Only wind this strong and the fact that I´m really far from home could make me buy (and wear) an apricot coloured corduroy coat. But that´s what I found at the thrift store (Dylan can find them everywhere, it´s like they call out for him) and I wear it as soon as I leave the house. The wind never stops, ever.
At the same thrift store though, we found some pretty sweet Halloween costumes, so we got them, hoping there will be some kind of festivities tomorrow. A pumkin for Dylan, an Austin Power suit for Randy and of course a black witch dress for me, to match my hair.
Yesterday I took another hour of my life to fill out another one of the endless forms US immigrations ask for. I swear I have answered every singe question at least five times before. I hope we find something to do here, but more than anything I wish we could get some kind of time frame, how much longer we have to wait.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
the best Thriller-dance ever
This morning I went to the gym that is (conveniently enough) located right next to Jamie´s house. I don´t know if I´ll get a membership yet, Randy says there are more gyms in the area and I should compare prices and stuff.... but I got a one time pass to try it out. And the class and the gym was everything you´d expect a gym to be, but what happened after class was the most spectacular thing I´ve seen in a long time.
So after class, into the room with the mirrors and the stereo walks a group of maybe 20 mentally handicapt teenagers. They had some kind of dance class, and did this routine to Michael Jackson´s "Thriller"..... it was so cool, they were all in sync too, even had two people in wheel chairs do all the hand movements with assistants pushing them around on the dance floor. From what I understood they were preparing for a Halloween show. It was really cool.
I don´t know if we´ll do anything for Halloween still, it all depends on other people since we don´t exactly have our own group of friends here. What we do have though, finally, is keys to the front gate. We got them today so now we don´t have to jump the fence anymore, which is nice. People just look at you kind of funny when you have to jump the fence to your own place.
So after class, into the room with the mirrors and the stereo walks a group of maybe 20 mentally handicapt teenagers. They had some kind of dance class, and did this routine to Michael Jackson´s "Thriller"..... it was so cool, they were all in sync too, even had two people in wheel chairs do all the hand movements with assistants pushing them around on the dance floor. From what I understood they were preparing for a Halloween show. It was really cool.
I don´t know if we´ll do anything for Halloween still, it all depends on other people since we don´t exactly have our own group of friends here. What we do have though, finally, is keys to the front gate. We got them today so now we don´t have to jump the fence anymore, which is nice. People just look at you kind of funny when you have to jump the fence to your own place.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Satan vad det blåser!
We finally made it down to Punta Arenas yesterday, this is pretty much as far south as you can go on this continent and you can tell by the wind. When we were in Santiago a lot of the people from this area complained that their noses and throats felt stuffed and that they missed the breeze. Here, you open your mouth to say something and almost choke on the wind. My eyes are running and I need to buy some warm shoes, pants and a hat.
But other than that, this place seems pretty cool so far and we are hoping we will find something to do here so we can stay a while. Right now we´re living in Jamie and Feliepe´s house since they are on their honeymoon. It´s right next to Randy and his parents so that´s nice. It feels amazing to unpack, do laundry, buy groceries and cook for yourself in a nice, normal kitchen. Not that it was too terrible to constantly be waited on in Limache, but still.
Monday night (when we were still staying with Randy´s friend Tommy) I got an impulse and decided I had to dye my hair. Most things I do with my hair, I unfortunatly do on impulse. My hair has gradually gotten worse and worse since we left Idaho. A lot of sun, crappy schampoo, no time or space for condtioner and then in Ecuador I treated myself to some form of volume perm that completely fried my hair. Terrible decision, terrible result.... it was cheap, though. In Lima, while Dylan was puking his guts out and I was bored, I got a haircut and was almost yelled at by the hairdresser for how bad my hair was, like I didn´t know. I told her to just trim it like half an inch or so and she took off one and a half, which I guess was a good thing. Didn´t look good, though.
And then, to top it off, I decided to go darker since the sun has bleeched my hair so much. I swear the box said "Chocolate" but this is black, very black. I feel like the next step would be to do a Brittney and shave it all off, but I´ll try not too.
Dylan is nice about it too, "hey, at least you can be something really scary for Halloween".
That I can.
But other than that, this place seems pretty cool so far and we are hoping we will find something to do here so we can stay a while. Right now we´re living in Jamie and Feliepe´s house since they are on their honeymoon. It´s right next to Randy and his parents so that´s nice. It feels amazing to unpack, do laundry, buy groceries and cook for yourself in a nice, normal kitchen. Not that it was too terrible to constantly be waited on in Limache, but still.
Monday night (when we were still staying with Randy´s friend Tommy) I got an impulse and decided I had to dye my hair. Most things I do with my hair, I unfortunatly do on impulse. My hair has gradually gotten worse and worse since we left Idaho. A lot of sun, crappy schampoo, no time or space for condtioner and then in Ecuador I treated myself to some form of volume perm that completely fried my hair. Terrible decision, terrible result.... it was cheap, though. In Lima, while Dylan was puking his guts out and I was bored, I got a haircut and was almost yelled at by the hairdresser for how bad my hair was, like I didn´t know. I told her to just trim it like half an inch or so and she took off one and a half, which I guess was a good thing. Didn´t look good, though.
And then, to top it off, I decided to go darker since the sun has bleeched my hair so much. I swear the box said "Chocolate" but this is black, very black. I feel like the next step would be to do a Brittney and shave it all off, but I´ll try not too.
Dylan is nice about it too, "hey, at least you can be something really scary for Halloween".
That I can.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
craziest wedding I´ve seen
This has been a crazy week. After we met up with Randy in Santiago on Wednesday we headed straight out to Limache, a small town next to Viña del Mar and stayed with the groom´s family on their mansion like property, helping getting things ready for the wedding. And we did help, I mean we worked and did everything we could and that they asked us to do, but they had staff doing all the hard stuff. In fact, hey had staff doing pretty much everything around the house. We had people make our bed, cook us breakfast, clean our clothes.... it was like a real honeymoon. And then yesterday, the wedding and grand final, was so far over the top... it was just ridicoulus. But cool.
250 people, first witnessing the ceremony at the private chapel they have in their garden, then feasting on 12 grilled lams, king crab and just tons and tons of food, cakes, wine, rum and probably every other drink known to man. And that was just lunch.... I don´t know for sure how long the party lasted. I lasted till about 10 or so.
Today we are having lunch at the hotel we´re staying at with the Twyman family and then me, Dylan and Randy will probably go back to Santiago and stay with one of Randy´s friends untill we fly to Punta Arenas on Tuesday. We have to be out of our room in half an hour and we just started talking about where to go next about an hour ago, planning is not a priority here. But we´re having a great time. It´s so good to be among friends and not have to worry about much else than being on time and doing what you´re told.
250 people, first witnessing the ceremony at the private chapel they have in their garden, then feasting on 12 grilled lams, king crab and just tons and tons of food, cakes, wine, rum and probably every other drink known to man. And that was just lunch.... I don´t know for sure how long the party lasted. I lasted till about 10 or so.
Today we are having lunch at the hotel we´re staying at with the Twyman family and then me, Dylan and Randy will probably go back to Santiago and stay with one of Randy´s friends untill we fly to Punta Arenas on Tuesday. We have to be out of our room in half an hour and we just started talking about where to go next about an hour ago, planning is not a priority here. But we´re having a great time. It´s so good to be among friends and not have to worry about much else than being on time and doing what you´re told.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
About to join the wedding mania
One evening, one night and one morning. That will be all the time we spend in Santiago, at least this time around. It seems like a cool city though, so I definitly like to come back. We arrived yesterday and got a hold of Randy, who is flying in today. He basically gave us the choice of either staying in central Santiago by ourselves for a couple of days and see the city, or join him and the wedding party right away to help getting things ready for the big celebration saturday. And that´s what we decided on, that way we can get to know more people and also helping out will make us feel less like outsiders and should be fun.
So now we´re just haning out at our hostel, we just had breakfast and in about an hour we will take the subway to meet Randy who just flew in. We haven´t seen him since way back in the old Moscow days, so I´m really excited.
What sucks though, is (as always) the whole battle with US immigration and my Green Card. It just doesn´t ever end, or make sense. So we pay $70 to file the seccond part of the application, after six weeks they send us a form asking if they have my correct address. Yes, they do, so I cross the box and send it in. Another six weeks pass and they send a new form, if I want them to keep processing my case, that´s another $400. And what have they done in these almost three months...? Made sure they had my correct postal address. If it wasn´t my time and money I´d be laughing. I don´t even want to think about how much money we spent on this ordeal so far, although I kind of wish we would have kept track, cause it´s a lot. A lot more than we spend travelling for weeks in South America.
But so far there´s nothing to do but patiently wait and see what happens. As for right now I´m just going to focus on Jamie Sue´s wedding and having a good time with Randy, Juri and their families.
Problems and headaches never need an invitation to find you.
So now we´re just haning out at our hostel, we just had breakfast and in about an hour we will take the subway to meet Randy who just flew in. We haven´t seen him since way back in the old Moscow days, so I´m really excited.
What sucks though, is (as always) the whole battle with US immigration and my Green Card. It just doesn´t ever end, or make sense. So we pay $70 to file the seccond part of the application, after six weeks they send us a form asking if they have my correct address. Yes, they do, so I cross the box and send it in. Another six weeks pass and they send a new form, if I want them to keep processing my case, that´s another $400. And what have they done in these almost three months...? Made sure they had my correct postal address. If it wasn´t my time and money I´d be laughing. I don´t even want to think about how much money we spent on this ordeal so far, although I kind of wish we would have kept track, cause it´s a lot. A lot more than we spend travelling for weeks in South America.
But so far there´s nothing to do but patiently wait and see what happens. As for right now I´m just going to focus on Jamie Sue´s wedding and having a good time with Randy, Juri and their families.
Problems and headaches never need an invitation to find you.
Monday, October 19, 2009
One last walk-about in Arica
Last day in Arica, we fly to Santiago tomorrow. We actually thought we were leaving today, having no job and minimum responsebilities makes it hard to keep track of days and dates.
The weekend here in dessert Chile has been good and not very exciting as we´re trying to save money and energy for the wedding-filled week to come. Yesterday we went to a local soccer game, the team was not that good but it was fun to see, and we´ve also been checking out the local markets and trying some of the excellent seafood they have here.
Normally empanadas (som piroger fast tusen gånger bättre än Gorby´s) are not for me since they usually stuff them with pork, chicken or the kind of fresh cheese that makes my stomach a factory of pain and gas. Here, however they have seafood empanadas, cheap and delicious. They also have these hot dogs called Completos, which is like a gigant sub sandwich with a small hot dog completly covered in guacamole, tomato, mayo and lettuce. Minus the dog, it´s a great veggie sandwich.
Today we plan on walking up to the view pont overlooking the city and maybe take another stroll along market street. Dylan is on the lookout for a suit or jacket for the wedding. He found one at the market yesterday that supposivly was "money". But it was also too small, so no deal. It´s hard to fill the days with activities in small cities with little to offer while you also try to save your money. We do a lot of walking around.
The weekend here in dessert Chile has been good and not very exciting as we´re trying to save money and energy for the wedding-filled week to come. Yesterday we went to a local soccer game, the team was not that good but it was fun to see, and we´ve also been checking out the local markets and trying some of the excellent seafood they have here.
Normally empanadas (som piroger fast tusen gånger bättre än Gorby´s) are not for me since they usually stuff them with pork, chicken or the kind of fresh cheese that makes my stomach a factory of pain and gas. Here, however they have seafood empanadas, cheap and delicious. They also have these hot dogs called Completos, which is like a gigant sub sandwich with a small hot dog completly covered in guacamole, tomato, mayo and lettuce. Minus the dog, it´s a great veggie sandwich.
Today we plan on walking up to the view pont overlooking the city and maybe take another stroll along market street. Dylan is on the lookout for a suit or jacket for the wedding. He found one at the market yesterday that supposivly was "money". But it was also too small, so no deal. It´s hard to fill the days with activities in small cities with little to offer while you also try to save your money. We do a lot of walking around.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Bienvenidos a Chile!
We finally made it to Chile, and even though it seems it´s quite more expensive here than other places we´ve been, I don´t care. Just so excited to finally have made it.
Last night after my Spanish class we had Italian food from this small, expensive restaurant called Domino´s... yeah, we spend more money on pizza and cheesy bread than on the hotel yesterday, but the food still wasn´t more than in the US. You can´t eat like that every day travelling, but sometimes it seems worth it and just what you need. Suprisingly enough this was also the first American chain we´ve seen since Colombia. There has been no McDonalds, Subways or KFC´s around. Not like in China where they were everywhere.
So now we have 4 days to spend here in Arica before we fly to Santiago on tuesday. I don´t know what there is to do here, so far we have only made it from our hostel to the internet café down the street where they´re playing Abba in Spanish. I wonder if it´s really them singing or not...? It sounds like the real Anne-Frid and Agnetha... but maybe it´s Agñetia and Fridolita, my music ear has never quite been in tune.
Last night after my Spanish class we had Italian food from this small, expensive restaurant called Domino´s... yeah, we spend more money on pizza and cheesy bread than on the hotel yesterday, but the food still wasn´t more than in the US. You can´t eat like that every day travelling, but sometimes it seems worth it and just what you need. Suprisingly enough this was also the first American chain we´ve seen since Colombia. There has been no McDonalds, Subways or KFC´s around. Not like in China where they were everywhere.
So now we have 4 days to spend here in Arica before we fly to Santiago on tuesday. I don´t know what there is to do here, so far we have only made it from our hostel to the internet café down the street where they´re playing Abba in Spanish. I wonder if it´s really them singing or not...? It sounds like the real Anne-Frid and Agnetha... but maybe it´s Agñetia and Fridolita, my music ear has never quite been in tune.
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