You know you need a trip to the U.S. when…

You get tears in your eyes just walking into the US Embassy.


YUP. That was me today.


I have to add more pages to my passport before my trip home so I went to the US Embassy this morning. I’ve never been there before so maybe my excitement was also seeing it for the first time but the second I walked through security, my eyes filled with tears. And then I thought about what I’ll feel when I FINALLY walk into baggage claim at my home airport and see my family and there were official drops dripping down my cheeks and I was THAT girl among the hundreds of people waiting for their visa interviews. Not gonna lie, I LOVED that all I had to do – literally - was flash my US passport to the guard and I was ushered in ahead of the 10 Chileans waiting for their interviews outside the embassy walls.

I’m always excited to go home and happy to see my family, but it’s been almost a year (the longest I’ve ever been away from home) and I am READY. This not-so-patriotic girl is ready to sing the national anthem, buy an Old Navy shirt, and eat some freedom fries!

But most of all, I cannot wait to lounge around in my parents’ house with my beloved dog, drinking wine and playing board games with my family.

My fix for today was Starbucks coffee and will continue into takeout sushi and illegal downloads of my favorite US shows. Oh hell, I’ll just say it, AMERICAN shows!

Working Girl

So, not that I said anything about it on here (at least, I don't think I did), but according to my plans circa my last blog post I should be in Virginia eating pomegranates and drinking champagne with my mom right now...

BUT I'm in Santiago. With an incredible new job! No longer teaching English (no offense to English teachers. I love teaching, but never saw myself doing it long-term so I don't know how I made it through over 2 years of it).

I started my job at the beginning of October and tonight is the first night I haven't been too tired to do anything other than pour myself a glass of wine and jump into bed. Lucky for me I can still do that and on my new job's tab (not exactly but close enough).

I got a job working for a winery...a pretty damn cool one (winery and job), too. That means I'll be extending my life in Chile and maybe the life of this blog, although it hasn't had much of one lately.

After over a month of work, I'm feeling settled and comfortable and competent. My first few weeks were full of ups and downs as I was learning everything...EVERYTHING. You see, I went to this job interview and said, flat out, I have zero experience in two pretty big sections of this job description, but I really want it and I'll work hard and learn the stuff I don't know and presto-chango, I'm working 9-5 (in Chile it's actually 8:30 to 6:30 but there are no cool songs to allude to using that schedule).

So the job's going very well and I'm thrilled to have started what could very well be a *gulp* career, but my fingers are tired (I write all day for this job) and my glass of wine is full...or RE-full.