Exploring Santiago

A few worthwhile experiences to update you guys on. All in all, I guess I haven't been acting that Chilean recently. First of all, I went to sushi the other day here with Rosie and Shu, two ND students in our program. Shu, who is Japanese, scoured the internet and found the best and most authentic sushi restaurant he could find. Turns out it's called Japon (real original!) and The New York Times called it the best sushi in Santiago. Anyways, so we went one night and each ordered a good sampler platter that included tuna, salmon, squid, fish eggs (it wasn't caviar but went by some other name I can't remember), some Chilean fish and probably something else as well. We combined it with an order of hot sake (which Shu later told us was very low quality) which all in all made for a great dinner. I can also proudly say that with Shu's instruction, I ate the whole meal in authentic Japanese style, using solely chopsticks. We also sat at the counter and got to watch the sushi chefs (Shu told us the Japanese word fittingly translates better into artist) create lavish platters of delicious sushi. It turned out being a $20 meal (!), but I figured it was worth it. Especially because I've been talking with Shu for the past two years about how we need to go out for sushi.

Continuing my un-Chileanness, I went to Burger King the other day. As most of you know, I would rarely even do this in the US, but the reason for my visit in Chile was because possibly the most advertised product in all of Santiago is the Steakhouse Palta hamburger from BK (palta means avocado). I just had to try it. Turns out it's delicious! It doesn't taste all that different from a regular Steakhouse burger, but the avocado adds a great touch. It's delicious, but probably not worth $6 when I can find an equally delicious empanada around the corner for a quarter of the price. Back to the avocado though, Chileans eat avocado ALL THE TIME. It's easily become my favorite food here. It's great of sandwiches (especially when combined with ham), salads, burgers, just about anything. It's also not an expensive food like it is in the US because I think a lot of our US avocados come from Chile. I also bought tickets to a Dave Matthews Band concert here in Santiago. I've never gotten a chance to see him in the US and a bunch of us from our group decided to pick up some tickets.

That ends my un-Chileanness for this past week. I'd like to think that in other aspects I have been acting Chilean. My primary piece of evidence, this past Thursday, when I ditched class (along with about 2000 other students from La Catolica) and went to the beach for an all day party. It was easily one of my favorite experiences here so far. It was a beautiful day and the beach was just filled with jolly college students. I met so many people and actually managed to remember a few of their names despite the fact that I am notoriously bad at remembering names. We stayed at the beach until the sun went down, then all climbed exhaustedly back onto the bus where nearly all of us took advantage of the comfortable seats and caught some ZZZs during the ride back. I eventually got back to my house around 10:30 with just enough energy to dump the sand out of my shoes and bag, grab a quick bite to eat and make it up to my bed. The day was a blast!

Continuing with my Chileanness, I've got to know the offices of the International Police and the Registro Civil (Chilean equivalent of a DMV) quite well. Don't worry mom, nothing serious. After already visiting both offices, I was ready to pick up my official Chilean ID card this past Wednesday. I made it up to the offices nice and early before classes, only to find that my application had been rejected because the entrance stamp in my passport was too faint to be legible. The worst part was that I was aware of the fact that the customs agent at the airport had stamped my passport lightly and the man at the Registro Civil had told me this was not a problem. Two weeks later I find out exactly the opposite. Well anyways, this past Friday (on my much needed day of rest), I woke up at the crack of dawn (6:45) to meet Sarah, another girl from the program who was dealing with the same problem, near the offices of the International Police. We get there before they open, and wait in line, only to be directed to another office to resolve our problems. We hike our way over there, where our issues are "resolved" (yes, those "-" are intentional) by the Chilean equivalent of an FBI agent. From them we received new papers, gave our thanks and headed back to the Registro Civil, which is across town mind you. Here, after waiting in another line, we were told that these new papers were not correct and we in fact needed something different (Don't you love it when different government offices tell you different things?). After discussing with the agent (slightly heatedly) we realized there was really nothing this office could do. It was out of their hands and we needed to go to another International Police office to receive the correct papers. We went to Sarah's house to look up the directions to this new office. Turns out it was right next to the last International Police office we visited! We took the 40 minute subway ride back to the center of town, paid another mandatory fee to be helped here (a recurring event), and got the new papers. By this point it was past 12:00. We found some hole-in-the-wall mini market, bought some empanadas and sandwiches (all for $2!) and were on our way back to the same Registro Civil we had just visited. Upon ariving, we found that the line was much longer than it had been earlier. We eventually made our way to the front, talked with the same agent who had helped us earlier, and got everything sorted out. He started a brand new ID card application with us, which included being re-fingerprinted, re-photographed, and again asked for our basic information. How fun! We got out of the office just in time to catch the metro back to central Santiago for a visit to a potential service location with a class. I head back to Registro Civil in 2 weeks to see if my application was accepted this time. Ultimately, I think it's safe to say that I now know more about how to apply for a Chilean ID card than a US ID card!

A couple last things before I head off to enjoy this beautiful day. I have discovered that someone random is mistakenly adding money to my pay-as-you-go phone here in Chile. Thanks whoever you are! Also, I have started documenting where I spend my money because I have realized that my money doesn't go as far I thought it would here. I guess when I'm paying $2+ every single day for metro rides and I am legally visiting bars my money seems to disappear quite rapidly!

Chao