This Must be the Place, my packing song

As I pack today, I can't help but think about the amazing first season of the tv series Rome I just finished or how great it would be if by some miracle I found out before stepping on the plane that Frei and Piñera weren't the two candidates to go on to the segunda ronda of the presidential elections (big fat chance, I know, but I'm dreaming big).

And I'm also excited to see my sister graduate from Georgetown after 27 months of hell in their nurse anesthesia program because that's means that we all get her back after her almost 2 1/2 year stint of nothing but studying and working (we're really kicking it off with a 2-week trip to Peru in April).

I also get to see one of my absolute favorite people in the world after almost 2 years apart, my best friend from college whom I adore/admire/respect/have the most fun ever with, H. She's flying to Virginia from Seattle on Friday and I have the perfect and most fitting surprise planned for when I pick her up at the airport (I'll post pictures from my NEW laptop that actually works once I get it from the DC apple store).

And of course, I am so happy to be spending the holidays with my parents and my sister. My family needs some quality holiday time together this year after the year and a half we've had with two untimely and obviously painful deaths in the family and my parents' ongoing struggle to keep their house. Of course, it would be so much better if Italo were going with me because he seems to make everyone feel better, but it just wasn't in the cards this year so we'll have to make due.

Off to try and fit as many bottles of wine in my suitcase possible without going over the 50-pound limit. Here's a great live version of the song:


Happy Holidays!!

How to Alienate a Gringo

I'm following Heather's and Abeja's lead on how to alienate a gringo. Since we offend easily, this could be an endless list but I'm keeping it short and Chile-specific:

1. Say you don't understand their Spanish
This is certainly true sometimes, but come on, you reallllly can't understand that she just said hola? I can always call the moment a cashier or taxi driver is going to quadruple the speed at which he speaks (yes, this is Chileno-specific) and the number of chilenismos he uses. Lots of Chilenos LOVE when Gringos don't understand them and Gringos, of course, hate it.

2. Ask, "are you all really as cold/unfriendly as you seem in movies"?

This question itself doesn't bother me at all, it's just the number of times I've had to answer it.


3. Cut in line

short Chilena with her empty shoulder bag pushes in front of you in line to cargar her Bip--nuff said

4. Give your children bebida when they say they´re thirsty

This one's obvious, but it gets to me more and more as I see the children drinking coke getting younger and younger (think a baby who can't walk yet drinking it from his/her bottle)

5. Make Jote(wine + coke = gross) out of the nice bottle of wine they brought for you

i may have to continue this one but that's all I've got for now...

I stole a kitten last night

Yes, my two group blog posts are half-finished and yes, Italo and I accidentally stole a kitten last night.

We were enjoying a Saturday night at home with wine, peruvian takeout, and Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes after an exhausting afternoon translating and editing for my boss, but we were interrupted by the persistent cries of what was clearly a distressed kitten. Larry David had to wait while we got the keys to our rooftop hot tub (had NO idea we had one) to see where this kitten was. We didn't find anything up there so we started down the stairs so we could check out of the hall windows.

On the 7th floor, we realized the cries were coming from an apartment which was strange because any cat owner in their right mind wouldn't let cries like that go unattended. So, I peaked out the hall window and saw a kitten stuck out on the edge of the apartment balcony and started freaking out because I thought the kitten would either fall off of it or try to jump to me.

Fast forward to after Italo tried to fit through the window that wouldn't slide open while I held his legs so he wouldn't fall and we had successfully saved/stolen a beautiful kitten from our building supervisor's apartment. By the time we got to the first floor, I was so worried the guy who owned the cat would no doubt think we were NUTS for taking his cat and also probably think we were trying to rob his place. Luckily, our doorman had our back since several people had called down asking about the kitten and he promised to keep calling the guy on his cell phone and to leave a note for him when he got home if he didn't pick up.

So that's how we spent the night with the cutest, but most messed up kitten I've ever seen. I think the fact that his owner leaves him out on the balcony for 24-hour stretches doesn't help his issues. We ended up having to call the owner early this afternoon to come get him even though apparently he got home last night. That's almost as weird as our "taking" the cat in the first place, ja.

And all today I've heard his cries from the balcony which kills me. He didn't cry at all in our apartment so something's up with that guy. A picture or two is coming (yup, we took pictures of our loot) while I try to figure out the deal with this guy. We named him Balconcito in honor of our first encounter.