Obama and my sister

First, I am very happy about Obama being elected. He was the deserving and capable candidate and he won. Now, let's hope he comes through on all of his promises.

Ok, so my point in this post is not to talk more about the election, but to introduce my sister. She just started reading my blog so I thought I'd give her a proper introduction since she's the best (and only) sister I've got.

This is me with C right before I left for Chile the first time:




And here we are again:


We often dress the same, especially when snowboarding together. That's us in our personalized neighborhoodies we made in honor of our grandmother, Carmen. And yes, we also own the same snowboard and both have pink goggle buddies on our helmets. We do that because it doesn't matter how we dress when we snowboard because we're GOOD. And I don't feel bad saying this because we're not good at much else (although, my sister is a good horseback rider and can beat anyone at movie trivia). I have to milk my one talent for all it's worth so, I'm GOOD! AND, my sister's good, too!

C is 26 and a true Taurus. She graduated from UVa in 2004 and I followed in her footsteps this year. She is a lot more organized than I am and she goes to bed earlier, but we love the same food, wine, music, and cherish staying in when on vacation and ordering room service and a movie. We quote movies and tv shows to no end and probably annoy a lot of people because of it.

C is also on her way to being a badass nurse anesthetist which is why I hardly hear from her now. She sleeps, studies, and goes to the hospital. She's a graduate student at Georgetown and is part of an insanely intense and challenging program (but, it should be since her patients' lives will be in her hand once she graduates). In a little over a year, I will have my sister back, but for now our virtual relationship will have to suffice.

Elections from a Chilean Perspective

I just got back from an English class with some of my favorite students. This is a great class because my students are employees of a certain Seattle-based specialty coffee store so I get all of the free coffee and tea beverages I want while I teach. I also get paid double since I have to schlep up to Las Condes and eat some of the best salads there are in Santiago to teach it (notice my sarcasm since I LOVE any excuse to go get a yummy salad for lunch). But the best thing about my students is that they are fun, intelligent, and love speaking English.

Today, was so great because we didn't even crack open our textbook since everyone was so excited about the U.S. elections. They were really interested in how I was feeling, in what it's like in the U.S. today, in how my parents and sister and everyone else I know living in the U.S. are feeling today, and in what all the Expats were going to do tonight to celebrate (or grieve) when the results come in. They also talked about how terribly upset they would be if Obama is not elected. It was so interesting to hear how much faith they have in Obama as a world leader. Now, neither my students or I are under the impression that Obama is any sort of savior. I really believe that big change takes a very long time and is extremely difficult within any government, but I (and they) also believe that voting for Barack Obama over John McCain is the right choice*. They are excited about the same things I am: what this would do to improve the U.S.'s image all over the world and its international relations, what this could mean for Black men and women everywhere, and what would happen in the U.S. once its president is not totally and completely worthless.

Now, I would consider these particular students more informed on world issues than most Chileans I know, but all of my students (the dummies and the smarty pants) have been talking about the elections. They've watched the SNL clips, seen the Sara Silverman Obama endorsement, and laughed at my "Sarah Palin is a retard" comments. My point is that it seems that the whole world, or all of Chile at least, is more interested in this election than elections in the past and it's because of Obama (and that Obama also means the end of Bush). I also have not met one Chilean rooting for McCain (but was unpleasantly surprised to find out through facebook that I know many more McCain/Palin supporters than I thought).

So, during my next class on Thursday, my students and I are either going to celebrate together or cry together.

Tonight, I'm going to Basic Bar (when do I not go there?) with some other lovely Chile-Gringas (Sara, Jessica, and Shannon) as well as a few Chileno spouses to watch the election coverage. Anyone else who reads this, come on out if you can! Here's hoping for happy results!


*My dream democratic ticket would be Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson with the next best being Clinton/Obama and then Obama/Clinton. Hillary will never cease to amaze me and Richardson is an experienced, intelligent and moderate man so they would make a dream team in my opinion.

Visa things, Sunday things

So, today is the last day I'll get to sleep past 7:00am since I'm getting another class.  I can't complain about that since it's a normal time to wake up, but I LOVE sleep. I absolutely cherish it and I seem to be getting worse and worse about it.  Today, I slept blissfully until I. called me at 10:30am which made me feel so guilty since he has to get up at 7:30am everyday to go to a job he's not that interested in.  So, I jumped up after an amazing dream that I met Oprah at the Emmy's and got to tell her about one of my friends who is her protege, and decided to check on my visa status with extranjería.

 The last I checked, they claimed my paperwork hadn't arrived and after going to correos de chile and seeing the high-tech, classified mail system they have that I paid for (come on, have you ever heard of COMPUTERS???!!!!), they wrote in pen a confirmation that it had been delivered.  My logical question was, "is there a more official document I can bring to extranjería to show that it was delivered".  The response I got, "No, no.  This is the official time.  If you want a copy you'll have to go to Plaza de Armas and see if they'll let you have a copy, but I don't think they will".  So, I'm thinking "alright, where the hell in Plaza de Armas do I go?"  And the nice, but dense man tells me that I'll know it when I see it.  I was late to meet my cuñi so I just left it at that.

So, back to this morning. I call and the woman actually finds me in the system this time and says that I was missing a piece of paper in the envelope and that they had sent it back.  Even though the woman at my institute supposedly put my envelope together the way it should have been and just handed it to me to send, That's an OK answer for me.  The woman at my institute is relatively friendly and everyone makes mistakes.  I don't even mind using the mail that takes at least a week when I could drop it off by hand in 10 minutes.  I think I've always been pretty patient with Chilean bureaucracy as long as the last person I'm sent to actually gives me a useful answer (it's normally an address on the other side of the city).  The people at extranjería have been surprisingly helpful and friendly to me, but my problem is that I really need to get that visa in the mail ASAP, If for nothing else than not to give the new guy at Ekono a heart attack when I use my passport number and not my carnet number when I pay with a credit card.  But seriously, I need you visa, I want you visa, so hurry up!

On a totally different note, yesterday was election day.  And the craziest thing about it to me is that men and women vote in different colegios.  That just seems way too old-fashioned even for Chile, but as my suegra said (and I couldn't help but laugh), laws are just too hard to change here so most of Pinochet's legacy is the same because it's next to impossible to change.  That to me just sums up most Chileans and their views on politics, but that's another post in general.  

But my point in mentioning elections was to talk about my Sunday.  My suegra actually warned me not to go out. Or rather said it would be better if we didn't go out.  I'm still not sure why, but I have a feeling it had nothing to do with elections and everything to do with the fact that she wanted us to go to her house for the day, but we already had plans.  And it seems like everyone else had those same plans: Parque Forrestal.  I. and I had a picnic there and let Olive run crazy for a few hours while half of Santiago walked by.  I have never seen the park this crowded and we are there almost every weekend.  There were more shows and people selling things than ever.  I love to watch all of the circus talent there.  There were a group of people climbing and swinging off two rope-type thingies that seem to be all the rage (when I saw Justin Timberlake in concert, Pink opened for him and was swinging all around the stage on them).   Even though it was incredibly crowded, we still had a really nice, quiet place to eat the yummy potato salad I made,  sneak-drink a bottle of wine, and play cards.  And now it's back to work...

P.S. I've been thinking about my group post and am having a hard time narrowing down my post so it may not be until tomorrow or later tonight...

The Great Schlep

In the spirit of it almost being election month in the U.S., I wanted to share a "political" video with everyone.  My inspiration for sharing this video comes from a wonderful blog, Mandy Moves.  She posted a great video made by and for women to raise awareness about what Sarah Palin's possible vice presidency (and if that happens, likely presidency) means for women and their rights (about 100 giant steps back in time). Check it out here.

Now, my video comes from Sara.  But I'm not talking about Sarah right-wing-idiotic-barbie doll Palin; I'm talking about Sara possibly-the-funniest-woman-alive Silverman.  For anyone who isn't familiar with her, I warn you that her genial humor is based on offending EVERYONE so don't watch if that's not your cup of matzoh ball soup (but, come on, it's so obvious she's a smart and liberal-minded person).  

Anyway, she made a video called the Great Schlep supporting Barack Obama and it's probably the only celebrity endorsement of a politician that isn't so cheesy it makes me want to vomit.  More importantly, it's absolutely hilarious!  For any Jewish bloggers (or just Jews-at-heart like me), it's that much funnier.

Check it out below and enjoy (I hope!).  I apologize for my computer illiteracy, but I don't know how to put the video directly on my blog so I'm just posting the link

The Great Schlep

Debates, debates, debates!!

ok, so I'm just a blogging machine today after my blogging hiatus.  As I've read in some other blogs, people are as excited or riled up about this year's presidential election in the U.S. as I am and the VP debates (If they don't pull Palin off the campaign) are this Thursday at 9pm.  Basic Bar in ñuñoa is having a debates night because they have a satellite and a big projector (not to mention delicious salads, pizzas, french fries, and tacos).  There will be drink specials for all Gringos with proof of gringoness and I think a few newspapers there interviewing expats.  All in all, I think it will be a great place for anyone without a satellite to watch the debates.  I'll be there with my mom, Italo, and Jessica from I left my heart in Santiago.  I hope other people can make it out there!