Lessons Learned in Chile.

1. Don't drink the water -- at least not for the first few months. This is not a reflection of the quality of water; it's just that the bacteria is different. This includes drying vegetables and fruits very well before eating and not having ice in anything.

2. English is important. My uber liberal political science education had me believing that teaching English to people in other countries was a form of cultural imperialism. This is not the case. While working in Constitucion I met someone who was a physics major and because translated books are so bad, all the students in his class were forced to read English textbooks -- whether they spoke English or not. Not knowing English in this way can really limit your career and scholastic choices.

3. Layers. I've learned how to dress for the cold -- what combination of leggings, socks, bufandas, and jackets are necessary to stay warm. This (obviously) was never a problem back in LA, but with the freezing nights here, I have learned how to sort of stay warm and I can survive the cold.

4. People from the U.S. are very apathetic and cynical -- about everything. I've known this, but contrasting Chilean culture with the U.S. has really highlighted how cynical we are. People don't protest because they think it won't do anything. No one cares about the World Cup even though it's our country and that makes me very sad. No US pride.

5. I've learned that I really like a good football match.

6. I can live outside the United States and be very happy and comfortable. I love love love the US for a million reasons, pero I can call another country home and love it too.

7. I've learned about one million new Chilean words and modismos (including that one).

My two favorite:

a medio morir saltando -- I'm somewhere between dying and jumping (under the weather).

De Micheal Jackson! -- I don't really get the story behind this, but it means "yeah, sure".

8. Being an immigrant can be extraordinarily difficult. I've had friends who've told me about their own struggles coming to the U.S. but now I personally know how it feels to be unfamiliar with a place, it's laws and customs, and it's dialect (I came here with Spainish/Mexican Spanish). I have even more respect for people who leave their home to live in a new country. And being a newcomer here is nothing compared to the hardships people face when they come to the U.S.

There are tons of other things I've learned here, especially about myself, my relationships with other people that I couldn't fit into a list. Living here has given me more than I can name or put into words. I've loved living here and I definitively know that it's changed me.

-- Lauren

Things I'll miss.

1-2. This picture is from an empanada cooking night at our apartment in Long Beach months ago, but it combines two things I'll miss: friends and empanadas.

Chileans have been incredibly nice, and even though I have so many wonderful friends in the states, it took time to develop those relationships. Here you meet someone once and they're someone you'll talk to often.

Re empanadas: although this picture shows me making empanadas, I don't exactly know how to make them from scratch on my own. But they're delicious, like little Hot Pockets filled with onions, cheese, spinach or meat.

3. Architecture: This picture totally encompasses Chilean architecture -- centuries old buildings next to all-glass high rises. Buildings like these are all over the Santiago, and it really feels like a city. I love walking down the street and seeing these two types of buildings right next to each other.

4. This is a shot of Parque Forestal (not mine). This park is about three blocks from our house and stretches for miles through Santiago passing monuments, fountains, and a number of kiltros, mounted policemen, and jungle gyms on the way. I run through the park almost every day, and it is a beautiful view, especially after a rain when the Andes are just huge, and white in the background.

5. Now onto food. I love humitas. They're a lot like tamales, pero without the lard or stuffings and with a corn/onion combination and they're softer then tamales. I think it's because the corn here is so sweet, but these are super delicious.

6. This is a bakery chain all around Santiago that sells an incredible amount of fresh pastries, breads just out of the oven, prepackaged salads, and empanadas. You open the door to this place and it smells amazing.

7. Different flavor things. You can find lucuma, cherimoya, membrillo flavored juices, piscos, and snacks in the supermarket.

Other things: I'll miss taking a bus 10 minutes outside the city and seeing someone tilling their field with a horse-drawn plow or fields of vineyards. At first I wasn't keen on it, but I'll miss seasons, having to wear a coat, taking (or forgetting) your umbrella when you leave. I'll miss the amazingly efficient Metro system here.

But it's a toss up. I miss LA summers. There are about 20 people in the United States I can't wait to see, hug, sit down with, give quirky presents to. I miss how easy it was to be vegetarian. I miss my runs by the beach and the little ceramics studio I go to with Brigid on Saturday mornings and all the other places around LA I have memories with my friends and family. The Pantry on Sunday mornings with my parents. The Pike/Alex's/Fern's any night of the week with Andy. The endless list of concerts, museums, art exhibits, book readings that make Los Angeles "LA" and doing those things with friends I miss. I miss working! I can't believe I almost left that out of the things I miss. I miss meaningful employment. Waking up and doing something that is important to you (almost) everyday, or at least that contributes to world in some way.

I didn't anticipate feeling torn at all when I left. Just "Hey! It's been a great six months. Peace!" That's not even close to how I feel. It's been a wonderful six months. My connection here is stronger than I'd imagined it would be. A lot of big moments happened here. I'm as sad to leave as I am happy to go home to LA. No sé.

I'll be seeing you all on Monday!

-- Lauren

Chile Game 2 Celebration Pictures.

Plaza Italia where everyone celebrates. The smoke is from people lighting flares.

Stephen and Theodora avoiding the sometimes excitable police.
Our contribution to the festivities. Confetti was everywhere.
People marching toward Plaza Italia.
Women at the clothes store right outside our apartment showing their Chilean pride.

People were hanging out their cars, out taxis, buses, and on the back of trucks with gigantic flags.
Everyone was showing their Chilean pride.






-- Lauren

Pomaire.

A few weeks ago Daniela told me about the small town of Pomaire about an hour's drive from Santiago. I love ceramics, both throwing things of my own and very skillfully made homemade things from other people: especially practical things. In Pomire I was a potter's heaven.

Rather than throw things, women scrape away clay called greda (clearly terra cotta) -- There wasn't a wheel in sight! I am especially keen on handmade ceramic cookware, this is what my crazy projects are meant to look like before they come out very ugly.

And very few things were glazed (the process which gives me the most troubled in my ceramics life). I never even considered not glazing! But I feel like that only works with terra cotta because of the nice red hue, but I can't work with terra cotta because it doesn't have enough sand for me to work with. But I digress. After my Poaire visit I have so many new ideas for projects when I get back into the studio at home.

I couldn't find anyone to travel the distance just to look at some hand-thrown pots, so I took the bus to the bus which landed me in this super cute small pottery town. People here were incredibly nice, even nicer than Chileans normally are. I had some homemade humitas with tomato (think tamales, but without lard or meat and with onions) and watch Brazil barely win against North Korea (surprising).

I guess I thought my bags weren't heavy enough and I bought way too many of these heavy fragil things. They were just so lovely (and cheap), I couldn't resist.

-- Lauren

Not going to Antofagasta/San Pedro.

A mix up with tickets, miscommunication between myself and a LAN representative on the phone (in English), and $140 of nonrefundable ticket money later it turns out I am not going to Antofagasta or San Pedro.

Although the representative on the phone assured me that yes, I was all set to go up north it turns out I'm not. And they won't refund or credit me the money I lost.

I was prepared to read them the riot act marching into an uptown Santiago office this morning (by which I mean, "Um, excuse me, I think there's been a mistake"), but was just turned away with a representative that wouldn't budge.

On the positive side (if there is a positive side):

1. It gives me time to finish things around the house instead of racing to the airport, coming back, getting ride of things/packing, then racing back to the airport.

2. I can see and say goodbye to some friends I won't being seeing for a while.

3. It's another reason why I have to come back to Chile.

I will say that I am very disappointed. I was ready to see some stars, volcanoes, geysers, flamingos, hippies making pisco, but clearly that is meant for another time.

-- Lauren

Antofagasta/San Pedro de Atacama.

For the last hurrah in Chile I'm headed to the north of Chile alone, but I will say I am quite excited. I have 10 days left here, and six of them will be spent either on a bus, plane, or one of the above pictures.

When we headed down here the place I most wanted to visit was Chiloe. It was said to be magical (literally, magical, like with magical creatures). Unfortunately before that became possible the cold set in, I went on my only job here as a translator, and Chiloe became an impossible trip.

Which is when I focused my attention on the also magical, archeologically rich north.

Some things I'm looking forward to/random facts about the north:

--Rain has never been recorded there -- ever.

--There are mummies that predate the mummies of Egypt by centuries.

--The ocean looks gorgeous (in Antofagasta).

--It is said to be the best place to see stars in the world.

-- There are llamas.

--The towns are believed to be 11,000 years old.

--Precolumbian city ruins are 2 miles outside of town -- walkable.

--There are also volcanoes and geysers.

--Places have strange, mystical names like "Valley of the Moon" and "Plain of Patience"

Wish me luck!

-- Lauren

The World Cup.

This is the best shot I got of the crowd. Of course, I haven't charged my camera and it died before we got to the plaza.

Women leaving the bank the work at the cheer on the crowd.

So first of all, CHILE WON!!!!!! WOOO!!

The game started at 7:00 a.m. here, but yesterday you could tell people were ready for the big match. This has been 11 years in the making and after the victory thousands, literally thousands of people flooded the streets, were on the rooftop waving flags, honking their horns, yelling, chanting Chi-chi-chi-le-le-le!!

It's patriotism I have never before seen ever in my life. Roads were closed for all the pedestrians, people were singing the national anthem, everyone was wearing a flag, people were climbing out of their cars, flags were draped over cars. Flags everywhere. Confetti covering the streets, floating from everywhere. It was insanity.

Normally at 7 a.m. the streets of Santiago are more empty than at 3 a.m., but today I woke up before my alarm at 6 a.m. because of all the people honking in anticipation. Some people were excused from work, or their work brought out the big screens for employees and provided beer (at 7 a.m.). Daniela, Stephen, and I watched the game over breakfast, and the commentators were saying that Suazo (a key player kept out because of a bad shoulder) was needed to assist some goals, but Chile won even without Suazo.

We walked to Plaza Italia and the streets were overwhelmed with people. People were spontaneously cueca-ing in the plaza. Today, everyone was all about the Chilean pride! It was incredible to see. People were deliriously happy. Those who had to be at work left to cheer on the crowd or leaned out windows to watch the pandemonium.

But after a few hours, I assumed things would resume to normal. It is a Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., after all. So I went for my usual run down Parque Forestal, where I have to cross Plaza Italia. That's when I saw the police tanks shooting out tear gas down my running path and a group of 10-year-old boys chased me (teasingly. I was never in any danger family in the United States. Don't worry.)

At some point people got out flares, were throwing each other in the air, and the police decided that was enough for game 1. And I have two more matches left to witness (departing June 27, and game 2 is the 21st against Switzerland; game three 25th contra Spain).

Let's hope Chile keeps it up!!!

-- Lauren

El Cuida Autos.

Today is Aneya's last day in the country, and we won't be seeing posts from her for a while, but I still have two weeks in the country and I intend to continue to share all the things I find interesting/different about Chile.

The cuida autos is one of these things. The job of watching over other people's cars in suburban neighborhoods is a common job for homeless people, and I find it totally fascinating.

Car theft or vandalism is very common here, people will take the mirrors off your car and sell them back to you at La Vega (a place that really deserves a post of its own). I actually know someone who had the tires taken off their car during the day while they were in church (in church!) for a few hours.

Usually after dark, someone will come up to your car and slip a little piece of paper under your windshield wipers and you pay them when you return. And it seems that the service isn't optional. You cannot refuse the cuida autos. If there is an homeless person there, you will have to accept these services if you're parking in their area. In suburban neighborhoods! Fascinating.

-- Lauren

Aneya: Lessons Learned from Living in Chile

Adios, Chile! Hola, USA!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. I'll be leaving Chile for good on Monday. Yes, it's partly due to the robbery, and the fact I feel less safe now (not to mention I have no readily available money). And it's also just time to move on. It's sad, but true. Lauren and I were planning to leave in a few weeks anyway, I'm just speeding up the process. I've been thinking a lot about the past 6 months I've spent here, and about all that I've experienced, and most importantly, all that I've learned. Here's a few things I've discovered:

1. I'm not as good at languages as I thought: I've always thought of myself as someone who can catch on to a new language fairly quickly, who has a good ear, a fairly good accent. I learned French quickly in France, why wouldn't the same happen in Chile? Because in France I was 13, and here I'm 23. There's a major difference between learning a language as a kid and as an adult. Yes, my Spanish has greatly improved, but I'm definitely not fluent.

2. I need diversity to live. Diversity in all aspects of society. Racially, religiously, socially. Being in a country as homogenous as Chile has made me realize how much I love the States, just for the diversity of its people.

3. Kindness is relative. Lauren told me the other day she never realized how mean people were in LA until she came to Chile. And it's so true. People here (for the most part) are so warm, kind, compassionate, generous and it's heartening to see. It also makes you realize how rude people are in the U.S. (especially in LA).

4. After visiting Buenos Aires for a week, I came back to Chile with a new appreciation for it's public serves. The streets of Buenos Aires were filthy at night, open garbage bags spilling out onto the street. The buses and metros were older, rustier, and there was no such thing as a Bip! card, you had to use coins (and there was a national shortage of those) which was annoying and time consuming. Being in Buenos Aires reminded me of a what a clean, modern and efficient city Santiago is.

5. Just because people tell you it'll be easy to get a job, doesn't mean it's true. That is a lesson I learned the hard way. Everyone I talked to in the States, in the TEFL program I took, told me how easy it would be to find a job. "Just start speaking English and they'll hire you on the spot!" How wrong they were. Never take anything for granted.

6. I can survive an 8.8 earthquake and live to tell about it. This was another hard lesson to learn, since for a few weeks there Lauren and I were both super sad, lonely and scared. But we never once said we wanted to go home. We fought through our sadness, we joined the Red Cross, we helped where we could, and we moved on. I'm proud of us for that.

7. Being unemployed is fun....until it's not. We tried to make the best of our unemployment, and for a while, we did. We made separate trips to the South, we went to Temuco, we did little trips to Valparaiso, to Vina del Mar, we went to Mendoza, we discovered everything that Santiago had to offer. And then, there was nothing else to do. Our money was running out, and it was getting cold. That's when things slowed down, and we both wished more than anything to get a job. But it never happened. And that's when we realized that being unemployed....kinda sucks.

8. I realized that I cannot date anyone who has the following attributes: self righteous, condescending, misogynistic, self pitying, preachy, extremely stubborn (extremely anything, for that matter) small minded, can't think for themselves, easily influenced, and most importantly: I can't date someone who wants to fundamentally change who I am. Not. Gonna. Happen.

9. This one is really for Lauren: Don't talk to strangers! Just because they look normal, or they look like they need help, doesn't mean you need to be "nice" and talk to them. Just ignore them. It may sound mean, but it can help you avoid ugly situations (such as crazy gypsies attacking you). In other words: Trust no one.

10. And last, but not least. Never, I repeat, NEVER put anything valuable in backpack, in a large city, in any kind of public transportation. If you insist on using a backpack, turn it around so it's facing the front of you (you'll risk looking an idiot, but that's fine. I looked like even MORE of an idiot when my bag was stolen). Also, never let your guard down. Not for ONE minute. Not even when you're exhausted and hungry and completely out of it. Stay alert. As Mad-Eye Moody liked to say "Constant Vigilance!"

All in all, these past 6 months have been an emotional roller-coaster, to say the least. I honestly came to Chile with no expectations, I had no real knowledge of the country and its people, no real agenda (apart from getting a job and exploring). I never would have imaged half the things that happened, both good and bad. I met some amazing people, I experienced both beautiful and sad things, and I lived to tell about it all. What I loved most about this trip has been this blog. It's been our baby, and we nurtured and cared for her as best we could. I hope you all enjoyed reading it, because I truly loved writing it.

Thanks for reading, and so long, for now!

-- Aneya

Aneya & Lauren: Getting Robbed.

Lauren: It's happens to the best of us. In a big city, it's almost expected. And it finally happened to us. On our way back from Buenos Aires, about two blocks from our own front door my better half on this blog, Ms. Aneya Fernando was the victim of a crime. Amid the commotion on the bus when we were least expecting it someone opened her backpack and took her purse.

Aneya: I don't even really know what to say at this point, I'm still in a state of shock. It was especially surprising given that we've been living in this city for the past 5 months, have used the metros and the buses countless times, have had such faith in the people and now....this. It was also weird because we'd just been to Buenos Aires, a city we both found way more intimidating and scary than Santiago. This city was our home, nothing bad could happen here. Right? Wrong.

Lauren: In retrospect, other passengers on the bus were trying to warn us. They were indicating certain passengers with their eyes, silently indicating that we should be aware of these men, but after an exhausting international flight we weren't picking up on these cues. All we wanted was to be back home and someone saw their opportunity and took it.

Aneya: It's hard because I keep reliving the moment and thinking, what I could I have done differently? Well, obviously I shouldn't have put my purse in my backpack. But I was carrying three different bags and I thought I'd be easier. We were exhausted and hungry and just wanted to get home. Lauren asked a man next to her for directions and suddenly three men surrounded us, each of them telling us different things, distracting us. It made us both really uncomfortable and we just wanted to get off the damn bus. People were shoving and pushing and when I finally jumped off Lauren realized my backpack was open. And my purse was gone.

Lauren: And really, things could have been so much worse. It's a terrible feeling to have someone take something from you, get that close to you, but the robber didn't attack Aneya. We got back to our front door unscathed, albeit a few emotional scars. If we were in Buenos Aires, largely unfamiliar with the city and only knowing Eric it would have been far worse. Instead we came back here, to our apartment rather than a hostel and started putting things together. It's a hassle to get all new things, but not the end of the world.

Aneya: I've traveling quite extensively throughout my life and nothing like this has ever happened, it's really quite shattering, emotionally. Of course the material things I can replace, it just sucks because I had more in there than usual, since we were traveling. First of all, the bag itself was Coach (so was the wallet) and not cheap. In the bag was everything I hold dear.

My passport, my wallet (with various credit cards and my American driver's license among other things) my iPhone, my Chilean cell phone, my iPod, my camera, my sunglasses, the book I'd just bought at the airport, my notebook, my keys to the apartment, basically everything that's important to me. The camera really hurts the most, because I took so many beautiful shots of Buenos Aires and I'm never gonna get those back. So that hurts. I mean, it all hurts. And it's a strange feeling to come home and realize you have basically nothing. No identity. No money. It's like I don't exist at all.

Of course, all these things are getting replaced. I've been wired money, so I'm not broke, I made a new set of keys, I'm looking into getting another cheap, Chilean phone. But it's just not the same. Nothing is. I have to go to the Embassy to get a new passport, which I guess is a good thing, since the pages in mine were almost all filled up.

This whole thing just really makes me lose faith in people, and that makes me sad. It also makes me overly anxious and suspicious now and my general attitude towards Chileans has changed. Maybe it's just a temporary thing. I don't know. All I know is I'm never using that damn backpack again.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: Buenos Aires.

Since it's our last month here, we want to spend it doing as much as we can and enjoying our time here. So, for Aneya's birthday we're headed to Buenos Aires for a week. We'll post about all our amazing experiences complete with pictures when we get back.

Below are some of the places we want to visit that are on the itinerary.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Lauren: Coming Home.

So, Aneya and I are definitely coming home at the end of June. Tickets are bought, we've given our notice to our landlady and by the end of June we'll be moving back into summer -- again.

I didn't come to Chile with many expectations. I just wanted a different perspective, to know how feels to live somewhere else, maybe improve my Castellano. But the one thing I did expect was to get a job. I'd been applying to jobs since two months before we moved down here, and I thought undoubtedly, I'd get something. But I didn't.

Instead I got tons of really incredible memories, and I think moving without expectations only made it easier for living here to exceed anything I could have wanted to happen. I've made really good friends, lived through a major catastrophe, traveled all over this skinny country, and yes, improved my speaking and reading quite a bit.

Although Aneya and I initially thought we'd "try to stick it out" at least six months, once we flew by the six month mark we only wanted to stay more. Not having jobs though, really hasn't helped us make this happen.

I'll miss our new friends, and walking down the street and bumping into a 400-year-old building amid towering skyscrapers. I'll miss the libraries in the parks, people doing street art, and the general friendliness Chileans have toward each other that I've never seen in the U.S.

And unlike our initial voyage down here, we can't say that we'll be seeing these things in a short few months, because we don't know when we'll be back. We both have agreed though, that we're coming back. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

I am really sad to leave, but in every way living here has been (almost) entirely wonderful and I'm so glad that we made this happen.

-- Lauren

Aneya: Exotic Destinations

Would this be considered "exotic" to you?

When Lauren and I went to Mendoza we met more Anglos than Argentineans, at least in our hostel. The city is a tourist haven, what with the proximity to beautiful vineyards and all the cheap outdoor activities they offer (in the Andes, no less!) We met Canadians, Australians, Americans and Brits.

The Brits were quite chatty and we got to know two different couples, both of whom had travelled extensively throughout Asia. Lauren and I were shocked. You two went where? Oh, the usual: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia. In Vietnam, the man said, I ate something that gave me a red, itchy rash that lasted the entire month we were there! He laughed about it, but Lauren and I were horrified. Never in a million years would I go to Vietnam on vacation. The thought just wouldn't occur to me.

That's when I realized something. "Exotic" means something completely different to different nationalities. For Brits, an exotic vacation would be somewhere in Asia. The other couple we met had gone on a similar route, but after Thailand had gone on to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and then Chile. (That end of the trip sounds great!) They told us that Brits love visiting Asian countries, because everything is so cheap, the landscape is beautiful, and it's always an adventure (to say the least).

To the average American, I'd say an "exotic" destination would be somewhere in Europe. The Greek Isles, the South of France, Tuscany, maybe Amsterdam, for the young ones who've heard the tantalizing rumors about it. Even England itself is exotic, for middle Americans that have never left Ohio. I can't imagine an American saying they'd rather go to Katmandu than London. It's just a different mentality altogether.

And what about South Americans? What's exotic to them? I'm gonna say anything North. The farther, the better. I've met a number of Chileans who have traveled to Canada, which I found odd (What's there to do in Canada?) Hey, at least it's far! Going anywhere in the U.S. is also exotic, as is Nordic countries in Europe.

It's interesting to realize that not everyone travels the same. Those Brits we met? They had taken a year off from work and were traveling the world, trying to hit up as many countries as possible. Although that sounds cool, it also sounds exhausting, expensive and downright stressful. Lauren and I both agreed we'd rather do it in bits and pieces, split it up and really take our time in each country. Hopefully, one day, we will.

-- Aneya

Aneya & Lauren: What We're Reading [part 3].

Aneya: Going back to that picture we took of all our books, you can clearly see not one, not two, but three Jodi Picoult titles in the mix. Anyone who knows Lauren I'm sure figured they weren't hers, as she's more of a "high brow" reader that that. Well, it's true, they're mine. And I'm not ashamed. A lot of people assume Picoult writes popular chick lit fluff, plane reads if you will, and it's simply not true. I used to read a ton of chick lit back in the day (I especially loved Irish authors like Maeve Binchy and Brits like Jane Green) so I know what that genre is all about. And Picoult is not that.

Yes, she writes about love and relationships, about families and dramas and betrayals. But she also tackles highly controversial subjects such as euthanasia, sexual abuse, pedophiles, stem cell research, school shootings and teen suicide, among others. Picoult is an amazing storyteller above all else, each book is suspenseful, a page turner, a mystery and she keeps the reader intrigued until the very end. She weaves in and out of different narratives, she always creates realistic, flawed characters you can relate to. Her writing is often beautiful, lyrical and set in her native New England.

Anyway, my favorite out of the three that I brought is, without a doubt, The Pact. It's one of her older ones, and it's a classic. A teenage love story, between two people brought up basically as brother and sister. Their parents lived across the street from one another and Emily and Chris were inseparable from a young age. They become a couple in high school and then one day, the unthinkable happens. Emily is found dead, shot to death by her boyfriend, Chris, in what appears to be an apparent suicide pact that didn't go through. The book is suspenseful, a page turner, heartbreaking and at the same time, maddening. It's written with compassion and grace and is one of her finest to date.

Lauren: So I've started reading What is the What and am really enjoying it ... if you can really enjoy a book about genocide and ethnic cleansing. It super captures the voice of Valentino, the Sudanese refugee living in the U.S. and gives a lot of history and background into the conflict in Sudan, tracing tensions between the Arabs and Dinka back to independence from British imperialism in 1953 while still having a very narrative tone.

It's one of the few books that I actually stay up until 2 a.m. just to squeeze in a few more pages. Usually if I try to read anything after 10 p.m. I'm out like a light.

Something else I've read recently from the Chilean newspaper La Tercera is that carpooling is getting big in popularity in Chile. The article goes on to explain to people what carpooling is ("when you share your car to go to work," the deck says) and says that it became popular with college students. Now that they've graduated, they've taken sharing their cars to their professional life. I was just flabbergasted that people here didn't know what that was, AND that it's just becoming popular now.

I also saw in El Mercurio that bullying in Chilean schools has recently shot up, with a third of children in primary school saying they've been victims of bullying -- which El Mercurio explains is triple the number then in Switzerland and double the number for bullying in Canada. The piece they did was really great, super thorough.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Lauren: Paying bills.

Another thing that was totally new to me here: how to pay bills. In Chile you pay your bills in person; it's not even possible to write a check and send it off in the mail.

I actually prefer this because you walk in, see the money leave, and have a receipt stapled to your bill when you leave. You don't have to worry about it getting lost in the mail, the page having a "server error," or something going wrong. You walk in, talk to someone, and know it's taken care of.

All around the city there are these ServiPags where you pay for all your services, gas, electricity, water, you can charge your metro commuter card, charge your phone (I think), and I think some places let you pay your communal costs for your building here, although ours requires us to go to a bank and pay.

This really saved Aneya and I because it's impossible to get a bank account here without five pay stubs (which is impossible to get without a visa), so we never got Chilean bank accounts.

-- Lauren

Aneya: Love Letter to Chile?

Is this the t-shirt I'll be wearing home? (It's kinda cute, so maybe....)

Lauren and I were going through some of our old blog entries the other day (we're almost to 150, can you believe it? Go us!) and we realized that sometimes our blog sounds like one big love letter to Chile. And to be fair, we do love lots of things about this amazing country, and its people. We've talked extensively about their incredibly efficient public transportation system (the regional buses, the metropolitan buses, the metros) about the great free public services the city has to offer (free dance class in the park! piano stairs at the metro!) We've talked about how much we love the kind, caring people of this land. We've talked about how much we love our neighborhood (especially the bars around us). But that's not to say that Chile is perfect. Far from it.

There are some things I can't stand about Santiago: the noise, the smog, the pollution, the endless traffic, the fact that every bus and metro is packed to the limit with sweaty Chileans. The very distinct class barriers (the rich, white Chileans live up near the Andes, the poor ones and the Peruvians live downtown). The jotes (those guys that like to holler), while sometimes amusing, can be downright frightening for a girl walking by herself at night. The strip clubs, although also amusing, can be an eyesore (and right next a church? Really?)

The men here can't seem to take a joke, and they really don't like being called gay. That is the worst possible thing to say to a man here. And of course the gay and lesbian community have absolutely no rights here, even women are treated unequally at times. Like Lauren said, sometimes this place reminds us of America in the 1950s, and although some things are nice (the chivalry) others are not (the constant smoking, the oppression of women).

Another thing I really can't stand is the homogeny here. Not only does everyone look the same, but everyone shares the same religion (Christianity, of course). The conservative nature of Christianity really permeates the culture in a way I've never experienced before. I've never been told how much to drink by a man, or how I'm supposed to behave. I've never been segregated because of my spirituality, never been told I'm not good enough because I don't share the same religious beliefs as someone else. It's a strange thing to experience, and although I've met lots of really nice, easygoing Christians, I've also met a fair share of indignant, self righteous ones that I'd rather not be around.

Every country has their good and bad qualities, not just Chile. I would never say that the U.S. is perfect, it's far from it, in fact. But I still love it, I still call it my home. I have to say though, the good does outweigh the bad here in Chile. This has been such an eye opening experience, I knew it would be different from living in France, but I didn't know just how much Chile would change me. But it has. And I'm happy it did.

-- Aneya

Aneya: Time

Time is a funny thing. In high school, time seemed to drag by at a glacial pace. The fact that my high school in France had the longest school day in the history of the world (8:30 -5:30) didn't help. But everything just seemed so slooooow. When am I gonna leave this wretched place? When do I get to move out, be on my own, be independent, be free? When is this torturous school year finally over? And then, one day, it was. Exams were done, the pool was open, I was ready to spread my proverbial wings and fly. And that I did. All the way to California.

Once I got to La-La Land everything seemed to go by in a blink. I don't know if it's the pacing of university or being surrounded by new friends your very first day. But with a blink of an eye it's already the end of sophomore year, and you can't remember how you got there.

Traveling, of course, screws up your sense of time completely. "What day is it?" "What time is it here?" "What the hell does 19:25 mean?" Trips are never long enough, and you can't believe it's been 2 weeks already and you have to pack it in. This extended journey, on the other hand, didn't have that problem, as we had no return date. Time is a funny thing. Usually, if you're unemployed, you have no rhythm, or schedule to your everyday life. You just kind of float about, and it can make the days seem endless.

These past few months in Chile have gone by so fast, Lauren and I really can't believe it. Especially since we haven't had a steady job this whole time. But we've been on the move constantly (if you recall) traveling and meeting people, experiencing everything we can. It's been an amazing journey, one I wouldn't change for the world, I only wish we had more time. This past month of May has been the slowest, because we haven't been doing much of anything, just hanging around Santiago, trying to save our money (which is no fun at all).

But we realized that we don't want to be in trapped in our apartment, doing nothing for the rest of our time in Chile. We want to be out there, experiencing all this incredibly country has to offer. So next month (which will, sadly, be our last) we're going out with a bang! We're going to cram in as much activity in one month as humanly possible. Because when we leave this place we want to know we did as much as we could, with the resources we had.

Like I said, time is a funny thing. Sometimes I wish she'd just stop, for a moment, and let us all be.

-- Aneya

Aneya: Making Friends

Making friends already! And they're all Chilean! (Except Stephen).

A couple weeks after the earthquake, my mom was concerned about me. Not because of the constant, terrifying aftershocks, or the tsunami warnings or the lack of food. No, she was concerned because she realized that all I really had in this country was Lauren. Of course, I had Daniela to lean on too. But she was busy helping her own family calm down, and working for World Vision. To be in a foreign land, all by yourself, after a major natural disaster is a really scary experience. Not having your family or friends to reassure you that everything's going to be ok. Of course I was skyping both my parents constantly, and all my worried friends were taking over my Facebook wall. But still. It's not the same as having them all here in person.

"You need to go make some friends, Aneya" My mom said to me one day, on the phone. "You and Lauren are too isolated, you'll drive each other crazy, soon enough. You should take a Spanish class, or find some Anglo hang outs. Something! Start going out again. You need this, you shouldn't be cooped up in the house all day, it's not good for you."

She was right. Lauren and I were, frankly, kind of scared to leave the house. What if debris and pieces of buildings fell on us, and killed us? What if there was another big aftershock, what if what if what if. But finally, we decided to venture out, and we never looked back.

I've been thinking about my mom's words now, months later. When you're traveling with a friend, it's easy to cling to them and only them, and not really want to branch out. But it's not healthy! It was then that we made a conscious decision to try harder.

On St.Patrick's Day we went to the quintessential Anglo hangout, California Bar, and where we met with more young, blonde, American girls than I'd ever seen. We chatted and laughed and drank beer. Lauren and I couldn't get over it. These girls? In Chile? They all had that, ditzy valley girl way of speaking, and most of them seemed extremely annoying. That's when we realized something: we didn't want to meet the same, boring girls we could meet in the US. We wanted to befriend Chileans! And that we did.

Since then, we've made many friends, some Chilean, some not. We don't see them all the time, and yes, it's still mostly just Lauren and I. But I realized something. Making friends is not that easy. It takes a certain amount of effort and you have to leave your pride at the door. When I met one special friend, he immediately introduced me to a whole network of people, and they all greeted me with open arms, even if my Spanish wasn't up to par. It was scary, but completely worth it in the end.

-- Aneya

Lauren: Noise.

Today is May 21, Navy Day in Chile, and probably for the first time since we've lived here it's quite outside. Living between Bellas Artes and Centro we have the best (and worst) of both worlds. We're close to everything, but it is incredibly noisy. So noisy, that it's hard to sleep at night and the noise is the first thing that wakes me up in the morning. The loud buses, the people rushing off to work. And strangely being near the "fine arts" district, there are a lot of flute players and drummers who play deafening music we can clearly hear even from the 10th floor.

Navy Day in Chile is the day Chile conquered over colluding Peru and Bolivia, and I noticed this morning that there was no noise waking me up. I looked outside and it looked almost apocalyptic; no one in sight. It was scary actually. Did everyone else know something we didn't? Was there an evacuation of the city? No, it's Navy Day the first quiet day of the year. Even the kiltros seem to be taking it easy.

Among the astonishing noises we've heard while living here (not including our awful upstairs neighbor who drills holes at 11 p.m. and moves furniture until 1 a.m.), are the people in the streets before a futbol match, especially Colo-Colo fans.

One time I heard drumming and shouting, and thought it might be a drummer with his fluted friend walking down the street, when I saw that the noise was coming from inside a bus. Colo-Colo fans were banging things, waving flags out the window, and at least two of them were on the roof of the bus waving gigantic flags. This I couldn't believe.

If that had happened anywhere in the States, the bus driver would pull over and the person on the bus would be arrested, but not here. The bus continued speeding down the street, seemingly oblivious to the crazed soccer fan on the roof.

-- Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: Getting Cable.

Lauren: We've already talked about how hard it is to get a package, but we've had other difficulties in doing even the most basic things, one of which is getting cable.

Aneya: And we're not talking about TV cable. We figured we'd be out and about all the time, we wouldn't even have time to watch TV (How wrong we were). No, this was only for the internet, and a landline phone (which I eventually had to unplug from the wall, since all the calls were tele-marketers asking for Daniela, and they were driving me crazy!)

Lauren: Because we do not have a RUT we cannot sign up for almost anything, including cable. So we needed to share Daniela's (which was very generous of her). Chileans are in no way punctual, so our first waiting for the cable guy took nine hours, more than a full day at work of just waiting in at house without internet, and a TV that has 4 barely visible channels. It was excruciating.

Aneya: Just not having Wi-Fi is excruciating, for an internet junkie like myself. We waited around all day for the guy to come, and then there was a big mix up, because we had accidentally set up two accounts! So a MovieStar guy arrives, and we were so excited. Finally! But he strangely hasn't brought any tools. Turns out, it was the wrong guy. Oh, the torture.

Lauren: The first time all three of us were necessary because Aneya and I had to make the decisions of where to put the cable, sign the form, Daniela had her RUT, and we both talked to the guy. Then we had to wait for the cable guy at Daniela and Stephen's house. Another five hours, although this was broken up into two more manageable days. I was there to talk to the guy, Stephen was there to make the major decisions, and Aneya was there to keep us both company. Basically if any one of us had full-time employment getting WiFi would be totally impossible.

Aneya: The second time was even worse, because the guy had such an attitude! When he finally did arrive (just in time, he said between 2-6, he arrived promptly at 6. Lauren and I had brought over many snacks, movies and reading materials, because we knew it would take all day. And it did!) The guy gave Stephen's MacBook a look of disgust, then walkie-talkied his friend to tell him his bad misfortune. "He has a Mac" he sighed. Well, we knew this couldn't be good. He drilled into the wall, stomped around and generally made a mess, then told us he'd have to come back in the morning. What?! Thank god he actually did arrive in the morning, with his friend in tow, and they eventually did the impossible- their job. Oh, the things we do for WiFi.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: What We're Reading [part 2].

Lauren: We didn't plan this in any way, but for some reason we went Dave Eggers crazy and are both reading books that he either edited (me) or wrote (Aneya). I've always been a big reader, but this year (possibly because of unemployment) I've read so many books, articles, short stories, you name it.

I loved The Black Book, an amazing story about a man looking for his wife who left him in Istanbul, very dark, and Angle of Repose was another highlight of this year -- a really well-written story paralleling the "angle of repose" of a marriage in the 1880s to one set today. Really beautiful.

The Best American Nonrequired Reading of 2006 was in one of The Boxes we received from my parents, and I was super skeptical. For some reason, I often have a really hard time with short stories; except for a very small number of authors I usually can't read short story compilations, which I wanted to change and this may be the book that changed that. There are so many really powerful, one chapter stories in here including the Iraqi constitution! I was amazed to see how progressive it is, stipulating that women hold 1/5 of the legislative offices, and provides healthcare and primary education to all Iraqis! Incredible! And the beginning is very poetically written, which also surprised me; I don't really associate constitutions with florid language.

Aneya: I, too, have read many a book since the year began. Part of it is because I'm unemployed, part of it being we have no TV, so our only entertainment is the internet (which, I'll admit, takes up much of my day) and reading books.

One of the first books I asked for was Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky. This was such a beautiful book, depicting France during WW2. Usually I don't like "war" novels, but this one really wasn't about the war at all- it was about the people of France. The first part deals with the mass exodus out of Paris after the first bombing takes place. Nemirovsky effortlessly switches narrative, from a narcissistic writer to a innocent, and idiot fourteen year old boy. From an uppity mother to a poor, working class couple. She takes all these characters and makes them real, relatable, and so honest, there's no sugarcoating anything here. It's unsentimental, but not in a bad way. It's real, and it feels so tangible.

The second part deals with a small, Nazi occupied town in rural France. The townspeople suddenly have to live amongst the enemy, and they realize that the caricatures they created about Nazi soldiers may not be completely accurate. The delicate dance between hating the enemy and relating to another human being is told with subtlety and compassion. In any case, it's an extraordinary book, one of the best I've read this year. Buy it!

As far as What is the What is concerned, I haven't actually finished it yet, so I don't want to write too much. Suffice to say, it's Dave Eggers, which means the writing is beautiful and poignant, and the story is an important one (Zeitoun, anyone?) It actually reminds me of Zeitoun in a way, because he's writing someone else's incredible life story. This one is about Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese immigrant, and his struggles, becoming one of the "Lost Boys" at age 7, fleeing his homeland, walking for months and living in refugee camps for over 10 years of his life. I know all this sounds super heavy (and it is) but Eggers brings humor and joy to a story that could be a complete downer. It's also a story of redemption and second chances, and I'm hoping it has a happy ending. Because this guy deserves it.

-- Aneya & Lauren