You did it wrong.

There seems to be a common problem with me doing things wrong here. Darn it. I'm trying to learn. Luckily, you guys don't have to deal with my frustrations to learn about all the differences here. Let's see, what have I been doing wrong?

ELEVATORS - I know this might seem like a small thing, but I really haven't had much experience with elevators in my life. I seem to always press the wrong button or hop on the wrong elevator. People pile into elevators here. It's expected to hold the door for peeps. I think I have the idea down, but I always do it wrong. Don't most elevators open if they sense something in the door area? I keep trying to hold the elevator by pressing against the door. Apparently that doesn't work in all of the lifts here. You have to press the button on the inside. I've gotten at least one weird look for screwing this up.

BUS STATION - Geez-ca-geez. I did it wrong. This was an experience. For some reason, I expected to be able to take the metro to the bus station, hop on, and go to Vina last friday. It wasn't that simple at all. As soon as I saw the crowd, I realized that I should have expected this. There was an ocean of people and seemingly no order. It was like something that I've seen in the movies.

I followed a kid who looked like he knew what he was doing. I don't think I look lost though. We stood in line for like 20 minutes. After awhile a man came by shouting "Vina!". "Yes, that's me," I thought, "What do I do now?" He directed me to wait in another waiting area with a small crowd of people and some street dogs. I waited there another 20 minutes or so as he checked back in everyone once in awhile saying we were to leave very soon.

Finally, he returned and told us to move to another location to wait. This area was outside the normal bus terminal. It seemed a little weird, but everyone else was going with it. They seemed fine. A bus pulled up and everybody ran, literally RAN, to hop onto it. There was even a fence in the way that we all had to jump over. I was laughing on the inside, trying to act cool on the inside, and kinda nervous all the way around. I made it over the fence and onto the bus ok. It definitely wasn't built for North American bodies. Luckily, a lady let me sit in the aisle seat so I could put my legs in the walkway. Otherwise, I wouldn't have fit. The bus is what they refer to as a "micro".

When I recounted my story to the person I was meeting in Vina, he told me that what I had taken was a "pirate bus". Haha. Arrrrrrrgh. I learned that the legit buses are MUCH MUCH nicer than the pirated ride. I got to take that on the way back and everything was fine.

My new coin holder with Chilean pesos. I use the wrong change sometimes.

METRO TICKET COUNTER- I can´t seem to figure this one out either. I did it wrong. There are different prices during the day depending on traffic. I think I understand that part. What I haven't been able to figure out is why it's like $600 one day at 5:15 and $520 the next day at 5:10. I try to have the right amount ready and wait for change if I need it. They always look at me funny like I"m doing it wrong. It's impossible to talk to these folks because there is so much noise and they have absolutely no patience. I just try to give them as little as possible and be on my way. I should really buy a card that I can reload and swipe at the entrance. I'll get on that this weekend. Thanks for the reminder.

MAKE PLANS - Because I'm not very good at talking on the phone, I don't have wifi when I'm out and about, and I don't know the city that well, I try to make plans to go places or meet people beforehand. Apparently this just isn't done here. I´m doing it wrong. I was almost yelled at one time for trying to set up a time frame to meet the next day.

It's also not appropriate to ask people what they're up to on any given day? The response is "Why? What do you want from me? I don't owe you anything" I'm just trying to be nice and practice speaking. Sorry.

WORK LIGHT SWITCHES - This would seem easy, wouldn't it? Well, I keep doing it wrong. The switches are opposite here. I guess that makes sense because I'm on the bottom of the world. They flip down to turn on and up to turn off. The ones in my apartment are installed sideways. I always flip the wrong switch and/or in the wrong direction.

the lightswitches that I always do wrong.

ORDERING IN RESTAURANTS - I go out to eat as infrequently as I can, but it still happens every once in awhile. I always do it wrong. I haven't been able to understand a single word that any waiter has spoken. Usually, I have no idea what I am ordering and am always surprised by the bill. I have got to figure this one out.

Hydroponic lettuce. Just because.

WATCHING OUT FOR TRUCKS - There's a lot of construction in my neighborhood right now. I learned today that they don't go BEEP when they back up. Oopsie doopsie. I crossed the street right behind one while he was backing up. It was a bit close, but I didn't get hit. I did it wrong.

PALABREAR - This is a chilean word that means "to joke around with friends". My company this weekend frequently referred to each member of the gang as "Fatty" although none of them were. I don't know if I speak well enough to start accusing people of being overweight in a joking manner just yet. I don´t want to do it wrong.

A random reciept. I probably did it wrong when purchasing whatever I did here.

Finally, something they do "wrong". When taking a picture, they sometimes use the english word, "smile". However, it's pronounced "esmee-lay". I don't know if they do this on purpose or just don't know how to say it correctly. Either way, it's funny.

I hope you learned lots. Bonus for the day : http://youtu.be/nr8H6Lx4YNI This music video was filmed a couple blocks from where I live. I was just there today. Stay tuned.

Let's go to the beach, beach. Let's go get away

Can you guess where I went this last weekend? If you guessed the port city of Valparaíso and beach town of Viña del Mar then you´d be correct. Yup, I was invited to sail away for a weekend excursion. I headed out Friday almost directly after work and came back to dear Santiago at 1AM on Monday morning just in time to sleep a couple of hours before work. The actual traveling portion of the trip will be discussed in a later entry. How was the weekend, you ask? Well let me show and tell you.

Blending in with the street sign

Here we are in Valparaíso. Most of the city is built on a hill. As you can see pictured above, one will encounter lots of stairs and slanted pathways while touring the area. They have elevators that go diagonally a la those of the Luxor in Las Vegas. I took a quick walk up a billion and two stairs to check out this quiet area. I was able to see some hooligans artists spray painting a wall nearby where the picture was taken. Hopefully their project turned out nice. I think they were painting a bird over some existing artwork.

From the top of the hill, you can see the cargo and cruise ships hanging out in the bay. It´s a really busy place for commerce and tourism. At any given time during my stay there were at least five large (ginormical, actually) barges waiting to dock.

a cute little house behind some plants

I´m not sure what kind of people live in the houses in this area. The very few people I saw walking around were either tourists from England or visitors from Santiago. Perhaps the climb to the top of the hill exhausts the residents and they chose to leave as infrequently as possible.

a blue building

Here´s a picture of the town square right by the harbor. A Celebrity cruise ship was parked in the water this day, and there were a lot of people out and about taking pictures. When one goes to Valparaíso, it is almost obligatory that they check out these statues and have some seafood. I went with the flow and did both. After taking some pictures you see below, I had some sort of fish at the restaurant on the right side of the picture below. It´s the white building with umbrellas outside. Go there. Everyone else does.

Check out what else was happening in this area that day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewCPTxzlIUo 

Resting at the monument

Here I am hanging out is the aforementioned statue area. It´s the "Monumento a los heroes de Iquique". or "The Heros of Iquique Monument¨. Chilean peeps, correct me if I´m wrong but I believe that Iquique is a town in the north of the country that originally belonged to Peru. The people depicted in this statue played a major part in winning that land. Apparently they lost the specific battle that inspired the monument, but they got the job done in the end. I forget the guys´ names and don´t have pictures of them. If you´re really interested, come visit me in Santiago and we´ll take a trip over there to check it out again.

Friend, Miguel posing with one of the hero peeps

Ok, so this picture above didn´t turn out quite right. It was supposed to seem like the statue guy was attacking Miguel like the infamous Ronald McDonald slap happy pics. Instead, it looks like the statue is in front of him and he´s looking down on it. In reality, the guy is larger than life size.

Checking out the bell

That´s me above just hanging out in the little monument area. You can see how big the guys are from here. 

Monumento hereos de Iquique

The beach at Viña del Mar

more populated area of the beach

Even the street dogs liked to come to the beach. Some would just sit to listen and watch. Some would run around playing with others. In the picture above, you can see some of the cargo ships in the distance awaiting their turn to dock.

Harbor at Valparaíso

Aside from having a beach and a harbor, Viña had at least two shopping malls. They were quite big. Well, they were a lot larger than anything in Wyoming. I went on a Saturday and saw a lot of sailors hanging out. At first, I thought they were dressed up for a performance or that they just liked the clothes cuz that´s what kids were into these days. Nope, they were real life sailors, and lots of them. Silly me. I was in a real life port city after all. Too bad I didn´t get a picture of them.

Some nice apartments at Viña

Viña also has a casino near the water. I would have gone to check it out, but I was pulled back because you have to pay to get in. There was a cover charge for a lot of the bathrooms too. If anyone is thinking about an entrepreneur possibility in Chile, come on down and open up a fancy private bathroom on the beach. You could probably get like $1.50- $2.00 USD and have a line most of the day.

Miguel at the beach

Along the beach was a boardwalk with a lot of activities going on. There were people relaxing, a turbo kick routine being taught (which made me sad that I couldn´t join in), people skateboarding, guys working out, and kids playing. By accident, I stepped into the path of a small child on a tricycle. One of the wheels bounced over my foot and she ended up tumbling over. Oopsie doopsie. I don´t know if her caregiver saw me wreck her, but they did see me helping her up. No one sued me, so I guess we´re good.

On the way back from the beach, I got to try out a new concept that I hadn´t heard of before - a disco cafe. It´s like a regular restaurant that serves food and coffee during the day. At night, it´s turned into a dance club. It was a nice experience. They even had fancy stuff like hydroponic lettuce. I had that with some chicken. Yum.

Speaking of food experiences, I also got to try out my first street vendor that night. I was so hungry and it was the only option at 5am. I learned that a "completo" is a hot dog. What a weird name. Also, I learned the meaning of "italiano". A person can request their food be prepared this way if they want avocado,  mayonnaise, and tomato. The colors are green, white, and red just like the Italian flag. Finally something makes sense in this place.


Well, that was pretty much the weekend.This was less of a cultural lesson and more of a review of my weekend. The next blog entry should be more educational. Stay tuned.

bonus - Them silly people wearing a black belt with brown shoes

Out and about

I finally got to act like a tourist and see the city a bit. I wanted to check out one of the big hills in town, but they were closing it down just as I got there. Oh well. There was much more to see. In no certain order, here are some pics from activities around Santiago

Morsa - Walrus

There are a lot of chinese and sushi restaurants in my neighborhood. It´s pretty popular. It´s also a bit funny to hear chinese people speaking spanish. That reminds me of a place in Laramie. What´s different from Laramie is that most of these restaurants are medium-fancy, at least compared to the surrounding establishments. Pretty much the same Chinese food options available in the US are enjoyed here. Strangely enough, it remind me of being back in Wyoming. Everything was partially familiar except for the language the waiter spoke.

"Sushi" is the same word in English and Spanish. However, it´s pronounced "sut-tshee" here.

The "dollar" store

I found this store when I was out shopping with my tailor for some fabric. As of Jan 17, 2013, it can be translated to the "$0.82" store. What a bargain. Since I can´t find any pants here that are long enough, my tailor going to make me some pants for work. I picked out a grey fabric with light blue checks and a dark red number. Hopefully they turn out well and aren´t too "extreme" for the office.

Normally people dress pretty nice here. There are exceptions, however. Today I saw a lot of brown belt/black shoe (or visa versa) combos. Come on, people. You know better.

Statue at the hill

Since the upper part of the hill was closed, Marco (tour guide) and I walked around the lower portion. There are a couple of statues and lots of plant in this area. Above is Marco sitting on the lap of Jose Victorino Lastarria. Ain´t that cute? I forgot to read why he has a statue. Oops. Mi trick knee was giving me fits on the uneven surface.

Speaking of people and their names, I introduced myself to the cleaning lady at work and asked for her name. She replied bashfully, "Anabelle Anita Santa Jose de la Ovalle Rodriguez Paz del Sur" (or something along those lines). Luckily she´s cool with just "Anita".

Corner of something and something

I was just walking around and saw this building. I don´t know what it is or where I found it. That dog was cute though.

Chevy Spark

This car is ubiquitous here. I think it´s planned for the US but hasn´t arrived yet. In fact, a lot of small cars are introduced in this market before the US. I´ve seen some pretty fancy small cars. Mercedes has one here that´s not available up north as well. Whereas we have full size cars like crown victorias for taxis in the US, they use compact cars like a Hyundai Elantra or Toyota Camry. Another thing about the cars here is that they are almost all manual transmission. I´m not sure why. Almost all newer cars have some sort of backup, rearview camera option. This is more of a luxury item in the US, but very common here. It´s necessary for the tight parking jobs.

I´ve ridden in a couple taxis here. They are generally cheap and the drivers don´t demand a huge tip. One night, some friends and I were waiting in a busy area for a ride home. All the taxis were being used by other people. A guy pulled up in his own ride and asked us, "taxi?" I guess this isn´t unheard of here either. It was an unmarked car with a very young man driver. Normally, I wouldn´t hop into a stranger´s car into the middle of the night. There were three of us and only one of him. I figured we would be alright. Sure enough, he took us home safely and only charged us about $6 USD.

Statue on the hill

This is what it feels like to be in the metro. Actually, it´s probably a little tighter.
Speaking of the metro, I tried to use my student ID to get the advertised student discount. I showed the lady a the ticket counter my valid card and she litterally LOL´d me. She showed the card to her friends who laughed at it and me too. I tried to ask her what was so funny and why it wouldn´t work. I couldn´t hear a word she said though. Those people are behind glass and it´s very loud in there. Oh well. At least I tried and she got a good laugh.

statue on the hill

Marco is giving water to the dog in the casting.

Swollen horse

Just because it was there, I took a picture with this horse in the park. Hopefully in a month or two, I´ll be well enough to go running in this park. It´s a popular place to do so at night.

Well, that´s about it for today. Here´s one last picture to end the day. Stay tuned.

 

 

fountain/statue at entrance to hill

So different but still the same in some ways.

So much to talk about today. I guess I'll just let it flow as it comes to me. Firstly, the trip to work on the metro from my new apartment went much smoother than normal. I live at metro stop U. de Chile. It's almost right in the middle of this diagram. All I have to do now is take the red line east and arrive at El Golf. I arrived at work in about 30 minutes. That's about half the time it took me last week. Schwoof. I'm glad I figured that out.

Metro Santiago de Chile

I was the first one to arrive to work and was greeted by one of my coworkers when she got there. Because there was no one else for her to talk to, she was nice enough to talk to me for a bit. We discussed how she has and ex boyfriend who lived in Sheridan, WY and what she did over the weekend. I mentioned to her that I found a place to live and the commute to work was much more comfortable. We talked about that for a bit. Then she said something about the book "50 Shades of Grey". I thought that was just a North American thing. What was odd is that I had seen someone reading it on the metro this morning. I had no idea it was so popular here though. She told me how all the world is reading it and that her family is sharing a copy between three of them. Whoever wrote that book must be feeling pretty good about themselves right about now. I'll just stick to my "Freakanomics" for vocabulary practice. 

Yesterday when I was out and about learning the town, I was listening to people talk just like always. I actually thought to myself "Wow, these people have a word for everything" Duh. It's just another language, not caveman talk. Mastering a new language is complicated. I got to spend a lot of time listening to native speakers on Saturday. For the most part, I was able to keep up with the conversation. It took all my brain power to absorb the ideas in my mind. There was no energy left over for conjugating verbs and producing grammatically correct sentences. Also, when I was lost, I was super lost. They might as well have been speaking Germanese. At least I did better than last time. Slowly but surely, I'll get it. 

The accent is very distinct here. Also words can have several meanings. The word "entendí" can mean "I understood" or "do you understand me?" depending on how it is employed. The actual words are spelled different, but it´s hard to tell the difference when it is spoken. Here´s another vocabulary word for the day: Monada - Stunner, cutie, beauty. I learned that word from my friend pictured below. This is us last week at Patio Bellavista. 

Juan Pi Dampi and I

Also at Patio Bellavista, I found this high chair in the corner of an open air restaurant. The wording on it was really interesting so I had to take a picture. It says "'Law of the chair' n. 2,951 that establishes rest in a chair to the employees." That's such a good idea. Go Chile. They take care of their employees.

Ley de la silla - Law of the chair

Check out these cool Coke cans. I´ve found three different "Summer 2013" patterns so far. Why don´t they have these pretty things in the US?

Coca Cola light - Summer 2013

Now that I'm living here and I'm starting to figure stuff out, I figured I should get a phone. This little number below cost about $20 and came with $20 worth of talk time. That sounds like a good deal, right? If you can see the brand at the top of the screen, you'll notice that there are some asian characters.  Asian products are big here. There are some car brands from that area here that we don't have in the US. I just learned of a new brand called Ssang Yong. It's from Korea, I've been told. They make some cute cars. A friend has the Korando. Anyway, back to the phone. I joke with people that it's my iphone 7. It's a very simple phone but actually quite handy. It has a camera (a bad one), an mp3 player, and even a flashlight. Plus I've only charged it once since I got it. It'll probably last a week or more with my use. It's very light and small. Whatever happened to those types of phones? Chileans are moving toward the huge smart phones like the US started to do a few years ago. 

Notice the plug. Devices have two (or three) circular prongs. Outlets here are 220v. I have to use an adapter with everything electric that I brought, but there has been no trouble. 

New phone

Finally, some pictures of my new home. Check out the rooftop view and the gym. I'm working on getting even more pictures for the next update. Stay tuned. 

View from the roof of my new building

Another view from the roof of my new building

Small gym in building

Rooftop

Week one in Chile

Well, I've made it a full week. I arrived last Saturday and have had many new experiences. Hopefully this week will be just as full of activity. There is certainly a lot more to learn here, but here's a recap of lessons and observations from this week:

*Speaking spanish is hard, like physically difficult. My jaw is a little sore after a session of Spanish. I still can't make some of the sounds and am often made fun of for it. I try to practice talking to myself, but it just can't be done in your head. You have to move the mouth and vocalize the sounds to get the hang of it. Probably the best practice that I've found for being able to speak the language is to read a book aloud and have someone help with the sounds and pronunciations. Unfortunately I have only found one person who is interested in me reading to them. Apparently my book of choice, Freakanomics, isn't interesting to these people. Maybe I'll find a new one that both I and my listener will enjoy.

*People touch each other a lot here. It's normal to kiss complete strangers. I still don't know if I'm doing it right, but I'm going for it. The North American greetings don't fly here. You don't simply wave or give someone a nod. Apparently that's rude. You must press your cheeks together and kiss. I think I'm getting the hang of that. The awkward part is the hug. To begin with, I wasn't much for hugging. The hugs here are more of a one-armed embrace sort of thing. I'll keep working on that.

*It's hot here. There were a few days that were almost unbearable, but I survived. It probably wouldn't be too bad compared to a lot of places in the south of the US. I'm just not used to it yet. Luckily there is air conditioning in my office. Unfortunately, there are only open windows and the small fan I brought from Wyoming to help out at home. I think I'm about to get used to it though. It was a little difficult coming from frozen tundra to the middle of summer. I expected that, so I can't complain too much.

*Speaking of bringing stuff from home, I'm glad I decided to bring certain things with me. It really helps me to feel comfortable in my new environment. I know some people wouldn't have agreed with a lot of the stuff I brought, but I'm really enjoying it. For example, hygiene products are much more expensive here. I packed a couple of things that I normally use. I'm not sure if I can even find someone of the things here after I run out. I guess we'll see though. Bring all you can if you come here. I feel at home with my pillow, my brand of soap, my blender, and lunch box. It's the small things that help.

*I had hoped to find a gym by this weekend. I asked some people if they had a membership anywhere or knew of any good places. After they gave me some recommendation, I asked if they were completely full this time of year thinking that the answer would be "yes". They didn't understand the reason behind my question. In the US, gyms are usually quite full at the beginning of the year on account of peoples' New Years resolutions. This concept doesn't really exist here, I learned. Instead of making resolutions to stop smoking or lose weight, for example, Chileans will wish success upon themselves. To make sure the wish comes true, they will fill their pockets with or carry items pertaining to their wish. An example is clenching a fist full of money at a New Years party to wish for wealth. A friend was telling me how he showed up to a party with a suitcase to show that he would be traveling more in 2013.

*Lastly, our vocabulary lesson of the day: Lombriz - earthworm. In spanish (at least in Chilean spanish), a person can be said to be "as happy as an earthworm".

*Picture time- Here are some "carabineros" (policeman) on horseback on my walk to work, a starbucks by my office, and an Audi A1 (I had been waiting to see this car in the US).



Is there anything in Chile that you want to see or learn more about? I'll try to check it out while I'm here. Stay tuned for more fun updates.

Spanish computers and the metro

Howdy kids. I was having a heck of a time yesterday and today trying to put together a report at work. In another country, everything is different. I normaly use a spanish keyboard setting on my personal computer, but the actual keys on my Chilean computer are slightly diferent. They make room for some additional characters on the hardware here. Check out my last post for a pic of that tricky ç button that keeps getting in my way. Today´s issues weren´t just with the keyboard, but with the software too. All the key codes are different. Here, it´s B to search, N to bold an item, K for italics, S for underline, G to save, A for file, etc. It had been awhile since I had used Excel to make special graphs and fun things like that. It didn´t help that everything was in spanish with some new, unusual words. Along these lines, here´s our vocabulary lesson for the day. Eje- axis (as in on a graph).

I played around with Excel for some time before I figured out why my graph wasn´t looking the way I thought it would. Latin cultures use a period where we use a comma and a comma where we use a period when dealing with numbers. I knew this before, but hadn´t previously considered that it would screw up my Excel graph. When I inputed "6.5%", it read it as either "6,500%" or null. Either way, it would display on the graph. I know this is boring stuff but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. Don´t say I didn´t warn you. Next time you use a computer in South America and read or input anything number-related, keep this in mind.

Speaking of "next times", next time someone suggests you make the metro change at the Baquedano station during the morning rush hour, run away! For those of us with no previous experience in a metro system, the severity of the Baquedano issue is very hard to believe. I really wish I had a video to show you guys what I´m talking about.

I have been staying in a place that requires I ride one subway line for a couple of stops and then switch to another line to complete my journey. It went well the first day. Perhaps this was because I left well more than two hours earlier than normal. Since then, it has been terrible.

There have been two times when the metro security guards trapped a group of 200+ people in a small area of the metro station because the train was so behind. On Tuesday, we all piled up in this area and waited uncomfortably for at least 10 minutes. Someone started a slow clap, and half the crowd joined in. People begain yelling and pushing. I thought was going to get to see my first riot. It would have been better had I not been physically stuck in the middle of it. A bit later, the guards let everyone go at once. I don´t see what the point of holding people at a station is if they are just going to let everyone go at once. We were all heading to the same train. I think a better ERP system is needed here.

Anyway, I thought I was home free when they let us go. Wrong! Then began the process of trying to board the train. I honestly don´t know how to even explain this. There is no suggestion of a line on the platform. The only rules are that you have to stand behind the yellow line until the train gets close and pregnant women get help from someone to push people away in front of them. Apart from this, it´s pretty much a free for all.

The train arrives seemingly completely packed. People are smashed against the glass like a cartoon character. As the train slows to a stop, people huddle around the doors and plan their entrance. The best method, I´ve learn, is to literally jump directly in front of the door with your back to the crowd and push back against them. The ensuing panic when the doors open will almost force you into the train. It´s very hit or miss though. I missed 6 times Tuesday and probably a little more today.

At the same time that extra people are piling into the train, a couple of brave souls try to fight their way out. For every 1 person that exits, no less than 3 people hop on. There wasn´t enough room on the floor of the train for my feet this morning. I had to stand on one half of one foot. As you can imagine, it´s quite hard to keep balance in a moving vehicle standing on only part of one leg. Luckily, people are so packed into the space that no one needs to hold on. We become more like a liquid at that point. We just slosh back and forth as the train speeds up and decelerates. There has been a couple of times in which the train stops suddenly between stations. I always fear that we´ll be stuck their indefinately in our current positions. If that were to happen, I think I would try to take a nap. At least I know I wouldn´t fall over and hurt myself.

In the middle of all this, the fella next to me was reading on his kindle as if he were sprawled out in bed. There was no way I would have been able to move my hands an arms to hold a device. He had adjusted himself among the other riders to be stuck in a comfortable position. I´ll have to learn that trick. I bet it´s much easier if you start out in a less full train.

Luckily the ride home isn´t so bad. There enough room to stand with two feet planted firmly on the floor a little more than shoulder width apart. Sometimes I am even lucky enough to be able to lean against a pole or a wall to support myself. While riding the metro home, I had the opportunity to check out some people here. Apparently we have dopplegangers all over the world. I saw someone who acts like my brother. I saw the jolly latin guy from Good Morning Laramie. I saw an old coworker. I would have taken their pictures, but that is a bit frowned upon here. Maybe I´ll sneak up on one one day. Until then, I`ll just look with my eyes. Stay tuned.

Let's learn some words

I didn’t have Internet access yesterday. Ooopsie doopsie. You guys missed out on some good commentary. That means that I have double the fun today. We might not get to all of it. I had intended to share some stories about the metro. I think I’ll actually try to get some video tomorrow and throw that in there with a whole post dedicated to what was referred to as a “Russian Roulette” today.  Ok, here we go.

I have been learning new words left and right. Unfortunately, I have been forgetting new words left, right, up, and down. In my research at work yesterday, I learned a word that I didn’t even know existed in English. You guys ready for this? Hydrometalúgico – of or relating to hydraulic metal extraction. With all the mining going on in this country, that´s a real thing. Whodathunk?

I also learned some filler words today. “Mish” I think would be similar to “Hmmmph” in English. With a shoulder shrug, it expresses indiference or a surrender of a topic. I also learned that ducks don’t “Quack” here. They “Wack”. That sounds more like the real thing. When is the last time you heard a duck pronounce a Q? The “wack” is employed similarly to Homer Simpson’s “Dope!” in colloquial conversation. Speaking of that guy, here’s a flyer I found in the lobby of the building I’m in today. Why didn´t we have this in Laramie?

While we’re at it, here’s a picture of the view from the balcony. The city is usually covered in some sort of smog that is washed away each time it rains. It´s not too dirty, however. Unless you stare of into the distance and only manage to see the blurry mountain range, you wouldn´t notice it.

Here’s a picture of a key on my keyboard at work that is constantly giving me troubles. It sits right where the enter key should be. Nobody told me about that. I’m still trying to get used to it. Also, the accent mark key (not that it’s used in English) is in a different spot. Arrrgh. Oh well. That is the least of my worries though.

I have a couple more things to discuss such as new years celebration practices, people watching, and the heat, but I’m about ready for bed.

Before I go, I’d like to make an open ended question to find out why a certain practice exists here. In almost every smaller store and in every bar here, a customer must first wait in line at the cashier to pay for an item. Then they take their receipt to the other side of the store to retrieve the item. In some corner stores, a third step involves finding out the price from another person before hand. I wonder why things are this way. I asked two people, and they didn’t know why. It frustrated me today. Does anyone have any insight into this practice? Perhaps there is a reason behind this process. For now, it just seems like a waste of time. I don’t like it.

Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow.