Various Additions

It's the second blog entry in two days, you lucky little devils. As Erin mentioned, life is floating along here in a pretty standard fashion. We've both started spanish lessons. I obviously need them much more than Erin does, so I'm taking two a week, while she gets by with one. There isn't really a ton to report, but Erin missed some stuff that I intend to fill you in on. We ended up having a full-fledged, delicious Thanksgiving meal, about 3 days late, so we really didn't miss out on too much. The only real difference, other than the day, was that our Thanksgiving was largely populated by foreigners, who kept saying things like, "Su, thas's wat yu du on Thanksgiving." Most of them had heard of it before, but no one really knew what it was all about, which isn't much when you really think about it. I contributed (with a little help from Erin) the most delicious garlic mashed potatoes ever made in the history of the world, although our gay coworker still mentions to me on occassion that they needed more salt. I generally respond that if he wanted more salt, he could have just added it, to which he says, "No, more salt." It's an impossible argument to win. Erin also managed to get into a conversation with him about my ass. I like to believe that it was a largely complementary conversation, although I don't know the specifics.

We learned the same night that old-fashioned VW Bugs (you know, the type with the engine in the trunk) are not so old-fashioned here in Chile. They are still making them, in all their 1970's glory. We actually rode around in the back of a 1996. They are not allowed in the United States because of their aggregious safety records, but that doesn't seem to bother anyone here. Surprisingly, we're told that the Chilenos are the very best of the Latin American drivers, but nothing we've seen makes that easy to believe, and it's definitely not a place I'd want a car with a poor safety rating.

Despite what Erin might have led you to believe, she is not supporting me. She is, however, working about 10 more hours a week than I am. This isn't because she has more classes scheduled, but because my students have an excellent record of cancelling class. This ends up being the best of all situations, because when students cancel, generally you still get paid and you already have your lesson plans ready for the next week. Erin has not been as lucky, but you shouldn't feel too bad for her. In reality, she only works 20 or so hours a week (seriously, boohoo), regardless of what she would have you believe. All things considered, teaching turns out to be a fantastic way to make a living in Chile, as the average Chilean salary is only something like 300 thousand pesos a month (that's roughly 500 dollars) and the average Chileno works a 12 hour day. Much like Erin, though, you shouldn't feel too bad for them. The average Chileno lives happily with his parents, which keeps costs pretty low (I call this the Larry Frierson model). The average Chileno also spends the majority of his 12-hour day chatting with friends in the office and sexually harrassing female coworkers, but claims he never eats lunch because he's too busy. It is by far the most bullshit-centered work environment I have ever come across, and for the amount of work that gets done, it's a ridiculous amount of time to spend at the office.

That's pretty much it for the day. This Friday is a holiday, as are all holy days of obligation in this country, so we're heading to the beach. Oh, and here's a picture of where we went for Erin's big day.