The View

May 30, 2008

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This is the view from our 4th floor apartment balcony. One of the good things about Santiago is that there aren’t a lot of giant skyscrapers that don’t let you see the skylines. But, right now they’re building like crazy and that will soon change. Santiago is one of the top 5 cities in the world for construction right now. Great news for my husband, who manages construction sites :)

Our internet is just barely working so we’ll see if I’m able to upload this. I wrote it in Word. Frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Back in the Game!

May 28, 2008

I am so freaking excited to have my computer back! Thank you soooooooo much to Karen and her awesome future husband Alberto! What would I have done without you guys? Lifesavers!!!

I’ve felt like a fish out of water here for weeks. I used S.’s computer during the day, but strictly for work, just struggling to get everything done before he got home and most of the time I wasn’t able to cram everything in. At night I’d have to relinquish internet access to him, leaving me no time for my favorite things…blogging, skyping and writing personal emails! So to everyone that I owe emails, I am going to get caught up this weekend! I also have a massive amount of work to do too. Obviously since I’m a blogger, I get paid per story. Since I haven’t been able to write as much, that means less $$$ for me. And next month I’m taking a week off when my mom is here too, which means I need to get cracking! Britney Spears news won’t write itself. :)

Anyways, on to life here in Santiago. Everything is still good. Winter has fully established itself. It’s effing freezing! I’m not going to lie, though, I kind of like it. *Ducks head as everyone who has to work outside their home throws rotten tomatoes my way.* I feel cozy and happy and my little home. I wake up ever morning and drink hot chocolate, I wrap myself in a cocoon of blankets and I start working. Listening to the rain relaxes me, and I love the cleaner Santiago air once everything clears up. Plus, I get to wear my awesome new winter boots and coat!

The building still hasn’t turned on the eating system (meaning we can’t yet use our individual heating systems). I mean, to me, an individualistic gringa, not being able to turn on my individual heating because my neighbors don’t want theirs on seems kind of ridiculous. But, that’s just the way they roll in this building. And honestly, I can’t complain. Our situation this year is SO much better than last year that having to wait a month longer than I’d like to put the heat on is a small price to pay. Last year we were in a huge old house, made out of cement. It was so damp that no paint would ever stay on the walls, and on top of that it was so chilly it was like living in an igloo in Alaska. Our little apartment is so tiny that it heats right up! If I cook something the place is so much better insulated that everything warms up and stays at a comfortable temp for the rest of the day. I’m going to get thermal curtains too, so that we waste less energy when heating.

Sometimes I feel ridiculous that we spend so much money on rent just so we can live in a nicer place and have small luxuries like central heating, when we have a free living situation at our disposal if we want it. But, then I watch shows like Girls of the Playboy Mansion. I see Kendra Wilkinson receive a jewel encrusted Chargers helmet for Christmas, and I really don’t feel so ridiculous anymore. It’s all relative.

And….yes, I severely overuse the word ridiculous. After discombobulated it’s my second favorite word in the English language.

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New Header

May 23, 2008

I changed my header to a picture I just took yesterday from the top of Cerro San Cristobal. What do you guys think? It doesn’t match the blog layout as well as the picture of the crashing waves did, but I like it better because it’s a picture of Santiago. Since that’s where I live, it makes sense.

So, speaking of matching, does anybody know how I change the colors of the blog, while keeping the same layout? Keep in mind I know NADA about HTML. I’d really like to make the empty sides that are blue right now, dark purple. If it’s not too complicated to do and you wouldn’t mind leaving a comment sharing explicit instructions, I’d be forever grateful :)

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