DISQUS

i completely agree with this individual chilean vs. chilean society.


i will never get used to people pushing and shoving and knocking me out of my place while waiting in line for anything, but i know í´m guilty sometimes of just saying ¨fuck it all¨when i´m stressed or have had a bad day and pushing back.



i´ve seen a woman who pushed in front of me to get on the metro, get off and go up the metro stairs to buy dinner to give to the couple that begs outside of metro santa lucia every night. it makes me think that the way chileans are in public is just their street face and that they´re conditioned to be defensive because i´ve met some pretty amazing people here, but i´ve never run into them on the metro or waiting in line for something, but i´m sure some of them are bad pushers and shovers :P

number 4 is absolutely hilarious! and so true...

congratulations! i just checked out his blog for the first time. you got lots of love over there. i'm glad he picked you!

thanks so much for organizing this. i loved reading everyone's posts. i have my 1/2 post saved from friday but haven't gotten a chance to finish/post it. i sooooo want to participate but it'll take me til sunday so please excuse the tardiness--it's so not for lack of interest...

make that three!

i had know idea cameras could have 21 megapixels, wow! it makes my dinky 5 megapixel camera seem dinkier. but i think you made a great investment in buying it. if you had bought a big plasma tv and called it an investment for watching colo colo games or something, i'd think otherwise but if you're going to the next photography level i hope it will bring you to the next pay level so that what you paid for the camera becomes an afterthought :)

i'm so glad that Papito is OK! pet illnesses are so scary because you can only guess what's wrong and go by their symptoms--much like babies (i hear). but what ended up being wrong with her?? those sounded like pretty severe symptoms.


i hope S. got some sleep finally! and congrats on the 2 weddings. are the pics up on your photography blog?

I agree with Amanda that you need to give it time. I was really angry at someone I love very much for doing something that had a huge negative effect on my family and it took me almost a year to forgive them, but I have a hard time with forgiveness so I think you'll get there faster. It helped me a lot to express my feelings without getting angry just so that person knew what I was feeling.


Good luck. I'm sorry you have to be in this situation.

you're fabulous and you look AMAZING now and then (and you're skinny in your pictures and wayyyyyyy skinnier in "real life") thanks for sharing the pics and the info...S. does a (YOUR) body good, jaja

i'm glad this is resolved and you feel better. NOW, on to that big news you were teasing us with last week.... :)

OK, maybe you should apologize because you were "wrong" but you weren't THAT wrong. from what you've written, he kinda sounds like a jerk for making you feel so bad when absolutely nothing happened. save your guilt for something more fun. it was your birthday, only your friends were at the pool, AND you had been drinking yet you were still totally civil and understanding AND even shed some tears--he sounds like a monster for not understanding. i give you kudos, not shame. say sorry so he doesn't hate you and thus screw you over (our main doorman does it to Italo for NO apparent reason) , but no guilt, please!

yay for fun birthdays! looks like a blast. and your adorable, wet puppy is just that: adorable and wet, haha.


i'm glad you put that quote up because it is SO fitting for the couple in my post today that I'm going to steal it and send it to them

happy birthday!!! and let us know what the change is soon...i'm dying to know!

almost everyone i know is from the midwest, too. I´m from Virginia and I´ve only ever met one other person here from there (studying or living here)

aww, i love this kind of mushy because it's your true story. it makes me smile big to read how much you two love each other. congratulations and enjoy your dinner!

I've never read her novels, but I've read all of her memoirs. I love how she talks about her gringo husband Willy mainly because they're madly in love and it pours through her writing, but also because what you said in your post about her being a wonderful expat. She wrote about eating breakfast in bed with her mother and her husband which was so natural to her and so unnatural to him, but that he completely accepted it and hopped into bed with them because that was her Chilena/Latina way. I had never thought about it as her expatriotism before, but it is great to see that she loves her life in the U.S., but she knows she's in a unique position where she's "from" many places, yet she's far enough removed from all of them to recognize them for what they are. In short: I agree. She's totally fabulous!


P.S. For some reason I thought Salvador Allende was her uncle so I googled it before I "corrected" you...good thing I did because you're totally right and I was wrong, haha)

ick, i hate the caracoles. i went into one thinking it was the kinda cute, cheap clothes one, but it was that pokemon one you went into. i´ve also been in the pedicure one. at least they´re themed!

beautiful pictures!! The last one and the one where you're holding S. by the piano (i think it's a piano??) are my 2 favorites.

that's so cool! i can't wait to see the show. hope you enjoyed your doritos, haha!

oh. my. god. i just read your post about your near rape/death/WHO KNOWS experience last year--i would HATE it here if just that had happened to me, but you have had more than enough happen to justify hating it here and leaving as soon as possible.


This is old news, but thanks for posting that and then tagging it because I have had particularly good luck here so I think I let my guard down too often, but reading about your absolutely terrifying situation is enough to make me take every precaution here at all times.



Oh, and I like living in Chile but largely because I know it's temporary.

i agree about plaza ñuñoa...there`s several really nice bars and restaurants.


Also, Josè Miguel de la Barra there is a really cool bar with lots of good imported beer just across from parque forrestal. There are also lots of cute shops there like Amanda mentioned so it`s got a really nice atmosphere.



Kinda near there on Alameda right by Aine Arte Alameda there`s a bar/restaurant called something like Gulart or Goulart. It`s really pretty inside and the one time I went there, the service was excellent.



OH and I think Lastarria is a good bet like others have mentioned because there`s so much there (I love that museo de artes visuales or something like that with all the Matta stuff) There`s also a newish restaurant called Lucìa which is an old apartment turned into a restaurant. It`s gorgeous inside and the food is delicious. It`s a great place for dinner.

http://www.barriolastarria.com/restaurant_lucia_bistro_barrio_lastarria.htm



ok, im not going to suggest anything else because it looks like you`ve got a ton of great suggestions from everyone!

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS!!! That is so amazing!! I'm so happy for (and totally jealous of) you! You're such a renaissance woman.


I'm trying to think of some places, but just off the top of my head I can think of 2 cool not snotty Chilean bars and a movie theater in the center of the city:



1. La Chimenea



2. El Bucanero



3. Cine Arte Alameda (also Normandie)





I'm going to ask one of my arty friends what he thinks, too but good luck!!

"It's obviously a huge issue, and even with the first African American president, we still have a long ways to go"


I couldn't agree with you more on that and I've heard a lot of people say things that make me feel like I have to remind them of that.



And not like you didn't just say it but it's totally disgusting to see how racist the NBA and then a closer look into any other U.S. institution yields very similar results. One of my favorite books ever is called Savage Inequalities that, among other things, talks about racism in the education system--i recommend it highly.



I also agree that living in a different country makes you reexamine your own country. Living in Chile has really affected my perspective on all things social and political.



Also, I definitely notice I think about stuff like that more and I find myself comparing classism with racism and contrasting racism in both countries. There was never a dull moment when I was home and my best friend from my study abroad program, my family, and I were all talking about Chile, the U.S. and Obama and I thank my experience here for my input in the conversation.

I agree with Renée! Every time I go to New York, it's just as exciting if not more exciting than the time before. And how wonderful that you and S. got to go together! When I went with Italo, my poor little camera couldn't handle all of his pictures, but it was so nice to see that he loved it even more than he thought he would from the second he saw the skyline from the bus in New Jersey.


And you just may have passed an Olsen twin! I practically ran over Chris Noth crossing the street before I realized it was him! But then again, I totally suck at noticing famous people.

oh, the baby pressures here in Chile. I'm not married yet so I know I don't get pressured quite as much as you do, though the married thing is sort of an afterthought here for many people. I got bombarded by a group of Chileans with those questions on Saturday and the argument that my uterus is only getting older from now on was used--that was a new and annoying one. I even love babies, But definitely not for me at 23!


Go travel and build your business and feel awesome for not having kids to tie you and S. down! Although I have to admit that even though I've never met you, I see kids in your (distant) future. Good thing I'm not psychic!