Oh, it's normal in Santiago

So I got on the micro yesterday morning and got all cozy in a seat to get some last minute homework done. All of a sudden, some guy starts talking really loudly. Not in Spanish-listening mode yet, I look up to see a short little Chilean man holding up two toothbrushes. He then proceeded to give a 5 minute spiel about the importance of brushing your teeth and ended by asking everyone to buy one (and then they'd get one free, because, ya know, it was one of those 2-for-1 deals). I go back to focusing on my homework and figure the man would get off at the next stop and go bother another micro. Because that's how it's done in America. But oh no, the next time I look up, the woman across the aisle from me is eagerly buying toothbrushes.

Then, on my way home, I tried to find a different route and got terribly lost. I just kept telling myself I was exploring. A very old Chilean woman found me looking in my little map book (I was trying to be discrete too) and told me she would help me find a bus. "I practeece mi Eengleesh y you practeece youuur Español," she told me. So I walked with her for a good 5-10 minutes, her talking in English and me responding with Spanish. Apparently she's been to Pennsylvania and New York for her job. I told her about my things "disappearing" and was hoping she'd offer to let me stay with her because she was a very nice old lady. Sadly, she didn't.

Well, she did help me find a bus and I very happily boarded because I had been wandering around for approximately 2 hours. I really should've stopped and asked for directions, but that always feels like defeat. Anyways, I get on the very crowded micro and squeeze myself next to the window. And then, again, I here some man talking very loudly, in the tone only a salesperson has. I look up to see what goodies he's selling, and couldn't help but chuckle when I saw the little screwdriver he was waving around. I mean, it was a nice screwdriver and everything (one of those ones you can switch from the "+" to the "-" and there are different sizes of "+"s and "-"s), but really, selling screwdrivers on a bus? I'm sad now that I didn't watch to see if anyone bought one, but frankly, I was too tired to care.

I'm going to La Serena tomorrow, which is about a 6-hr bus ride. It's the third oldest city in Chile and I guess it has some pretty old churches. I also found a tour where you go in a little fishing boat out to Isla Damas, where there are penguins and dolphins! http://www.paseosenchile.cl/espanol/destinos/laserena/Tour/Isla_Damas.asp So hopefully my travel buddies will want to do that.

It was really clear a couple mornings ago, so here's some mountain pictures. I know you guys just love them.



I took this one as I was walking to the micro stop in the morning.











I took this one walking from the metro to campus. The statue is Jesus, just in case you're wondering.












These are the "perros callejeros" (stray dogs). There are a ton on campus, but there are also a lot on the city streets too. They are super nice and super cute, but I bet they're filled with God-knows-how-many diseases.






I just flipped throught the TV channels here and saw "Walker, Texas Ranger." Seriously.

And about the whole housing situation, I'm planning on dealing with that when I get back. I'll be gone until Tuesday night and then I'll put pictures up from La Serena! Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

And Happy Birthday Dad!! :)


P.S. Aunt Patty, "clepto" in Spanish is cleptómano. You can now add another word to your Spanish vocabulary! And although mousetraps and broken glass are superb ideas, I'm not angry enough (yet) to physically hurt anyone. But I think I'll leave some cookies out in my room and see if any are missing when I come back. Ha, no one can resist cookies.