Have you heard...

Oh, have I got news for you. But I'll start small and work my way up.


Some other gringas and I went to a nice bar/restaurant Saturday night. I ordered a margarita because I wanted something fun, but it was hella strong and tasted more like a glass of alcohol with some lemony-lime juice squeezed in it. The globs of salt on the rim did not help. Guácala! (That's "yucky!" in Spanish. Look! You're learning!)

Anyways, we chose this place because of it's happy hour... 12:00-9:30 is happy hour. It's happy hour all freaking day! Aunt Kim, I thought you'd like this :)



Sunday I went with la Cata and Blair and her family to el Museo Interactivo, which was super fun, but super filled with people, and an aquarium where I got to see a dancing sea lion. I'm still not sure what my thoughts are on that.

And apparently snapping turtles are exotic.




Oh, and I don't think I've mentioned how totally NOT politically correct people are here. If a chileno was commenting on the a person walking down the street, he would say, "Oh hey, look at that gordito!" which is saying, "look at that fatty!" Also, there's not a lot of black people here, so if they see a black person, "Oh, hey look, a negrito!" Anyways, this candy bar reminded me of that.

(It was actually really, really good. It was like an inside out s'more.)

I watched the Disney Channel with la Cata today, and it's pretty much the same as the U.S. version, with all the same shows dubbed over. A lot of U.S. shows are on TV here, and the shows for younger kids are dubbed over and the shows for adults have subtitles.

So, my big news. I came back Saturday night and saw my purse I had left home was all messed up and opened, so I went and checked the wallet that I kept in my closet to see if my money was still there. Sure enough, it wasn't. (I had a feeling last Tuesday that my money had been taken from my room, but I wasn't 100% sure so I didn't say anything.) Well, I had checked my wallet before leaving, so I knew there was money in it, blah blah blah, and I waited until morning to let the shit, as they say, hit the fan.

la Pity: "Buenos dias, Jenni."
me: "Hola." (with a hint of a glare in my eye)
la Pity: "Estai bien?"
me: "NOOO! RAWRRR!"

And I continued blubbering on in incomprehensible Spanish through my sobs. People were emailed, called, met with, talked to, so on and so forth. The Chilean verdict is that I was still so stressed and nervous and confused about being abroad that I must have misplaced the money and didn't know how to react. "It's not right to accuse your family of theft, Jenni." Well, it freaking is if they're stealing from you.

Anyways, I think it was my little sister just kind of messing around, being the curious little chica that she is. (Stop thinking I'm naive. I know that it's still not right.) It was only $20.000 pesos, which is like $40, but it's still a lot to be taken. Cecilia (the home-stay setter-upper), la Pity, and Meme all gave me $5.000 pesos to make up for it. (I take that as a sign that they admit to their thieving ways.) Cecilia also made them all agree that they couldn't enter my room without me being there, however there's no lock on the door, so who knows if they'll listen to that. I'm also going to try to find a lock box to put my more valuable things in.

For now, I'm staying here with this family, seeing if things are awkward (and seeing if I happen to "misplace" anything else. I can switch if I want to, but what if the new family is mean? Then I'll be sad. This family may steal, but at least they're nice to me.

So, if anyone knows nice, non-thieving, gringa-liking people residing in Santiago in a house/apartment close to the metro with an extra bedroom, let me know.

And don't worry about me guys, I'll be fine. You all worry too much!

On a much happier note, I don't have classes next week, so some other gringos and I are traveling to La Serena, which is close to be muy linda and close to the playa.

Besos y abrazos