mom's mom) and ate with the family. The family includes everyone. Aunt, Uncle, 3 cousins (minus one that is now in the South for the Navy) other aunt, mom dad and sister, and of course Mami. Thats there family, I can't wait for Rodrigo to see mine!! Both sides are big enough to scare him!! Hahahaha!! After dinner we, well they watched a show on TV, in Spanish so I don't really pay attention I was working on a Rubik's cube. I'm gettin pretty good! Then we went back home. Rodrigo and I just hung out and then!!! It started raining! I love it! The roof over our room has plastic on it so the sound is very loud. But, at the same time it sucks cuz when it rains its very cold. So we had coffee last night with mom, dad, and sis. We sat there talking with everyone which was nice because we don't do that very often. Rodrigo and I watched a movie last night, I don't remember if we even finished it. We went to bed somewhat early and it was nice to fall asleep to the sound of the rain!! And even better to see the first snow of the year on the Andes mountains! The nice powdered sugar makes them look much more majestic! That was our weekend. Lots of love!

Last Sunday´s Adventure

Last Sunday, Rodrigo and I went for a drive. He didn´t know where we were going, and obviously neither did I. We just started driving. Finally out of the city and into the fresh air we drove through the Andes a little bit. We stopped at a little stand that sells crystals and fossils. We were near a volcano I guess. After that we kept driving and found a waterfall. We decided to park the car and hike up to it. It was beautiful!! We took these pics there. Hhaha Rodrigo took his shirt off (he´s so white!!) cuz he wanted to play in the water, I didn´t want to play!! It was very cold!! I hope you like the pics!

Job Description

My job. I work for WEUSA, a kind of travel agency. I am the head interviewer in all of Chile. I am in charge of 10 or so other interviewers in the country. Pretty much what I do is give interviews to people looking to go to the US to work. So I sit in my office while people come in, half of them don't even understand anything that I am saying, and grade their English. Its a fun job when I can actually have a conversation with the person. IF they fail, they have the choice to come back again in a few months or not take the program. If I don't have any interviews, I just sit at my desk answering emails, but mostly I spend my time on the WEUSA facebook page adding friends and posting information. If I get bored of that I play games on the internet or post blogs. What a great job.

Good morning, welcome to the overly populated and poluted city of Santiago!

I guess this is the easiest way to keep my people up to date with me.
I'm still in Chile. I'm working now. No, I don't speak fluent Spanish, but I know all the swear words.
I'm still with Rodrigo. I'm planning a 10 day trip back to the States in July! I hope I get to see everybody!! I am perfectly fine, I didn't die from the water or the fish and other seafood. The sun hasn't burnt me to nothing. I am making enough money to live. We are still planning on being in the US for Xmas and til Easter!! I'll try to post pics often!