Half a Year.

Yes, it's been too long. Perhaps my vague promises to continually update my blog only serve as a jinx in disguise since the space between new post has become longer and longer. The past month and a half has been such journey of little ups and downs. I have battle the pangs of homesickness and fought through the desires to wander to another country. When living abroad, there comes a point when you realize that life is life. I wake up in the morning, go to work, come home, and then sleep. However, when I wake up in the morning, I know that I am starting a new day in the South America. When I teach my classes, I'm constantly making acquaintances with new people. When I arrive home, I'm arriving at the apartment I pay for with the money that I make. And I rest easy knowing that tomorrow is one day closer to the weekend. Life is so good.

Although I do not believe my six months here justifies a complete judgement of the country, I would like to comment on my experience so far. My list of grievances is short and somewhat petty; however, I deal with these on a constant and daily basis. On my daily walking commutes to and from my classes and my apartment, I find myself dodging a slew of erratically walking Chileans. If I'm not trying to pass a line of arm linked females, then I'm tripping over the youth that has stopped to light a cigarette. Secondly, the amount of PDA is ridiculous. I hate being stuck next to a pair of ugly, pimpled face teens seeming to suck the life out of each other on the metro. It's even worse when you make eye contact. Many have attributed this phenomenon to the fact that everyone lives at home until 30; however, I've seen some pretty old couples rolling around in the grass of Parque Forrestal. If you have read any expat blog from Chile, then you know other huge complaints are the number of cat-calls women receive, the innumerable amount of student cancellations and tardiness, and the pollution. So I will leave those alone.

I have had some significant experiences in Santiago that I'm sure (as always) you are dying to hear about such as falling down the Andes mountains, a student turning into a stalker, being ever so classy at a vineyard, learning more about the US economy than ever before, pondering the puzzle of Chilean food, passing through the student protests and experiencing the joys of teaching ESL.  Therefore, over the next week, I plan to catch up on so much lost blogging time. Get excited.

I leave you with a tribute to Oscar Wilde that I found walking through Providencia.