Tengo Entrevista!!

Yayyyyyyyyy I have an interview lined up for a job in Santiago! Diego has a good friend at one of the institutes in Santiago that teach English, and he sent him my resume, which then was sent to his supervisor(s). That was a couple of weeks ago, and D let me know tonight that they want me to come in for an interview when I get to Chile... which, by the way, is in exactly 3 weeks from Wednesday!! I'm so excited :) Hopefully I'll get the job, cross your fingers! Either way, I'm stoked about finally getting back to Chile y mi amor, por fin!

Madly...

I'm crazy about music. It's one of my passions in life, so I love it when I come across a song that really makes me feel something - whether it's how the instruments combine, or the poetry of the lyrics, or both. One of those songs is "Madly In Love With You" by Sean McConnell - here are the lyrics... it seems to be speaking about God, and I really love the haunting melody of this song as well as Sean McConnell's voice:

I see you down there everyday
Trying to find a different way
To build some kind of ladder to the sky
You're trying to find some way to see
The secrets of eternity, and they don’t come all at once
And you don’t know why
Well how do you think it feels to hear you screaming out my name
While all the while I’m trying to open up your heart
I see you when you cry yourself to sleep
It’s tearing me apart

I know you wish you could see me
That’s the way it has to be
Someday you will understand,
But don’t you lose your faith in me
I know you wish you could hear me
Sometimes it’s so hard to do
But every morning sunrise says
I’m madly in love with you
Yes I’m madly in love with you
Yes I’m madly in love with you
Yes I’m madly in love with you

I know that you’re waiting for,
A chance to come in from the war
If only a moment, if only a day
A place where you feel safe and warm
A sanctuary from the storm
Until all of these questions fade away
But I cannot count all of the signs
You’ve passed away as mere coincidence
And I'm running out of ways to break through
But like a lonely lover waiting by the ocean
I'll never give up on you

I know you wish you could see me
That’s the way it has to be
Someday you will understand,
But don’t you lose your faith in me
I know you wish you could hear me
Sometimes it’s so hard to do
But every morning sunrise says
I’m madly in love with you
Yes I’m madly in love with you
Yes I’m madly in love with you
Yes I’m madly in love with you

Oh, cuán lejos llegarás!

That's how the book "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" is translated in Spanish :) Actually, that literally means "Oh, How Far You'll Go!", but whatever. I saw it at Barnes & Noble a couple of weekends ago; it's one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, and it was cool to see the Spanish version of it. Anyway, tonight I was thinking of the places I've been in Santiago and in Chile, and the places I still want to go. I haven't really been outside of Santiago that much - I've been to Viña, Valpo, El Tabo, a retreat/camp place called Pintué (GORGEOUS countryside), Portillo (ski resort), and Chillán (que fome). Now, where I'd LIKE to go, is a completely different story. Maybe I should just make a list:

- Algarrobo: beach town just a little bit south of Valpo. I absolutely love the beach, and I've heard that Algarrobo is gorgeous, and really nice, so I'd like to visit.
- San Pedro de Atacama: wayyyyy up north... geyser fields, old salt mines, Valle de la Luna... what's not to love? ;)
- Torres del Paine: wayyyyy down south... breathtaking views and great hiking.
- Valdivia: something about it just intrigues me... it has a big German influence, in the architecture, food and overall culture, which I think is really cool. And it just looks beautiful. ;)
- Isla de Chiloé: a completely distinct culture, a different dialect of Spanish, rich history of song and dance.

There are a lot more, but that's a bit of a start! Sadly, I don't know when I'll have the money to actually travel to all of these places... it cost me enough just for the ticket back to Santiago in August! But maybe someday...

For now, I'll just be in Santiago. And here is my list of favorite places in the city:

- Bellavista: awesome by day, PELIGROSO by night. Seriously. I went to a Chilean friend's birthday party at a club called Rockola one night, and was told to get a taxi literally right when I stepped out the door. I was warned NOT to walk down the street any farther than I had to. It's so crazy because Bellavista by day is one of my favorite places to be, I love the Bohemian vibe of it.

- San Cristobal: I think part of the reason I love it so much is that one of the best days I spent in Santiago was when Diego took me on a picnic here. It was really cute actually, he had gotten up extra early to go to Lider and buy everything necessary for the picnic... he had bought this really amazing bread, jamon y queso, drinks, and chocolate pudding for dessert. ;) But besides that, San Cristobal is just a really good place to go for a bike/hike/whatever, with spectacular views at the top.

- Parque Arauco: geez, this mall is nice. I'm fine with just going to Plaza Vespucio or La Florida, but every once in awhile it's nice to go to Parque Arauco... it's like the Beverly Hills of malls in Santiago... or at least to me. ;)

- UVA!!! This place deserves a blog entry to itself. This bar/restaurant we discovered one night by pure accident. I had gone with Diego, his brother, and one of our friends to what we thought was going to be a birthday party at a salsa place... only plans got confused, and the birthday boy didn't show up. So instead of just going back home, we walked up to Plaza Ñuñoa and were just walking on Irarrazaval and saw this place called Uva. Looking in the windows, it didn't seem too crowded, and we were hungry, so we went in... Best.Decision.Ever. We ordered this big plate that had a bunch of different cheeses and sauteed mushrooms - I think it was $6 mil, which wasn't too bad since we split it 4 ways. It was delicious! But besides good food, Uva also has really good amaretto sours, which is my favorite drink. AND a really cool atmosphere, as well as very attentive servers. Overall, one of my favorite places to go out with Diego or some friends and just get a drink and relax. Can't wait to go back in August!

There are more places in Santiago that I like, but that will have to wait for another day because I need my beauty sleep. ;) Chao!

I'm Just Not That Into You

You know that book "He's Just Not That Into You"? Well, if there's a version out there for men, this guy that works in my building needs to read it. BAD. In general, I consider myself a pretty friendly person. So when I pass someone in the hallway at work, I usually smile at them and say "hi." I didn't realize this would be such a big mistake. Now I've had not one, but two guys drop their phone numbers on my desk while I'm on a call with a customer. Very sneaky, guys. The first guy took the hint after I told him I had a boyfriend. This second guy, though... well, I've got to hand it to him, he's persistent. About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I was on a call with a customer and he did the whole slide-a-piece-of-paper-with-his-number-on-it-on-my-desk routine. This kind of annoyed me from the very beginning, because I couldn't even talk to him when he did it, as I was on the phone. BUT a couple of weeks before this, he had come over to my desk one day and talked to me for a couple of minutes, during which time we discussed the fact that I have a boyfriend, and he even saw the pictures of Diego I have up in my cube!

The thing about guy #2 is that on the paper where he wrote his number, he wrote "just for FRIENDS". Rrrrrrrright. Needless to say, I never called either of the guys. But guy #2 has started to creep me out, and mainly just annoy me because he won't leave me alone. He keeps coming up to me and saying, "you never called me." Then last week, I walked outside to my car to get something and he was standing outside and starts walking beside me. He looks me up and down and says "you're looking really good today." CREEPY, I'm telling you! Then today he comes up to my desk AGAIN when I was really busy with work, and says "I've got a new phone number... I'll have to get that to you by the time you leave today." And I'm thinking, what part of me not ever calling you in the last 4 weeks don't you understand? Can you not take a hint? Most normal guys would have given up LONG before now.

Basically it just frustrates me because I'm tired of having creepy guys hit on me at work. I come to work to WORK, to make money, nothing else (only because I hate this current job, so I just want to work my hours and go home). I have a right to do this, a right to come to work and not get hit on by weird guys, darnit! Oh well, only 17 more days of this job!! I'm definitely counting down the days...

The Time Traveler's Wife

This is the book I'm reading right now. In case I never mentioned it, I'm a HUGE fan of reading. I minored in English literature in college, and deep down (or maybe not so deep down?) I'm a big nerd, but I'm cool with that. ;) Anyway, my sister-in-law recommended this book to me, and let me borrow it. It took me awhile to get into it, and I started wondering if it was really my cup of tea... but I'm glad I gave it a chance, because now I love it. I'm almost finished with it, and I have to say, I'll be a little sad to see it come to an end - it's that way with every good book I read.

I'm not sure what direction this blog post is going to take. Thinking about this book has led me to think about a lot of things - one of them being how hard it is to find a lot of good books in English in Santiago, and how that's one thing I'll miss when I move back to Chile in August. I'm definitely bringing some books with me from the States, but I don't want to bring too many, because the weight adds up quickly and makes my suitcases ridiculously heavy! So ideally, I'd love to find somewhere in Santiago with a good selection of English literature. But I realize that's going to be practically impossible. The last time I was in the city, from January to mid-March, I found this place with A LOT of tiny bookshops, and a few of them had a little selection of English books. I actually ended up finding a couple of books I'd been wanting to read anyway, for $2 mil I think it was... which was a heck of a lot cheaper than my first venture to the Librería Inglesa, on Pedro de Valdivia. WAY too expensive, let me tell you. This place I found with all the little bookstores was somewhere really close to the metro Manuel Montt (I think - honestly I can't remember exactly where it was). I wandered there one day when I was out looking for some things to buy to make Diego a Valentine's Day present.

In my dream world, I'd open up my own English bookstore in Santiago, and it would be wildly successful, and I'd even have enough money to buy a perfect little apartment with a beautiful view of the Andes. Like I said, in my DREAM world. So in reality... when I get back to Santiago, I guess I'll just have to keep scouring the city for books. But that's just fine with me; I like a challenge. :)