Da Vinci- A Reason I'm Glad I'm Not in Chile Now

I'm really picky about my doctors. Doctors practice medicine and I do lots of research to find doctors who are excellent at what they do with lots of practice. I've personally seen a good doctor versus an "ok" doctor being the reason I was born in the first place, for saving my life since, and saving the lives of others I know.

My son recently had a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection). His pediatrician really pushed me to get further testing done after the antibiotics had killed the infection and not just wave it off and wait to see if it happened again. I was hesitant to get the tests done because they were not fun for my 5 year old but this doctor is awesome and I listen to her. Turns out he has reflux of his ureter and damage to his left kidney. I took him to a Urologist (who I also researched) who was able to diagnose exactly what was wrong but needed to talk to his team of Urologists and specifically one of his partners to see if he would be comfortable removing the lower part of his left kidney (which is where the blood supply runs) via a laparoscopic method which is less invasive than a longer abdomen cut and allows them to more precisely fix the ureter. Turns out that this Urologist proposed that his partner does part of the surgery using a very cutting edge (no pun intended) robot called the Da Vinci to fix it and he would take care of the rest. I looked up this robot and it is really cool. It was actually featured on Grey's Anatomy. Check it out- http://www.intuitivesurgical.com/index.aspx

The reason I titled this post the way I did is (1) somehow relate it to Chile and (2) because I checked the web site and there are no Da Vinci surgeons in Chile yet so I'm glad he has this option here.

He won't have this operation until August and I don't think I'm going to tell him about it until right before nor will I show him the robot until after. He HAD to watch them put the iv in him when he had one of the tests run so if I show him the robot before he will probably want to refuse anesthesia so he can watch the robot.

Also, while I'm on the topic of medical things- just yesterday this article was posted regarding the side effects of using the nasal form of Zicam and the FDA wanting the company to put a warning on the product. This is related to the post where I warned people about this due to what happened to my friend.

Que Paso Lurker?

Why do people lurk? I understand the occasional Lurker just surfing/stumbling upon things but I don't quite get why someone would read a random blog like this several times a day every day regularly and never comment. When people are kind of tied in loosely to this gringa/Chile/ExPat community I can understand checking it out regularly and perhaps not commenting. When someone is clearly outside of that and I think has no connection whatsoever to this community checking this blog out regularly it gives me a weird vibe. My blog is NOT that cool and there are MUCH more interesting ones out there. This has made me start to think about why people lurk. Maybe it's just that I'm really outgoing and seem to have something to say about almost anything but there are no blogs that I read regularly that I don't at least comment every once in a while. Anyone else have any insight? Do any bloggers out there have regular Lurkers? Maybe someone reading this who has never commented can tell me why they don't comment?

1 year Anniversary

This weekend on June 7th will be our one year anniversary. S has shown me a love that I've never experienced before and I never want to lose it. I think that the fact we have grown together even more over the past year is a great thing to celebrate.

Last September I went to a friend's wedding and the day after the wedding they announced that the groom's cancer had returned (they kept this a secret from everyone until after the wedding so that at the wedding wouldn't have any elements of sadness to it). I just received an email today that from my friend that her husband
passed away and after they took the life support off she "hugged him, kissed him, and sang to him" during his last hours. I sent her a note back with my condolances but saying that they were lucky to have such a great love story even though their time was cut short. Sadly, some people spend lifetimes together and don't experience love to its fullest. This was a good reminder to me to cherish what S and I have together.

Our first Christmas together (really apart because he was in Santiago) he sent me this. It was the best Christmas present I have ever received. It was the perfect gift especially when we were half a world apart and I will always treasure it. (He gets really embarassed when I share this so not sure how long I'll be able to keep this post up if he finds it and makes me remove it ;) )

Here is the link to my present (S sang and recorded this for me):
http://www.box.net/shared/n7jqb4hnlq

Yo queiro aprender Español

I'm trying to come up with a plan to learn Spanish. I have always wanted to be able to fluently speak Spanish but unfortunately they haven´t invented a Spanish chip I can implant in my brain and I've married into a Spanish speaking family so I need to get serious about learning. In the words of Nike I need to ¨Just Do It¨. I took 2 years of Spanish in High School and a quarter or 2 in college but that was a while ago. I know enough to listen to a conversation or read something and understand the general idea of what is being said. I know a lot of nouns but I am horrible with my verbs which makes me really hesitant to try and speak it. I'm learning to get over this especially after how thankful I was in Chile when people tried to speak English to me. I didn't care how bad the grammar was and paid no attention to it. I was just happy they were trying to communicate with me.

S bought me the entire Rosetta Stone collection for Spanish. Does anyone have experience with Rosetta Stone? I'm still on the first level and I know that the premise is learning through immersion but I'm starting to wonder how people with no background in Spanish learn this way and wondering how much I am learning. 95% of this first level has been very easy for me so far and very boring but still something I have to go through. One thing I'm realizing more now than I had before when studying Spanish is that you need to think in the other language instead of trying to translate from your native language. I think the Rosetta Stone method does help with this.

Everyone thinks that S is too easy on me because he doesn't force me to learn it. I think he would really like it if I could speak but he doesn't push me at all. Some people have said that we need to have entire periods of time that are solamente Español. That would be a fun weekend of us either staring at each other or me answering questions ¨si" o ¨no". I've talked to S about him mixing in some Spanish into our everyday conversations. I think this might be the better option for him to mix English and Spanish and maybe I'll start to pick some up. I know the last time I was in Chile for 2 weeks I really started to pick up more and my ear was becoming more tuned to it. I know that the best way/only way to really learn a language is to spend a good amount of time there but I don't have that option right now.

So, I need a plan.....I'm trying to decide how many times a week and how long I should be studying. I've read that shorter amounts of time more often are better than spending long amounts of time. If you have any input or tips for learning a language, how much time should I be devoting to studying, types of studying, things that helped you etc. PLEASE let me know :). GRACIAS!!

Mullet of the Year Award

There is a new reality show called "The Exterminators" and here are the stars of the show:

To the right we have the more traditional mullet. On the left we are bringing the mullet to a whole new level. He has what I'll call a ballet- bang mullet. I was amazed watching this show for the first time and I think this guy deserves the Mullet Of The Year award. I could totally picture picking up a magazine with the title "Mullet Of The Year" on the front of it and this picture underneath:

I've heard a lot about the whole mullet thing in Chile and have seen it first hand. I always pictured a certian type of guy who would have a mullet. When I was there last time I noticed a lot of teenagers who seemed pretty stylish to me but had a mullet. Is this a new teenage guy trend in Chile (like the high top sneakers I saw the chicks wearing much like the Reebok high tops I wore in the 80s)? Or is this just a product of the hair dressers there?

I have had one experience with a hair dresser in Chile. For my reception in Chile the ONE THING I was REALLY nervous about was getting my hair done. There are only 3 people here that I would allow to do my hair. I have baby fine hair and it is not easy to work with. Needless to say I was worried especially after all the horror I've heard about hairdressers in Chile. I decided to go for a simple do and actually did a trial run myself before leaving for Chile. I had S take a picture. I asked S to ask his mom to set up an appointment for me and requested that they have hot rollers. A few days prior to the reception I asked to please confirm again that they have hot rollers. I should have just brought my own but they were not dual voltage and didn't think this would be a big deal. At the last minute I found out that the hairdresser would be coming to the apartment and I was not going to the salon. I was really getting worried at this point. It was too late to change anything and I convinced myself that perhaps it would be easier this way in the end. In walks George Michael. I don't remember his name but this is who he looked like- white tshirt, jeans, oversized sunglasses, facial hair stubble and all. He has a lot of stuff with him but I didn't see hot rollers. I showed him the picture of what I wanted. (S is translating all communication betweeen George and I). He starts drying my hair and it seemed as if he had never dried hair before. At this point I am sick to my stomach. I wasn't sure what he was doing but after he was done drying started pinning my hair up. I was hoping that he was pinning it to use a curling iron at least. This was not the case. HE PUT PIN CURLS IN MY HAIR!!!!! Are we in 1940s? I think that you still have to learn how to do these in beauty school but I don't think anyone does them past that. After he was complete with the pin curls and pulled my hair back he was going to leave a section of my bangs (which are long to my chin) hanging out on one side. This at least took me from the 40s to the 80s but still no where close to where I wanted to be. I would have looked much like the long part of the ballet in the picture above. I finally protested that I wanted all my hair pulled back. He complied but told S that he could have "done so much more with my hair but was constrained by what I wanted". I can only imagine what I would have looked like had I let him have his way. The makeup he applied was horrendous too. He tried to do this shading thing to fix my face. I had a V on my nose of lighter make up (I guess to make my nose look smaller but he did the same thing to S's brothers gf and she does not have a big nose). I also had this beard thing going on the side of my face with the darker shading he was doing. It was AWFUL and poor S had to listen to me complain the entire hour long drive to the reception. There was absoultely nothing he could do either and I had no time to redo it. He told me that I looked great but I told him that even if I did look like crap he wouldn't tell me anyway so it didn't matter. He let me vent and listened and I finally calmed down once I got to the reception and Kyle was there to distract me with pictures :) I had to apologize to S later for putting him through that but I think from now on I'll do my hair myself while in Chile.

Man Trap and Movies Rated "NP"

Help!! While I sit here and blog S is introducing Star Trek to our 5 year old E with an episode called "Man Trap". That is exactly what I feel like I'm in right now! I think "Man Dork Trap" would be more appropriate. E just asked what Vulcan was...I'm trying to block it out. He is also asking if they are aliens. S had this discussion with him earlier today trying to explain that alien does not only mean an outer being in space. It just means someone who is foreign. E told him that it isn't right and he is smarter than him or anyone else. We will have to show him S's next US immigration card where he checks the box for alien. I think E will be scared. Perhaps we can use this as a discipline tactic and tell him that if he doesn't stop whatever we are doing S will use his alien powers.

Anyway, this reminded me to write a post about my experience at the movies last weekend. I propose they come up with a new movie rating "NP" which stands for "No Point" and warn people before they waste $10 and 2 hours of their life. We watched Wolverine and this movie should have been given the NP rating. The movie had nothing positive that happened during it and it had absolutely no point. Not even the fact that Hugh Jackman and his au natural poto were in it made up for how bad the movie was (yes, it was THAT bad). It's not that I don't like those types of movies- I thought that Iron Man was great. I think I was the only chick in the movie "Transformers" and I loved it and thought it was one of the best movies EVER. I can't really chalk this up to the fact that I don't like "guy movies".

The worst movie I've ever seen is "There Will Be Blood" and this movie definitely deserves the NP rating. I was furious after watching that movie because it was so bad. It is a long movie and I kept watching it hoping that something was going to happen and it never did. In fact, it had a horrible ending.

As much as I am not a big sci-fi fan I think Star Trek would have been MUCH more enjoyable than Wolverine last weekend. If anyone else knows of movies that should be rated "NP" please let me know.

Mystery Mom

Yesterday I went to a Mother's Day Tea party at my son's preschool. E is 5 years old. It was cute. The kids served us tea and a fruit parfait. The teachers asked the kids questions about their moms and wrote the answers down and then read out loud the "Mystery Mom" forms for us to guess which mom it was. Here is the one my son wrote about me:

My mom's favorite color is blue
(I don't really have a favorite color but he asked me once and wanted an answer so this is what I told him so he gets a point for this one.)

My mom's favorite food is hamburgers (Can't say this is my favorite but from his perspective I guess I eat them often as much as he likes McDonald's and Wendy's and isn't with me when I go out for Tapas and Wine.)

My mom's favorite show is Sponge Bob (This is really HIS favorite show but I guess also mom's favorite show to keep him occupied when needed. I have to say that in the world of kid's cartoons Sponge Bob is the coolest in my opinion)

My mom is 15 years old (One mom was 98 and another was 11 so I can't complain about 15 although if I had to pick an age I'd say 21 or at least 16 so I can have the freedom of driving.)

My mom is really good at cooking (It's funny he thinks I'm a good cook since dinner time is always a stressful time as he doesn't want to eat what I cook. He would happily live off of chicken nuggets and carbs if I let him)

My mom is as pretty as a key (When I asked him why a key he said because it's shiny. Some of the other moms were as pretty as a guinea pig and a mouse.)

I love her because she gives me snacks and lets me play X Box with my friend (I think this is probably S's favorite thing about me too. In fact, I think the friend E is referring to is S. )

My favorite thing to do with my mom is to watch a movie "The Grinch" movie (He let the class know he meant specifically the scary Grinch movie which is the one with Jim Carrey and not the cartoon. Hopefully this is not because I remind him of the Grinch not wanting kids to have fun and stealing all of their toys which is the way I feel as a mother sometimes.)

All the answers for the Moms the kids gave were very cute. This is unlike some of the answers the kids had previously given for the Dads some of which had to be censored (like the Dad's favorite thing to do is drink beer). This is one they did not censor "If I could give my Dad anything in the world it would be......a real job." I wonder where that kid heard it from? Perhaps it was Mom?

Happy Mother's Day to all!

And to E- I love you and love being your mother :)

Chileno+Gringa+Peru Don't Mix

I've seen a few travel challenge inspired posts lately and it reminded me to write about my experience in Lima, Peru. On my last trip to SA I experienced first hand that a Chileno plus a Gringa is not a good combination in Peru. We had a horrendous itinerary flying from Miami to Lima and then to Santiago. We didn't realize that Spirit airlines would not be able to transfer our bags in Lima to LAN. Nor did we realize that we would have to go through customs and immigration all the way out of the airport only to enter the airport again starting with the LAN front desk and all the way back through the airport to the gate.

We arrived at the LAN gate in Lima to Santiago. Almost all the seats in the waiting area were taken so we parked our bags and stood there. S and I were traveling with my father and his girlfriend. I was getting the typical gringa stares but then I noticed that some of the women were whispering, pointing, and looking at me. When I caught them they tried to pretend they weren't talking about me. I was getting really paranoid. The LAN counter was busy but it didn't stop one of the women from the LAN desk from coming over to S and I. In English she said that she needed to weigh our bags (obviously she had noticed my gringaness). The bags she was referring to were actually my dad and his girlfriend's carry-ons. They were small Louis Vuitton and Coach carry on sized travel suitcases they had just carried off the Spirit Airlines flight, travel with often as a carry-ons, and not something they wanted to check. S picked up the suitcases and took them over where she made him put them in the metal thingie to check the size (not the weight as she stated- must have been a translation error). One of the bags fit but the other didn't fit all the way due to the wheels sticking out slightly. The LAN lady said that we had to check it. I protested that we had just gotten off another flight with them as carry-ons (Spirit airlines which I consider to be a school bus in the sky- not premium at all) and they travel with them all the time and never have to check. They conform to every other airline's standards of measurement. She wouldn't budge and I became REALLY mad. I asked to speak to her supervisor. By this point EVERYONE was staring. My dad came over and pushed on the bag a little and got it to fit in the metal thing. The supervisor came over and still said "No, you have to check it". Now I was on the verge of being irate. People were starting to board the plane- and the worst part is that there were quite a few people carrying on bags that were bigger than ours. I was pointing them out telling the supervisor that he needed to check everyone's bags if they were going to single us out and check ours. In the US I would have fought this discrimination but being in a foreign country and needing to catch a plane and not wanting to be stuck in Lima we decided to just give in and let them check it. We did take a picture of how the bag fit, took names, and threatened to follow up with it later. See? It fits! (If the suitcase fits- you must acquit! :) )


On the plane S explained to me that they singled us out because he was Chilean which is bad to begin with but then on top of it the fact he was with a gringa was a really bad combo. This made it even worse to have my fears confirmed that it was discrimination and I think he waited until later to tell me for fear of what I might do. I have had several run-ins with LAN (here is one of them) that have not been pretty and I have come to the conclusion that customer service in that company is non-existent and I refuse to fly them. I also decided to not waste my energy addressing this experience as I already know they will do nothing. The good news is that I feel I've had some vindication in the fact that Chile as Kyle put it "wiped the floor with Peru" and beat them in futbol recently :P YEAH!

(P.S. I know that I'm being a little harsh in the fact that this is one isolated situation that happened to me and it could happen anywhere but it did make me angry because I was clearly singled out in this situation. We did travel back through Lima on the way back, went to the coast for the day and had no issues like this again).

Influenza de Chancho

I seem to have caught a virus and everyone keeps saying "you have the Swine Flu!". The hype around Influenza Porcina/Swine Flu/ or what I have coined Influenza de Chancho is crazy. Check this- 36,000 people in the US die each year from the regular flu which means that 3,000 people have died from the regular flu in the US since Influenza de Chancho has been identified. As of today only 236 cases of the Influenza de Chancho have been identified WORLD WIDE and 8 deaths have occured. Is the sky falling yet? Fear not, our leader has requested $1.5 B from Congress to "fight the outbreak". Amazing.

I don't seem to have a fever but have everything else (headache/muscle pain/cough/sneeze/congestion/fatigue) and I think my main problem is that I'm not resting which is making it worse and last longer. I work from home a lot and feel like I almost have to be on my death bed not to work. As long as my fingers still move, I could still be working. I hope Obama's request is approved because with only 1 death here I think it would be more than fair for me to apply for 0.01% of the $1.5B for being infected with Influenza de Chancho and then I wouldn't have to worry about working and could just rest and then look for a nice beach house in Maintencillo :)

Group Blog- Travel Experiences: Mumbai

This is my post for a Group Blog on Travel:

The place I have traveled that had the most impact on me was Mumbai, India. I traveled there with someone who has traveled all over the world and she too was rocked by India. When I was there I couldn't stop thinking or talking about what I was seeing I was so taken in. As much as I wanted to talk about it when I got back I really couldn't because I feel that words do not do it justice and I'm struggling with that writing this post. Watching Slumdog Millionaire does give you a taste of what Mumbai is really like- they don't exaggerate. Watching Outsourced (available on Netflix) also gives you a taste of the work ethic, conditions, culture there and what it's like arriving at the airport :)

I've seen plenty of slums/poverty before but nothing like this. Anthony Bourdain put it best when he said that the western mind sees a problem and it tries to solve it and westerners go to Mumbai and try to figure it out but they can't- there is no figuring it out. I cried every day on my way to work. I did notice though that despite everything people seemed to be happy.

2 major take aways I had

(1) This made me feel smaller. This place was so different than anything I have experienced it was almost like going to another planet to find that there was something totally different than what I knew. There is so much out there for us to experience and learn from.

(2) The US has no idea what a fine balance we hang in. One or 2 major disasters and we are not far from the life that people in Mumbai live daily. The people in Mumbai are survivors- they can deal with anything. People in the US for the most part are ignorant to this and can barely handle life without electricity for a day (myself included). I think we have a lot to be grateful for (infrastructure for example) and need to get educated (and beyond what the media tries to feed people) so that we are making choices that are right for our country/world. Go beyond the media- go talk to a solider who is in the military and has been overseas supporting us and see a different perspective. (off soap box)

The food there was really good (I love Indian food) though if you go be SURE to take a prescription for traveler's diarrhea- no matter how careful you are (and I was very and still needed it). Also there are beautiful 5 star hotels that will cost you hundreds per night OR this:

This is the only other hotel I saw that wasn't 5 star. I didn't see anything like a "Comfort Inn". And gringas (especially blonde ones) be prepared to be stared at wherever you go. The attention you get from piropos in Chile are nothing like this. It's not staring in a cat calling kind of way but groups of men even across the street will stop and stare until you are out of sight. It's not so much admiration but almost like if an alien were walking by. I was in a grocery store and a guy who was working there was coming the opposite direction from me pushing a grocery cart and locked eyes with me and stared. He turned down the aisle in front of me but his eyes never left me. He would face forward and walk a few steps and then quickly whip his head around to stare again. This happened about 5 times down the aisle. I couldn't help but laugh to myself. When I arrived at the office which was a huge complex you would think that a movie star was there. Everyone totally stopped what they were doing to stare. It was a very weird feeling.

Just to give a little view into the infrastructure there. They were building a courtyad in the middle of this huge complex where the office was. There was not one piece of equipment. Not only were there not bulldozers there were not even shovels. There was a team of men with sticks pulling rocks out of the ground. They would get them up and pass them to a line of women who would pass the bowl via their head until it got to a man who would take the bowl and dump it in a pile. They also had a bucket where they were mixing mortar to make the wall they were working on- same process for passing the bricks. It was amazing to watch. I wasn't in a village in Africa- I was in one of the largest cities in the world.

The people of India are the nicest people I have ever met and are some of the best to work with. Funny story- 2 of the guys took myself and my coworker out to dinner. They were from a different part of India and on the way back asked us if we cared if they stopped at their temple. I guess whatever religion they were the main temple of that religion was in the city and they wanted to visit. We said it was fine with us and when we got there we had the feeling they wanted us to stay in the car instead of going in so we waited. As they were in there we were wondering what the temple was and what the customs are in the temple. When the 2 guys came back they were all smiles and seemed very happy. The one guy got on the phone right away to call his girlfriend. The other guy explained that this temple was for the "Sex God for a good sex life". My coworker and I said "Ah! Now you tell us- we would have gone if we would have known that- no wonder he is calling his girlfriend!" The next morning we went to the office and the guys who took us out were not there yet but there were other people. They asked what we had done the previous night and we said that we went out to dinner and that they stopped at their temple for the "Sex God". They said "Sex God? Which temple is that?" We said "Yea, they said it's the main temple of their religion." When the 2 guys arrived to the office the others were anxious to ask them about this temple. They replied "No no no, not the Sex God- it's the Success God- for a good successful life." :) We got a really good laugh out of that- leave it to 2 gringas...

Now for my shameless advertisement- I created a new blog called Off The Chain Travel which is meant to give top level recos to people who like to really experience the local scene when they travel - going for the local instead of the chain. This started on the way home from a weekend trip S and I took to Indianapolis recently. We had a great time and found several great places and wanted to share it with others. It's still in very early infancy but thought this would be a good opportunity to share. I'm doing this blog for personal reasons- I always come away from places and have recos and thought it would be good to keep them in a central location to share with family/friends and I'm anxious to hear other people's recos as well. I've started the post on Chile- please add any recos you have.

Eau de South America

I have a nose like a dog. I pick up and discern smells more than the average person. The other day I was in my car going to the gym and smelled what I call the "South American" smell. I'm not talking the Latino man smell (which is very nice I might add and I think guys in the US could take some lessons on how to apply cologne). Anyway- this smell is hard for me to describe- it's a neutral smell really not good or bad and if I had to pick something to describe it I might say musty but that can be perceived as not so good. At first I thought it was specific to Chile because I first noticed it with S and his clothes but since then I've picked it up on people from Uruguay, Venezuela, and Argentina and it comes from their clothes. I've smelled it here and also in airports abroad. You could line 10 people up and I swear I could tell which ones were in South America- it's that noticeable to me. When I'm in South America I don't notice it as much.

At first I thought it had something to do with the water but I've debunked that. I purchased a workout outfit when I was in Chile almost 2 months ago and was wearing it for the first time the other day to the gym. I could pick up the smell 2 months after this outfit had been in my closet AND sent to the seamstress to get the pants hemmed. The outfit was not washed in Chile- only purchased there.

Today I got dressed for work and as I was sitting at my desk noticed the smell again. At first I questioned it because I smelled it so strongly that I thought it was my sweater but I had just washed that. I finally realized that I was wearing the linen pants that I had last worn 2 months ago in Chile (I have not sent them to the drycleaners yet).

What is the deal? It's a really weird phenomenon for me. I thought at least the water explanation might make some sense but I've proven that wrong. It has to be the air but what would be different there than here? Am I crazy or does anyone else notice this? I've tried to ask S to smell this on the clothes I can pick it up on but he doesn't notice anything.

Also- this has reminded me to post a public service annoucement. There is an over the counter cold remedy you can buy here in the US and is quite the rage called Zicam. It comes in several forms and is supposed to reduce the amount of time you have a cold. One of the easiest to use is a solution you put in your nose. A close friend of mine (who also had a very keen sense of smell) used this product (as a sugestion from her husband who had used it). She applied it and immediately felt a burning sensation. The next day she noticed that her sense of smell was gone. She went to an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat doctor) who basically said "Yea, duhhhh!! You shouldn't use that". That was back before Christmas and 4 months later still has no sense of smell. You will find many things on the internet about this- some saying it is not proven. She tried calling the company to inquire and they told her it was a by-product of her virus. All I can say is that she is a very close friend of mine and had the exact burning sensation that others describe and has lost her sense of smell. I can imagine it would be very difficult to not have my sense of smell- even if it does drive me crazy sometimes.

It's A Small World After All

We just got back from a weekend trip to Indianapolis, Indiana. The first night prior to going out we were waiting for our car and started chatting with the valet guy who was college-aged and very nice. We started talking about how we were surprised that there were actually quite a few people out in the city on a Thursday night. I said that Cincinnati is usually not that busy at all on a weeknight and that Seabass was from Santiago, Chile and was surprised when he moved to Cincinnati about the lack of people out in the city at night. The valet guy said "Oh, my girlfriend was an ex-pat studying and living in Chile for a year". She is majoring in Spanish at a local university and works with their study abroad program. He said she wants to take him back to Valparaiso to vacation. I was laughing and said "Well, first let me tell you that you are lucky that she is your girlfriend and isn't dating/married to a Chileno." I explained the phenomena of the gringas from the mid-west who are with Chileans. He said that he knew because his girlfriend has some friends who are still down there due to their Chileno. Also, he could have passed for a Chileno himself so maybe she didn't find one there but found someone similar here ;)
Anyway, I thought this was a really funny chance encounter and it reminded me that it is a small world after all.

It's Not Easy Being Green Part 1

"It's Not Easy Being Green" is sometimes what I have as my Communicator (instant message) status at work but today I realized that it's really not easy being green as in getting a green card or any entry for that matter into the US. Seabass and I met with a lawyer today to start his green card process. The more I learn about entry/immigration to the US the more it makes me angry that our government makes it so difficult for anyone trying to follow the rules and system to get in and yet does nothing about people doing it illegally (unless you are a presidential candidate who doesn't even have to present a birth certificate to follow the rules of being elected to office like a 9 year old wanting to play pee-wee football is required to do).

The lawyer told us a story about a couple from Nigeria who were missionaries in the US and had to leave because their visa was up so they took a trip to Mexico only to find out that the US would not allow their visas to be renewed. Not only would they not renew the visas they wouldn't renew long enough to let them come back to get their belongings. Not only would they not renew it long enough to get their belongings but they wouldn't even give them a transit visa to stop in the US to get from Mexico back to Nigeria.

This week I heard a story where someone just went last week to the consulate in their country to try and get a visa. They paid the $130 fee and the consulate didn't even look at the required/supporting papers they had- it was a flat "No".

My dad was just telling me this week that when he traveled a few weeks ago back from Peru that they took all of the US citizens first through immigration and made all the non-US citizens wait until everyone was finished (it was not on first come first serve basis). Even as a US citizen this really angered him.

It's no wonder Disney World is thinking about bringing Disney to South America since it's so difficult to bring the South Americans to Disney. That's smart of our government- let's deter the tourists here for the right reasons AND send the revenue back with them.

I don't think Seabass and I will have a problem since we really do have a legitimate marriage, are close in age, and work as managers for a Fortune 500 company (at least that is what the lawyer is telling us) but it still makes me mad hearing these other stories, watching it personally, and experiencing our own difficulties when traveling. I hope the most difficult part of this process will be Seabass getting blood taken and getting shots (he HATES needles). I'll have to go with him next week to hold his hand :)

Chilean Cat Versus Gringo Cat

So yesterday Seabass and I are out doing errands and were contemplating going home or going to one more store. We actually pulled off the road and sat in a parking lot being indecisive about this. We finally decided to go to the store so we got on the highway. On the way there a light came on telling me my tire was low. I ignored it as I was getting off the exit because I couldn't feel any difference with the car. Once I turned off the exit someone pointed at me and I made the first right I could into a parking lot to discover that my tire was completely flat. We called someone to come and fix it and while we were waiting I decided to go use the restroom (even though I had just gone not too long ago). There was a pet store in the parking lot so I went in. On the way the aisle I happened to walk down had cats in cages who were up for adoption. One thing that Seabass seems to miss a lot is his cat "Gaston" that he left in Chile with his mom. She was attached to the cat and he didn't want to disrupt him or her to bring him here. As I was walking by I saw this cat that I swear is the clone of Gaston. I go out to get Seabass from the car so that he can see and he couldn't believe how similar they are. This cat is named Chico and is exactly the same as Gaston except that "Chico" is not so chico and in true U.S. style is a little fatter than Gaston and he probably doesn't understand Spanish. They also have very similar personalities as both cats don't like other cats (this was explained on the card attached to his cage and also experienced when we took him out).

I've never had a cat and not really a huge cat person but we discussed this quite a bit. It's weird because it really seems like fate but at the same time doesn't seem to fit in the plan right now. Trying to find someone to take care of it might be difficult especially trying to board it if it doesn't like other cats. Also, our 5 year old son wants a Dachshund (weiner dog) and we have discussed getting one and naming him "Completo". Not sure that this dog and the cat would get along. Plus going from 0 animals to 2 would be a big jump (even if not at the same time). It's just weird when something comes along that seems like it was meant to be but doesn't fit into your plans. So many other things could have happened yesterday so that we wouldn't have seen the cat. See the similarities yourself (2 pics of Gaston in the blue boxes- the other 2 are Chico):

0-0 but Chile Is Winning and Ahead of the World!

Last night Seabass and I were invited over to watch the game with some fellow Chilenos and a few Uruguayans here in Cincinnati. We had fun and while Seabass isn't a big futbol fan he still really enjoyed it because it "feels like home" watching the game and getting to hear the word chucha being yelled. Side note: I REALLY need to work on my Spanish. I felt so bad being there yesterday because everyone felt like they had to speak english or say everything again in english for me. I know enough to understand what I call "cave man talk" so I pick up the general subject people are talking about but not a lot of details. I know a lot of nouns but my verbs are lacking. Seabass bought me Rosetta Stone but since it's learning through immersion I need to start at the beginning which is really boring because I get all the answers right but still a process I need to work through. By nature I'm really shy about trying to speak Spanish because unless I'm good at something I don't like to do it but after being in Chile the last time I was so appreciative when people tried to communicate in english to me no matter how correct/incorrect it was. So, this is on Aimee's to-do list but still trying to formulate a plan I know I can stick to that will work.

So, the game ended up being 0-0 but I read an article today on how Chile is ahead of the rest of the world. It is titled "Chile: The One Country That Was Prepared for the Financial Crisis"

Chile's economy grew by 4% to 5% annually during the boom years, respectable but
not spectacular. The Chilean economy is expected to grow just 0.4% in
2009, but to rebound to 2.3% growth in 2010, according to the Economists
forecasting panel. By the standards for the current miserable world,
that's very good indeed.

Go Chile! Looks like I need to start investing. Although I WILL NEVER invest in LAN- hate that company with their total disregard for the customer. Although Delta is not doing so hot I would support them any day over LAN. When Seabass's grandmother passed away he was checking on flights. His mom was here and her flight was back on LAN so he was trying to get the same flight. I was on the phone with Delta just to see what they had available and I explained the situation and I got "I'm so sorry to hear that, let me see what I can find, no that price can't be right for this emergency situation let me check with my supervisor." They came back with a price $1000 cheaper to which I explained we would have to see what LAN cost because his mom was booked there and the man said "yes, I understand and again I am so sorry for your family's loss- I'll be sure to say a prayer for you today". LAN's response was to charge him the full rate for the last minute flight AND charge his mom $50 to change her ticket to be one night before she was supposed to leave. That is just one of many stories I could fill pages on with my very few interactions with them. Apologies for my rant :)

I should, however, look at investing in Vina Concha y Toro (YUM!). I support them all the time from here at our local grocery store- love, love, love their Carmenere. It's funny because I can buy a bottle of Carmenere here cheaper than I could buy it at the actual vineyard in Chile.

But anyway, my main point of the post was a Go Chile! for being ahead.

Just In- Santiago is No. 26 in "Top 29 Cities to Live In"

No, this is not an April Fool's joke. According to askmen.com which is the largest online men's magazine Santiago is number 26 in the "Top 29 Cities for Men to Live In". This is their first publication of this yearly list and evaluated against 8 lifestyle categories- sports and entertainment, culture, fashion, health, power and money, dating and sex, the good life (number of annual sunlight hours, planned urban development, international airport departures, etc.) and in true man style the cost of a pint of beer. It also cites "Financially, Santiago looks like one of the best places to be in 2009."

Also "cities #12-29 are where women should flock towards in the hope of finding the most educated and well-rounded other-half". I guess we gringas are smarter than we thought ;) I know I found a educated and well-rounded other half in Santiago (I love you Seabasstian).

So, this contradicts the general theme I hear from most expats living in Chile- perhaps it's because it's from a man's POV or maybe true to my belief that you can get statistics to say whatever you want? I love Santiago and Chile in general but as I said before I've only visited there so can't really say having not lived there.

Update: Pan Amasado Experiment

Here is an update to my Pan Amasado Adventure:

Well, I DID get a response to my email within 24 hours but perhaps it was because they were anxious to tell me that I was wrong:

" Hi Aimee, I talk to Juana -the chef who made the recipes- and she told me that the recipe is ok. She suggests that maybe you used another kind of flour or there was another mistake in the process.

Kind regards, "

The recipe said "plain flour" and I don't think that is too hard to mess up. I guess it has to be me making a mistake in the process because anyone should be able to mix 8 cups of flour with one cup of liquids and get something that resembles dough >:( (at least I was right about me being wrong :P )

But yes, I am yet again left with the feeling that it's my fault. So I'm going to respond again by converting the measurements to metric myself and asking how that amount of liquid offsets 8 cups of flour. Anyone want to take bets that I won't get an apology or perhaps a thank you for bringing it to their attention?

Gringa Sahne-Nuss Obession?

Ok, 3 posts in one day is a little excessive but it's lazy Sunday and thought this would be fun. I was reading the LaChilenguita blog and read a post where she said Shane-Nuss chocolates were her favorite. I was going to comment that I was obsessed with them too and read a comment from Kyle that she loved them. I am wondering if this is yet another commonality between gringas and Chile and I think a poll is in order.

(P.S. The Sahne-Nuss ice cream is to die for too and if anyone knows where to get the can of Sahne-Nuss individual chocolate covered almonds please let me know. S's mom bought them for me one time and I couldn't find them in even in Jumbo last time I was there)

Why I'll Stay in Cincinnati

Now that I am done with my pan amasado I can work on the original post I was going to write today. After the group blog we had on What Drives Us To or From Chile some people have written why they won't or why they will stay in Chile so I decided to write on why I would stay in Cincinnati.

I was out with some co-workers this week and one person who I had not seen for a while said "You know, I am really liking Cincinnati". He is from the Pacific North-West and he used to complain about Cincinnati. He planned on being here 2 years and leaving but he told us that he is now happy here and wants to stay. My saying about Cincinnati is that there is not a lot of really really good but there is not a lot of really really bad and you can find a little bit of just about everything. It may not be the best of those things- but you can find it. For example, Seabass and I found a Capoeira class here. There is just one group but it is an actual instructor from Brazil who is good.

If Cincinnati were any smaller I would have a problem with it but all in all it's not bad. Cincinnati has Broadway Shows, a Symphony, an Opera, Ballet, a Choir, Contemporary Art Muesum, Natural History Museum, Children's Museum, the National Underground Freedom Center Museum, Aquarium, Zoo, a large Amusement Park, indoor and outdoor Water Parks, a River, many county parks, skiing (not Aspen Colorado by any stretch of the mind but it's still skiing with ski lifts), many great universities, NFL team, NLB team, professional hockey team, ATP Tennis Masters Series, 3 professional soccer teams, a Horse Track, 10 Fortune 500 companies (In fact, Cincinnati has more such companies - 4.85 per million population - than New York (4.48), Chicago (3.04) and Los Angeles (1.68)), and the list goes on. It does not compare to New York, Chicago, or LA but it is also a lot more economical and a lot less to deal with as far as crime, traffic, or population. One of the differences with Cincinnati is that there aren't a lot of people who live downtown in the heart of the city. There is an underpriviledged population that lives in or on the outskirts of the city and there are many projects going on right now trying to create more upscale living and lifestyle but it hasn't changed yet. Most everyone (like us) live in suburbs of the city and a car is a requirement.

Seabass commented when he was here for the first time that he really enjoyed the pace. You work and you have a family life too. We really enjoy that. Living is very economical which allows us to indulge and also be able to travel (which we do and are planning to do a lot of). This will also enable us to have a second home in Chile (on the beach is the plan). We would much rather vacation in Chile than vacation in Cincinnati (where my family is). Also, with having a child it makes a HUGE difference to be near family. All in all while Cincinnati is not the perfect place we do enjoy it and plan on calling this "home". Perhaps later on in life this will change but for now we are happy.

Even when I'm harsh about Cincinnati there is always something that reminds me that it's not that bad. When we returned from Chile a few weeks ago I was kind of down on Cincinnati since I love the food and scenery so much in Chile and I was imagining my life there. S and I were sitting in a restaurant here waiting for our food and heard a guy talking on his cellphone in Spanish. My husband is pretty good at quickly determining where someone is from based on their Spanish accent. He told me the guy was Chilean and a few minutes later we started hearing "Si Poh, and Ahhh Yeaaaa" so there was no denying it. After the guy hung up and as we were leaving we stopped by to say hello to him and his family. There are in general very few Chileans in the US, only a handful in Ohio or Cincinnati and none that we knew of in our suburb. It turns out that he was from Concepcion and his wife from Santiago and they moved from Chile to Miami 20 years ago. They visited our suburb 3 years ago and fell in love with it. He said it was "paradise" here. GO FIGURE!(Note: He did say that he had not been to Chile in over 20 years and it has evolved so his point of reference is a little old). This was a reminder that it's all about perspective and no matter where you are you can usually find the good if you look hard enough.

Pan Amasado Adventure

This morning I decided that I would try to make Pan Amasado using a recipe from a book that S's father gave to me which has Chilean recipes in English. It was really sweet of him and I was excited to try the recipes. As I was making it the measurements of the different ingredients seemed kind of "off". It also listed "2 tsp of salt" and "2 cdtas. de sal" so I figured the editing was probably a little lacking. Being the engineer I am, I am very careful to follow the ingredients and measurements exactly. 30 minutes into it I knew this was going no where. I ended up with what looked like a cake batter mix before you add any egg or water to it and decided to scrap the whole project at that point and throw everything in the trash. Here is a picture:

I then checked recipes on the internet and noticed that the measurements were way off. For fun (and in true gringa style) I'm going to send an email to the authors of this book to let them know about their Pan Amasado recipe and see what kind of response I get. I know that, of course, I am wrong to begin with and they will probably let me and everyone else around know that I am wrong. After they complain and investigate and figure out that I am right they will offer no apology and I will still be left with the feeling that it is my fault. OR maybe I'll be surprised and they will be nice about it and thank me for my feedback and maybe even offer a corrected recipe. I'll update the post after they respond :)

Famous Chile

I've had a few run-ins with "famous" people in Chile during my very limited time there. The first was in 2007 when I was going to visit Seabass. I was sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting for the flight in a section away from other people. Two men and two younger women came and sat near me. One of the guys looked very gringo and spoke English with a NY accent. The other guy was wearing a Crocodile Dundee hat and spoke Spanish. I was rather perplexed by him. For some reason I had the feeling he was one of those people who was really rich but you wouldn't know it. The 2 men were talking in English and Spanish at the same time. I couldn't figure out if the girls were Crocodile Dundee's daughters or girlfriend or wife or what. I was there for about an hour so observed this for a while. When I got on the plane I passed by Dundee who was sitting in first class. I thought to myself that he must not be too bad off and maybe my hypothesis was right. When I arrived in Chile Teleton was going on. Seabass explained to me what Teleton was and we were watching it one day on TV. I happened to look up and Crocodile Dundee was on the screen and everyone was cheering loudly. I said "OMG- that is the guy from my plane!" It turned out it was Jose Luiz Nazar who donated 1,000 million pesos (Dr. Evil comes to mind as I type that).

On the same trip the night before I was leaving Seabass's brother invited us to the Snoop Dogg concert, I am a big fan, but we decided not to go since it was my last night. The next day Seabass dropped me off at the airport. This time was really difficult leaving. We had just gotten engaged a few days prior and didn't know when we would be seeing each other again as he still did not have a job in the US. I was really sad and was crying as we parted. The lady that took my passport even asked if I was ok. I got through security and was standing in the duty free shop trying to gather my composure when I look up and through the window see the largest black men walking by that I have ever seen in my life. I thought to myself "are there NFL players here?" but that didn't make any sense. A few seconds later I see Snoop Dogg walking by and realized that they were taking him to a special security line that exited right where I was standing. Seeing Snoop stopped my tears. One of his security guards was standing next to me and I asked if I could get my pic with Snoop. He said "maybe if you hurry- we need to get to our plane". Snoop came out and I asked if I could get my pic with him. He nodded his head (I wondered if he even heard me as he had earphones in). I went to get my camera, turned it on, AND IT DIED. Sadly, I had to let Snoop leave without a picture. I walked around the duty free shop for a few minutes and then left. On my way out I saw that Snoop had stopped to shop for sunglasses. I remembered that my phone had a camera so I asked the guy standing there (in my broken Spanish) if he would take my picture and he said he would. Snoop was finished shopping and I asked him again if I could get my pic with him. He nodded yes again. I had a HUGE red purse and a HUGE black bag hanging from my arm. Together they must have weighed 20 lbs. I went to turn to pose with Snoop and SMASHED him right in the gut with my 20 lb bags. He made an "UMPH, OHHH" sound and bent over holding his stomach and shaking his head. His security guards (all of them) were staring at me. I apologized all over myself and he was very cool. I should have busted out with one of his lines that I knew by heart "it's the capital S oh yes I'm fresh N double O-P D-O double G-Y D-O double G ya see!" in order to show him that I really was a fan and not just a stupid careless blonde gringa. Anyway, Snoop was cool fo shizzle and still allowed me to get a pic and for that he is forever my nizzle :)

This year I was in Miami during Teleton. Seabass had to leave our vacation in Miami to fly at the last minute to Chile because his grandmother passed away. There is a small Chilean restaurant in Miami and I read that if you went there on Saturday they were donating proceeds from the food to Teleton so I thought I would go. As I was sitting there watching Teleton on the TV a cute guy and his hot wife and beautiful child walked in (which I was glad hoping that it would take away some of the gringa stares I was getting). The guy walked over to the phone next to the cash register at the restaurant and started talking. Everyone from the kitchen came out and I noticed that the Spanish I was hearing on the phone came across the TV a few seconds later. I have no idea who the guy in the restaurant was but he was talking to Cristian De La Fuente about the money that was being raised in Miami :). I have no idea who he was but thought this was a cool coincidence.





Also on this same trip to Miami but the day before Seabass left, we were shopping at a huge outlet mall and walked into the GAP. Seabass and his mom looked over and noticed that a previous President of Chile and probably future President (Eduardo Frei) and his wife were in the checkout line buying a ton of stuff. Seabass didn't want to bother him but I insisted that he get his picture with him. We went up and talked to Eduardo and he was very nice. He even started talking to my 5 year old son and asked him "como estas? muy bien?" I said "ehhhh- bien :) " He tried to say more but my son turned away and said "WHATEVER!" (I'm not sure if the President heard him but I wanted to hide somewhere).






If you have had any brushes with fame, I'd love to hear- post it!

Serendipity...Our Story

I thought that the group post on why I was drawn to Chile would be a good segue into the background on how I met my Chilean. After reading through all the group posts I realized that I am really coming from a different angle than the other bloggers. Not only am I not living in Chile but also never studied abroad. That is something that I regret now that I'm older and wiser- not studying abroad or traveling more when I was younger. I almost went to Russia for 2 weeks with a school program when I was 14 but I backed out. I think traveling internationally more might have opened a lot more doorways for me but regardless it all worked out and I'm happy with my life :)

Here's the story on how I met Chile:
I was in charge of the Latin American region for the project I was working on. Seabass and I worked together for about 2 years off and on before we saw each other face to face. In those 2 years it was mostly all business at first and then some small chit chat about "weas" (TV shows, music, Chile, laughing at people during meetings, accents, cars, etc). I didn't know his age or what he looked like but thinking back I really was drawn to his voice. He speaks english better than anyone I've worked with (and work with people all over the world) and he has an amazing grasp on the language and gringoness in general. He had only been in the states for 6 months as an exchange student and lived in England for 3 months. I never had to filter anything when talking to him and actually he would use words that I had to look up. All I knew is that he was really sweet, 5'7", lived with his mom, liked American muscle cars, listened to standards, and was uber smart. I actually liken him to Wikipedia and at first thought that he was just making up things to sound smart until I actually researched whatever subject it was to find out that he really did know what he was talking about. (Side note to stress my point- he scored the maximum possible on the PAA which is the Chilean equivalent to the SAT). I also would listen to some of his girl problems and him telling me that he never really has much luck with girls. Anyway, you can imagine the picture I had in my mind... (think Geek) but still I liked him and wanted to be his friend forever. (I didn't realize at this point it was "normal" in Chile to live with your mom). He told me later on that he was really attracted to me but he thought I was the sterotype gringa (which I found out meant extremely overweight, unkept, bad complexion, etc.) or that's at least what his mind made him believe in order to try not to like me.

One day Seabass informed me that he would be traveling to London for some group meetings. I was originally not going to be at these meetings because from my group it was higher level people attending. A little more than a week prior to the meetings my boss asked me if I would be interested in going to the group meeting and I said yes (who wouldn't want to spend their 30th birthday in London?). Also, Seabass almost did not go until the last minute due to visa issues. This chance meeting came so close to not happening.

I arrive in London on Sunday morning and find a note from Seabass that says "I'm either at the gym or at the pool." I check the gym- no one there. I walk into the pool area which was rather crowded. I start looking for dark headed men (prior to the trip he did send me a few pictures but they each looked so different I didn't really know what he looked like). I kneel down to call out to one of the guys in the pool and then I hear someone calling my name. I look and it's Seabass who just got out of the steam room and I said "Hi!" and give him an air hug (because he was dripping wet). So it was a quick and slightly awkward exchange and then he decided to get ready and meet a coworker and I for lunch. It was really weird at first putting a face to a voice that I had been hearing for a long time but we both realized that our mental pictures were way off. That week we were always with other people but had a blast. We did have a lot of chances to talk and walked nightly along the Thames. One night we were sitting in the lobby (everyone else had gone to their room for the night) and we talked for a long time about life. At one point in the conversation I looked into his eyes and I can't describe this feeling but thought I could literally see straight through him. This had only happened to me one other time with a boyfriend that I was very close to (and it happened after we had been together for a year or more). I had totally forgotten that feeling until that moment. We did spend the last day together as friends walking around London, going to St. James park, saw a show, and went out for a drink. We both had feelings for each other but never shared them. I left London the next day with a hole in my heart never knowing if I would ever see Seabass again or if anything would become of us friendship or otherwise. I think it was one of the most sad days of my life because I felt like I was leaving something amazing. I was in a relationships and things were complicated. What he did show me was what it was like to be connected to someone and what love should feel like. I never believed in love at first sight but thinking back even though I didn't know it at the time it was almost love at first sound as I was attracted at some level even hearing him.

We continued working with each other and IMing and eventually shared our feelings with each other. I was going through some very tough times in my life with decisions I had to make with the relationship I was in. Seabass and I parted ways for a while while we both figured things out. Through most of this time I honestly thought never thought that things would work out with us and we would be together. Even if things did I thought it would be extremely difficult. This part is heart wrenching and would take a long time to explain so I'll keep it very short for blog sake. Over the span of the next year and a half I had a trip to Chile, he came here for a month, I went back to Chile and we got engaged and the rest is history. He applied for a job here and things ended up working out perfectly. Seabass is the most amazing person I've met and I have never felt more loved in my life nor have I loved someone so much. So there you have the Cliff Notes version of our story and our saga continues in Cincinnati Chile.

Group Blog: What Draws Us To (or Drives Us From) Chile

Link to Original Group Post

When I met Seabass I knew nothing about Chile and had to look at a map to remind myself of the location. I had stopped in Caracas, Venezuela once on a cruise and the feeling when I left was “ok, I’ve been to South America and never want to go back” which was very narrow-minded and gringa of me. I’m sure there are great places in Venezuela. I consider myself to be somewhat traveled. I’ve been all over the US, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Granada, Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Barts, St. Martin, Aruba, Bahamas, Mexico (Cancun, Cozumel), Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, the UK, Poland, and India. Although I’ve been many places and seen many beautiful things, I’ve never fallen in love with anywhere like I have with Chile.

I was actually hoping when I went to Chile for the first time that I wouldn’t like it and it would make things easier for us and be an added reason to just remain friends. It happened though that there was something about Chile that I couldn’t resist. Places like Mumbai and Santiago I would rather not explain because I feel like no matter what I say I don’t do it justice. It’s just something you have to experience. People usually already have preconceived notions of South America and it’s hard to describe anything different to them. Mumbai I couldn’t even wrap my own mind around it when I was there (Slumdog Millionaire- highly recommend it- gives you some insight as it’s a very true to life representation).

The draw to Chile for me is just a general feeling when I get when I’m there. To try to put it in words it’s the beautiful landscape, the mixed cultures, the food, the simplicity, and the European influence mixed with the Latin vibe. Being clean and relatively safe is an added bonus too. I know that living anywhere will have its negatives too. I agree with other Gringa posters that it’s hard to blend there especially if your blonde hair and blue eyes scream gringa. While it’s funny at first to be piropoed I can imagine it would get old quickly and especially if you were alone. Also the lack of customer service would irritate me to no end too. Asking to alter something on the menu slightly and being looked at as if you were asking them to change Newton’s 1st Law is something I am not used to. Also the perils of big city transportation if living in Santiago would be challenging.

I know it’s hard to tell people in an infatuation state that the feeling will change or go away but I really feel it’s a little more than just infatuation. The things I’ve read about living there would be something I would have to deal with but while it might be tainted a bit I don’t think that it would completely take away the overall feeling that Chile gives me.

At this point in our lives it doesn’t really make sense for us to live in Chile versus Cincinnati. A major factor is my 5 year old son- it’s difficult for us to move because we are in a shared parenting situation. Even if it weren’t for him Seabass and I would still live in the US. There are a lot more opportunities with our company here and our salaries are better which gives us more flexibility to travel and enjoy life. He also blends here more than I would blend there. We are not limiting Chile from our future plans and even would like to have a beach house there in the near future. I guess I’ll really never know unless I live there what my feelings would be but for now I really enjoy keeping this feeling as a visitor to Chile.

What's in a name?

So I chose to name my blog "Cincinnati Chile" as a play on words because if people from where we live hear the word Chile the first thing that comes to mind is Cincinnati Chili. It is one of the things Cincinnati is famous for and something that I am personally not fond of. Cincinnati chili is very thin in consistency, contains chocolate and cinnamon as spices, and usually served on top of a hot dog or spaghetti noodles and gives you the lovely feeling after consuming it stronger than a supersized #5 from McDonald's would. I think Anthony Bourdain put it best when after trying it he said "if you were really stoned you would enjoy this stuff".

I work for a company who brings in people from all over the world all the time. I can't count the number of times I've been into a situation where we are taking the person from out of the country to lunch and someone says "Hey! Let's take them to Skyline Chili!" I cringe every time. I don't like to subject people to that.

Seabass wanted to try it and decided to when we were at an amusement park here. It left him with a headache and the sensation that he wanted to throw up so we exited the park early.

In the middle of typing this I went to pick up my 5 year old from his dad's house and when I asked him what he had for dinner he replied "Skyline Chili" (how appropriate). When he goes there he only eats about 3 bites of the actual Chili but fills himself full of the oyster crackers that they serve with the meal.

So, hopefully my blog is more enjoyable than the "famous" Cincinnati Chili and doesn't leave you wishing you didn't partake.

If you want to see more of Anthony Bourdain's coverage of Cincinnati Chili- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxWEP6WB8hU

Food Cravings

In one of my earliest conversations with Seabass (shortly after I had re-educated myself as to where Chile was on the map) he was telling me that they have tea time in Chile. I half jokingly asked if that meant tea and tacos :). Since that point I have learned a lot more about South American food and have grown to love it. In fact, I have yet to have a bad meal in South America.

I grew up the little blonde haired blue eyed gringa with a diet consisting of mainly peanut butter and jelly and I never liked to try new things. In fact, I think the first time that I remember being exposed to any ethnic food besides Chinese was Taco Bell when I was about 14. Since then a lot has changed with me. Now, I’m willing to try just about anything as long as it is served to me in some sort of fashion separate from which it came (except for these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(egg) which I can barley even think about). When on a trip in Brazil someone commented that they liked me because I’m willing to try eating anything and not only do I try but I REALLY try it as he was looking at the size of the portion of unidentifiable “other meat” that was on my plate.

I just returned from a 2 week trip to South America (Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Lima). Seabass and I swear that our bodies are now rejecting food from North America after eating the good, fresh food we had there. We’ve tried to eat at several different restaurants here over the past few days and wound up with a “blah” feeling afterwards. Even after stuffing ourselves in Chile with multiple courses of drinks and food orchestrated by Seabass’s father who is an excellent cook we had the feeling of being full but without our stomachs feeling sick. Even my friend from the US who was visiting with us was eating a salad at a restaurant in Santiago and exclaimed with a piece of avocado in her mouth that it was the best avocado she has tasted (and she lived in California- avocado capital USA). Also, at his mom’s house we had some take-out Lebanese food and it was outstanding. I had tried Kibbeh(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibbeh) on my previous trip to Chile and didn’t like it but I think the meat was bad. I reluctantly tried it a second time and I swear the raw meat tasted better than the same thing on my plate that was cooked. My gringa mind was still screaming at me “you’re going to get deathly ill from consuming raw meat!"

This is one of the things I’ve learned about food in NA versus SA- food is good for longer than we have been trained in NA. I think the FDA scares us into them keeping their job. When my mother in law was in town she had cooked a chicken one night for dinner and the next night we decided to eat the leftovers. I went to the fridge and the chicken was not there. To my horror she opened the oven which had been “off” since the night before and pulled out the chicken. On another occasion Seabass had put a package of chicken in the sink one night in order to thaw for dinner THE NEXT NIGHT. In both instances I ate the chicken and it and I’m still here.

Side note- I've also learned that Spanish tortillas do not require tortillas at all.

So, Seabass and I are really missing the food in Chile. We have decided to eat out less and start eating at home more and preparing more South Americanish food. The produce at the local chain grocery store here is “ok”. Lucky for us there is an Oasis in mid-America here which is a store called Jungle Jim’s (http://www.junglejims.com/). This is a very unique grocery store (there is only one location) which has food from all over the world. They have “50,000 imported grocery items from more than 75 countries and regions around the world.” They don’t have a Chilean section but they have great produce and even carry the Tuna fruit. We will probably be visiting it this weekend to curb our hunger for good produce.

On top of good produce I have been craving empanadas. Last night I attempted for a second time to make empanadas but it didn’t turn out so great. It was like eating ham and cheese through 3 layers of thick pie crust. If anyone reads this and has any empanada recipes or empanada making tips PLEASE let me know as mine were not very pretty. Gracias!

First Post in Cincinnati Chile (or any blog)

About 2 years ago I didn't even know what a blog was and found myself googling the word "blog". I still didn't grasp the concept of a blog (and I work in the IT field) until I read Kyle Hepp's blog (ohquepasa.blogspot.com). After reading her blog I understood. The purpose of this blog is to give a perspective of a gringa married to a Chilean and living in the US.

Background: I was a gringa in love with a Chilean who was living in Chile. I had been to Chile twice and had also fallen in love with the country. It was hard for me to understand some of the things that I felt for Chile or heard about Chile from my Chilean boyfriend. I found myself surfing for info on Chile and I stumbled upon Kyle's blog where I really felt like I got a lot of insight into Chile from a gringa's perspective. It validated a lot of what I felt and at the same time gave me different perspectives and new information. At that point I read most of her blog but didn't continue to follow it. Fast forward a year later and my Chilean boyfriend is now my Chilean husband and we are living in Cincinnati, Ohio USA. We were planning our wedding reception in Chile and trying to pick flowers for the tables. I was googling trying to find pictures of typical flower arrangements in Chile and came across Kyle's blog again. She had a link to her photography website and I took a look and thought her pictures were some of the coolest I've seen. Seabass (my husband) and I were not even going to have professional pictures taken but once we saw Kyle's pictures we REALLY wanted her to take some. I felt weird about contacting her after having felt like I was stalking her by reading her blog and life stories and her having no idea who I was. She was really sweet and I ended up signing up for just about all her sessions. After meeting her and sharing stories with her and also reading more of her blog and other blogs I felt like giving this blogging thing a try.

Writing has never been one of my fortes. In fact in college english class I struggled because I didn't "elaborate enough" and I also work for a company that doesn't like any fluff in their communications and wants everything short and to the point using the least amount of words possible. I see that even in this post I'm following the company rules of giving the top line in the first few sentences. Hopefully I can overcome this in the blog so that it has enough elaboration to make it enjoyable.

I also worry about having enough material to make people even read it once let alone come back again. I talked to a friend recently explaining how I met the photographer of my reception and we started discussing blogging. We were joking that our lives weren't interesting enough for blogging. Our blogs would consist of "today I went to the grocery store" or "today I took my child to preschool". I'm taking this on as a personal challenge to see if I can come up with anything remotely interesting :)

All that said.....here it goes: