For the first time, I’m feeling a bit antisocial. To be honest, it’s a bit of a relief — for someone who is used to her layovers spent alone in Olympia and in the car between her two lives in Portland and Seattle, I was a bit thrown when I craved being around people in my first few weeks here. As much as I like the people I’m getting to know, I feel like I’m also falling a bit back into the person I know.

That’s one of the oddest things I’ve found here — the country is what I expected, the people are what I expected. The only thing that’s different from what I expected is the way I’ve handled everything, from the group dynamics, to the culture shock, to the food and the experiences.

For example, the group dynamic. Typically, in a large group, I’m one to stand awkwardly on the outside, clutching a drink and observing. I do a lot of that “observing” stuff, so that would take long enough for groups  to be established, and I’d still be on the outside. I know this to be true, because it’s happened time and again at every social-type function I can recall.

So I expected that first party in the hostel to be incredibly awkward, I expected the nights on the patio to be weird and uncomfortable, and I certainly didn’t expect to make many friends. But, I’m really happy to have surprised myself. Of course, knowing a few faces from facebook helped — I was able to jump immediately into the group of people I’d already met on facebook. But even aside from them, it’s been easy to talk to people and establish little conversations with people I’ve just met. It’s a far cry from my social skills two years ago.

And then there’s the adjusting to life in Chile thing. I have every strike you could possibly have coming in. I don’t speak Spanish. I’ve never lived abroad. I have a boyfriend back home. Etc, etc. I should be upset. I should be shaken and uncomfortable, but I’m none of the above — to the contrary, I’ve never felt anything below content in this odd country. I like nearly everyone I’ve met, I’m learning Spanish, and people are patient with me while I do so. I miss the people I love, certainly, but I don’t miss home.

At first, I almost felt like I was doing it wrong — people around me were out at every second, exploring, climbing, running, seeing, and doing. They were jumping into this city immediately while I slowly explored the area around  the hostel. I realized, after awhile though, that it’s just like me to ease my feet in, rather than leap. I have ten months to get to know this city, and I’m sure that I will. I’ve already explored far beyond my original scope, and there’s so much more to see.

Of course, that’ll be easier once I’m out of this hostel. I was patient with it at first, but now, since more and more of my friends have moved out, it’s become less and less tolerable. Cold showers, no place for food, and constant noise has sent me in search of my own place here, but it seems a bit too late. All the great places seem to be taken, but that just means we have to work harder, apparently. The weekend is dedicated solely to apartment hunting…and maybe the beach.

So Santiago? How is it?

This is one of the weirdest/coolest/most interesting cities I’ve seen. Here’s a list of some of my favorite Santiago oddities.

-The dogs. There are dogs everywhere, most of them homeless. They wander in packs, scavenging for a little food, laying in parks soaking up the sun, crossing the busy Santiago streets alongside us, following people to bars and clubs. They’re mostly friendly, and mostly harmless. I’ve just never seen a place where there were so many homeless dogs, though. In the plus side, I haven’t seen even one rat on the subway. And here’s a picture of a dog in my favorite park so far.

-And speaking of parks: PDA. Lots and lots and lots and lots of PDA here. In the park, in the subway, against buildings, in the hallways – just about anywhere that you can fit two people, you’ll find two people kissing. No for real. It’s all you can do to not stare. Will they go all the way? Won’t they? YOU JUST NEVER KNOW. Oh, and also speaking of parks: they’re everywhere, which I love.

-Speaking of sexy times…THE PANTS. Holy crap, the pants here. My theory is that they took the leftover clearance from the juniors departments at Macy’s and Kohl’s and shipped it over here. Stone wash, acid wash, splotchy wash, paneled denim, a plethora of zippers, whatever. And that’s just the denim. Here’s a sneakypeek at the cotton pants — keep in mind, these are not worn as pajamas.

-I feel like a goddess here. The honks as I walk down the streets, the “you’re beautiful!” yelled in broken English…the men here let us blonde-haired, blue-eyed rubias know just how pretty we are. And here in Chile, even girls with brown hair can be rubias.

Claro, this leads to persistent men at the bars, but that’s beside the point.

Teaching is going well. My first class was a disaster, since I felt completely overwhelmed, had no books, and felt totally unprepared. But, I’ve adjusted and it’s started to become fun. The students are generally attentive and helpful. They call me “Miss!” and always say hello and goodbye when they get to and leave class. All around, I have few complaints — my schedule is Monday-Thursday, 8:30-6:15 Mondays and Wednesdays, 8:30-1:00 Tuesdays and Thursdays. I definitely have one of the best schedules of the people I know, so I’m very lucky. And, I fucking LOVE my school. It’s an old mansion, so it’s pretty cool.

So that’s all. For now. Sorry for the delays. I’ll try harder.