sorry dog

I just saw a street dog get run over by a car. It has surprised me that I haven't seen it before. Those dogs are everywhere and it's not like the cars look out for them or try to dodge them at all. Well, now I've seen it and I hope I don't have to again. Sad.

I went into the office yesterday, it being Monday an all. The internet was still not working, I'm getting pretty sick of that place.
Me and Dylan are planning on leaving for Puerto Natales tomorrow, to do a 3 or 4 day hiking trip over new years in Torres del Paine National Park. The park and the mountains there is pretty much what this area is known for so we figured we had to go see it before we left. And I think we will be leaving here before too long. We were planning on staying untill the end of January but for different reasons we will probably head out a little sooner than that.

So, unless I don't write again this year; Happy New Year peoples!

Annandag annorstädes

I don't want to be a Grinch, constantly complaining about the summer x-mas, so I will try and just tell you what has been going on without much fuss. Christmas eve, after the caroling, we went back to the little house (where we live with Jaime & Feliepe) and started cooking. The night before me and Dylan had been asked to bring some appetizers to the big dinner, so we made baba ganoush and bacon & palmito rolls. Jamie made three different kinds of desserts and Randy made a Spanish tortilla. We were here cooking untill 9:30 or so, dinner was suppose to be at 8 so we were right on (Chilean) time. Then in the big house we had a huge family dinner, there was so much food some dishes were not even touched. It was all delicious, I didn't eat the lamb or turkey of course but there was plenty of other stuff...potatoes, breads, casseroles, cous cous with corn and avocado....we were all stuffed.

Then it was just like new years, a countdown for midnight. 3,2,1...Feliz Navidad!! And everyone got up and walked around the table, face kissing and huging each other. We had tea and coffee with some cookies and chocolates and then moved into the family room and opned our gifts by the tree. It was all very nice and then we went back to our little house to go to bed around 1:30 am or so.

Yesterday the family had a big get together at their other grandpa's house but me and Dylan decided not to intrude and stayed here. Unfortunatly all the delicious leftovers were locked up in the big house so we missed out on that feast....
It was a long and lonely christmas day and I really wished I had been somewhere else. Anyways, next year.
Basically we had a really good christmas but it was really short. Tonight we might be meeting up with Randy and Juri and hopefully do something fun. I wish I was home though, today is the big homecomming night in Umeå and everybody who's home for the hollidays goes out.

Feliz Navidad!

It's funny, at home Christmas is over and in the US it's not untill tomorrow. I have talked to my family and Dylan has called his grandma. It's 5 pm here and we're cooking, wrapping the last gifts and getting ready for the big dinner. Feliepe brought 5 lambs with him from his work (the slaughter house) and they're just laying out on our floor now, headless, skinless and lifeless. It does not look appetizing to me at all, but other people are drooling all over the carcasses.
Earlier today we did go and watch the choirs, which was nice and did make it feel more like christmas. Feliz Navidad para todos!

Candy and carols

Christmas tomorrow, I hardly expect the long lost Christmas feelings to suddenly appear before then, but I still look forward to dinner and a nice evening with the Twymans. I may even drag Dylan with me to watch an American boys choir that will perform Christmas carols at Plaza del Armas, downtown at noon tomorrow. At home, we always go to church at noon on christmas eve, and I'd like to hear some carols.

We now have all the presents ready, I just have to wrap them. Since we figured Mama & Papa Twyman already have so much stuff and there's not really anything we could get them that they couldn't just get themselves, I brought out my inner Martha Stewart and made candy yesterday. Three different kinds, Polkabark, Dumbo's kisses and peanut&cookie clusters.

The Polkabark is a simplified version of Ataharis recipie since I couldn't find all the ingridients. It's just melted dark chocolate with chrushed candy canes that you spread out pretty thin, let harden and then break into pieces. Dumbo's kisses I made since Dylan really likes peanuts and they turned out nice (I let D try one), but it almost made me sick having to deal with so much peanut smell making them... It's chocolates with peanutbutter inside and chopped peanuts on top. And the clusters I just made since I had left over chocolate, peanuts and crushed cookie pieces in chocolate. I bought a nice white trey to put it all on and red ribbons to go around. I hope they will like it.

time alone, together & apart

My weekend that was to spent all alone has so far presented itself with a surprising amount of company. Friday I went into the office for a few hours, and then ended up having dinner with Dave and Paulina, two of the people who work there and live in the house where Nómadas throw all their little slaves together. We made tacos and I think it was good to get to hang out outside the office and get to know each other a little better. I have so far been under the impression that Paulina doesn’t like me much, but the other night we were talking and now maybe we can chat a little in the office too, which would be nice.

Yesterday I worked at the Hotel. It was slow and peaceful as usual, untill the end of my shift when Pamela (I guess she’s kind of my boss since she’s the only one who knows a little English and therefor the one I take orders from) came in with her son. He was a 24-year old psychology student, just home from the university in Santiago and he spoke English. Pamela made us tea and we sat and talked for about an hour. Afterwards I felt like he had crawled into my brain and taken a big dump. Maybe he was just playing some reversed mind game that is supposed to make people feel 100% unpleasant, but if not I feel truly sorry for whoever is going to seek counseling from him in the future.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactely what it was that made the conversation so disturbing. For example, he asked about my favourite movies, but by stating “Titanic is the best movie ever, yes?” And when I said “you, think so?” he just smiled this freaking anoying smile and said “no, but this is not about me.”
He asked if my face got red or if I got very sweaty when I exercised. He said, not asked, said that my dream job was to be a secretary. And it went on and on. Every time I tried to make the conversation a dialouge instead on an interrogation, he just dodged my question and threw it back in my face.

It was like he was really trying to piss me off, and he certainly did, I just don’t know why. And I really like Pamela, she is the sweetest lady ever who always makes me tea and brings me snacks and refers to everyone as her little angels. So I didn’t want to get in an argument with her son where I would not doubt end calling him an asshole or something worse.

So when I was walking back to the house, I was really looking forward to a night all by myself. But as I’m in the backyard watering the grass, this random guy appears from the house where I live and says “Hello, my name is Jorge and I will be sleeping here tonight” I was definitly surprised, but he had keys for the house and explained he was Feliepe’s friend who was in town for buisness and had an early flight to catch in the morning and Feliepe had offered him to sleep in our (well, his) house. So, instead of quality time with me, I got to learn about slaughter houses (Jorge and Feliepe both work in the meat buisness), family companies and the pressure of being a young boss. Since Pamela had brought me dinner to take home and eat, I just told Jorge to help himself to whatever he wanted in the kitchen and opened a random, cheap bottle of wine. He made a sandwich and then told me he dreamt about opening his own restaurant and that food and wine were his biggest passions in life....”well, you’re welcome for the sandwich and the 4 dollar wine” I said and felt like an excellent hostess.

He was nice though, and it’s always interesting to hear about worlds that are so different from your own.

Today, I am actually alone so far. I plan on taking a walk to the one mall that’s open on Sundays and look for some presents. Dylan and Randy should be back tomorrow. I hope they’re having a good time. I know I said spending a few days apart would be good for me and D, and it probably is. But I was ready for him to come back Friday night.

Don't forget the sun screen

Dylan and Randy left for a weekend hiking trip early this morning. When I woke up, left at the house were: Randy's boots, both their hats, Dylan's sun glasses and the candy bars. The sun screen was gone though, so that's something.

I work at Ilaia (the Yoga Hotel) tomorrow so I'm staying put in Punta Arenas. Also, I think it will be good for the two of them to spend some man time together and me and Dylan a few days apart just to get something new to talk about.

Giving it back to the Twymans

This is post number 100 on this blog! Just wanted to mention it. Now we can stop celebrating.

I just cut Dylan's hair. He's been wanting to get it done for a long time but didn´t want to go to a hair dresser and we didn't have any scissors, untill last night when Jaime presented a pair. So now he is in the shower and it looks like a sheep got naked on our floor.

Yesterday we got Jamie & Feliepe an early X-mas present, a sprinkler for their new lawn which they have to water every night. We bought it at the hardwear store that mr Twyman owns and where Jamie also works. Damn thing broke when Dylan was going to install it, but hey...no big deal, Jamie just took it back with her when she left for work this morning. We also got a nice leash for walking Ljuiba, that is going to be the gift for Christmas day. We bought it at the pet store that the family also owns...this way it's like we're doubble giving.

Gifts, gifts, gifts....

I'm afraid we're going to be recieving some gifts this Christmas. This means we will feel very bad if we don't present gifts for the people giving us gifts. And this, in turn means that with Christmas being less than 10 days away we have to start figuring out what to do about this.

All of this, I realized last night as Dylan and Randy were planning a hiking trip. They went to bed, early this morning after having decided to leave Wednesday (that would be tomorrow) and come back late Christmas eve. Grand plan boys, as always. That would have meant I would have had to do all the gift shopping on my own. Not that I mind the running around in stores part, that's fun. But figuring out what to get for people you don't really know just because you're having dinner at their house and you're afraid they might be getting something for you....that's not fun. But me not going along on this hiking expedition would have been my own choice and therefor I couldn't really complain.

Anyways, now the plans have changed. I'm telling you, it's like everytime someone sneezes in Chile, ten other people change their minds. So I don't know when/if they're going to go, but I want to get moving on this Christmas shopping asap so it doesn't have to be a last minute deal I'm stuck with alone.

And all I really want for Christmas is darkness and snow. Can't wait till next year when I hope to have both these key ingredients. Family, I suppose, would be really nice too... but darkness and snow, that's what I miss right now.

it's better to kill the time than the boss

This has so far been a pretty crappy Monday. Since I worked at the Yoga Hotel Friday and didn’t come into the office, the boss wanted to meet with me “early” Monday morning to discuss future project. In an office at home that would probably mean around 8, so I figured 9 would be considered early in South America. Sure enough, I was here at 9 and got to meet with the scatter brain at 9:30, only to find she was busy so later would be better. I told her I’d be in front of the computer and just to come find me and she said she would. I caught her at 1 pm, as she was rushing off to a meeting. She told me to come back from my lunch early so we could talk before her next meeting at 4. I did so, came back at 3 only to find she hadn’t had her lunch yet. Again, I said I’d be at my desk and to come get me whenever it was a good time for her to have this meeting. She said she would. I sat at my desk and for the first 45 minutes the internet didn’t work. It’s almost 6 now and still no meeting. I don’t really care though, if they want to give me more work, I’ll do it, but if not….hey, that’s fine with me.

I’ve gotten two positive responses from adventure magazines who want to print my features and I also got one interview lined up today. So I guess it hasn’t been an all crappy day.

And come Wednesday, almost everyone at the office (at least all the people in charge) will be gone on a 14 day expedition so then I’m going to start working more from home instead of sitting here waiting for people who only notice you when you’re gone. Dylan was here this morning, 4 hours in front of the computer without anyone saying more than “Buenos Dias” to him. When he didn’t come back after lunch, immediately I get “where’s Dylan?”

Now it probably sounds like I don’t like this place at all, which is not the case. I just feel like it’s their job to keep me busy and if they don’t I will just work on helping myself getting published. In that sense it’s a fair trade I guess….they need me to write their stuff and I need them to get my articles published.

a slow summer saturday

Dylan is still sleeping and I just watered the lawn. It's getting more and like summer every day and I can't really say that I like it...it just feels wrong when you're trying to get in the christmas spirit. My brother called and got me out of bed this morning. I haven't heard from him in a long time, so that was the perfect start of the day. The rest of the day will be slow though, I have a feeling. We went out with Adrien from the office last night and I went home at 3 or so, but Dylan stayed out later. Not sure when he came back. They were having a long and serious discussion about soccer and FIFA when I left, which is also why I left.

But when/if he actually gets out of bed I'm going to try and listen to some of the Spanish DVDs his parents sent us. Their care package arrived yesterday, muchos gracias.

My work day at Ilaia, the Yoga Hotel, yesterday was something else. Basically I have gone from paying for Spanish classes (the two classes I took in Peru) to getting them for free at the coffee shop to actually get paid to learn. Because that's kind of what this job is. Officially I work at the front desk, but since my Spanish is not good enough to be there by myself there is always someone else there too. What they want from me is basically English, nobody there speaks it very well so I have to do some translating, write e-mails, confirm with foreign guests... all the while being served organic tea, home made scones and marmelade. And I'm forced to use my Spanish, however bad it is, so it's good for my learning.

But this place, yeah....it's really out there, spiritually speaking. In a nice and not at all freaky way, but still, very out there. The lady I worked with yesterday said she could tell from my aura that I was a vegetarian because people who consume animals have a more aggressive energy. She also lays a hand on whoever she is speaking to, in order to conect through more than words. When my shift was over she said that my spirit was welcome in the Ilaia family and that my energy would be with them even after I left... maybe that's why I'm tired today, because my energy is left at the hotel?

This is from Monday night´s dinner. Randy, the parents and some friends came over. Jaime is a really good cook and I like helping her out in the kitchen. It´s perfect cause I get to feel like I´m making all these complicated dishes, but really I´m just chopping, peeling and doing what I´m told. I did pretty much make everything that´s on the table though, the couscous, the bread and I set the table. The first dinner with x-mas napkins for this year.

Now I´m on my way to work at the Laughing Yoga Hostel for the first time. Hahahaha....I´m prepared.

(no) X-mas in the sun

Jaime brought in the christmas tree today and now we´re trying to put it together. It´s like a puzzle. The stem has different coloured holes and the branches different coloured ends to go in it. I still have zero christmas feeling, today at the grocery store they did play a funky latino cover of Jingle Bells, but that didn´t quite do it. Summer vacation started Monday and when the sun in still shining at 9:30 in the evening...why put up x-mas lights or light candles?
I hope I´m somewhere dark and snowy next year.

Yesterday we went hiking with Randy and Feliepe up Mount Tarn. It was freezing cold and really, really windy. But hey, if Darwin could do it....
I was kind of hoping to see a carving on a tree or something saying "Darwin was here" but no such luck.

Ok, now I´m going to help decorate the tree.

Squeezed in at the office

Dylan called and talked to people at the immigration office this morning. What’s positive in this big pile of crap is that now, having waited so long and paid so much money, we actually get to talk to people when we call. It used to be answering machines, or at best, people at the wrong office who had no idea who we were or where our case file might be. This morning we got a lady who actually knew her job and explained to us what all was missing from our file. It still feels a long ways away and like we have a lot more hoops to jump through, but, it’s not completely impossible that we might actually get to live in the same country one day, both being able to work. Imagine that.

Dylan decided to stay home today, organizing our paper work and trying to make sure we had copies of all the right stuff. I’m lucky he still has energy to do this; my brain starts over heating just thinking about it.

So I went to the Nòmadas office, where we “work” now, explaining that he had to wait by the phone expecting a very important phone call from the US . I’m working on a press release that should go out this week if I can get their contact lists in order. Non-profits are great, but working for them you have to have a lot of patience as most things are so un-organized they make me feel like the office rain-man.

Tomorrow is a catholic holiday so the office will be closed. I think it’s virgin Mary’s day or something of the sort. I don’t really care, but I will try and think some catholic thoughts. In Sweden, this would have been a "klämdag" a squeeze day, which is a work day squeezed in between two days off. Nobody likes to be squeezed, not even days, so we always let them off. I have tried to explain this concept to both Americans and Chileans, and while they all seem to think it's a great invention, I don't think they quite understand how percectly logical it is.

first no news then bad news

We got an e-mail from the US immigration services today. I used to think there was a possibility, maybe even likely, that I´d have my Green Card in March and be able to go the US with Dylan. But I don´t anymore.
It´s too much bullshit to write it all down, too much to take in. Every single think we send in we have to send in again and now they want the originals. One of the forms we sent in months ago we now have to fill out again because appearantly we didn´t use black or blue ink (!?!) Which of course we did. But it´s too rediculous. Too much.

Dylan is pissed off, walking around slaming doors and waiting for their phone hours to begin so he can call them. I have no anger left. I have been so mad, stressed, nervous about this whole ordeal for so long, that I´m just done. I guess I will start looking for jobs back home. This just doesn´t seem like it´s meant to be. I don´t know.

Laughing all the way to work

So much can change in two days. And it has. Well, the sky is still blue and the water in the toilet still swirls the wrong way so it´s not like we´re not still upside down down here, but there has been some changes.

The people we had Thanksgiving dinner with last Thursday all work for this non-profit called Nomadas whose main focus is to organize an adventure race(http://patagonianexpeditionrace.com/) every year. The French guy who invited us to dinner is doing an internship there and met Dylan playing soccer and well, yeah.....at dinner we met pretty much the rest of the staff. Then I e-mailed them this week, asking if they needed any help, volounters, whatever, and I had an interview yesterday and started today. Dylan had his interview today and starts tomorrow. The arrangements are not really finalized yet. I doubt we´ll get paid, the budget is really tight and any profits made goes directly to a saving the wildlife fund. But the experience and a few lines on my resume together with a letter of recomendation would be enough for me. It´s not like I´m going to commit to a full time, 40 hours a week if I don´t get paid anything, but we both have a meeting with the boss tomorrow morning so we´ll probably figure it out then.
It´s good. Something to do and new people to meet.

And as if that wasn´t enough... Randy came back from Puerto Williams today and I had not been home for 20 minutes before he took me to this Laughing Yoga Spa & Hostel (seriously...) that some old collegues of his have opened down town. I tried to tell him I was not really looking for work anymore, but somehow I ended up leaving there with a promise of filling in for the receptionist when needed. We´ll see what happens with that, maybe they won´t need me at all. Laughing Yoga.... I need to learn better Spanish so I can speak for myself.

Thursday night. We´re about to watch Let the right one in, the Swedish nomine for the Oscars. I kind of liked the book, so I´m excited. Although at this point I would be excited about a documentery about mud as long as it was in Swedish.
And then work again tomorrow. What a strange feeling.

Fancy gifts and cold Swedes

Tuesday night. We´re sitting in the new living room, Dylan is watching TV and Jaime is in the kitchen, trying to find room for all the newly deliverd and unpacked wedding gifts. We always had a living room, but as of this weekend we actually spend time in it since it now has a coach, three comfy chairs, a rug and a wide screen tv. Considering how lavish their wedding was, I shoudn´t be surprised over the gifts they recieved, but it´s hard not to be. Wide screens (I think I already mentioned they got two), furniture (BIG furniture), fancy kitchen apparel, art, electronic stuff...

Yeah, it´s a different world. I´m still very excited about the muffin pan we got for our wedding. When we actually have a kitchen I´m making muffins like nobody´s buisness. Blueberry, cranberry/almond, chocolate, raisin/bran, you name it. And to go with the muffins, smoothies from our new blender. One day, in Ecuador I think it was, me and Dylan were sitting in an internet café, surfing away both kind of tired of the nomadic life style. We had a gift certificate at amazon.com and ended up bying a blender and a vaccum cleaner for our future and hopefully not too distant life in one place. It really cheared us up, too. I never though bying a vaccum clearner would make me so happy. Kudos to Dana and Darryl for storing our stuff...

Today Dylan came with me to the coffee shop for the first time. They have started showing movies there and I brought ginger bread from my care package and we had coffee and ginger bread while watching Angels & Demons. It was pretty good, I think I understood almost 75% of what happened. Subtitels in Spanish and low volume at a café is not the best setting for understanding a plot....

The people at the coffee shop are cool. Sometimes I pay for my tea or coffee, but they never ask me too and when I try most of the time they won´t let me. Being accepted as one of the group gets me free beverages but also requires me to cheak-kiss everone every time I come and every time I leave. I´m getting more comfortable with this Southamerican habit, but it´s still a little akward at times. At heart I will always be a cold Swede uncomfortable with exagerated displays of affection.
And speaking of Swedes. Francesco, one of the guys working at the coffee shop, used to date a Swedish girl....guess from what town? That´s right, Umeå. I don´t know her, though. We don´t even have any friends in common on facebook so that must mean I really don´t know her, all according to Francesco.